New Harbour Needs Heroes! (IC)

[LoonyLadle]

Yeaaaah, they're not convinced at all. Apparently they've never encountered someone who wanted to be enslaved, or else these weird wormy things work in a way that completely robs their victims of not just independence but also initiative. That seems like a rather poor way to enslave, actually; a happy and willing servant can be more creative and productive than an unhappy (or totally numb) one. If Jill were to be an Evil Overlord she'd want her minions to love and worship her. But then, that would make her a rather poor Evil Overlord, wouldn't it? Ah well.

"Oooo, so that's where your boss is?" Jill asks as she is led, walking happily along. Internally, she assesses the possibilities. Chainmaker implies a scientist or engineer sort. Evil science overlord, maybe?! But xe could just be a regular ol' slaver jerkoff who doesn't understand the tech xe uses. How many guards would xe probably have? Would xe be tasty in a fight? Maybe! Probably? Yeah, probably. Jill isn't sure she wants to be surrounded by a kajillion guards in a room with an evil slave emperor. Sounds like a whole lot of above her pay grade. Nope, nope nope nope nope, Jill's backing out of this. She's gonna bonk these guys, go get her suit, and spray them with a bunch of evil mind-controlling worm insecticide. Yes! Uuuugh, this was supposed to be her day off!

Without warning, Jill ducks away from the paw on her shoulder. With a spin she pulls the giant oversized red wrench from her back and slams it into the side of the lion-guy's knees!

Spoiler: Mechanics

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Improved Power Attack Hero Point wrench bonk! Attack roll 25 on the lion guy behind Jill, damage rank 8.

[Dodgeson]

Wildcard's new power to summon space warping mist falcons proved to be exactly what was needed, hurtling around the room and dispatching the most of the would-be slavers just as a new message appeared in the chat.

Z'bæ: We are the Leoni, we walked the timelines and preyed on you limited species, now we are all that is left. Human slaves sparked a rebellion at the heart of our empire, only our lord, the great Chainmaker escaped unharmed to reunite with us. His great science has sealed off this city from the rest of your world and he has promised that when we have brought it to heel and fed your people's futures to the Wyrm the rebellion will be undone and our people will be restored.

So that was handy, meanwhile Platformer would find his flurry of blows losing almost all momentum as he bore down on the Shaman as if he was trying to punch through molasses allowing them to casually bat them aside. He didn't however like his odds against both him and Wildcard without the rest of his raiding party and with less to fear from their leader than most simply vanished in to thin air mist.

Speaking of Leoni not having a good time, elsewhere Jill's wrench connected with the knee of the bulky lion-man, sending him stumbling backwards and yowling a series of very inappropriate curse words in their native tongue. Unfortunately for her, he wasn't the only slaver watching over them and a pair of them loosed their bows and sent a pair of crackling energy bolts coursing towards her while the third rushed forward to try and tackle her to the ground.

Spoiler: OOC

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Leoni Guard #1
Move: N/A
Standard: Attack Jill with Energy Bow (1d20+8)[24] DC23 Toughness & DC18 Fortitude vs Impaired/Disabled if that hits. Hit

Leoni Guard #2
Move: N/A
Standard: Attack Jill with Energy Bow (1d20+8)[23] DC23 Toughness & DC18 Fortitude vs Impaired/Disabled if that hits. Hit

Leoni Hunter
Move: Staggered
Standard: All-Out Charge +2 at Jill (1d20+8)[22] DC18 Strength/Defence vs Grab if that hits. Hit

Back down at the docks two ships collided with each other in the air, shaking each vessel, though the combatants aboard then were all skilled enough to avoid eating the deck. The sudden crash was enough though to leave Blackcoat's opponent wide up his surprise flintlock, nearly dropping to one knee before gritting their teeth and powering through the pain.

"MOG!" He roared, turning his anger towards his compatriot on the other ship "What's the matter with you?! You can't handle one little girl?!" If it wasn't for the pirate in front of him he was about three seconds from going over there and gutting them himself, Blackcoat would have to do and he brought his blade up once again trying to leave as little an opening for retaliation until he had worked passed the worst of his last injury.

On the other ship the lion creature didn't waste another second, if they didn't get this situation under control soon they were dead whether they succeeded or not, reaching to their side and unfurling a cruel multi-limbed whip from their belt. "Get your hands of that wheel witch!" They bellowed, lashing out at heroine who had commandeered their ship.

Spoiler: OOC

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Leoni Raid Leader
Move: N/A
Standard: Attack Scylla with Barbed Lash (1d20+10)[21] DC25/20+Multiattack Toughness vs Damage & Impaired&Vulnerable/Disabled&Defenceless if that hits. Miss
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Leoni Raid Leader
Move: N/A
Standard: Attack Blackcoat with Whirling Blade (1d20+10)[28] DC25+Multiattack Damage if that hits. The Raid Leader is Deflected at 1d20+10. Hit
End of Turn: Regain a point of Toughness

[LoonyLadle]

Jill, predictably, gets obliterated.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Hey- no...! C'mon!" Kevin shouted as the shaman vanished. "That's our EXP you're running away with!" He could use it too. He felt like he may have gotten a bit rusty in that fight.

He sighed and looked at Wildcard. "I hate enemies with flee mechanics," he complained.

And then the charmed Leoni revealed the truth. When Kevin read the new message in the chatbox...he was shocked. Floored. Taken utterly aback. For all his knowledge, his hard-won experience, he could never have seen this coming!

Platformer: YOU HAVE A NAME!?!?!?!?

...I said he's getting better at recognizing that he's living in a real world where people are in fact people. Better. It's a relative term. Also a work in progress, clearly.

But boggled though he was, Kevin was still a hero! There were more important matters to worry about. Now, to be fair, a lot of heroes would have felt at least some measure of sympathy that this raiding party was apparently all that was left of the Leoni. Even if they were slavers, that was something you could empathize with. Kevin...it didn't really hit him in that way. He was more proud of the rebel slaves for throwing down that hard. Good on them.

Kevin suspected that Professor Quantum would have had some words for these guys about trying to change the past by...whatever, doing something untoward with peoples' futures. Kevin didn't have a great model of these guys' time-manipulation capabilities, but that seemed kinda out there to him. Probably more likely this Chainmaker guy wanted to basically start things over, and was coming on a new slaving run to get his new personal empire kicked off right.

Which, for a guy with time powers, really seemed to Kevin to betray an appalling lack of pattern-recognition.

But he could critique the villain's plan later. For their purposes, the information suggested an obvious course of action: take down the Chainmaker.

Platformer: Where can we find this Chainmaker? And roughly how many of you guys are here?

[Starsign]

Used to the rocking of waves and crashing of boats into each other, Blackcoat keeps his boots and legs firmly in place as the other ship crashed into the one he's on. The crashing and screeching of metal and steel upon each other leaves his ears in pain, albeit fairly minor compared to the lacerations and cuts from the leonine leader's blade. Still, knowing who was on the other ship, Blackcoat can't help but mutter, "Good job," under his breath. It's not an understatement to say that Scylla is likely handling things better, and quicker, than he currently is.

Another sharp attack from the leonine leader leaves another wide slash across Blackcoat's chest, giving his body a bloody X, as if marking a treasure spot in the sand.

"That's 'bout enough o' ye, he sharply warns the leader as the immortal captain assumes a defensive position, recognizing his opponent's skill, as he attempts to strike back with his cutlass at the smallest opening available to him. Knowing that this opening isn't enough, Blackcoat follows up on his first slash with another series of quick, forward-moving cuts and flourishes.

"I've be fightin' with a blade fer hundreds of years," he tells the invader. "An' I be knowin' every style an' trick 'ere and beyond Earth. Ye think a blade's an' some teleportin' will surprise me? The motions are two-fold: to push the leonine leader back, and to find a way to capitalize on the invader's prior injury.

Spoiler: OOC

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Alright, switching back to Cutlass of the Sharpest Metal for the Deflect. DC 25 Toughness; Blackcoat is deflecting at 20: (1d20+10)[26]

[Llyarden]

Jake...kinda gave Platformer a very confused look at the 'YOU HAVE A NAME?!' part, but didn't question it. (Although speaking of pattern recognition, between that and the references to EXP and flee mechanics, you might have thought that he'd have started to get it by now, but apparently not.)

He was also slightly put out that after he'd managed - for once - to ensnare someone with his powers without accidentally exploding them or something, the Leoni seemed to know basically nothing of any use and was trying to make up for it by what sounded like reciting someone's speech.

Wildcard: *sigh*
Wildcard: From now on, answer the questions we put to you without the overly flowery language.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Scylla jumps, dodges, and swings on the wheel, refusing to give up the driver's position. The raid leader is a master of their bladed whip, but the witch just seems to melt and flow around the cruel weapon.

"Yeah, Mog, what happened?" she teases. "I barely even had to trick you! Maybe the Chainmaker needs to chain you to the wheel next time?"

She spots a small breach in the hull of the other ship and wrestles with the controls trying to hit that same spot again.

Spoiler

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I'm trying to decide whether it would be better to just try and land this as a move action while defending, but the flying bumper car attacks just feel too fun.

(1d20)[5] for more untrained expertise.

[Dodgeson]

Z'bæ: The palace ship is anchored in the garden in the center of your city. We are 3 legions.

Wildcard had told him to be direct and he dutifully replied in a terse monotone without any verbal flourish. Still they'd both know exactly the place that the alien was referring to, in the middle of the city was Hero Park. Formally the location of the Protectorate's headquarters, the heroes were laid to rest there and the building turned in to a memorial for people to pay their respects, with the surrounding area converted in to a public park.

Speaking of the park, Jill was being carried in to the belly of the beast at this very moment, firmly in the grip of the Leoni guard, metal doors slid open and closed behind them as she was taken not to the lower decks where the cowed humans were being held in pens but higher up to prison cells where those who rejected the Wyrm waited for the Chainmaker's judgement.

"Another one?" The jailer eyed Jill and the Leoni that brought her in "I thought the Wyrm...?"

"Question the Chainmaker again and cell duty will be the least of your worries." The other one cut him off almost immediately, the jailer just rolled their eyes, opening the cell door for him to drop Jill in.

The inside of the cell was fairly sparse, the Leoni might have mastered space/time travel but for holding prisoners they seemed to think that good old fashioned metal bars was good enough. At the back of the cell was a small wooden bench currently being occupied by a statuesque brown haired woman in a shirt and tie.

"Finally some company." She said, regarding Jill over the rim of her sunglasses "The furries aren't too chatty."

Back at the docks Blackcoat and his adversary were still locked in their vicious dance of blades while Scylla continued to nimbly avoid her own enemy and his vicious rain of whips, the Brazilian girl bringing her ship round again to collide with the other, punching hole clean in to the lower decks of the other vessel and shaking both ships to their core! Blackcoat's opponent would have the time to feel outraged about the damage to his vessel though as the immortal pirate's skill with a blade proved more than a match for his own and sent him crumpling to the floor.

On the other ship the raid leader pulled himself up from the floor where he'd just faceplanted and roared with anger, he was just so done with Scylla's nonsense.

Spoiler: OOC

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Okay this one gets a little tricky, unfortunately unlike certain Lion-men I can't see the future, so nested spoilers lets do this!

Spoiler: Scylla is Tripped

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Leoni Raid Leader
Move: Stand up
Standard: All-Out Attack +2 at Scylla with Barbed Lash (1d20+17)[36] DC25/20+Multiattack Toughness vs Damage & Impaired&Vulnerable/Disabled&Defenceless if that hits
Hits

Spoiler: Scylla isn't Tripped

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Leoni Raid Leader
Move: Stand up
Standard: Attack Scylla with Rain of Whips, DC20 Defence & DC25/20 Toughness vs Damage

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

The raid leader's finally finds enough purchase in whatever passes for Scylla's flesh to pull her off of the wheel and throw her to the ground. In his rage, he continues whipping at her on the ground until she disintegrates into a motionless puddle on the platform.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Works for me," Kevin said aloud, looking to Wildcard. "What do you think, should we try something tricky? We might be able to have this guy just teleport us in past some of their defenses. Or should we just head there and smash through? Myself I tend to be something of a completionist so going in from the start of the level has a certain appeal, but I can appreciate a good speedrun so I'm down for either."

If he felt at all concerned about the prospect of just the two of them attacking a palace ship presumably packed full of three legions of time-bending alien soldiers, it was not apparent. 'Course, the fact that they were two reality-warpers may have had some impact on that.

[LoonyLadle]

Jill had thought it possible that she could drop one of her guards and seize his cool plasma bow weapon to use against the other. Once it had become clear how tough the teleporting beastmen were however she had figured it reasonable to surrender and save herself some unnecessary bruises. She lets herself be lead to wherever her captors think she deserves to be, alert all the while for a way out but not feeling very optimistic about her prospects.

It looked like she being taken to some kind of ship. Were they aliens? She had never heard of any aliens like this in her native timeline and her humanity had done quite a bit of galaxy exploration, although admittedly space colonization wasn't something she closely followed. It was vaguely reassuring, however, that prisons always look pretty much the same no matter how far up or down one travels across time and the technology tree.

Jill would have to explore the cell for weaknesses later, because that tall woman's presence is so much more commanding. She was as tall sitting as Jill was standing! Jill sweeps one leg behind the other and bends at the knees for an informal curtsy greeting, then folds her arms under her modest bust.

"I cannot say I am happy to see another woman in a cage, but well met regardless," Jill says with a hint of weariness in her tone. "I'm Jill. would you happen to have any idea who these catfaces are and what they want?"

[Starsign]

Experience pays off as Blackcoat pressed his advantage and thrice sliced into the leader's own body, putting the leonine leader down on the ground. While the cuts were sharp, the leonine warrior looked as if he'd fought a hundred battles already; Blackcoat learned how to use his blade to inflict pain, rather than to kill, and enough precise strikes can overwhelm anyone's sense of pain. It wasn't like the wounds dealt to Blackcoat, ugly and bloody in their redness. But, again, Blackcoat had hundreds of years to get used to grievous wounds. Not like a couple would kill him now.

He had but a moment to grab the leader's sword, just in case, before thrown off his feet by another ramming from the other ship. Thrown on his back, the human captain quickly got back on his boots, looking into the open hole with air tearing out from it. On the other side, he saw Scylla, unfortunately beaten down by a raging leonine warrior. While Blackcoat's plan was to try to take over the ship and capture the crew, he has no intent to leave a heroic person to some cruel fate.

As if boarding boats without rope, the immortal captain rushed forward and leaped out of the ship's hole, landing through the rupture on the other side and in front of the remaining enemy. "Ye stand back an' away from 'er!" The human captain highlights his threat with his cutlass, slashing away in a fast, dangerous flurry at the leonine warrior.

Spoiler: OOC

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Alright, since I Tripped, Blackcoat will stand up, and then Charge at the remaining raid leader with Cutlass of the Sharpest Metal. All-Out Attack +2/-2. DC 25+Multiattack on hit: (1d20+10)[14]

[Llyarden]

Jake...kinda narrowed his eyes slightly as the Leoni revealed where their ship was parked. Perhaps fortunately, Platformer distracted him with more tactical planning - and more video game references he had to think about a bit to actually keep up with.

He looked back to the captive Leoni. "Can you teleport to and from your vessel using this fog, or was only your shaman able to do that?" he asked.

[Dodgeson]

"Yes but only myself." The Leoni replied simply, unfortunately for our heroes and their hopes of a handy speedrun, only the shamans had the mastery of their species' natural ability to manipulate time to do more than simple movement.

High up in the prison wing of the Leoni palace ship, Jill was making friends! Good for her. Taking a second to stretch their arms above their head and crack their knuckles, Jill's cellmate finally stood up where she positively towered over the smaller woman. "Most people just call me Boss." She introduced herself, extending a hand out toward her "I got no idea who these jerks are, all I know is they appeared out of nowhere and started wrecking up my bar and throwing those weirdy snake things around." For a second she turned her attention away from the current conversation to glare at their jailer, bellowing like a drill sergeant "AND TAKING MY STUFF! DON'T THINK I DIDN'T SEE YOU!"

Not for the first time today their guard just rolled their eyes and took a swig from a flagon they were holding in one hand.

"Honestly the whole thing seems super low rent for time travellers."

Elsewhere in the city Blackcoat was also making friends, kind of, dancing around the pirate's blade the last raid leader standing let out a cruel laugh, menacingly cracking their whip. "I guess I should be thanking you for finally shutting that mog up, saved me the trouble of having to do it myself. Now lets see if you're any tougher than the witch!"

With that they lashed out with their weapon, bringing the spined whip down on Blackcoat and trying to fell a second hero.

Spoiler: OOC

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Leoni Raid Leader
Move: Nah
Standard: Attack Blackcoat with Barbed Lash (1d20+10)[29] DC25/20+Multiattack Toughness vs Damage & Impaired&Vulnerable/Disabled&Defenceless if that hits Hits +5 Multiattack

[Quellian-dyrae]

That was fair enough. More EXP and power ups for them. Really, as far as Kevin was concerned, this was only bad news for the Leoni defenders that would get in their way. "Works for me. I'll let the police know we have some unconscious bad guys for pickup." Fortunately, Kevin's training and experience at St. Ambrose had internalized such matters as turning over defeated enemies to the police, rather than say assuming once a bad guy ran out of hit points they ceased to exist for all practical purposes or something.

Platformer: How long does your mind whammy last? Can we have this guy keep an eye on the unconscious ones and then go peacefully with the police when they get here, or are we going to have to keep an eye on them?

Platformer: We've got some unconscious time-manipulating slavers ready for pickup.
{Insert image of New Harbour map with a little map pin in the location of the electronics store}
Platformer: Also one mind-whammied one who may or may not be unconscious by the time you get here, checking on that.
Platformer: Oh, also, the electronics store we fought them in had been robbed, presumably by the Speed Demons.
Platformer: They're, uh, on our list, but at the moment the three legions of time-travelling slavers kidnapping people throughout the city have priority.
Platformer: ...You should probably put out some sort of alert or something about that too.
Platformer: Sorry if the fight contaminated the scene. Just, uh, ignore any cat hair you find. That's from the slavers. They're lion-guys.
Platformer: The hole in the wall is from the original robbery, not the fight.
Platformer: Oh! And maybe keep people away from Hero Park for a bit. That's where the bad guys planted their ship. We're heading over to deal with it.

Spoiler: OOC

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Give-or-take some waiting for the police to take these guys in, unless Llyarden has anything else to do here I'm good to head to Hero Park.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

The floating ship continues to slowly bob and pitch as its driver continues to not extricate it from its twin. The water Scylla summoned to chase off the rest of the crew quickly pours off the starboard gunwale and onto the beach below.

As the steering platform tilts, the amorphous heap Blackcoat recognizes as his friend flows down the gradient, around his feet, and off the edge into a multicolored pool on the deck. From what he remembers, this is pretty much what happens when she's knocked out in a fight; one would need to get a bucket or something to keep her liquid form from sliding around.

She'll probably end up sliding off the side of the ship soon, but as long as she lands in water that's probably fine?

[LoonyLadle]

Jill has to crane her neck as the woman stands up, and up, and up... she flushes and swallows in giddy nervousness. She's a big ol' bucket of water isn't she?! "O-okay... Boss," Jill whispers reverently and extends a hand to be taken up in the larger woman's. She flinches a little at the Boss' bellowing, sinful thoughts of having her wan little body broken in the bedroom. Then she says something odd.

"Wait, time travelers?!" Jill blurts out, the topic of her interest abruptly changing. "I had thought their teleporting all about the place looked a little off! So that's it... confound it all, I can't be in here, this could my chance to get home!" She starts banging on the cell door. "Hey! Wanna trade tech?!"

[Starsign]

Finding a foe less clever and more agonizingly furious, Captain Blackcoat raised his cutlass to defend himself, only to find the bladed whip wrapping around it before cutting his head and chest. The blade, fortunately, did not cut deep; but it was still enough to leave a series of sharp, painful cuts down his body.

But for how much it hurts, it doesn't compare to the captain's anger over Scylla's condition. "Ye'll NOT call 'er a witch!" Blackcoat is normally calm and stoic, perhaps to a fault; but he knows when to show fury, and when to invoke terror into the hearts of others. And though there is little hope to instill fear in an enraged foe, Blackcoat is happy to express his... displeasure anyway.

And rather than fight honorably, the black-dressed pirate instead steps forward and thrusts his normally-slashing blade at the leonine's leg to try and cripple him.

Spoiler: OOC

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Alright, let's go for a Painful Dirty Trick (Damage 10 + Weaken Toughness 10 (DC 25 Toughness + DC 20 Fortitude). No modifiers this time: (1d20+10)[30]

[Dodgeson]

For a moment we must consider the life of Metahuman Liaison Clement (formally Deputy Clement) of the New Harbour police department, a wet behind the ears recruit who just so happened to be the first officer Platformer encountered on his first week on the traffic beat, earning himself the coveted title of 'Named NPC'. While he appreciated the sudden promotion, he still hadn't gotten used to the reality warper's abrupt method of communication, or the paper work. Not that any of that mattered right now though as no response appeared to be forth coming from the beleaguered officer...

The city was eerily deserted as our heroes made their way towards the park and as they got closer it would soon become apparent why, though the crowd was smaller than when Jill had been brought in there was still a sizeable chunk of the city's population standing stock still before the strange corkscrew shaped ship that had embedded itself in the ground, being patrolled by a skeleton crew of Leoni guards, such was their faith in the silver circlet's that squirmed against the necks of each of their captives.

Spoiler: Perception (DC20)

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One member of the crowd in particular stands out, a redheaded woman covered in a dim sheathe of light. This was Morningstar, another hero who had taken to calling the city home in the wake of the Alchemaster's attack.

"Keep it down!" Inside the ship Jill's jailer was really beginning to ponder the series of decisions that had lead them to getting saddled with this job, you make one comment to the Chainmaker about the feasibility of bending established events to your will...grumbling to himself he made his way down to where Jill was causing a ruckus.

"What are you babbling about?" He asked, glaring at Jill and her cellmate who had decided this was far more interesting than sitting on the bench and had taken to simply looming up behind the shorter girl.

Back on the Leoni's sky barge, Captain Blackcoat's opponent wasn't really in a position to call anybody much of anything, the pirate's underhanded (but effective!) tactics having scored a vicious blow. Blackcoat wasn't the only one who could fight dirty though, clutching his wound with their free hand they swung out hard with enough force to knock him off the ship entirely and down in to the briny deep below!

Spoiler: OOC

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Leoni Raid Leader
Move: Nah
Standard: Attack Blackcoat with Scourge (1d20+10)[28] DC25+Multiattack Toughness & DC20+Multiattack Defence/Mobility or be knocked off the ship if that hits. Hit +2 Multiattack
End of turn: Recover a point of Toughness

[Quellian-dyrae]

Spoiler

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Routining the Perception check.

Kevin was better than he used to be about, like, respecting the personal agenthood of people he didn't know, and such. But to be fair, this was more a conscious effort. He was aware of his shortcomings in the area and tried to remind himself to overcome them. In an intuitive sense, his brain still tended to naturally categorize people as Major Character/Minor Character/Bad Guy, to make predictions based on the idea that they were, come down to it, highly-realistic sprites in a video game.

As he went through the city, he wasn't much thinking about it, focused more on the goal. So seeing how deserted the city was didn't really strike him as odd. You don't generally have just random non-hostile sprites hanging around in a mission instance, even if it happened to be taking place in a city. Heck, sometimes they would outright disappear the moment the plot went from it being a "town" to a "dungeon". Kinda like in Earthbound where the alien guy kidnapped Paula in the Fourside mall and all the friendly NPCs just vanished as the lights went out, forcing Ness and Jeff to make there way back through the now monster-filled mall to rescue her.

...And then they reached the ship and the crowd and he spotted Morningstar among the captives. Seriously, there's a reason he hasn't broken his habit of using video games as a decision-making guide. They have proven shockingly relevant to his life. (Although Wildcard was no better a fit for Jeff than Megan had been.)

For the first time since this whole thing began, Kevin actually looked angry. Kevin Matthews has always wanted to be a superhero. He had dedicated his life to it. This wasn't a "with great powers comes great responsibility" thing, it wasn't about being in the wrong place at the right time way more often than chance. He had gone to school for it. He worked at it pretty much full time. He had knowingly and eagerly chosen the path of using his power to help and protect others.

But the truth was, it wasn't out of any particular sense of compassion. He wanted to be a hero, as a terminal goal. Protecting others was more the means to that end than anything. How could it be otherwise, when he had to consciously remind himself that most people were people?

But Morningstar wasn't some Random Civilian NPC. She was a former classmate at St. Ambrose. He had fought alongside her in the past. Okay, sure, in his Menus he still had "Bad Blood with Miss Jenson" as the first entry in his "Creepy Foreshadowing by Professor Quantum" section and he still had no idea what that was about. He had heard in the news that she had come to the city, but he hadn't sought her out. That warning from Professor Quantum years ago always prompted him to act with care when it came to Morningstar, to minimize his interactions with her where plausible.

But he still considered her a friend. He still knew her. The altered view of reality that came with his powers only went so far. Kidnapping and trying to enslave a bunch of civilians? That was just Bad Guys being Bad Guys, and Kevin would stop them. It was how the game was played. But doing it to one of Kevin's friends?

That made it personal. That made him mad.

The people were standing unnaturally still. They didn't appear bound, but Kevin did notice the weird collar things. Magical or technological collars ensuring compliance from slaves was a pretty common trope; Kevin didn't know exactly how they worked, but figured it was a safe bet that they would prevent any meaningful action from the captives that the Leoni didn't wish to allow.

Platformer: That woman {Insert Image} is Morningstar, former classmate of mine. I'm getting her free.
Platformer: Freeing everyone else would also be good.
Platformer: Any thoughts on tactics, or should we just smack these guards down and be about matters?

[Starsign]

One underhanded tactic met another, and Blackcoat felt the barbed lash of the leonine invader's blade hit around the side of his body. The force of the blow sends the human reeling, nearly tumbling off the open hole of the ship before grabbing on a stray metal support to keep his footing. Even with the ships floating above the sea, the air of the ship was being sucked right out, along with anything loose in it. It always seems so unusual to Blackcoat, who lived much of his life on wooden and steel naval ships.

Regardless, he wasn't going to let the wind get the better of him as he reorients himself on the ship. Seeing the raid leader injured, quite painfully so, even, Blackcoat let his mouth stay still, and instead sweeps in for another rush of slashes and swipes in an attempt to overwhelm and down the leader while the chance stays open!

Spoiler: OOC

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I apologize for my short posts lately. I've been busy with final assignments so I'm not the most active. I'll try to go back to my detailed posts after this weekend

Anyway, let's try for a takedown with All-Out+Power Attack +5/-5: Flurry of the High Seas (Damage 10 + Multiattack; DC 30 Toughness): (1d20+10)[14] Rerolled on the OOC with a 30.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Under the fog, the gentle waves have calmed back down after the sudden waterfall, and a cloudy patch in the water slowly coalesces back into a humanoid form. The sharp pain throughout Scylla's body has already faded, replaced with dizziness and a lingering, fleshy ache. It feels like someone took all her muscles individually and stretched them out on hooks. She remembers exactly why that is. It's just a matter of figuring out what happened between then and now.

She swims to the surface, nearly bonks her head on a floating piece of metal debris, and looks up. The shapes of the two ships are still visible through the fog and still clearly jammed together. However long she's been out, it hasn't been long enough for anyone to repair or move them, which is probably a good sign.

With a quick look around, she can also see the silhouette of The Eternal nearby, and the first course of action that comes to mind is to head there. She dives back underwater and splashes up onto the deck, not really thinking to sneak aboard or listen from a distance first.

[LoonyLadle]

"Keep it down!" Inside the ship Jill's jailer was really beginning to ponder the series of decisions that had lead them to getting saddled with this job, you make one comment to the Chainmaker about the feasibility of bending established events to your will...grumbling to himself he made his way down to where Jill was causing a ruckus.

"What are you babbling about?" He asked, glaring at Jill and her cellmate who had decided this was far more interesting than sitting on the bench and had taken to simply looming up behind the shorter girl.

Jill tries to stand as tall and proud as she can for the lionman jailer, which admittedly isn't very. "I said I want to trade technologies. Your time manipulation technology for... I dunno, how do you feel about cold fusion? " Everyone loves cold fusion! "And my freedom of course."

[Llyarden]

Jake paused to consider. He didn't like the Leoni being here any more than Platformer did - he might not have immediately been able to pick out a friend trapped by them, but he was pretty sure that even if his friends in his real identity had managed to escape, some of his contacts in his life as Wildcard would be among the captives - but charging in wildly wasn't exactly his most favoured tactic.

Wildcard: Most of these Leoni are on par with the grunts we fought earlier.
Wildcard: We should be careful. Getting us captured too won't help anyone. If those collars can compel people to use their powers, it might even make things worse.

[Quellian-dyrae]

That wasn't unfair. There were also the civilians to consider. Kevin kinda doubted they'd start attacking them arbitrarily or anything, but still.

The goons earlier had mainly just engaged with those staves of theirs. Kevin zoomed his camera angle over to examine them more closely; if they didn't have anything that looked like a projectile weapon, that might be meaningful. Although given their obvious technological advancement that didn't seem super-likely. But maybe they figured teleportation made up for it. Of course, teleportation could make up for it to a non-trivial degree, but still.

Spoiler

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Extended Vision, Routine Perception for 20. I'll also Routine Expertise as Technology via Tech Savvy for 20, in case like the staves might have a zapping function he can identify or something.

Meanwhile, he kept chatting with Wildcard, working through some possible options.

Platformer: Fair enough. Hmm...
Platformer: I'm checking to see if I can spot any projectiles. If they don't have any, that gives us some more tactical flexibility we might be able to work with. I'm fast and I've got some limited teleportation capability, so we might be able to hit them from multiple sides, and switch around as we draw some one way.
Platformer: In a game I'd handle a situation like this by pulling. Draw aggro from just a few of the enemies, lure them away from the main group, take them down, rinse and repeat. That's...not quite that easy for real. But the basic logic kinda holds up.
Platformer: I mean, they're guarding a big group of people. Obviously they can't just leave them unattended. If we took some pot shots at them and then dipped off around a corner, they couldn't dedicate their entire force to going after us, I expect. They might send some people from the ship, I suppose, but eh we'd have to take them down at some point anyway, so whatever.
Platformer: And while teleports are gold for avoiding a chase, they kinda suck for giving chase. So even if they send more dudes than we want to fight we might be able to slip away, come back at them from another angle, make them split up to search for us, stuff like that.
Platformer: ...
Platformer: ...Or, like, couldn't you just do the mass mind control thing you did before and we can make half of them fight the other half? That seems like it'd be the easier option.

[Llyarden]

In the Chat window there was one of those 'Wildcard is typing' messages for...quite some time. (I mean, probably like half a second objectively, but from the sped-up perspective of the Chat, it was a long time.)

Eventually he sent a reply back to Kevin, though.

Wildcard: My codename's Wildcard for a reason. Emphasis on 'Wild.'
Wildcard: I can try, but getting the power I want is pretty hit-or-miss.
Wildcard: Hit-and-run attacks to try to lure some of them away might work, though, and I can make myself real obvious and distracting. The only issue would be if they just decide we're too much hassle and nope out with all their victims.
Wildcard: I don't know what those mercury collars do.

Spoiler: OOC

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Routine Expertise (Tactics) 30 to identify a likely point for us to set up an ambush or the like.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Having gone pretty much all the way through school relying on completely randomized power ups (and still not having mastered the invincibility one, or just straight-up giving himself the boosts he wanted when he wanted without having to damage an enemy), Kevin totally got it.

Platformer: Gotcha. Hit and run seems like the best play then. I'd say maybe surprise area attacks but I kinda suck at area stuff until I get a power up.

He missed Pending Objective. For many reasons, but primary at this very moment being that Megan and Meta would have gone through these guys like an invincible Mario through a line of koopa troopas.

Platformer: I wouldn't worry too much about them just noping out. For one, they've probably still got people out trying to gather more slaves; I'm not saying they wouldn't be willing to cut their losses and dip, but it'd probably require things going worse than "a couple heroes are attacking our guards".
Platformer: ...Well, from their perspective anyway. Since they don't actually know just how bad it is for them to have the two of us attacking their guards.
Platformer: But even beyond that, having everyone all gathered outside their ship like this, it looks to me like they're doing...I dunno, some sort of processing, maybe? They're aliens, they probably don't have much immunity to Earth diseases and such. So they'd need to scan everyone, make sure they're not introducing any pathogens and whatnot.
Platformer: Especially considering what we learned about them being the survivors of a revolt. If they're like the last remnants of their civilization or whatever, they have to be super careful about stuff like that. One bad plague could wipe them out.
Platformer: Yeah I'm not sure myself. I'm working on the assumption they're functionally equivalent to your typical techno-magical "slave collar" thing. Requires following orders, probably some punishment zapping. If they could make Morningstar or anyone else in the crowd who might have powers fight us, yeah, that'd be a pretty worst-case scenario, so we should assume they can.
Platformer: But I think the plan holds up; if they send powered people after us, then once we disable them we can get the collars off, and then they're on our side for the next round.

[Dodgeson]

Spoiler: Wildcard

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The obvious choice would be to simply lure the guards away and behind a nearby outcrop of trees or bushes for an ambush but there is another option. Unbeknownst to most people, but knownst to you, the Protectorate's base of operation had a series of sub-levels and tunnels that ran underneath it that came up in various places. One of which isn't too far away.

In the prison cells Jill's warden let out a barking laugh (could lion people bark?) "Technology? We need no such crutch to travel the time ways, we are its apex predators!" Behind Jill her cellmate tried to keep a straight face at such a bold pronouncement but something the girl said had caught his attention, he didn't have a clue what cold fusion was but if she thought that it was impressive enough to be able to trade for her freedom then she might be more useful than he had assumed. "You can work wonders? Explain yourself!" An idea had gotten him saddled with this thankless job but he was starting to get the kernel of another...

In the air above the docks Blackcoat's opponent managed to force a cocky grin through the pain he was feeling right now, he hadn't forced the pirate off the ship but it had been close and there was nothing stopping him from doing it again until he plummeted in to the freezing cold water below. This confidence didn't last long though as Blackcoat closed the gap between them once again, and in a flurry of viscous blows, brought the already badly injured raid leader low, sending him crumpling to the floor and clutching his injuries spitting out alien curses before finally slipping in to unconsciousness, leaving Blackcoat standing alone and victorious upon the deck of the floating ship.

Down below Scylla jumped back on to the deck of the Eternal and was met by a cheer from the crew, some of them looked a little beat up but that was nothing compared to the state of the would-be boarding party that lay strewn across the floor.

[Llyarden]

Jake...yeah, to be honest he was a little sceptical of the whole 'War of the Worlds' plotline being a thing, but hey, you never knew. It was about as likely as anything else. He did crack a smile at Platformer's comment - the guy sure had optimism - but there was another long silence (so to speak) as Jake evidently considered something.

Wildcard: If we can lure a few Leoni away, I know somewhere nearby we could ambush them from.
Wildcard: But I'd appreciate it if you kept it a secret, even from your friend Morningstar.

He sent a very simple map through the Chat a moment later.

Wildcard: It should still be usable, but I don't know off-hand.
Wildcard: If it is, though, one of us could hide there and wait while the other lures them away. You any good at acting like you've stumbled into something bigger than you thought?

[Quellian-dyrae]

Platformer: Sure thing.

Zelda knows he's been keeping this whole bad blood thing a secret from her for this long, what's one more on the pile?

Platformer: I'm...not any good at acting at all, to be honest.
Platformer: I am, however, quite good at corner-sniping. So it's like, if they don't want to chase me I can very easily make that their problem.