Let the Boogeyman Stay in Dreams IC

[herodofcows]

Your first encounter with APPAC and Agent Chatter made an impression, to say the least. You'd staggered into your apartment after a long night pounding pavement and catching lowlifes, only to find a gaunt Indian man in a suit sitting on your kitchen counter and . . . eating your cereal?

"About time you go home, Matty-Matt" he opened in a strong New York drawl, "I was beginning to think some lowlife had iced the new Dumat, and BOY would that have been a headache and a half for me. Name's Agent Chatter, howyadoin'."

His voice flowed like water and rasped like sandpaper, managing to be cosmically world-weary, bitingly cynical, and supernaturally driven all at once. It was a cacophonous melodic staccato in oratory, and you found it hard to not listen.

"Now, I can see that you're unnerved," he swiftly continued, getting down off the counter and proffering you the opened cereal box in one fluid motion, "But I promise you on my life, kiddo, I'm not here to hurt you. Not at all. See, the people that gave you THAT . . ."

So saying, he leaned over and tapped you on the breastplate, which chimed quietly in a way that you'd never heard before. Satisfied, he'd continued:

". . . sent me over. You're a hot commodity in the salvation-and-damnation crowd, Matty-Matt, and I'm here to make sure you can serve the Big Boss in the clouds in a way that is both safe and beneficial to as many people as possible. The people I work for have some pull with your bosses, so it's been decided that you'll be serving the Most Holy of Holies . . . by proxy of APPAC. What is APPAC, I hear you ask? Well . . ."

Here he'd sat down at your kitchen table and motioned you to take a seat.

"Strap in, kid. You're about to hear some crazy s*** . . ."

"So, let me guess," Agent Chatter had opened on the day APPAC had found you, "The Fire Nation is going to attack and you're our only hope?"

It had been a long day at the dojo, and you weren't in the mood for strangers, but something about the gaunt Indian man's voice had stopped you on your way out. It flowed like water and rasped like sandpaper, managing to be cosmically world-weary, bitingly cynical, and supernaturally driven all at once. It was a cacophonous melodic staccato in oratory, and you found it hard to not listen despite the man's superficial tone of raillery.

"See, my kids love that Avatar show, Danny-boy, and I love my kids, so it falls on me as a father to learn to love Avatar. Airbending, waterbending, earth-wind-and-fire-bending . . . it fills my waking hours. So, when I hear that there's a real-life Avatar fella waltzing around, I gotta come look, don't I?"

At this point, the man had raised his palms towards you, as though surrendering something. Glowing bright blue on his hands were two intricately traced tattoos of eyes, darting about as though they were the genuine article. The man had held these strange things up for a moment, and then closed his palms with an air of grim satisfaction. When he spoke next, all the playfulness had gone from his voice.

"Things are serious if you're here, Danny-boy. See, there are augurs that can't be ignored in my line of work, and a warrior with the Four Fundamental Elements at his beck and call . . . well, it makes important people sit up and take notice, which means someone like me comes out to get you on the side of the angels before something else gets you. You've got a lot of potential and a lot of destiny coming at you like a brick to the head, Danny-boy, and its my job to make sure the world ends up on the right side of that equation."

The man had proffered his hand at this point.

"The name's Agent Chatter, Danny. I represent an agency called APPAC, and we'd like to get you on board as quick as we can. But before we can do that, there's a few crazy things about the world that you need to know . . ."

The day Agent Chatter had come to you, you'd woken up with a dull ache in the pit of your stomach, just as you had every day since you'd been outed as a metahuman. You'd gone through your early morning routine listlessly, finally bracing yourself to go outside and face the usual throngs of press, curious onlookers, and protesters . . .

What you'd found outside was substantially different.

No news crews. No protesters. Heck, there were barely any people outside at all: one homeless man sleeping under a nearby lintel, and one gaunt Indian man standing in the middle of the street. He seemed to be screeching some harsh variety of bird calls, rocking back and forth as though transfixed. He glances up, sees you, and calls out:

"One sec, and I'll be right with you. Endarii Memory Vultures have to be controlled vocally, and I haven't done this in a while . . ."

If his birdsong had seemed weird, his voice had been mesmerising. It flowed like water and rasped like sandpaper, managing to be cosmically world-weary, bitingly cynical, and supernaturally driven all at once. It was a cacophonous melodic staccato in oratory, and you found it hard to not listen.

After a minute longer of cawing, the man had appeared satisfied. He approached you with a casual fluidity, extending his hand with offhanded cordiality.

"Pleasure to meet you, Katie-Kate. My name's Agent Chatter, and I come bearing the gift of a second chance."

He extended his arm theatrically, and SOMEthing perched on his wrist out of nowhere. You got a brief impression of scales and feathers and a chitinous maw before a strange caw rang out, and then you couldn't seem to bring it back into focus. The man kept speaking:

"Thanks to Uggy here (he's got a fancy pedigree name if you believe the Endarii ambassador, but I call him Uggy), all memory of your ability is in the process of being erased from the unsuspecting world. You're free to have your life back, Katie-Kate, but there are some strings attached to the favor. See, you're not the first person in the world to break out in unexpected superpowers, and you sure as s*** won't be the last. It's MY job to make sure that those powers get used in the best way possible, to benefit as many people as they can possibly handle . . ."

He pauses as he sees the expression on your face, and then rolls his eyes. Out of seemingly nowhere, he produces a Starbucks gift card and beckons you with an air of gentle resignation.

"Here, c'mon. Let's go get some overpriced coffee and I'll tell you about APPAC and just how crazy this world of ours really is . . ."

"Congratulations, Mr. Guanzel," rang out a sardonic voice in your darkened bedroom, "Out of all the monsters, aliens, demons, angels, and generally bizarre s*** I have to deal with on a regular basis, YOU have most managed to endanger my twelve years, seven months, and five days of sobriety. Well done, SIR."

You'd begun to take some offensive action agains this apparent intruder the second the quiet of your bedroom had shattered, but his voice had stopped you. It flowed like water and rasped like sandpaper, managing to be cosmically world-weary, bitingly cynical, and supernaturally driven all at once. It was a cacophonous melodic staccato in oratory, and you found it hard to not listen.

"I mean, a goo-bodied CEO? Who doubles as a crime-fighter and dresses like Mr. Peanut? And who somehow manages to keep an attitude that my wife would describe as 'jaunty' and a wife that my brother-in-law would describe as 'a high seven out of ten'? And word comes down the pipe that I'M your caseworker? I feel phantom flask pains just saying it out loud."

The bedside lamp flicks on, and you find a gaunt Indian man in a suit standing at the foot of your bed. He's looking at you with a mixture of levity and weariness. Out of nowhere, he flicks a business card onto your bedside.

AGENT CHATTER
Agency for the Paranormal, Powered, and Abnormal Cybernetic.

"Look, I'm sorry for the hour of my visit. My schedule's jam-packed and I had to fit you in somewhere. Aside from the publicity business, you seem like a good enough guy: some honest-to-god heroics, apparently grounded motives, home stability . . . you're one of the least likely super-villains I've ever seen. But still, we gotta have The Talk, both about my agency and just how crazy the world actually is. Of course, I'm talking to the famed Mr. Goo, so maybe this all won't be so hard to believe . . ."

Your first encounter with Agent Chatter had happened a long time ago. This is the story of the first time that you'd remember.

"Wowzers," he'd drawled, settling himself on a couch in your domicile, an easy smile on his face, "And to think I knew you when you were THIS tall . . ."

So saying, he put his hand approximately at the level of his bent knee. This man, a gaunt Indian fellow in a suit, had shown up with an appointment that neither you nor your minions remembered scheduling. You'd attempted to . . . eject him, but his voice had stopped you. It flowed like water and rasped like sandpaper, managing to be cosmically world-weary, bitingly cynical, and supernaturally driven all at once. It was a cacophonous melodic staccato in oratory, and you found it hard to not listen.

"Don't suppose you'd have much memory of me," he'd continued, "You were young, and I looked a lot different back then. Still, you bring back memories, kiddo. Your mother was a hell of a woman, and it does my heart good to see you carrying her torch on."

He briefly shoots a glance at Freddy Baby, and then shrugs.

"Now, ordinarily, this'd be the part where I give a spiel about how the world's a much more crazy, fantastical, and supernatural place than the average schlub knows, but that'd waste both our times. You're a businesswoman, so let's talk business."

He leans in, and sets a business card on the table. It reads:

AGENT CHATTER
Agency for the Paranormal, Powered, and Abnormal Cybernetic.

"I heard you were in the neighborhood and thought I'd pitch a job offer to you. Something on the side, you know, to shake up your usual domination-protection routine . . ."

The first exposure you had to Agent Chatter was ALSO your first experience with sudden psychic contact.

<HEY THERE L.L.!!!>

The presence had blared into your head like an airhorn smooshed against your ear. You were mid-stride across the Dakotas somewhere and the sudden input almost tripped you up. The words had been accompanied by a series of impressions: a small café, dawn in an old European city, a gaunt Indian man in a suit waving at you.

<MEET ME IN BARCELONA! CAFÉ DE L'OPERA! WE HAVE A LOT TO TALK ABOUT!>

As soon as you could, you'd made it over. It was 2 AM in Barcelona, but the café specified was still open, and the gaunt Indian man was still inside. As you'd buzzed in, he saluted you with a small mug of a thick brown liquid.

"Hey, you made it! Have a hot chocolate. It'll change your life."

His voice . . . THAT was what drew you over to the table and put a second mug in your hands. It flowed like water and rasped like sandpaper, managing to be cosmically world-weary, bitingly cynical, and supernaturally driven all at once. It was a cacophonous melodic staccato in oratory, and despite the oddity of the circumstance, you found it hard to not listen.

"I've known a lot of speedsters in my time," the man continued, sipping his own hot chocolate with every symptom of deep delight, "and you all share the potential to be the most cosmopolitan of all the freaky people that live in this crazy world of ours. Coffee in Dubai, pastries in Marseilles, duck in Beijing and hot chocolate in Barcelona . . . it's all at your fingertips! How could you NOT throw yourselves head-first into the pleasures of the world? Not that you really do that, do you L.L.? The boys in Observation say you've been the perfect picture of duty: work, fight crime, sleep, repeat."

He leans in here and flashes you a hot-chocolate-stained smile.

"Lucky for you, that's ex-ACT-ly what we're looking for! Not surprising, I guess, given your pedigree, but still gratifying. You wouldn't believe the s*** I've seen over the past few years. Now, let me tell you a little bit about APPAC and this crazy world that you've only just started to catch a glimpse of . . ."

You'd been coiled up in an alley on a bed of cardboard when Agent Chatter had first found you. Of course, you hadn't known it at the time. All you'd known was that you were suddenly being approached by two gaunt men: one was Indian, and wore a suit. The other was deathly pale, had red eyes that glowed softly, and wore what appeared to be a ragged red poncho. The second man had pointed mutely at you as they'd passed through the alley.

"Her?" the first man had asked, sounding slightly surprised before taking a closer look, "Well, slap a wig on me and call me Shirley, you're right! Take a walk, Cachi. I've got this."

The man named Cachi shot you a strange glare and then shuffled off. The other man had knelt down beside you and chuckled.

"Don't mind Cachi. He was shut up in a cave for a few centuries, so he's not what you'd call a social butterfly. I had to bring him along to help me find you, though, 'cause I'm not so good with tracking stiffs. ANYway . . ."

His voice flowed like water and rasped like sandpaper, managing to be cosmically world-weary, bitingly cynical, and supernaturally driven all at once. It was a cacophonous melodic staccato in oratory, and you found it hard to not listen.

"My condolences on your passing, and on that of your father," he continued, patting you on the arm, "I never had a chance to work with him personally, but we had a few mutual friends. His death was a blow to the world, and I can only imagine you have had next to no chance to process everything that's happened to you so I'm sorry in advance about how disrespectful this is going to sound . . . but we need you to come in. Right now."

He stood up at that point, and his very body language seemed to radiate urgency.

"The world is a scary place, Grace. It's a crazy, wild, wonderful, scary place, and you've fallen headfirst down into one of the deepest rabbit holes we've got. There are incredible and impossible things happening all over, every day, and you're just one among millions. My agency is dedicated to dealing with them, but we need all the help we can get."

He extends a hand here, almost beseechingly.

"Can you join APPAC, Grace? Can you help us make sure that the boogeymen stay in dreams?"

Then

You'd all received the invitation, slipped beneath all of your doors. It was elegantly scrawled in a strange form of calligraphy, sprawling black characters on innocuous white sheets of printer paper:

SEVENTY-TWO HOURS FROM NOW
PREPARE TO BE PICKED UP
BIG THINGS COMING!
-CHATTER

Precisely seventy-two hours from when you'd read those words, you were all greeted by the apparition of a half-naked black man wreathed in lightning and holding a small axe. Without a word, he'd grabbed you, stomped his foot . . . and you find yourself standing in a closed Chuck E. Cheese, along with a bunch of other people you'd never seen before.

Chatter is there, bobbing his head and tapping his feet to an incredibly upbeat and electronically melodic song. It takes some of you a few seconds to recognize "Bye Bye Bye" by N'Sync. Once all of you had been delivered, the black man goes up to Chatter and whispers something to him. Chatter nods, and the other man sizzles away in a flash of lightning. He turns to you all.

"Shango will be giving you rides back once we're done here. He's a god, so he's being very generous with his time. Be sure to say thank you (that's "e se" in Yoruba). Now!"

He turns off the speakers and spins around to you guys, grinning broadly.

"N'Sync is one of mankind's greatest musical creations," he begins, grinning broadly, "and CREATION is really the right word. Those boys were assembled like a piece of furniture by a record label, given songs specifically tuned for the demographic they were trying to attract, and set out into the world with an aesthetic carefully designed to capture the imaginations of teens and preteens everywhere. Most bands, such as the Beatles or Nirvana or whatnot, came together mostly by chance, but not N'Sync! Nope, those boys were made in a damn lab.

"Now, let's talk about super-teams," he continues, perching fluidly on a table, "Your average APPAC-sponsored group of metahuman do-gooders come together in the Nirvana model: a bunch of separately talented folks come together by chance, learn to work together, and boom! Magic! And that's all well and good, but what about planning? What about selection? What about surgically designing the optimal team of superpowered a**-kickery and unleashing it upon the supervillains of the world? THAT, in a word, is what we're all about here today!"

He's got the biggest grin that you've ever seen on his face as he concludes:

"All of you here . . . you guys are going to be the premier pre-created-ultimately-funded-optimally-adjusted-N'Sync-without-the-subliminal-sexualizing-of-teenagers prepackaged APPAC superteam! Whaddayasay?"

Now

You're all on a jet, flying over Gaza. The hold is spacious, clearly designed to fly an entire platoon, but it's just you seven and Chatter in the cockpit.

It had come from Megiddo, whatever it was. Megiddo was a hotspot for attracting extranormal doomsday beasties, which was probably why the end of the world was supposed to start there in Judeo-Christian mythology. THIS one had emerged from the hill at some unknown point, and was currently tearing up Gaza. Reports were Cloverfield levels of sketchy, owing to some apparent difficulty on getting a reliable visual.

APPAC had sprung into action, mobilizing its formidable collection of sorcerers, aliens, gods, demons, and public relations experts to create a story about rising ethnic tensions in the Gaza strip. They'd used variants on this theme before, both in Gaza and the West Bank, so the routine was well-oiled and rolled out over the news networks of the world like chocolate syrup.

Less well-oiled was their next step: a series of frantic phone calls to Chatter, who'd gotten in touch with you guys via psy-cast. Over the psychic transmission, his excitement and his nerves had keened at an unbearable pitch.

<OKAY, BOYS AND GIRLS! IT'S SHOWTIME!>

And now, as the lights on the bay doors begin to flash red, you all take a moment to contemplate just what "showtime" means.

[ChaosArchon]

Then

Dumat stands silently in his white-gold armor, listening to what Agent Chatter is saying. As he brings up N'Sync, Dumat thinks,"Thank God for JT, man is a golden god." and then chuckles slightly remembering what he was wearing, and that his benefactor would not appreciate him calling a mere man a god.

After Agent Chatter finishes his spheel, Dumat clears his throat and says,"I look forward to working with you all, name's Dumat, Angel of Vengeance." As he speaks the others notice his voice... it sounds distant and close at the same time, as well as if two beings were speaking at once. It's...unnerving to say the least.

Now

As the doors open, Dumat leaps down to the ground, trusting on the Armor to protect him from the impact of hitting the ground. He lands safely, using one knee and his fist to stabilize himself. He then gets up and looks around, searching for the creature they were sent here to destroy.

Search:(Awareness+Investigation)[roll0]
Acrobatics if needed for jumping out of the plane [roll1]

[Anubis Dread]

Then

An abandoned Chuck E. Cheese? Talk of boy bands and packaging? He like his agent! Not that he was just his agent anymore by the looks of things. It looked like they were going to form a new super team! He was used to just heading down town to respond to robberies and the like, and perhaps the odd fight against a Godzilla sized creature in the bay. Things seemed to love going towards sky scrapers for some reason. He suspected that sky scrapers were originally designed to be those electric lamp things that drew in bugs and electrocuted, but for monsters. But then someone forgot to install the killy bits. Still, the point was he was moving up in the world when it came to his little hobby!

"Ho ho ho! A super team? Splendid!" the giant, vague humanoid shaped green goo laughed. Almost like transulent silly putty in appearance and texture, Mr. Goo looked around at his fellow supers, adjusting the monocle to get a better look at them. "I must say I'm the mascot then?" he inquired with a deep bellied chuckle. He certainly was the most unique figure there, though that was relatively speaking of course. Any one of his companions would likely turn some heads!

Now

"I suppose its time for us to ZIP into action now, wot?" Mr. Goo chortled. Holding onto his hat to make sure it didn't fly off, he attached a hand to the side of the plane before jumping out. Extending his arm like a zip line the several miles that it could take him before dropping the rest of the way. Trusting his liquefied body to absorb the rest of the damage.

[MCP_8000]

Then

The sudden transport to the Chuck E. Cheese was a bit disorienting, and Grace had to take a moment to adjust to her new surroundings. Her suit, however, did not need such adjustment. As soon as she had appeared the featureless mask had slid up over her head and face, leaving her looking like a black shadow wearing a long coat. The mask was less to conceal her identity and more to conceal what she was, namely a walking corpse. She gazed around at the strange assembly of people, and actually felt more relaxed and calm than she had in months. Sure they were all bizarre and some downright otherworldly in their appearances, but at least she wasn't the only oddball in the room.

She listened to Chatter's odd little speech about N'SYNC, and she can't help but laugh softly at the odd choice of reference. When he finishes, Grace gives a little nod and concentrates, lowering the featureless mask from her face to reveal her extremely pale face and dark eyes. There was no mistaking the lack of life in her. When she speaks, her voice is soft and a little unsure, "A pleasure to meet you all. My name is Grace, though these days I tend to go by Dead Wire," if she were still able to, she would have blushed.

Now

Grace had never been in an airplane before now, and the experience was not as pleasant as she had hoped, although that might have been due more to her nerves than the actual flight. She had taken up a spot on the inner wall of the hold, easily clinging to it by her feet and sitting on her heels a few feet off the floor. From her perch she could watch the others and remain out of their way. She had her mask peeled back during the flight, seeing no reason to conceal herself with this group.

When the lights flash red, Grace feels her body tense. If her heart were still beating, it would have skipped a few as the doors open. She takes a deep breath and lets her mask slide into place. electricity tingles in her arms and along her fingers, and without giving herself more time to think it over, she leaps gracefully after Dumat. Her landing is elegant, dipping into a short roll and coming up in a crouch with both hands and feet firmly on the ground, ready for another leap if she were in danger.

[piercetbh]

Then

"Hey everyone, I'm Lachlan Light. But call me Minute Man if there are normal people around, I don't want them connecting my work life and my personal life." Not that he had a personal life. Really, this superhero team thing was a great chance for him. Not only did he have a chance to make some friends, now, but with all of them fighting crime together, they'd be so efficient that he'd have a lot more time to spend dealing with normal life stuff. Definitely a good idea, though there wasn't really an idea Agent Chatter could produce that he wouldn't go along with.

Now

The bay doors began to roll open and, although Lachlan would've waited for a command before leaping out, the others enthusiastically leapt off. He certainly didn't want to be left out, and so he went with them. Running and leaping out of the open door, his body began to blur and vibrate, all of his molecules shifting away from and around each other until he reached an incorporeal state. He didn't at all feel the impact as he touched down on the ground, his insubstantial form making him immune to such pains.

[Jyssika]

Then

Telaliel was amused at how the man attempted to charm her; the very idea
that persuasion might work on one such as her would bring red hot flushes
to her porcelain, if she was capable of blushing, another of her little idiosyncrasies.

Arriving at the meeting she simply smiles; most of them would have seen her on
the news if they even paid the slightest bit of attention to what was on the tele-
vision. Whether the believed the stories she was a deviant monster set about
to control the political minds of the world she would not know; yet.

She introduces herself as; Lady Telaliel, emphasising the title and correcting
anyone who makes the mistake of getting it wrong in a friendly yet
autorative tone.

Now

She hefts her paracute she has been given for the drop; not willing to morph
for simple transport means when mundane equipment will suffice.

She nods to the rest still having not left the plane and clips onto the zipwire.
Sliding out the door and into the open air.

[Comissar]

Then

The sudden teleportation was disorientating, to say the least. One moment she was surrounded by familiar furnishings, wondering just who this armed man was that had appeared in front of her, the next she was in some abandoned building who knows where. Head spinning, she didn't even notice the guy disappear again. Instead, her attention was drawn to Agent Chatter, the five strangers and... Some giant goo thing? Why was she the only one surprised by this? Before she could react properly, Agent Chatter begins to talk.

A superhero team, huh? Everyone else looked like they were up for it, and the idea that she could take on more than just petty street crime had a certain attraction to it. "Sure, sounds like fun. I'm Kaitlyn, but you probably..." She trailed off, memories of her first interaction with Chatter resurfacing, "Actually, you probably didn't." She smiled brightly, "Just call me Kaitlyn, or Waif, whichever!"

Now

The bay doors opened slowly. It looked fairly clear what was expected of them, and everyone moving over to the exit just reinforced that. No parachutes, though. Kait grinned at that, guess none of them really needed to have a parachute. She called out "I'll see you down there!" before dropping through the floor of their compartment. She allowed herself to become solid again as she fell, the air rushing past was exhilarating. She watched from the air as everyone else leaped from the bay doors above her, Mr. Goo stretching himself down instead. Turning her attention back to the rapidly approaching ground, she swung her body round so that she was falling feet first. Phasing herself, she slowed her descent, landing in a soft crouch.

[Anubis Dread]

Then

"Ho ho ho, seems we have some famous ones here!" Mr. Goo chortled. Oh dear, had he forgotten to introduce himself? He had! What horrible manners! "The name is Mr. Goo. How do you do?" he introduced himself apologetically, holding out his torso sized hand for anyone who'd be willing to shake it.

Now

Well, that had been a rather thrilling fall to say the least. Solidifying, Mr. Goo congealed upon himself until it formed his usual rounded but humanoid form. Hm, seems they had landed a little bit away from the action. Stretching his neck up to get a better view, Mr. Goo looked about slowly as though his entire face were a periscope. Let's see, where was their target...


Peception - [roll0]

[Zelphas]

Then

Daniel glanced around at the group, noting the athletic girl and the "Angel of Vengeance" especially. They seemed like good competition. "My name is Daniel Lung, though I'll go by Master Chi for this 'superhero team'," he says, shaking the goo man's proferred hand. "When do we start?"

Now
When the bay doors opened, Daniel waited for each person to jump out, noting their various ways of landing, before calmly stepping out of the helicopter onto a whirling column of air. He slowly lowers himself below the helicopter towards the rest of the team, keeping above the skyscrapers to scan for the monster.


Awareness+Perception: [roll0]

[herodofcows]

Then

"Wonderful!" enthuses Chatter, bounding up, "I'm really appreciating the enthusiasm here, guys! Or, at least, the fact that nobody's stormed out yet. Wünderbar!"

Abruptly, his face becomes serious. These swings in levity appear to be something of a constant with him.

"So, for this to work out, we're gonna need to get you guys working together like gears in a watch. See, I know almost all of you have some experience going out into the night and smacking around some thugs (which sounds like a euphemism when I say it out loud. ANYway!), but a bunch of lone wolves won't cut it when you're up against another superpowered threat. Like, lookit . . ."

He sets down a metal disc on a table and presses a button on it. It lights up to show a hologram of a series of colorfully garbed men on some sort of stage. A redheaded man in the center (purple robes with red and orange mandarin characters and a Hanfu hat) seemed to be giving a furious speech. Chatter points him out first.

"THIS horrendous piece of cultural appropriation rejoiced in the name of Clive O'Sullivan, but was known as The Heavenly Emperor in metahuman circles. Back in the 1880's, he tried to get a team of supervillains together under the name of The Dread Dynasty, with the intent of overthrowing APPAC and taking over the world. And trust me, kiddos, these guys were the finest examples of metahuman criminals, sociopaths, and general malcontents that the 19th century ever produced. Duke Dementicus! The Vermillion Crusader! The fourth Antichrist, back when Hell was still trying (don't get me started on that, we haven't had an Antichrist worth a damn since the Depression)! The idea of all of these fellas together under one roof had all the junior agents and rookie supers in a frenzy of anticipation! But do you know what the higher-ups did to prepare us? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, and by God it worked like a charm!"

He presses another button, and the hologram changes to a recording of those same metahumans being utterly destroyed by two men in Victorian garb, who move together with mesmerizing coordination as they bludgeon, blast, and beat down the scattered supervillains. Chatter clucks in admiration.

"Look at 'em go! That, right there, is the Bull Moose and the Spire Sorcerer, barely breaking a sweat against the entirety of the Dread Dynasty! The whole group folds like a bad hand as soon as they go up against a little teamwork and coordination, and why was that?"

Chatter pauses the recording mid-beatdown and turns to you all, a manic gleam in his eye.

"RHETORICAL QUESTION!" he shouts before anybody has a chance to reply, "They lost because, for all their menace and bluster, they all fought like the loners that they were! No teamwork, no strategy, no nothing, and all they get for their efforts is some severe injuries and the chance to brag that they'd gotten beaten up by a future US President! But that's not gonna be you all. Ohhhh, no siree. You guys aren't seeing ANY action until you guys can work like you've got a friggin' hive mind!"

He looks at you all, flushed and breathing heavily from his dervish of enthusiasm. Abruptly, he smiles.

"So! Who's got some thoughts on some team-building exercises?"

Now

You all land in an approximate line along a broad-ish street in the middle of town. Dumat's landing craters the asphalt, and the force ripples up his body. Mr. Goo splorts wetly against the ground, but his amorphous physiology and regenerative capacity soon set him right even as his proffered gooey zipline allows Lady Telaliel to slide down in style. Dead Wire's landing is slightly more acrobatic, but still carries a shock of force to it. Waif and Minute Man sink lightly into the ground, twin shimmers of intangibility, before righting themselves to the surface. Master Chi brings up the rear, floating effortlessly down upon a gust of wind.

Above you all, Chatter's jet zooms away, climbing up to a safe altitude until extraction. You all look around you, fully taking in the devastation now that you're free from the adrenaline of the jump.

The air is hot and full of acrid-smelling smoke, making it difficult to see by regular means even as the swelter starts to get to you. The roadway is a mess on par with anything you've ever seen in any news story on terrorist attacks. The road is cratered by blast marks for as far as you can see, and the sides of nearby buildings have been mutilated and caved in; it is as though you can see the viscera of a dying city, bleeding plaster and brick onto shocked and silent streets. There are several cars overturned along the road, scattered like shattered glass. A few are on fire, scorching morosely into the smoke-soaked sky.

And then there are the bodies: clumped at different points along the road, there are small clusters of stricken victims. They all appear to be still alive, but they only moan and whimper on the ground, unable (or perhaps unwilling?) to get up.

Ahead of you, you hear the sudden WHUMPH of rushing air as another explosion rocks Gaza. Behind you, somewhere within the maze of streets, you hear a shriek.

For the effects of your fall: Dumat, roll Toughness vs. DC 23 damage.
Dead Wire, roll Acrobatics and Toughness.

Against the heat: Everybody roll Fortitude DC 11.

As near as you can tell, the trail of devastation leads forward from your position, to the North-East. There is no blood issuing from any of the victims, and there are no apparent victims outside of the tight clumps of moaning individuals. And . . . are those bite marks on the cars?

The mantle is silent as you begin your search of the immediate area, so there's probably not an immediate Judeo-Christian-Muslim source to the threat. You immediately pick up on the bite marks on the cars, but the damage to the buildings is more mass-driven than precise, as though whatever caused it had just slammed into the sides. Within one of the buildings, you find the prone form of a large bearded Semitic-looking man in some kind of cybernetic suit. Impact suggests he was thrown through the building. He's out cold and his suit's a flashing, clicking, and whirring mess, but he's still alive.

[Zelphas]

Then
Master Chi looks around once more at the group before him, raising one prematurely silvered eyebrow. This is going to be an...interesting team.

Now
Master Chi scans the area around him, noting the clumps of moaning individuals and the strange markings on the cars. He is utterly unfazed by the hot desert sun."No blood..." he says under his breath. "It looks like whatever this is is heading North East. Be wary; it's attacks seem to harm without physical damage." At the sound of the shriek, Master Chi drops into a wide stance. A rough section of asphalt, dirt, and rock lifts itself up underneath him, allowing him to swoop forward towards the noise, though he curtails his speed to allow the others to keep up.

Over the psynet, he asks Agent Chatter, Has the APPAC ever heard of something that eats cars? Possibly with an incorporeal attack?

[herodofcows]

Now

<HUH. YOU MEAN IT'S PSYCHIC, OR SOMEONE GHOSTED THROUGH THEM MALICIOUSLY? SEE IF YOU CAN FIGURE OUT IF THERE'S BEEN ANY INTERNAL INJURY. STILL, NON-PHYSICAL ATTACKING, BUT IT SNACKS ON CARS? THAT'S A LOT BROADER THAN YOU'D THINK, DANNY-BOY. COULD BE ANOTHER R'LYEH EXPAT, OR MAYBE THE NANITE LEGION GOT ITS HANDS ON AN ACTIVE DENIAL SYSTEM AND WENT A LITTLE NUTS. OR, HELL, MAYBE A NACENT TECHNOPATH JUST WALKED OUT OF THAT NEW TRANSFORMERS MOVIE AND WANTED HIMSELF A DINO-BOT. YOU EVER SEE TRANSFORMERS, DANNY-BOY? THE THINGS I PUT UP WITH FOR MY DAUGHTERS . . .>

As you rise into the air and fly towards the scream, you see that the strange smoke seems to cover a vast portion of the city. Still, through the fumes you can see a woman standing stock-still and transfixed on the roof of a house. She wears a hijab and a long coat, but her face and her hands seem to be glowing bright orange. She shrieks intermittently, fading in and out of keening as though someone were turning her vocal chords on and off.

[Anubis Dread]

Now

Ah, when they had first gotten together they had been such green horns! Now they were STILL green horns, but green horns who had gone through some rudimentary training! That was certainly a step in the right direction! Still, this was a bit outside of his comfort zone. Usually he was either dealing with small time things, or things a little less subtle than whatever was happening here. Not knowing who the enemy was was ruffling his jimmies to no end.

"Tally ho then! No-one ever did anything standing around while explosions happened. Unless you were setting them off I suppose, ho ho!" Mr. Goo laughed before jumping after his comrade. He didn't want to get any bigger with all these people around, he could crush them with so much as a misstep... so he would stay his usual size for now.


Fortitude - [roll0]
...yes I invested WAY too much in stamina that it's that high at normal size >.>

[piercetbh]

Then

"What's wrong with learning on the job? If we just go into the field together for a not-too-catastrophic situation, that will teach us what we're all capable of and how we can combine those abilities? I'm not here to do icebreakers."

Now

"Oh, let's go check that out," Minute Man called, dashing away towards the scream that they had heard. His plan was to run until he found the danger and then run straight back to report on what he had seen, but when he came to his target after a second or two he found that there was no real danger to speak of. Dashing up the side of the house and landing on the roof, he frowned as he saw the glowing woman.

"What do you make of it, Master Chi?" He asked when his ally arrived.

[Zelphas]

Now

Master Chi threw his speed up to full as he saw Minute Man take off, but was quickly outstripped. He also stared at the glowing woman when he arrived, his brow furrowed with thought. "Hm... either she is the source of our disturbance or the victim of it," he responds to the speedy deliveryman, before raising his voice. "Excuse me, ma'am? Are you all right?" he calls out to the woman, shifting his stance ever so slightly to prepare for a fight.

[herodofcows]

Then

Agent Chatter looks at Lachlan for a second, and then shrugs innocently.

"Oh, okay. No, sure, you're right! I mean, sitting in a circle and doing trust falls would really just be a waste of our time. L.L.'s got the right idea, everybody! Let's just wait for a relatively non-threatening situation to arise organically, and then we'll OH WHOOPS!!!!"

With crystal-clear intentionality, Chatter stumbles theatrically into one of the skee ball machines lining the walls, flailing in such a way as to press down on the central hole. Immediately, the Chuck E. Cheese is bathed in a red light, and what sounds like a thousand klaxons begin blaring. Metal shutters clang down the insides of the walls, and the central ball pit begins to lower. From beneath the floor, you can make out a rising chant:

"GLORY TO THE SCIENCE SORCERERS! DEATH TO INTERLOPERS! GLORY TO THE SCIENCE SORCERERS! DEATH TO INTERLOPERS!"

Agent Chatter turns to you all, a look of mock surprise on his face.

"Will you look at that??? It looks like this humble Montana Chuck E. Cheese is actually a front for a B-list doomsday cabal! And it looks like I accidentally just activated their perimeter alert!! WHAT ARE THE ODDS??"

He presses a few buttons on his watch, and shimmers away with a final jaunty exhortation:

"Team-building exercise! GO!"

Now

Upon closer inspection, the woman is not glowing uniformly. Rather, there are a series of traceries along her skin that are giving off the orange glow. You can see her eyes are glazed over by similar traceries, but these seem to be pulsing erratically. She seems not to notice anything in her immediate surroundings, and you can see beneath her traceries that her pupils are fully dialated. She's sweating buckets, and her whole frame is quivering. Between shrieks, she repeats a single phrase with quiet intensity:

"Er ist der Psychoticshinducktortier und er ist auferstanden! Er ist der Psychoticshinducktortier und er ist auferstanden!"

Off in the distance, another explosion rings out, and this time it is accompanied by a faint keening laughter.

[Comissar]

Then

Kait gives the eccentric agent a disbelieving look as he disappears. The whirring of machinery and heavy clanging of the shutters filled the room, followed by that bizarre chanting. Reaching a snap decision, she turned to the others. "I'll scout ahead, see what we're gonna have to deal with."

If the cult were below, there was one surefire way of finding them quickly. Without hesitation, Kait sank down through the floor.

Kaitlyn's going to try and sink down to the upper level of the lair and get an idea of the numbers. She'll stay intangible once landing.

Now

Kait grimaced at the devastation around them, it was unpleasant, to say the least. While the others rushed off to find the source, she ran over to the nearest group of injured people. Confirming they were still alive, she called out over the psynet "Minute, Chi, do we know what we're dealing with yet? These people look badly hurt, don't try and take it on without the rest of us."

Am I right in thinking my fort. is high enough to just make a routine check? If not, roll below.

[roll0]

I think I did that right, if I'm rolling it's my stamina+1D20?

[Jyssika]

Then

Hmmm
Telaliel almost seems to pur; whether it is a goo sound is difficult to know.
She moves to an insuspicious position away from the majority of the group,
seemingly just loitering about in the background.

Now

Any awake and speaking? If so; it would be so kind of you to let me have the
pleasure of interviewing them.

She stands a moment: making some strange noises and gestures before a small group of
people appear around her; mostly wearing police uniforms from various cities across the world.

Spread out and tell Mistress whats going on, first one to gather anything of interest can
have a special treat.

Summon ~5-6 random PL 1 police men with pistols and eye balls to walk around looking at stuff.

[ChaosArchon]

Then

As he hears the profane chanting, two blades of flame shoot out from the gauntlets Dumat seems to be wearing,"These cultist must be shown they put their faith in the wrong place." and begins to head to the stairs inhumanly fast, intending to go downstiars.

Ground speed 2, dunno what it is put it's fast

Now

As Dumat hits the ground, it cracks and shatters underneath the impact of his Armor hitting the ground. However as the force moves through the Armor, Matt feels no pain nor does the armor look worse for wear. Dumat then begins to investigate the scene and look for clues where may indicate whatever has happened here.

"Hmm, the markings on the car are more impacted than precise, as if something had just slammed into the sides." he muses out loud. As he continues to investigate, he comes upon a man in a cybernetic suit, the suit horribly damaged and the impact looks as if he was thrown into the the building.

"Guys I found a local that can maybe explain what happened here, anyone happen to know how to patch people up?" he says the the group over their earpieces.

[Jyssika]

Now

Telaliel stands at the shoulder of Dumat; already at work making strange gestures
and noises as he summons for medical assistance.

A squat and pallid man with mechanics overalls and a tool kit puffs into existance
besider her. Unlike her other summons this man has much more distinctive and
visable restraints symbolling his devotion to Telaliel.

Treat this mans injuries; and attempt to repair his suit afterwards.
Yeees Mistress
He smiles a yellow smile and sees to the man with his tool kit.


Summon Freddy Baby; he has technology and treat injury.

My name is Lady Telaliel, you are in good hands, what is your name?

[Anubis Dread]

Then

"Hohohohoh!" Mr. Goo laughed. "Ah, he's a tricky one! I like him! This should be a good chance to have some fun, and get to know each other a bit more to boot! Always was a fan of a good team workshop."

Let's see... looking around, he was probably one of the tougher members of their new team. At least in terms of how much damage he could soak up. As such, he should be on the front lines to take as many hits as possible. That way nobody else would need to get hurt! If that was the case, then their best bet was to engage them in a place where they couldn't just get around him, like a corridor or the like. There were none up here, so...

"Cannon ball!" Mr. Goo called with a laugh, growing a bit coiling himself and launching himself with a leap into the hatch.


No fall damage since he's actually Leaping, using Spring-Launched Slam to be more precise. This also means he can make an Area attack on anything underneath him when he lands. I'm assuming the hole where the ball pit used to be isn't really big enough to let him be more than about Growth 4 or so.


Now

Hm, curious. Seems as though this woman was likely just trying to keep the destruction down. Or perhaps had summoned something she was trying and failing to control? Going towards the explosions seemed a good idea, but that was what they did THIS time! If they just kept chasing explosions and they kept moving they'd be here all day!

The real question was what she was muttering he supposed. Taking off his hat, Mr. Goo rummaged inside of it before bringing out a cellphone, putting his hat back on before pressing a button on it and holding it close to where his ear would be if he had any. "Mike? Yeah it's me. Can you get me in touch with Professor Sirius? ...no, the other one, the language one. Not the extraterrestrial expert. ...thank you Mike."

Being quiet for a moment, Mr. Goo's face shifted into something of a smile. Which was impressive with no real mouth to speak of. "Benny! It's Magnus! Listen, can you do me a solid? ...no no, it's not like with the mole people. You don't even need to leave your office. ...of course your funding doesn't depend on it! Who do you take me for? It's just a quick favor. ...an increase? Well I don't see why not, so long as I get that Atlantis report soon. ...alright I'm going to hold you up to listen to something. It's some weird language. Any idea what it means?"


Persuasion roll for Well-Connected - [roll0]

[MCP_8000]

Now

Grace looks around at the destruction, a bit shocked by the level of chaos surrounding her and her team mates. She is even more shocked at how the others seem almost numb to it and straight away each goes their own way, chattering about the situation and whats going on. It take Grace a few moments to catch up on whats happening before she is able to respond to anything. She had never faced anything like this before. She had never even stopped a pick pocket on the street. The only real combat situation she had ever faced had been the day the group had first assembled....

Then

The moment the alarm starts to sound Grace leaps straight up and latches herself firmly to the ceiling, her mask sliding back up over her head and face. She looks around, watching as Chatter vanishes, “Hey! Wait!” she shouts in confusion.

This was not at all what she had been expecting from a team building exercise. She watches as the one called Kait drops suddenly through the floor, “Hold on!” they were supposed to be working as a team and one of them had already split off without so much as waiting to form a plan. There was no telling what was below them, what if something happened to her?

She sees Dumat heading for the stairs and leaps in front of him, holding up her hands to halt his progress, “Stop! You gather the others, I'll take point. Give me thirty feet. I'm least likely to be noticed, and you're best equipped to lead the others,” she wasn't overly confident in her own words, but it seemed like the best idea at the time. She waits a moment to see if he agrees to her plan before leaping down the stairs and clinging to the wall. Slipping silently along, she does her best to remain hidden while scouting ahead of the main group, keeping her eyes peeled for Kait.

Stealth [roll0]
Perception [roll1]

Now

Shaking off the memories Grace leaps to the nearest building, crawls along its surface for a few feet, then leaps out to the next, following behind Daniel and Lachlan. She was quick, but not quite as quick as the speedster. When she arrives at the scene of the glowing woman she lands beside Daniel, “Master Chi, any idea what's happening?” she uses his code name in the field, not wanting to give out his identity. Her gaze scans the surrounding roof tops for any connections to the situation.

Acrobatics [roll2] not sure if its needed
Perception [roll3]

[Zelphas]

Then

Some team we are, Master Chi thinks wryly as everyone leaps in opposite directions. He turns towards the one person who seems to be trying to keep order, the girl who called herself Dead Wire. "Mr. Goo already jumped down the hole," he said quickly, "And Waif went the same direction. I can follow Mr. Goo down, provide support, and try to regroup them." He turns towards the ball pit as he finishes, quickly forming a vortex of air and lowering himself down the hole, casting about to see where they've ended up.

Check: [roll0]

Now

"We're not sure yet," he responds to Dead Wire as she lands. "Mr. Goo is trying to translate whatever she's chanting. It looks like possibly a summoning to me." He reports the traceries to Agent Chatter, trying to describe them as best he can.

[ChaosArchon]

Then

Dumat stops and says to Grace,"Very well, I guess that would be more appropriate, given this is a team-building exercise." and then says the to rest of the supers on the floor,"Alright ladies and gents, we'll go meet our foe together. Grace you can scout, I'll lead the vanguard after you find out what exactly is going on there. If any of you possess telepathy relay this to our wayward teammates please."

He then begins to move much more slowly and let's Grace pass him, while he waits for her to bring back intel.

Now

As the man begins to stir Dumat asks him,"Do you remember who you are? What happened that resulted in you being knocked out?"

[herodofcows]

Then

Waif's dive brings her through about 15 feet of solid concrete until she hits a room. Peering around, she sees she's in a dimly-lit laboratory. A series of large tubes line the wall, bubbling ominously. Backlit by the nominal light of a dozen monitors, you can see . . . things . . . floating inside. The room has two airtight hatches on opposite walls: one appears locked and dark, while the other is lit. The chanting (heavily muffled through the door) is coming from that area, before you hear . . .

Mr. Goo's fall sends him splattering down a 15 foot shaft, followed by Master Chi's more serene ascent as Dead Wire sticks herself silently to the wall. The chanting dies down as about 20 masked individuals turn around to look at the sudden influx of green goo. They are standing in a concrete half-circular atrium, with four large airtight hatches leading off in different directions. Every member of the group wears a half-mask, a white labcoat, and intricate red and green robes underneath. They all carry strange mechanical-looking staves. A slight silence falls as both sides quickly size each other up, and then an exclamation comes from one of the people near the back; a man's voice, high and reedy:

"DEFEND! DEFEND WITH SCIENCE AND SPELL! I SHALL SUMMON THE MECHA-MONGOOSES AND OMNI-REDNECK! DEFENNNNNND!!

Roll initiative in OOC!

Now

Dumat and Telaliel gather around as Freddy Baby works feverishly. After a few moments of his frantic ministrations, the man appears to stir . . .

Needs to beat DC 15 to revive him: [roll0]

His eyes flutter open, and he takes a look at the strange people standing over him.

"Ap . . ." he coughs for a moment, then tries again, "APPAC? You are APPAC? English not good. Hebrew? Arabic?"

Meanwhile, Mr. Goo's contact listens over the phone and informs him that the woman is speaking German.

"The, ah, the translation's not 100% precise, but basically she's saying 'He is the madness-inducer-beast, and he is risen' over and over and over again. Her accent is terrible, though, so I could be misunderstanding . . ."

Another WUMPH, another explosion. This time, you see a building visibly crumble in the distance: a mosque, by the looks of it. The laughter gets slightly louder.

[Zelphas]

Then

Master Chi glances around at the enemy before him, singling out the man who spoke. "I think not," he responded. Immediately upon landing, he took a wide stance, lifting one arm rigidly into the air. A chunk of concrete twice the size of the elemental master rose up before him. With a solid punch from his other hand, the boulder flew towards the man who had spoken.

Ranged Attack Check: [roll0] vs. Dodge
If I'm reading it right, it has a Damage Rank of 22.

Now

Master Chi's head snaps around at the sight of the mosque crumbling. "Mr. Goo, unless your translator makes you think this woman is a threat, I suggest we all go ater whatever is destroying Gaza," he says quickly, still watching the crumbling building.

[Jyssika]

Then

She sigh's she didn't want to make a scene, not on their first mission... team building excersize...
Oh well.

She seems to fade out; her form replaced with a shadowy fiendish spectre;
silently she phases through the floor below her, sinking straight to her team,
and taking up formation behind Mr Goo.

Weak of body; Numb yourselves,
Weak of Mind; Cover your ears,
Weak of Heart; Cover your eyes!

The Terrortrix howls, its voice echoing through the halls and walls of
the base.

Now

Please Dumat; don't rush him so, we both know I will get out of him what
we need in the quickest and easiest fashion.

The group had grown used to Telaliel by now, she had her own way of doing
things and it was usually just best to leave her to them. Whether they agreed
with her or not all attempts at debate always ended up with them seeing her
point of veiw... Thankfully concession came from the fact she had not let them down
so far.
She points to the growing chaos.

Perhaps you should assist the others with that one, she doesnt look so
talkative and I don't particularly want to cause a scene.
If you spot a local that speaks english can you please send them my way;
that would be a much better use of your time than us both speaking to
him in a language he doesn't understand.

[piercetbh]

Then

His team-mates seemed to be very interested in going downstairs. Mr Goo, Master Chi, and some others. Well, screw it, then. Minute Man ran for the hole, jumping in and then jogging fifteen feet down the side to get to the room below. He did so just in time to see the twenty armed cultists waiting for them, and hear 'omni-redneck.'

Okay, maybe he should've stayed upstairs...

[Anubis Dread]

Now

"Hm... alright, thanks Benny. See you soon," he promised, disconnecting the line. He didn't want to keep him on the line all day after all, he had other things to do.

As much as the fact they knew so little about this woman niggled at him, they had little choice here. Even if she HAD summoned it, there was no way to guarantee that taking her out would stop the beast. Meanwhile, the beast was ravaging the town while they pondered a solution.

"Seems the enemy is some form of madness inducing beast. Possibly Cthulu," Mr. Goo passed along to his companions. "Can't get more than that from it, but as it stands... we need to stop that thing before anyone else gets hurt!" No time to lose, Mr. Goo immediately super leaped from his position towards the laughter. Whatever that thing is, they could beat it into submission and THEN work out the details!

[ChaosArchon]

Then

After Grace returns with information about their enemy, Dumat leads the rest of the team forwards versus their cultist foes. Thanks to the Armor he is able to react before any of the others and swipes his flaming blades at two of the cultists. In their eyes he is a dervish of flame, an inferno of righteous vengeance enacted upon them by forces beyond their ken.

Attack: [roll0]
Damage:[roll1] (split between two targets)


Now

"If you say so." and in no time at all, Dumat is nearby Mr. Goo. "So do we know if the woman is stopping the summoning or causing it? Perhaps it's a warning?"

As he says this, his mind is working in overdrive, analyzing every single detail of the scene, attempting to discover some clue the others might have missed.

Investigation: [roll2]

[Comissar]

Then

Grimacing at the sudden outbreak of noise from the other side of the door, Kait decides she's going to need to move fast. Jogging over to the test tubes, she tried to work out just what they were containing, throwing an occasional furitive glance at the door as she did so. Hopefully the fighting wouldn't break into the laboratory.

I'm assuming Kait landed in a separate room, if she didn't please say so and I'll alter her actions accordingly.

Now

With little else she was able to do, Kait covered her eyes against the sun as she looked up to where Minute and Chi had run off to.

"I think they forget we can't all move that fast..."

Her muttering was more to herself than anyone around her. An explosion off in the distance caught her attention. Cursing, she called out over the psynet "Minute Man! Can you get us over there?"

[herodofcows]

Now

Dumat just misses Mr. Goo as he leaps off towards the destruction! Turning his attention to the rooftop area, Dumat (even with Master Chi and Minute Man to assist him) cannot seem to find any suggestive clues (although this might be due to the fact that the woman is alternately shrieking and mumbling in a somewhat distracting manner).

"Er ist der Psychoticshinducktortier und er ist auferstanden! Er ist der Psychoticshinducktortier und er ist aaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! "Er ist der Psychoticshinducktortier und er ist auferstanden! Er ist der Psychoticshinducktortier und er ist auferstanden!" "Er ist der PsychoticshAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

And so on.

Back with Telaliel and Waif, the various minions fan out in your basic search pattern, and return quickly to report their findings. They're not finding much that you don't already guess: whatever this thing is has left a trail of bodies headed to the North-East, having done plenty of structural damage but no visible physical harm to any of the victims. One of the policemen is from Dubai, and acts as a translator for you and the gentleman in the cybernetic suit.

"I was one of APPAC's first responders on the scene today, along with my partner Thaumaturge. Our job was to try to cover the civilians as the other agents evacuated the main roadways and residential areas. We . . . well, it did not go so well for us. This monster . . . it exists in a cloud of debris, whatever it is. I tried to fly into it, but clearly my armor could not protect me. . . ."

He looks out and sees the clusters of bodies. His face droops despairingly.

"If Thaumaturge could not stop it, then I suspect she is . . ." he gestures to the bodies forlornly, ". . . like that."

He turns to the assembled crowd with a determined focus.

"Be warned, if you attempt to fight it: Though its physical power is great, it seems to attack the living only with a psychic lash. I do not know what lies within the cloud of debris, but at most it encompasses about half of a roadway, unless it has grown. It will attack structures as gladly as people, so do not seek shelter-" he cuts off as he begins coughing.

Meanwhile, Mr. Goo is airborne! With his profound powers of gooeyness, he is easily able to leap the distance in just over 10 seconds! Splattering to the ground at approximately the right place, he takes in the scene.

He is standing on a rooftop much like the one he just quitted, overlooking a circular clearing in the urban jungle. The circle is tiled over, and currently contains about half of a golden-domed mosque. The remaining half appears to be breaking off of its own accord and becoming part of a giant cloud of debris that is floating at about ground level. The laughter now rises to a fever pitch as you get closer, keening like a demented raven . . . and it's coming from within the cloud?

Abruptly, Agent Chatter contacts everyone on the psynet. You can sense his nerves as he circles about.

<SO, STATUS REPORT ON OUR INCORPOREAL-CAR-EATER BEASTIE, FOLKS? THE BRASS ARE PESTERING ME FOR ANSWERS AND I THINK MY PENSION IS IN DANGER IF I KEEP GIVING THEM I-DON'T-KNOWS!>

[Anubis Dread]

Now

He was never a fan of scary movies. Always gave him the heebi jeebies. And now it seemed like he'd walked into the middle of one. That cackling laughter would send shivers down his spine if he had one. Still, this was definitely the place. The thing that was causing all this damage had to be in that cloud.

"Mr. Goo calling in! I'm... about here," he replied, enlarging himself somewhat stretching out his arm as high up as it would go before using it to point down at himself. "And I have the target in sight! Apparently the target is a heavy smoker, because I can't see a thing through all the smoke its spewing out! If it has lungs they must look like a pair of raisins a this point, ho ho!" Alright so it was debris and not smoke, but they all needed a bit of levity among all this carnage.

"I'm engaging, if I die assume physical attacks don't work and think of another plan. Though I certainly hope it doesn't come down to that, I forgot to renew my life insurance!" Mr. Goo went on, feeling the strain. He was the only one here, but that was fine. All he had to do was hit the thing, grab it, and then they could capture it or take it down. He was the best one for the job here... he hoped.

Not knowing where in the cloud to aim for, but knowing he had to do something, the somewhat enlarged Mr. Goo shot off a fist into the cloud at random, hoping to hit his target.


I'm not even going to roll since he can't even see what he's aiming for, but if it's relevant he's probably about Growth 4 right now and is using Goop Goop Heavy Hitter

[Jyssika]

Now

My team are a little busy now mr Chatter;

Her tone was warn even whilst being short, she didn't
have anything on Chatter, the very idea of her being able
to somehow felt ... difficult; but his bosses on the other
hand were less infallable.

Patch me through please; I wish to have
words with them about these on the job distractions
and discuss what complications might arise should they
not decide to back off and let us do our jobs.

The team could think what they liked about Telaliel; she
was very dominant but atleast she kept the paper work
and day to day annoiances at bay.

She mentally noted to herself to belt one of them before
their next mission; solve the annoyance of having to go
via Chatter in order to put them in their place.

---

She picks up her comm and relays the details she learnt
from the man in the suit; waiting for a responce from Cutter
as she heads towards Dumat.

Whilst walking she flicks through her black book of Clients
attempting to remember if any of them speak German whilst she
does so; if so she will summon them and get them to translate.
Dismissing all the police other than the one from Dubai back
to their homes where they will wait ready to be called at any
time... the life of her servants was hard; always be armed, always
be dressed and never try to remove your belt.

[Zelphas]

Now

Master Chi follows close behind Mr. Goo as he leaps away, gaping at the massive cloud of debris that seems to be giggling maniacally. "Mr. Goo, wait!" he calls out, too late to stop the gooey man from leaping into the maelstrom. This is Master Chi. Just to confirm, some sort of vortex of debris is here in Gaza. It seems to be using destroyed buildings to grow larger, and it's... laughing. Attempting to clear away the debris now, to see what we're up against. Master Chi allows his platform of earth to drop, concentrating entirely on the whirling tornado in front of him. A vein pulses in his temple as he attempts to throw as much dirt and debris from the maelstrom as he can.

[herodofcows]

<A LAUGHING VORTEX OF DEBRIS? SOUNDS LIKE SOME GHOSTLY ACTIVITY TO ME, DANNY-BOY! MIGHT BE WE'VE GOT A PARTICULARLY OLD AND VENGEFUL SPIRIT THAT GOT TRIGGERED BY SOMETHING OR SOMEONE BACK AT MEGGIDO! HERE'S WHAT YOU DO: GET AN OLD PRIEST AND A YOUNG PRIEST->

As Chatter's joke draws to its incredibly cornball conclusion, Mr. Goo is flinging himself at the midst of the onslaught of debris. Ordinarily this would result in some immediate pain and ker-splatteration . . . but the beast had reckoned without Master Chi! By concentrating, Daniel's terrakinesis is sufficient to create an opening for Mr. Goo. It's not perfect, and it still sucks . . . but it gives the Goo a window of opportunity.

Attack roll on behalf of Mr. Goo: [roll0], DC 28 Damage on a hit.

Mr. Goo must roll a DC 25 Toughness check because he's still punching through the flying cloud of debris. It would've been DC 28 if Master Chi hadn't done his thing, so count your lucky goo.

If Mr. Goo hits, the beast will roll vs. DC 28 Damage = [roll1]

Nice! You absolutely hit, and the beastie fails by 2 degrees. That means he is Bruised 1 (takes a -1 to Toughness) and is Dazed for one round.

As the Gooey protuberance goes flying through the debris, it hits a solid core of SOMEthing. The keening laughter cuts out, and in its place you hear a razor-sharp keening exclamation of:

"Verdammt Mischlinglebhaber!!!"

The cloud of debris continues to hold, but you've made SOME progress. At least it's no longer eating a cultural landmark!

[Anubis Dread]

I don't want to hold things up while I rework my attacks. We'll just keep it as a basic one for now, say he's 'warming up'. That said, even his basic attack is a little bit meaner than usual...


"Oh ho ho! Seems we've caught a little fishie! A nasty little fishie, but a fishie none the less," Mr. Goo laughed. The swarm of debri was painful, especially when he wasn't at his full power. He could probably get away with going full sized if he was careful, but he didn't want to risk crushing another mosque... but even not at full power, he could still take advantage of this hit!

He still couldn't see the enemy, but he could feel them. And they could probably feel him, as his fist had outright stuck to them. Partially liquefying his hand, it swirled around their unseen enemy, attempting to outright encasing them in tentacles of goo so tight they couldn't breathe. "Thank you for the assistance, young Master! Let's see what we caught!" Mr. Goo boomed.


Fast Grab is fun :smallsmile:. Roll for grappling: [roll0]. I think. If it's limited by PL based on the chance to land the preliminary hit it would be [roll1], but I don't think the grab DC is limited by to hit chance.

Toughness check: [roll2]

[Zelphas]

Daniel mostly ignores Agent Chatter's... chatter in his mind. He shows his teeth in a fierce smile as the creature shouts in shock and pain, focusing on ripping even more earth out of the maelstrom.

[ChaosArchon]

Now

Dumat looks at the woman chanting the strange words and is unable to discern if she is helping the beast or hindering it. However he decides it's better to take a chance and hope for the best and decides to dash towards her in an effort to knock her unconscious. As the others watch, they see a flash of white and flames rush towards the woman, determined to remove one variable from the scene.

Just before his blades connect he says to her, "If you are on our side I apologize, but if you are my enemy I harbor no regret for bringing violence to you. The valor of the Light shall cast aside the darkness, cleaving through it without mercy, for those of the dark deserve none!"

Attack:[roll0]
Acrobatics if necessary to reach her:[roll1]
Initiative: [roll2]

[herodofcows]

Now

Grab avoidance for the beastie: [roll0] vs. DC 17 since Mr. Goo is at Growth 4. Between 17 and 12, it'll be restrained (immobile and vulnerable). Under 12, and it's bound (immobile, defenseless, and impaired).

Mr. Goo is bruised 1 and dazed for the next combat round.

Mr. Goo's protuberance takes a hell of a beating from the flying debris, even with Master Chi's assistance. It's enough to rattle his concentration a fair bit, even as he goes in for the grab.

Alas, whatever it is, it's a slippery thing. You feel it twist and struggle, and finally free itself from your clutches. However, even THIS was a helpful font of information. Whatever is in there is roughly anthropomorphic . . .

Meanwhile, Dumat's blades ring out, scorching and true, slicing into the screaming woman. Scorched by holy fire, she wavers momentarily . . .

Toughness vs. DC 25 [roll1]

. . . before her eyes come back into focus and she begins swearing fluently as she cradles her injury, which begins to heal rapidly (Dumat, you can sense that this is because she is also fueled by holy power). The orange traceries remain on her, but she no longer seems overwhelmed by their power. In fact, the only thing she seems overwhelmed by is sheer indignant rage expressed in fluent English with a strong Middle Eastern accent.

"What the **** is wrong with you, dumb***? You see a ****ing metahuman semi-****ing-possessed and all you can ****ing think to do is say 'Gee, I'd better stab this immobilized ***** just to be ****ing safe"??? Is THAT what you were ****ing thinking? Holy ****ing ****, what kind of ****ing greenhorns is APPAC sending us? A ****ing Lost reject of a monster from ****ing Meggido and THIS freakshow is what we get? ****, if my partner is dead then you'd better buy a ****ing plug for your ***, holy-boy, because I'm about to take those angelic ****ing blades and **** you up your *** sideways with them!"

She snarls and gets up to look around the city.

"**** ME!!!!" she yells furiously, kicking at some debris on the roof in spite.

[piercetbh]

Now

Minute Man had almost turned around to go after the others when the possessed lady began to scream. Looking back, he found his partner was stabbing her with his flaming blades.

"Hey, man, what are you doing?!" He called out, zipping over to stand between Dumat and the lady he had attacked.

"Don't touch her! That's not what we do!"

[MCP_8000]

Now

Grace is a little shocked at the outburst from the lady, though it isn't really unwarranted, and she smirks at Dumat, "Probably not your brightest idea," she chides in amusement. Turning her attention back to the woman she clears her throat, "I assume you are Thaumaturge? My apologies for our over-zealous companion. I'm called Dead Wire. What can you tell us about this creature?" She looks out toward the cloud of debris.

Then

This was not good. Grace didn't like the odds at all, especially since her 'team' had never worked together before and she had no idea what any of them were capable of. Peering into the room full of crazy cultists, she does the only thing she can think of to try and gain her group an advantage. She focuses her attention on all the metal she can see. She prioritizes any metal weapons, then belt buckles, necklaces, rings, and anything else the science sorcerers are holding or wearing. With a thought, she flings all of it toward the ceiling, hoping to disarm and disorient as many of them as possible.

[Zelphas]

Now

Master Chi grits his teeth angrily. He can't throw anything at whatever's inside there while Mr. Goo is in the way. He simply concentrates on pulling ever more debris from the maelstrom, hoping to at least see what he was up against.

[herodofcows]

Then

Waif examines the tubes warily, carefully keeping track of the din outside. Up close, the figures took on far less alien proportions. In fact, they looked rather a lot like . . . farm animals?

Yep, definitely farm animals. A cow, a chicken, a lamb, a horse, a goat, a couple of pigs . . . these were absolutely livestock.

Meanwhile, outside, the cultists charge up their staves and prepare to blast the new-assembled superteam to scientifically sorcerous smithereens!!! They spread out into groups of five even as Dumat slices with deadly accuracy into one in their number, readying themselves for casualties while confidently aware that these super-schmucks couldn't get them all!

Unfortunately for them, they had reckoned without Dead Wire.

All vs. DC 16
[roll0] [roll1] [roll2] [roll3] [roll4] [roll5] [roll6] [roll7] [roll8] [roll9] [roll10] [roll11] [roll12] [roll13] [roll14] [roll15] [roll16] [roll17] [roll18] [roll19]

Toughness rolls vs. Dumat: [roll20] [roll21]

All but five of the cultists manage to keep their grips as the staves go flying upward, sticking magnetically to the ceiling. The cultists fall briefly silent as they turn from looking at their stolen weapons to their assorted assailants: the horror-movie uncanniness of Mr. Goo, the visceral creepiness of Dead Eye, the fiery righteous wrath of Dumat . . . even as they hear the howl of the Terroratrix and see Minute Man come zooming down to back up his teammates.

This was not going to be their best day ever.

Now

As Master Chi strains against the flurry of sediment, he realizes that he'll have to exert himself a lot more to peel back the flying sediment. Meanwhile, the cloud of debris begins to snake towards Master Chi and Mr. Goo, pulsing purple in an ever-rising frequency as it looms over them like an enormous stormcloud. The voice from within the cloud speaks again.

"Ich werde Jünger Mittel Geschwätz töten!!!"

Make a Disarm check at -5. Use your Ranged Attack bonus. Or, you can move in and use Close Attack for a -2, as you prefer.

Back at the other rooftop (several blocks away) the woman sighs, looks at Dead Wire . . . and then looks again.

"Holy ****, girlie, what the **** happened to you? How the **** did you manage to get yourself made a ****ing revenant without making any pacts with the ****ers Down Below?"

She shakes her head admiringly, and then continues:

"Yeah, I go by Thaumaturge. Back when I first got sucked into this ****storm I took a bunch of those ****ing 'What is your Superhero Name' quizzes online and my djinn really liked this one, so we stuck with it.

"As for this ****ing thing . . ." she casts her hand out helplessly at the debris, "Well, it looks like the god-****ed Smoke Monster from Lost, except it packs a **** of a psionic whallop. I tried to fry its circuits from the inside and just got trapped in a loop. I'll tell you this, though: whatever it is, some ****er from our world has some control over it. This piece of **** knew exactly where it was and what it wanted to do. See, most of the ****s that come out of Meggido are confused or scared, or at the very least have a ****ing out-of-date knowledge of the region if they're from the ****ers Down Below. This thing knew some modern-*** ****, and that's worrisome to me."

She sizes you all up thoughtfully.

"So, you all think you're bad enough to **** this ****er up?

As she speaks, Agent Chatter yaks to the fore:

<I'VE GOT A POSSIBLE, FOLKS! PSYCHIC SMACKERY WITH A CAR-CHOMPING PROBLEM AND SOME FLYING RUBBLE FOR A FASHION ACCESSORY . . . WE MIGHT BE LOOKING AT A LARVAL CITADEL-DWELLER FROM ONE OF THE PARALLEL WORLDS! NASTY ELDRITCH BEASTIE, COMES FROM A BARREN DESERT-PLANE. THEY FEED ON LIVING TERROR AND AMBIENT STRUCTURES WHEN THEY'RE YOUNG, COCOON UP, AND THEN BECOME THESE SORTS OF LIVING PSYCHIC HORROR-CITIES WHEN THE COCOON HATCHES! WE HAVE A CASE ON FILE FROM BACK IN THE 16TH CENTURY, AND THE ONLY WAY THEY GOT RID OF IT WAS . . . WELL . . . WOULD ANY OF YOU CHARACTERIZE YOURSELVES AS 'OVERWHELMINGLY CHIPPER AND OPTIMISTIC?'>

[Zelphas]

Now

Master Chi smiles thinly as Agent Cahtter speaks. Perhaps you should drop by, sir, he comments wryly.

The young martial artist's eyes narrow as the creature speaks. Clearly, he would have to do more to get rid of this creature's forming "cocoon". He shoots himself off of the building in a burst of air, landing directly in front of the whirling vortex. Immediately, he takes a wide stance again, catching a large section of building as it flies past and holding it with a mixture of power and muscle. "Let us see what you are behind your veil," he murmurs. Using the piece of building he was holding as a makeshift lever, he attempts to tear apart the maelstrom before him. "HAAII!!!"

Here goes nothing: [roll0]

[Anubis Dread]

Now

Feeling a little bit light headed... even if he was made of plastic, he could still be stunned as easily as the next man. He just recovered from it quicker than most. Still this thing was more than a little bit creepy, but he supposed if anyone was going to deal with it they were probably the best ones to do so!

Overly chipper... "Next to most people I'm probably not too happy, but I guess I'm the most light hearted one of the team, ho ho ho!" Mr. Goo laughed as he reeled his arm back in to his normal position. "Why do you ask Mr. Chatter? Is it vulnerable to a good old fashioned gift exchange or timely joke?"

Mr. Goo looked back towards the swirl of debri and narrowed his eyes. "Right now though I don't think this thing wants to take a day off to go to the movies," he went on, pulling back his fist before launching it at the creatures. "If you do and I misunderstand you, then please tell me once I have stopped your destructive rampage," he went on to the thing before his punch reached it.


I am assuming another Toughness save is necessarty? 1d20+12

Mr. Goo is going to use Goop Goop Heavy Hitter Reduxed! This means he first rolls to hit (1d20+7, and if he hits they need to try to resist damage from his 7 Strength, avoid being Grabbed from his DC 17 Grab with a -5 penalty, and their Toughness is Weakened unless they succeed on a DC20 check. Unfortunately due to how linked powers work I am pretty sure the Weakening happens after the Damage Check, but still: guy punches HARD.

[herodofcows]

Now

As Master Chi and Mr. Goo take their positions, Agent Chatter continues to talk at the speed of thought.

<WELL, CORNY AS IT SOUNDS, THE LAST CITADEL-DWELLER WAS SUCCESSFULLY STOPPED BY AN EMPATH NAMED ELEUIA. CRAZY LADY MERGED HERSELF WITH THE WORM AS IT COCOONED, PARTIALLY INFLUENCED IT AWAY FROM BECOMING A PLACE OF HORROR AND UNHOLY SUFFERING, AND, WELL . . . MEXICO CITY WAS THE RESULT. OH, I GUESS NOW'S A GOOD TIME TO MENTION THAT THESE THINGS LOOK LIKE ENORMOUS SLIMY WHITE WORMS ONCE YOU GET THE CLOUD OF RUBBLE AWAY FROM THEM. SO, IF YOU'VE GOT ANY PHOBIAS OR UNFORTUNATE MEMORIES OF FISHING OR DIDN'T MUCH LIKE TREMORS (I PERSONALLY LOVED IT CAUSE KEVIN BACON'S A HOOT, BUT THERE'S NO ACCOUNTING FOR TASTE), SPEAK UP NOW!>

A tremendous rumbling begins as Master Chi's brow furrows in concentration. Using his terrakinesis, he picks up a large chunk of masonry and uses it as a battering ram, smashing the ambient rubble as it comes to in with furious swipes and slashes. As the cloud clears, Mr. Goo launches another gooey blow to hit . . .

Huh.

The thing revealed sure doesn't LOOK like a worm. Instead, it looks almost precisely humanoid. It's a slimy white color, sure, but this seems to be because it's wearing some kind of fleshy armor over its actual body. Its hands and forehead glow with a purple light as it stands, revealed . . . just before Mr. Goo makes violent contact with it. The impact of the gooey tentacle smashes into him, but his sliminess makes a grab impossible.

The purple light strobes as the thing screams out:

"Ich schlage, um die Welt für den Geist der Kali arroganz bestrafen!!!!"

And the two heroes are blasted mentally with a concentrated dose of terror and hatred, aimed like a bullet into your psyches.

Toughness [roll0]. He makes a Mind Blast attack against Mr. Goo and Master Chi. You'll both need to roll a DC 20 Dodge to halve the damage. Unhalved, the DC is 25 WILL (not Toughness) to resist damage effects.

[Anubis Dread]

"Mr. Chatter, unless you think Barney the Dinosaur looks like a genuine tyrannasaurus we might have something different going on down here. This thing is about as much a worm as I am a body builder, ho ho ho!" Mr. Goo chortled as he withdrew his fist... wait what was it... oh shoot.

Not having much in the way of dodging ability, Mr. Goo liquified himself in an attempt to make the mental shot shoot wide.


Mr. Goo will use his Reaction trait on his Insubstantial 1 ability. I'm not sure how much it will help, but consider the modifiers he has for Dodge and Will any bit helps.

Dodge: [roll0]
Will: [roll1]

...yes that is a two, Growth has some unfortunate side effects when it comes to stat distribution.

[Zelphas]

This monster is humanoid in shape, slimy white color, with... Master Chi quickly attempts to dart to the side of the psychic "bullet".

Dodge:

Will: [roll1]

...bright purple light at its hands and forehead. Master Chi continues, staggering back slightly from the lessened hit. He spots the burning cars nearby, and his stance shifts, becoming more fluid and somehow more energetic. In a flourish, he thrusts both arms, palms forward, at the worm-creature, and the fire from the cars lifts away blasts straight at the slimy thing.

Attack: [roll]1d20+12

If it hits, the Toughness save is against DC 22.

And, just in case I have to get near the fire to use it, Acrobatics: 1d20+9

[herodofcows]

<I'M SORRY, WHAT? THE WHITE SLIMINESS AND PURPLE LIGHT SOUNDS LIKE A CITADEL-DWELLER, BUT YOU'RE TELLING ME IT'S HUMANOID?> Agent Chatter seems vexed as he barks over the psynet <WELL, DAMN. I HOPE NOBODY HAD PLANS FOR THE EVENING, BECAUSE A NEW GENUS OF THREAT MEANS PLENTY OF FORMS FOR US TO FILL OUT. ALL HEROES, CONVERGE ON MR. GOO AND MASTER CHI. TAKE THIS THING DOWN FAST!>

As he speaks, the not-Citadel-Dweller raises its hands, and the concrete beneath it begins to crack and shatter, flying up in a sedimentary cloud. After a few seconds, the thing is obscured by a fresh cloud of debris. The thing speaks again, roaring over the clamor:

"Die neuen Meister der Thule grüßen, würmer! Knien Sie sich auf den Ritter von der Psychoticshinducktortier!!!"

[piercetbh]

"...Take it down fast, huh?" Minute Man asked, smiling as he looked over at the massive beast. "Yeah, that's kind of my thing."

He didn't say a word to Dumat as he left. He could talk later. For now, the hero ran back down the side of the building and, as fast as he could, ran...directly away from the monster. One mile, two, three, four...Lachlan ended up seven miles away from the thing before he stopped, turned around, and clenched his fists. Game on.

He set off, shaking the street as he ran back towards the battle zone. The miles between him and his enemy disappeared even faster than they had accrued, and in mere moments Minute Man was back on the scene and packing a lot of momentum. With a shout he leapt off the ground, sailing through the last twenty feet or so of his charge...and, reaching the monster, he threw forward a single fist. No technique, no form, not even muscle; just pure speed. He'd never punched like this before, and he already couldn't wait until he could do it again.

Using 'Punch like a Freight Train'.

Attack Roll [roll0]

If that's a hit, target makes a DC 25 Toughness save and is sent flying back towards the starting location, where those of us who are slow/haven't moved yet, currently reside. With an equivalent strength of 15, enough to at least budge this thing even if it weights 800 tons.

[Anubis Dread]

Oof! Mr. Goo fell back, his hat falling from his head as he collapsed in a puddle of partially shredded goop on the roof top. His plastic began to knit together as quickly as it was ripped apart, but it was still painful and he was quickly disliking this particular turn of events.

Reforming himself, Mr. Goo reached for his hat and took it into his hands... before frowning in though, gazing down at the silk article of clothing. This hat had a lot of memories attached to it... most notably the one that had caused him to end up like this. It kind of reminded him of the story Mr. Chatter had just shared with them. He'd merged with this plastic much the same way as that empath had merged with-

Hold it! This thing used the same abilities as... and it spoke German despite... "Young Master! Please only use non-lethal force!" Mr. Goo realized suddenly, imploring Master Chi. "This creature, it's-"

A sudden whoosh of wind past him, and he realized that it may well be too late. "It's not a Citadel-Dweller because it's already been bonded with an Eleuia! Someone is already trying to contain it!" he finished none the less. At this stage though... they had no other option then to restrain the thing. Once they did that they could work out the rest afterwards, but RESTRAIN, not kill!

It was best to throw off the things aim, so Mr. Goo shot a curve ball fist at the empath, bouncing it off the building below it to try and hit its weak spot.


Goop Goop Bounce Shooter
Attack Roll - [roll0]
Grab DC 17 with -5 penalty, Toughness DC 17, DC 17 Weaken Dexterity Effect

[Jyssika]

Now

Telaliel walks towards the scene; she can only influence
things she can touch with her whip, not that anyone
else can see the whip or percieve its effects... in essence
Telaliel just stands around smiling and occasionally
unexplainable things happen.

Standing within 15ft of this mass of moving earth might be
a little more than a challenge for her; she attempts to do so
anyway.

[Comissar]

Then

Farm animals? That... Seemed remarkably benign, if bizarre, for what had been described as a doomsday cult. Hunting around, Kaitlyn tried to find anything else that could be incriminating in the lab. Painfully aware that time was pressing, she just started opening cupboards and drawers at random until she found what she was looking for.

Now

Kait followed after Telaliel, moving at a quick trot to close the distance that bit faster. The sheer chaos was more than a little unnerving. The scale of devestation was a little beyond her capabilities as a martial artist. As they got closer, she noticed the look on Telaliel's face. "What're you-" a sudden whoosh cut her off mid sentence, Minute Man streaking past at high speed.

Brushing her hair out of her eyes, she cursed under her breath before continuing, "Can you do anything to stop it? I can get you close, but I don't think I can do much by myself."

[Jyssika]

Now

Depends...
Telaliel smiled back at Kait.
The biggest of brutes often have the weakest of wills.

[Comissar]

Now

"I'll take that as a 'I have a plan', then."

Holding onto Telaliel's arm, she started to walk toward the maelstrom. Despite knowing that she would be unharmed, she still had to fight against her preservation instincts.

"Whatever you do, just make sure you don't lose contact with me." She paused, contemplating the storm of destruction in front of them, eventually adding, "It won't be very pretty if you do."

Taking a deep breath, she started walking towards the proverbial eye of the storm, focusing on keeping both herself and her ally phased out of sync. with the world around them.

[herodofcows]

Then

As battle outside is joined, Waif finds a disorderly stack of files within one of the drawers. The files have such names as "Bojangles", "Cornwallis", "Bessie Rose", "Phineas" . . . and then, near the back, a red file reading "Bawkers" with the words "OMEGA CLASS" stamped on it in bold black letters.

Now

Minute Man goes plowing through the debris field at top speed, smashing into the slimy white humanoid within even as he is battered by the high-velocity asphalt. Mr. Goo's attack goes wide as the whole thing goes slamming through three city blocks, bursting through buildings and crunching through walls . . . until it comes to rest back on the roadway where you all landed, right in front of Telaliel and Waif! The man in the cybernetic armor tries to stand up, but he's clearly punch-drunk and not going to be of much use.

Up on the roof one block away, Thaumaturge gapes momentarily as the thing comes rumbling back into view.

"Well ****, the ****nut's back! Strap in, everyone, this ****'s gonna get rough!"

She slides herself off the roof, parkour-style, and goes running towards the disturbance.

Meanwhile, Chatter is skeptical of Mr. Goo's hypothesis.

<YOU THINK IT'S ALREADY BONDED? TOUGH TO SAY, I GUESS, SINCE THE FILE DOESN'T MAKE MUCH MENTION OF ANY SHAPE CHANGES (THIS WAS THE 1500's, YOU UNDERSTAND, AND THE AZTEC BRANCH WAS KINDA **** ABOUT PAPERWORK), BUT EVEN IF YOU'RE RIGHT, IT DOESN'T CHANGE ANYTHING. EITHER THE BONDED EMPATH IS FAILING TO CONTROL THE BEASTIE, OR THE BEASTIE IS DOING EXACTLY WHAT THE EMPATH WANTS. REGARDLESS, THIS THING NEEDS TO GET PUT DOWN, SO PUT IT DOWN HARD!>

Since Minute Man is running through the maelstrom of debris without Master Chi's help, he takes DC 28 Damage (so, roll vs. Toughness). If he's completely knocked out, the punch is negated and I'll resolve Mr. Goo's attack instead. Remember, Hero Points are your friend for this roll!

Toughness for beastie: [roll0]

EDIT: Nice! He's now Bruised 3 and Dazed AGAIN. Way to keep the pressure on, y'all!

EVERYONE ROLL INITIATIVE OOC

[Comissar]

Then

None of the file names made any immediate sense to Kait, probably the kind of thing she'd need to take the time to study. Not the kind of time she had right now. Omega Class, though. That sounded important. Pushing the other files to one side, she opened the file on Bawker's, trying to get some sort of clue as to just what on earth was going on here.

[Jyssika]

Now

Sorry, but I need to be Corperial for
this to work... Just grab me if I start
looking a little too worse for wear.

She eases her hand away
then continues going towards
the debries storm.

If I have to change; don't look.

[herodofcows]

Then: Conclusion

It's a chicken. No two ways about it. Bawkers, if the file is to be believed, is a genetically-engineered magically-bolstered physically-and-mentally-conditioned chicken. His file is full of scribbled records of different scenarios they'd put him through, spells that he'd mastered (or, in some cases, invented?), leadership aptitude tests he'd aced, online degrees he'd achieved . . .

Waif's concentration is suddenly shattered as a gasp emanates from the far side of the room. Two of the Science Sorcerers are gaping at her, but have barely any time to scream their alarm before one goes down with a foot to the solar plexus and the other has a semi-intangible finger tickle his brain stem.

Outside, Waif sees further pandamonium. The remaining Science Sorcerers are being demolished by Minute Man and Dead Wire, lightning-fast fists mixing easily with plain lightning. Mr. Goo and Master Chi are fighting back-to-goo against a horde of cybernetic prairie-dog-looking fellows, while Dumat, burning with holy ardor, duels the leader of the Science Sorcerers (who seems to have provided himself with a cybernetic exoskeleton and a lightsaber). Roaring, the Terroratrix is locked in a grapple with a glowing fellow with three heads in torn flannel and jeans, whose matching triplicate of Confederate baseball caps are knocked askew as he proclaims with three mouths the superiority of the Science Sorcerers, the South, Rodney Atkins, Ted Nugent, propane accessories, and Smith and Wesson.

Grinning and whooping, Waif joins in the fray and the team loses itself in the flurry of battle. Improvised maneuvers become solid doctrine as the Mecha-Mongooses and the Omni-Redneck fall. Teamwork becomes second nature in the face of the Dairy Golems and the Wal-Malevolences. Trust, camaraderie, and even the beginnings of flickering friendship emerge as the team pries open the Zenithator and reveals the true mastermind behind the Science Sorcerers: David Lynch, turned to mad science and the occult after the disappointment of Twin Peaks.

"I'd just wanted to wait one more season!!!" he'd shrieked in agony as you'd turned him over to Chatter and the APPAC cleanup crew that had flown in shortly afterwards, "I WOULD HAVE REVEALED WHO KILLED LAURA PALMER IF THEY'D KEPT ME ON FOR ONE MORE SEASONNNNN!!!"

Amidst the painstaking process of cleanup, spirits are high. Jokes are cracked at the bizarre equipment and paraphernalia that the Science Sorcerers had accrued for themselves. Zingy one-liners are quipped as the Science Sorcerers are taken away. Rudimentary acting lessons are given before facing curious crowds with stories of a gas leak. Pizza is consumed as the contents of the labs are inventoried and shipped away for study.

It is only as the last of the samples are being packed away that there's a disturbance. A junior agent comes running up to Chatter and whispers to him. Chatter listens intently, swears loudly, and calls all of you to him as he runs into one of the back rooms.

Within, there are wall-to-wall computer screens and a floor filled with magic traceries. Candles burn at ritually-important locations, and sensors of every type are positioned in bulk around the room, all pointing at the center feature: a large, shattered glass tube, pooled with water at the base of the mechanism. All the screens in the room are strobing blue blaring warnings out into the center of the room:

Danger! Omega-Class Subject Has Escaped! Danger! Omega-Class Subject Has Escaped!

All that is left within the tube (and here, Chatter swears even more profusely) are three sodden brown feathers.

But that would be a problem for another time . . .

[MCP_8000]

Grace takes in the scene, doing her best to appear calm even though inside she was on the verge of panic. This was far beyond anything she had ever dealt with before, and a far cry from a bunch of crazy cultist operating out of a Chuck E. Cheese.

She follows the action, leaping from the roof top and crawling along buildings until she is close enough to observe the entire situation without getting caught in the debris cloud. It seemed like everyone had their own plan, and she wasn't sure where she would be the most help. Taking a deep breath she does the only thing she can think of.

Crouched on the side of a building, she raises her arms and feels the tingling of electricity flowing along her muscles. Sparks flicker at her fingertips, and she reels and snaps one hand forward as if cracking a whips. From her outstretched hand a crackling bolt of electricity erupts, arching and dancing through the air toward its target.

I hope I'm rolling this right:
[roll0]

[herodofcows]

The cloud of debris seems to growl as Dead Wire's electricity strikes it. Thaumaturge emerges from the streets just in time to watch the lightning arc into the not-Citadel-Dweller. Her face (on seeing Dead Wire as the source) displays as much shock as the attack.

"Okay, what the **** kind of revenant are YOU, girlie?" she manages to get out before the debris cloud roars:

"Die Thule werden die Mischlingsnationen zu fall zu bringen!!!!"

[Comissar]

Feeling somewhat purposeless in this fight, Kait re-ran the last few minutes of conversation between the team mates in her head. Something had been said that had bothered her, though with the chaos that was going on at the time it wasn't high on her priorities back then. As a block of masonry passed through her, she mentally added Not that it's exactly peaceful right now...

With a sudden snap of clarity, she turned to Mr. Goo, "Did you say there was someone bonded with that thing?" She found herself having to yell over the sheer amount of noise, "Think I could pull them out of it?"

[Anubis Dread]

Oh dear, things were certainly getting a little hectic! He was starting to hope he was wrong, otherwise there might be some poor empath in there who was trying to stop it but was instead getting a sound beating. Still it wasn't like they could let it run free, and it could be an evil empath trying to bend it to their will...

His body still partially torn apart and rebinding, Mr. Goo turned his monocle towards Kair. "It's just a guess young Waif, but it certainly adds up doesn't it? We know it's happened before, and it would explain why our Citadel Dweller isn't a writhing worm. And speaks German, now I really regret sleeping through German classes while I was a lad!"

[Comissar]

Well... Here goes nothing...

Dashing into the maelstrom, debris whirling through her, Kait made a leap for the creature at the centre of it all. As she did, she tried to pull out whoever might be stuck in there with it.

I have no idea what you might want me to roll for this, so I will await your judgement!

[herodofcows]

As Waif plunges her way into the flying cloud of debris, the figure within looms into her sight. It's an ugly looking bugger up close, no question, but it's increasingly apparent that the slimy white carapace is, in fact, some kind of armor. There are clear seams where the pieces have been sewn together, and there is a small mouthpiece on the headcover (which you can now see is more of a helmet than anything). It seems to stare at you for one still moment.

Chatter cuts in while she's sizing her opponent up.

<SO, WHAT'VE WE GOT IN THERE, KATIE-KATE? IS THE DWELLER BONDED WITH AN EMPATH OR NOT?>

Waif lunges at the slimy thing, probably thankful for her intangibility as she passes right through the gooey carapace of the armor. Underneath, she grabs a firm hold onto the person inside, snagging something that feels like fabric over flesh. Her foe grunts as it tries to resist the grapple . . .

Grapple resist attempt: [roll0]

. . . but fails to free itself as Waif tries to wrench the human out of the creature. Unfortunately, her attempt is no more successful as she merely wrenches the fleshy carapace with the rest of it. This only further confirms it: the unearthly gooey white exterior is some kind of armor, not a living thing in itself.

[Comissar]

Kait shuddered as she passed through the armour, she felt as though she was gonna need to shower for a week after that. Grabbing onto the person inside, she did what she could to pull him free. When that didn't work, she grimaced and settled for just trying to hold his struggling form still.

"Looks like a guy in some kind of armour, I tried pulling him out but he's resisting me." She grunted as she shifted her grip to maintain the hold more easily, "Looks like this might all be deliberate. I've got him in a lock at the moment, but I don't know how long I can hold him."

[herodofcows]

Agent Chatter's voice over the psynet is determinedly calm, as though you can hear the deep breaths that preceded the message.

<SO WHAT YOU ARE TELLING ME IS, WE'RE FIGHTING SOME METAHUMAN COSPLAYING AS A CITADEL-DWELLER? AND YOU ARE FURTHER TELLING ME THAT IT SPEAKS GERMAN?>

He's quiet for a moment, and then, in reluctant tones, continues:

<NOW . . . JUST FOR S***S AND GIGGLES, SO AS TO SET MY PARANOID OLD MIND AT REST . . . COULD SOMEBODY DO ME THE FAVOR OF YELLING OUT 'ICH BIN EIN JUDEN!' AND TELLING ME HOW THE THING REACTS? PROBABLY YOU WON'T GET A RESPONSE . . .> he finishes hopefully, but you can taste the pessimistic resignation in his psycast. He definitely suspects something specific, and it has him more annoyed than anything . . .

[herodofcows]

As Chatter frets, the white-armored creature makes a concentrated effort to free itself physically from Waif. As the effort fails, its hands and head begin to strobe purple . . .

(OOC: Okay, I just used a dice roller on my phone. Your opponent fails to break your hold, Waif, and is now charging his attack. Everybody that rolled below 21 can now go!!!)

[Anubis Dread]

Let's see... Mr. Goo raised his head like a periscope, surveying the battlefield. It would be hard to get a good shot off, but if he bounced his fist off of that building there, let it loop around that street lamp... he couldn't really just get to the field, he was still reeling from that previous attack!

Winding up his arm, Mr. Goo let loose with a powerful punch that bounced across the mile between him and the enemy. "Special delivery! Oh and 'ich bin ein juden', I suppose," he called out as loud as he could as he fist bounced towards the enemy.


Using Goop Goop Bounce Shooter
Attack Roll [roll0]
Damage Resist DC 17, linked with a DC 17 Dexterity Afflict. And of course Fast Grab with a +17 bonus, -5 penalty to the enemy, Chokehold etc

[Zelphas]

Master Chi squinted through the hole that the creature had made in the buildings, swaying a little from the mental assault earlier. He could feel the vortex of earth formed around the creature again, and he concentrated on it. It was much more difficult, doing so while not directly nearby, but Daniel once again attempted to tear down the barrier around the creature they fought.

Ranged Disarm Check: [roll0]

[herodofcows]

Resist for Damage: [roll0]
Resist for Weaken (Mr. Goo): [roll1]
Resist for Grab: [roll2]
Resist for Disarm: [roll3]
Roll for Weaken (Thaumaturge): [roll4]

"RAAAAAAGGHHH!" screams the white-armored humanoid as Mr. Goo further entangles him, even as Master Chi clears the rubble away from him with sheer terrakinetic force, "Ich habe nicht den ganzen Weg gekommen, um von den minderwertigen Rassen geschlagen werden!!! Nein!! NEEEEIIIINNN!!!"

It stands revealed now, a figure in slimy white armor struggling fruitlessly against Waif's expert grip and Mr. Goo's Flubber-esque fist. The armor is clearly coming apart in places, revealing dark cloth beneath.

Thaumaturge chuckles gleefully as she sees the thing thrashing, and certain sections of the orange traceries along her body begin to light up.

"Eat a bleached ******* and die, you ****y *****!!! Thaumaturge is here to make you Thauma-PURGE!!"

And sure enough, the shrieking humanoid is interrupted by a fountain of puke suddenly issuing from the bottom part of its mask/helmet.

<SO, ANY RESPONSE? NO RESPONSE, RIGHT? PLEASE TELL ME NO RESPONSE, GUYS, BECAUSE MY WIFE WILL MAKE ME GIVE UP SALTY FOODS IF MY BLOOD PRESSURE GETS ANY HIGHER . . .>

[Anubis Dread]

"Well," Mr. Goo replied as he wrapped his fist around the monster. "As far as I can tell it got rather upset because is 'gurren' robot and some form of digimon were both reassigned as some kind of prison warden. And then it started counting down from nine, but it forgot what came after it. Ho ho ho! Okay I don't speak a lick of German, but it seemed upset!" he explained helpfully.

[MCP_8000]

Grace covers her ears from all the screaming and winces at the sight of the puke, "Ew. Um, I think Nein means no. It definitely seems to be...um...enraged. At least, a little more than it already was I think."

[Comissar]

"Shall we save the speculation for after we've stopped the one man hurricane?"

Grimacing, Kait attempted to force her target into a more restrictive lock, hopefully locking it down completely while everyone else finished whatever it was they were doing.

Kait's going to maintain the grapple, just trying to keep whoever's doing all of this restrained to make him an easier target for everyone else.