Ari

Alright, so that's: Asad Gabriel Starlight Silver Spider/Wisp Young Britannia. Looks good! Up to you which to use, Azuth. Personally I'd prefer the Spider. Fair warning: I'm not going to start it for a little bit, need to work out a few things first!

Riff recognizes the pellets from a long-running experiment performed by A.S.T.R.O. Labs a few months back. Spheres of a similar size and design were used to amplify sound waves emitted from speakers, managing to buffet aloft a large ball of iron. There were plans being laid to attach the technology to search & rescue teams, to move debris and help uncover people buried under buildings. Unfortunately, it proved too unwieldy outside of laboratory conditions to be really useful, and has fallen out of public view as of late. These ones, however, have been modified to amplify each other's sonic waves. The sound being emitted from them seems to have no fixed frequency, falling lower and rising higher almost unnoticeably without apparent reason. In fact, its behavior is vaguely similar to human speech.

An excellent point. I'll edit that to make it more in line with their described tendencies.

With the relatively recent Hotzone incident in mind, not to mention its instigator: Mister Motley, and several other threads with the theme of people attempting to access and exploit the 'source' of super-powers, it strikes me as sensible to explore this a little more. Seeing as SHADOW seemed to be involved with the majority of these cases, I decided it might work best to have its notorious terrorist group front organization as the antagonists of such a thread. What: An assault on an undersea OVERTHROW base off the eastern coast of Russia. Director Powers of A.E.G.I.S.has received word from his agents about a possible location of the infamous creator of the Proteus mutagen: an old and hitherto-unknown research facility off the eastern coast of Russia, built during the Cold War and recently taken hostage by an old submarine commandeered by the terrorist faction, who are haranguing the Russian government with their usual list of ridiculous demands. Seizing this opportunity, he has sent out word to a small number of superheroes, asking for their help in a 'delicate and dangerous mission'. With them and the assistance of the Russian hero Protonik(Aleksander Solokov), he plans to uncover whether the recent attacks have anything resembling a common thread, and forestall any attacks like the Proteus incident. Freeing the captive scientists Who: 3-5 players. Preferably ones with some experience in lands outside America. PL: 9-12

With a slight look of disappointment the King of Suits bowed slightly "As you will, Silhouette. I...ah...I don't..actually have a phone either, so..I will use a payphone. If the one near this block has not been broken yet, that is" he added with a note of irritation. He regretted missing the chance to get more of the strange fluid, but what he had accidentally gotten over his glove would work "But I'll definitely let everyone I can know about this matter. A being like that striking into the city unnoticed is...unsettling" he shrugged, the red and black cape settling over his shoulders and arms. He began unlocking the handcuffs on the cultists, saying to them(Andrews especially) "Stay exactly here, I will be waiting for the police to arrive, and will make sure none of you get far if you try to run" collecting the metal 'cuffs he suddenly recalled something, snapping the forefingers of his left hand as he turned quickly back to Silhouette. Rustling in the pockets on the back of his breastplate he retrieved a narrow black wallet, and after quickly rifling through it handed over a roll of bills in a plastic bag to her. "This is really the least I can do, I've had outfits soiled, damaged and outright ruined in this line of work before." He smiled at the hostages, who had clustered together far from the cultists, watching with suspicious eyes. "Be at ease! If they have any sense, they'll do as Silhouette here said or suffer the consequences. Now," he said crisply as he fired his grapple gun and soared out of the dirty alley the eclectic band of shadow-cultists, Freedonians and superheroes had emerged in, calling down happily "bonne nuit, le Silhouette puissante!! Good night, citizens! I will call the officers of the law, and this sorry matter will be at and end!" waving he departed in a soft noise of of booted feet on the roof. None of the cultists moved a single muscle they could help, staring nervously around as if they expected a gigantic snake monster to emerge from the darkness.

After hearing the shouts, screams and explosions, the caped crime-fighter had been filled with the notion that something horrible had happened down in the temple, and, having 'cuffed the cultists was about to descend when Silhouette reappeared from the escape hatch. Marceau looked at her impassively for all of ten seconds before grasping her by the outstretched hand and shaking it with incredible vigor, his visible face lit up from ear to ear by a grin. "Magnefique! Madame Silhouette, I and these others I am certain," he glared out of the corner of a blue eye at the cultists "would pay whatever price Deb-the local cleaners would ask" he said, quickly eliding over the name of the Fen's most-frequented cleaner's proprietor, Debbie Spencer. Still shaking her hand he went on "I get the idea my weaponry wasn't precisely effective against the beast? Bah, it is no matter. The diabolical thing is dead!" beaming at her he suddenly looked down at his now-slick arm, realized that he was still clenching her hand, and quickly released it with hurried apologies. "Ah! I must beg your pardon, Silhouette, but this is so exciting! We got these people out, you slew a monster the likes of which I certainly have never encountered,(Besides that one time...)and we rescued the hostages!" looking down at his blood-smeared arm he went on avidly "If you will permit me, I will cleanse your armor myself, removing every trace of this..fluid from it" rubbing his fingers together he went on thoughtfully "Indeed, it would probably be well if I did that, I could gather quite a bit of this stuff" he glanced at her spattered costume, twitching his nose a bit at the smell he only just noticed "and perhaps discover some of its qualities. Not saying it does, mind you, just that it might, and they could be useful" he smiled like the Sun rising "What do you say? It should hardly take any time, if my competence holds."

King of Suits Behold the Hunters! 2 IC posts. Gallia Renaître 4 IC posts. Goodbye to Gravity, and to Death 4 IC posts. Medical Maladies 12 IC posts. The Sins we Share 5 IC posts. 2+4+4+12+5=27 IC posts. El Heraldo An Arrow into the Air 3 IC posts. Being Yourself 4 IC posts. Blod in the Air 8 IC posts. Blod on the Dancefloor 3 IC posts. Shark Week: Ghost Sharks! 8 IC posts. Slave to Time 4 IC posts. Slave to Time 2 8 IC posts. The Serpent and the Devil 7 IC posts. 3+4+8+3+8+4+8+7=45 IC posts. Wave-Eye A Convocation of Eagles 4 IC posts. First and Final Voyage 2 IC posts. I Crush Everything 1 IC post. Threat to Society 5 IC posts. Smoke on the Water 1 IC post. 4+2+1+5+1=13 IC posts. GM (Please assign earned points to El Heraldo) Ants among the Flowers 6 GM posts. Being Yourself 2 GM posts. Behold the Hunters 2 GM posts. Goodbye to Gravity, and to Death 4 GM posts. Riffsational! 3 GM posts. The Snake-Charmers 17 GM posts. Vanguard#1: The Inevitable, the Inexorable... 9 GM posts. 6+2+2+4+3+17+9=43 GM posts. Extracurriculars (Please Assign point to King of Suits) NPC submitted and Approved: Protonik

GM Its head tore from its body with a sound like cutting through wet paper, a flood of the black blood pouring into the circular hallway as a distant, dying shriek echoed thinly around the temple, a faint shudder passing through the place as it collapsed into itself, the thing vanishing in a swirl of shadow that hurt to look at, like a flare of light. A faint, ugly smell began to rise from the knotted, decaying core of the abyssal fiend that lay on the stone. The last of the cultists had scrambled out of the pit, and were huddled around the manhole cover, looking fearfully down into it.

Lessee, Sense-Motive: 23! Failed. Flat-footed, so it hits. DC27 TOU save: 19! Bruised and Dazed. EDIT: It's out!

GM The limb tore into the now bubbling mass of its tenuously-bound core, a black jet of liquid spraying out of the wound and covering most of the right side of the heroine's costume. She could feel something rip and stretch underneath her flattened foot, something crucial to the monster that caused it to all but collapse in a shivering heap of pain and leaking fluids, its eyes now colored with a thin shading of red, and its jaws open a dribbling on the floor. Clearly there wasn't much of a fight left in the arrogant thing.

Alright, Round 10. Silhouette: Unharmed, 2HP M. of Apep: Bruised(x4), Staggered, Dazed-GM

It is: 22! TOU save: 18! Staggered!

GM The oily stuff inside tore open under her knife-like fingers, but just abrely. Its innards were a roiling mass by now, chaotically attemping to solidify itself everywhere at once, desperate as it struggled in another mighty cascade of shadowy flesh and bone, savagely trying to worm its way out from under her penetrating grasp! The cultists had by then reached the ladder, and needed no persuasion to ascend.

DC27 TOu save: 26! Bruised four times! Escape attempt: Another 32!

DC27 TOU save: 22! Failed by 5, so Bruised(x3) and Dazed! Round 9: Silhouette: Unharmed, 2HP M. of Apep: Bruise(x3), Dazed-GM

GM Its reaction to the leg probing into its core was fierce. It became a mass of motion, swinging itself around in a tangle of obsidian scales while a low howl built from its inhuman lungs into a ear-piercing shriek of pain "Wretch! Speck! I will break from your grasp, and tear holes into your very soul! The Endless Night, will be your ETERNAL resting place!" It seemed quite serious about this threat, as it had found new bowels of strength such that its hide was slightly torn in several places just from the tensing and tugging of its mad thrashes and slams!

DC27 TOU save: 29! And now it tries to escape: 32! Okay then...

GM The lancing stabs cut deep, deep into the writhing core, just past the site of knotted resistance that had stymied her last blow. The snake shuddered once, a choked cry coming from its black jaws before it slowly sank its head into the ground, pressing against the cold, entrail-spattered floor. It was still alive, but it was currently too socked by the pain of the stabs to move under its own power, and it tensed its shadowy muscles in a reflexive attempt to get the offending spears out of itself.

DC27 TOU save: 19! Failed by 8, so Dazed and Bruised! And I just realized I didn't detract 1 from it because of his earlier Bruise, so failed by 9 with 18. Round 7: Silhouette: Unharmed, 2HP M. of Apep: Bruise(x2), Dazed-GM

Alright, Round 6. Silhouette: Unharmed, 3HP M. of Apep: Bruise(x1), Bound & Helpless

GM Surprisingly, the strange core of the beast resisted Silhouette's attack! Folds of the loathsome stuff swelled up as she stabbed her arm into the monster, slowing the attack into harmlessness with astounding speed before it condensed into what felt like fleshy wall of granite, the snake managing a gritted laugh. "Gruchhruchhruch! It seems you...are not..quite victorious yet" it spat, its spectral muscles suddenly erupting beneath and around Silhouette's arms and legs as it began another furious attempt to get its scaled body away from its tormentor!

DC27 TOU save: 32! Bedanged. It's Escape attempt: 24. Wut.

Round 5. Silhouette: Unharmed, 5HP M. of Apep: Bruise(x1), Bound & Helpless-GM

GM With a shuddering roar that rattled the caverns and stopped the fleeing cultists in their tracks, the Messenger of Apep lashed furiously back in forth, back arched in agony as the impossibly-sharp limbs dug through its shadowy body and struck the core of its being underneath, Silhouette's claws feeling something wet and squishy ooze around her fingers and go spraying across the floor. For all its thrashing, though it made dents in the walls with its efforts, the heroine proved impossible for it to dislodge! At last, it was forced to relent, the air shimmering with its rage as it yet strained, though half-heartedly, to escape the knife-like limbs that pinned it and prevented its moving a coil.

Yes, a +3 bonus to the Grapple check, and the Messenger gets a -3 on his due to being not together at the moment. Check is 36. Grapple roll: 26! Lost by 10! Alright, it is now Bound and Helpless! HP awarded for the snazzery!