Ecalsneerg

Geckoman dodged a blow badly, and landed flat on his back a few feet away from the weird thing in the labcoat. He leaned his head back, so he could get a good, if upside down, look at it."Huh." He rolled up onto his head, in a hand stand like pose, and spun in a loop back to his feet, down in a tense crouch. "Guys, don't look now, but I've suddenly got a strong and overpowering smell of tuna-cheese melt. Damn you, sir, I was hungry as it was." He shook his fist in mock outrage.

Equinox deftly sidestepped the flames, slashing at them with the sword to clear a path to safety, the last flickering remnants in her wake barely even causing sweat to bead on her forehead. Hayley wasn't so lucky, throwing herself to the ground and rolling to clear the flames from her fur. <Siobhan! Siobhan! Stop her before she burns me again!> she wailed. But nonetheless, the little raccoon sat up, and frantically looked around for the Rhymer baby, darting off to carry her off to safety. No longer able to see through Hayley's eyes, the witch paused for a second, standing stock still in spite of the violence and chaos she'd just been a part of. But Equinox still had Hayley's most important senses open to her... she could smell the magical energy rushing around, the green flames flickering at her feet; the dome of force she'd brought up before herself, earthen and stone-like despite its exterior appearance simply being a white dome of force; the familiar tang of Hayley's voice in her head; and the thrumming power of the sword in her hand, held together only by her will in stubborn defiance of the spell-unraveling powers threatening to turn the sword into broken shards on the floor... she could smell them all. And she could smell that fairy bitch. "Tace, misera ipsum," she spat, the flames on her sword flaring brighter and brighter with each word. "A way with my wand? I've forgotten more about magic than you'll ever learn, obsessing with kidnapping children instead of studying. If you'd come to someone about wanting a child, you know what, maybe I'd have helped. But you're not going to spin your sob story and stop me bringing that baby home!" She lunged up and off the ground, sword raised high above her head, a wordless cry of rage spilling from her lips and she brought the sword down in an arc.

Hayley Move Action: Look around to spot the Rhymer baby. (Notice: Skill Mastery 20, if necessary) Move Action: Get the baby! Equinox Alright, she's now blind because Hayley isn't looking at the queen. But I'm assuming her Accurate Magical Awareness can let her target, and if I'm wrong, well, I have IC post deleting powers Free Action: Sustain Force Field power, and Sensory Link. Free Action: Activate Impervious Force Field. Move Action: Attempt to maintain Impervious 11 as move action, DC 21: DC21 Concentration check. (1d20+16=28) Success, she's now bullet proof. And nearly artillery shell proof. Free Action: Spend one HP to clear Fatigue. Siobhan now has 2HP. Standard Action: All-out attack for 2, while charging the faerie queen. Roll to hit, followed by roll to Nullify Magic (opposed by power rank or will), then a DC25 Strike effect. (1d20+15=28, 1d20+11=21) It's really only going to affect any possible Force Fields she has up. But I assume that at least hurts :P

OK, with 3HP, and Fatigue... Reflex save, followed by Toughness save vs Area. (1d20+5=17, 1d20+11=22) Well, Equinox easily avoids it! But we both know she's not who you were aiming at, don't we? Reflex, followed by toughness, you devilish genius (1d20+6=15, 1d20=13) Well, beat the Reflex save for half effect... for a third Bruise!

Just to complicate things further, at that moment there came a rap at the door. Outside, in a plain t-shirt and jeans, John Fraser rapped on the door with his cane, before bringing it back into the floor to lean upon. "I hope he's got answers," he murmured to his companion. Because if you're damn well going to send me off into Europe, and yet I don't seem to find any evidence of your suspicions in Europe... well, doesn't that make you seem a lot less intelligent? A dark look was on John's face as he waited impatiently for someone to answer the door.

Equinox's magical wards flared for a brief second, and the knife was swept wide by an unseen force, even as she brought both hands up to mimic her holding a sword in its scabbard in her hands. With a quick flourish, and the sound of steel being drawn forth, her wand of wood had turned into a longsword of steel, flaming flickering red over the cold steel. And her attacker was down on the ground before she'd even registered that Hayley was being assaulted, knives digging into the squeaking animal's skin. "Magna dea!" she screamed, whirling in a wide arc, the sword roaring like a dragon as flames swept through the air. "Dux manu mea!" One of the redcaps was hurled into the air, crashing hard onto the ground, as spell-forged steel and flame hit it in the small of the back. "Prohibere me non!" The last one tumbled backwards as the sword was spun in mid-air, and slammed into its jaw.

DC25 followed by DC20 Toughness save (1d20+2=22, 1d20+2=20) Hehehehehehe. 2 Bruises, if the second roll takes a penalty. Hayley only suffers a Bruise. Equinox: Free Action: Maintain Force Field. Free Action Maintain Sensory Link. Free Action: Spend Hero Point to temporarily acquire Takedown Attack. Free Action: Switch magic array to the Sword. Move Action: Move up to Hayley's attackers Standard Action: Attack using the sword, Power Attacking for 2 and taking 10 for a roll of 18 (remember, she's Fatigued as I never bought off Extra Effort). DC 25 Strike attacks, each one *preceded* by a Nullify Magic check (reflected in the rolls, opposed by power rank or Will) (1d20+13=24, 1d20+13=19) I screwed up the DCs, apparently remembering to up the Nullify to 13, but not the Strikes to DC27. Remember, even if it's a sword, non-lethal by default.

DC25 followed by DC20 Toughness save (1d20+2=22, 1d20+2=20) Hehehehehehe. 2 Bruises, if the second roll takes a penalty. Hayley only suffers a Bruise. Equinox: Free Action: Maintain Force Field. Free Action Maintain Sensory Link. Free Action: Spend Hero Point to temporarily acquire Takedown Attack. Free Action: Switch magic array to the Sword. Move Action: Move up to Hayley's attackers Standard Action: Attack using the sword, Power Attacking for 2 and taking 10 for a roll of 18 (remember, she's Fatigued as I never bought off Extra Effort). DC 25 Strike attacks, each one *preceded* by a Nullify Magic check (reflected in the rolls, opposed by power rank or Will) (1d20+13=24, 1d20+13=19) I screwed up the DCs, apparently remembering to up the Nullify to 13, but not the Strikes to DC27. Remember, even if it's a sword, non-lethal by default.

Hayley looked around with a strong degree of fear. Everyone was suddenly about to start fighting, and frankly, she wasn't very good at that, being only a few pounds of fur and teeth. But she couldn't run away this time. Her mistress needed her eyes and nose, or she was going to die, and then... well, then Hayley would be in deep trouble. So she just stood there, tensed to spring away from any blows aimed at her, wanting desperately to close her eyes and curl into a ball, but knowing that she wasn't able to do so. She'd just have to try and stay alive, and hope for the best.

Standard Action: Total Defence for Hayley.

"Well, depends on how he thinks about magic," mused Equinox. "I mean, witches and wizards don't actually think in the same way. For example, bar fairy tale witches, we like company. We're all about the covens. Whereas wizards seem to have this infuriating anti-social streak. " She smiled sadly, shaking her head. "But I think I can empathize. If I got the full torches and pitchforks treatment, I'd probably go hide too." She stood up. "Besides, what harm can it do to just speak to the man? If he's lacking in offensive capabilities, I doubt he can harm us that easily."

She's a witch. She's a raccoon. They fight crime. (1d20+1=11, 1d20+3=11)

The door caught on a foot which had appeared there with lightning speed, as the grin didn't fade from Geckoman's face. "Sorry, Jackie Boy, but I'm going to be coming in." He produced the envelope from his pocket. "I've been recruited." He affected a fake sterotypical drawl, proclaiming that "We want yew!" He leaned on the door casually. "Now, are you going to let me in, because it's quite uncomfortable having my foot there. I mean, sure, you could close it completely and shatter every bone in my foot and I'd not much be fazed, but it still hurts. Totally not polite. Although neither is having my foot in there, so am I one to throw stones? I mean, I throw boomerangs, but they're not made of rock..."

Intimidate roll (1d20+6=21)

Equinox's hands clutched on her wand until the knuckles turned bone white. She very pointedly did not curtsy, or bow, or show any sign of deference, merely aligning her head as haughtily as she could to look upon where she thought she'd appear to be staring straight at the queen. "I expect you're wanting deference," she spat. "You want formalities, you want me to fight this little duel and leave." Hayley's head turned to look at the babies, and a low growl escaped from the witch's throat. "I'm going to show as much respect to your laws, as you have shown respect to my laws. I will show as much respect to your people as you have shown to mine. Namely... this ends now. You're going to return these children, if I have to cast down a thousand of your champions. And, no, I'm not trying to intimidate you here. Hell, thanks to your damned little cronies, I'm fighting blind. But believe me." Her magical aura had began flaring brilliant bright white, and fire was smoldering at the tip of her wand. Wind involuntarily stirred up her coat and hair as she spat out the last words. "Return the children in the next five minutes or I declare war on your court."

I'm ambivalent on both issues, although really, I don't see the need for the Cerebro thing when we've got uber-uber-CCTV powers.

Toughness save! (1d20+11=14) Demon 4 is down and out. Resist feint; Toughness save (1d20+20=30, 1d20+12=19) Well, buggery. He's knocked unconscious too.

Freedom Society?

I found this saved on my laptop. Apparently the damn furrball can work machinery now. This worries me somewhat. How Hayley Met Equinox Hmmm... laptop? Big screen, lots of buttons, with letters. Siobhan at work. Heeheehee. Bombs go boom when you click them. I am Hayley! I used to live in a tree, but now I live in an a-party-ment. That's the place Siobhan keeps all her books and smelly ash trays. But, tree. Nuts and berries are tasty. But one day, hear girl crying. Mumbles some things about other girls being mean. Didn't think anything of it at time. She had sandwiches. I like sandwiches. So I go and look cute. Girls give you food if you look cute. But then she looked at me, and... things went funny in my head. I don't know what happens over next few days, but Siobhan tells me it wasn't Girl's fault. She was scared and alone, and made me want to be her friend without meaning to. One day, tall woman in big black coat shows up as I'm trying to be friend, and hug Girl. Siobhan does funny things, and mutters a lot. Things about 'having to switch the spell some place else, because it's not turning off'. Next thing I know, her voice in my head. And she takes me back to the a-party-ment. She makes me bed, and gives me food, and by the end of it all somehow know human talk, and know what Siobhan did. Souls are tied up now, and I'm a familly-ur. But then there is shouting. Didn't mean to eat all the cookies, but they tasted good. Didn't mean to rip up dress, but I got all tangled in it. And I hide in a corner because I don't like the shouting, and don't really know what's going on. Next night, Siobhan is upset and on laptop. She ends up putting it down, and starts crying. I feel bad. Did I do something again? But I go up and prod her, to find out. She isn't shouting. She just picks me up, and gives me a hug, and we sit and eat cookies and she speaks to me, and there isn't shouting. I fall asleep, but in the morning, I wake up and I got to sleep on her bed with her. She told me she was sorry, and she wanted to be friends. I like Siobhan. I don't know humans well, but she's nice. Except when she opens the big box thing she keeps bread in, and I'm in it. That makes shouting. That was a really, really bad day. I'd just gone public, and then I opened up my emails, and there was just... so much abuse, about how I was evil, and leading people astray, and there were lots of comments about my appearance. Then my mom called, and we had another blazing row. Any one of them I could have dealt with. Any ten. But there were much, much more emails and comments, and then that big fight, and I... well, I was on the verge of quitting before I'd even started. I'm not proud of it, but having an annoying little constantly hungry thing running around your apartment when you're used to only having yourself there... I did shout at her. And I'm really, really sorry about it. She stopped me from wanting to quit.

Archived due to inactivity.

As soon as her feet touched the floor of the cavern, Siobhan nearly panicked. Everything just went black, and she froze solid, hardly breathing. <Hayley, you can see, right?> She didn't even chance walking, in case she fell over, or walked into a wall, or encountered something more deadly. <Yeah...> The familiar timidly looked up at her mistress, then recoiled. Equinox's eyes were always white when she was using magic. But this time, they weren't glowing white. The iris and pupil were just gone. <Are you going to do the thing?> Nodding a little, Equinox let out a long breath, and then she was seeing out of Hayley's eyes, and smelling with her nose. <Yeah. Lead on. I can hear the kid, she's laughing. And, believe me, that's not a good thing. They're going to try to make me think she's better off here.> And slowly, lead by a beleaguered looking raccoon, the witch shuffled forwards through the passageway.

June 1st, noon The figure cut casually up the street, clad in plain blue jeans and a battered brown leather jacket. He whistled merrily as he sauntered along, hands in his pockets. His face was covered with a big baseball cap, a faded green colour. When he got to his destination, the figure casually sauntered up the staircase, and pulled out a letter from his pocket, detailing the specifications of his employment. And, with a wide grin, knowing he was about to annoy some certain people, he pulled a pair of orange goggles up from where they hung at his neck and up around his eyes. And then hammered 'shave and a haircut' on the door.

Geckoman sighed, looking sympathetic. "So we've got someone who thinks they've got a right not only to tell people what to do, but will mess with their heads to do it. Faaaaaaantastic." He turned to Cannonade. "Yeah, why the hell not? Let's track this guy down, and lock him up. As soon as possible, before he inflicts this kind of thing on another person. And make sure we pipe some black metal into his cell." He looked back at Kyle. "It's alright, man. We're going to bring this asshole down."

"I've got a few ideas," conceded Equinox, raising her wand high above her head and raising her voice to the heavens. Her eyes began glowing like a dropped match in a fireworks factory, and the air around her began to blur. "Libertas, Libertas! Shatter these bonds, make these spirits free, Yea, hear me, hear me, make them go free! I ask of you a third time, to seal this spell, Free all these spirits, and make all be well!" She brought her wand slicing down in an overhead gesture, using both hands to simulate a sword shattering through manacles. And then white light burst everywhere.

OK, then. Extraordinary Effort up in this hizzay! For both the power stunting, and then the +2 ranks Free Action: Power Stunt! Standard Action: Boom. Nullify Binding 11 (1pp/rank version, Extras: Area - Burst [+1]; Selective Attack [+1]) [33PP] Then ExO Effort bumps that up to rank 13. Yay? DC23 Reflex save for half (since it's an opposed check, it really just knocks 7 off my roll for the purposes of the power check). Ultimate Nullifer. F*** you, Galactus! (1d20+13=29) Boom.