Avalon Academy IC

[Dodgeson]

Kelly's whips cut through the laughing tendrils like they were nothing, slicing clean through one side and out the other, sending the black liquid splattering against the walls where it dripped down to the grate with an acrid hiss before sluicing back down in to the darkness. Unfortunately despite this the creature didn't seem to be all that bothered, every eye that dotted one of the tendrils focusing its attention on the young speedster "Such vigor in this one! So much to prove!" A suddenly newly emerged mouth laughed as Kelly felt cold and otherworldly pressure begin to press down on her mind.

"I see you little lost things! I see in to you very hearts! And I will pluck them out!" The other tendril picked up, lashing out at Anthony and trying to wrap its roiling mass around him.

Spoiler: OOC

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Tentacle 1
Move:Dazed
Standard: Attack Kelly with Evil Eye, DC 25 Will Save vs Damage
End of Turn: Regeneration removes a bruise

Tentacle 2
Move: Who needs movement when you have Elongation?
Standard: Attack Anthony with Tentacle Crush (1d20+10)[25] DC25/20 Toughness Save vs Damage/Weaken Toughness & DC20 Strength/Dodge vs Grab. Both the damage and weaken are Progressive if the grab is maintained. Hits

Heroes are on turn!

[Quellian-dyrae]

Kelly might not have had much experience yet, but she had plenty of training, and that included mental self-defense courtesy of her big sister. The monster's will was powerful, and Kelly had to devote some effort to fending it off, but while her will was battered, it was far from broken.

Regardless, she wasn't going to show any distress outwardly. "Nice. Now this time, do it in the Shang Tsung voice from the Mortal Kombat movie!" Kelly made her voice deeper and breathier, and poured on the melodrama. "I can see into your soul! You! Will! DIE!"

And then she just laughed and laughed as she kept dancing and darting around the room, whips flying around her. She had a rhythm going now, and with her speed, once she had a rhythm going, there was no way to dodge. She landed blow after blow, each one a minor inconvenience at best to a creature this powerful. But their cumulative effect would add up.

Spoiler

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Move: Dazed.

Standard: Move around the room some more!

End of Turn: Cloud Area triggers. Both tentacles get another dose of DC 23 Damage.

Current Status: 1 Bruise, Fatigued.

[Llyarden]

If the Laughing Darkness and Endless Flame had been annoyed at Kelly's enthusiasm, its day probably wasn't going to get any better. Adrien arrived zooming along...what kinda looked like a surfboard made of light, floating just a few centimetres off the ground. When he saw what was going on, he let out another delighted laugh. "Magic libraries, goblin markets, eldritch entities imprisoned underground -" which, admittedly, was a bit of an assumption (he hadn't exactly stopped to read all the signs), but when you were dealing with masses of tentacles with far more eyes than anyone needed, 'eldritch entity' was a good bet "- this school has everything!"

He paused for a moment. "Oh, I should probably do something, huh. My bad!" His attention was naturally drawn to the rainbow blur of motion zipping around the room. His 'surfboard' wasn't even close to fast enough to keep up with the speedster, but when there was a certain pattern to her movements, all he really had to do was be in the right place at the right time.

He held out his hand as Kelly came close - not in a way that could have interfered with her movement (mostly because...well, it wasn't like she couldn't have just walked around him), but more in the manner of someone offering a high-five. "Hi there!" he said brightly.

And if Kelly accepted the offered high-five, she would find that as she continued onwards in a blur of light, she was surrounded by a swirling nimbus of rainbows - which didn't particularly seem to interfere with her vision, or the movements of her equally-rainbow-y whips. But from the outside looking in, it would probably be quite difficult to pick Kelly out from within the tornado of rainbow light (assuming all the eyes weren't just for show and the creature was actually using them to see, that was.)

Spoiler: OOC

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Free: Reconfigure All the World's A Stage to Selective Environment 1 [Intense Light], Platform Flight 10, Flight-only Strength 7.
Move: Arrive, and move next to Kelly.
Standard: Magic Box on Kelly, who is Deflected at 1d10+18 and has Total Visual Concealment.

Status: Fatigued.

[Dorni]

Anthony didn't even try to avoid the tentacle lashing out at him. Clearly he was terrified of the creature and frozen in fear and going to be crus- Ah, who am I kidding? He just reached out and caught the tendril in a vice-grip. "So you use nicknames so that hearing your true name won't destroy us, but you'll try to slaughter us as soon as we introduce ourselves? Aren't you kinda sending a mixed message there?"

Anthony's grip tightened and he yanked forward even as he reached for another hold with his other hand and slammed the tendril down to the grate, trying to get a firm grip on the writhing limb. "Like, are you really the Laughing Dark and the enemy of all that lives, or are you some edgelord trying for fear and attention?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Move: Nah
Standard: Attack Tentacle 2 with Mighty Blow, AA 4: (1d20+8)[14]. On hit, DC 23 Toughness vs Damage, Worse of Athletics/Acrobatics vs (1d20+18)[23] Trip, and DC 22 Str or Dodge vs Grab.

[OutOfThyme]

"That makes sense," says Colin, a little disappointed that they couldn't take action right away. At least, they might find something down below in the manhole, so this issue could get resolved.

Unfortunately, the cackling of... something meant that Colin didn't have too much time to adjust to his new surroundings. As Adrien dropped off the group near the entrance to the room, Colin called Fragarach to him. This time would be a little different - he was going to keep his cool, and remember everything that his grandfather had taught hi-

Wait, was that the rainbow speedster from earlier? Huh.

Shaking the distraction aside, Colin charged in, going right for one of the tentacles that wasn't currently attacking the other visible student in the room.

Spoiler: OOC

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Move Action: Get off Adrien's floaty platform, and head straight for Tentacle 1
Free Action: Set Fragarach to Dreams of Iron
Free Action: Set Airgetlam to Tuatha Grace
Free Action: Assessment against the Laughing Dark. Also, maybe Expertise: Magic against it to see if Colin knows anything about something like this? (1d20+12)[24]
Standard Action: Attack with Dreams of Iron against Tentacle 1. (1d20+8)[24]; if it hits, that's DC 23 vs. Damage if it hits, along an opposed Nullify vs. Will/effect check: (1d20+8)[15]

Current Swordsmanship Chain: [Starter]
[Starter]: Dreams of Iron (0 turns ago)
[Combo]:
[Finisher]:

Current Status: -

[Thokk_Smash]

~"Ooh, lookit that look Adrien gave you, Boss. Wanna look at it again? Let's see it in slow-mo--~"

~"Welp, Barty, have fun watching my memory of scrubbing Gramma's feet."~

~"Nononowait--!"~

The sound of a door slamming echoes in Marcus' mind, leaving in its wake blessed silence in which Marcus can fume internally. He had thought Claire needed something from the peddler; something desperately important! Then she chose, for whatever reason, to ask for something they could have (and their other prospective students did) found independently. Guess that'll teach him to read into Claire's expressions in the future.

He can feel the Blackstaff smoldering in the back of his mind as he fumes, and he has to force himself to care. He's a teen, dammit, he can't be a paragon of emotional stability all the time. He can barely hold his emotions together for a consecutive hour! So as they descend he fumes, and stews, and only perks up when he hears a (rather cliche) raging voice in the distance.

Without a word he steps onto Adrien's surfboard(?), gathering his focus onto the Blackstaff. It seems they'll take a moment to get to whatever fight is happening, so he takes the time to steel himself for the use of the focus of malevolent energy. His duster is coated in a dark green glow, and he feels the power of the earth flow through him as he is deposited onto the ground near, as Barty would probably say, the hot American chick from before. He eschews any banter for now (he has to get a feel for the crowd, after all), but the Blackstaff glows with an ironic, radiant energy as he hefts it toward one of the black tentacles.

He unleashes a concentration of magical pressure before bellowing, "Forzare Rex!". A blast of pure radiant energy flies right at the tentacle, threatening to launch it at the other for further damage! However, as the light launches, it seems to take on a more malevolent vibe, and Marcus grits his teeth against the Blackstaff's encroaching power.

Spoiler

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If able, spending the previous round (where we heard the start of combat but could not participate) to focus on resisting the Blackstaff's SE, reducing the DC from 18 to 17 (-1 for one full round of concentration)

Move action: Attempt to Demoralize, -2 for Move action: (1d20+10)[15]

Standard action: Attack Tentacle 1 with Forzare Rex, AoA/PA for 2, Crits on a 16+ (1d20+8)[14] vs DC 25 [Radiant, Magic] Damage, DC 25 Strength vs Move Object or be launched at Tentacle 2 at (1d20+8)[17]
Will vs SE DC 17: (1d20+10)[15]

Status: Fine, Defense at 16, -2 Will (Begin recovery in first round he doesn't use the Blackstaff)
HP: 1

[zzzzzzzz414]

Claire couldn't help but notice the sudden souring of Marcus's mood as they descended down the shaft with the pixies. They fideted uncomfortably in their seat on Adrien's trapeze, ugly possibilities racing through their head. Had they upset him? They had never actually thanked Marcus for helping them out with Ms. Lethe, that had probably been quite rude. And that information they got was already found by Adrien and Colin anyway, so maybe he was aggravated that they'd run off and basically just wasted time? Or maybe he'd found out that they'd tried to read the mind of his strange brain-friend earlier somehow?

Before Claire could think of a good way to ask, though, they were quite abruptly thrown off track by a quite malicious and villain-y sounding voice issuing from the chamber beyond the stairway they'd just entered.

"Oh, goodness, what on earth is..."

As the peals of inhuman laughter rang down the passage, something in them ran ice-cold.

"...that..."

That

voice.

A chord was struck deep within them, a familiar feeling they couldn't describe in human words bubbling up in the depths of their consciousness like a fragment of a waking dream. They...knew that voice. But...why? When? Who? How was that even possible? Their head suddenly felt numb, their thoughts sluggish, enraptured.

The book and ruined hoodie thay'd been carrying falling to the stone floor with a soft thump, they walked wordlessly into the chamber in what almost seemed to be a trancelike state as the others sprung into action, eyes fixated on the shifting, incomprehensible monstrosity of void and eyes and teeth cackling beneath the chamber's grate flooring.

Almost instinctually, Ix reached out to it.

Spoiler: OOC

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Move: Head into the chamber, stopping right in front of the entrance.

Free: Set Totally Not Psychic Shenanigans to "Really Good at Reading People"

Standard: Attempt to use Mind Reading on the Laughing Dark. Initial contact roll: (1d20+8)[14]

Questions, in order (DC 14 to block at first question, DC18 for each one after. If they only get surface thoughts, they'll just listen in as long as they can.)

-Who/what are you?
-Have we met before?
-Where did you come from originally?
-What do you want?

[Dodgeson]

Kelly's whip's found their target yet again as the young speedster danced around her target, scattering more of the inky black mass of the creature across the chamber, but it didn't seem to mind, more fluid flooding up from beneath the grate to replace what had been lost. Whilst the other tendril simply slipped through Anthony's grasp as if he was trying to grab hold of a waterfall.

Then four new would be students arrived on to the scene! Sword in hand one of the new comers sliced in to a tentacle, bursting its eyes like overripe fruit, only for them to be replaced by another grinning toothy mouth."Yes! More! The Answerer! The Staff of Merlin!" It cackled, a blast of magic shooting passed it and dissapaiting against the wall behind it "Come little heroes of England and I will Ģ͇̠̜̙̖̯̙̩͇̟̤̫̭O̸͏̵̝̬͎̣̠̦͕̼̻͓̩̗̱̟̲́B̷̸̧͓̤͚̬̝̳̹̀͠B̵ ͚̳̺̺̞͔̝̺̰̘̜̳͉̘̙͕͖L̀͞҉̙̣͈̳͖͇͈̫̖̗͚͉̘̻̣̯͝E̜̮͙͙̥͈̻͉͕̕͠ ̥̹͈͍̞̦͓ ̢̀͏̖̫̫̠͖̠̳̪̱͖͕̹̭͉̜̜̙̟̭͢͠Y̶̶̸͉̠̝̥̘̩̤̝͚͉͢Ờ̧̧̲̝̰͕̞͠ ̜̺Ṷ̶̸̻̫̫̺͈̪͎ ̵̨͡҉̝̞̪̗̣̯̺̖͔̲͇̲̯̯̻̻̟̫Ṵ̵̟͎̘̘̰͇̰̩̹̦̙̞͍̰̟͜͟͡͡P̶͞͏̥̕ ͔̻̼̼̫̹̲̟͎͖̗!"

"Now!" A third tendril boomed, pushing its way up between the slats of the grate "Let us see if your will is as strong as your body, insolent little lamb!" All of its eyes focusing on to Anthony and pushing its alien mind against his.

Even with its seemingly nonchalant attitude towards Airgetlam it couldn't afford to take him and Fragarach lightly, one of the tendrils whirling around him and trying to ensnare him in its grasp.

Which just left the other object of its ire, the speedster still darting around the room, unfortunately for it (fortunately for her?) she was currently lost amidst a swirling maelstrom of bright lights, which just left the next best thing, the boy that was creating that maelstrom...

Whilst all this was happening Claire stood at the threshold of the room and even though she had failed to breach the creatures mind that didn't mean that all her questions went unanswered.

Spoiler: Claire

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So whilst the you didn't manage to read the thing's mind you do already know the answer to one of those questions. Have we met before?

Once upon a time, in a world almost but not quite like this one, the creature (along with the Worthy) defeated the thing that would become Ix and shattered its consciousness across the void.

On the plus side that does mean that the creatures Immunity to Mental effects doesn't work on Claire due to them being more or less on the same 'wave length', so I guess that's something

Spoiler: OOC

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Tentacle 1
Move:Nah
Standard: Attack Colin with Tentacle Crush (1d20+10)[12] DC25/20 Toughness Save vs Damage/Weaken Toughness & DC20 Strength/Dodge vs Grab. Both the damage and weaken are Progressive if the grab is maintained. Miss

Tentacle 2
Move: Nope
Standard: Attack Adrien with Tentacle Barrage (1d20+10)[29] DC25+Multiattack Toughness & DC20+Multiattack Fortitude vs Daze/Stunned if that hits. Hit +5 Multiattack

Tentacle 3
Move: Emerge from the depths!
Standard: Attack Anthony with Evil Eye, DC25 Will Save vs Damage

Heroes are on turn!

[Quellian-dyrae]

Of course Kelly returned the high-five! And she beamed as Adrien's light mixed with her own, rendering her only a vague, but brightly colored, blur. And hey, look, he even brought friends!

"Hey it's a party!" she extolled with a huge grin. "In, like, both senses of the term! Hiya all! Welcome to the Can. This is our host, the Laughing Dark and Endless Flame, also affectionately known as L-DEF! He wants more than anything to be scary, but we're trying to teach him to set his sights on more achievable goals. Oh! Have you ever considered banzai? I heard it's great stress relief!"

Kelly's mouth just didn't stop moving, and neither did her feet. Or her whips, the shining strands of magical energy whipping through the room like lights at a rave. Not only did Kelly keep smacking around the first two tendrils, maintaining her graceful battle-dance, but her whips also worked through a rapid defensive pattern that left the image of a sort of dome-like grid around the team, to shield them from direct attacks by the tentacles. And she managed to kinda tie one up to leave an opening for Anthony. The glories of super-speed.

Spoiler

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Move: Keep moving! Ideally to a place where all party members (or at least as many as possible) are within 30'.

Free: Swap to Rainbow Rage and Defensive Strike.

Standard: Defensive Strike, using the attack to Aid Anthony at (1d20+17)[28] after Teamwork. Kelly is Deflected at 1d10+22. All allies in 30' are Deflected at 1d10+18, -1 per point their Toughness exceeds 8, and receive Evasion 2 and Instant Up this round. +5 to Anthony's next close attack roll.

End of Turn: Secondary Effects trigger. Tentacles 1 and 2 take Toughness DC 23 vs. Damage.

Current Status: 1 Bruise, Fatigued, Deflected (1d10+22).

[Dorni]

So the Endless Dark's chamber was turning into a light show. Sure, why not? If his pod memories were true, both parties and monster fighting was always better with company.

Apparently the creature disagreed and Anthony threw himself in the way of a barrage of tentacles meant for the surfer boy. They slammed into him but the powerhouse simply absorbed the impact with a grunt. Even as he did, he reached out to sieze the tentacles himself and pin them to the grate. "L-DEF? If we combine the names we can call him ED!"

Spoiler

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Standard: Attack Tentacle 2 with Mighty Blow, AoA 5, PA 2: (1d20+12)[19] 28. On hit, DC 29 Toughness vs Damage, Worse of Athletics/Acrobatics vs (1d20+20)[21] Trip, and DC 28 Str or Dodge vs Grab.
Move: Dazed

Deflected at 1d10+16, Evasion 2, -5 Defenses, Regenerate 1 Bruise

[Llyarden]

"Oh, nuts," Adrien muttered, when he saw the tentacle hurtling towards him. He crouched, preparing to spring backwards off his 'surfboard' to mitigate the worst of the blow...when the guy who'd been wrestling with one of the tentacles leapt up and took the blow in his stead. And barely even flinched. "Whoa. Thanks!"

Then he turned his attention to the rainbow speedster, giving her (or, well, vaguely where she might have been for a nanosecond or two) a grateful nod as he watched the prismatic contrails whirl around the room. "Cool!" he beamed in response to her potted summary of events thus far.

The tentacles seemed to be annoyingly good at healing themselves...except for where Colin had sliced his one. Adrien clicked his fingers, and a little cartoony wolf, dressed in the armour of a medieval knight, popped into existence, scampering across the room towards Colin, where it produced a comically oversized whetstone from its non-existent pocket and made a little leap to bring the whetstone over Fragarach. Where the stone touched the enchanted blade, it began to shine with light, almost seeming to leave a trail of phantom images in mid-air for a few moments as it moved.

Then he continued on his path of annoyance, turning towards the tentacle that had all the eyes still on it in the absence of an actual face to look at. "Yeah, I'll be honest, L-DEF -" because of course he was immediately going to seize upon the aggravating nickname, having apparently learned nothing from his near-miss just a few seconds prior "- the whole spooky speech thing doesn't really work for you. It just kinda makes you sound like you're talking through a bad Skype connection."

Spoiler: OOC

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Free: Reconfigure All the World's A Stage to Illusion 2, Selective Environment [Intense Light, Visibility], Extra Limb 1, Limited Projection, Elongation 5, Platform Flight 2, Flight-only Strength 3
Move: Feint Tentacle 1: (1d20+3)[7]. In the unlikely event that it succeeds, I'll give the benefits to Anthony Marcus and Colin.
Standard: Shine the Spotlight on Colin. Colin gains two new alternate effects in his Fragarach array:
- Tuatha Tornado Strike - Selective Multiattack Targeted Burst Area Damage 6, Accurate 5, Affects Insubstantial 2, Incurable, Dimensional 2 (Mythic Dimensions); Limit: [Combo]
- Ultimate Flurry - Incurable Multiattack Damage, Resisted by Defense 6 Linked Broad Multiattack Weaken Defenses (Resisted by Fortitude) 6, Accurate 5 ; Limit: [Finisher]

Spoiler: Details

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- 1 point to duplicate Tuatha Whirlwind Strike as a new alternate of Fragarach.
- 0 points to convert the Burst into a Targeted Burst.
- 8 points to add Multiattack to the alternate.
- -6 points to remove 2 ranks from the Damage.
- 5 points to add 5 points of Accurate.
- 1 point to duplicate Ultimate Rebuke as another alternate.
- -4 points to remove 2 ranks from the Damage.
- -3 points (due to the cap) to remove 2 ranks from the Weaken.
- 1 point to add another point of Accurate to the new Ultimate Rebuke as well.
- 6 points to add Multiattack to the damage.
- 6 points to add Multiattack to the Weaken.

Status: Fatigued, Deflected at 1d10+16, Evasion 2, Instant Up.

[zzzzzzzz414]

Ix could practically feel the reverberations in their mind as they slammed against what seemed to be and iron-hard wall of mental defenses, but it almost didn't seem to matter. The mere sight of the thing was causing memories to bubble up from the blackness of their subconscious, old images and ideas they barely understood. Another world, the Worthy, this laughing creature that had...killed them...broken them...?

They didn't really have the time to process or have a breakdown over these newly-unlocked memories, because something else seemed to be bubbling up along with them: anger, hot and raw and ugly, sweeping away their jumbled thoughts for the moment, mixing with the fear and adrenaline into a surprising -almost scary, to them- amount of aggression.

"...m-"

Claire opened their eyes and lifted themselves off the ground before rocketing towards one of the tentacles at top speed. "MR. ELDEFF THIS IS INCREDIBLY RUDE AND IT WOULD BE VERY NICE IF YOU WOULD STOP!" They whipped around the tentacle and drove their fist into the amorphous black mass. Anyone with actual hand-to-hand combat experience would recognize it as mediocre: clumsy, misaimed, no real follow-through. But that didn't really matter, as the real work was being done invisibly, as Claire telekinetically shoved the tentacle in the direction of its fellow in the center of the room (hoping to tear it free of the grate floor) and poured every ounce of psychic pain she could muster into the disgusting, horrid being attached to it.

Spoiler: OOC

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Free: Switch Totally Not Psychic Shenanigans to "Flight Genes"
Free: Switch Very Real Superhero Moves to "Strong Punch, Huh?"

Move: Fly over near Tentacle 1 so that it's between Claire and Tentacle 3

Standard: Use Strong Punch, Huh? on Tentacle 1. DC23 Will vs. Damage, DC15 Dodge to avoid being moved into Tentacle 3.

[Thokk_Smash]

Marcus recoils at the backlash of the Blackstaff, and feels its icy tendrils seep into his mind. For a moment, he thinks about letting go, but the moment passes quickly and he mentally slaps the influence away. ~"Piss right the bloody hell off,"~ he thinks to the semi-sentient staff.

He sprints up to the tentacle that the bloody bruiser (Anthony, he thinks?) had somehow gotten on the ground. Golden light gathers around the head of the brown stave, now in his hands in place of the Blackstaff. "Forezare!" he shouts, wielding his stave like an oversized golf club and smacking the tentacle with all the magical power he can muster.

Spoiler

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Move action: I'm assuming Tentacle 2 is within 30ft (speed rank 0) of Marcus; otherwise I'll swap to Knight Aeris for enough movement speed to get into Close range of Tentacle 2.

Standard action: Attack with Forzare, PA for 2, +5 from it being Prone from being Tripped, (1d20+11)[18] vs DC 25 Damage, DC 20 Strength vs Move Object or be teed into Tentacle 1 at (1d20+6)[13]

End of turn: Recover 1 Will

Status: Fine, -1 Will
HP: 1
Luck: 0/2

[OutOfThyme]

As Fragarach glowed with Adrien's own enchantment, Colin felt the power in Fragarach shift ever-so-slightly. It was different - Adrien's enchantment acted like a prism and lens - refracting and refocusing his power into something he wouldn't ever have used.

He could do this. It wouldn't be like fighting against the Fomorian - Colin had backup, and support that he could actually rely upon. Despite what the Laughing Dark and Endless Flame was claiming, they still had strength in numbers.

"That's a lot of talk for an eldritch small fry, L-DEF!" Colin calls out, as he gathers every ounce of will and lashes out with Fragarach. The wind in the cavern suddenly picked up, striking the tentacles in the area - while leaving the rest of the would-be heroes in their own vortices - like the eyes of mini-hurricanes. Colin wasn't using Adrien's enchantments just yet - he'd save that for his next assault.

Spoiler: OOC

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Move Action: None
Free Action: Set Fragarach to Tuatha Whirlwind Strike
Standard Action: Attack with Tuatha Whirlwind Strike; DC 18 vs. Toughness for Half Effect; DC 23/19 Damage - Affects Insubstantial 2, Incurable, Dimensional 2 (Mythic Dimensions)

Current Swordsmanship Chain: [Combo]
[Starter]: Dreams of Iron (1 turn ago)
[Combo]: Tuatha Whirlwind Strike
[Finisher]:

Current Status: -

[Dodgeson]

Anthony grappled with one of the slick black tendrils, slamming it against the grate even as it started to lose consistency and flow through his fingers whilst Colin's whirling blade sent more of its mass splattering against the walls of its chamber where it stubbornly refused to crawl back down the grate and began fizzing away in to nothing.

To say it wasn't have a fun time was something of an understatement, especially considering the attitude of the children that buzzed around it "The least of my kind could decimate your world!" The tendril that was now pulling itself off the floor screeched whilst the other two split straight down the middle to reveal yet more slavering maws that issued forth an otherworldly cacophony that made the room twitch and reality begin spasm around them as the jagged splintering sound clashed with the world around it and assaulted the young heroes.

Spoiler: OOC

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Tentacle 1 & 3
Standard: Team Attack with Eldritch Howl everybody make a DC22 Defence Check & a DC22 Will Save vs Impaired&Vulnerable/Stunned&Disabled/Incapacitated. This effect is Progressive as long as one of the takes a Standard Action to maintain it.
End of turn: Tentacle 1 heals a Bruise

Tentacle 2
Free Action: Instant Up
Standard Action: Recover
End of turn: Regeneration heals a Bruise

Heroes are on turn!

[Quellian-dyrae]

Kelly dodged the howl. Not, like, she plugged her ears before it could affect her, or anything. She dodged it. Kelly moved way faster than the speed of sound, it wasn't even a thing.

"Wow, they can? Really!?" Kelly replied, with the bright-eyed cheer of someone feigning happy interest. A beat later, though, she asked, "But soooo...what does that make you?"

She kept on whirling and dancing through the room, her whips lashing out at the first two tentacles to ding them every time they moved or shifted like literally at all. "Because, like, if the least of your kind can decimate our world, but you can't even take on a bunch of teenagers with attitude...?"

She sent her whips lashing at the first tentacle, her arms vibrating fast enough to "crack" the whips basically dozens of times a second, the energy whips aiming to practically drill into the tendril. "I mean, it kinda doesn't math out unless you like realllyy suck!"

Spoiler

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Move: Be a speedster.

Standard: Attack Tentacle 1 with Hummingbird Touch, Power Attack for 4, at (1d20+8)[24]. On a hit, Toughness DC 23+Multiattack vs. Damage, Defense DC 18+Multiattack vs. Weaken All Defenses.

End of Turn: Secondary Effect triggers. Tentacles 1 and 2 take Toughness DC 23 vs. Damage.

Current Status: 1 Bruise, Fatigued.

[Llyarden]

Adrien didn't dodge the psychic shrieking. He just kinda...floated there on his 'surfboard,' apparently unconcerned. Then he clicked his fingers and an oversized pair of pink earmuffs appeared on his head, blocking out the sound. One of the perks of being a musician, though, was that you got good at knowing what you sounded like even when you couldn't hear yourself singing - or in this case, speaking. "Sorry, Eddy -" because why stick to one annoying nickname when you could have two? "- but you...you just don't scare me."

Having finished polishing Fragarach, the cartoon wolf went zipping across the room to arrive by Claire - Adrien was watching her with a little worry. He didn't...quite understand why she'd suddenly charged at L-DEF and started screaming at it, but she hadn't acted at all like that in their last fight. Maybe it was some lingering guilt about the memory peddler.

His concern aside, there was an eldritch abomination to punch in the...something. Whatever eldritch abomintions had that was eminently punchable. Once more, a giant boxing glove appeared on Claire's hand - though this time, it was visibly connected to a set of strings that stretched up into the ceiling, where a whole collection of little cartoony animals were working the strings, running back and forth along unseen stage supports to add even more momentum to her punches, rather like a battering ram.

Spoiler: OOC

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Start of Turn: Colin's Augment-tied Illusion drops to rank 1.
Move: Feint Tentacle 1: (1d20+3)[19] If I manage to roll well I'll pass the benefits to Colin and Anthony.
Standard: Shine the Spotlight on Claire, to give her a new Alternate Effect of Very Real Superhero Moves:
Definitely A Sonic Clap - Damage 8 [Resisted by Will, Increased Range 2 (Perception), Area (Cone), Selective, Incurable, Reversible, Limited (must originate from user)] Linked Affliction 8 (Dazed+Vulnerable/Stunned+Defenseless; Will) [Extra Condition, Increased Range 2, Limited Degree, Limited (targets within melee range)]

Spoiler: Details

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1 point to duplicate Strong Punch, Huh?
-10 points to remove the Move Object entirely.
16 points to add Area [Cone] and Selective to the Damage.
0 points to change 'Limited to targets within melee range' to 'Must originate from user.'
8 points to add Linked Affliction 8 (Dazed+Vulnerable/Stunned+Defenseless; Will) [Extra Condition, Increased Range 2, Limited Degree, Limited to targets within melee range]

(Note: Perception-range area attacks do not allow Dodge saves to half the effect.)
Free: Begin blocking sense of hearing.

Status: Fatigued, Hearing Blocked.

[OutOfThyme]

"Sparkles over there has a point," Colin called out, as the gusts of wind calmed down. "You're not doing too well, for a horror from beyond the veil."

Colin raised his blade, and the runes on Fragarach glowed with a crimson light. Colin brought the blade down, using the last of Adrien's modifications to smite the nameless horror before him.

"Take that!"

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Move Action: None
Free Action: Set Fragarach to Ultimate Flurry
Standard Action: Attack with Ultimate Flurry; (1d20+10)[13] to hit; DC 21 + Multiattack Damage vs. Defense; DC 16 Fortitude vs. Weaken Defenses

Current Swordsmanship Chain: [Finisher]
[Starter]: Dreams of Iron (2 turns ago)
[Combo]: Tuatha Whirlwind Strike (1 turn ago)
[Finisher]: Ultimate Flurry

Current Status: -

[zzzzzzzz414]

Claire managed to clap their hands over their ears just before the wave of distorted noise hit, the effects rattling them but ultimately doing no harm. When they looked up again, it was with a quite uncharacteristic snarl on their face. Everything this creature did, the way it moved, the way it talked, it all filled them with overwhelming anger, to the point where they could barely see straight.

When Adrien's cartoon wolf appeared with another one of those odd-looking gloves, the snarl twisted into an almost manic-looking grin. Claire pulled back, and, with a yell of exertion, slammed their fist into the tentacle twice more, pouring their psychic energy through the glove.

A flurry of cartoony stars and sparkles exploded from the impact, along with two waves of distorted energy not unlike the one that had torn through the room moments earlier, dancing and flowing around their friends but slamming into the other two tentacles full force.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Free Action: Switch Array to "Totally a Sonic Clap"

Free Action: Switch Array to "Exceptionally Clear-Minded"

Move Action:Land

Standard Action: Using "Totally a Sonic Clap" on all 3 tentacles.

T1 has to make a Will save vs DC23 Damage and DC18 Affliction (Dazed+Vulnerable, Stunned+Defenseless)

T2 and T3 have to make a Will save vs Damage.

Extra Effort: using "Totally a Sonic Clap" again, repeat of Standard Action

Status: Fatigued
HP: 1

[Dorni]

Being right next to the tentacles meant Anthony got the full dose from the screaming tentacles, and he recoiled with his hands on his ears. When the scream ended Anthony was woozy on his feet with his ears still ringing from the horrible horribleness. But it wasn't just that. Anthony was indestructible, knew he was all but invulnerable. He hadn't been out of the pod long, but he'd been subjected to all manner of tests first by the Worthies then by the academy staff, and he knew that he was far tougher than any test they'd throw at the students. Even the spider they'd run into earlier hadn't really been able to hurt him.

This abomination's scream pierced right through that since of invincibility. Moments ago Anthony had regarded this monster as just another ugly, quaint little guard dog. Something to be wary of, sure, but not to be worried about. Anthony wasn't recoiling purely from the horrible wail. It was the psychic pain and the realization that this abomination could threaten him.

Then the moment of mortality gave way to another conviction.

Lionheart wouldn't let this stop him.

Anthony let go of his ears and drove forward, charging the screaming tentacle and swung one open hand at the tentacle like a karate chop. True, calling it a karate chop would have probably offended anyone with real knowledge of martial arts, but the raw power of the all-out charge backing it up more than made up for the lack of technique. "You think we're scared of where you came from? This world is our home field!"

Spoiler

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Move: Close with Tentacle 1 (If needed)
Standard: Attack Tentacle 1 with Powerful Blow, AoA 5. (1d20+13)[33]. On hit, DC 27/22 32/27 Crit Toughness vs Damage/Weaken [Toughness]

End of turn: Regenerate a Bruise. Will DC 22 (1d20+4)[24] Crit vs Progressive Affliction [Impaired&Vulnerable/Stunned&Disabled/Incapacitated] Recovered

Status: Impaired & Vulnerable, Bruised x0, -5 Defenses

[Thokk_Smash]

It was pure luck that Marcus was able to block his ears before the wail could truly take effect on his mind. He grimaces, thinking desperately on what to do. He can almost feel Jordan's Death Curse squeezing in around him, seeming to choke him and drive his mind blank. And the remnants of the Blackstaff's whispers continue to assault his mind in a dizzying susurrus.

But everyone else isn't backing down. There's no way he can get scared now.

"I've heard better singing from alleycats, you bloody pissant!" he shouts, as much to hype himself up as anything else. He backs up a few steps, and the Blackstaff appears in his hand as if by magic--distressingly quickly, to Marcus, as if it had been teleported there, but there is nothing for it. He raises the Blackstaff, gathering power in the form of a radiant sphere of light at the head of the staff. "Forzare Rex!" he shouts, aiming for the most weakened tentacle and seeking to pinball it into the one that hadn't already shaken off its damage.

Then, with a little magical twist of his mind, he deadens the air inside his ears. It's a bit painful, but now he can't hear anything, including any further wailings from the monsters.

Spoiler

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Move action: Move out of Close range of the tentacles.

Standard: Forzare Rex on Tentacle 1, AoA/PA for 2, critting on a 16+, (1d20+8)[23] vs DC 25 Damage, DC 20 Strength vs Move Object or be launched at Tentacle 3 at (1d20+8)[25] Would be a Crit on Tentacle 3 if the Move Object is failed

Will vs Side Effect DC 18, -1 for Weaken: (1d20+9)[15] -3 Will, and Marcus' attack gains the [Dark/Evil] descriptor due to failing to resist

Free action: Begin to block Hearing

Status: Fine, -4 Will Hearing Blocked, -2 Defenses
HP: 0
Luck: 1/2

[Dodgeson]

Reality began to settle back to normal as the maddening cackle finally ceased, Claire's rolling wave of energy knocking the writhing black appendages off balance enough that Anthony's heavy blow cut straight through the tentacle like he was swing through particularly thick custard and sending enough of its mass flying across the room that it noticeable shrunk in size.

It had hardly had a moment to recover before Marcus' shout echoed across the room and a sphere of arcane slammed in to it with enough force to send it whipping across the room and crashing in to another of the appendages, it couldn't have been less dignified if somebody had yelled 'Stop hitting yourself!'

Still whilst two of the limbs had begun to wither as they tried to pull themselves back together there was still fight left in one of them and it spun around like a whirlwind, lashing out at the heroes who had hurt it the most.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Tentacle 1
Standard Recover
End of turn Regeneration removes a bruise

Tentacle 2
Standard Multiattack Anthony, Claire and Marcus with Tentacle Barrage, DC25 Toughness & DC20 Fortitude vs Dazed/Stunned if that hits
Anthony [roll]1d20+7[roll] Miss
Claire (1d20+7)[16] Miss
Marcus (1d20+7)[10] Miss
Move Staggered
End of turn Regeneration removes a bruise

Tentacle 3
Standard Recover
End of turn Regeneration removes a bruise

Heroes are on turn!

[Llyarden]

For the first time since he'd arrived in the room, Adrien took off on his 'surfboard' again, gliding over to join the rest of the group. "Oh, right, we haven't introduced ourselves!" he realised, aloud. "We should probably do that. I'm Adrien. Nice to meet you two!"

"And now, on with the show! Ladies, gentlemen, eldritch abominations of all ages!" he announced, cheerful as ever, stepping from his surfboard onto the tentacle that Marcus had just flung across the room, using it as a sort of impromptu podium. "My next trick may well be one you've seen before - but can you tell how it's done? I present - the magic boxes!"

With another click of his fingers and dramatic flourish, red velvet curtains swirled around the group, momentarily cutting sight of them all off from each other. Then the curtains raised again...and all of the heroes that had been in the area now found themselves staring at a series of human-sized purple boxes, emblazoned with silver stars. Each box had three 'doors,' which opened and closed as needed to allow the heroes to reach out and attack. And while, logically, it was obvious that all the heroes had been shielded by the magic boxes, each of the heroes' own boxes, to them, was all but imperceptible.

...and then, over the rustling of fabric as the curtains retracted back into whatever illusory ceiling they'd come from, and the general sound of the melee going on, Adrien quietly turned to Claire. His concerned look grew a little deeper when he saw her expression as she was punching at the beleaguered tentacle. "Hey, are you okay?"

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Start of Turn: Colin's Augment-tied Illusion drops to rank 0 and vanishes. Claire's Augment-tied Illusion drops to rank 1.
Move: Fly kinda into the middle of everyone clustered around Tentacle 1.
Free: Switch to Centre Stage. Claire's Augment drops.
Standard: Magic Box on...probably everyone, except maybe Marcus depending on where he went, Selectively excluding the tentacles for obvious reasons. Anyone targeted is Deflected at 1d10+18, -1 per point of Toughness above 8, and has Total Visual Concealment which doesn't conceal their positions.

Status: Fatigued, Deflected (1d10+16), Total Visual Concealment

[Quellian-dyrae]

For a moment, Kelly had the odd urge to start miming when the boxes appeared. But then she remembered that the typical color scheme of mimes was black and white and decided there was no way she could get away with it.

"Oh, yeah, I'm Kelly! Great to meet you! Big fan!" Kelly answered cheerily, as she threw herself back into her dervish dance, changing her own rhythm so her strikes couldn't become predictable. The magic boxes made it pretty wild, the doors opened and closed one after another, rapid-fire, a strand of brilliant energy lashing out and vanishing as the door closed. But as fast as the doors opened and closed, she was in a different position each time, rainbow light strobing over the battlefield in flickering flashes.

Spoiler

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Free: Reconfigure Streaming to 8 points Rainbow Rage, 3 points Rainbow Relay: Teleport 1 (Reaction, Limited), 1 point Rainbow Race: Flight 2 (Platform, Quirk).

Reaction: Rainbow Relay teleport.

Move: Movement.

Reaction: Rainbow Relay teleport.

Standard: Attack with Dervish Dance, All Out Attack for 5, Power Attack for 5. On a hit, Toughness DC 24+Multiattack vs. Secondary Effect, Cloud Area Damage.
Tentacle 1: (1d20+12)[30]. Hit with +2 Multiattack due to Recover bonus.
Tentacle 2: (1d20+12)[23]. Hit
Tentacle 3: (1d20+12)[24]. Hit

Reaction: Rainbow Relay teleport.

Current Status: 1 Bruise, Fatigued, -5 Defense this turn, Deflected (1d10+18), Total Visual Concealment.

[Dorni]

"And I'm Anthony - thanks for the help. I don't suppose the giant stopped you guys on the way in?" Anthony replied, shaking some of the black ooze off his hand as he charged the remaining tentacles and delivered another chop.

Spoiler

Show

Move: to Tentacle 2
Standard: Attack Tentacle 2 with Powerful Blow, AoA 5. (1d20+9)[10]. On hit, DC 27/22 Toughness vs Damage / Weaken [Toughness]

End of turn: Regenerate 1 bruise
Status: -5 Defenses, Deflected (1d10+16), Total Visual Concealment

[zzzzzzzz414]

"I'm...fine..." Claire mumbled between heavy breaths, eyes not leaving the slimy mass in front of them. As soon as the rainbow-y girl (Kelly? They were having trouble focusing on much of anything but L-DEF at the moment) dispatched it, Claire sprinted away towards the other one without another word, hammering the creature with another psychic assault before their fist even made contact.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Move: to Tentacle 2

Free: Switch array to Disorienting "Strike"

Standard: Use Disorienting "Strike" on T2. DC19 Will vs Damage, DC18 Will vs Affliction (Dazed/Vulnerable, Stunned/Defenseless)

Status: Fatigued, Total Visual Concealment, Deflected (1d10+17)
HP: 1

[OutOfThyme]

Colin was about to slice downward with Fragarach, when both Kelly and Adrien interrupted with dropping the tentacle that he was engaged with, and putting up a bunch of boxes around the room.

Was this some kind of protective trick from Adrien? It was weird, and reminded Colin of some kind of corny game show. Something like "Are You Smarter Than An Eldritch Horror?"

"The name's Colin," he said, watching as Claire and Anthony moved to attack one of the other tentacles. "I'll get the other one!"

Colin charged for the third tentacle, trying to carve out more of the eldritch essence with sweeping cuts.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Move Action: Move to engage Tentacle 3
Free Action: Set Fragarach to Dreams of Iron
Standard Action: Attack with Dreams of Iron. (1d20+8)[18]. If it hits, that's a DC 23 vs. Damage, and an opposed Nullify vs. Will/effect check: (1d20+8)[24]

Current Swordsmanship Chain: [Starter]
[Starter]: Dreams of Iron
[Combo]: Tuatha Whirlwind Strike (2 turns ago)
[Finisher]: Ultimate Flurry (1 turn ago)

Current Status: -

[Thokk_Smash]

This time the Blackstaff took a much larger bite from Marcus' reserves, and the boy feels his body becoming sluggish. Rather, not his body, but his mind is muddied from trying to channel so much dark energy so quickly. The Blackstaff is in his mind, pounding it with seemingly-good reasons to give himself over to the staff.

Breathing heavily, grimacing in discomfort, Marcus stows the Blackstaff once more and takes up his trusty brown stave. He reacts with a flinch at the magic boxes, and his simple walk to the least-damaged tentacle is quite banal, unlike Kelly(?)'s spectacular display. "Marcus, present," he says in a tired voice, as if replying to a role call in class. It's kinda hard to hear even himself with his ears blocked, but he thinks he can tell what everyone else is going for.

Arctic cold coalesces around the head of his staff, and Marcus gestures at the tentacle with a vicious stab. "Infriga!" he invokes. "And Infriga again, you soon-to-be calamari!"

Spoiler

Show

Free action: Swap to Infriga

Move: Into close range of Tentacle 3.

Standard action: Attack with Infriga, AoA/PA for 2, (1d20+8)[18] vs DC 25 Damage, DC 20 Fort vs Impaired/Disabled/Paralyzed.

Extra Effort: Do it again! (1d20+8)[22] vs DC 25 Toughness Damage, DC 20 Fort vs Impaired/Disabled/Paralyzed

Seeing as Marcus was just ten feet or so from Tentacle 1, he should most likely be within range for the Magic Box.

Status: Fine, Fatigued next turn, -2 Defenses, Deflected at 1d10+16, Total Visual Concealment, still Blocking Hearing
HP: 0
Luck: 1/2

[Dodgeson]

With each strike of Kelly's brilliant whips the black tendril spasmed, its myriad eyes bursting only to be replaced with howling maws, getting smaller and smaller with each hit as the sheer force of her blows simply dissolved more and more of the black ooze that made up its body until it fizzed away in to nothingness.

As Claire hammered away at one of the remaining limbs and the other was hit hard by the powerful magic of the Blackstaff it was starting to look like the writing was on the wall for the eldritch monstrosity but the creature wasn't about to let itself be beaten so easily. The brightly coloured boxes that currently made a mockery of the chambers otherwise grim decor were proving to be bothersome but there was certainly a way around that, letting out another garbled screech that singed the ears of those that heard it the remaining limbs rounded on Adrien's shelter and hammered away at it to reach the prey inside.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Tentacle 2
Standard: Attack Adrien (1d20+5)[13] with Tentacle Barrage DC25+Multiattack Toughness and DC20+Multiattack Fortitude vs Cumulative Dazed/Stunned if that hits Not even with the +2
Move: Staggered
End of Turn: Regeneration removes a Bruise

Tentacle 3
Standard: Aid Tentacle 2 (1d20+5)[17] +2
Move: Nah
End of Turn: Regeneration removes a Bruise. Fortitude to Recover from Disabled (DC20) (1d20+5)[14] No dice

Heroes are on turn!

[Quellian-dyrae]

"One down, two to go!" Kelly cheered. "When this is over they're gonna have to change your name to Crying Darkness and Endless Flame!" she quipped.

With two tentacles left, she could pretty much just dedicate a whip to each one. That would have been a solid play. Except, you know, super-speed and all. She was still keeping up her dervish dance, her blows coming faster and faster as she built up her combat rhythm. So sure, weaving and spinning through the battlefield, she dedicated one whip to each tentacle.

But the thing about super-speed dancing was, you needed something to occupy yourself between the beats. Considering the various options available, she decided on attacking the tentacles. She went with what worked. For those attacks, she swapped which whip went for each tentacle. To people who didn't occupy a privileged view of her headspace, it basically looked like she was just zipping about the room attacking both tentacles with both whips many many times. But I think it's important to clarify the subtle distinction between this technique and actually just attacking both tentacles with both whips many many times. The devil (or ancient eldritch horror, whatever) is in the details.

"Ooh! Or maybe Laughing Stock And Endless Joke?"

Spoiler

Show

Free: Swap to Rainbow Race.

Move: Around.

Standard: Attack Tentacles 2 and 3 with Barrage, not applying Cumulative. Power Attack for 2, Multiattack for 2. On a hit, Toughness DC 21 vs. Damage, Will DC 16 vs. Cumulative, Secondary Effect Dazed+Vulnerable/Stunned+Defenseless/Incapacitated+Transformed Affliction.
Tentacle 2: (1d20+8)[11].
Tentacle 3: (1d20+8)[25].

End of Turn: Cloud Area triggers. Tentacles 2 and 3 get Toughness DC 24 vs. Damage.

Current Status: 1 Bruise, Fatigued.