M&M Learning Game [IC]

[JNAProductions]

Cici gets a good look at Grop. And what he notices is not pleasant. He's got ample relative time to observe, and while his knowledge of human biology isn't the best, he can definitely tell that the small tremors going through Grop's body aren't natural. It doesn't match where muscles should be, and is moving far too much.

That is around the time when a fleshy tentacle explodes from Grop's heart. It waves back and forth menacingly, as more tendrils start to push their way out of his body, lifting the half-destroyed corpse up.

Spoiler: Roll Initiative

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(1d20+3)[20] Grop?
(1d20+2)[16] Sorsiel
(1d20)[1] Sonia
(1d20+23)[40] Cici
(1d20)[14] Jackson

First up is, unsurprisingly, Cici. Followed by Grop's body.

[Ameraaaaaa]

"What. The. Hell!" Sonia quickly summons her 8 shadows.

Which takes the form of ghosts with dark blue skin wearing purple robes and a wizard hat both with sand coloured stars on them. Their eyes have no pupils and the whole eyes are the same color as the shadow's skin with black vains in the eyes.

She also shouts "don't panic! These are my shadows!" She says with a hint of shame.

[gac3]

Jackson sees the tentacle through the glass and immediately starts looking for it's mind.

Spoiler: Action

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only a free action for now.

Trying to detect a mind in there. Not sure if it's 10 feet away but I think I take minus 1 if it is? So subtract that if needed.

Perception check:
(1d20+14)[27]

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"Or It Could Be A Parasite That Works Too," Cici says aloud, sensing that the situation has already escalated beyond concentrating on telepathy. "Let's! Cut! Them Out!"

While he thinks of what to say next, he starts battering the emerging monster with the chairs, a table leg, and the lamp. The heat from the lightbulb as it shatters against the big tentacle probably does the most damage. He could search the surrounding office for scissors or something, but it occurs to him that the police have probably elected not to keep potential weapons in the hallway where dangerous killers are taken for interviews.

"Do We Have Anything? Sharp? We Could Use?"

[JNAProductions]

Cici thinks he does some damage, but the monster seems completely unfazed. Grop's face drops to the floor as another massive tentacle pushes its way out of the body's head. It does focus on Cici, seeing him as... Perhaps not a threat, but certainly an annoyance.

Tendrils of fleshy disgustingness lash out, and begin to wrap around Cici.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

(1d20+12)[32] to-hit

DC 22 27 Fort save.
That's a crit.

1 Degree of Failure: Hindered
2 Degrees: Immobilized
3 Degrees: Paralyzed

[WindStruck]

This was crazy. It seemed one second the fat drug smuggler was on the floor convulsing, and Sorsiel had tried propping open the door and calling for help. In the next second, Cici was there, and he was being attacked by tentacles! The alien was fast, she'd give him credit at least, using various objects in the room to barrage the emerging monster with, but it countered hard and.. this wasn't good!

"Cici! Get -" she began, her thoughts and words lagging behind the current reality of the situation. No, it didn't look like he was getting out now!

Ideally, she'd have wanted to just close the door on this monstrosity and keep it locked in. Now with it grappling her ally, she had no choice but to fight it.

"Let him go!" she shouts, pointing her staff and shooting a beam of icy cold at it.

Spoiler: ooc

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attack roll: (1d20+8)[24] Damage 12 Ice & Magic

Tentacle monster must make a DC 27 toughness save.

Also on hit, DC 21 fortitude save or

1 degree of failure: Dazed and Hindered
2 degrees of failure: stunned and defenseless

[gac3]

Jackson shifts nearly all his focus to the monster in front of him, trying to take control of it's body.

Spoiler: Mind Control

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Okay. So I think this plan should work.

If I drop Mind Reading and Communication down to one rank each, I should be able to stay in contact with the party.

This should let me get mind control to rank 8 out of 10. It won't be subtle though, but that shouldn't be a problem.

So the creatures rolls a Will Save. DC: 18

Failures:
1 Degree: Dazed
2 Degree: Stunned
3 Degree: Controlled

This is cumulative so I can attack on the next round to make it worse if it fails.

[JNAProductions]

Spoiler: Saves

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(1d20+15)[17] Toughness against DC 27

(1d20+20)[40] Fort against DC 21

(1d20+4)[24] Will against DC 18

Dento cocks a handgun and fires it to his right, through the open door. The bullet bounces once, twice, and lands firmly in the monster. The monster seems entirely unfazed.

The monster seems impervious to the side-effects of the ice, and while Jackson can tell that its mind is weak, its voracious hunger stops it from giving in to any kind of control.

However, the blast of cold itself hurts the creature. A tentacle that tried to block freezes solid, and you hear some hissing in pain from whatever sorts of mouths this thing has.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Two degrees of failure. The monster has -1 to future damage checks, and is Dazed till end of next turn.

Dazed means it gets only one standard action next turn, not a standard and move.

[Ameraaaaaa]

Sonia mentally commands all 8 shadows to attack the monster with a charge.

"Take this you ugly tentacled creepizoid straight outta a bad horror flick!"

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"UGHgrossgrossgrossgrsgsrgsrgrlnnnnnnnnnnh..."

Cici twitches and struggles against the slick tendril that's wrapped around him. He's half-numb thanks to whatever viscous paralytic this thing secretes.

"Welp," he goes limp and sighs slowly enough that it actually sounds like a sigh. "Don't Get Too Reckless, I'm Okay For Now, But It Has Some, Kind Of, Contact Poison."

With that, Cici resolves to calm down and settle in for another long round of being stuck. He takes deep breaths and focuses on letting his metabolism gradually clear the poison from his system.

Spoiler

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Switching to Regeneration 10 as his active power for the round.

[JNAProductions]

The monster stays in place, a little woozy from the icy blast.

It does, however, find the strength needed to chuck some tentacles towards Sorsiel, angered at her damage.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

(1d20+12)[28]

DC 27 Damage Save, +2 or +5 depending on degree of success.

I actually goofed up how Multiattack worked earlier-it's still one attack ROLL.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

While the beast is distracted, it relaxes its grip on Cici. After waiting for just the right subjective moment, he slips out of its clutches, but the poison is still affecting his balance, so he stumbles into the wall. Over the next few seconds, he finds himself repeatedly leaning against the doorframe to regain his footing. It makes a weird rattling noise.

Just the same, a little dizziness not enough to deter a hero. His blurry form joins Sonia's specters in their efforts to beat the tentacles into submission. He rolls an office chair into what was once Grop's body. He jams pens and pencils into the little joints where tentacles jut out from the flesh. He's really running out of things to hit this monster with.

Spoiler

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Regeneration says he's merely hampered now, which for a speedster in an enclosed space isn't so much a hindrance as an opportunity for jokes.

Are we resolving the shadows' attacks as a team attack of sorts? Because Cici can totally help with that.

Combat: (1d20+12)[24] (+5 if a team check with the shadows)

Damage: Effect rank 8 (+2 or +5 if multiattack kicks in), all bludgeoning this time because there's only one lamp.

"I Really Need To Go Get Something Sharp."

[WindStruck]

The last thing Sorsiel was expecting was a blast of miasmic tentacle flesh to her face. And, well, the rest of her body too. The mass and the force this tentacled horror was capable of exerting (as well as the accuracy) was tremendous. The young mage cries out in pain as the tentacles slam into her, practically bowling her over as she is plowed into the walls with a sickening crack.

Sorsiel falls to the ground, staff grasped in one hand on the tiled floor, and raises another hand shakily to etch out a symbol of a glowing snail in the air. A soft light fills the room briefly, but ultimately only settles upon the tentacle monster, in which the sigil of a snail fades into it.

Spoiler: Slow

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Sorsiel casts Slow. The monster makes a DC 20 dodge check.

If it fails the dodge check, it needs to make a DC 20 will check.

If it passes the dodge check, it needs to make a DC 15 will check.

Failure of this will check will result in Sorsiel's Slow Spell affliction, which has the conditions:
dazed, hindered, and speed impaired.
(can only take a standard action per round, and effectively has -3 ranks to speed)

Then with gritted teeth, Sorsiel begins to stand, only to disappear in a brief, but intense shimmer of light, and in the same instant (and within another shimmer of light) appears safely in the observation room near Sonia, Dento, and Jackson. She leans against the table with a pained and weary look on her face.. she's bruised and does not seem well.

Spoiler: Status

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Sorsiel used some Extra Effort to be able to take 2 actions at once this turn. She is now fatigued, Staggered, and has -1 toughness penalty.

This is the end of her turn, and she has regeneration 5: (1/2)

At the end of her next turn, 1 toughness penalty will go away. She can't recover conditions with her power, though. Tentacles overpowered her magic guard, and she is physically hurt. She only can recover her mana faster.

[Ameraaaaaa]

Sonia points her finger at the monster and wills her shadows to attack while shouting "get him!."

Spoiler: ooc

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The shadows preform a charge attack allowing them to move and attack at the same time in exchange of a -2 to attack.

[gac3]

Jackson sent a quick message before cutting off his ability to talk. Going to try to hit it hard, you all holding up okay?

He diverts nearly all of his focus into an isolated mental blast.

Spoiler: OOC

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If I am correct then the creature just makes a DC 25 Will save for damage.

[JNAProductions]

The creature takes the slow spell on the center of its mass, and you can see its tentacles start to move with less and less speed. It's still a brute of a monster, though.

Jackson's mental blast seems to knock it off balance, luckily, though Dento's next shot goes wide as he avoids hitting Sorsiel and Cici.

[Ameraaaaaa]

Spoiler: ooc

Show

Here we go with attacks 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 and 8.

Charge attack so 6-2=4

(8d20+4)[6][17][8][10][17][20][3][13](94)

[JNAProductions]

The tentacle monster tanks Cici's blow without any damage. It seems to be getting angry, though-and directs that anger at everyone nearby, a mass of tendrils shooting out to grab Cici and Sorsiel.

Spoiler: OOC

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(1d20+10)[22] Cici
(1d20+10)[22] Sorsiel

Multiattack, with a DC 27 save on each person hit.

[WindStruck]

"That thing hits hard.." Sorsiel remarks, seemingly with the wind taken out of her. She leans on the table trying to catch her breath. Only as an afterthought she notices all the creepy ghosts floating past her, surrounding the mass of tentacles and swiping at it with their claws.

"So those are your shadows, huh?" she asks Sonia, content to watching this conflict unfold from behind the safety of the glass. But unfortunately Cici was still in there. She'd have to figure something out to get him out of there. Fortunately, all those shadows seemed like they'd have the mass of tentacles taken care of in short order.

For now she tries to take some deep breaths and manages to straighten herself out over this short period.

'Jackson, tell Cici to get out of there,' she thinks, very assertively.

Spoiler: Status

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Sorsiel has recovered her toughness penalties.

She has also used the Recovery Standard Action to remove Staggered from herself.

She's still fatigued, though.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

What Is It? Are You Gassing The Room?

As Jackson relays Sorsiel's warning, Cici retreats to the observation room. The rattling continues as he stumbles around and rifles through the drawers, looking for something that might be more effective should he need to go back in there. Like, scissors, maybe? Alas, this room has no need for a supply closet, so he plops down into an office chair and waits to see if the shadow plan works out on its own.

Spoiler

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Just turning on Regeneration for this turn.

[gac3]

Jackson is worried that he isn't as helpful as he could be. This thing was insane. Time to try controlling it again.

Spoiler: ooc

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Mind Control (Not subtle): Will Save: DC20 they get a save at the end of their turn if it does work.

Entranced, compelled, Controlled

[JNAProductions]

Jackson manages to break through. His control isn't perfect, but it's there-he can't make the thing kill itself, but he can certainly make it stand still so everyone else can wail on it.

Dento takes advantage of this, and finally lands a good shot, blowing a tentacle off.

The shadows pounce, at Sonia's direction. They inflict some more damage, but Sonia seems pretty nervous now-less "Kill him!" and more "Save me!"

[WindStruck]

Sorsiel sighs and says, "Well, might as well get this over with and try to put this thing out of its misery.. and its disgusting existence quickly."

She teleports back into the room and conjures up a field of electricity, in which a small lightning bolt has to carefully maneuver around the shadows assailing the tentacle monster in order to strike it.

Spoiler: Lightning Bolt

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DC 20 dodge check.

If failed, it's 10 lightning damage.

if passed, it's 5 lightning damage.

[JNAProductions]

Spoiler: OOC

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(1d20+5)[13] Dodge check

(1d20+7)[19] Toughness check

The brute just will not die. Hammered by lightning and shades, shot and controlled, it still wriggles onward.

The shadows continue their assault, scraping off parts of its vitality.

And, finally, a few of the guards arrive-they seem to have taken time to grab some heavier gear, and three unload submachine guns into the monster. Scared as hell, their shots don't hit very well, but one manages to do some decent damage.

[gac3]

Jackson shakes his head. What is this monster? Oh well, he's only got a handful of tricks so he might as well stick to them.

Spoiler: OOC

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Switching to a mental Blast because why not.

Auto hit.

DC 25 Will against the damage.

[JNAProductions]

The tentacled mass slows, and stops. It slumps to the ground, remnants of Grop's body still barely visible in it.

Turning to the dimly-lit room, the guards keep their guns leveled, with one keeping their weapon on Sorsiel. "Explain-now!" one of them shouts.

Dento shrugs. "Not sure-gonna have to figure this out. Now, we're leaving."

"You're not going-" one of them starts, but Dento cuts him off.

"We are leaving. I would recommend you not try to stop us," he says. He walks out, calmly, leading you all. When you're outside, he quickly gets back in the car you took. He starts it up, and pulls out. "Right-you might want to mark Peru off your vacation list until this whole thing is resolved. Or at least, be very careful. Now-Jackson, you said you got something?" His voice is calm, but you can hear a faint note of worry behind it-this was his last lead for Elaine.

[WindStruck]

Sorsiel has her hands slightly raised, sort of a defensive stance but also trying to placate the guards. She wasn't sure if they could even hurt her with those guns. Her Magic Guard was pretty strong. As Dento asserts they're leaving, she begins to follow, but slowly walks backwards at first, keeping her eyes on them.

"I don't know what happened. Whatever it is, it wasn't us. One minute we were talking to him, and the next he was having a seizure on the floor. Then that thing came out. I can't tell you anything else. Sorry."

She quickly turns and blips away in an instant, quickly catching up to Dento with her teleportation power.

--

"Aww.. I don't want to be kicked out of Peru..." Sorsiel whines.

She perks up fairly quickly though. "Wait, you found something?? What?"

[gac3]

Jackson nods. "Let's keep walking and take a moment to think on what just happened." He winks and as long as nobody shut him out, he should still have access to their minds to chat. If they did, he will not be subtle about trying to get back in. This should be safer. I can't be sure though. Something or someone had messed around in Grops brain and I don't think it was that monster. Grop doesn't remember anything about the day with Elaine or the week after. Like at all, I searched his whole mind. There was some kind of block that he started picking at when we were in there. When he broke through I got a glimpse of the Umbrella Corporation before he exploded."

[WindStruck]

"Umbrella corporation? What do umbrella makers have to do with what just happened??" Sorsiel asks, quite confused.

[JNAProductions]

As you move, Sonia is quiet. Shortly into the drive, Dento looks to her for a moment. "You okay? You seem... Not."

Sonia shakes her head. "I'm fine. I'm..." She then rolls the window down and vomits out it. "Eurgh... That was..."

"Not something you're used to. Not something you were ready for," Dento says. "I'm sorry-I should've known you were too young for this-"

"I'm not!" Sonia says.

Dento asks "You sure?"

Sonia looks queasy. "Can I go home?" she asks after a few minutes.

He nods in response. "We'll get you home. I'm sorry, Sonia. We'll meet again, under better circumstances. Promise you that."

"Now-you say you got something about Umbrella? What did you get, exactly?"

Jackson tells Dento the little info he got, reiterating that it was basically the name, the logo, and that's all.

He lets out a long "Hm... Not as helpful as I would've hoped, but it's a start. Umbrella-what do you all know? Because whatever you think you know, you can guess it's wrong. Umbrella started in the late 1900s-brainchild of a rather mad genius named Buddy Pine. Buddy wanted to make EVERYONE super-and he started with gadgets. But as people misused his gadgets, and he found himself growing richer and richer, he was disillusioned. The rich got more powerful, the poor stayed weak. So he teamed up with Doctor Jīnasu Hakase-he funded Hakase and worked with him to develop a virus. Something that would make EVERYONE super, whether they wanted it or not. Perhaps unfortunately, it didn't work-I never knew these two. Maybe if they had properly succeeded, the world would be a better place. But Buddy and Jīnasu grew at odds with one another-they began sabotaging the other's projects, and the whole thing fell through. By this point, they were rich beyond their wildest dreams-but this didn't make them happy."

"I don't have any information after that on them-but Umbrella continued. It was bought by a businessman named Albert Wesker, around 1982. He was in the biomedical field, and he started research on ever more powerful viruses and warpings of bodies. He's financed various insurgent and terrorist groups, helping to destabilize small nations, and makes a lot of his money and whatnot there. Because he focuses his efforts on those smaller, wartorn nations, the big league heroes focus on other threats. And some of them, sure, why not. The Destined has better things to do than handle a company. But some of the other heroes... I wish I had enough proof of all this to bring it to them. Or, more accurately, the media. Make the average person aware-they'd have to do something then."

"Anyway, I'm rambling. Any questions?"