Doc Nocturnal climbed through the open window of the warehouse office, and shut it behind him, closing the latch. The warehouse was for housing materials to be shipped to clothing companies, so no doubt he would find what he needed here.
As ever, Doc Nocturnal was dressed in his rather simple adventuring outfit. An all-in-one black spandex suit, with a crescent moon stitched onto the chest, with a matching skull-shaped mask. He wore large white boots and gloves, so large that he folded the cuffs over, which gave his costume a swashbuckling air to it that he greatly admired. Finally, he wore a pair of white briefs, with a black leather belt, over the top of the spandex.
The strange figure peeled back his mask, revealing the chiseled visage of Royce Garfield, archeologist and expert on the occult. His brown hair was fairly short, and quite a mess having been pressed under a tight spandex mask for the last few hours. Royce sighed a little, feeling the cool air of the office on his usually-covered face. Changes needed to be made to his costume, this much was certain.
First of all, the briefs had to go. They served no real purpose, other than to give over-confident Hellions something to laugh at. Garfield pulled them down over his knees, and tossed them into a nearby bin. Secondly, the skull mask had not proved as intimidating as he had hoped, and gave a rather evil appearance to his costume. That was the last thing Royce wanted, and had been quite upset when a family he had saved from a gang of muggers feared him more than those he'd saved them from. Making children cry was just not the done thing, really...
Royce widened the eye-holes, and rounded them, to appear less threatening, before cutting a larger hole for his mouth, chin and nose to go through. This was a lot more comfortable to wear, and would allow him to display his facial expressions more, which could be equally as intimidating as a skull-shaped mask. Also, most of Doc Nocturnal's spells required verbal incantations, so it was far better to have his mouth and nose free of spandex.
Royce pulled the mask back on, and admired himself in a full-length mirror. He certainly looked far more distinguished without the skull or the underpants, that much was certain. But now he rather disliked the way the leather belt looked without the briefs. He tossed it aside quite casually, and began rummaging through a handy container full of different coloured materials, looking for something better. He settled on a white sash, tied around his waist, as it went quite well with the over-turned cuffs of his boots and gloves and seemed to carry on the swashbucking look to his outfit. Doc Nocturnal chuckled dryly to himself, wondering if all heroes spent so long fussing over their costumes...
A fair few of his peers had wondered why he did not wear some sort of cloak, as seemed to be the fashion with mages in Paragon, and in general. The simple answer was that he spent an awful lot of time hauling himself up fire escapes in King's Row, looking for the Circle of Thorns. If a hero were to get his cape caught on the rails in that sort of situation, it would be quite dangerous for him. Maybe a cloak would be something to consider if he ever mastered those leviation and flight spells.
Leaving ten dollars on the office desk to cover the costs of the materials he'd used, Doc Nocturnal climbed back out through the window onto the waiting fire escape. Muttering a few incantations under his breath, he held out his palms face down. Presently, shadows began to fall from them, and mingle around his feet. The black-clad mage became obscured by the magical darkness, and he vaulted over the side of the fire escape to the alley below. The Shadow Fall ritual was by no means as good as an invisibility spell, but those who would oppose justice never saw Doc Nocturnal until he was upon them while using it, so it clearly did the job. And besides this, the shadows managed to absorb some types of energies like a sponge. After all, why use an invisibilty spell when the Shadow Fall did the same job with the added bonus of working as a limited force field?
Doc Nocturnal's ways were subtle. While some mages conjured massive fireballs to obliterate anyone that stood in their path, the good doctor preferred to work his magics in such a way that they could not see him to punch him, and that all the strength behind the punch was gone if it should connect. This allowed Doc Nocturnal to deal with foes at his leasure, and he could even take the strength of his foes and use it to heal any wounds he and his allies suffered.
As he passed civilians that were none-the-wiser to his presence, Doc Nocturnal smiled to himself. He never professed to be Paragon's most powerful mage, but he quite vainly considered himself perhaps the most resourceful and learned...
Eventually, the costumed adventurer made his way back to his house in the suburbs, and let himself in through the back door. Slipping out of his uniform and into a comfortable dressing gown and pair of slippers, Royce made his way to his study, a vast libary of mystical tomes and mythic volumes. This was where he was happiest, surrounded by the fruits of his labours. Most of these tomes had been liberated from those who would use them for evil, and were given a better home here.
On the far side of the room was a desk, with a small book laid out on it. It was heavily bound, and was covered in mystic markings and such. It was enchanted so that only Doc Nocturnal could open and read it. Should the seals be forced open, then what was written inside would jumble itself into gibberish. Naturally, only Royce knew the enchantments needed to unjumble the texts and diagrams if the book was somehow opened. He was extremly careful with this book, for good reason.
Whatever Royce Garfield found useful in his numerous books, he would make a note of in his own book, for use as Doc Nocturnal. He would often edit or change what was written inside, as he developed his spells, and even learnt new ones. And if he should ever fall in his quest to protect the world from rogue mages, the book would sprout small legs, and make it's way to whomever it deemed worthy to take up the name of Doc Nocturnal, and continue where Royce had left off, though he hoped it would never come to that. He looked forward to a long life, but Royce Garfield could never be sure what tomorrow would bring. But he could be sure that he would be the first in a long tradition of Doc Nocturnals, if everything went to plan...
Doc Nocturnal climbed through the open window of the warehouse office, and shut it behind him, closing the latch. The warehouse was for housing materials to be shipped to clothing companies, so no doubt he would find what he needed here.
As ever, Doc Nocturnal was dressed in his rather simple adventuring outfit. An all-in-one black spandex suit, with a crescent moon stitched onto the chest, with a matching skull-shaped mask. He wore large white boots and gloves, so large that he folded the cuffs over, which gave his costume a swashbuckling air to it that he greatly admired. Finally, he wore a pair of white briefs, with a black leather belt, over the top of the spandex.
The strange figure peeled back his mask, revealing the chiseled visage of Royce Garfield, archeologist and expert on the occult. His brown hair was fairly short, and quite a mess having been pressed under a tight spandex mask for the last few hours. Royce sighed a little, feeling the cool air of the office on his usually-covered face. Changes needed to be made to his costume, this much was certain.
First of all, the briefs had to go. They served no real purpose, other than to give over-confident Hellions something to laugh at. Garfield pulled them down over his knees, and tossed them into a nearby bin. Secondly, the skull mask had not proved as intimidating as he had hoped, and gave a rather evil appearance to his costume. That was the last thing Royce wanted, and had been quite upset when a family he had saved from a gang of muggers feared him more than those he'd saved them from. Making children cry was just not the done thing, really...
Royce widened the eye-holes, and rounded them, to appear less threatening, before cutting a larger hole for his mouth, chin and nose to go through. This was a lot more comfortable to wear, and would allow him to display his facial expressions more, which could be equally as intimidating as a skull-shaped mask. Also, most of Doc Nocturnal's spells required verbal incantations, so it was far better to have his mouth and nose free of spandex.
Royce pulled the mask back on, and admired himself in a full-length mirror. He certainly looked far more distinguished without the skull or the underpants, that much was certain. But now he rather disliked the way the leather belt looked without the briefs. He tossed it aside quite casually, and began rummaging through a handy container full of different coloured materials, looking for something better. He settled on a white sash, tied around his waist, as it went quite well with the over-turned cuffs of his boots and gloves and seemed to carry on the swashbucking look to his outfit. Doc Nocturnal chuckled dryly to himself, wondering if all heroes spent so long fussing over their costumes...
A fair few of his peers had wondered why he did not wear some sort of cloak, as seemed to be the fashion with mages in Paragon, and in general. The simple answer was that he spent an awful lot of time hauling himself up fire escapes in King's Row, looking for the Circle of Thorns. If a hero were to get his cape caught on the rails in that sort of situation, it would be quite dangerous for him. Maybe a cloak would be something to consider if he ever mastered those leviation and flight spells.
Leaving ten dollars on the office desk to cover the costs of the materials he'd used, Doc Nocturnal climbed back out through the window onto the waiting fire escape. Muttering a few incantations under his breath, he held out his palms face down. Presently, shadows began to fall from them, and mingle around his feet. The black-clad mage became obscured by the magical darkness, and he vaulted over the side of the fire escape to the alley below. The Shadow Fall ritual was by no means as good as an invisibility spell, but those who would oppose justice never saw Doc Nocturnal until he was upon them while using it, so it clearly did the job. And besides this, the shadows managed to absorb some types of energies like a sponge. After all, why use an invisibilty spell when the Shadow Fall did the same job with the added bonus of working as a limited force field?
Doc Nocturnal's ways were subtle. While some mages conjured massive fireballs to obliterate anyone that stood in their path, the good doctor preferred to work his magics in such a way that they could not see him to punch him, and that all the strength behind the punch was gone if it should connect. This allowed Doc Nocturnal to deal with foes at his leasure, and he could even take the strength of his foes and use it to heal any wounds he and his allies suffered.
As he passed civilians that were none-the-wiser to his presence, Doc Nocturnal smiled to himself. He never professed to be Paragon's most powerful mage, but he quite vainly considered himself perhaps the most resourceful and learned...
Eventually, the costumed adventurer made his way back to his house in the suburbs, and let himself in through the back door. Slipping out of his uniform and into a comfortable dressing gown and pair of slippers, Royce made his way to his study, a vast libary of mystical tomes and mythic volumes. This was where he was happiest, surrounded by the fruits of his labours. Most of these tomes had been liberated from those who would use them for evil, and were given a better home here.
On the far side of the room was a desk, with a small book laid out on it. It was heavily bound, and was covered in mystic markings and such. It was enchanted so that only Doc Nocturnal could open and read it. Should the seals be forced open, then what was written inside would jumble itself into gibberish. Naturally, only Royce knew the enchantments needed to unjumble the texts and diagrams if the book was somehow opened. He was extremly careful with this book, for good reason.
Whatever Royce Garfield found useful in his numerous books, he would make a note of in his own book, for use as Doc Nocturnal. He would often edit or change what was written inside, as he developed his spells, and even learnt new ones. And if he should ever fall in his quest to protect the world from rogue mages, the book would sprout small legs, and make it's way to whomever it deemed worthy to take up the name of Doc Nocturnal, and continue where Royce had left off, though he hoped it would never come to that. He looked forward to a long life, but Royce Garfield could never be sure what tomorrow would bring. But he could be sure that he would be the first in a long tradition of Doc Nocturnals, if everything went to plan...