RocketLord

Pan spends a HP to force Übermensch to reroll and pick the worse result: 15 And not enough, he hits anyway, sorry! KO for Legatus. You have to hold the fort for 2 rounds if you want to make everyone escape. You can flee into the cave before that and you'll instantly be gone, but people will be left behind. And of course, someone will have to grab Legatus. @TheAbsurdist: You're up. 29 - Forever Boy - 3HP - Unharmed24 - Specimen - 3HP - Unharmed22 - Übermensch - Unharmed --- Round 0/218 - Rebound - 2HP - Unharmed17 - Watchdog - 1HP - Bruise (x3) - 3 assorted explosives used11 - Daystar - Bruise (x1)2 - Legatus - 0HP - KO

Alright, everyone's at the cave. Übermensh flies straight up to get out of the cloud, then heads towards the cave, where he goes for Legatus again: 23 That's another hit, @secondling can I get a TOU save vs DC31? I'll do an IC after that.

Hey Bourbon, welcome! While we're of course happy to help here, I'd suggest joining the discord, which you can find here. Alright, let's break it down, which you've already done pretty well. This is a tricky one, not something I've really seen done before, so other guides or refs might have some other, probably better ideas. You want to turn into a flock of multiple crows that all move together and can fly, and you can focus the senses of just one bird if you want, and of course, they can fly, while being unable to access other powers? How would you deal with one bird being taken out? First of all, I'd go with the Morph power with the Metamorph feat in order to turn into a crow with exclusive powers, without being able to access the other powers. You can use Summon to Summon a bunch of bird minions, up to 25 with progression as the house rule limit. For the smaller size, I'd go with Shrink, then maybe an ESP effect for being able to effectively use the senses of other crows in the flock, with the Medium [Summoned Minions] flaws for having to look through their eyes. As I said, there's probably a simpler way, but that's an idea, at least.

GM "Don't listen to them, Micah." Alice's calm voice has a soft echo, not that Micah was likely to recognize it. The others would hear it clearly. "I like your friends, but if they treat you like this, then are they really your friends?" She held her hand on Micah's shoulder, stayed in close contact. "You have waited so long. You don't have to wait anymore. I'm here, just for you. Your dad was wrong, you don't have to wait for me, I am right here." "Come on, Micah, let's get out of here. Find your real friends."

Pan grimaced at Lulu's explanation. "I imagine a fish would be more alien still... and much more cramped. Let us not do that, if it can be helped." There was some clear worry in his voice, he shuddered for a second, before returning to his usual self as he adressed Veronica. "Well, even if there are no clean skies, I can always make some light." Pan, as ever eager to show off, held up his hand, glowing fireflies flying around it, illuminating his face, before they disappeared again. He lifted his glass, looking around at the others, as he proposed a toast. "To adventure, then!"

GM "That's classified, son." Commander Irons crossed his arms. The way he was looking at Screwtop made it clear that he wasn't fond of the man, or his current drunken state. "If anything, you're the one that escaped with some of our equipment, and well... used that to become a car." He scoffed at the thought. "Sign the dotted line, and I can tell you more. Its that easy. Fight the enemies of your country, keep everyone you know safe and sound before they even know they were in danger. That is what we aim to do." He paused, looking at Chromium, scoffing again. "And maybe teach you to become something else. You get your hands on a weapon like this, and you become a car. Really?"

CHEVAL "I guess we'll see about that, chérie." Marcus was obviously feeling good about this. He was smiling as they lay close, only pausing briefly when she leaned away and, well, started explaining her unique situation. Was this what it would be like to be together with her, then? Roses, but some thorns? At any rate, a lot to learn, a lot to take care of. He took it all in. Children, yes, some day perhaps, but not today, not yet. They weren't there yet, this was still too new, but he appreciated that she shared her thoughts on it, at least. Marcus held her close, shaking his head and laughed at her last line. "Well, I know at least one of us are feeling lucky tonight." He took a breath, shaking his head to stop himself, while he sat up and took her hands in his. "Perhaps one day, we can discuss children, but right now, I think it is just a bit too soon. Let us learn to be just us a bit first, yeah? But let's see just how lucky you are, chérie." Letting go of Camellia, he leaned towards the nightstand.

GM "Dammit O'Brian, we're supposed to be testing Winters here." Armstrong sounded rather pissed off as the latest minion faded away. "Gotta figure out what she can do, what kind of hits she can take, got it? We can't have you hogging all the spotlight like that! I know that's probably how you did stuff back at your old school, but here we follow orders, got it?" Despite his grumbling, he leaned back in the chair. "Take a moment and catch your breath. Playtime's over, so time to get serious, got it?"

New initiative order: 8 - Knight of Earth - 4HP - Bruise (x1) 7 - Spectre - 1HP - Unharmed Gonna bring in the next challenge after a post from each of you.

GM Octoman and Archer worked in concert, the riot foam and Ben's arms catching on to the cages just as the arms started to let go. Everyone in the cages felt a sharp jolt as they moved, almost everyone yelling, but for now, they were safe and sound. All the heroes had to do was hold the cages in place while getting everyone out. They probably couldn't jump far enough, so Specter would have to get them out one by one. Of course, the spike pit was the only real danger here. Nothing else, everything was safe and sound. "Man, you guys are not cool! Not cool at all! But don't worry guys, I got just the thing!" A buzzing noise from above, and a horde of small hortnet-like robots were released from what had seemed to be airducts. Flying into the room, they swarmed all over, shooting electric jolts at the heroes whenever they got close, though so far leaving the hostages alone.

Archer fires an arrow with an Area Snare effect to target the arms keeping the cages attached to it. No need to roll, he makes that shot with no issue. The arms still try to drop, and they're a bit heavier than Ben expected, but he can hold them. And there's trouble incoming! A ton of small flying bots that swarm the area to zap everyone! Count is as an Area effect: DC20 Reflex, then a DC25/DC20 TOU save to avoid taking damage, and a DC20/DC15 Fort save vs. Stun. The flying bots can be targeted by area attacks or appromixation of such (like, say, swinging a long tentacle arm), since they're more or less flying all over. If Ben gets stunned he will let go of the cages, and the Snare will have to make a DC20 TOU save. 6 people to save, can't get them all out at once. Archer save: 19 So close, but he's got Evasion 2, so still half effect. TOU: 19 Fort: 23 No damage or stun for Archer.

Archer II "Yeah. Ready to get everyone out of the cages?" He looked at Spectre for a moment, then back to Octoman and the cages. Octoman moved fast, sure, and he was probably strong. Seemed plenty strong from what Connor had seen so far, at least, but still, no reason to let him do everything on his own. Raising his bow, Connor took the shot. His arrow flew above the cages, exploding around the middle of where they all hung from. A light grey foam exploded out from the point where the arrow exploded, quickly covering the top of each cage and the point where it connected, holding them in place. "Go!" Spectre could teleport, and with both the riot foam and Octoman supporting the cages, this should be easy, right?

Yeah, that was exactly what I was planning on doing with the different storylines.

That's a hit, and rolling TOU: 15 Max takes down the villain and pisses off Armstrong a bit more.

Taken from the guide grotto, at Tiff's suggestion. I want to try and do a bit of an official push for EC activity. I'm thinking some interconnected story arcs, the big thing here being we'd actually allow Emerald City to change and grow, instead of keeping it largely static, as it has been so far, despite the rather big societal change of super heroes actually showing up. The main purpose is to see if we can get more people to make characters and get EC more active. These are the arcs/storylines I'm thinking of pushing: - The Mars Ultio Suits and how that interferes with people, which in turn leads to reactions from the Chamber and their groups, since I figure not everyone in the Chamber is gonna agree with what Mars is doing with these suits. The main purpose from this is to create some cracks in the Chamber, have them actually *do* things instead of just being this hidden, ominous thing. In turn, I'll be using this to push for more Corporate Heroes, corporations having their own heroes inspired by the Ultio Suits, creating a more unique hook for PCs and more potential non-Chamber advesaries in these rival heroes. - Professor Zed making moves on EC, bringing in villains from alternate universes as his personal army, with the purpose here being to create a more overt group of villains than the Chamber for PCs to go up against. On the surface, a less complicated scheme to deal with, but more underneath, with Zed claiming that he's trying to take over EC to save it from its hidden masters (not that everyone knows about that). - A storyline of some heroes actually looking into the Chamber, finding out that *something* is there. Rebellion is gonna headline this, but some others joining him with the knowledge spreading would be interesting. The purpose for this storyline would again be to move things for the Chamber, to actually get them involved in things. Potentially try to involve the Shadow Academy too. - The rise of Rita Lang, the villain from the Happiness in Slavery thread I ran for Zeit, growing into maybe becoming the new Commander like I have discussed with Ari. More single hero threads than big slugfests, stuff along the lines of what I did in Happiness In Slavery, at least at first. I was thinking that she would get involved with Morgenstern Labs and their failed DNAscent monsters, like the one that have shown up in Monster of the Week, use them as her mooks. - Establishing a bit of a community for the heroes. Who knows who, maybe they make teams, maybe they don't, but some sort of way of them staying in contact, to evolve their current situation where they only seem to vaguely know that others are there. Try and push them as the freedom and chaos against the Chamber's tyranny and law. There's no final endgame or anything planned for all of them, because I want it to be shaped by the PCs' actions, but as I mentioned, the most important thing would be to make changes to the status quo, try and push EC into being less of the "Well, the Chamber runs everything, we can't make changes anyway!" and into "Alright, things suck behind the surface, but the heroes are starting to figure it out and they're working on making them better", and play into them becoming a force for change, have that as one of the major hooks and differences between EC and FC. I'd like to do something similar to what AA did for VB, involve existing EC PCs and try and get players without EC PCs involved, either by transplants or new characters. If anyone want to run anything for it, that's great and I'd only be happy with the help, otherwise I'll be going at it, but I'd love to hear what you all think about this idea.

GM Sunburn seemed to have devolved into a sobbing wreck by now. Sirens could finally be heard, several police cruisers quickly approaching. She shook her head at Kanunu's question. "Its not fair. The professor said it'd be easy. Just a warm up, see what we can do. Have some fun. Not, not... stupid spiders and big hunks that throws water around!" She shook her head, tried to calm down. A smoky smell seemed to be everything to be all the fire she could produce in her soaked state. "Just wait. The professor's not gonna let you keep us here. He's gonna come for us!" She almost cackled, while the cruisers pulled up all around them.

CHEVAL "C'mon, everyone! Listen to the pretty flower lady! We're official Vibora Bay Defenders, we know what we're doing here!" Marcus moved through the ship, guiding towards Persephone's kelp boat and generally trying to help and convince everyone to get out of the way. Whatever was out there in the water, it was only going to get worse. "Everyone, hurry. We promise to keep you safe. The ship's too big to get safely out of here. Whatever you're leaving behind, its not nearly as important as you!" Whoever was doing this, they had to be out there, right? How far could the range be on those weapons? And why the hell did Vibora Bay not have some aguatic hero hanging around for situations like this?

TOU: 26 Still standing

Forever Boy That was not a good sound, but somehow, Felix was still standing. Pan suppressed the urge to whistle at how impressive that was. Now really wasn't the time for that. This Übermensch was obviously bad news, so no time for playing around, no. He had done what he could, even if he didn't feel like leaving Adam behind, but if anything, he was probably the toughest person here. Yes, he should go. Full speed ahead, he passed by Adam, leaving a golden glow behind, quickly reaching the cave as he flew above the fleeing villages, just in time for the tail end of Macedon's orders. Coming to an immediate stop about five feet above the ground, Pan forcefully shook his head. "Do you really believe I will do that, Professor?" He looked back towards the village. Only a matter of time until Adam got here, he hoped.

Alright, that's Forever Boy still at the location, Specimen hanging back behind the others, and Legatus, Rebound, Watchdog and Daystar having reached the cave. There's people still escaping into the cave, so here's the big question: Do you flee, or stand your ground until eveyone's inside the cave? Forever Boy goes airborne and flies back to the cave at full speed, reaching it and leaving just Specimen and Legatus not near the cave. @Thunder King, you're up. Visual Obscure near Church, 19 rounds, full fade 29 - Forever Boy - 4HP - Unharmed24 - Specimen - 3HP - Unharmed22 - Übermensch - Unharmed18 - Rebound - 2HP - Unharmed17 - Watchdog - 1HP - Bruise (x3) - 3 assorted explosives used11 - Daystar - Bruise (x1)2 - Legatus - 0HP - Bruise (x1)

GM Übermensch smiled through the mists, even as he clearly heard Legatus flying away. "Then I will make sure no one will remember you." Rebound, Watchdog and Daystar would soon reach the cave, with a cursing Professor Macedon landing next to them. "Man's not meant to fly like that," he complained, while starting to direct the fleeing people towards the cave. A lot had already made it inside, but not nearly everyone. "Go. There's no way I'll let you kids go up against Superior, so get in there and run. If everything works like I hope, the cave should close after us. I'll stick around until the other kids get here." The villagers were yelling, screaming and crying as they ran. Some carried children, a young girl held her cat.

GM "Don't listen to them, Micah! They don't want us to be happy!" She continued to hide behind Micah, but despite the gun, her eyes didn't seem to focus on Ashley in the least, instead staying firmly on Judy. "Don't listen to them, Micah. I just like you! They're just jealous that there's someone that likes you for you, they don't want you to be happy! They just want you to wait around, be their little backup." She leaned in close to Micah, almost-but-not-quite whispering in his ear, the others clearly being able to hear her. "Just look at her. Elizabeth clearly thought that Judy would care about you, but she already got a fiancee? She's clearly just been keeping you around in case that doesn't work out. Are you really gonna let them get away with threating you like that?" Alice pulled a bit further away, slowly starting to pull back at Micah, still glaring at Judy. She almost seemed to make a point out of not replying to Judy's claim of Alice being from space.

Archer II: 2 posts = 1PP The Hunter (1) The Pinball Wizard Strikes (Posts marked Archer II) (1) Cheval: 2 posts = 1PP Deep Runs the Dreadnaut (1) Thy Golden Stair (1) Forever Boy: 23 posts + 77 GM posts = 100 posts = 5PP + 1PP [Guide Point] + 2PP [Vignette] = 8PP Dead Men Tell No Tales (3) New To Freedom (4) Phone a Friend (8) Strange Like Me (3) Survival Class (Posts marked Forever Boy) (4) The Eagle Flies Alone (1) Vignette: The Great Prank [+2PP] Justice: 11 posts = 2PP Calling All Heroes (4) Emerald Consequences (Posts marked Justice) (4) Mars Ultor (1) Monster of the Week (Posts marked Justice) (2) Little Mermaid II: 0 posts + 1 GM post = 1 posts = 1PP None Rebellion: 2 posts = 1PP The Market of Mystery (2) Spaceman: 1 post = 1PP Two Suns in the Sunset (1) GM: 40 GM posts = 80 posts to divide A Different Kind of Justice (2) A Missing Screwtop (3) Contending with the Contenders (Posts marked GM) (2) Cosmic Love (6) Emerald City Showdown (2) Emerald Consequences (Posts marked GM) (4) Ghosts and Knights (6) Joint Operations (4) Monster of the Week (Posts marked GM) (2) Survival Class (Posts marked GM) (7) The Pinball Wizard Strikes (Posts marked GM) (2) 77 posts to Forever Boy 1 post to Little Mermaid II 2 unspent posts If I counted wrong anywhere so Forever Boy can't reach 100 posts, please let me know, since I'll then very likely want to change GM post dividing.

GM "Sorry kids, its all running on an algorithm." Armstrong's voice didn't really sound all that sorry. "This bad boy's going for the biggest target, and guess what? That's the one that's throwing dirt at him. Now, get up Winters. I'm not getting paid to watch you two lay around." He sounded amused, just a little bit. This was clearly not the worst of his jobs. "Gotta be quicker on your feet if you don't want the big bad bot catching you." The big bad bot didn't seem to agree with Armstrong. At least not with Spectre's hand stuck inside it. Its head turned around and it stared down, before stumbling a step forward. Whatever Max had done, it seemed to have scrambled the hard light that made up the construct, the light near the point of impact flickering and switching between cubes, a hole and the appearance of the robot. "Hey, don't go messing with the tech! Ya hear me, O'Brian? This stuff's expensive!"

That's a hit, rolling TOU: 14 Wow, that's a bad roll. Alright, the villain's Staggered and Dazed. Deal damage again and it'll go down. @Darksider42, you're up. 20 - Villain - Staggered, Dazed (until next turn) 18 - Spectre - 1HP - Unharmed 8 - Knight of Earth - 4HP - Bruise (x1)