06:37, Today: Devil Dog rolled 6 using 2d6+2.  Maneuver - seize contol.

Frank realized the ally was a perfect choke point. He tried to seize control with a grenade tossed into the mob.

Amber gasped at what her aerial vantage point revealed to her... and immediately soared over to the Golem's location, both because she reckoned him best suited to stop it quickly, as well as because he was the easy one to find.

Flying near, and seeing his plight, she did her best to fend some of the attackers with light-shields... however, her current low power state, as well being rattled by what she'd observed, made it ineffective -

Amber rolled 5 using 2d6+2.  Serve and protect w/Protect. 

The amber light flickered, never quite became coherent...

"Golem!" she shouted, "They're loading a canon aimed at the palace, from a nearby church spire!  I don't have the power left to stop it!"

The undead surrounding Golem fall backwards, limp as puppets with cut strings. They fall backwards, creating an impromptu phalanx against the rest of them. They bump and struggle to get at him, but he has a moment to collect himself.

Devil Dog blasts the undead creatures with a grenade. This plan works too well. The damaged wall of one of the adjacent buildings collapses inward. The second floor begins to fall. Bricks and debris shower down on the undead and the marine alike.

Frank finds himself trapped under piles of masonry. He struggles to free himself. The zombies nearest to him struggle and stumble over the masonry, struggling to get to him.

Amber tries to summon up the power that resides in the ring, and finds it spent. She tries to push her own power through it, but it isn't enough. She overburdens her own power of flight, and suddenly finds herself without levitation. Kicking her legs and grasping at nothing in involuntary desperation, Amber begins to fall.

Suddenly there is a boom. The cannon fires, creating a tremendous plume of smoke. It rolls back, crushing the skeleton that had lit the fuse. The others scramble to pull it back into position.

The cannonball whips through the air, almost too fast to see. It slams into the wall of the distant palace, knocking a hole in the reinforced structure. It hardly seems to make more than a cosmetic difference at first. Then it explodes inside.

Things went from bad to worse as Frank found himself trapped under debris. In a last ditch effort he tries to muscle his way out of it.

07:11, Today: Devil Dog rolled 6 using 2d6+1.  smash - seize control.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 16:53, Mon 24 Feb 2020.

In reply to Editor (msg # 129):

The Golem extends its clay-like arm. Shooting out at an elongated limb and catching Amber before she hits the ground. He then reels her back in, placing her on his shoulder and reshaping that part of his body so it is a chair-like structure. Allowing her to sit slightly awkwardly, but well out of reach of the dead around the Earth being.

"What did you want me to do again?" He asked her, still overwhelmed by the foes.

OOC:
11:43, Today: The Golem rolled 14 using 2d6+2.  Serve and protect, keeping Amber from falling.

Taking extra bond to Amber
This message was last edited by the player at 00:57, Thu 27 Feb 2020.

Centipede runs over to Devil Dog and wraps his hands around him, and throws his body into the debris, trying to get DD loose. “Hold on man. I’m coming“

---

14:52, Today: Centipede rolled 12 using 2d6+1.  Aid devil dog. He’ll get him out of the debris (securing a route for DD to extricate himself) and take no harm in the doing.

---

 Centipede strains against the weight of the detritus, but keeps pushing until there’s some space

Once again, she marveled at Golem's earth powers, grateful both not to have hit the ground, as well as to be out of reach of their grisly adversaries.

Damn it!   When the ring is spent, I've nothing to offer the team! 

Then to answer Golem's question, she gestured once more in the direction of the tower-

"The undead!  They're about to -"

*WOOOOM!*    The cannonball struck the tower.     It didn't seem too bad.   But then:

*WHA-BOOOOM!!!* 

"Oh my god!"    She stared with her mouth partially agape, one hand absently on her head, after the cannonball exploded.

Devil Dog muscled himself loose while Centipede helps. Soon enough they get Devil Dog free. The zombies have closed in on all sides now, forcing the two men up onto the roof of a building. Both of them were quite comfortable climbing up on high things, but this building is a crumbling wreck after the bomb.

Golem manages to save Amber from another fall. He holds her up high, safe from zombies. He is unable to keep himself safe as well, though. The zombies latch on to his legs and start biting. This harms his stony flesh hardly at all, but he is being held into place.

Up above, in the spire, the skeleton crew is struggling to get the cannon loaded again. This time, they are aiming it at Golem.

Even though the building felt like it was going to fall out from beneath him, Frank was determined to stay the course and keep his team alive. It took him a moment but he took what appeared to be a long stick from it’s position strapped to his pack and from his shirt pocket a long piece of cord. He stepped into the staff and hooked the cord to the top and bottom, assembling his bow. Now the quiver of arrows he carried made more sense. He took aim at the skeletons that were loading the cannon and fired.

The dice roller hates me now. =-(
16:12, Today: Devil Dog rolled 4 using 2d6+2.  Maneuver - Take Down.

Defy danger. Rolled a 12

---

Centipede charges through the line of zombies and covers the ground to the church spire quickly. His training has taught him how to overcome most physical obstacles and he puts this grit to use.

Hand over hand he finds cracks and finger grips in the facade of the church and pulls himself up the tower itself where the men are reloading the cannon.

In reply to Editor (msg # 134):

The Golem nods at Amber, reaches out with his extra long earthen arm, and grabs the Cannon, ripping it free from its moorings. He takes the weapon out of the tower, throwing it far away and into the river.

OOC: Seize control with an 8.
• You seize control over what was contested

Her teammates were doing their best to try and take care of the cannon's threat, the least she could was try and push the undead off of Golem.   She focused, honed her will, and did her best to muster whatever power could be had, to make enough of a force screen to push back the zombie mob from her earthen ally...

Amber rolled 12 using 2d6+2.  Serve and protect w/Protect.

Centipede leaps into the tower and engages the skeletons just as Golem tears loose the cannon and throws it away. Then Devil Dog looses his arrow. The shaft takes on a blue glow and slices through the air with a wail. It slams into the tower and seems to detonate. The entire tower crumbles, with Centipede trapped inside.

Amber uses her reserve power to wrap Golem in a shield of energy. Try though they might, the mindless undead cannot get through.

The fire in the palace seems to be spreading. Several windows are lit from within by fire.

Fighting the men, Centipede's situational awareness is still cued up.  He sees the cannon be yanked out of the tower, even as he fights his way to it.  He hears the whistle of Devil Dog's arrow as it cuts through the spire and he feels the building rock beneath him.  The already leaning floor of the spire begins to buckle. As the spire begins to crumble,  Centipede turns to the nearest bit of open sky that he can see and runs for it, planning to fall from the building and use his blade and his feet to slow his fall to the ground.

He runs over the undulating floor and dodges flying debris as he gets closer to his opening.

---

11:27, Today: Centipede rolled 9 using 2d6+2.  Defy Danger (Manuever).

Frank cursed and went sprinting down to try and find his comarade.

The Golem spread his arms wide, causing the earth to reclaim the broken rubble. Both earth from the ground and rock from the ruined tower merging into one. It should make Devil Dog's efforts easier to find his buried friend and get him to the surface.

Devil Dog and Centipede emerge from the broken tower, none the worse for wear. They emerge into a cleared area of flattened rubble, thanks to Golem. The heroes form a square. They are surrounded on three sides by the undead, and there are yet more attempting to scale the ruins of the tower to close the circle. For the moment, the pressure is off the palace. However, they can expect little help from that quarter, as the defenders are busy fending off a fire.

There is a whistling noise, loud enough to be audible even over the groans of the undead. A mortar shell lands among the dead. It explodes, tossing a half-dozen of the fell creatures asunder. Another shell lands, although this one hits nothing much. Reinforcements! Somewhere nearby, a group of army men must have set up a heavy weapons position and have begun shelling.

Frank tried to pinpoint the location of their reinforcements.

08:21, Today: Devil Dog rolled 7 using 2d6.  Investigate - Examine.
I’m not sure which question. Maybe “Wht is about to happen here?”

Devil Dog is fairly sure that the shelling was fired from a block to the south. The soldiers must have followed the path that the heroes cleared. He imagines that they will continue shelling, but firing blindly will not be as effective as the team needs now.

Frank called to his team, ”Fall back, one block south. We have to link up with those reinforments and direct their fire.” He pushed (not physically) his team to move and move quickly.

She didn't need to be told twice, and moved to comply with DD's urging.   Given enough power, she rose up into the air and flew out to the reinforcements, with the intent of describing the situation to them, if she arrived first.

At Devil Dog’s urging, Centipede headed south. “Let’s do it“ and have a thumbs up.

His body was getting more and more sore as the day wore on. His tumble from the tower left him a little beat up, but nothing broken and regular pain could be ignored. Another reminder that he’s just a man. Not some sort preternatural power house like the others.

He pulled his mask off, caked in dust as it was, he was breathing in more dirt than was being filtered through it. He coughed into his elbow, sheathed his sword, ran his hands through his hair, and took off.

The golem, seeing the others moving off, merges with the earth. It flows underground, moving at speeds matching a ground vechile. All while still able to sense those above who walk upon the substance he is now one with. He makes sure to keep pace with the runners, and not leave them behind in case the dead somehow ambush them.

Devil Dog and Centipede move off on foot. Amber hovers through the air, above the enemy. Golem covers their movement from below.

The heroes come upon a haggard detachment of British Army only a few blocks away. They have plainly suffered some casualties, both from enemy contact and from exposure to smoke and dust. The thirty that remain are wild-eyed and nervous. They have created a small beach-head on the near side of the bridge. Every man has a weapon pointed outward, mostly rifles but a machine-gun team as well. In the centre of the semi-circle is a group of men making use of a mortar. They are quickly loading, re-setting, and firing shells up and over the nearby ruined buildings.

When Amber appears overhead, they pause and look in wonder.

"An angel..." one murmurs, and the words circulate. Then Devil Dog makes his appearance, heartened by the presence of fellow soldiers. Unfortunately none of them wait to hear what he has to say. Several of them fire at him, thinking him a zombie. Fortunately Golem is ready. The earth-creature throws a wall of stone up in front of Devil Dog, preventing him from coming to harm. Then Golem itself appears. Most of the soldiers have seen it before, or pictures of it, and realize they are meeting friends.

Centipede has remained hidden. Announcing himself when unnecessary is against his training and practice.

Frank took command naturally and without pomp. ”Captain Frank LaCombe, United States Marine Corp. Please direct fire to these co-ordinates,” he gave direct co-ordinates to the zombies they had encountered, ”and please don’t shoot me.”

Use Environment?