Supercape

Do you want to react to the above or just proceed with Ethers action?

GM "No! Don't you move!" replied Cassie, keeping her revolver with its tranq-darts pointed firmly at Neil. "You don't get to just walk out of here!" "You used me. You used those people. What do you expect me to do? Let you walk out of here, collect your spoils and live happily after?" Her eyes darkened. Her pupils changed to slits. "I have Lemurian blood in my veins. It is more cruel than you or your Foundry. Why do you think I carry a gun loaded with tranq-darts rather than bullets? Why do you think I carry a whip and not a knife? Because if I let it, I would slowly flay you alive...." she said darkly. An exagerration, but still.... "You think you are out of danger? You haven't reckoned with me, yet. Move one muscle and you will...." What am I going to do? "What do the Foundry want from you? I cannot let them get hold of anything from this temple. It is too dangerous!"

Readied action: Shoot gun if he moves!

Lament Excellent. now then....which was what, and what was which? He didn't fancy tasting each bowl. The King might not like his tears missing. And Lament did not want to think overly much about how the King might extract them if they were ingested. Vague thoughts of various needles being inserted in various orifices crossed his mind. Wisely, he did not let such thoughts linger. What would they smell like. He carefully brough each container to his nose and gave a big inhale. Maybe tears had a smell? Probably not. More viable, he thought, was to use the Void again. It could read emotions, and perhaps there was some emotional aura to each liquid. Thusly, he reached out psychically to see which, if any (or mayhap all) of the liquids had any feelings attached to it...

Sgt Shark It certainly was not normal. Sgt Shark was hardly aware of himself. He was consumed by blood lost and erotic smells. This was his environment, where he was fast and slippery. Perhaps though, he was not paying attention to the finer details of wrestling, where cunning and planning came into play. And as strong as he was, Asad was stronger. Perhaps, if his brain and ego were still intact, he might have been vexed at Asad getting a hand on him. "LET GO OF ME! DO NOT APPROACH THE LIGHTS!" he bellowed into the waters. Where that came from he did not know. "BLOOD! BLOOD! BLOOD!" he bellowed again. That, he did. From the inflamed centre of his brain which had taken over the steering wheel.

GM A little later...back in the club... Amber finished her second set quickly. She looked distracted, and her singing, whilst servicable, took a dive. The applause was considerably more muted and even even the three piece band gave her withering looks. It wasn't painful to listen to, but it had become almost amateur. Her head was not on the job. It was now well past midnight. The lights came on, subdued, and the music finished. It would stay open another hour or two, as stragglers finished their drinks and the last cards were dealt. Robin saw Blowfish get up, put on his jacket, light a cigarrette, and speak to one of his large aides who nodded dutifully. She couldn't catch what it was - he said it softly and there was a hubbub of noise. What she did note, however, was that the large aide cracked his knuckles. His impassive stony face gave a little smile. Amber, if she had kept her word, would be waiting out the back of the club.

GM "Delilah, can't say I know an awful lot about her. But I keep my eyes open, even if they are old!" he chuckled, as did his three friends. They were all grizzled retired cops, amicable and wise, and getting to that stage of life where even well maintained bodies start failing. They had no problems with a hardass PI. "She's a honey trap. I don't know if she works for herself, or got some shady dude behind her. Skilled pickpocket. Gets hey flies drunk, gets them staring at her, then pilfers their wallets. Seems to prefer crooks to cops, and frankly, if she relieves a few crooks of a few dollars in my club, I ain't gonna cause problems" he chuckled again. "But she also goes home with some of the suckers. And I'm guessing, seeing as half of them are fat broken nosed thugs in their fifties, with all the charm of a haemarrhoid, it ain't out of love" again, to laughter. "Ill tell you what I guess, though. Lady like that, don't last long unless you she has some muscle as back up. Sooner or later its gonna get ugly and shes gonna end up dead in a gutter. Or worse. I'm not just talking about that .22 in her handbag, either. She must have someone got her back...." He paused. "And she never seems to like the Jazz. That's her worst crime!" he smiled.

GM "The multiverse! not the universe!" corrected Professor Ether, who clearly enjoyed correcting students and omegadrones alike. "Gnnnngh!" came his next words, his face contorted with effort as Delta's psychic energy crept into his mind. "Gnnnaghhh! You invade my mind! Like a parasite! Unnatural! Abominable! An Englishman's Mind is.....RAAAAGH!" Delta's psychic power was enough to crumble any lesser man's mind, like a knife carving through butter, but Professor Ether's brain was made of Iron. Delta could feel glimpses of the man as they tussled in his psyche; how he had inflicted agonising experiments on his flesh. He truly was dedicated, obsessed, proud. "....is....is....his CASTLE!" he roared defiantly, as, with extreme effort, he pushed Delta out, triumphantly. "No! No! No! ALL THAT ENERGY!" wailed Zip. Now, his name made sense, for it was not merely his mind that moved fast, but his body. With blistering speed, he pulled out the small rifle strapped to his back, holding it with his two-fingered hands, and dashed - like a blur - towards a nearby tree, taking cover. "I NEED IT!" he explained.

Unfortunately....Mind Control Resist: 1d20+10 30 Could you roll initiative now! Initiative: 1d20 17 for Prof Ether Initiative: 1d20+22 38 for Zip I am going to presume Zip is going to win that, so jumping forward and saying he will take pull out his gun (move action) and take cover (move action) as per IC

Just for clarification, in case you think Ether is some PL X horror! He is immune to fort saves, thats all!

GM Delta's fist slammed into the temple of Ether with a satisfying clunk - not a lethal blow, by anymeans, but pressure on that area would knock a man out clean. Ether's flesh dented, but he seemed not perturbed one bit. "Fast!" he commented as he floated gently away. "You are fast. Faster than a man should be, lumbered with steel and iron. I never saw any ironling move so fast. Surely it is the Nihilus energy in your veins! Yes, that must be it! You are a glorious specimin, Sir! Quite remarkable...although I am beyond remarkable and transcendant!" he laughed. "I am no longer flesh. I do not age, nor succumb to hunger, thirst, disease or any other ravages. Oh, it is true, I still have bone and sinew, to some extent. But they are alive with pure energy, not the fetid and putrid organic processes of this and that. Pfah. I never muched cared for the faculty of organicistry. Professor Twinings was such a pompous fool!" "He's kind of right there" agreed Zip. "Now, Sir!" he said to Delta. "I wish to exercise my transcendance. To flex my muscles that are no longer flesh. I have a fancy to grow, consume, and strengthen my spirit and energy. The multiverse, I think, would be most sterling a place to find good base, and then, like a spider extending his web, encroach on surrounding terrain. What say you?" "I say you are using up precious terminus energy floating like that and flaming!" interjected Zip. "I could be using that for my time bomb!"

That solidly hits, but is completely ineffective! (See IC!)

And here is the 2019 Super Strength Roster! Rules: PC must have earned 5 PP to be on this roster (so done to exclude people who make a PC then leave or change their minds soon after!) Player must have been active (posted) in last three months. Effective STR is calculated by base STR, plus any ranks of Super Strength. Some things are a judgement call. I have judged according to the spirit of the roster, namely, overall strength. Boost, Density, Rage, and Growth all count. Variable powers count only if it is a “reasonable” use of the variable power (i.e. reasonably fits descriptor of the variable power such as mimicry or shapechanging). Hard to lose devices count. Easy to Lose devices judged on a case by case basis. Limited Strength Super Strength, such as to grip, to one limb, or so on, will, in general not be counted (as its “overall” strength). Other drawbacks such as fades, or distracting, do. If anybody spots any errors, please feel free to make a post afterwards and I will edit if I agree! Please note this is not as easy as it looks, and mistakes happen! Superheavyweight (75+) 141 Paradigm 124 Stalwart 111 Phalanx 110 Triasoka 104 Dreadnought 85 Glamazon 85 Kanunu 85 Galvanic 80 Voin Zhenshchina 80 Specimen 76 Merge Trois Heavyweight (50-74) 73 Torpedo Lass 70 Solar Sentinel 69 Rock 68 Cobalt Templar 65 Reagent 65 Citizen 65 Asad 60 Miracle Girl 60 Revenant 55 Dust Devil 55 Black Mamba 55 Facsimile (Dense Object Mimic) 55 Squire Bka 54 Ms Americana 52 Cannonade 51 Ms Thurdsay 51 Lady Horus 51 Ouroboros 50 Bloody Mess Supermediumweight (35-49) 49 Wander 49 Wraith 48 Salvo 46 Wail 45 Sgt Shark 45 Synth 44 Willow 43 Sea Devil 42 Harrier 41 Squire Kath’lana 41 Liam Conner (Dr Thorne) 40 Cavalier 40 Rev 40 Miss Grue 40 Sun Walker 40 Pacer 40 Barrier 39 Argonaut 38 Lou Lubrano (With appropriate object mimicry) 38 Emerald Spider 37 Dragonfly 36 Mr Strix 36 Replica Mediumweight (26-34) 30 Pitch 30 Nighthawk 30 Chromium 30 Bliss 30 The Traveller 26 Nightingale 26 The Tattered Man 26 Red Savage (The Red Rat) 26 Starshot Peak Human (20-25) 24 Lady Liberty 24 Crimson Tiger 24 Bird of Arms 24 Ace Danger 24 Comrade Frost 22 Snakebite 22 Arrowhawk II 22 Red Lynx 22 Monsoon 22 Ardent 22 Mr Murk 20 Midnight 20 Black Knight 20 Terrifica 20 Janus Danger 20 Renegade 20 Raven III 20 Curveball Exceptional Human (16-18) 18 Venomax 18 Hyperslice 18 Geckoman 18 Foreshadow II 18 White Lioness 18 Judex 16 Red Rat 16 Grim 16 The Salmon 16 Ghost Girl 16 Tsunami 16 Gaian Knight 16 Eclipse 16 Savant 16 Woodsman 16 Bombshell 16 Jack of All Blades 16 Ronin Normal Human (10-15) 14 Lord Steam 14 Diamondlight 14 Watchdog 14 Justice 14 Thoughtspeed 14 Jessica Witchblood 14 Gremlin 14 La Renarde Bleue 14 Veronica Danger 14 Grimalkin 14 Gabriel 14 Thunderbird 14 Forever Boy 12 Chance Lebeau 12 Wadjet 12 Edge 12 Fast Forward 12 Gauss 12 Set 12 Zenith 12 Nick Cimitiere 12 Red Moon 12 Quantum Flux 10 Synapse 10 Crystal Gazer 10 Velocity 10 Temperance 10 Fleur 10 Volcanic 10 Errant 10 Queenie 10 Dr Thorne 10 Jette 10 Sandman 10 Sparkler 10 Roulette 10 Phantom 10 Sofia Orellana 10 Bonfire 10 Shair the Spellsmith 10 Flintlock 10 Bee 10 Lament 10 Prism Weakling (Below 10) 8 Echohead 8 Rene DeSaens 8 Hologram 8 Psyche 8 Arcana 6 Red Head (The Red Rat)

Sorry, missed this! Grapple Roll: 1d20+25 43 which i believe is pinned, but not grappled (or something like that?) On that note, as Sgt SHark is mind controlled, I have no objection to these rolls being made on my behalf!

So we are drawing to one or two more posts each then a wrap. Dust Devil could certainly have some more adventures in the Mesa, alongside, possibly, Mr. Sting and Setho. Would he want a team up? and if so, with Venomax again? Meanwhile, Venomax has had his brain catapaulted into extreme strangeness, so the possibilities are limitless (As are possible complications!) but one idea to float is a social thread with some insane conversations and meets (in his psychically projected form) with alt versions of PCs in other realities or with PCs in the past or future. A kind of crazy social thread (?open) with a few posts from any player wanting to have an amusing cameo.

GM The chemical composition was easy enough to digest (in more ways than one). The usually mixture of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen and a few other odd atoms blended into complex organic molecules. Chlorophyll was most certainly there. And, as a plant, it was no more resilient than any other. In fact, it was probably more fragile than most. But then the chemicals hit the brain of Venomax, and the strange incomprehensible forces that it had stewed in its leaves - more than mere energy, or matter, or chemical composition - swirled through his perception. He was spinning through time and space, caught in a tornado of strangeness that was not meant for human minds. Perhaps it was not meant for any mind, for they would surely collapse from the strain. Abdul and his group had spoke of beauty, of enlightenment, and there was certainly that. But there was also twinkling insanity, and Abdul had not been immune to that either. Setho, it seemed, was already half mad when he cultivated the leaf, and that was by the rather insane standards of the Lemurians. It would be hard to remember what he saw, and this was a mercy in all likelihood. "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents...." And then he was lying admist the rubble, in the heat and the jungle. It had been only a moment since the Dust Devil had seen him collapse, but for Venomax that brief moment had been beyond space, and beyond time....

Snakebite "<Of course>" replied Cassie to Isa. "<This...man....is offering a deal. Of sorts>" she explained. "<But he is a deceiver, and why should I...or anyone...trust a deceiver?>" she asked Neil. "<You could have explained your history, but no, even now, you keep it mired in murk, obscured and half-hidden. I am not so hard of heart that I would not at least listen, at least consider, a genuine plea...>" "<But I think you have shot that bolt, Sir>" she said, stiffly. "<You lied. And you will, no doubt, lie again. I could not trust a word that falls from your lips. It is only the fact you saved my life back in the temple that stays my hand right now...>" she said, spitting venom with her words. Perhaps, if the Lemurian blood really boiled, it would literally be venom. "<The Beast, a distraction, you call it, but it ended up killing. Why, Sir, is that blood not on your hands? Speak wisely. This is not a court of law. This is a jungle....>"

Red Rat I'm a great liar! seethed the Rat inside. Still, it did not good to start that argument now. Even the best liars fell foul now and again. "You understand the situation perfectly" she lied, again, but did so with a smattering of truth and a smear of honesty. "I am sure Mister Rojeno will be interested in what we have to say, and we are most interested to hear what he has to say" This was winging it, but that's what the situation called for, and that's what they needed to do. This was not the time for lost nerve, and she gave Venomax an encouraging wink. We're in....I think....she transmitted to Akhona. What's the situation outside?

GM "These people are primitives. We do not need them. They are ants beneath our boots..." replied Ether, coldly, floating. "You may think me vain enough to take pleasure from their worship. I am not, and I do not" he said, bluntly. "BEHOLD!" he said to the spearmen, circling slowly. Then, he flung out his arms. A disc of blue anti-energy errupted from his body, expanding outwards in all directions. "Oh Sweet God!" mumbled the ASTRO Scientist. Lulu froze in cold fury, and Zip seemed to be a mess of all sorts of emotions from fear to excitement to rage to admiration. For the blue vapours disintegrated trees, ripped branches, spears crumbled, wooden huts splintered. And the spearmen turned to dust. Gone. "Gone!" proclaimed Ether truimphantly. "Nihilus energy! It sunders flesh, bone, wood and steel! And I have partaken of it!" "And it could power the Brit Machine...." mumrured Zip to Delta.

Lets play it out

GM It was a hard offer to say no to. A delicious offer. She could imagine the glory of all the temple had to offer. She could well imagine it. And she would make sure she got it. But... "<Is that temple really for you to offer?>" she replied in Spanish before switching to English. "It's not like it belongs to you..." And it doesnt belong to me, either. But I'm the one with the gun right now. And it would certainly be safer in her hands than his. "And last time I tried to pull off the ring, it wasn't coming off" she said clearly, which was no lie. She didn't make move to try again. Partially to keep the gun trained on Neil, partially because she wanted to dig a bit deeper. She was an archeologist, after all. "And why would you want it, anyway? You got what you came for" I think. "Although you still haven't told me what that ring does. Should I be scared?"

Starshot So, that was it. Vibrillium and Tomarillium mining. "What happens when the mountains run out of Vibrillium and Tomarillium, Phalen?" he asked, scratching his jaw stubble, keeping his eyes fixed on Phalen. "Where do you think the Red Devils and their slaves will come next?" Why were they called Red Devils, he pondered. "I bet the caves. Easiest to mine. Tell me, what will you do then? Fight them alone with a depleted blaster rifle and dirty fingernails?" he asked. "If I was you, I'd fight them now. At least you have a chance...."

Using void array to get out the invulnerable tentacles!

Lament "There!" called out Lament loudly, unable to contain his excitement. He slapped a hand to his mouth. "Fiddlesticks!" he mumbled softly, irritated with himself. He could only hope the mother had not heard. Well, there were three options, and why not take all three? It wasn't stealing if he was thieving from a thief, was it? Gently did it, though. No telling what traps or wards the mother had placed on them. He pushed the void out of his skin, and thrree long tentacles of oily blackness crept through the air. It was difficult, like this, the void most strong, and him most weak...but the tentacles would be unharmed (As far as Lament knew) by any trap or fire. And they coiled round the three possible tears to grasp them, and then bring them gently to his own grasp!

GM "Sure honey, I can rustle up something..." said Amber, seemingmore resolved to the peril now. A desperate woman, once she knows she is desperate, gets some iron in her backbone. "...like that building. The Sunny Sun thing" she mumbled. "I know he's been meeting with a local politician. Pushing through the planning permission. Greasing the wheels with some cash" she said, proudly. "Don't know how you would prove that" she added, less confidently. "But I know it!" "Get your ass in gear, Amber! Its showtime!" called the tipsy drummer as the rest of the band trotted out (still not seeing Justice, and thinking Amber was mumbling to herself). "Gotta go, honey!" whispered Amber to Justice, and stood up. She tried to put her hair in place, then tottered out to the stage on high heels...