Vahnyu

Realising that the men talked in a different language, Hronos adjusted his internal translator, in order to properly converse with them. "<Citizens. Do not be alarmed. It is not my intention to do battle with you, and if the language I used before offended you, I deeply apologise; I had no knowledge that it would do so. I am affiliated with no church or religion of this planet, nor am I concerned in doing the biddings of rulers, be they Kings, Queens, mayors, or presidents. I do not wish to stand in your way and obstruct you of your work.>" Hronos attempted to reason with the potential hostiles. "<As I was saying, a disturbance occured in this immediate area, and it is my wish to investigate it. For that, I require your assistance in providing me with some information about the situation. Do you feel that something is not as it should be? Creatures or plants or buildings, that should not have been here in this time and age, appearing out of nowhere? Or perhaps, creatures or plants or buildings, that SHOULD be here, disappearing into nothingness for no reason? If you could answer these questions, your help would be greatly appreciated.>"

Hronos: Delays as a free action (Maximum delay: 10+16)

Initiative: 1d20+16 → [18,16] = (34)

Knowledge(History) check with Eidetic Memory 1d20+4 → [6,4] = (10) Notice check: 1d20+10 → [3,10] = (13) Diplomacy (-4) check: 1d20-6 → [20,-6] = (14)

As Hronos was flying through the city, the sudden familiar feeling caused him to stop on his tracks. Hronos looked around on reflex, facing at the general direction of the chronal disturbance his machinery picked up. ...I am detecting... an chrono-spatial anomaly? Has the function been restored? He asked himself. No further response. No, the circuitry are still offline... then... something must have occured... Something grave enough to make the safeties suspend. His brain had already ascertained the location, so it was an easy matter for the Mechanodynamis to fly towards the anomaly. He flew through buildings and above parks, until he reached the area designated as Warton Forest by the population. What he saw in his destination was a collection of people. They appeared to be weirdly dressed, that is, by the standards of most citizens of Freedom City, but quite people who traveled around the City worn equally unusual clothes. Landing slowly in front of them, Hronos greeted them in the local language. "Greetings. I am called Hronos. There was a disturbance in these parts that I felt. Could you perhaps provide me with information on the matter? Perhaps you noticed something weird or out of place?"

"Proto-writings... written language before there was written language..." Hronos pondered Professor Brix's estimations. After thanking Jessica for her help, the robotic creature was now following her suggestion, meeting with the history professor she recomended. Pagan rituals... perhaps those were responsible? Too many questions still plagued Hronos to draw a definite conclusion, and at every turn, more questions arose. That was never a good sign, Hronos intimately knew. "And you are saying that the writings date back to at least 10,000BC... Earth calendar, correct?" Hronos didn't know much about the course of the various civilizations that inhabited the universe for the past 4 billion Earth years, but the Essence of Time was always attuned with time measurements, giving him an intimate knowledge on the date system used by any civilization that ever existed, and any civilization that will ever exist. "That is old... but not as old as the creature known as Tyranosaurus Rex. Also, the writtings appeared fresh. And you say that no one knows what the exact meaning of the writtings are? It is too high a coincidence that the writtings are random scribbles made to look authentic. So that means..." Someone has the knowing of that ancient proto-language. An ancient being... John Smith. What has that man seen and done. What does he know? What does he hide? Is he the one trully behind the anomaly? Or maybe not, but knows who has done it... and if so, why would he hide the information? Lack of trust. Still no conclusions to be drawn, but perhaps, I have a better understanding of where to look. Hronos thought as he trailed off. "You have been of great help, Professor Brix. I am affraid that I have a scarcely better understanding of the situation, and if you could provide me with any more of your insight would be greatly appreciated, but even the help you have given me so far is more than I could ever hope for." He thanked the history professor.

"Ah, I did not realise that I had started rambling. My sincere apologies. I will try my best to help you on condensing the information I gave you, rest assured. As for the 'gig', I am affraid to say but since I do not require living expenses of any sort or form, they would be wasted money on me." Hronos apologized to Jessica. While the Mechanodynamis was certainly able to comprehend all spoken languages and converse in them, he still lacked intimate familiarity with their more subtle intricasies, such as omissions, possessive case, or even phrasal verbs!!! Giving out a metaphorical sigh, Hronos' shoulders slumped in dejection. "Certainly. I was hoping that you yourself would be able to provide me with your perspective, but at the very least, this Professor Brix you speak of may help. Although I am not quite sure how Professor Brix being, as you put it, sexed up, has any bearing to his job as a history professor..." the Mechanodynamis mentioned, a bit puzzled at that detail.

Letting a deep sigh out, Serge breathed normally again. "Close one. Very close. For a moment there, I was certain the 8-black would be pocketed." He commented. This is my last chance, Serge thought. There was no more room for error. This was do or die, or rather, do or live the rest of your life under constant humiliation. he exaggeratedly pondered. Anxiety started setting in, and to battle it, Serge started cracking his knuckles and fingers, so that they don't feel stiff. The white ball was near the end of the table, while the black ball was close to the center. After thinking about it a bit, he gave up and instead threw a metaphorical coin, in order to choose which one of the two pockets on the other end of the table should he choose to call. After he did so, he lined up his cue with the white ball and took aim, having called the left pocket. Serge did a few tests to see how the cue would hit the white ball. When satisfied, he inhaled and exhaled deeply, and was almost ready to hit the ball with strength, when something stopped him. No... I can't force this. What I need here is control, pure and simple. Taking one last breath, he lightly tapped the white ball with his cue, using only a quarter of the strenght he would have applied. The white ball traveled quickly, but upon impact with the black 8 ball, it completely lost momentum, and the black 8 traveled at only half speed. It was not long after that, that the black 8 arrived at it's destined pocket. As it did, it slowed down significantly, until it seemingly stopped just an inch away from falling in the hole, balancing at the edge. For the longest tenth of a second, that appeared to last an aeon, Serge's eyes popped out and his mouth dried up, before the black 8 was successfully pocketed under it's own weight, to the utter relief of Serge. "Oh, thank god! And thank gravity, too! For a moment there, it looked like I had all but given the game to you in a platter." He exclaimed with some surprise in his tone. "Well, best out of five, then?" He asked Subito.

"Indeed, you are correct. I do not require sustenance, though I do appreciate the offer nonetheless." Hronos said, politely refusing the cup, with his right hand held in front of his shoulder and his open palm extended outwards, in a further sign of refusal. When Jessica indicated the camera, Hronos was sure to answer without hesitation "No, of course not. I do not believe I have anything to hide, and if it assists you in doing your job, then I have no objection whatsoever." After the setting up was over, and Jessica was ready to talk with Hronos about the events that transpired, Hronos started recounting what happened, in as much detail as he thought would be helpful. "As I was saying, I followed the trail, and it led to a clearing. A human man was there, and I offered my assistance in case he had some urgent matters to attend to at the site. When I confirmed that he was under no such urgency, I decided that it would be best for his shake for me to remove him from the possibly unstable area. From conversing with the man, who later identified himself as John Smith, I was not able to extract any useful information; John Smith spoke in a rather disjointed way, and he gave the impression that he was talking about something particular, yet, due to the vagueness of his words, I could not ascertain what it was. I did realise that the man was overly hostile and arrogant, refusing my offers of aid, and as a result, I had to extract him off the site forcibly." Choosing to take a pause at that moment, so that the information would be better processed by Jessica and her cameraman. "Thankfully, as soon as I flew away from the site, and landed elsewhere in the city with John Smith, he appeared to soften up significantly in his demeanor. He still proved quite inquisitive, but at the moment, I felt neither malice nor deception in his words. After satisfying his curiosity, John Smith and I went our seperate ways. I returned to the site, in order to make a proper investigation. I was certain at the time that it was from that clearing that this Tyranosaurus Rex creature appeared, though how it accomplished such a feat remains elusive to me. The only things of note that I could find in the clearing, other than that, was a set of footprints, probably created by bare feet, markings of a device, probably one fastebed at a tripod, and a series of scribbles in the soil. That last clue in particular I made certain to copy into my memory, though I am yet uncertain to its significance. I could try to recreate it for you, or give you a detailed description of it, to the best of my abilities." "And that is all that transpired. The Dinosaur, the clearing, the markings, and John Smith. I can not tell for certain what the relationship between those entities is, if there is one to be found, in the first place. Which is the reason behind me coming to your workplace and seeking your assistance, Jessica Jagger. You are familiar with this world, and even if you can not help me directly, as a reporter, you no doubt have access to resources that should help in providing me with the needed information." Hronos finished his long exposition of the events thus far.

"Good evening, miss Jessica Jagger. I trust your trip back to your work has been safe." Hronos greeted the reporter, who arrived at the reception at his request to meet her. Not sure as to what to say about the headline, the Mechanodynamis instead decided to explain to her why he had come to her workplace. "As for the reason to my appearance here, it concerns the incident that occured in the park this afternoon. I followed the trail that dinosaur creature left, and I would like to inquire about your opinion on what I found. Since I doubt I will be making any more progress on my investigation for the time being, I am also willing to answer your questions you had about me, and repeat them as necessary, as I promised to you before we parted." The blue and white colored mechanical being explained to Jessica. "Do you have another location in which you would prefer for us to talk about the incident, or is this room fine for our purposes?" Hronos inquired.

Hronos inspected carefully his surroundings for clues, but his search yielded almost nothing of value. The foliage does appear weird, but that may simply be because the lifeforms of this planet are very diverse. Few planets exhibit such a wide range of different species, both animals and plants. After a while, Hronos' search finally bore fruit, as he spoted the markings in the ground. Lowering himself to take a more careful look, the Mechanodynamis regarded them long and hard. Perhaps... No, even if the markings WERE connected with John Smith, that does not equate to them being connected with the Dinosaur incident, and the opposite holds true as well. John Smith, creatures from another, long-forgotten era, peculiar markings. All of these elements seem to point to each other, but the evidence are circumstancial at best. Hronos snapped a photograph of the markings with his eyes, commiting that instance to memory. An important clue, to be sure, but I do not believe it would do any good to tamper it. Hronos then flew up high, inspecting the whole park as he did. As I feared, I am much too unfamiliar with this planet to be able to draw any helpful conclusions about what happened. As it stands, I will not be able to make any more progress in finding out what happened, and subsequently preventing it from occuring again... Hmmmm... I will require assistance. Perhaps that reporter for the Daily Word by the name of Jessica Jagger could offer me with some further insight on the incident. She appeared cooperative enough, and I did promise to answer her questions.

Earth Sciences and Life Sciences rolls(Eidetic Memory): 1d20+4 → [4,4] = (8) 1d20+4 → [11,4] = (15) Physical Sciences roll: 1d20+10 → [14,10] = (24) Search Roll (Quickness x10): 1d20+4 → [3,4] = (7) Taking 20 on Search(Quickness x10) instead

"Hmmmm....." Hronos regarded John Smith long and hard, as they were about to part ways. "You are a very curious being yourself, John Smith. I do not know whether your words hold any truth to them, but all the same, I wish you a safe journey." He said to John Smith, as he watched him take his leave. Hronos took flight once more, before stopping a couple of hundred feet away midair. What a curiously hostile man he proved. I doubt that he could have been involved with the temporal disturbance, and yet his appearance at the site and his actions seemed to be rather enigmatic, if not outright suspicious. Perhaps there was another reason for John Smith to be at the site... At any rate, it matters not. For the time being, finding out exactly what happened to cause that Dinosaur creature to appear in the middle of the park takes precedence. Hronos pondered to himself, before resuming flight. Tracing his way back, he headed for the clearing from which the Tyranosaurus Rex had probably materialised.

"Thanks for the assist, Kate." Serge commented, gritting his teeth to withstand the pain and numbness in his arms. "Don't worry, just don't let up!" He tried to encourage the girl, as Morsa scored a hit on one of the artifizoids. "Wow! Nice shooting there, Tex!" Clenching his fists, Serge attempted to take down another of the robots, and his punches flew like an automatic rapid firing gun, each blow piercing the artifizoid deeper and deeper, transforming it into a mangled mess. "Ggghhhkkk! GYYAAAARRRGGGH!!" the young boy screamed in pain, as every hit felt like it stripped him of his flesh and grinded his bones to a fine powder. As soon as he was done, Serge buckled down. Visibly hurting and in pain, the young hero-in-trainning was too distraught to pay any more attention to his surroundings, and even lifting his arms felt like he was trying to lift the weight of a truck.

GM Post Even though his muscles felt a bit atrophic from the voltage, with a simple duck, the captain managed to completely avoid Hronos' shot, and resumed engaging his opponent, Philos, as soon as his head cleared. "Khuh! You're nothing more than a warm up, rat; after I deal with the appetizer, I will have all the time in the world to take care of the robot." The captain said, fed up from Philos' attempts at having a peaceful resolution. "And this whole mess is just as much your fault. As for our current predicament, we would be more than willing to just steal whatever we wanted from here and be gone to our own merry way, without any bloody conflict. If what you trully wished for was to avoid this, you could very well just get off the Flying Lorriane and let us pass by. Somehow, though, I don't believe someone trully wishing to avoid such a conflict would bother climbing on this bloody airship in the first place, so spare me your hipocrisy, you sanctimonious whelp, and give me your best shot, or I will have to ske-..." the captain stopped abruptly, as his attention seemed to drift and momentarily focus somewhere else, far off in the distance, to where the stairway connecting to the lower decks was. As for the other pirate, though still visibly shaken, he managed to gather his wits about him, get up and grab his pistol, and once again attempt to fire at Hronos. This time as well, though, the trembling prevented him from even properly landing a shot, and his desperation grew deeper and deeper. The only thing left that he could do was try to gulp and steady his aim. Hronos wasn't aware of it at the time, but a weird noise of something heavy being carried drew closer and closer. Philos was by now vaguely aware of it, thanks to his enhanced hearing ability. What it was, he couldn't tell, but there was little doubt that it spelled bad news for the two heroes.

With only two enemy combatants left still moving, and one of them visibly shaking and in no condition to fight properly, Hronos decided to focus his attentions on the captain of the ship, who was currently occupied with Philos. Dismissing the Time Stopper configuration, Hronos' body reassumed it's normal form briefly. Almost immediately, Hronos put his hands together and reconfigured them into one big canon, aimed at the Captain. With the Deccelerator Blaster poised to attack, Hronos tried to adjust the weapon's line of sight, so that he'd avoid hitting Philos, and fired a shot. Unfortunately, the captain was far too elusive a foe, being vaguely aware of Hronos' actions, and dancing around Philotherian in such a way as to throw Hronos' aim way off target. Hmmm... The captain is proving himself to be a very agile foe. So long as the captain stays near his opponent, I will not be capable of hampering his reactions. If that remains to be the case, it would severely limit my options to strictly hand-to-hand combat. The Mechanodynamis thought to himself, before addressing Philos. "Fellow combatant. Our foe appears to have many cunning strategies that he can successfully employ. I would advise that we work together in restrainning him."

Initiative Order Hronos: 35 (0 HP) 1 Bruise Pirate Captain: 24 (NPC), Dazed, -3 STR(1 minute/10 rounds) Pirates(14): 17 (Minions), 13 Unconscious Philotherian: 15 (2 HP) 2 Bruises :arrow: Hronos: Uses Deccelerator Blaster as a Full Round Action, against the Pirate Captain(250-1000ft radius). All-Out Attack (+2 atk/-2 def). 1d20+12 → [4,12] = (16) -8 Shooting in Melee(Elusive Target). Fails. :arrow: Pirate Captain: Fortitude Save to remove Daze Condition[stun] 1d20+9 → [19,9] = (28) Saved Successfully. Uses Feint to Philotherian as a Standard Action. Bluff Check opposed by Sense Motive 1d20+16 → [13,16] = (29) Pending... :arrow: Pirates: #4 attacks Hronos 1d20+2 → [5,2] = (7) Fails. :arrow: Other: Philotherian can hear a distinct noise coming from the inside of the ship. It sounds like something very heavy is being carried Next Turn: Philotherian (Sense Motive Check Pending)

Captain: Fortitude Saves vs Stun DC18 and Drain STR DC 15 1d20+9 → [9,9] = (18) 1d20+9 → [5,9] = (14) Saves Successfully vs Stun Fails Drain STR by 1 Pirate Captain's STR loses 1 point until the beginning of Philos' Next Round (-1 Damage DC, -1 Grapple) EDIT: Accounting for the Damage Shift, the Captain fails both saves, and is now Dazed, and loses 3 points of STR until the beginning of Philos' Next Round (-2 Damage DC, -2 Grapple) EDIT EDIT: and loses 3 points of STR for 1 minute

Concentration check in order to retain Defensive Roll bonus on Toughness save, as per the House Rules 1d20+3 → [9,3] = (12) Toughness Save: 1d20+1 → [15,1] = (16) +2 if Concentration check succeeded.

GM Post "Ohhhh, you think that was painful, rat? I haven't even warmed up yet. By the time I'm done with you, you will grow to regret having that 'smart' mouth of yours." the captain of the airship growled mockingly, as he attempted to lock Philos on a grapple once more. With Janice also frozen in place, only one pirate remained on deck, and he was shaking visibly, seeing his mates become frozen in place one by one. Taking a big gulp in an attempt to fight down that feeling of dread, the pirate tried to line his pistol with Hronos, and pulled the trigger. Unfortunately for him, however, his hand was still trembling, and the recoil from the gun caused his arm to flail wildly, resulting in a missed-by-a-mile shot and a broken wrist. The pain caused the pirate to releash his grip on the pistol, which fell tumbling to the deck, and the pirate himself took three steps back before slipping and falling on his butt, while he convulsed and sweated in paralyzing fear.

The sphere in Hronos' chest had stabilized, as the pulse wave dissipated. The fire he recieved drew his attention, however, and Hronos once again activated the Time Stopper device, in order to take the remaining three opponents that could still move. "The occupants of this vehicle do not appear to care about talking seriously, nor about laying down arms, my friend." Hronos spoke to the Farsider. "I would suggest that you conserve your strength and focus your efforts on immobilizing them, at least, for the forseeable future." Unleashing another pulse wave, Hronos attempted to freeze in time the 2 pirates and the captain as well, but this time, he only managed to affect one of the pirates. That course of action could have yielded better results. Hronos pondered, as he was busy attempting to calibrate the backlash from the wave, while he still remained floating in place.

Initiative Order Hronos: 35 (0 HP) 1 Bruise Pirate Captain: 24 (NPC) Pirates(14): 17 (Minions), 12 Unconscious Philotherian: 15 (2 HP) 2 Bruises :arrow: Hronos: Use Time Stopper as a Full Round Action, against the Pirates and the Pirate Captain(500ft radius). Reflex Save vs DC20 to halve the effect Hronos has become flat-footed :arrow: Pirate Captain: Standard Action to Initiate a grapple. Attack roll vs Defense 1d20+15 → [10,15] = (25) Success. Opposed Grapple Check 1d20+19 → [9,19] = (28) Pending... :arrow: Pirates: #4 attacks Hronos 1d20+2 → [1,2] = (3) Critical Failure Next Turn: Philotherian (Grapple Check Pending)

Edit: I checked the faq, and I saw that it mentions that minions always suffer the worst condition possible when they fail a saving roll. What that means is that failing the Stun Save leaves all but two of them unconscious, even if they didn't fail it by 10 or more. Editing the IC and OOC posts accordingly

GM Post The captain effortlessly avoided the attack, and decided that he had enough playtime. "See? I'm the one trying to get rid of you guys as painlessly as possible, and what thanks do I get? One tries to taser me while the other time-locks half of my crew... honestly, I hope you're happy with yourselves, because now I'm a bit annoyed." the captain of the pirate airship put his pipe away, and cracked his knuckles. "And YOU! Stowaway rat. You just drew the short straw, which means that you'll be the first one I'll deal with personally." With those menacing words, the captain flew at Philos, aiming to grab hold of his body with a low bear hug. In the meantime, with the Mechanodynamis' attack stopping time for many of their comrades, the two pirates who were still standing opened fire once again at him. Both of them connected, but they managed little more than harmlessly grazing corners of his body. "Tsk, cheeky bastard!" Janice, the pirate who Kate sent to fetch the rest of the crew, and who was the one actually responsible for injuring Hronos, said, as she concernedly watched Kate's, Davis', and Amy's frozen bodies.

Hronos used his hand to trace the injury in his shoulder, as he avoided the oncomming fire. "Indeed, then it appears that my initial assessment has been correct, and that these people are involved in possibly unlawful activities. This leaves us with no course of action other than pacifying them with any means necessary, and it is for that purpose that I will require your help." Hronos said to the struggling Farsider, as he continued floating. Suddenly, he stopped moving. His chestplate opened, revealing an energy sphere of purple hue, as parts of his body transformed. The sphere fluxuated faster and faster, until it sent a giant pulse wave throughout the airship. Many of the pirates found themselves slowing to a screeching halt until they were left completely unable to move and frozen to place, though a couple of them, as well as the captain of the ship, managed to hide between their comrades bodies to lessen the effects of the attack. Philos himself found that the energy passed him completely harmlessly. "That should help alieviate some of our troubles." the Purple-colored robot exclaimed, still floating in place.