Outside the Stark City Museum of Science and Natural History, Platinum Coast, Stark City
Sunday Late Morning

The sky hung low with heavy charcoal clouds.  Thunder rolled infrequently, but the lightning was unseen on this dreary day.  Traffic was heavy through this area of Platinum Coast, but it moved freely down a street shadowed by large buildings like canyon walls.  The heroes found themselves gathered by fate on the steps of the Stark City Museum of Science and Natural History shortly before the doors were opened: an artist to apply his unique skills with metal; a woman to shed some light on a mysterious language; a detective tracking down clues to help him protect a client; a foreigner to learn about a city he'd just arrived in; and a student spending a Sunday morning with some friends in the city.

CLANG-ITY CLANG!  Suddenly an alarm started jangling down the street.  SCREECH!  Tires complained as vehicles dodged people who were running out into the street.  CRASH!  The sound a shattering glass punctuated the chaos not three block north from the museum.

Stark City ran on the pain, suffering, and hate of crime.  Its citizens were paid in...


Panicked people were making their way towards the heroes.  Traffic had come to a stop.  BEEP!  HONK!  Some drivers laid on their horns as if that would help get traffic moving again.  Others got out of their vehicles and looked down the street with bewildered looks upon their faces.  A young lady screamed, "MONSTERS!" as she came sprinting.


This message was last edited by the GM at 15:18, Sat 24 Apr 2021.

Justin, looked at his companions.. shrugged and ran into a nearby alley with his usual backpack.

Quickly he found a dark corner ... and out of his backpack pulled his helmet donned and sealed it to cover his ID.. then took of his jacket and t-shirt stuffing both into the backpack... revealing his costume worn almost constantly underneath... but this time he did not take the time to take off his black jeans.  He kicked off he sneakers and from the backpack pulled on his costume boots.  Zipping the whole affair up he stashed his backpack behind a dumpster.  Making sure he kept burner cell-phone stashed into his costume belt compartments.

Activating his force field he changed to light form and headed back out the street in flight ... heading towards the disturbance, calling to the rest of the superheroes, "Let's go team!"

He looks skyward noting there was little to no direct sunlight save in patches he was have to remember that today if this turned into a fight!

Regardless, Star Phoenix was on the job...
This message was last edited by the player at 16:24, Sat 24 Apr 2021.

Laurence was here for a very specific reason. Well, he'd love to hang around and do a full day tour of the museum, but Laurence's purpose here is to find records on this NyxTech's research. He'd hit this place and the library overnthe course of the day, sifting through all records of NyxTech with the blisterigly fast rate of a college studentwho's crunched many times before. In theory, this day would be relaxing for the young man, spent reading old papers and drinking hot chocolate.

Of course, Laurence would quickly learn that things never go the way they should in Stark City.

Laurence absently slips his black, Zoro-styled mask onto his face and turns on his heel, and in a moment, the Black Hole Son, Event Horizon is on scene. He takes a deep breath, feeling heat rise up in his lungs as the Zero-point Generator begins to shift into combat mode. Black gloves light into a crisp, revealjng jet black metal. He's a cyborg!

Event Horizon then speaks aloud, his voice direct amd commanding and carried by a burst of hot air from his mouth.

"Evacuate into the museum, civilians! We will handle this swiftly." He proclaims as he puts his hand forward, his body wrapping in a short, white glow. Electrobarrier primed.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:11, Sat 24 Apr 2021.

Marigold had been hoping to get in and conclude her business with the museum quietly and hastily. One of the local broadcast networks got it into their head to run the entire Sailor Moon HD Collection starting this afternoon and as the popular progenitor of magical girls the Omnidisciplinary Otaku felt obligated to research this most venerable of Earth's defenders!

Okay, honestly, it was more because she wanted to introduce her little Miracle to the Sailor Scouts. She really was a magical girl and needed to learn the ways of the Cute.

She didn't really notice at first as things started to go wrong nearby; she was on her phone, checking the start date of the Sailor-Moon-athon. She did, however, notice when the ordinary-looking people around her had suddenly donned masks and started barking out orders.

"Not again," she sighs with frustration. She stands upright and watches the other... superheroes?... rush off to save the day. "Alright Mira, you can go play, but don't get too beat up okay? We'll need you to-"

"Yaaaay~!" the pigtailed girl at her side squealed in delight. "We get to fight evil with other super heroes! That makes me so... so...!" She turns and sprints towards the stairs at the foot of the museum, leaping off them in what would surely for a normal human be a precursor to anything from scraped knees to broken shins. At the apex of her jump however she is enshrouded in a nimbus of blue light, ribbons of energy circling about her as an energetic whirlwind bears her aloft. "... happy!!!"

Marigold pushes her glasses up and sighs harder. "... good hunting, Miracle," she well-wishes the rapidly retreating, flying, blue-aglow warrior. She leans against the side of the museum and returns to her cell phone. Mira'll be fine. There's at least two other heroes with her, and the last thing a bunch of heroes need is her fat normie ass getting in the way of their heroing.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:17, Wed 28 Apr 2021.

Matt had been quietly waiting for the Museum to open, sitting on the steps as he browsed web pages on his phone. He was in his civilian guise - just another tourist waiting for the doors to open. At the sound of the commotion to the north, Matt leapt to his feet and dashed behind the museum. In a few moments he managed to strip off his street clothes and turned the body suit he wore underneath into a skin of soft, flexible metal with the signature golden color that he had been using as Alloy's signature color.

He raced up the street, running towards the sound of shattering glass and the panicked crowd. He wasn't expecting to see any other heroes, so he was a bit surprised at the small crowd of costumed individuals that were arriving on the scene.

Marigold noticed a handful of the citizens heeded Event Horizon's suggestion to take refuge inside the museum, but most just ran past in a panic.  She couldn't discern anything about what was happening from where she stood.  Marigold stood and watched as the heroes waded through or over the chaos that erupted on from down the street.

---

A few moments later, the heroes found themselves standing outside the upper-scale department store, Westbergs.  Amid the shattered glass from the store's windows, four people laid on the sidewalk, either dragged from the building and left or they crawled out themselves.  It could be seen that the destruction inside the store is near-total: walls knocked down, nearly all windows smashed, product destroyed.  CRACK!  GROAN!  The structure moaned, no longer structurally sound due to all the damage.  The rattling of the alarm only added to the sense of confusion.  CLANG-ITY CLANG!

One of the individuals prone on the sidewalk reached up a hand feebly towards Star Phoenix. "My husband... he went back... to help," she said through gritted teeth.  It was apparent that her right leg was shattered, a bone protruded through the jeans on her right thigh.

Gallium was on his way to a bar to start his investigations when he heard the alarm, "Why does this keep happening to me?" he mused out loud before pulling into the nearest parking lot, and allowing his body to be covered by the metal again.

Event Horizon's demeanour is a bit shaken when he sees the carnage in front of him. The glint of shattered glass on the ground, the shrieking of a building that was little more than a lean-to at this point, and... oh, the people! Laurence is laying on the ground in the lab again so he forces his eyes to snap open and takes a few steps forward.

"Star, take the wounded some yards back. I'm gonna try and keep the building from collapsing."As he says this, Event Horizon's wrists begin to hum lightly, and he takes off with his Hardlight Afterburners. He then fires his wires into the shattered windows, aiming to combine his Electrobarrier and his wires to try and hold the roof up using the stretched energy!

I'm gonna roll a Coordination for this. If you want a different roll, we can just add the proper modifier after.

[15:02, Today: Event Horizon rolled 9 using 1d6+6.  Coordination]
This message was last edited by the player at 21:02, Tue 27 Apr 2021.

Star Phoenix looks at the situation as the crowd goes into panic when the woman on the ground with the compound break speaks of her husband still being in the building.

Star looks to his companions... "...Anyone got paramedic training enough to set this compound fracture for this woman?  She can bleed out pretty quick if this is not set quickly and properly?"

"Event Horizon... you have any medic skills..?  Last I saw you were helping people at the Dr. Artic incident?  Help this lady... I'll go into my light form and fly through the building to see if there are any inside that need evac from the building.  Even if the building collapses.. I'll be fine..!"

Star Phoenix tries to calm the woman possible use his force field to slide her away from harm and keep her from going into shock.

Star Phoenix knows he does not have the medical skills to help this woman and he could 'potentially' hurt her more.. so right now just getting her to some 'relative' safety will suffice.

19:57, Today: Star Phoenix rolled 9 using 1d6+4.  I'm bidding  - Awareness to help me move her in a way out of danger without hurting her more. – 9

This message was last edited by the player at 23:59, Tue 27 Apr 2021.

Alloy called out to the others, "I'm going to reinforce the building, someone else tend to the injured."

He dashed inside, touching any solid looking debris that appeared to touch the floor above and turning it to carbon steel. He piled mannequins and furniture and anything else he could find to provide makeshift supports as best he could. He focused the supports on the piles of rubble that were once the walls, hoping that his efforts would in some small way reinforce the collapsing structure and prevent more loss of life.

Marigold continued checking her phone, mostly for local breaking news. After the third person runs past her and away from the sturdy stone shelter of the museum however she realizes that she needs to do something lest these sheep run straight to the wolves.

With a hefty sigh she pushes herself off the wall and hops down the stairs two at a time. She takes a deep breath and summons up the willpower needed to push through her natural quiet, then calls out: "Shelter here! Big sturdy shelter this way! All non-dumbasses who don't want to die right up these steps! This way to life, please come this way and not any other way!"

Yeah, Marigold won't be joining the advertising division anytime soon.

---

Miracle surveys the situation from above briefly before dropping back down amid the other supers. "I sure don't see any monsters!" she reports cheerily.

That cheery smile freezes when Miracle sees the blood and exposed bone of the woman being casually scooted away from the incident without much care. She experiences... what was it Master called it... corrugated distance as she looks down at the poor lady's mangling and tries to resolve that with the pure, radiant-blue joy coursing through her.

Those looking at her from the outside would see her frozen stiff as a statue with a confused expression, her aura flickering a dim blue... then something inside her seems to click into place, and she flares with strong and deep indigo light. Having overcome whatever internal strife she was experiencing she runs to kneel at the injured woman's side.

"Easy now," she says, her voice a world apart from the jubilance of mere seconds ago. She gently takes the woman's leg, hands aglow with indigo light as she mends the wound and silences the pain. "It's going to be okay. Everything is okay now."


This message was last edited by the player at 17:20, Sun 02 May 2021.

SNAP!  CREAK!  The building continued to groan, sparks flew from twisted light fixtures and water sprayed from broken sprinkler heads.  Ceiling tiles popped loose and tumbled down through the dust filled air inside. 

As Star Phoenix sped into the flickering lights of the department store, Miracle tended to the injured woman.  Teeth clenched in pain, Miracle's power flowed over her leg like gel.  The indigo light light pushed and pulled at her leg, setting it back in place and healing the wound.  Other nicks and scratches were soothed by the light.  "Thank you," said the woman as she sighed in relief.  "Please... save my husband!"

Rushing inside to find objects to heap on his pile, Alloy discovered a Westberg's employee trapped beneath a shelf that had toppled over.  The employee struggled against the weight of the metal shelving that pinned him just below the rib cage.  Alloy could hear the moans and cries for help from several other individuals scattered through the store.

SPISH!  Spraying water created a mist that Star Phoenix flitted through as he searched the interior of the building, trying to get a count of the people trapped inside.  It appeared that most of the people had escaped and it should be easy to...  BOOM!  The back southwest corner of the building completely collapsed, with a deafening crash.  Dust and debris flew through Star Phoenix as everything went dark.  The building was coming down...

---

Nobody seemed to heed Marigold's... advice?  Due to the vehicles stopped in the street, it was going to be difficult for emergency vehicles to get to the scene.  WEE-WOO!  WEE-WOO!  Marigold heard the sirens of first responders already, a perk of living on the Platinum Coast.  She heard the rumble as the building began to collapse and saw a billowing cloud of dust rise into the air.

Knelling next to the injured woman hoping his efforts to get her away from the building were in some way getting her to safety and his minor first aid skills perhaps keep ing her from going into shock Star Phoenix was waiting...for a Miracle... and he got one.  Miracle arrived and began focusing her powers upon the injure woman's leg!

"C-can you help her.. heal her?", he watched in wonder as the bone began to re-knit itself!
"That's WONDERFUL ..Miracle!  I'll go help find others in need! Great Work!"
Then Star Phoenix switched to light form and flew into the building...

---

Star Phoenix flew through the rubble, his body glowing brightly to illuminate his way as the corner of the building began to collapse.

Rushing through he activated his force field and with its solidity... picked up people and began carrying them from the building... slower than he would like as he could only fly while in light form but could touch nothing solid.. but his force field was solid and could push lift things.

... as he worked he began to ponder that. 'Why does my force field affect the solid and not my light form?  For far as he could tell his force field was just solid light~... solid light?  How does that work he wondered?  Could he replicate his force field with his light control to make solid light?

Things he would have to ponder ..latter as he moved as fast as he weak force field would allow getting people out of the building!

{Edited 05-09-2021}
This message was last edited by the player at 13:22, Sun 09 May 2021.

Event Horizonsighs, seeing that structural stability was already fully compromised. This place coming down is no longer a possibility - it was inevitable. So, he did the next best thing. With his already prepared wires, he creates a total of three stretchers, similar to the one he procured during the 'Dr.Arctic' incident. Then, working with assembly line-like efficiency, he begins to haul wounded that the other rescue out.

At least, he would be, until the world was lit up with a blinding radiance that Event Horizon recognized.

"Star Phoenix, keep the light show to a minimum right now. We don't know if there's anything lurking around that caused this, not to mention the other civilians may be panicked by such displays of power." Event Horizon says this as a tip more than a command, his voice just loud enough to hear over the disaster around him.

"Damn it," Alloy cursed under his breath, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the destruction, the arrival of the other heroes, and the cries of the trapped survivors.

"Relax. I'm going to get you out of there." he said to the trapped employee. The environmentalists are going to go crazy about this, but needs must. Alloy thought as he touched the shelf where the man was pinned, turning bits of the man made object into shiny, silvery mercury that flowed away instantly. He was careful to be selective, using his sculptor's eye to melt away as little of the shelf as needed until the employee was freed. He carefully helped the man to his feet, carrying him out of the building before rushing back in to assist another trapped person.

"A little help with the wounded here," he called out as he attended a young woman who had a fractured leg and was unable to stand. "I can get these people free, but I need some help evacuating them."
This message was undeleted by the GM at 12:24, Mon 10 May 2021.

For her part, the beautiful Miracle kept outside of the collapsing building and instead focused her efforts on treating those who came out of it. Without someone to give her orders (and anchored by Star Phoenix's praise) she was content to keep doing what she was doing. One flaw of channeling the indigo spectrum of the emotion that she had noticed was passivity. Not the best trait for a supposed superhero, she idly thought to no one in particular, but look at all these people who need my unique healing abilities!

"There's bunch of people working on that right now," Miracle tries to reassure the woman who keeps crying out for her husband. Gosh, she must really love the guy. "Just wait and heal up, okay? He'll be here any second."

She glances back at the collapsing building and winces. Hopefully that section was already evacuated!

---

Marigold gives up fairly quickly. She wants to help these people, but they don't want her help. The eternal conundrum. There's also very little that she, as a mundane human, can do to clear the path for first responders. Right? She surveys the scene.

That trailer-less semi truck could probably push a path through; she saw the plume of pollution issuing from its exhaust pipes. The question was whether her help would be useful. These were professionals, they had to have a plan to get through to the action, right? A big ol' fire truck to plow the road?

Yeah, they didn't need her help. And she wasn't doing anyone any good here. She worried about Mirabelle; the miraculous little creature needed a firm hand to guide her and now that she thought about it she suspected the other heroes would be too independently-minded to think to give her orders.

Reluctantly she makes her way towards the architectural carnage.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:33, Mon 10 May 2021.

Alloy, Star Phoenix, and Gallium dug through the rubble inside of the department store, smoke and dust were thick in the air.  SPISSH!  Water spritzed from twisted sprinkler lines.  ZZZIT!  Sparks from shattered light fixtures creates flashes of light.  The three heroes pulled victim after victim out of the building and into the waiting care of Event Horizon and Miracle.  GROAN!  CRACK!  The building continued to cry out as it attempted to hold itself upright.

Venturing farther than before into the building, searching for more injured, Alloy was attracted by a steady source of light towards the back of the building.  He found a gaping hole in the wall, shattered cinder blocks lay strew through the wide alley that ran behind the building.  Blinking away the grime that clouded his vision, he beheld two monstrosities battling below the raised rail line of Stark City's mass transit trains.  One of the creatures was a twelve foot tall green brute, with skin like armor plates, and a lashing tail behind it.  Spikes grew from it's forearms and two jutting horns shot from its brow.  The other, while half it's size, was just as hideously transformed.  It had the head of an arachnid, with two extra spider legs erupting from both it's sides of its black body between the horror's human arms and legs.  "RRRRAAAARGH!"  The green monster roared as he tossed the man-spider into the support column of the raised train track.  The echo of it's challenge could be heard for blocks, even above the din of the alarm and shattering building.

A young woman rushed to Event Horizon's side.  "I'm a medical student, let me help!" she pleaded with him.  By now he had brought several injured people across the street where Miracle was doing her best to provide succor.  The med student paused and paled when the monster's roar shook the air.

Star Phoenix found a man near the collapsed section of the building that was grievously wounded.  While his force field allowed him to apply blunt force applications of lifting and pushing, finer applications like using his fingers were impossible.  The force field created a shield inches from his body, which meant that his hands were in a mitten of solid light.  A bar of metal was speared through the man's shoulder and his lower half was buried in the rubble of the wall.  SNAP!  Star Phoenix was suddenly showered with shards of concrete as a large crack shot through the wall next to him and the man.  While no engineer, Star Phoenix understood that this section of the store was going to collapse next.

---

Marigold hadn't taken five steps towards the scene of chaos before the chimes of an alarm inside the museum began go off.  Among all the commotion, it was nearly hard to notice.  Unlike the scamper of people fleeing the department store, the doors to the museum hung idly on their hinges.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:49, Thu 13 May 2021.

Event Horizon gives a grateful nod to the young woman, his short blond hair now coated in dust and mud from the spraying water. When he sees the two combatants, his nerves harden. Two bruiser types, an arachnid and... a balrog? The young hero shakes his head as his Hardlight Afterburners pick up, lifting him a few feet into the air. He gives a reassuring nod to the medical student.

"You may work in peace, miss. By the metal that holds me in place..." Event Horizon extends his Electrobarrier two about four meters across, shielding the wounded while a get of hot air comes from the hole in the back of his neck and from his mouth. "... I will not let anything pass." With that, he launches forward, firing a series of wires towards the green brute. He calls out as he does it, his goal not to actually bind him, but to get his attention.

"Hey, Barfbreath! Come and get me!" He shouts, his eyes quickly looking around for somewhere less populated, like an empty football field or warehouse. If he can, he'd like to take this scuffle somewhere else.

[09:31, Today: Event Horizon rolled 13 using 1d6+8.  Willpower - Persuade/Goad the balrog into following]
[09:32, Today: Event Horizon rolled 6 using 1d6+2.  Perception - Look for somewhere less populated.]

Star pondered the situation rapidly and deactivating his force field he slipped his light form into the position of the trapped man's body.  Being careful to mimic his posture and position of his limbs, save for his head, as close as possible then activated his force field hopefully shove the rubble off his legs.  Then from his eyes he fired discrete laser blasts of searing laser-light to clear his legs completely ... protected by his force field from the slagged debris.

"Sorry Sir this will hurt...!"

Dropping his force field with only seconds left he moved out of the man's form reactivated his Force field and with a finale laser blast sheared the metal spar through his shoulder off as close to the wound as possible heating the spar in the process. Then Star used his force field hands like a shovel to scoop under the man and lift him off the now short-metal spar ~ briefly focusing his laser eyes on the wound to cauterize it at least from the front.

But he wasted no time flying the man away from the collapsing part of the building!

As soon as they were clear Star set the man down and to look at his back and again a brief flash of laser light to cauterize the wound.

Blood loss was what he feared pulling the spar from his shoulder would leave a ragged open wound... but he quickly picked him up again to carry him to Miracle.

"Miracle! This man may be in shock he has a open wound through his shoulder ... he may die from blood loss, heal him please!"
This message was last edited by the player at 13:57, Tue 11 May 2021.

In reply to Narrator (msg # 20):

EH went over the building because he needs to be up high to search for a safer place to fight. Sorry I wasn't clear ^^'

RUUMMMMBBBBLE!  Everyone felt sick as the building came crashing down with an incredible roar.  Alloy, Gallium, and Star Phoenix were unable to pull all the victims out, but they retrieved most of them.  Dust and smoke choked the entire block.

On the street, in front of the destruction, the medical student and Miracle worked side by side in administering to the wounded.  Gallium drug one last victim to them, rivulets of mud and blood ran down his metal suit.  Star Phoenix knelt beside his final rescue, who had passed out from the shock of pain.

"NOOOO!" screamed the woman who's broken leg Miracle had healed.  "Evan!  He's still in there!"  She dashed into the haze of dust towards the collapsed building.  "Help!  Help me save him!"

After scampering free of the shattered building, Alloy found himself in the alley, not more than twenty feet from the colliding monsters.  The green brute grabbed ahold of the man-spider, lifted him, and slammed him against the support column of the train tracks.  BAM!  The force of the blow caused cracks spread through the concrete.

"You're just a bug to me, Recluse!" the giant spat in his face.  "A bug to squash!"  He pulled the man-spider back from the column and then threw him right back through it.  KRASH!  The column and the tracks it supported, destroyed and twisted.  ZZIIT!  Sparks flew as the third rail came into contact with rail next to it.  Recluse tumbled and slid to a stop and slowly got to his feet, clearly on the losing end of this battle.

As Event Horizon came over the building, he noticed that the express service train was coming down the line towards the ruined section of rail.  He then turned his attention to the balrog and issued his taunt, which was received... better?... than expected as the best turned towards him, rage evident upon his reptilian face.

Marigold paused as the sounds of alarms came from the wrong direction. Had there been a break-in during the chaos?! If the artifact she was here to examine got stolen then she was going to be in for some lectures! She wanted to grab Mirabelle straight away and charge into the museum, but couldn't justify dragging a hero away from a scene desperately in need of them. Swearing profusely, Marigold draws her stun gun and charges into the museum to see what's going on.

---

Miracle bounced between patients like that Mercy chick that Master is always talking about and showing her fanart of. The role of the rando medical student that had joined her on this mission of mercy had thus far largely been to help Miracle with those few things she can't heal, namely large bits of metal lodged in wounds. Once those are out of the way, it just takes a few seconds of TLC to make things right as rain~!

The building finally collapses. The other heroes had abandoned it to deal with the kaiju, but everyone seems content with her here to tend to the wounded so that is exactly what she will continue to do-

The one woman's cries startle Miracle out of her diligence. She quickly finishes off her current patient and jogs to the woman's side, assessing the situation. Oh no, she had promised this woman that her husband would be okay! She can't go back on a promise! But there's nothing that she can do to help... unless...

It would mean doing something Master told her never to do... but if it means saving a life, its worth violating orders, right? Right! ... Right? The waves of desperation running off the nearby woman and crashing against the shore of Miracle's E-Harmonic Core make the decision for her.

Miracle runs to the woman's side and squeezes her firmly by the shoulder. "I have an idea, but I need your help to do it!" she explains to the woman. "You will have to be calm and focused for it to work. I cannot do this without you. Can you do that for me?"

The woman's fervent nodding satisfies Miracle. She quickly scurries about, dragging the woman behind her by the wrist, until they find a comfortable-ish place to sit. The woman sits, and Mirabelle next to her, intimately close. The woman's hands are held tenderly in Miracle's own. "This is going to sound wierd, but I need you to focus on your feelings of love for Evan. Try not to feel anything else. When you have it, try to imagine forming those emotions into a ball of violet light, as many of those feelings as possible. Then, send them down your arm and into me. It's super hard to do I know, it took Master weeks to get good at it, but I know you can do it. Now, try!"


This message was last edited by the player at 11:30, Wed 19 May 2021.

Event Horizon's face pales slightly when he sees the shattered rail. He glances between the Troll and Recluse, before he clutches his hands and amps up his Hardlight Afterburners. Once stable, he looks to Recluse. "I can keep him off of you for a few moments if you can do something about that train to stop it!" He shouts at the man-spider, before rocketing towards the Troll, expanding his Electrobarrier and forcing it to wrap into itself, resulting in a powerful blast of electricity being sent towards the Troll!

"Heatwave Mk.1, Initiate!" He shouts as the energy crawls across the ground in a short cone, blasting the Troll like an electro-powered shotgun!

[Nuts n Bolts: spending my first turn to use a Tactical stunt, dropping the defending portion of my Electrobarrier for a page to instead emulate a Blast 4. 15:06, Today: Event Horizon rolled 10 using 1d6+6.  Coordination - Blast.]

[15:06, Today: Event Horizon rolled 9 using 1d6+6. Intiative]

Star Phoenix will get his wounded to the medical triage then turn back into light form and fly back into the collapsed ruins of the building and search for pockets of people who may still be alive but trapped!  Illuminating the dark spaces with his body he will find any he can who are still alive and with cutting lasers free them and bore holes to the surface so they can be rescued.

Some of course will be beyond help.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:51, Sun 23 May 2021.

Inside the museum's foyer, Marigold found several of the people she just saw running from the destruction of Westbergs and into the museum.  They all appeared to be unconscious, fallen midstride as they sought refuge inside the City's archives.  Ahead of her, the security guards were slumped over the conveyor belt of the x-ray machine used to scan backpacks and purses of those entering the building.  There was a bit of a haze in the air and a slight odor... floral perhaps?  At the end of a long hallway, Marigold caught the quick movement of something... somethings, maybe... flit by like a shadow caught out of the corner of her eye.  Her vision began to swim as, whatever was in the air, began to effect her.

---

Tears left clean streaks down her dusty cheeks and a bubble of snot popped as Evan's spouse attempted to get control of herself.  Someone was telling her to do something provided a distraction to the feeling of complete helplessness.  She clung to that and squeezed her eyes shut tight.  A deep breath shook her entire body as she forced herself to keep from crying once again.  Miracle could sense the faint light of love behind all of the loss and pain, but it wasn't enough to grab onto yet.  The woman squeezed Miracle's hand.  "He dips his green beans in ketchup," she whispered.  That's it!  Violet love flared for a fleeting moment, to quick to snatch.

"He loves his ridiculous afro," she sniffled.  "I didn't know anything could make him look any more white," she said as a faintest of smiles cracked her mask of despair.  There's what Miracle was looking for.  Violet love flowed into her as the woman's thoughts of her husband push back enough of the hurt for her to be powered by the emotion.

---

CRUMBLE!  The crunching sound of slabs of concrete and cinder block grinding together mingled with SKREACH! the high pitched whine of twisting steel beams and tearing sheets of metal.  Dust, smoke, and dripping water was the vast majority of what Star Phoenix found in the rubble of Westbergs.  He found the splattered remains of an employee that sought refuge in the bathroom.  A mother that huddled in the toy isle with her child, now a hardly recognizable pile of pulp.  Despite being comprised entirely of light, Star Phoenix was hit with waves of nausea with each body he discovered.

---

Alloy ran over to the shattered transit rail support column and studied it.  Reaching out, he turned parts of the column into metal in an attempt to strengthen what is left of it.

Recluse looked up at Event Horizon and then turned his gaze to the support column.  He took a couple steps towards the area where Alloy stood, but then stopped suddenly.  He placed a hand on his forehead and squeezed his eyes shut.  The four spider legs that jutted from his sides began to frantically twitch.  "ARRRRRGH!  You're going to die Troll!" he challenged as he staggered into a run towards the Troll.

A shower of electrical arcs slammed into The Troll.  ZZITT!  Nearly the entire burst hit the twelve foot monster, with what appeared to be no effect.  "Pretty," The Troll mocked.  "You must be new around here.  Let me be the first to welcome you to Stark City."

When the distance was closed, a stream of acidic venom shot from between Recluse's chelicerae.  The Troll brought his gaze away from Event Horizon and looked down where the fizzing venom slid down his stomach.  "Now that's just gross," The Troll rumbled.

Quickly twisting, The Troll's tail lashed out and hit Recluse, THWACK! who was able to absorb the majority of the blow with his arms and spider legs.  "Insect," The Troll said dismissively as he locked his gaze upon Event Horizon.  The Troll just barely squatted in his stance, yet the muscles in his legs twisted and bulged beneath the behemoth's dark green scales.  It appeared that without effort, The Troll sprung from the ground.  SHA-BOOM!  The sonic boom created from the horror's leap, sent the debris from Westbergs and refuse that littered the alley flying away from where he took off.  Like a green streak with a devil's grin, The Troll reached where Event Horizon hovered in a blink, leading with his anvil sized fist.

Gallium made his way to where Alloy huddled next to the support column, who was trying to hide from the flying debris kicked up by The Troll.  Metallic wings sprouted from Gallium's back and he flew up the leeward side of the column and situated himself next to the sagging rail.  His eyes gazed down the track towards the quickly approaching express train.


This message was last edited by the GM at 01:40, Fri 28 May 2021.

Marigold grasped the situation immediately. Wasting no time she runs to the nearest drinking fountain, tears off a strip of her T-shirt, wets it, exhales sharply to get rid of any lingering haze left in her lungs, ties the damp cloth best over her nose and mouth, and inhales. She pauses for a moment to assess whether she starts feeling better and prepares to bolt for the door if the answer ends up being no.

Assuming that she is able to function normally (if at least just for a little while), Miragold goes to one of the fallen security guards and collects his weapons and handcuffs. The guard's sidearm is fat and unfamiliar in her dainty, feminine hands. She spends a second searching for the safety and racking a bullet into the chamber, then has a look around for the haze's source. Everything was fine a moment ago, so for this to have happened so quick the haze must be secreted pretty fast; it ought to be possible to follow the flow back to its master.

I spend maybe one day a month at the gun range and my belly is hanging out of my shirt, she thinks bitterly to herself. What good do I think I am going to accomplish here? But she swallows her doubts.

---

Miracle does what she can to encourage those loving thoughts. Once the energy begins to flow, the negative pressure in Miracle's core makes sustaining it easier; the love is practically being pulled out of the woman, keeping up with the demand all that her untrained soul can do.

Those indigo streaks in Miracle's hair begin to re-dye themselves bright pinkish-violet, and her lucent aura flares with visible light as her core clicks over into its new configuration. The sensations of love were light and fluttery in her chest, twinged with the nervous jitters of anxiety over Evan's state. The two of them wanted Evan to join them there so, so very desperately. Come back to us, Evan... come to us...!


This message was last edited by the player at 19:06, Fri 28 May 2021.

Star Phoenix exits the rubble shaken for a few seconds, but thinking it would be best to let the recovery teams deal with the remains in the rubble... his heart sad so many lost their lives.

Then the flashing of Electrical Arcs in the air caught his attention from Event Horizon and what he was shooting at below as the Troll leaped at him.

Star Phoenix did not hesitate... activating his Force Field and Fiery Aura he let loose with Laser Blast at the Troll.

07:15, Today: Star Phoenix rolled 11 using 1d6+7.  Laser Blasts  {Coo 6, Energy Control 1; 7} at Troll. – 11
This message was last edited by the player at 11:18, Fri 28 May 2021.

Event Horizon barely gets his Electrobarrier up and running, but he lacked the power to reinforce it. So, he resorts to dodging, getting clipped on the side of his face which sends him careening off in one direction. POW!! (Hit.) Recoiling from the pain, he forces his Hardlight Afterburners to auto stabilize him, and the tails of his jet engines scorch the building he barely doesn't get hit by. He grimaces as the Zero-Point Generator's AI informs him of a concussion. He blinks the notification away and takes a look around. His name is the Troll, huh? Hmm... that could work.

Event Horizon looks down at the rubble of the supermarket. His eyes dart over the debris, and his eyes eventually land on a skinny, jagged pipe that detached itself from the rest of the supermarket in the fall. Perfect. He jets towards it, wrapping a wire around and through the tube. It seemed sharp enough, so... he picks it up with his metal arms, holding it in two hands like a spear. Then, he pumps as much raw electricity into it as possible. BZZZT! Ignoring the sparks flying off of it, he wants it to be red hot - so when the Troll comes around the corner he can jab this deep into his foe's leg. It doesn't matter if it does much damage - someone from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences needs to experiment in order to get results.

[Nuts n' Bolts. I wanna do an Intelligence Manuever to try and see if I can take advantage of a weakness. He's playing dirty now so even if this improvised stab does no actual damage, it might still hinder him or reveal a Quality.
13:19, Today: Event Horizon rolled 12 using 1d6+7.  Intelligence Manuever.]

[12:55, Today: Event Horizon rolled 7 using 1d6+6.  Coordination - Dodging the Troll.]

Pinpricks of light continued to swirl in her vision, but the sodden strip of shirt seemed to be effective enough against the gas settling in the air.  Gun heavy in her hand, Marigold surveyed the immediate area.  She quickly deduced that the aerosol that made everyone drop like flies was dispersed through the museum's ventilation ductwork.  BA-RANG BA-RANG  The museum's alarm continued to drone on, yet disturbed not a soul.  Marigold saw movement down the hall once again.  This time, a man in a brown sports jacket stumbled into view, seemed to reach out towards the direction he was headed and then crashed to the floor.

---

Miracle felt the feeling of love fade as the woman's thoughts turned back to a hopeless feeling of loss.  The energy that she had gathered was enough though.  While never before seeing Evan, Miracle felt she had known him her whole existence due to the power that his wife shared with her.  She knew with certainty when her power had found Evan buried in the rubble.  Through that connection, Miracle understood that Evan had only moments left before he died.  She knew she had to hurry.

A bright magenta flare enveloped both women, blinding anyone who was looking in their direction.  When the light dissipated in a shower of pink glitter, falling like snow, the women found the broken body of Evan draped across their laps.  Eyes squeezed shut with pain, Evan coughed, sending a spray of blood and saliva towards his wife and Miracle.  Under the grime of dust and blood, they could see his skin was deathly pale.  The worst of it was that both of his legs turned to shredded gore just above where his knees should have been.  His wife screamed and recoiled in horror at the sight.

---

The Troll's trajectory took him completely over the ruins of the Westbergs department store. THUD!  He landed in the street among all of the wounded that the heroes had been able to save.  "Pathetic," he growled with disgust in his voice as he eyes swept the injured.

---

His Head throbbing in pain, Event Horizon shuffled through any data stored away about The Troll.  The Troll didn't make the news in Canada all that much, but in the United States, he's a well known menace.  He's a creature of pure destruction-unstoppable force and an immovable object all in one.  Looking down at his red-hot spear of sparks, Event Horizon realized that the weapon would be of little use.  Nevertheless, he stood amongst the rubble, spear couched-like a warrior of old-awaiting his enemy.

---

Alloy stood, panic drawn across his face as the express train continued to approach to ruined support column.  He felt as if he was of little use in the situation and searched around frantically for an idea.

Recluse stood nearby, staring in the direction that The Troll had leapt.  The man-spider shook his head fiercely, as if trying to clear it of cobwebs.  "Aaaargh!" Recluse yelled.  "Come back and face me Troll."

Gallium looked down at Alloy as his metallic armor began stretching from one intact portion of rail to the other, careful not to touch the electrically charged intact third rail.  "I'm not sure if I can hold up the train as it passes by," Gallium said down to Alloy, fear etched across his face.

---

SHA-BOOM!  Showering the wounded with debris, The Troll bound back over the heap that was the department store, to where he left his battle with Recluse.  As he flew by, Star Phoenix's laser blast left a smoking streak across The Troll's torso.  Star Phoenix saw that his attack wasn't quite strong enough to pierce his armor, but it wouldn't take much more.  Could he focus that energy a little more?

WHAM!  Cracking the asphalt, The Troll landed back in the alley.  "Alight... who's next?" he asked menacingly.


This message was last edited by the GM at 13:08, Mon 21 June 2021.

Event Horizon finishes sifting through the information he's gathered. Looking down at the cut pipe, he tosses it aside, instead beginning to sift through the debris for a few certain tools. Taking the camera out of his burner phone, he begins jury-rigging together what could best be described as a 'projector.' The cyborg thinks on the arch-nemesis of the Troll, the powerful technowizard Rex Mundi. Such a bombastic attitude and a perchance for drama... Event Horizon completes his device.

[11:57, Today: Event Horizon rolled 13 using 1d6+7.  Intelligence - Invent]

With a huff, the young hero begins to run a wire into the device to power it. Right now, it will only cast a bright light into the sky, but Event Horizon isn't alone right now.

"Star!" He calls out to get the blaster's attention. When he has it, he speaks. "I need you to project the Image of the hero Rex Mundi into the sky using this device I made." He explains quickly, hoping that the Troll won't hear. "Can you do that?"

[Nuts n Bolts: I wanna use this device and the Edge I have on the Troll to do a team up maneuver with Star Phoenix, allowing me to create an Image of Rex Mundi to distract the Troll. Smart hero things!]

Star notices Event waving to get his attention and his light form darts to his side, "Oh wow.. you are really Hurt! I'm sorry I didn't notice the Troll sooner..."

Then he hears Event's request, "...hmmm, I'm still not able to shift light into images but I can provide the power.. I'll try my best.  But you had better make sure that projection is a bit ways away from us and the civis here.. drawing him our way might not be the best idea.  You look concussed.. are You sure a bright beam of light is the best ploy for you now, a beam of light in the face might really disorient you right now?!?"

He move into position with the weird make-shift gadget, "But you have gone through all the work... we'll try your way first. Do you have a picture of this Rex Mundi for me to focus upon? Might help alot! Here goes!"

[Nuts and bolts.. not sure what is needed here do I roll or does Event roll and roll what?]
This message was last edited by the player at 15:50, Wed 09 June 2021.

Marigold looks left and right, not quite understanding the flow of the mysterious sleep-substance until she sees clouds of the stuff wafting out of the vents. Shit! she curses internally. If it's in the vents, then she can't trace it back to the source easily. Nor does she know where the artifact is stored, or even the general layout of the museum. That, in retrospect, was a stupid error on her part; of course something bad would happen at the opening of a museum with a weird magical alien artifact. She should have been more prepared!

Movement brought up the gun in Marigold's hands, like a very very dangerous shield. Fortunately for the man in the sports jacket she has good trigger discipline, and his stumbling form is safely categorized non-threat. Weird that he was deeper in the museum before its official opening. Perhaps he's the curator, or at least someone important. He had seemed to be heading somewhere, and it was important enough to leave the safety of his office -- or wherever else it was he had been.

Marigold wasn't going to find the artifact or the source of this haze on her own. She had no directions to go on. She supposed that she should take the man's destination as her own. It probably won't be the artifact she is looking for, but it might be something dangerous that the haze-maker wants. And if a villain wants something, a hero wants them to have anything but. Worst case scenario she gets lost, falls unconscious, and wakes up knowing that she did her best.

Marigold takes off down the hall, following the man's outstretched arm like an arrow.

---

(Miracle's actions go here. In the event that I do not fill this section in time, Miracle will attempt to attack Troll for seemingly being responsible for hurting Evan and because the presence of a nearby threat precludes the necessary compassion to perform healing.)
This message was lightly edited by the player at 21:44, Tue 08 June 2021.

Marigold rushed past the man in the brown sports jacket.  She quickly gathered a few additional details about his appearance in her haste: his features were like those of an ancient Italian sculpture; grey patches covered the temples of his otherwise black hair; and a star within a star pendant peaked out from underneath his splayed body.

Turning the direction that the man was seen heading towards, Marigold found herself in a wide, yet short, administrative hallway.  She pushed through the double doors at the end of the hallway, which opened up into a well-organized storage room.  A large overhead garage door was left halfway up, which lead out onto a loading dock.  Marigold saw a ninja, clad in a dark-grey uniform, shut a cargo van's rear door as it climbed in.  The white cargo van pulled away casually, as if it was simply leaving after making a delivery.

---

Event Horizon and Star Phoenix collaborated on the device that Event Horizon threw together from some materials he found in the wreckage of the of the loading dock of Westbergs.  A mental picture was painted by Event Horizon of what Rex Mundi looked like.  Rex Mundi had the appearance of a futuristic centurion.  The armor that he wore was a mixture of dark green, royal purple, and gleaming gold.  He was often seen with a billowing purple cloak and mid-thigh skirt.

---

Alloy rushed towards The Troll and slid between his legs, his metal encased fist smashed into the The Trolls ankle.  TINK!  His attack resulted in little more than knocking dust off the green brute.  Alloy came rolling out of his attack, into a crouch behind The Troll.

Recluse staggered a couple steps away from The Troll.  Suddenly his entire body spasmed, and with a roar he charged towards The Troll.  "BLLLLAAAAARG!"  With a leap, Recluse flew towards The Troll with his spider legs outstretched, and swung a fist at The Troll.  The Troll didn't even recoil from the blow.  He merely looked down at Recluse, who was half his size.

"You're kidding right?" The Troll asked Recluse who stood in the monster's shadow, the spider's body rocked from his deep breaths.  "No?  You're out of your league Recluse."

The Troll brought down his fist like a hammer.  Recluse raised his arms above his head and his spider legs wrapped tight around his body.  SMASH!  Recluse collapsed under the The Troll's crushing blow.  "And the bug has been squashed."

Then with a flick of his tail, The Troll attempted to sweep away Alloy.  Alloy sprung from his crouch and jumped over The Troll's tail.

CLACKITY-CLACK!  The express train was nearly to the scene.  Gallium stood braced upon the support pillar, his silvery metallic form stretched between the two intact ends of the rail.  A look of doubt, heavily laden with fear, etched his face.

---

Star Phoenix shot light into the device that Event Horizon held in his hands.  Streams of purple, green, and golden light burst out of the projectors lens in a riot of color.  Star Phoenix's mastery of light allowed him to control the way light entered the device and the riot began to bend to his will and coalesce into an image of Rex Mundi.


This message was last edited by the GM at 12:14, Mon 28 June 2021.

[That's fair enough]

Event Horizon takes a deep breath as he calibrates the device, before projecting the massive image of Rex Mundi into the sky. Then, he clears his throat, and with a shot of warm air, shouts into the sky with uproarious laughter. The deep, jolly tone that Event Horizon figures Rex Mundi has, adjusted slightly by his system's voice modulator. The laugh of a ruler who, ultimately, has trouble seeing his subject as little more than playthings.

"OHOHOHO!"

The Image of Rex Mundi floats in the sky, his gauntlets pulsing with a dangerous, otherworldly wave of energy. Event Horizon is, admittedly, improvising here, actively Loogling things that Rex Mundi might do with his system's AI, and combined with his concussion, he could probably get snuck up on right now and not notice even if the person made a bit of noise. He calls out to the Troll.

"The TROLL! You fiend! if you were having a party you should have invited me!" Rex Mundi states, pointing towards the Troll with jolly lines of laughter above and around his head. "Now, why don't we take this scuffle elsewhere? No more of my subjects need to be crushed by your girth."

[Nuts & Bolts: EH is focusing entirely on the device, meaning that he is also Distracted in addition to Concussed. I'm using this created advantage for a +2 on my upcoming Willpower roll.]

[10:33, Today: Event Horizon rolled 11 using 1d6+10.  Willpower: Persuade the Troll (+2 from created advantage).]

Definitely looks the part of a museum curator/owner/being-important-person, Marigold confirms as she zooms past Sportjacket. Pretty necklace. Strange that her mind's going to jewelry in this situation. She reckons that maybe Miracle's fashion passion comes from a repressed girly side of herself after all. Whatever. Focus!

Marigold finds herself in what she assumes to be the receiving center of the museum. The security here isn't great, so she assumes that these supplies are toilet paper and spare ceiling tiles and such sundry items rather than valuable artifacts. This can't be the destination. She presses on.

There, at the loading docks, she sees a bone fide ninja. Well, someone dressed in a stereotypical ninja outfit, anyways. It should be called a theater stagehand outfit; real ninjas didn't wear outfits because the whole point was that they look just like everyone else. So if the purpose of the ninja outfit was to be nonthreatening and unobtrusive it failed dramatically. Thinking fast Marigold decided ninja-getting-into-van probably equaled theft in progress. She memorized the van's license plate, lined up the iron sights of her borrowed shooty-bang with the vehicle's rear tires, and squeezed the trigger until either the van disappeared or something forced her to stop.

The echo of the firearm rang in her ears and Marigold sent a round after the van.  BLAM!  The bullet grazed the right-back tire, blowing it out.  Instantly motivated, the driver of the van sped up the escape, accelerating towards the end of the alley.  The tire's rim, grinding against the asphalt, left a shower of sparks in its wake.

---

The Troll turned slowly towards the image of Rex Mundi.  His face twisted in rage.  The Troll dug his clawed feet into the ground, the muscles in his legs flexed.  SHA-BOOM!  With a great leap, The Troll was up and away towards Rex Mundi and by chance Stark Lake.  The sonic boom caused by the monster's departure caused dirt and debris to pelt the heroes in the alley.  "AAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!"  The Troll's roar of rage faded away as he disappeared into the distance.

Meanwhile, Alloy stood in stunned silence as the express train finally reach Gallium and his perch atop the ruined support column.  CLACKITY-CLACK!  Despite the volume of the train as it sped by overhead, everyone could still hear Gallium's scream of pain as it rolled over his stretched out body.  Blood showered down upon Alloy, who didn't event attempt to turn away from the sight.  In a moment, it was over.  The commuters on the train safe and oblivious to the fact that they could have died.

Gallium dropped from his perch, falling twenty feet to the ground in a heap.  Blood poured from his wounds, his mouth working but nothing came out except gasps.  Then he was still, his eyes staring blankly up at the twisted rails of the tracks high above.  Alloy just stood above him, his face splattered with blood, staring.

A silence swept over the scene.  The crunch and groan of the department store's settling rubble was barely noticeable.  The sirens of the emergency vehicles coming to the area seemed muted.  The only movement was the twitching of Recluse's arachnid limbs as he lay unconscious in the middle of the alley.


This message was last edited by the GM at 13:24, Tue 29 June 2021.

Satisfied with the results of her shooting (if not the pain in her ears), Marigold pulled out her cell phone and dialed emergency services. What with the chaos going on outside the museum and the severely depleted state of the city's police force she half-expects to get hit with an all-lines-busy recording. When and if the call goes through, she wastes no time. "I'd like to report a possible theft in progress. White van, right rear tire shot out, license plate..." she proceeds to give the memorized plates, along with the address of the museum and whatever other information they need. "Also, the museum is filled with some kind of gas. Everyone is unconscious."

If she is exceptionally lucky, maybe the mundane police can nab that ninja...

In any event, this rag isn't going to be staying wet for very much longer and Marigold has done all that she can do here. She is worried about her little Miracle. She begins making her way back towards the entrance.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:22, Mon 28 June 2021.

The Troll had been... driven off.. and the silence save the approaching sirens settled.

Then Star Phoenix saw Gallium drop... from his grievous wounds saving the Subway passengers.

"Oh..no!", He shot into the air  as a ray of light and stops at Gallium's side, "He looks bad... I-I...don't know what to do!!!"

His mind raced trying to think of something... then a mad idea came to him... the sun was shining down on him so.. it couldn't hurt to try!

Star Phoenix in light form passed into Gallium's body then activated his own Absorption – Light power and pushed.. absorbing light like he normally does to heal himself trying to spread that solar restorative power As the LIVING LIGHT to affect Gallium's body as well!

Focusing his will he pushed his power, "...come on... birthright, be the Living Light..save him!"

Action -
Spend personal Determination {1}
Effect: Power Stunt - Absorption-Healing but grant it temporarily to Gallium +4 [Absorption-Light {Healing-Other}]

13:48, Today: Star Phoenix rolled 8 using 1d6+4.  {1} determination-Power Stunt - Absorption-Light 'Healing-Other' {+4}. – 8