Avenger Assembled

Round 3 - Fox is up.

Battered now, the wounded Meta-Grue staggered briefly as he sought to collect his wits. He had taken some powerful, well-placed blows from the assembled heroes, but was clearly still in the fight. He bled from his lip and his eye, but looked like a prizefighter at the end of the first round rather that the end of a long sluggign match. Overhead, the announcer was in fine form, her throaty-voiced joy almost palpable in the thick, heated air of the combat arena. "ALIEN BLOOD HAS BEEN SHED! Look at it!" At her words, the Meta-Grue looked up, even in his mindless state seeming to catch the intent of her words. "No longer will humans cower in fear before the Grue or any other would-be conquerors! Today our CHAMPIONS rise and you get TO SEE IT ALL RIGHT HERE IN THE CIRCUT MAXIMUS!" Piped in, the heroes could hear the sound of a cheering crowd, an audience baying for the blood of the monster that had done so much to try and take the Earth from its rightful inhabitants!

The agent glared at the heroes for a moment before he took a slow, deep breath and relaxed, his stiff spine bending. "I'm...not authorized to discuss this operation with outsiders. 'Holder of the Essence of Time' or not. I'm grateful for what you did for this officer," he went on, indicating Daley, "but I'll need to consult my superiors before I can divulge any information about this project." He looked reluctant, but determined to project his agency's secrets. "If you three can leave your contact information with me, I'll see about speaking to my superiors and..." "Can't somebody speak to me!?" The dreadlocked guy in the sweater and jeans had been arguing with one of the agents on the perimeter, but now practically skated across the ice to the heroes. "I was in the library for like twenty minutes, doing stuff...and somebody just jacked my ride, man! How could somebody jack a car right here on campus with all these suits _and_ these superheroes around!"

All right, give me a skill check to sneak away, TK! Being cut of a different caliber than his peers, Jump Psion secrets himself by the door to the breaker room. http://orokos.com/roll/157896 31! OK, have an HP for him doing that kind of pre-planning, Blue.

When the lights flickered off, Ember Psion swore explosively, the fiery aura surrounding her blazing to brilliant, blue-white incandescent fury. Having been up close and personal with stars, Henry could easily feel the heat that made the trapped bystanders and sports teams shy away from the infuriated pyrokinetic. Even her light wasn't sufficient to really illuminate the room, and the gym was cast into deep, confused shadows. "We've got some sneaky little wischer screwing with the lights! Let me light up a few of these nothings and we'll see if we can flush him out!" she demanded, pointing menacingly at the cowering crowd. "Patience, child," said the Professor firmly. "The Atoms are not subtle enough for these tricks. We must have an interloper. Perhaps an unfortunate janitor." As he spoke, the teleporter disappeared with a woof of displaced air. "Dial down your flame so you can guard your cousin," he said, nodding to Ember, "and I will send Jump below to find what has set the machinery awry." "What? Why do I have to watch his brat?" sneered Ember, a walking feminine outline of flame as she paced around the hostages, the gym floor smoldering and melting wherever she stepped. "I'm the only one of us who can actually fight worth a goddamn!" "_He_ has done his duty by his family, Ember," replied Psion with a sneer to match, and even cow, his granddaughter's. "While _you_ have done nothing but hold back the future with your-!" he started coughing, a dry, raspy sound that made both Ember and the returning Jump wince. Her face screwed up with involuntary sympathy, Ember did indeed dial back the fire - as Jump lit several lanterns that cast the space around the Psions and their hostages into a glow, she took the child from Jump's back and strapped it to her own, just before Jump himself disappeared below.

He's flat-footed again thanks to that Bluff - http://orokos.com/roll/157892 And now he's bruisedx2 and dazed! All right, give me a bit here and I'll come up with a good IC post.

Aoiroo Catalyst 2 Posts = 1 PP G Force 1 Post = 1 PP Silhouette 2 Posts = 1 PP Arichamus El Heraldo 3 + 1 + 5 + 3 + 1 = 13 Posts + 2 GM = 15 Posts = 2 PP King of Suits 1 + 3 = 4 Posts = 1 PP + Vignette = 2PP Osprey 1 + 5 + 3 = 9 Posts + 6 GM = 15 Posts = 2 PP Red Moon none Wave Eye 4 Posts = 1 PP GM 1 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 1 +2 = 8 Posts (split to Osprey as per instructions, spare 2PP used to boost EH) Blue Rose Stormbreaker none Kit 2 + 0 + 2 + 4 = 8 Posts = 1 PP Ecalsneerg Geckoman 1 Post = 1 PP + Ref = 2 PP Exaccus Ulysses 6 + 5 + 2= 13 = 1 PP Fox Giain Knight 17 + 3 = 20 = 2 PP Dragonfly 1 + 4 = 1 PP + Ref = 2 PP Wraith 5 + 2 = 7 posts = 1 PP Gizmo Jack of all Blades 1 + 1 + 1 = 3 Posts = 1 PP Midnight II 1 + 2 + 2 = 5 Posts = 1 PP Wail 2 + 2 = 4 Posts = 1 PP Ghost Girl 1 Post = 1 PP Set 3 + 17 = 20 Posts + 7 GM = 27 = 3 PP GM 2 + 5 =7 HG Morrison Foreshadow 5 + 4 + 5 +2 = 16 Posts + 10 GM = 26 = 3 PP + Vignette = 4 PP Glamazon 21 + 3 + 1 =25 Posts = 3 PP + Vignette = 4 PP GM 5 +5 =10 Posts Horngeek Stronghold 4 Posts = 1 PP Vector no posts + 1 PP Vignette = 1 PP Implied Spider Starchaser 4 + 2 + 2 = 8 Posts = 1 PP KnightDisciple Gabriel [maxed] 5 Posts = 1 PP Cobalt Templar 2 + 4 + 2 + 3 = 11 Posts +5 Gabriel Rollover + 6 GM = 22 Posts = 2 PP Fenris 1 Post = 1 PP Thoughtspeed 4 Posts = 1PP GM 6 Posts Quinn Crow 2 + 2 + 5 + 2 = 11 Posts = 1 PP Raveled Ironclad None Blue Jay 1 + 3 + 1 + 3 = 10 Posts = 1PP Sorus Blue Fox [maxed] 4 + 2 + 1 = 7 Posts = 1 PP + 1 Ref = 2 PP Willow 1 Post + 7 Rollover = 1 PP + Ref rollover = 2 PP Supercape Supercape = 33 GM posts = 3 PP + Vignette (1 PP) + RefPoint (1 PP) = 5 PP Rene = 4 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 13 posts + Vignette (1 PP) = 2 PP Lord Steam = 2 Rollover GM posts + Vignette (1 PP) = 2 PP Bloody Mess = 3 + 5 + 3 = 11 posts + 4 Rollover GM posts = 2 PP Pitch = 7 + 12 + 4 = 23 posts + 27 Rollover GM posts + Vignette (1 PP) + Supercape's Rollover Vignette point (1 PP) + Rene's Rollover Vignette point (1 PP) = 7 PP GM = 3 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 5 + 13 + 8 = 33 posts Thomasdm3 Tempest 3 + 10 = 13 = 1 PP TiffanyKorta Blodeuwedd 3 + 2 + 2 +1 +1 +2 +3 + 1= 15 = 2 PP Miss Grue 3 = 1 PP Revenant 6 + 1 + 4 + 2 = 13 + 12 GM = 25 = 3 PP Young Britannia 3 + 1 + 3 = 7 = 1 PP GM 2 + 5 + 5 = 12 Thunder King Crimson Tiger 5 + 3 + 3 +3 + 5 + 5 = 24 Posts + 4 GM = 28 = 3 PP + Origin Story + Vignette = 5 PP Graft 2 Posts = 1 PP + Vignette Solar Sentinel = 7 PP + Vignette TheAbsurdist Asad: 4 Posts + 15 GM = 19 = 2 PP Errant 1 + 1 + 2 + 1 = 5 Posts = 1PP Thevshi Velocity 14 + 13 + 1= 28 + 8 GM = 36 = 3 PP + 1 Ref = 4 PP Tsunami 17 + 5 + 3 + 4 + 2 + 3 = 34 + 16 GM = 50 = 4 PP Synapse 4 + 46 GM = 50 = 4 PP GM 9 + 6 + 15 + 15 + 5 + 8 +5 + 1 + 3 + 3 = 70 Trollthumper Nick Cimitiere 1 + 2 = 3 Posts = 1 PP + Vignette = 2 PP Cannonade 2 + 2 + 1 + 2 = 7 posts = 1 PP + Ref = 2 PP Temperance 1 + 1 = 2 Posts = 1 PP + Vignette = 2 PP Cavalier 2 Posts = 1 PP + Vignette = 2PP Vahnyu Hronos 7 Posts = 1 PP Net Fly 5 + 3 + 6 = 14 Posts +8 GM = 22 Posts = 2 PP GM 8 Posts

January 6, 2014 It's a typical snowy day in Freedom City, Epiphany for those who celebrate the holiday, and everyone is just starting to wind down from Christmas. When suddenly something happens, and it's still Epiphany 2014 - but now things are different. Freedom City is New Camelot City, perhaps the greatest city in the World Empire that stretches from Old Camelot in Britannia to distant Serica far across the Greater Ocean. New Camelot City is this year playing host to King Arthur Constantine XVI, who with his wife Queen Morgan rotates between the great cities of the World Empire 'sits at the Round Table of the World' every year so as to prevent rebellion - and as well it should! From the days of The Blue-Gold Knight, New Camelot City's first and doughtiest champion, fantastic men, women, and creatures stranger than both have walked the streets of this city of wonders, sworn to defend it against the demons and other beasts banished to the great Wharton Forest that stretches for many leagues beyond. This should be a good day, a happy day; the King and Queen have newly arrived and settled into their palace in the center of the great walled city, and the weather is warm enough that the crops may not freeze this winter at all (especially with the help of Camelot's great mystics and builders) - but rumors swirl through the city this day. Rumors of strangely changed champions who whisper that this world is a lie; that Camelot itself is a lie abound - the arrival of the royal court to New Camelot City has exposed corruption close to those that have ruled this land for 1500 years on the Christian calendar. Perhaps this will indeed be Camelot's last day, despite the best efforts of the League of Camelot to guard King and Realm. Unless they become its greatest enemies. Yes, it's Fantasy Freedom, with a twist! For January 6, 2014, Freedom City will be reflected in a fantasy mirror, as a city in a world of Arthurian myth and legend, where mighty knights and brave wizards battle foul fiends and twisted mystics in an effort to bring truth and justice to a lawless land. Your hero is cast as a fantasy version of himself or herself, inspired by some of our competitor roleplaying games (you know the ones, with dragons in their underground fortresses) as well as Fantasy Freedom on page 107 of Worlds of Freedom. This version of Fantasy Freedom is closer to Thomas Malory's than Marion Zimmer Bradley's, a land with a really and truly holy Church that fights demons that just might be hanging around to try and steal your soul, and where some medieval ideas are closer to truth than others. Please post your January vignettes before January 30th so that you can get full credit.

Comrade Frost "Greetings, Renard." Having shed his Santa beard and donned his costume once he'd left the heat of the fire behind, Comrade Frost had sought out the all-too-familiar face of his old ally's successor. He'd taken note of the arrival of the Terminus Invasion veterans nearby, but for all the memories he had of 1993 the sight of the second French Renard brought back memories he'd long since forgotten. Almost seventy years since they were gone. In another few decades, only I and one or two others will have seen them living. The last surviving member of the Allies of Freedom bowed to his old ally's legacy. "And Merry Christmas. I am sorry I have not come to see you before this, my work with the League has been...demanding."

Lady Liberty Beth smiled, "We were both surprised. I went to Daedalus and Miss Americana both just to make sure everything was normal, and everything is fine. I'm due sometime in June." She shrugged and admitted, "Maybe it wasn't the teary-eyed joy that people have in the movies at first, but Trevor's happy, and I'm happy, and we...well, our 'we' is getting a lot bigger! As for the League..." She sighed softly, looking around the conference room. "I think I may step back. I won't retire," she added quickly, "not as long as I've got my powers, and I'm not going to do anything to jeopardize those until the baby is born. But I've been in the business almost thirty years now. People I met when I was already a veteran hero have since married and had kids at Claremont. I'm ready to choose time with my family."

That Search will let you find what you're looking for, BR. http://orokos.com/roll/157420 And so far Kit goes unnoticed

With Will obviously making friends, Richard and Paige both made a conscious effort to step back and let their boy get to know people. Maybe Will wasn't exactly like the other kids, not after growing up with two ex-supervillains for parents, but he looked like he was going to do just fine, Richard mused. They took more pictures, including a couple of Will's new friends, but kept their distance as they circled back to the dorms where Will would be living. Richard took a moment to zip away and come back with Will's few bags, then embraced his son just like all the hippie parents they'd gotten to know out west. "Just run over if you need anything, boy. Don't let them work you too hard." He stepped back and ruffled Will's hair, something he saw no reason to stop now that the boy was as tall as he was. Holly hugged her brother too, albeit a little begrudgingly; having been not-so-clandestinely studying Elias most of the time they'd been outside.

"You can do this," said Steve without hesitation. "You have bravely destroyed what you thought was your lover gone mad, you have journeyed into the depths of interstellar space, you have talked down a psychic gestalt of your own close family, and you have helped save the world time and time again. Your brother and his wife and children will be as childs play." "And you look lovely." Steve was nervous himself, acutely conscious of how easy it would be for him to make some glaring error in front of Gina's family, but he found that her worries (especially when she was so much more suited to this life than he was) were enough to help him regain his confidence. For all that he worried that she would one day realize the mistake she'd made in taking him to her bed and into her life....today was not going to be that day. He bent down and kissed her on the forehead, and slipped the bonds of dread for a few moments. And no sooner had the thought come than the doorbell rang! Or, rather, the robotic alarms that indicated a visitor on the front walk did, followed shortly by the sound of footsteps on the porch and then an actual chime from the door. With an arm on her shoulder (with space to let her slip underneath and escape), he walked to the door and opened it for their visitors. A little awkwardly, he declared loudly at the sight of them, "Hello! Welcome to our home. You should enjoy it!"

Yes you can, Rob; but honestly I'll just tell you (given your high ranks and the need to keep us moving) - the lab does look to have been working on something involving high-energy physics, maybe temporal-related. It's tough to tell, though; it's been heavily ransacked, both robbed and vandalized.

Whoops! Blod is up, yes.

Round 3! Wraith is up!

To everyone's surprise, the purple radiation triggered by the time-spinning robot had an immediate effect on their surroundings! The sealed doors to the physics lab suddenly slid open on their tracks as if struck by a cattle prod, a new alarm blaring in counterpoint to the already-blasting security alarm. Inside the ransacked lab, a green light blared on and off while a recorded voice said, "TEMPORAL ANOMALY DETECTED! PLEASE EVACUATE THE BUILDING." It took Hronos, with his knowledge of science and temporal science in particular, only a moment or two to recognize the contents of the lab as the (heavily worked-over) remains of a laboratory engaged in temporal science! This late the building was empty, though, and there was no one to evacuate but the heroes themselves. "Oh jeez, we gotta get out of here!" said Daley, pale but game as he leaned against Hronos - evidently the old cop was no stranger to Freedom City's weirder side. "The doors'll slam shut and lock us all in!" Outside, several marked FBI cars were just pulling into the lot, tires squealing, the cars themselves wobbling slightly on the icy asphalt. The first agent out called "Special Agent Harold Vardalos! Who's in charge here?" he demanded of the mismatched trio of heroes. "What are you doing in a top secret installation after hours?"

Sure!

History: Back in the 1970s, Professor Arne Saknussemm of the University of Aarhus made a deeply controversial discovery - an Anglo-Saxon burial mound deep in the forests of Norrland in northern Sweden which Saknussemm claimed was the tomb of the mytho-historical figure Unferth. The mound, though looted some years earlier, contained a spot for a man of high rank and some of the surviving grave goods that would have been buried with a man of wealth and power in one of the old Anglo-Saxon courts some fifteen hundred years ago. The other spot, left unlooted, was that of a woman in the dress of a volvur, an Anglo-Saxon witch - rather odd given that they were generally not particularly esteemed by the warchiefs of the period. The inhabitants of the local village, a Lapp community, tell the story of how once, many centuries earlier, a woman of great power came to the north and sunk herself and her lover deep beneath the earth - and Saknussem used linguistic evidence (as well as writings found in the mound itself) to argue that this was the historical Unferth and an unknown bride. It's easy enough to hit JSTOR and find black and white pictures of the interior of the tomb, including a painted 'upper room' that resembles depictions of the Christian Hell. Saknussemm's theories, particularly the idea that the story of Beowulf was a historical one referring to real historical actors, were not widely regarded by the contemporary academic community, and he never gained the prominence he sought as a scholar. Elanor remembers this with particular detail because it was actually in the news some months earlier - Arne Saknussem was the victim of one of Denmark's very rare murders over the summer; his body was found hacked to pieces in his office (which had been looted) in Aarhus, as if someone had chopped him to death with a Viking-style ax. The local police blamed Aesir cultists.

Good man, Hronos! Have an HP for doing the heroic thing. http://orokos.com/roll/157048 He makes the check, and survives - yay! I will get Notice up once more folks go.

That Stealth will get her to the door unnoticed. http://orokos.com/roll/157047 She sees an Asian woman in her early twenties lurking a little too obviously around the door in a black trenchcoat - she can hit the woman by surprise, but she can't get the door open without her seeing because she's watching the door directly.

Let's see some crime scene-related rolls! Notice, Investigate, Medicine, and maybe Survival all could be rolled here.

It was easy enough for the heroes to find the source of the commotion, an attempted burglary at the Physics Building, and to take note of both the pried-open main doors and the short trail of blood that led a few feet outside. Inside the Physics Building, the heroes found a grim scene, just as they might have expected from the clues outside. Just inside the main doors, a campus cop lay sprawled on the floor, bleeding out from a deep stab wound to his back. The cop lay in front of a locked lab door as if he'd been trying to protect it before his attack, his cuffs and gun scattered on the tile floor in front of him. He was an older man with a greying mustache, looking a bit like a retired cop. He pulled the first hero close with the last of his strength, which in this case happened to be Hronos. "Officer Rich Daley, reporting in...Came up behind me when I was...cuffing the other guy...never heard a thing...funny thing, if Bob had shown up, it'd be him instead of me..." And with that, his final report given, the old officer slumped into a cold, still unconsciousness.

Ember herded the crowds off the bleachers and onto the court, where they were soon joined by the teams and their support staff. Ember Psion was a good foot shorter than the taller members of the team, much less the crowd, but nobody seemed inclined to give the fiery woman any resistance. She passed close to Henry as she moved through the crowd, a fiery red and orange outline like a marble statue set ablaze, tossing what looked like a knife cast from purest flame from hand to hand as she made everyone sit down on the floor - luckily Henry wound up near the edge of a group. Ember cleared a space at the middle of the court, where after a few moments, there was a woosh of air and she was joined by two others. One was an old, frail-looking man in a wheelchair, wearing a homburg and suit more in fashion in Henry's day, the other a youngish man in his mid-twenties with a carefully blank face. The new arrivals came with their own cargo, a baby on the old man's lap and another in a rear-facing babypack worn by the other man. Evidently it was family day. "Good afternoon, everyone," said the old man, his thin, reedy old man's voice hard to hear for a moment before his companion (evidently the teleporter) vanished for an instant before returning with lap mics. "Good afternoon! Yes. My name is Professor Parker Psion. Many of you have heard of me and my family." He looked up at the cameras, his face reflected now on the in-arena television. "I am here with a message for the Atom Family. If you want these people kept safe, you will all come to this arena so that we can talk. Make sure that...powerless father figure of yours comes as well. If we are not able to speak to Jack Wolf and the rest of the Atoms within one hour, then I will be forced to have my grandchildren remind you of the superiority of the meta-race. Don't let these people become a victim of your cowardice, Jack. Come to us and bring your foster children, so I may show you mine." He spoke in a cold, chiding professorial tone, as if reminding unruly students of their transgressions.

All right, BR; I need a Stealth check and a Notice check for Kit as she makes her way for the broadcast booth doors. (They're easy enough to find, I won't make you roll for something a bystander could do!)