I've just started playing around with this and have completed the tutorial missions. Does anyone know about it and can suggest where to go from here?

The target was tall, elegant, and dressed in an overly ostentatious set of black and purple robes that in the magelight he'd conjured practically
gleamed. The ensemble was topped with a matching turban. The whole thing screamed "I will be king."

The prominent nose set firmly above his black Van Dyke-style mustache-and-goatee was elevated just high enough that he could look down over it on everyone
else -- most of all his (absent) boss, who was sadly unaware of his subordinate's opinions and plans despite the rather obvious "smelling something
bad" expression the target habitually wore when not schmoozing.

He so looked the part of the classic cliche "evil vizier" that I idly wondered if there were some kind of menswear/stylist chain through
all the universes that catered to slick villains who worked themselves into positions of power in order to betray their bosses.

The intel I'd received said he was a sorcerer of some sort. Probably explained why he could keep that red parrot on his shoulder all the time and not
have his back covered with bird shit. I was pretty sure I could take him if we were to go head-to-head, but even so it still left too big a chance that he
might win. Instead, I decided to go with an attack against which no sorcerer in this here-and-now could defend.

In position and with the target under surveillance, I settled in and waited for the right moment. It didn't take long.

My first shot blew right through that tastefully-coordinated turban and changed its color scheme from black-and-purple to
black-and-purple-and-red-and-white/grey. The parrot shot straight up in a spray of loose feathers, squawking raucously; its cries reminded me of the duck from
those insurance commercials, oddly enough.

The target was just starting to fall. I worked the action on the high-powered sniper rifle and put a "guarantee" bullet into his back and through
his chest. Not that I needed it -- no one ever took a shot like my first and got up afterwards. But I am a professional, and it cost me nothing to ensure
that the job was done right.

The parrot's squawks were swallowed by the surrounding dunes as the mostly headless body toppled, its knees hitting hitting the sand first before it
fell prone into what would have been a face-down position if it still had a face. The impact raised a little cloud of sand and dust that shone briefly in the
moonlight. In the same moonlight, the pool of blood that formed and spread under the body was mostly black.

Satisfied that my job was done, I slid the rifle into the long leather holster I'd slung on the side of my motorcycle for this little mission. Because
the faint lensing from the stealth system's fields played merry havoc with telescopic sights both optical and electronic, I'd relied on darkness,
altitude and distance to hide me; but now I re-engaged them. I gunned the drive, banked hard to the left, and made a beeline for our rooms in the palace.

On the way back I kept an eye out for my current protege. If all had gone well he would still be busy wooing the girl of his dreams, and the last thing he
needed was for his mentor to show up unexpectedly at a moment one could reasonably expect to be private. Unless the two of them were inside one of the few
clouds I avoided going through, though, they were nowhere nearby.

Good for them.

I dropped down, Harrier-style, to make a perfect two-point landing on the balcony that spanned our entire suite of rooms. I shut all the systems down,
swung off the saddle, and took up the rifle and its holster. Before I could even turn and step inside, though, I was challenged by a worried baritone
voice.

"Well?"

I turned and smiled at the speaker. "Got 'im. The kid, his girl, and her dad are all safe now." I held up the gun. "Thanks for the
firepower, Big G. It made all the difference. But I don't need it any more."

A blue hand the size of a small ham closed around the leather case, and before my eyes the rifle and its holster vanished in a spray of golden light.

"One wish left," the Genie said, uncharacteristically sober.

I nodded, and crossed the room to where the kid had left the lamp in our care, and nodded to Abu. The monkey chittered at me as I picked it up and studied
it in the soft light of the more prosaic lamps that hung from the ceiling of our chambers. Simple brasswork, almost crude in its simplicity, but the container
-- the prison -- for so much power. I walked back across the room and placed the lamp in the genie's hands. "As I swore before we began, my
friend -- if Aladdin doesn't free you, I will use my third wish to do it." I grinned. "But trust me, he'll do the right thing."

As the Genie threw his arms around my shoulders and wept -- a bit theatrically, I thought, but no less sincerely for it -- I smiled to myself. It's
good to know the plot when you find yourself fallen into a story.



DRUNKARD'S WALK, STEPLET:

I DREAM OF DJINNI

by Robert M. Schroeck

This work of fiction is copyright (C) 2009, by Robert M. Schroeck.

Jafar, the Blue Genie With The Voice Of Robin Williams, and other characters from Disney's Aladdin are trademarks of and copyright (C) 1992,
Walt Disney Studios, and are used without permission.

"Douglas Q. Sangnoir," "Looney Toons", "The Loon" and any representations thereof are copyright by and trademarks of Robert M.
Schroeck.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Fan-made trailer for a
hypothetical Green Lantern film -- starring Nathan
Fillion.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Today (Monday) is http://towelday.org/]Towel Day.

Note the news on that page, especially the bit that "has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move"...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

Sunday, May 31, is the the one year anniversary of the formation of The
Pariah Project. To honor the occasion, we will be having a social event at our headquarters in Talos Towers. The main event begins at 8 p.m. Eastern, but
feel free to look for any Project members there throughout the day. Hope to see you there!

--Dyna

Secure Containment Protocols a website of weird wonderful
stuff.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

Leon cursed as his phone demanded his attention, the sound of Priss Asagiri's 'Rock Me' muffled inside his jacket. Passing one of the Up 'N
Away takeaway bags over to Daley, he pulled the phone out and flipped it open. "McNichol."

"Query: Where are you now Detective?" HE-AT asked.

"Wong and I are at Atlas Up 'N Away," he replied. "What's going on boss-lady?" Daley paused in his dismantling of a Positron
Doubleburger (Leon having forgotten to mention no pickes, again) and looked at him, curious.

"Instructions: You need to meet Detective Becktrees at the Higgs Memorial Cemetery. Expansion: He has requested PSI assistance in a police investigation
involving a break in last night. He stressed that the situation may be limited by time requirements and the possibility of gang-related violence."

"Gotcha. We're on our way now," he said. "I'll call you as soon as I have anything." He flipped the phone closed and stashed it
back in his jacket. "Eat while I drive," he said to Daley, heading for the car.

"Trouble?" his partner asked as he followed.

"Becktree is asking for PSI backup," he replied as he pulled out his keys. "That man's got a damn hero phone book, he's gotta think
it's serious." As Daley buckled in and Leon started up the engine and threw it into reverse, he added, "Call the kid, see if she's free. She
needs investigation experience."

***

Higgs Memorial Cemetery was just outside Kings Row, in one of the regions of Paragon that, for reasons no one could ever determine, never seemed to suffer the
constant, never ending crime problems that required a high police and hero presence.

Not that it meant the region was completely peaceful, Leon mused as he showed his badge to the uniformed officers at the cemetery gates and continued inside.
It still suffered the sorts of problems that only Paragon seemed to accept so naturally. Council sleeper cells, Arachnos and Rikti terror attacks... and for
graveyards, the ever wonderful zombies and grave robbers.

"McNichol, Wong," Dectective Becktrees said as they approached, shaking both mens hands. "Thanks for coming so quickly."

"Happy to help," Leon shrugged. "What brought all the attention out here? Meat-Doctors, Pantheon?"

"A little lower down the national threat scale, but still serious," Becktrees admitted, then blinked at the sight of a tiny figure in a PPD duty
uniform flew out of the sky, landing next to the trio.

"Dectctive Becktrees, this is Officer Reilly, aka Major Starlight," Leon said, nodding between the pair. The Row's chief detective recovered his
footing quickly, shaking her hand and seeming unconcerned by a police officer that looked to be maybe fifteen years old. Then again, given the sheer variety of
heroes he'd worked with over the years, that shouldn't be surprising.

"Any of you familiar with Kerosene Kenneth?" he asked as he led them deeper into the cemetery.

"Ken Douglas," Tam replied. "One of the Hellions Damned. Mostly makes trouble in Perez, was arrested and charged with the attempted arson of the
Galaxy Girl theater in March, but got released on bail." Her PSI teammates gave her a curious look and she shrugged. "I was on the team that arrested
him," she admitted.

Becktrees chuckled bitterly. "Well, he won't be facing trial. He was found dead in a house fire in Steel Canyon last week, COD determined to be smoke
inhalation." This surprised none of the officers present, accidental suicide by fire being the most common cause of death in the Hellions ever since the
most recent Medicomm network upgrade. "No family left, no will, he was buried here in the public cemetery..."

He ducked under police tape and stopped at the edge of an open grave. "Then last night, someone broke in, dug up his grave and... well..." he waved a
hand into the grave. Leon looked down and scowled. Kens body was still there, but someone had taken some sort of blade, probably an axe, to the Hellions neck.

"They stole his skull," Tamara said quietly, kneeling down for a closer look. "I suppose I shoudl say there's a list of suspects, but if
I'm being honest, only one sticks out."

Daley nodded in agreement. "The Vaz would take the whole body for parts, the Pantheon wouldn't take an interest in just one corpse, and the Hellions
and Skulls have been glaring at each other lately." He glanced over at Leon. "When the Hellions hear about this, they'll blame the Skulls right
away."

"And go in shooting," Leon agreed, taking off his sunglasses. "Gang war in Galaxy, Atlas and the Row," he scowled, looking at the headless
corpse. "This could be bad."

okay, so Gir (Invin/SS/enrgy) is geting close to 50, and i have been doing better with IO's than i did with DS, but i recon i still need some help.

this is what i have sloted so far.

6 Titanium coatin in Temp invurability (6 sloted)

5 Aegis in Unyeilding (6 sloted)

4 Luck of the gambilar in Invincibility (6 sloted)

5 force feedbacks in Knok out Blow (5 sloted)

5 adjusted targeting in Rage ( 5 sloted)

now i know i could get mids or something to help, but i would rather hear how players have sloted thier tanks and how what works for them.

Encountered this in the Anime Room at Penguicon back at the beginning of the month. Ended up laughing so hard I almost hurt myself (admittedly, seeing it cold
in a room full of punch-drunk sleep-deprived MST3K-ing fen probably amplified the affect, but still). So I ended up putting it in my Netflix qeue and bumped
it to #1. And thereby hangs a tale....

Basically, for some reason, all the Netflix has is "Season 1, Part2", discs 1 and 2. Except the labels pressed on the discs say "Disc 2 and
Disc 3". Disc 1, I mean 2, I mean... gah. Anyway,the earlier disc has episodes 8-13, and the next disc has episoded 14-20. Okay, fine. But these are
the ONLY two discs that Netflix has. Where are Episodes 1-7? And any episodes past 20?

Going to Amazon and Ebay doesn't help -- the naming conventions for this series's discs seems to be uncertain and/or uneven. And at nearly $40 for one
disc, I'd rather not experiment. Anybody familiar with what's going on here who can help me out a bit?

Okay, enough about the DVDs. The series itself is just downright popcorn-eating parody fun. The "elevator pitch" for this might boil down to
"Schreck as applied to (reverse) harem shojo anime tropes." The characters manage to be complete parodies
of their standard reverse-harem comedy roles without becoming 2D or cardboard, and in fact have depth that lies
outside their role without turning the series (yet) into anything threatening to get serious. There's just enough depth here to keep you coming back and
looking for more, but every near-serious moment is promptly skewered by cheefully waaaay-over-the-top parodies of the standard tropes.

And the dub work is... magnificent. They even re-dubbed the OP music and it works. I think it actually improves on
the original (then again, I *am* biased in favor of lyrics I can understand). Caitlin Glass manages to convey an utterly deadpan female lead without falling
into Rei Ayanami territory -- Haruhi (no, not THAT Haruhi) is very cerebral, detached, sardonic, but not uninvolved or emotionally flat. She just doesn't
get emotional over most of the things that girls her age do. Haruhi is, simply, very emotionally mature -- she just
doesn't sweat the small stuff.

Except, she skipped straight from grade-schooler to adult, emotionally. And now she's surrounded by a gang of utterly carefree (and, in her opinion, none
too bright) bishies who are all competing for her attentions (which she has no interest in)... and they're, ever so slowly, starting to get to her. Of
course, she seems to be getting them to grow up a bit, too....

From random Chatlog.
Team] Misty Hanover:  [Random Tangent: What would be the funniest "freaky friday" Infamous/Legendary pairs?]
Team] Misty Hanover:  [IF necessary the swap can be infamous/infamous or LEgendary/legendary for max yuks]
Team] Sachie Hanagawa:  [Hm.]
Team] Sachie Hanagawa:  [Superball/Nogitsune?]
Team] Misty Hanover:  [Oh dear. Heh]
Team] Misty Hanover:  [Becky/Wide could be brain bendingly funny]
Team] Misty Hanover:  [And Scary]
Team] Sachie Hanagawa:  [Oik, yeah.]
Team] Misty Hanover:  [ESPECIALLY if Becky's psychosis... well. it can get DARK in a hurry]
Team] Misty Hanover:  [Point A: Becky in Wide will NOT ahve the experience at being SUPER STRONG that Wide does]
Team] Sachie Hanagawa:  [Hm. Does the Infamous have any notable prudes?]
Team] Misty Hanover:  [Well we have MEchanon PRime]
Team] Sachie Hanagawa:  [Point B: Becky will suddenly have control of half of Wide's -marriage-.]
Team] Misty Hanover:  [Strongly anti-flesh root mm]
Team] Sachie Hanagawa:  [Yeah, but that's a 'humans suck' not 'Sex is EEEEVIL'
Team] Sachie Hanagawa:  [...Or, heck in the Legendary?]
Team] Misty Hanover:  [Acetone maybe]
Team] Misty Hanover:  [We gotta have some prudes in the LEgendary]
Team] Misty Hanover:  [Alistair. ]
Team] Sachie Hanagawa:  [Heh. Alistair... and Jackie.]
Team] Misty Hanover:  [Also, no reason the swaps have to be 1-for-1]
Team] Misty Hanover:  [IE, they could "Daisy Chain"]
Team] Sachie Hanagawa:  [...Actually, that makes me picture 'Team 11 as Hero Sandwich']
Team] Misty Hanover:  [Especially if it's a "free for all" battle between them]
Team] Sachie Hanagawa:  [Sachie in a Terr Suit!]
Team] Misty Hanover:  [Nononon
Team] Misty Hanover:  [MISAO in a Terr suit]
Team] Sachie Hanagawa:  [Hm. Who as Gamma and who as Emerald?]
Team] Misty Hanover:  [That woudl be a tossup]
Team] Sachie Hanagawa:  [Hm. Gamma's shorter, so have her be Sachie. ^_^]
Team] Sachie Hanagawa:  [...snrk. Terr in a Misao suit.]
The Legendary]DarkSeraphim: good qestion
The Legendary]Sweno: no clue
The Legendary]valles: Que?
The Legendary]Foxboy: And Fox has another LEgendary/Infamous bunny
The Legendary]Stormgear: BUNNY!
The Legendary]Stormgear: BUNNIES BUNNIES BUNNIES!
The Legendary]DarkSeraphim: bunnie?
The Legendary]valles: Good in marinara sauce.
The Legendary]DarkSeraphim: so we need to kill fox's bunny and cook it?
The Legendary]Foxboy: Okay. Mystical MacGuffin of the Week..
The Legendary]Foxboy: Big Set piece battle between the LEgendary and The Infamous...
The Legendary]DarkSeraphim: yah?
The Legendary]valles: Terr and Sachie hammering on each other, someone else comes by to interfere...
The Legendary]Foxboy: During the Battle
The Legendary]valles: 'BUZZ OFF! *SWAT*'
The Legendary]Foxboy: One of the pair bumps the Dingus
The Legendary]Foxboy: Activating it
The Legendary]DarkSeraphim: Dingus?
The Legendary]Terrence Knight: Sorry...pvpin..was distracted
The Legendary]Foxboy: The sheer amount of MAgic being flung around has supercharged it.
The Legendary]Terrence Knight: lol
The Legendary]Foxboy: So instead of doing what i's supposed to with only two targets...
The Legendary]Foxboy: IT fires off and gets everyone involved in the fight
The Legendary]Terrence Knight: Hee
The Legendary]Foxboy: And what does this Dingus/MacGuffin do?
The Legendary]Foxboy: *ominous musical sting*
Team] Sachie Hanagawa:  ...children?
The Legendary]Foxboy: Next on The LEgendary: The Animated series... the Freaky Friday Episode
The Legendary]DarkSeraphim: *is being killed by suspence*
The Legendary]Stormgear: Oh God.
Team] Misty Hanover:  Y'know.. they're kinda adorable when they're not invadin'
The Legendary]DarkSeraphim: wait..... sachie in Terr's body and Terr in hers?
The Legendary]valles: No.
The Legendary]Foxboy: Not Quite
The Legendary]valles: Sachie in Gamma's.
The Legendary]valles: Misao in Terr's.
The Legendary]DarkSeraphim: ......
The Legendary]DarkSeraphim: so ninjas and sammich swap?
The Legendary]Foxboy: Inari as Lisa.
The Legendary]Stormgear: >_>
The Legendary]Stormgear: .>)
The Legendary]Foxboy: That would have been woodcut artist, btw not sculptor.
The Legendary]valles: OK, so, I've a bad memory. No surprise there. ^_^
The Legendary]Foxboy: Heh.
The Legendary]Foxboy: If anything, Nogi might have inspired Sei shonagon's Novel
The Legendary]Foxboy: First Fiction Novel EVER was Japanese
The Legendary]Stormgear: Not true.
The Legendary]Stormgear: First fiction 'novel' was written by cavemen about religeon.
The Legendary]Stormgear: Religion.
The Legendary]valles: Hee.
The Legendary]Foxboy: Let's say first Fiction Novel DELIBERATELY written as fiction.
The Legendary]Foxboy: Not a "history" not "Theology"
The Legendary]Foxboy: And, like all first adopters.. what was the first "Modern Concept of a Novel" about?
The Legendary]valles: Rule 34!
The Legendary]valles: *cheated via wiki*
The Legendary]DarkSeraphim: okay, so who else do you have planed for this "freaky friday" thing?
The Legendary]Foxboy: Well, we were going after silly/who wanted in, etc.
The Legendary]Terrence Knight: Ok..I'm Free of RV
The Legendary]Terrence Knight: Like 8-10 hours in there today 0_o
The Legendary]Foxboy: But we wanted Ninjettes/Hero Sammich for funsies
The Legendary]valles: I think I shall call it sleeptime, now.
The Legendary]DarkSeraphim: night V
The Legendary]Foxboy: Awww.
The Legendary]valles: Good luck with ever more brain-breaking comboes!
After Discussion, Terr decided against his toon's participation, alas.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll