St Ambrose School for the Extraordinary: Settling In

[Quellian-dyrae]

"No prob-" Kevin began, only to halt as what she was saying caught up to him.

"Wait, you actually don't have powers? Like, at all?" He had been sure she had at least enhanced agility or something. Augmented physical aptitude, maybe. He wasn't sure whether to be impressed or concerned.

Although thinking about it... "So I guess that means you get automatic dibs on the inevitable legendary sword of plot." Which was somewhat annoying. It meant that his ultimate weapon would probably only be attainable through some byzantine series of inane side-quests. He made a mental note to pay attention to any game that seemed to get an inordinate amount of focus during gym class.

[Dodgeson]

The Professor nods from behind his desk.

"I make it my business to know about our more...portentous students."

---

Suki's not really sure what to make about Kevin's comments about 'swords of plot' so instead she endeavors to answer Megan's question instead.

"I'm an empath, I can read other people's emotions, project them too. I guess that's why I got picked to lead you down here, in case Tracy needed calming down or something."

[metakirb]

Then what happens? What can I expect? What should I focus on training for?

Meta's usual calm and cold demeanour seems to slip a little, whatever he's referring to seems to have him more than a little worried.

[Dodgeson]

"That's not for me to say."

[metakirb]

Meta glares.

You're aware of everything at stake and you won't say anything at all?!

[jamieth]

"Well... actually, you know, you may be right!" Megan exclaims, "I mean, with the kind of workshop this school has, it would only take some time and effort..." she paused, trying to imagine what would Buzzer upgraded to infinity-plus-one look like. "Maybe I should do it sometime... got a Crucible booked today, though - Emily promised me a full-scale Niagara model!" she adds, beaming with delight.

"Projecting emotions?" Megan shakes her head, turning back towards Suki, "Wow, I've glad you're on our side... suddenly feeling afraid would be the worst. Oh... by the way, how is Tracy feeling? I mean, I didn't think of it that time, but what if she really liked it there?"

Spoiler: ooc

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By the way, since our characters have some experience with the school by now, I demand more info on our green-speaking curator. Can make an Investigation check - in the form of "listening to rumors and local lgends" - if you want :-)

[Dodgeson]

The Professor's own expression remains impassive even as Meta gets more agitated.

"There are laws. I'm afraid for the moment your actions must be your own."

----

Suki pats Tracy's muzzle as she focuses for a second, her powers unaccustomed to a reptilian mind but quickly compensating.

"She's fine, happy even."

Spoiler: OOC-ish

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I'm just going to give you the information 1. Because I relish giving out setting information 2. The DC to get basic information about a student is like 10, Megan could take 20 and Kevin could make that standing on his head.

Emily is in her final year at St Ambrose, part of the schools very own superteam along with her roommate, a mage by the name of Lilith, an armour jockey who goes by Valiant and a reptilian boy who uses the codename Kaiju. In her own words she's a "Super Imp from the Nth Dimension!" and her powers are "Wearing your physics like a funny paper hat.". Oh, and she really loves dolphins.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Sounds fun," Kevin said. He kinda zoned out a bit as he sent his viewpoint zooming and rotating around the stable, curious what other animals - or creatures - might be housed here.

[metakirb]

Of course there are.

He turns to leave.

As always. I can't rely on a human for anything.

[Dodgeson]

The Professor only shakes his head slightly as the dragon turns to leave.

----

In addition to Tracy and the giant spider in the adjacent stall, the stable also contains a small handful of regular horses and what would appear to be a large blue gelatine cube.

[metakirb]

As he reaches the door he stops and turns back to the professor.

If it was a human problem you'd be more than happy to help.

[Dodgeson]

After the excitement of the dinosaurs the rest of the week ticks on unremarkably, or as unremarkable as things get at St Ambrose, as it must however the school work inevitably gives way to the weekend and so we join our heroes on a bright and sunny Saturday morning.

((A little bit of a chance to interact with the world and maybe rack up some hero points before the action starts. Quell, Jamie, Meta, what are your characters doing?))

[Quellian-dyrae]

Kevin had...actually been spending most of his free time at the school library. Being able to effortlessly pull up anything he knew in his menus, well, it just made sense to add to the body of information he could pull up. He broke it up with occasional visits to the Crucible. He was still entirely unaware that the challenges designed to resemble not-so-subtle homages to video games were meant as friendly teasing, going through them as if the missions were every bit as serious as the first trial again Big Al and his crew. He certainly didn't feel there was anything strange or different about them. Kinda took the fun out of it, but what could you do? Kid was oblivious.

[jamieth]

"Library? On Saturday? Seriously?" Megan asked. Certainly wasn't what she had in mind when she asked Kevin whether he wanted to hang out together. And she even dressed up for the occasion... (Granted, for the girl whos casual attire often consisted of a sports top and bycicle shorts, pretty much everything would be seen as 'dressing up')
"Come on", she added, sitting on the chair cowboy-style and spinning it on a right frotn leg, "let's go to town, hit some arcade, maybe..."

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Oh. Um, yeah sure, okay," he said with a shrug. He had given himself credit for coming up with something that wasn't "playing video games at home". Kevin didn't exactly have what most would call a social life. "One minute though," he requested, going up to the desk to return the books he had borrowed from his last visit, then heading back over. "Lead the way!"

[Dodgeson]

Thankfully for Megan's boredom threshold the quiet of the library is not upheld for long as a loud crash precedes a student in one of the school workshop's lab coats and a green felt top hat runs towards them as fast as his gangly limbs will carry him.

"Malfunction! Runaway golem!"

----

Meanwhile in the Legion of Doom! the schools cafeteria Meta finds himself eating what I guess is brunch with his charge and her circle of friends, a girl with a pair of feline ears perched atop her head, a boy who's eyes are solid green bar the occasional crackle of black and white and another guy who, in defiance of everyone else at the table looks entirely normal.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Kevin blinked, then cast a sidelong glance at Megan.

"Alternately, if you'd care to revise your hypothesis regarding the entertainment value of the library on Saturday, I'm sure we could find something fun to do here!" he said with a bemused laugh. Even to Kevin, this school was starting to seem just a little bit crazy.

[metakirb]

Meta sits, quietly eating and paying attention mostly to Serra than the others. The rest of the week not having done much to improve his mood after his talk with Professor Quantum.

[jamieth]

Megan's eyes gleamed. Dealing with unknown, potentially dangerous creature threatening the school? Still not how she imagined a perfect weekend,admittedly, but, compared to sitting in the library? Much better.
"I'm in!" she exclaimed, leaping up to her feet. Admittedly, there was a little problem with that decision... but Megan decided to think of it later.

[Dodgeson]

The student practically flings himself over a table, with far more urgency than dignity or grace. Another of the library's many bookcases thuds to the ground as the creature nears, giving our heroes a clear view of the beast. A large, vaguely humanoid mass of books!

Roll for Initiative

----

Having known Meta for a long time it doesn't take Serra long to realise that something's not right with her appointed bodyguard

"How come you're not with your friends?"

[metakirb]

They're off doing their own thing. I've got my job of keeping you safe and my training to see to. Besides, they're humans.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Even knowing there was a golem on the loose, even being in the library at that very moment, nope, Kevin hadn't expected that. In retrospect, he should have. It made sense, when he thought about it for even a moment. It was a classic case of Rockman's Razor: All else being equal, the most likely enemy is the one with the most obvious connection to the level's scenery.

His first thought, of course, was the classic attack of a hundred games, one of the most ancient offensive powers in both the wizard's and the gamer's lexicon. The mere fact that it continued to see such extensive use in this later age of MMORPGs and next gen consoles was only a sign of its potent effect. It was the quintessential battle spell, the plumber's staple, the one, the only, the fireball!

And Kevin, for all his logic, for all his tactical acumen, and despite how obviously, painfully vulnerable to such an attack the golem just had to be, couldn't bring himself to do it. Not in a library, not against a creature composed of books. He was the son of a wizard, and he simply could not risk destroying so much knowledge. No, more advanced tactics would be required here.

Megan, fortunately, was the most sane person he had yet met at St. Ambrose. She understood how the world worked. It wasn't everyone else's fault, he understood. Something about how he had acquired his powers had opened his mind's eye to it. That she was able to come to accurate conclusions without having had a similar awakening - indeed, without any powers at all - was impressive. Also useful. Made it much easier to coordinate in the heat of battle. Elaborate plans could be discussed rapidly, detailed strategies concocted on the fly, when all - or both, as the case may be - members of a team had a full understanding of the situation at hand. Kevin was quick to take advantage of that fact.

"I'll tank, you DPS?"

Without awaiting an answer - he needed to try and get the creature focused on something other than smashing bookshelves - he leaped into the fray, jumping high and coming down with a mighty stomp straight for the book-creature's head!

Spoiler

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I'm...guessing there's no one else rolling initiative, so figured I'd just post. Unless Rick's also here?

Move Action: Jump into Close range of the golem.

Standard Action: Stomp at (1d20+8)[14]. Crit 16+. On a hit, Toughness DC 23+Multiattack vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 18+Multiattack vs. Dazed+Vulnerable/Stunned+Prone Affliction.

If Toughness fails, Power Up chance: (1d20)[9].

[jamieth]

Megan didn't waswte much time either; poor chair, already stressed by the girl's sitting habits, didn't even had time to set oll four legs to the floor as she grabbed it and threw it straight up - then, from a handstand, kicked it with both legs, sending the chair flying towards the book-creature. Not even waiting to look at the result of her attack, she jumped on top of the table - and, in a second leap, on top of the nearest still-standing bookshelf. "Eh, you see..." she called from up there, "About DPS... There's... a little problem..."

Spoiler

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Standart action:
Power Attack (+2, no feat) with an improvised throwing weapon: (1d20+3)[15], DC 17 Toughness on hit.
Move action to take a higher ground.

[Dodgeson]

o.o Well Kevin's certainly earned a hero point there for that frankly terrifying look in to his world view. Unfortunately for him however the book creature's semi-amorphous nature leaves it largely unaffected by Kevin's assault, only a flattened copy of 'Teach Yourself Tibetan' to show for his efforts. Megan's assault fairs only slightly better in that whilst the blow does indeed connect it is deflected by a shell of particularly weighty encyclopedias.

In retaliation the angry beast brings its club-like fists down on the closest annoyance to it!

The Book Golem hits Platformer, make a DC28 Toughness Save

Kevin's up!

-----

Back in the cafeteria the two humans at the table stare at Meta, quickly joined by the cat eared girl, who isn't quite sure what's going on but if everyone else is looking at him she figures it must be important. In short order the green-eyed boy speaks up.

"And what's wrong with humans?"

[metakirb]

I've never been given any reason to trust them. From the first time I've ever been in contact with them. You're more trouble than you're worth. Selfish, weak creatures.

At least Meta doesn't seem afraid to speak his mind.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Kevin got swatted out of the air like a koopa-paratroopa that was the only way to reach a warp zone! He landed hard, flickering for a few seconds, and grimacing at the sizable chunk taken out of his lifebar.

"Let me guess. No zapper?" he asked Megan, deadpan. They may not have thought this one all the way through.

Still, he wasn't ready to hit the run option just yet. A defensive play might serve. However, with Megan suffering from disarm status, he couldn't abandon offense entirely, and there was a certain strategy for dealing with bosses too tough to reliably hurt and too powerful to tank. He just had to hope the creature would keep its attention on him. He started holding down the R key, fists raised in a ready guard position, and prepared to go all kinds of Link vs. Aghanim on this monster.

Spoiler

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Flicker ends.

Standard Action: Block. DC to hit Kevin becomes (1d10+18)[19], while Toughness is reduced to +8 (well, +7 after the bruise). If the opponent misses, its attack is Reflected back upon it with an attack roll of (1d20+8)[18], critting on a 15+. Kevin only takes normal damage from crits while blocking.

If an attack is reflected, hits, and Toughness fails, Power Up chance: (1d20)[5].

Current Status: 1 Bruise.

[Dodgeson]

Megan's up!

----

Meta's statement leaves even Serra aghast, all eyes at the table now on him.

"Meta...."

"Wow, racist much?"

[metakirb]

He doesn't seem to be phased by even Serra's surprise.

Then prove me wrong.

[jamieth]

"Sorry, I've equipped for the date, not a fight!" Megan exclaimed, jumping down at the golem. The walking mass of books proved surprisingly resilient, and the girl had no illusions of being able to actually harm it without the Buzzer - though, come to think of it, would it even be effective? Paper's made of wood, right? And wood doesn't conduct electricity...
Anyway, Megan couldn't really hurt the golem - but maybe she could at least restrain it...

Spoiler

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Grab attack: (1d20+5)[20] vs passive Parry. If succeed, Golem makes a DC 15 check with better of Strength or Dodge. Failure is restrained, failure by 5 is bound.

Landing on top of the creature, she pushed both of it's hands down, trying to hold them to it's waist while hugging it with her legs. That was shaping to be a fun ride, for certain.

[Dodgeson]

Megan leaving her zapper in her dorm? A rare lack of genre savvy on the part of our favourite acrobat, and to make matters worse the golem's prodigious strength means it doesn't even acknowledge her attempt to restrain it as it brings its fists down on Platformer.

The Book Golem hits Platformer, make a DC28 Toughness Save

((Of course, when I want an easy encounter I get fantastic rolls ....c'est la vie))

From his position behind a now flipped table the lab coated student shouts to them.

"Get it off the ground!"

Kevin's up!

----

The green-eyed boy stands up, the plates of the 'humans' becoming enveloped in green orbs and lifting off the ground.

"Come on Jeanie, lets get out of here."

The table is quickly vacated leaving Meta and his charge alone in silence before Serra decides to speak up.

"What was that for? We're supposed to be diplomats!"