Office Management

[Travelling Gotham]

Gotham Sentinels,

   With the group getting more and more public attention and some big dreams on our horizon, I feel that our heroship could use some more consist rear support.  Even more so with all of this Bat-man business going on.  As such, I'd like to take a step back from much of the field work so that I can give more attention to our funding, organization, administration and tactical research and planning needs.  If you need me in the field, you know I'll be there 'in a flash', but for the imminent future, I will expect to focus my energy on planning, research and administration to get us on track to maximize our impact on this city and get the people of Gotham on our side. 

   Let me know if you have any questions.  Or, of course, if you want to update me on any projects, planning or support I can provide.  Other than that, our mission and day to day operations shouldn't change much.  It's a pleasure having you all on my team.  Now let's go kick some ass for Gotham!

~Erulim, Sentinels Team Leader

[Out of character]:

   I have tremendous and terrible news!  Saturday I start my new position as Park Ranger Assistant working primarily on Government Island (the island on the Columbia River over which the I-205 bridge passes).  Boating license, and tree sawing, and cleaning up poop, OH MY!  As exciting as this is, my schedule will be 8:00 - 4:30p Friday thru Tuesday.  Which means all weekend, I'll be working until 4:30p.  I would therefore be able to do some kind of later (6:00 / 7:00) hanging out, but I will not be able to do the 5+ hour dig in that we are all enjoying. 

   So definitely reach out if anyone's doing something later evening, or for Wednesday/Thursday adventures.  Otherwise, I will be out of commission for both campaigns for the next ~4 months. 

~Ian, Formerly Jobless Gotham PC

[Ian Sheadel]

p.s. John, and everyone really,  feel free to use me for in-game information dispersal, story macguffin, or flavor text.  [Just don't do anything that would permanently alter the character without a heads up]   I'm also happy to help with actual things if needed (like imagery, off-camera planning / role playing as Erulim, etc). 

~Ian

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[Gotham]

Will keep Erulim as working in the office (responses to board hopefully in off game time). 

Just think it will only be 6 games and you will be back to normal Sunday game time.

Congrads on the new job. It sounds fun and a great learning experience.

[Kenn]

Congratulations Ian! Maybe we can do a board game night from time to time on Friday or Saturday nights after you get off work. :) 

[Chris B]

So, we're leaderless again?

Yeah, congrats on the job.  You can look up and watch John drive by on the weekend as he trundles off to the game 😁

BTW, John predicted this.

[Chris B]

BTW, what happened last Saturday?

[Mark Jones]

Congratulations on the new job! Pity you won't be able to make it to the games for a while. We'll keep Erulim and the others alive. Well, we'll try. :D

I second Kenn's suggestion of a game night occasionally when you can join in. Doesn't have to be just board games. We could try out other games. Fantasy Trip wasn't a hit, but I have others!

[Gotham]

BTW, John predicted this.

reference joker picture :)

Yeah, congrats on the job.  You can look up and watch John drive by on the weekend as he trundles off to the game 😁

Maybe I'll throw a dice into the woods as I drive by for you to find :)

I second Kenn's suggestion of a game night occasionally when you can join in. Doesn't have to be just board games. We could try out other games. Fantasy Trip wasn't a hit, but I have others!

We could start up that GURPS game as a preview for another night?

Congratulations Ian! Maybe we can do a board game night from time to time on Friday or Saturday nights after you get off work. :) 

We just all need to figure out a good night for everyone. I'm at work until 5pm and if you want me to get over to Guardians it will need to be about 7pm.

 

[Ian Sheadel]

BTW, John predicted this.

reference joker picture :)

Yeah, congrats on the job.  You can look up and watch John drive by on the weekend as he trundles off to the game 😁

Maybe I'll throw a dice into the woods as I drive by for you to find :)

Haha, I'll keep an eye out.  It's a big island for one little die, but someone will find it eventually.  Though on second thought, I wouldn't want a dog (raccoon? squirrel?) to choke and die.

I second Kenn's suggestion of a game night occasionally when you can join in. Doesn't have to be just board games. We could try out other games. Fantasy Trip wasn't a hit, but I have others!

We could start up that GURPS game as a preview for another night?

That works too

Congratulations Ian! Maybe we can do a board game night from time to time on Friday or Saturday nights after you get off work. :) 

We just all need to figure out a good night for everyone. I'm at work until 5pm and if you want me to get over to Guardians it will need to be about 7pm.

Guardians, Kenn's and BatCave all work for me.  The latter two are closer but 7:00 is late enough to get anywhere.  

Just to get that ball rolling, I'm free next week on the nights of Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  Or Saturday but many of you will be gaming most of the day already.

 

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[Gotham]

 

Guardians, Kenn's and BatCave all work for me.  The latter two are closer but 7:00 is late enough to get anywhere.  

Just to get that ball rolling, I'm free next week on the nights of Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  Or Saturday but many of you will be gaming most of the day already.

Why not just continue gaming after Jason's game? I mean we already are at the place we need to be just Ian would need to show up. We could have Ian's Champions game or if Mark is ready to run his GURPs.

Unless people have lives and need to actually do something Saturday night :)

[Kenn]

Next Saturday would be too much for me. As noted, I am one of those with another life outside gaming. :)

Also, not sure if I would be a good candidate to play GURPS with y'all, but that shouldn't preclude you from doing your own thing :)

[Mark Jones]

Now that I'm out of a meeting and back at my desk, I can respond to things.

Yes, we could do GURPS, if people are interested. Or not, if they're not. We could play Ian's Champions game, though I'd have to actually decide on a character and get it finished....  Or we could do something else entirely. I've been wanting to try out another game system--WILD TALENTS. It's a superhero games using d10s for everything.

Continuing a (different) game after Jason's game session ends would work well for me. Best, in fact. I have no objection to gaming on a week night, but I get home around 5 pm, and trying to get from the west side (Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway) to the east side would be tough. Or, god forbid, Vancouver--at rush hour is a no-go.

Guardian Games on a week night? Yeah, that would work. Anywhere else? Probably not.

[Gotham]

It sounds like most people will not be able to make a game during the weekday (due to lovely Portland Traffic). 

Dice of Ages closes at 9pm and Batcave/Guardian Games close at 10pm on Saturday.

Saturday our game is from noon to 5ish. Ian gets off at 4:30. If we have a game after that we will need to move from our current game location (Kenn's place) to another one. 

Guardians is normally PACKED during the summer time so I suggestion not that location. Batcave is open up late (10pm) and my house is right down the street from there so we could also have it there. 

Right now the best time for me would also be Saturday after Jason's game as that is my game day for the week (plus we are all together already).

If we do have the game on Saturday it will be just Ian, Mark, myself with a possibly of Patrick, Jason and his son.

I assume since we all know Champions it would be run by Ian.

Kenn I know you said you cannot make this coming game Saturday but would this be for every Saturday?

[Mark Jones]

On Thursday, June 13, 2019 at 3:56:07 PM UTC-7, Gotham wrote:

Kenn I know you said you cannot make this coming game Saturday but would this be for every Saturday?

When we say "next Saturday" are we talking about the 15th? Cause this weekend is our Sunday Gotham game (or would be). Or the 22nd? I won't be available on the 15th as I already have other plans for that evening.

[Gotham]

It would be the 22nd Saturday.

This weekend is slammed for me with my folks. I won't even be able to sneak out this time.

[Ian Sheadel]

Okay, so what I'm hearing is: 

- Every other Saturday night directly following Jason's game. 

- Ian Champions or Mark GURPS

- Moving from Kenn's to BatCave or  John's?

Kenn, can you confirm: If Jason's game were occuring at your house and we did a second session directly following, would you prefer us to move to another location as a general rule? Don't want to be an excessive imposition (or any for that matter haha).

       I'm definitely excited to run my thing eventually and could get ready to do that over the next week. I have no qualms with trying out GURPS and see what people think.  And they don't even have to be mutually exclusive.  Can we get preferences from John, Patrick?  It sounded like Kenn is more for Champions if he's able to join?

~Ian

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[Patrick Swann]

I would definitely prefer Champions. I'm not sure how I feel about GURPS.

-Patrick

[Gotham]

Once a champions player always a champions player lol.

So lets try Ian's game. Will see if Jason and Jacob can join in as well. I believe Ian has invited them.

I've asked Kenn to see if it will be just this coming Saturday (the 22nd) that he cannot join or if it will be all Saturdays.

Everyone should have ready (just in case) a 500 point character with 100 complications submitted to Ian for review with a max of 200 AP. 

As of now we have Patrick, Mark, and myself as players. Unknown yet are Kenn, Jason and Jacob. Ian will be running.

[Mark Jones]

On Friday, June 14, 2019 at 9:23:25 AM UTC-7, Gotham wrote:

Once a champions player always a champions player lol.

So lets try Ian's game. Will see if Jason and Jacob can join in as well. I believe Ian has invited them.

I've asked Kenn to see if it will be just this coming Saturday (the 22nd) that he cannot join or if it will be all Saturdays.

Everyone should have ready (just in case) a 500 point character with 100 complications submitted to Ian for review with a max of 200 AP. 

Eat my 13d6 RKA, pal! BOOOOOOOOM!

Hmmm. What to do, what to do....

Another half-sister for Iron Maiden and Rose (in my personal headcanon, their father has left superpowered bastard children all over the world)...

Master of Sinanju? Not sure 500 points is enough.... (If you've read the novels, you'll understand.)

Captain Marvel-type flying blaster?

Djinn? (Combination of Transform, Mental Illusions, Images, and other powers so you never know what's real and what's not....)

Oh the possibilities!

[Kenn]

Just go with this Mark....:) 

Multiform (750 Character Points in the most expensive form) (Instant Change, x512 Number Of Forms) (AP 200) Real Cost 200

[Chris B]

I'm waiting to find out who makes the first Super Park Ranger character: Rangerific!

[Gotham]

Eat my 13d6 RKA, pal! BOOOOOOOOM!

Then you add your 200 Strength to it making it 26d6 HKA

Multiform (750 Character Points in the most expensive form) (Instant Change, x512 Number Of Forms) (AP 200) Real Cost 200

Don't forget to put this inside your multipower so you can add another 512 new number of forms for just 20 points.

I'm waiting to find out who makes the first Super Park Ranger character: Rangerific!

Powers - talk to squirrels, sense stress from plant life, and strike fear into those that have fireworks in the forest.

[Chris B]

On Fri, Jun 14, 2019 at 11:24 AM Gotham <portlan...@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm waiting to find out who makes the first Super Park Ranger character: Rangerific!

Powers - talk to squirrels, sense stress from plant life, and strike fear into those that have fireworks in the forest.

Nah, I think he said he was going to be sawing logs, cleaning bird poop, and something else.  These are strong powers, indeed.

[Chris B]

Oooo!  I know!  How about a normal character with a solid skill set and some armor with a Dragon as a Follower! (or some other creature, person, apparition, fantastic creation)

[Ian Sheadel]

   I said I would be cleaning poop... I didn't specify what species.  Remember, there are alot of homeless humans sneaking onto the island too...

P.s. My spirit animal is a dragon so I'm always on board with dragon buddies. 

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[Gotham]

From the office of Erulim- 

teenagers joining the team will now be spun as a positive marketing for the Sentinels. A youth program will be enacted by Sentinels for any youths having abilities. There will be fee associated with this along with legal documentation to join this youth camp. This youth program is not for actually field work.

"We could sell that as a youth program.  We could totally train them at the base or controlled scenarios, we just couldn't have them go out on live missions."

[Chris B]

<after reading the email, bursts into Erulim's office>  "Say what now!?", Lauren asks with an angry scowl, her hand pressed firmly on her hips.  "We can't do that!  We don't have the infrastructure, manpower, and who knows what the liability insurance would be!"

(the name on the header says "John" not "Ian" LOL!  Does he (Ian) even know about the thing...

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[Gotham]

[this was in an email from Ian to me after I told him about what had occurred - he's at work right now. The quotes are his words everything else is mine. Nothing wrong with starting up the next generation of Sentinels, get some good PR out of it and make some money off it at the same time. Personally I love this idea :) ]

 

[Chris B]

On Mon, Jul 1, 2019 at 12:20 PM Gotham <portlan...@gmail.com> wrote:

[this was in an email from Ian to me after I told him about what had occurred - he's at work right now. The quotes are his words everything else is mine. Nothing wrong with starting up the next generation of Sentinels, get some good PR out of it and make some money off it at the same time. Personally I love this idea :) ]

Great!  So, now we know this isn't a "John" idea (cause it sure sounds like one 😂).  However, Lauren's reply stands!  HE isn't going to be the one babysitting the Teen Titans, is he?  Noooo, it's gonna be her!  LOL!!!!  I'm having flashbacks to the Young Guardians and how great that turned out.... 😵

[Ian Sheadel]

Actually, since I (Erulim) will be the one predominantly at the office and you (Ranger and others) are vital to active missions, this will fall mostly under my supervision.  However, I (and the kids) would love and benefit from your assistance.  Could our team each dedicate one day a week (or a few hours each weekend) to hold classes for the 'kids' on various aspects of your role or power control?  I can manage the rest of the legalities and scheduling.  

Yes? No? Maybe so?

~Ian

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[Ian Sheadel]

If agreed upon, our new 501c3 paperwork will be submitted but we'll need a name... Sentinel Squad Summer Camp?  /Boot Camp?  Young Heroes?  Gotham Hero Camp?...

[Chris B]

Is this the reply Lauren gets after bursting into his office?

[Ian Sheadel]

And claim that YOU'll be the one actually watching these kids... Yes. 

 I'm very polite and compassionate of tone, if possible... Haha

[Chris B]

On Mon, Jul 1, 2019 at 2:31 PM Ian Sheadel <shead...@gmail.com> wrote:

Actually, since I (Erulim) will be the one predominantly at the office and you (Ranger and others) are vital to active missions, this will fall mostly under my supervision.  However, I (and the kids) would love and benefit from your assistance.  Could our team each dedicate one day a week (or a few hours each weekend) to hold classes for the 'kids' on various aspects of your role or power control?  I can manage the rest of the legalities and scheduling.  

Yes? No? Maybe so?

Lauren's demeanor (and posture) softens at Erulim's calm reply.  "Too bad," she thought, "I was hoping for a bit of a scuffle on this."

Crossing her arms in front of her chest she still scowls, "well, it still seems like a lot of work and we've all got other things to do, and not enough space in this building.  How many kids were you planning on having at 'super camp'?  I don't know if Splice and Doom Skull <rolling her eyes at the name> will be willing to help."

[Chris B]

On Mon, Jul 1, 2019 at 2:42 PM Ian Sheadel <shead...@gmail.com> wrote:

And claim that YOU'll be the one actually watching these kids... Yes. 

 I'm very polite and compassionate of tone, if possible... Haha

That's great, Ian!  After everything that has happened in the previous session (since the Groundhog Day Parade) and the death of Kick Ass, Lauren has adopted the mindset of becoming the mamma bear of the team, especially now that we have two "interns" (Patrick's new character - 17 and Chris Goodwin's new character - 15).  I am going to play her as being a bit overprotective of the team, the team members, the organization, and all of Gotham's citizens (with matching Complications to reinforce it).  🙂

It's going to be glorious.

[Chris Goodwin]

As soon as DOOMSKULL! hears this, at first he's all, "YES!  Best! Summer! Camp! EVAR!!!" and you can all hear the exclamation marks in his voice.  Then he realizes what you're saying, and says "Wait, to help?  I want to be a camper, not a counselor!  I need to learn to use my powers, in order to be a *responsible* *hero*!" and you can hear the partial sarcasm in his voice when he says that, but also the truth to the words.  

He also insists on the all-caps and the exclamation mark in his name, and pretty much pronounces the name like that whenever he says it.  

[Gotham]

Janine reads the memo from the staff of the Sentinel base, looks at DOOMSKULL! run by the front desk (picture of her expression) then goes on amazon - 

search term: tranquilizers for kids

her final order is a Cobra tactical crossbow with a box of Tranquilizer darts for dogs.

Prime delivery 2-day shipping. 

Ordered.

[Chris B]

Lauren leans out of Erulim's office, and looks right into Doomskull!'s eyes with a piercing gaze and furrowed brow, saying sternly, "Have you finished your report yet?  The adults are talking!"  She then leans back into Erulim's office and shuts the door.

"See," she states exasperated.  Once again softening her mood, she takes a seat on the opposite side of Erulim's desk.  'We're not ready for this yet."

Leaning forward in the chair, "Look, I understand the need.  I also understand the optics, and I can't deny that both would be helpful; however, we need to get ourselves sorted before we can teach anyone else."

Sitting back, she draws a heavy sigh at the memories that come flooding back to her.  "The team just formed up a couple of months ago, and in that time, we've lost two members: one quit and one died," she said with a bit of strain on the last word.  "Now, we have three new members, two of which are minors, and we're technically babies at this game, ourselves."

Lauren shook her head slowly, her thoughts far beyond the confines of the office, "I don't think we're ready for this, Jonathan."

[Chris Goodwin]

On Tue, Jul 2, 2019 at 11:59 AM Chris B <chrisj...@gmail.com> wrote:

Lauren leans out of Erulim's office, and looks right into Doomskull!'s eyes with a piercing gaze and furrowed brow, saying sternly, "Have you finished your report yet?  The adults are talking!"  She then leans back into Erulim's office and shuts the door.

Through the door, "Oh shoot, sorry!" 

"See," she states exasperated.  Once again softening her mood, she takes a seat on the opposite side of Erulim's desk.  'We're not ready for this yet."

*knock knock knock*  "Do you guys have a Bluetooth keyboard I could borrow?" 

 

Leaning forward in the chair, "Look, I understand the need.  I also understand the optics, and I can't deny that both would be helpful; however, we need to get ourselves sorted before we can teach anyone else."

*knock knock knock*  "What's the wifi password?" 

 

Sitting back, she draws a heavy sigh at the memories that come flooding back to her.  "The team just formed up a couple of months ago, and in that time, we've lost two members: one quit and one died," she said with a bit of strain on the last word.  "Now, we have three new members, two of which are minors, and we're technically babies at this game, ourselves."

Lauren shook her head slowly, her thoughts far beyond the confines of the office, "I don't think we're ready for this, Jonathan."

About five to eight minutes after this (depending on whether or not there's a Bluetooth keyboard), two sheets of paper slide under Erulim's office door.  It's Scotty's report, surprisingly well written, all things considered.  There are several awkward word choices, and an occasional long paragraph, but it's not bad.  It has all the hallmarks of having been written on Google Docs. 

--

Chris Goodwin

cgoodw...@gmail.com

[Chris B]

On Tue, Jul 2, 2019 at 12:45 PM Chris Goodwin <cgoodw...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Tue, Jul 2, 2019 at 11:59 AM Chris B <chrisj...@gmail.com> wrote:

Lauren leans out of Erulim's office, and looks right into Doomskull!'s eyes with a piercing gaze and furrowed brow, saying sternly, "Have you finished your report yet?  The adults are talking!"  She then leans back into Erulim's office and shuts the door.

Through the door, "Oh shoot, sorry!" 

"See," she states exasperated.  Once again softening her mood, she takes a seat on the opposite side of Erulim's desk.  'We're not ready for this yet."

*knock knock knock*  "Do you guys have a Bluetooth keyboard I could borrow?" 

 

Leaning forward in the chair, "Look, I understand the need.  I also understand the optics, and I can't deny that both would be helpful; however, we need to get ourselves sorted before we can teach anyone else."

*knock knock knock*  "What's the wifi password?" 

🤣 🤣 🤣

This was glorious!!!! 

[Chris B]

Once Lauren is finished speaking to Jonathan (Erulim), she leans over the arm of the office chair and picks up the two sheets of paper that were slid under the door.  Standing, she steps into the hallway then stops to read the report provided by DOOMSKULL!

 

She stood there until she was ¾ through the first page, then walked into her office, which was adjacent to Erulim’s, and picked up a red pen from the desk.  Making a few quick marks on the page to highlight punctuation, words to change, and items to be removed, she continued walking slowly toward the common area, the back side of the red pen lodged in the corner of her mouth as she read.

 

Upon entering the base common area, she stopped and looked around.  Scotty was on the couch in front of the television, so she continued walking toward him marking a few more items on the second page.  Once she reached the couch, she sat next to him.

 

“Hi Scotty,” she said in a soft voice.  “This looks really good!  You did a fine job.  I have a couple of suggested corrections, though.” 

 

Lauren handed the pages to Scotty.  “You are welcome to make any adjustments you like, or you can just email me the file as-is, and I can make them.  Then, I’ll send it to Jonathan.”

 

“I also wanted to say; you did a great job in our last two outings.  You composed yourself well and were very helpful,” she said, pausing to let him absorb the compliment.  Then she continued with a concerned tone, “I was hoping to find out how you felt about your first missions and if you had any questions.”

[Chris Goodwin]

 When Lauren returns, she finds a pile of reports on her desk:  

Operation Silver Treetop

We were invited to some gala (sp?) art show or something where there were statues.  None of the statues had dongs or boobs but they were all pretty amazing anyway. I bet $10 that the statues would come to life.  We got there and it was painful because it was all like super rich people. Kid Splice bought me a really bitchen suit though and told me not to mess it up because it was hella expensive.  When the bad guys attacked, I immediately transformed into my superhero form. First I saved three civilians, then I saved three more, then the statue that I was right next to came to life (I TOTALLY CALLED IT YO!).  Then two of our guys (Fastball and Kid Splice) got blasted out through the window -- NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! That's what it felt like, like in slow motion when you can't do anything. By then most of the bad guys were either down or gone.  I tried to leap to where they went out but I was too late, and I figured since they were superheroes they could take care of themselves. There was like one bad guy still conscious so I knocked him out, then I literally rescued all of the civilians!  I captured two of the bad guys; Kid Splice had gooped another one that I couldn't get. We totally got all of the civilians out even though some of the bad guys got away!  

Operation Bike Theft

Me and my friend Adam were walking out after school to the bike racks, when we saw three bad guys stealing bikes, including Adam's!  I got my phone out & started taping them. They were too far away and too fast! I ran up between a couple of parked cars, then "somehow" one of the perps somehow got a stick in his front wheel and went ass over teabags!  He dropped his ill gotten loot and took off with his bronies (?). It wasn't Adam's bike, though. We totally called the cops and filled out a police report and everything. They promised they would do everything in their power to find the villains!  

Operation Bike Theft II

So Adam was real bummed about his bike being gone.  He saved up from like work and birthday money and stuff to buy it, and I felt bad that I couldn't stop the criminals.  So I called up the police again to see where they were at in their investigation. They didn't have any leads, and from the sounds of it they had other more important things to work on.  So we made a plan! I totally saw this on Law & Order, where someone whose bike got stolen went looking for bikes on Craigslist, found their bike, and took off with it! We went through a couple of postings before we found Adam's bike.  It was in the Creepy Ass Warehouse District (tm). Me, Adam, and Will went over there, and confirmed it was his bike. Adam was all "Ew, no, that's a garbage bike, I don't want it!" I tried to do the trick where you test ride the bike and take off with it, but I think they saw that episode too and wouldn't let me leave the warehouse with it.  Adam wanted to leave and come back later and steal his bike back, but I didn't think that was a good idea. Will summoned his Pokémon creature (Zubat), and it swooped into the warehouse. I slipped in as well, and Zubat swooped down and grabbed the bike while I engaged the villains! One of them came up behind me and tried to punch me, while another one tried to hit Zubat with a baseball bat, and three others pulled guns.  I threw the guy who punched me into the guys with the guns, then we got out of there. We locked them in their Creepy Ass Warehouse (pat. pending) and got out of there! We met back at Adam's house, and Will brought his bike back to him. I think Adam thinks I'm a superhero, but I totally told him no way.  I left an anonymous tip with the cops that the bike thieves had guns and were probably involved in something more.

Operation Laser Theft

So while all that was going on, some giant laser cannon got stolen.  Patrolman was following up on that, and got us all together for an op.  This op is at the Creepy Ass Warehouse District. I'll bet the bike thieves are involved!  More to come when we finish the op.

[Chris B]

Hi Ian!

 Sentinels starting up new camp for meta kids, is this really safe?

Um, say what?!!! 😮  I think this conversation is still ongoing... Ian!  😉

Erulim has filed a 501c3 detailed document with the city under Sentinel LLC dba soon to come for the camp.

 

Ian- hahah... Erulim- I believe what I actually said was that I would file that paperwork if there were no objections. Then Ranger stormed into my office and we spoke calmly about the reasoning behind this and she felt less furious...and then what? You left my office and I filed the paperwork? Did you desire/request another next step I didn't know about?

In character, Lauren isnot sold on the idea, but I remember what you said about me over role playing an event to the detriment of others, so that's why I am holding my piece and just letting it happen, unless someone wants to have an in-game conversation.  However since you asked 😉, if we want to role-play this out on the boards, I will hold off on the information I need (OOC) to ensure things flow well at the table and in between game posts.  That said if we just want to hand wave the conversation and say it happened, the info I was hoping to find out is:

1) What is the super camp about?  What are the goals (IC and OOC)?

2) How long is it?

3) Where will it occur?  If at the HQ, where?  We don't have much room, and the Ranger prefers to run around the base unlit as much as possible for comfort of her and everyone else.

4) Will it impact in-game time or just be an offline thing that happens (either in the background or role-play on the boards)?

5) What actions will our characters need to take/how involved are they (from a reasonableness standpoint, as no involvement is unlikely if this was real life)?

Here is where the conversation left off, if we want to role-play it out.  If not, we can discuss the questions out of character:

On Mon, Jul 1, 2019 at 12:00 PM Gotham <portlan...@gmail.com> wrote:

From the office of Erulim- 

teenagers joining the team will now be spun as a positive marketing for the Sentinels. A youth program will be enacted by Sentinels for any youths having abilities. There will be fee associated with this along with legal documentation to join this youth camp. This youth program is not for actually field work.

On Mon, Jul 1, 2019 at 12:10 PM Chris B <chrisj...@gmail.com> wrote:

<after reading the email, bursts into Erulim's office>  "Say what now!?", Lauren asks with an angry scowl, her hand pressed firmly on her hips.  "We can't do that!  We don't have the infrastructure, manpower, and who knows what the liability insurance would be!"

On Mon, Jul 1, 2019 at 2:31 PM Ian Sheadel <shead...@gmail.com> wrote:

Actually, since I (Erulim) will be the one predominantly at the office and you (Ranger and others) are vital to active missions, this will fall mostly under my supervision.  However, I (and the kids) would love and benefit from your assistance.  Could our team each dedicate one day a week (or a few hours each weekend) to hold classes for the 'kids' on various aspects of your role or power control?  I can manage the rest of the legalities and scheduling.  

Yes? No? Maybe so?

On Mon, Jul 1, 2019 at 2:49 PM Chris B <chrisj...@gmail.com> wrote:

Lauren's demeanor (and posture) softens at Erulim's calm reply.  "Too bad," she thought, "I was hoping for a bit of a scuffle on this."

Crossing her arms in front of her chest she still scowls, "well, it still seems like a lot of work and we've all got other things to do, and not enough space in this building.  How many kids were you planning on having at 'super camp'?  I don't know if Kid Splice and Doomskull <rolling her eyes at the name> will be willing to help."

On Tue, Jul 2, 2019 at 12:45 PM Chris Goodwin <cgoodw...@gmail.com> wrote: 

As soon as DOOMSKULL! hears this, at first he's all, "YES!  Best! Summer! Camp! EVAR!!!" and you can all hear the exclamation marks in his voice.  Then he realizes what you're saying, and says "Wait, to help?  I want to be a camper, not a counselor!  I need to learn to use my powers, in order to be a *responsible* *hero*!" and you can hear the partial sarcasm in his voice when he says that, but also the truth to the words. 

[Ian Sheadel]

Yes, lots of fun things to talk about, hahah.  I can't spend too much time on it atm, but will try to check out those questions when I can.  Off the top of my head however, I will just note that this idea initially came about as a way to 'spin' the fact that we now have (three?) preteens or teens on the team.  So this 'hero camp' was a way to train up and engage these youngsters in a way that was acceptable and digestible by the community.  That said, it sounds like John loves the idea and if we need/want the extra income leverage, we could have an 'actual' camp and let some folks in.  We have not decided how many kids, this would be small (how many meta kids are in Gotham anyway?) like anywhere from 3 to 6?  I think 5 is about enough at a given time but it also depends on how deep we want to go down this rabbit hole.  My initial conception again was that our youngsters would be the 'kids' at this hero training camp.  And maybe we take on a few more for a couple weeks or a few classes a week.  

*I do not have details that I am making or demanding out of this situation*

~Ian

[Chris B]

On Wed, Jul 17, 2019 at 1:27 PM Ian Sheadel <shead...@gmail.com> wrote:

Yes, lots of fun things to talk about, hahah.  I can't spend too much time on it atm, but will try to check out those questions when I can.  Off the top of my head however, I will just note that this idea initially came about as a way to 'spin' the fact that we now have (three?) preteens or teens on the team.  So this 'hero camp' was a way to train up and engage these youngsters in a way that was acceptable and digestible by the community. 

Oh, ok.  Well, it would be easy enough to spin this, as they are both interns: one is from the Guardians (and no one is going to question this too hard, as the Guardians are established.  It would be like someone asking a local team why they have one of the Richards kids in the group.  Because the FF said so!  LOL).  The other is a local teen that the team brought on to prevent him from running as a vigilante.  Of course, the truth is that DOOMSKULL! is related to Erulim, so that's why he is there.  This is an acceptable story, too.  The Ranger can spin these! 😁

 

That said, it sounds like John loves the idea and if we need/want the extra income leverage, we could have an 'actual' camp and let some folks in.  We have not decided how many kids, this would be small (how many meta kids are in Gotham anyway?) like anywhere from 3 to 6?  I think 5 is about enough at a given time but it also depends on how deep we want to go down this rabbit hole. 

John likes chaos and watching us squirm. 😉

 

My initial conception again was that our youngsters would be the 'kids' at this hero training camp.  And maybe we take on a few more for a couple weeks or a few classes a week.  

I can work with John on this at the table, to be sure it doesn't get too out of hand (yeah, good luck, right?).

As for being online.  If you are busy, no worries on not posting.  Any role-play I do on the boards is not time sensitive (usually), so if you want to role play things out, just post in character and we can have a back and forth conversation whenever time allows it.  Then once it is done, it gets inserted into thew correct time frame in the history.

 

[Chris B]

Thanks to Chris and John for the great summaries!

And now, on with the show...

Two weeks!  The conference lasted two friggin' weeks!  Lauren hadn't packed for that, let alone been prepared professionally, but it worked out pretty well, all things considered.  She met all of the hottest new talent as well as the movers & shakers of the physics community.   In addition to that, her presentation went well, and by the end of it all, she was asked to rewrite her research and resubmit to a smaller publication.

Despite the excitement she felt during the conference, a feeling kept nagging at her.  She hadn't been away from the team nor Gotham for any length of time since the Sentinels were formed.  Even though Bill was certainly competent and the most experienced of their group, and Erulim was still there running things, the Radiant Ranger felt the need to be home versus gallivanting around for her own sake.  In the end what she felt was guilt.

As soon as she touched down, she collected her luggage and took an Uber to her apartment, dropped her stuff, then immediately went to Sentinels HQ to see if she had any emails.

It was around midnight when she entered her office.  Lauren noticed a manila folder with DOOMSKULL! thickly written on the tab, obviously from a ball point pen from the looks of it.  

She sat and started her laptop.  The process took a while, so she grabbed the folder and noticed it was a series of reports. "Cool," she thought, proud that her charge was taking the initiative.

On Mon, Jul 15, 2019, 10:26 AM Chris Goodwin <cgoodw...@gmail.com> wrote:

Operation Silver Treetop

We were invited to some gala (sp?) art show or something where there were statues.  None of the statues had dongs or boobs but they were all pretty amazing anyway.

Lauren snickered and shook her head.  "From a boy's perspective, I guess," she thought, amused and embarrassed by the abruptness of the observation.  "I'll need to edit that."

I bet $10 that the statues would come to life.  We got there and it was painful because it was all like super rich people. Kid Splice bought me a really bitchen suit though and told me not to mess it up because it was hella expensive.  When the bad guys attacked, I immediately transformed into my superhero form. First I saved three civilians, then I saved three more,

"Atta boy."

then the statue that I was right next to came to life (I TOTALLY CALLED IT YO!). 

"Yes you did," she thought, smiling.  Lauren's attitude quickly shifted from bemused to horrified as she read on.

Then two of our guys (Fastball and Kid Splice) got blasted out through the window -- NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! That's what it felt like, like in slow motion when you can't do anything. By then most of the bad guys were either down or gone.  I tried to leap to where they went out but I was too late, and I figured since they were superheroes they could take care of themselves.

Lauren's stomach fell, too, as she frowned.  "I hope they're alright," she thought, making a note to ask Bill about it ASAP.

There was like one bad guy still conscious so I knocked him out, then I literally rescued all of the civilians!  I captured two of the bad guys; Kid Splice had gooped another one that I couldn't get. We totally got all of the civilians out even though some of the bad guys got away!  

Lauren sat back.  "What the hell happened?!  I was only gone a little while.  Ugh," she exclaimed and leaned back heavily in her chair.

Just then, her laptop finished it's start and update cycle and was ready for use.  Clicking on the web browser icon, she went to the link for her team email account.

"428 new emails?????  What the..." she said out loud in shock.  "I cleared my box before I left!"  Clicking on the Inbox tab, she saw that most of them were from Janine.  Her shoulders fell as she sighed and exhaled loudly.  Lauren started looking through them, and began sorting them by Tasks to Do, Things to File, and Important <insert the one's John wants me to know about here>. The rest were left for later.

A couple of hours past, and Lauren felt drained.  Resigned to the work she was able to accomplish, she grabbed DOOMSKULL!'s folder, tucked it and her now shut down laptop into the bag, and flew home.  It didn't take long for her to eat, change, then crawl into bed.  A few moments later, she was fast asleep.

The sun was up when she finally woke.  Stretching, she slipped out of bed and into the living area.  After fixing a tumbler of coffee, she pulled the report folder from her computer bag, and curled up on the couch to continue reading.

Operation Bike Theft

Me and my friend Adam were walking out after school to the bike racks, when we saw three bad guys stealing bikes, including Adam's!  I got my phone out & started taping them. They were too far away and too fast! I ran up between a couple of parked cars, then "somehow" one of the perps somehow got a stick in his front wheel and went ass over teabags! 

Lauren enjoyed the opening story, as her thoughts started to envision the situation.  She made a mental note to discuss the need to maintain his anonymity as a superhero, and what situations they should jump into and which ones they should let play out while acting as a civilian.

"Language!" she retorted to herself at the last three words.  She grabbed a red pen from her kitchen drawer, and started editing the document, by lining out that sentence.  "He is colorful," she conceded.

 

He dropped his ill gotten loot and took off with his bronies (?).

Lauren chuckled at the reference to male My Little Pony fans, then she paused.  "Was it bad that she immediately caught the reference or worse that she made a note to watch the show again soon," she thought.  "Nerd!"

 

It wasn't Adam's bike, though. We totally called the cops and filled out a police report and everything. They promised they would do everything in their power to find the villains!  

"Good, let the cops handle it from here; it's not our fight."

 

Operation Bike Theft II

So Adam was real bummed about his bike being gone.  He saved up from like work and birthday money and stuff to buy it, and I felt bad that I couldn't stop the criminals. 

"That's why God invented, insurance, kid."

 

So I called up the police again to see where they were at in their investigation.

Mental note, ask if he called as Scotty or as DOOMSKULL!  The latter would be a bit awkward.

 

They didn't have any leads, and from the sounds of it they had other more important things to work on.  So we made a plan!

"No, no, no, no, no...." she said aloud, shifting her feet to the floor and standing.

 

I totally saw this on Law & Order, where someone whose bike got stolen went looking for bikes on Craigslist, found their bike, and took off with it!

Oh crap...

 

We went through a couple of postings before we found Adam's bike.  It was in the Creepy Ass Warehouse District (tm).

"Trademark?"  She shook her head, "focus Lauren!"

 

Me, Adam, and Will went over there, and confirmed it was his bike. Adam was all "Ew, no, that's a garbage bike, I don't want it!" I tried to do the trick where you test ride the bike and take off with it, but I think they saw that episode too and wouldn't let me leave the warehouse with it. 

Uh oh...

 

Adam wanted to leave and come back later and steal his bike back,

Good boy!

...but I didn't think that was a good idea.

Crap!

 

Will summoned his Pokémon creature (Zubat), and it swooped into the warehouse. I slipped in as well, and Zubat swooped down and grabbed the bike while I engaged the villains!

"Villains?!  They're bike thieves!" Lauren said walking into the kitchen to refresh her coffee.  "In the immortal words of Elsa, Let It Go!" 

 

One of them came up behind me and tried to punch me, while another one tried to hit Zubat with a baseball bat, and three others pulled guns. 

Oh crap...

 

I threw the guy who punched me into the guys with the guns, then we got out of there. We locked them in their Creepy Ass Warehouse (pat. pending) and got out of there!

Good boy!!!!

 

We met back at Adam's house, and Will brought his bike back to him. I think Adam thinks I'm a superhero,

"Ya think?!" she said loudly.  "Just put on the damn mask and advertise!"

 

but I totally told him no way.  

"Well, that must have been convincing, after mini-Splice called forth a pterodactyl and you did your stretchy thing!  And what about the "villains" telling the cops???" Lauren took a deep breath.  "Let it go, Lauren.  Let it go; be one with the wind and sky." she sang to calm her nerves. 

 

I left an anonymous tip with the cops that the bike thieves had guns and were probably involved in something more.

Lauren put the tumbler on the counter, and walked back to the living room.  She started scribbling notes in the margins with arrows and capitalized letters at times.  Finally, she set the reports on the open folder, retrieved a full tumbler from the kitchen, then sat back on the couch, bracing for the final report of the group.

 

Operation Laser Theft

So while all that was going on, some giant laser cannon got stolen.  Patrolman was following up on that, and got us all together for an op.  This op is at the Creepy Ass Warehouse District. I'll bet the bike thieves are involved!  More to come when we finish the op.

Lauren slapped the last page onto the couch, then lifted it again.  "Four sentences?  An actual event that needs out talents and I get four sentences?!"  She took another deep breath, placed the page with the others and gathered them neatly into the folder before gently closing it.  Slowly tucking the folder into the computer bag, she zipped it up, then paused.

"GHAHAHAHA!!!" she yelled aloud thrashing her arms and legs about for a few seconds. 

"Better," she asked herself.  Taking a deep breath in through her nose and exhaling through her mouth, she replied, "Better."

Lauren showered, changed, and went to the University to start her day.