Adventures Assemble S3E3: The Great Brain Robbery!

For all of your Play-By-Post games.
Ysariel
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Re: Adventures Assemble S2E3: Call to Arms!

Post by Ysariel »

Gelert

The tanks swivel their barrels and prepare to fire their prism cannons in a second barrage. Then, at the last moment, blue light shines under one of the tanks and it is flipped off its hoverdrives to land upside down, whirring uselessly in the snow. A moment later, the mages on the city wall let loose with lightning bolts and ice spears at the machine's vulnerable underbelly, and it explodes in a shower of flame.

The glow of your ring's blue light intensifies. Another tank swerves off course and collides with the nearest vehicle. A third aims to fire but at the last moment, your forcefields slap the chassis to one side, and the cannon explodes one of its sister vehicles. More tanks skid and shudder in reverse over the snow as you push them out of firing range. A few stray shots go off but the mighty gates of Shambhala hold firm.

"Drive them back! Drive them back!" Reizo Saito screams, waving his katana. Oni, golemns, fiery djinni, spirits and supernatural servitors of a dozen different kinds take the field, and the tanks, as one, turn back in retreat. You have turned aside the armored spearhead of the attack on Shambhala.
Both you and the tanks have a check result of 30. Ties are resolved in the heroes' favor, so you score 1 success! The heroes now have 1 success and 0 failure.
Ysariel
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Re: Adventures Assemble S2E3: Call to Arms!

Post by Ysariel »

Moonlight

Your tornado engulfs the Black helicopter attempting to land troops inside the fortress walls. Despite powerful engines, its stealth modifications make it less stable in the wind and the aircraft goes careening out of control to crash, nose first, into the ancient flagstones of Shambhala. Inside the burning wreckage, the writhing, melting silhouettes of Men in Black can be seen.

Other choppers attempt to swerve out of the way. One veers into the line of fire of mages in the guard towers and is exploded by bolt of lightning. Another is blasted off-course by the cyclonic winds and smashes into the fortress walls, raining burning metal parts all across the fortress grounds.

However, the remaining choppers quickly rally and their retaliation is swift. Their side doors open and Men in Black appear, manning prismatic blaster cannons, machineguns firing anti-ectoplasmic "ghostbuster" rounds, thermobaric grenade launchers and other high-tech weaponry. Explosions shatter pillars around you and rip up the flagstones in gigantic sprays of earth and smoke as they attempt to track your location and blast you to a fine paste.
The choppers actually have a small weakness to attacks (-2) with the wind descriptor. This just barely pushes them from a success to 1 degree of failure.

AA Black Helicopters Toughness DC 27: 1D20+12-2 = [16]+12-2 = 26 Passes

Black Helicopters use Suppressive Fire on you.
AA Black Helicopters attack vs Moonlight: 1D20+12 = [17]+12 = 29 Hits

Make a DC 25 Toughness check vs Damage. If you fail the check by more than 1 degree, you lose the Skirmish and suffer 1 failure. Otherwise, the skirmish ends in your favor and the helicopters are routed. Let me know which option you choose and I will describe it and begin round 2.
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Psistrike
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Re: Adventures Assemble S2E3: Call to Arms!

Post by Psistrike »

Moonlight
HP: 1 LP: 1>0
Condition: Fine

As the various weapons are fired upon her, Moonlight watches them hit the very air in front of her, hardened to be as solid as steel and a barrier as thorough as a fortress. "We will not let you harm these people, leave now!"

OOC: Toughness check: Toughness check: 1d20+12 19 LP to reroll: Toughness check: 1d20+12 25
Ysariel
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Re: Adventures Assemble S2E3: Call to Arms!

Post by Ysariel »

Qora, Nightbird & Kisai
Shambhala - Palace of Heavenly Virtue
kenseido wrote: Mon Jun 29, 2020 3:20 am ""High Master, you saw for yourself. Seiryu is not a beast tamed; he has not been stolen. He chose me; I am the servent. His wishes are my command."
Anger flares in the High Master's eyes at those words. You sense that old, terrible wounds lie there. But he remains silent.

Even under attack from Qora, the leader of the Lemurian traitors laughs, a sizzling, mocking sound. "So the heir of Saito shows himself at last. He chose you, you say... he CHOSE you! What utter insolence. What indescribable arrogance! Seiryu is no mere spirit or eidolon, pitiful hominid. Tell him, Szzarvak! Tell him the truth of the Dragon!" he goads.

The High Master's ancient eyes close for a long moment. When he speaks, his voice is coarse with emotion. "We serpents are the children of dragons," explains High Master Szzarvak. "Mightiest of dragons, king of the primordial oceans we crawled out from, Seiryu is... was... the Lemurian God."

The High Master continues. "Centuries ago, when this world had need, the Dragon sought out a champion. A mighty, virtuous hero whose lineage could be bonded to it by blood. It sought out not one of us, its children... but the ancestors of Saito."

The leader of the Lemurian traitors levels a clawed finger at Kisai. "It bestowed its blessing upon the race that caused the genocide of its own children aeons ago. Do you expect us to believe that, hominid? That our God would reward the species that destroyed our glorious civilization? Long have we laboured and toiled to make things right - to reverse this final, ultimate injustice and regain the favor of the Dragon, and today it will be done!" He makes a chopping gesture in the air and turns to the High Master. "Your resolve wavers, High Master. Since you will not see reason, perhaps this will force your hand. Hazzvarash! Bring the child!"

Another Lemurian Arch-sorcerer steps out from behind one of the pillars. The air shimmers before her as Kisai senses that she activates ancient counterspells of unparalleled might. In one hand, effortlessly, she grasps no other than a blood-splattered Zhang by the scruff of his neck. "Father!" he cries as the sorcerer dangles him over the edge of the parapet.

The High Master's eyes open wide. "Sins of the father..." he whispers.

"...must be borne by the sons," finishes the leader of the Lemurian traitors. "Surrender or the child dies!"

OOC
I fiat and reverse your attempt at edit scene: Kisai gains 2 HP. Unfortunately, this is something that is very hard for Kisai to accomplish, and here his status as the dragon's chosen works against him rather than for him.

High Master Szzarvak takes no action on his turn and a new round begins.

The Lemurian traitor deactivates her Concealment 10 (Concentration, Limited to blending in) and appears. Kisai then detects that she activates a small (10ft radius) zone of extremely powerful counterspells, effectively functioning as Nullify All Powers.

A DC 25 Acrobatics check as a Standard action allows you to grab Zhang from the Lemurian's grasp safely. If you fail, you are immediately subjected to an unarmed attack from the sorceror.

Round 1
-- Lemurian Traitor Hazzvarash (carrying Zhang)
-- Nightbird *
22 Qora
18 Lemurian Arch-Sorcerors (squad) (-1)
13 Kisai
-- High Master Szzarvak

Nightbird is up!
Ysariel
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Re: Adventures Assemble S2E3: Call to Arms!

Post by Ysariel »

Moonlight & Gelert
Shambhala

Your shield of hardened air deflects the hail of bullets, autocannons, missiles and lasers all. Before the barrage can renew, explosions fill the air as the magi of Shambhala renew their counterattack. One of the helicopters is blasted apart in mid-air, another swerves in evasive maneuvers only to clip its tail against your shield and go twirling out of control to crash on the flagstones. Unable to penetrate your defenses, the remaining Black Helicopters begin to withdraw, leaving behind a handful of scattered Men in Black to be mowed down by the magi.

"Raise the wards! Weave your spells into a shield and prevent them from landing their minions!" cries Reizo Saito. A giant glowing wall of light begins to rise from the battlements of the fortress.

Round 1 result
Successes: 1; failures: 0

Units on field:
XAV-2 "Mirage" Stealth Tanks

OOC
I will begin Round 2 for Gelert and Moonlight ASAP, please hang on.
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Gilliam
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Re: Adventures Assemble S2E3: Call to Arms!

Post by Gilliam »

Nightbird
HP: 5 > 4 LP: 1
Condition: Normal


The fact the rogue Lemurians were able to deflect and avoid her attacks didn't phase Imogen at all, she had belief in her skills, the years of training and and she and her friends will overcome the foes in front of them and then deal with the Lightbringer.

Until the other sorcerer appeared out of thin air with Zhang in her clutches, for a moment the visions from her encounter with the former High Master flashed before her eyes, the image of Zhang wanting to sacrifice himself and the phase just repeated by the current High Master still reveberated from her vision.

"Sins of the father .. ARE NOT bourne by their children." Imogen stated even as she erupted into motion using the pillars and stonework in the room to propel herself at the new sorcerer as though she intended to attack but at the last moment grabbing Zhang and taking him to safety away from the edge.
OOC wrote: Use Skill Mastery Acrobatics for a 25 to grab Zhang and then use a HP for an extra move action to move out of danger and back to the far side of the room carrying Zhang.
Ysariel
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Re: Adventures Assemble S2E3: Call to Arms!

Post by Ysariel »

Qora, Nightbird & Kisai
Shambhala - Palace of Heavenly Virtue

The Lemurian sorceress is a 9-ft tall, 500-pound specimen of sleek, sinuous muscle, armored in scales and warded by powerful magicks. Even without magic she would prove a formidable opponent in unarmed combat. But Nightbird is deft and faster by far. The Lemurian raises a clawed hand as if to defend herself from attack but the heroine slips under her guard, and plucks Zhang from her claws in a display right out of an action movie!

"Father! Nightbird!" he cries. Zhang looks up at Nightbird as they land on the rough stone of the fortress top again. "Simon fought to try and save me when these traitors came for us. He is gravely injured-"

"You incompetent!" shrieks the leader of the rebels. "You let them take our bargaining chip!"

"ENOUGH!" The High Master roars.

All the Lemurians look at him.

"Since these heroes arrived," the High Master levels a claw at the Arch-sorcerors, "they have endured skepticism, hostility, and insults to their honor, yet they have shown nothing but selflessness. They have seen the truth of Lemuria and Atlantis with open minds. They have proven themselves abundantly worthy. Today, hominids risked lives to save a Lemurian child, while you raised arms against our own offspring!"

He points at Nightbird. "It took this woman to show me clearly what I should have realized long ago. This is why the dragon forsook us! Ingrates like you proved our race utterly unworthy in its eyes! You need no Lightbringer to corrupt you - you are rotten to the core yourselves!" The High Master spreads his clawed hands. "There is but one remedy for this situation. The ancient race of Lemuria must once again prove itself worthy of defending this world, by joining forces with those who have the strength - beginning with these heroes here."

"What?!" spits the leader of the traitors. "This is madness!"

"No. This is the future! Hear me clearly, you miscreants," growls the High Master, and for the first time you hear a dangerous anger in his voice. A terrible fury, fierce and free. "Cease your traitorous plot and take up arms against the Lightbringer immediately, or begone from this place. I, High Master of Shambhala, now and forever bar the gates of the Golden City against the forces of evil and disorder."

OOC
Nightbird successfully rescues Zhang and lands on the pavilion away from the edge. The High Master's speech shakes the resolve of the Lemurian Arch-Sorcerors and the traitor. More changes will occur on their turn.

Round 1
-- Lemurian Traitor Hazzvarash
-- Nightbird
22 Qora *
18 Lemurian Arch-Sorcerors (squad) (-1)
13 Kisai
-- High Master Szzarvak

Qora is up!
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kreuzritter
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Re: Adventures Assemble S2E3: Call to Arms!

Post by kreuzritter »

Qora

"He is giving you a choice" Qora says, giving them the moment to think it over, "Whatever you decide, I will honor it as Princess of Oziri."

her words are clear. Anybody who heeds the high master is not her enemy once the fighting resumes, and will bring her full might against those who defy this last plea for unity.
Delay my action to after their response, so she knows who not to hit if they see reason
Ysariel
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Re: Adventures Assemble S2E3: Call to Arms!

Post by Ysariel »

Gelert & Moonlight
Shambhala - battlements

The stink of burning vehicle fuel and high-tech polymer fill the air. But all across the city's fortifications, mages of a hundred different traditions and factions are cheering as together, you drive back the tanks and foil the helicopter assault. The combined magical barrier rises alongside the city walls and extends above them, encasing the city in a dome of magical force that seals it off to attack by air and ground.

Kisai's father walks up to both of you as the last remnants of S.P.E.C.T.R.U.M. troops are cleaned up. "Thanks to you, the brunt of the assault has been beaten back. But I think," Reizo Saito says, "our defense is successful enough that we are driving our foe to desperation. I think she is about to do... something very rash. We have won a reprieve, but I need you to be prepared for any eventuality."

"Milord!" one of the Saito family's razorgirls runs up, pointing at the top of the fortress. "Look, milord!"


Nightbird, Qora & Kisai
Shambhala - Palace of Divine Harmony

The Lemurians exchange glances at Qora's words. They look from the High Master, to the bearer of the Dragon's favor they have long for so long, to Nightbird, who is carrying Zhang.

One by one, they lower weapons and dispel wards, and cease the struggle.

"Sanity returns to the Golden City at last," the High Master says, tasting the air with delight.

Only the leader of the traitors remains sullenly defiant. "Let it be known that you have thrown away the last and best chance for our race to regain the Dragon's favor," he snarls as the Lemurians on either side of him turn to restrain him.

"Let it be known that today is the first step on the long and painful road to redeeming our people and regaining that favor." He turns to all of you. "With your help, we can repair the damage done to the wards and..."

"No," booms Lucienne's voice from high above. "No. No! Not now. Not after all this!"

It is her real voice, not carried on loudspeakers. And now, now that victory is slipping through her fingers for good, for the first time you hear something you have never heard before in her voice: desperation.


All

The hundreds of triangular portals that are pouring out troops and war machines onto the battlefield clopse within seconds. Here, a hovertank is sliced in half by a closing portal as it fails to transit quicky enough; there, a stealth fighter gets its wing clipped by the shrinking portal and goes spiralling to die in a fireball far below. Within seconds, the tide of military might Lucienne was pouring in to assault the city vanishes as all the portals close.

"She is gathering all her strength," Reizo Saito says, staring at the source of the light, his face pale. "She is holding nothing back. She is --"

In their place, a single portal appears directly above the central Keep of Shambhala. From within, seven beams of light shine down from the sky directly upon the fortress-city: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. A terrible roar of steam fills your ears as for square miles around you, the snow covering the Himalayan peaks is instantly vaporized. The remaining tanks and jet fighters surrounding the city melt and burst like bubbles as a power greater than nuclear fire, greater than any other on Earth, is directed upon the Golden City and its wards. A terrible voice booms out from the sky:

"I am the Dawn Star.

"I am the Morning Light.

"Once I was brought low. Soon I shall rise high! I have waited a hundred thousand years for this day. I will NOT be denied. I WILL NOT!
"

The seven rainbow beams converge into a single, glittering ray of light: light so pure and bright, it has no color at all, not even white. The light focuses into a laserlike beam of brilliance centered upon the main keep of Shambhala. A human-shaped figure launches herself out of the portal like a bullet, straight downwards at the fortress below, and explodes the keep in a fountain of molten rock.

End Episode 3
Ysariel
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Re: Adventures Assemble S2E3: Call to Arms!

Post by Ysariel »

Meanwhile...
Freedom City
Somewhere inside Pyramid Plaza


"No. No. No!"

The vast room is a darkened, sleek temple of glass and steel, ultra-modern architecture and sophisticated technology. Lucienne stands, alone, at the apex of the tower in the heart of Illuminati power. Hovering above her is the great pyramidal form of the Panopticon Pyramidion, the source of her all-seeing powers. Its gaze is turned on Shambhala, showing disaster and setback on the array of screens before her: burning mirage tanks, crashed choppers and Lemurians lowering hands in surrender...

A railgun shell blasts open the armored doors leading to the heart of Illuminati headquarters. "I gotta say, making Pyramid Plaza a 4-dimensional hyperprism and hiding your evil lair in the extra space was pretty neat. Too bad I know enough math to lead friends through the geometry of higher dimensions."

Footsteps come echoing through the smoke: Adrian Eldritch, the Master Mage, flanked by Beatrice and Glitch. The former holds what was once Red Flag's prismatic rifle, and the latter is wearing a much more modest copy of Amethyst's battlesuit. At the front, Amethyst, walking over the unconscious bodies of the defeated Rainbow Seven agents, holds out a palm. Holographic screens blink into being at her fingertips, showing Grotesk and Tyrael wreaking havoc among the Illuminati's hordes of Men in Black below, squashing them by the dozen and scattering them like bowling pins.

"You," growls Lucienne with a dangerous, animal fury as she turns to face the heroes.

Beatrice raises her rifle. "Now! While her focus is spread thin!"

The heroes open fire in a rain of blaster bolts, railgun shells and missles. The sophisticated computer equipment surrounding Lucienne goes up in smoke and the wall behind her craters and crumbles under the barrage. The Panopticon Pyramidion itself is turned into a sparking ruin as stray shots punch holes in its complex circuitry. But the firepower bounces off Lucienne herself with no effect.

Above the din, the Master Mage raises his hands and begins to chant. "I am Adrian Eldritch, Earth's Master Mage. Elect of the Four Guardians, Custodian of the Forbidden Gates," he intones, sweat glistening on his brow. "Hear me, O great spirits! Be roused from unwilling slumber, and shatter the bonds placed upon you!"

A blast of multicolored light causes all of the Panopticon's surviving monitors to go blank with static. Out of the smoke of the explosion soar three luminous forms - a white tiger, a great firebird and a horned dragon-turtle, before fading away into the aether.

"So much for nabbing the guardian spirits," Glitch says, continuing to unload blaster fire into the Lightbringer. "We haven't figured out which prison to put you in yet, but you'll never be Master Mage now."

In response Lucienne stands, reaches up, and peels off her face.

Beneath the mask of human skin, there is no being of flesh and blood. Merely a human-shaped figure of pure, blinding white light, her hair glowing ribbons that cycle through the colors of the rainbow.

"You worms have extracted from me a heavy price," the Lightbringer says, trembling with desperate rage. "But I have waited too long, and come too far, to be denied at this stage. Master Mage or not, I will pay any sacrifice to get the spell I need from the Akashic Library. By day's end, every knee will bow to ME. And when I am done with your friends at Shambhala, the vengeance I shall visit upon you and yours shall be terrible indeed."

"Big words, Lucy," Amethyst says. "Big words for someone who's getting royally owned on every front."

"Savor what time you have left. This is the end of your world as you know it. This is your doomsday." The Lightbringer glows bright, blinding bright, and Pyramid Plaza behind the quiver under the strain of the titanic forces Lucienne gathers around her. The floor beneath her opens in a triangular portal, and Lucienne vanishes through it.


If This Be Doomsday
Finale
Ysariel
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Re: Adventures Assemble S2E3: Call to Arms!

Post by Ysariel »

All
Ruined plaza of Shambhala

As the rainbow beams of light converge into one, the glowing script on the floor of the pavillion that indicates the reach of Shambhala's wards shrinks and burns out. In the instant before Lucienne's power obliterates the fortress, the High Master speaks words of power. With the anti-teleportation wards burned away with the rest of Shambhala's magical defenses, Nightbird, Qora and Kisai, and all others atop the pavillion are whisked away elsewhere by his spell.

They reappear at ground level, in the courtyard of the fortress, amidst a fiery hail of molten stone and debris, not far from Moonlight and Gelert. The defeated Lemurian arch-sorcerors look around in horrified awe. Everywhere are wounded and dying magi of Shambhala. Smoke and flame from the burning ruins dull the midday sun to a sickly red haze. The heart of the Keep has been blown apart and

Reizo Saito and several of the magi run over. The High Master is crumpled on the floor, heaving with the effort of the spell. "High Master," the Saito patriarch starts, then looks at the Lemurian traitors.

"I... I had to save them all. They are the ones... who have witnessed what happened this day," Szzarvak hisses. "Witnessed how hominids risked their lives to save a Lemurian child."

"The Lightbringer has come," he says, turning to the five heroes. "You have drawn the tiger from its lair. Rally what aid you can, then go... and finish this. Once and for all. The Akashic Library... is in the deepest reaches of the keep."

OOC

If your HP is less than 5, or if you do not recall how much you have, it is raised to 5 HP.

If it is already more than 5 at the start of the adventure, you gain +1 HP.

The wards preventing movement in and out of Shambhala are destroyed. If you investigate the Keep, you'll see that Lucienne's laserlike beam has cut a perfectly circular tunnel vertically down into the underground depths of the fortress. The bottom is over a hundred feet deep in the Himalayan rock, and an eerie golden glow emanates from the bottom of it.
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kreuzritter
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Re: Adventures Assemble: If This Be Doomsday!

Post by kreuzritter »

Qora
HP 5
Condition: fine

"Oh well," Qora shrugs as she advances towards the hole, knowing they have no time to be helpers in this desperate hour, "who wants to live forever?"

she pauses at the pits edge, chuckling, before jumping down, bellowing the concluding quote from her favorite children's story, that was just as well known here on Earth

"DIIIIIVE!
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kenseido
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Re: Adventures Assemble: If This Be Doomsday!

Post by kenseido »

Kisai
HP: 6 (+1=7)

Philip surveys all of the damage and casualties.

"<Father, please see to the wounded. We will deal with the Light Bringer. The Akashic Library will not be lost to her, I swear this.>"

With that, his colorful clothes vanish and return to his simple leather jack and jeans with digital lines running across them. He turns and jumps down the hole. Before he gets ten feet, his cane shifts int a digital cycle and he rides down the sheer plane of the hole.
Last edited by kenseido on Thu Oct 08, 2020 12:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
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stavaros_the_arcane
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Re: Adventures Assemble: If This Be Doomsday!

Post by stavaros_the_arcane »

Gelert
HP 5

Gelert looks around at all the wounded, torn between knowing he can help the injured and knowing that Lucienne must be stopped, no matter the cost. And if they don't bring everything they have to bear against her right now, it may be too late for anyone to be saved.

"Does anyone want a lift down?" He asks as he watches Qora and Philip's dramatic descent down the hole.
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Gilliam
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Re: Adventures Assemble: If This Be Doomsday!

Post by Gilliam »

Nightbird
HP: 5 > 6 LP: 1
Condition: Normal

Looking round at the scenes of destruction< Imogen couldn't even imagine the level of power required to carry it out, it put anything Lord Steel claimed to have done to shame.

"Thanks Gelert, I will grab a lift" Imogen replied to the corgi of hopes offer, her voice seemingly unaffected by what had just happen.
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