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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Bugbear in the Playground
    Join Date
    Aug 2014
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    ???
    Gender
    Female

    Default [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    Issue One

    You probably wouldn't consider sneaking through the Warrens to be your ideal Friday night activity, but that was before you were a superhero. That was before the call to adventure, the promise of glory, and the need to make right what was set wrong.

    The Warrens are what happens when a city as big as Halcyon goes through one crisis event too many. When alien invasions and apocalyptic super fights bring buildings crashing down over and over again until all that's left is a pile of rubble and ash. A labyrinth of concrete and steel too interlocked to ever untangle. Ruined buildings, exploded cars, and torn up streets. And, of course, secret hideouts.

    There's really no better place in the city for a supervillain to make their lair; heroes patrol the Warrens as often as they can, but the ruins go deep, and villains have spent years hollowing out more and more of the earth beneath the Warrens. Though the League would never admit it, control of the Warrens is a fight that heroes can't win.

    Still, you have to try.

    Fox has masked the four of you with sorcery, calling on shadow and moonlight to mask your approach. In the blinding lights of the city proper this spell wouldn't do much, but here, in this place of secrets and deception, the Warrens are more than happy to help you hide.

    You find the entrance without any interruptions. A reinforced steel door is paired with an electronic lock and shrouded by concrete piled high. The lock is the easiest part, funny enough. It takes JiggaWatt approximately fifty-three seconds to crack it without setting off any alarms. The door clicks and swings open, and you're in.

    You stand as a Team, right outside the entrance to an illicit facility that - according to your source - has been experimenting on humans and metahumans alike. If your source can be trusted, this lab holds answers you need.

    Answers about the attack on Human Interest a few weeks back. Answers about the drugs that turned ordinary humans into superpowered minions under the thrall of another. Perhaps even answers about why Corax, the Crow Witch, apprentice to the legendary Lich Girl, has taken such an interest in your scrappy little band of misfits.

    A few hours after the four of you stopped the bad guys, saved a Human Interest spokesperson, and violated international law by straying into the Zzenj Embassy, you all received a message over Veil.

    Corax: I like your style. If you want to know why this happened and where those drugs came from, just say Yes. I'll be in touch.
    In the end, despite misgivings, you agreed. And so here you are. From everything that Corax has told you in the preceding weeks, this is a place of dark science. A place that makes monsters.

    Not for long.

    You burst inside and witness a horrific tableau: men and women in clean white lab coats attach glowing green canisters to glass pod-shaped chambers in which float unconscious bodies, while helmeted guards carrying rifles patrol the floor and block hallways leading out further into the facility. Other coat-wearing personnel attend scared-looking teenagers strapped to tables - teenagers with powers, judging by the AEGIS-grade inhibitor collars around their necks.

    You see all this from above, from a walkway with a railing that overlooks the chamber. You seem to have come in the back door, because no one's looking your way. That buys you a second of time, maybe two, before this becomes a brawl. You have the first move.

    What do you do?

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    When you enter battle against a dangerous foe as a team, add two to the
    Team pool.
    • If the leader has Influence over every teammate, add another Team.
    • If everyone has the same purpose in the fight, add another Team.
    • If any team member mistrusts the leader or the team, remove a Team.
    • If your team is ill-prepared or off-balance, remove a Team.
    The leader of the team can mark a condition to avoid removing
    a Team from the pool.

    So, initial questions: who is the leader, what is your purpose in this fight, and do any of you mistrust each other? Feel free to answer this in-character or debate in the OOC.


    OOC Thread
    Last edited by Malexia; 2019-11-08 at 02:07 PM.

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Orc in the Playground
     
    DreadPirateH's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jul 2012

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    Errant White
    Conditions:
    Potential: 0/5
    Spoiler: Labels
    Show
    • Freak: -1
    • Danger: +0
    • Savior: +2
    • Superior: +1
    • Mundane: -1

    Spoiler: Moves
    Show
    • [X] Fight the good fight: When you pull your punches while directly engaging a threat, you can roll + Savior instead of + Danger. If you do, you cannot choose to impress, surprise, or frighten your foe.
    • [X]The legacy matters: When you take Influence over someone from your legacy (or give them Influence over you), mark potential and take +1 forward. When someone from your legacy causes your Labels to shift, mark potential and take +1 forward.


    This night had been a long time coming. It took weeks of legwork, but eventually the mysterious drugs had been traced to this location. And Aiden had been of practically no use doing it. Most of what the team knew, they were fed from Corax, the self-styled Crow Witch. Her motives were inscrutable, and her patronage was suspect; how could anybody trust a former associate of Lich Girl? But for now it seemed she was on the side of the angels.

    Fox's magic had hidden them in the night as they made their approach, but now there was no hiding. Now unhindered by sorcery, Errant White's magic armor gleams as the team bursts into the nightmarish scene. It was time to get to work.

    With no time to waste, the White Knight scans the room, separating villain from victim, searching for those most in need of rescue.

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    I rolled a [B]7 to assess the situation.

    My question is: what (who?) here is in the greatest danger?
    Last edited by DreadPirateH; 2019-11-08 at 07:12 PM.

  3. - Top - End - #3
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Zombie

    Join Date
    Dec 2016

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    Liminal
    Conditions:
    Potential: 0/5
    Spoiler: Labels
    Show
    • Freak: -1
    • Danger: +0
    • Savior: +0
    • Superior: +1
    • Mundane: +3

    Spoiler: Moves
    Show
    • Mild-mannered: When you try to use your civilian identity to deceive, trick, or slip past someone, roll + Mundane. On a hit they buy your facade. On a 7-9, choose one:
      - you’re still under observation
      - you leave something incriminating behind
      - you’re forced to make a fool of yourself to sell it
      On a miss, one of your civilian obligations rears its ugly head.

    • Game face: When you commit yourself to save someone or defeat a terrible enemy, mark a condition and take +1 ongoing to all rolls in direct pursuit of that goal. At the end of any scene in which you don’t make progress towards that goal, mark a condition. When you fulfill your goal, mark potential.


    As the team breached the entrance to the secretive villain lair, Liminal breathed a sigh of relief. Sneaking around the dead ruins of the unluckier portions of Halcyon City wasn't exactly something she'd always dreamed about. It was more of a nightmare in reality. The whole trip smelled as if someone had been using the twisted metal and concrete as an outhouse, and Liminal was fed up with breathing through her mouth the whole way. The odd noises of creaking buildings and what she hoped were just feral dogs hadn't improved her mood either. If she'd been alone, Liminal would've "noped" out of there about as fast as she could. Even if that meant she'd be back at home watching Bob the Builder with her little brother for the billionth time.

    But tonight, she wasn't alone. Tonight, she'd gotten to make a most unpleasant journey with three of her favorite people: Captain Stoic, Foxface, and Flippin' JigaWatt. Such a team more than made up for the creepiness factor of the ruins. Fox had even cast some of his weird dark magic on the group, and they'd been cloaked in crazy shadows throughout the journey. She'd failed to get Errant White to notice her attempt at shadow puppets, but that wasn't a small loss.

    What would be a loss is if the guards with real guns noticed them charging in the back door of a hidden supervillain lair. Liminal tensed instantly as the team's knight in shining armor stepped forward and began simply observing the room. In plain sight. Did he not care about the guards with real guns standing around the room? Liminal hadn't ever been shot at before, and it wasn't exactly an item on her hero bucket list. As soon as White stepped up, Liminal quickly stretch her arms out and wrapped herself around the walkway, quickly transitioning herself to the underside of the platform they were standing on. Her fingers remained wrapped around the railing of the walkway, but the rest of her remained tucked into the shadow beneath it. She pressed herself against the metal surface and quietly prayed she wouldn't get noticed.

    They'd be fine, right? Liminal wasn't about to charge headfirst into a fistfight with trained henchmen. That was Captain Stoic's job. If she was lucky, she might be able to catch someone off guard, and maybe she'd save the good Captain from being riddled with holes.

    And the hostages, of course. It would be better if she didn't forget the hostages this time.
    Last edited by Kirjath; 2019-11-08 at 10:25 PM.

  4. - Top - End - #4
    Orc in the Playground
     
    DreadPirateH's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jul 2012

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    Errant White
    Conditions:
    Potential: 0/5
    Spoiler: Labels
    Show
    • Freak: -1
    • Danger: +0
    • Savior: +2
    • Superior: +1
    • Mundane: -1

    Spoiler: Moves
    Show
    • [X] Fight the good fight: When you pull your punches while directly engaging a threat, you can roll + Savior instead of + Danger. If you do, you cannot choose to impress, surprise, or frighten your foe.
    • [X]The legacy matters: When you take Influence over someone from your legacy (or give them Influence over you), mark potential and take +1 forward. When someone from your legacy causes your Labels to shift, mark potential and take +1 forward.


    As Errant White scans the room, the points of interest are picked out brightly on the page to draw attention to them. The scientists. They look nervous, and some of the guards have their guns pointed at them. They needed protecting. "The scientists are prisoners, too! We have to keep them safe!"
    Last edited by DreadPirateH; 2019-11-08 at 11:29 PM.

  5. - Top - End - #5
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    PirateGuy

    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    JigaWatt
    Conditions:
    Potential: 1/5
    Spoiler: Labels
    Show
    • Freak: +2
    • Danger: -1
    • Savior: +1
    • Superior: +2
    • Mundane: -1

    Spoiler: Moves
    Show
    • Stage-fighting: When you directly engage a threat with an audience watching, mark a condition to roll + Superior instead of Danger.

    • Time for the show: When you put on a flamboyant display of your powers, roll + Superior.
      On a 7-9, name one NPC present.
      On a 10+, name two NPCs present.
      The named NPCs must either volunteer help or information, express admiration, or ask for your help, GM’s choice.
      On a miss, your display catches someone watching in the wrong way.


    Totally stoked about the night's outing, JigaWatt barely notices the less than pleasant terrain that his team passes through as they navigate the Warrens. After all, he's done plenty of stunts in junkyards where there's lots of raw materials to use and not a lot that's considered breakable; this isn't a whole lot different.

    Nor does he care overmuch that their lead comes from an Individual of Questionable Repute; if there's anyone more likely to turn on one bad guy than another bad guy, he hasn't encountered it yet. He can think of any number of reasons one villain would send some information heroward to take out another – rivalry, territorial dispute, payback, whatever. Regardless, it's an opportunity for them to do good and look good while doing it.

    Now, overlooking the disturbing setup below, JW can feel his heart going about twenty times faster than usual; at least, it seems that way. He always gets amped up before a stunt; this is the same feeling, but even more intense. Probably because the stakes are higher, now.

    "Goons are guys with guns -- gotcha," he quips in acknowledgement of Errant's directive, reaching up to the GoPro strapped to the side of his head beneath his hood. "And we're live," he announces to his teammates, switching the camera to record.

    Okay, so not 'live', but he'd checked for cell signal before they came in, this is as good as it was going to get for now.

    "Shout out to the Amp'd!" he announces in a harsh whisper. "Everybody watch your eyes; it's about to get lit up!" Stepping forward to the rail, he takes a deep breath before thrusting his hands out dramatically towards the nearest bank of overhead lights.
    Electricity, blue-white and volatile, pours out from his hands, cascading from bank to bank of fluorescent lighting. He had intended for the lighting to brighten dramatically before blowing out, leaving those below momentarily blinded and disoriented from the assault, but he clearly has misjudged the amount of power required to accomplish this as the only result is a wild, asynchronised flickering of the lights in an annoying but not particularly incapacitating manner.

    Well, damn.


    Spoiler: OOC:
    Show
    Unleash to force the lights to overload, brightening until they short out: 5
    And we have the first Potential of the game!

  6. - Top - End - #6
    Titan in the Playground
    Join Date
    Sep 2014

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    Fox
    Conditions:
    Potential:
    0/5

    He'd kept to the back even after they entered into the Warrens, focused more on the sound of grinding concrete and distant violence that reverberated about the maze. He liked it here, away from the city lights and thoughts better left alone though staring at the back of Errant's head called many unbidden. A thought to chuck a small piece of building at the armored hero's head was among them, tempered only by the knowledge that the spell would unravel, a fate that they couldn't afford. This place was hostile, not just in its winding tunnels and makeshift streets, not the jagged steel that lay in the rubble or above them like waiting teeth but merely by their presence. They didn't belong here.

    Not the rest of them at any rate. While Errant might have missed Liminal's attempts at levity he hadn't. The mysterious one proved a constant source of levity in otherwise hurmorless work. He wanted to point that maybe such antics were disrespectful to the craft, weaving moonlight and shadow was a serious thing after all, but he tried to keep quiet when under the mask. Especially when Errant was present, the fear that some Albian tinged word might rouse suspecions ever looming like the steel rebar above. Besides, who needed to talk with the other companion on this trip. Jigawatt was showing a hereto-unknown level of restraint even as they prepared to breach the lair, a surprise that lasted only as long as the expected disappointment that followed when he leapt forward and announced their presence. "Stupid." he hissed, fingers working to clutch at any lingering threads of shadowstuff from the spell.

    The new spell would be crude, but as the lights flickered he pulled the threads tight and cast himself into the shadows. Howls sounded from the air as a pack of ethereal fox leapt from the lights to dance around the guards. They were phantoms, their nipping and barking were for show but he hoped it was enough to keep the guards busy freaking out rather than filling Jigawatt with bullets. Which he probably deserved for putting the place on alert.

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    Rolled an 11 on "Are you Watching Closely" and picked my options. Clearly trying to distract the guards, making it look like Jigawatt did more than he actually did, distract the guards and keep myself hidden to not be entangled in the upcoming fight.

  7. - Top - End - #7
    Bugbear in the Playground
    Join Date
    Aug 2014
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    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    When the lights flicker, the penny drops.

    Everyone in the room below - techies, armed goons, and the teenage captives - looks up and sees a knight in shining armor. Two dozen eyes stare at one figure, riveted. And then a man with the clear signs of a commanding officer - better body armor, nice epaulets, a scarred face - shouts, "Don't just stand there, shoot them!"

    The techies dive for cover as the goons draw on the intruding heroes. Nine helmeted, body armor-wearing thugs point rifles in unison. Nine triggers are pulled within milliseconds of each other.

    And nine shots go wide as a pack of ethereal foxes spring out of the lights and spread havoc. The first salvo of the facility's defenders has been utterly negated by the chaos of these phantom creatures.

    In the few seconds you have before the enemy figures out the foxes aren't real, you notice three things:

    First, that nobody in the room has even taken notice of Fox, Liminal, and JigaWatt.

    Second, that the guards seem way more panicked than they should be. Like they think you four misfits are something dangerous. Like they know what happens when goons go up against heroes. Like maybe, just maybe, they've been dreading this fight.

    And lastly, you notice that the commanding officer has cut into a straight dash for a big red button on the left wall. ALARM, the text above reads.

    What do you do?

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    Team Pool at 3
    Some kind of word-witch. She/her. Find more of my stuff at my new website!

  8. - Top - End - #8
    Titan in the Playground
    Join Date
    Sep 2014

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    Fox
    Conditions:
    Potential:
    0/5

    Chaos, exactly as expected. Things were about to get ugly if they didn't get a handle on the sitaution, and quickly. The boyscout and Liminal could handle the majority of threats but one stuck out to him as he lurked in woven shadows. The commander was making a dive for an alarm. If they were already in chaos that would only make things worse. Normally he liked that about super fights. The panic and the fear, the scramble and uncertainty. It was everything that a concert, a good concert, was and more. Loud and violent. But alarms meant greater security measures. With a step, he cleared the room even as he cast the last of the shadows behind him in doing so. With practiced motions he drew one of his pistols free from the tattered robes he wore to fire a few shots at the approaching Captain.

    He was scared, they probably all were at this moment. He wanted to use that, to stop the man where he stood. It's why he wore the get up, animal skulls, the hide of foxes, tattered robes and all the rest. The skull mask was more high tech than it first appeared, he'd rigged LEDs into the sockets (which he obviously couldn't use for his own eyes) to glow a baleful and ominous red. Two points of blood-colored light that with a little magic smoked. "Don't."

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    Rolled a 9 on my Directly Engage. I think this comes off more as a Provoke...that'd be a 10 if so if we keep the roll. If it's a Directly Engage looking to Frighten/ETC/ETC

  9. - Top - End - #9
    Orc in the Playground
     
    DreadPirateH's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jul 2012

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    Errant White
    Conditions:
    Potential: 0/5
    Spoiler: Labels
    Show
    • Freak: -1
    • Danger: +0
    • Savior: +2
    • Superior: +1
    • Mundane: -1

    Spoiler: Moves
    Show
    • [X] Fight the good fight: When you pull your punches while directly engaging a threat, you can roll + Savior instead of + Danger. If you do, you cannot choose to impress, surprise, or frighten your foe.
    • [X]The legacy matters: When you take Influence over someone from your legacy (or give them Influence over you), mark potential and take +1 forward. When someone from your legacy causes your Labels to shift, mark potential and take +1 forward.


    Behind the helmet, unseen by the others, Aiden's face contorts into a terrified grimace as the guards raise their guns at him. He raises his shield to defend himself, bracing for a hail of bullets. Aiden had been shot at in the past, and his armor had never failed to protect him, but he still hasn't gotten used to being shot at. However, thanks to the lightshow, the bullets instead go wide. Thanks, Fox! I thought they had me.

    There isn't much a sword and shield can do against guns at range, so the only thing to do is close the gap. A sequence of panels shows Errant White vaulting over the railing to land below more nimbly and with much less clanking than his armored form would suggest. Then he charges right at a group of guards, shield raised out in front of him with its white lion crest shining bright.

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    I rolled a 14 to directly engage a threat using fight the good fight. He's pulling his blows because he isn't wielding his sword and isn't trying to cause major harm to the enemy. He's more interested in degrading their morale and keeping their attention on him and not on his teammates.
    Last edited by DreadPirateH; 2019-11-11 at 01:22 PM.

  10. - Top - End - #10
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    PirateGuy

    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    JigaWatt
    Conditions:
    Potential: 2/5
    Spoiler: Labels
    Show
    • Freak: +2
    • Danger: -1
    • Savior: +1
    • Superior: +2
    • Mundane: -1

    Spoiler: Moves
    Show
    • Stage-fighting: When you directly engage a threat with an audience watching, mark a condition to roll + Superior instead of Danger.

    • Time for the show: When you put on a flamboyant display of your powers, roll + Superior.
      On a 7-9, name one NPC present.
      On a 10+, name two NPCs present.
      The named NPCs must either volunteer help or information, express admiration, or ask for your help, GM’s choice.
      On a miss, your display catches someone watching in the wrong way.


    JigaWatt is relieved when Fox takes advantage of his own admittedly lame distraction to launch a better one of his own – and he never will admit he was doing anything more than setting the stage for his teammate in the first place!

    Chief bad guy running for the big alarm button is the clear place to intervene, and JW makes his move. Reaching back over his shoulder, he grabs the protruding nose of the steel skateboard deck and releases the electromagnetic hold he uses to keep it on his back.

    "Time to fly, my Amp'd," he announces, and in Errant's wake plants a foot on the rail and launches himself into the empty air!

    Snapping the board beneath his feet, he charges it with crackling electricity and rides the EM current to a point hovering a foot or two off the floor. Banking in the direction of the button...he finds Fox already there, interposing himself and firing warning shots at the head goon in what is, admittedly, an intimidating manner.

    Change of plans!

    Slewing across the floor, he raises a hand and casts an arcing web of electricity between Fox and the head goon sprinting at him. "Hands off the Fox!" he calls out, unhappy with his banter but unable to think of anything better on the fly. It's possible he's too focused on his dialogue at the expense of his tactics, unfortunately.



    Spoiler: OOC:
    Show
    Defend Fox from the return hit from Directly Engage: 5
    And we have the second Potential of the game!

  11. - Top - End - #11
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Zombie

    Join Date
    Dec 2016

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    Liminal
    Conditions:
    Potential: 0/5
    Spoiler: Labels
    Show
    • Freak: -1
    • Danger: +0
    • Savior: +0
    • Superior: +1
    • Mundane: +3

    Spoiler: Moves
    Show
    • Mild-mannered: When you try to use your civilian identity to deceive, trick, or slip past someone, roll + Mundane. On a hit they buy your facade. On a 7-9, choose one:
      - you’re still under observation
      - you leave something incriminating behind
      - you’re forced to make a fool of yourself to sell it
      On a miss, one of your civilian obligations rears its ugly head.

    • Game face: When you commit yourself to save someone or defeat a terrible enemy, mark a condition and take +1 ongoing to all rolls in direct pursuit of that goal. At the end of any scene in which you don’t make progress towards that goal, mark a condition. When you fulfill your goal, mark potential.


    The one thing Liminal hadn't been expecting was the noise. Gunfire was loud! Her hands instantly rushed to cover her ears and, in a moment of forgetful panic, Liminal plummeted to the hard floor as her only grip on the walkway was lost. There was a dull *splat* as she planted face first into the ground, her limbs splayed out and flattened against the concrete as she tried to keep as low of a profile as possible. With an effort, her face lifted up to briefly scan the surrounding chaos and make sure her team was still ok.

    Captain Stoic, er, Errant White was charging face first into the hordes of armed guards who were firing wildly at all of the magic foxes that had been summoned. His bravery was either admirable or foolish, and Liminal made a mental note to ask him about that move later. JigaWatt and Fox were tag teaming a guard reaching for the nearest button. Probably an alarm, though why he'd need to raise one after the entire neighborhood had heard the sound of gunfire was unknown. Maybe they really soundproofed their evil laboratories. It would be a shame to have the screams of panicked teenagers float up to the break room.

    Speaking of teenagers, the hostages! Liminal sprang up from her comfortable position on the floor to take stock of the scientists and the test subjects. With the guards firing so wildly, someone was bound to get hurt at any moment, but there were too many hostages to save! Liminal was just one person with really long arms. Still, she had to do something. What was it Errant White had said? Rescue the scientists?

    Liminal locked onto the nearest two lab-coat wearing stereotypes she could see that were nearest the gunfire and took off at a sprint. Moments before she reached them, her form billowed out as it stretched into a large blanket. She tucked herself over the two potential hostages and rolled off and into the nearest corner she could find. With any luck, they'd get horrible motion sickness and she could use the excuse to go save more people.

  12. - Top - End - #12
    Bugbear in the Playground
    Join Date
    Aug 2014
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    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    Errant White

    Fear is unjustly maligned. Fear is seen as something to be conquered and overcome. They tell you that a hero should never be afraid.

    You know the truth: fear keeps you alive.

    You hit the ground running and storm the front lines like a lion leaping into battle. You feel the air above you ripple as bullets tear through the space you just were. You hear the shouts of mercenaries as panic rises and wills crumble. You see them before you, coming closer, and you see the fear on their faces and the little shakes of their fingers on assault rifle triggers. They're afraid, just like you.

    Your lion's crest shield is a bulwark against their gunfire as you advance. Their treasured weapons - powerful enough to rip your friends apart, certainly - do nothing to the aegis of a Knight of Albion. A few of the smarter mercenaries move to flank you and fire past the shield, but your fear-heightened senses see them coming and it's almost child's play to reflect this new barrage.

    You are a titan advancing upon frail mortals, and they can see that. The three-and-two who broke off to either side hold their ground and take aim, but the four directly in your path break before you even have to take a swing. One gun clatters to the floor and its owner sinks to their knees, while the other three mercenaries take their weapons with them as they run fleeing deeper inside the facility.

    Four down, five to go.

    Liminal

    The techies don't see you coming, and that proves their undoing, and yours.

    Morphing your body like this comes so naturally now and you easily wrap around them, completely covering their bodies in seconds and rolling back toward the wall. But inside your makeshift cocoon is the sensation of pounding fists as the scientists scream and fight back against this figure that has completely entrapped them.

    Simple kinetic force wouldn't be enough to dislodge them, but then you feel something sharp - something like a needle - piercing you. You're immediately overcome by a wave of nausea and your form wobbles, disrupted by whatever the scientist did to you. They both spill out as you recover, and they go running in opposite directions: one scrambles to hide behind a pod, while the other stumbles straight into the path of a mercenary.

    The mercenary sees the scientist coming and steps back, grabbing the hapless technician by the arm and pinning them. The potential hostage has just become a real hostage, and the mercenary shouts, "Stand down, capes, or this blood will be on your hands." Despite the threat, the mercenary's gun is still pointed at Errant White, not the scientist.

    Fox

    The mercenary Captain knows the odds are against him, and he knows his only hope is that alarm. It's the one thing he has to do, even if all else fails. Just hit the button.

    And then there is a monster.

    That's the only word he can think of, even though he knows the proper term: superhero. He knows, somewhere in the rational part of his brain, that this is just a man in a mask with a few cute tricks. He knows that superheroes are not invincible, that they are not all-powerful, that they can be beaten. He knows all of this, but it doesn't matter, because the red-eyed skull consumes his field of vision.

    The dark revenant emerges from the shadows as if born of them and fires twice. The Captain barely avoids them both and makes to lunge for the alarm, but the revenant's voice rings out: "Don't."

    He freezes, paralyzed by doubt.

    And then an arc of electricity splashes between him and the revenant.

    JigaWatt

    For the second time this night your moment of glory has been stolen from you.

    Your arc went wide and came closer to hitting Fox than the Captain, but much worse than, it seems to have jolted the Captain into action. He snaps his gaze away from the alarm and Fox and sees you.

    He fires a few opening shots that you just barely dodge, but then you realize - too late, much too late - that the gunfire was a distraction, and he's there, barreling into you and slamming you against a metal table, hands around your throat.

    Take a powerful blow.

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    Team pool at 3
    Some kind of word-witch. She/her. Find more of my stuff at my new website!

  13. - Top - End - #13
    Titan in the Playground
    Join Date
    Sep 2014

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    Fox
    Conditions:
    Potential:
    0/5

    He was glad the mask hid the gasp, pulled from him as light arcs between himself and the goon. Jigawatt, again. Almost hit him to boot, what was he thinking? Was he? That might be the answer. He felt his connection to the shadows around them wane, magic was about control as much as anything else and a break in concentration like that fuddle him up. It was momentary, as Jigawatt's gambit turned into a hostage situation all its own. Parallelling the one playing out further down the room.

    It would seem the other two weren't having much luck of it, at least alarms weren't going haywire. Small victories. He should probably get to helping Jigawatt then. "No." he hissed, sweeping an arm as the shadows followed, rising into a savage clawed hand that pierced through the guard captain, gripping Jigawatt. "Mine." With a yanking motion, the shadow arm followed as it pulled Jigawatt back with sudden force.

  14. - Top - End - #14
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    PirateGuy

    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    JigaWatt
    Conditions:
    Potential: 3/5
    Spoiler: Labels
    Show
    • Freak: +2
    • Danger: -1
    • Savior: +1
    • Superior: +2
    • Mundane: -1

    Spoiler: Moves
    Show
    • Stage-fighting: When you directly engage a threat with an audience watching, mark a condition to roll + Superior instead of Danger.

    • Time for the show: When you put on a flamboyant display of your powers, roll + Superior.
      On a 7-9, name one NPC present.
      On a 10+, name two NPCs present.
      The named NPCs must either volunteer help or information, express admiration, or ask for your help, GM’s choice.
      On a miss, your display catches someone watching in the wrong way.


    If JigaWatt was a pessimist, he would think that today just isn’t going his way. But since pessimists don’t go out and become celebrities and superheroes, he has to conclude that it just isn’t his day...yet.

    Fortunately for the Youtuber, his reflexive reactions are far, far more effective than his overt attempts at heroing. Having held an electromagnetic field on his back until only moments ago, it’s not difficult to throw one up again...but with a repulsive polarity rather than an attractive one. So rather than hitting the metal table with spine-crushing force, he just sort of...bumps it.

    His hands fly up to those choking him, gripping the merc’s wrists. JigaWatt is in reasonably good shape, but he’s no sort of brawler and doesn’t stand a chance of breaking the hold by sheer muscle power.

    Which is probably why it’s for the best he instead sends fluttering pulses of electrical induction into the man’s forearms instead, causing the muscles to twitch and release uncontrollably, ruining the hold.

    Now, all he has to do is figure a way to get out of—

    Giant shadow talons haul him bodily out of the merc leader’s grasp, and he barely manages to avoid letting out an undignified shriek in reaction. That...has to be Fox at work again, but if he is spending his time rescuing beseiged teammates, he likely isn’t spending enough covering his own backside.

    "Thanks for the assist, Fox!" he cries, getting his feet back under him. "I think I had him," the star goes on, summoning a crackling handful of power, "but I’m okay with tabling the discussion for now!" Unsurprisingly, his next move is to seize hold of the metal table in bands of electromagnetic force and interpose it between himself and Fox, and the merc.

    Tit for tat, after all.


    Spoiler: OOC:
    Show
    Take a Powerful Blow: 4
    At this rate I’ll be forced to retire the character in a few months! Marking Potential.
    Defend Fox from the Merc Captain: 10
    The world is coming to an end! Add 1 Team to the pool.

  15. - Top - End - #15
    Orc in the Playground
     
    DreadPirateH's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jul 2012

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    Errant White
    Conditions:
    Potential: 0/5
    Spoiler: Labels
    Show
    • Freak: -1
    • Danger: +0
    • Savior: +2
    • Superior: +1
    • Mundane: -1

    Spoiler: Moves
    Show
    • [X] Fight the good fight: When you pull your punches while directly engaging a threat, you can roll + Savior instead of + Danger. If you do, you cannot choose to impress, surprise, or frighten your foe.
    • [X]The legacy matters: When you take Influence over someone from your legacy (or give them Influence over you), mark potential and take +1 forward. When someone from your legacy causes your Labels to shift, mark potential and take +1 forward.


    Aiden grins behind his helmet as four of the guards turn to flee. The adrenaline was beginning to take hold, crowding out the fear. Even as five men turned to train their weapons on him, he knew they didn't want to fight any more than he did. If he drew his sword now, it would result in bloodshed for certain. Durendal was a righteous sword, but not forgiving. But it didn't have to be like that.

    "Hold! Lay down your weapons and no harm will come to you, on my honor!"

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    I rolled a 5 to provoke the remaining guards into surrendering. We'd need at least 2 Team to turn that into a hit, but maybe this could be capitalizing on opportunity? If not, I'll mark potential.
    Last edited by DreadPirateH; 2019-11-13 at 08:11 PM.

  16. - Top - End - #16
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Zombie

    Join Date
    Dec 2016

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    Liminal
    Conditions:
    Potential: 0/5
    Spoiler: Labels
    Show
    • Freak: -1
    • Danger: +0
    • Savior: +0
    • Superior: +1
    • Mundane: +3

    Spoiler: Moves
    Show
    • Mild-mannered: When you try to use your civilian identity to deceive, trick, or slip past someone, roll + Mundane. On a hit they buy your facade. On a 7-9, choose one:
      - you’re still under observation
      - you leave something incriminating behind
      - you’re forced to make a fool of yourself to sell it
      On a miss, one of your civilian obligations rears its ugly head.

    • Game face: When you commit yourself to save someone or defeat a terrible enemy, mark a condition and take +1 ongoing to all rolls in direct pursuit of that goal. At the end of any scene in which you don’t make progress towards that goal, mark a condition. When you fulfill your goal, mark potential.


    It took Liminal a great deal of effort to stand up straight after that injection. Whatever it was those blasted scientists had injected her with was doing a number on her system. She tried reaching an arm out, only to have it flop down to the floor in a lumpy, noodly mess. Not a good sign. It also caused a fresh wave of nausea to wash over her, and Liminal gave a small retch before her other hand shot up to cover her mouth.

    There was no way she'd be throwing up live in front of JigaWatt's audience. Or her new team. Or the villains. That would be the end of her superhero career.

    As for the hostages, well...after that last stunt, they might have earned getting a little bit vomited on. Sure, they probably panicked, but she was trying her best! Who just sticks someone with a random needle? It was rude! Liminal tried focusing her gaze on the impertinent scientist now stuck in a mercenary's grasp. She was doing her level best to glare at them, but the nausea made it look more like a pained grimace.

    "How would you shooting someone make it our fault?" The words slipped out between another retch. She wasn't intending to provoke the obviously unstable goon with a gun, but her mouth always worked faster than her brain did. Maybe she would just have to run with it.

    "Like, what happens next? If you kill them, doesn't that get rid of your bargaining chip? Am I suddenly not going to punch you when they're gone?" She followed the mercenary's gaze back up towards Errant White, who stood a ways off taking on an entire squad by himself. "I don't know if you've, *urp* noticed, but my friend over there's immune to bullets. Do as he says, just put the-the gun down, and we can just let you go? No dead people on your conscience, and I don't have to punch you. Everyone wins!"

    Liminal was already winding back an arm as the mercenary was distracted. She prayed this wouldn't get them to change their mind and start shooting at the hostages.

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    Spending 1 Team to boost Errant White's result to a 6. Need one more for a hit.

  17. - Top - End - #17
    Bugbear in the Playground
    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Location
    ???
    Gender
    Female

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    Fox and JigaWatt

    A hand of shadow wraps around the super-star and drags him out of reach of the mercenary Captain, eliciting a scream of rage. Before JigaWatt is even to his feet the Captain is aiming his rifle with deadly intent, but the hero's quick thinking electrifies the table between them... which is thankfully unoccupied.

    The electricity leaps from the table to the Captain and dances over his weapon, forcing him to drop it to the ground with another furious oath. The Captain is Angry, and for the first time he really gives the two heroes his full attention, pulling a secondary pistol and staring down the duo - as much as one can stare from beneath a face-concealing helmet.

    And then something passes over him. You hear muttered words, distorted by the helmet's filter but clear enough to hear: "You're just... you're just kids. Aw, hell." He grabs the radio at his shoulder and shouts into it, "It's not the League, it's just a pack of brats! Hold the line, you idiots!"

    If the facility didn't know about your presence before, they definitely do now. However, the Captain has just left himself completely open to reprisal.

    What do you do?

    Errant White and Liminal

    For a moment, the five mercenaries seem ready to put down their guns. The fear is strong in them, and the words of two superheroes are enough to reach through their training.

    Then the words of their Captain filter through radios and across the wide chamber, and a wave of shock and embarassment passes over them. Just kids? Not legendary heroes, but just a bunch of wannabe sidekicks? Of course, one of those wannabe sidekicks is seemingly an invincible warrior in shining armor. The mercenaries don't run, but neither do they take another run at trying to breach Errant White's defenses.

    But one of the mercenaries wasn't part of that exchange - because as soon as the group hesitated, the mercenary holding a hostage clutched his side and released the hostage. The hostage stumbles away with an empty syringe in hand and everyone in the room hears the former captor cry out in pain as an awful transformation overtakes him.

    A dull-red corona of energy seems to emanate from him and he grows taller and bulkier as the serum takes effect. The transformation is over in seconds, and when it is done you recognize it immediately - he looks like a few of the more brutish members of the drugged-out gang that attacked Human Interest. Except, those fake-supers were all being mind-controlled and acted with purpose, while the mercenary before you seems driven mad by rage.

    He roars, "Smash them! Crush them! Break their bodies!" and charges the knight in shining armor.

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    Team pool is at 2

    Aiden, take +1forward against the mercenaries for your mixed success on Provoke after burning 2 Team. That includes the knock-off Hulk charging you, however you choose to deal with that imminent threat.
    Some kind of word-witch. She/her. Find more of my stuff at my new website!

  18. - Top - End - #18
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    PirateGuy

    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    JigaWatt
    Conditions:
    Potential: 4/5
    Spoiler: Labels
    Show
    • Freak: +2
    • Danger: -1
    • Savior: +1
    • Superior: +2
    • Mundane: -1

    Spoiler: Moves
    Show
    • Stage-fighting: When you directly engage a threat with an audience watching, mark a condition to roll + Superior instead of Danger.

    • Time for the show: When you put on a flamboyant display of your powers, roll + Superior.
      On a 7-9, name one NPC present.
      On a 10+, name two NPCs present.
      The named NPCs must either volunteer help or information, express admiration, or ask for your help, GM’s choice.
      On a miss, your display catches someone watching in the wrong way.


    At the mercenary captain’s words, something unusual happens to JigaWatt.

    He gets angry.

    A panel comes close-up on his face within his hood; his eyes narrowed and the camera that is a link to his fans recording every moment.

    Including the one where the man disses and dismisses them.

    "Oh, you should be so lucky that we were the League, m’man," he retorts, challenge in his voice. "Fox, you go give Errant a hand a’ight? I’ll show this loser just what it means to get punk’d."

    Levitating on his board and raising his hands dramatically, he unleashes an angry torrent of electrical onslaught at his unimpressed opponent; just try and shrug this off, it’s showbiz, baby!


    Spoiler: OOC:
    Show
    Reject the Captain's shifting of labels: 7
    Marking potential and show him how dangerous we really are!
    Stage-fighting: When you directly engage a threat with an audience watching, mark a condition to roll + Superior instead of Danger. Marking Angry, and Directly Engaging the merc captain: 6

    EDIT: Fox spends Team for +1, resulting in a 7. Thanks, Fox! Will resist/avoid Merc's blows.
    Last edited by Captain Jak; 2019-11-14 at 09:12 PM.

  19. - Top - End - #19
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Zombie

    Join Date
    Dec 2016

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    Liminal
    Conditions:
    Potential: 0/5
    Spoiler: Labels
    Show
    • Freak: -1
    • Danger: +0
    • Savior: +0
    • Superior: +1
    • Mundane: +3

    Spoiler: Moves
    Show
    • The Mask: You wear a mask and hide your real identity. You embody Freak while wearing your mask.
      Once per session, you can affirm either your heroic or secret identity to switch your Mundane with your mask’s Label. When you reveal your secret identity to someone who didn’t know it already, mark potential.

    • Mild-mannered: When you try to use your civilian identity to deceive, trick, or slip past someone, roll + Mundane. On a hit they buy your facade. On a 7-9, choose one:
      - you’re still under observation
      - you leave something incriminating behind
      - you’re forced to make a fool of yourself to sell it
      On a miss, one of your civilian obligations rears its ugly head.

    • Game face: When you commit yourself to save someone or defeat a terrible enemy, mark a condition and take +1 ongoing to all rolls in direct pursuit of that goal. At the end of any scene in which you don’t make progress towards that goal, mark a condition. When you fulfill your goal, mark potential.

    Liminal's face paled at the sight of the now gigantic mercenary. Her feelings towards the scientists were quickly souring in the face of this most recent setback towards the mission's progress. She also couldn't help but feel panicked at the thought that one of them had injected her with something earlier.

    Was she going to look like this soon? Who was going to take care of her brother? The thoughts flew from her mind as the former psychotic mercenary turning into a psychotic rage monster and charged towards Errant White.

    "White, look out!" Liminal cried as she shot an arm out that hooked around the mutant's head. She grabbed hold of whatever she could reach, and her body snapped to follow her stretched out arm. Her rubbery form slapped into the charging mercenary like a rubber band, coiling around their torso and then snaking up and around their face. Her form stretched and thinned until it wound taut over the villain's entire head.

    "Pleasegotosleep-pleasegotosleep!" She muttered fervently as she twisted her hands and feet into knots together. With any luck, the hulking mercenary was now blind and lacking oxygen. It wouldn't be long until it either crashed into something or lost consciousness. Or maybe he'd just inhale her, and Liminal would have the most unpleasant experience of finding out what the inside of someone's lungs looked like.

    "Errant!" Liminal called as her form jostled around on their incredibly angry foe. "Help!"


    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    Not sure if an Unleash or Defend is appropriate here, rolling just in case. Either add -1 for an Unleash or 0 for a Defend.

    [roll0]

  20. - Top - End - #20
    Titan in the Playground
    Join Date
    Sep 2014

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    Fox
    Conditions:
    Angry
    Potential: 1/5

    Nothing quite prepares you for a gun in the face. Not seeing one before, or hundred he expected. There was always something jarring about it, comical almost. He wanted to ask, incredulous, if the man really was going to shoot him but he didn't have time to ask as Jigawatt handled the weapon. As he should have, this whole thing was his screw up after all. But he'd made it worse all the same, his own efforts were for naught it would seem as the Captain radioed off. Just kids...and then Jigawatt has to open his mouth. Go help Errant? Really?

    "No."
    With another motion, a second hand of shadow rips from the walls, long fingers fencing in the Captain as the electrical bolts surge outward. Like he wanted to help Errant, like Jigawatt could handle this on his own. He hadn't shown he could do the latter yet. What did Jigawatt expect, exactly? That he'd run from one pan fire to the next, following directions like some dog. Jigawatt was not in charge. Another item on a growing list of "things to talk later.". It hit the top of the list even, Jigawatt didn't give him orders.

    Spoiler
    Show
    Spending 1 team to boost Jigawatt's roll to a 7.
    Last edited by Razade; 2019-11-14 at 07:58 PM.

  21. - Top - End - #21
    Orc in the Playground
     
    DreadPirateH's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jul 2012

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    Errant White
    Conditions:
    Potential: 0/5
    Spoiler: Labels
    Show
    • Freak: -1
    • Danger: +0
    • Savior: +2
    • Superior: +1
    • Mundane: -1

    Spoiler: Moves
    Show
    • [X] Fight the good fight: When you pull your punches while directly engaging a threat, you can roll + Savior instead of + Danger. If you do, you cannot choose to impress, surprise, or frighten your foe.
    • [X]The legacy matters: When you take Influence over someone from your legacy (or give them Influence over you), mark potential and take +1 forward. When someone from your legacy causes your Labels to shift, mark potential and take +1 forward.


    Errant White reaches for the sword sheathed on his back, but stays his hand as Liminal gets herself wrapped up in this. "Leniency, Durendal," he whispers to the sword. "Not for him, but for Liminal. We can't risk hurting her."

    He draws Durendal from the scabbard with an honest SSHNNG and the blade glints proudly in the light. With sword and shield raised, he charges to meet his foe in battle.

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    Rolling to directly engage a threat, and substituting Savior with fight the good fight.

    (2d6+2)[6]

    Seems like nobody's in place to use a Team here, so I'm finally marking that Potential It seems I spoke too soon. Removing that Potential.
    Last edited by DreadPirateH; 2019-11-15 at 12:14 AM.

  22. - Top - End - #22
    Bugbear in the Playground
    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Location
    ???
    Gender
    Female

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    JigaWatt and Fox

    Children. He called you children. Like you were thrill-seekers in costumes. Like you were toddlers playing dress-up. Like you were anything - anything - other than the heroes you are.

    You are dangerous, and this two-bit thug isn't going to tell you otherwise. With shadow and storm you will show him truth.

    Fox, the shadows swirl around you eagerly, overjoyed to help. The encroaching hand of solid night surrounds the Captain and pins him in place, holds him, terrifies him. Keeps him there with nothing to do but watch as his defeat arrives. Bullets pass you by and they are nothing.

    JigaWatt, electricity thrums at your fingertips and is unleashed - there is no truer word - at the Captain. A single terrible blast is all it takes to send him flying back, tearing through the shadows and hitting the far wall with a cut-off grunt. He's out cold the second he hits the floor.

    Another down. Who's left?

    Liminal and Errant White

    This is just not your day. Liminal, the brute tears you off and casts you aside like so much worthless trash. You land in a heap next to some scientists cowering in the corner. Mark Insecure.

    Errant, your teammate's distraction buys you just enough time to get in close. Durendal resonates with the song of battle, but dutifully restrains itself as you lash out at the brute. The merc cries out in pain as Durendal slams into him, but you don't draw blood, just send the man to his knees. For all his rage and strength, he crumples just like the other thugs did, going down with barely a fight once you get in close. He's down and out.

    And then, there is a change in the atmosphere. A tension.

    Everyone

    From the hallway leading further into the secret facility, a figure emerges.

    He's wearing a lab coat like the scientists, but there's no mistaking him for another of the hostage-technicians. No, this is the man in charge. It's clear from his belt full of vials to his weathered goggles and the manic grin on his face. He's loving what he sees. Beneath his coat you can make out a hi-tech costume with a genome symbol prominently displayed.

    You all recognize him immediately: it's Dr. Moreau, Halcyon's resident evolution-obsessed mad scientist. Except, last you heard, this guy was locked up in the Ward, not running a secret laborary and organizing attacks on Human Interest.

    Dr. Moreau snaps his fingers and the remaining mercenaries flee the room. Then his grin widens, almost to an impossible degree, and he says, "Well, well, well. Look what the city dragged in: four delightful children playing superhero. Oh yes, you'll do nicely, my children."

    The supervillain retrieves a vial from his belt with one hand, holding it ready, and with the other hand he makes a 'come at me' gesture to the Team, still grinning. "Let's see what you're made of."

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    Team pool: 0
    Moreau has ceded the first move to the Team.
    Last edited by Malexia; 2019-11-15 at 01:57 AM.
    Some kind of word-witch. She/her. Find more of my stuff at my new website!

  23. - Top - End - #23
    Titan in the Playground
    Join Date
    Sep 2014

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    Fox
    Conditions:
    Angry, Insecure
    Potential: 2/5

    One villain sorted, another appearing. A big one too, by the look of things. He pivoted, the shadows swirling around him as he readied another spell. If the enemy was going to give them time to act, then he'd do his best to stack the deck. It was a simple illusion, crafting the shadows into a large orb. Something threatening, a massive spell simply tossed down the hall. It was a fake of course, he only hoped it would be enough to distract the good Doctor. Things were already going bad enough, and it seemed much rested on his shoulders. No pressure, right?

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    Rolled a 4. Awesome. Marking Insecure.

  24. - Top - End - #24
    Orc in the Playground
     
    DreadPirateH's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jul 2012

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    Errant White
    Conditions:
    Potential: 1/5
    Spoiler: Labels
    Show
    • Freak: -1
    • Danger: +0
    • Savior: +2
    • Superior: +1
    • Mundane: -1

    Spoiler: Moves
    Show
    • [X] Fight the good fight: When you pull your punches while directly engaging a threat, you can roll + Savior instead of + Danger. If you do, you cannot choose to impress, surprise, or frighten your foe.
    • [X]The legacy matters: When you take Influence over someone from your legacy (or give them Influence over you), mark potential and take +1 forward. When someone from your legacy causes your Labels to shift, mark potential and take +1 forward.


    With the mutated hulk dispatched, the true villain arrives: Dr. Moreau, the Mutagenic Madman! Turning to the newcomer, Errant White raises his sword and levels it at his foe. "Dr. Moreau, this operation is finished. Stand down at once!"

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    Errant White is trying to provoke Dr. Moreau into surrendering. This will probably never work, but it feels in keeping with his character. I rolled a 5 on Discord, +1 Superior makes 6. Marking that first Potential for real this time.

  25. - Top - End - #25
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    PirateGuy

    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    JigaWatt
    Conditions:
    Potential: 5/5
    Spoiler: Labels
    Show
    • Freak: +2
    • Danger: -1
    • Savior: +1
    • Superior: +2
    • Mundane: -1

    Spoiler: Moves
    Show
    • Stage-fighting: When you directly engage a threat with an audience watching, mark a condition to roll + Superior instead of Danger.

    • Time for the show: When you put on a flamboyant display of your powers, roll + Superior.
      On a 7-9, name one NPC present.
      On a 10+, name two NPCs present.
      The named NPCs must either volunteer help or information, express admiration, or ask for your help, GM’s choice.
      On a miss, your display catches someone watching in the wrong way.


    JigaWatt takes a deep breath. This is it, his first big standoff against a genuine villain, his team at his side, camera industriously recording for his eagerly anticipating followers.

    Said teammates start to act, but he doesn’t let that stop him from tapping into his Inner Authority and start dictating tactics.

    "Liminal, get in behind him, make him split his focus," he begins, throwing a hand forward dramatically. "Fox, seal the exits, don’t let him get any backup," he continues. Not...that he expects the surly spell-slinger to do anything but what he felt like doing anyhow, but that at least gets something out there.

    "Errant, up the middle, hit him where it hurts." He needs to exhort the team with their pithy catch phrase now, with only one small problem; they have yet to agree on a team name.

    Well, screw it. It seems they’re The Team now, and they’ll just have to all live with it.

    "Team; go!" he urges, and launches himself into the air atop his board. He had left a small but important role for himself, and a searing bolt of electricity crackles out from his hand toward the menacing vial held by the Doctor; no doubt, if he has the opportunity to use it it won’t go well for The Team, so the main man is going to take it away from him!


    Spoiler: OOC:
    Show
    Captain Merc definitely got hurt that last round, so clearing Angry.
    Not playing to his strengths, JW will be Directly Engaging the not-so-good Doctor: 2

    That’s...impressive. Marking Potential!

  26. - Top - End - #26
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Zombie

    Join Date
    Dec 2016

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    Liminal
    Conditions: Insecure
    Potential: 0/5
    Spoiler: Labels
    Show
    • Freak: +3
    • Danger: +0
    • Savior: +0
    • Superior: +1
    • Mundane: -1

    Spoiler: Moves
    Show
    • The Mask: You wear a mask and hide your real identity. You embody Freak while wearing your mask.
      Once per session, you can affirm either your heroic or secret identity to switch your Mundane with your mask’s Label. When you reveal your secret identity to someone who didn’t know it already, mark potential.

    • Mild-mannered: When you try to use your civilian identity to deceive, trick, or slip past someone, roll + Mundane. On a hit they buy your facade. On a 7-9, choose one:
      - you’re still under observation
      - you leave something incriminating behind
      - you’re forced to make a fool of yourself to sell it
      On a miss, one of your civilian obligations rears its ugly head.

    • Game face: When you commit yourself to save someone or defeat a terrible enemy, mark a condition and take +1 ongoing to all rolls in direct pursuit of that goal. At the end of any scene in which you don’t make progress towards that goal, mark a condition. When you fulfill your goal, mark potential.

    Liminal stirred from the bundle of her own stretched out limbs as she tried to uncross her eyes. It was a familiar headache, like the one she'd gotten from the drugged up mutants at the Embassy. Except this time she'd been tossed around like an inconvenient paper bag rather than a legitimate threat. At least Errant White had been there to save the day. Maybe she had a few things she could learn from the hero after all.

    Her eyes finally focused on the villain now standing before the group. And on Errant White trying to talk down the obviously super-evil bad guy, like that was going to work. Fox and Jigawatt must've realized the same thing as they both leaped into action. JigaWatt even started shouting orders like a team leader. Actually, did their team even have a leader? Also, why was it her job to get behind the obviously incredibly dangerous mad scientist? JigaWatt knew he was still holding a vial of what could only be evil juice, right? He'd just seen the other drugged-up rage minion, right? Why would she get anywhere near that?

    Because she had to. Liminal could see the terrified looks on the poor hostages' faces still watching their every move. This wasn't just a fight against a bad guy, there were lives at stake. As much as she hated putting herself in danger, it didn't sit right to just let other people down when she could've saved them. It was time to get serious. More than that, it was time to get weird.

    "So wait," Liminal called out to the doctor as she stretched an arm back, "You're telling me that creep voice is what you use for children?! Here I was thinking you were a respectable doctor."

    Liminal launched her arm forward from her position next to the scientists. It shot under the malpracticioner's feet and latched onto the doorway behind him. Liminal followed after her arm with a snap, her rubbery form quickly sliding behind the doctor and slapping into the door at the speed of an elastic band. From her new position on the ground, her form billowed out and flattened, effectively turning into rubber as she engulfed the area around Dr. Moreau. If he tried to move or do something awful with that liquid he was holding, she was going to make sure he got launched into the roof at a rather unpleasant speed.

    "You're surrounded doc. End your little science fair project, and maybe this child won't have to hurt you." She growled as lucidly as she could. It was sometimes difficult to form the proper words when your mouth and vocal cords were being stretched out of shape.

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    Affirming her Masked Identity to switch her Freak and Mundane labels. Rolling to Unleash as she reshaped the doctor's surroundings.
    Result from Discord: 9 It's either temporary or unstable. (Or I can mark a condition?)
    Last edited by Kirjath; 2019-11-18 at 04:34 AM.

  27. - Top - End - #27
    Bugbear in the Playground
    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Location
    ???
    Gender
    Female

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    Here's how it goes:

    While the four of you are throwing your opening salvos at the crazy in white, the scientists start wheeling occupied tables away toward the walls. They have no interest in getting caught in this crossfire.

    The first of you to act is Errant White. You raise your sword, strike a heroic stance, and give your threat. And Moreau just laughs. He laughs at you, Errant White, and laughs at everything you represent. He doesn't even dignify your words with a proper response, just turns from you to the other heroes and says, "I hope that isn't all you have."

    And, of course, it isn't. You have Fox, the sorcerer, and Liminal, the rubber girl. The two of you act at the same time, Fox's shadow orb masking Liminal's approach as the rubber girl wraps all around the mad scientist and makes every move a danger. Dr. Moreau doesn't react to your spell, Fox. He lets it pass harmlessly through him with another mocking grin, and he looks down at Liminal and says, "My, my, you really are a toothless bunch. Children, you mustn't let fear control you. If you can't throw a proper punch, perhaps you shouldn't be playing heroes in the first place."

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    Errant White, Fox, Liminal, he's shifting your Mundane up and your Danger down. Do you accept his influence or reject it?


    He raises the vial, not caring that Liminal is about to spring up and encircle him, and then-

    JigaWatt, you're up. A blast of lightning surges from your fingertips and hits the vial dead-on, no question. You expect it to shatter instantly, but it doesn't. Instead, the substance inside - some kind of red liquid, previously inert - electrifies. All the electricity from your blast is absorbed by the vial, and Moreau looks at it with horror.

    "Oh. Oh dear, you really shouldn't have-"

    The vial explodes.

    That scarlet substance sprays out from the vial and clings to all of you - Moreau, Liminal, Fox, Errant, JigaWatt. It burns and sears and it feels wrong. A wave of weakness passes over you as it starts to seep into your costumes and the bodies beneath.

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    The four of you take +1ongoing to the move Take a powerful blow until end of scene. Moreau marks Angry.


    Moreau has dropped his mocking persona, and you can see fury in every inch of his face - save the goggles that protected his eyes. He screams, "You idiots! You children! You worthless luddites!"

    The bad doctor turns his wrath on the nearest target: Liminal. In seconds he has another vial in his hand and is downing it. Liminal, you surge up to stop him, but he's just a fraction of a second quicker and you wrap around him as the new potion starts to take effect. You can feel him straining against you, restrained but only for a moment, and know your allies will need to act quick before Moreau unleashes his powers against the four of you.
    Last edited by Malexia; 2019-11-18 at 01:37 PM.

  28. - Top - End - #28
    Orc in the Playground
     
    DreadPirateH's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jul 2012

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    Errant White
    Conditions:
    Potential: 3/5
    Spoiler: Labels
    Show
    • Freak: -1
    • Danger: +0
    • Savior: +2
    • Superior: +1
    • Mundane: -1

    Spoiler: Moves
    Show
    • [X] Fight the good fight: When you pull your punches while directly engaging a threat, you can roll + Savior instead of + Danger. If you do, you cannot choose to impress, surprise, or frighten your foe.
    • [X]The legacy matters: When you take Influence over someone from your legacy (or give them Influence over you), mark potential and take +1 forward. When someone from your legacy causes your Labels to shift, mark potential and take +1 forward.


    Errant White doesn't flinch as the strange red fluid splatters on his armor, but he immediately regrets it. Somehow, despite not making contact with his skin, it feels as though it's burning! What is this stuff?! Dr. Moreau posed a clear and present danger and had refused the opportunity to surrender peacefully. And whatever this stuff is, and whatever he was about to dose himself was, he could no longer be considered unarmed. There was no other choice left.

    "Have it your way, Doctor. Durendal, no quarter!"

    Sounding a battle cry and holding the mythical sword aloft, Errant White charges Dr. Moreau.

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    I rolled an 8 to reject Dr. Moreau's influence, choosing to mark 1 potential and act to prove him wrong, which I'm fulfilling by directly engaging a threat. I rolled a 6, so I'll mark another potential, bringing me to 3 total.

  29. - Top - End - #29
    Titan in the Playground
    Join Date
    Sep 2014

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    Fox
    Conditions:
    Angry,
    Potential: 2/5

    "You're tiring." Growled between teeth as conflicting waves of insecurity and searing white hot pain lanced through him from vastly different sources. The former from the Captain, merely a kid, repeated by the doctor but quickly replaced, rallied, by the latter. Jigawatt's stunt cascading them in who the hell knew what. The fury threatening to choke him, the swirling well of dark and intrusive thoughts like a weight added to his chest and the blood pounding in his ears brought him into focus.

    Illusions weren't going to work. So he needed to think, slipping nearer to the shadows as he formulated a plan. He certainly wasn't going to "seal the exits" but knowing where they were was probably a smart move. After all, what if they needed to beat a retreat? Had that occurred to Jigawatt? It seemed unlikely. Golden eyes darted here and there, oh how he longed for the sight of Hawk on the hunt, or the wings for that matter. Fox would happily take both, and be away from this place once the work was done. Which was the second part of the plan.

    Even as Liminal wrapped herself about the villain, his attention focused back on the man beneath. He was weak, for all his taunts, leaning on potions and poultices. Weakness was like a rot, growing at different rates throughout. Where would they need to strike, he endeavored, for the best effect. What information could he pass to Liminal, already engaged as she was, that would put the man down? Was it his pride? Yes...a distraction. Make him even angrier, focus on Fox and leave the rubber bands alone. If his spells were toothless, his mouth certainly wasn't. The Knights would tell tales of Fox, sharp tongue and sharp teeth. Words were weapons, he would dig them into the Doctor's flesh.

    "True." he responded to the taunts and insults hurled at them, creeping ever closer.

    "Still too much for you."

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    Rolled a 10 on my reject.
    - Removing Insecure, baring fangs.
    - Shifting Labels, Danger up. Mundane down.

    Also assessing, got a 13.
    - What's the best way out of this place.
    - How can I really make this guy flip out?
    Last edited by Razade; 2019-11-19 at 06:08 AM.

  30. - Top - End - #30
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    PirateGuy

    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: [IC] Masks: The Unseen Path

    JigaWatt
    Conditions:
    Potential: 1/5
    Spoiler: Labels
    Show
    • Freak: +2
    • Danger: -1
    • Savior: +1
    • Superior: +2
    • Mundane: -1

    Spoiler: Moves
    Show
    • Stage-fighting: When you directly engage a threat with an audience watching, mark a condition to roll + Superior instead of Danger.

    • Time for the show: When you put on a flamboyant display of your powers, roll + Superior.
      On a 7-9, name one NPC present.
      On a 10+, name two NPCs present.
      The named NPCs must either volunteer help or information, express admiration, or ask for your help, GM’s choice.
      On a miss, your display catches someone watching in the wrong way.

    • Suck it, Domitian: When you stand strong while dramatically under fire, roll + Savior instead of + Danger to directly engage a threat.


    While the exploding vial and its uncomfortable aftermath hadn’t been what JigaWatt had planned, he isn’t ready to call it a total loss. After all – the Doc hadn’t managed to drink his first choice of vials, had he?

    Slewing to the side, wiping at his eyes, he takes momentary shelter on the far side of one of the room’s support pillars while he collects himself.

    "Make a note, loyal subscribers," he narrates. "When you blow their stuff up; it makes them angry." That has to be something they can take advantage of, right?

    His eyes dart about the room, looking for inspiration. Using his powers in a fight...isn’t exactly his strong suit, unfortunately, and even if it was he can’t do a whole lot to the Doctor while Liminal is wrapped about him.

    Point of fact...he realises that Liminal is probably about to catch whatever the not-so-good Doctor is about to right in her malleable teeth. Moving out from behind the pillar, he summons a noisy aura of power about his hand and holds it, waiting for the moment that Moreau makes his move – he’ll do his best to disrupt it with some flashy energy emission.


    Spoiler: OOC:
    Show
    Added Advancement to JW’s header.
    Liminal is in clear and present danger; rolling to Defend: 5
    Continuing the Potential train....

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