[M&M 3e] Defying the Future IC

[Ridai]

Wait a minute

Remy frowns, looking at the woman from the corner of his eye. Thousand ways to shape words to kind of extract information without giving up something else, but Remy doesn't know them, so instead he says "Did you get put in a Proxysuit?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

Of course, Lily heard the reproach in Hannah's words. To say she was smart enough to know something that they both knew she didn't know was only a roundabout way to call her stupid. It was not exactly a mild insult to throw at Lily Woods. She had always prided herself on her mind.

But she didn't give a heated retort. Partially because she had already discovered that Hannah was trying to provoke her and she wasn't going to let her win, partially because although the hallway was empty but for the three of them this was still a police station and it was just good sense to be careful with your secret identity while you were in a police station. But mostly...

Well, mostly because she couldn't really get any words out past the knot in her throat, right then.

Because Hannah and Andrew were also putting themselves in harm's way against the League of the Future. And they didn't have Lily's powers to protect them. Neither of them had so much as considered stopping. And Lily had, during their last shouting match, considered playing that card. Considered saying she'd stop if they stopped. And she hadn't, because...

Because if she had, they might have agreed. And then the city would have been in that much more danger, the forces arrayed against the League that much weaker. And...well, she had looked up to her big brother and sister her whole life, but she thought she wasn't totally biased when she believed they themselves were probably a cut above your average cop. And the average cops had their duties too. It didn't work, to say that only the most powerful defender of the city could fight, for it was their job to defend everyone else. Partially because this would restrict the power they could bring to bear too greatly. ...Partially because Lily actually considered it fair odds that that decision tree would end with all the responsibility getting dumped onto Nope and oh man the poor guy would have such a freakout if that happened!

But that didn't make Lily any less scared for or protective of her big brother and sister. It just meant she had to focus her protective efforts into superheroing at the bad guys so hard they didn't have any opportunity to hurt them.

None of which she could say at the moment, so she just gave her sister a short nod and started moving to pass her and head into the lab.

[Abracadangit]

"Oh, no need to apologize!" Kal replies. "Everyone's on edge these days, given, well... everything. I've never actually been here before, so I'm just taking everything in. There's a lot to see!"

For a brief moment, she ponders on how to ask a question to tangentially get more information about Ana, a.k.a. Wrath.

"Would be unwise. The angry one is already suspicious of you," Ariadne whispers. So Kal decides to change gears.

"I'm actually something of an artist myself. I was wondering, what's the process like to get a piece displayed here?"

"Maybe if I can get in here, or at least friendly with the staff, I can learn more about what Wrath is up to," Kal thinks back to Ariadne.

"Do not spend too much time here," Ariadne responds, clearly not enjoying herself. "You are never safe in the home of your enemy."

[Dorni]

Books and Bindings

Flint watched Dante turn away and just for a second he wanted to stop him. Maybe accompany him. Dante was, after all, passing along a warning. The warning might help the owner avoid trouble with the cult. Arguably it was the right thing to do, if you ignored that it was a warning from the cult about a threat the cult created in the first place. There was also the chance he might learn something more about the cult's plans that he could use against them. But if Dante was involved that meant Nergal would be there.

Flint hesitated, and the moment was lost.

Flint let out a sigh and started checking the shelves. The warning shouldn't take long - he figured Dante would be along in a minute. A thought struck - was this aversion for birds really about an overzelous interpretation of some Apophis myth, or had someone in the cult figured out that Watcher was using birds to spy on other members of the League?

Spoiler: OOC

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Perception w/mystic sense for magical books: (1d20+15)[23]
Investigation for books on magic: (1d20+10)[25]
Perception for overhearing Dante's conversation since its a small bookstore: (1d20)[8]

[Zelphas]

Finding Nothing

"Proxysuit? No, not y--no," The woman responds hesitantly, confusion giving way to understanding in her eyes. "Is that..." She falls silent for another long moment before speaking again.

"It was two weeks from my wedding. I was getting ready, and Ted walked in. He didn't... he couldn't..." The woman closes her eyes, the memory washing over her. "He... I could only touch him, and he... ran away. I'm sorry," she says abruptly, shaking her head. "You don't need me to--I'm sure there's plenty on you plate, but I... you walk through crowds, you know? When they can't see you. I... if you don't want to, I understand, but I thought... you might need to talk to someone. I know I... it seems like it would be nice."

Evidence Interrogation

Hannah tenses as Lily moves past her, her mouth opening. She's stopped by Andrew's hand on her shoulder. "Time and place, Han," he says, deliberately using the nickname Hannah hates the most (she's also disavowed black vests) and gesturing with his eyes for Lily to keep moving. Hannah's ire is diverted to Andrew for the split second needed for Lily to slip completely past, the heavy door closing behind her with a solid thud.

Inside the police lab, a plainclothes officer in a white coat looks at Lily rather sharply before seeing her identification and directing her towards where the eivdence from Doctor Proxy's most recent Proxysuit attack is laid out. The lab is... honestly, more bare-bones than she'd prefer; there are microscopes on each of the eight long desks (three are in use), a chromatograph (currently unused), two fume hoods (both in use), and a machine that seems purpose-built for checking fingerprints, judging by the tech that is currently using it. There is still a lot she can do, but it is sparser than her old job, that's for sure.

As for the evidence: several pieces of the museum's artifacts are here, as well as chunks of pitted Mover, burned scraps of Helpers, and a tiny vial containing a few drops of greyish-black liquid.

Spoiler: OOC

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Describe your process and what you're trying to find, and make your rolls accordingly. Also, if you think "a police lab should obviously have this", Lily can go looking for it; it's probably around.

Patterns Within Patterns

The man's smile widens a bit, pleased. "We're always happy to see more artists! Oh, I'm Kyle, by the way, and this is my wife Robin. We tend to work with people we know to display here, so meeting us is a good first step?"

"What medium do you use? We have several different varieties, but we tend towards found objects, metals, plastics." In contrast to her partner, Robin is much more businesslike. "Do you have a portfolio you can show us? Have you done a showing before? We like to have general approval before we introduce new pieces; the tone of the space is as important as the individual works." As she peppers Kal with questions, the room slowly fills with the smell of overheated metal, though there are no strong sounds of machinery.

Books and Bindings

Books are good at deadening sound; while Flint can hear Dante speaking to the proprietor, it is nearly impossible to make out individual words. At least Dante seems to be speaking calmly, not raising his voice; the proprietor's responses are curt, seemingly monosyllabic, but Dante's temper is holding out for the moment.

Using his Mystic Sense to seek through the store reveals an unsurprising disappointment; there are traces of various types of magic on the shelves in a few places, but they lead to nowhere, and the traces themselves are old and fading. Whoever went through this bookstore before Flint had obviously possessed the ability to sense magic in one way or another and had snapped up all of the magical books themselves. Books about magic were more promising. Three old, crumbling volumes in black contained the word "Magicae" on their covers as well as the Roman Numerals I, II, and III; these might be myth and folktale, but also might be useful. A newer book in English declared itself to be On thee Vyle and Nefariouse Arte of Wytchcrafte; again, maybe nothing, but then again...

It seemed like this may be the extent of new information until Flint accidentally bumped into a stack of books, nearly sending the whole thing toppling over. He saved it from falling, but the process of the tower shifting revealed a slim volume dressed in dark green without a title or name. Opening it up out of curiosity, Flint saw a strange, web-like design on the front, which looked oddly like one of the shapes Ariadne had drawn while manipulating her threads.

It was about at this time that Flint heard a shout from Dante (surprise, not anger), a rush of wings, and something small and heavy slamming against the front door to open it. The bell above the door jingled.

[Ridai]

"Sorry to hear that," Remy says. Seems like he guessed wrong. "Honestly I'm... having trouble understanding you, but, well..."

He takes out his phone, bringing up a picture of Nora. "Have you seen her? Vanished without a trace several weeks ago. I've been looking but there's just... nothing. Abnormally nothing."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily let out a little sigh as she made it into the lab. Some part of her brain flagged that as a "win", evidently without regard for the fact that there wasn't actually anything stopping Hannah from just opening the door and proceeding to yell at her. But regardless, it was kind of a hollow victory. What Lily really wanted wasn't to circumvent the obstacle that Hannah represented, or even to win an argument with her. What she wanted was to not be fighting with her sister at all. That was immediately and blatantly obvious to her once she was alone, that what she really needed to do to achieve her actual goal in those situations was to somehow address Hannah's fears in a way that put them to rest or at least allowed her to not have to feel personally responsible for Lily's safety. So why did that seem so hard to keep in mind when Hannah was actually standing there in front of her?

Well. Problem for later. For now, she had a limited opportunity to try to learn more about Dr. Proxy's activities and goals, and needed to take advantage of it. Repairing her crumbling relationship with her sister would have to wait for another day.

First things first. Lily went to the artifacts that the Proxysuit had been focused on during their encounter in the museum, and began running them through a series of analyses that started with examination under a microscope and scaled up from there. She was attentive for anything out of the ordinary, but in particular, she was looking for any evidence that they might have been crafted using tools, techniques, or materials that should have been foreign to their time period.

Spoiler

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I mean I don't know the first thing about actual forensic analysis but fortunately that's what skill ranks are for. Routine Expertise (Biochemistry) for 35 to examine the artifacts for Clues in general or indications of temporal shenanigans in particular.

For what it's worth my wild hypothesis is that Nora (or someone else, but Nora's the known possibility at the moment) somehow got bodily transported back in time and might have somehow been involved in their creation, potentially using techniques that shouldn't have been known to the time period. Although like, if memory serves these items were pieces of pottery, and if general knowledge serves pottery is shaped from wet clay and then baked solid, so other types of evidence Lily would be looking for include like...if a fingerprint or strand of hair got caught in the clay before it was fired so it stayed stuck there in the pottery or whatever, that she could potentially run through fingerprint/DNA databases.

Or of course anything else of note that a scientific genius would know to look for that I don't.

[Dorni]

At the sudden ruckus Flint snapped the tome shut and ran to the front of the store, book in hand to see what the commotion was. Had Dante and the proprietor come blows? Had Watcher's bird been discovered?

[Abracadangit]

"Wonderful to meet you, Kyle and Robin -- my name is Kal, and I do have a portfolio!" Kal replies, excitedly. "Not on me at the moment, but I can upload it to my cloud storage and show it to you guys next time I'm here. It's mostly clothes, honestly, but I've done some work with found materials before, maybe some of it could be a good fit." She pauses for a moment, pondering how to choose her next words. "I've had pieces displayed before, in some of the public venues here." Like the public library and the public craft fair, Kal thinks. She's not sure if those constitute 'showings' or not, but now's not the time for shooting herself in the foot.

As she answers Robin's barrage of questions best as she can, she tries not to be distracted by the burning metallic smell.

[Zelphas]

Finding Nothing

The woman blinks in surprise, looking at Nora's photo. She stares for a long moment, then glances toward Remy, looking almost afraid to meet your eyes. "O-oh. Um, um, I'm sorry, I-I promise, this wasn't a--I really thought that, I--oh, there isn't any good way to do this..." Wringing her hands, the woman seems to be struggling to speak, before finally taking in a deep breath.

"Your circumstances and her disappearance are related, but not connected." She speaks carefully, looking directly at Remy, her voice taking on the cadence of a recitation. "Think about your search that way, and you should make more progress." Standing up, she walks over to Remy, pulling out a strangely ancient-looking scroll and putting it down next to him. "This isn't for you. You'll know who it's for."

Looking apologetic and reluctant, the woman begins backing away. "I'm sorry, I'm not supposed to tell you anything else, I'm just supposed to... go. I really hoped that... I'm sorry." And just like that, the woman slips away from Remy's perception.

Spoiler: Perception DC 25

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There is a slight shimmer in the air, a place where Remy's eyes refuse to focus, sliding away... but soon enough, even that as gone.

Evidence Interrogation

At first, the artifacts are not promising. The techniques used to create the artifacts that interested Doctor Proxy were developed in the middle of the assumed period where they were found, or near the end of that period, but they were always within that time period. Any biological matter had degraded with time into unusable minutiae; the machines at the police lab couldn't gather relevant information from them. Even the machinery at her lab would likely struggle, though the possibility that she could have found something with that machinery is a further irritation. It seems like she's not going to find much of what she's looking for at all.

Then Lily makes two small, but interesting discoveries.

The first is a bit of genetic matter; still too small to read it as more than "biological material" using what she has available, but what it is isn't important. More important is when it attached itself to the artifact, the head of a bronze gardening tool. The machine marks it as unimportant since it was placed on the material within the last ten days, but... none of the four of you were anywhere near this tool, Lily knows. And she's pretty sure the police aren't that sloppy. Maybe it's nothing, but it's still odd, and after truly finding nothing, it's worth a note.

The second discovery has more impact. Out of irritation, Lily begins dating the material in the artifacts themselves as much as she can, and she discovers that each one seems to fall within the early-to-middle periods of their particular era. There is still some overlap between the age of the tool and the assumed date of the development of the techniques to make them, but it's a much narrower window than it first seemed; a few of the artifacts would be among the oldest tools ever discovered that were made with those techniques. Let's be honest, if that was well known, these tools wouldn't be in a small museum in Forester's Bay.

Books and Bindings

The ruckus becomes clear quickly; the "pigeon" is at the door, clearly "alive", in the process of desperately pushing its way through the crack in the front door to escape. Dante is pushing himself up from a low table near the front desk which he seems to have tripped on in his surprise at the bird's sudden movements, his furious visage turning from the proprietor (who seems to be gaping at the "pigeon" in unfeigned astonishment) towards the escapee. Dante reaches out a claw, barking out a harsh command, and dark energy flashes towards the escaping bird.

Spoiler: Helios

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Given the fact that Watcher's birds are not organic, Dante destroying one may have major complications. You could, if you wish, attempt to divert his cast slightly so that it strikes the doorframe; easy to feign, given the small target and the closeness of the space. You could also attempt to supercharge his attack, destroying the bird entirely. Or you coukd let the situation ride out and deal with whatever aftermath their is. If you choose to do option A or option B, I will need a Team Attack roll (since you're sort-of Team Attacking with Dante regardless), followed by a Deception check to sell what happens.

Patterns Within Patterns

Robin's interest dims slightly at the mention of clothing as art pieces, and she opens her mouth to respond. "That sounds wonderful! Here's what I'm thinking, if you're up for it," Kyle cuts in before she can respond. "In about a week, we're having a little dinner here with some prospective new artists. If you're here before that to show me some pieces, great; either way, bring along some physical pieces then, and we'll see if we can fit some of them in the showcase we're putting together about three weeks from now. The theme is 'Reuse in a Bubble', given we're... you know."

Robin snorts. "'Dinner'; it'll mostly be whatever Watcher is tossing out at us, so don't bring an appetite. I'm going to go make sure Ana isn't gassing us all again." As she turns away, Kyle gives Kal a comradely grimace. "I know you'll want to get your work in here on its merits alone, and I'm sure it's more than good enough," he says in a mock-serious voice, "But if you really want to seal the deal, bringing us anything other than paste to eat that night will earn our undying gratitude."

Spoiler: Everyone

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With that, I think the next post will be the end of the Lull scenes. Everyone take Two Downtime Actions!

Nope: Due to Lily's discovery about variations within the historical artifacts, take a +5 bonus to the next three Nora, Where'd You Go? Downtime checks you take.

Floral: Due to Ariadne's discovery about the growing discontent with the food supply from Watcher, take a +5 bonus to the next three Growing a New Future Downtime checks you take.

Helios: Due to the strange scroll given to Nope by an unknown benefactor(?) take a +5 bonus to the next three Mystical Research Downtime checks you take.

Ariadne: Due to a book of patterns discovered by Helios, take a +5 bonus to the next three Untangling the Mystic ThreadsDowntime checks you take.

[Ridai]

"Wha-" And the woman nopes out of existence. He raises his arms in the universal gesture of WTF ("Oh for f-"), looking at the brief shimmer before it disappears too. Yeah well, hopefully that is just magic crap, not the crap he is doing! Fine! Lovely!

Remy kind of aggressively slumps against the back of the bench, looking briefly at the scroll. "What is it always with this ******* mystery bull****?!" getting louder in the end, along with slamming his fists on his thighs before holding his head in his hands for a short moment. Fuming with frustration, he grabs the damn scroll, briefly thinks about chucking it into the lake, and leaves, muttering about how all super-somethings come with brain damage and cryptic BS.

[Dorni]

Books and Bindings

Flint pulled up, taken aback at the scene. There was no time to think, but it didn't seem like a good idea for Dante to discover that the pigeons all over town were mechanical spies. He threw out a hand of his own, conjuring a blast of air. He tried to keep the power of the spell weak - he didn't want Dante to realize how much he'd been hiding - but for this he didn't need power as much as precision. The air pulse would combine with Dante's spell, hopefully disrupting the trajectory just enough to miss the pigeon and hitting the door instead. With the air pulse having physical force to hit, hopefully it would knock the door open enough for the bird to finish its escape.

Spoiler: OOC

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Standard: Team Attack with Ranged Strength from Crossing the Sky, AA 2. (1d20+17)[35]

[Zelphas]

Books and Bindings

The blast of air strikes Dante's bolt of dark energy at just the "wrong" moment, causing it to jolt just off-course and slam into the door. The energy spirals up and down the doorway, scoring lines into the wood and cracking the glass in a spiderweb pattern, and the gust of air rocks the door open, sending the "pigeon" out into the street like a cork shot from a bottle. Dante actually takes a step or two to pursue, then stops with a muttered curse, lowering his hand.

The gaze he turns to Flint is surprised... and appraising. "Perhaps the leader misjudged your talents," he says finally, in a soft, measuring voice. "It seems you've reached the time of decision after all..."

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August 27th, 2018.

Helios

Normally, cult meetings are quiet things; muffled arguments, debates, chants, and prayers, kept under the cover of darkness to hide from prying eyes or do-gooding acts. This is not one of these times.

The large, abandoned space was once the fourth floor of an office building with an open floor plan; perhaps it still was. All of the desks, chairs, and other furniture had been piled into three separate edifices, with clear tiers where someone could (somewhat precariously) stand. The top tier of each of these edifices had been occupied when you, along with around thirty other red-robed Cultists you didn't know, had been brought here by Dante. After ordering all of you to stand in the center of the room between the three piles, Dante had left you to stand just below the person you had thought of as the "Cult Leader" in the pile to your right. The Cult Leader, a tall, thin man with pale skin, had a thick black blindfold over his eyes tonight; you can see his mouth moving, but you cannot hear his words.

The space is lit by candles placed haphazardly all around. Thick, heavy curtains shroud the windows placed all around the walls.

As time goes on, the cultists around you trickle over to the three piles. All those who walk over to the rightmost pile are given black blindfolds by the cult leader; they don them and began whispering, until that pile becomes a source of constant, low susurration that carries an occasionally panicked edge to it.

Directly in front of you, at the top of the center pile, is a woman that seems slightly familiar, though you have never met her. She looked over the group, dark eyes glittering over a bandana of woven gold, before dismissing you all, turning away to show clearly that you are beneath her notice. Those who come to that pile bow low to pick up a yellow bandana around the woman's feet, and then take their places, talking and laughing among themselves. You cannot hear their words clearly, though they are loud. Their laughter is cruel, their voices mocking.

To the left, at the top of the final pile, is a person whose gender you cannot determine. They are completely shrouded by their cloak, their hands hidden by bark green gloves. But they are beautiful; this you know. They are constantly beckoning to the group, enticing them closer. Those who join that pile are given green gloves directly from the hand of the person at the top, and they join in their beckoning, calling out for others to join them.

As time has gone on, the circle of undecided cultists has shrunk and shrunk, until only a few are left. The whispering, the laughter, the beckoning has grown louder, stronger, more feverish; an edge of violence is in the air. That would normally concern you, but what may concern you most is one other figure in the room: Sarah. Kept away from all the groups, she has been assigned to watch the stairs, though she keeps looking at both Dante and you as things grow more and more heated.

Spoiler: Mystic Sense

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The group with Dante has the most varied of mystic abilities; all the different types of aptitude are present, though they are still only nascent among all but the cult leader and Dante. Death Magic has a slight edge over all the others.

The group in the center deals mostly with fire and air magic, with a particular twist that you can identify as dealing with mental manipulation and control.

The far left group has life magic predominating, with a slight tendency towards water and earth magic present as well.

Spoiler: Perception DC 30

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It catches upon the edge of your perception like a hiss just out of earshot, like scales on skin. He's here. You can't pinpoint exactly where, but Apophis is here.

Nope, Ariadne, and Floral

The network of people you've met doing general hero work is still small, but it came through this time! Someone (they wanted to stay anonymous, and although let's be real you could almost certainly find them you haven't seen the need to do so yet) saw a bunch of people entering into an office building in the Main Drag just before sunset and called it in as likely Cultist activity, and given what you've started to learn about the Cult this seemed like something to investigate.

Helios didn't answer when you called; maybe he's busy with something else tonight.

Outside of the office building, you aren't exactly sure where to begin, although the black curtains that seem to be shrouding all of the windows on the fourth floor might be a good place to start.

Spoiler: OOC

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Helios, take a Hero Point for your Unwilling Cultist Complication, and another one for your Relationship Complications, since they're both kinda-sorta in play.

Here's the Map.

Dotted lines are windows; feel free to shatter through them, people on the outside, or just appear in the room since Nope.

Every colored partition is 5 feet higher than the one nearest to it; so the outermost colors are 5 feet up, next ones are 10 feet up, the next 15, etc.

Combat hasn't yet begun, so we can start rolling Initiative and the rest then, for now, feel free to make your plans!

[Ridai]

Even through his indistinct appearance of "some person", Nope manages to look like "some tired person". His head is filled to the brim with entry level theories of metaphysics and less entry level ones that he struggles to understand, in hopes of making any sense of the cryptic BS he was given. On the upside, it meant he no longer pays any attention whatsoever to things he hopes to one day be rid of entirely when he leaves the country. So, silver linings. Even if he is still scouring museums over and over. Definition of insanity and all that nonsense, but hope's not remotely dead yet.

"Hey," he greets, hand briefly lifted for the same reason, before returning to hoodie pockets, crookedly standing as he looks up the office building. "Dead giveaway, huh." Not that the cult actually needs to hide or anything. That's the sorry state this whole town's been in, after all.

"Can try to recon first. Or bring us straight in. Might be sacrificing someone again." There's another sad thought, that this is also a regular occurence.

[Abracadangit]

Kal, having waited a long time to get back at Apophis, is raring to go. Her usual insecurities and anxieties have been overtaken by her desire to hit back at someone that, as far as she can tell, is utterly villainous.

"I can also attempt reconnaissance," she offers, "Though they may have alarms set against intruding magic." She pauses. "Or we can go in and start throwing cultists into walls until they talk. I'm not picky today."

"Hnn, hnn, hnn," Ariadne snickers. "Engoní! You are hardly yourself."

"He could have hurt the kids in my class," Kal thinks back, as her needle appears in her hand, attached to a red thread. "So you can shoosh."

For once, Ariadne listens.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Scouting seems wise," Lily said. The tip seemed solid, but it would probably behoove them to make sure this actually was cult activity before they engaged. If this was an innocent gathering, she didn't want to just go in guns blazing. Flowers blooming. Whatever.

Although scouting wasn't exactly her forte. At least not indoors, where she'd have to get close enough to risk detection to actually discern anything herself. Her approach to scouting was definitely more along the lines of "LOL sorry I can smell further than you can see."

"Probably not much I can do to help with that without giving us away, I'm afraid. ...Unless... Nope maybe if you could remove the obstruction the windows present to my sense of smell? Or like...their...ability to block airflow, maybe?
Or something along those lines, anyway," she offered as an innocently helpful idea. She was getting more and more clear on what Nope's powers could do, but wasn't yet entirely cognizant of their risks. Probably wouldn't be a problem.

[Ridai]

Nope looks to Floral with sort of the old meme version of a pokerface, then up to the window, down to the ground with furrowed brow, back up kind of at a loss. Puff cheeks, deflating audibly as Nope tries to think through how to conceptualize something that blocks the window from letting through smell and nothing else. The window letting air through would mean making it porous, and honestly Nope has no idea what that would do to the window. But on the other hand, he has managed to make crazier things possible (and at times happen accidentally). It might still fail if that property of a window is one of those things where reality reasserts itself if he doesn't perpetually change it. But how to go about it...

Furrow brow again, shake out hands. Well then. Time to go abstract and hope for the best. Can see through? Yeah. Hear? Eh, muffled, so partial. Taste? Nah. Feel? ...you know what, let's not think about that, but let's say no. Smell? Let's make that a yes. Only for that window. No punching holes or turning it into the glass equivalent of volcanic rock. No thinking about glass structure! No! Also no thinking about Floral's nose! Or lungs! Or anything like that! Smell. Going through that one window. Smells! Smells! Going through that window. Not all glass or windows. That one. The property of that window keeping smells out without changing its structure is going to get removed-

Flying Spaghetti Monster have mercy.

And Nope does his thing, hands just kind of cramping in concentration, and he nopes the property. Hopefully. Maybe.

Hopefully Floral still has a breathing apparatus.

Spoiler: OOC

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So... Nope tries to see if he can actually do what Floral suggested, via Remove Second Guessing powering Remove Placeholder to grant her olfactory senses Penetrate Concealment, but only for that one window.

Please refer to Nope's Complications.

[Zelphas]

Spoiler: Floral Smells...

Show

Warm candle wax. Dust. synthetic cloth-possibly polyester. Iron. Men and women, of several ages and states of health. More than two people related to Helios. Anger. Fear. Hunger sweat blood not much blood only a small cut pride rage contempt lust hunger joy confusion worry fear panic sandscalesdustworrysurpriseangerconfusioneyeunknow nexpectationworryimpatiencefeARPRIDEHUNGERUNKNOWNU NKOWNUNKNOW---

Spoiler: OOC

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Floral is currently Impaired (DC 23 Resistance to remove). Take a Hero Point for your The Other Side of Super Senses Complication; you can roll to remove this condition if/when battle begins in this Scene.

If you so choose, you could instead make Floral Olfactorily Unaware for the remainder of this Scene. If you choose to do this, take an additional Hero Point for your The Nose Knows Complication, and expect things to go slightly awry if Floral attempts something especially complex in the coming Scene.

For a few seconds, no one except for Floral can tell if Nope's actions have had any effect. Then, with a whiplash crack, the window Nope is focusing on breaks. The crack appears in an instant, as per normal glass breaking, but the shape is impossible; a curved, sinuous line that corkscrews up and down the pane of glass from top to bottom. The window remains in its frame, but the echo of the crack echoes up and down the street for a long moment.

Spoiler: Nope

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Take a Hero Point for your Annihilate Anything Complication.

Flint

As you stand, watching cultists choose, listening to whispers, laughter, and beckoning grow in volume and intensity, a loud crack echoes through the air, punctuating the noise. The whispers, the mockery, the beckons soon resume, but the people on the higher tiers look around with a bit of uncertainty. Sarah looks past you to one of the windows behind you, taking a few uncertain steps forward as though to investigate the noise.

[Ridai]

So Nope did a thing. He looks to Floral, saying "D-do you smell anyth-"

*CRACK*

Nope visibly startles at the sudden noise, much like with those damn cheap movie jump scares that are nothing but a sudden loud noise and of course he is going to jump if something blasts his ears with deafening noise ow my ears-

There is now a very unnatural crack in the window. Alarmed, he asks Floral "Can you still smell anything?! Can you breathe?!" And if that is the case, he adds "So we go in now?"

Keeps glancing up at the window, back to Floral, back to the window. Nice job, Nope. Great job. Imagine your slow clap.

[Dorni]

Flint kept his head bowed. Not out of reverence. This place made his skin crawl. The candlelight, the smells that he told himself firmly were incense, the sinister energies that laced the room. It was like a scene from a horror movie. There was nothing to revere here. With his head bowed, he could study the room ensconced in the shadow of his cowl. It was a thin reed, but it was what he had.

From those shadows he once again studied the three piles of furniture and the demented courts upon them. Dante had told him only that he'd "make his decision" tonight. He'd refused to elaborate further, saying only that they'd still be brothers regardless of what he chose. Here, tonight, it made sense. The Suneaters were organized as chaotically as the would-be god they followed, into cults within the cult. Watcher had shared that in his timeline dozens of Suneater cult chapters had sprung up all over, like a many headed hydra. Cut off one head and there were still dozens more, each growing and spreading their poison and making more. The factions fought against each other almost as often as not. Tonight, at least, the Suneaters had come together. Maybe it was the necessity of being confined under the dome, or maybe this was always how new members were inducted. More likely the rules were still being worked out. After all, the cult wasn't even a full season old.

Still, the offer was clear. Power. They were offering power. Their forms were different, but with this many gathered cultists he could sense the signs of the power they wielded.

From the Yellow and their bandanas, he could feel fire and air. He could feel a pull from them. Fire was his own weapon of choice, and he'd constructed his veil from air aether. Joining the Yellow would let him further develop those magics, possibly hone his weapons against the cult to new heights. It was for that reason that Flint rejected it. If Helios began wielding the Yellow's own techniques against them, they would recognize it right away. His own tools would give him away. More than that, Flint had practiced fire magic in secret, away from Dante. As far as his brother knew he could maybe light a candle. It was one more reason Flint couldn't possibly be Helios. If he were to reveal a sudden, impressive aptitude in fire would raise a red flag.

And although fire was his preferred weapon, it wasn't the first he'd learned. He'd chosen to practice with fire because it was the ideal weapon against the cult. Physically, fire burned. Spiritually, fire purified. Whatever undead or spirit or monstrosity the cultists conjured up, fire could almost certainly destroy it. With practice Flint knew he could wield even more elements, but there was just too little time. The cult was here now.

A quiet part of him also had to admit the choice of fire was spite. Fire was the domain of Ra, Apophis' ancient enemy in the myths. He couldn't deny that wielding fire against Apophis' followers gave him a certain satisfaction. A middle finger against the so-called god.

And there was one more reason to reject the Yellow. Although he recognized the fire and air, there was something else. Something subtler. Although he'd never practiced it himself, Flint could identify it. Mental magic. Manipulation and Control. Mastering those might let him protect himself against them, but the path to mastery of anything was practice. Repeated, endless practice. And he couldn't afford to let them practice on him, or sneak glimpses inside his head.

The feeling from the far left was entirely different. Life. Abundant, overwhelming, life magic. Flint could sense water and earth among their practitioners as well, but life was predominant. As strong as the sense of life from the group was though, Flint had felt Rapheal's aura. Next to that, there was no comparison.

Which left the last group. The Black. Dante's group. The sense of the practitioners in that group was a jumbled mess - a haphazard variety of magic. Although Death was the most predominant within the group, it was but one variety among many. That variety was the Black's offering - diversity and knowledge. That... seemed like what he needed. The Suneaters' magic was many and varied. The power the League wielded was even moreso. He couldn't rely on only a single tool. He needed to be able to adapt. He needed knowledge. And he could hide his talents among dipping his toes in a variety of practices.

As much as the offer of knowledge was tempting though, the cult could burn. Dante was of the Black. If he joined the Yellow or the Green, he wouldn't see him. Or at least he'd see him less, have less idea what Dante was involved in. There would be fewer chances to bring Dante back out of this den of vipers. For that alone he'd wear whatever colors he had to.

Even if this place made his skin crawl.

He'd put the choice off as long as he could, but he couldn't put it off forever. He looked over to Sarah, guarding the exit, and took a deep breath. Then took a resolute step towards the Black.

He'd only taken a single step when the crack sounded behind him. Flint stopped, looking back toward the window behind him.

[Quellian-dyrae]

The scents hit her with unusual intensity, almost overwhelming. It was as if...had Nope's powers somehow removed some of her ability to filter the scents? Not intentionally, certainly, but perhaps as a side effect. The intent was to remove a barrier to her smelling those scents, so maybe a similar "barrier" to them had been removed in her, in some conceptual way?

If so, that meant that Nope's powers must operate on some manner of a subconscious level that might not always be fully controllable, making them risky to use in ways he hasn't carefully practiced previously that Nope's powers could remove obstacles to his goals even if he didn't consciously conceive of them! It was plausible that as long as he knew what he wished to achieve, his powers could operate on a flexible basis of removing whatever stood in the way, on levels both explicit and subtly implicit! The possibilities were astonishing! More research was required!

(We're not doomed. We're almost certainly not doomed.)

But now was not the time. A few scents in particular stood out as having a much higher likelihood if this was cult activity. It was more than enough evidence to act on.

"Window noticed, no time, yes cult," Lily said, speaking hastily and shortly, her face crinkled up a bit from the stench.

"Three dozen. Four groups."

And...it didn't matter. Or it shouldn't matter. Everybody in there was a person who undoubtedly had friends and family somewhere in this town. The only difference was that in this case she knew them. It didn't change the choices they had made, or what their responsibility was now.

But no matter how much she knew it shouldn't matter, the truth was...it did.

Did he know? It seemed plausible. Most of the news she had heard about Helios before their group had assembled seemed to indicate he was particularly focused on thwarting the cult. Maybe he was trying to rescue his family from them?

She really hoped he knew. She didn't want to have to be the one to tell him. She didn't want to have to smell his feelings when he found out.

But Helios wasn't here now, and they didn't have time to discuss it. They would need to take them down regardless. Once they had won, she could tell the others and they could figure out what to do with them.

"Open floor. Idea. Teleport fifty feet from far right corner. Try not to attack anyone in left group until all others down."

That positioning would put them between the cult and the stairs, to make it harder for them to flee. Leaving the left group free to attack was risky tactically, but could pay dividends strategically. The cult's weakness was that it was chaotic and disorganized, and split into factions. Likely the divisions of groups were by faction in some way. If they just popped in and attacked them all together, it would only improve their coordination. One of the most sure-fire ways to get an otherwise divided group to work together was to give them a common enemy to unify against.

But if they attacked only two (three? Their evidence said there were three factions total, but Lily smelled four groups, so maybe their information was incomplete) of the factions - at least, until all their members were down and wouldn't be able to see what happened afterwards - it would look like the third group had set the other two up. The heroes just happen to attack their secret gathering and just happen to focus on everyone who wasn't part of that one group? Suuuuuper suspicious. Instead of uniting them, it might further exacerbate their divisions.

Unfortunately, that whole plan was way too complex for Lily to describe in the several seconds they had before someone spotted them from the cracked window. So what Nope and Ariadne got was "try not to attack the group on the left". Hopefully they'd trust her.

(Helios's relatives were in the right and south groups, so if they managed to escape and this plan wound up leading to open fighting between the factions, they would be on the more numerous side and thus relatively safer, hopefully.)

Spoiler

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Lily's sense of smell is Accurate and has Counters Concealment (Overlapping Scents), so I assume she was able to discern the positional data on the map (including the movement towards the window). Correct me if I'm wrong and I can edit.

[Ridai]

Well Floral can still talk and clearly knows what's up now, so uhhhh okay there's already a plan, let's go?!

Stepping over to Floral and Ariadne, he says "On zero, you're gonna be in there, looking to that corner," point to the left edge of the window front they are looking at. "with these windows to the left of it, and the 'left' group ahead of you. Ready. Three, two, one, zero-"

And for Floral and Ariadne, it is like there is an instantaneous transposition, they are just immediately where Nope described without any fanfare or travel period or anything, Nope right with them. For Nope, it is the usual, namely maneuvering them into the building, up the stairs, and turning them to face the right way, and not go back to realtime falling a few centimeters or anything like that. So while in zero time, he gets a good, long look at the hella creepy scene of it all, three dozen cultists present, on their weird altars or whatever you want to call these Chthonic Ikea Disasters. Not that he can examine anything very thoroughly, the concentration necessary to erase their travel time making that rather difficult. But there is always this moment of "the literal next moment all hell is gonna break lose, and you are going to stare that in the face for possibly minutes". Especially since he needs to measure roughly 50 feet from the correct corner.

Is it cowardly to wish that his mom isn't present?

Spoiler: Actions

Show

Well then, Nope brings everyone roughly where Floral described through the advanced technology of pushing everyone into place while time is stopped.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily's brother was a Navy SEAL. Lily's sister was a SWAT-trained sniper.

Truth was, Lily had never really, like, asked them for stories about their live-fire experience, and such. She didn't actually want to hear about her siblings fighting for their lives in dangerous situations. She did not consider such stories entertaining. Even before they had woken up in a city under siege and lockdown by villainous metahumans of horrific power, the thought of her siblings in battle had always been scary for Lily, always something her brain tried to flinch away from, to not think about. Much of the time, Lily prided herself on being able to recognize and squash such impulses, to face the truth of what was squarely, without pretense or denial.

Here, Lily made an exception.

But the two of them had talked tactics around the dinner table more than once, and Lily had paid attention. And there had been a time or two where they had tried to ease her fear by telling her how they kept themselves safe. And if Lily had learned one thing about real fights in the real world from her siblings, it was this:

Fair fights are for corpses. In real life, the side that surprises the other is the winning side in almost all cases.

It wasn't just about striking first, of course. Sure, that helped. Sure, catching the opponent off-guard helped. But what made surprise so decisive was the ability to throw the enemy force into chaos, and then to exploit that chaos from the first trigger pull to the last body hitting the ground.

Guns were great for this, of course. They were loud, flashy, and scary. Getting lit up by a sudden hail of automatic fire was aces for sowing confusion among the enemy.

But guns had nothing on mental manipulation.

There was a part of Lily that was leery about using these powers on other people, playing with the biochemistry of their brains to manipulate their behavior. It was a more-than-mildly terrifying power, one that would be so easy to misuse.

But even if they were dressed in the very same robes, even if they were by all appearances here of their own will, even if, now that she was in here, she could see that one of them was in fact occupying a place of what appeared to be fairly high honor on one of the altars, in Lily's head, these people, this cult, were hurting her friend's family.

When she had learned of the threat Manchineel might wield over her, had revealed her identity to her team, Helios had told her he would protect her family, if she was no longer able to.

She could only do the same, with every weapon at her disposal.

And so it was that in the bare instants of their arrival, while the cult's attention was focused on the anomalously cracked window, Lily pointed a hand at each of the nearest altars, while turning her gaze upon the group clustered away from the altars (oh, were they like undecideds or something? Had they interrupted an initiation?) The flesh of her palms and the skin of her forehead twisted and extended, deepening to a verdant green, and launching free...in the innocuous form of a single rose thorn at each group.

A quarter of the way there, the rose thorns had broadened and rounded and reddened, becoming strawberries.

Halfway there, the strawberries had grown and rounded further, and become apples.

Three quarters of the way there, the apples had ballooned up and paled to orange, becoming pumpkins.

And when they struck, the pumpkins had grown further, and oblonged, and turned entire gigantic watermelons.

And on impact, the watermelons exploded, spraying juice and seeds all over the three groups of surprised cultists, lest they were alert enough to defend themselves from the fruity freshness of Lily's explosive opener to the battle.

A moment later, the mess of watermelon juice and pulp turned into a powerful contact poison. It was patterned basically off of marijuana, except with about a hundred times the increase in paranoia - enough paranoia to make you think that the dangerous scary robed people around you were absolutely going to attack you and you had better attack them first! ...While also making you too high to really put enough effort into it to actually, you know, hurt anyone badly enough to kill them, or something.

(The astute might note that the compulsive effects were centered on those closest to the targets, meaning those affected would mainly fight each other and those near to them, leaving the untargeted group on the far side of the building safe from attack by any cultists who succumbed to the poison.)

(Lily figured she could probably bet on the people at the top of the altars, who were presumably more powerful and might thus be more likely to resist the effects, not being likely to use lethal force on their own compromised people. She was less sure about it if they got attacked by other groups.)

And if it didn't seem like she got enough of then, well she'd just gesture at the largest remaining chunks of the watermelons, they'd reform back to full size, and with a snap of her fingers she'd detonate them again.

Then she'd glance over in the direction of the far green altar and give them a smile and a cheery wave. Maybe it was just a hero's mockery to a foe caught unawares...or maybe it was a gesture of appreciation. She had thrown three watermelon-bombs easily enough, how likely was it that a fourth was actually beyond her capabilities? (She considered calling, "Thanks for the tip!" but thought it would be too obvious.)

Spoiler

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Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 20 points to Pheromone Scent, 10 points to Complex Scents, 10 points to Floral Thorn, 10 points to Floral Vines, using Dynamic Choices to swap Floral Vines to the Burst Area of Floral Bloom and apply it to Affliction per Floral Scent. Variable Descriptor set to [Physiological] [Drug].

Move: LOL surprise round.

Standard: Use Multiattack for multiple areas, and fire one at the Yellow Altar, one at the Black Altar, and one at the group away from the altars. Since barring Uncanny Dodge these guys should be Vulnerable from surprise, gonna go ahead and Power Attack for 2, Multiattack for 3, -2 for Impaired. I'll Routine against the Minions for 13. Since Floral Thorn is in play the attack is Homing (fluff-wise, I mean, they are now standing in a mess of drugged watermelon, totally possible even if they shielded themselves from the initial blast they step in some next round or something); if the Routine attack misses I'll roll normally on the Homing attacks. On a hit, Resistance DC 22 vs. Entranced/Compelled/Controlled to fight among their own group, non-lethally and with simple spells only (no magic above rank 5). As for the big-names:

Blind Seer: (1d20+3)[10].
Nergal: (1d20+3)[7].
Mouthpiece: (1d20+3)[20].
Satyr: (1d20+3)[10].
Uh, Flint: (1d20+3)[4]. (Sorry! But in my defense regardless of the actual attack results this gives Flint possible cover to fight the other cultists, albeit presumably at reduced power, since it's unlikely to affect him anyway.)

If at least half the targeted Minions aren't affect, Lily will spend Extra Effort to do it again. If this is because the first attack missed, she'll Accurate Attack for 2 to offset the Power Attack. If the first attack missed because these guys were not in fact Vulnerable, she'll roll the attacks against the Minions at +5, but I won't bother doing that here. If this does happen (using the +3 for baseline since the rest of that is conditional):

Blind Seer: (1d20+3)[4].
Nergal: (1d20+3)[4].
Mouthpiece: (1d20+3)[6].
Satyr: (1d20+3)[6].
Flint: (1d20+3)[16].

And last but not least - Initiative: (1d20+8)[19].

[Ridai]

Nope is currently far too fueled by adrenaline, so he just tries to KO as many cultists as possible (that aren't visibly affected by... uh... psychotropic watermelons) without deleting them or any organs or limbs (you know, as one does) at the start of a brawl with said three dozen human sacrificing black magic cultists and multiple sub-cult leaders, one of the latter being his mom, while also trying not to give away that said sub-cult leader is his mom. The part that isn't drowned in stress and adrenaline just wants to cry because of just the general state of his family.

Pushing off the ground and floating to the ceiling where he only kind of vertically "lands" on his feet, space is torn into impossible directions yet nowhere, at least around the cultist groups that aren't green.

Spoiler: Actions

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Free Switch to Remove Second Guessing and Remove Hit Points, Mass

EE Move Fly to the ceiling via Remove Acceleration

Standard Attack basically every cultist that isn't green or SG with Remove Hit Points, Mass. Resistance DC 25 Damage, Ranged, 240' bendable line, Penetrating (Pierce Resistance), Multiattack (Multi-target, 2 lines, -2 penalty). Crit 16, AoA -2/+2.
Routining against all SC that aren't visibly affected by Floral's mind whammy watermelons for 20.
Attack vs DR (1d20+10)[14]
Attack vs Nergal (1d20+10)[24]
Attack vs BS (1d20+10)[14]
Attack vs Helios (1d20+10)[24]

[Abracadangit]

Usually, Nope's odd brand of teleportation makes Kal mildly dizzy, or at least disoriented, but her rage boils brightly enough to keep the vertigo at bay. She recalls Floral's instruction to leave the one group alone, at least for now -- she could do that much.

With a flick of her wrist, she puts another needle in her hand and immediately begins to weave. A whirling cloud of thread appears from nowhere, a great crimson cyclone, and descends on the nearest cultists with the soft cacophony of a million rustling strings.

Spoiler: OOC

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Gonna max AoA (+5) a Snaring Strands on our friends, Nergal and the Blind Seer. Good band name.
Blind Seer:(1d20+15)[22]
Nergal:(1d20+15)[24]

[Zelphas]

Now, usually, when you appear out of nowhere and begin lobbing ensorcelled thread, psychedelic watermelons, and the raw power of universal negation at foes, those foes tend to react slowly, with some sort of surprise. Not so the members of the Suneater Cult gathered in this office building on this warm Michigan night; they leap into defense with ward and knife as though they expected just such a thing to happen. Perhaps they had.

That is not to say that the three Heroes' attacks had no effect. Floral's spray of watermelons are dodged by the rank-and-file Cultists with quick footwork and the occasional spark or gust of wind, but the secondary explosion catches some of them by surprise. One of those doused by the watermelon juice shakes off the psychotropic effects and gives Floral a haughty glare, but the other five begin eyeing their surrounding Cultists with wide, panicked eyes and gripping their knives. As for the bigger players, well... the Satyr, the robed figure atop the Green dais, smiles widely as an errant fruit wanders their way and then--eats it. Whole. Without chewing. The mind balks at explaining how. Donna Rames, Mouthpiece, atop her Yellow dais, burns away all vegetation near her with contemptuous flickers of fire, holding one hand up to shield her nose almost daintily. Nergal snarls and spits out a few words as the watermelons fly near him, withering them away into nothing in moments. As for the Seer behind him, on the Black dais... he isn't moving with any sort of haste, it seems, but he is simply not where the watermelons can touch him by the time they land.

The air sings sideways for a split second, and then (nearly) every rank-and-file Cultist not under Floral's spell drops like puppets with their strings cut, leaving only the Green dais untouched. Atop the mound, the robed, beckoning figure lets out a laugh of almost childlike delight. Nergal grunts, his shoulders sagging under the sudden lose of vitality, but behind him the Seer seems to have once again simply avoided the strike of negation without hurrying. Perhaps it is the reminder of who she is--or was, but Nope fails to strike at his mother with any amount of weight, leaving her untouched.

Nergal blasts at the snaring threads of Ariadne with gouts of sickly grey flame, withering them away, but a sneaker trail wraps around his legs and begins binding him before he can remove them. Once again, however, the Seer is simply not where the threads that seek for him expect him to be. He does not look towards the three figures to his right, but in the shocked silence after the first blow, his murmur is clearly audible. "Remarkable."

"Who dares--" The Mouthpiece shrieks, looking wildly around at the fallen Cultists, the sudden Heroes, the chaos of the place, before her burning gaze fixes on the Satyr, still giggling. "You--"

Beside the heroes, the red-robed Cultist--Sarah--begins scrambling away, desperate to put some room between herself and the Heroes' sudden arrival.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Initiative

Ariadne: (1d20+4)[15]
Nope: (1d20)[15]
Helios: (1d20)[16]

Satyr: (1d20+20)[37]

Nergal: (1d20+10)[28]

Mouthpiece, Blind Seer, and Sarah: (1d20)[20]

Controlled Cultists: (1d20)[3]

[Zelphas]

Round One

"Oh, it's just so fun to see the little ones misbehaving," The Satyr says through giggles, their voice light and high. Of course, they must still be punished for their high spirits, hmm? Let me help you, dear." the figure waves one green-gloved hand at the paranoid Cultist standing at the foot of the Yellow dais, who suddenly clutches their head, screaming and screaming before collapsing to the floor in a heap.

Spoiler: Perception DC 20

Show

It's faint, but you could see shifting, mirage-like shapes shoot across from the Satyr's hand to the Cultist, surrounding their eyes and ears before they began to fall.

Helios can sense that the power used was a mixture of Water and Life magic.

Blackened bones erupt from the back of Nergal's robes, constructing themselves via bits of twisted sinew into the mockery of wings. Nergal himself looks around at Sarah and Flint before turning to the Heroes, his hands moving even as he kicks at the threads holding his feet. Phantasmal weapons--spears, swords, axes, pistols, rifles, even an RPG or two--appear around him before flying forward or releasing their payload at the three Heroes; ghostly weapons with real force.

"You--you traitor must know your place! I command you: KNEEL!" Mouthpiece's voice rolls over the group, forcing all of the remaining rank-and-file cultists to their knees... and then to the floor in quivering heaps. The sound seems to move past Sarah, Flint, Nergal, and the Blind Seer without touching them, but its concussive force strikes at the Heroes and the Satyr alike... though the satyr covers their ears with another high laugh.

The Blind Seer clicks his tongue with a soft tsk, still looking at no one. Your petty squabbling is counterproductive. We have real foes to fight. Floating up slowly on a platform of Air, the Seer turns to finally face the three Heroes, tilting his blindfold down towards them. Within its folds is--pain. And knowledge. But the knowledge is hidden; the pain is what pours out at them.

Sarah Garrett, in the midst of the chaos and battle, makes a dash for the Black dais, diving underneath to hide out of sight.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Satyr

Move Action: Laugh.

Standard Action: Use Weird on the cultist at AE8. Rolled OOC; the Cultist is INCAPACITATED.

Nergal

Move Action: Immobile.

Standard Action: Use Mass Conflict in a Burst Area on the Heroes. On a hit, Resistance DC 27 vs. Secondary Effect Incurable Damage.

Floral: (1d20+8)[18] Miss.
Nope: (1d20+8)[28] Crit: DC becomes 32.
Ariadne: (1d20+8)[24] Hit.

End of Turn 1: Regenerates 1 Bruise.

End of Turn 2: Resistance to throw off the Affliction (DC 20): (1d20+10)[17] Nope.

Mouthpiece

Move Action: Rage.

Standard Action: Use KNEEL! On everyone except Flint, Nergal, Blind Seer, and Sarah. On a hit, Defense DC 20 to negate (Perception Hearing), then Resistance DC 29/24 vs. Damage Linked Entranced/Compelled (Limited: only to grovel in awe).

Cultists: Rolled in OOC; all INCAPACITATED.

Satyr: (1d20+10)[11] Defense (DC 20): (1d20+13)[19] Resistance (DC 29/24): (1d20+9)[24] Miss.

Floral: [roll]1d20+10/[/roll] Rolled Crit! in the OOC; DC becomes 34/29
Nope: (1d20+10)[16] Just Miss
Ariadne: (1d20+10)[25] Hit.

Blind Seer

Move Action: Shift to AR5.

Standard Action: Use See Beyond on the Heroes. On a hit, Defense DC 22 to negate (Perception Sight), then Resistance DC 27/22 vs. Damage linked Dazed/Stunned.

Floral: (1d20+12)[13] Miss
Nope: (1d20+12)[15] Miss
Ariadne: (1d20+12)[24] Hit

Sarah

Move Action: Shift to AP18.

Standard Action: Hide in Plain Sight. Stealth: (1d20+10)[20]

All PCs are On Turn.

[Ridai]

As Nope winces through the pain of just having been shot at by every category of human-carried firearms known to man (why are there so damn many guns, here and in general), he is then greeted by his mother basically wiping out the remaining small-time cultists (except, like, two), which makes the pushed-back part of him just more sad than it was already. Nope is reeling, hitting his head on the ceiling to boot, before haphazardly getting a hold of the bullet-hole-riddled surface. Black magic horror is shown to him by the boss of the blacker than black faction of the black magic cultists, and since the plan is to not let cultists make a run for it if they can help it, that needs to be done. Even with a storm of hell bullets being fired at him. Today is a horrible day.

Nope just tries to get as clear an idea of KO-ing (temporarily!) the Seer, doing his darndest to not let stray thoughts of Nergal (wrong target), Donna (wrong target!), or the pain in his body (wrong target!! Also possibly carving things out of himself again!!!) mess things up. It really doesn't help someone is just constantly laughing in this situation. Okay things are getting way too busy in his head. Head empty. Target. KO. Gogogogogo-

Man, guns were already scary, but whatever these ghost bullets are is really vile.

Spoiler: Actions

Show

Free Switch to Remove Hit Points

Move Dazed, with a side of spinning on the ceiling

Standard Attack Black Seer with Remove Hit Points. Resistance DC 25/20/20 Damage (Ranged) Linked Weaken Resistance Linked Linked Affliction (Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless/Incapacitated). Crit 16+, AoA -5/+5
Attack vs Black Seer (1d20+15)[22]

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily gave a slender smirk as her watermelons didn't just take seven cultists out of the fight, but added them to her side. It had taken a non-trivial amount of energy, performing that elaborate a transmutation three times, and then repeating the effects. Still, not a bad opener, even by superheroic-

Nope did something finnicky with reality and just about every other mook cultist on the field, save those she had requested her teammates not target, just straight-up collapsed unconscious. No muss, no fuss.

And then Ariadne went ahead and bound one of the actual threats in threadworks. Perhaps not a complete hogtie, but certainly a hindrance. Lily hadn't managed to so much as annoy any of them.

Between the Yellow Wizard and the Green Wizard, pretty much every lesser cultist still standing - whether drugged or not - joined their companions on the floor. Almost as if these weren't talented magi who even a superhero might have to spend effort to take out in modest numbers, but a bunch of chumps with single-digit spells per day who would drop the moment anyone with actual superpower looked at them funny.

Lily gritted her teeth. It was fine. Raw power wasn't everything. Her hastily thrown-together plan had worked better - or at least more immediately - than expected (although she'd be honest, at least half credit for that probably had to go to the Green Wizard, who she was now quite confident was very crazy, even taking into account the generous curve she would otherwise be grading Suneater sanity on).

And as the wizards fired back, Lily recognized the insidious power of Mouthpiece's command and plugged her ears before she could hear it. The Blind Seer's revelation had no effect on her, for she had been hungrily consuming whatever knowledge had been put in front of her since she was a young child, and she consumed it as harmlessly as the Green Wizard had her errant piece of watermelon. And when Nergal assailed them with ghostly weaponry, though she was no wizard capable of manipulating the forces of the spirit, still she imagined herself girded in shining armor, and though it was invisible to sight either natural or mystical - for there was nothing magical about it - her imagination was bright enough and her willpower strong enough that when Nergal's power struck her, it bounced off harmlessly. She weathered the assault of the three mages completely unharmed.

Whatever the limits of her powers, Lily's mind was and remained the most dangerous weapon she would ever need. It was just frustrating to think of how much more she could have achieved, if she had more raw power to put behind it.

So, the mooks were all out...except the one who was related to Helios. That was noteworthy, but not necessarily anomalous, and Lily's current top possible explanations were:

A) One of his more powerful relatives had placed some manner of protective magic upon him, giving him a more potent defense than the other mooks could manage. Call this one roughly 60%.

B) Somehow, there was some sort of genetic component that influenced magical power. Since Helios was superhero-level, the dude on the black altar seemed pretty high up there himself, and the woman who had been guarding the stairs was at least good enough to be selected for guard duty, even if this guy was the weakest in their family, they were probably genetically gifted enough to make him a cut above your average cultist. This one she'd call 20% or so.

C) As the relative of one of the heroes he had some measure of plot armor. Why was this her life? Something like 10%.

(I'm not saying that the idea that he was in fact Helios in his civilian identity and simply feigning reduced power, perhaps as a ploy to infiltrate the cult, outright didn't occur to her. She was clever enough to generate the possibility. But his biology had smelled sufficiently different from Helios's own that she had a strong prior against it, while still recognizing it certainly wouldn't be impossible for magic to hide such tells. It was one of many possible speculations that collectively filled in the last 10% or so of her probability estimation. Had she been inclined to consciously consider every wild speculation her brain was able to generate on short notice, it would have been down around possibility K.)

Even so, her team was taking pretty heavy fire. She held her hands out before her, and a flower bloomed in each of her palms, their petals curling up and overlapping, hardening, as they filled with nectar. She took one "cup" for herself, and handed a second to Ariadne. Vines trailed between the two flowers, connecting them, and extending up to where Nope was floating above them, a third cup blooming in front of him. "Healing potion delivery!" she said cheerily, raising her cup in a sort of toasting gesture and drinking the nectar down. She hadn't been harmed by the mages, but her head was still kinda reeling from the unfiltered scents of the place, so hopefully some medicinal nectar would help with that.

(She also made it a point to avert her gaze from the Blind Seer and grow some cotton swabs in her ears, not quite thick enough to entirely block her hearing, but enough to muffle it some, plus she could transform it into something more soundproof quickly if need be.)

Spoiler

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Perception to keep track of Sarah: (1d20+10)[19].

Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 20 points to Healing Nectar, 10 points to Medicinal Nectar, 10 points to Solar Nectar, 10 points to Floral Vines, Dynamic Choices to apply Floral Vines to Healing.

Move: I guess I'll go ahead and make another Perception check in case the first one fails: (1d20+10)[25]. Strategy > Luck

Standard: Healing Nectar on her team. Restorative Persistent Healing.

Lily: (1d20+8)[28]. Crit success. 18 RP +5 for crit +5 for Persistent. Will spend 10 to negate the Affliction, devote 9 towards my Recover action so it's easy to trigger later if I need it, and the rest is wasted. Really kinda wish this roll had been for Ariadne.
Ariadne: (1d20+8)[18]. 8 RP, freaking Impaired.
Nope: (1d20+8)[18]. Also 8 RP, also freaking Impaired.

Free: Avert visual and auditory senses from the bad guys. Not fully rendering them Unaware, just the "take -2 to hit if using them to target for +10 on the check to negate Sense-dependent stuff" bit.

End of Turn: Homing attacks trigger. Irrelevant for the mook cultists, but pretty sure I missed all the serious threats both times and Flint the first time. Not much better odds this time, but hey Nergal's Vulnerable now so whatever let's go for the glory. First one is Resistance DC 22 vs. Entranced/Compelled/Controlled, second one is DC 20.

Blind Seer: (1d20+3)[9].
Nergal: (1d20+3)[8].
Mouthpiece: (1d20+3)[7].
Flint: (1d20+3)[14].
--
Blind Seer: (1d20+5)[13].
Nergal: (1d20+5)[15]. A solid maybe with Vulnerable!
Mouthpiece: (1d20+5)[11].

Also end of turn: Resistance to remove the "Affliction" if my Healing doesn't cut it (DC 23, -2 for Impaired): (1d20+8)[27]. ...Also would have loved to swap this for Ariadne's Healing roll.

Current Status: Fatigued (9/10 RP towards Recover).

[Abracadangit]

Kal knows that her anger at the cult is throwing off her concentration. "Calm, engoni. Calm is the..."

"I know. IknowIknowIknow. Let it go for a second," she thinks back, more and more aggravated as one attack after the other lands on her. She almost feels compelled to listen to the Mouthpiece's creepy command, until another attack knocks sense back into her.

"Enough is enough," Kal hisses, as she begins to weave shields around the team.

Spoiler: OOC

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No Move Action, Dazed unless I'm mistaken.
Free Action: Switch Threadwork Conjurations to Threadwork Sense.
Action: Silken Shields, surrounding the whole group where we are right now. Putting the Created shields around us in each direction, so for the map's sake it looks like a little 2x2 grid covering all of us.