Ari

GM After a few hours, the sun had set entirely and the stiff sea-breeze was whistling its ageless song over and around the city, sliding through and between seemingly any surface and protection against it besides a solid wall. Besides the wind and the ever-present thrum and grumble of traffic throughout the metropolis and the noise of cars passing by beneath them, there was hardly a sound. From within the chemical lab, the distant music of the janitorial staff played a merry tune, and the silhouettes of the workers as they passed by the windows gave the place an almost charming appearance. At last, the workers departed, the security staff locked the doors and set up their positions around the building perimeter alongside the police officers assigned to assist them, and a silence began to grow. The soft noises of their shoes on the concrete and asphalt and the occasional garbled syllable of one of the guards speaking to another drifted through the night air. All was quiet for another half-hour. Then it happened. From his vantage point, the King of Suits saw the large yellow van(with IGNORE on its sides in twelve different languages) very plainly as it barreled through the back streets behind the lab, its tires screeching as it was hurled around the corner into the alley beside the stunned security officers as bullets whizzed out of it and guns inside blared a deafening cacophony, who to their credit instantly got to covered positions and signaled for it to stop besides shooting it. Miraculously, it stopped almost as soon as ordered. The doors slammed open, and about a dozen people in mostly casual wear came out, all of them wearing grey jumpsuits and carrying firearms that glowed in at least five separate shades of neon from strips wrapped around the guns. One of them, clearly much younger than the rest, tossed his gun carelessly into a nearby dumpster before approaching the guards, who had gathered swiftly and efficiently to the scene, raising his hands and calling over to them "Put up your weapons, we do not wish to hurt anyone, merely to rob this place of valuable materials!" Staring at him in shock, a powerfully-built policeman called back "Son, are you on drugs? You can't just rob a place because you tell us about it. Now get over here with your buddies" he gestured with his gun meaningfully "And come with us back to the station, we're going to want to ask a lot of que-" he was cut off abruptly as two identical copies of him leaped out of the shadows, grabbed him and bound him despite his furious efforts to free himself, the others quickly finding themselves under a similar onslaught of doubles! Meanwhile, Catalyst saw three odd figures in hats and trenchcoats on the roof, carefully working a skylight with a totally silent jackhammer.

Accurate Attack(+-3) with Strike 17. Rats. Move-by-Action away from Tethys using Flight 3 as Swimming 3(100ft. per round) if that's permissible.

Escape attempt. 35.

I would.

GM In the crowded park, tailing one person was hard to do if you weren't taller than most of the concert-goers, but conversely it was even harder to detect someone following you if you were being tailed. So Tona shadowed the white-haired woman with ease, threading through the crowds and keeping her quarry well in view, the hot, loudly talking Freedonians providing her with just about the best cover she could have asked for while she slipped to more stable concealment on the way. The woman didn't appear to meet anyone else on her way, and ended up at one of the main entrances of the park, keeping a close eye on one of the eastern stages where a sole guitar-player seemed to be performing, tapping out a countdown as she sat down on a vacant concrete bench parallel to the graveled path. She was relaxed and smiling, utterly confident that what was about to happen was going to be wholly in her and her accomplices' favor. The blond man appeared shortly afterwards, sipping at soda through a straw. He leaned against on end of the bench, also watching the stage. The throb of the combating genres pulsed through the park, with the occasional dip in one leading to a surge of music in another, especially a few of the metal bands performing who were trying to outdo each other's playing speed.

GM With Voltage's intricate understanding of electrical devices, fixing the emitters to short out after a single discharge was an effortless task, and after only a few minutes the short nozzles sparked fitfully, the electrical charges passing through the wires bypassing the emitters and leaving them unable to connect to each other. There were at least a dozen of the things lined at roughly ankle-height, all thankfully interconnected to the power supply, and all similarly affected by any change in the current. This also served to disable the security cameras in the hallway, none of which had spotted them yet. The pressure plates and apertures to the canisters of knock-out gas were similarly easy to deal with, as none of the encroaching gases were able to push against Captain Silvia's power over the very airs, though by the time they had gotten through the hall a thick cloud of the stuff filled the corridor, making it a wholly opaque wall of shifting white. The elevator at the center of the building looked to be in working order and was relatively clean. The stairs they could both see down the perfectly straight halls of the re-purposed hospital also were clear, even Stormbreaker's keen ears detecting not so much as a single footstep or cough coming from them.

GM With a rattle the door opened again, this time to let out the smells of freshly-cooked meat, a myriad of cheeses and the unmistakable scent of corn along with Galanta, who Subito was surprised to see had somehow gotten a flower into her hair and was wearing a green dress with a vaguely Greek pattern on it. Walking out into the hall she hugged the guests warmly, yet gingerly enough that she didn't end up squeezing them with her powerful arms. "Thank you so much for coming to eat!" she said excitedly, throwing an arm around Serge and Victoria's shoulders as she maneuvered the three of them sideways into the wood-paneled front hall of the apartment, glancing back at Subito to make sure he was following "'Bito's been telling us about you guys for months now, I guess he's not as timid as I thought he was!" she added with a hearty laugh as she gestured for them to remove their shoes on a low rack of other footwear, tossing off her own sandals and leading them to the kitchen, the purple table of which was covered with plates of yams with beef and rice all but spilling out of them in glistening piles, chopped and spiced vegetables wrapped in corn-bread and steamed in the juices of the yams, a plate devoted to meat and cheese sandwiches with no two alike in contents, fried and mashed plantains, omelets served with prodigious mounds of bacon and rabbit meat, a plate of cheeses from several continents, and drinks that included plum juice, iced tea, mineral water and a tall ornate glass pitcher of milk. The room was a riot of color, with even the cupboards painted different colors(mostly blues and greens) and the ceiling a brilliant vermillion, with intricately woven tapestries depicting various scenes of Puerto Rican history on most of the walls. Still fussing with the arrangement of these delectations, were a towering beanpole of a man with a clipped and curling beard and a bald head, and a stocky woman who put even Galanta's dense musculature to shame, him wearing a crisp white shirt and khaki pants, while she wore an elegant blue dress decorated with golden birds. Seeing the guests, the tall man walked forward, spread his arms and said in a grave, soft voice said "Welcome and hola! Be seated, and we shall enjoy this bounty together! I'm Pavor, Subito's told us a lot about you" he added in a much more normal tone, not smiling in the least but sounding deeply pleased to see them. The much more dour-looking woman nodded briefly to the guests, stepping away from the table one last time to inspect the array critically, smiled, and in a flash had crossed the meters between herself and the guests and gravely kissed them on the cheeks, gripping Vick and Serge's shoulder with powerful hands as she said "Welcome! Broma Sondo, welcome to our home"

The reverberations of something being dragged into the water had been going on for several minutes now, and Wave-Eye was suspicious, swimming towards the distant splashes with all speed, squinting at the dim figures above the water. Is that the Penitent? But who is he confronting? He looks like a particularly ugly triton... he thought, hesitating for a moment, before soaring up out of the water and landing in a spray of salt water, shouting "You! Release that human and...by the teeth of Tlaloc, another of me?!" he turned to Bram "Penitent, what is the meaning of this?" he asked as he tensed for a spring at his bizarre double, claws hooked to tear and rend. One of my people, I need not hold back he reminded himself grimly.

Taking the cell phone with a look of deep surprise, Marceau briefly reacquainted himself with the device, checking to see its sleep timer, the sensitivity of its buttons, all the while quietly amazed at the power contained within it. After a minute's quiet investigation, he slid the phone into a small pocket on his armor's side, latching the top shut as he nodded thankfully to Catalyst. Realizing that his attitude warranted explanation he said with an embarrassed quirk to his bearded lips "I haven't managed to get my hands on a mobile like this in years. Ordinarily I am not quite so like a primitive wondering at a mirror" he added with a wry look. Getting to his feet, he smiled brightly as he shook her hand "It is an honour to work with you Catalyst, good shooting!" With that, he hurled himself off the roof, a minute retort echoing hollowly around the building as he fired his grapple gun at the roof opposite, swinging himself neatly onto his new vantage point. Landing in a roll, he quickly got into position, giving a brief wave to Jasmine before vanishing mostly from view, hunkering down to await the coming of the bizarre thieves.

In accordance with a conversation in Chat, lethal force is permitted on SHADOW clones encountered here. Please don't get graphic, unnecessary though that request is.

...Geez, Cubist. I was just angling for a Disable Device roll there. Anyway, tell me what you make with the Gadgets(I'm guessing a setup that uses Nullify(Technology) or something similar?) and we'll see how it goes.

GM In the vivid green light of the night-vision goggles, the vent was an unexceptional metal chute, with the occasional deviation around a structural obstacle keeping it from being perfectly straight, and a grated floor that peered into a narrow, long room instantly recognizable as a checkpoint area of some kind, with a heavy concentration of turrets mounted on the walls and ceiling pointing short muzzles at the doors of the elevator shaft. At barricades interspersed along the hall, armored soldiers with the insignia of SHADOW, the angular "S", on their chests pointed smaller arms at the sliding doors, while two silent men wearing lighter versions of the armor stood at either side, angled so they could both see into the doors if they opened, and step away from the line of fire if need be. "No-one is coming" the one on the left said. "A false alarm?" asked the other. "No, intruders" "Bring the lift down" called the rightward officer to a soldier wearing heavy belts hung with tools beside a blinking control panel, who nodded and tapped two buttons on it. The sound of the elevator moving grew once more, and with a soft *thunk* it landed on a platform of some kind. The officers looked at each other through their concealing faceplates. "No DSA input, and it is late. It could just be Hasufel" commented the rightwardward one evenly, with an air like this was re-opening an old issue. "Arod would have entered it regardless of Hasufel's foolishness" snapped the leftward officer, sounding like this was a more personal matter than it seemed. "True, but work in the dive above seems to encourage displeasing behavior" pointed out the rightward officer, obviously pleased at getting such a tone out of his comrade. "Lift opening, arms ready!" shouted the one on the left, cutting short further conversation by stepping sharply backwards, in perfect sync with his counterpart. The doors opened to a chorus of clicks as safeties were disengaged. Seeing the empty elevator, the officers looked at each other. "I will tell the commanders" they said to the soldiers "you remain, watch the elevator for signs of movement, sound the alert for the others" In perfect unison they turned, gave the 'cut' sign to the technician, and walked quickly through the door at the far end into a sterile, brightly-lit hallway filled with branching paths and patroling squads of soldiers identical to the ones they had seen in the reception area, the two marching towards a door barely perceivable from the grate marked with sign saying "NO ENTRY W/OUT DSA INPUT", where one began to quietly tap at a numberpad on the wall beside it while the other kept watch. Only at floor-level, though.

That is why I chose the word 'almost'! Anyway, Jay recognizes that Notice roll: Succeeds! Jay finds that there are several small pellets concealed in the repair and maintenance work, all emitting an ultra-high frequency exactly like the one he detected earlier coming from "Alfred". The people in charge of hiring the roadies signed on an Alfred Manderley two weeks ago, a man from Wisconsin with over a decade of roadie experience, who had complained the day before of painful headaches that seemed to have receded. He was reassigned to Riff's stage after a dispute with one of the other bands, who accused him of planting something, though they were unable to prove it. To keep the peace, he agreed to a transfer. That Stealth succeeds perfectly, Tona's quarry has no idea she's being followed.

GM "Stacks 1 and 2 sound just about perfect, Jay!" called over one of the other set technicians, who had paused in front of the speaker stacks in question to gauge them "I'll check on the power lines, something sounds off with one of the amps" he added, vanishing into the back end of the set. Setup was proceeding very smoothly, all things considered. So far every problem encountered had been a niggling issue, nothing had to be replaced, and everything worked precisely as needed. It was a refreshing change of pace. The only fly in the ointment was the bulky man with the impressive head of curly black hair and thin, Mephistophelean goatee, with the ID badge naming him "Alfred Manderley". He had arrived along with the rest of the crew, and seemed almost transparently up to something, examining the cords of certain speakers, amps and subwoofers with a thin grey tool, silently helping to fix the things that went wrong, but never actually explaining what he was doing when asked, though at least he hadn't broke anything. The man passed by Jay as the troubleshooter put in the CD, and as he did a nearly unnoticeable hum came singing through the air, something almost outside his hearing range... The audience just beyond the stage Riff was performing on was swarming, jostling, laughing and in some cases silent from deep anger at the weather. They all, however, eagerly and impatiently waited for the moment the Guitar Genius would finally take the stage and play the music they had been anticipating for the last few hours. Quite aside from the ambient noise of the Battle of the Bands and his own eager crowd, Warren began to hear a strange hum cutting through the air, coming from backstage. The humming buzz wasn't impossible to ignore, but it seemed to be growing... Synth's hot dog stand was doing excellent business, most of the reasons being purely biological. A steady stream of concert-goers passed around the cart amid the stalls selling the merch of local metal and rock bands, with the unsurpassed king of the market being the stand selling the shirts of the alternative rock group called Madman Finale, whom rumors said were considering adding a new member to their lineup, a rumor that had sparked enthusiastic speculation among their fan base as to who the 'new guy ' would be. "$4.75, that's cutting my own throat" muttered a heavy-set young man as he walked easily through the milling crowds away from the stand, stuffing his wallet back into his pocket. Raising an eyebrow at the comment, an athletic blond man in the pure-blue track suit who had been waiting behind him sighed loudly as he took his own meal, saying wryly "Kids today. No respect, eh miss?" as he handed over his own dollars and change, taking the sausage with a warm smile as he stepped aside to let the small family by. "I remember a day when young people like that kept a civil tongue in their heads" we went on casually as he surveyed the passing Freedonians, most of whom were wearing some species of black pants and shirt with at least mildly offensive slogans on them, which considering he looked to be in his mid-thirties was suspect at best. While sitting among the branches of the majestic tree, Tona was witness to an odd conversation. A white-haired woman in a denim jacket, white shirt and blue jeans wandered casually over to the same ash, leaning against it with her hands in her jacket pockets and smiling to herself. Shortly after her appearance, a strong-looking blond man in a blue track suit came strolling by licking an ice cream cone. Catching sight of each other, they retired to the shade directly underneath the archer, speaking without apparent fear of being overheard. "So, how goes the set-up?" the woman asked gleefully "As well as could be expected" came the slightly monotonous answer, the smile appearing to be more for form than a real indicator of mood "That's great! Tell Wlodjyka to hurry up and get the sonic ready, we need to move in case that berk with the cape shows up" she said, a little more soberly this time "And get out of here when it starts, we can't get involved" at his nod, they shook hands and quickly departed.

That wins everything! You pass by the guards in the hallways and rooms the vent leads around without alerting them. GM post up shortly.

Grapple roll: 31, close! Failed Strength roll: 10. :facepalm:

All Notice, Search and tech-based methods of detection reveal nothing in the vents whatsoever. Stealth rolls, please!

In round two, it's Blast attempt after a Move Action. Right here.

GM With a very unserpentine snarl of pain, the gigantic snake recoiled, observing the strange new form its now-flattened opponent reflected in its inky skin. "Faugh, why would I expect you to care?" it asked scornfully "We care nothing for you, expect as food or bearers. Worship from humans does not increase, or even sustain our power. Wrestling with you seems fruitless, I will go eat the Apostates, and return to the Night" it said, apparently thinking aloud. Turning its huge head towards SIlhouette it said coldly, and with a sneer "I wish you well, worm in the mud" before turning to the door and sliding through, pushing its massive bulk through the narrow(for its size) circular doorway, its tail gleaming black and beginning to wreathe with fluid shadow. It halted briefly once half of its length had slithered out of the room. "On second thought..." its tail lashed out at her, a rain of black lances hurled from the tip towards her!

Alright, Notice roll: 35, so not flat-footed so a 16 doesn't hit, sadly. EDIT: There ought to be a rule against stuff like this. Anyway, thought it was a 32 for some insane reason. It hits, so DC14 Ref save to evade the Dazzle. 16! Succeeded. It makes a bright light, so DC20 TOU save: 28. Sorry Roo. And he goes on to Moving All-Out another 60ft. Round 4. Same as last round.

Subito listened with interest to Victoria and Serge, whistling quietly at the white-haired girl's mention of having binders thicker than an entire novel series. "That is a lotta pictures, I really wouldn't want to have to figure out where to store all of 'em" he commented, eyes lighting up as Serge mentioned his artistically-minded friend. After a few seconds of thought he spoke up eagerly "Hey, how about we try and get together with this pal of yours, Surge? Vicky could give him some pointers, he could meet some of your other friends, it'd be great! What d'you say?" he asked excitedly, his earlier unease forgotten as he considered the possibilities such a meeting could have. Turning to Victoria he added "Oh, yeah, just so you know, if Galanta asks if you do a lot of fighting, be as vague as possible. She can talk for hours about different fighting styles and stuff, fair warning" he shrugged casually "O'course, not sayin' you can't, but it would be a little rude, is all I'm saying" He spun on his heel abruptly when a faint thud was heard relaxing with a sigh of relief, explaining to the other two "It's okay, they just shifted the table" he leaned next to the window, his head against the wall and the rest of himself stretched out into the hall at an oblique angle.

Yeah, I vote we go with that.

GM The jaws closed noiselessly, and the head turned with incredible speed towards Silhouette. The voice said "A god? I? Maddening! Ignorance and compounded folly! It goes on forever, they shall never be freed!" it exclaimed, suddenly swooping around behind the heroine as its massive coils lashed out and wrapped around her with a grip like steel, slowly tightening as it ranted on "Oh, degenerate age! When the cattle and serfs of this world look upon one of the lesser vassals of the mighty Apep, and see the All-Consuming One himself!" its head swung directly above her, its jaws opened once more as it began a slow descent "I am among the least of the children of Apophis the great, minion!" it cried "Be still and pass through the Gates, and you shall understand what a god is truly like: not in the feeble forms they and theirs must assume to keep from obliterating this world, but the power and grandeur that has been your vision of beauty and strength since time immemorial!" Andrews, now that he was no longer in peril, galvanized into action! he turned and raced up the bench, calling out as he scampered into the vent "Good luck!" Meanwhile, the King of Suits and the prisoners had heard the beginning of the battle, and the coming stampede of cultists seeking to escape the fate their former master planned for them...

Switching to English the King of Suits answered brightly "On the one hand this seems quite too good to be true. While it is not uncommon for such mysteries to be resolved long after they would be most useful, it happening now? At this time? Rather strange to my mind." Discreetly following Eve's gaze, he marked the exchange between Sophie and Rene, continuing as if he had seen nothing "However, on the other hand we have no real knowledge what revealing our Mystery Lady's identity would accomplish, so..." he shrugged apologetically "I have a great deal of speculation, mostly from habit, but no concrete ideas besides it possibly being used to draw someone here for a hypothetical attack. My apologies, lady Martel" he said gravely, with a slight inclination of his cowled head. Looking up he said more cheerfully "Have you discovered something about this?"

Getting nimbly out of the outlandish car, Subito gave the thing a glance of wonder as he began to follow Lucien Lockwood to Steam Manor, his awe briefly interrupted by the sight of Lord Steam's servants, which got a sharp look at the older man from the stocky teen. He wasn't so ignorant of history that he didn't know that in Victorian Britain employing servants was common, but he had persuaded himself on the ride that Lockwood probably only had the driver for his eccentricities, and was otherwise like any modern 'richy'. Despite his discomfort with the evidence in front of him, he saw no need to stop being polite "Hello!" he called over cheerfully to the gathered domestics "I'm Subito Sondo, glad to meet you all!" he added, warmly shaking their hands in turn before passing on to the mansion. Thanks to a few judicious stops on the way, it hadn't take him long to get what he needed together. A change of underwear, a small bag of nuts and dried fruit, and a water bottle were all he needed. Entering the manor proper, his unease at the hired help was largely abated by the sight of new wonders, and the retro design of the place thrilled him to no end. Turning excitedly to Lord Steam he asked "Hey! Uh, sir, how did you get this place made here? A lot of the stuff here" he gestured to the outlandish steam-powered machinery that punctuated some parts of the mansion "it's pretty non-standard, yeah? I can't think of any contractors around here who could build a place like this in less than a few years either" he added, gazing around the sumptuous rooms.