Ghost portals a group consisting of Noah, Argentus (wit Mecha-Jitters), and Sal out in front of an old apartment building, complete with wire fence. The place was in decent enough repair and a bit... exposed. Passers-by stopped to gape at the giant mechanical dragon and smaller giant mechanical squirrel.

 The MIB agent had faded into the shadows but the group was facing immediate attention. Cellphone cameras were being brought out, pictures taken, and videos made.

Argentus made a mental note to ask Ghost how she avoided death by paradox from doing things like dropping the group somewhere so public.  He did not look toward the cameras as he hurriedly opened the door for Sal and the Mecha to enter the building.

Sal kept the mask that came with the armor Noah gave him opaque, though he wasn't worried about a camera catching his identity. He declared, "This was supposed to be a closed set dammit! Oh well, we're on a tight schedule. Action!" and quickly moved inside the door.

14:44, Today: Sal rolled 3 successes using 8d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 3,2,4,10(+10,2),9,7,7,2.  Manipulation+subterfuge+wp.

The Ed209's older brother's voice came on the quiet speaker. "Affirmative, the soviet threat shall never take over America." Noah was not a very good actor. Noah crouched a bit and made his way through the front door. He was the size of a large horse but he could still get around.

It would likely end up that he would be the distraction so the others could do their job.

 The moment the group moved into the door, a man called out from above. "Who are you? What do you... what the fuck is that thing?!?!"

Sal clears the part of the mask around his eyes and looks up into the man's eyes, "Go to your favorite dining establishment. Have a meal. Don't think about this."


22:13, Today: Sal rolled 1 success using 9d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((7,2,4,5,6,6,6,8,7)).
This message was last edited by the player at 06:23, Tue 19 Nov 2019.

Argentus looked around in the hall and the stairway with his prime and spirit sight.  "Anyone have any idea where our targets are?"

A portion of Noah's head covering... tank... lifted as he looked at Argy. It looked like he had angry eyebrows but it was just lifting the cameras to expose a visor so he could use his normal eyes.

There was a red dot and a blue dot glowing behind the darkened visor. Noah started looking around for the magical signature of the beads.

 The man on the stairwell pulled out a gun. "You guys better tell me what the fuck that thing is or things are gonna get real bad."

 You can hear movement and doors opening from above you.

"It's a movie prop.  Is this not the set that was getting prepped for the show?"  Argentus said, perpetuating the story from outside.  Of course, he delivered it flatly and lamely, with intonation that would have made the most gullible child think that he was - at the very least - hiding something.


13:23, Today: Argentus failed (no successes) using 3d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 6,4,5.  Lying like a liar!

At least it wasn't a botch?

 "You think I'm stupid?"

 There were more men gathering on the stairwell. Most already had guns drawn.

The tank helm turned to one side, "Obstruction, no traces found. Detecting alternate route in." With that he turned and there was a clear woosh and thud from outside indicating he just landed on the roof.

Over the ear buds: "Making it clear I am going roof side so they will move the bulk of their people away from the stairwell. I will try to play decoy to free you guys up a bit."

 "It's on the roof!"

 The majority of the men ran up the stairwell while three of them remained behind, opening fire.

 The bullets connect, hitting Sal twice and Argentus once.

Noah nodded at the MIB agent and moved over pressing a claw on the door but kept his body out of the line of fire. He started pushing on the door to make it moan and groan as all he was there to do was to get people to pay attention to him rather than everyone else. Better everyone was going to be jogging upstairs and sucking in lots of air.

"Contacted MIB, gas apparently on the way." came quietly over the ear buds.

Argentus grunted as the bullet pierced his magical armor and struck hard against the armor suit Noah had made.  Since MIB had a way to theoretically rehabilitate these men, for their sakes - and certainly not for the sake of the MIB slackers - he didn't want to kill them.  "Jitters, please go knock them around a bit 'til they fall asleep."  He requested.  Then he moved to try to get better cover from their bullets.

 "For the bean!"

 Jitters scampered up the inside wall of the stairwell, drawing enemy fire and giving Argentus and Sal ample time to find cover. Meanwhile, they could notice a faint mist coming in through the ventilation. It was time to put masks on (the MIB provided them before you left).

 Meanwhile, the group that had followed Noah began beating on the door, trying to force it open.

Sal shrugged off most of the damage, and took cover as he put the mask on. He likely didn't need it, but it didn't hurt to play it safe, and it gave him something to do while the gas went to work.

Argentus slipped on his mask and fired a few bullets up the stairs.  He was trying to distract their opponents and distract them from trying to save themselves from the gas more than anything.

 Jitters made it to the top of the stairs and immediately began to maul the first enemy he found with blade-like appendages protruding from his forearms.

 … then Argentus fired his gun and an arc of electricity shot out and struck the railing.

…
…
…

 He had not noticed just how loud the storm around him had become until it stopped entirely.

one count...
two count...
three count...

 and then lightning struck the roof of the building, melting the lightning rod Noah was standing near as the wind picked up full force, howling in its rage so loudly that verbal communication had become impossible.

 Glass shattered, sending the men at the top of the stairs for cover.

Noah looked over at the agent, "This is why I don't work with spirits if I can help it. Get ready for dragon riding, we will cling to the outside and look in. Ready in three.. two.." Once he hit Zero he would zoom over to the best of his ability and sweep under him or her letting the armor latch on like a super seatbelt.

The idea was to latch onto the side of the building, down being subjective after all, and move around the building trying to find the kids.

"So, guys... I think I know what that smarter spirit was plotting as I cast my spell.  I'll give you three guesses."  He commented over comms.

He radio'd to Jitters, "Find the kids if you can.  They need to not be here asap, regardless of what else happens."

He began casting a spell, attempting to communicate to the Spirits - if they didn't already know - that the people he had come with, and the children were non-hostiles.

OOC:  Failure on that casting roll.

Outside

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
The wind around them howled as Noah grabbed the agent and clung to the side of the building... just in time to see the wind pick up a truck and launch it through the side of the building.

 Noah crawled along the outside of the building before finally finding the children, huddled in several small bedrooms and covered in their bedsheets.

---

Inside

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
The side wall of the stairwell suddenly exploded in chunks of drywall and insulation as the front end of a truck came crashing through the wall, sending the men with guns scrambling for cover.

 Glass, branches, debris, and anything else the wind had picked up was sent hurtling through the windows, assaulting the kidnappers.

---

 Jitters leapt off the man he was mauling and went off in search of the children.

Noah smiled, which was covered by his armor. "Hi kiddos. Talion said you all would be here. Are you all ok? Ready to go home?" Noah looked around to make double sure there wasn't a mana bomb or something. It was extremely unlikely at this point but he wanted to check.

Argentus started moving up the stairs to find the kids, and beckoned Sal to move with him.  "Let's go find them before the spirits take this whole place down."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:54, Thu 28 Nov 2019.

Sal said to Argentus, "Right." He checked to see if he had functioning comms, "Has anyone spotted our target? Over."

Noah chimed in over the earbuds. "I've got contact on a few kids. I'm Latched onto the side of the building like a Geko currently. Gas wont knock out the bad guys at this rate. Go buck wild but we dont have a full head count as of yet."

 The children looked out the window in shock at seeing a dragon. One of the older boys stepped forward when Noah mentioned Talion's name. "Dad sent you?"

 The little boy from the scrying beamed. "See? I told you!"

 The other kids looked back and forth to one another but quickly decided that a dragon sent to come get them was likely not some sort of trap. The older boy jerked at the window and was unable to get it opened.


 Outside was the sound of gunfire and screaming, along with the heavy thuds of Mecha-Jitters' footsteps on the ceiling.

 Lightning flashed and struck the roof of the building with a deafening BOOM, causing the children to cover their heads in fear.

 Meanwhile, Argentus and Sal ascend the stairs, now needing to be careful due to the truck lodged in the side of the stairwell. Outside, the wind had whipped into a frenzy, reducing visibility drastically. It was as if the sky itself had reached down and took hold of the building.

 Up top, the men holding the children prisoner were a bloody mess. Some had been bisected by a window pane. Another decapitated by a hubcap, and still another impaled by pinestraw.

 Some were still alive, now locked in mortal combat with Mecha-Jitters... and screaming the entire time for someone to get him off. The other supernatural was nowhere to be seen.

Noah held up a hand, "I will encourage you little ones to use the contact Talion gave you once a day as opposed to all the time. Now, if you would all like to go home I will take you to a friend of mine and we will get you to safety" He extended one finger and started cutting around the window to pull it out of the wall.

"Is this all of you or are there some still missing?"

 The children had been separated into three groups of three with the first room containing 4 (so 4,3,3). However, it was not particularly difficult to get any of them and none of them seemed particularly perturbed by being retrieved by a horse-sized dragon wearing sticky armor.

 However, as he opened the window to the third door, he was met with a hail of bullets from the adjoining hallway... and they were all terribly accurate.

 Fortunately, the armor took the worst of the hits, but now the children were hiding and there was a guy with a gun between you and the last three children.

 The remaining 7 children, now stuck to you like a giant Katamari ball screamed in panic as the gunfire went off. The MIB agent was likewise stuck to you, unable to really get any kind of shot off.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:10, Fri 29 Nov 2019.

Sal will move toward the sound of gunfire and screaming children, rifle at the ready.

Noah ducked back under cover from the outside. "Confirming the last of the kids. Last three kids on the south east side of the building. Someone is in the hall with an autofire smart gun. If I go for him I risk the children already secured."

"Argy, I take back every bad thing I have said about spirit magic. You are a heavy weight."

Argentus ran toward where Noah had indicated, lightning rifle at the ready.  "Jitters, head toward Noah.  If you get a chance to pounce on the guy blocking him from the last few kids, do it."

While Argentus's gun was up, his attention was elsewhere as he activated spirit and forces sight to keep an eye out for the mystery leader.

 As the other two reached the top of the stairwell, they came under fire by the last 5 of the enemy group still standing. They were hiding in doorways, using them for cover.




 Noah found himself in the outside of the storm with wind whipping and lightning striking all around him with 7 children and a MIB agent stuck to his body. However, he also had that automatic smartgun wielding enemy guarding the last three children.

Noah moved down one level and started working his way into the floor under the kids.

~Grey. If the gunner gets afraid he is likely to use the kids. I am going to put my hand on the ceiling under the kids. Think you can get it ready to just pull the kids down from that level directly and seal it back up? I hope to have it ready that the moment the guys engage and take his attention we can spirit the kids away.~

He made sure to CC the team.

"Almost out of here little ones."

Argentus let out a loud grunt as a bullet slammed into his chest.  Fortunately his spirit armor and body armor prevented it from penetrating.  When hit in the shoulder, he was not so lucky.  It was kept to a graze, but burned like fire nonetheless.

Argentus dropped prone on the stairs, and leveling his gun over it fired a bolt at one of the people who had hit him.

Took one wound.

1 success at shooting back... with lightning.

 The man that shot Argentus siezed up and fell over as he was struck with electricity, but quickly recovered.

OOC: gonna wait to see what Sal's going to do before I continue with the enemy turn.


 Grey begins to spread out on the roof with metallic tendrils. The tendrils became gravity-defying puddles of liquid metal.

It seemed Sal's body armor was only grazed by two of the bullets, but absorbed the third. He returned fire before taking cover. He said as quietly as he could while still registering on comms, "Argentus, I'll try to draw their fire, then you run ahead to give Noah a hand. Do you copy?"

 Sal strikes the guy square in the chest with the bullet and knocks him off his feet. That shot should have been fatal but Sal could see him crawl behind some cover.

 Right around that time, a lamp post came crashing through the side of the building, sending what little glass hadn't yet been broken on this floor flying into the enemy and destroying most of their cover.

 Meanwhile, Noah could hear the heavy thuds of Mecha-Jitters tromping rapidly up to the man on the floor above him. Noah could hear the sound of rapid gunfire. Grey quickly melted through the floor and collected the kids, leaving no trace behind.

 However, Noah could also hear the sound of Mecha-Jitters tromping away from the gunfire at high speed.

"Thank you Argy, Jitters provided the cover I needed. Ghosted the kids through the floor. Sal, if you could throw bullets down range to keep that guy busy I would be thankful."

"If you want to meet at the stairs down one level with the portal we can extract the kids and be outta here. Then the storm can fully level the building."

Argentus looked at the strange way the men were getting back up when they should be dead.  "On our way down."  He said over coms.  "Are we sure the building getting leveled will deal with this?  They guys keep getting back up regardless of how hard we hit them."


10:42, Today: Argentus rolled 2 successes using 6d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 3,8,2,9,1,5.  Int/Occ re: the guys not dying.

Noah's head looked around the corner of the stair well. "I know Talion is watching right now doing everything he can to keep his magic from acting on the building as a whole. When the storm came in as cover it came with a bit of warping. That warping is why a number of them are dead already."

"I only know that because I went to visit him in the mana storm. Hes got a wide screen scrying device locked in the kids."

"I have faith in his will to hold the worst of the storm back until the kids are out. But best we not tax his will more than we should. He may need it to help the others and the agents. Not to mention the longer we are here the more chances they get to call down their space mage on us."

"If we get you guys through the portal big blue may he able to send you in to help other teams too."

"But yea, I'm absolutely sure this place is gonna get crush and be little more than dirt under the fingernail of a titanic spirit."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:55, Wed 04 Dec 2019.

Satisfied, Argentus moved toward. Noah and the portal at a full-out run.

Sal said over comms, "Roger. I'll take a few parting shots on my way down so Argentus can make it, and throw the ring as soon as I'm there. Over." He fired his rifle at the nearest available target as he moved back toward the stairs.

 As the group began to move, they saw Jitters racing around the corner at top speed, clearly fleeing from something... and then you see what it is. One of the kidnappers has a minigun!

 Fortunately, there is a great deal of debris in the way and the bullets hit that instead. One strikes Mecha-Jitters in the hind leg.

 He lets loose with a spray of homing bullets as the dead begin to shamble up off the ground where the spirits had slain them, reaching up to grab, hold, and restrain.

OOC: Sal and Argentus must make a Str + Brawl or Dex + Athletics check (whichever would be better) to break free. One success each is needed.

00:14, Today: Argentus rolled 3 successes using 3d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((6,10(+10,10,4),7)).

3 10's on one die... Argentus is going to get hit by a train tomorrow.

Sal attempts to get free from the grabby corpses.

Noah tapped into the Kiju suit. "Jitters. Be on your right side of the hall in three... two... one..." Noah poked his head up and his chest inflated as there was a Energized sound comming from his wings.

The speaker on his helmet popped out and quietly announced to cover their ears as the armor let go of people for portal use.

There was a roar like a mini Godzilla as Noar roared out a beam down the hall on his right, Jitters left. The blue hot fire raced out for not the villain but his gun.

 Argentus manages to free himself from the corpses and make his way downstairs. Sal was not so lucky and was trapped by the corpses as more of them made their way toward him, clawing and grabbing as they rose. One of them bit him on the neck.


 Despite their being more of the undead than before, it seemed just as easy to escape this time (1 success)

 The few remaining survivors dodged out of the way of the death laser as Noah let loose a blast of plasma, obliterating the super gun and turning the wielder's hands to bone and cinder.

 Once released, the MIB agent put his finger to his head and walked a distance from the huddled children.

Noah nodded once. "Supergun down. Sal has the portal. I cant shoot my beam at him or I'll roast him, its an inaccurate weapon. Can't leave the kids as I am the only one big enough to cover for the whole group."

"Ears." His roar came out strangely this time, with a worbal. The roar much louder for Sal as he was an undead with a mind, hopefully much much louder for the mindless undead.

 Noah's roar caused the corpses grabbing Sal to be pushed away from him, but also pinned him to the wall for the duration (2 successes on Str + Athletics lets you break sooner).

 However, they were immediately back on him when the roar ended (1 success on Dex + Athletics to avoid being grappled again if you failed your Str + Athletics)

"Alright, Abbot, Lou.  This has gone on long enough.  We need to get out of here."  Argentus said over coms.  Taking advantage of his court relationship with Jitters to bypass any need for proximity, he cast a spell giving Jitters increased spiritual might so that he could bear vastly increased physical might.  "Field promotion, Jitters.  Grab Sal and let's get going."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V82TIkX9t4

 Jitters bulked out visibly as Argentus cast his spell and let out a high pitched, helium filled yell as he ran on all fours, tackling Sal out of the clutching grasp of the undead, taking to the walls, trailed by the gunfire of the few remaining survivors.

 As he landed on the stairway below, he released Sal, turning to face the shambling undead horde, drawing an actual sword from the mass of the Kaiju system and advanced back up the stairs with a mighty swing of his blade, rending the zombies asunder and keeping them permanently dead this time. "Quickly, we must away before the storm of madness descends fully!"

Sal allowed the mech to grab him, and when released, activated the portal.

 With a little convincing, the children each stepped through the portal, then Sal and Argentus.

 The MIB agent was extracted by Ghost, leaving Noah, who was too big to fit through the portal.

Noah snapped down on the portal ring and sucked it down like a long spaghetti noodle.

-Grey, launch the kiju system for me? I am going to need the mass to break over the clouds the fly back home.-

He snaked back the way he came, switching primensight to life sight for one last external sweep for any lingering kids. Just encase.

 The storm raged around Noah, forcing him to disengage from the building, only to have the sky itself reach down and tear the building from the ground, launching it over the city with great force. The loud boom that echoed through Noah's teeth was not thunder...

Noah clenched down clawing the ground as he walked, just so the storm didnt carry him off. If something wasnt done the mages would all be dead.

He started etching into the ground to make little puddle runes. Mind, space, a dash of spirit. Hell, he mixed all the schools just so he may be able to get the spirits to pause and reset aggro on the mages.

A programmed vision. Noah full sized fighting the storm and losing due to their numbers. A dragons rage ending in the sky. A second vision of the giant slowly making his way through the city, being aware of and careful of the spirits but not attacking them. The spirits moving like a school of fish, a mass of paranah. Flowing around him but not hurting him.

Rub a little dragon mana into it, bake in the ley lines till warm. And pray both the spirits pause and reset, and the mages get the hint.

One chance was all he was going to stick his neck out for.

 The spirits stopped, seeing a large new enemy in the sky... but flew up and paused watching.

 The mages stopped too. With all eyes to the sky, lightning illuminated something titanic and terrible in the sky... and it was uncomfortably close. One of its legs was only a city block from Noah now... the same forearm that had scooped up the building it was in.

 It was as if the sky itself had turned to look at what Noah had done and roared a challenge to the new colossus in the sky. The sound was a peal of thunder so loud that it shattered the windows, showering him with shards of glass.

 The mages had all stopped, staring slack-jawed at the sky until the massive creature roared, which sent them scrambling for cover.

Noah was scared out of his mind but this was something that he was always doing. Making deals with wraiths that eat souls, controlling the maelstrom, and now talking to the manifestation of the End's rage.

He clapped his big scaly claws to his face to help steady himself and to not shit literal bricks. He was in the room the storm was born in with Talion, so he skilled along on the coat tails of the last spell.

He sent the giant living spell a vision of a dragon giving tea to the man who birthed it. A gesture to keep its father whole, alive, and kicking.

He gave it a image of Noah taking bullets from the window to keep the kids safe. A wound that he would have to attend soon.

Then he sent it a reminder, the locations of the people who had been the source of its rage, the buildings they had been in.

"Refocus big mama. I'll not fight you or answer your challenge. Your enemies are elsewhere." He capstoned it with an image of the storm at the spots cleared out but not yet removed. Rages' work was not done. It would be a cold day in hell before he could take on a storm like this. But he could hold up a big sign to hide behind it.

He did use his cyber connection and sent a message to the covens through their joined board. -I reset the focus of the storm to the best of my ability. Do NOT attack the spirits. Mass up your wards, put up walls, do everything but attack the storm. It has a goal and wont harm you if you dont harm it.

Sign: The Dragon of Purgatory-

He had forgotten to post such in all the rush to get the kids.

 The sky colossus paused for a long, uncomfortable second before turning and ascending back into the clouds. Now that he knew what to look for, he could see it moving away, each footstep an F5 tornado, reaching down, ripping up chunks of the city, and flinging them into the ocean.

Noah started claw walking his way to the water. It would be better to get into the kiju system and fly home that way. No doubt every mage who could scry wood be looking at him. "If you're going to ask, ask. Otherwise you know how to contact me."

 It took some time to get to the water (the building was not particularly close to the ocean). That said, water had begun the stand in many places on the road (especially in downhill dips).

 The Kaiju system, a slithering mass of liquid metal, finally caught up with Noah. It melded into his mechanical outer shell, augmenting and growing until he was far, FAR larger than he had once been, large enough that he now had to worry about stepping on cars or people and the buildings were in the way of him fully spreading his wings.

 Looking down, you could see people just looking up at you from inside shops, horror etched onto their features.

Noah turned off his weight, jumped, and let the wind carry him up as the jet on his back controlled upward thrust.

No one would believe them there was a giant robot dragon.

Thrust, wings, and Greys gravity control. It was time to get above the clouds and head home. He needed the kiju or he would have been a sparrow in the wind.

 Even with his mass, the wind blasted and jostled him. It took a great deal of energy, but Noah finally managed to get above the storm, only to make a horrifying discovery. There was more than one storm colossus. They swam in the storm like whales in a whirlpool, in many respects, giving the storm some of its rotation and power.

 He was above the storm now, but it would be hard to locate the boat with the layer of swirling angry below him.

 Time passed with Noah stranded above the storm. The thing about being this high up, is that he could see the solar flare approaching, getting closer and closer until it slammed into some sort of unseen shield, linked together by countless satellites, the coronal mass projected slammed inst some sort of projected energy field, releasing a red aurora planetwide.

 No one else in the radius of the storm would be able to see the red aurora, but you had a first hand seat.

Noah was content to float up in the air above the storm. He was assuming anyone who could scry would be scrying on the location so it was kind of important people to see the shield. If even a few saw it then there would be room for conversation later. He did, however, sit back and record the whole thing. He was in a prime location to see the light show and respond as people needed him. Grey was likely well-fed in this whole situation so he was generally on stand by.

 Even though the shield had worked to stop the flare, the storm continued to rage below him... so it seemed that the apocalyptic storm would need to burn itself out on its own. Fortunately, the planet had been spared... so it was only New York and the surrounding states that would feel Talion's wrath.

Noah took his time looking at the light show. He knew that Talion had some kind of radial connection set up to help boost the synth network. But he had no idea that the man also had some kind of shielding network. Talion really did mix tech in when he couldn't use magic to fill the gaps.

He shook like a dog to shift the tech look of the Kiju system to look more like himself.

He had no idea exactly who to contact but if things went as he last saw the mages should all be shoring up rather than dieing. He had no idea if it would work but he wanted to be sure.

A dash of a tiny tiny bit of forces to help bend light. A good helping of prime to tap their leyline connection. A dance with Grey to jack into any synth tech they had. And a touch of mind magic to get shitty light images that 1080p detail.

His effort was to reach out to the largest coven, the coven who would house what Noah called the Merlin. The best of the mages. It would be well worth to lock in and hack any synth tech they had laying around. Sure, people threw out synths but Talion had his fingers in every pie.

He had to talk to them somehow. Even if he had to project himself like Leya in the first good starwars movie.

 Noah had a general idea of who the different covens were and a good idea of who the Merlin was (unless it had changed recently. There just wasn't any way to tell at the moment).

 The spell seemed like it was trying to work but failed. Not spectacularly, Noah felt mana surging through him and the sudden urge to relieve himself... but he seemed to be missing some crucial detail.