Still Not Safe #2 [M&M 2nd ed]

[ChronicLunacy]

Ben Brooks

If the Shifter Squads were the only ones being targeted, that made things much easier. Ben's armored form rose up into the air to meet the incoming Ascenders, his body language almost eager. "An ambush, is it? See, I knew we should have just fried those @ssholes like a Southern Christmas instead of negotiating with them." he said, the anger in his voice visible as a layer of flame began to coat his body, flickering and buzzing like an angry porcupine. "But if they think they can take us out like this they are dead wrong..."

Ben lifted a hand and a cloud of flame suddenly appeared to envelop the biggest group of them. It was an angry red and black, flame mixing with smoke with cinders and ash drifting through it. While it wasn't as strong as his targeted fire blast, it would probably catch and burn any white-robed figure it found, reducing them to fiery comets plunging toward the ground. These cultists hadn't proven to be very tough in the past, so if they withstood the attack it would be valuable information.

Spoiler

Targeting the group of fifteen with a Blast 5 Cloud effect. DC20 Toughness save to resist.

[Cubey]

Another sound joins the cacaphony as screams start to come from inside the burning cloud that Ben created. Many cultists catch on fire, and there's not much left of the group.
Only three of them are still a threat.

[Matar]

Todd jumps right to one group, and sends a fist flying right towards one, with enough force to send him flying fast enough to rip through iron. Or, with any luck, a few Ascended members.

Spoiler

(1d20+10)[13]

Trying to punch one into a group of as many of them as possible

After his massive punch, Todd turns to look at the awakening SE. He really doubted this would work... but why the hell not?! His youthful passion demanded that he try!

"Hey!" Todd yells over towards the SE, waving his hand... with great passion! "Can you give us a hand here? We just wanted to talk, but these ***** keep attacking us!... Please?"

[Tengu_temp]

The enemies are concentrating on Shifters and ignoring easily killable normal soldiers - that's the good part. And the bad part? Emi starts to feel panicked - she's been in small fights before, but this is a real, large-scale battle, and they're fighting humans on top of that! Kazuma's painful transformation and the fact that many of her allies are using very violent attacks do not help at all. And on top of all that, the SE has shown itself - it's not as bad as the eyeball, but that doesn't mean it's not creepy.
Agh! Focus! Your friends need you!
Trying to keep her stress at bay, Emi focuses on the biggest of the incoming enemy groups (which means the one with 14 cultists in it). She points out with both hands into their direction, and an irregular cloud of swirling blue and green particle surrounds them, before suddenly materializing into crystalline binds and irregular shapes, each one entangling one cultist or trapping him inside.

(Area Snare, rank 10.)

Initiative: (1d20+13)[21]

[Cubey]

Emi managed to immobilise nine out of fourteen enemy Shifters. They're out of the fight - for now.

Todd's tactics mean that he should aim for the largest remaining enemy group, that of ten Shifters. And he misses terribly! But worry not, for this attack is supported by Sara.

"Yaaah!" She sends a mighty flying kick towards the closest enemy. Unfortunately, hers is a missing attack as well.

(Cat has yet to move in this round)

[Haven]

Lorne broadcasts to all three squads, "The SE has begun to advance--make sure to maneuver so that the enemy is between you and it! Additionally, a group of seven is hanging back--I'd wager that they're a bit more powerful, and are trying to use the robed ones as distractions. Attempting to identify--"

Lorne then attempts to get a good visual on the group of seven from his position.

Spoiler

Making a notice check as a free action, as per this post. What can I see about them with a result of 34 (-1 for every 100 feet)?

[kamikasei]

Cat moves to do as Lorne says and defend the troops - when the enemy become visible and all hell breaks loose. Seeing that the Ascenders seem to be ignoring the unshifted soldiers, she decides against trying to erect a barrier and instead opts for offense as defense. Picking the largest group left to her, she reaches out to the snow underneath their path and with an upward chop of her arm sends flat-tipped lances of ice up to barrage them, aiming to knock them right out of the air and into unconsciousness into the bargain.

Find an opening? Looks like we're going to have to make one. But she waits for Lorne to guide them.

Spoiler

Initiative - (1d20+18)[26]. That's nonlethal area blast 10 targeting (probably) the group of nine.

I'll also roll Notice - (1d20+13)[31] for her Water Sense - following the same rules as Lorne it looks like, -1 per 100' and a free action. Accurate and Radius. Just trying to check if there's anyone else moving around who his Sophium detection mightn't be picking up.

[Cubey]

Catriona's attack managed to take all but one of her targets out of the fight.

Current enemy groups:
A group of two, in melee with Matilda
Just one (was attacked by Cat)
A group of six, with ten others retreating courtesy of James
A group of five, with nine immobilised by Emi
A group of ten, in melee with Todd and Sara
A group of three (was attacked by Ben)

Lorne easily notices one of the remaining Shifters - an imposing, tall figure, clad in a black trenchcoat and fedora. And why do you notice this Ascender so easily? Because he's going straight for you. You can only notice the man's blissful smile before something pops from under his coat - giant rib-like bones thrust forward, trying to stab at you. Fortunately, your air maneuvarability is superior and you manage to avoid getting hit.

But there's more of them. With blindingly fast movements, another Shifter (a dark skinned man, who looks totally average in appearance and clothing if not for the fact that giant scythe-like blades emerge from his hands) is right by the flying Elizabeth - and strikes at her, sending the girl tumbling to the ground below with an interrupted yelp of pain.

"Eliza!" Amanda notices her teammate's fate - only to barely avoid a blow that was aimed at her from behind. A sickly emaciated figure, disturbingly covered with large bulbing growths, tried to swipe at her with a club-like appendage that its left arm degenerated into. But the American shifter already moved out of the way, heading towards Elizabeth.

Two others clash with the Japanese team - the Ascenders' togas and theater masks conceal their features, but still make it possible to notice that each of the pair has but a single arm and a leg. It does not make their movements seemcrippled, as their powerful punches connect, aimed at Takeshi and Usagi. The latter manages to stand her ground, but Takeshi is sent staggering back, and collapses to the ground.

Todd finds an unusual sight - behind the group of Shifters he attacked, stands a single person. An elderly asian woman, a smile on her face. But soon, the smile changes into a terrible grimace, as she opens her mouth wide - and a long, blindlingly bright chain emerges from inside, wrapping itself around your neck and trying to wring or snap it violently.
(It's not a grapple, but a normal attack. Toughness DC 27)


Compared to others, the last incoming Sophium signature seems almost normal. Clad in traditional, dark red armor, a positively huge (way over two meters of height) figure is incoming in your direction. Although it floats along the ground in inhuman speeds, it does not look like it's in a hurry. It does not attack either, though.

Here's an initiative order. I rolled for people who did not roll for themselves yet:
Other enemy Shifters 33
James 29
Cat 26
Todd 25
Emi 21
Lorne 19
Ben 17
Andy 17
Standard enemy Shifters 7
SE 6
Sara 3

(The "elite" shifters moved already so you can take your actions now.)

[Fri]

"You're weak!" James roars as he leaps toward the remaining cultist, you can almost see bloodlust still steaming from his body. He then tore the group apart with his fists, throwing punches and kicks so fast you can only see blurs of black inside a pool of white robes. It seems that he's been waiting for this for quite a while, it feels almost cathartic for him. "Come on, is that the best you can do you crazy nutjobs?"

Spoiler

(1d20+15)[32] all-out attack shattering fowl kick with takedown attack

Only after that, he realized that other shifters with far more dangerous aura had appeared...

[kamikasei]

Cat's teammates are going for blood... blood she can sense spilling in to the air. Is it a mistake for her to hold back? But so long as she can fight at full power without using lethal force, the chance of taking prisoners is worth it.

Speaking of senses... Lorne's in trouble. They can't afford to have him out of the fight yet, not with so much chaos on the ground that he can see through. Cat lofts another mass of snow and sends a swarm of ice-cored projectiles at the trenchcoated enemy.

Spoiler

Have a few options here for how to handle the same basic attack and I'll leave the choice to Cubey. I think there's an error on my sheet, as I have Waterbending down as ranged while the book says it should be perception. So the three approaches I might take are:
- Area Blast 10 on Rib Guy and any other enemy shifters Cat can catch in the blast without also hitting an ally.
- If that's impossible, Waterbending (Damaging) 10 on Rib Guy.
- If Waterbending is ranged rather than perception, or if the target is within 500' (and therefore no range penalties are involved) Autofire Blast 10 on Rib Guy, using All-out Attack 5 and Power Attack 3 (and with Improved Critical) so DC 28 total - attack - (1d20+12)[32] - haha, oh hells yeah I'm going with this. :3

All nonlethal.

[Matar]

Todd himself decides to keep things... simple. He's surrounded and has a Loli next to him that is practically invincible.

So, he raises both fists into the air, and slams them onto the ground. The earth cracks and splits with incredible force, send large chunks of earth flying through the air.

"Green earth splitter cannon!"

Spoiler

Using a hero point to Alt off my green might array for a tough ranged damage AoE. Level ten. Gonna be a reflex save for this one. 3 points left.

[Tengu_temp]

"Is everyone alright?!", Emi yells into the communicator, sending a message to the three Shifter squads, and repeats in Japanese. Moving high above the ground, she flies closer to Usagi and Takeshi (Amanda is already going after Elizabeth) and materializes a semi-transparent, crystalline sphere around the two weird Shifters that attacked them - it's large enough to capture both inside (or try to), but not much beyond that.

(Create Object, DC 20 Reflex to avoid capture. I assume they're close enough to each other that an object of this size is within Emi's capabilities.)

[Cubey]

James's rampage leaves no survivors - with terrible crunching noises, each Ascender receives a powerful hit or several that sends them to the ground, completely incapacitated and most likely lifeless.
You did not even feel a lot of resistance from the opposing party.

Cat's attack is fierce and efficient - her projectiles bombard the unsuspecting opponent, all of them connecting and sending him flying down, until the unconscious body hits the ground with a loud thud.

Todd's explosion leaves no survivors - all enemy Shifters in range are dead. Unfortunately, you also knocked out Sara. She will be angry when she wakes up...

"Yeah. I'll live..." Takeshi breathes heavily but responds to Emi. More worryingly though, there is no response from Elizabeth.
Emi's attack manages to trap one of the Ascenders in. But the other slides away from the sphere - and then looks shocked (from what you can see from the limited, masked expression) that the first one got trapped.

[Haven]

Lorne's cannon springs up from his arm, but before he can fire, Cat has taken down his opponent. He gives her a nod of appreciation, before flying closer to the chaos of the battlefield.

The red brute is worrying, but not an immediate threat.... Instead, taking in the situation, he takes aim at the club-bearing foe, and blasts it with a cascade of cyclones that match its sickly greenness.

Spoiler

Nemesis on the big red guy. Flying to within 150 feet of the green plant-like enemy that attacked Amanda, analyzing it, and using a Constitution Drain on it. Power attacking for two: Will DC 20, + 1 for every 2 by which the attack exceeds defense.

(1d20+10)[16]

[ChronicLunacy]

Ben Brooks

Quickly taking in the battlefield, Ben headed after Lorne, diverging from his teammate's course only at the last instant to attack the other elite shifter that was harrying the American team; the black man with the scythe hands. Using the advantage of range on his new enemy, Ben threw his hand forward and let loose a focused blast of fire hot enough to melt steel at the Ascender as soon as his high-speed flight brought him in range. After blasting him, he let his flight take him above and past the Ascender, hoping to bait him and draw him away from the Americans.

Spoiler

Blast 10 @ Scythe-Hands: (1d20+8)[23] (Add +2 to this. I forgot to add the bonus from Attack Specialization [Blast]. So the actual roll is 25.)
Using Move-By Action to put some distance between them after Ben's attack.

[Drascin]

So much chaos. A second ago everything was fine, and now everyone is killing each other. It's just so confusing, and it takes andy a couple seconds to get his swirling head back into place. He looks around to check the situation. Lorne has problems, but Cat's gone to help him. Todd and Sara are together, so probably alright. James's in one of his berserker rages and Andy's seriously not getting in the middle until he calms down. Takeshi and company are being rescued by Emi. So that leaves Elizabeth and Amanda, who are being double-assaulted. Well, here we go, then!

With that thought, Andy launches forward, surfing earth at an outrageous speed, smashing feet-first into the bulbous man with the force of an avalanche and using the resistance force of the enemy's face to stop his inertia.

However, Andy's still not aiming to kill. He doesn't care if it's more expedient, it's not his place to decide if a man lives or dies.

Spoiler

Edit: forgot to spoiler the roll:
attack - (1d20+12)[28] Flying Icarus Kick, charging, full All-Out Power Attack, and full Withstand Damage as well (for Defense 11 and Toughness 17 in the end)

[Cubey]

(Please make your way to the third IC thread.)