Ari

Paragon: Supercape and Ironclad: The strange creature is far too polite and earnest to be up to anything, it seems like this is an honest mistake on its(and the Preservers') part.

GM The interview proceeded quite smoothly from there("...I see. What if, to use the Socratic, we applied that same principle to constructing ships?..."), with the aging Greek increasingly impressed and encouraged by Jay's dexterous mind and expansive knowledge, particularly the field of constructing mechanisms. No slouch himself, Archimedes eagerly challenged his new acquaintance with increasingly knotted problems, though he never strayed from real world applications, and in fact seemed to be using this valuable opportunity to bounce ideas off another head for solving difficulties he had often encountered. For a little over an hour they talked, before at last Archimedes abruptly switched to a wholly different topic. "So, it is possible to have non-square portals? Intriguing; I will inform the chief architect of this as soon as I can. And don't tell me how to work it out," he added with a warm smile at Jay "I'd prefer to work it out myself, more enjoyable to find out how things like that work than to to be merely told how. Now, Jay, enough about my construction woes, who are you? Where are you from? I have only heard vague and entirely unbelievable reports of beasts-" he frowned and bowed his head slightly in Jay's direction "I ask your pardon for the term, but again, ridiculous tales and legends of animals that walk like men. Are they true or merely formed around a kernel of fact?" he looked at Jubatus with undisguised interest, a look very different from Martin's deferential attitude.

DC25 TOU check: 19. Failed by 6, Dazed and Bruised.

"Thank you very much, you've done a great service to mankind" Subito told the stable-master with utter seriousness, shaking his hand with the Herald's own powerful extremity firmly before rejoining Young Britannia. Considering her brief rumination on the need they had for secrecy, he commented "With any luck, they'll mistake us for some kind of undiscovered bird. Most of the supers in this age were down around the front lines as far as I can remember" he added, glancing down the roads as if he expected Minuteman to come dashing up. Whistling in no little admiration at Agnes' exposition of her speed and strength, he rubbed the back of his neck and said a little sheepishly "Well..I can go around a fifth of that speed usually, an' I can, if I really push myself, lift about 4-5 tons at the same time. I weigh 'bout 180 pounds last time I checked, so we should be good. If you want we could go in turns" he suggested eagerly, glancing for a good place of concealment they could both transform at. He looked back at her suddenly "Wait...how will we track the guy on the horse? Just look for likely fellows with similar horses and stop them on the road?"

They're Minions. Seeing as it's a Targeted Area Blast, you only needed to roll once. If you're agreeable, I'll roll a 1d10 to see which of your rolls is chosen, or you can simply make another roll: 3. No. 3 would hit all of them. Their DC24 TOU checks(no REF save due to it being Targeted): 8, 15, 15, 12, 19, 20, 8, 19, 16, 17. All fail. Round 2, 10 more Gremlins arrive in the Fray, their Initiative roll: 24. Order is: Gremlins Wave 2(x10): Unharmed-GM King of Suits: Unharmed, 3HP Crusader: Uharmed, 3HP Gremlins make their Move Actions up the engine, using their Wall-Crawling to get up the engine without the need for a Climb check. Their Strike Attacks: 7, 11, 7, 25, 19, 8, 26, 24, 17, 11. Okay, none hit(and I just realized none of them CAN. :? Thankfully there will be something tougher up for the third wave.) KoS strikes with his Strike power of justice: 21. Hits, DC25 TOU check: 21, failed. Downed. 3 more in Melee range, attacking the next with Takedown 22, hits. DC25 TOU check: 8, failed. Next Attack: 25. Hits. DC25 TOU check: 14, failed. Final Attack: 30. Hits. DC25 TOU check: 14, failed. Crusader's turn.

GM Martin paused mid-stride, swinging in a rather ungainly fashion around to pay closer attention to his dimensionally-displaced comrade. Frowning a little at the plan, he nonetheless nodded along with it as it was spun. "Will do Mr. Xavier, I'll keep on the down-low for now. Archimedes should be here in at least two days, you'll have plenty of time to figure out how to persuade him. More than usual, anyway" he added with a grin "Sure thing! I bet you'll want some fruit or something for a change, and I can get stuff from pretty much every coast of the Mediterranean in the markets here. I'll clear out all the bugs and niggling issues I've found in the Channeler I can. It's strange," he commented, looking over the spiraling disk that had caused so much trouble and smoothed so many over "the more I work with this, the more I realize how little I really understand about it on a non0intuitive level. It's..a little frightening to be honest" he admitted to Jay, pocketing the device and going on his way... Four days later... The great scholar arrived in the city with fanfare entirely appropriate for such a beloved and revered figure, and even to Jay's modern eyes the celebrations were spectacular and in many ways quite resourceful for the(comparatively) primitive culture. Martin had been quite free with information on where the man lived, and thus it was child's-play to circumvent the rigorous network of guards and protective measures placed around(and some possibly constructed by) Archimedes. Of note to the time-warping feline were the small steam-powered devices littering some of the larger workrooms the inventor's house contained. The place was airy and well-lit with light from the sun, and Jubatus found the grey-bearded Greek poring over a large papyrus diagram of a ship on a window ledge and making small corrections of the math lines around it, a small table next to him bearing fruit, bread, meat and wine which he quietly took small bites and sips from at long intervals. The place was almost perfectly silent. A bird suddenly chirped in the garden just outside the window, and the man looked directly into Jay's eyes as he started. He stared in evident surprise.

"I thought he was gonna surrender or something," Subito grumbled, tugging his hat further down onto his head in a huff "Not go running into a building I could probably just tear the roof off of. Wonder if that is what he's told his pals?" he pondered vaguely "It sure won't do him much good if we all come bashing in and prove him wrong." He slowly spun himself around until he was upside down, his head roughly at the level of his two schoolmates and his feet stretched towards the sky, a look of serious concentration on his face. "Not really much of planner, but right now I'd vote we just charge in and overrun them before they can get themselves sorted out" he said casually.

Digging a meticulously bread-wrapped cylinder of meat, vegetables and cheeses out of his own backpack, Subito laughed openly at Serge's offering "Lame, but I agree with it! Toasting really should be done with actual toast more often anyway. Cheers Surge!" he said, taking out a stout water-bottle and tapping the neck against the soft-drink can's rim. Sipping briefly between bites of the vast roll, the stocky youth considered their situation. Raising a slightly salsa-smeared face he asked "So..we head north, to wherever or whatever is sending that signal, right?" He frowned a little "So..what d'you think we'll find there?"

The King of Suits had been as surprised as anyone when the serpent of darkness reconstituted itself, muttering peevishly under his breath "That's certainly not fair." This set off a train of thought pondering whether creatures like himself and Silhouette might have similar abilities if in the shadow world, which regrettably left him a little slower on his feet than he ought to have been. He saw the first attack coming, and with a careful series of ducks and jumps managed to evade the grasping, boneless limbs, which left him open to the follow-up from it's comrade. Marceau yelped in surprise as the shadow tentacles neatly wrapped around his midsection and slammed him bodily into the ground, and he winced as his left hip thudded painfully onto the metal floor. Well this is embarrassing he thought wryly, glaring at the shadowy monster that had pinned him so can't even get at my belt like this with my arms stuck to my sides. Seeing how effectively his comrade had cut one of their number in half, however, he didn't see any immediate danger to either of them. "Keep at it, Sil!" he called over as best he could lying prone and slowly having the air pushed from his lungs "I have complete confidence in your prowess and their weakness!"

As well, KoS's turn, which is pretty simple: Attack with the Area Blast against Kid of Apep #4, seeing as it can affect Insubstantial types. Roll: 31. Well. That hits at least. DC20 TOU check, DC17 with the Halved effectiveness: 10. Failed. All down.

Sense Motive rolls all around!

"I do not, M-I mean, Synth" Marceau said, quickly correcting his wording as he recalled that she had preferred he just say her name. "I do not speak or read that language(Though I probably could learn it fairly quickly if I had to), I have heard about a recent immigration of ninjas to this country, many of them from a clan called the 'Bloody Halls'. If these are our unwitting hosts, then it would explain why I stopped hearing any reports of their movements, and why they got more centralized around one area: they must have been funding the excavation and furnishing of this base." he glanced at the others, adding "They only got away with a few minor magical trinkets and a wallet or so, usually they were stopped and driven off without their loot" Nodding vigorously at Synth's observation about the ambush-ready layout, he agreed roundly with her "Yes, if you have no objection I suggest Spitfire goes first, then me, Voltage flying above just in case, and you bring up the rear. You do have eyes on the back of your head Mz., after all." he said almost grinning outright. The speed with which he readied the guantlets belied his jovial speeech though.

knowledge(Streetwise) roll, to see if Kingy has heard anything about any ninja clans recently: 34. Holy cow. Okay, so for the last month he's been hearing rumors, and finding traces of, a recent influx of ninjas related to the 'Bloody Halls', none of whom have seemed to have any kind of established base and stuck to minor crimes like muggings and petty thefts of small-time magical artifacts. In the last few days though the traces began to cool down with alarming speed, and as of today they appeared to have entirely vanished. Around this time, he heard that there was some kind of ninja expo planned for the city, where various clans would come together and prove their skills before each others' leaders. it apparently was caught up in negotiations due to how badly every clan tends to hate every other.

GM The creature thrumming with heat looked almost pleased(from what could be observed of its faces) and said to Quintessence, with a dove-like cooing behind every word "Thank you kindly! I have no wish to be an obstruction, and can assure you, the portal is quite safe indeed!" twising its other head more fully upon Ironclad it answered her cautiously "I am most assuredly not cybernetic, I am from a race of semi-molten sapients who inhabit a planetary body, er, quite far from most inhabited systems." With a pulsation of warmth from its bulk roiling through the various tubes it continued "If the Re-if the Re-form people have any concerns, I shall happily relocate to a place where they can observe my work, and shall gladly conduct my experiments within their paramenters. As for their personnel," it added, brightening up(and cooling down noticeably) "I have merely teleported them to the old crew decks below. Perhaps their ship's sensors were unable to locate their signals past this level?" it offered seriously. The tubes bearing its immense body had slowly begun to shift away from around Quintessence, revealing both the enhanced human on the broad examination table and the flickering portal behind powerful shields just beyond.

Diplomacy roll 1: 21. Diplomacy roll 2: 15.

Subito flinched at Seamus's stern words, looking away and muttering "Sorry I..I'm sorry." in a thoroughly chastened fashion glancing apologetically at the embittered man. Why did i ask that? He's in a war-torn country, what did I think he would say?! he trudged along glumly through the chilled streets. The talk of evil being done down south did prick up his ears a little, and he asked "Anything about watery creatures walking among men?" Nodding at the clearly-heard instruction, the Herald casually approached the stable master as Agnes and Seamus went a few steps off. "'S'cuse me sir," he asked as politely as he could "But could you tell me what your costumer looked like? How tall he was, his facial features, that sort of thing? it would be immeasurably helpful" he added, neatly putting the syllables of the unfamiliar word together without a pause "Also, what kind of horse did they buy?"

GM With a hollow shriek of pain the diaphanous scion of Apep, with a violent effort that sent lashing tendrils of shadow writhing across the room, reformed itself, closing the large gap Silhouette had cut. Coiling into a wavering spring, the recently bisected shadow snake seemed to pour itself across the floor in a liquid movement, and with a black light blazing in its eyes formed a lance from the shadow cast by the King of Suits which it sent stabbing towards its 2-D assailant. Two of the others, their sinuous heads fixed on the red and black-clad vigilante, sent a coiling mass of tentacles at the King of Suits to try and bind him. One of them barely missed, groping violently as the man ducked and dodged the limbs, which sent him straight into the grasp of the other, who quickly covered most of his body in a black and seething mass, stifling his every movement. The last dashed forward, drew back its head and sent a sickening cloud of dark power directly at Silhouette, which missed her by several inches.

Marceau's heart leaped at the jolting sight of the dozens of gleaming eyes peering at him in the dark, and the swift announcement of their murderous intentions made it that much harder for him to keep his cool. Be quick he looked around himself for an easy way to level the fighting field...a gleam of moonlight bouncing off a rusting fuselage alerted him to one possibility, a nearby freight engine! "I am quite prepared, for death and what has to come first too!" he exclaimed grandly, sliding a small smoke grenade from his belt, tossing it into the air, and while it began its ascent pulling the pin and slamming it into the ground at his feet, sending a cloud of smoke hurtling through the packed band of the gremlins, and amidst their whoops and shrieks of surprise, he dashed nimbly up the side of the decaying hunk of metals, where he readied himself for the attack to come.

Twirling the electric charge-carrying weapon between three fingers, the King of Suit's careful debate how to approach the issue was resolved when a black-and-yellow streak flashed by, and the familiar figure of the Fastest Cat Alive, Jubatus, deftly entangled the enormous enemy cat in a flurry of taped limbs. Glad to see he's still in this business! I hope we get a chance to talk a little once this is dealt with... Marceau gave a sigh of relief and leaped from his perch in the tree, hitting the ground running and whipping out a card signed with the 9 of Diamonds from the bulky, pouch-filled belt he bore around his waist charged at the huge mutated cat, slinging it with a mighty arm- -into the air several feet to the right of the thing's head. Drat he thought with evident discomfort what a way to start this off. Ah well, he took out a darker card, this one marked with the suit of Clubs "I must try again."

"Yeah yeah, fine" muttered the stocky Puerto Rican, glancing the tail of a furious eye at Jack Jackson as he was dragged away, starting when Kristin abruptly rounded on him "Whu-come on! I-I just..Jackson..we were..whatever, let's just go." he snapped in embarrassment, taking the lead and hurrying around the next corner. He wished fervently he could have just punched Jackson into the air like Galanta probably would have, She sknows how to deal with situations like this he thought in no little gloom. Once they were out of Jack's sight he stopped, looked squarely at Kris and said quietly "So, what do we do? Go see those people as Glow and Heraldo? it might be a little comforting to them."

Okay, apparently it's 60ft. to the pack of giant mutated felines. Going to move 30ft. closer to them, using the King of Suit's amazing power of SPEED to close the distance. Once there, he shall throw an almighty big Dazzle at the closest giant cat, Power Attacking with the Device Array for a +3 DC -3 Attack bonus. The roll: 18.

"Oh come on!" exclaimed Subito hotly, looking over the broad flag of the Bandera at Crow "How was I supposed to guess he would just dash off like that?" he looked around for a good place to put the now-useless gun, saw nowhere handy, and with a grumble sild it over his other shoulder, jumping into the air and taking flight with a burst of golden smoke that swirled about him. Still only a foot or so off the ground he observed the warehouse with no little frustration, glancing down suddenly he said "Hey, Crow, you're real good at seeing thing most folks don't, did you notice anything off about the guy?" Calling over to Glow he said "Sorry he got away! Want me to just go in after him, or should we make a plan and stuff first?"

If the King of Suits can be of any use at all, I'd be glad to pitch in with this. What TiffanyKorta said, a dual mission like that would give everyone something interesting to do. EDIT: B and C sound best for KoS.

So now KoS is no longer Grappled, and the last snake is up. #4 Attacks with a Snare against Silhouette: 20. DC18 REF save. EDIT: Sorry, screwed up. Roo pointed out Sil has a DEF bonus of +12 not Flat-footed, so that misses. Moving on.

Notice roll requested: 8. Darn.