Avenger Assembled

I deeply regret that "Synape" is just a typo and not the name of the actual PC.

"There have been others who were freed. Juveniles removed from their indoctrination chambers. A young man rebuilt by Daedalus from near-destruction. But none like me who remember the mind of a drone; there are none who lived as drones who have been known to survive the transition. Drones are programmed to slay those that no longer hear the voice of Omega, and there are...other factors." Steve fell silent for a moment, opting not to share his personal speculation that those who were taken by the Terminus from the streets of conquered worlds went mad as their bodies and minds were torn apart by alien science - his own childhood on Nihilor had given him the frame of reference to understand his situation upon his liberation. "I want you to understand that you and yours are right to fear and hate Omegadrones for who they are and what they represent," he told Keith seriously. "And you were right to strike me on that other world when you saw my face. They do represent a mindless abomination of science and technology ungrasped by all but a select few of even this mighty world's great minds. If you encounter one, you will do it a profound service by its destruction." He looked at Keith, bench creaking beneath him, then back at an advertisement across the way. "There is no justice in the Terminus. Only fate."

Armored Sorcerer PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 0 + 0 + 4 + 14 + 4 + 0 = 22 pp STR 34/26/10 (+12/+8/+0) DEX 10 (+0) CON 14 (+2) INT 24 (+7) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 10 (+0) Combat: 8 + 8 = 16 pp ATK: +4 (+6 w/Magic) [+6/+8 w/Magic in Suit] DEF: +8 (+2 Shield, +2 Dodge Focus, +4 Base, +2 flat-footed) Grapple: +4/+6/+16/+22 Init: +0 Knockback: -9/-7/-3/-1 Saves: 3 + 5 + 8 = 16 pp TOU +12/+8/+6/+2 (+2 Con, +6 Protection, +4 Force Field) FORT +5 (+2 Con, +3) REF +5 (+0 Dex, +5) WILL +10 (+2 Wis, +8) Skills: 40 r=10 pp Craft [artistic] 3 (+10, Skill Mastery) Craft [electronic] 3 (+10, Skill Mastery) Craft [mechanical] 3 (+10, Skill Mastery) Concentration 8 (+10) Intimidate 10 (+10, Skill Mastery) Language 1 (Celtic; Base: English) Knowledge [arcane lore] 3 (+10, Skill Mastery) Knowledge [technology] 3 (+10, Skill Mastery) Notice 3 (+5, Skill Mastery) Sense Motive 3 (+5, Skill Mastery) Feats: 8 pp Artificer Beginner's Luck Eidetic Memory Jack of all Trades Inventor Ritualist Skill Mastery 2 (Craft [artistic], Craft [electronic], Craft [mechanical], Intimidate, Knowledge [arcane lore], Knowledge [technology], Notice, Sense Motive) Powers: 45 + 2 + 4 + 22 + 3 + 2 = 78 pp Device 11 (Power Armor, Flaw: Hard to Lose, PF: Restricted [DNA Scan]) [45PP] Enhanced Attack 2 (combat computer) [4DP] Energy Systems Array 10 (20 pp, PF: Alternate Power 1) [21DP] Enhanced STR 16 (servos, to STR 26/+8) {16} + Super-Strength 2 (Effective STR 35; Heavy Load 1.5 tons) {4} {16+4=20/20} AP: Blast 8 (nu-salt laser, PFs: Improved Crit, Precise) {18/20} Flight 3 (jet boots, 50 MPH, 500 fpm) [6DP] Immunity 9 (Life Support) [9DP] Protection 6 (armor plating, Extra: Impervious 6) [6DP] Shield 2 [2DP] Super-Senses 9 (Radio [Enhancements: Accurate [2], Extended [1], Counters Concealment and Illusion (Flaw: Limited [Magical Effects Only]) [2], Uncanny Dodge [radio]) [7DP] Enhanced Feats 2 (precognitive dodge, Dodge Focus 2) [2PP] Force Field 4 (wards) [4PP] Enhanced Energy Systems Array 8 (16 pp, PFs: Accurate, Alternate Powers 3, Subtle, Variable Descriptor 1 [magic/science]) [22PP] Super-Senses 3 (Detect Magic 3 [visual]) [3PP] Quickness 4 (x100) (Flaw: Mental Tasks Only) [2PP] costs abilities 22 + combat 16 + saves 16 + skills 10/40 + feats 8 + powers 78 = 150 pts ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Design Notes: They took him from his bed and they took him to their world, as still happens even today despite all the precautions that Master Mages and magical heroes alike take. He never really figured out why - was he too articulate a champion for science when he appeared on television, too public about his adherence to the new scientific world of reason and rationality? All he knew was that they took him and they tortured him, using all the magic of the Fair Folk to show him just how little he understood of the universe. And when they were done warping his body and his mind with their terrible spells, they made him himself again so he could think about what he'd learned, tossing him into a dark cave with just a box of scraps. "Go ahead," sneered one perfect nobleman, "show us the majesty of human creation, scum." And they left him there, still gloating. This proved to be the last error most of them made. He didn't just build a battlesuit that was, in its modest way, a match for one built by Daedalus - he learned the spells and fell gestures of his magical jailers and turned them against them when they least expected it, combining fae magic with mortal science to become a man wrapped in cold iron armor unmatched by anything in that world. He escaped that prison and returned to our world, having learned much about the 'real' world, and is determined to make sure no one else is victimized by the magical creatures still lurking in the dark places of the world. OK, so this is a pretty straightforward Armored Sorcerer, combining magical powers with a science-oriented battlesuit. I figure he supplements lasers with light spells, calling on elemental incarnations of the earth to power his super-strength. He's built to battle the fae, in a nod to our site's use of the fae as a serious magical threat, but I could see him as an armored hero who became stranded in some magical realm in happier circumstances - perhaps among the Ptahmen of Duat during some great heroic crisis, who was there long enough to learn from the locals and become even better than he was. He's _smart_, with a peak human intellect and good Quickness, and can whip up inventions, spells, or magical artifacts as needed. He'd potentially be pretty fun to play, albeit a pain in the neck to bookkeep.

Despite his youth, Mark was no rookie - he knew better than to interrupt a colleague when they were presenting themselves. "Let's go," he said in agreement with Blue Fox's words, and within the twinkling of an eye they had reappeared in the Midnight Manor library room where Mark had left Trevor and Erin - by a quirk of magical power rather than muscle, they arrived just as Cannonade entered. "Okay, so are we ready?" he asked, looking at the others with uncommon concern. "Or...or maybe try and figure out who the dead guy is on the way?" he added. Normally Mark wasn't much for research, but three-mile-high corpses weren't really in his usual wheelhouse. He glanced over at the monitor, still displaying the pictures he'd got from Socotra. "Oh, right, the giant dead body!" He related the story to Joe and Eve, with rather less animation and more concern than Mark usually reserved for stories about giants and missing supervillain tyrants.

I would like to spend an HP to activate Frost's Insubstantial 2 as a reaction, Elegy, if that's OK by you. Transforming to an icy cloud will make him immune to physical attacks like a coin-machine gun.

Barbarian Paragon PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 14 + 4 + 14 + 0 + 4 + 4 = 40PP STR 34/24 (+12/+7) DEX 14 (+2) CON 24 (+7) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 14 (+2) Combat: 8 + 8 = 16PP ATK: +4 (+7 Melee/+8 Melee) DEF: +10 (+3 Dodge, +3 Dodge, +4 Base, +2 flat-footed) Init: +6 Grapple: +14/+21-+25 Saves: 3 + 3 + 5 = 11PP TOU +10 (+7 Con, +3 Protection) FORT +10 (+7 Con, +3) REF +5 (+2 Dex, +3) WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +5) Skills: 52 r = 13PP Climb 3 (+10, SM) Handle Animal 8 (+10, SM) Intimidate 12 (+14, SM) Knowledge (Tactics) 5 (+5) Knowledge (Theology and Philosophy) 5 (+5) Languages 4 (Akkadian, Arabic, English, Hebrew, Base [Ancient Egyptian]) Notice 3 (+5, SM) Sense Motive 3 (+5) Ride 3 (+5) Survival 3 (+5) Swim 3 (+10) Feats: 25PP Attack Focus (Melee) 3 Challenge (Fast Startle) Dodge Focus 3 Fearless Improved Block Improved Crit (Unarmed) 2 Improved Disarm Improved Initiative Leadership Luck 2 Master Plan 2 Move-By Action Power Attack Skill Mastery (Climb, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Notice) Startle Takedown Attack 2 Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 45PP Container 9 (Divine Empowerment) [45PP] Enhanced Feats 7 (Attack Focus [Melee], Beginner's Luck, Dodge Focus 3, Eidetic Memory, Jack of All Trades) [7PP] Enhanced STR 10 (to STR 34/+12) [10PP] Impervious TOU 10 (Flaw: Limited [Physical Only]) [5PP] Immunity 9 (Life Support) [9PP] Paragon Array 4 (8 pp, PFs: Dynamic, Dynamic Alternate Power 1) [11PP] DBE: Flight 1-4 (10-100 MPH, 10-1000 ft per move) {8/8} DAP: Super-Strength 1-4 (Effective STR 39/54, Heavy Load 3-22 tons) {8/8} Protection 3 [3PP] costs abilities 40 + combat 16 + saves 11 + skills 8/32 + feats 25 + powers 45 = 150 pts ----------------------------------------------------------------- Design Notes: Black Adam has always been one of my favorite Fawcett/DC characters, and so I thought I'd take a stab at building a PL 10 version of him for the Freedom City setting. I built him with the idea that he is Conan the Barbarian with the powers of Superman; a powerful paragon with a few unusual abilities who just so happens to be one of the deadliest men alive even without the benefits of his superpowers. I had to cut some corners in the usual paragon mix; he's not quite as tough internally as some of his peers and can't go quite as fast as them - but he surely was a living god walking the Earth in the Old Testament times from which he essentially hails. He's grumpier than your usual paragon, but makes up for it with sheer combat prowess, both in personal combat and as a leader of a team. His allies may think he needs to lighten up a bit, but they know he can get them where he needs to go. Imbued with the wisdom of the gods, he can at least try his hand at most skills, though being behind on current events would be a solid complication for him. Perhaps he's been sealed away in a wizard's trap lo these many millenia; or maybe his patron pantheon withdrew their support at a critical moment and cast him into the outer darkness when they thought he seemed too haughty. Stripped of some of the Iron Age violence of Black Adam's story, I think this works fine as an ancient hero cast ashore in the modern era, one far away indeed from the lost world that he tried so hard to protect - ready to build a new life in a new one! I've built him as an Egyptian champion along the lines of Black Adam, perhaps an early opponent of Set, but you could build him as a Norse, Greek, or similar 'classic' champion just fine. He could easily be a champion of Guinee as well, albeit one with a more recent history than the Bronze Age heritage I've built this guy as. That would give a whole new meaning to "Black" Adam...

"I have been an Omegadrone since the day I was broken within a doomforge," replied Steve, his tone flat enough that it sucked the drama a more emotional man might have put into the words. "Even your most advanced science has been unable to remove the armor enfolded beneath my skin. Nor should I ask them to. I will be what I am until I am no more." The words rang with rhythm, like spoken poetry, something turned over and over in the speaker's mind like a precious stone. A train whizzed by, fast, a flash of light in the comparative darkness of the station. "There was a battle in the Terminus," he finally said. "I was freed by a...stroke of fate. It has not been reproducible." Guilt shaded the last sentence and darkened Steve's brown complexion slightly, shading along his scars. "It was thought better to keep this reality a secret. There are those who would take the news of an Omegadrone among them with fear, and those who would learn that one had been freed...and die, trying to free others."

"Certainly," said Irons equitably, the look on his face that of a tense, worried physician. "You run on back to your momma, boy. She's looking for you." Charlie III shot Miss A another wide-eyed look before he turned and headed back into the house with alacrity. As he left, Irons turned back to Miss A. "I still can't believe Suri was a Grue this whole time. I can't imagine what kind of damage he might have done in the short time he had. I checked for any sign of alien DNA on the Evans, but all I have is the cheap little litmus paper that Atomtech makes. I've never even used it before today." Glancing around at the life piled on the lawn, he said, "We had to clear the household out when the extended family started movin' in. There just wasn't room with all of Mother Evans' junk piled everywhere. No place for the family at all. She's got a real hoarding problem...or did before all this started. You're welcome to look her and Mister Evans over," he offered, gesturing back to the house. --- Suddenly, from out of the cloudy sky over Cavalier and Cobalt Templar's heads, two figures swooped down onto the scene. One was a dynamic woman in what looked like a dark blue leather flight suit, rainbow wings stretching from her back as she made a fast circle in the air above the two heroes. Concerned by this development, the Archtechnicians were moving to the shelter of their vehicles when the second figures approached, the fantastical figure of what looked to be a flying man in a train engineer's costume. "Howdy, folks," said the man, "My name's Casey Jones, and this is my colleague Stormchaser. We have reports of some alien activity here in Blackwater, and you fellas are about as alien as they get around here. You mind explaining what you're doing?" It wasn't a threat, really, but it certainly had some weight. "Aw, shoot, Casey!" exclaimed Stormchaser, "these fellas don't look like they're doin' no harm! Maybe they'uns is just here to catch the Grue guys too! Man, we had a mess of trouble with them back a few years ago out here and the Barnstormers have been keepin' an eye out ever since. C'mon, Casey," she gestured, "this one's another Star Knight! You know how much those fellers hate the Grue!" ---- It didn't take long for Steve to realize the tactical error he'd made - he could rip his way through the thin steel and aluminium of this plane with his bare hands, much less his armored Omegadrone flesh. But for the moment he was trapped on the runway, with no ability to leave without betraying his presence to the people inside. He was suspicious of some of them, the group inside the body of the plane growing strangely quiet even as they worked closely together, but so far he'd seen nothing to actually attract his suspicions. He thought of Gina, somewhere stored away in the cargo hold perhaps, and wondered if she knew just how many times he'd failed on this adventure. Until suddenly there was a knock at the secondary airplane door, firm and insistent. After the recent 'near-miss' with the fueling truck, the people aboard were evidently ready to have it out with those outside. Annoyed, one of the Archetech staffers opened the door with a call of "Who's there? This is a medical evac fli-" a moment before a man in a navy-blue bodysuit burst into the plane and sent the staff member hurling aside with a blow from a long silver staff!

Shapeshifting Archer Power Level: 10 (150 PP) Abilities: 10 + 10 + 10 + 0 + 4 + 8 = 42 PP Strength 20 (+5) Dexterity 20 (+5) Constitution 20 (+5) Intelligence 10 (+0) Wisdom 14 (+2) Charisma 18 (+4) Combat: 18 + 16 = 34 PP Attack: +9 (+15 Ranged) Defense: +15 (+8 Base, +7 Dodge Focus), +4 Flat-Footed Initiative: +5 Grapple: +14 Knockback: -2 Saving Throws: 2 + 3 + 5 = 10 PP Toughness: +5 (+5 CON) Fortitude: +7 (+5 CON, +2) Reflex: +8 (+5 DEX, +3) Will: +7 (+2 WIS, +5) Skills: 60r = 15 PP Acrobatics 10 (+15, SM) Bluff 11 (+15, SM) Disguise 1 (+5/+25) Drive 5 (+10) Languages 2 (German, Russian, Base: English) Notice 8 (+10, SM) Pilot 5 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10, SM) Stealth 10 (+15) Feats: 22 PP Acrobatic Bluff Attack Focus (Ranged) 6 Challenge (Fast Acrobatic Bluff) Dodge Focus 7 Evasion Improved Ranged Disarm Power Attack Precise Shot Ranged Pin Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Bluff, Notice, Stealth) Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 17 + 10 = 27 PP Device 4 (Collapsible Longbow, Flaw: Hard to Lose, PF: Subtle) [17PP] Arrow Array 7.5 (15 pp, PF: Alternate Power 1) [16DP] Blast 5 (Extra: Autofire) {15/15} AP: Damage 5 (Extras: Selective, Targeted Area [Cone], Flaw: Action [Full]) {15/15} [/array] Enhanced Feat 1 (Improved Ranged Disarm) [1DP] Ranged Supremacy 3 [3DP] Morph 4 (any humanoid, PFs: Covers Scent, Precise) [10PP] Abilities (42) + Combat (34) + Saving Throws (10) + Skills (15) + Feats (22) + Powers (27) - Disadvantages (0) = 150 PP ------------------------------------ Design Notes: Combining Jennifer Lawrence's two big 'superhero' roles, here's a pretty straightforward Mystique/Katniss mashup that combines the unerring archery talents of a sharpshooter with the infiltration talents of a shapeshifter. She can sneak around in disguise, hide if her cover is blown, and then unleash a devastating barrage of arrows from her sneakily collapsible longbow. With her Acrobatics, Bluff, Stealth, and Morph, there's really no reason she shouldn't be catching her opponents flat-footed almost all the time and thus Power Attacking them to the best of her ability. She could use some more mobility, so consider investing in some Wall-Crawling or Slow Fall to represent grapple guns built into her wrist shooters. She's PL 7 in melee without her bow, which means she can fight elite mooks hand-to-hand but will be in trouble when she's doing it. In combat, she could stunt a Mighty Strike or Enhanced Strength off her Morph Array, or maybe even Attack Focus: Melee to represent rearranging her muscles to deal with hand-to-hand combat. (Hmm, perhaps doing that is why she generally fights in melee in her native form! Interesting, interesting...) She could use some Concentration to keep her Morph up even when stunned. You could represent her Morph with Shapeshift, but this way she's a much better sneak! Another way to go might be to give her some immunities (aging, disease, etc) to reflect an ever-evolving shapeshifting form. With her skills and abilities, she could have a lot of backgrounds - thief-turned-hero, government spook turned same, or maybe a low-level mutant who supplemented her respectable, albeit modest, powers with strong training and devices.

Simian Infernalist "Beware the beast, Man, for he is the Devil's pawn." Attributes: 6 + 2 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 32PP Strength: 24/16 (+7/+3) Dexterity: 12 (+1) Constitution: 20/16 (+5/+3) Intelligence: 16 (+3) Wisdom: 16 (+3) Charisma: 16 (+3) Combat: 12 + 10 = 22 PP Attack: +5/+7 Unarmed/+9 Goetic [+6/+8 Unarmed/+10 Goetic] Defense: +9 (+3 Dodge, +2 Shield, +2 flat-footed) [+5] Initiative: +1 Grapple: +18 Knockback: -5/-3/-1 Saving Throws: 5 + 5 + 5 = 15 PP Toughness: +11 (+3 Con, +2 Growth, +2 Defensive Roll, +4 Force Field) Fortitude: +8 (+3 Con, +5) Reflex: +6 (+1 DEX, +5) Will: +8 (+3 WIS, +5) Skills: 56r = 14 PP Climb 12 (+15) Knowledge (Arcane Lore) 2 (+5) Knowledge (Theology and Philosophy) 12 (+15) Intimidate 12 (+13/+15) Language 2 (Aramaic, Latin, Base [English] Notice 7 (+10) Sense Motive 7 (+10) Stealth 0 (-2) Survival 2 (+5) Feats: 8 PP Attack Specialization (Unarmed) Defensive Roll Dodge Focus 3 Ritualist Startle Uncanny Dodge (olfactory) Powers: 3 + 2 + 4 + 13 + 27 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 3 = 59 PP Additional Limbs 2 (feet like hands, Power Feats: Innate) [3PP] Comprehend 2 (speak to and understand animals (Flaw: Limited 2 [simians]) [2PP] Force Field 4 (shield of Kimaris, Extra: Linked (Force Field) [+0], Flaw: [Dodge Bonus]) {2} + Shield 2 (Extra: Linked (Force Field) [+0]) {2} {2+2=4PP] Growth 4 (Extra: Duration (Permanent) [+0]; Power Feat: Innate) [13 PP] Strength +8, Constitution +4, Attack -1, Defence -1, Grapple +4, Intimidate +2, Stealth -4, +5' speed, +5' reach, +5 Strength for carrying capacity only [heavy load: 1200 lbs] Goetic Array 11 (22 PP, PFs: Accurate, Alternate Powers 4) [27PP] BE: Blast 11 (flames of Flauros, PFs: Affects Insubstantial 2) {22/22} AP: Damage 10 (breath of Focalor, Extra: Area [Cone, General], PFs: Knockback 1, Variable Descriptor 1 [air/water]) {22/22} AP: Emotion Control 10 (temptation of Alocer, PFs: Insidious, Subtle) {22/22} AP: Paralyze 11 (curse of Barbas, Extra: Ranged, Flaw: Action [Full], PFs: Reversible, Variable Descriptor 1 [any monster]) {22/22} AP: Teleport 9 (900 ft/anywhere on Earth) (gateway of Dantalion, Extra: Accurate 4) {22/22} Leaping 1 (x2, running long jump 26 feet, standing long jump 13 feet, high jump 6 feet) [1PP] Super-Movement 1 (Swinging) [2 PP] Super-Senses 2 (Acute Scent, Low-Light Vision) [2PP] Speed 1 (10 MPH, 100 ft/round) [1 PP] Super-Senses 3 (Detect Magic 3 [visual]) [3PP] Abilities (32) + Combat (22) + Saving Throws (15) + Skills (14) + Feats (8) + Powers (59) - Disadvantages (0) = 150 PP ----------------------------------------------- Design Notes: A very special Oddball, one I've held in reserve until my recently getting a job. A while back Trollthumper and I were discussing magical gorillas, as one does, and he mentioned he'd kicked around an idea for a gorilla using an Ars Goetia to summon demons. He went with a more sensible Gorilla Druid, a natural enough spellcasting backstory for an animal mage. But what if a gorilla _did_ find a copy of a Ars Goetia left behind by some unlucky Victorian infernalist and did from its magical writings within learn such things, oh my yes? You might get a fellow much like this - a flame-tossing infernalist who can influence the souls of the weak-minded, walk through walls and across the world by fell powers, or even turn men into beasts! I drew the demonic powers from the Ars Goetia, a "little black book" of summonable demons first steered my way by TT. Lots of origins here if you don't like the "wild ape magically empowered" - perhaps he is the mightiest mystic of Gorilla Island, adventuring among the pale and hairless heroes of the wide world in order to battle the demons whose power is so intimately tied to his own. Or maybe he's a dimensional transplant from Earth-Ape, learning that demons are much the same whatever sort of face they wear. Or perhaps he was once a human infernalist who made a terrible bargain for power; though the demon he conjured was warded against taking his soul, it was able to transform him into a great beast and chuckle its way back to Hell. There's always a price to magic, especially the sort that draws on the pits of Hell itself.

"Nope!" said Mark. "It's about three miles long, so it's way bigger than anything anyone at UNISON has ever heard of. Even the old Greenland giants weren't anywhere near that big. It doesn't make a lot of sense, science-wise, but it is a real thing. I'm gonna go pick up our French friend, I'll meet everyone there at the Manor. Our friends there can probably fill you in pretty well. See you later, Joe." And with that, he vanished from Joe's apartment and appeared before the front doors of the Parkhurst Hotel. Mark remembered from previous visits that the local ghost population got really mad if you just popped inside without asking, and sometimes the mystics who worked there got agitated too if you broke their spells and stuff, so rather than risk getting into a fight with Eve's roommates he just stood there in front of the building and dialed Eve's emergency contact number. Her super-emergency contact number. "Hello! It's your good buddy Mark! We have a pretty serious crisis in Socotra we need to deal with. There's a really big corpse floating in the harbor and my girlfriend's dad is missing. Are you free?"

"Fenris: Baron Magnus Katastrof. A man" I know this was a typo, Arichamus, but this is how I will think of him from now on. "Fenris: Baron Magnus Katastrof. A man."

"Yes." There was the sort of silence between them that might have stretched on forever; the former drone like a statue as he looked across the station. The crowd was already thin at this time of day, and it seemed to thin further out now that the two men were sharing the same space. There was a lot of space on the platform; there was no need to too closely approach the now-overstressed bench they shared. Steve seriously considered suggesting that they move, but decided the suggestion lacked a certain gravity given the moment. He would not have understood the pun if it had been explained to him. "My name is Stephen Murdock," the former drone finally said. "I have been living among your people for nearly five years. And before that, for some two or three years as myself, elsewhere."

VINCE reassured Min that this had come from checking around with his usual network of contacts, albeit from a third party none of the other programs knew. "I figured this was either a time travel thing or those dinosaur ladies again, and this means you don't have to hang out with any of those know-it-all 26th century guys." He winked, and pulled on a distinctly green dinosaur-themed baseball cap complete with what would have been felt fangs on the real thing. "If you see any dinosaur girls good with computers, send them my way, would ya? Cosmic Me knows this whole city full of reptiles and he says some of the ladies really have some bite." - Batsto Village was quiet as the heroes approached it late in the day on the evening of the 16th - the visitors center itself had closed some four hours before sunset and even the cleaners were mostly gone by now. With the doors locked and the woods quiet, it might have been ominous if not for the beautiful sunset to the west and the sound of birds in the air. It was...tranquil. The only sign of anything out of the ordinary was what looked like a white chalk circle drawn in the middle of the deserted parking lot with GUESTS OF RUNS WITH BEARED FANGS PARTY written in an awkward, stubby all-caps, as if by somebody who didn't have a great command of the English language - and maybe by somebody who didn't have hands at all.

Edge appeared in Cannonade's apartment foyer and found no sign of the pugilistic powerhouse. "Hey Joe! You here?" he called, ready with a cover story for his secret identity if someone not in on the 'game' was there. When there was no sign of an answer, he picked up Joe's house phone and called the emergency contact number Cannonade had given the League. There was no point in using his international phone right here in Freedom City, especially not when he was still waiting for a call from Nina to see if maybe her country was overrun by mountain-sized giant corpses. "Hey, Joe?" he said when Joe picked up. "It's Mark. We've got a situation. Can you make it over to the manor immediately? We need to take a little trip to Socotra about a giant corpse. I'm at your apartment, by the way, is that cool? I'm gonna go get our French friend in a minute, if you-know-who hasn't tagged her first."

Cavalier can tell that this beacon's disaster signal was activated by exposure to an incredibly powerful psychic entity not part of the Grue Collective - it's the kind of alarm that would be triggered by encountering a Grue Arcane cell, the Overmind of Luyten 726-8A-Alpha, or some other powerful force. There are probably a very few psychics he's familiar with on Earth with that kind of power, but none likely to be so obvious with their powers as to trigger this kind of alarm.

"The forensics people in Socotra had no idea what was going on," said Mark with a little shrug Trevor's way. "I mean they tried, but they only had a couple of days and anyway..." He winced at the memory. "They don't do that well with independent investigations with the royal family right there." He hmmed. "I was pretty busy when it popped in, but from what I heard, it just...appeared there in the harbor, with the hole in its chest, falling over. We just managed to catch it. It was like it just came out of thin air, and a lot of thin air at that." He shook his head in response to Erin's question. "Nope, I came right here. Socotra's libraries are pretty heavily edited, so I couldn't get much there, and of course they and the League block Internet access to each other. And besides, Nina's _whole_ family is there. Even the ones that don't have diplomatic immunity like her dad, and who still have international arrest warrants. You know what the League can be like sometimes." He smiled thinly. "I may not be super-discreet or anything, but I know people who are." "What worries me," he admitted, folding his arms as he looked at the picture, "is Typhoon going away just before the corpse fell. I mean, sure, he's a killer, but you guys know his record. If he killed a giant, he'd be standing on the dead body and pronouncing it "Dead Giant Day", and maybe organizing a parade, not running and hiding. Nina won't admit it, but she's worried too, she was pretty...ahem. Hey, uh, should I go get Joe and Eve?" he asked suddenly. "We should probably make this a team thing. Yeah, I'll do that. Be right back!" And with that he popped away, leaving the other two to plan for the trip while he rounded up the rest of the Liberty League.

April 4, 2013 Albany Subway Station Freedom City The deed was done and the heroes had returned triumphant, rescuing dozens of people from extra-dimensional enslavement in a world cast like a mockery of their own planet's grim past. The Freedom League was already working to strengthen the world's magical defenses with the help of magically inclined independent heroes; and the castaway from FLSCH that Caradoc had crossed dimensional boundaries to rescue was back home with his delighted lover. Steve had gone back to Gina, told the story of exactly what had happened to his Caradoc emitter, and promised to avoid deliberately standing under showers of molten steel "to prove some kind of ridiculous point". But the job wasn't done yet. It had been easy enough, once he borrowed Gina's computer, for Steve to look up something of Wail's history - the veteran hero who had fought alongside others in the Terminus invasion of 1993. That had been the greatest crisis in the history of this world, the public face of the horror of it all still burned into the minds of many of the Freedomians who had fought in it, lived through it, seen others die in it. Would such a man really be interested in talking with him? Steve had already been shamed enough by the open hands and welcomes of so many heroes. Sitting alone in the subway station, his brown skin and scarred face keeping away most of the passersby, Steve was comfortable in his solitude. Fortunately, it didn't have to last forever.

"Well, it's...it's like this." Mark took a moment to collect himself, spreading his hands as he usually did before he started into a story. "So, the other day, I stopped by Nina's place. You know, her mansion in Socotra. And we," he knew from experience that his friends weren't interested in that part of the story, so he went on, "we decided to go sneak around Socotra for a while and see the sights. You know, get a real feel for the place." He coughed. "And so while we were out, suddenly this freak windstorm breaks out over the islands, and Nina gets really angry. She stands up right there in the cafe and yells 'There's no storm scheduled for today! What fool dares interrupt my date?! I will rip the water from his lungs!'" Mark did a pretty good imitation of his on-again off-again girlfriend after hooking up with her for over a year now. "And so I told her to call her dad, because maybe something came up, and anyway it's getting creepy now that people are bowing to her, and so I take us over to the palace and Typhoon is gone." He swallowed. "I asked around, and his guards don't want to talk to me because of that one time that...well, Nina said they heard some kind of commotion in his study, and then he was gone, armor and all. But that's not the worst part. Nina's brothers Durian and Pakhar show up when she sends out the family emergency signal, and just as Durian is calling in the rest of the family with their teleporter, a body falls in the harbor. A really, really, really big body." He thought for a moment, reached into his costume pocket, and took out a zip drive. "This is kind of unbelievable, so I took some pictures and..." When a suitable medium was found, Mark plugged it in and called up a still image of the main harbor of Typhoon City, the largest port in Socotra. There were the famous skyscrapers with their multinational conglomerates, casinos and drug parlors; the statues of Typhoon with the perpetually flowing fountains all around them, a symbol of the intimate tie between the royal family and the very survival of the kingdom... And there, nose reaching higher than any of the skyscrapers and attached to something infinitely more massive, was a head - a head attached to a body that stretched almost out of camera range in the subsequent shots, evidently taken from a very high point in the city. The body was human-like but with bright red skin and a single massive golden fist; it was that of an Arabian-looking man with a fierce mustache and beard, his eyes widened in what looked like shock. He was dressed in what looked like traditional Arabian clothing, all flowing robes and headpiece, albeit with cloth that glittered in the half-light overhead. On his head was still affixed a simple golden circlet, like the beginnings of a crown. There was a crater in the being's chest deep enough to park several jets in. "It's...maybe three miles long?" said Mark, sounding a little shaken. "The head is maybe a thousand feet high, see here?" he pointed. "The...the al-Darsahs showed up just in time, we _just_ managed to stop a tidal wave, and now most of them are holding up the body to stop it displacing all the water...and I didn't know what to do!" he admitted. "I can probably destroy something that big, I guess? But then we won't know what it is, or what it's doing there, and what happened with Typhoon...and I know he's really bad, but can you imagine his kids fighting over that country? Especially since they take turns making sure the water supply actually works? That's a couple million people whose taps are going to stop working...not to mention get sick if that body stays there long enough. It's pretty warm in Socotra this week..."

Let's see some Knowledge (Galactic Lore) or Knowledge (Technology) checks, gentlemen.

With that news in mind, Miss Americana touched down in the backyard of the house where Gina Evans had grown up and could immediately tell that something was wrong. The backyard was covered in boxes covered by tacked-down tarps, as if someone had gone through her mother's house and cleared out the lifetime's worth of cardboard she'd been accumulating there for years. The house was otherwise how she remembered it; tacky decorations that aped good taste, a little shabby now that there was no one around who could regularly fix the place up, albeit with considerably more cars parked outside on the asphalt driveway and on the street adjoining. Out the back door somebody almost immediately came running - she immediately recognized Charlie III, the oldest of her brothers' kids. "It's Miss Americana! Woo-hoo! She came to help Nan and Grandpa!" The boy hugged her, looked her in the eyes as Dr. Irons came out the backdoor behind him, and mouthed a distinct "Help us."

ooc

August 15, 2013 The messages arrived in different ways for different heroes - Cannonade and Wander had theirs delivered to one of the anonymous tip drop boxes the Liberty League used to collect correspondance, Wail had his delivered by standard mail to Keith LaMarr's home address, while Willow's came via a scanned copy emailed directly to Vince. They were instantly recognizable as odd - the envelopes weren't paper but vellum, some sort of processed animal skin, and the stamps affixed to them were wildly overpaid, as if someone had bought a chunk of postage and slapped it on an envelope without knowing how the value of postage actually worked. Inside the envelopes lay a simple message written in thick, heavy block printing - again on vellum, albeit by something that looked more like a pencil. HELLO YOU ARE INVITED TO THE ADULTED HOOD CELEBRATION OF RUNS-WITH-FANGS-BARED. PLEASE COME TO BATSTO VISITOR CENTER AT SUNSET TOMORROW IF YOU WANT TO COME. WITNESS MIGHTS OF WITH-FANGS-BARED CLAN AND RAPTOR EMPIRE. A quick trip to Google found the Batsto Vistor Center easily enough; a historic "living history" village deep in the heart of the Wharton State Forest. Heroes who remember the encounter with emissaries of the Raptor Empire will recall Runs-With-Fangs-Bared, the teenage daughter of the raptor commander who learned a lesson about not calling humans apes all the time.

OOC content here

September 1, 2013 Typhoon City (formerly Qalansiyah), Free Kingdom of Socotra From the perspective of Freedom City, anyway, it started small. A freak storm in the northwestern Indian Ocean, lashing coasts as far as the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa. A sudden media blackout on the island-nation of Socotra; with even its ample (and often illegal) Internet going dark. Socotra was on the radar of only a few people in the city with its lord and master gone largely into retirement, and a brief blackout was an occasion for concern, but not alarm. Of course, some people had closer ties to the Socotran royal family than others. Standing on the roof of the royal palace of Typhoon, on its best days a magnificent palace of Arabian and Indian styles, surrounded by ever-flowing fountains of fresh water that were among the tallest such in the world, Mark Lucas stared at what lay in Qalansiyah harbor, and beyond it, and for one of the few times in his life honestly had no idea what to say. He took the hand of his girlfriend Nina al-Darsah, princess-turned-college-student, and when he made eye contact and saw the fear she would never, ever, ever admit to having, he said the only thing that made sense. "I'm going to call for help." "Well...I suppose," said Nina, putting her arm around him, the shadows in which they both stood casting her dark face into gloom. "Normally this is something the royal family would handle amongst ourselves, of course, but this, yes, this is something that your friends could help with." She hugged him, stepped aside so he could disappear without her, because what princess would leave her kingdom in a time line this? and said "Hurry." With a nod, Mark's costume flashed up around him before he vanised himself - reappearing in the main foyer of the famous Midnight Manor! "Trevor, Erin!" he called out loud as his shoes creaked on hardwood floors. He'd been gone just half a day, but what a day it had been! "I need your help with something! Something...big!" He had to laugh at the absurdity of it.