Gizmo

The bizarre assemblage before them certainly gave the Igneous rioters pause. A stockier male with ashen scales across his brow that gave the impression of wild, bushy eyebrows looked agape at the space where the boulder had exploded for several moments, working his jaw silently before spreading his arms wide. "Salt and stone, what was that?" "Shut up, Marl," the woman with the smithing hammer growled angrily over her shoulder, focusing more on the vines Fleur had called forth, gripping the shaft of her weapon defensively as though wondering if they were snakes coiling to bite. The shorter Igneous persevered, pointing at Canadian Shield. "But look at that one! Isn't that--" "Shut up, Marl!" The two factions seemed to have been distracted from their quarrel for the time being but the heroes' arrival had done nothing to remove the tension that hug heavy in the air. The Igneous closest to the archway, a younger looking fellow with an cobalt complexion contrasting with flakes of light gold, stumbled back several steps and raised his hands in front of him. "S-stay back!" he managed, a pair of watermelon sized rocks pulling free from the tunnel floor to float in front of each palm, ready to let fly.

Well, these guys are pretty low PL and Toughness shifted, so 14 does actually hit! Toughness Save vs. DC 27.: 1d20+12 21

Bombardier had come in high over the scene, watching as Fleur's vines reached the top of the archway and began doubling back and forth. Evidently satisfied that the abruptly appearing foliage had the situation under control, the blue and white armored Québécois came back down to a less threatening height just behind the florakinetic, watching for Canadian Shield's lead. Stesha was close enough to hear the soft but telltale thrum of concussive weaponry powering up, just in case. "Always a pleasure to watch you work, belle." Boisterous words aside, the voice that came through his helmet's speakers was focused and level. Wendy Go kept to the back of the group as they raced forward, though her long-legged loping stride suggested she could have outpaced some of her elders if necessary. The young woman ended up closest to Tiamat as the heroes came to a halt, the dragon catching a stronger whiff of the preternaturalness that had raised her hackles before, surging with adrenaline. The junior Canadian hero seemed oblivious to any reaction from the mace wielding redhead, however, focusing on deliberately steady breathing while watching the Igneous brawlers with a decidedly predatory squint. "Welcome to Subterra," Combs muttered with some annoyance as she stepped beside Gaian Knight, planting her hands on her hips. "I just got finished telling these surfacers how rational and civilized the Igenous are," she called out, a ribbon of steel sliding into her smooth voice, "and I do not like to be made a liar." It was hard to miss the pebbles about her feet lifting into the air to bob a foot or two above the ground like tiny satellites.

LaMarr's complexion wasn't one that allowed for much blanching nor was his broad-shouldered frame given to anything but strong, squared stances, but as the commotion about Keller's painting drew him over it was clear from his expression alone that the wind had been taken out of him. It wasn't the memory of the fight itself that hit him harder than any punch could have, it was the sudden acuteness of the aching absence he carried with him from the moment he woke to the moment he fell asleep at night. There he was, not as old as the face in the mirror but not quite so young as he sometimes still imagined himself. Jav, certainly, had never seemed to lose the energy of his twenties until just before the end, when the radiations they'd all been exposed to had slowly eaten away at him until he'd seemed a paper shell of the man LaMarr loved. Yelena, though, Yelena had never gotten any older. He tried to mentally add on the lines she should have had time to collect across her face but instead he could only imagine her as she'd been in the years they'd all lived together in the converted converted movie theater, when they'd all been invincible. Raising one hand to run through his beard, covering his mouth as he did so, the aging hero looked intently at the painted scene and said nothing.

"My genial manner rubbing off on you," Trevor suggested dryly at Eve's acknowledgement of the Socotran princess, still looming without really meaning to over Mark's shoulder. He'd felt the telepath's not unwarranted piano wire taut reaction to Nina's presence and limiting herself to merely correcting a poor choice of words was a magnanimous choice on the uncompromising Frenchwoman's part. --And Mark's been a good influence on her, thankfully. Tyrannical dogma falls to optimism,-- he added silently just for Eve's benefit. --He's actually developed cogent, reasoned thoughts on geopolitics. Thank you for playing nice.-- To Nina herself he noted, "Injustice an unnatural state. Doesn't 'have to be'. Needs someone to... push." Cracking his knuckles he left that thought hanging and moved to follow Corbin toward the kitchen. "Terrible pun. Commandeering coffee maker."

Initiative. (1d20+5=11)

"Tis a poor physician who harms and calls it healing," a cold voice intoned from behind Daedalus, the armored man turning to face the rearing forelegs of a massive black stallion and the billowing black cloak of its rider. The Brass Knight might have been a well-established and well-loved champion but his skepticism regarding a bounty Erin had planned to claim some years earlier had made a poor impression on the young alchemist. "The Devil's lies are less to be feared than men who cannot listen and both less feared than I." With a smooth flick of his wrist, Midnight sent something small flying from one of his bandoliers toward Daedalus. Something like a dagger hilt with a smooth oval in place of a blade, it stuck the knight's wrist and stuck securely to his armor. His double-edged blade wobbled briefly, pushed away by the projectile's presence, but its wielder held firm. "Hn. Lodestone less effective on brass than iron," Midnight noted more quietly to Erin, making mental note for next time.

MT!Midnight Free Action: Arrange Gadgets: Move Object 10 (Extras: Duration [independent], Flaws: Limited 2 [Direction: Away, Material: Metal], Power Feats: Accurate 2) [12PP] (thrown lodestone)Move Action: Demoralize Daedalus; DC 30 with Skill Mastery. Standard Action: Throw Lodestone at Daedalus. (1d20+14=28), Disarm Check: Opposed Check vs. Daedalus' Strength. (1d20+10=15)

"Tis the loss of those not bedded, then," Sekhmet decreed primly, finding herself sufficiently into her cups for plainspoken frankness to outweigh conservative propriety by a wide margin. The goddess placed her empty bottle on the table and frowned, the expression gradually turning into a feline snarl of annoyance. "Ridiculous!" she exclaimed a bit more loudly that she'd intended, slamming a palm against the table with a clatter of glass bouncing against wood. "She Who Mauls does not sit mewling, she acts!" After a short pause, she eyed Teagan sideways and clarified, "I am She Who Mauls. Tis me. ...tis I?"

Jack of all Blades / Jill O'Cure >The Family You Choose (5) Midnight >Reunions and Waffles (1) Wail >Your Spirit Lives On (1) >Bright Lights and Good Cheer (3) Ghost Girl >Night Rings (2) Set / Sekhmet >Fearsome Five by Five (2) >Getting Your Shots In (5) GM / NPC >Molehills (1) >Appetites (2) Not enough to go around to make much difference, but should be able to funnel enough to Set to cross the 15 threshold. He can have the Ref PP as well.

Jack of all Blades (Scrapper) Ball and Chain - Heroes with a spouse (Avenger, Dark Star, Fast-Forward, Fusion, Fleur de Joie, Hologram, Jack of all Blades, Phantom, Willow) Flirt - Heroes who are known to be flirtatious (Asad, Edge, Jack of all Blades, Set, Thoughtspeed) Hellfire Club - Heroes with a history of wielding hellfire (Hellion, Jack of all Blades, Kit, Pitch) Loving Weapons - Jack and Willow Friendly Advice - Harrier and Jack or Gabriel Interception - Heroes who have been Interceptors (Colt, Dynamo, Geckoman, Grimalkin, Jack of all Blades, Jill O’Cure, Velocity, Willow) Stabpunch! - Heroes who wield non-physical blades (Blue Fox, Cobalt Templar, Dragonfly, Jack of all Blades, Thoughtspeed) Up a Hill - Jack and Jill You Have My Sword - Heroes who wield swords (Blodeuwedd, Gaian Knight, Jack of all Blades, Shadowblade, Stormbreaker) Jill O’Cure (Tactician) Glass Ceiling - Heroes who create force fields (Cobalt Templar, Dragonfly, Glow, Jill O’Cure, Stronghold, Supercape) Interception - Heroes who have been Interceptors (Colt, Dynamo, Geckoman, Grimalkin, Jack of all Blades, Jill O’Cure, Velocity, Willow) Ordering Take-Out - Dragonfly and Jill O'Cure Over the Rainbow - Heroes on the LGBT spectrum (Blue Fox, Cavalier, Changeling, Jill O’Cure, Set, Wail) Robo Replacement - Heroes replaced by the Curator (Beekeeper III, Blue Jay, Harrier, Jill O’Cure, Wander) Trust Me - Heroes with medical training (Graft, Jill O’Cure) Up a Hill - Jack and Jill Midnight II (Infiltrator, Tactician Alt.) Alpha and Omega - Heroes who stood against Omega (Blue Fox, Cobalt Templar, Edge, Midnight II, Wander) And Justice for All - Heroes who are members of the Liberty League (Ace Danger, Bombshell, Cannonade, Edge, Midnight II, Wander) Live Free or Die Young - Heroes who have been part of Young Freedom (Blue Fox, Breakdown, Citizen, Cobalt Templar, Crimson Tiger, Edge, Geckoman, Ghost Girl, Glow, Hellion, Midnight II, Papercut, Phalanx, Psyche, Wander, Wraith, Zephyr) Midnight Wandering - Midnight II and Wander Nice Wheels - Heroes with their own rides (Bloody Mess/The Hound, Catalyst, Crimson Tiger, Geckoman, Midnight II, Silhouette, Stormbreaker) Second Greatest Generation - Heroes with legacies/records that go back to World War II (Edge, Midnight II, Crusader, Blue Fox, Ace Danger, Bombshell, Comrade Frost) Silent Agreement - Blue Fox and Midnight II Wonderful Toys - Heroes with a gadget for every situation (Doktor Archeville, Geckoman, King of Suits, Midnight II) Wail (Bruiser, Blaster Alt.) 1993 - Heroes who fought against the 1993 Terminus Invasion (Fast-Forward, Hologram, Wail) Those Who Can - Heroes who are teachers (Dark Star, Gabriel, Gaian Knight, Shadowblade, Wail) Over the Rainbow - Heroes on the LGBT spectrum (Blue Fox, Cavalier, Changeling, Jill O’Cure, Set, Wail) Up to Eleven - Heroes with sonic powers (Gabriel, Wail) Ghost Girl (Infiltrator) Best Friends, Worst Nightmares - Ghost Girl and Wraith I See Dead People - Heroes with powers over death, or who are dead (Avenger, Comrade Frost, Dead Head, Ghost Girl, Nick Cimitiere, Revenant) Live Free or Die Young - Heroes who have been part of Young Freedom (Blue Fox, Breakdown, Citizen, Cobalt Templar, Crimson Tiger, Edge, Geckoman, Ghost Girl, Glow, Hellion, Midnight II, Papercut, Phalanx, Psyche, Wander, Wraith, Zephyr) Living After Midnight - Heroes who are members of the Midnighters (Atlas, Avenger, Dead Head, Equinox, Ghost Girl, Nick Cimitiere, Phantom) On Guard For Thee - Heroes from Canada (Catalyst, Ghost Girl) Stay Frosty - Heroes with control over ice/frost (Comrade Frost, Ghost Girl, Temperance) Set (Blaster) Back So Soon? - Heroes who've been away from Earth for quite some time (Cavalier, Changeling, Set, Solar Sentinel) Flirt - Heroes who are known to be flirtatious (Asad, Edge, Jack of all Blades, Set, Thoughtspeed) Friends on the Other Side - Heroes with relationships (positive or... otherwise) with deities (Comrade Frost, Crow, Dead Head, Sekhmet, Set) God Complex - Heroes who are gods, demigods or have been worshiped (Glamazon, Sekhmet, Set, Stormbreaker, Willow) Make it Rain - Heroes who control the weather (Boreas, Equinox, Set, Stormbreaker, Tempest) Over the Rainbow - Heroes on the LGBT spectrum (Blue Fox, Cavalier, Changeling, Jill O’Cure, Set, Wail) Red in the Ledger - Heroes who started their careers as villains (Fast-Forward, Hologram, Kit, Set, Tiamat) She Who Mauls, He Who LOLs - Set and Sekhmet Spellslinger - Heroes who use magic (Equinox, Kit, Nick Cimitiere, Phantom, Pitch, Rene de Saens, Set, Silver Magus) Sekhmet (Bruiser) Friends on the Other Side - Heroes with relationships (positive or... otherwise) with deities (Comrade Frost, Crow, Dead Head, Sekhmet, Set) God Complex - Heroes who are gods, demigods or have been worshiped (Glamazon, Sekhmet, Set, Stormbreaker, Willow) She Who Mauls, He Who LOLs - Set and Sekhmet Tooth and Claw - Heroes with animalistic transformations (Arcturus, Osprey, Scholar, Sekhmet, Tiamat)

Morrison has said he'll work Glamazon's run into his next IC post, so Errant is up, Absurdist! 27 - Guy Fawkes - Unconscious, Bound 27 - Errant - Bruised x1, 1HP 23 - Heka - Brused x5, Dazed, Staggered, Blinded, Demoralized 18 - Set - Bruised x1, 0HP 17 - Temperance - Bruised x1, 2HP 14 - Sekhmet - Bruised x2, -2 Defense, Fatigued 11 - Diehard - Unconscious 11 - Khania - Unconscious 10 - Blackfire - Unconscious, Entangled 4 - Glamazon - Bruised x1, 0HP

Heka started to sputter something in retort before the wave crashed over him, the impact audible like a falling ton of bricks even over the howl of the intensifying storm. The water smacked against the slight shimmer that showed where the sorcerer's force field was, leaving it looking thinner and more feeble while he floated now only a few feet off of the ground. That was close enough for Sekhmet in her lioness form to lunge at him, claws raking into mystic barriers and lithe, feline muscle twisting midair so that as she touched down on the far side she was ready to immediately spring forward again for a second attack. Instead of a sphere, the force field contracted around Heka, minimizing its surface area even as gouges formed in it like a solid object. The goddess snarled something inarticulate in annoyance as the villain refused to fall but between her matted fur and heavy breathing it was clear she was already pushing the limits of what her diminished being was capable.

Sekhmet Standard Action: Charge Heka; Power Attack 5. (1d20+4=16) Since Heka is blinded, that's a hit. Heka Toughness Save vs. DC 27. (1d20+7=23) Sekhmet Extra Effort: Surge Standard Action: Attack Heka; Power Attack 5. (1d20+2=12) Heka Toughness Save vs. DC 27. (1d20+6=20) 27 - Guy Fawkes - Unconscious, Bound 27 - Errant - Bruised x1, 1HP 23 - Heka - Brused x5, Dazed, Staggered, Blinded, Demoralized 18 - Set - Bruised x1, 0HP 17 - Temperance - Bruised x1, 2HP 14 - Sekhmet - Bruised x2, -2 Defense, Fatigued 11 - Diehard - Unconscious 11 - Khania - Unconscious 10 - Blackfire - Unconscious, Entangled 4 - Glamazon - Bruised x1, 0HP Glamazon is up, keeping in mind she's a good 250' or so from Heka right now.

"Good," Trevor grunted simply as he slung a bandolier holding glass vials stopped with wax over one shoulder followed by another fitted with small blades and tools so that the pair of them crossed over his chest. "Not the first time we've infiltrated the Court. ...or perhaps it is. Tt." Grimacing very faintly he produced a long, heavy black coat from the wardrobe and slid it on over the bandoliers. A polished black plague doctor's mask followed, lenses crafted from glass stained transparent red fitted above the curving beak, while a dusky silk scarf wrapped about the lower half of his face. A simple, wide-brimmed hat and dark leather riding gloves completed his preparations and he was soon leading the way down to the stables. A familiar if unusually flesh and blood woman with dark red hair and well defined cheekbones was there to greet them despite the early hour, fitting a feed bag onto one of at least a dozen horses of various breeds and colouring. "Miss Byrd. Saddle Night Charger, please." "Aye, sirrah!" the muscular stablehand replied with a toothy grin, dashing off and returning momentarily with a saddle under one arm and the reigns of a pure black steed a good head taller than any other in the stable in the opposite hand.

Fine with me! Feel free to post in-character with anything Frost wants to say in the meantime and hit me with either an attack roll and DC or a countering power check depending on how you want to do it.

"Our whats are being what?!" Kimber yelped, reflexively crossing her arms defensively across herself and looking around the cafe furtively. "Yeugh, not rad, shadowy ring-wearing puddle enthusiast. Some of us are trying to pretend to enjoy their drinks here. Rude." The poltergeist doubted she would have noticed anything amiss had Indira not pointed it out; she'd felt something unnatural and unsettling but that was pretty much par for the course for her in the first place. "Should we maybe get out of here, too? There's a lot of people around if this thing turns out to be a jerk."

"None remember, aye," Trevor muttered largely to himself, brow lowering slightly over his taciturn features as they left Mark to his courtly intrigues. "Warning came before you awoke," he noted, his language becoming more familiarly clipped if still archaic to Erin's ears. "Need not warn against mad ravings save they be truth. Hhn. Not myself, then. Disturbing." Walking over to a massive wardrobe standing in the far corner of the bedroom, the young man produced a dark silk shirt and dyed leather jerkin, utilitarian fare by the standards of his station. As he dressed, he paused, looking at the male and female outfits hanging side by side. "...he loves you? The me you recall?"

Oh yeah, that's definitely enough to smack down the next boulder-throw, especially one that's not directed specifically against him in the first place. For context, GK is definitely more powerful than any of these guys but keep in mind manipulating earth - potentially against other earth manipulators - is something Igneous do their entire lives.

Notice Check. (1d20+11=13)

Trevor followed Erin off of the bed and onto his feet, lowering the raised dagger as it became clear that the crisis that had woken her was not of the immediate violence variety. Blinking several times, he took a silent moment to rub one brow with the heel of his empty hand before setting the weapon down on his workbench and stepping over to the window. "Not... as such," he answered her question slowly and carefully, looking out at the grounds and then to the auburn haired woman's face, expression searching but calm. "'Freedom City' has the ring of a child's tale. Your instinct for the preternatural has always proven sound in the past, though, and my heart cannot doubt you." Offering Erin a faint smile, the young man slid tinctures and solutions aside to clear space at the table. "Thus speaks the romantic in me, though the scientist of the enlightenment would, bluntly put, feel more at ease having checked you for fever, milady."

Trevor was upright almost immediately, legs shifting smoothly to raise him into a crouch atop the bed while one hand slid a sizable dagger out from beneath the pillow and into a ready position between a thumb and forefinger, pommel upward to display the crucifix fashioned into the hilt to the room. "What peril, love?" he asked in a steady whisper, eyes narrowed as he scanned the bedchamber and carefully began moving to the edge of the bed toward the workbench. Eyes that were the unassuming brown they'd been when he and Erin had first met, though marred by distinctive dark blots across his lower eyelids, the reminder of some chemical burn that lent his features a menacing quality. His free hand found hers without looking and gave her fingers a brief, reassuring squeeze.

The group quickly covered the distance, spreading out some as the faster among them outpaced the slower. The massive archway turned out to be perhaps a dozen meters long before opening up into a cavern so large it was difficult for those with less subterranean experience to mentally interpret it as anything other than an open area. Down a steep incline, the city itself spread out before them, lit up from within in warm hues ranging from blistering red to soothing yellow while impossibly luminous mosses etched blue-green ribbons and pools of light across the rocky canopy. The multitude of light sources picked out tremendous structures of the same angular style as the archway itself, layered in size and shape as much as any surface metropolis. The attention of the heroes was more immediately seized by the ten or so locals hurling punches, weapons and boulders at each other just inside the connecting tunnel. For those seeing the Igneous for the first time, it became clear just how heavily Canadian Shield favoured her father's side. The smallest of the lot was easily eight feet tall and five or more feet wide at the shoulder. Every one was powerfully built with a posture that would have been considered hunching among humans, with prominent rocky scales jutting out across scalps, down backs and about joints. They ranged from light sandstone to blue-grey onyx and the clothing on both sides ranged from heavy aprons to ornate, gemstone ornamentation. "You can run back to Arenaceous, you skyborn moledogs!" a scowling Igenous woman with pewter scales across her high cheekbones roared in a deep, gravelly rumble as she swung a hefty hammer that looked better suited to forging than battle at another participant in the melee. The implement struck the cavern floor with the resounding collision of a car crash. Her would-be target slid back a step with the momentum of a landslide and swept his arms - earthy red with veins of coal black - in a broad arc. "So like one of Laccolinth's old fools to abandon reason for threats!" Evidently he had little issue responding to one attack with another as a pillar of stone the size of a lamppost launched itself from the nearby wall like a javelin, only to be reduced to rubble by a well placed parry with the female's hammer. None of the combatants seemed to yet notice the surface dwellers' arrival, nor the cracks forming and widening in the archway's walls as the calamitous fight continued.

Wail "Hmph, 'classic'," LaMarr grumbled at Richard's proposal for a Supercrime! special. The aging civics teacher wasn't one to begrudge anyone making a reasonably honest living from their metahuman gifts and on the occasions the sensationalist show actually managed to be educational it actually struck him as a fairly noble endevour but he wasn't sure how he felt about the idea of taking part. It might have just been the sea of youthful faces enjoying the party talking but those classic days felt a bit bittersweet just then. At Paige's toast he realized he wasn't the only one feeling that way; the theatrical couple just had a different way of showing it. He rumbled an agreement and set his jaw stubbornly against the tide of maudlin recollection. "Sixteen, though? That can't be right."

"Oh, you can call me Gina, dear," the elder Espadas woman told Liz with an airy wave of her hand before Min maneuvered her over to the side of the large room with a couch and armchair. "Heaven knows you kids make me feel old enough as it is." "I think it's being old that does that, mama," Ellie quipped lightly, a line which her mother didn't dignify with a response. "And I should hope so," she continued, turning back to Chris' girlfriend, noticeably more self-assured without Josephine watching her. "Some of it's probably even true." As she spoke, something at about waist height barreled into her leg and latched on. Half hidden behind Ellie and Mara, Yolanda looked up at Liz earnestly. "Hello." - - - - - Rolling her chair to rest in a conveniently empty spot between the furniture, Gina gave Min a wry look and reached over to take her granddaughter for a while. "I'd say you could call me Gina, too, Minerva, if I though it would make a difference." The remark was coloured with amusement, having gotten used to the dryad's mannerisms. Her mother-in-law supposed she was even beginning to find them endearing in their own way. "I suspect Eden is going to grow to be like herself and nobody much else," she predicted with a laugh while Eden looked blinking at Josephine as if trying to decide if she recognized her or not.