- Location
- Many Places
Ok, I'm closing the vote in an hour or so
A Bloodstained Mantle
- Thread starter alexthealright
- Start date
- Original Action Mystery Superhero
- Location
- Many Places
Oh, oops, vote is closed now, also, this next update is going to be pretty damn big, so while I will try to get it out as quickly as possible it might take a little longer than the others have.
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- Location
- Many Places
Alright, I have a question as to your preferences about something, would you prefer me to make the next update as one big update, comprising the rest of this mission? Or would you like me to split this next chapter in two so that you voters have some influence in this?
- Location
- Indonesia
I would like the latter. Thank you for giving us the option!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I'd prefer the latter if the choices involved are meaningful. If the choices don't matter, we don't need to worry about them, but if they do...
- Location
- Many Places
They're not exactly story choices, just combat decisions and you're still the prologue so the stakes aren't too high.
If you guys want to play out the fight scene then great, but it's not the end of the world if you let me take the wheel.
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- Location
- Southampton, Great Britain
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I would be interested in the latter, at least to try it out and see how well it works.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
If the tactical choices might determine whether the enemy gets away or the like, that still seems meaningful. But the consensus seems to be wanting to make them either way, so...
- Location
- Many Places
Fair enough, less work for me then.
Chapter 5: DOCTOR DESTRUCTION’s DASTARDLY DEEDS.
- Location
- Many Places
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?
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.
[ ] Something Else:
Good Luck Everyone.
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.
Bot 1: 16 T: 21=failure
Bot 2: 10 T: 14=failure
Bot 3: 21 T: 27=Success (Holy shit, this is the luckiest bot alive)
Bot 4: 16 T: 17=failure
Bot 5: 7 T: 11=failure
Bot 6: 15 T: 23=failure
Bot 7: 23 T: 14=failure
Bot 8: 13 T: 20=failure
Bot 9: 22 T: 20=success
Bot 10: 12 T: 14=failure
Dancer-Bot: 32 T: 22=Failure, -1 to future toughness checks
Only 3 bots are still alive
Initiative
Dancer-Bot: 25
Chimera: 16
Destruction Bots: 9
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.
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.
Bot 1: 16 T: 21=failure
Bot 2: 10 T: 14=failure
Bot 3: 21 T: 27=Success (Holy shit, this is the luckiest bot alive)
Bot 4: 16 T: 17=failure
Bot 5: 7 T: 11=failure
Bot 6: 15 T: 23=failure
Bot 7: 23 T: 14=failure
Bot 8: 13 T: 20=failure
Bot 9: 22 T: 20=success
Bot 10: 12 T: 14=failure
Dancer-Bot: 32 T: 22=Failure, -1 to future toughness checks
Only 3 bots are still alive
Initiative
Dancer-Bot: 25
Chimera: 16
Destruction Bots: 9
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.
[ ] Something Else:
Good Luck Everyone.
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CedeTheBees
Probably high right now
- Location
- Somewhere
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] 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.
The longer we draw out the fight the more time things have to go wrong.
[X] 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.
[X] 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.
[X] 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.
Speed-blitz meta is probably the best but... it's kinda overdone. Let's box.
Speed-blitz meta is probably the best but... it's kinda overdone. Let's box.
- Location
- Many Places
So how was the fight scene and what do you think of Doctor Destruction's character?
Eternal_0bserver
(Unverified Bookworm)
- Location
- Earth, Northern Europe
I'm really curious how the people of Dusk's Bay cope with having their town protected by what is arguably the most grotesque hero in the world. For example, I can imagine you need a pretty strong stomach when you first see her combat mode. Which could be useful when facing squeamish villains, now that I think about it.
[X] 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.
[X] 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.
- Location
- Many Places
1: By mostly thinking about how she looks when she's just walking around.
2: There are more grotesque powers out there, although not in this city.
3: The fact that Adamant is a lot less horrific and takes a more central role.
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- Location
- Indonesia
Yep, that is true.
My vote:
[X] 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.
- Location
- Many Places
Voting is closed
- Location
- Many Places
I'm very sorry for the delay but the next update should be coming out tomorrow, a pair of other projects got in the way and as it currently stands this chapter is a bit of a mess.
Chapter 6: The World’s Worst Birthday
- Location
- Many Places
"Ok, you should all stay here where it's safer." You tell the hostages as your body shifts, growing slimmer and more nimble as hummingbird wings sprout from your back and spikes of bone almost eagerly shoot out of your hands to form wicked wrist blades with shining, razor sharp edges.
You take a deep breath, feel the world slow around you, and then you're gone, streaking forward almost like a missile as in only a little more than an instant you're already in range of the Doctor's armor and interrupting his unhinged rant with a gunshot fast stab into the suit's shoulder as you spy a distortion in the nearly transparent force field, opening a chink in the bot's armor for an instant.
It's artificial muscles screech as metal rips and tears for a moment before the force field remodulates itself and your blade slides off it.
Caught completely by surprise Doctor Destruction fumbles with the controls before his suit takes action for him, the jet pack's sudden activation sending him skyward as the cannon turns to focus on you.
"DIE!!" He screams through tinny speakers, the noise drowning out the roar of the jetpack.
The thunderous tri-cannon on the suit's arm roars to life as its force field fades and a half dozen bolts of light streak down at you as you rise to meet him, four of them narrowly evaded on wings beating so fast that even you can't count each beat, a fifth shot you dodge by a hair's breadth, the sixth and last blast flying past before detonating behind you.
In an instant you turn to meet it, bracing yourself as you continue flying straight towards Destruction, using the incredible force of the explosion to send you rocketing forward to circle around to catch him in the back as the bones in your arm and side begin to repair the tiny fractures they'd suffered from that glancing strike.
"JUST GIVE UP NOW YOU FOOLISH GIRL, I-"
You tune the words out as you notice his force field is sputtering, still recovering from the energy expended on the tri-cannon, if you can get him to shoot like that again and then capitalize on it…
You stick out your tongue as you circle him in the air, "Hey doc, whose design did you rip off to make this bucket of junk?"
He spins to face you, the childish insult drawing a predictable wave of energy bolts which hit nothing but thin air as you spin through them and land a devastating blow to the suit's chest as the weakened force field gives way with a pop, followed an instant later by the screech of bone on metal which exposes the iridescent light of the suit's reactor to open air.
For a single glorious moment the jet pack dies and the doctor screams in fright as he plummets, with you mirroring his fall until the suit compensates and levels out, leaving the doctor staring at you as the last of your injuries heal.
You wave, "Look, it's ok to admit that you're bad at fighting, there's no shame in it."
Doctor Destruction's scream of rage sounds like nails on a chalkboard magnified a thousand fold by the suit's speakers, only drowned out by the roar of his tri-cannon as he aims to tear you apart in a hailstorm of light.
"Ok I lied there's a little bit of shame in it." You quip as you twist and weave through the air, evading each and every stone shattering shot of the barrage, this one smaller than the last two to provide more power to the force field, and then counter attacking with a roundhouse kick edged by bone.
While you aim for his cockpit window the suit intervenes, blocking the blow with its handed arm and counter attacking once more as the three barrels on the tri-cannon reconfigure, almost merging entirely as the each barrel sparks in unison.
"NOW YOU FACE THE TRI-CANNON'S SECONDARY MODE FOOL! WITH IT I SHALL RIP-" Just then the tri-cannon blasts forward an enormous, concentrated, beam of purple light.
In a flash you ascend, wings beating furiously as you escape the worse of the blast, grid your teeth, and hold steady, your wings beating furiously to maintain your position as your body withstands the beam until it dies, leaving you with nothing more than a few fast fading bruises.
The instant the light dies you spring forward in a blur of sudden motion and bring your wrist blades down on Destruction's cockpit once more, only to be stymied as the suit shifts in the air with a burst from its jetpack to bring its tri-cannon to face you as your bone blades skid off its fully charged force field.
You dive through the blasts, waiting for the the suit's force field to fade from the strain of this new barrage and then slam a bladed foot directly into his reactor, sending him flying into the ground as his jetpack cuts out for the second time.
For a moment you consider diving after your foe, but then you have an idea and stop in your tracks as a smile breaks across your face, it's a gamble, but if it pays off you could end the fight right now, so once more your body, and more specifically your brain shifts back onto a more diplomatic footing, although you don't dare let those changes show on the outside of your body.
"Hey. Suit." You say, speaking directly to the armor rather than the man inside, "This fight hasn't been going very well for you, but I have a deal to offer you."
Doctor Destruction laughs, the sound magnified by his speakers into a boneshaking rumble. "YOU FOOL, THIS MACHINE OF MINE WILL TURN THE TIDE WITH EASE, SUIT, ATTACK!"
Despite his order the suit of power armor doesn't move, "Look, you can't win this fight, I've spent the last thirty seconds tearing you apart and nothing you've accomplished has managed to stick so far."
You gesture at the patches of skin where superficial bruises which had been spread all across your arms and chest have already faded into nothingness.
You continue, "But I think you understand all that, what I think you haven't considered, is what happens to your creator when I break you, that reactor doesn't look very stable, and what's more even if your reactor didn't burst I'm not sure if your boss live would through me taking you apart."
"SUIT! KILL HER NOW." Destruction screamed as his face to turned purple with rage, as he picks up his controller, frantically pressing every button on it in an attempt to force his machine to move. "I CREATED YOU. YOU OBEY ME!"
"On the other hand…" you continue, "If you just give up now I promise that your creator will be fine, put in prison, sure, but definitely alive." You look Doctor Destruction dead in the eye and give him a wide, shark-like smile, "I assume that you made your personal safety its first priority, same as your first squad of cheap murder robots?"
At that his face somehow turns an even darker shade of purple before the suit spits him out of his cockpit and he sails into the rocky ground, screaming all the while.
He stumbles to his feet, before turning back to his suit, opening his mouth to scream an obedience code, only to stop as the suit shuts down.
Then a tranquilizer dart which used to be your pinky finger sinks into his back and he flops to the ground before you wrap an arm around his waist and shoot back into the cramped halls of the Base, your body returning to it previous, agile form as you close in on the control room and fly over the melted slag which was once the control room's door.
Of every room that you've seen in this base, this is the first one to look like it belongs in the base of an Inspired Inventor built cannon designed to shoot energy beams at superpowered Kaiju, the room is brightly lit, a holographic display shows the entire city and everything around despite the dry blood all over the projector and a half enormous dozen screens sit in front of the two control consoles and show everything there is to know about the cannon itself.
And it's hovering in front of the control console that you find the Hacker Robot, a flipped trashcan of a machine covered in flashing lights with a dozen metallic tentacles speared into the console as sits in silence.
The machine is so completely absorbed in its duties that it doesn't even notice you until a blade of bone bisects it from behind and it falls to the ground with a pair of heavy clangs, but while the machine is destroyed the hacking doesn't seem to slow.
For a single irrational moment you consider destroying the computer's core to halt the attempt, after all, just because you have the doctor under control doesn't mean Slip or another robot doesn't also have access to the cannon was subverted.
Then you glance down at your palm, remember the code, and facepalm in embarrassment.
With the cannon deactivated and the crisis defused you set Doctor Destruction on the floor, pat him down for any hidden surprises, crush the box of tiny robot spiders and the other robot disguised as a phone, before then ripping off a few of the machine's tentacles and hogtying him.
You tap your earpiece for an update from Adamant, "How's taking apart that ripoff going old man?" You ask, cheer plain to hear in your voice.
For a moment all you hear is the tearing of metal and the sputtering, jet engine-like noise of the Massacre Man-Droid's plasma blades, then you hear a sudden snap and a moment later Adamant's voice is in your ears.
"Just fine loyal minion, I'm just about done with this thing," he coughs, and you brace yourself for the joke which always accompanies the sound but one never comes, instead he just continues speaking.
"I notice the idiot's suit is deactivated and you're nowhere to be found, is everything good on your end?"
You let just a pinch of well deserved pride into your tone as you answer, "Well I don't know, is capturing our mad scientist of the month and deactivating the cannon good or amazing?"
"Wait really-" more sounds of tearing metal come over the earpiece, until finally the noise ends with a single heavy smashing sounds, "Sorry about that, it went invisible for a little bit there, as I was saying, great job, let's make sure Slip isn't hanging around, help out a little bit here, then drop your new friend off at the jail, I'll grab his suit and what's left of the Massacre Droid and then we can head back to the house for that cake of yours.
And that's exactly what you do, unfortunately Slip is nowhere to be found, so after an hour or two of moving bodies the two of you will have to content yourselves with the capture of a supervillain who's technology had killed almost a dozen people before escalating into domestic terrorism and the attempted highjacking of a weapon which could have destroyed the entire city.
All in all you arrive back home back home with the warm glow of a job well done, a crisis averted, a day saved, and a small birthday party to return to.
"Did you see what I did to that suit? It was pretty great right?" You ask as you open up the refrigerator to finally enjoy your cake, only to receive no answer, you turn to Adamant and find him on his knees, using the chair next to him as a support.
In a flash you you're at his side, "What's wrong?" You ask as you pick him up, checking for an injury from his fight with the Massacre Droid.
Adamant grips onto your shoulder, his words slurring as he answers. "The gas, it was the gas."
Then his eyes close and he goes limp, unconscious but alive, for now.
You rush Adamant to the bed in the medical room of your house, sit in the chair next to his bed, and begin frantically calling STAR demanding someone qualified to help with whatever is wrong with him until finally your calls for help are answered in a flash of light.
When the light fades empty air has been replaced by a man dressed in a lab coat and carrying a box of medical supplies who freezes when he sees the blade of serrated bone an inch from his eye, "…Did someone not call ahead?"
You blush in embarrassment and sheath your wrist blades, replaying the last second in your head and realizing that you'd almost pounced on him, "Uh, no, they didn't, sorry about that." You step back, giving the man you almost killed a little bit more space, "What's your name?"
The doctor jumps on that, seemingly eager to move past his brush with death, "Ah, of course my name is Doctor Warren, pleasure to meet you Chimera!" He says, offering his hand with a shy smile.
You quickly shake his hand and step aside and wave him over to Adamant's bed, "Did someone tell you what the problem was?"
Doctor Warren eyes the crystals growing between Adamant's teeth with growing alarm, "I was told it was some kind of gas, but I've never seen anything like this before." He says, pulling open one of Adamant's eyes and shining a light inside, recoiling back as his face twists in disgust at whatever he sees.
"Do you have a sample of the gas which caused this?" He asks as he pulls on a set of gloves, takes a tiny hammer and a set of tweezers and breaks off a chunk of the crystal growing from Adamant's mouth, dropping it inside a glass vial which he then places in the box on his belt.
"No," you answer as you take your seat next to the bed, "It dissipated not long after it was released." You point to the box, "What does that do?"
At your questioning he explains, "It's a chemical analyzer, if someone in STAR or someone who's shared their data with us has encountered something like it before then we'll be able to diagnose it and move your friend to the facility best able to treat him."
Then the analyzer chimes and spits out a piece of paper which you quickly snap up and read aloud, "Blue-Gold G, Known incidents: New York STAR headquarters, thirty first of December, 1981." Doctor Warren looks up at you, his face steadily growing more and more pale with every word. "I'm sorry, can you repeat that? Just to be sure." You frown, "Of course, Blue-Gold G, Known incidents: New York STAR headquarters, thirty first of December, 1981."
You pause for a moment, dread bubbling in your gut, "How bad is it?"
Doctor Warren swallows, his mouth opening and closing as he tries to chose the right words when a weak and rasping voice interrupts him.
"It's bad." Adamant says, crystals in his throat scratching and breaking against each with every syllable as the ones around his teeth shatter. "Very bad." He slowly turns over to face Doctor Warren, "Doctor, considering the recent Yellowstone mess there has to be a long list of people who need your help and I doubt you have anything in that bag of yours that could help is situation, with that in mind I would greatly appreciate some privacy."
Doctor Warren nods grimly, "I'm sorry, I'll go now," he turns to you and inclines his head, "I'll be in touch if you need me." The moment the words leave his mouth another flash of light swallows him up before you can even begin to voice an objection.
You pause, gaping in horror for a moment, staring at the spot where the doctor used to be before rounding on Adamant as he finally manages to sit up, leaning against the bedside table.
"What are you doing, telling the doctor to go away like that, Do you want to- are you trying to d-" you scream at him, the words finally dying on your tongue as you try and fail to force the dreaded word past your lips.
"Do you know what Blue-Gold G is?" He asks, and once you shake your head he continues, "That makes sense, like the machine said it happened forty something years ago, you see…" He coughs again, little shards of shining blue crystal shooting from his mouth.
"Well, it's actually a very simple story, there was this group of supervillains, the name isn't important, who wanted to kill several leading superheroes, specifically a certain few, vary durable ones."
He coughs again, longer and harder, "So they found an Inspired Inventor who made this gas, Blue-Gold G to kill people… well, to kill people as tough as I am, take a good look at my eyes, tell me what you find in there."
You lean in close as your vision sharpens and you see with grim understanding what he meant when he said that this gas was meant to kill people as tough as him.
There is shining blue spreading beneath Adamant's eyes, growing almost imperceptibly slowly but growing nonetheless, but as your vision sharpens you notice the sheer depth of the crystals, and from how its growing along the optical nerve you can guess as to its eventual destination.
"Oh, so when it reaches the brain you're going to…" you ask, hoping for a different answer than the one you know is the truth.
"Probably die, yes, and if I'm remembering correctly any power used to reverse or slow the process is worse than useless, but let's not focus on that, I've still got an hour or two I think, and there are a few things we should be thinking about instead, the first is how Slip and Doctor Destruction got their hand on this gas, it was supposed to have been destroyed and it's original inventor is long dead, which leaves my other question…"
"What is it?" You ask.
He tries to grin, but it dies halfway to his eyes, the gemstones "Would you be willing to share some of that cake with me? I was really looking forward that."
O-O-O-O-O
What questions would you like to ask Adamant in this hour you have with him? (Pick 10 questions and they will be answered to the best of his ability, if you like to save them then you can instead choose to keep them for now and spend them retroactively.)
What shape does your grief take?
[ ] Trepidation: Adamant had some big shoes to fill, and you're not his equal, not by a long shot, how are you meant to measure up to the best hero the city had ever seen?
[ ] A desire for vengeance: whoever did this to Adamant needs to… you're not sure what you're going to do to them, but it's not going to be pretty and you might regret it by the time
[ ] Me? Grieving? No I'm completely fine (you're not fine): You're really not supposed to mess with the certain parts of your brain for long periods, it might keep you mostly focused and stave off the depression but when something breaks though the haze… it's going to be bad.
Are you going to try to keep Adamant's death a secret for a while?
[ ] Yes: news of his death is going to turn the city into a chaotic mess, it's best to delay that until you can get better control of the situation, you could say that he's been requested to join a rapid response team and you could probably get STAR to back you up.
[ ] No: It might mean less chaos now but the secret can't hold forever, and when it breaks it might very well damage people's trust in you.
So, what did you think of the update?
You take a deep breath, feel the world slow around you, and then you're gone, streaking forward almost like a missile as in only a little more than an instant you're already in range of the Doctor's armor and interrupting his unhinged rant with a gunshot fast stab into the suit's shoulder as you spy a distortion in the nearly transparent force field, opening a chink in the bot's armor for an instant.
It's artificial muscles screech as metal rips and tears for a moment before the force field remodulates itself and your blade slides off it.
Caught completely by surprise Doctor Destruction fumbles with the controls before his suit takes action for him, the jet pack's sudden activation sending him skyward as the cannon turns to focus on you.
"DIE!!" He screams through tinny speakers, the noise drowning out the roar of the jetpack.
The thunderous tri-cannon on the suit's arm roars to life as its force field fades and a half dozen bolts of light streak down at you as you rise to meet him, four of them narrowly evaded on wings beating so fast that even you can't count each beat, a fifth shot you dodge by a hair's breadth, the sixth and last blast flying past before detonating behind you.
In an instant you turn to meet it, bracing yourself as you continue flying straight towards Destruction, using the incredible force of the explosion to send you rocketing forward to circle around to catch him in the back as the bones in your arm and side begin to repair the tiny fractures they'd suffered from that glancing strike.
"JUST GIVE UP NOW YOU FOOLISH GIRL, I-"
You tune the words out as you notice his force field is sputtering, still recovering from the energy expended on the tri-cannon, if you can get him to shoot like that again and then capitalize on it…
You stick out your tongue as you circle him in the air, "Hey doc, whose design did you rip off to make this bucket of junk?"
He spins to face you, the childish insult drawing a predictable wave of energy bolts which hit nothing but thin air as you spin through them and land a devastating blow to the suit's chest as the weakened force field gives way with a pop, followed an instant later by the screech of bone on metal which exposes the iridescent light of the suit's reactor to open air.
For a single glorious moment the jet pack dies and the doctor screams in fright as he plummets, with you mirroring his fall until the suit compensates and levels out, leaving the doctor staring at you as the last of your injuries heal.
You wave, "Look, it's ok to admit that you're bad at fighting, there's no shame in it."
Doctor Destruction's scream of rage sounds like nails on a chalkboard magnified a thousand fold by the suit's speakers, only drowned out by the roar of his tri-cannon as he aims to tear you apart in a hailstorm of light.
"Ok I lied there's a little bit of shame in it." You quip as you twist and weave through the air, evading each and every stone shattering shot of the barrage, this one smaller than the last two to provide more power to the force field, and then counter attacking with a roundhouse kick edged by bone.
While you aim for his cockpit window the suit intervenes, blocking the blow with its handed arm and counter attacking once more as the three barrels on the tri-cannon reconfigure, almost merging entirely as the each barrel sparks in unison.
"NOW YOU FACE THE TRI-CANNON'S SECONDARY MODE FOOL! WITH IT I SHALL RIP-" Just then the tri-cannon blasts forward an enormous, concentrated, beam of purple light.
In a flash you ascend, wings beating furiously as you escape the worse of the blast, grid your teeth, and hold steady, your wings beating furiously to maintain your position as your body withstands the beam until it dies, leaving you with nothing more than a few fast fading bruises.
The instant the light dies you spring forward in a blur of sudden motion and bring your wrist blades down on Destruction's cockpit once more, only to be stymied as the suit shifts in the air with a burst from its jetpack to bring its tri-cannon to face you as your bone blades skid off its fully charged force field.
You dive through the blasts, waiting for the the suit's force field to fade from the strain of this new barrage and then slam a bladed foot directly into his reactor, sending him flying into the ground as his jetpack cuts out for the second time.
For a moment you consider diving after your foe, but then you have an idea and stop in your tracks as a smile breaks across your face, it's a gamble, but if it pays off you could end the fight right now, so once more your body, and more specifically your brain shifts back onto a more diplomatic footing, although you don't dare let those changes show on the outside of your body.
"Hey. Suit." You say, speaking directly to the armor rather than the man inside, "This fight hasn't been going very well for you, but I have a deal to offer you."
Doctor Destruction laughs, the sound magnified by his speakers into a boneshaking rumble. "YOU FOOL, THIS MACHINE OF MINE WILL TURN THE TIDE WITH EASE, SUIT, ATTACK!"
Despite his order the suit of power armor doesn't move, "Look, you can't win this fight, I've spent the last thirty seconds tearing you apart and nothing you've accomplished has managed to stick so far."
You gesture at the patches of skin where superficial bruises which had been spread all across your arms and chest have already faded into nothingness.
You continue, "But I think you understand all that, what I think you haven't considered, is what happens to your creator when I break you, that reactor doesn't look very stable, and what's more even if your reactor didn't burst I'm not sure if your boss live would through me taking you apart."
"SUIT! KILL HER NOW." Destruction screamed as his face to turned purple with rage, as he picks up his controller, frantically pressing every button on it in an attempt to force his machine to move. "I CREATED YOU. YOU OBEY ME!"
"On the other hand…" you continue, "If you just give up now I promise that your creator will be fine, put in prison, sure, but definitely alive." You look Doctor Destruction dead in the eye and give him a wide, shark-like smile, "I assume that you made your personal safety its first priority, same as your first squad of cheap murder robots?"
At that his face somehow turns an even darker shade of purple before the suit spits him out of his cockpit and he sails into the rocky ground, screaming all the while.
He stumbles to his feet, before turning back to his suit, opening his mouth to scream an obedience code, only to stop as the suit shuts down.
Then a tranquilizer dart which used to be your pinky finger sinks into his back and he flops to the ground before you wrap an arm around his waist and shoot back into the cramped halls of the Base, your body returning to it previous, agile form as you close in on the control room and fly over the melted slag which was once the control room's door.
Of every room that you've seen in this base, this is the first one to look like it belongs in the base of an Inspired Inventor built cannon designed to shoot energy beams at superpowered Kaiju, the room is brightly lit, a holographic display shows the entire city and everything around despite the dry blood all over the projector and a half enormous dozen screens sit in front of the two control consoles and show everything there is to know about the cannon itself.
And it's hovering in front of the control console that you find the Hacker Robot, a flipped trashcan of a machine covered in flashing lights with a dozen metallic tentacles speared into the console as sits in silence.
The machine is so completely absorbed in its duties that it doesn't even notice you until a blade of bone bisects it from behind and it falls to the ground with a pair of heavy clangs, but while the machine is destroyed the hacking doesn't seem to slow.
For a single irrational moment you consider destroying the computer's core to halt the attempt, after all, just because you have the doctor under control doesn't mean Slip or another robot doesn't also have access to the cannon was subverted.
Then you glance down at your palm, remember the code, and facepalm in embarrassment.
With the cannon deactivated and the crisis defused you set Doctor Destruction on the floor, pat him down for any hidden surprises, crush the box of tiny robot spiders and the other robot disguised as a phone, before then ripping off a few of the machine's tentacles and hogtying him.
You tap your earpiece for an update from Adamant, "How's taking apart that ripoff going old man?" You ask, cheer plain to hear in your voice.
For a moment all you hear is the tearing of metal and the sputtering, jet engine-like noise of the Massacre Man-Droid's plasma blades, then you hear a sudden snap and a moment later Adamant's voice is in your ears.
"Just fine loyal minion, I'm just about done with this thing," he coughs, and you brace yourself for the joke which always accompanies the sound but one never comes, instead he just continues speaking.
"I notice the idiot's suit is deactivated and you're nowhere to be found, is everything good on your end?"
You let just a pinch of well deserved pride into your tone as you answer, "Well I don't know, is capturing our mad scientist of the month and deactivating the cannon good or amazing?"
"Wait really-" more sounds of tearing metal come over the earpiece, until finally the noise ends with a single heavy smashing sounds, "Sorry about that, it went invisible for a little bit there, as I was saying, great job, let's make sure Slip isn't hanging around, help out a little bit here, then drop your new friend off at the jail, I'll grab his suit and what's left of the Massacre Droid and then we can head back to the house for that cake of yours.
And that's exactly what you do, unfortunately Slip is nowhere to be found, so after an hour or two of moving bodies the two of you will have to content yourselves with the capture of a supervillain who's technology had killed almost a dozen people before escalating into domestic terrorism and the attempted highjacking of a weapon which could have destroyed the entire city.
All in all you arrive back home back home with the warm glow of a job well done, a crisis averted, a day saved, and a small birthday party to return to.
"Did you see what I did to that suit? It was pretty great right?" You ask as you open up the refrigerator to finally enjoy your cake, only to receive no answer, you turn to Adamant and find him on his knees, using the chair next to him as a support.
In a flash you you're at his side, "What's wrong?" You ask as you pick him up, checking for an injury from his fight with the Massacre Droid.
Adamant grips onto your shoulder, his words slurring as he answers. "The gas, it was the gas."
Then his eyes close and he goes limp, unconscious but alive, for now.
You rush Adamant to the bed in the medical room of your house, sit in the chair next to his bed, and begin frantically calling STAR demanding someone qualified to help with whatever is wrong with him until finally your calls for help are answered in a flash of light.
When the light fades empty air has been replaced by a man dressed in a lab coat and carrying a box of medical supplies who freezes when he sees the blade of serrated bone an inch from his eye, "…Did someone not call ahead?"
You blush in embarrassment and sheath your wrist blades, replaying the last second in your head and realizing that you'd almost pounced on him, "Uh, no, they didn't, sorry about that." You step back, giving the man you almost killed a little bit more space, "What's your name?"
The doctor jumps on that, seemingly eager to move past his brush with death, "Ah, of course my name is Doctor Warren, pleasure to meet you Chimera!" He says, offering his hand with a shy smile.
You quickly shake his hand and step aside and wave him over to Adamant's bed, "Did someone tell you what the problem was?"
Doctor Warren eyes the crystals growing between Adamant's teeth with growing alarm, "I was told it was some kind of gas, but I've never seen anything like this before." He says, pulling open one of Adamant's eyes and shining a light inside, recoiling back as his face twists in disgust at whatever he sees.
"Do you have a sample of the gas which caused this?" He asks as he pulls on a set of gloves, takes a tiny hammer and a set of tweezers and breaks off a chunk of the crystal growing from Adamant's mouth, dropping it inside a glass vial which he then places in the box on his belt.
"No," you answer as you take your seat next to the bed, "It dissipated not long after it was released." You point to the box, "What does that do?"
At your questioning he explains, "It's a chemical analyzer, if someone in STAR or someone who's shared their data with us has encountered something like it before then we'll be able to diagnose it and move your friend to the facility best able to treat him."
Then the analyzer chimes and spits out a piece of paper which you quickly snap up and read aloud, "Blue-Gold G, Known incidents: New York STAR headquarters, thirty first of December, 1981." Doctor Warren looks up at you, his face steadily growing more and more pale with every word. "I'm sorry, can you repeat that? Just to be sure." You frown, "Of course, Blue-Gold G, Known incidents: New York STAR headquarters, thirty first of December, 1981."
You pause for a moment, dread bubbling in your gut, "How bad is it?"
Doctor Warren swallows, his mouth opening and closing as he tries to chose the right words when a weak and rasping voice interrupts him.
"It's bad." Adamant says, crystals in his throat scratching and breaking against each with every syllable as the ones around his teeth shatter. "Very bad." He slowly turns over to face Doctor Warren, "Doctor, considering the recent Yellowstone mess there has to be a long list of people who need your help and I doubt you have anything in that bag of yours that could help is situation, with that in mind I would greatly appreciate some privacy."
Doctor Warren nods grimly, "I'm sorry, I'll go now," he turns to you and inclines his head, "I'll be in touch if you need me." The moment the words leave his mouth another flash of light swallows him up before you can even begin to voice an objection.
You pause, gaping in horror for a moment, staring at the spot where the doctor used to be before rounding on Adamant as he finally manages to sit up, leaning against the bedside table.
"What are you doing, telling the doctor to go away like that, Do you want to- are you trying to d-" you scream at him, the words finally dying on your tongue as you try and fail to force the dreaded word past your lips.
"Do you know what Blue-Gold G is?" He asks, and once you shake your head he continues, "That makes sense, like the machine said it happened forty something years ago, you see…" He coughs again, little shards of shining blue crystal shooting from his mouth.
"Well, it's actually a very simple story, there was this group of supervillains, the name isn't important, who wanted to kill several leading superheroes, specifically a certain few, vary durable ones."
He coughs again, longer and harder, "So they found an Inspired Inventor who made this gas, Blue-Gold G to kill people… well, to kill people as tough as I am, take a good look at my eyes, tell me what you find in there."
You lean in close as your vision sharpens and you see with grim understanding what he meant when he said that this gas was meant to kill people as tough as him.
There is shining blue spreading beneath Adamant's eyes, growing almost imperceptibly slowly but growing nonetheless, but as your vision sharpens you notice the sheer depth of the crystals, and from how its growing along the optical nerve you can guess as to its eventual destination.
"Oh, so when it reaches the brain you're going to…" you ask, hoping for a different answer than the one you know is the truth.
"Probably die, yes, and if I'm remembering correctly any power used to reverse or slow the process is worse than useless, but let's not focus on that, I've still got an hour or two I think, and there are a few things we should be thinking about instead, the first is how Slip and Doctor Destruction got their hand on this gas, it was supposed to have been destroyed and it's original inventor is long dead, which leaves my other question…"
"What is it?" You ask.
He tries to grin, but it dies halfway to his eyes, the gemstones "Would you be willing to share some of that cake with me? I was really looking forward that."
(You switch to the Skirmisher power set (except lacking Elongation and takedown and putting that in Improved Critical) before the fight starts
Chimera's Initiative 17+19=36
Doctor Destruction's Initiative 9+4=13
Chimera makes a Power Attack: 26=hits Damage 12
Doctor Destruction rolls toughness:24=single degree failure (toughness degraded by 1)
Doctor Destruction makes an all out attack:24=hits
Chimera rolls toughness:Natural 20+8=single degree failure (toughness degraded by 1)
Chimera makes a power attack attack: 19+10=29=Critical Success
Doctor Destruction's toughness check:9+15=24=two degrees of failure (another -1 toughness and he's dazed for one round.
Doctor Destruction rolls attack: 14+6=20=a miss
Chimera makes a power attack:16+10=26=a hit
Doctor Destruction rolls toughness:10+14=24
Doctor Destruction makes an AoE attack
Chimera rolls dodge:10+14=24=success
Chimera rolls toughness:17+8=25=success
Chimera rolls power attack:6+10=16=hit
Doctor Destruction rolls toughness: 18+13=31=success
Doctor Destruction makes an all-out attack:10+11=21=miss
Chimera makes a power attack: 11+10=21=hits
Doctor Destruction rolls toughness:4+13=17=second degree failure
Chimera shifts to a more diplomatic allocation of points and makes a diplomatic appeal to the Suit.
Talking down the suit of armor: 18+10+4=32=success
Knocking out Doctor Destruction: Isn't worth a dice roll, and frankly neither is the hacking robot)
Chimera's Initiative 17+19=36
Doctor Destruction's Initiative 9+4=13
Chimera makes a Power Attack: 26=hits Damage 12
Doctor Destruction rolls toughness:24=single degree failure (toughness degraded by 1)
Doctor Destruction makes an all out attack:24=hits
Chimera rolls toughness:Natural 20+8=single degree failure (toughness degraded by 1)
Chimera makes a power attack attack: 19+10=29=Critical Success
Doctor Destruction's toughness check:9+15=24=two degrees of failure (another -1 toughness and he's dazed for one round.
Doctor Destruction rolls attack: 14+6=20=a miss
Chimera makes a power attack:16+10=26=a hit
Doctor Destruction rolls toughness:10+14=24
Doctor Destruction makes an AoE attack
Chimera rolls dodge:10+14=24=success
Chimera rolls toughness:17+8=25=success
Chimera rolls power attack:6+10=16=hit
Doctor Destruction rolls toughness: 18+13=31=success
Doctor Destruction makes an all-out attack:10+11=21=miss
Chimera makes a power attack: 11+10=21=hits
Doctor Destruction rolls toughness:4+13=17=second degree failure
Chimera shifts to a more diplomatic allocation of points and makes a diplomatic appeal to the Suit.
Talking down the suit of armor: 18+10+4=32=success
Knocking out Doctor Destruction: Isn't worth a dice roll, and frankly neither is the hacking robot)
What questions would you like to ask Adamant in this hour you have with him? (Pick 10 questions and they will be answered to the best of his ability, if you like to save them then you can instead choose to keep them for now and spend them retroactively.)
What shape does your grief take?
[ ] Trepidation: Adamant had some big shoes to fill, and you're not his equal, not by a long shot, how are you meant to measure up to the best hero the city had ever seen?
[ ] A desire for vengeance: whoever did this to Adamant needs to… you're not sure what you're going to do to them, but it's not going to be pretty and you might regret it by the time
[ ] Me? Grieving? No I'm completely fine (you're not fine): You're really not supposed to mess with the certain parts of your brain for long periods, it might keep you mostly focused and stave off the depression but when something breaks though the haze… it's going to be bad.
Are you going to try to keep Adamant's death a secret for a while?
[ ] Yes: news of his death is going to turn the city into a chaotic mess, it's best to delay that until you can get better control of the situation, you could say that he's been requested to join a rapid response team and you could probably get STAR to back you up.
[ ] No: It might mean less chaos now but the secret can't hold forever, and when it breaks it might very well damage people's trust in you.
So, what did you think of the update?
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] A desire for vengeance: whoever did this to Adamant needs to… you're not sure what you're going to do to them, but it's not going to be pretty and you might regret it by the time
I am a vengeful person, and he's clearly Chimera's best and possibly only real friend.
[X] No: It might mean less chaos now but the secret can't hold forever, and when it breaks it might very well damage people's trust in you.
I'm an advocate for honesty.
I'm not nearly as sure in terms of questions, I'll need to think on it.
I am a vengeful person, and he's clearly Chimera's best and possibly only real friend.
[X] No: It might mean less chaos now but the secret can't hold forever, and when it breaks it might very well damage people's trust in you.
I'm an advocate for honesty.
I'm not nearly as sure in terms of questions, I'll need to think on it.
[X] A desire for vengeance: whoever did this to Adamant needs to… you're not sure what you're going to do to them, but it's not going to be pretty and you might regret it by the time
[X] No: It might mean less chaos now but the secret can't hold forever, and when it breaks it might very well damage people's trust in you.
Honesty and rage. That's probably the best policy at the moment.
Also, I wonder if we could be immune to Blue-Gold G. It's a poison that attacks the brain by working its way up, right? We could, in theory, isolate the compound in our body and corral it into a single bundle and eject it before it does too much damage. Would have to act fast to make that work, though.
[X] No: It might mean less chaos now but the secret can't hold forever, and when it breaks it might very well damage people's trust in you.
Honesty and rage. That's probably the best policy at the moment.
Also, I wonder if we could be immune to Blue-Gold G. It's a poison that attacks the brain by working its way up, right? We could, in theory, isolate the compound in our body and corral it into a single bundle and eject it before it does too much damage. Would have to act fast to make that work, though.
- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] A desire for vengeance: whoever did this to Adamant needs to… you're not sure what you're going to do to them, but it's not going to be pretty and you might regret it by the time
[X] No: It might mean less chaos now but the secret can't hold forever, and when it breaks it might very well damage people's trust in you.
We need to be honest, it'll only hurt more in the long run if people find out at a worse time.
[X] No: It might mean less chaos now but the secret can't hold forever, and when it breaks it might very well damage people's trust in you.
We need to be honest, it'll only hurt more in the long run if people find out at a worse time.
I think if we act fast enough we might be able to but this thing is designed to kill people with stuff on a similar level to us. I would not be shocked if it could fight off attempts to isolate it.