Avenger Assembled

Dark Star's action (turning the hostage Insubstantial) is over and was successful. EDIT: Since that was off Dark Star's main array, he won't be pinning anyone with Gravity Control. Ace and Vestige still need to make the DC 21 Reflex save, though, to determine whether they start out prone or not. It's now Avalon's turn.

As you lose your dodge bonus when grappled and the hostage is a mook who hasn't dodged an attack yet, we'll say Dark Star hits him automatically. OK, so the paramedic is now insubstantial and running away: the police bystanders have earlier grabbed the unconscious police officer Orion left behind and jetted out of there. Dark Star's action is over and he's now down two HP. Avalon! Your long wait is over; it's the turn of the Vestige! When Avalon goes, I'll finalize his results, and we'll move on to the next person.

"Hey, I wanna be on Erin's team too!" said Mark, grinning as Erin joined them in the pool. "The only way I'd win a ducking contest against you," he added to Erin, "is if I was suddenly as slippery as Eddie on jazz." He stood close to Alex in a companionable way, a very friendly presence right next to her in the water. Smiling over at Alex, he went on to say, "You do a pretty good job, too. I'm always glad to have you on my team..." He leaned very close, and added, "I think we can take them by surprise. You ready?"

To all: Just as a friendly (tho now-underlined reminder, as I believe I did mention it before both in chat and here in the thread): Don't go until I say it's OK. When the character before you acts, don't act until I come in, finalize the results of their action, and say it's your turn in the initiative. We don't need any more chaos than we've already got. Well, the guy didn't suddenly get better at grappling, so of course that's successful, quote. Dark Star, have an HP for the setback, since the bad advice I gave you made your strategy not work. Dark Star has mentioned he's got one more trick up his sleeve. When he's gone, and I've policed his action, it'll be Avalon's turn, since he's been waiting patiently in the wings.

OK. Unfortunately for the stellar hero, since Dark Star can't accurately perceive the Vestige right now, he can't hit him with the Gravity Control effect. EDIT: Hmm, on closer inspection of the Selective extra and Gravity Control in general, I think this was an error on my part. Vestige, since I led you astray here, have a VP. As you've all probably seen, mass combat isn't always my area of expertise. As for Captain Knievel, you've got the same choices you had earlier: you can release the paramedic as a free action and keep the roll you have, or roll again at a -5 penalty while maintaining the grapple. You've already gone this turn, making a move action (running through Dark Star) and then grappling the paramedic (which you did without having to roll, because you overpower him so completely). EDIT: OK, after a quick consultation with the other Refs, we're going to say that quote doesn't need to reroll, since he opted to maintain the grapple under the influence of the Gravity Control attack. So he needs to make a grapple check...which I see he's done already. Yey. I'll still let you have that VP, though, since I'm pretty sure I did botch an earlier roll in the scene. Quote, I think I messed up in describing the scene to you earlier. Not being able to remember either way, have an VP for your trouble. Villian PCs, remember keep in mind that Freedom City bad guys (particularly ones here) don't have Joker Immunity. Killing police and emergency personnel results in characters who are no longer suitable for play, as bad things happen to them when they do clash with authorities (or, for that matter, try professional dealings with other bad guys who don't want to deal with the heat he brings down). Keep it to disabling. Now, I need Reflex saves from Ace and Vestige, DC 21. Ace, have an HP for getting hit by another hero's attack.

What with all the guys jumping into the pool, it was no wonder Edge came in well behind Alex. He laughed as he came up, though, not looking too put-out by his loss. "Teach me to make bets!" He grinned at Alex. "Nice form, Albright. I can tell you've been hitting the gym." He opted to let her pick exactly what he meant by that, covering his face as the guys jumping in splashed up the place. "Hey, glad you decided to join us!"

When Alex surfaced, Mark was there to greet her with a grin, water running down his shoulders as the boy floated just a few inches from her. "This is a really great pool, Alex." He cocked his head towards the far side of the pool, a challenging grin on his face. "Bet I can beat you to the other side. No powers, cross my heart." Sure enough, Mark made a little X right over the center of his chest. Mark had trouble competing with his fellow students, given their knowledge of his powers, but contrary to what they believed he could actually turn them off for a little while. He knew Alex would know that. She was very wise that way.

Quote, have an HP! That's an action that really makes me say, "Hey, that seems like something Eddie would do!"

Mark wanted to stay and chat more with Alex's mom about the past, but there was a party to attend to first. "I'll pass on your good wishes. He and my mom are coming back up from South America at the end of August, maybe you guys will have a chance to meet up at Parents Night at the beginning of fall semester." Smiling, he finished his task in the pool and stood back. Thinking for a moment, he began unbuttoning his shirt quickly, his upper body cut with the well-defined lines of a young man who traveled by swinging grapple gun, and then stepped out of his pants. Through great good luck, he'd thought to wear athletic swim trunks underneath his pants, just in case there turned out to be a pool at Alex's place. "I dunno about you guys, but I'm going for a dip," he called with a grin as he set his clothes away from the water's edge, "before I melt down to a puddle here!" And with that, and a lucky placement of his feet, he executed a perfect plunge straight into the water.

With a little help from Edge's good luck, Eddie caught Candy unawares and put her down for the count too. That left the six teenagers in possession of the two wicked young ladies, the Claremonters left with the serious question of what to do with the girls. Looking around, Mike could see that they luckily had a few moments at least before anyone came out. From the noise on the main street outside, the bystanders had gone one way when the fight had seemed to go another. Some people in Freedom City didn't like watching superbrawls...some, anyway.

A bit concerned, Avenger gave Knight a suspicious look. "No need for human intelligence in the pig, Knight. You can transform a head without instilling intelligence, yes?" A tad unnerved by the idea that Wesley could put souls into things by changing their physical makeup, he decided to make sure that point was very clear before they went any further. "Will not be killing anything with human intelligence."

It's a DC 15 Notice check. Easier than normal because of how she's acting.

"Hey! Leggo!" Firmly ensnared by the super-strong Erin, Candy thrashed and kicked unsuccessfully as she tried to escape. "Dee-Dee, help!" But there was no help from Dee-Dee, the villainous psychic having been caught by her own wicked web of mental stratagems. Both the bad guys were thoroughly caught in a web of their own making, and however they tried to struggle there was no getting out for them. Much as Candy kicked and thrashed, there was no getting out of Erin's grip with Mark there egging her on.

Avenger stared at Knight, his face implacable behind his mask. He decided it was best to lay his cards on the table. "Knight, I'm going to kill the pig when you've done your work. I want you to change it while it's still alive."

"Here's the plan. Need to convince Grim's landlord that she is dead. Need a head for proof." Avenger cocked his head towards the sleeping pigs. "You shape the head of one of the pigs to match hers. Then I present it to her landlord, and she is freed from his influence. And I am able to help the people in her hotel find their own liberation."

Mark looked around for a little bit, glad to see his friends having such a good time at Alex's party. With the action not yet in full swing, Mark took a moment to seek out Alex's mother out by the pool. He put himself to work by her side, helping catch a very large bug that had unfortunately dropped into the pool and died there, then turning the filter back. "By the way," Mark murmured politely to Ms. Albright, "I just wanted to say that I've always admired your work. When I mentioned I was coming here on the phone, my father remembered the first Flightpath very well. He said you were one of the good ones, back in the bad old days." He gave her a small smile. "It must have taken a lot of courage to do that much good in such a bad time. And then go on to raise someone like Alex."

Would the Shadow Academy, as written, offering shelter to Captain Knievel? He's a bigoted loudmouth with a hate-on against a significant percentage of their students, and not so stupid that he'll believe that he's not surrounded by mutants of various shapes and sizes. I think they'd worry he was sending the wrong message to impressionable evil minds. Villains have pride too. Just a thought. ;)

Have an HP for the complication, Dark Star, and I'll let you decide what you're doing. No on else take any actions...and when you do take actions, make sure you check if they'll work first. ;)

Edge inspires as a full-round action, giving everyone +3 on their rolls next round until his turn in the initiative. He spends an HP on Wander's behalf to help her with the coming attack/grapple check.

Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap... "Wander! Grab Candy!" called Edge, giving her a hopeful look. "Psyche, see if you can get both of them at once!" He kept an eye out on both the bad guys, hoping desperately that they could still pull this one off. They had an emotion-controller, a mentalist, and two powerhouses; how hard could it be?

Even reduced by 2, Candy's Impervious is enough to make the Toughness save automatically.

Not in the lobby; you're actually encountering the group in the corridor before you get back out into the courtroom. Do you choose to take any hostages, or are you going to bypass them?

We are very glad to have you back, Sand! We missed you a whole bunch!

OK, you're not near an exit door right now; you're in an interior corridor in the courthouse. Mooks or not, the baliffs do know what they're doing. This is a high security corridor for high value prisoners such as the famous Captain Knievel, which means the doors lock automatically. A big tough guy like Captain K. should be able to knock them down easily. If you run away from Dark Star, you'll burst into a branching corridor. Down one of those corridors is a fire door to the outside. You can reach it on your next turn if you're still moving. If you run through Dark Star, you've got the same problem of security doors slowing you down, but you have the advantage that there are civilians in the way. Let's say there's a small group of people standing around the unfortunate cop that Orion knocked out and stripped earlier. There's a paramedic, a couple of civilian courthouse workers, and a couple of cops. I'll say that your PL is high enough that you can just go ahead and grab one of them so we don't have to worry about rolling. Either way, between Dark Star's speed and the range on his powers, you're not getting away fast enough. The Reflex save on his Area Attack is DC 21. To be able to move at all, you need to make a DC 21 Strength check. If you do make it, you can take either a standard or a move action; your movement restricted to a 5 foot action crawl. So decide which direction you're going, what you do when going that way, then make your saves. Ace, you're not caught in Dark Star's gravity field; it's Selective and he's just dropping it on Cap K.

I have no Investigate and precious little Notice. I'm going to go where my Lucky inspiration takes me. ;)