The Dark

[buddy]

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Just wanted to post you guys are Phenomenal!

Phase Knight:

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For future Ref, add Subtle 2 to Teleport attacks.

As Phase Knight lets loose with his Psi-Blade against the guards, they fall, nearly severed in two, echoing a loud "SQUARK!" across the bay! Phase Knight stands alone and triumphant amidst the smoldering pieces of the droids!



Inspired:

The mecha-human heroine sails down at the ship, focused on the cannons! She sees a small army of black-clothed figures exit hatches on either side of the ship, to become a force of over 30 weapon-wielding men moving across the ship's deck!



Ariel:

Biting against the pain, Astrid lashes out anew versus her attacker! The guard shudders in place, then aims again at Ariel ....... only to fall in place on his back, his weapon rattling across the floor away from his inert hand!



Nova Leo:

The dock workers cough-up water and choke while waving at the hero, letting him know he saved them and they're alright. The other swimmers reach the docks and begin climbing up the low supports that allow them to struggle back to the docks ........

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Add a Hero Point & you are Fatigued (-1 Movement/Speed).

Inspired & Nova Leo:

The massive gun-ship moves forward, now several hundred feet over the ground, towards the city! On the deck (Inspired) a circular sphere of darkness appears, only to vanish revealing a trio of people who fan-out across the deck! An African-American man walks towards the front of the deck, a younger Caucasian male with glasses moves to his left, looking over the area, while a Caucasian female with short blonde hair moves to the starboard/right side slowly ......

..... based on your earlier research, the African-American man resembles the former S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist responsible for the Nanodroid tech! The woman is an unknown, but the younger man - this one could only match the description of one Dr. Vessler, although, he seems to be the same age now as he was some 70 years ago!

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Only Inspired makes these recognitions, for the moment.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Eldain gave just the hint of a smirk behind his helmet, before teleporting over to the woman in white. "You okay? We may have more company soon," he informed her. Formal introductions could wait.

He also took the opportunity to look over the pods on this side of the room, see if his sister was among them.

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Move action to teleport over, free to switch back to Mind at Rest, standard to scan the pods.

[buddy]

Phase Knight:

Eldain saw Sophie six booths over, using his unreal awareness of his surroundings ....

[Regalus]

Nova Leo smiles at them, hiding the ache in his body from channeling too much of Leo's essence, before telling them all to hurry somewhere safe swiftly. The Radiant Hunter's avatar taking a moments breather to make sure all the workers left the scene well enough; their gratitude easing way his wearyness. Alas his musings were cut short by the start of vessel' voyage.

So it is that Nova Leo rises up into the sky with the sea at his back, and raises his arm towards the ship and pointing at one of it's for main guns with his index finger. Within moments ruby and gold flames snaked around his arm, collecting at his finger tip; the many pyres coalescing into a perfectly symmetrical orb, which shed a pristine ivory light around its surroundings. The young man steadied himself for a moment before unleashing the shooting star at one of the main guns; the ivory marble streaking through the sky like a comet at bullet speeds.

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Hero point spent to remove fatigue.

Neutron Impact: Extended Ranged Damage 10. Penetrating 10, Affects Incorporeal 2, Precise

Short Range: 1km [^_^]

To hit: (1d20+10)[22]
Toughness DC 25

[buddy]

Nova Leo:

A blinding flash of light explodes from the turret, causing many of those gathered on the ship's deck to shield their faces and shift position! But, when the mist clears from the blast, you see the cannon's dense mental shows no signs of damage!

Nova Leo had, however, drawn the attention of those on-deck, as they look in the direction of the attack. The turret begins to slowly rise and turn towards the gleaming hero .....

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Roughly how far is he from the ship? I'll work on a map of the scene today ...

[Regalus]

Nova Leo stared speechlessly as he witnessed his Neutron Impact fail to so much as scratch the turret's paint job; the event had even caught Leo by surprise. They had expected the vessel to possess impressive defenses, butthis was so far beyond his expectations I was almost funny. On the brightside, he had accomplished his goal; the ship was focused on him, now all he needed was to wait for the cavalry to arrive.

The young hero swiftly took evasive maneuvers, trying to keep himself outside of the cannon's line of fire, if possible using the vessel's bulk to block the turret's line of sight to him.

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I'd say he might be around 600ft away, give or take a few meters depending on how fast the ship was moving. He's pretty much flying over the sea outside of the port.

By the way, can Nova make out any structure on she ship that looks like thrusters or something similar?

To hit: (1d20+8)[16]
Toughness DC: 25
Penetration: 10

[shugyosha]

Astrid

She moves to the fallen guard and takes their guns. She crouches and knows she needs a distraction. Without any other ideas she begins to open as many pods as she can.

[buddy]

Nova Leo:

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You can't attack twice without using Extra Effort. It's the Bad Guys' turn, now. Make a DC15 Perception check. If successful, You notice that underneath the ship, there are ten circular vents, each one about 50' in diameter and all in a line from the front to the back of the ship. We'll say Nova Leo saw them when he was rescuing the workers.
Magni-Cannon Blast: 1d20+5 = 21

A brilliant flash of energy explodes from the turret and a 30' wide beam of lightning strikes Nova Leo, disrupting the hero's entire form with agonizing pain!

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Make a DC30 Toughness check.

Ariel:

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Make a DC15 Tech check to figure-out the cell locks.

Phase Knight & Ariel:

A large group of men dressed in the normal black military-style fatigues and wielding sub-machine guns, enter the bay!

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You two still have Initiative against Minions.

Inspired:

While she closes on the flying ship, the heroine sees the glowing hero get struck by a massive blast from the ship!

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DC20 Perception check.

[Quellian-dyrae]

When Eldain saw his sister, though his wasn't apparent behind his helmet, his face brightened with relief. He started for her immediately...only for more soldiers to arrive.

Bad timing. The moment they opened the doors, his features twisted into a snarl, and he teleported among them to start laying about with his mind blade. He blinked back and forth to strike down as many as he could reach in a flurry of teleports. Although "phase and hit as fast as you can until they stop moving" has pretty much always been Phase Knight's big strategy, so near to rescuing his sister, the fury he attacked with was overwhelming. He seemed everywhere at once, teleporting from foe to foe in an instant, hammering them with his blade.

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Free Action: Change Psionic Focus Array to Phase Strike.

Move Action: Teleport amidst the mooks.

Standard Action: Phase Strike, All Out Attack for 5, Power Attack for 5, as a Routine Attack. Total attack roll is 20. Damage DC 30, Will DC 25, plus any bonuses for Multiattack. Dodge and Parry reduced to +10 (DC 20 to hit) until start of next turn. If I drop the target, just keep on going with Takedown 2 until I fail to drop one OR all but X are down, where X equals however many Shugyosha wants me to leave for him, if any.

Free Action: If possible, Turnabout back to initial position across the room. I have 1,800 total feet of teleportation to blink in, do any movement required for Takedown 2, and blink back. Not sure if that's enough or not; if it isn't, just forget the turnabout.

[Assurau]

As much as Inspired would have loved to take potshots at the scientists, her attention turned back to the ship itself. Chances were good that the vessel was super tech, but both Jonathan and her shows had taught her to never make gross assumptions.

With a flick of her will, her body went to work reshaping itself. Instructions were sent, so that most of the the material used by the wings would be repurposed. It would create the Optical Sensor Array. With it, she hoped to identify the ship's main structures and neutralize them, hopefully without exposing herself. Still she left herself a less powerful version of the Graviton Engine, so she could find a safe spot to land.

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Tech Roll: (1d20+20)[27]

Costume Converter
-Feature: Quick change: 1 tp

Stealth Mode (Full spectrum): 10 tp
- Concealment (full): 10 ranks: 2tp/rank: 20 tp
- Passive: -1 tp/rank

Optical Sensor Array
-Sense(Visual): 1tp/rank: 26 ranks - 13 tp

-Acute: 2ranks
-Accurate: 4 ranks
-Analytical: 2 ranks
-Counter Concealment: 5 ranks
-Counter Illusion: 2 ranks
-Dark vision: 2 ranks
-Penetrate concealment: 4 ranks
-Extend(100000 ft): 4 ranks
-Rapid: 1 ranks
-Limited (half movement only):-1tp/rank

Graviton Engine
-Flight: 2tp/rank: 7ranks: 7tp

- Wing: -1tp/rank

30/30 Tp used

[Regalus]

Nova Leo panted heavily in the wake of the beams collision, momentarily strugling to maintain his flight; his form giving off even greater amounts of heat in the wake of the attack. Seeing stars with an aching body, the young hero stoked his inner flames; causing a corona of golden flames to erupt from his forms, clearing his mind and mending his battered body.

With renewed vigor the hero sped towards the vessels underside as swiftly as he could, in hopes of hiding from the beam cannon's line of fire; and that his attacks would fair battle against the vessel at closer range.

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Leo is at full health now.

His basic move action allows him to fly at 240ft per round

[buddy]

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each square is about 30'.

"Silver", the African-American man, is all the way forward.

"Bronze", the woman, and "Gold", the younger male are 100' back and standing on the port (left) & starboard (right) sides.

The "M"s are sub-machine gun-wielding, black-garbed minions lining the deck along the sides. There's a 6-man cluster of them around the three scientists up front.

The arrows pointing forward and to the sides of the ship are the turrets.

The immense vessel is coasting over the waterfront at 1,000 feet up, casting a wide shadow over the streets & buildings below. Panicked citizens flee in all directions for cover.

The safest landing point is the rear of the ship, unprotected by the minions. What is strange is the near-silent movement of the vessel, cutting through the snow-driven sky without a sound.

Inspired:

Inspired's scan falls on the ship, tracing digital displays across the deck looking for a weak point! As soon as a quadrant is isolated, the targeting logic labels the area impenetrable! The Mörkret seems invincible to attack - except ...... on the front deck, the African-American male turns his head towards the glowing hero who attacked the ship & the turret seemed to follow his gaze! As he looks out towards Manhattan, the cannons turn with his head motion!

On top of this, Inspired notices the younger male on the ship's side is watching Alana intently - then, he beckons her forward with a wave of his hand!

"Come, my queen! We do this for YOU. Everything is for YOU."



Phase Knight:

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Using your one attack vs. the minions .....

Eldain Owlheart is a scientist. A master of quantitative logistics and probability dynamics. He's the very best on Earth at what he does. No one can lay-out schematics like Owlheart does, not even Reed Richards, who possesses a 400 I.Q.

Eldain is also a mutant possessing abilities that breach what we call "space". He can move from point to point in an eyeblink, dwarfing the speed of the fastest human runner. His reaction time is beyond calculation and his instincts have their own quantum table.

The group of ten armed and deadly guards had no chance. With each stroke of Phase Knight's arms, a henchman falls, a burst of energy and blood or blood-like fluid spattering the area! Eldain strikes in calculated abandon, reducing the armed force to nothing but a sprawl of prone and twitching bodies!

At the end of six seconds, Phase Knight stands alone, blood spattering his trans-alloy armor & face, his Psi-Swords retracting to his hands, and his enemy slain all about him!



Ariel:

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She sees the armored man slaughter the guards before she can even attack ....

Nova Leo:

The hero sails around the ship, reeling from the attack and summoning his healing ability to restore lost power (staggered). While he sails across the side of the massive ship, Nova Leo notices a duo racing across a nearby dock rooftop! The costumes are unmistakable: Spider-Man slows near the end of the roof as Black Widow jumps on his back! The Web-Slinger extends a line to the ship bottom and sails, airborne & underneath, to curl up to the back of the vessel, Black Widow's feet flailing behind their ascent!

[shugyosha]

Astrid

It wasn't the blood splatter she saw that made her reel. For a telepath it the moment when a mind finally expires. The feeling hits one to the core of their being. As a resistance fighter she had felt it before and it was something she never got used to... something she hopes that she would never get used to.

Seeing things getting more difficult she begins to open up the closest pod.

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Do I get to choose which hero? Personally, I really don't care.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Eldain teleported back over to the containment unit that held his sister, examining the device to see how to get it open.

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Switch to Mind and Rest and take a Routine Technology check for 25 if necessary.

[Assurau]

Alana had mentally prepared herself for all manner of encounters with villains. The witty repartee, duels, mind controlled slaves and other such contrivances were easy to prepare for. However THIS threatened to crack her poker face. She had expected the Dark to have some method of dealing with cloaked individual, but she hadn't expected to be discovered so soon. That it was Vessler the one doing it was exasperating. That he called her his queen made it worse. The fact that he claimed to have done everything so far in her name just made her feel sick. To top it all off, he was reacting as if he knew what she really was.

How the hell had this "scientist" discovered anything about her? Only Jonathan and her still-dead father were the only people who knew what she was. Yet somehow Vessler seemed to know. It sickened her to think that someone could have desecrated her father's final resting place, but she needed to know how. If Vessler was as much of a sycophant as he was projecting, then he could provide her with the answers. It wouldn't take long for the other members to notice her there, given Vessler's little display. However, she wasn't going to reveal herself to the others. So if Vessler could see her, perhaps he could hear as well.


"Who are you, and what do you think know of me; that makes you think I would be pleased at the sight of this, human?", said the young heroine, taking the most neutral tone she could muster.

[buddy]

Ariel:

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You need to choose which hero. X-Man or otherwise.

Phase Knight:

Fumbling with the cell controls, Phase Knight opens the booth, a hiss of concealed air escaping the containment unit as it cracks open! Sophie, dressed in a white bodysuit, looks unconscious .......



Inspired:

The young man strikes a side-pose and adjusts his glasses,

"You are irrevocably linked to the Dark, Queen. Through your troubled master, Herr Zymmerman. He came to me lacking the solution for New Life. I provided him the essential equation that led to ...... You. It was my humble calculations that formed the cradle of your birth, Alana - you are a product of Reich Science - and look at you! Perfection personified! You, Alana, are the final step in human evolution - that perfect thing crafted for the great throne of rulership! All that I've done has been to prepare a place for You!"

"The world and its command is your destiny. Certainly, you feel it? Within you? You're higher purpose? Perhaps you mistake it as a sense of heroism - the sensation of taking action? I gave you that. A mind beyond mankind's passive existence. You, my Queen, are meant to rule over this world. I am nothing but a servant of whatever you desire. Give me the order and I will execute the next echelon of the Reich! Your rulership can begin now!"

[Regalus]

Nova Leo turns off his corona before swiftly maneuvering himself out of sight and underneath the vessel, and upon noticing Spiderman and Black Widow, he attempts to approach the pair stealthily; warily watching his surroundings for any prying eyes, or traps while hopefully conveying through his body language that he didn't intend to attack the pair.

"It's good to see that atleast two of your number were able to come here to lend a hand," he begins, carefully studying the pair's auras while maintaining himself a safe distance away; if only not to provoke the veteran heroes.

[shugyosha]

Astrid

She opens the pod and smiles. "Get up Logan. The rest have been captured and the enemies are near," she says.

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I figure the X-Men are near her pod so can I get a list of X-men. She's going to continue opening the pods. Do I have to make a tech roll on each one?

[buddy]

Nova Leo:

Spider-Man and Black Widow turn to face Nova Leo, their guard up, and the web-slinger speaks,

"Well, our buddies are busy at a remote-island dinner party, so we're here to accept the award in their honor. How much do you know about this ship? Where's the control base? We need to take that down before this tub hits the city!"

Black Widow chimes in, while scanning the rear of the ship,

"It's strange they left this area unprotected - the bridge is just above us. Navigation must be either below decks or with whoever's running the show. I'll check below decks."

She turns to the hatch and sees a woman standing roughly ten feet away - beautiful, flowing red hair, and black garb,

"Black Widow and Spider-Man. We knew you had escaped and awaited your appearance. So, here you are. Trying to save the day with these novice Avengers. I cannot allow that."

The woman strikes at Black Widow, who avoids the hand blow and spins to the wall, delivering a back-kick, which is blocked by the woman! Black Widow hisses a proclamation,

"I'm under no sanction here, assassin! Today, you die, Kitty, for framing the Avengers!"

What follows is a flurry of martial arts action as each woman strikes and counters and positions for a final death-blow!

Spider-Man moves towards the front of the ship,

"Keep those cannons busy! I'll go read our friends their Miranda Rights!"



Ariel:

Logan's eyes blink and he bursts violently from the booth, falling to the floor! There's a low snarl of anger and as his hand sets to prop him up, a trio of gleaming metal claws extend from just above the knuckles with a short "SNIKT!"

"Girl ....... where are we - and how many of them are there?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

Eldain gave Sophie a short shake. "Hey, let's go Soph, time to get up," he said, gently but firmly.

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Can we hear the fighting going on outside by any chance?

[shugyosha]

Astrid

She pops her head up to look for the scientists but doesn't see them. "Damn they're gone. Logan, we have to free the others. I need to get my armor but it's locked up, can you help me get it."

[buddy]

Phase Knight:

Sophie blinks at the red lights above and looks at her brother. Her expression is melded surprise and relief! She moves to get up and her motion is slow - she seems weakened. Sophie shakes her head and reaches out for Eldain, for help ....



Ariel:

Logan curdles his head in his hand momentarily and looks up, gazing at Astrid pensive,

"Where's Xavier? We need him ..... and Storm. Most. Where's your suit, girl? I aint got time!"

[Quellian-dyrae]

Eldain took her hand, pulling her up out of the capsule, and into a quick hug. It'd almost be touching, if the first thing he said to her wasn't an irreverent, "So come on, admit it. I make a pretty awesome superhero, right?"

He got more serious quickly as he let her go. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" There was concern in his voice...but at those last words, also something else, a subtle note that even Sophie, who had known him literally all his life, had never heard before from her usually calm, collected brother. If Astrid's powers lent themselves to empathy, she might feel, after a rush of relief, a rapidly building, vengeful wrath coming off the teleporter in waves, an anger that was only growing with righteous fury as he cast his visor-extended gaze down the long, long cargo hold, at all the other containment units held within.

Whatever his sister answered, someone was going to pay for what she - what all these mutants, metahumans, and heroes - had been through.

[shugyosha]

Astrid

"Locked cabinet," she says pointing. "I''ll free the others okay?"

She begins to look for Xavier and Storm in the pods.

[buddy]

Phase Knight:

Sophie mustered a wrinkled smile, nearly falling into your arms,

"I knew all those backyard fights would go to your head."

She laughs lightly and tries to steady herself, rubbing her head,

"OoOoh! Feels like I've been hit with a battleship .... where are we? I was walking to my door and .... these people .... something hit me and I passed out, I guess. Now I'm looking at you. Where's my clothes? Ugh - my head .... give me a minute ......"

Wolverine dashes past Phase Knight, giving the you a cold glance as he bolts for the locker-vault ....



Astrid:

Logan eyes Ariel a second before bolting across the large bay,

"I don't pass these out much, but thanks. I had my doubts about you early on, but ya proved honorable, girl. Now, stop gawkin' and get everyone out!"

Wolverine sprints away at a speed that's surprising, given he carries over a billion dollars in metal on his bones. He passes Phase Knight and gets to the wall in under 30 seconds, where his Adamantium claws rip the steel wall to shreds! Reaching inside, Logan begins drawing out costumes, clothing, and other belongings of the captives - to include Ariel's armor! He yells across the bay,

"Jackpot!"

He mumbles something while looking at the collection of gear, then shouts,

"If you come across a guy who looks like he fell into a wood-chipper, do not let him out!! You hear me?!?"

Logan starts inspecting cells from his end, freeing captives after he's gotten a good look at whoever's inside .....

[Quellian-dyrae]

Eldain really did want to crack a joke then. Rib her about getting captured, maybe. But it wasn't coming. "You were attacked, kidnapped. By some...organization or something that goes by 'The Dark'. We're on a cargo ship where they've been holding you and several other supers. More details to come when we're out of danger."

Wolverine's call of "Jackpot" drew his attention that way. "Looks like he's found the clothes and gear. Go get your stuff, I'm going to help get the others free."

Part of him wanted to whisk her back home immediately, but given the previous interference he had encountered, he wasn't sure how easy it would be for him to return. The psychic woman, from what he had gathered, had been in one of these pods herself, so there was a fair chance that he was the closest of anyone in this room to having half a clue what was going on.

But beyond that, this room contained a small army of supers, including several heroes of power. As a mass of confused, likely frightened individuals, they would be in danger. But working together as a coordinated force? They'd be all but unstoppable.

It was all a matter of logistics.

Eldain scanned the room, and started getting people free. He prioritized known heroes, then unknown supers, with known criminals and villains (and guys whose faces looked like they'd been put through a woodchipper) deliberately left unreleased for the moment. Beyond that, he prioritized by people who could free others (speedsters, duplicators, precise telekinetics, etc), then by personal power, then by experience. As he went, he would briefly inform them of what was going on, ask those he didn't recognize what their powers were and if they were combat-capable, and begin formulating a plan of action.

[buddy]

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Closing this down due to lack of player interest

[shugyosha]

Astrid

She stops her search for Professor X to put on her armor. "Code zero zero one alpha active," she says and the armor response by cinching up at her joints.

She then starts to look for Storm and Professor X. "There is a woman who looks like me, be careful, she is pure evil."