ALPHA TEAM (Greystone and Shiver; NPCs: Candyman and Viscosity)
Greystone was leading the charge back up the hall. He pushed past Shiver—his sights set on Hessian. He threw back his head and then rocked it forward, vomiting acid from his mouth and over Hessian.
The acid ate through the floor and the Nazi fell through to the level below.
The air popped—the telltale sign that Tristan Vitesse had charged back down the hall. His fist connected with Greystone’s cheek and like that he was gone once more.
Michuru wrote:
The Order, Round Two
- Tristan Vitesse (44)
- Shiver (C18 - 25)
- The Admiral (23)
- Hessian (C20 - 20)
- Surge: Str 36, Con 36, Leaping 2, Speed 2; -1pp/5 rounds
- Candyman (C19 - 17): Bruised, Staggered, Stunned (Hessian, R2), Unconscious (R2)
- Viscosity (D12 - 10)
- Greystone (C13 – 6)
- Wehrmacht (C12 - 4): Bruised, Staggered, Unconscious
Elpis - Toughness - DC 23:
1d20+10 22 I am not thinking there. That should be 8 points lower. That being the case, I’m just going to rule that we have the desired result and Hessian will be removed from combat.
New round—Tristan will speed through and go for Jack.
Tristan - Attack:
1d20+8 21 Assuming that’s a hit, DC 23. Then he’ll move out of the room again.
Shiver is up, but there’s more below.
ELSEWHERE (Key; NPCs: Sublime)
Black Ice growled as her frost armor took the brunt of Key’s attack. “You’re an annoying brat,” she hissed. “But I can work with annoying.”
The woman lunged forward and stabbed Sublime through the chest with her sword. The redheaded teen threw her head back, spraying blood into the air. The pair of them disappeared and the American’s blood hit the floor of the ship.
Michuru wrote:The Order, Round Three
- Sublime (C17 - 24): Bruised x3, Disabled, Dying, Injured x2, Staggered x2, Stunned (Black Ice, R3)
- Black Ice (9): Bruised x2
- Key (C16 - 7)
Black Ice - Toughness - DC 28:
1d20+11 21 Bruised and stunned.
New round, Sublime is stunned.
Hero point to Merle as I fiat to remove Black Ice’s stun.
Black Ice - Attack - Power Attack 2:
1d20+6 19 &
Partial Concealment:
1d20 9 That’s a hit.
Sublime - Toughness - DC 27:
1d20+5 16 That fails by 11. She’s reduced to dying.
This isn’t usually my schtick, but this time around, I’m going to fiat and say Eve fails her save. I think the game will be better for it.
Two more hero points to Key. One for the fiat, one for the moment.
ALPHA TEAM (Greystone and Shiver; NPCs: Candyman and Viscosity)
The acid ate through the floor and the Nazi fell through to the level below.
The air popped—the telltale sign that Tristan Vitesse had charged back down the hall. His fist connected with Greystone’s cheek and like that he was gone once more.
“Annoying gnat,” Viscosity said. Then he saw Candyman’s prone figure. “Dad!” he cried, rushing down the hall. “Is he-”
Black Ice appeared again in front of him. Her sword was piercing Eve’s heart and jutting out of her back. “I think this belongs to you,” she said, retching her sword free. “I certainly don’t want it.”
Eve’s lifeless body crumbled on the spot. Her blood was flowing freely onto the steel floors. Her vacant eyes were on Shiver.
Ten hero points to Shiver, Shock.
BETA TEAM (Current and Ursa; NPCs: Derryl, Magnitude, Paladin)
Ursa’s ears failed to detect the sound Derryl’s could. It wasn’t that surprising. From what little he understood, Derryl’s powers were rooted in sound. There was no telling how far his hearing extended.
Magnitude took hold of the group and carried them across the barren wasteland. In the distance, they could make out the husks of buildings—a skyline that stood as a sentry, watching over this lifeless planet.
After some time, they broke out of the concrete jungle and a vast landscape of green greeted them. “Oh, hell,” Derryl said, recognizing the view. Though the others knew Central Park, he had actually been here. “This is New York…”
At his urging, Magnitude set them down at a warehouse. Now Ursa’s ears detected the sound Derryl had heard: something was operating inside… What’s more, Current could feel the electricity powering the machines within.
Paladin moved to make his way inside, but Magnitude threw out an arm to halt him. “I can see inside,” he croaked. “It’s a factory for Argus.
“He has more bodies in there.”
GAMMA TEAM (Imago and Prehistoric; NPCs: Hemophiliac, Paramour)
“Uh,” Hemophiliac said as the two hoisted Kelpie’s remains, “anyone know how to get out of here? Confectionery was our guide…”
DELTA TEAM (Taheka; NPCs: Cacophony, Ogre, Prodigy, Tantivy)
“Help me.” Adela’s order came softly. Bending down beside Shakes’ body, the woman leaned forward, and Cacophony realized what she was asking. She helped to slump their fallen teammate over the woman’s back. Even in her natural form, she was plenty strong, thanks to growing up under Radu Radikovich.
Shakes’ arms hung limply over Adela’s shoulders. The woman gently took his wrists and slowly rose up. “Let’s go,” she said, following Taheka down the hall.
As he turned the corner, Taheka took in the sight of Prodigy leaning out of the path of one of Tantivy’s punches. “Pathetic.” Pulling his sword from the pendant he wore around his neck, Prodigy swiped at his sister and nicked her just above her elbow.
Tantivy took a swing at her brother—a wild blow he easily sidestepped—then took notice of her reinforcements. “He’s going to kill a world!” she snarled.
The young genius threw up a hand to stop the others. “There’s no other way! Think about this: Argus is a robot from another dimension. If we stop the Armada, he’ll come back—stronger and with more numbers next time. Hell, he could spend years building strength and arrive ten minutes from now. If we want to end this—and I mean really end this—I have to shift the Elpis to his home world. I have to lock Argus Prime in a loop. In order to do that, one universe needs to die to power it. It’s monstrous, I know, but it’s the only way.”
“There is no other way,” the voice in Prodigy’s head whispered. “They have to die. It’s unavoidable.”
“One dimension dies, but the others will be saved. Look, I wanted to do this while you were all engaged with Nightrider—to keep your hands and your consciences clean—but if we don’t do this, countless more are going to die.”
Adela set Shakes’ body down behind her. Prodigy suddenly bent his elbow and eyed the bracer Fluxx had fashioned for their team. “Dammit,” he said, “Martin’s team is already in position. The ship is about to lose power. There’s no time to debate this. Like I said: either I do this, or this fight never ends. We lost Shakes, but we can still save the others.
“Most of us are from 137. Taheka is from 720. I can sacrifice 731. All of our worlds will be spared.”
”Michuru81” wrote:Initiative time, if you want to attack him, Gilliam.
The Order, Round Two
- Tantivy (42 – I6): Bruised x2
- Cacophony (19 – H11): Exhausted
- Prodigy (15 – I7)
- Ogre (15 – I12): Bruised x6
Cacophony - Initiative:
1d20 19
Ogre - Initiative:
1d20 15
Taheka will come around the corner at I11, Gilliam.
Since I think Tantivy’s safe in the order, I’ll take her action:
Tantivy - Attack - All-out Attack 4, Power Attack 4:
1d20+8 11 Swing and a miss.
Cacophony will not be acting this round. Before continuing, I’ll wait for Taheka.
EPSILON TEAM (Fluxx and Cooker; NPCs: Fach, Ion)
Fluxx realized why there was such a contrast then: the lights were out. The ship lurched. It was beginning to fall.
It was all up to Alpha Team now. Fluxx had to focus on getting everyone safely off the ship.
Everyone.
Chubasco, Synapse, and the Wood Demon were still trapped in the battery chamber. Could he forget them so easily? He had already bound in the metal of the ship several others upstairs—certainly condemning them to death when the ship crashed. Among them was Cleave, a man whom, without which the French teen thought, the universe would be a brighter place. Another counted among the Armada’s ranks was a German war criminal who casually and cruelly snapped a man’s neck for siding with his conscience. Ugly Amy, whom Fluxx had extended an invitation to cease hostilities to, had chosen to continue the battle. Their deaths might not haunt him, but what about the web-spitter? One of the first to fall in their storming the Bastille?
Could he afford more night-specters?
He knew they were criminals—knew they had done terrible things to warrant their being sentenced to Pandora. His mind went to the stories of Chubasco conjuring unimaginable devastation on his own homeworld. Still, could he do nothing and allow them to perish?
As though he sensed Fluxx’s hesitation, Cooker called to him: “Forget them!” he shouted as he fought to brace himself. “It’s time to abandon ship!”
Fluxx nodded in agreement. “Yes,” he said before moving to the opening. “You of ze Armada! Our battle is over! Zis ship is crashing! I will weaken ze door and leave you to find your own means of escape if you will agree not ot ‘inder us or any of ze assault teams furzer. Agreed?”
“Agreed!” Synapse’s response was devoid of hesitation. “Hell, I’ll even help you!”
“Same!” roared the Wood Demon. “Just let us out!”
Once they were out, Chubasco set his sights on Fluxx and snarled. He moved like he was going to attack, only to catch the sight of something behind his enemy: Fach. His eyes fell on Fach and his indignation was suppressed.
“There should be a docking bay two levels above us,” he said. “Anyone able to melt a path?”
“On it!” Ion directed his powers towards the ceiling, burning a hole through to the next level and then the one beyond.
“Her first,” Chubasco said, nodding to Fach. The air stirred in the ship and Fach rose up through the hole. One-by-one, Gaspar’s doppelganger fed the heroes and villains alike up the hole. Once they were at the docking bay, he took one last look at Fach before leading Synapse and the Wood Demon to a different ship.
”Michuru” wrote:It’s a free fall. No gravity. I checked out the rules on low gravity and didn’t really find anything that I felt would make much of a difference here.