[M&M 3e] Defying the Future IC

[Abracadangit]

Emboldened by her effective little combination of offense and defense, Kal pirouettes in midair, buoyed by her threads, and lands some distance away, out of the bee creature's reach.

By changing up her stitching, she looses a new cloud of thread around the enemies harrying Floral, this cloud encircling and restraining like a net, while the razor-sharp threads from before continue to whirl and lash at their prey.

Spoiler: OOC

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Move: Getting out of V3's grab range, moving to AM18.
Action: Selective Snaring Strands Cloud, centered on AE14, targeting both V1 and V2.

Snaring Strands on V1: (1d20+10)[25]
Snaring Strands on V2: (1d20+10)[17]
Thread Lash Cloud on V3: (1d20+10)[28]

[Dorni]

So. These things didn't care for fire. Most things didn't like fire. It was one of the reasons he'd chosen to focus on studying fire out of all the possible elements. There just wasn't time to master everything, and fire was a highly effective weapon. It burned the physical and purified the spiritual. The ideal weapon against the cult. But most enemies didn't burst into flame and have to rip off their own arms to keep the fire from consuming the rest of them.

Helios wove more fire. Sheet after sheet of flame scoured the area, rolling over the bee creatures - and harmlessly around Floral. "What's the situation here?"

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Move: nah.
Standard: Cast Solar Flare at AE19 with PA 2 / AoA 5, catching all of the Vespers. On hit, DC 27/22 vs Damage & Affliction[Vulnerable / Defenseless] before Weakness.
V1: (1d20+13)[28]
V2: (1d20+13)[20]
V3: (1d20+13)[28]

Extra Effort: Do it again because why not.
V1: (1d20+13)[31] Crit
V2: (1d20+13)[19]
V3: (1d20+13)[30] Crit

Fatigued next round

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily had the best team.

Later, her strong-but-fragile pride would gnaw at her with its inverse. She'd feel embarrassed at needing to be rescued, guilty at having put her friends in danger, humiliated that they saw her in such a state of terror, so scared she could barely manage to make any offensive contribution to the battle at all. But that was a matter for later. Right now, she was only grateful to have such powerful allies, and gleeful to watch one of the monsters get savagely injured and another burned crispy.

...And terrified, of course. Because of the bees, you see.

Helios asked what the situation was. Lily didn't have a superhuman speed of thought, but she was capable of thinking pretty much as fast as an unenhanced human could. In her brain, the answer that conveyed the key details without taking too much time to say quickly came to her. "Manchineel's minions, they have to be targeting me specifically. Know my weaknesses. Keep frying them, I've got my heal-tank game going."

What actually came out of her mouth was instead a wild, panicked, "THE BEES ARE AFTER ME!"

It...it didn't convey negative informational value, anyway.

(Seriously she was going to feel so embarrassed when this was over like oh my lord...)

Her frantic efforts to defend herself continued to avail her little against the bee-monsters. The monster's sting didn't have much in terms of an immediately detrimental effect upon her, but she didn't just shrug it off effortlessly the way she could have most normal poisons - she was reflexively burning stored solar energy to heal the effects as quickly as they happened. Her body had been changed on a cellular level, but not a genetic one, and the information encoded into her genes that made her cells more susceptible to bee venom were still doing so whether those cells were wood and sap or flesh and blood.

It wasn't something she could keep up for long. But, the voice of Floral sternly told her, she absolutely could keep it up for long enough.

Floral backed out of the water, further away from the bee monsters, firing on the move a thorn tipped with a poison of her own at the injured Vesper, hoping to weaken it enough that Ariadne's continually-lashing thread clouds could finish it off more easily, while continuing to seem healing nectar to cure her wounds.

Spoiler

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Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 10 points to Poisonous Nectar, 20 points to Healing Nectar, 10 points to Solar Nectar, 10 points to Floral Thorn.

Move: Into Z20.

Standard: Attack Vesper 3 with Poisonous Nectar, Defensive Attacking for 5, Accurate Attacking for 2, at (1d20+7)[16]. On a hit, Resistance DC 18 vs. Weaken Resistance. On a miss, Homing 1. Lily receives Persistent Healing at (1d20+10)[21]. 11 RP + 5 for Persistent. 7 spent to finish healing the Bruise, 9 towards the next Bruise.

Current Status: 1 Bruise (9/10 RP), DA +5.

[Zelphas]

Nope's focus, distracted by all the concerning bits of body horror and beehive-people around him, gets a little bit muddled; instead of removing the Vesper, he (temporarily) removes the sense of horror from around the Vesper. For just a moment, the Vesper that he focuses his attention on, the beehive-person directly in front of Floral, is replaced by a brightly-colored, full size plush version of itself, complete with incongruous tag with washing instructions and upturned, 'smiley' eyes. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), this change seems to have been only in Nope's perceptions; a moment later the Vesper has returned to full, horrible life.

Ariadne's threads slice toward the Vesper that seems laser-focused on Floral, but they are intercepted by a cloud of bees, which die en masse but foul up the threading for along enough that any strands which touch the Vesper are bereft of cutting strength. Another Vesper, caught in the clouds, is quick to skip away from the attack, immediately dodging its effects. Over the battlefield, thereis a horrible cracking noise; the final Vesper, unable to extricate itself from Ariadne's earlier burst of threads in time, has been nearly bisected by the razor-sharp wires; it holds itself together by living ropes of bees, still somehow keeping itself aloft.

Helios flings flame once more over the battlefield. One Vesper, alert to the attack, sees it coming and moves swiftly out of the way, but the other two are not so swift. The heavily wounded Vesper encloses itself in yet more bees, forming a living shield that burns away and leaves it with heavy scorch marks, but allows it to still be functional.

The final Vesper, the first Vesper that Floral saw, which has been after her the whole time, never stops reaching for her face. Even as Helios' fire catches its form and burns strongly, almost too well, it never stops trying to grasp at Floral with its claw-like hand. The body burns away, the bees crisp and smolder, the face with the glowing eyes blacken and turn to ash... only then does the claw-hand drop, burning into a greasy, ashy film before it ever touches the water of the fountain.

Immediately after the first Vesper burns away, a change comes over the other two Vespers. They had been communicating to one another in some way, sending some unspoken message one to another; in an instant, this stops, as the least injured Vesper stiffens and turns its green-gold gaze on Floral. The beehive creature floats silently around the pool and towards the plant-controlling plant person, reaching out with one clawed hand...

Meanwhile, the final Vesper hunches down, collapsing slightly in on itself. Even as you watch, the living rope of bees keeping it together spins new wax into place, repairing the worst of the damage; it is still battered, but functional, and it does not seem able to flee.

Spoiler: OOC

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Vesper 2

Move Action: Shift to Y20.

Standard Action: Use Touching Sting on Floral. (1d20+10)[11] On a hit, Resistance DC 29/24 vs. Penetrating Damage Linked Impaired/Stunned/Paralyzed. Floral has a -2 on the Affliction. Miss

Vesper 3

Move Action: Staggered.

Standard Action: Recover from Staggered.

All PCs are on turn.

[Ridai]

Floral's screamed proclamation is met with a startled "Oh crap hit bees- what the flip?!" one stray thought tumbling out of Nope's mouth is immediately interrupted by seeing whatever the hell the Removal is somehow showing him, making Nope physically jump. But the combo continues, as one Vesper is cut apart, but still "living" (with beeeees!), also making him feel increasingly sick and look vaguely green in the face.

"Oach" presses forth from the figure as he tries, once again, to make the Vesper focused on Floral go away, but man, his concentration is so shot right now. But somehow all the queasy feelings result in getting a very clear mental bridge to targeting a Vesper, a veritable Nope Elemental (no affiliation). Nope doesn't even know anymore what he is doing right or wrong.

Spoiler: Actions

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Same procedure as last turn. DC 25/20/20 Damage (Ranged), Linked Weaken Resistance, Linked Affliction (Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless/Incapacitated). AoA -5/+5, Crit 16+
Attack vs Vesper 2 (1d20+15)[35]

[Dorni]

Helios was more surprised by Lily's wail than he should have been. In retrospect, he probably shouldn't have been. Objectively, bees were much less scary than any of the other... a month ago he would have said 'nonsense' that they'd battled. Compared to mummies, magic death cultists, a spirit of condensed death energy, and some killbots, bees were had to be on the low end of the scale.

On the other hand... bees. Frank wondered how much composure he'd have had if it were him that had been ambushed by swarms of bees. That were also monsters.

Whatever. Helios did what he could to end it and kept up the attack. The Vespers were spreading out and making sheets of flame less viable, but no matter. Instead he flew new Floral's side and wove fire aether into Sunbeams. He had a distasteful moment to recognize the parallels to a kid incinerating bugs with a magnifying glass, but it didn't stop him or his fiery beams.

Spoiler: OOC

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Move: To X18
Standard: Cast Sunbeam, AoA/PA 5 using multi-attack to target V2 and V3. On hit, DC 30 (before Weakness) vs Perception SE Damage.
(1d20+8)[18]
(1d20+8)[13]

Fatigued, -5 defenses

[Abracadangit]

"Pests, aren't they," Ariadne says wryly, echoing in Kal's mind.

"Nothing I can't handle," Kal thinks back. "I'm trying to get more comfortable with threads over large areas at once."

"Very impressive," Ariadne comments. "Don't let me get in your way, hnn, hnn."

Spoiler: OOC

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Action: Dropping another Snarling Strands Cloud, centered on V3, and I believe Thread Lash Cloud now flips to SE, since the old cloud should be subsiding.
Snarling Strands Cloud vs. V3: (1d20+10)[12]
Thread Lash Cloud SE vs. V3: (1d20+10)[27]

[Quellian-dyrae]

One of the monsters - the one that had been most focused on her - blessedly went down under the lethal combo of Ariadne's threads and Helios's flames. The battle was shifting into their favor. The monsters were racking up injuries, one of them some severe ones.

This was the time. She had been playing defense all battle, barely contributing. But this fight would soon be over. Now was the time to shift gears, take the offensive, and annihilate what remained of her attackers.

Unless...unless that was just what they were waiting for. For her to leave an opening. They could have more monsters waiting to pounce, or be waiting to summon even larger swarms for when they knew they would carry the greatest impact. No, it wasn't wise. The battle would be won if they just kept grinding the enemy down. There was no need to take risks.

It was true. It was also a lie. Lily was too smart and too self-aware not to realize that.

It still didn't change her decision.

On the other hand, her healing had done its work splendidly, her own wounds almost entirely closed. She spat in the face of the latest Vesper to attack her - her spit transmuting to deadly acid in the air - and fell back from it before its swarms could begin stinging her again.

Spoiler

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Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 10 points to Acidic Nectar, 10 points to Poisonous Nectar, 5 points to Overpowering Scent, 5 points to Overwhelming Scent, 10 points to Lingering Acid, 10 points to Lingering Scents. Variable Descriptor the lot of it to [Energy] [Acid].

Standard: Attack V2 with Acidic Nectar, Defensive Attacking for 5, Accurate Attacking for 2, at (1d20+7)[20]. On a hit, Resistance DC 23/18 vs. Damage Linked Weaken Resistance Linked Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless. The Damage and Affliction carry a Secondary Effect.

Move: Into Z26.

End of Turn: Homing attack on V3 at (1d20+7)[15]. On a hit, Resistance DC 18 vs. Weaken Resistance.

Current Status: 1 Bruise (9/10 RP), DA +5.

[Zelphas]

Nope's continued rejection of the Vesper before him finally has a tangible effect; a long chunk of the bark-like skin at the Vesper's shoulder simply vanishes, leakign honey and bees in its empty wake. The Vesper barely seems to notice, but then again, they haven't been acting like they have a concept of pain for this entire battle so far in any case.

The Vespers both have a faster reaction to Helios as he moves, taking evasive action even before the spell finishes its weaving. The more heavily-burned Vesper loses the rest of its arm and shoulder despite its actions, thick clouds of bees swarming around it as it nearly shakes itself apart in an effort to keep itself together. The other Vesper fares far better; the sunbeam catches a still-glossy section of its newly-formed middle and refracts, doing no visible harm to the Vesper... for the moment, at least.

A moment later, however, and that Vesper loses one part of its wing as Ariadne's threading neatly snips it apart. It avoids the entangling threads Ariadne tosses towards it in the moment, but it is unable ot escape the cloud before the threads turn back towards it.

A swarm of bees intercept Floral's spit and vanish in a hiss of acid, leaving the Vector untouched by the offending liquid. On the farther side of the park, the other Vesper twitches to one side just in time to avoid the persistent flight of Floral's poison-tipped thorn. The burned Vesper, unwilling or unable to focus itself away from Floral, simply spreads wide its remaining arm, sending a flood of bees directly towards its target with no heed to its own protection. The other Vesper, torso still re-solidifying from its hasty repair work, seems to do something similar towards Helios at first. AS more, and more, and more bees land on and around the student of magic, however, it becomes clear that they aren't hear to sting him, but to crush him under weight and heat.

Spoiler: OOC

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Vesper 2

Move Action: Staggered.

Standard Action: Use Swarm on Floral, All-Out Attacking for 5. (1d20+17)[37] On a hit, Resistance DC 27/22 vs. Multiattack Damage Linked Progressive Impaired/Stunned. Floral has a -2 on the Resistance check against the Affliction if that hits. ...Crit. DCs become 37/27.

Vesper 3

Move Action: Dazed.

Standard Action: Use Overheat on Helios, All-Out Attacking for 5. (1d20+15)[17] hit or miss, Resistance DC 29 vs. Perception Penetrating Damage, the Penetrating going to Pierce Resistance. Hits due to AoA; no Penetrating bonus.

All PCs are on turn.

[Quellian-dyrae]

All the sunlight that Lily had stored up had been keeping her in good stead, allowing her to heal her injuries nearly as quickly as the monsters could damage her.

Nearly.

But as the Vesper filled the air around her with another swarm of bees, Lily found that her strategy of keeping her distance and ready to react really didn't do much against hundreds of bees stinging you from every direction. Heart pounding, she began sweating from fear - and turned that sweat into acid, dissolving dozens of bees as they struck her, but unfortunately, there were scores more where they came from.

Their stingers couldn't do more than prick Lily's wood-strong skin, but that was all they needed to release their venom. In terms of sheer magnitude of damage, the stored sunlight within her should have been more than enough to wipe it all away trivially, but Lily's phobia, while perhaps irrational, had never been unreasonable.

The simple fact was, that Lily was and remained deathly allergic to bees. Their venom caused far more damage to her, and her experiments into exacerbating her own weaknesses in hopes of developing a means to quickly neutralize her if Manchineel was able to control her only multiplied it further.

The bee swarm was relentless, sting after sting only building up the venom already in her system from the previous attacks, draining more and more energy.

And for all the power that the light of the sun allowed her to gather and wield, Lily's energy wasn't limitless. Even her superpowered cells could only store so much sunlight.

The bees ran her out. Up until then, between her body's physical durability and her instantaneous healing, the stings hadn't really hurt. But as she expended the last of her stored energy, that changed quickly. Lily gave a scared, pained little cry...and collapsed as the bee venom was finally able to take full effect.

[Ridai]

And somehow, what he thought was a really good go didn't really do much of anything.

And the beeople still ignore him.

And then Floral collapses.

Having accomplished mostly nothing in a life-or-death situation, something dangerous given the nature of Nope's powers creeps in, and that is just immense frustration with the situation, his powers, and the nearby world in general. And if he tried to help Floral recover now, in this state, chances are he would kill her even faster than the bees, because that is just his grasp of his powers.

"I ******* hate these powers, come on!" Nope shouts at no one but himself, whole body just shaking with frustration, fists balled and knuckles white. ERASE THE GODDAMN BEES! **** FORESTER's BAY'S BEE POPULATION! ANNIHILATE EVERYTHING BEE!

Spoiler: Actions

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Standard Remove hit points on V3 with AoA -5/+5 and PA -2/+2. DC 27/22/22, Crit 16+
Attack vs V3 (1d20+13)[17] Rerolled to 26

EE Standard Do it again
Attack vs V3 (switch to V2 if V3 for some reason dies) (1d20+13)[28]

[Zelphas]

Once again, a change comes over the Vespers, the moment that Floral collapses into the water. Both of the grotesque, vaguely human-shaped bee creatures turn fully to face their fallen target, wings speeding up into audible, whining sound as they prepared to take whatever action needed to grab Floral and bring her back to their mistress. The burning, one-armed Vesper even seems to be tearing itself apart in its eagerness to finish its duty, bees spilling out all around it in dense clouds as it prepares to move--

Spoiler: Nope

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You don't activate your powers, you suppress them. What seem like 'active' powers for you are more like controlled releases from a valve holding back the nothing you are able to unleash at any moment. Usually, you move this valve one, maybe two 'notches' to release your power before throttling it back again.

This time, just for a moment, the valve spun all the way open. You closed it again, but the nothing that came out was too much. It hit far more than you anticipated.

Something noticed.

Spoiler: Ariadne

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Within you, Ariadne lets out a choked gasp of mingled pain and surprise. She refuses to elaborate why, but by stretching your senses you can get something of a picture of what just occurred.

Life is a tapestry, filled with grand, bright weavings, interlocking workaday threads, and the invisible, tiny, innumerable weavings that hold the bigger pieces together. Moments ago, a large number of those tiny, invisible threads... vanished. As if they never were. The 'tapestry' is not falling apart from their loss; someone who isn't as attuned as you are might not even notice that anything has changed. but there are... loose ends, which shouldn't be.

All of this is so far off of the purview of what you can normally sense that you get the feeling something much bigger than you can notice just happened. You're only getting a muddy, unclear view of it.

Spoiler: Helios

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Nope's powers aren't magic. You were able to figure this out within moments of meeting him. Whatever he is accessing to do... whatever he does, it goes by a different pathway than the magic you know.

And yet, in the moment that Nope just acted, you sense the ambient magic in the air... lessen. Not catastrophically, but noticeably. You intuit two things from this: first, that no matter where you go in the Dome at this moment, this lessening will feel the same. It had wide-reaching effects, whatever it is.

And second, the lessening of ambient magic is a side effect of whatever Nope actually just did, not the main impact of the effect.

The Vespers are gone. The bees are gone. The scraps of burned Vesper in the fountain are gone. The beestings on Floral, the heat on Helios, are gone. The air in the park is still and silent. The night is dark.

No chirp of crickets. No whine of mosquitos. No disturbance of air from a moth's silken wings. No bottle-bright flash of a firefly. The air is still, and silent.

Spoiler: OOC

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Battle over! Everyone take a Hero Point.

Also, since you've been battling for some time now and grown into your powers, take 5 PP as well!

Later...

Watcher appeared on an emergency broadcast early in the morning of September 2nd, 2018. He apologized to those who relied upon his food stores, but explained that "for the sake of the future", he would not be able to provide the nourishing, tasteless gruel for the next three days. He asked for patience from the people of Forester's Bay once again, and then abruptly ended the transmission. A few hopeful people still gathered where the food was usually delivered that morning. They were quickly driven away by the cloud of insects--insects of all sorts, in large numbers--that was released from the fabricator in their stead.

It is unclear who began the rumor, or how they knew. Even more unclear is why it was believed. But soon, everyone in Forester's Bay knew that the bugs, the lack of food, all of it could be laid at the feet of one of their so-called "Heroes". The one who hid his face and form behind a cloud of uncertainty, who called himself "Nope", as if this whole thing was a joke to him. The rumors would die down, the people would calm, but for now... for now, they knew.

Spoiler: Nope

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Nope cannot contribute successes to the Hero Work Downtime for the next Downtime round. For the next two Scenes, civilians and police officers who are not connected to the PCs will be automatically Hostile to Nope. Nope, take a Hero Point for your Annihilate Everything Complication.

[Ridai]

Nope stumbles for a moment, blinking, shaking his head. A little unsteadily at first, he heads over to Floral to help pull her out of the water. "H-hey, talk to m-me," he tries to engage Floral, maybe hoping she is still conscious, since there are no bee stings or anything. "are you-"

Freeze. No bee stings. Nope's brow furrows. Checks a different spot. Nothing. More hastily, another. Nothing. But I didn't-

Freeze again, having let go of Floral, hands just splayed out and held, eyes first looking like they are searching, but increasingly so in places where nothing could actually be, listening with increasing intent. Nope rises slowly, a shiver crawling down his spin as a sinking feeling spreads. By the time he is standing upright, his eyes are wide, slowly looking around, breathing as shallow as possible, moving as little as possible, as to not make a sound. The silence expands, becoming a vast empty space. Feeling of vertigo on solid ground. Falling, but not falling. Horizon further than the mind, space not fitting consciousness. Mouth moving near soundlessly, butchering repeating questions because of the shaking, half-drowned by unsteady breaths. Everything repeats, wide eyes burning, watering and overflowing, as the abyss stares.

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

Later...

On the second day of no food, Nope appears exactly at midnight where people normally pass to get their food, prostrated on the ground. He remains like this for 24 hours. Prompted, he says he is sorry, that he messed up. If attacked by the citizens, he does not fight back. If he returns home at midnight bleeding and broken, then that is what it is. He deserves it.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Just as Nope reached her, Lily's eyes shot open and she sat bolt upright. The bee venom was just...gone, apparently. Every trace of it purged from her system.

Nope was standing over her. He must have used his powers to heal her, to remove the stings and the venom.

Yes, that must have been it.

She didn't, for the moment, notice the utter lack of any insectoid scents in the air. Her brain was not currently focusing on processing scent data to that degree.

She stood slowly, unsteadily. Although her injuries were removed, she was still low on energy. "I..." she began hesitantly, sighed, and then said, "Thank you, all, so much. I don't know...there's no way I could have defeated them alone." To say they had saved her life didn't cover it. The monsters had been using a venom specifically formulated to incapacitate rather than kill her. Their intent had been capture, not killing. Given everything she knew about Manchineel, her friends had saved her from a fate likely far worse than death.

In that moment, her gratitude and relief were foremost. The shame and guilt would catch up to her later.

As she started regathering her wits and her focus from her brief loss of consciousness, she noticed Nope's demeanor. She reached out to set a hand on his shoulder, concern visible on her still unveiled face. "Nope? Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

[Ridai]

Nope immediately wince and pulls away as his shoulder is touched, less pushing Floral away, more in the way of someone not liking to be touched. The very next moment, Nope stands up very straight, not shaking anymore, but his eyes still wide open (that is somehow very clear through his veil of uncertainty), streams of tears unbroken as he looks at the group yet nowhere.

"Huh n-no I'm fine," he says automatically to the question, sounding harried. A beat. "I-I got fr- fffr- frustrated a-and did someth-thing very bad." A beat. "F-feeling thinnn-gs is bad. Intrusive th-thoughts maKe bad things h-happ'n." A beat. "I d-did a... a ve- very bad thing. And and somethhhing knowsss!" He raises a hand to his head, white knuckled fingers just digging through his hair, shaking again. "S-somethinnng stared back b'cause I-I did a bad- did a very bad... thing."

[Abracadangit]

"We are simply glad that you are unharmed," Kal says, as she descends from the air and lands close by Floral and Nope. "Do you have any idea why they would target you, specifically?"

Spoiler: Kal & Ariadne

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In the back of her mind, Ariadne stirs in an unpleasant way. "Your friend, the one who... unravels things," she says, her voice oddly distorted, as though Kal's inner ear for hearing her is somehow mistuned. "He has undone more than he intended, I fear."

"Not so bad, that's happened before," Kal thinks back, realizing this must have been the source of the strange sensation, before. "Air rushes into the vacuum, or whatever. It's never been an issue."

"This time is different," Ariadne replies, ominously. "He didn't merely cut out a patch, he unmade the patch, and the piece of the table that the patch was resting on, and the color of the table, and the hour of the day when the table was standing there, and an infinite number of connected threads."

"What?" Kal asks. "You're not making sense."

"Powers of this nature seldom do. Be wary in the coming days, engoní. The world does not take kindly to being ripped, with such violence." She pauses.

"When you tear out a part of the world, it tends to tear back."

[Dorni]

Helios struggled to reinforce his wards under the weight of the flaming bees. He'd designed them to be as solid as possible, to withstand and deflect a wide spectrum of forces. Sustained, crushing forces hadn't been at the forefront of his mind when he'd designed them. They weren't ineffective, but the pile of bees was definitely causing them to strain. Parts of the rune-structure were cracking even has he directed energies to mend them as quickly as possible, but he was losing the race.

And then everything vanished.

He turned to Nope to congratulate him, but then he realized it. The bees hadn't just vanished. So had the damage to his wards. And the constant background buzz from his mystic sense was a little bit dimmer.

"Nope, what did you do?" The words came out choked. "What do you mean something stared back? What did you do?!"

[Ridai]

Nope is looking smaller as Helios asks him. "I-I... I did... a... hrng..." Thoughts are still a mess. "I-I wanted the bees t-to go away. An...gry thhhought happened s-same time. Con... control slipped. I don't hear any... insects anymore." Part of him hopes those noises will come back.

"Sssomething from the... from the uh... collective unconscious... I think. Or someone like, like me. Noticed." Nope visibly winces as he mentions the collective unconscious, and the possibility of someone like him.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Do you have any idea why they would target you, specifically?"

"Wouldn't be the first time," Lily answered with quiet bitterness.

Then she sighed. "Sorry. I mean, Manchineel's tried to 'punish' me for my work before. That's how I ended up like this in the first place.
I don't...really understand her actual reasoning, but presumably she figured out who I am and wanted to finish the job. Or it's reciprocation for us taking Gabriel off the gameboard. Or she's trying to kidnap and enslave me. Or she's an insane dryad and asking why she does anything is like asking why a tornado does anything. One of those for sure." Okay yeah the bitterness might have still been there.

Lily blinked twice when Nope explained what he had done. There were...a lot of feelings that went through her mind, hearing that. Guilt, for being the reason Nope had had to fight the monsters in the first place (which her brain flagged as irrational but which she couldn't help but feel anyway). Shame, for not having been strong enough to help defeat the monsters before it got to that point. A deepening sense of inferiority. Her powers had been barely strong enough just to hold off the monsters long enough for her friends to dispatch them. Nope could apparently eradicate every insect in a who-even-knew how large area on accident. His powers only ever actually failed to instantly eradicate his opponents because he was deliberately holding back...how much of them? Ninety? Ninety-nine? More?

And yes, beneath all that, a tiny but insistent note of utter terror at the realization of just how destructive Nope's powers really were.

(Part of her brain was also running the numbers on the environmental impact of the loss of that many insects, but it was kinda all going on in the back of her head. The whatever-it-was staring back got fairly little attention compared to the rest of it, because it got filed away under "weird stuff". It was kinda like, yeah, sure, whatever, if it becomes a problem they'll superhero at it until it ceases its shenanigans.)

Lily just stared silently at Nope in the aftermath of his explanation. She...didn't really know what she could say. She couldn't quite wrap her brain around Nope's problems well enough to even properly empathize with them, let alone offer useful support. Floral and Nope contributed on the same team, yes, but only because she was pushing her powers so far beyond the limits of what they should have been able to do, and he was restricting his powers to such a tiny fraction of their possible output, that they kinda met in the middle.

At the end of the day, how could a flower hope to empathize with a god?

[Zelphas]

September 7th, 2018.

You have to give them this; the "Chainbreakers" were at least trying to be smart. The meeting is still in the Industrial Block, but the chosen area is well-placed; near the Manitou Forest (which means that there's a constant Bronze Link presence of some sort in case Manchineel tries something, giving the would-be escapees an excuse), but fairly far away from both the Residential District and the Main Drag (meaning that Silver Links have no real reason to be there, dealing with other projects). Even the timing is decent; mid-day, with an overcast sky, encouraging people to be indoors and about other projects without looking for people skulking around. So, at the very least, they tried to be smart.

The fact that your burgeoning information team discovered their ad-hoc name, plans, and the location and time of their first meeting despite no member of the Chainbreakers actually reaching out to them should let you know about how well that went, though.

The warehouse has another major issue for clandestine meetings when you arrive at it; only one entrance or exit. Any hope that the "Chainbreakers" may still be hidden is almost immediately dashed as you approach; a mellifluous voice is rolling out from the (smashed) open doors, punctuated by the occasional crunch of fists hitting flesh and pained groan. "--May have only owed Mr. Harriot one vow, but from your pitifully uniform palette of powers--a bit of strength here, a bit of speed there--I can assume that what you offered him was your loyalty. However you interpret that, this is a breach, and therefore--"

The voice cuts off as the group enters, the polished marble form of Marius Amato (Silver Link codename: Pride) straightening up from his lecture-slash-beating and dropping the unfortunate recipient unceremoniously to the floor. He takes a moment to straighten the beautiful, tailored silver suit he is wearing, a black vest with silver chain pinstripes poking out beneath, reaching up with one hand covered in a silver-chain glove to adjust his deep scarlet tie, the only pop of color on his form. Eyes of cold white marble seemingly carved to look lifelike take you in, stone lips forming an easy politician's smile. "Well then," the deep, pleasant voice says after a moment, looking at you over the groaning forms of those who were planning to find a way out of Lockdown's grip, "The guests of honor have arrived."

"She was right," another voice interjects, this one heavy with smoke and sun. The speaker tosses away her cigarette and coughs, once, shaking her grey-touched black hair while fixing the four of you with a critical eye. In contrast to the sharply-dressed pride, this tall, broad-shouldered woman wears muted, workmanlike clothes; even with her height, there's a chance she could vanish into the crowd of the Industrial Block easily, though a sparkle of silver around her neck matches the silver glove of Pride. Sun-weathered red skin crinkles with a smirk that somehow seems more jolly than snide as she glances over at another of the people apparently waiting near the door for the four of you. "How much do you owe her, then?"

"Too much," grumps the third person, a short, mostly nondescript man that seems vaguely familiar to all of you (and heartbreakingly familiar to Nope). Despite his plain looks, the man is dressed richly; his clothing seems to be at least as expensive as Pride's, though the colors are all loud, garish, and demanding you to notice their obvious expense. Even the silver chains around his neck and rings on his fingers clash, somehow. In contrast to his tone, the man's eyes light up with a sort of delighted hunger upon seeing the four heroes, his fingers twitching unconsciously. "Frankly, this whole thing costs too much. Are these guys really worth all of us."

"They're worth it," Wrath snaps shortly. She's the only one who's given herself some room, away from the doors and the fallen would-be Chainbreakers. "Trust me. Can we get on with it?"

"As the only one who has lost to them, you would be the expert," Pride states with poisonous grace, inclining his head slightly to Wrath. "I look forward to making my own acquaintance... and judgment."

The tall woman holds up a hand. "Can't read him at all," she says, pointing to Nope. The finger moves to Floral. "About where you were when you started, Wrath." Helios is next. "Same thing; guy's balanced all the way through, maybe an all-rounder." Finally, the finger rests on Ariadne. "Same thing; balance, balance, balance. But..." The woman tilts her head, a slow, cold smile appearing there for a moment. "Wrath... she should be your fight."

With that, the hand drops, and the four Silver Links in front of you prepare to battle!

Spoiler: Nope

Show

In case it isn't clear, the short, unobtrusive man with the tacky clothes is your father.

Spoiler: Insight DC 10 (Emotions) (Nested)

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The emotions of the group are fairly easy to understand; Pride is haughty and eager to show himself off, Greed is weirdly hungry and excited as well as being worried and stressed, Gluttony is world-weary and amused by this whole strange situation, and Wrath is... angry.

Spoiler: DC 22

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Wrath is always angry, it seems; that's how she's hiding it.

Fear. Self-disgust and horror of what she just helped do. And... envy? For the Chainbreakers?

Spoiler: OOC

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Map.

Initiative

Nope: (1d20)[1]
Helios: (1d20)[10]
Ariadne: (1d20+4)[6]
Floral: (1d20+8)[18]

Gluttony, Greed, and Pride: (1d20)[6]
Wrath (will delay her turn unless she is going first): (1d20+20)[26]

Wrath Goes First.

[Zelphas]

Round 1, Wrath

"If you say so!" Wrath responds immediately, reaching her hand back as though looking for something on a shelf behind her. The air in the chilly warehouse immediately ratchets up several degrees as she brings her palm forward, pitching a baseball-sized chunk of white-hot fire directly at Ariadne... though the ball sheds flames all over the warehouse as it goes. Pride sniffs disdainfully, and Greed takes a moment to look over his flashy coat for scorch marks.

Spoiler: Floral

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Due to your successes in the "Cleaning up the City" Downtime, you know about Wrath's Control Your Temper (Accident/Reputation) Complication. Wrath... tends to start fires whether or not she wants to do so, and the other Links know it (and are not fans of it).

Spoiler: OOC

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Wrath

Move Action: None.

Standard Action: Use Burn on Ariadne. (1d20+11)[17] On a hit, Resistance DC 26/21 vs. Multiattack Damage Linked Weaken Resistance. Miss

If this attack hits Ariadne, the Create portion of Ariadne's Silken Shields will be disabled next turn, due to her threads currently being... on fire. Ariadne, take a Hero Point for your Flammable Complication.

All PCs except for Nope are on turn.

[Quellian-dyrae]

When Lily got home after the Vesper attack, she had basically just gone straight to her room, curled up in her bed, and cried herself to a nightmare-filled sleep.

The next morning, she woke up, assessed the situation, updated on all the new data, and got to freaking work.

Step one was calling her family, informing them that Manchineel remained both aware of and hostile of her, and warning them to take particular care - that evidence suggested Manchineel at least knew where she lived and might know about them, somehow.

So, you know, that was fun.

Once that was over, she sat down and started thinking about her powers. This was nothing she hadn't done several times already, but her focus was different this time. Always before, her efforts had been about coming up with creative ideas for using them. Making lemonade out of lemons, pretty much. This time was different. This time, her focus was not on how she could SCIENCE her powers beyond all reason, but rather on truly accepting and internalizing what these powers actually were and meant.

First. She was not a human being anymore.

She knew that, of course, intellectually. But she had never really faced it, never really pounded home into her own mind what it meant. She had said okay, yeah, I'm not technically human anymore, and then gone on trying to act as human as she could.

Lily still had no particular intent to take on a plant-monster appearance externally, but there was no point in having dislocatable joints rather than segmented bones, no point in having a heart to pump blood when it was all just nectar, no point in using lungs to breathe when no other plant did. Other plants didn't have a brain, but that didn't mean it needed to be all cooped up and vulnerable in her head, when its neurons could be spread efficiently through her body. It worked fine for octopuses.

(Performing a full-body transmutation two pounds at a time wasn't any less painful the second time around.)

Second. She was not a powerhouse of massive damage. She would never match Nope or Helios or Ariadne in terms of raw destructive potential. Her powers weren't as weak as she had first thought them to be, but that didn't mean the raw power output she had achieved was sufficient. She needed to play more to her strengths - hamper her foes, play smart, exploit their weaknesses and openings, and open the way for her more powerful allies to land the decisive blow. She needed, in short, to swallow her pride and start fighting smarter rather than harder.

Third. The Vespers had targeted her as the sun went down, to strike her at her weakest. And what Lily had come to realize is that despite lacking the ability to gather solar energy even as she used it, she hadn't actually...lost much? Mainly just passive regeneration. This struck her as stupid for two reasons. First, there was no reason she shouldn't be able to passively regenerate with stored energy. Second, there was no reason she should be restricting her usage of having a constant flow of power to passive regeneration alone. Energy was fungible, and storage was not perfectly efficient; there was more she could do while in direct sunlight, so she should use it to its fullest.

That said, she couldn't rely on it. It had to be a boost that was helpful when it was available, but not critical if she lost it. So while she was altering her body, she modified her cells to optimize them for energy storage. As for energy acquisition...

--

When Floral met her teammates for the day's mission, she was carrying a staff made of green wood, small flowers sprouting from it all over in a variety of colors, a huge white lily blossoming at the top.

She also wasn't wearing her flower-veiled hat. Her secret identity was shot to all heck thanks to the Vespers' attack and useless anyway, so there was no longer any need for it. (Conveniently, this also meant she didn't have to worry much about carrying her new staff in civvies, not that it would take all that long to transform it, come down to it).

Unfortunately the overcast sky meant the staff would see little use today, but that was fine. It was supplemental.

"Woowww...you guys brought Wrath along? I mean seriously, what's the reasoning there? We trounced her back before we had even the slightest semblance of organization, so it's not like she's going to be any use against us. Honestly I kinda think she's more likely to set one of you on fire than one of us."

She kinda turned her head exaggeratedly to watch as Wrath's fireball went sailing harmlessly past Ariadne, before looking back to the Silver Links. "Soo...yeah. Good luck with that one."

Then Lily gestured with her staff, and three vines shot out from it, lashing towards Pride, Greed, and Gluttony, each tipped with a wickedly sharp thorn dripping a debilitating poison.

Spoiler

Show

Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 5 points to Overpowering Scent, 5 points to Overwhelming Scent, 10 points to Poisonous Nectar, 10 points to Drugged Nectar, 10 points to Floral Vines (Affliction+Weaken), 10 points to Floral Blood. Descriptor for both effects set to [Physiological] [Poison]

Move: Charge Floral Vines.

Standard: Attack Pride, Greed, and Gluttony with Poisonous Nectar. On a hit, Resistance DC 20 vs. Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless Linked Weaken Effect and Resistance.

Pride: (1d20+10)[13].
Greed: (1d20+10)[26].
Gluttony: (1d20+10)[18].

Current Status: Normal, Floral Blood (Defense 5, Resistance 15).

[Abracadangit]

Kal twirls out of the way of Wrath's searing flames, buoyed by her own threads.

"Careful now," Ariadne warns. "All it takes is a little touch, and..."

"And the threads won't spin the same way, I know," Kal interrupts. "I want to try one of our new patterns, just like we practiced."

"Hnn, hnn, very good," Ariadne purrs, contentedly.

Spoiler: OOC

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Free Action: Switch Threadwork array to Dual Needle Weaving.
Action: Silken Shields, centered on AE31, should get everybody in the Cloud, now with Secondary Effect (Deflect) and Increased Duration (Continuous) on the Create.

[Ridai]

Nope never had that much of a presence before, in addition to his mantle of uncertainty and pseudo anonymity, but when he showed up to the Chainbreakers' "hideout", he blended even more with the environment. He looks more withdrawn than usual, and tired to boot, yet forcing himself to be as alert as he can be. While the others advanced their powers, Nope didn't want to use any of his if he could help it, even somewhat regressing in his ability to maintain offensive focus. When you have mostly unremembered nightmares of the collective unconscious, and of removing friends and family, followed by going to check if he erased them in his sleep (while trying not to cry and not to wake them up), every night, one's desire to remove anything from existence is severely diminished (not that it was high before).

With people simultaneously filled with justified anger and fear directed at Nope, he just wants to stay out of their way. The fact that the League's minions now also avoid him, including the damned robots (but decidedly not the bigger ones, as he had to escape from at least half a dozen AKumas in one week), doesn't really make him feel better. The cult is even worse, worshipping (?!) him to some degree, those creepy freaks.

And so, Nope's grand improvements boil down to hopefully getting noticed a little less. And the incident increasingly filling his head with cryptic thought, diving into depth psychology, more metaphysics, magic, sociology, trying to make sense of it all. He wouldn't call his current state as understanding anything, though. More like dangerous approximate knowledge partially enabled by god knows what. He is not sure if he wants to dive any deeper into any of that. Diving into anything has rather lost its appeal.

But at least he can make some good comfort food now (well, with what little they have)? Over the past two months, Remy found his weight had plummeted. If you wanted to be nice about it, you could say it was all the exercise from fighting villains and saving people (but mostly fighting villains, let's be honest). More likely, stress, harrowing experiences, constant worry, and maybe even his own powers (such as accelerated wound recovery, or unknown worse things) were the cause. So Uncle Bruno has been encouraging his nephew to eat together. He noticed Remy getting increasingly nervous about being touched by anyone, apologizing a lot, having trouble making eye contact.

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

So already nervous about him simply being there possibly making things worse when the Chainbreakers would see him, they walk into a trap for them by four Silver Links. And just to make things worse, one of them is his dad. Recent nightmares intrude right back into his thoughts, and are immediately repressed again to not accidentally make them a reality. Nope looks deflated, the struggle for an enforced workable mental environment making it difficult to respond to the threats at hand.

[Dorni]

"Wrath... she should be your fight."

"Which is exactly why your opponent will be me." Helios glided towards towards Wrath. That alone was a tip off that he wasn't the same as the first time they'd clashed. Flint had always been a quick study where magic was concerned, but several weeks of hero work had sharpened his skill, and getting an up close and personal look at Apophis had given him both a stark lesson in how far he had to go and ample motivation to get there.

So this time when he flew towards Wrath, it was smooth. The windstreams that carried him were far more tightly controlled, with barely a whisper or errant gust. He made a beckoning motion towards Wrath where in the past his arm would have been shrouded in green runes. While the display was visually impressive, to a practitioner's eye it was a waste of magic caused by aether that overflowed the spell's structure. Either too much aether was being forced through the runic structure or the runic structure itself was poorly constructed and was leaking the aether.

This time, the gesture appeared entirely mundane - except for Wrath feeling a sudden rush of exhaustion as the spell sucked at his vitality.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Free: Set Spells array to Affliction [Fatigued & Impaired / Stunned & Disabled / Incap] (Cumulative, Progressive)
Move: To R31
Standard: Cast Drain Vitality on Wrath, AoA/PA 2. (1d20+10)[28] Crit. On hit, DC 22 vs above Affliction

[Zelphas]

Pride smirks at Floral's statement, stepping quickly to one side to avoid her vines. He flicks a bit of poison from his shoulder with a sniff. The tall woman--Gluttony-- shifts to avoid the vine lash with the ease of long experience, her movements controlled and careful. Greed was already moving before the vines appeared and was even faster than he looked... and he still just barely avoided Floral's vine lash, actually shrugging out of his loud blazer just before the barb punctures it. "Do you have any idea how much that costs?" he snarls at the plant-controller, sounding more aggrieved than angry.

"Your fault for wearing it to a fight," Gluttony comments neutrally before folding in on herself, disappearing with an odd crunching noise. An instant later, she is between Helios and Wrath, attracting the hero's magic blast to herself apparently without adverse affect. "Like a cultist, huh?" she comments, wiping one side of her mouth. "Stronger than most, though. Probably isn't that useful for this fight, but ah well."

Spoiler: Helios

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Your mystic senses suddenly pick up an uptick of Life magic coming from Gluttony moments after your spell lands, as though she developed an aptitude for it in the last few seconds.

"First things first: let's bring down those spells." So speaking, Gluttony reaches past Helios, seeming to aim for somethign around and within him rather than at the hero himself.

"Now, Gluttony, the first blow should go to the most skilled of us; like so!" Pride is behind Helios in moments, throwing a series of savage blows at the most painful parts of the human body that he can reach with his impressive height and arm length.

Meanwhile, Greed re-focuses on Floral, his eyes calculating. "Not a big fan of plant powers, if I'm honest; their worth is astronomical on the market, but relatively limited for combat..." he muses, tapping the side of his mouth with one finger in thought.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Map.

Gluttony

Reaction: Subtle 2 in response to Helios. (Mystic Senses lets you know something happened, but still no outward signs.)

Move Action: None; already in place from the Interpose.

Standard Action: Use Consume Potency on Helios. (1d20+12)[26] vs. DC 20 or Deflect: (1d20+10)[11]. On a hit, Resistance DC 22/22 vs. Progressive Impaired & Vulnerable/Disabled & Defenseless Linked Weaken ??? (Insidious). Hit

Pride

Move Action: Shift to S31.

Free Action 1: Set Force Array to Strike and Cripple.

Free Action 2: Set Improving Perfection Array to Overwhelming and Sadistic.

Standard Action: Use Overwhelming Sadistic Cripple Strike on Helios. (1d20+9)[11] vs. DC 20 or Deflect: (1d20+10)[29]. On a hit, Resistance DC 28/23 vs. Multiattack Damage Linked Multiattack Impaired & Vulnerable/Disabled & Defenseless. Miss... oh Pride...

Greed

Move Action: Costs too much.

Standard Action: Subtle 2, but oh well. Use Health Tax on Floral. (1d20+12)[21] vs. DC 20 or Deflect: (1d20+10)[21]. Hit or miss, Resistance DC 27/22 vs. Perception Multiattack Damage Linked Weaken Resistance. Hit, no Multiattack, no bonus.

Standard Action: Defend, because he can't do anything to the Create and you guys aren't going to leave the walls if you don't have to.

All PCs are on turn.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily bristled at Greed's disdain for her powers, especially immediately after shooting at three of the enemies and hitting precisely zero enemies. Oh, he thought her plant powers weren't effective in combat, did he? Well, she'd show him!

Don't be stupid. Just shoot him through the threads, they part for us, the tactical part of her mind said.

He's talking about taking powers; he must have some sort of mimicry ability, answered her pride. My powers are weak, in the hands of someone who isn't a world-class biochemist. Better that he focuses on me than goes after one of the others.

Lily wasn't perfect; in the heat of the moment, with moments to think, that was a good enough argument to convince her to do what she wanted. Besides, she was Floral, she could take one of these fools solo!

Supplementing her speed with autophytokinesis, Lily darted out of the protective barrier of threads and sprang at Greed, coming at him with a quick thrust of her staff, which transformed on the strike into a sharp spear. The myriad flowers on her spear wove and danced, trailing from suddenly-growing vines, any of them a potential threat in the form of dangerous poisons and acids, before springing back to make sure Ariadne's barrier was solidly between her and the other Silver Links. "You're an idiot. Limited value in combat? You do at least know what poisonous means, right?" To be fair, stepping outside the protection of the threads did make a fairly credible statement that she felt her powers could hold their own in battle...

The attack wasn't meant to cause any damage. But it would give her a better sense of Greed's reaction time and defenses, and hopefully distract him from her follow-up attack.

Inside her body, solar energy glowed in the nectar flowing through what were no longer quite veins, preparing for whatever return attack Greed might throw at her.

Spoiler

Show

I feel a little bad for Greed, so I'm kinda self-compelling off Floral's The Name Is Floral Complication to justify her foregoing the barrier to go after him. Besides, I have New Mechanics to test! (Also now that I thought about it I'm kinda curious what will happen if Greed takes Floral's powers given her descriptor issues).

Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 5 points to Acidic Nectar (foregoing the Effect ranks), 20 points to Healing Nectar, 10 points to Medicinal Nectar, 5 points to Utility Nectar (Limited SE only), 10 points to Floral Blood.

Move: Into AJ29.

Standard: Use the Feature on her staff to Aid her own next attack, Defensive Attacking for 5, +5 for Teamwork: (1d20+10)[25]. Lily also receives Restorative Healing, which would be irrelevant since she's undamaged, except for the part where it carries a Secondary Effect. +5

Move-by Action: Into AJ30, just to make sure the wall gives her Total Cover from the other three.

Current Status: Normal, DA +5, Aid +5, SE Restorative Healing, Floral Blood (base Defense 5, Resistance 15).

[Ridai]

Dear reader,

we shall now take a look at the thought process of Nope, now that he is in a fight after the last scene. Given the nature of text in a forum format, we have excluded the various intrusive thoughts and rampant dread and sadness for your convenience:

REMOVEHITPOINTSNONLETHALOFINORDERWRATHGLUTTONYPRID EGREEDANDONLYTHATYOUSTUPIDIDIOTREMOVEHITPOINTSNONL ETHALOFINORDERWRATHGLUTTONYPRIDEGREEDANDONLYTHATYO USTUPIDIDIOTREMOVEHITPOINTSNONLETHALOFINORDERWRATH GLUTTONYPRIDEGREEDANDONLYTHATYOUSTUPIDIDIOTREMOVEH ITPOINTSNONLETHALOFINORDERWRATHGLUTTONYPRIDEGREEDA NDONLYTHATYOUSTUPIDIDIOTREMOVEHITPOINTSNONLETHALOF INORDERWRATHGLUTTONYPRIDEGREEDANDONLYTHATYOUSTUPID IDIOTREMOVEHITPOINTSNONLETHALOFINORDERWRATHGLUTTON YPRIDEGREEDANDONLYTHATYOUSTUPIDIDIOTREMOVEHITPOINT SNONLETHALOFINORDERWRATHGLUTTONYPRIDEGREEDANDONLYT HATYOUSTUPIDIDIOTREMOVEHITPOINTSNONLETHALOFINORDER WRATHGLUTTONYPRIDEGREEDANDONLYTHATYOUSTUPIDIDIOTRE MOVEHITPOINTSNONLETHALOFINORDERWRATHGLUTTONYPRIDEG REEDANDONLYTHATYOUSTUPIDIDIOT

This concludes our look at Nope's current attack thought process. Thank you for reading.

Spoiler: Actions

Show

Free Switch to Remove Second Guessing, Remove Hit Points Mass

Move Nothing, too busy trying not to mess up.

Standard Attack all enemies with Remove Hit Points, Mass. DC 25 Damage (Shapeable Area 2 [Limited [6"x6"x240' bendable line]], Penetrating [the one ignoring immunities], Multiattack [the more DC on better hits one], Improved Crit 4, Ranged)
Attack vs Wrath (1d20+10)[19]
Attack vs Gluttony (1d20+10)[19]
Attack vs Pride (1d20+10)[17]
Attack vs Greed (1d20+10)[22]

[Abracadangit]

By twisting and curling a number of the threads into a small red pentagram, wrapped around the fingers of her left hand, Kal keeps the shields up while having one hand free for further weaving.

"I could get used to this," she says to herself, enjoying her newfound versatility. But there was no time for self-congratulation, as a number of the villains surrounded Helios at once.

"Us sorcerers need to look out for each other," she calls out, as her free hand gets to weaving.

A swirling cloud of biting threads forms around Helios, cleanly avoiding him as they lash and tear at everything else.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Move: Staying put.
Action: Dropping a Selective Thread Lash Cloud (with Homing, Multiattack, and Secondary Effect) on Gluttony's square, Q31.
Wrath: (1d20+10)[26]
Gluttony: (1d20+10)[28]
Pride: (1d20+10)[25]

[Dorni]

So Gluttony was some kind of mimic. It wasn't a hard deduction - if her partially absorbing his spell didn't give it away the sudden aura of a life magic practitioner that sprang up around her would have. What was more interesting was how long she retained the skills she copied. Certainly there was a limit on it or she wouldn't still be a silver link, but he doubted it was short enough to be a tactical consideration.

Of more interest to him was how well her power as a mimic fit Gluttony's name, much as Wrath could throw fire. It raised the question of whether the rest of the Links' abilities tied to their name rather than just being a 7 Deadly Sins gimmick. To be fair though, each of the heros' chosen names also alluded to their abilities. Made him wonder if there was ever someone like a skinny telepath who picked a name like 'The Hulk' just to throw people off.

Either way, there was no reason to feed Gluttony more than he needed to. Helios flew up out of the gaggle of Links surrounding him and wove another spell of Life energy, this time a wide net that would rip at the Link's vitality.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Free: Set Spells array to Damage (Area[Burst]) {20}, Affliction [Impaired & Vulnerable / Disabled & Defenseless] (Area [burst]) {30}
Move: To Y28 (or AC31 if the thread wall parts for him to enter)
Standard: Cast at Wrath, Gluttony, and Pride. On hit, DC 25/20 vs Damage & Affliction [Impaired & Vulnerable / Disabled & Defenseless]
Wrath: (1d20+10)[25]
Gluttony: (1d20+10)[28] Crit
Pride: (1d20+10)[20]