Hellbound

Quick question on the Fearless feat -- does it work against attack based fear powers as well as naturally scary situations? I ask because... well, it just seems that total immunity to even telepathically induced fear for one point is a little unblanaced. It's not even a power, it's a feat. That means it's naturally innate and can't be drained, cancelled out or transferred to a power sucking, vallainous parasite type character. Even Batman has to struggle against the Scarecrow's fear toxins from time to time. Yet, that would be a fairly impotent bad guy in M&M if a single power point could render all of his best tricks useless. When it was suggested that Hellbound take his own Fearless feat, I assumed it would apply itself against this game's version of 'Presence Attacks'. If some dark and ancient Lovecraftian nightmare god from beyond the stars showed up and layed his Aura of Empathically Induced Fear on people, I'd expect Hellbound to shite his pants at least a little. Weird rules. I'm still trying to wrap my head around being able to purchase total immunities to any and all forms of attack so cheaply. Hopefully I'm overestimating the potency of a one-point feat.

I'll wait to be surprised when she starts throwing buildings at S.U.V.s JL:E I'm not too familiar with, but I am with the Outsiders. Hellbound could dig on it if there's room for him.

Okay, I'll bite -- what sort of team concept are you guys going for? Squeeky clean Super-Patriots or anything capable of calling Captain Planet might be a poor fit for Hellbound, but if it's something that tends to drive up local insurance premiums then he might be interested.

Sweeet... :)

While Dark Star continued to coordinate the escape efforts above deck, Arrowhawk and the Six-Shooter made their way down into what was likely the very bowels of hell. Once the spacious, open-air recreation areas were left behind, the ship was far more claustrophobic than it looked. Cruise lines were always looking for ways to pack more paying passengers into each trip and that invariably lead to cramped quarters below. State rooms were typically tiny and the hallways that navigated them tended to be equally tight. Any place that the designers could save space and add just a little more capacity, it was quickly trimmed from the layout. That was normally fine seeing as how most vacations were meant to be taken on top. The only reason people were supposed to come down here was to shower, change clothes and perhaps sleep a bit. Unfortunately, during times of crises that meant the lower levels of pleasure boats tended to convert quickly into honest death traps. This was one of those times. Fire alarms had already been blaring before the second explosion, but now the noise and chaos that had created was compounded by a sharp listing to starboard. The boat was going down and it was only a matter of time before the entire vessel sank into Freedom City's wintery bay. Harsh scraping could be heard as the boat continued to drift past Centery Bridge's massive supports. Systems failure still had its anchor firmly ensconced in its cradle, high and useless above the churning, frigid waters below. Voices were becoming clearer and more disctinct to Arrowhawk and Sammy as they neared the first knot of trapped passengers and crew. Smoke was boiling along the ceiling of the hall they'd found and a blazing wall of fire had managed to creep at least this far along the interior spaces. Having taken several stairways with nigh olympic determination, the pair was now at least three or four decks below where they'd started. A group of people could be seen beyond the fire, attacking it uselessly with a tired extinguisher. Apparently, not up to the task of quelling such an inferno, it was now nearly empty. MEANWHILE! "I don't hear a thing!" Hellbound protested, having to shout for his voice to carry above the noise and confusion of a ship burning, adrift and taking on water. He was, in fact, even having to cling to nearby ruined machinery in order to keep from pitching along the sharp cant of the engine room deck. As debris was tossed aside by Scarab's power, though, he managed to figure out what was going on. The plucky fighter lent his own great strength to the task of ripping slag and obstruction away. Soon an offending bulkhead was revealed along with a partially melted firedoor. Normally it would be almost impossible to open in its warped condition, but it offered very little resistance to Scarab's brute force. Beyond was a collection of scorched and frightened crewmen, huddling in a storage room and in bad condition. Second or third degree burns were obvious on some of them and they were all suffering from the heat and toxic fumes of the fires.

'Just been waiting for permission to get involved -- I don't see much about Lincoln that would draw in Hellbound, but he'd fit in just fine Southside. I've been toying with the idea of having him living out of a hotel on/near the Boardwalk anyway.

Naw -- that's fine. I'll go ahead and run things for right now. Eventually we'll get into some combat, though, and I'll be needing a hand with the rules if nothing else. As far as Hellbound stepping into the background, that's just because I'm uncomfortable with GM controlled chars being active PCs. It's always too easy for them to come up with the right answer at the right time since, of course, they're being ran by the same person driving the threats.

In square footage? I couldn't even begin to estimate. I think it's safe to assume that the ship you're dealing with is competative with a typical Carnival cruise ship, the pool deck of which can be seen here: Almost looks big enough for a mini-water park. 'Pretty sure they typically hold around 300 passengers at a time plus crew. So figure about 400 people? How many people can fit into a 100' diameter circle? Does TK in M&M have any sort of weight limit to worry about, or does it just concern itself with volume?

"Yeah, 'course I didn't have anything to do with this." Hellbound sounded a little dumbstruck at the thought. "What kinda crappy superhero would I be if I went around blowing up cruise ships?" As he made his protests, though, Scarab was already casting her mind and senses back through time to seek out the cause of the desctruction. Images of the blasted engine room zoomed through her awareness in reverse as the universe obdiently rewound itself to give up a few time-hidden secrets. It didn't take long to back things up to the point if destruction, flames and fleeting pain retreating from the room as time ran backwards in her mind. Suddenly, the point of occurance was on her and she could see all that happened just prior to the explosion. Two deckhands, it seemed, and a dark, unmarked box. This is where it happened and who was responsible. Though she couldn't identify either of the two workmen it was clear that they weren't supposed to be playing with whatever they'd gotten their hands on. A strongbox about the size of a Coleman cooler and freshly unlocked sat on the floor in front of them. From the nervous glances over their shoulders, it was pretty obvious that they were worried about discovery. The cramped space was otherwise unoccupied as heavy, annonymous ironworks chugged in a mechanical semblance of life around them. One of the two reached inside of the box while the other kept watch and a lumpy, oddly glowing chunk of some strange ore was revealed. The soundless words of 'what the f...' just barely had time to form on the lips of the one holding the ore before his entire body was lit from within by a harsh glow, a light which imitated that from the metal itself. Then there was an explosion as his body was disintegrated. Flames washed over everything as the room was devestated. When things cleared, there was no sign of the one who'd been killed or the ore he'd taken from the box. His companion, having been thrown against a bulkhead when the fireball had erupted, was screaming in pain and embedded half-way through the heavy, steel wall. Heat seemed to radiate from his body and the metal which surrounded him as paint bubbled, flaked, smoked and then burned in rapid succession. Steel melted and flowed across his body until he was covered with a cocoon of liquid fire, still howling in agony and thrashing for his life. A hole was burned through the bulkhead and the man, now blind with pain and looking for all the world like a living heap of slag, stalked off away from the room and his source of pain, sending him deeper into the ship itself. As these images faded from Scarab's awareness, she could dimly hear Hellbound protesting. Apparently, his senses weren't quite as sharp as the psychic hero of legacy. "... hey... HEY! What people? Help who?" MEANWHILE! Dark Star was dealing with people as they rushed for rescue. Some headed his words and the more disciplined of the crew and passengers understood that panic would only get others killed. These were the ones who fought to keep everything under control and an organized effort moving smoothly. Others, however, were either not so intelligent, so caring of others or so humble in their own self worth. Despite the fact that lifeboats were being loaded to capacity in preperation of launch, and despite the fact that Dark Star could only handle so many at one time, they still shouted their protests at him. Some insisted that they were too important to die, that their companies or loved ones depended on them too much for them to be left behind. Others claimed that God would not allow them to die here, so they insanely demanded to be taken off next in accordance to His wishes. Some fighting ensued along with pushing and shoving, but in all the rescue effort continued. The chaos that swirled around Dark Star's feet only served to demonstrate the pitfalls associated with trying to help others. It seemed, no matter what, one always had to save the citizens from themselves first. ALSO MEANWHILE! Arrowhawk and Sammy made their way below decks, though Silver paced nervously at the hatch they'd just descended. He didn't like being seperated from his friend and companion, especially during times like this. So much noise, smoke, fire and the noxious fumes of the modern world burning assualted his senses. It was a worrying time and Sammy was delving straight into the heart of it. Silver did not like... not one bit, but he'd do as he was told. There were others who needed his protection at the moment and he wanted to make his master proud. Turning towards the crowd, he opened his mouth to hiss at them in the direction he felt they should go. A few screams and a bit of running ensued from that, which lightened Silver's mood considerably. This was just like hearding cattle back home, where a large number of stupid and frightened beasts needed to be told where to go. Perhaps this world wasn't so different after all. Slapping his tail against the deck and trying to imagine the familiar sensation of trail dust rising from the impact, he gleefully headed towards the more disruptive passengers. As he did so, Arrowhawk started down a gangway in search of trapped passengers, calling out and straining their ears for signs of life. The first frightened and muffled responses were being identified when the entire boat shook as a second explosion erupted somewhere below.

Awright -- looks like I'm still stuck leading this thing for the moment I'll probably shift Hellbound into a background role for that, then. I've never liked having NPCs act as major influences on a storyline. Let's handle the psychic search attempts one step at a time -- the Postcog first and then move on to the locating once that's been described.

19 is good enough for me. The answer to the question is, no. He did not go Down Down Down as the flames went higher. The Man in Black is busy in another thread Oh, wait, the OTHER question. Gotcha. Explained in thread and Hellbound is speaking the truth. It looks like there's a meta on board responsible for the explosion. From the looks of the blasted walls, it would seem that the blast originated in the engine room and then the barefooted person responsible moved farther into the ship. SO -- now that we're set up and running, anyone care to take over the rescue details? We need to establish how many groups of survivors are still stranded in the boat and waiting to be rescued. We also need to determine how fast the boat is sinking (giving us the amount of time we have to save everyone), how quickly the fire is spreading (unless it's contained to the engine room), and what kind of hinderance will be presented. Saku-nee is still interested in playing the villainess in this story and I've sent that player a suggestion as to Miko's motivation. We'll have to see if the refs allow her to be RP'd without full approval (Sand was going to check with the other GMs last night, but I didn't hear back as to the results).

hellbound extracted himself from the water and scrambled up into the bowls of the ship. It was rough going, given that he couldn't fly and the metal he was gripping was jagged, hot and half-blown to hell. Still, he was determined and wasn't about to let a blister or two hold him back. Before long he found himself securely on board with the shredded remains of deck and hull behind him. Water was rushing into the lower portions of the boat below and, just barely, the ship could be felt listing in that direction. He shrugged off his jacket, dripping water and steaming from the heated entry he'd made, just in time to spot Scarab lighting easily in the room next to him. He huffed at the showy entrance and wondered where he could pick up a spare flight belt... it looked like a handy way of getting around. "Not a bomb." He indicated, pointing further into the ship. The pair was in the engine room, or what was left of it. Heat and shockwave from the blast wasted most of the machinery in sight and crumpled a bulkhead or two into complete uselessness. Ahead, though, was a clear view of several smoking holes having been cored through a few walls, leaving behind puddles of molten steel and char. The tracks of a single pair of bare feet was obvious in the melted remains, moving away from the open air and cold river water. Coming in around the edges of Scarab's awareness was the mental cries of anguish of living crewmen, most likely hidden from view by the ruined trappings of a engine room blown to bits. MEANWHILE! Back above board, Dark Star continued his rescue efforts as people began to realize the chance for salvation represented there. They began to clamber for the hero's attention, pushing and shoving to be part of the next group air lifted to safety. It caused a bit of a stir and some amount of danger as the edges of the panicked crowd compacted around his location. The unknown crew member hurridly took Silver's youthful admirer under his wing and rushed him off in search of parents or at least a safe place to be at the moment. Life boats were filling up and dropping, but hopefully the boy was due for a happy reunion before it was all over. As those two left, Arrowhawk made his approach and introductions to the time-lost cowpoke.

"This is Chopper 13 for Freedom City Nightly News, reporting live over the Centery Bridge where an unknown and undoubtedly insane assailant is slaughtering innocent passengers on a sinnking cruise ship. We'll have all the details and mug shots later tonight..." :P

"Help! The crazy lady is trying to throw us into the water...! Oh, wait, we're on the bridge now and safe? Thank you!!!" I'm not too worried about it. The people who managed to get above decks will be easy to rescue, but those still trapped below will take a little more effort. Also, don't forget that there are life boats we can make use of. There are probably a few bottle necks going on, but a little crowd control can help that move along more smoothly.

That's what I thought -- so can I please request that someone re-approve Roman so that Hellbound can buy his Adaptation? :mrgreen: He has gone almost a week now without further review, though being that he's a tier 1 NPC I don't imagine he has a high priority for final approval.

Could I get a breakdown of Hellbound's awards? I'm curious as to whether he received a point for Roman Michaels or if that doesn't pay off until final approval.

Hellbound positioned himself so that he could slap his palms down on the car's hood when it touched the ground. He flexed his inhumananly strong fingers to crease the sheet metal a bit and scowled at the passengers. "Don't even think about it!" He warned the crims'. "I will flip you over and we'll spend the rest of the day treating this car like a hockey puck from one side of the city to the other." Surely it was a bluff though, wasn't it? Hellbound wouldn't actually be that reckless with private property or even the lives of criminals, though from the way he was staring down the car's occupants it was a little difficult to tell. He leaned forward and let his deceptive weight test out the suspension. "The League, huh?" He asked over his shoulder while putting on the gruff display. "They hiring, or do you hope to open the doors with just a strong audition?"

It wasn't a nice way to transport people, but at least it was a way. The indignity that the people felt as they were being magically manhandled paled in comparison to the relief at being rescued from their sinking ship. Unfortunately, there were probably close to a couple hundred passengers crowding the open air decks and the boat was starting to take on water quickly. The hole torn into her side was gaping and irregular, plus pleasure craft still had a tendency to be constructed without adequate compartmentalization. One would think that the lessons of the late-great Titanic would teach otherwise, but unfortunately the measures of the past could not always compete with the design flaws of the present. The ship was still moving with its engines ominously silent and the weighty anchor still in its useless position. Nothing was currently preventing the liner from drifting beneath the bridge and towards Riverside. As it roughly slid against one of the massive Centery supports, smoke began to pool around ironwork girders overhead. Some additional surprise and fear was expressed as a toothy dinosaur drifted down from the bridge, but the sight of a square-shooting cowboy on its back threw enough confusion into the mix that people just weren't sure what to think. Dinosaurs were scary and tended to eat people, but cowboys were friendly and tended to help out little old widows who couldn't make their mortgage. In the end, half of the people watching Sammy's arrival decided to simply stare at him open mouthed while the rest back-pedalled quickly to get away. One little boy tried to ask for a ride but his voice was difficult to pick out of the chaos. Fortunately, Dark Star was there to lend a hand to those trying to crush others in their retreat as they all raised their hands for a lift up. Arrowhawk, meanwhile, was doing his best one-and-a-half gainer into the pool as his bow clattered to the deck. The water accepted him easily and it wasn't difficult for the daring crusader to stroke his way to the side and out. Chlorinated water clung to his hair and clothes, but he was on the boat and ready to help. A man ran up to him, holding the discarded bow that he'd picked up from the deck before it could be lost in the crowd, and offered it to the hero along with some quickly spoken words. "Thank go you're here!" He commended the quick arrival of the heroes. "We haven't had time to run any kind of a head count, but this can't be everyone. There's gotta be more people trapped below decks, but I have no idea how many." The man wore the uniform of a crewman of the line, so it was pretty clear he actually worked here as opposed to being one of the coutless vacationers. MEANWHILE! Hellbound finally managed to reach the submerged bow of the craft and swam until he located the firey mess left by the explosion. Huge pools of No. 6 fuel oil sat smoking on the water but he was able to pop up in the middle of a burning ring of fire. A gaping hole, ringed by black and twisted steel, had been blasted open by something exploding within the craft and he began the task of climbing inside. His wet hands, still ice cold from the inlet waters, hissed as he gripped the sharp edged, burning metal to haul himself up.

Nah, if we're going to get into making attack rolls then someone more comfortable with the M&M ruleset needs to take over. I'm just here to play and periodically narte, not officiate.

So we have Of course, Hellbound is still under water at the moment, swimming beneath the burning oil and spouting flames coming off the side of the boat. He's heading for the explosion first, but there will be plenty of panicking people up on deck to get into the lifeboats first. Which means that he's going to miss out on the dinosaur... :(

Good question. Did Bullderdash give us a time frame? This one is Sunday, March 1st, right around sunset. Added -- whoops, forgot about Darkstar in my "we should wait for Shaen" post. Sorry about that. See? That's the sort of slipshod performance you get when you let amateurs like me run threads :P

After Sammy gets on board, we might want to hold up and give both Shaen and Avenger a chance to chime in if they're still in. Not too long, though. That boat's eventually going under water and we got a lot of people to save :P

Hellbound looked up at the car, floating far above his head at the moment. There really wasn't much he could do to compete with that. As much as it hurt his pride to admit it, he wasn't doing anything to actually slow the criminals down. They were simply dragging him behind the car as they fled. "Don't sweat it." He commented, shaking off the lack of progress. "Now that you got 'em cornered, so to speak, no point in making me chase the fraggers down again. Just so long as they don't go swan-diving at the pavement again. "Heya, Tope. Dee'ess. They call me Hellbound." His next comment was spoken much more loudly, shouted at the gun-wielding gansters in the car. "And you guys got lucky, you hear! Lucky these two showed up when they did, or else I was gonna have to get serious!"

Fortunately the rec deck has an olympic sized swimming pool... if you hurry quickly enough to catch it on the way by ;)

I'd say that, unless they stopped the boat where it is, it'd probably pass underneath the bridge in a couple of rounds perhaps? Or, if a friendly flyer shows up soon, Arrowhawk might be able to bum a ride?