Avenger Assembled

They deal with issues, yes, issues.

July 2013 There are thousands of big-rig accidents in the continental United States every year. And no wonder - America's roads are among the busiest in the world, and the vast majority of America's shipping takes place on the asphalt highways that bind the nation together. Sometimes these are terrible accidents near major cities, crashes that lead to multicar pileups or dangerous chemical spills that force evacuations of whole neighborhoods. These make all the papers. The small crashes, though, hardly anyone notices them, especially not the ones in cities most people, especially people in far-off Freedom City, couldn't find on a map. Not much goes on in Blackwater, Missouri these days. The town is small, with just over 150 inhabitants, and it's the kind of place barely hanging onto tourist dollars and people wanting a rural getaway. They do a lot of Wild West recreation these days, calling back to an imagined past that was rarely rural Missouri's to begin with. But it gets the tourists in and gets them to spend money at the antique stores and bed and breakfasts in town, or at the Volunteer Fireman's Whole Hog and Beef Barbecue. People born here tend to try and get away, pulled away by cities as small as 8000-strong Boonville at the heart of Cooper County, or even real cities like St. Louis or Kansas City. A small number, by some quirk of fate or other, find themselves in Freedom City, but not many, not many. Not a lot of super-people come here. It's right about between Maverick in Kansas City and Aquifer in St. Louis, and neither of them have ever needed to come within thirty miles of the area. Even super-criminals on the lam from big cities prefer to have some luxuries, and there's not a lot of local crime even of the mundane variety. The local cops are nice enough, but they don't have a lot to do most days - why would they? But sometimes things change. On July 3, 2013, in Blackwater, Missouri, there was a big rig accident. A tractor trailer driven by local man Peter Evans struck the rail on the small bridge over the nearby Blackwater River, sending truck, trailer, and driver plunging into the small river. The badly-damaged trailer spilled its 'machine parts' contents into the small river and the driver, new to the profession, was taken to Cooper County Memorial Hospital. As the 4th of July holiday began, the Cooper County sheriff's office promised a full investigation into the causes of the accident. But the sheriff is all the way over in Boonville, a solid twenty minute drive By the 5th, there was hardly any news. Unless you care about Missouri, and who cares about that?

Frost will deliberately fail, the better to take his enemy off-guard.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4112149/ Comrade Frost goes on 13

Oooh, this is awkward. Sharl had told his own parents about his powers, they and his sister were among a very, very small circle of Tronikians (smaller now that Leroj had died defending the city, died doing what Sharl was supposed to be doing as Tronik's native hero, he realized with a stab of guilt) who knew a part of the truth - that Tronik was imprisoned in an alien dimension by the mad computer-god the Curator. He had never actually asked Eliza why she hadn't told her father about her powers, figuring it was just one of those weird things humans did like burying their dead. "She's really awesome, though, sir," he said reassuringly. "I mean she and I have fought a lot of bad guys, and she is really impressively badass. She obviously knows what she's doing out there."

Frost folded his hands for a moment, studying the 'sleeping' man, his form a strange mash of colors against the thermovore's infrared vision. They were in the belly of the great beast that had devoured this world's California and had reached its tendrils out to his own. "The root," he said quietly, and with great feeling. "Were there more below, victims or some sort, we would have seen earlier in expedition." Underground, in the depths of rock and soil, it was cold indeed next to the Soviet hero. Figuring he could sort out his teammates and their goals with his words, he said, "I suggest we hit it now. Fast and hard, before root system can convulse around us. Eliminate problem at its source, and save Fleur de Joie from whatever has delayed her on the surface. If not, we go above and we _negotiate_ with intelligence now that its secret is known to us."

"Well, we can summon telepath, I suppose," said Frost, chewing on this information carefully. "Gaian Knight and Fleur de Joie, do you think you could speak to such beast and persuade it to resume slumber for a few more millenia?" He hmmed. "Of course, that leaves with operating question, no. We do not seem to know if it thinks, and if it does not think and we cannot persuade it to resume its slumbers, porheps we can just..." He made a little thumb and finger gun with his gloved hand, fired it, and shrugged. He'd have been far more explicit when dealing with a team from his own country, but Americans could be so squeamish about these things. "It is only idea. Creature that large moves, tidal disruptions across all this part of Pacific. Lacking an al-Darsan or Atlantean, could drown half the islands in these parts."

Standard Action: +5 Power Attack http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4109273/ 30! Oh my. Well, that was a 19 on the roll, so I'll spend an HP for Improved Crit. 5+5+8=18=DC 33 Tou Save for the Duke I guess it's fate.

"Man, your phony-baloney magic laws don't have any power here in civilized lands," said Sharl, laying it on a little thick to try and draw attention away from Eliza's display. He ducked and weaved, shoes visibly passing through the carpet as he briefly let his concentration slip, trying to keep the Duke's attention on him and not on the family behind him. "You think you're so great with your spells and fairies and grimoires; why don't you just shrink my head while you're at it?" he added, proud of the pop culture bit he'd learned from listening to some of Kimber's music. "C'mon, Gandalf, let's do this thing!" He threw a punch to the jaw that connected, hard, then followed it up with a solid kick to the knees.

I don't suppose there's any chance you've sent this major in-game event out to the Refs for approval, Arichamus?

Hmm. "Feh, I have seen bigger guns than they can bring to bear and come away only unscathed. Come, let us all ride together next time." Frost snapped his fingers as he led the way to an closed top armored car temporarily abandoned by its military occupants. "You, American jet-man, you can pick us up in car and fly to destination, yes? Then let us do so." Beaming, and pulling his hood up around his head, Frost took a position in the driver's seat. "Or else I could use rusty skills and drive us to Baghdad! Seems a dangerous phenomenon." How interesting that local heroes show up just as we have foes in hand and artifact unrecovered. Better to keep it to ourselves. "Say, pass it to the witch-girl, would you? Best to let magic stay in magic's grip, eh?" He winked at Equinox, red eyes just visible beneath his hood. It wasn't quite salaciously, more like somebody's old grandfather sharing a humorous story.

With the situation with Wail resolved, and much more importantly with the people under Gabriel's protection and ready to leave the dimension, the scarred-face drone looked for a moment like he was ready to retreat into the shadows before he said, "The way out. The coachman escaped." Steve blinked, audibly even over the sound of the crowd, before his armor erupted from his body again. "If one can do it, more can do it. Need a prisoner. Better I am there than on the street here." And with that he took off, an armored figure of horror riding a shrieking column of fire, and headed not for the heart of the burning factory district but for its edge. He passed Cannonade briefly on the way before slamming down in the middle of a crowded street, finding a fleeing native by his pointed ears and gold pocketwatch. Without hesitation, he interposed between the man and his freedom and pointed with a single spiked finger. "Where are your dimensional transports?"

OK, because things are nuts this month, I'm posting for me and Electra - All Ref points to Comrade Frost Edge: > - Enfant Terrible > - Black Rainbow Harrier: > - Never Sets Comrade Frost: > - Bricks of Babylon > - Set Up > - Leaves Citizen: > - Walking on Water ----- Wander: > - Enfant Terrible > - Black Rainbow > - Grand Prix Fleur de Joie: > = Set Up > - Leaves > - Walk in the Park > - Tea and Biscuits > - Dragons Papercut: > - Party of Mysteries Miss Americana: > - Fell to Earth

Weather-Controlling Cat Burglar “The robb'd that smiles, steals something from the thief; He robs himself that spends a bootless grief.” -Shakespeare, Othello Power Level: 10 (150 PP) Trade-Offs: ATK +5/DMG -5, DEF -2/TOU +2 Abilities: 10 + 2 + 10 + 2 + 6 + 4 = 34 PP Strength 20 (+5) Dexterity 12 (+1) Constitution 20 (+5) Intelligence 12 (+1) Wisdom 16 (+3) Charisma 14 (+2) Combat: 18 + 8 = 26 PP Attack: +9 (+15 Unarmed/Weather Control) Defense: +8 (+4 Base, +4 Dodge Focus), +2 Flat-Footed Initiative: +1 Grapple: +14/+10 Move Object Knockback: -5/-2 Saving Throws: 3 + 6 + 4 = 13 PP Toughness: +12 (+5 CON, +7 Force Field) Fortitude: +8 (+5 CON, +3) Reflex: +7 (+1 DEX, +6) Will: +7 (+3 WIS, +4) Skills: 68r = 17 PP Acrobatics 14 (+15, SM) Bluff 13 (+15, SM) Disable Device 14 (+15, SM) Language 1 (English, Base: Arabic) Notice 6 (+8) Sense Motive 6 (+8) Stealth 14 (+15, SM) Feats: 17 PP Acrobatic Bluff Attack Specialization (Unarmed) 3 Contacts Dodge Focus 4 Evasion Hide in Plain Sight Move-By Action Power Attack Second Chance (Disable Device) Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Bluff, Disable Device, Stealth) Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (audio) Powers: 1 + 6 + 3 + 7 + 2 + 24 = 43 PP Feature 1 (Weather Sense) [1PP] Flight 3 (50 MPH/500 fpm) [6PP] Immunity 3 (environmental cold, heat, own powers) [3PP] Force Field 7 [7PP] Super-Senses 2 (Tactile [ranged 2]) [2PP] Weather Control 10 (20 pp, PFs: Alternate Powers 3, Subtle) [24PP] BE: Obscure 4 (ministorm, 50 ft, visual/auditory/olfactory, Extra: Independent [+0]) {20/20} AP: Blast 5 (lightning, Extra: Autofire, PFs: Accurate 3, Indirect, Precise) {20/20} AP: Move Object 5 [Effective STR 25, Heavy Load: 800 lbs] (winds, Extra: Range [Perception], PFs: Indirect, Precise) {17/20} AP: Stun 5 (lightning strike, Extra: Targeted Area [burst], PFs: Accurate 3, Indirect, Precise) {20/20} Abilities (34) + Combat (26) + Saving Throws (13) + Skills (17) + Feats (17) + Powers (43) - Disadvantages (0) = 150 PP ------------------------ Design Notes: Inspired by X-Men's Storm, here's a weather controller with the somewhat more prosiac skills of a cat-burglar. She's good with her fists, fast, she's sneaky, she can crack most locks and hide from almost anyone - and she can summon short-lived miniature storms to hide her tracks, hurl single-target lightning bolts at super-targets, blast a room full of mooks, or scoop up a pretty bauble from the custody of its surely illegitimate owners. (Yes, yes, surely...) She doesn't have the sheer power of many of her typical sisters, or some of the weather-controlling builds elsewhere on the board, but she can fly around just fine, walk through just about any kind of bad weather unhurt, and if need be she can beat the leader of an underground gang of criminals in hand-to-hand combat even if somehow depowered. She's a handy addition to just about any team. Her blasts may not look like much, but with her high Acrobatics, Bluff, and the Subtle on her array, she can reasonably hope to +5 Power Attack every time vs. the street-level mooks she fights most of the time. In my mind this character is an East African super-agent who has recently gone on to seek a better professional environment for herself. She could also be a weather controller whose powers became recently attenuated, but I like the idea of someone who compensates for relatively weak powers with strong combat training. She's a little one-note, maybe because she hasn't had reason to push her powers - a good thing to add to her array would be Variable Descriptor 1 [any weather]. That would also work fine as something to stunt in a crisis with her current build. With a little tweaking, this could also be a scion of Dakana, perhaps the result of someone with weather control powers marrying into the royal family. With more emphasis on the aquatic flavor of weather, perhaps a scion of Typhoon. Note that she doesn't actually have the Weather Control (Environmental Control) power, there's not really call for it in her work. She can stunt something respectable if she has to - Environmental Control 10 [2/pp] will let her finally make it rain in her desert homeland, or just drop a cold front on a mile radius. It's a small power, but handy!

"I am what I appear to be," replied Harrier, his voice burning with shame. "In all ways. But freed by a stroke of fate." His armor retracted, a sickening albeit momentary sight, and Wail was confronted by the face beneath the steel. He'd seen the meat inside some drones before, but not that scarred, all-too-human face intact. "I can walk among the men and women of your world with this face. Not with that other that was made mine." His voice tightened as the world burned around them. "I can let no one suffer. Not on your world, not on any other. So I wear Caradoc's name, and voice, and fight behind a mask as so many do on the world we left behind. Please," he said, gesturing to the crowd, "I cannot guide them like this, but you can. Let us save these people."

Mark snapped his fingers and the air whoomped, the magical artifacts around the museum rippling slightly as a wave of insubstantial force rushed over the entire complex. Though luckily Mark's eruption of power didn't damage the artifacts, their antagonists seemed much more changed, the tyranosaurus abruptly collapsing inward into a green-skinned human shape without even a cascade of bones, while suddenly the leprechauns seemed to wilt like so many Irish daisies left out in a Freedom City summer heat wave. "I'm sorry," he said almost apologetically to Wander before jogging over to help with the main fight. "These guys are real jerks, and I was getting a little tired of their stupid fake T-Rex, who wasn't even an animated skeleton!" Edge took the time to make a rude face at the fallen shapeshifter (in more ways than one), trusting Wander to deal with him faster than the thought could happen.

Hey, BType, I went ahead and moved this sheet to Character Building since it's not ready to be in the Bank. The Bank is for finalized sheets - Character Building is the place for players to help you build your concept and mechanics before you put them on display in the Character Bank. There's nothing wrong with the idea of a Grown-Up Sidekick becoming an independent hero - it's an iconic archetype for a reason. (Though remember that a sidekick originally trained in the Iron Age would not be a young man now; the early 90s were more long ago than some of us would like to admit...) To make this concept work, you'd need to create the NPC legacy he'd be stepping into. The Raven legacy is already in-use, and there are more experienced PCs who are natural heirs to it in game play - We're naturally not going to retcon twenty years of in-setting history and our site's backstory so your character concept can work.

Sharl wasn't above letting Eliza's dad handle this himself - he seemed to be doing just fine on his own, and there was both his own secret identity and Temperance's own to consider. But as the property damage grew, he knew he couldn't sit idly by, and from the look on his girl's face she wasn't going to take this kind of talk sitting down, and he obviously couldn't just stand there and let the family do all the fighting! "Hey, man, that's not right!" He vaulted the table with the ease of someone who didn't technically weigh anything at all, and in the air landed a kick harder than any man could have - connecting with the 'Duke's temple like a shotgun blast. Fists up in the air, he added cockily, "I don't know what kind of rinky-dink society you come from, buddy, but we live in a world of laws in Freedom City! What kind of alien savage bursts into somebody's house and threatens their family?"

That is a DC 30 Intimidate check vs the officer to try and get him to flee.

Harrier rose to his feet amid the pile of fallen soldiers; his weight and Wail's strength having worked together to batter aside what was left of their pitiful ranks as if a bomb had been dropped among them. Outlined by fire as sparks from the burning factory began to light the buildings across the street, there was no mistaking the spiky outline of the cybernetic monster for what he was. He faced the last remaining fae defender with scorn dripping from his mechanical voice, all the pent-up fury at what these people had made of this place and his own limited power to help them scorching in his tone like cold fire. His pike snapped open in his hand to full extension, beginning to whine with suppressed power like the dawning shriek of a newly-damned soul. "Look at me, man, and know me for what I am. You have made slaves and brought terror to other worlds with what you have taken from them." He pointed the pike and shouted in that dead man's voice over the screams of the crowd and the whine of his blade, "Flee now or look upon me and see yourself reflected in my face."

Move Action: Fly over and engage the Duke in melee combat. With a punch! Standard Action: +5 Power Attack http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4080084/ 30! Oh my. Well, that was a 19 on the roll, so I'll spend an HP for Improved Crit. 5+5+8=18=DC 33 Tou Save for the Duke

Edge grows tired of this. There's some sort of creepy maybe pervy leprechaun fighting his friends; there's a rampaging T-Rex on the loose, and he's missing all the action! He spends an HP to stunt the following effect - Nullify 18 (all magical effects, Extras: Area [Targeted, Burst], Duration [Concentration], Flaws: Action [Full], Range [Touch]) [54PP] As it's a targeted area, he makes a roll to hit http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4078965/ 27. Nice. OK, he makes a Nullify check. http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4078966/ 34 vs all magical effects within a rank 18 Burst Area effect. Aw yeah. OK, so Mark drops a magic bomb on the museum. Let me know how that goes.

Ice crystallized on the surface of the Simurgh and chipped off, the massive beast seeming to shrug off Frost's attack effortlessly. He kept pace with it even still, icy white tendrils drifting uselessly across the creature's flanks like an angry winter storm cloud. Have I grown so weak in sixty-five years that they simply shrug off my strongest attacks? Feh. thought the ice vampire peevishly. What a day this has been. Oh well, at least it has eaten no one's flesh so far. Pfah, that was a grim sight. He really had had a very unpleasant time the last time he'd been to Kaiji Island. So what am I complaining for? Hardly any hazard here from great beast. "We shall triumph, friends!" he called aloud as he drifted away. "Never fear!"

Harrier technically takes a full-round action to refocus - but mostly talks as a free action.

There were ways out from this position. Not easy ones, not given Wail's power and strength, but they were there. Violent blows with a spiked fist aimed at too-human, albeit armored flesh that would have silenced that scream and given Harrier a chance to escape, even fight back. None of them crossed his mind for more than a moment. He went limp at the blow and raised his hands in surrender, and tried to speak loud enough for the sonic controller to hear, forcing himself to shout through the steel that infiltrated his throat when his armor was activated. The Omegadrone's voice was like a dead machine's reaching out from the grave, sepulchral tones mixed with urgent emotion. "Wail, it's me. It's Caradoc!" It would have been easy enough, given the nature of their foes, to say that this was an illusion. "The battle destroyed my disguise. This is my true face."