"I... I don't get your point" Susan said puzzled "This isn't about 'underdogs' or 'winning'. Heros are about saving us from destruction. You know what happened to B City and D City right? That could have been us... the same happening here... if heros hadn't stopped it. What you see in the ring: this is people having a bit of fun and saying 'thank you' to the people that saved their lives. I hope you would never 'go against' Kamen Divider, because if you did and you won, then who would save the city when then next monster comes? If he'd not been here when the Undergrounder turned up then right now we'd all be dead. Or at least I would."

"So that's why we have these. A bit of fun. The people getting in the ring are all vieing with each other to face Kamon Divider. But I hope none of them want to 'win'. To kill him. They want the pleasure of meeting their hero."

And then realisation dawned

"You're the Venom Queen right?" there wasn't a trace of fear on Susan's face. It was as though she was talking to reporter or something "It's the eyes. I saw your face in a newpaper. So what are you doing here? Are you going to kill everyone because you can? Are you going to kill that child there? Are you going to let her die?" Susan pointed to a little baby held by a mother in the crowd. "Can you really do that? Because if so what kind of person are you? Are you going to be part of the horrors that threaten the world? Selfishly caring absolutely nothing about anyone but yourself, when the world is on the point of ending because people like you use your powers for evil and fight the heroes that are saving the world, instead of saving that baby "
This message was last edited by the player at 07:11, Fri 24 June 2022.

In reply to Olivia Maelstrom (msg # 6):

Alice's camera drone swept in on the money shot of an adoring fan about to rush over to her, only to be stopped by a question from a masked woman.

It moved on. Adoring fans were great PR. Sinister types not so relevant, especially as they'd have to be morons to be planning something here.

Small child to the left, bigger issue. She turned to greet him with a smile as he proffered his poster, making appropriate responses and signing his... poster of her Butterfly Free tour. Huh, must be a bigger fan than he looks.

"Would you like a special message?" She asked, giving him a charming wink as her camera drone swept around for the best angle - keeping the child's face out of the picture at all times, careful, Alice, careful. Can't go using other peoples' faces.

In reply to Susan Miller (msg # 11):

That smile fell, replaced by incredulity and a hot flash of anger before going off the boil to simmer somewhere just a little lower. The paper cup caved inward under sudden pressure.

“I don’t believe this. There’s no ‘The,’ alright? It’s just Venom Queen: not The Venom Queen, not Queen of Venom, not...” Eveline abruptly stopped herself short before saying that name, jaw snapping shut with an audible click. She stilled just a moment, less rage and more bitterness. “Nobody’s called me that name in years, and now when someone finally remembers you can’t even get it right.”

Only then did she follow the hand and take in quite what she was being accused of. Despite everything Eveline had to let out a harsh bark of laughter at that.

“Yeah, I’m here to kill everyone - with this shitty coffee and my worse opinions. That’s why I came unarmed to the biggest concentration of A-Classes this city’s seen in a long time, and that’s why I’m talking to some kid – how old even are you? - about the rules of some fakey kendo event. Because I’m here to kill babies. Because that’s what I do for kicks apparently.” She exhaled sharply. “Just ‘cause I’m not one of your heroes doesn’t mean I’m some kind of monster who gets off on murder.”

“I don’t do that any more anyway...” Eveline added, almost as an afterthought “...the villain thing, so you can save me the sanctimony. I do enough for this world at my day job without ever having to put the gloves back on.”

"Sorry Venom Queen" Susan said contritely "I was only ... ten I think... when I saw your picture. It wasn't a very good picture. And ... sorry for being sanctimonious. I thought you were here to do villainous things, and I was just trying to guilt trip you so that maybe I'd stay alive. It's not easy for us people without super powers you know. When a hero / villain fight breaks out... well whole cities can be blasted in the conflict in the worst case. It doesn't need to be a 'whole city' to take out everyone here. I don't know if this is the safest place in the city or the most dangerous right now."

Something like awe lit off in Susan's eyes as she parsed through Eveline's words. But she didn't say anything more because Supervillains ... even ex ones ... were frankly as mad as a barrel of frogs.

Eveline seemed to mull that over. Truthfully these were concerns she’d largely divorced herself from, both for living on the other side of the aisle and the benefits and security of wealth. It was the little people who were collateral damage, the little people who needed heroes to step in, and she had never known what it was like to be small. Even her lowest point had been more comfortable than most people could ever hope to know within their lifetimes.

In a way she wasn’t entirely sympathetic – that was just how the world was – but still it gave her something different to think about. It let her mind stray to something beyond her own wounded pride.

Eventually she gave a hum, a vague sound of agreement. “The Hero Association needs this to be a success. If they fail then the whole city sees it, and that’s bad press they can’t afford. A hero nobody trusts to keep them safe isn’t much of a hero after all.” She shrugged at that. “So I’d expect the Association to do its best, and if that’s not good enough … well we can’t have been all that safe to begin with.”

She let that sit. Hardly the most reassuring note, but then sugar coating things had seldom been her chosen angle.

“It’s Eveline by the way” she added in the stretching silence. It wasn’t exactly an apology but still made for something of an olive branch. “I haven’t been Venom Queen for a long time now. I'm surprised you remember that at all."

"No different to any day is it really?" Susan asked "It's only the heros that keep the monsters away. Without them we'd all be dead. Well maybe not you... just most of us. So... So I think it's great that we get to say 'thank you'" she waved around

"But... you are right about one thing. The Hero Association isn't the Heroes. It's just an organisation that makes money from the Heroes. We think of anyone with powers that isn't in it as 'a villain or a freak' but you know that's not always true. It's just that the people with powers only get recognition and reward if they are in the Association"

"Give you an example. Once about four years ago there was a person with powers who was robbing a high tech place in Aeon tech. My dad was a security guard there... Well until that day anyway: he's pensioned out for medical reasons now. While this person with powers was raiding there was an attack from something that was so insignificant you won't find much in the computer records about it. Called 'Tar Rat'. And it was in the process of killing my dad when you stopped it. You didn't have to: you could have walked right past, but you didn't. Of course because you weren't in the Heroes Association you didn't get any fame or praise for it. Dad though... he's alive now because of you. So that's why I remember Venom Queen..." Perhaps wisely she kept back her feelings on discovering the Venom Queen was a selfish egotistical insane super villain rather than 'the hero that had saved her father'. And the less said about her fall from the public eye the better...

“Aeon…” Eveline muttered, a slight furrow in her brow. “Maybe when I went after the stabiliser web schematics…?”

Yet beyond that initial hook she seemed to be drawing a blank. Her eyes were dull and distant, more looking past Susan than truly seeing her. Eveline parted her lips uncertainly, as if to venture some vague recollection, and then out of nowhere a spark of recognition twisted her expression to something ugly. “Oh that disgusting thing. With the ...” she gestured vaguely, free hand swiping at the air claw-like “...right, okay. I know when you mean now.”

And yet that burst of feeling quickly sank back beneath her skin, smoothed over to something more formal and controlled. Eveline removed her glasses and held them loosely before her by the arm, pondering. They gently swung back and forth on their axis as memories played out behind her eyes. Eventually she shook her head.

“I’d like to be able to tell you I stepped in for the right reasons, but it’s been four years and with everything going on at the time it's hard to be sure. Back then I was committing high-level IP theft and carrying lethal options as a fallback. It’s just as likely I thought they’d pin his death on me if I stood back and did nothing.” Somehow she made it all sound almost reasonable, that way of thinking. “Look, I’m glad things turned out okay for your father, but even in the best case scenario I hardly deserve plaudits for not being totally heartless. It definitely doesn’t make me some kind of hero.”
This message was last edited by the player at 03:24, Sun 26 June 2022.

A series of heavy, mechanical footsteps approach Susan from behind. Eveline gets first look at the source; two large, bird-like creatures. One resembles a heavily-armored crow with grey muscle-bound arms emerging from under its wings, adorned with thick metal bracelets with blue-glowing mechanical bits, and a glass-domed cranium that shows off its large brain. It is this one that speaks first.

"Oh ho ho," it says in surprisingly masculine, well-articulated, grandiose voice for coming out of a giant beak. "So you're the one who disabled Aeon's security! I should thank you; because of your efforts I was able to steal the prototype metal-manipulation field designs! It has taken me four years to replicate them, but my reign shall truly begin! I am-"

"Bird Brain," says the second mechanical bird creature. It is smaller than the other and sounds far more down-to-earth, possibly because it looks a lot like a domestic rooster. Although less bulky, it still manages to look more intimidating due to its spiky iron feathers and the two-dozen-or-so gun barrels sticking randomly out of its body like some kind of weird cancerous growths.

"NO!!! Graaaah, stop ruining my dramatic intro Shootster! This is our chance to make it into the big leagues!"

"I just wanna shoot humans, Greg," says Shootster. "What's with the showboating?"

"It is about our pride as monsters! You- ugh, we're argue about this later. Sorry girls, but I can't let you live to report this embarrassment." Bird Brain turns back to Eveline and Susan as his bracelets begin to spin and crackle with electricity.

"I bet they taste like chicken," Shootster adds. He opens his short stubby beak wide, revealing he has a double-barreled shotgun for a tongue.

---

The young Arthur looks up at his idol with a big goofy open-mouthed grin at the offer of a special message. The words catch in his throat however and come out in a surprised and confused sounding squeak. Less than a breath later a large shadow falls over Alice and her fan from behind, and something wet and meaty roughly pokes her in the shoulder.

Turning to face the source, Alice sees the monster in its horrible glory. The creature resembles an octopus, a deep gash through the top of its bulbous head making it look incredibly phallic. It wears a purple blazer with zebra print around the pockets and a hot pink tie tucked into the front in such a way that it looks like a nose. Two tentacles emerge from the arm holes, while the remaining six support its body. A single mechanical eye gives the appearance of a monocle, and attached to either side of its bulbous head are large, gaudily designed speakers. One of its tentacles brings a microphone near where its mouth would be if its eyes were part of a humanoid face, and it speaks with an excessively autotuned mechanical voice:

"There is no reason to bow and skimp
Signing special messages for chimps
Someone as cute as you
Makes for a great debut
To show the power of OctoPimp!"

Arthur manages to stop gawking at the strange sight and starts running back to Olivia but makes it only a few steps before something starts pulling him back. He grabs onto a nearby signpost and shrieks. "MOMMY!"

The source of the suction is an immense steampunk-looking vaccuum attached to the arm of a fat, ugly creature with tiny legs, a huge rotund body with equally flabby breasts, and the head of a hippopotamus. The vacuum is connected by a large, child-sized tube to a large leather sack on the creature's back, and its free hand holds what looks like an entire birch tree that has been roughly sheered of its branches and leaves. The creature gives a wheezing, raspy laugh at the child's struggling. "Neeeeheheheheh, are you resisting little boy? HippoKrampus is going to punish you for that..."

---

Leroy's impressive heroic stature of course gathered immediate attention from bystanders, and at least one person -- a little girl -- had approached him to ask him what his hero name. She had seemed disappointed that he didn't have one before being hurried away by a profusely apologetic father-figure. His small entourage of befuddled onlookers cheered audibly when he effortlessly maxed out the height on the strength test, but those cheers quickly turned to screams as an explosion rocked the food court.

"Beef, beef, beef!" a deep voice boomed. The abrasive sound of galloping metal hooves striking hard against concrete follows. "All beef franks, hmph! Let's see how you like it, humans, when someone grinds your families into sausage!" The creature is some kind of mechanical bull the size of a truck whose large horns point forward and are capped in windings of copper wire that spark with electricity, and plows through the takoyaki stand Leroy had just eaten at.

The metal behemoth stops its rampage right in front of the equally large man, smelling of ozone and motor oil. "Well, well! Aren't you a prime cut of meat?!" The bull snorts and stomps the strength tester with one hoof, causing the striker to tear right out the top and go flying into the sky while the rest of the machine craters into the ground and is twisted into uselessness. "I am Delta Cannon Cow! Show me your MOOOOOves!!!!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:15, Fri 01 July 2022.

There’s a simple trick to being prepared for anything: find one good plan that works then improvise.

Strange as it might sound, it had never really occurred to Eveline that one day she might find herself unarmed and accosted by a pair of feathered fiends festooned with firearms. Despite that she’d dealt with her fair share of freaks and costumed weirdos (or ‘heroes’ as they preferred to be called) in her time, and one couldn’t make real headway in the supervillain game without ample fallbacks and countermeasures. So maybe she wasn’t supposed to be maintaining them to this day, but what went under the radar wasn’t hurting anyone and not having an answer to hand in a moment like this could hurt her very much indeed. Who deserved the last word on your safety but you after all?

She wrung her hands together – feigned nerves – and deftly used the motion to hide the way she depressed the insignia on one of her rings, twisted it. It set old but well-maintained systems in motion.


“That’s what they say, you know,” Eveline offered, seemingly unbothered by the array of deadly weapons. She gestured towards her neck, her face, her flickering forked tongue. “Snake. They say it tastes like chicken.”

She stepped forward, deliberately straying a little away from Susan, leading their gaze. Eveline gave the gun-haver a slight respectful nod, not wanting to just idly brush them off, before switching her focus to the more loquacious of the pair. She eyed those sparking bracelets with more inquisitiveness than fear. “Four years? That’s quite the commitment; a great deal of effort on your part to get here.” It sounded honest enough, a genuine sort of appreciation. Then a shrug. “So why start by killing me?”

“I’m a liar, a thief and a killer, but I’m not a hypocrite. I’m not going to appeal to your better nature and say you shouldn’t do this, and I’m not going to stand in your way like some kind of hero. If you two want to kill a lot of people then...” she made a show of glancing over her shoulder, illustrating the crowd “...well you picked a pretty good place for it. Going after a Hero Association event’s certainly one way to get your names out there and make an impact.”

“But why kill me?” Eveline asked again, more pointedly this time. “You said yourself that I played my part in getting you here, and it took you four years to reach this point. I’ve done all this before; I know tech, I know the villain game, and I know killing people. You can kill me if that's what you want, but I’m fairly sure the only people who’ll care are my parents - life insurance. I’ll just be another body.”

If that last part stirred up any real feelings she certainly didn’t show them, indeed if anything she seemed more darkly amused by the possibility. This was every bit a sales pitch, a businesswoman playing to potential clients. She was even and measured and worryingly calm, carrying herself with the sort of control that only came through a life spent in the cut-throat worlds of business and villainy … which often weren’t so different. For all Eveline’s talk of not being Venom Queen she didn’t exactly seem to have missed a step in reassuming that air.

“I’m not asking to be an equal partner, but I know the big leagues: professional villainy. I’m worth so very much more to you alive than dead.”

Susan froze. Expletives ran through her head. What the hell? She was at a hero association event. And from what she could see it wasn't just because she'd met Venom Queen, but there other places violence was breaking out too.

Susan wasn't a hero. She had no powers. No ability to stop bullets... to fight these people. About the best she could do was a kick, which had all the power you would expect from a 14 year old girl... These guys were sporting crazy high tech wierdness, and suspected had heavy armor. She'd last precisely no time in a fight

Venom Queen seemed to be delaying them. Slowing them down. That was good. Talking was good. It might buy the time for Kamen Divider or one of the other heros to come save them. "You.. That bet..." she stumbled at first before catching herself. She was an actress. Her words and emotions were tools. They didn't happen to her, she caused them in other people. "People taste like pork not like chicken. That's why the name Long Pig was invented." That should have got them to look at her. She couldn't do anything if they were ignoring her

"Oh wow" her eyes opened wide in a mixture of surprise and hero worship as she focused on something behind the Shootster "Is that? It is! It's Kamon Divider himself! Coming through the crowd. Jeez he looks mean! Looks like he's after someone... Looks like he's coming here... Have you pissed him off? Look" she pointed at somewhere in the dense crowd her body radiating utter conviction

Fascinate deception: 26 (on both targets)


This message was last edited by the player at 09:01, Sat 02 July 2022.

"Why thank you, I eat my Wheaties," he flexed his biceps for emphasis. Then, he thumbed to the destroyed stand with the toothpick still in his mouth, "But that was octopus." He shrugged with raised arms and flat hands, "Semantics I'm sure." He fisted his palm a few times, "Gonna have tenderize the fuck outta you with all that muscle. A burger sounds good right about now. You don't  have the right amount of fat though."  At this point, Leroy just wanted to keep Delta's attention on him. If that meant shit-talking a bit, he was all about it, "Oh! Some barbeque, low and slow baby."

Olivia, moved forward trembling Charles in tow. She was fairly quiet in her rage at a pimp coming near her boy and then a hippopotamus thing trying to abduct him. "He's mine. With young children his age it's important to set consistent boundaries, to establish expectations. What you're doing is counter productive, breaking away from norm threatening. I have a great book here by Dr. Bardas on child discipline if you're interested in the subject." she reached into her purse and attempted to hand Hippokrampus the mention psychological text.


Move to move.
Action Have a "Sandwich" at Hippokrampus
Reflex save DC 18 to reduce the will save by 4 Will save DC 18 (Dazed, Compelled)
The attack is both subtle and insidious. She basically just seems super brazen.
+1 Hero point from her child being threatened in this scene.
---
Protecting kids
No conditions
This message was last edited by the player at 13:30, Mon 11 July 2022.

In reply to GM LoonyLadle (msg # 18):

Alice looked up at the disgusting monster that had appeared before her. She took a step back, clearly intimidated, and dropped her fliers. She glanced at her bodyguard.


Her bodyguard pulled the bag from his back, and passed her a magic wand. Alice took the wand and span it in her fingers before bringing it to her mouth like a microphone.

"This is supposed to be a joyous day to celebrate heroes! Who are you to disrupt such an adorable gathering? Prepare to be punished!" The wand amplified her voice so that everyone could hear her speech, then span it round behind her, where it unfolded into a device that clamped around her lower back and sides, melding with her corselet.

"Tentacles are a sign of purity culture and innocence! To besmirch them with your vulgar facade is a crime against censorship!" She struck a pose, and two silver, mechanical tentacles of her own spread from the device strapped to her midsection.

One of them flicked out at speed, quickly wrapping around Arthur's middle and shoulders to pull him away from the fierce suction and place him down safely with his brother.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:02, Wed 13 July 2022.

In reply to GM LoonyLadle (msg # 18):

Even as the two bird like beings warm up their high tech weapons, A wall of steel springs up between them and the two women they are threatening. Glowing atomic symbols can be seen as the wall suddenly comes into being. It does not seem to be an illusion or some sort of hologram, but solid reinforced wall that covers the length of the street, thus assuring the two monsters cannot simply walk around it.

"Dude, is...is that your BRAIN!? You wear a hat that shows your brain? Why...why would you do that? Is that like...showing off how smart you are? You clearly are not smart enough not to keep your brain inside your skull..." Came a voice from above everyone on the street.

Looking up, the four on ether side of the wall can see a man in a jumpsuit, hoodie, and visored mask sliding along on a ramp at high speeds. The ramp, made of some sort of glittering smooth substance, seems to grow under him as he moves through the air. It extends behind him, as though he slides along on it like some sort of odd surfer.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:43, Tue 19 July 2022.

The two bird monsters stare at Eveline with their big, beady, monster-sized eyes. Monsters are suckers for a good background story, but as it keeps going on the two of them look at each other. A silent question passes between them: is this an origin story, a boast, a plea for mercy, or what? It is clear that they are not at all certain about how to respond... or at the very least, Bird Brain isn't. Shootster hops between his little chicken feet in anticipation of a murderously good time, trying veeeery hard not to interrupt. Shootster is distracted from the dialogue by the young starlet's words, turning to face the tiny worm of a meal.

"No, Long Pig is currently fighting Twintail Twirl," Shootster points out to Susan. The Twintail Troop are a group of heroes throughout the world of various rankings and powers unified by only a love of girlish pigtails, and led by S-Rank 2: Twintail Fox. Twintail Twirl in particular is local to City L and one of Tomaton's strongest heroes -- for whatever little that is worth. Nonetheless, he is paying attention.

"Kamen Divider?! Where?!" Shootster spins around, only for a wall of steel to rise mere feet in front of him and almost knock his beak off. The creature stumbles back. "The hell is this?" The sound of something rocketing overhead causes him to look up and watch an object land near Eveline. His beady bird-eyes bug out and he advances menacingly on the ex-supervillain, pointing all the guns he can at her face. "All ya'll're stallin'! Is a single thing either of you said true?! Aaaaaa! First I am going to fill you with more holes than a sponge, then the lass!"

Shootster enters combat; his initiative is +8.

---

The corvid monster on the other side of the steel barrier cocks its head and examines the obstruction for just a moment before slamming its huge feathered fist into it. The ground shudders and cracks, and steam rises from the point where flesh met metal. "Hrm! A formidable fortification!"

An impudent voice raises the creature's heckles and it turns to face the source with a bewildered expression. It stomps over to the... skater-punk-looking man.

"What did you just say about me, you little punk? I'll have you know I dropped out of the top of my class in the City A University of Engineering, and I've been involved in numerous secret raids on Aeon, and I have over three hundred working inventions. I am trained in raven warfare and I'm the top inventor in the entire Chrome Monster Clan. You are nothing to me but just another worm. I will eat you out with genius the likes of which has never been seen before on this planet, mark my words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me to my face? Think again, mammal. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that's just with my devices. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little 'clever' comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your tongue. But you couldn't, you didn't, and now you're paying the price, you overevolved monkey. You're dead, kiddo."

The electric crackle of electricity from Bird Brain's bracers intensifies, and every metallic object within thirty meters trembles in anticipatory response at the ferromanipulatory fields being generated.

Bird Brain enters combat; their initiative is +0.

---

With a whir Olivia's boy is pulled just free enough from the hippo-thing's vacuum for Olivia to stick a book in his place, plugging up the infernal contraption and allowing for the child's easy retrieval. Arthur is deposited, disheveled and crying, at his mother's feet before Alice turns her attention to the vulgar meat tentacles that so offend her shiny chrome innocence, leaving Olivia to deal with the kidnapper alone for the moment.

"Neeeeehhh?" Hippokrampus brays in confusion. She wipes grease from her steam-powered vacuum off on her dirty heart-patterned apron before pulling the manual from the muzzle of the device. She cracks it open in one hand, holding it by the spine. "... There's no pictures," she observes, then tosses Dr. Bardas' text over her shoulder. She advances on Olivia, holding her vacuum like a rifle, rotund lips parting into a smile that manages to look predatory despite hippos being nominally herbivorous. It probably has something to do with how the prominent canines have been filed down to points. "Hippokrampus only cares about one kind of discipline anywhoodles, mwehehehehe~!"

OctoPimp makes an unearthly sound resembling a mechanical gurgle or some kind of alien spaceship from an early space invaders radio drama. He waggles a tentacle-tip admonishingly at Alice, batting away one of her mechanical tentacles. Scintillating lights illuminate themselves on the monster's attached subwoofer system as it belts out a second verse of auto-tuned synthetic voice;

"The girl is a doll, so you see,
Her visage but duplicity,
And as for these heroes,
They're nothing but zeroes,
As all shall be broken by me!"

Hippokrampus enters combat. Her initiative is +4.
Octopimp enters combat. His initiative is +4.

---

The cyborg bovid monstrosity makes a show of looking back at the destroyed stall. "... Octopus?" he mutters. But Leroy's next works quickly drew the Cannon Cow's attention back. The creature tenses and puffs up in anger the longer he goes on, gouts of sweat and steam issuing from under its bulky and rectangular armor plating. The mechanical bull slow-talks threateningly towards the trash-talking man, a bolt of blue-white ball lightning slowly growing between its horns with a hum like a million buzzing bees.

"You're the one who's going to be slow-roasted, beefcake," the monster declares in a low voice. The statement is punctuated with a pungent snort that blows tiny globules of hot, sticky snot onto his face. A series of clicks sound in the depths of the Delta Cannon Cow and the electrical thrum reaches a fever pitch as he prepares to attack.

Delta Cannon Cow enters combat. His initiative is +0.

In reply to GM LoonyLadle (msg # 25):



"Ooooooooh. Collage dropout. Unless it was because of the cost, that explains...pretty much all of it. Even the brain hat." Rod replied, ignoring the rest of the crazy bird's threats. Even while still moving on the frictionless slide ramp.

OOC-MT's initiative is +8. Setting up deflect/ reflect as as reaction.
15:53, Today: Rodrigo Duma rolled 30 using 2d20+10, dropping the lowest dice only.  Using deflect/reflect with improved defense feat.

This message was last edited by the player at 19:54, Thu 18 Aug 2022.

Despite the threat of sudden involuntary weight-loss Eveline appeared none too concerned, altogether blasé about the whole affair. She met Shootster’s advance with exaggerated indifference, checking her acid-green nails (and the signal ring thereabouts) as death approached on scrawny chicken feet.

“Oh, it was true enough. The inevitable betrayal would only come later.” Eveline glanced up over her nails, tone dripping with derision. “You’d understand that if you knew the first thing about being a real villain.”

With a lazy sigh she gestured to the new arrival, a sleekly curved and streamlined flying platform that looked like it’d been through a head-on collision with a warehouse stocked with tacky snake-themed golden bathroom fittings. It hovered idly, jets faintly hissing, but otherwise seemed harmless enough; it didn’t even have any obvious mounted weapons. And yet Eveline grinned all sharp and wolfish, her pearly fangs glinting in the bright summer sun.

“I suppose I’ll have to give you a practical demonstration.”

WHOOSH

All the world turned green in an eyeblink as hidden vents about the platform shot out a thick and choking smog. It hung heavy like a dense fog, wrapping the villainess in a shroud that clung on the air rather than dissipating like smoke, unnatural and just a little sinister for it. Seconds passed unanswered, and then-

WHOOSH

That fog scattered to the winds again, and there stood Eveline in all her panoply, looking for all the world like she’d never given up the game. She raised her snake-head gauntlets, acrid smoke billowing from their maws, and let loose the one-liner on her lips without a hint of self-awareness: “It’s time for Venom Queen to choke this chicken!”

And fired.

---

Spending a Hero Point to summon my equipment to the scene (and for flashy dramatics!).

Venom Queen enters combat; her Initiative is +12.
Venom Queen targets Shootster with Gas Mortar; Dodge DC 18, Fortitude DC 18 Affliction [impaired/disabled/debilitated]. 15ft Cloud Area.

"Well....," Leroy casually wipes away the viscous mucus. "I rather not be basted in your natural juices if it's all the same to you."

With that, Leroy's entered a brawler's stance. Very similar to a boxer's stance but wider, full of gaps in his defense, but it exuded power. He didn't know any fancy techniques, he just swung his fist.

Leroy's Initiative is +0.


15:30, Today: Leroy Heavy rolled 15 using 1d20+6.  Unarmed.

Olivia not one to show any signs of distress in front of her kids, simply gave a hard stare and a customer service smile. "You need to take a closer look at that book. Dr. Bardas isn't your typical bleeding heart vegan. He advocates for strong boundaries and appropriate disciplinary, measures. The man is sharp his arguments ironclad, and he thoroughly rejects corporal punishment because it actually encourages misbehavior and violence" She put a finger to the muzzle of the rifle pushing down not that she had a grip if the monster choose to resist it. "You shouldn't be operating a suction gun in a crowded carnival. There are all sorts of food truck waste around here. One wrapper in just the wrong place and you'll burn out that suction gun's motor."


Initiative +0 (I suppose)

Free (Have a Sandwhich Secondary Effect)- Reflex save DC 18 to reduce the will save by 4 Will save DC 18 (Dazed, Compelled)

Standard Action- Fascinate DC-34!!! resisted by Insight or Will
+1 degree of success for the crit since it's an opposed check this is effectively +5 to her results.
17:27, Today: Olivia Maelstrom rolled 29 using 1d20+9.  Persuasion (Fascinate).

Extra Effort Action- Cassandra Curse - Smash
Using the suction gun in this encounter will cause the suction gun to need to make an immediate DC 23 Toughness save (Damage 8 penetrating 6)

Everything is still subtle and insidious so no signs that she's attacking (fascinate should still work)
---
Protecting kids
Fatigued from extra effort

"Wait, are you speaking in limericks? What a cruel world to waste such an intriguing gimmick on a petty nobody like you!" To go with her declaration, Alice deployed another two tentacles from her equipment pack and lashed out with all four of them, aiming to encircle, corral and bind Octopimp's limbs and body and pin him to himself!


~ArIs~ joins combat. Her initiative is +0.
13:23, Today: Alice Parnell rolled 19 using 1d20+8.  Unarmed Strike. (Toughness DC 19)
Fast Grab: Initiate Grab (Dodge DC 19)
Improved Grab/Hold: Alice is not Vulnerable while Grabbing, and Escape checks take a -5 penalty.
Chokehold: If Grab check passes by 1 degree or more, OctoPimp begins Suffocating.

Eveline hits Shooter with her Gas Mortar for two degrees of effect; Shooter is Disabled!

The wire rooster yelps as he is shot in the face by a gas canister, which improbably lodged right in the barrel of one of its tongue-guns. The creature waggles its tongue and makes confused noises as it tries to dislodge the object, poisonous smoke being thrown every which direction from its inept efforts. The  monster staggers as it rapidly begins to succumb.

Unwilling to fire with his first choice of weapon lest he explode his own tongue, Shootster instead raises the innumerable weapon barrels that form its wings and fires at the Venom Queen, ejecting lead and hot, thick sulfuric smoke in a wall of fire and death.

About ten whole feet to Eveline's left. She doesn't even need to dodge.

Shootster attacks Eveline with Too Many Guns! Dodge DC 13; misses.

---

Bird Brain's eyes bulge with fury as the skater punk interrupts him. "Insolent FOOL! You think universities are kind to people who look like this? Nnnngh... just die, you little punk! Mangetic Storm; Steel Surge Strike!"

A cackling spider's web of electricity surrounds Rodrigo. Screws, nails, and rivets from all over suddenly fly faster than the speed of sound at the taunting skater. The sound of each tiny projectile breaking the sound barrier makes it sound like he is at the center of a circle of machine guns, and is approximately as lethal as such too!

It's a good thing that Bird Brain couldn't hit the broad side of a barn!

Bird Brain attacks Rodrigo with Steel Surge! Dodge DC 11; misses. Rodrigo gets to Reflect!

---

Hippokrampus horribly blows every single save sent her way. She is Compelled, Entranced, and Cassandra-Cursed!

Hippokrampus' eyes go wide as she falls under the irresistible sway of Olivia's Mom Energy. The finger atop the steampunk suck-contraption goes unnoticed, so thoroughly spellbound as she is. "Nyeeeh, really? HrrRRMMMmm..." The hippo-housemaid totters awkwardly over to where the book landed on its funny little legs. The book is opened and the monster's eyes half-lid in a trancelike state...

Hippokrampus is too fucked up to take any action whatsoever. Good job, Olivia~

---

Alice hits OctoPimp with her unarmed strike. She fails to do Damage but succeeds in her Fast Grab! OctoPimp is Restrained (immobile and vulnerable).

Not far away, ~ArIs~ engages in tentacle-to-tentacle combat with a trash-talking squid pimp! After a protracted exchange of jostling and grunting, Alice manages to gain dominance in the grope-off. The cyborg sea creature radiates a distinct aura of horror at being updated in the appendage department by a tiny girl and elects to simply blast her with its mounted subwoofers, the gaudy LED markings lighting up tacky neon imagery of naked women, stars, and open white-gloved palms.

DWOOOO-WUBWUBWUBWUBWUB!

OctoPimp attacks Alice with Dubstep Blast! Cone Area Damage, Dodge DC 18 / Toughness DC 23! Linked to a Fortitude affliction of some kind that Alice is immune to.

OctoPimp can't breathe! Fortitude checks start in sixteen rounds. Spoiler warning: the fight won't last that long. >.>

---

Leroy wins the initiative tie!

Leroy takes a swing! The air thrums as it rushes out of the path of his fist, and in the blink of an eye it has made contact with the heavily-armored Cow! The cyborg monster moos in surprise and pain as its immense bulk is pushed back a whole meter under the blow, metal hooves digging furrows through the cobblestones and into the dirt underneath it. Pieces of dislodged armor fly in every direction, shattering windows and smashing wooden fences as much as twenty meters away.

Three degrees of effect! Delta Cannon Cow takes an injury and is Staggered!

The cow comes to a stop, steam rising from the gaping hole in its armor prosthesis, oil and blood mixing together as they drop to the festival paving stones. It takes a deep rasping breath, sucking air in through a punctured lung with a wet gurgle. It glares back at Leroy, pupils dilated in pain and rage, its previous confidence completely erased. "Y-you... you bastard!" the beast roars. "Take this: Tesla Cow Horn Cannon!!!" The creature's horns spark twice with light before a dancing beam of blue plasma lances out towards Leroy... managing to hit everything around him, but not the man himself. Super-hot ozone assaults his nose.

Delta Cannon Cow attacks Leroy with Tesla Horn! Dodge DC 13; misses.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:40, Tue 13 Sept 2022.

In reply to GM LoonyLadle (msg # 31):

Rod gestured, and forms a barrier from the air. Transmuting air molecules into another metal wall, but only a temporary one around him like a bubble. The various projectiles bounce off harmlessly, but some of them head back towards the source of the attack. However, the bird leaps aside, barley avoiding any hits on him.

Rod zooms around on his frictionless ramp, doing loops and spins. Forcing his foe to try and turn and move just to keep up with him. Then he heads for cover, using his speed to gain advantage against the next attack incoming.

OOC-20:19, Yesterday: Rodrigo Duma rolled 16 using 1d20+9.  Reflect.
If it hits Bird Brain, he will take damage equal to his own attack. Which it is.
16 is a miss.

This round, I am using agile feint, skill mastery, and move by action. My acrobatics roll is 25 due to skill mastery, BB must make an insight or acrobatics roll(Whichever is better) to try and avoid being vulnerable to my next attack. Using my move by action to move towards him, agile feint, and move away in order to have full cover from his next attack.

This message was last edited by the player at 20:08, Thu 08 Sept 2022.

It was a relief that at least Arthur, had been too occupied being scared by the Krampus Hippo in front of them to try and taser punch the pimp attacking Aris. She didn't expect that was going to last, with the Krampus Hippo reading and listening to reason. She had way too much to do and not enough time to do it and she was already tired.

Edward took first priority, she could reasonably easily still pick him up and he generally didn't think to object until after she'd managed what she was intending when she got moving this fast. So marking her position mentally, quicker than the blink of an eye she scooped up Edward and ran to the kicking contest. Wasting precious milliseconds with Arthur alone with two monsters and located Simon, giving only the quickest of commands in a voice that allowed no discussion. "Watch Ed" She placed their youngest directly in front of her husband who hadn't had enough time to react despite her spending even more precious milliseconds explaining things to him at the snails pace of reality.

She ran back to Arthur doing her best to return to her exact position so she seemed to only blink out for a moment while Edward disappeared. As long as Arthur didn't attempt anything foolish she'd have time to settle things, ergo logically she had no time, and needed to see about recruiting the would be villain to the side of good. "Dr. Bardas was kind of a genius, he credits the academic achievement of Latverian children to his particular forms of discipline. They are kids after all, we can outsmart them for a while at least. So you see you could just use more socially accepted method, and still punish kids in legal ways, you'd actually be able to solve much more juvenile delinquency than you could fighting against heroes. I have a friend who works in a public school of last resort for emotionally and developmentally disturbed kids. Why don't I get you her number and we see if we can't get you succeeding at your mission working on the right side of the law."

OOC:
Free action: Pickup Edward (Quickness 7)
Move action to run to the kicking contest and back (max 1/2 mile each way)
Free action: search for Simon and Charlie in the crowd (Quickness 7)
Free action: tell Simon to watch Edward (Quickness 7)
Free action: Persuade Hippocrampus to be more friendly towards working within the system (routine 1 success, 1 step) (Quickness 7)
Standard action: Maintain fascinate DC-34 resisted by Insight or Will

"Hey, you started this. No need for name callin'." Leroy smirked, looking around, "Still, you must be seeing stars after that to hit everything but me." He shook his head, sighing, "You monsters never learn." His fist shot even quicker than last time, seeking to end the fight.

16:39, Today: Leroy Heavy rolled 24 using 1d20+6. Unarmed.

~ArIs~ weathered the wubstep blast with aplomb, and twisted her prey in her tentacular grip to force the subwoofers to face the ground, going so far as to sit her delicate behind on her prey to keep him pinned beneath her.

01:25, Today: Alice Parnell rolled 25 using 1d20+8.  Dodge Defence.
01:25, Today: Alice Parnell rolled 18 using 1d20+8.  Grapple Damage attack or... something.