Nerdzul

Luke threw just a quick glance to the ventilation shaft. Yep no way I'm fitting into that... He was, after all built like a professional boxer and while he could, in theory shapeshift, his true form definitely wouldn't fit into a vent. So yeah. He was gonna have to use a door. Now, the idea of knocking the cook down and stealing his uniform and hat was a tempting one, he had to admit it, but... then again, as far as Luke knew, the fellow wasn't a villain, he didn't deserve a concussion... Or to be sent into another dimension... He could create a distraction though... Nightscale closed his eyes and instinctively called to his magic. "Sir...? Can you help me sir?" A figure waved from the end of the street, a young woman one shaped by the fervent imagination of a teenage boy. "I am soo... lost here..." Now, the image had no substance, but hopefully the trick would distract the chef for long enough... After all Luke just needed to sneak inside...

When Luke got to the hive of scum and villainy', the boy felt a pang of adrenaline rushing in his veins, the beast within having sensed the vast amount of wealth hiding inside the building, being extracted and hoarded past its wall, a locus of greed, it pushed his avaricious impulses to the surface. Woah. It was only after he managed to reign in his draconic instincts, that he quickly realized that Southside Palace was fancier than the other gambling holes that infested the neighborhood... There even his 'best' shirt (definitely not his only one... nop... not at all), least worn jeans, Nikes (one of the last vestiges of his wanna-be gangster times) and ballcap, weren't exactly in tune with the local dress code. So much for blending in. Now he couldn't exactly spurge on the gambling tables to make up for it... The few bucks in his pockets wouldn't last much. Well... without evening the odds a bit with his powers, at least. Maybe an illusion... He thought, as he absent-mindedly conjured a few of the coins from his 'hoard' toying with the golden disks for the few moments before they ceased to exist. Why aren't you freakin' real! It would have made his life much easier, wouldn't it? Being able to pull gold out of thin air... They must have freakin' cameras, anyway... And those were unfortunately immune to his mind tricks. Still that was a problem for later. First, he needed to learn the lay of the land a bit better... He took a casual stroll around the perimeter of the Casino, trying his best to appear natural and using a convoluted route, just in case, he looked for potential alternative entrances, escape routes or, in general, for anything that might feel out of place...

"Southside Palace... Awesome..." It was Blowfish's turf... He knew the guy, a violent type, quick with the shotgun... He wondered, if perhaps Grabber Gibbons wasn't getting himself, his brother and perhaps plenty more of the innocents (as a figure of speech at least) inhabitants of the trailer park in trouble. "I wish..." Luke chuckled. "My bet... No chance that a single coin is gonna get out of that vault, much less a freakin' mountain of gold..." "I'm sorry, but you are gonna have to find your own way to get rich... Right scamp?" He grinned and gave Huk a friendly nudge (one much lighter of course, than the ones he had given BIlly). Yep and not take 'Grabber's Gibbons example if possible... Nor Luke Landers' to be honest. "Speaking of which... Next time you hear something like this, come pay me a visit, deal?" Yeah, the boy deserved a bit of a reward, unfortunately, it was not like Luke could spare much... He searched the pockets of his sweatpants managing to muster a few crumpled bucks and gave them to Huckles. Now it wasn't exactly a king's ransom, but that was the best of what he could do... "Anyway... got to go buddy... Don't get yourself into too much troubles while I'm gone." He smirked... Yeah, like if there was any chance of that being true. Time to pay a visit to the casino...

24! Hehe that makes me dread for future combat rolls, given Luke's luck, but there you go mmm he also need to invest a few more skill points in his next update.

"Well... they freakin' deserve it, right?" Luke grinned, it wasn't hard to lie on the matter, assuming he was actually lying at all. In truth, Luke wound't have minded if the fat purses of the gangsters that owned the Casino's that infested the wealthier regions of Soutshide got a bit thinner ... They could afford it after all. Although... somehow... he doubted that Billy's brother, or whoever had arranged for the actual heist, had planned to share any of the loot. Unfortunately there were plenty of casinos in town... "Did your..." He fell asleep? Great... "Which one?" He raised his voice and gave Billy a forceful nudge. "Which Casino?" He repeated, if the robbery was planned for that night, Luke definitely didn't have the time to check all the gambling dens one by one...

Folllowed (and replied IC )

As Billy Wiggins, tried to stand up from his perch, Luke gave him a 'don't do anything you are gonna regret' kind of stare, clenching his fists a little. It wasn't needed perhaps, as Billy didn't look like the type that went after people who could fight back, but then again... As they started discussing the 'mountains of gold' again, Luke felt a growing sense of curiosity, on one side, sure, the young superhero wanted to know if a big heist was gonna happen, on the other, the dragon in him had far less altruistic instincts. In fact, an acute observer, could notice, that for a split second Nightscale's golden eyes had flashed underneath Luke's natural green. "And how are you gonna get all that gold?" Nightscale teased. "Your 'bro got the freakin' lottery or somethin'?" He chuckled. Grabber Gibbins was perhaps far more competent than his brother and in fact, in the days when Luke's life wasn't that different from Hukles' he himself was careful to buy himself a good head-start when dealing with that mountain of a man, but he never once thought of him as a master criminal...

"Santa Claws?" Luke chuckled... "I like it. Has a good ring to it." He continued playfully. "Can I bring my little 'bro at work sometimes?" He asked. Gabriel would definitely love it and besides, Luke has always done his best to spend Christmas with his family, especially now that he was living away at school (and was planning to get a place of his own afterward). "Now he doesn't know I'm a superhero though..." He ruffled the hair on the back of his neck looking thoughtful. Indeed that was going to be a bit of a 'logistic' issue, wouldn't it? Then again, they did have magic to fix this kind of stuff, rigth? Now it was a bit childish perhaps, but the young dragon had a big grin on his lips as they visited the North Pole, especially in the version that belonged to Santa. He did his best (and fail) though. to appear like he wasn't too awe-struck, after all he had sort of a reputation to maintain.

Ahh... Home sweet home. Just a few years before, Luke had sworn to leave the park, never to return. It didn't last. Sure, his family still lived there, but it wasn't just that... There was some sort of gravity pulling him back, of the kind that even his wings could not defeat. So there he was, patrolling the dirt paths between rusted trailers and rundown shacks, alone, not as the aspiring super-hero, or the bus-sized flying lizard with an attitude, but as the local kid, in faded sweatpants, battered sneakers and of course, the trademark t-shirt with the ripped sleeves. It was way easier that way. There wasn't a day that the park free of some kind of misdeed. As for himself, the Soutshide Dragon, had done his best to keep the worst out of his 'territory', admittedly, frequently choosing to close an eye to let the least harmful violations... He was there to make life in the place he grew up better after all, not harder. Crime at the park was rarely a matter of grand heists and mountains of gold, though. Those belonged to the glittering casinos just a couple of roads ahead or to mansions perched on Baywiew above. Now, most of the time the bragging of Billy Wiggins meant nothing. Deluded, drunken dreams? Perhaps, but Huckles' words were enough to pique Luke's curiosity. "A mountain? You mean his whole weight in gold?" He chuckled. "Yeah definitely believable..." He continued sarcastically. "Did you hear it from the man himself?" Huckles, had a way of knowing things around camp.

"Leaving so soon." Luke teased as the procession of spiders escaped the scene. "Did not expect that." He shook his head, smirking however at Leon's flashy display. Being a hero was definitely also a matter of style wasn't it? He gave his friend a concerned look as he realized that Leon's mood had darkened. Now, unfortunately he wasn't exactly great at talking these kinds of things through. "Only one?" He teased instead. "You are severely underestimating us." He closed the gap between them and gave his roommate a playful nudge on a shoulder. He did not catch the meaning behind the exchange between Santa and Puma, but then again, he was mysteriously fluent in an ancient dead language pretty much since his egg hatched, but everything else apart from American English, well... "I'd be honored. As long as it doesn't involve dragging a flying sled." The young man chuckled when the fellow that was likely one of Santa's assistant offered him a job. He wasn't exactly sure if a career working for Santa would fit his future, after all, he had his home to look after, so he could not exactly waltz around the world carrying presents. But then again... Gold coins? Yeah... His 'hoard' amounted to a fistful of dollars at most right now. "Just glad of doing my job... I mean, I wouldn't want all the kids in the world missin' Santa..." Yep. especially his little 'bro and the other kids from the trailer park.

Nightscale 3 Generations - 3

Indeed they grow up so fast I might make a new student though and have Luke be the 'adult' of the situation once that happens

Nightscale managed to barely dash away from the falling rocks and while sure, a few crashed on his back, but they didn't have enough momentum to pierce a dragon's hide. "You have been a naughty spider haven't you?" Luke chuckled as he teased the giant monster. Unfortunately though, his claws failed to strike true and he could not match his bravado with action. For now at least.

Well time for some old rending claws Drain Toughness 9 (Extra: Linked (Strength Attack)) - or not.... 11 to hit

Let's see.. Reflex save: https://orokos.com/roll/978441 failed the save with 12 ofc... reroll https://orokos.com/roll/978442 27 with HP and then I think that Nightscale impervious toughness 9 protects him from the halved damage, right?

I only got a claremonter otherwise I'd like to join hehe. I like the idea of this kind of fast combat

Now of course a mighty dragon was not afraid of spiders, right? Well... Maybe, but still being invested by a wave of skittering horror definitely made Luke's stomach churn. He dashed away, trying to remove as many of the small abomination that were now on his body and definitely imagining many more crawling on his skin. Whatever. Time to fight back. He rushed toward the creature, jumping high assisted by dragon wings, unleashing a furious barrage of fists and ethereal claws, enough to overwhelm, if only for a moment, the beast.

If it looks like Nightscale can 'melt' or somewhat destroy the web without burning the prisoners (and Puma), he will breath fire at it. Otherwise, he is gonna charge the giant spider. Strength Attack (Extras: Autofire 1 [9 ranks] ) {9PP/9PP} I'll roll to save time just in case: 30 to hit damage DC is 24 + autofire depending on how hard the spider is to hit.

CONE OF SPIDERS! Nightscale misses a lot, but at least he had managed to dodge this: Relfexes 21 Fortitude: 26

Nightscale 3 Generation3

Nightscale still managed to barely do more than Leon with an 11

"Show-off..." Luke teased his friend as he took down all the snowmen in one go. Luke sped through the cave with the others, throwing a glance at Puma and seeing if she was alright. Now they were both super-heroes after all, he was sure that she could take it, but then again... "Wow, didn't know that the Grinch was a giant spider..." He joked, noticing the similarities between one of the prisoners and Santa. Now, of course, given they world they were in, perhaps it was some other mythological character, but then again, there was definitely a certain resemblance... "Isn't it a bit too early to ruin Christmas?" "Anyway... let's rock..."

Caught a little by surprise Luke hesitated as the scene unfolded, trying to find a good angle to bathe the small army of icy creature in flames, unfortunately, once he got close enough to the creatures, his friends were already engulfing in melee, at risk of being caught in the crossfire. "Uh ok..." He shrugged. "If you manage to keep them concentrated somewhere I can fry the whole bunch." He suggested. The young man charged at the creature, claws of energy forming at his fingers as he called on the monster hiding underneath to tear them apart, unfortunately, the ice proved more slippery than he had expected and he failed to strike through. He watched as one of the creature stroke at Puma. "You alright?" He tossed, hoping that his classmate wasn't hurt too badly.

Let's throw some punches then Dragon Rage: Strength Attack (Extras: Autofire 1 [9 ranks] ) {9PP/9PP} 13 ofc... meh

If it's Nigthscale turn, are there a bunch of them that he can hit with Dragonfire without hurting his friends? If not he will go punching. Molten Breath, (Fire) Damage 9 (Extras: Area [Type: General; Shape: Cone; Size: 180ft with area 1], Secondary Effect; Flaws: Action [Full], Feats: Progression [Area 1])