Raveled

GM Sam reached out with her infernal powers, the brand on her back beginning to itch and warm as she drew on it. The anger she cast out settled on one of the hounds like a heavy blanket; it shook its head and sneezed a gob of corrosive saliva, then began growling at the other hellhound. It leapt, biting and clawing, and before long the two beasts were locked in snarling, rolling combat. "Halt!" An imperious voice rolled out across the warehouse, and for a moment the hounds did pause in their slaughter -- but only for a moment. From her vantage point the thief saw a tall, broad-shouldered man stride out of an interior room. He was dressed in a floor-length black robe, and his hair was white -- not blonde, or platinum, or greying, but white, like he'd spent too much time under a too-hot sun. "Hold! Stand fast!" He barked more orders at the hounds, that they ignored. With snarl of annoyance the man snapped his hand to the side, and a curving blade of blue-black flame leapt into existence. He brought it around in a broad arc that bisected the wrestling animals, then performed a backhanded slash that left them headless. Their corrosive guts spilled onto the floor and began eating into the concrete as the man dismissed the firey sword and glared at the two eviscerated hellhounds. He whistled, and Sam could see at least a dozen more hellhounds melt out of the shadows, pairs of them coming from every direction. The man in the black robe looked at the pack, and the pack cringed backwards. He pointed at one beast and demanded, "What happened here." The hellhound sniffed around the two corpses, then around where Sam had appeared. It barked and growled, and the man nodded his head as if he understood. "An intruder, someone who could slip past patrols. Very well then, find her. We only have an hour until the portal is open all the way, I won't have someone interrupting at this last hour."

The haze in Blue Jay's mind cleared, and she opened her eyes -- or at least she tried to open them. It was still blackness all around her, and there was a great weight on her chest. She tried to inhale and instead dirt and loam fell into her mouth and nose. She clamped her lips and eyes shut, suddenly understanding that she was underground -- but her lungs were burning like she hadn't taken a breath in minutes. She reached out, desperately trying to shift the weight of earth above her, hoping against hope that she wasn't buried too far down. As Cerys sat in the graveyard, pondering her future and the story of her namesake, she saw something usually reserved for bad horror movies. The grave next to Blodeuwodd's shifted suddenly, the dirt moving and slithering like there was something underneath it trying to get out. That notion was reinforced a moment later when a gloved hand rose from the earth, clawing at the air!

Well there's a lot of ways to simplify here. Remember that M&M is an effects based system; figure out what you want to do mechanically and how to accomplish it, and build towards that. I'd use a combination of Defense System and Personnel to represent the statues. They can defend the HQ and perform minor tasks around the place, without need a full stat block. Mentally locking someone down could be done with Paralyze resisted by Will.

BULLSEYE! By Supercape Blue Jay Buying her some things she really should've had already. Shh. Buying Benefit (Native [Terminus]) because she really should have it. (1/16 PP) Buying her the following Device. (9/16) Device 2 (10PP, Hard to Lose) [8PP] (Mask) Super-Senses 3 (Extended 1 [100 ft increments], Infravision, Ultravision) [3PP] Super-Senses 3 (Extended 1 [100 ft increments], Radio) [3PP] Communicate 3 (1 000 ft, Radio, Feat: Subtle) [4PP]

I would not stat out the Guardians, unless you are taking them into combat regularly (out on patrol, etc). If you are, buy them as minions/sidekicks. That is not remotely how you would write that out. Try: Attack: +5 Melee, +6 Ranged, +10 Magic. Please spell out what the One Eye Drawback does in the text. If anything, those skills seem a little low for a magic-focused character. I'd expect to see Know/Arcane at +15. Concentration cannot have Skill Mastery, since you can never Take 10 with it. It can have Second Chance, though. So, what exactly does Chains of Confusion do? You tie them down, lasso them to yourself... and then they start blasting away at random?

Tona bounded away, the metal monster chasing her and trying to land a solid blow. The archer was too swift, however, and avoided the heavy blows deftly. She spun suddenly and unleashed one, two, three arrows directly into the monster's chest; as close as they were, it was impossible to miss, and they buried themselves deeply. Whatever the thing with her father's face was, apparently it felt pain because it stopped the chase and fell to its knees, then to its hands. Tona was still cautious, but she saw a chance to finish off the monster quickly. She approached it from the side, got a good wind up, and delivered a pitch-perfect kiai as she kicked at its neck. The creature's head dropped off, and for a moment Tona thought she had won that quickly. Except that there was still something growing from the stump of the neck, it just wasn't a head. Or, it was kind of a head. It wasn't anything firm or substantial. It looked more like the shadow of a head, like if someone's face was barely seen in the deep darkness, and you took away the face but left the impressions and shadows. The shadow-head turned to regard Tona and she backed up slowly, nocking another arrow. Suddenly she felt dizzy, and weak at the knees. Darkness gathered at the edge of her vision, rushed in and --

El Heraldo Atlantean's Will save, vs DC 20. (1d20+7=12) Dayum. Dem rolls tonight.

Kit Hellhound's Will save, vs DC 17. (1d20+6=8) Whelp.

Blue Jay Jay's gonna try and Acrobatic Feint this round. Skill Mastery makes it DC 25. 'Drone's Sense Motive check vs. DC 25. (1d20+10=11) Where was that 1 last turn, IC? Blue Jay's ranged attack check w/ +5/-5 Power Attack, vs Drone's flat-footed Def. DC 25 + Autofire (1d20+10=18) That'll hit +2 and give +3 to the Toughness save for a total of DC 28. Drone's flat-footed Tou save, vs DC 28. (1d20+10=17) Nice. I think that'll segue directly into... things.

The 'bots are using his power systems. His not!arc reactor.

That was Jessica's cue. She touched her watch and armored up in a blaze of light, rising on thrusters and settling down in front of White Knight. "Right, you've been out of prison for a couple weeks already? Already so eager to return to Blackstone?" The burning man sneered at the armored heroine. "Don't think I'm all alone here. I have a whole squad of men, ready to retake the city." "She's not alone, either." As the crowd streamed out of the plaza, the rest of the police formed a semi-circle around the flaming supercriminal, weapons drawn. "Just step down right now, Foreman, and this can all be painless." White Knight sneered at the weaponry aimed at him. "I told you I had help. Did you think that gun went off on its own!?" The demonically-powered Klansman looked to the edge of the plaza, where several young men in white tee-shirts bearing anarchy symbols and swastikas had congregated. One of them made a pistol from his fingers and pointed at the police sergeant, who was in the process of turning to consider the new threat. The young man pointed his fingers and 'fired' -- and the sergeant's weapon discharged, the bullet barely missing another officer. White Knight laughed again. "You see? The more guns you bring against me, the more powerful I'll become!"

GM The heroes rushed towards the sound of the gunshot, even as the crowd recoiled form it. For once Jessica found her height useful, as she was able to stand a couple rows back from the scene of the accident and still see what was happening. The police quickly formed a cordon and made a hole for medics -- on hand for the runners -- to get to the bleeding officer. "What the hell happened, kid," an officer with chevrons on his uniform asked. MacKay gritted his teeth as the EMTs cut away his pants leg. "Not sure, Sarge. Was just standing there, when I heard the gunshot. Then my leg started hurting..." "That's just the beginning of what'll happen to you." Heads turned as a booming voice came out of the crowd, and suddenly people were rushing away from a second source -- a blazing blue fire! Jessica stood on her tip-toes and was able to see a large, broad-shouldered man dressed all in white pull a pointed hood over his face. Blue fire leapt from his fingers, and he laughed theatrically. "On this day I, White Knight, will burn away the impurities in this city. Today you'll learn the sort of lessons this nation is really founded on!"

"With luck we'll have surveyed the site with ground-penetrating radar before we send in the telepresence units." As the conversations shifted back to engineering, Jessica regained her confidence and began speaking in a more easy, relaxed manner. "That should let us build up a base layout that we can project onto the operator's HUD, to let them operate in obscured situations. But I think you're underestimating the penetration of high-frequency radio waves," she added. "I've used them to pierce fog and even military smoke grenades before. They can be very useful." Aita stepped forward, looking the machines over. "Baron, a question to you," he said. "What is your connection to the project? This all looks like Dawes Tech gear, I don't see KST's stamp on any of it."

GM Sam disappeared just as the first hound made a leap for her, and looked down in time to see it raise gouges in the concrete floor as it landed. The second beast approached the spot more cautiously, sniffing and nosing the spot where the young girl had stood. It raised its snout in the air and began to try and find her, but one of the advantages of a teleport was that it broke a scent trail more effectively than any river. From her raised vantage point, however, Sam could see more of the warehouse floor -- and more hellhounds. It seemed like they were patrolling the entire exterior of the building. This wasn't some random incursion, these beasts were being directed by someone.

GM El Heraldo leapt forward and his fist impacted on the soft-looking speaker in a robe -- but he didn't take into account Atlantean physiology! The man in the robe staggered back a few steps, but his hair was barely mussed from the young paragon's blow. "Clueless oaf," he spat. "Feel the wrath tempered by the crushing depths!" The Atlantean retaliated, throwing a punch aimed aimed at El Heraldo's ribs. Meanwhile, with the negotiations clearly breaking down the Atlantean and Cuban troops began firing on each other. El Heraldo was caught in the middle of a hurricane of bullets and firey bolts!

Taking Jack of All Trades would let this character drop eight skill points, effectively saving 1 PP even if some skills won't be 'optimal' anymore. I would recommend dropping some things like the Memory Stone, the Features, etc, that won't be used in his first stories. They're fairly cheap, and you can buy them back with earned PP in a few months.

"These telepresence units are indeed intended for underwater operations," Jessica said, her pronunciation of the term precise and careful. "They're environmentally sealed, of course, and equipped with sonar and lidar to operate in muck or darkness. It's reinforced and the strength is augmented, to work under pressure. And the telecommunication system is --" She stopped herself as Major Diaz stalked up to the robots, frowning at them. "They're reinforced? And super-strong?" Jessica hemmed and hawed. "Super-strong? They could probably lift a car... but that's what you need when you're a mile or so underwater. Not that the Sea of Galilee is that deep, but this just a test of the different systems." "I'm sure there won't be any trouble," Agent Aita demurred. "With Ironclad here and the IDF on tap, I don't think there's very many people who would try to steal these 'bots."

Kit Hellhound's Notice check, vs DC 27. (1d20+10=14) Nope. Time to introduce another actor into the scene!

El Heraldo That will hit robe-dude's flat-footed Defense. Atlantean Psychic's Toughness save vs. DC 24. (1d20+13=25) In retaliation, he's going to smack EH. Atlantean Psychic's melee attack check, vs El Heraldo's Def. DC 22 Tou (1d20+7=26) Soldiers are just blasting each other.

I'm not doubting you. I'm sure there is a lot more going on than what's apparent. I'm just saying, from my POV, there's not a lot to engage with.

I just don't see what else for Jay to do. She can't communicate with the locals, there's no real goal for her to work towards, and she doesn't really have the skills for humanitarian work.

Starlight stayed calm in the face of the hurricane of combat. She closed her eyes, rising into the air as the air condensed around the group. Wet fingers reached for her and snagged her legs, but the alien champion had other ideas. "You call upon the darkness to shield yourselves," she said, "but what you have failed to consider is -- the power I wield is of THE LIGHT!" She opened her eyes, gold-white light blazing forth as her power rolled forth. It slammed into Umbra's shadows and cut them to pieces before blowing them away in ragged stripes, leaving the malformed metahumans exposed.

By the by. Starlight's Reflex saves. (1d20+7=10, 1d20+7=18) Well she's entangled.

Tona was feeling unsettled. Part of that was the teleportation, of course; going from one place to another without any transition was better than getting into a metal can to be flung faster than sanity across the country, but it still wasn't how she would choose to travel. Being around Sam was good, but she still wasn't entirely over the events of the Day of Wrath, and the fact that Sam had already shown her replacement around Chicago left her wondering how this trip was going to go. So she was planning to hang back from the crowd, but Sam's mood was infectious and soon Tona was getting excited despite herself. The comment about riding on the train made her feel defensive -- it had been necessary to jump across those cars! -- but the movie reference surprised. "I know that one!" she shouted, pride shining through her voice. "By John Hughes, with Matthew... uh Brodey? And Alan... Rude?" She looked at the group, and realized that she was being rather loud. "It's... John Hughes has really good movies, okay?"

Man, I completely forgot this thread even existed. :facepalm: