[M&M 3e] Defying the Future IC

[Zelphas]

August 1, 2018. The Dome has been over the city for a month.

In that time, while the League of the Future formed at least in name, the five super-powered people have rarely interacted, at least in public. Lockdown focuses on building up his power base by recruiting people with potential and people without—anyone who’s willing to make a deal. Manchineel sticks to the Manitou Forest, sending out monsters occasionally and steadily erasing all signs of human habitation from the lands around Forester’s Bay. Apophis appears where he wishes and does whatever he likes, sowing small seeds of chaos independently from his fanatic followers, the Suneaters. Doctor Proxy remains unseen, abducting people and things almost at random and creating new mechanical monsters to serve their strange purpose. And Watcher makes his speeches about patience and the needs of the future and remains in his Obelisk, rarely seen, the shimmering Dome a constant evidence of his invisible presence.

The city of Forester’s Bay is by no means in a good place, but being menaced by five supervillains with varying levels of intensity is not as bad as a concerted team effort would be, and there’s no real signs of a true alliance coming into place between the members of the League.

At least, until today.

Here’s the series of events, from what you each could pick up. Nope, sitting quietly in his normal persona in a bar in Pub Alley known to be frequented by Bronze Links, overheard a conversation about a deal struck between a Proxysuit and Dragon, the Gold Link in charge of recruitment and discipline in the Chain Gang. It seems that there was a warehouse on the edge of Forester’s Park that contains some sort of plastic which Doctor Proxy wanted, and they were willing to hire the Chain Gang to secure the warehouse for them as a gesture of cooperation. Whatever Doctor Proxy wants, Nope doesn’t want them to get, so Remy prepared to step in.

Floral, watching the movement of the Saplings on the edges of the Manitou forest, spied a Bronze Link member enter into the forest waving a white flag and calling out to negotiate with Manchineel. About a day later, she was passing by Forester’s Park and saw a small group of Saplings and a malformed, hugely muscled boar-like creature with a piece of white cloth wrapped around one of its tusks entering into a warehouse… through one wall. That seems like something a Superhero should deal with!

Helios and Ariadne knew the least about the situation; they both responded separately to rumors about Apophis appearing in the area, and followed the sound of destroyed architecture and fighting.

At first, dealing with the group of Bronze Links led by the Silver Link known as “Wrath”, the Helpers sent by Doctor Proxy, and even the Saplings led by the Punishment-boar went fairly well; as the four super-heroes on the scene, you were able to recognize one another and coordinate fairly quickly, even against the fiery blasts of Wrath and the raging swipes of the Punishment. Doctor Proxy’s Helpers seemed to ignore everyone as long as nothing got in their way, so you were able to leave them alone and focus on the other enemies. The Bronze Links started falling quickly and the Saplings weren’t far behind.

And then a pair of honest-to-Ra mummies wandered in through the warehouse doors, wailing through their bindings and setting upon anything moving that they came across. The battle got… a bit more chaotic after that.

Wrath, her dark brown hair in disarray, the “glove” of delicate silver chains melting into slag on her left hand, looks up from the charred remains of one mummy, her bright orange eyes glowing with anger as she snarls at the remaining Bronze Links to “Deal with the other one so we can focus, here!” Waves of heat roll off of her, distorting the air. The Bronze Links move to obey, one Link looking nervously across at the Boar Punishment, two closing in on the remaining mummy, and the other four spreading out from where they were supporting Wrath to face down their foes.

The Boar Punishment coughs wetly and grunts, Helios’ Combust still taking a slight toll on the massive beast, though it is far from beaten. It and the Saplings have gone berserk from the chaos, lashing out at anything near them. One support pillar is already down, and the Boar eyes the other pillars through its black, hate-filled eyes.

The Helpers have been darting in and out of the warehouse doors in orderly columns, taking packaged blocks of plastic sheeting to a secondary location, depositing them there, and then returning in blurs of speed. Now, they have encountered an obstacle. The Helper at the lead of the column lifts itself slightly on its squat chrome legs, one spindly arm reaching out with an almost inquisitive air towards the mummy standing in its path, then to either side at the Bronze Links also in the way. The other Helpers wait with unnatural stillness, ready to strike or flee as the front-runner makes its assessment.

For the mummy’s part, it continues to wail and mutter in what might be Ancient Egyptian, its cloth-wrapped head rolling from side to side as it looks at nothing at all, twitching in unnatural jerks first this direction, next that one.

The situation may have gotten a little bit out of hand.

Two days ago, you eavesdropped on Dante testing out his powers. He chanted for a long moment, slammed his fists into the ground, and pulled two mummies by the head out of the ground, directing them with his mind as though they were puppets. Satisfied, he drove the mummies back into the ground and muttered to himself that he was “one step closer.”

It’s a fair bet to guess that these mummies aren’t from Apophis directly, but “gifts” from Dante to Helios.

The Bronze Links are PL 6 (+4/+2), with a 2-point Defense shift.

The Saplings are PL 7 (+7/+0), with a 2-point Defense shift.

The Helpers are PL 6, (+6/+0), with a 2/point Defense shift.

All are minions.

Boaris is PL 10.

The Reanimated is PL 10.

Wrath is PL 10.

Boaris’ Attack and Effect shifts are +5/+5.

The Reanimated’s Attack and Effect shifts are +8/+2.

Wrath’s Attack and Effect shifts are +8/+2.

Boaris has a 2-point Resistance Shift.

The Reanimated has a 2-point Resistance shift.

Wrath has a 2-point Defense shift.

OOC Thread (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?642664-M-amp-M-3e-Defying-the-Future-OOC)

Here’s the map (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1U7Q1yaUJ90PkwZy2duEV14pZl2kbr1wqHyl0W8kNfbI/edit?usp=sharing)! Place yourself wherever you like on it within the warehouse.

All PCs have 1 Bruise to start off, since we’re starting in the middle of a fight. And since it’s in the middle of a fight, All PCs are on turn. Best of luck!

[Quellian-dyrae]

This was...absolute chaos.

The notion that the villains might actually be starting to actively work together had been disconcerting. To that extent, the arrival of the mummies was, oddly enough, kinda reassuring. Whatever coordination was going on between them clearly was imperfect at best. Then again, coordination between the three who, you know, weren't possibly-literally Egyptian gods of chaos still wasn't great news.

Floral had done some good work as a hero in the past few weeks, she felt. Well, some decent work. Well, she had won all of her fights, anyway, no need to comment on how high that particular bar may or may not have been. This battle was...of a rather larger scale though. This didn't, in itself, worry her all that much.

After all, the villains weren't the only ones coordinating here. (Okay, "coordinating" might have been being generous but also they were four for four on working together and the bad guys only three for four so hah!)

No, what scared her, right now, was the realization that if the people-place-time combination had been wrong in certain particulars, it could just have easily been her brother and sister fighting this battle instead of her. Her siblings were certified badasses, but they weren't strong enough to face battles of this scale. Lily wasn't sure that the full fighting strength of the Forester's Bay Police Department was.

Lily had only had her powers for a few weeks. She had next to no combat training, and next to no experience.

But the simple fact remained that she was.

Standing just inside the doorway to the warehouse, the sun was warm on her back. The little bruise on her shoulder that the mummy had tagged her with was already fading away.

"My turn."

Lily pointed a hand, and a six-inch diameter vine shot out from it - if one looked closely, they would see the skin of her palm actually smoothly transitioning into the structure of the vine. It extended out practically to the other side of the warehouse, shooting up over the heads of the mummy and the various Helperbots all lined up behind it. Above each of their heads, a cluster of what looked like grapes grew down from the vine.

Except these grapes, rather than pale green or dark purple, had an almost violently vibrant, neon orange hue.

And then they exploded, unleashing a deluge of bright orange acid down on the heads of the robots and the mummy.

(Lily wasn't...actually sure whether her typical repertoire would work against them just as well, but while she may have lacked personal combat experience, she had played enough video games and RPGs and such to figure best not to bother trying things like poisons and pheomones on undead and robots.)

The acidic grapes also seared the vines that had delivered them, some of the acid spreading through the vines to eat them away. This normally wouldn't matter much, unless for example someone had modified the cellular structure of the vines to chemically react with citric acid to produce a cloying smell that would be mildly unpleasant to those with the right sort of pheromone signatures, and nauseatingly caustic to anyone else. But who would do such a thing?

Beginning in AD31.

Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 10 points to Photosynthetic Regeneration, 10 points to Acidic Nectar, 10 points to Floral Vines, 10 points to Heady Scent (Variable Descriptor to use Overwhelming Scent's [Physiological] [Nausea]), 10 points to Floral Scent.

Move: Nah.

Standard: Attack with Acidic Vines and Heady Floral Scent. The Heady Scent is Selective Perception Area (Olfactory), so it targets...I dunno however many folks are reasonable Perception Area's big but it's a big map. Anyone hit gets Defense DC 20 to negate since Perception Area, and then if they fail that Resistance DC 20 vs. [Physiological] [Nausea] Immobilized/Stunned/Incapacitated. In addition, Reanimated and the six Helperbots behind him are subject to the Acidic Vines, so if they get hit their Resistance check also faces DC 25 [Energy] [Acid] Damage, regardless of the results of the Defense check (although they're probably immune to the Heady Scent anyway so whatever).

I'll Routine the attack rolls against the Minions for 20.
Reanimated: [roll0].
Boaris: [roll1].
Wrath: [roll2]

End of Turn: Regenerate 1 Bruise.

Current Status: Normal.

[Dorni]

From where he'd been engaged with the boar creature, Helios is momentarily taken aback by the mummies abruptly stumbling into the warehouse. "Nergal." He all but spat. The solar hero rose into the air and flew towards the front of the building, the boar temporarily abandoned. He threw a hand out towards the mummy. Golden runes filled the air before his outstretched hand one after the other, winking out as abruptly as they appeared - and a curtain of fire abruptly engulfed the middle of the warehouse, blinding in its brilliance. When the firestorm disappeared it was apparent that the firestorm had left both support columns completely unharmed and had stopped short of engulfing Floral.

Move: To W29, floating 20ft up
Standard: Cast Solar Flare centered on AC24. DC 25/20 vs Damage & Linked Affliction [Vulnerable/Defenseless]

Helperbot 1: Routine 20
Helperbot 2: Routine 20
Helperbot 3: Routine 20
Sapling: Routine 20
Bronze Link: Routine 20
Reanimated 25 Rolled OOC

[Abracadangit]

Kal watched the pandemonium unfold from a distance, her needle darting left and right, as tiny veils of red thread covered the eyeholes of her mask, in response to the roaring flames. As soon as the fire had subsided, the veils unraveled back into nothing.

"I don't know if I'm cut out for a team," Kal thought to herself, concerned. "Everyone knows where to be and what to do, and I'm still figuring everything out for the first time."

Ariadne's whispers echoed, down the corridors of her mind. "You worry much, engoní, which accomplishes little. When you push a needle against the cloth, does the needle hesitate, trembling in your fingers? No, it pushes through, and it cares nothing for what is in its way. Be like a needle, mikrí engoní. Push through, and then..."

"Then weave the Thread, I know," Kal thought back, a little tired of the sewing metaphors. And if Kal was the needle, did that make Ariadne the seamstress holding her...? She could only think on that topic for a fraction of a second -- any longer than that, and Ariadne would pick up on it, Kal had learned. There would be time for figuring all of that out later, but now, to Ariadne's point, she had to react.

The boar looked to be tremendously strong, and if there was one thing Kal learned from her admittedly small vigilante-ing experience, it was that big, brawny menaces were best dealt with by being tied up in a ball. With some deft needle strokes, she began to conjure hundreds of red threads around the boar, twisting and turning into crimson ropes to ensnare him. By fanning the thread across the air with broad flourishes, she directed some of the weblike patterns to catch a nearby Sapling as well.


Starting Point: AB31.

Free: Setting Thread Combat Array to Snaring Strands, and Threadwork Conjurations Array to (edit: Mass Thread Combat).

Move: Staying put.

Standard: Targeting Boar (edit: AND nearby Sapling) with Snaring Strands, thank you to Zelphas for the helpful information.

Boar: [roll0]



Edited following some pointers from Zelphas.

[Ridai]

As vines form and acid fruit (acid fruit?! Ohh, I get it now...) burst and mesmerizing thread patterns are woven, the indistinct figure the others know to be Nope is careening through the air, cartwheeling multiple times while kind of flailing, momentary blinded by the whole place getting flashbanged, with an alarmed "Wooooaaaaah!" of an otherwise just aggressively nondescript voice for good measure. The "plan" was to get out of the way of one Boaris by taking a brief break from gravity towards the ceiling, but Boaris had different plans and just rammed him as he started going up. Since acceleration is mostly cancelled right now, that meant a trajectory ending with haphazardly hooking his foot on the upper end of one of the support beams. One of the ones positively swarming with bad guys down below. No pressure.

Well, it could have been worse? But also kind of asked for it when he went to a bar in the rowdy part of town to spy on Chaingangers, when one Remy rarely ever went to a bar (especially alone), doesn't even drink alcohol and such. And then decided to go and try stop... whatever Doctor Proxy and friends are trying to do. He could have shown up here and found himself with no backup! So, all in all, not as bad as it could have been. And only relatively minimal embarassment while he did his best to look both unconcerned about being in the bar and tired while ordering a soft drink, claiming he'd still need to drive today and that his boss won't get off his back. It worked out well enough! For someone without a car.

But anyway. Big stress right now. Reminding himself where down is (it helps that most things and people present are standing on the ground at the moment), since when you mostly cancel gravity and stand on the side of a column, one's brain tries desperately to keep up and frequently misinterpreting, Nope looks around, peering down and around the pillar as well. Right. Helper bots carrying away what the Doctor wants. That's probably bad. That they already carried out so much, that is. Some plant things. Bronze Links. And a mummy. Hoo boy. So, he should probably try to reduce the numbers before the scary lady and freaking Boaris (why is there a gigantic boar?!) come after him.

Okay, go through the process. Start with the first target, think through the series of targets after, keep effects in mind to shut them down. Wait. Not the Links, those are people. No blipping things from people! Endurance for those. Okay, start with the Helper Bot back there and start with mechanical removal, but then switch, but maybe don't care with the plant thing over there? Is that okay? Wait, did he get the order of operations right-

...Nope realizes he is starting to doubt. That's bad. He is also in the middle of live combat! Okay! No second guessing now! Helper bots! Links! Plant thing! Blip, wear out, eeeeeh whatever go!

A bead of sweat or two is slowly moving in a confused path in this local microgravity on his forehead as Nope focuses really, really hard on the mental path, hands balled to fists and shaking. But removing the hesitation, there's a moment of clarity. Execute plan right now! Hands open. And mechanics and physical/mental endurance are hopefully erased. In that order. Switching on the fifth target. Reality begins to glitch around the Helpers and several Links as the mother of all horrifying powers goes to work. Nonlethally. For the people.

A whole lot of breath is pressed out after that moment, puffing out cheeks. Okay, did not carve chunks out of a pillar by accident or blip someone out of existence. No sudden torrent of air from ambient air having been removed either. He'll take it. God, he will never get used to this.


...right. Still on the bad side of things. Remy pushes off the pillar, letting himself float through the air like an astronaut in a space station, turning himself towards a "standing" position again with his hands on the other side. Decidedly closer to his allies. He takes stock of the situation on the way. Multitasking. Gotta get better at it.

Nope is placed on AH12, relatively close to the ceiling, and currently horizontally in the air via Remove Acceleration.

Free Switch Rote Removal to Second Guessing, and Focus Removal to Hit Points, Mass.

Standard Remove Hit Points, Mass. 240ft bendable line, starting on the Helper bot in Z7, following the line of Helper bots, then transitioning to the three Bronze Links on the right side of the map and Wrath, and ending on the Sapling in AN26. If I counted correctly and took a more or less okay path, that should be about 200ft of path. Ranged Damage DC 25, Penetrating, Multiattack, Crit 16+. All-out attack +5/-5
Edit: Creating two line areas, not one. Editing modifiers!

Routining for the Helper bots, Bronze Links, and the Sapling for 25 23.
Attack against Wrath [roll0] (edit: please substract 2 from the result)

Move with Remove Acceleration from AH12 to AH24 by pushing off of the pillar and letting the momentum carry him over to the other one closer to his allies.

[Ridai]

The sound of a palm hitting a forehead rings through the hall.

...Crap! There are more enemies! This is live combat! He can remove more things! This is serious!

Hands ball, mental path, uhhhh, start with plant thing, just wear that out, screw it, then same with Boaris and the Bronze Links. And then blip the mummy! It's dead, it doesn't care!

Focus, more sweat, no second guessing, gogogogo! More momentary reality glitches.

...Hurrying through the process is also dangerous as hell, what the hell, Nope?! Floral was right behind that mummy, what were you thinking?!

Nope has to quickly grab onto the pillar again, threatening to drift away during his self-chastisement.

I did a dumb and forgot to add a second line with Multiattack! Editing in the lowered modifiers in the first post right after this. Here is the second line, targeting all other enemies thus far not targeted.
Routining for Sapling and Bronze Links for 23
Attack vs Boaris [roll0]
Attack vs Reanimated [roll1]

That should be it.

[Zelphas]

Round 1

The Bronze Link closest to Floral reels away from her in sudden disgust before collapsing to the warehouse floor in shudders of nausea, unable to rise. Unfortunately, that gives the rest of the enemies near enough to Floral to smell her the warning they needed to cover their noses/smelling orifices, ignoring the sudden sickly sweet scent.

Floral's acid fruits drop on the line of Helpers, melting them into slag before they can react. The lights atop the remaining Helpers instantly turn red as they register an attack on their fellows, quick jerky movements from their spindly arms conveying an almost living-seeming agitation. The unliving mummy directly in front of Floral proves that it is not slow zombie by lurching aside from the dripping fluid in a stumble of uncanny speed, its half-covered, shrunken eye rolling in its socket as it mutters and groans.

The wave of fire from Helios burns away much of the mummy's cloth wrappings, exposing desert-dry grey flesh that crisps and blackens unnaturally. It howls, twisting away from the fire, even as a Sapling and an unfortunate Bronze Link both are bowled over by the roaring flames.

Ariadne fires a bolt of threads which neatly snare a Sapling and squeeze it into unconsciousness, but the red string isn't able to get a good grip on the hulking Boaris before the maddened boar creature rips through them with a razor-sharp tusk.

And then the indistinct figure in midair waves his hands, the world turns sideways and purple greens for just a second, and every Helper bot, Bronze Link, and Sapling still standing drops to the concrete in unison, the lion's share of their vitality plucked from them as though it never was. "The f---" Wrath exclaims, her rage momentarily overwritten by shock. Boaris snorts, his brain re-working what to do with the sudden loss of enemies nearby. The mummy simply groans.

"Oi, you... blurry-looking creepshow!" Flames suddenly burst up from under Wrath's feet, and she kicks up into the air. "Lay off!" The kicking flight transitions into a full roundhouse kick at Nope's face, and then Wrath is past him, skidding to a stop next to the open hole Boaris made when he entered.

The massive boar-creature was distracted by the read thread; it follows the bright color to a figure garbed completely in scarlet, standing far away. The black, hate-filled eyes flare, and Boaris lowers his massive head, tearing across the warehouse at a lumbering run to crash into Ariadne--and if he hits, he rears up and flings the thread-controller into the air and directly at Helios behind him.

The mummy, still reeling from the flames and the strange deletion of some of its essence, throws its head back and looses an unearthly wail; every opponent that can hear it feels the sudden urge to run, to flee, to escape this nightmare creature, abandoning any attempt at guarding themselves in their panicked flight.

Wrath

Move Action: Fly to AH23, in front of Nope.

Standard Action: Use Roast on Nope, All-Out attacking for 2. [roll0] Crit! On a hit, Resistance DC 27/22 37!/27 vs. Penetrating (Pierce Resistance) Damage and Impaired & Vulnerable/Disabled & Defenseless.
Also since Wrath touched Nope, Cloak of Rage might activate (11+): [roll1] If so, to hit: [roll2] On a hit, Resistance DC 27 vs. Damage. Not Active.

Move-by Action: Shift to J18, floor.

Boaris

Move Action: Shift in a straight line to AA30.

Standard Action: Use Pinball on Ariadne. [roll3] On a hit, Resistance DC 25/20/20 vs. Damage and Vulnerable/Defenseless and being Luanched backwards into Helios. Miss

If Launched, to hit Helios: [roll4] On a hit, Resistance DC 25/20 vs. Damage and Vulnerable/Defenseless (the Affliction is Contagious).

Reanimated

Move Action: Dazed.

Standard Action: Use Wail.
Floral: [roll5] Miss
Helios: [roll6] Miss
Ariadne: [roll7] Miss
Nope: [roll8] ...Hit

On a hit, first roll Defense DC 20 to negate, then if that fails, Resistance DC 20 vs. Entranced/Compelled/Controlled (Limited to Only Run Away from the Reanimated) and Weaken Defense.

All PCs are up!

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily's lips twitched in a slight frown as she and Helios lost a bit of tempo to area overlap. Okay yeah, coordinating might have been slightly generous. Totally her fault. But whatever that thinned the enemy force some and-

Thud. Every mook still standing just kinda dropped.

"Nice shot-" she cheerily called before realizing she wasn't...actually familiar with this particular hero. And now the only name that was popping into her head was "Blurry Looking Creepshow", which seemed rude. "-Man!" she finished, definitely not lamely at all.

Mum-Blah or whatever it might have actually been called unleashed its wail. Lily appeared unaffected, but it wasn't actually true. I mean, don't get me wrong, it wasn't like she was harmed or in any way hampered by the mummy's wail. Let's not go crazy here. But it did remind her of mandrakes in the Harry Potter books that had a deadly screaming attack, and while that wasn't true of actual mandrakes, they did have powerful hallucinogenic and narcotic properties that could induce unconsciousness, delirium, and madness in sufficient quantities. That sounded like something worth experimenting with!

The mummy was disoriented, a prime target for attack, but there were three other heroes here who could handle that. Lily could dish out the hurt well enough with her acid, but the longer the battle went on, the better a sense she got of the capabilities of her allies and the threats on the field. She suspected her power would be best put to use creating more openings for the others to exploit, rather than finishing off the enemies already opened up.

To that end, she turned her attention on Wrath. The pyro...kinetic? Mancer? She was a Link right? So kinetic, presumably. Whatever, the flame-thrower was hanging back from the fray and had seemed to present the greatest direct threat so far. A light flutter of her wings, and Lily took to the air, zipping through the warehouse to hover some thirty feet away from the pyro, not wanting to get too close to her fiery aura.

And it occurred to Lily, this might be her chance. This was a big deal. The forces of all four villains involved, three of them coordinating, over three-dozen bad guys against four heroes. This wasn't just her usual handful of mooks or whatever. This might finally be her chance to rehabilitate Floral's image, take her from the cutesy little Flower Girl to the badass warrior-scientist she was in her head! She wouldn't just weaken the Silver Link. She'd break her morale, make clear the power and skill of the hero she was dealing with!

"Roses are red." Lily, um, threatened? As her fingernails began to...grow.

"Violets are blue." They shaped themselves into sharp, conical forms.

"Your minions are dead!" They...totally weren't. They'd be fine. She was exaggerating.

"And so are you!" Lily cried out, hurling a barrage of thorns at Wrath. If they hit, they would transform on contact with her blood into hallucinogenic mandrake root. Even if they missed, they were originally part of her body, and Lily's personal phytokinesis would guide them around for a second attempt! The attack was perfectly solid.

But man oh man, Lily Woods was good at many things, but intimidation was not even close to one of them.

I refuse...no, actually, that was terrible and I apologize to all of you. Especially since I thought up enough of these that I may be forced to turn them into a running gag.

Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. Variable Descriptor to [Physiological] [Drug]. 2 points to Petal Wings, 3 points to Floral Thorns (Ranged 3, Homing, Quirk), 10 points to Heady Scent, 5 points to Overwhelming Scent, 10 points to Miasmic Scents, 10 points to Lingering Scents, 10 points to Complex Scents.

Move: Into P18.

Standard: Attack Wrath with Mandrake Thorns at [roll0]. On a hit, Resistance DC 20+Multiattack vs. Cumulative, Secondary Effect Immobilized+Vulnerable/Stunned+Defenseless/Incapacitated Affliction. On a miss, the attack repeats next round with Homing.

Current Status: Normal.

[Abracadangit]

As Boaris came rushing at Kal, she couldn't help herself -- with a flourish, she conjured a cape of red cloth in her hand. Just before the moment of impact, her threads picked her up, yanked her out of harm's way, and deposited her back on the ground, with a little spin. She waved the cloth like a matador, and laughed in her eerie, thread-distorted voice.

"Have you no shame, simpering swine, that you wish to fight like a bull in a ring?" Kal began to rise into the air, buoyed by crisscrossing threads. "Then I shall indulge you, but beware -- it only ends one way, for the bull."

As Kal's needle began to reshape the threads around the boar once more, Ariadne came back into her thoughts, with a new sense of urgency. "The tongue of those revenants... I know it well," Ariadne said. "It is of Aigyptos, in my time, in which many a scroll of sorcery was written. They say that they move not of their own will, but forced by a hand unseen."

"Then say hi!" Kal thought back, slightly miffed by the intrusion. "Busy trying to not get us killed."

Ariadne momentarily took control of Kal's voice, and blurted out:


"Hear me, O spirits of Aigyptos past! I know of your people, your lands, your magics. Tell me how we might break this horrid enchantment upon you, and lay you back to solemn rest!"


Even though Kal didn't actually speak a word of Ancient Egyptian, she still somehow knew what Ariadne was saying, like she could barely remember the meanings of the words from a distant dream.

Just as quickly, her focus returned to the boar in front of her. Without realizing it, she had spooled much more thread around her open hand than usual, which meant that some of the threads she always kept around her for defensive purposes had gotten caught up in this pattern, too. No matter, Kal thought, as she quickly wrapped the threads around her open hand.

Then, she pulled.



Free: Shifting Threadwork Conjurations Array to Thread Flight, I gotta get away from this guy. Speaking to the mummies -- I'll be sure to add "Ancient Egyptian" to my Expertises on the OOC page, so everything's accounted for.

Move: Flying up as high as I can, and over to W31 closer to Helios.

Action: Using Snaring Strands on Boaris again, but this time with the help of the All-Out Attack Advantage, to the tune of -3, +3.

Boaris: [roll0]

[Ridai]

So, like, all of the minions falling over at the same time is mildly disturbing, so immediately after that happens, Nope is busy frantically looking at the various people going "A-are they still alive?!" Floral complimenting him was met with a "Th-thanks?!"

So when the "Oi!" happens, he is yanked out of this state, and then put right into a different one by a flying burning beshoed foot to the face, causing a spectacular horizontal flip and Nope hitting his head on the pillar. Slowly spinning in the air and holding his head, everything is spinning and hurting and ringing, so he just... misses the wailing entirely. He knew that lady was scary. Turns out she is actually crazy scary! "augh, goddamn my head"

At least Boaris leaves him alone for now. There may actually be mercy in the world. Having thought that, Nope expects a flying superboar coming after him very soon. Totally jinxed it.

So as he is drifting and his head is spinning, the situation down below comes into frame again. Scary lady far away feels good instinctively. But she also moved across the whole warehouse just now, and jumped up, so that is basically his brain lying to itself. Boaris near the others. Mummy also. Actual mummies. Crazy. And people speaking in tongues.

So, focus. This time only three things to think through. Do not visualize the good folk down below. Gotta focus, even if knowing good people are around is nice and the brain likes thinking about nice things. Visualizing them would be very bad. Very bad!

"Your minions are dead!"
From up above in a dazed tone carrying the weight of a pounding two-spot headache but still sounding alarmed: "Man I hope not! Can someone please check?"

Right, right. Back to thinking. Stamina on the scary lady and Boaris, and uhhh... necromantic reanimation... magic...spell... on the mummy. Right. No overthinking! Especially not against the scary lady. No panic blipping! Zero! No cheap excuses like "she's a scary villain" or "she is trying to kill me"! Nope's hands are feeling sweaty as he tries to make himself stop spinning. Deep breaths. Deep breaths! Aaaand gogo!

Reality glitches around the remaining villains, briefly distorting and fragmenting before putting itself back together like nothing happened.

Move Dazed. Holding head. Spinning slowly.

Standard Remove Hit Points, Mass against Boaris, the Reanimated, and Wrath. AoA +5/-5, because Nope learned nothing and isn't thinking straight. Damage DC 25, Ranged, Shapeable Line 240', Mutiattack (Single Target), Penetrating (Pierce Immunity), Crit 16+
Attack vs Boaris 1d20+15z 19
Attack vs Reanimated 1d20+15z 25
Attack vs Wrath 1d20+15z 33. Crit!

Actually functioning rolls here. (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25368897&postcount=29)

[Dorni]

Before Helios could complete his next spell all of the League's servants abruptly collapsed leaving the sun god with his hand raised imperiously and no spell to conjure. "Well done!" he boomed instead.

With the servants dispatched, Helios turned his blazing glare on the mummy, ignoring both its wailing both fearful and mundane. "Allow me to return you to your rest," he declared, devoid of any righteous fury. Whomever they had been in life, Nergal had drawn their spirits from the afterlife, bound them to his will, and used their essence as a fuel to power their bodies. It had struck him as curious that the concept was similar to that of Proxy's creations, but that was a curiosity for anther time. That spirit deserved its rest.

Once again runes flashed through the air. From points around Helios came a sudden barrage of fiery lasers lancing out faster than the eye could track. The beams weren't solely concentrated on the mummy though - There were plenty of the sunbeams to barrage both the mummy and the boar monster between them.

Move: Nah.
Standard: Cast Sunbeam on Reanimated and Boaris, multi-attacking at -2 to hit both. AoA 2, PA 5. This is a Perception attack. On hit, DC 30 vs Secondary Effect Damage.

Boaris: [roll0] Finishing Attack.
Reanimated: [roll1]

Damage 10 (Multi-Attack, Perception, Secondary Effect)

[Zelphas]

Round 2

Wrath's hand snaps up to catch Floral's thrown spines in one palm, flames licking around the thorns. Her expression doesn't change, just a blank, stern mask and glowing amber eyes. Then, she does perhaps the worst thing she could do in this situation.

She sighs, a hint of pity creeping over her expression.

"You have never been in a fight before this whole Dome mess, have you, Floral?" she says more than asks, shaking her head. "You've got some power, but girl, you need to work on your--"

Down bananas, and then Wrath slumps to the concrete, her eyes rolling back into her head as her surprisingly thin frame loses consciousness from Nope's strange power.

Over near the front of the warehouse, Ariadne's crimson threads wrap all around Boaris, snaking around the massive Boar's joints and the tenderest parts of his body and preventing even this massive beast from moving an inch. Still, he struggles, his enraged growls and roars nearly drowning out the muttering response of the almost-disintegrating mummy nearby.

To break mine enchantment, mine foul master must be brok'd; yet 'twould be not enough, for I fear--"

Helios lights up the cavernous space with bolts of searing fire. He times one blast perfectly; the fiery sunbeam strikes at Boaris just as the enraged Boar opens his mouth for another roar, striking at the exposed flesh within and overloading the mutated creature's tortured nerves. The hate in his eyes turns to confusion for a short moment before they cloud over in unconsciousness, the over-muscled frame slumping, held up only by the red strings of Ariadne now.

Other rays strike at the mummy, but it jerks oddly, interrupted by a directive from its master. The beams form into a glow around the tortured soul, promising new violence soon, but for the moment the mummy hunkers down, pulling itself together to face more unwilling punishment from its foes.

You only get an instants warning in the dull thump of metal on concrete, and then a human-sized blur of black and silver rushes through the doors of the warehouse. It resolves a moment later into the form of a giant stuffed bear; the left side of its body composed of the dark chrome of the Proxysuits, the right half made of the same silvery metal as Watcher's costuming. Red, faintly glowing eyes take in the room as the overly-large head spins fully around the body, focusing on each of you in turn. Then the grinning, sharp-toothed mouth opens, widening its grin. The head spins again, and with a deceptively quiet phut-phut-phut-phut, four shimmering dark chrome spears fly out around the room, each one aiming for a different costumed hero. An instant later, the AKuma has skittered over to the sparking and sizzlign remains of the Helpers, its scarlet eyes searching for something within the wreckage.

Reanimated

Move Action: Staggered.

Standard Action: Recover from Staggered.

End of Turn: Resistance to remove Vulnerable (DC 20): [roll0] Recovers

AKuma

Move Action: Shift in the warehouse, stopping at Y20.

Standard Action: Use Bear Spear on all four of you, All-Out Attacking for 4 to offset Multiattack hitting multiple targets.

Nope: [roll1] Hit
Helios: [roll2] Hit
Ariadne: [roll3] Miss
Floral: [roll4] Hit

On a hit, Resistance DC 25/20 vs. Damage and Immobilized/Stunned.

Move-by Action: Shift to AE9, begin looking in the wreckage for... something.

All PCs are up!

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily raised an eyebrow as Wrath went down. "I'm sorry, were you saying something?" she quipped, deadpan.

...Yeah, she was perfectly content to call that one "all according to plan". Certainly, the fact that she had yet to so much of scratch any of the meaningfully powerful opponents wasn't only deepening her fear that her dinky little plant-transforming power just wasn't up to snuff on an actual superheroic battlefield.

Certainly.

One bad guy left. She shoved the doubts aside and focused on- well, on the electrified bronze spear that suddenly shot her in the shoulder, as it happened. Fortunately, her flesh was as hard as wood, so it didn't penetrate deeply. The force of it was enough to knock the wind out of her, though, and the shock jolted through her. The spasms would make flight impossible, and heck even walking would probably only get her a first-class trip straight to the floor.

Fortunately, she could shoot fine from right where she was.

You wouldn't, like, think so, given the big ol' support pillars that were set squarely between her and both remaining active enemies.

But those pillars did precisely nothing to keep their scents from reaching Lily's nose. And as far as providing a physical impediment, well.

Lily raised a hand, and the flesh of her palm kinda corkscrewed out to form another thorn about thrice as long as the ones she had fired at Wrath. She shot it straight across the warehouse, arrow-straight - and when it reached the center, it suddenly stopped, held immobile by Lily's personal phytokinesis.

And then her power went to work. No need for anything fancy here, she just extended that single six-inch long thorn into a lashing vine with each end tapered into a spike. She unlocked the solar energy that had been stored in those cells as she enacted the transformation, causing the cells to divide and redivide millions of times over in an instant, that burst of energy propelling the double-edged vine-spear outward in both directions - to strike at both enemies on opposite sides of the warehouse.

And if they dodged, she could still twist the vines around to take another swing.

"Yeah they're totally fine! Just unconscious!" she called back to Nope, taking a moment to smell for their vitals while she was processing enemy positioning. (She'd be honest Nope asking that had kinda worried her so she wanted to make sure. Like, she had assumed, but...yeah she'd have felt pretty bad about that taunt if they had actually been dead.)

Move: Dazed.

Free: Reconfigure Flower Power Array. Variable descriptor to [Physical] [Piercing]. 10 points to Acidic Nectar, 10 points to Potent Acid, 10 points to Floral Thorn, 10 points to Floral Vines, 5 points to Olfactory Clarity (Accurate, Radius), 2 points to Scent Processing (Detect Biology), 3 points to Scent Intensification (Limited Penetrates Concealment, Extended).

Standard: Attack AKuma and Reanimated with Piercing Vines. Use Ranged to place the initial point in AE18, then uses the Shapeable Area to extend it into a 6"x6"x120' line going in both directions, which should be able to hit both of them without any Cover issues, using Accurate Scent with Limited Penetrates Concealment to get around any Concealment issues. All Out Attack for 5, Power Attack for 5. On a hit, Resistance DC 30+Penetrating vs. Damage. On a miss, Homing 1.

AKuma: [roll0].
Reanimated: [roll1].

End of Turn: Resistance to remove Immobilized (DC 20): [roll2]. Fails

Current Status: 1 Bruise, Immobilized (DC 20), AoA -5.

[Ridai]

"Well done!" "I'm trying"

"Ohwow okay," slips out of Nope as he watches just thread and thorns and vines and freaking lasers zip about, just generally glad not to be on the receiving end of any of them.

The scary lady dropped like a sack of potatoes and like with the Bronze Links (and all other people he used his powers on) there is this needle of doubt and worry. But he doesn't get much time to consider, trying to focus on the mummy, when suddenly BEAR (and an exasperated "Okay."). Expanding focus to erase the AKuma (but don't blip the vines! Those are good guy vines!), a zappy spear just rams into Nope's head before bouncing off, clattering to the floor. Holding the spot, the expression preceeds the "owww!" Why is everyone going for his head today?! Let's not think about the mechanics of a spear hitting his head and mostly bouncing off and the implications of spontaneous kinetic energy erasure and what else might possibly get subconsciously erased. That way lies a bad day.

"Oh thank goodness, thanks!" is heard from above once he hears Floral confirm the KO'd people are well. He's just gonna trust her on that one right now. Pushing off the pillar to a new ceiling spot, get everyone in view (no vines!). Necro spell removal (...does that technically count as dispel magic?) on the one side and yeah whatever it is one of Doctor Proxy's creepy bots, just aim Removal at it and go. No pun bear getting away with whatever the Doc wants from here. So mummy gets brief distortion glitches (and for a split-second appears absolutely black... Nope wonders if he accidentally erased surrounding light for a while going for whatever energy is powering the undead), while AKuma briefly looks like it fell victim to screen-tearing and a garbled signal.

Move from AH24 to AF22 (closer to ceiling)

Standard You guessed it, remove Hit Points, Mass with AoA +5/-5 against the Reanimated and AKuma. Damage DC 25, Ranged, Shapeable Line 240', Mutiattack (Single Target), Penetrating (Pierce Immunity), Crit 16+.
Attack vs Reanimated [roll0]
Attack vs AKuma [roll1]

[Dorni]

The creature's spear slammed into Helios dead on and the warding runes adorning his armor flared to life. A long second later the spear clattered to the warehouse floor while the sun god was unharmed. Flint knew better though - his warding runes had absorbed the impact spectacularly but the energy powering the runes was finite. They could only absorb so much before he'd have to restore the enchantment. And while the ward had physically stopped the spear, the slight spasm in his muscles testified that it hadn't stopped the weapon's electric shock. He'd need to work on improving his wards when he got out of this.

"Yeah, they should be fine," Helios added. "Now, to deal with this interruption."

Helios lifted a hand up high and with a flick of the wrist - Snap. No runes lit the air this time. This time the light was provided by the giant teddy-bear erupting in flame.

Move: Dazed. Just gonna keep floating here.
Standard: Combust this AKuma. [roll0]. On hit, DC 25+/20+ vs Penetrating Damage / Penetrating Weaken [Resistance] & Affliction [Impaired/Disabled]

Extra Effort: If the AKuma is still up, repeat Combust on the Akuma. If it isn't, Combust the Reanimated. [roll1]. On hit, DC 25+/20+ vs Penetrating Damage / Penetrating Weaken [Resistance] & Affliction [Impaired/Disabled]

End of Turn: Recover from Affliction: [roll2] Recovered

Status: 2 Bruises, fatigued

[Abracadangit]

The meaning of the mummy's words coalesced strangely in her mind, like a fog was lifting. " 'Wouldn't be enough' -- well that doesn't sound good," she said aloud, half-expecting Ariadne to chime in with something suitably cryptic, but for now, there was only silence. Silence except for a strange electrical buzzing sound, approaching from behind her...?

Kal suddenly flew to the left, spinning in a whirlwind of red thread, and just narrowly evaded the spear as it whistled past her. She eyed the peculiar weapon as it stuck in the wall behind her, trembling in place like a tuning fork.

"So?" Kal thought. "No input on what the mummy had to say?"

"I am... how you spoke of yourself, before. Busy trying to not get us killed," Ariadne spat back, in a mocking tone.

"Touche," Kal thought back, as she set her sights on the AKuma, lurking by the far side of the warehouse. It certainly couldn't be any harder to restrain than the boar, could it? You know what they say, Kal thought, as she quickly retracted the threads holding up Boaris, and directed all of them to arc towards the AKuma at once, in a zigzagging volley of red ribbons.

Waste not.


Move: Flying over to W23, line of sight to AKuma.

Action: Snaring Strands, gonna All-Out again to the tune of +3, -3.

AKuma: [roll0]

[Zelphas]

Round 3

Floral's suddenly-grown spike pierces through the center of the AKuma, breaking through to the other side of the mechanism in a shower of broken metal bits. Facing away from the group of heroes nearby, its red eyes flash once, then slowly begin to fill with radiance. The mummy, recovered slightly from its earlier damage, shifts its head to the side with a dry cracking noise, avoiding the wooden spear that was about to skewer it.

A moment later, upside-down is Tuesday, and then the mummy groans with fresh pain as more of its undead vitality is deleted from its cursed form. As for the AKuma...the two-toned head spins slowly around on the body, and the glowing, burning read eyes meet the blurry gaze of Nope with uncanny accuracy. The Cheshire Cat grin, filled with pointed triangular teeth, opens ever so slightly, as if in a slight laugh.

As Helios trains his fire-forged magic upon the AKuma, a light within its mouth blinks green for a moment, and then it begins venting steam. It is able to stay just ahead of the powerful magic-user's fire, cooling itself off without any injuries. The radiance around the mummy, however, only intensifies, glowing brighter and brighter. The mummy braces itself against the attack, then...relaxes, suddenly, its unbreathing body letting out a long, dust-dry sigh as it crumbles to pale golden sand upon the warehouse floor.

Ariadne's strings catch onto the thick, short limbs of the mechanical stuffed bear, snapping down to hold it in place. One thin thread wraps around the bear's middle, further obscuring the etched number 90 that was already warped by Floral's vine-spike. The AKuma, outnumbered, heavily damaged, unable to complete its mission, executes its last bit of programing. The red light in its eyes builds up to an almost painful intensity, a deep, burnign red glare--then vanishes completely. The mechanical construct slumps forward in Ariadne's strings.

Then it explodes, a wash of flame and shrapnel filling the entire warehouse around it.

AKuma

Move Action: Staggered.

Standard Action: Use Bear Bomb. As part of the Secondary Effect, the AKuma itself rolls Resistance against the Bear Bomb with full Penetrating as part of the attack.

First things first: the supports! The columns are reinforced concrete, while the walls and ceiling are steel. It will Routine the attack against the building itself, rather than Finishing them.

Column 1 (Resistance DC 27): [roll0] DESTROYED
Column 2 (Resistance DC 27): [roll1] BREAK
Column 3 (Resistance DC 27): [roll2] BREAK
Column 4 (Resistance DC 27): [roll3] DESTROYED
Column 5 (Resistance DC 27): [roll4] BREAK
Column 6 (Resistance DC 27): [roll5] DESTROYED
Column 7 (Resistance DC 27): [roll6] Resists

Walls (Resistance DC 27): [roll7] ...Fiating that the walls are okay so that the roof doesn't fall on everyone.
Ceiling (Resistance DC 27): [roll8] Resists.

If Column 2 gets a Break, then Floral gets a +5 to her Resistance check for being under cover. If it is Destroyed, she rolls normally, assuming she is hit.

Next, the PCs:

Nope: [roll9] Hit
Ariadne: [roll10] Hit, +2 Penetrating
Helios: [roll11] Miss
Floral: [roll12] Miss

On a hit, Resistance DC 27 vs. Penetrating Damage.

The blast has about a foot of clearance above the floor, so the unconscious people on the floor and the floor itself do not need to make Resistance checks.

Finally, the AKuma (Resistance DC 32): [roll13] Staggered x2 = INCAPACITATED!

Battle over! Everyone take a Hero Point.

A few seconds after the dust settles, an ordinary pigeon flies through the open front doors, landing with a ruffle of feathers next to Helios. It regards the four of you first with one eye, then with the other, then opens its beak as if to speak.

"Well, that probably wasn't necessary, but... good! You're all here! I didn't miss you!" A voice emanates from the beak as though from a recording or a phone, sounding nervous but excited. "I've been meaning to catch all of you, and now I have. Can I talk to the four of you? Not here, of course?" the voice assures you hurriedly, the pigeon looking around the remains of the battle, "Let's see... I know! There's an abandoned restaurant about two miles from here. The sign on the front calls it Food Fast. Electronic lock--I'll have it open by the time you get there. Works for you four?" the pigeon tilts its head almost quizzically.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Okay! That was perfectly solid damage to the Evil Robotic Teddy Bear. Awesome. No need to develop any complexes here! Lily was totally chill and 100% satisfied with the performance of her powers in this battle.

The mummy finally burned to, uh, no-longer-moving-ness. So all that remained was finishing off the bear. A bit of acid would probably be sufficient to-

Annnnd the bear exploded. Fortunately the support pillar tanked the blast pretty well and shielded her from the worst of it. Having flesh as tough as wood meant the force that did get to her she barely even noticed.

"Everyone *cough* okay? Does anybody need healing?" she called to the other heroes.

...And then a pigeon arrived and asked to meet with them.

That put Lily...kinda on her guard. The bear-bot had undoubtedly been Dr. Proxy's work, so a pigeon-bot had to be assumed with his (her? Their?) capabilities. And even if it was a living pigeon, Dr. Proxy was capable of subverting human wills to their ends with psychic powers; it was safe to assume a mundane animal would present no difficulty.

"I mean, maybe? Who are you exactly?" Lily asked. "And, uh, why are you communicating via pigeon-bot?" she added, less to actually get an answer to that question and more so that the others were aware that this was indeed not a living pigeon, in case that was relevant to their interests.

Once she had, you know, full control over her nerves and muscles again, she headed over to the crates that the proxybots had been gathering around. Clearly, they had been looking for something. It might be helpful to figure out what. (Or it might not. This was Dr. Proxy we were talking about. Lily still had no idea what they wanted the teacups for.) She started rooting through the crates, just to see if anything jumped out as potentially significant.

Lily will turn on all her various scent-based stuff, but most of it won't actually be useful - her Limited skill bonuses are all inapplicable for interactions with someone radioing in via pigeon. Although I suppose the Detect Biology sense could at least confirm whether it's a pigeon or a highly-convincing pigeon-bot. EDIT: Already covered in Discord.

Regardless, Natural Rapport to Evaluate the person speaking through the pigeon: [roll0].

She'll also conduct a search of the crates the Proxybots were checking. If someone with, you know, an actual Investigation skill also wants to do this, she'll Team Check for them. [roll1], +5 for purposes of contributing to a Team Check. Lily neither finds nor helps anyone to find literally anything.

[Ridai]

Nope puffs out his cheeks, just exhaling as the fight is finally over. It is crazy how long this sort of thing feels when you are in the middle of it. "I-is everyone alri-"

The BAKOOM splats Nope against the ceilings, where he hits his head one last time, one more for the road. With the rebounding acceleration, Nope slowly drifts down towards the floor. "I'm okay, I think"

But what isn't okay is the pillars. Some more having been blown apart, more looking precariously damaged, Nope tries to fight through everything spinning and get a mental picture of the intact pillars in his head, then overlaying the damages he sees, identifying those as damage added, altering the state of the base object, then trying to remove that. With the many steps involved and the removed thing less a physical thing but more an... object... property... of reality's engine... or something (seriously, how can he actually do thisdon't start second guessing it), he lets gravity resume (slowly), stumbling landing, hurrying over to one of the not entirely obliterated pillars. Hands on, pinch where a chunk is missing or a crack has formed for the mental bridge, then pull the damage out.

"Yeah we're here," Nope auto-pilot responds to the new voice as he tries to keep the ceiling from maybe deciding to collapse at some point, column flickering until it hopefully snaps back to a good condition. Then checking where it comes from, spots the pigeon talking, looks back to the pillar, back to the pigeon, blinking.

"Yeah, uh... sure...?" comes out slowly, kind of glancing to the others as he just... pats the restored column a few times. "Gimme... gimme just a moment. So the roof doesn't... and what they tried stealing isn't just lying around-" Okay you know what, just try to remove the column's damage and see what happened to the wares and shut up, Nope.

Nope uses Remove Harm with Remove Second Guessing to try and restore the building to a state where it at least isn't totally threatened by sudden collapse in the near future. Then checks what the Doc tried to loot.

Investigation roll of 19 to check the wares. (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25372910&postcount=43)

[Dorni]

Helios chuckled at the sight of the AKuma bellowing out steam from its mouth and ears. The sight reminded him of a sight from a cartoon. It made it a bit less entertaining given that it was an evil robotic minion that moments before had been hurling very deadly electrified spears and a bit embarrassing that it was essentially shrugging off his attempt to destroy it. Then it proceeded to explode. That was even less funny. His warding runes flared to life when the blast washed over him and absorbed it harmlessly.

"I'm fine", he answered Floral when the rubble had settled. "I can help with healing as well if anyone needs it."

While waiting for an answer he waved a hand in a swiping gesture that left cloudy runes puffing apart in its wake. Dust and rubble that had been falling from the damaged ceiling stopped mid-air as though hitting solid ground - and then rising again as a platform of air rose up and settled under the ceiling to support it. At the same time bits of rubble were being pushed away from one of the piles of crates littering the warehouse - which Helios started floating toward. "Now let's see what the Dr. was after."

And then a pigeon fluttered in and spoke. Helios regarded the bird with suspicion. He couldn't detect any magic about it - so it couldn't be a summoned creature or an animal magically controlled. Floral called it a pigeon-bot which would track. "Maybe, but first allow me to echo Floral in asking to whom we are speaking."

Set Spells array to Crossing the Sky. Using the Move Object portion to support the ceiling so it doesn't collapse while using a smaller portion to start shifting through the rubble to help search for whatever it was the AKuma might have been searching for. If Nope's effect appears to shore up the columns, he'll stop supporting the building and continue with the search.

Investigation [roll0] to search.
Deception [roll1] to evaluate if the pigeon is being deceptive with its answers

[Abracadangit]

Kal wove a web of thread with lightning speed to catch the brunt of the explosion, but a fleck of razor shrapnel still just got through, leaving a stinging cut on her forearm. "Ow!" She cried aloud, as a makeshift thread bandage formed over the scratch. "I'll take anyone up on that offer for healing," she said to the room at large, since multiple teammates were offering. "You'd think a sewing master could mend wounds, but its pattern still eludes me."

As the pigeon delivered its message, Kal listened along with the sort of skepticism one might expect from someone listening to an animatronic pigeon. Seeing everyone else have misgivings, she realized she wasn't alone in being slightly put off. "I will journey there, so long as you identify yourself."

Kal could just feel Ariadne bristling, at the thought that this might be some kind of trap.


Ok -- you guys beat me to the punch on pretty much any useful information-gathering or supportive task, ha ha. Anyone need some Intimidation?

I kid -- I'll follow suit with Helios, and try to Insight the pigeon.

New band name, Insight vs. the Pigeon: [roll0]

[Zelphas]

The combined work of Helios and Nope soon has the warehouse in a functional state... well, at least one step up from "condemned as a hazard to human life", at least. With the remaining pillars patched for the most part, the ceiling reinforced by runic power (it had weathered the AKuma's blast remarkably well, all things considered), and the walls in a serviceable shape, it's unlikely to fall to the ground any time soon provided nothing else explodes, bursts into flame, or slams into a wall or pillar with superhuman strength.

The search of the remaining supplies at the back of the warehouse comes up with very little. Floral finds herself momentarily stymied by the lack of organic matter; anything completely natural or not genetically engineered to be flame-resistant must have been blown up or burned in the fire and explosion. But she was a genius, darn it! She may focus on Biochemistry, but that doesn't mean that she knows nothing about other subjects! With all of this wreckage of Proxybots and broken materiel, she has to be... she... yeah, she's got nothing. It's all Greek to her, unfortunately.

Nope and Helios each find a little bit more information in their searches. Nope is able to discover a scrap of the plastic sheeting that he had heard the Bronze Links talking about. The grand majority of it has been burned away, and the edges crumble into dust at his touch. Such a thin, flammable material wouldn't really be terribly useful to Doctor Proxy in making their bots--not by itself at least. But Doctor Proxy made a deal with the Chain Gang to come after this stuff. Why did they want it? One corner of the plastic seems to be stamped with a series of numbers or letters, but it's been warped by the recent expulsions of energy and is currently too blurry for Nope to read.

Helios, looking at the sight where the AKuma exploded, notices something else. Judging by the scattered mechanical parts and twisted lumps of metal, the AKuma had placed itself precisely in the center of the clustered Helpers when it had exploded. It's a bit of a leap, but looking at its placement and replaying its actions, Helios gets the impression that the AKuma was looking for something in the Helpers themselves--and, when it was interrupted, it opted to destroy any evidence of what it was looking for rather than risk it being found.

The pigeon hops from foot to foot, its head bobbing in a perfect facsimile of what it appeared, one eye looking at Floral. "...Enhanced smell? As part of a flora-faunal hybridization transformation? Augmented by your own talents, of course! Fascinating!" the pigeon head nods, turning to give Nope a cheery "Wonderful! I'll hold you to that!" before turning back towards the three who expressed doubts.

"All right, then, I'll--I believe the current slang is 'level with you.' Before that, though--I promise to all of you, with the utmost sincerity, that I mean you no harm, at this point or in the foreseeable future. I genuinely support your efforts against the League, and am in fact only here to help you streamline and focus those efforts--okay, that's not completely true, I'm also incredibly excited to meet actual, living superheroes! I was hoping, but--there's nothing like hope realized, is there?" a shine comes to the pigeon's eyes, which... might be a camera. It's hard to tell how expressive this thing really is. "This conversation, and any subsequent conversations, will never reach the members of the League through me, and I am honestly on your side as much as I possibly can be."

As far as you can tell, the person behind the pigeon is telling you the complete truth.

"All right? Am I in the clear so far?" The pigeon waits for a second, then gathers its feathers, almost seeming to brace itself. The mechanical eyes look to either side, making sure that none of the various henchmen or botanical creatures have regained consciousness yet. "I'm Watcher. And I have enough birds to thoroughly annoy you before you get them all, and can make more, so can we talk? Or am I going to need to send another bird?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

"...Well, no teacups, so I've got nothing," Lily said after looking through the containers and such. Lily was more book-smart than street-smart, and lacking any particular hypothesis to start from, she didn't really have any priors for the evidence at hand to adjust. Giving up on that effort quickly, she headed over to Kal, laying her hands lightly on her injuries. Kal would feel a momentary damp warmth as Lily covered the injuries with her nectar, but it would evaporate away in a couple seconds, as the stored energy within it both unlocked and heightened its medicinal properties and boiled it away, taking pain and trauma along with it.

She nodded along as the pigeon explained itself (as the person speaking through the robotic pigeon explained himself, whatever, it was more fun this way). That was...a non-trivial amount of clarification and hedging, but not so much that it cancelled out the general point, and the pigeon did seem to be sincere, best she could tell. She wouldn't begrudge someone being precise with their wording. And...you know, she'd be honest, it was kinda refreshing to see someone else appreciate what her powers were capable of. All told, she was feeling fairly positively disposed.

And then the pigeon introduced itself.

And anger ignited in Lily's heart.

"You're on our side!?" she spat back ven- venomously? But venom's from animals so...toxinous...toxically! She spat back toxically! "You're the entire reason the League is here in the first place! You're their freaking leader! You- You gave them their powers!"

Okay, to be fair, the evidence was...kinda unclear on all of that. Like, there was a lot of circumstantial evidence pointing to it, sure, and some kinda wink-wink-nudge-nudge suggestive statements on the subject, if you could even take the words of supervillains at face value in the first place. There were reasonable arguments to be made that the observed facts were not sufficient to confirm that Watcher bore full personal responsibility for the evils perpetrated by the rest of the League.

Lily Woods was a scientist. She did not deny the state of the evidence. But neither did she think she needed a p < 0.05 randomly controlled study to make judgments under uncertainty. It was still the most reasonable conclusion to draw from the evidence at hand.

And even if it wasn't correct... "The obelisk is yours! The dome is yours! You trapped an entire town - thousands of innocent people! - with a super-powered street thug, a magic-wielding anarchist with delusions of grandeur, a mind-raping psychopath, and a civilization-destroying dryad! You trapped us here with no way to call to help! With no way to escape! With no way to fight back when they decide they want to do things to us!" Lily's voice...may have gotten a little wild there, as her condemnation kinda slipped into her own personal experiences, and her eyes took on a faintly golden hue as tears of nectar came to them unbidden. Lily had come to appreciate her new powers...but she also hadn't forgotten the horror of Manchineel's attack on her lab, of those first few days living in a body that was not her own. And she was the lucky one. The others working in that lab had all come out of it strictly worse than she had. That trauma was not even close to fully healed.

"So go ahead, Watcher! Tell us again how you're on our SIDE! Give me one good reason I shouldn't go straight to the media with everything you've said, reveal your opposition to the League to the rest of them, and then chalk up every one of you monsters that the others kill in the infighting as a victory!"

Somewhere in the back of Lily's head, a calm, rational voice was telling her that that wasn't how heroes worked. But right now, facing the man she felt was fundamentally responsible for everything she and her family and her friends and her neighbors had been through over the past month, the voice of rage and vengeance was orders of magnitude louder.

[Abracadangit]

"Thank you," Kal said to Floral, looking on in wonder as the strange nectar washed away the pain as well as the scratch itself, like a soothing balm. "I hope to return the favor -- unwise for a sorceress to collect too many debts."

"Ah yes -- the 'Watcher'," Kal said, her dissonant voice cool with contempt. "You must see a great many things while you 'watch,' I imagine. Were you 'watching' when your pet sorcerer visited a school?"

While Kal spoke, the red threads hanging limply in the air suddenly went taut, as if pulled tightly by invisible hands. It took every shred of Kal's patience to not whip every strand around and crush the robot pigeon into a lump of sparking metal.

"And what is it you hope to learn by 'watching' us, hm? How do I know your toy bird isn't sending pictures to all your wicked little friends? Looking for weaknesses? You'll find nothing," Kal hissed, her voice distortion intensifying with her spite.

[Ridai]

Nope looks at the piece of material he found. He... could try to restore that bit? Not sure if it's too far gone. You know, reality's engine marking it as destroyed or... whatever it is reality decides. He's just pushing buttons of a blackbox, really.

He is about to tell the others, when a pigeon begins talking.

"Wait what,"

The Watcher is a pigeon. And here. No. Wait. Not pigeon. Pigeon bot?

After a moment of processing, Nope tries to speak, but then Floral has a probably justified meltdown. Followed by Ariadne also not being happy to be speaking to Watcher-birb.

It is an intensely awkward situation for Nope at the moment.

"So, uh..." he begins, part not knowing how to really begin, part to check if someone else will talk over him. When the latter doesn't seem to be the case, the indistinct figure just... kind of puts his hands together, pointing up in front of his chest, not knowing what else to do with them right now. Just kind of occupying them. "okay, there are superheroes now... mission accomplished, right? Can you now tell your friends to just..." Hands turning to have his fingers kind of pointing forward. "...not? Can they just not?"

A beat.

"Not gonna happen, is it?" It is like asking why people can't just get along. Basically a question doomed to fail.

[Dorni]

Helios frowned at the scrap of plastic that Nope had pulled from the wreckage. It looked like there might have been something stamped on it but it was too damaged to tell. It seemed like a strange prize for a man with technology from the future to be after. Whatever had been written on there was apparently a important enough for the AKuma to choose to destroy itself to make sure it didn't fall into their hands judging by how it had positioned itself in the middle of the other bots before detonating. So it was important enough to try and figure out what was on there.

That was going to be trickier than it sounded. He'd designed his healing spell for living creatures, not inanimate objects. Crafting a repair spell might not be a bad idea, but there was a world of difference between collecting the pieces of the broken object and reforging them back into a likeness of the thing and trying to reverse damage on something without even knowing what the original form had been. There might be a way to do it but it was beyond Flint's current understanding. He glanced over at Nope. Flint wasn't sure of the principle behind Nope's abilities, but there was a chance he could do it. He'd have to ask later.

For now, his attention settled on the pigeon. On Watcher. Floral had been absolutely right. This whole situation was his doing, and now he was here to, what? Have them to clean up his own mess? The guy had placed an impenetrable miles-wide dome over the entire town. He'd given most of the League their powers. Well, except Proxy and perhaps Apophis, but the point was Watcher certainly had the power to clean up his own mess. And instead what, he was just going to watch from the sidelines? Like Helios and the rest of them trying to resist were just gladiators fighting for his amusement while he Watched? It would cast a different light on his periodic descents from his obelisk to repair damaged infrastructure less as an act of generosity and as more cleaning the arena for the next bout. Even if he was entirely sincere about being on 'their side', he could have a disastrously different idea what being on 'their side' meant and what was an acceptable externality, and 'as much as he could be' was a qualifier with infinite wiggle room.

But while Floral was right about Watcher, Flint had dealt with insurance companies. He'd handled self-centered ghouls before. However much you wanted to, you didn't start the first email or phone call screaming and raging at them. "Alright everyone, lets calm down a minute. If he wanted to ambush us he'd hardly need a prepared location to do it. He could have just shown up here with all his friends instead of sending a bird."

"That being said," he rounded on the bird, "I share their same concerns. This entire situation is one you caused. Why should we trust anything you have to say?"

[Zelphas]

The pigeon on the ground responds to Floral's outburst with a jump and a flutter of wings, before landing once again slightly farther away. It simply listens to the various responses, hopping from foot to foot, its head tilting first one way, then the other as each person speaks. The ruffled greyish feathers, wide amber eyes, and short beak are difficult to read, even before taking into account the fact that the bird was robotic in nature.

Watcher leans back from his desk for a moment, sighing. "You're the one who styled yourself as a villain, hoping to salvage things. What did you expect?"

There is a beat of silence after everyone speaks, and then the pigeon opens its beak again. "At 4:37 PM on July 1st, Koro Hariot made a deal with a small-time crime boss to get passage on a freighter heading to Canada. From there, he would have made his way to Europe, awakened his powers there, and taken over several small countries with his Chain Gang. He would eventually die, but the resulting war for who would rule his empire would kill countless more people.

"At 6:44 PM on July 1st, Apophis, still looking like Frank Smith, was driving a stolen car south out of Forester's Bay. He would have seeded Suneater Cults throughout the southern US and Central and South America, and eventually made his way to Africa, apparently living there full-time. Others like him would have shown up, most likely due to his influence. The ritualistic death and destruction was still happening when I came back.

"Manchineel... was a gamble. The entire northern US and Canada would have been engulfed in a supernatural forest, and this seemed to be the source. By everything I could find, Manchineel would have awoken within the next three years, and there would have been nothing even resembling humanity left in her anymore. She was already here.

"So yes, I locked everyone in here with them. Because then they wouldn't be global threats. And because even these three are minor from my future. My goal isn't to stop them. It's to stop that." The pigeon pauses for a long breath, then the voice continues. "I messed up, and Lockdown awakened his powers. I thought he would be weaker now--and he is! But I'm still too weak. And I need to stay alive, if my future is going to be prevented. I'm the only one--genetically," he says, the pigeon looking at Floral for a second, "Who has a shot at stopping things right now. So I made a deal.

"I tried to find Manchineel, and I screwed up again. She woke up, and she is too strong for me too. I made another deal." Frustration is building in the voice on the other end. "Apophis as too strong. Doctor Proxy... it took a long time to convince them that going to the past was worthwhile, but now they are too committed. They won't stop unless it's obvious they aren't needed, and their methods are... more extreme than I'd like. They seem terrible, but they are better than they seem, I promise. And they'll... 'just not'--" a glance at Nope, one that somehow conveys confusion even through the medium of pigeon "--Once the other League members are stopped; I should be able to convince them then.

"Yes, I was 'watching' when Apophis turned the parking lot to sand. That's all I--" the pigeon's beak abruptly shuts, and it hops around the concrete floor for a few seconds, pecking at bits of detritus. It seems to take sudden notice of Helios and spook, flapping up with a burst of wings towards what remains of the rafters; mid-flight, it changes course again and lands on the ground, uncannily still, the beak opening again. "We're out of time; Saplings are popping out of the trees nearby, probably moving to check the status, and you should be able to hear police sirens soon." Sure enough, if you strain your ears the wail of a siren is just barely audible, coming from south and east. "You have no reason to believe me; all I can do is assure you this is true. I'm asking you to fix my mistakes. That isn't fair. But you haven't seen my future. And I'm doing everything I can to make sure you never have to."

Once again, it seems like everything that Watcher is saying here is the truth--or at the very least, what he believes to be the truth.

The siren gets louder. The pigeon flutters to the doors. "My bird will be at Food Fast, if you want my help. If not, well... you're the heroes. And you obviously hate the League. Things will probably work out." The pigeon flies away.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily listened with her arms crossed before her, her face still tense with anger. One might notice that the smell wafting off of her was stronger than normal, and rather than her typical flowery scent it was more like...well, oddly, like fresh-baked bread.

...But she did listen. Watcher giving them additional information did mollify her slightly, and perhaps more importantly, it gave the analytical, reasonable part of her a bit more to work with, shifter her somewhat out of Traumatized Victim mode and into Dispassionate Scientist mode.

She could admit, grudgingly, that if the three of them would have developed their powers anyway, if Watcher wasn't responsible for that...then containing them and trying to make deals to constrain the amount of damage they did was...probably the least wrong option. It sucked for them, sure, but it was different than if he had indeed been the one to give them their powers.

The indication that the future he had come back to prevent was something worse than the league made little impression on Lily. But the idea of a Manchineel with no trace of humanity - suggesting of course that the current one did have some - was mildly terrifying, to a woman who had faced the wrath of the mad dryad.

She didn't actually answer the pigeon, just continuing to fix it with her steely glare. She could understand the Watcher's choices, could even admit - in her own head at least - that she might have made them herself, given the same circumstances (though she would like to think she could have come up with a better option, given more information and time to think about it, but she was self-aware enough to know that that may well have just been pride speaking). But that still didn't mean she approved.

But once the bird was gone...she kinda deflated, dropping her arms slack at her sides and sagging a bit. The scent coming off of her changed to jasmine as she said, "Well...I suppose it would be stupid not to go there and learn whatever we can, huh?"

She sounded resigned. The question wasn't entirely rhetorical. There was a part of her that was kinda hoping one of the others could present a good argument that it wouldn't.

[Ridai]

Oh good. Things are getting even worse. Watcher not actually in charge. Just beat the four megavillains.

Nope is experiencing this sinking feeling alongside feeling the energy momentarily seep out of his body as he gives the longest sigh. Proxy being allegedly not as bad as it could be didn't help much. It is hard enough to face a small subsection of the current problems, but looking at the whole picture with additional information makes Nope kind of want to just curl up in bed for a while. Though, of course, that is not going to happen, conscience kind of just telling the rest to shut up and suck it up.

Naturally, it might also be the case that Watcher is just generally telling them a whole bunch of crap. Same with the invitation being some trap. Or what-have-you. No way for him to tell. He'll just... have to take the plunge and find out as he goes. As he has to with every confrontation. It's not getting easier to do so yet.

Seeing how hard Floral is taking things, Nope can't help but feel bad for her. There is this urge to somehow try to say something. But he learned across many years that peopleing is hard and he never really learned how to people. Some words come out, never really delivered the right way, frequently misunderstood, and just generally missing the mark. So, as he has learned to do when he isn't forced to respond, he tells himself to shut up.

Blurry Nope responds with the longest shrug, all "I don't know, but can't think of anything better either", but body language gets lost to some degree with how he looks. He trusts that the roughest gist of it is understood. Maybe.

"I'll, uh, I'll get us out of here," he quietly says, moving closer to the others. The next thing people know is that they are standing on a rooftop one or two miles from the warehouse, vaguely visible where they were in said warehouse. For Nope, it was a bit of a trip, as are most "instant" journeys across town, but at least he is getting better at this sort of thing, and handling three other people in zero time. But man, the concept of personal time is slippery, moreso when needing to remove that of more people than himself. Thus, when they reach the rooftop, there is a bit of a tremor in his hands, just glad the journey went mostly well... but he really should have asked and explained beforehand. Ugh. Damn it.

"I-I'll try to see if I can do... something about this." He holds up the piece of material found in the warehouse and just... sits down on the ground, trying to figure out if he can even conceptualize what the undamaged or less damaged state of thing might have been. And whether there is anything to be removed. Without removing the piece. Or his fingers. Once is enough.

"Oh, um. Hi. I'm Nope, I guess." Whether or not they met before or he may be known about somehow, Nope habitually reintroduces himself. And of course that "I guess" just had to slip out, too, as if he was still trying to decide on a "hero" name. Next, even through the hard to fully pinpoint appearance, there is definitely a furrowed brow on display as he tries to get anything about of the material.

Nope uses Remove Travel Time to move everyone out of the warehouse. Note that he can't bring unwilling people and in this one instance, I'm stretching the range a little (in terms of Nope just being close to the others, but not touching all of them at the time of activation) for convenience in a no stakes moment.

On the roof, Nope tries to see whether Remove Harm with Remove Second Guessing might restore the piece of material
Healing Check [roll0]

[Dorni]

Helios listened with rapt focus. It took no time at all to realize that Watcher was being more open than he'd ever expected. Apophis already had his powers before Watcher showed up. Flint shuddered at how easy it was for Apophis to find followers. Sure, Dante was going through rough times, but to throw in with the likes of the Suneaters... he shook his head before he went further down that road right now. Apophis already had his powers before Watcher's appearance. The idea that the others would have awakened eventually wasn't far fetched. And that being the case...

The chains of logic held up. Imprisoning everyone in the dome was a terrible injustice to everyone caught here, but it would contain the damage here. If the world of the future was as dire as Watcher described... he'd been at the hospital for too long to cling to notions that there was always an option that solved a problem without side effects.

"Agreed," Helios answered Floral, "We should see what he has to say. Even if we put aside any predictions he has about the future, he can tell us more about the League. Even if its unproductive, meeting him does not automatically mean we're working with him."

He nodded his assent at the indistinct man's offer. A moment later he found himself blinking at simply standing on a nearby rooftop. A useful trick. He needed to study the principle this man's powers worked on.

"Ah, good that you salvaged that. I'm curious to see what was so important that the AKuma would prefer to self-destruct than risk it falling into our hands."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily blinked as they were just, suddenly, elsewhere. Trippy. "Floral," she responded to Nope's introduction with a little smile.

[Ridai]

"Aw damn it. Can't wrap my head around this, sorry. I can try again later," Nope says, holding up the material piece (which looks a bit jarring, since it isn't... well, Nope isn't blurry, but it's hard to make something out, so, uh...).

"So... should I move us to Food Fast? Or we go on our own...?" he asks. People kind of get the feeling he avoids eye contact. Then again, it is hard to really pinpoint where Nope looks in the first place.

[Abracadangit]

"I agree," Kal said, in response to the botanical wonder's question. Before being teleported up to the rooftops, Kal took a moment to mull over all the new information with Ariadne.

"So the Watcher's a time-traveler from the future, trying to prevent the villains we're stuck with from taking over the world? I just don't know." She paused. "This whole thing seems kinda... far-fetched."

Kal was used to feeling a sort of ornery prickliness in her mind before Ariadne spoke, but this time, there was a strange calm. "I have heard of magics such as these, that can move one between verses in the song of time. Not very common, and often dangerous, but they exist. Perhaps this man with the wind-up bird speaks the truth."

"So you trust him? That doesn't sound like you."

"Do not bend my words, great granddaughter -- I can believe one speaks the truth without giving them my trust. You should do the same."

"Fine, whatever," Kal conceded, hoping to avoid a lecture. "Still, even if what he said is true, sounds like he messed everything up."

"I have -- how do you say -- 'worn his shoes,' before," Ariadne admitted, her voice uncharacteristically soft with tinges of sadness. "You act to save the lives of innocents, and then fate does not obey your plan. No one admires your courage or notices your sacrifice, when this happens. Instead, people tell you that it was a mistake for you to try, that you have only made everything worse, that you should have left things the way they were. So then you have only two options. One is to listen to what they say, stop fighting. Maybe then the people will speak better of you, though I promise you they won't. Or you take the other option."

There was a pause. Maybe Ariadne was remembering something. "What's the other option?"

"Or, you push forward. Let the people say what they will, and remember the reason you acted in the first place was to save lives, to help the people who suffer, to protect that which you love, and that nothing else matters, and that so long as your reason has not changed, neither should you. It sounds to me like your wind-up bird man is pushing forward."

"If what he says is true, I'll help him, though this is becoming more and more complicated. It feels like I just got started with this gig, and now it's me versus all of these villains at once, and alternate timelines?"

"But it is not just you versus them, is it. You always have me, great granddaughter, and also..." An invisible thread of psychic intent pulled Kal's attention to her teammates, gathered before her. "...you have them."

A split second later, Kal found herself atop a roof, with her new colleagues. Following Floral's, Nope's, and Helios' statements, Kal waited for a pause to speak.

"I am Ariadne," Kal said, with a small bow. "I know that I am not as... experienced as some of you, in these matters. But I shall lend whatever power I have to our cause, and I have..."

Kal took a moment, to ponder the best way to say this without coming off as unhinged.

"...a channel of communication open with a very powerful authority on strange and supernatural matters." Upon being called a 'very powerful authority,' Kal could hear a dry sort of laugh, echoing through her thoughts. "Hnn, hnn, hnn," Ariadne snickered.

To Nope's latest question, Kal nodded. "If all of you are planning to go, I shall accompany you. As the sun-empowered man says, we need not join his side, to hear what he has to say."

Ariadne's aura takes the form of a great many red threads, constantly reshaping themselves around her in conjunction with her words and emotions. As she mentions that she is in communication with some 'powerful authority,' the threads comprising her aura take on a bizarrely large, singular form: the head and upper body of a hooded woman, hovering just above Ariadne's shoulders, like a sort of watchful protector.

The image of the hooded woman looks at you with a note of curious interest, as two dots of crimson light shine where her eyes should be.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Yeah, let's get it over with," Floral agreed, though she sounded more "resolved" than "glum". She didn't see any particular advantage to be had in going separately. (Well, okay, she supposed in principle there were certain cases where if it was a trap approaching individually could lead to some measure of advantage, but across a broad range of possibilities she didn't expect that on average it would be better than being able to all blink right out again and/or just concentrating power to punch through, so meh.)

[Ridai]

In response to Ariadne's comment about her experience, Nope promptly answers "Real talk: I'm looking forward to if and when I'll feel experienced enough to not be constantly terrified of accidentally blipping someone." Followed by a nervous kinda-chuckle. I just put my ass on the list of "maybe not work together with that one", didn't I?

Standing up, dusting off his pants, he goes "Well, I'll move us over there when you're ready."

I feel like I kind of put the brakes on things with teleporting people away and such, so I'll just move everyone to, say, the alleyway next to Food Fast, once they are ready/you want the game to move forward.

[Dorni]

Helios' eyes narrowed as Ariadne introduced herself. Then he very deliberately shifted his gaze to just over Ariadne's left shoulder to where the young woman's aura had shifted, the great many red threads reshaping themselves to take on the form of a hooded woman. There was a spirit bonded to the girl. He kicked himself for not noticing it earlier, but in his defense his attention had been occupied first by the battle and then by the pigeon-bot-time-traveler.

While the girl talked the aura connecting the two... rippled. It wasn't in a random way. Something was passing between the two of them, but despite his efforts Flint couldn't decipher what. Maybe it was communication, or maybe the spirit was asserting control. That the spirit might be possessing the girl couldn't be ruled out.

"Please, call me Helios. And who are you, spirit?"

[Abracadangit]

Kal responded in a puzzled tone. "Spirit? I'm not quite sure what you mean."

"Your friend addresses me directly," Ariadne clarified, her echoing tones whispering in Kal's mental ears. "So you are not the only one who can see with sightless eyes, hm."

Suddenly, Kal could hear Ariadne's voice outside her head, for once -- or could she? Despite Ariadne's words sounding unusually clear and sharp, neither Floral nor Nope showed any sign of perceiving it.

"You heard her the first time, did you not?" Ariadne asked, more curtly than Kal would have liked for a time where she was trying to make new friends. "Her answer and mine are one and the same. I am Ariadne, and I am no spirit, parlor magician. It was I who faced the Minotaur, who learned to weave from Klothos and Atropos, who traded secrets with Hekate and Nyx, who swore to..."

Ariadne's voice trailed off, as Kal willed her away, for the time being. For another occasion she might have put up with it, but she wasn't about to ruin her good relations on account of Ariadne's touchy pride.

"She is not always like that," Kal explained, apologetically. "Helios was just communing with my authority. She, er... looks forward to working with all of you."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily looked between Helios and Ariadne with a bemused expression on her face. Or maybe that was confused. Or skeptical. Or concerned? Uh...she currently smelled like potpourri? No, that doesn't help either.

Right. Okay then. That happened. Accept it and move on.

Really, come down to it, was it any more weird than anything else that she had seen over the course of the past month? Not really, no.

[Ridai]

Nope side-eyes. "What?" There is this creeping feeling in the back of his head that he somehow noped part of a conversation. And maybe a person.

[Zelphas]

The sign for Food Fast isn't terribly hard to find; the logo is simply the words "FOOD FAST" in dark blue and burnt orange, hanging over a glass storefront that consists of a dust-covered counter, a faded menu advertising several types of sandwiches, and very little else. The sirens in the background have reached approximately the sight of the warehouse, as much as you can tell. The completely normal-looking pigeon sitting on top of the counter looks up at your approach and ruffles its feathers for a moment before jerking its head towards the kitchen behind the counter and disappearing back in that direction itself.

The door opens easily enough; looks like it was an electronic lock that has been disabled. The restaurant still smells faintly of baked bread, deli meat, and grease, though over all of this is the nose-itching sent of dust (and for those with stronger senses of smell, the hint of various molds slowly working their way into the structure). There are no seats in the front; it looks like Food Fast took their name very seriously and were pickup or delivery only, and you have to vault the counter to reach the back room where Watcher's pigeon flew.

The kitchen itself is still covered in the same dust, though several streaks and the errant feather hints at a rushed attempt at avian cleaning. So, too, do the haphazardly-stacked milk crates placed around the central prep table, looking like makeshift stools for anyone who wished to sit down. In the center of the table is the bird you all came to meet with your various questions and concerns.

"Okay! So, um, first things first: what I can do to help," the voice from the pigeon begins without preamble, the mingled relief and nervousness evident in his voice. "I have some information, but not as much as I would like; I was going to do something like 'I'll answer three questions about the future now, and three every time a League member is taken down until the end', but... that seems like a bad plan now. One big piece of information I can tell you is that in order to prevent infighting, there's an informal agreement that each League member stays out of each others' business unless invited--like the whole thing today--so they aren't likely to gang up on you. They don't really... like each other, either, so that might help." The pigeon's head bobs up and down quickly for a few seconds.

"Here's the big thing I can offer, though: once you take down a League member, they'll stay down. I mean," he looks between the three of you, "Maybe it's my fault for being in a smaller town instead of New York or something, but the jail here may as well be made out of tissue paper where the League's concerned. I have five floors in the Obelisk set aside for the League as prisons, and I've spent the last month making them stronger once I... you know. If you take down a League member, or even one of their minions, let me know, and I can get them to the Obelisk in secret and keep them there."

Watcher's voice finally pauses for breath, and the pigeon turns its eyes to see all of you. "I'm rambling a bit; not a lot of people to... well. Do you have questions for me?" The sirens in the background wind down; it looks like the police have discovered that they are in the aftermath of a fight, not in the midst of one.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Once you take down a League member, they'll stay down."

...You know, it was weird. Up until this point, Lily hadn't really been considering the prospect of actually taking down a League member. That seemed strange to her in retrospect, but on reflection it was true. She had become Floral to protect her town. No, that wasn't even quite correct. She had done it because she was scared of what might happen to her siblings and wanted to try to help keep them safe. Not that they had...accepted her help. So then she had gone out as Floral on her own and...what? Tried to prove herself? Tried to stop the bad guys before they could threaten her siblings? Tried to be a hero because her pride had been smarting and that felt like the correct response?

Protecting the town was nonetheless worth doing. Lily didn't regret her choices. But after what Manchineel had done to her, how easy it had been for her to just...warp the bodies of Lily and her coworkers however she saw fit, how little they could do to stop her... If you had asked her who she was fighting, she would have told you the League of the Future. But the idea of actually fighting the actual League, of making a real effort to achieve a real victory...it wasn't that she had considered it and deemed it impossible. It had just seemed so far beyond what her dinky little flower powers, scienced beyond all reason or no, could possibly be capable of that it hadn't even really entered her mind at all, on the object level.

But now...now she was working with other Heroes. Now they had support from the Watcher.

Now it was time to consider how to accomplish the actual goal.

Lily let out a breath, and let go of her anger and resentment towards the Watcher along with it. The feelings weren't gone. It would take more than this for Lily to be in the state where she could really forgive him. But for the time being those feelings weren't productive. The Watcher was, if not an ally, then at least a resource. If they were going to defeat the League, they would need to make full use of him.

So, what did they need to know?

She considered and rejected information about the Watcher's future. That future had been derived of different present conditions. Information about it was fundamentally a curiosity. What they needed to know...

"Capabilities. Force counts. Lairs, and defenses thereon. Plans. Goals. Weaknesses. Each member of the League is personally powerful, and has minions to support them. What we need to know is as much as we can about them."

[Abracadangit]

Not fond of the layer of dust coating everything, Kal wove a little spiral of red thread in the air, then by figure-eighting her needle back and forth, prompted the little spiral to spin. As the Watcher spoke to them, Kal steered the spiral around the area, collecting dust and depositing it in a little wastebasket nearby. She waited until the pigeon had finished speaking before responding.

"I have many questions, but to start: information. You seem to have very detailed intelligence regarding these criminals -- we need to know strengths, weaknesses, anything and everything that might be of use."

"Second: resources. You say you are sorry for what has happened, and I think I believe you. So then what can you offer us to help, by way of apology. Your fancy prison is helpful, but surely you have other... toys at your disposal."

"Finally, I would very much appreciate a copy of whatever information you have compiled about me, personally. I want to know how much you know; I think that's only fair, seeing as how you've been 'watching' us for some time, from the sound of it."

[Ridai]

Much like he did after getting out of the fight, the first thing Nope does once they arrive near the Food Fast is exhale thoroughly. Alright, this went well overall, judging by the sirens.

Inside where Bird!Watcher is, it's like when he got into various abandoned or restricted places, but this time getting invited. He just kind of scampers over the counter and is about to kind of shake and wipe the dust on the milk crate off with his hand when Ariadne just hoovers up all dust in the whole room. Nope actually remains kind of bent down, looking around for a moment before sitting down.

Just casually doing that. Holy hell. That train of thought accompanies him for a while, followed by trying to think of what to ask about first. He is about to open his mouth when Floral and Ariadne just... cover all questions he could think of. At least off the top of his head. Well. They actually asked more than what he thought of. So he kind of just slouches down a bit again, trying to think of something by the time an opening arrives. When one does, he doesn't have much, so he goes:

"...Ssso did you know that... we would happen around this time?" Well, he tried.

[Dorni]

"One. Severability." He looked around the room. This was as much a question for them as it was for Watcher. "Our task isn't just to take down the League. The Suneaters... if Apophis were imprisoned today it wouldn't affect them in the slightest. They don't rely on him for orders or to empower new members. As soon as the dome is released they'll spread out and expand the cult - they need to be dealt with before the threat is over. The same concern applies to the others - can the Chain Gang create new members without Lockdown? How much of a threat is the Chain Gang once Lockdown is removed? Can Manchineel's forest spread without her to spread it?"

"Two. Time limit. You said these 3 are minor threats in your future. So someone or something worse is coming, and presumably you don't have forever to spend inside the dome dealing with the League. How long do we have?" He'd grown more serious as he gave voice to his thought. He hoped he was wrong, that whatever was coming was somehow tied to these three. But if not... and if Watcher was telling the truth... there was a long, long, road ahead. Was he really committing to... all that? He clenched a fist. With all his power, how could he not?

[Zelphas]

"...All right. Makes sense." The pigeon turns to regard Floral first. "MY information comes almost entirely from my birds, so I only have information that occurs outside of a house or near an open window. And there are... some other issues.

"Take Lockdown. Part of... my deal with him, is that I can't put any supervising devices within one mile of him." The pigeon ruffles its feathers nervously. "I can tell you that his 'lair' moves within the Industrial Block; right now, Lockdown is within one mile of Lake Michigan, closer to the southern forest than Pub Alley, but I can't give exact coordinates. As for his numbers: last count, the Chain Gang numbers just above two hundred, though it's growing aggressively. The number of Silver Links fluctuates--at that point, low-level thugs get cold feet or delusions of grandeur and get cut down--but seven have remained fairly stable, the 'seven deadly sins.' Pride is the main recruiter for the Gang; you've heard of him almost certainly. He has enhanced strength, very high endurance, and is a straight brute in combat. Wrath is the... enforcer, I guess? You've met her; fire and strength connected to rage. The two of them work under the Gold Link 'Dragon', who is a humanoid dragon with fire breath, wings, the works. He seems to be focused on growing the numbers of the Gang. Sloth, Greed, and Gluttony work under the Gold Link 'Dullahan'; they are officially the accountants of the Gang, but from the way the Bronze Links talk, the real job of Greed and Gluttony is as 'cleaners' for people who want to leave the Gang. No one is afraid of Sloth, and everyone is afraid of Dullahan, but I've never been able to pinpoint either of them. Gluttony seems to have history with Lockdown, but no one was specific. Greed is a newcomer to the gang; he's..." The pigeon hesitates for a moment. "I don't have very much on him. Lust and Envy work under the Gold Link 'Djinn'... and that's all I know about any of them. No one in the Chain Gang but Lockdown seems to know who they are; Envy and Djinn have some sort of shapeshifting power, and Lust works 'off-site', whatever that means."

The pigeon looked at you when it hesitated.

"I have less on Manchineel; the moment she realizes that my birds aren't living, she kills them, so I have to keep my distance. Manchineel tends to stay near the logging camp, for reasons I'm not sure about. She wanders the woods, but rarely heads north. She tends to create Punishments and then revert them back to normal after their task is done, so they don't stick around for very long; right now she... was looking for a weasel, which is concerning, and I don't know why. Her Menagerie has four members right now; Manchineel calls them Abel, Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael. Abel's 'duty' is to clean up trash in the Forest; he sticks to the northwest, and... I think he seeks out my birds and stays near them, sometimes, but I don't know why. Gabriel flies through the sky, never having to rest; she can fire her feathers like pinions with deadly accuracy, and her talons are at least as dangerous. I think Manchineel has her trying to find breaks in the Dome; she won't find anything." For just a moment, Watcher's voice sounds a little bit proud, but he quickly moves on. "Michael is an odd mixture of plant and lion, and its duty seems to be to bodyguard Manchineel and attack any human it finds in the forest. If you're going after Manchineel, it would be good to deal with him first, though he's very tough from all I've seen. Raphael is Manchineel's tool to spread the Forest; she is a large cow-like creature that wanders all around the forest wherever there's bits of humanity, growing trees. She can summon Saplings to herself when distressed, it seems."

"As for Apophis... I have even less. Every bird he sees, he kills. I don't know if he knows its me, or what. Sometimes, I haven't even caught a glimpse of him before another of my birds died, so I think he might be able to change his appearance. I have a little bit more on the Suneaters; there are more than a hundred, but there must be less than three hundred. They vary widely in power and ability; many of them seem focused on summoning, with only a relative few actually developing other forms of magical power. So far, their summoning has mostly been successful, though you saw an example of success today. I'm... worried about their madness; most of them are clearly insane, but there's a coordination and method to their madness that I don't quite understand. Sometimes, they gather together and execute an attack or a small ritual without speaking or even seeing one another. It might be mental, or magical; I honestly don't know."

The pigeon turns next to Ariadne, fluffing its feathers in an oddly apologetic way. "Well... my 'toys' are pretty obviously mine. I'm sorry, but none of you are inventors, so there would be awkward questions if you suddenly appeared with futuristic weapons. My first priority is the prevention of my future, and my life and continued freedom must go on for as long as possible to increase the chances of fulfilling that objective. I can get you the information I have on you, if you truly wish; it may take a few days to compile it, and... you may not want the others to see it. I can do the same for any of the rest of you, too."

The pigeon spins to face Nope, and you can hear the excitement return to Watcher's words. "No; that's what's so amazing! As far as I can tell, all of your abilities are new! NEw heroes are great!"

The feathers wilt a little bit as the pigeon finally makes it to Helios. "Well... I guess I'd have to cut it down to a few rooms each, but I can at least make it so that the heavy hitters are all locked in the Obelisk; the small fry will need to be taken care of by you in some ways. As far as I have seen, no one but Lockdown has gained the ability to give new powers in the Chain Gang, and Manchineelrelies on Raphael to spread the forest so capturing Raphael should stop that. The Suneaters are tougher, but most of their power is coming from a thing like Apophis running around... I think. I don't have guarantees. And for your last question... I can't answer that."The pigeon looks away. "What I can say is that you don't have to worry about it. I have a plan to deal with what's coming, and that's still going the way it should be... believe it or not."

[Ridai]

Ah. Greed. Right. That's what he is going by now, huh. Well, to be honest, he does not really know much about his MO and powers either, so... Nope mostly sits and listens.

Nope can already tell that the moment they try to deal with Greed, the name Remy is getting attached to Nope. Better enjoy the relative anonymity while it lasts, it is going to be extra hell after that.

In the meantime, oh boy. The forces arrayed against them. Sure. Add more existential dread. Maybe it will become tall enough to be struck down by the God of Anxiety for being distressingly unstable.

Watcher telling them he didn't know they would be emerging as "heroes" does lead to a double take. "Did- did you guess there would be new heroes when you came here?"

[Abracadangit]

Kal heard the Watcher out, taking care to mentally note all of the observations regarding the various members of the League of the Future. She paid extra close attention when Apophis was mentioned -- she couldn't wait to pay him back for their meeting at the school, and send him flying with a flick of her needle.

"I will take you up on your offer," Kal said, in regards to receiving the file about herself. "Perhaps you have observed something that could be useful. And we have your word that this information is known by no one else?"

"I have one other question. This 'Obelisk' sounds very safe, and very secure. Could we use it as a sanctuary for our loved ones, in the event they need to be protected?"

[Zelphas]

"From all accounts, super-powers appear in moments of extreme stress, and... this situation has become that," Watcher's voice from the pigeon finishes awkwardly, the pigeon body shuffling its feet slightly on the table. "Also, an abnormally high percentage of heroes seem to gain their powers from super-powered villains and vice versa, so it was a likely outcome. Well, honestly, it was still a gamble, but it paid off! Now you all are here!"

The pigeon turns back to Ariadne, its head bobbing up and down once. "I haven't shared any information that I've gained since coming here; I've spent too much time compiling it and putting everything together. I'll get your information to you later in the day; converting it to the technology of this era shouldn't be too much of a hassle...

"As for your loved ones; well." The pigeon tilts its head, the eyes going unfocused for a long moment. "The police are leaving the warehouse with the members of the Chain Gang who are unconscious; it'll be clear around here soon enough, I think. Anyways, once again, my own survival is an unfortunate necessity to stop the future from happening, so I have to protect that at all costs. That being said... If there is a clear danger to your loved ones in the future, we can discuss a way to hide them in the Obelisk. Obviously working openly with you all would ruin everything at the moment, so they'd have to be snuck in, but... we should be able to manage something."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily mulled quietly over the information Watcher gave them. A little, spiteful part of her was kinda annoyed that the supposed leader of the League of the Future who went around calling himself Watcher didn't have more data for them, but she could admit that that was mostly just her own personal antipathy towards him; objectively speaking, that was a lot of information they hadn't had before.

She...did kinda blink some as Ariadne asked if their loved ones could be secured in the Obelisk if it came to that. Because yeah, she wasn't going to extend that sort of trust towards the Watcher for a loooong time. She did believe him that his goals were aligned with theirs, but that didn't mean she felt comfortable giving him any leverage.

...Although, thinking about it that way, Lily said, "I'd like to see the information you have on me as well, please." She hadn't originally been intending to request that; as far as Lily was concerned, Watcher's future was a single thread of probability that was only of particular relevance to her because it happened to have disgorged Watcher and Dr. Proxy back into her present. She didn't deem information about it particularly useful, and all the less so given that Watcher's stated goal was to prevent it from coming to pass in the first place.

But thinking in terms of trust and leverage...well, yeah, it occurred to her that it would be wise to know more about what Watcher knew about her (even if she could not assume he would necessarily reveal everything he knew).

...The claim that most superheroes seemed to get their powers in an encounter with supervillains sounded like the sort of thing that might keep her up at night, if she spent too long thinking about it.

"In your time period, Lockdown, Manchineel, and Apophis were all established villains. Had any of them been defeated in that timeline? And if so, how?" That might suggest some manner of weakness, maybe. "...And I can't help but notice that you left Doctor Proxy out of your description." She didn't...quite press the point, but she wasn't going to just let it go by uncommented, and her voice certainly contained an element of expectation.

Let's try some Persuasion to see if I can get him to open up more about Doctor Proxy. Pheromones are still on no use when communicating by pigeon-bot, but assuming it has cameras Attractive might apply, so add +5 if it does. [roll0].

[Ridai]

"Ah," Nope says about the "gamble". Yeah just... let's just leave it at that.

"...Which hornet's nest are we poking first? I think Proxy's real dangerous, but I guess so are the other three and all their minions?" To be frank, Nope's not exactly sounding brave right now. To his credit, he doesn't seem like backing out either.

[Abracadangit]

"Much appreciated," Kal said, with a slightly barbed edge. She didn't like having to ask nicely for information that was already about her, like asking the government for the file they have on you, but with a creepier, more voyeuristic bent. She felt that was the least they were owed, given the circumstances.

She nodded along with the Watcher's explanation regarding the Obelisk -- Kal certainly hoped it wouldn't come to that, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she had no concept of the forces she was up against, and that protecting Dimetria might involve some tough decisions in the future.

"No further questions at this time," she said, before turning to Nope. "I'm inclined to hunt Apophis first, but I can wait for an opportune moment to strike."

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Hm. Apophis has the fewest guards, but is the hardest to find. Manchineel's saplings seemed a bit stronger than the other minions at the warehouse, and she had a fixed base, so while she's easiest to find, we can probably expect her to be the hardest target." There were certainly no biases that might have been influencing Lily's threat assessment and any claims to the contrary are vicious, hateful lies! "Lockdown...seems to be in the middle on both. Mmm...and it seems like taking them down may have value that scales similarly; defeating Apophis may or may not do anything to stop the Suneaters. Neutralizing Lockdown will at a minimum deprive the Chain Gang of leadership and new members. And...I'm speculating some, but I expect Manchineel's creations will be the most adversely affected by neutralizing her. We can't necessarily bet on it, but I wouldn't be surprised if they became anywhere from disorganized to entirely latent without her giving direct orders."

She didn't bother addressing Doctor Proxy. Unless Watcher gave them more information on them, they were strictly lowest priority as a matter of simple practicality. Really based on everything they did know Lily considered it more-than-marginally likely that Doctor Proxy was safe and sound and heavily guarded in the Obelisk, with no need to ever personally leave there. Heck, she wouldn't have been particularly surprised if it turned out that Doctor Proxy was in fact some sort of alternate personality of the Watcher himself. Between the pigeonbots and the Proxybots they certainly had a similar modus operandi. Although maybe everyone in the future operated through drones, what did she know?

"That all said...I feel like there's a fairly high-priority target in Raphael. She wouldn't be as strong as any of the three villains themselves, and though she can summon saplings, her operations require her to remain mobile, which somewhat restricts available guards and precludes most fortifications. She also should be relatively easy to find; Watcher, I assume your birds allow you to keep track of the growth of Manchineel's forest, right? We can use that to track her movements. And neutralizing her halts Manchineel's primary objective. Probably not permanently; Manchineel created her once so presumably could do so again. But with any luck that will at least take some of her attention, and might prompt her to s-send forces after us directly." There was a slight stutter in Lily's words there, but she pressed on. "Which...which is a good thing. Definitely a good thing. Because it gives us an opportunity to weaken her forces away from her fortifications, maybe even prepare the battleground ourselves. And it means her forces are going after people strong enough to take them, rather than civilians."

"I'm not married to the idea or anything, but that would be my suggestion for a starting point."

[Dorni]

Helios remained impassive while the others discussed safety for their loved ones. So far Watcher seemed like he had good intentions, but Flint wasn't about to just hand him Sara and Dante as hostages. For now his best option was to keep silent. Flint wasn't sure what Watcher knew about him - so far he'd been careful to make sure no one saw him cast his Helios transformation, but he hadn't exactly been on the lookout for robot-pigeons. If Watcher knew his identity and his family, then they were in no more danger now then they were before this meeting started. If Watcher didn't know about them, then asking about safety for them would just reveal to Watcher that he did in fact have loved ones with him who could be used as leverage. Thinking back on it now, he was banking on the latter - if Watcher knew all of their identities there'd have been little need to send a pigeon to meet with them after battling the League's servants in the warehouse and risking his pigeon being discovered. He could have reached out to them individually to arrange this.

"I think targeting Rapheal has merit," he added, "but there's another factor to consider. As I understand it, right now the League has a truce where they all agree to stay out of each others' way," he said with a glance toward Watcher. "So they're currently in a stalemate with the town divided up between them. Once we remove one of them, that stalemate will be broken. Those that remain will rebalance themselves and their territories. Proxy, Apophis, and Lockdown have so far keep the townspeople near their territory alive. Manchineel does not. If we start eliminating the others first she might just start expanding her forest into the city."

[Ridai]

"I... I guess Raphael is as good a point to start as any? And then hoping Manchineel won't go crazy?" This isn't veiled "I think that's dumb", this is very much "I hope Manchineel won't try to burn everything down as retaliation". The thought of discussing who to essentially hunt down and take out still makes him feel kind of weird about the whole thing, plant being associated with an angry dryad or not.

A sudden thought occurs. Nope opens his mouth, but closes it again. No, probably not the time to ask whether Manchineel has a god complex, or she was turned into an angry dryad who was a devout Christian or into Christian mythology before, and thus named her top agents after archangels. That... doesn't really seem very nature-y, but at the same time she sends out punishments, and the Bible claims god created everything, and he doesn't know whether there is like a big overarching nature spirit, and he gets increasingly glad he didn't ask this out loud.

[Zelphas]

"All right, information packets on themselves for Ariadne and Floral," the pigeon notes, the voice growing slightly distracted as though noting something down. "Anyone else? Helios? Nope? No? All right."

"Lockdown died before I was born, or shortly after," The voice states next, the pigeon absently tracing the dust with one claw. "Whether he was killed or died of... other factors is uncertain, but the powers he unlocked didn't die with him. There was enough confusion in his empire to suggest that if he was defeated, the person who killed him didn't have the power to command his underlings, so there might have been a trick involved... or just luck. Manchineel still seemed functional in my time, but no one had caught a glimpse of her, and my birds could only get slightly farther into the forest before something noticed their nonliving nature and shredded them. I even had a base for them in an abandoned tannery for a short time deeper in the forest, but something like that Boar person destroyed it before I could ramp up my efforts. As for Apophis... Frank Smith was pulled before some sort of tribunal or court in Africa, sentenced to death, and killed, but the reports after that are hazy on whether that stopped Apophis. Knowing him, it might have just been some sort of game."

The pigeon freezes for a moment, one eye staring directly at Floral. "I trust Doctor Proxy," the voice states simply. "Their methods are harsh, but they are committed to working to stop this future, and I don't believe that the disappearances can be tied to them. In any case, I don't know where they are; they were always... reclusive... even in my future. They are not in my Obelisk; I know that much. And I know what their mental influence feels like. They failed to dominate me once, and have never tried again."

The pigeon sits fairly quietly as the four of you begin to discus plans, the feathers on its wings seeming to vibrate slightly. "Not the time, but--it's wonderful to see superheroes really in action!" the voice bursts out, before the pigeon's head ducks down. "I know, I have no right, I'm sorry. Raphael is currently fairly close to Manchineel; my birds on watch around her keep getting destroyed. They're near the logging camp at the moment, but I can send a bird when Raphael moves north or west and I start getting a better view."

The pigeon pauses awkwardly, scraping its talons with tiny screeching noises along the top of the table. "Do... do you want anything else?" it ventures up finally. "I need to keep things a secret, and obviously I'm not exactly welcome for reasons that all make sense, but I don't want to be unhelpful."

[Ridai]

...wait no, one of them's Abel, not Uriel, but that's still Old Testament. Is Manchineel god or Eve or Lilith or all three in this? What does it mean that the one named after a human is there to pick up trash-

Well hopefully Nope is good enough covering the escaped train of thought underneath his blurry nature when he is kind of asked whether he wants what info Watcher has on him. "I, uh, I think you already told me enough about what you have on me." He doesn't sound enthused, but not venomous either. Just kind of uncomfortable.

"Maybe Apophis can body-hop?" Nope floats that particular idea to the group when he hears about the host body getting executed, but that's just a wild guess fueled by too many roleplaying games.

Even through the blurry everything, Nope does the human equivalent of Kermit scrunching up his face in regards to Proxy mental domination.

"C-can we cool it with the superhero title until this whole incident is over, one way or another?" It feels weird and wrong and like a death flag to be called that.

"I guess we're... 'good' right now?" ...He just looks over to the others. Should have said "I'm". Not "we're". Damn it all.

[Quellian-dyrae]

For a moment, after Watcher spoke about Doctor Proxy, a kinda minty smell rolled off of Lily, coupled with a flat stare. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but then closed it, letting the matter pass.

Doctor Proxy had attempted to subject Watcher to mental domination, and he still trusted them? Lily didn't know the whole story, it wasn't that she couldn't conceive of a course of events that would make both those facts non-contradictory. But it was still weird, and the most obvious one was that the attempt in fact hadn't failed. Watcher being compelled to trust Doctor Proxy implicitly while believing the domination attempt failed seemed to be easily the most likely explanation.

She made the active effort to devalue that probability in accordance with her identified bias against the Watcher, and could not know if she had succeeded...but even giving a substantial penalty for likely bias, that conclusion still seemed more likely than reasonable alternatives, to her.

When Nope requested they not use the title of superheroes...well, it was weird. Truth be told Lily honestly didn't really feel like a "real superhero". Watcher's excitement at seeing them in action did seem kinda...incorrect, in a way. They were a bunch of people who (she was pretty sure?) all had had powers for less than a month, and when you get right down to it probably didn't much know what they were doing, and Watcher was talking about them like they were the Justice League or the Avengers or something.

On the other hand, it wasn't like the comic book heroes always knew what they were doing either, it wasn't like they were without flaw. The four of them may have been new to their powers and may have been in over their heads, but they were trying, and they might have a chance to succeed where nobody else did. Did that make them superheroes?

If you forced her to answer, then no. Lily Woods would have to admit that even so, she did not feel like a superhero.

But...she did believe that Floral, the image of Floral that existed in her head, the ideal she was trying her best to live up to, to make real however imperfectly, that Floral...could in fact be a superhero. Would in fact be a superhero, if she could be more than a figment of Lily's imagination.

And that meant, then, that Floral would act like a superhero. She wouldn't shrink from the title, or the responsibility it conferred.

...But she also wouldn't look upon it as a symbol of status to be claimed. "I mean, we are going out and using crazy superpowers to fight bad guys while wearing silly costumes," she replied to Nope with a light laugh. "What else would you call us?"

Imperfect. Even as she said the words, she felt they were imperfect, weren't what the Floral in her head would really say, if she actually existed as a real person in the real world.

But for the time being, they were the closest that Lily Woods could come.

[Ridai]

Nope feels his face heat up as Floral seems to find his request silly. He looks down on what he is wearing. "I-I'm not wearing a costu- ...nevermind."

[Zelphas]

"You guys have superpowers, you're doing heroic deeds, what else could you be?" Watcher exclaims, the pigeon fluttering its wings and kicking up a small cloud of dust. "Ah, sorry; I'll... 'dial it back'? That's the slang, right? you still use dials?"

Settling itself again, the pigeon flutters over to the back of the room, angling towards a small window set high up on the wall. It perches on the sill for a moment, looking back at the four of you. "Well, if that's all... okay! I'll get Floral and Ariadne that information later on today. If you need anything else... wave at a bird? It's probably mine. I'll swoop down if needed, ass long as none of the League's nearby. Best of luck on finding Raphael! This is the start of something great, I'm sure of it!" It takes only a moment for the pigeon to open the latch on the window, and then it is gone.

At 6:03 PM that day, you get an email sent to your personal email from an unknown source; the sender's email is literally a blank black bar. The title of the email is "The Information Requested." Opening the email, you find two things, first, a reassurance that "No one except myself can access the Obelisk's files," and a Word document attached. The Word document contains... your life story until the moment the Obelisk appeared.

At 6:04 PM that day, you get an email sent to your personal email from an unknown source; the sender's email is literally a blank black bar. The title of the email is "The Information Requested." Opening the email, you find two things, first, a reassurance that "No one except myself can access the Obelisk's files," and a Word document attached. The Word document contains... your life story until the moment the Obelisk appeared.

All right, scene 1 is over! Everyone take 4 Downtime Actions.

In addition to the Downtimes I already have up, please come up with Downtime ideas of your own! Post your ideas in the OOC, and I'll develop progression systems for them and DCs that make sense to me, and we'll make sure they work.

Since you have the stated goal of going after Raphael and have sent Watcher specifically to let you know if and when Raphael is away from Manchineel, Pursue Raphael is a guaranteed option that you can Act on after these Downtimes are over.

Since this is the end of the first scene, please let me know if there are any questions/comments/concerns about the game in general! Thank you all for playing so far!

[Zelphas]

Light at the Crossroads

August 7, 2018.

It took the better part of a week, but eventually Watcher's pigeons tracked each of you down separately and let you know that it had finally happened: Manchineel and Raphael had finally moved away from one another. The zone of "dead" bird-bots that is Manchineel herself has moved west and north, closer to Agnelli's Bluff; Raphael was spotted by Watcher moving in the opposite direction, towards the Rudolph Logging Camp. Raphael could move quickly when needed, but usually had a rather slow pace, so she was still a long ways away from the logging camp. If you wanted to catch Raphael and remove her as an option, now would be the best time to strike.

And so, the four of you find yourselves standing (or floating on wings/magic/threads/blatant refusal to obey gravity's laws) in the woods to the south of Forester's Bay, next to a gently-flowing stream bordered by a few small, thick trees. It's mid-afternoon, and the hot summer sunlight breaks intermittently through the foliage overhead in beams of bright yellow, bursting into the green heat and dancing off of the slow-moving water. Standing across the small stream from you is an older woman with dark, weathered skin, wearing comfortable clothes suitable for hiking through the summer weather. He hair is thick and black, shot through with grey, and she has it pulled away from her face in a series of large braids.

"This town has something new every day, doesn't it?" the woman comments, her weathered face creasing at the corners in a gentle smile. She leans forward a bit on an aged, polished walking staff, her deep brown eyes looking over the four of you with steady calm. "It's pretty dangerous to be out in the forest, you know, though it looks like you picked the right place for it for the moment, and I suppose you can handle yourselves. Come to do some sightseeing while the self-proclaimed lady of the woods is away?"

You haven't met her in person, but going by the descriptions you've heard and the place you ran into her, you'd be willing to bet that this is Ntombi Peters, the only human who has spoken directly to Manchineel--twice--and walked away unscathed.

The woman smells like a biological human being.

The calm you see in her eyes isn't feigned--she doesn't seem to have any reason to fear you, and she is perfectly at ease in the woods. There is something under the calm, though, something that isn't quite defined enough to be an emotion yet. It's something like impatience, but not that strong or urgent.

[Ridai]

Nope has tried to keep busy in the face of now officially being tasked with taking down the Big Bad Villains instead of just... generally helping and hoping for the best. Nope had to be honest, the latter was kind of what he was doing before, though in his defense, he hasn't been doing this long and his power is terrifying to him. Stop a few bad guys, but a lot of watching the forest, trying to see what is going on with Raphael, Manchineel, just... everything. Without getting murdered very dead. Staying in touch with his new colleagues, too. By giving a lot of prior warning to him popping up, as Nope started to notice... regular people being terrified of him. Well, he can't really blame them given his powers and kind of creepy indistinct "appearance" as Nope... but after momentary frustration, it kind of just makes him a little sad and want to stay entirely out of view. So Floral, Helios, and Ariadne see a kind of subdued Nope. Who apparently also has a habit of reintroducing himself, then apologizing when they actually remember him.

When Watcher tells them Raphael is on its own, it's time to dive into the forest, which is mildly terrifying. Thus imagine his baffled surprise when a seemingly regular person just wanders through it. He is in halted personal time for a moment, just kind of checking if he is imagining things, until he goes back to normal time, tries to not make his appearance too surprising. Hands balling, opening again. And the woman just adresses them with all the calm in the world. Okay... wait, he actually recognizes her. Kind of. Second-handedly, in a way.

"Uh, are you Miss... Peters, was it?" Nope ventures, wanting to make sure. There is the feeling of him side-eyeing nowhere in particular, trying to think of how to handle this. "Are you actually... safe...ish here? Only heard hearsay about that." Now that he says this, given how Ms. Peters talks, it sounds pretty dumb, if he has to be honest with himself. And now he has to figure out how to talk to her. Would she get put in danger simply by talking to them and not telling Manchineel? Or them telling her something about what they are planning or asking her about Raphael?

...As the train of thought tries its best to reach a decision, he kind of hopes the others chime in first, now that he already blundered into this.

[Abracadangit]

"Good day," Kal says, wondering if this woman hides a secret, some leverage over Manchineel, or perhaps has simply not yet aroused the villain's ire. "Are you in need of assistance?"

"Doesn't look like she needs any assistance to me," Ariadne comments wryly, in Kal's mind.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Routining the Expertise check.

Although, on that subject, I'mma also go ahead and Routine Expertise (Local) for 25 to see what the grapevine says about Jennifer Margrethe and Zephyr and Talia Magro.

Lily recognized the woman from some pictures she had seen in local news reports. Ntombi Peters, the only person to have spoken to Manchineel and not be met with hostility, or so the story went. Some people were suspicious of her, given her outsider status and her apparently friendly nature with Manchineel.

Lily wasn't afraid to say that she was one of them.

It was hard to put it into words. But she had...faced Manchineel? No. For one thing, what Lily had done wasn't facing anything; she had cowered and pled and cried and none of it had so much as slowed Manchineel down. Manchineel had not been interested in their words, had not so much as considered mercy. Because that was the other thing. Manchineel wasn't, in Lily's conception, a hostile being you faced. She was a natural disaster in humanoid form, a destructive force of nature. She was something you weathered, something you survived.

You don't talk down a volcano. You don't make friends with a hurricane.

And here Ms. Peters was, casually hiking along the route they were expecting to meet Raphael on. Perfectly calm. Indeed, warning them that the forest was dangerous. That struck Lily as anomalous. Just ever-so-subtly off. It would make sense that Ntombi Peters would not be scared to hike through Manitou Forest, given her relationship with Manchineel. It would make sense that Ntombi Peters would not be scared of the four of them, heroes of the city who had no reason to harm a civilian.

But...you encounter four superheroes assembled in costume...and you calmly ask if they're there to do some sightseeing? No. It doesn't matter if you don't believe Manchineel to be hostile to you. Four superheroes in costume means one of two things: there is danger nearby or they are making some sort of public appearance. When it happens in the middle of a hostile forest ruled by a mad dryad, you can safely narrow that to one.

It wasn't conclusive evidence. Maybe Ntombi Peters hadn't made that connection that fast. Maybe she was just that fearless.

Or maybe it was something else. Raphael moved relatively slowly. ...Maybe at the speed of, say, an experienced human hiker?

Lily's nose suggested that Ms. Peters was biologically human, but it was not beyond transformative powers to fool. And she also detected a faint hint of something bordering on impatience. Perhaps just that of a hiker whose walk had been interrupted. Or that of a minion with a place to be and a job to do.

"It might be wise for you to vacate this area," Lily said. "We have reason to believe a dangerous monster is nearby."

Did it mean anything in particular, that Lily at the moment smelled faintly of mint?

Bringing up full Olfactory Clarity, Scent Processing, and Scent Intensification and Evaluating her reaction to that warning: 1d20+15z.

Also going to make a Perception check, both to see if I can detect any indications that there might be more to Ntombi's scent than was obvious, or to like see if I can detect Raphael approaching or whatever because while I definitely consider it plausible that Ntombi is in fact Raphael I'd still only call my probability for it something like 30% or so. 1d20+15z.

For reference, current Senses effects are: All Olfactory Senses gain Acute, Analytical, Accurate; Radius Smell improves to All Olfactory; Tracking [Smell]; Ranged Olfactory Detect [Emotions, Biology]; Smell gains Counters Concealment [Overlapping Scents], Penetrates Concealment [Limited to Around Objects].

[Dorni]

Helios met the woman's question with a polite smile, but if anything the situation wasn't simple. By this point everyone knew Manchineel and her minions roamed the forests and were not friendly to outsiders. She had a lot of courage to be coming out here at all, and if it were just that Helios might have been merely impressed but credulous. But the question was out of place given their band was in full superhero costume. Even if he went so far as to assume she didn't recognize any of them as the costumed heros that had been fighting the League, there was no way to mistake them for regular people out for a hike. Costumes often meant superpowers. And with the number of minions the League had, they meant danger. They meant that the group that this was a group with a purpose for being here, not a group of tourists sightseeing.

"Indeed, there's no telling when the lady of the forest or her servants will appear."

Is there anything at all off about her mystically? Perception 1d20+15z
Also going to try to get a read on anything she says to us since the setup gives reason to believe she's hiding stuff [roll0]

[Zelphas]

Jennifer Margrethe is a well-to-do older woman who retired to Forester's Bay with her husband, Norman Margrethe, roughly three years ago. The reason that Norman Margrethe did not appear in your original searches is that within thirty days of their retirement, Norman moved back to California where they had lived and the two began a from-all-accounts acrimonious divorce in that state. Jennifer is still living and well, but since Norman is not a Forester's Bay local and apparently is not on any social media, it is harder to ascertain his situation without further sleuthing.

Zephyr and Talia Magro are a married couple who grew up in Forester's Bay all their lives. Zephyr worked as a warehouse manager primarily in charge of livestock shipments; the recent events and apparently some personal issues have him on "extended leave" from his position at the moment. Talia Magro (maiden name Tonelli) recently picked up a position as the secretary for Moon River Insurance. Zephyr has a twin brother named Nathan Magro; Nathan was known as a rather shiftless person in the Forester's Bay area, and hasn't been seen in town for several years.

Ntombi Peters (as Nope and Floral already know the woman to be) smiles back at Nope's question. "The wilderness isn't 'safe' for anyone, even a forest as tame as this one used to be," she answers lightly, the reflected light from the river glinting off of her polished walking stick. "Danger's always about; the trick is to learn to see it so you can avoid it, or at least turn it aside when it comes. I'm in less danger than most out here, I suppose."

"Now, that is an important question," she continues, pointing the end of her stick at Ariadne for emphasis. "See, I don't know any of you, and it looks like only a few of you know me by sight, though not in person. So while assistance is always useful--only a fool would refuse a helping hand in the wilderness--I don't know if assistance is what you can give to me, or what I can give to you. Maybe none of us can assist each other."

Ntombi nods to Floral and to Helios each in turn, acknowledging their statements. "Well, those two statements seem to contradict. There's no telling when things will appear, and yet you have reason to believe a dangerous monster is nearby. It seems that the self-styled forest spirit is a bit more predictable than she believes herself to be." Her eyes twinkle slightly with a bit of a smile. "That term, though, 'dangerous monster.' Now, there are any number of things both in and out of town in this little bubble that may qualify, but I'm not sure if the one that'll soon be passing through here truly does. After all, can you blame an animal for following its nature? And believe you me, Raphael's nature is a gentle one; Manchineel couldn't change that--or perhaps she caused it."

Ntombi Peters lets the names she spoke hang in the air for a moment before she continues to speak. "I know there's a time and place for killing. I'm at home in the wilderness, and the wilderness can be cruel. I'd rather not harm an innocent, though, which is why I'm here--to turn aside the danger without harm. Now, if I may ask a more serious question then before, I will ask: Why are you, four people with no clear connection to any of the monsters rampaging around Forester's Bay, standing in the woods between Raphael and the place Manchineel told her to go?"

You aren't reading more emotions from Ntombi, either via smell or through other markers. Her tone and behavior has remained remarkably even, calm. She is significantly harder to read than most of the other people you have met since gaining your powers.

The wind is at your back, which is why you can smell it. A complex aroma--rich earth, growing greenery, lichen, and the wet, spongy growths from caves, combined with mammalian sweat and wet odor--all blending together as if from one source. It is a fair distance away from you now, moving in your direction, but slowly. At this rate, it will take several minutes for it to reach you, but it will cross your path here unless it suddenly changes course.

Ntombi's tone, inflections, and facial expressions are remarkably even, calm. She is very difficult to read; her words and inflections make her sound trustworthy, but you can't tell if that is true or a clever performance on her part.

You do not sense anything mystical about Ntombi herself, or the air around her, or her clothing. As you are finishing your assessment, you catch the slightest hint of mystical energies at the very bottom of her walking stick. The easiest analogy to the sense you get is like the whiff of damp you might get if someone stepped in a puddle on a rainy day that splashed onto the hem of their pants three hours ago. With where you are and the powers that Manchineel and her Menagerie has been described as possessing, it could easily have come from contact with a mystical source, rather than being generated from the stick itself or the one carrying it.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily...actually relaxed, slightly, when she picked up that odd scent on the wind. That was, at least, one concern put to rest.

"They're not, actually. Contradictory, I mean. You can be aware of a danger in the area without knowing whether other dangers may be nearby, or when exactly you will encounter it," she responded, before stopping as if to think for a moment, casting a sidelong glance at Helios, and adding, "Although in our case, that would in fact be in about {several*} minutes."

Estimated as precisely as possible (down to as close as the nearest whole minute) given: an Analytical sense of smell to determine the exact concentration of olfactory particulates on the wind and the current wind speed based on their rate of passage; a +20 Expertise (Nature) to assess the expected scent intensity of relevant substances given that concentration; a +25 Expertise (Biochemistry) to estimate likely rates of initial concentration and dispersal through the air given current wind speed, ambient humidity, and known size of Raphael; a +15 Expertise (Academic) to do be able to perform complex mathematics in her head; the ability to Routine skill checks while not rushed or under duress; and a partridge in a pear tree (let's be honest it's probably Watcher's).

Lily gave a little, patient smile as Peters made her philosophical point. "No, you don't blame animals for their nature. You also don't let dangerous animals hurt people. And if dangerous people are using animals to further goals that will hurt people, then you remove their access to those animals. Ideally, of course, without harming the animals if you can avoid it. If you are trying to say Raphael is more gentle animal than dangerous monster, I'll take your word for it; you seem to know more about her than we do." There wasn't...accusation in Lily's voice, quite, but it was a tad pointed there.

Lily didn't...really have anything against Manchineel's creations, in and of themselves. To be fair, she hadn't really thought about them in any context other than "dangerous". When she had faced them before, she never really put in any particular effort to outright kill or destroy them - but neither had she held back the way she would against a person. She supposed all else being equal, the humane approach would be to neutralize them without permanent harm where possible. It wasn't like she wasn't equipped with plenty of options for that.

"By the wording of your question, and of your intentions, I suspect you know the answer to that," Lily replied. She saw little point in attempting deception here. Raphael's travel speed was a known quantity and a factor in their plan. Lily herself could fly at three times the speed of sound, Nope could teleport all of them in an eyeblink, and she considered it likely that Helios and Ariadne had similar options for swift travel.
Plus, she had Raphael's scent. Either Miss Peters was in fact a minion of Manchineel's in some manner, in which case odds were they were going to be throwing down with her one way or another, or she was what she appeared to be, in which case the odds of her being able to thwart them by either physical force or raising a warning were low.

But that didn't mean Lily would dismiss her. Even if she did not fear her as enemy or obstacle, notwithstanding unknown unknowns, and even if she didn't fully trust her, if she was what she appeared to be she was likely a decent person. Perhaps misguided, perhaps even deluded, depending on just how close she actually was with Manchineel, but still decent for all that. And either way, she could perhaps be a valuable asset.

"We're here to remove Manchineel's access to Raphael. Manchineel's plans are a threat to the people of Forester's Bay, and as best we've been able to figure out, Raphael is a significant component of those plans.
The story goes that you have been able to speak to Manchineel without earning her ire; judging by your presence here, and the fact that you know we are standing between Raphael and where Manchineel wants her to go, I expect the story is if anything understated. I don't know the specifics of your relationship with Manchineel, or what you might have to do to remain on her good side. I won't ask you to put yourself in danger siding against her, and if you would prefer to leave here before Raphael arrives, you are welcome to. We can assist you in returning to town or another part of the forest if you would like."

"Or...if you have any advice to offer us on how best to remove Raphael from Machineel's toolkit without causing her any permanent harm, we would of course appreciate it."

Let's try some Persuasion. Assuming she's not lying through her teeth, it seems like her motivation here might be centered primarily on keeping us from harming Raphael. As actually harming her is largely irrelevant to our goals, this seems like it might be something we can work with Peters on: [roll0]. Since Scent Intensification is on, add +10 if Attractive applies.

[Ridai]

Honestly, hearing Raphael is peaceful makes Nope feel bad instantly. He manages to not emit sounds like "oh no", "aw man", and similar audible distress. But Floral steps up with the problem-solving, and in the end, Nope just stands there, looking to Floral, Ms. Peters, Floral, the ground, back to Ms. Peters, hands opening and closing, sometimes going into pockets (well, at least people around Nope think there are pockets?), coming back out.

Until he decides on a contribution to the situation. Which is just generally gesturing to Floral. Yeah. What she said.

I never said it was a big or good contribution.

[Dorni]

The woman reminded him of some of the lawyers he'd dealt with - he could fully imagine them making arcane technical points about who's the real monster while about to be devoured by a very literal one. The thought gave him some joy.

That said, by the way she spoke she was quite familiar with Machineel and Raphael. She was no bystander hiker. "Just so," Helios added. "We're well aware that many who serve Machineel are also her victims. If there's a way to remove Raphael from Manchineel without slaying her, we would gladly make the attempt."

Going to assist Lily's Persuasion: [roll0]

[Abracadangit]

Kal considers replying to Peters' elliptical statement, but lets Floral and Helios speak instead.

"She reminds me of prophets and muses I have met before," Ariadne says into Kal's thoughts, dryly. "You want to go left, first you have to go right. You wish for the sun, you might end up with the moon." Kal, in her mind's ear, hears the clicking of a tongue. "If I wanted riddles, I would ask a sphinx."

[Zelphas]

Ntombi Peters listens carefully as Floral lays out the goal of the group, seeming to mull over her words. The walking stick taps the ground absently once, twice.

"There's a scent that fills the air around Manchineel," She begins almost suddenly, looking up into the forest canopy. "Unless you've got a sense of smell better than the average human, it's only noticeable right nearby, but I'm fairly sure it can be smelled for miles to those with the right senses. It's a pleasant enough smell--earthy, growing, like a 'natural' scent made by someone who's never set foot in real wilderness before. That's all it is, if you're a normal human like--well, like just me here, I suppose," she smiles slowly, looking over the group once. "To the creatures that Manchineel's made, though, well...

"Now, it's only my observation and guesswork, mind you, but from all I've seen the Menagerie can't do much of anything when it can smell their mistress, except if she tells them so. She sings, and they dance, and that's all there is to it. Once they're away from the smell again, well then things can change. For the ones that were once human, it means they get to think again, at least a little bit, to go their own way and make their choices. For the animals... well, what would you expect? They act like animals do. Manchineel can rewrite their instincts a little bit, but she can't change them all."

Reaching down slightly, Ntombi Peters taps the stream with her walking stick, making a slight splash. Her smile turns sly. "Raphael, she likes water, you see. She doesn't have much use for drinking it anymore, but she likes the feel of it, the cool wetness, perhaps. I figured that I could coax her into the river and lead her a bit upstream, then leave her to follow her instincts. In a day or two, her mistress will have somewhere else to send her agent of quiet vengeance, having forgotten about her current crusade. Manchineel is a creature of caprice herself, you see; she doesn't plan so much as she acts on what bothers her, or angers her, or intrigues her, in the moment."

As Ntombi Peters looks back up at the four of you, a slight hint of green glints in her brown eyes. The source becomes apparent a few moments later, as a soft green light begins leaking around the trees behind you, to the west of the stream. "I'm afraid I don't have a permanent way to remove Raphael; as long as she is in the forest, Manchineel will find her. She is gentle, but she is also strong, and her first instinct seems to be to follow whatever Manchineel last told her to do. Getting her fully out will be a trial, if that's what you wish to try."

[Quellian-dyrae]

When Ntombi described the effects of Manchineel's scent on her creations...two sides of Lily went to war inside her head.

Floral, the badass warrior-scientist, the genus biochemist who used the shining light of the sun as a resource and all the plants of the world as weapons, who could manipulate vegetable matter on the cellular level and conduct on-the-fly genetic engineering in the heat of combat, got the mental equivalent of a slasher smile and mad scientist glasses gleam. Manchineel controlled her minions through scent, but more than that, it was a specific scent. Something she could potentially analyze and emulate, and wield against them. Among Floral's many biochemical weapons were pheromone scents that could influence and control the minds of others. If Manchineel's creatures were already designed to obey a specific olfactory signature, duplicating it should give her powers a tremendous advantage against them!

Already, plans were shooting through that part of her brain. She would need to smell it herself, of course; Ntombi's description would no more suffice than the description of "a dark haired woman with an interesting smile" would convey the artistry of the Mona Lisa. Getting a physical sample would be even better; even Lily's knowledge of biochemistry wouldn't allow her to reverse-engineer the exact cellular structure to emulate that exact olfactory signature simply by smelling it, although it wasn't impossible that with enough time she could match it with trial and error. Still, limits of human memory would be prohibitive there. But if...

Meanwhile, the Flower Girl was curled up in the fetal position in some dark corner of her mind, wailing in terror and despair.

Manchineel's creations were beholden to her olfactory signature. Lily was, herself, a creation of Manchineel's. One that had once been human, just as Ntombi described. There was no reason to assume that Manchineel wouldn't have bound her to her scent just as she did all her other creations. That she was able to think and act for herself was not evidence; as Ntombi had said, the formerly-human members of the Menagerie could do that when not in range of her.

That part of her mind wanted to weep. She had worked so hard to turn her dinky little flower powers into a practical powerset...and now it turned out that the one piece she had thought was an actual, stand-on-its-own useful ability, the augmented sense of smell, might in fact be her greatest weakness. No power at all, but a backdoor Manchineel had installed to control her. She was defeated before the fight had even begun, all her efforts to become stronger only serving to make her that much more powerful a weapon in Manchineel's hands once she laid claim to the slave she had created. And the worst part was that she had known it from the start. Manchineel was a force of nature.

You don't talk down a volcano. You don't make friends with a hurricane. You don't overcome them in personal combat, either.

Lily kinda swayed on her feet for a moment, as if dazed, half of her brain occupied with plans for inevitable and glorious victory, the other half overcome with visions of unavoidable and hopeless defeat. A single piece of evidence shouldn't cause you to update literally equally strongly in two completely opposite directions.

She took a breath, tried to fuse the two sides of her wildly running thoughts back into a coherent whole.

Call it even odds, then. Work to develop methods to exploit Manchineel's scent, ideally while avoiding personal exposure. Among them, a way to protect yourself from it, the way you modulate your pheromones to be blocked by the natural scents of your allies. ...And work with the others to prepare contingencies to ensure they can neutralize you if you are compromised, Floral advised her with calm, strategic pragmatism.

You'll have to tell them what you are, the Flower Girl warned her in a broken mental voice.

"Thank you," she finally said, and she meant it, the words coming from the bottom of her heart. The immediate tactical information - Raphael likes water, and all - was useful. But knowing about Manchineel's scent...that was critical. Whether it was a path to victory or defeat or both was uncertain, but either way, knowing about it made all the difference.

But then the greenish light came spilling through the trees, and Lily turned towards it. "If you can get clear, now's the time. Nope might be able to help with that. Otherwise...stay behind us."

To the others she said, quietly, a seemingly-uncharacteristic trepidation in her voice, "When this is over...we need to talk."

[Abracadangit]

"Thank you," Kal said, with a small nod. "That's some valuable information. But as my colleague suggests, now would be the time to... re-situate yourself."

As the emerald glow brightens, Kal brandishes a needle, and weaves a quick couple of figure-eights as a phantom web of crisscrossing threads expands out from her consciousness and over the surrounding area.

Threadwork Sense Activated!

[Ridai]

"Huh," Nope says on the matter. With persumably very Raphaelian light shining through the forest now, Nope already feels the time crunch, so to direct his thoughts, he makes a sort of arm tucked in karate chop motion towards Ms. Peters. "Ms. Peters do you want to be re-situated and if yes where please answer quickly thank you"

If she wants to be brought elsewhere, Nope does so without delay. In that case, after bringing her there, he quickly asks if she is feeling okay, with a quick visual check if everything still seems where it is supposed to be, before excusing himself and zipping back.

"Hey so I can try to make things not aggressive, but that kind of breaks down if people attack 'em, or I can try to wear things out until they fall unconscious. Former or the latter? Try is the important word here."

...It occurs to Nope that in the past week, they did not get together to discuss, like, tactics, or what sorts of powers they have, or what to go for. He really should have brought that up. Turns out he also gained the Superpower of Hindsight.

[Dorni]

Helios' face lit up. Figuratively, of course. The concept of pheromones and plants signaling each other with scents wasn't new to him, but he'd never thought to connect it to Machineel. It was so simple now that it had been pointed out, but where his excitement lay was the options that this opened up. If Machineel exerted control over her minions with scent signals, then blocking those scents would deprive her of an important tool. "Indeed, this will help us immensely. You have my gratitude. While I cannot promise success, I can promise I'll make every attempt to free Rapheal."

His mind was already spinning with possibilities for this newest puzzle. He'd already worked out a veil to mask him from sight and sound - he could probably adapt it to block out scents. Wait, no, he'd first have to invert it. But would the spell structure remain stable if it was inverted? Or what if he ditched the veil and tried constructing a filter? But for that... The greenish light was a good reminder that now was most definitely not the time for that.

He looked to Ntombi one more time and calmly awaited her decision.

[Zelphas]

Ntombi Peters looks up, her eyes meeting Floral's. Something flickers in their depths for just a moment, gone before it can be registered, leaving them dark and twinkling once more.

"I can find my own way; I know enough not to distract those who are on the job," she waves off your offers to take her away from the area. "Be gentle with her if you can, but despite her gentleness she is a wild creature. She can take more than you think, I just don't know that she deserves it. Fortune to you... Perhaps you should think of a name. I never asked nor answered, but others might, and some folks may wonder what you call yourselves when you're in a group." Waving with her walking stick, Ntombi Peters turns and begins walking east. "Just a passing traveler's suggestion; take it with you or leave it in the woods, it's yours to use."

The forest changed around you at Raphael's arrival.

First was the moss, a living carpet of thick, emerald green life that rolled out in a silent wave and covered the earth all along the riverbank to either side as far as you could see. It grew so thick that you could sink into it if you weren't careful. Then, thin tendrils of greenery slowly rose from the ground or drooped from the branches above, thickening slightly into slender, fuzzy vines of darker, murkier green. They didn't do much to impede your vision, but made moving more difficult, as they clung to everything around them and slowly wrapped what they found in a soft, easily-broken embrace. The air grew thicker, laden with moisture. The temperature rose.

And throughout, the greenish glow beyond the trees grew closer. The vines and new growth darkened the area slightly, making the glow seem slightly brighter, but it didn't truly grow in its brightness as it approached. Instead, it simply intensified, becoming more green, more filled with life. All of you feel it, a sense of growth and growing approaching with the light; to Floral it is not so familiar as to be frightening, but still contains some familiarity with what she encountered roughly a month ago.

You "see" Raphael before any of the others do through your thread sense. Unfortunately, your thread sense is nearly whited out by the amount of magical energy Raphael is pouring out, so you mostly get a vague impression of a cow-shaped creature larger than any real-life cow, and Life with a capital L. After a few moments of study, you realize that Raphael isn't really using magic, it's more like she is magic, like what she's accessing is magic in its "raw" form, without the refinement of spells, gestures, bloodlines, or other factors. It's closely related to magic, but not quite the same, which is probably why your Threadwork Sense is giving you such a vague image.

Looking at the green light as it closes, you get a strange response from your Mystic Sense. You sense no magical aptitude from Raphael, but with every second the Life Magic filling the air around you grows stronger, and its all pouring from where Raphael seems to be. She doesn't seem to be able to use magic, whatever she is; instead, she is magic, as though a fraction of whatever energy that allows magic to function has taken physical form and is now walking straight towards you.

Finally, Raphael herself walks into view. She steps soundlessly on the thick, heavy moss, her deep greenish-black hooves making no sound on its surface. Every inch of her enormous form radiates deep green light, from the tip of her thin, tufted tail to the points of her long, vine-draped horns and the deep, milky greenish-white of her glowing eyes. Her broad back is a carpet of the same moss that now covers the earth around you. Vines and small white flowers wind around her limbs and peek out from behind her long, drooping ears. Her wide, heavy nostrils flare as the wind shifts, and she stops abruptly just before the four of you, her left front forehoof pawing the ground. To either side of her, saplings burst silently from the ground, growing almost instantly into protective bars of wood on either side of the great ox.

Raphael of Manchineel's Menagerie, the Angel of Healing, stands before you, looking at you with eyes that show little but animal confusion, which can quickly turn to fright.

Here's a map (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-Yl2DQDdLijHiPMDEJz3e-fgVfqJ9WL5wKCJjy8SJhc/edit?usp=sharing), in case it becomes needed. The darker green is Raphael's Environment; all movement speeds are reduced by 2 while you are in it.

A battle has not started, but in case one does, I'm going to roll Initiative below:

Floral: [roll0]
Ariadne: [roll1]
Helios: [roll2]
Nope: [roll3]

Raphael: [roll4]

Raphael is very likely to go first, but she does not initiate combat, so you are all good to go.

[Ridai]

As Nope is kind of left hanging, he now looks up at Raphael, fidgeting. "Jesus Christ why is Raphael this enormous?" he asks no one but himself. He has never seen a being this large in person. Especially not this close. And potentially wanting to stomp his bones and guts into the ground as fertilizer.

So since Raphael doesn't look like she will attack immediately, Nope just frantically glances to his team-mates, trying to not make any sudden motions, as he has no idea what they are planning or wanting to do (or what they even are able to do in this situation). As far as Nope is concerned, he is not keen on attacking right away. More like putting more distance between him and Raphael. But they need to deal with Raphael, and he can't just let the others alone on the potential frontline. But he also has never been good with animals. More like being good at being ignored by animals at best.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily's activating Olfactory Clarity, Commune With Nature, Scent Processing, and Scent Intensification. Basically her full Senses and olfactory skill buffs suite, plus Comprehend Plants.

Lily kept from shivering as she felt that supernatural sense of growth pass over her. It wasn't the same thing...but it was close enough to be unpleasant.

She held her hands out before her, a non-threatening gesture. She considered the options here. In some way, maybe some rather important ways, Raphael was...like her. She hadn't really thought about that before, maybe wouldn't have had it not been for their encounter with Ntombi Peters. Raphael needed to be taken off the gameboard, but...she didn't seem immediately hostile. Lily had the tools to neutralize opponents relatively painlessly, but they still weren't exactly fun, or kind.

...And to be fair she wasn't exactly sure of what the proper dosages were for a creature of Raphael's size.

Floral was supposed to be a hero. A hero wouldn't resort to violence as a first choice, right? A hero would at least try to settle things peacefully.

The scents coming off of Lily began to change, from the sweet smell of flowers to something more...earthy, more mossy, but still with flower-like undertones. Something that, to someone with a nose as keen as hers, anyway, still came off as distinctly her scent, but sort of blended with Raphael's own. It was a subtle, nonverbal communication, a sort of combination of recognition and statement. I'm like you.

She approached gradually, hands held out before her, not making any sudden movements. Lily didn't actually have much experience with animals. She was a city (well, small-town) girl born and raised. But...she had a sense of how to do this, or at least thought she did. She couldn't quite say how or why. Maybe she was picking up cues from Raphael's scent markers? ...Or maybe her transformation had changed her on a deeper level than even she had realized. The brain was part of the body too, after all.

If Raphael didn't react defensively to her approach, she'd slowly, gently reach out, and lay one hand on her shoulder.

Routine Persuasion to try to improve Raphael's reaction. If I'm right that should come to 30 total after +10 base, +5 for Attractive 2 thanks to Humanoid Plant, and +5 for Scent Intensification thanks to Attractive 2.

And if Raphael continued to remain calm, and seemed to be paying attention to her, she would begin speaking aloud. Not so much because she thought Raphael would understand her words, necessarily. But more because...that was how she was used to communicating. That was how she formed her thoughts in a way that could be shared with others. But the actual process by which she communicated with Raphael had far less to do with vibrations moving through the air, and far more to do with subtle changes in the scents she produced, instinctively in reaction to the words she intended to give voice to.

"Our mistress has new orders for you. She wants you to follow us. We'll take you to where new Life needs to bloom."

I figured out an approach that might work.

Lying through my teeth! I have a good feeling about it! :smallbiggrin:

Deception to try to convince Raphael that Manchineel wants her to come with us. Again assuming Humanoid Plant allows Attractive and thus Scent Intensification to apply, and with a further +2 circumstance bonus for Favored Foe (Manchineel's Minions), that should come out to [roll0].

[Dorni]

Flint drank in the sight, the feel of the creature before him. True, some part of him had to admit that when he'd envisioned Raphael, creation and minion of Machineel, he had expected some kind of nightmare monster or maybe a warped plant-creature. He had not expected a cow straight out of a cornucopia myth. But it was far more than that. Rapheal was a creature of Life itself.

The air was infused, radiating, dripping with the aether of Life, so abundant that not only did the plants bloom where she walked, the vegetation grew heavy simply by her mere presence. Like a portion of magic itself taken a physical form. Even the light that radiated from the creature was just more life spilling out of its too-small vessel.

It was amazing.

And saddening that such a creature was bound to Machineel.

He opened his mouth and closed it again, not sure what to say to convince Rapheal to stand down. While he was at a loss, Floral stepped forward to coax the creature. He caught her scent as she went past, a rich mossy smell that was nothing like the minty sweetness he remembered. It reminded him of Ntombi's description of Machineel. Of course - Floral was trying to communicate. He might not know exactly what to say, but he suspected Floral might.

Slowly, carefully, he eased into a relaxed stance. He didn't want to spook Rapheal. Then, just as slowly, he reached out with his will to the surrounding aether, coaxing it to surround Floral and let her be more of what she was, more vibrant, akin to his Lifeshell spell but much more gentle. And, he hoped, more aetherically similar to Machineel.

Going to team check with Floral . Routine Persuasion 25 and Routine Deception 26 should give both checks a +5.

[Zelphas]

Raphael stares across the suddenly verdant forest at the four of you, her eyes wide and filled with slow confusion and caution. She doesn't react at first when Floral steps forward; in fact, she doesn't seem to acknowledge Floral at all, her attention focused on Helios, Ariadne, and Nope. Then her nostrils flare, and the tension leaves her form. Her eyes lose the fearful edge, becoming placid and nearly empty. She leans into the touch Floral gives her, a gentle pressure belying her enormous form. Steadily, calmly, she turns to face Floral--

And jerks back in sudden surprise, letting out a snort. Her nostrils flare again, and confusion mixes with alarm in her eyes. She leans her massive head down towards Floral, taking in deep breaths with her nose, her eyes almost squinting; on a cow less enormous than Raphael is, the expression would be almost comical. Around you, the greenery in the air grows noticeably less vibrant, the moss less engulfing underfoot. Raphael, on the other hand, only glows more brightly. Then in a green flash, that brightness rushes towards Floral.

Raphael is definitely an animal that was changed; her emotions are slow, basic, and steady. Calm acceptance and a form of love met your words, but when she turned to look at you, surprise (which means fear for an herbivore) suddenly appeared. The love and the fear mingled, creating confusion, and then Raphael came to an instinctive decision. Raphael is attempting to use a power on you. You can choose to dodge it, in which case (being an instinctive snap shot) the power will miss.

Floral is subjected to a Healing: [roll0]

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily observed Raphael's reactions carefully. She thought she more-or-less had a decent read on her, but it was hard to be sure; Raphael was not human, and this form of communication was still somewhat alien to Lily. She seemed to respond favorably...but then she reacted with sudden surprise, and unleashed power on her.

Lily wasn't sure what had prompted the reaction. Perhaps Raphael had a sufficiently strong connection to Manchineel and her wishes that Lily's attempt at deceiving her only served to reveal her as an enemy. But...her nose pinged fear, not anger or hostility (not that fear couldn't lead to plenty of damage in itself, of course). And Ntombi Peters had said Raphael was gentle by nature...and even Manchineel couldn't change a creature's nature.

There wasn't really time to think. Half on reason, half on instinct, Lily didn't flinch when the green light enveloped her, standing placidly and letting it roll over and through her. There was no visible effect. She felt a rush of vigor, like she was standing in bright sunlight, but more concentrated and intense. She was uninjured, but she was pretty sure that Raphael had tried to heal her. She wondered if it was some sort of test, if the light would have had no effect at all, or even proven harmful, if she were human.

Regardless, she could work with that.

"It's okay," she said with a gentle smile, gently stroking the fur (or is it moss?) of Raphael's shoulder. "Thank you. But..." What had she been trying to heal? Had she perceived a fellow member of the Menagerie for some reason in the form of a human? Or had she been trying to reverse the transformation Manchineel had inflicted upon her? "We are what we are, right?" she asked. She cupped her hands together, holding them up to Raphael in an offering gesture. A faintly golden liquid pooled within them.

Raphael receives Healing at [roll0].

(Flower Power currently set to Olfactory Clarity [10], Commune with Nature [5], Scent Processing [5], Scent Intensification [10], Healing Nectar [20].)

"Will you come with us, now?" she asked, still gently, but she allowed a touch of urgency to flavor her scent.

More Persuasion: [roll1].

[Ridai]

Why does it feel like everyone is in on the plan except me?!

Nope's eyes are jumping back and forth constantly. And when Raphael does her... whatever it is Raphael is doing, Nope is gone. Well, for a moment. He reappears between blinks. Felt a flinch coming, and that turned into noping his presence. Back to... back to uncertain waiting!

[Abracadangit]

"What IS that," Kal thinks to Ariadne, not daring to weave a single thread for fear that it might cause Raphael to react. "It's... made from magic?"

"It IS magic," Ariadne responds, in a rare tone of reverence. "Or something that is not quite magic, but a close sister. Hard to say."

"Never a dull moment, is there. For now I'll trust in Floral, maybe she can turn it without any shots fired. And if she can't..."

"Hnn, hnn, hnn," Ariadne laughs, dryly. "Then there is much thread, to be spun."

[Dorni]

Flint's heart jumped into his throat at the sight of all that aether crashing onto Floral. He exhaled when she emerged unharmed. His rational mind told him he should have expected such - as a plant he should expect her to benefit even more from the vitality of Life-aspected aether than a human of her size would. A wave of it should invigorate her, within limits. An over-ripe melon would burst.

That was the worry. So Rapheal wasn't just a fount of Life, she could control it to a degree. She wasn't a wizard - the aether she'd drawn in and sent out hadn't been refined, or woven, or shaped - it was just a wave of Life. That didn't make it harmless. Far from it. Just the size alone meant Rapheal could cause real harm even if she didn't mean it. And if she did, ocean waves always wore away the cliff in the end.

However enormous Rapheal was though, she was still a cow. He'd never owned a cow, but he'd owned cats and dogs and those animals were far more attentive to scents than people. If he wanted to avoid spooking her, that seemed like the sensible route to appeal to. He slowly stepped forward but stopped a little out of reach. Or what he guessed was Rapheal's reach. He gently reached a hand out, palm down. It was an offer - not a demand, but an offer for Raphel to smell him. To allow the cow to get accustomed to his scent. He was introducing himself.

Going to routine Persuasion 20 again to keep team checking with Floral.

[Zelphas]

Hesitantly, Raphael leans her enormous head down towards Floral's hands, a surprisingly pink tongue reaching out to touch the nectar. Raphael brings her head up in surprise, her eyes rolling, stretching her neck to look at her own body. A few moments later, she calms again, though twitches race across her skin at irregular intervals. She moves slowly away from Helios as her grows closer, not running from him, but shrinking back from his outstretched hand (as much as a 15-foot ox can shrink).

At Floral's words, Raphael's eyes look over to her before dancing away again. She shakes herself slowly once, the air becoming filled with tangled vines and the moss thickening on the ground once more. Then, Raphael takes a slow, careful step in Floral's direction. It seems she will follow along. The glowing cow's eyes are rolling slightly in their sockets, bouncing away from Floral periodically and roaming from trunk to trunk, and twitches of muscle movement still play across her massive form.

Raphael is following Floral! She is very nervous, so sudden movements or sounds have a good chance of frightening her away. Here are some ideas for what to do next:

Lead Raphael far away: If you do this, I'd like you all to roll Persuasion, Perception, or Insight checks. Essentially, you would be soothing Raphael, keeping an eye out for anything that might spook her, and watching Raphael to see whether she is ready to bolt, respectively. Each Hero can pick one check to do. Roll that check five times. You can choose to double up on checks to do team checks, but that takes up your slot for rolling. Also, choose at least a general destination. If you fail any of the checks, something will happen then depending on the check failed.

Bind/Knock Out/Subdue Raphael: This would be a Deception or Stealth check, followed by a power meant to subdue Raphael with the minimum of pain. You may Power Stunt something for this if you wish. You will be able to treat Raphael as though she was an Object for this "Attack", so either don't roll Accuracy and take your DC or roll Accuracy and treat it as a critical hit. If she fails the check, she will suffer the effects; if she doesn't battle will begin.

Surprise Attack: Take a surprise round and unload on Raphael, hoping for the best. Obviously, this is a violent response, but it's on the table.

If you guys don't like any of these, then I'm open to suggestion for what you want to do next. We can either come up with rolls or run it with as few rolls as possible. Getting Raphael to calm down in the presence of strangers and follow you is already an achievement in and of itself.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Floral gave Raphael another gentle pat. She was skittish, but seemed willing to go along for the time being at least. Okay then. That was step one. As for step two, well...

"Guys," she said in a very gentle voice, "I think Raphael is ready to come with us. There's also a bird in that tree over there," she said, nodding towards the tree she smelled one of Watcher's robo-birds in. She was pretty sure that Raphael didn't actually understand human speech, but she elected to keep her words circumspect just in case.

Just kinda a little post to point out the Watcher bird to the others. Didn't want to jump right into making checks without confirming option 1b is what we want to go for.

[Dorni]

Helios would be lying if he said he wasn't a bit disappointed at seeing Rapheal shrink from him, but he accepted the cue and slowly backed away. "Ok. I'll coordinate with our avian friend and see what can be arranged."

He backed away to a safe distance and let Floral lead Rapheal a bit before he smoothly took to the sky and approached the pigeon. "Hello, Watcher? Are you there?"

[Ridai]

Nope actually has no desire to try and befriend Raphael, between her not liking Helios being evidence not to try, as well as cats and dogs never really getting along with Remy, thus dooming him to watching funny/adorable pictures and videos of said cats and dogs instead. "I, uh, I'll try and watch for... bad things then. Once I know where we're going."

And with that, he quietly blips out of existence once a target location is known.

Time for Perception!
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]

[Quellian-dyrae]

"This way," Lily said/olfactorily communicated/empathically sent to Raphael, leading...basically in the direction most opposite of their understanding of Manchineel's direction based on Watcher's previous scouting while still being kinda perpendicular to Raphael's original route. She'd stay close to Raphael as they travelled, hoping to keep her calm.

Persuasion: [roll0].
Persuasion: [roll1].

[Abracadangit]

Kal may not have had telepathy or super-strong-botanical-pheremone-based... whatever it was Floral had, but a lifetime of growing up in an argumentative family plus years of working in customer service gave her a pretty keen sense for someone else's apprehension, and a knack for calming things down. Granted, most of her experience was with people, not giant manifestations of life force, but as she watched the creature startle at snapping twigs and shrill birds, she figured it couldn't be too different. She kept an eye on Raphael's mood as they went, signaling to Floral if they needed to pause momentarily so the creature could take a breather to calm down.


Insight: [roll0]
Insight: [roll1]

[Zelphas]

Helios

"Managing to soothe Raphael into walking calmly with you... you all are truly heroes!" Watcher's voice sounds from behind Helios. Turning, he would find a different pigeon landing on a branch behind him, while the first pigeon launched into the air to follow after Raphael. "Sorry, that one's tailing Raphael, this one's roaming, so--nevermind. So? If she was willingly going along with you it would be different, but with Raphael being seemingly just an animal in intelligence she'll panic if I try to pick her up now. I have something that might help; single-use, you're in the forest, Manchineel isn't nearby, it shouldn't trace back to me. I'll get it--" The pigeon goes still for a moment, then swings back to you. "I'll get it to you fast, but you should go help your group. Raphael looks ready to bolt." The pigeon flies off, darting away back towards Forester's Bay proper.

Nope, Floral, and Ariadne

So... things could definitely be going worse.

Walking along with Raphael has been going well for a little while, with Floral's soothing scent and voice helping to calm the ox while Nope keeps watch for threats and Ariadne monitors Raphael herself. Then the group crosses some sort of boundary line, or something in Raphael's head short-circuits, and the ox gives out a low bellow of dismay, charging forward at an angle away from Floral. She only moves a few steps, and the group is able to rein her back in, but in the confusion no one sees the fox hiding in the undergrowth nearby. As they begin moving again, that fox bursts out of its hiding place and flees, a flash of red fur right in front of Raphael.

Helios returns to the group just in time to see Raphael balk, kicking up her forelegs and backing up slightly. She lowers her head, shaking her enormous horns back and forth, her hooves shuffling, obviously looking for somewhere to flee. If the group wants to overwhelm her with surprise, now would be the time; or perhaps she can be calmed just long enough for Watcher to deliver his "help".

So, if you want to take Option 2 from above, you will need to do so in your next action; remember that you can Power Stunt if you wish.

Alternatively, you can try to keep Raphael calm for a few more seconds until whatever Watcher is bringing arrives. If you do this, I'll need one Persuasion check and one Insight check. You can Team Check on this. you cannot Routine it. The DC is 25 for each check. If you fail, Initiative starts with Raphael going first. If you succeed, you get access to Watcher's "help", and can use it for an Option 2 attack.

[Ridai]

It feels like they barely began, when suddenly Raphael throws a fit. Invisi-Nope spins around, trying to see what he missed, already having this sinking feeling in his stomach that usually means "you effed up". Going over to try and help (reappearing in the process)... he then misses a fox. And that sets off Raphael further. Feeling himself deflate further, Nope just... just tries to maybe, somehow, figure out how to make Raphael not run away, or start a fight, or summon Manchineel or... whatever it is Raphael can do. He was about to apologize on reflex, but that might have upset Raphael further. Somehow. Maybe.

Team check for Insight [roll0]

[Quellian-dyrae]

...In retrospect, Lily felt she could have thought this plan through more thoroughly. She could cop to that. Mistakes were made.

With Raphael near panic, Lily stepped boldly in front of her. This...may not necessarily have been wise. Oh, sure, Lily was a superpowered giant flower, but Raphael was a superpowered giant ox. Typically when a flower stands in the way of a frightened ox, it doesn't go so well for the flower.

Even so.

She reached out to pet her soothingly. "Shhh...it's okay...it's okay. It's just a fox. It can't hurt you. You're okay." She tried to calm her down, half hoping the Watcher had some plan...and half getting ready to calm her by more aggressive means if the need arose.

Persuasion: [roll0] + potential Team Check.

[Dorni]

Helios spun at the sound of Rapheal spooking and rushed back to the group. At least at first, but he slowed down as much as he could stand before he arrived. It wouldn't do to burst through the trees at top speed and startle her worse.

"Easy girl," he cooed, floating towards the enormous steer. "Easy girl, nothing to be afraid of."

Persuasion to team check with Floral: [roll0]

[Abracadangit]

It didn't take super-senses to see that the operation had soured -- Kal knows she doesn't have much time.

"Not so terrible, if this plan does not work," Ariadne says, unbothered. "Do not shed tears for your enemies, save them for your friends."

"Why do you always have to be so AWFUL," Kal thinks back, perhaps a little more forceful than she intended. Ariadne promptly falls quiet, which isn't the worst thing in the world.

"Hush now," Kal says, in a soft, cooing voice, as she keeps her eyes glued to Raphael for a precious moment of calm, that maybe the team can seize on to act, even if only for a second.

Insight: [roll0]

[Zelphas]

Raphael's eyes are rolling, twitches are still moving up and down her body, her massive hooves are still shuffling from place to place... but she doesn't run. She calms, just slightly. It doesn't look like she plans to go anywhere, but she isn't attempting to flee, either. The situation is still clearly delicate; almost anything can break the spider's web of calm you've placed over the giant ox, sending her in flight or fight in moments.

Which is why it's fortunate that the shiny silver object falls from the sky in front of Ariadne, who is not in Raphael's line of sight, hitting the forest floor in complete silence due to the heavy moss carpeting the ground.

On the ground is a silvery cylinder, roughly the size of the palm of your hand. One one side is a bright green button. On the other side are inscribed the words: Press this side to the target, then hit the button. It'll do the rest.

Minor Stasis Inducer (+0/+12): Affliction (Entranced/Stunned & Disabled/Incapacitated, Progressive).

The next thing you do will trigger Raphael's fight or flight response. If you want to do Option 2 from above, now's the time! Of course, it's your choice whether or not to use Watcher's Device.

[Ridai]

Suddenly, a thing comes plummeting from the sky. Well. Watcher thing, right?

With Raphael on the verge of freaking out again and being as panicky as she is, something tells Nope whatever the thing does, it should be done... sneakily? Sneakily. Thus trying to put him feeling bad about having messed up to the side for now, he wordlessly gestures to Ariadne to pass the Watcher thing to him.

Once he does have the device and reads the inscription, he is fighting his jitters and just feeling so bad for Raphael as he tries to make his way to the giant ox. Gingerly make light steps on the moss without tripping. Press machine into Raphael. Push button. Hope things will go alright and this won't do bad things to anyone. Hopefully all this without messing up again. Oh boy.

Here we go.

Stealth [roll0]

Power Attacking for 2 with The Device for Affliction DC 29 (I think)
Attack check vs Raphael [roll1]

[Zelphas]

Nope takes the device from Ariadne and makes his way stealthily towards Raphael, his footsteps silent on the mossy carpeting. Pressing the silvery metal disc to Raphael's shoulder, he taps the green button. Instantly, pale blue light expands out of the edges of the disc where it touches Raphael's fur, expanding into a film of bluish radiance that overwhelms Raphael's green bioluminescence and seems to freeze the massive ox in a moment of time.

...For about a second, that is. The green glow of Raphael appears at her hooves and travels upwards in a wave, shattering the pale blue light of Watcher's attack into motes of blue-green light that hover in the air for a moment, then disappear. When the green light reaches the disc, it solidifies into the same thin greenish creepers that hang in the air all around the area, warping and tarnishing the silvery metal until the device itself crumbles into dust and disappears, taking the creepers along with it.

With a loud bellow of fear, Raphael rears up on her hind legs, stomping into the ground with earth-shaking force. The ground in front of her shudders upwards into eight distinct hummocks of moss, which split apart to reveal the round, teardrop-shaped pale green bodies of Saplings, unfurling from their hidden rest. They rise up on their squat, root-like legs in unison, their arm-like branches spreading wide to block the way between the danger and their lady. Each of their four eyes chooses a different hero to focus upon; the blue eye snaps to Ariadne, the brown eye to Helios, the grey eye to Nope, and the green eye to Floral, watching all of you at once. The blue-veined, dark green leaf at the top of each pointed head quivers.

Saplings are living creatures; therefore, they must eat. Their name and general shape suggests that Saplings "eat" like plants do, taking in nutrients from sun, soil, and water and converting that to their energy. The four of you are given a possible reason to dispute this general belief today, as the front of all eight Saplings split open to reveal a lopsided maw coated with thick strings of sap. The creatures of Manchineel let loose a bubbling growl, the oddly inorganic sound hissing through broken spurs of wood that could possibly pass for teeth.

For her part, Raphael wheels on her enormous hooves, lowers her massive head, and begins to charge... directly away from the group, heading for the trees on the other side of the small clearing.

Raphael

Free Action: Swap Ox of Helios Array to Call Protection.

Standard Action: Use Call Protection, summoning 8 Saplings.

Move Action: Shift to AM17.

Music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7ErJC9a0bI&ab_channel=TragicFX)

Map (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-Yl2DQDdLijHiPMDEJz3e-fgVfqJ9WL5wKCJjy8SJhc/edit#gid=0), once again.

As the battle begins, two quick notes:

Life's Wellspring: As long as Raphael is on the battlefield, her Saplings gain a measure of protection due to her overwhelming healing energy. Saplings do not fail Resistance Checks as Minions so long as Raphael is within 300 feet of them; instead, they take a -3 to all Resistance checks.

Flight, not Fight: Raphael is attempting to escape the battle, but her Teleportation only works if she is in contact with a tree that has at least a 10' diameter. It will take her two rounds to reach such a tree from where she is on the field right now.

All PCs are on turn.

[Ridai]

Nope tried. He really tried. And cared. So much. But things have not worked out.

Now Raphael tries to flee and there are Saplings. Aw man.

So Nope's shoulders sag as he looks rather dismayed, followed by trying to just... stop the fight. As unlikely as that is. Okay, start with one Sapling. Think through the row. Then Raphael. No blipping! Okay, maybe the Saplings, but not Raphael! No, let's be safe, no blipping! Just wearing out! Readyokaygo!

Sweat has already been on Nope's forehead when trying to get to Raphael, this situation isn't helping as he balls his fists and then open them to do his thing while trying to keep some clarity of purpose in order to not harm the poor creature. The question whether he should be sympathetic in this moment or not is pushed away for the moment.

Free Sad cat.

Free Switch to Second Guessing and Hit Points, Mass

Standard Attack all enemies with Remove Hit Points, Mass to tire them out. 240ft bendable line. Damage DC 25, Penetrating (Pierce Immunity), Multiattack, Crit 16+
Routining attacks vs the Saplings for 20
Attack vs Raphael [roll0]

[Quellian-dyrae]

As Raphael panicked, Lily didn't even sigh. Resolving this non-violently had always been something of a long-shot, and they had come close. It had been well worth the try.

But now it was time to get down to business.

A light flutter of Lily's wings propelled her into the air, over the saplings, and past Raphael. She was heading for a large tree; Lily didn't quite know why, but some instinct told her it was probably best not to let her reach it. Once again, the flower interposed herself before the oxen, presenting a barrier far too small and delicate to have any hope of halting Raphael's enormous momentum. Even if power could cancel power, the simple physics of the situation simply were not on her side.

Physics. Heh.

Lily raised her hands, and the scent she had given off when she had been communicating with Raphael intensified by several orders of magnitude in an instant. Before it had been gentle, soothing, calming.

It still was. Just thousands of times moreso. She reached out with one hand, to lay it gently right at the tip of Raphael's nose. Raphael's momentum would push her effortlessly along. The flower could not have physically obstructed the oxen if she wanted to.

But chemically, even a tiny, delicate flower could stop an enormous oxen cold.

"Enough. It is time for you to calm down!" Lily said, as the heady scent billowing from her skin crashed like a breaking wave down on Raphael's nose.

Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 5 points to Petal Wings, 10 points to Heady Scent, 10 points to Complex Scents, 10 points to Miasmic Scents, 10 points to Lingering Scents, 5 points to Overpowering Scent.

Move: Into AO17, like...10ish feet up? Right at Raphael's face-level, basically.

Standard: Attack Raphael with Flower Power, All Out Attack for 5, Power Attack for 5, at [roll0]. On a hit, Resistance DC 25+Multiattack vs. Cumulative, Secondary Effect Immobilized+Impaired/Stunned+Disabled/Incapacitated Affliction.

Extra Effort - Additional Standard Action: DO IT AGAIN at [roll1].

Current Status: Normal, Fatigued as of next turn, AoA -5.

[Dorni]

Helios spat a curse as Rapheal broke free of Watcher's device and fled. Seeing Rapheal up close had affirmed his earlier thoughts; that Machineel's servants were just as much her victims. Despite the phenomenal aura of life energy that she was emitting, Rapheal was still at heart an ordinary animal. In this case a frightened animal. He didn't want to imagine what Machineel could have made out of Feo.

Still, his sympathy didn't mean he could let Rapheal escape. Who knew when they'd get another chance like this. He flew after the ox just above the forest floor and clear of the vegetation, conjuring a blinding flare of fire to burn away the moss monsters and thickening vegetation alike before it became so thick as to bar the way.

With the way clear, he turned his attention back to Rapheal herself and started shaping the runes for another spell. Unlike his previous displays of fire, this spell was far less flashy. He'd never imagined trying to influence a creature this large when he'd created the spell, but if it took hold Rapheal would start to feel tired, exhausted, and sleepy as Helios' magic drained her life energy.

Move: To AU22
Standard: Cast AoA/PA 5 Solar Flare, centered at AH20. This will cover all remaining saplings plus Rapheal. On hit, DC 30/25 vs Damage and Affliction [Vulnerable / Defenseless].

Saplings: Routine attack 20
Rapheal: [roll0]

Extra Effort: Cast AoA/PA 5 Drain Vitality on Rapheal. Rolled 27 OOC, Crit (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?p=25418249&postcount=62) On hit DC 25 30 vs Affliction [Fatigued & Impaired / Stunned & Disabled / Incap]. This is Affliction is Cumulative and Progressive.

-5 AoA, Fatigued next turn

[Abracadangit]

As Kal watches her teammates handily dispatch Raphael, she spies a couple of saplings still standing. She clicks her tongue, and a second needle slides into her empty hand.

"Time to tie up the last loose ends." Kal immediately hears Ariadne's dry laughter in her mind. Hnn, hnn, hnn. Loose ends, like the thread. You must think you are very clever.

I didn't mean what I said before, about you being awful. It's just...

You do not have to explain yourself to me, Ariadne counters. This is a different age, the one you live in. Mercy is one of many luxuries afforded to you. Don't worry your little head, I know I am out of place.

Not all the time, Kal thinks back, as her needles glint coldly in the forest light, flicking left and right while red threads ominously form in the air around the saplings. Like now, for instance. I can always use your help when I'm doing this... sort of thing.

And I shall always offer it, engoní, Ariadne thinks back, just as the threads coil back from the saplings, like snakes waiting to strike.

For there is still much thread to be spun.

Switching Threadwork Conjurations to Dual Needle Weaving, dropping an AoA/PA +5 Thread Lash Cloud Area, centered on AD21. Routining the attack on the Saplings for 20.

[Zelphas]

The green forest Tuesdays for just a moment, and then four of the Saplings simply fall apart into twigs and leaves, while the remaining four stagger slightly due to Nope's deletion powers. Two more go down in a burst of Helios' fire, the twigs and leaves smoldering slightly from the after-effects. The final two are just turning to look towards Floral when red threads burst out of thin air, wrapping tightly around them and pulling tighter, tighter, until they burst into a shower of yellow-green leaves and are gone.

Raphael simply ignores Nope's blast, the wellspring of life within her wiping away any fatigue before it can even begin to manifest. The massive ox doesn't even register Floral at first, still pushing towards the trees nearby, but a few moments later the scent works its way into her nostrils and Raphael freezes in midstride, her entire frame shuddering with the conflict of her own panicked desire to flee and Floral's forced command to calm and stop. This leaves her in prime position to be blasted by Helios' fire; the moss on Raphael's back crackles and blackens, but the ox still does not fall. Then Helios strikes directly at Raphael's life energy. Perhaps the spell was perfectly crafted to deal with this sort of foe, or perhaps Helios simply struck at the right place and time by sheer coincidence, but the end result is the same: Raphael collapses, first to her knees, then to her stomach, a deep groan coming out of her before her head slumps to the ground. The forest, a moment before a burst of movement and activity, goes quiet and still once again.

A pulse of green light starts at Raphael's hooves and moves swiftly upwards, covering her body in a gentle flash. Once it is gone, the damage from Helios' fire is entirely gone; the massive ox, pouring out life energy even in slumber, still sleeps for the moment.

End of Raphael's Turn: Regeneration kicks in. Raphael heals 1 Bruise.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Well...dang.

Lily...look, Lily'd be honest, she had not expected that to go that well (especially considering how well the encounter with Raphael had been going up to that point, which was to say not at all). Truth was, while Lily resented people underestimating her new powers, it wasn't because she was super-confident in them and couldn't understand why others couldn't see how awesome they were. It was because the doubts hit too close to home. No matter how much science she threw at them, no matter how much further she took them than they could ever possibly have been meant to go, Lily was always painfully aware that at their core, they were still just some dinky little flower powers. In the back of her mind, faint but never silent, was always the lingering worry that this next enemy would be the one to reveal that all her tricks and science didn't amount to any real power at all, possibly by splattering her all over the ground.

But here was Raphael, one of the most powerful of Manchineel's minions, and Floral's "dinky little flower powers" had stopped her cold. And her team had not just finished her off, but taken out her Sapling defenders as easy as plucking a few weeds.

Lily's internal evaluation of the probabilities once again updated strongly in the direction of "we can actually do this".

Outwardly, of course, she didn't reveal anything about her (now smaller than they had been) doubts. As Floral, she simply fluttered down to the ground, her expression not even changing behind her veil of flowers, as if that had gone precisely as she had intended and expected rather than wildly exceeding her best hopes. "Uh, Watcher? We have one giant ox ready for...transport, or whatever." Presumably he'd still have a bird nearby. Meanwhile, she headed back over to regroup with the others, one hand raised to offer high-fives.

[Ridai]

The focusing did unravel a few Saplings, but Raphael just shrugged it off. Before Nope is even done with the reflexive raising of hands held like claws towards him, shaking with impotent frustration, Raphael just keels over (alive! Keels over alive!) due to the rest of the team. The rest of the Saplings is also done for post-haste.

So poor Nope just stands there, blinking, blinking again, very clearly and blatantly perplexed by his much more competent teammates and the extent of their competence. He weakly points two fingers to Raphael, then the others, then it's just chaos of switching between all of them until he weakly returns the high-five. He also remembers aces low, but he saw that in only one piece of media and immediately discards that as not fitting.

"That was, uh, wow." A beat. "I, uh, I think Raphael has too much mass for me to handle..." Nope sheepishly admits, hands just closing and opening, arms swinging a little, not sure what to do right now other than wait for what Watcher has to say.

[Dorni]

Helios let out a sigh of relief. That had almost gone poorly. Their plan had been touch and go for awhile, and Rapheal had bolted and nearly escaped at the end, but they'd done it. They'd even put her to sleep without hurting the undeserving ox too badly in the process. They still needed to get her to Watcher, but he could see the Life energy drained out of her. It was going to be a while before she woke up.

"One archangel down!" He shared a high-five with Lily.

He nodded acknowledgement to Nope and turned his attention back to the enormous ox. "Let me handle Rapheal" A series of wispy runes of another spell briefly appeared in front of him. There was a brief gust as the surrounding winds collected, which he then directed to Rapheal and gently lifted her off the ground. Turned out the ox was a lot heavier than he'd expected, but his spell was still up to the task. He readjusted the power until she was floating comfortably, then looked around for Watcher's pigeon. "Where do you want us to meet you?"

Using Strength 10 from Crossing the Sky to lift Rapheal.

[Abracadangit]

Kal flicks her needle to the left, and a floating hand made of red thread returns Floral's high five. "A job well done, but there is much thread yet to be spun," she says, stealing one of Ariadne's lines for her own.

They were lucky that Raphael was relatively peaceful; if only every enemy was effectively a giant mass of healing magic, she thinks to herself.

"That magic you wield," Kal says, gesturing to Helios' runes when they appear for a moment. "Where do you draw its power from?"

[Dorni]

"This? There is air all around us. Its simply a matter of willing it where to go and how to go about it." It was an accurate answer, but how could he succinctly describe the process of reaching out to the traces of aether in the air, collecting it together to form a mass of air, drawing out the traces of water in the air and then remixing them back into the aether to give the mass of air the property of surface tension making it hard to the touch yet retaining flexibility, then forming a wind on the other side to push the hardened air to give it force, all while keeping the structure of the spell balanced? He bore the girl no ill will, but to fully explain his magic would require starting at the fundamentals. Besides, he was supposed to be empowered by Helios and channeling the power of that god, not a wizard. He had to be careful how much he revealed around that spirit that was bound to her. He wasn't sure if he believed its story that it was the real Ariadne, but it was undeniable it was much stronger than many of the spirits the cult contacted.

"If you would entertain a question of mine, how did you meet the spirit that possesses you?"

[Zelphas]

Green energy has begun to build at Raphael's hooves once again just before Helios' spell fully takes form. He lifts the giant ox into the air, readying her for transport... and the green energy dissipates. Raphael continues to lay upon her new bed of air, unconscious, thoroughly... well, cowed.

As you lift Raphael into the air, the Life energy surrounding her changes subtly. It is still present. but it isn't nearly as active as before, which is probably a good sign.

There is a prolonged pause as you regroup and congratulate one another, and then a pigeon darts down out of the trees, landing on Raphael's slumbering head. "You're heroes, I keep saying this, I should know what that means, but you keep on surprising me!" Watcher's voice exclaims with glee, the pigeon hopping up and down along one of Raphael's long horns. "Let's see... hmm... Got it! abandoned gas station-slash-autobody shop at the end of town, big building with peeling white paint on the edge of the Industrial Block, almost due north of here. Lock's rusted almost completely away, big garage doors. That keeps Raphael away from the forest until I can get her here; I'm just putting together the finishing touches on the one-way teleport... though the way you all can move, you'll have Raphael there before I finish this sentence!" The voice chuckles to himself before trailing away ever so slightly. "Um, right. Get her there, and I'll take care of the rest! You're awesome!" The pigeon flies away.

A few days later...

It was a bizarre case, even for the bizarre world everyone in Forester's Bay has been living in for the past month. A half-dozen people from all ages and walks of life, all dressed in the red scaled robes that mark them as members of the Suneater Cult, all dead in a parking garage on the west side of the Main Drag. Even with everything that's been happening, there have been shockingly few outright deaths, so this comes as a surprise to most. Even more concerning is the shape of the bodies; four of the cultists look like they were torn apart by some sort of wild animal with large, long claws, while the last two are hunched over in positions of agony, with no external injuries except for blood coming out of their ears. The police have kept the rest quiet, but one thing is certain: nothing anyone's seen so far could make those precise types of injuries, and nothing except the six cultists (and a smudged chalk drawing impossible to make out) was found at the scene.

And that's the first mission fully complete! Everyone gets 3 Downtime actions before your next choice to Act or React.

For your valiant efforts to find a peaceful resolution to capturing Raphael, everyone may take a +5 bonus to the first Persuasion or Insight check they make in this Downtime.

[Zelphas]

Historical Insignificance

August 12, 2018.

Things had been quiet in Forester's Bay for a few days. After the discovery of whatever happened to the Suneaters, there seems to have been something of an unofficial lull in the actions of the League; the Chain Gang has been seen around less often and don't seem to be actively stealing, mugging, or otherwise making a mess, the Suneaters are as unpredictable as always, and Doctor Proxy's robots haven't been seen for almost a week. Most surprising to the four of you perhaps is the complete lack of response from Manchineel. After losing one of her Menagerie, the one in charge of spreading the forest, the League member repeatedly described as a "force of nature" has responded with... nothing. Even the Saplings seem to be dormant, with only a few furtive glimpses of them here and there, though Gabriel still patrols the edge of the Dome and Abel still wanders the forests to the north and west, it seems.

Remy is at the Forester's Bay Museum of Natural History when this small lull ends. He is looking for his sister, beginning with where she told him to go in her last message. As he prepares to leave after another day of searching, he sees several very familiar forms moving with spiderlike speed across the street towards the museum, following after a figure in dark chrome with a long scarlet cape. The last time Remy saw this suit, he was on the inside.

By the time Nope finds the rest of the group and gets all of you to the museum, the Proxysuit and its company of robots are already inside, and the overwhelming majority of museum visitors and staff have already fled. The movement of the Proxysuit and company is easy to follow; broken glass and missing exhibits dot the rooms. No exhibit is broken, but several glass fronts have either been cut cleanly by a small laser or simply broken by metal arms. The metallic group has ignored the exhibits on prehistory, biomes, and flora and fauna, traveling up the stairs and into the wing focused on human civilization. You catch up to them in a room titled "Development of Tools: Pre-Bronze to Iron Age".

The relatively smaller, spiderlike "Helper" robots swarm over several sections of the exhibit, warming up their laser cutters to break through the protective shielding and get to the artifacts held within. Taking up much more of the large room are two enormous versions of their smaller cousins. Instead of several segmented metallic legs, these "Movers" have four triangular wings jutting out from their flattened square center, each wing holding a turbine that whirs with a surprising lack of sound, keeping the whole contraption aloft. At each corner of the flattened metal square sprout two long, thick arms of dark chrome metal and black cabling; these sixteen arms (eight for each machine) are currently testing either side of a squat exhibit that houses a bronze smelting furnace and an iron smeltign furnace side by side to show the differences in the technology, as though preparing to lift the entire exhibit up and carry it away. In contrast to the Helpers, each of which already have a few museum pieces placed upon their central square dock, the Movers are both empty; you can easily see the numbers "889" etched into the center of their platforms.

Past the Movers and seemingly unaware of anything else in the room is the Proxysuit, though it is currently hidden from view of Nope and Ariadne. Helios and Floral can see a humanoid figure made entirely of dark chrome, lacking any distinguishing human features aside from its shape. The entire "suit" is seamless, flowing like liquid with each movement of the body underneath; even the faceplate is just a blank, flat plane of chrome metal, without eyes, nose, mouth, chin, or ears. The only bit of extra embellishment to this frank humanoid form is a long, flowing cape of deep, dark scarlet, which seems to be embedded in the suit at the shoulders and drapes down to the figure's heels. The Proxysuit has its faceless form turned towards the far wall, where a floor-to-ceiling display holds shards of pottery from before the Bronze Age housed within.

Map! (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12L2uTdMQ21pY3VJxbuPQM5sQNy5fNVyT015Xu3hOFP8/edit?usp=sharing)

Initiative

Floral: [roll0]
Ariadne: [roll1]
Helios: [roll2]
Nope: [roll3]

When a Proxysuit is in the room and functional, the 'bots all follow its lead, so the suit will roll Initiative for everyone.

Proxysuit (and bots): [roll4]

All Pcs except for Helios are up.

[Ridai]

You know what sucks? Not being able to actually teleport. Well, that isn't correct, he can kind of do that and it isn't a scifi teleport that raises all sorts of existential (dread) questions whether an identical copy is still the same and whether your existence ends as the one that disappears and ANYWAY moving his position is not the fastest he can go relative to realtime!

So not only does Remy lose some precious seconds having to get to a spot where he won't be seen by anyone and thus won't be noticed to just disappear, but he then spends subjective hours in zero time, trying to find the others and bringing them back. Nature has uniquely blessed Remy with the ability to care. Care that is not wont to decrease because of getting used to something. Thus it is hours of dreading something bad happening to innocent people while he is away, while trying to maintain a grip on removing personal time and travel time without causing havoc or getting someone stuck or bumping anyone into anything.

So he appears in front of Ariadne looking kind of stressed going "A Proxysuit and entourage appeared at a museum, please come with me!"
Then in front of Helios with Ariadne, looking jittery, going "Proxysuit and stuff at a museum, please come."
Then Floral, with Ariadne and Helios in tow, holding his head, going "Proxysuit, museum" and just kind of gesturing for her to agree to come with them.

The group of heroes and the indistinct form of Nope that somehow manages to look distinctly disheveled appear in the museum. Looking at his (burner) phone, Nope tries to remember how much realtime has passed while following the trail of burglary, relieved to see no victims. But man, Nora would be so unhappy about the burglary. Ouch, Nope just hurt himself thinking about Nora again.

"Okay so" Nope taking a deep breath, being very out of said breath. Did you know you don't need to breathe in zero time and that your body kind of stops trying to do that and you don't get tired but Nope still does because ouch concentration on Removal and trying not to erase general time and space? "someone's in the 'suit. Normal person. So don't crush or fry it or something. They've no control." There's just general trying to readjust to realtime and his headache. Headaches are the worst when he needs to fight.

When they do eventually reach the exhibition, Nope has mostly regained normal bodily status (headache still there), but seeing the Proxysuit causes all sort of his namesake normally reserved for his powers. You are not supposed to show fear in front of an enemy but dammit Nope does because bloody hell the Proxysuit scares him to no end! Which, in a way... helps! He wants the suit and the other Proxy minions to go away! So he very quickly tries to do so with all his might (and momentarily tightly shut eyes). But hurriedly has to amend but not the person in the suit! Not the person in the suit! Just the suit! The Proxysuit! Stop thinking about normal suits! With closed eyes, hunched, balled fists, and shaking all over his body, he tries to visualize all the bad Proxy things (minus the person in the Proxysuit) and how they disappear. Open hands, go.

He will need so much combat training to not leave himself massively open in situations like this. The shaking and sweating don't seem to stop.

Free Switch to Remove Second Guessing and Remove Hit Points, Mass

Move Forget I wanted to move Move to AB25.

Standard Attack all enemies with Remove Hit Points, Mass. Two 240' bendable lines via Multiattack. Damage DC 25, Ranged, Penetrating (Pierce Resistance), Multiattack (multitarget). AoA -5/+5, Crit 16+
Routining attacks vs Helpers for 25
Attack vs Helper 1 [roll0]
Attack vs Helper 1 [roll1]
Attack vs Proxysuit [roll2]

[Abracadangit]

While everything happening at the speed of Nope was quite a lot to process, Kal finally catches up and flicks one of her trademark needles into her hand. With Nope... er... "Noping" most of the smaller robots, it gives Kal a chance to focus on one of the larger mechs.

Red threads begin to materialize around the Mover, and a split-second later, Kal grabs a snarl of thread in her open hand and pulls.


Free Action -- Switching Threadwork Conjurations to Defensive Thread.
Snaring Strands on Mover 2, AoA for +3/-3.

Mover 2: [roll0]

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily...actually kinda appreciated Proxy targeting the museum, in a weird way. It was like, sure, it was still a robbery and that was wrong and all that. But there was at least a certain amount of coherence to it. I mean, I'm not saying it makes sense that the super-inventor from the future is going after archaic historical weapons. Let's not go crazy here. But like sure, Proxy's trying to change history and invents weapons, so something something historical something weapons...it at least rhymed with something that made sense. Or that had met something that made sense. It made at least a quarter as much sense as Nope's powers?

...Look, Lily's first experience with Proxy was when he sent some helpers to steal a couple perfectly normal teacups from a random china shop. We grade on a curve here, is what I'm saying.

Not important. Nope took out most of the Helpers, and Ariadne swiftly entangled one of the Movers in her threads. Seemed worth exploiting. Lily darted over to the Mover, and...

Well, I mean, to all appearances, she just kinda reached out to touch it. I mean, okay, it wasn't an entirely light touch. It was more of a gentle shoving motion. Which didn't seem like it should really do much coming from a five-foot-and-a-shrug, slightly-built woman who was pretty much exactly as strong as she looked, against a fifteen-foot monstrosity of metal and robotic arms.

But given her hand and, really, her entire forearm were currently sweating high-powered acid, a gentle shove was really all the physical exertion required to deal some potentially massive damage.

Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 10 points to Acidic Nectar, 10 points to Poisonous Nectar, 10 points to Drugged Nectar, 10 points to Lingering Acid, 10 points to Potent Acid. Variable Descriptor to [Energy] [Acid] for all effects.

Move: Into S29.

Standard: Attack Mover 2 with Flower Power, Power Attacking for 4, at [roll0]. On a hit, Resistance DC 29+Penetrating/24 vs. Secondary Effect Damage Linked Weaken Resistance and Effect Bonus. Gentle shoves not optimal attack modes for superheroic combat. You heard it here first.

Current Status: Normal.

[Zelphas]

Round 1

Time forgets something at home and reverses back to get it, and when it gets back it's forgotten that most of the Helpers were not piles of sparking scrap metal. Or Nope uses his powers to take down the majority of the Helpers, knock a few of the thinner struts loose from one of the Movers, and turn a section of the chrome arm of the Proxysuit into thin vapor that quickly dissipates. One of the two. One Helper continues to work at a display case without noticing the ruckus, and one Mover stands untouched by the chaos, multiple arms undulating steadily.

The already-injured Mover isn't fast enough to avoid the thread bursting out from Ariadne's weaving, finding itself ensnared in red webbing. Unfortunately, even when webbed, the second Mover is able to avoid Floral's "gentle shove", a swing of one long arm knocking her hand aside before any of the acid can find purchase to eat into its circuits.

"The excursion is a success." The voice coming out of the Proxysuit is older, female, with a slight accent that sounds like it might be Eastern European. It is also entirely monotone, flat, without human emotion. "One anomaly produces another. One wrinkle remains; which anomaly is the instigator?" One hand waves slightly towards the remaining Proxybots, sending them swinging into motion. The Mover entangled in red threading shifts it many arms of a long moment, struggling, before something snaps deep within it, a massive blue-black cable suddenly spiking out of the machine to slam into Ariadne. A moment later, the cable tightens, trying to pull Ariadne bodily across the room and into Floral. The untouched Mover is much more direct in its attack. It shifts carefully away from the replica forges, rotates to bring one massive corner to face towards Nope, and ignites its jets all at once, Barreling at the blurry hero and seeking to send him careening into Helios behind him.


The Proxysuit's faceless front watches the final Helper turn away from the display case it was working on and scuttle towards the right wall, then drifts towards Helios, its bloodred cape flowing as it moves. It halts itself near him. One hand lifts up perpendicular to the body, and a shiny black tube slides out of the liquid-like suit at its right wrist. Without looking in that direction, the Proxysuit fires at Floral, the black tube disgorging a lightning-fast burst of pure white light.

Mover 2

Move Action: Dazed, Immobile.

Standard Action: Use Cable Lash on Ariadne. [roll0] On a hit, Resistance DC 25/20/22 vs. Damage Linked Weaken Defense (Progressive) Linked Strength vs. being Launched into Floral. Hit
If Ariadne is Launched, Accuracy to hit Floral: [roll1] On a hit, Resistance DC 25 vs. Damage. If Launched, that's a Hit

End of turn: Resistance to Remove Progressive Affliction (DC 20): [roll2] Resists

Mover 1

Move Action: Shift (center) to AB23.

Standard Action: Use Ram on Nope. [roll3] On a hit, Resistance DC 29 31/24/22 vs. Penetrating (Pierce Resistance) Damage Linked Dazed & Impaired/Stunned & Disabled Linked Strength vs. being Launched into Helios. Hit; +2 Penetrating
If Nope is Launched, Accuracy to hit Helios: [roll4] On a hit, Resistance DC 29/24 vs. Damage Linked Dazed & Impaired/Stunned & Disabled. Miss

Helper

Move Action: Shift to AR18.

Standard Action: Use Laser Cutter on the glass display. Display Resistance (DC 21): [roll5] Tough glass. 1 Bruise; unbroken!

Proxysuit

Move Action: Shift to AC29.

Standard Action: Use Laser Blast on Floral. [roll6] On a hit, Resistance DC 29/24 + Multiattack (on both) vs. Damage Linked Weaken Resistance. both of these also have Secondary Effect. Hit, no Multiattack

[Ridai]

Upside: nothing that shouldn't have disappeared or broke did either of those!

Downside: there are still Proxybots, and the Proxysuit is still turbo nightmare fuel.

So after peeking out from his "stance" to check the results of his attack, he suddenly finds a Mover barreling towards him, faster than Nope can react, really. Well. Kind of? The gigantic thing slams into him, thrusters on full throttle and all, Nope jerks back... and everyone is treated to the sight of this Mover just... jetboosting in place? The heevie-jeevies are already going up and down Nope's back because a Proxysuit is here, but there's a not very funny second set joining in because he doesn't have time to check what his pseudo-reflexive defense did beyond momentarily remove kinetic energy and speed.

Instead, seeing how he basically has his nose pressed against a large rearranger of objects and potentially anatomy, Nope just forms one thought and that is BLIP!. Reality has momentary screentearing issues and hopefully the Mover is gone because in this case wishful thinking might actually help!

Free Switch to Remove Hit Points

Standard Attack Mover 1 with Remove Hit Points. DC 25/20/20 vs Damage 10, Linked Weaken Resistance 10, Linked Affliction 10 (Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless/Incapacitated). Crit 16+
Attack vs Mover 1 [roll0]

[Dorni]

"A successful excursion? I think you forget that you still need to escape with your gains," Helios shot back. He leapt backwards and hung in the air a few inches off the ground, sailing out of the immediate reach of the Proxybot. Scarlet runes winked in and out of existence around him as he conjured - to be matched with three blindingly brilliant fireballs erupting around the chrome proxybot and its oversized minions. Despite Nope and Floral being right up close with the Movers, in a mark of excellent control they felt no more heat than a warm summer breeze. Helios' technique might have improved since the battle with Rapheal.

Move: to AH30
Standard: Cast PA 2 Solar Flare centered at X28. Using Selective to restrict the AoE to the 2 Mover bots and the Proxybot. Definitely excluding the exhibits as well. On hit, DC 27/22 vs Damage and Affliction [Vulnerable / Defenseless]

Mover 1: [roll0] Nat 20, Crit
Mover 2: [roll1] Crit
Proxybot: [roll2]

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily raised her arms up crossed in an X before her catching the laser blast. It was hardly a perfect defense, and she got a second-degree burn on her right forearm for her trouble.

But that was about all she got, and one might notice that the shin around the burn had turned a vivid shade of green.

And Lily cracked up. The smell of poppies filled the air around her.

"Oh...oh you've got to be kidding me!" she said between giggles. "The photosynthesis? Really? It helps against...oh...wow." Another light breath of laughter and a shake of her head. "Okay. Credit where due. That one's legit useful."

"Let's try that again, shall we?" Lily said to the Mover, before lunging for it with both hands dripping with virulent acid, using the energy she had absorbed from the laser to power the acid up further.

Move: Dazed.

Standard: Attack Mover 2 with Flower Power, All Out Attack for 5, Power Attack for 4, at [roll0]. On a hit, Resistance DC 29+Penetrating/24 vs. Secondary Effect Damage Linked Weaken Resistance and Effect Bonus.

Extra Effort - Additional Standard Action: Unless it's somehow down, do it again at [roll1]. Spending a Hero Point to buy off the fatigue immediately, since fluff-wise she's fueling this with energy absorbed from the laser. However, if the first attack misses, then rather than using EE I'll just spend the HP rerolling, since that gives me better odds.

End of Turn: Recover 1 Resistance.

Current Status: 1 Bruise, AoA -5.

[Abracadangit]

A circular web of Kal's threads lift her up off the floor, and instantly disappear into nothing as soon as she's back on her feet. She feels bruised, but not broken -- the threads acted as a sort of cushion, softening the blow as she slammed into the nearby display case. It feels much less heroic when they send you flying, she thinks to herself, still a little dizzy from the impact.

"Are you alright, engoní?" Ariadne asks, concerned.

"I'll live," Kal thinks back, trying to sound tough. "I've been hit before, but not... like that. If I didn't have the threads to protect me..."

"But you do," Ariadne counters. "They will strike at you with claws, and clubs, and other wicked splinters of violence. Fear them not. Do you remember the Pattern of Protection, from four days ago?"

"I don't know that I'm ready. What if it doesn't work as it should?"

"Then it is better you discover it now, than against a deadlier foe, hm?"

Kal couldn't argue with that logic. She runs over to a spot between Floral and Nope, slips a second needle into her open hand, and begins to work. Beautiful, elaborate displays of red fabric flow into the air, encasing herself, Floral, and Nope in woven barricades that will stretch and contort around their movements.

Free Actions: Getting up with Instant Up advantage, switching Threadwork Conjurations array to Dual Needle Weaving.
Move: Moving to W27.
Action: Using Silken Shields, Deflect Effect 10; Burst Area, Selective. Linked to Create 10; Selective, Reduced Range [Close]. With Dual Needle Weaving: Add Reflect, Redirect. Catching Ariadne herself, Floral, and Nope in the Area of both the Deflect and the Created Shape, plus the Created Shape should be under Deflect as well (if I'm understanding this correctly).

Status: 1 Bruise.

[Zelphas]

Round 2

Fortunately for Nope, whatever he accidentally did to the Mover that barreled at him before completely stops its momentum. Unfortunately, whatever happened actually turns the mass of cabling and metal into a non-object, antithetical to the laws of reality. Space and time begins to bubble and tear, ripping and clawing at this non-thing that also tries to exert its existing nonexistence to a world that refuses to believe in it.

Then Nope BLIPs it away, returning the completely untouched Mover to its original realness and regular position. So... that's probably a good thing, in the long run, though the still-functional Mover is a bit of a concern.

The Proxysuit engages whatever thrusters are hidden within its form, shifting silently to one side and avoiding Helios' massive blast of fire. The other two fireballs engulf the Movers... and then die, with the two hulking machines remaining entirely untouched. "As one of the villains of your era has said: 'My goals are beyond your understanding,'" the flat voice from the Proxysuit intones, its form still turned towards Helios. "Grandiose, arrogant, overly pompous... for the moment, a correct assessment."

Floral, darting at the Mover in front of her once again, manages to catch it with her acid-sweating hands in a crucial juncture between two of its arms. The acid seeps in and eats a hole straight through the machinery, the chemical runoff of acid and metal dropping to the floor to eat through it as well and into the museum below. Hopefully no exhibits are directly underneath where they are standing. The Mover goes into robotic spasms at the extend of the damage, flailing wildly with its cables at Floral. Even as it does so, Ariadne's threadwork builds up a defense between herself, Floral, Nope, and those around them, causing the lash to whip at the threadwork wall instead of Floral herself. Although Ariadne's threads can guard Floral against the attack of the cable, they can do nothing for the white light which struck her before, which suddenly flares to life again in a burning wave over the flower hero.

One hand comes up on the Proxysuit, and the fully functional Mover shifts away from Nope, maneuvering towards Helios. Cables and arms fly outwards, seeking to lash at the sun-themed hero and bind him in place. The Proxysuit lifts up its right arm, pointing it at Helios: a blast of crawling black energy fountains outwards, leaping towards him.

At the east wall, you hear the sound of shattering glass.

Mover 2

Move Action: Staggered.

Standard Action: Use Cable Lash on the thread wall around Floral, All-Out Power Attacking for 5. [roll0] vs. [roll1] (minimum 20 for Deflect) on a hit, thread wall Resistance: [roll2] vs. DC 23 Damage. Redirected; Ariadne, this attack has a 30 foot range.

Mover 1

Move Action: Shift around the Iron Age Farming Tools display, ending up at AJ30.

Free Action: Swap to Cable Lash.

Standard Action: Use Cable Lash on Helios. [roll3] Criton a hit, Resistance DC 25/20/30/25/27 vs. Damage Linked Weaken Defense (Progressive) Linked Strength to Grab. Movers have Improved Hold, so if you are grabbed, attempts to escape will be made at a -5 penalty.

Helper

Move Action: None.

Standard Action: Use Laser Cutter on the glass display. Display Resistance (DC 21/16): [roll4] Destroyed

Proxysuit

Move Action: Nah.

Free Action: Swap to Crippling Blast.

Standard Action: Use Crippling Blast on Helios. [roll5] On a hit, Resistance DC 31/26 + Multiattack (on both) vs. Damage Linked Impaired & Vulnerable/Disabled & Defenseless. The Damage has Secondary Effect; the Affliction has Progressive. Hit; no multiattack.

End of Turn: Secondary Effect Triggers. Floral, I need a Resistance DC 29/24 vs. Damage & Weaken Resistance. This has the [Light] descriptor.

[Ridai]

Nope blinks and wonders what just happened, quickly followed by a creeping feeling that he just fixed something very bad that was in the process of making things worse... but he also hasn't really made the bad things go away. And now the world is red cables- no, correction, thread! Much better than murdercables. Much better.

So with the Proxysuit still being extremely hella creepy, glass shattering, and Nope trying not to get himself tangled up in the thread, he squints through the wooly wall, trying to make out the various bots. Think through, make them go away (except the person in the Proxysuit!), but no deleting the threads!

Nope has no idea how the others are able to banter, laugh, and be competent while fighting. He tried that once and it came out incredibly lame and removed the colors from some Chaingangers' clothes instead of anything useful.

Free Switch back to Hit Points, Mass

Standard Attack all enemies with Remove Hit Points, Mass. Damage DC 25, Ranged, Penetrating (Pierce Immunity), Multiattack (single target). Crit 16+
Routine vs Helper for 20
Attack vs Mover 1 [roll0]
Attack vs Mover 2 [roll1] Natural 20, Crit!
Attack vs Proxysuit [roll2]

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily grinned and gave Ariadne an appreciative wave as she shielded them with her barrier of threads. Unfortunately, Helios had been out of range, and resultantly came under heavy fire. Lily winced as the sun mage took some hard hits.

But courtesy of Nope it was now four to two. Lily pointed one hand in the general direction of her allies, a vine extending out from her palm and winding its way around to all of them, a couple dozen golden hued and actually just slightly glowing berries growing from the vines as they reached each of her teammates' positions (and another bunch growing out from her hand.

The berries began to grow brighter, and brighter, and then suddenly burst into golden nectar that would soothe their injuries and cleanse their ailments.

Free: Reconfigure flower power. 20 points to Healing Nectar, 10 points to Medicinal Nectar, 10 points to Solar Nectar, 10 points to Floral Vines (applied to Healing with Dynamic Choices).

Move: Nah.

Standard: Healing Nectar on all allies, though Nope is uninjured so doesn't get any benefit. Persistent Restorative Healing.

Lily: [roll0]. 8/10 RP
Ariadne: [roll1]. 7/10 RP
Helios: [roll2]. 12+5 RP; removes one condition, 7/10 RP towards removing a second

Extra Effort - Additional Standard Action: Do it again, rolled OOC.

Current Status: Normal, Fatigued as of next turn.

[Abracadangit]

"Helios!!" Kal cries out, as she watches the fight unfold. Is it her fault, for not being able to cover him? She silently reflects that perhaps her pattern of protection isn't so useful if it leaves a solitary teammate unshielded -- then they become the natural target for any would-be aggressors.

She doesn't know quite what to make of Floral's botanical conjurations, but the nectar certainly feels refreshing. She bows to Floral slightly in gratitude, as her bruised legs feel much more sprightly, all of a sudden -- healing powers, on top of everything else! Kal wishes her abilities were so versatile.

"In time. And look -- the book wizard is fine," Ariadne points out, dryly.

Not bothering to respond, Kal focuses on both the Mover and the Proxysuit at once, and hundreds of red threads begin to form in the air around them, spiraling and spinning together into ropes and cords.

Action: AoA +3/-3 Snaring Strands, centered on square AF29, with Cloud Area (15 ft. radius) it should hit both the Proxysuit and the Mover, and with Selective from Dual Needle Weaving, Helios doesn't have to worry.
[roll0]

[Dorni]

Surrounded by the Proxybot and its Helper, Helios crossed his arms defensively and his warding runes flared to life. The Proxybot's black bolt hammered those runes and they wavered - for a instant it looked like they might give, but instead it was the black bolt that shattered. But despite the effort the wards couldn't fully contain the energy and black shards leaked through, drawing blood and a pained gasp from Helios.

That was when the Helperbot slammed into the sun god from behind. Already badly tested by the Proxybot, his wards flared wildly under the hammering arms and cables. It seemed like they were about to give again, but Ariadene's threads enveloped the robot and gave Helios the opening he needed to whirl away from the attack. He willed more power into his wards and while they steadied, they shone less brightly. They'd taken a beating, but they'd held, and the nectar Floral offered healed the worst of his wounds.

Helios himself glared at the Proxybot, then snapped his fingers at the ensnared Helperbot - which erupted in golden flames.


Move:
Standard: Finishing Attack Mover 2 with PA 5 Combust. [roll0]. Crit. Nat 20. On hit, DC 30+Pen/25+Pen vs Damage (Pen) & Weaken [Resistance] (Pen) &
Affliction [Impaired/Disabled] (Cumulative)

[Zelphas]

Nope thinks about making the Proxybots go away--and with a whoosh of displaced air, the last standing Helper and the heavily-damaged Mover do just that; simply vanishing without a trace. The other Mover loses about an eight of an inch of its metal plating, causing some minor damage but otherwise leaving it functional. The Proxysuit tilts its head, rotating so that its faceless front is turned towards Nope. "That is... familiar." Under the flat, unemotional delivery, there is the barest hint of interest.

Floral's berries work wonders for her companions and herself, removing almost all of their bruises and abrasions. Ariadne reaches out with her threads, snaring the other Mover in tightly-wound cords of spectral energy-matter, but the Proxysuit simply slips between the questing red thread with liquid grace, escaping essentially untouched. Helios' golden fire races over the entrapped Mover with an almost musical chorus of rushing fire; the metal contraption comes alight as though it were oil-soaked wood, the Mover simply unable to move before it vanishes in the conflagration entirely.

For a moment, the room settles, and you all can hear approaching police sirens. Hidden until this moment by the sounds of battle, the sirens are now very close.

"There is no further purpose for this altercation," the Proxysuit states, trailing thin red threads that slowly move to attempt binding it once more. "Congratulations are in order, Floral, Helios, Ariadne... Nope. Both of our primary objectives were completed. An equitable trade. We shall meet again." The black, crawling energy flares over Helios once again, a final burst of pain.

With that, the Proxysuit begins to boil, the cape furling upwards to capture the rising black smoke in an orb of crimson with a single, black point in its center. Moments later, the suit has evaporated entirely; a woman in her mid to late fifties with olive skin and curly brown hair, dressed in slightly stained hospital scrubs, hangs in the air for a moment, posed in the same way that the Proxysuit floated just moments before. Her eyes, staring sightlessly before her, roll up into her head, and she crumples, falling the last foot or so into the floor.

The sirens still wail, but underneath them you can hear doors slamming and shouted orders near the front of the museum. Floral recognizes at least one of the female voices.

Proxysuit

Full-round action: Self-destruct.

Congratulations; battle is over!

Helios, it probably doesn't effect much unless you want it to, but you do have a DC 31 Resistance check vs. Damage to roll against from the Secondary Effect of the Proxysuit's attack.

Everyone gets 3 Downtime Actions before your next choice to Act or React.

Since you spoke with the Proxysuit directly here, Downtime Actions regarding Doctor Proxy get a +5 bonus for this session of Downtimes.

[Ridai]

Covered in thread and nectar and his own sweat, Nope just stands there for a moment, shaking. It takes some time for him to snap out of whatever state he was in, prompted by things that need to get done, checking on the woman who was in the Proxysuit. Not that he can really tell much other than that she is alive. But he is still shaking.

"A-are you h-hurt? D-do you w-w-want to get out of, out of here?" Nope asks the others.

----------------

Whether or not the others are still there, Nope looks to the lady who was in the proxysuit. He very carefully moves her limbs into a more comfortable (and perhaps dignified) position, so she does not simply lie crumpled on the floor. After, he scoots away two or three meters, sitting on the floor, legs crossed, hunched forward with his elbows on his legs. The tremor in his hands isn't going away. It won't be long before the police will arrive in this room. Nope feels he should probably just leave, that he will probably make things worse for himself, maybe others, if he stays. Nothing is going to happen to that lady in this short moment. She probably won't remember any of the time in the proxysuit. Nothing too bad, in the grand scheme of things, was done during her time in the proxysuit.

But Nope isn't moving, he sits there, waiting for the police. This lady was in a proxysuit. Now she is here, lying on the ground like a discarded puppet. Leaving doesn't feel good. Damn hands won't stop shaking.

Once the police arrives, Nope also feels tension, a lot of it. Knowing something about guns is one thing, he knows a few people who are into that sort of thing. But he just doesn't want to be anywhere near actual ones, especially not pointed remotely at him. Clenching his hands when he will likely get yelled at to put up his hands where they can see them and the like. Anything he will do probably will somehow make things worse. So he tells them: "Th-this lady was in a proxysuit. I think she is unharmed. Physically. P-probably won't remember the time in the suit. She wasn't controlling anything. She was hypnotized in there. Puppeteered by Doctor Proxy. I don't know who she is or where she was kidnapped from. Please take her back, get her medical attention. Sorry for... sorry. I'll try to... clean the damage up now..."

If, for some reason he highly doubts, the police just lets him, he goes and tries to remove the damage done. He has been here often enough to know what things are supposed to look like, though he probably paid more attention to everything after Nora disappeared. If they try to stop him, through his indistinct features slipping from people's minds, he looks kind of nervous, kind of sad, apologizes once more, and just disappears, removing his presence before going about removing the damage in that state. Taking his time. Wants to do this right.

[Quellian-dyrae]

The Proxysuit vanished, leaving behind nothing but questions.

...Well, questions and a formerly-possessed woman.

...And a bunch of scrapped robots.

Plus a mess. Okay, you know what, fine, the Proxysuit left behind plenty. But primarily, for Lily's purposes anyway, questions. As best she could tell, the Proxysuit hadn't taken anything with it. All the other robots were down. So if Proxy deemed their (her? Lily was certain that the words coming from the Proxysuit had been Proxy's own, but she wasn't sure about the voice. In movies and on TV when someone was possessed their voice sometimes sounded like the possessor's, but Lily had no idea whether that conceit would translate to real life) primary goal completed, it likely didn't involve a physical theft. That might also explain why Proxy deemed their own primary objective completed, if their interference had indeed prevented them from getting whatever they had (secondarily?) come here to steal.

(Strictly speaking, Lily would have considered stopping the theft a secondary objective to making sure nobody was harmed and rescuing the victim who was being forced to pilot the Proxysuit, but given that nobody appeared to be in physical danger and Proxy had released the victim regardless, she supposed in terms of goals that required their intervention to achieve, stopping Proxy from stealing something ended up more-or-less at the top of the list. Assuming her assessment of Proxy's assessment of their goals was accurate.)

They had been talking about anomalies triggering each other. So...it was an experiment of some kind. An anomaly...might have been a change in the timeline, maybe? Or something else? As best Lily could tell, the only real change between their arrival and Proxy declaring victory was their initial attacks against the other robots.

And while Lily was still very, very unclear about how Nope's powers worked, if you said Helios is to spells as Nope is to blank, "anomalies" would have definitely made Lily's short list for filling in the blank.

She turned to him to ask if he might have any thoughts on the matter, and saw him sitting on the ground, hands trembling, looking at the woman who had been possessed.

That could wait.

She walked over and briefly laid a hand on his shoulder, before starting to walk around the room, sniffing about for anything...anomalous. She heard the sirens, and the shouts of the police, including the voice of one person in particular that part of her would just as soon avoid a confrontation (she knew better than to pretend it would merely be an "encounter") with. But the fact was that the police weren't going to be the ones who solved the problem of the League of the Future. Lily wasn't going to just scamper off when there might be something to find.

...Okay, and maybe Proxy saying they had achieved their primary objective, congratulating them on the same, and just up and leaving when they had just wiped out their minions and clearly had them on the ropes had kinda offended her pride and left her in a bit of a confrontational mood. Just a little bit.

Turning on the full senses suite (for our purposes what probably matters is the Analytical Olfactory Senses and Detect Biological) and sniffing around to see if there's anything interesting. Perception: [roll0].

...Although I suppose this does also mean I'm on Detect Emotions when the police arrive. Total coincidence of course. I guess technically I'm Routining Insight for 25. By coincidence.

[Abracadangit]

Kal doesn't like the sound of the Proxysuit -- its "objective had been completed"? She thought the whole idea of them showing up was to foil Doctor Proxy's plan, but then it seemed like they got what they wanted anyway. She begins to get the feeling that there wouldn't be many clean victories, in the battles to come; there were ulterior motives aplenty, and with alternate timelines making everything more complicated, it felt as though any action whatsoever was playing into at least someone's hands.

And to top it all off, she'd been punched across a room by a robot. It bruised her ego more sorely than her frame -- something about the whole "Ariadne" mystique didn't hold up when she was being swatted like a fly. What was the point of the threads protecting her if some supervillain henchman could send her sailing anyway?

"You are thinking about this the wrong way," Ariadne chimes in. "Were it not for the threads you spin, then you may very well have not survived, or kept all your pretty little bones in the right places."

"You're right," Kal thinks back, in rare agreement. "I suppose everyone else makes this look easy, is the thing."

"My favorite book wizard weathered quite the attack," Ariadne counters. "And he survived it, and your friends helped him, and now look at him, back on his book wizard feet. There's one lesson he CAN teach you."

"But no magic lessons?" Kal teases.

"Hmph," Ariadne harrumphs. "Not today."

Suddenly the police are there, asking questions and investigating, as they do. Seeing Nope speak with them, Ariadne decides to answer their questions along with him -- he seems very nervous by himself, and she wants to do anything she can to support her newfound friends.

[Dorni]

Helios frowned at the Proxysuit's final words. It had accomplished its primary objective? What did it mean by that? Had the robots stolen whatever it was they were after before they'd arrived? Or...

Helios shook his head and invoked a healing spell.

"I think not," he answered Nope while the last of his injuries disappeared. "We shouldn't run away just yet. I'd also appreciate if you could hold off on repairing the damage they caused. We still need to find out what it was that Proxy was trying to take, and I suppose now is as good a time as any to make introductions to the police."

He starts approaching the unconscious woman, but seeing both Floral and Nope at her side he held back. Lily's healing nectar was potent; she had the situation in hand. Instead he takes few steps towards the approaching police.

Will be using Heal/Lifeshell to heal remaining wounds. Whenever its appropriate I'll be Routining a Persuasion 25 to make initial impressions with the police.

[Zelphas]

There is nothing that pings your smell in this area; while the textiles were made from various grasses and there are traces of wood matter from decayed handles to the bronze and iron tools, these don't seem to connect with whatever Doctor Proxy is doing.

As you look around, you do come to where the last Helper was disappeared. It had broken the display glass in front of several shards of pottery; the largest is three-quarters of a vase from the Fertile Crescent region circa 800 BC, while the smallest is an irregular lump of clay theorized to be a crude idol recovered from a dig in Turkmenistan, dated to 1200 BC or earlier.

It takes a short while for the police to reach where you are; from what you can hear, they are sweeping and clearing each room as they pass through, moving with a mixture of haste and care. Eventually, however, they make it to the display room where the four of you remain with the unconscious woman (no visible wounds or distress; she seems to be sleeping at the moment). After a moment of shocked surprise, the four uniformed officers have their weapons ready with shouts to put your hands where you can see them, down on the ground, one calling for backup, the works. "Wait, isn't that... the Flower-Girl?" "The threads--some Bronze Links we picked up in the Main Drag said something-- "That one--he's fought the creepy Apophis guy, the one with the magic--I mean--"

Even with the slow recognition from the officers, it takes a several minutes of explanations and back and forth for the (eventually twelve) officers to realize a few things: you aren't in league with the League, you aren't planning to harm anyone, and you are at most only slightly concerned about the guns that they have trained on you.

The twelfth officer to enter the room is in SWAT gear without the helmet, her gun already holstered when she arrives. Fury clouds her dark green eyes, so intense that you can almost see it running through her cherry-blond hair on end. She instantly breaks the unofficial line between the police and the four of you, marching towards Floral like she's planning to deliver Judgment itself down upon her.

"Everyone settle." The last person to enter (bringing the police involved to thirteen) is a man of short stature and stocky build, with grey close-cropped hair, grey eyes, and even a greyish cast to his skin, seeming to blend into his black uniform. Even with this, his voice cracks across the general confusion, silencing the officers immediately. Even the woman marching towards Floral stops in her tracks. "You," the man points to Nope, the light glinting for a second off of the badge on his chest reading Naples, "Stop tampering with evidence. This city may be in chaos, but this is a crime scene. Woods, Brandis, check on the victim, make sure she's stable."

"Sir--" the woman--Woods--began, her eyes never leaving Floral.

"That isn't a request, Woods." The answer hangs in the air for a moment, before Woods gives Floral a look very nearly promising violence later and turns towards the unconscious former occupant of the Proxysuit. Naples continues giving orders to the other officers, sending some to check artifacts, others to cordon off the pieces of the Proxybots, and other duties, seeming to almost ignore the four of you. Finally, he turns to Helios, who has been handling the negotiation with the police for the most part.

"Sergeant Naples," the man states bluntly, looking at each of you in turn. "Arresting you is pointless, but I'm not handing out commendations either; you're civilians, and vigilantism is still being debated in the SC. You could have left before we got here. The fact you didn't means you want something. Mind getting to that, so I can tell you it's above my paygrade and get back to dealing with the mountain of paperwork this is going to be?" His tone is bluff, almost bored, but his eyes are clear.

The officers have a decent range of emotions. Fear is right there, as is anger, but mixed in is everything from annoyance at these upstarts to childlike glee at "real superheroes" in front of them, though they keep the glee fairly masked.

Hannah is pure rage, so much that you almost miss the worry and relief that twine behind the rage and give them their force.

Sergeant Naples is a brick wall; you don't read anything from him, which is something to note in and of itself. Perhaps he's been on the job so long he knows how to hide his emotions away from even uncommon detection.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily's nose picked up little regarding the scene. The police were a somewhat different matter. She smiled a little at the scent of glee coming from a few of them, though they hid it outwardly.

The smile disappeared when one of them called her Flower Girl.

As Hannah started stalking her way, she turned to face her squarely. If anyone was close enough to Lily that they'd have been able to smell a normal perfume, they'd have caught the sudden scent of freshly baked bread wafting up into the air. Hannah hadn't even said anything, but it didn't matter. Just the scent of her anger immediately put Lily back into the frame of mind of their last shouting match, and her own anger rose up in response, without some much as a word being spoken between them.

Sergeant Naples, fortunately, interceded before the two sisters could do their best impression of throwing water on an oil fire. A petulant part of Lily kinda wanted to give a cheeky smile and wave at her, or something, but she resisted the impulse. She wasn't going to bet on being able to maintain professional decorum under verbal assault from her sister, but she at least wouldn't be the first one to break professionalism.

...Well, hopefully she wouldn't. She wasn't going to right this second, anyway.

Stupid that she's mad at me anyway. What does she think would have happened if her team had been here instead of mine. Thirteen cops against the Proxysuit. I took that laser blast and freaking absorbed most of it. If it had been her, what would she have done. Gotten a hole burned through her chest and died, probably. That's what!

(The freshly baked bread miiiiight have maybe actually smelled more like a freshly baked cinnamon bun.)

With Hannah following orders. Lily turned back to the scene. She didn't touch anything, but she considered the pottery. The Proxysuit had been eyeing this display case in particular when they entered, she recalled.

Pottery. Pre-Bronze-Age pottery. What could that mean. An anomaly...a temporal anomaly, she had hypothesized. A...change to history, of some kind? But on pottery?

Lily considered. She read over whatever plaque or whatever there might have been explaining the provenance of the pieces, going back over what she knew of pre-Bronze Age crafts and tools. Did anything here seem anomalous somehow...?

Long shot Expertise (History) to try to see if anything seems historically anomalous about these pieces: [roll0].

It was a long shot, and Lily knew it was a long shot. But follow the theory. Say the Proxybot is here looking for evidence of alterations to the timeline. There were other broken display cases leading to this room, but nothing taken. Why break the display cases if not to take anything? They were made of glass. Glass didn't block normal visual light, but certain types of glass could block certain wavelengths of energy, like glasses or windows that were shielded against ultraviolet light. Some sort of futuretech scanner relying on energies outside of the visual range would not have given any visual display, and could reasonably be obstructed by a barrier of solid glass. But what would it be scanning for?

The obvious answer would have been some sort of trace biological evidence that might have indicated a person from a modern timeline, but that was implausible. For one, her sense of smell should have detected it too. For another, these artifacts would have been handled by modern humans anyway, in digging them up and preparing them for the exhibit and so on.

What Nope - Remy - had revealed previously came back to her. His sister had worked her, at the Museum of Natural History. She had disappeared here. An anomaly. Alterations to history. A woman disappears...trapped in the past...but a woman who works at a history museum, who might be expected to know something about how things worked in the past...but also have knowledge of modern technology and methods...

Lily suddenly turned to Sergeant Naples. "Proxy was examining the artifacts in that case, but didn't seem interested in taking them. I'm not sure, but it looked like they might have been...scanning them, or something, maybe?" Lily had to resist the urge to grit her teeth. Having to maintain a secret identity was frustrating. She couldn't appear too knowledgeable, least of all to the police, who might know more about her civilian identity due to familiarity with Hannah. Which meant that rather than just telling them the practical course of action, she had to present things so they came to the correct conclusions on their own.

"I don't know if there's some way you can do some, like, cop show forensic shenanigans or something and find whatever they might have been looking for?" she said with enough uncertainty to make it sound more like a question than anything, along with a kinda awkward laugh.

Hopefully at the very least it would make them seem more helpful. But that wasn't her objective. She needed to get those shards into a lab, where she could examine them for evidence that one of them might have been produced using some sort of modern methodology (or whatever else Proxy may have been interested in them for; it was a decent hypothesis but she couldn't rule anything out). Lily was sure whoever the FBPD had doing forensic stuff was, you know, fine. Objectively decent. But whoever they were, they weren't her. She knew it...and Hannah knew it. And maybe, just maybe - because she definitely couldn't rely on Hannah here, although she supposed all else being equal Hannah might prefer to have her puttering away in a crime lab examining pottery than out fighting supercriminals - some of Hannah's fellow cops knew it well enough that when their forensic analyst inevitably failed to find anything, they might call in Detective Woods's genius biochemist sister for a consult.

Maybe. Possibly. Couldn't know until you tried.

As one possible option for mechanically shoring this up...Lily has the Connected advantage. Could I maybe use it kinda in reverse? To prompt the cops to call in a favor from Lily? If that's possible at all, [roll1].

Either way let me know if I need or could use any other social checks to sell these shenanigans.

[Ridai]

Oh. Good. No fixing the damage, huh? What this means in practicality is that he will need to check back every now and then to see when this is no longer a crime scene and just fixing it then. Nope really doesn't feel like arguing. He doesn't like arguing very much, especially not with guns having been pointed at him not too long ago.

"Just stuck around to make sure nothing happened to her," Nope tells the Sergeant who is in the process of being an ass. If Nope has not had the chance to tell them she was in a proxysuit, he does so. And then it's just, kinda... waiting for the others to want to get out of here?

[Abracadangit]

"My purpose in staying here was to inform you of what my colleague has spoken. and to introduce myself." With some threads and some quick darts of her needle, she begins the work of picking the rubble off of the floor and softly carrying it off to the side, where threads deposit it against the walls.

"I am Ariadne, and know that I fight for the city of Forester's Bay." She bows slightly, reinforcing the idea that she is here to help, not grandstand for photos.

After assisting with some of the cleanup, Kal takes a look at some of the artifacts that Proxy had been interested in, and then decides to do a quick once-over of the rest of the surrounding area, with her threadwork sense. She imagines a network of phantom threads reaching out of her soul, crisscrossing through everywhere in the museum nearby. Then as she closes her eyes, another eye opens.

If any of the artifacts have any mythical motifs, she'll routine General/Egyptian/Greek mythology to learn anything useful. Gonna pop Threadwork Sense and Remote look around, see if there's anything else in the surrounding areas worth noticing or giving off any kind of magical energy.

[Dorni]

Helios held off a moment, not sure why the one policewoman seemed to have it out for Floral. Before he could interject the Sargent stepped in and suddenly it made sense. Woods, the sargent had called her. She was related to Lily. Which meant it was best not to step in just yet.

He resisted the urge to frown when the sargent - Naples - made his demand. It didn't surprise him that the police wouldn't greet their vigilantism with open arms, but it did disappoint him that Naples was starting off with a pre-emptive dismissal. He hoped it was just the Sargent acting gruff rather than the man having his head so far in the sand that he believed the heroes' help wasn't needed. "Then allow me to get right to the point, Officer. What we're asking for isn't anything so onerous. We want to help. We're all trapped under the same dome. Our group here can go up against the League and their minions - but the four of us can't be everywhere."

"Our ask is pretty simple. We want your help to figure out what the league is up to and where they might strike next, so that we can stop them and protect the city."

[Zelphas]

With just a simple once-over under slightly-broken museum lighting, you can't note anything anomalous about any of the pieces of pottery.

Naples is still difficult to read, but from the other cops you get a mixed series of reactions. I will need another social skill check to push them in the direction you want them to go. Deception will hide your own explicit interest (and thus the hint at your civilian identity), but will have a higher DC towards actually accomplishing your task. Persuasion will have a lower DC, but runs the risk of making the officers (especially Naples) suspicious of Floral's interest.

Even without turning around, Floral can feel Hannah's glare on the back of her head after she makes her little "comment". She grew up with Lily, so she knows all the tricks the way only a sibling can. Anyone who is in sight of both of them can see the uniformed Woods shoot a long glare at Floral before reluctantly going back to checking over and securing the unconscious woman on the floor. For his part, Sergeant Naples gives Floral a long look before nodding once. "Worth checking. Big part of the chaos is lack of knowledge; any hints on the whats and whys are good, or we're all in the madhouse soon enough."

Nope gets a slightly longer, more piercing look from the Sergeant. "We've dealt with this before," he states simply. "There's a doctor, a psychologist, support group, the works. Nothing to do with me past initial securing and transporting to safety, which is a shame given my charming bedside manner." All of this is stated in the same blunt voice without a hint of irony, somehow.

"So does Watcher, according to him," comes Naples' response to Ariadne, taking out a notepad and sketching a quick comment to himself before storing it again. "Appreciate the statement, and no arguments that you didn't fight the League today, but I'll reserve judgment; keep you in mind if I find a labyrinth."

Some of the textile fragments depict weaving, with a few adding spiders as motifs, though none directly reference Ariadne. In one, you are able to discern a picture of a woman sitting in front of a loom; on one end she feeds in thread, and on the other she pulls out deserts, rivers, and trees. You're able to identify her as the Egyptian goddess Neith, who was the goddess of creation and weaving (As well as several other domains that escape you at the moment). One of the Helper bots broken here was directly in front of this textile fragment.

Nothing in this room has magical or mystical properties that you can sense.

Finally, Naples turns towards Helios, a slight lift in his eyebrows the only change in expression. "Just to be clear," he begins slowly, "You're asking a uniformed officer to share information on ongoing investigations with four costumed vigilantes, so that the same vigilantes can then interfere directly in these investigations?" His tone, as always so far, has been fairly bland, but his voice is currently pitched not to carry to the other officers around the room. "Are you, in short, asking me to directly flaunt the laws of our state and country in light of this increasingly chaotic, unique situation?"

Sergeant Naples is difficult to read, but it seems this time his message to Helios is clear; he's messing with him. He seems willign to at least begin helping ,but he wants to hear Helios say it.

[Ridai]

Nope just nods a few times as he turns away when the Sergeant outlines procedures for proxysuit victims. He didn't even imply they don't know what they are doing! Why do people always jump to the worst conclusion?!

On the other hand... support groups. Hm. Going to one doesn't feel right. He got out before anything could really happen. Well. Anything Proxy tried to do. Feels... disrespectful towards the people who basically lost time and were used in crimes. That and saying what did happen to him would be... bad.

So with Nope basically fading into the background, he is aware of what is going on, but his desire to interact just dwindles as fast as his remaining mana for social interactions for the day.

[Abracadangit]

"Hnn, hnn, hnn," Kal and Ariadne snicker, as one. "Very funny, Officer Naples. And we shall keep you in mind if..."

Kal feels Ariadne attempting to pipe in her thoughts. "...we need someone to arrive after the fight is already won."

"...we require external assistance," Kal says, a little strained from having to mentally shush Ariadne.

After answering some more simple questions, Kal takes some time to examine the textile fragments in greater detail.

"She's beautiful," Kal thinks, of the woman at the loom. "Neith, right?"

"Very good," Ariadne thinks back. "An inspiration for myself at the time, one of many. Wherever and whenever you go in the mythologies of the world, there are weavers -- watching, restoring, protecting."

"Always sort of in the background, aren't they."

"They don't have much time for silly adventures or idiotic wars when they're busy mending all the holes that the other gods keep tearing in the world," Ariadne counters, acerbic. "And they have nothing to prove, to the gods or to themselves. Theirs is a quiet strength, born of patience and understanding."

"Hardly sounds like you, though," Kal thinks, with some sass. " 'Patient?' 'Understanding?' I'm surprised you look up to them."

"Hnn, hnn, hnn. Such is the goddess' lot -- I never claimed to be a goddess. But I can appreciate their position, healing a world that is forever coming apart at the seams, with little in the way of gratitude. So I offer them my prayers, when I can. It is the least they deserve."

"I never thought of you as the faithful type," Kal thinks. "I didn't know you paid respect to the gods."

"Not to the gods... only goddesses," Ariadne corrects. "We all inhabit a world that was not made for us. The least we can do is walk through it together. Now go, check on your friends. We can discuss such things later, if you like."

Kal sees Nope looking sort of drained, so she figures maybe now isn't the best time. When Helios has a break in talking to police officers, she gets his attention.

"Helios -- one of the robots was examining a piece of a textile that shows Neith, the goddess of weaving. Doesn't that seem like an odd coincidence?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

For the additional social check, I'll go ahead and toss more Persuasion. [roll0], and since this one is more directly part of a face-to-face interaction, add +5 against anyone who would be subject to Attractive (from the Limited skill bonus; I'm pretty sure the actual bonus from Attractive doesn't apply since this isn't really an attempt to seduce, deceive, or improve reactions).

There wasn't much else Lily could expect to figure out without getting the pottery into a lab and giving them a proper analysis. But it would behoove them to be in good standing with the police, so she nodded in agreement with Naples's assessment of the need for knowledge, and then said, "Is there anything we can do to assist your efforts or investigations? I think the more smoothly we're all able to work together, the better it will be for everybody."

"And myself...I mean, yes, I would absolutely say that this situation is dire enough that if you perceive us as vigilantes, you should one-hundred percent flaunt any laws that would get in the way of us working together to keep this city safe, come down to it. But to be even more precise...I don't think it's correct to call us vigilantes. We aren't here to fight crimes." Okay, to be fair, there was that one thief, but that was kinda a wrong place at the wrong time sort of situation. "We're here because this city is under attack, and we can help protect it."

[Dorni]

Helios resisted the urge to sigh. Well, it might have been too much to hope that the police would welcome them with open arms, but at least they weren't openly hostile. But he didn't think Lily had thought through her appeal either. If they were responding to the city being under attack by a hostile invader, then didn't that make them essentially the city militia? He was an accountant, not an expert on criminal law, but going down that road felt like the wrong one. To the lawyers he'd suffered working with directly flaunting the law was a high crime, but nothing brought them more joy than creative interpretation.

"If it makes you feel any better, we're not vigilantes. Vigilantes attempt to enforce the law without the proper authority. We're not trying to supplant you as local law enforcement. I'm more than happy to leave that part to you. We're just good samaritans who happen to show up and quell a crime in progress. If we happen to hear you or your officers discussing an investigation while we're giving statements at a scene, well, sometimes that just can't be helped can it?" he finished blandly. If the officer was going to be a hardass then so be it, but there was a giant ever-present dome over the town. He could at least pick a legal permission structure that let him do the right thing.

Helios turned to Ariadne when she called for him and frowned in thought at the information. "Doesn't feel like a coincidence to me. He sent a dozen robots and they skipped a bunch of other exhibits. Feels more like they had some idea what they were after. I wonder if Proxy thinks there might be an edge to be gained from mythology." There was no shortage of figures with a connection to old myths in town. Himself included, he supposed.

I'll throw in a persuasion check as well [roll0]
Also as soon as Helios gets a moment he'll take a look at the exhibit as well and see what clues he can find. Investigation [roll1]
Also also, figure the answer is no but might as well check - does Helios sense anything about the exhibit with his mystic sense?

[Zelphas]

At Floral's first question, Naples blinks and squints slightly, giving her a closer look. "Maybe it's the atmosphere making me suspicious, but you seem to be inordinately interested in assisting in the investigation. Beyond protecting from attack or quelling crimes in progress."

"Sergeant Naples, the victim's pulse is stable, but slow," Detective Woods' voice broke in suddenly, her voice laden with professional urgency. "I'd like her to be moved to a doctor's care ASAP." Her eyes flicker back to Floral and then away again, to her patient.

"Then prep her to move; the scene's clear until forensics arrives in any case." Naples responds, sounding vaguely surprised at the interruption. He turns back to the four of you, drawing in a breath.

"...Right." Sergeant Naples looks over each of you in turn, listening patiently to your explanations. "You're not vigilantes, you're freedom fighters. Or Good Samaritans. In either case, perfectly legal, and here to help." He rubs the bridge of his nose in an almost reflexive action, sighing. "Like I said, above my paygrade. Maybe something will get hashed out by the brass in a few weeks; until then, if you happen to hear about some problems, or drop by a few more crimes in progress and 'quell' the criminals, it's no skin off my nose." The last statement might have been spoken just loudly enough to be heard by all of the uniformed officers in the room.

"It takes about fifteen minutes for cleanup to arrive once they're called in," Naples continues, checking his watch. "It would be convenient for all of us if you were not around when they arrive, at least this time around. Good day to you, concerned citizens." With that, Naples begins directing his team once again out the door, with the unconscious woman and a few of the scattered artifacts in tow.

This room does not have the oldest artifacts by any stretch; there are plenty of fossils that are orders of magnitude more ancient. It does, however, have some of the oldest man-made artifacts in the museum. A quick check of the spots where the Helpers were (made a bit more difficult since a few simply disappeared from Nope's influence) tells you that they weren't always in front of the oldest artifacts among this collection, but all of them were man-made and old. Perhaps there's something there.

Detective Woods and two of the other officers have latent magical potential, though it's weak and too unformed for you (at this point) to pinpoint what their specialty might be if they honed it. OTher than that, nothing comes across your mystical senses.

A Loud Silence

August 15, 2018.

Watcher is confused about the most recent avenue you've chosen to pursue. "There's nothing there; just an abandoned summer camp," his pigeon explains to you as you all plan to go to Camp Bubble Brook. He even brings you a few printed-out photos on your way, showing you a collection of log cabins, a fire pit, an overgrown dock with some half-submerged canoes. In the photos, it certainly looks eerie, but completely empty.

Which is why the sound of a guitar playing campfire songs gives you pause as you approach the hill overlooking the camp.

The forest cuts off abruptly at the top of the hill, forming an unnaturally perfect half-circle around Camp Bubble Brook. The little, rolling streamlet that gives the camp its name bursts out of the forest to your left, winding in a lazy s-shape from the western edge of the campsite until it empties into the sweeping expanse of Lake Michigan to the east. Directly in front of you are three rows of three log cabins each, sandwiched on either end with a larger cabin. The cabin to the west has a white rectangle with a red cross painted above its entrance, while the large structure closer to Lake Michigan has large letters reading "ADMINISTRATION" painted on the side. Farther in is another large log structure marked as the "CAFETERIA", directly to the west of a large circle of packed earth with a sunken firepit in the middle, a totem pole standing next to the pit. Three thin docks stretch into Lake Michigan on the eastern edge of the camp, with neat rows of canoes or kayaks tied to each mooring. The northern edge of the camp is split into two sections, with the western side laid out like a traditional school running track with various track-and-field supplies while the eastern side is a stretch of grassy field, with bows and arrows on one end and a series of large wooden targets on the other.

A large fire crackles in the firepit, with a few people throwing logs into the blaze from a convenient pile of them placed nearby. The source of the guitar music is revealed to be a... guitar, seemingly floating and strumming by itself next to the fire as scattered children sing campfire songs facing it. As you watch, the cafeteria door opens and a boy walks out, laughing and chatting with thin air. Groups of people or individuals wander the camp, leaving or entering cabins, running on the track, or practicing their archery; occasionally (though it's hard to see from this distance) it looks like a bow fires an arrow on its own, or a puff of dust flies up from an unseen foot. Out on Lake Michigan, a girl pulls determinedly on one set of oars on her canoe; the other set of oars paddle in time with her, no one visibly moving them.

Welcome to Camp Bubble Brook.

It might be easier to tell once you get closer, but right now your sense of smell is giving you a very confusing set of signals. You can smell living people in the camp, but the smell is... old. It's like the way a room would smell if someone peeled an orange there three hours ago. There are doubtless several theories you can come up with regarding this smell, but none of them are pleasant.

If you're sensing mystic power from this far away, it's from something big. But if you're sensing it from this far away, you should also be able to pinpoint what type it is, and you can't... yet. It's like the mystic energy has been diffused into the air somehow. You can't even tell if its coming from an entity or from the land itself. Not at this distance, anyway.

There are threads running through the air of Camp Bubble Brook. If Ariadne had to make a bet, she'd say that these threads are all coming from one spool. However, you are too distant and the threads are either too fine or too large for you to trace them... yet.

[Ridai]

At the museum

Naples, at least partially thanks to... basically everyone else, seems to arrive at tolerating the group. When he turns to leave, Nope says "Thank you, sir". Maybe it will, for some reason, draw some ire again, but, well... can't do anything about that. This is basically a great outcome, as far as Nope is concerned.


At Camp Bubble Brook

Okay. O-kay. Souls of children going about camp activities, either unknowingly stuck in a loop or something endless ongoing, if pop culture has even remotely any relevance here as a provider of possible explanations, and those possible explanations should be considered with a truckload of salt. Invisible counselors. And Watcher isn't aware of this. And Manchineel avoids this place. Basically this place triggers similar reactions as Doctor Proxy does for Nope. He has no idea what is going on, and what this place is capable of. And what it can do to them.

And unless Apophis or his cult are having a field day here, they are also now dealing with a sixth superthing they know nothing about in this town.

"What do you think are the chances I can make a counselor visible and that it is my namesake? And that some of them are just wandering around," Nope urgent-whispers. He... okay look, this is kind of a productive question, but mainly something he needed to get out of his head. "I can try looking around with removed presence. Can also try to do that for you, but, um, real talk, I don't know how reliable that'll be or how long and over what distances I can maintain that. Is not easy." Maybe the "cool guy Batman" thing would have been to say something like "I'll look around" and then just disappear to do a cool guy Batman investigation with cool guy Batman results, but Nope prefers trying to hash out with the others how they want to handle this. As, you know, a team.

[Quellian-dyrae]

At The Museum

Lily had been about to reply with some screed about how given the circumstances that it wasn't possible for her to be "inordinately" interested in assisting the investigation, but Hannah's interruption delayed her for long enough to think it through. Sergeant Naples was clearly a competent cop, and was operating off of dangerously good instincts. The legible concerns he translated those instincts into were irrelevant; that response might have served well in a formal debate, but here the words would matter less than the intent behind the words. Whatever she said, what she would actually be communicating was a sense of "this one doth protest too much".

Part of Lily was grateful that Hannah had stepped in to divert his attention elsewhere.

A much bigger part of her was annoyed that her big sister felt like she needed to swoop in to protect her, whether or not she had been right.

At Camp Bubble Brook

Well. This was...let's...let's be generous and say "interesting". Yes. Interesting. Definitely much better than any alternate possibilities.

So, ghosts? She wasn't sure. In fiction, it wasn't impossible for ghosts to move objects, but it tended to be...effortful. Not automatic. The people in the camp seemed to be acting as if nothing weird were going on, just going about their activities normally. Then again, Watcher's observations had indicated the camp was abandoned, so the objects themselves might not be quite material.

All reports indicated the camp was abandoned, including Watcher's. No reports of objects moving on their own. So what they were encountering was different than others. Had they simply come closer than others? Was something about their personal power giving them a clearer view?

Too many unknowns to say.

"Scouting could be useful, but if we're trying to identify what we're actually seeing here, I think we need more than just observation." Lily replied to Nope's idea. "Can the campers perceive us? Can we make physical contact with them? There are questions we need to answer that require interaction. That said, we should also figure out why others didn't perceive what we are perceiving. Is it a factor of distance, of power, or of something else? It's possible that our own perceptions are being manipulated here."

"For purposes of gathering data, my thought is something like, you scout, one of us tries to move as far away as possible while keeping the camp in view to see if perception changes with distance, one of us tries to interact with the campers to see what happens, and one of us hangs back and keeps tabs on the other three so they can step in if anything dangerous seems to be happening."

"For purposes of 'you are obviously in a horror movie right now, act accordingly,' my thought is that superpowers or not splitting up is probably a terrible idea."

[Abracadangit]

"There are threads here," Kal says as she scans the area quickly with her network of invisible threads, arcing and spinning from her location like a vast spiderweb. "Hard to tell precisely where they're coming from, but they seem to have a singular point of origin."

She regards the odd spectacle of the self-animated objects with a mix of suspicion and confusion. Kal wonders the same thing as Floral -- why do the campers seem to not notice or mind the strange goings-on? Are they somehow part of it, or merely ignorant of what's actually happening.

"Your plan sounds effective," Kal says, in response to Floral's strategy. "I should not be the one to address the campers; my patience will wear quickly if they do not understand my questions."

[Dorni]

Camp Bubble Brook

"I think it would be unwise to split up," Helios chimes in at last. He'd been enthralled by the campsite, squinting at something just out of sight. "There's magic in the air here. Strong magic. But its... diffuse. Spread out. I can't make out if its natural or if its an enchantment that someone laid down. Or something. I'd need to get closer."

"If we split up and something happens I'll be too far away to protect you. If we stick together I should be able to give warning if the aether changes and protect us."

[Zelphas]

As you converse with one another at the top of the hill, a young camper exiting one of the closer cabins glances your way. The small pigtailed girl does a double take, then moves quickly towards the lake, her steps taking her towards a young woman with a small group of campers at the lake's edge--probably one of the counselors. The blonde-haired woman looks up at the girl's approach, then stands, hands out to calm down the others around her as she begins walking towards the new arrival and, with her, towards the hill where you are standing. She shades her eyes with one hand to look up at you, pausing at the front edge of the closest cabin to you with her other hand on her hip to look you over. After a moment, the hand on her hip lifts up in a beckoning motion towards you.

If you wish to stay hidden from the counselor, I will need a Stealth Check of DC 20. Some of you can hide while others remain seen with no issues; the girl only caught a glimpse of someone on the hill. If all of you beat a Stealth Check of DC 20, the counselor doesn't beckon; instead, she looks at the hill for several long moments before gently guiding the pigtailed girl back to the group she had been working with before.

[Ridai]

There is a moment where Nope considers to hide his presence immediately. But as has been rightfully pointed out, if the others can't perceive you (whether by being elsewhere or, well, hidden from all senses), they don't know if anything bad has happened to you. And they are basically in a horror movie setup. At least Nope is very safe in terms of immediate death flags. Sooo... meeting the SCP people it is?

Unless the others want to avoid the campers and counselors, he heads over to the young woman. Not sure how to handle the situation, but chances are she will let them know what's on her mind.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Well that was one piece of information acquired; the campers were able to perceive them. That ruled out things like this being something like spectral images playing out past events or such.

If she were honest, Helios saying they should stick together so he could protect them kinda nettled her pride, sensitive as it was to suggestions of needing protection. She didn't mention it though; logically she figured he meant it in a "this is a magical situation, magic's my thing" sort of way, it was just her own biases that insisted on hearing it differently. Lily wasn't immune to bias influencing her feelings, but she was at least sufficiently self-aware to recognize and compensate for it. Usually. Mostly. ...As long as Hannah wasn't the one saying it, anyway.

Regardless, all fictional evidence aside, sticking together in a strange and potentially dangerous situation was simply tactically sound. Safety in numbers and/or concentration of power. So when Nope headed for the counselor, she followed along.

"Any preferences on how we play this?" she asked quietly as they approached.

When they reached the counselor she gave a friendly smile and said, "Hey there."

Perception to see if there's anything more worth smelling now that I'm closer: [roll0]. Reduce by 5 for non-olfactory senses.

Insight to Evaluate the counselor (substituting olfactory Perception with Scent Processing): [roll1].

[Dorni]

Helios was at least a little surprised at the counselor noticing them. That... didn't entirely rule out that the camp was an illusion or something spiritual, but it did drop those possibilities far down in his expectations. He fell in alongside Nope and Floral; if the inhabitants were real, maybe they could tell their group what was going on. They could at least try the peaceful approach.

"Openly, I think. We stand out and they don't seem hostile. I'm not sure we have anything to hide," he answered Floral just as quietly.

"Hello there!" he greeted the counselor.

Perception [roll0] to try and make out more of whatever mystic is happening as we get closer.

[Abracadangit]

Kal raises an eyebrow, behind her mask; she's not sure if the counselor's nonchalance at all of this should make her more comfortable or more suspicious. She follows behind the rest of the group, letting them take point socially.

"Good evening," she says to the counselor, making sure to keep her voice suitably distorted. The last thing she needs is for someone here to recognize her from her art classes.

[Zelphas]

The tall young woman seems to relax slightly as you all move down the hill towards her, though her welcoming smile does grow a little bit puzzled as she takes in the four of you and your... unique appearance. "I know that superpowers seem to be showing up against all odds, but isn't it a bit early to be dressing up like them for Halloween?" she begins in a musical voice, then shakes her head at herself, embarrassed. "I'm sorry, what a horrible way to introduce myself. You get used to saying whatever comes to mind working with kids. Hello there! Welcome to Camp Bubble Brook? I'm Sandy. Are you here to pick up a kid, or for something else? We'll get everything settled over at registration, but I figured I could help smooth things along. Go ahead and follow me; walking, hovering, or flying, it's your choice!" With a laugh, she turns back towards the camp itself. Curious small faces are poking out to look at you from around the cabins, but no one except for Sandy approaches you as of yet.

As you prepared to go to Camp Bubble Brook, you looked over the list of those gone missing in the Camp Bubble Brook Disaster. You found a list of names and pictures, both of campers and counselors who vanished that day. Sandra "Sandy" Stier, age 20, was one such name. The person greeting you here looks exactly like the picture next to her name, down to the hair length and style.

Perhaps it's due to your profound (and unwanted) connection to the concept of negation, but a realization creeps over you as you approach the camp:

It's empty.

Your eyes tell you that campers are running around, interacting with the air and with other campers as they go. It's a lie: there is emptiness there. Your ears bring to you the sound of children at play, of oars hitting water, of balls being thrown back and forth. It's a lie; all is silence. Your nose catches the scent of wood smoke, of roasted marshmallows and hot dogs. It's a lie: the fire is cold and gone, and no food is found here. The camp is empty.

And yet that is not true either. Something--or some things--hide in the empty beyond the false facsimile of life before you. Your senses cannot penetrate their disguise, not yet, but you know that they are there. And since their disguise is active, they are almost certainly watching you.

Besides a slight feeling as though you have to sneeze, there isn't anything that pops up out of the ordinary. The smell of individual humans, petty rivalries, fragile new friendships, exertion, enjoyment, and both over- and under-cooked food wafts out from the place before you; it's a summer camp, all right. Your other senses agree with this assesment.

Sandy doesn't seem to be lying to you. She's confused by your outfits and slightly amused by them, and she's torn between interest in people from outside of camp and worry that you're bringing bad news for one of her campers. Then she mentions registration, and even though all of your senses tell you that this is just a camp, even though she's telling you the truth and standing right in front of you, some unexplained quirk in Sandy's expression, or her tone, or something else, sends the dominoes dropping down.

It's all a sham. All of it. The "campers" are not human. The cabins are not whole. The campfire is not lit. There is no food, no laughter, nothing here that is alive. But that doesn't mean that there isn't something here.

You can't see or hear or even smell past the fake to see the reality, but you know it now for a fact. This entire charade before you is a play put on for your benefit. To borrow a turn of phrase from Ariadne, something--or some things--are pulling the strings, hidden within the image of a happy summer camp.

This might be the most frustrating interaction you've had with your mystic sense since it awakened. It's like looking at one of those old magic eye pictures; when you focus directly on something, it slips away from you, but when you focus elsewhere, you can sense it on the edge of your perception. It might begin to give you a headache if it goes on too long.

Coming this close tells you two things for sure, however. In the first place, the very fact that you can't bring it into focus suggests a will or a consciousness of some kind. This isn't a natural effect, but a magical energy that is being imposed by something--or some things. That in and of itself is significant.

The second thing is that even if you can't focus on it directly, the constant maddening snatches of the sense give you information. Eventually, the fragmented bits of sensation shape themselves into a stench that you've 'smelled' before. Death magic is here; how much and for what purpose you cannot yet say, but it is present throughout this camp.

With your Threadwork Sense active as you approach, you begin to pick out threads. Thousands of them. All gossamer-thin, connected to just about everything you see--the campers, the counselors, the cabins, the ground, with some even vanishing in mid-air. There are too many to count and parse, looming like a thick cloud of thin hair-like strands. You almost get the feeling like you're looking at a carpet under a microscope; all the tiny filaments exposed, revealing nothing to you of their true purpose or intent. Whatever this something--or some things--are that are holding the strings, they are doing a lot... or perhaps very little, all over the camp, all at once.

[Ridai]

Nope is having a moment.

While he has had cases where he felt strange, especially when he got like he is right now, but this sort of... liminal feeling (?) is new. Seeing the campers and counselors, but also seeing they are not there, but not actually seeing that, but it does not feel like simply "sensing" either. Same with his other senses. Sadly, his abilities did not come with some sort of ability to deal with such phenomena. It's like watching a movie scene, only to suddenly switch to an identical shot, but without the music, the saturation and lighting, the characters, just a low drone in the background, before suddenly jumping back as if nothing happened. And you remember this sudden switch, but when you go back, it is not there anymore, but you could swear you saw it. That is what Nope feels like right now, but the movie is his senses.

Hand to his head, trying to shake his head to get his perceptions kind of in order, feeling like he missed part of what has been said and done. Everything's weird right now. "Uh, sure. Sandy. Say, since, uhm, when has this camp... season? been going?" He is really not sure what to call it. For how long at a time do these camps operate? These "people" are aware of current events?

Routining the Expertise Local check for 20.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily was still kinda inexperienced with her augmented sense of smell. As important as it was to the use of her powers, in some ways it was still a bit of a black box to her. She could smell a person's biology, and their emotions - which at the end of the day was just smelling the subtle biological changes that they perceived as their feelings - but the truth was that as skilled a biologist as Lily was, she didn't actually have a clear mental map of specific scents to particular biological markers. She knew what biochemical markers would come up to, say, test a person's blood type. And she could smell those biochemical markers. And so she could smell a person's blood type.

But she herself had never actually, personally learned what say Type O blood smelled like, at least not before she had first smelled it with her powers, at which point she had known it was Type O. She hadn't recognized it as a matter of prior familiarity, her brain simply categorized that particular smell as Type O blood, instinctively and automatically.

Right now her sense of smell wasn't giving her much to work with at a conscious level. She wasn't consciously noticing anything of particular value, that they weren't already aware of.

But the senses did a lot of their work unconsciously. Took in a lot of information that was never actually promoted to conscious awareness. And Lily's sense of smell did even more of that. Somewhere in her head, her brain was taking the scents she picked up and matching them to concepts she understood, even if she didn't know what the concept itself should smell like.

So here, now, even though Lily wasn't consciously aware of any specific scents, even if she couldn't have consciously mapped them onto a known concept if she had been, her brain processed the scents that came in through her nose and told her exactly what this camp smelled like.

It. Smelled. Fake.

Lily fixed Sandy with an unimpressed stare and crossed her arms before her. "Or you can stop wasting our time with illusory tricks and reveal yourself," she said simply. There wasn't a hint of doubt in her tone, not even allowing for the possibility that the woman before them might have been real.

[Abracadangit]

"Hnn, hnn, hnn," Ariadne laughs, inside Kal's mind. "Like a great tapestry, many little threads all being pulled at once, spinning in a thousand different directions, forming all these strange patterns. Very impressive."

"So none of this is real?" Kal asks.

"Depends on your definition of 'real,' engoní, but at the least, it is not what it pretends to be. Be wary -- whatever spins this web must be watching us, very carefully."

Kal takes a moment to ponder how to capitalize on this information, when Floral steps forward and calls out the eerie illusion for what it is.

Many questions remain, but for Kal, the heaviest one is can these 'illusions' still harm them? With a flick of her wrist and some quick needle figure-eights, she conjures a floating spiral of red thread, and sends it soaring over to the campfire.

Gonna thread-cantrip up a little floating design of thread and send it into the campfire, as a kind of litmus test for how much verisimilitude the illusions can muster. Even if they're not real, they might be able to do some damage and/or exert chemical effects on the team, depending on the will of the puppeteer(s).

[Dorni]

Helios only paid half attention to the girl's welcome speech. As they'd drawn closer his sense of the magic hanging over the camp had grown stronger and stronger. And yet, it dangled on the edge of his perception, understanding remaining just out of reach no matter how he strained. It was both strange and frustrating, the first time he'd experienced something like this sense he'd had his eyes opened to the mystic. It was almost like...

It came to him. It reminded him of a carrot on a string. Something being dangled in front of him, but always pulled away just as he reached for it. But if that were so, who was the dangler?

And with that thought, he stopped straining his senses only to realize that he recognized the aura that permeated the camp. "Death magic."

He reached for a magic of his own. Heat and cold were opposites, and where the two met they canceled each other out. So too were Death and Life, polar opposites that were at odds with each other on the surface. But like heat and cold, once one delved a little deeper they learned that the two were really just different temperatures, opposite poles of the same phenomenon. So Helios gathered energy from the camp that seethed with Death energy, but instead of bending it to necromancy he wove from it a different Aether.

The spell he wove around himself and his companions like a light, thin golden sheen. Imagine a dreary day, one where you feel awful, everything aches, motivation is zero and you just want to crawl into bed. Compare that to a great day where the sun is shining, you're full of energy and even just the colors of the world itself seem more vibrant. Now take the difference between those feelings, that vibrancy, amplify it, and wrap it around you like a soft blanket.

That was the feeling of being wrapped in Helios' Lifeshell.

"If your intentions are peaceful, show yourself!" he called, adding to the chorus.

Casting Lifeshell on the party. He'll shape the area to affect each party member, so everyone gains a Triggered Restorative Healing 10 SE 6 effect that will go off when/if the character is attacked. Its not exactly cancelling out any effects of the death magic here, but mechanically it should blunt or undo an incoming attack so the end result seems much the same.

[Zelphas]

"It's... mid-July? So we're about--" Sandy begins answering Nope's question, still turning towards the administration building, when Floral interrupts her. She half-turns back to the rest of you, taking in Ariadne's silence, Floral's flat stare, and the light and pronouncement from Helios. Her smile slips, slightly. Then her form... melts, the distinguishing marks running together, vibrant skin and hair fading to grey and white, clothing twisting and billowing into clouds that merge with the rest of the mass, until what floats before you is a thing of shadow and chill mist that only vaguely looks human, black holes for eyes staring, only the vaguest impression of a mouth, and enormous trailing claws that look somehow sharp despite being the consistency of mist.

Behind this form, Camp Bubble Brook itself also changes, the illusion--for that is what it was--simply fading like the last notes of a song carried away by the wind. The cabins grow more weathered, obviously not touched for some time, with bits of moss and creeping vines crawling up their sides and through their open windows. The grass thickens and rises somewhat; less than you might expect given the long absence of people here ,but enough to be noticeably rough in places. The campfire winks out, taking even the smoke with it in the next second, Ariadne's thread appearing unharmed and dancing over ashes so old that they have almost become dirt. One of the practice targets in the archery range falls over silently, moss growing over it in sped-up time. The track is still discernible, but barely; grass has overrun it, and the tools are all gone or abandoned, rusting and moss-covered, nearby. The docks are spotted with moss and holes, and a few half-submerged canoes are still tehtered by rotted ropes to the boards.

Everywhere, there are ghosts. There is nothing to distinguish one specter from another; they all look like the thing that once held Sandy's face, creatures of mist and fog with absurdly large, long, wicked claws. A group of ghosts sit staring blankly at the guitar as it falls to the ground with a discordant twang, vanishing a moment later. Pockets of ghosts move in and out of the cabins, wander over the track, or stand at the end of the archery range. Out on Lake Michigan, a solitary ghost circles over the water, looking almost like a low-flying scrap of cloud from this distance.

"She's still trying to call you," the ghost that was Sandy speaks, its form unmoving, its eyes looking towards you, through you. "You should go..." it turns away, drifting back into its own arcane, unknown ritual.

The Lifeshell around Floral sparks once, glowing more brilliantly, then calms again.

The ghosts are bundles of Death Magic, more energy than being, and not truly enough to sustain themselves for very long. They definitely have the ability to drain life; if you had to guess, those claws are sharp in a mystical sense rather than a physical one.

The power permeating the camp didn't lessen when the illusion stopped. It... concentrated inwards, but it's still actively (or instinctually) trying to evade your sense. It struck outwards once, just a second ago, at all of you. Your Lifeshell turned aside three of the attacks, but it hit Floral squarely, though it doesn't seem to have found purchase on her.

Every one of the ghosts in the camp has a silver thread coming off of it, though the thread vanishes before you can trace it. They're tied to something, sustaining them, keeping them alive. They're more like puppets on strings than anything; they probably won't strike unless provoked... or prodded.

The threads that you have been seeing were cut, all at once, revealing what's underneath, but a new tapestry was put in place. This one is trying to remain unnoticed, rather than to prevent a false image, so you can't quite get a handle on what it's doing. You're pretty sure that whatever caused Helios' effect to flare was probably a result of this tapestry, however.

For just a moment, after the illusion fell away, you heard the music.

Beautiful, more beautiful than anything you have imagined, in and through your mind in an instant. It tried to steal your will, to bring you sweetly to its embrace, to lose yourself in the music and go where it willed you, do what it told you. Of course, it attempted to do this to Lily Woods, so it was unsuccessful, but you can remember the haunting song clearly. You can also remember where it was coming from, though it wound its way stealthily through the air, trying to sound as though it was breathing from everywhere at once.

The music, the singing, is coming from the Administration Building, with its weathered lettering and fallen-in roof.

[Ridai]

Okay. Okay. Literal ghosts. Sure. And they are caught by... whoever "she" is. Really, Nope is kind of stuck on how "Sandy" dissolved into a spirit, followed by everything revealing itself. The first part keeps looping in his head.

Nope doesn't look very happy as he glances to the others in the now eerily silent camp, just kind of... checking if they have more of a clue what is going on, since his one insight is now spent.

[Abracadangit]

"They're all... connected to something," Kal explains, as she keeps her needle up, defensively. "But I can't see exactly what."

"Do any of you have experience fighting undead? I don't think they'll attack us unprovoked, but we should still be careful."

[Ridai]

"I don't... think I ever saw any undead, but I think I could fight them. But I don't really want to." Nope glances around, then to the others. "Do any of you... see anything where to start, or do we start searching the buildings?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

You'd think Lily would be kinda worried about ghosts. To be fair, she wasn't entirely sure she actually had anything for ghosts. For all that her powers were fueled by the sun, she wasn't some priestess of the Light or anything like that. Her powers were fueled by the sun the same way literally everything on the planet, fundamentally, was fueled by the sun. Only somewhat moreso.

But ghosts didn't have physiologies to poison or drug, and tended to be unresponsive to acids. So it was a fair concern.

...Or it would have been, if she had been alone. But she had a thread mage, a remover, and a freaking sun mage with her, so she could really only get so worked up about incorporeal undead. She'd focus on healing. It wasn't even a thing.

"Administration building," she answered Nope's question. "Or at least, that's where the music that tried to put the mind-whammy on me is coming from. Seems like a good place to start." She managed to keep her voice almost entirely deadpan as she said it, as if mind-whammying music was no particular concern.

[Dorni]

"I've dealt with undead before." There was no shortage of zombies in his fights the cult, and they'd recently graduated to occasional mummies, but those were primarily physical threats. Physical bodies animated by spirits, or powered by aether. Destroy the body and the spirit would dissipate. The cult did call upon spirits, but so far as he was aware they didn't use them for combat. At least not yet. Still, he didn't want to broadcast it and ruin the others' confidence.

"If they get ahold of you they can drain your spirit of life energy. My spell will protect against that to some degree, but it isn't infinite. And those claws are sharper in a spiritual sense than a physical one," he added the last with a look at both Ariadnes.

He resisted the urge to focus his mystic sense on the cabin and instead tried to keep a feel for the area, alert for any other attacks. "Well, if 'she' is calling, it would be rude of us keep our host waiting." He started leading the way towards the administration building.

Helios is on alert and will use his [Life] magic to Counter any more attacks at 1d20+10.

[Ridai]

"Right, okay," Nope says. As always, the others are taking things much better than he is. It might be kind of superfluous, since the camp isn't that big to begin with... but Nope still skips the distance with the group (at least it feels like they skip the distance to the others), in the hopes of avoiding accidentally agitating a spirit or... whatever else might happen just by being here longer.

Nope uses Remove Travel Time because he is creeped out, man.

[Zelphas]

The ghosts do not react to your sudden appearance in front of the Administration Building; one floats past Floral, staring sightlessly ahead, its claws practically brushing one of the "petals" of her skirt as it drifts away. The Administration Building itself is a squat, large square of old timbers joined together in the classic log-cabin style, stacked up to almost three stories in height with a gently-sloped roof made of thinner wooden slats. The double doors stand open; rust stains the hinges in large splotches up the walls on either side, and one of the doors is hanging by only its middle hinge, the top and bottom hinge having apparently rusted apart or fallen away into nothing. Inside, you can see plastic chairs, their metal legs covered in rust, standing against the walls, a large wooden desk that is touched lightly by rot, and several metal filing cabinets, sagging and rusted. A set of stairs on either side of the large desk lead up to a set of what look to be office rooms, their glass windows choked by dust, hinges and knobs rusted over.

Fluorescent lights hang from the ceiling, off, one dangling from only a single wire. Dust chokes the air and practically rolls out into the summers day, covering every surface; no living foot has stepped in this room for a very long time.

The threads lead here, you can see that now, but it's like looking at a ball of twine. You practically have to ignore your threadwork sense to see the room itself, and tracking the threads to their actual source may be too much--though this would be the place to start.

The death magic is thicker here, but it is deliberately trying to avoid your sight. You can be certain of that now; something is still, even now, trying not to be seen by you.

Floral mentioned music a second ago. For just a moment, right after transporting everyone, you heard it. It was the most beautiful music in the world. You think your power saw it as a threat, though, because an instant after hearing it, it was removed from your perception.

Hanging suspended in the center of the ceiling, looking almost like an after-image in white and grey, hard to focus on, is a beautiful woman whose age you can't define. She smiles at you, her mouth closed, beckoning you with fingers that vanish into wisps of smoke, her entire lower half is mist and darkness, her white hair turning into clouds, everythign fading the moment you see it, but she is there.

[Ridai]

Nope pulls up his t-shirt collar to cover his nose and mouth, holding it in place with one hand. He is not particularly looking forward to inhaling a lot of rot and dust, so maybe this helps a little.

"Uh, something's siren-songing at me," he says, muffled through hand and shirt. A beat, looking around. "Guess I put it on mute?" Does this mean he is protected against whatever was doing this? And/or does this mean he won't hear the boss music when he triggers the boss fight?

Armed with the preventative measure of choice of many a science student and machine worker, the protective squint, Nope heads into the building, looking around for... well, he actually doesn't know what he is looking for, but maybe something will catch his eye?

Okay, let's be honest, the more likely situation is that the people with special senses will notice something, but that's no reason not to give it a shot!

[Dorni]

Helios entered the cabin warily. He wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting, but ambush was high on his list. The room looked... old. decrepit. Like the kind of thing you see in a horror movie. Also, nothing was jumping out to rip their faces off the moment they entered, so that was a plus. The sheer amount of rust and decay struck him as odd and it took a few moments for Helios to put his finger on why. The camp had been abandoned, yes, but only for a year. If he had to judge just by this room though he'd have imagined this place hadn't seen a caretaker in quite a bit longer than that. Was the abundance of death energy in the air accelerating the natural decay? Or was the presence reshaping this area to fit its spooky tastes? Or...

A brief disturbance in the ambient energy is all the warning that Helios got. He threw up a hasty wall of Life aether, not taking the time to form it into anything more complex. There wasn't time before the wave of Death energy crashed into it. Helios got his next surprise. The energy was strong. Not kinda strong or on-par-with-me strong. Rapheal strong. Or if not exactly that strong, it was at least in that same ballpark. Helios recoiled in surprise. He had known that whatever was here had to be potent based on both Manchineel's brood avoiding this place and the thick death energy that lingered here, but it was another thing to clash with it directly.

Still, he was no slouch himself. His counterspell didn't break apart entirely - the center of the wall held and kept the energy away from himself and Ariadne, but the energy shattered the edges of the barrier and washed over Nope... who put it on mute?

Helios blinked. Ok. That happened.

Still, standing around while this place took free shots at them didn't seem all that appealing. "That's twice now this thing has attacked us. I'd say its made its intentions pretty clear." He peered around the cabin again, following where the pulse of Death had come from... and spied a ghost floating along the ceiling. A woman, possessed of an ethereal beauty. Her form was white and grey, yet so translucent she almost looked like a thin fog. She wore a smile and her beckoning hand was kind - if that hand didn't end dissolved in dark smoke - the same mist and darkness that her dress dissolved in.

He reached out in a grasping motion while runes flared. He'd developed his Drain Vitality spell to attack the spirit. For living creatures, that meant draining their energy and incapacitating them. For the undead the Suneaters employed, it drained the spirit energy animating them. And as he understood it, ghosts were almost nothing but spirit.

Standard: Cast Drain Vitality on Ghost at [roll0]. On hit, DC 20 vs Cumulative Progressive Affliction [Fatigued & Impaired / Stunned & Disabled / Incap].

[Abracadangit]

Kal couldn't maintain her threadwork sense and see the room with any detail at the same time -- the threads had become too many, too tangled. With a little effort, she maintained just enough of it to keep aware of the threads, but not enough to accurately perceive them, like the mystical equivalent of keeping one eye closed.

She followed Helios' gaze to the ghostly woman up above, and studied her for a moment.

"Careful now," Ariadne warns. "Not all who smile are kind."

"But what if she's in pain? Or trapped? Or held here against your will?" Kal thinks back.

"For once I agree with the book wizard," Ariadne replies, as Helios lets loose with his spell. "If you want to speak with her so badly, you can do it after some of her power goes away."

Anticipating some form of counterattack, Kal flicks a needle into her hand and begins to weave.

Gonna encase the crew in a Silken Shield, on top of Helios' defensive magic.

[Quellian-dyrae]

On the one hand, Lily didn't really think she had much for ghosts.

On the other hand, they appeared to have stymied the ghost's initial attacks, so no immediate healing was needed. And Lily was, after all, a scientist.

So, you know, she'd experiment.

Most of Lily's repertoire operated on a largely physiological basis. Poisons, drugs, pheromones. They operated on biochemistry. Not super great against creatures that lacked a biology. For those, such as Dr. Proxy's robots, Lily went with acid. But acid was still a material substance, and seemed unlikely to harm something without a physical body.

But the ghost could perceive them, obviously. Its senses couldn't work quite like theirs did - if it was permeable to energy, light couldn't interact with its eyes. If it was permeable to matter, vibrating air couldn't interact with its eardrums. Nonetheless, there was no reason to believe it couldn't see and hear.

And although trace chemical particles in the air couldn't interact with its nose, there was no reason to believe it couldn't smell.

So Lily fell back on her oldest, most reliable combat strategy.

Smell good at them.

REALLY HARD!

Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 4 points to Olfactory Clarity (Acute Analytical Accurate Smell), 6 points to Scent Intensification (+5 Olfactory Perception, Counters Concealment [Overlapping Scents], Extended Scent), 5 points to Overpowering Scent, 5 points to Overwhelming Scent, 10 points to Complex Scents, 10 points to Lingering Scents, 10 points to Floral Vines (Dynamic Choices to apply it to Affliction). Variable Descriptor to pure [Sensory] [Olfactory] - basically straight up smelling good so hard the sheer intensity of the stimulus causes combat penalties.

Move: Active Perception to better detect the ghost: [roll0], add +5 for olfactory purposes. Oh yeah.

Standard: Attack the location Helios appears to be targeting, using Shapeable Area to extend the attack up there and then spread it over as large an area I can manage. Assuming that's sufficient for targeting, [roll1]. On a hit, Resistance DC 20+Multiattack vs. Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless Affliction. This carries a Secondary Effect. It's definitely Lucy.

Current Status: Normal.

[Ridai]

Nope turns around, still covering and squinting, to see the others generally doing combat things at the ceiling. He looks to the ceiling, sees nothing. Looks back at the others. "What?"

[Zelphas]

Helios' runes flare, Life magic sweeping over the scene. For just a moment, the amount of rust, dust, and decay in the room decreases somewhat, the magic of Life counteracting the strong effect of Death magic for just an instant. Normally, the trail of Helios' Life spells are essentially invisible, manifesting in his gestures and the results on the target, but the latent Death magic in the air burns away from the spell, revealing it as a streak of gold-tinted light shooting upwards towards a point at the center of the ceiling.

Therefore, all of you see a ghostly woman, her bottom half made of shadow and mist, slap aside Helios' spell with an open hand, causing it to dissipate on the timbers of the roof. Those timbers glow for a moment, the decay evident on them fading almost to nothing, before the Death magic begins to creep across them once more.

The woman looks down at the four of you, seeming not to notice Floral's scent attack. Her grey-white hair floats about her as though she were underwater, and her smile seems... puzzled, almost, the hand she used to strike Helios' spell from her fading into mist and drifting back to her side. The grey eyes darken, sinking backwards into holes in her face, and the mist around her beings to lash as though in a high wind. Her smile fades, and she opens her mouth wide... and wider... and still wider... the opening stretches down her neck as her mouth extends into a cloudy, still somehow tooth-filled maw, and she screams.

The sound is not quite audible. It is the loudest sound you have heard. It is silence. It is deafening. It is nothing.

It is a summons.

Drifting through the walls around you, oversized claws extended at their sides, come the ghosts you passed by on your way here. Ariadne can see the threads being pulled by the siren in the air, reeling back in her captured puppets to serve her. Helios senses the Death magic swell and shift, discarding much of its subterfuge, revealing itself concentrated on the woman in the air. All of you can see that the blank eyes are fixed on you, and they have mouths now. They have mouths like the mouth of the woman in the air.

Map (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14gQijR5LRkAT0kP6TPibE7njf9vs-U7CEhv8FruTjuE/edit#gid=0)

In case it is not clear, the Ghastlings and the Siren all have Insubstantial 4.

Initiative
Floral: [roll0]
Ariadne: [roll1]
Nope: [roll2]
Helios: [roll3]

Siren & Ghastlings: [roll4]

The Ghastlings are Minions, but will continue to appear as long as the Siren is not Staggered.

All PCs are on turn.

[Ridai]

Nope looks back up again, now facing nightmare fuel. "Oh shi-" Then the screamnotscream, and Nope winces, along with a wordless "Ow."

So Sandy and gang are coming in now and Nope is definitely not hearing boss music. You know what this means! Dealing with existential problems in rapid succession!

So he could try to blip the ghosts, but like, there are apparently ghosts in this world, so maybe this means souls are a thing, which means there might be afterlives, so if he accidentally makes a soul go poof, that's it, that's like supermurder. And he doesn't know what happens if he... tries to remove "animating force" or whatever, which might work, but is like complete conjecture based on freaking roleplaying games so it might free the soul or it might dismantle the soul or something, or it might do nothing?!

Uh, uhhhh, okay, focusing on the siren! Maybe if that one shuts up, the ghosts will be much less gung-ho about "one of us"-ing the team. Yeah, so, screw you, siren, removing... hit points! Yeah! You're a damn D&D monster, Nope's gonna treat you like one (and hope this will lead to ghost-unconsciousness, not supermurder).

The Ring static 'round the siren, here we go!

Free Switch to Remove Second Guessing and Remove Hit Points

Standard Attack the siren with Remove Hit Points. Damage 10 (+5/+5, Ranged) Linked Weaken Resistance 10 (+5/+5) Linked Affliction 10 (+5/+5; Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless/Incapacitated; Extra Condition). Crit 16+ (if applicable).
[roll0] Rerolled to 29, possibly crit (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25472484&postcount=106)

[Quellian-dyrae]

The ghosts all swarming them wasn't much of a surprise. Fully plausible result of engaging the main one. A month ago it might have been terrifying, but these days "swarm of ghosts" basically rated in Lily's head as roughly equivalent to "swarm of killer robots" or "swarm of plant monsters" or "swarm of nebulously-superpowered thugs" or "swarm of crazy cultists". Incorporeality would be mildly annoying, but beyond that? Fairly solid meh.

She looked to Ariadne. "Hey, you have, like, a pet ghost or something, right?" She still wasn't entirely clear on the nature of Ariadne's powers but she was pretty sure Helios had mentioned it (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?642669-M-amp-M-3e-Defying-the-Future-IC&p=25423247&viewfull=1#post25423247) at one point. "Can it...do anything here?"

Regardless, it seemed to her that the straightforward play against undead horrors was to point the team sun mage at them. She didn't know much about how Helios's magic worked, but he had sun powers and her powers were, at the end of the day, fueled by stored solar energy. That seemed like something he should be able to work with. So she stepped up next to Helios, plucked a strand of hair out of her head, and transmuted it first into a normal sunflower, which she then hardened into wood while retaining its shape and coloration, basically making into a wooden wand in the shape of a sunflower, investing it as she created it with a sizable chunk of stored solar energy.

Lily was no mage, but sunlight was sunlight and magical affinity was magical affinity; to Helios's arcane senses, the wand was basically charged up with a store of Life aether he'd be able to tap and use to augment his attacks. She held it out to him. "Here, see if this helps."

Extra Effort - Power Stunt off of 20 points of Flower Power array, leaving 30 available for normal use.

Sunflower Wand [Mystical] [Metapower] [Augmentation]: Enhanced Extra 10 (Damage becomes +10/+0, gains Reaction [Upon Aiding an ally], Quirk 0 [Helios Only], Limited [Team Attacks Only]).

Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 20 points to Sunflower Wand, 10 points to Acidic Nectar, 10 points to Floral Thorn, 10 points to Lingering Acid.

Move: Into R26.

Standard: Aid Helios's next attack with Sunflower Wand (+5 from Teamwork) at [roll0]. Easy +5

Reaction: Team Attack for Helios's next Damage attack with Sunflower Wand (+5 for Teamwork) at [roll1]. The Team Attack bonus will also apply next round if he attacks the same target again due to Secondary Effect. However, if he misses, this attack won't do Damage itself, since it's Limited to Team Attacks. Kinda wish those rolls were reversed but this will either be +2 or More Data, so I'm pretty much cool either way.

Current Status: Normal, Fatigued as of next turn.

[Abracadangit]

"I do have a... friend to assist me. But she is more of an advisor."

"She means well," Kal thinks to Ariadne.

"Hnn, hnn. Do not mistake me for one who is easily offended," Ariadne thinks back, reassuringly. " 'Pet ghost' sounds better than 'leech.' Now get your other needle in your hand, quickly. You will need it."

Kal's hands are a blur as she weaves, and dazzling quilted arrays of red thread encircle and encase the team.

Not gonna move anywhere. Switching Threadwork array to Dual Needles, and gonna drop another Silken Shields on the crew, this time with Reflect & Redirect as a consequence of the Dual Needle Weaving.

[Dorni]

Helios accepted the sunflower wand and thrust it like a rapier at the Siren. He tried not to think of the image he must strike, staring down a ghost with a flower for a weapon. It sounded like a Summer Camp story alright.

"Alright, lets see if you can stop this." He wove the familiar runes for his Sunbeams, but he modified the spell to also draw from the well of solar energy within the wand. A shotgun's worth of searing beams of solar heat and life streaked forth from the end of the wand.

Move:
Standard: Cast AoA/PA 5 Sunbeam on Siren. Attacking w/Aid at [roll0]. On hit, DC 32 + Multi. This is a Perception, Secondary Effect attack.

Status: -5 Defenses, Lifeshelled

[Zelphas]

Nope focuses on removing the "hit points" of the Siren directly, tapping in to his power of Removal to strike at a deeper level than most physical things can reach. The Siren's form wavers for a moment, but she returns to her ghostly form almost immediately, snarling with her too-large mouth. She had already clawed her way out of non-reality to a semblance of existence; she has no desire to return.

Helios and Floral's sun-combining strike has a more noticeable effect. The fireballs stream upward, and the Siren raises a hand as though to slap them aside once more; this time, however, the fire catches upon her upraised arm and burns a pure white, causing her hand and wrist to wisp away into smoke. The Siren gives out another soundless shriek, waving the still-flaming stump of her arm in pain and rage.

The clawed ghosts respond instantly to the Siren's shriek, clouding together and moving in to strike. Eight of the ghosts converge upon Helois, merging into two overlapping ghostly forms of thrashing claws and striking directly towards him with their oversized digits. The final two open their mouths and join in the Siren's shriek, the sound slapping painfully against your ears. The Siren flies swiftly downwards and towards you, stopping in front of Floral. Her mouth gapes open wider, wider, wider, and she simply breathes in, drawing in no air, but seeking to wrest life force from Floral... and transform it into death, the mystical energies already pushing against the burning stump on her arm.

At the sides of the building, four more ghosts float inside, drawn by the will of their mistress.

Map. (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14gQijR5LRkAT0kP6TPibE7njf9vs-U7CEhv8FruTjuE/edit#gid=0)

Ghastlings

1, 2, 3, and 4

Move Action: shift to S25, overlapping.

Standard Action: Gang attack Helios with Spectral Claws, All-Out Attacking for 3. [roll0] vs. DC 15 or Deflect: [roll1] On a hit, Resistance DC 27/22 vs. Multiattack Damage and Weaken Resistance. Deflect should be 5 lower. Still Redirected

5, 6, 7, and 8

Move Action: shift to S27, overlapping.

Standard Action: Gang attack Helios with Spectral Claws, All-Out Attacking for 3. [roll2] vs. DC 15 or Deflect: [roll3] On a hit, Resistance DC 27/22 vs. Multiattack Damage and Weaken Resistance. Deflect should be 5 lower. Hit; +2 Multiattack

9 and 10

Move Action: None.

Standard Action: Gang attack the group with Shriek. On a hit, Defense DC 19 to negate, and then Resistance DC 24 vs. Damage.
Floral: [roll4] vs. DC 20 or Deflect: [roll5] Redirected
Helios: [roll6] vs. DC 15 or Deflect: [roll7] Hit.
Ariadne: [roll8] vs. DC 20 or Deflect: [roll9] Redirected
Nope: [roll10] vs. DC 18 or Deflect: [roll11] Deflected

11, 12, 13, and 14

Arrive.

Siren

Move Action: Shift to R25.

Free Action: Swap Drawn to Death Array to Life for Death.

Standard Action: Use Life for Death on Floral. [roll12] vs. DC 20 or Deflect: [roll13] On a hit, Resistance DC 26 vs. Progressive Impaired/Disabled/Transformed (Ghastling). Hit. The Siren heals itself at: [roll14] 9 RP

All PCs are on turn.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Given that Helios now had a hand occupied with the wand she had given him, Lily went ahead and covered his ears when the ghosts shrieked at them. Meant her ears weren't covered, of course, but meh. She basically just straight ignored it.

The Siren's attack couldn't be ignored so easily...or, well, it normally wouldn't have been able to be ignored so easily. In this particular case, Lily had been anointed with a charge of pure Life magic, so whatever energy the ghost drained from her was instantly restored as golden energy flared up around her. She didn't even notice the change. If anything it even restored some of the power she had spent on investing Helios's wand, since evidently it was sunlight enough for her photosynthetic purposes. Her skin had turned faintly green in the aftermath.

Removing her hands from Helios's ears she said, "Thanks for that."

The wand she created, grown from her hair, was still technically part of her body as far as her powers were concerned; she could manipulate it with her personal phytokinesis. She unlocked more solar energy to top it off, while spreading some healing nectar on...whoever needed it, if anyone did.

Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 20 points to Sunflower Wand, 10 points to Acidic Nectar, 20 points to Healing Nectar.

Move: Probably not but if Ariadne's more in need of healing than Helios I'll move into S25 so I'm in Close range of both her and Siren, because lol Insubstantial dudes can't block squares! Tremble as I take advantage of the niche weaknesses of your special powers! TREMBLE! Then I'll Move-by Action back because sharing a square with ghosts is icky.

Standard: Healing Nectar Linked Sunflower Wand/Acidic Nectar using the Damage as an Aid for Helios at [roll0]. Regular Healing for either Helios or Ariadne, whoever is more damaged once their Resistance checks are rolled: [roll1]. If neither of them need it meh whatever. +5 because Aid's easy, crit heal for 25 RP if either of you need it

Reaction: Team Attack for Helios's next Damage effect at [roll2]. I'll Power Attack for as much as he does, if he does. Should be enough for +2 even with full Power Attack

Current Status: Fatigued, 6/10 RP towards Recover.

[Ridai]

For once, Nope thinks he actually did a reasonable-ish job at trying to do what he wanted to do. And the Siren just shrugs it off, and is possibly even more angry at him now. Of course. He should know by now that sudden confidence is most likely based on nothing.

Wrapped in thread (and only getting a little in his mouth this time) and covering his ears against the horrible shrieking, Nope watches the ghosts gang up on the others, this seems... bad. So with his conscience already struggling, he tries to, uh, ghost KO the Siren, and even more carefully tries to somehow, maybe just kind of stop the other ghosts. Not dissolve or dispel or exorcise or ultramurder or whatever, just... ghost KO. Something. Still covering his ears and fingertips pressed against the back of his skull, he tries to make it so as all sounds briefly drop out and light is inverted before rapidly reasserting themselves (god, this keeps happening).

Standard Attack the siren with Remove Hit Points. Damage 10 (+5/+5, Ranged) Linked Weaken Resistance 10 (+5/+5) Linked Affliction 10 (+5/+5; Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless/Incapacitated; Extra Condition). Crit 16+ (if applicable), AoA -5/+5.
[roll0]

Free Switch to Remove Hit Points, Mass

EE Standard Attack all enemies with Remove Hit Points, Mass. Damage 10 (+5/+5; Shapeable Area 2 [Limited [6"x6"x240' bendable line]], Penetrating [Pierce Immunity], Improved Critical 4, Multiattack [Single-target], Ranged). Crit 16+, AoA -5/+5.
Siren [roll1]
Routining against the ghastlings for 25 (if they aren't minions, I'll roll 'em up in the OOC)

[Abracadangit]

Kal watches as the spirits' attacks whistle effortlessly through her silken creations. Luckily, the threads rippling through the air are made of sterner stuff, as they subtly reroute and redirect the spectral assault.

"Why is it that some thread can affect them, and other thread can't?" Kal thinks.

"Because once you have woven a Form, it is no longer merely Thread, it is the Form," Ariadne replies, as though that makes total sense. "But if the Thread stays only Thread, then it can move things more easily, because everything is Thread."

"But you just said Forms are no longer Thread," Kal says, with a little sass.

"Hnn, hnn, how clever you must think you are. I said they are no longer MERELY Thread. You can be Thread and something else, but nothing is not Thread. We can discuss this later. Needles up."

Gonna Redirect everything against the Siren (so 2 claws plus 1 shriek), and Action: double down on Silken Shields for the whole party.
Claw 1: [roll0]
Claw 2: [roll1]
Shriek: [roll2]

[Dorni]

"Likewise," Helios answered Floral.

He was still fairly confident that his Drain Vitality spell would work if he could only land a clean hit, but he felt a bit better knowing that the Siren wasn't able to bat aside his spellfire so easily. The problem was that the specter was so darn quick. He needed to slow her down.

Instead of the tightly focused beams, this time he focused on conjuring blinding blasts of flame. Even if it didn't blind the ghost, it would hopefully slow it down some.

Move: No need
Standard: Cast Solar Flare, using Selective to only target Siren's location. Attack Siren with aid and AoA/PA 3 at [roll0]. On hit, DC 28+TA/23 vs Damage & Affliction [Vulnerable/Defenseless]


Damage 10 (Area [Burst], Selective)

[Zelphas]

Nope once again strikes directly at the "life force" of the Siren, branching out to reach for the other ghosts in the room as well. There is a long, deep sigh, and the more amorphous ghosts simply melt away, their already-indistinct forms fuzzing still further until they are only a light, slightly chilly mist, and then nothing. The Siren gives out a yowling growl, black eyes fixed upon Nope for a long moment, able to see him clearly.

Ariadne picks up the fading claws of the ghosts with her threads and directs them towards the Siren, but they vanish into mist before they can reach her. She bundles up the shriek of the ghosts in magical thread, spinning the painful sound towards the ghostly foe, but the Siren slashes at the mystical bundle with hands that stretch into claws of her own, and it falls apart before it can touch her. Floral and Helios work in tandem to release another blast of burning light, this one geared to blind as well as burn; the Siren turns her clawed hand towards the blast. The claws fuzz away, but the blast is redirected before it can reach her. Deliberately, the Siren raises up the stump of her other hand, the flames of Helios' first strike beginning to burst into a new conflagration, and with one swift slash severs the ghostly skin an inch below the ring of fire. The flames burn out almost immediately... and the stump bulges outwards into a new set of claws.

The Siren throws her head back into another not-quite-scream, calling forth several more of her ghosts to pour in through the walls. Her gaze drops down, and she slashes forward at the mage who has been throwing hated flame her way, her claws ripping through physical and mystical thread as though they were cobwebs to reach her target.

Map (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14gQijR5LRkAT0kP6TPibE7njf9vs-U7CEhv8FruTjuE/edit#gid=0)

Siren

Move Action: Call for more Ghastlings.

Free Action: Swap Drawn to Death Array to Spectral Claws.

Standard Action: Use Spectral Claws on Helios. [roll0] On a hit, Resistance DC 31/26 + Multiattack vs. Damage linked Weaken Resistance. THe Damage and Weaken are Incurable.
Ariadne, take a :smallcool: (hero point) for your Shear Forces Complication, which allows the Siren to ignore your Redirect when using her claws. Helios, take a :smallcool: as well since this is affecting you directly. And that's a miss...

Ghastlings

8 arrive on the field.

All PCs are on turn.

[Quellian-dyrae]

With Nope keeping the ghastlings from swarming them too heavily, Ariadne fortifying their defense, and Helios engaging the ghost directly, they were...well, a little bit at a stalemate, but given that she hadn't really even needed to bring any healing into play yet and they had caused a bit of damage, Lily was feeling comfortable in their tactical position.

But with little need for curative powers, and with her offense best expressed through continuing to channel stored sunlight to Helios's wand, Lily felt she could afford to redirect some of her attention. While Lily wasn't one of the team's mages, she had played enough of them at Bruno's table that she felt at least reasonably qualified to assess supernatural threats. Ghosts, in fiction anyway, tended to manifest for a reason, and that reason was often key to defeating them.

Lily met Siren's gaze and firmly asked, "What happened here?"

Of course, Lily didn't...really expect the very-possibly-insane ghost whose whole schtick seemed to be about being very silent very loudly to respond. I mean, sure, if she did, great. Lily would totally take it. But her query was expressed less by words than by scent, and less at Siren than at the trees and plants throughout and around the forest camp.

Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 20 points to Sunflower Want, 10 points to Acidic Nectar, 10 points to Olfactory Clarity, 5 points to Commune with Nature, 5 points to Scent Processing.

Free: Talk, using Comprehend Plants to basically ask the plants around here like...what happened to this camp, where Siren came from, etc. Per the Feature on Commune with Nature, the plants may draw upon Lily's knowledge for purposes of identification and recognition.

Move: Active Perception at [roll0], aiming mainly to "supplement" what information I can get from talking to the plants. Main factors at play here are Acute Analytical Olfactory senses, Tracking smell, and Acute Analytical Detect Emotions and Biology, although hrm those aren't Tracking so they might not pick up as many "remnants" as I'd have hoped, oh well. Still we'll see what it gets me.

Standard: Aid Helios's next attack at [roll1]. +5

Reaction: Team Attack with Helios's next Damage effect at [roll2], Power Attacking for whatever he does. +2 I believe, more-or-less regardless of PA.

Current Status: Fatigued, 6/10 RP towards Recover.

[Ridai]

With the Siren growling at him, but much worse, the ghosts just disappearing rather than... Nope is not sure what he hoped for, but something that doesn't imply final death, Nope looks profoundly unhappy, mouth a pressed, shaking line. More ghosts appear. The Siren seems to have been just entirely immune to everything he has done and he doesn't really want to attack the other ghosts, but if he doesn't, they will crowd the others again. So he tries to wear them down once again while hoping for the best, watching the Siren attack the others, and having to watch for someone wanting to attack him. His head hurts and his body feels wound tight.

Standard Attack all enemies with Remove Hit Points, Mass. Damage 10 (+5/+5; Shapeable Area 2 [Limited [6"x6"x240' bendable line]], Penetrating [Pierce Immunity], Improved Critical 4, Multiattack [Single-target], Ranged). Crit 16+, AoA -5/+5.
Siren [roll0]
Routining against the ghastlings for 25

[Dorni]

Move:
Standard: Cast AoA/PA 5 Sunbeam on Siren. Attacking w/Aid at (1d20+15)[roll0]. On hit, DC 30 + TA + Multi. This is a Perception, Secondary Effect attack.

Status: -5 Defenses

[Abracadangit]

Doubling down on Silken Shields for everyone.

[Zelphas]

The Siren's bottomless eyes meet Floral's gaze, even as she rears back in disappointed fury at her claws just missing Helios. She holds Floral's look for a long moment, and her too-wide, ripped open mouth seems almost to smile.

The scent response you get from the plants is... odd. In the heat of battle, in the midst of death and decay all around you, it may be filtered oddly, but the plants respond like... it's hard to pin down. The message they send you seems to suggest that the Siren was a sudden appearance, however. The Siren came, and things happened. And then the humans left the Camp, and it fell into disrepair.

There's something else underneath the scents you're getting, though. Interpreting it with your own understanding of the world doesn't quite fix the problem. Some key element connecting the plant's experience and your own experience is missing; they're trying to communicate something, but given your current understanding they lack the 'words' to convey it in a form you would understand... or maybe the situation's currently too chaotic for you to get the full scent down correctly.

Another long sigh, and the recently-arrived ghosts dissolve once again. "..ank y..." The Siren's near-smile turns into a snarl once more, and she slaps aside Helios' hastily-fired Sunbeam with what seems to be sheer rage--though trails of fire still settle upon her misty, trailing scraps of what might be clothing around her. With one more furious look at Nope, the Siren shrieks for more reinforcements and then sweeps her claws in an arc across the group, the ghostly, razor-sharp appendages slashing through Ariadne's carefully-constructed shields and towards everyone who is standing in her way.

Map. (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14gQijR5LRkAT0kP6TPibE7njf9vs-U7CEhv8FruTjuE/edit#gid=0)

Siren

Move Action: Yell for more Ghastlings. One might eventually survive... er... life terms are tough for ghosts...

Standard Action: Use Spectral Claws to Multiattack everyone (it's actually Ranged), All-Out Attacking for 4. On a hit, Resistance DC 31/26 vs. Damage linked Weaken Resistance.

Floral: [roll0] Miss
Helios: [roll1] Hit
Ariadne: [roll2] Miss
Nope: [roll3] Hit

Ghastlings

8 more arrive to be Noped.

All PCs are on turn.

[Ridai]

Nope mostly dodge-stumbles out of the way of very angry claws, apart from them raking across his side. Clenching his teeth, breathing hard through his nose, and a grunt later, Nope is still covering his ears by virtue of not really committing any brain time to changing the fact, fingers starting to feel sore. One would think one gets used to getting hurt in this line of work, and currently, this is not the case for Nope, who finds hurting very detrimental in regards to erasing things from existence precisely. So hoping this Siren isn't just straight invincible, his brain cycles the same removal process again. At least the repetition makes it somewhat easier, but also brings the risk of stupid auto-piloting with it, and he really has to watch for his brain doing a different kind of stupid and letting in a stray thought it thinks it has some processing time left it should spend since it is just doing the same thing, and no brain, you should not!

Hey, guess what...

Standard Attack all enemies with Remove Hit Points, Mass. Damage 10 (+5/+5; Shapeable Area 2 [Limited [6"x6"x240' bendable line]], Penetrating [Pierce Immunity], Improved Critical 4, Multiattack [Single-target], Ranged). Crit 16+, AoA -5/+5.
Siren [roll0]
Routining against the ghastlings for 25

[Abracadangit]

Kal watches as the Siren's pale talons make quick work of her defensive latticework of threads, designed to deflect and displace her attacks.

"My magic may not be of much use here," she says, with grim resignation.

"Nonsense," Ariadne says, almost offended. "You pay very close attention, your great grandmother is going to show you a little trick, but you cannot do this all the time. You are not strong enough yet, do you understand?" Kal thinks back the idea of nodding. "I told you everything is Thread, hm? This includes the things with Forms -- apples, drinking cups, mountains, minotaurs -- but it also includes the things without Forms. Sounds, thoughts, memories. And light." An invisible force directed her attention to the few places where light enters the room.

"You want me to weave light and the thread together?" Kal asks. "I don't know that I understand."

"This underworld woman, she does not like the light. So yes, we will spin her some special thread with light woven inside. Hold up your needle for me, and I will guide your hand."

Kal does as she is told. "How do we begin."

"I taught you how to look with your inner eye, perceive the threads as they move through the world. Now you are going to perceive the world as it moves through the thread. Are you ready, engoní?"

With some mental effort, Kal reopens her threadwork sense, and sees everything as it was before. But instead of focusing on the Siren's threads, she brings her attention to the light in the room, and how it surrounds the thread. The longer she stays fixated on it, the more she almost loses the ability to distinguish between the light and the thread; their forms start to bristle and blur.

"Very good. Now I take it from here. Watch carefully."

An outside observer would notice that Kal's hands suddenly move with a sort of wild energy, as though they have woven this particular pattern a million times across a million lives. The threads that appear around the Siren are not Ariadne's usual red, but are made from a shimmering, glowing energy, and the lines start to converge on the Siren in a dazzling web of radiance.

"I don't think I can control it," Kal thinks, as the particle-thin strands of light begin to tangle and snarl.

"Don't control it, then," Ariadne counters. "Just weave."

Free Action: Switching Threadwork Conjurations back to Threadwork Sense, because it makes sense for the fluff. Action: Gonna Extra Effort a Power Stunt to lightweave a Snaring Strands on the Siren, going to max All-Out for a +5.
Threads of Light [Magic] [Light]: Damage 10 (Ranged, Affects Insubstantial 2, Homing, Quirk [Short Range Only], Incurable, Perception) Linked Affliction 10 (Vulnerable/Defenseless; Affects Insubstantial 2, Limited Degree)
Siren: [roll0]

[Quellian-dyrae]

There was definitely something that the plants around the camp could tell her...buuuut it was just barely possible that standing in the doorway of a cabin fighting a ghost wasn't the optimal time to try and discern it. Who'd have thought?

So, Plan B: Lay The Ghost To Rest was out. Fortunately, Plan A: Kick The Ghost's Incorporeal Butt still seemed to be proceeding apace.

And while Lily's nose may have been on the plants, this was not to say that Lily wasn't paying attention to the fight. Hey eyes may not have been quite as acute, but they worked just fine and were still pointed squarely at the ghost, so when Siren raked her claws across the group, she was ready, dodging back. Her personal phytokinesis lent enough speed to her movements to avoid the attack.

Nope and Helios weren't quite so lucky, and Helios seemed to have taken the worst of it. Lily gestured, and the wand in his hand waved and collapsed into nectar, releasing the last of its stored energy to soothe his pain and speed his healing. Of course, that was still solar energy, so he could still redirect a bit of it towards offense as well.

Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 10 points to Floral Acid, 20 points to Healing Nectar, 10 points to Medicinal Nectar, 10 points to Solar Nectar.

Move: Nah.

Standard: Aid Helios with Floral Acid Linked Healing Nectar at [roll0]. Helios receives Persistent, Restorative Healing at [roll1]. +5, 15 RP after Persistent

Current Status: Fatigued, 6/10 RP towards Recover.

[Dorni]

Helios' wards once more flared to life under the Siren's claws. This time they proved insufficient to fully turn aside the spectral strike - and Helios was left with a deep gash along his forearm. Worse than that was the clinging haze of Death energy that clung to the wound, exacerbating it.

Or it would have if Floral's nectar didn't immediately close the wound and the abundance of Life energy therein didn't immediately ground out the clinging death energy. Once again Helios was in Floral's debt. Or were they even now? No matter, now wasn't the time to settle accounts.

Helios' reply was to once more weave his magics and rip at the aetheric essence of the Siren.

Move:
Standard: Cast Drain Vitality on Siren with Aid and AoA/PA 5. [roll0]. On hit, DC 25 vs Cumulative Progressive Affliction [Fatigued & Impaired / Stunned & Disabled / Incap]

Using 10 RP from Floral's Heal to remove 3 points of Weaken Resistance.
End of Turn: Recover 1 Weaken Resistance.

Status: Bruised, -5 AoA

[Zelphas]

Nope once again removes the incoming ghosts, causing them to fade quickly into nothing as soon as they arrive. This time, however, his odd power catches the edge of something real within the ethereality of the Siren and eliminates it as well; the Siren's entire form puffs into mist for a moment before re-stabilizing, her cheeks hollow and haggard, her eyes burning black pits within a white face that somehow now looks sickly.

Ariadne produces threads of sudden light, the mystical strands wavering through reality and unreality to strike true in each place. The Siren reacts immediately to this new threat, whipping around the still-burning bits of her tattered form to intersect with the lights in a swift, impossibly-twisted motion. The threads catch Helios' flames and wink out, and the flames burn away within the light of the threads, the two forces clashing and cancelling one another before either can harm the Siren.

Perhaps it is because her attention is diverted by defending herself from the threads, a new and potent danger that she must immediately respond to or be speared by tiny beams of light. Perhaps Nope's strange powers simply eliminated just enough of her defenses, leaving the Siren open to another attack at just the right moment. Perhaps, seeing her prey stand against her without falling to her song, seeing her minions dissipated before they can be of any use, seeing her strikes be healed in mere moments, the Siren has shifted from attacking to escape, and so has let her attention waver from her foes at just the wrong moment. Perhaps all of these things at once. Whatever the reason, when Helios weaves his spell into place, he feels it take hold of the Siren as though it is made to latch onto her.

For an instant, the Siren... alters, as Death is rewritten with Life. Hair flares up from dull, misty silver to deep russet gold; skin flushes pink, then gold, then deep red; eyes flash, becoming brown, then amber, then filling with light. The mouth opens, and opens, and opens, light and sound flying from it in a bright yellow shriek--

With a soundless explosion, the Siren is gone, the Death magic that comprised her form falling to the floor of the cabin and eating a rotten hole through it in seconds before sinking into a stinking pile on the ground. The explosion passes through all of you without touching you and rolls outwards. There is the sound of wind blowing, but not a leaf or a blade of grass moves. Then all is silent. It doesn't take Ariadne's threadwork senses or Helios' Mystic senses to feel that Camp Bubble Brook is now, truly, empty.

The Battle is over! Everyone take a Hero Point.

Now, I'm pretty sure you're going to be sticking around here for a bit, so this Scene is not yet over. Still, to plan ahead, everyone can take 5 Downtime Actions.

[Ridai]

With the spectacle of magic and magic explosions and the wave of death magic and whatnot, Nope takes his hands off his ears (his fingers and his head hurt), looking at the pile of... something, then quickly glancing about for more ghosts that don't seem to come.

"You did it...?" Nope says, mostly guessing. "Should... should I try to remove that pile?" A beat. "Can someone please check if the souls of the campers and counselors still exist?!"

For the Lull scene, I'm trying to put something coherent together. Kind of thinking about the Lull coinciding with Nope having bad days, rattled by the things he faced so far, migraine from all the power usage, state of his family weighing on him. Has searched the museum several times now, but is finding nothing about Nora, so he feels like he is stuck, not sure how to go about finding her.

[Abracadangit]

"It feels... hollow here, now," Kal says, as she casts her threadwork sense over the area. "Nothing else lingers. I do not miss our enemy, but..." She stares at the pile left behind on the floor. "I wish there had been another way to mend her spirit." She turns to Helios. "We shall gaze together, and see if there is anything to see."

"You get used to the spirits, engoni. Like crushing a spider -- you hesitate the first time, because you know you will feel all the little pieces crunch beneath your hand. It stings your heart. After five, fifty, a hundred..." Ariadne pauses. "One day, you no longer think about it. Your hand just moves."

Kal is honestly repulsed; a twinge of nausea winds through her stomach. "I don't ever want to be like that," she thinks back, resolutely. "I will always look for a better way, a more peaceful way."

"Hnn, hnn, hnn," Araidne smirks, internally. "I used to say the same thing. And sometimes, that way will be there. And sometimes it will not. Better you get over what it feels like to crush a spider now."

"Can hardly call that 'crushing a spider.' For all of that 'threading the world' talk, it looked like it just bounced off of her."

"Lots of your friends' little tricks bounced off of her, too," Ariadne points out. "You forget that you are new, at this. It was a fine job, for the first time, and there will be more spiders to come. For now you are more prepared, and have some new ideas for what you can do, hm?"

"Thank you, for saying that. I should try to learn what you did, copy those patterns. But I don't know if my needle's quick enough."

"Keep practicing. One day, you no longer think about it. Your hand just moves."

Gonna Threadwork Sense ping the area (even though as exposition pointed out, you don't need this sense to know it's empty, ha ha), and see if it can tell me anything about the weird pile that the Siren left behind.

[Zelphas]

As you begin to move about and adjust to the reality of Camp Bubble Brook without the Siren within it, you begin to hear the sound of something small moving through the air very quickly. This sound resolves itself a moment later, as a bundle of grey feathers plows through the front doors of the Administration Building, managing to arrest its headlong roll mere inches from the new hole in the floor.

"Wait! Before you go too far! It fits--sort of--but it's too early--well, no, just earlier than I thought--" Watcher's voice comes out of the clearly agitated pigeon, which works to right itself on the rotten floor. "Not important--the lack of video is a clue--well, not really, unless something is there--which it might be--but anyways, I think... that..."

The pigeon freezes, its pupils dilating visibly larger and smaller as it processes the room it is in, the hole in the floor, and the scratches on Helios from the recent battle. "Ah. Well. Never mind, then. I'll just..." As quickly as the pigeon arrived, it spreads its wings once more, moving to take off back into the sky and away from you all.

[Ridai]

Nope doesn't really feel better. He remembers something one of the ghosts said, but, well...

And then Watcher pigeon. "Wha-what? Whole sentences! No pronoun game!"

[Dorni]

Helios stared at the stinking pile.

It wasn't really the weight of having killed the siren. Well, not totally. He'd known that standing up to the League and their followers would mean fights, and superpowered fights meant a high degree of danger. He'd known on some level that he might have to kill, even if he tried hard to avoid it. But so far he'd fought undead, and the proxybots at the museum. He didn't think of himself as a killer. And the enemy this time had been an undead spirit. It was debatable whether it had been 'alive' to start with. Was the siren any different than the other undead the cult threw employed? And even if so, what happened to the spirit now? Did some essential part of the spirit pass on to the afterlife? Or, with its spiritual essence dissolved, did it simply cease to exist?

But the technicalities withered under the feeling of ripping out the siren's aether like air rushing from a deflating balloon.

He'd planned to weaken it enough to subdue. Then between him and Ariadne they could try interrogating it. Surely a spirit capable of animating the illusion outside had at least held some memories. But once the spell had taken hold...

He still felt ill, but he forced himself to kneel over the pile and examine it. They'd come to this place in hopes of finding why Manchineel avoided this place, to find a key to defeating her. To stop her and save those they still could.

Helios will examine the siren's remains, looking for clues as to what exactly the siren was or how it came to be, and anything else that might stand out as relevant. Expertise (Magic) [roll0]

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily was...actually not particularly concerned with Siren vanishing, at least in any sort of killing sense. She was undead, not alive. Destroying her was best analogized to dispelling a dangerous magical effect, not killing a living person. If there was any effect on some actual person's actual soul as various religious or mystical traditions posited them, she expected it would be positive rather than negative - some variant on freeing it, laying it to rest, or so on. Also something something ectoplasmic bodies; if actual souls actually existed Lily didn't actually expect they would be susceptible to most forms of direct attack, whether manifest as some sort of spiritual undead or not.

Lily was admittedly generalizing from fictional evidence there, but so far fictional evidence had proven at least somewhat correlated with the reality of living in a world that now included magic and superpowers.

Siren vanishing upon defeat did mean that they didn't have any opportunity to acquire information or advantage from her, so that was a practical concern. She was also unsure that Siren was really gone - various fictional representations of ghosts could return if defeated by merely physical or magical force.

Lily blinked twice at Watcher's...very on-the-ball and undoubtedly perfectly-timed warning. "I'm going to see what I can learn about the camp," she said, stepping out of the cabin and beginning to walk around the campgrounds, trying again to learn what she could from the plantlife there.

Back to full Senses, Commune with Nature, and Scent Processing. Going to basically talk to the plants to see if they can give me some sense of what happened here, now that I'm not, you know, in a cabin fighting a crazy ghost. :smallamused:

Also now that I can Routine the checks.

[Zelphas]

The fluff of feathers stops just sort of the doorway, turning back to look at Nope. Maybe it's a testament to Watcher's design skills, but it's not every day that a pigeon manages to look embarrassed. "Well... there honestly isn't much, and I didn't--this would be a really early occurrence, if I'm right. In a couple of places in the future I came from, there were a few small bits of crumbling civilization. A small town, a run-down resort, things like that. They were--are--running now, all that I identified. Satellite images and pigeon scans showed nothing there--just broken and abandoned things, like a lot of--anyway. The thing is, if--the people who lived near those places, all had stories. They wouldn't go near those places, even for supplies, and everyone had a story of someone going there and never coming back. I could never verify them, myself, but--I started calling them Null Zones. I assumed--"

The pigeon's beak snaps shut for a second, as it hops from foot to foot. The feathers all fluff up and then flatten back down. "Flyovers of the forest in the future I'm from had pockets like that, every once in a long while. I had hoped there might be people, but there was no life. No life that I saw, at least. So, I was thinking, and I thought, maybe--it wasn't much to go on, and I still don't have enough to verify it, and people returned to Camp Bubble Brook before July 1st, so it doesn't quite fit..." Watcher's voice devolves into muttering for a long moment, beforethe pigeon's head snaps back up. "But you're fine, and Manchineel hasn't noticed you here yet... I think... so you should be good! That's about it; just a thought, to be careful, and--I'll just--" The pigeon flies away once more.

It is difficult to concentrate dispassionately on what you are trying to do--thoughts of what might have just occurred keep intruding, and being summarily suppressed--but you are able to glean a little bit out of the aftermath in front of you. Usually, your Drain Vitality spell essentially uses Life Energy as a type of sponge, drawing the Life Energy of the target to itself to strip away at the Life Energy of the target. This means that a target is exhausted and then rendered unconscious, normally.

The two different way that the Siren responded to your Drain Vitality spell--first physically knocking it aside, and then having such a dramatic implosion--suggest that, quite possibly, there simply was no Life Energy for your spell to attract in the Siren, but only Death Energy. Faced with its opposite, your spell was first repulsed, and then it... canceled out the Death Energy of the Siren.

The undead you have faced when fighting Nergal (and a few other cult members) have all had at least traces of Life Energy for you to draw on, remnants of previous life; the idea that the Siren had none might mean that she was something different from a true undead, something altogether stranger. But still, this is merely a theory; there is still so much about magic that you simply do not know.

Free from combat and able to focus completely upon what the plants are telling you, you are able to pick up on two main things.

First, the Siren's appearance was a sudden event. There are echoes of something Siren-like before her appearance, but they are so faint that when they began appearing is hard to pin down (even with your boosting, the plants understanding of time can still be slightly obtuse). If you had to guess, signs of the Siren's appearance didn't began at most a few months before her "arrival", and they were subtle enough that someone without the ability to talk to plants (or an ability to sense mystical energy) probably wouldn't have noticed them. The Siren appeared full-fledged the night that half the camp vanished, and she was responsible for their vanishing.

The second thing you are able to pick up takes longer to tease out. There doesn't seem to be a perfect analog between what the plants are trying to tell you and your own experiences, so something keeps getting lost in translation. Finally, as a moment of random thought, a memory surfaces: a tornado warning when you were in elementary school. The plants seize upon that mixture of fear and odd inevitability, and feed it back to you.

To the rest of nature around Camp Bubble Brook, the Siren had been like a tornado. Extreme, certainly. Dangerous, definitely. But not really unexpected, given the way that the wind was blowing at the time.

[Dorni]

"What in the... hmm... but that would mean... no, that can't... but what if... If I'm right..."

Helios rose to his feet and floated out the door, muttering to himself as he went. He started rubbernecking around, looking for something. His malaise wasn't entirely gone, but he was moving with purpose. "Were you able to learn anything?" he asked Lily when they crossed paths

Helios will walk outside and look around the camp, walking around as needed to examine the Death that permeates the camp. On the hunch that its thinner at the edges, he'll start there and try to determine where the aura is thickest. Pending what he finds, he'll also use the Ranged Strength 10 on Crossing the Sky to start excavating to see if the Death extends deeply into the soil.

[Ridai]

"Wha-" Nope listens with an increasingly alarmed and confused expression until the Watcher pigeon flies away. "What?"

And then Helios begins to mutter in vague sentence fragments! "Oh no, it's spreading!"

Completely coincidentally, Nope begins to walk out of the building, just so happening to be headed out of the camp.

[Dorni]

Helios trip took him to the edge of the camp and back again. He didn't return to the administration building, instead kneel near an otherwise nondescript patch of barren soil a little ways off to side of it where he invoked another spell and began excavating the. He didn't find any buried treasure or ominious devices, but his frown deepened as as the soil piled up. "Well, I have good news and bad news," he at last spoke up, the dirt now flying off the pile and filling in the hole.

"Good news is I have a pretty solid idea what happened here. That Siren we fought wasn't a Spirit. She was... This whole camp is a natural wellspring of Death energy. The energy welling up here reached a critical point where it coalesced and took the form of the siren. That's why my spell had the effect it did. I- oh. I can explain the mechanics later, but the core is that she wasn't a Spirit in the sense of being a being of corporeal living aether. I think a more appropriate description is that it was a Death Elemental."

"The bad news is that the camp is still a danger. The Death is still welling up from the font. I'd have to study it longer to say for sure, but I'd guess we have maybe 3 months before it reaches a point where another siren - or something else like it - manifests again."

Helios grimaced. "And that's not all. You all know the Suneaters practice necromancy. If they found this place it would be a huge power source for them. They could call forth and bind Sirens of their own or just try to take the power for themselves."

"We might have a few options for dealing with it though. If I had the time to work I could probably seal it, whether by channeling enough Life into it to critically weaken it or by diffusing the Death energy here into the forest to keep it from reaching critical mass and letting it dissipate naturally. The problem is that I do mean it will take time. Weeks, maybe. I'm not sure we have that kind of time for starters, and there's a risk that the Suneaters might sense the working or one of them might investigate if they get wind that I'm spending a lot of time around the camp."

"There's also another option. A faster, but more far more risky one. This camp is a wellspring of Death. Rapheal was a massive wellspring of Life. Rapheal's energy could almost certainly overwhelm this place and offset the Death here. With a little care, I'm confident I could channel her Life to accelerate cancelling out the Deathwell without harming Rapheal herself. The obvious problem is that we'd have to get Rapheal into the forest here and Manchineel would almost certainly seek her out if she sensed Rapheal's return."

"There's a final, potentially even more risky issue. We know Manchineel and her brood avoid this place. I think we now know why. Manchineel's powers are based around Life. The abundant Death here might be a potent weapon against her. "

[Ridai]

"Do you think I could remove that wellspring?" Nope says, knowing precisely nothing about how magic actually works. There is not even any fiction stuff he could draw on, because most magic like in D&D operates on a whole lot of BS and the story needing something to happen.

"I don't think bringing Raphael back here is a good idea..." he adds, along with "Using this death magic as a weapon, uh, sounds dangerous? Maybe? Like asking for things to go wrong, salt the earth dangerous? I don't know?"

[Abracadangit]

"I will help this endeavor however I can," Kal says, trying to sound like she would even have any idea of where to start. "If I have time to consult my pattern books, there may be a design that could help."

"What happened to I'm Not Good Enough, hnn, hnn," Ariadne snarks.

"Still there. But while I might be new at coming up with new designs on the fly, it's different when I have time to sit and experiment. I read pattern books for fun. Like -- a LOT of pattern books."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily nodded as she listened to Helios's explanation. The impressions she had gotten from the plantlife in the area had been fairly vague, not enough for her to come to any clear conclusions - which makes sense in retrospect, if it was a magical matter - but it all fit precisely with what Helios was saying. Although...

"The Death magic apparently had enough of an interaction with the physical world that its traces left detectable residue." That was how Lily translated it, anyway. Someone who regarded their powers with a more mystical slant might have said she talked to the plants in the area and they had been aware of the Death magic building, but that wasn't Lily. Yes, her internal experience of that method of using her powers to acquire information from plantlife was the experience of a sort of conversation, asking questions and receiving answers. But that meant little to her. Her internal experience of vision was an illusion created by her brain to translate a bunch of photons hitting particular cells in her eyes into something that made sense. For whatever reason, her brain was taking whatever inputs she was receiving from the plants in the area and creating an illusion of a conversation so as to translate it into a form she could understand. Or something like that, anyway.

"Which, practically speaking, means I might be able to gauge how close it's coming to creating a new Siren-equivalent, at least given the opportunity to take regular readings and such.
I do think clearing out a wellspring of Death magic is worth doing on its face, all else being equal. But all else isn't equal, so I do think it's worth considering what advantage we could gain from it."

"I would actually rate the fact that the Suneaters can use this place as a power source to be a benefit for us, or at least neutral. It means we know a place they might go to try and perform powerful magic. Watcher can keep a couple birdbots over the area and alert us if they try anything. Maybe it makes them more dangerous to fight here...or maybe not if we can ambush them while they're busy trying to harness Death magic for a big ritual thing or something. Or at least, that's usually a good strategy in games and fiction, not sure how it works in real life. Also opens up possibilities of like, they send people to examine the place, we tail them back to other strongholds or ambush them when they leave."

"Another thought that springs to mind. Would it be possible and efficient in terms of necessary time, effort, and whatever magical resources may or may not be required to stabilize the wellspring without sealing it entirely? Dissipate enough of the energy that it doesn't get worse or spawn more undead, while still leaving it usable as something we could use against Manchineel, or as a possible lure for Suneater necromancers?"

[Zelphas]

Before you can solidly come to a decision regarding the wellspring of Death Magic in Camp Bubble Brook, the wind stirs the tress around you. Floral can interpret what they are saying; Manchineel has heard about intruders in the Camp. She--and Michael, and Abel--are on their way. A look at the sky suggests that Gabriel may not be far behind them. With Manchineel and her Menagerie converging on the scene, you all beat a hasty retreat. Camp Bubble Brook, silent and withered, lets you go without comment.

-----

Hannah and Andrew come home looking more haggard than usual a few days later, and it doesn't take long for Lily to find out why. A round two dozen Bronze Links have been taken into custody; good news... except for the fact that they were thrown unceremoniously through the doors of the police station by two Silver Links, the coppery chains that Bronze Links wear to mark their position driven into their arms by cruel blows. The resulting investigation is frustrated rather quickly; the Bornze Links have no supernatural powers and are unable to talk about the other members of their gang--physically unable to do so. They also seem extremely weakened, as though life was taken out of them. Hannah managed to track the group to where they must have fought the Silver Links; the warehouse is gutted, a wreck, but there isn't much else there to find.

-----

Two days after the group went to Camp Bubble Brook, Dante appears before Flint and Sara, his robe tattered, one arm bloody, stuffing a wad of black cloth into his pocket. He shrugs off any attempts at help or healing with a grimace. "It was just a disagreement," he says shortly in response to any questions, shaking his head. "Some of the cult thought they could take advantage of Manchineel's distraction by Helios and his new friends to advance their own interests. We disabused them of that notion. It's nothing that you need to concern yourself with."

Dante pauses, looking at Flint speculatively. "...Though it may come to that for both of you, soon enough. Know for now that we do not need to agree on all points to serve; we will still be family, regardless."

August 20-22nd, 2018.

Finding Nothing

"It's quiet here."

The soft voice cuts in on Remy's black mood, and his headache. Nora has disappeared, a phantom; he can barely find evidence that she existed, let alone where she went. He had gotten a short text from his father; checking in, he said, wanting to make sure that his son was "in the right place". He hasn't responded. A recent search through Museum Street had brought him nearby some sort of Suneater Cult meeting; he thought he had heard his mother's voice, but he couldn't be sure, and he didn't try to find out. And on top of all of that, the constant stress of making sure he didn't remove a fundamental aspect of reality while still removing his presence, and his movements, and life force, and oh man the Siren wasn't a real living person but what about all those ghosts what were they and what happened to--he has a headache.

That is what finds Remy Rames--not Nope, not right now, just Remy--sitting in a small, intensely-manicured park on the shore of Lake Michigan, staring out at the almost-still water, being interrupted in his dark musings by the very quiet voice. Looking to his left, he would see the woman that had been sitting there before he arrived... though thinking back, he didn't really register that she was there until she spoke. Long black hair in a multitude of thin brads, dark brown skin nearly the same color as her eyes, deep green and brown clothing, almost a uniform, that seems too heavy for the warm weather; the woman has almost as little presence as Remy himself, and she seems to shrink in on herself even more as he looks over. One side of her mouth quirks up for a second in a nervous smile. "Oh, I-I'm sorry, it's just... with everything going on, it's hard to find somewhere... quiet. I'll just..." she lapses into an almost-expectant silence.

Patterns in Patterns

Inspiration strikes from within, not without, engoni.

Kal has gone for a walk. Her room at her grandmother's house is a mess of papers, sketches, and string, none of them quite coming out the way that she wants them to go, and Ariadne's cryptic "help" has been more of an annoyance than a boon in this instance. Unfortunately, one of the great advantages of a walk--the fact that it gets you away from the place and the people that have been bothering you for a time--is partially spoiled by the fact that the person she is looking for a break from is inside her own head, and feels the need to comment on nearly every dress, flag, or banner she walks by.

Maybe that's why her walk took her to the Industrial Block; less for Ariadne to pick apart, since most are in working clothes and there aren't many clothing stores or waving flags. Standing in front of the Garage of the Future, she can take a moment to admire the fanciful lines and curves of an abstract piece of metal art on display, even if the name of the place--and the graffiti only partially-cleaned off of it--intrude on her thoughts with darker matters. Ariadne sniffs. Iron. Bronze has more life, more warmth; those who say iron is tougher and more useful simply lack the will to make what they wish from the superior metal--not that either is superior to thread, of course.

Before Kal can decide whether to enter the Garage to seek inspiration there, continue on her walk, or do something completely different, she spots a surprisingly familiar face. The Silver Link Wrath, without her regalia of status, in casual clothes, and attempting unsuccessfully not to be noticed, walks up to the Garage's side door and slips quickly inside, glancing about quickly before she goes in. Her eyes slide past Kal without really noticing her.

Evidence Interrogation

"Sorry I couldn't get you your own lab, but you should have an hour," Andrew grimaces, settling the ill-fitting police uniform over his shoulders once again. It was the closest thing they had to a good fit for him, but it is tight in the shoulders and chest, and he claims there hasn't been time to re-tailor it.

The amount of general heroic work that Lily and her little group have managed to do, combined with Lily's own stubborn, reasoned conversations with her family, have paid out in a surprising dividend; it took longer than she would like, but Lily is being allowed to come in and look over the evidence recovered from Doctor Proxy's latest attempt at museum theft. Andrew, smiling and waving hellos to the many people he knows in the new Forester's Bay Police Headquarters building, is at Lily's side, escorting her in... while Hannah is conveniently busy interrogating the batch of former Bronze Links to see if anything can come from that arrest. They pass through the somewhat-normal mixture of uniformed officers, plainclothes detectives, and captured perps that occupy the front of a police station. Ntombi Peters, doubtless called in for another "conversation" about her connection to Manchineel (which will doubtless lead nowhere), meets Andrews wave with a small smile, but says nothing.

Soon enough, you are out of the bustle and into the back areas, heading towards the small on-site laboratory containing what evidence the police gathered from the Doctor Proxy crime scene. Perhaps it is Andrew's proximity that hides the scent from you, but neither of you are prepared for when you turn the corner to see Hannah, rumpled and tired and clearly angry, standing in front of the door to the lab with her arms crossed. Andrew sighs, getting ready for a fight.

"I know she has permission," Hannah says before either of you can speak, her tone saying exactly what she thinks of that permission and her glare at Andrew telling what she thinks of his efforts in getting it. "I'm here to talk to her."

Books and Bindings

"The Yel--some of our number already searched this place," Dante states as you open the door to Between the Bindings, a tiny used-bookstore at the edge of Pub Alley, near to the Residential District. He stretches his bandaged arm, grimacing; the wounds hadn't entirely healed yet. "They have very... particular tastes, though, so they may have missed something or deemed it beneath their notice."

The interior of the store smells like dust and ink, with an odd, unpleasant undertone of burned feathers that seems to be a few days old. An old man with thick, bottle-cap glasses looks up at your entrance, his mouth turning down slightly as though irritated by the interruption of his reading. On the desk next to him is a small parrot stand, and perched on that stand...

If you hadn't run into something similar several times recently, you might believe that the proprietor had decided to decorate with a stuffed pigeon.

Dante is looking at the proprietor and the "pigeon" as well, his eyes narrowing. "He must've been warned..." He glances at you, hesitating slightly. "I need to speak with that man for a moment. Would you mind looking through the books while I do so?"

As Dante turns towards you, the "stuffed" pigeon's eye twitches towards you ever so slightly, confirming your guess.

[Ridai]

Remy is feeling so tired. Camp Bubble Brook is still haunting him, not because of the Siren (though that one was hella scary too), but because of the ghosts. Like how his brain likes to go back to every awkward or bad situation he was in when it has nothing better to do, it keeps cycling back to removing the ghosts, as well as speculating on what happened to the people who were at the camp in general, and where they might be now. It was one thing when someone died before all this superhuman business began. You could say stuff like "oh, they are probably in a better place now", but at the end of the day, you could go with "they are dead, that's it". Now with all this superhuman business and now even ghosts, suddenly an afterlife (or multiple) might actually be a thing, raising the question where people go after they die, and what happens if that is prevented, and chances are he won't get answers to that.

On a more mundane level, he has been in more life-or-death situations than he ever wanted to be, at times face-to-face with nightmare fuel death machines and the like. And his body still hurts from some leftover injuries. He has been healing pretty quick overall, leading to the suspicion that he is removing recovery time subconsciously, which opens up the questions of what else he might be unknowingly removing, or if that removal can screw up. And he really doesn't like to remove things for ultimately minor things, given the risk. He takes out the trash, he doesn't remove it, because that's what a psychopath would do.

Family still in shambles. No goddamn trace of Nora. Not one. It's been weeks!

So when someone talks near him as he is more or less slumped on the bench, another awkward memory is added to his vast archive, because he starts at the unexpected sound, visibly flinching. A woman sitting there, who doesn't seem like she wants to attack him. And hopefully isn't a secret cultist. At least she doesn't seem instantly afraid of him, like people have started to be about Nope (just why has that become a thing?!). "No no, 't's alright," Remy says in response almost automatically, in the tone he has been hoping for years is coming across as generally friendly. Great, now I made someone feel bad.

"Can be nice here. When there's no superbastards around." Well that is the word his brain chose at the moment, struggling through reviled small talk, situations when there isn't any real topic to discuss, but it would be awkward to say nothing. Never learned how that works (well, beyond people just immediately having their attention drift away). At least he had enough presence of mind to say "superbastards", not "turbo [c-word]", which sprang to mind first thinking about the cult. And the robots. And the chain gangers. And whatever you want to call Manchineel's stuff, and would have been immensely awkward, and also extremely silly, but would have been a more fitting descriptor in his mind.

Honestly he is still surprised someone would just randomly talk to him.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily walked through the police station beside her brother, giving little smiles and waves to the officers she recognized, which was most of them. There was a part of her that was wondering if she should ask Ariadne if she could refit Andrew's uniform, next time she saw her. On the one hand, that seemed to kinda be taking advantage of her superhero team connections? On the other hand, it seemed like it should be a fairly trivial feat for thread magic. Lily didn't think she'd mind if one of her teammates asked her to drop by to spruce up their houseplants, or something.

(She'd do it herself, but unfortunately, the police uniforms were not made of 100% cotton fibers.)

Not important! She'd admit she...kinda wanted to hang around and listen to whatever interview Ntombi Peters was giving, but that probably wouldn't be authorized, and would be suspicious even if it was. She passed by without giving Ntombi a second glance, since Lily Woods had never met her.

"All good, I don't think I'll need anything super specialized for this," Lily said. Granted, being used to working in a fully stocked scientific laboratory, Lily's views of what counted as "normal expected" lab equipment might have possibly differed from the views of the Forester's Bay Police Department.

...Annnnd Hannah was waiting for them outside the lab. Her tone of voice, the glare she shot Andrew, and of course, the scent behind it all, were once again enough to bring Lily back to the mindset of their last fight. Andrew would be close enough beside her to notice her normal perfume-like scent shift immediately to the smell of fresh-baked bread.

Although...there was a part of her that was just quietly sad about that. She heard Andrew sigh and smelled the feelings on his breath as he braced himself for a fight. She noticed the change in her own scent, of course. She didn't...want this. She loved her brother and her sister, and she didn't want the first thing they all did upon walking into the same room as each other to be to prepare for a fight. It had never been like that before.

(Of course, thinking about it just made her even angrier at Hannah, for having to be so confrontational all the time, because sometimes family wasn't easy.)

"What?" she asked, her voice flat, defensive, her arms crossing unconsciously in front of her.

[Abracadangit]

"Is that..." Kal wonders, not entirely sure if she could trust her combat-addled memories of Wrath, at this point.

"You have met her before," Ariadne chimes in. "But she was not so nice, hnn, hnn."

"I'm going to follow her for a little bit, see if I can learn anything. Nothing too aggressive without the team here, though."

"You don't need them for every little thing," Ariadne counters, sounding callous and distrustful of help as ever.

"I know, I know, relax. Not a self-deprecation moment. I know I don't need them for every little thing. But this might turn out to be a big thing."

Kal looks ways before she enters the Garage, hoping this won't end up being a scene.

[Dorni]

Books and Bindings

"Exactly. Their 'tastes' are so narrow and anything outside of that might as well not exist to them." The sudden scent of the bookstore entrance drew a sniff from Flint, but not an unpleasant one. It reminded him of the local library they'd frequented as kids. It had been a weekly ritual for their parents to take the two of them to drop off last weeks stories and spend time choosing new ones - at least until sometime in high school when they'd gotten into video games.

He met the old man's glance with a pleasant smile. The pigeon got a glance as well, but Flint gave a small shrug and turned away. This was an older bookstore. A proprietor with eccentric taste in decorations was to be expected after all.

What was more surprising was Dante's sudden interest. "Warned?"

[Zelphas]

Finding Nothing

Surprisingly, the woman laughs in response to Remy's choice of words, a soft, sweet sound swiftly strangled by embarrassment. "Oh, I don't mean to--it's just... you sound like Ca--a fr--a coworker of mine." A bit of Texas drawl shows through on her words as she becomes more flustered, stopping and starting what she is saying several times. "I didn't mean to say--er, I should..." she trails off into silence.

A long few moments later, she painfully attempts to change the subject. "It's funny--wait, no, this place, I mean--" Mortified for reasons perhaps known only to her, she makes herself keep talking. "People don't--don't usually, I mean--come here much. You can kind of... disappear." The woman shrinks back from that word, folding in on herself slightly. "Not something I think I'd... I'm just filling the air, aren't I? I'll stop..."

Evidence Interrogation

Hannah doesn't change her stance as Lily marches up to her; her back is straight, arms crossed as well, still in full detective interrogation mode. "You're here because you're one of the best--if not the best--biochemist in Forester's Bay, and you might pick something up our techs missed," she says flatly, laying out the accolade as a statement of fact. "Once you find what you can find--if anything new--then your part in this is done. We can take care of the rest." Behind you, Andrew sighs again, radiating resigned, brotherly disappointment at the tone of the conversation.

From her scent, it seems like this is something of a compromise from Hannah, as though even admitting that you could help in the investigation as Lily is a stretch for you. Within her confrontational tone, she actually thinks she's being generous by letting you through at all.

...If that's the case, though, why is she here to say it, and why did she say it how she did? It's almost like she's trying to provoke you into a confrontation--a fight, or at least a screaming match. She'd get in a lot of trouble if she started screaming at a civilian in the middle of the police station, so why is she doing it?

Hannah would get in trouble... but so would you, for yelling at a police officer, especially in the current climate of Forester's Bay. It's not a stretch to think that if you start fighting loudly with your sister here, you could get kicked out of the police station... and then Hannah would have "protected" her little sister, in her own mind at least.

Patterns in Patterns

The street is almost entirely deserted; the Industrial Block is not somewhere to be caught out alone, though the daylight (and her own mystical strength) has kept Kal from being accosted by anything or anyone on her trip there.

The Garage of the future smells like motor oil, oil paint, wood shavings, and heated metal; an art studio and a car repair shop, rolled into one. The place is well lit with surprisingly soft lighting given its general shape and presentation as a small warehouse or car garage. The entire building is divided in half by a low wall that doesn't quite reach the ceiling; sounds of sandpaper and an occasional low buzz from a saw can be heard over the wall from the back end. The front area seems to be a gallery of some sort; several pieces of standing sculpture, from meticulous recreations of cityscapes in miniature wood to abstract piles of half-melted metal, dot the space, each with a small placard holding the name of the artist and of the piece. A smaller amount of paintings and engravings hang on the walls. Ariadne has things to say about each and every piece, if Kal wishes to listen.

Near the small door set in the center of the low wall are three people; Wrath, and a man and a woman. Wrath is speaking to them in a low voice that seems charged with some amount of emotion, though there's enough distance and noise in the Garage that Kal can't quite make out what she's saying. The woman, tall with short greying black hair and sharp features, is listening intently, her face hard to read. The man, short with thick, dark brown hair and a bushy beard, sees Kal enter and brightens with professional enthusiasm, half-raising a hand, before a snapped interjection by Wrath turns his attention back to her. Wrath doesn't turn around herself.

Books and Bindings

Dante glances back at Flint, irritated at the question, before shrugging and softening his features. "You are getting closer to that level, I suppose, and it is not one of the larger secrets. How much do you know of the myths of... our associate?" he begins, changing his verbiage at the last second since he is technically in public. "Birds of any stripe are not the most welcome in the Main Drag, given the circumstances. Some of our... friends are a little more enthusiastic about the issue than others, so I wanted to make sure the man heard the warning before he came into trouble. I'm surprised he hadn't heard before, is all."

Over Dante's shoulder, the "pigeon" ruffles its feathers ever so slightly before stilling again. The proprieter doesn't respond.

In Egyptian legends, the snake Apophis was thwarted in his attempts to consume the sun by a band of gods who protected Ra and his charge, most notably Ra's grandson Horus. Horus was a hawk-headed god, and had a strong connection to birds.

[Ridai]

Remy would like to think he at least speaks a bit more fluently in social situations, but then again, that usually is only the case when he isn't put on the spot. Damn loading pauses when he's nervous. Regardless, he can sympathize, and feels kind of bad for her, so in an attempt to be at least a bit reassuring, he raises a hand, palm facing down (and moving down), saying "Okay, calm down, it's fine. Really. Like actually fine, not 'bull**** polite lie' fine. Deep breath."

Short bit of silence, hands haphazardly back in his lap, staring ahead at nothing. "Don't really need to come here to disappear. Could do with people getting disappeared reappearing, though." Mental slap. Great move, Remy, blurting out personal problems to a stranger. At least it was relatively vague.

Remy really hates smalltalk.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily's anger wasn't anything...focused, or specific here. It was just a kinda automatic reaction to a confrontation with Hannah - her anger from previous fights rearing back up. It was silly and she knew it was silly, but that didn't make her immune to it. When someone you love so much pisses you off, it hits ten times harder and ten times deeper than if it were a stranger.

Or at least, that was where her anger at the start of this conversation had come from.

But when Hannah made her statement, even without her augmented sense of smell, Lily would have caught the core intention behind it. It was all too obvious. Hannah considered herself to be compromising here, to be generously allowing Lily to take the risk of getting involved in her civilian capacity as a scientist.

Or, to put it another way, she wasn't sure Lily could handle even that.

No surprise, Hannah had said exactly the right thing to absolutely infuriate her sister. Lily had always been proud, particularly of her intellectual and scientific achievements. For Hannah to doubt her in a heroic capacity stung, sure, but to doubt her here, to think it was her job to protect her from doing some forensic chemistry in a freaking police lab...!

Yeah, without her heightened senses, Lily absolutely would have straight-up exploded here. Honestly it was a testament to Andrew's bravery that he hadn't taken a few steps back.

...But Lily did have her heightened senses, and that meant she wasn't basing her assessment of Hannah's words and intentions on her own natural, intuitive rapport. It meant she was able to pick up every tiny change in her sister's biochemistry and analyze it. It meant she recognized exactly what Hannah was trying to do here. Exactly how she was trying to manipulate her.

Exactly how willing she was to risk career repercussions to protect her helpless baby sister.

Gods blast it, fighting with people you love sucks!

Lily closed her eyes for a second or two. Just...processing. Letting it all flow through her. She was proud and she was angry, but for one getting a look at the evidence was potentially important and for another she didn't actually want to get her sister in trouble with her boss. So though it took an effort of will, she did not start screaming at Hannah at the top of her lungs.

She redirected that anger to the holdout option available to all younger siblings everywhere.

Sheer, irreverent cheek.

"I mean, obviously? I'm good at what I do, but it's not like Lily Woods, local biochemist extraordinaire, has much else to contribute on the police investigation front," she said, with a frankly trollish smile. It wouldn't take a superhuman sense of smell, or even Lily's natural rapport, to understand the subtext behind that statement: Floral doesn't answer to you, so nyeh.

[Abracadangit]

Kal does her best impression of someone looking at the art as she draws closer, but not too close. She does genuinely find the art interesting; as a designer herself, she enjoys checking out exhibitions or galleries when she can, if not for inspiration then just to see what people are making, and sometimes a little networking never hurt either.

Routining Insight to get the information discussed in our aside. Gonna move close enough that it's non-threatening, but hopefully close enough to overhear more of what's being said.

[Dorni]

Books and Bindings

Flint pressed his lips in a thin line. His anger was complicated. He'd wanted to have just one afternoon where everything didn't circle back to the cult in some way. An out-of-the-way bookshop and the slim possibility of finding something useful to their new talents had seemed fairly safe. Putting aside the cult and getting lost in discussions with Dante about runes and aether was one of the few times that felt like they were their old selves. He'd hoped Dante wouldn't try bringing cult business into this mini-trip.

At the same time, there was no use pretending he could ignore the cult. Dante's warning was honest and potentially useful for avoiding trouble.

"I'll keep it in mind," he answered, a little stiffly. "Go ahead and warn him then."

[Zelphas]

Finding Nothing

The woman breathes in slowly, working to calm herself down. Her laugh in response to Remy's small comment has a bitter tinge to it, and... surprises Remy; for the few seconds between turning to talk to the woman and turning away, her presence had almost faded from his mind.

"Oh, so I was--I mean, I thought you might be..." The woman obviously struggles with her words and with trying to follow Remy's instructions about calming down. "You seemed like you... might be someone who had troubles with disappearing...too."

Evidence Interrogation

Hannah's eyes narrow, her irritation shining through for this moment clearly. Then, she gives Lily a tight smile. "Right. Looking over these scraps of evidence is definitely the best thing you can do with your time. You're smart enough to know that." She steps marginally to one side, as though allowing Lily through.

"So, should I call off the riot squad, or..." Andrew comments under his breath. He definitely didn't want that to be heard by either of his sisters. No sir.

Patterns Within Patterns

"--privacy won't be interrupted by a security system," Wrath is saying as Kal draws closer, her tone intent and tense. With Proxy grabbing up sheet metal by the truckload and going after museums, it's only a matter of time until he pops up here, and can I help you?" The last four words are somewhat louder, with Wrath turning to face Kal fully, her tone and face belligerent. The tension in the room ratchets up a few more degrees.

"Ana," The woman says after a moment, placing a hand on Wrath's shoulder. "We appreciate your concern, but we've talked about this. We aren't paying you, so you don't get to be our bodyguard." Wrath continues to look at Kal suspiciously, her stance growing only marginally less combative. "I found some interesting metal in the scrapyard yesterday," the man comments. Wrath's eyes flick his way for a second. "Not sure what alloy it is; high melting point, and it didn't give off any toxic fumes that I could find when heated. We set it aside for you." It takes another moment, but Wrath finally jerks her shoulder out from under the woman's hand, gives Kal another long, suspicious look, and turns away, moving quickly through the doors to the back room with a half-angry glance at the man.

"Sorry," the man says to Kal finally, his face creasing in an easy smile. "Tense times. Welcome to the Garage of the Future; name hasn't been changed yet." "Or ever." "It's an ongoing discussion. Do you have any questions?"

Books and Bindings

The skin around Dante's eyes tighten as he looks at Flint, the ghost of a not-quite-argument rising between the two brothers as it had more and more frequently of late. "...You find something in Latin that looks interesting, keep it in mind. I might know a translator." With that, Dante moves away.

Between the Bindings is an old used bookstore in every respect; eight-foot-tall bookshelves running most of the length of the store, crammed with dusty volumes of almost any stripe imaginable. Tiny cards at the ends of the bookshelves give general ideas as to genre and organization, but it's still quite the mess of paper and ink.

Give me a Perception Check (with Mystic Sense) if you're looking for magical books, and/or an Investigation check if you're looking for books on magic.

[Ridai]

Wait a minute

Remy frowns, looking at the woman from the corner of his eye. Thousand ways to shape words to kind of extract information without giving up something else, but Remy doesn't know them, so instead he says "Did you get put in a Proxysuit?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

Of course, Lily heard the reproach in Hannah's words. To say she was smart enough to know something that they both knew she didn't know was only a roundabout way to call her stupid. It was not exactly a mild insult to throw at Lily Woods. She had always prided herself on her mind.

But she didn't give a heated retort. Partially because she had already discovered that Hannah was trying to provoke her and she wasn't going to let her win, partially because although the hallway was empty but for the three of them this was still a police station and it was just good sense to be careful with your secret identity while you were in a police station. But mostly...

Well, mostly because she couldn't really get any words out past the knot in her throat, right then.

Because Hannah and Andrew were also putting themselves in harm's way against the League of the Future. And they didn't have Lily's powers to protect them. Neither of them had so much as considered stopping. And Lily had, during their last shouting match, considered playing that card. Considered saying she'd stop if they stopped. And she hadn't, because...

Because if she had, they might have agreed. And then the city would have been in that much more danger, the forces arrayed against the League that much weaker. And...well, she had looked up to her big brother and sister her whole life, but she thought she wasn't totally biased when she believed they themselves were probably a cut above your average cop. And the average cops had their duties too. It didn't work, to say that only the most powerful defender of the city could fight, for it was their job to defend everyone else. Partially because this would restrict the power they could bring to bear too greatly. ...Partially because Lily actually considered it fair odds that that decision tree would end with all the responsibility getting dumped onto Nope and oh man the poor guy would have such a freakout if that happened!

But that didn't make Lily any less scared for or protective of her big brother and sister. It just meant she had to focus her protective efforts into superheroing at the bad guys so hard they didn't have any opportunity to hurt them.

None of which she could say at the moment, so she just gave her sister a short nod and started moving to pass her and head into the lab.

[Abracadangit]

"Oh, no need to apologize!" Kal replies. "Everyone's on edge these days, given, well... everything. I've never actually been here before, so I'm just taking everything in. There's a lot to see!"

For a brief moment, she ponders on how to ask a question to tangentially get more information about Ana, a.k.a. Wrath.

"Would be unwise. The angry one is already suspicious of you," Ariadne whispers. So Kal decides to change gears.

"I'm actually something of an artist myself. I was wondering, what's the process like to get a piece displayed here?"

"Maybe if I can get in here, or at least friendly with the staff, I can learn more about what Wrath is up to," Kal thinks back to Ariadne.

"Do not spend too much time here," Ariadne responds, clearly not enjoying herself. "You are never safe in the home of your enemy."

[Dorni]

Books and Bindings

Flint watched Dante turn away and just for a second he wanted to stop him. Maybe accompany him. Dante was, after all, passing along a warning. The warning might help the owner avoid trouble with the cult. Arguably it was the right thing to do, if you ignored that it was a warning from the cult about a threat the cult created in the first place. There was also the chance he might learn something more about the cult's plans that he could use against them. But if Dante was involved that meant Nergal would be there.

Flint hesitated, and the moment was lost.

Flint let out a sigh and started checking the shelves. The warning shouldn't take long - he figured Dante would be along in a minute. A thought struck - was this aversion for birds really about an overzelous interpretation of some Apophis myth, or had someone in the cult figured out that Watcher was using birds to spy on other members of the League?

Perception w/mystic sense for magical books: [roll0]
Investigation for books on magic: [roll1]
Perception for overhearing Dante's conversation since its a small bookstore: [roll2]

[Zelphas]

Finding Nothing

"Proxysuit? No, not y--no," The woman responds hesitantly, confusion giving way to understanding in her eyes. "Is that..." She falls silent for another long moment before speaking again.

"It was two weeks from my wedding. I was getting ready, and Ted walked in. He didn't... he couldn't..." The woman closes her eyes, the memory washing over her. "He... I could only touch him, and he... ran away. I'm sorry," she says abruptly, shaking her head. "You don't need me to--I'm sure there's plenty on you plate, but I... you walk through crowds, you know? When they can't see you. I... if you don't want to, I understand, but I thought... you might need to talk to someone. I know I... it seems like it would be nice."

Evidence Interrogation

Hannah tenses as Lily moves past her, her mouth opening. She's stopped by Andrew's hand on her shoulder. "Time and place, Han," he says, deliberately using the nickname Hannah hates the most (she's also disavowed black vests) and gesturing with his eyes for Lily to keep moving. Hannah's ire is diverted to Andrew for the split second needed for Lily to slip completely past, the heavy door closing behind her with a solid thud.

Inside the police lab, a plainclothes officer in a white coat looks at Lily rather sharply before seeing her identification and directing her towards where the eivdence from Doctor Proxy's most recent Proxysuit attack is laid out. The lab is... honestly, more bare-bones than she'd prefer; there are microscopes on each of the eight long desks (three are in use), a chromatograph (currently unused), two fume hoods (both in use), and a machine that seems purpose-built for checking fingerprints, judging by the tech that is currently using it. There is still a lot she can do, but it is sparser than her old job, that's for sure.

As for the evidence: several pieces of the museum's artifacts are here, as well as chunks of pitted Mover, burned scraps of Helpers, and a tiny vial containing a few drops of greyish-black liquid.

Describe your process and what you're trying to find, and make your rolls accordingly. Also, if you think "a police lab should obviously have this", Lily can go looking for it; it's probably around.

Patterns Within Patterns

The man's smile widens a bit, pleased. "We're always happy to see more artists! Oh, I'm Kyle, by the way, and this is my wife Robin. We tend to work with people we know to display here, so meeting us is a good first step?"

"What medium do you use? We have several different varieties, but we tend towards found objects, metals, plastics." In contrast to her partner, Robin is much more businesslike. "Do you have a portfolio you can show us? Have you done a showing before? We like to have general approval before we introduce new pieces; the tone of the space is as important as the individual works." As she peppers Kal with questions, the room slowly fills with the smell of overheated metal, though there are no strong sounds of machinery.

Books and Bindings

Books are good at deadening sound; while Flint can hear Dante speaking to the proprietor, it is nearly impossible to make out individual words. At least Dante seems to be speaking calmly, not raising his voice; the proprietor's responses are curt, seemingly monosyllabic, but Dante's temper is holding out for the moment.

Using his Mystic Sense to seek through the store reveals an unsurprising disappointment; there are traces of various types of magic on the shelves in a few places, but they lead to nowhere, and the traces themselves are old and fading. Whoever went through this bookstore before Flint had obviously possessed the ability to sense magic in one way or another and had snapped up all of the magical books themselves. Books about magic were more promising. Three old, crumbling volumes in black contained the word "Magicae" on their covers as well as the Roman Numerals I, II, and III; these might be myth and folktale, but also might be useful. A newer book in English declared itself to be On thee Vyle and Nefariouse Arte of Wytchcrafte; again, maybe nothing, but then again...

It seemed like this may be the extent of new information until Flint accidentally bumped into a stack of books, nearly sending the whole thing toppling over. He saved it from falling, but the process of the tower shifting revealed a slim volume dressed in dark green without a title or name. Opening it up out of curiosity, Flint saw a strange, web-like design on the front, which looked oddly like one of the shapes Ariadne had drawn while manipulating her threads.

It was about at this time that Flint heard a shout from Dante (surprise, not anger), a rush of wings, and something small and heavy slamming against the front door to open it. The bell above the door jingled.

[Ridai]

"Sorry to hear that," Remy says. Seems like he guessed wrong. "Honestly I'm... having trouble understanding you, but, well..."

He takes out his phone, bringing up a picture of Nora. "Have you seen her? Vanished without a trace several weeks ago. I've been looking but there's just... nothing. Abnormally nothing."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily let out a little sigh as she made it into the lab. Some part of her brain flagged that as a "win", evidently without regard for the fact that there wasn't actually anything stopping Hannah from just opening the door and proceeding to yell at her. But regardless, it was kind of a hollow victory. What Lily really wanted wasn't to circumvent the obstacle that Hannah represented, or even to win an argument with her. What she wanted was to not be fighting with her sister at all. That was immediately and blatantly obvious to her once she was alone, that what she really needed to do to achieve her actual goal in those situations was to somehow address Hannah's fears in a way that put them to rest or at least allowed her to not have to feel personally responsible for Lily's safety. So why did that seem so hard to keep in mind when Hannah was actually standing there in front of her?

Well. Problem for later. For now, she had a limited opportunity to try to learn more about Dr. Proxy's activities and goals, and needed to take advantage of it. Repairing her crumbling relationship with her sister would have to wait for another day.

First things first. Lily went to the artifacts that the Proxysuit had been focused on during their encounter in the museum, and began running them through a series of analyses that started with examination under a microscope and scaled up from there. She was attentive for anything out of the ordinary, but in particular, she was looking for any evidence that they might have been crafted using tools, techniques, or materials that should have been foreign to their time period.

I mean I don't know the first thing about actual forensic analysis but fortunately that's what skill ranks are for. Routine Expertise (Biochemistry) for 35 to examine the artifacts for Clues in general or indications of temporal shenanigans in particular.

For what it's worth my wild hypothesis is that Nora (or someone else, but Nora's the known possibility at the moment) somehow got bodily transported back in time and might have somehow been involved in their creation, potentially using techniques that shouldn't have been known to the time period. Although like, if memory serves these items were pieces of pottery, and if general knowledge serves pottery is shaped from wet clay and then baked solid, so other types of evidence Lily would be looking for include like...if a fingerprint or strand of hair got caught in the clay before it was fired so it stayed stuck there in the pottery or whatever, that she could potentially run through fingerprint/DNA databases.

Or of course anything else of note that a scientific genius would know to look for that I don't. :smallamused:

[Dorni]

At the sudden ruckus Flint snapped the tome shut and ran to the front of the store, book in hand to see what the commotion was. Had Dante and the proprietor come blows? Had Watcher's bird been discovered?

[Abracadangit]

"Wonderful to meet you, Kyle and Robin -- my name is Kal, and I do have a portfolio!" Kal replies, excitedly. "Not on me at the moment, but I can upload it to my cloud storage and show it to you guys next time I'm here. It's mostly clothes, honestly, but I've done some work with found materials before, maybe some of it could be a good fit." She pauses for a moment, pondering how to choose her next words. "I've had pieces displayed before, in some of the public venues here." Like the public library and the public craft fair, Kal thinks. She's not sure if those constitute 'showings' or not, but now's not the time for shooting herself in the foot.

As she answers Robin's barrage of questions best as she can, she tries not to be distracted by the burning metallic smell.

[Zelphas]

Finding Nothing

The woman blinks in surprise, looking at Nora's photo. She stares for a long moment, then glances toward Remy, looking almost afraid to meet your eyes. "O-oh. Um, um, I'm sorry, I-I promise, this wasn't a--I really thought that, I--oh, there isn't any good way to do this..." Wringing her hands, the woman seems to be struggling to speak, before finally taking in a deep breath.

"Your circumstances and her disappearance are related, but not connected." She speaks carefully, looking directly at Remy, her voice taking on the cadence of a recitation. "Think about your search that way, and you should make more progress." Standing up, she walks over to Remy, pulling out a strangely ancient-looking scroll and putting it down next to him. "This isn't for you. You'll know who it's for."

Looking apologetic and reluctant, the woman begins backing away. "I'm sorry, I'm not supposed to tell you anything else, I'm just supposed to... go. I really hoped that... I'm sorry." And just like that, the woman slips away from Remy's perception.

There is a slight shimmer in the air, a place where Remy's eyes refuse to focus, sliding away... but soon enough, even that as gone.

Evidence Interrogation

At first, the artifacts are not promising. The techniques used to create the artifacts that interested Doctor Proxy were developed in the middle of the assumed period where they were found, or near the end of that period, but they were always within that time period. Any biological matter had degraded with time into unusable minutiae; the machines at the police lab couldn't gather relevant information from them. Even the machinery at her lab would likely struggle, though the possibility that she could have found something with that machinery is a further irritation. It seems like she's not going to find much of what she's looking for at all.

Then Lily makes two small, but interesting discoveries.

The first is a bit of genetic matter; still too small to read it as more than "biological material" using what she has available, but what it is isn't important. More important is when it attached itself to the artifact, the head of a bronze gardening tool. The machine marks it as unimportant since it was placed on the material within the last ten days, but... none of the four of you were anywhere near this tool, Lily knows. And she's pretty sure the police aren't that sloppy. Maybe it's nothing, but it's still odd, and after truly finding nothing, it's worth a note.

The second discovery has more impact. Out of irritation, Lily begins dating the material in the artifacts themselves as much as she can, and she discovers that each one seems to fall within the early-to-middle periods of their particular era. There is still some overlap between the age of the tool and the assumed date of the development of the techniques to make them, but it's a much narrower window than it first seemed; a few of the artifacts would be among the oldest tools ever discovered that were made with those techniques. Let's be honest, if that was well known, these tools wouldn't be in a small museum in Forester's Bay.

Books and Bindings

The ruckus becomes clear quickly; the "pigeon" is at the door, clearly "alive", in the process of desperately pushing its way through the crack in the front door to escape. Dante is pushing himself up from a low table near the front desk which he seems to have tripped on in his surprise at the bird's sudden movements, his furious visage turning from the proprietor (who seems to be gaping at the "pigeon" in unfeigned astonishment) towards the escapee. Dante reaches out a claw, barking out a harsh command, and dark energy flashes towards the escaping bird.

Given the fact that Watcher's birds are not organic, Dante destroying one may have major complications. You could, if you wish, attempt to divert his cast slightly so that it strikes the doorframe; easy to feign, given the small target and the closeness of the space. You could also attempt to supercharge his attack, destroying the bird entirely. Or you coukd let the situation ride out and deal with whatever aftermath their is. If you choose to do option A or option B, I will need a Team Attack roll (since you're sort-of Team Attacking with Dante regardless), followed by a Deception check to sell what happens.

Patterns Within Patterns

Robin's interest dims slightly at the mention of clothing as art pieces, and she opens her mouth to respond. "That sounds wonderful! Here's what I'm thinking, if you're up for it," Kyle cuts in before she can respond. "In about a week, we're having a little dinner here with some prospective new artists. If you're here before that to show me some pieces, great; either way, bring along some physical pieces then, and we'll see if we can fit some of them in the showcase we're putting together about three weeks from now. The theme is 'Reuse in a Bubble', given we're... you know."

Robin snorts. "'Dinner'; it'll mostly be whatever Watcher is tossing out at us, so don't bring an appetite. I'm going to go make sure Ana isn't gassing us all again." As she turns away, Kyle gives Kal a comradely grimace. "I know you'll want to get your work in here on its merits alone, and I'm sure it's more than good enough," he says in a mock-serious voice, "But if you really want to seal the deal, bringing us anything other than paste to eat that night will earn our undying gratitude."

With that, I think the next post will be the end of the Lull scenes. Everyone take Two Downtime Actions!

Nope: Due to Lily's discovery about variations within the historical artifacts, take a +5 bonus to the next three Nora, Where'd You Go? Downtime checks you take.

Floral: Due to Ariadne's discovery about the growing discontent with the food supply from Watcher, take a +5 bonus to the next three Growing a New Future Downtime checks you take.

Helios: Due to the strange scroll given to Nope by an unknown benefactor(?) take a +5 bonus to the next three Mystical Research Downtime checks you take.

Ariadne: Due to a book of patterns discovered by Helios, take a +5 bonus to the next three Untangling the Mystic ThreadsDowntime checks you take.

[Ridai]

"Wha-" And the woman nopes out of existence. He raises his arms in the universal gesture of WTF ("Oh for f-"), looking at the brief shimmer before it disappears too. Yeah well, hopefully that is just magic crap, not the crap he is doing! Fine! Lovely!

Remy kind of aggressively slumps against the back of the bench, looking briefly at the scroll. "What is it always with this ******* mystery bull****?!" getting louder in the end, along with slamming his fists on his thighs before holding his head in his hands for a short moment. Fuming with frustration, he grabs the damn scroll, briefly thinks about chucking it into the lake, and leaves, muttering about how all super-somethings come with brain damage and cryptic BS.

[Dorni]

Books and Bindings

Flint pulled up, taken aback at the scene. There was no time to think, but it didn't seem like a good idea for Dante to discover that the pigeons all over town were mechanical spies. He threw out a hand of his own, conjuring a blast of air. He tried to keep the power of the spell weak - he didn't want Dante to realize how much he'd been hiding - but for this he didn't need power as much as precision. The air pulse would combine with Dante's spell, hopefully disrupting the trajectory just enough to miss the pigeon and hitting the door instead. With the air pulse having physical force to hit, hopefully it would knock the door open enough for the bird to finish its escape.

Standard: Team Attack with Ranged Strength from Crossing the Sky, AA 2. [roll0]

[Zelphas]

Books and Bindings

The blast of air strikes Dante's bolt of dark energy at just the "wrong" moment, causing it to jolt just off-course and slam into the door. The energy spirals up and down the doorway, scoring lines into the wood and cracking the glass in a spiderweb pattern, and the gust of air rocks the door open, sending the "pigeon" out into the street like a cork shot from a bottle. Dante actually takes a step or two to pursue, then stops with a muttered curse, lowering his hand.

The gaze he turns to Flint is surprised... and appraising. "Perhaps the leader misjudged your talents," he says finally, in a soft, measuring voice. "It seems you've reached the time of decision after all..."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

August 27th, 2018.

Helios

Normally, cult meetings are quiet things; muffled arguments, debates, chants, and prayers, kept under the cover of darkness to hide from prying eyes or do-gooding acts. This is not one of these times.

The large, abandoned space was once the fourth floor of an office building with an open floor plan; perhaps it still was. All of the desks, chairs, and other furniture had been piled into three separate edifices, with clear tiers where someone could (somewhat precariously) stand. The top tier of each of these edifices had been occupied when you, along with around thirty other red-robed Cultists you didn't know, had been brought here by Dante. After ordering all of you to stand in the center of the room between the three piles, Dante had left you to stand just below the person you had thought of as the "Cult Leader" in the pile to your right. The Cult Leader, a tall, thin man with pale skin, had a thick black blindfold over his eyes tonight; you can see his mouth moving, but you cannot hear his words.

The space is lit by candles placed haphazardly all around. Thick, heavy curtains shroud the windows placed all around the walls.

As time goes on, the cultists around you trickle over to the three piles. All those who walk over to the rightmost pile are given black blindfolds by the cult leader; they don them and began whispering, until that pile becomes a source of constant, low susurration that carries an occasionally panicked edge to it.

Directly in front of you, at the top of the center pile, is a woman that seems slightly familiar, though you have never met her. She looked over the group, dark eyes glittering over a bandana of woven gold, before dismissing you all, turning away to show clearly that you are beneath her notice. Those who come to that pile bow low to pick up a yellow bandana around the woman's feet, and then take their places, talking and laughing among themselves. You cannot hear their words clearly, though they are loud. Their laughter is cruel, their voices mocking.

To the left, at the top of the final pile, is a person whose gender you cannot determine. They are completely shrouded by their cloak, their hands hidden by bark green gloves. But they are beautiful; this you know. They are constantly beckoning to the group, enticing them closer. Those who join that pile are given green gloves directly from the hand of the person at the top, and they join in their beckoning, calling out for others to join them.

As time has gone on, the circle of undecided cultists has shrunk and shrunk, until only a few are left. The whispering, the laughter, the beckoning has grown louder, stronger, more feverish; an edge of violence is in the air. That would normally concern you, but what may concern you most is one other figure in the room: Sarah. Kept away from all the groups, she has been assigned to watch the stairs, though she keeps looking at both Dante and you as things grow more and more heated.

The group with Dante has the most varied of mystic abilities; all the different types of aptitude are present, though they are still only nascent among all but the cult leader and Dante. Death Magic has a slight edge over all the others.

The group in the center deals mostly with fire and air magic, with a particular twist that you can identify as dealing with mental manipulation and control.

The far left group has life magic predominating, with a slight tendency towards water and earth magic present as well.

It catches upon the edge of your perception like a hiss just out of earshot, like scales on skin. He's here. You can't pinpoint exactly where, but Apophis is here.

Nope, Ariadne, and Floral

The network of people you've met doing general hero work is still small, but it came through this time! Someone (they wanted to stay anonymous, and although let's be real you could almost certainly find them you haven't seen the need to do so yet) saw a bunch of people entering into an office building in the Main Drag just before sunset and called it in as likely Cultist activity, and given what you've started to learn about the Cult this seemed like something to investigate.

Helios didn't answer when you called; maybe he's busy with something else tonight.

Outside of the office building, you aren't exactly sure where to begin, although the black curtains that seem to be shrouding all of the windows on the fourth floor might be a good place to start.

Helios, take a Hero Point for your Unwilling Cultist Complication, and another one for your Relationship Complications, since they're both kinda-sorta in play.

Here's the Map (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17NYA5WAVLeiaAHsh9mkSdpAzWj7aG0IMAhNb7-6U32k/edit#gid=0).

Dotted lines are windows; feel free to shatter through them, people on the outside, or just appear in the room since Nope.

Every colored partition is 5 feet higher than the one nearest to it; so the outermost colors are 5 feet up, next ones are 10 feet up, the next 15, etc.

Combat hasn't yet begun, so we can start rolling Initiative and the rest then, for now, feel free to make your plans!

[Ridai]

Even through his indistinct appearance of "some person", Nope manages to look like "some tired person". His head is filled to the brim with entry level theories of metaphysics and less entry level ones that he struggles to understand, in hopes of making any sense of the cryptic BS he was given. On the upside, it meant he no longer pays any attention whatsoever to things he hopes to one day be rid of entirely when he leaves the country. So, silver linings. Even if he is still scouring museums over and over. Definition of insanity and all that nonsense, but hope's not remotely dead yet.

"Hey," he greets, hand briefly lifted for the same reason, before returning to hoodie pockets, crookedly standing as he looks up the office building. "Dead giveaway, huh." Not that the cult actually needs to hide or anything. That's the sorry state this whole town's been in, after all.

"Can try to recon first. Or bring us straight in. Might be sacrificing someone again." There's another sad thought, that this is also a regular occurence.

[Abracadangit]

Kal, having waited a long time to get back at Apophis, is raring to go. Her usual insecurities and anxieties have been overtaken by her desire to hit back at someone that, as far as she can tell, is utterly villainous.

"I can also attempt reconnaissance," she offers, "Though they may have alarms set against intruding magic." She pauses. "Or we can go in and start throwing cultists into walls until they talk. I'm not picky today."

"Hnn, hnn, hnn," Ariadne snickers. "Engoní! You are hardly yourself."

"He could have hurt the kids in my class," Kal thinks back, as her needle appears in her hand, attached to a red thread. "So you can shoosh."

For once, Ariadne listens.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Scouting seems wise," Lily said. The tip seemed solid, but it would probably behoove them to make sure this actually was cult activity before they engaged. If this was an innocent gathering, she didn't want to just go in guns blazing. Flowers blooming. Whatever.

Although scouting wasn't exactly her forte. At least not indoors, where she'd have to get close enough to risk detection to actually discern anything herself. Her approach to scouting was definitely more along the lines of "LOL sorry I can smell further than you can see."

"Probably not much I can do to help with that without giving us away, I'm afraid. ...Unless... Nope maybe if you could remove the obstruction the windows present to my sense of smell? Or like...their...ability to block airflow, maybe?
Or something along those lines, anyway," she offered as an innocently helpful idea. She was getting more and more clear on what Nope's powers could do, but wasn't yet entirely cognizant of their risks. Probably wouldn't be a problem.

[Ridai]

Nope looks to Floral with sort of the old meme version of a pokerface, then up to the window, down to the ground with furrowed brow, back up kind of at a loss. Puff cheeks, deflating audibly as Nope tries to think through how to conceptualize something that blocks the window from letting through smell and nothing else. The window letting air through would mean making it porous, and honestly Nope has no idea what that would do to the window. But on the other hand, he has managed to make crazier things possible (and at times happen accidentally). It might still fail if that property of a window is one of those things where reality reasserts itself if he doesn't perpetually change it. But how to go about it...

Furrow brow again, shake out hands. Well then. Time to go abstract and hope for the best. Can see through? Yeah. Hear? Eh, muffled, so partial. Taste? Nah. Feel? ...you know what, let's not think about that, but let's say no. Smell? Let's make that a yes. Only for that window. No punching holes or turning it into the glass equivalent of volcanic rock. No thinking about glass structure! No! Also no thinking about Floral's nose! Or lungs! Or anything like that! Smell. Going through that one window. Smells! Smells! Going through that window. Not all glass or windows. That one. The property of that window keeping smells out without changing its structure is going to get removed-

Flying Spaghetti Monster have mercy.

And Nope does his thing, hands just kind of cramping in concentration, and he nopes the property. Hopefully. Maybe.

Hopefully Floral still has a breathing apparatus.

So... Nope tries to see if he can actually do what Floral suggested, via Remove Second Guessing powering Remove Placeholder to grant her olfactory senses Penetrate Concealment, but only for that one window.

Please refer to Nope's Complications.

[Zelphas]

Warm candle wax. Dust. synthetic cloth-possibly polyester. Iron. Men and women, of several ages and states of health. More than two people related to Helios. Anger. Fear. Hunger sweat blood not much blood only a small cut pride rage contempt lust hunger joy confusion worry fear panic sandscalesdustworrysurpriseangerconfusioneyeunknow nexpectationworryimpatiencefeARPRIDEHUNGERUNKNOWNU NKOWNUNKNOW---

Floral is currently Impaired (DC 23 Resistance to remove). Take a Hero Point for your The Other Side of Super Senses Complication; you can roll to remove this condition if/when battle begins in this Scene.

If you so choose, you could instead make Floral Olfactorily Unaware for the remainder of this Scene. If you choose to do this, take an additional Hero Point for your The Nose Knows Complication, and expect things to go slightly awry if Floral attempts something especially complex in the coming Scene.

For a few seconds, no one except for Floral can tell if Nope's actions have had any effect. Then, with a whiplash crack, the window Nope is focusing on breaks. The crack appears in an instant, as per normal glass breaking, but the shape is impossible; a curved, sinuous line that corkscrews up and down the pane of glass from top to bottom. The window remains in its frame, but the echo of the crack echoes up and down the street for a long moment.

Take a Hero Point for your Annihilate Anything Complication.

Flint

As you stand, watching cultists choose, listening to whispers, laughter, and beckoning grow in volume and intensity, a loud crack echoes through the air, punctuating the noise. The whispers, the mockery, the beckons soon resume, but the people on the higher tiers look around with a bit of uncertainty. Sarah looks past you to one of the windows behind you, taking a few uncertain steps forward as though to investigate the noise.

[Ridai]

So Nope did a thing. He looks to Floral, saying "D-do you smell anyth-"

*CRACK*

Nope visibly startles at the sudden noise, much like with those damn cheap movie jump scares that are nothing but a sudden loud noise and of course he is going to jump if something blasts his ears with deafening noise ow my ears-

There is now a very unnatural crack in the window. Alarmed, he asks Floral "Can you still smell anything?! Can you breathe?!" And if that is the case, he adds "So we go in now?"

Keeps glancing up at the window, back to Floral, back to the window. Nice job, Nope. Great job. Imagine your slow clap.

[Dorni]

Flint kept his head bowed. Not out of reverence. This place made his skin crawl. The candlelight, the smells that he told himself firmly were incense, the sinister energies that laced the room. It was like a scene from a horror movie. There was nothing to revere here. With his head bowed, he could study the room ensconced in the shadow of his cowl. It was a thin reed, but it was what he had.

From those shadows he once again studied the three piles of furniture and the demented courts upon them. Dante had told him only that he'd "make his decision" tonight. He'd refused to elaborate further, saying only that they'd still be brothers regardless of what he chose. Here, tonight, it made sense. The Suneaters were organized as chaotically as the would-be god they followed, into cults within the cult. Watcher had shared that in his timeline dozens of Suneater cult chapters had sprung up all over, like a many headed hydra. Cut off one head and there were still dozens more, each growing and spreading their poison and making more. The factions fought against each other almost as often as not. Tonight, at least, the Suneaters had come together. Maybe it was the necessity of being confined under the dome, or maybe this was always how new members were inducted. More likely the rules were still being worked out. After all, the cult wasn't even a full season old.

Still, the offer was clear. Power. They were offering power. Their forms were different, but with this many gathered cultists he could sense the signs of the power they wielded.

From the Yellow and their bandanas, he could feel fire and air. He could feel a pull from them. Fire was his own weapon of choice, and he'd constructed his veil from air aether. Joining the Yellow would let him further develop those magics, possibly hone his weapons against the cult to new heights. It was for that reason that Flint rejected it. If Helios began wielding the Yellow's own techniques against them, they would recognize it right away. His own tools would give him away. More than that, Flint had practiced fire magic in secret, away from Dante. As far as his brother knew he could maybe light a candle. It was one more reason Flint couldn't possibly be Helios. If he were to reveal a sudden, impressive aptitude in fire would raise a red flag.

And although fire was his preferred weapon, it wasn't the first he'd learned. He'd chosen to practice with fire because it was the ideal weapon against the cult. Physically, fire burned. Spiritually, fire purified. Whatever undead or spirit or monstrosity the cultists conjured up, fire could almost certainly destroy it. With practice Flint knew he could wield even more elements, but there was just too little time. The cult was here now.

A quiet part of him also had to admit the choice of fire was spite. Fire was the domain of Ra, Apophis' ancient enemy in the myths. He couldn't deny that wielding fire against Apophis' followers gave him a certain satisfaction. A middle finger against the so-called god.

And there was one more reason to reject the Yellow. Although he recognized the fire and air, there was something else. Something subtler. Although he'd never practiced it himself, Flint could identify it. Mental magic. Manipulation and Control. Mastering those might let him protect himself against them, but the path to mastery of anything was practice. Repeated, endless practice. And he couldn't afford to let them practice on him, or sneak glimpses inside his head.

The feeling from the far left was entirely different. Life. Abundant, overwhelming, life magic. Flint could sense water and earth among their practitioners as well, but life was predominant. As strong as the sense of life from the group was though, Flint had felt Rapheal's aura. Next to that, there was no comparison.

Which left the last group. The Black. Dante's group. The sense of the practitioners in that group was a jumbled mess - a haphazard variety of magic. Although Death was the most predominant within the group, it was but one variety among many. That variety was the Black's offering - diversity and knowledge. That... seemed like what he needed. The Suneaters' magic was many and varied. The power the League wielded was even moreso. He couldn't rely on only a single tool. He needed to be able to adapt. He needed knowledge. And he could hide his talents among dipping his toes in a variety of practices.

As much as the offer of knowledge was tempting though, the cult could burn. Dante was of the Black. If he joined the Yellow or the Green, he wouldn't see him. Or at least he'd see him less, have less idea what Dante was involved in. There would be fewer chances to bring Dante back out of this den of vipers. For that alone he'd wear whatever colors he had to.

Even if this place made his skin crawl.

He'd put the choice off as long as he could, but he couldn't put it off forever. He looked over to Sarah, guarding the exit, and took a deep breath. Then took a resolute step towards the Black.

He'd only taken a single step when the crack sounded behind him. Flint stopped, looking back toward the window behind him.

[Quellian-dyrae]

The scents hit her with unusual intensity, almost overwhelming. It was as if...had Nope's powers somehow removed some of her ability to filter the scents? Not intentionally, certainly, but perhaps as a side effect. The intent was to remove a barrier to her smelling those scents, so maybe a similar "barrier" to them had been removed in her, in some conceptual way?

If so, that meant that Nope's powers must operate on some manner of a subconscious level that might not always be fully controllable, making them risky to use in ways he hasn't carefully practiced previously that Nope's powers could remove obstacles to his goals even if he didn't consciously conceive of them! It was plausible that as long as he knew what he wished to achieve, his powers could operate on a flexible basis of removing whatever stood in the way, on levels both explicit and subtly implicit! The possibilities were astonishing! More research was required!

(We're not doomed. We're almost certainly not doomed.)

But now was not the time. A few scents in particular stood out as having a much higher likelihood if this was cult activity. It was more than enough evidence to act on.

"Window noticed, no time, yes cult," Lily said, speaking hastily and shortly, her face crinkled up a bit from the stench.

"Three dozen. Four groups."

And...it didn't matter. Or it shouldn't matter. Everybody in there was a person who undoubtedly had friends and family somewhere in this town. The only difference was that in this case she knew them. It didn't change the choices they had made, or what their responsibility was now.

But no matter how much she knew it shouldn't matter, the truth was...it did.

Did he know? It seemed plausible. Most of the news she had heard about Helios before their group had assembled seemed to indicate he was particularly focused on thwarting the cult. Maybe he was trying to rescue his family from them?

She really hoped he knew. She didn't want to have to be the one to tell him. She didn't want to have to smell his feelings when he found out.

But Helios wasn't here now, and they didn't have time to discuss it. They would need to take them down regardless. Once they had won, she could tell the others and they could figure out what to do with them.

"Open floor. Idea. Teleport fifty feet from far right corner. Try not to attack anyone in left group until all others down."

That positioning would put them between the cult and the stairs, to make it harder for them to flee. Leaving the left group free to attack was risky tactically, but could pay dividends strategically. The cult's weakness was that it was chaotic and disorganized, and split into factions. Likely the divisions of groups were by faction in some way. If they just popped in and attacked them all together, it would only improve their coordination. One of the most sure-fire ways to get an otherwise divided group to work together was to give them a common enemy to unify against.

But if they attacked only two (three? Their evidence said there were three factions total, but Lily smelled four groups, so maybe their information was incomplete) of the factions - at least, until all their members were down and wouldn't be able to see what happened afterwards - it would look like the third group had set the other two up. The heroes just happen to attack their secret gathering and just happen to focus on everyone who wasn't part of that one group? Suuuuuper suspicious. Instead of uniting them, it might further exacerbate their divisions.

Unfortunately, that whole plan was way too complex for Lily to describe in the several seconds they had before someone spotted them from the cracked window. So what Nope and Ariadne got was "try not to attack the group on the left". Hopefully they'd trust her.

(Helios's relatives were in the right and south groups, so if they managed to escape and this plan wound up leading to open fighting between the factions, they would be on the more numerous side and thus relatively safer, hopefully.)

Lily's sense of smell is Accurate and has Counters Concealment (Overlapping Scents), so I assume she was able to discern the positional data on the map (including the movement towards the window). Correct me if I'm wrong and I can edit.

[Ridai]

Well Floral can still talk and clearly knows what's up now, so uhhhh okay there's already a plan, let's go?!

Stepping over to Floral and Ariadne, he says "On zero, you're gonna be in there, looking to that corner," point to the left edge of the window front they are looking at. "with these windows to the left of it, and the 'left' group ahead of you. Ready. Three, two, one, zero-"

And for Floral and Ariadne, it is like there is an instantaneous transposition, they are just immediately where Nope described without any fanfare or travel period or anything, Nope right with them. For Nope, it is the usual, namely maneuvering them into the building, up the stairs, and turning them to face the right way, and not go back to realtime falling a few centimeters or anything like that. So while in zero time, he gets a good, long look at the hella creepy scene of it all, three dozen cultists present, on their weird altars or whatever you want to call these Chthonic Ikea Disasters. Not that he can examine anything very thoroughly, the concentration necessary to erase their travel time making that rather difficult. But there is always this moment of "the literal next moment all hell is gonna break lose, and you are going to stare that in the face for possibly minutes". Especially since he needs to measure roughly 50 feet from the correct corner.

Is it cowardly to wish that his mom isn't present?

Well then, Nope brings everyone roughly where Floral described through the advanced technology of pushing everyone into place while time is stopped.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily's brother was a Navy SEAL. Lily's sister was a SWAT-trained sniper.

Truth was, Lily had never really, like, asked them for stories about their live-fire experience, and such. She didn't actually want to hear about her siblings fighting for their lives in dangerous situations. She did not consider such stories entertaining. Even before they had woken up in a city under siege and lockdown by villainous metahumans of horrific power, the thought of her siblings in battle had always been scary for Lily, always something her brain tried to flinch away from, to not think about. Much of the time, Lily prided herself on being able to recognize and squash such impulses, to face the truth of what was squarely, without pretense or denial.

Here, Lily made an exception.

But the two of them had talked tactics around the dinner table more than once, and Lily had paid attention. And there had been a time or two where they had tried to ease her fear by telling her how they kept themselves safe. And if Lily had learned one thing about real fights in the real world from her siblings, it was this:

Fair fights are for corpses. In real life, the side that surprises the other is the winning side in almost all cases.

It wasn't just about striking first, of course. Sure, that helped. Sure, catching the opponent off-guard helped. But what made surprise so decisive was the ability to throw the enemy force into chaos, and then to exploit that chaos from the first trigger pull to the last body hitting the ground.

Guns were great for this, of course. They were loud, flashy, and scary. Getting lit up by a sudden hail of automatic fire was aces for sowing confusion among the enemy.

But guns had nothing on mental manipulation.

There was a part of Lily that was leery about using these powers on other people, playing with the biochemistry of their brains to manipulate their behavior. It was a more-than-mildly terrifying power, one that would be so easy to misuse.

But even if they were dressed in the very same robes, even if they were by all appearances here of their own will, even if, now that she was in here, she could see that one of them was in fact occupying a place of what appeared to be fairly high honor on one of the altars, in Lily's head, these people, this cult, were hurting her friend's family.

When she had learned of the threat Manchineel might wield over her, had revealed her identity to her team, Helios had told her he would protect her family, if she was no longer able to.

She could only do the same, with every weapon at her disposal.

And so it was that in the bare instants of their arrival, while the cult's attention was focused on the anomalously cracked window, Lily pointed a hand at each of the nearest altars, while turning her gaze upon the group clustered away from the altars (oh, were they like undecideds or something? Had they interrupted an initiation?) The flesh of her palms and the skin of her forehead twisted and extended, deepening to a verdant green, and launching free...in the innocuous form of a single rose thorn at each group.

A quarter of the way there, the rose thorns had broadened and rounded and reddened, becoming strawberries.

Halfway there, the strawberries had grown and rounded further, and become apples.

Three quarters of the way there, the apples had ballooned up and paled to orange, becoming pumpkins.

And when they struck, the pumpkins had grown further, and oblonged, and turned entire gigantic watermelons.

And on impact, the watermelons exploded, spraying juice and seeds all over the three groups of surprised cultists, lest they were alert enough to defend themselves from the fruity freshness of Lily's explosive opener to the battle.

A moment later, the mess of watermelon juice and pulp turned into a powerful contact poison. It was patterned basically off of marijuana, except with about a hundred times the increase in paranoia - enough paranoia to make you think that the dangerous scary robed people around you were absolutely going to attack you and you had better attack them first! ...While also making you too high to really put enough effort into it to actually, you know, hurt anyone badly enough to kill them, or something.

(The astute might note that the compulsive effects were centered on those closest to the targets, meaning those affected would mainly fight each other and those near to them, leaving the untargeted group on the far side of the building safe from attack by any cultists who succumbed to the poison.)

(Lily figured she could probably bet on the people at the top of the altars, who were presumably more powerful and might thus be more likely to resist the effects, not being likely to use lethal force on their own compromised people. She was less sure about it if they got attacked by other groups.)

And if it didn't seem like she got enough of then, well she'd just gesture at the largest remaining chunks of the watermelons, they'd reform back to full size, and with a snap of her fingers she'd detonate them again.

Then she'd glance over in the direction of the far green altar and give them a smile and a cheery wave. Maybe it was just a hero's mockery to a foe caught unawares...or maybe it was a gesture of appreciation. She had thrown three watermelon-bombs easily enough, how likely was it that a fourth was actually beyond her capabilities? (She considered calling, "Thanks for the tip!" but thought it would be too obvious.)

Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 20 points to Pheromone Scent, 10 points to Complex Scents, 10 points to Floral Thorn, 10 points to Floral Vines, using Dynamic Choices to swap Floral Vines to the Burst Area of Floral Bloom and apply it to Affliction per Floral Scent. Variable Descriptor set to [Physiological] [Drug].

Move: LOL surprise round.

Standard: Use Multiattack for multiple areas, and fire one at the Yellow Altar, one at the Black Altar, and one at the group away from the altars. Since barring Uncanny Dodge these guys should be Vulnerable from surprise, gonna go ahead and Power Attack for 2, Multiattack for 3, -2 for Impaired. I'll Routine against the Minions for 13. Since Floral Thorn is in play the attack is Homing (fluff-wise, I mean, they are now standing in a mess of drugged watermelon, totally possible even if they shielded themselves from the initial blast they step in some next round or something); if the Routine attack misses I'll roll normally on the Homing attacks. On a hit, Resistance DC 22 vs. Entranced/Compelled/Controlled to fight among their own group, non-lethally and with simple spells only (no magic above rank 5). As for the big-names:

Blind Seer: [roll0].
Nergal: [roll1].
Mouthpiece: [roll2].
Satyr: [roll3].
Uh, Flint: [roll4]. (Sorry! But in my defense regardless of the actual attack results this gives Flint possible cover to fight the other cultists, albeit presumably at reduced power, since it's unlikely to affect him anyway.)

If at least half the targeted Minions aren't affect, Lily will spend Extra Effort to do it again. If this is because the first attack missed, she'll Accurate Attack for 2 to offset the Power Attack. If the first attack missed because these guys were not in fact Vulnerable, she'll roll the attacks against the Minions at +5, but I won't bother doing that here. If this does happen (using the +3 for baseline since the rest of that is conditional):

Blind Seer: [roll5].
Nergal: [roll6].
Mouthpiece: [roll7].
Satyr: [roll8].
Flint: [roll9].

And last but not least - Initiative: [roll10].

[Ridai]

Nope is currently far too fueled by adrenaline, so he just tries to KO as many cultists as possible (that aren't visibly affected by... uh... psychotropic watermelons) without deleting them or any organs or limbs (you know, as one does) at the start of a brawl with said three dozen human sacrificing black magic cultists and multiple sub-cult leaders, one of the latter being his mom, while also trying not to give away that said sub-cult leader is his mom. The part that isn't drowned in stress and adrenaline just wants to cry because of just the general state of his family.

Pushing off the ground and floating to the ceiling where he only kind of vertically "lands" on his feet, space is torn into impossible directions yet nowhere, at least around the cultist groups that aren't green.

Free Switch to Remove Second Guessing and Remove Hit Points, Mass

EE Move Fly to the ceiling via Remove Acceleration

Standard Attack basically every cultist that isn't green or SG with Remove Hit Points, Mass. Resistance DC 25 Damage, Ranged, 240' bendable line, Penetrating (Pierce Resistance), Multiattack (Multi-target, 2 lines, -2 penalty). Crit 16, AoA -2/+2.
Routining against all SC that aren't visibly affected by Floral's mind whammy watermelons for 20.
Attack vs DR [roll0]
Attack vs Nergal [roll1]
Attack vs BS [roll2]
Attack vs Helios [roll3]

[Abracadangit]

Usually, Nope's odd brand of teleportation makes Kal mildly dizzy, or at least disoriented, but her rage boils brightly enough to keep the vertigo at bay. She recalls Floral's instruction to leave the one group alone, at least for now -- she could do that much.

With a flick of her wrist, she puts another needle in her hand and immediately begins to weave. A whirling cloud of thread appears from nowhere, a great crimson cyclone, and descends on the nearest cultists with the soft cacophony of a million rustling strings.

Gonna max AoA (+5) a Snaring Strands on our friends, Nergal and the Blind Seer. Good band name.
Blind Seer:[roll0]
Nergal:[roll1]

[Zelphas]

Now, usually, when you appear out of nowhere and begin lobbing ensorcelled thread, psychedelic watermelons, and the raw power of universal negation at foes, those foes tend to react slowly, with some sort of surprise. Not so the members of the Suneater Cult gathered in this office building on this warm Michigan night; they leap into defense with ward and knife as though they expected just such a thing to happen. Perhaps they had.

That is not to say that the three Heroes' attacks had no effect. Floral's spray of watermelons are dodged by the rank-and-file Cultists with quick footwork and the occasional spark or gust of wind, but the secondary explosion catches some of them by surprise. One of those doused by the watermelon juice shakes off the psychotropic effects and gives Floral a haughty glare, but the other five begin eyeing their surrounding Cultists with wide, panicked eyes and gripping their knives. As for the bigger players, well... the Satyr, the robed figure atop the Green dais, smiles widely as an errant fruit wanders their way and then--eats it. Whole. Without chewing. The mind balks at explaining how. Donna Rames, Mouthpiece, atop her Yellow dais, burns away all vegetation near her with contemptuous flickers of fire, holding one hand up to shield her nose almost daintily. Nergal snarls and spits out a few words as the watermelons fly near him, withering them away into nothing in moments. As for the Seer behind him, on the Black dais... he isn't moving with any sort of haste, it seems, but he is simply not where the watermelons can touch him by the time they land.

The air sings sideways for a split second, and then (nearly) every rank-and-file Cultist not under Floral's spell drops like puppets with their strings cut, leaving only the Green dais untouched. Atop the mound, the robed, beckoning figure lets out a laugh of almost childlike delight. Nergal grunts, his shoulders sagging under the sudden lose of vitality, but behind him the Seer seems to have once again simply avoided the strike of negation without hurrying. Perhaps it is the reminder of who she is--or was, but Nope fails to strike at his mother with any amount of weight, leaving her untouched.

Nergal blasts at the snaring threads of Ariadne with gouts of sickly grey flame, withering them away, but a sneaker trail wraps around his legs and begins binding him before he can remove them. Once again, however, the Seer is simply not where the threads that seek for him expect him to be. He does not look towards the three figures to his right, but in the shocked silence after the first blow, his murmur is clearly audible. "Remarkable."

"Who dares--" The Mouthpiece shrieks, looking wildly around at the fallen Cultists, the sudden Heroes, the chaos of the place, before her burning gaze fixes on the Satyr, still giggling. "You--"

Beside the heroes, the red-robed Cultist--Sarah--begins scrambling away, desperate to put some room between herself and the Heroes' sudden arrival.

Initiative

Ariadne: [roll0]
Nope: [roll1]
Helios: [roll2]

Satyr: [roll3]

Nergal: [roll4]

Mouthpiece, Blind Seer, and Sarah: [roll5]

Controlled Cultists: [roll6]

[Zelphas]

Round One

"Oh, it's just so fun to see the little ones misbehaving," The Satyr says through giggles, their voice light and high. Of course, they must still be punished for their high spirits, hmm? Let me help you, dear." the figure waves one green-gloved hand at the paranoid Cultist standing at the foot of the Yellow dais, who suddenly clutches their head, screaming and screaming before collapsing to the floor in a heap.

It's faint, but you could see shifting, mirage-like shapes shoot across from the Satyr's hand to the Cultist, surrounding their eyes and ears before they began to fall.

Helios can sense that the power used was a mixture of Water and Life magic.

Blackened bones erupt from the back of Nergal's robes, constructing themselves via bits of twisted sinew into the mockery of wings. Nergal himself looks around at Sarah and Flint before turning to the Heroes, his hands moving even as he kicks at the threads holding his feet. Phantasmal weapons--spears, swords, axes, pistols, rifles, even an RPG or two--appear around him before flying forward or releasing their payload at the three Heroes; ghostly weapons with real force.

"You--you traitor must know your place! I command you: KNEEL!" Mouthpiece's voice rolls over the group, forcing all of the remaining rank-and-file cultists to their knees... and then to the floor in quivering heaps. The sound seems to move past Sarah, Flint, Nergal, and the Blind Seer without touching them, but its concussive force strikes at the Heroes and the Satyr alike... though the satyr covers their ears with another high laugh.

The Blind Seer clicks his tongue with a soft tsk, still looking at no one. Your petty squabbling is counterproductive. We have real foes to fight. Floating up slowly on a platform of Air, the Seer turns to finally face the three Heroes, tilting his blindfold down towards them. Within its folds is--pain. And knowledge. But the knowledge is hidden; the pain is what pours out at them.

Sarah Garrett, in the midst of the chaos and battle, makes a dash for the Black dais, diving underneath to hide out of sight.

Satyr

Move Action: Laugh.

Standard Action: Use Weird on the cultist at AE8. Rolled OOC; the Cultist is INCAPACITATED.

Nergal

Move Action: Immobile.

Standard Action: Use Mass Conflict in a Burst Area on the Heroes. On a hit, Resistance DC 27 vs. Secondary Effect Incurable Damage.

Floral: Miss.
Nope: [roll1] Crit: DC becomes 32.
Ariadne: [roll2] Hit.

End of Turn 1: Regenerates 1 Bruise.

End of Turn 2: Resistance to throw off the Affliction (DC 20): [roll3] Nope.

Mouthpiece

Move Action: Rage.

Standard Action: Use KNEEL! On everyone except Flint, Nergal, Blind Seer, and Sarah. On a hit, Defense DC 20 to negate (Perception Hearing), then Resistance DC 29/24 vs. Damage Linked Entranced/Compelled (Limited: only to grovel in awe).

Cultists: Rolled in OOC; all INCAPACITATED.

Satyr: [roll4] Defense (DC 20): [roll5] Resistance (DC 29/24): [roll6] Miss.

Floral: [roll]1d20+10/ Rolled Crit! in the OOC; DC becomes 34/29
Nope: [roll7] Just Miss
Ariadne: [roll8] Hit.

Blind Seer

Move Action: Shift to AR5.

Standard Action: Use See Beyond on the Heroes. On a hit, Defense DC 22 to negate (Perception Sight), then Resistance DC 27/22 vs. Damage linked Dazed/Stunned.

Floral: [roll9] Miss
Nope: [roll10] Miss
Ariadne: [roll11] Hit

Sarah

Move Action: Shift to AP18.

Standard Action: Hide in Plain Sight. Stealth: [roll12]

All PCs are On Turn.

[Ridai]

As Nope winces through the pain of just having been shot at by every category of human-carried firearms known to man (why are there so damn many guns, here and in general), he is then greeted by his mother basically wiping out the remaining small-time cultists (except, like, two), which makes the pushed-back part of him just more sad than it was already. Nope is reeling, hitting his head on the ceiling to boot, before haphazardly getting a hold of the bullet-hole-riddled surface. Black magic horror is shown to him by the boss of the blacker than black faction of the black magic cultists, and since the plan is to not let cultists make a run for it if they can help it, that needs to be done. Even with a storm of hell bullets being fired at him. Today is a horrible day.

Nope just tries to get as clear an idea of KO-ing (temporarily!) the Seer, doing his darndest to not let stray thoughts of Nergal (wrong target), Donna (wrong target!), or the pain in his body (wrong target!! Also possibly carving things out of himself again!!!) mess things up. It really doesn't help someone is just constantly laughing in this situation. Okay things are getting way too busy in his head. Head empty. Target. KO. Gogogogogo-

Man, guns were already scary, but whatever these ghost bullets are is really vile.

Free Switch to Remove Hit Points

Move Dazed, with a side of spinning on the ceiling

Standard Attack Black Seer with Remove Hit Points. Resistance DC 25/20/20 Damage (Ranged) Linked Weaken Resistance Linked Linked Affliction (Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless/Incapacitated). Crit 16+, AoA -5/+5
Attack vs Black Seer [roll0]

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily gave a slender smirk as her watermelons didn't just take seven cultists out of the fight, but added them to her side. It had taken a non-trivial amount of energy, performing that elaborate a transmutation three times, and then repeating the effects. Still, not a bad opener, even by superheroic-

Nope did something finnicky with reality and just about every other mook cultist on the field, save those she had requested her teammates not target, just straight-up collapsed unconscious. No muss, no fuss.

And then Ariadne went ahead and bound one of the actual threats in threadworks. Perhaps not a complete hogtie, but certainly a hindrance. Lily hadn't managed to so much as annoy any of them.

Between the Yellow Wizard and the Green Wizard, pretty much every lesser cultist still standing - whether drugged or not - joined their companions on the floor. Almost as if these weren't talented magi who even a superhero might have to spend effort to take out in modest numbers, but a bunch of chumps with single-digit spells per day who would drop the moment anyone with actual superpower looked at them funny.

Lily gritted her teeth. It was fine. Raw power wasn't everything. Her hastily thrown-together plan had worked better - or at least more immediately - than expected (although she'd be honest, at least half credit for that probably had to go to the Green Wizard, who she was now quite confident was very crazy, even taking into account the generous curve she would otherwise be grading Suneater sanity on).

And as the wizards fired back, Lily recognized the insidious power of Mouthpiece's command and plugged her ears before she could hear it. The Blind Seer's revelation had no effect on her, for she had been hungrily consuming whatever knowledge had been put in front of her since she was a young child, and she consumed it as harmlessly as the Green Wizard had her errant piece of watermelon. And when Nergal assailed them with ghostly weaponry, though she was no wizard capable of manipulating the forces of the spirit, still she imagined herself girded in shining armor, and though it was invisible to sight either natural or mystical - for there was nothing magical about it - her imagination was bright enough and her willpower strong enough that when Nergal's power struck her, it bounced off harmlessly. She weathered the assault of the three mages completely unharmed.

Whatever the limits of her powers, Lily's mind was and remained the most dangerous weapon she would ever need. It was just frustrating to think of how much more she could have achieved, if she had more raw power to put behind it.

So, the mooks were all out...except the one who was related to Helios. That was noteworthy, but not necessarily anomalous, and Lily's current top possible explanations were:

A) One of his more powerful relatives had placed some manner of protective magic upon him, giving him a more potent defense than the other mooks could manage. Call this one roughly 60%.

B) Somehow, there was some sort of genetic component that influenced magical power. Since Helios was superhero-level, the dude on the black altar seemed pretty high up there himself, and the woman who had been guarding the stairs was at least good enough to be selected for guard duty, even if this guy was the weakest in their family, they were probably genetically gifted enough to make him a cut above your average cultist. This one she'd call 20% or so.

C) As the relative of one of the heroes he had some measure of plot armor. Why was this her life? Something like 10%.

(I'm not saying that the idea that he was in fact Helios in his civilian identity and simply feigning reduced power, perhaps as a ploy to infiltrate the cult, outright didn't occur to her. She was clever enough to generate the possibility. But his biology had smelled sufficiently different from Helios's own that she had a strong prior against it, while still recognizing it certainly wouldn't be impossible for magic to hide such tells. It was one of many possible speculations that collectively filled in the last 10% or so of her probability estimation. Had she been inclined to consciously consider every wild speculation her brain was able to generate on short notice, it would have been down around possibility K.)

Even so, her team was taking pretty heavy fire. She held her hands out before her, and a flower bloomed in each of her palms, their petals curling up and overlapping, hardening, as they filled with nectar. She took one "cup" for herself, and handed a second to Ariadne. Vines trailed between the two flowers, connecting them, and extending up to where Nope was floating above them, a third cup blooming in front of him. "Healing potion delivery!" she said cheerily, raising her cup in a sort of toasting gesture and drinking the nectar down. She hadn't been harmed by the mages, but her head was still kinda reeling from the unfiltered scents of the place, so hopefully some medicinal nectar would help with that.

(She also made it a point to avert her gaze from the Blind Seer and grow some cotton swabs in her ears, not quite thick enough to entirely block her hearing, but enough to muffle it some, plus she could transform it into something more soundproof quickly if need be.)

Perception to keep track of Sarah: [roll0].

Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 20 points to Healing Nectar, 10 points to Medicinal Nectar, 10 points to Solar Nectar, 10 points to Floral Vines, Dynamic Choices to apply Floral Vines to Healing.

Move: I guess I'll go ahead and make another Perception check in case the first one fails: [roll1]. Strategy > Luck

Standard: Healing Nectar on her team. Restorative Persistent Healing.

Lily: [roll2]. Crit success. 18 RP +5 for crit +5 for Persistent. Will spend 10 to negate the Affliction, devote 9 towards my Recover action so it's easy to trigger later if I need it, and the rest is wasted. Really kinda wish this roll had been for Ariadne.
Ariadne: [roll3]. 8 RP, freaking Impaired.
Nope: [roll4]. Also 8 RP, also freaking Impaired.

Free: Avert visual and auditory senses from the bad guys. Not fully rendering them Unaware, just the "take -2 to hit if using them to target for +10 on the check to negate Sense-dependent stuff" bit.

End of Turn: Homing attacks trigger. Irrelevant for the mook cultists, but pretty sure I missed all the serious threats both times and Flint the first time. Not much better odds this time, but hey Nergal's Vulnerable now so whatever let's go for the glory. First one is Resistance DC 22 vs. Entranced/Compelled/Controlled, second one is DC 20.

Blind Seer: [roll5].
Nergal: [roll6].
Mouthpiece: [roll7].
Flint: [roll8].
--
Blind Seer: [roll9].
Nergal: [roll10]. A solid maybe with Vulnerable!
Mouthpiece: [roll11].

Also end of turn: Resistance to remove the "Affliction" if my Healing doesn't cut it (DC 23, -2 for Impaired): [roll12]. ...Also would have loved to swap this for Ariadne's Healing roll.

Current Status: Fatigued (9/10 RP towards Recover).

[Abracadangit]

Kal knows that her anger at the cult is throwing off her concentration. "Calm, engoni. Calm is the..."

"I know. IknowIknowIknow. Let it go for a second," she thinks back, more and more aggravated as one attack after the other lands on her. She almost feels compelled to listen to the Mouthpiece's creepy command, until another attack knocks sense back into her.

"Enough is enough," Kal hisses, as she begins to weave shields around the team.

No Move Action, Dazed unless I'm mistaken.
Free Action: Switch Threadwork Conjurations to Threadwork Sense.
Action: Silken Shields, surrounding the whole group where we are right now. Putting the Created shields around us in each direction, so for the map's sake it looks like a little 2x2 grid covering all of us.

[Dorni]

Flint was frozen in shock. What were they doing here? How did they find out about the gathering? And were those mind-control watermelon bombs?

Fortunately, the rest of the cult was pretty surprised as well, so he blended right in.

Flint did manage to kick himself into gear and take stock. Sarah had wasted no time fleeing the heros and hiding under the furniture, which was probably the safest place she could be right now. Which left him trapped with his hero friends and the cult leaders. And Lily had turned some of the cult against each other by deliberately sparing the greens.

"Traitor!"

So calling, Flint wove aether in a blast of hardened air that he launched at the Satyr. The blast wasn't at his full strength - it would raise too many questions if he started blasting away with spells and power identical to one of the cult's biggest enemies - so he invoked the spell at a level more appropriate to the strength of the initiate he was supposed to be. He wasn't so full of himself to believe it was enough to punch through the Satyr's defenses in a contest of strength.

So he didn't. Just before the wind blast would have struck home it abruptly arced downward and smashed into the dais she stood upon. The dais that was in fact nothing more than a misshapen pile of chairs and furniture - which was in no way OSHA compliant. The topmost level buckled, and with luck would throw the Satyr off-balance in a prime opportunity for any of the big hitters.

Move: To AF28
Standard: Cast the Ranged Strength portion of Crossing the Sky to Aid the next attack against Satyr at [roll0]. +5 Aid

[Zelphas]

Round Two

With Ariadne's spirit guiding your eyes, the threads become clearer. The Blind Seer, nearest to you, is surrounded by a seething whorl of threads that warp and twist, forming knots of incredible intricacy and terrifying depth, which blink like eyes and unravel as soon as they form, almost tracking your gaze when you look them over.

Nergal, still caught in your own threads, is surrounded by threadwork scenes of death. Battlefields laid waste, towns ravaged by plague, poisoned wells and banquets, and death wrenched from its slumber to walk and work once more. At the moment, the scenes are outlines only, constellations of thread, but they threaten to fill with color and power over time.

The hiding cultist has threads all around her, but they are oddly snarled, as though she has been tangling them to keep them from taking form and shape. Even as you watch, a thread like an outstretched wing curls in on itself and becomes a hopeless tangle near her.

The cultist in the center is a similar thing; a few threads, most tangled, only a few giving clear indications--curls of air and cloud, mostly, hard to translate.

The Mouthpiece twists the threads into cruel smiles around her, laughing forms that turn to screams and are eaten by other, stronger smiles before they, too, decay. The interplay of threads around her is darkly hypnotic, suggesting majesty and power, and you have to pull your eyes away.

At the Green dais, the Satyr is surrounded by trees of thread that are not truly trees. The trees walk, shifting and shaping, bowing to one another, striking and consuming each other, and splitting apart into children of each other in a mad display. The Satyr seems to look on at this display almost as if they can see it; you can practically feel their adoration.

A single thread twists through them all, eating an eyeball around the Seer, luxuriating in the depictions of death, twisting deftly around the tangles, laughing with the smiles, draping itself in the not-trees. It looks at you, and bares its fangs in a smile.

He's here, somewhere.

The Blind Seer is simply not where Nope attempts to strike him, avoiding the negator's odd power by dint of seemingly simple movement. He nods, almost seeming to approve of Floral and Ariadne's efforts to heal and support the hero group. "Delaying the inevitable. Commendable, if futile."

Flint's gust of air destabilizes the Green dais, and the Satyr tumbles from their perch, hurtling towards the ground. An instant later, and they are standing next to Flint, one hand reaching up to cradle the faux cultist's face. "Now, now, none of that," they croon. The edge of their hood lifts up, slightly, allowing Flint to see a beautiful, androgynous, inhuman face and one gleaming golden eye with a square pupil. "What was it our dear Mouthpiece said? Oh, yes." Rather than the commanding shout of the Mouthpiece, its voice is a purr, for Flint's ears alone. "Kneel."

"Don't--touch--him!" Nergal roars, hooking one clawed hand towards the Satyr. Weaponry of all sorts appear in ghostly form around him once more, this time striking only at the Satyr and inflicting steady wounds... which heal as the Satyr laughs and laughs. Even as he does so, the wounds inflicted by his earlier barrage burn deeper into Nope and Ariadne. Nergal continues to rip at the threads around him, his grisly wings flexing in their urge to close in combat.

Mouthpiece nods in haughty approval of Nergal's strike, turning her hot, angry gaze towards the three Heroes. "Your flower crafting is amusing," she calls out over the melee, sighting Floral directly. "I want a flower Crown. Make me one. Now!" The words strike at Floral with more than physical force.

The Blind Seer turns to the group... then tilts his head, as though something caught his eye just behind the three Heroes. "I'm sure we will meet once more; There is no purpose in my defeating you or being defeated here. As a parting gift." The man gestures to the ground, speaking a trio of harsh words... and with a hiss of blowing sand, two grisly mummies rise up out of his shadow, taking on flesh and form. The Blind Seer himself turns in midair and drifts quickly down the stairs, quickly passing out of sight.

A few small, muffled sounds come from the Black dais, suggesting that Sarah is on the move there.

Satyr

Move Action: Shift to AE28.

Standard Action: Use Induce to Worship on Flint. [roll0] This is a Perception attack. Flint, give me a Resistance DC 22 vs. Entranced/Compelled (gaze in awe at the wonder of the Satyr) and Weaken Resistance, modified by Perception. +10 to your Resistance roll.

Nergal

Move Action: Immobile.

Standard Action: Use Conflict on the Satyr, using Flint's Aid. [roll1] vs. 23. This is a Perception Ranged attack. Satyr Resistance: [roll2] vs. DC 27 + Multiattack Damage, modified by Perception. Crit Resists.

End of Turn 1: Resistance to remove the Affliction (DC 20): [roll3] Removed.

End of Turn 2: Secondary Effect Triggers. Nope, Resistance DC 32 vs. Damage. Ariadne, Resistance DC 27 vs. Damage.

Mouthpiece

Move Action: Too haughty.

Standard Action: Use Dance for My Master on Floral. [roll4] vs. 20 or [roll5]. This is a Perception Ranged attack. Floral, give me a Resistance DC 29/24 vs. Damage and Dazed & Impaired/Compelled (make a flower crown), modified by Perception. Crit; DCs become 34/29.

Blind Seer

Standard Action: Use Death Shall Die to Summon two Reanimated. Reanimated Initiative (for next turn): [roll6] After PCs

Move Action: Distance Rank 10 down the stairs, out the door, and away.

Sarah

Move Action: Shift to AJ18.

Standard Action: Subtle 2.

All PCs are On Turn.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily frowned as the Black Wizard went zipping right on past them and out (after summoning up some mummies, as one does). Huh. Standing in front of the stairs was...was really not that much of an obstacle when dealing with superhuman movement modes. Okay then. Fair enough.

She considered giving chase, but truth was the Black Wizard was a secondary priority. Rescuing Helios's relatives was still most important.

And so yeah, Lily's heart kinda jumped into her throat when the one she had identified as the weakest of them took a shot at the Green Wizard...and the Green Wizard struck back. Her wings weren't charged and she was too far away to intervene and she needed him down anyway but if anything happened to him because of her half-baked plan she would-!

...Annnnnd he was totally fine apparently. Okay. It couldn't be plot armor. Nobody would believe it. He had to have been warded by one of his more powerful relatives. Either that or the Green Wizard just sucked. Lily kinda wished she hadn't chosen the greens as their "allies". Perfect opportunity to taunt the bad guy, wasted.

And the necromancery dude who Lily had identified as the most powerful of Helios's relatives (Black Wizard Junior?), naturally shot back at them. Because they had attacked his...brother or cousin or whoever they were to each other, naturally. Green Wizard's craziness was just the gift that kept on giving. Lily honestly was kinda wondering if they had actually called in someone to interfere with the gathering and just thought the heroes were them. Or maybe Green Wizard had tipped off their source who had then tipped them off? That would have been...well, either a comedy or a farce, anyway. She honestly wasn't sure which at this point.

Mouthpiece unleashed a power word on Lily, and the sonic force of the attack blew through Ariadne's barrier to hit her. It rattled her some, but she ignored the command entirely, her will refusing to falter in the face of even supernatural power.

Lily refilled the flower cups with some more healing nectar, took another swig herself, and then turned her attention onto Yellow Wizard. She wasn't particularly worried about the mummies right now, due mainly to the fact that she kinda expected them to spontaneously stop existing presently. Black Wizard Junior was a priority, but he seemed like he could handle himself, so as long as he was content to fight Green Wizard she'd leave them to it for the moment at least. As for Yellow Wizard... "One floral crown, coming up!"

Lily took her flower cup, and transformed it into a beautiful crown of colorful flowers, all pinks and whites and purples around the circle, with like intertwining spirals of vines growing out of it, studded with tiny little yellow blooms, a deep red rose at the top of each one. And then she basically frizbee'd it at Yellow Wizard's head, with a bit of tactile phytokinesis to help try and land it right. Of course, the pretty exterior completely hid the face that the inside was all thorny brambles that were dripping with some sort of undoubtedly creatively debilitating cocktail of plant-based poisons, but if you weren't expecting a crown of thorns setup from freaking Floral, of all people, then you deserved exactly what you got.

Move: Dazed, so sadly I can't actually try to Trick Mouthpiece into thinking that Lily was affected by the compulsion and the crown of flowers is exactly what she asked for and completely harmless. Alas.

Standard: More Persistent Restorative Healing for her team, using last round's setup.

Lily: [roll0]. 7 RP. 1 goes to filling out the Recover to remove my Fatigue. Triggers Persistent for +5. Spend 10 to remove Impaired because that was my plan before I saw the natural 20 and so it remains. Last point goes to the Bruise.
Ariadne: [roll1]. 12 RP, +8 from previous is 20, +5 since Persistent triggers. Ariadne can remove two conditions and has 5/10 RP towards a third.
Nope: [roll2]. 17 RP, +8 for previous is 25, +5 since Persistent triggers is 30. Nope can remove up to three conditions if he likes.

Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 10 points to Floral Thorn, 10 points to Acidic Nectar, 10 points to Poisonous Nectar, 10 points to Drugged Nectar, 10 points to Incrementing Stupor.

Extra Effort - Additional Standard Action: Attack Mouthpiece with Crown of Thorns at [roll3] (+2 if she's able to remove Impaired with Healing above). On a hit, Resistance DC 25/20 vs. Damage Linked Weaken Effect and Resistance. The Weaken is Progressive, but it doesn't stack; the new penalty overwrites the old one if worse, or is overwritten if not as bad. If it misses, it will try again next round with Homing. Impaired was removed so make that a 23

End of Turn: If still Impaired, Resistance to throw it off (DC 29, -2 for Impaired): [roll4]. Kinda wasted this but you know what I'm not even mad. Me and the dice are totally chill.

Current Status: 1 Bruise (1/10 RP), (Dazed Ends), Fatigued as of next turn. Recover used.

[Ridai]

Between wondering whether he actually ever really knew his parents, searing infernal pain, the Black Seer making a run for it, and undead appearing, it's been a day. Once more he tries to angle himself so he can actually drink the juice he doesn't want to think about too much without having it go in his lungs on accident. And as he does so, he watches Donna get a crown of thorns, and the green dude being up to some BS. It's been a day.

Start at Nergal. KO. Down to the undead. Remove tether on soul. Up to Mouthpiece. KO. Go.

Fully recover due to Floral's healing.

Free Switch back to Remove Hit Points, Mass

Standard Attack Nergal, the undead, and Mouthpiece with Remove Hit Points, Mass. Resistance DC 25 Damage, shapeable line, Penetrating (pierce immunity), Multiattack (single-target), Ranged. Crit 16+, AoA -5/+5
Attack vs Nergal [roll0]
Attack vs Undead 1 [roll1] Crit?
Attack vs Undead 2 [roll2]
Attack vs Mouthpiece [roll3] Crit?

[Abracadangit]

Kal marvels at how the thread displays and patterns itself around the various cultists, depicting the hearts of their respective magics. As she does so, she can't help but wonder if Apophis is watching this all from some vantage point, enjoying himself.

"Do you think he's paying attention," Kal thinks, over to Ariadne. "Enjoying himself, as others suffer. Thatstupidgoodfornothing..."

She suddenly feels an odd tug in one of the threads, as she weaves another shield about the team. Did it get caught on something? Kal wonders.

"It certainly has," Ariadne thinks back, meeting Kal's incandescent rage with a sort of weary calm. "Threads in the world catch on pointed things, jagged things. Edges that are not smooth. Threads from your soul catch on pointed thoughts, jagged thoughts. Emotions that burn too bright."

"But he might be WATCHING..."

"Yes, I know. I heard you before. This is the way of gods, they are always 'watching,' being terrible. It changes nothing."

"So let me guess, I just need to think happy thoughts, is that it. Then the thread listens better."

"I did not say that," Ariadne replies, a little miffed that her tutelage is being dismissed as stereotypical. "You do not have to think happy thoughts, or sad thoughts, or any thoughts at all. All such things are a waste. You just need to focus on what needs to be done, and then let the thread help you do it. You can be happy or sad if you like, in the meantime -- the thread cares none."

Kal goes quiet for a moment, as she renews more of the shield patterns encasing the team, making sure to reinforce areas that need it.

"...you're right, thank you," Kal thinks back, finally. "I needed that."

"Hnn, hnn. Focus now, engoní. On what needs to be done."


Gonna maintain Silken Shields around the team for another round.

[Dorni]

"Kneel."

The Satyr's command was an enticing, silky smooth purr. Flint could feel the power embedded in the words, in the tempting glow of that piercing golden eye. He could feel the pull. Flint leaned forward... and slapped the Satyr.

It wasn't a gentle slap either. It wasn't a magic-infused strike, or some kind of martial art. He knew it wouldn't put the cultist down, but it was an eloquent rebuttal. He reflected that the Satyr's siren act was a lot less effective when he could feel the aether that imbued her words like a slime.

He used the stunned moment that bought him to thicken the air around himself soar away from her and-

"Nergul!" Nope's attack hammered his brother.

Flint rushed to his brother's side and was relieved to see that his brother was still moving. "You heard the Seer. We should go," he implored, casting about for Sarah. His friends already had a smashing victory over the cult. One of their senior members was down and adherents littered the floor. He just needed to keep his family from becoming part of those statistics.

Move: To AQ21
Standard: Use the Ranged Strength of Crossing the Sky to smash the window at AT22. Finishing attack [roll0]. On hit, DC 26 vs Damage

[Zelphas]

Mouthpiece's... mouth... is hidden beneath her yellow scarf, but her triumphant grin is all-too evident as the flower crown spins towards her. Equally evident is the scream of anger and pain once Floral's weapon lands atop her head, the brambles and poison working their way into her system with astonishing speed. She fell to her knees, clutching at the crown to wrest it away from her head--

--sunlight danced in the night air for a moment of incongruent impossibility, and Mouthpiece fell fully to the ground atop her dais, soundless. One of the mummies shuddered and collapsed slowly inwards, holding itself upright by magic and will alone; the other snarled, but remained fully fighting fit. The air trembled for a second longer around Nergal before collapsing inwards, causing his wings to list crazily around him even as he tore himself finally free from Ariadne's ropes.

The Satyr's laugh turns into a howl of strangely-mingled glee and rage at Flint's strike, but even as they turn to retaliate the other "cultist" is already gone, flying to his brother. Flint gathered his power to strike at the cracked window, urging his family to flee the field...


"You heard the Seer. We should go,"

"Aww, and just as things might've gotten interesting!"

The voice that came from behind Flint's shoulder is not that of his brother. It is a voice recognized the world over at this point; Watcher may be the most likely out of all the League to give great speeches, but there is one other member who absolutely loves to hear himself talk.

Dante's cloak flutters to the ground, revealing a man of completely different build, height, and weight than the person standing there just moments before. The man takes a moment to straighten the immaculately-pressed, violently yellow shirtsleeves under his crisp magenta blazer, drinking in the attention that his presence brings to the room. His sandy yellow hair, cut short, sways slightly as he looks back and forth, the candlelight glinting off of his thick, rounded spectacles. He smiles, showing yellow-white teeth that are unnaturally sharp in this moment of excitement. The eyes... bright scarlet, with slitted snake's pupils, held open wide in a posture of sheer childlike glee, rest for just a moment upon Flint, giving him a wink.

Apophis, the Lord of Chaos, fifth member of the League of the Future, bounces on the heels of his shiny green dress shoes and takes in a deep, preparatory breath.

I admit, though, it does seem like the fun's almost over here and now." A hiss of scales is the only sign, and the prone figure of Mouthpiece stands, shedding its cloak and revealing Apophis, holding a bouquet of flowers eerily similar to those on the crown Floral threw just moments before. He plucks one and takes an experimental sniff, allowing the crushed blue-green flower to grow fangs and bite down deeply into his cheek. With an abrupt motion, he flings the flower-snake away; it soars into darkness.

The heroes have won, the villains fallen; how noble, how glorious, how... dreadfully dull." The Satyr leaps from its bowing, supplicated position which it took the moment Apophis appeared, Apophis cartwheeling out of the Satyr's robes and flipping into a perfect gymnastics-style landing, arms outstretched. He spins, his hand moving in an exaggerated slapping motion, and Flint is lifted and thrown bodily out of the cracked window, shattering it with his form as he goes.

"Still, I suppose you deserve some sort of reward," Sarah's cry of shock and fear is cut off when Apophis takes her place, looking over the Heroes with an exaggerated frown. After a moment, his face clears as if struck by inspiration, and he snaps his fingers. Behind the Heroes, something grounds and collapses into sand. Apophis grimaces. "Too damaged... Ah well. I know! I'll show you a surprise I have cooking for October. No spoiling, now!"

Apophis unhinges his jaw, and a golden-red snake bursts forth, growing larger and larger and larger. It reaches up, up, up, beyond the reach of the office floor the Heroes are standing in, before getting its jaws around a large, round, glowing orb in the impossible sky.

Apophis swallows the sun.

A moment later and the room is unchanged... but the people and places are different. Floral finds herself standing at the top of the Green Dais, looking at a grotesque sight. A bright pink tutu flounces out, connected to a white, tightly-stretched leotard covering a rotting corpse. The Ballet Zombie spins swiftly, dancing down with unbelievable grace until it is right in front of Floral. With a deceptively delicate step, the zombie drives its heel repeatedly at the biochemist plant's face.

Ariadne is atop the Yellow Dias, facing a zombie dressed in smooth, satiny black coattails; the full tuxedo, complete with cummerbund, bow tie, decorative pins for buttons, and top hat placed just far enough back to reveal the gaping, missing eyehole and openmouthed, vacant stare. The Classical Zombie steps forward immediately, its hands reaching to grab Ariadne's and place one hand on its shoulder, setting the stage for their dance... a dance that Ariadne feels oddly compelled to join.

Nope is at the Black Dais, and his zombie is possibly the most concerning of the group. Sneakers barely peek out under baggy, thick canvas pants, and an oversized tank-top emblazoned with the word "SWOOD" in graffiti-style letters still allows for far too much of the zombie's rotting flesh to be seen. The Hip-hop Zombie immediately spins itself into a complicated tangle on the floor of the dais, elbows and feet swinging Nope's way in wild abandon without ever opening itself up too clearly for attack.

Helios

The phantasmal slap, the crash through the window, should have hurt, but it doesn't; you could swear you hear hissing laughter in your ear just before you are deposited roughly in the empty street outside the office building. A few seconds later, your phone vibrates with several new messages.

Dante: What happened? All ok? Found myself somewhere in Main Drag

Sarah: Flint? Answer! Did Apophis hurt you?

Dante: Sarah, not on phone! If SE arrived, not our business anymore. Meet at hotel.

Sarah: Shut up Dante! Flint, answer! I'm coming back.

Dante is typing...

Map (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17NYA5WAVLeiaAHsh9mkSdpAzWj7aG0IMAhNb7-6U32k/edit#gid=0), to remember the Chaos.

All the Zombies have Mobility of 20, so all have higher Initiative than you.

Ballet Zombie

Move Action: None.

Standard Action: Use Pirouette on Floral. [roll0] vs. DC 20 or [roll1] On a hit, Resistance DC 25 vs. Multiattack, Secondary Effect Damage. The Ballet Zombie is Deflected at 1d20+14. Crit; DC becomes 30.

Classical Zombie

Move Action: None.

Standard Action: Use Shall We? on Ariadne. [roll2] vs. DC 20 or [roll3] On a hit, Resistance DC 24 vs. Entranced/Compelled (Only to dance with the zombie) and Progressive Weaken Defense. Hit.

Hip-Hop Zombie

Move Action: None.

Standard Action: Use Turtle on Nope. [roll4] vs. DC 13 or [roll5] On a hit, Resistance DC 22 + Multiattack vs. Impaired & Vulnerable/Disabled & Defenseless. The Hip-Hop Zombie is Deflected at 1d20+12. Hit, full Multiattack; DC becomes 27.

All PCs are on turn. Helios is 1 Move Action from the battlefield.

[Ridai]

The ever-gnawing uncertainty over what might have happened to the people he attacked, things were going kind of well. And then Apophis happened, and drives home they are lucky he just decided to toy with them. So now that "oh gods what happened to Donna?!" to the long list of worries, Nope is being aggressively breakdanced at, with the little insult of being put on the Black Dais, which admittedly may not be too far-fetched in terms of thematics (okay actually it's very app- nevermind).

It's been a day.

So to momentarily escape being slapped around any more by a rotting B-Boy on an Ikea disaster, Nope blips to midair, trying to attack the tutu-clad steppy zombie violently kicking Floral in the face. Just... just unmake it.

Free Switch to Remove Personal Relative Distance, Remove Hit Points

Move to N9, same height as standing on a dais

Standard Attack BZ with Remove Hit Points. DC 25/20 Damage (Ranged) Linked Weaken Resistance 10. AoA -5/+5
Attack vs BZ (+5 from AoA, -2 from Impaired) [roll0] Nat 20 Crit?

EE Standard Do it again!
Attack vs BZ (+5 from AoA, -2 from Impaired) [roll1]


End of Turn Try to get rid of the Affliction DC 27 [roll2] Wow. Removed Affliction

[Abracadangit]

Kal is a whirlwind of emotions -- hatred at the appearance of Apophis, confusion at the sudden change in location, and then also... oddly compelled to dance with the zombie? As much as she often considers herself a terrible dancer, she has difficulty shaking this bizarre intrusion into her mind, telling her that it wouldn't be so terrible to just relax for a moment, let her cares fade away, and enjoy th--

"No," says Ariadne, ringing through her mind like a bell. "I do not like being told what to do."

Torn between the strange mental control and Ariadne's flat refusal, Kal stands awkwardly in place.

New Resistance DC 24 save to shrug off the effects of the Entranced/Progressive Weaken: [roll0]

[Quellian-dyrae]

It was interesting.

Nobody could deny that Apophis had put on a display of real power there. Whisking the cult leaders elsewhere (presumably to safety, but it was Apophis so who even knew?), summoning three powerful and unique zombies, and rearranging the battlefield to his tastes, all basically simultaneously and with little opportunity afforded to resist or respond. Some might have found that terrifying, but...

Lily had an odd sense here, not that she was watching a god work his will, but more like she was watching the well-prepared stagecraft of a professional magician. It was the showiness that did it, replacing the cult leaders, the display of swallowing the sun, the...sheer weirdness of the zombies. There was illusion involved here. The actual magical kind, granted, but more than that. This whole thing was a pure sensory overload. "Look at how powerful and chaotic and unpredictable I am!" Like a magician flamboyantly waving one hand to draw attention away from the other.

Lily didn't adjust her assessment of Apophis's threat level downward, of course. You still needed enough real power to accomplish the physical effects. But she didn't adjust it upward either. Her analysis could be mistaken, but if she was right, this display had provided evidence of the limits of Apophis's power. What he couldn't do trivially.

And if that estimate was correct, it suggested...well, it suggested the Apophis did have some investment in his cult, or at least its leaders. It mattered enough for him to have been watching this event, by magical scrying perhaps or whatever means, maybe even lurking invisibly in the room. And it mattered enough for him to step in personally when the leaders were in danger, even though one had already escaped. And it mattered enough for him to expend actual effort to protect them.

...Maybe. Or maybe the entire thing had been staged by Apophis to give him a chance to show off his "true power", before the leaders of his cult and the city's new superhero team alike. If that were the case, it suggested a potential psychological weakness to exploit.

In either case, it meant Apophis was not the creature of whim he had sought to appear as. He had specific motivations and goals he was working towards. If Lily's entire chain of logic was an accurate assessment of the evidence, and not just her own sense of personal pride trying to cut down a display of raw personal power far beyond anything her dinky little plant control could ever hope to accomplish. But what were the odds of that?

All those thoughts and considerations and assessments and evaluations...would occur to Lily Woods later. Right now she was too busy being violently spun around by a zombie in a tutu to really be devoting much brainpower to such large-scale strategic concerns. Sometimes you just have to live in the moment.

Fortunately while Lily appeared human, her physiology was anything but, and that helped her deal with the worst of the vertigo. With the Classical Zombie having leaped over to the green altar to protect the Ballet Zombie, standing there in reach of both of them probably wasn't a super-great plan. But since Lily was currently having some difficulty telling left from floor, she just went ahead and lunged at the Classical Zombie with both hands dripping acidic nectar. There was more than one way to not be standing in melee with two dangerous opponents.

Move: Dazed.

Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 10 points to Acidic Nectar, 10 points to Poisonous Nectar, 10 points to Drugged Nectar, 10 points to Lingering Acid, 10 points to Potent Acid. Variable Descriptor the whole thing to [Energy] [Acid].

Standard: Attack the Classical Zombie with Flower Power, Accurate Attacking for 2, at [roll0]. On a hit, Resistance DC 23+Penetrating/18 vs. Secondary Effect Damage Linked Weaken Effect and Resistance.

Current Status: 2 Bruises (1/10 RP), (Dazed ends), Fatigued, SE (Damage 35@+5). Recover used.