"I'm Weapon X," Funnybone shouted from below. It was hard to keep up with the conversations with everyone else floating above him, but if he could get by without ears, he'd manage. "Mostly, Weapon X is black-ops mutants. Extreme wetworks."

He wasn't even trying to be funny. There was nothing funny about Weapon X.

"Operative Team Designate: 'Weapon X' refers to teams of timeline repair operatives selected for a predisposition to violence, goal-oriented motivational psychology, malleable ethical perspectives, and low projected estimates for the probability of candidate timeline repair. They are assigned to Missions where the urgency of resolving the timeline's immediate concern outweighs any potential concern for further damage."

"The legacy categorical designations 'eXiles' and 'Weapon X' were assigned by some of the earliest Operative Teams based on personal experiences from candidate timelines-- the term 'Weapon X' refers to a covert paramilitary program from a statistically nigh-universal number of timelines that a vastly disproportionate number of Weapon X operatives previously belonged to."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 18:07, Tue 19 Oct 2021.

“A Cleaning Crew,” Sally said softly, but transmitted over the Comm-link for the non-flyers. “That’s what Raven called them. Like CIA, but worse.” She looked at her friends, but particularly at Sue. “So…they’re the team that shows up if we flunk our mission…”

"So there's a lot in there."  Gwen says.
Including both Peter AND Gwen being active as Spider-people which means neither one of them made (will make?) a screwup that killed the other one.  Plus a lot of Spider-people that Gwen doesn't know.  Jesse Drew would have seemed normal but who the hell is Miles Morales? "There are four Spider-people here and you picked up on my middle name?"

"The Tallus also said Red Sonja of Queens.  Which has to be MJ.  So if we want a time-travel method that doesn't involve cannibal wizards we talk to her.  He's probably the one that brought this Nur guy here in the first place though."

"Peachy," Danny muttered at the mention of "Weapon X." He was glad the others were keeping up with all of these various intersecting and contradicting timelines. He sure as hell wasn't doing a fine job of it, but with any luck, there'd be something soon for him to hit. Even if it was "Mulan Goth" himself.

Somehow, I don't think 'I'll Make a Meal Out of You' would've been as catchy.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:38, Tue 19 Oct 2021.

Sally rolled her eyes. “We just visited a parallel universe with doppelgängers of Sue & Danny…and ‘MJ’. Why would I fixate on parallel versions of Spider-Man when that’s a given in our situation?”




“Your girlfriend isn’t from this world. What guarantee do we have that she’s even gonna still be here? Also…I know En Sabah Nur sounds scary, and he was in Grant & Wade’s worlds, but I’ve got this hunch that a power-mad despot like Kulan Gath wouldn’t groove with bringing competition into this realm.”

"That was impressive, Saladane is it?" Tigro asked with a grin as they flew. "Shame I didn't get wings, I could be a Flying Tiger!"

That joke was flat but but I'm worried dammit he mutters in his head. "Anyway beautiful and powerful ladies, and stylish mighty gentlemen, so tell me, do we have a plan if this goes FUBAR?"

 I'm simply asking because I don't think Weapon "X" sounds appealing if they come into this, does anyone here but me and Funnybone and maybe Lord Daniel over there, have any mystic backgrounds? I'd hate to run into that Kulan guy, and I'm not liking entreating with Apocalypse.

He flexes his claws in the air. Even if had taken the Avenger, the X-team, and more heroes than I can count to put En Saban Nur on permanent ice, even if he wasn't dead, being imprisoned in Limbo was close enough, and he didn't have a handy Space Knight toy to pry from Shield's clutches here.'
This message was last edited by the player at 00:07, Wed 20 Oct 2021.

"Yes", said the clear and precise human voice that was Swarm-telepathic, "What is the plan when we arrive?
What do you hope to achieve in the presence and thoughts of this ... man?"
It would be good to have a defined team-goal;  also,  who would be doing the talking, and would not.
And what might those silent team-members be doing during those conversations.

Gwen is blushing after the girlfriend comment.  "Yes, one might be a given.  When I got these powers, Peter was killed.  And when he got them, I was killed.

And weirdly I think we already passed along the message to the Conan's army.  You introduced me as 'Gwendolyn of Queens' which is the same way the Tallus talked about Conan and Sonja fighting Gath.

Tallus, can we get that disambiguation?"


"That wizard guy sounds like he has a weakness to Spider-people and he's already lost to three people that are in this time."  Conan, Sonja, and Gwen.  Sure her first mystic battle was only a couple hours ago but it went fine.  "If he didn't bring in Apop the seven of us can handle him."



"Right now, we're just trying to get information.  Sally can do the talking to En Sabur Nur.  We'll talk after that."

The Tallus chirrups:

"The Red Sonja of Hyrkania is a female human mercenary and adventurer active across Southeast Europe and North Africa in the Late Hyborian Era and the years 1984 and 1985 of the Common Era during the Second Reign of Kulan Gath. She is believed to have been invested with divine power by the goddess Scathach, whose worshipers have dwindled throughout the Hyborian Age."

"ERROR: Records on the Red Sonya of Rogatino can not be accessed at this point in the current normative timeline."

"The Red Sonja of Queens is the former nom de guerre of female American adventurer Mary Jane Watson, active in Stygia (and surrounding borderlands) during the Reign of Kulan Gath. Mary Jane Watson later used her personal experiences to fictionalize the adventures of Red Sonja in American cinema, to lukewarm critical and commercial reception."

"It seems that this Red Sonja re-emerges each time this Kulan Gath does.
It is possible that their fates and existence are tied", the Swarm muttered, to nobody in particular.

To the team at large, he said, "We have no real idea why we are here, do we?  or what we are expected to react to, or remedy".

"What you have to understand."  Gwen says "Is that the cosmic entity that brought us all here is an asshole."

"This poem seems less confusing than the other one."

Jesus, I wish the cleanup crew would come in and just take this one off our hands, already... Sue quipped back to Sally.

Then aloud:

"It sounds like maybe Red is a defense, mustered against Gath.  Yet Gwen said  he was the one who linked Em Jay's and Red's minds."  Why-?

"Tallus, the mind-link between Em Jay and Red Sonja -- what was Kulan Gath's interest in creating it, if known?  What purpose or outcomes were achieved by it? Other than some B-grade action flicks, I mean?"   

"Also, existing data on the goddess Scathach -- spheres of interest, creed, that sort of thing.  As well as a list of any other divine entities Scathach holds as either allies or enemies. If she and they aren't mere fiction."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:44, Thu 21 Oct 2021.

"I've teamed with a lot of people, some called gods, a lot depends on your point of view." He shrugs. "But those are good questions to ask. I wonder if any of those I teamed with are around now? But," he sighs "Maybe we need Conan, and En Saban Nur to take on Kulan Gath?"

I think we get “cleaned up” with the rest of the mess, though, Sally replied via mental link to Sue.

When the group discussed Conan lore, Sally admittedly felt a little left behind. “Wait. Are we talking about people who might go by other names in other worlds? Since that apparently happens a lot. Is ‘Red Sonja’ maybe another handle for Belit, the ‘Queen of The Black Coast’ in the books? Is Kulan Gath connected with Thoth-Amon in any way?”

The Tallus chirrups woefully:

"The Tallus is poorly equipped to analyze the motivations of temporal beings outside of extrapolating from the historical records of other temporal beings. The most significant outcomes of the mystical link between Sonja of Hyrkania and Mary Jane Watson appears to have been the primary cause of his defeat in his first two attempts to ascend to godhood, and a significant contributing factor to his third defeat. Also, Mary Jane Watson's influential careers as a filmmaker and costumed adventurer."



The Tal--

~Please excuse the interruption, your Eminences, but there are signs of a violent catastrophe up head-- most likely a very one-sided battle. We are obligated to respond. Can you please wait at a safe distance while we search for survivors?~ While Betres' telepathic voice is calm and collected-- on the surface-- her barely-controlled disgust and fury make your lizard-brains' itch. ~The attackers may be simple humans, in which case our business shall be mercifully brief, but if not... the enemy we are expecting are like akin to the Master's Chosen, but composed partially of living metal, and many fiendish weapons. Clan Akkaba can handle such vermin, but cannot enforce our Master's promise of safety at the same time.~ Her mouth sets into a grim line. ~My apologies, honored guests, but the Master's will is absolute: until this world is ours, Clan Akkaba protects the untransformed.~

We understand your pledge and your stance, be in no doubt, responded Sue.

But we shall do no waiting at a distance. Not when we can aid the speed of your search. And indeed, if there is a foe composed partially of metal, then Lady Saladane, in particular, should be able to end this confrontation swiftly. 

Was there some aspect of this they didn't want the group to see, was one thought that crossed her mind.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:42, Fri 22 Oct 2021.

She nods. You... maybe suspect that was the answer she wanted to hear.

Indeed, over the next rise, you see five or six large farmhouses with assorted outbuildings. On fire. There are what appear to be several normal human beings in simple clothes lying far too still around this little compound. There are other human beings caught somewhere between trying to fight the fires burning their lives and livelihoods away, and trying to keep moving for fear of themselves lying too still. They look at Clan Akkaba with a mixture of horror and relief... and the eXiles with some much more akin to pure relief.

"Don't let them kill us!" someone yells.

"Don't let them transform us!" another adds.

You didn't expect normal human bandits, and you didn't get normal human bandits. Serves you right. They look like they might have been human once, most of them, though a couple might have been horses or wolves. And while Betres' description of them as "living metal" might have seemed quaint before-- a caveman explaining astronauts to you-- now it seems like a euphemism made more appalling by the grotsequerie it concealed. These men (and animals) were once normal living things, but then cybernetic components grew within them and through them and across their surfaces, leaving patches of flesh... mortified flesh, bruised flesh, scarred flesh... sticking out obscenely between the vast stretches of weirdly organic-looking chrome. These things do not belong here.

Clan Akkaba immediately divides itself between the tasks of rescuing the mostly unwilling survivors from the burning buildings, trying to put out the fires themselves, and combating the Techno-Organic Cyborgs.

SCENE DISTINCTION: Like a House on Fire d10

ORDER OF BATTLE:
Polaris
Unseen
Spider-Woman
Tigro
The Swarm
Funnybone
Iron Fist
Heavy Cyborg Mauler
Cyborg Sniper
Cyborg Angel A
Cyborg Angel B
Cyborg Troopers 4d6

NEXT: Polaris

Whatever the fiends were, Polaris wouldn’t allow them to harm the innocents of this world. Polaris floated above the ground, her bladed cape wafting out around her. “Hi, Boys! I know we’re in a ‘Swords & Sandals’ kind of world, but you’ll all eventually learn that Violence is uncool.”

Her hands reached out as magnetic waves poured from the black-haired Mutant. “Why don’t you all…come together!” The waves grabbed at the cybernetic warriors. Sally clapped her hands together, magnetically attempting to slam the marauders together!

OOC:

Duty d10 + Mistress of Magnetism d8 + Magnetic Control d10 + Tech Expert d8

17:34, Today: Polaris rolled 6,4,6 using 1d6,1d6,1d6.  SFX: Area Attack.
23:28, Today: Polaris rolled 10,2,9,8 using 1d10,1d8,1d10,1d8.  Magnetically slam Cyborgs together.

Total: 25
Effect: D8
Opportunity: 0

NEXT: Unseen

 
This message was last edited by the player at 21:37, Fri 22 Oct 2021.

Polaris wants to remove the Cyborg Horde from the table. It is not mathematically possible for me to legally prevent that from happening, so I do not want to bother rolling for it-- except their hilarious death throes might provide you with the opportunity to collect an Opportunity.

Take a d8 on your next action with my blessing.

The larger, more dangerous-looking cyborgs seem to ignore Polaris' efforts with some marked difficulty-- and the activation of weird, internal blinkenlights-- but the massive horde of killer cyborgs has no such defenses. They are lifted into the air by unseen hands and forced together with a terrible clattering sound, and then crushed together into a column of flailing limbs that flail, and flail, and then flail no more.

ORDER OF BATTLE:
Unseen
Spider-Woman
Tigro
The Swarm
Funnybone
Iron Fist
Heavy Cyborg Mauler
Cyborg Sniper
Cyborg Angel A
Cyborg Angel B

NEXT: Unseen

Remember, if you don't have specific plans... you can leave NEXT to "any eXile", "any ally", "any enemy", or simply "any" to save time.

These cyborgs were every bit the archetype of the marauding aliens that an early life experience had disposed her to loathe.     Sally had dealt with their basic troops wholesale, leaving just the leaders.

But, the fires --  the lives at stake; in even more jeopardy for their obvious reluctance to be aided by the Akkaba.

It wouldn't be hard to smother the flames -- on at least one building. But she'd have to hold the field while the burning materials cooled, as the reintroduction of oxygen might make them explode.  And if she did, what of the risk of trapping those inside with an awful lot of smoke-?

Smoke was hot particulate, swirled up by hot air. If both were cool enough, it was only soot. Probably, it'd be okay --  and what were the likely consequences of not handling the fire?

She could do that, and protect those already outside from harming themselves...

Invisible force emanated outward -- raising up, curling around, sealing off --

Using force field to keep as many citizens away from the fire as possible, while smothering the fire of at least one structure.

Unseen rolled 11,5,8,1,5 using d12,d10,d8,d8,d8.  Force field dice pool.
Force field + Safety + Protectoress + Science expert + Stunt die
Stunt = Sue's anti-suicide, flame smothering, super-dome
1 PP for stunt die (0 pp remaining)
Total = 19; effect die = D10 :: targeting Scene Distinction

1 opportunity for the DP 

Next: Spider-Woman
This message was last edited by the player at 00:44, Mon 25 Oct 2021.

18:56, Today: Timebroker, for the NPC DOOM POOL, rolled 4,4,8,5,2 using 1d8,1d8,1d8,1d6,1d10 with rolls of 4,4,8,5,2. – 4,4,8,5,2

I can't get within five. Sue's d10 steps up to a d12. The fires are not extinguished but they are no longer an ongoing threat. For now. Mental note, next time I turn you into firefighters, represent multiple fires with multiple dice. I'm Learning!

"There's nobody in there, right?"  Gwen yells to Unseen.  She doesn't wait long enough for an answer before she's in motion.  That Cyborg Mauler is too dangerous, if it starts shooting wildly at these people there's going to be a lot of damage.

She runs towards it, tossing web-lines to both of its arms, (not checking if they stick) and then she slides through its legs holding the lines hoping to trip it up)

Wearing a mask sure does help keep hair out of my face when I do that..  The local disguise has a downside for combat.

Duty d10, rushing the beat d8, swingline d8, acrobatics d12, sfx 2d6 + step-up web complication.

12:58, Today: Spider-Woman rolled 1,2,3,5,5,3 using d10,d8,d8,d12,d6,d6.  rushing,swingline,acrobatics(sfx whatever a spider can, grapple)).

Total: 10
Effect: d10 (complication: webbed up)
Opportunities: 1

Next: Any Exile

"Looks like our sorcerors got some of this covered." Tigro smiles "but I'm going to go hunt me one of those mechanical monsters." He fades into what parts of the environment he can on all fours moving silently but quickly around to the sniper. "Can't let a sniper hit my friends, so he's going to get more than he bargained for..."
Tigro whispers in his mind as he lets more of the beast he is out, as he stalks the sniper as prey. Silently he comes up and strikes!

He sneaks using Restrained Not Tame d8, Freedom: I seek the freedom of feral calls despite my human restraint D4, Superhuman Reflexes D10 D8, Covert Expert D8 to sneak. SFX: Claws and Teeth Step down Highest die to add step up physical stress (Checking on dice, bear with me: 8, 4 ,7 d8 stepped to d10 for stress)


Total: 15
Effect: 1d10
Opportunities: 0
(I hope I did that right)
This message was last edited by the player at 23:43, Tue 26 Oct 2021.