Emerald City Knights Chapter 3: Power Play

[Arthur Eld]

Faster Pussycat squirms a little under Rocky, her body rubbing tantalizingly up against his. She puts her arms behind the back of her head like she's lounging on a beach somewhere.

"My hero." She purrs. "Keep this up and people might start to talk." She gives Rocky a kick on the cheek and then she's gone with superhuman speed, still in the area, but a good fifty feet away from the other criminals.

Up above, Catarina's blast hits Cyberknight-the impact is clear, even if the woman is invisible. Plus you can her her yell.

On the ground, one of the convicts leaps through the air, a shimmering aura around his body in the shape of an elephant. "Forget this blockhead, chica." He shouts to Faster Pussycat. "I'm more of a man than he is!"

He kicks Rocky square in the chest with a like a sledgehammer hitting brick.

Behind him, the rocky man waves one arm, and sinkhole forms in the ground, dirt and stone giving way to create a tunnel."Quickly, we must egress! Join me, and you shall no longer be treated as foul blackguards."

Cannon gives him a look "Join us, he means. You don't run F.O.E., Quake, don't forget that." Regardless of the nuances involved in this criminal collaboration, a number of stormers jump into the tunnel and out of your sight.

"Of course, you are mine allies. And when I have my kingdom, you shall be my honored guests and friends."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, your worshipfullness." Cannon mutters. Then he brings his hands together, unleashing an absolutely massive blast of energy that hits Kagiso right in the head.

For reference, what are SB's sensors set to?
Cyberknight is Dazed and takes a -1 penalty.
Tribal goes next, and he attacks Rocky. He hits, DC 25 toughness.
Quake is after him, he uses his Affects Others Burrowing. Given the mechanics, the escaped stormers actually far away after just one round, but the descriptor is that he's making tunnels for the escapees to use.
Cannon goes next, he PA attacks KAgiso for the full +5/-5, AOA attacking for +2/2/ He manages to just barely hit. DC 32 toughness.
Rocky's up next.

[Kreuzritter]

TOU: 1d20+12=27

All-out Attack +5/-5: 1d20+13=31

DC 27

the elephant man's blow may be like a sledgehammer hitting brick, but Rocky's made of far stronger stone, unmoved as the man bounces off

"You", he says, Cricking his neck from side to side, "I got no problems hitting."

as he demonstrates with a smashing uppercut to the man's jaw.

[Sriseru]

Kagiso Nyaga
HP: 2 - Condition: -1 Toughness, Dazed

Toughness save (1d20+12=15)
HP to reroll.
Toughness save (1d20+12=24)

Kagiso yelps as the powerful blast impacts and knocks her over.

[Arthur Eld]

You knock the big burly Latino flat on his behind. He begins cursing in Spanish before finally growling "Kill you" with a snort that sounds more like an elephant's trumpet.

Up above, the Rook's wings make not a sound as he flies above Ronin's head. He produces a fistful full of blades and showers you with them, striking vital areas like your eyes and neck.

From the hole in the roof, a man climbs up. He's a big, burly looking guy. You recognize him-the team has fought him before, back when they first joined together. His name is Gargantua.

He leaps from the roof and lands-on his feet, which are now the size of cars. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what his powers are.

His laughter is like the roar of some ancient beast long gone from this world. "Oh man, this is gonna be sweet."

Down on the ground, Faster Pussycat is suddenly standing over Tribal. "Oh, so much for the big strong, macho man." She titters and stretches as she looks over to Rocky. "And Mr. Jones, fighting over me? Well, don't I feel like the belle of this little ball." As before, she seems totally unconcerned about the general chaos and violence around her.

What a hit. He's Staggered and takes a -1 penalty.
On and around the general roofy area, its the Rook's turn. He Power Attacks Ronin for +3/-3 with his Talons. He hits with a 26, and its DC 23 toughness.
Gargantua's turn next, he simply takes two move actions, jumping off the roof and turning himself giant.
That brings us to the top of the round, and FP's turn. She goes full Defense.
It is now Jammer's turn.

[Omega Girl]

Jammer
HP: 2-1=1 - Condition: Inspiring

"Keep it up, Knights! Rocky, I want Quake-and-Bake over there to stick around for questioning! Ronin, if you can lay a hand on him, Rooks got a glass jaw! And ladies," Jammer looked back at Kagiso and Steel with a grin, "Keep up the fireworks; the boys need our support!"

"And as for you," She shook a finger at Pussycat. "Bad kitty! Stop setting back women's lib!"

Jammer is using Inspire 1, so everyone gets a +1 bonus until next round. I'd recommend going nuts with your own hero points to get extra actions this round to maximize the benefit.

I'm also hoping to pull one or two villains off of Rocky with that jab.

[Arthur Eld]

Tempus gets to his feet as the robot/possible person flies around the area, the mechanical voice booming. "Tempus, target Steel Blue and assist my attack."

Tempus groans. "Yeah, yeah, sure. The pay had better be worth it." Then he points at Catarina, who suddenly begins to perceive things very slowly.

From the inside of the building, things have mostly quieted down. You see why as more convicts come streaming up out of the roof-some jumping onto the waiting flying drones before being carried off, and others running out through the damaged loading area on the ground floor and seeking to escape in whatever direction they can. Obviously the COs inside were unable to contain them.

Tempus goes next, he uses his time control on Steel Blue and just manages to hit. DC 22 Will or be Dazed/Hindered/Vulnerable.
Nightblade goes next and teleports up to the roof, a little behind Ronin. Its a DC 26 Perception check for anyone to see that he's up there.
Kagiso is up next.

[badpenny]

Steel Blue
Condition: Dazed, Hindered, Vulnerable
HP: 2

Catarina struggled with her perception as Tempus manipulated and slowed time down for her. Her sensors complained about the increase in chronometric variance.

Will Check (DC 22) (1d20+8=20)

[Sriseru]

Kagiso Nyaga
HP: 1 - Condition: -1 Toughness, Dazed

"You will pay for that! Vengeance shall be mine!!!" Kagiso roars before hurling a fireball at Cannon.

All-Out Arcane Blast (1d20+13=19)
HP to reroll.
All-Out Arcane Blast (1d20+13+10=25), DC 27

[Arthur Eld]

Cannon brings his fists up, still glowing with power. There's an enormous sound and a blinding flash, but when it clears he's still standing, none the worse for wear.

Up above, Steel Blue is attacked from above by her foe. Though her armor is not at full responsiveness, her trained eyes let her know her enemy is not a robot, but a suit of armor like her own. She can tell from the way it moves, aiming its machine guns using its arms. A robot wouldn't do that.

The heavy caliber slugs walk up and down Steel Blue's armor, denting and in some points, even puncturing the mighty shell.

He gets a nat 20 for a total of 32, no damage.
Dreadnought goes next, he targets Steel Blue and makes a +2/-2 AOA and PA. He hits with a total 22, which is two degrees of success, so he gets +2 for Multiattack Total DC-27
Ronin is up next.

[badpenny]

Steel Blue
Condition: Dazed, Hindered, Vulnerable; -1 Toughness
HP: 2

Dreadnaught's machine guns raked Steel Blue's armor and the DuraSteel and Bio-Plastics did a pretty good job of deflecting most of the impact energy. But one round hit her hard and directly enough in the shoulder to draw blood.

Toughness (DC 27) (1d20+10=25)

[kenseido]

Ronin
HP: 2, Luck: 1

Ryan is confused by his new teammates. Kagiso reminds him of Kamada, but Jammer is like the leader Ryan secretly wished he had. And based on Rocky's comments, the stone hero agreed. So who was really in charge?

The mass of people on the roof almost confuses Ryan, almost distracts him from the new opponent. A smile curled his right lip as he moved quickly over to the new opponent who appeared out of nowhere and attacked him.

Perception: 1d20+10=30
Well, that normally only happens on throw away Perception checks.

Attack roll vs Nightblade: 1d20+11=25
DC24 Toughness

[Arthur Eld]

Faster than you would have thought possible, the dark-clad man moves out of the way of your attack. His sword comes up as he assumes a defensive posture. Its a dark thing, its blade almost glowing black as it spins in his hands almost lazily, blood dripping from its edge. Obviously this isn't one of those supers who pulls his punches against normals.

You don't recognize him, but the sword does bring to mind a file that Mars presented about someone called Nightblade. Information on him is spotty, and there are no records of him being active in the States before.

Yeah, sorry, that just misses.
Cyberknight goes again, and she blasts Steel Blue again. She makes a +2/-2 Defensive Attack and manages to hit with a 21. DC 27 Damage.
Steel Blue is up next and also has to make a check to recover from Tempus' Affliction at the end of her turn.

[badpenny]

Steel Blue
Condition: -1 Toughness; Dazed, Hindered, Vulnerable
HP: 2

With her sensors now screaming at her about the chronovariance, Catarina was becoming confused. There were so many escapees, she didn't know which one to focus on--if she could focus at all. First Dreadnought's and now Cyber-Knight's attacks hit and penetrated her armor. She was tired of crying out in pain. Thankfully the bio-plastic nanites were on her side and she could feel a wound being stitched closed and the trickle of blood arresting. She no longer cared what she was going to look like. She didn't want to die here.

She caught Ronin in battle with Nightblade and he appeared to fast for Ronin to hit. She could waste time trying to extrapolate his next move or she could blast at him and drive him closer to Ronin's next attack. And, more importantly, they were going to have start pulling together as a team!

Steel Blue fired a bolt of force behind Nightblade to aid Ronin.

Toughness (DC 27) (1d20+10-1=21) a Bruise and Dazed again

Regeneration heals one Bruise

Will check (DC 22) (1d20+8=16) Still D/H/V
There's no cumulative +1 to recover, right?

Aid (1d20+8=14) Ronin gets a +2 to attack Nightblade

[Arthur Eld]

Stubbornly refusing to back down from Rocky, Tribal bullrushes into him with superhuman might, bellowing as he does so.

The stone man is suddenly next to Jammer, popping up from a tunnel he made, got into, and came up from faster than you would have thought. He sounds somber and apologetic. "I am sorry for this, miss. Though I am loath to strike a maid, even a human one, I must not allow you and yours to detain my comrades. I shall try to make this as painless as I can." Then he punches her square in the temple, apparently trying to knock her out as quickly as possible.

Cannon takes a step closer to Kagiso, spitting on the ground. "I'm not like those two blockheads," He says, waving at Rocky and Lord Quake. "I got no problem hitting a dame."

In a rather amusing twist, his next blast has great trouble hitting Kagiso, flying above her head and striking a far-off billboard, sending it crumbling to the ground. "Well, s***." He says.

Yep, no cumulative +1.
Tribal's turn, he makes a +2/-2 PA and AOA attack on Kreuzritter, connects with a 20. DC 27.
Lord Quake goes next, and he takes an unarmed swing at Jammer, using Burrowing to pop up next to her. AOA for +2/-2, he gets a total 25, which hits. DC 28 toughness.
Cannon is up next, he blasts at Kagiso again, but misses with a 14.
Rocky's turn.

[Kreuzritter]

TOU: 1d20+12=26

all-out power attack on other rock guy: 1d20+8=21

another bruised, but thats a DC 32 tou save for lord quake

for a Moment, Rocky seems to noonly ignore the wild man's charge, but actually turns his back to him

but Soon its shown to have been a calculated risk, as he jumps off just as the blow connects, giving him even more momentum and force as he goes hurling at the Stone king with a flying mule kick, or as Rocky would say, perhaps taking his own cue from Faster pussycat

"Rocky Road Kick!" he shouts as his feet slam into the stone man's face

and for a moment, Rocky has to wonder, could this guy be his real dad, before shaking his head, and remembering his REAL dad is Dr. Jones back in freedom, the man at the labs who raised him