Freedom City Issue #2: Time of Vengeance

[fireinthedust]

((The colors tint darker as we set our scene))


The Large screen in Freedom Hall's meeting room is split into a dozen or more smaller boxes, each its own news feed. The main image blinks between the smaller ones, various news stories heard in brief:

"Freedom City's Jewish communities observed special prayer services today in recognition of the Passover holidays, Which begin tonight at Sunset. Most of the city's Synagogues reported large turnouts, including the West End's famed Temple Ben David. Channel 5 WXAD is marking the occasion with its traditional airing of Cecil B. DeMille's the Ten Commandments, starring Charlton Heston as Moses, tonight at 8pm."

*click*

"If you blink, you'll probably miss Freedom City's newest super-powered resident. The Freedom League's very own Johnny Rocket has been seen speeding about town in the company of a red-and-gold costumed young woman who was keeping pace with the fleet-footed Rocket stride for stride. No word yet on who the Lady Speedster is, but keep your eyes peeled for a crimson comet on your way to work today!"

*click*

"There's new Freedom League in town! Only a week after their daring rescue of the city from invaders from outer space, Freedom Hall is under new management from relative no names. A man from the future, a sorceress, a speedster, a sword-wielding vigilante, and an alleged norse deity have come from seemingly nowhere to take up the mantle of the world's mightiest heroes, Freedom division, and they're doing it in style. Freedom Style.
But while the new team may have a handle on the city, the real question that's one everyone's mind is simple: where is the original League? Over a week since their mysterious disappearance to South America, and still no word from the League or sign of where they vanished to. Panamanian and American sources alike have no leads as to their whereabouts.
While this is not the first time the League has vanished, never before has such an inexperienced group been left behind to pick up the pieces. Does the new League have what it takes to carry on in the absence of truly able members? Will the League, or Freedom itself, survive without its champions? Only time will tell."

*Fizzzz*

The screens continue to cycle through the channels until the computer shuts them off.
The last week has been... intense. At first, celebrations for being the new Freedom League were fun. The attention was good. Realizing that the Freedom League you'd hoped to learn from was gone, and you were not only new heroes but suddenly scrutinized by the public to live up to their expectations of the team...
Added to that was the failure of your team to find any leads on the Freedom League. They have vanished, as has any sign of the meteor shower they'd gone to investigate. Nothing, not a blip on the radar, be it technological, psychic or magical.
The city has been relatively quiet, but it's the calm before the storm. While you meet every day to discuss the changing situation, there is a growing sense that something is about to break.

So there you all are: again in the seats once used by your own heroes, unable to find them or any sign of them, while still charged by them to care for the city you all love.

((okay, you're all at the table. You're super heroes discusing the situation, the city, whatever. Go.))

[Green Bean]

((Wait, so is Johnny Rocket in Freedom City or wherever the League is? :smallconfused: ))

Tempo had spent the past week making frequent high-speed patrols of the city. While he hadn't actually thwarted that much crime (a random assortment of muggers and bicycle thieves), he hoped to reassure Freedom's citizens that the new League was working as hard as they could.

Tempo sits at the table, watching the news reports for any updates. While he knew they'd probably be the first to hear about any leads, he wished they could be doing more. Tempo makes a mental note to pick up some matzo bread for dinner, and speaks up. "City's still pretty quiet. Not much metahuman stuff happening, either. It's eerie."

[sun_tzu]

"Well, it's not like these things have a set schedule" Soul was quick to point out. "And quite frankly...at the risk of sounding cowardly, the later we have a supervillainous crisis, the better. We don't have the numbers and experience of the regular League. I've been trying to fight the League's enemies in the simulator...and the victory ratio isn't satisfying yet.
But, yes, general quiet. Though I probably patrol less than Tempo. I've been working on a little project back home..."

For Soul, the past week had been a long exercise in time management. Between her duties to the League, her duties as a teenage girl in high school, and her intention to keep that duality secret, things hadn't been easy. In fact, working on "Project Perpetua", as she had nicknamed it, had by this point become her way of relaxing. Of course, if it works...well, well see about that.

"No new developments with Eric Masterson. No recent visit from Mother Aurora, either" she added as an afterthought.


((Project Perpetua is Soul's idea for civilian application of her abilities...but we can let it be a while before it pays off, if at all.
I'll assume here that by this point, Soul has told the other PCs about her rogue gallery, as well as Aurora. Heck, I'll try to RP it in the old thread.))

[SuperMuldoon]

Apex had spent the week, in between his patrols and other heroic duties, learning about the history of the city and the Freedom League. He sat himself in front of one of the base's computers and tried to learn as much as possible about all the different people of note who have come and gone in Freedom City. He also managed to watch a little of Doctor Who that Soul lent him, once he figured out how to use the "DVD" player (the discs are just so damn huge!).

"My scanners haven't been picking up much of anything since we took care of Captain Kraken and his goons, and most of what I come across during patrols is already being handled by local law enforcement. While it's nice to have some downtime, in my experience its always the calm before the storm, and things can get real ugly, real fast. I know you all know this, and I don't need to say it...but just stay prepared."

[Green Bean]

"Yeah, I guess I should be grateful that nothing's going on. I just didn't expect to spend my first week here running an anti-jaywalking campaign. Besides, I just can't shake the feeling that something big's going to happen. Tempo leans further back in his chair, scratching his head. Abruptly, his stomach rumbles. "Oh yeah, that reminds me. Since it's my last real meal of the week, I'm buying you guys lunch. What do ya'll think; Italian, Chinese, maybe Thai? I know a great place in Bangkok."

[SuperMuldoon]

"Oh yeah, that reminds me. Since it's my last real meal of the week, I'm buying you guys lunch. What do ya'll think; Italian, Chinese, maybe Thai? I know a great place in Bangkok."

Apex looks confused. "Tie? Do they serve...uh...knotted foods?"

[Green Bean]

Tempo gives Apex a funny look before he remembers who he's talking to. "Er, no. Thai food is a specific type of cuisine that came from Thailand. They use a lot of fish sauce, but it's quite good."

[SuperMuldoon]

"Oh...I see...well if you say it is good..." Apex feels his face turn hot with embarassment. Gah...I haven't gotten to read about other parts of this world besides the city yet...I will have to make a note of this "tieland" and look more up later...

[fireinthedust]

The computer blips a red light on the console, and a small screen lights up with a message coming through.

Anyone reading it:
Freedom League:
My name is Nurse Jenny.
Come find me at Trinity Hospital.
I need your help. Please come!

[sun_tzu]

The computer blips a red light on the console, and a small screen lights up with a message coming through.

Anyone reading it:
Freedom League:
My name is Nurse Jenny.
Come find me at Trinity Hospital.
I need your help. Please come!

"Huh."
Soul looks around. "Oookay...Want me to open a portal to Trinity?"

[Green Bean]

Soul's communicator beeps, and Tempo's voice comes through. "Sounds like a good idea. I'll meet you out front."

Tempo arrives at the hospital, circling it a few times to make sure it isn't under attack by creatures from Dimension X or superintelligent apes before stopping at the front entrance.

[SuperMuldoon]

"Yeah, open up a portal, lets go check this out!" Apex stands up and notices that Tempo is gone. Sometimes I wish I were that fast...

[sun_tzu]

"Well then," Soul gestures as a portal opens, "all aboard the Shortcut-Through-The-Spatial-Continuum-Express."

[fireinthedust]

ooc: I'm going to assume you port to the exterior of the hospital, to where Tempo is(?)

IC:


The front of the hospital is, as always, busy. Right now, however, the street is lined with police cars. Squad cars, with officers going in and out the doors. Obviously something happened inside: this has the look of a police investigation.

no fire trucks or ambulences, though, just police cars.

[Green Bean]

"Wow. This definitely looks like something we should look into."

Tempo walks into the hospital, looking for whoever is in charge of all the police.

[SuperMuldoon]

Apex uses his sensors (enhanced vision and infra-red) to see if theres anything out of the ordinary going on in the hospital.

((No ambulances? at the hospital? :smalltongue: ))

[sun_tzu]

All right; the police know me after that last stint with Downfall, not to mention Kraken...Probably the fastest way to figure out what's going on.
Soundlessly, Soul floated up to the nearest policeman. "So - " No, wait. We're the Big League now - they might find that reassuring. "Freedom League reporting. What seems to be the matter, officer?"

[Nerd-o-rama]

Fireblade has been following along with the group, deciding to play brooding supporting character ((while his player's been buried in a deluge of work, sorry guys)). He steps through the portal, and is about to ask the cop in charge the same question (albeit not as politely) when Soul beats him to it. So instead, he surveys the police line and the hospital for anything that catches his eye.

Notice (1d20 10=24) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1533220/)

Well, it's a nice change from all the training and mugger-frightening, Fireblade observes to himself. Still, trouble at a hospital's no fun for anyone.

"Hey Apex," he asks the strange battlesuited man next to him. "Anything strike you as odd about that distress call?"

[SuperMuldoon]

"Hey Apex, anything strike you as odd about that distress call?"

Apex turns to look at Fireblade and jumps as his face is 1000x bigger then it should be. He fumbles with the controls to his sensors as he returns it to normal settings.

"Yeah, something just doesn't sit well with me about this...she didn't try to tell us at all what the problem was, just a plea to find her here at the hospital. Could be anything in there, hostage situtation, infestation of centipede ninjas, Gravulaxian Grenadiers...I wish we had something more to go on..."

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Especially since the police were already on the scene. You'd think most people would be satisfied with that...unless there's a supervillain type in there, in which case you'd think the cops would have called us, even if we are the newbie squad."

[Da Beast]

"Whatever's going on, lets handle it quick" says Aesir, visibly uncomfortable with his surrounding.

((Sorry about the absence. I've been working overnights every day since friday, the same day I finally managed to track down a Wii with Brawl. Between the two my free time just disappeared))

[fireinthedust]

As Soul asks the question of the officer, a trench-coated detective moves between him and the heroine.

That's enough, Constable; go inside and finish up in there.
Yes, Detective Boyce

the detective is a thin man, tall, balding and over-worked. He glares at Soul with rings under his eyes, and when he speaks there is the thick smell of black coffee on his breath. He doesn't look happy to see you.
That's far enough, Freedom League. This is FCPD jurisdiction, not something you Capes need to dirty your hands with. Us little folks can take care of a missing persons report just fine. So why don't you kids go chase a space monster or monster or something?

Apex: ((you do mean with x-ray vision, right? Infra-red won't go through building walls; I'm thinking that's a good pp buy for you if you don't have it; if you don't want to buy it, don't read the following))
scanning the hospital nets you no real results. The police are crawling around the inside, asking questions of hospital staff while nurses and doctors go about their business.
There is something, though... you can see someone on the third floor, by the desk of the hospital mortuary. It's a woman, late twenties, dressed as a nurse, standing there. She's holding something in her hand, it looks like a fax

((brennus: if you mean smash bros. brawl, color me jealous!!! I'm going nuts with the gf all week for the regular game cube version. I've gotten pretty good, actually. Wii looks good!))

[sun_tzu]

As Soul asks the question of the officer, a trench-coated detective moves between him and the heroine.

That's enough, Constable; go inside and finish up in there.
Yes, Detective Boyce

the detective is a thin man, tall, balding and over-worked. He glares at Soul with rings under his eyes, and when he speaks there is the thick smell of black coffee on his breath. He doesn't look happy to see you.
That's far enough, Freedom League. This is FCPD jurisdiction, not something you Capes need to dirty your hands with. Us little folks can take care of a missing persons report just fine. So why don't you kids go chase a space monster or monster or something?
Soul looks at the detective, then, still hovering in front of him, turns aside, raises her hand in mock hello, and says: "Why hello there, miss Soul. Pleasure meeting someone else who's trying to keep the city safe. And since we care more about protecting civilians than about our little ego, we'll welcome any help we can get." Turning back to the officer: "Okay, that'll fill my sarcasm quota for now. Seriously though, we got a request for help from a "Nurse Jenny" asking to meet us at this hospital. So, I repeat the question: What. Seems. To. Be. The. Matter. Officer."

[Green Bean]

Tempo appears next to Soul, and tries to manoeuvrer in front of her. "Er, I think what my friend means is that we're all here to help protect people, so it's in the best interests of whoever's missing if we work together."

[Da Beast]

"Fine, let him take care of the hospital work. I'll be at home not catching malaria or something like that."

[Nerd-o-rama]

Fireblade watches the confrontation between Soul and the officer with amusement.

I've thought it before, but I like this girl's style.

He calmly walks up and nudges Aesir, pulling him out of earshot for a whispered conversation while the detective was distracted by the irate mage. Pst. Aesir. Let's just teleport in by ourselves while Clouseau here isn't looking. Then we can figure out what's really going on."

[Da Beast]

Aesir seems to wrestle with the idea for a few seconds before responding.

"Alright, but I'm not going into any room with a patient."

He tries to move out of the detective's field of vision before grabbing Fireblades arm and teleporting to Nurse Jenny (if that's too vague for his teleportation power then I'll just move us into the lobby).

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Wait one sec."

Over his fancy new communicator, Fireblade calls up Apex and, sotto voce, lets him know to discreetly join him and Aesir as they teleport in. Soul and Tempo, he figures, can make their own way once they're done distracting the detective.

[fireinthedust]

Outside:

Det. Boyce: Yeah, right. I know all about you glory hounds, and I also know about a little thing called Due Process. This is a police investigation, a missing persons report filed by the hospital administration with the Freedom City PD, with no need for tights and capes. I don't know who this "Nurse Jenny" character is, but for right now this hospital is my collar. You wanna meet your fan club and sign some autographs? Be. My. Guest. But stay out of our way and out of my investigation.

With that (unless there's something else?) the Det. moves back to the officers, yelling for things like coffee and what have you.

Lobby:

((Aesir can teleport (let's say) only if he knows where he's going to. Think DnD: as far as I know, you have to pick a spot (you're at least generally familiar with), rather than "take me to the secret leader of the beholder cult".))

The teleport brings Fireblade and Aesir to the lobby. There are a few officers and hospital staff, including an elderly nurse. She points at a dispenser on the wall, and you see purrel hand-sanitizer with a sign about keeping infection out of the hospital.

There's a desk with nurses doing office work, as well as admitting patients into the hospital.

[Green Bean]

"Wow. He sure wasn't very nice. Tempo turns to Soul. "Though the sarcasm probably didn't help much. Anyway, what now? And where did everyone go?" Tempo rapidly looks around the outside of the hospital. "Uh oh. Whatever happened to the missing person must've happened to them!"

[SuperMuldoon]

((OOC: I guess I was the victim of fuzzy science :smalleek: , but I think that the x-ray is a good point buy so I will spend my pp on that as I wanted it anyway :smallsmile: ))

Apex finishes scanning the building and turns to talk to Fireblade when he notices he is missing, and so is Aesir! Now where did everyone go...

Apex spots Tempo and Soul finishing up chatting with the lead detective and walks over.


"Uh oh. Whatever happened to the missing person must've happened to them!"

"I was just about to ask you if saw where Fireblade and Aesir went, but I guess that answers my question! I scanned the building, nothing seems out of place besides all the police running around inside...but...I don't know, its probably nothing but there was one nurse on the third floor, holding some document...could be 'Nurse Jenny' but then again so could every other nurse in this building. By the way, what did the detective say? We find out anything?"

[Green Bean]

"The guy in charge didn't take to us. If we want to get Aesir and Fireblade back, we're going to have to do it ourselves.Nurse Jenny could be our only lead. Lead on, Apex." Tempo clenches his fists. "It's personal now."

[Nerd-o-rama]

Fireblade quietly mutters a message to the rest of the team into his communicator. Okay, Aesir and I are inside the hospital. We're going to go look for this Jenny character; join us when you can. Man, these things are cool. I feel like Jack Bauer.

Fireblade nods politely in greeting to the reception nurse, and walks over, placing his gloved hands in easy view rather than going for the Purel dispenser. Politely, in the courteous tone of voice he reserves solely for people over 60, he asks, "Excuse me, ma'am, but we're looking for a nurse who works here. Her name is 'Jenny', I believe. Do you know where we can find her?"

[sun_tzu]

Fan club? Jeez. I haven't so much as bothered with a public interview. If I was a glory hound, you'd think I'd be going for a flashier outfit and codename. Hell, I'd go for a prettier face...


"Wow. He sure wasn't very nice. Tempo turns to Soul. "Though the sarcasm probably didn't help much. Anyway, what now? And where did everyone go?" Tempo rapidly looks around the outside of the hospital. "Uh oh. Whatever happened to the missing person must've happened to them!"

"Guys, don't you think you're jumping the gu..."
Soul was interrupted by Fireblade's report over the communicator. "We're joining you inside. The police wasn't very cooperative; all we know so far is that it's a missing persons case."
Turning back to Tempo and Apex, she then gestures toward the hospital. "Let's go."

[Green Bean]

Tempo turns red. "Er, it seems I overreacted a little. Anyway, we should probably head in the back way, so we don't get chewed out by the good detective."

[SuperMuldoon]

Apex grins as he see's Tempo turn red. "I also think the back way would be best, I'll meet you guys at the door!" With that, Apex jumps into the air and does a quick flight to the back door, checking the area for any police or suspicious activity before landing.

[sun_tzu]

((Back door it is.))

[fireinthedust]

The nurse goes over the records once she realizes who you are. She bats her eyes, then sets down to work with three-inch blue nails clacking on the keyboard.
Nurse Jenny? Hmm, let me see. Well, there's nurse Jenny on the third floor. New girl, but I can't imagine what she wants to see superheroes for. Even delightfully cute ones... I'll call up.
She picks up the phone and dials an extension.

Backdoor: your superhero skills get you in easily enough. Going up to the mortuary, you see the hallway is dark, cold. This is obviously not a patient-friendly area, and no money has been wasted to spruce it up. The doors to the mortuary can be seen at the end of the hall. You can also see another doorway, the door removed, opposite the mortuary. There is the sound of humming, interrupted by a telephone's ring. a female voice is heard.

Trinity Hospital, Mortuary. Yes, this is she.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Fireblade waits patiently for the ten seconds this phone call will presumably take.

((Read: I am foisting responsibility for the next post on Team Soul/Tempo/Apex))

[sun_tzu]

Fireblade waits patiently for the ten seconds this phone call will presumably take.

((Read: I am foisting responsibility for the next post on Team Soul/Tempo/Apex))

((Eh, let's just say we're all heading to the third floor to find nurse Jenny.))

[SuperMuldoon]

Apex whispers to Soul and Tempo, "Maybe this is who we are looking for...if not, maybe she knows who or where Nurse Jenny is. I'll go ask...cover me!"

Apex stands up straight and walks toward the door where the woman's voice was heard. He steps in and addresses the woman.

"Excuse me Miss, I am Apex, new member of the Freedom League, and I am looking for a Nurse Jenny who works here, do you know where she is?"

((OOC: I guess this assumes that the person on the phone is actually a person and not a tentacled space monster or something...))

[Green Bean]

Tempo stands behind Apex and tries to look as friendly as he can.

[fireinthedust]

Third Floor:

The second Apex goes to the doorway, the young woman there gives a startled scream, and drops the phone. She clutches her heart for a moment, then sits down. You came! I wasn't sure if it would work. I'm nurse Jenny, I'm the one who sent the message.

She shows the peice of paper with the message you saw on it.

I hope it's alright that I called you. I didn't know who else to turn to.

[sun_tzu]

Third Floor:

The second Apex goes to the doorway, the young woman there gives a startled scream, and drops the phone. She clutches her heart for a moment, then sits down. You came! I wasn't sure if it would work. I'm nurse Jenny, I'm the one who sent the message.

She shows the peice of paper with the message you saw on it.

I hope it's alright that I called you. I didn't know who else to turn to.

"Well, that depends on what you called us for", says Soul. "Does it have anything to do with the missing persons case the police is investigating? And if yes, why go to us, rather than the police themselves?" She doesn't sound reproachful, just curious.

[fireinthedust]

below: you guys hear the scream on the other end of the phone, and the sound of the phone hitting the ground on the other end. The nurse at the desk talks into the phone Hello? Nurse Jenny? You there?


Third Floor:

Yeah, of course! The police don't have anything to work with, they don't know what's going on... and they won't listen to me. There were... patients, they went missing. That's why the police came. What they don't believe is that there was someone here talking to at lest one of them, I saw that. Whoever it was, I don't think they were human, and I don't think the Police can find them. There was something... wrong about him. There was this smell...

The nurse is young, blone, and pretty in a girl-next-door way.

[sun_tzu]

below: you guys hear the scream on the other end of the phone, and the sound of the phone hitting the ground on the other end. The nurse at the desk talks into the phone Hello? Nurse Jenny? You there?


Third Floor:

Yeah, of course! The police don't have anything to work with, they don't know what's going on... and they won't listen to me. There were... patients, they went missing. That's why the police came. What they don't believe is that there was someone here talking to at lest one of them, I saw that. Whoever it was, I don't think they were human, and I don't think the Police can find them. There was something... wrong about him. There was this smell...

The nurse is young, blone, and pretty in a girl-next-door way.
"...We're going to need a lot more information. Tell us all."

[fireinthedust]

ooc: Fireblade and Aesir, I can totally zip you guys up to the mortuary level to save narration space. Thus the phone call.

IC: Nurse Jenny explains.

Well, you probably heard a bunch of patients went missing last night. A lot of them, all at once, from our paliative care ward. I used to be down there, and I was changing the beds when I smelled... well, it was like rotten eggs or smoke. I'm used to some bad smells, but I went to check it out anyway. There was a man, wearing a really nice suit. I can't remember his face, exactly, but he was moving from bed to bed, leaning in and whispering. We don't allow in visitors without checking in with me, so I went to speak with him. He vanished. I didn't see him move or anything, but he just wasn't there. Neither were the missing patients.
I told all this to the police, and to the admins here, but they didn't believe me. They didn't see him on the security cameras, or the missing patients, so they moved me up here to the... ugh. I don't like being around dead people!

She shivers.

[sun_tzu]

So...either she's gone nuts, or we have a really mysterious kidnapper. And given that these people did, after all, disappear...I don't think the whole thing was just in her head. But it doesn't look like the police here want to deal with paranormal stuff...that might explain why they dismissed her testimony. Shoddy. Human, but shoddy.

"You're saying he didn't appear on cameras, even though you could see him just fine? That would normally mean either that something was tampering with the cameras, or that he himself wasn't fully there - but rather, present in a form that could be sensed by the human mind, despite leaving no physical trace. The former method would suggest technology; the latter, magic.
Can you describe that man any further? Also, who were the patients who disappeared?"

[Nerd-o-rama]

Fireblade elbows Aesir. "Quickly, Aesir. To the bat-mortuary!" he shouts stage-whispers (they are in a hospital, after all).

Fireblade arrives in time to hear Nurse Jenny's description, and walks in snapping his fingers. "Wait...rotten eggs and smoke, I know this one...ooh, what's the stuff called. You get it in volcanoes. Brimstone! Yeah, that."

((I know who this is, let's see if Fireblade (or, more accurately, his much smarter empathic weapon) does:
Knowledge (Arcane Lore) (1d20 4=21) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1545059/)))

[fireinthedust]

Nurse Jenny gives Soul a print out with a list of names. None of them are immediately obvious.

ooc: Fireblade... doesn't remember anyone who fits that description in particular; there are lists and lists of infernal-themed villains.

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Hmm...can't really narrow it down. There's like a couple dozen major demon-ish bad guys out there, and that's not counting the possibility of wizards or mad scientists who happened to be messing around with sulfur," Fireblade concludes.

"What we do know is that he can teleport and he's a snappy dresser. That's a pretty big category, though. Hell, it'd include me if he kept a lighter handy and was trying to get to a fireplace."

Wait, why don't I do that?

[Green Bean]

"Did the patients have anything in common medically? Like, they all had the same disease, or they shared a symptom or something?"

[Da Beast]

Aesir, who seem to have been holding his breath this whole time, finally opens his mouth

They didn't have some sort of disintegration sickness that we're going to catch by being here did they?!

[SuperMuldoon]

"Oh no...Disintegritis! A terrible affliction...I saw a platoon on Thufir IV that came down with that...they were laying in their hospital beds one second, and the next...POOF! DISINTEGRATED!!!" Apex says and then looks at Aesir with a look of horror on his face. O_O;;

[Nerd-o-rama]

Fireblade opens his mouth as if to say something, then promptly shuts it as if deciding this is funnier.

"Oh no," he says in obvious (to 21st century humans) mock horror. "Disintegration! My one weakness! We should evacuate immediately!"

[Da Beast]

"Oh sure, you claim to be some scion of cosmic fire but when I suggest that a disease disintegrated a bunch of people, I'm crazy."

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Ah, I'm just having fun with you," Fireblade says back. "If there is a disease that disintegrated people, someone would have had to invent it, and we'd have heard of it by now. Besides, that all happened in an entirely different ward, and since Nurse Jenny shows no signs of disintegrating any time soon, I think we're safe."

[fireinthedust]

"Did the patients have anything in common medically? Like, they all had the same disease, or they shared a symptom or something?"

Nurse Jenny is about to speak when the debate starts up. She looks back and forth at each speaker, about to say something.. then pipes up No! no common diseases or anything. Not disintegrated, either. Uh... they're just gone. Otherwise, the police would have seen the dust.

[sun_tzu]

Nurse Jenny is about to speak when the debate starts up. She looks back and forth at each speaker, about to say something.. then pipes up No! no common diseases or anything. Not disintegrated, either. Uh... they're just gone. Otherwise, the police would have seen the dust.

Soul sighs. "Anything in common non-medically? Could we have their files or something to that effect?"

[fireinthedust]

ooc: I'm switching to bold black, as pink is annoying to look at. I'll have to save it for snuggly kitten npcs.

ic:

non-medically? I've no idea! I saw a range of ages and conditions, but I'm just a nurse. Here, I printed out that list with names on their files before the police took them. Just let me know if you find them?

Just as she finishes saying this, your Freedom League emergency beepers go off. Some super-level action is going on in Freedom City! The feminine voice fo the computer goes off in your ear.
Emergency detected. Multi-level threats appearing in downtown core. Immediate action required.

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Yeah. And maybe we should check out the--"

Fireblade is cut off by the call over the communicator. "Damn. I think this qualifies as an emergency. Well, sorry to split, ma'am, but we'll have to continue our investigations later. We'll make a note of this case, though, and will certainly get back to it if (okay, when) the cops continue to ignore you. Soul and/or Aesir? Rapid transit's probably in order."

[sun_tzu]

"Just a moment...Let me try to see what's going on before we charge in."
Closing her eyes, Soul quickly casts a spell to allow her to watch the events at the downtown core. ((ESP))

[fireinthedust]

Soul:

peering to the downtown core you see chaos all over town. In the fens a slimy creature is loose, while something dark is slipping into the river, about to foul up the city's water supply. Meanwhile, a dark cloud surrounds the Atom Family's skyscraper; whatever is causing it has done something to the building, and something dangerous wants the adventurous family inside.

[sun_tzu]

Soul's jaw drops.
For a moment, she says nothing.
Then she speaks.
"WHAT THE BLEEP?! WHAT THE BLEEPING BLEEPITY BLEEP?!"
She then faces the rest of the group. "People, we...have a situation.
Monster in the fens.
Something in the river.
Dark cloud at the Atom Family's building.
I have no hint of a clue what's going on.
But we can't let it keep going. Apex, Fireblade, each of you has more combat experience than the entire rest of the team combined; I suggest you deal with the monster. Just to be on the safe side, check if it can be communicated with. Tempo, Aesir...I'd like to think the Atom Family can handle their side of the problem, but I don't think we should gamble on it. If you go there, help them if they need it, and are done quickly enough, you have your own movement powers, and could help the rest of us as soon as you're done. As for the thing in the river...I don't want it messing with the city's water supply. I have the most versatile powers, I'll try to handle it.
How does that sound?"

Wait, why the hell am I talking like I'm in any position to give orders?

[Nerd-o-rama]

Fireblade shrugs, and puts his hand on his sword. "Swamp monster. Alright, sounds good to me. Pop us up a portal and we'll get going, right Apex?"

*

It's a monster in the swamp. Do you really think there are any fires to teleport into?

Fireblade will move out as soon as Soul opens up a portal to where the monster is. If she doesn't, I guess he'll catch a cab or something.

[Green Bean]

"Evil cloud? We're on it."

Tempo speeds off, arriving at the bottom of the Atom Family's skyscraper in mere tenths of a second. He runs up the side of the building, and sticks his hand into the cloud before heading back down to the ground. Assuming the cloud hasn't eaten his arm off or turned it into cheese, Tempo once again sprints up the side of the building and enters the cloud itself.

[Da Beast]

"Right, I'm on it." Aesir teleports after Tempo, relieved to finally be leaving the hospital. He stops for a second to take stock of his surroundings.

Alright, I've got Tempo and an entire super family for back up. This might be the safest thing I've done since joining the league. Wait a minute, did I really just leave that girl to fight some monster by herself?

[SuperMuldoon]

Apex listens to Soul's orders and nods. Sounds like a solid plan, looks like she has a mind for strategy...


"Swamp monster. Alright, sounds good to me. Pop us up a portal and we'll get going, right Apex?"

"Great, swamp monster...and I just got that bug sludge off my suit. No need for a portal, if you're ok with it I can fly us both there. You'll just have to hang on!

If theres going to be a portal, Apex will take that, if not (and Fireblade is ok with it) he will fly with Fireblade (carrying him or something).

[sun_tzu]

Soul opens a portal for Apex and Fireblade (I mean, every second can make a difference), then one for herself. She tries to see exactly what is going on with the river.

[fireinthedust]

Goodman Building:

Aesir and Tempo arrive at the front of the building the Atom family calls home. The building serves as their base, the family of super-inventors managing to live in a headquarters that serves to defend and act as a landmark for Freedom.
Above you can see a black cloud covering the top of the skyscraper, and darkening the street below. The entire top fo the tower is covered.
The building's doors are standing ajar. The doors quiver open and shut at random. the street around the bottom of the tower is empty, and you can tell folks have abandoned the area; you've heard the Goodman Building si not the best place to be around when supers attack.


The Fens:

Apex and Fireblade arrive to Freedom City's answer to New York's Hell's Kitchen. The buildings here are tightly crammed together, red brick and black iron fire escapes. Most are storefronts with low rent apartments above them, lines of laundry strung between buildings in the back alleys.
On the main street you see fires have been set in garbage cans, and an overturned ice cream truck. There are several wandering people, and smashed in store front windows. It looks like a riot just happened, and the smell of smoke and destruction is strong.
And then you notice the frongs: hundreds of frogs of all sizes are hopping about the streets, sitting on benches and cars. Bright greens and orange in color, big and small, they are hopping about their business. One of them stops in front of you and croaks.
At that point you hear a massive croak in the distance, deeper and booming.


The river front:

Soul arrives to the scee of Police cars and sirens... and gunfire. The water front here is normally scenic, but a dozen police cars have filed it with a barracae. On the other side of the cars from you are policemen advancing on a young woman, dressed in goth attire... and they are shootin at here. The bullets seem to be having no effect, ut the police are still firing.
there are several officers on the ground in front of her. Behind her is the river.

[Green Bean]

"Okay, it looks like the top of the tower is the cloud's target. You should head directly there and I'll check the rest of the floors just in case I'm wrong. I'll meet you at the top floor."

With that, Tempo zips off. At an incredible speed, he searches the entire skyscraper for anything that could be causing the dark cloud. If he finds something, he gets in contact with Aesir. Otherwise, he meets the Asgardian at the top.

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Oh that kind of fens."

*

Shut up.

Fireblade looks around at all the...frogs, feet rooteed to the ground in an effort to avoid stepping on any. "Well, if I remember my Sunday School correctly, this is a bad thing. It sounds like there's a big one somewhere...we should take care of that before we handle these guys and any leftover rioters. Care to fly us up so we can get a look?"

[sun_tzu]

Just what I needed - Elvira gone bad. Well, might as well try to get the advantage of surprise...

Soul tries to position herself a safe distance behind the mystery woman's back before casting a paralysis spell on her.

Using a full action to aim, hoping she doesn't know I'm there yet and gets no dodge bonus: [roll0]

[SuperMuldoon]

Apex surveys the scene, taking in all the damage and noting the rather abnormal amount of frogs.
"Wow, this place is swarming with these jumping creatures!" Apex says, when the huge croak sounds. "Looks like this just got more complicated then just pest control..."


Care to fly us up so we can get a look?

"Good idea, here hold on." Apex says to Fireblade as they rise into the air to get a birds eye view on the situation.

[Da Beast]

Aesir turns to respond only to find that Tempo is, as usual, already gone. He then kicks off the ground and soars up to the top of the Goodman Building, careful to stay just outside the area of the cloud. He does his best to study it from his position, unsure of how to proceed.

[fireinthedust]

Tempo:
Going into the Goodman building at high speed, you find hallways filled with doors for the first few floors, most of them obviously for the Atom family's business ventures and employees, patent offices, etc. Then, going up more steps, you reach their top (though not the top of the building) and go through the door there. You reach a big room, about three stories tall, and made of iron. As fast as you are, the door behind you closes faster. You can see more doors, all of them metal with big yellow numbers sprayed on them. Think star trek.

Aesir:

You fly up to the cloud, see it roiling very close to you... and then think about throwing up: the cloud is a mass of *fleas*!!! Even trying to stay away from the cloud, you feel one or two of them crawling on your skin, getting under your shirt.
From beyond the edge of the cloud you can hear a voice rant. This day Mother Earth and her children strike back at their oppressors!

Apex and Fireblade:
looking at the people down on the street you notice they're walking-funny. One of them is giggling, picks up a brick and lobs it at a storefront window. Others around the Fens are either acting loopy or running from those who are.
There's a booming voice along with another croak. Harries Mile Ack! Crrooooak! You have an idea of where it's coming from and can follow it to a collection of low rent town houses.


Soul:

The paralysis seems to take effect when you cast it, but only a moment after the goth waves her hand at the Police. The officers stiffen: their veins bulge, and a moment later they fall over.
The Goth turns around, slowly, her eyes turning into liquid red. Well lookie what we got here. Just one of the Freedom League? heh, well I guess I'll have to up my ratings! And with that...

roll initiative please.

[sun_tzu]

Soul looks, horrified at the policemen.
Good God, what did she do...?
She then attempts to blast the villainess with arcane energy.
[roll0]
[roll1]

[Green Bean]

Weird. Was the top floor always this big? Tempo turns intangible and tries to walk through the door. If that doesn't work, he'll call Aesir. And if that doesn't work, he'll try a door at random.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Fireblade draws his sword and points the way dramatically, as if a general on horseback instead of a guy being carried around by a confused superhero from the future.

"Follow that gibberish!"

[SuperMuldoon]

Apex hovers in the air with Fireblade as he looks down on the strange behavior being exhibited by the locals. These guys are running around like they are jacked up on stimms... When suddenly the booming voice (croak?) sounds out.


"Follow that gibberish!"

Apex begins to fly toward the sound, using his visual sensors to zoom in to try to see what is waiting for them before they get there.

"And away we go!"

[Da Beast]

Aesir looks about, trying to identify the speaker

Initiative (if necessary) [roll0]

((How big is the could? If I set off my burst attack (60 ft radius) from where I am, would that pretty much wipe it out?))

[fireinthedust]

Aesir and Fireblade:

you see in a back alley a giant frog leaping at an older man

frog: Harries mile ack!
man: Get away from me!


Soul:

The woman moves faster than you do ((by a lot! what did you roll, negative five?!)), and with a wave of her arm an eldritch power washes against you. You feel *something* affecting your body, every inch of your flesh...

((She's making a grapple check with her power against you, so you get to counter-grapple (somehow) against her check of 30! DC30 to avoid the grapple))


Aesir:

You look at the swarm: it's about an 800ft. radius of roiling cloud-of-bugs. So, uh, maybe but you'd be covered in a lot of bugs.

[sun_tzu]

((by a lot! what did you roll, negative five?!))
((Well, no, I rolled a six.))

Is she...tele-wrestling me? Come on, magic, don't fail me now...
Soul had learned a good while ago how to use her magic to move objects from a distance. She could apply immense strength to move massive objects, or use finesse for precise movements, as she had on Captain Kraken's cutlass. Now, she needed to combine both as she attempted to use her magic on her own body to wrestle it free.
((Not sure if I can use Telekinesis in lieu of my Strength bonus, but I'll assume I can unless you say otherwise - thus giving Soul a total grapple bonus of 16.))
[roll0]

[Green Bean]

((Er, I think you forgot me))

[Da Beast]

Aesir breathes in deaply before exhaling a mighty gust of air, clearing the bugs immediately in front of him. He then scans the area for the source of the voice.

((OK, so technically my super breath is just a trip attempt, but it seems to me that wind strong enough to trip a grown man would send common fleas flying))

[fireinthedust]

Tempo:

((sorry for the wait; I decided to scrap what I was going to do for you when I realized it was... time-consuming and not enough fun to warrant taking up several posts. :) ))

Tempo races through the Goodman building, through hallways with doors marked with numbers. Through the tour Tempo takes, he sees that this part of the skyscraper is devoted to science experiments and storage of robotic parts.

Midway through, Tempo discovers the Goodman's security system! Forcefields begin to appear at Super Speed, arms pop out of hallway walls holding disintegration beams, poison gas shoots out of a nozzle! Obviously the Atom family's run ins with super-speed criminals and aliens inspired them to some pretty hefty measures. Granted, they're a bit hokey, but yeah. Lasers!

((Roll one each for your various saving throws, to avoid various traps on your way to the top floor (where the Atoms are, btw). This will determine what shape you arrive at the top for whatever's up there!))


Aesir:

You use your super-breath, effectively tripping millions of mans-best-friends-worst-enemy! The fleas flee to either side, leaving a big gap *wherein* you see a GIANT MAN-SIZED FLEA crouched at the top of the Goodman building!
You! I know you, Freedom Leaguer! Now it is Nature's turn for Freedom! Hah! Fight me and Die!
He then leaps at you, crossing the distance quickly, his insect mandibles glistening with saliva as he attempts to bite your arm off.


((Initiative 15, Attack 24, (if he hits) Damage DC 22



Soul:

((She's not using telekinesis. She's using Blood Control, which works like telekinesis. Basically she's forcing your blood to twist your body around, and then dump you in the river. You can use your telekinesis on your body, or your fly ranks... or whatever. The DC from her grapple check this round was 30, so...))

Soul plummets into the river, the cold water swallowing her up.

You really came to fight me on your own? Wow. No, really, I respect that. But did you really think I'd do my thing alone if I couldn't handle myself?

The water starts to go dark.

((roll a drowning check, eh? ))

[Green Bean]

Fort Save (1d20 4=23) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1561318/)

Reflex Save (1d20 11=21) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1561319/) (By the way, I have 2 ranks of Evasion)

Will Save (1d20 5=11) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1561320/)

Hey, not too bad.

[Da Beast]

Initiative= [roll0]

If his initiative is higher than mine I'll use the aim action to make a melee attack

[roll1]

If not I'll charge him

[roll2]

and unless he has at least 5 penetrating on that attack I can just ignore it. If not

[roll3]

[sun_tzu]

Oh, like HELL!
The arcane energies make Soul's figure glow for a moment, as she uses her magic to mentally grab the tens of tons of water surrounding her...and throw it all at full force against the witch.

((Telekinesis. She can lift 800 tons. Do I really need to make a drowning check, given that she's only underwater for a few seconds before she's throwing the water back at her?))

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Stand back, sir! This might be a little...messy!" Fireblade shouts down at the man as he takes aim from the air with the Soul of Fire and attempts to stop the frog with a fire blast.

(Fire Blast, DC 25 Tough, Precise Shot)
Fire Blast attack (1d20+5=19) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1561949/)

[SuperMuldoon]

"Hostiles! Take evasive action sir!" Apex shouts as he flies in low enough to drop Fireblade off (without hurting him, and after he fires his blast) and then fires a blast of crackling yellow energy from his wrist beams.

(blast attack, DC22 toughness)
[roll0]

[fireinthedust]

Fireblade and Apex:

The frog dodges the fire blast easily, but upon seeing the flames breaks off its attack and rolls away.
Apex' blast just strikes him, causing the giant frog to tumble away through a boarded up window.

The old man stumbles to the end of an alleyway, but stops short: several dozen frogs have converged on the alleyway.

Aesir:

((the bite is +10 damage, without feats or Str bonus; so it's past his impervious (if it was a knife or sword or something, you'd be fine)))

Aesir feels the bite clamp down on his arm, but his muscles are so dense the teeth don't penetrate.
The followup to the Flea-man's attack strikes true, sending him through the wall of the Goodman building.


Soul:

The mass of water is tossed back, along with Lady Blood. The ball of water flies through the air, going black as it does so. The ball splashes on the shore, then surges up in the form of a giant woman made of blood. What did you think was going to happen, you'd kill me by drowning?

[Da Beast]

If I can still see the Flea I'll charge him.

[roll0]

If he's disappeared into the building

Aesir cautiously flies down to the Goodman Building's newest remodeling project before reaching for his communicator.

Aesir's voice crackles over the communicator "Tempo, I just got attacked by a giant Flea but he escaped into the building. Please tell me you've found something useful."

[sun_tzu]

"Mostly, I wanted to break off your attack."
Without another word, she cast another spell, this time creating a gigantic, 10-feet wide sponge...right above Lady Blood's head, and letting it fall on her. ((Create Object))

[Green Bean]

*cough* text

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Oh, man, this gonna get all over my suit..."

Fireblade charges the mass of frogs menacing the old man, sword flashing out in an attempt to dice the amphibians into a tasty delicacy.

(You're going to enjoy this far too much...first and foremost, are these frogs classed as Minions? If so, there's a couple of things I want to note:

1) Fireblade has Takedown Attack 2, which is basically Great Cleave, at least on Minions.
2) You can take 10 on attacks against Minions.
3) Minions drop after one failed Tough save.

So, to attack the first frog, Fireblade automatically gets a total of 20 to attack and gives a DC 25 Tough save. If the frog fails that, it drops and Fireblade does the same thing to the next one...and so on and so forth until one frog passes its Tough save or I run out of frogs within five feet of reach. Does that sound right?

If you see a problem with this (like the frog swarm being statted as a unit rather than dozens of individuals), let me know and I'll revise my actions. I'd also go for nonlethal if this were anything but a plague of vermin, or even if it is, but I know how much you like running up Fireblade's dry cleaning bill.)

[fireinthedust]

Tempo and Aesir:
((sorry again!))

Tempo: You reach the top of the building, having been mentally dazzled by the building's hypno-rays. Luckily you got over it, as well as noticed why the building is going crazy: it's infested with Fleas! Fleas crawling all over the computer circuits, the walls, more and more the higher you go.

At the top you come up on a large room with the Atom Family! The majority of the family is desperately fighting a large wall of fleas moving slowly towards them. One of them, a young man, has grown to about 20ft. tall, and it desperately trying to force open a large door. Its controls, like so many other electrical things in the building, are jammed. Another Atom youth, a young woman, is quickly tapping on the controls of a computer: a hologram of an old man is blinking on and off, apparently busted ((you remember the grandfather of the Atom Clan, whose mind was transformed into their mainframe computer when he died; your mind racing, you can tell that this blinking he's doing, related to the building's malfunctions, is not good for his program!))
Even the Atom Family's blue monkey (purportedly from the moon) is trying to help out, picking and eating mouthful after mouthful of fleas!


Behind you on the stairs, just as Aesir makes the communication, a Man-sized Flea bursts through the Goodman Building's wall!

Aesir:

you follow the man-flea into the building, the hole going through several walls, and into the stairwell.

Please roll initiative:
Fleas:
man-Flea:
Atom Family:
Aesir:
Tempo:

[Green Bean]

((Initiative (1d20 45=46) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1567510/)))

Tempo quickly takes the scene in and moves to help the beleaguered Atom Family. Still a bit scrambled from the hypno-rays, the young speedster settles for the simple option, running over to the man-flea at hitting him several times. He then speeds over to the quartet of heroes. "I'm with the Freedom League, and I'm here to help!"

((Attack Roll (1d20 12=28) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1567520/)))

[Da Beast]

[roll0]

Aesir stops to consider the situation before deciding to keep his distance while raining lightning down on his opponent.

[roll1]

[fireinthedust]

Riverfront:

The sponge drops on the giant woman, but fails to suck her totally into it (too many white blood cells). She is bludgeoned by it, though, and for that second you feel a tingle in your body again: an attempt to force your blood to explode through your skin has broken off!

You'll pay for that, witch! and with that she leaps into the air. In about a second she'll land in the water on top of you.


Goodman Building:

Aesir's lightning bolts fail to hit the Flea, he's moving just too fast. Tempo's fists, however, connect quite well. The Man-Flea is sent flying once more, crashing into a pile of fleas that cushion his fall. He'd moved fast, so Tempo's slams hit him further into the room with the Atom family. A moment later he falls to the ground, and the fleas begin to disperse.


The Fens:

The old man jumps back as many of the frogs explode on the edge of Fireblade's blade. Get that thing away from me! Thing's crazy, trying to kill me!

[Nerd-o-rama]

Aaaand let's see. Yep. Covered in frog. The dry-cleaning service is quickly becoming my favorite membership perk.

"Don't worry sir," Fireblade says. "We'll keep these frogs under control. Apex, did you see where the big one went?"
(Woops, forgot spoilers. You know, if this was on plothook.net, we could just have separate threads.)

[SuperMuldoon]

"We'll keep these frogs under control. Apex, did you see where the big one went?"

Apex wipes some frog goo from the front of his suit and flings it to the ground. "Yeah, he tumbled into that building over there. I'll go take a look, cover me." Turning to the man rescued from a froggy death, "I think you should find a safe place to hide, the bigger they are, the more goop they end up spraying around..."

Apex heads over to the building where the giant frog tumbled into and looks inside. If it's dark he will turn on his nightvision mode, if not he will just scan the area with various magnifications and such.

((Do I need a spot roll or search or something?))

[sun_tzu]

Ohcrapohcrapogcrapthinkfastthinkfastthinkfast...
With only a few seconds to act, Soul breathes in deeply, forgoes the telekinesis (allowing the water to rush back in around her), and materializes a "floor" of sodium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium) right above the water where the villainess is about to drop.
((Create Object, again. I figure that since Soul used telekinesis to send the water away a couple rounds earlier, she must be at the bottom of the riverbed right now...should put a lot of water between her and the inevitable fireball.:smallbiggrin:
Do you think I need to spend a Hero Point for this? If yes, then consider it spent.))

[Green Bean]

"Oh hey, Aesir. Turns out you took the easier way." Tempo shakes his head a few times to clear the last of the cobwebs, then turns intangible for a few seconds to remove any fleas that latched onto him. He turns toward the Atom Family. "I don't suppose you know what's going on?"

[Da Beast]

Aesir walks over to the man flea prodding it with his foot, prepared to hit it again if it moves.

"Did we get him?"

He continues to stare down at the man flea for a few seconds, struggling to make up his mind over something. After a few moments he lifts the giant flea onto his shoulders.

"Learn what you can here and then go find Fireblade and Apex."

A moment latter he vanishes from the Goodman Building and appears in the Warden's office of Blackrock Prison. After dropping the flea and muttering a quick apology he vanishes again to reappear along the riverfront.

((I'm pretty sure Blackrock is the prison built to hold supers, but I don't have any of the Freedom City source books so that could be wrong))

[fireinthedust]

The Fens:

The old man stands up and straightens his jacket, shrugging off the fear from a moment before. Huh? Heh, yeah. Go kill that thing, y'know? Do what you gotta do. Cut off it's head or somethin', heh.

Apex goes into the building. It's dark and dank: a large warehouse-type space. It's dank and dark.

you both can hear a pathetic whimper, like an animal in pain: ...Harries mile ack!

Riverfront:

The sodium reacts with the water (I guess; I don't have time to test it!) and explodes in a ginormous fireball. You hear the voice of Lady Blood scream and then disappear. You float to the surface without incident. However, the water of the river has been transformed: every drop of water in the bay has turned to blood!

Sun: Oh well, I guess that's what I ge for the last two years of EA!


Goodman Building:

((enough with the spoilers! Combat here is over, so we'll resume.))

The Atom Family is what the public calls the most recent generation of an extraordinary family. Their parents disappeared during the invasion of Freedom City by Omega's Legions (at the same time the Centurion died/vanished). Now only the children, their guardian Jack Wolf, their grandfather's spirit transformed into a computer program, and their moon monkey, inhabit the ginormous Goodman Building. Luckily they're genius children, and the family still makes millions a month (before they spend them on prototypes).

Max Atom, the giant-sized young man, finally tears the door to the hanger open. Yeah! I got it! ...oh. Never mind then.

Tess, the genius member of the family, fixes her grandfather's computer console. What's going on? Well, now that the building's cleaning-system is going to take care of the fleas, I can focus on the problem at hand. I was monitoring transmissions online, and found at least three instances of chaos around the city. I believe we are under some sort of attack. we were going to respond, but the building went insane. I believe the flea-man was acting out some principal of... *Vengeance!*


Re Brennus and the warden: Well, it may or may not be. Regardless, it's done now! ;)

[Green Bean]

Tempo scratches his head. "Is that three counting the flea-man? Because I think the rest of us are dealing with them. Actually, I probably should go help Apex and Fireblade in the fens. Whatever those are." Tempo fiddles with his communicator, trying to see if there's a GPS feature somewhere. Failing that, he calls and asks for their location.

[sun_tzu]

Sun: Oh well, I guess that's what I ge for the last two years of EA!

((My thoughts exactly.:smallbiggrin:
So do I still have a Hero Point?))

Wet, covered in blood, and messy beyond belief, Soul rises above the surface.
"I'm the smartest person in the wooooorld!"

Shortly afterward, she creates a large cement wall in the sea near the riverfront so as to make a huge container, and, using her telekinesis, begins displacing the blood there, letting water rush back in.
((Create Object and Telekinesis. I have no idea how long it would take her to clean the bay, but she will at least start, and see if she's making any progress.))
As she cleans the bay, she activates her communicator to contact the rest of the League. "Soul calling in. I think I've successfully driven off a high-level villainess, but not before she arranged for a little ecological disaster that I'm currently attempting to clean up. How are things going on your side?"

[fireinthedust]

Soul: You spend the hero point.

Also: cleaning up the bay isn't working. The water at the point you're going to change isn't mingling with the sea water; only the fresh water is changed.

RIVERFRONT

Aesir arrives in a flash alongside Soul. The whole river is turned to blood, all the way to the line where the river meets the sea.


Tempo: You know where the Fens is: it's the poor neighbourhood in Freedom City. Think Hell's Kitchen (where daredevil hangs out in marvel) in New York. You're in the BAxter Building with the FF, bt now you're heading towards Daredevil's hood.

Apex and Fireblade:

The light flickers in the warehouse from Fireblade's sword, enough that a hint of motion is detected in the rafters above the warehouse.

[Green Bean]

"Sorry to run, but I gotta go." Tempo zips away (taking the outside of the building this time) and arrives at the fens almost instantly. He activates his communicator. "Apex, Fireblade: Aesir and I finished at the Goodman Building, and I'm here to help. What's your location?"

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Oh, damn," Fireblade says quietly on hearing the frog's apparent whining in pain. "I was hoping these things were evil. Let's make sure this isn't a trick, then call someone who's better at containment. Then we can take care of the frogs and the riot...hmm?

Fireblade looks up, trying to spot what's moving around in the rafters.
Notice (1d20 10=19) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1572263/)
Just then, he hears Tempo over the communicator. "Fireblade here. We're in a warehouse at..." wherever we are, I don't think it was stated.

[fireinthedust]

((he gives yo the location of the warehouse))

Fireblade: you see the frog-man quickly darting ot of the light.

Harriesss miiille ack....

The man in the alleyway leans in through the doorway.
Geez, what are you waiting for? Kill it! Get that thing! I thought you were heroes!

Tempo:

moving through the streets you arrive at the warehouse. There's an older man yelling in through the doorway. There's also a lot of frogs either splattered all over the alley; or else hopping cautiously towards the doorway.

[Green Bean]

Tempo blurs past the screaming old man, and appears next to Fireblade and Apex. "What's going on?" While he talks, the speedster looks around the warehouse. ((Notice Check (1d20 5=7) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1572270/)))

[Nerd-o-rama]

Fireblade turns toward the old man, somewhat angry. "Look, sir, I know you're scared, but these frogs are just animals. There's no need to kill them if they're not an immediate threa--oh, hey Tempo."

"Listen," he says to the speedster, "We've got an infestation of frogs here, and they're harassing the citizens. Also, some of the civilians seem to be rioting, only...not rioting, you know? They look a little zombie-ish. In fact, everyone I've seen around here except this old guy has been like that...sir, what did you say your name was?"

Fireblade sizes up the old man. There's something he's not telling...
Sense Motive (1d20 10=27) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1572288/)

[sun_tzu]

"Hey Aesir. Don't worry about the blood, it's...not mine. Actually, do worry about the blood, because the whole river seems to have turned into it.
How did the crisis go back there?" She then speaks into the communicator: "Apex, Fireblade? Aesir and me are coming. What's the situation?" She then opens a portal to the fens and flies through it, gesturing to Aesir to follow.

((Huh. You know, given my..."cultural heritage"...I'd have to be pretty damn oblivious not to realize what's going on by this point, OOC. I wonder if Soul should be able to figure it out, though...))

[SuperMuldoon]

Apex steps into the building and turns on his night-vision to better find the darting frog-man.

"Surrender and come out! We won't hurt you, the fight is over, let us end this peacefully!" Apex yells to where he thinks the frog-man might be.

Harries miles ack? I wonder what that means...is it another language?

Apex hears the cries of the beligerent old man they saved. That guy is pretty pissed, well I guess I would be too if I were attacked by a giant frog, still something isn't right here...

((OOC: sorry for the lack of posts, but I was at the NY ComicCon and didn't really get a chance to sit still and get on my computer!))

[Da Beast]

"That's all... blood?" Aesir asks, looking a bit queasy; like he did at the hospital. He seems much more comfortable after moving through the portal.

"The Goodman Building was being swarmed by fleas when we arrived. There was this giant man flea who seemed to be controlling the whole thing so after we punched him out I dropped him off at blackrock, and now I'm here." After looking around at all the frogs hoping about he continues "We better find the others quick because it looks like we're four plagues short."

[sun_tzu]

"That's all... blood?"
"Well I haven't analyzed it, but it certainly seems so", says Soul, still dripping from the stuff.


"The Goodman Building was being swarmed by fleas when we arrived. There was this giant man flea who seemed to be controlling the whole thing so after we punched him out I dropped him off at blackrock, and now I'm here." After looking around at all the frogs hoping about he continues "We better find the others quick because it looks like we're four plagues short."
Soul's eyes go wide"Blood...fleas...frogs...Holy bleep. The ten plagues of Egypt...I fear to even speculate about what that means."
She flies toward Fireblade ((assuming she can find him. You guys haven't been answering the communicator...))

[SuperMuldoon]

"Apex, Fireblade? Aesir and me are coming. What's the situation?"

"We've got an amphibian situation. Frogs all over the place and it looks like there was a riot. Theres a rather large frog pinned down at my location, I'm trying to apprehend it." Apex says into his communicator as he moves around the building looking for the big frog man-thing.

[fireinthedust]

The Fens:

The old man shrugs his jacket back into place in a very "wise guys" kind of way. huh? me? I'm nobody. Harry Smilac. Just the wrong place at the wrong time. He's a monster! What's the hold up?

The frog-man groan-croaks again. Harries mile ack :smallfrown:

Tempo fails to notice him until the frog-man speaks.


Soul: yeah, I'm pretty sure everyone can guess; especially considering the first posts of the thread!

[sun_tzu]

"Just tell us where you are and we'll join you. That 'marge frog'...Bestial, or intelligent?"

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Smart enough to say a guy's name...we're at <address> in the Fens." Fireblade mutters over the communicator, looking directly at Mr. Harry Smilac.

"Look, I don't know what's going on here," he says aloud, "And I don't intend to do any more violence until I find out exactly what's going on. Smilac, the frog's pacified. We'll take him back to headquarters for examination and medical treatment, should he prove cooperative."

He looks at the frog, and decides to try his luck. "Will you cooperate if we take you to get you patched up? We'll have to hold you, but..." turning back to Harry Smilac, he continues, "I think you should also come back to headquarters. In protective custody. You seem to have attracted undue attention from these guys, after all."

[SuperMuldoon]

Apex walks over to the frog man and extends a hand. "Come on, lets go. We're going to take you back to our base and figure out exactly whats going on here. We won't hurt you as long as you come along peacefully." Apex thinks for a bit, and then adds "Can you say anything else besides "Harries Miles Ack?"

[sun_tzu]

"Excuse me, but...What the Hell is going on? Those of us who were in a different part of town during the last few minutes would appreicate an explanation."

[SuperMuldoon]

Apex looks behind him to Soul. "We're not too sure whats going on here either. Fireblade and I flew over the Fens here, and it looks like there were riots, the place is a mess. We then came across these two..." Apex indicated the frog-man he's standing over, and Harry, "It looked like the frog man was letting out huge croak noises and was facing off against Harry over there. We thought it was attacking him and gave the frog-man a little blast, thats why froggy seems a little out of it. After that...well a swarm of little frogs went after Harry, which Fireblade took care of. And thats where we are now. How was your day?" Apex finishes, flashing a grin at Soul.

[sun_tzu]

Apex looks behind him to Soul. "We're not too sure whats going on here either. Fireblade and I flew over the Fens here, and it looks like there were riots, the place is a mess. We then came across these two..." Apex indicated the frog-man he's standing over, and Harry, "It looked like the frog man was letting out huge croak noises and was facing off against Harry over there. We thought it was attacking him and gave the frog-man a little blast, thats why froggy seems a little out of it. After that...well a swarm of little frogs went after Harry, which Fireblade took care of. And thats where we are now. How was your day?" Apex finishes, flashing a grin at Soul.

Still covered in blood, Soul replies: "Well, I met a sadistic goth girl who seems to have blood-related powers, turned the city's water supply into that very same bodily fluid, and nearly managed to make mine pop out of my body. On the positive side, I got to get her closely acquainted with a lot of sodium. In the river. She disappeared after the fireball - I don't know if that means she's turned to ashes, or just went into hiding. Never did get her name, but she had a flippant attitude, and she could tell I was from the Freedom League...I think she was human, or at least native to human society, whoever she was."
Yeah, keep talking about the villainess whose butt you kicked instead of the water supply you couldn't protect from her. Brave, brave girl, you.
She then leans in and whispers. "Apex...I know you come from a world much different from ours, but it's sometimes hard to tell how different...So please tell me: Do you know what the Plagues of Egypt were?"

[SuperMuldoon]

"Apex...I know you come from a world much different from ours, but it's sometimes hard to tell how different...So please tell me: Do you know what the Plagues of Egypt were?"

Apex lowers his voice as well. "Well, I have only learned about your Egypt rather recently, as in my time all nations have been dissolved and united under a banner of a unified Earth, so I'm afraid I'm not too familiar with it. Was it some sort of epidemic of disease?" Apex scratches his head, wondering how this all relates to the current situation.

[sun_tzu]

Apex lowers his voice as well. "Well, I have only learned about your Egypt rather recently, as in my time all nations have been dissolved and united under a banner of a unified Earth, so I'm afraid I'm not too familiar with it. Was it some sort of epidemic of disease?" Apex scratches his head, wondering how this all relates to the current situation.

"It's...complicated." There goes the theory that the major religions will survive even in the far future.
"A long time ago - we're talking a few millenia before this era, back when iron was a cutting edge technology most human nations hadn't mastered yet - what was then Egypt had enslaved a people called the Hebrews. According to legends - well, there are people who believe those legends are in fact the exact truth, but that's a touchy discussion subject for another time - according to legends, the Hebrews were under the protection of an omnipotent cosmic entity; God. God took one of the Hebrews, a man called Moses, and made him his spokesman. Moses went to the Egyptians' supreme leader, called the pharaoh, and demanded that his people be released. Every time the pharaoh refused, God would cause another calamity to happen to Egypt - we call those calamities the Ten Plagues of Egypt. I don't remember their exact order...but the first one was the Nile, Egypt's biggest (well, its only) river, turning into blood. Two others were invasions of immense amounts of frogs and fleas.
Just like what's been going on here today. Well, almost like it anyway.
There are seven more plagues to go. In no particular order - I'll have to look that up - there's darkness, crop-eating insects, some kind of skin disease, a disease that kills livestock, heavy hail...And then there's the last plague.
The death of every firstborn child."
Soul let that last part hang in the air.

[SuperMuldoon]

Apex's face twists in concern for a moment and he remains silent, taking in all this new information in before responding. "So you're saying that chances are we are going to get a lot busier eh? If this is truly what is coming to pass, we're going to have to get to the bottom of it before that whole 'death of the firstborn son' bit. So far though, all of these 'plagues' have been brought on by an individual, you had blood-girl, we had frog-guy and Tempo and Aesir had flea-man. I would think it is reasonable to assume that the other plagues will be brought by their own respective individual. We should check the Freedom League computer for all known people or things that can produce such effects...

[Da Beast]

"Could our missing patients be the start of the final plague?"

((I thought it was seven plagues :smallfrown:. Maybe if I'd known that 15 years down the line I would look silly in a super hero play by post game I wouldn't have skipped sunday school so much))

[sun_tzu]

((I thought it was seven plagues . Maybe if I'd known that 15 years down the line I would look silly in a super hero play by post game I wouldn't have skipped sunday school so much))

((Wish I could have skipped Passover more often. An hours-long ceremony at the dinner table before you can finally get to the food can be frustrating.))


"Could our missing patients be the start of the final plague?"
"I think it's only supposed to target childre - " Soul stops in mid-sentence. "The missing patients. How many were there? I mean, did they number ten? Jenny gave us the list..."

[fireinthedust]

((Brennus: Yes, that's exactly why skipping Sunday school is bad: its effect on rpgs!!! :smalltongue:

Sun: I dunno, I've always wanted to sit in on a passover dinner. the history, the prayer, the chance to share that with friends and family together... I really like Easter Mass, but having something so traditional actually in my house would be cool. I tried something like that in University on campus; it went well, but it was a lot of work.))


Everyone: let's skip to Freedom Hall!

The Frog-man is very afraid of Fireblade, and his side bears a severe burn on his frog-like skin; you notice it's far more severe than even a normal human would have felt, especially considering how easily he was knocked through the wall of the building. Creeping slowly down to the ground and towards the corner, he responds to Apex by carefully taking his hand and saying on word: Tsssfardiiiia

The trip back to Freedom Hall is fast. Mr. Smilac argues that he can take care of himself, that he doesn't know what you're talking about, and that you'll hear from his lawyer on a dozen different issues most of which are ridiculous and unreasonable. However, at the idea of there being other people out there with powers like the frog-man, he goes along quietly.

Once there, they both settle into the Freedom Hall jail cells. Mr. Smilac demands a more comfortable room, tv, drinks, food, a telephone so he can call a lawyer, Soul's phone number and if she'll go out with him, whether or not you guys think you're the real Freedom League or some kind of joke, and demands lots of quasi-reasonable stuff from there.

:)

[fireinthedust]

The List of Missing Patients:

Ernest T. Almond II, age 47, Freedom City University Prof; recovering from shock

Bert Gordon, 16, high school student, treated for broken nose.

Albert Hedison, 37, unemployed; hospitalized for severe alcohol poisoning.

Constance Mason, 15, high school student; treated and kept under observation after suicide attempt.

Rey Milland, 17, ward of the state; awaiting transfer into the care of social services.

Virginia North, 78, retired; hospitalized with terminal cancer.

Arnold Quigley, 31, Delphic Industries employee; being treated for meningitis.

Casandra Starling, 19, unemployed; being treated for severe anorexia.

Jerimiah Johns, 55, custodian at the Lincoln Youth Center; broken finger.

Susanna Whiteacre, 19, artist; complained of dizziness.

[sun_tzu]

Sun: I dunno, I've always wanted to sit in on a passover dinner. the history, the prayer, the chance to share that with friends and family together... I really like Easter Mass, but having something so traditional actually in my house would be cool. I tried something like that in University on campus; it went well, but it was a lot of work.
((My being rabidly anti-religious from the age of eight and onward probably didn't help my enjoyment.:smalltongue: ))


Once at the HQ, Soul will:
1)Look up information on the missing patients - in particular, see if any of them looks like the blood-controlling goth.
2)Use healing spells on anyone who needs it - group members, Harry, and finally the frog-man.
3)Explain the "plague" theory to the rest of the team.
4)Google the Ten Plagues of Egypt.
5)Attempt to contact any leader figure of the Jewish community she can, and ask if they have any idea what's going on (after explaining the plague thing).
6)Try to ignore Harry for now.

[Nerd-o-rama]

((I thought Fireblade missed, and Apex's blaster was what hit him?


The frog dodges the fire blast easily, but upon seeing the flames breaks off its attack and rolls away.
Apex' blast just strikes him, causing the giant frog to tumble away through a boarded up window.

The old man stumbles to the end of an alleyway, but stops short: several dozen frogs have converged on the alleyway.

Also, Seder meals are fun. One of the local Methodist Churches had a community one when I was in high school.))

Fireblade makes sure Harry's somewhere comfortable (but observable) and that the Frog is taken care of, then he does some research of his own, namely on "Harry Smilac".

"You know," he comments to Soul, sitting at the next terminal, "You might want to contact other churches too. The plagues are pretty well-known Christian canon, and if Ghostbusters is any indication, high-ranking Catholic clergy are easy to get ahold of."

"Also, did I hear someone say that you turned the city's water supply into blood?"

[sun_tzu]

Fireblade makes sure Harry's somewhere comfortable (but observable) and that the Frog is taken care of, then he does some research of his own, namely on "Harry Smilac".

"You know," he comments to Soul, sitting at the next terminal, "You might want to contact other churches too. The plagues are pretty well-known Christian canon, and if Ghostbusters is any indication, high-ranking Catholic clergy are easy to get ahold of."

"Also, did I hear someone say that you turned the city's water supply into blood?"

"No, I failed to stop some Elvira wannabe from doing that. Some blood-controller...She used the blood in my own body to attack me. She disappeared after I got her in a big explosive fireball, but the whole river had turned to blood. I have no idea if she's still alive."

[SuperMuldoon]

((OOC: Yeah I believe it was my blast that hit the frog, Fireblade only took care of the amphibian swarm :smallsmile: ))

Apex busies himself at HQ searching for what "Tsssfardiiiia" could possibly mean. He runs it and many different iterations of it through the computer database, Tsfardia, its far dia, Its fardia, sfardia etc.

Argh what was he trying to say to me! Apex wonders, slamming his fist into the desk next to the keyboard. Apex looks up and apologizes for his sudden outburst. "Sorry...*cough* It's been a long day...I think I'm going to go check on our froggy guest..." He excuses himself and heads to Frog-man's cell.

Apex looks into the cell containing the frog man. "'Tsssfardiiiia'? You said that to me...what does that mean? Is it a warning? Is it who you work for? I know you can talk somewhat... You have to tell me what you know, the safety of the citizens of Freedom City could depend on it!"

[Da Beast]

Aesir will make sure that nothing else is destroying the city before porting back to Blackrock to check on the flea man

[fireinthedust]

((whoops! yep, that's right. details, details! Bah. Still, the blast burned him terribly))

Aesir: you find no other threats to the city.

Soul: looking up info on the missing patients, you find a picture of the blood-girl; high school photo. You also find a picture of the prof (animal rights activist), and one of them pops up as a failed reporter (the one with significant alcohol in his system).

Apex and Soul: Looking up the ten plagues, you also find the word Tsfardeia HERE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagues_of_Egypt)

Fireblade: Harry Smilac is listed as the owner of a number of slum-level housing projects. The Freedom Hall computer has access to a lot of city records, and as such you find a number of health code violations and building violations on addresses he owns.

[sun_tzu]

((So what was Lady Blood's real name?))

Soul exposes her findings to the rest of the group.
"So, ten patients disappear from the hospital after an individual smelling of brimstone speaks to them. They begin reappearing, as supervillains, playing out the Plagues of Egypt. I'll try to check if the records have any clues concerning the 'recruiter'..."

((It's painfully obvious OOC, but I'm not sure how familiar Soul should be with Freedom City's villains IC. Anyway, she'll use both the computer and her knowledge of the arcane to try to put two and two together concerning brimstone guy.
[roll0]

[roll1]
Dunno if those are the right rolls...GM's call.))

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Say...that gives me a couple ideas, Soul."

Fireblade goes to talk to Mr. Smilac!

"Well, Harry," he says, "I've done a little research I think might help with your frog problem. Now, your various misdemeanors are between you and the city, but I have to ask you a question, and I want you to answer honestly. Is there anyone you might have made a particular enemy of among your tenants? Someone who, say, fell ill due to something that could have been resolved through better maintenance? I'm not accusing you of anything, and frankly, I don't care if you've made a few health code violations. I'm a superhero, not a health inspector. I just want to know if anyone might have reason to, say, get superpowers and assault you."

[fireinthedust]

ooc: yeah, I know. But I'll let you take a guess as to who it is. I'll tell you if you're right; if you're wrong I'll work with that ;)
Clue: there's only one magic-related villain who's powerful en... actually, there are several, but I want to see which one Soul prefers. Ditto Fireblade. Consider the PL necessary to actually give people powers.

Also: lady blood is one of the teenage girls, I believe. I don't have ht ebook handy, but she's one of them.

IC:

Mr. Smilac shrugs, straightening his jacket. Huh. I didn't do nothing. Those bums don't deserve what I give them. I thrown out lots of people, so no: I don't know who would go crazy and do this.

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Mr. Smilac, I'm not here to enforce municipal codes, but did you ever consider there may be a reason random frog-monsters chose your property to overrun? If you kick people around, they'll find a way to kick you back. Anyway, you can stay here for your protection, or we can drop you back off in the Fens with your tenants. You pick. Right now, I'm going to go take care of the other guy."

With that, Fireblade leaves, and heads toward the frog-man's cell.

"Hey Apex," he says. Turning to the creature: "Sir...you can just nod, you don't have to speak...are you human? Did you live in one of Harry Smilac's properties?"

[sun_tzu]

So that's the identity of our blood-bender. And I'd be surprised if the flea-man and frog-man didn't turn out to be among the disappeared people. As for the power-broker who thought unleashing the Ten Plagues of Egypt on Freedom City was a good idea...
Still working on the Freedom League's computer, Soul begins examining Mr Infamy's file.

[Da Beast]

((Is Aesir able to get in and talk to the flea man?))

[fireinthedust]

Aesir: Getting back to Blackrock, you find the warden's office is filled with fleas. There's a window through which a beam of light is cast, and outside it you can hear laser fire and men going "aaaaargh!"

you can also hear a man's frantic voice. Imprison me? Never! Now mankind will learn what the animals, the cats and dogs, feel when mankind has trapped them in cages! But... but now it's *you* who'll be in cages! Yes, that's right! And bitten by huge numbers of fleas... and me!

[Da Beast]

Aesir lets out a sigh before reaching for his communicator "There seems to be a situation at blackrock. If anyone could make it down here it'd be appreciated"

He then flies out the window and into the prison yard. "ERNEST ALMOND!"

[SuperMuldoon]

Apex nods at Fireblade. "He doesn't seem to be very talkative tonight, you're welcome to try your luck though. Maybe he likes you better than me?"

Apex's communicator goes off:
"There seems to be a situation at blackrock. If anyone could make it down here it'd be appreciated"

"Looks like we've got trouble, maybe we need to cut the interrogation short for now." Apex activates his communicator, "Soul, would you be able to make a portal to Aesir's location?"

[sun_tzu]

"There you go", says Soul as she opens a portal. "Who stays here to watch over froggy?"

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Sounds like Apex volunteered for the fight," Fireblade says, not wanting to deal with fleas getting into an armored jumpsuit. "I can stay here until he answers my question."

[sun_tzu]

"Very well. Apex, Tempo...To Blackrock!"
Soul flies through her portal.

((Er, did the computer search turn up anything?))

[Green Bean]

((Sorry about the delay; I've been visiting internet-less family members))

Tempo starts to take the more direct route to Blackrock when he receives Aesir's call, but pauses when he remembers the last time he tried to take a shortcut through a high-security area. He patiently waits for Soul to open the portal, then darts through.

[SuperMuldoon]

Apex steps through the portal, appearing at the Blackrock facility. He then takes to the air and scans the area for the flea-man and Aesir.

"Did someone call about a bug problem?"

[fireinthedust]

Computer Check: those of you looking up Mr. Infamy discover the Freedom League file on him. He is an incredibly powerful entity who grants wishes of the "signed in blood" variety. He often takes the form of a man in a suit, and often works out of what appears to be an antique store that sells whatever the buyer desires.



Blackrock:

Getting there the Freedom League sees Aesir flying through the air near a massive cloud of fleas.

The moment the team goes through the portal (conveniently right near Aesir) then a giant flea appears out of points at them (gm fiat for surprise, yeah yeah you all get a hero point). The massive cloud of fleas swarms the Freedom League, biting and crawling all over their skin.

((Everyone please roll Initiative))

[sun_tzu]

Oh joy. Attacked by a cloud of bugs. Just what a girl needs to make her day more perfect.
Soul raises her arm in the giant flea's direction, and sends a massive energy blast, hoping to take out the villain and roast his millions of familiars. "Burn."

[roll0]
Area of Effect Blast. Given her Impervious Force-Field, there's no way a swarm of regular flees can hurt her.

[Nerd-o-rama]

((Actually, I wasn't going to Blackrock, as I'm still waiting a response from Frog Man that was a couple of GM posts ago.


"Hey Apex," he says. Turning to the creature: "Sir...you can just nod, you don't have to speak...are you human? Did you live in one of Harry Smilac's properties?"

"Sounds like Apex volunteered for the fight," Fireblade says, not wanting to deal with fleas getting into an armored jumpsuit. "I can stay here until he answers my question."
Sorry to be a bother, but I really would like to know. Of course, I have no objections to going into combat and making everyone's life easier if we want to have this conversation retroactively.))

[Green Bean]

Abruptly, Tempo is standing next to the giant man-flea, scratching himself at super-speed. "Hey (ergh!) (ah!) big guy; remember (gah!) me?" The speedster delivers a number of rapid-fire punches, but is forced to pause several times in the middle of his barrage to unsuccessfully try to scrape some of the fleas off. "Gah, these things are so annoying!" In desperation, he turns himself intangible, hoping that the insects would give up if they had nothing solid to bite.

((Attack Roll (1d20 12=30) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1583910/)

Much later edit:

Forgot the initiative check
Initiative (1d20 45=47) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1584951/)))

[Da Beast]

"I've had enough of these stupid fleas. I'll be lucky to get away from this without lime disease."

A brilliant white light poors forth from Aesir's frame, catching the fleas in it's path of destruction while leaving his friends unhurt.

[roll0]

Unleashing my godly blast and excluding my teammates, local structures, and any guards from the attack. Then I'll spend the hero point to negate the fatigue

Edit: If he's already down (seams likely with that initiative roll) I guess I'll just teleport down to my team mates to get the fleas off me

[SuperMuldoon]

"Alright flea-man, eat blaster fire!" Apex fires off a shot of energy from his wrist blasters, and then will move to further surround the flea man, his force-field hopefully keeping the swarm of fleas at bay.


[roll0]
[roll1]

Apex's impervious force field should keep the fleas from doing anything other than being annoying.

[fireinthedust]

((sorry its taken so long. I've just been moving into my new apartment. This morning I burned some baking (yes, cookies) and two feet of smoke covered the ceiling. Only recently did the alarm stop saying (in English and French) that there was carbon monoxide in the air. In news unrelated to breathing in toxic gas... weeeeeeeeee, I can fly --but I feel like sleeping! *cough cough* Anyway, on with Freedom City!))

Fireblade: ((I'd prefer it if you went with them, come to think of it. Splitting up now means that (questions answered) you as a player have to wait while the others enter combat and fight this guy.

While the computer check was happening, let's say you talked to Tsfardeia (the frog guy). You've learned that he isn't very quick, and probably has serious developmental challenges (Downs syndrome, most likely). He's scared of you, and shies back in the cell he's put in. He doesn't answer your questions, and you can see that he's actually crying.


Blackstone: A description of what the jail looks like: For all intents and purposes, Blackstone is an island of obsidian stone sticking out of the sea about a mile out of the harbor, like a big hunk of grass covered black rock.

The prison itself is underground, and is one of the most formidable prisons ever built; its designers included members of the Freedom League, Daedalus and the Raven, and part of the design prohibits any teleportation in or out without authorization. As such, Aesir dropped Flea-man off in an office in the watch tower on top of the island. Right now, the Freedom League appeared outside that tower, finding the cloud of fleas and the Flea man battling Blackstone's Blackguards (guards).

Fleas: they're not damaging you. It's the Nauseate Power of the gross fleas. It's the sensation of them crawling over your skin, their creeping into your nose and ears, the tickling, the itching, crawling into your mouth... and ew, fleas! Yuck!
so technically, and this is rules-lawyering in a RAW fashion rather than reality, Impervious has nothing to do with it, although realistically I see your point. Would you say it's a force field in the sense of Star Trek, or more like DnD's Mage Armor spell: you have it on you to the same effect as a rank of protection? Would Soul get wet if she was dumped in water, would toxins reach her in the air?

everyone: DC 18 to avoid (if nothing else) being grossed out! (then we'll see if Fireblade does anything, or if any of you *can* act this round) He's going to have this effect on every single round, so each new action I'd like everyone to roll to see what they can do.

[Green Bean]

((Fortitude Save (1d20 4=19) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1586117/)
))

[fireinthedust]

Tempo: The speedster wails on the flea-man, and while bothered by the fleas he's not disabled by them; his nerves are faster than even their squirming legs

The flea-man is battered by the speedster, but his shell is harder than Tempo's fists. This time. He leaps into the air at Apex, his insect reflexes faster than anyone other than Tempo's.

You think you can keep me here? Lock me away? You're all part of the same system of abuse: lock them away when it's too hard to help them! Pets are our friends, all they ask for is love and people to save them... tell me, "hero", how many of them did you test your ray gun on before you got it to work?! *chomp!*

Apex: his attack roll is 25 to bite you with his needle-sharp flea-jaws. Dmg is +10 vs. any impervious you might have, even before mighty is applied.
if he hits: Toughness DC27

[sun_tzu]

((All right, AoE blast is out...
Will save (you didn't specify if it was Will, Fortitude or Reflex, but from the description I'm guessing Will): [roll0]
Make the attack a regular Blast: [roll1]

EDIT: Also, Soul will be flying away from the rest of the group, so they don't all form one compact target.))

[SuperMuldoon]

[roll0] for the bugs

[roll1]

I have Impervious of 10, but if I read correctly only attacks below my impervious rating would be blocks, so technically a 10 gets through right? I'll roll my toughness save regardless.


Apex's forcefield keeps the bugs at bay, but he is taken by surprise by the leaping ability of the flea man. His force field shimmers and crackles around the area where the flea mans jaws puncture through and reach his body.

"GAH! I don't know what your talking about flea-man, animal testing has been abolished for over 600 years when I come from!"

((OOC: I guess I got a little ahead of myself in my previous post. Is it possible to keep that attack roll and instead use a melee attack (it ends up being the same bonus, damage and save anyway) as the situation has changed or would you rather me roll a new attack?))

[Da Beast]

[roll0]

"Where do these things keep coming from? We're on a damned island!"

((Edit: Two natural ones in a row :smallsigh:. The forum roller hates me))

[Nerd-o-rama]

((Sorry for the delay, everyone!))

Fireblade looks at Tsfardia sadly, saying, "I'll be back to talk some more later," in a sad voice before stepping through the portal to Blackstone.

Fortitude Save (1d20 8=11) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1588520/)

"Gah! What the hell?! Get them off, get them off!"

((Failed by 7, so I think that's no actions from me, right? If I can still take a Standard, let me know, because I...have a cunning plan! Well, cunning for me.))

[fireinthedust]

The round:

tempo
Kinim
Apex 24
soul 17
fireblade
Aesir 2

Tempo speeds up to Flea-guy and smacks him good.
Flea-guy leaps over to Apex and bites him, but finds his armor too tough for his teeth. Ow!
Apex swings with an armored fist, sending the bug flying with little more than a bruise.
Soul unleashes her deadly blast, but her target's wiry frame eludes her blast.
Fireblade and Aesir are both overcome by the field of fleas. Even as the blasts from their teammates destroy some, more fill in the gaps. As such, they can only move during the first moments of combat, until they can find the fortitude to overcome the fleas.

((move actions only, lads))

Okay, next round! Ye have bruised the flea-man!

[Green Bean]

Fortitude Save (1d20 4=10) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1589398/)

Tempo becomes substantial again, preparing for another attack. This was not the best move, as the fleas around him quickly jumped back onto the now solid speedster. "Gah! Gettemoff! Gettemoff!"

Too grossed out to fight, Tempo zips over to the nearby water, and dives in, hoping the combination of speed and liquid would remove the fleas.

((I'll use my move action to jump into the nearest body of water))

[sun_tzu]

((Will save (or is it fortitude?): ))

Any thoughts of clever one-liners lost their way in Soul's mind, suffocating beneath the sheer gross-out factor of the fleas. All she could focus on was sending another blast of arcane energy at the foe.

((Attack roll (both for this round's attack and for the previous round's "homing":
roll]1d20+7
roll]1d20+7[/roll]))

[sun_tzu]

((Bleah.
1d20+7
1d20+7))

[sun_tzu]

((OK, what the hell?!
[roll0]
[roll1]))

[Da Beast]

Hey bug boy, know what I'm doing when I get home? I'm going to sit down with a nice plate of bacon and just spray some aerosol all night long!"

Using taunt to demoralize as a move action

[roll0]

[Da Beast]

Finally a good roll

Next round

[roll0]

Fly about 100 ft up in the air, hopefully outside his bug cloud. Then I'll throw down some lightning

[roll1]

If I fail the save I'll just use my move action to move as above

[SuperMuldoon]

"You've had a taste of my fist, now its time for the main course! How would you like a fresh serving of blaster?" Apex yells to the flea man.

[roll0]

[roll1]

[Nerd-o-rama]

((I'll just go ahead and forfeit my round 1 action for being slow on the post. The following is round 2 actions))

Fortitude Save (1d20 8=24) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1589442/)

Fireblade continues to freak out for a second until he remembers "Hey? Why am I worried about fleas? I can just immolate myself later. After this!"

Fireblade charges, mentally commanding the Soul of Fire to make a nonlethal strike (you said I could do that, right?)

((Charge and Power Attack 2, Toughness DC 29))
Attack (1d20 10=25) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1589444/)

[fireinthedust]

((Oh hey, it's my turn again! No really, I'm on top of things... okay, I'll double check and post tomorrow morning the numbers results.

Aesir: the cloud is larger than 100 ft, so you're still in it. Is it a range issue with the lightning?))

The Flea man snarls at Aesir's jibe, while dodging blasts and fists and such.

Round Two:

Seeing Tempo "flea" the combat for the nearest body of water, Aesir fly into the air, and Apex immune to his bites, the giant bug leaps at Soul.

[sun_tzu]

((Er, I have posted my action...))

[Nerd-o-rama]

((As have I, just to make sure you're aware of it. I realize you haven't gotten to me yet.))

[fireinthedust]

Tempo flies away from the battle, inundated with flea bites. With the speedster momentarily taken out of the battle, the giant Flea-man leaps at Soul. The Sorceress is too lithe a target, and the jaws of the great flea snap at air. A moment later her eldritch blast knocks the Flea-man across the island; Apex and Aesir let loose their blasts, but the speed of the flea-man's egress is too much to hit him.

Luckily, that blast did the trick. Flea-man is down.


Soul: Constance Mason is Lady Blood (or Dam, in hebrew)

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Finally," Fireblade says. Pointing the Soul of Fire at himself, he adds, "Oh, this is gonna sting," before hitting his fireproof self with a flame blast to remove most of the fleas. One quick flamethrowering later, he looks none the worse for wear, although he still itches under the edges of his clothes.

"So...what do we do with this guy?"

[sun_tzu]

"Well...Doesn't the League's HQ have facilities to hold supervillains? Might be best to keep him somewhere we can interrogate him, unless the prison can handle him..."


Soul: Constance Mason is Lady Blood (or Dam, in hebrew)
((Yeah, I know. Hebrew is my native language.:smalltongue:))

[Green Bean]

Tempo appears next to his teammates, soaking wet but otherwise fine.

"Did we get him?"

[Da Beast]

Aesir summons a few rain clouds to disperse the remaining fleas before landing next to his team mates.

"Every time I think I have a good plan we end up getting attacked by super bugs. I should just stop coming up with ideas." He says with a glum look on his face.

[fireinthedust]

The fleas disperse somewhat, though they're all over the island (some are just wet now).

The Freedom Hall does indeed have facilities to hold a villain or two, as well as exotic monsters from around the universe.

The Blackguards dust themselves off (having been inundated with fleas). One of them informs you that a cell is being made ready right now by prison staff, thanks for saving their butts, and oh yeah Next time could you give us a heads up? Super prisons are big operations. The warden is indisposed, or we would've been fine. As it is, we'll be picking fleas out of our (yergh!) armor for weeks! Anyway, do you want us to keep him here, or are you guys gonna take him? That is, until the police can give him due process.

[sun_tzu]

The fleas disperse somewhat, though they're all over the island (some are just wet now).

The Freedom Hall does indeed have facilities to hold a villain or two, as well as exotic monsters from around the universe.

The Blackguards dust themselves off (having been inundated with fleas). One of them informs you that a cell is being made ready right now by prison staff, thanks for saving their butts, and oh yeah Next time could you give us a heads up? Super prisons are big operations. The warden is indisposed, or we would've been fine. As it is, we'll be picking fleas out of our (yergh!) armor for weeks! Anyway, do you want us to keep him here, or are you guys gonna take him? That is, until the police can give him due process.

Soul hesitates a moment. On one hand, keeping guys like this in custody IS what this place is designed for...but we might need the information...
"It might be best if we take for now. We'll bring him back to your custody as soon as is practical."

[SuperMuldoon]

Apex lands next to the flea man. "Its always gotta be bugs..." Apex mumbles to himself as he wipes some of the rain off of his goggles. He lifts the unconscious flea-man over his shoulder and heads to the rest of the group.


"It might be best if we take for now. We'll bring him back to your custody as soon as is practical."

"I'll carry him back, we've got a nice room at hotel freedom league for him!" Apex says grinning.

[Green Bean]

"Well, that's another mess cleaned up. Hopefully that's all for now..."

[sun_tzu]

As she opens a portal back to the Freedom League's HQ, Soul remembers that she has prototypical healing spells, and asks the nearest blackguard: "Do you have anyone in need of medical help?"

[fireinthedust]

The Blackguards thank you for the offer, but remind you of their amazing and expert medical department.


Okay, so you all get back to Freedom Hall. The news reports show massive numbers of frogs still on the loose, and outraged citizens complaining about the water supply of the city. Even in Freedom Hall, the outside water taps are pouring BLOOOOOOD! There is a stink in the city, and traffic out is starting to back up; those who can afford to leave their homes, that is, are leaving while the rest have to wallow in their own stink or bathe in Bloooooood.

What do you do?

[sun_tzu]

"Everyone, excuse me for a moment...I'm going to see the Water Department."
Soul then portals to said department, intent on seeing with them if her powers could be used to bring in water from a different reservoir (possibly from another city). Only a quick temporary fix, but better than leaving the city with no access to drinking water for an unknown period of time...

[Green Bean]

After the fight, Tempo approaches Apex.

"Hey, is it possible to test the blood-water? Even if we don't have any drinking water, maybe the blood bank can use some of it."

In any case, Tempo tries to gather all the frogs he can find, and bring them to Freedom Hall (using the training room as temporary storage), figuring he'd get Soul's help to transport them back to their natural habitat later.

[Da Beast]

"I could summon some rain to try and help with the water problems. Though it'll probably attract acid breathing water skimmers or something."

[fireinthedust]

Soul: Um, you can't just use the phone? Okay... sigh... separating, always...

ic: You reach the water company and find the workers "spell-shocked" by your entrance. :smalltongue:
You arrange a meeting with the head of it, and they sound interested. However, the volumes required to feed a city, even just to stave off thirst, is waaay beyond your PL. You could feed some of the politicians, or a neighbourhood, but not everyone. Also, to distribute the water would require equipment they just don't have.


Tempo: You gather up a lot of frogs from the fens in the blink of an eye... but feel a tingle. (please tell me if you have immunity to poisons/toxins, etc. If not, roll a Fort save for me)

Testing the Water: You find it is blood. real blood, type O. Whether the blood banks will take it, you're not sure.

[SuperMuldoon]

"Well, looks like its normal human blood. I would say the best way to turn the rivers back is to take out the source: Blood Girl. Soul, you fought the blood girl right? Any idea where she might have run off to?" Apex looks around and realizes that Soul is not there, and then uses his comlink to relay the question.

"Regardless, with our abilities we can cover a lot of ground. Anyone up for searching the old fashioned way? I figure if we knock blood-girl out of commission all the water might turn back to normal!" Apex says with a big grin on his face while looking around at his teammates.

"Alright...well its the best I got!"

[sun_tzu]

Soul: Um, you can't just use the phone? Okay... sigh... separating, always...

((I figured doing it in person would be more effective...and I hoped that opening a big enough portal to let the water flow between reservoirs might allow enough cubic meters of water in. Oh well.))


"Well, looks like its normal human blood. I would say the best way to turn the rivers back is to take out the source: Blood Girl. Soul, you fought the blood girl right? Any idea where she might have run off to?" Apex looks around and realizes that Soul is not there, and then uses his comlink to relay the question.

"Regardless, with our abilities we can cover a lot of ground. Anyone up for searching the old fashioned way? I figure if we knock blood-girl out of commission all the water might turn back to normal!" Apex says with a big grin on his face while looking around at his teammates.

"Alright...well its the best I got!"
"To be honest, I'm not even 100% certain she survived our fight" admits Soul as she portals back into the HQ, "though it seems likely. Her name is Constance Mason, by the way - I recognized her among the hospital's missing people. We should probably investigate in that direction." She then calls the police, hoping they have data on Constance.

[Green Bean]

Fort Save (1d20 4=10) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1597923/)

"Woah, these frogs are tingly"

[fireinthedust]

Tempo: You arrive back at Freedom Hall. The frogs are hopping around the wreck room. Suddenly the lights get really colorful, and the frogs are reeeally pretty. In fact, you can't seem to look away from one of them.
The last conscious thing you recognize is the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yoJI-Tl94g&NR=1

You are now sure of the following things until the frog wears off:

1) Your powers are cool. You're like some kind of cool rocket frog thing (see the link I'm giving to everyone to start you off, below)

2) Stuff around Freedom Hall looks like it tastes really good. Not just food, but door knobs, chair cushions, the screen in the main room... not that you want to eat it, but boy just to taste!

3) Keeping the frogs contained doesn't seem all that important. It may even feel wrong.



Everyone else: Tempo wanders into the main room looking kinda off. His eyes are wide and he's blowing rasberries. He is acting *exactly* like the character in the following link. http://youtube.com/watch?v=Om__WtoGJPk&feature=related

He may or may not have the hat. I leave that up to him.

[Green Bean]

"Frogsh are pretty. Hee. Funny word. Froooooooooooooogsh."

Tempo staggers around the room for a few minutes before realizing something is wrong.

"Frogsh shouldn't be here. They're naturesh creatures. Should be shared. Hey, thatsh 'nother funny word. Sharedsharedsharedshared."

Tempo gathers up a bucketful of frogs and heads for the main room. "Hey guysh! These 'r my new froggy friendsh."

Tempo pauses for a few moments to gnaw on the bucket before dropping his voice to a whisper.

"Don't tell anyone, but my rocket controlsh the weather. Look! 's raining frogsh!"

Tempo criss-crosses the ceiling at high speeds, raining down frogs at random.

"Whee! 'm a rocket ship!"

[sun_tzu]

Soul looks, distraught, at the speedster's condition. She pauses her attempts to get more info from the police.
"Um, Tempo? Come her for a second..."

((The moment she can touch him, she'll use her Healing power at rank +15 on him.))

[SuperMuldoon]

Apex stands unmoving with his mouth agape watching Tempo's strange behavior, only stopping to make sure his sensors are recording this for later.

[Nerd-o-rama]

"I officially hate this mission."

Fireblade sighs, and ignores Tempo as best he can. "Okay, look, we know the root cause of what's going on, right? Soul? Not Blood Girl, not Frog Man, the person responsible for the whole kidnapping and empowering shtick. I vote we just go find it and stab/shoot/reason with it. Not in that order."

[Green Bean]

Tempo perks up at the mention of his name, and speeds over to Soul. He regards her for a moment.

"You a nicesh lady. I should get you a preshent."

Faster than the eye can see, Tempo picks a frog up off the ground, and places it on Soul's head.

"Nicesh hat for a nicesh lady."

If nothing stops him, Tempo wanders off to lick the main viewscreen.

[sun_tzu]

Tempo perks up at the mention of his name, and speeds over to Soul. He regards her for a moment.

"You a nicesh lady. I should get you a preshent."

Faster than the eye can see, Tempo picks a frog up off the ground, and places it on Soul's head.

"Nicesh hat for a nicesh lady."

If nothing stops him, Tempo wanders off to lick the main viewscreen.

((Ahem. Healing +15.))

[Green Bean]

((Ahem. Healing +15.))

((It won't necessarily work. Healing generally only affects damage conditions, not ongoing effects))

[fireinthedust]

The frog is placed on Soul's head, it's froggy skin touching her scalp with a wet, slick sensation.


((Okay, Soul I need you to roll an initiative check vs. the frog, as well as a Fortitude save. The initiative check is to see if you attempt to heal Tempo before the frog's toxin affects you, or after it affects you. Tempo moves fast enough that, by the time you register he's near you, he's already got the frog on your head (init +1000 or something). Healing *could* work, I guess. Then again, I don't know what happens when you use magic while on mescalin... although a Simpsons episode where Homer's in the desert does come to mind :smalltongue:))

H_V: is Tempo raining down the frogs *onto* the Freedom League?


Apex: Yeah, your sensors are working fine. Your data screen reads: "Computational projections estimate he's going to enjoy seeing the tape an inverse amount by which the rest of you will enjoy showing it to him."

[Green Bean]

H_V: is Tempo raining down the frogs *onto* the Freedom League?

((Nah, I'm not really aiming; it's more or less at random. I suppose some frogs could conceivably hit my teammates, but that's totally up to you :smallbiggrin:))

[fireinthedust]

hmmmmm....

Okay, Freedom Leaguers: everyone roll a Reflex save to avoid getting beaned by a frog! If you are, roll a Fort save.

Soul: you can just roll the saves from the last post, I don't want you to feel picked on. :smallsmile:

[Nerd-o-rama]

Reflex Save; Fortitude Save (1d20 9=16, 1d20 8=23) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1599128/)

"You know, I'm pretty sure the frogs in the Fens didn't do that..." Fireblade says, dodging a couple of falling frogs and one of them bouncing harmlessly off his padded costume. "Let's fix this before we all start acting like Tempo. The alternative is killing all the frogs in here, and by God I am not cleaning up that mess."

Fireblade heads, along with whomever wants to come, down to Frog Man's holding cell.

(Wasn't sure of the DCs, but I figured I definitely passed the Fortitude.)

[sun_tzu]

(([roll0]
[roll1]))

[sun_tzu]

((In case my fortitude save didn't take, I'm spending a Hero Point:
[roll0]))

[SuperMuldoon]

[roll0]
[roll1]

[fireinthedust]

I just want Aesir to post if he could; having an intoxicated summoner of lightning storms or not having one drastically changes what I should post.

Meanwhile: Soul succeeds only with great effort, which in this case means that she's not crazy-like but still feels terrible. Apex and Fireblade overcome the toxins entirely.

[Da Beast]

Aesir begins flailing around when a frog drops on his head, trying his best to brush the amphibian away

((Sorry about the delay, I've been swamped IRL. Aesir has immunity to poisons so it shouldn't affect him either way.))

[fireinthedust]

ok, so it dropped my original post. Nothing amazing: you go downstairs,all of you overcoming the toxins except Tempo (who should be caught on a camera phone before this wears off).

The Frog man is still frightened in his cage. the rest of the frogs are hopping about, or sitting there like hypno frog.

[sun_tzu]

"Urk..."
With a quick portal, Soul rushes to the restrooms. A quick vomiting session later, she pops back with the others, handing out healing spells.

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Hello again," Fireblade says. "You know, it's a little rude for a guest to redecorate without asking his hosts' permission. Do you think you could tell your colorful friends to go home? We're trying to help you here, and they're being very disruptive. You and the other people from that hospital. You don't want to stay half-frog forever, do you?" He thinks for a second. "...or do you?"

[Green Bean]

Tempo ignores his teammates as they exit the main room, choosing instead to nosh on Fireblade's chair.

[sun_tzu]

Tempo ignores his teammates as they exit the main room, choosing instead to nosh on Fireblade's chair.

((Shouldn't he have recovered by now? Soul's throwing healing spells around, and there's still the one from earlier.))

[fireinthedust]

((did you actually touch him? Remember, he's speeding around right now. (Tempo: what do you think? could she lay a hand on our speedster?)))

[Green Bean]

((did you actually touch him? Remember, he's speeding around right now. (Tempo: what do you think? could she lay a hand on our speedster?)))

((Well, if I was close enough to stick a frog on Soul's head, she was close enough to touch me.))

[fireinthedust]

sigh. Okay. so, no mescalin-inspired montage? fine, fine.

carry on then: what do you do now?

[sun_tzu]

((Soul will be joining the conversation with Froggy. Did you say he was still injured?))

[fireinthedust]

Fireblade: Froggy is still sad, sniffling while you talk to him. He shakes his head at one point, but you're not sure if he was agreeing or disagreeing with you.

Soul: yes, he's still wounded. Apex' blaster seemed to burn his frog-like flesh very badly. He may even have dehydrated somewhat.

[Green Bean]

Tempo freezes as the healing magic flows through him.

"Uh, what am I doing in here?"

[sun_tzu]

Tempo freezes as the healing magic flows through him.

"Uh, what am I doing in here?"

"Long story short: It turns out those frogs secrete psychotropic substances through their skin. In other words: Don't touch them without gloves."
Soul then walks toward the frog-man. He seemed...more pity-inducing than dangerous. "Hey. Let me treat thouse wounds..." she touches him with the tip of her finger (not wanting to reproduce the experience with the smaller frogs and absorb any sizable amount of toxins) and tries to heal hm.

[Green Bean]

"Oh."

Tempo looks distant for a moment, obviously trying to remember what happened.

"I didn't do anything dangerous, did I?"

[fireinthedust]

As Soul enters the cell, the Flea-man from the opposite cell calls out.

Haven't you done enough? Can't you see that he's just a child inside that frog-like body? Why torture him with your "caring", and other false promises?

Touching the frog-man, his wounds are healed. The burn is more serious for him than it would be for other people, but it gets somewhat better; there is some discoloration but it's otherwise smoothed out the blisters. Froggy sniffles somewhat, but seems reasonably cheered by the healing. He moves a step away, and several frogs hop over to him into the cell.

[sun_tzu]

"I didn't do anything dangerous, did I?"
"Er...Nothing that I'd stoop to blackmailing you over."


Touching the frog-man, his wounds are healed. The burn is more serious for him than it would be for other people, but it gets somewhat better; there is some discoloration but it's otherwise smoothed out the blisters. Froggy sniffles somewhat, but seems reasonably cheered by the healing. He moves a step away, and several frogs hop over to him into the cell.
"There, there." Soul tries to sound as comforting as she can. "Are you hurt anywhere else?"


Haven't you done enough? Can't you see that he's just a child inside that frog-like body? Why torture him with your "caring", and other false promises?
Ca-razy idea here: How about I don't listen to an attempted child-killer when he tries to convince me, in the name of compassion, not to heal the wounds of another child?" says Soul, the sarcasm dripping from her voice.

[fireinthedust]

Child killer? What are you talking about? I was fighting to stop mass-murderers! Do you have any idea what the Atom family has done?

[sun_tzu]

Child killer? What are you talking about? I was fighting to stop mass-murderers! Do you have any idea what the Atom family has done?

"Well, for starters, saved every living being on this planet. In case you have not been paying attention, there is an unfortunately high number of omnicidal maniacs at work within the multiverse that require individuals such as the Atom Family (which includes children, incidentally) to go out there and risk their lives to protect the rest of us."

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Er...Nothing that I'd stoop to blackmailing you over.""Speak for yourself," Fireblade says.

Turning to Flea Man, he adds, "Listen, we've got a pretty good idea of where you guys got your theme-powers from. Why don't we all calm down, stop with the attempted murder and the collateral damage and the reservoirs full of blood, and you tell us where we can find your source."

((Fireblade does not actually have any ranks in Diplomacy. Someone with it might want to make a roll so he can Aid Another it.

Diplomacy (1d20 1=15) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1605008/)))

[fireinthedust]

Stop the murder? Why do you think I became... like this and accepted my mission? Your Atom family may have fought inter-dimensional whatevers, or so they claim, but I learned the truth. Their chemical research division uses animal testing. Not normal testing, by the way, but on animals... animals "rescued" by so-called "animal shelters". Do you understand the irony? People who spend their lives trying to save these helpless creatures, pets who trust us to love them, care for them, who only want a home. Then what happens? Some rich corporation that doesn't want to pay for lab rats slaughters them just to learn how toxic their latest batch or nail polish is. The Atom Family are right up there with Axis chemicals. They disgust me. Children? I wish.

[sun_tzu]

Stop the murder? Why do you think I became... like this and accepted my mission? Your Atom family may have fought inter-dimensional whatevers, or so they claim, but I learned the truth. Their chemical research division uses animal testing. Not normal testing, by the way, but on animals... animals "rescued" by so-called "animal shelters". Do you understand the irony? People who spend their lives trying to save these helpless creatures, pets who trust us to love them, care for them, who only want a home. Then what happens? Some rich corporation that doesn't want to pay for lab rats slaughters them just to learn how toxic their latest batch or nail polish is. The Atom Family are right up there with Axis chemicals. They disgust me. Children? I wish.

"Right. Nothing wrong with that reasoning. I mean, never mind the fact that, in the name of protecting hundreds of animals, you'd be putting the entire universe at risk. Never mind the fact that if the public at large doesn't know about this, chances are the Atom Family doesn't, either. Never mind that the Blackstone guards you were fighting weren't involved in any of this, and your rampage could have resulted in any given numbers of supervillains escaping. Never mind that attacking the Atom Family would not have helped oppose Axis chemicals in the least.
I, sir, am thoroughly unimpressed. You seem to think of yourself as a hero to the lab rats? I see a man -for a very broad definition of man - who let his anger replace his reason and restraint. You haven't exactly turned yourself into something much better than what you claim to fight."

[SuperMuldoon]

Can't you see that he's just a child inside that frog-like body?

Apex stands stunned when he hears this. A child?! I'm supposed to be a superhero...and I did this to a child? I'm supposed to be protecthing people! What...what have I done? Apex slumps down into a chair and draws into himself, lost in thought while the conversation continues around him.

[fireinthedust]

Oh, the universe got along fine before they came along, it'll manage. As for their abiltiy to fool the public into believing in their shining example... I was like you, once. I fought hard for SEAT, the Scholars for Ethical Animal Treatment, as a man. Prof. E. Theodore Almond ii, so proud, so pompous. I did everything to raise money, millions of dollars to save animal lives. Then, when I was sitting at home, I had to find out through the news (the NEWS!!!) that my organization had bought freezers to store animal carcasses. Everything I'd stood for, non-euthenizing animal care, was a lie. They were killing off most of the animals we "rescued" for the sake of the almighty dollar. I was a puppet for embezzelment. I lost the right to look human, so don't think to taunt me with images of a humanity that disgusts me. I was going to end it all, the world was so unjust... instead, I have a chance to fight back, to make up for what I did wrong. You think the Atom family is good because of what you've read in the press. I thought SEAT was good because *I founded them*. How can you know? How?

[Green Bean]

"Oookay, why don't we just agree to disagree."

Tempo looks for the control pad to the flea man's cell, hoping there was a "soundproof" button.

[sun_tzu]

Oh, the universe got along fine before they came along, it'll manage. As for their abiltiy to fool the public into believing in their shining example... I was like you, once. I fought hard for SEAT, the Scholars for Ethical Animal Treatment, as a man. Prof. E. Theodore Almond ii, so proud, so pompous. I did everything to raise money, millions of dollars to save animal lives. Then, when I was sitting at home, I had to find out through the news (the NEWS!!!) that my organization had bought freezers to store animal carcasses. Everything I'd stood for, non-euthenizing animal care, was a lie. They were killing off most of the animals we "rescued" for the sake of the almighty dollar. I was a puppet for embezzelment. I lost the right to look human, so don't think to taunt me with images of a humanity that disgusts me. I was going to end it all, the world was so unjust... instead, I have a chance to fight back, to make up for what I did wrong. You think the Atom family is good because of what you've read in the press. I thought SEAT was good because *I founded them*. How can you know? How?

"You can't. That's kinda my point. You don't go around hurting people and assuming you're right about it, because often enough, you're not.
I don't know what's with you, I don't know what's up with the Egyptian plague-themed villainy. But I know that when a bunch of supervillains show up, attack people, spread chaos, and thrun the water in the reservoir into blood, someone needs to stop them. All the evil you accuse others of committing? It's going to look like small change unless my friends and me put a stop to this madness."

[Nerd-o-rama]

Fireblade elbows Tempo and whispers, "Ixnay. Don't you watch Law & Order?"

[fireinthedust]

The giant flea turns his head, looking away from the emphatic stare of Soul. What do you expect me to do, just forget everything I've done? I don't expect you to understand the suffering of an animal in the same terms as human pain, but I do. How can I turn my back on that? Shouldn't someone pay?

[sun_tzu]

The giant flea turns his head, looking away from the emphatic stare of Soul. What do you expect me to do, just forget everything I've done? I don't expect you to understand the suffering of an animal in the same terms as human pain, but I do. How can I turn my back on that? Shouldn't someone pay?

Soul looks at him sadly. "Professor Almond...Wanting to stop suffering is a noble goal, and one that we ultimately share. But what is causing extra suffering going to accomplish? Making someone pay is less important than protecting the innocents...and whoever it was that gave you guys powers seems willing to hurt any number of innocents through you guys."

[fireinthedust]

Without looking up, he starts to speak. You're probably... no you are right. I let my own guilt blind me, and it almost destroyed me. Alright, let me out and I'll help you end this... chaos. I never wanted anyone to be hurt. Maybe I can use my powers for good instead of vengeance! He looks up, and as he says those words his Flea-man form vanishes like smoke; before you stands only a simple older man with a mocha-colored cardigan with leather patches on the elbows. After a quick pause, he realizes his forms has reverted to that of a human. Oh. Um... well then.

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Don't sweat it," Fireblade says. "Honestly, I think you can do just as much good without superpowers as with, as long as you pay attention to where your money is going. And at least this way, you're not, you know, a gigantic flea."

Wait a second.

Fireblade turns to the Frogboy in the next cell. "I think I know how to make you not-a-frog, little guy," he says. "Why did you become this way? Was it to punish Harry Smilac?"

[sun_tzu]

Wwwwwwhaaaa....?
OK. Fireblade looks like he got the right idea here, and this definitely fits Mr Infamy's modus operandi...One more reason to believe he was behind this.
"We might still need your help, professor. Let's have a word..."
Soul tries to have a talk with Almond away from Tsfardea's earshot. "Professor, as the current League's expert on the arcane, I've been studying this case, and I suspect that your powers were given to you by the entity known us "Mr Infamy". I don't know how familiar you are with the subject, but Mr Infamy is a...ludicrously powerful individual of mysterious nature, whose modus operandi consists of giving superpowers to people likely to misuse them. Ever heard of White Knight, the fire-controlling Klansman? One of Infamy's recipients.
What worries me is that this time around, he seems to have taken ten hospital patients - including yourself - with the intent of creating modern versions of the ten plagues of Egypt. That means that there are seven more to go, and any single one could have disastrous consequences.
So, we're going to need your help. We'll need you to tell us everything that's happened to you from the moment you were taken from that hospital, and everything you know about the other patients - because the only known way to undo what Infamy does to people is to get his 'clients' to willingly reject his 'gifts', the way you just did."

[fireinthedust]

Tsfardeia gapes innocently at Fireblade, then holds out his hand as a frog crawls into it. He looks sad, then (in the first instance of recognizing what you said) croaks while shaking his head. harries mile... ack. With that he turns away and cringes into a corner.


Prof. Almond rubs his chin. Incredible. Yes, I see what you mean. When my hatred left, so did my powers. What do I remember... well, frankly not much. I remember a man in a suit who I suppose was Mr. Infamy. I've heard of the White Knight, and now I'm feeling rather sick that I shared any sort of connection with him. I just faded out in the hospital, woke up in a dark room surrounded by several other people with powers. We didn't talk much, I was simply handed the task of destroying the Atom Family and away I went. The only one I really got a look at was a woman. She was... well, dark, and terrifying. I... I can't remember much else until I got to the Goodman building. Is that helpful?

[sun_tzu]

Tsfardeia gapes innocently at Fireblade, then holds out his hand as a frog crawls into it. He looks sad, then (in the first instance of recognizing what you said) croaks while shaking his head. harries mile... ack. With that he turns away and cringes into a corner.


Prof. Almond rubs his chin. Incredible. Yes, I see what you mean. When my hatred left, so did my powers. What do I remember... well, frankly not much. I remember a man in a suit who I suppose was Mr. Infamy. I've heard of the White Knight, and now I'm feeling rather sick that I shared any sort of connection with him. I just faded out in the hospital, woke up in a dark room surrounded by several other people with powers. We didn't talk much, I was simply handed the task of destroying the Atom Family and away I went. The only one I really got a look at was a woman. She was... well, dark, and terrifying. I... I can't remember much else until I got to the Goodman building. Is that helpful?

"Well, I'd like you to go over the pictures of the other ten patients, tell me if you can recognize what an of them turned into, including if one of them was that woman...and maybe help talk our amphibian aquaintance into letting go of Infamy's poisonous gift. Just knowing his name might help."

[SuperMuldoon]

Apex gets up and walks next to Fireblade, looking in on the frogman. "What did Harry Smilac do to you that would make you want to become what you are now? We have him here now, if you can help us, tell us what he did that would make you accept these powers, we can be sure justice will be served. Please, we only want to help you!" Apex says, almost pleading with the frogman.

[fireinthedust]

The Frog man sniffs, shaking his head at Apex' plea to tell him about Smilac. Gra maw. (ribbit) Gra maw.

Smilac, who's cell is nearby, straightens his jacket. hey, I never seen this guy before in my life! I been good to frogs.

[SuperMuldoon]

Ignoring Harry's comments for the moment, Apex brings up the list of missing patients. "Alright, now I'm going to read off this list of names. If I read your name, give a big croak ok?" Apex begins reading the names off one by one with a pause in between each to see if froggy has any reactions. Of course, Ernest Almond will be ommitted.

Ernest T. Almond II, age 47, Freedom City University Prof; recovering from shock

Bert Gordon, 16, high school student, treated for broken nose.

Albert Hedison, 37, unemployed; hospitalized for severe alcohol poisoning.

Constance Mason, 15, high school student; treated and kept under observation after suicide attempt.

Rey Milland, 17, ward of the state; awaiting transfer into the care of social services.

Virginia North, 78, retired; hospitalized with terminal cancer.

Arnold Quigley, 31, Delphic Industries employee; being treated for meningitis.

Casandra Starling, 19, unemployed; being treated for severe anorexia.

Jerimiah Johns, 55, custodian at the Lincoln Youth Center; broken finger.

Susanna Whiteacre, 19, artist; complained of dizziness.


((OOC: Haha I have such the mental picture for Smilac! "'ey, I been good ta frawgs!"))

[Da Beast]

"Gra maw? Do you mean Grandma? Did Mr Smilac do something to your Grandma?"

[fireinthedust]

Tsfardeia's head twitches with a brief glance up at the mention of the name "Rey".
When Aesir says "Grandma", his throat bulges with a croak and he tries to push further into the corner.