[M&M 3e] Defying the Future IC

[Dorni]

Flint was frozen in shock. What were they doing here? How did they find out about the gathering? And were those mind-control watermelon bombs?

Fortunately, the rest of the cult was pretty surprised as well, so he blended right in.

Flint did manage to kick himself into gear and take stock. Sarah had wasted no time fleeing the heros and hiding under the furniture, which was probably the safest place she could be right now. Which left him trapped with his hero friends and the cult leaders. And Lily had turned some of the cult against each other by deliberately sparing the greens.

"Traitor!"

So calling, Flint wove aether in a blast of hardened air that he launched at the Satyr. The blast wasn't at his full strength - it would raise too many questions if he started blasting away with spells and power identical to one of the cult's biggest enemies - so he invoked the spell at a level more appropriate to the strength of the initiate he was supposed to be. He wasn't so full of himself to believe it was enough to punch through the Satyr's defenses in a contest of strength.

So he didn't. Just before the wind blast would have struck home it abruptly arced downward and smashed into the dais she stood upon. The dais that was in fact nothing more than a misshapen pile of chairs and furniture - which was in no way OSHA compliant. The topmost level buckled, and with luck would throw the Satyr off-balance in a prime opportunity for any of the big hitters.

Spoiler: OOC

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Move: To AF28
Standard: Cast the Ranged Strength portion of Crossing the Sky to Aid the next attack against Satyr at (1d20+11)[29]. +5 Aid

[Zelphas]

Round Two

Spoiler: Ariadne's Threadwork Sense

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With Ariadne's spirit guiding your eyes, the threads become clearer. The Blind Seer, nearest to you, is surrounded by a seething whorl of threads that warp and twist, forming knots of incredible intricacy and terrifying depth, which blink like eyes and unravel as soon as they form, almost tracking your gaze when you look them over.

Nergal, still caught in your own threads, is surrounded by threadwork scenes of death. Battlefields laid waste, towns ravaged by plague, poisoned wells and banquets, and death wrenched from its slumber to walk and work once more. At the moment, the scenes are outlines only, constellations of thread, but they threaten to fill with color and power over time.

The hiding cultist has threads all around her, but they are oddly snarled, as though she has been tangling them to keep them from taking form and shape. Even as you watch, a thread like an outstretched wing curls in on itself and becomes a hopeless tangle near her.

The cultist in the center is a similar thing; a few threads, most tangled, only a few giving clear indications--curls of air and cloud, mostly, hard to translate.

The Mouthpiece twists the threads into cruel smiles around her, laughing forms that turn to screams and are eaten by other, stronger smiles before they, too, decay. The interplay of threads around her is darkly hypnotic, suggesting majesty and power, and you have to pull your eyes away.

At the Green dais, the Satyr is surrounded by trees of thread that are not truly trees. The trees walk, shifting and shaping, bowing to one another, striking and consuming each other, and splitting apart into children of each other in a mad display. The Satyr seems to look on at this display almost as if they can see it; you can practically feel their adoration.

Spoiler: Perception DC 20

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A single thread twists through them all, eating an eyeball around the Seer, luxuriating in the depictions of death, twisting deftly around the tangles, laughing with the smiles, draping itself in the not-trees. It looks at you, and bares its fangs in a smile.

He's here, somewhere.

The Blind Seer is simply not where Nope attempts to strike him, avoiding the negator's odd power by dint of seemingly simple movement. He nods, almost seeming to approve of Floral and Ariadne's efforts to heal and support the hero group. "Delaying the inevitable. Commendable, if futile."

Flint's gust of air destabilizes the Green dais, and the Satyr tumbles from their perch, hurtling towards the ground. An instant later, and they are standing next to Flint, one hand reaching up to cradle the faux cultist's face. "Now, now, none of that," they croon. The edge of their hood lifts up, slightly, allowing Flint to see a beautiful, androgynous, inhuman face and one gleaming golden eye with a square pupil. "What was it our dear Mouthpiece said? Oh, yes." Rather than the commanding shout of the Mouthpiece, its voice is a purr, for Flint's ears alone. "Kneel."

"Don't--touch--him!" Nergal roars, hooking one clawed hand towards the Satyr. Weaponry of all sorts appear in ghostly form around him once more, this time striking only at the Satyr and inflicting steady wounds... which heal as the Satyr laughs and laughs. Even as he does so, the wounds inflicted by his earlier barrage burn deeper into Nope and Ariadne. Nergal continues to rip at the threads around him, his grisly wings flexing in their urge to close in combat.

Mouthpiece nods in haughty approval of Nergal's strike, turning her hot, angry gaze towards the three Heroes. "Your flower crafting is amusing," she calls out over the melee, sighting Floral directly. "I want a flower Crown. Make me one. Now!" The words strike at Floral with more than physical force.

The Blind Seer turns to the group... then tilts his head, as though something caught his eye just behind the three Heroes. "I'm sure we will meet once more; There is no purpose in my defeating you or being defeated here. As a parting gift." The man gestures to the ground, speaking a trio of harsh words... and with a hiss of blowing sand, two grisly mummies rise up out of his shadow, taking on flesh and form. The Blind Seer himself turns in midair and drifts quickly down the stairs, quickly passing out of sight.

A few small, muffled sounds come from the Black dais, suggesting that Sarah is on the move there.

Spoiler: OOC

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Satyr

Move Action: Shift to AE28.

Standard Action: Use Induce to Worship on Flint. (1d20+10)[11] This is a Perception attack. Flint, give me a Resistance DC 22 vs. Entranced/Compelled (gaze in awe at the wonder of the Satyr) and Weaken Resistance, modified by Perception. +10 to your Resistance roll.

Nergal

Move Action: Immobile.

Standard Action: Use Conflict on the Satyr, using Flint's Aid. (1d20+13)[19] vs. 23. This is a Perception Ranged attack. Satyr Resistance: (1d20+9)[29] vs. DC 27 + Multiattack Damage, modified by Perception. Crit Resists.

End of Turn 1: Resistance to remove the Affliction (DC 20): (1d20+10)[23] Removed.

End of Turn 2: Secondary Effect Triggers. Nope, Resistance DC 32 vs. Damage. Ariadne, Resistance DC 27 vs. Damage.

Mouthpiece

Move Action: Too haughty.

Standard Action: Use Dance for My Master on Floral. (1d20+10)[30] vs. 20 or (1d20+10)[20]. This is a Perception Ranged attack. Floral, give me a Resistance DC 29/24 vs. Damage and Dazed & Impaired/Compelled (make a flower crown), modified by Perception. Crit; DCs become 34/29.

Blind Seer

Standard Action: Use Death Shall Die to Summon two Reanimated. Reanimated Initiative (for next turn): (1d20+12)[13] After PCs

Move Action: Distance Rank 10 down the stairs, out the door, and away.

Sarah

Move Action: Shift to AJ18.

Standard Action: Subtle 2.

All PCs are On Turn.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily frowned as the Black Wizard went zipping right on past them and out (after summoning up some mummies, as one does). Huh. Standing in front of the stairs was...was really not that much of an obstacle when dealing with superhuman movement modes. Okay then. Fair enough.

She considered giving chase, but truth was the Black Wizard was a secondary priority. Rescuing Helios's relatives was still most important.

And so yeah, Lily's heart kinda jumped into her throat when the one she had identified as the weakest of them took a shot at the Green Wizard...and the Green Wizard struck back. Her wings weren't charged and she was too far away to intervene and she needed him down anyway but if anything happened to him because of her half-baked plan she would-!

...Annnnnd he was totally fine apparently. Okay. It couldn't be plot armor. Nobody would believe it. He had to have been warded by one of his more powerful relatives. Either that or the Green Wizard just sucked. Lily kinda wished she hadn't chosen the greens as their "allies". Perfect opportunity to taunt the bad guy, wasted.

And the necromancery dude who Lily had identified as the most powerful of Helios's relatives (Black Wizard Junior?), naturally shot back at them. Because they had attacked his...brother or cousin or whoever they were to each other, naturally. Green Wizard's craziness was just the gift that kept on giving. Lily honestly was kinda wondering if they had actually called in someone to interfere with the gathering and just thought the heroes were them. Or maybe Green Wizard had tipped off their source who had then tipped them off? That would have been...well, either a comedy or a farce, anyway. She honestly wasn't sure which at this point.

Mouthpiece unleashed a power word on Lily, and the sonic force of the attack blew through Ariadne's barrier to hit her. It rattled her some, but she ignored the command entirely, her will refusing to falter in the face of even supernatural power.

Lily refilled the flower cups with some more healing nectar, took another swig herself, and then turned her attention onto Yellow Wizard. She wasn't particularly worried about the mummies right now, due mainly to the fact that she kinda expected them to spontaneously stop existing presently. Black Wizard Junior was a priority, but he seemed like he could handle himself, so as long as he was content to fight Green Wizard she'd leave them to it for the moment at least. As for Yellow Wizard... "One floral crown, coming up!"

Lily took her flower cup, and transformed it into a beautiful crown of colorful flowers, all pinks and whites and purples around the circle, with like intertwining spirals of vines growing out of it, studded with tiny little yellow blooms, a deep red rose at the top of each one. And then she basically frizbee'd it at Yellow Wizard's head, with a bit of tactile phytokinesis to help try and land it right. Of course, the pretty exterior completely hid the face that the inside was all thorny brambles that were dripping with some sort of undoubtedly creatively debilitating cocktail of plant-based poisons, but if you weren't expecting a crown of thorns setup from freaking Floral, of all people, then you deserved exactly what you got.

Spoiler

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Move: Dazed, so sadly I can't actually try to Trick Mouthpiece into thinking that Lily was affected by the compulsion and the crown of flowers is exactly what she asked for and completely harmless. Alas.

Standard: More Persistent Restorative Healing for her team, using last round's setup.

Lily: (1d20+8)[17]. 7 RP. 1 goes to filling out the Recover to remove my Fatigue. Triggers Persistent for +5. Spend 10 to remove Impaired because that was my plan before I saw the natural 20 and so it remains. Last point goes to the Bruise.
Ariadne: (1d20+8)[22]. 12 RP, +8 from previous is 20, +5 since Persistent triggers. Ariadne can remove two conditions and has 5/10 RP towards a third.
Nope: (1d20+8)[27]. 17 RP, +8 for previous is 25, +5 since Persistent triggers is 30. Nope can remove up to three conditions if he likes.

Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 10 points to Floral Thorn, 10 points to Acidic Nectar, 10 points to Poisonous Nectar, 10 points to Drugged Nectar, 10 points to Incrementing Stupor.

Extra Effort - Additional Standard Action: Attack Mouthpiece with Crown of Thorns at (1d20+8)[21] (+2 if she's able to remove Impaired with Healing above). On a hit, Resistance DC 25/20 vs. Damage Linked Weaken Effect and Resistance. The Weaken is Progressive, but it doesn't stack; the new penalty overwrites the old one if worse, or is overwritten if not as bad. If it misses, it will try again next round with Homing. Impaired was removed so make that a 23

End of Turn: If still Impaired, Resistance to throw it off (DC 29, -2 for Impaired): (1d20+8)[28]. Kinda wasted this but you know what I'm not even mad. Me and the dice are totally chill.

Current Status: 1 Bruise (1/10 RP), (Dazed Ends), Fatigued as of next turn. Recover used.

[Ridai]

Between wondering whether he actually ever really knew his parents, searing infernal pain, the Black Seer making a run for it, and undead appearing, it's been a day. Once more he tries to angle himself so he can actually drink the juice he doesn't want to think about too much without having it go in his lungs on accident. And as he does so, he watches Donna get a crown of thorns, and the green dude being up to some BS. It's been a day.

Start at Nergal. KO. Down to the undead. Remove tether on soul. Up to Mouthpiece. KO. Go.

Spoiler: Actions

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Fully recover due to Floral's healing.

Free Switch back to Remove Hit Points, Mass

Standard Attack Nergal, the undead, and Mouthpiece with Remove Hit Points, Mass. Resistance DC 25 Damage, shapeable line, Penetrating (pierce immunity), Multiattack (single-target), Ranged. Crit 16+, AoA -5/+5
Attack vs Nergal (1d20+15)[30]
Attack vs Undead 1 (1d20+15)[31] Crit?
Attack vs Undead 2 (1d20+15)[18]
Attack vs Mouthpiece (1d20+15)[34] Crit?

[Abracadangit]

Kal marvels at how the thread displays and patterns itself around the various cultists, depicting the hearts of their respective magics. As she does so, she can't help but wonder if Apophis is watching this all from some vantage point, enjoying himself.

"Do you think he's paying attention," Kal thinks, over to Ariadne. "Enjoying himself, as others suffer. Thatstupidgoodfornothing..."

She suddenly feels an odd tug in one of the threads, as she weaves another shield about the team. Did it get caught on something? Kal wonders.

"It certainly has," Ariadne thinks back, meeting Kal's incandescent rage with a sort of weary calm. "Threads in the world catch on pointed things, jagged things. Edges that are not smooth. Threads from your soul catch on pointed thoughts, jagged thoughts. Emotions that burn too bright."

"But he might be WATCHING..."

"Yes, I know. I heard you before. This is the way of gods, they are always 'watching,' being terrible. It changes nothing."

"So let me guess, I just need to think happy thoughts, is that it. Then the thread listens better."

"I did not say that," Ariadne replies, a little miffed that her tutelage is being dismissed as stereotypical. "You do not have to think happy thoughts, or sad thoughts, or any thoughts at all. All such things are a waste. You just need to focus on what needs to be done, and then let the thread help you do it. You can be happy or sad if you like, in the meantime -- the thread cares none."

Kal goes quiet for a moment, as she renews more of the shield patterns encasing the team, making sure to reinforce areas that need it.

"...you're right, thank you," Kal thinks back, finally. "I needed that."

"Hnn, hnn. Focus now, engoní. On what needs to be done."

Spoiler: OOC

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Gonna maintain Silken Shields around the team for another round.

[Dorni]

"Kneel."

The Satyr's command was an enticing, silky smooth purr. Flint could feel the power embedded in the words, in the tempting glow of that piercing golden eye. He could feel the pull. Flint leaned forward... and slapped the Satyr.

It wasn't a gentle slap either. It wasn't a magic-infused strike, or some kind of martial art. He knew it wouldn't put the cultist down, but it was an eloquent rebuttal. He reflected that the Satyr's siren act was a lot less effective when he could feel the aether that imbued her words like a slime.

He used the stunned moment that bought him to thicken the air around himself soar away from her and-

"Nergul!" Nope's attack hammered his brother.

Flint rushed to his brother's side and was relieved to see that his brother was still moving. "You heard the Seer. We should go," he implored, casting about for Sarah. His friends already had a smashing victory over the cult. One of their senior members was down and adherents littered the floor. He just needed to keep his family from becoming part of those statistics.

Spoiler: OOC

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Move: To AQ21
Standard: Use the Ranged Strength of Crossing the Sky to smash the window at AT22. Finishing attack (1d20+6)[7]. On hit, DC 26 vs Damage

[Zelphas]

Mouthpiece's... mouth... is hidden beneath her yellow scarf, but her triumphant grin is all-too evident as the flower crown spins towards her. Equally evident is the scream of anger and pain once Floral's weapon lands atop her head, the brambles and poison working their way into her system with astonishing speed. She fell to her knees, clutching at the crown to wrest it away from her head--

--sunlight danced in the night air for a moment of incongruent impossibility, and Mouthpiece fell fully to the ground atop her dais, soundless. One of the mummies shuddered and collapsed slowly inwards, holding itself upright by magic and will alone; the other snarled, but remained fully fighting fit. The air trembled for a second longer around Nergal before collapsing inwards, causing his wings to list crazily around him even as he tore himself finally free from Ariadne's ropes.

The Satyr's laugh turns into a howl of strangely-mingled glee and rage at Flint's strike, but even as they turn to retaliate the other "cultist" is already gone, flying to his brother. Flint gathered his power to strike at the cracked window, urging his family to flee the field...

"You heard the Seer. We should go,"

"Aww, and just as things might've gotten interesting!"

The voice that came from behind Flint's shoulder is not that of his brother. It is a voice recognized the world over at this point; Watcher may be the most likely out of all the League to give great speeches, but there is one other member who absolutely loves to hear himself talk.

Dante's cloak flutters to the ground, revealing a man of completely different build, height, and weight than the person standing there just moments before. The man takes a moment to straighten the immaculately-pressed, violently yellow shirtsleeves under his crisp magenta blazer, drinking in the attention that his presence brings to the room. His sandy yellow hair, cut short, sways slightly as he looks back and forth, the candlelight glinting off of his thick, rounded spectacles. He smiles, showing yellow-white teeth that are unnaturally sharp in this moment of excitement. The eyes... bright scarlet, with slitted snake's pupils, held open wide in a posture of sheer childlike glee, rest for just a moment upon Flint, giving him a wink.

Apophis, the Lord of Chaos, fifth member of the League of the Future, bounces on the heels of his shiny green dress shoes and takes in a deep, preparatory breath.

I admit, though, it does seem like the fun's almost over here and now." A hiss of scales is the only sign, and the prone figure of Mouthpiece stands, shedding its cloak and revealing Apophis, holding a bouquet of flowers eerily similar to those on the crown Floral threw just moments before. He plucks one and takes an experimental sniff, allowing the crushed blue-green flower to grow fangs and bite down deeply into his cheek. With an abrupt motion, he flings the flower-snake away; it soars into darkness.

The heroes have won, the villains fallen; how noble, how glorious, how... dreadfully dull." The Satyr leaps from its bowing, supplicated position which it took the moment Apophis appeared, Apophis cartwheeling out of the Satyr's robes and flipping into a perfect gymnastics-style landing, arms outstretched. He spins, his hand moving in an exaggerated slapping motion, and Flint is lifted and thrown bodily out of the cracked window, shattering it with his form as he goes.

"Still, I suppose you deserve some sort of reward," Sarah's cry of shock and fear is cut off when Apophis takes her place, looking over the Heroes with an exaggerated frown. After a moment, his face clears as if struck by inspiration, and he snaps his fingers. Behind the Heroes, something grounds and collapses into sand. Apophis grimaces. "Too damaged... Ah well. I know! I'll show you a surprise I have cooking for October. No spoiling, now!"

Apophis unhinges his jaw, and a golden-red snake bursts forth, growing larger and larger and larger. It reaches up, up, up, beyond the reach of the office floor the Heroes are standing in, before getting its jaws around a large, round, glowing orb in the impossible sky.

Apophis swallows the sun.

A moment later and the room is unchanged... but the people and places are different. Floral finds herself standing at the top of the Green Dais, looking at a grotesque sight. A bright pink tutu flounces out, connected to a white, tightly-stretched leotard covering a rotting corpse. The Ballet Zombie spins swiftly, dancing down with unbelievable grace until it is right in front of Floral. With a deceptively delicate step, the zombie drives its heel repeatedly at the biochemist plant's face.

Ariadne is atop the Yellow Dias, facing a zombie dressed in smooth, satiny black coattails; the full tuxedo, complete with cummerbund, bow tie, decorative pins for buttons, and top hat placed just far enough back to reveal the gaping, missing eyehole and openmouthed, vacant stare. The Classical Zombie steps forward immediately, its hands reaching to grab Ariadne's and place one hand on its shoulder, setting the stage for their dance... a dance that Ariadne feels oddly compelled to join.

Nope is at the Black Dais, and his zombie is possibly the most concerning of the group. Sneakers barely peek out under baggy, thick canvas pants, and an oversized tank-top emblazoned with the word "SWOOD" in graffiti-style letters still allows for far too much of the zombie's rotting flesh to be seen. The Hip-hop Zombie immediately spins itself into a complicated tangle on the floor of the dais, elbows and feet swinging Nope's way in wild abandon without ever opening itself up too clearly for attack.

Helios

The phantasmal slap, the crash through the window, should have hurt, but it doesn't; you could swear you hear hissing laughter in your ear just before you are deposited roughly in the empty street outside the office building. A few seconds later, your phone vibrates with several new messages.

Spoiler: Family Texts

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Dante: What happened? All ok? Found myself somewhere in Main Drag

Sarah: Flint? Answer! Did Apophis hurt you?

Dante: Sarah, not on phone! If SE arrived, not our business anymore. Meet at hotel.

Sarah: Shut up Dante! Flint, answer! I'm coming back.

Dante is typing...

Spoiler: OOC

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Map, to remember the Chaos.

All the Zombies have Mobility of 20, so all have higher Initiative than you.

Ballet Zombie

Move Action: None.

Standard Action: Use Pirouette on Floral. (1d20+14)[34] vs. DC 20 or (1d20+10)[20] On a hit, Resistance DC 25 vs. Multiattack, Secondary Effect Damage. The Ballet Zombie is Deflected at 1d20+14. Crit; DC becomes 30.

Classical Zombie

Move Action: None.

Standard Action: Use Shall We? on Ariadne. (1d20+10)[27] vs. DC 20 or (1d20+10)[15] On a hit, Resistance DC 24 vs. Entranced/Compelled (Only to dance with the zombie) and Progressive Weaken Defense. Hit.

Hip-Hop Zombie

Move Action: None.

Standard Action: Use Turtle on Nope. (1d20+12)[24] vs. DC 13 or (1d20+3)[12] On a hit, Resistance DC 22 + Multiattack vs. Impaired & Vulnerable/Disabled & Defenseless. The Hip-Hop Zombie is Deflected at 1d20+12. Hit, full Multiattack; DC becomes 27.

All PCs are on turn. Helios is 1 Move Action from the battlefield.

[Ridai]

The ever-gnawing uncertainty over what might have happened to the people he attacked, things were going kind of well. And then Apophis happened, and drives home they are lucky he just decided to toy with them. So now that "oh gods what happened to Donna?!" to the long list of worries, Nope is being aggressively breakdanced at, with the little insult of being put on the Black Dais, which admittedly may not be too far-fetched in terms of thematics (okay actually it's very app- nevermind).

It's been a day.

So to momentarily escape being slapped around any more by a rotting B-Boy on an Ikea disaster, Nope blips to midair, trying to attack the tutu-clad steppy zombie violently kicking Floral in the face. Just... just unmake it.

Spoiler: Actions

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Free Switch to Remove Personal Relative Distance, Remove Hit Points

Move to N9, same height as standing on a dais

Standard Attack BZ with Remove Hit Points. DC 25/20 Damage (Ranged) Linked Weaken Resistance 10. AoA -5/+5
Attack vs BZ (+5 from AoA, -2 from Impaired) (1d20+13)[33] Nat 20 Crit?

EE Standard Do it again!
Attack vs BZ (+5 from AoA, -2 from Impaired) (1d20+13)[18]


End of Turn Try to get rid of the Affliction DC 27 (1d20+10)[29] Wow. Removed Affliction

[Abracadangit]

Kal is a whirlwind of emotions -- hatred at the appearance of Apophis, confusion at the sudden change in location, and then also... oddly compelled to dance with the zombie? As much as she often considers herself a terrible dancer, she has difficulty shaking this bizarre intrusion into her mind, telling her that it wouldn't be so terrible to just relax for a moment, let her cares fade away, and enjoy th--

"No," says Ariadne, ringing through her mind like a bell. "I do not like being told what to do."

Torn between the strange mental control and Ariadne's flat refusal, Kal stands awkwardly in place.

Spoiler: OOC

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New Resistance DC 24 save to shrug off the effects of the Entranced/Progressive Weaken: (1d20+10)[13]

[Quellian-dyrae]

It was interesting.

Nobody could deny that Apophis had put on a display of real power there. Whisking the cult leaders elsewhere (presumably to safety, but it was Apophis so who even knew?), summoning three powerful and unique zombies, and rearranging the battlefield to his tastes, all basically simultaneously and with little opportunity afforded to resist or respond. Some might have found that terrifying, but...

Lily had an odd sense here, not that she was watching a god work his will, but more like she was watching the well-prepared stagecraft of a professional magician. It was the showiness that did it, replacing the cult leaders, the display of swallowing the sun, the...sheer weirdness of the zombies. There was illusion involved here. The actual magical kind, granted, but more than that. This whole thing was a pure sensory overload. "Look at how powerful and chaotic and unpredictable I am!" Like a magician flamboyantly waving one hand to draw attention away from the other.

Lily didn't adjust her assessment of Apophis's threat level downward, of course. You still needed enough real power to accomplish the physical effects. But she didn't adjust it upward either. Her analysis could be mistaken, but if she was right, this display had provided evidence of the limits of Apophis's power. What he couldn't do trivially.

And if that estimate was correct, it suggested...well, it suggested the Apophis did have some investment in his cult, or at least its leaders. It mattered enough for him to have been watching this event, by magical scrying perhaps or whatever means, maybe even lurking invisibly in the room. And it mattered enough for him to step in personally when the leaders were in danger, even though one had already escaped. And it mattered enough for him to expend actual effort to protect them.

...Maybe. Or maybe the entire thing had been staged by Apophis to give him a chance to show off his "true power", before the leaders of his cult and the city's new superhero team alike. If that were the case, it suggested a potential psychological weakness to exploit.

In either case, it meant Apophis was not the creature of whim he had sought to appear as. He had specific motivations and goals he was working towards. If Lily's entire chain of logic was an accurate assessment of the evidence, and not just her own sense of personal pride trying to cut down a display of raw personal power far beyond anything her dinky little plant control could ever hope to accomplish. But what were the odds of that?

All those thoughts and considerations and assessments and evaluations...would occur to Lily Woods later. Right now she was too busy being violently spun around by a zombie in a tutu to really be devoting much brainpower to such large-scale strategic concerns. Sometimes you just have to live in the moment.

Fortunately while Lily appeared human, her physiology was anything but, and that helped her deal with the worst of the vertigo. With the Classical Zombie having leaped over to the green altar to protect the Ballet Zombie, standing there in reach of both of them probably wasn't a super-great plan. But since Lily was currently having some difficulty telling left from floor, she just went ahead and lunged at the Classical Zombie with both hands dripping acidic nectar. There was more than one way to not be standing in melee with two dangerous opponents.

Spoiler

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Move: Dazed.

Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 10 points to Acidic Nectar, 10 points to Poisonous Nectar, 10 points to Drugged Nectar, 10 points to Lingering Acid, 10 points to Potent Acid. Variable Descriptor the whole thing to [Energy] [Acid].

Standard: Attack the Classical Zombie with Flower Power, Accurate Attacking for 2, at (1d20+12)[23]. On a hit, Resistance DC 23+Penetrating/18 vs. Secondary Effect Damage Linked Weaken Effect and Resistance.

Current Status: 2 Bruises (1/10 RP), (Dazed ends), Fatigued, SE (Damage 35@+5). Recover used.

[Dorni]

Flint was seeing stars.

Surprisingly for him, it wasn't because of pain. Oh no, he'd just been slapped by a god and sent sailing out a fourth-floor window to crash into the street below. He hadn't had his wards fully powered at the time. His bones should be broken in a dozen places if not just reduced to dust. He could have died. Maybe should have. Had discovering magic made him callous to dangers?

No, he felt fine. Mostly. The stars he was seeing came from looking up at the sky from flat on his back. He had an odd moment of tranquility in which he was aware of two facts. One, that Apophis' spell must have been protecting him to some degree. That implied that Apophis wasn't entirely callous towards the Suneaters. Why else would he bother to help a lowly acolyte who hadn't yet chosen a color to escape? Two, his phone was buzzing. He felt the moment of zen passing

Spoiler: Texts

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Don't come back. I'm alive. No injuries.

He must have cushioned my fall.

Where are you? Are you ok?

Flint put his phone away and scrambled to his feet. After his brush with surprise skydiving a part of him wanted to agree with Dante and race back to the hotel while he could. He wasn't a soldier, after all. He'd never trained to fight. And he was out of the fight now. He could sneak back to the hotel and no one would be the wiser. He shook off that line of thought. He didn't work in the hospital's wards, but everyday he'd seen the battles to save lives, sometimes working themselves to exhaustion. Here under the dome, the League had to be stopped. There was no one else who could do it besides he and his new friends. And right now those friends were in danger.

Flint found that he'd ducked into an alleyway, glancing back and forth to make sure that he was alone. Then he wove the familiar spell to take on the shape of the sun god. It had been surprisingly simple once he'd set his mind to it. In summoning the undead, when a physical body wasn't available it was possible to create one from aether. Flint had simply taken the inspiration and adapted it - forming an aetherial vessel around himself. It wasn't that he was piloting it or wearing it. It was an extension of himself. When he opened his eyes again, he was a good 6 inches taller, muscular, and wearing that deep red and gold-trim armor and cape.

Helios flew out of the alley, keeping low and circling to the west side of the building. Then he shot into the sky and smashed through the glass and into the battlefield. Helios did smile at that. He was used to office battles.

"Looks like I'm late to the party! Hope you didn't have too much fun without me!"

He snapped his fingers and one of the zombies burst into flames.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Move: To alley
Free: Helios transformation, activate Flight
Move: Lots, end up in J4
Standard: Cast Combust on Classical Zombie. (1d20+10)[14], on hit DC 25+/20+ vs Penetrating Damage & Penetrating Weaken [Resistance] & Affliction [Impaired/Disabled]

[Zelphas]

Nope's burst of unmaking strikes down... on the Classical Zombie, who is suddenly missing his tailcoat and several pounds of weight. The top hat remains inexplicably in place, however, even after its high speed quickstep across the room to block Nope's line of sight. The Ballet Zombie continues twirling slowly atop its dais, unconcerned. Floral strikes at the Classical Zombie.. just in time for it to catch her hands, the sizzling acidic nectar ignored. It bows, Helios' burst of flame appearing just above its head without singing even the rim of its top hat. The Classical Zombie's hands slowly begin crushing down at Floral as it starts to turn her in a slow, steady spin, stepping carefully in place to a rhythm only it (and possibly Ariadne) can hear.

The Ballet Zombie, twirling steadily, skips down and forwards, leaping towards Ariadne, frozen on her dais. With a graceful bound, it jumps forward, one outstretched foot pointed directly at the frozen thread-weaver's stomach, set to bowl Ariadne over and out of the map.

With exaggerated running motions, the Hip-Hop Zombie darts across the distance to where Nope and Helios are standing. It throws itself into a whirling, dancing dervish on the floor as soon as it arrives, feet, knees, elbows, and hands striking with unnatural force to both damage and knock Nope and Helios back out into the night.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Map.

Classical Zombie

Move Action: Dazed.

Standard Action: Use Waltz on Floral. (1d20+12)[22] On a hit, Resistance DC 27/22/22 vs. Multiattack Damage linked Strength (grab only) Linked Dazed & Vulnerable/Stunned & Defenseless. The Affliction is Physiological. Hit, no Multiattack.

End of Turn: regenerates 1 point of Weaken Resistance.

Ballet Zombie

Move Action: Shift to W9.

Standard Action: Use Grand Jete on Ariadne. (1d20+14)[21] On a hit, Resistance DC 25/20/20 vs. Multiattack Damage Linked Strength (to Launch Ariadne out of the window behind her) Linked Progressive Weaken Defense (...again. huh.). Hit, full Multiattack; DC is 30/20/20.

Hip-Hop Zombie

Move Action: Shift to K7.

Standard Action: Use Coffee Grinder, Burst Area 1, on Helios and Nope. On a hit, Resistance DC 27/22 vs. Multiattack Damage Linked Strength (Launching Helios out the window he came in, and Nope towards the lower window from Y to AB).

Helios: (1d20+12)[17] Miss
Nope: (1d20+12)[19] Hit, +2 Multiattack due to AoA; DC is 29/22.

All PCs are on turn.

[Quellian-dyrae]

The Classical Zombie grabbed Lily's arms with crushing force. Fortunately, her body was closer to wood than flesh in terms of physical resilience, so instead of snapping both of her arms like, well, twigs, it only bruised her some. As for the grab itself, well...Lily had never really expected to have to deal with much in the way of physical violence in her previous life. But Hannah had insisted she learn at least a few self-defense techniques. Hannah's protectiveness towards her baby sister hadn't started with her development of superpowers. Of course, back then, Lily had been much more appreciative and much less resentful of it.

Lily was pretty much exactly as strong as she looked, so techniques involving overpowering her opponent had been right out. But there were techniques that preyed on the weaknesses and limitations of the human body, and they could serve remarkably well even if you had a tremendous disadvantage of strength. And while zombies may not have felt pain, may not have been using their internal organs any more, and may have had supernatural strength behind them, they were still physically made up of all the same stuff as a normal human body. They still had muscles, and tendons, and joints, and ignoring all functions of physiology, those were and remained physical mechanisms that responded predictably to specific applications of physical forces.

The zombie was vastly stronger than Lily was. It would have been based on the size and musculature of its body alone, without any supernatural help. But this wasn't about strength. It was about technique, leverage, and mechanics. When Lily suddenly swept her arms out in just the right circular motion, exerting just the right force on the zombie's wrists in just the right place, its hands came open and she was freed.

...Now if only she could have told her big sister how she had used the maneuver she had taught her to break the hold of a superpowered zombie without it starting a screaming match about how she never should have been close enough to a superpowered zombie to get grabbed in the first place.

Right. Not productive. Lily shunted her family drama to the back of her mind and-

...And Helios was here now. Helios was here and his three family members weren't. And maybe in the face of Apophis's direct intervention there hadn't been anything Lily could have done about that, but she still felt guilty.

Still not productive. She shunted his family drama to the back of her mind too.

"I mean, it's kinda a suck party, to be honest," Floral quipped back. "No food, ugly decorations, the guests of honor all left early, and worst of all-" she said with a disapproving gesture at the dancing zombies. "-we had specifically requested live entertainers!"

Sure, that probably wasn't productive either, but it made her feel better.

Speaking of making people feel better, the hits were starting to rack up for her team. Lily sent another vine across the way, flower cups filled with more healing nectar blooming along either side of it.

Spoiler

Show

Delaying until after Helios.

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

Move: Meh.

Standard: Healing Nectar on Lily, Ariadne, and...I mean she isn't actually aware he could use it but I believe Helios is ending his turn in shapeable area range so sure him too if that's correct. Restorative Persistent Healing.

Lily: (1d20+10)[25]. 20 RP after Persistent. Clears the last Bruise, but the other ten are wasted.
Ariadne: (1d20+10)[11]. GROWING A NEW FUTURE! Downtime-fueled Healing reroll! Ends up being 15 RP after Persistent
Helios: (1d20+10)[13]. 3 RP, for what it's worth.

Current Status (counting Helios's Healing from OOC): Fatigued, SE (Healing +6). Recover used.

[Dorni]

"I see. Well this should liven things up." Helios flicked a hand in an arcane gesture. Warm, golden light gathered around Helios' companions, renewing their vigor while knitting their wounds together.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Move: To K11
Standard: Cast Heal on the party, shaping the area as a 120'x6"x6" line. Rolled OOC.

Status: Bruised, 5 RP, SE Healing 6

[Abracadangit]

From having her mind tampered with mere moments ago, to this sudden torrent of healing from her teammates, Ariadne feels a little disoriented. With a quick burst of renewed anger, she refocuses on the Ballet Zombie who had so recently tried to eject her from the proceedings.

She floats into the air, suspended by red threads, just as a swirl of the very same threads descends on her undead foe.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Free Action: Switching Threadwork Conjurations Array to Flight. Gonna fly straight up far enough so Ballet Zombie can't melee me anymore, then taking a swing with Snaring Strands.

Ballet Zombie: (1d20+10)[25]

[Ridai]

Helios' arrival is met with a "Hey, good you're here" that comes out a lot more shaky than Nope may have hoped.

A lot of healing is distributed (it would be nice to be able to heal people without fear and sweating everytime), so he should probably get on shutting down the zomb-

Hip-Hop Zombie comes wide corkscrewing into the air and spin-kicking Nope in the face. "Stop thaaat!" he reflexively says, not feeling any harm, but he can't concentrate with rotting feet in his face. He tries to slap the legs away, until he cancels all momentum, the zombie stops, and just falls to the ground. Where it just is back to breakdancing.

It has been a day.

Classical Zombie, go away. Modem sounds. A hole in space.

Spoiler: Actions

Show

Free Switch to Remove Second Guessing

Move Flail against the Hip-Hop Zombie

Standard Attack Classical Zombie with Remove Hit Points. DC 25/20/20 Damage (Ranged) Linked Weaken Resistance Linked Affliction (Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless/Incapacitated). Crit 16+, AoA -5/+5
Attack vs Classical Zombie (1d20+15)[28]

[Zelphas]

Cheap, distorted canned laughter, reminiscent of what one would hear from a late-nineties sitcom, warbles out from the empty air in response to Floral's pronouncements, redoubling in time with Helios' response. The laughter gives way to a series of groans and boos when Nope fails to continue the bit, cutting out with an oddly-sharp record scratch as the void dials up wifi and the Classical Zombie loses a few more pounds of muscle that it could ill afford to lose.

The Ballet Zombie spins and whirls over the threads flung its way by Ariadne, somehow snagging the spectral thread with one of its outstretched limbs and diverting it towards Floral (though the threads fly wide of the flora-mancer). Just below the edge of her hearing, Ariadne can almost hear the hint of a tune, something light and classical and oddly dreamlike; the vestiges of the Classical Zombie's initial strike, which haunts her just enough to slow her reaction to a series of fast spinning kicks from the garishly-attired Ballet Zombie before her.

The Classical Zombie tilts its head slowly at Floral, one rotting hand moving up to hold its top hat carefully in place. It seems almost... confused for a moment, before a slow thought percolates into its mind. The dance. The dance was simply the wrong style! It steps forward strongly, aiming to bring Floral into a quicker, more robust dance style, its hands still crushing downwards, the jarring motion of the dance threatening to chip away at Floral's defenses.

Spinning slowly on the floor, the Hip-Hop Zombie at last ends its rotation facing Helios, the newcomer. A sudden surprise guest couldn't be ignored, especially one with the moves to dodge its style. Leaping up with astonishing swiftness for its rotted state, the Hip-Hop Zombie performs an elaborate series of dynamic shifts and movements, ending in a strong pose with one finger jabbing towards Helios' chest... and Helios (if he does not avoid the finger) would almost be able to hear an old-fashioned boombox click suddenly on, driving him to show off his skillz (yes, even with the z) to the gesticulating corpse in front of him.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Ballet Zombie

Move Action: None.

Standard Action: Use Pirouette on Ariadne. (1d20+14)[17] On a hit, Resistance DC 25 vs. Multiattack, Secondary Effect Damage. The Ballet Zombie is Deflected at 1d20+14. Hit, only +2 Multiattack. Resistance DC becomes 27.

Classical Zombie

Move Action: None.

Standard Action: Use Tango on Floral. (1d20+14)[32] On a hit, Resistance DC 25/20 vs. Multiattack, Secondary Effect Damage and Progressive Weaken Resistance. The Weaken is Physiological. Hit, full Multiattack; DCs are 30/20.

End of turn: Regenerates 1 point of Resistance.

Hip-Hop Zombie

Move Action: Shift to J10.

Standard Action: Use Show Your Stuff on Helios. (1d20+12)[24] On a hit, Resistance DC 22/22 vs. Affliction (Entranced/Compelled/Controlled; Limited (Only to dance with the zombie)) and Progressive Weaken Effect. Hit.

All PCs are on turn.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Wow. Apophis actually set up a laugh track to respond to their quips. That was...actually the most effective response to heroic quippage she had ever seen in real life or comic book. Apophis was truly evil.

The Classical Zombie's dance attack pulled and twisted at Lily's joints. Human though she looked, internally she lacked many of the weaknesses of a flesh-and-blood person, but that didn't keep it from hurting. "I don't want to dance with you! Nobody wants to dance with you! Nobody likes you! You smell bad!" she growled at it. Yeah it was kinda mean, but also it was kinda true.

As if to drive her distaste home, she spat in the zombie's face. Well, she spat a glob of acidic nectar at the zombie's face. I might have buried the lede here. Her skin took on a faintly golden sheen as more nectar started sweating from her pores, but the same liquid that would dissolve the zombie's flesh soothed and restored her own.

Spoiler

Show

Move: Staggered.

Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 10 points to Acidic Nectar, 10 points to Poisonous Nectar, 20 points to Healing Nectar, 10 points to Solar Nectar. Variable Descriptor to [Energy] [Acid].

Standard: Ready an action. After Helios's Secondary Effect triggers (I'mma just roll it here so I can get it all resolved at once: (1d20+6)[15]), attack the Classical Zombie with Flower Power, Power Attacking for 2, at (1d20+8)[16]. On a hit, Resistance DC 27/22 vs. Damage Linked Weaken Resistance. Lily receives Persistent Healing at (1d20+10)[27]. 5 RP from the SE, 17 from my heal, +5 for Persistent. Removes the Bruise, downgrades Staggered to Woozy, 7/10 RP towards removing Woozy.

Current Status: Woozy (7/10 RP), Fatigued. Recover used.

[Ridai]

"What the-" And now he is being heckled for some reason? He is already sweating a lot from all the concentration seriously hurting his brain, defending himself from black magic and rotting feet and all that. He needs to figure out some sort of cardio for... whatever helps with whatever he is doing. Maybe it's like a muscle that needs to be exercised. That's a common trope at least. He's really done with the situation at hand though. And he is not sure how long he can maintain ideal(...ish) focus, so he needs to get more economical with what he has left.

So Nope decides to focus fire via venting, along with unreasonably inflammatory nonsense just to piss Apophis off, because screw him.

"Yo! Theater's for failed C-list TV actors, playing for cheap red wine drinkers who just want direct-to-DVD Disney with the serial numbers filed off!" Nope akimbo-flips the bird to the thin air, followed by pointing to the Classical Zombie. "Also screw you and your top hat in particular!" White noise. Classical soprano interpretation of the Goofy scream. Away with the gentlememe. Use the moment of irritated focus to fire off just wholesale erasure. They're zombies. Don't need to be careful about what happens to their bodies.

Nope's head hurts and he is uncomfortably sweaty everywhere. At least he got a small break from the brain-wracking perma-focus. It's been a day.

Spoiler: Actions

Show

Move Try to conserve NP (Nope Points).

Standard We are attacking the Classical Zombie once again with full force Remove Hit Points. DC 25/20/20 Damage (Ranged) Linked Weaken Resistance Linked Affliction (Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless/Incapacitated). Crit 16+, AoA -5/+5
Attack vs Classical Zombie (1d20+15)[19]

[Abracadangit]

Kal manages to weave a series of tiny shields to deflect the Ballet Zombie's kicks as they come in, one at a time. She notices the rest of the team focusing on the finely dressed zombie.

"Never cared much for classical music," Kal admits, as her needles become a blur.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Snarling Strands at the Classical Zombie, hopefully gum him up and expedite the pummeling process.

Snarling Strands against Classical Zombie: (1d20+10)[13]

[Dorni]

Helios looked a the hip-hop zombie's outstretched hand. Back to the zombie. Back to the hand. Back to the zombie. "Sorry. Hip-hop was at its best when it was underground."

The sun god flicked a hand in a gesture that was half arcane and half 'shoo'. At the same time a mass of solid air shaped like a giant hand enfolded zombie's outstretched hand - and the entire zombie - in its grip. "Here, let me reintroduce you."

And it chucked the zombie out the 4th story window.

"Whoops," Helios deadpanned while the zombie sailed through the sky.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Move: Nah.
Standard: Launch Hip-Hop Zombie with Ranged Strength. (1d20+10)[23]. Helios will launch the zombie at Str 10 out the nearby open window at as high an angle as possible, because might as well add as much height to that 4 story fall as possible.

End of Turn: Healing SE: (1d20+6)[11] +1 HP

Status: Bruised, 6RP

[Zelphas]

The background voices let out theatrical "oohs" at Floral's diatribe of insults... which fade into gasps, and then shocked silence, as she continues. The Classical Zombie tilts its head quizzically to one side, the glob of acidic nectar flying past its face without quite brushing the top hat. The heckling voices return for Ariadne's quiet statement, mixed in with cheers that she spoke her mind in the moment and joined in. The Classical Zombie twirls its top hat through the trailing red threads, considering the ribbon-like effect they have on the article for a moment before seemingly deciding against it and freeing the clothing article from the threads with a deft twist of its hand.

Nope makes his statements. The lights flicker. A low buzz, like microphone feedback. Lacking the lithe, dancelike movements, the three Zombies turn slowly, as one, to stare at the indistinct man floating in the air.

Helios' quip and subsequent launching of the Hip-Hop Zombie breaks the eerie moment, as the laugh track ramps back up with whistles of appreciation and a cartoonish record scratch that fades into the distance with the Zombie's disappearing form. The Classical Zombie and the Ballet Zombie do not move immediately, however; their dead eyes are focused upon Nope. And then, they act as one.

The Classical Zombie leaps ahead first, gripping forward to seize Nope in movements similar to what was done to Floral moments before. This time, the movements are harsher, more savage, brutally going after the nothing-manipulator to tear him apart. The Ballet Zombie leaps forward an instant later, aiming with a series of heavy kicks to batter at Nope and knock apart his balance.

Apophis is a great lover of theatre.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Map.

Classical Zombie

Move Action: Shift to M10.

Standard Action: Use Tango on Nope, All-Out Power Attacking for 5. (1d20+14)[31] On a hit, Resistance DC 30/25 vs. Multiattack, Secondary Effect Damage and Progressive Weaken Resistance. Hit, Full Multiattack; DC are 35/25.

End of Turn 1: Regenerates 1 Toughness.

End of Turn 2: SE triggers on Floral; Resistance DC 30 vs. Damage.

Ballet Zombie

Move Action: Shift to O9.

Standard Action: Use Pirouette on Nope, All-Out Power Attacking for 5. (1d20+14)[27] On a hit, Resistance DC 30 vs. Multiattack, Secondary Effect Damage. The Ballet Zombie is Deflected at 1d20+9. Hit, Full Multiattack; DC is 35.

End of Turn: SE triggers on Ariadne; Resistance DC 27 vs. Damage.

Hip-Hop Zombie

Move Action: Too Far Away.

Standard Action: Too Far Away.

All PCs are On Turn.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily was starting to get worried angry. These were just a bunch of freaking zombies. They weren't even normal brain-eating zombies. They were stupid nonsense dance zombies. Who ever heard of a dancing zombie!? And yet, they just hadn't been able to take one down yet. They had disabled freaking Raphael in a matter of seconds, and a few shambling corpses that Apophis had probably whipped up as a joke were giving them this much trouble!

And then Helios just...threw one out the window. No solar fire, no focused beams of pure sunlight. He conjured up a magical hand and defenestrated one of them, and it worked. What even the fli-

And then it struck her.

"No..." she said quietly. It...it couldn't be. Could it?

There was...a certain sort of precedent, to be fair. Something of a trope. The one thing you can't defend against is yourself, and all. But...

The two zombies still in the room went hard at Nope. Lily just sighed. There was nothing to do for it.

She was still a scientist. Now she had a theory.

She was going to have to test it.

Never in her life had she more wanted to be wrong.

Lily raised her hands and pointed them at the Classical Zombie, her thumbs and forefingers extended to make finger guns.

And then they transformed.

Into these.

Because if utter nonsense was what it took to beat these freaking zombies, she would give them utter nonsense.

"EAT THIS PEA-BRAIN!" she yelled, because if she was going down this rabbit hole then she was going all the way down, by thunder!

And then she fired off her pea shooters, straight for the back of the Classical Zombie's head.

Spoiler

Show

Move: Dazed.

Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 10 points to Acidic Nectar, 10 points to Floral Thorns, 10 points to Potent Acid, 20 points to Healing Nectar.

Standard: Attack CZ with Pea Shooters. Power Attacking for 5, because having played this game on this forum with this RNG for so long...God help me, I expect to hit anyway. Maybe even to crit. (1d20+5)[21]. On a hit, Resistance DC 30+Penetrating vs. Damage. On a miss, Homing 1. That oughtta do it

Either way, Lily receives Healing at (1d20+10)[25]. 15 RP, fully healed after adding to the previous 7.

Current Status: Fatigued. Recover used.

[Ridai]

Seeing his attack do absolutely nothing, Nope observes "You know what, venting really sucksYEEEEOOOOWCH" And just to drive the point home, he is being very aggressively danced at, Nope soon seeing stars and feeling close to collapsing after feeling relatively fine, if kind of tired, kind of haphazardly drifting in the air now.

"A'right, doing this the right way," he wheezes, followed by gurgling sounds and coughing. Okay. Let's try this again! Proper like. Classical Zombie. Go. Away. Just poof, gone. Not like he will be conscious for long, so caution thrown even more to the wind, then... crossing his mental fingers things will work out. Which is a terrible thing to do. But he made his bed, now he has to sleep in it. So for a moment, all sound drops out in the area. Then, the lowest possible drone. The infinite, all-consuming vastness of the void.

Spoiler: Actions

Show

Move Regrets.

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

EE Standard Do it again! (Please redirect this attack to Ballet Zombie if, against all odds, the Classical Zombie actually goes down)
Attack vs Classical (or Ballet) Zombie (1d20+15)[21]


End of turn Roll against Progressive Weaken Resistance (1d20+11)[27] Resist

[Dorni]

Helios cast about when the laugh track responded to him. So. Apophis was still hanging around. That seemed unlikely. Why leave the crowd noises if there was no audience to appreciate them? No, Helios was pretty sure that Apophis was watching. He refocused, studying the room and reaching out with his supernatural sense to search for signs of the false god. Or if not that the magic he'd wrought and left behind.

That didn't mean he ignored his struggling friends. He wove the runes again, conjuring another focused pulse of Life energy to restore them.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Move: Active Perception for Apophis. Assuming mystic sense applies. (1d20+8)[18]
Standard: Cast Heal. Shaping as 120' line affecting all allies. This Healing is Restorative and carries SE 6. If possible, on Floral set the effect to Trigger the next time she is struck.

Helios: (1d20+10)[12] +2 RP. He will not be healed.
Nope: (1d20+10)[19] +9 RP
Ariadne: (1d20+10)[27] +17 RP

[Zelphas]

Floral's transformation and outburst sends the loudspeaker "audience" into full-on cheers; whooping, screaming "We love you, Flower Girl!", the works. The giant pea slams into the back of the Classical Zombie's head in a puff of grisly dust, knocking the undead creature for a loop and, almost miraculously, knocking the top hat off of its head. It manages to ignore a bit of Nope's follow-up strike, but eventually it is overcome by the tide of nothingness and loses even more of its being, beginning to resemble mere skin and bones in a once-fine suit. It bends ponderously down to pick up its top hat, almost literally creaking as it lifts the clothing item up, dusts it off, and carefully sets it back atop its head. Turning back to Nope, it reaches forward once more, attempting to spin the indistinct Hero into a deep dip... which incidentally will slam Nope's head into the floor, but I'm sure that's just an accident.

The Ballet Zombie spins quietly around Nope and the Classical Zombie before darting forwards towards Helios, one outstretched leg leaping forward to strike the god-named Hero and possibly toss him from the room. Even as it does so, it keeps its careful spin, protecting itself from most dangers.

The Hip-Hop Zombie... well, it... it...

The Hip-Hop Zombie isn't coming back, is it.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Classical Zombie

Move Action: Dazed.

Standard Action: Use Waltz on Nope. (1d20+12)[24] On a hit, Resistance DC 27/22/22 vs. Multiattack Damage linked Strength (grab only) Linked Dazed & Vulnerable/Stunned & Defenseless. Hit, full Multiattack; DCs are 32/22/22.

Ballet Zombie

Move Action: Shift to L10.

Standard Action: Use Grand Jete on Helios. (1d20+14)[26] On a hit, Resistance DC 25/20/20 vs. Multiattack Damage Linked Strength (to Launch Helios out of the windowat F11-14) Linked Progressive Weaken Defense. Hit, +2 Multiattack; DCs are 27/20/20.

Hip-Hop Zombie

In the city.

All PCs are on turn.

[Ridai]

As Nope's head hits the ground, compounding hurt just as he gets healed somewhat, he is just so done. Combat is really damn fatiguing, and he feels like he got a bundle deal on concussions. Nope is too tired to really think about much anymore. Just this slow grind as he keeps getting pummeled, needing to hold on a while longer. Coherent thought is getting rather difficult, which is bad because you kind of need that when you are firing a thought-guided invisible miniature nuclear railgun of erasing reality. So he tries for a psychosomatic aid. Since the Classical Zombie is so damn touchy, and Nope really doesn't like when people just randomly touch him out of the blue, Nope pokes the zombie.

Remove what I am poking.

It may even not take off the tip of his finger in the process.

Spoiler: Action

Show

Move Uuuugh.

Standard Remove Hit Points on CZ with AoA -5/+5. The same as always.
(1d20+13)[19] 27 actually

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily had wanted to be wrong. And she was.

She hadn't thought that desire all the way through, hadn't realized that being wrong would mean she not only now felt silly, but didn't even have a destroyed zombie to show for it.

Oh, and also, the freaking Live Studio Audience or whatever they were was laughing at her (okay, they were cheering for her, but they were calling her Flower Girl so it got rewritten to laughing at her in her head).

Man Apophis was just...freaking infuriating, is what he was.

But those concerns had to all be forced back to the back of her mind. The Hip-Hop Zombie hadn't returned to rejoin the battle. That meant it was out there in the city, causing who-knew-what manner of chaos and destruction. Or possibly getting into a rap battle with some teenagers. But probably the chaos and destruction thing.

They needed to get out there and stop it, but it was taking everything they had just to deal with the two zombies in here. Lily didn't know if they could spare a fighter, and wasn't sure any of them could actually go one on one with one of these zombies for long.

(And if it was out there long enough, the police might engage it. If Hannah and Andrew came up against one of these things, it would tear through them like tissue paper.)

They needed to drop the Classical Zombie. Then two of them could move to engage Hip-Hop, and the other two could deal with Ballet. Two to one odds would be sufficient. They had to be.

But first they had to drop the Classical Zombie.

Lily drew deep on the reserves of sunlight within her. She only had so much to spare, and this would use up much of what remained. But it didn't matter. The Classical Zombie had to fall, now, or people were going to die. Her skin visibly got just a bit thinner, dryer, more brittle. Her pale blond hair started to turn brown at the edges, like a flower just beginning to wilt.

And she fired a pair of oranges, one from each hand, down into the thick of the melee. They struck together, fusing and extending, into a twisting tangle of vines from which sprouted something like half a dozen nightmarish flowers, like some sort of unholy cross between venus fly traps, Super Mario pirhanna plants, and anger, with jaws composed of four wildly snapping petals, teeth of wicked curved thorns dripping with sizzling acid.

They spat their nectar everywhere, spraying her fellow heroes with more healing, while slathering the Classical Zombie with enough acid to melt a full-grown horse down to a few pitted bones and a puddle of red-orange goop.

Spoiler

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Free: Reconfigure Flower Power. 10 points to Floral Thorn, 10 points to Acidic Nectar, 10 points to Lingering Acid, 10 points to Healing Nectar (5 ranks), 5 points to Medicinal Nectar, 5 points to Floral Vines (using Dynamic Choices to swap it to Healing).

Move: Attempt to Feint CZ at [roll]1d20+5z[/roll].

Standard: Attack CZ with Acidic Nectar, All Out Attack for 5, Power Attack for 5, at (1d20+10)[27]. On a hit, Resistance DC 30 vs. Secondary Effect Damage. On a miss, Homing. Regardless, Helios, Nope, and Ariadne receive Restorative Healing.

Helios: (1d20+5)[11]. 1 RP. Helios literally just can't be healed.
Nope: (1d20+5)[25]. CRIT! 20 RP.
Ariadne: (1d20+5)[21]. 11 RP

Extra Effort - Additional Standard Action: DO IT AGAIN! If CZ is down target BZ instead and Accurate Attack for 2 to partially-offset the Power Attack. (1d20+10)[16].

Helios: (1d20+5)[6]. Screw it, using my second Growing a Better Future reroll. HEAL DARN YOU!
Nope: (1d20+5)[11]. +1 RP, 21 total
Ariadne: (1d20+5)[12]. +2 RP, 12 total

Current Status: Fatigued, Exhausted as of next turn, AoA -5. Recover used.

[Dorni]

Helios raised an eyebrow at the sight of Lily's pea shooters. Sure, it wasn't unlike anything she'd done before, but to just outright reshape your hands into organic guns? That was both impressive and unsettling. But then, his other ally just removed things from existence and he was a wizard, and they were fighting a magic death cult. Strange was the order of the day.

Which was right about the time the Ballet Zombie leaped at him. Helios prepared another air curtain, ready to bat the zombie away. He wasn't worried. He'd dealt with undead before. He met the zombie's kick - and had a fraction of a second to realize those other undead had been conjured by noobs.

The zombie's kick shattered his half-formed air curtain and caught him in the ribs with bone-crunching force, which if not for his protective wards would have been literal. Helios flew backwards out the window into the night sky, tumbling head-over-heels.

Helios willed power to his flight enchantment and abruptly halted his momentum, floating upside down over the main drag. Helios took a moment to right himself and repair his damaged wards.

Spoiler: OOC

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Standard: Recover
Move: Staggered

End-of-turn: Recover 1 Weaken, SE Healing (1d20+6)[25]. Finally a good roll. Healing 1 bruise and 3 points of Weaken. 1 PR remains.

Status: +2 Defenses, Recover Used, Fine, -3 Defenses, 1 RP

[Abracadangit]

Kal has what some might call an interesting series of moments. She definitely remembers getting hit by a zombie -- and maybe blacking out for a second -- but with the combined healing powers of her teammates and a bit of a magical jolt from Ariadne, she manages to somehow keep her footing, albeit dizzily.

"Did I...?" Kal begins to question.

"Not important. I grow weary of Apophis' foolishness, and his dancing corpses. Go, help your friends."

Kal doesn't need much more prodding than that, as her needles hum with mystical energy.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Move: To N11.
Array Switch: Dual Needle Weaving.
Action: Silken Shields, should have enough to cover Nope and I. With Dual Needle Weaving, add Reflect and Redirect. I know the Deflect won't be as effective, but just in case.