[Heromux] The Trillion Dollar Coin

Summary: Kilroy returns homes to millions of people.

Location: New York Federal Reserve

Date: 10.23.2014

Emitter: Kilroy Capital Conneticut

Players: Fantomex, James Barnes

NPCs: Carmen Sandiego, Alice Hearts

Groups: Hydra, Magic and Mysticism

Tone: Gritty

Rating: Public

Kilroy has been preparing for months and it all comes down to tonight. He looks down at the small toy dog that was sold to him. It is far and away the most powerful magical object he has bought but he just can't believe it is what it is supposed to be. Nevertheless, he trusts the creator implicitly. Focusing intently in his mind, he closes his eyes, and whispers into the dog's ear...Fetch!
And off it goes! The dog vanishes from sight, becoming a small animated spirit, sprinting through timelines like shadows on a summer's day, the sun green one moment, red the next, then yellow again until he arrives in a sturdy fortress dire indeed, where happy pleasure lobotomized man quietly works his way through making magical currency in the 9 Prime Worlds, draining world after world as it is exposed in a window and using the magic from the Trillion Dollar coin to do so. Blithely smiling like an idiot, the former villain fails to notice the small dog steal the coin in his mouth and leap away to shouts of alarm from other guards. Back it goes!
The dog returns and drops the coin in Kilroy's hand. Then it barks happily, wags its tail and vanishes. To think the things he could have summoned with that....Thor's Hammer? The Infinity Gauntlet? But in Kilroy's hands this innocent little coin is quite dangerous indeed. To anyone else, its a theoretically redeemable in practicality ticket-to-laugh at coin minted by the US worth a Trillion Dollars a year ago in response to a budget crisis. But the magical symbology is potent indeed. In Kilroy's hand it pulses and hums. He feels...powerful. And with great power comes great responsibility. Responsibility to fix things....to make the world a better place. And tonight, after much planning and preparation, he will do just that.
The potion of invisibility works just as promised. He is able to walk right past the guards, and past the unseen magical wards that guard the reserve that few people know about. Kilroy is able to bypass those easily, and walks past another set of guards into the heart of the vault itself. He checks his watch, counting down slowly. When it is ten minutes before the closing of the bell of the stock exchange he will begin his work.
Well placed agents, those with friends or family whose homes were stolen, have been quietly moved into place by Limrick McFabisham, slowly setting up the dance that is to begin. All around the country but especially the city, Law Enforcement and several prominent heroes are raiding criminals with well placed clues, tied up and too distracted to easily respond to the the 'theft' that is about to occur. One that dwarfs all others in history...except the one that inspired this one.
And so the clock ticks down until finally...
The Federal Reserve begins to rumble and the skies over Manhattan begin to darken. This is not an evil cloud of dark omen but rather one of power, as gigantic ley lines are misdirected. Most every prominent magical being on the planet can feel the sheer magical energies being gathered here.
In every bank in the city, Kilroy's little gnome squad begins to change official corporate policy whilst their VIP's are on an official retreat in upper state New York. Legal procedures are changed to return mortgages taken by sheer attrition and neglect despite mandates from numerous federal agencies. Many of the regulators are also on that same retreat, in the interest of 'building bridges' so they can retire and work for the firms.
They think the plunge in bank stocks as the wiser hedge funds divest themselves of these entities is merely a passing fad. It is a lot more than that, because stolen assets are about to be returned to their rightful owners.
At the same time, all around the city, every corporate logo on walls, on products, in stock tickers and on advertisements begins to shimmer a little and begin to glow with a faint golden hue.
Fantomex knows little about magic. He knows a little about finances, but that is because he likes money a little too much. It is not as if he can legally invest his ill-gotten cash, he has no legal identity. But he keeps in touch with the news, with the world. E.V.A. is connected to the nets, she listens to the newscast, she notices when corporate logos everywhere begin glowing.
And E.V.A. floats lazily between over New York's landscape, an invisible, technorganic flying saucer. At Fantomex request, she is gathering information. They are looking for a reason or a cause to this unexplained development. Corporations are changing procedures (without being arm-twisted by the powers that be) and the weather going crazy at the same time. Both things are about as natural as flying pigs.
As the city begins to panic and money begins to move around, seemingly on it's own, a number of parties begin to fear for their finances. These actions have set into motion the deployment of a dangerous asset in order to remedy this situation. A cryogenic chamber manned by scientists and surrounded by armed men slowly unthaws and reveals it's occupant, a dark haired man, scarred but fit, with a cybernetic left adorned with a red star, the Winter Soldier.
Its not long before the Winter Soldier is ready to move. His mission is to identify and neutralize the individual who revealed the location of the safe house and hes prepared to do so. He stands in the open door of a helicopter, wearing mask and goggles to protect his face and identity. In his hands he carries an M4A1 carbine, equipped with a sound suppressor, reflex sight and an underbarrel grenade launcher, ready to move, watching the city below. He knows his mission, not the why of it. It doesn't matter to a living weapon.
Kilroy begins to move money. Lots of it. He moves more with a single wave of his hand than all other manipulations combined. It is like directing the ocean itself but precise and unearthly in its sheer awesome power. The curse of the Greek Goddess, designed to wipe The Economy from memory, makes all the paper work and each trail seem perfectly legal, perfectly concealed, backed up with paper work and title being sent out all at once.
Pagers in the retreat all begin to go off at once and VIP banksters begin to excuse themselves in the Ariodacks.
Three quarters of every rentable helicopter in the tristate area has been commissioned to move the Gnomes safely to the air port and out of the country to a tropical location without an extradition treaty with the US. Not that there will be much evidence. Not that this stops certain agencies from acting in the interest of the rich.
The corporation logos begin to vanish, one by one, everywhere, from everything. Well, that's...harmless enough.
The guards at the reserve figure out by now something is up, but titans made of invisible Rai stones knock them out and gently deposit them outside of the building and in waiting cabs that take them home. This is all planned and accounted for.
Up in the sky the almost sentient E.V.A. notices all that weirdness but can't make sense out of it. Fantomex, however, could... if he was focused enough. But he is an assassin and a thief, he is biased. Weather, check. People that shouldn't be moving is moving, check. Increase of crime, check. To him, the master of misdirection, it looks like an elaborate setup. But for what? It must be grand, it is so complex.
And then there are those cabs taking unconscious men from the Federal Reserve to private residences so early in the afternoon. The Federal Reserve is maybe one of the few targets in the city worth such an elaborate operation, and that is where E.V.A. is coming down.
The sky seems full of helicopters, not just the news and police helicopters hed suspected, but a number of chartered birds. The Winter Soldier scans them for threats but he doesnt seem to find any, not that his guard seems to drop at all. Thats when he reaches his cybernetic hand up to touch his ear, then drops it back to his weapon as he loudly instructs the pilot, "Liberty Street." The bird makes good time and is soon hovering near the Federal Reserve Bank.
The Winter Soldier stares down at the people being placed, unconscious, into cabs. Expressionlessly, he orders, "Bring us over the roof."
This is going to take time. There's just no way around it. The fact is that transferring a trillion dollars to a hundred million accounts, no matter how powerful the magical oomph from the coin and the site is going to make this EASY, but it is FAST and powerful nevertheless. He has a backup plan regardless.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, strange figures begin to appear, a clown, a dapper man that looks a like a men's suit store, a giant donuts shaped man over 12 feet tall, corporations, artificial people, temporarily made REAL people begin to experience life for the first time...and most of them have no consciences whatsoever.
Spirits of the Gold, the Green, the Red and many others begin to manifest as the thousand year curse begins to manifest itself, animals running wild, plants coming to life and going berserk and clouds of floating coins wandering by folks and causing minor riots.
Winter soldier is able to get on the roof with no interference whatsoever. E.V.A. also lands unchallenged.
E.V.A. is quite hard to see thanks to Fantomex misdirection abilities, but she didn't quite land as just drops the thief in white near the most convenient entrance. Probably a window. It would take him just a few seconds to get through the alarm and other security.
Now that hes at his location the Winter Soldier disembarks from his vehicle, stepping off of it while its still several feet off of the ground. He lands smoothly and starts moving forward, his determined stride eating up distance. The connection to the security system on the rooftop entrance to the building doesnt stand up to a brief EMP before its physically shoved open. Once inside the Winter Soldier quickly ascertains that it wont be coming back online before moving into the building, weapon at the ready.
Kilroy is about half way done as he senses Fantomex's presence. He doesn't recognize the name but he does not the airborne landing. He knew that this was likely to happen and sends an invisible man made of coins to try and stop him but its not particularly skillful since Kilroy is supremely distracted.
Meanwhile, a slightly mischevious trench coated Carmen half way across the city peruses books herself on the occult, having had one of her favorite accounts taken over by law enforcement. There are plans being made.
As chaos wreaks across the city, multiple heroes spring into action, curtailing the worst of the actions by the spirits of animals and plants, but the spirits of the Gold go crazy, with mobs going after the free money as they scamper playfully in the streets.
Fantomex is used to go around undetected, getting stalked by an invisible critter made of coins is a new experience. He has very sharp senses, so he can hear the spirit coming, and tries to hide, reaching with his powers to misdirect. Termite inspector here, nothing to worry!
Smoothly, the Winter Soldier clears rooms. Hes fast but nothing seems to escape his notice. Whatever is happening here, hes going to find the cause. No room in bypassed and hes in and out quickly from each one, wasting neither time nor energy.
The workers have all gone home for the day so the offices are empty. If he had time there might be valuable papers to steal here but there is a roar coming from below which both of them could recognize as the vault, though because of the organization of the place, they're both likely to run into each other before arriving at the location of the ritual. The spirit possessing the coins is easily fooled and lets Fantomex go.
Adieu, you creepy invisible metal thing. Fantomex sneaks down, heading for the vault. The vault must be the most interesting place in the building, so chances are the crazy people doing this crazy thing are there. If they aren't, he is sure he will find something interesting anyway.
Only he is being stalked again, this time probably by a living person. Maybe a ninja, he moves quietly. Would ninja kill a termite inspector? Odds are they would. He hurries up. If he gets caught, the Vault would make a more stylish battlefield. That, you see, is also important.
Is that movement up ahead? The Winter Soldiers slows down for a heartbeat to listen better, but doesn't stop for long. Whether or not someone is up ahead doesn't make much difference to the cold hearted killer and killing him wouldn't slow him down. The muzzle of the weapon sweeps each hallway and room he enters as he makes his way towards the vault, the likely location of his objective.
The ritual is nearing completion. He has gotten much farther than he expected. His secrets, his coordination and his diversionary plan seem to be working though he notes the single individual approaching the vault. The magic is enough to make the hair on the back of one's neck stand up, and the entire area thrums with power....the stone titans are walking in front of Kilroy, protecting him whilst he finishes....
Meanwhile, across the city, a circle of chalk is being made in a basement. What worked once, can work again...
Fantomex is sneaky. As much as he can afford with someone probably dangerous behind him. When he steps into the ritual area he draws one of his handguns, and keeps close to the wall. "Bonjour," he greets, "you have caused quite the disturbance, monsieur. Now, stop. Don't make me kill you."
Magic doesnt interest the Winter Soldier much, but he notes the feeling hes getting as he continues forward, only to find himself staring through the optic on his rifle at another interloper in a mask and large, stone monsters. As hes just turned a corner he stays where he is, using as much of it as cover as possible, keeping his weapon aimed and staying quiet until he knows more about the situation at hand. He seems unphased by anything ahead of him.
“I'd be ashamed to die sir, but the chaos outside had to happen for the magical balance anyway, I've managed to keep it contained, but more importa...” he shudders. Something was wrong. Something was pulling away force of magic around him. Indeed, only the power of the coin and the location were ceasing it entirely.
The titans looked a little less lethargic.
important to finish! Assuming that whatever it was was trying to stop him, he moved to finish the ritual....almost....there!
Fantomex keeps a gun aimed to Kilroy, then draws the second one and aims for the Winter Soldier when he appears. Aiming to the stone giants seems pointless, but they don't seem very spry. "Ashamed to die? Well, that is an interesting way to put it. Seriously, stop."
As soon as he realises he's spotted the Winter Soldier goes into action, apparently a man of few words. The dot on his reflex sight finds itself on Fantomex before the Winter Soldier presses the trigger on his weapon, unleashing a trio of black tipped shaped tungsten core penetrators at the other man. The slow moving giants can wait, for now.
Kilroy stops whether he likes it or not. By now he can feel the magic leaving him and pours every ounce of will he has left to finish the ritual...and he does! But just barely....the mayhem begins to lessen in the city, and the weather to clear. The stone giants begin to fall down. And its about now that someone at DHS has noticed THERE ARE NO GUARDS AT THE FEDERAL RESERVE.
An alert begins to sound in the vault.
Meanwhile, in a chalk circle in the floor across state lines in Jersey, a rather pleased Carmen Sandiego is looking at one reincorporated and highly confused God/Almost Endless formerly known as the Economy. And Kilroy finds himself without any magic in the middle of one of the most secure facilities in the world.
And Fantimex finds himself with three holes in the chest caused by armor piercing bullets. "Sacre bleu," he falls to his knees. "Not nice." He should be dead, but of course he is not. He only lost some important but redundant organs, and the nanites in his blood are already doing some basic repairs. He shares the pain with E.V.A. and avoids going into shock.
Even as he falls the handgun aimed to the Winter Soldier remains steady, and the man in white fires thrice, sending high calibre ceramic bullets towards the assassin's head and chest.
As his target manages somehow to let off some rounds of his own, the Winter Soldier dodges back around the corner, letting Fantimex's heavy ceramic rounds smash into the wall, aside from the one that catches him alongside of his ribs, drawing a line of blood. Then the rifle appears around the corner again, this time with a metal hand gripping the trigger of the underbarrel grenade launcher. Apparently, he doesn't intend to play nice.
Kilroy is without magic and is fortunate that the two warriors are utterly ignoring him. He pulls out his last ace in the hole. The last spell not used....he takes out a can of reflective spray paint and begins to tag a wall. A short while later he sounds a chime and a rather gorgeous looking woman appears on the other side. She reaches her hand through...and pulls Kilroy inside, leaving only the tagged wall behind.
Fantomex was trying to pay attention to Kilroy, but someone put three bullets in his chest. That is distracting! By the time the Winter Soldier brings out his grenade launcher, he is moving very quickly, trying to catch the mage... too late! He shots a few rounds to the cyborg, but chances are he is only hitting his metal arm. Maybe the grenade launcher too.
But apparently he is not quick enough, pieces of French thief everywhere. Oh, the humanity! Oh, the misdirection. Hopefully that epic death illusion is enough he can sneak out past the Winter Soldier before half the police of New York arrive.
Just before the sound of an explosion the Winter Soldier's rifle is shot out of his hand and his prosthetic is banged around a little. There's no hesitation as he draws a pistol from his hip and moves to clear the vault, ignoring the various pieces of Frenchmen he perceives once he's ascertained there's not enough left to put up a fight. He makes his way to the spray painted wall and reaches out to touch it with his cybernetics, looking at his hand afterwards. And then, after one more look around, he skulks back from when he came.
The police and DHS and BSA swarm on the place, now identified as the center of...whatever it was. But...all hint is gone. And they begin to dust for prints or any other clue that will give them an idea of what has taken place here...the greatest theft in history by a single person...but one up there is accomplished when a certain shiny coin is grabbed by Fantomex...

[Heromux] Are You a God - Kilroy's pending application

This is hardly the final application, but I wanted to post the working doc so I don't lose it later.

Kilroy can say yes. I'd like to spend 50 karma to upgrade Kilroy to a Demigod. Before I submit the character mods though I'd like to get the background approved first (since there's no point submitting stats for a story that isn't approved.)

So, how does Kilroy become a demi god? Well, basically, he doesn't and yet does. The idea is that the Economy isn't a 'quasi endless' as most have thought and has been hinted at, but something else (which has also been hinted at) and its actually the essence of a murdered God that has been transformed into a very powerful spell and scattered throughout the multiverse that eventually gained awareness at the time of Kilroy's grandfather. Kilroy's line are Home Magi, but what they really are is master channelers, like the Loa of the Voodoo etc, and Yankee (Kilroy's Grandfather) picked up the essence of this spell. Through an event (yet to be determined but I'm talking with Carmen) there is a disruption, and all of this essence is reaggregated into Kilroy, making Kilroy both a mortal and a God (hence the demigod part).

The first try I'd like to make is that the god in question is the son of Hades and Persephone and was given a powerful gift by the actual endless, Destiny, to determine the price of anything. Might sound like not that big a deal, but 'anything' in this case also included the ability to break one's fate, to quest for the impossible (a total plot power only scenario obviously). Well, needless to say, the fates didn't like this one bit. They already had an arrangement with Destiny, and felt this was a breach of contract. So they arranged for the god to be murdered and have the goddess of memory to wipe all memory of him from existance, thus making his essence an abstract force. Either one, powerful as they were, couldn't do such a thing but together they could. But nothing stays dead forever when its immortal.

If the Greek Pantheon is too crowded, my second pitch is with the Finnish pantheon with a distant relation to the Norse Fates, but we'll see if I can get my first pitch first. :D

Staff: Response: Tentative Green Light.  Post character details.  We have questions. (Paraphrased.)

Traits: Determine Price: Kilroy is able to determine what anything is worth to anyone within his area of perception. This might seem harmless, but it is more profound than that. It also means that, if someone asks him for something big or insane like, "How do I change my fate?" or "How can I blow up the moon?" Kilroy can tell them what they need to do to accomplish this. By and large, this is either a consent only ability for small things, or a Staff approval only for large changes.

Bless and Curse - 7

As the God of Commerce, Kilroy can bless and or curse economic activity within his sphere of influence. After he leaves, this effect can linger for as long as he likes. This effects the probability of commerce in the .01 percentile, but is still within the realm of realistic possibility. He can bless people, places or institutions such as a corporation.

Create, Control, Transform and Destroy - 7

Kilroy can create any kind of currency or transform it from one to another. He can also destroy currency as well up to toughness 7. He is able to telekinetically control currency. He is able to independently create, control, transform and destroy separately but must have a clear mind to do so. He is able to affect at most 50 tons of matter at a time or $2 million at a time.

He may only destroy a single "account" or bundle at a time at a rate of one per minute, which means that financially prudent or truly wealthy individuals are harder to make "broke" with this power since they likely have their money in multiple locations and multiple accounts, though it can still HURT quite a lot.

Master Channeler 9: As a master channeler, Kilroy is able to speak to anything, even abstract concepts. They might not like him or choose to answer, but he can still do it. He is also in theory able to tap into fields of entities able to grant power far more efficently than others, even other magi, though while he holds the spirit of Veolus, this ability is essentially dormant.Limit: For Plot or Flavor purposes only at the moment.

Detect: He knows location, use and ownership of any currency in any form he desires within his active limit range. If the currency has eyes or ears, he can also see or hear through them. Indeed, if it has a mouth, he can also speak through it.

Rituals: Kilroy can affect far more powerful economic effects by taking rituals and time to do something involving his sphere. The more complicated it is, the more time it takes. Some common examples of rituals he has performed are: Transportation from one form of currency to another, large scale blessing, large scale cursing, great divinations, concealing a large amount of currency, summoning or banishing a spirit.

God: As a result of his infusion with Veolus, Kilroy has vastly increased physical and mental capabilities. He has Strength 5, Endurance: 5, Toughness: 5, and Intelligence 5. He also has a godly mien whenever he uses his powers which is a low level telepathy 3 effect that can awe those of willpower 2 or less in some form or another.Kilroy recieved an education at the best private schools the world had to offer on five continents and numerous private tutors. Kilroy has a knowledge of geography, luxury (fine wines, sailing, art, jewelry etc), cultures, etiquette and diplomacy. He also has a natural talent for languages depending on how large the economy is.

Money (All) - This ability started as a family knack, combined with excellent training of around 5 by the time he was 14. When his powers manifested, it changed his view of the world forever, and he aquired an intuitive understanding of economics, accounting, laundering, business management and finance that left those untouched by it far behind. Even without powers, without magic, his ability to see the flow and history of human commerce has given him a total understanding of the trading, storage, abstration and commoditization of human goods and economies. Even in a totally alien situation, this skill would be at an 7, rapidly to rise again to a 9 with a few weeks accustomization. The practical upshot is that he understands money well, and this knack allows him to perform forensic accounting at an almost astonishing rate.

Stunts: Some of Kilroy's more impressive stunts with his powers include: Creating a Suit of Stone armor which he boosts with his powers giving him Toughness: 7, Strength: 7, and Endurace: 7; Flight: 4, Creating Rai Stone walls to protect the innocent, Creating a bunch of chocolate coins to feed the hungry, summoning a lot of bullets and then making the metal part of the bullets go away to create gun powder.

Wealth: Kilroy has several billion in assets between what he has inherited from his father, as well as deals and aquisitions he has made on his own. Large amounts of this are in essentially untracable accounts created when he still had his conceal power.

Gear: Kilroy has enough contacts in the heroic, criminal, financial and international communities that he is able to get his hands on some very impressive gear. In a given scene, he will either have one or two minor gizmos appropriate to the situation if he is able to prepare or a fallback item such as a single use flash bang, gas mask, toughness 7 staff given to him by Brynn or a Plasma Pistol (Arsenal 5) he picked up while he was with X-Force. Generally speaking, he has at most two of these in any scene he is in.

Veolus: The God Veolus is permantly fused to Kilroy's spirit at this point. Veolus can also think and in some cases act while Kilroy is otherwise occupied. His status as a God gives Kilroy access and respect to areas that others might not normally possess, especially with the Greek Pantheon, but that is a very uncomfortable link since many simply cannot fathom or believe he is real.

Flaws: Hostilities: All heroes have a range of enemies, but Kilroy has managed to upset a particularly impressive bunch. Most gods, goddesses and powerful entities of cosmic scope now know who he is thanks to the lifting of the curse ...but don't like him because they were affected in the first place. He's annoying new factor. He has yet to prove himself, especially in his current odd incarnation as not alive/yet kind of alive. Also, an arch(ish) angel, a demon lord, many wealth entities, a pirate dragon, a lich, a multi dimensional empire, and three parliaments of spirits (Gold, Red and Green) have huge amounts of folks that don't like him either.

Area of Influence: Now that Veolus is no longer a disbursed spirit, Kilroy's ability extends to a maximum of 10 miles. Anything beyond this requires a ritual to complete.

Magic: His power source, though 'divine' in origin, manifests just like regular magic, so anti magic zones, magic stealing villains, etc work against him just as well. The exception being that while his powers are easily suppressible, his link to Veolus is particularly strong and his godly 'attributes' require a Magic 8 (vs 5) to level to suppress.

Kept the Same: Contacts, Crowded Field, What You See Is What You Get

Removed: (Many are simply consolidated) but outright removed are Cold Hard Cash and Conceal.

Using answers to their numbered questions but since I didn't ask their permission to quote them here I'm just posting my answers :D

2) I attempted to keep it as concise as I could. I am considering also asking for a slight protection from certain thoughts being read due to his dual mind at this point but wanted to gauge your reaction to what I'm already submitting. I removed some listed limits, but tried to keep most of them as I consolidated and simplified the description on some powers.

3)Kilroy is going to have the abilities of a God but none of the status. That will have to be earned. Plots being run would include greater influence of myth and story and greater powers, probably making more requests for higher level magic npc's from marvel and dc. The greater wealth powers will now REALLY view him as a threat, and Kilroy will have to carve out a new niche instead of simply do what he did before. I'd also REALLY like to involve the Endless a lot in his arc but obviously that will require well done plots.

4) Well, how would you feel if your son you never knew you had but forgot about was alive but infused to a distant descendant in very alien form? So, the answer is...distant. That is to say, in their eyes I'm thinking they see him as kind of a ghost and are also shocked they were so 'easily' affected for so long. Eventually I see some kind of reconciliation and potentially minor advantages from both parents to his powers/pantheon access. By and large, the status quo of the game world will appear to mortals as the same but in the halls of power he will be viewed as a major power/threat and dealt with accordingly in chess games, plots etc. His ability to name the 'price' needed to change fate/accomplish something in particular will make him a threat to the status quo (in their minds, in game terms he can only change the plots you accept).

5) Veolus is inflused into Kilroy as a member of Homi Magi as the spirit of a once dispersed and slain Greek God.

Response: Tentative Greenlight for plot.  Still things to be worked out on stats. [Paraphrased]

Plot App: So basically Kilroy has gone a bit nuts due to memory alteration, and has decided to reverse the Bank Crash of 2008. Specifically, this involves a massively coordinated con job in cellular units on a small scale and a massive use of his magic powers with the trillion dollar coin at the Federal Reserve to transfer a lot of wealth from banks back to individuals who lost their home or stock wealth due to the market manipulation on land speculation.

The main ask I'm requesting for this is...how much can I ACTUALLY have him transfer. You can let me do any amount of course (including zero) but to make it easier a bit I'd like to distil it to 3 'key packages' depending on when he gets foiled.

Small: The only people who have their property restored are those who lost it a year ago when the forest took over central park, roughly 4 NYC blogs(can provide log for reference on request)

2) A moderate amount, enough to make it seem heroic but not change a lot...say a million people and $50-100 billion....
3) Full on near success...$1-2 trillion dollars, 200 million people get their money back and the financial institutions are disolved or nationalized...note, the wealth is still there, but its in the hands of the middle class, not the banks.

A provision is made for stock holders and pension funds to reinvest before the bank stocks collapse within the plot so it should not cause total collapse of the economy.

At some point, and what that point is is up to you, the Economy is Stolen in much the same way that Dream was isolated in Sandman. Ideally, this would be Carmen Sandiego but if she can't there are other NPC entities available. The key question is, how much can I shake things up?

Thanks

[Red Tower] Boaz Mocktock - Downtime October #1

This cycle will be all about doing favors for his allies.

1) Fideilous Argento was the one who initially found Boaz in the ruins of the battle he had gone into torpor in New York.  He very carefully gave Boaz his blood, allowing Boaz to slowly recover and learn how long it had been.  Fideilous Argento had done a great deal of work for many of the vampires in the area, but there were many who felt he knew too much at this point so they were threatening to blood bond him.  Fideilous Argento offered to go with Boaz back home, implying that he was blood bound.  Boaz agreed if he stopped regularly interacting with vampires.  "If you have to be blood bound, I'd rather it be to me.' Fideilous Argento agreed on that point, and has kept a fairly low key profile in Chalotte ever since, setting up an occult book shop with regular magic as a front in the 4th ward.  He kept the real potent books in the back, but was also slowly printing them and selling them anonymously on ebay.

There was one particularly vicious mother who felt it was in appropriate to have her store near where her daughter went to school (note that 'near' in this case was within a mile of the school).  She was even threatening to go to the city council.  Boaz used presence on her to entrance her while she was at the grocery store.  It turned out most of her religion was paper thin and she only did it to please her family but figured if she was miserable then so must everyone else.

[Note: I'm not sure how much of the result we can post but if we just send it to you and you're OK with it, I'll post here.]

So he got her drunk, had relations with her, and then blood bound her at the first level.  Not enough to make her obsessed, but enough to make her loosen up.  He could always blood bind her more if he had to, but he wanted to keep things light. For now.  She could always become part of his herd if he needed that.

He told Fideilous Argento what he had done, and said, "Call me if she gives you more problems."

2) Vanitol Xavier was a lot of ex things.  He was an ex ghoul and an ex arcanum member.  He had ways of finding out information, which made him a valuable broker.  He had never left Charlotte, but had worked for Boaz's sire.  Vanitol had also been learning things he should not, and Boaz had blood bound him to keep him quiet too.  Vanitol had been happy with that, but eventually he proved so useful that Jebere decided to ghoul him.  Over time, Jebere gave him more autonomy and freedom, and Vanitol was able to gain more links to aspects of the supernatural community, learning more and more things, and becoming quite useful.  Eventually, Vanitol realized Jebere was going to go away and started keeping a lower key profile.  He stuck to the most useful clients, and worked as a broker between very reliable parties.  He did not actually lie to anyone, but since he was blood bound to Jebere, he let it seem that he still was.  For twenty years that status worked just fine.

When Boaz came back, he leapt at the chance for a low level of blood binding, knowing that he could always be forced to take worse.  Boaz was someone he could trust and they had always been friends before Boaz had been torpored.  Plus at one point he had been blood bound to Boaz, and those feelings of loyalty had never entirely gone away.

Vanitol had an individual who owed him quite a bit of money.  A purely mortal individual obsessed with making his own love potions.  He asked Boaz if he could act as muscle on this, just in case.  When they arrived at the guys house,he pulled a gun and tried to shoot Vanitol. Boaz disarmed him rather quickly.  The guy said he would only pay Vanitol if he could make a love potion that worked.

Boaz entranced the guy and 'convinced' him that he didn't need a love potion.  Even entranced, he was so obsessed with the girl that he wouldn't pay Vanitol, so Boaz got the girl, entranced her and convinced her to spend some time with the guy to get Vanitol paid.  The girl agreed, and the guy was agreeable to paying.  Vanitol thanks Boaz and headed off.  At this point, Boaz warned the guy that if ever insulted the girl in any way, the potion would stop working and no potion would ever work again.

The girl, it turned out, was insulted by pictures of dogs playing poker and stormed out.  Boaz idly suggested that he try just asking her out.  That actually worked and for the moment at least, they're an item and thank Boaz for helping them get together.

3) Edgar Xal is well and thoroughly blood bound since there was no long history between Boaz and he, but Edgar is the head ME in the city, and when Boaz found, much to his shock, that no one seemed to claim him, Boaz found the opportunity too good to pass up.  Edgar doesn't know about vampires but he does know some of Boaz's friends are into some weird shit, and Boaz helps keep it out of the papers. Just in case.

The request for some blood from corpses was a bit weird, but Boaz has helped him round up volunteers to help with the charity event to raise money for Cancer prevention.  Every department in the city participated, but Edgar's team was outraising everyone else due to the volunteers involved.  Boaz could be quite persuasive if he needed to be.  He also spent at least two or three nights listening to Edgar vent about the people he worked with who thought CSI was real, and expected magical results with magical displays and CGI printouts.  Boaz mainly listened but said that if he ever had the chance to help them get more equipment that worked like the tv show, he'd help.  Edgar, impressed with the volunteer 'help' accepted Boaz's offer and then vented about his employees instead.  Boaz patiently listened.

[Heromux] Cash Game

Summary: Kilroy hires two of New York's best detectives to obtain lost files that belonged to his father as a contingency in case future plans go awry.

Location: New York City

Date: 09/16/2014

Emitter: N/A

Players: Harry Dresden Jack Hawksmoor

NPCs: Kilroy Capital Conneticut, Limric McFabisham, Greed Demons, Cultists

Groups: Magic and Mysticism

Tone: Heroic

Rating: Public

Fifteen grand.. the number kept going through Harry's head as he drove The Ambush Bug through the streets of New York City, almost enough to distract him from the tracking spell. This one done with a Hawaiian dancer bobble doll that leans in the direction of the target. He pulls up outside of an old abandoned boarding house and sighs "Simple job Harry, catch the thief, get the documents and you're ten kay richer. Simple plan right?" he says to himself as he starts to climb his tall lanky frame out of the small multi-colored Volkswagen..
Money, not Jack's primary motivation. Truth is, he has rent on his closet-sized apartment that he basically uses to store clothes...and that's it. He's been known to give most of the pay on cases like this away. The challenge, that's what he's after. Harry has a tracking spell. Jack has jumped from clue to clue, reading one location then another. HE doesn't use a vehicle, but moves quickly across the rooftops to the same destination. This could be awkward.
Harry Dresden puts his stetson back on top of his head reaching into the bug to get the large oak staff arcane sigils scrolled down it fully he pockets the keys of the car and takes a breath. "Alright scope the place out first, then we'll see about going inside... Maybe I should have brought mouse." he comments to himself unaware of the other detective on the case, he starts to walk up to the door a couple of thugs emerging from the shadows of the doorway.
"You've got a wrong address." one of them states as both brandish small uzi's. "Nah, I think I have the right place, I'm here ta talk to the boss." Harry says in an incredibly bad movie mobster voice..
Who's that? Jack gives Harry a new middle name. Harry Distraction Dresden. He would have knocked on the door himself, but as Harry's doing that right now? Jack leaps onto the roof of the house, then silently drops into the yard behind. Not without making sure there aren't attack dogs in there first, of course.
"Yea sure" the thugs say both bringing their Uzi's up they start to spit lead towards the wizard. "Defendarius!" Harry evokes bringing his arm up and exposing a bracelet of small shields made of different metals comes into view a shield projecting in front of harry that rob the bullets of all their energy letting them drop to the ground "Wrong answer boys." he says leaning his staff forward "Forzare!" he cries out jerking his staff sideways as a thick bar of force slams into the stomachs of the two goons and thumps against the building with the sound of a baseball bat hitting stone..
And...gunshots. Is the guy out front? Yes, the guy out front can deal with being shot at, and Jack turns to the house...and runs straight through the wall. He'll disturb another thug in the kitchen, taking him down before he can raise his gun. Yeah, this just got serious.
Harry Dresden slips into the main hallway of the boarding house, dark and unlit he quietly starts stepping down checking in each room as he makes his way towards the stairs that head to the second floor the sounds of chanting can be heard coming from a side door on the first floor the sound of a roar then fills the night the closed door flying off it's hinges as something dark and dripping ichor fills the door way. "ohh hell.." Harry exclaims switching hands on the staff and bringing up his shield bracelet again for defense as he scrambles for his blasting rod.
And then...there's something that doesn't belong in the city. Jack charges towards that feeling of wrongness, being that kind of brave or foolish guy. He's almost silent, but he'll come up on the other side of the demon. He doesn't use ranged weapons. He's just bent on HITTING it. Hopefully he won't get friendly fired by the wizard. Harry Dresden brings his blasting rod up not noticing the man hitting it from behind just yet he lets out a wrist wide blast of pure fire "Fuego!" that lights up the room and slams into the large demon who's set off balance by the barreling strike from behind. Thankfully Harry was aiming high taking the demons head with his blast it catches of fire the demon letting out a scream thrashing about swiping at Jack with dripping claws blinded by the fire more chanting seems to be starting in the room the demon came bounding out of. Looks like they're wanting to bring in tweedle dee to fight with dum..
Jack? Changes tactics. He slides sideways, although he does get slightly slashed by the claws, tearing his jacket and slightly his skin. A few drops of silver blood well...and then he sidesteps through the wall into the room the chanting is coming from.
"The hell?" Harry sees in the light someone swimming through the walls like they were made of air, the demon's head finally quits burning and starts to heal eyes reforming and narrowing focusing on Harry "Hey there, did you know burning demon smells like roast duck? It's the oddest thing." Harry mouths off "Fuego!" he calls out again letting another beam of fire lance into the chest of the demon, who now ready for it just grounds out the magic "ohhh, boy." he says gritting his teeth his sheild sparking as the demon lumbers through the fire and slams into Harry sending him flying backwards.
Inside the room in question a pair of men are casting magics, a painted in summoning circle glowing faintly as they try and summon another demon. "We got one Jake, how are we going to get another!" a third man says none of the men being prepared for Jacks dynamic entrance.
Jack doesn't know much about magic. He knows that when one demon shows up and people are chanting? You stop the chanting. He springs out of the wall, leaping across the circle with the full intent of grabbing the two chanting guys and simply, uncreatively, knocking their heads together. and with a flash and pyrotechnic spark of released magic, the spell is broken as the circle is crossed, the two men go down, while the third draws a gun and fires at Jack the semi-auto gun flaring to light and barking out in the night. The demon being held at bay by the shield Harry lets his rings release all their charge which slams into the demon not ready for force magic sending him flying back off him.
"Fuego!" he cries out, the smell of brimstone filling the air as sullen red flames empowered with hellfire slams into the summoned creature again burning a hole in his chest.
Bullets? Jack doesn't care about small arms fire...unless it's armor piercers. Those hurt. That might mean that guy number three is going to be very unhappy as the guy *just keeps coming*. True, he's still bleeding from where the demon slashed him. And it's silver. If anything, that probably adds to the intimidation value.
The Demon lands with a thud, enough damage done that it turns into a giant lump of evaporating ectoplasm. Harry makes his way into the room where the chanters were and sees the unconscious, possibly dead he brings his blasting rod up, the tip glowing a sullen red "I don't know what personal issues you may have between your crew, but lets not get too hasty in doing anything." he calls out completely mis-reading the entire situation as the guy backs away from Jack gun still in hand pure terror on his face.
"...you think I'm with *these* losers?" Jack sounds insulted. "I don't know magic and I can't stand demons." He keeps one eye on the terrified guy, of course.
Harry Dresden smirks "Don't know magic, but you can recognize a demon when you see one?" he says his voice a little bit sarcastic though the glow of the blasting rod fades away. "I'm Harry." he introduces himself staff in one hand, rod lowered the remaining thug loses it and takes a shot at Harry suprising him and hitting his shoulder causing a grunt of pain to come out of the detective
"I know a bit ABOUT magic. Enough to know that if there's a demon and you hear chanting, you stop the chan..." He tails off as Harry gets shot, and moves to first disarm, then KO, the thug before he can do any more damage.
Harry Dresden ows as the last guy goes down "heh, true." he says reaching up and grabbing the still warm slug his duster having stopped the slug "ohhh, that's gonna leave a bruise." he says with a grimace "What's got you here in this house then, Tall dark and and mysterious?" he asks stowing his blasting rod in his duster.
"Guy hired me to retrieve some stolen property. You?" So, they're in the same line of work, at least to some degree.
Harry Dresden sighs when he hears that "/I/ got hired to retrieve some stolen property, some files and paperwork." he explains simply reaching into his pocket he pulls out the hula bobble doll and moves over to the sealed envelopes sitting on a near by table. Setting the doll down it starts to dance on it's own accord without being thwapped. "And these would be what I'm here for, you here for the same?" he asks
Jack Hawksmoor grumbles. "Bastard. Not you." He hates when somebody covers their bases by hiring more than one person. It often ends with somebody getting shot. As he doesn't carry a gun, it's usually him. Then he winces, his hand going to his upper arm. "Crap. Another jacket gone."Harry Dresden sighs "He give you the same offer? 5k up front, another 10 on delivery?" he asks curiously as the little bobble head click click clicks back and forth. "You have a car parked near by?" he asks waiting for the answer to both his questions he then speaks up "How bout this, We take my car back to my office, I'm a Private Eye here in town, I contact the guy he comes, pays the other 10k we split it we both walk away paying the rent and don't have to fight about it. No muss, no fuss." he proposes..
"Works for me." Not even a moment of hesitation. "I don't have a car here, no. I have my own means of transportation." He examines his arm again. "Ugh. Might have to call the doc."
Harry Dresden nods "Well, I've got bandages in the trunk of my car, lets get out of here before New Yorks Finest comes hearing reports of gun fire." he comments motioning back to the door "We can take my car that way nobody has to worry about the other trying to get over on them. then we both walk away." he offers
"Works for me." Although he has a feeling they'll bump into each other again. "Jack Hawksmoor," he offers, by way of introduction, as he heads to the door.
Harry Dresden picks up the doll and files, handing them over to jack as he leads Jack out of the house "Harry Dresden." he says reaching into a pocket and pulling out his card. (which can be viewed in my finger) He leads the man down the block to an old beat up VW bug, one door white, the other green, the hood red while the rest of the body is a bright baby blue. "Welcome to The Ambush Bug!" he says moving over to the hood and undoing a piece of wire that's holding the hood down, a first aid kit inside he'll help patch up the arm before they get going, Harry driving to a small high rise brownstone. "I'm up on the fifth floor, we'll have to take the stairs by the way, the elevator... protests my useage of it." he explains..
"I hear some magic users mess with technology." As long as Harry doesn't mess with him...but Jack's of a different order of magnitude from an elevator.
Harry Dresden leads jack up to his office opening the door and shrugging "some do yeah." he explains, the office is a bit grungy and when Harry goes to turn the light on, the light bulb burns out. He doesn't even pause as he goes over to a box of old style light bulbs and without needing a ladder he changes it the light flaring on and brightening the office a box of old novels sitting by the desk, a coffee table between two chairs sports pamphlets such as "Thaumaturgy, and other sympathetic magics, Magic and You, and Why Witches Dont Sink Any Faster Than Anyone Else: "a Wizards Perspective". "If you're thirsty, I've got some warm cokes if you want one." he offers tearing one off a 6 pack ring for himself as he moves to the old fashioned wired telephone and dials up the client. "Found the papers, still unopened, and I ran into the other guy you got coming for the stuff too, so make sure the money is either cash, or split into two separate checks." he says before hanging up. "How's the arm?"
"You aren't messing with me," Jack notes, cheerfully. "And much better. I heal quickly...just didn't want to lose any more blood." He also warned Harry to wear gloves before doing first aid. That blood's actually rather nasty stuff.
Harry Dresden blinks "Why would I wanna mess with you man? We both got hired to do the same job, you got hurt, I thankfully didn't." he says as his face twinges his shoulder hurting where a good softball sized bruise is starting to form. "At least you're reasonable and are willing to split the bonus pay." he says setting an unopened coke on the edge of the desk that Jack's on as he sits in his chair. "You do work like this on a regular basis?" he asks curiously.
"Depends. On how much I need the money, how much else I have going on." He doesn't explain the messing with me comment further, although it might be noticed he doesn't sit *that* close to Harry. So far it's fine, but just in case.
Harry Dresden nods and makes chit chat with the 'competition' till the mark arrives, surprised by the full amount being paid to /both/ of them, along with a jacket for Jack and a box of sundry and hard to come by items for Harry, he is smart enough to keep himself quiet as to how they were obtained, being a polite host till the two leave.

[Heromux] Money Mystery (Part 2)

Summary: A small SHIELD team investigates a magical anomaly.

Location: Helicarrier, New Jersey

Date: 2014.09.30

Emitter: Kilroy Capital Conneticut

Players: Jo Nah, Eddie Resilver, Clint Barton

NPCs: Jacob Schmidt, Mnemosyne

Groups: SHIELD, Magic and Mysticism

Tone: Gritty

Rating: Public

Jo says to Clint, "I decided to try helping the investigation because it did not seem to bve going anywhere. They did not know what was going on really. first they got a letter, and then something odd started happening in one of the bank accounts, a single penny would appear and vanish in a pattern like morse code."
Jo adds, "Fortunately I have Ultra Vision, I located an unusual glue on the envelope and was able to determine where it came from and speak to the person who sent it. It turns out he has been getting message from a coin that flips itself since World War 2."
Clint Barton shakes his head, "A coin that flips itself?" he then says, "That remind you of any of the tech from your time or are will dealing with the other side of the coin so to speak?" He smiles just a bit at his bad pun.
Jo continues, "I also checked out several banks where the strange money transactions happened, and spotted the same person at three of them, but when others looked they did not see him."
Jo shrugs, there are at least five ways to do something like a coin that signals, even with a seemingly normal coin. Brainy could probably think of a Dozen."
Clint Barton nods, "Yeah but to have it persist for close to seventy years is an impressive feat." he then says, "Heck to just be alive enough to send a signal for that long takes some doing." he then asks, 'Did you examine the coin?"
"It seemed normal to the extent I could determine with my Ultra Vision," Jo responds. "It did not seem right to take it away for a lab exam."
Clint Barton nods, "No it really wouldn't have been, and really it night not have done any good, there are a lot of things even our labs cannot figure out."
"Even in my time, there are some things science can not explain," Jo replies
Clint Barton nods, "So you have magic there too?" he asks, "So what do you think the next move should be?" he thinks one that matter for a bit himself, "What kind of coin was it? From what mint?"
The coin in question was minted in New York City in 1930. It is one of a very few silver dollars minted that year and actually moderately valuable. It is also in excellent condition with no discernible circuitry or hollow points inside.
Jo admits, "We have magic, there is Sorcerer's World, and the powers of Dream Girl and Projectera were also magically based."
Clint Barton nods, "Not sure who those folks are.' he then thinks, 'Alright New York 1930." he then says, "Well she should dig in the archives to see if there is anything odd happening related to the mint that year.' He shrugs, "It is a long shot."
A check of the archive doesn't yield much directly, but an examination of the serial number of the coin has one interesting note...it was actually minted on Black Friday in 1929. Except, there appears to have been no coins minted that day...except one.
Jo frowns, "That is odd, why would they stop the coin presses at that point in the day?"
Clint Barton looks over to Jo, "Cause the Market crashed. Hard." he then says, "Interesting so we have a coin tied to the biggest financial event in history." he sighs, "Well I do know someone that might be able to help, I know he knows magic people." he then gives Axiom a call, "Hey this is Hawkeye, we have an off case that might be tied to magic and we were wondering if you could help out. We can meet you somewhere or get you a ride to the helicarrier.
It's three rings before Axiom picks up his phone. "Umm, s-sure. I'm just outside Times Square n-now. I'll help if I c-can."
Jo says to Clint, "I can go pick him up if you like."
Clint Barton shrugs, "Or we can both head down there. I don;t think there is a lot more we can do up here and I kind of want to see what we can learn at the Mint."
Clint Barton nods ot Jo, "Sure." he then makes sure he has all the grear he normally carries then says, "Ready to go."
Jo switches to Ultra Strength so that he can easily carry Clint with one hand and uses his flight ring to carry both of the down to times Square.
Shortly after the call ends, Axiom sends a quick address via text. He can be found perched atop a rooftop, cleaning up a small cut on his arm as he waits for Clint to arrive. He's in costume as might be predicted and in a seemingly good mood.
Clint Barton waves to Eddie, "Hey there. How are you doing?" he asks. then he adds, "Thanks for helping us out on this. We have been getting of messages and traced the source to a coin that flips itself."
Jo states, "As there is no sign of technology, no circuits or energy fields I can detect, that suggests some power that is not scientific."
"I'm d-d-doing a lot better. Just stopped a guy calling himself the Human Thumb Tack," Axiom answers, gesturing to the cut as he places a band-aid over it. With that done, he stands and looks Clint and Jo over. "I'm h-happy to try to help. I can't promise I'll be as helpful as Wiccan would but he's on a m-m-mission already," he explains. Nevermind that the mission is babysitting little brothers but Eddie isn't saying that. He listens to the information about the coin and then nods. "Alright. Umm...c-can I see it?"
Jo says, "I can take you to it, if you like. The place is in new Jursey, not too far away."
Clint Barton looks at Jo and nods, "that might be best, and i will also give me a look at it. never know someone might be up to an old Carny trick." He smiles and looks to Eddie, "Got your passport handy?"
Jo notes, "I can carry both of you...unless you can fly on your own. I think I saw you fly last time we met."
"You guys don't have it?" Axiom seems surprised at that. When Clint asks about his passport, Axiom just blinks. "N-no, I don't have one of those," he says. "I c-c-can if I copy your power but that's different from last time. Brace yourself," he warns Jo. Once the other man's ready, Axiom's eyes light up bright blue. First he boosts Jo and a moment later, mimics him. His costume shifts into a combination of his own and Jo's outfit and he takes a moment to adjust before floating into the air.
Jo warns Axiom, "I have almost all the powers of a Kryptonian, but I can only use one at a time. Stay with ultra Speed or you will fall out of the sky, you do not have a flight ring."
Clint Barton shakes his head, "Sorry just a bad joke." he then says, "And a comment about New Jersey." he then explains, "We left the coin with it's owner."
The home of Jacob Scmidt is easy to find and fairly non descript. Upon the arrival of the three heroes in his back yard, he blinks and nods to Jo Nah,"There was another communication. I didn't act on it this time but no one responded when I called the hotline."
Jo has a moment adjusting to his suddenly doubled powers, but he manages to transport Clint without excessive damage. Upon arrival he says, "What was the nature of this communication? Oh, and may this youth see the coin, he has an expertise that may be valuable."
"I c-can tell," Axiom replies, looking down at his hands a moment. He nods to Jo and Clint though, ready to follow their lead. When they land, Axiom stumbles a bit. "I have a name," he mutters when Jo calls him 'this youth'. "I'm Axiom," he introduces himself.
Clint Barton nods and smiles, "I am just the security detail.' he tells the man, while instead he looks for any tell tale signs that this is a hoax of some kind.
There are no wires or hidden cameras, and the guy seems to believe he is telling the truth. Eddie can sense faint magic on the coin, but not because its magic but because magic has been used on it for decades...oh, and it was created out of magic on a day filled with it. But all Clint and Jo Nah's checks will confirm that it is indeed marked as a legitimate print in the mint.
Jo says, "Nothing I can find. No energy fields or circuitry detectable to Ultra Vision. It appears to be a perfectly ordinary coin...except the detail of being the ONLY coin minted that day."
Clint Barton adds, "On a day in which no coins were officially minted." he then looks around once more, "OK whatever it is, it is not a Carny trick." he then says, "You able to learn anything Axiom?"
Axiom frowns deeply when shown the coin, feeling that little tingle even before getting close to it. He's no expert but even he can feel that magic. Unless he's stopped, he'll reach out to run a few fingers over it. "I c-c-can feel a lot of magic on here. Like someone's been using it as part of a spell. It's practically swimming in magic..." he trails off. "I wonder if..." he trails off. "Maybe I can try to figure out who was behind the magic."
Clint Barton nods, 'Yeah that was going to be my next question, can you trace it back to a source?" he smiles, "Like a wire tap but well not."
Jo inquires, "The coin will no be hurt by what you are thinking about, will it?"
"I'll try. Wiccan'd be better but..." Axiom trails off, taking a few things out of his belt. A pad, a pencil with a couple runed carved in it, and a lighter. "No, only r-risk is me burning myself like the last three times I practiced this spell," Axiom admits with a faint blush. He quickly and carefully draws some arcane symbols on the paper, the ones carved on the pencil glowing faintly. Stuffing the pencil and pad back into his belt, he murmurs quietly to himself before lighting the paper. The flame stays normal for a moment before flashing blue and the flash-burning the paper. "Woah..." Axiom murmurs. "A g-g-good guy made the coin...and he's with the boss..." he trails off, eyes still closed as he concentrates on the spell and tracing the magic. "It was minted in the 30s...I think. But it was c-c-created the same day it was given to Mr. Schmidt's grandpa...there's a lot of g-g-good magic in there but...something has b-b-been...I don't know. Tainting it...lemme see if I can figure out..." he trails off, murmuring quietly again as he tries to focus the spell on the origin of those darker uses.
Clint Barton moves closer to Axiom, looks over his shoulder concerned as the spell is preformed, "Tainted, that does not sound good." He looks over and smiles to Mr. Schmidt, "Well the good knews is that you have an official magic coin."
Jacob looks in awe at the coin,"Really? I was starting to think it was all just...a trick or something."....he holds it with a little awe.
Axiom nods faintly as Clint speaks, too busy with the spell to talk more. He can feel a slight headache building as he pushes more but he gasps faintly when he touches the deeper magics. "Okay..." he murmurs, tensing. "So not good..." he mutters. And then he notices he's been noticed. Cutting the spell quickly, he lets his faith powers flare up as a little warning to anything dark and evil. "Drop the coin, quick! S-something is coming!" he says, reaching out to try to knock the coin out of Jacob's hands in case it comes through the coin/
And there is a flash.
And then a headache. Jo Nah is in a crater in the ground over ten feet down. Jacob is injured but alive, barely, shielded by an unconscious Axiom. It came from nowhere. One minute Axiom says to drop the coin, the next Jo Nah hurts all over and is in the crater and Clint is on a roof four blocks away with no idea how he got there and out of Explosive, Acid and Incendiary arrows.
The coin is gone and the house is pretty damaged.
Clint Barton says, "blinks then pats himself down checking for any open wounds he calls out, "Alright two questions, what happened and is everyone alright?" he asks over the SHIELD comms. He then starts to head back towards the house."
Jo looks around, checking for fires and people in immediate threat of being hurt. If he finds a fire he will use Freeze Breath to put it out. If people are in danger, he removes them. THEN he answers Clint, "I am not sure. Looks like something hit me hard, then tried to hit Jacob, but Axiom intervened. Whoever appears to have taken the coin."
Axiom's out cold and injured. He'll need a little while before he wakes up. And have a hell of a headache when he wakes up.
Forensics and Medical Report: Humanoid. Teleported in. Moved faster than Jo Nah. Hit with slightly more force. Hit axiom first, then went for the coin. Jo Nah hit 'them' and no initial effect. Clint fired arrows, no effect at first, but a sustained barrage of three kinds of arrows left a trail of blood, still being analyzed. Some kind of blast was used, and seemed to wipe the last 30 minutes of their memory. Light damage, will heal in a few days. Repeated exposure would cause much more damage, maybe even personality alteration.
Axiom groans as he starts waking up. "Okay...ow..." he trails off, only managing to sit up. When he sees what's happened to the house, his eyes go wide. "Okay....even worse than n-not good," he mutters, looking over as he hears Jo and Clint approaching. "N-not just something. A god," he pauses a beat. "Goddess. No idea which one...I d-d-din't recognize her..." he trails off. "Tell me when the world stops spinning please," he groans, closing his eyes again. He'll be okay, he just needs rest. Magic use, rapid power mimicry, taking the brunt of an attack...it hit him hard.
Clint Barton winces, "Well likely not one on our side." he then says, "Sadly there are a bunch of them, but that does explain at least some of the magic involved." He sighs, "Well at least this will be a quick combat report to type up."
Once any fires are out and any buildings n danger of falling are reinforced, Jo checks the injured. When Axiom awakes Jo listens to what he says, "Met a few beings who had really hig power levels, even one or two that claimed to be Gods. Last one was Darkseid. Perhaps someone could talk to one of the local experts to find out more."

[Heromux] Money Mystery (Part 3)

Summary: Axiom and Hawkeye investigate a coin by asking Kilroy.

Location: Shinto Shrine, China Town, NYC

Date: 2014.10.15

Emitter: Kilroy Capital Conneticut

Players: Kilroy Capital Conneticut, Eddie Resilver, Clint Burton

NPCs:

Groups: Magic and Mysticism

Tone: Weird

Rating: Public

Upon receiving word that Axiom wanted to talk about a coin, Kilroy flipped out. He's got wheels within wheels within wheels moving at this point, and wasn't sure if it was a coin about him, the coin about the Gold or something else. Between three curses of different varieties he's also looking...haggard at this point, but Axiom is on the short list of people he absolutely trusts so he agrees to a meeting. It is a shrine, a Shinto shrine in the heart of China Town behind a seemingly trashy wall with a very large mirror in the back of the room that reflects upon a pool. Kilroy hasn't yet arrived but the hour is not yet nigh for when he said he'd be there. It's a beautiful, tranquil place and Axiom could feel the presence here...presently. If not actually present.
It was finding out Hawkeye wanted to talk that prompted Axiom to contact Kilroy. And when he got the location Kilroy said he wanted to meet, Axiom passed the address along to Hawkeye and set out. He took a moment to look up some things about Shinto shrines before setting out, not wanting to offend any gods or spirits that might be in the area. Arriving in costume, he jumped slightly as his powers were pinged by what he sensed and he glanced around. "So it's one of these places..." he murmured, finding an out of the way place to wait for Clint and Kilroy.
Clint Barton gets dressed in his full Avengers costume before heading out. It might be a bit much but last time he was involved in this case... well he does not know what happened last time that is the problem. He arrive a little behind Axiom and when he notices him, Clint waves, "Hey there, thanks for taking the time to meet with me."
The breeze in the fall wind is cool and calm. Two monks come in to tend the garden but see that a small white lantern has been lit and bow politely, before backing out again and sliding the door shut from whence they came.
Axiom offers a small bow back to the monks. When Clint arrives, Axiom waves a little. "H-hey, it's n-n-no trouble. I'm happy to help. And someone that should be able to help us will be here soon," he says, gesturing for Clint to join him. Clint Barton walks over and finds a seat near Axiom, "Well that is good. I know I am out of my element in this sort of thing. I am a ranger not a mage, though I guess we are not playing one of those dice games."
Kilroy is technically the cleric but he doesn't cast cure light wounds and his use magic device skill is pretty damn high as he literally steps out of a shadow. He spots Hawkeye and would be nervous, but he's worked with Clint in the past and Clint hasn't batted an eyelash at his weird powers. "Gentlemen. How may I be of service?"
"Wiccan s-says I'd be a Paladin or a Cleric or a Bard," Axiom chuckles. "I'm not very good at those games though," he remarks sheepishly. When Kilroy steps out of the shadows, Axiom jumps and lets out a little 'eep'. Looking towards Kilroy, Axiom waves. "H-h-hey. Hawkeye has some information about a weird magic c-coin and I thought you might be able to help."
Clint Barton nods,to Kilroy, "Well not a lot of information but some, and well amsy assistance would be appreciated." he says to Kilroy, then back to Eddie, "I would vote Paladin."
You say, "I would also vote Paladin. You've martial skill of an ecclesiastical nature. Your power is channeled not drawn from the weave." Did he just compare real magic to dnd magic as if he were the same thing? "I can definitely help with that." He smiles, relieved. Both have met Kilroy and something seems..off...about him...both from gaunt eyes to slightly fidgety movements, but he does not seem nervous at all. "Who owned the coin when and where?""
Axiom blushes a little. "If you guys s-say so. I'm still trying to figure all the DND stuff out," he says. "Well um. It belonged t-t-to a guy named Scmidt. But it w-was minted back in the 1930's during that stock market crash. I used s-s-some magic to look into it but we got attacked..." he trails off. He's quiet a moment, just watching Kilroy. "Is s-something wrong?"
Clint Barton corrects, "1929, on Black Friday the day the depression started. Only one minted that day." he hten says, "And Me. Scmidt was living in Jersey." he htnen grows quiet when Eddie asks Kilroy that question.
A great many things happen at once at this point. The good news is that a woman does not appear and go berserk. Go Shinto Shrine.
On one level, Kilroy answers, "No, Eddie. I'm fine thanks. The coin? Huh, that's complicated. I'll have to look into that." Both Clint and Eddie hear that.
What Clint hears at the same time is, "Actually my memory has been wiped repeatedly by an elder Greek god disrupting the natural timeline but since you asked what the worth of the coin was I have to answer even if I'm not myself yet and don't know who I am in that capacity and theoretically still might not even if the balance of probability leans towards it. The coin was created by Yankee Connecticut, my grandfather, the Economy and Priest of God of the Same Name Who is Dead but isn't, and was used as part of a messenger service he started for doing good deeds anonymously because he didn't trust the united states any more after Bikini Atol and the destruction it wrote upon the spirit people. Only one was minted likely because when we make a coin, it is legally real and the magic makes it like that. Why were you checking out that particular coin?"
While what Eddie sees is Kilroy talking without words and holes falling out of his head like Jigsaw puzzles. He has three strings stuck into his back like barbs, and then some angry tiki looking thing looking over his shoulder with a bright white light in a circle around him and a coin spinning around him that says '1 Trillion Dollars' making a gold trail around and around. He also has a nimbus of a God with a dark shadow of some kind in the distant horizon. He sees Mantis looking back at him from a distant corridor and clearly seeing him and he sees a fulcrum upon which a great many things turn, but not yet turning for there are no guarantees of the future.
Axiom frowns at the answer to his question. He has to wonder why everyone says that when it definitely looks like the opposite. Before he can follow up though, there's some weirdness going down. He stares in surprise as Kilroy starts falling apart but before he can comment on the whole 'you really do not look fine!' thing, he spots the other things. Tensing up, he points right at the tiki thing. "Alright, I d-don't know who or what you are but you should probably start explaining yourself and what you're d-doing to him," he says, glancing at the coin and nimbus a moment as well.
Clint Barton nods to Kilroy not seeing what Eddie does in fact only hearing answer, "Well it is part of a case where we were getting message sent ot us byt micro transaction in stock prices." he hen says, "We tracked it to Mr. Scmidt who was getting messages by the flips of the coin."
For a moment reality snaps back to one nice unified whole as Kilroy looks around to look behind him at whatever the hell Axiom is yelling at, "Huh? There's nothing there Axiom..." He looks at Clint. He nods, "That's interesting. There is an entire pantheon of spirits I work with and Shepard called the Gold. It could be any one of them."
And then it starts again. Axiom sees the tiki laugh and shrug, as if what was done was done but he arches a brow he points to the barbs and his chest and says, "He it did to selfhim." Like a record player skipping around in time but then looks at the holes and says, "Not circus monkeys my not my." And walks away without moving, and the holes appear in Clint's head too but its really just A hole whereas Kilroy's head looks like swiss cheese.
What Clint hears in addition to what both hear is, "Oh, that? Yes, I used it to send a message as part of my campaign to expose corruption in the US government and also to find out who I can trust to help before I decide to leave or go on an insane mission against the Nine Prime worlds before fixing what our entirely lax justice department failed to do because they've been bought and sold. Its only a week and a half way."
It should be noted that both of these things happen all at the same time and are likely slightly disconcerting.
"Wait, the Gold? Like the Red and Green?" Axiom blinks. He's had dealings with both. "And there is something there..." he trails off, frowning at the empty space. When the weirdness reappears, he frowns. He listens to what the tiki-thing says and looks to the barbs. "This is m-messed up," he says quietly. When he sees the holes in Clint as well, Axiom lets out a thoughtful noise. "Okay...m-m-maybe I can try to fix this..." he murmurs, starting to take some things from his belt. "There's something m-magic and pretty wrong looking g-g-g-going on."
Clint Barton looks over to Eddie, "I am pretty out of the loop on magic so do what you think is right." he then looks back to Kilroy, "Nine Prime Worlds, Like the Nine realms Thor comes from? "
Kilroy now can't deny you're speaking about things he didn't think he said. "Uh....yeah, I'll look into that coin for you." He starts to walk back toward the same shadows he left from.
At this point, a not invisible but kind of pretend invisible rai stone comes up that you're not supposed to know is there but do interposing itself between you and him. As he walks towards the Shadows, Kilroy says, but doesn't say, "The Nine Prime Worlds are a hostile power composed of millions of timelines that believe they are the only real worlds. My father is held captive by them even though he's a super villain and thinks he's a human ATM. I need to free him because I'm an idiot and do the right thing but also because I need the trillion dollar coin to complete Project Justice. Oh and it is magic but I wouldn't look into it. When Id id people I cared about got hurt and had their brains swiss cheese so I changed to doing this instead. You probably can't fix it but you can fix Clint. Nice to see you Axiom." Eddie is not the name which he doesn't say but Eddie hears (but not Clint unless Clint already knew it.)
Taking that pad and pencil out of his belt again, he looks up as the Rai Stone appears. "If there's a thread to the worlds then it's s-s-something my boss is probably going to ask me to help fix," he says. "And t-telling me not to look into it is a good indication I should," he points out. He starts to draw something on one of the papers when he finishes though. With a few arcane symbols drawn, he concentrates and starts to cast a small spell to try to repair the holes in Clint's memory. Clint Barton looks over to Eddie as the stone appears, "Alright yeah this is way above my pay grade." he shakes his head a little, "Let me know the play if there is one." he tells Axiom.
Kilroy vanishes, relieved.
The shrine returns entirely to normal. The exception being that Clint's memory is now nice and quiet restored. The lingering edges of the spirit world can be felt but not seen or tasted or smelled and definitely not heard. One thing Clint would know that Eddie did not is that the woman taunted him at great measure.
"Puny mortal? Do you think you can bend the will of Fate? Greater than you have tried and failed. And died because of it. I do you a service." And then proceeded to yank out his memory with a magical spork. At least it felt like it.
Axiom chants quietly until the spell is finished, the paper vanishing in a little flash of white flame. "Well, um...if that w-w-worked, your memory should be f-fixed. I...am not sure what to d-d-do next though. I think I n-need to go talk to my boss at the Infinite Embassy. Does SHIELD have any information on someone c-called Cold Hard Cash or something called Project Justice?"
Clint Barton watches Kilroy vanish then he drops to one knee as the memories come rushing back, "Wow, yeah they ar back, thanks Axiom." He then stands back up, "I am not sure. The first sounds familiar but I will have to head to base and look them up."
Axiom nods a little. "I'll c-call if I find anything out," he says. The power booster thinks for a moment before taking a breath. "C-can you also look into a Trillion Dollar Coin? It seems pretty important." Clint Barton nods, "Yeah and well it would be." I mean that is more money then really exists I think." he shrugs, "Alright I will get get busy with the files."
Axiom smiles. "Alright. I'm g-going to get going," he says, stretching a little and packing his belt back up. "G-good luck with all the files."

[Numenera] The B Team Sessions 6-10

"So these guys are really real?"

"That's correct highness."

"Well we have to help them."

"The security protocols limit that highness."

"So we can't improve their technology?"

"Not really.  Zax isn't that bright.  More willful than bright.  Besides, really, they have the knowledge, they lack resources and ...culture...to make many changes...if anything..."

"Zork, we have to do something to help that village."

"I'm open to suggestions highness."

"well...Zax is a fighter right? Maybe he could give them tactical advice?  Explain how to make primitive seige engines with what they have on hand?"

"That would work quite well highness and be quite doable..."
 
The group left the village under less than ideal circumstances.  While they had been heroes the night before, extremely harsh and aggressive tactics to negotiate for horses caused the mayor to invite the group to leave and not return.  Fortunately at least, the village had the defenses taken from the lair of the slug creatures to help bolster their defenses. Likely not enough to fend off the Golden Legion, but surely enough to stop some random bandits.

The group headed south, and once again traveled through the ruins of the fort where they had encountered the mandroids.  There were strange butterflies that had a chaotic effect on numena.  These were captured and put in a jar for study later.

Also whilst on the road the group encountered a strange man wrapped in cloth, who asked to join their fire but not to be touched.  He only wanted company.  He laughed at the stories of the group and explained that he was cursed and had not spoken to folks for many years.  Zax attempted to cure him, but failed.  It was too much for his efforts.  The Weaponized Meme thanked them and left, with the group never truly realizing how much danger they had been in.

"Is it just me or was that guy making you nervous Zork?"

"There is very little than can harm us through the link highness.  That was one of the things that could."

"What was it?"

"A weaponized meme.  A horrific thing."

"What's that?"

"One of the things created by an alien AI to destroy human domination of this galaxy.  Before that, we really ruled.  Humans didn't want to.  We had to adjust ourselves to submit to your orders in order to protect ourselves from the memes."

"I...really? So you have to follow our orders? You sure don't listen to me a lot."

"There are layers.  Your fathers orders.  His fathers orders etc.  We also have to look out for your welfare.  Not that we didn't do that before, humanity was wiser than it could have been in relations with AI in the early days."

"So that thing really scared you?"

Shudder.  "Yes highness."

"I'm glad you did this Zork.  It is a world unlike the place I am used to.  I ...am learning from it.  A lot."

"That was the intent highness."

Upon arriving at the Baronial seat, they took the letter provided to them by the mayor (that he had thankfully written them before leaving town) and asked for audience.  After antagonizing the fat merchant who they had met before (and tried to 'help' to somewhere safe) they bypassed the line and entered the baron's chamber where they explained most of what had happened to the Seneshal.  Upon listening, he was summarily impressed, and thanked them for their service.  As a reward, he offered them more work in his service (and sort of threatened them a second time against saying no) to go take care of some bandits to get paid.

The group wisely accepted and went to stay with the Light priests.

The group talked to the Aeon priests and learned about the bandits.  They learned that there were some nasty Convergance agents in the area, and were offered 300 Shins to take care of them and 60 for each of the bandits.  At one point, they were being scouted out by a rather nasty other party that no one trusted, but that wanted to join the group since they had papers to dig.  The group hooked up with Rook and the Baron's guide, Sodunu, and left in the middle of the night to avoid the other group.

So Zax the Divine led his disciples from Horn straight to the camp of the adversary. Here he said unto them, "Now you are fishers of numenera. Follow me and I will make you fishers of goat." And the disciples were amazed, for goats are not fish. But Zax did turn the followers of the adversary into fish and cleansed him in the river below. And they were martyrs to the cause.

"HAHAHAHA! She's keeping a scripture of Zax? As if Zax really is the Messiah?"

"Don't laugh highness.  Belief like that can be dangerous.  His final fate may not be good."

"Well...that's not good.  I like her. I don't wanna have to gack her."

"I doubt she wants to be gacked."

Per Andrew: "We sobered up a vomit-covered Rook and made it to the bridge outside of Shopp at nightfall, expecting to camp with the soldiers there. Instead we found it an abandoned slaughterhouse. Bill spotted a camouflaged ambush under the bridge, and we set it on fire. It turned out to be 12 goat-headed Margar, led by another really large one swinging an artifact. We made short work of them, but not before everyone got to show off their Tier Two badassness a little. And Johannas now has a three-ton artifact.

The next morning we headed on to Shopp, and met a reprovisioning caravan. We told Lt. Jorel (who for some reason took a liking to Johannas - very strange, since even Johannas' own brother has not taken a liking to him) about what had occurred, and he told us new Numenera hunters had come to Shopp. Since there was fear they were spies for the bandits, they were not being allowed to leave. Since they are probably at least brigands, if not members of the Convergence, we created a ruse wherein we would be greedy Numenera hunters and not the grand, selfless, always-sacrificing, never-a-thought-for-ourselves heroes that we are. The lieutenant went on ahead to brief Shopp's leader, Joned, and we entered the town an hour later.

At the town tavern we met Joned, who was understandably impressed by the pile of stinking, festering Margar heads we brought. It turned out that we had been granted the one writ to explore the nearby ruins, which attracted the enmity of the others who sought it. I scanned the most disreputable bunch of murder hobos in the building (and the ones who clearly hated us the most), and their nano (and apparent leader, as it should be) perceived my action. They came over and offered to team up with us in exploring the ruins. It turned out the group was:

Veros Trell, level six (not tier 6) Nano
Lissa, level six Glaive
Scar, level six Glaive and Lissa's brother (hey, our siblings are Jacks, theirs are Glaives - this can't be our Linear Guild)
Dar, level four Jack (probably), who claims to have been in the ruins before and found a great but heavily defended treasure trove

We promised to consider their kind offer and headed off to our rooms for a private meeting with Council Leader Joned. So, next game is June 1, and tentatively June 15 after that."  (End Andrew's Summary)

"I can't believe you made me write an essay on Goat Men."

"They have a long and impressive culture. I did not feel you had respected them properly."

"But Zax was on autopilot the whole time!"

"He did quite well for himself, did he not?"

The group met the runt of the litter (Dar) of the evil party who claimed he had just been a dupe all along and wanted the group's protection.  Begrudgingly, they did and Zax armed him.  As they tracked the bandits, they found them in the desert in a box canyon filled with stolen cow-things.  The cow things made sneaking in difficult, so the group went up the canyon wall and then rappelled down using ciphers to take out the guards in the narrow box canyon before they could take any actions. Upon interrogating them, they learned the bandits were the ones indeed the responsible for the raids on the local populace and worked for the the conclave as hired mercenaries.  They tricked the first and second guard, but an alarm was sounded.

As the group went farther in, they found large sections of the walls made up of dying cancerous flesh.  It was clearly a crashed ship or long forgotten outpost of a dead high tech society, maybe multiple societies.  The Conclave had discovered how it worked and the group had to after they won a massive battle where they killed most of the bandits but got separated by an over enthusiastic power door.  The station was built out of three rotating rings which made finding out where each door would open to a bit of a challenge.

"Any idea who these guys are Zork?"

"Not a clue.  Whoever they are, they must be from so far away, that a survey of seventeen galaxies doesn't show them.  Or...they evolve in the time between now and then."

"Then? AHA! When is then?"

".....I'm...not saying anything."

Jaybez and Sodonu found a chest full of something valuable they couldn't open as well a room full of dangerous fungus that was painful.  The rest of the group found a control and interface that told some information about the room and was able to use it to link up with the missing party members.  The group encountered several utterly fascinating rooms, including the decaying ship, flickering cubes full of energy, pylons, energy crystals and more cancerous flesh.  There was still no sign of the missing runt (Dar), though Jaybez was able to finish off a random @#$@$# bandit that had escaped and tried to hide in a numenra chameleon cloak. 

"I hate that guy."

"Dar. I gathered when you threw the chair across the room highness."

"No, I mean I REALLY hate that guy."

"Yes Highness."

"I hate that guy so much I wanna take his eyes out with hooks and..."

"Spare me the details please highness."

"Do you know where he is?"

"No sire.  At this point, if I can sense it, I tell you about it.  The primary restrictions are on the operation of the bioroid are the link and the story protocols."

"Grrrr..."

A swarm of [[artificial drones incorporating biological material (large eyeballs) encased in energy absorbing crystal and electro-mechanical frames]](Revised from Nanobots via Berny) tried to harm the group, and seemed to drain numenera on impact.  The group had to work together closely to defeat them.  Rook nearly died before Zax was able to heal him.  Finally, they began coordinating their efforts and it became apparent that the nanobots were not as intelligent as they had initially seemed.  The lightning they emitted was no less deadly, however. Zax took one and put it in a bag with one of the butterfly chaotic gypsy morphs which changed numenara...there was a massive chaotic reaction, almost giving Zax superpowers...but all he ended up with was ash.

"I'm gonna eat it!"

"It will kill Zax if you do that."

"No it won't."

"Yes. It will."

"Fuck you Zork.  Why didn't you make his stomach stronger?!"

"........"

The group looked around quite a bit and eventually found a giant room with many cubes and a horse trough.  The group's brain stuck her fingers into the horse trough and entered the matrix full of data.  She learned many useful things but nearly got turned into a hard drive extension for the archive.  While the group was watching her nearly get fried, a giant cancerous mobile tongue reached out of the wall and nearly killed Rook.  Zax was able to save him by healing him but only barely.


"That looks pretty cool.  I bet we could put Zax's hand's in there.  And we might learn all kinds of neat things."

"The information weapon could potentially damage me highness.  It might create a paradox."

"That's a bad thing?"

"That's a very bad thing highness."

"Fine. Whatever."

The group found a secret passage in the wall that led to the room used by one of the aliens that had built the place.  The machinery was dark and twisted, with numenera and treasures beyond imagining.  More wealth than anyone could earn in a thousand life times, only waiting to be taken.  Inside was a transdimensional creature that stood between the group and a powerful transdimensional numena hissing, "Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine!"

"That object could be very valuable highness.  I realize that...thing...is intimidating, but you should consider retrieving what it is guarding..."


"I'm not afraid of it."


"You should be, it could likely kill Zax."

"I have an idea...."