I dunno. I'm reacting. Neither myself nor my character have anything approaching seniority or rank, so a usable "plan" from me is off the table. I'm simply doing what I think will clear the retreat, banking everyone else will do whatever move they think is the best one, and hoping the organized chaos that is a typical PC group will get us out of this.

In and out of character, I'm uncertain whether I'd get stuck in that carpet Goliat created or not, and there were two characters barring clean line of sight. Magic is one of the things I am somewhat familiar with in Palladium, and Carpet of Adhesion has a well-deserved reputation for being very powerful for its level and cost. I do not want to tangle with that spell.

I do know the more characters that go hand-to-hand, the less desirable saturating the area with ranged attacks will become, and the harder it will be to extract oneself without achieving total victory first. I don't know how enforced "oopsy-whoopsy, you missed and now you hit an ally" is in this game, especially when in my case, my eyeballs are shooting full-choke energy shotguns. I've had some harsh rules interpretations in this system.

Hmm... Bellissima knows where Phantasma is, but I can't tell anyone yet because i am out of actions.

Now, once we get a new set of actions...

Justicar: does your suit have any weaponry that can fire behind you and do you have a laser light that can target something behind you.   Because right now, Bellissima can See the Invisible which includes laser light and she could help Justicar target something invisible behind him for a big surprise! :D

Bellissima can't telepathically contact Winter Herald unfortunately.   Although if Winter Herald can see laser light, he can target off of Justicar's laser light. :)

In reply to Bellissima (msg # 27):

Yes. In fact Justicar can see in all directions at once due to his external camera system.  His internal H.U.D. is a 360^degree view screen and his laser targeting can aim in any direction he can point a weapon.

He will however need to at least spend an action to clear his exterior from Snowblind's first attack, actually 'Karl' could do that for him with Drone-Ceti's actions.

I had planned next round of actions to come to your side and dispatch the 'Solid-light Bull' with some Blaster fire.  I do not think laser-fire will work on Phantasma or any of his light constructs.. but particle beams are NOT light!  We are intent to withdraw so I figured Lite Star can get Crusader out of the fight just as fast as she is at least near Justicar's strength...

I do have a drone equipped with a flamethrower ... that might get rid of the ice... but that's a napalm thing and AoE stuff when were so close together is a risky option especially when it continues to burn round to round! The cure might be worse than the sickness in that case.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:24, Thu 07 Apr 2022.

Infrared is part of Herald's optical package. The only thing he is really missing on the visual front is the expired coupon detector. So as long as something hits a target, and I detect that, I can follow up on that point of attack, or in the case of a laser sight "attack," even if they are still technically invisible.

And yeah, on the one hand, party communication being heavily mind-to-mind will leave him out of a lot of conversations. On the plus side, it does mean someone throwing mental illusions around will get a look of confusion from him and a request from him to stop distressing others with their abusive evocation of culture, or whatever those hand gestures they are doing mean to the people he lives around.

On the visual side Lite Star also has the full suite, including the 360 vision, also uses laser targeting and main weaponry can point in any direction being mounted on their own 'arms' with 360 rotational joints.

In reply to Lite Star (msg # 30):

Right, although at the moment Lite Star is engaged in with Snowblind.


Excellent, we might have a plan unless things change before Bellissima's turn starts.

Just making sure. Do I have to wait for another GM post for me to do something?

I think we are all empty on actions except maybe Lite Star and two of the enemy.

I'm surprised talking is an action. I figured it would be a free action or whatever, to encourage over the top soliloquies, long-winded panel filling explanations, and whatnot.

Well, casting is talking, so in a sense it fits. But then again I can write one thing and talk about another at the same time. Or is that one class skill? :p

I leave it at; GM rules. He's been cool so far, I am having fun. So, win-win in my book.

I don't think of talking as an action. What I try to do is keep a balance between attacks per melee, smooth flow, and dramatic tableau. When sacrifice has to be made, that's the order I look to sacrifice in.

Oohhhhh!! :o Akatawa!!! Saikio desu!!!

I wonder why people want to stay here. Maybe spare parts? :p

I also feel like we lost purpose here.

In reply to Goliat (msg # 37):

Need Initiative roll from you Golait...
This message was last edited by the player at 06:41, Mon 11 Apr 2022.

Thanks for the heads up!!


Also changed targets to Cicada as Maharaja was aiming at Snowblind already.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:02, Mon 11 Apr 2022.

I'm trying to decide whether or not Bellissima's action (targeting Phantasma and directing the attack) would break the invisibility. What ends the spell is not physical movement, but "an act of aggression or combat." I'm leaning towards the invisibility finally dropping because when Bellissima directs Justicar's fire she would be engaging "in combat".

In reply to SSOGM (msg # 40):

Hehe... of course I am hoping it doesn't break the invisibility. ;)  But I understand why you would have it break the spell. :)  The magic reads Intent.

I am starting to think Maharaha should have taken Cicada and I Snowblind. That bug is HARD to catch. You sure is not a roach or fly instead? We need a bigger shoe to hit him with. :(

In reply to Bellissima (msg # 41):

Kid gloves off.  Gave the Villains every opportunity to give up this fight and withdraw... not asking again.

Apologies for the delays. The last few days have been rather exciting for me. I will post tomorrow, hopefully in the afternoon range.

I am hoping that grabbing and holding Phantasma with her TK will keep him from being able to dodge. :)

He didn't dodge. So far, the illusions he's been using have been covering force constructs. That's why the bull, wall, chimp, and uzi act like the real thing whether or not they appear to be real or alive.

I'm optimistic about our future chances in this encounter. Cicada's going to be an issue once they get out, though.

In reply to SSOGM (msg # 46):

How is Phantasma looking?  Is Justicar having an effect on the villain?

In reply to Bellissima (msg # 48):

His constructs don't seem to have more than 100 SDC that's still another 180 SDC I should have riddled him with bullets and then the Dual Electric discharge. I didn't miss with either. 'shrug'  How badly does he appear or is he foolishly hiding his physical damage with illusions?

Does he want to die?
This message was last edited by the player at 13:09, Sun 17 Apr 2022.

I don't think they've had time or the ability to react. They were likely conjuring the fist out of reflex from having the wall suddenly collapse as a result of ordinance and some lady appear out of thin air pointing them out and freezing their movements, while some defective robot runs around at Mach One engaging every single construct she makes while calmly talking smack to her.

Phantasma might need a second to process the situation they are now in, assuming they are still active and didn't just get wiped out by the simulated visit to Sing Sing prison.

To put this in MOBA terms, Phantasma was working with the DPS bruiser Cicada and the tank Snowblind to try and contain us all while we were recalling, hoping we'd panic and focus fire the tough guys while they did their projection thing. However, half the group failed to behave as expected, and now Phantasma is out of position getting ganked by three people (one of which she had no way of seeing) while the DPS is hard CCed and also out of position. The only thing going right with their plan is the amount of fire Snowblind has drawn, and even then no tank can endure endless attack, and once they are out of action, the only hope is that the other team spent everything on them and doesn't have any serious guns left.