Blood of Heroes - A 3rd Edition Mutants and Masterminds Campaign Setting
Earth, 2021. An alien race known as the Skree has ruled over the planet for the past 20 years, subjecting the local populace to the sadistic whims of their most brutal reign. True heroes have been all but eradicated during the Skree Invasion of 1999-2001. That or they have fallen prey to the Skree's corruptive influence and mind-altering technology. Those heroes that still survive, do so either in reclusive hiding or by battling one another in gladiator-like fashion as the Skree's amusement. Now after twenty years of servitude, a new breed of heroes are slowly starting to emerge. Fed up with the decadence that now surrounds them and fueled by their own personal desires, these young heroes have decided to try and make a stand for humanity, once and for all.
Does this new breed of heroes have what it takes to rise up against the Skree and take back their homeworld? Are they capable of breaking the shackles of oppression that bind them to a life of unwavering servitude? Time shall tell True Believers, to see whether or not these few elite individuals truly possess...the Blood of Heroes.
Your Force Constructs are Selective so all good. One semi-transparent wall coming up! It's also Continuous, so you can swap back over to your personal Force Field and the wall will stay.
Without a word, Crystal slings her laundry basket on top of one of the washers and quickly dashes behind Nathan. She immediately begins to fiddle about with a cell phone, dropping her cigarette in the process and stomping it out with the flat of her shoe. "OMFG!" shrieks Crystal frightfully as she tries frantically to get a signal on her phone, the woman clearly in a state of panic, "What do these f'n a-holes want!?" The woman's eyes then go wide as Nathaniel focuses his will upon the doorway leading into the laundry room. Within seconds, the doorway glimmers with a golden sheen like never before seen. Crystal nearly drops her cell phone.
"What the f-..." begins the woman's inquiry, rudely interrupted by the presence of two large black men who likewise stare at Nathan's wall (from the other side of the doorway) and comment, "What the f...!?"
Scant moments later, another man (also black) hurries down the stairs only to screech to halt in his tracks and gaze over at Nathaniel's creation. This man immediately turns to begin shouting back up the stairs. "Yo Boss!?" the man begins, "We got trouble! The B ain't alone!"
The disturbingly rhythmic sounds of a cane tapping upon the steps (followed up by a scuffling hobbled sound, foot perhaps?) are eventually heard as it would appear a fourth man is making his way down the stairs as well.
When Life Hands You Razorblades. You Make A Baseball Bat Covered In Razorblades!
So, to create a Force Construct I just need to drop my personal Force Field for one round, then I can bring it back up? Neat. Assume that my personal Force Field is back up then.
Pilgrim continues to stand there with arms crossed. He says, "This woman is under my protection. You had best tell me what your business with her is." It's pretty clear that they intend Crystal no good, but Pilgrim wants to find out the full story if he can. She may be at fault as well--though surely nothing that can justify the violence these thugs seem intent on inflicting on her. He prepares to reach out and calm the emotions of whoever this boss coming down the stairs is, if necessary.
Your Force Field, Force Constructs, and Healing are all grouped together in one single Array. Once per turn (as a Free action) you can reallocate the current setting of your Array to one of these powers - the Default power being that of your Continuous (personal) Force Field. Normally, you lose whichever power(s) are being used at the time to do so, but since you have a Continuous Duration Extra applied to your Force Constructs, these items will remain in effect until destroyed, dispelled, dismissed, or you get rendered unconscious. This being said, yes you lose your Force Field (despite it's own continuous duration extra which only means that you don't need to activate it when the Array is allocated to use it) for the minimum of one round.
One of the gangstas raises what looks to be a tech-nine to Nathaniel's head from across the room. Crystal immediately dives for cover behind the washing machines and starts to wail like a banshee. "Shut up fool!" the man then commands Nathaniel, "Else I bust a cap in yo ass!" The thug next to the man with the gun takes one look at Nathaniel's magical wall and then another over at his partner. He then takes a giant step backwards and bumps right smack dab into the middle of the man coming down the stairs.
"Get yo dumb ass off me!" a gruff voice cries out. "Sorry boss..." adds the man backing up.
Now stepping in front of the doorway is a tall wiry black man who moves about with a rather prominent limp in his right leg. The man supports himself upright by the use of a makeshift cane made from an elaborately carved piece of twisted and over-sized wood. He looks to be in his mid 30's and wears an cheap-but-elegant looking party suit. The man's head is clean-shaven (bald) and about his neck is worn a multi-beaded necklace. At the end of this necklace dangles a (preserved) severed chicken's foot.
"Under yo protection huh?" the man asks Nathan in a suave Cajun/Creole accent. After staring at the barrier in front of him, the man merely smiles smugly and adds. "Well tell me this you little peeshwank, who gonna protect you when I put da gris gris on ya?"
Dammit!
[Knowledge (streetwise), DC ??, d20+8 =28, Yes a Nat 20, Success!]
These hoods look like part of Sex Money Murder, a gang that (even today) plagues New Jersey. SMM is part of the Jersey Sanctioned "Bloods."
The leaders of this gang are a group of three brothers (the Gaudeaux brothers), two of which have special abilities (voodoo-related).
This guy (given his limp) appears to be the one brother w/o special-abilities, though don't try to tell him that LOL.
His nickname is "Tough Luck" the name give to him the day he got shot and realized that the Loa (spirits) had chosen to leave him out of the three brother's ceremony to give them powers.
Maurice Gaudeaux is his real name and he's not a nice guy at all.
When Life Hands You Razorblades. You Make A Baseball Bat Covered In Razorblades!
"God's gonna protect me, Tough Luck," says Pilgrim. "And God has far more power than whatever spirits you worship." Even as Pilgrim says this, he channels the will of God, trying to instill peace in the man's heart, if only for the time being. "Now, suppose you tell me what all the fuss is about."
Tough Luck is now Indifferent to You. Remember that you can choose the object the target loves, hates, fears, etc.
The man with the limp scowls at Nathaniel's mention of "God's" protection. He does so even more when Nathaniel uses his proper nickname. The man's face then goes deadpan, devoid of emotion. Unsure how to react to the sudden change in their boss' expression, the two men on either side of the man simply exchange glances between themselves, their boss, and then Nathaniel. Meanwhile in the nearby distance, Crystal continues to sob and whimper; desperately trying to get a signal on her phone whilst remaining crouched behind the washers and dryers.
"What difference do it make," Tough Luck begins to reply, his facial features foul and hardened but overall mood tempered and calm, "Why I'm here or what I want? It none of yo business no how! Jus' give me the girl and I let you live, no?" Nathaniel's determination to protect Crystal seems to sour the man's mood but for the moment, he remains calm and he quickly reiterates. "Don't wan' a give her to me? Fine then, have it yo way manboy. You just tell her to let me know where I can find her husband at. That sorry white boy owe us money and I means to collect!"
When Life Hands You Razorblades. You Make A Baseball Bat Covered In Razorblades!
FYI Wulf, Pilgrim thinks of himself as "Pilgrim" now, not Nathaniel.
Pilgrim asks Tough Luck, "And what does he owe you money for?" He's trying to ferret out the root of the problem, to see if there's any way it can be put right without further confrontation--although knowing thugs like this (after all, he used to be one), he doubts that. He may try to change the man's emotions, so he has no desire to harm Crystal or anyone close to her, but he's rather not screw with someone's head like that if he can avoid it. For now, he focuses on keeping the man at peace.
Gotcha. Assuming you are spending the Free action to maintain Emotion Control upon your target.
Tough Luck frowns, the two goons next to him quickly growing impatient. The pair of thugs begin to examine Pilgrim's force field a little bit closer as their boss reluctantly replies. "What do it matter why he owe us money for? It don't change the fact that the piece of white trash junkie still owe us money now, do it? Nor do it change the fact that tasty lil b- over there is gonna tell us where he is. Why you even care brutha? Why you even care?"
Crystal perks up from behind the laundry machines and spills her guts to Pilgrim. "I don't know where they lousy f'r is hon, I swear! He always tries to worm his way into my apartment and every time I tell him to f-off and send him packing! That's the whole reason I left him, his f'n drug habit!"
The woman's words seem to ring with the truth, though her facial expressions (severe panic) could possibly cloud their meaning It's hard to tell currently.
Before Pilgrim has a chance to respond, he suddenly hears the sounds of someone above shouting down to Tough Luck. "Yo sh-t boss," one of (what Pilgrim assumes to be) the thugs barks down the stairwell from up above, "We got some mutha-f'r up here talking and walking around on fire and sh-t! What you want us to do!?"
When Life Hands You Razorblades. You Make A Baseball Bat Covered In Razorblades!
"I care because I am a servant of God and God cares about all His children--you, your thugs, Crystal and Crystal's junkie husband. No amount of money is worth any violence. Surely you see that?" Pilgrim switches the emotion he is trying to imbue in Tough Luck from calm to love for Crystal's husband. The gang lord's cronies will certainly realize something is up, but he hopes they'll be too scared of Tough Luck to question him. It will only be a temporary fix, but it allow him to get Crystal out of here.
As the gang member shouts down the stairs, Pilgrim wonders what's going on, but tries to focus on the task at hand.
[Will save, DC 20, d20+2=12, Failure by 5+, Helpful!]
Pilgrim hears the sounds of an obvious commotion coming from somewhere up above, but chooses to remain fixed upon the task of trying to remove the anger and hatred from Tough Luck's heart. A former gang-member himself, Pilgrim gives the man a rather moving testimony - citing God's universal message of love and good will. The gang leader's face scrunches in doubt and shows signs of apparent conflict. Eventually, the bald-headed man's expression seems to actually reflect a mutual understanding of Pilgrim's message.
Sadly however, Tough Luck has little chance to respond before utter chaos ensues.
The sounds of something heavy slamming against the side of the building are heard as are the frantic cries of some of Tough Luck's men concealed in the stairwell. "Oh Hell no!" cries one of the thugs hidden from Pilgrim's view, "Waste that sucker!" Two resounding gunshots are then heard as are the scampering of feet as Tough Luck and his crew move about to try and deal with whatever is attacking them above!
Thugs 20, Gang Leader 20, Pilgrim 10, Remnant 6
Names in bold have already acted this round or are incapable of acting this round.
