GranspearZX

GM "You say 'we' but..." Trigger's voice trailed off as the fighting continued. He stood upright amidst the shaking room, removing one of the cylinders from his belt. He sighed as it extended into a staff. "I must be crazy." Taraxus managed to shake off his initial surprise at Supercape's power, hellfire surrounding his hands again. This time it wasn't the same sinister looking red; it somehow seemed much darker. As Supercape nailed Taraxus in the face, he struck back with a blow of his own, aimed squarely at Supercape's chest.

TOU Save: (1d20+14=22) -1 from the previous Bruise is 21... So that's another Bruise for Taraxus. This time, he attempts to use his hellfire to sap your CON! Drain CON: (1d20+10=30) FORT save for SC.

GM Harper blinked a few times at Glow's question. "Two teams of four. Dunno how many civilians... should I have written this down?" Suddenly he was far less confident about allowing minors to do this sort of thing, special abilities or no. Before he could really voice that objection, all three of them slipped into the doorway. He looked down at his watch. "Don't make me regret this." It wasn't long before the portal spat out three more figures--first Arcturus, then Warp, and then Glow. Arcturus managed to land on his feet just fine, shortly after Errant's mental sweep of the area had begun. Having seen it before, Arc moved towards Errant, notably defensive as he looked around, sniffing absently at the air. "...hm. I can actually smell the trees. This is just gonna keep getting weirder." He looked at Heraldo, who looked ready to take off at a moment's notice; he started to ask what they had seen when another volley of gunshots rang out into the night.

"Pizza? Yeah, sure, why not? There's at least one place I know of that's not too scared of the hotel to deliver up here. In the meanwhile, we may as well hang out down here, since my lab and my glasses are up on the third floor." Marcus pulled out his cell phone, dialing in one hand while studying the box in the other. Several feet away, a transparent human wearing a top hat came casually floating in through a wall. He noticed Marcus and Kat and politely tipped his hat to both before floating upstairs. "...say, what do you want on these pizzas anyway?"

GM Taraxus didn't seem terribly concerned or impressed--at least not until Supercape's assault actually connected, sending the huge figure staggering backward several yards. His footfalls tore gouges in the black rock at his feet; any lesser being might have gone flying much further. It was clear that he hadn't expected that kind of power, but he still shrugged it off, even as he staggered a little to regain his balance. "I actually felt that. Color me impressed."

He is, in fact, in rang. So: TOU check: (1d20+14=22) No dice (ha!) Which leaves him Bruised and Stunned, forcing him to miss his next action. GM post up shortly, and then SC is up again!

"Nah, the vampire keep is in Wharton. This is much tamer." Marcus said that with the straightest of expressions; he wasn't entirely joking. Shutting the door behind them, there was another, identical chime, signifying the magic that had teleported them into the hotel had been spent. "My room's upstairs. We can get a better look at this thing from there... unless you wanna look around first?" It wasn't lost on Marcus just how vast and interesting the hotel looked to people who had never been there before. Despite the amount of time he'd spent at Parkhurst over the past year, he was still surprised at some of the things that were written off as 'normal'.

GM Taraxus only seemed to grow more annoyed as Supercape spoke. Not unlike the fire-wielding thug from upstairs, the interdimensional conqueror extended his right hand, deep red flames bursting from his palm at the white-caped hero. The force field seemed to hold, but even without having the explicit ability to sense such things, it somehow felt evil. Trigger, still behind Supercape, backed up even further, eyes wide as he watched the assault begin. The dimensional rift behind Taraxus shuddered, making the ground beneath and above rumble violently; that didn't exactly inspire confidence in the young man either.

Oh, and before I forget: 1 HP for the rousing battle speech. Round 1 19 :: Taraxus :: Unharmed 5 :: Supercape [2HP] :: Unharmed Trigger is still in the area, but he's still uncertain about getting involved. Taraxus opens up with a volley of hellfire at Supercape: Hellfire Control (DC29): (1d20+10=16) And I'm pretty sure that misses Supercape. ^^

"They're harmless to guests. The hotel used to be a lot worse... Really nasty history." Marcus decided not go to into it. Furthermore, he was certain that Kat wouldn't research it on her own; she had enough to worry about with chemistry. He brandished the key and headed to the door of his dorm room, waiting for Kat to come out as well. "I made this a couple of months ago, after studying another teleporter here at school. The magic behind it is really not that complicated..." He tapped the key once against the door frame. A bell-like tone sounded; it was subtle and low-pitched, and for the briefest of moments, runic symbols appeared and then vanished against the door's frame. Marcus then stuck the key into the keyhole, turned it, and then opened the door again. This time, however, Marcus's room was gone, replaced by the lobby of the Parkhurst Hotel.

Was this thing for real? Unfazed by the taunting, Marcus's mind was eerily calm in the face of the creepiness of the surroundings. It was a rare moment where Marcus and the Beast Rune were more or less working in sync. Clearly whatever it was intended to hunt him--as an apex predator, the Rune found the very notion insulting. Arcturus was about ready to go absolutely nuts, right up until it finished speaking. Your master, huh? ...so there IS more to this than just some roving monster. Good to know. Arcturus held back his first instinct to ignite the Flame Rune on both hands; there was no sense in giving the creature another easy way to pinpoint him. It clearly couldn't see in the dark, putting them on almost equal footing. Almost. "Show your ugly mug, monster." Arcturus sank a bit in his stance, ears twitching at the scratching sounds. The smell of blood was getting closer, and he intended to rid this place of this creature, one way or another.

"Heh. Don't worry, I won't drop you." As the police finally pulled into the area, he waited until everything was sorted out and the two were securely in custody. He deftly avoided questions about what happened to the car, deciding it was probably best not to complicate matters. Arcturus turned around and crouched, thumbing at his back. "Just put your arms around my neck. And don't let go." With a brief running start, the big bear mystic moved like Errant's added weight meant nothing. He kept it relatively slow and tame though; Arc had never actually taken on passengers, and the last thing he wanted was to give Errant some kind of complex.

Dinner was relatively normal, masterfully masking the tension that Clark's discussion with Charlotte had created. Ben's absence was still on Clark's mind, and he felt a little guilty for outright assuming that his brother was up to no good again. He still wasn't completely prepared to believe that Ben hadn't deceived Charlotte too--after all, it was his third trip to a rehabilitation center. Still, it was the first time it seemed to be voluntary... After dinner, Clark offered to clean up, though Charlotte insisted that he relax instead. Exiled to the front stoop, Clark pondered simply heading home, staring absently out into the street on which he'd spent so much of his childhood. "...he really is trying you know." By now, Clark had become used to Regina sneaking up on him. She had a knack for doing it, though he couldn't help but wonder where she'd learned to be so sneaky from. He merely shrugged in response, prompting a somewhat sour look from his younger, globetrotting sister. "You're not fooling anybody, y'know. You can't give up on him anymore than Charlotte can." Clark grunted. "...what am I supposed to say? I mean... damn, Gina. The drugs. The gambling. The LIES. You know he tried to use my social security number once to get a credit card to cover his debts?" "Yeah... mom mentioned that a while back. Wasn't that was like ten years ago?" "I should've just had him hauled off for identity theft back then." "But you didn't. And we both know why." "...too much of a hassle." "Sure, okay. Let's go with that." Regina patted Clark on the back. "You really should go and see him." "Why? I wouldn't even know what to say to him." Regina chuckled, turning to head back into the house. "That's funny; he said the same thing about you."

Ah! That changes things a little bit then; I was gonna ask to clarify, but now... Elias can 'see':

For the record, this is the statblock I'm using for our demonic friend... because proper formatting takes me hours. Seriously.: That said: Initiative: (1d20+2=19)

"Are we gonna have a way to communicate with each other once we're in there? Figure that might be important... just in case." He couldn't really fathom what the worst-case scenario would be; he sincerely doubted Dr. Green would anticipate a covert attack at the same time as a frontal assault. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't the delving into the unknown that was making him nervous. He was putting his trust in complete strangers, and they were doing the same with him. If he were a more self-conscious person, he might've backed out. Crusader offered a handshake to all present as well; that was when he really noticed Stormbreaker's missing arm. He was polite enough not to stare or dwell on it, but he was sure there was one heck of a story behind it.

"No problem. And... yeah, don't mind the artwork. I'm technically here on an art scholarship. Probably gonna do something like that when I go to college too. I guess it all depends..." His voice trailed off as he rummaged through his drawer, finally producing a small, gold-plated key. "Ah! Here it is." He sat down on his bed and politely waited for Kat to be done drying herself off. "You sure you want to tag along? I don't suppose researching things like this is really all that exciting... but I could always give you a tour of the hotel. Visitors are always welcome. Just... don't mind the ghosts."

And now, initiative time! Unless Supercape is surrendering or continuing to converse with the dimensional conqueror. :)

GM "Arrogant human." The figure placed his hand on one of the shackles on his wrist. There was a brief, reddish-black glow before the metal simply melted away. "You should chose your last words more carefully. Besides... you can do nothing without dooming this vessel to the same fate. But I am not without mercy... surrender and your demise will be relatively painless." He stepped down from the place where he'd been shackled, flames erupting from his neck and engulfing his head, leaving a sinisterly grinning black skull amidst the fire. "None will stand against the will of Taraxus. If you are this world's vanguard... heh."

Crusader is very much interested in mafia-punching. I'm sure I could come up with something for he and Bloody Mess to be involved in. :)

There was something about Kat's powers that made even the Beast Rune recoil. It was only for a moment, but considering he was in a constant mental conflict with its aggressive nature, Marcus was keenly aware of when it suddenly wasn't. The brief moment of emptiness gave him pause, even as he followed Warp into the hole she'd ripped into space. Dripping wet, he stepped into the common room, considering the nature of what he'd experienced for a moment. He shook himself out of his mental stupor and cleared his throat, concentrating as a dark green circle appeared at his feet and moved up his body, changing him back into his dry street clothes. He pulled off the mask and his features seemed to grow less beast-like as a result, save his canines and incisors which still looked a little on the large side. "Sorry," he said, apologizing for them both before leading the way to his room. He didn't seem to be anywhere near as wet after changing, a red symbol flaring to life against the back of his right hand. Marcus's room was very odd at first glance. He was much more of an artist than he let on, and there were a ton of sketches hanging on the walls of various Claremont students and places around the city. There were also a number of wood carvings of various animals on his desk, one of them looking specifically like a large bear wearing Marcus's uniform. He went to his drawer on that desk and rummaged through it, motioning to a small footlocker at the foot of his bed. "There's a bunch of towels in there if you need to dry off."

Origin Story When The Only Light Is Fire Long ago, when the world was dark, Prometheus stole fire from the gods, and was ultimately punished for doing so. Before then, man despaired when the sun dipped below the horizon, and fell prey to countless denizens of shadow, both natural and otherwise. A single woman, a devout follower of the Goddess of the Hunt, took it upon herself to tame the darkness as best she could. A skilled and knowledgeable hunter herself, she recognized that physical skill alone would not be enough. She pleaded through prayer with Artemis, and through prayer, she was given a trial--seek out the animals that dwelled within the wilds and tame their spirits. Though she didn't fully understand, she didn't hesitate to take on the endeavor. For two weeks, she lefter village and did not return. When she did finally go back, she was forever changed. [--Work In Progress--]

"My dorm room's fine then. I... well, there's a shortcut I use to get from Parkhurst to campus." Marcus didn't often talk about his research or the artifacts he made. It wasn't that it was a secret; it just never came up in normal conversation. The Traveler's Key was one of those creations that he made just researching things that would make his life easier. He didn't often do things for personal gain, but getting to the hotel and back was time-consuming and costly. It was a simple key, but it would make most doors in the city lead right to Parkhurst Hotel's front door. "Maybe once we get dried off, you can tell me what exactly that beam was. Pretty potent-looking stuff."

GM The figure shuddered violently and looked up as Supercape and Trigger, his face black and charred. All at once, his eyes lit up light torches and a laughter that could only be described as sinister filled the cavern. He rose, snapping the bonds that held his still growing body to the ground snapping with virtually no effort. Trigger took a step back, not entirely sure if he should stand with Supercape or run. Either way, the figure's soulless eyes focused on the caped hero, his tone one of extreme amusement as he spoke. "WHAT'S GOING ON... IS THE END. OF EVERYTHING."

"I guess it depends on how long we've got." Arcturus couldn't fly either, but that didn't necessarily mean that it was something beyond his means. His better options would take time, and his quickest would leave him considerably tired out afterward. He didn't want to take that risk. "I could get us back to school pretty quickly if... ah... well, I'd have to carry you. You're good with heights, right?"