[M&M 3e] Heroes of the Evolution [ IC ]

[Drakeburn]

Heroes of the Evolution

Link to the OOC thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?371177-M-amp-M3-Heroes-of-the-Evolution-OOC)

Issue #1: The Big Boom

As the first day of Spring Break has begun for Silver City, a traffic jam happens to be in progress at one of its roads. A construction project seems to be slowing down the flow, while the traffic on the bridge that goes over the road goes smoothly.

[Batpope Scott]

Maxwell Castle

As he sits astride his bike, Max silently bemoans his drenched clothing and hopes his bag is as watertight as the tag said it was. The rain thankfully let up, but the clouds overhead still make him nervous; the rain could come back at any time.

He was taking a leisurely ride when all of a sudden he was drenched and four miles from his apartment. He fishes out his video camera, deciding to get some brief shots of the construction and traffic jam for an acquaintance who always needs something to complain to the city council about.

Max thinks to himself Is today really so boring that I'm recording a traffic jam? I may as well go watch the grass grow.

[Hyperbolic sine]

John Greyhawk

On the road, right in the middle of the jam, there is a half-filled bus: among its passengers, a disheartened John glances outside the window at the slowed vehicular circulation, and with a sigh resumes reading his copy of the Silver City Daily.

I'll definitely be late today... he thinks, before immersing himself in an article about weather forecasts. Apparently, someone who clearly hadn't anything better to do sued an anchorman because he forecasted wrongly.

[herodofcows]

Scott Comito

Scott Comito drums on the steering wheel with mild impatience. Sure, he has nowhere to be, but he had wanted to have nowhere to be on HIS terms, dammit! It's Spring Break, for crap's sake, and that means he has the privilege of drawing up new lesson plans in the comfort of a café or in a park, rather than in the stifling tedium of the teacher's lounge or in an apartment that still echoed of quiet desperation and overwhelming lethargy.

Wooooo. Spring Breeeaak.

He fiddles halfheartedly with the radio, eventually coming to a stop on a classic rock station midway through playing the Guess Who version of American Woman. Smiling to himself self-consciously, he hoarsely begins belting out the lyrics in harmony with Burton Cummings, enjoying his relative boldness within the safety of his car.

[Drakeburn]

With a portion of the lane torn up, the one way traffic is funneled into a single lane. A construction worker next to the site flips around his sign from STOP to SLOW for a brief moment, allowing two cars to pass. With horns blaring, a couple people yelling, it looks as though it is going to take a while.

[Forum Explorer]

Philip sighs as he looks out the bus window. He fished out his cell phone and dialed a number quickly.

Ah, hello, this is Philip. I've got the interview at 1:30? Yeah, that's me. Look I'm just calling to say that I've been caught up in a nasty traffic jam and that I'm going to be late.

...
I'm sorry about that, but there isn't anything I can do.
...
I did leave with plenty of time, normally this route only takes 20 minutes!
...
I'm not making excuses, I'm just...
...
Oh. Yeah, I understand.
...
Yeah. Have a nice day. Philip says sarcastically before lowering his phone. He looked out the window again. Well, at least I don't need to worry about being late anymore. **** He slowly lowered his head and thunked it against the window.

[Raunchel]

Hannah Moritz

Hannah had finally done it. She had escaped. Over the last few weeks she had been allowed to go for walks in the gardens, under supervision of course. But the new nurse had given her the opportunity she needed. She was easily distracted, or attracted for that matter and the girl had managed to convince her that she was just a victim, held here so her evil uncle could get her inheritance. And the woman had believed the poor girl. Hannah was very good at making herself look miserable and using the compassion of others. She had asked for a few moments alone at the garden wall, and she had gotten them. She never was a good climber, but even she could clamber over the stones and to freedom.

Now she sits in between a truck's front and the cargo. She feels hungry and thirsty, and also a little tired. But she has to leave, to escape. They will come looking for her and if she is found it will be far harder to escape again.

[Drakeburn]

Suddenly you hear loud honking and tires screeching. You notice that a tanker truck on the bridge that goes over the road is swerving uncontrollably, causing several vehicles to crash while the rest stop to avoid the commotion. Then the tank crashes through the railing, pulling down the truck onto the road.

It lays there not too far from the traffic jam for a moment. Pedestrians have stopped to take pictures with their phones. The construction workers have stopped what they were doing and turned to the tanker truck.

Then suddenly, the tank bursts, releasing a cloud of orange gas that appears to be expanding quickly, swallowing the bridge and the area around it.
The screaming has now become coughing and gasping, where everybody around you is struggling to get out of the cloud.

When the gas reaches to you, you feel a burning sensation within your throat and nostrils, your throat feels dry, and your eyes begin to sting as if somebody is cutting onions.

[Hyperbolic sine]

John

The noise of the truck crashing down the bridge diverts John's attention from the newspaper, as he looks outside the windows to try locating the source.

"What the...oh god, did it fell down the bridge?

Then, the truck explodes and the orange cloud quickly envelops the bus under the horrified gaze of its passengers: the driver instinctively opens the doors to let them out, but in doing so he also gives the cloud an easy way in and only a few passengers manage to get off before the orange gas compltely fills the vehicle. John, unluckily, is not among them and when he starts breathing in the strange chemical he begins coughing vigorously.

Dammit! I have to...get out...of here

He stands up from the seat, but his limbs fail him and he helplessy crumbles on the floor, as the gas fills his lungs and he starts suffocating.

Get...out...

And then, as he is about to lose consciousness, he finds himself on the river's bank, just outside the cloud. Coughing out the gas, he finally can breath again...

What the hell happened? Wasn't I in the bus an instant ago? Am I dead? he thinks, as he looks around confused. Really confused.

[Raunchel]

Hannah

Hannah has no idea of what's happening, the truck was breaking again, it seemed like it was harder than before, but that doesn't mean all that much. But now, there is something orange drifting into her hiding place. She has no idea what it is, but it hurts, it hurts a lot. It burns. She has to escape. She jumps from her hiding place, still dressed in her nightshirt. Her throat burns, her eyes feel like they will never see a thing again. She has them closed, but it doesn't help. Nothing helps. She falls, opening her knees and hands. In the middle of the street she curls up, coughing and yammering. Tears flow from her eyes, but they don't stop the pain.

She should never have escaped. Never. All this pain. And they will find her again. She isn't hard to miss. She wants to move, but her lungs hurt so much. She is convinced that she will die here, murdered by this cloud.

[herodofcows]

Scott Comito

"American womannnn . . . stay awaaaaay. American womaaaAAAOH MY GOD!"

Scott brakes reflexively (despite the fact that he's been moving forward at a snail's pace). He stares for a moment at the tanker blocking the road, paralyzed with indecision. What is he supposed to do, exactly? Should he call 911? Get out and help? Would he be getting in the way? He opens the door partway, a token gesture towards being a good samaritan, but not knowing what to do just causes him to sit there with one foot awkwardly out the door.

Luckily, the indecision does not have a chance to torment him for long, as the tanker explodes in short order.

The burning sensation in his eyes and throat is overwhelming. He staggers from the car, coughing wildly as his eyes tear up. Collapsing on the ground, he feels his body tingling, as though an electric current has been run through his nervous system.

Oh god . . . I don't want to die like this . . . he thinks over and over again, crawling away from his car.

[Drakeburn]

Scott

As you try to crawl away, you feel people tripping over you and felt somebody grab your leg, before letting go with a cry of pain.

Hannah

You could hear people screaming, coughing, and wheezing from around you. Everybody sound so scared and confused.
Suddenly, somebody grabs your shoulders and pulls you.
"Come on! We gotta get out of here!" A voice manages to make out from a loud cough.

John

From where you found yourself, you could see the large cloud of orange gas. A few people managed to run out of the cloud, some of them collapsing to the ground while others just kept running away. You can hear the faint sounds of sirens, which appear to be coming to the scene of the incident.

[Batpope Scott]

Maxwell Castle

This... what? This can't be happening!

The sudden shock of the crash, as he watches it happen through his camera, is replaced by a distinct fear as the sudden cloud causes coughing all around. He jumps off his bike as it's unceremoniously trampled and backed over by a car, though he has clarity enough to put his camera away safely.

Wait. Clarity? That's an odd feeling. It's almost as if his mind were giving an imperative; he knows exactly what to do.

The driver.

Max springs into action, moving faster than he's ever done before and gets to the tanker's cab before ripping the door open to check on the driver. He tries covering his mouth on the way, but the burning coughs can't be stopped. He notes, momentarily, that there's no way he just ran that quickly. It'd be impossible.

[Forum Explorer]

Philip

Philip coughed as he pulled his hoodie over his mouth trying to filter his mouth. He staggered as his ears filled with the sound of static, as he tried to push his way forward to the front of the bus, trying to figure out why the bus driver hadn't opened the doors. Someone yelped as static electricity discharged when Philip's hand brushed up against them.

[herodofcows]

Scott

Scott twitches as the person grabs him, getting ready to kick them off . . . and then he feels them release and hears a cry of pain.

Wait. WAIT . . .

Somewhere inside of him, SOMETHING clicks.

Go.

The world seems to slow down as Scott springs to his feet in one fluid motion. He gawks for a split-second at the ease of it all. He feels . . . light. Electric. It's like a switch has been thrown and his body is responding to him in a way that he'd always WANTED it to, like he'd been waiting all of his life for this moment to wake up and get moving. He feels alive. He feels energized. And he is no longer afraid.

He looks around with a sudden intensity, trying to see through the gas (How is the gas not bothering me anymore?) and find anyone who might need help.

[roll0]

[Hyperbolic sine]

John

When John tries to stand up, he is stricken by an excruciating pain and crumbles again to the ground, as he feels like every single receptor of his body is stimulated: it lasts about three seconds, during which he can't even scream, and once it ends it leaves the man gasping for a while.

At least that means that I'm still alive...

Once the lingering sensation of pain has faded away, he realizes something: he knows exactly the position of each single car, person, thing in several hundreds of feets of radius. How, he can't say...he simply knows. He feels they are there.

What's this? What is happening to me?

Then, something catches his attention: a person inside the cloud, moving at an impossible speed. Who, he doesn't percieve, but it is definitely a person. Incredulous and still confused by what is happening, John recalls his own circumnstances for getting out of the cloud...it was as if he teleported.

Impossible, isn't it?

To somehow prove to himself that it is actually impossible, he holds his breath, focuses onto a spot inside the cloud near a person that he percieved moving like they was suffocating, and...

With a slight flickering in the air, John disappears from the river bank and reappears near that person: the shock makes his stumble backwards, though he does not fall this time(finally!). Though his rational part is still screaming 'impossible', something is starting to click in his head and he impulsively grabs the suffocating person and focuses again on the spot where he was before, on the river bank, teleporting both of them there.

[Zmax15]

Simon Borrison

Hunched over his desk, Simon Borrison, engineer, tries to focus. All his attention is centered on the one thing in front of him, the one problem his company has faced for the past few months. The models and diagrams swim in his brain-space, attempting to figure what exactly it wanted of him. Things began, somehow, to start to form. He could feel the answer in front of him. He grabbed a pencil and frantically put it to paper. Just then, the first character barely put down, a shockwave reverberates through the walls of his building.

Whagh!!

Stumbling from his chair, itself having fallen down from both the shock and Simon's own surprise, he runs towards the window. Five stories up, all he could make out of the bridge below was a rapidly expanding orange haze. On either side of it, he could see and hear people, all screaming as they fled for what could be their lives, though before he could process anything more of the ensuing chaos, he caught how the cloud was moving. While everyone else on the floor was just coming to stand by the window, watch in terror, and clutch at their breaths, he turned and bolted for the stairs.

Stairs. Stairs oh god. Oh god why stairs.

He had always be careful to follow emergency procedures, in the few cases where following them was actually necessary. By the bottom floor, he vowed never again. Panting, wheezing, and stumbling through the door, he shouted a few non-commands before realizing how few people there were. He recalled some "team" "building" "retreat" he'd heard a few higher-ups discussing, before spotting the receptionist at the front door. She and the two others were gaping in combined amazement and horror.

Bar it! Insulate the front doors!

With those heaved words, a removal of his coat, and all his left strength, Simon collapsed at the foot of the front doors. The gas had barely reached the end of the bridge, and by the time it had was a great deal gone. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't all gone, and his coat couldn't insulate the entire door. He panted for air as the color around him began to tint orange.

[Raunchel]

Hannah

She is being pulled away by someone. She doesn't weigh much and whoever pulls her has an easy job with it. She keeps coughing, and crying. Even her skin hurts, and being dragged across the tarmac hurts her bare legs. She should have stayed in the asylum, they never hurt her like this. She only thinks about leaving the cloud, but she can't do it herself. She needs someone else to help her, like her mysterious dragger.

[Drakeburn]

John

"Thank....... you." The man you rescued says weakly as he gasps for fresh air.
You start to see ambulances, police cars, News vans, and medical helicopter arrive outside the cloud.

Maxwell

You find an ape in a torn light gray uniform, angrily thrashing and smashing everything around it trying to break free from its seat belt. When it sees you, it jumps at you, breaking away from the seat belts!

[Roll for Initiative]

Scott

You see a little boy in a tipped over SUV, banging on the windshield. Not too far from the SUV, you see a man in sweatpants and a white T - shirt transform into...... something. It rips out of its shirt and stands 15 ft tall, with light orange skin and one bulging eye larger than the other.
It stands there for a moment, before letting out an enraged yell and stomps towards the ambulances, police cars, and news vans outside the cloud, swatting and pushing vehicles out of its way.

[Roll for initiative]

Phillip

The crowd screams and steps away from the front of the bus. Outside the bus you see a large, bald, orange monster making its way through the vehicles, and the bus appears to be in its warpath.....

[Roll for initiative]

Simon

A large number of cars, from ambulances to police cars to news vans are gathering around outside the orange cloud. Paramedics are attending to the victims coming out of the cloud, while the police are forming a defensive barricade, their focus towards a large orange monster in the cloud.

Hannah

You start to hear the sound of a helicopter from above you.
"Please remain calm!" A voice announces, sounding as though he is talking through a megaphone.
"Help is on the way!"

[Forum Explorer]

What the **** is that? Philip gasped as he rushed to press the door open button on the bus.

initiative: [roll0]

[Raunchel]

Hannah is even more afraid when she hears the voice. She knows a few things about people, and one of them is that when they say that they want to help you, they mean that they want to hurt you. She has to escape. She won't return after all this. No, she will not. She slips free from whoever was dragging her, and tries to stand up. But she immediately falls again, she is short of breath, and everything hurts. So she starts to crawl, anything to get away.

Inside her head things are turning more chaotic by the moment. She had already heard screams, and seen scraps of things, but they are becoming clearer, but at the same time more and more such things run through each other. It is sickening and as she continues things only become worse. After a few more moments she throws up, but she keeps going. She has to. She will never get another opportunity to escape, even though she has no idea where she could go to. It never really was such a big thing in her plans.

[Drakeburn]

Hannah

As you try to crawl away, you hear a ferocious roar from nearby. The next thing you know, a pair of sharp, stone claws scoop you up from the road and you find yourself looking down at the chaos below, carried into the air by the stone hands of a monster.

[Roll for initiative!]

John

You can see the chaos that is happening in the cloud (now slowly fading away): a large, muscular monster making its way towards the the rescue effort, a glance at the ape coming out of the exploded tanker truck. Then you start to see a woman carried over the chaos by what looks like a gargoyle.


Ape: [roll0]

Orange Monster: [roll1]

Gargoyle: [roll2]

[herodofcows]

Scott

"Hey hey hey calm down! Caaaalm down!" Scott yells to the kid in the SUV, running up to the glass so he could get a better sense of whether the kid was in danger, "There's something in the air right now and you're less likely to breathe it in if you're in the car! Sit tight! I'll be RIGHT BACK!"

Turning around, he becomes aware of a curious new perspective on things. The Scott of five minutes ago would have taken one look at giant orange monster thing before s***ting himself in terror and running like hell. This new Scott, born of lightning reflexes and eagle eyes, takes a long appraising look at it, examining how it distributes its weight, its speed, its relative body strength . . . looking for weaknesses. He picks up a nearby piece of debris, palming it speculatively.

I wonder . . .

Move: Head on over to the car to talk with the trapped kid.

Free: Using the Assessment advantage to try and see what this beastie's defenses are like (special emphasis on its Dodge defense). Insight: [roll0].

Move: Pick up a piece of nearby debris (considering the number of accidents, I imagine there's a lot lying around).

[Batpope Scott]

[roll0] [Initiative!]

Max flinches backwards at the sudden attack, thinking That really wasn't what I expected...

His hands shoot out in a defensive posture as he yells for the ape to stop and a bright flash of energy and a retort like a handgun come into existence to his outstretched fingertips. The flash of light shoots out in a cone and gives everything a hard push.

He steps backpedals quickly, trying to create distance.

Free Action: Switching my Array to the Cone Affliction

Standard Action: Using a a Cone Area Affliction Rank 5, with a 60ft range, Fortitude DC 15 vs Dazed and Vulnerable for one degree and Stunned and Defenseless for two degrees. Any potential targets get a Dodge resistance at DC 15 for half effect.

Move Action: Move backwards 30ft, or as far as he can get away if there are obstacles in his path.

[Forum Explorer]

Philip narrows his eyes as he watches the orange mutant bash a car to the side, frowning he dissolves into electricity and vanishes, reappearing directly in front of the mutant.

STOP THAT THIS INSTANT!


Standard action to transform into electricity form, move action to teleport directly in front of the mutant.

Right now Philip looks like a talking ball of electricity.

[Raunchel]

Hannha

Hannah is frightened by the creature that has grasped her, but not as frightened as she is of her own dreams. But she is starting to feel things, as though she can also see through the monster's eyes. She wants it to go to the ground and to put her down, almost as if she expects it to actually happen.

If I need a ranged attack roll: [roll0], although missing with something would be hard in the current situation.

And for the effect, 10 ranks in mind control gives as DC of 20 to resist.

[Hyperbolic sine]

John

What...what the hell are those????? Oh, well, I suppose I can't be the only one with powers, can I?

John shakes his head at the absurdity of the situation he's in, then notices that the flying gargoyle is carrying someone: priority target, it would seem. With a deep breath, he quickly teleports in front of the gargoyle and back on the ground, trying to grab the woman in the process.

Move: teleporting (up to 500 ft of distance split before and after the Standard Action as necessary)

Standard: [roll0] - if he succeeds, she will be teleported with him on the ground (unwilling target can negate with Dodge DC 14).

Free: switch array to Blink

[Drakeburn]

Phillip

The monster responds with a snarl and picks up a motorbike from nearby and swings it at you like a club.

Attack roll: [roll0]

The monster has taken its turn!


Scott
You figured out that the monster's dodge defense is at -2

[herodofcows]

Scott

"HEY!" Scott yells, unthinking, as he winds up with the debris, "DON'T . . ."

The thought goes unfinished as he lets the stone fly. The sensation of throwing something is amazing, a clockwork flow of muscle and sinew within his body running like lightning through him. Trance-like, he finds himself targeting the beast just as its swing would make it hardest for it to dodge, aiming for the side of the skull . . .

The rest is mysteriously rote: slide around the upturned cars and vanish amidst the wreckage as his conscious thought struggles to catch up with this new set of reflexes.

What the ****???? WHAT THE ****?

Throw a piece of debris at the giant orange guy swinging the motorcycle. Attack: [roll0] On a hit, DC 20 Damage.

Move: Run amidst the wreckage and use Stealth to hide, so the orange guy doesn't come charging. Stealth: [roll1]

Edit: THANK YOU DICE GODS.

[Forum Explorer]

Philip sways backwards as the motorcycle misses him. He wasn't sure if it could even harm him in this form, but no sense taking risks. I said STOP IT! he yelled, lunging forward, trying to touch him with a tendril of electricity.

Using affliction.

To Hit: [roll0] If a hit, he needs to make a Fort Save against DC 15.

1 degree failure dazes, 2 stuns, 3 incapacitates

[Drakeburn]

Meanwhile........

Hannah & John

As Hannah attempts to take control of the gargoyle, John suddenly appears, grabs her, and teleport to the ground.

Gargoyle has become dazed from Hannah's mind control.)

Maxwell

The ape responds to your display of power with an agitated hiss, appearing unaffected.

It made its resistance check. Sorry.




>Maxwell: 17

Ape: 16

Gargoyle: 16

Hannah: 8

John: 7

Scott: 6

Phillip: 4

Orange Monster: 1

[Hyperbolic sine]

John

"Don't worry, you're safe now. You'd better head there." John says to Hannah, pointing towards the nearest group of rescue vehicles: as far as he is concerned, she is just a 'civilian'. He then looks towards the gargoyle and grins, as adrenaline starts to surge as his body prepares to fight: he teleports behind his foe (possibly taking him by surprise) and tries to hit him with a mid-air roundhouse kick, before reappearing safely on the ground.

Lets see if daily training pays off!

Free: switch array to Wormhole Jumper

Move: teleporting (up to 500 ft of distance split before and after the Standard Action as necessary)

Standard: close attack [roll0] (Damage DC 17)

[Raunchel]

Hannah is suprised by what happened. One moment she was in one place, the next somewhere else entirely. And this strange man was linked to it. Of course, she isn't very surprised, such things just happen, just like giant orange monsters and flies that talk. She can't feel the mind of the flying monster anymore. That's a sad thing. She had the feeling that she could control him, her or it. A flying monster of her own would be fun.

Sorry for not posting earlier, I was quite busy. I don't know where Hannah is, but I assume that she's been placed outside the fight for now. So she'll have to walk back into it.