Cubismo

With Sea-Devil having done her and Nick the honor going through the breach first, Astrid rushed in herself with Porrklubba at the ready, the weapon already crackling with magical energies of its own. The inside of Dunwich was hardly better than its rundown grounds. In facr, to Astrid's eyes it was even worse of a creepy mess that made her skin crawl. Fortunately, Nick was able to distract from the weirdness of the place by dropping some much needed info about where they needed to be. The wards keeping whatever was in this place sealed were breaking down just like everything else and the very center of the school was where all this eldritch nonsense was leaking from. "Cool. We know where going now. Let's get to it and see whether there's some creepo cultists there, ja!"

The trek through the snow getting to the main road had been trying. Not because of the cold or wind but because the snow made it difficult to traverse the forest and reach road as quickly as she would have preferred. Still, they made it to the road despite the snow with the help of the map and radar and as luck would have it a vehicle was approaching. Synapse told her that their was only one driver in the vehicle (a transport truck apparently) and that he or she wasn't an exceptional mind. Good, Replica thought. If that was the case than maybe the driver won't be overly compelled to ask to many question. Replica made the universal gesture for hitchhiking and yelled in out Russian and Finnish for the driver to stop.

Forever Boy's Attack: Hits! ? Possessed Sam Reflex Save: 22. Succeeded. ? Sorry RocketLord, you hit him but Possessed Sam made the Reflex against your Snare. If you want to go back and mention the failure in your IC post go right ahead! @Zeitgeist Blue you're next!

Round 1 - Initiative Order 17 - Forever Boy - Fine and Dandy, 2HP 16 - Salvo - Fine and Dandy, 2HP 12 - Gauss - Fine and Dandy, 3HP 11 - Crystal Gazer - Fine and Dandy, 2HP 11 - Deadite Possessed Sam - Fine and Dandy Alrighty, @RocketLord you're going first. I'm also giving you a Hero Point because a demon is about to attack you're friends triggering one of your complications. Show us what you got!

Just when things had been patched up with Nicole another problem reared its ugly head, though this was decidedly more of a pressing matter. The moment Astrid saw the stranger looking over Connie call out she sprung to attention. "We did," she shouted, quickly pointing to Nicole, Monica and Sara. She dashed to where the stranger was but made sure that she wasn't to close that the person in question wouldn't be able to do whatever she needed to do for Connie. Astrid wasn't sure how much information she could or should give. Connie's identity as Zentih was a secret, like many of the other students at Claremont, but if this weird fainting spell she was having had something to do with her powers, or worse, Connie had Zenith episode right here in front of everyone at the exhibit things would get very complicated very quickly.

Roll Initiative, y'all!

GM Sam almost collapsed onto the rec room's floor when he saw not one but four other students there. Sam didn't know any of them personally, only recognizing them from the halls and word of mouth. He was a freshmen after all and was part of the lesser known, and respected, teams. Still, he at least knew Salvo by her reputation in Claremont's magical community, and knew that she'd be at least able to someone understand his predicament. He almost couldn't believe his luck. In fact, a part of him didn't and wondered whether this was an illusion created by the thing he and his friends had brought forth, but he decided to cling on to hope. The freshmen steadied himself and tried to speak more calmly. "I'm...I'm Sam Thorn. You guys might know me as Kid Warlock. I'm part of the Indigo Team." Sam stopped and shook his head. In what way did his superhero name and team affiliation matter right now? He was wasting precious time and every second lost gave that fiend more time to find him. "Look, me and my friends messed major tonight. We performed a ritual and tried to summon, well, we tried to..." Sam looked around the rec room and suddenly became very aware of the fact that besides Forever Boy and himself everyone else in the room was a girl. His face immediately went red with embarrassment and shame. "We tried to summon a succubus because were pathetic losers and we used this book to do it, ok!" There, he said it, not that it made feel any less gross. Sam hanged his head in shame. What the Hell were they thinking. He and the entire Hidden Covenant deserved to be punished for what they did. Yes, you do. You all do. The young wizard jumped at the voice. What the Hell was that? He knew what it was but still felt compelled to ask himself question, as if his own ignorance could protect him. It was close to finding him. He had to speak fast. He looked towards Salvo and hoped that she wasn't too disgusted by him and would understand what had happened to him and his friends. "Me and the other guys on Indigo Team, we call ourselves the Hidden Covenant by the way, are all magic-users. We knew that if we wanted to summon the succubus we would need to do it tonight when most of the school's sorcerers would be off-campus, so the wards would be weaker. We thought we did everything right, but something happened and we summoned a uncontrollable demon that..." And now you, nor these children, can undo me, boy. Sam felt the heat again. He started to rush his words in a panic. "We did it in one of the sub-basements in the underbelly," he managed to grunt out as the heat became more intense in his throat and chest. "There's...there's a map of how to get there in the book." Yes. Bring them to me so that I can add them to my growing collection, boy. The heat, no fire, was overwhelming now and Sam swore that his very soul was aflame. He had to tell them soon before it was to late. "I think...ARGH... You can reverse the summoning and banish the demon back to Hell if you...ARGH... the book has the answers to..." Sam said no more after that. He did scream though. And it was a nightmarish scream at that. When the screaming ended the thing that now wore Sam's body through away the book in its hands contemptuously. Its nails had become claws, its teeth were a jagged mess of fangs, and its eyes were a bloodshot and red-orange. When it spoke it its voice echoed within the rec room like a howling wind that made the ceiling lights flicker. "You all belong to my master now, mortals. Join your friend in eternal service to Baal, the great and powerful! JOIN US! JOIN US!

Dunwich Prep was pretty much how Astrid imagined it would be. Rundown, creepy, and miserable. The exterior of the schoolgrounds was thoroughly abandoned with there being overgrown grass and weeds in the few patches of ground that weren't covered in mud. It was also cold but the cold never really bothered Astrid all that much so she barely noticed it. What she notice however was the weird symbols that were itched into the metal gates that blocked the entrance into the school. Astrid couldn't naturally sense magic yet. Apparently that was something she'd "grow" into once she came into her semi-divinity, whatever the Hel that might. But despite that even she could tell that there something was seriously off about the whole school and especially the gated area. She whipped out Porrklubba then and used it to levitate off the ground and fly over to where Aquaria was. It wasn't really necessary but Astrid preferred to avoid getting mud and worse into her shoes. When she made to the gate she asked Aquaria, who seemed to be sniffing around for something by Astrid's reckoning, about the symbols in the gate. "Those are magical symbols aren't they? Do you think they're meant keep us out or to keep something in?"

OOC for this. The assumption is the PCs are all returning from a Halloween party and are now relaxing together in a rec room when Sam shows up, but if you have another reason why'd you'd be hanging out there go for it and explain it in IC.

And the thread is up. @Heritage @Azuth65 @RocketLord @Zeitgeist Blue. Sorry, Absurdist.

GM Claremont Academy October 31 2018 10:13 PM Halloween was almost always hectic night for the heroes of Freedom City, with all kinds of occult madness happening all over the city. Most of Claremont's faculty was off campus dealing with it right this moment. The same used to be true for a lot of Claremont's students but since Headmistress Summer's crackdown on late night teen superheroing most students were spending All Hallow's Eve having parties off campus. Sam Thorn knew all this. In fact, it was one of the reasons why he and the rest of the other students that made up the Hidden Convenant decided to have the ritual tonight. It made sense at the time. The school would be mostly deserted, the wards would weakened without the teachers being around to bolster them, and Halloween was just altogether a great day for late-night summoning. As Sam ran down down an another empty hallway, his hands filled with an ancient tome that felt so heavy in them, and looked for someone, anyone, that could help him he tried to remember that things weren't supposed to be this way. He wasn't supposed to covered in sot and other things we didn't want to even think about. He wasn't supposed to be alone and scared out of his mind. And he was supposed to feel like some presence was getting closer and closer to him no matter how much he ran. "It wasn't supposed to be this way. It wasn't supposed to be this way. It wasn't supposed to be this way..." He kept repeating those words over and over again as he ran. Maybe if said them enough times everything would go back to normal. When he finally spotted a rec room with a light on it Sam immediately barged right in there huffing and coughing as he entered. He didn't know the people in the room but that didn't matter. He needed their help if he was going to save his friends and his soul. "Please! Oh God, please help me!"

Notice Check: 1d20+5 19 So close.

Replica Red Net (6) = 6 Posts = 1PP Ms Thursday Canon Texts (6) Last Gasp of Summer (IC) (Open) (1) The Red Will Rise (2) = 9 Posts = 1PP

"I'm good," Astrid said, immediately. Astrid didn't scare easily and she's stared down all kinds of monsters back in Asgard but she didn't really feel like tempting fate to day. She had a pretty nice slice of pumpkin pie back at Parkhurst and thought it would be a real shame and waste if she brought it back up after getting an eyeball full of Odin-knows-what. Hopefully Aquaria didn't take that as much great offense. "Maybe another time, ja? When we've gotten to know each other a bit better?" Fighting together in battle always bought people closer in Astrid's experience and she hoped that her concerns might be resolved once Aquaria and her were in the thick of it fighting baddies. Speaking of which. "So, we got something of a plan. Think its time we move out and deal with these weirdos?"

@Azuth65 PL 7 is totally fine.

Sure thing, @Supercape.

No need, ZB. I'm sure Salvo will fit just fine. The knowledges won't be essential, RL. Just useful when it comes to understanding the finer details of what's going on.

Astrid fought the urge not to make a face when She-Devil called "child" but she managed and said what she needed to say. "That's... great. Just... great. Thanks, She-Devil. Good to know you're on the team." What else was she supposed to say? Admit that she didn't take to kindly to the opinion that she couldn't beat down any weird squid gods came or come out and that she starting to have some serious doubts about their Outsider Expert? What if she decides to pull a Loki and join forces with the creepy cultists? She couldn't help but wonder. She wanted to talk with Cimitiere about this. To hear what he had to say on the matter. He was supposed to her mentor after all and he was more experienced when it came to these kinds of things. I mean, you'd have to know a thing or two about working with less then completely trustworthy allies when your a necromancer, right? Until she had the chance to talk to him alone she just had to play this team up by ear and hope She-Devil was on the up and up.

I've decided after a long sabbatical to take another crack at this GM business. The jest of the game was more or less described in the title and will involve Claremont students fighting demons on Halloween because I think that would be awesome. Does anyone else? Looking for three to four players PL 10 who are Claremonters (because they need something that isn't a social thread) unless you give a good reason why'd you'd be on campus. At least one of the PC's should have a decent Arcane Lore and Theology and Philosophy score. Also, having a ridiculous high Civics might prove super helpful. Maybe. Possibly.

North and the crew leave before Synapse and Replica get started wrecking the plane and North gave them the map and whatever else they might have needed before he left. Does that work?

Astrid didn't what was weirder. That She-Devil seemed to worship the very things that she and Cimitiere were planning on beating up and sending back to whatever dimension they came from, or the fact that she found She-Devil having a parole officer the most relatable thing about her. Not for the first, or likely not last, time Astrid had to ponder just how weird her life had gotten. Odin help me. My dad being a literal god is falling down my list of weird things in my life. Since musing on that creeping reality didn't seem especially useful at the moment, Astrid decided that helping Cimitiere with this question-and-answer thing they were doing with She-Devil would be much better use of her time. It wasn't as if she couldn't angst about the strangeness of the universe and its seemingly endless amount of gods once she got back to Claremont after all. Nicole would probably have a field day about that. "Yeah, knowing a bit more about the creepiest school on the planet would be nice. Also, do you think you might clue us in on what kind of weaknesses these Outsiders things have? I mean, they have to have one, right. Vamps have fire. Werewolves silver. Outsiders gotta have something that makes them croak even faster, right?"

Given the hesitant way Gatekeeper and Nick talked about She-Devil Astrid figured that she had to be a bit eccentric. That said, she certainly didn't expect their Outsiders expert would be, well, a giant fish person (?) in a black submersible power armor. That was a bit much even for her but the demigoddess kept her cool and tried not to look too amazed. She decided to speak up then and get She-Devil up to speed. "Right, so, we know that apparently worshipers of this Black Goat have been spotted near Dunwich Prep. You've probably heard of it. Anyways, we think they might be trying to summon their god to Earth and try to mutant everyone because their arseholes. Think you could helps us deal with all that? This stuff isn't either mine or Mr. Cimitiere's cup of tea so we could really use it."

Astrid scratched the back of her head. Most of everything she heard made sense to her. They're were weird creatures not from anywhere closer to here that wanted to do something really messed up and nonsensical to people for their own selfish ends. And of course, they had crazy followers that were totally willing to throw anyone under the bus so they could get power, including teenagers. Astrid gritted her teeth. She wanted to hit something really badly right now but kept her cool and stowed away that anger for later. "Right, so there's drittsekk cultists that worship monsters that they want to summon to Earth. Got it. Thanks for the info, guys." She knew nothing but who this Sea-Devil person was but she figured that learning all the details about her right now wasn't all that important given the situation. Those danger spots Gatekeeper was talking about might not have expanded but dilly-dallying while crazy people tried to release Odin-knows-what on the planet seemed like a very bad idea. "Ok, so I'm up to speed. So unless we got anything else to talk about let's grab this Sea-Devil person and head over there and punch those drittsekk in the face, ja!"

With North and the pilots in relative safety, and the plane thoroughly wrecked, Replica knew that it was time to finally move on. She followed Synapse's example and got out of her jumpsuit and changed into some causal winter clothing she had brought along. She didn't need to worry about the Finnish cold but a woman walking around completely bothered by the icy weather would be eye-catching, the exact opposite of what she wanted right now. Once that was taken care of Replica looked over what salvaged equipment she should bring along for their journey. The WEST scanners would come in handy as would the cameras and binoculars but the thing that Replica most considered vital right now was the map of their general area. Nothing else mattered after all if she and Synapse couldn't find there way of the forest to a town or village where they could get a vehicle. She turned to Synapse. "I've found a map of our location. There's a village nearby. I believe that we should go there and find a mode of transport that can quickly get us to Moscow, unless you think that would be to much of a risk?"

Astrid gave Nick a wolfish grin. She was born to punch creepy monstrous things and write awesome ballads about them afterwards. "That sounds right up my alley, boss!" She roared, making a fist pump. "If Summers gets into a fit about it just tell her I that I forced you to take me along." Astrid figured that the Headmistress knew all about her reputation for delinquency from her Norwegian school records and would probably buy that she strong-armed her mentor into taking her on an adventure fighting thousand eyed Outsiders. Speaking of Outsiders, Astrid had no clue what the Hel they were. The word Dunwich sounded familiar and she could faintly remember a couple magic-users at Claremont mentioning some creepy school with that name but beyond that she had no clue what Nick and Gatekeeper were talking about it. And this is why you got kicked out of Asgard and got sent to superhero school, Astrid, she thought. Astrid's fist pump turned into a raised hand. "Yeah, Outsiders aren't my thing either," she admitted, kind of embarrassed. "Trolls, giants, draugr, sure. But I don't really know squat about Outsiders or Dunwich. Mind filling me in?"