GranspearZX

GM "Innocent? Heh... there's no such thing." Another smoke bomb was dropped, obscuring Caliber from the eyes of incoming officers. Supercape could still see him, of course, slipping into a nearby manhole before it cleared. In moments, the police had the biker and his hostage surrounded, and were approaching the other ten that Supercape had already rendered unconscious. The only things left behind by him were two empty smoke grenade canisters and a single card.

Oh no. Though he was a little disoriented from the trip, seeing the armor in person was confirmation enough of what materials went into Gauntlet's creation. Before he could really wrap his mind around that, though, he spotted Rene, knocked out cold. He knelt down and gently nudged him, hoping that he hadn't hurt himself. Marcus checked to make sure he was still breathing at least... I never would've let him do this if I'd known this would happen... but he probably knew that. Stubborn old geezer... The tear in his shirt sleeve hadn't even registered yet; he could have been bleeding and not have noticed with Rene in the state he was in.

Doktor'd 9/6/2011 Arcturus Complications: Looking to drop Wardrobe Malfunction and add this: AAAAH! Bear!: Arcturus, in bear form, tends to give off an aura that screams 'predator'. As such, civilians have a tendency to panic when they see him. Skills: Concentration 4 (+6) Feats: Second Chance (TOU checks vs. Unarmed) Powers: Regeneration 3 (Recovery Rate 3 [No Action]) [3pp] Unarmed Strike 0 (PF: Variable Descriptor 1) [earth, fire, thunder, ice] [1pp] Total Spent: Skills (1) + Feats (1) + Powers (2) = 4/4 Power Points Doktor'd 9/6/2011

The thoughts that were going through Marcus's head were rather profane, and best left to the imagination. He didn't dare turn and run, lest he get skewered in the back, and took a stance vaguely reminiscent of a martial artist, managing to dodge the worst of the attack. One nicked the shirt he was wearing, only barely missing flesh, reminding him that this was, in fact, real. "Oh, that's it." Marcus narrowed his eyes, tensing up as he prepared himself... and then nothing. The Beast Rune was outright dead, and suddenly he realized that its magic had been somehow negated. It was something that happened often when he wasn't on the physical plane--he knew about it and why it occasionally happened, but that didn't make it any easier to accept. Especially not now. Yeah, I think I've seen enough. Marcus continued to backpedal, trying to focus less on the sharp and pointy things aimed at him and more on getting back to reality...

TOU check: (1d20+6=20) Yay! And Marcus takes a shot at willing himself back to reality: WIS check: (1d20+2=20)

Drive works! Drive: (1d20+4=7) Definitely not good enough. So the lone rider is now trapped inside... and Caliber's not happy about it. So... he surrenders. Kinda. DC 20 Bluff/Sense Motive check please (as Caliber is attempting to create a diversion). :)

GM Caliber was anything but amused as his hired help ended up trapped, managing to slam on his brakes before either he or the hostage could be harmed. By now, the sounds of the sirens were loud and one could see the flashing lights in the distance. Caliber narrowed his eyes a little, then he sighed, raising both his malformed hands. "...perhaps we got off on the wrong foot, hm?" He smiled, his voice hardly matching the enlarged canines and incisors he was sporting. "It's clear we're at a stalemate here. However... I would not count the police quite as fortunate." Caliber's grin grew wider, toothier, downright sinister in its intent. "I will allow you to take the hostage. That IS what you wanted, yes? I would decide quickly... time is not on your side."

And Caliber shoots back! 1d20+8=11 ...and probably misses! But in the mean time, the bikers are making off with the hostage!

GM The subsequent blast shook the ambulance, tipping it onto two wheels as Caliber reeled backward a few steps... and then he stopped. And laughed. Tires screeched as the motorcyclists took flight as the sirens grew closer, one of them with the hostage in tow. "That's strike TWO." Caliber smirked as he raised his hand, motes of red radioactivity swirling around his fingertip and gathering in a single point that was growing by the second. With a simple twitch of his thumb, he fired a volley into the cloud of smoke separating the two men.

Gauntlet's TOU check: (1d20+14=32) The dice really love Gauntlet today. o.o

Arc comes to the rescue, by trying to charge and overrun Gauntlet: Overrun (Trip attempt): (1d20+10=28) Arc's Strength: STR check: (1d20+9=17) Gauntlet's Strength: STR check: (1d20+14=33) (And I forgot his +2 Immovable bonus, which doesn't even matter at this point.) And Arcturus runs headlong into Gauntlet... who doesn't move. He reacts with a trip check of his own: Gauntlet's Strength: STR check: (1d20+14=34) Arc's Acrobatics: There's no point in rolling because he can't beat a 34. HOWEVER... Arc makes use of his Skill Mastery in Acrobatics. So yes, he's knocked down by the reaction, but he's back up as a free action. Gauntlet swings: Attack Roll: (1d20+8=19) And barely misses. Catalyst is up! :D

This wasn't the first time he'd been dumped into a battlefield, but Marcus had never had both sides of an encounter wanting to kill him. Seeing the rather graphic death of the Spaniard gave him pause, long enough for him to get an incredibly good glimpse at the armor the soldier was wearing. It was smaller, but there really was no mistaking it. He still had absolutely no clue what time period he could have been in or where; it was probably something he should've known. Aztecs? Spanish conquistadors? It seemed really familiar, but under the pressure, he was drawing a complete and utter blank. For now, though, saving his neck from a grizzly fate similar to that of the soldier seemed WAY more important.

Initiative (1d20+5=10) Oh, and: Knowledge (History), untrained: (1d20+1=3)

Awesome. So we're looking at: Jasmine :: 21 [2 HP] Arcturus :: 9 [2 HP] Gauntlet :: -1

Initiative time! Gauntlet: Initiative (1d20-4=-1) Arcturus: Initiative (1d20+5=9)

GM The figure didn't budge. At all. Nearly three times Jasmine's height, the armor gave off a disturbingly hollow clang when she backed into it, the red glow in its eye holes intensifying as it settled its gaze on her. For several moments, it seemed as if its stare was boring straight into her soul. It looked from her to the slope at the end of the clearing, catching a brief glimpse of the bear slipping back into the woods. It looked down at Jasmine again, its voice echoing outward from its helm with a sound akin to gears grinding and echoing from within its solid, hollow body. "Move, human." Asking was more or less of a formality; mid-sentence, it was trying to shove her aside. Behind it, its arrival was somewhat obvious--cars had been overturned and shoved out of the way, as the armored golem had made a disturbingly direct line from wherever it had come from to here. It didn't even move when Jasmine attempted to blind it, and it started to raise its massive fist in retaliation, unaffected entirely by the attack... For a brief second, Jasmine was dwarfed by another shadow behind her; it didn't last long, as the big angry bear she'd shot came barreling back into the clearing, lowering his shoulder and trying to ram his entire form into the armored golem. It didn't budge--and, instead, shoved the bear backward. Arc landed flat on his back and rolled backward, displaying a disturbing amount of agility for a being his size as he rolled to his feet. Gauntlet hardly gave him a chance to breathe, focused intently on him as it swung a metal fist at him. Arcturus ducked, barely able to avoid the blow, his eyes still irritated from the pepper spray. "You have really lousy timing, tin grin..." Arcturus muttered... At this point, any ruse he might have been trying to maintain with a civilian around was gone, considering Gauntlet might have actually hurt her if he'd done nothing. He glanced over at her to make sure she was okay, still trying to figure out how exactly he was going to deal with this when he had absolutely no idea what he was doing.

What the hell?! Marcus found that, more often than not, that was the general reaction after doing something Rene suggested. It was a reaction that was amusing in hindsight, but given that he couldn't speak a word of Spanish, it was a little bit distressing. Never mind that there was a gun pointed at him. Instinctively, his hands went up. Truth be told, it was secondary to the instinct that told him to change forms and kick their behinds, but that wasn't why he was here. He couldn't help but wonder where and when in time Rene's magic had dumped him. Maybe I should've paid more attention in history class.

Caliber's up, and he just threw a Smoke Grenade (DC15 vs. Fort, visual Dazzle)! (It occurs to me, as well, that I forgot to put that in his DC block. D'oh.)

GM The force of the blast caught them all by surprise, and most of the Maulers were too close to do anything but go flying. All but two of them were on the ground in the aftermath, unsure of what exactly happened... Neither of the remaining goons wanted any part of it and scrambled to their fallen bikes, taking off in short order... The apparent leader of the group emerged from the back of the ambulance, four considerably more capable-looking men with him. Two more emerged from the driver's and passenger's side of the ambulance. He looked around at the rest of the group on the ground, then looked back at one of his subordinates. Easily the largest of the six, he had an unconscious man draped over his broad shoulder as if he didn't weigh anything. "Don't keep him waiting," he said flatly, looking in Supercape's direction as the rest of the men fled the scene, hostage and all. "Impressive. Stupid, but impressive. You should know... this is not a fight you can win." To punctuate his point, he threw a small black canister into the air, and it hissed violently before it even hit the ground, filling the area with acrid black smoke.

Marcus didn't recognize anything. There was a faint twinge of familiarity, but for the moment, everything was dark. Moonlight illuminated the ground through sparse trees, and even the trees weren't like the ones in Wharton. He started to walk forward, nearly tripping on one of the large white stones nearby, circling the patch of otherwise unremarkable ground on which he'd awakened. Did someone call me here? ...again? It occurred to him that this could be War-Earth again. As much as he liked the place, being sucked through the dimensions again to get there wasn't exactly ideal. He still had classes to attend, and he'd even started taking his art more seriously--after all, he was at Claremont on an art scholarship. He was starting to realize that his life was filled with distractions, and there were so many of them that he didn't know what he should have been focusing on anymore. As he headed forward into the woods, he could hear rustling leaves and the occasional breaking of a branch. Marcus definitely wasn't alone...

Arcturus Apex Predators Dark Side of the Moon Playing to a Packed House Run! The Gauntlet GM Highway Robbery

Where am I...? There was a distinct buzz of disorientation as Marcus felt himself regain consciousness. He was pretty sure he wasn't dreaming. The last thing he remembered was tossing and turning in his bed, and then the brief sensation of falling. He moved his right hand to push himself up off solid ground, eyes opening to see the half-inch high grass between his fingers. Unfamiliar woodland smells surrounded him; he rose slowly and brushed himself off, realizing he wasn't wearing much but a pair of ragged shorts. Had he transformed and forgotten? How did he get here and not remember? The nature of his magic wasn't like that of lycanthropy, where he wouldn't have recalled where he'd been... or at least, that was how things had progressed so far. A chill breeze blew through the clearing, further cementing the idea that he was, in fact, not dreaming.

Mulling over edits. I haven't given up on him, I swear. :P

Arcturus wouldn't have considered his entrance particularly flashy or regal. Truth be told, even in his human form, he didn't have a whole lot of use for court formalities or etiquette, and he carried himself like a warrior--the only way he really knew how. He wasn't wearing much in the way of armor when he'd started, but the Wolves insisted that he look more the part of the fighter he'd proven himself to be. Dark brown greaves and bracers, as well as a heavier piece of leather on his right shoulder held up by a harness on his chest made him look considerably more clothed than when he'd arrived. He strode in, only steps behind Atlas and Gabriel. He was nervous and still ached from the fight, but there was absolutely no showing of uncertainty or fatigue as he stopped behind Gabriel. He bowed only as an afterthought--he saw Gabriel do it and figured it was best to avoid social missteps where possible.

Arcturus Apex Predators Run! The Gauntlet! Soul in the Iron Unstuck in Time GM Highway Robbery What's Done in the Dark Other Villain Submission: Caliber, PL12