Avenger Assembled

All right, NOW, Mindsteel

"C'mon," taunted Ember, trying to catch Foreshadow's gaze behind his mask, holding up her still-restrained hands. Her face twisted, the still-visible bruises on her face an ugly shade of purple and red against permanently-tanned skin that shaded close to orange. "Hit me! Hit a powerless woman in a prison cell with your big stick! I bet you'd like that, you perverted flatscan freak, you'd like to-" From her theories, which had the same venom that a striking cobra might have, Ember had a very idiosyncratic understanding of why superheroes did what they did. She notably made no comment on the suggestion that she might be planning to burn them all if she could just get her power-nullifiers off.

"Betray you to who?" asked Tarva in response to Kimber's question, a somber thought indeed. "I am a thrice-sworn daughter of Nihilor who has betrayed my god the Starry Queen, then Taarvon the Undying, and now Shadivan Steelgrave. You are dead because your body is gone, girl? I am dead because I have killed myself for standing where I am. I will be followed through the door you open for me even if you close it behind me, unto the end of days and beyond. There will be no kingdom, no barren moon, green no pasture, where they cannot find me. It is my fate." Scavros nodded in agreement at that, murmuring 'Fate' as if it was an Amen in a Baptist church. "But send someone with them, Scavros," she went on. "Do not send them to die there with no Furion allies."

vs. Startle: 27 so close! http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4495564/ = 27 Tou, less for being Startled and bruised already. So she is Bruised x2 now. Mindsteel is up

Mythological Powerhouse - Hercules PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 10 + 2 + 10 + 0 + 2 + 4 = 28 pp STR 40 [20] (+15/+5) DEX 12 (+1) CON 40 [20] (+15/+5) INT 10 (+0) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 14 (+2) Combat: 10 + 10 = 20 pp ATK: +5 DEF: +5 (+2 Base, +2 Flat-Footed) Init: +1 Grapple: +20/+30 Knockback: -12/-2 Saves: 0 + 4 + 6 = 10 pp TOU +15/+5 (+5 Con, +10 Enhanced Con) [10 Impervious] FORT +15/+5 (+5 Con, +10 Enhanced Con) [10 Impervious] REF +5 (+1 Dex, +4) WILL +7 (+1 Wis, +6) Skills: 44 r=11 pp Bluff 4 (+6/+10 with Attractive) Diplomacy 4 (+6/+10 with Attractive) Intimidate 12 (+14) Knowledge (History) 4 (+4) Knowledge (Popular Culture 4 (+4) Knowledge (Theology and Philosophy) 4 (+4) Languages 1 (English, Greek [base]) Notice 4 (+5) Sense Motive 4 (+5) Feats: 6 pp Attractive Fearless Interpose Startle Takedown Attack Ultimate Skill (Strength checks) Powers: 20 + 20 + 3 + 10 + 1 + 1 + 20 = 75 pp Enhanced CON 20 (to CON 40/+15) [20PP] Enhanced STR 20 (to STR 40/+15) [20PP] Immunity 3 (aging, disease, poison) [3PP] Impervious TOU 10 [10PP] Leaping 1 (x2, Running Long Jump [50 ft], Standing Long Jump [30 ft], Vertical Jump [12 ft]) [1PP] Speed 1 (10 MPH/100 fpm) [1PP] Super-Strength 10 (Effective STR 90, Heavy Load: 3200 tons) [20PP] costs abilities 28 + combat 20 + saves 10 + skills 11/44 + feats 6 + powers 75 = 150 pts -------------------- Design Notes: Here's a mythological powerhouse, modeled after Marvel's Hercules. As the quote suggests, he's a pretty straightforward build - he's strong, he's tough, and he's been around a long, long time. He's scary enough to make mundane bad guys back down in combat, strong enough to lift a drilling rig, tough enough to take some massive hits, but personable enough (and ripped enough!) that he can successfully flirt with the ladies and the men alike. He doesn't have the mobility of someone like the Hulk, but he can still get around pretty well in combat. He knows some stuff about history and divinity, but not a lot - he's been away from home for quite a while, and frankly he never paid much attention to that sort of thing anyway. You could easily justify a lot more languages than just English - or even a Comprehend if you cut down the Super-Strength a little. But who would want to do that to the Lion of Olympus!?! He lacks a Dimensional Movement power, since characters like this are usually stuck on Earth anyway. No melee weapons - I always thought that just made him seem like a lesser Thor, and he should seem lesser to no man! He's probably not Hercules in the Freedom City universe (given how grim the Greco-Roman pantheon usually is), but there are plenty of immortal powerhouse types who could be running around - perhaps he's the mythological Kratos "Different guy, heh-heh-heh", Atlas, or maybe Samson or some other mythological figure if you want to go a little further than that. A god can't quite walk the Earth in the Freedom City universe, but perhaps he's been cast out so long he was here before the Pact began. Or maybe he's a demigod, fighting for justice in his father's name. People eat that stuff up these days, right (Percy Jackson, et al)?

Electra - Fleur de Joie: Wander: >Come and See >Midnight Dynasty Miss Americana: Hologram: >And Never Will Be >Back in the Day >Embrace the Silence

Please put my RefPoint towards Fast-Forward AvengerAssembled - Edge: Harrier: >No More Good Days Comrade Frost: >Come and See >With Ice Cold Hands Fast-Forward: >Back in the Day >Embrace the Silence GMing: >Midnight Dynasty >Cry for Justice >Necklace of Ropes >Gorillas in the Mist

A DC 25 Notice check will reveal that's not Nightmare Moon at all, but a false one! (It's not an illusion, though...)

The truck slammed into the gate one last time as Tensile, Daybreak, and Mystery all approached it - and suddenly, it stopped dead in its tracks, still and quiet at their approach. Inside, the guards were unconscious - and Mystery's ethereal voice sounded a clarion note of concern as she read their sleeping minds. "Something entered their minds and controlled their wills, but it's not psionic. It can't be umbral magic this early?" As this was one subject with which he was thoroughly unfamiliar, Tensile's usually ebullient voice fell silent as Mystery continued her mental explorations. "There was a dark shadow, and then they-" Suddenly her voice, and all other voices from outside, were cut off abruptly as a cloak of light-sucking darkness, a physical manifestation of dark energy that blocked all light, poured down over the Manor like a falling curtain. Only the interior lights kept up the illumination, and even they seemed attenuated by the glowing sheen from outside. Inside the Manor all was noise and activity, however, as the intruder alarm began sounding - when who should appear amid a curl of black fire and smoke but Nightmare Moon, the terrifying leader of Madrigal's Hounds, the chief assassin squad of the Terminus. She laughed an evil laugh. "Mwa-ha-ha! At last, I'm free - to get my REVENGE! Come and face me in battle, Midnight and Wander - if you dare!"

Fast-Forward put his game face on and did some footage with the launch team, talking with the excited graduate students from CalTech about how their portable rocket launcher (a big, boxy truck-sized rectangle with a small missile mounted to the top) would let them take the first pictures of the asteroid that killed all the dinosaurs. It wasn't easy to focus on this when his mind kept going back to those dinosaur villagers, but they all had a job to do. If there was anything life as a villain, and then a celebrity, had taught him, was that the show had to go on. He stuck close to Paige throughout the rest of the day, knowing his wife's tension even without their psychic link, and trying to take some of the weight off her shapely shoulders. When the light had changed, they all gathered around a fish cookout (the footage from that day's fishing was going to air alongside a Deadliest Catch special in the fall, he knew) - the perfect opportunity to break the news to the crew. The camera crew and Supercrime! staff were sobered by the news of the nearby dinosaur village for a while, at least at first, but they were professionals too - trusting the super-types to handle this, the conversation soon turned to the best ways to get footage of the nest and the nearby dinosaur huts, with the general consensus that either an invisible super-scout, or one of their new camera drones, was the best way to get the job done. "Get some sleep, Will," Richard suggested to his son as the light faded, the alien sky overhead impossibly vast and filled with stars, the few electric lights nearby the only sign of civilization..at least on their island. "We gotta big day tomorrow."

Despite the icy cold in the Heavenly air, Frost pulled back his hood as he knelt before Famine - frozen, shivering, unable to move as the cold penetrated its very core. "You know," he said conversationally, "some would say it is ludicrous nonsense for me to blame you for the things I have seen. You are avatar of destruction and famine, a natural process like hurricane or Russian imperialism." He put his hand against Famine's insect-raddled face, feeling the still-twitching locusts under the abomination's skin, stroking the frozen monster gently. "But then, I remember what real famine is. You remember Petrov village, no? Little group of Old Believers outside collective farm. Winter of '37, they were cut off by heavy snows for three months until we could make our way there. Storm of century in our little part of Ukraine. We found that, with their food gone, they had begun to eat each other." His eyes turned red and fangs bulged in his mouth. "Do you remember?" His head snapped forward like a striking snake.

Comrade Frost takes a full-round action to coup de grace the helpless Famine. He uses his Vampiric Strike, Power Attacking for +2 and inflicting lethal damage. So that's a DC 34 Tou save for Famine - which is actually a disappointingly easy save for him to make, but what can you do...

Harrier goes ahead and tries to poke Newman again. This time he All-Out Attacks - http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4491371/ and misses by 1! This time I _will_ spend that HP, so Harrier will reroll that http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4491372/ = 34 Nice! OK, that's +5 for the Crit (thank you, Improved Crit) and +5 for the Autofire. Tou vs DC 37 http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4491376/ = 32! Holy boy, he is merely bruised with that nat-20. He does the same to Harrier, dropping his to-hit to 17 as well http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4491378/ = 25 That's a bad hit - Harrier is rendered staggered and bruised. I will post to that effect come the morning

Down on the ground, Comrade Frost was reminded of a fragment of an old poem as he stood on the pitiful remains of what had once been the Aral Sea. Down in the bottomlands...The night was unpleasantly cold, enough that he had to pull up his hood to block his heat from being wicked away into the darkness by the wind. "It should be warmer at ground level, not colder!" he called to the others, bending down to run his hand through the soil. Infertile at the best of times, the salt-laced ground now sang with the unholy call of death itself. In the dark, his eyes glowed red beneath his hood, the only source of light in the gloom of his hood. "Come. Let us enter city of the dead. Ladies, prepare yourself for hospitality of Russian tourist industry," he went on, leading the way over the dunes towards the dead, lightless city of Muynak that was their target.

Duplicator Living Weapon PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 6 + 6 + 6 + 0 + 4 + 0 = 22PP STR 16 (+3) DEX 16 (+3) CON 16 (+3) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 10 (+0) Combat: 12 + 16 = 28PP ATK: +6 (+7 Melee/+13 Strike) DEF: +13 (+5 Dodge Focus, +8 Base, +4 Flat-footed) Init: +3 Grapple: +10 Knockback: -3/-1 Saves: 6 + 2 + 3 = 11PP TOU +7 (+3 Con, +4 Protection) FORT +9 (+3 Con, +6) REF +5 (+3 Dex, +2) WILL +5 (+2 Wis, +3) Skills: 9 pp = 36 r Intimidate 12 (+12) Language 1 (French, English [base]) Notice 4 (+6) Sense Motive 3 (+5) Stealth 4 (+7) Survival 4 (+6) Feats: 14PP Attack Focus: Melee 1 Attack Specialization: Strike 3 Dodge Focus 5 Power Attack Startle Takedown Attack Track (olfactory) Uncanny Dodge (olfactory) Powers: 45 + 2 + 9 + 4 + 6 + 1 = 67PP Duplication 7 (Extras: Action [Move], Heroic, Horde, Survival, PFs: Progression 2 [5 105 pp duplicates], Sacrifice) [45PP] Immunity 2 (disease, poison) (Flaw: Limited [Half-Effect]) [1PP] Regeneration 9 (Bruised 3 [No Action], Injured 6 [No Action]) [9PP] Protection 4 [4PP] Speed 1 (10 MPH/100 feet per move) [1PP] Strike 4 (PFs: Mighty, Variable Descriptor 1 [bludgeoning/Piercing/Slashing]) [6PP] Super-Senses 1 (Acute Scent) [1PP] costs abilities 22 + combat 28 + saves 11 + skills 9/36 + feats 14 + powers 67 = 150 pts ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Design Notes: You know how Wolverine's in everything? Well, what if that was his superpower? That idea prompted this build for a character who combines the powers of Wolverine and Jamie Madrox - he's a gruffy, scary living weapon who can regenerate from most injuries and who is more comfortable hunting in the woods than anything else. He can also summon five versions of himself that are just as tough and scary as he is! This versatility has come at a price - as a PL 10 built on 105 PP, he's not a very _good_ Wolverine, but he can certainly pass for him in a pinch. Even so his Duplication may be a little much for your GM - one thing you could do is swap out the Heroic on his Duplication to replace it with another Action extra so he can summon his guys as a free action, but so that he doesn't have to juggle five new heroic PCs in his fight! Even PL 10 minions are powerful. Note that he doesn't have to stab people with his claws - he can punch them with his augmented fists for the same salutary effect on their faces; a way to make sure he doesn't get stuck fighting nothing but robots all the time. How did he get his powers? Maybe he was a Duplicator who got drafted into a secret government black ops program where he was given animalistic superpowers. If so, you may want to add a Vulnerablity to Magnetic Powers to account for a metal skeleton - I've gone with the idea that his claws and armored bones are all biological. Or maybe he was a living weapon type who had a little accident with a teleporter or a time machine and gained the power to summon versions of himself from other places, other times, and maybe other realities. If so, some Temporal Inertia (or even Cosmology) might be a worthwhile investment.

Grue Patriot Oscar Wilde PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 14 + 6 + 14 + 0 + 6 + 6 = 46PP STR 24 (+7) DEX 16 (+3) CON 24 (+7) INT 10 (+0) WIS 16 (+3) CHA 16 (+3) Combat: 12 + 12 = 24PP ATK: +6 (+10 Melee) DEF: +10 (+4 Dodge Focus. +6 Base/+3 flat-footed) Init: +11 Grapple: +17/+18/+19 Knockback: -10/-5/-3 Saves: 1 + 5 + 5 = 11PP TOU +10/+7 (+7 Con, +3 Force Field) FORT: +8 (+7 Con, +1) REF: +8 (+3 Dex, +5) WIS: +8 (+3 Dex, +5) Skills: 72 r = 18PP Acrobatics 7 (+10) Bluff 15 (+18, SM) Diplomacy 2 (+5) Disguise 0 (+3/+28) Gather Info 2 (+5) Intimidate 2 (+5) Knowledge (History) 10 (+10, SM) Languages 3 (English, German, Russian) Notice 12 (+15, SM) Sense Motive 12 (+15, SM) Stealth 7 (+10) Feats: 20 pp Attack Focus (Melee) 4 Challenge (Fast Taunt) Dodge Focus 4 Improved Initiative 2 Leadership Move-By Action Power Attack Rallying Cry Set-Up Skill Mastery (Bluff, Knowledge (History), Notice, Sense Motive) Takedown Attack Taunt Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 8 + 21 + 2 = 31PP Device 2 (Patriotic Shield, Flaw: Easy to Lose, PFs: Indestructible, Quick Draw) [8PP] Force Field 3 (PFs: Interpose, Ultimate Save [Toughness]) {5} Strike 3 (PFs: Improved Crit, Mighty) {5} Grue Array 9 (18PP, PFs: Alternate Powers 3) [21PP] BE: Feature 1 (Mimicry) {1} + Morph 5 (humanoids, +25 Disguise, Extra: Continuous, PFs: Covers Scent, Precise) {17} = [1+17=18/18] AP: Impervious TOU 10 {10} + Strike 3 (PFs: Mighty, Variable Descriptor 1 [bludgeoning/piercing/slashing]) {5} + Super-Strength 1 (Effective STR 29/Heavy Load: 1400 pounds, PF: Groundstrike) {3} [10+5+3=18/18] AP: Elongation 2 (10 ft) {2} + Enhanced Feats 2 (Evasion 2) {2} + Insubstantial 1 (liquid) {5} + Strike 3 (PFs: Mighty, Variable Descriptor 1 [bludgeoning/piercing/slashing]) {5} + Super-Movement 2 (Slithering, Wall-Crawling) {4} [2+2+5+5+4=18/18] AP: Healing 10 (Flaw: Personal, PFs: Persistent, Regrowth) [12/18] Immunity 2 (disease, poison) [2PP] costs abilities 46 + combat 24 + saves 11 + skills 18/72 + feats 20 + powers 31 = 150 pts ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Design Notes: A character concept that's been bugging me for a while. One day in December, a bedraggled figure in a red, white, and blue costume appears at the front gate of Signy Research Station in the South Orkey Islands in Antarctica. Soaking wet and carrying a badge-shaped shield, the man identifies himself as Joseph Simmons, aka the Patriot - who believes the year to be 1947! Simmons tells a grim story of capture at the hands of a Grue tactical squad, experiments in a secret Grue base in Antarctica, and then being stored in a cryogenic storage tube, one lost after the Liberty League's defeat of the Grue invasion force in that year. Upon learning that the 'other' Patriot is reviled by many of America's superheroes for betraying their secrets to the government, Simmons slips away from the AEGIS agents that come to pick him up and makes his way to Freedom City - where he publicly accuses the Patriot of the 1950s of being an undetected Grue replacement, one who no doubt faked his death to infiltrate the government at even higher levels, and calls the 'alien' out for a final confrontation. His subsequent battle with AEGIS agents and a certain robot reveals that A. the Patriot did NOT die of cancer some years ago but uploaded himself into a robot body and B. the 'new' Patriot is, and always was, the Grue infiltrator, one forgotten by his own people who in his long time in cryogenic suspension forgot his own memories in place of the memories he had absorbed from the real Joseph Simmons. And then... Well, that depends on if this character becomes a heroic PC or NPC, one determined to fight for the best American ideals even if he himself is not what he believed himself to be; or an increasingly unstable villain, one who targets patriotic heroes of all nations in a desperate attempt to destroy all the 'fake heroes' who wear flags and patriotic costumes, his campaign an effort to mask the realization that not only is everything he believed about himself to be a lie - but so too was Joseph Simmons, the unimpeachable champion of American freedom, a lie as well. Inspired by that time a Skrull replaced Captain America, as well as the "Captain America of the 1950s", here is my take on a Grue patriotic hero. Note that with his skills, he works fine as a Grue who has simply replaced a hero - he's certainly a very good liar. If this is a version of him who is a hero, well, perhaps he's lying to himself as well. Note that his Strikes do not stack with each other - he can't turn into his 'hardbody' form (inspired by Dok's Blobby McGee) and break caps with his shield. His Grue powers are for extreme emergencies only. Who's to say what he might not stunt out of sheer instinct?

A miss!

Comrade Frost erupted into smoke and frozen mist, the icy chill of his body sucking the life from the unholy abomination's insects. The water froze, the air froze, the temperatures in the glade dropped to Siberia's - and then beyond. And as the Heavenly park became a most unholy frozen charnel house, Frost began to SING. "My armiyu nashu rastili v srazhen’yakh, Zakhvatchikov podlykh s dorogi smetyom! My v bitvakh reshayem sud’bu pokoleniy, My k slave Otchiznu svoyu povedyom!" The freezing cold cascaded backwards along the sheets of insects, a creeping, murderous cold that devoured whatever pitiful spark of life animated the beasts, backwards closer and closer as Frost advanced on the now-shivering monster at the heart of the dying swarm, the air around them cold enough to kill any unprotected humans who might draw near. It hurt, it hurt so very, very much, but as the now-ice covered Famine fell to the ground, Frost knew he had made the right decision. "Slavsya, Otechyestvo nashe svobodnoye, Slavy narodov nadyozhnyy oplot, Znamya Sovetskoye, znamya narodnoye Pust’ ot pobedy k pobede vedyot!" Standing over Famine's body, he made a decision.

If Thoughtspeed had been an adult hero with his powers, Richard might have sent him into the city to do some high-speed recon - but he wasn't about to send his son into some alien dinosaur city without some serious adult backup. This might as well be an alien planet, he thought. Giant bugs, pine tree jungle, must be 110...He pulled at his sweaty shirt collar. And a nice people who we're never going to get to know. "Let's get the hell out of here." They went back the same way they came, after a short detour to circle the island and see what they could see. Even on the return trip, cameras still running, they were still far ahead of their friend the Fisherman. Fast-Forward circled the latter as they went back, almost compulsively filming in what would have looked like nothing more than a freak wave to the dinosaur as he intently rowed his way home. Back on Isla del Supercrime, he rejoined the other heroes - hardly doing more than nodding to the young lady who was evidently just his son's friend. "I don't know anything about primitive cities," he admitted, "especially not weirdo dinosaur burgs. It looked like most of them lived in that nest thing," he repeated, showing the digital pictures he'd taken. "so I don't know for sure how many there are. Or if there are other cities, on other islands. Goddamn time travel," he added, briefly feeling his age. "All we were supposed to worry about here is getting eaten by a T-Rex!" He sighed. "I think we should try and film what we can. We went to a hell of a lot of trouble for this place, and there's no point in letting it all to go to waste." He looked back at the island they'd left behind. "Those dinos back there too. That's not gonna make it on the show, but we can at least make sure somebody remembers them."

Frost, running low on options, hits Famine with his Paralyze attack. He'll All-Out Attack for +2. http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4487149/ That hits, and is another DC 22 Fort save - note that if he fails again, he is paralyzed.

"Hey, I'm not one for philosophy," said Richard, putting up his hands and (after a bare second) putting up his camera as well. With the film crew busy filming the satellite launcher on the other side of the island, there was no use catching an argument between heroes on film - even over something like this. "I just know that screwing around in the past is a screwy business. Even if the mother of all rocks is going to blast this place to kingdom come." He stepped away from the group. "Be right back. You're with me, boy," he said, jerking his thumb at Will. "We'll be back before your girlfriend knows we're gone." And with that, the world slowed down to a forest of statues in the long-gone jungle, and he was off! He kept it slow, the better to let Will keep up, tracking slow, broad circles over the deep green-blue sea that would one day become the Gulf of Mexico. He kept his own council as he ran, the world around them a frozen glimpse of a place that would be gone as if it had never been. _Thirteen days..._ Fast-Forward and Thoughtspeed found the town readily enough, easily outpacing the dinosaur fisherman. Twenty miles or so away, it was on the far side of another island, one with particularly thick forests. Mindful of how tricky these situations could turn, Richard kept them both away from the town proper - they did their recon from a nearby islet, using their pocket binoculars. It was a strange place to human eyes - a rookery of dinosaurs built in a beehive shape, rising two or three stories above the treeline, with smaller houses in the same pattern scattered throughout the island. The smaller buildings, some of them right over the waterline on stilts, looked to be crafted mostly of reeds and grass (at least on the outside) - while the big 'nest' was crafted from packed earth and chunks of the limestone so common around here even before the asteroid impact that was due to change everything. "Looks like maybe two thousand. There are a hell of a lot of them in that big nest thing, and just little groups out in the little houses. I don't know what they're eating, except more fish. Thoughtspeed, what do you think?"

On the beach, the dinosaur hunter went about his work with glee, practically dancing from clawed foot to clawed foot as he speared a half-dozen scuttling blue crabs, and then (with a lucky toss) one of those sneaking microraptors that had come too close to the melee. When he was done, he gathered up the crabs and loaded them into a woven net bag he'd kept inside the canoe. When that work was done, he took the speared microraptor and knelt before a big flat rock nearby. He then began efficiently butchering it with his own front claws, spreading the meat out as he went. As he went about his work, he began tossing his long, scaled head back and forth in a high, rhythmic hiss and snort like a crocodile's breathing - that after a moment became apparent for what it was. -Christ almighty, he's singing-. The work didn't take long, after several minutes, the raptor licked his clawed fingers and tossed the viscera he'd separated out onto the beach, where the surviving crabs immediately made a beeline for the tasty meat. With that done, he headed back towards the canoe, long tail switching behind him, and began to clamber inside. "I can go after him," said Richard quietly. "I'll wait till he's out of sight, then take off the direction he headed. If I do a recon, we can see what else is out there."