Avenger Assembled

"I have faith in you, too," said Jack with a little smile. I cannot claim to have faith in what I don't really believe in. Even now, when I'm living a life I expect to collapse around me at any moment."I love you, Taylor. Wherever we're going to go, at least we'll go there together." He squeezed her hand and said, "Let's call our friends," he said suddenly. "Stesha, I guess, or somebody. We don't have to be alone in this."

As Otaku disappeared, it soon became clear that he'd spoken from somewhere inside the convention center: the three heroes recognized the architecture and design of the building that they'd seen on the screen. There'd even been one of those ubiquitous plants that Stesha was becoming familiar with, the sort of shiny green ornamental shrub popular in many an office building.

"On it," said Jack with a hard smile, leaning against the wall as Phantom and the dogs disappeared. Man's inhumanity to man never failed to surprise him, but it was always disturbing to see what man could do to his fellows. Jack wasn't much for philosophy, but it was hard to not to be a little meditative under such circumstances around the holiday. Meanwhile, the veterinary assistant at the emergency vet was reading a magazine when Taylor and the dogs teleported into an empty lobby. When the spiky-haired woman in animal scrubs looked up, she gave a startled exclamation at the sight of the cloaked heroine and dogs. "Ack! What...are you here?"

I am le-captured!

"I'm supposed to be asking you that," said Jack softly, taking her hand and squeezing it lightly, his skin cool against hers. "We've come this far together," he said with a serious look. "My life ended a long time ago. But you, and the job, and my people, keep it going, because it means I'm part of something larger than myself. I want to find out where our story goes from here."

"No one we find on our edge of the community is liable to be particularly trustworthy," said Jack with a little shrug. "He's the best we'll find. And as for my people, what there is of them, if I'm not gone that long on this end of things...well, it'll make life so much easier." He rubbed his eyes. "As long as we can be replaced," he said with a very human hope in his voice, "it'll be all right. There's so much work left to do already."

I blow an HP to make Psyche reroll that Ref save and take the worst of two rolls. >_>

DC 21 Reflex save/DC 26 Toughness save for everyone within Mark's now-quite large area of effect. Evasion helps out as usual.

Mark felt a moment's satisfaction at the sight of the invulnerable Mike getting smacked around, and instantly felt bad. That's a terrible thing to think about my friend! Even if he shake me up that one time. He decided to compensate for his surge of ill feeling by fighting back against his buddy's tormentor, striking back against Wander and Psyche both with a randomly exploding barrel nearby magically leaving Mike and Mark untouched.

Cy, The helmet on the golem is not part of the spell that animates it. Though magically engraved, it's technically not the same item, and might not have the same protections.

Atlas' fist smashed into the Golem's face with an impressive klang, the very air vibrating from the sheer force of the punch. Despite this, though, the Golem was seemingly unaffected even by Atlas' incredible strength. On the other hand, the metallic creature was certainly not immune to the laws of physics: Atlas's throw flew straight and true, the Golem hitting head first on its swiveling helmet, richocheting off Arcanix's black force field with a terrible metallic squeal.

Cy, I have no problem with James going after Fleur. (who is up) And yes, Divine is free of the grapple.

Oops; forgot all about Hellion. I'll have to make allowances for that. Atlas easily hits the Golem, wins the grapple, and throws well enough to hit Arcanix. The Golem takes no damage, given its immunity to damage. The things you can afford with 210 points! Whew, Arcanix just passes his Tou save!

Avenger began to do things to the cultist, the sort that didn't bear much thinking about, but soon found that the cultist was, irritatingly enough, right: there were things he wasn't prepared to do that did make him less intimidating than this man's dark master. "See if he saves you." He smashed the cultist's head into the wall hard enough to crack the material, then disappeared in a wash of darkness himself. They were in darkness. Someone was likely after them. But that was all right: he knew how to hunt too.

Jack shifted uncomfortably as Dead Head's jaw fell off. He liked to think he didn't judge anyone, but the reminder of his own undead nature wasn't pleasant to think about. Would Taylor love me if I looked like that? he thought a little bleakly. Still, he was no one to judge. Could he really hold himself above anyone else in matters like this? "It's important for us to be friends," he said quietly. "And you're all welcome in my home."

D'oh! Fortunately, nothing bad happens. (That Phalanx is aware of.) Carry on.

Arcanix began chanting, a low, malevolent curse instantly familiar to Phantom and the other mystics in the room: he was going to try and suck the life out of every living thing nearby! But Phantom's quick, desperate counter-spell made the curse misfire harmlessly in an eruption of black mystic energy. Muttering, the dark wizard rose in the air, his cloak rippling around him, and hissed, "Fool of a witch! See what pain your forbidden love brings your miserable friends! Golem! Punish them!" And with that, the terrible iron golem began moving for the first time, its wrought-iron body screeching with metal against metal at every step. Hurling a massive fist larger than Divine's upper torso, it first smashed her in the face in a spray of divine blood, then wrapped its spiky fingers around her mid-section and charged into the crowd! Bearing down on the other insect that had dared attack its master, the Golem raised its prisoner high and brought her down towards Grimalkin with sudden, terrible force!

Arcanix is unable to overcome Phantom's countering. This time. He uses his move action to float up off the floor, out of melee range. The Golem hits Divine That's a DC 37 Tou save, Moira. It's also for lethal. (Don't worry, I'm not going to kill anyone who won't get better. ) The Golem initiates a grapple: 52 This is higher than Moira could roll on a natural 20, so he's automatically successful. He's going to surge. (Heritage, have an HP. Why you? You'll see. ) Turning, he charges Grimalkin, makes a 30-foot move action, and hits Grimalkin with Moira. That's a DC 32 Tou save for Divine (and you thought that HP was going to waste! ) and Grim, though Geez3r has mentioned that Atlas is planning to Interpose for his squishy faerie friend this round. So check before you roll. This is also for lethal; again, not going to kill anyone who won't get better. But the stakes need to be high here.

Durf, give me a DC 15 Stealth check.

When Wander peered through her binoculars, she caught a distinct glimpse of silver at the edge of the volcano's mouth, a flash of light off metal, like the glare of the sun off a long-abandoned skyscraper in a too-quiet evening after the end of everything else. There was something familiar about that glint, but she couldn't quite place it; nothing she'd seen on her own world, but still naggingly familiar. When Phalanx flew overhead, he felt only a slight coolness in the air, the birds he could see in the sky nearby flying away with some gusto. When he approached the perimeter of the field, though, he was struck by a decidedly odd sensation: there were voices in his mind. Not with words, but a low, sibilant hissing that seemed to skirt along the edges of his soul, pushing at the edges of the mental blocks he'd learned from Psyche.

Divine charged the dark wizard fearlessly, throwing a godly fist at the vampiric enforcer. She struck him cleanly, landing a powerful blow that exploded against a wall of pure black magic, with no effect on Arcanix himself. Divine did have Arcanix's attention now, the white and black-clad figure turning to look at her with a malevolent expression on his face.

Durf, I don't like power-stunting off Regen, sorry. But yes, you can reconfigure your Gadgets. After all, your hands are technically free. Moira, have an HP for the GM Fiat. Ace is up, then Arcanix and the Golem.

"Taylor, we're bringing the living undead into the world," said Jack, giving her a slant-eyed look. "I think we're beyond worrying about what your parents are going to think. We can be pretty sure they'll figure something out once he's born." He couldn't imagine their offspring wouldn't be marked by what he was. "We can talk to the other Midnighters," he suggested. "Get them shifted to a dimensional focus for a while."

That is a miss. Scarab is holding her action till Shaen goes. Moira is up.

"Let's make it quick and dirty," said Mark, sensing that his colleagues were getting a little tired of this idea by now, not to mention still worrying about what he'd accidentally done to Alex. "We'll go for one minute, and the team with the most hits at the end is the winner. The system's really good; it can count things like hitting someone with my powers, or Alex's. Everyone ready?" he asked.