RocketLord

GM Mr. Strix moved quickly through the building. Even with the fire behind him gone, the sound of sirens were sounding in the distance. It would probably only be a matter of time until they would reach the now no longer burning building, if they could get through the riot, at least. Racing to the room that had been their target, he found a closed door. Outside the door, the walls, floor and ceiling were covered in residue of ink. Dark stains at first, like something had been dragged through it, growing almost completely black near the door. The door itself appeared fairly mundane. He could hear multiple voices on the other side of the door, all chanting in the same monotone. Would he enter, or wait for Doctor Thorne? The fire was gone. The ink was no more. the mortal that was Lady Horus had succeeded. Ronin, Doctor Thorne, Mr. Strix and Wadjet would all know it almost immediately, as the heat disappeared along with the flames. The guards remained unconscious, and they would have to decide their next course of action, whether it was to support Mr. Strix above, get the guards out as Mr. Strix had suggested, or do something else. Ronin now held the glass of ink in his hands. He could see it moving inside, swirling, pushing against its prison.

James Barrie? It was hard to remember. He was the writer, was he not? The one that had written the book? Pan felt even older than the grey man looked now. In truth, he was probably much, much older. In body and in spirit both. And yes, he created him. This Barrie claimed as much. It was hard to hear, hard to see, hard to remember. Did he create him? He told of George. Of Rupert. Of Peter. And all that had happened to them. He had known a George once. And a Rupert. And a Peter. They had all passed, in the time that had gone by. He had outlived them all, like he did with anyone. But Barrie was forgetting someone, was he not? Pan perked up a bit at the thought. Yes, yes, there were someone else, too. Who was it? It was a girl. He knew that much, at least. And then the train. Pan stared at it, seeming rather uncaring. He was lost in thought, as Victoria asked her question. Stay in the story? Stay in the adventure? In a world where everyone does not just leave him be? He barely even noticed Leroy, until he shouted and created the portal and the train was gone. Pan smiled slightly. "Thank you." It was silent, raspy. So unlike Pan's normal voice. Yes, yes. That bravado. That life. He was right, of course. Life was an adventure, life itself was a story! He raised a shaking, wrinkled hand, pointing at Barrie, and at Victoria. "Leroy is right, Victoria. The world can be a hard place. It can be cruel, cold and terrible. That is an universal constant. One that that seems to be the same here or in Neverworld." His voice was rising, gaining strength. Leroy's words had given him the final push. Now what was that girl's name? "I have seen more than anyone will ever know. I have forgotten more than most will ever experience! Stories are wonderful, yes, that much is true!" It was almost there, at the tip of his tongue. "Maybe I am but a story, come to life. A reflection of a tale told to children for a hundred years! Maybe I am nothing more than that!" His lips, old and wrinkled, much like the rest of him, had split into a triumphant grin. Golden Pixie Dust had started falling from his body, showering the area in light. "Or maybe! Maybe that is all wrong! Maybe I am something much more! I have loved and lost so many! I have known joy and pain! I have known victory, I have known defeat! And yet, here I stand! I live! I love! You want your life to be a story? Then wake up! Live, love, learn! Never give up, never stop! Live the adventure that you want your life to be!" His voice was triumphant, his strength was returning! He felt younger, even if he did not look the part. He was starting to feel like himself once more! He could remember the name. "Peter might have died, tossing himself before a train, but I am not Peter. I am Pan, the Forever Boy! Yes, I have lost so many! And I will lose many more! But to hide yourself from the world, to hide in a story? That would be an even greater tragedy!" Wendy. Her name had been Wendy.

Pan quickly joined in on the song, singing loudly and proudly along. Yes, his initial annoyance at the reason for the adventure were giving away at the sheer joy of the new adventure, of the new world to explore! "Tallyo, tallyo! Come now Oz! Come now Lorenzo! Sing along too!" Cutstabs! An interesting way of phrasing it. And the song was much like at home, was it not? That appeared to be one thing these Fae had in common with the Pixies of Neverland. The songs, the music. Pan flew up high, did a quick loop, then landed before Boddyflock and performed a quick bow. "Lead the way, chief Bollyflock, and I shall follow!" Well, they had remained kind of motionless, but perhaps a repeat of his earlier statement would move them along? Pan could quickly fight the fungus, if that was the adventure of the day, but these Fae would have to lead the way.

OOC for this @Heartbreaker, @secondling, @EternalPhoenix Probably primarily a combat thread, but let's see where it takes us.

GM February 20th, 10:30 PM A little town with no name, about 25 miles Northeast of Clarksville, Arkansas. Hell Girl had heard the rumors. Something big was about to go down in the middle of nowhere, Arkansas. A small town that wasn't even on any map. It was maybe twenty houses, arranged in a nice cross with houses oppsite of each other, a single store in the middle of all that, and maybe three farms a bit further away. The town was surrounded by hills, with nothing but dust trails leading to it from other, more populated areas. There were a few trucks around, some with confederate flag decals. This time of the night, the town was silent. All dark. They had power from somewhere, sure, but everyone would normally be sleeping. But this night, all three barns were lit from the inside. Each of them had two people standing watch outside the doors. According to the rumors that Hell Girl had picked up, this little town in the middle of nowhere was not as innocent as it seemed. They were a cult of some sort. Or at least tried to be. Had grown out of some trailer park, then decided to go start their own place. And this night they were trying to bring forth their demonic master. So, Hell Girl had called in some help.

GM "Buh?" the screaming child replied, curious for a moment. Then started screaming again. "Horses." The guard replied, obviously annoyed at having to answer for his child, but he did not dare to oppose his king twice in one night. No, that would be too much to risk.

Kidd. Of course it was Kidd. The bodyguard was hurt and bleeding. He was a bad guy, working for Blowfish, but still, there was no reason for anything like that. If only the Wall hadn't stomped all over the plan trying to get at Blowfish, if only Kidd had actually been trustworthy, if only Robin had actually thought this all through. If, if, if... Was she really that bad at all this? Every plan she had made here was starting to blow up in her face. She couldn't let that guy die, even he was a bad guy. And Kidd was proving to be just as bad, the way he was threatening Jackson now. What was she going to do? He was waving his shotgun around like it was a toy. She had to do something. Take the shot? That bodyguard had completely missed him even up close. No, talk it through. Get a moment to think. And the Wall was coming up behind her, maybe use him, somehow... "Kidd! Drop the gun or I drop you! RIGHT NOW!" There was some panic in her voice. Nobody dies. She had to stick to that. Nobody dies.

Pan's eyes were wide as Nicole went to work. It was, simply put, amazing. It was fast, much faster than he believed such magic to be. Much faster than it had ever been when he had seen it on Neverworld. And here, despite wearing the massive armor, Nicole was creating pathways, doing all she could to get them back on the path so that they could deal with the traitor and the threat to the school. Now, could he do anything else? "This is amazing." His words echoed his thoughts as he reached into the path of fire. No, it did not burn. His lips split into his grin again, and he threw himself into the path. Never let anyone say that he would pause before jumping into the next adventure. Everything was shifting, turning, changing color, changing before his eyes. Flames that were pink to red to purple to blue to green to yellow to... It was a swirling mess of magnificence. It was strange, it was uncanny. And Pan couldn't help himself from starting to laugh midway through. Amazing! Simply amazing! And then they were out. And there was Baal. And Mike. Pan had to admit that he kind of enjoyed Baal's quick gag for Mike, seeing how uncomfortable it made the traitor, but he understood it. Baal was just strange to look at. Three heads on spider legs, welcoming them as children. He was cordial, at least. Did not seem like he was just about to give them what he wanted, he was completely secure in himself. Not really surprising, given his status. He was big, he was scary, he was disgusting, but Pan kept the candy from the evening in. So, what should they do, then? Attack? Seemed like it might not be the best option. Not right away, at least. He would probably be several magnitudes more powerful than them. So, Pan did the best thing he could think of instead, and with a smile, he flew up, the Pixie Dust illuminating the air around him. "We do indeed have several concerns, my dear Baal!" He raised a hand up, before quickly lowering it to point at Baal. "Did you honestly think this through? Trying make your little midnight business here, of all places? Coming to Claremont, in the middle of Freedom City? Do you even know how many heroes are in this school, not to talk about the rest of the city? And, now look at us. We're just three such heroes, and what did we do to the demons that you sent to give us pause? We annihilated them! Didn't even break a sweat!" His grin widened, as he snapped his fingers that had previously been pointing at Baal. The Pixie Dust that surrounded him exploded out from him, illuminating the room. It moved in shapes and colors, all bright lights. "Do you even know who you are dealing with here? I am the Forever Boy of Neverworld! I have dealt with demons like you for longer than this city has stood!"

So, Pan is bluffing to keep Baal occupied, and to make him think that coming here might not have been such a good idea: Bluff: 1d20+21 = 35 And some illusions for theatrics.

Fortitude: 1d20+7 = 21

@Avenger Assembled That should work, let's see the IC.

Pan watched with amusement, holding a hand over his lips to hide his smile at the situation. Oh, these Fae did not like the fungus at all, did they? Seemed like that would just make things much more difficult for Lorenzo. Such a shame. Of course, he was biased. He freely admitted as much, but that did not mean that he was about to change his opinion of Lorenzo quite as easily. Still, this was an adventure, and he had followed along passively for long enough! If there were fungus men to be slain, then fungus men would be slain! So, he stepped forward, Forever Blade materializing out of Pixie Dust in his hand, held high above his head. "Indeed! Lead the way, brave chief Boddyflock, and we shall aid you in the defeat of the fungus!" His voice was raised, his tone dramatic. Time to play the game and win the prizes!

Robin just stared after the Wall for a moment. He was turning into a ball. The Wall-Ball? She'd seen a lot of different super powers on television. But no, stop that. She was getting distracted. And the sound of gunfire took her straight out of that distraction. Kidd. Or the Wall's bodyguard. But most likely, it was Kidd. She shouldn't have trusted that guy at all. Another jump, another stretch, and she pulled herself up from the hole that she had been pushed into. She was further along than the Wall, at least, from the bouncing sounds coming from the stairs. She didn't even have time to keep going as she climbed up to try and take stock of the scene.

What the actual hell was that? Robin just stared at Kidd. How could the bodyguard miss him? And just what was Kidd up to? And she really should stop trusting anyone, shouldn't she? Kidd had more of an agenda here than she had guessed. He really wanted to kill Blowfish after all, not just bring him in. And she was distracted, and the Wall was coming up to her, and how did she even miss him when he rushed her, sending her straight into the hole that she had created herself. Really? Was that how it was going to be? She fell, and she wasn't sure if the suit could take that kind of fall and she really should have planned more and reached out and tried to grab hold of something, anything, whatever. And suddenly, she grabbed hold of a bit of the floor about halfway to the bottom, her fingers almost digging into it. This was not good. So not good. With a groan, she pulled herself up and looked at the hole. Had to get up there and back in the action. The Wall and the others probably thought she was all the way down, probably a smear, or maybe coming up the stairs. Oh no, she was not about to do that. Robin started running, building up speed and then jumped up towards the floor above, continuing her movement and trying to do the same to get up through the hole she fell through. The next time she saw the Wall, she would be shooting.

Going to try to get up with an acrobatics roll for help. See if I can jump up, get up there. Let me know if I need to roll more, or it doesn't work at all: 1d20+8 = 25 If Justice makes it up this turn (or if the Wall looks down the hole), Justice will take a shot at him with the Justice Buster: 1d20+11 = 18. DC20 Toughness if it hits, if Justice gets the chance for even taking the shot.

I say go for it. If Mike wanted us to waste time, then we're better off getting there quick.

Pan did not run. No, he could run, of course, but since Nicole and her big armor could fit in these tunnels, that meant that he could fly, even if it was just slightly above the ground. And so he did, flying after Mike, in between Nicole and Selena. It was a long journey, it took some time. He was sure that these tunnels were not supposed to stretch that far underground. It was quite impressive that Mike could run for that long, really, given the things that he and his crew usually got up to, from the looks of things. And then he revealed himself, and then he disappeared. And Pan was not impressed. "I suppose we should all have seen that coming." Well, seen some of it coming, at the very least. At least Selena had lift a trail, but how long would it take to follow. "Even if we go back, we won't know what path to take. It forked many times, did it not?" And so, he turned to Nicole. "That drill do sound like a good idea. I do not suppose you have one handy?"

GM "Guh!" the babies were more moved and interest in the sounds than the actual words. One of them clapped his hands, the other snorted loudly, before sneezing. And then the pearls appeared, falling from their eyes. One child looked on, astonished at the pearls. The other was more vary, before starting to cry. Loudly, with a very high pitch. It was almost painful to Lament's ears, as close as he was to the children. "Look what you've done!" the guard said, starting to pull his children back, but the King stopped him with the wave of a hand. "Well, you could certainly bring the child to tears, mortal." His lips had moved now. He was smiling. No tears, but a smile was a start, at least. "But can you calm them too?" The other baby happily played with the pearl in his hands.

"You'd know about it than me," Cassidy admitted about the ruins. He agreed with the plan, so he had little reason to argue the semantics. Follow them close by, stay at the edge of their light. Simple enough. "Any idea what they might be looking for in that place?" After receiving his answer, Cassidy turned to sand and dust again, and floating into the ruins in pursuit of the Nazis. For one particular reason, he started thinking about grandpa Joe. He'd fought the Nazis back then, and he had told Cassidy plenty of stories about it. He wasn't sure how true they were. According to grandpa Joe, his squad almost singlehandedly won the war, after all. Still, the stories had left their mark on him. The Nazis were the bad guys, and even if he wanted to know why they were here, Cassidy was more than ready to knock them into next week.

What was this? Why was everything aching? Why did his movements feel so stiff? They had found the girl, Victoria. She was with Dio, she wanted to stay in here. Why did he have trouble hearing her? Why did she look just a bit blurred. And then Pan saw his hands. No longer the hands of a young man, strong and lithe. They were grey, covered in spots. Wrinkled. It ached to move his fingers, to try and turn them around so he could see them. Was he old? He was old! He was not supposed to be old, not ever. He was supposed to be a forever boy, was he not? This was a dream. This was a nightmare. It was not right. And yet, maybe it was the real. He could not remember. It was getting difficult to stand. Yes. Yes, rest would be good. He stumbled, leaning against one of the gravestones. He blinked. His hair was thin and white, fine and falling around his head. He could not quite collect his thoughts. Who was that man, standing by Victoria? His eyes were darting around, falling on the names on the stones. Jack. Roland. Pete. Daisy. Tinker. He knew those names. He had known those people, back home. They had faded, to the sands of time, while he had stayed. No, not Tinker. A Pixie, she was forever, and yet... would he outlive even her? And who was that grey man by Victoria?

As I said in chat, my bad, I misunderstood the situation question. Anyway, to make it clear: The room with the books (where every page is now blank if anyone checks them) is about 2 floors from the top. To speed it up a bit, there will be traces of ink (like smudged ink on a paper) everywhere, pretty clearly leading to a specific room that's roughly in the middle of the building. No windows or anything like that into it.

Reflex Save vs. catching side of the hole: 1d20+8 = 16 Reflex Save vs. half damage: 1d20+8 = 28 Gee, thanks, that couldn't have been the first one? So, toughness save vs. DC18: 1d20+8 = 26 Takes the hit like a champ. Anything specific you want in the description of what happens?

Justice vs. Injustice Blasts of kinetic energy were flying all around Robin as she jumped, leapt and spun to get out of range and into cover. A shot flew high above her head, another came to the side. Robin looked over the crate, and nearly lost her head as a reward for doing that. Yep, this still looked like a recolored version of her. Same armor and everything, but where Justice was red, she was dark green. Where Justice was gold, she was purple. The power lines and visor on her suit was a light green, in contrast to Justice's own pink. Only the metallic armor had the same colors. Classic villain colors, right? And that gun in her hand! It looked just like Robin's own Justice Buster. This was just too weird. The weirdest part? Justice had only just started using this new armor design. How could anyone have copied it that quickly? This had to be more than just some costume copycat, right? Another blast all but tore the box that she had been hiding behind apart. Not good. Not good at all. And then, came another blast. Robin only had seconds to brace herself, no time to move out of the way. She was pushed back, off her feet, falling a few feet, but by some sort of miracle, her armor still held. Experimental armor or not, she was good at making these! "GAH! GET UP! GET UP AND FIGHT!" Robin looked at the ceiling of the abandoned warehouse. Thank god that Betlehem Heights had plenty of those, and that she had been able to get her double over here. It was better than some busy street in the middle of the university or somewhere like that. Another blast, much higher, obviously not aimed at her. "I SAID GET UP!" Right. No time to keep thinking about this. Robin actually had to go out and do something. Rolling to her feet, she raised her own Justice Buster and took a shot. The double jumped out of the way, laughing. Was she enjoying this? Grabbing the gun with both hands, Robin aimed more carefully down the sight and took a shot to the left, causing her double to jump to the right, straight into the path of the second shot. Like Robin moments before, she was knocked off her feet, slamming into a wall just behind her. "Better." Was she even phased by that? She should have been, right? Same armor, it should have hurt. Robin paused, the Justice Buster still trained on her double. "What are you supposed to be? Some kind of Nega-Justice?" Wrong question! Or at least the wrong time to ask it! The purple and green double rushed forward, all yelling pretty much incoherently. There was an electronic screech to the sound. Was it just modulated by her armor or was it something else? Dodging under the kinetic blasts flying her way, Robin did all she could to return fire, while moving behind a heavy box. And hey, this had worked last time, so why not now? A quick flip of a switch on her belt, energy being sent from her grandmother's amulet into the suit and the engines in her boots came to life with a fully powered pink glow. "I'm Injustice!" Injustice, right. And with an ego to boot, too. Robin peaked from behind the massive box and took a shot, hitting Injustice in the shoulder. "Sure, Injustice, Nega-Justice. Same thing!" she quipped back. She had buttons to push. Robin really should keep on pushing those. With another almost incoherent yell, modulated in the same way, Injustice ran, pulling the trigger of her own gun again and again. And speaking of boots... Once close enough, Robin spun and put all the force she could into her kick, sending the massive box flying straight into Injustice and knocking her down, the box on top of her right arm, pinning her. "GAAH! LET ME OUT! FIGHT ME!" She struggled to reach for her gun. Robin casually kicked it out of her reach. The double was strong, but the box was just too heavy. Lucky. Or... maybe not so much luck. Moving closer, she could see sparks from her double's pinned arm. If her suit worked anything like Robin's, then it really shouldn't be doing that. And... there, at the shoulder. It looks like the arm is coming apart. Injustice is mouthing off, screaming bloody murder at Robin, how she wants a proper fight, not something like this. Robin barely notices. That arm. "What are you?" she finally asks, and Injustice falls silent for the first time. "I am Injustice. I'm you, you idiot!" With her free hand, she reaches up for her helmet. Robin circles a bit, staying out of reach. She could be trying something, of course, but she kind of doubted it. With a short hiss, the helmet opened. "I'm what you'll be." Robin could see herself in Injustice's face. The woman before her was probably not fully human anymore. Both her eyes were glowing red. Her lower jaw was gone, replaced with metal that stretched up, covering part of the right side of her skull. She was bald, with numerous wires sticking directly into her skull. Just to add insult to injury, her nose seemed to be missing, just a pair of holes in its place. As she opened her mouth, most of the teeth on her upper jaw was clearly replaced with prostethics. Yes, Robin could see herself in Injustice's face. Somewhere, deep below. "You'll keep going. You'll keep trying to get better. You'll get hurt. That's fine, you can rebuild yourself. Doesn't stop there, does it? Maybe you can get new eyes, make your reaction time a bit faster! Keep up with all your heroes! Maybe get a shiny new robot arm! Hit harder, grip harder! Be harder!" She was starting to rant. Robin just stared. Her first thought was that it was some kind of evil double. Another universe or something. That's a thing, she should know. But it wasn't that simple, was it? "Keep pushing and pushing and pushing! And then look at you! So new, so perfect! Not a single scratch or scar or anything. A brand new Justice!" She yelled, trying to pull herself free again. Robin could actually see the arm starting to come apart at the shoulder joint. "Just look at me! This is you! This is what you'll be!" And then, she was free. Arm left behind, Injustice was on her feet, running right at Robin. The socket sparked. And now that she looked closer, Robin could see that it wasn't just armor. Much of it was part of Injustice's body. She charged, yelling, screaming madly. She was crazy. She wanted to kill Robin, and why? Because she was not the same? And then she was gone. In the blink of an eye, without a trace, Injustice was gone. Robin almost fell over from the shock, quickly pointing the Justice Buster around, trying to find her. But no, she wasn't there anymore, was she? She was gone, as was her arm. Whatever had brought her here, it was over. Without really thinking about it, Robin opened her helmet. It didn't make the same hiss sound as Injustice's. It was not a part of her skull in the same way. She slowly reached up to touch her face, running her fingers over her lips, her jaw, her nose and her ears. Slowly, she touched her right arm at the shoulder. It felt weird, like it ached. Almost like a phantom pain.

Opposed STR: 1d20+2 = 13 I'll spend one of my 2 HP to try a reroll for that: 1d20+2 = 14 Not much of an improvement, but eh! So, what happens then?

So, like the Pixies back home, but not quite like back home. And they sounded quite a bit more chaotic. Potentially more dangerous. Interesting, in a way. He chuckled a bit at Oz's line about being detached from things that bogs mortals down. Not something he felt particularly like sharing with total strangers, but yes, that was something he had some experience with himself. And then, the Fae was all around them, asking questions, what they were doing here and everything. And at least Penny looked a bit like a Fae. What was he, then? Well, not really a Fae, just with some of their tricks, after all. Maybe something he should keep to himself for a little bit? And so, standing by Penny, doing his best not to fly or otherwise show off his Pixie Dust, Pan gestured towards Lorenzo the Black Rose. "The fellow who has a severe case of missing a body would like some cheese."