Ecalsneerg

The Four Horsemen In Play They are unstoppable. First comes Conquest, subjugating the weak to his will, enslaving armies to his will rather than the futility of resistance. Then comes War. Those who can still fight are torn to shreds, his might shattering them, taking down those bold champions who would stop the Horsemen. Famine follows, knowing that all men need. Need food. Need outlets for their vices. Need hope. And he uses that need to crush them, by taking those things from them. They will welcome Death. They will run to him, and ask for Oblivion. And Death is generous. The Four Horsemen were rumoured to once be archangels. But when they fell, they didn't descend into Hell like Lucifer and his ilk. Instead, they just... went sideways. No one knows how, or if they do, refuse to speak of such blasphemy. But they were changed. Dewinged, they took to riding atop great horses. Without angelic powers, they instead wield great forces of destruction and dismay, nothing short of godlike. They are so far removed from what they once were, that they no longer have, need or understand emotion. They have no hopes, dreams or ambitions. They just are. Sealed away long ago, they wait patiently for the day the seal on their prison cells are broken, and they can ride forth once again... General notes on play: The Four Horsemen, while diverse in their overall approaches and powersets, share a few common powers. First, they can speak all languages. And with it, can terrify, demoralise and dismiss any living being. Although, in general, as cosmic embodiments, they're not too chatty. Their second shared ability is their Force of Nature array. This lets them be the unstoppable force they are. Every Horsemen can inspire in all that can view them feelings of despair and fear, breaking wills before them as they ride. This is important, as for all their vast destructive potential, this will be their first resort. Additionally, they can open portals to any dimension. In practice, they're not really going to ride outside this Earth and its associated planes. Our Earth, our Heaven and Hell, these are their areas of concern, not those of parallel Earths. They're also all super-strong, but being able to lift a bus over their head is the least important of their powers. Their horses aren't flesh and blood beasts, they are manifestations of their power, conjured and dismissed out of thin air. Thus, they're Flight, not Minions or Sidekicks. Their attacks are also therefore just the Horseman using an unarmed assault. The Horsemen were sealed away for a reason: they're immortal. If killed, they'll get back up soon. If blasted into atoms, they'll reform. They can't be permanently killed, which is why they were sealed away. As long as tyrants conquer, as long as soldiers make war, as long as want and need rule people's lives, as long as there is death, the Horsemen cannot ever die. Additionally, they don't need respite from hostile conditions, don't breathe, and are impervious to mortal concerns like toxins or diseases. But above all else, they don't have emotion. They can't comprehend it. While they revel in fear and despair, while War drives men to rage and Conquest makes them hate one another, they don't understand. They do these things because that is what they are. You cannot appeal to sympathy or empathy, because they cannot possess them. Their entire being is what they are. Conquest has no mercy, War cannot calm himself, Famine takes what men want without wanting anything itself, and Death ignores your pleas, for you are mortal. You must die. That is a fact. Conquest The first Horseman, Conquest is arguably the weakest. He is not as martially powerful as War, lacks the versatility of Famine's powers, and, well... none of them can measure up to Death. But he does have a couple of nasty tricks the others don't. Firstly, he doesn't need his Array to kick ass. War's weapons are part of his power, but Conquest is a master of the iron fist, of subjugation by punching foes down into the dirt where they belong. Which means he can sustain a Mind Control effect with his chains, and then go around beating the hell out of people by trampling them down with his horse. He also alone gets to sow hatred. And that means he is one of the hardest to bring opposition against, as superheroes are used to overcoming fear, and inspiring hope to overcome despair, but they're not so resistant to being driven apart by interpersonal conflicts. Personality-wise, he is arrogant. Oh so very arrogant. As the Master of Tyranny, the world literally does revolve around him in his eyes, and the notion of anyone not serving him is completely and utterly alien. Given a chance, he will enlist slaves as his forces, and use his Mind Control to find himself a powerful champion to lead them. He knows that his brothers are more powerful, and to even the score, will use his abilities to remove that disadvantage. War The second Horsemen is, well... a badass. He rides about pulling swords and axes and hammers from the air, driving men into frenzied rages where they attack each other and all the while he's on fire and covered in golden plate mail. He's also one of the best melee fighters in the multiverse, and his combination of brute force, diverse weaponry, and sheer straight-up ability to tar apart armour and sunder weapons means that it's hard to come armed. And even if you do, hitting him is likely to get you burned. A less direct assault means... well, taking inspiration from the Juggernaut, his helmet protects his mind from intrusion. Which is a shame, as he's the least mentally resilient, being pretty much a frothing berserker. It'd be a pity were anyone to smash his helmet, which doesn't hare his armour's indestructibility... War doesn't have so much of a personality. He's all about blood and skulls. The only moments of lucidity likely to come from him are when he formulates a battle plan (allowing him to kill people), or is challenged to single combat (allowing him to enjoy killing people in the noblest of sports). His very influence can make men turn upon one another. If that fails, and they're too busy running to bask in his glory, he'll just sound his horn and drive them to insane fury anyway. Truly, for all his ferocity in a melee, War's greatest advantage as a Horsemen is that you can't just fight him... in his presence, you fight everyone. Famine Death

War If we don't end war, war will end us. - H. G. Wells Power Level: 14 (311PP!!!) Trade-Offs: +1 Attack / -1 Damage, -1 Defense / +1 Toughness Abilities: 20 + 5 + 20 + 5 + 5 + 10 = 65PP Strength 30 (+10) Dexterity 15 (+2) Constitution 30 (+10) Intelligence 15 (+2) Wisdom 15 (+2) Charisma 20 (+5) Combat: 20 + 16 = 36PP Initiative: +10 Attack: +10, +15 melee Grapple: +35, +41 w/ Super-Strength Defense: +13 (+8 Base, +5 Dodge Focus), +4 Flat-Footed Knockback: -14 Saving Throws: 4 + 5 + 8 = 17PP Toughness: +15 (+10 Con, +5 Protection) [impervious 13] Fortitude: +14 (+10 Con, +4) Reflex: +7 (+2 Dex, +5) Will: +10 (+2 Wis, +8) Skills: 64R = 16PP Intimidate 17 (+22) Knowledge (Arcane Lore) 3 (+5) Knowledge (Tactics) 13 (+15) Knowledge (Theology & Philosophy) 8 (+10) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 13 (+15) Feats: 26PP Accurate Attack All-out Attack Assessment Attack Focus (melee) 5 Blind-Fight Fast Overrun Defensive Attack Distract (Intimidate) Improved Disarm Improved Grapple Improved Initiative 2 Improved Sunder Improved Throw Master Plan 2 Move-by Action Power Attack Takedown Attack 2 Startle Uncanny Dodge (mental) Powers: 6 + 40 + 25 + 15 + 8 + 27 + 2 + 28 = 151PP Comprehend 3 (herald of the apocalypse, all languages [speak/read/understand]) [6PP] (divine) Damage 10 (wreathed in flame, Extras: Action - Reaction [+3]) [40PP] (divine, fire) Device 6 (Armour of War, Hard to Lose, 30 dp, Power Feats: Indestructible) [25PP] (divine) Immunity 10 (Helmet of War; Mental effects, Drawbacks: Weak Point [critical hit destroys helmet]) [9DP] Protection 5 (impervious armour, Extras: Impervious 13) [18DP] Regeneration 3 (bruised 3/no action) [3DP] Force of Nature Array 6.5 (13PP array, Power Feats: Alternate Power 2) [15PP] (divine) Base Power: Emotion Control 13 (look upon me and despair; only allows inspiration of despair, hate and fear, Extras: Area - Perception [visual] [+1], Flaws: Range - Touch [-2]) [13PP] Alternate Power: Super-Strength 6 ("I crush worlds", Heavy load: 50 tons, Power Feats: Thunderclap) [13PP] Alternate Power: Super-Movement 3 (dimensional travel 3 [any dimension], Extras: Portal [+2]) [12PP] Flight 4 (red horse, 100 MPH) [8PP] (divine, horse???) Immunity 26 (Emotion Control, fear effects, fire damage, life support, Power Feats: Innate) [27PP] (divine) Regeneration 2 (inherent part of the universe, Resurrection 2/day) [2PP] (divine) Weapons of War Array 13 (26PP array, Power Feats: Alternate Power 2) [28PP] (divine) Base Power: Drain Toughness 15 (cleaving strike, Extras: Affects Objects Only [+0]) [15PP] Linked to Strike 3 (Power Feats: Affects Incorporeal, Extended Reach 2, Improved Critical 2, Mighty, Variable Descriptor 1 [any archaic melee weapon[, Variable Descriptor 1 [flaming]) [10PP] [total 26PP] Alternate Power: Strike 3 (flurry of blades, Extras: Autofire [15], Power Feats: Affects Incorporeal, Extended Reach 2, Improved Critical 2, Mighty, Split Attack 1, Variable Descriptor 1 [any archaic melee weapon[, Variable Descriptor 1 [flaming]) [25PP] Alternate Power: Emotion Control 13 ("at the sound of my horn, men shall turn to beasts", only alows inspiration of rage, Extras: Area - Perception [auditory] [+1], Contagious [+1], Flaws: Limited - rage [-1], Range - Touch [-2]) [13PP] DC Block: ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC 25 Toughness (Staged) Damage Emotion Control Perception DC 23 Will (Staged) Despair/fear/rage Drain Toughness Touch DC 23 Fortitude (staged) Drain Toughness Strike Touch DC 28 Toughness (staged) Damage Abilities (65) + Combat (36) + Saving Throws (17) + Skills (16) + Feats (26) + Powers (151) - Drawbacks (0) = 311 Power Points Notes: Following Conquest in a blaze of fire and rage is War. He comes atop a red horse wreathed in fire and made of molten magma. In each hand he bears a weapon, at once the most finely crafted and most savage ever forged of its kind. He incites men into homicidal rage by blowing on the horn of some terrible animal, causing them to fall upon one another as if beasts. All the while, he rides by his foes, scything them down with his unmatched martial prowess, laying armies to ruin, and removing those brave and heroic few who could hope to actually fight the Horsemen. War is an odd duck among the Horsemen. PL-wise, he's stronger than Famine or Conquest in terms of raw combat caps, and he costs a load of pp. But his abilities which do not revolve around slaughter and fighting suffer accordingly. He's just not as able to incite fear or despair, he's lacking in utility effects beyond Emotion Control... in short, he's a thug. A thug with an apocalyptic level of power. Although, unlike many brawny thugs, he's War. He couldn't do complex calculus, but an ornate battle plan? Well within his power. War can wield any weapons he likes, and he can be disarmed of them. It's just they fade into nothingness without him willing them to exist, and he immediately just conjures another weapon. He's got Weapon Summoning, without using the Weapon Summoning or Creation powers. I deliberately didn't make War the strongest Horseman, in fact, he's pretty "average" and not as strong as a Powerhouse or Paragon. His might comes from his combat feats and master level Attack bonus. I elected not to have his Drain affect non-objects, because otherwise he's nigh-unstoppable in a fight. And PCs should be able to at least try and slug it out with War in a one-on-one fight. Of special note, his armour may be Indestructible, but there is one weak point... the helmet isn't. (Why doesn't War have the Rage feat? Well, the Rage feat is for bouts of fury which end. If you want him to go truly berserk, he's got All-out Power Attack open to him. And it will probably slaughter anything it hits.) * Emotion Control (Rage) is from p118 of the Paragons setting book:

Equinox walked up behind Nick, cigarette hanging out of her mouth. "I came as soon as I heard about... the unicorn? Is that even true?" She looked slightly bemused at the idea. The witch looked up at the building's facade. She casually flicked some ash off to one side. "So what's the situation, anyway? One of my girls told me some major "presence" was here. And if I'm honest, I'm not that sensitive to that sort of thing. Kinda flies straight over my head." Equinox glanced around them. "Are Kimber and Burt showing up?"

:approved:

Chris sighed as Fleur teleported away and Mara flew off. "Hum. Right, Erik, since nobody else seems to be twigging this: the Curator. Alien intelligence, traditionally, he is a big fan of robotic infiltrators. Big time bad news. First time we encountered him was back in the 60s." Geckoman paced back and forth. "Guy's a tremendous ass, but the problem is that carnage in the streets is not his modus operandi from what we know. Like, this is not a thing he's done before." He waved his hands towards the wreckage of the Pitchoo. "With Mara in a state, and the ship down, and most of the heroes tied up fighting robots, or replaced with robots, I'm not sure what to do here."

The typo! Immortalized!

Vaguely applicable rolls... Investigation, Knowledge: Technology, Notice, and Search (1d20+15=32, 1d20+10=15, 1d20+9=19, 1d20+10=29)

"Yes. We do," agreed Geckoman quietly, raising his hands away slowly, and bringing them down to fiddle with his belt. They came away with a couple of lenses and brushes. This was probably one of those times he should shut up. Even if he did want to point out that while Dragonfly wasn't on his team, Jill was. He turned to kneel beside the remains of the robotic body. "Right. Lemme take a look at this." He took a couple of experimental whiffs of the remains, recoiling briefly at the stench of burnt metal, and leaned in close, holding a lens up to each of his eyepieces. And a brief few moments later... dropped the lenses. "Clearly extraterrestrial... the processors here mimic every known human bodily function, down to the mechanisms for superpowers. The fire..." He gestured vaguely. "Actually pretty common, it's a mechanism the Lor and Grue use as self-destruct. Heh, this one time I was... no, not the time for this story, actually." Geckoman stood up to look sombre. "This, I've heard of before. In the 1960s. First contact with an alien being known as the Curator. We're in trouble, guys."

Interceptors A teenager given superpowers in a freak accident is taken under the wing of the organisation of a mysterious man with the calling card of a Tarot card: The Jack of Blades. His team, the Interceptors, operate from a brownstone in New Jersey, working in secret to fight crime, iniquity and rogue superhuman foes! Cast: Initial team Erik Espadas/Jack of all Blades: James Roday - An initially mysterious yet charismatic man in a long coat and bandanna mask, he has the ability to form energy swords. A very secretive man, over the course of the series his family, and the past tragedy of the Interceptors, is revealed to be a big factor in this secrecy. A keen tactician and skilled swordsman, he is proud, confident, brash, and likes to flirt with the ladies. Later in the series, he falls in love with Willow. Chris Kenzie/The Gecko: Joe Dempsie - The audience surrogate, and a washed-up high school drop out with strong regenerative powers, the ability to crawl on walls and a keen sense of smell. He is rescued from near death by Jack of all Blades, and recruited as an Interceptor initially grudgingly (but later shown to be part of Erik's need to protect others). He soon shows a keen detective mind and learns to fight. While he's in his Gecko costume in the first episode, he later tends to wear a green leather jacket and his signature orange goggles. Chris has a sharp wit, and a fondness for goofing off which tends to put him at loggerheads with Jack. Mara Hallomen: Sarah Jones - An emotionally stunted genius with an array of gadgetry and a computer room in the Brownstone. Her computer room. While able to use technology in the form of a visor and gauntlets to fight in the field, she excels in the field of providing information and gadgets for the team's current mission. She is a little wary of Jack and Chris's loud natures, but gets on much better with Mona. Mona Teymourian/Fulcrum: Bahar Soomekh - The Team Mom, a tall and striking woman of Persian heritage. She has unexplained superhuman strength, endurance and running speed, and is able to make powerful leaps (though not true flight). She vaguely resents Jack for his actions driving her old boyfriend out of town, but understands why he did it, and as his old babysitter, maintains a fondness for him nonetheless. Towards Mara and Chris, she acts much more supportively. A genuinely moral and good person, she is the least likely to engage in any form of questionable action. Later additions Ellie Espadas: Silvia Tovar - Erik's little sister, and a powerful biokinetic. While the younger sister who Erik is overprotective towards, she is clearly the more mature and is unafraid to remind Erik of this. Her fledgling relationship with Mara is a recurring plot thread. By the end of the series, she has progressed from recurring character, to regular, to member of the team. Willow: Lesley-Ann Brandt - An ancient being awoken early in the series. With great power to control plant life, and formidable regenerative capabilities, she is an aloof woman not entirely acquainted with modern life and struggling both with it, and her attraction to Erik. Her presence overtakes Chris's in the role of someone to exposit on advanced technology to. She is the Herald of the Gorgon, and plays a pivotal role in the finale. Episodes (Italics denote important parts of myth arc) Season One: Gorgon Season Two: Vigilantes Future Season plot arcs: - The Houses of Suits arrive to take the city for their own. - The demonic invasion, and Jack's infection by hellfire. - Spellbound and Chris keeping their involvement secret. - The rise of the superheroic era.

"Oh, goddammit..." swore Geckoman, dropping to his knees beside Jack. "His injuries are internal, we're going to need a real doctor to deal with this." He eyed his fallen leader, before setting his jaw and turning to the group. "Right, guys, I figure, you're all really pissed. I am too, but we need to keep in mind, Erik's in a lot of trouble right now, and we need him back before we can find Ellie. But I don't know how bad this is. He's hurt inside." The Geckoman sighed, and pulled back his hood from his head, to reveal the tired-looking young man underneath. "Willow, you need to stay with him. He needs you, until we can get proper help here." Chris nodded at Fulcrum. "Get word to the League, they need to know what's happened here, and if possible, we need Fleur. She'd be able to get Erik back on his feet, I think." Then he turned to Mara, and cautiously put a hand on each of her shoulders. "Listen," he said softly, but not patronizingly. "I get it. You're upset. You want to find who replaced Ellie. I know it, because we all do. But you have to stay with me here, alright? We need to do this as a team."

DC15 Reflex save against Area Blast 5 (DC20 Toughness) (1d20+12=20, 1d20+8=21) Unharmed.

Knowledge: Technology check for the Geckoman! (1d20+10=30) Geckoman is just as good as Mara! :D

Move Action: Move at full tilt along the giant robot's arm as a run-up. Free Action: Extra Effort on Leaping, making it rank 3 (x10). This multiplies his running jump distance while using Skill Mastery Acrobatics by a further factor of 5: 230 feet. Standard Action: Use the epic leap of epicness in a Charge attack, while All-out Attacking for 2, and Power Attacking for 2. This will give a DC20 Toughness save from the punch (DC22 if you deem Sneak Attack to apply ) (1d20+17=32)

Geckoman held his hand up to his ear, talking over the commlink. "Fulcrum, get your ass down here, Jill's gone nutter-butter. Erik thinks it's the nanites agaAAAAAAARGH!" Chris fell to his knees in pain briefly as his entire circulatory system convulsed as the little bubbles ruptured blood vessels and damaged internal important thingies. He waited a brief moment for the pain to pass. It wasn't healing like it should. He could feel it not healing. "Oh. Oh, Ellie," whispered the Interceptor. He stood up. This wasn't nice. This wasn't what he believe in at all. They should be restraining Jill without violence. But... if she got another couple of good blasts in, she'd kill him, probably seriously injure Willow, and Erik... he didn't have any resistance to that kind of power. He began running along the giant robot's arms, arms powering his body along, and at the apex of the arm, at the tip of one of the robot's fingers... he kicked off. With a roar of effort, he threw himself into the air with every ounce of strength he could bring to bear. "All right, one shot to make this work. Oh Lord, this is GOING TO HURT!" The Geckoman soared through the air across the vast gulf between himself and his team, a green blur across the backdrop of the sky... and brought every inch of that leap's momentum crashing down into a drop kick upon Jill's shoulders. "Geckomaaaaaaan!"

DC29 Fortitude save vs force field bubbles (1d20+14=22) Dammit, fail by 7, and thus Gizmo, your total is wrong in the initative order, Geckoman has only 3 HP (having spent 1 to stunt a giant magnet, and 1 to reroll Toughness against the Pitchoo being turned into shrapnel). However, I'm happy spending another to remove his Dazed! Geckoman - 2 HP, Bruised, Injured (italics signify Incurable)

Geckoman flipped himself out of the way of the careering wreckage, narrowly avoiding jagged metal by bare millimeters, his costume tearing even if his skin was untouched. "Ouch. Oh, baby," he crooned to the Pitchoo. "Did the big mean robot hit you? I WILL KILL HIM!" The green-clad gymnast leapt out of the wreckage, easily flying ten feet into the air with a single bound. As he did so, he reached into his pocket and aimed a small gun at the robot, a magnetic clamp attaching itself to the giant warsuit's arm. "Hey, asshole!" Geckoman whizzed into the air on the magnetic zipline at breakneck speeds, wind whipping past him as he scaled the huge robot. "BRING IT ON!"

Toughness save against giant smashing hand (1d20+9=11) Woops. Spend 1 of his HP on a re-roll: Re-rolled DC 26 Toughness (1d20+9=16), +10 for a re-roll, so 26 on the nose! Down to 2 HP. Move Action: Leap forth from the wreckage. Move Action: While in air, use Swinging + Speed to leap onto the giant robot's arm and stick to it using Wall-Crawling.

Burn a HP (lowering him to 3 HP), to Power Stunt off the Pitchoo's main cannon: Magnetic Control 10 (Effective Strength 50 [12 tons], Power Feats: Subtle) and ready to catch the bus! Initiative, since AA said we'd be rolling it soon. (1d20+12=24)

"Couldn't we, y'know, not topple it?" pondered Geckoman. "Fry the circuits but keep it standing upright. Then nobody's pizzeria is getting trashed, we win the day, and can go to said pizzeria!" He loftily waved a hand as he turned to get into the Pitchoo, fixing the parachute to his back more securely as he went. "Just an idea." At which point, he flicked his commlink on in his ear, and hit the thrust button, the egg-shaped green craft firing upwards into the sky before the door had even finished closing, spiralling upwards and upwards so as to avoid it meeting the same fate as the bus. "Listen, man!" shouted Geckoman's voice over the speakers. "You don't need to throw that bus!" His hand strayed over to a bolted on panel on the controls for an experimental giant electromagnet. "We can talk about this!" Chris kept a finger over the activation button, entire body tensed.

Equinox 3 posts = 1pp, +1 Ref pp = 2pp An Evening With The Mercury Theater (2) Ghosts of Christmas Whatever (1)

A small wobbling ball of white light appeared in one of the corners of the room. From it could be heard some weird animal noises, and muttering, and a couple of short words garbled so much as to be unrecognisable. The light then burst into a brief corona of blinding whiteness, and then a woman stood among it. Siobhan Drake's brown hair was pinned up in a couple of chopsticks, and her normally white glowing eyes their usual piercing shade of grey. Her silver pentacle amulet hung around her neck, and she wore a simple knee-length black dress, strapless with white polka dots and tied at the waist with a belt of dark grey fabric. On the floor beside her, Hayley the raccoon sat on her hind legs, apparently having wrapped herself with strands of gold, silver, red and green tinsel. Siobhan hastily stowed her wand away, tucking it into her belt. "Hi, everyone," she said nervously, waving one hand.

Free Action: Extra Effort to Power Stunt the following effect: Trip 15 (Extras: Opposed by Dexterity [+0]) [15PP] Standard Action: UNLEASH THE TRIP! Power Attack it for 5, lowering her Attack to +6 and upping the Trip's rank to 20. Roll to hit with the Trip vs Alien tripod, roll to trip the tripod [opposed roll vs Dexterity] (1d20+6=17, 1d20+20=21) Spend a HP to re-roll that damned 1. Down to 3HP (1d20+20=38)

Equinox tracked the giant machine with her wand, thinking of how to dent it. The sorceress she'd never seen before was failing to bind it, Nick's talons couldn't dent it, and she hadn't seen that often. It seemed impervious to harm. But the ground beneath it wasn't. She whipped her wand down, and expelled power forth through her wand and gathered it at the tip until it glowed incandescent with pure white energy, those with arcane senses feeling it on their nerves like an impending storm. Then she cast it at the ground in a flash of heat and force, obliterating the soil from beneath the tripod, hurling dirt and dust in every direction as she carved a great and terrible rent in the earth.

Her time machine done broke.

Equinox took a step towards the giant machine even as Nick and the badly dressed woman failed to do much beyond slowing it. The flash of heat hit her, and singed her a little, but most of the blast failed to circumvent the raw will of of her magic surrounding her in a corona of force. "Alright, let's rock and roll." As Hayley scarpered backwards into the bushes, the witch raised her wand and pointed it at the craft. "KINESI!" A blast of white force erupted forth from her wand to grab and snatch at the main bulk of the thing, above the legs. As soon as she landed a hit, she braced her legs and slowly forced her wand up, trying to hurl the machine skywards.