Raveled

Starlight should be down to 2 HP since she used a Surge last round. THIS round she'll try and Power Attack the thing. Starlight's ranged attack check w/ +2 Power Attack and +2 All-Out Attack, vs Drone's Def. DC 27 Tou (1d20+10=28) Something to remember but probably not an issue this round. Unless it had Uncanny Dodge, the Drone is flat-footed since it's blind.

Glowstar took his usual position, leaning against the wall as Myrmidon ran through the program. He exchanged a glance with Crow as the clone-turned-hero ran down the whole situation, but truthfully he'd decided on a course of action halfway through the run-down. "Right," he said, standing and dusting his hands off. "I guess I'll be first, huhn? Set the bar for property damage?" The interior of the bank was dark, but the flashing lights of the police blockade outside threw blue, red, and white bars across the desks and carpet of the bank lobby. Three figures in dark sweaters, slacks, and balaclavas, each toting a Kalashnikov, paced the lobby, while a fourth member knelt by the vault door and manipulated the door handle, carefully seeking the correct combination. Bound and gagged hostages were piled in one corner, and one of the robbers had his or her gun pointed at them at all times. The police hadn't tried to communicate for close to an hour, and the safe-cracker was nearing the end of his task. In a few minutes it would be time to load up the cash and make their escape; as smooth a job as could be expected, frankly. A few late-night hostages, a few bullets exchanged with the local PD -- it could have gone a lot worse! Without warning, there was a horrible cracking and smashing noise from above and a mess of plaster and tiles fell from the ceiling, making a hole just big enough for Glowstar to fall through! The hero made a three-point landing between the hostages and the bank robbers, and a ruby-red force field sprang up between the two groups. "Ha ha! Pop quiz, hotshots! What happens when you try to rob a bank in Freedom City?" The criminals opened up with their assault rifles, but field held and the bullets bounced off, harmlessly. "Wrong answer, buck-o! The correct one is, you get knocked down and dragged to jail!" Glowstar drew back his arms and the force field was sucked in towards his hands, a fog of red and black focusing in his palms. He swept his arms around and released the power, sending an arc of force through the lobby at chest height. The three gunners were all caught and went down like bowling pins. Glowstar straightened and was about to throw open the doors to the police, when the safe cracker straightened up from behind the tellers' counter. "Oh, missed one, did I? Well, hold your horses, sir, I think I can schedule a make-up exam!" The grin fell from his face when the man hefted a loaded RPG. "Well, that's just blatant cheating, sir." The cracker grinned nastily under his hood and pulled the trigger; Glowstar snapped his fingers and another wall of force snapped into existence a few feet in front of the rocket. It impacted and almost disintegrated as the motor forced it against the immovable wall before the warhead had armed. The backspalsh lifted the cracker off his feet and slammed him against the wall, where he slumped bonelessly. The hero hopped over and checked for a pulse; reassured that the criminal wasn't dead, he stood up and shook his head, tutting. "Physics 101 man, and you just got an F." The simulations in the Doom Room were thorough and it was some minutes before Glowstar finished with the police and reporters that had coalesced around the hold-up. Before too long he swaggered back into the observation room, a grin on his face. "Well, how'd I do? C+ on the entry, A- on the witty banter?"

Starlight tossed out another blast of bright energy at the creature, this one curving in the air and striking it directly in the eyes! "You shall not triumph here, puppet," she hissed as she floated through the air towards Synth, "and you master shall taste only bitter ashes! Be blind, and know the darkness of your downfall!" The heroine's path took her near the shapeshifting Synth and she laid a hand on the other hero's shoulder. "Be at rest," she said, her voice softer. "Feel the power of the Light heal you, fellow warrior." White energy bubbled up from Starlight and ran down her hand onto Synth's body, pooling around her wounds. The energy worked its way into her malleable body, soothing away the pain and reknitting abused tissue.

Starlight will use Visual Dazzle on the drone. Starlight's ranged attack roll w/ +2 All-Out Attack, vs Drone's Def. DC 20 Ref, DC 20 Fort. (1d20+12=28) Starlight's Def is down by 2 points until her next turn. Then she'll Surge and use Healing on Synth. It's got the Total extra, so she may just recover from both Bruises at once.

Starlight's attack had a DC of 25. If the drone's save was 23, shouldn't it be Bruised?

Ironclad Scrier's Masquerade Seal of Sedna Public Anomie Worth Its Weight News Shock the Monkey The Closed Circle! Locked In (Vignette) Glowstar Meet the Irregulars The Stars Say That Just Another Fishing Trip? Right Starlight Double Pink Earth Victoriana: Yanks in Tanks Light Lunch GM Shark Week: Flying Sharks?

Crow and Saiph were the only ones to make the DC. As they walk through the megalodon mouth and under the rib cage, they hear the sound of wires flexing. They look up to see the guy-wires holding the skeleton to the ceiling swaying slightly.

Ironclad's Toughness save, vs DC 23. (1d20+15=32) Toughness shifting? Yes, it works.

For the record, Jessica bought Mara a slow cooker. A practical present!

What you're looking at this a megalodon skeleton, complete with a wide open jaw. The entire skeleton is recreated, hanging from the ceiling by guy-wires. If I could get a Notice check from everyone.

GM It took some minutes to get all the students off the bus. As they milled around in front and Jesse kept order, Leeroy had a few words with the bus driver. As the vehicle pulled away in search of a parking space, he clapped his hands together to get everyone's attention. "Alright, folks," he called out. "Remember to keep your eyes open and be on your best behavior. You're representing Claremont Academy while we're here." The group proceeded into the Aquarium where they met with a small woman with dark hair and a dark complexion. "Welcome to the Freedom Aquarium, folks! If you'll follow me, we can start the tour." The lady led them through the complex, past manta rays and frolicking dolphins. In no time at all they were walking straight towards a massive, toothy maw. "This is a reconstruction of the jaw of a Megalodon shark," the tour guide said, walking backward while she spoke. "Opened fully like this, it's almost five feet between the top and bottom rows of teeth. Some experts believe that the total size of the beast could have reached near a hundred feet. If you'll just step through the mouth -- watch your head! -- we can look at some sharks that are still alive today!"

GM "Some of us have to work for a living," Tackle replied snippily. "We can't coast on old successes, Wail, or live off Mommy and Daddy's money, Ironclad." She tossed a glare over her shoulders. "What? You think superheroes are the only ones that keep up to date on the cape and cowl crowd?" She knelt down and checked Block over, her hands moving professionally and with the ease of long practice. She was apparently convinced that he wasn't hurt too badly, because she lifted him out of the rubble of the wooden crates and laid him on the concrete floor. She took over her suit coat and made a pillow for his head, then sat next to him and watched the pair of heroes. "Well? What happens now? You call the police and report us for... loitering? Trespassing?"

Starlight came to a halt at the door to the conference room, taking the scene in; drone in whirling dervish mode, Synth fighting back, and some mewling suit in the corner that she dismissed almost at once. She stepped in and coalesced her power in one hand, aiming it at the leaping drone. "Your master is undone, flesh-puppet," she informed it. "Your plans have been stopped and before the day is done, your operation will be no more. So lay and be still!"

Starlight will blast the drone. Starlight's ranged attack check, vs Drone's Def. DC 25 Tou (1d20+10=23) Well, that should hit at least.

I found my avatar on a tattoo parlor's website. It was one of the standard designs you could get, I suppose. It was white on a black background, so I grabbed it, inverted the colors, shrank it, and voila.

The OOC for this thread. Glow, Crow, Heraldo, and Saiph go to check out the Freedom City Aquarium. Nothing can go wrong here... right?

Saturday, March 4th, 2012 2:42 PM Freedom Aquarium The parking lot of the Freedom Aquarium was rather crowded for so early in the year, but the blue and chrome bus with FCTA printed on the side pulled up to the curb in front of the main entrance, and two dozen young men and women of every description piled out. Moving among them, keeping order, where two older gentlemen. Leeroy Hawke was taller than most of the other people on the bus, and dressed in slacks and a turtleneck he still had an air of quiet power around him. He seemed to have an eye everywhere, reaching out to stop a bully from flicking spitballs at an underclassman one moment and the next, catching a young woman as she was knocked off her feet by the press. "Watch yourself, Kirsten," he said to the girl as he set her back on her feet. "Everyone, just take it slow! We'll have time to see all the exhibits, I promise." Jesse Perry was almost the exact opposite of his coworker. Short, with a paunch, and wearing a tweed-with-leather-patches outfit straight out of Ben Stein's closet, he has been seated near the back of the bus with Leeroy but was somehow out of the bus and on the sidewalk before anyone else. He kept both eyes on the students as they filed out of the bus, making sure no one wandered too far off. "Everyone, just keep together. We need to make sure everyone gets off the bus, first." He spotted a junior in a pea coat and jeans. "Morgan Crowe! Make sure the underclassmen don't wander off!"

Dragonfly's wire cutters snaked in among the tubes and connections, snipping the wires leading to the fist-sized, glowing green object. Ironclad held her breath for a long minute, but soon the tuning fork visibly slowed and the snow storm began... well, not settling exactly. Weather wasn't something you could turn on and off with a switch; the storm had quite a lot of stored energy left to expend. But walls forming the eye of the storm broke down and while the snow was falling more evenly, it was also falling more gently. The city was now visible from where the heroes stood on the shores of Lake MacKenzie, and the wind slowed to almost nothing. They could even see the temperature rising on their infrared vision; in a few hours it would be raining, not snowing anymore. Ironclad punched the sky, giving Dragonfly's shoulder a shake. "Yeah, saved the day! Okay, all this water is going to have to get pumped back up to the lake and this guy is going to answer some questions in Blackstone -- but hey! Weird metal bubble to examine at the Lab! And a white Christmas, despite the meteorologists. I think this was a pretty good day, all things considered." She patted her friend's shoulder. "Merry Christmas, Dragonfly."

Perform (Stringed Instruments) crosses over to know how a tuning fork works? Well Ironclad doesn't have any better chance to succeed, so I'll say Dragonfly makes it; it's a pretty hasty-looking, rushed job, so most of the guts are exposed and it's easy to see what connects to where. Tracing back some of the wires, Dragonfly finds a green glowing, pulsing unit about the size of her fist. It looks to be the power source for the whole machine.

Dragonfly can make a Disable Device or Search check if she wishes.

Ironclad scanned their surroundings, her sensors working quickly through the different wavelengths until she noticed a spot of decidedly colder water deep in what remained of Lake MacKenzie. "Wait a moment," she said to Dragonfly and waded into the depths of the water. Her thrusters were still misfiring, but the lake wasn't nearly deep enough normally to impede her suit. She found an object at the bottom of the lake bed and, using her servo strength to drag it out to the shore. The object was a sphere, almost three metres across, with a porthole in one side. At least, it seemed like it was supposed to be spherical; someone, likely the Glacier King, had ripped open a panel and messed with the guts of the machine, leaving a number of wires exposed to the air and forcing the metal into a shape not unlike a tuning fork. The fork was vibrating rapidly, and it air around it was noticeably colder. Ironclad made a face behind her mask. "Great. What do you want to bet that if we just rip it apart, it'll level the city or something?"

Starlight appeared in the hallway, blinking at the decidedly odd appearance of the CEO. Still, it's not like the heroine could cast stones, so once she had the details fixed she nodded curtly. "It shall be done," she said. "But once these minions are put down, we will be having a very long talk about certain cephalopod individuals." With that vague threat delivered, she turned curtly and strode off towards the meeting room.

Dragonfly's fractal blasts snaked past the Glacier King's defenses and tore away at his chest, shredding the primitive-looking clothes and revealing a broad, but thin chest. The villain raised his fists to the sky and bellowed again. "When I take my rightful place ruling this world, there will be no place for you to hide you devil, you terror! My legions will hound you from one horizon to the next, and when you are found I will --ACK!" He pitched forward, back shredded and smoking, and Dragonfly saw her friend leaning forward into the wind, one wrist blaster extended towards the villain. "Never take your eyes off an enemy, 'King.' It's called situational awareness, a very handy skill." Ironclad stalked forward, her movements slow and grinding; apparently the ice crystals were still interfering with the servos. "Of course, it's easier when you have a high-powered sensor suite built into your state-of-the-art battlesuit, but a god should really have no excuse for being caught by surprise." Ironclad stood over the fallen villain for a moment, then fired a capsule of sticky, gooey glue at him point-blank. It webbed him to the ground, hardening quickly in the cold wind. With that taken care of, she looked up and around at the howling walls of snow that still stood on every side. "Dragonfly," she said after a moment, "the storm's not going away. Er... he was making the storm, right?"

Cold Front's Toughness save, vs DC 26. (1d20+8=22) Failed by 4, Bruise x3. Ironclad is still Entangled. The Snare's Toughness save is not quite low enough for her to bust it in a single round, so punching it again! Snare's Toughness save, vs DC 30. (1d20+11=19) Miss by 11, so... Disabled? Ah, screw it. Surge to attack the Glacier King again, 'cause this is starting to drag out and there's still more to do! Ironclad's ranged attack roll w/ +5 All-Out Attack, vs Glacier King's Def. DC 25 Toughness (1d20+13=29) Hits. Glacier King's Toughness save, vs DC 25. (1d20+7=9) And that's the sort of save Dragonfly should've pulled out of him. Oh well, he's down for the count.

I'm gonna let Hawk or J&J come on first and describe what they found.