The morning arrived without much fanfare and Rex had volunteered to join us on the raid. I worried about him, so I fastened my Badge of Life-Keeping to him to give him an extra boost of emergency healing if he needed it. I also fastened my Healing Belt around him, to give him the ability to heal himself or one of the two of us, if the situation called for it. I focused on getting ready as quickly as possible and meditating to be ready for the assault.
Right when I expected it, or maybe when Clint was listening for it, as soon as I opened the roll up door, Clint was getting there, ready to knock. Clint asked if I was ready and I looked over to Rex, who nodded, before I replied to Clint that we were. Clint asked me to lead the way, and I pulled my bike out of the unit, and got on it, getting Rex to pull himself up in my emptied Handy Haversack. Clint watched Rex disappear, except for his head, and muttered that he would never get used to that. I shrugged and said that I could eventually make one of these for him as well.
We rode to where I had isolated a decent size drug den for the Painkillers. Along the way, I had put an ear bud in my ear that Clint had given me yesterday, that was connected to my phone. Clint asked me if there was anything specific that he should know about the upcoming fight to be prepared. I told him that before we started the fight, I would cast spells on the both of us, and told him about what to expect from Cat’s Grace, Haste, and Displacement. Clint looked at me amazed and said that he’d be curious as to how it works for him.
I shrugged and said that we didn’t really have the time or opportunity to test run either of these spells on him before, but that he should be fine, considering that barely trained common folk suffer no ill-effects from them. Clint gruffly acknowledged my point as we got closer to the location I had identified. We eventually got close enough that I told him that I needed to do a little bit of preparation before we got within striking distance. I had felt a new energy in me ever since that last expansion of my abilities, so I decided that I was going to need to try to use it, instead of something more piece-meal process. While we were in the alley, I activated my new ability, and my appearance changed to that of the costume for Verdigris, right before Clint’s eyes.
Clint balked a bit in response, before I invoked my Oath of Anonymity as well as the newly acquired power. Then I cast Cat’s Grace on myself, (and thus Rex), and Clint. I told him that it would last for about nine minutes of boost. We then spent the next two minutes sneaking and getting into position. Right before we were set to bust in, I pulled out the rifle to hand it to Clint, along with the spare magazines, and the pistol for myself.
I invoked an Augury to make sure that entering through this entrance was a good idea and got a result of both weal and woe. Then I cast Mirror Image on just Rex, and then Displacement on both myself (and Rex again) and Clint. I told Clint that after I cast the next spell, Haste, that we had to move quickly, as it would only last for less than a minute. Clint nodded and I steadied myself for the time dilation, and then cast Haste. While I did this, Rex assumed his battle form and Clint checked the rifle.
Then the three of us, looking like two humans and six medium sized dragons, busted in through the entrance I had selected. It wasn’t the worst experience, but it was certainly worse than I had experienced the first time. The Painkillers were hopped up on their drugs instead of being mentally dulled. They reacted much better than Pepsi Boys did, and started opening fire on us immediately as we got in the door. Clint was very deftly dodging the rounds as we made our way through to good firing areas.
I immediately dropped three of them via a combination of a bounced round, and a pair of targeted rounds , struck another one with yet another round, and deflected a shot that was aimed at Rex. Rex was tearing into one of the thugs and breathed fire at another of the thugs. The criminals looked extremely panicked at the “pack” of dragons leaping on one of their groups and they were starting to aim towards him. Clint was dropping members of the gang with precision, overwhelming them with extremely rapid hits to vital areas with the “less-than-lethal” rounds. I hit refocused and aimed at some more of the gang members, while Rex incinerated yet another one of them.
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Clint was putting down a whole bunch until we saw something I didn’t know about in advance. It was Karla, the woman with the razor blade fingernails. She was enraged and rushed towards me, yelling about not allowing Verdigris to stop her plans for revenge. She managed to slash both me and Rex heavily with a pair of outward slashes that we couldn’t dodge and managed to unluckily get past our defenses. Of course Rex was down to just two additional images, so his defenses were a lot weaker now.
Clint didn’t have a good angle on Karla, so I got Rex to back off in one direction while I kept Karla’s focus on me, backing up only five feet and unloading everything I could into her. She was still furious and leapt towards me with both of her razor blade enhanced nails, digging into my sides and preventing me from backing up further under my own power. Clint managed to finish off the rest of the thugs and managed to get a hit in at Karla. She was just about on the ropes, when Rex leapt onto her back and hit her with a final fire breath. I gently pulled her nails out of the sides of my chest and immediately cast a Cure Light Wounds on myself.
Clint and I secured all of the criminals and checked the grounds. There were a lot of firearms of an automatic variety, along with drugs and other illegal paraphernalia. I immediately cast a Prestidigitation to collect up all of the rubber rounds, and the three of us heard the police sirens VERY close, so we booked it. As soon as we got back to the bike/motorcycle, I cancelled the Disguise Self effect that I had just recently developed, after ten minutes of activation. As the Haste ended, Clint’s reflexes were coming back to normal and he seemed to be winding down into a more relaxed state of mind.
I told Clint that Rex and I would be heading back to the storage unit to get things ironed out, and that whenever he wanted, he could drop by. Clint handed me back the rifle and said that this was certainly an interesting raid that we had gone on. I grabbed it and put it back into my Bandolier, disappearing as it went. I offered up that I’d work on isolating out the best setup for magical items for him and let him know what they would be and what they could do, as soon as I got everything worked out together. We parted ways with well wishes, and Rex and I headed back to the storage unit for debriefing and getting ready for the rest of the day.
Once back, I isolated all of the different aspects of items that I could now make, that would help Clint the most. He could use enhancement in the realms of stealth, perception, and most importantly, minimizing the lethal damage that he does. I wouldn’t want him to not be able to do lethal damage, but it would be the best to at least have that option without having to specifically aim for it. I know that it will take a fair amount of time to get it done, but there is a fair amount that I can get done, provided I take the time and the resources. Even a small increase in things would help for him though, so I figure that a month or two of constant work would get me most of the way done on his stuff at least.
After I finished writing up my list for Clint and also myself, I decided that I should get dinner and do a couple of passes through the town. Later in the night, while I was riding around, I came across a group of three Warlocks looking to break into some closed store. I guess this was a victim of the “Blip” who never had a relative come to take over the shop or something. I hid my bike, swapped back to Verdigris, and invoked the Oath of Anonymity before using Vanish to sneak up into position.
As soon as the glass on the front door broke, I struck, firing off a barrage at them. I managed to drop the three of them before they could react. Unfortunately, I didn’t know if they had set off any alarms or something so I checked for their bikes, found some high proof alcohol, and lit their bikes on fire. I made sure that they were safe from any kind of shrapnel and went off to ensure that I wasn’t on the scene. I made my way back to the storage unit after picking up some food for Rex and myself before retiring for the night.
Just before falling asleep, however, my S.H.I.E.L.D. cell phone started buzzing and got up to look at it. Clint was telling me that he would be coming over first thing in the morning, and that we had to head out to someplace outside the city immediately. I replied back that I would be ready, and finished up my plans for what Clint’s suit should be, and got ready for a trip away from the city, packing up everything Rex and I might need. Clint had not explained more, just that we were going to need to be ready to leave quickly.
Author Post Note:
- Choose Earn XP as the day’s event (assault on the Painkiller Base), so no treasure or lasting damage.
- Rolled a Downtime Event, being a Buried Relic. Being consistent in the currency translation, i.e., price in GP/5 = price in Salt (pounds), generating something worth “60 lbs of Salt” or about $8. So, costume jewelry, and thankfully, not cursed. Not even really worth a second look.
- Rolled an encounter of three Warlocks as a random encounter between 7 and 8.
- Late at night, Tony Stark will be arriving, coinciding with the Warlock attack, timeline wise.
- I had not updated the Character Sheet because I wanted some suspension for the new “Ability” that he had developed, i.e. the next Investigator talent, but here it is:
Curtis Zine:
9th level Human Investigator (Polymath/Questioner)
10 STR, 14 DEX, 14 CON, 22 INT, 8 WIS, 14 CHA*
Class Abilities: Trapfinding, Spellcasting, Path of War Maneuvers, Subterfuge Inspiration, Keen Recollection, Trap Sense +3, Studied Combat +4, Studied Strike +3d6, Swift Alchemy,
Investigator Talents:
Perceptive Tracker: Can use Perception instead of Survival for Tracking,
Quick Study: Can used Studied Combat as a swift action instead of a move action.
Terrain Mastery (Urban)*, +2 to Initiative, Knowledge (Geography), Perception, Stealth, and Survival Checks. Also, leaves no trail and cannot be tracked.
Just a face in the Crowd: can use Disguise Self for 10 minutes per level per day, can be broken up into 10 minute increments.
Traits: Finding your Kin, Tireless Logic
Feats: Technologist, Expanded Investigator Talent (E.I.T.): Rogue Talent (R.T.) - Grit, E.I.T. Expanded Inspiration, Obtain Familiar (Rex), Craft Arms and Armor, Craft Wondrous Item, Skill Focus: Spellcraft
Bonus: Improved Unarmed Strike, Alertness
All skills except Fly at one rank at least, Craft Alchemy, Firearms, Diplomacy, Disable Device, Heal, Knowledge Arcana, Perception,Spellcraft, Stealth at max ranks, Use Magic Device is Headband skill,
Linguistics and Knowledge Engineering at 3 ranks,
Disguise, Knowledge History, Knowledge Local, Knowledge Religion, Ride (Drive) all at 2 ranks.
Spell like abilities:
Augury 3/Day SLA (training)
Disguise Self (10 minultes/level total)
Spells:
0th Level: Amanuensis, Animate Tools, Canny Effort, Mending, Oath of Anonymity, Prestidigitation, Sift, Sign of Discovery, Stick, Ultrasonic Ray
1st Level: Cure Light Wounds, Ears of the city, Heightened Awareness, Minor Lasting Image, Scholar's Touch, Tears to Wine, Unseen Servant, Vanish
2nd: Cat’s Grace, Enter Image, Fox’s Cunning, Masterwork Transformation, Mirror Image, Page-bound Epiphany, Recharge, Unseen Crafter
3rd: Haste, Scrying, Displacement, Phantom Chopper
Maneuvers:
Stances: Running Hunter's Stance, Stance of Piercing Rays, Body of Night
Maneuvers/Strikes: Dizzy Venom Prana, Horizon Wind Lancet, Intercepting Shade, Solar Reflection, Solar Sting - Iron Fang, Sight Piercing Fang, Weak Venom Prana, Searing Break
Familiar: Rex Pelor - Rhamphorhynchus (Elemental (fire)/Mauler) (speaks Draconic, understands Common/English, Elvish)
Curtis Magic Items:
Darkwood Earcuffs of Vast Intellect +2 - Hidden, Spectacles of the Eagle, Muleback Sode (Pauldrons) of Unflinching Fortitude +1/+2, Badge of Life-Keeping, Greater Talisman of the Blessed Winds, Endless Bandolier, Healing Belt, Masterwork Kote of Many Garments, Arcanist’s Cesti, Red Sphere (Stealth) Cracked Ioun Stone (Implanted), Traveler's Anytool, Ioun Torch, Blessed Bandages (*2), Least Crystal of Adaptation (Armor), Least Crystal of Return (Firearm), Campaigner’s Tent, Handy Haversack, Dimensional Stride Tabi Boots
Rex Magic Items:
Dimensional Stride Bracers, Healing Belt, Badge of Life-Keeping