Geez3r

Honestly this was the question Cassandra expected to be the first one that was asked, unfortunately she didn't have much in the way of answers.  She hoped having the students walk with her as they made their way down to the elevator, and subsequently the lab proper, would expidite things a bit to cover up little amount they had to say to one another.  "You're high school students, of course you're not qualified for lab work." said Cassandra as she started off on a rather brisk pace.  "If Dr. Derns needed lab technicians on this project that's precisely who he would have brought in.  He elected to bring the two of you into the fold instead, meaning you're the ones he wants." said Cassandra with obvious conviction. 

"Now as to what you're specifically going to be doing, I can't say." started Cassandra as she called the elevator.  "I'm going to be briefed on the project just as you are when we meet Dr. Derns, though I expect in slighltly more detail." she added jokingly.  "Interns traditionally do a lot of grunt work interspered with observation of the technical stuff.  Think of it as a field trip.  Oh and since this is a biology lab, don't touch anything you can't pronounce, and follow my directions or Dr. Dern's directions to the letter, no taking short cuts." she added seriously, knowing full well what could happen if one were to mix chemicals improperly.

That's a hit.  Toughness save, DC 30 (1d20+12=20) Bruise, Daze and Stagger

Asad chooses to do Knockback

Toughness save vs Knockback, DC 21 (1d20+11=16) Another Bruise and Daze

25 - Wayward - Bruised x1, HP x 4

25 - Asad - Unharmed, HP x3

23 - Pitch - Unharmed, HP x 1

23 - Eagle - Unharmed

22 - Young Britania - Unharmed, HP x 3

22 - Hydra - Bruised x2, Dazed, Staggered

13 - Maxima - Bruised x1, HP x 2

8 - Meteorite Golem - Unharmed, Did a Thing x1

4 - Hero - Unharmed

1 - Blob - Unharmed

"Why hello there!" called Cassandra excitedly as the interns came into view, one of which she recognized as Cho, one of the individuals that was empowered by the Terminus energies that ran rampant in the previous decade.  She elected not to mention that fact, doctor-patient confidentiality and all that.  And better yet, the other student was an Atlantean, which Cassandra was fairly certain the same one Maxima had met at the Christmas party at League HQ.  Cassandra pretty much had a nerdgasm on the spot at the thought of examining these students and their unique biology, not to mention whatever tricks Dr. Derns had up his sleeve.  

Cassandra was grinning ear to ear and sounding positively giddy as she introduced herself.  "I'm Dr. Cassandra Steel, and I'll be the one you're shadowing today." she said as she handed the ID badges to each of the other girls, and wrung each of the girl's hands, giving a knowing look to Cho so the high schooler didn't think Cassandra had forgotten who she was.  "Make sure you have your ID cards on you, in full sight, at all times." she cautioned.  "So we're going to be heading down to LL7 to meet with Dr. Sam Derns who is the project manager, who will be filling us in on the project details.  Do you have any questions for me before we get started?"

"Sure thing." said Cassandra nodding as she was told to wait.  "Ooooh, I love interns.  They're always so jumpy!" replied Cassandra enthusiastically with a little cackle as she took her credentials back and clipped her ID tag on.  "Kidding of course." said Cassandra seeing the worried look flashing across the receptionist's face.  "If Dr. Derns is bringing them in to help out on the project, I'm sure they'll be a pleasure to work with." she said trying to reassure the receptionist.  Cassandra realized she had an awful habit of sticking her foot in her mouth, or having her jokes fall flat.  She was working on it, but it was still slow going.  "What high school are they from incidentally?" asked Cassandra while she was waiting for the students to be processed. 

I can't tell, do you want me to respond again or wait for you guys to post?

Toughness save vs YB attack, DC 23 (1d20+14=34) Nope.jpeg

I'm not going to make an IC post for just that though.  Asad is up. 

25 - Wayward - Bruised x1, HP x 4

25 - Asad - Unharmed, HP x3

23 - Pitch - Unharmed, HP x 1

23 - Eagle - Unharmed

22 - Young Britania - Unharmed, HP x 3

22 - Hydra - Unharmed

13 - Maxima - Bruised x1, Dazed, HP x 2

8 - Meteorite Golem - Unharmed, Did a Thing x1

4 - Hero - Unharmed

1 - Blob - Unharmed

GM Post

While it was the heroes that were to the first to move in this little exchange, it was these animated golems that would apparently be the first to draw blood.  While it did not go on the offensive, the large golem composed of dirt and rock that had encased the meterorite that had started this whole, the golem was far from inactive.  The blue leylines of circuitry that had traced its frame when it was first animated flared again, and its body became more compressed and defined, now having a clearly distinguishable head and torso, along with its arms appearing to have joints rather than being a clump of soil. 
 

The animated statue of the everyday hero attempted to alleviate its problem of being double teamed in one fell swoop as it was able to circle around the off balance Wayward and swung at her head like it was a baseball attempting to send her flying right into Pitch. 

Lastly, the blob filled muck monster that had crawled out of the lake spewed forth a torrent of foul smelling gunk at Young Britania who had taken to the air, attempting to get her back to ground level. 

It has occurred to me that Shaen has not logged in to the site in over a month, as such we'll be dropping Thrude from the thread until such a time that Shaen reappears. 

That would put Maxima next in the initiative order, but she is dazed so she does nothing on her turn. 

Next the Meteorite Golem... does a thing that takes a full round action. 

The Hero Golem is going to go all swing batter batter on Wayward Attack Roll vs Wayward, DC 29 Toughness (1d20+6=25) and I wish I could roll this well on a PC...  If this dazes Wayward, the Golem will deal knockback, attempting to send Wayward flying into Pitch.  This is treated as a slam attack with a damage bonus equal to the Knockback rank which is 10 in this case (14 for the damage dealt - 4 for Wayward's Knockback modifier), and is applied to both parties in the event of a collision. 

Knockback Slam Attack vs Pitch, DC 25 Toughness (1d20+6=15)

And that's a miss, so Wayward will only have to make a DC 19 Toughness save when she collides with an oak tree some 75ft north of their current position should they be dazed by the initial attack. 

Lastly the Blob will attempt to shoot gobs of muck at Young Britania Attack Roll vs Young Britania, DC 18 Snare (1d20+12=24)

I'll get an IC post up and then Wayward is next.

25 - Wayward - Unharmed, HP x 4

25 - Asad - Unharmed, HP x3

23 - Pitch - Unharmed, HP x 1

23 - Eagle - Unharmed

22 - Young Britania - Unharmed, HP x 3

22 - Hydra - Unharmed

13 - Maxima - Bruised x1, Dazed, HP x 2

8 - Meteorite Golem - Unharmed, Did a Thing x1

4 - Hero - Unharmed

1 - Blob - Unharmed

Black Tier Blockbuster: The Porcelain Empress – The Light in the Darkness – PL 18 (660pp)

Of all of the phases there were when working on a project, Dr. Cassandra Steel looked forward to the very first day more than anything else.  It felt very much like the first day of school.  You get to meet new people, you get a bunch of fancy new supplies and you get to learn a whole lot.  As such, Cassandra practically bounced out of her new Mercedes and ran up the walk towards the facility.  She had actually made the effort this morning to get dressed properly, as one does on the first day of school.  Her finely tailored black business suit and powder blue blouse were freshly pressed.  She had recently had her hair cut to be relatively short, coming down to her chin in wavy curls. Make up and painted nails were still a no-no as she was probably going to be working with chemicals later on today. 

Inside the building, Cassandra made her way over to the security and reception area, handing over her credentials "Dr. Cassandra Steel.  I was assigned to be working on one of the projects here.  First day." said said being relatively chipper.  She had worked for Grant Co. long enough to know about the whole rigamarole of getting signed up for different projects, and she had crawled her way high enough up the ladder that a bunch of these barriers simply started to disappear around her. 

Red Tier Blockbuster: Kaiju Kong – The Typhoon Terror - PL 16 (275pp)

“RAWR!â€

Abilities: 8 + 6 + 14 - 2 + 4 - 2 = 28PP

Strength: 18/50 (+4/+20)

Dexterity: 16 (+3)

Constitution: 24/40 (+7/+15)

Intelligence: 6 (-2)

Wisdom: 14 (+2)

Charisma: 6 (+-2)

Combat: 20 + 20 = 40PP

Initiative: +7

Attack: +10, +20 Melee //+2, +12 Melee w/Size modifier

Grapple: +66

Defense: +20 (+10 Base, +10 Dodge Focus), +5 Flat-Footed; // +12, -3 w/Size modifier

Knockback: -34

Saving Throws: 0 + 4 + 2 = 8PP

Toughness: +20 (+7/+15 Con, +5 Protection) Impervious 16

Fortitude: +7/+15 (+7/+15 Con, +0)

Reflex: +7 (+3 Dex, +4)

Will: +4 (+2 Wis, +2)

Skills: 28R = 7PP

Acrobatics 7 (+10)

Climb 10 (+30)

Notice 11 (+13)

Survival 8 (+10)

Feats: 25 PP

Attack Focus Melee 10

Dodge Focus 10

Improved Grab

Improved Grapple

Improved Initiative

Move-By Action

Power Attack

Powers: 49 + 21 +10 + 22 + 63 + 4 = 169PP

Growth 16 Extras: Permanent; PF: Innate [49pp]

Size: Colossal

+32 Strength

+16 Constitution

+20 Carrying Capacity

+16 Grapple Modifier

+8 Intimidate Modifier

-8 Combat Modifier

-16 Stealth Modifier

Protection 5 Extras: Impervious Toughness 16 [21pp]

Knockback 10 power feat applied to Strength Score [10pp]

Super-Strength 10 PF: Powerlifting x2 [22pp]

Kaiju Kong Array [63pp]

* BE: Damage 20 LINKED Paralyze 20 – Thunder Punch

* AP: Damage 16 Extras: General Area Cone; PF: Progression x2 (800ft cone) LINKED Dazzle 16 (auditory) Extras: General Area Cone; Flaws: Touch Range; PF: Progression x2 (800ft cone) – Thunderclap

* AP: Damage 16 Extras: General Area Burst, Continuous (+3) – Lightning Storm

* AP: Environmental Control 11 (5pt mix-and-match; 10,000ft radius)

Super-movement 2 (Wall crawling 2) [4pp]

Drawbacks: (-0) = -0PP

Abilities (28) + Combat (40) + Saving Throws (6) + Skills (7) + Feats (25) + Powers (169) - Drawbacks (00) = 275 / 275 Power Points

Gigantosaur is not the only monster to ever wander off of Kaiju Island.  It's main rival has been dubbed "Kaiju Kong" a massive gorilla that can seemingly control the storms around it and has an affinity for thunderstorms and lightning.  Their battles have been known to be titanic and level anything nearby.  Unlike Gigantosaur, Kaiju Kong has been known to be relatively peaceful if left alone, but is extremely territorial, which is especially bad when it decides that a coastal city is now its territory. 

A giant Kaiju monkey that can control the weather.  Have fun.  I did.  But there really isn't much to the build, he's a giant monkey that controls the weather and can use lightning. It's pretty nimble for being so big, but its effectively a giant animal so it doesn't have much in the way of tactics. 

IC Post

Elsewhere on the evolving battleground, the many headed tree-hydra's necks slithered and writhed, it's scaly bark skin creaking like great oaks in a thunderstorm.  It snapped at anyone who dared get to close to it, dancing like a cobra stalkings its prey.  "Hey!  Leave them alone!" cried Maxima as she ran towards the beast, hoping to draw its attention away from the civilians in the area.  She succeeded in a her endeavor a little too well.  The heads of the hydra lashed out at Maxima, half snapping, half pecking at any piece of her they could reach.  Unfortunately for her, her greater size meant more of the heads could bite her at once.  Cuts and scrapes mounted on her arms and legs while she managed to avoid serious injury, but only barely and could not even mount a counter attack against this continued assault. 

Multi-head Bite Attack Roll vs Maxima DEF 15, DC 27 Toughness on Hit, Autofire (1d20+8=27)  Not only is that a hit, but it gets the full +5 for Autofire and +5 for being a crit. 

Toughness Save vs Hydra Bite, DC 37 (1d20+16=28) so Maxima will be Dazed and Bruised, avoiding the stagger by 1 point. 

So I'll throw up an IC post and then Thrude will be up. 

25 - Wayward - Unharmed, HP x 4

23 - Pitch - Unharmed, HP x 1

23 - Eagle - Unharmed

25* - Asad - Unharmed, HP x3

22 - Young Britania - Unharmed, HP x 3

22 - Hydra - Unharmed

14 - Thrude - Unharmed, HP x 1

13 - Maxima - Bruised x1, Dazed, HP x 2

8 - Meteorite Golem - Unharmed

4 - Hero - Unharmed

1 - Blob - Unharmed

Maxima

- 1 GM post

I need to step up my game

Absurdist, please post in the IC thread.  Tiff, you can make your rolls in the OOC thread in the mean time.

That'll miss the Eagle. 

25 - Wayward - Unharmed, HP x 4

23 - Pitch - Unharmed, HP x 1

23 - Eagle - Unharmed

25* - Asad - Unharmed, HP x3

22 - Young Britania - Unharmed, HP x 3

22 - Hydra - Unharmed

14 - Thrude - Unharmed, HP x 1

13 - Maxima - Unharmed, HP x 2

8 - Meteorite Golem - Unharmed

4 - Hero - Unharmed

1 - Blob - Unharmed

Young Britania is up.

GM Post

The heroes paused only for a moment as their surroundings rose up and attacked them before taking up the cause of defending the populace from this new threat.  The animation of the heroic statue in particular seemed to cause the heroes some level of disgust as it was the brunt of two of the heroes' attacks.  Wayward's shoulder tackle however did little more than slide off the polished skin of the copper statue.  Pitch fared similarly as she attempted to exert her control over metal on the statue, but the same power that gave it life gave it strength to resist. 

The heroes' initial assult rebuffed the animated golems began their counter attack.  The great eagle composed of the wooden shrapnel of the bleachers took to the air with great beats of its wodden wings.  It circle the area, building up speed and looking for a target.  As its wings sliced through the air, it's "feathers" shot out at Pitch like spears, but hit nothing but the ground due to Pitch's superior reaction time. 

25 - Wayward - Unharmed, HP x 4

23 - Pitch - Unharmed, HP x 1

23 - Eagle - Unharmed

25* - Asad - Unharmed, HP x3

22 - Young Britania - Unharmed, HP x 3

22 - Hydra - Unharmed

14 - Thrude - Unharmed, HP x 1

13 - Maxima - Unharmed, HP x 2

8 - Meteorite Golem - Unharmed

4 - Hero - Unharmed

1 - Blob - Unharmed

* Asad will take his turn at this point in the initiative order, but will go back to his proper place in the order next round.  So Asad is up now. 

That's affirmative.  The statue opposes the grapple check without a roll again. 

Next on the chopping block is the Eagle.  It takes aim at Pitch, not liking the two-on one scenario

Debris Shower attack vs Pitch DEF 21, DC 23 Toughness Save on a hit (1d20+12=15) but wiffs.

25 - Wayward - Unharmed, HP x 4

23 - Pitch - Unharmed, HP x 1

23 - Eagle - Unharmed

22 - Young Britania - Unharmed, HP x 3

22 - Hydra - Unharmed

14 - Thrude - Unharmed, HP x 1

13 - Maxima - Unharmed, HP x 2

8 - Meteorite Golem - Unharmed

4 - Hero - Unharmed

1 - Blob - Unharmed

?? - Asad - Unharmed, HP x3

Young Britania is up, Absurdist, roll initiative and you can hop in where ever you land, failing that you'll keep your place at the bottom of the initiative order.  But let SC get a post up in the IC, followed by a GM post for the Eagle's action before posting IC.

I haven't heard anything from Absurdist, and he hasn't logged on in over a week, so for all intents and purposes he's at the bottom of the initiative order. 

As for Wayward's action, they make contact with the animated golem, but can't hold a grip (beat the opposed grapple without rolling). 

Maxima

- 2GM, 1 IC

MAXIMIZED by Thevshi

Maxima

I've got a few points to spend with Maxima. 

1 - Buy a 3rd rank of Benefit (Wealth) as referrenced in September's Vignette.  Likewise purchase Speed of Thought, which will increase her Initiative score to +10. [2pp]

2 - Purchase the HQ from the above Vignette using 4 more ranks of Equipment from veteran rewards (HQ costs 21 ep, and she has currently spent 39/40).  [free]

3 - +2 Strength [2pp]

4 - +2 Constitution [2pp]

Thank you.

Maxima

Things had been going quite well for Cassandra these past couple of months. She was quite unaware of just how well they had been going. She had been making bank for a while now. Between patent rights, royalties, bonuses, stock options and bonds, Cassandra had amassed quite a portfolio. So much so that even though she pulled in an 8 figure salary from Grant Conglomerates, it was chump change next to her investments. She had engaged an investment firm to manage her funds on the day to day a while back. Cassandra took a back seat most of the time, but she did drop a line to them about specific firms she wanted to invest in given her own expertise and insight into the markets.

Well one lazy Thursday morning, (Cassandra often worked screwy hours due to the nature of her job) Cassandra made it a point to look over all of her investments and revenue streams in great detail. Come to find out that her portfolio had an extra 0 at the end of it when all was said an done. “Well @#$%...†said Cassandra actually quite flabbergasted.

Downstairs in her gym Maxima was pondering what exactly to do with this new found wealth. While it was true that she spent most of her time exercising as Cassandra to improve her strength, as Maxima's strength was directly proportional to Cassandra's, she still needed to put in some time as Maxima to get used to having that level of strength. Maxima had reached that point where you kind of needed to something with her money rather than horde it all like some kind of dragon. The idea struck her when she was racking up another plate for her squats. The plate she had in her hands weighed over 10 tons, and cost about as much as a mid-sized car. Maxima knew full well that she wasn't the only hero running around with super-strength, but there had to plenty of superheroes out there that didn't have her funds to build these elaborate training facilities. That said nothing of how many other different types of powers there were out there that needed a safe environment to practice in.

She kicked around the idea of opening her own personal gym up to the “public†but scrapped the idea. Frankly while she did trust her fellow comrades in arms, having them come and go from her basement would pretty much mean that she would never have time to just be Cassandra. Furthermore, she had more than a few sensitive research projects stewing at any one time, so having other less scientifically inclined individuals running around could spell disaster.

After showering off from her morning workout, Cassandra sat down back at the kitchen table with her financial documents strewn about. She dug out her phone and dialed Dwayne from the finance office. “Hey Dwayne, this is Cassandra Steel. Listen could you do me a favor and pull up the contact info for the contractors we used for Lab 7A, the expansion on 3^rd street and the reno on the sub in the theater district?†“Sure thing. I'll email them to you in a few minutes.†“Thank you. Bye.†said Cassandra hanging up the phone. She really only wanted the info for the second contractor, but asking for multiple made it look like she was getting ready to put a bid out. She had sat on a few committees in her time for proposals for R&D labs, generally to help some field of the technical logistics of the planning.

A few moments later she had the contact information and was dialing James McClure “Hello James McClure? This is Dr. Cassandra Steel, Think Tank Director for Grant Conglomerates.†said Cassandra, still feeling a swell of pride over her relatively recent promotion. “I was wondering if you had time for a pet project of mine...?†The conversation was pretty quick after that point. James was the type of guy that only need to know what needed doing and how much he was being paid; he didn't really care for the why.

Without too much of a fuss Cassandra was able to find a good space in the Theartre District. It was a corner lot that had sat idle for a while. It had some tricky zoning laws enacted since it was first built, making it an expensive investment for any interested parties. But if one were to go a little under the radar, a lot of those legal issues could be side stepped.

The building had a rather small profile from the exterior, by most accounts it would look like a side access door to get to apartments above the stores. In truth, it had quite a bit of real estate within its walls, and under them for that matter. The main front entrance was made to look like an apartment complex with some apartment listings, buzzers and mailboxes, along with a securely locked door (which in truth was heavily armored) leading into the rest of the complex. In fact most of the upper levels were essentially apartments. They were quite spartan to be sure, rarely having more than a bed and a light source, but serviceable in a pinch. There were two large communal bathrooms, one for women and one for men, which had the amenities one might find at a gym, and not much beyond that. There was a small sitting area, as well as a dining area. Mostly this space was here to comply with regulations that Cassandra couldn't side step and also to serve as a place to rest one's head if the need was truly dire.

The lower levels were where the action was. Maxima had converted the basement and subbasement (as well as adding two more floors beneath that) into a full on super-hero gym. On the lowest level was the weight room. In addition to having weights that were simply massively heavy, it also contained artificial gravity of sorts, in truth it was a type of selective type of magnetism that attracted the weights to the floor, to help supplement the weights themselves. The floor was divided into four near identical quadrants, one in each corner of the room. Each contained a barbell, a squat rack, an adjustable bench, free weights and a few other odds and ends. The only difference between the sections was the tiers of weights they were set to use, with the lowest being designed for human-level heroes, and the highest being for those who could match Centurion himself.

The floor above the weight room was one very large room designed to be a modular obstacle course. It could create walls, ramps, pillars, blocks, hoops and the like to serve as the course itself, as well as having several different environmental settings so that one could practice their parkour in a hurricane if they so desired. The subbasement was the full automated combat simulation area. If heroes were sparring or if they wanted to test themselves in simulated combat, this would be the place to go. Most of the systems here were functionally identical to the ones Maxima had in her own gym, which was mostly standard fare. Finally the basement was essentially the rest and recovery area. It housed the infirmary, the pool and also lead to the garage. There was also an observation area for the lower levels, so one could critique another's performance in one of the simulations without putting themselves in peril.

All that was left was Maxima spreading the word, along with the keycards for entry, and then they were in business.

Shared Headquarters – Average Joe's [21ep]

Toughness: +15 (2ep)

Size: Large (2ep)

Features: Combat Simulator 2, Communications, Computer, Concealed, Defense System 2 (see below), Fire Prevention System, Garage, Gym, Infirmary, Library, Living Space, Pool, Power System, Security System 2 [18ep]

Defense Systems: All have a +10 Attack Bonus

1 – Snare 10 – Bola Launchers

2 – Blast 10 – “Stun Gunsâ€

I'll throw Maxima's hat in the ring for this one.  Cassandra entered the tourney just to see how she fares without her powers and gauge how much more she has to learn about good old fisticuffs. 

Initiative Roll (1d20+3=22) - Hydra

Hero Initiative Roll (1d20+2=4)

Blob Initiative (1d20+0=1)

Eagle Initiative (1d20+10=23)

Meteorite Golem Initiative (1d20-2=8)

Putting this together we have:

25 - Wayward - Unharmed, HP x 4

23 - Pitch - Unharmed, HP x 1

23 - Eagle - Unharmed

22 - Young Britania - Unharmed, HP x 3

22 - Hydra - Unharmed

14 - Thrude - Unharmed, HP x 1

13 - Maxima - Unharmed, HP x 2

8 - Meteorite Golem - Unharmed

4 - Hero - Unharmed

1 - Blob - Unharmed

?? - Asad - Unharmed, HP x3

Absurdist I need that initiative roll for Asad.