The not-perfect news:

--Cosmic Girl's eyes don't go back to normal.

--Gil's teeth and claws don't go back to normal.

The good news:

--Or... do they? Do her eyes glow just a TINY bit less brightly? Do Gil's teeth and claws feel just the TINIEST bit less sharp than they did moments before? It's hard to say for sure...

--More importantly, though, the fog in their brains DOES clear up right away, as does the bloodlust. It's almost incredible to realize just how hard it was to think just 60 seconds before... It seems that the physical symptoms will just be slower to reverse themselves...


--Also: Scraps' investigation of the smell of the Bad Man leads him to a sink. He jumps up on the counter and sniffs at the spigot that the water comes out, a curved shape sort of like an umbrella handle. He nudges it with his nose...

Ah ha! A new doorway in the wall opens up, on the far side of the room from the ramp leading from the last room into this one.

This new doorway leads to a very long, dimly-lit tunnel... It's too far to say what might be at the other end right now...

Scraps gets very excited... he wants to BITE the Bad Man! And CLAW him! Tear him to bits! And eat the bits, maybe!

Scraps can't stop growling...

"Whew. Thanks." Goodwill felt a lot better than he had a minute ago. Far less murder-y, for one thing.

"Mix another batch for yourself and Scraps," he told White Lynx. She was the fastest, so she could do this in less time than either Goodwill or Cosmic Girl could, and she had some experience doing it now. That had to count for something. "We'll see what's down the next hall."

Before he continued, though, he knelt next to scraps and put a hand on the Good Boy's head, skritching behind the ears.

"Stay calm, boy," he told the pup. "We'll make you all better in just a minute."

Cosmic Girl let out an explosive breath of relief - but only metaphorically. She did not explode anything literally. For once. "Thank you, Lynx! What was I thinking?" She was definitely alarmed by her destructive urges. Still, that was done with. Hopefully.

She beamed at Scraps. "Very clever dog! Well done!" She peered down the tunnel, frowning. "Well, I suppose we had best do this. You want me to make some light? And... do you want to go first?" Goodwill was far more resilient than she was, after all. And they had to do this swiftly. By now, anybody in the building was likely to be making a hasty exit.

"I'll go first," Goodwill agreed. He drifted up to about a foot off the floor, glowing brightly, and zipped down the hall at a brisk speed.

“Yes, no problem, you’re welcome, it’s allgoodglad to help, couldn’t let you sufferanymorenosiree.” It took a moment to stop, but with some breathing, she managed to stop blabbering for a moment. Starting after them, Lynx tried to ask for one of them to give it a go, but they already seemed incredibly focused on trying to catch Norwood. This...was a golden opportunity to prevent them from realizing she’d been bitten too, wasn’t it? But wait, Goodwill has said “yourself and Scraps,” so they already knew that part. Had she not hidden that as well as she’d hoped. Her anger rose at both herself, for letting her guard down, and at Goodwill, for noticing her bite.

No, no, no. She had to head back over and just make another batch, quickly. It wasn’t helpful to lose herself in the anger and rage. That would just exacerbate the problem. Sterling herself, Lynx began preparing more of the antidote.

I’m assuming this is gonna take another Insightful roll, ya?
White Lynx rolled 4 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 2,1.  Mix-a, mix-a, mix-a. Pour-a, pour-a, pour-a. Insightful.
Well I sure hope that it was necessary and I didn’t just botch something that I would’ve auto-succeeded on.

Eager to bite Norwood, Scraps scampered off after Goodwill as fast as his little feet could take him.

White Lynx mixes the new batch of antidote, and gives it to herself and Scraps.

White Lynx and Scraps each lose their bloodlust, and can think more clearly again.

(White Lynx gets 1 new xp... But from now on, when she fails a roll, her true form will start peeking out for a little while (not this time, though)... That could be inconvenient...

What does White Lynx's true form look like?

I figure that the mis-created antidote will affect Scraps strangely, too... either he'll get a new power, or he'll get stronger/tougher or faster or smarter (or maybe he'll just learn to talk?) or more charming or more confident... we'll see the next time he levels up...)


Meanwhile, Goodwill and Cosmic Girl reach the other end of the tunnel, where there is a steel door... It's got a round handle to turn, like doors in submarine movies.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:36, Fri 11 Sept 2020.

Goodwill's clawed hands grip the wheel and turn it. His bloodlust was gone, so any urge to kill Norwood was purely his own....

The door is not locked. The wheel turns extremely easily.

On the other side of the door is a bare, uninteresting room, like a storeroom, lit only by a couple of florescent lights, except someone has used plywood and crates to make a crude sort of desk.

Sitting there, in a cheap folding chair, is Dr. Norwood, with various papers in front of him. "Ah," he says. "I knew you'd come eventually. And I expected you to come through that door, not the other one." He nods at a closed door on the other side of the room. "Gratifying as always to be right... So tell me, how did your meeting with my little pets go?"

Lynx began hesitantly gulping down the concoction, worried that it might only make things worse. Considering how rancid it tasted, this was a mistake on her part. Still, as she hacked and wheezed, she felt the effects fairly quickly as her boosted panicking and aggression began to subside. With a deep breath, she tried to help herself cool down. Looking down at Scraps, she was glad to see that he too seemed to be doing better. It was odd though, looking back on the mixture. She'd accidentally added in too much of one chemical and too little of another. Maybe the requirements weren't very strict? Or was the sinking feeling in her gut warranted?

Either way, Lynx and Scraps would have to catch up with the others. If Norwood were still here, it would be better to face him together. Dropping to a knee, she offered her arms to Scraps, intending on racing off to follow Goodwill and Cosmic Girl.

"Ready to meet up with the others, Scraps? Fair warning, I'm going to head over there as fast as we can."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Ch'rava's true form is a thin and lanky humanoid, slightly shorter than the average human male. She's got two arms and two legs and she walks with her legs. However, her skin is a pale greyish-purple, with equally pale pink hair cut down to a managable, almost militaristic shape. If allowed to grow out, it would be a wavy, but limp. (Other common hair colours include yellow, grey, brown, and blue). Her 20 teeth are all flat and equally sized, though they are only slightly larger than a human's. She has two eyes, much like a human, but they are more spread apart, somewhat closer to the sides of her head, and larger, offering more peripheral vision. Her sclera is a somewhat more vivid purple, with grey irises. Ch'rava also lacks eyelids, not normally needing to naturally avoid dust or particles in her eyes. She still has eyebrows though. Ch'rava also possesses webbed fingers and toes, with five digits on her hands and three on her feet.

---

"About as well as could be expected," Goodwill said with a shrug, trying to sound nonchalant when he really wanted to just grab Norwood's head and twist until he heard the pop. "Are you going to come quietly now? Or do you plan to continue with the unnecessary dramatics?"

If Norwood had more monsters up his sleeve, Goodwill might just make Norwood eat them.

"I assure you, the dramatics, as you call them, are somewhat necessary, quite beyond any entertainment value they may possess. I will continue with them until it is time for me to stop. They serve certain purposes you simply do not have all the information to begin to comprehend."

He looks at Cosmic Girl. "What about you, miss? Have you anything to add to the discussion? I value your companion's words, but I know so much more about him-- garnered from interviews he's done for quasi-journalistic purposes-- than I do about yourself..."

Cosmic Girl planted her hands on her hips and glared at Norwood, her mouth a thin line of extreme annoyance and disapproval. he wanted them to keep talking? He was doing something that required it? Well, she definitely was not going to do that! Anything Norwood wanted was the exact opposite of what she planned to do!

So she shot him, instead.

A searing beam of magnenta and lime green laser-like energy flashed from her eyes, and it was aimed right at the villain's chest, where his evil black heart was in need of a darn good roasting!

VWOOORRRPPPP!!!



OOC:


14:43, Today: Cosmic Girl rolled 12 using 2d6+2 ((4,6)).

At last, I managed to hit what I aimed at!

Effects:

+1 Stun

No collateral damage

Cosmic Girl kills Dr. Norwood.

...Nnnnno, wait a minute-- she doesn't. It just LOOKS for a second like she does.

She DESTROYS him.

Because this isn't him.

It's a robot.

Coils and wires and bits of blackened metal are now visible from the robot's metallic chest. "Mm, inconclusive. Was this a result of the bloodlust my pets can pass along, or did you simply deduce that you were talking to a robot, and not the real me?" the robot asks in a perfectly calm voice.

"Wow," Goodwill says. He's as interested in the answer to Norwood's question as Norwood is, if not more so. Did Cosmic Girl know that it was a robot? Or did she just try to murder the man? "Just wow."

Slipping into the room, Lynx spied the charred machine speaking to her comrades. Looking between the semi-smoking robot and the other heroes with a moderate amount of confusion, Lynx took in the room, spying another door on the other side of the room.

"A decoy...? Dr. Norwood's not in here, I assume? Have you checked that door over there too?"

Scraps ran into the room close on Lynx's heels.

Cosmic Girl scowled. "As I thought. He had time enough to escape, and there is no way he would leave himself open to our abilities unless he knew he was immune. He's too good at planning to be caught in this situation." She rounded on the damaged robot. "Where is Doctor Norwood? Isn't this when lunatics like you start monologuing? Let's get to that part, we do not have all day, you know!"

Perhaps there were lingering effects from the toxin. Or perhaps she was just a teenager in a very bad mood...

"I-- that is, the true 'I' --am already at another location. This robot 'I' is broadcasting our interaction by special radio signal-- one-way, and so impossible to trace. We will doubtless meet again some other time-- at which time, the more knowledge I have of each of you, the better." The robot's head tilts to the side-- too far, farther than any human neck could snap (and the head still keep talking, anwyay). "Ah, and White Lynx and Scraps the wonder dog survived as well! Anything to say, White Lynx?"

Goodwill knelt next to Scraps and made sure his best buddy was feeling better.

Lynx stopped for a moment, partly to get her thoughts together and partly to let her arm rest a bit more. Even now, after coming down from that aggression high, it still stung and felt numb. The feeling would come back soon though, right? The day just needed to end, was all. Then she could get some proper rest and put it in a sling or something. Honestly though, she had really gotten sick of the slow healing that the humans had.

Looking over at the robot Dr. Norwood, she opened her mouth to speak, maybe to ask why he didn’t just work to improve people’s quality of life or something. He certainly had the skill, if these gadgets and creations were anything to go by. Why didn’t he just accept the big paycheck that he must know he could get?

But then she thought better. Still somewhat filled with the paranoia of working against her own brain, she found it odd that he was explicitly asking for her to speak. Was he just a crazed scientist, hoping to get a good understanding of how his latest subjects went through their trial? Or was there something sinister at work here? He’d made chemical creations that were perfectly suited to face them, strange dog things that hopped them up on aggression and started to mutate them. He was clearly working on something bad and these things he made were dangerous and necessary to get rid of. But. Both times now, he seemed more interested in gathering data. On them.

Lynx looked at the robot, speaking with a voice that was not there. Was he recording their voices? Was he going to try to remake them? Like more chemical men, but even more like them? Clones, even?

Gulping, she realized that she had already spoken here when she came in. Still, there was no reason to give him more material. Instead, she held up a finger and dashed off, returning after a few moments with several blue and red pens and pieces of paper. Heading over to the closest wall for a good, hard surface, Lynx scribbled something down before staring at the paper for a moment and shaking her head. Crumpling the paper up into a ball and tossing it away from her and towards Goodwill's feet. Trying again, Lynx scribbled away again before grunting in pain and clutching her arm, thereby dropping the paper. With a snort of annoyance, she dropped down to grab the paper. Rising back up, she inspected the other side of what seemed to be Norwood's notes before deciding that, whatever she had written, it wasn't good enough. Another ball, another throw. This time, it landed at Cosmic Girl's feet. Giving it a final go, she scribbled away.

Once she finished, she brought the paper over to the robot and presented the backside of the page, on which the words, "You seem like a smart guy. Have you not considered just selling and making and selling inventions? You could live quite comfortably and be remembered as a pioneer of whatever you went into. What do you get out of fighting heroes?" were written.

If either of her human allies picked up the balled-up papers in front of them, they would see the words, "Think he might be recording us? Our voices? Maybe he wants to make clones of us or something. Either way, I'm very suspicious about this chat we're having."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:18, Thu 17 Sept 2020.

Cosmic Girl raised a hand, filling it with the purley-pinkish fire that she called into being with such strange ease. But she also knelt, took up the paper, and opened it with one hand, a little clumsily. She read it, and nodded. She decided it would be best if she did not speak. She had said but a few words in the presence of the robot, and was not going to give Norwood any more information about her - not even the sound of her voice. With but a tiny amount of knowledge, he had manufactured terrible monsters, able to drastically counteract their abilities. She was not about to give him even more ammunition - metaphorical or literal!

The robot squinted at the words on the paper-- whether Norwood did or not, it seemed that the robot really needed reading glasses. "Ah. This is a moral question." The robot's left hand flickered in a failed attempt at a gesture, probably a dismissive one. "I-- the true 'I,' of course-- care little for money nor power, save what I need to achieve my personal ends. What I am interested in these days is creating new forms of life, and in social experimentation upon mass groups-- manipulation, certainly, but mostly so as to establish a foundation upon which predictions might be made. When presented with a perhaps-unsettling new variable, how will a city, a country, a planet react? That is part of why you and the wonder dog interest me so, young man..." The robot flickers a finger (well, a thumb-- its body is really not working properly since Cosmic Girl's blast) at Goodwill. "Science-- being merely the rules by which the universe works-- is amoral, and therefore so also must be effective scientists."

Goodwill wasn't sure why they were writing instead of talking. He hadn't been curious enough to read White Lynx's 'discarded' paper. But Norwood was so far under his skin that he lacked the patience to write out his own response, for whatever the reason.

"We're not going to get anywhere in a philosophical debate with a nihilist," he said. (He knew big words, too!) "I say we turn the robot and the lab over to the experts and let them see what they can find."

'Planet?' 'Universe?' Was he trying to hint at something or was he just being melodramatic? Usually, the others back home tried to frame it as cute whenever a pre-space planet scratched the surface and felt like masters of the universe. But here, there was nothing cute about this man. Okay, maybe the burning robot was a little cute, what with its struggling to move and jerky hand motions, but that wasn't really the man himself. He reminded her of what others had been accusing the Brin of for centuries. Only with 'scientific advancement' instead of power.

In any case, if he was actually interested in the stars, Lynx hoped that Goodwill would be able to show him some soon.

Why did she have to come up with her best banter while she couldn't talk?

Partly to get her mind off of all the glorious jokes she could make and partly to show her nonverbal agreement with Goodwill, Lynx nodded her head. There was really nothing more that she needed to hear.