Avenger Assembled
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Sea Devil struck the butt end of her trident against the dock and fell silent except for a faint noise that came from her armor - brekekekex, coax, coax. "...Yes. I know Dunwich," she croaked after a time. From behind the imperturbable mask of her armor, she studied Ms Thursday for a moment, thinking about immature Surface females - surely this one was not even old enough to mate! "I will help you. I cannot travel among your people without my armor." She had experimented with using the divine power channeled by the trident for travel - but she had a feeling these Surfacers would appreciate it less than those she knew best. "I need to call my roommate. And my parole officer." She hopped away from the pair again and had a quick one-sided conversation (seemingly with thin air) where she apologized to someone for not bringing any fish home, but told them that she was sure there would be plenty of food at her sister's house this year. A few moments later, a more serious one where she had to stop Ms. Thursday and Nick to get them to spell their names for her parole officer's benefit.
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Steve coughed discreetly and hesitated before saying, "Your-your grasp of Earth-Prime culture is impressive." Delta certainly hadn't learned about safety words in the Terminus - and he didn't know any humans well enough to learn it from them, as Steve had. "Her analysis will give ammunition to use against the forces of the Omnicide - and be valuable for your well-being. There are many ways that machinery can break, or be broken - but few with the arts of repairing such as us. Her knowledge both fuels the war against the Terminus, and our own survivals."
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ic The Slow and the Sensible (IC)
Avenger Assembled replied to Avenger Assembled's topic in Lantern Hill
"Ah, um...." Judy's eyes popped wide at Danica's suggestion, not in anger but in what read more like genuine surprise - a surprise that seemed to leave her at a loss for words for a moment. "Ah...ah have enough money for what ah need," she whispered, "but...but thank you," she said, a little nervously. "That's very nice of you. Ah brought some with me and it's, um, still good here. If you have more, you should save it up for yourself - you've got a lot of years to save for, right?" She spoke a little louder too and said, "It would look nice on you, though! Maybe you could buy that and wear it for Christmas..." She dug around a bit and found a modest blue dress that looked pretty and was within her somewhat modified budget - once it had Danica's approval, she briefly disappeared into the changing room to try it on. That brought Ashley across the room from where she'd been waiting, leaning negligently between the two changing room doors and filing her nails with an ostentatious lack of care. -
Sea Devil pulled her trident out of the swordfish with a wet schlurp and croaked (there was no better word for it) in an apologetic tone - "...What is a goat?" When the term was explained to her in more familiar language, she hopped backwards slightly, landing so that the fish was between her and the two heroes. She made a sound that might have been Shub-Niggurath - had it passed through a mechanical filter and been spoken by a throat that was not human. "It is...glory. The glory of the gods to transfigure in their image." She turned her upper torso to regard her trident for a moment, remembering the vision she'd had of herself when she'd found the trident, covered in glory, with Dagon's eyes and Hydra's tentacles upon her face, but of course she'd realized that only in her current form could she do the work that had to be done on the Surface - and to know the love that she could find in no other place. "What do you know of it?" she croaked.
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"Micah's, um, real handy," offered Judy, keeping both eyes on the moving figure. Her eyes wide at the casual use of powers, she sounded a little breathless for a moment before she said, "...Ah think he could help you, and he'd do it just cause he's nahce too. Were we supposed to bring those? Ah just have the stuff Ashley bought at the store..." "Overpriced," muttered Ashley in response.
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"I too was concerned about their use in psychological warfare," agreed Harrier, appreciating the other man's sharp 'eye' in finding the most obvious dangers of Earth-Prime's information network. "But Miss Americana assures me that their intended use is indeed for humor." As the car drove on, he said, "One can find a great many things on their information network, their greatness and their folly, and little of it protected." He settled back into the seat, the material of the car creaking slightly beneath his great weight. "It fits them well." It was much easier to talk about this than anything about himself, or certainly anything about Delta - but what was easy? So he continued, "You will find Miss Americana a skilled engineer and wise scholar...and with that in mind, may I make a suggestion?" Upon given permission, he said, "I remember what it was like to be...analyzed. You should designate a word that will stop the analysis, something that you can tell Miss Americana that will end the study without shame."
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The group met the titular Sea Devil down by Freedom City's Waterfront, the commercial district quiet thanks to the holiday weekend and local ordinances discouraging too much shopping on Black Friday. The armored heroine (for Ms. Thursday had heard feminine pronouns while Nick and Gatekeeper were talking) looked rather different than the ones she'd met at Claremont; the armor's massive limbs and glowing blue 'fingers' were probably its most striking feature, as well as a faint opalescent sheen overlain over the black of the armor itself. Sea Devil's face was invisible but the hand that gripped her trident was clearly three-fingered inside its armor - said trident being about as tall as her and black. Carved with ancient runes, it looks wrapped all around with grooved edges and curved lines like tentacles rather than the smoother craftsmanship of Atlanteans. The armor was dripping wet, Sea Devil herself having clearly just emerged from the river with her prey. Sea Devil was singing when Nick and Ms. Thursday arrived, her amplified voice a decidedly odd booming bass that sounded mechanical through the armor, in a language neither of them spoke. For a moment it seemed she hadn't heard them, until her upper body turned. "Hello!" She..bellowed - there was no better word for it. "I have a license! For the fish!" On closer inspection it was a swordfish she'd dragged out of the water, an impressive one as large as she was. Without looking back, she pinned it to the deck with one foot, then impaled it through the body with her trident. "I am not going to eat all of it!"
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"There have been reports of alterations in the wildlife in the immediate area, enough that the evacuation zone around the school includes several dozen square miles - but nothing dangerous enough to warrant intervention. Things that have crossed the line have generally not survived the transition." Almost apologetically, he commented to Ms. Thursday that "There are enough real danger spots that we have to pick our battles. Whatever is in there, the borders of it haven't expanded since the initial investigation - so it's been allowed to continue." He was silent again, obviously considering things, before he said, "I think you should consider bringing the Sea Devil to the site. There are advantages to bringing a entity who can't be corrupted to a site with that level of extra-dimensional infestation - and if the cultists are the threat I'm worried they are, something with that connection to their gods will give you an edge."
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"Well you're young yet," said Ashley cooly. "I hear powers can grow all through your teen years and into your twenties, sort of like a never-ending puberty. Maybe by the time you're out of college, you'll have another two or three of you." Looking Elizabeth over, frank evaluation on her face, she said, "You should try the gym and phys. ed programs here - they've got great physical training. I use it myself." She rather missed the firm discipline that Archer had provided - even if she'd been horrified to hear of his cybernetic brainwashing, which had nearly scuppered a whole lot of plans for a whole lot of people. "I heard that extra credit stuff out at that gym in the West End is good too."
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pl7 The Blind Huntsman (PL7) - Portia Labiata
Avenger Assembled replied to Portia Labiata's topic in Archives
You should sink those PP into the character's exotic saves, @Portia Labiata! Other than that, mechanically this looks worthy of submission - though of course the Refs will still have some input! -
Fall 2018 Archetech When the self-driving car from Archetech arrived, there was an Omegadrone inside it, sitting in the rear passenger compartment. Steve looked up at Delta, his scarred face hard to read through cybernetic enhancements designed to give tactical feedback rather than the finer points of humanoid facial expression. "Delta. Miss Americana felt you would want company." It was his first chance to meet the woman who had been described as the leading expert in Terminus technology on this plane - the greatest who was not mad, anyway. The Omegadrone's voice was grave and deep; an impossible thing given the cold, emotionless horrors that were Omegadrones but one Delta had heard already. After all, the Omegadrone had been among those who'd met him in this new realm and had asked him questions about a realm both of them knew only too well - questions about dread Nihilor. "I have secured a collection of Earth-Prime music and educational recordings for the drive. It is short but you may find them productive. How are your studies progressing?"
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"Oh, well, I really cared a lot about my community and just really wanted to serve it, y'know,.' said Wadjet with a sneer, stepping out of the room as she spoke as if trying to step away from the question. "There's just one thing you need to know. You hear white people say sometimes that the Hammer of Justice is all right, that he's just a little rough when he fights the gangbangers and the thugs. Don't believe it. He kills people who play hero in this city, and his favorite thing is people with powers who don't know enough about Bedlam. He is a monster." The words had more feeling than most of what Chromium had heard from the disgruntled sniper. "If he comes near you, you get away, and I don't give a damn what your powers are. He has trophies."
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ic The Slow and the Sensible (IC)
Avenger Assembled replied to Avenger Assembled's topic in Lantern Hill
Judy frowned, and for a moment it looked like she didn't know what to say. At that point, Ashley spoke up, her voice a firm, but not unfriendly, reminder. "We couldn't afford it. We can barely afford your dress." She locked eyes with Judy, who sighed softly, then admitted, "Yeah. Ah forgot, sorry, Danica." She hung the dress back up, then smiled slightly. "That would have been way too long for you anyway, Ah don't know what Ah was thinking. Ah just like pretty things a lot." Her smile broadened as she looked at Micah, "You can probably get something for your dance outfit while we're here, Ah know Ashley got her tux from here last week." "Tell the world, why don't you," said Ashley, pushing herself away from the wall as Judy began looking through dresses for herself with Danica, more quickly now that she knew where the other girl's interests really lay. "Men's section is all right," she said with a wave of her hand. "Might find a nice tie, or socks." This was one area where she did not know as much as Watchdog. "Might be better off getting something for a girl over in jewelry," she offered, then looked away, casually making eye contact with the plainclothes agent walking by outside for a moment. -
"Part of Belcher," she said, knowing a Bedlam boy would recognize the name of the closest thing to higher learning their home city had. "Used to be the main building, now it's ours. That's why the windows are all boarded up still. Luckily they never turned the power off up here. Hope you don't mind chemical toilets," she said wryly. "I guess you'll need to find your own way out of here," she commented, not sounding terribly put out by the idea. "Lady Horus says we're superheroes." She shrugged slightly. "Just trying to stop some bad people."
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Wadjet rolled her eyes but seemed to take it as a serious question. "Trust me, the old lady is not anybody you'd actually want to worship. Pretty sure she stole that helmet. I just took the name for branding purposes, you know, Lady Horus and Wadjet, the serpent of Egypt." She hung the gun up over her shoulder as she spoke. "Anything you take, you get half - you only take it from people who already stole it. You stand up for us, we stand up for you. This isn't like Freedom City or the Emeralds. People who play hero here die unless they're smart, or powerful, or both."
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"It's armored," said Wadjet, the annoyed tone making it pretty clear that the dark-skinned Latina with the buzzcut hairstyle had to be who she was. "We're not stupid." Nicola disappeared after a minute or two, murmuring something about checking on Lady Horus, leaving the two teenagers alone. With a frown, she worked a lever on her rifle, the mechanism working back and forth in a way that made her grunt with satisfaction. "Don't think you have the run of the place. That's my lab," she said, pointing towards a door on the opposite side of the big classroom, "and my room beyond it. Down the hall is where the old lady sleeps. Nightingale's there too, when she's over here." She frowned with the look of a teenager discussing a parent's sex life, then went on, "I'll show you your space," she said, leading the way out of the room and down another hallway, towards a room near the end of the opposite side of the hall. The furnishings here looked old too, with ancient tiles and peeling paint on the walls, but the floor held up to Chromium's weight despite some occasional groans. His room was sparse, but not unpleasant - there was a sleeping bag against one wall, a minifridge plugged into the other wall, and even a small, albeit mostly empty, bookshelf. "Figured you'd want to put your own stuff there."
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"Dunwich was a school for teenagers with powers - until the headmistress was found to be dealing with Things Beyond, and trying to transform her students into other Things. As for what Outsiders are, well...there are realms beyond the Nine," said Gatekeeper with an air like a museum docent - someone who genuinely cared but who'd given this speech many, many times before. "And realms beyond those, and beyond those, unto infinity. Outsiders is something of a catchall term for things beyond our reality's understanding, things driven by laws of magic and physics so different that they're dangerous simply for their alien nature. The Black Goat With a Thousand Young, the thing that touched the Earth at Dunwich, isn't a devil, or a demon, or something that's actually evil - it's just a Thing that wants to spread, and grow, and multiply, and it'll reward anything that looks like it'll give it that chance." He was silent for a moment, hand at his chin, then said, "If you are looking for an expert...do we need to talk about the Sea Devil?" The elder sign burned into the landscape of Freedom City, representing a confluence in arcane dimensions of great power, in the wake of the Terminus Invasion had been a major subject of debate among the heroes of Freedom; especially once it was abundantly clear that an arm of Mother Hydra herself that had reached out to drag the Terminus forces in North Bay away to another place. But in the aftermath of the invasion, nobody had been willing to take action against the aquatic heroine whose gods had touched the Earth in defense of...what, exactly?
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"Hmm, something like that," said Kyle politely, not wanting to discourage the precocious young woman. "And I would _love_ some pie," he admitted. "I haven't eaten anything for almost 24 hours, and I've been spending too much of my energy on mystic power." He waited as Nick made introductions. "As you may know, my job is protecting dimensional barriers from intruders - sort of like what Phantom does for Heshem, but on a larger scale." Gesturing with his hands, he summoned a half-translucent image of a deep pine forest and abandoned buildings. "Right now there's a group of cultists trying to crack dimensional barriers in a spot that's already been weakened. Normally I'd go deal with them, but I live in southern California and my neighborhood just spent the last two days trying to burn down." He smiled thinly, taking a piece of pecan pie from one of Parkhurst's servitors. "Thank you. One thing you'll learn about magic, it doesn't free you from your obligations to where you live. I need somebody to get up there, but it's, ah...it's Dunwich, Nick."
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Okay, I wound up just being able to fit @trollthumper and @Cubismo in with the current incarnation of the thread: Check it out and let me know if that's okay! https://www.freedomplaybypost.com/topic/10903-canon-texts-ic/
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Seven years ago "Perhaps, one day, Dunwich would rise again. Not as an exercise for visions of madness, but as a true place of realization." Thanksgiving 2018 The Parkhurst Hotel Arcane energies crackling around its edges like so much barely-suppressed lightning, the mystic gateway opened and out stepped a visio n from beyond the very edges of our reality! Resplendent in his starry robes, his eyes glowing with the energies that lay between the planes, the Gatekeeper raised his gloved hands and said, "Hello, Nick!" Kyle and Eric were actually on a first-name basis but they both were working, the latter especially. With the holidays, Claremont students with no particular place to go had been attached to established heroes for a "ride-along" - which explained what Ms. Thursday was doing there. "And company, I see." The Gatekeeper brushed his hair, looking a little distracted; the faint smell of smoke rising from him. "Are the two of you free for a small favor?" he asked. "I hate to interrupt whatever you're doing for the holidays, but I have a situation."
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"Thus!" and so she reached out and grabbed Chromium by his front with one hand, a moment before the two of them simply rocketed off into the air. "Lo, the eyes below see well. Do not struggle - the fall would pain even you" she commented as they zipped up into the sky. "We fly quickly, as Bedlam is c-cursed cold this time of year!" And so they did, zipping through the sky at a fantastic rate, at least if you weren't used to the rapid movements of people in and around Freedom. Soon enough they were heading for a section of buildings Chromium didn't immediately recognize - was that the college outside of town he'd heard about? They zipped down through the open roof, and a moment later were deposited inside Anna and Wadjet's lair. The main room, occupied as it was by Wadjet and Nightingale, looked like what it was - a converted college classroom of generations earlier. Old wooden desks were pushed off to one side while Wadjet's high-tech chemistry equipment (albeit kitbashed together from various sources) rested like strange sculptures on black-tinted lab tables. Wadjet herself was there, out of costume, her short red-dyed hair clinging to her scalp, and she gave Chromium a hard look as he and Lady Horus made their landing. Lady Horus excused herself to change, leaving a rather startled Chromium alone with the two women.
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https://www.freedomplaybypost.com/topic/5630-change-is-necessary-for-growth-ic/?tab=comments#comment-150175 Seven years after the walls fell, it's time to return to Dunwich Prep. Looking for characters with a plausible connection to chaos or the divine - but characters without either of those things are also good!
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I'd say let's get Rocket Lord his thread now, then build more later!
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ic The Slow and the Sensible (IC)
Avenger Assembled replied to Avenger Assembled's topic in Lantern Hill
"Mm," said Ashley, considering. Jeez, she is from the 80s "Think they have those at Dairy Queen," she said, making a little gesture to the fast food restaurant that was one of the mall's brand-name fast food chains. She'd made sure to do some rigorous checking, or at least the field agents she'd sent ahead had. Shooting a quick, almost invisible glance up at the helicopter that was hovering overhead, she led the way under the mall's cover. An outdoor mall had been quite the subject of debate among Judy's expanded Secret Service detail; but Ashley had persuaded them that the substantially lowered supervillain risk was worth the mundane security risk. Blind spots though this building had, it wasn't the sort of place a supervillain would want to rob. They headed first past the small Christian bookshop, where Ashley was proud that Judy didn't do more than walk a little faster past the pictures of her mom's book in the front window "RAISING A FAMILY IN TODAY'S AMERICA." Wonder what they'd think if they knew. She was rather glad Danica had brought her Segway along; it helped make sure they were moving past all the places she did _not_ want them to linger. She kept the smile off her face as they headed inside the mall's first clothing store, a small place that looked to be the sort where a lot of college students and artsy types shopped. Once inside, Judy turned to Danica and smiled. "Okay, Ah know you have a nice wardrobe, and Ah like how you dress, but it's always more fun to shop together." She was pretty sure of that anyway, never actually having had the chance. "We could, um, pick out stuff that goes with your color. Ah bet there's some nice black and gold here...look at this!" It didn't take her long to spot the first case she liked, a long black dress with faux gold leaf designs - it looked a bit warm for Danica's Arizona tastes though, going down to ground level and even covering her sleeves. "What do you think, Micah, won't this look good on her?" asked Judy. -
Check that out, @Gaea
