Cubismo

Free Action: Switching from Strike to Blast in Device Array. Standard Action: Using Blast on one of the dark elves going after White Lioness. That's going to be a 27 on the Ranged Attack. It's a DC 21 vs Toughness.

Fine by me @Zeitgeist Blue. Salvo managed to give Goat Santa a quite a blast after all! Anyways, so much has happened while I was gone and things are looking rather grim! Let's see if Thursday can avoid the slaughter, eh? Reflex Save vs the Area Effect: 21. Close! Reflex Save vs Snare 15: 24. The gods continue to be cruel. Thursday is now Entangled and is therefore taking a –2 penalty to her Attack and Defense, and a –4 penalty to her Dex. Ick. Toughness Save vs Damage 15: 24. Yeah, I think I'm gonna burn a HP to try that again. 30. Much better! Will post soon.

With their plan set Replica once again assessed the vehicles in the lot and spied a new arrival that was perfect for their needs. Snow wheels and unassuming was exactly the kind of vehicle they'd need for their way to Moscow and the Sleeper. "I believe that I may have just found exactly what were quickly for," she told Synpase. The android walked up to the kindly-looking Finnish woman and introduced her and Synpase. "<Hello there.>" Replica still wasn't exactly a social butterfly when it came to the complicated nature of human interaction, but nevertheless believed that procuring the 4x4 wouldn't be to much of a hassle, especially with Synpase being there as well. "<My friend and I would like to purchase or rent the vehicle you have there.>"

Oh wow. Those shadow demons rolled really, really well. Opposed Stealth Check: 29. If anyone wants to use a HP to have another go at beating that right, go right ahead. If not, I'll start the surprise round with the shadow demons getting the drop on all of you. @RocketLord I believe Danger Sense gives you another opportunity to not be surprised. Can you give me another Notice check? One that can beat a DC 15?

Sorry for the long delay, guys. I was waiting for Heritage only to learn from the Play Away Thread that they won't be back for awhile. My bad. Anyways, let us assume that Crystal-Gazer briefed everyone about what she found in Sam's mind and decided to watch over him while everyone went off to confront Baal. Can everyone give me a Notice check.

Crystal-Gazer told the other Claremont students all of what she learned in Sam's abused mind. The Hidden Covenant's late-night rituals in the Underbelly. The group's many failed attempts to magically improve their social lives. Sam's theft of his family's sealed grimoire. The epic screw up that caused them to accidentally summon a Prince of Hell. Sam's daunting escape from the his possessed friends. She told them all of it and left nothing out. If Sam were conscious he likely would have blushed at hearing all his dirty secrets being revealed to near strangers. That was probably the only positive thing that could be said about his current condition, though. He was battered in body and mind, and though his condition was stable, he would need time to recover from his possession. Fortunately for him Crystal-Gazer was willing to stay behind and watch over him while all the other teen heroes used Sam's map to descend down into Claremont's Underbelly where Sam and his fool friends made possibly the biggest mistake in their lives. The Underbelly was without a doubt the oldest section of Claremont Academy, being pretty much the only part of the school that hadn't go through some major renovation. It was an antiquated maze of poorly lit and decaying halls that only got more decrepit as Forever Boy, Gauss, and Salvo made their way through level after level of it. But that wasn't the worse part. Poor sanitation and dust was one thing, but as they made their way down the Underbelly it became increasingly hotter. First, only slightly so, but as they progressed ever downwards, it went from strangely humid to downright sweltering. The heat wasn't the true danger, though. It was an irritant at best. No, it was darkness in those tunnels and the long shadows they cast that was the real threat. Anyone, or thing, could be in them after all. Waiting for an opportunity to strike!

If you still want I can finally confirm to the Combined Attack, @Zeitgeist Blue.

Got a 4 on the first Dex check but I'm going to use a hero point to try again. Dex Check: 15.

Replica saw the rows upon rows of vehicles in the nearby garage and couldn't help but wonder if the human concept of luck was in fact and whether her's and Synpase's was finally starting to turn after their plane crash. She spotted a few on the front garage lot and scanned them for whether they could serve as their mode of transport across the border. Some of the vehicles were being still repaired by Replica's assessment but a few were fully ready for use. The hard part though would be getting away with procuring one of them so they could cross the border. Replica could sneak in the lot and easily disable whatever security system or lock was protecting those cars but knew that a more subtle way was available. "Synapse do believe that you can use your powers to persuade those on the lot to provide us one of those cars? If not, I can steal for us though I do worry about the possibility of detection."

Thursday is gonna use a Move Action to continue flying and she's going to go grab the book.

"On it!" Astrid yelled out back to Nick. She had been navigating through Dunwich's ruined hall, which was just as difficult as she feared, when she heard Nick's call and couldn't help but be annoyed that things had gotten this far.. There had been broken beams and debris everywhere she looked as she pursued the fleeing cultist and it made her lag behind him with even though she was in the air. The fact that delay allowed cultist to make to a giant pit, which to Astrid seemed like a prime spot for insane summoning rituals, just helped to make her madder. But what was done was done and Astrid made sure to make up for her earlier failure by catching the nutcase's book before he could fall into the nothingness. She flew right into the pit with Porrklubba in one hand and another reaching out for the book. "I got this. I totally got this!"

Astrid made a big show of shaking her head when Dana asked her question. "Probably not, no. Things is, you're probably the coolest person I've meet here so far," Astrid had the good sense to pause for a moment and give the others around her a quick, "No offense, guys" before returning to Dana. "I mean, for a school for superheroes you'd think they'd be more people rocking the punk look, but nope," Astrid complained dramatically. "It's been only you so far which means I'm basically stuck bothering you about music." In truth, Astrid had meet all couple other students that shared her interests but since Dana seemed to be in something of a funk Astrid figured being a bit coy and ridiculous might do her some good. "Seriously, though," she asked more softly. "What's this big deal you got going around. If its actually heavy you know you can tell me, right?

Ms. Thursday is gonna do something incredibly stupid and hopefully incredibly epic. Move Action: Using Porrklubba's Flight to fly all they way up to the Krampus' head and land right on top of it. Free Action: Swapping Flight back to Porrklubba's Strike. Standard Action: Going to follow KD's suit and use both All-Out Attack (+5 Attack, -5 Defense) and Power Attack (-5 Attack, +5 Damage), with Strike to Melee Attack Giant Krampus: 15. It has a Toughness DC 32.

As pumped as she was to hit something, Astrid still had the presence of mind to at least go through her mental catalog of monsters to see if Goat-Godzilla over there was something she might be passingly familiar with. In those brief seconds she was able to at least discern that it probably wasn't some kind of furry jötunn in a Santa costume but beyond that she was pretty much clueless about what was getting into. That was just fine in her mind though. She had Porrklubba and a raging fire to smash things, and usually that was enough. Usually. Once she was a bit closer to the monster to see everyone's else attempts to take the monster down, or just slow it down, Astrid decided that she needed some attitude before she made her attack. A lot of it. She took in a big breath of cold air and prepared her lungs for what was about to come. She also made sure that the heels of feet were off the ground and that Porrklubba was held high above her head. When she was finally ready she screamed out a single word: Flaugun! With that Astrid was blasting off the ground and soaring into the night sky. She felt a comforting cool breeze all around as she flew that she knew was wasn't the natural cold air. She kept flying further up and parallel to the giant until she was actually above it in the sky. That's when she made her landing on top of its furry head. Astrid had to be at least sixty feet in the air but she didn't think about that overlong. She had work to do after all. Raising Porrklubba high above her head once again Astrid decided to say something before she made her attack, even though she wasn't certain this creature could even understand her words. "You picked the wrong school to terrorize, beast." And with that she made her swing.

Just as the last lightning sparks had finally begun to fade away into the ether her Astrid heard Nick warn her about the fleeing cultist. "Figures," she said under her breath as she saw the cultist take off. Astrid knew that Nick was more than right that having one of these cultists run off so that he could complete whatever stunt he and the rest of his posse of cloaked weirdoes were trying to pull only seconds ago was a bad idea that needed to nipped in the bud right this second. Not only because fighting some giant tentacled monster from another dimension seemed a whole lot grosser than battling your average giant but also because Astrid wasn't exactly a fan of the bad guys thinking they could pull a fast one on her. "I'm right there with you, boss!" Astrid lifted Porrklubba once again and with but a single word she started to magically rise into the air. Sure, the Dunwich Prep didn't exactly have the highest ceilings in the world but Astrid was much faster flying than she was on land and so she chased the fleeing cultist afloat, trying her best not bump into anything as she moved farther into the building.

Being the "new kid" was rarely a fun role in Astrid's experience. Sure, sure, there were the odd times when being a newbie wasn't annoying and frustrating roller-coaster of constant questions, out of nowhere gossiping and awkwardness, but those times were rare and far between. Most of the time a newbie just had to endure that tedious period between being the "new kid" and just being a "just another student." For some that time is long but for others it was just a thing you had to deal with until you found your crew. Astrid pegged Dana as one of the latter instead of the former, like her. Her consistently showing up in a punk look with not even a hint of shame or anxiety about it was a tell that Dana had to be kind of person who didn't give squat about what people thought of her, which in Astrid's book made her good company, not least of all people she had similar tastes when it came to attire. That's why Astrid figured that trying to get to know her would be a worthwhile experience. It turned out she was right. Dana was a pretty cool lady all things considered and Astrid made it a point to check in her every once in a while, whenever she wasn't doing Orange Team stuff or dealing with Aesir monster-slaying business. Today was one of those days. Astrid walked up causally to Dana who was already being greeted by the heroic due on the Blue Team and delivered a howyoudo of her own. "Sup Dana." She waved at Leroy and Dio, too. "Hey guys."

"<I'm sure it is, Sari,>" Replica agreed warmly. "<But we have other plans I'm afraid. Thank you for helping us get this far, though."> Replica made her way of Sari's truck. While he didn't come out and outright say it, it was obvious to Replica that Sari was offering to take the pair of them cross the border. It was a kind offer but the android knew she had to refuse it. There was just no way they'd be able to avoid being questioned by the Russian border officers, who were paranoid even at the best of times and were certainly even worse when a mad Soviet could be around manipulating their ranks. Once Sari and his truck her gone from sight Replica finally felt like it was time to reveal her plans on how'd they make to the other side of the border without detection. "Sari said the border is only a few hours away," she started. "I believe that one of our best courses of action here would be to use stealth to make it past the border to ensure that the Sleeper will not know of our survival. This strategy comes with several dangerous variables, of course, such as patrols and border camera, but if we use our abilities I believe we can make it through without anyone knowing we were even here."

Sorry for the wait guys. Had some computer trouble. Anyways, here's Sam Will check. Unpossessed Sam's Will Save: 15. Failed. For Heritage - Mind Reading Info After Hertiage makes their post do y'all want me to make a scene transition to the Underbelly or do you still want to hash out your plans in the rec room?

Replica Red Net (2) 2 posts = 1PP Ms Thursday Giant Krampus 2: Krampus Campus (1) Canon Texts (2) The Red Will Rise (3) 6 posts = 1PP GM Posts Fright Night at Claremont (5) x 2 = 10 I'll be spending all those GM posts on Ms. Thursday, thus pushing her to 16 posts for 2PP.

Neither Gauss nor Forever Boy can't revive or provide Sam immediate care given their rolls, but Gauss was at least able to diagnosis him. For Azuth65 - Medicine For ZeitgeistBlue - Arcane Lore I believe that's a nope, Heritage. You'd just need to beat Unpossessed Sam's Will Save. I'm guessing you're using both Mind Reading and Communication?

And this combat encounter is official over. If anyone has skills in Medicine they can try to revive an unconscious Sam. If not, you can try to get some extra info on what you're facing by reading the spellbook Sam brought along. Of course, you need to make an Arcane Lore or Theology and Philosophy check to understand what Sam and his team were doing. Everyone with ranks in any of the three can try to roll for one of them. Also, remember that Sam has a map of his team's ritual site in the spellbook. So if y'all just want to throw caution to the wind and race down there without doing any research, you totally can!

The demon's luck had finally run out. Half of its foe were completely unaffected by his terror spell while the other two were only marginally affected. All in all, his magic trump card was a bust and now it was the one who was afraid. Fear was a new emotion for it, usually it was the one that brought terror. It didn't have much time to contemplate these new feelings of shock and terror though as it was too busy getting beaten up by the quadrant of young heroes. Forever Boy's encircling Pixie Dust got him first, striking him in a flash of magical glitter the moment his feet returned to the ground after casting its spell. It was quickly followed up by a stream of magical bonds that this time hit their mark. The demon thrashed and screamed but even with its strength it was left immobilized. It's helpless state made it so much easier for a returned Salvo to blast it with her armor's excess energies. Somehow the demon managed to tank the blast, though the same couldn't be said for the front doors of the rec room, which simply put longer existed being a giant hole. To add that humiliation just as it was about to shriek out words of defiance and hate it was slammed by a nearby chair which knocked the air right of Sam's already quite bruised body. That blow and all the others were the final straw. Knowing that its master would not save it again the demon started to panic, its mind frantic and vulnerable. This gave Crystal-Gazer the perfect opportunity to deliver the psychic equivalent of a coup de grace that cut through the demon's crumpling mental barriers like a blade through flesh. The demon gave one last scream, which was more pitiable than nightmare-inducing, just before its hold on Sam's body and soul was shattered and it was flung back to the Hell from which it came. Sam was freed. Horribly beat up and unconscious. But he was breathing and now free of possession.

Initiative: 1d20+2 7

ZB's got us covered in Arcane Lore, so I'm going for Theology and Philosophy. Knowledge (Theology and Philosophy): Identifying Giant Santa: 1d20+5 9 Oh well. Edit: Adding Initiative Roll. Initiative: 1d20+2 11

Ms. Thursday Astrid was outside alone sitting on a bench on the Claremont grounds. She was strumming her guitar and cycling through a dozen songs she had come with over the months since she had arrived at Claremont. The activity was supposed to cheer up and reminded of all the weird and amazing things she'd seen and done while in Freedom City. It wasn't working though. If anything the whole exercise was just making her more depressed. Even her music was affected, sounding more like a dirge than a rock jam. The demigoddess eventually just stopped playing entirely and put her guitar away to the side. Astrid got on top of the bench and went into a resting position, putting her hands behind her back and staring at the winter sky. It was cloudy and snow was falling, but Astrid had never been bothered by the snow even before she learned she was part god and she just let the snowflakes lightly fall on her. She shouldn't be here she thought. She should be with her brother Anders in Asgard celebrating Christmas together. That thought had become a mantra in her head and every time she thought about it she became madder and madder. This was would be the first Christmas since their mother died and every bone in her body screamed that she had to be with her brother now more than ever because of that fact. But she couldn't be. Her "father" demanded it be so. The God of Thunder couldn't have even bothered to tell her in person, instead sending a talking raven (which was beyond weird) to break the news to her. The Coward. Apparently the All-Father himself had a vision about something big going down in Freedom City during the Christmas season and Astrid, as Midgard's protector, was duty-bound to watch out for it. Astrid had nearly strangled the raven when she got the news and made sure that it relayed several choice words to both her father and grandfather for dumping this on her when she had already made plans. But as furious as she was another part of her knew she had to accept it. The All-Father was rarely if ever wrong when it came to prophecies and if Freedom City was in danger while she drank mead and eggnog in Asgard she knew she wouldn't be able to forgiver herself. So she stayed. It hurt more than getting incinerated by a fire giant but she stayed all the same and did her duty. It was as she was contemplating all of this when the sky suddenly changed color from white and grey to red and green. Astrid blinked but the sky still kept its new colors. As she started to get back up she felt the ground shake suddenly. That's when she saw it. A giant monstrosity in red and white that looked like a jotunn that decided to dress up like Santa Claus. It was immense. It was absurd. It was perfect. "Oh. Oh yes!" Astrid grinned madly even as the creature's lumbering steps rocked the earth around her. Nothing could replace having Christmas with her brother but a fight with a giant demon troll was certainly an awesome distraction nevertheless. She got Porrklubba out and readied herself for battle.