Raveled

Jessica blinked, her reverie suddenly broken. She glanced up at the young man standing next to her. She noticed his tanned complexion, strong features, and easygoing smile, and felt the corners of her mouth begin to lift. "It's fine," she said. She stood, carefully smoothing out the wrinkles in her dress. "Parties aren't really my kind of thing." Which was true enough, but not nearly the whole story. "I'm a lot more comfortable behind a workbench, or a computer, or in a lab." Jessica offered the young man her hand, smiling. "Jessica Parker."

So this is magic by way of mathematics? It's an interesting idea, but I don't know if it would work here. In the Freedom City universe, magic and science are two separete and unconnected forces/origins. Just FYI.

Cosmicstar's Sense Motive, vs DC 27. (1d20+21=22) ... Who was it was saying that IC loved Cosmicstar, again? Cosmicstar's Toughness save, vs DC 34. (1d20+11=22) Oh, right. Okay, Staggered + Daze refreshes.

In fact it just missed Cosmicstar.

Cosmicstar's Will save, vs DC 29 Drain. (1d20+10=30) Oooo, yeah. Cosmicstar's Will save, vs DC 34. (1d20+10=27) That' a miss by 7, so Bruisex7 + Daze.

Cosmicstar's Toughness save, vs DC 34. (1d20+13=30) Bruise x6.

Before the zombies could touch Arcturus with their rotting hands, the door burst open and Starlight floated in, power flaring around her. "To all these tragedies, I call a halt," she cried out. "And to all these victims, I give release!" With that word she held out her hands towards the undead horde, mystic energy flaring in her palms and shooting out to the dead-yet-moving minions. It punched through guts and chests, inflicting what would have been grievous wounds on a living creature, but these were no living beings. Thankfully, several of her blasts went low and toppled zombies on their faces and sides, clogging up the aisles and slowing the horde to a crawl. On the stage, the necromancer managed to regain his feet, his gaze hopping between the floating woman in golden armor and the angry black man in a wrestling outfit. He apparently decided to deal with the closer threat first and flung out a hand at Arcturus. "Halt, demon," he cried out in a suddenly shrill voice. "I bind thee and abjur thee! I call upon the black names from beyond the veil! Ashep yas manom, tarok tebid yos!" The air physically warped as the mystic forced the words out, and Arcturus could feel that they had a weight beyond mere sound; they were warping reality and twisting his body out of true!

Initiative 23 Starlight -- Uninjured -- HPx3 9 Zombie Horde -- Staggered + Dazed (Starlight) -- GM 8 Necromancer -- Uninjured -- GM 6 Arcturus -- Uninjured HPx2 Okay, Starlight's gonna burst in all heroic-like and blast the zombies. Arc seems to have the creepy pasty guy covered, anyway. Starlight's ranged attack roll, vs Horde's Def. DC 25 (1d20+10=25) Hits just fine. Zombie Horde's Toughness save, vs DC 25. (1d20+5=13) Ouch, that's... yeah. Staggered + Dazed. Zombies are Dazed, so they're not doing anything this round. Necromancer is going to use his Curse Words attack. Hits automatically, but Arc gets to make a DC 20 Reflex saving throw. If he makes that, no damage. If he flubs it, a DC 20 Fort save for the big guy.

Brian breathed easier, a smile twitching at the corner of his lips. "I'm working on the whole 'danger to society' thing, actually," he said wryly. "I was just making sure I wasn't going to drop through to the Terminus one day and drag the city with me." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, sitting up a little straighter in the chair. His fears had been put to rest by Miss Americana's authoritative answer, but that wasn't the only reason he was here. "I still want to have those tests done that you mentioned," he said. "I want to know why I don't need to sleep, or eat, or even breathe. And I want to know if these changes are done with me, or if it's going to continue to... some weird end, I don't even know."

It is up and ready.

The OOC for this thread. Freedom City's wealthy and charitable are all gathered together for a nice dinner to help those less fortunate! Surely some brutish supervillains won't ruin the fun.

October 1st, 2011 8:21 PM Starlight Room, Tremont Hotel Freedom City The Gorgon had been diverted, by the amazing sacrifice and hard work of so many. Earth had not been untouched, though; a metallic rain of nanites, a crazed villain's attack on the West End, and a thousand other disasters still plagued the planet in the wake of the planet-killer's defeat. It could have been so much worse and the history books would record it as a win, but the dead and dispossessed would have a different opinion. So would many of the wealth and charitable of Freedom City. In the days following the disaster, the idea of a charity dinner had sprung up almost organically among the penthouse and mansion set. Now they were gathered in the Starlight room, high atop the Fremont Hotel. The cost of dishes and drinks had been doubled across the board and tip jars were stuffed with twenty dollar bills; the set-up was a subtle reminder that they were double blessed. Not only had the Earth survived, but Freedom City itself was miraculously intact. Jessica Parker was sitting apart from the crowd, in a lounge area with a striking view of the city. She was dressed in a full-length silk evening dress, so white it almost seemed to glow against the dark city. Silver fleshed at her throat and wrist, and there were pearls in her ears, but she kept rubbing at once finger. She had spent some time on the dance floor but most of the people there were way too old for her, as in 'of an age to drink legally.' Besides, part of her was still trying to process how she felt about Blake; the threat of the Gorgon had kept her from really coming to any personal resolution over that. She was angry, of course, that he had lied to her for so long about something so important; sad that something that had meant so much to her was now done; and a little confused about how the whole mess was affecting her.

Initiatives for everybody! Arcturus is facing off against AA's Necromancer, FYI. Starlight's Ini. (1d20+7=23) Necromancer's Ini. (1d20+7=8) Zombie horde's Ini. (1d20=9) They go before the guy on stage does. :facepalm:

GM Arcuturs appeared next to the guitarist, strong hands easily ripping the instrument away from the 'budding' musician. Up-close he could see that the young man's affected grunge aesthetic was enhanced by make-up, specifically dark eyeshadow and in the hollow of his cheeks. The effect was probably designed to make his face look hollow and shrunken; in practice, especially up close, it looked more like a Halloween costume. The zombie master tumbled off his stool, landing on his ass and scrambling away from the large black man. "You... You can't be here!" he shrieked. He cast a hand out at the zombie horde, sickly-looking blue fog curling around his fingers. "Kill him," he commanded. "Rip the flesh from his bones. Eat him alive!" As one, the horde rose and began shuffling towards the stage and Arcuturus. Beyond that they didn't make a noise, moving in an eerie, unnatural silence.

Glowstar walked around the figure again, rubbing at his face with one hand. When he spoke his words wre slow, eve hesitant. "It's very. Um." He coughed. "Loud. Does that sound right?" Hugo blinked, then folded his arms across his chest. "It's supposed to be loud," he insisted. "You're a superhero, right? You're supposed to make an entrance!" "I'd look like a bumblebee," the hero protested. "The villains will laugh me off the scene!" Hugo sniffed sharply, but turned back tot he computer. "The customer is always right. I've got a couple more ideas, don't worry!"

Ironclad listened to the woman and blinked once, twice, three times. In that space she had inputted the key phrases into several choice search engines and crawled through page after page of possibilities. In a moment she had a lead and in another she had a plan. "Listen," she said, leaning in close to the woman, "try to remember some names, if you can. I have to go talk to a... colleague." Ironclad stepped away from the bar and hovered in the air, hunting for a familiar face. She saw two close together and zipped over, the downwash of her jets clearing the press around Cannonade and Geckoman. "Gentlemen," she said, dropping to the dance floor with a solid thud. "I think I have a lead. A new therapy center north of the river, specializing in young people. Their rhetoric sounds a lot like what our friend upstairs was going on about. I think it'd be worth checking out."

Alpha 1's Toughness save, vs DC 24. (1d20+25=27) Saves.

She can hit the Notice check with SM and the Knowledge check by Taking 10 + Mental Quickness. Heck, Taking 20 + Mental Quickness.

Power Attack reduces Attack in exchange for more Damage, Bree. Right now if Flora used it she'd be attacking with +10 Att, but her DC would be 27. Do you follow?

"From the north," she said. "I grew up in a rural village. On a farm, actually." That was a carefully constructed lie. There had been a young girl named Elizabeth born in a small town in the north of Spain; the poor girl had died as an infant, and the Raven had merely co-opted the name and birthplace when creating a fake ID for the alien heroine. As they walked down the path towards the press of building, Liz considered how to explain the next part of her false history. "After I obtained my powers I came to the attention of, well, the one who held this office before me." Langston Albright's secret was not hers to reveal. "In fact, he assured me that I was the only active hero with such powers alive. Which is why your display surprised me so much."

Clad'll take out just the 10 this round. She can pick up the rest next round.

Ironclad hesitated before throwing herself into the fray. The lightning bolts from those big 'bots had hurt. Besides, if there was something technical that needed to be done (besides pulling out wires and burning through cables, anyway) it would probably fall to her to do it so she should try to remain conscious. With that in mind she flew off and diverted wide around the bigger robots, landing in the middle of a crowd of the lesser constructions. "Morning, gents," she said cheerily. "I've been wanting to try this for months." Without further ado she charged up her wrist blasters and fired off a tight-focus cutting beam. Holding her arms out to either side, she twisted at the waist, sweeping the high-powered beam through the crowd of minions. It didn't have the range of her usual blasts, but it should serve well for carving up a bunch of clockwork no-goodnicks.

Ironclad's going to stunt an AoE attack against the Minions. Strike 10 (Extra: Area/Burst [Targeted]) Since they're Minions, she'll just Take 10 on that attack for a flat 20. DC 25 if it hits.

I don't think there is anything left to accomplish. Go back to Earth, contact the proper organizations, and get the EMP-bomb set up.

Glowstar swore as Megastar burst his bonds, declared his undying allegiance to the Gorgon, incapacitated Myrmidon with a single blow. It could've been worse, of course, he could've gotten Changeling too, but it didn't put the Irregulars in a good place. Glowstar zipped up over top of Megastar, charging up an overpowered bolt of energy and loosing it was a mighty crash! It hit the possessed hero, but aside from a quick recoil Megastar didn't even react. "Dammit," Glowstar yelled out. "I can't even dent this guy!" Megastar took a long, slow look at the heroes arrayed around him and against him. "Foolish humans," he boomed. "You dare defy the will of the Gorgon, of the Ultimate Preserver? Then you shall DIE!" The self-proclaimed Herald flung out his arms and a massive wave of blue-white light erupted out of him, smashing the walls of the zen garden and tumbling Glowstar like a leaf in a stream. The hero managed to remain in the air, but just barely.