Lemuel was amazed at the resources available to the team.  He looked forward to using the training room to see if his abilities were up to snuff.

Once Aquaman had left Speedy and Hawkgirl were there at Element's side.

"Wanna try out the training room?" Speedy asked, raising his eyebrow.  "I can see it in your eyes."
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:20, Fri 09 Dec 2011.

"Alright, let's do it!" Lemuel replied, maybe a little too eagerly.

Not too soon later Element was standing in a city street with Hawkgirl and Speedy by his side.  Before them was a regular squad (5) of street thugs.

"You two take the two on the left," Hawkgirl said, hefting her mace.

"And you're going to take on the other three by yourself?" Element asked a little incredulously.  (He liked to think of himself as Lemuel unless in combat situations, and then he was definitely Element.)

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Hawkgirl goes first.  She shifts 8 stones from her energy reserve into her Close Combat.  She gets a +3 bonus from her Nth Metal Mace, for a total of 11.  She shifts her remaining energy stone to her defense and gets a +2 from her armour bonus for a total of 3.  She splits her attack between the 3 thugs (thanks to her 3 Agility, so 3, 3 & 4).

---

Her superior mace and Thanagarian combat skills easily takes down the street thugs, letting her body armour do the protecting for her.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Speedy goes second.  With only one target he only puts 4 stones from his energy reserves into his Ranged Combat.  He gets a +2 bonus from his Bow (with standard arrow) for a total of 6.  He shifts 3 stones into his Acrobatics and from there into his Defense and gets a +2 from his body armour.

---

Speedy deftly dodges out of the way of a thrown knife and easily nocked an arrow, pulled it back and let it loose.  The dull-tipped arrow took down the thug.

Element put 5 stones from his energy reserves into his Mastery of the Four for a total of +5.  He used a Force Blast to turn the air around his opponent into fire. He shifts his 4 remaining stones to defense and gets +2 from his armor, for a total of 6.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:05, Sat 21 Jan 2012.

The thug screamed as he caught on fire.  Then the hologram faded into nothing as the scenario ended.

"That was disappointing," Hawk-Girl commented, hefting her mace over her shoulder.

"Team, assemble in the war room," Robin's voice said over the intercom.

"Is that normal post training session protocol?" Element asked, suspecting that it was not.  He was a little bit nervous that they would already be heading out on a real mission.

"I don't think so," Speedy said, looking concerned.  "Let's go find out."

The trio headed to the War Room, which was located behind the lounge/common room.  The others were already there as was the person Element recognized as Dr. Fate .

"It's good you're here," Dr. Fate said in his ethereal voice.  "The Justice League and I apologize to be calling you on a mission so soon after your formation, but the situation is dire."
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:49, Tue 19 May 2015.

"What do you mean?  What's going on Dr. Fate?" Element asked.

"We've received word from Aquaman shortly after he returned to Atlantis of strange creatures invading the bottom of the ocean," Dr. Fate explained.  "Tracing them back to their origin we found a portal leading into another dimension.  Using my magic I was able to identify it as the prison dimension of an Old One known as Icthultu.  "

"Icthultu?!" Hawk-Girl stated in shock.

"Yes, Shayera, I thought you might recognize that name," Dr. Fate said.  "Explain to your squadmate's his importance to your people."

"Icthultu was a being my people used to worship as a god," Hawk-Girl explained.  "He gave us mathematics, agriculture.  But his endless demands for human sacrifices grew too much and we drove him out."

"How?" Speedy asked.  Hawk-Girl lifted up her mace.

"Nth metal," she explained.  "It's anti-magic properties were key to expelling him."

"And that's one of the reasons we've come to you," explained Dr. Fate.  "Your mace makes you, and your team our only hope of killing Icthultu."

"Woah, what?" Speedy said.  "You want us to take on an Old One?  "

"I'm afraid there's little choice," Dr Fate replied.  "The rest of the heroes will be keeping the demons that are pouring from the portal from attacking the rest of the world.  A small strike team will work best.

"Don't worry, we won't be sending you alone."  Dr. Fate held out his hand and a glowing Ankh symbol (his trademark) appeared on the wall.  Through the portal he created walked Solomon Grundy

Element was shocked.  He immediately moved into a defensive posture.  He wasn't sure that Dr. Fate had meant to bring Solomon Grundy to Mt. Justice.  "What's he doing here Dr. Fate, isn't he one of the bad guys?" Element asked, still ready to fight.

"Solomon Grundy has agreed to aid us in exchange for help finding his soul," Dr. Fate explained.  "His mystical origins made him resilient to magical attacks.  And that's why he'll be going with you."

"Are you sure you should be doing that?" Raven asked.

"Don't worry, we wouldn't be sending him with you if we weren't absolutely certain you'll be safe," replied Dr. Fate.

"Very well," Element conceded, though he still had his doubts.  "So how do the rest of us fit in?  If Icthultu is resistant to magic, what are we supposed to do while Hawkgirl beats on him with her mace?"

In reply to Element (msg #24):

"You'll be keeping his legions of minions off her back," Dr. Fate explained.  "Icthultu will surely be keeping back various guards against this very kind of attack."

"A happy thought," Speedy replied.

"Nothing about what is about to happen is very happy," replied Dr. Fate. "If this fails, it's likely we'll all die."

"No pressure then," Element said sarcastically.  "Well, what are we waiting for?" Element asked.  "Let's get going."

"Then go," Dr. Fate said.  He held out his hand and the classic glowing Ankh symbol appeared against a wall.  "When you are finished, use this to return."

He handed Raven an Ankh implement.  With that the team leapt through the portal.  The other side was truly mind-boggling to behold.  A labyrinth of stone arches and paths weaved in and out of each other in the empty expanse before them.  Scraggly trees floated in the air.  Pools of water collected in stone basins that emptied like an hourglass into a continuous line of other basins down into who knew where.

"There," Robin said, pointing down the stone path they stood on.  In the extreme distance they would see a stream of what looked like demonic creatures pouring through a glittering portal.  At the head of the line floated the creature Icthultu.  "If we follow this path we should be able to reach him in a few hours."

"A few hours?" Element exclaimed.  "There must be some shortcut--some way of getting there faster.  Do you see all the demons?  In a few hours thousands could enter our world!"  Element looked around for some answer, though he didn't think he would find one.

"I could get there faster," Hawk-girl said, taking to the sky.  "Straight line for me."

"If you plan on taking Icthultu on by yourself, be our guest," Raven said, stepping forward.  "I, however, might have another option."

Ravens shadow spread out and encompassed all of them.  When it cleared they were notably closer to the Old One.  Raven, however, looked seriously exhausted by the effort.

"Raven, are you all right?" Robin asked, putting his arm around her, propping her up.

"We have bigger problems," Raven said, pointing to the 'sky'.  "We've been spotted."

Smaller, winged demons swooped their way.

"Let's see if they swim as well as they fly," Element said.  He put 4 stones from his energy reserves into his Mastery of the Four for a total of +4.  He used a Force Blast to turn the air around one of the demons into water. He shifts 2 of his remaining stones to defense and gets +2 from his armor, for a total of +4.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:59, Thu 12 Apr 2012.

The demon clawed at his face as it tried to breathe then slumped, still floating in the bubble of water.  Its companion lashed at Element, but his armour and dexterity protected him...barely.

Hawk-girl flew up and hit down two demons, but one flew behind her and made to slash her back.

"Demon-bat leave Bird-nose alone!" Grundy called.  He grabbed the creature and tore it in two.  Hawk-girl turned in surprise, then bashed another that swooped down on Grundy.

"Grundy save Bird-nose, Bird-nose save Grundy," she said smiling at the former villain.  She hefted her mace up.  "Bird-nose go smash now."

Speedy sent two explosive-tipped arrows at two of the demons, taking them out.  Robin put all his skills into defending the recovering Raven.

Element was thankful he came out on the right end of a close call.  Then he focused back on his offense.  "Well if they can't breathe underwater, they certainly can't breathe underground," Element commented as he put 3 stones from his energy reserves into his Mastery of the Four for a total of +3.  He used a Force Blast to turn the air around another demon into solid rock.  He shifted 1 of his remaining stones to defense for a total of +3.

The stone encased demon broke free of the stone, but looked highly injured.

Hawk-girl and Grundy continued to have each others backs while Speedy and Robin continued to defend Raven.  Taking down all but the remaining injured demon.

Realizing that he was starting to leave things unbalanced, having used too much air, Element decided on a different tactic, since his foe was already weak.  He let the demon get close, then shifted 3 stones into Close Combat (plus Str bonus?) to punch the demon in the nose (or face, whatever), and again used 1 for defense for a total of +3.