Better Living Through Chemistry [OOC]

[trollthumper]

Cannonade and Catalyst deal with a chemical attack in a boarding house.

[Aoiroo]

I'll take ten, for a 20 notice.

[trollthumper]

All right. Catalyst is familiar with the smoke from various kinds of fire - metal burning, wood burning, chemicals burning - and this "smoke" doesn't really look like any of them. And there's no sign of fire from inside the house. In fact, from the way it's hanging in the air, it may be fog - or a chemical weapon - rather than smoke.

[Aoiroo]

So, she went into the building, search roll?

[trollthumper]

Yup. In the mean time, however, there are several people who are actively moving through the house who aren't quite in control of their powers. They'll be represented by PL8 versions of AA's Winterfire, Electrical Paragon, and Gravity Controller, with stats to match. Initiative is sort of a fuzzy thing here, as they aren't trying to attack, but due to what the chemicals are doing to their physiologies and temperaments, they don't really have much of a choice.

So, Frost Girl on 15, Lightning Lady on 20, Gravity Guy on 23, and Cannonade on 12.

[Aoiroo]

27, Catalyst Taking ten on search which makes 20.

[Aoiroo]

Life Sciences Roll 21

[trollthumper]

All right. Catalyst knows that there's stories of certain people with powers developing them spontaneously - mutants - and that sometimes, those powers can develop explosively. Sometimes, you get people who develop their powers in response to a stimulus that would otherwise be lethal, either because they have mutant powers buried deep down that are triggered by the stimulus, or because the stimulus itself radically altered their chemistry. Given that everyone seen thus far seems to be undergoing an uncontrolled burst of powers, odds are that the chemical is the cause of these powers - and their uncontrollable nature.

[trollthumper]

Likewise, I imagine Catalyst can find the location of the source of the smoke. On her next turn, if she dives into the smoke, she'll be able to find the thing easily. Meanwhile, Gravity Guy flings Cannonade to the ground on his turn via Area Burst. That'd be +13, +9 on a DC 20 Reflex save. Looks like he makes it, so it's 26 from Gravity Guy versus 35 from Cannonade. So, no there.

I'll rule that Lightning Lady spends her turn talking and trying to hold in her powers. Frost Girl, on the other hand, tries to call out for help, and in doing so, unleashes frost breath. Gravity Guy fails the DC18 Reflex save, must roll for Toughness against DC23, and gets Dazed and Staggered. Cannonade, meanwhile, passes without need for a Reflex save.

Catalyst: 27, Unharmed, 2 HP

Gravity Guy: 23, Unharmed, Dazed (Frost Girl's Turn), Staggered, 0 HP

Lightning Lady: 20, Unharmed, 0 HP

Frost Girl: 15, Unharmed, 0 HP

Cannonade: 12, Unharmed, 0 HP

Cannonade, meanwhile, charges forward and tries to Grapple Frost Girl to the ground... and misses wildly. Next turn, then.

On to Round 2, and Catalyst's action.

[Aoiroo]

Catalyst is leading Lightning Lady outside and suggesting she channel and ground her excess charge through a local manhole cover into the sewer where it will dispurse without hurting anybody.

[trollthumper]

That will certainly work. Lightning Lady will discharge into the sewer ("Uh, phrasing?") on her turn, leaving Catalyst to head back into the house and either track down the source of the gas or try and help the others. I'll also put up a reminder that Catalyst's thermals show there's someone upstairs who is still alive but seems to be staying very, very still.

Now onto the conflict. Gravity Guy is still Dazed, so he doesn't go. Frost Girl, on the other hand, starts building up a horrible chill, and discharges it in the form of a blast. It hits, but Cannonade takes it well. He then responds by trying to pick up the still somewhat groggy Gravity Guy and clasp his hand around his eyes. Cannonade initializes a Grapple, and it's time for the Opposed Grapple check! 22 from Gravity Guy, who tries to throw Cannonade off balance, versus Cannonade's 33. Gravity Guy is now Bound.

Catalyst: 27, Unharmed, 2 HP

Gravity Guy: 23, Unharmed, Bound, Staggered, 0 HP

Lightning Lady: 20, Unharmed, 0 HP

Frost Girl: 15, Unharmed, 0 HP

Cannonade: 12, Unharmed, 0 HP

Catalyst is up next.

[Aoiroo]

Spend an HP for power stunt.

Stun 10 (Power Feat: Sedative) 21PP

She's not going to shoot him with it, she's going to walk over and hold it towards his mouth making it technically a Melee attack and a coup de grace. Since he's bound it should hit.

[trollthumper]

That will hit. Let's see how he does. He's Stunned, but not unconscious. As for the Coup de Grace... yeah, now he's out.

Catalyst: 27, Unharmed, 1 HP

Lightning Lady: 20, Unharmed, 0 HP

Frost Girl: 15, Unharmed, 0 HP

Cannonade: 12, Unharmed, 0 HP

Lightning Lady is harmlessly releasing her lightning into a grounding device, so that leaves Frost Girl as an active threat. She's trying to keep her powers under control, but she needs to vent the chill somehow. She does so, at Cannonade's suggestion, in the form of a localized snowstorm, her Obscure power. Cannonade then has the bright idea to counter her snowstorm with a storm of his own - his Super-Breath power. That'll be a powers check, and Frost Girl gets 22 while Cannonade gets 27. All the snow hits the far wall, and Frost Girl's no longer cold. For now.

Catalyst is up next.

[Aoiroo]

Taking ten on Search, that's 20.

[Aoiroo]

Taking ten knowledge Physical Sciences for 25.

[trollthumper]

All right. Catalyst would know that for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. You push on something, it pushes back. Given that some of the gouges in the ceiling seem head-shaped, and some of the gouges in the floor are about foot size, it may be that this man has super strength, but not the ability to control it. Meaning, he sits on something, his body applies all the force. He takes a step, and not only is that force directed downwards, but the object (if it doesn't fracture) pushes back, resulting in one hell of a high jump.

[Aoiroo]

Taking ten on physical Sciences, so that's 25.

[trollthumper]

All right. Catalyst, once she finds the canister (will need an IC post for that), will find that the chemical coming off of it is likely some kind of mutagen. She's never seem composition like this, though, and she's never heard of any of the more noted powers-producing drugs (max, zoom, etc.) being weaponized as a gas - well, zombie powder fumes can do something like that, but those don't exactly induce powers. The canister doesn't list composition, for obvious reasons, but either its natural state is as a gas, or there's something in the canister that would cause it to vaporize.

[trollthumper]

A 13 on a Knowledge (current events) roll, so Cannonade doesn't really know that much about Nometix.

[Aoiroo]

Take ten on Knowledge (Physical Sciences) 25

[trollthumper]

Nometix was a company that dealt to Catalyst's lab on a few occasions. They declared Chapter 11 about six months back, though, and their Freedom City plant was closed down when they went into receivership.

[Aoiroo]

25 Iniative for Catalyst

[trollthumper]

All right, then. Mister Motley goes on sixteen, while Cannonade also goes on 16, but goes second due to lower modifier.

Catalyst: 25, Unharmed, 1 HP

Mister Motley: 16, Unharmed, 0 HP

Cannonade: 16, Unharmed, 3 HP

As the van comes charging in, as discussed in chat, Mister Motley catches a glimpse of Cannonade and Catalyst. He is also, at this moment, ringed by zoom and max users at PL10 (using 2 of AA's Zoom Survivor and 2 of Ecal's Powerhouses as Minion rubrics). His Perception-based Mimic activates, resulting in the following set-up:

-Enhanced Strength 12 [12 PP]

-Apply Autofire to Unarmed [6 PP]

-Apply Targeted Area (Burst) to Unarmed [6 PP]

-Enhanced Constitution 12 [12 PP]

-Protection 4 [4 PP]

-Obscure (visual) 10 [20 PP]

That monstrosity established, Catalyst is up first.

[Aoiroo]

Catalyst creates a cover around herself with her smokeball, which is a slow fade obscure covering about a ten foot area around her four ten rounds. Which makes both Her and Cannonade completely concealed, Cannonade can burst out of the fog easily when it's his turn.

[trollthumper]

Mister Motley goes next, surging into the smoke and launching a targeted autofire unarmed attack. First off, of course, he must roll to see if he hits; as it's total concealment, he must roll under 11 to hit. And he does not. And since he's now in the fog, he has trouble perceiving Catalyst and Cannonade, which means he's stuck with the powers he first mimicked. As a free action, he clicks a button, and those chemically-induced comas the max and zoom users are in are no longer functioning. They will be up at the start of the third round. Both Cannonade and Catalyst take a Hero Point for the complication.

Cannonade goes next. He doesn't need to see Mister Motley to hit him. He unleashes a Shockwave in his face, and Motley needs to make a DC20 Reflex/DC25 Toughness save. Motley does it, and since he has Evasion, he avoids the damage entirely.

Catalyst: 25, Unharmed, 2 HP

Mister Motley: 16, Unharmed, 0 HP

Cannonade: 16, Unharmed, 4 HP

Catalyst is up next.