RocketLord

OOC for this.

GM

7:30 PM, Wednesday April 3rd, 2024

Kingston, Freedom City

Near the Doomforge

Years ago, the House of Usher had returned to Freedom City. Living in the shadow of the Kingston Doomforge, they had been gifted with strange and terrible powers, which they had used with their connections and wealth to become one of, if not the, major player in Freedom City's underworld. Drugs and power, it all ran through them. Anyone that opposed them wound up dead. They went unnoticed by the heroes of the city until the Raven learned about their presence and, together with his allies, he managed to chase them out of the city, and finally take them down after a lengthy international chase.

Now, a major criminal enterprise suddenly disappearing is not without its issue. So far, the Usher's lieutenants and henchmen had played nice. Still getting paid and receiving orders, even if it was rarely, really helped there. But now? No money, no orders... well, someone has to try to step into that power vacuum.

"C'mon, ya bum! Is that all ya got!?" 

Four men on motorcycles, the infamous Devil's Advocates, are fighting a young man and woman in the shadow of the Kingston Doomforge.

Cueball, the first of the bikers is a large man with a classic German helmet and a large axe. He has a full beard and is only wearing an open denim vest on his upper body, torn jeans on his lower. He is the one that is yelling, as he swings around his axe.

Another has a long face and semi long red hair, pulled back in a bandana. He is smiling widely, wearing the same type of vest as Cueball, but with much less impressive physique. He is known as the Born Loser.

The third is deadly pale, with patches of black hair, wearing a red bandana and the same style of clothes as the other two. Buddy is missing several teeth and, going by looks alone, might already be dead.

The fourth is their leader, Angel, dressed in black costume with bone prints and a skull mask, along with a brown leather vest with several chains wrapped around his upper body, leather boots and leather wraps around his wrists. He is wearing a leather hood pulled over his head. He is their leader

They are fighting against Purple Haze and Scarlet Mist. A brother and sister combo that Paper and Nightscale has fought before.

Scarlet Mist is wearing all red. Dark red body suit and long gloves, and a lighter red cloak with a hood. Even her hair is red, as she takes on a semi-gaseous form.

Purple Haze is wearing dark brown jeans with metal knee guards and heavy combat boosts. Like the bikers, his chest is bare, while he is wearing a purple sleeveless coat. His messy long hair is brown, while rainbow colored smoke and mist flows from him into the surrounding area.

"The Doomforge's ours, Angel! Beat it before we get pissed!"

They are already causing property damage. The few people that were near the Doomforge are already caught in the fight.

Right, so since that was a Crit, the Snare is rank 15 for saves, so +15 to the roll rather than the normal +10: 24

GHOST

"Didn't do that one... did that one... not that one... that one..." Casper goes through, as Grim shows him as a construction worker, a pizza chef, a delivery driver, a super market clerk... "Yeah, I've tried a lot. Haven't really been able to keep a steady job, but now that I'm with the League, well, they're paying some of the bills at least. Right now she thinks I'm an assistant janitor at some school."

He shrugs. 

"It is what it is. I don't want to jeopardize anything, but hey, we'll figure something out. For now, how about we just enjoy the rest of the evening?" He smiles, as he raises his glass. "Then we'll see what else happens."

ARCHER II

"Just him? He's your source? Where'd you find him?"

It takes everything that Connor has to not just kick this guy's ass right here and now. It won't help if he does. He'll get nothing. 

He looks at the albino. No, he doesn't look normal.

"Hey. You, pale guy. What's your deal?" 

It's worth an attempt, but Connor makes sure not to get closer. Not just yet.

GM

The lion stares at him. For a moment, it almost looks like it is about to faint. But a program cannot faint, of course. That would just be silly.

"U-Ultio? The-they are out in the wild. In the world. I-I-I don't know about the r..."

He would have said rest, but the door slams open. 

A man stands in the door. 

Or rather, a scarecrow stands in the door. 

He is tall and spindy, his features shifting and turning. He is frankly terrifying to look at, as he looks around, until he spots Haven. He raises a straw finger and points.

"Intruder detected. Initiate counter measures."

OOC for this.

@Kaede Kimura @Thunder King @Epiphany @Tiffany Korta @Poncho

Let me know how you want to approach the room or if there's anything you want to try to roll for!

GM

Three women and one man rushes out in front of the other experimental soldiers. They almost look like they're already falling apart as they start attacking the young heroes. They seem to focus mostly on Gamma Buzz, though some attack Timeout as well, and one lands a solid blow on Spaceman.

The no-longer-so-young woman that they had found dives to the side, out of the way. She doesn't seem like she wants to fight, despite her newfound strength.

Spaceman: 20

Doctor Deviation: 9

Experimental Soldiers: 28

Well, went from rolling a 1 with the Doctor to a 20 with his soldiers, so... They're up.

I'll use Parker's new defensive stats so I don't have to remember what they were before, and consider that he doesn't have his Blast and Area Strength powers without stunting.

There's 8 soldiers active at the moment. They will go down to any damage due to their unstable nature, but they do not count as Minions and we cannot take 10 against them. 

The first four soldiers rush forward and attack, two vs. Baz, 1 vs. each of the others.

Attack vs. Baz: 9

Attack vs. Baz: 12

Attack vs. Timeout: 13

Attack vs. Spaceman: 25

That's a DC23 TOU save for Spaceman, rolling at: 20, so that's a bruise.

That means @Thevshi is up, once I do an IC.

28 - Experimental Soldiers x8 - Unharmed

21 - Timeout - 2HP - Unharmed

20 - Spaceman - 3HP - Unharmed

19 - Gamma Buzz - 1HP - Unharmed

9 - Doctor Deviation - Unharmed

GM

The audience is slowly, but surely moving out of there. Paper's doing good, far better than he might think himself. Maybe its not this crowd's first ninja attack, or maybe they just know better than to stick around when the fighting starts? 

Maybe they're making the right choice.

Another shadow moves in through the rafters, coming up right next to Neko in a matter of seconds, moving without a sound. This ninja is wearing red and gold, their face hidden behind a full red face mask. A Katanarchist. They strike a with a clawed gauntlet, swinging it at Neko without a word, striking across her back.

The STORMCROW

A dark shadow moves into the action, as Stormcrow takes to the stage, a grin on his lips as he raises his left arm and shoots a line into the rafters, while he pulls his collapsible staff out with his right. 

"Paper and MG, go low. I'll go high and get to Neko, we'll switch places if we need to."

Leon's doing great, getting people out of harm's way, but they could really use Bernie, if she can do anything.

Letting the line pull him up, Stormcrow reaches the rafters, letting go of the line, he moves through Neko's illusions and swings his staff, knocking out first one ninja, then spins and thrusts his staff across the rafters, hitting the next one. Both fall down, while he looks over his shoulder at Neko.

"Hey Neko, how're we doing up here?"

Neko should be able to cover about half the room like that, so all the ninjas up in the rafters.

New bad guy incoming on initiative 27

Now that Charlie is properly in costume, he'll go into melee in the rafters and start attacking a ninja with his staff. Since they're minions, I'll take 10 to hit with a 24, and a DC25 TOU save: 8. Pass, so he's down.

I'll use Takedown Attack to attack the one next to him too: 23

Two ninjas down.

The Elite Ninja appears and goes straight for Neko. @Avenger Assembled The Elite Ninja is attacking from Stealth, so give me a Notice check vs. 21. They then attack Neko: 29

That should be a hit whether you beat the Stealth or not, so give me a DC23 TOU save.

And the Elite Ninja's uniform clearly marks them as a Katanarchist. 

And then @Spacefurry is up.

28 - Stormcrow - 7HP - Unharmed

27 - Elite Ninja - Unharmed

24 - Paper - 4HP - Unharmed

23 - Multi-Girl Dupe - Unharmed

17 - Ninjas - Minions - 2x Defeated, many of them (ninjas in rafters under effect of Obscure)

17 - Multi-Girl - 2HP - Unharmed

9 - Neko - 2HP - Unharmed

GM

But Carmen can't hear Bernie's comments, how annoyed she is or her warning anymore, as she has entered into the cave. In fact, she can't hear any of the others.

"Carmen?" Alexandra calls out, though she doesn't seem like she's expecting a response.

She sighs and shakes her head. 

"Right. I was afraid this was going to happen once the storm picked up, but there's nothing to do about but follow the script. The Mesa's not gonna let us go until we do what it wants." Reaching into her backpack, she pulls out her flashlight and a gun belt with a somewhat oversized six shooter revolver and spare bullets, pulling it around her waist.

"Alright, listen up! Follow along and listen closely. Things are about to get a whole lot more interesting. We are going to go into that cave, follow it to the end and find Carmen, then we'll do whatever we need to do on the other end, and come right back here. You listen to me, you don't wander off without my say. If it comes to it, you will use your powers. We good? Then come on. We're in the Magic Mesa, and things are about to get weird."

---

Carmen is sure that there is something ahead, through the twisting network of the path she follows. Something drives her forward. Towards the voice. Like she doesn't feel like turning back. On and on and on she goes, and finally, she sees light up ahead. The end of the cave. Out of the darkness and into the light.

And stepping outside, she finds herself standing in the middle of green park. It looks almost like Liberty Park in Freedom City, but something is off. Something is wrong. It smells too clean. Too sterile.

As she looks up, she sees the skyline around her dominated by high tech sky scrapers that truly stretch into the sky and clouds.

GM

Rex offers little explanation during the elevator ride to those that followed him, and even less so once they reach the residential area in the tower, further up than laboratory 55 where they had previously met.

They reach a room, where a group of men and women in Atom Academy uniforms are standing with all manner of highly advanced equipment, trying to scan the room from the outside, but no one wants to go in. One of them, a bald man, looks up, frowning once he sees Rex and the group approaching. He whispers to another "I guess the real members of the family's all out."

Once they reach the open door, they can see the room that the other Academics refuse to enter.

It is a standard room, though it appears to be larger than it logically should be. There is a bed, a bookshelf, a table and two chairs. A desktop with another chair and a computer. A nightstand. It all seems quite normal.

As they watch, the room occasionally changes. Posters appear and disappear on the walls. The books in the bookcase, and the bookcase itself, changes position. Sometimes it is an entirely different bookcase. The bed, the chairs, the computer and tables. All change at random, replaced with another set of furniture, bits and pieces switching back and forth between two different sets of furniture.

"It started ten minutes ago," an African-American woman that looks to be in her fourties explains. She is holding up a scanner of some sort, which seems to register an abnormal amount of Z-Space radiation from the room. "A sudden spike in Z-Space radiation, and then, this. It doesn't seem to be dangerous, but we have no idea what will happen if we go in there."

Rex Atom

There's a noise outside, coming from the hallway. Feet rapidly hitting the ground, someone running towards them.

The door is thrown open, and a man in the mid-twenties with short black hair, clad in a custom blue and black Atom Academy uniform is standing there, looking around at the group assembled in the laboratory. Nadia will at least recognize him as Rex Atom, the "lost" Atom, as the press has been calling him, as one of the more flattering nicknames. Others include things like the fake or the liar. Not everyone trusts his origin story, even if the rest of the Atom Family has confirmed it several times.

"You're all here..." he manages to get out, between ragged breaths. He has obviously hurried to get here. "Good. That's good." 

He takes a deep breath, steadies himself.

"I'm Rex. I called you here, and... we got a situation, so I guess it'll be trial by fire. Come along if you're in, as fast as you can."

Rex turns, and starts running towards the nearest elevator.

"C'mon! We have a potential Z-Space breach in the residential area!"

...

...

Stormcrow

Small Town Snoop

---

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Charlie looks up at the sun above. Not a single cloud in the sky, and here he is, walking around Rumblefall, Kansas, in the middle of nowhere, looking for a rumour. The heat, he can deal with. The small town charm is certainly there. He doesn’t mind it all. But the reason he’s here? It is quite frankly boring. Going around and talking to people, trying to find a specific person, while everyone is obviously lying to him.

He has just left the grocery store on main street. The bell on the door jingles behind him as it closes, while he turns to glance over his shoulder and look through the window. The grocer is already talking to everyone about Charlie and the questions he asked. Charlie can read lips. He knows that the man is warning everyone to keep silent, to make sure that no one tells the stranger anything.

Great. That will make things easier. He can admire their integrity, at least.

Now, Charlie enjoys any good mystery, but this? This is anything but. It is just tedious, being turned away at every turn, unable to make any progress with the locals, and all he wants to do is to help. He is only here because Ms. Summers had asked him to go and look into some loose rumours about a local hero. Some kid that had taken down one of the Devil’s Advocates when they came rushing through the town. He can’t say no to a Raven, and yet… Charlie is seriously starting to question whether he should start reconsidering that policy.

But he can’t stop now. He’s spent this much time, and it has to be something good if everyone is keeping quiet. Even if it is incredibly boring. So, on to the next place.

The bank is next door. It’s a small building, not nearly as secure as anything that they are used to in Freedom City, or most other places that Charlie has been. Opening the door and stepping inside, Charlie notices a single old security guard sitting on a chair, casually reading the newspaper. He’s at least 60, should probably be retired, and he barely looks up to glance at Charlie as he walks in. The teller is a woman around the same age, her hair in a bun, a pair of glasses resting on her nose. She smiles sweetly to Charlie, as he approaches her.

“Hey there, what can I do for ya, hun?” she asks.

“Hello, I’m looking into some weird things that’s happened around here,” Charlie says, doing his best charming young man impression. “I heard that this biker came into town and caused trouble. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about a local super hero or anything like that stopping him?”

The teller stares at Charlie for a moment. A flash of recognition in her eyes, a quick moment where it is obvious that she knows something, and then, the same wall that he has been met with everywhere else.

“I’m sorry hun, but I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.” She is still all smiles, but it is fake now. She obviously doesn’t want him there. The politest version of the same reaction that he has gotten everywhere else in town. “Now, if you have no business with the bank, I must ask you to step aside to let paying customers have their turn.”

Charlie looks over his shoulder. Only him, the teller and the guard are in the bank. The guard has lowered his newspaper.

The same wall once again. “Alright, alright,” Charlie says, holding up his arms to make sure that he means no harm. “I’m only here to help, but I’m not gonna push it.” 

The last few days have been like this, and as the afternoon passes into evening, Charlie continues to make no progress. The same wall, over and over. He doesn’t want to resort to breaking and entering or looking through their security tapes, if they even have that, but it seems more and more likely that he will need to.

Evening passes into night. There is some sort of celebration in town, a local thing with a band playing and some booths. Maybe someone will get drunk enough to forget to keep silent? Just some progress would be nice.

Charlie makes his way around the booths, chatting, staying friendly, making sure to buy some stuff, but it doesn’t matter. He is almost run over by a group of kids that rushes by, laughing and cheering all the way. Instead, he is simply pushed to the side, falling on his butt. He should have seen them coming, but maybe he’s just too frustrated. Charlie almost wants to shout something after them, but he stops himself. It’s kids having fun. It wasn’t on purpose, and it’s not like he’s much older than them, anyway. Or maybe they’ve heard about him snooping around and wanted to be a bit more direct than the adults. 

Charlie is about to get to his feet when a young woman’s voice breaks his train of thought. “Are you alright, mister? That looked like a nasty fall.” 

Looking up to the right, he sees a teenager with short black hair and deep black eyes. She can’t be older than 15 or 16, dressed in a pair of denim overalls over a white t-shirt and an open plaid dress shirt worn over it. 

She is holding out her hand to him, and Charlie takes it, accepting her support in getting to his feet. 

“Thanks, but I’m alright,” he says. “I’m Charlie.”

The teenager smiles widely, nodding as she lets go. “Hi Charlie, I’m Mattie.” She looks at him for a moment, still all smiles. “What brings ya ‘round?”

“I’m looking for someone,” Charlie responds, more than happy that someone is finally willing to talk to him. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about a local super hero?”

Mattie looks at him for a moment, like she is thinking things through, then smiles widely, while she folds her arms in front of her chest. “Sure do! That’d be me!”

So much for everyone not wanting to talk to the stranger, then.

ARCHER II

Cannonballs flying everywhere, the guy with the sword and everything else going on... this is not how Connor expected the evening to go. 

The man with the golden aura is still struggling, then the woman and the kid with the sword. Magic sword, probably. And the cannonballs. He has to get through to them, but he has to take down that guy first, before he actually shows what he can do.

This time, he flips out from his position around the corner, jumping towards the nearby wall and pushing off it. Mid-air, he sends another barrage of arrows flying towards the man, before he lands in the hallway, now fully out in the open.

Y'know what? Let's keep Peter down.

A fast acrobatic bluff to catch him flat-footed, if he can't beat 27 on sense motive or bluff, and then another Autofire Standard Arrow attack: 34

A straight 20 crit, so that should hit for a DC26+3 from Autofire = DC29 TOU save.

The STORMCROW

Not a lot of people noticing him or caring that he showed up with their tiny alien friend, but alright, that's fine. It's not like Charlie looks especially striking out of costume, like he hopes.

"Hey, Michael?" he asks, before moving away. "Remember to keep an eye on your crew."

The students need to do their thing, anyway, and instead, he moves towards Callie, while he keeps his eyes on Bernie on stage.

There's so many people around them that it is, luckily, easy to talk.

"Didn't expect you to pop up here, Cal," he says, as he joins her, following her moves as well as he can. He has his own training, but he is not quite as fluid. "What brings you back to Freedom?"

Spaceman

"We need to keep it some place safe, so people like Ashley doesn't get to it again, right?" Parker asks about the gem, adressing the Starblights. "We'll try to get the Star to A.E.G.I.S., the Freedom League or someone like that, alright? Hopefully Timeout can talk to them and we can figure something out so you can still access it... I hope." 

What else can he do? There is a lot to handle now. Another world, the Shadow Academy, the entire fight... and, tacos, apparently. 

Well, with no Perform, Parker will try to lift something heavy near them, if there's something he can lift with everything put into Strength, at less than 51.2 tons. Anything usable nearby @Avenger Assembled?

And a Notice roll, since you asked: 23

Edited, to clear up a bit of confusion stemming from me being indecisive and coming up with ideas after posting:

I'll drop Spaceman to be after Golden Star in initiative order, so GS can get them both somewhere and Spaceman can start hitting people.

Spaceman

Go or stay? There's people in trouble, but would he be better use in trying to make a plan?

It's not really any choice when people are in danger, is it?

"Timeout, you know what I can do. Once you figure something out, get to me if you need me."

"Star?" Parker asks, looking towards Michael. "I'm gonna lose what I got going if I move too fast. Can you get me into the middle of a group of the invaders?"