Insight's "Emerald City Knights" - Prelude - The Silver Storm

Jacie glances over at the civilians, but guesses they'll be fine with so many other 'heroes' helping out. She turns her attention back to Magnetic "Power Gamer? Oh little girl you don't know what a power gamer is. See.." *Vwoom* "A real Power Gamer can adapt to anything." She dashes forward, batting the stop sign aside with her newly formed beam saber, and then slashing it across Magnetic's chest, cutting into the metal 'armour'.

Jemal said:

OOC: looks like you both want to save the civies. Mind if I make a suggestion? Greyhound is fast enough to get partway to the black fog, see the ice wall (which, graybeard, does not require a check to my knowledge) and turn to help someone else. Johns having a bit of trouble with squidley holding a hostage. You could try to zip over and free him (disarm check perhaps?) and be gone before ol tentacles even realizes his human shield has been replaced by a potted plant! He's a bit distracted and confused by John ATM so you could probly even get HM to give you some circumstance bonuses.

Click to expand...

Satisfied that Jacie seems to be handling Death Magnetic for the moment Michelle takes stock of the situation. While it's fairly easy for her to control light, she realizes quickly that making a laser beam is just too hard to do while also keeping that dark area going.

Still wreathed in invisibility and thus in a fairly secure position, she decides to try to help against the squiddy-tentacled beast of a villain. She can't actually hurt it without dropping her aid to Jacie, but it didn't know that...

And so a new shape streaks down from the sky to hover before the tentacled monstrosity! A handsome, muscular man in a shining aquamarine bodysuit with a star on the front. With a gleaming Crest (tm) smile and blue halo around his gloved fists he confronts the cthonic supervillain thus!

"What's this?! A new villain in my fair city?! And what do you call yourself; Captain Calamari?! Release those citizens and surrender peacefully or you shall feel the wrath of my cosmic starbolts!"

He launches a sizzling torpedo of white and cyan that whizzes just over the head of the monstrous super in a clear warning shot.

(OOC - Can't actually use lasers at the same time as the darkness attack since they're in an array...but the darkness and illusions are linked in the same slot, so they're fine. Will save DC 18 to recognize the illusion as a false image.)

John seeing the octo-butt distracted takes advantage of this moment, and attempts an all-out-strike, to hopefully save the civilian.



[sblock=Status]
Damage: 10
Dodge: 4
Parry: 5
Toughness: 10
Impervious: 10
Fort: 10
Will: 6
Condition:
Saves Penalty:
[/sblock]

(OOC, that is a great idea, Jemal! Not sure if it works action-wise, since making an illusion is a standard action and making a demoralize check is also a standard action...but I'll roll it and work that out later. )

The beam whizzes by one of Octaman;s arms and he turns to see Michelle reading another "starbolt". Taking his eye off John proves a mistake as the man sizes up his punch and contents with a massive hit to the chin, sending the Stormer flying.

Unconscious from the big punch, the tentacle holding the civilian overhead let's go, sending the man falling. Lucky for him though John is there and catches him out of the air before he hits the ground.

Jacie's power blade is a faint glow inside the sphere of darkness. As Death Magnetic is vulnerable and unable to protect herself, the blade makes short work of her.

Meanwhile Kyle and Greyhound find out almost simultaneously that they have been duped. The dark fog and the cowering people were all an illusion to help Lightshow escape.

OOC: Combat Over as well as the module.

____________________________________________________

"Wow that was great!" Marcus says coming out from under a nearby car. "The formation of a new superhero team right here in Emerald City, along with their triumph over a deadly group of villains."

"You all need a name," he continues excitedly looking over the battlefield. He spots the van that seems to be at the center of the explosion and the strange silver storm cloud. "That's it. I'll call you all The Silver Stormers. The good guys compared to those Dark Stormers."

As the journalist continues the area still has people hurt and fires spreading in buildings. Holding his phone up he Marcus says, "Hey I can get some rescue pictures to go with the ones I took of your fight. Go on Stormers. You can be heroes!"

[sblock=OOC]Scene 1: Picking up the Pieces

There is still plenty to do before saving those who aren't illusions made by a villain. Each player needs to take one of the follow crisis and make the apporaite rolls. This is everyone splitting off to help where they can and what fits their abilities best. You shoudl dicuss this in the OOC as only one hero gets one crisis and then it is off the table for the next. After you are ready I hope to read some heroic postings.


COMFORTABLE WORDS
Deeds normally count more than just talk, but when words can calm a panic and get the many rubberneckers to disperse peacefully, speeches are worthwhile. If the heroes have demonstrated good, noble conduct thus far, they face Indifferent crowds that depart once they’re sweet-talked up to Favorable or better via the normal DC 15 Persuasion check. Characters Behaving Badly thus far in the adventure (your typical ‘90s-refugee antihero, for instance) can use Intimidation instead, treating the bystanders (Will defense 0) like minions. This isn’t exactly the best public relations move, but it does clear the scene as needed.

THE WEIGHT
Some downtown buildings and walls proved not to be up to super-fight code and collapsed, burying many innocents alive. A few victims are easily found and uncovered, but most require some searching and heavy lifting before being rescued. At the extremis, the most deeply entombed victims require a DC 20 Perception check to locate, and enough Strength to lift 10 ranks of weight or greater to budge the biggest chunks of debris off the helpless, trapped people underneath. If the heroes are a little on the shrimpy side and fall short of these numbers (even with a Team Check and/or Extra Effort), remind them there
are still plenty of other victims that can be rescued with lower Strength ranks.

EMERGENCY!
As outlined above, simply locating the trapped victims is a crucial first step towards getting the necessary heavy-lifting equipment where it’s needed. In addition to being extra sets of eyes and ears, characters who answered that Charles Atlas ad can help clear a path through the rubble and into the troubled areas for the emergency services vehicles. As above, an effective lifting of Strength 10 or greater overcomes any obstacles. An effective lifting Strength 12, however, allows a hero to make a truly spectacular Emerald City debut by simply lifting the emergency vehicles themselves and carrying them over the debris to where they need to be! You can bet that image will be on the front page of The Emerald City Courier-Express tomorrow, and go viral on the net within minutes of the actual feat. Heroes with Damage effects may also be able to clear away debris with sufficiently precise use: a DC 15 attack check against the Toughness 8 rubble manages to clear a path without making the situation any worse, but two or more degrees of failure on the attack check might cause another collapse, inflicting Damage 8 on the hero and anyone else nearby.

YOU MAKE ME FEEL BRAND NEW
Characters with Healing effects can be of no end of use, encountering every degree of injury possible. If the heroes live up to the name and keep at their merciful tasks, time becomes a blur for them, marked only by the sincere, heartfelt thanks of those they help. Any characters with the Treatment skill have to get by just on old-fashioned know-how when aiding the injured (DC 10 to diagnose traumas; DC 15 to stabilize the dying as usual), but are no less busy or appreciated.

FIRE
Heroes with power over flames, water, air, or the weather have an opportunity to shine by helping to put out the various fires started by the Storm and the stormers running amok. The fiercest blazes top out at rank 7 (unless the characters did something foolish earlier that exacerbated matters), and may be countered with the appropriate powers (see Countering Ongoing Effects on page 96 of the Hero’s Handbook).

GOOD LUCK![/sblock]

Secure in her invisibility, Michelle had a good vantage point to survey the scene from as the fracas came to its finale. The crowd attracted first by the original disturbance, then by the super-fight, was now making it hard for rescue workers and emergency vehicles to penetrate. They were having trouble clearing it up, partly because they themselves were caught up in the action.

Michelle brought the illusion of the superhero she'd made coasting down to the ground, and reshaped it into something new. She didn't have a costume, and didn't want to show her face...but she could make an image similar to how she planned on her costume being. Her mother had taken some pains to instruct Michelle about her Japanese heritage, with the stories she herself had been raised on. It gave the new fledged superhero an idea...

What appeared was a human figure based on her own, wearing a black and orange Japanese yukata, a long robe with a sash a little like a kimono, who's face was covered by a noh mask depicting a stylized fox's face. Multiple fox tails swished around behind it, never staying still long enough to count.

As she crafted the image, she stepped up to stand just behind it, still invisible, so her voice would appear to come from it. A spotlight from above suddenly shot down as well, highlighting the image to make it the focus of the crowd's attention.

"Ladies and gentlemen," she said, striving to achieve a blend of 'traditional' humility, and firmness, "I am Kitsune. I know you all have many questions, and I promise they will be answered to the best of our abilities...but you must all move back to the parking lot area overlooking the river immediately. This is for your safety, and the safety of the many people caught in today's accident. Please..."

She gestured, and great arrows in the air pointing the direction she wanted the crowd to move appeared. "Please follow the direction of the arrow nearest you, and let ambulances and emergency crews through."