[M&M 3rd Ed.] Legacy, Vol. 1 - Gilded Age

[TekHed]

"It appears the wiskey is starting to make effect." Alistair replies with a shrug.

"Lucky you...I can't feel a damn thing." Sascha frowned. "Damned parahuman constitution...takes the fun right out of drinking."

He further amended the list:

Sascha nodded and amended the list.

Donar
Valkyrie
Mercury
Falkenrath (Wizard. Imageria?)
Herr Null (Liquid body, teleport)
Red Eagle (very fast flight, sonic booms, durable)
Ubermensch Losermench (flying tank)
Powderkeg (sniper. controls explosions)
Madame Blitz (electricity)
Shlasbringer (weaponized gas)
Silhouette

"Electricity, you say?" Sascha's ears perked up. If there was one thing that was good for grabbing headlines, it was having a rival...

[Volthawk]

Cooper nods. "Unsure as to her exact capabilities, however. Also how they compare to yours, in capacity and power." He considers. "You should prove resistant enough to them. Unless the descriptions given were a red herring. May not actually be electrical. More likely for it to be what it seems, though. Occam's razor and all that."

[The_Admiral]

Turning his attention from Sara's bleeding hand as Cooper treated it, he goes over the list of superhumans "Gas Weaponry, trench gear, chlorine's nasty Ah can deal with Shlasbringer, as for Powderkeg, Ahve got an alternate arsenal for you, should be able ta take care of him, we're going to have ta leave Madame Blitz to Sascha, and we're going ta need a way ta hold down Eagle, paralyzing weapons? Platypus or Dart Frog venom could work, tha last two are issues, ah can't figure out a way ta stop them."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Sara gave a tight little smile as Swift suggested an alternate arsenal. That sounded...interesting. She wasn't sure what he had in mind, but anything that made it easier to put a bullet of Powderkeg's head was aces with her. "Sounds good to me," she said, a sort of flat eagerness in her voice.

[Hyperbolic sine]

"Lucky you...I can't feel a damn thing." Sascha frowned. "Damned parahuman constitution...takes the fun right out of drinking."

"Oh, I cannot get drunk either, but I suppose alcoholics can still slightly affect my cognitive processes in the very short term." Alistair replies, refilling his glass and offering to do the same to Sascha's. "I can see as many benefits as drawbacks in the inability of getting drunk, anyway. I cannot really say I despise it." he adds, before turning to Swift.

"Alternatively, I could simply make him so heavy he will not be able to stand up with his own strength. Or have a black hole suck him in." he comments on the Red Eagle's matter. "Probably easier than finding platypus venom."

[TekHed]

"I think it's good that we're talking tactics." Sascha added, accepting the refill with a sigh of resignation.

"Our first fight we got lucky. Our second in the Imageria, we nearly had our asses handed to us between Mercury and the haunted mansion. I'm not a military man, but even I can see that we've started to integrate better between Null and Uber. We should do more of that. Find ways of stacking our talents, the way our enemies seem to..."

[The_Admiral]

"Normally ah would recommend more training, however, ah don't think we have tha time fer that, so all we can do is pay more attention ta each other in tha battlefield, fer opportunities." he adds on, stroking his chin as he emptied his glass.

[TekHed]

"You know...that reminds me. I've been thinking, we may not have a lot of training, but we've stuck together. We began as a secret task force, now we're more. We're a team. And we...parahumans, aren't a secret any longer. We've become symbols; for better or worse, and while Washington sits on their hands back home, we're here fighting the good fight because we reject Hitler's mad vision of what the world should be."

He took the whiskey bottle, then went around the room refilling everyone's glass as he spoke.

"And yet...here we are. Parahumans. His "Master Race"...even if we reject his label and his vision, the rest of humanity is watching. People will worship us. They'll fear us. For better or worse, we've become the physical embodiment of the very ideology of the war."

He gestured at the names on the chalkboard. "We're headline news, the title bout, pulp novels come to life."

"We've become the the light of hope rallying against the darkness, and the eyes of the entire world are upon us. And that means..."

Finally, he filled his glass last, and looked around to his comrades in arms.

"We need a name."

[Nintendogeek01]

The night wore on, eventually leading to, as Allied Intelligence expected, another bombing raid with minimal Parahuman support. Sure enough the time to counter-attack was coming, and the new team, The Vanguard, was ready to press with the attack!

Over the next few months leading into early 1941 the Vanguard would face many challenges, ranging from stopping mad Axis-aligned scientists to the destruction of hidden Nazi facilities. These efforts served to take some of the pressure off of Britain in order to concentrate more on the Vanguard: The Red Cloud has been grounded and repaired multiple times, Stigma has "died" more than once (waking up cranky as hell 24 hours later), and Alain often went MIA only to turn up with a new "intimately familiar" contact or informant made.

True to her word Herr Null has been the primary concern for the Vanguard, no amount of stealth or fed intel seems to fool the Nazi Intel Officer and has thus far been gone just before the Vanguard reaches his last known location; only to find the base about to come down around their ears, one time you even found Übermensch waiting for you instead, only escaping with Stigma angering the prideful Parahuman with a well-timed Untermensch insult (and her having to find you days later due to dying and getting separated). The good news is though that Herr Null wasn't able to cover his tracks too thoroughly due to the speed in which you close in on his operations, and soon enough you finally catch what might be the biggest break you've all had.

May 22nd, 1941: The Alps

A Nazi prisoner interrogated, rather gleefully, by Alain revealed the location of one base Herr Null's been primarily operating out of, going to and from it the most. What exactly Null is up to is above that soldier's paygrade, but he does know that he's building something massive there, and he had a prisoner. A small Chinese or Japanese boy. The interrogation ended when he made disparaging remarks about the kid.

After enough carrier pigeon communications between The Vanguard and Britain, the following intel was confirmed: that Herr Null does indeed operate primarily out of this Alps' Base, and that there is a force roughly the size of a battalion guarding it, and anti-aircraft positioned around the base. While the operations going on within that base remain enough of a mystery that the brass are wary of risking too many troops to try and take it, they are willing to provide a small group of Parahumans backup with a company of soldiers who are already on the march.

The Red Cloud is now flying en route to the rendezvous point where the old girl can land without getting shot down. From there the plan is to meet up with the company and then storm the base from there. While on the way there, there is time yet to read any letters all of you had gotten from the last carrier pigeon. Alain had gotten one from, much to Alistair's chagrin, Evelyn; and when April opened her letter she almost immediately asked for privacy before going off to the medbay of the Red Cloud, locking the door behind her as she did so.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

So guys, this is another chance to give us some insight into your characters; if you were to get a letter from someone you knew before a big battle who would it be? How open about these letters are you with your fellow team members? Up to you and what the content of the letters are, or heck maybe you don't have a letter and you're left to wonder about the other letters, or even just the trappings of life so far.

[The_Admiral]

The last few days had been, rather restful despite the urgent mission, they were traveling there on his ship, practically a hotel if not as opulently decorated anymore,with nothing to do but wait. Onboard, with no letter from home he finally found the time to retrieve a certain old set of weapons he bought for his rather extensive collection of weapons.

"Sara, this was tha alternate weapon ah was talking about." Swift says, as he presented her the rifle.

"It's a Giardoni Air rifle, this here was used in tha Napoleonic wars and ah only have two, so don't break it." he continues, retrieving the paraphernalia needed to operate the weapon from the chest. "pump, a few filled cartridges and ammunition, it doesn't take modern ammunition." he adds as he does so.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Ah, letters from home: Alistair would likely have recieved one from his parents and one from both of his siblings, were it not for the fact that as far as they knew he was still working in America - well, except for Evelyn, but after having a long talk and explaining to her what he knew on his condition (which was, admittedly, little more more than "magic exists and some people have strange powers") he pleaded to her to keep quiet.
She...took the thing much better that Alistair expected, treating him almost exactly as before and even making some joke about she and Alexander developing powers themselves, though it has to be said that they always had a special bond as siblings and she is a goodhearted person - it's not safe to assume that is how the average person would react.

Long story short, instead of three, he recieved one.

Dear Al,

Please be safe. They won't tell me where you are or what you're doing, and I won't ask because I know they would censor the letter,
so I can only pray for your safety: Mom, Dad and Alex still think you're safe on the other side of the Atlantic, don't force your sister
to tell them you've been lying all this time at your funeral. They'd kill you.

Also, kick some Nazi butt!

With love,
Evelyn.

P.S. Alex said that the Harbinger protected his squadron once, and probably saved his life...you have our whole family's thanks, maybe you should tell them sooner or later.

P.P.S. But really, Harbinger? Couldn't you think of something cooler?

Alistair smirks once he finishes to read the letter. So no mention of Alain at all? Didst thou not think that all our letters would have been delivered together? Well, not that Alain was a bad person, but he was a bit...promiscuous. And fifty years older. And French. But I do suppose there could be greatly worse people...as long as Grandma doesn't know, it should be fine. he concludes to himself, shrugging. Then approaches said Frenchman.

"Alain, my friend! What might this be, secret correspondence between my beloved sister and thee?" he asks with a joking tone, trying to sneak a peek and - whether successfull of not - taking the chance to give him an amicable pat on the shoulder and whisper in his ear "Thou dare hurt her, and we shall have an...issue."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Sara had gotten two letters. The first from her squad, basically just letting her know (in relatively vague terms in case of interception, and with much hype, exaggeration, and implied one-upsmanship) what they had been doing since she left them. Those who had passed near Sara's bunk while she was reading it may have even had the chance to encounter the rare and foreign sound of real laughter coming from her mouth. She penned her own reply, in a similar manner, nothing that hadn't been disseminated through Allied media and propaganda machines, but written from her perspective...and with the appropriate levels of additional hype, exaggeration, and implied one-upsmanship.

The second letter was from her parents, and it ended any bout of good cheer that the first had provoked. News from home. Wishes that she was safe. Requests that she forget this mad need for vengeance and come own. Reminders of love.

That letter, she read three times, and then set on fire.

She couldn't, she just couldn't. She didn't have time for that. She had a job to do.

And Swift had wanted to see her. She wiped her eyes, schooled her face, and left her bunk, heading to meet with the man.

When he presented her with the weapon and explained how it worked...it was hard to describe the look she got in her eyes. One might have called it joy, and gratitude, but those emotions didn't seem to fit.

That look was too malicious to convey emotions so pure.

"I'll make good use of it."

[The_Admiral]

"Ah hope you will." he replies somberly, she was after revenge, he has seen that look in many people he have met on his travels, unlike Alain he couldn't even begin to try to talk her out of it, all he could do was help her through it.

[Volthawk]

Cooper hadn't gotten any mail - the only person that he'd be close enough to for such things would be Isiah, and neither men were the type to do that kind of thing. So instead of sitting down and reading, he wandered the halls, seeing how the others act and react to their letters. On a more practical note, this time was being used to test out the new adaptations his suit had developed, namely a chameleon-like ability that worked well with the stealth abilities his shrinking and skills already provided. Only worked on the naked eye, but it should still prove sufficient (obviously, half the group could see through it, but that was still useful for testing).

The main thing that grabbed his attention right now was the conversation between Sara and Swift (Quinn's conversation seemed to just be some family relationship stuff that interested him very little), so he just lurked around as he listened to the situation. Seeing what Swift's 'alternate arsenal' is was informative, although more or less what was expected. If was better at reading people, he may have been worried at Sara's reaction, but he was not so it didn't concern him much. He decided to chip in now, though. "That helps with Powderkeg. What about the rest? The two of us are equipped already against Shlasbringer if he should appear, but can we get the rest of us protection?"

[The_Admiral]

Turning to Cooper, he nods in greeting as he replied, "Ah can carry an extra gas mask and anyone who wants one can help themselves, however issue is, most of their fightin styles rely on not bein constricted by one, so ah can't rightly ask them ta carry one just in case Shlasbringer's here."

[Volthawk]

Cooper nods. "I have an alternative. Project I've been working on during downtime. Masks using similar concepts as the suit. Not just gas filtering, but independent air supply generated. Also protection from flashes and other visual attacks, and augmented senses. Works off heat signatures from living things, can be used to follow their trails too. Also shouldn't constrain vision and other senses like normal equipment." He pauses. "Got things in this I haven't built into the suit yet. Will do so when I have the time. For now, it interfaces fine enough."

[TekHed]

Much to his chagrin Sascha had received a flurry of letters, mostly fan mail. Of significance, there was one from his mama Lisbeth, who filled him in on what he'd been missing back home. His papa, never much for words of emotion let alone letters didn't have much to say but Lisbeth expressed his beaming pride at his son's success as a pugilist/performer and now war hero adequately enough.

The second was from Nikola, thanking him for all the exposure and the renewed interest in his ideas and inventions. He'd managed to secure himself a new lab assistant and was busy retrofitting Wardenclyffe tower.

Of the rest, he counted no less than 10 offers of courtship or marriage from eligible bachelorettes back home, accompanied by photographs or sealed with a lipsticked kiss. The photos he decorated the walls of his cabin in the Red Cloud with proudly. As well he received 2 different letters expressing interest in a motion picture about his exploits, and making him into a film star. It seemed the Human Dynamo was now in need of an agent.

Sascha didn't really feel the need to share his private correspondence with the others, as if the influx of letters wasn't conspicuous enough. Instead he joined the others, taking a look at the new mask design Cooper had come up with.

"Night before a big fight...always hits the nerves..." he explained, pulling up a chair.

[Nintendogeek01]

Spoiler: DC20 Perception check (hearing)

Show

From the med-bay, where April just locked herself in, you hear the sound of a gasp and a sniffle.

Spoiler: DC25 Perception (hearing

Show

Listening closer you can faintly hear April say "Gomen'nasai Miyamoto."

"Non non my friend," Alain answers in response to Alistair's question about the letter, "A ladies' words to a man are as good as an oaz of trust," he says tucking the letter into a pocket rather hastily. After Alistair's whispering Alain once more shakes his head, "Again I must say non non, I am a man of passion, and my passion would not allow me to do 'urt any lover," he reassures Alistair.

"Alain..." April enters the bridge at this point, apparently finished in the medbay, face grim and serious, "... live long enough and you'll hurt the people you care about whether you want to or not," April says.

"Mozer, what ze 'ell?" Alain is practically incredulous when she says that.

"From what you've been saying you've yet to outlive any of your lover's natural life spans, you've lost them to decidedly unnatural causes, you have yet to know what it's like to not be able to grow old with your partner," she adds.

"Okay, I will take a lot of $#!% from you mozer, but I will not let you just dismiss my late lovers and what we 'ad like zat," Alain tells April as he closes the distance between them until he's standing face to face with her.

"Alain that's..." April sighs, "I didn't mean it like that."

"Zen what did you mean!? Spell it out wizout ze cryptic bull-$#!% for once."

"Alain... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult your love life or judge it, God knows I've had a millenia or so to do worse..." she then briefly smirks, "And better..."

"Hmph, give me a few more decades and whatever record you're not telling me you set and I'll break it," he smirks in return before both their expressions go back to being almost as tense as before.

"Point is Alain, having time to meet people you can share your feelings with is a wonderful thing but you haven't gone through all the pitfalls of it yet, and nothing I say can really ready you for it, agelessness doesn't mean you don't make mistakes."

"Tell me somezing I don't know," he scoffs.

"You'll see," she sighs before Alain wheels around and heads back to the window.

"Non I know about mistakes! Before you and ze ozers vanished at zat 'ouse you asked me to look after Ren. Ze little brat brozer I never knew I 'ad!"

"Excuse you!" April admonished.

"You raise me and teach me for decades, zen leave me alone for two and a 'alf..."

"You said you wanted your space!"

"You were following me around for decades! But zat's not where I was going wiz zis! Looking after Ren was ze first time you really and truly entrusted me wiz somezing important! And I %@$&-ed it up! Roter Adler was right zere and ze best I could do was swing a knife at ze Nazi bastard before he flew off wiz Ren! I %@$&-ed up! Really and truly %@$&-ed up!" Alain takes a few deep breaths while he regains his composure.

There's an awkward silence while the engine hums through the walls and the airship descends before April approaches Alain and she gives him a big hug, the kind mothers would give to relax their hysterical children. After calming down Alain sighs, "You are not telling me to sit zis fight out," he says simply.

"I know, but if it looks like you might get killed back off to recover okay," she tells him. She pats him on the head before heading for the door of that cabin. She looks back over her shoulder as if to say something else but then shakes her head, thinking better of it. Any one of you she passes by she stops, "We've got a bit of a march before we rendezvous, this is a larger force than we've fought before, but by now we've also taken worse danger. Stay focused and come out alive so I can meet you on the other side."

The ship is coming in for a landing, it'll be time to go soon.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Routining the Perception check.

Sara listened as Cooper and Swift discussed the new toys they were providing for the team, that little smirk-that-wants-to-be-a-smile-when-it-grows-up on her face. New toys were fun. She liked new toys.

She was only paying kinda idle attention to Quinn and Alain, but she heard enough that her eyes went that way when Alain assured Quinn that he would never hurt a lover...in reference to Quinn's sister. That got her attention, given her own experience as the subject of a Big Brother Instinct. Then April came out and started talking about how he might be doomed to anyway, and it really didn't matter what Alain was saying because by that point it was like watching a trainwreck about to happen and she couldn't look away.

[Volthawk]

Cooper just watches the ongoing drama, paying some attention as it's the most interesting thing there but not really caring too much. One of Alain's comments near the end gets his attention though, as he lets out a sigh. "The Red Eagle is the fastest known parahuman. Blaming yourself for not stopping him is pointless and stupid. You seem more intelligent than that."

[The_Admiral]

"Ah had better be at tha actual helm fer this" Swift says, excusing himself as he moved revealing a knob on the wall, probably controlling the rudder as he rushed there

[Hyperbolic sine]

It is the "man of passion" bit that makes me doubt... Alistair thought, but before he could say anything April intervenes. And she and Alain start arguing.

Remembering very well the conversation he had with Stigma back when the team head just been established, and knowing he was in no position to say anuthing to any of them, he kept silent throughout the whole thing, instead wondering whether Evelyn actually knew what she was getting herself into: she would wither as the years passed, while Alain would remain young forever...

When the silence falls in the room, Alistair shakes his head to drive away those thoughts. "I...I shall go secure the landing zone. Godspeed, Stigma." he says, before heading for the deck while vanishing from sight and jumping down the Red Cloud to make sure the terrain below was safe - a course of action that had become practically routine, in the last months.

[TekHed]

Things had cooled between April and Sascha since the bombing of London. Aside from the vast difference in age and experience, it just hadn't seemed appropriate to even attempt a courtship while the war still engulfed Europe, and while her son remained captive. For all his ego and pride, he wasn't a heartless narcissist, and while his motivation to fight the nazis had began as a quest for glory, that sheen had been tarnished by the reality of the grim stakes at hand.

Sascha nodded after Cooper's admonition, and placed a hand warmly upon Alain's shoulders.

"He's right. All of us were there, and all of combined couldn't stop them. What's done is done; it's what we do now that matters. We're going to blitz these bastards back to the stone age..."

[Nintendogeek01]

Once Harbinger had confirmed that the landing zone was good for landing, the Red Cloud began descent, and in short order had touched down. Back on the bridge Alain looks to Cooper and Dynamo, "It was not just le Rouge Aigle, maybe I could 'ave 'idden ze little brat better, or gotten ze jump on zat Nazi bastard, still, I can not travel time to stop sem from taking Ren true..." he sighs before pulling out a pistol, "But I can 'elp make sure mozer does not miss 'im a day longer," anyone fast enough to look in her direction will see Stigma flash a brief smile.

After marching a ways through the mild snow covered forests and the cold temperatures the group eventually meets up with the British company as planned. After Stigma and the commanding officer, one Major Bradford, swap tactics, and argue, eventually you and the company move along, riding in the troop transports that are driving along with a few other light combat vehicles, on the trail leading to the enemy base. Nothing that would hold up particularly well against a well-entrenched force like what you're heading for, but then again the slack is what you guys are here for.

In the troop transports there are conversations about home, what they're fighting for, ribbing the soldier sitting next to them for getting too sentimental, nervous laughter, and the few who are triple-checking their weaponry. Heavy and deep breaths are not uncommon as the vehicles draw closer to what they all know could possibly be the last mission of any one of them here. A few of them look to any of you, eyes flickering with fear, hope, respect, or just curiosity; here with them are what the Allied forces have been touting as the key to winning this war, people so different from them but in some ways similar, but they all know that you have a common cause and a common enemy, and he is in that base you are all about to storm.

In time the non-combat vehicles need to be emptied out before they get close enough to become driving targets and looking in the distance you can see what is the first obstacle ahead of you. Two bunkers stationed on either side of a gate with barricades and soldiers patrolling in front of it. There will be more of them behind that checkpoint, but this is what you've been preparing for. It's time to go in guns-blazing and powers dialed to the max. Alarms are going off in the distance, and the German troops in front of the bunker are getting ready.

"Attack...!"

Spoiler: Combat Begins

Show

Okay guys, you are entering Mass Combat! What does that mean as opposed to normal combat? Not too terribly much. The gist of it is that alone these soldiers would be a whole crap ton of minions, but together they form one cohesive unit that has its own attack, damage, and defense stats. And like a single non-minion unit they multiple damage conditions before breaking down. Having said that there are a few important details that differentiate this from fighting a single character.

1. Forces suffer damage conditions differently. They still suffer bruise conditions as normal (though instead of bruised it's called disrupted), but how they react to two or more degrees of failure on toughness saves is slightly different. How they do so I'll let you discover for yourselves as you fight them.
2. Force toughness isn't so much about how they shrug off attacks as opposed to still having the troops left to fight and pick up the slack, damaging the force is the equivalent of incapacitating the individual members of it as you mow them down with your attacks. So maybe a lightning bolt shoots through the ranks or you spray bullets at the lot of them, flavor it up people!
3. If I say there are tanks or bunkers or anything don't panic, those are automatically assumed to be part of the force just like its men are, and they have no mechanical benefit or drawbacks in how they attack you or suffer damage effects; such things are just additional flavor.
4. Combat advantages (such as power attack) work on forces normally, but a large group of soldiers is too numerous and too chaotic to be bluffed, intimidated, or pay much mind to cutting insults.
5. Damaging attacks work normally, in fact area attacks get a +2 circumstance bonus to their damage, additional ranks of area give +1 damage bonus per area rank. (unless the force gets cut down to being much smaller but odds are it'll be destroyed by that point). However if there are multiple large groups (as there are in this case) you won't catch more than one group. Still... it's bonus damage.
6. Non-damaging powers (such as afflictions and weakens) do not affect forces normally without a sufficient area modifier.

You all still suffer damage conditions normally, so that hasn't changed.

Now this is my first attempt at running mass combat so I expect there may be some speed-bumps, all the same I hope for this to be an exciting one. In this particular example you have eight enemy companies to choose from when you attack, but don't worry you do have allies to help you out.

Good luck... I'd hate for you guys to survive the killer house to get killed by a bunch of dudes with guns.

NPC Status:
Stigma: Normal
Alain: Normal
Allied Company: Normal
Enemy Company 1: Normal
Enemy Company 2: Normal
Enemy Company 3: Normal
Enemy Company 4: Normal
Enemy Company 5: Normal
Enemy Company 6: Normal
Enemy Company 7: Normal
Enemy Company 8: Normal

Initiative Order

1. James Swift = 21
2. Enemy Troops
3. Allied NPCs
4. Harbinger = 19
5. Curve = 14
6. David Cooper = 12
7. Human Dynamo = 10

It is James Swift's turn!!!

As before, since we're entering combat try to keep up the posting pace so as not to hold people up.

[The_Admiral]

By the time the order to attack was given, Swift is sitting far away hidden under a snowmound, an electrical compressor piped to his air rifle and a pile of musket balls on the other.

As he heard the order to attack, he keeps an eye out on the battle through the scope as he squeezed off shot after shot, disrupting the efforts of a company to fight back.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Aid Cooper in his melee attack with concentrated sniper fire.
(1d20+19)[36]

[Nintendogeek01]

While the German forces take a moment to figure out where they're being shot at from, the Allied Company charges with guns blazing and a light combat vehicle driving up and pelting the German forces! Unfortunately for the Allied troops, while the shots from Swift pulled their attention away from the approaching bug-man, it did little to stop the German forces from open firing on everything in front of them! Bullets fly from forces behind barricades and from the bunkers alike! Out of the Vanguard Curve is the only one to receive a few bullets, leaving the rest of the bullets to zip past the rest of you, either hitting the ground, or unfortunately, hitting the soldiers behind you.

Yes the Allied company by far and away takes far more hits than the rest of you, but the worst of it is when from one of the bunkers a small projectile is lobbed out, and it strikes one of the Allied combat vehicles, exploding in brilliant flame on impact! The vehicle is tossed into the air where it crushes a few hapless Allied soldiers, who are, for the moment disrupted and screaming for their wounded, the fight has only just begun and already they're losing men fast!

"We haven't begun to fight yet!" Stigma shouts while she pulls out her sword in one hand, and her gun in the other; the latter of which she begins open firing at every soldier in front of her as she dashes forward! One by one, each pull of the trigger brings down a German soldier standing at the barricades.

"Now zis is what I was waiting for!" Alain says with an almost bestial excitement! Ignoring shouts of how insane he is or whatnot Alain charges forward at one of the bunkers on either side of the gate, makes an impressive leap and climb onto it, before hopping right inside. Shouts can be heard from within, and soon Alain is leaping right back out of it!

KAAAABOOOOMMMM...!

The bunker goes up shortly after! "Ah ha ha ha ha...! Come get some you Nazi bastards!" Alain laughs with unrestrained glee! The explosion did seem to strike a chord with a number of forces, both allied and enemy. The Allied soldiers immediately regain their fighting spirit, and those wounded but not dead stand back up ready to continue the fight, they're not out of this yet!

Now it's time to show them how it's done!

Spoiler: Actions Breakdown

Show

Swift: Nice shooting Rex, Cooper will get a +5 circumstance bonus to his next attack check.

Enemy Forces: All enemy companies start peppering everything that's in front of them with what they've got!

• Human Dynamo 14 - Miss!
• Curve 27 - Hit! Curve must make a DC26 toughness save.
• Harbinger 9 - Miss!
• James Swift 18 - Miss!
• David Cooper 15 - Miss!
• Stigma 21 - Miss!
• Alain 17 - Miss!
• Allied Company 12 - Hit! Failed toughness at 11 for disrupted and staggered, succeeded morale check at 17

Allied Company: Spends the turn recovering!

Stigma: Stigma returns fire by power attacking with her revolver for a result of 15 at enemy company 1! Enemy company 1 fails toughness save at 22 by 1 degree for disrupted! Succeed Morale check at 14!

Alain: Jumps into a bunker and starts having some fun with guns and explosives! Okay mechanically he used a melee attack with his knife and got a result of 13 for a hit against enemy company 2! Company 2 fails at 14 for disrupted and staggered! Succeed Morale check at 10!

Spoiler: Round 1

Show

NPC Status:
Stigma: Normal
Alain: Normal
Allied Company: 1 Disrupted
Enemy Company 1: 1 Disrupted
Enemy Company 2: 1 Disrupted, staggered
Enemy Company 3: Normal
Enemy Company 4: Normal
Enemy Company 5: Normal
Enemy Company 6: Normal
Enemy Company 7: Normal
Enemy Company 8: Normal

This fight has only just begun! All Players have their turn now!

[Quellian-dyrae]

Curve | 1 Bruise | 1 HP | 4 Luck

Sara wore a fierce smile as they charged the enemy forces. Her telekinetic pulses knocked most of the bullets flying her way out of the air before they could so much as graze her. One managed to get through, but only with about as much force as a thrown baseball. Nothing she couldn't take.

This was where Sara's powers really shone.

Oh, sure, she was effective enough in the sort of battles they had been facing thus far. Small group skirmishes. She could invest her bullets with additional effective mass, nudge them in the right direction. It was good. But in a battle like this, massed combat, her powers were another matter entirely.

Six pounds of telekinetic force. Always, it came down to that. Sara couldn't exert more than six pounds of force at any one time. But what one had to remember was that what Sara lacked in power, she more than made up for in speed. She sent out several dozen pulses a second, allowing her to ablate incoming attacks and map her surroundings.

"RETURN FIRE!" Sara yelled, before falling back into the company, vanishing among the onrushing soldiers.

Time seemed to slow down as the soldiers began shooting. Sara's eyes, adapted thanks to her powers for tracking movement at extreme speeds, tracing the path of every bullet being fired by Allied troops.

And giving every single one a little nudge.

Spoiler

Show

Move: Along with the company, using Hide in Plain Sight to obscure position among them. (1d20+12)[30].

Standard: Attack with Nudge Shots, Power Attacking for 5, Multiattacking for 4. Toughness DC 24 vs. Damage on a hit. Each attack will repeat over the next two rounds on a miss due to Homing 2.
Company 1: (1d20+5)[14] 12.
Company 2: (1d20+5)[17] 15.
Company 3: (1d20+5)[25] 23. Crit. DC becomes 29.
Company 4: (1d20+5)[23] 21.

[The_Admiral]

Swift winced as bullets flew in his direction. Grabbing his weapons and ammunition he fell back, re-positioning himself in another snowdrift.

Looking through his scope again, he pulls the trigger, attempting to target any signs of command elements.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Athlethics to re-position Swift further, he should be out of their sight.
(1d20+10)[15]

TO HIT
(1d20+9)[22]

DC 22

Shooting at the company on its last legs at the end of the turn..

[Volthawk]

This was rather new to Cooper, this kind of mass combat. Luckily, with his powers, it didn't exactly call for a new set of tactical knowledge. Despite his occupation and knowledge, Cooper always had an appreciation for the rather simple fighting style his powers gave him - become a giant, and get stomping and punching and whatnot. A squadron of Germans was a lot less intimidating from 30 feet up.

Spoiler

Show

Power attacking for 2 (since no PA advantage), aiming at Enemy Company 2
Attack: (1d20+9)[11]
DC 27

[Hyperbolic sine]

Alistair, floating a few inches above the ground, advanced through the poorly aimed rain of bullets and coldly dodged every single one. This was what he was expecting when he joined the war effort: no strange elemental creatures, otherwordly realms, or living houses, but a lot of puny soldiers to crush - more or less literally - under his powers before they got too close to Britain.

He smirks, and raises an open hand towards an enemy company. Time to get a bit theatrical...he went all the way to think up a codename, might as well try to use it to bolster the Allied troops' morale.

"I am Harbinger." he states coldly, with a stentorian voice loud enough for at least some of them to hear.

"Wherever I shall go..."

In the middle of the targeted company, the air starts to flicker.

"...their defeat shall follow."

With that, he abruptly closes the palm of his hand and the space distortion folds upon itself, becoming a pitch black spot hovering in midair, starting to attract everything in a radius of several tens of foot - men and machines alike, to be torn apart by the unthinkable forces inside the singularity, never to be seen again...

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Move: with the rest of the soldiers, I suppose.
Standard: targeting Company #TBD with Singularity. Damaging Move Object 8, Dodge for half. It has +3 bonus to Damage due to Area 2, but I don't know if it also applies to other aspects so I'll refrain from writing the DCs this time.

The target is the most injured company with no allies engaged in melee with it.