GranspearZX

Arcturus: Unstuck in Time

Arcturus is wading into the fray, kicking butt and taking names! Again! If these are minions, I'm going to use the same goonsweeping bear brawling thing as before--if it's more difficult than that and will actually require a roll, let me know. :D

Arcturus was at a loss. It was difficult to tell what was really happening, and even his desperate act of throwing the huge beast into the masses was one part improvisation and two parts blind luck. Still, the three men he'd recently befriended hadn't hesitated to wade into the fray. There was no reason for him not to do the same, and the man behind the beast didn't see any reason to disagree or stop himself. After all, hesitation tended to get people unnecessarily injured; never mind harm to himself, but Arcturus didn't want anyone's blood on his hands. Except, perhaps, for the hordes of monsters trying to do him harm. Without giving it much more thought, the bear charged into the masses, fang and claw at the ready.

I think it's safe for everyone to make Init rolls at this point. For future reference (mostly for the sake of the refs, in case of any questions), I'm using the Cyborg template from Archetype Archive 2. Not really sure where else to make that declaration.

I'm not even sure if my post counts, since I didn't make it. Let me know and I'll delete it if necessary. -.-

"Heads up!" Arcturus was having a considerably difficult time holding the beast down, and there was little he could do just standing there. Suddenly an idea popped into his head; it was unclear whether or not it was the Beast Rune's or Marcus's, but both were in agreement that it wasn't entirely a bad one. The bellowing warning was all he could muster before he sank his heels into the earth and tightened his grip on the beast's horns, pivoting his entire body as he tried to hurl the beast into the oncoming masses.

"...check it again." "Sir, I've checked twice, and it still says..." "No. NO." The burly figure leaned forward and slammed his fist down on the counter. The teller windows separating customer from employee across the entire counter top shook with the force, and those who could see the altercation had a good view of the man's large, three-fingered metal claw of a left hand. The teller gasped, glasses askew as she recoiled. She managed to squeak something out that sounded vaguely like 'sorry'--which only seemed to make the situation worse. "What the @$%@ am I supposed to do with your 'sorry', huh?! You think you can pay rent with a @#$@in' sorry?!" The altercation didn't go entirely unnoticed; as a security guard strode across the floor, his right hand moving defensively for his weapon, there was a brief rumble as the entire building shook. Everyone heard it; most of the bank had gone quiet as the bass in the man's voice increased. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave the premises. Immediately." Despite the obvious size difference, there was a definite authoritative tone in the guard's voice. It didn't seem to sway the customer at all, and he turned from the teller to face the guard fully. From the side, his hood didn't cover his face quite as well as he might have liked, and his profile revealed a lower jaw that looked just as metallic as his left hand. "I ain't leavin' here without my money. NOBODY'S leavin' until I get my money!" The guard began to draw his weapon; before he could get it out of the holster, the customer's metal hand shot across the distance between the two, nailing the guard in the face and knocking him cleanly off his feet--at which point the entire bank erupted into a clear panic, leaving many customers bolting for the door, not wanting to get involved...

Seems I forgot to do mine, too. Arcturus: Life's a Drag(on) Unstuck In Time Crusader's got nothing this month. If someone could just archive him for me, I'd be fine with that.

Apologies for the absenteeism on my part. But with finals in two weeks, I'll be around a lot more (since I don't have nearly as much work), so I'll be moving the thread forward at a more or less steady clip from here on in. Again, I'm sorry for not being around more.

Apologies for the absenteeism on my part. But with finals in two weeks, I'll be around a lot more (since I don't have nearly as much work), so I'll be moving the thread forward at a more or less steady clip from here on in. Again, I'm sorry for not being around more.

"Wolves, huh? Actually..." Arcturus seemed genuinely thoughtful as he paused, seemingly oblivious to the carnage he'd caused. He wondered if he could actually pull off a canine form... It was an interesting idea. Theoretically, the Beast Rune would allow him to assume a form similar to a wolf, though he'd never tried that particular application of his magic. He'd seen it in his dreams though--one of the many totems that the Beast Rune had assumed over the centuries. From what he understood, there was something specific each totem required in order for him to fully understand and control its power within the Rune; that was, mostly, what drove most of its hosts insane. The Bear had accepted him almost instantly, greatly improving Marcus's chances, though it still often had a mind and personality of its own. "...? Incoming?" When the beast came charging at him, Arcturus's first instinct wasn't to move--rather, he held his ground, arms spread outward with something of a maniacal grin on his toothy maw. "You want a piece of Arc, ugly?! Let's dance!" Paws spread wide, he crouched and motion forward with both, grinning madly all the while. He braced himself and tried to grab the charging beast by the horns. It was something Marcus had seen on television once or twice, so it was bound to work... or at least, he thought so. If nothing else, Arc just didn't want to be gored; that would be painful, not to mention incredibly unheroic. He growled ferally and his eyes flared red as he leaned into the charging beast, both paws gripping its horns as it drove him backward. His feet dug trenches into the ground as he braced himself... and then, the stopped. A broad grin crossed his maw as he suddenly pivoted, wrenching the beast to one side like a practiced ranch hand. He managed to haul the beast off its feet and onto its side, sending up a thick cloud of dust from the impact of its body hitting the ground. "Yee-haw!" Inwardly, Marcus wasn't quite so brazen; he'd only just managed to keep those horns from driving into his chest. He wasn't entirely certain that he'd be able to pull that off again. There was a sickening feeling at the Bear's nature tugged at his psyche, wanting him to maul the thing until it stopped moving. He huffed and tried to keep the beast pinned down with its horned head in the dirt.

Will do! Grapple Attempt (Arc, Bear Form) [HP Reroll] (1d20+23=28) ...not much better. But +10 for the HP so... 38?

We'll go for the Bracing/Grapple thing then! Grapple Attempt (Arc, Bear Form) (1d20+23=25) ...not a great roll. :|

Okay, so I've got this horned beast charging at Arcturus... The first thing that comes to mind is using the Bracing PF off his Super Strength, grab it by the horns, and flip him over all Texas rancher style. XD Not sure what I need to roll to pull that off, though.

Okay. So, Arcturus is: a) taking 10 on his attacks, which is 24 attack using power attack for -5 attack and +5 damage, which brings it down to 19. Lots of smashy-smashy. :D

"Weapons? Tch, yeah... right. Weapons." Arcturus looked at Fulcrum--it took him a minute, but he did at least recognize her from their encounter with the dragon in Freedom City. He couldn't help but wonder if that little incident was at least in part related to this. There certainly was a lot of dimensional activity in the past few months; Arc could at least say that his dabbling in dimensional magic had nothing to do with it. If it had, he was sure a stern talking to from the Master Mage would come next. As she offered a hand, Arcturus smiled. With his sharp teeth, it looked almost sinister. "I ain't gonna say 'no'." As the beasts began to circle, Arcturus stepped forward, his toothy grin growing wider. He seemed to brace himself... and then he charged right into one of the circling monsters. For someone his size, he moved with astounding agility; he wasn't even using his claws, simply hammering fists and elbows into beastmen before they could suitably react to his presence. He still managed to look outright feral as he charged into and through one adversary after another, making the warriors on his side cringe once or twice at the brutal nature of the black-furred hero.

Marcus hated studying under pressure. Normally, he was methodical enough to actually plan his study time, but there had been a lot going on. He'd joined a gym, he had a part-time job at the docks, and on top of everything else, he was poking at designs for the Parkhurst Manor's library; who knew one had to brush up on dimensional spaces for something like that? As a result, he knew exactly what a portal looked and felt like. He'd have to ask later how someone managed to get it inside his terribly unorganized dresser drawers. Upon landing, rather heavily, at that, he groaned. Impacts like that were rather unpleasant in his human form. As he stood up, his first thought wasn't even one of surprise; he'd been through so many portals and such over the past six months that his initial reaction was wondering just where he'd been dumped now. A quick survey of the situation revealed just how serious his situation was. He rapidly came to the conclusion that the armored men weren't the threat. No, there was a much, much large concern... The Beast Rune pulsed at his back and Marcus smiled. It wasn't often that the two beings were in sync in thought or mood, but studying had apparently run its course with both. "...don't worry, fellas; I'm on your side," was the only warning he gave before his entire form was engulfed in several bands of light, forming an amber-hued sphere around him. It only obscured his changing form for a second before bursting like shattered glass, leaving the man behind and the bear on center stage. "Alright. Who's first?"

And Arc's... ah... bearness! (If it wasn't a word before, it is now!)

Arcturus couldn't be sure what was going on. Neither could anyone around him really; the fact that he was running TOWARDS the danger rather than away from it was shocking enough. Compounded onto that was the fact that it was a huge bear doing the running--and saying 'excuse me' while doing it. Rather than slow down for the door leading to the stairs, the shapeshifter lowered his shoulder and launched his bulk into the door, bursting it right off its hinges. Without missing a beat, he launched himself up the stairwell. He felt the building shake more than once as he leaped up the stairs. Running would have been tiring, even with his increased endurance, but making prodigious jumps seemed like a far better use of his energy. It was something he'd only briefly tested during his 'skill assessment' upon entering Claremont. Despite his massive size, Arcturus was surprisingly agile, though he could definitely start to feel a faint ache in his legs as the climb went on... At this rate, it'll be over before I get up there. Times like this, flyin' wouldn't be such a bad idea... When he arrived at the top, the door do the roof was locked--a problem quickly solved by taking the knob in hand and driving his shoulder into the door. Three good shoves later and the padlock snapped off and the door swung open, giving the bear a full view of the hostage-less dragon, with Fulcrum snaring it by the tail and preparing to toss it off the roof entirely. "...holy hell."

Need a round of Notice checks from everyone. Sorry I've been absent. :(

GM "Hello! Welcome to the Eastern Seaboard Bank. One of our account representatives will be more than happy to help you with that... just sign in right over there." The woman gestured to a small counter off to the left side of the bank. It was easily the least crowded place in the building--the main desk, with a small touch screen terminal for customer use sitting on top of it. "Just type your name in there, and have a seat right there," she explained to Evander, pointing off to the right side of the main desk area with an oval-shaped wooden table covered in magazines. It was surrounded by two couches on its longer sides and an armchair on either end, with no one occupying any of them. The bank's lobby was packed--it wasn't especially crowded, but it was very busy. There wasn't a whole lot to be seen or heard besides the usual business of the day; hushed conversation and the sound of heels and loafers tapping against the white and blue-tiled floor filled the air. Lines were pretty lengthy despite there being five tellers inside, all processing transactions as quickly and politely as possible. One in particular seemed to be having a little more trouble than the others--a mousy, brown-haired young girl with round glasses at the furthest end of the curved counter of teller windows. It was difficult to see her behind the large, stocky fellow standing in front of her on the other side of the counter; he was wearing a large coat and a hat that obscured a great deal of his bulky form. The conversation seemed hushed, but the way the man was gesturing with his right arm suggested that he wasn't liking what he was hearing.

GM "What she fears? ...I really don't know. I mean, I haven't known her that long..." As Marcus thought about Rene's suggestion, the room shook. It was a short tremor but a strong one, enough to throw him a little bit off balance. "...the only way forward, I guess, is through that door." Marcus shifted forms mid-stride, reaching for the hospital door and pulling it open. He paused for a moment before striding out into the open, stepping into a grassy field instead of the hospital hallway. The sky was dotted with stars much in the same way as the real world, light from the full moon illuminating everything from above. Several hundred yards in the distance, a large black castle loomed on the horizon, dominating the otherwise serene landscape. "...wow."

Midterms this week. Also found a job. So it's going to be very hectic for me until this weekend.

Everything the group interacts with in this particular case is very real. Ultimately the nightmare construct--or at least this particular one--is elaborate and powerful enough that it can't be altered any more than might be possible in the physical world. Now, as for that Notice check:

This is an OOC thread (obviously) for this thread. Also, this is for my own reference: Cannonade Crow Mercury Myrmidon Silhouette