You wake with a start, the first thing you notice is the smell of rot and fecal matter hitting you like a physical blow as you take your first breath, the next thing you notice is the sludge like sewage you're laying on top of.
You roll to your feet, gagging on the stench as you open your mouth to yell for help and slipping back into the sludge as you stumble when the sunlight stabs into your eyes.
You lay there for a moment as the slime presses against your back and slides back into your shirt, trying to figure out how you came to be in this situation only to grasp nothing, you can't recall how you came here, don't remember anything but your name, which is….
Which is… something, you'll remember later, you know you will, you just have too.
As you lay there you're distracted for a moment by the shine of metal, turning on the ground you spy a few scraps of metal and glass sitting just below the sludge, with a sigh you squint back up at the hole in the roof, glaring at the cruel sun as you carefully regain your footing and press your ear to the wall, listening carefully to the sounds of seagulls, crashing waves and the faint clamor of many, many, people quite far away.
"Hey, help! I'm stuck in here! help me!" Your cries for help echos back mockingly at you as it bounces off the walls of the crate, it seems nobody can hear you, or, a darker part of you thinks, they can hear you, they just don't care.
Defeated, you stare up at the hole in the roof, judging just how far you'd have to jump to make it up there.
A lesser person might be stuck here, doomed to die is this disgusting place, but as you stand there something new drips into your brain and you begin to laugh, here you were panicking when the solution was right there in front of you the entire time.
You have a Power, and with it a place like this can't possibly hold you.
O-O-O-O
Greetings one and all and welcome to A Bloodstained Mantle, a superhero quest that will be using the Mutants and Masterminds game system, this first part of the story will have limited Player Decision making, as we are still in the prologue.
Now you get to choose your Super Powers, I'll explain what limitations there are on what you can create for yourselves, and then I'll give you some premade options.
A: You need to be able to believably take a hit, failing that you should have reliable way to not get hit, a guy with a gun should not be a lethal threat to you.
B: You should probably have some level of superhuman mobility, it's not necessarily required but you're really going to appreciate the ability to go from one side of the city quickly.
C: it has to be interesting to write, especially in fight scenes, don't make Medusa or anything similar, that will end in some pretty boring fight scenes.
D: if you want to make an inventor or someone who can produce solutions in a similar fashion then I'd like you to temper your expectations, you will have to buy permanent inventions with XP.
E: please don't try to make the game statistics for your power, that's my job.
F: you don't necessarily have to have all your powers all neatly linked together, I would prefer it, but it's not strictly necessary, sometimes someone has a cluster of complementary powers rather than a single all encompassing one.
G: I retain the right to veto powers I think wouldn't be interesting to run a game for.
[ ] Idea 1:
You can generate and control a powerful and durable force field around your body and can put into any shape you like, from impossibly sharp edges and points and comically oversized gauntlets to a platform beneath your feet to ride on through the air at incredible speeds, the only flaw is that everything needs to be connected together.
[ ] Idea 2:
You can transform into three additional shapes aside from your human form, that of an enormous tiger, an enormous eagle, and a giant orca, each of these forms are superhumanly powerful, including your human shape, although it matches up to your other shapes about as well you'd expect.
[ ] Idea 3:
You are very, very, fast, you can do in one second what it would take another person ten, unfortunately whenever you try to push further than that your body turns to winter wind and while you can cover amazing distances like that you can't actually effect the world around you. That's not your only connection to the wind though, when you're in solid shape you can form and unleash great blades and gusts of wind from your hands, although this takes more focus and buildup than a simple flurry of punches
[ ] Idea 4:
When it comes to Chemicals you are simply Inspired, with your power you can make all sorts of gels, explosives, propellants, gases, stimulants, drugs and poisons, although you'd need a lab for anything really potent and words fail you when you try to explain exactly how what you make works, you do understand it, you just can't make anyone else understand it.
[ ] Idea 5:
Something Else, go as wild as you like here so long as it still works within the rules.
Self-Biokinesis: Variable 10 (grants 50 variable points) for manipulating and improving your own body's functions, Continuous. (Costs 80 points)
Here are some examples that you can use the Variable pool for…
-Wings: Winged flight, (1 point per rank)
-Reinforced Body: Impervious Protection, (2 points per rank)
-Ability Boosts: (2 points per rank) you're going to need to justify Presence if you want it.
-Claws: Damage, (1 point per rank) improved critical advantage optional
-Toughened Skin: Protection, (1 point per rank)
-Pressurized Blood-Beams: Ranged Damage, (2 points per rank) improved critical advantage optional
-Hardened Weak Points: applies Impervious to your current Toughness, (1 point per rank)
-Enhanced Appearance: gives you the attractive advantage, (1 point per rank, rank caps at 2)
-Enhanced Skills within reason: (1 point per 2 skill ranks)
Defenses: these are your defensive stats, each of them is connected to an ability but like everything connected to an Abilities it can be raised as a separate thing, although in this case none are.
Dodge 3 (linked to agility)
Fortitude 8 (linked to Stamina)
Parry 3 (linked to fighting)
Toughness 8 (linked to Stamina)
Will 9 (linked to Awarenes)
Attacks
Unarmed Attack: +7 to hit, close ranged, damage 0.*
*all of that can be changed by using your Self-Biokinesis.
Skills: Every skill is connected to an attribute, however, you can raise a skill without touching an attribute, some skills are trained, meaning that they cannot be attempted without having at least 1 skill rank in the relevant skill.
Acrobatics: 0 (total bonus: 3, trained)
Athletics: 0 (total bonus: 0, untrained)
Close Combat: (unarmed fighting) 4 (total bonus: 7, untrained) cost of 2
Deception: 0 (total bonus: 1, untrained)
Expertise (Law): 1 (total bonus: 5, trained) cost of 1 half a point
Expertise (Local History): 1 (total bonus: 5, trained) cost of 1 half a point
Expertise: (Biology): 1 (total bonus: 5, trained) half a point
Expertise: -
Insight: 1 (total bonus: 10, untrained) half a point
Intimidation: 0 (total bonus: 1, untrained)
Investigation: 6 (total bonus: 10, trained) cost of 3
Perception: 1 (total bonus: 10, untrained) half a point
Persuasion: 0 (total bonus: 1, untrained)
Ranged Combat: 0 (total bonus: 2, untrained)
Sleight of Hand: 4 (total bonus: 6, trained) cost of 2
Stealth: 5 (total bonus: 8, untrained) cost of 2 and a half.
Technology: 1 (total bonus: 5, trained) cost of half a point
Treatment: 1 (total bonus: 5, trained) cost of half a point
Vehicle: 0 (total bonus: 2, trained)
Advantages:
Benefit: Wealth 2 (independently wealthy)
Complications: things which make your job harder but give you Hero Points in return.
Motivation—Doing Good: the fame and fans might be great and the thrill of action is amazing but at the end of the day you're doing this to do good and help people.
Power Loss: Electricity is bad for you, really bad, it actually stops your shapechanging for a moment, locking you into whatever powers you currently have and halting your regeneration, on that note fire also halts your regeneration, although it doesn't mess with your shapechanging (For every degree of failure on a toughness or other check for resisting damage you take from electricity or fire you suffer the conditions above for two rounds, you also cannot become immune to electricity)
Fame: You're very well known around these parts, the general shape of your powers and their limitations (although not so much their weaknesses just yet) are well known, as are several places that you frequently visit, also, your fans are not the brightest of people sometimes, and some of them are just straight up creepy.
Forgetfulness: You've had some memory problems for as far back as you can remember, forgetting dates, place names, people names, and more. It's why you keep a diary.
Thirst for Vengeance: You won't rest until Adamant is avenged.
The Work is Never Done: There is always another fire to put out and you are only one person.
The Residential District: the area where most the people in the city live, and the area with the highest concentration of Blue Coral buildings and other exotic materials like Living Wood. It also has the largest density of Kaiju Bunkers in the entire city.
The Coven have Minimal Soft Power here and Minimal Hard Power
Notable Locations:
The Docks: this port is the lifeblood of the city, as cargo both legal and illicit is shipped in and out constantly, also host to a great many fishing boats and quite a few seafood places.
The Five Elements have Significant Soft Influence here and Moderate Hard Influence.
Notable Locations
The Scrap Pile: the area where you woke up, apparently it's been around for year and is where a load of large metal objects gets cheaply dropped when they get wreaked.
Downtown: the center of commerce in this city, filled with shops, restaurants, bars, and offices, it also holds almost a third of all secret lairs in the city, and there's a new one discovered every few months.
Notable Locations:
Phil's Piping Hot Pizza: a very good pizza place that was almost destroyed when you first met Adamant.
Cup of Joe Cafe: your favorite coffee place, the owner also has an absolutely adorable little kitten.
The Coven has Significant Soft Power.
The Five Elements have Moderate Soft power and Minor Hard Power here.
The Islands: these islands are mostly owned by about a dozen rich families, nobody likes them much and the fact that Adamant also has such a place has been a lasting controversy, although mostly kept at bay by concerns about collateral damage.
Notable Locations:
Adamant's House: your extensively fortified house, connected to the shore with a bridge specifically built to be easy for you or him to break.
The Kaiju Cannon: An enormous energy gun made to kill the Kaiju which have lived in the pacific since the 1950s.
More locations will be added at need or as the inspiration strikes me, voters are also welcome to suggest locations.
Disclaimer: this is IC information, as such it might not be 100% correct.
The Five Elements: current led by Wind, the Five Elements are by far the oldest and most traditional criminal gang in Dusk's Bay, with hands in robberies, the drug trade, smuggling, and basically everything else.
Despite the organization's long, almost twenty year history they have a pretty bad attrition rate of super-humans, with members either getting killed in skirmishes, arrested by Adamant, or leaving the city either due to Adamant's presence or some dispute with the organization as a whole.
Current Superhuman Members
Wind: The current leader, although she came to power only a year or two before you showed up and rumors swirl that her rule is unstable, that Earth and Water are both after her crown.
Power: she can manipulate air within her line of sight when she exhales, inducing gentle nudges and vicious flurries of wind blades with equal ease, she is very good at whistling and that noise is the last thing far too many people have ever heard. (PL 11)
Fire: The oldest super in the Five Elements and a longtime member of the gang even before he got his powers, although he's only been a super for five or so years.
Power: He starts any fight with incredible pyromantic abilities, unleashing enormous fireballs and shooting around the battlefield like a human rocket, however, as he uses these abilities his fire fades as his body grows into an enormous, regenerating, crocodile monster. (PL 10)
Earth: a self styled boogyman, he delights in dragging people waist deep into the ground and simply… leaving them there.
He can swim through any solid surface like it's water, sense vibrations in the ground around him, and he's also superhumanly strong and tough. (PL 9)
Water: Wind's sister, and has been made second in command through nepotism.
Power: she is a moisture vampire, she's strong, tough, fast, can even regenerate, but only if she's got enough water, heat is a real problem for her. (PL 11, at full power anyway.)
Metal: no real details are known, he's very new and only been seen in public twice, frankly it's really surprising they got a replacement for Lightning so fast.
Powers: it involves metal armor? He's really new. (PL 10? Probably?)
Their influence is mostly limited to the Docks and parts of Downtown.
The Coven: Led by Carver and Viscous, this group professes to be a family, 'by choice if not by blood' and specializes in burglary and the theft of incredibly expensive items, in other cities mostly, although they have occasionally struck a particularly vulnerable island manor.
Carver: an old man who seems to the be a voice of caution for the organization, he avoids taking the field at almost all costs due to his advanced age.
Power: makes "magic items" out of wood and stone carved items, from flying brooms to animated toys to spears which explode when they strike their target. (PL 8 or 9, if properly equipped.)
Viscous: a rather scary woman who leads the coven on their robberies, although Curseling has also begun to take up that job on occasion.
Power: she can turn into a humanoid figure made of purple ooze, which can either be harmless, a powerful sedative, or a lethal acid. (PL 11)
Curseling: the most ambitious member, she wants more ambitious heists with more money, well, that and to figure out some way to avoid the drawbacks of her powers, despite those drawbacks she she once fought Adamant, and while she spent the following night in a jail cell, that was one of the most difficult 1v1 fights he'd had in years.
Power: an incredibly versatile ability to cast "magic spells" straight out of a fantasy story, with the very notable drawback that she gets less and less intelligent as she uses her powers, which means that if a fight lasts too long she'll be stuck as little more than a trained dog for several hours. (PL 12 Terms and conditions maybe apply)
Glow: a teenage boy with an unshakable carefree and cheerful demeanor, causes the most property damage out of all The Coven.
Power: he can fly, take a gunshot or two, see through walls, and shoot beams of bladed light from his eyes, that or huge hammer blows of light which can fill a room. (PL 10)
Runic: another teenager, she seems to think that her powers live in her bones and that they want to eat her, she takes her name from the good luck charm she wears around her neck rather than anything related to her powers.
Powers: she hits like a mountain and her bones, which are the only thing she needs, are close to invulnerable. (PL 10)
The Coven doesn't really have influence over the city per say, at most they've got a network of informants.
The Massacre Men: a pair of supers and their lackeys bearing the old name of one of Adamant's greatest foes, somewhat undercut by the fact that they're only here because they were sent packing from their old city by some other gang called the Horsemen.
Cosplay: a man who gains powers from the costumes he wears and cannot decide on one which he prefers, he seems to change them with every job, usually alongside a new fake accent as bad as the one before it.
Powers: he gains powers based on whatever kind of costume he's wearing, a cowboy might be an absolutely incredible shot and quick draw, while a Knight will move slow and steady and hit like a truck. The accents are not compelled by the power, despite his claims otherwise. (PL 10)
Roadtrip: wanted primarily because she keeps stealing traffic signs… also a decent bit of assault and robbery.
Power: Roadtrip can steal traffic signs (speed limit signs, no passing, ramp warnings, all kinds) and store them. When needed, roadtrip may produce the stolen sign and imprint its rule on reality. The strength of the effect is based on the radius it affects, the duration of its effect, and the number of unwilling targets. Roadtrip could use a 60 MPH speed limit sign to increase their own speed for a long time but using 5 MPH speed limit sign on a large numbers of enemies could only be effective for a brief duration. The power of the effects is mostly preparation and creativity limited. Each use expends the sign and returns it to the place it was taken from. (PL 10)
The Massacre Men have comfortably moved into the worst parts of Downtown Dusk's Bay, mostly selling stuff they really shouldn't and cracking open ATMs.
Doctor Destruction's Doombringers: Barely a faction, they only just qualify due to the Doctor's homicidal robot minions. (Doctor Destruction was imprisoned and later killed by Slip)
Doctor Destruction: while initially he attempted to sell the mayor a set of robotic cops he went into hiding when it was revealed that the robots were incredibly violent and that he knew about that fact.
Now he leads groups of his powerful but fragile and difficult to control robot henchmen to grab more and more parts for… something.
Power: the good doctor is inspired when it comes to robotics, allowing him to make some truly amazing robots. (The robots range from PL 6 to PL 10 depending what he's making, and almost all of them are minions, meaning they go down if they take even a single level of damage among other things.)
Independents
Slip: a petty thief with serious money problems who tries to stay as nonviolent as humanly possible, thanks to his power he has avoided arrest or capture for almost two years, despite going after several incredibly well guarded items.
Power: Slip can turn intangible as if he was a ghost, more dangerously while in that form he can disrupt people's forms with a touch, you and Adamant are sure he has some kind of weakness, you're just not sure what. (PL 9 but should be treated as much more dangerous than that)
The Hunter: a ghost-like super for hire currently in the area.
Power: he can take on an incredibly horrific appearance which looks different to each person, while in this form he can scream with a noise like a hunting horn to fill people's hearts with supernatural fear and set hounds made of shadow on people. (PL 10)
People have been getting superpowers since around 1920, although the number has increased dramatically, going from a few hundred back then to almost a million now, every 2 to 3 decades there's a dramatic spike until the population eventually stops rising and levels out into a new normal.
How do people get Powers?
People get powers when their backs are to the wall and everything has gone to-
Ok, honestly it's basically Triggers from Worm, at least from the perspective of someone ignorant of both setting's metaphysics, it's a good idea, sue me. (Please don't.)
Other important note, it's basically impossible to give someone powers, or, well, it is possible, but you'd probably have to crawl through hundreds of dead bodies to get someone with superpowers, and they might not be super happy that you threw them into meat-grinder.
Alternatively you could use a device based on the original Crucible Machine, but that's literally a war crime and causes horrific mental impairments.
Why do they get Powers?
Nobody knows for certain but there are a lot of theories, some people think that they're somehow biological, others think it's some sort of radiation that causes specific changes in humans, some think they're given directly by God.
At the end of the day nobody knows for certain and I sincerely doubt that the truth to that question will matter in this quest.
What kinds of Powers are there?
Powers can frankly do almost anything, from allowing someone to lift more than 800 tons to allowing someone else to control minds, the main restrictions on them is the fact that almost every super can at least beat roughly ten guys with guns, the strongest of them can bring cites to ruin when they fight, although those people are so rare that they number less than a hundred in the entire world.
Generally, most people only have a single power, although plenty of them have secondary powers tacked on or have their primary power supported by flight or superhuman strength and durability.
Beyond that there are Inspired Scientists and their technology.
Inspired Technology cannot be built or understood by someone who is Uninspired or even another Inspired Scientist if their specialties are sufficiently incompatible, although someone with a lot of training and talent can maintain it until someone breaks it pretty badly provided they've got appropriate parts.
Furthermore, an Inspired's attempts to explain how a given object works inevitably devolves into maddening technobabble, and reading their similarly incomprehensible notes will cause a similar reaction.
And then there are Pseudo-Inspired, who aren't quite Inspired, but what they do isn't different enough to be wholly separate, self proclaimed wizards who can make magic items and 'invent' spells and other similar abilities fit into this area.
Are there any aliens, wizards, gods, demons, other dimensions, etc?
There are no aliens, there is no such thing as magic aside for superpowers, the old gods and monsters do not walk the earth and if there are any new ones then they're keeping a low profile, there are however several other dimensions with their own unique biospheres, with more being discovered all the time. Nobody has found sapient life there yet though.
Who are you working for?
You're working for STAR, a multinational organization of superheroes who have been working for most of the NATO countries since it was founded, originally specialized in fighting Nazis, Soviets, and crazy people trying to blow up Kentucky, they've since branched into dealing with more and more stuff as powers have become more and more common.
Of course they're not the only group who does this kind of thing nowadays, there are a lot of smaller groups running around who vary wildly in competency and moral integrity.
Why doesn't the government do all that directly?
Would you argue with the Justice League if they said they weren't interested in working for you? Congress and the President didn't.
That's not to say that the government doesn't have Supers working for them, they just usually don't do things on US soil, usually.
What kind of regulations exist around superpowered people?
You don't need to register with the government unless you're going out in costume to punch crooks in the face with them, STAR is always hiring though.
What do people think of superheroes and villains?
Most heroes are respected, loved, and damn near revered, they're celebrities, and a few of the largest names… well some of them are just straight up revered, no ifs ands or buts.
Villains, well they're terrifying, modern day monsters, picture almost any spider-man or Batman villain and imagine knowing that they live in your city.
By the way, I will be instituting a system similar to the Hey Blackhand system in Norse Quest, here's how it works.
Post @alexthealright Hey (Insert Character Name here) then follow up with your question, that question will then be answered IC.
Wiping the tears of laughter from your eye you step forward towards the wall as your other hand grows and writhes as muscles bulge and foot long claws grow from the tip of each finger.
The metal gives way with a screech, the noise ending as you finally carve enough of a door for it to be completed with a single kick which sends steel sailing through the air and skipping along the concrete before it finally comes to a stop.
You wince at the clatter, cringing at your mistake, someone would be… apoplectic something if you did that in front of them, the memories keep slipping through your fingers, and they feel like they're getting more distant with every passing second.
Nonetheless you glance around the area as your arm shrinks back down to its normal size and the claws vanish, you seem to be in the middle of a labyrinth of run down junk, cars and trucks and crates, all of them rusted or completely wrecked, below you is a beach, where the concrete ramp down is replaced by covered sand and the call of seagulls fills your ears, and up above you, the distant sounds of activity fill this city's port.
Regardless of where exactly you are, you're going to be having a little bit of finding anyone with all this stuff in the way, with a flex of will you sharpen your ears and nose, a sniff and a twitch of your ears confirming that nobody was close enough to hear your mistake, well, unless they've got powers like you, but that feels unlikely to you somehow. It should, you read up on every super who lives here and nobody can do what you do.
That sniff also alerts you to the fact that you desperately need a bath but more importantly it tells you that something delicious is nearby, and so with the deafening roar of a rumbling stomach in your ears you wander away from your metal prison, the smell of bacon beckoning you forward like a siren song.
With swift yet silent steps you close in the source of the smell, the wind rushing past you, sending your sewage soaked hair whipping back and forth with every sudden turn as you navigate the junkyard before you leap into the air and out of the junkyard entirely, landing like a cat on top of a full crate waiting to be moved, finally giving you a good look at the city.
With newly sharpened vision you carefully scan the city, at first glance it seems normal enough, buildings of blue coral and living wood dot the cityscape, mostly crowded out by structures of brick and stone with a few skyscrapers in the business part of town.
The city itself is built around a bay, with a half dozen little islands scattered around the bay each covered by mansions which are carefully circumnavigated by more boats than you can count, large and small.
But the thing which really draws your eyes is an enormous cannon on the opposite side of the bay facing the ocean, its barrel larger than some of the smaller fishing boats. Wow, it looks a lot bigger in person.
The coils around it quietly crackling with lightning, each spark setting you more and more on edge until you pull your gaze away from this weapon which proudly wields your greatest weakness.
it really really hurt last time
As you take a second look at the city you begin to notice a few large, squat, buildings, no, that's not right, bunkers, each of them clearly visible and numbered in large white numbers on their armored doors.
For a moment you're tempted to investigate those places more but another sniff of food realigns your priorities, the bunkers aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
You leap into the air again, fighting the urge to whoop as you sail through the air and land with a whisper as you finally find yourself at the place which smells like bacon.
A glowing neon sign hangs over the building, announcing itself as Phill's Piping Hot Pizzeria. Now with extra bacon!!
Your stomach rumbles and for a moment you consider walking right in there and buying one of those, but a quick rummage through your pockets ends with you only holding an old flip phone fried by lightning, and exactly three dollars in loose change, still dripping with rot.
Actually now that you've taken a moment to check yourself out you notice that almost everything you're wearing shows signs of electrical burns, serious ones, frankly it's a miracle you're wearing anything more than ashes and filth right now.
Disheartened, you eventually you come up with an idea, dismissing your enhanced hearing for a moment to avoid any distractions as you instead adhere yourself to the roof and hang off the side to spy through a window, hoping to get some advanced warning of an opportunity, they do delivery right? You can probably steal from the back of the truck, you think as you grow a camouflaged skin cloak to hide from anyone who might have the sense to look up at you.
So absorbed are you in your spying that you don't realize that you're not alone up here anymore until somebody decides to make their presence known with a few words spoken from so close by that in this hard to reach spot they might as well have been whispered in your ear.
"Hello… can I ask you what exactly you're doing?" What happens next is almost entirely reflexive, it's only after you turn to face him that you realize that your freshly spiked and hideously muscular fist has already struck him squarely in the chest with a thunderous impact.
That strike sends him flying backwards for a moment before he halts his momentum and comes to a stop in the air as you finally get a good look at him, floating a mere ten feet away from you.
The man is tall, with short brown but slightly graying hair and a short, salt and pepper beard, his muscular physique showing clearly through red and gold spandex as he settles into a fighting position midair.
Even as you you at him, preparing for battle, you're suddenly gripped by the thought that you need to tell him… something important, whatever that is.
Yes! yes, finally, you had a whole plan, now all you have to do is remember why you came here and tell him about-
Unfortunately for you he took that blow head on without even noticing and now he looks angry, even worse you're going to need a little bit of time to shape a body better suited for fighting before he returns the strike with interest.
"Who are you?" You ask him, hoping to buy a little bit of time as he explains.
That question seems to bring him up short, confusion clouding him face. "Oh, are you from out of town? I'm pretty well known around here." He says, although something about the way people gathering below are pointing up at him makes you think he's underselling himself.
You shrug, "uh… I guess you could say that, I don't really remember much, about anything really." As you speak you begin preparing your body for war, hiding suddenly bulging muscles, rapidly thickening bones and thick, almost elephantine skin beneath a now loose cloak of camouflaged skin, ready to be discarded the moment you spring into action
He pauses for a moment, scanning your face for deception, before seeming to believe you, "Wait, how far back can you remember?" He asks, the curiosity on his face masking what your 'training' instincts tell you is a sort of confusion slowly mixing with dawning horror and the slightest bit of pity.
"Oh, yeah, a long time." you say, seeing no reason to lie. "Maybe… twenty minutes?" You say, although now that you say it out loud it doesn't seem like quite as long as it sounded in your head.
"But that's besides the point! Who are you and why did you sneak up behind me like that?" You ask, meeting his eyes with a glare as the people below you start to take pictures.
The stranger holds up his hands where you can see them and lowers himself slightly so that he's at eye level with you before he begins to speak in a consolatory tone.
"I'm very sorry about that, to answer your questions my name is Adamant, my job is to protect this city, and I went to ask you what you were doing because I saw someone I didn't recognize jumping from rooftop to rooftop and wanted to be sure that you weren't going to punch an old tennis rival of yours through a building or something, I also was not trying to sneak up on you, but I do apologize that I was not more obvious."
Another camera flashes below you and Adamant sighs, "Would you be willing to have this conversation somewhere else? They're just going to keep doing that."
At your nod he points toward a tall brick building which stands on an island of its own far away from any other structure, connected to the shore by a bridge, you had thought it was one of the mansions but on second glance it definitely seems less aesthetically focused. "That's my house, over there, would you be willing to follow me there to continue this conversation?"
You stare suspiciously at him for a moment, "I promise it's not a trap of any sort," He says, "it's just a place with some privacy."
Well, it's not like you were going to go anywhere else, and who knows, maybe he'll be able to tell you who you are. "Ok, I'm trusting you," you say as you make your way towards it, allowing Adament to take the lead as he flies above you and you follow him, leaping from rooftop to rooftop before dashing across the shoddily constructed bridge to arrive on the island.
Once you both arrive he invites you over to a pair of chairs, sits you down, pulls out a notebook from a pouch on his belt, and begins to ask you some questions.
"Ok, you said that you can't remember anything up to around, twenty, now about twenty five minutes ago, but you obviously remember at least a little bit since you know English and remember how to walk, so do you remember your name, or where you're from or anything like that?" He asks, with an easy confidence that implies he's done this sort of thing for years.
You slump back into your chair, "Nope, nothing but some vague impressions, and before you ask I wasn't carrying anything when I woke up other than this." You say as you hand him the fried flip phone.
He flips it over in his hands, checking for clues. "Well, this is certainly a cheap burner phone but it's basically useless now, anything on it got zapped like you did."
Nevertheless he puts it away in a little bag before he continues questioning you.
"The place where you woke up, did that area look like there'd been a fight, either there or somewhere nearby? Because it certainly looks like you got into a fight with another superhuman, unless you got snared by a power line or something."
Once again you slump deeper into your seat. "Sorry, no fight and no power lines. I can show you where I got knocked out though, it was in this crate with a hole in the roof somewhere in that direction." You answer, pointing in its general direction. "I, uh, also carved a hole in the wall not just the wall to get out if that helps you find it."
He nods, committing it to memory, "Two more things, first of all, forgive me if I'm wrong, but I'm assuming you haven't found a place to stay yet?"
"No," comes your deadpan response, "I did not manage to find a place to stay with twenty minutes to search and no money."
He smiles, gesturing to the building behind him, "well then, consider this a solution to your problem, as the highest ranking and only full time member in the city I'm happy to say that STAR is more than willing to extend an offer for you to stay here and pay for your meals for a few months while we try to figure out who exactly you are, so long as you don't break anything or hurt anyone."
"Wait what-" you say, only to be interrupted as Adamant continues.
"Secondly, I understand that this is probably a pretty personal question since you don't really know me but is it possible you might have the ability to hide memories in items or that you have a bunch of evidence hidden in a pocket dimension? Sorry for being intrusive but I do have to ask, a few years back I lost a lot of time on exactly both of those situations."
That gives you pause for thought, you can't exactly put a memory in an object but if you were going to hide something… you cast a metaphorical eye down at the inner workings of your body and find a cushioned pocket of flesh uselessly safely ensconced in your ribcage.
Opening an eye inside of this pocket reveals a throughly fried USB drive, and a pile of charred dollar bills which after a moment of thought you decide to share, your ribcage opening wide and dropping the flesh sack's contents right in front of him. "Sorry." You say, smiling awkwardly, "I swear I didn't notice that until you mentioned it."
Adament stares down at the pile of junk you just ejected from your stomach for a moment and gets about halfway through a thank you when his phone rings and he takes the call with an apologetic look.
"Ok what is it?" A short pause. "You're kidding, another one?" You fidget impatiently, waiting through a longer pause. "Ok, I'll be over there in a few minutes." He hangs up and turns to you, "Sorry, there's been another murder in the docks, a machete it looks like, I'll need to get over there as fast as I can, anyway-"
"Can I come along?" You interrupt, "I can boost- I mean, my senses are very good, maybe I can help."
He pauses for a moment, mulling it over. "You're willing to listen to me when I tell you to do something?"
"Sure." You answer sincerely, "That seems fine to me."
Adamant nods, "Ok, then follow me, oh, what should I call you?"
The question surprises you, but after a moment of thought you come up with something that sounds good.
"Oh, right, call me…"
O-O-O-O
That was the start of an amazing two years, pretty soon you made your arrangement with Adamant official, joining STAR within a few short months and passing every test thrown your way with flying colors, and after that you stood side by side with him, responding to emergencies, solving crimes, and even facing down more than a few supervillains, even as you faced dead end after dead end regarding your past.
No, I mean your real name. The one that you use when you're not in a mask.
[ ] Oh, of course, it's (name here)
[ ] The same one I literally just told you. (No civilian name or identity)
You really took to Adamant's lessons of investigation and combat like a fish to water, what else did you really excel at while you were working as Adamant's sidekick? (Pick 2)
[ ] Skills
-[ ] Social skills: Inspiring Hero (Improved Presence, persuasion, etc)
-[ ] Social skills: Terrifying Avenger (Improved Presence, intimidation, a little bit of stealth, etc)
-[ ] Stealth and sleight of hand (Improved stealth skills, Agility, Dexterity, slight of hand, etc)
-[ ] Mastered Investigation Skills (Extra improved Intelligence, Investigation, Insight, and Awareness.)
-[ ] Mastered Fighting Skills (Extra skill in unarmed combat, and extra combat advantages)
Note: just because you don't pick one of these doesn't mean that you can't do it, nor does it mean that you can't purchase it after character creation.
Why'd you offer to help (this doesn't have to be the only reason you decided to help, just the primary reason.)
[ ] Why'd you join STAR?
-[ ] People were in trouble, what else was I supposed to do? (Motivation: Doing Good)
-[ ] Because it sounded absolutely thrilling! (Motivation: Thrill)
-[ ] Because I have a deep and profound need to liked… Wait can I take that answer ba- (Motivation: Fame and Respect)
Please Vote By Plan.
Please let me know if there were any typos you found, or if there were any bits of the story that you found especially enjoyable or which you didn't like, I'm doing this to get better at writing after all.
Finally, thank you to everyone who helped me with all the names, and thank you to Deadman specifically for helping with the invisible text.
How Biokinesis Does This: Reinforced physical frame, enhanced proprioception and reflexes, enhanced hearing, retractable bone blades in the arms, and of course enhanced physical attractiveness.
Resulting stat changes: Stamina 12, Dodge +6, Fortitude +12, Toughness +16 (Impervious 6), Parry +6, Attack at +15 for +7 Damage, Perception +16,
Why This: The basic idea here is to be maxed out for our power level in combat just in case (it takes our action to switch powers), focused on initiative and being able to wade through minions casually (Takedown, Improved Initiative, Impervious), while also having up basic enhanced senses and attractiveness (the latter which lets us transfer to social stuff easily if we need to without being visibly different). It doesn't enhance most actively used non-combat stuff because we can pause a moment and just readjust to that.
And ideas for some additional builds for specific situations:
Infiltration: Enhanced Agility 11, Enhanced Parry 11, Flight 1 (Winged), Enhanced Skills 2 (Acrobatics +1, Stealth +1. Total Acrobatics +15, Total Stealth +20), Concealment 10 (All Senses, Flaw - Resistible - Fortitude, Pheromone-Based), Improved Advantages 2 (Hide In Plain Sight, Uncanny Dodge), Senses 3 (Depending on what's being searched for, may instead be added to Perception, again depending),
Explanation: Vastly enhanced agility plus just enough slight to avoid touching the ground and the 'concealment pheromones' discussed previously. Probably also chameleon-skin. Useless offensively in combat, but can at least dodge while we swap things out.
Explanation: Basically a speedster/flight build...I assume there's a cap to how fast we can go with winged flight, and this is 120 mph, which is around what I'd expect it to be. Involves extending tendrils with bone blades.
Ranged Specialist: Protection 8, Enhanced Dodge 3, Enhanced Parry 3, Enhanced Advantages 6 (Improved Initiative, All Out Attack, Power Attack, Accurate Attack, Defensive Attack, Move By Action), Ranged Damage 8 (Accurate 6, Precise), Flight 7 (Winged),
Explanation: This is the version for using launched bone spikes, launched stored steel weapons (whether spikes, ball bearings, or whatever), or torrents of blood as a water saw. A bit slower than the skirmisher in terms of initiative and more tanky than dodgy defensively (because that's cheaper).
Poison Cloud: Improved Stamina 3, Protection 5, Enhanced Dodge 3, Enhanced Parry 3, either Damage 11 (Area - Cloud, Alternate Save - Fortitude) or Affliction 11 (Fort Save, Area - Cloud, Cumulative, effects picked when this power is gained),
Explanation: Basic defenses plus a highly powerful AoE poison/drug secreted from our pores. Probably doesn't look like much of anything, but should be terrifying.
All those should work, the following ones I'm a little less sure of:
Tank: Enhanced Stamina 4, Protection 4, Enhanced Dodge 3, Enhanced Parry 3, Enhanced Advantages 4 (All Out Attack, Power Attack, Accurate Attack), Enhanced Skill 2 (Unarmed +2), and either Impervious Toughness 16 + Strike 11 (Accurate 1) or Enhanced Strength 13 + Improved Critical + Improvised Weapon 1, depending on whether the focus is offense or defense,
Explanation: Emphasizes toughness, and either being completely impervious to most harm or Very Strong. The uncertainty is in whether this strength level is actually available to us...we can do inhuman levels of strength, but this is, like, 200 tons and that may be outside our power's scope, honestly, but the 'strength' version can easily be rebuilt with a lower amount and some Strike or other changes.
Explanation: This one requires more explanation beyond purpose (which is straightforwardly just to be good at social stuff)...the basic idea is that the analytical hearing and analytical smell combine with other subtle mods to grant a 'lie detector' effect along with the ability to perfectly choose the social methods to apply (hence the Enhanced Persuasion and Deception)...the Enhanced Presence, meanwhile, is just pheromones (and within the normal human scale to avoid skeeviness...she smells good, but not superhumanly good). I think this all follows logically, but I'm not positive it's allowed.
You rise from bed feeling, well, not great, on the one hand it's the first time you've slept in your own bed since you and Adamant got back from the Yellowstone mess and it's a relief to put that behind you.
On the other… last night was a shit show, there was a house fire which spread across almost the entire street, a nasty car crash, and to top it all off someone prank called you, saying that Fire had been seen eating parked cars in full crocodile form at 1AM and you'd had to check that out in case it was real.
Needless to say, as you rise from your very comfortable bed and groggily look around your newspaper filled room there is a certain desire to return to your slumber.
Pushing it down you get up from your bed, take a quick shower, remind yourself to pick Preston up from the Doggy Daycare by noon in your diary for a fifth time, and make sure you look appropriately human in the mirror before dressing and wandering over your room's door to make yourself a cup of morning coffee.
With the press of a button the blast door to your room slides open as you walk down the dark hallway to the kitchen, navigating with cat-like eyes before pushing impatiently pushing open the kitchen door, only to be surprised when light pours
through the opening door.
The light hits your unprepared eyes like a needle, taking your night adapted eyes a brief moment to catch up to what your ears are telling you as they switch color.
Adamant, Frank when he's out of costume like he is right now, is sitting at the kitchen table and listening to music, half asleep, as he waits for the machine to finish two cups of coffee.
"Good morning." You mumble, making a beeline for the coffee and staring down at the timer as it slowly ticks toward completion.
"Oh, good morning to you too." He replies, rousing himself as you walk into the room. "Before you ask, things have been quiet… too quiet." You groan at the joke before being distracted as the coffee finishes with a little ding.
He chuckles as he floats over the coffee and takes a cup. "But seriously, everything has cooled off now that we're back, there's just one little thing we need to do first." he says, his tone growing more serious as he speaks.
You raise an eyebrow, "Really? What?" You ask, trying to recall anything you'd have to do aside from your more general duties and coming up short.
"Don't tell you've forgotten," he says, the smile on his face dying as you find something very interesting on the floor, your face flushed. "Oh, Chim, I'm sorry, I shouldn't joke about that." You wave him off as he apologizes. "Nevermind that, what did I forget?"
"Well…" he says, suddenly a little nervous, "I wanted you to know how much I care about you, and to thank you for all the help you've given me since we met, so, with that in mind…" as he's speaking he directs you towards the living room and opens the door to the living room with a purposefully over dramatic flourish, revealing a banner hanging over the room, the words upon it echoing his next words "Happy Birthday Chimera!"
You turn to face your mentor with a smile on your face, "When did you set all this up?"
"After you went to sleep kiddo." He replies with a smile. "Ordered the cake before we left for the Yellowstone mess."
"Cake?" You ask, your sweet tooth suddenly awakened by the mention of that most precious of deserts.
"Yes! It's lemon and-" he says, interrupted as both your phones start ringing, it's a call from 911.
Adamant answers the phone immediately, switching the phone to speaker mode as he does so.
The man on the other end of the call is quick answer. "Someone pulled all the alarms in the Kaiju Cannon and we've got an emergency call from the control center, connecting you to her now."
Instantly, every last trace of the grin that was on Adamant's face is gone, his voice is calm, serious, and to the point as he addresses the woman who made the call. "What's the situation miss?"
The panicking voice on the other side of the call is none of those three things but she still manages to get the point across. "Doctor Destruction is inside the Kaiju Cannon, they've taken hostages, and they've begun to take control of it, once they've got total control they'll be able to essentially delete parts of the city at the press of a button, well, actually more like three."
There's a short pause as the two of you process that, then come the questions, "How'd they get inside?" You ask, just as Adamant asks, "How are they taking control of it and how much time do we have?"
"Doctor Destruction built a robot specialized in hacking i think." The woman says helplessly as you both race to get your costumes on. "They're having trouble taking control through, I think they didn't expect the place to run on floppy disks and our security is top notch, you should have 30 to an hour minutes at least before they get control, I think."
"Ok," you say as you and Adamant get into uniform. "How'd they get in? Is there a bunker buster robot we need to worry about?"
Her next words surprise you greatly. "Ah, no, uh, Slip was with him, I was watching on the cameras, he walked through the door and then opened it from the inside, then Doctor Destruction walked in, thanked him, and brought in all his robots."
That gives you both pause, "Are there any other supers inside? Or just those two." You ask, annoyed that Slip wasn't mentioned at the beginning.
"No, just Slip, well, he's got his robots with him and those all had some really big guns but-" she pauses for a moment before yelling, "Oh shit-" you hear her begin running for a moment before the call is suddenly cut off.
The next minute is a flurry of motion as you both rush out of the building and make an aerial beeline for the Cannon, before landing on a nearby rock to survey the local area and come up with a plan.
The Cannon sits proudly atop a rocky hill, itself a small hill of steel reinforced concrete with a single blast door fit for a missile silo in the structure's side, by design it stands far from any cover save a few outcroppings of rocks from behind which you can hear the not-so-quiet rumbling of robotic engines, thankfully, the cannon was built well away from the city, almost eliminating any potential risk of collateral damage, although that was more about the Kaiju than it was about Supervillains.
The inside of the building should be cramped, narrow, and of course swarming with robots, with blast door after blast door in your path.
All of this goes through your mind as you open your mouth to ask your mentor, "Ok, what's the plan?"
Adamant thinks for a second, "I can definitely break down that door, it might take a bit of effort, but I can definitely take it down, the real problem are the hostages, well, that and that fact that the Doctor probably wants to hold the entire city for ransom or blow it up for the reputation."
"That reminds me." You say, "Why would Slip be helping him do this? He's got to know that this could get a lot of people killed, and that the Doctor will probably backstab him, and that this would put a target on his back the size of Texas."
That question receives a shrug, "I have no idea, maybe he's being blackmailed, maybe he's suddenly a lot more desperate for money, maybe the woman got it wrong and this is only someone with a similar power." He says, before glancing up at the side of the cannon and grinning as a thought strikes him. "And I think I have an idea of how to get one of us inside undetected."
"What is it?" You ask, not taking your eyes off the bots and their ineffectual attempts at hiding, they look better than anything he's made since he went into hiding, with rotating laser guns on each arm.
Adamant points upwards at the side of the weapon, where you can see a ladder stretching up to the barrel. "There's a hatch at the bottom of that ladder, for when they need to work on the outside of the gun, it will be shut but you should be able to get through while they're all focused on me."
You spend a short few more seconds discussing what you're going to do once you sneak inside, then you sneak into position.
Once you give the signal, Adamant flys forward. striking the blast door with an overwhelmingly powerful punch and smashing a hole inside of it as lasers pour in from both inside the base and from outside as the robots which were guarding the entrance reorient themselves to strike at this new intruder.
And as they stare at him, they miss you, camouflaged as you silently leap up the wall, find the hatch, and cut your way inside.
You smirk as you drop downwards, these idiots have no idea what's about to hit them.
O-O-O-O-O
What plan did you and Adamant agree on?
[ ] Focus on finding and freeing the hostages.
Doctor Destruction is trigger happy in the extreme and will be very willing to jump to threatening others to keep you and Adamant from tossing him in a jail cell, if you're successful you should be able to avert a standoff that could get people killed.
[ ] Stop the hacking attempt on the Kaiju Cannon.
If you can break this "Hacking Robot" then you can defuse the worst case scenario, meaning that no matter what else happens, that no part of the city will be destroyed in a ball of burning death.
[ ] Ambush Doctor Destruction from behind.
On the other hand, you could just ambush him from behind and end things right then and there, of course, if you fail then he'll still have the hostages and the cannon might be activated before you have a chance to stop.
(Current stats are in line with the default power set listed in the informational)
As you land with a thud at the bottom of the ladder you can already smell the melted metal even before you see the blast door down the hallway which has been blasted down into a puddle of slightly cooling slag.
You almost tap your earpiece to inform Adamant that you're inside but stop yourself, you both agreed it would be better not to risk the element of surprise by talking over communications that would not hold up to a robot built to spy on such things.
It takes you only a moment to jump over the blisteringly hot scrap metal and check the directions painted on the floor before you're setting off for the cafeteria, a place large enough to hold everyone in the base while keeping them away from anything that someone who'd taken the compound at gunpoint might not want them to touch.
You sprint down through the narrow concrete halls, hearing the hum of four engines in your way before rounding a bend to encounter a band of four machines like the ones outside, marching in a neat set of two separate pairs in the cramped hallways, each one looks like an armored skeleton whose traded a hand for a laser gatling gun, the red eyes in their skull-like heads flashing in time with the binary chirping which they use as speech.
Although despite that you recognize differences between these machines and Doctor Destruction's older designs, notably lacking is the smell of rotten eggs from the engine or the violent bickering and gestures between each member of the squad.
What really draws the eyes are the addition of jet packs on their back, difficult as that might be to use in the cramped confines of this hallway, and the speed at which they raise the laser gatling guns, a feat of rapid reflexes far beyond the clunky bots you remember.
Of course, even that much superior speed is no match for you, you're on the first one in an instant as you cleave downward with a long wrist blade of bone which whistles through the air before it bisects the machine with the oh so, satisfying screech of metal giving way.
Even before the first bot hits the ground you're already moving on to the second one within reach, it activates its thrusters and shoots backwards in a desperate bid for escape before you hit it like a battering ram, plunging your wrist blades into its eyes and out the other end.
You ride it to the ground as the rocket dies, sparks flying in your wake as it skids across the concrete floor towards the last two robots.
Finally, the remaining robots light up their jet packs as their combat analysis programs catch up to the battle at hand and they begin to open fire, chirping commands at each other as they try to erase you from existence.
You narrowly duck beneath a frantic shower of red lights which burn their way into the far wall behind you before the second bot finally skids to halt and you surge forward like a human missile, your improvised surfboard's fuel tank igniting in a spout of fire as its struck by a stray laser an instant later, casting a shadow over your targets as heat licks at your back.
As the explosion carries you forward you let out a whoop of pure joy as the rush of the fight reaches its zenith, then you're on them once again, and their fates are sealed.
Your leg snaps outward as you land, kicking the nearest bot's gatling laser upwards, its wild firing leaving the concrete above you glowing orange before you decapitate it with a single blow, the final bot tries to evade you but it's no use, you pin it to the wall with a shard of bone and tear out its engine, holding it up to inspect as the light in the last bot's eyes die, taking a moment to boost your investigative abilities in this bubble of calm
As you suspected, it's a new design, and not just the older version with a few minor improvements, this is a radically improved design, built around some fantastically expensive parts, parts that you would have known if Doctor Destruction had stolen and so expensive that his lackluster finances would never be able to support purchasing them, certainly not for his rank and file cannon fodder.
Which means that whatever he put together to face you and Adamant head on could actually pose a threat, and furthermore, that you might not recognize them by their engine sounds, meaning that if you keep picking these fights then you might run into something significantly tougher than a quartet of cannon fodder robots.
You put the engine down and take back the bone holding the bot to the wall, letting it drop with a heavy clang to the floor, whatever is going on here and whoever has been funding him can wait until you rescue these hostages.
Your body shifts, a cloak of flesh growing out over your costume as you blend into the dark gray hallways of the base, your footsteps quiet as your feet grow softened pads and your ears grow to better avoid the robots still searching for people.
As you finish shifting you hear a noise like thunder as the building shakes around you, Adamant must have finally met some real resistance, all the more reason you have to hurry.
Adamant can take care of himself, he's nearly invincible, the hostages? Significantly less so.
With your powers it's almost child's play to creep through each hallway, to step over the remains of each melted blast door, walk past each burnt corpse, some holding weapons, more without, and to dodge through each and every patrol until you arrive at the cafeteria.
The long tables and chairs have been moved to touch each wall, and where they used to be is instead a group of about fifteen men and women sitting with zip ties around their hands, these seem to be the lucky ones, a small pile of smoking corpses have been unceremoniously dumped in a corner, melted flesh dripping from a few of them onto the floor like ice cream left out in the sun for too long.
For the moment you turn off your sense of smell, not wanting to smell that horror show, and turn to the guards to distract yourself from the sight.
Ten of the bots which you fought earlier stand in a circle around the hostages, but what really catches your eye is the robot standing in a corner, pacing back and forth and chirping at the others in what seems to you do be an almost whiny tone.
Immediately you can tell that this thing is a cut above the rest, it's sleeker, it's movements are more fluid, and it spins and swings its four blade-limbs with incredible speed as it walks back and forth, it's owl like face swiveling around to watch the hostages no matter where it moves.
However, it looks pretty fragile, not quite as easy to break as the bots, but a few good hit should be able to wreak it if you can land them.
All in all, this could be a problem, what will you do?
Initiative
Chimera: 19+15=34
Destroyer Bots: 1 (I am not making this up I promise) +4=5
Chimera goes first.
Chimera attacks with a full power attack, converting 5 accuracy into extra damage, and her target is a minion she can make this attack as routine check, getting an automatic 10 and adding 10 for a total of 20 vs the Destroyer Bot's 15 Parry, the attack hits, it rolls toughness, needing to get a total of 15 plus the attack's damage, in this case 12, for a total of 27, otherwise they will completely fail the check and be knocked out as they are a minion.
It gets 18+7=25, a failure, and it is out for the count, normally this would be the end of your turn, however, you have the Takedown advantage, meaning that you can make another attack against another minion within reach.
You make another full power attack, this time rolling (because why not) a 6+10=16, beating their parry, and forcing another toughness check, it rolls 3+7=10, another failure.
Unfortunately there's nobody else in reach of you, meaning that you cannot continue using Takedown.
Now the robots get to act, both of the 2 remaining robots will retreat backwards with a rocket assisted leap and shoot at him with their gatling lasers, rolling a 10+5=15 and a 8+5=13 both failing to hit Chimera's current dodge of 17
Then Chimera closes the distance with them again and makes another routine power attack, hitting them and forcing another toughness check, 8+7=15, another failure, it is destroyed and Chimera makes another attack on the last bot.
The final bot is hit and rolls a 7+7=14, it too is destroyed.
Before inspecting the robots Chimera shifts her enhanced perception into enhanced investigation.
Inspecting the Robots: 18+16=34 Investigation Check (3 Degrees of Success)
Chimera shifts into the Infiltration Power, except switching out the pheromones for better hearing.
Destroyer Bot Patrols: 12+6=18 Perception (3 DoF)
Chimera's Stealth: 11+20=31 Stealth (3 DoS)
Chimera easily sneaks over to the cafeteria.
O-O-O-O-O
Anyway, I think I've shook the rust off, so here's a significantly tougher (but far from unbeatable) fight, I hope you come out on top.
For anyone who would like to submit a combat plan you don't necessarily need to include a list of exactly what you want your power to boost and how, although a basic description of what you want is absolutely necessary, and if you provide a list of specifics, please include the point costs.
A given plan might take place over several rounds, a new plan will be asked for if your previous plan is not longer viable, if it is completed, or if there's an important decision that needs to be made.
Good luck, and remember, you have a safety net if you mess up! Enjoy it while it lasts.
This might be a tough spot but you've been in way worse, with a few moments of thought you know just what to do.
Your body shifts once more as your arms unravel into long, bladed tentacles, as your ribcage opens and your intestines slowly twist out of their protective shell, growing long spikes as you shape them into more bladed tentacles, each of them rearing back like serpents waiting to strike as you wait for the perfect moment.
Not yet… not yet… Now! You strike in a vicious flurry, two dozen spears shoot forward, dodging around hostages and stabbing into their guards, plunging through metallic bodies and ripping all but three of them apart in an instant and piercing past them to strike at the more agile machine.
it dodges and parries through of the storm of tentacles with superhuman speed, and what might have been a lethal blow leaves it with little more than scuffed paint as it zeroes in on you and dashes towards you, blade-arms flashing as it closes the distance between the two of you with incredible speed, chirping orders to the last three bots.
It bears down on you with a spinning cascade of blades, seeking to get inside your range and butcher you with sheer, unrivaled speed.
Fortunately for you, it underestimates your speed, you launch yourself off of the wall and sail over its head, kicking off from it as your tentacles wrap around the last three bots as instead of raising their weapons, they instead point them down at the hostages.
You catch all three of them in your hold as they desperately fire up their jet packs and crush them in your grasp, feeling the metal give way in a dozen places.
As you finish ripping them apart, you turn to the faster machine as you begin pulling the tentacles back into your body just as its head surges closer, ending an inch away from your face before its eyes blast a wave of blinding light straight into your retinas.
Well, blinding light for a normal person, it's really not that bad for you, heck, just three days ago you were fighting an army made of stone with energy attacks so bright the blind could-
A blade swings narrowly misses your head and you realize that you just drifted off in the middle of a fight, stepping backwards go on the offensive once more, tossing the remains of your robotic enemies at their superior as several more tentacles wait in the wings for when it makes its move.
The robot leaps upward, angling like it's going to stand on the wall, but misjudges the timing and a tentacle wraps itself around a delicate metallic leg. "Goodbye." You tell it cheerfully before swinging it around and slamming it into the far wall with a thunderous crash, leaving what was once a marvel of engineering as nothing more than a pile of scrap and four large blades embedded in the wall.
You wait for a moment to make sure it's dead then pull the tentacles back into your body, reassembling your default shape as you walk over to the hostages and mentally mourn that it died so quickly, "Is everyone able to walk?" You ask in your best impression of Adamant, calm and commanding so everyone focuses on you and not the the pile of half melted coworkers in the corner.
You receive a ragged volley of replies, all in the affirmative thankfully, get them up on their feet, and begin leading them back up to the ladder you entered through as you gently try to question them further, "This way." You tell them, tracking your old path by smell in case you forget the way, with resharpened ears letting you maneuver around far, far fewer bots than you evaded the first time around.
"Does anyone here know how I could shut down the cannon?" You ask, while hopefully you can just smash whatever is hacking it, there might be complications, and knowing how to turn the thing off for a few hours could be the difference between life and death for hundreds, maybe thousands of people.
"Uh, I did, uh, do, I mean, I don't think I've been fired, don't know why I said it like that." One of them says, he looks young, with what you would call a beard if you were being charitable and a dusting of dark oddly dense peach fuzz if you weren't, and now wearing an expression that strongly indicates he want to sink into the floor and die.
On another day, in other, less overwhelmingly grim circumstances, with someone who hadn't had quite this bad a day, a part of you would have found that funny, but right now that's less than useless, so you crush the humor, shape your brain to better understand him, release a small dose of pheromones, and cut to the point. "How do I turn off the cannon-" a quick, almost imperceptible glance at the name on his uniform tells you his name. "-This is really important Alvin." You continue seamlessly.
Luckily that gets him back on track, "Well, first of all you need my fingerprints, well, mind or Angela's, they didn't, uh, didn't move her in there with the rest of the… when they," you cut him off, trying to keep his mind off of the deaths of his colleagues, at least until you're all out of the base filled with combat robots. "Ok, fingerprints, ok, I can do that, what else do I need to do to shut it off?"
"Oh, right, yes, the code, it's-" he leans in close to whisper the code in your ear, "A813&@1QNV" he pauses, "Did you get that?" He checks.
"Yep, I've got it," you say as you inscribe the symbols on your palm in truly tiny scrip and finally turn a corner to arrive at the ladder which you entered the base through.
Quickly you wave them up, "Come on, come on, come on, up, let's go." You say as you rush each of them up the ladder as fast as you can.
Then, once your charges have safely ascended the ladder, you take one last look at the stale, cramped, halls of the cannon's base, which even here smells like cooked flesh, and climb it yourself.
Dawn's first light and fresh, sea salt air fill your senses as you sigh with the joy of a difficult job well done, even as you scan your surroundings for bots and find nothing but scrap, all you have to do now is bring them safely down to the ground, then you can help Adamant wrap this whole mess up and the two of you can figure out why this happened.
Growing a set of incredibly long, branching arms you wrap your charges up in a great hug, grow a series of suction cups on your feet, and gently carry them down the wall, only rolling your eyes a little at their worrying, they ride cars after all and those things are unwieldy death machine, it's why you've never driven one yourself.
Finally, you set them down and finally finally contact Adamant to tell him you've secured the hostages. "Adamant, the hostages are secure-"
As you say that a blur shoots out of the base's front door, it strikes the ground, skidding almost six feet before it rights itself to reveal Adamant, his costume is dirty and slightly singed and his hair has become wild and messy.
Nonetheless he still lacks any injuries you can see, "Hello Chimera, sorry for the poor timing, it's just that I needed some room to maneuver-" he's cut off by the booming voice of Doctor Destruction, speakers blaring with a mechanical edge like nails on chalkboard as he steps out of the door in a suit of power armor ten feet tall with a series of thrusters on his back and a trio of heavy, rotating cannons on one arm, all controlled by an X-Box remote held by the blonde, middle aged man in the suit's padded cockpit.
"OH, HELLO LITTLE CHIMERA, NOW YOU TOO WILL WITNESS MY GLORIOUS INVENTION, MY MAGNUM OPUS! BEHOLD! THE MASSACRE MAN-DROID, THE APEX OF MECHANICAL DESIGN!" He says through the blaring speakers, the suit clumsily stepping aside as a whirling engine of plasma-blades and sonic projectors charges past, it's body supported by a dozen tentacled limbs.
Even as Doctor Destruction began speaking you'd already picked the former hostages right back up and started running as fast as you could for one of the rocky outcroppings around the base but the sight of the.. ugh, Massacre Man-Droid forces you to ask Adamant some hard questions. "That's the reason you wanted room to maneuver? The bucket of bolts barely even looks like the original." You yell up as him as he takes to the sky, ducking and dodging through a barrage of stone shattering sound.
In contrast to your joking tone and the Doctor's sputtering outrage just for a moment Adamant seems… worried, then he cracks a grin, and the fear vanishes like it was never there, "Doesn't fight like him either, no I'm not worried about the good doctor's fan art-" that somehow sends the doctor even further into indignant outrage which you both ignore "-The problem is Slip's new toys"
And as if he was waiting to be heralded by those words, Slip charged out the front door.
Slip seems mostly unchanged in appearance from the last time you saw him, although you could be wrong, his insubstantial body is more the hazy outline of a man in a black mask than anything so while there might be more the only real physical difference the hazy outline of a nearly empty bandolier and an oddly fat-barreled… rifle?
Then as you reach the outcropping of rock he materializes and you realize that it's not a rife, it's a grenade launcher and in a show of crisp, clean, nearly superhuman expertise totally unlike the Slip you knew he sends his final remaining grenade arching down towards you and more importantly the civilians who you're holding onto.
Time slows as you desperately shape one of your arms into a cannon and take aim, your brain adapting to track its movements as you prepare to fire a spear of pressurized blood into it while it's still in the air and far from the squishy humans who you've sworn to protect.
Adamant's body obscures your sight, triggering it midair as he blocks it with his body and it explodes into an impossibly enormous cloud of glowing, vibrant blue gas with sparks of gold light inside of it, so large it still might swallow you up as well, then Adamant inhales and in a few seconds the cloud shrinks into nothingness.
As he turns to face Slip as you set down your charges and tell them to keep low and still, Adamant smiles, wisps of blue and gold mist seeping out between his teeth as Slip turns incorporeal again.
Then he exhales, sending an enormous plume of thick blue smoke out of his mouth and down at Slip as he dashes through the wall behind him to escape the tidal wave of shining smog.
He glances down at you and the civilians, coughs of a little bit more of the gas, and flashes a reassuring smile at them before dodging another barrage of sonic blasts with a casual burst of speed and veering away from you and the civilians, drawing fire from both Doctor Destruction and his greatest creation as he taunts them, twisting and turning through a barrage of weapons fire like its the easiest thing in the world.
As tempting as it might be to try to bypass through Doctor Destruction, out-speed an apparently disarmed Slip, and shut off the cannon here now, that doesn't seem practical, close quarters with almost no room to maneuver is where Slip and that machine and its burning blades will thrive, worse is the possibility that some part of the cannon might be broken by fighting inside of it, leaving the city itself open to other dangers.
No, unfortunately you'll have to beat down Doctor Destruction and his supposed Magnum Opus here and now.
Sure that Adamant has come to the same conclusion you have, you don't bother asking even asking the question. "As much as that thing fall short of the original, I don't like the look of those plasma saws, what kind of cannon is Destruction using?" You ask Adamant through your earpiece as that very cannon
"Big, bulky, and kinetic." He replies, "The bot he's piloting is clunky and slow but he's got a force field around him and I think he's only sorta driving, it's still a robot, he's just got slightly more precise control over it."
You nod, realize that he can't see that, and a moment later reply, this time with an embarrassed blush that you're pretty sure has burned away a significant portion of your authority in the eyes of the civilians who you've been hiding behind a rock with.
"Understood, I'll take care of The Doctor." You tell him, "At least, assuming the robot isn't too much for an old man like you?"
He actually laughs at that. "Don't worry little whippersnapper, this old man still has a few more fights in him."
That pulls a laugh out of you in turn as your flesh and bone morphs to fit the battle ahead and you emerge from your hiding spot just in time to see Adamant slam into his writhing foe, knocking it the Doctor before following with a vicious right hook.
Doctor Destruction now stands alone, triple barreled-cannon at the ready, his face flushed red with rage, "COME BACK HERE," he screams, "WE'RE NOT FINISHED YET ADAMANT, I AM GOING TO MURDER YOU AND YOUR STUPID LITTLE WEASEL OF A SIDEKICK AND THEN I'M GOING TO CARVE MY INITIALS INTO YOUR CITY!"
He continues on like that, seemingly having forgotten all about you, so, how will you take him down?
Chimera switched her stats around to this
Power set: Protection 8 (8 pts.), Enhanced Dodge 3 (3 pts), Enhanced Parry 3 (3 pts), Enhanced Stealth 12 (Flaw - Must Remain Stationary, 3 pts), Enhanced Advantages 3 (Enhanced Initiative 2, Interpose, 3 pts), Damage 10 (Area - Cone, Selective, 30 pts). Swap that power set out if needed, especially if down to only the most dangerous one.
AoE saving throws: they each need a 20 to take half damage, and to beat either 25 or 20 in order to beat the toughness save.
Dancer-Bot charges across the room to attack Chimera, attacks: Nat 1! Misses
Chimera attacks the remaining three bots with another AoE attack, same rules and DCs as the first one.
Bot 1: 7 T: 12=failure (I take back what I said about this one's good luck)
Bot 2: 18 T: 14=failure
Bot 3: 7 T: 23=failure
And now just the mini-boss
Dancer-Bot's turn comes along once again and it's going to use: Bright Flash! +9 to hit and rank 9 effect
Flashing Eyes Attack: 15+9=24=a hit
The DC Chimera needs to beat is 19
Chimera's fortitude resistance: 16+8=24, you completely ignore it
AoE attack, same rules as before
Dancer-Bot 15=failure T1=5
Well shit, uh, that's four degrees of failure, I think it's dead, a lesson for the future I suppose.
You shift back into your default power set and begin escorting the hostages out of the base.
Then you shape yourself into a social specialty
Calming Alivin: 30=success
Then you switch around again to grab a bunch of people at once and climb down the wall.
O-O-O-O-O
And here's your first peer level opponent, a deranged, egomaniacal man with some fantastic ideas and more money than he could have gotten his hands on alone, good luck.
If you have any questions don't hesitate to let me know, here are a pair example combat plans.
[ ] Head on Brawl: go full Tank to yourself as tough and strong as he is, then rely on the fact that you regenerate and he doesn't to win the day.
[ ] Blinding Speed: that gun of his looks really unwieldy, if you sped yourself up enough than you're pretty sure he wouldn't be able to hit you no matter how hard he tried, and even if he did, you can regenerate.
