Ari
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Everything posted by Ari
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The new year is all about being your best self! Mag-Might The Kids Aren't Alright 2 IC posts Sun Dragon Everybody Knows 2 IC posts Judgement Day 6 IC posts Tech Compliance 3 IC posts We'll Shine Together 3 IC posts Your Fault 1 IC Post GM To The Salmon Look Ma, No Self, No Sense, No Death! 1 GM post Guide Point: To The Salmon
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"I am torn," Leroy admitted, the boy's lovely smile dimming as he spoke, "rent in two on all respects. Alien though it is to anyone born under a blue sky, Earth-2 is my home. I know you would be great among us, Dee, as you are among the people of your adopted Earth. I grew up in the seat of our highest and most rigorous debates, yet until I came here I had never heard anyone say our work could be more just, more virtuous. Even if my mother never listened to you, others would. Mercy over vengeance, to care for weaknesses as equal to fostering strengths, these things could change the course of our whole history!" His golden eyes surveyed the world outside their window, Freedom City rising on its hills into the distance, the great mass of Wharton State Forest looming behind it, the two rivers ribboning westward. "Yet this world, of which I have seen only a fraction, calls to me. I smell it in the air, I feel it in the earth, I hear it in the water. There is suffering here, a loneliness that will never be filled. But this cold, hard place brings out the true shape of a heart." The boy looked down at her, the six long rents in his face a stark white against his dark skin. "Judy, if you will have me, I will remain here. Your God is my God, and your people are my people, where you go I too shall go, to whatever end." "What, you won't even visit?" Adrian shook her head that's cold, man, ice cold." Leroy's eyes flashed as he rounded on her "I never said-! of course I will visit, just not to see you, cousin!"
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Adrian spread her arms and was about to speak, frustration in her eyes, when suddenly Leroy broke in. "...Um, mother believes this world is special. Th-that us absorbing it into our Skies would wreak a cataclysm on the Omniverse. She told me that its rescue must come from its own heroes." The Demon snorted. "What, and that's worth most the planet suffering? Sister Red can handle a god on its home turf, me and the gang can deal with some bad cosmic planning." Judy felt Leroy grab her hand under the table, almost painfully. "Cousin," he said, "do we help anyone not born on an Earth?" Adrian's jaw clenched. "No," she admitted, "we don't. What's your point?" "That all must be saved." Leroy smiled at his girlfriend, "Something I did not know until I met Judy. This world became her refuge, cousin, there is something at work here! Something good." "Whatever line you're feeding this kid, Judith, it's working." Adrian grumbled, though she smiled wryly. "You've given me something to think about, at least. I guess that's the reason," she added to Ashley, shrugging her huge shoulders, "space magic says 'no'."
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GM One of the crew launched over a container, spitting with rage. "Surrender? After all the Lions' broken promises? Your word's hollow as your head, boy!" Others emerged, also carrying weapons...only to toss them into a heap and step back, one of them calling out "He's right that we're beaten, Sen. Besides, captain's overboard, we need to help him and Zer!" Looking back and forth in mounting outrage and dismay, Sen at last tossed his sonic pulser into the pile and joined the rest. "Us Serpents aren't the traitors, Lion," he told Red Lynx, "your kind are, traitors against all humanity!" His words drew angry looks from the rest of the Viper Star's crew, but not at the young hero. What might have followed afterwards would remain a mystery, as just then the sky split open above the on-rushing freighter, releasing three rapidly-moving figures. One, a suit of armor designed to resemble a roaring red lion, darted above the disarmed crew. From the snarling helmet thundered a voice Red Lynx and White Lioness knew all too well: Baako, the impetuous young scion of the Hyenas! "SMUGGLERS!" he thundered, voice cracking and roiling over the sound of the engine and rushing Atlantic breeze, "WELCOME TO THE GRAVE! FOR DAKANA!" Drawing back and bracing in mid-air, he unleashed a visible column of concentrated sonic waves, like but on a massively higher level of power than the hand-weapons briefly in use against the Claremont students! Those very weapons vanished into a portal opened with a dismissive wave by another of the trio, a figure swathed in mottled deep blue from head to toe. With another flick of the wrist, a portal came into being in front of the Viper Star, growing slowly but surely. A resounding thud at the stern was followed by a noticeable increase in speed, the ship turning slowly to better aim into the centre of the growing, shimmering portal.
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New Order: Pacis: Unharmed-GM Octoman: Injured(x1), 4HP Red Lion: Unharmed-GM Red Lynx: Unharmed, 2HP Ms. Thursday: Unharmed, Flat-footed, 2HP Viper Star Crew: Unharmed(8)-GM White Lioness: Unharmed, Flat-footed, 2HP Empyr: Unharmed-GM Artificer: Unharmed, Flat-footed, 2HP Dio: Unharmed, Flat-footed, 2HP Sun Dragon: Unharmed, Flat-footed, 2HP @Cubismo Ms, Thursday is up!
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Rolling individually, just for the hex: none of them get even close. Ruling they're suitably impressed at Octoman's physical display and Kam's presence to lay down their arms. However, things continue to keep happening. A new trio arrive, whose leader White Lioness and Red Lynx recognize as their relative Baako from the Hyena nation in Dakana, promptly attacking the Viper Star's crew with lethal force! The team is EternalPhoenix builds upped in PL with a few new surprises by virtue of being villains. Their Initiatives: Empyr(EternalPhoenix's Spatial Warper build, advanced to PL13): 13. Pacis(EternalPhoenix's Powerhouse Speedster, also PL13): 50. Red Lion(EternalPhoenix's Paragon w/ Sonic Device at PL13 with all powers inside of a Device): 24. Next post with new order and continuing of our fight already in progress.
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"If you chose to live with us, there'd be no limits on you. Anywhere you want to live, anything you want to do, it's possible...so long as it's not on the surface of Seethe." "The name for Amatuken's Earth. A wild place, full of beasts and tectonic havoc." The Lictor clutched the tablet close to herself as she shuddered "A planet given over to dragons and other monsters of the deep. No human has set foot there for almost half a century!" "Yeah, Lictor. We kinda swore." Adrian said 'swore' with finality, like when one of Judy's father's friends called something 'unconstitutional.' "Living spaces, goods, food, any material need is freely provided for. If the inhabitants of other Earths are fine with it, you can live on any you like. If you'd like to live in space, or the Sky habitats, that can be arranged too. Li says you're interested in medical science. If that's true, then we have teachers and schools from across hundreds of timelines for you to choose from, or just teach yourself with help from the exoweb, a nearly-infinite database of knowledge anyone can access. "He tells me you're religious. I'm not, but angels and followers of countless faiths live among us. If you want to help people get fed, clothed and sheltered, new worlds are coming in all the time, and many with people kept starving and afraid by their old rulers. Someone nice but with a spine is just what they need." Adrian shrugged, "You could also voyage across the stars, unravel the secrets of infinite power, party for the rest of your life, or join the Army of Light, become a warrior against tyranny and idol of billions." Her lips quirked "But I'm biased."
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@Thevshi This sounds like right up our Squires' street!
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<"I take large man, you stop merchant?"> Magh'kee's hand-signs weren't as deft or articulated as a human's sensitive paws would have been, but at least she managed to get the gist across to Meta-Naut before turning and hurtling off of the roof and into the fray. She hit the walls on either side on the way down, bouncing and flailing in the As she crashed heavily into the biggest and most obvious of the targets, her stubby arms and legs swung out into a giant, glittering 'X' of green-hot fury, a jet of fire bolting from her mouth as she landed on his head. With both crystal arms she crushed the human's to his sides, roaring a command to surrender in no known or existing tongue as her wedge-shaped feet pinned his legs with all the force a fire-powered mutant could muster! Now that she had him, there wasn't really much to do but wait, and figure out what came next. She slammed her blocky head experimentally against the mutate's back, shuddering at the jelly-like reverberation through the twisted musculature and skeleton. Given how they surrounded themselves with hard things, it was unsettling to remember how soft and watery the Sky-People actually were. More like Morlocks than Igneates or Magmin. Hopefully that meant they didn't have to spend long outside. At least in one of the fake caves they could rest a little easier.
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And by that I apparently meant 17 days later. Considering how high 60ft is and assuming a fairly orderly cargo setup, 120ft does it, and that means it still hits dead-on(vs DC15 Defence). Crewman DC25 Toughness save: 14, incapacitated, and with a -2 to Knockback, that's a rank 8, so 250ft away from the ship and into the water. Capt. Imamba DC 25 Toughness: 15, incapacitated, force transferred to Crewman, so rebounds onto deck in a dazed heap. Viper Star Crew: Unharmed(8)-GM Artificer could get a HP or two collecting the Viper Star's crew, as an aside @Dr Archeville Next up is @angrydurf, take it away Red Lynx!
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"They seem unkindly," Leroy said with a frown, a tension growing at his shoulders and hips, "and their clothes are not to my liking." Screaming and howling, the faded and rotting spectres of players past fell apart under Max's assault, the swirling mass of faces and reaching claws expanding and roiling around the Claremont trio. As they watched, a building crescendo of bubbling rage boiled free again from the walls, arcing and twisting straight for the young heroes! Meanwhile, the gashed skull had righted itself after spinning slowly in mid-air, turning a gaze of gathering wrath and comprehension on Max. The world of empty howls and rustling, threadbare fabric resounded with the cries. Your fault! It is your fault! You brought us here!" Leroy blanched. "Max!" he shouted, as his muscles strained hard enough snap and fray his bonds, "When we escape, we must tell our story! No student will ever go astray again!" "That's not likely, Prince, and besides the odds are this hasn't anything to do with us." Dio had proved notably more sanguine than his charge, and was still gnawing industriously at the slithering shreds holding his ankles to the local floor. "The Binder of the Unnatural will do for this lot, but I'll need some time to get free. Don't let up, Max!"
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And after weeks of suspense, the result! And that is not vs their toughness, but rather to block their attack(as there are functionally infinite ghostesses), so no damage but that does prevent them raising the DC on the Snares. Sun Dragon tries to tear free of his'n, STR score giving a Damage DC of 25: 19 Toughness roll, so reduced to TOU 4. The Ghosts try again! Again, if they get past they will raise the TOU by 5 of each Snare. The Skull will revive in three more sets.
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Without moving her gaze from the wall over everyone's heads, Claire frowned. "Not how these work, if you're the unknown." she said slowly. "Not unless you're willing to change the rules. Which is what Judy's doing right this moment." Adrian was smiling in earnest now, eyeing the smaller woman as she slid the gauntlet back onto her hand, the lower two fingers flexing experimentally before going still. "And you're right, bowvy," she added with a polite nod to Ashley, "though it's not something I like to admit." "I hope you can forgive my earlier behaviour, Judith? I'm so used to dealing with evil people, good ones are hard to readjust for. What would you like to know?" Leroy raised an eyebrow at Adrian "What must I do to get such a tone?" "You'll make something of yourself yet, Li, I believe in you."
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"It's true," Adrian admitted sourly, propping up her head on one massive fist, "if this involved your local government somehow, that'd make this a lot easier. But since you're just two refugees. not a lot to be done. Maybe if you were a princess or prime minister's daughter or something, Amatuken loves all that dynastic legitimacy...Li, something's on your face, what's up?" "N-nothing!" Leroy jolted guiltily, looking down at the table as he turned the silver ring on his finger round and round, "I was, ah...w-well what if...cousin, what if Judy was politically significant? Would that truly make such a difference?" "Yeah, but she's not, so kind of a moot point, Li. Come on, keep your head in the game." Turning back to Ashley, the Demon went on briskly "Anyway, bowvy, I seriously, honestly, genuinely need something to bring back so it's not just 'oh hey, conqueror of the ten thousand skies, your worst son hooked up with a random non-human girl.' As a(marginally) disinterested third party, do you perhaps have some sort of witness you'd like to make about how this is not a clearly terrible idea? To start what your dear kinswoman so delicately describes as the 'discussion'?" "And I don't have any trouble seeing you, so don't lie. Here." removing her right gauntlet, which slithered and shifted too fluidly to be metal, Adrian offered a callused and brawny arm coursed with livid scars. Underneath, in lie to the five fingers outside, only thumb, forefinger and midfinger remained on the half of a hand stretched over the table. In place of nails they bore vicious black talons. "You've got some sort of copy gimmick, the ship told me, so I'd like you to see what it looks like from my end, so you know it's not just a line to try and intimidate people for no reason." "Adrian, when did...what happened?" Leroy looked stricken at the sight, reaching out himself as his golden eyes welled with tears, until a glance from his cousin almost bodily shoved him away. "Nothing. I'll get worse, coz."
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"Varies. Chimaera wouldn't mind at all. Colony would make a loving little fuss over you every day of your life. But Amatuken? Anything she can't control she doesn't trust, and what she doesn't want to understand she can't control. And she's the one you'll have to deal with if you go through with this. You're not a pushover, which is good." "I'm sure Li's told you about New Atlantis. But before she raised it back into the sky, it was the ruins of Zerzura. The people who made it still looked like us, but they were inland Saharan, not *her* kind of people, didn't fit the picture she wanted. So everything they had and were needed to be changed, she redid the art, architecture, psychic echoes of its history, everything. She even moved it over the spot Atlantis usually is on most Earths." Leroy stared, speechless at the news of his birthplace. Adrian looked much more serious now. "After so much time in other dimensions I've gotten a bit of a soul-sight going. Usually I can get the gist of someone's heart at a glance. You I can't read at all, it's like staring into the Sun with my old eyes." "This little romance novel s&#@ is a way bigger risk than you two dumb kids think, and I want to know what kind of a spine you've got. I know Li's got a little one since he started going out with you, but that won't cut it." Claire chuckled, a low gravelly sound, "Plan's changed. A lot. No "I'll put her in her place", Demon?" Adrian's white scars turned bright red, but she was otherwise impassive.
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The significantly larger woman clenched and un-clenched her left hand for a few seconds, studying Judy as one might a tree one wishes to fell. At last she said, very quietly "I don't agree." Adrian shrugged, a motion that flowed through her armor as if it were just another layer of skin. "Can't make you change your mind, though I wish I could. A few billion people considering you the Buddha reborn makes you forget what it's like for someone to talk back, and mean it. I mean, the ones who can't just vaporize you." Relaxing back into her seat, the Demon of Earth-2 went on, "But you mentioned birth, and that's a much more serious issue than my stagnant, weakling cousin. Your lineage is partially alien, correct? You're host to Stellarian engineering? Not that I can say much about my parents. Amatuken comes from the rich side, and she came up with the idea of all these titles and s&$@." "Genes aren't the issue, of course. I just like knowing what I'm talking to." Adrian smiled reassuringly. "Someone stronger than you, cousin." Adrian turned an eye towards Leroy, who had very suddenly and angrily spoken. She smiled a little. "I don't agree." She turned back expectantly to Judy.
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Switching to Super-Strength slot of the Array. Move Action to jump onto Muscle Mick, and Standard to do a Grappling Attack: Attack: 24. Grapple check: 29.
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"I don't blame you, Judith, you don't have to suck up to me." Adrian stumped past Judy to follow the Academy head back to the administrative centre. Behind her, Claire withdrew a black crystal from her pocket and slid her thumb across it in a pattern, pointing the object at the ship the trio had arrived in. The thing resealed itself, sinking back into the earth in the same deliberate silence it had arisen. The cold white light drained with it, though some pooled here and there where shadows should have layed. That done, the woman turned and fell in beside Ashley, glancing curiously across at the smaller woman. "Grue, aye?" she asked suddenly, the words jolting out with the husky, awkward sound of a voice long-disused. After a moment she added "Me, UMBRA." "Oh how exquisite. Daystar." the Lictor's lipless grin, already stretched farther than any human mouth should, pulled that much more. "A propitious title, and your namesake was a glorious champion to the oppressed. " Drifting beside her and Leroy on the walk indoors, the Lictor put one wing-like set of talons next to her face to whisper conspiratorially "Please, be not dismayed, our good Demon is merely concerned that you perhaps, ah...not quite human." Leroy shot a glare at Dio, who was trying to pass as a ray of sunlight on the grass. "Adrian has dragon-blood in her veins," he whispered sharply, "we all do. She set out to become even less human for power. This is a farce" The Lictor tittered nervously, but did stop talking until they'd reached the conference room. --- Adrian eased into a chair, pointing her fore and middle fingers at Judy and Leroy. "So, to recap: you two are in love, and you're getting married. That the shape of it?" Her cousin cleared his throat, putting his ring-bearing hand on the table, clasped with Judy's. "When Dee and I are of age, yes. We will marry. Your mediation is not desired or needed. You may return. Give Sister White and the Lioness my compliments." "Oh for...Judith, you let him walk all over you like this?" Adrian pointed at Daystar, red eyes narrowing, "How much say do you have here? Sit down, Li," she added sternly, glaring at Leroy as he started to rise, "I'd like to hear from the non-bull&@$% artist. You're on thin ice with this stunt as it is." She nodded approvingly as he sat down, scars red and speechless, and turned back to the girl. Claire had sat down and stared at the wall over Ashley's head without any interest in the proceedings. The Lictor had set up at the very foot of the table, spectacles perched on the edge of her tiny nose and talons cradling a tablet and stylus, scribbling away busily.
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Thank YOU, Darius.
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Mid-January, 2020, 11.47 AM Claremont Academy, inner grounds The black monolith had risen with the white mist, the winter sunlight slowly blanching as shadows deepened and colours faded. From its sides dangled ropes of horned skulls, each the size of Dio, though that was hard to tell with him crouched behind Leroy, Judy, Ashley and Headmistress Callie Summers. Leroy's cousin had wanted to meet on the ship. Leroy had objected strenuously, and at length, and even just in its shadow the black-robed boy had grabbed Jusy's hand tight, face set behind a veil of black diamonds danging from a silver circlet perched in his long hair. "Adrian," he had whispered as the first skull came into view, "the Demon herself." He had called her that before, and other things as well, and as a diamond-shaped opening apleared and a wedge of cold crystal stretched from the wall, Judy felt his warm hand go cold and tremble. A wash of white glare spilled out, light like liquid pooling everywhere, obliterating all shadows and anything but the white. From it, three figures emerged. The first was skin and bone under a thin white robe, her grinning face lacking even eyesockets, though when she looked at you, you knew, This was the Lictor, Adrian's herald, a vampire and her oldest friend. Second was a plain white women in white armor, a bullethole in the forehead of her placid, half-asleep face. This was Claire, her nominal bodyguard. Last was the Demon, her round moon of a face scarred similar to her two-foot-shorter cousin. Square in her armor, her shoulders and back were bedecked with a furry white cloak. "A thousand thanks for your hospitality, virtuous guardians of the homeworld!" sang out the Lictor in a thin, reedy voice, "May I present the fearless, the unequaled, the conqueror of Hells, the Dhartarastra Adrian!" "Li!" Adrian sang out with a grimace, glancing curiously at the Primes, "Where can we talk? I'd like to get you back to your senses and back home sooner than later." Swallowing hard, Leroy looked at Summers like a drowning man grasping at a raft.
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They were all clustered in one very small 10ft-wide area around the truck. The shield covers all of them. However, if he can get past the shield(and these energy barriers always have their quirks) then he could get all of the downed kids at once. However, if he does that, he will leave himself Flat-footed to an attack from the elder gangster...
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@Dariusprime Hey Darius! Sorry, school hit real hard, if you'd like to continue, would be glad to.
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GM If Nick hadn't taken that second glance, he might have missed the thing creeping toward them along the floor altogether. Clearly invisible to normal sight, it glared red with electrical signals to Vox's wider-attuned eyes. It was human-like in shape, but all smooth and slender like nobody he had ever seen. And it walked like a spider, legs and arms cycling in rapid arcs as it sped noiselessly closer. And as it drew near, the sword on its back became all too obvious. With uncanny grace, it stepped onto the wall, seamlessly transferring to the ceiling with no loss of speed. It was going to pass right overhead, unless Nick did something very soon...
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Leroy had gone along with things pleasantly enough, looking curiously at Micah's turned back after his thunderous outrage. It was doubtful he'd even absorbed what the issue was during their exchange. Sitting comfortably nestled next to Judy, he'd regarded the 'sonic translator' with good-humoured curiosity. The moment it began beeping his face brightened with a massive grin. "Dee, do you realize? Your team has invented a new instrument! By directly interfacing with it, the limitations of hardware vanish and input possibilities explode!" He took her hand in his, squeezing it gently as he vibrated with excitement. "What is this song?" he added, bending closer and turning his head, closing his eyes to concentrate on the music, "it is like...skipping. Or riding a-horse. So happy and clear."
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"Happened...?" Leroy clapped a hand over his mouth as his scars flushed red "Oh! I made it sound as if he was deceased! No no, Lavernius is alive and teaching music at Freedom College. He and mother can barely stand each other, however. Theirs was a marriage of inconstant passions." "Customarily they would simply move to different Skies for a time. Lavernius would while his away with music and song among the arrivals, Mother would use hers to enforce order among the armies. Eventually, their hearts would yearn for one another and they would make much of their reunion. Until, years ago, they quarreled so fiercely that Lavernius left New Atlantis and Earth-2, swearing never to return." Leroy shrugged at that, as if it were nothing unusual or noteworthy. "They still speak, but rarely. Father Nova and Father Night bless her waking and resting hours, and she is content. Although..." Propping his chin up on one fist, the tattooed boy scowled at nothing "...my little sister, Oloroo, also calls Lavernius blood-father, and mother has never sought to have another since..." He looked up, visibly realizing he'd been rambling. "That is of no account! I beg your pardons! If I might also beg a strand of your hair, Mustafic-Markov? Dee," his warm golden eyes sparkled as he looked back at his girlfriend, "if you would shine for me once more? With these gifts, I swear that I shall bridge this gap and return with the unaltered truths of your being."
