Ari

Heraldo can't be pretty, but being annoying is what he does anyway, so that's all good. That and someone like Glow having a foe like this guy is certainly interesting, and it's nice for younger characters to deal with at least kind of sophisticated villains sometimes. Also? I WISH I could think up simple, practical obstacles like that.

Subito leaped down heavily just after the heavily-pierced archer girl from another world, echoing Tona's words "Let's go, senóritas! Justa few minutes of work, and we can get on with the good times! Starry skies, hikin' in the woods, campfire songs, we got great days ahead!" he sang out happily, laden down with three tent bags carried under his arms, a small backpack holding several changes of clothes(few of them suited to the weather), a stack of books each of which were thicker than his head, and various camping odds and ends that hadn't fit in any of the other bags. He had on his usual white t-shirt and jeans with baseball cap jammed down over his thick black curls and battered running shoes, though for this occasion he had donned a simple red and green flannel shirt that had lost most of its buttons, which gave him a vaguely lumberjack-like look. He had assisted in the dragging along of Cerys, regaling the withdrawn Welsh girl with tales of the presumed monsters, secret places of power, and the endless mysteries the forest reputedly held as they drove deeper into its reddening trees. He listened to the rustling and creeping sounds around them, the quick steps of birds and rabbits quickly drawing his eyes to where he guessed they were. He sighed contentedly, declared "This..this is gonna be awesome" hoisting the bags and carrying them to the clearing where they were setting up camp. He got to work with will, humming cheerily to himself as the stakes were pounded in, the lines were threaded through their maddeningly narrow channels in the tents and knotted deftly. Testing the last of the ropes with a sharp tug, Subito got to his feet and noticed Elias heading off into the woods with the hatchet 'Huh, guess he's going for firewood. Maybe I oughta go with...' a quick look-around for their faculty chaperone, a casual "Hey, Mr. Landis? I'm gonna be with El, be right back!" and he jogged after the reserved psychic. Falling step with the other boy he said cheerfully "So, what're we lookin' for?"

Pretty much that, yes.

Subito looked deeply chagrined "Alright, I'll take your word for it. Sorry 'bout that," he added ruefully "that was an overreaction. I wasn't totally sure if you were makin' fun or not, is the thing. I'll borrow Cerys' Chessboard goggles next time, so I can see your smile's ghost. As for the weaving around subjects," he went on more thoughtfully, and less sullenly, pushing back his baseball cap emblazoned with the Freedom City Heroes' logo, ignoring the often unfavorable looks directed at him as he spoke "A lot of the time it's just because what they don't wanna talk about is too painful and difficult to say, like tellin' folks something shameful or evil you've done. If you just come out and say it, sure you won't be hiding something anymore and might get kindness and forgiveness, but it also might do them or someone else more harm than good to tell, and that chance some people just won't take. Or it could be they don't want to get into arguments or discussions that will just make things more bitter and difficult, and don't know how to find a way through the verbal minefield." He followed Elias' gaze as the leaner boy inspected the surrounding rush of Freedonians. He wasn't a native of the city, but he had lived in it for so long it felt like home to him, and only the distant and deep memory of rustle and bustle of people living even tighter together than here, of song and driving music reminded him of his real home. The powerfully-built teen laughed outright at the errant New Freedonian's analogy ""Mind like an ocean"? Dude, that's a great description! You should take up poetry, I bet you'd love it." he sobered abruptly, looking curiously at Elias "How do you mean, El? Y'mean showing me might do something to my head, or what?"

The King of Suits failed to see or hear the super-quick arrival of his frequent associate, his eyes being busily engaged with squinting at the minutest details possessed by the gleaming metal sphere emitting the bizarre field that was the cause of so many woes. His ears failed him on account of the brays, roars, screams and chatterings that filled the air around him in nearly every direction and masked the rapping of Jubatus' claws on the tarmac. His efforts to untangle the mystery of what it was doing had been defied by both its innards being locked behind the nigh-featureless exterior, and the fact that it didn't seem to be following any design or emission laws he knew of that had to do with energy fields. That and he had little idea how such things worked in any case. The soft vibrations he felt through the screws clasping the austere shield to the body instantly drew his attention, however, and with a deft twist of some tools he kept in his belt, he removed the sleek mask and, after a moment's careful examination of the humming machinery before him, neatly disconnected the power supply from where it fed into the slim emitter with a single tap from his screwdriver. Looking up his eyes were rewarded with the sight of the field dissipated into the air in thin shreds that twisted like wriggling, dying snakes before collapsing entirely with an anticlimactic *whump*. Scooping the device into a loose pouch on his belt, the young man rose to his booted feet hastily enough that he nearly lost his balance while looking eagerly for the Freedonians that he expected would even now be returning to their true forms. 'I am sure they will be deeply glad to shed those animal sk-wait. What about their clothes?!' he looked suddenly horrified, and hoped fervently that the reversal of the involuntary altering of bodies would be slow enough for them to get back into their old clothing, or else he would never be able to forgive himself.

GM On cue, the window depicting the deeds of St. Margaret exploded into the church, broken under the flying weight of a stocky, gray-haired man wearing a winter jacket, thick denim pants, thick boots, a bristling beard and burning brown eyes that blazed in the dull sunlight that filtered through the broken window. Getting unsteadily to his feet from where he had fallen, practically on the other side of the room from Changeling. He looked quite calm about what had just happened, brushing his clothes down to remove shards of ancient glass as he walked with quick, stiff steps over to the central aisle, looking over the two young heroes with birdlike movements of his head. After a minute or two had passed he said calmly in a slightly wheezy voice "You are early. Good, the Dis-Possessed are on their way. One moment" he added, reaching around his back to pull out a long, blade-like shard that had gotten lodged inside his ribs, tossing the blood-spattered piece out the window carelessly. "Now then, I'm Arnold Simmons." he went on in an even softer and shakier voice than before "A few nights ago, I was visited by Lantern Jack who told me that he could sense an influx of infernal power somewhere in Lantern Hill, and asked me to help him find out who was responsible. It took until the day before yester, asking around the circles of mages I am..acquainted with, before I thought to ask for help from some fellows more skilled in fighting than I can truthfully claim to be. I was referred to you fine young people by a friend, came by when you seemed not to be at home, left a note and went home." He sat down on the pew next to him, sighing and panting for many long seconds as he got his breath back. Getting back up he said with quiet firmness "I was attacked this morning, barely half and hour ago. Three people, each of whom I know and had asked about this demonic presence, barged straight through the walls and doors of my house looking me. I could see it in their eyes, didn't need to cast a spell to know they were possessed. Them chanting "We are Dis the Many, Dis the Many" helped. I barely escaped. I ran straight here hoping to warn you about what was going on." his faced darkened and he said more loudly "They can't be hurt by magic, we'll need to beat them physically, restrain them, and purify them to save those poor souls." From outside, the two Claremont students could hear an insistent, distant sound of chanting voices. "We are Dis the Many, Dis the Many..."

"Okay, now I'm wondering why you didn't think this whole thing up Surge" Subito declared with admiration "It'd have taken me ages to hit on obvious stuff like that. I'd have gone off on some little detail about the lighting or whatever, and never even thought of asking permission to start the thing until like a day later." he rubbed the back of his curly head briefly as he stared at the floor, deep in thought. "Yeah, auditions would be good. Bound to be some of the students won't have much else better to do during the winter. I'll take it up with the admin office, see what they think about it first." he said with a firm nod, looking back up at Serge with a grin. "The pools or food? Well one's gonna make up for the latter, so I'd say we go pooling first, then get us some victuals!" Mary, still behind the checkout counter, gave a polite cough to remind the two teens that they were in fact in a store. Starting at the sudden sound from behind him the stocky Puerto Rican blushed slightly when he realized what it was, cleared his throat and took the bag of CDs with a "Thanks a lot Mary, see you later!" as he set out for the door, telling Serge "I'll be right outside. Then: pools!"

Nervousness, something that the hulking triton had rarely felt in all his eons of existence, flooded to the fore in this hour. A meeting like this was far removed from anything he wanted to deal with, and as they had approached the place where the ondines gathered he wished himself back in the bowels of the Earth. Deciding that he wouldn't be able to do much if he spoke, he got out of the way by kneeling on the shore and shoving his face into the water, all but prostrating himself before the water spirit as he spoke humbly "O ondine, we seek knowledge of the water's movements, for a shard of Leviathan has awakened and wandered to the shore. Have you heard anything about this happening? Anything you can tell us would be gratefully taken."

GM "Ah! A welcome present, Earthly one" one of the guards said warmly, taking the bottle with a flourish and a twinkle. Uncorking it with his teeth he put his thumb partially over the mouth of the bottle as he tilted it back, twin jets of the bright liquid squirting into his mouth down each cheek. After a few moments of this display, his comrade snatched the bottle from him, which provoked a furious snarl and flash of red light in his eyes..which vanished as soon as it was seen, and both were laughing heartily, taking swigs from the bottle in turn with their arms around each others' shoulders. During a short break in the swigging, one of them said cheerfully to Rene "Earthly one, and friend of Bacchus, how are you enjoying the hospitality of the Red Prince? Is it everything that you have been told?" he asked innocently, his friend adding with an amazingly smooth face "Doubtless you wish to see all of his wondrous castle? A mighty work of..." suddenly the mood chilled, and they glanced around with suspicion, and not a little fear. Seeing that they were alone, the second went on more softly "We are both loyal to his sovereign-ascendance. He took this land and his title in accordance with our laws, and is leading us low Fey to greatness." he looked slightly uneasy just saying those words.

GM Seeming disappointed by the presumed buyer's lack of enthusiasm, the captain nodded shortly to two sailors nearby, who hastily went below decks, returning laden with a small metal container that seemed to weigh much more than it looked. "I had the boys keep the merchandise in these, make sure they wouldn't get crushed by the load of metal wer're stocking." he explained breezily while levering the top of the steel box open with a handy crowbar, showing it to be full to the brim with carefully packaged shards of iron. "Behold!" the captain proclaimed "None of them were in the least danger, and all have retained their..vital qualities" he said delicately "One piece against your skin could extend your life for decades at least. I believe there are quite a few clients of yours wishing to cheat Time." The opening of the box sent a flare of magic power bursting out into the air, visible as a sickly green aura around the group on the ship's deck, with a monstrous skull looming above them. The men unloading the ship didn't notice Blodeuwedd as she slipped around them in the driving wind and rain, and she caught the general mood of the longshoremen and the sailors as she approached the ship. It was acquisitive, and more than a little curious, not to mention mutinous.

That scans by me.

Subito would love to go camping! He can help with the dragging duties.

As their host departed through the floor, Subito leaped clean out of his chair in an attempt to stop her with a cry of "You won't get away with this Madame VAPEURRRR!", sending it crashing against the wall and himself sprawling to the floor, missing her by several feet. Jumping back up, he glanced around hurriedly from under his black curls at the Avians nearby, his hand over his rapidly beating heart as the enormity of their peril suddenly crashed onto him. Quietly and urgently he said "Guys, you run, I'll keep them off you. I'm tough enough that this thing going up in smoke won't hurt me as badly as you two!"

Okay, initiative roll: 21!

GM The thugs for the most part were fairly rusty on their Hannah-Barbera cartoon lore, and none of them would have admitted to enjoying that show in particular for a moment. At least half of the hulking lunks, however, knew exactly what their quarry was talking about. "We've got to get out of here!" one of the triad trailing the talon-wielding terror of the twilight told his similarly-bulked-out comrades as he raced for where he guessed the edge of the fog lay. One of the others stopped for a moment, thinking over this plan before nodding and shouting "Alright, I'm coming with! I don't wanna get shocked by that guy!" he said fearfully, taking to his heels after the first speaker, vanishing into the murk. "Cowards! I'll deal with him MYSELF, let's see how White Knight thinks of that! Probably give me a promotion" he added to himself, jumping for where he had heard the voice of Crow, and punching into the darkness with all his power...and crashing his fist into the hard bricks with a mighty *CRARK*, collapsing back to the ground with a bark of pain, gripping his hand with a wince. The two tracking the King of Suits blundered past him in the fog, swinging viciously as they struck at phantom versions of their target, quickly losing their way in the dark and heavy mist. Meanwhile, inside... "Hello? White Knight? This is Chuck, I-yes sir. Under attack! You've gotta...oh, you're already on your way? Thank you sir, thank-yes sir, shutting up."

Super-MAX #1 will try to escape his bonds: 13. The coils are Injured. Super-Maxers 3 and 5 will realize what's going on, and make move actions getting to the end of the Fog. They can't get out of it in this round, however. The two fighting King of Suits cannot find him, one moving slightly closer, the other farther away. The one outside the Fog has no idea what's going on. The one(#4) still trying to attack Crow will try and leap at him : 7. He just hits his hand really hard on the lamppost. EDIT: Bricks. The two unpowered Crusaders call White Knight.

Subito glanced at Elias in irritation for a moment before suddenly growling "You know what El? I should introduce you to Sam sometime. You'd get along great. Leaving aside my latent inferiority, I understand your meaning better. A lot of us at Claremont had trouble at first dealing with their powers, it can take a lot of practice to refine and use 'em right." he shrugged, a little uncomfortably "I was one of the lucky ones in that I have a teacher constantly telling me in my head when I screw up." 'He has marginally improved. I have to correct him much less than used to be necessary.' intoned a deep, feminine voice that while loud sounded like it came from a great distance. "So, how do you deal with other people's memories being in your head, and never leaving?" Subito asked curiously, his earlier irritation forgotten.

Subito had found the tomatoes, and was carefully gauging the time it would take for them to fully ripen as Morgan explained the Greenhouse to Cerys. Returning with his heavy step pounding on the walkway he nodded emphatically "It's pretty great! It'll be even better during the winter, a warm place where we can get flowers 'n stuff from, look out at the snow on the lawns when it's not worthwhile to go wadin' through it. Wish I could have helped out Morgan." he added almost sadly, glancing outside at the warm green campus that wasn't in any immediate danger of being suffocated by snow. He spun around and put a hand on the new arrival's shoulder, a grin lighting up his face like the sun. "So! Cerys, whereabouts you want to see next? I think you already mentioned that you'd been to the admin office?"

Hits, DC20 Toughness save: 23. . Round 3: King of Suits: Unharmed, 2HP Crusader: Unharmed, 2HP Gunroll: Bruise(x1)-GM Going to move into range, try for simple punching: 36. Critical again. Lovely. DC24Toughness save: 8. Apologies GranspearZX, but I'm going to just go with that one. Out of rounds.

Wincing at the jab of pain as the metal tore his skin, Wave-Eye spat derisively at Combine as he reflexively clutched at the narrow cut, snarling "Ridiculous! You decided that helping others was not worth your time because it did not satisfy your dreams? If you take on a task, you DO it! Leaving it undone so you can amuse yourself elsewhere is lower than any snake!" he took up the conch, taking a deep breath and adding "I agree with Gabriel: think long on your actions while you recover!" and again the flood of red water lashed out from its mouth, slamming into Combine with tremendous force! Catching sight of the black-clad speedster getting ready for another attack on his comrade, he sprang directly in front of the blazing fists, giving a cry of pain as the flames washed over him, his upper body suddenly catching every single punch that had nearly rained down on the tightly-gripped Gabriel. As the last few strikes smouldered on his scales, blood dripping and hissing onto the carpet, he sank slowly to his knees, eyes unfocused at the world as it dimmed and swirled before him.

GM The whirling mass of compacted air drawn together by magic blew open the hidden ceiling with a tremendous roar and a spray of mud and shattered concrete, revealing a broad, shallow room a short distance from the elevator, a large cannon-like device sitting amidst the splashes of muddy rubble in the beams of the blazing Venezuelan sun, thick power cables running from it into roughly circular holes in the wall. Several uniformed people were lying unconscious under the same rubble in pools of muddy water, surrounding the cannon with various electrical tools gripped in their hands. Dr. Green stared quietly at Stormbreaker for a moment, his lips moving briefly as he muttered "Every time. Every. Time. It was inevitable, I suppose" before turning to inhumanly lean and tall grey-skinned woman beside him "Time for a retreat, Kaiser. You-" "Stay here and keep them from catching up? Will do." she interrupted crisply, nodding and stepping forward to block the way behind her, which Dr. Green dashed through towards a distant, insistent hum and a faint green glow.

The moist soil filled with slowly decaying plant matter can't do much to stop it, the metal-reinforced concrete the walls and ceiling of his real-actual base are significantly more likely to. DC25 Toughness save for the ceiling in her attack's way: 9. ...Too good. Alright, going to say it continues on and smashes into the group of slightly empowered henchfolk gathered around a large cannon: None make it, ruling they for now get knocked unconscious. Dr. Green takes one look at the situation and dashes for his teleporter pad, his last guard sticking behind to hold the line. EDIT: Kaiser(for such she is called)'s Init roll: 16.

Sense Motive roll: 30. Still wish to attack?

GM "[i am not programmed for 'legitimate business'. Our well-dressed friend Combine says it would interfere with my higher functions]" explained the junk-heap robot placidly, springing upon Gabriel from behind and across the room, where it had been standing moments before its initial target, the triton, had gone bounding off after the suited man apparently called Combine, who while nursing his jaw rolled his eyes at the synthetic's words that rattled out of its voice box. Without further speech two badly mismatched arms wrapped jerkily around Gabriel's waist and arms, pinning the limbs to his sides with superhuman might. The smell of oil emanated from it, and through his stocky scrap frame he could feel the unsteady jolt of electricity humming through its damaged body. Taking advantage of the moment, the man in black became a red blur around the tightly-gripped man, his fists pummeling and pounding with resounding thuds and cracks against his pristine holy armor, his fists aflame with the friction of his movement as they hissed through the air, several of the punches slamming and thudding into Gabriel's head with particular vehemence. "Ghreailleughyousiraggbev!" he shouted angrily as he punched, apparently from the sound of it trying to curse out his enemy, but as he didn't have the capacity to speak clearly while moving at super-speed, sounding wholly garbled and incoherent instead. "I question your powers of deduction, Mr. Gabriel." Combine said, sounding more than a little miffed at the holy champion's description of the bunch. "This villainy of ours is just a short jaunt down a side street of the Road of Life, not the main journey! Besides, you ever tried to be the great hero of Colorado? It gets old pretty quick when the biggest problem people have is random thefts and little crime circles that just skip town when you try and collar them. After years of fixing people's tractors and combine harvesters, I decided I'd try a few years on the other side. So far it's been at least interesting." With that, he spun on his heel and, his left fist transforming into a square block of iron that he spun low and darted into Wave-Eye, driving the fist into the flank of the fish-man and tearing a jagged cut in his tough and scaly hide, through which ichor began almost immediately to bleed.

King of Suits Sense Motive roll: 15. Crusaders: 12, 7, 10, 7, 13, 3, 16, 8. 1, 3, 5, 7 figure it out, the rest don't.