Ari

Round 1. Warp: Unharmed, 1HP Mage: Unharmed-GM Dealer: Unharmed-GM El Heraldo: Unharmed, 4HP Take it away, Freely.

Heraldo landed next to Warp, looked over the gathering and nodded. "Sure. I can do that." he said quietly, then launched off and slammed down onto the parking lot with an explosion of snow and golden smoke. Emerging out of it, the patriotic paragon began walking towards the assembled criminals, pointing at them with the Banner and shouting "It's over! You're not getting your hands on those weapons! Surrender, or I'll beat every one of you into the ground!" The would-be buyers looked at the new arrival, all of them too stunned for a moment to do or say anything. Then seven of them turned and dashed away towards an alley, yelling at each other as they ran to make sure that all the wards would be set up in time. One of the women half-turned, fingers glowing...then she thought better of it and followed the others. The parking lot was soon empty besides one of the bundled-up women and the driver, who jumped out of the truck and started walking towards El Heraldo, a gun over his shoulder and blood in his eye.

Mass Intimidate roll to try and get them to flee: 22. -5. DC17 Will save for the lot of them. Two make it. The rest flee. The dealer and one of the women stand and fight. Initiative time. Their rolls: Dealer gets 15. Das Mage gets 20. Heraldo gets 11. What a surprise. Warp's roll, please.

Alright! GM post coming up. EDIT: Also, all damage and Fatigue conditions healed by time.

GM The cavalcade of crystalline carbon hissed through the air, missing the enormous assassin by inches, but it was enough. With a hollow roar the shadowy beast turned on its massive tail and slid straight out of the world, vanishing through a narrow crack in the sky that oozed darkness, and snapped shut behind it. The Freedonians below applauded cheerfully, calling out congratulations to the two heroes, even Grace had wandered out onto her front lawn, shading her eyes from the pale winter sun and watching them approvingly. An ambulance was pulled up in her driveway, with the hooded figure of Apep's Hand being hauled into it on a gurney.

"Wow! A secret mission? That's badass!" Subito cried gleefully, his voice ringing out over the cafeteria with cheerful abandon, drawing several irritated glances from a nearby table of other students, who rolled their eyes and went back to their much more subdued conversation. Not paying them the least mind, Subito nodded vigorously in understanding at Mali's words "I totally get ya! Secret mission, can't tell anyone 'bout it so it doesn't get screwed up by people like me." he laughed heartily and took a bite of his meatloaf, chewing powerfully and looking again at Mali, this time with admiration. 'Geez, she doesn't have any powers, and she's on a team! Wonder how badass the others are? Complaining, Herald? Heh, nah' "So, doubt I'll be much good for talking about stuff like your secret mission, so let's talk about other stuff. What's your favorite color, and why?" the powerfully-built boy asked the muscular girl intensely, pointing at her with his laden fork.

Taking the cigarette gratefully and taking a long drag from it, Roi blew a spiral of smoke towards the ceiling with a smile of relief. The tobacco began to kick in, and the smokey room became a far more relaxing place. Besides the Mafia man nearby, of course. Spinning the cards one by one into a full deck, he said quietly, gaze intent on his busywork "A made man, hm? That is what they call his kind here...like what they are named in France, filled with meaning." Taking another drag on the cigarette he glanced back at Agnes "What does he use, a blowgun? Grand pianos falling from the window? Perhaps..." he struggled briefly and failed to appear nonchalant as he said it "...playing cards?"

GM Within the room, the wisps were continuing their revolution about the roof. The giant spirits seemed unmoved by the death of the two clones, if indeed they even noticed. The clone gradually shook himself awake, clutching his head in pain for a moment before looking up at the face with glowing green eyes. He blinked and glanced further up, at the helmeted form. Looking back at Blodeuwedd he answered promptly in a monotonic parody of John "I must answer. Make new weapons. Things that can defeat the Overfather's machines. Magic guiding science." it looked again from Blodeuwedd to Myrmidon and back "Transport is not an issue. The corpses were to bear them in death as in life. Send them through the tunnels to meet their tombs of titanium and orichalcum" he made to stand up, and sat back down when the waves of pain thudded through his head. "You are not from the Overfather. You are from above? We wish for allies, we can help each other. The people we took, their minds cannot be touched by the Doctor's cybernetics and mechanical augmentation." the clone offered, sounding almost hopeful. With a twist of his face the clone added "The African boy was an aberration. An unclean soul, like all his race."

GM With the Afanc shoving from the stern and the faeries pulling at the oars, the majestic and inhumanly decorated barge sailed gracefully across the wavering and misty water of the Llyn Brenig, soon arriving at the shore, where the Order agents had gathered around a table playing dominoes with some immensely bored-looking soldiers of the Queen. At their landing, the soldiers took one look at their largely unconscious monarch and surrendered, quickly clapped in(literal) irons by the Order agents and placed on the boat. The other agents collected the shards of the great cauldron while Nisien placed a geas on the entire group of Otherworlders never to return to the lake, and had the Queen swear on copper to remain in her own lands. The fairy Queen was mostly silent as Nisien spoke, until the parts of the ornate oath where she had to repeat his words, but she looked with eyes like blue daggers at the two teenagers who had led to the ruin of her plan. As the boat lifted up on a river like silver and flew elegantly through the sky of the Otherworld, Nisien and the other mages of the Order chanted the counterspell, and the mist and vague splendor of the land of the Twylyth Teg faded to be replaced by the solidity of their world. Blodeuwedd turned out to be quite correct, as the shackles and collar dissipated into mist as they returned to Earth. Supervisor shook both their hands and beamed like the Sun, saying "Well done, agent Blodeuwedd! And Mr. Sondo, of course. A threat has been dealt with, and no further trouble should come from that Queen so long as nobody strays into her realm." he frowned thoughtfully and glanced at the young swordswoman "We may need to look into her further at a later date. Be ready, agent. Mr. Sondo, we will be glad to have your assistance in the future! Please feel free to bring him with you next time we call you home, agent, the Taid does like to meet new members of the family." he winked almost imperceptibly at Subito, and far more subtly at Blodeuwedd. "Now then, what would you like before you depart, my young comrades? Anything at all." the spectacled man smiled with real warmth at both of them.

GM Warp's eyes easily picked out the would-be customers. Five young men, only about eight years older at the most than her and all wearing long coats, were lounging around a dull red Chevrolet, talking casually about the Heroes' showing in the Superbowl with three young women in light winter wear. None of them took their eyes off the others as they smiled politely, and none of them removed their hands from their right hips. The street was largely empty, with most people inside the nearby shops(comic store, diner, pet store, book and barber shop) or quickly leaving in their cars for the drive back home. After around ten minutes of waiting, just before Heraldo reached her, a small freight truck came cruising serenely up through the snow-lined street, with Dodson's Trucking Co. on the side in warm yellow letters. At the sight of it, all of them slowly got into a small knot and watched the truck rumble into the parking lot, and grind to a halt.

GM "To the coast of Russia, as a matter of fact" Harry Powers said briskly, pointing the remote over his shoulder and tapping the large green button. The schematic of the ship moved to the forefront, with the name 'EAST' appearing next to it. Walking rapidly to the head of the table, Powers politely saw the others seated before himself, beginning at once. "AEGIS agents operating in Russia recently learned that the man responsible for the 'Proteus Incident'" Harry mirthlessly made finger-quotes at the phrase "a man named Kenneth Malory with an unsavory history with power-making drugs, had been seen on the east coast. He was spotted in a fairly decent disguise boarding the Russian freight ship East bound for Panama. The ship was going to be intercepted, until it started dropping off the radar just a few miles out to sea. It took us a week, but we found him at last:" the 'camera' zoomed out at a tap of the green button, revealing a satellite image showing a narrow grey ship, and something huge, square and black underneath it in the shallow blue-gray sea. The square block lifted up and became a cutaway showing a spacious undersea base "Apparently the good dealer has decided to hide out down there for a bit, and lead us on a pointless chase. The base used to belong to the Russian government during the Soviet era, an abortive attempt to study life underwater in case of a nuclear war" Powers glanced at the others and shrugged "It was closed back in 1981, and remained empty for a few decades..before Overthrow moved in." Leaning on the table he said crisply "He had several gallons of that stuff with him that brought the city to its knees, and since it was a lab, bound to have some infrastructure left to support experiments. Odds are good there's more than a few supers with him by now. More than we can handle."

Feel free to roll again next round Glow, if Rapids withstands this. And that attack hits. DC17 Fortitude save: 18. No TOU drained. DC22 TOU save: 22. What. Okay, Round 4. Glow: Bruise(x1), 1HP Rapidsfire: Bruise(x1), Dazed, Staggered-GM Warp: Unharmed, 0HP Glow's up!

On second thought, Fiating that it turns tail and runs. Out of rounds. Sorry this dragged on so long Russoboo.

Out of rounds, should have said so a week ago. Oh well. Anyway, DC15 Notice rolls please! Heraldo's: 9. Nope.

GM "It will be as you request, Mr. Smith" Zandar said "Whatever our guests know about those scaly folk will be yours as well. As for us, we know only that they are scaly, vicious, have a poisonous bite, and a few of them have some kind of mystical power over darkness. We have heard rumors before that they could make themselves appear as our kind, but gave it no credence. And now, to prepare for your journey." the muscular jungle lord then vanished out of the hut to see about the gathering of supplies, leaving the Incas and the Romans to give the teens whatever information they knew to the interpreters, who repeated it in hushed whispers, Korzeel making sure that nobody drifted too close to the meeting. As it turned out, both groups knew a great deal: the Serpent People were numerous(less so after the recent wars) and lived throughout the northern, swampy reaches of the vast jungle near a large river delta, though they drifted often as they lived in a loose confederation of tribes ruled by magicians of great skill, if not power. They seemed to have some power over the minds of animals, especially reptiles, were inhumanly brutal fighters with their crude weapons, and mostly of sub-human intelligence besides their rulers. The Romans knew that they didn't have any kind of trade system, hierarchy, or social structure that they could observe, and the Viracochasuyuns weren't too sure they had ever possessed the art of writing. Crude and shapeless idols had been found scattered throughout the jungle, most of them horribly dangerous and painful to touch and daubed with vivid paint, but nobody knew what it could be that they worshiped, or why. "None have any memory of those creatures not dwelling here, and the gods themselves cannot tell us" the Roman leader commented ruefully "Wherever they are from, they might once have ruled this world." "Perhaps they have " It took only a few more hours before supplies were gathered for the speedy trip to the capitals, the Incas teaching the Claremont students a few key phrases to use in their land, and giving them a small tablet granting them safe passage through the land of the Sun to the Inca. The Romans were heartened to learn that Subito knew Latin, though they thought his pronunciation and sentence structure absolutely abysmal. They handed over a scroll that also gave the four teenagers freedom to move about the new empire, and see the Princeps. A quick night's sleep was permitted, and the next day dawned fresh, bright and festooned with a lovely mist. After well-wishes and warm hugs were given freely by the undaunted jungle people, the four were sent due east, to take the high Inca road to Viracochasuyu. "I do not know you as you do," Zandar said, leaning on his spear "so I cannot choose your leader. I will send word to your Headmaster of what has happened. Do as you think best, refrain from harming any animal who does not first attack you or another, and..." he looked deep into their eyes, his own like glowing coals "take nothing that is not freely given to you. Farewell, and bat those rapscallions about the head for me!" he called after them, waving beside Korzeel until the four were gone in the jungle. The going was not as tiresome as it could have been, though the fallen trees, frequent streams and seemingly random boulders with eyes carved upon them did their best to slow the trek. As they walked in the warm forest, they each had the feeling that they were being watched...

Don't forget about the Dazzle, Tiff! A Fortitude save each round against the same Difficulty Class as the attack's, with a +1 bonus each round the attempt to get rid of it is made. Layering onto the current Snare with another, bringing its Toughness bonus up to +9, I believe. Moving closer to Gallia, continuing their spirited and engaging conversation.

With a buzz and rustle of airborne metal, more coils zipped through the air and wound tightly about Gallia's hostess, clenching at her arms and legs like a white, red and silvery serpents. Their thrower was by now looking deeply unnerved, and walking closer to the possessed woman asked <"So then, what is your plan to escape this fate? Can we help you live on in some way that eradicates less free will? Do you want our help, Gallia? Is this just a last, desperate attempt to take revenge on someone you see as unjust?"> he almost gestured to René with his lean arm, only to stop when he recalled that the woman was blinded. Standing ready to leap aside should she break free, the costumed young man said, feeling a little defensive <"You haven't done very much to engender sympathy, spirit. Pity yes, but not sympathy.">

No, Readying is a Standard action that lets you take what would be a Move or Standard action and make it a Reaction. It's Warp's turn, apologies for not being clear.

Frjwkjvjldfj. Apologies Tiff, I meant to and forgot. Again. Through the goggles Bloseuwedd can see three giant ghostly forms crouching in the air and looking down. They are dressed in the height of medieval royal finery, and don't look too happy with their situation.

The melancholy song drifted through the smokey air and sank deeply into Roi, though it didn't sink as deeply as it seemed to want. He smiled faintly "So I have heard! The musicians and singers in France, they pour out their very souls into every note, their life into a single song!" he glanced at the Queen of Hearts, who looked at the verge of tears "I have heard only your normal speech, and I agree with them already. Heaven wishes it could call as sweetly as you." He suddenly closed his eyes, ran a finger across his forehead and said crisply "Apologies, miss. What can you tell me about that man over there?" he asked, gesturing discreetly to Hatchet "He seems...to be of an underhanded nature." he said 'underhanded' with a scowl and a slight grimace, though he didn't so much as turn his head to look.

They can't make that! They drop like anything. Post away.

Meeting Kat's gaze with difficulty, her schoolmate nearly winced as she asked rhetorically if he ever thought before he spoke. 'Yeah, this is taking a horrible turn, let's get this over with and quit treating this like a pseudo-date' Aloud he said "Not exactly a lotta people say I'm charming" he rolled his eyes "Usually I just never say stuff like that" he looked away and was quiet for a moment before gesturing towards the tall, grassy and tree-lined street divide. "Pretty much exactly thataway. The parking lot is between a barbershop and a brick grocery store." Pulling his hat further over his head he added "I'll see ya in a bit. Don't let me off so easy if I ever do that again." and walked on.

"They're not goin' for it, Blodeu!" Subito said cheerfully as he jumped into the stumbling guard, swinging his damp arms around the man with a powerful grip. Lifting the Fey over his head, he threw the soldier with a grunt of effort clean off the ship, crashing into the water with a spray of lakewater! Dashing over to the side, he watched the Fey get snatched up in the jaws of the Afanc, who then began cruising towards the distant shoreline. Pumping a fist in the air he turned gleefully to Cerys, all but jumping over to her and clapping her on the back "That was badass, Cerys! Now what do we do?" he glanced around at the Fey lying and groaning in pain on the ship, rubbing the back of his wet head with a pained wince "We just...take ' em to Medraut an' let him deal with these jokers?" he shrugged and then narrowed his eyes, tugging at the collar around his neck. Pointing at it the stocky Puerto Rican asked "Uh...could ya get this thing off Blodeu? It's really uncomfortable."

GM Dyrnwin dropped with a simple *thunk* into the wooden deck of the Fey barge. The laugh of triumph from the guard who had knocked it from her grip was cut short as Blodeuwedd startled him and, with a swift movement drove the wind clean out of his lungs, dropping him to the deck with a clatter of his ornate armor. His comrade leaped forward with a snarl and a vicious thrust of his lance at the agent, who dodged the attack with tremendous ease and sent him stumbling on. By now the few attendants not carrying weapons were vanishing over the sides with nary a ripple, swimming as fast as they could for the castle.

GM The keypad's electronics were crude, but still delicate enough that tampering was a dangerous thing to try. Just when it seemed like the current was about to be tripped, right when it seemed about to have gone just too long..the door opened to the sides with a whirr of its gears and pulleys, revealing a dark gray and narrow corridor lit by bright yellow lights branching off at diagonals into other passageways. In the distance, the sounds of the distraction team became suddenly very, very audible. Blistering hails of laser blasts, electric jolts and miniature gales roaring far out of view. From without, the faint sounds of rushing booted feet and shouts of orders drifted to the ears of the two heroes, their confined origin making it impossible to determine their true origin.