New Harbour Needs Heroes! (IC)

[Quellian-dyrae]

A part of Kevin kinda wanted to be surprised, or disappointed, or something, but he just couldn't manage it. As the Leoni guard started laughing, he gave him a flat, deadpan stare, and then a little tip of his hat. To be fair, it was kinda funny. What was he thinking, expecting a bunch of nameless NPCs to do something other than just stand around at their spawn points? Clearly, that wasn't going to change unless and until they triggered some sort of event.

(I'm just saying, Kevin's use of video game logic to guide his expectations hadn't survived this long solely to weird psychological side effects from his powers. The logical path he took may have been completely invalid, but it nonetheless got him to the correct conclusion way more often than one might naively expect.)

Well, nothing to be done for it. Morningstar's strategy was, of course, exactly correct and needed no polishing. He nodded to her, and headed into the ship.

A quick swirl of his camera angle to take in the surroundings, and he headed over to examine the panel thing. That probably wasn't the master control panel for the entire ship, just on the basis of being too easy to access. But it might still have some useful functions. Maybe a map.

Spoiler

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Gonna Routine an Expertise check to see what I can glean about the panel and its functions. I imagine both his Aliens proficiency and his Tech Savvy benefit would apply here. Total is 30 for factual recall (such as identifying the meaning of specific symbols), 25 for general knowledge-related purposes (such as figuring out likely functions based on the design and construction of the device), or 20 for practical applications (such as understanding how to actually use the thing to do something helpful).

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

The phrase, 'silver looking things,' certainly isn't much to go on. Scylla taps her foot, quietly and slowly. It helps her think. "Okay, so, up it is. I'll see what I can find."

Her plan is faster to execute than it is to explain. She walks back out the front door and rides a water jet upwards until she's above the fog. When she finds nothing up there but dizzying altitude sickness, she dives back down through the fog to try another approach.

A sound like pouring rain follows behind her as she swims through the air at roughly the same height as the airships, combing the haze for anything big or alien enough to be associated with this insane Leonin plot. At her flying speed, if the raiders brought anything big enough to gather the whole town plus themselves, she's bound to find it soon enough. Unless it's hidden in an underground sewer complex or something. She takes that idea and suppresses it, along with such ideas as, 'they went to another planet,' and, 'they went to the dinosaur past.' Those are giving up thoughts and they are not what we need right now.

[Dodgeson]

Platformer's first deduction would be a simple one, they were in an elevator and he was looking at the control panel. As for what the symbols actually meant he would actually recognise enough of them to get a rough idea of what lead where (Professor Quantum had once absent-mindedly graded his homework in similar symbols, it was a confusing if educational experience). The lower buttons would take them below to storage dedicated to the Leoni's ill-gotten plunder and their 'cattle', while the middle floors were the living quarters of the Leoni and at the top was the domain of the Chainmaker themselves.

Swimming through the air at phenomenal speed Scylla would soon encounter other ships that clearly hadn't received as much resistance as the ones that had appeared on the docks, their deck filled with captive citizens, all standing stock still like statues. With the speed and manoeuvrability she had on the vessels Scylla wouldn't have to worry about engaging them for the moment and what was more important was that they were all heading in the same direction, towards Hero Park in the centre of the city and the strange new silhouette that dominated the city's skyline.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"It looks like an elevator," Kevin reported (after walking back outside? I'm not 100% clear on Wildcard's position at the moment.) "Lower levels are storage and holding cells, middle levels living quarters, upper levels Chainmaker's domain. Obviously we won't be able to free the prisoners without defeating the boss," his speech had "proved" that, for a certain value of "proved" that qualified by Kevin's standards anyway. "So we should probably start at the bottom and work our way up." Haha what? That suggestion didn't logically follow from the previous premises. "Storage areas can be statistically expected to have at least a couple treasure chests, sometimes even decent ones, plus there's probably a prisoner down there who can give us a key item or piece of information or something. Most of the mooks will probably be in the living quarters, so it should be pretty good EXP. Then once we've cleared the whole level we'll hit the boss and save the day." Correction. It didn't follow from its previous premises unless you (thought you) were living in a video game.

"You don't have any MP limits do you? My stock of Ethers is not, shall we say, what it should be." Kevin had long since ceased to bemoan his lack of an inventory, but it did occasionally come with practical concerns. For, again, a given value of practical.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Scylla clenches her fists inside her hovering water bubble. A part of her suddenly wants to put all of her spite into a song and see these ships all crash and drown right now, but she already knows at least three reasons reasons it's a bad idea. Maybe if she stays focused on stealth, or sets up a proper trap to lure them into...

Of course, by now it's has already taken her longer to think about this than it would to go back and update Captains Lucy and Rutherford. She returns to the station and barges in quickly enough that she leaves a big slippery puddle on the floor behind her.

"I found them," she says hurriedly, her voice somehow unaffected by the water dropping from her mouth, "a bunch more ships like the ones we found, where they're keeping everyone frozen somehow. They're all heading to some kind of giant base in Hero Park. I didn't get close enough to make it out yet." She looks to Blackcoat specifically. "If I can lure one of them into turning around, do you think we can take them down one by one? Or do you think we should go straight for the base?"

The likes of Morningstar, Wildcard and Platformer haven't even crossed her mind yet, and probably never will unless someone else brings them up. They really could be in the dinosaur past for all she knows.

[Starsign]

Blackcoat waited patiently for Scylla's return, making sure his crew got neither rampant, fearful or impatient with what's going on. The sudden disappearance of the city's inhabitants left them disturbed; it's not without reason, as many of them had families living here. Blackcoat has a responsibility to see that these families are brought home safely, not just out of his duties as a hero.

When Scylla returned, Blackcoat considered the present options. For him, while riskier, the heroes had absolutely no time to spare. "Good to judge ye options, but we cannot spare huntin' one ship a time when so many people are taken. We be needin' t' board an' hit their main base as soon as possible."

Blackcoat looks out in the distance toward Hero Park, wondering how the invaders had managed to set this up without anyone knowing. "We best be takin' our captured ship, case we can use it t' get in quietly. Once in we'd expect th' worst they got, and all they got left."

The plan, unless Scylla has any objections, is set, and all that's left is to set it into motion.

Spoiler: OOC

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I'm gonna apologize again for being slow. I've hit a lack of motivation for most things besides schoolwork. I should be better, though, come February. Thanks for your patience everyone.

[Dodgeson]

The plan was set and whilst Platformer and Wildcard debated their next move, Scylla and Blackcoat once again boarded their commandeered (and ever so slightly damaged) ship, taking to the sky and heading towards where the Leoni Palaceship had embedded itself in Hero Park. Sailing through the air above the fog the ship did begin to creak slightly as the damage that it had sustained in the previous battle started to settle in, still it would hold for now.

Finally reaching the park, even from their altitude one thing was certain, the place was packed, a veritable forest of civilians lingering around the base of the strange corkscrew shaped structure that had embedded itself in the ground in front of the Protectorate's old headquarters, all of them standing as still as statues just like the ones that Scylla had seen on the other ships. As they got closer it would also become apparent that their didn't seem to be anything in the way of docking on the larger structure but that could wait for a moment as a brightly glowing light came from beneath them before stopping right in front of them.

"Anyone holding a weapon by the end of this sentence is throw ru...!" The light began to demandbefore damping down as it surveyed the deck and saw not a Leoni in sight, revealing a redheaded woman in a ruffled shirt and jeans, surrounded in a sheathe of light "Oh hey, hell of a day huh?" she finished, with a much more casual tone. This was Morningstar, one of a handful of heroes that had moved to New Harbour during the reconstruction, the choker around her neck providing her with the powers of flight and light manipulation.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Scylla doesn't know where that throw ru sentence was going and already doesn't care. "Morningstar? You're here! Great!" She looks again over the railing at the assembled populace below. "So! Where have they done to everyone and how do we stop them?"

[Starsign]

Flying the alien craft was a relatively unusual experience for the human pirate. It sure wasn't the wildest one he'd had, given how old he is, but this was one of those tales which would be hard for the rest of his crew to believe. Most of the controls were not conventional, accommodating for hands notably bigger than his. Besides a few wobbles, however, he managed to get himself and Scylla over to the park, where upon they found civilians, likely captured and in some sort of stasis. Blackcoat had almost docked on the structure until Morningstar appeared, much to the relief at seeing another hero around here.

"Ye be on good time, Morningstar," Blackcoat says to her, speaking in respect and giving her a courteous nod. "We be sailin' dry on what's been goin' on all day; lion-headed pirates attacked th' port this mornin' an' we're lookin' fer their captain-" he glances down at the many captured civilians below, "An' everyone they've taken 'ere. This all they got, so we jus' gotta take 'em out now."

He takes another look out at the larger structure. "This be where we dock, but we be preferrin' if ye know anything 'bout what's happenin'."

[Dodgeson]

"They're rounding everyone up and taking them in there." Morningstar offered as an explanation to Scylla's question, tilting her head backwards to where the enormous Palaceship stood embedded in the ground "No clue why though, they kinda came out of nowhere and blindsided me, they've got this silver rope stuff. Do not let it touch you!"

She let that hang in the air for a moment before realising that she had kind of abruptly stopped there and tried to be a little more helpful "Anyway, silver things. Not even totally sure how I snapped out of it, I know magic doesn't play with tech sometimes buuuut I'm pretty sure it was more to do with my friend. There's a couple of guys down there about to head in and beat up whoever's in charge."

Now to some people that might only sound like part of a plan but, like Platformer, not only was Morningstar an alumnus of St Ambrose but she'd been in the cape game long enough to know that you could solve a lot of problems by just hitting them really hard.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"Silver rope stuff," Scylla echoes back as she remembers the groups she saw more up-close earlier. "So, that's what has everyone in a trance? If someone managed to snap you out of it, maybe I can..."

She lets that thread trail off in favor of the idea that gets us into the action and brings the party together. She nods to Morningstar. "Alright, I'll go join them! Do you need a ride down, Captain?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

Kevin frowned as one of the alien ships (he presumed, on the basis that he didn't recall seeing any flying ships previously in New Harbour and was pretty sure if they had been there he'd have noticed, if for no better reason than so he could set up a whole menu for random sidequests and unexplored dungeons to return to once he had acquired an airship) came flying over. Morningstar went up to meet them; he was about to happily write them off as doomed when her light dimmed. That was odd.

"Hold that thought," he told Wildcard, leaping up to the deck of the ship in a single bound.

"Problems Mor- ah," he stopped himself when he saw who she was talking to. He didn't know either Blackcoat or Scylla personally, but as local heroes (ish? He wasn't actually sure whether Blackcoat was a hero, anti-hero, redeemed villain, or lovable rogue type) he'd heard of them at least. "Um. Hi," he said, kinda awkwardly. There were...probably some manner of other social niceties that were supposed to come next but Kevin had more important things on his mind right now so he just went with, "Uh, so Wildcard and I are about to invade the big alien lair and free the captives by defeating the boss. You guys want in?" (He wasn't aware that Morningstar had already explained most of that, his camera angle didn't include surround sound.)

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Oh, hey, it's him!

"We were about to come whether you asked us or not, Platformer," she says, automatically stressing his name derisively, the way the Charybdis character did in the console release of Platformer 2. "I mean, platformer," she tries to correct, but nope, it still sounds weird somehow. She's had to read it as a voice line too many times.

Now that Iara thinks of it, it's kind of weird how Platformer and Scylla have never really met before now, despite living in the same city and Scylla officially acting in his too-many-layers-deep videogame. Such is the price of having secret identities, one guesses.

"So, anyway, do you want anything flooded before we bust in?"

[Starsign]

Blackcoat was quite prepared to infiltrate the place with only Scylla for support, if it was necessary. It felt uncanny that the two by the port had missed a gigantic kidnapping behind their back, and in some sense they could not have been the only ones they missed. So there was something fortunate that Morningstar was around, and of a greater benefit that there was another who's inviting the two along.

"Good t' meet another hero," Blackcoat responds to Platformer; the pirate lord, who was a hero, anti-hero, redeemed villain and loveable rogue all at once, gently tilts his pirate hat forward, "Captain Blackcoat, pirate lord o' the seas, here to help.. While he's never met Platformer, there was something about the latter that seems familiar to Blackcoat. Didn't he see Platformer from somewhere before? Bah, Blackcoat can ask later, though he'll likely feel like a fool when he eventually does. "We 'bout t' go in ourselves, Platformer." The name rolls off the tongue unusually, like he's heard the name spoken in that way before. No, he knows this hero, but from where? "Ye got a plan? We be few in number,; a quieter approach be better an' surprise them. But if ye know th' lay o' things better then we'd be better followin' yer lead."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Kevin didn't react to Scylla's pronunciation of his name. It was just barely possible he didn't actually notice anything weird about it. He nodded as the two indicated their intent to invade the lair as well.

(He had gotten a lot taller since his first year at St. Ambrose; this did not appear to have changed how easy it was for the nuances of social interactions to go over his head.)

"Probably not on flooding. I like a good dungeon bypass as much as the next guy, but there's an elevator system through the door. Flooding it might make it harder to get around, rather than easier. From what I can tell, the lower levels have the prisons and storage, middle levels the living space, and upper levels belong to the boss, who the other Leoni are calling Chainmaker. My suggestion is we hit them from the bottom up, so we don't miss any loot or EXP."

He kinda stared blankly at Blackcoat for a moment as he suggested a quieter approach, before reminding himself that the suggestion of turning something into a stealth mission meant something different in the real world than it did in games, and was actually generally strategically sound where practical. He replied with a shrug. "I'm not sure how stealthy the elevator will let us be, and to be honest it's not my strong suit in general, but I'm certainly not opposed if we can make it work. We don't really have much in the way of a plan from any sort of strategic standpoint at the moment. Granted, I'm not entirely sure we need one, especially if we're actually going in with a full four-person party."

[Starsign]

...Dungeon bypass? EXP? Blackcoat can't recall where he had heard those terms before. A lot of the modern world still confused him. He did, however, understand the meaning of, 'loot.' How couldn't he?

Alas, the captain has the suspicion that there won't be much of value within the structure. Everything looked either too technologically advanced for him, or simply would not have monetary value. If this is all that the leonine invaders have left, then it's likely they did not have a trove of wealth to steal.

"Four ain't be a big boardin' party," Blackcoat warned, though keeping in mind that a non-powered boarding group tends to be most of a crew. "But we be different than th' usual corsairs that go boardin'. Ye think we can jus' go in? Then we make it so."

Blackcoat heads over to the controls of the ship and motions it to dock on the larger structure. "Let's meet ye friend, Platformer, an' head on in."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"You... do know experience doesn't work like that in real life, right?" Scylla chimes in. "Or... maybe it does for you? But if that were the case, you'd probably be max level by now..."

She shakes it off. It's really no use trying to make sense of Platformer's moon logic. She'll just have to make something up and hope it's enough to convince him.

"Anyway, as long as we're all together, I want to do whatever fixes this as quickly as possible! Alright? So, think speedrun strats." She looks over the bow at the docking platform impatiently. "Busting in from up here should skip the guards on the ground, so let's get Wildcard to come up with us. Then if we can get to an elevator car, I should be able hydraulic-lift it to the top, even if the buttons are locked out or whatever."

Noticing Blackcoat taking inventory, she also has to note: "I don't think I'll be able to bring more than four or five people that way, though. The crew might be better off holding this airship... maybe as an emergency exit?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Let's assume for the sake of argument that I do," Kevin replied. It wasn't really a debate he wanted to have. There were some plausible arguments he could have made. "Something something practice makes perfect" wasn't quite precise, but contained more than a kernel of wisdom. There were both risks and potential tactical advantages to exploring an enemy lair thoroughly and neutralizing the forces you encountered, and his intuitions were that it was usually worth doing where time wasn't an explicit factor, but those intuitions were somewhat difficult to productively communicate in a way that "EXP and power ups" wasn't. And his powers did change the equation in key ways, even if he himself wasn't quite clear on exactly how in this particular case (just like his inventory, he'd never been able to pull up a reference on anyone's stats, his own included, so it wasn't like he could scientifically experiment on how much EXP he earned by various means). And you know, sure, all of that was true enough. But really, what Kevin honestly thought when someone told him that experience doesn't work like that in the real world?

If St. Ambrose hadn't designed the Crucible for level-grinding, then what the heck was it supposed to be there for?

Still, let nobody ever say that Kevin Matthews didn't enjoy a good speedrun.

"Cool, I'll Chat him," Kevin said, before doing just that.

Platformer: Two of the city's heroes are on the airship. They're going to help too.
Platformer: Sounds like the plan is to punch our way in through the top, if you want to come up here.

[Dodgeson]

With Wildcard (presumably) brought up on to the damaged vessel and brought up to speed on the plan it seemed that our heroes, finally brought together, had chosen to go with the venerable tradition of the dungeon bypass. Floating up to the peak of the alien structure before them, they would easily have the combined firepower to punch an entry in to the structure and at the very least they could attempt to simply ram their way in with the Leoni vessel.

Which ever manner of entry they chose it would seem that they were expected, the room was lit by torches hung from the walls and a long wooden table dominated the room. At the far end was a throne and on it sat an enormous Leoni that made those that they had seen before seem practically look like kittens in comparison, upon his brow sat an iron crown and beside him rested a vicious looking axe, this was the Chainmaker. To one side of the the floated a writhing ball of silver threads and to on the other a figure in a green hood holding a silver scepter, lying on the floor face down was another Leoni that didn't appear to be moving.

"Finally. The circle of time is closing." The Chainmaker announced deeply, standing up from his throne and positively towered above his subordinate "Just as I saw."

Hanging behind the throne was a crude tapestry that, if you were being charitable, seemed to show them standing before the Leoni ruler.

"Be careful my king, they are not to be underestimated." The hooded figure cautioned him solemnly, only to be silenced almost instantly by a glare from their king.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Not for the first time, Kevin took a moment to enjoy the fact that he lived in a world with destructible zone borders. EXP and power ups or not it really was just awfully convenient.

The villain was waiting for them, surrounded by what must be presumed to be his most elite minions. And possibly one living footstool. Too soon to tell. This was no particular surprise to Kevin. Of course the villain was waiting for them in the boss room with his elite minions. What else would he be doing? This was the natural and normal course of events, how the game was played. They all knew the score here.

But the flipping Chainmaker had to go and comment on it as if it were some special gift of foresight bestowed by his oh-so-impressive time powers.

That was his third mistake.

(The first had been trying to enslave the people of Earth in the first place. The second had been doing it in a city under Kevin's protection.)

"So, does he always do that?" Kevin asked the Leoni lying on the ground, conversationally. "I mean, proclaim he had foreseen the thing that just happened? Like, does he pre-register his predictions anywhere, is what I'm curious about. Or does he just say he foresaw the event after it happens? Because like, that's pretty bottom-of-the-barrel stuff as predictions go. Cold reading would actually be upping his game, at that point. Oh man, I hope he doesn't follow up by explaining how it confirms all of his political beliefs no matter what actually happened. That's just the worst."

Spoiler

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You can consider me ready to roll initiative, but I'm not jumping right into it in case someone wants to try some talky stuff.

And let's try Well Informed (with +5 for Eidetic Memory) at [roll]1d20+20z[/roll].

[Starsign]

Lacking his own explosives, ones which he had less control over compared to the others' superpowers, Blackcoat was content to let someone else punch, literally speaking, right into the base from the top of the structure. A lot of tasks and challenges really are made much easier with the presence of powers, something which immortality doesn't often offer. He remained quiet on the way down, with assistance from the other heroes if needed, until they had arrived at the Chainmaker. And for what it was worth, the leonine raid leaders had reason to fear their leader. Even across the room, Blackcoat felt significantly smaller than the leader, with the axe's blade looking at long as Blackcoat's own height. Undeniably, it's a dangerous weapon for anyone if it was swung around.

"All too easy predictin' retaliation when ye heist somethin'," Blackcoat adds in, sounding quite unimpressed at the leonine leader. Speak as impressive as ye like, it makes no difference to us. Ye be far from t' worst this city's seen, an' ye sure ain't be t' last." Like any good pirate expecting a duel, the immortal human draws his classic cutlass and aims it to the leader; the captain's voice darkens to a scary tone. "Ye be warned by ye first mate; none o' us be standin' less if we knew we ain't winnin'. Know ye fight Captain Blackcoat, who's faced and beaten death for centuries!"

He holds his breath, ready to speak more when the Chainmaker responds. If there's anything Blackcoat can prove, it's that his word will bite as hard as his steel.

Spoiler: OOC

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Let's ready an action, if possible. Blackcoat's started a speech here for the purpose of The Pirate's Terrifying Presence and will finish it/activate when the Chainmaker, or another ally of his, takes to the fight/takes an action of some kind. DC 20 Will vs Impaired/Disabled/Controlled; Burst Area; Selective; Limited [Impaired and Disabled only apply to active checks, Controlled can only force targets to back down, flee, surrender, etc], on activation against the Chainmaker and his allies/subordinates.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"I'm not playing this game."

Scylla takes a deep breath. Her conversational tone is gone. Her voice becomes cool and unnaturally clear.

"This is not about being rational."
"This is not about who fears who."

She dramatically points at the chainmaker and his advisor. Greencloak is probably the brains of the operation and immune to singing or something, but whatever.

"You know what you've done."
"It's time for it to stop."
"And you know it."

It doesn't rhyme, but any version that did would sound wrong by comparison. Her rhythm and notes are what make it penetrate, and if they listen, her words will start worming their way into their prophecy interpretation.

Spoiler: Action!

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Initiative (1d20+10)[12]

Will save DC vs. Entrance/Compel: 20

The bad guys, if they're weak enough to fail that, will be compelled to drop their weapons and step away from the evil silver ball.

I think allies have to make the save too, but she wants them to attack and bring down the bad guys, so in her head the song will just get them pumped to do what they should be doing anyway? She didn't really think about that part.

[Dodgeson]

Platformer's conversational partner sadly failed to respond, though he might recognise them as the Leoni who vanished from their brief skirmish out in front of the Palaceship, they had had the misfortune of having to deliver the news of the heroes' arrival to the Chainmaker, to say that this hadn't been a smart career move was a little bit of an understatement. The Chainmaker himself was equally non-responsive to his jibes or Blackcoat's bold pronouncement, reaching out with one hand and picking up his axe. It would take Scylla's song to draw a reaction from the Leoni but probably not the one that she was hoping for.

"WITCH!" The Chainmaker roared, his own voice clashing with Scylla's "Answer me this. How will you grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren overthrow us when your future is enslaved?! COME NOW MAKE WAR ON ME HEROES OF EARTH!"

Through this, the figure in green stayed silent, their grip tightening on their scepter, this would either be their king's greatest triumph or the end of them all.

Spoiler: Initiative

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Leoni (1d20+13)[16]

Platformer (1d20+12)[13]
Wildcard (1d20+20)[36]
Blackcoat (1d20+8)[13]
Scylla 12

Wildcard is on turn!

[Llyarden]

As they arrived, and the Chainmaker made his grand pronouncement, Wildcard...kinda giggled a bit.

"Sorry, sorry," he apologised. "It's just, you're a giant cat man, and at first glance it looks like you're..." He trailed off into stifled laughter again. "It just looks like you're standing next to a big ball of yarn."

And then he raised a hand and launched a blast of eldritch energy right at the aforementioned 'ball of yarn' - or whatever it really was - that would potentially core it like an apple, summoning up swirling winds around himself as he did.

Spoiler: OOC

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Move: Amplify Elements.
Free: Set Control Elements to Elemental Blast, Dangerous Blasts, Energy Armour, I guess 4 points of Range from Project Whips, and 40 random points: Wind Wall, Aerorepulsion, Solid Fog, Disintegrate, Tornado, Gravity.
Free: Configure Control Elements: Contagious Damage 10 (Alternate Resistance: Defence) Linked Close Deflect 10, Improved Critical 3, Increased Range 4, Immunity (Crits).
Standard: Attack the 'yarn ball', power attacking for 5, and Deflect for himself, critting on a 17+: [roll]1d20+5z[/roll] 12; DC30 Defence (or 35 if it counts as an object and has no defence) vs Damage on a hit.

Status: Fine.

[Dodgeson]

The Chainmaker didn't seem particularly concerned as the strange energies of Wildcard's attack shot towards his creation, more than confident that Wyrm could survive whatever meagre power the humans could throw at it, and this confidence seemed to be well placed as the blast dissipated harmless against the writhing silver mass to no effect.

What he didn't appreciate though was, the snickering deflating the gravitas of, what was to him, the single most important moment of his entire existence (or the existence of anything else considering his opinions on other species and their relative position in the universe).

"Kill that one first." He ordered the shaman beside him, who had always been wearing a purple robe, narrowing his eyes at Wildcard.

"As you wish my king." The other Leoni intoned, gesturing towards Wildcard with the trident that he'd certainly always been holding, and summoning up winds of his own. The withering winds of time to age the hero to dust!

"Now all of you DIE!" The Chainmaker roared, bounding towards the heroes before vanishing out of sight and suddenly reappearing amongst and in front of each of them all at once, every one of him swinging hard with his savage axe.

((Llyarden take a hero point for burning that first attack on the Wyrm, there is a way to effect it but it's a little more out of the box than that))

Spoiler: OOC

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Leoni Shaman
Move: N/A
Standard: Attack Wildcard with Accelerate, make a DC25 Fortitude Save vs Damage

Chainmaker
Move: Teleport in to the group
Standard: Attack with Vicious Swing, everyone make a DC23 Defence Save and a DC28/21 Toughness Save vs Damage with Secondary Effect

Heroes are on turn!

[Quellian-dyrae]

Kevin felt the initial trace of the mind-muddling power of Scylla's song and quickly covered his ears to block it out. He gave her a kinda wan look. "Careful with the splash effects," he said.

As Chainmaker rushed them, Kevin brought his hands down from his ears and gave his staff a flashy whirl before bringing it up to meet the edge of the villain's axe. Now, a wooden staff would normally prove a less-than-optimal defense against an enormous axe being swung with superhuman strength.

But niggling details like that didn't matter. As far as Kevin's powers were concerned, that was a timed block. His staff took the axe edge-on as if it had been forged of enchanted titanium, and neither he nor his life bar so much as flickered.

This is not, however, to say the attack had no effect whatsoever on him.

"Wait. You're fighting with an axe? Aren't...don't they call you the Chainmaker? Shouldn't you be using chains? I mean, at least a cool dual-axes-connected-by-a-chain sort of setup!" Honestly considering how often he invoked RPG tropes while calling himself Platformer he didn't have much of a leg to stand on here, but it's like at least he used platform game tropes too!

The good news is, withstanding that attack meant Kevin still had his previous Power Up. The bad news is, area blasts weren't super-great against two enemies, one of whom was a boss. Still, he supposed if nothing else it gave him two shots to get more power ups for his allies...

Nodding, he hurled a potent blast of fiery energy for the shaman. It'd do pretty heavy damage on its own, but thanks to his Power Up, it also exploded into an area blast that would catch Chainmaker as well. Now, given that Chainmaker was, at the moment, standing like smack-dab in the middle of their group, this might seem kinda hypocritical on Kevin's part. But it was fine. He had the friendly fire option turned off.

Then he went zipping across the room, because no sense clustering when you're fighting enemies with area moves.

Spoiler

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Free: Reconfigure Game Mechanics. 10 points to Strike, 5 points to Shoot, 5 points to Run, 10 points to Power Strike, 20 points to Boost Items. Kevin's previous Power Up is still active, so his Damage also gains Burst Area and Selective.

Standard: Attack the Leoni Shaman at (1d20+10)[29]. On a hit, Toughness DC 20 vs. Weaken Toughness. In addition, Leoni Shaman and Chainmaker both get Defense DC 20 for half, Toughness DC 25/20 vs. Damage. If either or both fail fail their resistance checks against the Damage by two degrees or more, Wildcard gets a Power Up that buys off the Limited (Move Action) from his Amplify Elements, and adds an extra 10 points to his Amplify Elements.

Move: To, like, the other side of the room so we can't all be area attacked quite that easily.

Current Status: Normal, SE (Toughness DC 28), Power Up (Damage gains Burst Area and Selective).

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"Ah, sorry," says Scylla as Platformer passes her. Seeing Wildcard's attack on the silver yarn, she gets ready to follow suit, but she doesn't have time to try and place a bubble around it before the Chainmaker is on top of her.

The lion swings his mighty axe in broad arcs, paying special attention to the annoying sea witch trying to sway his mind. As if to demonstrate the stakes at hand, his weapon strikes true and hard, splattering Scylla's body and letting her translucent remains rain down all over the room.

Rutherford saw before that this doesn't necessarily mean the end of her, but it's not as though there's time to mourn right now either way. For purposes of this fight, she's probably not coming back.

[Starsign]

Being courageous, terrifying, and willing to make good on your threats didn't mean a thing when your opponent refused to be intimidated. Blackcoat looked on quietly as Wildcard successfully drove a nail into the Chainmaker's nerves. Just as quickly, Blackcoat took a stance upon seeing the swung axe, only for his cutlass' blunt side to catch the edge, slam into the captain, and swing him to the wall with a dramatic *THUD*.

Blackcoat lurches off the wall with a painful bruise across his chest, but otherwise none the worse for wear. Wish he could have said the same for the others after noticing rain and water falling and splattering across the room.

"I be givin' ye a LOT worse back fer what ye did," he shouts to the Chainmaker. While Blackcoat knows Scylla well enough that she'll be fine, he doesn't take well to seeing crew, allies, or friends suffering under his wing. "Startin' with ye!" Like some underhanded strategic rogue, Blackcoat darts around the Chainmaker and brings his foot down upon the robed shaman, catching the hanging material slumping on the ground to root the shaman in place. A moment later, and Blackcoat pulls out his flintlock with his free hand and fires it point-blank at where he assumes is the torso.

A blind shot lacks the necessary precision that a sword has to cut a grueling wound, but instead it leaves any mix of shock, vulnerability and weakness within the opponent.

Spoiler: OOC

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Alrighty, let's go use Painful Dirty Trick on the Shaman, no modifiers here. DC 25 Toughness vs damage + DC 20 Fort vs Vulnerable/Defenseless/Asleep on hit: (1d20+10)[18]

[Llyarden]

Wildcard's whirling winds whipped around him, very alliteratively, turning aside the shaman's attempts to age him, and he blocked Chainmaker's - or the particular temporal clone of Chainmaker's, anyway - axe swing with one arm, slipping aside rather than try to stand up to the massive Leoni head-to-head. He was still chuckling.

And then Scylla got...kinda splattered. And, I mean, he knew who she was, she was made of water, she would reconstitute herself in time.

All the same, his chuckling stopped (so I guess in that regard the shaman achieved more than his boss) and he turned back to look at the shaman.

"...no."

Whips of blazing energy burst from his back, and for a moment they looked like wings unfurling around him - and then they lashed around and flew straight at the shaman, not only potentially setting fire to his robe that definitely wasn't changing colours every few seconds but draining his energy to restore Scylla.

Spoiler: OOC

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Extra Effort: Power stunt from Control Elements to combine Leech Life, Elemental Blast, one Project Energy, one Ignite, 3 points of Range, and one point of Wobbling Flight for Flight 2.
Move: Yeah let's shuffle a little out of Area range as well.
Standard: Attack the Shaman, all-out attacking for 5, power attacking for 5: (1d20+10)[22]. DC30+Multiattack Toughness vs Secondary Effect Damage on a hit. Scylla receives healing at (1d20+10)[23], with degrees of success capped by the degrees of failure on the Toughness save.

Status: Fatigued next round, SE (T28 Damage), -5 defence.

[Dodgeson]

Platformer's jibes were ignored just as assuredly his fire blast, the Chainmaker roaring in triumph as he swung his savage axe and Scylla was scattered in an instant, this was all the proof that he needed that his plan was going to work and soon he would bestride a glorious cross-time empire built on the enslavement of his new cattle and the bones of the heroes that dared to oppose him. The fact that his shaman had just survived a pointblank shot from a flintlock was just icing on the cake, but such was life when they could simply age the projectile to dust before it hit home.

"SEE HOW YOU FALL BEFORE ME HEROES!" He bellowed "I am not without mercy, kneel before your better and will see your end is quick!"

And then Wildcard brought his own powers to bare dropping the purple robed shaman in an instant knocking the blue cloaked shaman off his balance more importantly Scylla was back on her feet, although still looking worse for wear. The Chainmaker was many things, a king, an adept, but most of all they were a warrior, which they had been drilled in combat since they could hold a weapon and were schooled in all the wisdom of the Leoni elders and one of the greatest truisms was, you gank the healer first.

"Cease your witchcraft!" He demanded, giving the hero his undivided attention, not just trying to cut in to his flesh but sever his connection to time itself!

Meanwhile the Shaman regarded Blackcoat from beneath their hood, instinctively they wanted to do something, to snuff him out, to their innate senses an immortal was a borderline blasphemy but at the same time they presented something of a challenge for someone who's main form of offense was chronomancy. Instead they waved their bident in Scylla's direction, hoping to finish her off before she could properly rejoin the battle.

Spoiler: OOC

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Chainmaker
Move: Teleport in to Close with Wildcard
Standard: Attack Wildcard with Temporal Rend (1d20+13)[23] DC28 Toughness vs Damage & DC23 PL Save vs Weaken All Resistances if that hits Hit

Shaman
Move: N/A
Standard: Attack Scylla with Accelerate, DC25 Fortitude vs Damage.

Heroes are on turn!