Supercape

Snakebite I hope we don't have to sacrifice a human either. Especially not me... Cassie was driven in many ways. But she wasn't so heroic that she would lay down her life. Risk her life, maybe. Sacrifice...well. That was another matter. She liked life. Quite a lot. "If we can help, we will. Although I really hope that doesn't mean human sacrifice. I...don't think it does. If we can just make sure the sacrifice that should have happened properly does happen properly, maybe that will work. But to get it right, we need herbs. Ingredients. Some kind of drug..." she offered. A thought struck her. She showed the old man her ring. "And if we can work out what this is...maybe that will help...."

Ronin Curtis thought he was seeing things for a moment. Did that really happen? He had seen plenty, but this was something new. "Sheesh...thats some spooky $£"%" he whistled. "What the hell's going on?" First things first. No rioting. "Hey guys!" he called out to the queue. "This ain't nobodies fault. Shouting and fighting at going get anybodies medication quicker. Its going to take a helluva day to get this sorted, and it's going to fry everyones nerves waiting. But we gotta pull this together, like Nancy street does, ok?" he said, firmly. He turned back to the pharmacist. "That's right, yeah? We can sort this somehow? Like, can't stop giving out medications people need. Even if they have to remember how they take it, still gotta give it to them somehow. At least, till this gets sorted..." And how am I going to do that? He turned back to the queue. "I'll look into this guys, don't worry. Just got find somebody who knows voodoo and spooky stuff, cause that's what this looks like to me. So if anybody knows anyone who can help....?" he asked the people.

ooc for this

GM Dec 5th 2018 Emerald City University Majorie Doors, the administrator of ECU was a pleasant enough middle lady in person. But, when it came to gossip, she was political. And when it came to politics, she was a gossip. A slightly sour lady with a big mouth, she had a rather firm attitude to immigrants, and was most pleased to let everyone know how noble and correct her firm attitude was. And today, she was most keen to complian to Ms. Robin Langley. Again. "Its disgaceful, you know!" she complained. "They are setting up a new immigration asylum centre in the Northern suburbs. The suburbs! Pff. Can you imagine the poor honest hard working people there!" she hissed, sure that everybody shared her view, because her view was surely common sense! "The crime, apparently, is through the roof!" she explained. "They should not have built the roof at all!" she added, pleased with her pun. "Housing all those Mexicans there, in one building! A breeding ground from criminals and crime!" At this point, every sentence simply had to have an exclamation mark. Perhaps even every word. "I! Will! Not! Stand! For! It!" she said indignantly. "Jack Jackson, the reporter, is doing a special on the crime there tonight. And I will join the protesters! No wonder people have tried to sabotage the building!"

GM The three men looked at each other. They were scared, sure. Panicked, even. But they weren't sure that dropping their weapons was any safer than keeping them in their hands. They looked at each other. They looked at the Scarab. They looked at the last faint glow that Yasser had left behind. They looked at each other again. "<Remember Ahmed? When he tested it?>" "<Remember? I had to mop up the mess....>" With memories activated and evidence mounting, fanatic loyalties melted. Three daka guns dropped to the floor, and they all ran from the building as fast as possible...

GM As knowledgeable as the Dust Devil was, the statues contorting around the archway were beyond his comprehension. He had the feeling that if he studied them too long, they would be beyond his sanity, too. They were not meant for human eyes. And even the Lemurian riders seemed to register disgust - even fear - at the ghastly scultpures. They pointed their spears into the temple, but seemed to prefer bringing up the rear. They were afraid. Although, to their credit, they mastered their fear, and moved as silently as one could have hoped for. The stone underneath wobbled at times, and the place echoed as they entered. It was a little dusty, and despite the blazing sunshine, the light was dim - beams of dusted light peppered the interior of the temple, seeping in almost languidly through the cracks in the stones. Venomax was about to step forward when he spotted it. A trap! A suspiciously discoloured stone on the floor, an inch from his about to descend boot. And to either side, suspicious holes in the walls...ready to fire a stream of poison darts that would make Mr. Sting lament his absence even more!

GM And so... The Gas Man departed, muttering under his breath about back stabbers and people who stabbed backs. He wasn't a genius, but he was cunning enough to know when to cut his losses. Finnigan was marched off to special circusmtance jail, and both doctors and occultists went to studying him. He was a curious case, for sure - his danger seemed to lie in his infectious nature rather than strength. It was therefore deemed that regular prisons were not well suited to him. Instead, he was eventually handed over to the arcane heroes of Freedom City to set up what they could. He refused to be "Cured", for that would mean his death, and nobody was much inclined to do that. Instead, he rotted - literally rather than figutively - in the most humane cage they could conjure (again, literally conjure rather than figuratively) up. Trumble street continued to decay. It was not much improved by Finnigan's absence. Perhaps it was even a little worse. But at least the pick pocketing around that area dropped off considerably. But not completely. For there were still thieves around. With orange hair. And green hair. But Justice never sleeps! ~ Fin ~

So noted!

Snakebite "<You have been honest with us, and I can only be honest with you>" said Snakebite, slowly and with a twing of shame. "<We are historians, archeaologists. We seek to understand and bring the history to the present. It is..well...perhaps we are tainted with pride and vanity...>" she said, head bowed. "<But we seek no harm. We have found that temple, and...we found...Paruma....>" "<We do not understand fully what happened. But...I think they used human sacrifice to appease the beasts below this world. And we think one of those sacrifices went very wrong....>" "<I do not know, but I think the only way the world can be saved from Paruma is by the ritual done correctly....>"

Unfortunately this is dim and obscure, so know arcane wont be high enough. So noted on stealth! @Exaccusif you could throw stealth that would be spiffy! (and anything else you wish to do!)

GM Yasser fizzed, and Yasser sparked. It was a cacophony of fizzing and sparking, and - with the addition of sonic power, a most cacophonic cacophy. Three of Yassers henchmen, armed with Dara-rifles, came tumbing into the room. One look at their faces was enough to indicate they were already having second thoughts. There was a moment of sweat on brow, a moment of breath held most tightly...for one horrible moment it looked like the most might of explosions might level Cairo. Or even beyond. Pop! It was the most impressive on anti-climaxes. Bar the sound, and a few sparks on the ground, Yasser had plain dissapeared from sight. Quite possibly, he had dissapeared from the universe. "Where did he go? What did you do? Who are you?" came the bubble of angry and scared questions from Yasser's henchmen.

You may wish to roll notice, search or stealth rolls proactively depending on your actions!

GM As it so happened, the Lemurians dismounted. Stealth was all very good, but not so easy riding a velociraptor (or what ever their mounts where). Lances were put to one side, and curved knives drawn. By the way they glistened, Mr. Sting would have been most interested in their chemical composition. The temple was through thick vines and trees but easy enough to get to, if laborious. Up close, it was crumbling, almost at risk of collapse. Moss and creepers filled the holes and large cracks in the grey ancient stones. All sorts of enterances might have presented themselves under the fiolage, but the most obvious one was the main archway. Up and down the entrance, small statuettes of ancient perverse Gods and Goddesses doing ancient and perverse things in some kind of spasmic dance gave an unsettling impression of just whom this temple might be dedicated too...

GM "You want to call your lawyers and sort this out?" sighed the officer at Justice and the Gas Man. "Unless one of you wants to file a complaint or something...." The Gas Man lloked sorely tempted for a moment, but bit his lip. "Not the kind of heat I want, officer" he said, curtly. Although he did point a finger at Justice. "I'll remember that little trick though, sherrif...nobody should turn their back on justice!" "So true" sighed the officer, catching the double meaning. He took out his night stick and poked Finnigan in his oh-so-visible ribs. "Come on, bones, need to get you to the medical doc. And a priest, maybe. Doubt you will make it to jail, the way you look..." "See! Throwing a diseased man to the mercy of brutes and vagabonds!" complained Finnigan to Justice. "Please! Are you servant of law or servant of justice?"

So as far as I can see both Venomax and Dust Devil unharmed, no fatigue. I cant spy any HP use either which means... Dust Devil - 3 HP - Unharmed VMX - 1 HP - Unharmed

GM "I got a reputation to protect!" demanded the Gas Man, fury building. He took a step back, looking at the camera's in the Police Station. "Hmmm....yeah...I have got a reputation to protect" he said. His voice was still angry, but softer now as he realised that a criminal record was actually pretty bad for a reputation. "I got kids to feed though!" he lied. "I need that bounty money. Good money. Easy money!" he explained. "And I had it all under control till you showed up and shot me in the back?" "You shot him in the back???" said the police officer, who was hand cuffing Finnigan. The wrists were so thin that it was arguable just how effective they were. "Yeah he shot me in the goddamn back!" said the Gas Man, a grin on his face that spied a small vengeance. "Wait....what did you say about infectious?" said the officer jolted back to what Justice had said and now rubbing his hands nervously...

GM "You ain't going to steal my catch! I'm going to make sure you...wait? You said I can have him?" bombarded the Gas Man, completely derailed from his plan of oratory. "Yeah...I mean...sure...I mean...yeah....I mean....sure yeah...yeah sure...." said a rather dazed and confused officer. This was proving too much for one day. "I cannot abide such cruel cruelty!" complained Finnigan. "Lock me up, officer! I will confess everything! Just get me away from these fiends and the barbs of free enterprise!" "Wait, you some kind of commie?" snarled the officer, feircly (and to his credit he had at least half understood Finnigan's speech). "That's right! Hail Hitler!" said Finnigan, dramatically. The officer clearly was not that smart, for outrage blinded him to the mangled politics. "You filthy commie! its into the slammer with you!" he said, angrily getting out his handcuffs. "You two can give your statements later!" he barked at Justice and the Gas Man. "What about my bounty???" demanded the Gas Man. "Shove your bounty up your...I mean...if you want to make a complaint, please fill out form 12c..." "And then you can shove the form up your...." he muttered under his breath. "I ain't standin! for this...." shouted the Gas Man, fingering the grenades on his ghillie suit...

GM "WEST is more than two people!" she said, correcting Delta. "Fifty or so of us, around the world. Freedom City has two people stationed here, just to deal with local anomalies. But, you know, this is Freedom City. It could do with double that" she said, frowning. "I got a car waiting outside. And, yeah, its just a car. No flashing blue lights. Doesn't fly, or turn into a submarine" she said. "We got certain priviledges, our technical know how, computers, scanners...." she explained. "If it's all the same to you, I would rather drive" she said, gulping. "I mean, rather than fly or take a trans dimensional hop or whatever you can do" she blustered. "Its Sunday, the traffic is good, and...well....I don't want to throw up on your cape or something...."

Ronin "Calm down" replied Curtis, bluntly, to the vexed man in front of him. "Everybody, Calm down!" he said, loudly, to the queue. He had been in tense situations before, over in Iraq. This can get out of hand, and out of hand quickly... Still, nobody calmed down by being told to calm down. Unless they really felt they needed to calm down. "Anybody here don't calm down, anybody here starts swingin', Ill damn well put them down. I ain't gonna see a Riot on Nancy Street" he said, firm. He had respect round here, and most folks new that if Ronin / Curtis wanted to put someone down, they were going down. "I'm gonna find out what the Shuck happened" he added. Although quite how he would do that, well, that was another question. He marched up to the front of the queue to speak to the pharmacist. "Hey man, what the hell happened? Did your printer swallow a bottle of crazy pills?"

GM "ASTRO labs?" said Lulu, rather shocked, but not surprised. "I thought we kept a close eye on them...but..." she took the WEST scanner back and squinted, poring over the data. "I...guess that makes sense...the hyperquantum antidistortion splitting certainly fits...." she mumbled, half-understanding. "Sooner sounds good. Ah...but you should realise, WEST is well funded in a way. We have cutting edge technology, a purpose built base on Easter Island, and all sorts of well equipped staff and labs. But we are not large" she explained. "So I am afraid its just me" she said. "The other WEST agent in Freedom City is off in New Orleans right now. We have a little office next door to ASTRO labs" She was almost apologetic. "And the other issue is...we are not ASTRO labs. Our authority is...variable...." she said, more quietly. "We are the United Nations. Sure, we have diplomatic agreements of principle with the member states, but...we operate more on goodwill than actual legal power. So...we need to proceed diplomatically" she said. "Ah...that may not be in your...skill set....?" she asked, even more awkwardly, not quite meeting Delta's gaze.

Consider yourselves hot but unbothered

Also that kind of high roll will give later bonuses!

GM "Its fair" replied Lulu, handing him the WEST scanner. "WEST has only one true objective. The world has faced down danger countless times, each one a potential end. Each time, we have been saved, often by the mightiest superheroes of the world. But the united nations has decided that we need what you might call an early warning system. What if a dimensional anomaly can be nullified before an invasion from another realm? what if an outbreak of Darwin-X can be contained before it infects a whole city? or worse?" she said. "The closest analogy is the world health organisation, except WEST uses the same principles to contain exotic and dangerous natural phenomena" she explained. The readings on the WEST scanner were interesting, to say the least. And very complicated. Delta scanned through them and the esoteric pieces of the jigsaw started falling into place. There was some dimensional anomaly in Freedom City. And more interesting than that...he could place it! A laboratory in ASTRO labs. And it seemed it involved at least thirteen dimensions. Or maybe four and a half. It was that kind of anomaly...

Delta - Unharmed - 3 HP

GM "Ah...yes..." nodded Lulu. "Its...um...." She looked awkward once again. "Look, these readings are so complicated we can barely make sense of them" she conceded, a slight flush to her cheeks. "Its not like Earth is run on Dark Fusion. The closest we came to anything like this is some corrupted Daka crystals in Egypt, and that was dangerous enough" she explained. "We don't really understand what we are dealing with" She looked at Delta hopefully. "Do you understand it? I suppose you are more soldier than scientist, but you might have familiarity with the Omega technology that produces Nihilus energy?" it was perhaps a big ask, but she looked like someone both irritated at her lack of understanding, and desperate to understand. Perhaps even afraid.