Thunder King

“The name of our target is Chakprii Anantasu.†Black Tiger said as he swung a leg over his motorcycle. It was their second day in Bangkok, Mali knew they were leaving first thing on the third morning. The day had been a fun one as Mali hung out with her family. A traditional Thai dinner with a bunch of family she had never met before. Sometime around mid-afternoon, the two of them had settled in his bedroom while he searched the internet for information. Databases on criminals, government records, even medical records. She was amazed at the ease at which he found the information. Unfortunately, all they got was an address. That was enough. "We need to be extra careful. Tonight, we're taking down an opium empire.†She nodded, he grinned. It was amazing how confident he was. They had a name, but would it be enough? Would they provoke the entire organization to come crashing down on them? Still, Black Tiger was nothing if not confident, and skilled. Compared to Bangkok, Freedom City was practically Disneyland. Last night had been easygoing, almost fun. None of the guards were all that competent. The gunmen, for example, could have moved as a group and taken them out. Instead, they mindlessly fired until they ran out of bullets and got taken down. Tonight was different. She could feel it in the air. A flash of lightning streaked across the sky. It was an ominous warning. She knew she would have to be on top of her game tonight. The address was a rather impressive apartment building. The target had the penthouse. On a hunch, Tarrin checked out the owners and some of the residents. The whole building belonged to Chakprii Anantasu. The whole building was full of criminals.

The circus was bright and colorful, with people laughing and walking everywhere. Rene's senses were assaulted by the scent of popcorn and fried snacks. It didn't take Rene long to find the same man who he had spoke to previously. "Still lookin' into that stuff?" He said. "Can't say I've seen hide or hair of that guy. Still, I'm all for cooperatin' with heroes." He gave an honest smile and offered his hand. "Anything we can do to help stop whatever it is you're lookin' to stop, let me know." It was fairly obvious that he did not act alone, either. Several of the circus staff nodded to Rene as they passed. Full cooperation with the circus would certainly help. Especially given the circumstances. The day was bright, colorful, and full of promise. It was better to solve the situation now, because the clown said he owned the night.

GM The young man coughed and nodded. "There's an alley about six blocks from here. Guys go there to score junk sometimes." He shook and closed his eyes. "All you have to do is head to the left as soon as you go out of the clinic. Walk six blocks, and it's there on the right. I gotta say though, be careful. He looked dangerous as all hell. He was lean and muscular like, and had a knife in his pocket. Moved like a snake."

She just chuckled. "No, I can't imagine they would. They didn't see me enough to make it accurate, anyway." She carried the bag over her shoulder with practiced ease. She dropped the bag with a thug and unzipped it. Inside were some handwraps and some gloves. She usually wore gloves when she sparred, both to avoid risking damage to her hands, and to lessen the impact of her hits. She didn't want to have to hold back too much. Not against Morgan. She'd sparred with him dozens of times, and she deeply respected, even admired him. It didn't hurt that he was kinda cute, either.

Crimson Tiger groaned inwardly. Of course they were searching around. She was in a tough place, but made a snap decision. She began walking, quietly as she could, up the stairs. She wanted to reach the next floor and, once she got there, wait patiently for the men to do what they were going to do, and either ambush them or let them pass and make her way downstairs. She really, really wished she could just floor them, but that would be more trouble than it was worth. Tigers were strong, fierce and powerful, but also capable of staying low until it was time to pounce.

Taking 10 on stealth with Skill Mastery for a 22 in order to sneak up the stairs 24 on notice

GM The person behind the desk looked him over. She was a younger woman in her mid 20s and dressed like a nurse. Made sense, someone had to watch the front desk and a free clinic probably didn't have the funds to hire someone to be a receptionist. She smiled slightly nervously. "Sure." She said. His minor reputation in the area served him well, because she got up and opened the door. "He's...not lucid." She said, opening the back door. It was a fairly humble place, with mostly bare white walls and a linoleum floor. Clean, definitely, but humble. Jackie and a couple of other patients were laying in beds behind several curtains. Jackie blinked. "Uh..." he said, shaking. "Um, I dunno what it was...but it was real bad." He said. He was pale and shaky. "If I get outta this alive, I'm done with the junk, pot, all of it. I don' wanna die." he said. "It was...some guy. Skinny like a rake, looked like wore some kinda suit. Not my usual dealer. He said the stuff was great, that it was real cheap." He coughed and shook some more. "Now I know why."

Solar Sentinel carefully laid the unconscious villain on the ground. He observed the scene, hoping that the robbers didn't do any lasting damage while he was pursuing the villain. It wouldn't do to catch the villain only to find that the thugs had gotten away or killed someone. "He fled the scene." He said, nodding to the officers. "Did you guys get them? Are there more out there? Are the officers okay?" He said, looking around. If there were, he was prepared to pursue. "Be careful with this one. I burned myself a little bit trying to punch him. Probably has some sort of fire control powers. Probably a good idea to keep him knocked out.:"

The shadow receded slightly as Jingles seemed to mull over what he said. "Oh ho, old man...are you truly someone to fear then? More than some old wizard artist?" He laughed, cruelly again. "Bah, all that means is another bell. Yes, when I kill you or drive you mad, I'll add another bell to my costume. A bell that rattles for the dead or crazy old man." Laughter filled Rene's ears. The spectre...left. It was obvious that Rene did not fear him, so it seemed as though Jingles had no reason to remain. A small victory, and a temporary one, but a victory nonetheless.

Jingles does not remember but he falls for the bluff with a 13

With his opponent disoriented, there was no better opportunity to finish the fight once and for all. As soon as the man looked as though he was starting to recover, Solar Sentinel fired another blast that sent him crashing through a window. Without a moment's rest, he charged into the broken window and plucked the unconscious man from the floor. He swung around in the office and careened out of the same hole he made with the man's body. He was not sure if the police needed his help with the other criminals, so he kicked his speed into high gear. For a moment, a blue trail glowed in the air as he hurled back to the police officers. He was already back at the scene before the trail faded.

Henry's going to burn an HP to shake off his fatigue from extra effort and blast with a 22

That was the last thing he should have said. Rather than discourage him, all it did was convince him he needed to end the fight soon. "You dare threaten civilians?! You must be dumber than you look!" Henry did not know the depths of his cosmic power. He had never tapped into it's total potential. Though using it could exhaust him, it always felt as though there was simply more power where that came from. He had spent much of his life with this power, and only ever used it to blast foes or fly fast or something similar. He came to the growing realization that he could not hope to defend his home if he refused to stretch the uppermost limits of his power. Solar Sentinel's cosmic aura flared into bluish flames. His whole body seemed alight with cosmic fire as his right hand swept forward, sending a beam of azure light flying at his foe.

The OOC thread for >this thread

GM Monday, October 28 12:30 PM Six patients. Addicts, junkies, casual users. Whatever they tried to say, they'd all done whatever it had been. Drugs were bad enough, tainted drugs were even worst. He had four patients who had a bad reaction. The symptoms were consistent; Intense vertigo, hallucinations, vomiting and tremors. They shook uncontrollably, could not walk, seemed barely lucid, and could keep nothing down. When questioned, all four of them pointed out to something they'd gotten their hands on. Some new, cheap source. Probably tainted, but he did not know by what. He knew better than to assume he could keep the streets completely clean. Tainted drugs, though, drugs that could potentially kill on one dose? That he could probably take care of. But not as Tyrone Mendoza, not as a doctor. No, he would need to do something a little more drastic. With that in mind, he suited up. ------Meanwhile------ Jackie. He was about sixteen maybe seventeen, a friendly kid who was probably destined to end up dead in an alleyway. It wasn't fair, though. He was smart, good looking, and had a ready smile. When asked where he came from, he always redirected the conversation. He couldn't keep himself clean. Now he was sixteen or seventeen and laying in a bed in the back of some free clinic. Shaking and vomiting, barely able to tell who anyone was. The rumor was someone had put tainted drugs on the street.

It did not take long to hail a cab, nor to get it out on the road. Within the hour, Rene stood in front of the apartment building. No one seemed at home, and it wasn't difficult to get in. Once inside the apartment proper, he saw the book exactly where it had been. The book had a strange aura to it. Malevolent and vile. When he opened it, it was clearly a book of occult rituals. Clearly dealing with dreams and nightmares. With this book of spells and rituals, it was clear that Jingles, or Thomas Malloy, had access to a lot of different magical abilities. The sound of laughter filled the air. Cruel and biting to the ears. Yet, no one was there. "Did you think me so stupid old man?" A voice said suddenly. Loud and cruel, yet laughing. Ever laughing. "I'd sit there in my apartment and let you just come to me? You should have left well enough alone, old man! A powerful friend gave me the power to punish whomever mocks me, made me smarter and so much stronger." "Yet I'm not there, and that's the ticket, isn't it? You can't fight what you can't find!" The laughter filled the room again. "You probably have until tonight, you know. The daylight is yours, old man. But the night is mine." He laughed cruelly again, and the sound of chains filled the room. Loud and concussive, almost hurting his ears. "The night is mine." The spectre had not fled, Rene could feel him still.

It was quite the plain home. An apartment like any other. It was not especially clean, nor especially filthy. It seemed as though Thomas Malloy was average in his ways, and seemed not to be at home. To an untrained eye, this apartment would be so identical to others as to seem disappointing. It was fairly well lit and none-too-expensive. Rene, of course, would likely have seen it as abject poverty, but your average person would not think it a bad place to live. However, Rene did not have untrained eyes. So amidst the normalcy, he spotted an unusual looking book that sat amidst a bunch of normal ones on a shelf in the living room.

Roll a notice check. I'll give you results based on your rolls.

Solar Sentinel does not take well to threatening innocents, so he's going to let loose an extra effort, power attack by 1 blast; 24 to hit If it hits, that's a DC 26 TOU save

The man nodded and handed a list of names. Unfortunately, the contact information only included their real names, and not any pseudonyms they may have entertained under. With that said, there were only three such names. "I wrote it up, assuming you'd come back. I wouldn't imagine one of you superhero types would come looking around for nothing." He said. "Thomas Mallory, though..." He shook his head. "Once my memory got kick started I remembered. He was the one who got a little angry. Didn't attack nobody, but when we told him no, he didn't take it all that well. That's his address." He said, pointing to the spot on the paper. "Two years ago, my brother was saved by one of you hero types from some villain or another. Since then, I've done my level best to cooperate with you guys."

Rene will be fatigued for the day, but as I did not allow any sort of save or defense against the effect, also an HP for the GM fiat I used to make the scene work.

Fire, smoke, knives, blood. The hideous, screaming laughter of a desperate madman mixed with the screams of the dead. A cacophony of noise mingled with the smell of blood and smoke, and an assault of vivid colors in the eyes. Rene's eyes shot open and glanced around. The room was a twisted parody of his own chambers, every item in it changed to a horrifying and nightmarish form. A flash of red lightning lit up the room as rain beat the windows just outside his room. The thunder was a rumble of cruel, mocking laughter that filled the room and nearly hurt Rene's ears. He floated in the middle of the room, the clown. He wore a clown's costume, vile as it was. There were bells everywhere on it. Jingles' feet touched the floor and all the bells rang. It wasn't the soft sound of bells that filled the air, but old chains. He stepped slowly closer to Rene. His limbs were too heavy to move even as the clown stepped closer. Another flash of red lightning and more rumbling laughter. Without the lightning, the room was too dark to see Jingles move. Each flash of lightning brought him closer, but the rattling of the chains never ceased. "Old man." The voice was loud and rasping, cruel to the ears. He stood over Rene. "A warning." his hand lifted high into the air, brandishing a blood soaked knife. The man had no eyes. Rene's eyes shot open. Dawn was creeping through the windows. It was the morning of Halloween, and the room was back to normal.

He blinked. "No trouble out of our clowns, not really. Though it makes me wonder, why you came all this way to ask about our clowns. Did something happen with a clown?" He asked. He looked around. "We had a few...disgruntled applicants not all that long ago. We had tryouts for new clowns and had to turn a few away. You'd think jolly folks like that wouldn't get so mad about it. Then again most people are afraid of them, nowadays. Not me."

Henry growled. This guy, whoever he was, was trouble. He burned to the touch, so this time, he did not plan on charging in to hit him. He fired a blast of pale blue energy at his foe, hoping to strike true. However, his enemy shrugged it off casually. This was not good. He needed a plan to stop him, and soon.

Henry's a bit wary of that flaming aura, so he's just going to fire a blast. 23