Of Monarchs and Magicians (MHRP campaign)

[herodofcows]

Pain . . . Blinding Pain (d10) assaults your senses as you slowly regain consciousness . . .

". . . reductionist, perhaps, but lesser minds look for complexity when the answer is deliciously simple . . .

What . . . what happened?

In spite of plans for a movie night, you'd returned to a bigger mess than usual in the living room and a note from Daimon on the TV:

Nicky:

Sorry to bail. Ghost Rider s*** came up. Guess who has to pull his bony a** out of the fire? Already ordered Thai. Money on counter.

Not ten minutes later, you'd heard a knock at the door. You'd opened it, crumpled twenty in hand, and then . . .

You'd been on the train home from Westchester, looking to spend the long weekend with your mother as a surprise. You'd been sandwiched between an older gentleman who couldn't seem to stop talking about his grandchildren and a musclebound biker-looking fellow who'd leered at you every time you chanced to make eye contact. As you'd gone through a tunnel, you felt your airway constrict abruptly, and then . . .

Shaking your head, you realize you're lying down on a cushy incline. You reach out, but touch only smooth glass . . .

" . . . The time has come to allow ourselves the luxury of boldness. Avengers? Disbanded! My beloved X-Men? Shattered! The Fantastic Four? Off chasing quarks!"

Your vision clears enough to get a sense of your surroundings. You're in twin glass tubes, situated on opposite sides of a poorly-lit laboratory. Heavy machinery and Byzantine Lab Equipment (d8) litter the area. In the center, there is an enormous assemblage of wires and glass and monitor screens.

"It's a delightful conceit, really. Magic, as mutation! Science codifying superstition in an environmental centrifuge of genetics and geography! And all of it wedded to a scared little girl crying out into the night for daddy dearest to make the bad things stop! Chaos, fell chaos, swooping into the paternal void to create a pervasive destruction that crumbles the very order that dear Wanda struggled so hard to uphold!"

And in the midst of it all, a striking figure in monochrome.

Black bodysuit, with a shredded cape suggesting wings and razors. Deeply pale face, setting off midnight hair and goatee with a luminous smile. Cold, unfeeling eyes, untouched by the mirth in his voice and joy on the rest of his face.

And above it all, upon his forehead, a single red diamond.

"Still," Mr. Sinister continues, talking to nobody that you can see, "the untamed fires of creation must be tempered by the aesthete's call to order. If I cannot have Wanda Maximoff's marvelous marriage of magic and mutation . . ."

He spreads his arms theatrically, pointing at the two of you.

". . . then I suppose I must needs play the priest and create my own!"

http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20101014042547/x-men/images/b/b8/Xmen2.jpg

[Theprettiestorc]

Still trying to clear her head, Babs slowly starts to make sense of what happened. Augh...she's...not loving this headache, not at all. Still in her street clothes(jeans, sweater, sneaks), she grumbles to herself, working to get some elbow room. She's constricted in here. Ah, well, what the hell. She raises her hand, and smacks on the glass. "Hey...hey! You don't get to monologue unless you've defeated us, and as far as I can tell, I got, like...sucker-punched, or the equivalent. Seriously, bro, on the middle of a train. No costume, no wings, no fair fight...could you at least let me take off this damn sweater? It's hot in here!" Enclosed glass container, sweater, stress...she could use that heat, likely, but right now, her wings are a bigger concern.

[herodofcows]

Sinister sighs, and drops his arms.

"Will you excuse me a moment? My lab rats are chattering."

Suddenly, Flame Monarch feels a voice like barbed wire in her head.

KINDLY CEASE YOUR PROTESTS, DEAR. YOU ARE IN THE PRESENCE OF THE MIGHTY! FEAR NOT, YOU'LL BE SOON RELEASED. SINISTER REQUIRES POUNDING HEARTS AND RUSHING BLOOD FOR HIS WORK.

Creating a complication: Speechless

Solo: [roll0]
Apocalyptic Legacy: [roll1]
Mind Control: [roll2]

Wow, two opportunities! He manages absolutely nothing beyond temporarily adding to your discomfort! Now would be a time to capitalize!

[Theprettiestorc]

Augh! In the middle of her mind, that damn voice gets to her, and the walls come out. Her head hurts, and everything's heating up. She's pushing back, keeping him away from the one place she keeps more locked up than any other. "...get out...stay out...don't you dare get in my head...!" The collar of her sweater starts up with a small flame, and all of a sudden, the flames become a swath, a wall. "STAY OUT OF MY HEAD!!!" Heedless of consequences, the force explodes outward, shattering glass as unmatched fires of rage and anger blow through everything on their way to the perpetrator, headache pounding all the way.

[roll0]
[roll1] +1pp
Overload: Temperature Manipulation shut down, +1pp
[roll2]
[roll3][roll4]

Total: 7+3+3=13 (-1pp)
Effect: d6 Counterattack
Power Points: 1

[Theprettiestorc]

Reeling from the burst of energy, Babs takes a short moment to breathe, fires still alight. Huff...huff...no. This is the counterattack - she's still pushing through with it. "...whoever the hell you are...you picked the wrong mutant to screw with today! This was my favorite sweater!!" She leaps to her feet, and indeed, holes and charred swaths are washing over her outfit as she gathers the flame to her, before launching it out in a shower of blasts. "BUTTERFLY SWARM!!"

[roll0]
[roll1]
Exhausted: Shutting down Focused Flight, +1pp.
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4] -1pp, step up twice with opportunities.

Total: 8+8+4=20 (-1pp)
Effect: d8
Power Points: 0

[Yodas_Free_Boat]

There's a pounding in Nicky's head as she slowly tries to focus and keep her eyes open.
Ugh, my head. This feels like the morning after I tired to outdrink Johnny Blaze.

After a few moments of struggling to fight against the headache, her mind focuses enough to allow her to review her surroundings.

Okay, creepy guy with a bizarre fashion taste, trying desperately to seem edgy and dark? Check.
Strange lab equipment That seems to have no actual purpose beyond looking cool? Check
Trapped in a glass case, being monologues at? Check

Realsing that, with almost no exceptions, someone whose monolgoing is not a good person, Nicky takes in a deep breath and tries to focus despite the pain shooting through her head. A few muttered words, and suddenly her breath is cold enough to crack the pristine glass tube that she was trapped in.

Trying her best to hide just how cold she is, she glances at the villainous man and tosses (what she thinks is) a solid quip.
"If you're trying for 'essentric genius', you've got a long way to go. Maybe next time pass over Hot Topic and try out Spencers."


Looking over at her comrade in being kidnapped, Nichole offers up a smile. "So, you ready for a good old fashioned Super Hero Team up?"

[herodofcows]

Sinister's cape swirls around him as the flames wash over him. Hex can see his face genuinely distort into discomfort beneath his improvised shield. Meanwhile, with the shattering of the glass, Flame Monarch discovers her Blinding Pain (1d10) is gone.

"Really now, you're being unconscionably-

Reaction to Counterattack]Solo: [roll4]
Genetic Supremacist: [roll5]
Telekinetic Control: [roll6]
Science Master: [roll7]
Byzantine Lab Equipment: [roll8]

19 with a d8. He takes d8 Physical stress!

Spend a d6 from the Doom Pool to keep the effect!

"-RUDE!" Sinister roars, now clearly in . Using his telekinesis, he throws a series of flasks and beakers into the midst of Flame Monarch's tube. They smash together and create a Choking Gas (d8).

Sinister straightens, clearly ruffled and unamused. He levitates and flies briskly from the lab, favoring his unburned side as he opens an unseen door.

"Urgh! To be reduced to this! Ah well, the price we pay for progress . . ." he grumbles to himself as he retreats. As he leaves, you hear a final roar.

"MARAUDERS! STAND READY!"

Doom Pool at 1d6

[Yodas_Free_Boat]

"Marauders? Gee, those sound like pleasant people who would love to help out us two girls"

A few hand gestures, a mumbled phrase in Latin, and a glowing rune suddenly appears in front of the door that Sinister just left.

"If you just hit that glowing thing with a blast of fire whenever they try to get in, we should get a damn good distraction from these 'Marauders'."



Alright, So I'll be creating an asset on this scene, something like 'Explosively Charged Rune'.
Buddy D6 [roll0]
Practice made Perfect [roll1]
Sorcery D10 [roll2]
(Constructs) D6 [roll3]
Combat D8 [roll4]

alright, 2 opportunities each on a d6.

I guess I'll take... I'll take 7 action, and d12 for the effect die.

[Theprettiestorc]

Seeing that the glow's a bit dim, Babs concentrates, blowing her own flames into the mix to boost it up. If she's going to be using it, she may as well attune it to her...right? At least, that's the theory, but she probably should've paid closer attention to studies of how magic worked back in the Academy.

Coughing from the gas, she pulls her sweater-neck around her mouth to help a bit, but...she's slowly losing material. This definitely should've been a costume day.

[roll0] +1pp
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3][roll4]

Total: 3+5+9=17 (-1pp)
Effect: 1d12
Power Points: 0

[herodofcows]

As the girls work to fortify the area, they hear the pounding of footsteps running down the hall. A rough male voice calls out as they all get closer:

"Arclight! Vertigo! Take 'em! Scrambler an' Harpoon, you're second wave. Riptide an' Prism an' I'll hold the door if they try ta bolt! Remember, leave their powers! GO!"

The doors burst open, and in stride two women. One has purple hair and a bearing of authority, while her companion has green hair matching her costume.

The green-haired woman opens up by extending her hands, and you start to feel disoriented, like the world is contorting itself into bizarre new shapes. It's like a bad hallucinogenic experience, and the purple-haired woman seems to be walking ominously closer . . .

Vertigo tries to hit you all with a psychic blast.

Buddy: [roll0]
Amoral: [roll1]
Psychic Blast: [roll2]
Area: [roll3]

So, 8 with a d10 effect die.

Doom Pool at 3d6+1d4

[Theprettiestorc]

Groaning, Babs holds her head, still choking. Alright, that's it. She stands straight, growling out, "...what the hell is with all the headgames today? I made your freaky master burn, so you can burn as well!" Her wings, finally free enough from the vestiges of cloth, unfurl and spring out, awash in the same white-hot flames as her. Grabbing her new partner, she puts her other hand out, flinging a compact ball of fire past the others and yelling, "Butterfly Effect: Clearing The Room!!" Pulling them both down, the resulting boom and burst of exploding flame bursts out throughout the room - hopefully, clearing that damn gas, too, and screw the structural damage because that guy was a major jerk.

[roll0]
[roll1] +1pp
[roll2](1d10)[8]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

Total: 8+8=16
Counterattack: d12 on Greenie, d8 on Purps.
+3 XP, letting herself go nuts.

[Yodas_Free_Boat]

Nichole, sensing that the gas and the incoming wave of vertigo could seriously throw off her , takes a deep breath of still clean air while infusing her lungs with magical energy; allowing them to hold a superhuman amount of air.

She ducks down as The Flaming Blonde grabs hold of her, realizing that something very large and very destructive is about to happen.
And her supsicoin is proven right as she feels a wave of fire and heat pass over top of her crouched form.
'If I hadn't ducked, or if she hand't pulled me down...'

Once the heat of the flash fire begins to dissipate, Hex pops back up from the of Fire Lass and expels all of the air still in her lungs with the force of a small hurricane. And of course it's directed at the person closest to them; the girl in green. Either Vertigo or Archlight, and her powers suggested one name over the other.
"You honestly thought A little nausea will keep me down?" She taunts the green haired girl that seems to be the source of the strange nausea.
"My master taught me how to fight while blindfolded, gagged, with both hands tied behind my back. This is nothing."



alright, rolling to defend against the mental attack

Buddy d6 [roll0]
Former pupil of the Great Doom d8 [roll1]
Sorcery d10 [roll2]
Mystic d8[roll3]

alrighty...
Oppurtunity on a d8.
Total: 13
Effect Die: d10

ya know what? I'll spend the pp I get from that opportunity to use the effect die as a attack on Mrs. Green (aka Vertigo)

oh, and +1xp for mentioning Dr. Doom's training methods.

3pp || 1xp

[herodofcows]

As the two heroes cut loose, Vertigo's effects dissipate utterly.

Shortly afterwards, the combined force of the hurricane and the flame blast send the viridian villain blasting backwards into the wall, which craters slightly on impact. She's still conscious, but wheezing heavily and clearly out of the fight.

"#@&$ . . . ribs . . ." she gasps, struggling to move, ". . . help . . ."

Arclight spares her a disdainful backwards glance before refocusing on our heroes. Unlike her companion, the flames seem to have barely affected her at all. It would seem that she has some degree of Invulnerability (-1d6 from Doom Pool).

"Girlies," she growls, "don't worry about the green-haired skank. Worry about ME!!!"

She punctuates her statement by slamming her fists to the ground. A massive shockwave ripples through the lab, clearing out most of Sinister's Byzantine Lab Equipment (d8).

"Second wave! I've got this!" she yells, hoarsely.

Solo: [roll0]
Raging Killer: [roll1]
Shockwave Area Attack: [roll2] [roll3]
Combat Expert: [roll4]

Gonna burn a d6 to keep one the d6 from the Area Attack in the total.

So, 16 total, d10 physical towards Hex, d8 towards Flame Monarch

Doom Pool at 2d6+1d4

[Theprettiestorc]

"Jump!" Leaping above the wave as it comes, Babs can feel her energy sapping. Fire creates more fire, though, and she only needs to activate it to continue her tirade of heat and explosives. In midair, she throws a series of blasts, charging the rune - and it sets off, her doing a spin to land in a crouch and controlling the explosion, directing it all around the woman...her hands clapping together, as she yells, "Mutant Magic Combination: Ultimate Implosion!!" All the force driven in with a loud *KHHBRRRRRRRRR* of the sheer power flowing around the room. Whoever this person was, and however she shrugged off the last blast, she'd have a hell of a hard time shrugging this off.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
Exhausted: Shutting down Enhanced Strength for 1pp.
[roll3]
[roll4]

Total: 9+6+5+5=25
Counterattack: 1d12
PP Pool: 0

+1 XP for using her abilities freely - in this case, without worrying what happens to this chick.

[Yodas_Free_Boat]

Blondie can take care of herself. Just worry about you. Hex thinks to herself after seeing the massive display of explosive energy that Flame Monarch throws around.

She rushes towards a corner of the room, both to give the Purple assilant less of a target, and to distance herself from her own anime-attack-spouting ally.
Feeling the shockwave rushing towards her, Nichole drops into a combat stance she's practiced an innumerable amount of times. Her every motion is like a reflex, with no real thought on her part. A shield of glowing blue energy is brought up just at the shockwave's moment of impact, and pulled away once the energy of the attack has dissipated. Once she believes that a counter-attack isn't coming, since who could survive an almost earth shattering attack like the 'Mutant Magic Combination: Ultimate Implosion!!', she throws the remnants of her magical shield (full to the brim with the energy absorbed in Arclight's attack) towards Vertigo.


Solo d10 1d10
Practise made Perfect d8 1d8
Enhanced durability d8 1d8
SFX: Unleashed - d8 1d8
Combat d8 1d8

Rolls can be found here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18420271&postcount=25)

Total: 18
Effect die: d8

I'll also spend another pp to keep the effect die, directed as an attack at Vertigo.

2pp || 1xp

[herodofcows]

The heroes react in well-oiled coordination, as though they'd been working together for years. Arclight is blasted backwards through the door, howling with more rage than pain. Vertigo, meanwhile, cannot shriek as Hex's assault punches into her, and instead twitches spasmodically and moans.

From the door, the other voice roars out again.

"Switch up! Now now NOW!!"

Swinging in through the door come two new challengers (Spend 2d6 from the Doom Pool to introduce new characters). One has a strange crystalline structure to him, while the other wears a purple costume that clashes with his long white hair. The crystal stays still, but the purple man begins spinning in place like a human tornado, sending out strange resinous shurikens. They're not precisely targeted, but the mayhem they cause is enough to give you pause . . .

"How d'ya like THESE, girlies?" he cackles amidst his own tornado.

Buddy: [roll0]
Psychopath: [roll1]
Shuriken Generation: [roll2]
Area Attack: [roll3]
Combat Expert: [roll4]

Gonna add the d10 to the Doom Pool

Over the swirl, you can hear Arclight yelling at the unseen commander.

"Pull them BACK, Scalphunter! I HAD THEM!"

"Boss' orders, soldier! Fall back!"

Doom Pool: 1d10+1d4

[Theprettiestorc]

"A bunch of wind around a blaze? You must be trying to make an inferno." Jetting out flames, she swirls them around the room, hoping to hell the magician is beginning to get the gist of what she does by now and is well-prepared to see this coming. Going around, the flames activate the rune once more, and blaze white-hot as they light up the wind and the room to a veritable oven. Tendrils of flame lick at the two villains, before she brings down balls of flame from all the material she's got to work with. "FIRESTORM!!"

[roll0]
[roll1] +1pp
Limit: Exhausted, shutting down Enhanced Reflexes for 1pp(all she has left is Fire Control)
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

Total: 9+8+4=21
Effect: d6 to each of the two new guys, rolled 2 opportunities.
Power Point Total: 1pp
+1 xp for, again, still making infernos.

[herodofcows]

Riptide
Buddy: [roll0]
Unbowed: [roll1] +1d6 to doom pool.
Combat Expert: [roll2]

Prism
Buddy: [roll3]
Delusions of Grandeur: [roll4]
Energy Control: [roll5]
Combat Expert: [roll6]

Wowzers. Total failure on Riptide's part, and Prism will use the d6 created by Riptide to Absorb your fire (although he still takes the damage). Riptide takes d10 physical stress. Prism rolls essentially the same, but his d10 effect die steps the stress down to the d8.

Riptide screams and his spin gets loopy as he begins swatting at himself to try to put out the flames. Prism tries to laugh through the pain.

"Rrrrr-hahah-rrahhh! Can't . . . nnn . . . can't hurt me like that, b****! I been burned by the PHOENIX!" he boasts, voice oddly resonant. Nevertheless, the blackening on his carapace implies that he can't live up to his own hype.

Outside, Arclight continues to yell at Scalphunter, but the whirling shurikens make it difficult to hear. Her tone, however, is one of intense aggravation.

Now that we're about at that total (Both cost about 5xp):

November Foxtrot Have a mysterious ally stress out one of your foes.
Missing Persons Have one of your affiliates (Hellstrom, the X-Men, etc) contact you.

[Theprettiestorc]

"And then you got burned by a butterfly. Not quite Captain America, are you?" As the flames whirl around her, fed and growing, she begins to draw power from the intense heat of the environment, replenishing her energy. She might very well need it.

Spending 2pp to recover Flight and Strength.