Avenger Assembled

Avenger jerked his head back as the lady's punch missed his face, struggling with her over the vase as best he could without breaking it. He gave her a menacing growl as they struggled, the look in the cold eyes behind his mask flat and dead. "Suggest you surrender now. Will be difficult to disable you without damaging the scenery."

Sigh Init: 7

Avenger moved fast, taking advantage of the fact that his breathing didn't change when he ran. A quick use of the scramblers told the police that there was a powerful bomb in the apartment Scarab had mentioned, his own ability to disguise his voice and the machines in the lair helping fool the authorities. He couldn't reach the surface by flying, so instead he simply ran; leaving the Lair and making his way to the vase Scarab had indicated at top speed. Maybe he was a little out of his depth, for all that he was still invisible in the crowd, but he was determined to do the right thing here.

Rolled a 10, so that's a 28, yay!

"Of course. She'd have wanted to remove all evidence of my existence," murmured Jack, wandering into the stacked boxes and piles of stuff that were all that was left of his old life. "She'd have burned the building down if not for my career," he murmured, "But that would have drawn too much attention to what happened to me. Just a disappearance, though, and I fall away like so many have in the past." With a look of sick worry on his face, he dug in one of the nearby boxes, coming up with a small desk-top framed picture. "These are my parents." He showed Dark Star a picture of not very good quality, an old, grainy one of a smiling man, woman, and scowling little boy. "Thank you...Derrick."

Jack shot Elena a look, feeling the lingering tension between them fade in this moment of camaraderie. "I'll wake you up," he promised. "Elena," he said a moment later, "there's something I want you to know." He laid his hand on the wall nearby. "When I was alive, I was nothing. I was an addict and a dropout who'd have ODed on Max or zoom if I hadn't picked up fangs, first. This thing here, the mask, the costume, it...this is the finest thing I've ever done. I almost couldn't do it, early on. And I wouldn't have been able to do this without you."

As Dark Star appeared, the occupants of the room turned to stare at him with eyes glowing with yellow, malignant fury! One of them turned and leaped at the stellar hero, white fangs gleaming in the night...only to go falling right through him and out the other side. With the nature of their antagonist suddenly exposed, the vampires exchanged a look and suddenly erupted into smoke, each one heading in different directions into the darkness.

Inside, Dark Star could see several shadowy figures moving through the pitch darkness of Jack's apartment. Peering closely, he could make out what they were doing: they were going through Jack's closets, dressers, and desk, taking everything that wasn't nailed down and carrying it away. They'd already hit the fridge, leaving it open for Dark Star to see a few very old cans that had evidently been cover and several empty medical supply bags which had once held blood.

Your interpretation of the rules is inaccurate. You may not have a VP. It is now Avalon's turn.

Oh noes with the counter-trip So, in the drink for both of us, Cy?

This is a Trip attack vs. Hellion. Using my Dex: 4 That was horrible, just horrible! 14 Still not very good. :P

"Never again," Avenger agreed, glad that he'd never planned to put this particular moment in his memoirs. When Avenger had successfully stuffed a whole legion of cats into Phantom's cloak, he suggested, "Let's get out of here." As they headed out, he took a few moments to compose himself as he studied the new situation.

Prolly rolled more dice than I needed to. Ah well. :)

Invisibly, Mark thought about who to dunk. He considered Eddie, but despite the boy's earlier teasing it seemed a little unfair to jump him while he was away from his iPods. Chris would probably smell him coming. As for Mike or Erin, well, they were both a lot stronger than he was, and Erin was at least theoretically on his team. (Plus, she'd probably rip out his spleen.) So that left James as Mark's target as he crept around in the pool, creeping up like the shark on Jaws just before he pounced!

On the surface of Mars, Avenger did a perfect imitation of a man who couldn't breathe carbon dioxide until Dark Star put up a field large enough to sustain all of them. With that done, he was about to bring up his earlier plan to infiltrate the sneaks and mentalists on the team into Freedom City when he took note of the red sands underfoot and the pink sky overhead. Succumbing to temptation, he took a step or two away from the group, looking up at the tiny figure of the sun overhead, raising his hand to blot out the Sun with his thumb. My God, have I really come so far? For all his doubts about being a superhero, for all his worries and angst about his life, the awe and wonder of standing on another planet took his breath away. Well, it would have if he breathed. Childhood dreams and aspirations came boiling back to him, and the gritty vigilante of the night bent down and picked up a rock from the surface of Mars itself. "Erm," he finally said, "Need to make plans. Can we put the sneaks one way and the mentalists another?

Jack didn't sleep that night, or that coming day. He never did. Instead he rested, letting his undead body recover from the terrible injuries and fantastic efforts of the night before. He wanted to go back to his apartment, wanted to clean out his personal items before Melinda's people could get there, but he couldn't risk being publicly exposed now. Not very communicative, he spent his day in one of the larger rooms of the Pyramid, poring over a hastily-drawn map of the mansion where he was likely to find Melinda that night.

Done and done. :)

So what does that leave us with? asked Jack curiously. Bombshell II? If I guess if there can be a second Scarab, there can probably be a second Bombshell... Jack was a little doubtful about the whole thing, especially when the riddle was passed onto him. Isn't that from Lewis Carroll? Are there any Alice in Wonderland first editions up for sale or something?

Dark Star's action (turning the hostage Insubstantial) is over and was successful. EDIT: Since that was off Dark Star's main array, he won't be pinning anyone with Gravity Control. Ace and Vestige still need to make the DC 21 Reflex save, though, to determine whether they start out prone or not. It's now Avalon's turn.

As you lose your dodge bonus when grappled and the hostage is a mook who hasn't dodged an attack yet, we'll say Dark Star hits him automatically. OK, so the paramedic is now insubstantial and running away: the police bystanders have earlier grabbed the unconscious police officer Orion left behind and jetted out of there. Dark Star's action is over and he's now down two HP. Avalon! Your long wait is over; it's the turn of the Vestige! When Avalon goes, I'll finalize his results, and we'll move on to the next person.

"Hey, I wanna be on Erin's team too!" said Mark, grinning as Erin joined them in the pool. "The only way I'd win a ducking contest against you," he added to Erin, "is if I was suddenly as slippery as Eddie on jazz." He stood close to Alex in a companionable way, a very friendly presence right next to her in the water. Smiling over at Alex, he went on to say, "You do a pretty good job, too. I'm always glad to have you on my team..." He leaned very close, and added, "I think we can take them by surprise. You ready?"

To all: Just as a friendly (tho now-underlined reminder, as I believe I did mention it before both in chat and here in the thread): Don't go until I say it's OK. When the character before you acts, don't act until I come in, finalize the results of their action, and say it's your turn in the initiative. We don't need any more chaos than we've already got. Well, the guy didn't suddenly get better at grappling, so of course that's successful, quote. Dark Star, have an HP for the setback, since the bad advice I gave you made your strategy not work. Dark Star has mentioned he's got one more trick up his sleeve. When he's gone, and I've policed his action, it'll be Avalon's turn, since he's been waiting patiently in the wings.

OK. Unfortunately for the stellar hero, since Dark Star can't accurately perceive the Vestige right now, he can't hit him with the Gravity Control effect. EDIT: Hmm, on closer inspection of the Selective extra and Gravity Control in general, I think this was an error on my part. Vestige, since I led you astray here, have a VP. As you've all probably seen, mass combat isn't always my area of expertise. As for Captain Knievel, you've got the same choices you had earlier: you can release the paramedic as a free action and keep the roll you have, or roll again at a -5 penalty while maintaining the grapple. You've already gone this turn, making a move action (running through Dark Star) and then grappling the paramedic (which you did without having to roll, because you overpower him so completely). EDIT: OK, after a quick consultation with the other Refs, we're going to say that quote doesn't need to reroll, since he opted to maintain the grapple under the influence of the Gravity Control attack. So he needs to make a grapple check...which I see he's done already. Yey. I'll still let you have that VP, though, since I'm pretty sure I did botch an earlier roll in the scene. Quote, I think I messed up in describing the scene to you earlier. Not being able to remember either way, have an VP for your trouble. Villian PCs, remember keep in mind that Freedom City bad guys (particularly ones here) don't have Joker Immunity. Killing police and emergency personnel results in characters who are no longer suitable for play, as bad things happen to them when they do clash with authorities (or, for that matter, try professional dealings with other bad guys who don't want to deal with the heat he brings down). Keep it to disabling. Now, I need Reflex saves from Ace and Vestige, DC 21. Ace, have an HP for getting hit by another hero's attack.

What with all the guys jumping into the pool, it was no wonder Edge came in well behind Alex. He laughed as he came up, though, not looking too put-out by his loss. "Teach me to make bets!" He grinned at Alex. "Nice form, Albright. I can tell you've been hitting the gym." He opted to let her pick exactly what he meant by that, covering his face as the guys jumping in splashed up the place. "Hey, glad you decided to join us!"

When Alex surfaced, Mark was there to greet her with a grin, water running down his shoulders as the boy floated just a few inches from her. "This is a really great pool, Alex." He cocked his head towards the far side of the pool, a challenging grin on his face. "Bet I can beat you to the other side. No powers, cross my heart." Sure enough, Mark made a little X right over the center of his chest. Mark had trouble competing with his fellow students, given their knowledge of his powers, but contrary to what they believed he could actually turn them off for a little while. He knew Alex would know that. She was very wise that way.