Beneath Lonely Town, Big City. Night.
In Morgue’s stronghold, deep beneath the world’s largest graveyard, Vanguard faced off against Morgue and his undead lieutenants (and former enemies), the Five Bosses! Morgue was full of merry murderous hate.
Sentinel was helplessly under the spellbinding thrall of the undead beauty, Femme Fatale!
She cooed, “Darling, I need to be in your big strong arms. Hold me. Lower those little ol’ shields.”
Sentinel felt forced to comply! The heir of heroism knew exactly what she was asking and could not resist! His eyes wide, sweat misting his brow, he unwillingly deactivated his defenses! (OOC: Shields at 0!)
Fatale placed her grey, dead hands on Sentinel’s chest and purred, “There, baby. Isn’t that better?”
The Cat moved with astonishing speed that rivaled the Blue Comet! He continued his precise, systematic and deadly onslaught against Clone. His katana slashed so quick as to render it invisible. When he stopped, the two remaining Clones evaporated out of existence! Both were gone just like that!
Kairos called out to the ensorcelled beacon of bravery, "Don't let that corpsey courtesan fool you, Sentinel...she wasn't worthy of you in life and certainly not in death! Keep your mind on your mission!"
Then the Myrmidon of Magicks long ago Unmade threw his grapple cable at Dexter Sinister, entangling the living hallucinogen! With battle skills beyond his years, Kairos deftly leapt backwards and placed the cable’s other end in the hands of the blind Lightning Strike, shouting, "Give it the juice, Strike!"
Lightning Strike did so, electing to be the juice himself! He transformed into living lightning and traveled through the cable, electrifying it and its captive, Dexter Sinister, who was not seriously harmed.
Sinister chuckled, “Hmm. How shocking!”
The high voltage vigilante reached the cable’s end instantaneously and rematerialized into human form, his vision restored! Strike said to Poker Face: "Card tricks don't impress me!! Did you really think you could blind a being of pure electricity?"
Poker Face answered by dealing again. “Double down, then,” the ghastly gambler croaked flatly as he flicked two cards, one at Kairos and one at Lightning Strike. Both missed their targets and exploded violently like demolition charges. KABOOM-BOOOM! The concussion damaged an earthen wall and the ceiling loosed small rocks and earth. Between the cave-in and this, the structural integrity of the chamber was weakening!
Symbiote murmured to the Ghost "Keep at him, buddy. We've got 'em on the run." With that, the duplicating defender turned and took a run at Femme Fatale, leaping upon the wooden table between them and launching himself at her, intending to land a haymaker on the Mortified Madame. "Take a cold shower, lady! Or better yet, a dirt nap!" KRA-POW! Symbiote connected and his simulated super strength knocked the hateful harpy out of Sentinel’s arms. At the moment of impact, Sentinel saw her for what she really was! Then the moment ended. Fatale was hurt but still conscious, and Sentinel was still bewitched!
Morgue saw that Sentinel would soon be dead, so he turned to the last opponent he had: The Ghost. “Can’t be touched, huh?! Let’s see if my hand can reach you!” snarled the cadaverous crime boss as he slowly, deliberately wrapped his big, bare hand around the Ghost’s throat and squeezed. The young hero screamed as Morgue’s hand reached into the spectral realm and touched him! The scream was the sound of life emptying out of a body! It echoed the death knell of the Nazi extranormal Panzer, another victim of the bloodless blackguard’s deadly touch. Morgue threw down the now-tangible Ghost by his neck! WHAM! The dead body hit the ground hard and stayed there. “All right!!” roared his killer triumphantly, “WHO’S NEXT?!”
Inhuman, meanwhile, employed his psionic power that enabled him to communicate with all aquatic creatures upon the Octopus. Inhuman said: “We are both of the sea! We have both died! We are more alike than they! Feign combat until we are alone! Let me help you escape from your torment and be free!” No one else in the main chamber understood this secret language of the sea! But the human mollusk did.
In Morgue’s stronghold, deep beneath the world’s largest graveyard, Vanguard faced off against Morgue and his undead lieutenants (and former enemies), the Five Bosses! Morgue was full of merry murderous hate.
Sentinel was helplessly under the spellbinding thrall of the undead beauty, Femme Fatale!
She cooed, “Darling, I need to be in your big strong arms. Hold me. Lower those little ol’ shields.”
Sentinel felt forced to comply! The heir of heroism knew exactly what she was asking and could not resist! His eyes wide, sweat misting his brow, he unwillingly deactivated his defenses! (OOC: Shields at 0!)
Fatale placed her grey, dead hands on Sentinel’s chest and purred, “There, baby. Isn’t that better?”
The Cat moved with astonishing speed that rivaled the Blue Comet! He continued his precise, systematic and deadly onslaught against Clone. His katana slashed so quick as to render it invisible. When he stopped, the two remaining Clones evaporated out of existence! Both were gone just like that!
Kairos called out to the ensorcelled beacon of bravery, "Don't let that corpsey courtesan fool you, Sentinel...she wasn't worthy of you in life and certainly not in death! Keep your mind on your mission!"
Then the Myrmidon of Magicks long ago Unmade threw his grapple cable at Dexter Sinister, entangling the living hallucinogen! With battle skills beyond his years, Kairos deftly leapt backwards and placed the cable’s other end in the hands of the blind Lightning Strike, shouting, "Give it the juice, Strike!"
Lightning Strike did so, electing to be the juice himself! He transformed into living lightning and traveled through the cable, electrifying it and its captive, Dexter Sinister, who was not seriously harmed.
Sinister chuckled, “Hmm. How shocking!”
The high voltage vigilante reached the cable’s end instantaneously and rematerialized into human form, his vision restored! Strike said to Poker Face: "Card tricks don't impress me!! Did you really think you could blind a being of pure electricity?"
Poker Face answered by dealing again. “Double down, then,” the ghastly gambler croaked flatly as he flicked two cards, one at Kairos and one at Lightning Strike. Both missed their targets and exploded violently like demolition charges. KABOOM-BOOOM! The concussion damaged an earthen wall and the ceiling loosed small rocks and earth. Between the cave-in and this, the structural integrity of the chamber was weakening!
Symbiote murmured to the Ghost "Keep at him, buddy. We've got 'em on the run." With that, the duplicating defender turned and took a run at Femme Fatale, leaping upon the wooden table between them and launching himself at her, intending to land a haymaker on the Mortified Madame. "Take a cold shower, lady! Or better yet, a dirt nap!" KRA-POW! Symbiote connected and his simulated super strength knocked the hateful harpy out of Sentinel’s arms. At the moment of impact, Sentinel saw her for what she really was! Then the moment ended. Fatale was hurt but still conscious, and Sentinel was still bewitched!
Morgue saw that Sentinel would soon be dead, so he turned to the last opponent he had: The Ghost. “Can’t be touched, huh?! Let’s see if my hand can reach you!” snarled the cadaverous crime boss as he slowly, deliberately wrapped his big, bare hand around the Ghost’s throat and squeezed. The young hero screamed as Morgue’s hand reached into the spectral realm and touched him! The scream was the sound of life emptying out of a body! It echoed the death knell of the Nazi extranormal Panzer, another victim of the bloodless blackguard’s deadly touch. Morgue threw down the now-tangible Ghost by his neck! WHAM! The dead body hit the ground hard and stayed there. “All right!!” roared his killer triumphantly, “WHO’S NEXT?!”
Inhuman, meanwhile, employed his psionic power that enabled him to communicate with all aquatic creatures upon the Octopus. Inhuman said: “We are both of the sea! We have both died! We are more alike than they! Feign combat until we are alone! Let me help you escape from your torment and be free!” No one else in the main chamber understood this secret language of the sea! But the human mollusk did.
The Octopus’ rage and terror abated at Inhuman’s words and he reluctantly agreed for now! With limbs locked, they wrestled themselves into the northwest room! Alone now, the Octopus cursed in a language only they could comprehend: “All right! Who the hell are you?! Looks like they did to you what they did to me!... Are they here with you?!?!” He didn’t look happy at the prospect.
Inhuman saw the Octopus’s skin markings were spawned of the Pacific!
Inhuman replied, "I call myself Inhuman, I was a scientist captured and changed by a process that is not ended. ...They ... however are the ones who shall pay! Now if you are willing, I have a plan. Pretend to lose, I'll let you escape after the battle and we’ll meet up again at…”
Octopus interrupted, his voice as thick, wet and inevitable as concrete being poured around a man’s legs. “Morgue has control over me now, and the other Bosses to boot, just as something seems to control him.
The bastard killed us, raised us from the dead and made us his slaves. He wants me to kill you and I have no choice in the matter. Unless… you kill him first! Then we’d be free from his damned power! But until then…”
The super strong cephalopod suddenly tried to hurl the aquatic adventurer against the wall to shatter his spine, but Inhuman’s hydro-kinetic water defense fouled the attack. In the process, the Octopus was doused with water and it seemed to replenish his strength!
(OOC: Your Ally Ability seems no match for Mind Control, even with the Luck Point. You don’t lose the Point.)
The Cat’s blinding speed enabled him to act again! Assessing the state of the battle, he silently leapt between Kairos and Dexter Sinister and with a flash of his katana, sliced Kairos’ steel cable, freeing the narcotic nightmare. With his back against the wall, the ninja faced Kairos in a ready stance.
Dexter Sinister smiled like a death-headed jester. Free from the electrified cable, he casually reached out his left hand and touched Symbiote and Hal’s worst nightmares were made real! The Harper Harness malfunctioned and began downloading the DNA of every extranormal it had sampled… all at once! Harness alarms sounded as Hal’s DNA overloaded! His skin turned black and rubbery even as it sprouted stiff ruffs of Hyena’s fur. Hal’s physiognomy rippled, distorted and stretched as its musculature tore at itself! His chest sprouted extra limbs. Electricity crackled from his skin and his face was dividing like the Clone but stopped midway, leaving him six eyes and three screaming, fang-sprouting mouths! (imagine Carpenter’s The Thing)
The pain was unbearable even though all of this was only happening inside Hal’s mind!
Everyone else saw Dexter Sinister touch Symbiote, causing him to yell, fall to his knees and hold his head in agony. Dexter Sinister clucked his tongue and shook his head sadly in mock concern. “Looks like an overdose.” (OOC: Symbiote: Intense fear, pain and complete belief in this ‘illusion!’)
Slingshot, meanwhile, was trapped in his own shifting psychedelic landscape of terror. His body was a black liquid puddle as multiple maniacally laughing, living Dexter Sinisters towered over him beneath glowing, terrible skies (see art)! The shapeless superhero watched helplessly as Symbiote’s mind was also turned inside-out by the jester god of insanity and death!
Scott did the only thing he knew to do. With a massive effort of concentration, he slingshotted himself across the roomscape at as many of the giant Dexter Sinisters as his amorphous body could cover. WHUMP!
One of them proved real! Scott thought he had enveloped the hallucinogenic hellbringer across a table with the sentient pool of liquid tar that was now his body.
Sinister chuckled: “Back for more? My dear, while the first taste was free, this one is going to cost you.”
(OOC: Oddly, the LSD effects are lessening slightly: Strong Disorientation. Agility -4. Detection skills/3. Carry cap is 75%. Movement/3.)
More muffled noises and shouting from beyond the cave-in! The gang of the living dead continued moving rocks and earth, slowly, relentlessly burrowing their way to the heroes! More silt fell from the ceiling as well.
Femme Fatale smiled and said to Sentinel: “Sweetheart, that nasty Symbiote just hurt me. Be a darling and kill him for me won’t you, baby?”
Sentinel felt compelled to obey! Straining against his own body, his face was grim, taut and colorless as he raised his arms to funnel a blast of pure energy upon his own team mate!
Kirk thought of Kairos’ words… and of Symbiote’s revealing attack on Fatale. He thought of his grandfather…
His arms suddenly crossed upon his chest. Then his energy shields flared to life and surrounded him!
(OOC: Costs your “attack” and 8 Power points to reform shields)
“For Victory!” Sentinel cried as he flew headlong toward the northern, center door, splintering it!
The unholy harridan shrieked in spiteful anger as the beacon of liberty called to his team mates, “There's an energy source through this room that reeks of the same disgusting type emanating off Morgue and the rest of his undead crew,” and then he said towards Morgue, “so tell me Morgie, what happens to the puppets when the strings are cut???”
Morgue erupted like a live volcano: “GET AWAY from there, you little PUNK! before I eighty-six the REST of your two-bit G-Men!” he roared, indicating the valiant, fallen hero before him.
Sentinel flew through the door and discovered roughly hewn stairs leading down toward the powerful anti-energy source! Strewn on the stairs were bodies! Dried-out, nearly mummified husks that had once been children and women to judge from their sizes and tattered clothes! They registered no energy whatsoever.
A second door splintered explosively and then a third! Sentinel stood before a new subterranean chamber. More human remains were scattered across the floor. Dark and powerful energy swirled throughout the room. The sheer magnitude of it clouded Sentinel’s energy senses!
In the center of the chamber was a pedestal upon which rested an ornate silver coffin! Sentinel detected black, anti-energy within it! The lid was closed and featured upon it was the symbol of… a black bat!
To be continued!
OOC: Actions please?
Current Conditions:
· Inhuman: Hit Points: 15, Power Points: 47
· Kairos: Hit Points: 13, Power Points: 66
· Lightning Strike: Hit Points: 18, Power Points: 61
· Sentinel: Hit Points: 12, Power Points: 42, Creation Points: 84, Shields: 84
· Slingshot: Hit Points: 26, Power Points: 88, Invulnerability: 8
· Symbiote with Morgue’s powers: Hit Points: 19, Power Points: 86, Harness Charges: 7
· Clone: Dead?!
· The Ghost: Dead!
· Morgue: Injured
· The Octopus: Uninjured
· Femme Fatale: Injured
· Poker Face: Injured
· Dexter Sinister: Injured
· The Cat: Uninjured
Happy 50th Issue!
Best,
Ye Ed
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Inhuman:
Trapped in his own little room with an enemy refreshed by his Watery control Inhuman realised he needed to change targets, Fighting the Octopus was going to be difficult at best harmful to... then the roaring insanity broke through his thought, it sounded as if next door.... next door the world was going to fall apart! THIS battle would have to wait!
Inhuman flashed back to the days of being Carl where at San Diego U one of his oceanographic classes was suspiciously more like Surfer classes, sure it was supposed to be surface oceanography, but everyone knew in truth it wasn't. Snapping back from happier days Inhuman took a fragment of the whirling water that was barely protecting him and transformed it into a current that sped him to the wall almost as if he was riding a wave! then treating the wall as a wave of water he shot the curl and took in the room at a glance, this life was meant to be hard he guessed as he saw the fallen heroes. Many of the fragments he had heard now made sense, the screams of the dying and the incoherent...
all that told him they needed to regroup. Diving down low in the classic surfer crouch Inhuman snagged every bit of the water that had spilled from the pipe (up to say 400#) and took it and him, plus anyone not resisting the gentle pull of his water (hopefully this includes Ghost and Symbiote) and went to the one room he hadn't seen anyone go into but that Morgue was furiously yelling at, the north east room. There he spun and slammed a wall of water up trying to make it more difficult for anyone he didn't want to enter the room to get in. He just prayed he hadn't blocked himself into a room with something worse than what was out there no matter how impossible that seemed....
Inhuman winced as a thought struck him and hoped no one called him the Sewer Surfer....
OOC: since Octopus w/o the mind control is presumably an "ally" does he gain access to the +Cha Defense and Kairos's Inspiritation ability? :D
Maybe one power is no match for mind control, but three powers? guess not, and perhaps I should stop trying to make the opponents tougher.... yup I know how you called it just personal musing for later teamworking option.
OOC2: I intend to clean the water before it really gets in contact with me or the personal shield of water so that if there is any of good old Dexter Sinisters leftover drugs they won't poison me.
And if I can I will rinse off Dexter, Slingshot, and Symbiote changing those chemicals if possible into water and power... I'm just full of interesting ways to use my powers aren't I? :)
Just for clarity:
Movement: surfing around the corner and looking at the situation
Action: grabbing water
Movement: grabbing the presumably unresisting bodies with the water and moving to the other room, then making a wall of water with hopefully my team on one side and their team on the other
"Free" Actions: power conversion, maybe a little rinsing ...and flashbacks!
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Sentinel:
In his mind, Kirk had been ready for anything as he entered the chamber, ready to act to end this. Ready to act decisively! He had it all covered. And then he saw the symbol … a black bat!
And for a millisecond it all melted away and it was is if his brain froze and screamed in horror at the same time.
Perhaps it was a result of the scrambling of his will and mental facilities from Fatale (and his mind raced to reassimilate what had occurred, truly occurred, around him during those brief seconds – Did he witness the death of his teammate Ghost … had that really happened while Kirk was powerless to do a damned thing about it? And Clone, the real Clone … had he been cut down to pieces???)
He saw the symbol and he knew all to well what it meant.
Within that same second his recent mental training kicked into gear and his mental facilities were now on high alert … Black Bat!
His mind raced to his study of Heroic Lore and the original Freedom Force; there was much public documentation of the activities of the hero known as Black Cat, attacked by a vampire during a mission (who was the vampire and what was his affiliation?), and returned as an altered entity, assuming the guise of the Black Bat. Continuing the fight alongside the Freedom Force for a time until he could no longer control the dark urges that had grown within him, and he turned against his teammates and they were forced to destroy him … or so they thought.
Kirk’s mind recalled pertinent known facts from his own study as well as classified facts from the history of the CHESS files he had recently reviewed; was there anything from all of that to help now? What weaknesses were exhibited? Ultimately how did the Freedom Force take out the Black Bat? Was happened to his physical body at that time? Had he exhibited any powers at that time that might have helped escape his “final” fate? What were the weaknesses and known abilities on file about him? Was there any known linking’s to group associations prior to his “final” fate?
As Kirk thought about all of this he continued to scan the room trying to filter out the energy readings as well as use his physical sight … any other equipment or talismans present? What else was in this room?
Kirk thought about his earlier joke about having “werewolves and zombies” and all they needed were “vampires and a patchwork man” and it would be complete. It didn’t seem all that funny to him anymore … and he half expected a fist of a Frankenstein Monster to pummel his shield from seemingly nowhere.
As his mind continued to focus and sifted through the last few seconds that he was in the haze of Fatale, registering the events, he liked even less the thought of a fully powered Black Bat residing in the coffin given the current status of his team and their opponents!
He hit his communicator and reported the facts, trying to do it in a matter of fact way, “There’s a silver coffin with the lid down containing the symbol of,” and his voice hesitated for barely a second as he involuntarily swallowed, “a Black Bat.”
Kirk’s mind raced through the facts he knew about weaknesses of vampires and Black Bat … was there anything in this room that could help? What were the odds of his energy being used to mimic the qualities of wood, or perhaps more likely, the qualities of sunlight? Had Doc Rocket or Chess documented what it was about those things that vampires were specifically vulnerable to and could Kirk duplicate them with his powers???
End Kirk’s initial thoughts to his discovery … and awaiting GM reply for him so he can determine his actions …
(and hey, what a convenient way for the GM to catch us all up on history since only Tony would know this stuff first hand)
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Lightning Strike:
OOC: All I remember about Black Bat is that he was one of the most courageous and dedicated heroes in the original Freedom Force (although I may be slightly biased).
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OOC GM Replies:
Inhuman wrote: since Octopus w/o the mind control is presumably an "ally" does he gain access to the +Cha Defense and Kairos's Inspiritation ability? :D
GM Reply:
1) He's not an ally until he is made an ally, which hasn't happened yet. So those bonuses don't apply yet. I like your spirit though! :)
2)’ Move, "Attack," Move’ is almost always illegal but I'll allow it here.
3) You said Inhuman was headed for the Northeastern room. Is that correct or did you mean the doorway through which Sentinel went? That was the room Morgue was yelling about, not the Northeast room. Thanks.
4) No one else could understand what Octopus said to you about Morgue, etc... in case you'd like to share that info. hint hint ;)
5) Finally, the surfing effect to move Inhuman around the chamber on his own personal wave, banking off walls, etc. was pretty cool.
Sentinel wrote: He hit his communicator and reported the facts, trying to do it in a matter of fact way...
GM Reply: No Vanguard communicator is working at this depth!
Sentinel wrote: Kirk’s mind recalled pertinent known facts from his own study as well as classified facts from the history of the CHESS files he had
recently reviewed; was there anything from all of that to help now? What weaknesses were exhibited? Ultimately how did the Freedom Force take out the Black Bat? Was happened to his physical body at that time? Had he exhibited any powers at that time that might have helped escape his “final” fate? What were the weaknesses and known abilities on file about him?
GM Reply: This was the briefing that Vanguard received via communicator from Ajay as they readied for the second invasion of the catacombs:
• “A destroyed extranormal who could create revenants was Vampyress, a villainess who killed the Freedom Forcer, Black Cat, and transformed him into the vampiric superhero, Black Bat. Vampyress later attempted to summon an undead “god” of death called Tr’gharnik into this world to destroy it. The Freedom Force prevented the summoning and destroyed Vampyress.
• “The entity known as Tr’gharnik might be able to do this, but his arrival on our planet was supposed to have signaled its immediate end. And the stars will not be right for his return for another 500 years.
• “Black Bat continued as a member of the Freedom Force, despite his vampirism. This was controversial within the team, notably with the alien hero, Stentor, who felt Bat was evil. But Stentor could not persuade the Freedom Force. Eventually, Black Bat turned on the FF and was destroyed by them.
Sentinel has never seen the CHESS file on Black Bat but his "History of Extranormals" Skill tells him:
In his time as a Freedom Forcer, Black Bat had exhibited many of the strengths and weaknesses of a Vampire as according to ancient folklore, not to be confused with the vampires of Hollywood movies.
Abilities he exhibited included:
-Great strength, agility, durability and cunning
-Could transform into mist, bat or wolf
-Extraordinary senses
-Could replenish his energy by drinking blood
-Could float due to glider wings on costume
-Could apparently only be destroyed by a wooden stake through the heart
Weaknesses he exhibited included:
-Cast no reflection
-Was pained by exposure to religious items wielded by one who truly believes
-Could not shapeshift in the presence of garlic
-Must sleep upon his native earth
-Lost strength and power upon exposure to sunlight
-Must drink blood every day
The Freedom Force killed Black Bat over 20 years ago. The team was on a mission in the midwestern heartland of America, battling a team of supervillain environmental terrorists led by a vaporous extranormal called Smog.
It was there that Bat lost the battle with the dark demons he had been wrestling with. He attacked the Freedom Force. The Freedom Force defeated him and drove a wooden stake into his heart, killing him! The Bat's remains were then exposed to sunlight.
The remains were abandoned briefly out of necessity as the Freedom Force were immediately ambushed by the Soviet government's team of superbeings, including Siberian, Hammer and Sickle, and Proletariat (These Russian heroes now serve under Putin). The Soviets had come to kidnap the Soviet defector and Freedom Forcer, Polar Bear. Their cold war scheme failed and the Freedom Force returned to take the Black Bat's remains into safekeeping within the vaults of their wondrous base of operations atop the Twin Towers. The wooden stake was permanently secured in place.
The Bat had no known associations prior to his “final” fate.
Sentinel wrote: What else was in this room?
GM Reply: Strangely, save the dry dead bodies, the coffin and its pedestal are the sole contents of this chamber! And the metal coffin would not even offer up wood.
Sentinel's energy creations would likely not duplicate the properties of wood or true sunlight.
Sentinel remembered there were wooden tables at the top of the body-strewn stairs.
Best,
Jeff
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Inhuman:
Inhuman hated himself for this, or rather that the fates would make it seem that One would have to be sacrificed to free others. After he slams up his wall he takes a deep painful draught of musty air "Guys, we may have to kill Morgue to stop this mess, He seems to be the link, unless someone else has another way to cut the strings.... or sever the tentacles without killing the boss." OOC: Ill take Morgue's screaming spree direction (sentinels path) after all whatever pisses him off makes our position stronger. (though attacking him from behind has some tempting benefits) JIC anyone else on our team has plans to join me I’ll let them through, I don’t know how the defense will work for keeping them out but if we can focus our abilities it may help. hopefully in addition to the wall taking attack actions to defeat it may have some Ice defense abilities (making misses more likely). In addition I’ll repel bodily penetration attacks (i.e. someone charging through the wall of water) but someone slicing through the wall just to try to "break" it ill let those harmlessly slide past. but the dirty dealer may be my biggest problem.... though if enough of us end up on the other side of a good defense I may let one opponent though to deal with them one at a time. Not likely, but that may be a way to fight our way out here. And since I probably don't know about the fecund femme Fatale's foul face ill leave the wall screen clear to deal better with incoming attacks.
OOC:
Just a thought but perhaps one or a combination of our teams’ energies could break the link between the coffin and the "puppets". Water has been known to have a mystical insulation effect and Kirk's energies are definitely positive either mental or light, Kairos has a heart ability... the wood too might insulate, there is something about encasing bodies in wood from the middle ages...perhaps we could come up with some sort of indirect solution rather than straight up combat? Silver Coffins are really rare, reminds me of Ghengis Khan....Distracting at the last moment aren’t I?
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Symbiote:
Symbiote writhed in agony, his fevered brain reacting to the Trippy Terror's terrible touch. At the same time, a small part of Hal's brain clung desperately to what he knew--science. He had designed the Harper Harness, he had installed multiple redundant safeguards to protect against just this sort of thing. This is not happening, the part of Hal's brain that retained reason kept telling himself. Sweating and struggling against the awful attack of the Decaying Druggie, Hal remembered the hours he had put into making the harness--the discoveries, the triumphs and setbacks. He had made the Harness too well for any of this to be real. Remembering a line from one of his favorite TV shows, Hal gasped out "There's a time and a place for everything...and it's called COLLEGE!" as he attempted to throw off the effects of Dexter's vile venom.
(OOC: Assuming he succeeds in doing so...)
Regaining some semblance of his senses, Hal sees that Slingshot seems to have Dexter enveloped but Femme Fatale is still nearby. Clasping his hands together, he explodes up from his kneeling position and, assisted by Morgue's super strength, attempts a devastating double uppercut against the Putrid Prostitute. "I never hit a lady!" Symbiote roars. "But sister, you weren't a lady even when you were alive!!"
(OOC: If it doesn't work and I can't move, I'll try to break the effects again next round.)
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Kairos:
Kairos will take his stim shot and resign himself to combat with the Cat.
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Sentinel:
Upon recognizing the symbol on the coffin and realizing his communicator wouldn't work, Kirk quickly about-faced and headed back towards the upper chambers and the location of the best weaponry.
Kirk was still unconvinced that he had a clear picture of what was really happening here. All those mummified bodies ... not simply blood drained, but more. And if somehow the Black Bat was the ultimate source of this carnage, the top of the chain, then certainly he had evolved beyond even the extranormal abilities of a vampire. How could he exercise total mental control over the crime bosses? Certainly they would have some free will?
Still, he had to proceed based on their best known knowledge of the situation, and that meant equipping
Vanguard with wooden stakes.
As Kirk circled back he didn't know what he would find had happened in the few seconds he was gone, but his first goal was to grab one of the wooden objects and to shatter it so all could have a sharp piece for protection and usage ... and all the better if it got batter it to pieces against one of crime bosses!
(As Kirk enters the arena once again you'll have to decide how it gets the object and the sort of attack he employs - his preference would be to get sharp wooden pieces into the secondary room for all of Vanguard to grab but if he'd like to do whatever damage he can to the other side while doing so)
If he gets a chance to talk to the team he'd utter
"There's a silver coffin down there with the lid down containing the symbol of ... a Black Bat! Things still don't seem right here, but I'd suggest we all arm ourselves with a sharp wooden stake and its seems likely that Morgue isn't at the top of the chain here ..."
Kirk really wants to get back down to the coffin feeling that ultimately the source of control that needs to be cut is there and not with Morgue, but at this point couldn't determine if that's going to be possible just yet. If there was someway to get the team in that direction and to bar entry for the bosses to follow that would be great, but it doesn't seem possible from what's happened thus far.
Seth
Later: Kirk really wants to get back down to the coffin with the stakes ... he wants to be sure that the wood is available in that area - he doesn't necessarily need to prepare and sharpen all the stakes unless that was easily done since his teammates could likely handle their own preparation and most are likely strong enough to plunge a blunt piece of wood through if necessary, so his own would suffice - he just doesn't want the team to be cut off from a "wood" source while confronting what will apparently be a vampire.
That being said -- he also wouldn't want to leave his teammates hanging if he can help, so if it appears that an attack would be extremely useful against a "boss", perhaps to save someone or because it appears it would take one of them out of the battle (especially against Morgue) he'd likely do that and return to the room on the next turn. He'd try not to enter the main room but rather to reach in with the construct if at all possible because he doesn't want to be taken out by Femme Fatale again since he feels ultimately the victory here is going to come from the chamber below and not from the crime boss battle.
I hope that gives you a reasonable guideline to follow since its hard to determine because so many actions will occur before Kirk takes his and so its hard to determine what he would do when he gets back to the room since its so dependent on what happens by that time.
OOC to Inhuman:
It seems like the problem is that we aren't going to get much of an opportunity to team energies because the bosses won't let it happen ... they are all still active participants and have no reason to give us the time or break in their attacks.
If the coffin does contain Black Bat or a vampire, Kirk's energy might actually be more potent than it would seem at first glance due to Jeff's comments:
"Weaknesses he exhibited included: -Was pained by exposure to religious items wielded by one who truly believes"
I've got a speech for Kirk in mind regarding the scenario if we live long enough to get to that point.
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Inhuman:
I'll still need an action to get the water so I think this round is definitely defensive, does trying to wash off people (to dilute or possibly even remove entirely a contact poison) or moving presumably unresisting objects (say Ghost and Symbiote) count as actions?
I'll get as close as possible to the silver coffin within this move. Standing on top of the lid would be good :)
Sentinel:
Upon recognizing the symbol on the coffin and realizing his communicator wouldn't work, Kirk quickly about-faced and headed back towards the upper chambers and the location of the best weaponry.
Kirk was still unconvinced that he had a clear picture of what was really happening here. All those mummified bodies ... not simply blood drained, but more. And if somehow the Black Bat was the ultimate source of this carnage, the top of the chain, then certainly he had evolved beyond even the extranormal abilities of a vampire. How could he exercise total mental control over the crime bosses? Certainly they would have some free will?
Still, he had to proceed based on their best known knowledge of the situation, and that meant equipping
Vanguard with wooden stakes.
As Kirk circled back he didn't know what he would find had happened in the few seconds he was gone, but his first goal was to grab one of the wooden objects and to shatter it so all could have a sharp piece for protection and usage ... and all the better if it got batter it to pieces against one of crime bosses!
(As Kirk enters the arena once again you'll have to decide how it gets the object and the sort of attack he employs - his preference would be to get sharp wooden pieces into the secondary room for all of Vanguard to grab but if he'd like to do whatever damage he can to the other side while doing so)
If he gets a chance to talk to the team he'd utter
"There's a silver coffin down there with the lid down containing the symbol of ... a Black Bat! Things still don't seem right here, but I'd suggest we all arm ourselves with a sharp wooden stake and its seems likely that Morgue isn't at the top of the chain here ..."
Kirk really wants to get back down to the coffin feeling that ultimately the source of control that needs to be cut is there and not with Morgue, but at this point couldn't determine if that's going to be possible just yet. If there was someway to get the team in that direction and to bar entry for the bosses to follow that would be great, but it doesn't seem possible from what's happened thus far.
Seth
Later: Kirk really wants to get back down to the coffin with the stakes ... he wants to be sure that the wood is available in that area - he doesn't necessarily need to prepare and sharpen all the stakes unless that was easily done since his teammates could likely handle their own preparation and most are likely strong enough to plunge a blunt piece of wood through if necessary, so his own would suffice - he just doesn't want the team to be cut off from a "wood" source while confronting what will apparently be a vampire.
That being said -- he also wouldn't want to leave his teammates hanging if he can help, so if it appears that an attack would be extremely useful against a "boss", perhaps to save someone or because it appears it would take one of them out of the battle (especially against Morgue) he'd likely do that and return to the room on the next turn. He'd try not to enter the main room but rather to reach in with the construct if at all possible because he doesn't want to be taken out by Femme Fatale again since he feels ultimately the victory here is going to come from the chamber below and not from the crime boss battle.
I hope that gives you a reasonable guideline to follow since its hard to determine because so many actions will occur before Kirk takes his and so its hard to determine what he would do when he gets back to the room since its so dependent on what happens by that time.
OOC to Inhuman:
It seems like the problem is that we aren't going to get much of an opportunity to team energies because the bosses won't let it happen ... they are all still active participants and have no reason to give us the time or break in their attacks.
If the coffin does contain Black Bat or a vampire, Kirk's energy might actually be more potent than it would seem at first glance due to Jeff's comments:
"Weaknesses he exhibited included: -Was pained by exposure to religious items wielded by one who truly believes"
I've got a speech for Kirk in mind regarding the scenario if we live long enough to get to that point.
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Inhuman:
I'll still need an action to get the water so I think this round is definitely defensive, does trying to wash off people (to dilute or possibly even remove entirely a contact poison) or moving presumably unresisting objects (say Ghost and Symbiote) count as actions?
I'll get as close as possible to the silver coffin within this move. Standing on top of the lid would be good :)
