S9 as a whole: Cloud Kill

Even Manton may well be caught within the radius, depending on where he's hidden himself. Sphere might be problematic but there's plenty of other options. And Crawler might quickly adapt to be immune to Cloud kill, but a Flesh to Stone spell will solve that issue.
 
Now, we need to think about counters for the rest of the 9. I mean, there's a more than decent chance that they'll show up further down the line, so we should think of counters that the heroes could use against them ahead of time...
we've already seen a solid counter for most of them, it was used against Naurellin herself earlier: high-velocity 20mm AP/HE.

deceased:
jack
hatchetface
burnscar (if she's in the team at this point)
manequin - may need multiple shots of AP to crack him open.
shatterbird

problematic:
bonesaw probably dies in one hit, issue is any deadman plagues she has. have panacea ready to neutralize.
siberian - pop manton's head off, siberian goes pop too. just gotta find him.

unaffected:
crawler. call in the dragon.

guns v. capes in general:
if you're not bulletproof, a sniper half a mile away can take your head off no problem.
if you are, it's just a matter of getting a bigger gun.
even lung is sniper bait if you do it right.
 
Simply attack him in a way that kills him before he can adapt.

For example, I doubt he could stand against holy damage...
Let's let some of the other Wards get in on the action.

Vista gets Panacea close to Crawler for a few seconds, Panacea uses her power to slow down Crawler's adaptive ability, Vista gets Panacea out, and a heavy hitter nails Crawler hard.
 
or his systems may be too redundant for Panacea to quickly shut down.

though the idea has been done before: Ack's One More Trigger used Panacea to K.O. crawler.
Another possible route: RHJunior's Warcrafter fed hatchetface to crawler. powers nullified, his own biology literally melted/incinerated him, assisted by nearby heros of course.
 
we've already seen a solid counter for most of them, it was used against Naurellin herself earlier: high-velocity 20mm AP/HE.

deceased:
jack
hatchetface
burnscar (if she's in the team at this point)
manequin - may need multiple shots of AP to crack him open.
shatterbird

problematic:
bonesaw probably dies in one hit, issue is any deadman plagues she has. have panacea ready to neutralize.
siberian - pop manton's head off, siberian goes pop too. just gotta find him.

unaffected:
crawler. call in the dragon.

guns v. capes in general:
if you're not bulletproof, a sniper half a mile away can take your head off no problem.
if you are, it's just a matter of getting a bigger gun.
even lung is sniper bait if you do it right.



_____
I..Eat..I
I...at...I
I.Joes.I
___I_____I___
/.....\
/..^..^..\
\....*..../
\.O./
\/​

EDIT: No clue why I felt the need to create keyboard art as my reply.
 
Anything going here I should be concerned about?
going on here
"I won't go into meta-physical details, but your spirit was bound to a dragon's spirit, a young gold dragon whose mind was wiped blank before her body was destroyed. One of Tamara's last wishes was that we should not prolong her suffering any more than needed, and that she should be given a chance to live again."
Who is the Gold in relation to Tamara? Did the Gold get wiped/die before, after, or in relation to whatever Tamara did, or was she Tamara and her wish related to herself?
"Her benevolence, Tamara, draconic goddess of healing and mercy," Tia stated. "As you said, do not mistake mercy for weakness. She and I are nearly the same age, separated by a few hours. Her sphere of influence was life, healing, and mercy. Should you have made a dragon suffer needlessly in life, she would be unstoppable in dealing with you. She's been gone quite a while now."
I can't tell if that means that she's dead or not, but there's then the part that says they are the same age. Did she die recently? I'm confused by these.
"Really, a club?" Tiamat muttered to herself as she walked away. "At the very least the last mortal to attack me at least used a holy weapon blessed by at least three different gods..."

Long after his mistress had walked away, Hunts-the-Ice was sniffing around the sleeping members of the Empire 88. Not good enough for food, he thought to himself, they smell rotten. If they were beneath the notice of the queen of dragons, then they were beneath his notice.

He displayed his disdain by pissing on them.
Bwahahaha! That's just cruel. It would have been more fair if he had eaten them!
There was a pause as he munched on some of the snacks, followed by a drink of coffee. "You might laugh at some of my old hobbies, Puppy, but if that really was Tiamat, Queen and Goddess of the Chromatic Dragons, avatar of Greed and Avarice, guardian of the gates of Hell, those E88 mooks got off with a very light warning. Halbeard is half convinced that Naurelin's claims may actually be true."

"You are even more insane than usual tonight," Battery muttered.
How strange is it that he's entirely accurate there...
And this," she said, indicating the glowing bit, "is the result. I think those fractal bits are an expression of my para-whatever-I-am power, examining the effect. For some reason, I kept imagining them going 'Om nom nom nom nom...'"
Dammit I'm snickering again. And she's probably right.
"I do not need to tell you how badly your father would take it should his house suddenly explode, do I?"
That does tend to be somewhat offputting.

By chance is that story about the giant pie an actual anecdote somewhere? That sounds rather like something someone would write about their D&D campaign.
And she had been told to bring clothes you didn't care about.
she didn't care about
Trying to pull free from that had been painful enough that she wasn't going to repeat that.
repeat it
There was a brief lull for lunch, which she enjoyed in one of thee cafeterias in the PRT building. She decided to make a quick turn through the gift shop, just to see what the PRT had come up with for her merchandise. After ten minutes of looking, she couldn't find any. "Excuse me," she asked, after getting the attention of one of the cashiers, "where is the Naurelin merchandise?"

"Sold out," was the answer she received. "And on back order. We've a waiting list for incoming orders that's fairly long now. I can put you down on the list if you want?"

"Thank you," Taylor replied, almost shocked. "I'll pass for now."

"Most people are ordering from the online store," the sales clerk offered. "Usually better availability. Ever since she was introduced, the little plush dragon dolls, t-shirts, and various size action figures have been selling quite well. We even had multiples of the 1/72nd scale, limited edition figure sell, and those things are expensive!"

I think I need to check my financials more often, Taylor thought to herself. I'm obviously missing something here.
Congrats, you now have a hoard. When sleeping on your new gold bars, try not to sneeze.
 
Who is the Gold in relation to Tamara? Did the Gold get wiped/die before, after, or in relation to whatever Tamara did, or was she Tamara and her wish related to herself?
Seeing how Tamara was one of the long dead Divine Platinum Dragons, the Gold was probably one of her Faithful. One who died despite Tamara's best efforts, and who Tamara wanted to have a second chance at life.
 
  • Ack's One More Trigger used Panacea to K.O. crawler.
  • RHJunior's Warcrafter fed hatchetface to crawler. powers nullified, his own biology literally melted/incinerated him, assisted by nearby heros of course.
  • Ack's It Gets Worse dumped Crawler and Hatchet Face into the same hole in the ground and then Purity happened.
… and Kayden fired her devastating blast.

She timed it to perfection. The spiralling rays of destruction engulfed both Crawler and Hatchet Face and smashed them back into the hole the monster had initially fallen into. She poured it on, not letting up for an instant, gouging a hole dozens of feet across into the foundations of the building, until the structure itself collapsed into the hole thus created.
 
For Bonesaw, might I suggest Sanctify the Wicked? Because let's face it. She is as much a victim of Jack as anyone he has killed. She was way too young to be able to resist. She is less a person and more his weapon.
 
Now, we need to think about counters for the rest of the 9. I mean, there's a more than decent chance that they'll show up further down the line, so we should think of counters that the heroes could use against them ahead of time...
God I hope not. Hopefully they'll die off-screen ignored like the wastes of words they are.

I certainly hope the author doesn't waste an entire arc on what amounts to a second-rate Joker ripoff.
 
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As I have put some thought into this...
  1. Jack - He's still a squishy human. Lightning Bolt, Fireball, Fire Breath.
  2. Shatterbird - Squishy Human, slightly more crunchy. Did you know that molten glass is sticky?
  3. Siberian - Not alive, Oops, did I sit on that white van? Hey, where'd she go?
  4. Crawler - Disintegrate. The volume restriction applies to inanimate objects.
  5. Bonesaw - Greater Restoration, Heal. Then restrain.
  6. Hatchetface - might negate Naurelin's para-whatever power, but she's still a dragon. Brute au flambe'?
  7. Mannequin - Used as a surface to orbit projectile. Shoot the Moon!
  8. Cherish - "Nope, just nope! I give up, surrender, whatever! Don't let her EAT ME!!!"
  9. Burnscar - Ice storm, Cone of Cold. Otherwise, Greater Restoration or Heal, restrain.

If I were to do this another way...
Jack, Shatterbird, Burnscar, Mannequin : 10mm Gauss round @ 4km/sec, possibly multiple shots.
Hatchetface : FGMP-16
Crawler : Quantum Singularity Grenade.
Siberian : ???
Cherish, Bonesaw : Give an opportunity to surrender after everyone else is dead.

Collect bounties, donate to charity.
 
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God I hope not. Hopefully they'll die off-screen ignored like the wastes of words they are.

I certainly hope the author doesn't waste an entire arc on what amounts to a second-rate Joker ripoff.
Honestly, I think Taylor Varga does it best. The Nine get wiped out in less than one day by three perfectly normal humans who happend to have access to copious amounts of high explosives and high caliber ammunition.
 
The first half of my post was for Naurelin. The second half would be for Kryslin, who started life as a Traveler character. Though I suspect the FGMP (Fusion Gun, Man Portable) would mess Crawler up thoroughly as well without having to resort to Quantum shenanigans. Naurelin would be required to donate a good portion of the bounties, Kryslin doesn't need the money at all.
 
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