Raveled

Glowstar Blasted by AA :arrow: One lonely point into Impervious Toughness. He's just about bulletproof, now!

Ironclad :arrow: Two points into Con score, bringing it up to 12. :arrow: One point into Will save. Monitored by AA

Ironclad + Vignette Killer Frequency Seal of Sedna Cup of Gigawatts Jade Arenas of Heaven: Shock the Monkey Glowstar Street Sharks Shopping Spree Playing With Toys Starlight The Sins We All Share Starlights Were Meant to Fly Yanks in Tanks GM Shark Week: Ghost Sharks Playing with Toys

Liz took the bottle of water and looked around for somewhere to sit, but the room was almost too small for two women. She settled for leaning against the wall and playing with the water bottle, not opening it just yet. "It's been quiet, all told," she admitted. "School's been fairly boring, but Mr. Albright still thinks I need to go." She made a face at the idea of college. "Mr. Albright still thinks I need to get a degree, but I don't think it'll help much." She gave her friend a good look and smiled slightly. "So how are you handling being 'Annice' all of the time? Is your label going to launch you as a new artist, or what?"

GM, do we know who fake!Penitent's victims were?

Starlight didn't comment on Synth's bodymorphing technique or on her choice of clothes; she just gave the other hero a nod and turned back to Nikki. "Now then. How can we make contact with the alien ship? I do not think it would be a good idea to simply teleport onto their bridge, if they are looking to kill me." She turned to address Synth next. "Do you think you can get on board the ship anyhow?"

For the record, we're resetting Conditions and HP for this thread. Initiative 23 Glow -- Uninjured -- HPx3 22/+8 Crow -- Uninjured -- HPx3 22/+7 Lady Mamba -- Uninjured -- GM 22/+2 El Heraldo -- Uninjured -- HPx5 12 Cultist 1 -- Uninjured -- Minion 12 Cultist 2 -- Uninjured -- Minion 12 Cultist 3 -- Uninjured -- Minion 12 Cultist 4 -- Uninjured -- Minion 12 Cultist 5 -- Uninjured -- Minion 12 Cultist 6 -- Uninjured -- Minion 12 Cultist 7 -- Uninjured -- Minion 12 Cultist 8 -- Uninjured -- Minion 12 Cultist 9 -- Uninjured -- Minion 12 Cultist 10 -- Uninjured -- Minion 10 Dhalia -- Uninjured -- GM 5 Cottonmouth -- Uninjured -- GM Cottonmouth will be Interposing for Lady Mamba. Glow, you're up first.

While the heroes stood around and debated what to do about the warehouse, the cultist who ran inside was busy. He fell to the feet of a withered old woman with skin the color of mahogany, wearing a long, purple dress. She was holding a long, curved dagger in one hand and reading from a leather-bound book, which she closed carefully when the man began to blubber in terror. "Miss... mistress! Heroes, there's heroes outside! One took my gun and completely destroyed it! I... we have to run!" "Run?" The woman's voice was as dry as her skin. "We do not run. The Mayombe shall gain power from the deaths of these interlopers! My children, attend me!" Two figures appeared from the darkness of the warehouse. One was an a much younger, more attractive version of the old crone, her ebony skin smooth and her dress hugging her curves seductively. "What is it, Mother? Why have you dragged me away from my studies?" The other figure was only barely humanoid; in fact he looked closer to a huge serpent, albeit one with a human face and two arms. He hissed at the younger woman, showing his forked tongue. "Have more ressspect for your mother, Dahlia!" Dahlia stuck her tongue out at the snake-man in a fit of petulance. "Oh, quiet yourself, Cottonmouth. Your brain may have rotted listening to Mother ramble on, but some of us have a life outside this stinking warehouse." "A life of listening to our followers prattle on, no doubt, dear Daughter." Lady Mamba walked over to Cottonmouth and took his arm in one hand. "Nevertheless, dear children, still your arguments. Our house has been discovered by meddling heroes, and it is time to defend it! Cottonmouth, you shall stay with me. Dahlia, since you love our dear followers so much, why don't you lead them in the fight? Remember, both of you -- if we fail, our patrons shall surely have a grim fate in store for us." The chill silence of the night was shattered by a sharp crack like a lightning bolt hitting nearby, and suddenly at the end of the pier was a wizened old woman and a hulking man-snake abomination! The woman raised her hands above her head in a gesture unmistakably arcane. "Begone, intruding heroes!" The doors to the warehouse banged open and a flood of robed figures brandishing an eclectic mix of pistols and long knives poured out, urged on by a darkly beautiful woman in a long, purple dress. "Begone, foul vigilantes! Or the Mayombe shall drink your heartsblood!"

Okay, time for Initiative! Lady Mamba, Dahlia, and Cottonmouth & Co. vs the heroes. Everyone gets a HP because technically, Lady Mamba is stunting this little spell. Lady Mamba and Dahlia are ref-approved rebuilds; Cottonmouth is using AA's Serpent Hero build; and the 10 Cultists are minions from the core book. Lady Mamba's Ini. (1d20+7=22) Cottonmouth's Ini. (1d20+2=5) Dhalia's Ini. (1d20+5=10) Cultists' Ini. (1d20+1=12)

Won't matter much. After this round it'll all be over, right? ;)

Toughness save, vs DC 23. (1d20+10=15) Let's reroll that! Toughness save, vs DC 23. Reroll. (1d20+10=22) Okay, a Bruise isn't much. Toughness save, vs DC 18. Reroll. (1d20+9=19)

Starlight took a moment to assume her gold-armored heroic form and took to the air, hovering an inch or so above the ground and moving towards where Finnegan was cowering. "Beware, mortal man," she exclaimed loudly. "You have called down the wrath of powers far beyond yourself!" She put out a hand a blast of light issued forth to smash at his cover. "Surrender now, or face your doom!"

Starlight ignored the device for the moment. "Surrender is not the end of a fight," she cautioned Synth. "In the right circumstances, it can be merely the beginning. Do you think you could imitate the form of those aliens? Many times cultures with superior technology get overconfident, and a simple approach will catch them off-guard. If I make an appearance on their bridge, they will probably not notice if you infiltrate some area to the rear of the ship. And if you can somehow shut down the perception filter..."

Starlight is going to attack the cover and hopefully blow it away. Starlight's ranged attack check, vs cover's Def. DC 25 Tou. (1d20+10=13) Ugh.

Starlight narrowed her eyes at the alien's claim. She didn't always respect local authorities, it was true, but she didn't think that she had done anything so bad that a population would have reason to send a starship after her across all of the galaxy. And then there was the question of how they had found her in the first place... "Is this communication device two-way," she asked, walking over to the ansible. "Is there any way to respond to them?"

Liz stopped at the threshold and almost called back the gopher to tell him that she had been led to the wrong room, but then she remembered Agnes' super-powered form. She stepped into the room slowly, but was quickly pulled into a bearhug and reciprocated in kind. She smiled at Agnes' compliment and glanced down at herself. She'd chosen a fairly humble form for herself on this world, but that was intentional; the last thing she wanted to do was draw too much attention to her civilian life. "Thank you," she said nevertheless, responding to the compliment for an entirely different reason. "I'm here for you today, though. But I didn't expect -- ahem." She looked around conspiratorially and then leaned in to whisper. "I didn't expect to see you singing as Young Britannia!"

Starlight glanced at the monitor and did a double-take, her golden eyes opening wide at the spaceship descending on the city. It looked almost close enough to brush the tops of some of the buildings -- why weren't anyone reacting to it!? Then Nikki explained about the perception filter and things started making sense. "It's not Grue," Starlight said, peering at the ship closely, "and it doesn't look to be Lor, either. It's useless to try to classify the Star Khan's ships, because he uses whatever he comes across. Other than that... There are a thousand, thousand empires across the stars." She glanced at the CEO. "As for what to do with it, I would assume the first step would be to call the Freedom League."

Can Starlight recognize the make of the ship? Is it Lor, Grue, whatever?

... Huhn. I'm assuming everything under the Array header is in fact part of the Array? That is, the Teleport is the base power and everything else are Alternate Powers?

Jessica put her head down and thought for a moment. Her mother had never approved of her superheroing; Jessica wasn't sure why, but her mother always pretended that it was more important that the young woman focus on preparing to run Dawes Tech than run around saving people. That made ordering parts through Dawes Tech a risk, but Jessica never believed that Heather Dawes-Parker would let a personal vendetta get in the way of making money. Of course Jessica could have ordered through another supplier or built things piece-meal at the Lab, but this was so much more convenient and she could be sure of high quality... The girl straightened abruptly and addressed the secretary. "Okay. I am going up to have... words with my mother. Thank you for your help." She turned and almost ran into the young man standing behind her with the gray hair. She excused herself and routed around him, heading for the elevators.

Starlight picked up the badge and, after a moment's hesitation, stuck it to her hip; the metal clip melted into her flesh and the plastic card was held in place there, tapping freely against her armor. She followed quietly behind Ms. Hawthorne. The idea of the 13th floor being a bad omen passed right over her head, as focused as she was on the current alien threat. "Exactly what are we facing," she asked the CEO. "None of the usual alarms have gone off, so I'm assuming that whatever it is, it's rather far away." She glanced to the side as Synth stepped out of nowhere and joined them. She nodded to the shapeshifting heroine but didn't break stride.

Ironclad reluctantly powered down her weapons, considering the weird metal-man's words. A species of living, molten iron? Weird, but surely not the oddest thing she'd ever seen. Then she spied the portal to the Terminus, leaking its fulminous red and black, and her jaw dropped. Instantly her augmented mind activated the suit's sensors. The suit drank in details while she stared and her mental gears whirled. Part of her gibbered in horror at the dangers the open portal presented but the larger part of her was consumed with the possibilities it presented. Why, just to put a probe into the Terminus, take exact readings, learn the vibrational frequency...! "" She took advantage of the secure communication line they shared, beaming her thoughts to him over radio waves. ""

Going to be invoking Ironclad's Obsession Complication to stare at the pretty portal and drool over it a bit. Throwing the Sense Motive roll in favor of a HP.

Liz Moya was in the library of Freedom City University, gathering research materials for a paper on different materials to make surgical tools with, when she felt her cell phone vibrating in her pocket. She had silenced it when coming into the library, and fished it out now -- only to find the device dead, and her pocket still dancing. The pocket on the inside of her jacket, where she had stashed the phone from Roseus. Taking a deep breath she pulled that one out and powered the screen on. There was a short text message, the summary of which was: alien invasion. A few minutes later Starlight appeared in front of Roseus Corporation's front door; floating down to the ground she breezed through and marched up to the front desk. "You have an alien artifact on site," she told the receptionist bluntly. "Take me to it."

Grue! :argh: