[M&M 3e] Defying the Future IC

[Abracadangit]

"Hnn, hnn, hnn," Ariadne laughs, inside Kal's mind. "Like a great tapestry, many little threads all being pulled at once, spinning in a thousand different directions, forming all these strange patterns. Very impressive."

"So none of this is real?" Kal asks.

"Depends on your definition of 'real,' engoní, but at the least, it is not what it pretends to be. Be wary -- whatever spins this web must be watching us, very carefully."

Kal takes a moment to ponder how to capitalize on this information, when Floral steps forward and calls out the eerie illusion for what it is.

Many questions remain, but for Kal, the heaviest one is can these 'illusions' still harm them? With a flick of her wrist and some quick needle figure-eights, she conjures a floating spiral of red thread, and sends it soaring over to the campfire.

Spoiler: OOC

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Gonna thread-cantrip up a little floating design of thread and send it into the campfire, as a kind of litmus test for how much verisimilitude the illusions can muster. Even if they're not real, they might be able to do some damage and/or exert chemical effects on the team, depending on the will of the puppeteer(s).

[Dorni]

Helios only paid half attention to the girl's welcome speech. As they'd drawn closer his sense of the magic hanging over the camp had grown stronger and stronger. And yet, it dangled on the edge of his perception, understanding remaining just out of reach no matter how he strained. It was both strange and frustrating, the first time he'd experienced something like this sense he'd had his eyes opened to the mystic. It was almost like...

It came to him. It reminded him of a carrot on a string. Something being dangled in front of him, but always pulled away just as he reached for it. But if that were so, who was the dangler?

And with that thought, he stopped straining his senses only to realize that he recognized the aura that permeated the camp. "Death magic."

He reached for a magic of his own. Heat and cold were opposites, and where the two met they canceled each other out. So too were Death and Life, polar opposites that were at odds with each other on the surface. But like heat and cold, once one delved a little deeper they learned that the two were really just different temperatures, opposite poles of the same phenomenon. So Helios gathered energy from the camp that seethed with Death energy, but instead of bending it to necromancy he wove from it a different Aether.

The spell he wove around himself and his companions like a light, thin golden sheen. Imagine a dreary day, one where you feel awful, everything aches, motivation is zero and you just want to crawl into bed. Compare that to a great day where the sun is shining, you're full of energy and even just the colors of the world itself seem more vibrant. Now take the difference between those feelings, that vibrancy, amplify it, and wrap it around you like a soft blanket.

That was the feeling of being wrapped in Helios' Lifeshell.

"If your intentions are peaceful, show yourself!" he called, adding to the chorus.

Spoiler: OOC

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Casting Lifeshell on the party. He'll shape the area to affect each party member, so everyone gains a Triggered Restorative Healing 10 SE 6 effect that will go off when/if the character is attacked. Its not exactly cancelling out any effects of the death magic here, but mechanically it should blunt or undo an incoming attack so the end result seems much the same.

[Zelphas]

"It's... mid-July? So we're about--" Sandy begins answering Nope's question, still turning towards the administration building, when Floral interrupts her. She half-turns back to the rest of you, taking in Ariadne's silence, Floral's flat stare, and the light and pronouncement from Helios. Her smile slips, slightly. Then her form... melts, the distinguishing marks running together, vibrant skin and hair fading to grey and white, clothing twisting and billowing into clouds that merge with the rest of the mass, until what floats before you is a thing of shadow and chill mist that only vaguely looks human, black holes for eyes staring, only the vaguest impression of a mouth, and enormous trailing claws that look somehow sharp despite being the consistency of mist.

Behind this form, Camp Bubble Brook itself also changes, the illusion--for that is what it was--simply fading like the last notes of a song carried away by the wind. The cabins grow more weathered, obviously not touched for some time, with bits of moss and creeping vines crawling up their sides and through their open windows. The grass thickens and rises somewhat; less than you might expect given the long absence of people here ,but enough to be noticeably rough in places. The campfire winks out, taking even the smoke with it in the next second, Ariadne's thread appearing unharmed and dancing over ashes so old that they have almost become dirt. One of the practice targets in the archery range falls over silently, moss growing over it in sped-up time. The track is still discernible, but barely; grass has overrun it, and the tools are all gone or abandoned, rusting and moss-covered, nearby. The docks are spotted with moss and holes, and a few half-submerged canoes are still tehtered by rotted ropes to the boards.

Everywhere, there are ghosts. There is nothing to distinguish one specter from another; they all look like the thing that once held Sandy's face, creatures of mist and fog with absurdly large, long, wicked claws. A group of ghosts sit staring blankly at the guitar as it falls to the ground with a discordant twang, vanishing a moment later. Pockets of ghosts move in and out of the cabins, wander over the track, or stand at the end of the archery range. Out on Lake Michigan, a solitary ghost circles over the water, looking almost like a low-flying scrap of cloud from this distance.

"She's still trying to call you," the ghost that was Sandy speaks, its form unmoving, its eyes looking towards you, through you. "You should go..." it turns away, drifting back into its own arcane, unknown ritual.

The Lifeshell around Floral sparks once, glowing more brilliantly, then calms again.

Spoiler: Helios

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The ghosts are bundles of Death Magic, more energy than being, and not truly enough to sustain themselves for very long. They definitely have the ability to drain life; if you had to guess, those claws are sharp in a mystical sense rather than a physical one.

The power permeating the camp didn't lessen when the illusion stopped. It... concentrated inwards, but it's still actively (or instinctually) trying to evade your sense. It struck outwards once, just a second ago, at all of you. Your Lifeshell turned aside three of the attacks, but it hit Floral squarely, though it doesn't seem to have found purchase on her.

Spoiler: Ariadne

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Every one of the ghosts in the camp has a silver thread coming off of it, though the thread vanishes before you can trace it. They're tied to something, sustaining them, keeping them alive. They're more like puppets on strings than anything; they probably won't strike unless provoked... or prodded.

The threads that you have been seeing were cut, all at once, revealing what's underneath, but a new tapestry was put in place. This one is trying to remain unnoticed, rather than to prevent a false image, so you can't quite get a handle on what it's doing. You're pretty sure that whatever caused Helios' effect to flare was probably a result of this tapestry, however.

Spoiler: Floral

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For just a moment, after the illusion fell away, you heard the music.

Beautiful, more beautiful than anything you have imagined, in and through your mind in an instant. It tried to steal your will, to bring you sweetly to its embrace, to lose yourself in the music and go where it willed you, do what it told you. Of course, it attempted to do this to Lily Woods, so it was unsuccessful, but you can remember the haunting song clearly. You can also remember where it was coming from, though it wound its way stealthily through the air, trying to sound as though it was breathing from everywhere at once.

The music, the singing, is coming from the Administration Building, with its weathered lettering and fallen-in roof.

[Ridai]

Okay. Okay. Literal ghosts. Sure. And they are caught by... whoever "she" is. Really, Nope is kind of stuck on how "Sandy" dissolved into a spirit, followed by everything revealing itself. The first part keeps looping in his head.

Nope doesn't look very happy as he glances to the others in the now eerily silent camp, just kind of... checking if they have more of a clue what is going on, since his one insight is now spent.

[Abracadangit]

"They're all... connected to something," Kal explains, as she keeps her needle up, defensively. "But I can't see exactly what."

"Do any of you have experience fighting undead? I don't think they'll attack us unprovoked, but we should still be careful."

[Ridai]

"I don't... think I ever saw any undead, but I think I could fight them. But I don't really want to." Nope glances around, then to the others. "Do any of you... see anything where to start, or do we start searching the buildings?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

You'd think Lily would be kinda worried about ghosts. To be fair, she wasn't entirely sure she actually had anything for ghosts. For all that her powers were fueled by the sun, she wasn't some priestess of the Light or anything like that. Her powers were fueled by the sun the same way literally everything on the planet, fundamentally, was fueled by the sun. Only somewhat moreso.

But ghosts didn't have physiologies to poison or drug, and tended to be unresponsive to acids. So it was a fair concern.

...Or it would have been, if she had been alone. But she had a thread mage, a remover, and a freaking sun mage with her, so she could really only get so worked up about incorporeal undead. She'd focus on healing. It wasn't even a thing.

"Administration building," she answered Nope's question. "Or at least, that's where the music that tried to put the mind-whammy on me is coming from. Seems like a good place to start." She managed to keep her voice almost entirely deadpan as she said it, as if mind-whammying music was no particular concern.

[Dorni]

"I've dealt with undead before." There was no shortage of zombies in his fights the cult, and they'd recently graduated to occasional mummies, but those were primarily physical threats. Physical bodies animated by spirits, or powered by aether. Destroy the body and the spirit would dissipate. The cult did call upon spirits, but so far as he was aware they didn't use them for combat. At least not yet. Still, he didn't want to broadcast it and ruin the others' confidence.

"If they get ahold of you they can drain your spirit of life energy. My spell will protect against that to some degree, but it isn't infinite. And those claws are sharper in a spiritual sense than a physical one," he added the last with a look at both Ariadnes.

He resisted the urge to focus his mystic sense on the cabin and instead tried to keep a feel for the area, alert for any other attacks. "Well, if 'she' is calling, it would be rude of us keep our host waiting." He started leading the way towards the administration building.

Spoiler: OOC

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Helios is on alert and will use his [Life] magic to Counter any more attacks at 1d20+10.

[Ridai]

"Right, okay," Nope says. As always, the others are taking things much better than he is. It might be kind of superfluous, since the camp isn't that big to begin with... but Nope still skips the distance with the group (at least it feels like they skip the distance to the others), in the hopes of avoiding accidentally agitating a spirit or... whatever else might happen just by being here longer.

Spoiler: OOC

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Nope uses Remove Travel Time because he is creeped out, man.

[Zelphas]

The ghosts do not react to your sudden appearance in front of the Administration Building; one floats past Floral, staring sightlessly ahead, its claws practically brushing one of the "petals" of her skirt as it drifts away. The Administration Building itself is a squat, large square of old timbers joined together in the classic log-cabin style, stacked up to almost three stories in height with a gently-sloped roof made of thinner wooden slats. The double doors stand open; rust stains the hinges in large splotches up the walls on either side, and one of the doors is hanging by only its middle hinge, the top and bottom hinge having apparently rusted apart or fallen away into nothing. Inside, you can see plastic chairs, their metal legs covered in rust, standing against the walls, a large wooden desk that is touched lightly by rot, and several metal filing cabinets, sagging and rusted. A set of stairs on either side of the large desk lead up to a set of what look to be office rooms, their glass windows choked by dust, hinges and knobs rusted over.

Fluorescent lights hang from the ceiling, off, one dangling from only a single wire. Dust chokes the air and practically rolls out into the summers day, covering every surface; no living foot has stepped in this room for a very long time.

Spoiler: Ariadne

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The threads lead here, you can see that now, but it's like looking at a ball of twine. You practically have to ignore your threadwork sense to see the room itself, and tracking the threads to their actual source may be too much--though this would be the place to start.

Spoiler: Helios

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The death magic is thicker here, but it is deliberately trying to avoid your sight. You can be certain of that now; something is still, even now, trying not to be seen by you.

Spoiler: Nope

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Floral mentioned music a second ago. For just a moment, right after transporting everyone, you heard it. It was the most beautiful music in the world. You think your power saw it as a threat, though, because an instant after hearing it, it was removed from your perception.

Spoiler: Perception DC 32

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Hanging suspended in the center of the ceiling, looking almost like an after-image in white and grey, hard to focus on, is a beautiful woman whose age you can't define. She smiles at you, her mouth closed, beckoning you with fingers that vanish into wisps of smoke, her entire lower half is mist and darkness, her white hair turning into clouds, everythign fading the moment you see it, but she is there.

[Ridai]

Nope pulls up his t-shirt collar to cover his nose and mouth, holding it in place with one hand. He is not particularly looking forward to inhaling a lot of rot and dust, so maybe this helps a little.

"Uh, something's siren-songing at me," he says, muffled through hand and shirt. A beat, looking around. "Guess I put it on mute?" Does this mean he is protected against whatever was doing this? And/or does this mean he won't hear the boss music when he triggers the boss fight?

Armed with the preventative measure of choice of many a science student and machine worker, the protective squint, Nope heads into the building, looking around for... well, he actually doesn't know what he is looking for, but maybe something will catch his eye?

Okay, let's be honest, the more likely situation is that the people with special senses will notice something, but that's no reason not to give it a shot!

[Dorni]

Helios entered the cabin warily. He wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting, but ambush was high on his list. The room looked... old. decrepit. Like the kind of thing you see in a horror movie. Also, nothing was jumping out to rip their faces off the moment they entered, so that was a plus. The sheer amount of rust and decay struck him as odd and it took a few moments for Helios to put his finger on why. The camp had been abandoned, yes, but only for a year. If he had to judge just by this room though he'd have imagined this place hadn't seen a caretaker in quite a bit longer than that. Was the abundance of death energy in the air accelerating the natural decay? Or was the presence reshaping this area to fit its spooky tastes? Or...

A brief disturbance in the ambient energy is all the warning that Helios got. He threw up a hasty wall of Life aether, not taking the time to form it into anything more complex. There wasn't time before the wave of Death energy crashed into it. Helios got his next surprise. The energy was strong. Not kinda strong or on-par-with-me strong. Rapheal strong. Or if not exactly that strong, it was at least in that same ballpark. Helios recoiled in surprise. He had known that whatever was here had to be potent based on both Manchineel's brood avoiding this place and the thick death energy that lingered here, but it was another thing to clash with it directly.

Still, he was no slouch himself. His counterspell didn't break apart entirely - the center of the wall held and kept the energy away from himself and Ariadne, but the energy shattered the edges of the barrier and washed over Nope... who put it on mute?

Helios blinked. Ok. That happened.

Still, standing around while this place took free shots at them didn't seem all that appealing. "That's twice now this thing has attacked us. I'd say its made its intentions pretty clear." He peered around the cabin again, following where the pulse of Death had come from... and spied a ghost floating along the ceiling. A woman, possessed of an ethereal beauty. Her form was white and grey, yet so translucent she almost looked like a thin fog. She wore a smile and her beckoning hand was kind - if that hand didn't end dissolved in dark smoke - the same mist and darkness that her dress dissolved in.

He reached out in a grasping motion while runes flared. He'd developed his Drain Vitality spell to attack the spirit. For living creatures, that meant draining their energy and incapacitating them. For the undead the Suneaters employed, it drained the spirit energy animating them. And as he understood it, ghosts were almost nothing but spirit.

Spoiler: OOC

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Standard: Cast Drain Vitality on Ghost at (1d20+10)[25]. On hit, DC 20 vs Cumulative Progressive Affliction [Fatigued & Impaired / Stunned & Disabled / Incap].

[Abracadangit]

Kal couldn't maintain her threadwork sense and see the room with any detail at the same time -- the threads had become too many, too tangled. With a little effort, she maintained just enough of it to keep aware of the threads, but not enough to accurately perceive them, like the mystical equivalent of keeping one eye closed.

She followed Helios' gaze to the ghostly woman up above, and studied her for a moment.

"Careful now," Ariadne warns. "Not all who smile are kind."

"But what if she's in pain? Or trapped? Or held here against your will?" Kal thinks back.

"For once I agree with the book wizard," Ariadne replies, as Helios lets loose with his spell. "If you want to speak with her so badly, you can do it after some of her power goes away."

Anticipating some form of counterattack, Kal flicks a needle into her hand and begins to weave.

Spoiler: OOC

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Gonna encase the crew in a Silken Shield, on top of Helios' defensive magic.

[Quellian-dyrae]

On the one hand, Lily didn't really think she had much for ghosts.

On the other hand, they appeared to have stymied the ghost's initial attacks, so no immediate healing was needed. And Lily was, after all, a scientist.

So, you know, she'd experiment.

Most of Lily's repertoire operated on a largely physiological basis. Poisons, drugs, pheromones. They operated on biochemistry. Not super great against creatures that lacked a biology. For those, such as Dr. Proxy's robots, Lily went with acid. But acid was still a material substance, and seemed unlikely to harm something without a physical body.

But the ghost could perceive them, obviously. Its senses couldn't work quite like theirs did - if it was permeable to energy, light couldn't interact with its eyes. If it was permeable to matter, vibrating air couldn't interact with its eardrums. Nonetheless, there was no reason to believe it couldn't see and hear.

And although trace chemical particles in the air couldn't interact with its nose, there was no reason to believe it couldn't smell.

So Lily fell back on her oldest, most reliable combat strategy.

Smell good at them.

REALLY HARD!

Spoiler

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Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 4 points to Olfactory Clarity (Acute Analytical Accurate Smell), 6 points to Scent Intensification (+5 Olfactory Perception, Counters Concealment [Overlapping Scents], Extended Scent), 5 points to Overpowering Scent, 5 points to Overwhelming Scent, 10 points to Complex Scents, 10 points to Lingering Scents, 10 points to Floral Vines (Dynamic Choices to apply it to Affliction). Variable Descriptor to pure [Sensory] [Olfactory] - basically straight up smelling good so hard the sheer intensity of the stimulus causes combat penalties.

Move: Active Perception to better detect the ghost: (1d20+10)[12], add +5 for olfactory purposes. Oh yeah.

Standard: Attack the location Helios appears to be targeting, using Shapeable Area to extend the attack up there and then spread it over as large an area I can manage. Assuming that's sufficient for targeting, (1d20+10)[14]. On a hit, Resistance DC 20+Multiattack vs. Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless Affliction. This carries a Secondary Effect. It's definitely Lucy.

Current Status: Normal.

[Ridai]

Nope turns around, still covering and squinting, to see the others generally doing combat things at the ceiling. He looks to the ceiling, sees nothing. Looks back at the others. "What?"

[Zelphas]

Helios' runes flare, Life magic sweeping over the scene. For just a moment, the amount of rust, dust, and decay in the room decreases somewhat, the magic of Life counteracting the strong effect of Death magic for just an instant. Normally, the trail of Helios' Life spells are essentially invisible, manifesting in his gestures and the results on the target, but the latent Death magic in the air burns away from the spell, revealing it as a streak of gold-tinted light shooting upwards towards a point at the center of the ceiling.

Therefore, all of you see a ghostly woman, her bottom half made of shadow and mist, slap aside Helios' spell with an open hand, causing it to dissipate on the timbers of the roof. Those timbers glow for a moment, the decay evident on them fading almost to nothing, before the Death magic begins to creep across them once more.

The woman looks down at the four of you, seeming not to notice Floral's scent attack. Her grey-white hair floats about her as though she were underwater, and her smile seems... puzzled, almost, the hand she used to strike Helios' spell from her fading into mist and drifting back to her side. The grey eyes darken, sinking backwards into holes in her face, and the mist around her beings to lash as though in a high wind. Her smile fades, and she opens her mouth wide... and wider... and still wider... the opening stretches down her neck as her mouth extends into a cloudy, still somehow tooth-filled maw, and she screams.

The sound is not quite audible. It is the loudest sound you have heard. It is silence. It is deafening. It is nothing.

It is a summons.

Drifting through the walls around you, oversized claws extended at their sides, come the ghosts you passed by on your way here. Ariadne can see the threads being pulled by the siren in the air, reeling back in her captured puppets to serve her. Helios senses the Death magic swell and shift, discarding much of its subterfuge, revealing itself concentrated on the woman in the air. All of you can see that the blank eyes are fixed on you, and they have mouths now. They have mouths like the mouth of the woman in the air.

Spoiler: OOC

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Map

In case it is not clear, the Ghastlings and the Siren all have Insubstantial 4.

Initiative
Floral: (1d20+8)[11]
Ariadne: (1d20+4)[9]
Nope: (1d20)[20]
Helios: (1d20)[8]

Siren & Ghastlings: (1d20)[8]

The Ghastlings are Minions, but will continue to appear as long as the Siren is not Staggered.

All PCs are on turn.

[Ridai]

Nope looks back up again, now facing nightmare fuel. "Oh shi-" Then the screamnotscream, and Nope winces, along with a wordless "Ow."

So Sandy and gang are coming in now and Nope is definitely not hearing boss music. You know what this means! Dealing with existential problems in rapid succession!

So he could try to blip the ghosts, but like, there are apparently ghosts in this world, so maybe this means souls are a thing, which means there might be afterlives, so if he accidentally makes a soul go poof, that's it, that's like supermurder. And he doesn't know what happens if he... tries to remove "animating force" or whatever, which might work, but is like complete conjecture based on freaking roleplaying games so it might free the soul or it might dismantle the soul or something, or it might do nothing?!

Uh, uhhhh, okay, focusing on the siren! Maybe if that one shuts up, the ghosts will be much less gung-ho about "one of us"-ing the team. Yeah, so, screw you, siren, removing... hit points! Yeah! You're a damn D&D monster, Nope's gonna treat you like one (and hope this will lead to ghost-unconsciousness, not supermurder).

The Ring static 'round the siren, here we go!

Spoiler: Actions

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Free Switch to Remove Second Guessing and Remove Hit Points

Standard Attack the siren with Remove Hit Points. Damage 10 (+5/+5, Ranged) Linked Weaken Resistance 10 (+5/+5) Linked Affliction 10 (+5/+5; Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless/Incapacitated; Extra Condition). Crit 16+ (if applicable).
(1d20+10)[21] Rerolled to 29, possibly crit

[Quellian-dyrae]

The ghosts all swarming them wasn't much of a surprise. Fully plausible result of engaging the main one. A month ago it might have been terrifying, but these days "swarm of ghosts" basically rated in Lily's head as roughly equivalent to "swarm of killer robots" or "swarm of plant monsters" or "swarm of nebulously-superpowered thugs" or "swarm of crazy cultists". Incorporeality would be mildly annoying, but beyond that? Fairly solid meh.

She looked to Ariadne. "Hey, you have, like, a pet ghost or something, right?" She still wasn't entirely clear on the nature of Ariadne's powers but she was pretty sure Helios had mentioned it at one point. "Can it...do anything here?"

Regardless, it seemed to her that the straightforward play against undead horrors was to point the team sun mage at them. She didn't know much about how Helios's magic worked, but he had sun powers and her powers were, at the end of the day, fueled by stored solar energy. That seemed like something he should be able to work with. So she stepped up next to Helios, plucked a strand of hair out of her head, and transmuted it first into a normal sunflower, which she then hardened into wood while retaining its shape and coloration, basically making into a wooden wand in the shape of a sunflower, investing it as she created it with a sizable chunk of stored solar energy.

Lily was no mage, but sunlight was sunlight and magical affinity was magical affinity; to Helios's arcane senses, the wand was basically charged up with a store of Life aether he'd be able to tap and use to augment his attacks. She held it out to him. "Here, see if this helps."

Spoiler

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Extra Effort - Power Stunt off of 20 points of Flower Power array, leaving 30 available for normal use.

Sunflower Wand [Mystical] [Metapower] [Augmentation]: Enhanced Extra 10 (Damage becomes +10/+0, gains Reaction [Upon Aiding an ally], Quirk 0 [Helios Only], Limited [Team Attacks Only]).

Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 20 points to Sunflower Wand, 10 points to Acidic Nectar, 10 points to Floral Thorn, 10 points to Lingering Acid.

Move: Into R26.

Standard: Aid Helios's next attack with Sunflower Wand (+5 from Teamwork) at (1d20+20)[39]. Easy +5

Reaction: Team Attack for Helios's next Damage attack with Sunflower Wand (+5 for Teamwork) at (1d20+20)[26]. The Team Attack bonus will also apply next round if he attacks the same target again due to Secondary Effect. However, if he misses, this attack won't do Damage itself, since it's Limited to Team Attacks. Kinda wish those rolls were reversed but this will either be +2 or More Data, so I'm pretty much cool either way.

Current Status: Normal, Fatigued as of next turn.

[Abracadangit]

"I do have a... friend to assist me. But she is more of an advisor."

"She means well," Kal thinks to Ariadne.

"Hnn, hnn. Do not mistake me for one who is easily offended," Ariadne thinks back, reassuringly. " 'Pet ghost' sounds better than 'leech.' Now get your other needle in your hand, quickly. You will need it."

Kal's hands are a blur as she weaves, and dazzling quilted arrays of red thread encircle and encase the team.

Spoiler: OOC

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Not gonna move anywhere. Switching Threadwork array to Dual Needles, and gonna drop another Silken Shields on the crew, this time with Reflect & Redirect as a consequence of the Dual Needle Weaving.

[Dorni]

Helios accepted the sunflower wand and thrust it like a rapier at the Siren. He tried not to think of the image he must strike, staring down a ghost with a flower for a weapon. It sounded like a Summer Camp story alright.

"Alright, lets see if you can stop this." He wove the familiar runes for his Sunbeams, but he modified the spell to also draw from the well of solar energy within the wand. A shotgun's worth of searing beams of solar heat and life streaked forth from the end of the wand.

Spoiler: OOC

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Move:
Standard: Cast AoA/PA 5 Sunbeam on Siren. Attacking w/Aid at (1d20+15)[27]. On hit, DC 32 + Multi. This is a Perception, Secondary Effect attack.

Status: -5 Defenses, Lifeshelled

[Zelphas]

Nope focuses on removing the "hit points" of the Siren directly, tapping in to his power of Removal to strike at a deeper level than most physical things can reach. The Siren's form wavers for a moment, but she returns to her ghostly form almost immediately, snarling with her too-large mouth. She had already clawed her way out of non-reality to a semblance of existence; she has no desire to return.

Helios and Floral's sun-combining strike has a more noticeable effect. The fireballs stream upward, and the Siren raises a hand as though to slap them aside once more; this time, however, the fire catches upon her upraised arm and burns a pure white, causing her hand and wrist to wisp away into smoke. The Siren gives out another soundless shriek, waving the still-flaming stump of her arm in pain and rage.

The clawed ghosts respond instantly to the Siren's shriek, clouding together and moving in to strike. Eight of the ghosts converge upon Helois, merging into two overlapping ghostly forms of thrashing claws and striking directly towards him with their oversized digits. The final two open their mouths and join in the Siren's shriek, the sound slapping painfully against your ears. The Siren flies swiftly downwards and towards you, stopping in front of Floral. Her mouth gapes open wider, wider, wider, and she simply breathes in, drawing in no air, but seeking to wrest life force from Floral... and transform it into death, the mystical energies already pushing against the burning stump on her arm.

At the sides of the building, four more ghosts float inside, drawn by the will of their mistress.

Spoiler: OOC

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Map.

Ghastlings

1, 2, 3, and 4

Move Action: shift to S25, overlapping.

Standard Action: Gang attack Helios with Spectral Claws, All-Out Attacking for 3. (1d20+11)[12] vs. DC 15 or Deflect: (1d20+10)[30] On a hit, Resistance DC 27/22 vs. Multiattack Damage and Weaken Resistance. Deflect should be 5 lower. Still Redirected

5, 6, 7, and 8

Move Action: shift to S27, overlapping.

Standard Action: Gang attack Helios with Spectral Claws, All-Out Attacking for 3. (1d20+11)[30] vs. DC 15 or Deflect: (1d20+10)[26] On a hit, Resistance DC 27/22 vs. Multiattack Damage and Weaken Resistance. Deflect should be 5 lower. Hit; +2 Multiattack

9 and 10

Move Action: None.

Standard Action: Gang attack the group with Shriek. On a hit, Defense DC 19 to negate, and then Resistance DC 24 vs. Damage.
Floral: (1d20+9)[12] vs. DC 20 or Deflect: (1d20+10)[24] Redirected
Helios: (1d20+9)[28] vs. DC 15 or Deflect: (1d20+5)[7] Hit.
Ariadne: (1d20+9)[14] vs. DC 20 or Deflect: (1d20+10)[26] Redirected
Nope: (1d20+9)[24] vs. DC 18 or Deflect: (1d20+10)[25] Deflected

11, 12, 13, and 14

Arrive.

Siren

Move Action: Shift to R25.

Free Action: Swap Drawn to Death Array to Life for Death.

Standard Action: Use Life for Death on Floral. (1d20+12)[20] vs. DC 20 or Deflect: (1d20+10)[12] On a hit, Resistance DC 26 vs. Progressive Impaired/Disabled/Transformed (Ghastling). Hit. The Siren heals itself at: (1d20+14)[19] 9 RP

All PCs are on turn.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Given that Helios now had a hand occupied with the wand she had given him, Lily went ahead and covered his ears when the ghosts shrieked at them. Meant her ears weren't covered, of course, but meh. She basically just straight ignored it.

The Siren's attack couldn't be ignored so easily...or, well, it normally wouldn't have been able to be ignored so easily. In this particular case, Lily had been anointed with a charge of pure Life magic, so whatever energy the ghost drained from her was instantly restored as golden energy flared up around her. She didn't even notice the change. If anything it even restored some of the power she had spent on investing Helios's wand, since evidently it was sunlight enough for her photosynthetic purposes. Her skin had turned faintly green in the aftermath.

Removing her hands from Helios's ears she said, "Thanks for that."

The wand she created, grown from her hair, was still technically part of her body as far as her powers were concerned; she could manipulate it with her personal phytokinesis. She unlocked more solar energy to top it off, while spreading some healing nectar on...whoever needed it, if anyone did.

Spoiler

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Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 20 points to Sunflower Wand, 10 points to Acidic Nectar, 20 points to Healing Nectar.

Move: Probably not but if Ariadne's more in need of healing than Helios I'll move into S25 so I'm in Close range of both her and Siren, because lol Insubstantial dudes can't block squares! Tremble as I take advantage of the niche weaknesses of your special powers! TREMBLE! Then I'll Move-by Action back because sharing a square with ghosts is icky.

Standard: Healing Nectar Linked Sunflower Wand/Acidic Nectar using the Damage as an Aid for Helios at (1d20+20)[22]. Regular Healing for either Helios or Ariadne, whoever is more damaged once their Resistance checks are rolled: (1d20+10)[30]. If neither of them need it meh whatever. +5 because Aid's easy, crit heal for 25 RP if either of you need it

Reaction: Team Attack for Helios's next Damage effect at (1d20+20)[33]. I'll Power Attack for as much as he does, if he does. Should be enough for +2 even with full Power Attack

Current Status: Fatigued, 6/10 RP towards Recover.

[Ridai]

For once, Nope thinks he actually did a reasonable-ish job at trying to do what he wanted to do. And the Siren just shrugs it off, and is possibly even more angry at him now. Of course. He should know by now that sudden confidence is most likely based on nothing.

Wrapped in thread (and only getting a little in his mouth this time) and covering his ears against the horrible shrieking, Nope watches the ghosts gang up on the others, this seems... bad. So with his conscience already struggling, he tries to, uh, ghost KO the Siren, and even more carefully tries to somehow, maybe just kind of stop the other ghosts. Not dissolve or dispel or exorcise or ultramurder or whatever, just... ghost KO. Something. Still covering his ears and fingertips pressed against the back of his skull, he tries to make it so as all sounds briefly drop out and light is inverted before rapidly reasserting themselves (god, this keeps happening).

Spoiler: Actions

Show

Standard Attack the siren with Remove Hit Points. Damage 10 (+5/+5, Ranged) Linked Weaken Resistance 10 (+5/+5) Linked Affliction 10 (+5/+5; Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless/Incapacitated; Extra Condition). Crit 16+ (if applicable), AoA -5/+5.
(1d20+15)[19]

Free Switch to Remove Hit Points, Mass

EE Standard Attack all enemies with Remove Hit Points, Mass. Damage 10 (+5/+5; Shapeable Area 2 [Limited [6"x6"x240' bendable line]], Penetrating [Pierce Immunity], Improved Critical 4, Multiattack [Single-target], Ranged). Crit 16+, AoA -5/+5.
Siren (1d20+15)[28]
Routining against the ghastlings for 25 (if they aren't minions, I'll roll 'em up in the OOC)

[Abracadangit]

Kal watches as the spirits' attacks whistle effortlessly through her silken creations. Luckily, the threads rippling through the air are made of sterner stuff, as they subtly reroute and redirect the spectral assault.

"Why is it that some thread can affect them, and other thread can't?" Kal thinks.

"Because once you have woven a Form, it is no longer merely Thread, it is the Form," Ariadne replies, as though that makes total sense. "But if the Thread stays only Thread, then it can move things more easily, because everything is Thread."

"But you just said Forms are no longer Thread," Kal says, with a little sass.

"Hnn, hnn, how clever you must think you are. I said they are no longer MERELY Thread. You can be Thread and something else, but nothing is not Thread. We can discuss this later. Needles up."

Spoiler

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Gonna Redirect everything against the Siren (so 2 claws plus 1 shriek), and Action: double down on Silken Shields for the whole party.
Claw 1: (1d20+9)[14]
Claw 2: (1d20+9)[19]
Shriek: (1d20+10)[28]

[Dorni]

"Likewise," Helios answered Floral.

He was still fairly confident that his Drain Vitality spell would work if he could only land a clean hit, but he felt a bit better knowing that the Siren wasn't able to bat aside his spellfire so easily. The problem was that the specter was so darn quick. He needed to slow her down.

Instead of the tightly focused beams, this time he focused on conjuring blinding blasts of flame. Even if it didn't blind the ghost, it would hopefully slow it down some.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Move: No need
Standard: Cast Solar Flare, using Selective to only target Siren's location. Attack Siren with aid and AoA/PA 3 at (1d20+15)[23]. On hit, DC 28+TA/23 vs Damage & Affliction [Vulnerable/Defenseless]

Damage 10 (Area [Burst], Selective)

[Zelphas]

Nope once again strikes directly at the "life force" of the Siren, branching out to reach for the other ghosts in the room as well. There is a long, deep sigh, and the more amorphous ghosts simply melt away, their already-indistinct forms fuzzing still further until they are only a light, slightly chilly mist, and then nothing. The Siren gives out a yowling growl, black eyes fixed upon Nope for a long moment, able to see him clearly.

Ariadne picks up the fading claws of the ghosts with her threads and directs them towards the Siren, but they vanish into mist before they can reach her. She bundles up the shriek of the ghosts in magical thread, spinning the painful sound towards the ghostly foe, but the Siren slashes at the mystical bundle with hands that stretch into claws of her own, and it falls apart before it can touch her. Floral and Helios work in tandem to release another blast of burning light, this one geared to blind as well as burn; the Siren turns her clawed hand towards the blast. The claws fuzz away, but the blast is redirected before it can reach her. Deliberately, the Siren raises up the stump of her other hand, the flames of Helios' first strike beginning to burst into a new conflagration, and with one swift slash severs the ghostly skin an inch below the ring of fire. The flames burn out almost immediately... and the stump bulges outwards into a new set of claws.

The Siren throws her head back into another not-quite-scream, calling forth several more of her ghosts to pour in through the walls. Her gaze drops down, and she slashes forward at the mage who has been throwing hated flame her way, her claws ripping through physical and mystical thread as though they were cobwebs to reach her target.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Map

Siren

Move Action: Call for more Ghastlings.

Free Action: Swap Drawn to Death Array to Spectral Claws.

Standard Action: Use Spectral Claws on Helios. (1d20+12)[16] On a hit, Resistance DC 31/26 + Multiattack vs. Damage linked Weaken Resistance. THe Damage and Weaken are Incurable.
Ariadne, take a (hero point) for your Shear Forces Complication, which allows the Siren to ignore your Redirect when using her claws. Helios, take a as well since this is affecting you directly. And that's a miss...

Ghastlings

8 arrive on the field.

All PCs are on turn.

[Quellian-dyrae]

With Nope keeping the ghastlings from swarming them too heavily, Ariadne fortifying their defense, and Helios engaging the ghost directly, they were...well, a little bit at a stalemate, but given that she hadn't really even needed to bring any healing into play yet and they had caused a bit of damage, Lily was feeling comfortable in their tactical position.

But with little need for curative powers, and with her offense best expressed through continuing to channel stored sunlight to Helios's wand, Lily felt she could afford to redirect some of her attention. While Lily wasn't one of the team's mages, she had played enough of them at Bruno's table that she felt at least reasonably qualified to assess supernatural threats. Ghosts, in fiction anyway, tended to manifest for a reason, and that reason was often key to defeating them.

Lily met Siren's gaze and firmly asked, "What happened here?"

Of course, Lily didn't...really expect the very-possibly-insane ghost whose whole schtick seemed to be about being very silent very loudly to respond. I mean, sure, if she did, great. Lily would totally take it. But her query was expressed less by words than by scent, and less at Siren than at the trees and plants throughout and around the forest camp.

Spoiler

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Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 20 points to Sunflower Want, 10 points to Acidic Nectar, 10 points to Olfactory Clarity, 5 points to Commune with Nature, 5 points to Scent Processing.

Free: Talk, using Comprehend Plants to basically ask the plants around here like...what happened to this camp, where Siren came from, etc. Per the Feature on Commune with Nature, the plants may draw upon Lily's knowledge for purposes of identification and recognition.

Move: Active Perception at (1d20+10)[15], aiming mainly to "supplement" what information I can get from talking to the plants. Main factors at play here are Acute Analytical Olfactory senses, Tracking smell, and Acute Analytical Detect Emotions and Biology, although hrm those aren't Tracking so they might not pick up as many "remnants" as I'd have hoped, oh well. Still we'll see what it gets me.

Standard: Aid Helios's next attack at (1d20+20)[27]. +5

Reaction: Team Attack with Helios's next Damage effect at (1d20+20)[33], Power Attacking for whatever he does. +2 I believe, more-or-less regardless of PA.

Current Status: Fatigued, 6/10 RP towards Recover.

[Ridai]

With the Siren growling at him, but much worse, the ghosts just disappearing rather than... Nope is not sure what he hoped for, but something that doesn't imply final death, Nope looks profoundly unhappy, mouth a pressed, shaking line. More ghosts appear. The Siren seems to have been just entirely immune to everything he has done and he doesn't really want to attack the other ghosts, but if he doesn't, they will crowd the others again. So he tries to wear them down once again while hoping for the best, watching the Siren attack the others, and having to watch for someone wanting to attack him. His head hurts and his body feels wound tight.

Spoiler: Actions

Show

Standard Attack all enemies with Remove Hit Points, Mass. Damage 10 (+5/+5; Shapeable Area 2 [Limited [6"x6"x240' bendable line]], Penetrating [Pierce Immunity], Improved Critical 4, Multiattack [Single-target], Ranged). Crit 16+, AoA -5/+5.
Siren (1d20+15)[22]
Routining against the ghastlings for 25

[Dorni]

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Move:
Standard: Cast AoA/PA 5 Sunbeam on Siren. Attacking w/Aid at (1d20+15)(1d20+15)[16]. On hit, DC 30 + TA + Multi. This is a Perception, Secondary Effect attack.

Status: -5 Defenses

[Abracadangit]

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Doubling down on Silken Shields for everyone.