Maneuver Legend: AA – All Out Attack, ACA – Accurate Attack, DA – Defensive Attack, PA – Power Attack, RA – Routine Attack, SA – Standard Attack
Intro: Another imported test. This was an interesting contrast. Selina’s quickness and guile vs. Pearl’s power and strength. And at least this time Selina is facing someone as hot as she is.
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Pink Pearl’s Cloisters chain is becoming very successful along the east coast so it was only natural that she open up a bar in Gotham. After visiting the club as Selina Kyle, Catwoman scopes out a couple of cat themed items of Pearl’s that she really thinks would be better off with her. Selina gives the place a good once over so she can plan out her return visit. The next night after closing, of course.
“Hello, Catwoman,” Pink Pearl says from behind Selina.Let’s do a little burglary stuff. First some Investigate to check out the security system. A 24 gets her all she needs. There’s a window on the 2nd floor that she can get in that doesn’t have camera coverage and once in, she can disable the rest of the system from there. She’ll use her Up the Wall to get up there with her Acrobatics and it’s easy peasy, 14+16=30. She’s in.
Now the security system. I’ll say it’s good, DC20. Selina obliterates it with her Technology skill against security systems being +15, 17+15=32.
Selina has the run of the place now, so she’ll saunter around and see what else she would like. She doesn’t find much so she grabs the couple of things she came for and gets ready to leave Pearl’s office, but…
Pink Pearl is still in da house!
OK, there’s probably no way a check from Pearl could beat Selina’s Perception or Insight, so we’ll go with dramatic flair here and just give Selina an HP so that Pearl can appear, seemingly out of nowhere.
Selina tried to not act surprised, even though that was actually untrue. “Hiya, Pearl,” she said turning around. “I gotta say, nice place you have here.”
“Let’s skip the bullsh*t, girl,” Pearl replied. “I hate cats. I only put those damn things out BECAUSE of you, hoping it might lure you in. Turns out the Penguin’s intel was good...”
That bastard, Selina thought. I’m gonna use that pointy nose of his for a scratching post the next time I see him. “I’m sure he charged you plenty for it,” Catwoman interrupted, “So I’m glad it worked out for you.”
“True,” Pearl mildly chuckled. “Anyway, I wanted you here to talk to business. I want you to work for me.”
“Well, thank you for the offer, Pearl. But despite how this looks, I’m really trying to make a life change so unless it’s some sort of charity work, I’m afraid I’ll have to decline.”
“So you’ll steal FROM me, but not FOR me?” Pearl snapped, her rosy cheeks getting rosier.
“Well, when you put it that way…” Selina replied coyly. “…yeah, I guess that’s about right.”
Pearl cracked her knuckles. “Then I guess I better make sure it’s the LAST time you do it…” And with that she lunged at the cat burglar.
Round 1: Initiative: Selina – 24, Pearl – 19. So it’s on. Selina will go full defense this round to feel Pearl out. Pearl move in 10 ft or so to get in range and will go AA2 to try and hit Selina with a punch and rolls well, 29. Selina’s going to have to roll real well to beat that and she doesn’t, even with her Improved Defense, 26. She now has to make a DC20 Toughness check and she gets it dead on.
Round 2: Now that she knows that Pearl has game, Selina will strike back. She’ll go PA3 with her claws, 15 and that hits since Pearl’s defense was down to 14. Pearl’s toughness check is DC22 and she makes it easily with a natural 20. Go Pearl!
Pearl again goes AA2, but she gets a natural 1 (to balance things out, I suppose) and misses Selina badly with another sweeping haymaker.
Round 3: Catwoman decides to try and throw Pearl off with some fancy footwork, she’ll try to Agile Feint her with a move action and since she has Accelerated Acrobatics, that will eliminate the -5 penalty. She gets an 18. Pearl will oppose with Insight and she almost got it with a 17. However, she’ll be vulnerable so Selina will go PA5 with her claws. Thanks to her feint, her claws find their mark with a 15. Pearl only gets a 16 on her Toughness check against DC24 to take a 2nd degree failure. Seeing her new pink dress torn and the fresh wound pisses Pearl off. She’ll take another AA2 swipe at Selina and misses, 16. Being pissed, she’ll use Extra Effort for another action and this time her AA2 hits with a 30. Selina has to make a DC20 check again, she only gets a 12 for 2nd degree failure. Pearl’s meaty fists rock Selina’s world, slowing her enough for Pearl to use her Fast Grab to start a grab, although she only gets a 9 on an opposed check. Selina has Grabbing Finesse so she opposes with her Agility, she also gets a 9. Since Selina’s Agility is higher than Pearl’s strength, though, she gets away..
Status – Catwoman (-1 Toughness, dazed, 2 hp), Pink Pearl (-1Toughness, fatigued, 1 hp)
Holy crap, the big girl can MOVE for her size! Selina thought as she leapt out of the way of the lunging Pink Pearl. Stick and move, Selina…stick and move…Round 4: Catwoman will start fighting smarter. She’ll use her lone action to move out of the office to the stairway. Pearl is fatigued so burns her HP to shake it off, she charges after Selina going AA2 but she misses with a 12.
Round 5: Catwoman will take a quick shot at Pearl again with her claws, again PA5 and her sweeping slash cuts again, 23. Pearl has to make a DC24 check, again she doesn’t do so hot with a 12. 2nd degree failure again. Now Selina will use her Move Action to get clear. She’ll use Athletics to double her speed, 17+11=28, easily done. This will get her the rest of the way down the stairs and into the bar area where she will use her Accelerated Stealth and Hide in Plain Sight to blend into the shadows of the darkened bar. I’m going to roll for her Stealth just for the fun of it, knowing that Pearl would be hard pressed to get to her Skill Mastery check of 25. How about that? Rolled a 20. So Selina has a 35 Stealth that Pearl has to try to beat. Not a chance. Anyway, Pearl being dazed limits her to only a chance to move. She too, will use Athletics to double her speed, gets it with a 19+5=24. She will not see Selina at all with a 13.
Status – Catwoman (-1 Toughness, 2 hp), Pink Pearl (-2 Toughness, 0 hp)
Round 6: I’m going to say that Pearl is just a few feet away from Selina since their move rates were similar. Since she has no idea where Catwoman is, it looks like she’ll be vulnerable for a surprise attack. Selina switches to her whip and again goes PA5 and hits with a 28. Pearl has to make a DC24 check, she barely stays in the game with a 10. Selina’s whip is Grabbing, which works like Fast Grab so she’ll go with that. She gets a 24 on her opposed check, Pearl only gets a 9. That’s over 2 degrees of success so Pearl is defenseless, immobile and impaired. Selina will use Extra Effort to press her advantage going PA5 again to deal strength based damage per the grab rules. Pearl has to make a DC22 check, she gets a 15 for another 2nd degree failure. Pearl tries to break the grab with her lone action, no good, she gets an 8.
Status – Catwoman (-1 Toughness, fatigued, 2 hp), Pink Pearl (-4 Toughness, dazed, defenseless, immobile, impaired, 0 hp)
Although there was barely enough whip left for Selina to grab the end of, she managed to do so and tighten her grip around Pink Pearl’s upper torso. Pearl’s face was beet red and her already heavy breathing became even more labored as she struggled to free herself, to no avail. “Alright, joychunks,” Catwoman said from behind her foe through gritted teeth, “either I can keep this going until your big ass passes out, or you can give; and MEAN IT, and I let you go.”Round 7: Selina has Pearl at the quite the disadvantage now. She will maintain the grab and give Pearl a chance to surrender. She goes for Persuasion, oops…3+12=15. HP to re-roll, 13+12=25. That’s 3 degrees, moving Pearl from Hostile to Indifferent. She’ll say uncle for now.
“I…I…” Pearl stammered as Selina put her foot on the small of Pearl’s back and tensed, ready to pull the whip tighter. “I…give!” she blurted. “It’s done! Now let me go!”
Selina released the end of the whip and with a couple of flicks or her wrist, uncoiled it from around her pink-tressed opponent’s body. Pearl immediately slumped down in front of the bar, grimacing from her cuts and trying to catch her breath. Catwoman hopped up on a table in front of her and rubbed her neck where Pearl had connected with her punch earlier. “Look, Pearl,” she said, “let me give you some advice, woman to woman. It ain’t easy for a woman to make it here, but you seem like you might have what it takes. You’re tough, for sure, but if you go around picking fights with people like me, you’re going to end up heading back to Canada with your tail between your thick-ass legs faster than you can say ‘Two-Face’. Or worse…especially if someone like Two-Face IS involved. Capisce?”
“Yeah…yeah…” Pearl replied breathlessly. “Sorry…sometimes…I get…carried away. No…hard feelings?”
“Nah,” Catwoman replied smiling. “Some of my best relationships started off with a fight.”
Pearl laughed weakly. “Good. Just…don’t steal from me no more, alright?”
“No promises,” Selina chuckled. “But I won’t make a habit of it.” And with that, she backflipped off the table and after a series of cartwheels and flips was at the front door. She nodded to Pearl, opened it and disappeared into the Gotham night.
Comments: That was a fun fight! Their contrast in styles was evident. Pearl probably could have held out longer, but I wanted to move onto to something else. Got a LOT of testing to do. I’m not sure about all the Advantages I gave Selina. They really tipped the scales in her favor once I decided to have her pull out of direct melee, but then again, that’s what I’m hoping they do when she fights high caliber foes.Final Status – Catwoman (-1 Toughness, fatigued, 2 hp), Pink Pearl (-4 Toughness, dazed, defenseless, immobile, impaired, 0 hp)