Raveled

Brian Harris walked across the Claremont campus, hands deep in his pockets, shoulders hunched. He didn't feel the cold of the night air, but the young man had a lot running through his mind. The broadcast revealing the Gorgon to the world had happened more than a month ago, but it seemed like he couldn't turn on a news program or read a paper without another expert talking about how the Gorgon was so beyond anything ever faced, or another simulation on where would be safe from the thing. Brian was fairly certain that, pound for pound, he could throw out more power than almost anyone on campus, but he felt so helpless right now. He glanced up as his steps took him closer to the greenhouse, a smile tugging on his lips. This was a bright spot, at least. Gwen had asked to meet him in private. It was weird, but ever since their pre-dawn talk in the greenhouse, he felt that it was their special space. He stepped through the door and closed it behind him. He smiled at Gwen, glancing down from time to time to make sure that he wasn't stepping on any plants as he walked over to her. He took a seat next to the pond, facing her. "Hey there, Gwen. You, uh, wanted to talk?"

"Not by half," Brian said, watching Gwen hand out the tickets. He made sure to get his last and took her hand again, walking close to the gate as the performance began, but he was unprepared to be singled out by the 'king.' He glanced around and shrugged, making a passable bow as he was called on. Once the gates were opened and the students and other folks began filing in, he spoke to Gwen. "So, m'lady. Can this poor, humble knight ask for a sign of your favor before the match?" He was distracted for a moment as one of the performers handed him a piece of paper; he glanced at it, shrugged, and stuffed it in a pocket. He didn't expect that the entertainers would let their guests get seriously hurt, or even humiliated in front of an audience.

Brian gave the new arrival a smile, shaking the other boy's hand. "Hey, Brian Harris. Glad to meet you." Aside from that, he let Morgan and Vicky handle the socializing. He was looking forward to seeing Gwen too much. When the bus arrived, he was on his feet before it was stopped. He was the first one off and the first one to see Gwen in her costume. A wide, silly grin grew over his face and he stepped forward, grabbing her hand and squeezing. "You are looking absolutely fantastic, Gwen," he said. "Just so you know, I would so fight a dragon for you."

Glowstar continued circling the massive hybrid monster, pelting it with orbs of glowing energy. Where they struck, they left scorch marks that would've looked nasty enough on a man-sized foe, but the bulk of Sharktopus kept them from amounting to much more than an irritant. As if to prove the point, the huge beast lazily swiped a tentacle through the air, knocking Glowstar for a spin; when he stabilized, he realized that the monster had turned its head and was pulling itself towards the stage, where the other Claremont heroes were gathered!

Initiative Order 25 -- Sharktopus -- Bruisex4 -- GM 22 -- Wisp -- Uninjured -- HPx2 15 -- Flora -- Uninjured -- HPx5 14 -- Crow -- Uninjured -- HPx1 12 -- Glowstar -- Bruise -- HPx2 Glowstar is going to blast Sharky again. That hits at 31, easy passing Sharky's Def and getting the max Autofire bonus to Dam. Makes it a DC 31 Toughness check. +13 makes that a straight 30, so it's at least Bruised. Once again. Sharky's going to take a swipe at Glow and then pull itself towards the stage. That's 31, hits him easily. DC 25 Toughness save. That's a 27, so a Bruise. I'll take that.

The Claremont bus rumbled along the road, swaying from side to side as it hit ruts in the road. Brian Harris had been half-expecting a hover-bus or at least a robot driver, but once again the school's commitment to maintaining the fiction of normality won out, and the dozen or so students who had signed up for the Renaissance Faire were bouncing around the back of a city bus. The young man stood and stumbled to the front of the bus, grabbing the tails of his costume and thudding into a seat across from Morgan and Vicky. He grinned at his friends, tugging at his 'costume,' such as it was. He wasn't as jazzed to be spending the day pretending to be a knight as his friends were; he probably wouldn't have signed up at all if it hadn't been Gwen coordinating everything. As it was, he'd rented a fairly basic knightly costume from a party place and cut it down further. He was still wearing the cotton tabard (with a white tee underneath) and had the plastic stuck through his belt. He'd left the plastic helmet/crown at the dorm along with the cotton trousers, replacing them with a pair of black jeans. He gave his friends a grin. "What's up," he tossed out. "Looking forward to the jousts and the mutton?"

Well, Starlight doesn't have any family per se; she's a Grue, after all. She has relatives on paper, but they don't actually know she exists. It's complicated. However, the basic idea works if it's a study group or similar. Another idea is a building fire or a blackout or something similar. A disaster that would force her out of her apartment and also spur her to help folks. Yeah, that sounds a lot better, since it's not something she can just talk her way out of.

Telling the GM (you) that I'm here. Who else is coming from Claremont, BTW?

Ping.

Consul and Ironclad traded a few more blows before the alien broke off. He made a super-strong leap over the heads of the heroes and landed next to Khania, raising ripples in the sand for many meters in every direction. He swept up the incapacitated princess, glaring at the young heroes. "Such villains," he spat. "No respect for the right to rule!" He flexed his legs again and soared through the air, coming to rest on the far side of the resort; once again, and he was out of sight over the horizon. Ironclad stayed tense for a long moment, but after a thorough scan of the area convinced her that there were no other threats she folded her armor away, running a hand through her hair. "If any more bad guys show up," she announced, "I'm going to throw them into the ocean." The rest of the day passed without incident, and as the sun set over the horizon Blake and Jessica sat out on their personal patio, watching it. Jessica reached over and grabbed her boyfriend's hand, turning slightly to look at him. "I think I owe you an explanation," she said. "I've been dragging you all over Europe, trying to find the perfect vacation, and I think you deserve to know why." She bit her lip, hesitating for a moment. "Do you remember our first date?"

Yo yo.

Khania would technically get a Reflex save with that, but I'll just handwave it and have the villain fly off into the sun. Go, dear alien princess, to the ever-stalled AAA!

How about "Starlight's Morph stops working, trapping her in Grue form"? "As Saturday dawned in Freedom City, many residents were out and about enjoying their weekend. One particular resident was locked in her North End apartment, staring at a hand mirror. The alien Leyla, known to some in the city as the heroine Starlight and others as the young woman Elizabeth Moya, concentrated hard on her reflection. Sweat beaded on her forehead, trickled down the line of her jaw, and dripped off her chin, which was sharper than usual. It was also brick-red, and the eyes staring back at her from the mirror were the same pale, flat green she sometimes saw in her nightmares. No matter how she concentrated, her physical form didn't waver -- she was stuck as she was. A Grue, in the middle of Freedom City."

Ironclad held up a hand to forestall Protectron's help. The robot meant well, but he could be overwhelming at times. "I'm fine," she said, putting a hand to her head. "It's... the suit doesn't deal with electrical attacks really well. That last burst gave me a headache. I could go for some acetaminophen, but I'll be fine." She strode forward, ignoring the pounding in her head and the way the lights seemed to strobe. "Right now we need to figure out where this robot master is hiding, and take him down."

In my effort to clear out as many minions as quickly as I can, I'll say Soldier 3 and 2 are within Takedown distance of each other. Attack of 15 just barely hits the Soldiers. That's a 14 for Soldier 3, he's down. And a 15 for Soldier 2, he's down! Protectron's up next on the Pier.

The blonde woman stalked over the window Glowstar had broken on his trip in and out of the bridge, resting her weapon on the edge of the sill. She lined up a shot and fired a long burst, the bullets stippling a line of holes in the steel decking before hitting the hero's force field, snapping and popping as they bounced off. The physical force still pushed him around, though, and he ended up being thrown into the edge of one of the cargo containers. As the sniper ducked under the sill to reload, the simian hybrid swung up and over the edge of the window, aiming a swipe of his massive arm at the woman. She dodged it nimbly though, and all he succeeded in doing was breaking another window. On the deck, the fire-wielder dodged Cobalt's summoned lance nimbly, managing to keep even the hem of her coat from getting singed. "Liberty's a privilege," she said. "If they want it, people should have to fight for it. But it's people like you," she spat, hurling a ball of fire at the hero's face, "that confuse the matter. You think that because you're born free, 'life' or 'God' or 'the universe' owes you something?" The fireball exploded inches from Cobalt Templar's face, scorching his eyes and filling his ears with the sudden roar. "If you don't struggle for your freedom," the woman continued, "you don't deserve it!" Through her ranting, the arachnoid had crept up behind her, careful to keep below the lip of the railing. He suddenly popped up and fired a wide spray of webbing at her, but the lithe woman spun and burned it out of the air before it could touch her. Some distance away, Glowstar got to his feet, hands burning with red energy. He waited until the gun-wielding woman appeared at the sill again, then lobbed them at her underhanded. She saw them coming, however, and was able to spin away, avoiding most of the impact.

Gunner takes some pot-shots at Glowstar. Since he's technically flat-footed, this isn't likely to end well. That's a 15, so it still hits his flat-footed Def, but the Autofire only adds +1 Dam. So DC 24. +12 makes it 20. So a Bruise. Prof's up next. He swings up and tries to smack the sniper! That's a 17, so no. Pyro... is gonna try and Dazzle CT. +10 makes it 28. That hits nearly. CT needs to make a DC 20 Reflex save for half effect and a DC 20 Fort save, or be blind and deaf. Squirt will try to snare the Pyro, to make it easier for CT to smack her. Comes out as an 18. No dice. Glowstar will try to shoot the sniper. That turns into a 24, which is just enough to hit the Gunner. DC 26 + 1 from Autofire. And that's a 28 Toughness save. No damage at all. CT needs to do those saves and he'll be up. Ship 24 Cobalt Templar -- Uninjured -- HPx2 22 Gunner -- Uninjured -- GM 21 Prof -- Uninjured -- GM 19 Pyro -- Uninjured -- GM 16 Squirt -- Uninjured -- GM 9 Glowstar -- Bruisex1 -- HPx4

A kicker, ehn? How about "Starlight gets stuck in her civilian form"? "Ironclad's armor malfunctions, stranding her somewhere"? I can't seem to come up with a kicker for Glowstar, but there's those two.

GM Down on the pier, the fighting quickly became hectic. Screech jumped into the fight, landing a double-footed kick on one of the machine-gun wielding teamseters, who went down and stayed down. One of the workers stepped up to the monkey, stripping off his overalls in two quick motions to reveal a vaguely futuristic-looking black-and-gray bodysuit underneath. Bodysuit started trading blows with the chimp, but neither seemed to be able to land a telling hit. For his part, Bruiser charged through several wooden crates, exploding them into splinters, before slamming into one of the workers holding a handgun. The man went flying, ending up in the water between the docks and the ship. Moments later the water exploded and a huge, hulking figure in jet-black armor stood there, dripping seawater on the cement. The armor was rounded and smooth, like exoskeleton of a crab, and the figure raised one massive arm to point at the flying heroes. "You have one chance to leave," came the amplified voice from the armor. "And then, I'll break you in half!" The gun-toting workers seemed to take heart from the sudden appearance of someone on their side; the gunfire aimed at Freedom Angel and Protectron intensified, narrowing the heroes' potential flight patterns.

Screech goes first, charging into the SWAT guys because they have the bigger guns. They're minions, so Taking 10 on attack gives him 20, more than enough to hit the minion. DC 25 Toughness roll. That's a fail, so he's down. Martial Artist goes next. He steps up and punches Screech. Yikes. That's a result of 35, and a crit. DC 25 damage. +10 for 27. He's fine. SWAT 1 is down so it's SWAT 2 next. He'll use Aid Action to give the Battlesuit a bonus to Def. And it just succeeds. Bruiser charges in, going after Soldier 3. Taking 10 for attack gives him 15, just enough to hit. DC 30 Damage. Ends up being 21, so not quite enough. Soldier 3 is down. To recap: 2 Minions down, Battlesuit had boosted Def, and Freedom Angel is up.

For the record, I am using AA's Fire Agent for the Pyro, Geez's Gun Bunny for the Gunner, his Martial Artist for the, well, Martial Artist, and his Mass Driver Battlesuit for the Battlesuit.

The animal hybrids charged out of the warehouse in the heroes' wake. The elephant and the monkey followed Protectron and Freedom Angel onto the pier and barreling into the gun-wielding dockworkers. Meanwhile, the Professor and Squirt scrambled up the side of the ship, finding purchase between hull plates, on rivets and welds, and anchor chains. On the deck, Glowstar glanced around as Cobalt Templar landed next to him and nodded, once. "I'm going to stop this ship," he said. "See if you can't find a manifest or something that'll tell us what's in these crates." The bridge wasn't hard to find, being simply the tallest structure on the vessel. Glowstar exploded through the front window, charged with ruddy energy. He moved his hands, covering the startled crewmembers at their stations. "Whoever's the captain here," he said in an authoritative voice, "stop this ship. Right now!" A sudden motion out of the corner of his eye made him turn, but he was too late to stop one of the crewmembers, a short blonde woman in a long coat, from swinging the barrel of a preposterously large weapon at him. "Sorry, boy-o," the woman said, grinning. "The Director says this shipment goes through." The gun spat, filling his world with light and sound, and he was blasted out of the bridge, landing back on the deck. As Cobalt Templar pondered where to find a manifest, a mousy-haired woman in paramilitary gear stepped out from between the stacked crates. "Hello, big boy," she said, holding her hands out to her sides. The woman snapped her fingers and in moments her body was covered in flickering red flames. "Let's see if I can't light your world on fire!"

I take it we're out of combat, then?

Starlight has SM on Notice, for a result of 22.