Ari

Okay then. So far we're going with: Graft - Thunder King Stormbreaker- Blue Rose Vector - horngeek That seems like a darned odd crew right there.

GM The already belabored Serpent stumbed against the nearby wall, spear clattering on the ground as it fell from its claw, its armor cracked and split open by the flaming sword, with red blood beginning to flow from between its hard fingers. A faint whimpering groan escaped its hidden lips. The rest dashed forward, shrieking hisses bursting out of their concealing hoods as they sought to avenger their comrade, but again most of their fast, powerful thrusts and swings met only air. But yet again one of Yig's Children held back, letting their comrades draw Blodeuwedd into a move she couldn't easily stop herself in before lunging and striking the agent between the shoulderblades! Meanwhile, the Queen was struggling with Subito, who was desperately trying to escape for the first time. Managing to scrape free for an instant, he smashed his manacles against the stone wall with a resounding clang, only to growl furiously as they held! Laughing scornfully, the Serpent Empress dragged him further back from his schoolmates, raising the Orb and shouting "You cannot essscape usss that easssily! <Viracocha, sheathe us in your power!>" At once the struggling human and triumphant Serpent were surrounded by a wall of white-hot fire that lit up the hallway!

Okay, reaffirming this as something I aim to make happen. Going to ask AA to use his Omegadrone Mafia Man for this plot, as it would be churlish not to take advantage of such a coincidence. It's still going to be about weird super-tech smuggling of course, though with a lightly more esoteric bent than just "guns that shoot entropy" or "implosion grenades" or something. More like that episode of Superman: the Animated Series when that lackey of Darkseid handed out Apokolitan weaponry to Intergang. It will be set in Australia, around Brisbane. After an initial opening that clues each of the characters into the vague idea of the scheme individually, they come together to unravel the plot in its entirety. Mostly the thread will be problem-solving rather than strictly combat or investigation or social, although there will be times when getting word from the underworld is necessary depending on how things turn out. And Raveled, what about Ironclad? Wouldn't she be interested in super-powerful weapns technology falling into just about the worst possible hands?

DC25 Toughness save: 14. Staggered and Dazed once more. The rest do the same as last time, attacking Blodeuwedd: 24, 13, 14. One hit and two misses, the hit as before forces DC25 Toughness save. The Queen creates a wall of fire between herself and the rest(in Effect terms it's an Area Damage trigged by another character approaching her). Subito tries to break free of his bonds, Attacking the manacles for a DC20 Toughness save: 20. Nope. Round 3 Tsunami: Unharmed, 2HP Blodeuwedd: Unharmed, 2HP Serpents(x5): Bruise(1x1), Dazed(1), Staggered(1x1), Unharmed(x4)-GM

DC25 Toughness save: 13. Failed by twelve, Staggered and Dazed.

This was turning dramatically for the worse, Wave-Eye thought as the flash of heat and swirl of water announced the next blast of pain. It cut through his hard, scaly skin as well as most things seemed to in this new age. 'Would that this were yet the days of forged metal, and I could claim that weapon as my own' the triton thought as the world refocused and he unbent from the coil of agony he'd briefly assumed 'If I give chase though...wait! Why do I not try that? Fool that I am!' his tail lashed as he darted away from the expanding cloud of sediment, black eyes questing for the mysterious beast in blue...and finding nothing. His needle teeth slammed together with a clash like scraping files "Of course ye have hid." And something very chaotic was going on above, most likely that squid wreaking havoc. The night was definitely going downslope now.

"Take heart my friend, take heart. He of all people would shun false piety." Marceau answered soothingly, patting the ancient painter on the back and doing his best not to grin(too widely at least). Wiping away some of the more enduring bits of illusory makeup, he nodded in agreement with René, commenting "At the least, we will not alert our quarr-grg...the possessoress on sight. I have often wanted to go dancing with people my own age too" he added, a note of wistfulness in his eyes and voice. It was frequent, albeit cold consolation that he had given up so much of a normal life for the one he had now. One of lung-shredding chases, horrible revelations and bitter ends to countless stories. But René had sacrificed a great deal more, and he never complained. Turning to the Detective he made a slight bow "If you would lead the way, Mz. Cooper!"

Roi started at Agnes' question, glancing over his shoulder with a speed that would have badly damaged their little ruse if anyone had been there to see them. In a whisper he answered, hurriedly and with as little fear as he could "We are being followed. The police trailed us to this ship." Leaving it at that(and really, what more was there to say on the matter?) he quickened the pace just a little until they reached the captain's quarters, at which he called with a mixture of loud knocks and a slurred "Bonsoir, captain Felixsh! Are you in?" hoping and praying there would be no answer. At least if the captain was too asleep to awaken, for all that was unlikely, or was away, then their work would be that much simpler. Simplicity was something that would have come quite in handy right then.

GM The front door crashed inward, admitting a fresh wave of hot air and a lean woman carrying a heavy backpack, who removed a pair of sunglasses, glanced around the coffee house, lighted on the three and marched over to their table. Dropping the backpack beside them, she dragged over a chair and plunked it down, giving the trio a brisk smile as she sat and surveyed them curiously "Good day-well, end of the day, I suppose. Rojas, Doctor of Early European History. You may call me 'Tia', if you like" she said, her rough, kindly voice heavily accented. Tia had been young long ago, but the dark, leathery skin, graying hair and dark eyes in a perpetual squint from being in the glaring sun for decades signified years spent in action, and her lean frame had a wiry strength to it. Looking at Kimber's parasol with slight amusement she added "I'm afraid I don't know much about any of you, but you have come to help, right? I will not pry. Tell me" her smiling face turned grave "what does this...problem sound like to you? Could something from the realm of shadows have taken the Ring?" her question was asked with a low tone, despite the cheerful buzz of conversation in the coffee house easily keeping their own talk private.

Snorting at Net Fly's joke, Osprey let himself pitch forward, just for a second. In that moment his cape swished forward and obscured the arm that had come off much the worse in the impromptu electrocution therapy, just for a second. But that was more than long enough. He'd done this before, Alden had been dealing with this kind of threat and challenge, and as part of the premier British team he was more than capable here. In a flash of movement he hurled himself to the side, cape rushing upwards like two vast wings. throwing a weighted snare line that whizzed and hummed through the air! To his frustration though his arm had twinged and burned just as the line left his fingers, sending the weapon crashing into the wall with a metallic crash, the robber barely needing to duck. "Aren't you lucky?" he asked drily.

Using the Snare on the one Net Fly hasn't taken down, Power Attacking(-2 Attack, +2DC): 14. Miss. Moving to block him from escaping as well.

Leading the way back onto the field, they were soon once again in the crush of the multi-family picnic. Much to Subito's relief, there was only one major disaster on the search for his parents. "Hey 'Bito!" one of his burlier cousins shouted over the din, grinning slyly "Didn't see you or the girl at the parking lot, one last thing you wanted to do before you died?" he asked with undisguised glee, a general rumble of laughter following in its wake from the various friends and relations nearby. Rolling his eyes, Subito called back "Nope, Franceso! We're actually superheroes, just returned from changing into our secret identities! I'm Geckoman, she's Daedalus" he added with a casual thumb over the shoulder to Cerys. Franceso and the rest roared with merriment at the idea, though Subito, thanks to his empowered hearing distinctly heard one of the older men say dourly <"Pfah, young kids, always so eager to find out how each others' bodies work, always so embarrassed they never admit it!"> At last they found Pavor and Broma, who had gone back to the beach and looked up at the duo's approach. Broma smiled "Nice work, I'd suggest you be less quick to forgive those things however, no telling what they might do." "Yeah, I know. But at least this time it was being honest" her son replied as he sat down "So...what's up first?" "The food" said Pavor, closing his eyes like one enjoying exquisite music. Five minutes later "Thish ish our national shpeshalty!" roared the man with the enormous mane of black hair, somehow yelling at the top of his lungs without disturbing the food in his mouth "Eat up, my boy!" The young paragon stared at the laden table "Ten...times ten different kinds o' tacos?" he almost looked afraid at the sight of so much food. "Quite sho!" He looked very reflective "Oh-kay then. Didn't know we did tacos, actually. I thought that was kinda more Mexico's thing. Oh well, viva libertad!" "Viva libertad!" came the answering shout from the rest of the excited diners. There were few days like it, and it was just beginning.

Heraldo's face fell a little when his fellow spirit-bearer explained that the otherworldly space was so limited, but nodded at her suggestion. "An excellent plan. I'll hang back and let you do the talking! I probably would just try to punch her after a couple of words" he admitted sheepishly "and that wouldn't get us anywhere good." Again, the fact that their enemy was hiding behind a child cut somewhere deep within him. The word 'coward' seemed to fit pretty well, though Subito knew Malaise had little enough concern for what others thought of her. Rising into the air and turning to go the colorful paragon paused, and glancing back added "I'd like to hear more about that 'thought sphere' thing, sounds rather interesting given how similar our patrons are in a lot of ways. As we go, 'course!"

Added entries of Vector and Stronghold, removed Amelyth, Fulcrum, Gloaming and Jubatus due to their being put in the character archives.

Notice roll: 13.

GM The mutagen was at last contained, and after Starlight hauled the water surrounding it and Asad to the storage tanks mounted on the AEGIS boatplane, the rest of the mission was downright breezy by comparison. The crew of the East that had been rounded up were kept on the ship by Protonik to await the Russian Navy, who escorted them home so iron-faced men could find out how they had gotten involved with the superhuman terrorist. After the exchange of pleasantries and a cursory search of the base followed by its demolition, the boatplane soared back to America, sliding into the hidden hanger bay near Lonely Point and depositing the heroes and agents before a very stern looking Director Powers. It was almost twelve hours since they had departed. "Not bad." he said tersely, watching as the storage tanks were removed with considerable care by hazmat-suited technicians, and wheeled away through a well-armored door "as always, consider how you can prevent-ah" the man's demeanor softened and he almost(not quite) smiled "forgot you weren't one of my own. Anyway, I'm sure you'll have a lot of questions, but I'm afraid I can't answer any of them right now. Got to get 'Mister Motley' here to a holding cell pending his trial, and make sure that stuff gets destroyed to the last drop. There are enough ways of getting powers in this world without keeping that wildcard of a formula around, and the antidotes can be modified for almost any variant as it is. It's a poisoned sword." He offered a hand with a sudden, lightning-quick movement, shaking theirs rapidly with a steely grip that even the super-strong felt "Thanks for your help. AEGIS doesn't work with supers much, and I've heard there are some hard words said, especially about our founder. Now then" he outright grinned "I have a...premonition the press will want to hear about this tomorrow. Get some rest, you've earned it. You too agents," he added with a sharp glare from his one eye at the crew watching the display from nearby with undisguised amusement "to the Iceberg! You're still on-duty, and we've got to figure out how this ties in with the rest of this year's moves! Dismissed!" With that and a nod, the Director vanished into the complex, followed by a mute Mallory and two guards. The trip back into the city and to their respective homes was a relief. Everything had worked out resoundingly well, Mister Motley was no longer at large, every known liter of Proteus would soon be gone from the Earth, and their part in it would be known. A rare thing. Not everyone would be happy, but at least today that included Overthrow. THE END.

I volunteer as GM. And horngeek, never fear about Game Mastering even if you don't think you're much good, nobody got good by not trying.

Flinching as the current slammed through him, Subito glared at Lady Shen as she struck his brainiac buddy with some kind of nerve-trauma, vitriol logjamming his brain as it tried to escape on his tongue...and closed his opened mouth firmly, setting it in a grim line. His bravado had been meant to goad Shen into setting the tougher students on them from the start so they wouldn't get worn down. He hadn't counted on Serge taking it as the cue for defiance. 'Can't let this get out of hand! Gotta try and get him to stop' Jumping in front of Serge he held out his arms, looking the woman in the eye "Alright, fine. You've made your point Lady Shen, I'm sorry for running my mouth off like that and I'm sure Serge was just nervous and scared like me. We'll cooperate. Right Surge? We're not gonna endanger our pal like this, it won't help her or us or anyone!"

OOC thread for thread. Adventures in Spain!

GM November 11, Monday, 4.50PM the city of Algeciras, Cadiz province, Spain Algeciras is easily one of the world's busiest ports. Connecting the shipping of Africa, the Americas and Europe meant the city was a hive of activity, and the three newcomers from America had seen plenty of evidence of that just from the plane. Down on the streets that feeling was compounded. The air rang with voices from a dozen nations, the roads hummed with traffic racing across the metropolis, and along with the sharp smell of the sea were the deep scents of petrol, metal and lots and lots of cheerfully sweaty people strolling, jogging, running and generally moving on the long trek of their lives. The coffee house Corbin's contact, an archaeologist with an at least cursory knowledge of the arcane world, had asked to meet them in was hardly a respite. It buzzed with the chatter of its patrons, the strong, thick coffees made every breath aromatic and the intricate carvings that passed over every corner of the ceiling, the myriad of pictures and beautiful sea view from the windows ensuring that if you bored of the people, the place could still entertain. It had been only around ten minutes since Tia Rojas had been late, and the minutes flew by regardless of what she was here to tell them. Cobalt Templar was always on the search for the rest of the Seven Rings of antiquity, in part to make sure they found worthy bearers in the present, and that nobody would abuse their power. Tia had heard rumors that something uncannily like the Indigo Ring had just appeared in Spain, somewhere in southern Iberia. Its wielder was impossible to make out, a patch of inky darkness that vanished into the night it never dared leave, leaving behind people stricken with lost memories only able to recall a flash of purple light. Thus, the presence of his former team mates Indira Singh(Wraith, of the shapeshifting metal species Kinigosi), and Kimber Storm(Ghost Girl, world's happiest poltergeist). Whatever this new bearer was about, it was hard to look at favorably.

Sense Motive: 13. In fairness to him, being electrocuted makes it hard to concentrate.

DC22 Fortitude save: 28.

Regarding the wall of impassive faces, Subito thought a cold mist of unreality settled over the world. But the Sun shone on, the trees waved gently and the air was still fragrant. There were birds whistling in the forest far away. This really was a foreign country. The word 'alien' suddenly felt rather fitting, misused though it had been for so long. "It's cool Giang, doubt they'll hurt us so early on, that'd just be crazy. and nobody who voluntarily works for an immortal weirdo whose sole contribution to the world is pain and death would ever be crazy" he said brightly, adding "I'll go first. See what these jokers can do." Stepping forward, the muscular boy settled into a loose boxing stance roughly at the center of the impromptu ring, smiling brazenly with a confidence he could sort of feel "Gimme a good one, Lady Shen!" He wouldn't transform yet, give it time, work out a strategy first.

That misses. Blodeuwedd is up.

Round 2 Tsunami: Unharmed, 2HP Blodeuwedd: Unharmed, 2HP Serpents(x5): Bruise(1x1), Dazed(1), Unharmed(x4)-GM