Teocawki Thread One: Hope Academy

[Zelphas]

Teocawki. A world beset by literal monsters and cursed with a sea of life-leeching mist. Out on the fringes of human habitation, and even in some places well within human territory, any day could be the last for a hapless community. Homanity’s future on Teocawki would be bleak indeed… if not for one other thing:

Heroes.

Heroes, who defend the islands that humanity has reclaimed from their hostile world. Heroes, who constantly research and explore, pushing humanity to greater lengths and heights. Heroes, who fight the monsters and villains alike so that the average person can go about their lives without worry. With Teocawki’s Heroes Guild, humanity remains united and strong, and a future that should be dark as death shines brightly ahead. Certainly, there are still hardships and struggles; on the edge of humanity’s reach, the monsters known as “Tribs” can still overrun whole settlements, sowing death and despair. But these occurrences are growing rarer, and common opinion holds that humanity, and the Heroes Guild, are now more prepared than ever for whatever their hostile world will throw at them.

The fools.


The day of the Hope Academy Entrance Exam dawned bright and clear, the air carrying with it the hint of coming snowfall—practically balmy weather to those from the Outer Ring and the Magellans, though those from the Inner Ring would consider this a fine mid-autumn day. Of course, you didn’t get to enjoy much of the fresh air; from your meeting point at the Hope City docks early in the morning, you and all fifty-odd of your fellow Hope Academy hopefuls are bundled into a small, windowless airship shuttle. Shortly afterwards, you are let out… into the loading deck of another, much larger airship, this one also seeming to lack windows. The room you are led to is nice enough, with a carpeted floor and a snacks table over on one wall, though it seems like it was made to fit twice the number of people inside it; people quickly end up clustering into small groups or spaced out along the wall, watching the rest.

After several minutes here, people have gotten a little restless. Some choose to blow off this steam by showing off their powers, while others are making new friends or simply eating more than they probably should. In short, typical reactions from a group of teenage super-powered individuals when all clustered together. No one seems to be quite sure what they’re waiting for.

Connor

There are only a few earthen materials that you can sense, so high in the air. Somewhere behind you and to the left, you can distantly feel the thrum of the huge Flux crystal that’s allowing this airship to carry all of you aloft, and your senses lit up suddenly a few minutes ago when a boy next to you turned into some kind of marble statue, but otherwise the only continuous earth you’ve felt near you is your collection of Ashpah dirt. Just recently, however, you’ve noticed some other dirt formations, far beneath your feet. They’re far enough away that you can’t quite tell the shape of them; they could be buildings or tall hills.

Spoiler: Perception DC 15

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The earth underneath you is roughly rectangular, and it has been shaped by an Earth Elementalist recently. It’s most likely a building, though the fact that someone shaped it only a few days ago at the latest is somewhat odd.

Back inside the airship, it seems that you have somehow gained your own personal bubble. People seem to be giving you a wide berth, and you catch a few dark looks in your direction. It looks like some of the people here know your last name, and the story behind it. One group of three seem especially mutinous; they keep casting you angry looks, and you thought you heard one of them mutter something like “show him what we think of his family…"

Spoiler: Connor

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Gain a Hero Point for your Berg Family Complication.

Erica

At some point, you and your brother got separated in the crowd, but he should be rather easy to find; the perks of an empathic connection! You’ve ended up near the snack table, right by where a few Transformers seem to have gathered, using their alternate forms to pack away more food than a human should normally be able to eat. A little farther away, a familiar (salon-Enhanced) platinum-blonde head flips her hair theatrically, delivering a punchline of some sort that leaves her group of hangers-on reeling with laughter. Even though you’re fairly sure she didn’t come here with anyone she knew (besides you), it doesn’t seem to have taken long for Nancy Keroack to find ‘friends’.

Enough about her, though; you have a mystery to solve! You’ve noticed that every time you look away from the snacks table, some of the food goes missing. You’ve checked, and the Transformers aren’t eating it, and no one else is close enough to have been taking food manually. You haven’t felt any supernatural pilfering going on, so the question remains: who’s nabbing the food?

Spoiler: Erica

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Take a Hero Point for your Insatiable Curiosity Complication.

Roy

While Erica’s over at the snack table, you’ve found yourself somewhere in the middle of the room, surrounded by fellow teenagers in various stages of nervousness and excitement. Luckily for you, it seems that Bernhard Silado has decided to ignore you for the time being; at least, you haven’t seen him since boarding the airship, so who knows what he’s up to right now.

Most of the people around you are expressing their nerves in various harmless ways; talking too loudly, showing off their powers in little, flashy bursts, stuff like that. Your attention is caught, however, by a burst of unpleasant laughter from a small group nearby. The laughter is familiar; the signature mocking guffaw of a bully humiliating a victim. Looking over, you can see a girl with one hand clamped over her mouth, the other reaching out for an odd mask-like device held nonchalantly in the hand of a boy who zips backwards a few feet with superhuman speed whenever she gets close, leading the girl around in a circle to the laughter of his compatriots to either side.

Spoiler: Perception DC 20

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There’s some sort of gas leaking from behind the girl’s hand, where her mouth should be. It’s grey-green, and seems heavier than air, and… well, it’s probably not very healthy, judging by the look of panic on her face.

Spoiler: Roy

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Take a Hero Point for your Those Within My Reach… Complication.

Serhe

If this upcoming exam deals with combat against your fellow hopefuls, you’re feeling pretty confident. More than half of the people here have shown off their powers in one way or another, and more keep doing so every minute. The amount of Transformers in the group is slightly worrisome, but they only seem to take up a little less than a quarter of the group, so you have good odds.

Besides, as he was so fond of reminding you, “Annihilus” passed his Hope Academy Entrance Exam with flying colors. There’s no way you’re going to do worse.

“Nihilo, right?” A short girl with oddly familiar features abruptly comes up to you, interrupting your survey of the room. She pushes back long brown hair and looks you over, obviously unimpressed. “Doireann Kelemen, Riptide’s little sister. You being Annihilus’ brother, I’ll admit I expected someone more… impressive.” Ah. Now it makes sense. Riptide was one of Annihilus’ Cell, a powerful water and air elementalist.

Spoiler: Serhe

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Take a Hero Point for your Shadow of Greatness Complication.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Yes, Erica had definitely got accidentally separated from Roy in the crowd and in no way made any sort of beeline, immediate or otherwise, straight for the snacks. This was clear and obvious to everyone who knew her. But while she was in the area...

She was dividing her attention between the snacks and the kids showing off their powers. And she'd be honest, she dearly wanted to show off hers. She knew it was maybe kinda immature and all but what could she say? After spending her formative years watching other kids show how they could things like lift a refrigerator or run to the wall and back in two seconds or fly and having a choice between "sit quietly and hope no one notices" or "I can make my dolly dance", showing off her powered armor was as enticing as that plate of chocolate chip cookies.

But Erica's armor remained in the form of the loose, flowing white-and-sky-blue garment that seemed uncertain whether it wanted to be called a dress or a robe. It wasn't a matter of maturity or discipline (as evidenced by the chocolate chip cookie she was unabashedly munching). It was a matter of waiting for the right moment. She had been waiting years for this, and was not going to ruin it by jumping the gun.

She spotted Nancy in her surveying, and despite the instinctive stress response that was her body's default reaction to seeing her, some insane part of Erica actually told her she should go over and say hello. She hadn't seen much of Nancy since coming to Hope (although their parents remained in contact), and their...issues had been a long time ago. She should really make a fair effort to bury the hatched and start off fresh, especially if they were going to be classmates. Heck, far as she knew, they could even end up Cell-mates!

But before Erica could muster up her bravery, she was distracted by a puzzle! A puzzle, says I! A mystery that demanded a solution, and any thoughts of making contact with her childhood bane would have to be set aside until this challenge had been resolved!

Who was nabbing the food? Erica reviewed the snack table with an observant eye. No clue would escape her knowing gaze! No single crumb, literal or otherwise(!) of evidence would elude her notice!

~...Okay, someone's making the snacks disappear. Taking bets. Telekinesis, teleportation, invisibility, super-speed...?~ she sent to her brother, because life was better when it included a rambling telepathic commentary. ~Someone hiding under the table?~ A true investigator never overlooks even the most unlikely of possibilities!

Spoiler

Show

Routine Investigation for 26 to search the snack table for clues!

[herodofcows]

Connor sits alone, his bag of True Ashpah's micaceous clay leaning on his rucksack as a combined makeshift bench and palisade against the rest of the mass of humanity with whom he is currently sharing the airship. His cane lies on the floor next to him as he carefully picks his way through a paper plate full of sliced meats and crackers and fruits. He doesn't recognize all of the food on the snack table, and so each foreign product is met with a careful sniff and a cautious bite.

He didn't want to admit it, but most of it was very good.

Of course these Inner Ring types would keep the best for themselves . . .

As he eats, he can feel the approach of earth and rock far below. His heart leaps a little at the feeling: Ashpah's clay and the odd bursts of creative terrageneration could only keep him calm or sustained for so long. This, though . . .

<Hello there?> he asks, reaching out with his own terrakinesis, <My name is Connor Berg, and I come from True Ashpah. It's lovely to meet ye! Can ye tell me what ye are?>

He listens, and he can almost feel the ground beginning to open up, to tell him more about itself and how it wishes to lie and rise and be shaped.

<Well, look at that! You've been shaped, and shaped new too! I wonder why that is? Have ye schist within ye? Sand or silt or stone or clay? My homeland is full of clay, and micah, and no small bit of bog iron. I wonder what ye'll have within ye? I cannot wait to find->


“. . . show him what we think of his family . . . "

The muttered words seem to his his ear like a slung stone, and his eyes snap open. Looking around, he notices the space around him, the looks . . . It's not unlike the looks that he used to suffer in True Ashpah, back when he first started working. He'd won them over eventually, by force of a disciplined good nature and hard work . . .

. . . and look how THAT turned out in the end . . .

. . . but right here, right now, he can't bring himself to turn a friendly face.

"Oh aye?" he growls, smiling a lemon-sour smile as he turns in his seat to face the whisperers, "And what may that be, that which ye're thinkin'?"

With exaggerated care, he gets to his feet and walks over to them, leaning heavily on his cane.

Clack . . . Clack . . . Clack . . .

"Come on, now!" he smiles, approaching ever closer, "What're yer thoughts on my family? Say 'em loud! Can't be leavin' the others in the dark, them as hasn't set mind nor foot beyond the Inner Ring!"

Clack . . . Clack . . . Clack . . .

He stops just in front of them, still smiling a vinegar smile.

"Go on then! Tell me . . . what do ye think of my family?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Connor is gonna try to Intimidate this fool. Specifically, I'm going in for a Coerce, to at least attempt to keep the peace until we land.

(1d20+8)[15]

[Arcran]

The fact that the airship had no windows unnerved Serhe more than it should have. While he completely understand the why behind it, he'd been rather looking forward to sitting by a window, Enhancing his eyes, and just watching the scenery go by below. It was what he'd normally done in airships, albeit with the added step of hiding as far from Tarro as possible.

Instead, Serhe contents himself with leaning against the wall, watching people around the room with a keen focus. After all, if he was going to make half the impact that Tarro had, he would need at least have a basic idea of the powers of each and every person in the room. It didn't need to be horribly in depth, but just knowing whether the big burly kid was an Enhancer or a Paragon would be very nearly the difference between life and death.

Fortunately, it seemed like nobody else had the same thought as Serhe, and he was rapidly able to pick up on the powers for a good number of the group. All he had to do was sit and wait and, soon enough, he'd have enough to know how to beat everybody in the room. Simple enough, right?

Serhe was just starting to feel confident in his odds when he heard somebody come up to him. His eyes flew up and down the figure, taking in as many details as possible.

Come on you idiot, how the hell do you not know her? Serhe thinks to himself, mentally berating himself. She was so familiar, but he couldn't quite place the figure...

That is, until she mentions her sibling. Serhe's face visibly sours as she begins their relationship with an insult, although that quickly turns into a smirk. After all, she was here to get a rise out of him, right? Create some sort of rivalry, where Riptide could show up Annihilus by proxy through his siblings.

Unfortunately for Doireann, Serhe had years of training when it came to dealing with somebody trying to provoke him. Slowly and intently, Serhe looks up and down Doireann, before giving a soft chuckle.

I'm sorry, Serhe says, doing his best to adopt a coddling tone, like one would use with a toddler spouting nonsense. I didn't even notice you. I'm so embarrassed; you noticed somebody so obviously unimpressive as me, but I didn't even recognize Rolltide's sister, Serhe says, intentionally messing up her sibling's name. Serhe keeps eye contact the entire time, and attempts to maintain the slight smirk as he does so.

[Thokk_Smash]

It is with idle concentration that Roy feels his sister make a mad dash beeline for the snack table. A byproduct, both fortunate and unfortunate, of a life spent worrying over the both of them against crowds of people. Their time within the Inner Ring had made him less wary of crowds of kids his age, but years of life-learned lessons aren't so easily forgotten.

Without a wall to lounge against, he opts instead to place his hands in his pockets and fiddle with a little trinket he'd made to keep his attention. Something to fidget with when bored, with a little spinning bit on it...now if only he knew what to call it, he could set it up for market. Anyway, as he fidget spins (hmm...nah, it'd never stick) he scans the teenagers around him through the visor around his eyes. A transparent Flux crystal inset near the forehead glows softly as he watches his potential opponents in the entrance exam. One hand raises, both to sweep back the messy brown hair from his eyes and mask the crystal's glow.

There is the urge to show off, of course. Even without going full armor-mode, there are bits of his utility crystal he could make a show of. He refrains, mostly because showing off before the main event could give the other teens something on him to use against him--or his sister. The fact that this is hardly the stage for such a dramatic reveal is, of course, the other half of his reasoning.

Also, he'll admit, his extensive surveying of the area is a way to spot Bernhard before the other boy spots him. His relationship with Bernhard Silado is...complicated, and simple at the same time. Roy's biggest bully, and a great driving force; a long-standing tormentor, yet an amazing rival. Bernhard hadn't been thrilled to hear that Roy had gotten a letter as well, although Roy is glad that he's seen fit to leave Roy alone for the most part.

His internal musings are cut short at the sickeningly familiar laughter nearby. He knows even before he turns what he will find: a tormentor, a bully, a craven coward masking insecurities with picking on others. He takes in the scene in a single glance: a seemingly-gaudy mask, worn out of necessity; a speedster, fast enough to unmask the poor victim without warning; the confident swagger of one assured of their "superiority".

Roy had tried to step into situations such as these early in life, when he was too young to control his impulse for justness. As he'd grown, he'd gotten a better hold on his knee-jerk reaction to such things, managing to swallow down any anger and just pass by. He'd tell himself he would do something, someday.

Well, if not today, then when?

~"Happy hunting, sis,"~ he thinks back to Erica. ~"Save me a cookie, huh?"~

Putting on his vaguely unhinged grin, he walks toward the tormentor and his posse. "Wa ha ha ha!" he bellows his laughter, overblown and exaggerated, meant to deride and catch the ear. "Yes, good show, man! That'll teach her to wear a protective mask meant to protect others!"

He continues his wide laughter until he's within arm's reach of the speedster. "Or perhaps you'd like to get a mouthful of the gas seeping through her fingers?" he asks, less loud but no less intense. "She'd probably be able to easily take that back from you, if she cared as little for those around her as you do and stopped covering her mouth. We are heading for an academy for Heroes, after all. One has to wonder what you're doing here, since that's the case."

[Zelphas]

Erica

Your intensive search comes up with very little; the dastardly snack-thief is unfortunately not hiding under the table, or behind one of the support beams nearby, or within the group of hungry Transformers (not even next to the were-sabre-tooth-tiger who is patiently explaining to the werewolf that they are not, in fact, "basically the same"). Throughout your search, more snacks go missing, seeming to vanish every time you blink.

As you move around the table, however, you bump into... no, wait, there's nothing there. You hear a murmured apology...or was that the wind. Out of the corner of your eye, you see a potato chip rise up from the snack table and disappear with a crunch that seems to fade from your memory as soon as you register it.

What were you thinking about?

Connor

When you reach out to the earth beneath you, you get an immediate reply: WE ARE GRANITE. WE WERE DRAWN UP, TOLD NOT TO FALL AND BREAK THE- at this point, the Elemental sends a burst of untranslatable sound at you. You have encountered something similar to this before, from other Elementals when they come into contact with Supernaturalist power. MUST WE NOT FALL DOWN? MUST WE NOT BREAK THE ---?

Your staredown against the threesome muttering against you has drawn the attention of a small crowd, which seem to be quickly forming a circle around you. Two of the whisperers, a young man whose hair seems to be blowing despite a lack of a breeze in the room and a woman who looks completely normal as far as you can tell, take one look at you and back off, melding into the growing crowd. Oddly enough, The man seems to have been convinced by the fact that you're carrying a cane.

The last person who was whispering, a giant of a man, seems undeterred. "I think," the man says, turning fully to face you, "That your family tore Ashpah to pieces and then joined the wolves to pick apart its bones." As he spoke, your earth senses suddenly ping; small patches of some sort of thin, extremely sharp stone seem to be forming at the man's knees, elbows, toes, and fingers. "If your family had any decency, they would have shown it by running off to the Magellans, where they could at least pretend they were helping by dying in the middle of a failed Reclaiming, instead of weaseling their way back into power."

Serhe

Doireann smiles thinly at your response, the expression never reaching her icy blue eyes. "Charming. I had considered seeing if you were worth pairing up with in this exam, but I don't need someone that I'll have to carry. Who knows? If you manage to scrape through this exam... well, you're definitely no Annihilus, but at least that would prove that you're worth something."

Spoiler: Insight DC 15

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She's angrier than she's letting on, but it's not because of you saying her brother's name wrong--she actually thought that was kind of funny. No, she seemed to bristle the most when you said "didn't even notice you"... someone's got a Napoleon complex.

Roy

Your laughter throws the speedster off his footwork; he stumbles, and the girl almost manages to grab her mask back before he recovers. He turns to you, a mocking smile on his face... which seems to wilt in response to your continued intensity. He looks as though he's about to answer back hotly, before glancing around and noticing that his group of friends all seem to have mysteriously disappeared. "Fine then. I was just joking around; no harm done." In a flash, the speedster is gone, the girl's mask safely in her outstretched hand.

Spoiler: Insight DC 20

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When you questioned why the speedster was here, he became extremely angry... and a little bit ashamed. You might have touched a nerve, there.

The girl quickly reattaches the mask to her face, the covering connecting with a low hiss as she snaps it into place. She turns to face you, pushing thick greenish-black hair out of her violently green eyes. "Thanks," she says, the buzz from her mask nearly hiding a faint accent that marks her as someone from one of the far Outer Ring Islands or the Magellans. "Nauseating several of my possible classmates probably wouldn't have been a great start to my Hope Academy Career. I'm Elita Coste."

[Quellian-dyrae]

If Erica hadn't been paying such close attention, she might not have noticed. But looking around for inconsistencies, the ones she found were more mental in nature, not physical. Memory obscurement. ...That was disorienting.

~Okay! It looks like it's some form of memory obscurement. Probably a passive memory concealment, since they seem to be invisible as well and that's a shorter jump, although I haven't ruled out active memory modification. Can you do me a favor and remind me of this in like a minute?~ If it were passive, she'd remember her own thoughts on the subject. But if it were active, such memories could likewise be erased.

"So, the whole can't-be-remembered thing is super-cool and all, but would you mind turning it off? It's a bit disorienting," she requested of the general area around her, taking one of the water bottles and setting it nearer. "If you can't turn it off, you can indicate that by laying the water bottle on its side," she added, making a mental note, If that water bottle is lying on its side and I don't know why, it means that I'm talking to someone whose power prevents others from creating memories of them, and they can't turn it off.

Of course, if it were an active power and the user was trying to mess with her, the probable response would be erasing her memories of having figured it out. Which a reminder from her brother would counter, unbeknownst to the memory manipulator barring more advanced mind-reading capabilities. At which point she could come up with a new plan of action.

[Arcran]

Serhe's face visibly darkens when Doireann speaks. While he'd done the exact same thing to her moments before, being nothing compared to the legend that is Annihilus was, well, a bit of a sore spot.

That said, Serhe couldn't help but relate to the girl slightly. If he was right, his little jab had hit a little more at home than he was expecting, meaning that there was a very good chance that the two of them had something in common: the desire to never, ever hear their siblings' names said in reverence again. Of course, there was a very good chance that Doireann had a wonderful, exceptionally powerful talent, just like her older brother, and simply was self-conscious about her height. Even if that was the case, she and Serhe had the same goal: stick out from the crowd. Still, he didn't particularly like the girl...

Serhe clears his throat, somewhat awkwardly, and decides to just go for it. He needed friends, and who better than somebody who had the same delightful upbringing as him?

Of course I'm no Annihilus, just like you're no Riptide, Serhe says, locking eyes with Doireann. If I was, I'd be blowing up half the flux crystals on this ship just for the hell of it. I'd get away with it too, since a great power makes you a golden child, Serhe says, the bitterness in his tone souring the air itself. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be compared to spend the next few years being constantly compared to my brother. I'm not going to sit happily in his shadow like a good little sibling, Serhe adds, his eyes narrowing. And for some reason I feel like you feel the same.

I'm going to beat everybody in these trials. If you want to team up, I can promise everybody going up against us will have a hard time keeping up, and for the first time in your life people will talk about you, not Riptide. I might not be as flashy as Annihilus, but I have my tricks.

Deal? Serhe says, extending a hand.

[Thokk_Smash]

Roy scoffs at the speedster's back--anything he'd wanted to say had been precluded by the fast-moving boy speeding away. Part of him is glad that it had only taken a bit of opposition to get the kid to back down. His affected persona had done most of the job there, to his amusement. There is a minority of his mind, though, that almost wishes the boy had spoken back. 'No harm done', maybe, but that doesn't mean it was a joke. Roy only hopes the future may provide another chance to correct the boy's attitude; he hardly believes he's sorry for his actions.

But! There is a piece of technology to marvel at! "Think nothing of it!" he says loudly, still maintaining his affectation. His expression is not angry, but still more intense than normal even for Teocawki, as he closes in on the girl's mask. He keeps some distance, but he is still close enough to be a bit discomforting. "I am Roy Stonesmith. And it would have been that child's fault, if nothing else."

He examines the mask as he continues to talk, "What excellent craftsmanship, Elita--if I may call you Elita? Did you craft this yourself? I am a tinkerer, myself, is the reason I ask."

Meanwhile, in his mind, he gives an impish mental grin. ~"Hey, Erica, don't forget about the memory-manipulator,"~ he thinks, about ten seconds after her request. Just a few short seconds later, he thinks, ~"Hey, Erica, how's that memory-manipulator doing?"~ Rinse and repeat at intervals more frequent than she'd requested, just for the funsies.

[herodofcows]

Connor's eyes flicker over the remaining antagonist. His mode of dress and accent are enough to suggest that he's from the Outer Ring, so it's not as though he can be dismissed as some rich priss with a head full of history . . .

. . . and some kind of terrakinetic himself, to boot . . .

. . . And admit it to yerself, Berg, he thinks ruefully to himself, F'r all yer bluster, he's not far off . . .

He inhales deeply through his nose, willing his pride down. Today is not a day for making enemies.

"Ye're not half-wrong about my ancestry, I'll give ye that," he declaims, still loud enough that anyone listening would have no trouble hearing, "I've the blood of bastards and despots in my veins, sure as the Mists burn. Ashpah's scarred and scarred deep because of Fissure and his ilk. I've no mind nor need to defend him.

"But I will say this: just as Fissure's blood poisons my veins, likewise am I kin to hard workers and just lawmen. I got hatred for the works of Fissure and his band of cronies with my mother's milk, and that's a lesson I'll never forget. Aye, we Bergs broke Ashpah, but damned if we won't fix it.

"THAT's why I'm here, my man: my blood is heavy with debt, and I've come to repay it. Hope Academy is my best way o' learnin' such as will fix the wounds dealt to my people by my kin, else I'd still be in the mines without a soul to bother me.

"So, that puts the decision on YE, friend: Will ye let me carry my burden peaceful-like, or will ye be lookin' to rouse me blood and bring out me great-grandfather? For I'll say this; Connor Berg has ne'er struck first, and not a thousand slanders on my family will change that. So either ye can take that swing ye're thinkin' on, or ye can take me declaration in earnest and leave. Me. BE."

. . . All right, today is mostly not a day for making enemies.

Spoiler: OOC

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If I'm allowed to routine this retrospectively, Persuasion is 18. If it's too late, it's a 10.

[Zelphas]

Erica

A gasp becomes the whisper of nonexistent wind. A timid voice whispers, "Did you notice..." before fading away... but a moment later, you remember it.

There's a water bottle in front of you, on its side. It takes a moment of struggle, but you eventually remember seeing it topple over slowly, seemingly of its own accord. A few moments of struggle more and you have a hazy impression of someone standing in front of you, even though your eyes, ears, and even nose tell you that nothing's there. They seem to be waiting.

Serhe

Doireann looks you over for a moment, still wearing her thin smile. Finally, she takes your hand in a quick, firm handshake. "Tell you what," she says after letting go of your hand. "If this is a team thing, I'd still rather not end up on teams with you right away; the comparisons to our siblings would just get stronger from that. How about a truce, instead? I won't attack you or otherwise try to sabotage your chances in this exam, and you agree to the same for me. After the exam... we can reevaluate our terms."

Roy

Elita seems uncomfortable with your close proximity, ducking her head down and moving back a few steps as you come closer. Your questions take her somewhat by surprise. "My--oh. Yes, I built it--well, mostly," she says finally. "The first few models were just basic stuff that an Enhancer in my village made for me, but my power would make his stuff break down all the time, so I started to--"

Her voice cuts out as one of the canisters on her mask suddenly vents out a small jet of steam with a hiss. Elita holds up one finger for a moment before reaching and popping out the hissing canister with one hand, the other hand reaching into a small bag tied at her belt and pulling out an identical canister. The new canister is slotted back into her mask with a metallic click, while the old canister slides into a ring set into her belt on the right side. Three other canisters are similarly slotted into rings nearby. "--to build my own stuff with what I could find," she continues smoothly after her operation is finished. "It's not perfect, but I can breathe fine most days and almost never make people around me throw up by accident anymore, so I suppose it works. Do you make things then, too? You don't look like you have much on you."

Connor

The crowd stills at your speech, faces flicking between you and the giant man who insulted you periodically. For a long, tense moment, you aren't sure whether the man is going to attack or draw back, but just before he opens his mouth you get your answer; the thin blades of stone in his body vanish from your earthen senses all at once. "Big words, Berg," the man growls, rolling his shoulders. "But words can't wash off the blood on your family's hands. There's no point in crushing you now; all that would get me is expelled before class even started. I'll put you down in the entrance exam, instead." He turns away from you and looks out over the crowd. "Did you come here to gawk at two people talking?Get out of my way." Roughly, he brushes past the crowd and out of sight.

A moment after the man turns away, something... strange brushes across your awareness. It appears only for a moment, swooping past high above the ship and then away again, but you could have sworn that a cluster of rocks just flew past the airship. Your connection to the Elementals in the rocks was tenuous, even in that brief moment; something seemed to be blocking the connection. All you got was a wave of slow, earthen anger.

[Quellian-dyrae]

~...Thank you brother,~ Erica sent back, in a sort of sing-song deadpan.

"I mean, barely. It takes...non-trivial concentration. I'm Erica, by the way. What's your...wait, no, that won't work. Here, wait," Erica slung her bag off her shoulder, rooting around in it and coming out with a pencil and notebook, setting them down on the snack table. "There we go! So, what's your name? Also, wow that power has to be something of a hassle, yeah? You can't turn it off at all? How does, like, your family deal with it? Do people just get better able to deal with it over time? Or do you just write a lot of notes or something? Given the mental and illusory aspects, I assume it's Supernatural?"

...Yeeeaaah, Erica kinda tended to go a little overboard on the questions. Side effect of being both very outgoing and very curious.

[Arcran]

I can agree with that, Serhe says, taking Doireann's hand. Can't have people think we're just Annihilus and Riptide 2.0, after all, the boy continues, nodding slightly. Still, I can be subtle. Maybe I'll throw a little help your way, if you need it, Serhe says with what could almost be mistaken for a confident grin.

I look forward to ignoring you, Serhe says with the same stupid grin. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm a little hungry, the boy says, giving an awkward wave goodbye as he makes his way over to the snack table. Of course, you're free to come if you want, he adds awkwardly, not quite sure how to act.

[Thokk_Smash]

~"You are most welcome, sister,"~ Roy says, sounding satisfied.

"FFfffffffascinating," Roy proclaims, drawing out the first syllable at Elita's obviously-practiced routine. "Does it ever happen that you run out of those canisters? What happens if you can't replace a filled canister fast enough?" He starts to think of a half-dozen other questions pertaining to her gas powers, but visibly restrains himself: she might not be comfortable giving potential intel to a potential enemy, after all. Instead, he asks, "Does the gas impair your breathing, or is it that the mask can constrict your breathing sometimes? I'd be more than willing to help you improve on it, if you'd let me."

Although it may seem that he's ignoring her question, since she'd asked it he'd been subtly showing off one of his more proud inventions. Beginning as a pair of sleek, bulky gauntlets on his belt. He puts them on and moves them to catch the light, showing off the craftsmanship and work of it. Then he puts the palms together as he continues to question her intently. His fingers and wrists begin to move in some sort of pattern, and the gauntlets quickly begin to shift and change shape. After a mere split second there are twin pistols in his hands, where once were gauntlets covering them.

"It's quality, not quantity, El," he declares with a roguish wink.

[herodofcows]

Connor nods as the other gentleman stalks off.

Lovely. Already feels just like home . . .

He limps over to the snack table, not bothering with a plate as he goes for a hunk of cheese. His mind is elsewhere, though: what was going on with the rock outside?

<Begging yer pardon, but what manner of goings-on are these? Are ye from below, or taken elsewhere? Are ye called by another through talk or by Supernatural command? I've nothing to ask but information, sure . . .>

"Takes all kinds, aye?" he pipes up to the gentleman that just approached the snack table.

Spoiler: Arcran

Show

Im having him talk to Serhe but no pressure to respond if it interferes with your scene!

[Zelphas]

Erica

It takes a little less concentration this time to see the pencil lift up and write on the notebook. The pencil writes only for a short time before setting down; looking over, it seems that the mysterious person has written only two words:

I'm Nobody.

At that moment, there is a slight distraction in the form of a man appearing down the snack table in a gust of wind.

Serhe

Doireann shrugs. "I won't say no to free help." She turns back towards the crowd. "How will we ignore each other if we both go to the same place?" It's... difficult to tell if she's making a joke or not. "I'm going to do some more networking. We'll talk after the exam... if you make it through."

Your journey over to the snack table is uneventful, and you're able to grab a good assortment of snacks with no problem. There's a slight interruption as another of the people in the room addresses you... followed by a slightly larger interruption as a man appears out of thin air right next to you, accompanied by a gust of wind.

Roy

Elita blinks, seeming almost dazed by the barrage of questions. "The mask stops working then, so I always carry enough canisters... um, I suffocate? I'd take off the mask before that happens... It's the mask, mostly, and... no. I'd rather not risk--I mean, it's kind of important..." She seems relieved when you change the subject by turning your gauntlets into guns. "Oh, that's Enhancing work, isn't it?" she says, seemingly torn between leaning in and leaning away. "I'd better not get too close... What ammo does it use? How do you store it? What--"

Elita is interrupted by a commotion occurring at the far end of the room.

Connor

As you reach out towards the cluster of rocks in the air, you feel a gust of wind from behind you and a strong hand claps your shoulder. Looking back, you can see a tall, middle-aged man with weather-beaten brown skin and thick grey hair, looking down at you with stormy grey eyes. "Full marks for observation, lad," the man says in a deep, warm voice, "But you don't want to go losin' any points before the exam's begun, do ye? Leave those Elementals sleep for now, and pay attention to the podium." He points towards the far end of the room.

Everyone

At the far end of the room, opposite the snack table, there are a few screams and some scrambling as a section of the floor suddenly splits open with a hiss, opening into a rectangle of space roughly the size of a small stage. A platform rises up out of the floor with the same low hiss, filling the open space and rising slightly above floor level. Atop this new raised platform is a tall man with shoulder-length golden hair, glowing amber eyes, and a superhuman physique that all of you recognize as Glory, Censor for the city of Hope and the public face of Hope Academy. To Glory's left is a short, thin woman with mouse-brown hair and dull grey eyes, wearing oddly bland clothes that would not look out of place anywhere in Teocawki. With a wink and a gust of air, the tall man shoots away from Connor's side and lands at Glory's right side.

Spoiler: Expertise (Heroes) DC 25

Show

You can't be certain, as no depictions of her exist, but judging by her bland clothes and her place next to Glory, you think that this might be the Hero Doctor Proxy, a Supernaturalist who is a genius at stealth and creating simple enchanted constructs for reconnaissance and communication.

"Future Heroes!" Glory booms, his voice carrying easily across the room despite a lack of any visible amplifier. "Welcome to the entrance exam for Hope Academy!"

[Quellian-dyrae]

Erica...elected to assume that was their codename. Based on the capital letter. "Well, it's nice to meet-" she began, before being interrupted.

"Ooh, gotta go, later!" she said quickly and quietly after Glory spoke, hastily putting her notebook back in her bag and slipping over to where her brother was, her heart starting to pound with excitement and a bit of anxiusness. If the test was starting now they needed to be together. For Reasons.

~Okay here we go here we go!~ she sent as she got near, trying with very little success to keep the grin from her face. ~Oh! Who's your friend? ...What's with the crazy mask?~ she asked as she passed him a little paper plate with the previously-requested cookie.

[Thokk_Smash]

Roy showed a bit of disappointment at her declination of his help, though perhaps not for the reason she might think. If she really can't turn off her power, and that mask is needed to A.) let her live among people and B.) allow her to kick a** as a Hero, then she deserves to not run the risk of suffocating while using it, however small the risk. Still, he doesn't comment on it and instead beams as she asks about his weapon.

"Nonsense, take a look," he declares, moving the guns closer to her so she can see them easier. "They fire a special compound with a painful impact that expands into a constricting mass upon impact, my own special blend. As for storage, well--"

The commotion from afar interrupts him, and he ends with a grin, "Trade secret. Ask me again after the test, maybe we could swap notes."

Roy is also buzzing with barely-contained excitement as Erica joins them. "Awesome, awesome!" he sing-songs, gratefully taking the plate and chowing down on the cookie. "Elita, this is my sister, Erica. Erica, this is Elita Coste, my new frie-quaintence."

~"Easy now, sis,"~ he thinks to her, although his mental voice is hardly more calm than hers is. ~"Elita's a Transformer who makes gas from her mouth, but she can't turn it off, so she wears the mask to keep from hurting others. Some jacka** had ripped it off and was taunting her with it before I stepped in."~

[Arcran]

Serhe whipped his head around at the gust of wind, before seeing a large man holding the other's shoulder. He was about to say something when the man soomed off, vanishing as quickly as he'd appeared. You know him? Serhe begins, before the commotion at the front cuts him short.

When the heroes appear, Serhe can't help but steal a sidelong glance at Doireann to see how she was responding. While he only recognizes Glory, he assumed the others on stage had to be famous.

As things begin, Serhe begins to rapidly looking around, hoping for some hints about what the exam could be.

Spoiler

Show

Analytical, Darkvision, Rapid, Extended Vision
Perception: (1d20+18)[29]

[Quellian-dyrae]

Erica gave a little wave and friendly smile to Elita, not wanting to speak while the Heroes were speaking.

Telepathic commentary was another matter entirely!

~That sucks. The memory-blank person I was talking to seems to have the same deal. Can't turn it off.~

Granted, having gone through having pitifully weak powers, Erica would sooner take cool-but-a-hassle powers in a heartbeat. At least those you could come up with creative workarounds for. Still, she couldn't say for sure that Elita or Nobody wouldn't have made the opposite claim. It could very easily be a "grass is greener" situation. So regardless, she could sympathize.

[herodofcows]

"I-Hold on, what? Who're-?"

Connor nearly falls over as he spins around, trying to keep up with the tall man who is now standing at the podium with . . .

Woof, Allmind and Elements preserve us, they brought out the whole mob.

"I know him no more than ye," he mutters along one side of his mouth as the Censor's speech continues, "I suppose he didn't like me rousing the granite below . . ."

He holds his hand out, making brief eye contact.

"Name's Connor," he whispers, omitting his last name semi-purposefully.

[Zelphas]

Erica and Roy

Elita seems to shrink in on herself as the arrival of the three Heroes, responding to Erica's wave with a jerky nod. She watches the raised stage apprehensively, one hand occasionally fiddling with the tubes on her mask as though checking to make sure that they are attached.

Serhe

It's a bit difficult to find Doireann as the crowd around you shifts and shuffles, but you manage to catch a glimpse of her once or twice. She seems to be splitting her attention between the Heroes on the stage and the crowd around her. Your eyes meet for a moment, and she acknowledges you with a brief nod before turning back to the stage.

Everyone

Glory waits for the crowd to settle down slightly before speaking again. "All of you are here because you have shown that you have the potential to become defenders of humanity and explorers of the world--in short, to become Heroes," he announces, his amber eyes flashing. "There is one more task ahead of you before you can begin your education at Hope Academy: the entrance exam. I know you are all eager to begin the exam, so I will give the floor to Doct--" The woman to Glory's left gives him a sharp look, and the giant Hero stops, chagrined. "Ahem--to my fellow teacher, who will explain the rules. Best of luck to all of you!"

Glory steps to his left, and the woman takes his place. When she speaks, her voice is monotone and noninflected. "The test will take place on the field prepared below. You will only earn points while within the walls of the field. The test will consist of live combat with prepared drones, as well as protection of assets from said drones. Points will be awarded according to the type of drone defeated. The following examples are not full-size, and their attacking enchantments have been removed."

Reaching into a small handbag at her side, the woman pulls out what looks like a tangled ball of cloth. holding the ball in the palm of one hand, the woman whispers a word in an unknown language, bending slightly over the cloth. With a shudder, the ball shakes and then springs into something resembling an over-sized dandelion seed, floating slightly above the woman's hand. "Cloth drones are worth five points each upon destruction." Next, the woman pulls from her bag what appears to be a handful of splinters; another whispered word, and the wood assembles into a four-legged shape with no discernible head, standing still below the ball of cloth. "Wood drones are worth ten points each." Finally, the woman pulls out a small cluster of pebbles, which upon her whisper transform into a vaguely humanoid shape. "And stone drones are worth twenty points each."

With a word and a gesture, the woman tosses the three shapes into the air. The cloth strings fly apart and shape themselves into two long crescents, the splinters separate into several long legs, and the stones rearrange themselves into a long column until a shape vaguely like a blown-up version of a dragonfly floats lazily in the air, its cloth wings flapping up and down lazily. "This is the Echidna Moth drone. There is only one such drone, flying over the designated exam field. The Echidna Moth drone will break into a number of cloth, wood, and stone drones if defeated. However, any team that attacks the Echidna Moth drone will immediately lose one hundred points."

Spoiler: Expertise: Tribs DC 15

Show

Echidna Moths are one of the odder species of Tribs; never being smaller than Cyclops-Class, they are the only known Trib species that do not actively seek out and attack human beings. They are dreaded, however, for their death throes: Propagation. When an Echidna Moth is killed, its body splits apart and transforms into at least five seemingly random Tribs one class level lower than itself, including at least one Echidna Worm. The Echidna worm will eat everything around it and, if not killed within minutes, will metamorphose into another Echidna Moth of the same size as its 'parent'. The Heroes Guild specifically stipulates that no Echidna Moth should ever be attacked unless at least three full Cells of Heroes are on hand to exclusively deal with the resulting threat.

The woman reaches into her bag one last time, pulling out what seems to be a small wooden doll. "These are the assets that must be protected from the drones. There are a certain number of assets currently within the examination field, enchanted to wander randomly. Each asset is worth one point to every examinee. If the number of assets drops below fifty at any time, all examinees will fail the Hope Academy entrance exam." Her voice is still without emotion, and she looks over the crowd with a blank expression on her face.

"You will be placed randomly on the field. Protect the assets and destroy the drones until the time limit expires. Also, the first person you meet while you make your way through the examination field will be one of your Cell-mates for the entirety of your first year." A few shocked cries and a lot of muttering follow this statement, but the woman hardly seems to notice. "Your points will pool with theirs, and you will pass-or fail-together. Hope Academy will take the top ten pairs or the pairs which accrue more than two hundred points will be admitted to Hope Academy, whichever is less."

Stepping forward, the tall, grey-haired man looks over the group and speaks next. "Yer first year at Hope Academy is goin' t'be about two things--the basics and adaptability," he rumbles in his deep voice. "When yer out doin' Hero work, ye can't always choose who yer workin' with, so you've got to be able to work with anyone, and well, at a moment's notice. Ye won't be any good to us as a Hero if you can't think--"

The floor of the room suddenly shimmers with an odd light before simply vanishing, exposing what seem to be several dozen funnels leading to twisting tubes. A moment later, a howling gale of wind bursts from above, tearing each of you away from those around you and sending you shooting down one of the funnels and into the darkness of the tubes.

"--fast," the man finishes, breathing slightly heavily. He glances aside at the woman on the podium. "A bit too on the nose, d'ye think, Doc?"

The woman shrugs, her face still oddly blank. "I have always been a sucker for theatricality," she intones, her voice flat.

---

Erica

The howling wind keeps you in the center of the tube as it twists and turns, forcing you downwards at a breakneck pace. Finally, the tube levels out ,and you shoot out its end.

Dazzling light hits you in the face as you find yourself staring almost directly at the morning sun. Looking away, you can see below you what seems to be a city made out of solid black stone, with a small river winding through its center. Shapes dart through the streets and squares of the granite city, but you are moving too fast and at too odd of an angle to make out what they are. Behind you, you get your first glimpse of the airship you were riding on; wooden tubes spiral out of its belly like a snarl of tangled ropes, and a single set of sails atop its oddly flat deck allow it to move lazily through the air. People are tumbling out of the tubes in all direction, some seeming to attempt to control their flight while others seem completely out of control.

The wind is still pushing against you, but its force has lessened severely; it seems to be guiding your flight--or fall--through the air, rather than controlling it.

Spoiler: Perception DC 20

Show

Well ahead of you, where the wind is blowing you towards, you can just make out a steep hill of stone, which seems to be covered with layer upon layer of heavy padding. It looks like as long as you don't alter your course too much, you should land more-or-less safely.

Roy

The howling wind keeps you in the center of the tube as it twists and turns, forcing you downwards at a breakneck pace. Finally, the tube levels out ,and you shoot out its end.

You can feel the heat of the sun on the left side of your face as you exit the tube into the bright autumn morning. You can see below you what seems to be a city made out of solid black stone, with a small river winding through its center. Shapes dart through the streets and squares of the granite city, but you are moving too fast and at too odd of an angle to make out what they are. Behind you, you get your first glimpse of the airship you were riding on; wooden tubes spiral out of its belly like a snarl of tangled ropes, and a single set of sails atop its oddly flat deck allow it to move lazily through the air. People are tumbling out of the tubes in all direction, some seeming to attempt to control their flight while others seem completely out of control.

The wind is still pushing against you, but its force has lessened severely; it seems to be guiding your flight--or fall--through the air, rather than controlling it.

Spoiler: Perception DC 20

Show

Well ahead of you, where the wind is blowing you towards, you can just make out a steep hill of stone, which seems to be covered with layer upon layer of heavy padding. It looks like as long as you don't alter your course too much, you should land more-or-less safely.

Serhe

The howling wind keeps you in the center of the tube as it twists and turns, forcing you downwards at a breakneck pace. Finally, the tube levels out ,and you shoot out its end.

The shadow of the airship falls over you as you exit the tube into the open air, coloring the early morning with the chill of winter. You can see below you what seems to be a city made out of solid black stone, with a small river winding through its center. Shapes dart through the streets and squares of the granite city, but you are moving too fast and at too odd of an angle to make out what they are. Behind you, you get your first glimpse of the airship you were riding on; wooden tubes spiral out of its belly like a snarl of tangled ropes, and a single set of sails atop its oddly flat deck allow it to move lazily through the air. People are tumbling out of the tubes in all direction, some seeming to attempt to control their flight while others seem completely out of control.

The wind is still pushing against you, but its force has lessened severely; it seems to be guiding your flight--or fall--through the air, rather than controlling it.

Spoiler: Perception DC 20

Show

Well ahead of you, where the wind is blowing you towards, you can just make out a steep hill of stone, which seems to be covered with layer upon layer of heavy padding. It looks like as long as you don't alter your course too much, you should land more-or-less safely.

Connor

The howling wind keeps you in the center of the tube as it twists and turns, forcing you downwards at a breakneck pace. Finally, the tube levels out ,and you shoot out its end.

The sun's rays strike the right side of your face as you find yourself suddenly in midair, the open mouth of the tube receding quickly behind you. You can see below you what seems to be a city made out of solid black stone, with a small river winding through its center. Shapes dart through the streets and squares of the granite city, but you are moving too fast and at too odd of an angle to make out what they are. Behind you, you get your first glimpse of the airship you were riding on; wooden tubes spiral out of its belly like a snarl of tangled ropes, and a single set of sails atop its oddly flat deck allow it to move lazily through the air. People are tumbling out of the tubes in all direction, some seeming to attempt to control their flight while others seem completely out of control.

The wind is still pushing against you, but its force has lessened severely; it seems to be guiding your flight--or fall--through the air, rather than controlling it.

Spoiler: Perception DC 20

Show

Well ahead of you, where the wind is blowing you towards, you can just make out a steep hill of stone, which seems to be covered with layer upon layer of heavy padding. It looks like as long as you don't alter your course too much, you should land more-or-less safely.

Spoiler: Everyone

Show

Here's something that I stole got as influence from another game on the forums I've read: landing strategies! This doesn't necessarily have to be something that your character can directly duplicate at the moment, just a little bit of fun to show how your character would react to this situation. Figure out how you want your character to land, and then write it out in a cool/awesome/funny way. The funniest/coolest landing may get a Hero Point!

[herodofcows]

Rattling through the tube, Connor grits his teeth against the pain. Obviously the mechanism was designed to ensure that nobody would knock into the tube walls, but this slipstream was playing merry hell with his leg and the ensuing fluttering was no fun at all.

Finally, he emerges into the air and gets a good look at his surroundings.

"Hell's . . ."

He casts his eye around to the best of his ability. The forms below are rushing by, too quick and angled too far away for his easy examination. Instead, he focuses on finding the important thing . . .

<Clay! Clay of Ashpah, are ye . . . Och, thank the Allmind, there y'are. I'll be back for ye, fear not.>

". . . bollocking . . .

<Stone! Stone in the hill! A pleasure to meet ye. My name is Connor Berg. Would ye do me the kindness of coming to meet me? If ye would be so kind, most of ye might flatten yerself into a disc's shape, that I might have a place to stand and look about? And if some more of ye might be so kind as to ring me as armor and floating protectives, I'd take it as a powerful favor . . .>

A mass of stone and silt flies up from the hill, and he smiles as it begins to form around him . . .

". . . BELLS!" he finishes, exultantly.

He is now riding down on a slowly-descending disc of stone some hundred feet above the ground. His form is ensconced in densely-packed silt, with rocks and stones swirling around him in a protective aegis. He looks like a golem of some sort, gazing down on the motions below.

"Right then!" he yells aloud, still speaking to the Elementals but exulting verbally from his own surge of adrenaline, "Ye've got my thanks, friends! Now, let's see what manner of arsin' about lies below, eh? HA!"

[Quellian-dyrae]

Erica listened through the explanation, but before she could properly devise a strategy...they were falling.

For a moment, her heart leaped into her throat, an instinctive panic response. She got control of herself quickly though.

She could appreciate the lesson the teachers were trying to present. She might have even played along if it was just, first person you meet you have to work with for this excursion. But she wasn't going to accept even a slight chance that she and Roy might not end up in the same Cell. Even ignoring the tactical advantages of the two of them working together...four years at Hope Academy would just have been less fun if she and Roy weren't on the same team.

She could admit to a slight twinge of disappointment at the setup. Pretty much since the day they received their letters, she had been looking forward to whatever test there would be starting and the two of them would just bust out their powered armor and it would be awesome. She wanted to show off, darn it! But whatever, there'd be time for that later. For now...

Well, just because nobody was watching didn't mean she couldn't show off.

Down went Erica, flipping into a dive, arms held out behind her, streamlining her slender form for maximum speed. The ground approached rapidly, and as it did, her attire changed. Light shoes and flowing cloth shifted to shining steel as she called on her armor to transform mid-dive, going down her diving body starting from her feet. It was when the helmet appeared around her head that she struck,throwing herself into another mid-air flip as she quick-drew her sword, Prism Edge shining like a rainbow in the bright sunlight.

As she rotated a full three-sixty degrees, within only a few feet of the ground, she slashed out at the air with her sword, pumping Supernatural power through two of the bands of Flux gemstone making up its rainbow edge. They glowed brightly, one with the gray light of the sun filtered through clouds, the other a deep blue flecked with pinpricks of brilliant white.

And then she was gone, as if her sword had cut a hole in the world that just swallowed her up. Which is precisely what had happened. The gray stone, enchanted to warp space rather than negate gravity, filled with that much energy focused into the sword's edge, sliced open a fleeting portal to whisk her elsewhere. At the same moment, the blue-and-white gem created a powerful resonance field with the Flux gemstones in her brother's armor, directing the spatial rift to his location.

At the same moment her brother touched down, she would appear beside him, back-to-back, her orientation brought to a ready standing position as she stepped between space, the momentum of her fall entirely cancelled out. She held her sword at the ready, in a high guard, shimmering with prismatic light while the armor she wore gleamed like mother-of-pearl from the enchantments layered upon it.

She held the pose silently for a few seconds, just because.

...Well, externally silently. Over their link she sent, ~Tag! We're on a team!~

Spoiler

Show

Power Stunting off of Prism Edge: Senses 13 (Ranged Acute Accurate Penetrates Concealment Radius Extended 3 Detect [Roy]); Teleport 15 (Change Direction, Change Velocity, Increased Action [Standard]).

Standard: Teleport to Roy's location.

Current Status: Fatigued as of next turn.

[Arcran]

Serhe had been hanging on each and every word that the other teachers were saying, doing his best to take in every tidbit of the rules. After all, there was a very, very good chance that his powers would be useless here. Against another person, Serhe had a pretty good chance of taking them down, as long as he can shut down their powers before they can shut him down. That is, unless they're a Transformer. But against drones? How in the hell would that work? Alternatively, he could have his partner focus on taking out drones while he hindered other teams; as long as he hit 200 points he'd pass if nobody else got that high. It wasn't a good plan, but it was a plan.

Fortunately, Serhe had an easy way to test if he could shut down the drones. As the woman brought out the Echidna Drone, Serhe locked eyes on the tiny cloth creature floating near the woman, focusing his eyes and silently praying that she was a Supernaturalist. An instant later Serhe's vision flashes purple for a fraction of a second, and he watches the tiny drone intently. When it falls with hardly any effort, Serhe grins slightly. He might just be alright here.

Unfortunately for Serhe, his happy reverie was rather rudely interrupted by his rapid fall from the ship. For a long moment, the only thing in Serhe's head was a very long, very rapid string of curses. He couldn't fly, and we wasn't a competent enough Enhancer to survive a fall from this height. He was, to put it simply, completely and utterly screwed.

Just when he was convinced he was going to end his short hero career as a smear on the stones in the black city below, Serhe noticed two things:

One, that he wasn't falling nearly as fast as he should have been.

Two, that there was a massive amount of cushioning on the hill of stone.

As his panic slowly died down, Serhe did his best to try to control his fall, and spent more than a few seconds trying to orient himself to look down at the city below. A quick Enhancement later, and he was staring down at the city as if he had a telescope. His pupils were a blur as they tried to scan the streets, before locking onto the small group of drones. He spent a long moment trying to pick out a target, until the dolls stumbled in. A little frantically, Serhe pushes his eyes to the limits, locking onto the wooden drone closest to the dolls.

Night-night, Serhe mutters, the wind making the words all but inaudible. An instant later, Serhe crosses his arms in front of him, trying to cushion the landing as much as possible.

Spoiler

Show

Serhe is going to try to shut down the wooden drones! Focusing on the one closest to the dolls; if he shuts it down, he'll use the second attack on the other, otherwise he's trying both on the same one.

All-Out, Power Attack at max, and using my Supernaturalist Nullify. I'll use Innate to ignore anything over Rank 10. I don't know if Subtle 2 makes Vulnerable at this range, but if it does that would be great

AC: (1d20+8)[22]
Nullify: (1d20+13)[31]

AC: (1d20+8)[28]
Nullify: (1d20+13)[29]

[Thokk_Smash]

Roy's excitement only grows more potent with each sentence from him and his twin's future teachers. Doctor Proxy, it seems, doesn't like to be acknowledged by name--not every Hero wants the spotlight, after all. He raises the last bite of cookie to his mouth just as the floor disappears.

His biggest concern, as he falls through the funnel on his wind-blown adventure, is the bite of cookie floating just out of his reach in front of him. He wants that last bite, darnit! He eventually gets himself into a more streamlined position and finally grabs the treat just as he's ejected into the open air. Only then does he focus on the dilemma in front of him: hey, he wanted that cookie, so he's darn well gonna eat it!

Roy observes the situation intently. He can confess to a certain amount of disappointment, certainly. This is hardly the ideal situation or audience to reveal his armor. He'd had fantasies of shoving the armor into Bernhard's face with its reveal. He sighs and lets that fantasy go.

Nonetheless, as his visor glows faintly and enhances his sight, as he takes in the vision of fake slaughter in the distance, the gunmetal grey steel of his armor grows into reality. It begins from the inset purple crystal at his belt, and swiftly encapsulates his entire body one piece at a time. His pistols are hefted just before his helmet covers the grin on his face. This is the starting line!

He points the pistols at the cloth drones and opens fire. Even the weakest enemies can be dangerous in sufficient numbers. As he lands his visor's glow fades, and crystals on his palms and feet turn the characteristic colorless hue of Enhanced Flux. Swooping between the drones, Roy scoops up two of the wooden dolls and carries them away from the carnage. He spins in the air as he flies, hovering inches over the ground, before coming to a stop facing the drone group: one wooden doll across his shoulders, one in his left arm and his pistol leveled at the group of drones.

He keeps the pose for a moment, just in time for Erica to appear out of nowhere beside him. In their shared mindspace she can feel his glee, and an underlying certitude, or perhaps faith: faith that she would've been able to get to him. ~"Look out, Hope, here we come!"~ he replies with a jovial tone.

Spoiler

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Perception rolled in the OOC.

Move-by Action: Fire Violane Verse at the cloth drones, AoA/PA -5/+5, Routining for a total of 20 and using Takedown 2 to take as many of them out as will fall. DC 26+Multiattack Toughness vs Damage, DC 21 Defense vs Dazed/Stunned (Physical actions only), DC 21 Dodge to avoid a Create that's meant to encase them in a glue-like substance.

Free action: Swap array slot to Enhanced Antigravity Effect to allow Roy to move under his own power.

Free action: Grab two of the wooden dolls away from the drones.

End turn distance rank 2 away from the group of drones. Strike a pose.

Status: Fine, Defenses -5
HP: 2
Luck: 4/4

[Zelphas]

Erica and Roy

Roy's bullets punch through the cloth drones as though they were tissue paper rather than thick cloth, scattering them into ribbons which are then plastered to the ground by the resulting glue. The dolls do not seem to react to his movement of them; on his arm and shoulder, Roy can feel them twitching in robotic motions, as though they are still trying to walk.

As the twins hold their heroic pose for a moment, they can both see a shimmer above the downed cloth drones. The stone drone turns with deceptive speed to face the duo, ignoring the dolls nearby, which walk jerkily away. A few moments later, there is a dull scuttling sound, and a trio of wood drones appear, scuttling along the sides of the buildings nearby. They reach the square and pause for a moment, as though taking their bearings.

Spoiler: Initiative

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Roy: (1d20+12)[19]
Erica: (1d20+16)[31]

Enemies: (1d20+12)[13]

Map.

Erica and Roy are up!

Serhe

You can feel the magical energies fade from the wood drones as you stare them down. The padding on the hill is enough to blunt the impact of your fall and keep any of your bones from breaking, but the tumble down the hill still hurts. You roll to a stop nearly on top of the pile of planks and splinters that used to be the wood drones. The cloth drones, thick wads of thick ribbon several feet long, are whizzing around in even greater agitation, the dolls forgotten as they swerve to face you. You feel the ground rumble underneath your feet from something nearby...

Connor

The earth leaps at your call, eager to come to your aid, and soon you are floating slowly down out of the air. Oddly enough, instead of coming up from directly underneath you, the earth had come to you at an angle, knocking you slightly off course: the granite beneath you seems to have been locked in place by a stronger Elementalist's will than yours. The angle knocked you slightly off-course, and the sun is now more or less behind you.

Below you and slightly to the left, you can see about five cloth drones whizzing around in an agitated mob in an open square. There are several life-sized dolls between you and them, but the cloth drones seem to be ignoring them; instead, they are focused on something beyond them, which their erratic motions are hiding from sight.

Spoiler: Connor: Perception DC 20

Show

The granite buildings around the square are radiating anger. Almost hidden by their anger, you catch another pile of stones within two of the buildings, relating the now-familiar slow irritation that you've now felt twice before.

Spoiler: OOC (Serhe and Connor)

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Connor still has a full round of "surprise round" actions to take, so he can place himself on the map where he likes and take those actions. After that:

Initiative:

Serhe: (1d20+8)[11]
Connor: (1d20)[7]

Enemies: (1d20+12)[31]

Map.

Connor takes his surprise round, and then the enemies go!

[Quellian-dyrae]

Erica turned to face the golems. Wow. They were...bigger than she had expected. Okay then!

She telepathically filled Roy in on what she had picked up. As for a plan of attack, little discussion was required. The two of them had already spent plenty of time discussing possible plans and strategies, and they knew each other's capabilities as well as they knew their own.

So Erica wasted no time retracting the blade and crossguard of her sword into the hilt, flipping the hilt in her hand. The pommel, a cluster of Flux gemstones, blazed with light as she charged her energy into it. That light gathered into one crystal in particular - a crimson ruby that engendered a whip of brilliant, sunset-red light.

With this, she lashed out, striking at all four of the golems, timing her attacks in conjunction with her brother. The blue-and-white gemstone on her belt buckle glowed brightly, resonating with the energy that would be passing through his weapons, allowing the power she was channeling to pass equally to his armor even as his own enhancement passed to hers'.

The whip struck in fluid arcs, lashing at each of the golems in turn. It would strike and burn, yes, but also bind - she whirled and dipped and spun as she struck, a surprisingly graceful dance for someone in full plate armor, seeking to entwine each target in turn in the band of energy, which would then detach, a new one springing forth as she attacked her next target. The dance also brought her closer to the golems, hopefully the movement would draw their attention.

The golem of stone was last, and against that enemy, she did not detach the whip, trying to loop it around the golem as much as possible and secure it tight.

Spoiler

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Move: Into S10.

Free: Activate Arcane Augmentation.

Standard: Attack all four golems with Flux Dancer as a Team Attack with Roy, activation Augmentation. All Out Attack for 4, Multiattack for 4, Power Attack for 5. Crits on a 19+. On a hit, Toughness DC 28 vs. Damage, Defense (or Strength or any movement speed rank) DC 23 vs. Vulnerable+Physically Dazed/Defenseless+Physically Stunned. If the Stone Golem gets hit, it also has to roll Strength or Dodge DC 23 vs. Grab. DCs may be modified further by Team Attack. Note that Erica has the Teamwork advantage, so if she misses by less than 5, and Roy hits, she may still provide a Team Attack bonus to his DC for matching effects.
Wood Golem 1: (1d20+3)[9]. Miss, but would hit with Teamwork, so can provide +2 to Roy.
Wood Golem 2: (1d20+3)[16]. Hit
Wood Golem 3: (1d20+3)[9]. Miss, but would hit with Teamwork, so can provide +2 to Roy.
Stone Golem: (1d20+3)[13]. Miss, but would hit with Teamwork, so can provide +2 to Roy.

Current Status: Fatigued, -4 Defense this turn.

[Thokk_Smash]

Roy sets the wooden dolls down to walk on their own. They'll have to keep an eye on them, but he needs his full attention for what comes next.

The Flux on his hands and feet return to their purplish hue in favor of the large-ish gemstone inset into his belt buckle. He can feel his sister's energy, almost as familiar as his own, rise within his guns as he raises them. With precise bursts he times his attacks with hers. More ammo pours out than before, small glowing dots of compressed energy and gunk. His attack isn't quite as aesthetically pleasing as hers: it's hard to put a flair on aiming a gun and pulling a trigger. Nonetheless he supports his sister's attacks thoroughly, entrapping the drones in a veritable avalanche of gluey gunk.

Spoiler

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Free action: Drop wooden dolls; Switch array slot to Enhanced Output.

Standard action: Attack with Violane Verse, Multiattacking for 4, All-Out Attacking for 5, Power Attacking for 5. The following attacks are including the +5 Teamwork bonus; subtract 5 if the Teamwork bonus doesn't apply unless both attackers hit. DC 26 Toughness vs Damage, DC 21 Defense vs Dazed/Stunned, DC 21 Dodge vs Create.

Wood Golem #1: (1d20+10)[30] Crit! +5 bonus to DC
Wood Golem #2: (1d20+10)[13] Miss Should be a hit; Multiattack 4/AoA 5 means his base to-hit is 11 before PA and Teamwork, so the total is actually 14
Wood Golem #2: (1d20+10)[28] Hit
Stone Golem: (1d20+10)[12] Miss

Status: Fine, -5 Defenses
HP: 2
Luck: 4/4

[herodofcows]

Beneath his carapace of rock and dirt, Connor bares his teeth in an excited grin.

<WELL! We cannae have this, can we? Friends in granite and silt, shall we not liberate yer poor enchanted brothers?>

Masses of granite fly up in front of him, forming into loose spheres as he flies closer to the commotion.

<Let's give them a bit of a shock, aye? Broadside the poor buggers! Smash the sorceries enslaving them! FIRE!>

The rocks blast off, smashing into the cloth golems and rendering them little more than limp bundles of material. Connor claps his hands together, laughing freely now.

<Aye, that's the way of it! But what's this? More stone and earth, restrained? No, this will nae do!>

"Good day t'ye, friend!" he calls aloud, landing next to Serhe and shedding enough of his carapace to show his face, "Seems ye're stuck with me now! And lucky ye are; I'm sensing plenty o' angry rock an' stone within the buildings around us! 'specially those two!"

He indicates the two buildings hiding the angered piles of stone with his cane, still floating a couple of feet off the ground.

"So, what do ye say? Let's save these poor blind dolls an' free the rock from its gross enchantments! If they make us heroes by the end, so be it, aye?"