The Nightmare of SIDE IC 2 - Exit the Matrix

[Quellian-dyrae]

A few moments later, and everyone was once again in the real world, Bernard sitting at his desk. The monitors all over the walls were showing various locations throughout the building. It was basically cleanup, with most of the Steel Fist forces surrendering into SIDE custody.

Bernard's eyes narrowed some at the nickname, but he answered Wraith's questions nonetheless. "Yes, he was my creation. It's...this isn't what was supposed to happen."

"I emigrated to Ilessia...twenty-five years ago. I lived in Limbra before that. I worked on the Matrix, back in the day.
Like I said before, I was part of the original programming team. I was involved in the alpha version, but..."

He gave a long sigh as he recalled the path that had led to this. "When we began working on the beta, we discovered how the technology could be used to attack technological security in unprecedented ways. Most of the programmers thought this was an incredible development. I was...I suppose a leading voice in the minority of us that said we should remove that functionality, that it was too dangerous. We were removed from the project. Well, more than that, really. Our reputations were attacked, the corporations and agencies funding the project dragged us through the mud, basically. It's why I left."

"I knew that the Matrix would be dangerous. I tried to warn people but...nobody understands. Not really. And my information was somewhat outdated. I couldn't really provide confirmable evidence. So I tried to develop a counter.
An avatar that would be powerful enough to defend any Ilessian system in the event of a Matrix attack. Prime. I programmed him to be a defensive weapon, but...the foundation of his artificial intelligence, the...lens through which his entire neural network was designed to view reality through was the danger of the Matrix."

"I had developed a way to sort of...house him in my brain. It was a way to help expand his neural network, and it also helped me with...programming, and processing information, and such. Everything was working fine...until two years ago, when I had my Dream."

"Prime was in my mind, was part of my mind, when it happened. I don't...know exactly how, but he gained the Dreamer power, or some version of it. He could analyze the powers of other Dreamers and write them into himself as programs. And it...changed him. He was always artificially intelligent, but after the Dream...he became self-aware.
His need to defend against Limbra grew, became all-encompassing. He started planning to destroy them."

"I did the only thing I could, trapped him in my mind, willed him off from the Matrix. I installed more cybernetics so I no longer needed to sleep. But...he was so strong. It was all I could do just to keep him from getting out. He took control, got access to my motor functions through the cyberware I had installed."

He lifted his chin, facing Wraith's piercing gaze firmly. "I never intended for any of this to happen.
But...he was my creation. I accept full responsibility for the harm he has done. I surrender myself to the custody of SIDE."

[Hyperbolic sine]

Aidan listened to the story, giving a nod of comprenhension at the end.

"I see. Full responsibility, eh...Mr. Owens, you said you worked on the Matrix, right?" Hmm...

Prime wanted to seize control of the entire Ilessian nuclear arsenal, and Aidan didn't doubt he would have managed to. They knew too little about this Matrix, and it was an enormous hole in their defences...the man surely deserved to serve his sentence, but he seemed repentant, and unfortunately it was at the moment their biggest asset towards plugging that hole.

He shot a meaningful glance at Wraith.

[Thokk_Smash]

Wraith nods in approval at the programmer's resolve. It truly is commendable, although Wraith gives no more open approval than that. He notices Foxglove's glance but his only response is a nod so infinitesimal that one could mistake it for a trick of the light.

"Very well, then, Bernard Owens," he says with a tone of formal cadence. "Rest assured that your cooperation and voluntary surrender will factor into your ultimate fate." With that, he takes out his pair of standard SIDE-issued power suppressors and goes through the protocols for taking Bernard into custody.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Avery

To say Hero Corps had protocol would be overstating. But the general strategy in Verdania was to have four Heroes on watch at the Tower at more-or-less all times. It wasn't really a team thing - problems that required more than one Hero were rare, but multiple problems springing up in relatively short time were less so, so if something happened one Hero could address it while the others kept watch, and if something really serious went down then two or all four of them could go (or they could call for backup from Heroes who weren't in the building but had personal rapid mobility powers, whatever).

Anyway. Today you were there, in the main control room with Corona, Newsflash, and a matter-manipulator who went by the codename Sculpt. You had been assigned responsibility for the East quadrant of the city today. Specific Heroes being assigned to specific quadrants wasn't how they always determined who handled what. Actually most of the time when something came up whoever felt like it just said they had it and went for the portals. But since Corona was there it was usually a good idea to have some pre-set system. Otherwise he'd just take all the fun and leave nothing but the Threat Level 3s and less for everybody else.

Being on watch didn't really require much in the way of vigilance. The app would send alerts when they happened, it wasn't like you were scanning the city's camera network or anything. Newsflash was on one of the computers, going through various news feeds and blogs. Corona was playing some sort of video game. Sculpt was poking around on her phone. The Heroes weren't ignoring each other or anything. There was a fairly steady stream of chatting and banter, they were just doing their own things as well.

Aidan

I think we know the drill by now, right. The round room with the lightweight furniture. The guard robots standing impassively on the perimeter. The power-armored DES-SIDE agents on each door. And of course, when you arrived, Chlorine was sitting at the table, her wrists and ankles sporting their silver security bands.

...Oddly enough instead of the fifth band around her neck she was wearing what appeared to be a pair of glasses? Must have been some new security device.

She sat straight and impassive, staring ahead. She didn't even look at you when you entered, seeming to just be ignoring you entirely.

Wraith

Well of course you recognized him.

You had met him a couple of times through Bethany, and while you hadn't really talked much, it was worth noting that he had remembered you on successive occasions, so that was pleasant. Even if you hadn't met him yourself, well, you were an IN-SIDE agent and he was definitely a notable enough Dreamer that you'd have been aware of his reputation. Brilliant tactician, highly-respected war leader, a Dreamer with powers over mind and fate who lived by a strict code of ethics, taking the utmost care to never abuse his powers even in the often morally-gray arena of the military. Elder brother of a celebrity of the Assembly Cleanup Crew, OUT-SIDE soldier, and of course, former Hero of Millaine, though he had left that group before they had really staked their own claim to fame. Of course, you recognized Magnus Mindrider.

The question was, what was he doing leaving Serena's apartment...?

[Hyperbolic sine]

Entering the room, Aidan gave a cursory - if one were to judge from the time it took him anyway, bust most people who knew him knew better than that - glance to every person inside; a puzzled expression surfaced for an instant upon seeing the glasses, but it was quickly replaced by a cheery (and possibly smug) grin.

"Ah, Cecilia." he said, his tone as if he was meeting an old-time friend for the first time in a while, as he grabbed the chair and sitting down. "As always, you look dashing in that outfit. So, how's the recovery been going? It wasn't easy to find that Null, hope it was worth it."

And you know, let's throw in a Persuasion so she doesn't give poor Aidan the silent treatment: [roll0]

[Dodgeson]

Avery hung several feet off the air in a hammock that wasn't actually there and looked up from his newspaper (whether Aranth still had such a thing as print journalism or not) before smiling, it wasn't that he didn't love being part of the Task Force, even if they did keep getting guys in who didn't last a mission, but it was nice to be around people who thought like he did and not having to worry about SIDE sneakiness.

"Hey Corona!" He called out, crumpling up the paper and stuffing it down his gullet "15 credits says I can stomp you at whatever it is you're playing!"

Oh yes, not all that time with Matt had been spent on hero training...

[Thokk_Smash]

Louis pauses for a fraction of a moment as he reaches the top of the stairs. For that moment, the only movement is his hand as its coin dances across his fingers, and the turning of the gears within his mind. Magnus Mindrider, famous mentalist and OUT-SIDE Commander. The man's appearance is a surprise at first, and yet, as the fraction of a moment passes he realizes just how much sense it could make. Serena has been making progress in leaps and bounds in perfecting her Dreamer power; people in the know were bound to take note sooner or later.

Having never been really good at hiding his true thoughts, and not trying to hide them in this instance, Louis lets a smile of pride quirk his lips. "Mr Mindrider," he says genially, flipping the coin to his off-hand so he can offer a hand to shake. "A pleasure to see you. What brings you to this neck of the woods?" Although he poses it as a question, a mind like Mindrider's would be able to easily parse the prompting lilt in his voice, and the expectant look at the door from which he had just left.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Aidan

At first, it looked like Chlorine intended to stonewall you. But apparently she decided that all that would do is encourage you to talk more, or something. Her features flickered briefly through a few different emotions when she turned to look at you - suspicion, hatred, anger...finally settling on a sort of smug contempt. "Aidan," she said, although she didn't reply to your question, instead responding in a too-casual tone with a slender smirk, "I suppose belated congratulations are in order. I hear you're an uncle. How's your sister been?"

Avery

"Hah! Avery, buddy, I will have you know that I am a master of-"

Corona's boast was cut short by alerts popping up on the main screen. Threat level seven, no Dreamer powers detected...looks like it's a giant robot rampaging through a commercial district. Just a street full of like shops and restaurants and such really. Doesn't appear to be targeting any building in particular. Why in the world would anyone send a giant robot to-

Oh. There's a satellite IDEA lab two blocks away. Looks like someone forgot their safety protocols. Again. (Seriously when you work as a Hero in a major city this sort of thing is way more common then most people would expect. If Hero Corps was the type of organization to have police-style emergency codes there would totally be one for "Some IDEot forgot their safety protocols again.")

"-When I get back!" Corona amended, a huge grin splitting his face because giant robot.

"That one's Avery's," Newsflash said, without even looking away from his screen.

"Dude I will trade you!" What he planned to trade with I couldn't tell you. The video game, maybe?

"Oh leave off Corona you fought the last giant robot," Sculpt told him.

"Last two, I'm pretty sure." Newsflash kept track of this sort of thing. (Like I said way more common occurrence than you'd think.)

You can get there in basically a round using the Hero Corps teleporter.

Wraith

"I'm sorry who are you?" Magnus asked, pausing for a beat or two before flashing a grin to show he was joking and shaking your hand. "Good to see you again as well, Mr. Huntington. You live in this building? I was just meeting with a potential-"

"Commander Mindrider," Serena had opened the door to her apartment back up. "If you don't mind, I'd like to tell him myself."

"Ah, I see. ...I see. Well, I shall leave you to it then! Mr. Huntington, do give my regards to your sister," he said with a nod, heading off.

Serena opened the door all the way, beckoning you to come in.

Then, "Commander Mindrider is heading up a new team. A bit of an experiment. Using coordinated predictive powers not to anticipate enemy actions, but to run high-volume simulations of battle plans and, if it works on smaller scales, eventually large-scale strategies. Trying to prophetically predict optimal courses of action in complex, short, medium, and long-term decision spaces." You could tell that she was doing that thing she sometimes does where she explains a concept in more detail then she needs to because she's kinda trying to put off getting to her main point.

"They want me to be a part of it. But...well the theory is that active close-range coordination of the Dreamers involved may be a necessary prerequisite to overcoming the cognitive resistance of making complex future predictions. Like, we can't just all make our predictions and send them off individually, we'd be kinda trying to use each other's predictions to guide our own. In real time but not just descriptively. I guess he had an experience recently (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?494376-Heroes-of-Millaine-The-Hearing&p=21476138&viewfull=1#post21476138) that suggested that multiple seers working closely might be able to...sort of triangulate more probable futures, or something. It's...kind of a cool idea."

The words she was procrastinating on saying were nonetheless clear from her descriptions.

If she took the job, she would be going to Indelar.

The most dangerous region on the planet. Making up a condensed team of military precogs.
An incredibly high-value target, if you ask me. I wonder what the odds are that she'll survive to return. Think she could predict that?

[Hyperbolic sine]

"She's very much fine, thank you." Aidan replied, smiling. "Especially now that Harrens is out of the picture...as soon will be Ellens."

"Thought you'd want to know, since she turned you into a monster...look forward to the news, I guess."

Insight [roll0] to read her actual feelings on this.

[Dodgeson]

Avery was up on his feet in no time, offering Corona a commissary pat on the shoulder.

"Better luck next time buddy. Tell you what, if I can't recycle this tin can in 10 minutes you can tag in and I'll go pick up lunch for everyone."

And with that he was gone, leaving a cloud of dust behind him as he rushed off towards the teleporter in a wheel of feet.

[Thokk_Smash]

"Of course," Louis says with a nod to Magnus as the other man leaves. Louis eagerly enters Serena's apartment, coin still bouncing merrily over his knuckles. The coin slows as Serena talks, and thumps to the ground when the end meaning hits Louis.

He didn't drop the coin purposely. It was just that the image of a dead Serena, amongst the wreckage of a military outpost, had briefly interposed itself into his sight. Damned rude of it.

He forces the image away with an effort of will and tries for a sheepish smile as he stoops to pick up the coin. "You are incredible," he says, and even though the pronoun he had meant to use was 'that', he doesn't mind his own slip of the tongue. She is incredible! The fact that she had been able to control her powers to such an extent that an OUT-SIDE Commander extended an offer like this, compared to where she was even a half a year ago...mind-boggling. He lets the feeling of pride from before swell once more, willing her to see just how proud of her he is.

"The possibilities are staggering," he continues, gesturing vaguely with his hands. "It's groundbreaking, history-making! It's..." His smile drops to an expression almost like feeling lost, and he meets her eyes for a moment. "Terrifying."

He is, absolutely; terrified, that is. The Darryl in his head is a grade-A prick, but it's right--if word got out of this project, they'd jump up the priority target list faster than Avery on good beer (or any beer). Just the thought of Serena going to Indelar, going anywhere close, makes his stomach drop to the general vicinity of the planet's core. Another reason she's incredible: she seems more than willing to go, and she is probably aware of the dangers just as much as he is.

"Do you want to join?" he asks. "Even if it means going to Indelar?"

For kicks, I'll roll an Insight for Serena's response instead of Routining: [roll0]

[Quellian-dyrae]

Aidan

Chlorine regarded you blankly for a moment, before giving a slight, though more annoyed than amused, chuckle. "I'm sorry, are you under the impression that I'm grateful, or something?"

"Oh, Aidan. Aidan, Aidan, Aidan... You can't begin to understand it. The strength, the power of APEX. It makes Tara's ritual augmentations seem like a cup of strong coffee by comparison. A monster? She made me a force of nature! Powerful. Merciless. Perfect. And you took it away from me."

As idly as if she were discussing getting her nails done, she said, "I do hope that one day I will have the opportunity to murder your entire family, for that."

She was a little annoyed that her veiled threat didn't seem to find any purchase, but she shrugged it off.

But when she's talking about what it was like to be affected by APEX, she's 100% fanatically sincere.
And you know Chlorine well enough (for good or ill) to know that that's not normal for her.
The Chlorine of the past has always been subtle, cunning, and above all pragmatic. She's never cared about power for its own sake, and never placed any special importance on being a Dreamer. She's always looked at her powers as a tool - a valuable one, sure, but their importance to her has always been about the concrete benefits they provide her, the resources they allow her to acquire.

The APEX may have been removed from Chlorine, but obviously, it did a number on her mind.

Avery

The teleporter deposited you on the street. People were screaming and fleeing in all directions. There were a couple crashed cars and several heavily damaged buildings. The robot stood a good sixty feet tall, with a blocky humanoid form covered all over in odd black circles or something that kinda made it look like it had some sort of pox. Lenses, maybe? It was reaching towards a building, the fingers of one hand kinda narrowing and elongating into a series of what looked like wickedly-sharp blades.

Down the street a bit, a woman with light brown hair and coppery skin in a lab coat was tapping wildly on an Active Crystal device shouting "No no no stop don't dissect the building NO DISSECTING BUILDINGS!!!" The robot seemed no more interested in the verbal orders than whatever commands were being tapped into the interface.

Initiative:
Avery: [roll0].

Giant Robot: [roll1].

((Muscle memory took over and I hit post as soon as I typed an initiative roll. Going to do another post for Wraith and the robot's action.))

[Quellian-dyrae]

Still Avery

The robot's finger-blades started...actually the best term would probably be flaying the building, rapidly slicing off thin slabs of material and examining them with an oddly-studious mein.

Giant Robot:
Move: Nah.
Standard: Attack a building with Dissect, Routine attack and Power Attack for 5. Building Toughness ([roll0]) DC 36 vs. Object Damage. The building is immune to the Weaken. DESTROYED!

Avery is on turn.

Wraith

Serena gave a kinda wan smile when you said she was incredible, and at your question...she kinda hand-shrugged. "I...it's complicated. I'd have to be away from the kids for who knows how long." Obviously, bringing them was out of the question. Not after Dyburen. "I mean, my parents could take care of them while I'm gone but...they're growing up so fast. And it would be dangerous. It's Indelar, of course it would. We'd probably become a target ourselves, moreso if we actually do accomplish anything. I'm TOP-SIDE. Not OUT-SIDE, not even FIRE-SIDE. I didn't take this job to risk my life."

"But at the same time...Haptarus is a legitimate threat to the entire planet, if he conquers Indelar. And even discounting that, his war is costing thousands upon thousands of lives. If my assistance can end the war even a day sooner than it otherwise would...I'd have to be a pretty terrible person to refuse, wouldn't I?"

She's being honest about her dilemma, but you can tell there's even somewhat more to it than that. You can tell that she's actually deep down already made the decision. She feels obligated to do it, but that isn't even the right term. More like doomed, but in the classical sense. Like it's a matter of destiny that she can't escape. She spent so much time and effort trying to get control of her powers, and now that she has she finds them putting her in an even worse position, forcing her to leave her children and risk her life. It's basically reinforcing her deep-seated beliefs that her powers are a curse, like this is some sort of punishment for daring to take control, and if she refuses it it will only make things worse.

So basically, she honestly doesn't want to go to Indelar, but she feels like she has to. That said, it's entirely possible you could talk her out of it.

Except...

Serena knows about Rickert Rheum, of course. All evidence indicates he's in Indelar, working for Haptarus in some capacity. A precognitive task force like this, with Serena on it...it would be the best chance you've had since Ichiryuu's death of actually tracking him down. Of getting the chance to avenge your brother-in-law's murder. Of giving closure to your sister and her children. If you talk Serena out of going, you're passing up the opportunity. That's not something Bethany would take well if she found out - and come to think of it, it's not all that implausible that she's the one who had brought Serena to Magnus's attention in the first place, and if so her odds of finding out would not be low.

Take a :smallcool: Hero Point for the conflict between your A Select Few and Best Served Cold Complications.

[Hyperbolic sine]

For an instant a shadow passed over Aidan's face, a cold gleam in his eyes - but it was mostly a reflexive action. He didn't seem like he had taken the threat to heart, and indeed his expression immediately after was one of pity.

"I see...so that's how it is." He had an inkling from the last time they'd spoken, during the questioning, but back then the APEX had been freshly removed - it could have been temporary.

"A force of nature, you say...yes, that's an apt comparison. They have, after all, no will of their own." he said, his voice tinged with disappointment. "Back in Adaros, you didn't so much as try to defend yourself...and look at you now, tanking your chances of actually getting out. I suppose I should be happy for that, but the real you certainly wouldn't have made such a moronic mistake...it's a bit sad to see my nemesis reduced to this. Shameful, even. I wasn't sure allowing myself be persuaded to let you live was the right thing, but...it looks like Cecilia Burke died that day anyway."

Guess I'll keep throwing in Persuasion rolls, since this is shaping like a Redeem Villain scene. Getting over the lingering APEX influence is the first step! [roll0]

[Dodgeson]

"Lady, I have a lot of questions right now..." Avery said to the woman in the lab coat as he appeared on the scene and watched the robot slice up that poor innocent building, first of all being what the heck she wanted to dissect that needed a 60-foot robot to do it?

Still that could wait for later, he had more important things to worry about right now, he didn't want to be on the hook for four lunches after all, reaching in to his hat he drew out an enormous can opener and rushed towards the machine's chest, in his experience there was usually some important gizmos stashed in there.

Free Action: Set Variable to 'Giant Can Opener' Damage 11 Linked to Affliction 11 (Impaired&Vulnerable/Disabled&Defenceless, Toughness)(Extra Condition)(Limited Degree) Linked to Weaken Toughness 11 (Resisted by Toughness) [33]
Move: Move in to Close with the Giant Robot
Standard: All-Out/Power Attack +5 at the Robot [roll0] DC31/26 Toughness Save if that hits.
Status -5 Active Defence

[Thokk_Smash]

"I'd disagree with that," Louis says automatically, in response to Serena's final question. His mind has already spun the wheels needed to run through the chain of events that might have led to this job offer, and the driving thoughts behind it. Although his face is conflicted and torn, his voice is firm and sure. "If your presence were proven, without a doubt, to end the war even a day sooner, maybe that could be true. If your assistance were certain, one-hundred percent, to result in the sooner capture of, say, a murdering, shapeshifting traitor," and here, Louis' face contorts in an old anger before settling down again, "perhaps one could argue you were a terrible person."

Louis sighs and flinches as another vision of Serena's death passes through his sight. "But those aren't certain. Far from it. And granted, it's not certain that going to Indelar would end with your d...dying." Teeth grit. "But I know I'd be terrified out of my mind every day you were there. And maybe it's hypocritical, since the Task Force still has to take Tara down once and for all, but I don't want to live with that kind of fear."

He closes his eyes for a moment before looking back at Serena. He replays his own words and thinks to himself, so little is certain in life. There's one thing he's been certain of, though. But damned if he can just come out and say it cold. So, he says, "In the end, though, this offer is just more proof of how far you've come. What say we get something out to eat tonight? Or catch that new movie that just came out? My treat."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Aidan

"The 'real me'?" Cecilia scoffed. "Theold me, maybe. The one who didn't understand."

"You still don't. You think my odds of getting out of here have anything to do with my ability to convince some therapist I've been redeemed. I'd say you were blind, but I didn't get it either at first. It wasn't until I tasted APEX that I understood."

"The game is over. The score has been tallied. Power won. All of SIDE's fancy technology and preparation and protocols, and they didn't matter. They didn't matter against Tara, and they wouldn't have mattered against me. The prison at Adaros still stands not because it could withstand any force, not because SIDE was prepared for anything. It stands because sufficient power was whelmed in its defense. A small army of SIDE personnel, an entire major city's Hero deployment, and the biggest, beefiest Task Force SIDE has ever assembled. You won, yes. Congratulations, Agent! But it doesn't change the fact that there was one defense against power, and that was still greater power."

"There's plenty more power in this world. And more every day. What do you want to bet that the forces that want to crack open SIDE's prisons like eggshells will eventually have more of it than SIDE can whelm in their defense?"

Avery

"IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO GO LIKE THIS!!!" the woman, uh, "answered?" as she kept wildly tapping on her device.

The sheer steel of the robot's chest didn't...really offer much of a "lip" to hook your can opener on, without which its effectiveness was rather curtailed. But on the plus side, the robot's sensors had identified you as a threat, so now it was focused on you! So...yay!...?

"It's designed as a laboratory robot! It's mainly intended to assist with analysis and examination!
It is capable of tactical combat analysis to-" the scientist shouted, presumably in an effort to offer some useful tactical advice.

Meanwhile, the giant robot leaped back to clear the blast radius and unloaded one of its missile batteries.

"I AM REALIZING NOW THAT IT MIGHT BE SLIGHTLY OVER-ENGINEERED!!!"

Giant Robot:
Move: 50' back.
Standard: Attack Avery with Missile Systems at [roll0]. On a hit, Toughness DC 31+Multiattack vs. Damage. On a miss, Dodge DC 22 for half, Toughness DC 27/22 vs. Damage. There's also an impressive amount of collateral damage but fortunately it mostly hits the street and some already-pretty-much-trashed buildings. ...Crit. Fortunately that's still just one below max Multiattack, so only +2 there. DC becomes 38. I am realizing now that this enemy might be slightly over-engineered...

Avery is on turn.

Wraith

Serena gave a little smile. She might not have been completely sold, yet, but what you said meant a lot.

"Dinner sounds lovely," she agreed. There was a moment's hesitation before she added, "Will your, ah, elephant friend be joining us?"

Ah.

Right.

That.

She tried to make the question sound teasing...buuuut it still came off as more nervous. Or perhaps more precisely, worried.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Aidan tapped a finger on the table, disapprovingly.

"Power, power...sure, I suppose in the end that's what matters in a direct clash," he conceded, "but power is such a vague concept. A gatling gun is far more powerful than a laser sidearm, but give them to a couple of random citizens and I would bet on the sidearm every time."

"Raw power is overestimated. Great strength is useless if you can't aim a punch - and if you can, good, then maybe I can't block, but why should I when I can deflect instead? ...but I digress."

"The point is, all APEX has given you is a bad case of tunnel vision. All that power doesn't matter when you're little more than a ravenous beast, and if the fact that you accomplished far more when you were 'less' powerful isn't proof enough, I don't know what it is. You're welcome to hope that this general power increase you speak of is so lopsided that it will eventually tip the scales against the law, but if I were you I'd put my efforts into getting out the normal way...which is to say actual redemption, of course, because even if you somehow managed to fool our therapists you couldn't fool me."

Persuasion [roll0]. Also no reason not to keep Routining a 30 Insight.

[Thokk_Smash]

Louis freezes for a moment, staring at her like a deer in headlights. He forces himself to look away and gives a shaky chuckle. "I don't plan on it," he mumbles with a self-deprecating smile. "I could barely move the day after, the hangover was so bad."

But he knows that isn't really what Serena was asking, and he sighs in resignation. "I...probably should have told you this sooner," he says, walking over to sit on the couch. "I didn't want to make you worry, but really, I tossed that out about the same time I tossed back a half dozen shots in ten minutes. Stupid, stupid...in not wanting to worry you I ruined the night that should've been solely to celebrate your achievement."

He shakes his head; he's stalling and he knows it. Louis gestures for Serena to sit, glancing up quickly before looking back at the floor. "You know we couldn't take Darryl Harrens in alive," he began. "He suicided before we could fully subdue him. What you don't know, is he used his own life force to power a Death Curse." He hopes his tone properly conveys the capitalization of the last two words. "It latched onto me, and ever since I've been literally haunted by Harrens' spiteful spirit. On two separate occasions it has literally held me down so I couldn't dodge an explosion that nearly crippled me. It also makes my leftovers spoil faster. Such evil."

A grimace and swallow accompany his next sentence. "That night, when you gave your predictions? Harrens' spirit showed me images of the subject dying. In vivid, excruciating detail, like a Dream. It's why I stopped you from checking Beth's future." Through that sentence, he couldn't hold back a series of twitches and flinches as the indelibly wrought images return to his mind. "Ah, sorry. Just saw Tai's and Tsuki's again. Bastard doesn't miss a chance to torture me, and all signs indicate the Curse won't stop until we take in Tara or, well."

He holds a finger-gun to his head for a moment and lets it drop. He risks another look at Serena to gauge her response, but doesn't look long; he doesn't want her to see the pain and sorrow in his face. "So. That was what drove me to drink that night. I don't plan on using that particular coping mechanism a second time. SIDE agent's honor. Sorry...for not telling you sooner." And with that, he mentally braces himself (and only barely keeps himself from physically bracing himself) for Serena's reaction and response.

[Dodgeson]

"WHY DOES IT HAVE MISSILES!?" Avery yelled just before the projectiles collided with him in an explosion that left him coughing and spluttering in a crater where the road used to be. "Lady when I'm done taking this thing a part we are going to have a serious conversation about what appropriate equipment for a lab assistant looks like!"

The sound of a revving engine filled the air from nowhere as the Cartoon Hero reached behind him and pulled a comically oversized chainsaw from behind his back, rushing towards the robot and swinging wildly.

Free: Set Variable to "Big Honkin' Chainsaw" Damage 11 (Alternate Resistance:Defence) Linked to Affliction 11 (Impaired/Disabled)(Alternate Resistance:Defence)(Limited Degree)
Move: Move in to Close with the Robot
Standard: Attack the Robot [roll0] DC26/21 Defence vs Damage & Impaired/Disabled if that hits.
End of Turn: Regeneration removes a bruise
HP 5
Status Fine

[Quellian-dyrae]

Aidan

Chlorine was smiling now, a wide grin, with a manic light in her eyes. "And why do you care?
From whence comes this oh so helpful advice? You said you 'let yourself be convinced' not to kill me, right?
So which is it, Aidan? Did you choose, or were you convinced? Am I alive by your will, or another's?"

"I think it was you. Good old Agent Foxglove. The sheriff in a nest of assassins. Not like those other IN-SIDE agents. Like Hayseed and...that other guy. Oh, I saw how Agent Hayseed treats her enemies, while I was flying away. I saw that very clearly."

"But not you. You let yourself be 'convinced' to spare your old foe, and then you come to visit and talk about redemption. Agent Foxglove. The nice, trustworthy IN-SIDE agent. Hah! Of course, you insist that power isn't everything. When you're so weak, what else are you going to believe?"

Wraith

Serena stared at you in silence for several moments, horror on her face as you described the effects of Darryll's curse. Your quip about your leftovers spoiling didn't lighten her reaction any. Magic wasn't really TOP-SIDE's purview, but to what extent it was understood as a Dreamer power, Serena had at least some idea of what it could do. That understanding, incomplete though it was, only made it worse.

"And here I've been worried about..." she mumbled, trailing off. A couple moments later, she tried again. "What...what are you going to do? I mean...you can't keep working with the Task Force, right? You can't go after Tara with a curse like that, right? It would be suicide!"

Avery

"WHY WOULDN'T IT HAVE MISSILES!?" the scientist shouted back, which to be fair when you're talking about a giant killbot is a kinda valid point.

The good news was, your chainsaw sliced right through the robot's leg like a hot knife through butter. The bad news was the thing was flipping enormous so pound for pound it was roughly as damaging as a paper cut. Had this been a living opponent you might have been able to work with that, since paper cuts could still sting like the dickens! But it was a robot so it also felt no pain.

Seeing you had survived its missile barrage, the massive construct kinda dipped down towards you, tilting its head side to side almost as if it were examining you curiously, like some strange insect it had never seen before or something.

...Disconcertingly, this seemed to worry the scientist even more than the missiles had.

"OH SWEET LORE IT'S ANALYZING YOU RUN AWAY YOU'RE DEAD!!!"

Giant Robot:
Move: Nah.
Standard: Tactical Analysis on Avery. Give me Will DC 22 vs. Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless and Weaken Toughness 12 vs. the robot. In addition, the robot is Deflected at 1d10+18, which lasts for two rounds against Avery.

Avery is on turn.

[Thokk_Smash]

"What am I going to do," Louis repeats in a murmur. It's not a new question, but he hasn't really given it more than a cursory thought. It wasn't something he had really considered, just stopping; to simply walk away and leave Tara to the others. He admits, the idea isn't without its allure.

"I have to admit, I'm fairly scared. Terrified, really." Maybe it's just his imagination that he hears a malicious chuckle in the air. "His last words were 'Tara will destroy you all'; that probably means his spirit will be extra active during a confrontation with Tara. SIDE would probably accept if I were to request a transfer," he continues, musing in a mild voice, seemingly unfazed by the words he had said. The slight tremor in his tone, and the coin dancing frantically across his fingers, belie his supposed calm. Nothing he had said is false; he could possibly have an out. And yet...

Louis gives a short sigh; one of resolution rather than resignation. "But I won't." His voice is soft, firm. "I won't let a dead man's ghost rule my life; whatever this construct is, I will not give Darryl's legacy the satisfaction of pushing me to run. And even more than that...I can't abandon the team. Avery and Foxglove, Hayseed and Prophet and Kate; they're my friends. If they fight Tara without me, and something goes wrong, I-I'm not sure how well I could live with myself."

He pauses for a moment, then turns to face Serena more fully. "So I'm going to do what SIDE does best: whelm overpowering force, pick my battles, and cheat like a Flame-blasted weasel. I'll do everything in my power to come back to you, safe and sound." He gives the best confident smile he can, and takes her hand in a reassuring grip.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Why did he care, indeed? As Chlorine spoke, Aidan fell into contemplative silence. He didn't really feel like he was particularly nicer than Hayseed or Wraith just because he rarely resorted to lethal force - his restrain was, after all, born from the belief that capturing someone alive would be more useful in the long run, more than any kind of ethical concern. And, well, Prophet's efforts had provided him with a firsthand example of how redeeming someone could, likewise, help in the long run (the matchup with the Wind Elemental was unfortunate, but still) - or, perhaps more precisely, that people could indeed be reedemed at more than a superficial level (and a redeemed criminal obviously posed no more threat).

Maybe that made him weak, maybe not. In the end...

"...well, does it really matter?" he replied, with a shrug. "I can get what I want, while you're back behind bars; that's all it boils down to. They say madness is doing the same thing expecting different results, you know? Since you're alive, you might as well try to actually change this time."

Persuasion [roll0], IN-sight 30.

[Dodgeson]

"Oh come on! A smart girl like you's gotta know that Hero Corp don't run!" Avery retorted as the machine's analysis returned a stream of gibberish (https://youtu.be/R78jw_Sk7hs?t=30). "Your overgrown microscope can analyse THIS!"

His raised voice was punctuated with by the clattering of an oven against the machine's head with the growing shadow hanging over the robot promising yet more appliance based pain yet to come.

Free: Set Variable to "Shadows of Impending Doom" Perception Damage 11 (Indirect 2, Secondary Effect)(Limited to Reach)
Standard: Attack the Robot, DC26 Toughness Save vs Damage with Secondary Effect
Move Action: I need to find something to do with these...

HP 5
Status Fine

[Quellian-dyrae]

Wraith

Serena squeezed your hand back, but as she listened to your answer...you could see the changes going over her face. Concern, worry...and then a sort of distracted consideration.

And then something calculating.

"That doesn't...Louis that isn't rational!" she argued.

"You can't... Look, in TOP-SIDE, one of the most important things we do is develop plans. Protocols. Contingencies. As powerful as SIDE is, our resources aren't limitless. And they aren't...they aren't all material resources, you know? Money and time and gear...you also have to think about things like...political capital. Public approval. Lives. They're all resources that we spend to purchase safety for the people of Ilessia. And you can't just say like, you can't put a cost in money on the life of an agent. Because if you can conserve an amount of money that could be used in a different fashion to save two agents' lives...you know? You have to run the numbers, on all of it, otherwise you don't make the best plans and people are less safe."

"And you...you're, like, a super-spy! Or super-hero, or whatever! I'm a glorified bureaucrat who only just learned how to control her powers. I mean...maybe, maybe it can be argued that...that I have more people directly relying on me for their well-being," her gaze flickered unconsciously in the direction of her children's rooms. "But there are far more people who indirectly rely on you even if they' never know it, and they wouldn't remember if they did and...but it doesn't matter! The point is that you are objectively a more powerful force for good in the world than I am. The people of Ilessia are safer because you exist than they are because I exist."

"And as dangerous as Tara Ellens is and as important it is that she be stopped, she is objectively less of a threat to the world than Haptarus! Especially now with her allies scattered and SIDE aware of her and...and everything that you and the Task Force have done."

"And the risk I'd be taking going there...I mean, it's purely speculative, and maybe not even that high. I mean, I'd be on a team of tactical precogs, staying back from the actual fighting, surrounded by military defenses. Odds are even if they learned of us and waged an attack, we'd anticipate it days in advance or something! But you'd be going up against Tara directly, with her having a reason to want to kill you, personally, and cursed with...you would be taking a huge gamble with your life!"

"And that...it doesn't measure up. You can't take more of a risk, to a more valuable asset, for a less important goal, and say that's the right thing to do, and say that it's also right that a less important asset refuse a lesser risk for a more important goal. It's not valid reasoning. If it is right for me to stay here, then it cannot, logically mathematically Can. Not. be right for you to fight Tara Ellens in circumstances like this. And if you taking on that sort of risk against Tara Ellens is the right thing to do...then there is no way I can possibly be justified in refusing a lesser risk against the Empire."

"If...if you have to fight Tara Ellens, I think...I think that means that I have to try to help against the Empire."

Serena's a pretty rational person all told, so this is a valid assessment, although you can tell that it's not a purely objective one. It wouldn't quite be fair to say that she's trying to give you an ultimatum - this isn't really an intentional "if you fight Tara I'm going to fight the Empire" stand. But she is convinced now that if you are willing to take on that risk, it would be wrong for her not to do the same.

That said, it is her hope that given that, your conclusion will be that the right thing to do is for neither of you to take the risk.

If you wish to try to convince her that you won't fight Tara and then do it anyway, it will require a Deception check.

While her analysis was made in good faith, like I mentioned it wasn't purely objective, and there are flaws in her reasoning. Specifically, your relative contribution to Tara's (hopeful) defeat would likely greatly outweigh Serena's relative contribution to the hypothetical downfall of the Empire. Now, that may not be quite enough on its own to change her view...but with a persuasive or convincing enough presentation, it might be able to.

Also, don't even try to use any sort of "I'm not as good a person as you" or "I have red in my ledger" sort of argument here. Serena does not see you that way and it would only strengthen her resolve.

So, remember that Hero Point I gave you in the previous sandbox scene?

Now you've earned it. :smallamused:

Aidan

Chlorine gave you a smug smirk as she answered, "Wouldn't that make you mad, then?
For sticking me back in prison after how well that worked out for you last time? Besides, how do you know I didn't try to change last time?"

She's basically trolling you at this point. She isn't strictly being disingenuous, she believes her spiel fine, but she's not making any actual effort to convince you. You managed to engage her enough to get her to at least temporarily ignore her hatred for you (your checks have managed to bring her from Hostile to Indifferent, but you'd basically have needed a crit for the three-step success needed to bring her all the way to Friendly so with this latest check not improving her reaction further there's little more raw Persuasion can do), but that kinda only goes so far. Mere rhetoric isn't going to take things any further.

You've laid some groundwork, but if you want to have any chance at actually getting through to her, you're going to need to make a more personal connection.

Avery

You'd think that dropping a heavy object with a clear ominous shadow from very high up against an active opponent would result in them, you know, stepping away at least occasionally. And yet, they never seem to...

Of course, when you're a giant robot, you also kinda don't need to.

Processing the results of its analysis, the robot's eyes suddenly fixed more firmly on you. Not just the eyes on its head. Every one of those weird camera-lens-things speckling its body that was in any way facing your direction suddenly seemed focused on you. Oh, and they were all glowing red now.

"You..." The robot spoke in a buzzing monotone.

...

"Are..." Its works were halting, sounding almost confused...maybe even pained.

...

"...Illogical!"

BZZZOWWW! Laser eyes. Lots and lots of laser eyes.

...

...

"...SINCE WHEN CAN YOU TALK!?!?!?!?!?"

Giant Robot:
Move: Stare.
Standard: Laser Eyes. Perception range attack. Avery give me Defense DC 27 vs. Damage.
End of Turn: Secondary Effect triggers. Robot is Deflected at 1d10+18 vs. Avery only.

Avery is on turn.

[Dodgeson]

"You realise of course that this means war?" Avery groused as he hauled himself of the crater where he'd stood in between hacking up a generous helping of black smoke.

"Hey lady! I could use some inside info right about now!"

Standard: Recover away Staggered
End of Turn: Regeneration removes a Bruise
HP 5
Status Fine

[Thokk_Smash]

Louis' reaction to Serena's argument is a nod here and there and relaxing into the couch further as she lays her argument down. The familiarity of her voice had done more to settle his mind than anything in the past months, although his anxiety is still apparent in what tension remains in his body. As he considers his response with a thoughtful expression, he absentmindedly laces their fingers and begins to rub his thumb in circles on her hand.

"I admit I spoke mostly with my heart before," he begins with a nod of the head. "However, my previous decision wasn't solely based on my emotions. I have to disagree with several of your points.

One: our relative usefulness. I am objectively more powerful than you, true. But your predictive abilities and, more importantly I feel, your Astral Projection gives you options I can only dream of. I am willing to bet there are a half-dozen positions, at least, within the various branches of SIDE that would kill to have that kind of intel-gathering capability. Sure, projection blockers exist; but there are probably plenty of criminal organizations that don't or can't use them, ripe for taking down. You want to talk about keeping the people of Ilessia safe, there are ways you can do that without going into a war zone, with far more direct results than this prospective precog team.

Two: Tara's relative danger. Again, I'll grant, Tara is objectively less dangerous than the whole of the war of Haptarus. As a side note, however, she has that cloning ritual of hers. It took seven of us to take down a clone of Tara; three super-Heroes, three super-spies, and an overqualified PI, and the fight could have gone the other way at times. If she slips through our fingers, she'll have time to go to ground and clone herself new allies.

And yes, we have managed to strip her of the vast majority of her allies and resources. But that makes her something arguably even worse: a cornered rat, desperate, taking any chances she can. Prophet had a Vision, months ago, of Tara successfully stealing the APEX stone from Maestro Mentallo at some point in the future. He didn't see what she plans to do with it, but the last time she used APEX a SIDE prison almost fell. We're planning to go after her immediately afterwards, but again: we need to neutralize her there and then.

And, most importantly, three: I am positioned to aid in the capture of a genocidal criminal, one of the most individually dangerous persons on the planet. The Task Force's actions at that time will provide immediate results. You say your danger is only speculative? The results of such a team are purely speculative. A group of tactical precogs might glean increased insight while working together. Such a group could possibly begin to predict battlefield conditions reliably enough to be able to manipulate future conflict.

How long will it take? If you say the precogs have to be together, will they also need to be close to the fights themselves? How many personnel can be spared to protect a group of such uncertain utility, if they do have to be close to the fighting? And after all that, when will the fruits of your labor be seen, if at all?"

He grips her hand in both of his and looks her straight in the eye. "Tara Ellens, as an individual, is capable of unpredictable danger; I am in a position to stop her, to end that threat once and for all. This prospective precog team has no such assurance of purpose. I agree, we have to weigh risks and benefits. Your going to Indelar presents risks that run the gamut from small to large, for a benefit that is murky and far from certain. There are other ways you could apply the powers you have just learned to control for an equal or greater benefit, with far more surety and specifically for the people of Ilessia."

Louis takes a moment to think, and sighs. "I will not lie and say I won't fight Tara in order to keep you from going to Indelar. I can more than appreciate the fact that you feel like you have to take an equal amount of risk as I do--but please, please consider whether it is logical to take that risk if the benefits are hardly concrete or proven worthwhile, when a greater benefit can be gained with a lesser risk."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Avery

"Right! Yes! Information! It has very advanced sensor systems! Its numerous cameras are designed for wide-spectrum analytical visual detection in all directions and at a thousand times the speed of human vision! It can scan for technological schematics, geological phenomena, chemical residue, biological processes, and Dreamer powers! It is also able to see into the ultraviolet spectrum and-"

What we have learned today is that this particular IDEA scientist definitely went the Education route rather than the straight Intellect and JoAT route. We know that because while she's obviously a knowledgeable and skilled scientist, she does not have even one single point in Expertise (Tactics). ...Might be rolling at a penalty, actually.

The robot, meanwhile, considered your declaration of war and decided it required more information to determine whether or not you were a credible threat. It decided the most efficient way to get that information was to take a look at your internal organs. It may occur to an astute reader that X-ray vision was not included on the scientist's list of the robot's cameras.

Giant Robot:
Move: Meh.
Standard: Dissect on Avery at [roll0]. On a hit, Toughness DC 31 vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 26 vs. Weaken All Defenses. Hit. Has this thing rolled less than a fifteen even once yet?

Avery is on turn.

Wraith

Serena listed to your points carefully. Initially, she had that canny look in her eyes that suggested she was already formulating counters to your points, but she started looking more thoughtful as you went one. At the end, she gave a slow nod. "I haven't had the chance to look into alternative possibilities yet," she admitted. "And you're right, regardless of the relative merit between you fighting Tara and me going to Indelar, I have to first compare the relative merit of me going to Indelar and literally any other course of action before I take a step like that. When you put it that way it is blindingly obvious in retrospect," she said, with a kinda relieved-sounding sigh. You knew Serena well enough to know that wasn't quite the end of the matter - she would diligently research possibilities and if she didn't find one that could objectively outweigh the risk:value ratio of her going to Indelar, she would do the latter. Even so, you were not wrong that odds were she would find one.

"That being said, I do not agree that you specifically taking on Tara Ellens in this particular circumstance is wise. If anything, your point about her being a cornered rat with an APEX stone" okay her voice might have gotten just a little high there "is all the more reason that the risk is too high. I know I can't stop you but...will you please at least consider staying out of it? For me?"

Magnus's plan in a solid one and Haptarus is of course a Grade A threat. But to be fair there's a lot of good a precog of Serena's level can do. I'mma say there's a 50% chance that by the end of the game she can find an alternative of sufficient value to convince her not to go to Indelar.

You may improve these odds by helping her search with a new Downtime Action.

Find Serena A Mission: 0/5 Successes. Insight, Investigation, or relevant Expertise DC 20.
For each success, the chance that Serena will find a mission outweighing the value of her going to Indelar increases by 10%. Further, if you increase the total to 100%, you may declare what her new mission is as a free Edit.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Aidan

Chlorine gave you a smug smirk as she answered, "Wouldn't that make you mad, then?
For sticking me back in prison after how well that worked out for you last time? Besides, how do you know I didn't try to change last time?"

"..."

Aidan peered into Chlorine's eyes, silent. It was clear that he'd gone as far he could with simple words.

"...mad, you say? Perhaps you're right." he said, leaning on the table to slowly pull himself up from the chair. "Thinking I could set you on the path to redemption was certainly madness. I'm not even sure why I bothered."

Perhaps Prophet would have, but he wasn't Prophet, and he was only willing to go so far; trying to show the right path was one thing, but sharing the burden, no. It's not like she didn't deserve jail time; the effort had to be hers. "A shame you'll probably think you 'won', but I can live with that."

He reached for the door. "Enjoy your stay."

I didn't want to cut the scene short, but...I racked my brain, but I couldn't really see any reaction other than this. Sorry. :smallfrown:

[Dodgeson]

"I mean useful information! A weakpoint! A design flaw! An off switch! Something!" Avery howled as his arm was reduced in to a series of neat little cubes by the robot's tools, worse than that if this thing continued to hold out like this he was going to lose his bet and have to buy lunch!

A fresh arm popped out from the sleeve, now clutching an unholy fusion of his previous two tools, an electric can-opener!

"Do you know how much these fake arms cost?!" He admonished the robot before slashing wildly at it

Move:Dazed
Free: Set Variable to "Electric Can Opener" Damage 11 Linked to Affliction 11 (Impaired&Vulnerable/Disabled&Defenceless, Defence)(Alternate Resistance:Defence, Extra Condition)(Limited Degree)
Standard: All-Out/Power Attack +5 the robot [roll0] DC31 Toughness & DC21 Defence if that hits.
End of Turn: Regeneration recovers a Bruise
HP 5
Status -5 Active Defence

[Thokk_Smash]

Wraith

Serena listed to your points carefully. Initially, she had that canny look in her eyes that suggested she was already formulating counters to your points, but she started looking more thoughtful as you went one. At the end, she gave a slow nod. "I haven't had the chance to look into alternative possibilities yet," she admitted. "And you're right, regardless of the relative merit between you fighting Tara and me going to Indelar, I have to first compare the relative merit of me going to Indelar and literally any other course of action before I take a step like that. When you put it that way it is blindingly obvious in retrospect," she said, with a kinda relieved-sounding sigh. You knew Serena well enough to know that wasn't quite the end of the matter - she would diligently research possibilities and if she didn't find one that could objectively outweigh the risk:value ratio of her going to Indelar, she would do the latter. Even so, you were not wrong that odds were she would find one.

"That being said, I do not agree that you specifically taking on Tara Ellens in this particular circumstance is wise. If anything, your point about her being a cornered rat with an APEX stone" okay her voice might have gotten just a little high there "is all the more reason that the risk is too high. I know I can't stop you but...will you please at least consider staying out of it? For me?"

Magnus's plan in a solid one and Haptarus is of course a Grade A threat. But to be fair there's a lot of good a precog of Serena's level can do. I'mma say there's a 50% chance that by the end of the game she can find an alternative of sufficient value to convince her not to go to Indelar.

You may improve these odds by helping her search with a new Downtime Action.

Find Serena A Mission: 0/5 Successes. Insight, Investigation, or relevant Expertise DC 20.
For each success, the chance that Serena will find a mission outweighing the value of her going to Indelar increases by 10%. Further, if you increase the total to 100%, you may declare what her new mission is as a free Edit.

Louis allows himself to visibly relax. "Exactly," he says with a small smile. "You're not the kind of person to rush into something blindly. I'll look into it with you; together, I'm sure we can find a mission for you that will be as beneficial for Ilessia as Commander Mindrider's team."

Then he considers her request, her plea for him to think of her when deciding to fight Tara. In response, he gently takes her face in his hands and leans down to kiss her forehead. "I promise that I will give it some serious thought," he says, softly and seriously as he looks in her eyes. "And that thoughts of you will weigh heavily in it. Granted, you're in my thoughts all day, anyway."

His cheeks feel like Flame itself had touched them, but he manages to keep from cringing in self-consciousness at the sheer cheese of what he had just said. In for a penny... "T-to go back to the thought of dinner," he begins, hesitance and hope tinging his voice. "What would you say if I asked Tsuki to zip in to watch the kids, and I take you to that new Dymaran place that opened a few blocks away? J-just the two of us."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Aidan

Chlorine answered with a smug smirk and a jauntily dismissive wave, not saying anything to stop you as you headed for the door.

Avery

This time you managed to get your can opener into a proper seam, discharging damaging electricity into the robot even as you rent it apart. This proved highly disruptive, though unfortunately not disabling. The robot lifted its leg high and brought it down in an effort to stomp you flat!

The scientist, meanwhile, yelled back, "Oh! Right! An off switch, of course! I have a remote shutdown command right here on my tablet! I'll just push it and the robot will be instantly disabled! Why didn't I think of that? OH YEAH BECAUSE I'VE BEEN PUSHING IT FOR THE PAST FIVE MINUTES AND IT HASN'T DONE ANYTHING!" Evidently what the IDEA scientist lacked in helpfulness she made up for with sheer, withering sarcasm.

Giant Robot:
Move: Staggered.
Standard: Attack Avery with Servo Strength, All Out Attack for 5, Power Attack for 5, at [roll0]. On a hit, Toughness DC 36 vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 31 vs. Vulnerable/Stunned, and Strength or Mobility DC [roll1] vs. Trip. Hit

Well looks like the other scenes are about wrapped and given Avery's Regeneration this is probably the last opportunity this thing has to present a meaningful threat. Assuming Avery withstands it, how about you take one more shot for the takedown and if it doesn't drop we can just call it?

Wraith

Serena looked a little surprised, and then she noticed you were blushing, which made her blush. It took a moment before she responded with a seemingly almost uncertain hesitance, "That...sounds like a plan?"

[Hyperbolic sine]

Aidan closed the door behind him, taking particular care not to slam it - he wasn't angry, after all. He could not deny he felt faintly irritated, but no one liked to not succeed in whatever they set out to do, regardless of how invested they were in it.

...bloody APEX.

[Dodgeson]

"Lady..." The flat disc that was beating itself back in to a vaguely Avery shaped groused "...when you're not accidentally releasing building destroying killbots on the city THEN you can get snippy with me! Take this ya giant metal nerd!"

The Cartoon Hero continued to vent his frustration as his can opener whirred, and he swung wildly at the rampaging robot.

Free Action: Spend an HP to remove Stun
Free Action: Instant Up
Move Action: Staggered
Standard Action: All-Out Power Attack +5 [roll0] DC31 Toughness & DC21 Defence if that hits.
End of Turn: Regeneration removes a Bruise
HP 4
Status -5 Active Defense/Staggered

[Quellian-dyrae]

Avery

Now that you had opened up the robot some, it was easier to expose its internal systems to the electric charge of your can opener, hampering its systems. It still took a while and there was some collateral damage from, you know, missiles, and such, but the fact was that you could regenerate and it couldn't so eventually you were able to scrap the thing.

The IDEA scientist was...apologetic. It did not stop SIDE from bringing her in once they got to the scene.

Everyone

The fifth of Decender had been a perfectly normal day. It had gone by without any particular incident of issue at all. Until late at night, when the city was mostly asleep, and the alert came through your phones. The upgrade to the Mentallo Industries satellite that had been set to detect if Tara used her ritual magic alerted all of you. And the ritual was coming from Millaine.

Which meant that this was it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-s-VQBoUdc). Prophet's vision was coming to pass. And while preventing it was foretold to make matters even worse, you had a way to use it to your advantage.

And so the Task Force assembled for what would hopefully be the final time, in the barracks of the Blink Guard in the city of Gran Terna. According to Aidan's intelligence, when Tara teleported back to Ilessia, this was the Blink Guard base that would detect her point of arrival. The Blink Guard stood ready, all eyes fixed on the active crystal screen displaying a map of Ilessia. As soon as Tara arrived, you would be able to move to intercept her.

Until then, there was little to do but wait.

If there's any final planning, preparing, role playing, interactions, and so on that you guys want to do, now is the time. Likewise if you still have sheet changes and such. It's nighttime and most people would be sleeping, but if you want to contact anyone before this goes down, you can totally wake them up!

The Blink Guard team consists of eight PL 10s with teleportation-capable powered armor. That's some serious firepower, but they count as Minions against an opponent as powerful as Tara, and will be subject to lethal damage. Up to you whether you want to risk (let's be honest, probably sacrifice) their lives bringing them along.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Fortunately, the wait didn't take all that long.

About ten minutes after you had all arrived, the Blink Guards' computer system flagged an unexpected teleportation coming into Ilessia from the continent of Peral. You were ready for it, though, and the portal opened immediately, taking you out into the remote northern coast of Lastelle.

You arrived high atop a snow-covered plateau. The night was still and sharp with the bitter cold of a Lastellan winter, the stars above obscured by clouds. There was light though, coming from either side of the plateau, where two of Ilessia's border defense towers shone in the darkness, their light reaching out to sea far enough to cover the full expanse of Ilessian territorial waters. The plateau terminated in a sheer rocky cliff that fell precipitously nearly a thousand feet into the churning sea as it beat rhythmically against the northern edge of Ilessia.

Standing no more than fifty feet away was Tara Ellens.

She was facing one of the towers. In her hand, the Staff of Arcanis was raised, crackling with lightning. But when your team arrived, she whirled towards you. The look on her face was one of brief surprise quickly shifting to bemused resignation, and then in a heartbeat, to venomous hate and searing anger.

Overhead, thunder rumbled in the clouds like a growling beast. The wind howled like a banshee's wail, driving the fierce chill of a winter night in northern Lastelle into the bones of everyone present.

"You."

You notice some...lights(?) off in the distance, far out to sea...

...Are those explosions?

Kate and Wraith are on turn.

[Thokk_Smash]

Strangely, when the alarm rang, a sense of serenity stole over Wraith. This is it. One way or another, tonight ends the Task Force's mission, as well as the existence of his spectral hanger-on. He shoots Serena a quick message, with three little words that mean so much and that he'll want to tell her in person after the battle. His finger trembles just a touch as he presses the screen and sends the message, and then the Wraith is fully upon the world.

With steely calm he waits for the signal. Not even the ever-present whispering of Darryl's vengeful spirit can pierce his calm. And when the portal opens, he strides through without hesitation--into the piercing cold and howling winds of northern Lastelle. Hmm. Fitting scenery, he has to admit.

First thing he does is activate the Scouter to check for any magic on Tara's person. Next thing he does is fight back a wince from the feedback that shows Tara as a solid beacon of power, and thus incapable of being divined. In fact...

"Her power output's Flame-insane high," he says just loud enough for the others to hear. "Nothing'll be able to weaken her powers directly. Like trying to douse a wildfire with a thimble of water."

More loudly, he projects his voice to be heard as he says, "Us." That one word manages to give a credible impression of absolute zero in the immediate vicinity. "You've had a good run, Tara; the dream was nice while it lasted, the dream where you thought you could succeed. But it's time to wake up and smell the coffee. You've got a lot to answer for. This ends NOW!"

Willing a dramatic clap of thunder to coincide with his last word, Wraith takes off to one side, his feet skimming across the air like an ice rink. He settles down a few dozen feet away from the others and braces himself, concealing himself as best he can.

Start of turn: Tactical Deductions to guess what Tara's been up to in the immediate past. Tactics, need an 18: [roll0], Insight: [roll1]

Standard action: Demoralize Tara, spending a Reputation Success to bypass her Fearless, +5 from Reputation: [roll2]

Move action: Move 60ft to the right of and slightly away from Tara on Platform Flight before settling back down to the ground. Current array slot is Forgotten Combat.

Status: Fine, Stealthed at [roll3]
HP: 8
Luck: 2 (Can only force attack re-rolls against Wraith)

[Arlin]

Standing there in the snow, Kate found herself in a rare crystal clear moment amidst the chaos of recent months. She realized she was lucky to have survived all of it, up to this point... and she was glad. The Dreamer that had come closest to killing her wasn't worth it, but Tara?

Oh yes. This was a good time to be alive.

She didn't even bother with words this time, she just darted in instinctively, stepping through a portal to end up behind Tara. Then she opened another portal, in a direction that she had never allowed herself to go before: down.

Kate winced at just the backwash of raw heat as red hot magma flowed forth from the portal in front of her, sending up gouts of steam into the air as it vaporized the nearby snow. She was not playing around.

Move: Portal Step into range for the rest.

Action: Magma Font, using EE to set up. DC 21 Dodge half / DC 26 Toughness vs damage with secondary effect and trapping.

Status: Fine, will be Fatigued next round; HP 1, Luck 2

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 1

If Wraith got to Tara, it was only on a subconscious level. His words didn't seem to make her scared. They just seemed to make her mad. Of course, mad could also mean sloppy, so that was fair enough.

Kate summoned up her portal. Kate's portal attacks were never things to take lightly, but generally speaking, they were expressions of precision and finesse. It wasn't that her portals were awesome displays of raw combat power; their lethality was based on the simple fact that nothing physical could exist where they existed. But if anybody doubted the sheer force that Kate Simms could bring to bear, those doubts would be laid to rest as she conjured a volcanic gout of molten lava from the very bowels of the world and cast it forth upon Tara in a single pressurized burst! Lava hardened almost instantly as it met the arctic air and snowy ground, sending up a great cloud of steam, briefly obscuring Tara from view.

But then the steam condensed in the chill air, fell to the ground as ice. Hardened magma crumbled and fell away. And the ultimate augmenter stood unharmed, one hand raised before her, a shining white shield of power fading into darkness.

This was Tara Ellens, and she could afford sloppy.

"Oh you fools. Do you think I fear you? That I will surrender to you!? You have interfered in my work for the last time. You want this battle? Fine! Have a taste of what I will give to Paradisia!"

"THIS IS FOR DARRYLL!" she screamed, slamming Arcanis's staff upon the ground. Brilliant runes of star-bright light shone all along its length, and Tara let loose with one of her classic lightning attacks, sending a searing bolt of electrical power chaining among you even as she summoned up a protective barrier to shield herself. The staff whirled through her hands, and she leveled it directly your way, one, two, three, four spheres of hellish fire launching from it as if it were some battleship's energy cannon, exploding around you all in a concussive meteor swarm, before bringing it with a final resounding slam down upon the ground. Prophet would feel the shapes of Spiritual Energy within him come under assault as Tara tried to shatter them.

Wraith wasn't kidding about the raw power he had sensed from her. Tara didn't even appear slightly winded from casting four high-level spells in as many breaths.

And all that magical energy, especially the unleashed power of the storm, was felt immediately in the world around them. The clouds rumbled with thunder, and snow began to fall, the wind whipping up with freezing howls, the waves below pounding the cliffs all the harder, sending sprays of sub-freezing water splashing high.

Tara 1:
Free: Augmentation on self, Linking Ritual of the Flawless Shield to Ritual of the Gathering Storm, and replace the Linked Create with Secondary Effect on the Deflect.
Standard: Cast them. Tara is Deflected at 1d10+26 for two rounds and chains the lightning to everyone but Wraith. On a hit (Evasion applies), Toughness DC 31 vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 26 vs. Vulnerable/Stunned.
Avery: [roll0]. Miss
Prophet: [roll1]. Hit
Aidan: [roll2]. Miss
Kate: [roll3]. Miss
Move: Feint Prophet at [roll4]. Should actually be 26

Tara 2:
Move: Attempt to Demoralize Prophet at [roll5].
Free: Augmentation on self, Linking Ritual of the Eldritch Assault with Ritual of the Broken Dream, and swapping the Secondary Effect of Eldritch Assault for Targeted Burst Area.
Standard: Cast them, targeting Prophet with Ritual of the Broken Dream. On a hit, Toughness DC 31+Multiattack vs. Damage, and Prophet additionally takes Will DC 26 vs. Cumulative, Progressive Powers Entranced/Stunned/Transformed.
Avery: [roll6]. Miss
Prophet: [roll7]. Miss unless Feint succeeds
Aidan: [roll8]. Hit, only +2 Multiattack thanks to Evasion 2
Kate: [roll9]. Hit, +5 Multiattack

The Weather Goes Wild:
1: Lightning strikes a random target (Dodge DC 20 for half, Toughness DC 25/20 vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 20/15 vs. Dazed+Vulnerable/Stunned+Defenseless.
2: Arctic winds blow through the field (all combatants roll Dodge DC 20 for half, Fortitude DC 20/15 vs. Weaken Fighting).
3: Icy water sprays in a geyser (random target rolls Dodge DC 20 for half, Fortitude DC 20/15 vs. Vulnerable/Defenseless/Paralyzed and Physically Dazed+Impaired/Stunned+Defenseless).
4: Snow falls in a blizzard (all combatants roll Dodge DC 20 for half, Strength or Dodge DC 20/15 vs. Grab).
5: Hail strikes a random target (Attack at +10, Toughness DC 25+Multiattack vs. Damage).
6: Roll twice.

Random Target Table: 1: Tara, 2: Tara, 3: Avery, 4: Prophet, 5: Aidan, 6: Kate, 7: Wraith, 8: Roll twice.

[roll10], [roll11]. Arctic winds blow through the field

All PCs are on turn.

[Thokk_Smash]

Silently relieved that Tara hadn't noticed him, Wraith gathers his Spiritual Energy. He had been training with Tai in the basics of Chi. He can't parkour for sh*t, but combined with his Dream, he can manage something far more useful...

Skating on the air to get close to the others, Wraith casts out his Spiritual Energy in a net to cover his allies...his friends. "I'm not one for great speeches, guys," he begins. The others can begin to feel power welling within them. Not from Wraith, no, this power is their own. It's as if their souls forgot how to limit their Spiritual Energy output, their bodies forgot their limits. "But I'm proud and glad to have fought side-by-side with all of you. We've got this; it's just one more battle, one more fight, and as long as we work together we'll make it through."

Tai had said the words weren't as important as the sentiment behind them, and Wraith hopes the others can feel his sincerity along with the power surging through them. Then he bursts back away from them, still hiding from sight and touch. "Impressive, impressive," he calls out, his apparently disembodied voice taunting and piercing. "So much power that could've been put toward a goal that wasn't self-defeating and impossible. So much strength that'll wither and waste away in a SIDE prison for the rest of your life. Thorns in your side we might be, but thorns can take down even the greatest giants." He stops a goodly distance away from Tara, but relatively close to his friends.

Move action: Close enough to the group to talk without being heard by Tara.

Standard action: Spend a :smallcool: HP to drop Inspire! Everyone gets one round of +5 to their rolls!

Move-by action: Continue moving, coming out of auditory hiding but remaining Stealthed otherwise.

Extra Effort: Surge to Demoralize Tara 2, +5 for Reputation, spending a Reputation Success to bypass her Fearless: [roll0]

Move-by Action: End turn about 150ft from Tara, 120ft from the group.

Status: Fine, Fatigued next round, Auditory Stealthed at [roll1], all other Stealth as previous
HP: 7 6
Luck: 2 (can only force enemy re-rolls against Wraith)

[Hyperbolic sine]

Soon after the teleportation, something in the background caught Aidan's eye; unfortunately, even that momentary distraction was enough to allow Tara to seize initiative from him, and soon he found himself dodging lightning.

"Foxglove to HQ, I see explosions offshore! I want -" he started ordering, keeping his voice low enough so that only the agents on the other side of the comm would hear over the howling of the wind - he didn't want to alarm the others, since defeating Tara had to be given priority at all costs. Then came the fireballs, and he only managed to dodge so much; his coat sizzled in protest as it tried to disperse the extreme heat, but fortunately the arctic wind chose that moment to blow stronger and help it cool down. "-hnng! I want a satellite over there NOW!" Even if Tara had priority, though, not knowing would be even worse.

Emerald flames started to envelop his body, burning ever brighter a soon as Wraith's Sèiritual Energy added to the fuel. "Heh. You bet." he replied with a confident smirk, then charged at Tara.

"Surrender?" he asked after getting close; his right fist shot towards the pit of her stomach, while his left hand reached for the wrist of the hand that held the staff to force her to let it go.

"After what your lover pulled -"

Then, he used his momentum to spin around and deliver a second round of strikes; if he hadn't managed to snatch the staff on the first try, he'd go for it again, otherwise he'd try to sweep Tara's legs from under her.

"-I'm not really expecting that."

Routining 30 Perception. Also 30 to Assess her, because why not.

Move: Dazed.
Standard: All-out Charge Tara #1 with Corrosion Punch at [roll0], crit on 34+ Crit!; on a hit, Toughness DC 25 30 vs Incurable Damage and Strength DC [roll1] 40 vs Disarm. Deflected at 1d10+17.
EE Standard: All-out attack Tara #1 with Corrosion Punch at [roll2], crit on 36+; on a hit, Toughness DC 25/20 vs Incurable Damage and Resistance Impaired/Disabled/Transformed (Cumulative, Secondary Effect), Strength DC [roll3] vs Disarm or Trip.
There might be Aid+Team Attack from Prophet. Also, if Tara is Impaired the EE attack will also use Power Attack 2.

-5 Active Defences, Deflected at 1d10+17.

[Dorni]

Prophet stepped through the portal and, not for the first time, was once again struck by the sheer power that he could see coursing through Tara, the amazing gifts the Dream had bestowed upon her. He felt some amount of pity - she could have done such great things instead of choosing to misuse them as she had. But that pity was drowned out by resolve to stop her. She'd long since made her choice.

His eyes widened as all that power coalesced in her hands and she unleashed her incredible barrage - Prophet had never been a natural warrior even after all his time in the Task Force, and his time away from them had done him no favors in that regard. Fortunately, Avery shielded Prophet from his own mistake by throwing himself in the lightning's path.

Fortunately, the time away had given Prophet more time for self reflection and to recover from Daryll's final terrible curse. And as his sureness of purpose had grown, the Dream had answered. Golden light burst forth from Prophet to envelop his allies, mending wounds and soothing pain. Prophet raised one hand toward Avery as though he lifting his cartoon friend's burden, and the power that had enveloped the hero changed to radiate from him instead.

"No Tara. Daryll did everything he did for you. Destroying Paradisia was never his wish. He even tried to turn you aside from this. This isn't for him. This is for you."

The Seeking set to Eyes of the Seeker. Accurate Analytical Ranged Mental Detect [Dreamer Powers] on Tara.
Powers array set to Blessing of Empowerment
Move: Using BoE's Heal. All PCs within Perception [Visual] are affected. This ability is Restorative 5. All PCs remove 1 Bruise and 5 points of Weaken
Avery: [roll0]
Foxglove: [roll1]
Kate: [roll2]
Prophet: [roll3]
Wraith: [roll4]

Standard: Aid Avery. [roll5]. +5 to Avery's next attack. +5 to Kate's next attack. +2 to Wraith's next attack. +2 to Aiden's next attack
Aid triggers Blessing of Empowerment's Team Attack with Avery. Avery benefits from a Team Attack at 1d20+26. Base rank is 6, use Power Attack to match any shift Avery uses. Avery can apply this TA to any one Toughness or Dodge resisted Damage, Affliction, or Weaken.

EE: Prayer of Protection. All PCs within Perception [Visual] gain Deflect at 1d10+28, Evasion 2, and are Healed at:
Avery: [roll6] 1 Bruise removed.
Foxglove: [roll7] 1 Bruise removed.
Kate: [roll8] 1 Bruise removed.
Prophet: [roll9] 1 Bruise removed.
Wraith: [roll10] 1 Bruise removed.

[Dodgeson]

"Good to have you back buddy." Avery said to Prophet as he hacked up soot and shook off the effects of Tara's lighting attack, it stung like hell, but he knew that as long he kept his pal on his feet then this would all work out fine (probably). Case in point the golden light that spread out from Prophet and filled him with strength and vigour.

Spurred on by the new guy's stirring words (was it really the right time to be bringing newbies on to the Task Force? Avery kind of had more important things to worry about right now) Avery charged, his feet whirling under him things like physics a distant concern for him as he closed the gap between himself and the mad ritualist, he wasn't going to let Foxglove go toe to toe with Tara on his own.

"AND THIS IS FOR ADAROS YOU PSYCHOPATH!" He yelled, pulling out his mallet out from behind his back and swinging it over his head to bring it down on Tara.

Move: Move in to Close with Tara
Free Action: Set Variable to Damage 11 Linked to Affliction 11 (Dazed&Impaired/Stunned&Disabled, Fort)(Cumulative, Extra Condition)(Limited Degree)
Standard Action: All-Out Power Attack +5 at Tara [roll0] DC31 Toughness & DC26 Fortitude if that hits. Pretty sure that hits?
Prophet's Team Attack: [roll1] Ditto?
End of Turn: Fortitude to remove Vulnerable (DC18) [roll2] Recover
HP 4
Status -5 Active Defence, Deflected at 1d10+28

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 2

Aidan hammered Tara with a blurring-fast martial kata backed by his potent disintegrating powers. Which...all did precisely nothing against Tara's formidable magical barriers.

But you know, that was okay. Because at the end of it?

He had the staff, and she did not.

On came Avery, his trusty mallet smashing through even Tara's shields and slamming her full in the face with enough force to send her stumbling back, briefly off-balance and with a clear bruise showing on her cheek.

Kate unleashed a flurry of razor-sharp portals, but Tara moved with augmented speed, deftly dodging every one.

As Prophet called forth the blessing of the Dream and Wraith continued plying his psychological warfare, Tara wore a vicious smirk. "You're really going to try to play the augmentation game against me? Me!?" Cackling, she gathered power even without the staff, canny enough not to make a direct attack when the group was prepared for it. Instead, she charged herself with positive energy, preparing for the next assault, while simultaneously lashing out with telekinetic force in an attempt to yank the staff back from Aidan.

The bruise Avery had inflicted upon her was already gone.

All of the energy she was pouring out continued to be felt in the weather around them. As snow fell and wind howled, and waves crashed against the cliffs below, a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky, crashing down on Wraith and setting his clothes aflame!

Over comms, the agent replied, "Acknowledged. I'm seeing some chatter on military channels. Looks like the navy..."

Tara 2:
Move: Nah.
Standard: Augmentation on Tara 1.
+8 points to remove Effortless from Ritual of the Sacred Promise Nullify.
-8 points to add Perception Range (Limited to Close) to Ritual of the Sacred Promise Nullify.
-16 points to add Perception Range (Limited to Close) to Ritual of the Sacred Promise Healing.
-32 points to add Linked Move Object 16 (Perception Range [Limited to Close]) to Ritual of the Sacred Promise.
-1 point to add Triggered (Upon ending turn with a Damage or Weaken condition) to Ritual of the Sacred Promise Healing.
-1 point to add Triggered (Upon ending turn with an Affliction condition) to Ritual of the Sacred Promise Nullify.

Tara 1:
Move: Dazed.
Standard: Ritual of the Sacred Promise, setting the Triggers and using the Move Object to Disarm Aidan. Strength DC 26 vs. Disarm.
End of Turn: Secondary Effect triggers, Tara is Deflected again.
End of Turn: Regenerate a Bruise.

The Weather Goes Wild:
Wraith, give me Dodge DC 20 for half, Toughness DC 25/20 vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 20/15 Dazed+Vulnerable/Stunned+Defenseless. In addition, due to your Death Curse, regardless of the result of your saves the lightning bolt sets you on fire. You can take a move action to attempt to extinguish the fire, but doing so leaves you Prone and because of the Death Curse the fire is especially tenacious; it requires a DC 25 Dodge check to negate, but you get a +5 circumstance bonus from the snow and such. While on fire, you take the Damage anew each round at the end of your turn (at the same DC as you end up rolling against the lightning) and cannot use Stealth or gain Concealment for purposes of vision, aside from like being on the other side of some big object or something. Take a :smallcool: Hero Point for your Death Curse Complication.

All PCs are on turn.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Unfortunately for Tara, Aidan had trained extensively to counter the kind of attacks that couldn't be dodged; he kept the staff relatively still until a fraction of a second before the spell triggered, throwing off her "aim" and greatly reducing the force he needed to oppose (though it by no means took negligible effort).

"Too bad." he said with a mocking smirk. "Now, how does this wor- ah,yes."

Aidan wasn't much of an expert on magic, but it looked like the staff was pretty user-friendly. It glowed with power and, a heartbeat later, several Aidans had broken through Tara's shield and delivered punches and kicks with invisible speed - but speed wasn't all, and a cloud of destructive energy burst forth, clinging to Tara in order to aggravate any attacks she would recieve in the next few seconds.

The navy, though...what were they doing in Lastelle? He waited (as far as avoiding pointless chatter and distraction while fighting Public Enemy #1 could be considered waiting) for HQ to gather some more intel.

Free + Move: Here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=24044702&postcount=100).

Standard: Attack! This repeats next round due to Cloud Area.

Tara #1: Toughness DC 25 vs Incurable Damage, Strength DC [roll0] vs Trip.
Tara #2: Toughness DC 25 vs Incurable Damage, Strength DC [roll1] vs Trip.
Free: Trigger the Reaction Affliction, attacking whichever track is in the worst shape. Power attack (1) at [roll2], on a hit Toughness DC 20 vs Impaired+Dazed (1st track Resistance and Recovery only, 2nd Physical only).

Deflected at 1d10+22. Damage vs Tara gains Incurable.

[Dorni]

Prophet met Tara's vicious smirk with with his own patient smile. "Yes, I think I will."

The golden light shrouding his allies intensified and sunk into the Task Force, and they would feel their own powers surging under the blessing of The Dream. In Prophet's eyes they radiated power that, while it couldn't match the sheer volume of power coursing through Tara, for the moment their brightness nearly matched her.

Move: Heal from Blessing of Empowerment. Allies are Healed at...
Kate: [roll0] One Degree. Stagger removed.

Standard: Inspire!

EE: Prayer of Protection. All allies within Area [Perception [Visual]] are Deflected at 1d10+23 and gain Evasion 2. Allies are Healed at...
Kate: [roll1] Nuthin'

Use HP to negate fatigue from EE.

[Arlin]

Kate nodded her thanks to Prophet, but didn't have time for more- here was an opportunity! Dropping through a portal to end up right next to Tara, she sent a flurry of portals at the power mad Dreamer.

Move: Portal Step into Close range

Standard: Destructo Disks on Tara (+5 Inspire, +5 Close range, PA/AoA 2, Crit on 37+): [roll0]
On hit, Toughness DC 26 + Multiattack vs Damage.

Extra Effort: One more time! [roll1]

Status: Bruised x 1, Defenses -2, Fatigued next round
Luck 1/2, HP 1

[Thokk_Smash]

Lightning strikes, and Wraith is briefly surrounded by steam and the dust from the explosion. The dust settles, the steam blows away--to reveal Wraith standing with a bold grin. Granted, he is clearly visible, what with the flames dancing on his clothes and threatening to scorch him. Yet despite the best efforts of the spectral Darryl, Wraith is entirely unharmed, as if being immolated is nothing more than a walk in the park.

Wraith feels the Dream course through him, and he takes a moment to gather himself. With a surprising grace, he drops to the snow-covered ground and does what no one thought they'd ever have to do when they first heard it: he stops, drops, and rolls to try to get the fire out. Springing to his feet, he reaches deep into his Spiritual Energy, to that font of energy that has gotten him through untold dangers.

His body screams in pain. He nearly blacks out. But he forces his knife's blade to shift into a spiked blade of scintillating purple as he rushes at Tara. In pure silence he stabs the new blade in once, twice, before ducking back out of range.

Free action: Swap to Forgotten Combat

Move action: Stop, drop, and roll, [roll0] vs DC 25 to become not a Wraith barbecue.

Standard->Move action: Leap to his feet and Charge at Tara.

Free action: :smallcool: HP grab Extraordinary Effort

1st EE: Power Stunt off of Wraith's knife to make Why Were You Here?: Affliction 12 (DC 22 Fort vs Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless/Disabled+Transformed (Baseline Resistance bonus set to +0 before penalties, Vulnerable, and cannot benefit from Deflect), Extra Condition, Cumulative, Multiattack, Quirk 6 (First track only applies against Wraith), Distracting, Inaccurate 1, Insidious (Power Detection), Feature (+2 to resist Disarms))

Charge Attack: Attack Tara 2 with Why Were You Here?, AoA/PA 5, +2 for Aid, +5 Inspire, +5 from Prone, -2 from Charge: [roll1] vs DC 27+Multiattack Fort

2nd EE: Do it again! Tara 2 gets [roll2] vs DC 27+Multiattack Fort.

Move-by Action: Move 30ft away from Tara, keeping diagonally 35ft away from the others, Stealthing at [roll3]

Free action: Spend 2 :smallcool: HP to prevent Fatigue-induced Incap.

Status: Fatigued, -5 Active Defense, Vulnerable, Deflected at 1d10+23
HP: 3
Luck: 4 (only to force re-rolls)

[Dodgeson]

"What's the matter? Aint so tough without your little stick are ya?" Avery taunted quite possibly one of the most dangerous people on Aranth as he tossed his mallet aside and pulled off his hat to rummage around inside, crowing in triumph when he pulled his hand back out and a small metal disc was now attached to his palm.

With a grin, he twisted a knob on his new joy buzzer a couple of times before swinging his open hand hard at Tara, trusting Caleb to shelter him from the worst of any retaliation and his powers to handle the rest.

Free Action: Set Variable to Damage 11 (Secondary Effect)(Limited:Requires a Move Action to Charge) Linked to Affliction 11 (Impaired&Vulnerable/Disabled&Defenceless, Fort)(Cumulative, Extra Condition, Secondary Effect)(Limited Degree, Limited:Requires Move Action to Charge)
Standard+Move: All-Out Power Attack +5 Tara [roll0] DC31 Toughness & DC26 Fortitude vs Cumulative Impaired&Vulnerable/Disabled&Defenceless both with Secondary Effect if that hits.
HP 4
Status -5 Active Defence, Deflected at 1d10+23

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 3

"Carrier Team Two was engaged by heavy air assault. Air Force is dispatching fighters to provide backup..." the SIDE agent continued reporting.

Aidan's attacks started wearing away at Tara's shield, and sent her sprawling to the ground. Which was...a relatively minor inconvenience for someone who relied on magic for attack and defense, but it was both very cold and kinda humiliating, so Aidan wins the moral victory!

But perhaps more important than the direct impact was the disintegrating power his strikes infused into her shields, that would eat away at any renewed energies she tried to channel into them!

Kate immediately capitalized, and point-blank, Tara had no opportunity to dodge Kate's portals. She was forced to counter them, power-to-power, the instantaneous negation causing the portals to collapse with heavy thumps inches from her skin, a brute-force effort that, though it may have left her physically undamaged, still took a significant tithe of her energy.

Wraith's ferocious attack passed without impediment through Tara's barriers, discharging its power into her body. Tara was too strong for Wraith's power to entirely overcome, but she definitely seemed disoriented - though perhaps only briefly.

On came Avery, discharging a burst of electricity into Tara. Her barrier absorbed the voltage with effort, but it's the amps that kill you. Or, in this case, cause you general muscle spasms. And hair standing up on end. Because, you know, Avery, and all.

You would think that Tara would have recognized the dire straights she was in. As powerful a Dreamer as she was, past a certain point raw power only went so far. Even the greatest of Dreamers could be overwhelmed by sufficient numbers of decently-powerful enemies. Most foes would have withdrawn, would have sought some way to regain the advantage.

Not Tara Ellens. Tara gathered up her power, channeling ever more of it to fight her way through.

And doubled down.

"You think I need the staff to destroy you? The staff is a mere trinket! A tool of convenience, nothing more. Perhaps for people like you it represents a sizable power boost, but all it does for me is make it cost a little less energy to wield my upper-level spells."

"BUT WE'RE PAST THAT POINT NOW!" Tara screamed, and unleashed a psychic blitz assault the likes of which none of you had ever seen.

Imagine the pain of losing a loved one, in such a way that you felt responsible for their death. Imagine the hormonal rush of a teenager's first kiss. Imagine the desperate pangs of hunger and thirst over weeks of deprivation. The crushing boredom of a dead-end cubicle job taking thirty years of your life without you even noticing they were gone. The terror that comes with knowing you are about to die. The rage of facing a man who ruined your life. Imagine the consuming drive of a Presidential ambition, and the piercing agony of a splitting migraine.

Imagine feeling all those things, all at once, crashing into your mind while the inarguable voice of God demanded your immediate and unquestioning obedience, in exchange for release.

That was the power that Tara gathered up and made manifest in the world, focused into a condensed sphere of prismatic white light, and hurled into the air.

A rainbow storm of emotional comets came crashing down upon you, the slightest touch subjecting you to all of it, even as Tara burned yet more power to bring forth a renewed shield!

At that point, one could be forgiven for not noticing the hail.

Tara 1:
Move: Attempt to Demoralize Aidan at [roll0].
Standard: Ritual of the Sacred Promise, still augmented from before, though she's applying it directly. The Healing is indeed Persistent. She'll target Tara 2 with the Healing and Nullify, and once again use the Move Object to either Disarm the staff from Aidan (Strength DC 18 after half immunity) or Grab anyone who may somehow Perception Interpose (Strength or Dodge DC 26). Healing: [roll1]. Nullify: [roll2]. 8 Healing Points. Counter probably fails.
Extra Effort - Additional Standard Action: Augment Tara 2's Ritual of the Opened Mind, adding Cloud Area 3. The team gets a floating :smallcool: Hero Point as she buys off the fatigue.
Free: Swap to Ritual of the Flawless Shield.
EXTRAORDINARY EFFORT - Ritual of the Flawless Shield. Tara is Deflected at 1d10+26 (minus whatever penalties remain from Afflictions) and is surrounded by a rank 16 Created barrier. The team gets a floating :smallcool: Hero Point as she buys off the fatigue.
End of Turn: Regeneration fails to remove an Incurable Bruise.
End of Turn: Fortitude to remove Impaired+Vulnerable (DC 26): [roll3]. Hard nope

Tara 2:
Move: Sure let's stand up. Why not.
Extra Effort - Power Stunt off of Augmentation.

Epic Opened Mind: Ritual of the Opened Mind gains Alternate Resistance (Defense), Perception Range, Selective, Secondary Effect. The party gets a floating :smallcool: Hero Point as she buys off the fatigue.

Standard: Epic Opened Mind. Everybody give me Defense DC 26 vs. Cumulative Entranced+Impaired+Vulnerable/Compelled+Disabled+Defenseless/Controlled. This Precise effect allows Tara to choose when the penalties apply. You will be affected again at the end of Tara's next turn if you remain within the 60' radius area. You will be affected again at the end of Tara's turn one round after you otherwise cease to be affected. Note that your intentionally-taken defense penalties (which includes the Vulnerable for Distracting, I'm looking at you Wraith) do apply to the resistance check, but aside from Prophet you're still Inspired.

End of Turn: Regeneration fails to remove an Incurable Bruise.
End of Turn: Fortitude to remove Disabled vs. Wraith + Defenseless, if it hasn't been Countered (DC 27): [roll4]. Recovers, prior counter irrelevant.

Triggered: Previous Ritual of the Sacred Promise triggers. Healing goes to Tara 1, Nullify to whichever still needs it if either do (prioritizing Tara 2). Healing: [roll5]. Nullify: [roll6]. Heals a Bruise and gets 6 Healing Points towards the next. Avery make a check against the Counter at 1d20+16

This was a tremendous exertion of power - Tara may not use GM Fiat again until the end of her next turn.

The Weather Goes Wild:
Hail attacks. On a hit, Toughness DC 25+Multiattack vs. Damage.
Tara 1: [roll7], Deflected at [roll8]+numbers. Barrier Toughness: [roll9]. Tara Toughness if Breached: [roll10] or so. Miss
Tara 2: [roll11], Deflected at [roll12]+numbers. Barrier Toughness: [roll13]. Tara Toughness if Breached: [roll14] or so. Crits the barrier, which tanks it anyway.
Prophet: [roll15], Deflected at [roll16]. Deflected
Prophet: [roll17], Deflected at [roll18]. Deflected
Wraith: [roll19], Deflected at [roll20]. Hit. +2 Multiattack.

All PCs are on turn. If you end up Compelled or Controlled, you are required to attack your allies to the best of your tactical ability, with maximum aggression (must AoA for as much as possible). Compulsions cannot force you to spend limited/player resources (i.e. Hero Points, Extra Effort, etc).

[Hyperbolic sine]

Aidan's training paid off once more, as he focused on the agent's report to dampen and weather the effects of the psychic assault. Whatever the Navy was doing, he hoped it wouldn't interfere with Tara's defeat.

"You say that, but you look pretty desperate to me." he said, focusing all his power at the staff's tip; then, he pointed it at the augmenter, unleashing a thick disintegrating beam that threatened to utterly erase her magical shield before bringing its destructive power to Tara herself. As he did that, a fraction of the staff's magic flowed back into him instead, causing his shilouette to become slightly blurred; the magical copies that still lingered attacked one last time, trying to hinder Tara's movements for a few precious seconds, before they'd disappear for good.

Apologies for the delay.

:smallcool: HP to downgrade Exhausted.

Free: Switch to Corrosion Punch.
Move: Use Arcanis's staff for this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=24059054&postcount=113).
Standard: Counter Tara 1's Ritual of the Flawless Shield at (+5 from Inspire) [roll0]; :smallcool: HP reroll if it fails [roll1].
EE: If the Counter failed, try again ([roll2]+5) Otherwise, both Taras Toughness DC 25/20 vs Incurable Damage, Resistance&Recovery Impaired/Disabled (Cumulative); if Tara 1 is hit at (+5 from Inspire) [roll2], she must save against DC 30 Damage instead. Note the Prophet might want to Aid/Team attack.

End of turn: Cloud triggers. Both Taras Toughness DC 25 vs Incurable Damage, Dodge or Strength DC 30 (OOC (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=24062684&postcount=116)) vs Grab (can't be sustained).

Deflected at 1d10+22.

[Dorni]

Prophet summoned his Dream-gifted wings of light and took to the stormy sky, weaving and dodging Tara's rain of shining comets. And what point are we at, exactly? Do you even know where this ends anymore, Tara?

Still, the priest couldn't avoid them all, but held to his faith and weathered the psychic assault for now. A look over his shoulder showed him his comrades hadn't all fared as well. Avery already had giant hypnotic disks for eyes. That was already bad, but worse was that the rain of comets hadn't even ended yet.

He'd come to understand that Avery's gifts were at their strongest when one accepted and worked within their cartoon rules, and the strongest forces in cartoon world were humor and love.

Caleb flipped in a hard wing-over and pointed behind Avery. "Hey look! Brava's here!"

Free: Switch The Seeking array to Wings of Light
Move: Out of the mind fog
Standard: Persuasion to break Avery out of Entranced. [roll0] vs DC 26.

[Dodgeson]

Avery stood slack jawed and helpless inside Tara's maelstrom, while Dreamers generally (and Avery specifically) were hardier than most, all of that was still wrapped around a regular squishy brain. He would have stayed staring in to mindlessly into space too if Caleb's voice hadn't cut across the battlefield, Brava was here?! She couldn't see him slacking on the job like this!

Like it was being pulled by an invisible string he raised his hand and slapped himself right in the face, snapping him back to reality as he shook his head vigorously side to side.

"Where?!" He said, scanning the battlefield for the object of his affection until he put two and two together chuckling in embarrassment "Thanks I needed that...now where were we?"

Reaching in to his sleeve he hauled out an enormous steel ringed mallet and began to swing wildly over and over again at Tara before beating a hasty retreat out of the reach of her mental attack.

Free Action: Set Variable to Damage 11 (Multiattack) Linked to Weaken Toughness (Resisted by Fortitude)
Standard Action: All-Out Power Attack +5 at Tara [Roll in OOC] DC31 Toughness & DC26 Fortitude vs Weaken Toughness if that hits
EE Standard Action: All-Out Power Attack +5 at Tara [Roll in OOC] DC31 Toughness & DC26 Fortitude vs Weaken Toughness if that hits
Move Action: Move out of the Cloud
End of Turn: Will Save to remove Impaired&Vulnerable (DC26) [roll0]
End of Turn: Secondary Effect activates DC31 Toughness & DC26 Fortitude vs Cumulative Impaired&Vulnerable/Disabled&Defenceless
HP 5
Status-5 Active Defence/Fatigued/Impaired & Vulnerable

[Thokk_Smash]

It was a close thing, but Wraith is able to push through the deluge of mind-wiping emotion. It could be attributed to the months of exposure to Darryl's Death Curse, but some of the emotions even feel stale to him. He's nearly seen his loved one die to a giant elemental's fist; he felt as if he would die when he took that fist himself. F*ck Tara and her mind games.

Tai's gift of a pocket knife has always been malleable, transformable. Now Wraith stretches that malleability to its limit, stretching the Dreamtech metal and gears into a thin sheathe around his hands, like powered armor gauntlets. It hurts like a sonavabitch, but it allows him to channel his specialized combat style through the gauntlets and through the intervening space--straight to Tara's face.

After throwing a series of brutal punches, he pulls back out of the immediate area of her bullsh*t, attempting to fade into the ether--and if her powers end up controlling him, well, he can just take a little nap.

Waiting until all allies have attacked Tara.

Free action: Extra Effort: Power Stunt off of Unkie Wraith's Pocket Knife: Forgotten Combat's Affliction loses Limited to Against Wraith, gains Extra Condition (Entranced/Stunned), Extra Limb (Projection), Elongation 9 (Quirk [Extra Limb only])

Standard action: Attack with enhanced Forgotten Combat, Power Attacking for 5, -2 for Impaired, [roll0] vs DC 30 Toughness, DC 25 Will vs Impaired+Vulnerable+Entranced/Disabled+Defenseless+Stunned

Free action: Spending a :smallcool: Hero Point to get Extraordinary Effort. Second action dependent on whether Tara is Entranced or not.

If she is Entranced, then Wraith will Recover and attempt to take off the previous Epic Open Mind's effect: Will vs DC 26, -2 for Impaired: [roll1]

If she is not Entranced, Wraith will attack her with the enhanced Forgotten Combat again: [roll2]

Move action: Move on Platform Flight to 100ft away from Tara, then land back on the ground. Routining Stealth for 29

Will to remove Affliction if needed, DC 26: [roll3]

Status: Bruised, Impaired+Vulnerable, Incapped by Fatigue next round pending HP expenditure
HP: 2 (pending)
Luck: 2 (only to force re-rolls on Wraith-targeted attacks)

[Quellian-dyrae]

The SIDE agent continued to feed Aidan context, "They think it's a Haptaran air strike. Seeing reports...mostly jets, several power armored fighters." ...What in the world was Haptarus doing attacking the Ilessian navy? I mean, sure, they were at war and all, but Haptarus was completely land-locked.

Tara came under heavy assault from the Task Force, Aidan punching through her shields and holding her down, his disintegrating powers wearing at her personal wardings, opening up the opportunity for Avery to delve her a crushing blow, shattering her wards, followed up by a furry of portals from Kate that scythed through Tara's deflective barriers, turned aside only just enough to minimize the damage they caused. Even so, the snow around Tara was stained red with blood.

And the Wraith saw his opening.

"Wait a minute..." the SIDE agent continued reporting, comfortably oblivious to what was going on on that storm-wracked battlefield.

Putting everything he had behind it, Wraith hammered Tara full in the face from a distance. The augmenter had no remaining defense. She took the blow full on the chin, all of Wraith's power behind it, a knock-out blow. Power exploded out from her, blasting into the air. In an instant, the storm - both the wild weather and the magical bombardment - was wiped away by the outpouring backlash of energy. The stars shone down over the snow-covered plateau.

It was over.

They had...um?

So. This was interesting.

Tara didn't seem to be unconscious.

She was battered for sure, her face covered with bruises, blood flowing slowly (thanks to the cold) from several wickedly precise wounds. But somehow, by dint of sheer Spiritual Energy, Tara Ellens was still combat-capable.

Several things happened in that moment.

Tara vanished from the ground, reappearing several yards away - and when she did, Arcanis's staff was back in her hand. Aidan take a :smallcool: Hero Point.

The sea and sky in the distance was positively filled with explosions.

And in Aidan's ear, the SIDE agent gasped, "That's the Emperor's powered armor!"

Nine spots of light came streaking in from the seas to the north, drawing fire from the border defense emplacements on the plateau and sending four of the spots careening down into the sea. Four of the remaining ones landed around Tara in a defensive formation. They were big, hulking suits of powered armor, like heavy tanks turned into sporty and functional outerwear. They were garishly designed with black metal, an inordinate number of spikes, and lots of crimson light from various sources that probably weren't all entirely necessary. The flag of Haptarus glowed in red against black on their chests. The suits had four flexible arms, two sprouting from each shoulder, and each ending in some death-dealing device - an oversized sword, a long, thick chain, a heavy-duty artillery gun, and some sort of bulky, kinda hammer-like device. The suits seemed to have sustained some damage from the border defense weaponry, but they had gotten off lighter than the ones who had dropped from the sky, and still seemed plenty combat-capable.

The fifth suit, though...it was something else. The flipping armor was wearing armor, the power armored suit looking like some gleaming, nine-foot-tall man sculpted of gold and ivory, encased in a heavy mail of black metal. The suit-sculpture moved with a fluidity beyond all but the most advanced of nanotech armor, and from its back jutted "wings" that were actually weapon racks, oversized weaponry of both modern and archaic designs just hanging off the backs of them. And it wasn't even touched by the laser fire.

And the sculpted face moved. With a weird, uncanny-valley flow of crawling nanites, it formed expressions and conveyed emotion. At the moment, it wore a certain impatient bemusement as it beheld the battlefield. A deep voice, ringing with command and modulated with a certain bell-like quality from the suit's speaker system, came from it to ask, "Are we ready to go?"

This isn't just some supertechnician Dreamer with a custom power armored suit. This is the Powered Armor of the God-Emperor, a suit that the Emperor of Haptarus himself dons when playing the role of the God-Emperor for his cult. Hilariously, the combat capabilities of the suit are estimated to be a modest downgrade from his natural fighting power, but the suit's defenses are sufficiently robust to ensure complete protection for the Emperor while he is in. The God-Emperor is considered a separate character from the Emperor of Haptarus for combat purposes; while wearing the Powered Armor of the God-Emperor, Haptarus cannot be targeted or affected directly by any means, but cannot himself contribute to the battle using his own powers.

Teleportation and other forms of fast travel into Haptarus from outside is...not really a practical proposition. If you're not dealing with the Empire's border defenses you're dealing with Indelar's, basically. Evidently, retrieving Tara was deemed sufficiently valuable to the Emperor that he came to escort her himself. Presumably the plan was to use the naval attack as a distraction, let Tara destroy the border defense emplacements, and then pick her up. You guys threw a wrench into the plan.

"Momentarily. I have some unfinished business here first," Tara said, and her power began to gather around her again - though not nearly as strongly as before.

The golden face of the God-Emperor betrayed a moment's fleeting annoyance, before schooling itself into a broad, exaggerated grin and speaking with dramatic bombast. "Very well! I suppose we have enough time for a brief diversion! BWA-HA-HA!"

--

This is it.

This is what it all comes down to.

The Ilessian military is engaged with Haptaran forces to the north.

The Emperor himself has come to escort Tara Ellens back to Haptarus.

The consequences of adding Haptaran Blood Magic to Tara's supreme ritual mastery cannot be overstated. The threat she could present - to Paradisia, to Ilessia, to all of you personally and everyone you know and love - with such resources is impossible to overstate.

And it is nothing compared to the threat of the Empire of Haptarus having access to the permanent ritual augments that Tara is capable of producing. The chaos and havoc she was able to wreak with a prison's worth of dangerous Dreamers would be the barest hint of a preview of what her power could do backing an entire army that drafts every single combat-capable Dreamer in an entire Empire into its military. To say nothing for the horror of an Augmented Emperor.

You cannot let her leave this plateau with the Emperor. You must stop their alliance here, now, whatever the cost. Now is the time to dig deeper than you ever have before. To push beyond every limit if that is what it takes to win.

All non-fatigue conditions are removed. Ongoing effects from prior rounds are cancelled. Per-scene resources (Recover, Inspire, etc) are NOT reset.

You are subject to Lethal Damage during the final battle. It's all on the line. Take a :smallcool: Hero Point for the Complication.

You also all get a :smallcool: Hero Point for your initial victory over Tara. And finally...

EVERYBODY TAKE 10 POWER POINTS!

AND INCREASE YOUR POWER LEVEL BY ONE!

You may not spend these new Power Points on limited-use traits (Unreliable, Fades, Luck, etc) or on traits Limited or Flawed in such a way as to be applicable here (no Limited to Tara Ellens or some such). Basically, buy them as if they were on-the-fly powers.

You may exchange up to 10 of your existing PP for new traits following the same rules.

This is the Very Final Battle. Hero Points are worthless to you after this.

Injured Tara only counts as a single character in combat.

All PCs are on turn. In exchange for your automatic initiative, the enemies receive +2 to all defensive stats in the opening round.

[Dodgeson]

Sweet Arch, they'd done it! They'd gone toe to toe with one of the most dangerous people on Aranth and they'd won, now Tara was going to be made to answer for everything that she'd done, Avery lived for days like this! And then suddenly they very much hadn't done it and the actual most dangerous person on Aranth was standing in front of them, this wasn't over by a long shot!

Avery's feet were already whirling under him before he knew what he was doing and it wasn't until he was half-way there that a plan started to form in his mind. He had no idea whether this was going to work or not, but he was pretty sure that when it came to a guy with a big enough ego to call himself the 'God Emperor' it would draw attention away from the rest of the Taskforce.

And either way, how many people could say that they'd thrown a pie at the Emperor of Haptarus?

Free Action: Spend an HP to turn Exhausted to Fatigued
Free Action: Set Variable to Damage 12 Linked to Affliction 12 (Impaired&Vulnerable/Disabled&Defenceless/Unaware, Defence)(Alternate Resistance:Defence, Extra Condition)(Limited:First Track is Limited Degree, Second Track is Limited to Vision)
Move Action: Move to AI14
Move-by Standard: Attack the God Emperor [roll0] DC27 Toughness & DC22 Defence vs Impaired&Vulnerable/Disabled&Defenceless/Unaware if that hits.
Move Action: Move to W17

HP 6
Status Fatigued

[Dorni]

It was over. Tara lay defeated and the Task Force's work was finally complete.

And then it wasn't.

And Prophet found himself face to power-armored face with the God Emperor himself. The man who'd led Haptarus to atrocities uncounted. Who reveled in abusing his gifts and all the misery he'd caused.

The light of the Dream that had been dimming blazed forth from Prophet once more, to envelop his allies until they also glowed with the Dream's blessing.

"Haptarus! I am Caleb Wey, Prophet of the Dream. And I am obligated to ask you to reflect on the many ways you've abused your gifts and to take responsibility for your misdeeds." His baritone rang over the plateau as he spoke the formality.

Free: Set primary array to Blessing of Empowerment
Standard: Aid Aiden. [roll0]. Aiden gets +5 on his next attack. Kate and Wraith get +2 on their next attack.
Triggers Blessing of Empowerment. Team Attack with Aiden at 1d20+22, base rank 7. Will use PA to match. This TA applies to any Damage, Affliction, or Weaken effect. This TA carries Secondary Effect.
Move: Yeah, gonna pass.

[Thokk_Smash]

Wraith had felt his last hit connect. He'd felt it rattle Tara Ellens' brain in her skull. By all rights, she should have been down and out for, y'know, at least a single, solitary second.

The least one can say for Tara Ellens is that she is not without determination.

And then comes the arrival of the Emperor of Haptarus, and the situation changes once more. This is officially do-or-die. Or do-or-allow-millions-to-die, as the case may be. Tara cannot be allowed to leave this plateau with the Emperor. Everything is on the table. Fleeting thoughts of Serena pass through his mind as he briefly closes his eyes in preparation.

When he opens his eyes once more, his entire being has changed. He takes off the Scouter from his eye and allows it to fall to the ground. The gauntlets made from Tai's knife no longer hurt, and rather fit him like a second skin. His very body seems to flicker in and out of sight.

Ghostly images emerge from his body to flicker across the distance between himself and the first mook. It seems almost as though Wraith is in both places at once as he goes through an intricate martial arts kata, culminating in a single powerful punch to the chest of the tackily-armored goon. The blow aims to launch the goon at another, and that at another, and so on and so forth. Then he takes to the sky more easily than ever before, to land a good distance away.

Standard action: Attack D4 with the new-and-improved Forgotten Combat, enhanced by Forgot I Was There: AoA/PA for 5, +2 for Prophet's Aid, [roll0] vs DC 30 Damage, DC 25 Will vs Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless, DC 25 Strength vs Move Object or be launched at D3.

Attack against D3, if needed: [roll1] vs the above, and be launched at D2
Attack against D2, if needed: [roll2] vs the above, and be launched at D1
Attack against D2, if needed: [roll3] vs the above, and be launched at the Emperor
Attack against the Emperor, if needed: [roll4] vs the above, and be launched at Tara
Attack against Tara, if needed: [roll5]

Move action: Move to I8

Free action: Swap to the new-and-improved Forgotten By The World: Concealment 10 (Does not conceal location), Half-Effect Immunity to Perception and Area Effects

Status: Fatigued, -5 Defenses, Concealed (location known), Stealthed at [roll6]
HP: 5
Luck: 2/2 (only to force re-roll attacks against Wraith)

[SuperCracker]

Re-Entry Theme (https://youtu.be/w_YONkxB2HA?t=29)

“James! Your upgrades aren’t finished!” the scientist called out as he chased the soldier.

“I'm gonna have to make due, Doc.”

The soldier jumped on board the waiting jet.

“JAMES!” The other scientist called. Steeling her resolve she said, “Good luck, soldier.”

The soldier gripped onto the side of the jet as it lifted up into the air. With his free hand, he gave her a salute. The thrusters on the jet flared up and screamed through the air after nine points of light. Chaos was erupting around the naval carrier. Yet this fighter had an important mission.

Get him into the fight.

The jet could be heard approaching as the God Emperor talked. And it flew overhead just as he began to laugh his wicked laugh. The jet dropped no bombs and fired no shots. But the soldier let go and fell towards the earth below.

That soldier was a former member of the special SIDE Team…

Big Blue.

Captain Ilessia.

The Cyborg Soldier James Rook fell from the heavens, engaging his thrusters as he neared the ground. He wore a blue and white outfit with the Ilessian flag featured prominently on his chest. And in answer to the Emperor of Haptarus’s amusement, Captain Rook unleashed a barrage of small rockets, firing down upon the Emperor and his party. Dozens of small explosions peppered the area, precise enough not to harm any allies.

Captain Rook landed near the members of the SIDE Team, crouched in a classic superhero pose. He stood up and took a kickboxing pose.

“Fellas, sorry I’m late.”

Micro-rockets targeting all of the bad guys. Centering on the God-Emperor or Tara gets it done, I think.

Not sure if it’s one roll or a roll for each enemy. I’ll roll ooc when someone lets me know.

[Hyperbolic sine]

"The Emp-"

Aidan's focus was momentarily broken, allowing Tara to reclaim the staff...but in that moment, it mattered little.

"THEN GET THE BLOODY KILLSAT MOVING!"

Not that he held out hope it would arrive in time, since killsats aren't exactly speedsters...but perhaps it would be enough of a threat to make the Emperor give up on Tara should his armour be broken (the other option was that they'd face the Emperor himself. It would be basically impossible to win, then).

And to break the armour, they'd have to get rid of the Destroyers first, or they'd keep playing to their strengths and getting in the way.

Blazing green flames enveloped his hand along with the Dream's radiance as he dashed forward, swinging his fist towards one of the Haptaran soldiers before retreating to a new position.

:smallcool: HP to downgrade Exhaustion.
Move: Close with the targeted Destroyer.
Standard: If Wraith's Affliction sticks, target D4. Otherwise, target the Destroyer with more Bruises. Power Attack with Corrosion Punch (@ +5 for Aid) at [roll0], crit on 28+; Toughness DC 30+TA/25+TA vs Damage and Resistance Recovery Impaired/Disabled/Transformed (Cumulative, Secondary Effect).
Move-by: To AU10.

Deflected at 1d10+23.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 1

The God-Emperor himself had come to retrieve Tara to further who knew what unspeakable plans. It was, objectively and by every measure, time to get serious!

And Avery, Arch bless him, threw a pie in his face.

I mean, his laser eyes vaporized it before it got anywhere near him. But still.

Wraith ghosted in, coming up against one of the Destroyers with a heavy blow that put a dent in its armor, but Haptarus didn't deck their troops out in all that metal for the aesthetic (or, well, not just for the aesthetic, anyway). The attack didn't even budge the Destroyer. And then Wraith was gone, vanishing into the snow so thoroughly that even the tactile scanners of the Destroyers couldn't pick him up.

And then Captain Ilessia came swooping in, unloading a swarm of missiles over the enemy force. Tara raised a shimmering barrier to shield herself, and there was a flickering spherical vibration in the air around the God-Emperor as a forcefield absorbed the blasts. Two of the Destroyers also managed to come out unscathed, their massive armor a match for the high explosives. A third took minor damage. But the one Wraith had attacked had a chink in its armor, and the rockets blew that into a gaping hole.

Which gave Aidan his opening. Empowered by Prophet's blessing, his disintegrating powers blazed brilliantly as he made his quick attack-run, utterly consuming the massive suit of powered armor, leaving the soldier within no defense against his punch. Down went the first of the Emperor's guards, in the opening seconds of the battle.

Kate pointed her hands at the hostiles, and with a tremendous exertion of power opened another portal to deep within the earth, sending yet more lava exploding out over the plateau. Tara and two of the Destroyers plunged through it, one of the Destroyers coming out with moderate burns on its suit, the other weathering it okay. The lava flowed around Tara harmlessly.

The last Destroyer and the God-Emperor himself were not so quick to react. The Destroyer's armor held, though the molten lava damaged it, and both were encased in molten rock.

Well. For a moment, anyway.

After that moment, there was a brief purple glow in the molten rock between Tara and one of the Destroyers, and suddenly a wash of brilliant purple plasma came blasting through, expanding outward into a powerful wave that fell upon the four heroes nearest. When it faded, the God-Emperor stood, still unharmed, in the newly-minted hole in the wall, the suit's sculpted mouth open, trailing a few streams of violet smoke.

"Did you honestly think you could trap me?" the God-Emperor asked as he stepped out of the dome, the other Destroyer hastily following behind him. "That is absolutely adorable! BWA-HA-HA!"

"Don't underestimate them!" Tara warned sharply. The God-Emperor cast her a brief, kinda petulantly annoyed look, but Tara wasn't really paying attention to it. With Arcanis's staff again in hand, she wasted no time in channeling her potent ritual magic through it. Blazing shields of arcane power flared up around the villains, while another of Tara's classic, searing bolts of lightning shot forth to chain among the heroes.

"I would never," the Emperor answered snidely. "Captain Ilessia. I'm so glad you could join us!" he added, snapping his fingers.

The three Destroyers took to the air. One of them fired its gun-arm at Aidan, while the other two rocketed towards the BODES towers, swinging those odd hammer-like devices. On impact, they detonated with explosive shockwaves, aiming to send the towers toppling into the sea!

"Well, not so much me, really. More an associate..."

"ROOOOOOOOOOOK!"

The voice of Count Eduin Aubernon boomed over the battlefield, as the Red Terror came soaring in, landing upon the plateau in a spray of snow. Weirdly enough, there was someone standing astride the mech's shoulder. Garbed all in black and clinging to the mecha with half a dozen tentacles that...abruptly flowed back into his body as he leaped down to the ground. By the time he hit the ground, his skin and clothing had gone completely snow white.

He looked straight at Wraith, drawing and firing a pistol at him in a single move. And then he moved in a blur, seeming to almost become one with the snow.

Weirdly, although this guy clearly just flip shapeshifted, you do not sense any Dreamer powers.

PL 15.

1-point Damage shift, 5-point Toughness shift.

Immune to Fortitude. Half immune to Uncommon Resistances. All stats at PL.

PL 12.

4-point Attack and Defense shift, excluding Toughness-resisted Area and Perception attacks.

All stats at PL.

Hey guys! Guys! I figured out how to balance Rook being added to this encounter! And by "balance" I mean literally anything but that exact word!

Everybody take a :smallcool: Hero Point for the combined impact of Rook's I Will Have My Vengeance and Wraith's Best Served Cold Complications.

The God-Emperor:
Free: Reconfigure Nanotech. 4 points for the Penetrates Concealment Vision from Sensor Suite, the rest into Nanoweapons.
Move: Into AF14.
Standard: Plasma Breath. Kate, Prophet, Rook, and Avery, give me Dodge DC 25 for half, Toughness DC 30/25/23 (full) or 22/17/16 (half) vs. Damage Linked Weaken Toughness Linked Dazed+Impaired/Stunned+Disabled Affliction. If you fail the initial Dodge save, you get hit by the full force of this massive plasma attack, and the Damage is resisted by Defense instead. Since the barrier can't make a Dodge save for half, the square that is at the base of the cone takes Defense-resisted Damage and is Destroyed automatically.
Kate: Dodge: [roll0]. Toughness: [roll1]. Dodge: [roll2]. -5 Toughness, Dazed+Impaired
Move-by Action: Into AD14.

Tara:
Free: Augmentation using the Staff of Arcanis.
-32 points to Link the Deflect from Ritual of the Flawless Shield to Ritual of the Gathering Storm.
-16 points to add Secondary Effect to Ritual of the Flawless Shield.
-2 points for let's say Enhanced Flight 1.
EDIT: -0 points to make it regular Area since I totally both forgot and didn't notice it was Targeted. :smallconfused:
Move: Nah.
Standard: Ritual of the Gathering Storm. Kate, Prophet, Rook, Avery, give me Dodge DC 26 for half, Toughness DC 31/23 vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 26/18 vs. Vulnerable/Stunned. Tara, The God-Emperor, and all three Destroyers are Deflected at 1d20+26 (-1 per point of Toughness above 16) for two rounds.
Kate: Dodge: [roll3]. Toughness: [roll4]. Fortitude: [roll5]. Bruised and Dazed due to above

Destroyer 1:
Move: Through the hole and then to AO10.
Standard: Gun Arm on Aidan at [roll6], Deflected at [roll7]. On a hit, Toughness DC 29 vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 24 vs. Weaken Stamina. Miss

Destroyer 2:
Move: Into AW17.
Standard: Attack the eastern BODES tower with Blast Arm, All Out Power Attack for 5, at [roll8]. On anything but a natural 1, Toughness ([roll9]) DC 39 vs. Damage, and if it fails to beat DC 34 the Linked Move Object is sufficiently powerful to send it toppling into the ocean. In this case, since Aidan's on the other side of it, he risks getting rather crushed or even swept along; Dodge DC 22 for half, Toughness DC 27/21 vs. Damage, Strength or Flight DC 22/16 vs. also being launched into the sea, and if you are launched Strength or Dodge DC 22/16 vs. being caught beneath the tower as it sinks. The freezing ocean requires Fortitude DC 20/15 vs. Damage Linked Cumulative Fatigued/Exhausted/Incapacitated each round of exposure. Wrecked

Destroyer 3:
Move: Into C17.
Standard: Attack the western BODES tower with Blast Arm, All Out Power Attack for 5, at [roll10]. On anything but a natural 1, Toughness ([roll11]) DC 39 vs. Damage, and if it fails to beat DC 34 the Linked Move Object is sufficiently powerful to send it toppling into the ocean. Wrecked

The Red Terror:
Standard: Blast some fools over at the naval battle.
Aubernon Standard: Same.
Move: Arrive.
Aubernon Move: ROOOOOOOOOK!!!!!!!

BODES Towers (if either are still standing):
Reaction: Border Defense Laser at the Red Terror. Toughness DC 30 vs. Damage. The Red Terror is too heavy to be affected by the Linked Move Object and is immune to the Affliction.
Toughness if needed: [roll12], [roll13].

Rickert Rhuem:
Free: Reconfigure Tactical Shapeshifting to Feature 10 (Master of Stealth [All Senses]).
Move: Leap down from the Red Terror's shoulder.
Reaction: Perception with +5 circumstance for Benefit 2 (Combat Awareness) at [roll14]. If that fails, on his Second Chance to Detect Hidden Foes he will use Ultimate Effort (Perception), giving Wraith a Hero Point. Wraith take a :smallcool: Hero Point
Standard: Attack Wraith with SIDE-arm, Power Attacking for 4, at [roll15]. On a hit, Toughness DC 27+Multiattack vs. Secondary Effect Damage.
Move-by Action: Stealth out at [roll16]. Just misses. Yay for Defense shifts!

BODES Towers (again, if either are still standing):
Standard: Artillery Barrage. This can hit the Red Terror, the God-Emperor, and Tara. On a hit, Toughness DC 31+Multiattack/26+Multiattack vs. Damage Linked Weaken Toughness. On a miss, Homing 3. I'll roll these OOC if either are up since the odds are kinda against them.

All PCs are on turn.

[Hyperbolic sine]

To be honest, Aidan thought key defensive emplacements would be built a little more sturdily. He didn't have a lot of time to be disappointed, though, because while he dodged BODES fragments more enemies joined the fray, making the situation even more hopeless. They couldn't afford a single mistake.

Tara's ritual of protection made increased the difficulty one more step...but fortunately, one Destroyer left himself open by destroying the tower, so there was still a chance to take them down.

Routining Assessment for 31.

Move: Close with D2.
Standard: Accurate Attack (4) D2 with Focused Disintegration at [roll0], crit on 30+; Defence DC 19 (after Half Immunity) vs Damage, Mobility DC [roll1] vs Trip.
Move-by: AN23.

Deflected at 1d10+23.

[Thokk_Smash]

...Okay. OKAY. Things had changed. Not entirely, but Wraith's priorities have definitely been altered.

He digs deep within himself. "Y'know, Tara? I'm glad that first punch didn't knock you out," he yells out with a sneer. His gauntlets change and shimmer once more as he resettles his weight. "'Cause there's dozens more ways to make you hurt before we take you in!""

With a burst of speed, he rockets at a diagonal, his ghostly form flickering in front of the mech to throw it off-balance for Rook's next attack. Then he settles himself into the snow and focuses, waiting for the inevitable attack from his true target--Rickert Arch-damned Rheum.

Free action: Swap to Forgotten Combat.

Standard action: Demoralize Tara, +5 for Wraith Reputation, using a Reputation Success to bypass her Fearless: [roll0]

Move-action: On a diagonal to his current location.

Extra Effort: Aid Rook's next attack at the Red Terror, [roll1] +5

Extraordinary Effort: Ready an action to attack Rickert when he makes his attack. [roll2] vs DC 25 Damage, DC 20 Will vs Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless, DC 20 Strength vs Move-Object Grab. Miss, will probably :smallcool: HP re-roll after I wake up tomorrow Re-rolled here, total 27 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?584946-The-Nightmare-of-SIDE-OOC-3-Enter-the-Matrix&p=24159589#post24159589)

Move-by action: End turn in N23.

Status: Fatigued, Incapped by Fatigue next round, presumably Deflected by Prophet
HP: 7->6
Luck: 2/2 to re-roll attacks against Wraith

[SuperCracker]

Rook thrust a finger in the Emperor’s direction. “My fist. Your face. It’s happening.” BOOM! As the Red Terror landed on the battlefield being ridden by… something. “In a minute!” Rook corrected himself before shifting to face The Red Terror.

It was time to see if Lena’s new engine would work. Burning within his chest, where a human’s heart might be, the reactor flared up. Rook’s golden pupils started to glow blue amidst the black background. Blue lines of energy pulsed throughout his robotic body.

And as soon as Wraith gave Rook an opening...

“LET’S GO AUBERNON!”

Rook let loose on the Red terror with one punch, two punches, three punches, and then his arms and fists turned into a blur of hammering, overwhelming strikes made at superhuman speed.

Attack stats are in the ooc.

[Dodgeson]

"I guess you're not hungry huh?" Avery quipped at the God Emperor and was almost immediately rummaging around in the depths of his trusty bowler hat for a reload when he was suddenly thrown off of his game by the appearance of not only Captain Ilessia (!!) and his good buddy the Red Terror.

"Rook, long time no see!" He said, charging through the air towards the towering mecha, he might have not have been much use last time they tangled, but he'd gotten a lot better since then, this time it was going to be different! "Don't take this personally or nothin' but I'm not really a fan of your plus one here."

An enormous can-opener was already in his hand by the time he'd finished talking and he set about slashing wildly at anything he could reach, he might have not have been as fast as the good captain but between his own determination and a loose relationship with the laws of physics he wasn't exactly a chump either.

Move: Move to Z12
Free Action: Set Variable to Damage 12 (Multiattack) Linked to Affliction 12 (Impaired/Disabled, Toughness)(Multiattack)(Limited Degree)
Standard Action: All-Out/Power Attack +5 at the Red Terror [roll0] DC37/32+Multiattack Toughness if that hits
End of Turn: Regeneration removes a Bruise
HP 5
Status Fatigued/-5 Defence/Bruised x1

[Dorni]

Prophet blinked at Rooks sudden entrance. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised given that he was also facing off against Tara, Haptarus, and the Red Terror. This day couldn't possibly get much weirder. Or more dangerous. Although he could do something about the latter.

Caleb offered another prayer to the Dream and the light enveloping him turned warm and sheltering, clinging protectively to his allies.

Move: Nah
Standard: Prayer of Protection. Allies are Deflected at 1d10+23 and gain Evasion II. Allies are Healed at [roll0] One degree

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 2

Aidan rushed one of the Destroyers, but Tara's barrier absorbed his attack without harm. Wraith and Rook assailed the Red Terror, causing only little direct harm to the mighty mecha, but Rooks hammering blows managed to shatter its deflective forcefield outright, leaving it in an incredibly vulnerable position.

Avery and Kate immediately moved to capitalize, although as Avery moved in, one of the Destroyers charged in, obstructing his path and engaging the cartoon Hero directly. Avery's mighty can-opener left gouges on the smaller suit of Haptaran powered armor, but it was far from defeated.

Kate blinked back a ways to make area attacks a bit harder. Without Kyton's chains to back her up, her trick from last time wasn't really plausible, so she went with the old staple of hurling her offensive portals at the Red Terror. Irksomely, a shiver from the cold fouled her aim some, but she still gouged some holes into the mech and damaged some of the electronics within.

Now with shields up, Tara could go to work.

In the previous battle, not to mention when her clone had been fighting, her strategy had been to try to mitigate the advantage of numbers with area attacks. That was a solid strategy, but it came at the cost of spreading her power out. The heroes had weathered it well. Now that she had allies on hand, she could count on them to keep up the pressure, while she did what she did best - provide support.

The first priority...well, it was obvious. Tara knew better than anyone the value of a dedicated support power. Although she could hardly imagine even this team overcoming the force that the Emperor had brought with him, she knew better than to underestimate them, and pointedly reminded herself that even if they didn't win, if they could just hold on long enough that Ilessia's military could mobilize sufficient forces, they wouldn't need to. No Dreamer, however powerful - not her, not even the Emperor of Haptarus - could enter open battle against the full might of a modern country's military and come out victorious. She had to win this as quickly as possible.

And that meant taking down her opposite number. If her team had the constant stream of healing, shielding, and augmentative powers she could provide while her opponents lacked their own bolstered defenses and recovery, victory would be swift.

She tapped the Emperor with Arcanis's staff, an aura of white light flaring up around him as she channeled her augmentative power into him, before swooping around to face Prophet directly. "Darryll had a lot of respect for you, you know that?" she asked in a voice that may have sounded conversational if it weren't for the simmering anger and hurt underlying it.

"I'll make this quick," she said simply, and unleashed a wave of magic in an effort to first shatter his defensive powers, and then strip them entirely away.

Aubernon hardly seemed to care about the damage his mech was suffering. He had eyes on one foe and one alone. He came at Rook hard, taking full control of his mecha, superseding its autonomous combat programming. It wasn't necessarily the most common option for a mecha pilot. An ace like Aubernon would usually use his own skill to supplement the combat programming and powerful weapon systems of his mech. In this case, though, Aubernon used the mech's size and power to support his own combat skill.

He wanted to crush the soldier who had humiliated him with his not-so-bare hands.

He lashed out, several quick testing strikes, before coming in hard with a clapping attack from both sides intent to injure, concuss, and grab hold of his foe.

Down on the ground, there was a brief blur in the snow revealing the position of Rickert Rheum as he took a shot at Wraith. This time, instead of his basic sidearm, he fired from a specialized Haptaran weapon. Called a Dream-Killer, the rifle fired shots with bullets that gave off a power-disabling radiation.

The goons, with the towers disabled, went into the fray. The one who had intercepted Avery struck back at the Hero with a slash of its blade arm. The one that Aidan had targeted returned the favor, firing on the IN-SIDE agent with its gun arm. The last flew at Kate, blade arm leading in a strike to impale.

The God-Emperor, infused with the augmentative power of Tara Ellens, spent a moment gazing over the battlefield. And it was Good.

And then he pulled a massive firearm off of his weapon-wings, one which made a rip-roaring god-awful noise that might have meant little to these heroes, but may well have sent shivers of dread down the spines of a different team.

And even over the horrendous noise, the God-Emperor's laughter rang out loud and wild as he unleashed a spray of matter-annihilating bullets from his antimatter minigun. "AHHHH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!!
I LOVE THIS PART!!!"

Tara Ellens:
Free: Augmentation on the God-Emperor. Antimatter Minigun gains two more applications of Cone Area and gains Secondary Effect. And sure let's duplicate five ranks of his Regeneration outside of his array, why not?
Move: Into U17.
Standard: Attempt to Counter Prophet's Deflect with Ritual of the Broken Dream at [roll0] vs. [roll1]. Fails!
Extra Effort - Additional Standard Action: Attack Prophet with Ritual of the Broken Dream at [roll2], possibly Deflected at [roll3]. On a hit, Will DC 26 vs. Cumulative, Progressive Powers Entranced/Stunned/Transformed. Miss!
End of Turn: Secondary Effect triggers, Deflect goes up again.

The Red Terror:
Move: Dazed.
Standard: Pilot Enhancement System on Count Abernon. Power Strike gains two ranks, and both the Damage and Move Object gain Multiattack.
End of Turn: Regenerates a Bruise.

Count Aubernon:
Move: Meh.
Standard: Power Strike on Rook at [roll4], potentially Deflected at [roll5]. On a hit, Toughness DC 29+Multiattack vs. Damage, you're immune to the Affliction, and Strength or Dodge DC 24+Multiattack vs. Grab. Miss!

Rickert Rhuem:
Standard: Attack Wraith with Dream Killer. If the Deflect is down he'll Power Attack for 4. [roll6], potentially Deflected at effective [roll7]. On a hit, Toughness DC 23 vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 18 vs. Cumulative Powers Entranced+Impaired/Stunned+Disabled/Incapacitated+Transformed. DCs increase by 4 if the Deflect is down. Miss!
This triggers Wraith's Readied action, which hits. Toughness (DC 25): [roll8]. Will (DC 20): [roll9]. Dodge (DC 20): [roll10]. Staggered, Impaired+Vulnerable
Move (if not Dazed or Grabbed): Reposition and Stealth at [roll11]. Like the one good roll the enemies get all turn and it gets negated.

Destroyer 3:
Move: Meh.
Standard: Attack Avery with Blade Arm at [roll12], potentially Deflected at [roll13]. On a hit, Toughness DC 29/24 vs. Damage Linked Weaken Toughness. Both effects carry a Secondary Effect. An actual hit for a blessed change!

Destroyer 2:
Move: Meh.
Standard: Attack Aidan with Gun Arm at [roll14], Deflected at [roll15] (+1 if Prophet's Deflect is up). On a hit, Toughness DC 29 vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 24 vs. Weaken Stamina. Hard

Destroyer 1:
Move: Into D10.
Standard: Attack Kate with Blade Arm at [roll16], potentially Deflected at [roll17]. On a hit, Toughness DC 29/24 vs. Damage Linked Weaken Toughness. Both effects carry a Secondary Effect. Nope
Kate Toughness: [roll18].

The God-Emperor:
Move: Enjoy this.
Standard: Attack with Antimatter Minigun. Everyone but Aidan is in the area. On a hit, Toughness DC 30+Multiattack vs. Concentration Secondary Effect Damage (the SE doesn't apply until he stops concentrating).
Avery: [roll19], potentially Deflected at [roll20]. Hit. +2 Multiattack.
Prophet: [roll21], potentially Deflected at [roll22]. Miss
Wraith: [roll23], potentially Deflected at [roll24]. Miss
Kate: [roll25], potentially Deflected at [roll26]. Deflected
Rook: [roll27], potentially Deflected at [roll28]. Deflected

All PCs are on turn.

[SuperCracker]

Prophet’s shield protected Rook from Aubernon’s counter-attack. Rook’s new cyborg body quickly adapted to the changing situation, losing its unyielding armor in favor of the nanites repairing themselves. “Avery! How are you? I’m not a big fan of his either.” This whole conversation occurred while Rook reigned down punch after punch after punch, and he continued doing so, scoring minor damage but keeping the mech off-balance.

Having regained his own footing, Rook jumped back and ignited his repulsors, flying backwards to try and make Area of Effect attacks that much harder. From the shoulders of his ARMS unit popped two small cannons mounted on articulated limbs. They trained onto the Red Terror and started blasting, unleashing a non-stop torrent of ammunition – small slivers of metal propelled at such force that they were as effective as bullets.

Rook could see the Emperor being juiced up by Tara. Frack.

Fortunately for Rook, Prophet’s shield kept the Emperor’s super gun from being quite so super right now.

Dazed ends.

Standard Action for Machine Gun Blows, see ooc.

Move action to move.

Free action to switch to Liquid Metal. Regen 1 bruise.

HP to recover fatigue.

Surge for extra standard action.

Free action to swap to Autocannons.

Standard to fire Autocannons, see ooc.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Aidan surveyed the battlefield while he dodged the heavy projectile, noticing with a wicked satisfaction that the Task Force was managing to maintain the upper hand, despite the overwhelming odds.

For now, at least. One wrong step could cost them the entire battle, so being overconfident wouldn't do; he had to seize every chance he could, including multiple enemies lining up perfectly.

Pushing his muscles to the limit, he moved so fast as to appear like he teleported besides the Destroyer - all in order to gather those few precious seconds he needed to gather power and unleash, instead of the usual barrage, a powerful disintegration beam.

Aidan
Free: Switch Maneuvers array to Teleport.
Free: Teleport to AY17.
Free: Switch to Erosion Beam.
Move+Standard. Erosion Beam on D2, Tara and Rickert. Toughness DC 26/21 vs Incurable Damage and Incurable Weaken Toughness (non-stacking).

On a hit (should I even bother?), Weaken DC +5 (capped at -14, though I don't think they can fail that hard anyway):
D2 [roll0]. M
Tara [roll1].e
Rickert [roll2].h Actually a hit. Nice.

Deflected at 1d10+23.

Declan
Sue the Emperor for copyright infringment.

[Dodgeson]

Avery yelped as the God-Emperor's weapon punched him full holes, he'd been bashed, stabbed, shocked and burned, and that was just with the Taskforce but antimatter was a new one for him.

"Do you mind? Honest the nerve of some people..." He complained to the Destroyer that had just introduced him to the business end of his sword arm "Take a look around chump, you aint even the third scariest guy in a tin suit, wait your turn. I guess big E don't hire you for manners huh?"

Sure he wasn't in the best shape right now but in front of the God-Emperor was not the time to be letting people see you sweat, and more importantly maybe his banter would give him an opening as he thrusted his can opener toward the Destroyer.

Move:Dazed
Free Action: Set Variable to Damage 12 (Affects Objects, Alternate Resistance:Fortitude)
Standard: Attack D3's Armour [roll0] I think he gets a Dodge save if this hits...?
End of Turn: Regain a point of Toughness and Regeneration removes a Bruise
HP 5
Status Fatigued/-2 Toughness/Bruised x2

[Thokk_Smash]

A vicious sense of satisfaction surges in Wraith when he feels his blows hit home on Rheum. And he has a particularly feral smile when he sees Foxglove's focused beam rip and tear at Rheum's body. With that same feral grin, Wraith flies closer in order to pound Rheum into the snow before he shoots back closer to Foxglove. When he touches down, if someone notices him, they would see him seeming to flicker in and out of existence.

Move: Into Close range of Rickert

Standard: Attack Rickert with Forgotten Combat, AoA/PA for 5, [roll0] vs DC 30 Damage, DC 25 Will vs Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless (non-cumulative), DC 20 Dodge vs being Grabbed. @Quellian, if he goes Incapped from this, does the Grab auto-succeed since Rheum isn't conscious to resist it?

Move-by Action: Into AH23. Free action Stealth: [roll1]

Free action: Swap to Forgotten By The World. He has Concealment (Limited [Doesn't conceal position]) and half-Immunity to Area and Perception-range attacks.

Status: Fatigued, -5 Active Defenses
HP: 5
Luck: 2/2 (to force re-rolls against Wraith only)

[Dorni]

Tara's magic clashed against the light of the Dream. It should have been over just as quick as Tara's declaration. Tara commanded incredible, overwhelming power. Power that dwarfed Prophet's on any rational scale. More than enough to crush his blessings. But Tara wasn't testing his power. She was trying to strip him of the Dream, and that was a contest that pit her magical might against Prophet's faith. And that was a contest that wasn't rational.

Mighty as Tara's magic was, the Dream's light held firm and it was Tara's magic that shattered. Her magical follow-up, expecting to find Prophet's defense exposed, instead clashed with that light and was also turned aside.

Prophet gave Tara a long stare. At least as long as one could afford to in this pitched battle. "I know," He answered regretfully. "Did he ever tell you that while you were scheming, he and I met several times? It's true." He hadn't revealed those meetings to anyone but Kate out of concern about the more militant members of the task force but, but now was well past the point for such a consideration.

"Even with the number of times we clashed, he was willing to meet under truce. He never lost his capacity for reason, and he knew full well what he was doing was wrong. He knew it and accepted it. Even when he threatened my church." More than a little anger crept into his voice at that. "Everything he did, he did out of love for you. And as monstrous as his actions were, I respected that about him. Even his final words were about you."

"But you? A Gifted augmentor, a prodigy ritualist, one of the most powerfully Gifted on the planet... And now you have no one. Not one relationship that isn't about your power or what you can offer them."

Prophet raised a hand and cleansing light poured out over the battlefield. Where it met Tara's augments there was a hiss.

"Our Gifts don't make us who we are, Tara. They merely make us more of what we are already. Without your power, what are you?"

Move: Nah
Standard: Prayer of Purification. Counter Tara's Augments at [roll0]
Linked Healing on allies at [roll1]. This healing is Restorative 3.

And now I prepare myself for Tara's wrath.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 3

Rook unloaded his autocannons on the Red Terror, point-blank and with shields down. There weren't too many human-portable weapons that could present a meaningful threat to a full-scale mecha, but then again the term "human-portable" was something of a technicality when it came to the Dreamtech armaments Rook was equipped with. Shot after shot forced the mecha back on its heels, punching dents into even its heavy armor.

Aidan's disintegration beam vanished some of the destroyer's armor. Tara tanked most of it but she lost about an inch-long chunk of her arm for her troubles. Rickert, though...Rickert had a bad day. The physical reinforcement of his body provided by his Spiritual Energy kept him from being disintegrated outright, but the injured traitor took the shot full in the chest and basically had the whole front of his body flayed.

Avery went in hard for the Destroyer's armor with his mighty can-opener, and he might well have wrenched the mail apart, but Tara's shields were still up and turned his attack aside.

Rickert, only resisting the urge to scream at the agony from his injuries through disciplined will, suddenly vanished. But it...it wasn't the same sort of vanish as before. There was a flicker of movement and he was kinda yanked off into the snow and just gone, so completely that one might be forgiven for forgetting he had ever actually been there...

Prophet's power stripped away Tara's augmentations, although it only did a partial job of healing the damage Avery had sustained.

With Tara's shields up Kate's offensive repertoire wasn't exactly optimal. But with the sort of power that was being thrown around in this battle, she had other options. Kate gathered her power, and waited for her moment.

A snarl twisted Tara's features as Prophet withstood her power and had the gall to speak of Darryll. But she barked out a sharp laugh at his final question. "You're asking me that? Me? Of all people! You are the one who worships your own power, priest of the Dream! I am who I have always been from the day the head of your church decreed I should be separated from my family and exiled from the only home I had ever known! I am the inevitable result of their bigoted policies. I am the answering cry of thousands of grieving children! I AM PARADISIA'S DOOM! The powers are nothing more than a means to that end!" Tara slammed Arcanis's staff against the ground, summoning forth another wave of shielding magic even as she hurled a barrage of lightning bolts straight for the priest. She had been planning to just telekinetically launch him away but decided you know what no she'd really rather just kill him.

Well yeah Prophet got her angry. She's working herself up to something big. Tara will use Inspire 5 next turn!

Now, it wouldn't be accurate to say that the God-Emperor had seized on the same tactic and took it upon himself to implement it. Much more precisely, he noticed three dudes all in a row and was all "Hey BILLIARDS!" and now here we are. Setting the antimatter minigun back in his wings (kinda wasting the fact that the augment beat the counter but whatever he can do that later), he pulled out a massive hammer and charged Avery, the roar of a jet engine exploding over the battlefield as he swung the rocket-powered hammer at the Technicolor Titan with more than enough force behind it to send several people flying at once. Meanwhile, the suit of armor on the suit of armor got layered with some more armor, because seriously this is just how Haptaran engineering rolls.

The Red Terror was...not exactly in what one might call a good position, but Count Aubernon refused to be humiliated again. He went at Rook with everything he had, aiming to put the cyborg down before his autocannon could punch through his mecha's armor. Rocket after rocket launched from the mecha, hammering down on Rook almost as fast as the Ilessian super-soldier's bullets fired at the mech.

The Destroyers kept up their assaults, Kate and Aidan coming under attack by their heavy blade arms, while the one dueling Avery tried to lock the Hero down with its chain arm.

Kate:
Move: Nah.
Standard: Ready an action to use Noneuclidean Pathing to Deflect the first targeted enemy attack that hits at [roll0]. On a success, Redirect it at the attacker at [roll1].

Tara:
Free: Augmentation on self. Remove Create from Ritual of the Flawless Shield, add Secondary Effect, and add Linked Damage 16 (Multiattack, Secondary Effect).
Move: Meh.
Standard: Ritual of the Flawless Shield. Tara, the God-Emperor, the Red Terror, and Destroyer 1 are Deflected at 1d10+26, minus one per point of Toughness above 16. Prophet is attacked at [roll2] for Toughness DC 31+Multiattack vs. Secondary Effect Damage. Hit. Reflected by Kate. Reflect misses.
End of Turn: Fails to Regenerate an Incurable Bruise.

The God-Emperor:
Free: Swap Nanotech array to Nanoshell.
Move: Into AA13.
Standard: Attack Avery with Rocket Maul, All Out Attack for 5, at [roll3]. On a hit, Toughness DC 35 vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 30 vs. Dazed/Stunned, and Strength or Flight DC 30 or be launched into Rook at [roll4]. The Affliction and Move Object are Contagious (the Affliction only during the attack, but regardless of the initial target's save against it specifically), so if Rook is hit he rolls the same and may be launched into Prophet at [roll5]. If Prophet is hit he rolls against the same and gets launched Distance Rank 18 to the west. Hits Avery. Hits Rook if Avery fails to resist. Misses Prophet. Hit. Reflected by Kate. Reflect Deflected by Tara.
End of Turn: Secondary Effect triggers. Avery give me Toughness DC 32 vs. Damage.

The Red Terror:
Aubernon Move: Nah.
Aubernon Standard: Aid the Red Terror's next attack at [roll6]. Joke
Red Terror Move: Dazed.
Red Terror Standard: Attack Rook with Rocket Gattling Cannon, Power Attacking for 4, at [roll7]+Aid (Rook is within the mech's reach so Aid applies to the Ranged attack). On a hit, Toughness DC 35+Multiattack vs. Secondary Effect Damage. Boss

Destroyer 1:
Move: Nah.
Standard: Attack Kate with Blade Arm at [roll8]. On a hit, Toughness ([roll9]) DC 29/24 vs. Damage Linked Weaken Toughness. Both effects have a Secondary Effect. Hit. Bruised.

Destroyer 2:
Move: Into AX17.
Standard: Attack Aidan with Blade Arm at [roll10]. On a hit, Toughness DC 29/24 vs. Damage Linked Weaken Toughness. Both effects have a Secondary Effect. Forgot to roll the Deflect but it'll beat that.

Destroyer 3:
Move: Nah.
Standard: Attack Avery with Chain Arm at [roll11]. On a hit, Toughness DC 29 vs. Damage, Highest of Dodge, Parry, Strength, or Speed Rank DC 24 vs. Cumulative Vulnerable/Defenseless/Paralyzed and Physically Dazed+Impaired/Stunned+Disabled/Incapacitated+Unaware. Avery continues to absorb everyone's bad luck for this fight, evidently. He's a trooper. Hit. Interposed by Interceptor.
End of Turn: Secondary Effect triggers. Avery give me Toughness DC 29/24 vs. Damage Linked Weaken Toughness. Note that although Prophet's Healing failed to remove any Damage Restorative still set your Toughness back to full.

All PCs are on turn.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Well, that all was how it was supposed to go anyway. The reality was somewhat different.

Standing nearly six and a half feet tall with a heavily muscled build. Dark of skin and hair and eye. Military buzz-cut and closely-trimmed beard. Attired in a form-fitting suit of blue and silver material that could have served as armor if any attack that was meaningfully able to threaten him wouldn't have blown straight through it. And of course, the long black cape. It was unmistakable to any Verdanian who paid even the tiniest bit of attention to the news. The iconic image of the Regional Commander of the Verdania Hero Cops, Barrett Anderson, the Interceptor.

There was no flash of light. There was no burst of energy. There was no portal offering a glimpse into where he had been before. With nothing but the slight pop of air being displaced, he was suddenly there, standing between Tara Ellens and Prophet, his stare boring into her in silent accusation as she raised the staff that had belonged to his friend.

"That is not yours," he intoned in a stentorian voice, lunging with both hands before Tara had a chance to work a single spell, grabbing the staff and with the fluid grace of a former SIDE operative, wresting it physically from her grasp.

Her invocation of her persistent rituals interrupted, Tara's shield went back up, but no lightning came with it. The God-Emperor's hammer went through one of Kate's portals halfway to Avery and came back out from his right, but Tara's barrier turned it aside.

As the Destroyer lunged at Avery with its chain-arm, Interceptor did what Interceptor does.

And then he was gone. And Arcanis's staff with him.

[SuperCracker]

Rook didn’t dodge away from the Red Terror’s rockets. He stood his ground and dug in, firing a hailstorm of bullets into Aubernon’s mech. The ARMS system was designed to allow Rook, a humanoid cyborg, to fight a giant mech and stand a chance of winning. Not just any mech though… the Doc had rebuilt Rook for the express purpose of destroying the Red Terror once and for all.

DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA.

A visual representation, if you will. (https://youtu.be/yoqav3uEXWI?t=89)

I’d posted before that Rook was moving out of fireball range, which probably puts him out of the mech’s reach fwiw.

Free: Regen a bruised.

Move: Nah.

Standard: Continue concentrating on the Death Star Laser Autocannon attack.

Free: Switch Liquid Metal to Hardened Metal. Impervious is back up.

[Hyperbolic sine]

The thing about heavy blades is that they're, well, heavy and blades; it's pretty hard to reorient the sharp edge mid-swing, while, on the other hand, pushing on the flat side can easily disrupt the attack.

Of course, intercepting a blade and pushing it away isn't nearly as easy as writing that makes it sound...but for Aidan, it was usually child's play, and this time hadn't proved any different.

"Ah, too bad." he said as he pushed the weapon away from himself - and exploited the pushback to circle around the Destroyer. Sometimes I wish I had Avery's penchant for witty combat banter he offhandedly thought as his hand shot forward, threatening to impale the Haptaran soldier through the heart, before once again putting some distance between them.

Move: Agile Feint D2 at 30.
Standard: Focused Disintegration on D2 at [roll0] 21, crit on 24+. On a hit, Defence DC 21 vs Incurable Damage (Penetrating). If the Feint succeeded, -4 to hit/+2 DC.
Free: "Teleport" to AV 15. If by some miracle the Destroyer gets Incapped, then to AF17 instead.

Deflected at 1d10+23.

[Dodgeson]

The most dangerous man on Aranth bore down on Avery and then in a flurry of action he was completely unharmed, he loved it when that happened, more importantly though was exactly what kind of high tech death weapon had just been helpfully intercepted by one of Kate's portals. Breaking in to a grin he cast aside his ineffectual can opener and practically leaped in to the air in glee, pulling a familiar sight from out behind his back as he came down on the God Emperor.

"Oh buddy did you ever pick the wrong guy for a hammer fight!"

Move Action: Move to AA14
Free Action: Set Variable to "Acme Mallet" Damage 12 Linked to Affliction 12 (Impaired&Dazed/Stunned&Disabled, Fort)(Cumulative, Extra Condition)(Limited Degree)
Standard Action: All-Out Attack +5 at the God Emperor [roll0] DC27 Toughness & DC22 Fortitude if that hits
End of Turn: Regeneration removes a Bruise
HP 6
Status -5 Defence/Fatigued/Bruised x1

[Thokk_Smash]

For a brief moment, Wraith feels a satisfaction he hasn't felt in far too long a time. With his hand around the traitor's throat, he raises his other hand to his comms. "Tsuki," he says with a vicious smile. "I need an extraction at my coordinates." He rattles off his current coordinates, and focuses his power into a different shape than normal. When Tsuki appears, he gives her a significant look. "Get him to your mother first," he says, away from his comms' mic. "She'll know who it is."

After Tsuki zips back off, Wraith calls out, "And we are the end of your ambitions, Ellens! All that you've achieved will be boiled down to a ten-by-ten cell for the rest of your life!" He readies himself, and then aims his strike as her magical defenses fall. He's turned his power outward instead of inward, seeking to shroud her from her allies' sight and hearing.

Free action: Spend a Tai/Tsuki success to get Rickert out of here and into the loving care of Bethany Huntington.

Free action: Power Stunt off of Ghost In The Machine: Concealment 12 (All Visual, All Auditory, Attack, Selective, Distracting, 6 Ranks Limited to increasing Resistance DC, Improved Critical 4, Precise, Insidious [Power Detection], Inaccurate), Immunity 20 (Area Attacks, Limited [Half-Effect]), Flight.

Move action: Demoralize Tara, spending a Reputation Success to bypass her Fearless, -5 for Move, +5 for Reputation: [roll0]

Standard action: Ready an Action to attack Tara with the Power Stunted Attack Concealment, AoA/PA for 5, Crits on a 16+, [roll1] vs DC 27 Will vs having any overt actions Concealed from her allies (thanks to Precise, Wraith will basically troll Tara by editing out any Inspire-looking actions). Crit! DC 32 Will vs being Concealed from her allies

Status: Vulnerable, -5 Defenses, Fatigued, Exhausted next round
HP: 5
Luck: 2/2 (Limited to re-rolling attacks against Wraith)

[Dorni]

"That's right, Tara. Your powers didn't change who you were. You're still who you have always been. You never grew past being an angry child going on hateful rants online, screaming about how the pain you felt meant that 'just sinking Paradisia back into the sea is too good for them, they need to be hunted down like animals'. You were offered help, support, and community; and if they wouldn't share your fury you turned on them too. That's all you are, Tara. A raging child who never grew up. Paradisia's Doom indeed."

Move: Still don't have a use for them.
Standard: Prayer of Protection. Allies within Area [Perception:Visual] are Deflected at 1d10+23, are Healed at [roll0] One Degree, and gain Evasion 2. The Deflect portion of this carries Secondary Effect.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 4

Rook may have had the Red Terror right where he wanted it, but to be fair, that only went so far against a mecha. Even Rook's artillery-caliber bullets could only do so much damage to the thing so fast.

Aidan's target may have been weighed down by its heavy armor, but servos and thrusters did help make up for that. It managed to lunge away from his strike, avoiding the damage.

The Cartoon Hero went hammer-to-hammer with the God-Emperor of Haptarus. The golden suit of doubly-armored powered armor brought its own hammer back around in a fluid parry, rocket-maul meeting cartoon mallet head to head with a shockwave of impact that left neither harmed. "Oh-ho-ho, you are very brave! Hey! Ellens! Isn't he brave?" the God-Emperor retorted, sounding sincerely (if bombastically) amused.

Tara Ellens, at the moment, was not interested in Avery's antics. Just rude is what it was. The man goes out of his way to be entertaining during battle the least you could do was pay a little attention. Wraith did something and Tara done with thised at it so hard that it evidently had no effect.

Kate blinked away from her attacker and let loose another volley of portals. The new angle of attack caught the Destroyer off-guard, giving it no time to dodge them all. The armored suit was slashed open in several places, and blood flowed out, clearly showing that Kate had caught the soldier within and injured it badly.

WHOOSH! In a blur of super-speed, Tsuki came zipping onto the field, spent her entire allotted Quickness ranks just, like, gawking at what her uncle had gotten himself into, and grabbed Rhuem and zipped off to take him to her mother.

Wait.

To take him to her mother.

After she had just seen what sort of trouble her uncle had gotten himself into.

After he had told him family about the Death Curse.

...I'm just saying, it was a good thing that Wraith was sending her Rickert on a silver platter. It might, might, manage to spare him his sister's fury next time he saw her. Might.

Tara, seemingly growing increasingly unhinged as the heroes not only continued making headway against the Haptarans, but under Prophet's steady words of judgment, shrieked in frustration as Interceptor appeared and blinked away with Arcanis's staff. "You want rage, priest?" she spat, power blazing up in her eyes. "Then have it all! Kill them! KILL THEM! KILL THEM!!!"

Nothing...happened.

Tara seemed kinda wrong-footed by that.

Count Aubernon continued doggedly focusing on Rook. He came in hard, once more taking direct control as he charged Rook and made a rapid series of attacks. This time, though, he recognized that Rook wasn't going to just go down immediately...and he also understood that his mech couldn't hold out forever against that sustained assault. So Aubernon struck not for maximum damage, but for maximum advantage, analyzing the defenses of those around him to learn how to get around them later.

The destroyer that Kate had injured was hurt, but not down, and fired back immediately with its gun arm. The one that Aidan was fighting took a swing with the weird mace-like blast arm; even if Aidan proved agile enough to dodge it, the explosion it unleashed would not be so easily avoided! The one that had tried to duel Avery knew better than to risk kill-stealing from its Emperor, so it just went ahead and tried tacking Prophet with its chain arm. Why not?

The God-Emperor faced Avery squarely, raised his hammer high...and fired laser eyes straight at him. Right, like he was going to play fair. Please. Man had a reputation to uphold. He went ahead and took the opportunity to sweep the beam down towards Wraith, which seemed like an obvious thing to do given that he was visible for a blessed change and had left himself badly open.

Tara:
Move: Whatever.
Standard: Invoke GM Fiat for Inspire 5! However, since she's concealed from her allies, nobody benefits. Since this effect does not hinder any PCs, no Hero Points are awarded, but her 1/scene use of Inspire is expended nonetheless. Well done.

The Red Terror:
Move: Dazed.
Standard: Pilot Enhancement System. Lead the Attack gains three ranks, adds Multiattack to Damage.
End of Turn: Regenerates a Bruise. Will to recover from Defenseless: [roll0]. Nope

Count Aubernon:
Move: Pilot the Red Terror into Close range of Rook.
Standard: Attack Rook with Lead the Attack at [roll1], Deflected at [roll2]. On a hit, Toughness DC 31 vs. Damage. Either way, Rook and Prophet both give me Dodge DC 25 for half, Will DC 25/17 vs. Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless and non-stacking Weaken All Defenses. Rook's penalties only apply against Count Aubernon, Prophet's against Tara. The

Destroyer 1:
Move: Staggered.
Standard: Attack Kate with Gun Arm at [roll3], Deflected at [roll4]. On a hit, Toughness ([roll5]) DC 29 vs. Damage, Fortitude ([roll6]) DC 24 vs. Weaken Stamina. Dream
End of Turn: Secondary Effect triggers. Kate gets Toughness ([roll7]) DC 29/24 vs. Damage Linked Weaken Toughness. Thinking she's gonna reroll that.

Destroyer 2:
Move: Into AV16.
Standard: Attack Aidan with Blast Arm at [roll8], Deflected at [roll9]. On a hit, Toughness DC 29 vs. Damage. On a miss, Dodge DC 22 for half, Toughness DC 27/21 vs. Damage. Protects

Destroyer 3:
Move: Into V13.
Standard: Attack Prophet with Chain Arm at [roll10], Deflected at [roll11]. On a hit, Toughness DC 29 vs. Damage, Prowess DC 24 vs. Vulnerable/Defenseless/Paralyzed and Physically Dazed+Impaired/Stunned+Disabled/Incapacitated+Unaware. You

The God-Emperor:
Move: Sweep the Beam.
Standard: Attack Avery and Wraith with Laser Eyes. Perception Range attack. Defense DC 30 vs. Damage (since this is an Area attack Wraith the DC is only 23 for you). Note that your All Out Attack penalties, and Wraith's Vulnerable, do apply to this resistance check as they were intentionally taken. Seriously the whole "tank your defense from behind a Deflect" move doesn't work in final boss fights.

All PCs are on turn.

[Thokk_Smash]

Only belatedly does Louis realize that his current situation isn't exactly great from an outsider's perspective. Especially a relatively unblooded Hero like Tsuki. He hopes she doesn't give too bad of a picture to Bethany. But, really, everything's going fairly according to plan. She'd known they'd have to face Tara sometime. Granted, the Emperor of Arch-damned Haptarus showing up was not at all expected, but so far, so good.

Still, he'll have to do some damage control after this. He didn't mean to worry anyone.

Wraith turns back, feeling his strike land against Tara, his mind already spinning with tactics--

BZZT

A cold hand grips his heart, one entirely separate from the gaping hole now present in his lower chest.

"That's it."

Wraith drops to his knees, one hand going to his chest dumbly.

"The fires are nice."

"B-Beth...Ser...ena..."

"DIE."

The world naturally forgets the sound of Wraith's body slumping onto the frozen ground. Only one breath betrays any sign of life within the forgettable body.

[Dorni]

Standard: Blessing of Healing on Wraith: Healing [roll0]. This effect is Secondary 7, Restorative 5, Persistent. 4 Degrees
Move: -

[Hyperbolic sine]

Indeed, Aidan managed to avoid the blast-arm - by slipping right past the weapon at it swung down - and indeed, the explosion wasn't avoided as easily; in fact, it wasn't avoided at all.

Still, his coat managed to dampen enough of the impact for his Dream-enhanced constitution to handle, and by exploiting the debris as cover and the force itself as propulsion, he once again circled behind the Destroyer - and then circled some more, this time lunging from the side before retreating into cover.

Move: Agile Feint D2 at 30.
Standard: Focused Disintegration on D2 at [roll0], crit! on 26+. On a hit, Defence DC 21 25 vs Incurable Damage (Penetrating).
Free: "Teleport" to AN8 (30 Mobility to boost speed if necessary).

Deflected at 1d10+23.

(Yeah, I don't know why I rolled at +8 last round. Not that it mattered.)

[Dodgeson]

The God-Emperor's lasers lanced through Avery, leaving him with a perfectly circular hole in his chest, he wasn't that phased by it, this sort of thing happened to him all the time and Brava had done worse before. More importantly, just to prove that there was no end to the depths to the literal worse person on Aranth would sink, the God-Emperor had brought lasers to a hammer fight!

"No hold a minute here! Do the words hammer fight mean nothing to you?! You think this is gonna slow me down?!" He ranted, wildly gesturing and indignantly shoving his arm through the chest "The gloves are com..."

Suddenly he snapped out of it as something caught his through his new convenient porthole, he wasn't the only one who had caught the God-Emperor's attention, and saying that they hadn't fared as well as him was an understatement.

"Wraith! Hold on buddy I got y-!"

And then thanks to Caleb he was right as rain...Avery blinked a few times, what was he doing? What the heck were the paddles in his hands for? Oh right, God-Emperor.

"CLEAR!"

Move: Dazed
Free: Set Variable to Damage 12 Linked to Affliction 12 (Impaired&Vulnerable/Stunned&Disabled, Fort)(Extra Condition, Secondary Effect)(Limited Degree)
Standard: Attack the God-Emperor [roll0] DC27 Toughness & DC22 Fortitude if that hits
End of Turn: Regeneration removes a Bruise
HP 5
Status Fatigued

[SuperCracker]

Meanwhile, over in Captain Rook’s neck of the woods, it seemed to be a stalemate between two of the Doctor’s Inventions. Rook was pouring offense into Aubernon, who responded by trying to jockey for position. Neither attempt worked out too well.

Rook stepped forward, since Aubernon had closed into melee range, and jumped on top of the cockpit, aiming his cannons down and firing point blank into the Red Terror.

And I’m tapped for describing ongoing automatic fire.

Needs. More. Dakka

He gets hit again with the concentration effect.

No movement.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 5

For a briefly scary moment, Wraith went down.

But Caleb Wey had already beaten Darryll's Death Curse once. He called upon the power of the Dream, and though the Death Curse was a persistent, tenacious, insidious magic...it wasn't exactly designed for immediate dominance through raw power. It tweaked probability, it altered fate, it made the subject trend towards entropy.

It didn't really...have anything for enough raw unfiltered healing power to completely repair a bloody gaping hole in a matter of moments.

The Haptaran powered armor may have been bulky and brutish, but evidently whoever was piloting the suit fighting Aidan had some serious skill. Once again, all of Aidan's fancy maneuvering came to naught as the Destroyer kept just inches ahead of his disintegrating touch.

Avery swung his paddles, and the God-Emperor just laughed merrily, slapping them aside. "You do realize who it is you are dealing with, right? I have battled some of the best-trained, most powerful military Dreamers your country can field and won. You are nothing but a glorified Rescue Ranger. Honestly. I know Ilessia is very proud of its Heroes, but normally they know better than to send one into a real battle!"

But the battle wasn't a complete stalemate. Rook's constant barrage of artillery-caliber bullets, powerful as it was, just wasn't making headway against the Red Terror's nanorepair technology. With bullets proving ineffective, Rook went with the tried and true strategy of even more bullets! The Ilessian Military Handbook couldn't be wrong! And indeed, validating decades of established military doctrine, the additional firepower punched through the Red Terror's armor, and blew apart its primary power generator.

And in that moment, before Aubernon could switch to secondary power, Kate turned her attention away from the Destroyer she had been fighting and hurled one of the biggest portals she could throw. It took the stalled mecha's head clean off.

Fortunately, a Haptaran battlemech was designed to survive a decapitation! While several important computational components were stored in the head, there were redundancies build throughout the mech in case of just such an issue. Those aside, the head mainly just contained a power generator, but it was intended primarily as a reserve. The mech could operate on primary power only at 96.5% effectiveness!

...Oh. Wait.

With a plateau-shaking crash, the Red Terror toppled to the ground, inert.

Aubernon came rolling out, protected from the mech's destruction by the cockpit forcefield. He looked absolutely livid.

And with his mech disabled, the former Count Aubernon raised his two bare fists and started moving towards the miracle of cybernetic Dreamtech that had just (with a bit of an assist) brought down a full-scale mech in open combat.

"No."

The God-Emperor did not shout, but his voice could be heard throughout the battlefield.

"There is now a piece of proprietary Haptaran military technology lying on foreign soil, so I am afraid we no longer have the luxury of indulging ourselves in amusing banter and personal grudges." The bombast of the God-Emperor was simply...gone. In its place were coldly calculating instructions, spoken firmly but with nearly zero inflection. "Aubernon, lead the attack. Destroyers, coordinated assault with chains followed by blade. Ellens, try to tip the battle in our favor with mass mind control."

"All forces engage and neutralize the healer with extreme prejudice."

Aubernon gritted his teeth in a furious scowl. "First I make sure you can't get back up. Then you die," he told Rook, before darting over toward Prophet, coming in with hard strikes targeting the most vulnerable points on the body - exactly how you had to hit if you meant to cause appreciable damage to a powerful Dreamer without any powers of your own. As he attacked, he called orders, directing his allies to strike for enemy weaknesses.

The three Destroyers followed up, the two who had been battling Kate and Aidan swooping in at Prophet with their chain arms, trying to grab him around both arms and hold him out defenseless while the one who was already engaging the priest lunged in with an attempt to impale him on its blade arm.

All in an effort to leave him open to a lethal finishing attack from their Emperor as he pulled another of his massive weapons from his wings. There was a flash brighter than several suns as a head-sized depleted uranium shell fired at near-relativistic speeds from the God-Emperor's nuclear cannon.

Tara was let's just say not exactly prone to taking orders, but even she did not brook the Emperor's commands. That they made some degree of strategic sense may have also been a bit of a factor. She gathered her power, took to the air, and launched what looked like a glowing blue chain down, zipping along the field and snaking unerringly around each of the Heroes. The chain wouldn't restrict movement, but would bind the will to dance on Tara's strings.

(Somewhere back in Verdania, Kyton sat up in bed, awakened by the vague sense that he was missing something, and then he shrugged and went back to sleep.)

And then, with a scream of tremendous exertion, light not so much blazing in an aura around her as shining out through her skin, Tara drew on every ounce of her power and did it again!

The God-Emperor nodded as his minions followed his instructions, before looking to Avery and commenting conversationally, once more with the gregarious aspect of his armored, quasi-religious persona, "You were saying about the gloves?"

Aubernon:
Move: Out of the wreckage and into Close range of Rook Prophet (T13).
Standard: Attack Prophet with Lead the Attack. He will use the portion that requires an attack roll to Aid Destroyer 3 at [roll0]. Prophet (being the only one in 30') give me Dodge DC 22 for half, Will DC 22/16 vs. Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless vs. Destroyer 3 and Weaken All Defenses vs. the God Emperor. +5

Destroyer 1:
Move: Staggered.
Standard: Charge into T12 and use Chain Arm to Aid Destroyer 2 at [roll1]. +5

Destroyer 2:
Move: Into V12.
Standard: Attack Prophet with Chain Arm, All Out Attack for 5, at [roll2]+Aid, Deflected at [roll3]. Hit thanks to Aid
On a hit, Toughness DC 29 vs. Damage, Prowess DC 24 vs. Cumulative Vulnerable/Defenseless/Paralyzed and Physically Dazed+Impaired/Stunned+Disabled/Incapacitated+Unaware.

Destroyer 3:
Move: Attempt to Startle Prophet using Shock and Awe to reduce the penalty to -2 at [roll4]. He can't fail that one.
Standard: Attack Prophet with Blade Arm, All Out Attack for 5, at [roll5]+Aid, Deflected at [roll6]. On a hit, Toughness DC 29/24 vs. Damage Linked Weaken Toughness. Both effects carry a Secondary Effect. Miss even with Aid unless Prophet is Vulnerable or worse by this point.

The God-Emperor:
Free: Swap to Nanoweapons.
Standard: Attack Prophet with Nuclear Cannon at [roll7], Deflected at [roll8]. On a hit, Toughness DC 30 vs. Incurable Damage, Fortitude DC 25 vs. Impaired/Disabled/Dying and Weaken All Abilities. If rendered Dying, the DC is increased by the Affliction rank (so, it becomes 30). ...Turns out the God-Emperor has Improved Critical 4, so that's actually a crit.
Move: Demoralize Avery at 27 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?584946-The-Nightmare-of-SIDE-OOC-3-Enter-the-Matrix&p=24281457#post24281457).

Tara:
GM Fiat: Fatigue negated. The party gets a floating :smallcool: Hero Point.
Move: Into the air so she can see over that barrier of hardened magma and all.
Standard: Augmentation on self. Ritual of the Opened Mind gains Perception Range (Limited to Close) and Shapeable Area 3 (Limited to Chaining Lines).
Extra Effort - Additional Standard Action: Ritual of the Opened Mind. Everybody give me Will DC 26 vs. Cumulative Entranced/Compelled/Controlled. Failure on this save also imposes Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless, but Tara chooses when these penalties apply.
Kate Will: [roll9]. Hard no
EXTRAORDINARY EFFORT - Additional Standard Action: DO IT AGAIN!
Kate Will: [roll10]. Entranced+Impaired+Vulnerable. Taking suggestions on if she should reroll this.

All PCs are on turn.

[Hyperbolic sine]

As soon as the Destroyer he was fighting moved to obey the Emperor's orders, Aidan dashed in pursuit - and his quick and somewhat erratic movements, designed specifically to throw off various kinds of mental "aiming", once again proved their worth against Tara's ritual.

"All forces protect the healer with even more prejudice, then. he murmured after reaching Prophet's side, then lunged at the injured Destroyer - and then, instead of going through with the thrust, he opened his palms, spun on himself, and unleashed a point-blank barrage of pure energy. If quality wouldn't do, then quantity would.

:smallcool: HP to remove Fatigue.
Free: "Teleport" to U12.
Move: Agile Feint D1 at 30.
Free: Stunt Disintegration Multibarrage: Damage 10 (Incurable, Targeted Burst Area, Selective, Multiattack, Str Discount, Alternate Area [Cone]), Loses Maneuvers Array. {26}
Standard: All-out Power Attack, on a hit Toughness DC 30+Multiattack vs Incurable Damage. Crit on 28+.

D1 [roll0]
D2 [roll1]
D3 [roll2] Crit.
AU [roll3]
GE [roll4]
EE: Do it again.

D1 [roll5] *
D2 [roll6]
D3 [roll7] Miss.*
AU [roll8]
GE [roll9]
*might reroll either of these, depending on the results of the first attack. Also, average roll of 8.5. Yay. Forgot stunting is already an EE. Can't do this.

-5 Active Defences, Foxglove and Prophet Deflected at 1d10+19.

[SuperCracker]

Rook jumped as the portal sliced off the head of the mech, putting some distance between himself and the falling monstrosity. He landed on the ground, raising his fists as Aubernon began to approach. It was time to finally end this once and for all. Something about this moment felt like a turning point in the battle. The Emperor seemed to sense it as well. Then the man gave his orders – to kill Prophet.

The Haptarans dogpiled Prophet. Rook could only realistically intercept one of those attacks, so he had to make it count. Seeing the God-Emperor himself pulling out one of those weapons told him exactly which attack that would be.

Rook’s thrusters were already kicking in as the Emperor was pulling the trigger. The flash of light lit everything, obscuring Rook’s movement across the battlefield. But by then, he had planted one foot into the ground as he neared Way, digging in and stopping his movement in front of Prophet. He pivoted on his foot and planted himself directly between the healer and the shell. Rook’s arms and hands formed an incomplete circle. The shell came slamming into Rook, who miraculously caught the shell in his arms and against his torso. The armored plating of his mid-section cracked noticeably, with error messages pinging…

But he was standing. And so was Prophet. Rook tossed the shell aside, his hands smoldering from the effort.

“He was saying the gloves are off.”

Rook dug deep into his heart and flooded his reactor with power. The problem with attacking The Emperor and Tara had been the armored jack-booted thugs getting in the way. The Emperor was right… it wasn’t the time for grudges. It was the time to win. Aidan took down two out of the three Destroyers, with one stubbornly remaining. Yet he was open… and Rook was on the attack.

The cyborg closed in quickly, his right hand reaching back for a telegraphed punch. Blue energy flared out within his grasp before he closed his fist around it. The Doctor told him that a hero’s big attack needs a big name… and he’d heard that Kenta kid did this sort of thing all the time.

“PLUS. ULTRA!”

And Rook punched with all his fury, an enormous shockwave blast of force produced from the punch itself, whether it finds its mark or not.

Move towards Destroyer 3.

Attack with Plus Ultra. All-Out Attack for 2. Power Attack for 5. – [roll0] for DC 34 toughness, DC 29 weaken toughness, both with secondary effect

[Thokk_Smash]

Wraith's body jerks as he sucks in a deep breath. He takes a single moment, a fraction of a second, to just appreciate being alive. Then he grips his pocket knife in a death grip and explodes into action. The knife spreads into gauntlets over his hands and arms, and the Dreamtech metal burrows under his skin to literally draw as much energy as it can hold. Wraith will be using all of it--he can feel the healing energies still coursing through him, just waiting to be used. It'd be such a waste for there to be nothing for them to heal.

Electricity crackles in Wraith's very blood, searing through his body as he approaches the God Emperor. In total silence Wraith brings to bear strength and power far beyond his normal limits in response to the Haptarans' attacks. Knuckles torn, bones breaking, Wraith pulls away after six full seconds of full-out assault on the most dangerous man in the world. He slips into everyone's blind spots as he tries to put some distance between himself and the melee. White healing energies course through his veins in an attempt to stymie the self-destructive actions Wraith had just put himself through.

Free action: Power Stunt off of Unkie Wraith's Pocket Knife: Strength Damage gains Multiattack, Secondary Effect, Side Effect 2 [Damage DC 30 Linked Weaken Toughness DC 25]), Incurable; Affliction removes Limited Degree, Gains Extra Condition [Entranced/Compelled/Controlled, Limited {Entranced can be ignored if he utterly forgets Tara's existence, Compelled/Controlled can only be used to force the GE to forget why he came here}], Cumulative, Multiattack, Secondary Effect, Side Effect 2, Insidious [Power Detection]) Linked Deflect 14 (Reduced Range [Close], Secondary Effect, Side Effect 2)

Free action: Spend an HP to negate the current Fatigue.

Move action: Fly into Close range of the GE.

Standard action: Attack with the Power Stunted Forgotten Combat, AoA/PA for 5 at [roll0], DC 30+Multiattack Toughness vs Damage, DC 25+Multiattack Will vs Affliction. Attack rerolled in OOC for 27 Toughness vs Side Effect: [roll1] Bruised

Extraordinary Effort: DO IT AGAIN! [roll2], DC 30+Multiattack Toughness vs Damage, DC 25+Multiattack Will vs Affliction. Full Multiattack Toughness vs Side Effect: [roll3] Bruised, and Dazed, -5 Toughness

Move-by Action: Fly into D11.

End of turn: SE Healing 1: [roll4] Removes 1 Bruise, Toughness Restored
SE Healing 2: [roll5] Removes 1 Bruise, Toughness Restored

Status: -5 Defenses, Deflected at 1d10+19, Exhausted next turn, Stealthed at 31 per OOC
HP: 3 -> 2
Luck: 2/2 to force rerolls against Wraith

[Dodgeson]

"Of course I know you are dink." Avery kept up the banter even as the Emperor started getting serious (which in and of itself was terrifying because it implied that he was only messing around before), the tide was starting to turn for them and if Avery survived this he was going to have one hell of a story for Brava.

"But here's the thing, I'm a Hero, I throw myself up against monsters and runaway robots and psycho Dreamers every day. Sure you might be a little bigger and those things your goons are wearin' might be a little shinier, but to me, you're just another wack-job."

Maybe mouthing off to the God-Emperor wasn't the smartest thing in the world to do right now but he was hoping that it would at least keep him from notice the ever growing shadow that he was standing now right under.

Free: Set Variable to Perception Damage 12 (Area:Burst, Selective)(Limited:Close Range Only, Limited:Requires Move Action to Charge)
Standard+Move: Attack all enemies DC27 Toughness vs Damage
HP 4
Status Fatigued/Demoralized

[Dorni]

Prophet had a moment to reflect on how he'd led his life to the point where the full might of Haptarus' elite forces was trying to personally kill him. To make an enemy of a figure that evil he must be doing something very very right. Which didn't, ya know, make him feel any more reassured about the Haptaran elite forces that were currently focusing all their effort on killing him.

The Dream didn't let him down. The protection of the Dream held up under that initial assault, and with their attention occupied his allies dropped the Emperor's soldiers one after another.

But even the Dream's protection had limits. Battered by the soldiers' attacks, Tara's fully augmented ritual slammed into his protection and shattered it. Rather than harming his body, he felt a haze as Tara's power started to settle over his mind. The beginnings of Mind Control, just like the Emperor had ordered.

He had to cut off her power. He prayed through the haze, and the purifying light of the Dream answered.

Move: Nah
Standard: Prayer of Purification. Selecting Tara's augment. Nullify [roll0]

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 6

Tara might have been coming just a bit unhinged. As the team weathered her power with scant effect, and Prophet (with a little help from Rook) weathered the Empire's best unharmed, she straight-up shrieked with frustration. "NO! That is not possible! You people are NOT THAT POWERFUL!"

"Relax, Ellens," the God-Emperor said as Aidan unleashed a barrage of disintegration beams. Two of the Haptaran soldiers had their armor completely disintegrated around them. The result of their effort to dodge meant that the momentum of the armor's servos was still hurling their now unprotected bodies. They crashed hard to the ground, knocked out by the force of the impact. The third, however, continued piloting his suit with astonishing skill and precision, keeping just inches ahead of Aidan's every blast. "I've seen this before..." the God-Emperor's bombastic voice had taken on a low, cagey tone.

"Some warriors - I understand the Ilessian Hero Corps has a tendency to produce them - they have a reputation for power that all objective analysis and testing would insist they don't possess. They win battle after battle against foes who should rate as even odds, even against strictly superior opponents. Their reputations grow, their powers are continuously hyped up, as they accomplish missions and overcome challenges far beyond what anyone expects of them." While the Emperor spoke, Rook hammered the last remaining Destroyer. The soldier moved his armored suit deftly, taking only a glancing blow - which was enough to shatter the entire left side of the breastplate, and injure the pilot within.

"But eventually you get sick of them throwing off your timetables and stop sending merely objectively overpowering forces against them and just handle it yourself. Kill enough of them and you start to recognize a pattern. It's like they have some...reserve of inner strength, or will, or maybe just good luck. Attacks that should cripple or kill them cause little to no effect, and their strongest attacks always seem to punch through a target's defenses when it's most important. They push their powers and their physical limits in ways that most people would be able to do maybe once or twice in their entire lives, and they do it in battle after battle." Kate hurled a flurry of portals at the Destroyer, slicing into his armor in several places, but even with the suit critically damaged, the pilot was just so good that he managed to keep his own flesh uncut, whirling and dodging around disk after deadly disk. It was really quite convenient, this one soldier occupying the attention of the entire team. Gave the Emperor time to monologue.

Or so it seemed. Wraith stealthed in, poured his power into his knife, and came at the Emperor himself with a flurry of deadly stabs!

*Tink!*

...

*Tinktinktinktink!*

Ignoring that for the moment, the God-Emperor continued, "But if you just keep up the pressure hard enough, for long enough, push them to their limits and keep them there...eventually whatever it is that lets them flirt with impossibility runs out. And they die like anyone else." Almost as if to prove his point, Avery's falling anvil crashed down on the Destroyer, shattering his helmet and finally taking him out of the fight.

"You just need to make sure they're in a situation where they cannot afford to fail, so they keep leaning on their crutch until it breaks under their weight. So, hit them with the mass mind control again. Only this time, if you manage to get any of them, instead of making them switch sides or something like that, direct them to return to their home cities and kill everybody they know and love in descending order of personal importance. They should become killable in two or three volleys."

Tara hissed out an annoyed sigh, gritted her teeth, and nodded, whelming her power.

And feeling it flow away like water through a sieve, and Prophet offered prayer to the Dream.

...Tara started shrieking in frustration again.

"Well. That's a pity." With a sigh, the God-Emperor looked at Wraith. "But seriously, though. I am wearing what is arguably the most powerful, most advanced suit of personal powered armor on the planet. Did you really just come at me with a knife, of all things?"

"I mean, don't get me wrong," he said, with his hands raised kinda defensively.

"I know," he said, gesturing broadly at Wraith. "Dreamer."

"But still..." he added, with a kinda hand-shrug, before gesturing briskly at Wraith's weapon, "Knife."

"Just think about that," he suggested, as he jumped back in a swift bound, not so much to establish distance as to get the proper range. And then he took a deep breath (that couldn't actually be required, right?) and unleashed a blast of deep purple plasma from his armor's mouth that washed over pretty much all the Heroes but Kate. Aubernon was just outside its furthest edge.

...The three Destroyers that had gone down were not. Unconscious and with their armor either destroyed or in tatters, they had no defense. All three, even the one who had gone toe-to-toe with Aidan and taken practically the entire team to bring down, were consumed utterly. The Emperor hadn't even hesitated.

Aubernon kinda gulped. The inference was clear.

"Alright then! You heard the Emperor!" Aubernon called to Tara. He kept the pressure on Prophet, a hard one-two punch from a master-class fighter, with sweeping footwork, pressing hard to take advantage of his vulnerability. "Keep up the pressure and be ready to move at my direction! We'll outlast them and then take them all down!" His title may have been taken from him, but Aubernon had been a Haptaran noble. And not to put too fine a point on it, but he had used to have a relationship with a Speaker of the Emperor. Aubernon's fists were his least dangerous weapon - his warlord's commands could inspire action and support a defensive effort better than most mundane physical fortifications.

Tara could no longer chain her mind controlling power among her foes. Prophet had now twice countered her Augmentations, and though she knew, she knew she was a more powerful Dreamer than him...she also knew in her heart it didn't matter. She knew far too well what it meant when a priest of the Dream pronounced you powerless. Far too well.

The hated face of Earl Winters almost seemed to superimpose itself on Prophet's own in her vision. She thrust her hands at him at let loose with a beam of deep blue enchantment. The magic of her rituals was hers, earned by time and study and painstaking effort. His power could not touch it! Kill them! she thought forcefully as she unleashed her magic upon them. Kill them all! Everybody you know and love!

So, I have good news and I have bad news.

The bad news is, being a total cheating metagaming munchkin is literally part of the Emperor's established character. So yeah, he is totes going after your Hero Points.

The good news is, he doesn't actually have meta-awareness, so he doesn't actually realize that Hero Points come from Complications.

Rook, Wraith, and Aidan, ya'll have Relationship complications and Tara and the Emperor are threatening your loved ones directly. Tara can't mind-whammy all of you at once thanks to Prophet and he's still the priority target, but the threat remains. William and Leanne, Julie and Annabelle, Doctor Erikson. Major General Gallows, Daniel and Julie, Kate. Beth, Tai, and Tsuki. Lena and Serena. Through no fault of their own, for no reason other than being people who care about you, their lives are now on the line in this encounter.

All of you take a :smallcool: Hero Point. Aidan, take :smallcool: another since this conflicts with your Prevent Problems downtime. You are at -2 on attack rolls and effect ranks for all offensive powers against anyone other than Tara for as long as the threat presented by her mind control remains active on this field. (Remember though, if you knock Tara out before taking the Emperor out, you have to get her away fast or he can just take her and go).

The God-Emperor:
Free: Be a powergaming munchkin.
Free: Be a total cliche villain.
Free: Be a total prick.
Move: Into AF14.
Standard: Plasma Breath on everyone but Kate. Give me Dodge DC 25 for half, Toughness DC 30/22 and 25/17 vs. Damage Linked Weaken Toughness Linked Dazed+Impaired/Stunned+Disabled Affliction. If you fail the Dodge save for half, the resistance check becomes Defense rather than Toughness. This is angled away from Tara and Aubernon is right past the edge, but it's not Selective.

This attack hits the three downed Destroyers. Since they are no longer active combatants, you guys may Interpose for them (even without Interpose or Area Interpose) if you wish to do so. I don't particularly advise three of you taking a double dose of a rank 15 area attack to save some fanatical killers but if you want to you may. If nobody does, they die instantly.

Aubernon:
Move: Nah.
Standard: Attack Prophet with Lead the Defense, Power Attack for 5, at [roll0], critting on 16+. On a hit, Toughness DC 28 vs. Damage. All allies who can hear him are Deflected at 1d10+26, -1 per point by which their Toughness exceeds 8. Crit. DC becomes 33.

Tara:
Free: Scream.
Move: ...Scream?
Standard: Attack Prophet with Ritual of the Opened Mind, All Out Power Attack for 5, -2 for Exhausted, at [roll1]. On a hit, Will DC 31 vs. Entranced/Compelled/Controlled. A failure will also Cumulate your Impaired+Vulnerable to Defenseless+Disabled. Hit

All PCs are on turn.

[Thokk_Smash]

Caught flat-footed, Wraith still manages to weather the blast of plasma with minor injuries. Yet it is the God Emperor's words that cause a pain far worse than the torrent of plasma ever could. Images of Serena dead flash in his mind, and he falters for a moment. He glances up at Tara before turning back to the God Emperor.

"Why bother wearing the armor, Haptarus?" he yells, voice pitching to an octave his victims have nightmares of. "Beneath it, are you still flesh and blood? If anything happens to any of our loved ones, I swear to you that hell will rain down on you. You must know of my reputation, Haptarus; know of what the Wraith is capable. If our loved ones are hurt then I promise you I will find your weakness and use it to cut your ARCH-DAMN THROAT OUT!"

He bursts into action, his pocket knife back to its projection-form. He unleashes a furious flurry of blows. Even weakened as they are by his concern about Tara's mind control, their purpose is not to harm; it's to set up for an ally to strike.

Free action: :smallcool: HP to turn Exhausted to Fatigued.

Standard action: Demoralize the GE, -2 for Tara-Focused, +5 from Reputation, spending a Reputation Success to bypass GE's Fearless: [roll0]

Move-action: Move

Extra Effort: Aid Avery's attack, -2 for Tara-Focused, [roll1] +5 to Avery's attack

Move-by Action: Into AE25

Status: Bruised, Tara-Focused, Fatigued, Exhausted next round. Stealthed at [roll2]
HP: 2
Luck: 2/2 (to re-roll attacks against Wraith only)

[Dodgeson]

Avery sped across the battlefield and threw himself in front of Tara's enchantment without hesitation and throwing it off almost as fast, the last thing he wanted to do right now was see his parents, he'd rather fight the God Emperor than have to sit through another round of "When are you going to get a real job?", "You look ridiculous." and "Why couldn't you be more like your brother?".

Oh wait, he was fighting the God Emperor, charging back towards the menacing armoured figure Avery pulled off his hat and jammed an arm elbow deep inside it, there had to be something in there that could put a dent in him.

"Look, I get what you're going for here, being evil is kind of your thing but do you have to be such a **** about it? Now, Daryll, there was a classy crook." He admonished him as his hand finally closing around something within the depths of his hat "Ah! Here we go." With a grin he pulled a seltzer bottle out from his hat, and after giving it a few shakes unleashed a blast of fizzy high pressure at his target.

Free Action:Spend an HP to remove the Entranced
Move Action: Move to AE14
Free Action: Set Variable to Damage 12 (Alternate Resistance:Defence, Multiattack)
Standard Action: Attack the God Emperor [roll0] DC27+Multiattack Dodge vs Damage if that hits
End of Turn: Regeneration removes a Bruise
HP 3
Status Fatigued

[Hyperbolic sine]

Aidan had left himself open (well, relatively so) and found himself unable to avoid the Emperor's plasma breath, so he did the only sensible thing - try to disintegrate the plasma before it reached him. Given the difference in power, it seemed hopeless - but you know the thing Dreamer powers? They're fueled by Spritual Energy, and powerful emotions increase its output...like, for instance, those caused by one's family being threatened.

As soon as Tara's thoughts crashed upon him, the tables were quickly turned as the plasma around him was suddenly and utterly consumed, leaving Aidan completely unscathed. He glared at the woman with eyes full of bloodlust, but then followed the others in attacking the Emperor, closing in to try and cut his leg off and then retreating to cover behind the magma dome.

Move: Close with the Emperor.
Standard: Focused Disintegration (@-2 for Tara Focused) [roll0], crit on 24+ (though I guss he's immune). Defence DC 20 vs Damage, Mobility DC [roll1] vs Trip.
Move-by: AF8.

Deflected at 1d10+23.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 7

The God-Emperor regarded Wraith for a moment after he delivered his threat. Before laughing uproariously.

"AH-HA-HA-HA...AH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HAAAhh! Seriously? Seriously!? You're threatening me, of all people? I don't know which part is funnier! The fact that you think that I would be afraid of you, or the fact that you think I have a weakness! Ah-ha-ha... Oh, it's just too much! Listen, buddy, if you manage to survive this battle, I'll tell you what. You come at me with whatever you like. Bring some friends! You Ilessians have various organizations that go all berserker when people try to threaten your loved ones, right? Tell them I did. Get 'em all riled up to come for me! I could use an evening's entertainment!"

...Then the electrical energy that Wraith's knives had delivered crackled over his armor and blew out a power cell.

"...The knives? Really?"

As Avery compared him disfavorably to Darryll, the God-Emperor shrugged. "I don't actually know who that is." He eyed the seltzer bottle a bit askance but just before Avery fired it off Aubernon yelled "MOVE!" and with a bit of an eyeroll the Emperor sidestepped the blast...which punched straight through the far end of the hardened magma barrier without even slowing. "Huh."

The God-Emperor casually dodged Aidan's disintegrating strike.

Prophet gathered his power. He couldn't protect his team with Tara's ritual clouding his thoughts. He cast forth the power of the Dream to consume her corrupt magic, freeing himself of the effect. Kate began summoning portals around him, since the enemy was focus firing on him.

Rook closed with Tara, unleashing a blast of plasma at point-blank range, but Aubernon rushed in and pushed her out of the way...although not without suffering a second-degree burn to his arms in the process. He gritted his teeth, blotting out the pain with Haptaran fortitude willpower experience.

Tara snarled as Prophet countered her ritual. She was weary, but she was still, pound-for-pound, the most powerful fighter on her team. Which meant she couldn't keep trading spells with the priest. She flew over to lay a hand on the Emperor, once again filling his suit with her Dreamer power, before swooping off to get some distance.

The God-Emperor's helmet formed a slender slash of a sculpted smile, and brilliant laser beams flared from his eyes. Tara's enhancement hasted his targeting systems and augmented the raw power of the beam, allowing him to easily lance it through a complex pattern to hit every hero on the field, save the too-distant Kate. Anyone injured by the beam would find the energy spreading from the wound, burning it further open.

And then, because this is the God-Emperor of Haptarus and let no one forget it, he did it again!

Aubernon lashed out at Rook with all his strength, a crushing blow that would ideally send him flying straight into Avery.

Tara:
Move: Into Close range of the God-Emperor.
Standard: Augmentation on the God-Emperor.
-7 points to remove Limit from Enhanced Extra (Shapeable Area) from Laser Eyes.
-15 points to add two additional applications of Shapeable Area to Laser Eyes.
-11 points to duplicate Regeneration 11 from Nanorepair outside of his Nanotech Array.
-7 points to duplicate Healing 2 (Reduced Action 2 [Free], Restorative, Persistent, Limited [Self Only], Limited [Restorative Function Only])
-10 points to duplicate Senses 10 (Extended Penetrates Concealment Counters All Concealment Vision) from Sensor Suite outside of his Nanotech Array.
Move-by Action: Into U10.

The God-Emperor:
Move: Dazed.
Standard: Laser Eyes. Perception-range attack. Everybody give me Defense (or Impervious Toughness) DC 30 vs. Damage. With Nanoweapons on this is a Progressive Damage effect; if you suffer a Daze or worse, you must save against it again (using Toughness for the repetitive saves) at the end of each of your turns until you are not Dazed by it. I'm also gonna figure sweeping this to hit Wraith and Aidan (which he can do thanks to the Penetrates Concealment Tara gave him) pretty much clears out front of the lava dome, since it auto-fails the Defense save.
Kate Defense (DC 30, -1 for Bruise): [roll0]. Bruised, no Progression
Extra Effort - Additional Standard Action: Do it again.
Kate Defense (DC 30, -1 for Bruise): [roll1]. Rerolling
End of Turn: Regenerate a Bruise.

Aubernon:
Reaction: Interpose for Tara.
Move: Dazed.
Standard: Attack Rook with Power Strike, Power Attacking for 5, at [roll2]. On a hit, Toughness DC 28 vs. Damage, you're Immune to the Affliction, and Strength or Flight DC 23 or be launched at Avery at [roll3] for Toughness DC 28 vs. Damage. Hits Rook, Crits Avery if Rook gets launched

All PCs are on turn.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Aidan kept a himself a step ahead of the lasers, closing with the Emperor and circling him to make targeting impossible; once again he came out uninjured from the assault.

Then, he pulled out a device resembling a revolver and, after some more dodging and weaving around, he pulled the trigger and retreated to safety. No sound would come forth, and no bullet would shoot, but a micro-gate would deliver Aidan's disintegration directly to a weak spot.

EE: Stunt Gun CQC from Tara Special. Same as Focused setting, but with Penetrating and Limited [Close range].
Move: Close with the Emperor.
Standard: Attack with Gun CQC. Defence DC 19 vs Incurable Damage.
Move-by: AX7.

Deflected at 1d10+23.

[Thokk_Smash]

Wraith slices through part of the laser aimed at him, and curls away from the worst of the rest. He's gained several new tears in his clothes, and he's becoming very unsteady on his feet. But he's still standing.

Maybe not for much longer.

But he'll be Flame-blasted if he won't wring every dram of energy from himself before he lays himself down.

The pocket knife once more spreads across his body, digging under his skin. His muscles expand, painfully so, but he feels his strength swell as he closes in with Tara first, and then the God Emperor. Words are useless with these types of creatures, he's decided; and so in utter silence he pounds on the two monsters before running off into the distance.

Extra Effort: Power Stunt Forgotten Limits: Damage 16 (Side Effect 2 [Weaken All Defenses 10 {Will, Broad, Simultaneous}], Secondary Effect, Split, Incurable, Inaccurate 3) Linked Affliction 16 (Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless, Alt Resistance [Toughness], Limited Degree, Extra Effect, Side Effect 2, Secondary Effect, Cumulative, Split) Linked Weaken Toughness 16 (Fort, Side Effect 2, Split)

Free action: Spend my last :smallcool: HP to turn Exhausted to Fatigued

Free action: Swap utility array to Forgotten Physiology

Move-action: Into Close Range of Tara, and then GE

Standard action: Attack Tara with Forgotten Limits, Splitting just 1 Rank, AoA/PA for 5, [roll0] vs DC 21/16 Damage/Affliction, DC 16 Fort Weaken

Then attack GE with 15 Ranks of Forgotten Limits: [roll1] vs Toughness DC 35/30 Damage/Affliction, Fort DC 30 Weaken

Will vs DC 20 Weaken: [roll2] -5 Defenses

Extraordinary Effort: Move back into Close with Tara and DO IT AGAIN, [roll3] vs DC 21/16 Damage/Affliction, DC 16 Fort Weaken.

Then into Close range with GE and DO IT AGAIN: [roll4] vs Toughness DC 35/30 Damage/Affliction, Fort DC 30 Weaken

Will vs DC 20 Weaken: [roll5] -4 Defenses after the above Weaken

Move-by Action: Rank 9 Distance to the west. Stealthing at [roll6]

Status: Bruised 3, Fatigued, Incapped by Exhaustion next round, -5 Defenses, -8 to all Defenses
HP: 0
Luck: 2/2 (only for forcing rerolls against Wraith)

[SuperCracker]

Rook had closed into melee with Tara, incited by their threats to direct his violence at the witch. This was complicated by Aubernon’s interference, but James couldn’t shake the urgency with which he needed to take down Tara Ellens. Rook weathered the enemy assault remarkably well. The uniform on Rook’s upper body was blown away by the laser fire, exposing the humanoid, gunmetal gray body beneath. Synthskin wasn’t used except for his head, making Captain Ilessia look like the combat machine that he was.

Which makes sense that the hardest punch from even the strongest mundane person could really just result in a minor dent.

Taking a page from Wraith, Rook attacked Tara and the God Emperor. Thrusters on his arms fired as he punched with the same speed and intensity as the autocannons he’d been using before. The God Emperor was a murderous, fascist monster and Tara Ellens, for all Rook knew, wanted to be just like him. Time to bash the fash.

Machine Gun Blows, taking a -2 to target Tara and GE.

All-Out/PA for 5.

Vs. Tara: [roll0] – DC 32 multi-attack toughness, DC 27 multi-attack will vs. Vulnerable/Defenseless/Incapacitated

Vs. GE: [roll1] – DC 32 multi-attack toughness, DC 27 multi-attack will vs. Vulnerable/Defenseless/Incapacitated

[Dodgeson]

"You stay out of this you two-bit loser!" Avery yelled, shaking his fist at Aubernon but his complaints were short-lived as he was suddenly hit by the Emperor's lasers, when it was over the Cartoon Hero was still standing but wincing with a nasty case of sunburn.

"Gotta take tips from your goons now huh?" He taunted the God Emperor, unleashing another barrage of high-pressure water at him.

Move: Dazed
Standard: Attack the God Emperor [roll0] DC27+Multiattack Defence vs Damage if that hits
EE for Standard (Paying an HP to buy off Exhausted): Attack the God Emperor [roll1] DC27+Multiattack Defence vs Damage if that hits
End of Turn: Regeneration removes a Bruise & Will (DC31) to remove Impaired&Vulnerable [roll2]
HP 2
Status Fatigued/Impaired&Vulnerable (DC31)/Bruised x1

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 8

The God-Emperor once again sidestepped Aidan without trouble. He went hand to hand with Rook, blocking his strike with an open palm, while Tara warded him off with a telekinetic shield.

Wraith, using his power and his nephew's tech in ways it had definitely not been designed for and were not listed in any of the safety specs, assailed the God-Emperor with everything he had.

And for one brief, shining moment...the universe forgot that the God-Emperor was supposed to be practically invincible. His blows smashed dents into the golden suit of powered armor, blowing apart power cells with a will, and temporarily disabling the primary deflector system.

"Well that's gonna be expensive," the God-Emperor complained.

Wraith faded into the background and withdrew...but a trail of blood in the fallen snow marked both where he was going, and how far beyond his limits he actually was.

With deflectors down, Kate and Avery let fly at the God-Emperor with deadly weaponized, space-rending portals, and a bottle of fizzy drinks! They tore into the metallic armor with precisely equal efficacy, as one would expect.

And then Prophet put up shields and wiped away, like, a full third of the damage his team had suffered over the duration of the battle. He'd have gotten more, but Wraith was too far away and Rook was basically a robot. So, you know, he'd have to settle. Flipping Healing I swear.

"Right. Sick of this. Tara, get rid of him."

If Tara were honest, what she really wanted to do was go after the one who was bleeding from literally everywhere and finish him off. Fortunately for Wraith, the combined forces of the Emperor's order, the obvious tactical need, and the fact that she realllllly hated Prophet you guys were, combined, just enough to convince her to go with that. For now. She thrust a hand at Prophet, no frills, nothing fancy, just a massive outpouring of telekinetic force that would launch him halfway across the Lastellan region. Sometimes simplest was best.

The God-Emperor, meanwhile, pulled a massive hammer down from his wings, the nanotech mask flowing into a cagey smile as he put power to his sensors. There was nothing quite like tracking down an injured wanna-be hero by the thready beating of their straining heart.

"Eight ball...corner pocket," he marked, and there was an explosion of rocket fuel and a hammer flying at Avery's face at several multiples of the speed of sound!

And then, horror of horrors, the God-Emperor vanished utterly, to all senses.

Aubernon had hit Rook hard enough to dent the Dreamtech metal he was forged of. Rook could hear the crunch of bone at the moment of impact. Aubernon's hand was a shattered, bloody ruin, hanging limply off the end of his arm, the jagged break of his armbone jutting through the skin. Some warriors would have blacked out from the pain. Many would have withdrawn from battle. Most would have at the very least started nursing that injury.

It was a testament to Aubernon's sheer hatred that he took the jagged piece of bone jutting out of his destroyed arm, and tried to jab it full force up under Rook's chin and into his brain.

Tara could actually kind of respect that.

Tara:
Move: Nah.
Standard: Attack Prophet with Ritual of the Unanswerable Force. Strength or Flight DC 26 or go flying 40 miles south. If you're launched, Toughness DC 31 vs. Damage from the impact of your landing.

The God-Emperor:
Free: Reconfigure Nanotech. Concealment 10 (All Senses) from Nanocloak, Senses 6 (Accurate Analytical Extended 3 Hearing) from Sensor Suite, and let's say Speed 4 from Nanocloak, maybe he'll want to Interpose something, who knows?
Move: Dazed.
Standard: Attack Avery with Rocket Maul, All Out Attack for 5, Accurate Attack for 5, -2 for Impaired, at [roll0], Deflected at [roll1]. On a hit, Toughness DC 30 vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 25 vs. Dazed/Stunned Affliction, and Strength or Flight DC 25 or be Launched at Wraith at [roll2] for the same. The Affliction and Move Object are Contagious, so if anyone interposes if they get launched that'll be at Avery who will then still have to make all those saves and potentially get launched at Wraith at [roll3]. If Wraith ends up launched he'll just go flying Distance rank 13. The Affliction uses Pinball Contagion, so you're contagious during the attack's resolution even if you resist it and stop being contagious once the effect resolves even if you failed to resist it. That was impressively useless

Aubernon:
Move: Is he adjacent to Rook? Then no.
Standard: Attack Rook with Power Strike at [roll4], Deflected at [roll5]. On a hit, Toughness DC 23 vs. Damage, you're Immune to the Fortitude, and Strength or Dodge DC 18 vs. Grab. Yes if you're grabbed it totally means he impales you with his broken wrist bone and pins you with it. What I've come to learn is that Aubernon is like ten times more hard-core than the Red Terror and everything that Asher Sato wishes he could be. Well, okay, everything that Asher Sato has proven he can be.

All PCs are on turn.

[Thokk_Smash]

Wraith feels a chill run up and down his spine, as if someone had stomped up and down on his grave. The delirious majority of his brain spends a second wondering if it's Haptarus and Tara, or his family for doing something so Flame-blasted stupid as what he'd just done. Definitely Tai, though. I mean, it only takes the boy, like, thirty seconds to write up the safety specs, but he never likes when Louis skims them.

Anyway. He nearly blacks out then and there, but forces himself back from the brink. In that quiet moment, he takes a few seconds to catch his breath and banish the exhaustion further. Then, setting his sights back in the direction of the fight, he moves back. "Flame and Void take you, Haptarus," he mutters under his breath as the electro-Dream charges from his previous attack go off on the Emperor's armor.

Spending my :smallcool: HP to downgrade Incapped to Exhausted.

Standard action: Recover off Exhausted to Fatigued.

Move action: Distance Rank 9 back to the fight into A9

End of round: His previous Secondary Effects go off on the God-Emperor.
End of round: Regeneration 5 triggers again, adding from last round to remove 1 Bruise
End of round: Recover 1 point of All Defenses

Status: Bruised 2, Fatigued, -7 All Defenses, +2 Active Defenses from Recover, Stealth 39-7 (or 39-5 if the Recover bonus adds to it, on the off-chance ^_^; )
HP: 0
Luck: 2/2 (only for forcing re-rolls against Wraith)

[Hyperbolic sine]

Aidan looked at Wraith's blood trail, then back at the Emperor.

...well, were the Emperor had been, at least. But he saw the damage on the armour, and he wasn't going to let that chance disappear. Definitely not after how far Louis had pushed himself.

But a glance at Tara was all it took to recognise the signs of the Ritual of Unanswerable Force, which wich he had grown familiar in the previous fight. And it was aimed at Prophet, who indeed had no way to answer. So he darted towards him, in a desperate effort to get in front of Tarajust as spell was being completed - and once he did, the momentary shift in her concentration was enough to redirect the attack on him - or where she thought he was moving, at least, since as usual an abrupt change of direction messed the targeting some.

"Too bad, Ellens." he taunted, then finally closed in on the Emperor.

"Emperor skewer, coming up." he said, his lips curved in an evil smile as his hand shot forward in an impaling motion.

Move: Close.
Standard: Defensive (3) attack GE (-5 for Concealment, -2 Tara Focused) at +0, Routine for 10. Defence DC 20 vs Incurable Damage and Mobility (Strength if Aubernon Interposes) DC [roll0] vs Trip.
EE: Do it again, if necessary. Trip DC [roll1]. (Upping to Defensive Attack 5 if the GE is tripped and it matters.)
Move-by: AO9.

+3/+5 Active Defences, Deflected at 1d10+23.

[Dodgeson]

Sweet fancy Arch, they'd done it! They'd beaten the God-Emperor! Of course there wasn't any time to celebrate just yet, not whilst Tara was still on her feet anyway, but Avery had a little something up his sleeve for that. His feet whirled underneath him as he tossed his empty bottle over his shoulder and left the downed emperor in a cloud of dust, charging over to Tara.

"Not gonna lie, this aint looking too good for you." He taunted her, before pulling his mallet out from behind his back and swinging, hard.

Move: Move to V10
Free: Set Variable to Damage 12 Linked to Affliction 12 (Dazed&Impaired/Stunned&Disabled, Fort)(Cumulative, Extra Condition)(Limited Degree)
Standard: All-Out/Power Attack +5 at Tara [roll0] DC32 Toughness & DC27 Fortitude if that hits
EE for Standard (Paying an HP to buy off Exhausted): All-Out/Power Attack +5 at Tara [roll1] DC32 Toughness & DC27 Fortitude if that hits
End of Turn: Will Save vs Impaired&Vulnerable (DC30) [roll2], Toughness vs DC30 [roll3]
HP 1
Status Fatigued/Impaired&Vulnerable(DC30)/Staggered/Bruised x1

[Dorni]

Prophet barely noticed the rupture in the God-Emperor's armor, or the overwhelming telekenetic blast that would have sent him flying for miles if not for Aiden leaping in front of him to disintegrate the Force itself with his powers. His eyes were burning white, filled with a Vision of the Future - that of a gravestone.

"WRAITH! GET OUT OF THERE!"

Prophet gathered all the power the Dream gifted to him. They were almost through this battle! Tara was in their grasp! Prophet wouldn't allow the task force loose anyone now.

Free: Set The Seeking to Eyes of the Seeker
Move: Really got to find a use for these things.
Standard: Ready action to Counter the Emperor's attack on Wraith. Using Prayer of Purification if his attack pings as [Dreamer] to Prophet's eyes, or Blessing of Protection if not.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 9

Wraith returned to the field just in time to see the electricity coursing through the God-Emperor suit blow out pretty much every visible power cell on it. It was the perfect opening. Aidan came in hard, thrust his hands out upon the golden suit of powered armor, and let his power loose.

The God-Emperor suit, arguably the most advanced suit of powered armor on the face of modern Aranth, a mech's worth of power in a human-sized package, a walking weapon-station, a living terror to the Free People of Indelar, glowed briefly, brilliantly green...and. Was. GONE!

In its place stood a man of dominating build and regal bearing. Standing at six and a half feet and layered with corded muscle, the first thing one would notice is that for all his unbelievable power as a Dreamer, this was a man who clearly put effort, put work, into maintaining peak physical fitness. He was neither especially old nor especially young, a warrior in his prime, without any of the gangly softness of youth but not yet showing any gray hairs or wrinkles to indicate particular age. He dressed exquisitely, in silken attire of black and purple, a unique outfit that couldn't quite be called a suit but neither rightly described as robes. The black and red quartered square of alternating lines that was the Flag of Haptarus was draped as a cape from his broad shoulders. He was handsome, with thick black hair hanging just a bit past his shoulders, strong features that stopped just shy of "rugged", his dark beard neatly trimmed. His eyes were striking, a deep violet shade. One might expect given his reputation for his eyes to be empty, lifeless, but they danced with life and burned with will.

This, then, was the Emperor of Haptarus.

Sergeant James Rook wasted no time running up to punch him in the face!

But his hand halted, just straight-up stopped moving about a foot away, and for all his strength and bravery and determination, it would move no closer. The Emperor looked at him, his lip curled in a contemptuous smile.

Avery came at Tara hard, two mighty swings of his ever-trusty mallet. But Tara slapped them both aside with first exertions of telekinetic force. Kate's portals flew in, scything through the air at the augmenter, but she dodged away from them, responding to Avery's taunt with a raised brow and a fierce smile. "For me?" she asked.

The Emperor of Haptarus heard her retort, and gave a short, barking laugh. She didn't get it. He had already spent way too many resources on this battle, losing both a mecha and a power suit that would take months of work and billions of credits to replace. Of course, with his power, he could destroy these upstarts casually. But there would be more where they came from. Haptarus could throw away those resources. But there was one King upon the chessboard, and he would not take even the most trifling of risks with his own life. Not for her.

The truth was, Tara and Avery were equally right. And equally wrong.

The Emperor of Haptarus taking to the field was equally bad news for everybody.

"I wonder," he said, and his voice was throaty, raspy, and utterly, utterly cold. He was looking at Rook when he spoke, although he was kinda addressing everyone, "Did we run you out?"

If you want a decent approximation for the Emperor's voice, think Raiden from the Mortal Kombat movie crossed with...I wanna say the Green Goblin.

In a kinda unnatural sideways-swooping move, like he was being tugged along by some sort of string, the Emperor rose into the air, before in the same odd way spinning back in the other direction, the motion carrying him higher. "Are you mere mortals once again?"

He looked down at the field below, as if they were ants, and extended one hand. "Let's. Find! OUT!"

"My Lord!" Aubernon yelled up at the Emperor, a tremor almost like a sob in his voice. This man, who had leaped free of his ruined mech and done battle with nothing but a fanatical fervor and two bare fists, who had with pure skill managed to contribute in battle alongside one of the mightiest Dreamers and most powerful pieces of technology on the entire world of Aranth, who had ruined his own hand just for the chance to damage his enemy in the Emperor's name sounded...desperate. Not afraid, not pleading, but like a man at the very edge of breaking. The rage and fervor that had propelled him so far seemed snuffed like a candle. Tears, actual tears, were dreaming down his face as he collapsed to his knees and asked, as if it were the only thing in the world that mattered, "Have I served you well?"

The Emperor's eyes shifted incrementally to look down upon Aubernon, to meet his gaze directly.

And the Emperor's entire face brightened, as if he were ecstatic, filled with utter, unholy glee to have the opportunity to answer his faithful warrior, in a voice of utter gleeful pettiness, of pure, vindictive spite:

"NO!"

And then a blast of energy like nothing else on Aranth crashed down upon the plateau, and sent the Emperor of Haptarus blasting off for home. You might have thought he had teleported, if not for the burning trail of plasma - of air not so much set on fire as physically converted into new and exciting forms of matter - left in his wake.

As the wave of power crashed down upon him, Aubernon cried out in an anguish that had nothing to do with physical pain, "I'M...SORRY...MY...LO-ORD!"

The blast the Emperor unleashes casts the entire area into strange light. Your senses are keen enough or quick enough to actually make it out in the instants before it hits. It's like a photograph with the colors inverted but...worse. Blueish reds that will not become purple, blackish whites that are not gray, the light shining from the Emperor's blast casts your surroundings in colors that do not exist, that the human eye has not adapted to process.

In the shadows cast by that light...you see things. Your brain does not want to draw them out for you, does not want to place them in the context of the illusion it has always constructed for you of the world you live in. All you can identify of the things you see are strange, misshapen bodies and far too many crimson eyes...

In the instant before impact, you could swear you hear the voice of a young girl, quietly laughing right beside your ear: "Tee-hee-hee...!"

(Yes, you hear this even if you opened the spoiler with Rapid Vision.)

So, first the good news! Since the God-Emperor is down, his Progressive Damage ends. Small mercies! Now for the bad news:

The Emperor of Haptarus:
Move: Take to the air.
Standard: Blast Off. This triggers Prophet's readied action as is a Dreamer power, so he Counters at [roll0].
The Emperor uses Ultimate Effort: Power Rank Checks, setting the DC to 41. Prophet take a :smallcool: Hero Point. Unless Prophet's Counter succeeds, everyone in a 900' cone, which is basically everyone, give me Dodge DC 31 for half, Toughness DC 36/25 vs. Damage. Remember, you are still subject to lethal damage - a double stagger is still an incap, but a four degree failure means Dying, and a five degree failure (a final result of less than 16) means death.
Move-by Action: Fly away at Speed rank 30. The Emperor flies at super-luminal speeds, and he does it in atmosphere.
HAVE FUN IN INDELAR!

Mere stone and earth cannot withstand the power of the Emperor. The plateau is utterly destroyed without a roll. Anyone who survives ends up in a crater.

The broken Red Terror and that last unconscious Destroyer have no chance. They are utterly destroyed without a roll.

Good as he is Aubernon is like nine PL below the Emperor and technically a normal human. He counts as a Minion and is subject to lethal damage. Dodge: [roll1]. Toughness (-1 for Bruise): [roll2]. Oh well yes he is VERY dead.

Fun trivia fact if you're going to haunt someone it's best not to do it to people who might end up basking in the most concentratedly-powerful area attack to ever touch the face of Aranth. Darryll Harrens' spirit resists this attack as a Minion. Even if he resists, he is banished from the physical plane to whatever final rest may or may not await a spirit. If he fails he is utterly obliterated. Either way, the Wraith's Death Curse Complication is removed. Dodge: [roll3]. Toughness: [roll4]. UTTERLY OBLITERATED!

As for Tara Ellens...

Our games nears its end. It has been my honor, my pleasure, and my privilege to share this story with all of you, over the past five years. But make no mistake that it is every bit as much your story as mine. Mechanically, sure, Tara is powerful enough to potentially survive or even withstand an attack by the Emperor. She is also vulnerable enough that it is entirely possible that it could take her out, or even kill her.

There is no denying that she is in this situation as a direct result of her own choices. From the original breakout that started this whole debacle, the decision to slay Arcanis and meddle with APEX in the first place, to seeking to forge an alliance with someone like the Emperor, to her decision to travel to Peral and back to unleash an APEX dragon upon thousands of innocent lives, to even now, in the final extremity, choosing to put spite and hatred and vengeance over either wisdom or safety, and stand and fight when she could have fled. The Ilessian government believes in rehabilitation over punishment, deems no crime to be inherently worthy of death. Not everyone shares that view of justice.

I put Tara's fate in your hands. Not your characters'; while you may take their desires into account or not as suits you, it will be Player Fiat that decides what happens to Tara Ellens. When you make these resistance checks, choose how you feel her story should go - does she die here, consumed by the power of the Emperor? Is she struck down but left alive, to answer for her crimes to Ilessian justice? Or does she fight to the end, because if you are to win this battle it will be by your own skills and luck? (In this case, she will roll her saves normally, and may still go down if she rolls low enough - you all must face the full force of this attack, so that much symmetry should apply). If no option receives a majority of support, then we will leave the decision to the dice - though in this case, Tara will be subject to lethal damage, unless nobody votes for her death, and will suffer a -2 Fiat penalty to her rolls per player who voted for either her death or her defeat.

[SuperCracker]

Now’s our chance to stop him! That was all Captain James Rook could think as the Emperor’s armor vanished. Rook threw off all limits. His core engine flared with everything he had and more. He came at the Emperor with all the might he could muster and… he wasn’t even touching him. Rook’s fist was halted by whatever kinetic field the Emperor produced. So Rook applied more strength to his attempt to force through. Warning messages flashed in his vision. He disregarded them. 102%, 110%… Structural damage detected. Though his body, and to some extent, his mind was filled with complex software, he was still a human being with a soul. He overcame the software, removed the limits. 125%, 175%… his hand shook and moved inches towards Haptarus… before the ARMS unit on his right arm failed and began to tear away, bits of metal and then an explosion. Rook’s cyborg arm beneath began to unravel as the synthetic metal muscle began to break and spiral away like densely spun yarn being cut.

Rook’s arm practically disintegrated, and the loss of impact made him stagger past Haptarus.

James glared at the Emperor in defiance. That’s all he could do.

“This isn’t over. As long as free people draw breath, this will never be over.”

Contrasted with Aubernon’s pathetic groveling… well, Rook felt good about those words.

Then the whole world turned into pain. Rook had a sense at that moment, like he had when he was still a flesh and blood human… that he was dying. The power behind the blast would damage his core, and with it, force his soul to finally depart this mortal coil. But something… something from the Dream changed fate… and saved him.

Rook was standing at the epicenter, half of his body was turned to melted slag in an instant. The synthskin, so lifelike, burned away from the right half of his face. His vision was filled with error messages. People monitoring him back on the ship were screaming in his ear. But his core held… and for a cybernetic lifeform such as he, that’s all that really mattered.

He first tried to move his right arm… and realized again that he didn’t have a right arm. He had to switch over to nanotech recovery to regain the usage of his left arm. And once he had, he started to push himself up out of the rubble.

[Quellian-dyrae]

The blast crashed down like the fist of Arch. It blew the entire plateau practically to powder. The ruined mecha, the unconscious soldier, both were functionally vaporized on the instant. Aubernon's Spiritual Energy, strong for a Sleeper, just barely kept his body coherent for long enough for him to gasp out his final words, and then he was gone but for the memories. In the distance, the soldiers and sailors and pilots fighting their battle watched in shock, and many in horror, as a mushroom cloud rose up into the sky. It would be over a week before the rumors of nuclear war faded away, relegated to conspiracy blogs and Truthspeaker websites.

Faced with the bared might of the Emperor of Haptarus, a man they now all knew, beyond any shadow of a doubt, was by far the most powerful Dreamer, indeed the single most personally powerful force on all of Aranth, our heroes...stood firm. Not untouched, not uninjured - never that in the face of such power - but unconquered. Not a one, however tired or injured or vulnerable they were after their tremendous exertions in this massive battle, fell before the Emperor's power that day.

Was the Emperor right? Was there something beyond them, some ablative gift of luck or fate or will, that allowed them to withstand a blast that would have killed most in an instant? Was it merely the vagaries of chance, an inherent randomness to the universe that so often seemed the only just cause to blame for some of the seemingly physics- and even logic-defying stunts that occasionally happened on the world of Aranth? Was it the protective presence of the Dream, a power that many might have questioned the divinity of but that none could rightly deny, that had saved and shielded them as its Prophet had for so long?

Or were they, maybe, just that freaking good!?

Let's be honest. It's probably that last one. This was the team that, though perhaps in varying incarnations and with alternating members, had solved the crime of SIDE's first breakout in under forty-eight hours. This was the team that had personally taken down each of Tara Ellens's mighty lieutenants. From a hospital-room knife-fight with Rin Kidora, to a brawl in the streets with Brava Suldoon. From crushing Evans Ayers at Dadram, to overpowering Darryll Harrens and all his summons at Gran Terna. This was the team that had personally brought in the vast majority of escapees, many under the power of Tara's persistent enchantments. The team that saved the SIDE prisons at both Dadram and Adaros - and not a single one of either facilities' defenders would argue the fact that both prisons would have fallen were it not for their actions. It was the team that had taken down the Dreamer AI Prime within the very Matrix it was designed to destroy, that had overcome Tara Ellens in personal combat, and that had destroyed the armor of the God-Emperor of Haptarus himself!

When you've achieved such a roster of victories, it no longer makes sense to call it luck.

Tara Ellens was powerful, yes. As these things were measured, she was personally, individually stronger than any hero on the field. But she was also injured, battered, exhausted. Even her seemingly-endless font of power was at its limits.

What she had left, she threw into the teeth of the colossal blast that the Emperor had unleashed indiscriminately upon the battleground, raising around herself a shining barrier of protective energy. It was an act of desperation - even if it had worked, it would have left her nothing more to fight with.

But that hardly mattered, seeing as how it didn't.

The Emperor's blast shattered Tara's shield and crashed down upon her like a meteor. Her defense had blunted the attack, if only just, but it did not stymie it. Her body was not vaporized, or incinerated, or blown to pieces. She was smashed into the ground so hard she bounced off it, and came crashing back down to be less "buried beneath" than "lightly strewn with" what light rubble and dirt had survived as the remains of the plateau.

Figures started flying away from the skirmish in the north, some heading out over the ocean, others towards the mainland. Before any jet or chopper or flying hero could reach the scene, Interceptor appeared, with Stalwart touching down beside him not a second later. They looked to the heroes of Task Force with questions in their eyes as they beheld the scene. But they had come too late.

Tara Ellens lay still. She breathed, yet, but she would not be waking up any time soon.

The Nightmare...was OVER!

I already said it, but it bears repeating. It had been my honor, my pleasure, and my privilege to share this story with all of you over the past five years.

This is my final post as the Game Master for the Nightmare of SIDE. With this, I deem the game complete. I cannot express how thrilled I am that it came this far. Ya'll along with the rest of the Aranth crew are the finest bunch of players any GM could ask for. I've been at this hobby a long time, and while I may not have the breadth of experience of some, still I know how rare it is for a campaign to actually be brought to a conclusion. That goes double for a long-term campaign like this, and double again in this digital medium, where so many games fail to get through even their first combat, let alone all the way to the last one. This would be only the third PbP I've seen do it (and one of the other two kinda has an asterisk by its name on that point), and the first that I've run (although realistically, it won't hold the title of "only one that I've run" for much longer, have I mentioned that ya'll collectively are the very best?)

While the game is over, the story could still use an epilogue. You are welcome and heartily encouraged to post whatever you like for your characters in both the immediate aftermath of this battle, and going forward. There is no call for challenge here, no need for dice or rules or a GM's discretion. Feel free to write things for NPCs as you wish, and though it likely goes without saying do please show regard for their established personalities and motivations, and for one another's interests and desires for the epilogue. I will also ask that you treat major NPCs with strong ties to the setting with a light touch - after all, there will be more games set in Aranth, and I might have cause to take control of these characters once again in the future.

You are welcome to declare any sort of sweeping efforts or grand-scale actions your character might work towards in the aftermath in this campaign, but kindly leave the long-term and large-scale results unsaid (short- and mid-term and -scale things feel free to declare as suits you. You want to tear through an entire nest of Dreamcatchers solo? Who are they to stop you? I mean did you see this battle you just fought!?) You'll likely see how they turn out either in HeroCon or in future games.

However much or little you choose to write in your character's epilogue, you may each also declare a Legacy for your character. This is something of a grand-scale Edit Scene, a mark that your character leaves on the face of Aranth.
This is not to say it is infinite in scope - you cannot stop the war in Indelar, or put a permanent end to the Defiant, or make Paradisia change their separatist ways, or things like that. But you can ensure that things move in a direction you like - say that the Dymaran nations become more willing to support the war in Indelar, or that major action is taken against the Defiant, or that there is a significant shift in public opinion in Paradisia that leads to such matters as sending non-Dreamer children away being seriously debated in their politics. Aranth is a big world with many and powerful players, and so it changes slowly. But whatever task you set your Legacy to, you can be assured that your character will have a significant impact. It will likely influence the shape of Aranth that you will see in future games, even if only subtly.

If any of you particularly wish me to, I can take control of some NPCs for your epilogues as opportunity and creative energy permits, but again, you should hardly need me to. This is your chance to determine how your character's story ends. You've more than earned it.

Thank you all for playing!

[Hyperbolic sine]

The dust had yet to settle when Aidan climbed out of the crater - battered, by given the disparity in power (and having read the SIDE handbook) he considered it a win.

Well, it was a win. The Emperor fled, and Tara Ellens had been knocked out cold.

It was a good day.

...or was it? He'd seen...things...in the instant before the Emperor's blast struck, things he couldn't make sense of - yet neither could he scrub them from his memory.

Still, it had been a success, so he tried to steer his toughts elsewere. No need to spoil the mood - the nightmare was, indeed, over.

Or was it?

What he witnessed in that split second haunted him in for a few days, but he didn't stay idle; he researched and made inquiries, finding at least one report of a Haptaran girl with an eldritch-horror-like powerset having been fought in Millaine and later apprehended, and in the end submitted a report about the Emperor's possible powers. One of many, no doubts, but it was enough for him to rationalise what he had seen, and that was what mattered. And it wasn't long before the fuss around the Task Force and Tara Ellen's capture died down, and he returned to his normal life - not that it had been particularly different in the first place.


Julia and Daniel Blackwell returned to their normal lives, finally free of having a target painted on their backs...though little Kate quickly developed into a lively (and hungry) bundle of energy, so perhaps "normal" was but a distant dream.

Major General Harrison Gallows spent the following few months persuading his daughter to remain in Ilessia. Aidan remained pointedly neutral, though he certainly didn't look unhappy when Julia finally relented, or when he visited them regularly.

Master Sergeant Jenkins and Lieutenant Colonel Monroe returned to OUT-SIDE after their period training Verdania's police was over. A few years later, their squad was deployed in Indelar.

Doctor Hemlock continued his job as an interrogator, unsung hero of many a prevented disaster. Not that he did for the fame, anyway.

As for Aidan himself...well, the matter with Tara gave the final push to a project IN-SIDE had been considering for a while by then, and there were a series of internal rearrangements, and after a couple of years the name of Overseer Foxglove was nowhere to be found.

All rumours of a Strategically Unconventional Interventions squad are, however, almost certainly false.

My Legacy shall be the SUI-SIDE squad!

And it has been my pleasure. May the future games follow in NoS's footsteps!