Fox

Dragonfly glanced at the cheat cards, committing their contents to memory as she sat down in her tentacle-designated seat next to Jill. "Mmh. Haven't played much myself. Should be...interesting." count cards? - could - cheating? - likely a poor player - evens things out? - unfair advantage - see how it goes first "Quick run through rules might be good. Suspect you know more about the game than many of us."

The tree stump caught Gaian Knight in the shoulder, sending him spinning a bit to the side on his rock, but he seemed to be largely okay - if increasingly perturbed. "Well," he said, grimly, "that didn't last too long. Fine, then. Let's see you recover from this one: I learned this trick on a trip to the desert...." Spread his hands, the earth-empowered hero's eyes glowed clean through his goggles as two dim points of golden light. Dirt and dust on the ground stirred, subtly, then whipped into action, filling the air around the monstrous molds with a miniature sandstorm, particles drifting and spinning through the air in a good radius. From above, with the sun shining from above and behind the heroes, the dark, shifting shapes of their enemies could be seen within the cloud...but from the way those shapes milled and flailed, they were having a truly awful time seeing back out. The effect's creator swung his rock in a bit and to the side, looking tired but satisfied. "If you happen to have any more of that gamma radiation lying around...."

At long last, something fazed the largest of the blobs - it twitched and shuddered under the effects of the haze, slumping a little and discoloring a bit at the edges. One could assume it was, if not badly hurt, at least damaged - and rather upset about the fact. It and two of the smaller green, globular gastronomists all shook off their visual impairment and grabbed anything they could find, hurling them upward at the first enemy they laid 'eyes' on: Gaian Knight. Only one actually hit him, at least....

Toughness Save vs. Blobette 4's Thrown Object, DC25 (bruise x3) (1d20 + 14 - 3=12) .... Hero point. Toughness Save REROLL vs. Blobette 4's Thrown Object, DC25 (bruise x3) (1d20 + 14 - 3=21) 10 becomes 20, 20+14-3= 31. No damage. Also, no more hero points. So, yeah. Screw you, blobs, and your stupid rolls. I wasn't planning on stunting anything to take advantage of their proximity, but seriously. Screw you and your dice! Extra effort stunt: Obscure 5 (visual, 100'; Extras: Independent [+0], Selective Attack, Total Fade, Feats: Reversible) [21pp] Enjoy your 21 rounds of not being able to see us. But we can see youuuuuuuu..... ROUND ELEVEN: (21 rounds remaining on Obscure) 9: Gaian Knight - 0HP - bruise x3, fatigued 6: Supercape - 3HP - bruise x1, fatigued 2: Blobettes 3-5 - bruise, blind; bruise; bruise x2 -2: The Blob - bruise (10 rounds to gamma blast poison)

Fortitude Saves vs. Blindness, DC20 (1d20 + 8=15, 1d20 + 8=23, 1d20 + 8=21) Their fortune is unnatural. Blobette 3 stays blind; 4 & 5 can see again. Fortitude Save vs. Blindness, DC20 (1d20 + 10=27) Seriously, what the hell. Sigh. The Blob can see again. Grabbin' things and throwing them. Blind blob is still blind, and can't contribute. Ranged Attack Rolls vs. Gaian Knight (thrown improvised weapons) (1d20 + 6=24, 1d20 + 6=13) The first hits, the second misses. A single DC25 toughness save for GK. Ranged Attack Roll vs. Gaian Knight (thrown improvised weapon) (1d20 + 6=11) Swing and a miss. The Blob, in case it wasn't clear earlier, moves toward its smaller 'friends'. It doesn't look hungry, so easy money's on throwing another one of them at somebody; still, that means that for a round they can all be hit with area attacks, and they're conveniently nearby if one does hunger.

DC25 Fortitude save, then. Horray, alternate save mechanics! Fortitude Save vs. Supercape's Gamma Blast, DC25 (1d20 + 10=29) .....@#$% you, Invisible Castle, that's too neat a stunt to let go, even if he can just use it again in a round. FIAT: The Blob takes minimum damage (1 bruise) from the attack. Nobody gains a hero point because it's a fiat against the villain, largely to save us another uneventful round of combat.

Hiroshima Shadow - 'gaijin' - radiation-based villain? - electricity - odd "<'Power' seems to be hurting you,>" Dragonfly dryly observed in very good - but notably not very respectful - Japanese. ""

That is okay by me.

Dragonfly made a strangled noise, stepping away from Supercape as he went down and bringing her own defenses up and to the ready. hostile - seems familiar - lightning bolts? - unusual - feeding on nearby sources? - seem to be better places - not as physically tough as Supercape - talk - hate talking "Who - what - are you?"

"If you've got an idea, I'm all ears," Gaian Knight called back, pulling his rock to the side and away from where the blobs were aiming. "Nice trick with the flash, by the way. I was kind of hoping I could get them to attack each other if they were hurt, but it seems a little easier said than done!" As if to underscore the point, he swept out a glowing hand and launched another series of projectiles at the bench-bearing blob...with roughly the usual results. "I am really, really starting to dislike these things."

Ranged Attack Roll vs. The Blob (autofire blast; power attack -2/+2) (1d20 + 11 - 2=27) DC26 (base) + 2 (power attack) + 5 (autofire) = DC33. Toughness Save vs. Gaian Knight's Blast, DC33 (1d20 + 18=33) *foam* These guys have the most DISGUSTING luck....I swear at some point I'm just going to have to start fiating against the villains, so that the thread doesn't last for ages! ROUND TEN: 9: Gaian Knight - 1HP - bruise x3 6: Supercape - 3HP - bruise x1 2: Blobettes 3-5 - bruise, blind; bruise, blind; bruise x2, blind -2: The Blob - blind

Supercape's strategy is once more highly effective: the burst leaves the creatures at a loss. The smaller ones - what remain of them, anyway - mill around throwing objects at where the caped crusader used to be. Their bigger friend at least still knew where his target was, but the park bench thrown toward Gaian Knight just missed, falling back down to plow into the ground.

They are, of course, completely incapable of making that save. Blindness! Blindness for everybody! The blobettes mill around, incapable of hitting Supercape. The big blob wings something at GK, who hasn't moved. Ranged Attack Roll vs. Gaian Knight (thrown improvised weapon, blind, accurate attack +2/-2) (1d20 + 6 + 2=26, 1d2=1) Blindness saves his bacon!

I think the comment was more on the radiation-themed villain (whose only ranged attacks are a ranged Drain Con and a Radiation Control blast effect) striking with electricity. I think.

"There are animals that do that?" Gaian Knight shook his head, watching the pair of friend-devourers flail uselessly at the air. "I was really hoping it was something only strange alien ooze monsters did. It's really kind of creepy to think that- hey now!" He pulled his rock to the side as a boulder whipped past him in the air, reaching out a hand and slowing the projectile down to a halt behind him. "That's not how you give someone a gift. I have plenty of rocks, anyway." He spread his hand, and the boulder split into a number of smaller fragments, which swept over his head as he moved his arm, hurling through an arc like a giant hammer to rain into the blob from above. "Have it back." His attack was seemingly to no avail, however - the blob shook the attack off with an angry noise, searching about for something else to throw.

Ranged Attack Roll vs. The Blob (autofire blast, Power Attack -2/+2) (1d20 + 11 - 2=11) Oh, come on. Sigh. Well, it hits (yay size modifiers), but not by the margin I was hoping for. DC26 (base) + 2 (power attack) + 2 (autofire bonus) = DC30. Toughness Save vs. Gaian Knight's Blast, DC30 (1d20 + 18=32) Yeah, no. ROUND NINE: 9: Gaian Knight - 1HP - bruise x3 6: Supercape - 3HP - bruise x1 2: Blobettes 3-5 - bruise; bruise, blind; bruise x2, blind -2: The Blob - unharmed

Rejuvenated though they might be, the creeping cannibalistic creatures were still blind, and currently flailing around at the air where Supercape had been just a moment before. In an odd twist of fate, the one smaller blob who had not yet eaten a fellow seemed to shake off its vision impairment, hurling debris at Supercape - and missing by a fair margin, shaking itself as if it hadn't quite recovered yet. The bigger monster had no better luck - Gaian Knight may not have been able to hurt it, but he'd certainly got the thing's attention, and it lobbed a boulder at the man's hooded head.

Toughness Saves vs. Supercape's Area Blast, DC25 (bruise, bruise, bruise x2) (1d20+15-1=31, 1d20+15-1=32, 1d20+15-2=27) ....holy crap. 14, 17, and 18? Why, Invisible Castle. Why. They, uh, take no damage. Apparently. Ow. Right then. Fortitude Saves vs. Blindness, DC20 (third save attempt) (1d20 + 8 + 2=29, 1d20 + 8 + 2=15, 1d20 + 8 + 2=14) Blobette 3 recovers from blindness. The others don't. Blobette 3 attacks Supercape by chucking things! Horray for flight advantage. Ranged Attack Roll vs. Supercape (thrown improvised object) (1d20 + 6=16) Miss town! Population: one blob. Blobettes 4 & 5 can't find a target, being all blind and stuff. Flight advantage! The Blob tries for Gaian Knight with an appropriate weapon: a rock! Ranged Attack Roll vs. Gaian Knight (thrown improvised object, Accurate Attack +2/-2) (1d20 + 6 + 2=12) Miss town! Population: two blobs.

Dragonfly had managed to scare up a couple plates of food while people chatted - both carrying a decent arrangement of the available food, from pizza to the rapidly-depleting lobster nachos - one of which she surrendered to Jill. "Seems reasonable," she noted, pausing in the middle of picking up a buffalo wing, and tilting her head. "Buy-in, I mean. Not appearances. Though that too - odd superficial details matter very little. In theory." She shook her head, and shrugged. "Actually came prepared to...term. Spot? People money, if they needed it. But cash-less game is fine as well - less worry, maybe."

Dragonfly may not have had clothing worthy of the weather, but her new toys seemed to do the job well enough - she made a barely-audible pleased-sounding hum, putting her hands in her pockets and looking around...and then a slightly less-pleased noise as sinking into the snow robbed her of some of her already scarce height. "Desolate," she noted. "Protection poor...suppose it would be. Not worth enduring the cold for machines that are unlikely to run frozen. Radiation leak?"

Life Science gets you nothin'. For Behavioral Science, though, Supercape may vaguely remember some study or research paper or similar nonsense about some species - bugs, rodents - that eat their wounded; often the wounded are hurt themselves, and apparently sacrificing the worse-off for the benefit of the rest. From what he can tell, these oozes are doing it largely by instinct, and once they're frenzied into eating a buddy they're committed to the path, whether their original target is still available or not. The paper probably had some extension to human behavior, but that bit doesn't really apply to giant green blob monsters.

Mara shot Jill a concerned look, squeezing her hand but letting things go without comment. ask her later In the meantime, the parts of her brain not worried about her girlfriend were trying to run the math on the mechanics of transporting the whole group (whole room? - literal piece of the building? - unclear - mmh) en masse across the ocean. energy requirement would be - no one seemed surprised - who - what - how - 'been practicing' - not inspiring confidence "Probably...best to plan, anyway. Supplies, itineraries, chance to...phrase." She ate a bit of roll, frowning. "Mmh. Put things in order, in anticipation of being gone for a while."

Dragonfly snorted, shaking her head. "No school. Would have graduated by now, anyway. High school, that is...mmh. College, still no. Wouldn't find it...mmh. ....alternative education...not really...mmh." She shrugged, and tried to dodge the issue with rather transparent rapid-fire conversation switching. " Should get food...want anything, Jill?"

Gaian Knight watched all of this from his rock in the sky, a grimace hidden behind his mask. "That's...really gross. I mean, it's good for us, I guess, but...that's really, seriously gross. Still, if that's the way they react....hmm." Bits of debris lifted off the ground, pelting into the big blob - the biggest blob! - from every direction but seemingly to no avail; it seemingly had too much bulk to care about such an unfocused assault. The earthmover could be heard swearing a little as the creature turned to regard this new flying nuisance, and he pulled away a bit.

GK thinks: hmmmmm. Ranged Attack Roll vs. The Blob (autofire blast, power attack -2/+2) (1d20 + 11 - 2=18) DC26 (base) + 2 (power attack) + 5 (autofire bonus - horray low defense enemies!) = DC33 Toughness save. Toughness Save vs. Gaian Knight's Autofire Blast, DC33 (1d20 + 18=36) .....Invisible Castle! Supercape's up. Life Science and/or Behavioral Science knowledge checks, if you want 'em.