Fallen Heroes of Neo Tokyo, MM3

[giles92]

District Zero. Before the Mantis Invasion it had been a thriving business and entertainment community. Throughout the years there had been attempts to revitalize it, there had even been statues of the Alliance in the district's center square, but you can't bring something back from the dead. Not really, anyways. The statues served as a meeting spot for society's dregs and were covered in graffiti, most missing limbs or heads.
Tonight they served a greater purpose than just drug dealing convenience. Five strangers, all with a connection to the past were meeting there. Some had been offered money, others information, even a chance at an actual life. A strong wind blows litter through the square, mostly concert fliers and food wrappers. At first glance, most of the strangers weren't much to look at. Two suits, a kid, some kind of office girl. Even the robot was relatively normal looking, especially compared to the newer models that have their own special effects systems installed.
None of them are sure of the others. Paranoia is public opinion in Neo Tokyo these days and the Zero District is especially no exception. An unhealthy feeling of being watched permeates the air. None of them talks while sizing each other up. Directly in front Skull Rider's statue, a phone beeps.

Spoiler

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Anyone with an Awareness of 3 or above, or able to see in darkness, make a perception check.

[JeminiZero]

Mecha-Fane

In a center square filled with pushers, addicts, and the occasional prostitute, 4 of the strangers stood out somewhat, by sheer virtue of their finer dressing, compared to the usual ragged crowd. The 5th stranger though was like the proverbial sore thumb: a fully metal humanoid figure that was either some nutcase in a powersuit, or a robot. Either way, this was clearly somebody that any would-be petty mugger should think twice about, before messing with.

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The figure leaned quietly against the base of the statue of Samantha Cupid. An encrypted e-mail had informed him of another potential job, that "could do some good for a change". Whatever. He was in this for the money, and so long as the payments were regular, he would help old ladies cross the street if those were his orders.

He did not like standing out so blatantly in public- who knew what dangers the attention might bring. He would have much preferred perching atop a building, and observing the square from the relative safety of his thermo-optic cloak. But the e-mail was sparse on details, and he had no idea WHO he was supposed to be looking for. And since there was no guarantee that they could spot him through his cloak, he had to make his presence obvious.

Perhaps his new employer was one of the other 4 strangers...

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Perception: (1d20+10)[27]

[The_Admiral]

Booth stood there in his suit, adjusting his tie and checking his gun. He had no idea why Mycroft sent him here, but Mycroft was back in the States overseeing the ship's refitting while he was here making initial investigations and clearing a path.

His hand drifted to his coat pocket as he eyed the other strangers also apparently sent here warily. He hoped that at least one of them knew what was going on.

[Inspector Valin]

Shizuko sat on the one clean-seeming bench, leaning back and looking up at the stars. She doesn't bother to look around the district: she can remember when it was newly opened, and could recite the layout with minimal effort. Team Tahou even had a statue in one isolated corner. The only other thing she had to look at was her companions, and the former Scout had taken the measure of them fairly quickly.

Metal-Mouth, a guy in a formal suit, a punk with a leather trenchcoat and a cyborg arm... and a kid. She stood out the least by virtue of wearing a simple practical winter-coat and warm hat. This was an attack group of some kind, some guy with a suit who couldn't afford a more modern team and was diving through the contact list to get hold of his own. Or the history books. After all, how many friends in this world do you have left?

She wasn't sure what she felt about that. Or why she'd decided to tag along. Her wand rested in one pocket, and her amulet about her neck as she looked up at the stars, wondering about what she generally thought of at times like this. Her friends.

The ringing phone cut into her thoughts without warning. Shizuko frowned, grimacing a little at the persistent noise interrupting the quietness of the night time meeting. Eventually she looked up, glancing between the other four before gesturing towards Skull Rider's statue. "Is anyone going to pick that up?"

Spoiler

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Awareness check. (1d20+8)[11]

[The_Admiral]

Nicolas looks around and hearing the oddly familiar woman ask if anyone was picking up the phone, decides to bite the bullet.

He steps forward and crouches down, picking up the ringing phone, answering it. Hello? he says warily.

[bladesmith]

Sano sat at the base of Kei Munetoshi's statue, appearing relaxed as he mentally sized everyone up. The dude didn't look like much, but he carried a gun like he knew how to use it. Slightly dumb of him to check it in public, though. The chick looked like just some office girl, but there was something off about her. She looked more confident then women normally were when alone in District Zero. And The Arm had its hackles raised over something about her. Literally, Sano could feel little rows of needle-like crystals flexing against the inside of his sleeve. The robot was another issue. No flashy effects, but the really dangerous ones were like that. It would've been nice to run the diagnostics, but that would've been too obvious. Instead, he just sat there, glancing at the others out of the corner of his eyes, fingers glowing orange while the cigarette in the corner of his mouth didn't. At least there was one he didn't have to worry about much, unless the kid decided to go nuclear and start breaking stuff. Shiina didn't seem the type though. Maybe beat someone up because she thought it was fun, but she wasn't throwing temper tantrums. Small blessings when some crazy super-powered, overly cheerful little kid was following you around. Maybe this was about her, then. Someone wanted her back. Maybe he could get some money out of them before they tried to kill him. Maybe... His thoughts were interrupted by a phone beeping.

"Could be Hollywood calling." He said non-chalantly, as his senses began kicking into high gear, The Arm whispering preliminary combat options in his head.

Spoiler

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Perception:(1d20+11)[25] I've got Infravision for heat and Ultravision if there's any light at all.

[Mokou-tan]

Shiina stood next to Sanosuke, humming a soft song while gently swinging her chains back and forth. Shiina looked around at the others, taking note of each one. A woman, a man in a suit, a robot and Sano. She felt she could trust Sano, but she didn't know anything about the others. None of them looked like they belonged to the organization that had raised her, so she assumed they weren't here for her. She stops humming when she hears the phone beep.

"What's Hollywood?" Suddenly Shiina's hair stands on end. "Shiina feels uneasy, like eyes are watching." She looks around attempting to spot them.

Spoiler

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(1d20+12)[29] Shiina has her Soul Sense as well as natural sight.

[bladesmith]

"It's the place where they make all those movies that rot your brain. Should take you there sometime, find you some people to play with."

Heh, maybe he could try and ship her off there. If he got lucky, he could get rid of her and kill off some of those \|>?>%{¥%^?~} idiots that passed for actors. If he was really lucky, he could find someone to pay for that. Either way, for now the kid was right. Something was starting to happen. Standing up to turn and scan the buildings around, he stuffed the cigarette back in his pocket.

"That's what eyes do, kiddo. Now we just gotta find the who and why." And if they're paying.

[giles92]

Nicolas looks around and hearing the oddly familiar woman ask if anyone was picking up the phone, decides to bite the bullet.

He steps forward and crouches down, picking up the ringing phone, answering it. Hello? he says warily.

"Very good agent. Finish in 3 minutes and you may have answers."

A bright flash is all the warning you receive before bolts of green plasma fly through the night. In the brief glow you're treated to an image of some horrifying living cannon, but the monsters have already started to shuffle around.

Spoiler

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Everyone make a dodge check, Sano and Fane make two. Anyone that got below a twenty on the perception check or didn't roll at all, takes a -4 penalty on their dodge check.
Anyone with Awareness 4 and Intelligence 3 make another perception check. Anyone with Intelligence 5 make make an Intelligence check.
Oh, and roll for initiative.

[JeminiZero]

Mecha-Fane

In the corner of his eye, Mecha-Fane quickly notices the incoming plasma barrage and tries to dive for cover!

Spoiler

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Dodge Check 1: (1d20+10)[19]
Dodge Check 2: (1d20+10)[22]

Initiative: (1d20)[16]

Perception: (1d20+10)[11]

Intelligence: (1d20+10)[21]

[bladesmith]

After spending years looking out for himself, with a lot of his employers being less then honest, Sano had a pretty good idea of when to get out of the way. Something about people made most of them tell you a half second before they sprung an ambush, thinking that he wouldn't be able to escape. The trick was to know it was coming, and be able to act within that half second. As soon as the suit picked up the phone, Sano had tensed and was leaping for cover as the glowing projectiles flew in.

Spoiler

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Dodge 1: (1d20+11)[18]
Dodge 2: (1d20+11)[25]
Initiative: (1d20+10)[13]
Perception(Though I don't meet those prereqs?): (1d20+11)[18]

[The_Admiral]

OH COME ON! he exclaims exasperatedly as he drops to the ground, attempting to roll out of the way of the beam. As he does so he reaches into his pocket, drawing out a small rectangular object.


Dodge (1d20+6)[15]

Initiative (1d20+8)[21]

OOC: I can't really use my power until I know if the laser knocked me out of the fight or not.

[Mokou-tan]

Shiina sees the plasma and giggles. She attempts to dodge in an odd, dance-like way, trying to weave her way through the incoming fire.

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Dodge: (1d20+6)[10]
Initiative: (1d20+8)[20]

[Inspector Valin]

Shizuko snapped to at the sound of plasma fire, old instincts helping her even in the midst of death and danger. From within her coat, the 'normal' looking woman produced a small shaft of wood, which glowed as she spun towards the arc of fire.

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(1d20+9)[14] Initiative
(1d20+10)[14] Dodge

Activating concealment, reflexively. It hits all visual senses, including magically enhanced visual senses (paid extra for that)

I have Int 4 and Awareness 3, scraping the boundaries: does that count for either of those? In D20 terms, that's pretty good.

[bladesmith]

[OOC: This post is on the off chance that I can act in the surprise round, and that they don't shoot me first.]

The clues were there, he just wasn't entirely sure what he was looking at. The movement of shadows, light outside of the visible spectrum playing off normally unreflective surfaces, rapid changes in heat on areas too small for Sano to notice. All the things that meant something, but Sano never would've figured it out himself. Which is why the arm translated for him.

ENEMIES.

Sano new better then to argue. As bursts of glowing plasma rained from the sky and he leapt for cover, a low thrumming sounded from his arm. The whisper of metal sliding against itself accompanied the instinctive shifting of plates and scales as Sano's robot arm shifted. The end result might have resembled a pistol with a trio of upper receivers resting at a slight angle to each other, as imagined by a science fiction writer. Needle-like crystals formed the sights, and the barrels were impossibly large. While he was still moving, the gun opened fire, a stacatto rhythm of high pitched gunshots that caused the glow of the arcane symbols to pulse and brighten. Each shot emerged in a puff of orange gas, streaking across the open courtyard towards the nearest target.

Spoiler

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Blast 9 Multiattack: (1d20+9)[25]
Turn on Spell-Eater utility subroutine.

[giles92]

Mecha-Fane

In the corner of his eye, Mecha-Fane quickly notices the incoming plasma barrage and tries to dive for cover!

Spoiler

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Dodge Check 1: [roll0]
Dodge Check 2: [roll1]

Initiative: [roll2]

Perception: [roll3]

Intelligence: [roll4]

Both blasts pass overhead as you dive, one nearly scorching the metal on your suit.

After spending years looking out for himself, with a lot of his employers being less then honest, Sano had a pretty good idea of when to get out of the way. Something about people made most of them tell you a half second before they sprung an ambush, thinking that he wouldn't be able to escape. The trick was to know it was coming, and be able to act within that half second. As soon as the suit picked up the phone, Sano had tensed and was leaping for cover as the glowing projectiles flew in.

One of the plasma lines flew wide and doesn't even come close to hitting you. The other nearly took out your leg and you had to stumble to avoid it. (Lose your next Move action.)

OH COME ON! he exclaims exasperatedly as he drops to the ground, attempting to roll out of the way of the beam. As he does so he reaches into his pocket, drawing out a small rectangular object.


Dodge [roll0]

Initiative [roll1]

OOC: I can't really use my power until I know if the laser knocked me out of the fight or not.

Too focused on the phone, a blast hits your left arm and leaves it searing in pain. (5 Damage) Fortunately, it didn't hit the arm carrying the device used to summon your Gear.

Shiina sees the plasma and giggles. She attempts to dodge in an odd, dance-like way, trying to weave her way through the incoming fire.

Spoiler

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Dodge: [roll0]
Initiative: [roll1]

Apparently monsters don't appreciate giggling or dance moves. The blast hits you square in the chest. (5 Damage)

Shizuko snapped to at the sound of plasma fire, old instincts helping her even in the midst of death and danger. From within her coat, the 'normal' looking woman produced a small shaft of wood, which glowed as she spun towards the arc of fire.

Still a little rusty, the blast directly lands on your legs, burning both shoes and skin before dissipating. (5 Damage)

[OOC: This post is on the off chance that I can act in the surprise round, and that they don't shoot me first.]

The clues were there, he just wasn't entirely sure what he was looking at. The movement of shadows, light outside of the visible spectrum playing off normally unreflective surfaces, rapid changes in heat on areas too small for Sano to notice. All the things that meant something, but Sano never would've figured it out himself. Which is why the arm translated for him.

ENEMIES.

Sano new better then to argue. As bursts of glowing plasma rained from the sky and he leapt for cover, a low thrumming sounded from his arm. The whisper of metal sliding against itself accompanied the instinctive shifting of plates and scales as Sano's robot arm shifted. The end result might have resembled a pistol with a trio of upper receivers resting at a slight angle to each other, as imagined by a science fiction writer. Needle-like crystals formed the sights, and the barrels were impossibly large. While he was still moving, the gun opened fire, a stacatto rhythm of high pitched gunshots that caused the glow of the arcane symbols to pulse and brighten. Each shot emerged in a puff of orange gas, streaking across the open courtyard towards the nearest target.

Spoiler

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Blast 9 Multiattack: [roll0]
Turn on Spell-Eater utility subroutine.

OOC: You can't, but I'll save the post for when it's time for you to act.

[giles92]

Here's the Initiative order.
1st- Booth
2nd- Shiina
3rd- Fane
4th- Monsters
5th- Shizuko
6th- Sano

[The_Admiral]

As he rolled, the blast hit him in his shoulder. He shouted, READY! drawing the device across his chest.

A female mechanical voice emits from the device saying, BIOMETRICS ACCEPTED GEAR PRIMED as a belt appeared around his waist with a receptacle on it's right in a flash of blue light

Slotting the device into the receptacle, he shouts, EQUIP! getting up, while clutching his shoulder.

DEPLOYING GEAR the same mechanical voice calmly stated. A suit of high tech armour surrounds his body, a bulky handgun at its side, appearing in another flash of blue light.

He draws the gun at side, pointing it in the direction of his opponent. The tactical computers in his helmet and the neural link working overtime to calculate aiming vectors.

He pulls the trigger releasing a stream of glowing energy bullets in their direction.

Spoiler

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He now has night vision and radar vision so he should be able to see the enemy right? Also I am assuming we're all speaking Japanese, Italics is gratuitous english. THe hurt shoulder really messed up his aim.

To Hit
(1d20+10)[12]

HP: 19/24

[Mokou-tan]

Shiina eyes go wide as she feels the hot plasma impact her chest. "You ruined Shiina's favorite shirt!"
She dashes at the cannon-monster, her wounds healing as she does. When she reaches it, her right arm lets off a purple glow as she takes a brutal swing at it.

Spoiler

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Breaking Fist: (1d20+9)[25] (9 damage)
If it connects, save against weaken toughness 5, fortitude.
If hit is successful Fast Grab triggers: (1d20+9)[15]
That Didn't Hurt heals her 5 HP, bringing her to 36/36. If only her shirt was so lucky.

[JeminiZero]

Mecha-Fane

With surprising agility that belies his bulky appearance, Mecha-Fane manages to evade the hail of plasma, which instead burn holes into the base of Samantha Cupid's statue. He whirls around to face his attackers, and then suddenly dissappears in a green flash, only to reappear an instant later next to one of them. "You are clearly not men." He says as he examines his bizarre looking foe. Rearing back, he tries to drive a fist into the living cannon. "But are you monsters... or just dogs?"

Spoiler

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Hit Points: 30/30
Hero Points: 1

Take 10 on Technology for 30, to see what he can figure out about these living cannons.

Move Action: Move to nearest cannon monster, Mecha-Fane can teleport up to 60 ft, which should hopefully be enough. If not, he can charge another 30 ft, in which case -2 from the attack below.
Standard Action: Power attack for +4/-4.

Melee Attack: (1d20+8)[13] (-2 if charging)
Damage 12 if it hits.

[giles92]

As he rolled, the blast hit him in his shoulder. He shouted, READY! drawing the device across his chest.

A female mechanical voice emits from the device saying, BIOMETRICS ACCEPTED GEAR PRIMED as a belt appeared around his waist with a receptacle on it's right in a flash of blue light

Slotting the device into the receptacle, he shouts, EQUIP! getting up, while clutching his shoulder.

DEPLOYING GEAR the same mechanical voice calmly stated. A suit of high tech armour surrounds his body, a bulky handgun at its side, appearing in another flash of blue light.

He draws the gun at side, pointing it in the direction of his opponent. The tactical computers in his helmet and the neural link working overtime to calculate aiming vectors.

He pulls the trigger releasing a stream of glowing energy bullets in their direction.

Spoiler

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He now has night vision and radar vision so he should be able to see the enemy right? Also I am assuming we're all speaking Japanese, Italics is gratuitous english. THe hurt shoulder really messed up his aim.

To Hit
[roll0]

HP: 19/24

*Really sorry about the lack of posting. Three guys in my precinct are on administrative leave and with two others getting canned, patrols have been extraordinarily long.*

Pain, a shoulder injury, and lack of time to react gravely effect the Gear operator's aim. His shots fly wide, but the glow from their passing reveal at least four other monsters that have yet to fire.

Spoiler

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Surprisingly, these things are incredibly on nightvision, making them practically invisible. However, your radar vision is picking something up, but it's leery at best. Most likely just a misread building or large basement structure.

Shiina eyes go wide as she feels the hot plasma impact her chest. "You ruined Shiina's favorite shirt!"
She dashes at the cannon-monster, her wounds healing as she does. When she reaches it, her right arm lets off a purple glow as she takes a brutal swing at it.

Spoiler

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Breaking Fist: [roll0] (9 damage)
If it connects, save against weaken toughness 5, fortitude.
If hit is successful Fast Grab triggers: [roll1]
That Didn't Hurt heals her 5 HP, bringing her to 36/36. If only her shirt was so lucky.

There's a sickening crunch as the young girl's fist smashes through the monster's carapace, spraying her with acidic goo. The monster convulses in the final throes of death, launching even more of it's searing blood in multiple directions.

Spoiler

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Shiina make a both a dodge and fortitude check. Dodge to see if it hits you, fortitude to ignore it if it does.

Mecha-Fane

With surprising agility that belies his bulky appearance, Mecha-Fane manages to evade the hail of plasma, which instead burn holes into the base of Samantha Cupid's statue. He whirls around to face his attackers, and then suddenly dissappears in a green flash, only to reappear an instant later next to one of them. "You are clearly not men." He says as he examines his bizarre looking foe. Rearing back, he tries to drive a fist into the living cannon. "But are you monsters... or just dogs?"

Spoiler

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Hit Points: 30/30
Hero Points: 1

Take 10 on Technology for 30, to see what he can figure out about these living cannons.

Move Action: Move to nearest cannon monster, Mecha-Fane can teleport up to 60 ft, which should hopefully be enough. If not, he can charge another 30 ft, in which case -2 from the attack below.
Standard Action: Power attack for +4/-4.

Melee Attack: [roll0] (-2 if charging)
Damage 12 if it hits.

The monster's odd form shifts, neatly avoiding the attack. However, it's lack of mobility does lend a clue as to their nature.

Spoiler

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Your tech roll tells you that the blasts each monster has been firing is their own blood, but they seem to suffer no ill effects from doing so. They're also mostly stationary, have no eyes or other sensory organs, and hard carapaces like an insect.

[giles92]

A wet crackling noise emanated from the partly hidden monstrosities. Their jaws split open, each barrel stretched with taut skin. All at once, they released a massive blast of acidic plasma, showering the entire area.

Spoiler

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This is an area effect, so evasion applies. Anyone with a dodge above 9 who succeeds doesn't take half damage. Fane and Shiina both receive a +2 bonus, as they aren't the attack's focus. Anyone who rolls eighteen or above on their dodge check may make a single free attack against any one monster.

[The_Admiral]

Too slow, it's been too long since he was in this suit and it showed, he thought to himself as his shots went wild and the pain bit into his shoulder, dulled by the painkillers being pumped into his body.

Seeing a drop of plasma fly right towards him, Nicolas reacts, attempting to step out of the way of the attack.

Stepping to the side, Nicolas again raises his blaster and looses another stream of energy in the direction of the monster he missed as the plasma drop splatted mostly harmlessly on the ground next to him burning a hole in the floor, some residue splattering on his suit.

Spoiler

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He does have Impervious 5, so should be able to ignore most of the damage right? Am I doing it wrong?

Dodge
(1d20+10)[25]

To hit of 21

Damage 8 penetrating 5

[Mokou-tan]

Shiina withdraws her arm from the carapace of the cannon-monster and then dodges the second one's salvo.

Spoiler

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Dodge 1: (1d20+6)[16]
Fortitude: (1d20+12)[23]
Dodge 2: (1d20+8)[12]
Takedown 2 triggers from the kill, dashing to another enemy and hitting with breaking fist again if possible: (1d20+8)[16] 9 damage, weaken toughness 5 against fortitude if connects, Fast Grab if connects: (1d20+8)[13] (If Takedown doesn't trigger, use this as her free attack if she ends up making one.)

Spoiler: Takedown

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Shiina giggles as she dashes at another cannon-monster. "Shiina's going to break you all!"

((Just noticed that I put 8 instead of 9 on the attack and grab roll. I really should have made sure I was fully awake before posting))

[JeminiZero]

Mecha-Fane

As the overgrown acid spitting insects launch a combined attack, Mecha-Fane once more finds himself diving for cover.

Spoiler

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Hit Points: 30/30
Hero Points: 1

Dodge: (1d20+12)[24]

[JeminiZero]

Rolling behind the cannon-monster, Mecha-Fane considers an attack of opportunity. "Acid Blood spitting insects with no senses and no legs... You are not even dogs, just drones!" He points an open palm at the creature and fires a barrage of acid of his own. "How are you seeing us and how did you get here? ... Is there some sort of queen that laid you here and is serving as your eyes now?"

Spoiler

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I suspect they are immune, but there is only 1 way to be sure. Attacking with Acid Spray: DC 20 Dodge Save vs 10 Damage

[bladesmith]

Spinning quickly around the statue, Sano moved with almost super-human grace. After all, this was the dance he knew, and was ready to think a few steps ahead. Slipping behind cover just as the acid washed past him, Sano swung back out even as the after-effect sizzled on the ground to take advantage of the creature's momentary distraction. As his arm lit up the night, the light reflected oddly off his glasses, obscuring his eyes and making his confident smirk seem a little unhinged.

Spoiler

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Dodge(+2 for Evasion): (1d20+13)[29]
Reflexive Blast 9(multi-attack): (1d20+9)[19]

[giles92]

Terribly sorry about this, but I got laid up in the hospital. It's nothing too serious, but I'll spending the next two weeks in surgery. After that we can resume. I'll send out private messages when I can return.

[JeminiZero]

Get well soon...

[bladesmith]

Yup. We'll be here when you get back.