Team Moley wakes up in a desert like-environment. They seem to be on top of some sort of small mountain or large hill, overlooking a city. Between them is a pack with a note saying 'READ ME' in clear lettering. Nobody can recall anything after going to bed the night before. Mindhaze does have a slight headache.

The note is obviously from Thinkmaster. 'Greetings Team Moley. You are 20 miles from Necromizer's last known coordinates, Concordia-a very old cemetery in El Paso, Texas. You are on the large hill structure in the middle of El Paso. Maps have been given, but they are from an above ground view as normal. It is believed there is a survivor community inside El Paso trying to hold out against the infected. They would know if the Necromizer has been seen.

Warning: A Alpha infected member of the Justice Brigade has been seen in the area. We believe it may be the Amazonian. She is rarely without an cadre of infected Amazons. It is recommended you avoid her.

Otherwise there should be plenty of Beta infected for Warhead to test his powers on, and for the reader to gather data. Again-this is your primary mission. All other concerns are secondary. You have been given food supplies and a evac beacon to use only in emergency. Burn this note after reading.

Good Luck, Team Moley.'

This message was last edited by the GM at 15:49, Mon 26 June 2023.

Richard woke up and felt...odd. He slowly opened his eyes and swallowed. It was...definitely not where he'd gone to sleep. "ugh." He reached up and rubbed his eyes, trying to wake up more fully. He sat up and then stood up, slowly beginning a series of stretches.

Then he noticed the note. Almost unbidden, he muttered to himself, "read me, seymour." He read it once silently. Once everyone was awake, he offered to read it out loud or hand it over for anyone who wanted to read it themselves.

He shook his head. "Man, I hope they're wrong. I mean...the Amazonian?" He gave a low quiet whistle. "I always wanted to meet her...back in the day. Not so much anymore." He looked over the maps, occasionally glancing back out across the horizon.

He looked at Moley. "We going underground or walking above?" He asked since the point was to actually run in to infected - though he'd be fine with it from a distance and in small numbers or singular targets really.

Moley slowly opened his eyes and stretched as he woke up in the desert. Certainly a new one for him. “I’m never gonna get used to that. Ugh…”He stood up and cracked his neck before taking the offered note to read it. He passed it to the next person after memorizing the maps and using his innate sense of direction and distance to evaluate how they would get there from here.

“Well…Based on the last mission I was in, I would suggest we go underground first or at least I can to scout out how many people there are and the terrain before we approach the town. They are obviously going to be suspicious of random people showing up, but we could play it off as refugees or survivors trying to find a home. We should probably not mention Necromizer until we find out if he has allies in town. Last mission I was on had a villain who was controlling an Alpha Infected to control the local Infected to attack us. At least the harnesses will keep away the desert heat and keep the sand out of your lungs.”

Rubbing her temples, Natalia grimaced,

"That was unpleasant, to say the least." she said unnecessarily, groaning slightly from the pain. Her head was really pounding, and that was the last thing she needed right now. She knew somebody had tampered with her mind, and she didn't like it one bit. Still: she understood why.

Seeing the others read through a note, she listened and watched, and listened to Richard's thoughts on the matter.

"I agree. I would not want to interact with the Amazonian. I may be able to slow her down, but only slightly. I'm sure her weaponry can batter its way through my shields, given enough time, or effort." she said, shaking her head.

With that, she waited for everybody else's ideas for their plans.

Moley began to dig a tunnel in a downward angle towards the town. “I’ll check it out from underneath if the three of you want to approach above ground. If I see anything dangerous, I’ll pop up and let you know.”

In reply to Holey Moley (msg # 5):

Coming down from the tall hill overseeing El Paso, Moley provides life support suits for each member of the team. Allowing them to follow the tunnel he creates underground as he burrows. Moley has no trouble navigating, but the others only have light from Moley's suit. Warhead could use his X-ray vision, but Mind Haze's ability to sense minds is somewhat restricted due to all the solid ground. As is Queen Cobra's Scent abilities.

Following the giant mole as he moves about 30 mph, he proceeds down the hill. Once he moves into the city proper, he slows down in order to get better info. He also realizes he has to go about 20' to 30' from the surface due to the elaborate sewer system under El Paso itself. If he wishes, he could enter the sewers proper via his tunneling, but that seems unwise...

Warhead slowed as Moley paused in his digging. He frowned a little, his head tilted to the side slightly. "Soooo...the sewers seem...occupied." He shook his head.

But he frowned and leaned forward slightly. "But...you see that, Mole? I think...I can't tell for sure, but I think there are non-infected up above."

He hesitated. "Not sure where you want to try and pop up?"

Moley nodded as he too saw the Infected patrolling the sewers. “Yes I see them. While those above ground may not be Infected, considering the Necromizer is in play I suspect those may be zombies. It would explain why the Infected aren’t going after them. I would prefer we pop up through the floor of an abandoned building where we can get a look at those above ground without them seeing us. I can make a tunnel that avoids the sewers.”He does his best to use his sense of direction and distance to skirt the sewers and pop up through the floor of a restaurant.

Hearing Brian and Richard speaking to one another about what they 'sensed' above, Natalia looked a little bit surprised. The depth at which they were at made it so she couldn't sense really anything, which indicated just how powerful their senses were!

"If there are non-infected above," Natalia swallowed, clearly uncomfortable with what she had to say, "We should not prioritize them in any way until we know what their status is. We would unnecessarily put ourselves in danger, and possibly them as well. For all we know, we could be messing up some weird delicate balance we don't understand, OR, like Moley said: they could be zombies." she paused. Ordinarily, she would want to help those above at all costs, but right now more was at stake.

Turning towards Richard, she looked uncertain, nibbling on her lower lip,

"What do you think?" she asked aloud, clearly willing to shift her perspective if his was different.

As Moley digs the tunnel upwards, the various infected that dwell underground react to the sound. Of course, there was no way for them to get to the new tunnel. Nor did they fully understand what was happening. However, both Moley and Warhead can detect the infected above and below headed slowly for their location. They are capable of moving at high speeds when running, and they never tire. However, they still do not have a target in line of sight. So when Moley emerges on the surface, the team is not under attack.

They are in the basement of what looks like a BBQ joint of some kind, very typical of El Paso.  The place is trashed and very looted of anything useful, but it does still have some animal heads on the wall as well as pictures of cowboys and guns. Again-very El Paso.

When Mindhaze gets to the surface, she feels like she is hit with a wave of sickness. Thoughts, all around her, now not blocked by concrete and metal. The pulsating hunger and rage of the infected, all with one mind and one thought. Hunt everyone and anyone not like them.

Moley made a decision and decided to dig up, so Richard shrugged and followed behind. He kept his senses alert, using his x-ray vision to keep an eye on the infected trying to locate them, but they seemed safe enough for the moment.

Once they reached the surface, he looked around slowly to see outside the building they were in with that sight still, looking to see if the 'people' outside were infected or undead or normal people. He stayed quiet for the moment until they for sure either way.

And he made sure to keep his eyes away from this teammates, not wanting to violate their privacy accidentally.

Moley stuck his claws into the ground as he emerged to keep an eye on the movements of all of the sentient creatures in the area. He tried to make special note of any movements that were not directly toward them. If any Infected got too close, he would just burrow back down and collapse the tunnel behind him.

Stepping above the tunnel with the others, suddenly Natalia cried out softly, and collapsed to one knee, her hands going straight to her head. The agonized look on her face was terrible to behold, as she looked like she was in immense pain quite suddenly.

"Th... there are so... so many!" she agonized out, squinting her eyes in an effort to shut out the pain. At the current moment there was absolutely no way that Natalia was about to fight anybody, or defend herself, as it looked as if she could hardly move. Inside of her head, it felt as if horrible little teeth were crushing each side of her skull, and not loosening their grip at all.

Richard immediately fell back a step to check on his friend when she dropped to one knee. He kept his voice low, "Natalia, what do you mean? What's wrong?"

He glanced around but then looked at her once more. He put an arm around her and tried to project calm vibes towards her, though he didn't think it worked like that.

Hearing Richard's tone next to her pounding head, Natalia reached out one hand to grip his. Her grip was tight... she was clearly in a lot of pain,

"The inf..infected, their thoughts are horrible..." she said in a strained voice, gritting her teeth, "Just... all at once, so... I, just need a minute..." she tried to reassure him as she worked on putting up her mental defenses the best she could to push the nonstop noise and grinding out of her skull.

Moley closed his eyes and spread out his tremorsense to see if there were any creatures not making their way toward their direction or not as fast. “Natalia, let me know if I need to take you back underground okay?”

Even as Moley offers, everyone hears the crack of gunfire. Moley detects a large, fast moving object driving right past them. Sure enough, as Warhead's xray vision can clearly see, a large SUV with a spiked ram is barreling through the hordes of infected. From the read windows project barrels of guns, shooting at any infected that got to close.

Needless to say, the infected that where drawn by the sounds of Moley's burrowing are now very distracted. The horde roars, and they charge with the speed of professional sprinters after the vehicle. No matter if they had been elderly people or small children, every one of the infected is powered by the Cancerverse's otherworldly vitality. Shrugging off the bullets that hit anything but the head. Even the ones bouncing off the ram or sideswiped by the SUV's forward momentum quickly get up after being knocked down.

As Mindhaze can tell, all that mattered was the hunger, and the rage of being denied satisfying it.

OOC-This is combat! You are not rolling initiative, as none of the infected are attacking you. However, if you plan to go outside and do something loud enough, you will be in combat and then you can roll initiative as normal.
This message was last updated by the player at 15:19, Mon 10 July 2023.

Richard froze for just a second at the sound of gunfire, aside from crouching a bit lower out of pure instinct. He looked at Natalia and then at the others to make sure it didn't seem like anyone got shot. He kicked on his shield as well, after a moment and made sure he was between Natalia and the threat outside.

He spoke a bit quietly despite the noises outside to make sure not to attract attention to them. "Should we stay hidden? Or should we attempt to...help those in the car and make contact, as it were?"

Moley crouched low as he could looking out at the car shooting gunfire. The Infected were going after the car now instead of them. A thought did come to him. “Our main goal on this mission was to gather data when you shoot the Infected. This seems like a two birds with one stone type of situation. You could shoot from inside here for cover. I can burrow underneath and drag the Infected underground to trap them. What do you think?”

Still hunched over, her hands gripping her temples in a white-knuckled grip, Natalia was unable to force herself to open her eyes. Her mind was being addled, even further now, by the cacophony of noises that were rushing between her ears. It was like a loud sound, leading straight into a vacuum of noise that just continued to repeat itself, making her feel dizzy and horrible.

She was clearly not able to react to the flurry of action around them as much as anybody else, and as she dropped fully to her knees, still gripping her head, the others might realize she wasn't much in a position to defend herself.



Unable to act this round guys, sorry! Mind being overwhelmed by the rush of the infected! First time Natalia's encountered this many ravenous monsters at once! Don't worry though: she's working on fighting to re-establish her defenses!

Richard was more concerned about his partner at the moment, but he did hear what Moley said. He hesitated but then gave a nod, but said, "I would prefer to wait until she is better able to defend herself before we potentially attract attention."

He frowned and gave Moley a look that seemed to speak volumes, his eyes slid to Queen Cobra and then back. "Or if you will watch over her, I will go and blast some of the infected. We must make sure they do not track back to our tunnel, that is imperative I think."

In reply to Warhead (msg # 21):

The snake-like woman nods, and activates her two serpent tech gauntlets. Clearly nothing is getting close to Mindhaze without a fight. She then moves her charge a little deeper into the building.

Although Natalia was debilitated, and hardly able to mount any defense or anything similar, when Queen Cobra touched her to move her, she reacted out of pure instinct. A flickering wall appeared suddenly between the two of them, roughly bumping the woman away from Natalia, and then it flickered once more, and the wall seemed to collapse, like a ton of bricks, towards the (hopefully) agile woman!

It was clear from the flickering, and the inability to control the wall that Natalia was still struggling, but it was also very clear that just about any "new friend" touching her would likely get themselves accidentally attacked in the near future.




Hope this post makes sense! I'm playing up the fact that Natalia really only knows/trusts Richard deeply at this point (and maybe Moley, as he's been RPing so well that she instantly feels comfortable around him!) so when she's hurting, she lashes out to sort of protect herself. I also made it so the wall is "failing" so that even though she "dropped a wall" on Queen Cobra, I don't think it should do any damage, or hurt her or anything. Just look close enough for the 'idea', if that makes sense :)

In reply to Mindhaze (msg # 23):

Needless to say, Queen Cobra is very agile and fast-so dodging a TK construct wall that was only a half hearted attempt at defense is not a problem for her. She does look annoyed however. "Do you want help or not, dammit!?" She literally hisses at Mindhaze. However, she is more than smart enough to do so quietly.

Sadly, the superhuman power suddenly on and off again is not a quiet affair. Its not as loud as gunfire and a fast moving truck, but it might be enough to attract the nearby infected...

In reply to Queen Cobra (msg # 24):

OOC-15:01, Today: Secret Roll: Human level infected rolled 20 using 1d20+5 with rolls of 15.  Perception to hear the TK construct form, mods not included...

Both Moley and Warhead notice at once some of the infected pause in chasing down the truck. While the most of the horde are clearly drawn away, a smaller group begins to move around the restaurant Team Moley is currently in. Although they are not trying to break down the boarded up windows or smash through the entrance.

Yet.

Richard turned away from looking at Moley back towards his friend, "Don't touch her!" He stepped quickly over to her and knelt next to her, "No, no, Natalia, it's okay. No one here is going to harm you. We just want to make sure you're safe and back from any potential harm."

He was speaking in a quiet and soothing tone, and did not immediately touch her, just stayed as a presence near her for a moment. "But I need you to stay quiet and stay behind me. They're coming."

He then stood up, activating the shield around himself, what looked like veins of red energy began to crawl over his skin in no set pattern. He got himself ready, standing between Natalia and the Infected that were coming over to investigate the building they were in. His hands began to glow slightly.

OOC: Sigh. Of course, lol. Activating his shield.
17:40, Today: Warhead rolled 4 using 1d20+3 with rolls of 1.  Initiative.

Crouching down ever so slightly at the shivering of the movement, Natalia knew she had messed up, but it was in the back of her mind, far behind the pain she was feeling.

"I am sorry... I didn't mean..."

She tried to reign it in the best she could, but it was still difficult. That being said, when Richard directed her in a direction, she (mostly) blindly followed, and obeyed his direction.


Initiative 11

Natalia seemed in no right headspace to defend herself. The wall falling had attracted some of the Infected. He needed to draw the majority of the Infected away from everyone until they were ready. With Warhead focused on Mindhaze, Moley didn’t know how well the fight would go. With a sigh he flexed his claws and whispered. “I’ll lead them away. We are not ready yet for a confrontation. I’ll try to lead as many away as possible.”

The large Weremole then dig underground and moved underneath the infected with only about 5 feet of dirt between him and them. Like a whale swimming just below the surface looking like a torpedo, he tunneled towards the vehicle and then turned until he was moving parallel with 10 feet between him and the truck.

17:20, Today: Holey Moley rolled 16 using 1d20 with rolls of 16.  Initiative .
This message was last edited by the player at 23:59, Fri 21 July 2023.

OOC-
11:57, Today: Human level infected rolled 24 using 1d20+5 with rolls of 19.  Initiative vs team Moley.

The infected are fast, and react quicker than team Moley expects. Some of them, a head start ahead of the armored SUV proceeded to tackle the vehicle. Granted, many of them bounce off the fast moving large metal semi-tank. Others just are unable to keep up. Some however, jumping from windows of the surrounding homes while others actually get jammed in the wheels of the truck.

Needless to say, this causes the truck to swerve and crash. It side swipes a post office, smearing several infected clinging to the sides. However, it hits several non functional cars and then lands on one side. The guns pointing out of the armored windows are withdrawn, and whoever is inside is clearly in trouble.

Back at the restaurant, before Moley can try for a distraction-one of the windows in the back is smashed in. Then the barricaded doors start to vibrate as the infected try to battery their way in. The sounds coming from the back is clear to those with super senses and those without. The infected have made it inside...

OOC-NPCS are clearly in trouble as the horde descends on the vehicle. Many infected are using their action to get inside the restaurant you all are in. Your actions can be changed given the changing situation. All of you are up!

Warhead - he had to think of himself as the weapon now, with the Infected coming at them - turned to his friend and gripped her shoulder tightly. "Natalia! You must snap out of it! They are coming! I need you!" He hoped appealing to her to help him would aid her in overcoming what was ailing her. They would all be hampered if she could not defend herself.

To Moley he said, "We should be quick so you can be a hero and rescue those people out there, yes?" He flashed a quick small smile as he mostly just bantering, and not really meaning anything by it.

He stayed close to Natalia and got ready to blast the first one he saw.

OOC: Ready an action to blast the first infected he sees. Cool. Nat 1 for his first roll.

20:02, Today: Warhead rolled 9 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 1.  Firing off "Feel The Burn" (Ready action).

Moley smiles and gives Warhead a thumbs up before going back down the tunnel and creating another passage straight towards the overturned car underneath. The lights on his suit are on full blast as he rips the car door off from underneath allowing the occupants to drop down into the tunnel to escape. “The Calvary is here. Let’s go. Head down the tunnel and up out of the hole. I have some friends that can help.”

Hearing Richard's voice in her ears certainly helped. She tried to mentally steel herself against the cacophony of noises reverberating around inside of her skull, by gripping on to that familiar feeling that he gave her.

It certainly helped... a lot. However, Natalia was still clearly very wobbly as she forced herself to her feet. She wavered in place, both hands still gripping the sides of her face in agony, as she squeezed her eyes tightly shut to keep the sounds out. She was slowly making progress, but it would be another few seconds before she could do anything. She wanted to respond to Richard, but she heard in the background tons of howling and echoingly violent voices bouncing around still, and she struggled to focus enough to block them out. As the walls slowly began to rise, she felt better, but it wasn't all there yet...




Still unable to function, but she's making a comeback!

"What? Uhhh. Okay!"

Warhead hustled Mindhaze - manhandled and/or carried her, if needs be, but started off trying to just guide her back in to the hole - as quickly as possible. He followed after Moley, bringing up the rear to watch their backs but also to keep Natalia moving, and keep her safe.

Moley vanishes down his new hole, and comes up inside the armored car side that was in contact with the earth. Within, the giant mole sees about five people, all armed with rifles now pointing at him in abject terror. They look ready to start shooting when he speaks to them.

They all stop, and stare. One of them, an older woman, speaks. "Did...did that giant badger just talk!?" Then they hear the infected attacking the outside of the car, hammering it with their fists and actually biting through parts of the metal. A younger woman turns to her and says "Who cares!? Even if it eats us its better than staying here dammit!" Sure enough, all five people, two women and 3 men, begin to slowly and carefully climb down the hole Moley has provided. Still pointing guns at him, but very half heartily.

Back in the restaurant, windows shatter and barricades collapse. Before Warhead can drag Mindhaze down the new escape tunnel, the infected break in. Queen Cobra attacks-firing Acid from her gauntlets, but is dogpiled very quickly. She manages to break free, and throws herself out a window-drawing many infected in a chase away from Team Moley.

Some remain, and head for Warhead and Mindhaze. Readying a blast, Warhead fires...and proceeds to miss utterly. One of the infected actually turns and looks to where the blast ended up, a man in a suit with glasses over his glowing red eyes. He looks back at Warhead as if to say 'Really?' in some sort of surprise. However, the rest of the horde proceeds to attack.

OOC: Both group attacks hit, Both Mindhaze and Warhead must make DC 20 toughness saves. Warhead can use interception to take Mindhaze's hit if he wishes to, in which case he must make two toughness saves.

Also, anyone struck must roll parry or strength (whichever is better) vs a DC 13 grapple check.

11:25, Today: Secret Roll: Human level infected rolled 28 using 1d20+10 with rolls of 18.  Group attack on Mindhaze.

11:24, Today: Secret Roll: Human level infected rolled 27 using 1d20+10 with rolls of 17.  Group Attack on Warhead.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:21, Sun 30 July 2023.

Warhead certainly didn't appreciate the 'peanut gallery' reaction. He didn't need more than his own disappointment on the missed blast, honestly. He felt bad enough.

He pushed Natalia in to the hole as he moved to intercept the Infected coming towards them. He let out a grunt as they hit him, one of them getting through his shield.

09:59, Today: Warhead rolled 17,20 using d20+10,d20+10 with rolls of 7,10.  Toughness saves.

In reply to Warhead (msg # 35):

OOC-Please make two resistance rolls to the grapple checks. Your strength or Parry (whichever is better) vs DC 13.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:27, Fri 28 July 2023.

OOC: Sorry, I missed that part (or you updated it after I read it and I missed the update). He is...grah-pelled!

10:10, Today: Warhead rolled 23,9 using d20+6,d20+6 with rolls of 17,3.  Grapple resistance checks.

In reply to Warhead (msg # 37):

Even as Warhead shoves Mindhaze down the hole, the last thing she sees before falling is him being grabbed by many hands and dragged back. One of the glowing teeth of someone manages to bite through the shield he has around him, causing his bicep to bleed. He knew that was a bad thing, even as the other sets of teeth try to bite him over and over with far less success.

OOC-You take 1 injury, meaning you are at -1 from future toughness rolls. You also need to heat the wound lest you get infected at some point. How fast is unclear. You are also grappled by the horde, meaning you must escape before you can move again.

With one backhanded swipe, the tunnel underneath the tunnel collapsed blocking the Infected from following them. He raced ahead of the others. “Follow me. We need to regroup. For the record, I’m a Weremole not a giant badger!”On the way back, he stepped over Mindhaze to reach out of the hole and wrench Warhead free from the mob before yanking him down into the hole and collapsing that opening.

16:47, Today: Holey Moley rolled 24 using 1d20+13 with rolls of 11.  Strength check to break grab DC 13.

Move-by attack to grab (rolled 24 for strength check) Warhead and pull him free and down the hole

Shaking her head, Natalia tried to clear her thoughts, and was finally able to squeeze the horrific noises out of her skull. As she did so, she saw Richard grabbed behind her, and pulled down by the angry horde, and she lifted a hand,

"No!" she said, the worry very clear in her voice, her eyebrows raising in worry.

As she did so, she snapped her hand downwards in a flat/smashing motion. As she did that, a hand suddenly materialized above the infected, and smashed downward in a huge crushing fashion, hopefully crushing all of Richard's attackers!





Activating my TK power to create a massive hand, to bring down and smash all of the infected around Richard, when he moves out of the way!
This message was last edited by the player at 18:31, Thu 03 Aug 2023.

Seeing that he was alone and Natalia was out of danger, Richard let out a breath. For most people being grabbed by a bunch of animated dead people who wanted to ate them would be terrifying. And it was. Almost paralyzing, pants-crapping, heart-stoppingly so. But one thought overrode that fear and panic.

He had to keep them from getting to Natalia next.

So set his determination, focused his will and he began to glow. "You think you have me in a bind, but really all you've done is put yourself somewhere I can target ALL of you at on-"

And he was yanked on in mid-sentence from below. He let out a surprised yelp and then the blast of power he had been building shot out of the hole and in to the Infected. He hoped it wouldn't hit anyone alive but since it hadn't been his original intention, he wasn't certain about his aim.

OOC: Edited.


This message was last edited by the GM at 15:47, Wed 02 Aug 2023.

Even as Warhead was about to deliver his dramatic monologue...he is grabbed by two huge clawed paws and carefully pulled into the earth. The infected seem actually surprised, but before they can do anything about it, the entire group is pinned to the ground by a huge hand made of some sort of mental energy. The ones not crushed, and struggling against entrapment are again suprised, as a beam of radioactive energy zips into the center of the room...and proceeds to nuke the entire inside of the resturant.

Needless to say, its pretty silent in there after that.

The next noise heard is coming from Warhead's wrist. The scanner strapped there lets off a beep, and its digital watch like screen flares to life.

Data recorded. 95% of info still required.

Both Warhead and Mindhaze see each other in the poorly lit tunnel their giant mole friend just made, the lights coming from his suit. Also there are five other people they have never seen before staring at them in confusion. An older woman looks at both of them and says "So...you know the giant badger too?"

Above, after the glow of the mini nuke fades, everyone hears more infected trying to get into the restaurant just over them. Clearly trying to figure out what all the noise and lights are and if the establishment in question is still open and serving food after all this time.

Warhead feels his arm throb, and red veins spread from the wound. His vision clouds as he sees only red, and not at all when he shifts his vision to other energy spectrums. That quickly fades, but he still feels unwell.

OOC-You are all up! The infected are starting to re-enter the restaurant for their turn.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:42, Thu 03 Aug 2023.

Moley closes the hole opening above them and points for everyone to head down the tunnel back to where the original four came from. That path was farther down and less likely to be detected by the Infected above. He then collapses the tunnel behind him to prevent the Infected from digging down to them. “Slowly and carefully follow the tunnel where my suit lights the way. We need to regroup. Also I’m a mole not a…uh forget it.”

Rushing to Richard's side, Natalia's hands reached out and touched his arm gingerly, around his wound. Looking closely at it, she couldn't help but wince,

"Are you alright? That needs treatment. Soon." she said, looking at him hopefully, "Do you have enough fine control to do it without hurting your arm?" she hoped softly.

With that, they were in a hurry, and she took off with the others down the tunnel after Moley, nodding,

"We know. Mole, not badger." she smiled, reassuring him that she was on board.

Raising her hands, she created a transparent shield above them, even as Moley collapsed the dirt. That way, when the infected tried to dig, they would feel like the dirt was nearly invulnerable, even if it was only temporary... they wouldn't know that!




Using her shield to "block" the infected from digging down in the newly softened dirt, to hopefully dissuade them from following!

Richard stopped fighting the thing that had grabbed almost immediately, realizing it was friendly. He took in a deep breath and then let it out slowly. He nodded to Natalia even as he looked at the watch after it 'spoke'. "Huh. Okay. I guess that's how we'll know."

He looked at the rescued people and just gave a nod. He had other things to worry about. "Hold on a second."

He took in several breaths and steeled himself. He put one hand over the wound he'd gotten and his hand began to glow as he tried to burn the wound, his face twisting in a grimace from concentration, pain or both.

OOC: Gonna try and heat things up! On myself, that is.

In reply to Warhead (msg # 45):

Upon using heat on the wound, Warhead does not feel any better. He suddenly realizes...he is not harmed by his own power. His own natural immunity may very well allow the Cancerverse to spread in him. Then he hears someone clear thier throat.

"Ummm...glowboy? Uh...you might wanna try heating this up and putting it on the wound." One of the older men said, handing Warhead a combat knife handle first.

Assuming he takes it and places the metal against his skin, he proceeds to heat that up. While immune to his own power, he is not immune to the heated metal that now burns him. His legs buckle and he nearly passes out from the pain. However, the red haze that was clouding his vision is quickly gone. He feels somewhat better, although the burn on his arm stings terribly.

OOC: Your -1 injury remains, however now it is just a burn you must recover naturally  from over time.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:03, Sat 05 Aug 2023.

Moley is thankful that they found a way to singe the wound Warhead had. He continues digging slightly down and away from the town. He’s about 100 feet down in the earth using his special senses to detect anything in the earth and above ground in a 1,000 foot radius to see where the Infected are and if they are following their path above ground. “Now that we have some room to breathe, metaphorically speaking, I suppose introductions are in order. You can call me Holey Moley. My friends and I are exploring the nearby town trying to gather intel on the Infected. Who are you all and where did you come from?”

Watching Richard burn himself, Natalia gripped his un-used shoulder tightly, wincing as he hurt himself as if she felt the pain herself.


When he'd finished, she looked at his wound, and immediately analyzed it.

"I'm going to treat this, just so it doesn't scar over and cause you problems. If anybody has any antiseptic ointment or a simple bandage, I'll be glad to patch this up." she said, looking quite experienced with at least a basic injury.*

With that, she joined with Moley in introducing themselves after he was finished,

"And I am Mindhaze..." she said, only slightly looking awkward with using the code-name. She didn't need to add anything further, as she felt Mr. Moley had handled it quite well.



*I'll take a routine result (due to the skill mastery) with my "ongoing treatment" to guarantee success. I'm just having Natalia look after the wound to prevent basic infection, and aid in the healing, etc. Hopefully if anybody has bandages or anything I can make it even better :)

Richard shook his head and handed back the combat knife once he was done and it was cooled down. "Sure. Thanks." He didn't feel thankful really, but it was more that he didn't feel great in general. The wound was throbbing a little and he hoped they had gotten it taken care of in time.

He glanced at Natalia with a blank look and out loud he said, "I thought scars were manly and made one more attractive? I thought I heard that somewhere."

He looked at the unknown people for a moment before saying, "I suppose you can call me Warhead if you must."

Once Moley brings the group to a safe place underground, and after Mindhaze works on Warhead's injury, the team can review the other people with them. Its five older people, two women, three men. The leader seems to be a middle aged woman who coughs a lot. Wearing army fatigues and holding an assault rifle. Now its put away, as Moley clearly has good intensions.

In fact, all five people look unhealthily in various ways. None of them are infected obviously, but seem to have mundane issues that may be quite serious. Mindhaze can tell with her medical training none of these people should be out of bed, much less toting rifles and running around.

"My names Brenda." The woman in charge says. "We...uh...where looking for someone. We have an appointment we need to keep. So thank you for saving us and all, but we need to get to the surface soon. Granted we don't want to seem ungrateful, but if you could drop us off near the old cemetery..."

"Brenda, maybe we don't need to go! You saw these three! They fought off a horde of those things, all by themselves! Maybe we can..." One of the men pipes up.

"Shut up Mark!" She barked. "Its not their concern, and we are the only ones who can do this! You know that, and you know why! Stop giving us false hope, dammit!" She said, the bitterness in her voice quite clear.

OOC-Warhead's injury is now healed. With Mindhaze's improvised tools advantage, she can use a strip of cloth and her own TK powers to make a bandage.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:32, Tue 08 Aug 2023.

Moley transformed back into a man. “If you’re trying to get the Necromizer to save you, that’s not a good idea. You’ll just be turned into undead controlled by him. We’re not alone. Where we come from there are thousands of people living at least modest lives with food to eat, medical supplies to treat them, and a bed to lay on free from the fear of the Infected. We are a sort of exploratory squad that gathers intel and supplies from the outside world. My last team found an old mall that some people holed up at before it was overrun by Infected. We took them with us back to the city after gathering up the supplies. I offer the same invitation to you. Mindhaze here can help your conditions while we are here gathering intel for a cure for the Infected.”

Raising a hand to quiet the tempers, Mindhaze thought carefully through what she was saying before she spoke, and as she was thinking, Moley spoke up and said virtually everything she was going to!

Nodding her head with what she hoped was a comforting smile, Natalia agreed,

"I would be happy to help you, but here we have little time. If you are comfortable being healed, and resting, and supporting the war effort from behind the front lines, instead of on the front lines, then we can help each other." she smiled.

Flicking her eyes towards Richard, she smiled, but said nothing.

Turning back to Brenda, who seemed the most upset, she focused her efforts,

"Please, understand that we are here to help. And if you accept that help, your lives can go from a nonstop, hellish battle, to one in which you hang out with good people, and help in other ways. Healthy. Safe." she smiled, "Does that sound fair?"

One of the men perks up at this information. "You see Brenda? She helped his arm! Maybe we can..."

"Mark...just stop. That was a burn. Not what we..." She pauses and shakes her head. Then she turns back to the team. "We know what Necromizer wants. He needs life to fuel his powers. We volunteered for this because the options for the rest of our community is limited. We are the only ones that can do this...because, we are all dying." He sighs.

"I have cancer, Cheryl has cancer, Bob has ALD, Tom has lung cancer, and Mark..." She looks over at Mark and hugs him. "This dummy has HIV. Our community does not have the drugs to treat any of our conditions. We are not going to make it...and I am pretty sure Mindhaze can't cure us."

She paused. "It started a few weeks ago. Necromizer was moving around our route the community we belong to uses to avoid the infected. The problem was he was also being hunted...by the Amazonian. We can fight the normal infected, but her turned amazons where slaughtering us. She was not even that interested if we lived or died, she was more about destroying Necromizer. They sorta hate each other for some reason. Anyways, Necromizer sent a talking skull to offer us a deal. We send him people, and he can use his undead to fight the infected. It sorta works, because the undead can't be infected. With fresh living life force, he's able to fight off the Amazonian. So...we have to hand ourselves over. It will give our people enough time to try to escape both of those things." Needless to say, the entire group of sick people seem very depressed.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:17, Tue 08 Aug 2023.

Moley sighed. The group was apparently martyrs ready to give up their lives to save their community. They were going to die anyways, so it seemed natural to make their death mean something. “So I understand what you’re saying. What if we brought you and your community back with us? That way they can be safe and the doctors can provide you with treatment. The reality is that you don’t know how long your life energy will provide him. How long will it be before he asks for more sacrifices? It then just becomes a protection scam to preserve his own undead self until everyone is gone. If you’re still dead set on going to him though, at least let us provide you safe travel there and tell us where your people are to give them the option of coming with us.”

OOC: I can't leave you all alone for 1 DAY without lots of posts and trying to move the narrative along, sheesh! lol

Richard smiled at Natalia for a moment.

However, the conversation around them kept going. Moley offered them sanctuary, but the...calling them 'survivors' seemed like such a cruel joke...laid out their predicament and their plan. And the more the conversation went on, the more Richard's mood dropped. He looked down and frowned. He wished, he burned, with the idea of being able to help those with cancer, to basically give them chemotherapy, or find a form of radiation that could cure them, any of them.

He shook his head. "Feeding a monster to battle another monster, neither of which can probably truly be killed...seems like not the best of ideas. And from what I've heard, I doubt the Necromizer will stop with you lot. He'll always need more and when your community stops giving willingly, he'll just take." He gave a shrug. "Maybe I'm wrong. But even in this world, if I can live a little longer, I choose to do so."

"Our people are being chased by the Amazonian right now. We can't just run off with you without them. And...unless you are tougher than a former member of the Justice Brigade and her team of infected Amazonians-I don't think you can stop her." Brenda said sadly.

"You don't know that! I bet the three of them could stop her!" Mark pipes up, ever the optimist.

"I have never heard of them until today! I have heard a LOT about the Amazonian!" Brenda snapped.

Mark threw up his hands. Then he seemed to get an idea. "What...what if they did not need to fight her? What if the Necromizer took care of her for us, or visa versa?"

"I know that Mark. That's why we are all going to that undead freak!" Brenda said, rolling her eyes.

"No, no...I mean what if we got her to come to us, as we are heading for him?" Brenda narrowed her eyes at him. "No, think about it! She did not come here to hunt us, right? We were just in the way! She came here to get Necromizer! That's how she first showed up! Coming right for him! It's...it's like the Godzilla movie, when Ken Watanabe says 'Let them fight!'"

Some of the other people look at Mark very skeptically, but one of the women says "Oh yeah! I remember! He wanted Godzilla and the other monsters to fight each other while the humans avoided both!"

"Yeah! Yeah!" Mark seemed very excited all of a sudden, and of course starts to cough. "Hear me out. If you guys can lure the Amazonian to where we know the Necromizer is gonna be before we hand ourselves over-he's not gonna care about us! He's gonna either run or fight! He's not a berserker like her! Then you can finish off the one that's left, or we all just head to this place Mr Mole is talking about!" Mark looks at everybody, beaming.

"That's easier said then done, Mark..." Brenda frowned, but she was not dismissing the idea out of hand like she did before.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:54, Wed 09 Aug 2023.

Raising her eyebrows Richard's way, Natalia looked slightly taken aback at what he hadn't said, almost playfully.

Hearing the others speak, and Moley offer the safety of the shelter, gave her hope. If he, the builder of the shelter welcomed them: they were welcome!

"This plan... sounds good, but what the Necromizer capable of? And Amazonian? What stories, specific on details if possible, have heard?" she asked, levying a few questions at the 'survivors' for hopefully some more intel on the situation. In her hurry, and focus, her accent slipped back slightly.

"Perhaps..." she bit her lower lip softly, "When both weak, we clean both up at end, and kill two bird with stone." she said, holding up a single finger, hoping that got the point across of the old saying she'd heard about accomplishing two things at once.

Richard squinted a little in a frown at the people who had mostly stopped talking to them and were instead talking back and forth amongst themselves but about the situation. Or the possibilities of the situation. He glanced at his companions and then back art the survivors.

He looked down for a moment. "Look, I'd love to help you all, I would, but...being bait for the Amazonian? Likely getting caught in the crossfire between the Necromizer and the Amazonian? That's likely suicide. And who's to say the Necromizer would even show himself to allow the Amazonian to be aimed AT him? If he sees her coming, he's a survivor and he'd just as likely say eff it and hide until it was all over unless he's powered up. He's a villain so he might not keep his word to you and your community." He gave a shrug.

He glanced at Moley and then at Mindhaze. "I dunno. Seems highly risky with not much guarantee of a good outcome for anyone."

Moley shook his head. “We aren’t tangling with either of those two if we can help it. Besides, majority of the world is Infected. Just because those two are gone doesn’t mean there isn’t a whole world left to take their place. You can either come with us back to your town to escort them to safety or go on your way. We still have our original mission to complete. The choice is yours.”

In reply to Holey Moley (msg # 59):

Mark seemed to get angry. "We dont have a town. We have a convoy! And they will only last until they run out of gas. Then the Amazonian will get every person she can lay her hands on. Men, women, kids!" He shook his head. "First the Justice Brigade, now this shit!" He stormed off...but was unable to get far. After all, they where in an underground tunnel.

Brenda sighed, and gestured to the others. "Forgive him, you three are first bit of good news we have had in a while. To be fair to him, after our convoy was first hit by the Amazonian, it was the Necromizer's distraction which saved us. I have never seen any infected, even the extra human infected that she brought along, ever stop attacking a human and instead go after something else. Like an undead weirdo and his skeleton servants. She really hates him, enough to stop trying to eat us. Which made all her forces pull back and gave us a chance to escape. We actually talked about asking him for help later...but then we got the floating skull message and his price. You know the rest of it..." she shrugged.

"If you could drop us by the graveyard with no infected around, that would be fine." She said grimly. The others all nodded as well. Clearly set in thier path.

This seems... Natalia wrinkled her brow in confusion. These people seemed almost more dedicated to the Necromizer than should be considered 'normal', given the circumstances. They almost had the "image" of good people down, but the actions of not-so-good people to go with it.

Instead of speaking, Natalia thought there might be some thinking that needed to happen. She allowed the others to chat on her behalf.

In reply to Mindhaze (msg # 61):

Mindhaze proceeds to scan both people, neither of which show any notice of what is happening.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:20, Sun 13 Aug 2023.

Richard frowned at the anger and conversational turn. He glanced slightly at Natalia and gave just the littlest nod of understanding. Looking back at the survivors, "Well, we offered you a place to take your people. If you believe that they can't be gotten to before the Amazonian gets them but you somehow think going to the Necromizer will help and in the HOPE that he can take down the Amazonian."

He gave a shrug. "I mean, we can't stop you and I guess we can at least help you get to your rendezvous safely." He sure didn't like it and he left unsaid what they might be doing when they laid eyes on the Necromizer.

In reply to Warhead (msg # 63):

"Look, if I am outta place just say so...but I am pretty sure the three of you are Freebooters, right?" Brenda said.

"Assuming you are, then that place you are promising is no good to us. They would just kick us out. We dont have enough useable skills, and not enough resources to use. It would not be the first time the Freebooters left people out here in the infected wilderness. Especially when they dont really have much to offer in return."

Moley shrugged since it seems they had already determined how they would be received by the Freebooters. No use forcing people who didn’t want the help. Lead a horse to water kinda thing. “If that’s what you think then I won’t stop you. Which direction is the old graveyard? We’ll get you close enough to be able to walk there the rest of the way then we will be on our way. Sound good?”He looked to his teammates for their opinion on his suggestion as well.

Spreading her hands wide in a 'don't shoot me' look, Natalia tried to calm things down,

"Look: we understand that this is difficult for everybody, at the best." she started, opening the floor with that, "And I am sure people here have good reason not to trust authority figures, given the record of the past." she said, subtly glancing towards Brenda, "I am also pretty sure most of you have different ideas of what to do, right? Perhaps you disagree with one another at times, but in this case: even if you have less skills to offer - you are living beings, and you can get a good night's rest. Even Freebooters wouldn't deny you that much." she encouraged them.

"Please: at least give us a chance to come through for you, at least for one night. If you never let somebody try to make mistakes up to you, then they truly never can." she hoped aloud, knowing full well that Richard and Moley weren't going to argue with these people if they were going to be stubborn. This could be her role in the group, and she was determined to make a difference!

In reply to Mindhaze (msg # 66):

OOC-Make a persuasion Check with an extra +5 to your roll. However, the DC is a tough one and you don't know what it is.

I rolled a base 6, so I don't think I'll succeed even with a super easy check, hahaha. Best laid plans + diceroller = worst laid plans :P

I think its like +5 for skill ranks, +something for attractive 2 (if that modifies it), but there's no way that's enough.

Richard was ready to move on but Natalia was not. She spoke to the group of survivors with passion and sincerity, urging them to not just give up. He smiled slightly at her, but then turned to watch the survivors to see if they discarded her words or not. Either way, he was ready to head to the cemetery.

In reply to Mindhaze (msg # 68):


The group of them shake their heads almost at once. Showing you all a map, they point out the historic graveyard, Concordia Cemetery. Located directly in a park inside El Paso, and next to the highway, the tourist advertising for the place is right on the map.



The question is, how close do you get-and where do you drop off the people to their likely doom?

Moley gets everyone to within 2 miles of the cemetery burrowing 300 feet underground before making a sharp incline to the surface. On his way up, he feels the vibrations in the ground to detect any zombies or Infected in the area. If none are detected, he makes a hole for the people to escape before sealing up the hole and back tracking away.

Natalia agrees with Moley's plan. Did we detect any infected?

Richard used his senses as well while they moved and approached the desired destination of the survivors...well, he guessed he needed to stop thinking of them as survivors since they were literally marching to their death right then. He restrained a sigh and shook his head slightly before re-focusing his x-ray vision upward to look around as they neared and were near the cemetary.

The way to the graveyard seems clear, at least where you are located. Over the flat road surrounded by a variety of small restaurants and various funeral shops was the graveyard itself. Like the rest of El Paso, the place looks run down and deserted. Even from this distance, you can see a massive amount of graves seem to be dug up and empty.

2 mile walk to the cemetery seems like quite a distance for sick people to hike. Brenda does not complain, but some of the others mutter under their breaths. As if they could not really accept what waited for them in that graveyard. Mark does not seem to look at the team, and sulks along quietly.

Even as both groups prepare their goodbyes, Moley feels something rumbling through the dirt, from just over the next hill. He can tell with his senses its a large amount of vehicles, moving very quickly. Warhead manages to see through the hill to confirm it.

A convoy of trucks-heading their way. Clearly not charging at them, but maybe trying to escape something chasing them?

Richard had frowned as he watched the people leave the 'safety' of the tunnel. He didn't like their decision and didn't agree with it, but he supposed that didn't matter, he just had to respect it. Which was really difficult for him.

"Uhhh...is the convoy supposed to be coming to meet you?" He asked the people. He doubted it. So he reluctantly climbed up on to the surface, burrowing himself if needs be. "We've got trouble and I still have Infected to blast."

Shaking her head, Natalia didn't like what Richard had said. She pursed her lips, clearly not happy with the situation, but she said nothing: knowing full well the people might still be able to hear her.


"Brian?" she asked Moley softly, hoping he had some ideas or guidance on the general situation.

Moley felt the vibrations in his digging claws as the vehicles were approaching. He looked to the sick and then to the graveyard. “You two help escort them to the graveyard as fast as you can, but do not under any circumstances go into the graveyard. Once they are about 60 feet away, break away toward the nearest building and barricade it. I’ll do my best to buy you all some time before heading back your way. We’re going to be utilizing hit and run guerrilla tactics to shoot then burrow to the next building. Once we have our data, we’re gone.”

The giant Weremole then dove into the ground about 30 feet under and made a beeline straight for the trucks and assuming the Infected in their wake.

In reply to Warhead (msg # 75):

Brenda looked alarmed at the news. "They only where supposed to try to get to Necromizer if the Amazonian caught up with the convoy. How many trucks where in the convoy?"

Warhead was not sure, as the vehicles where fast moving and in a line. As the distance increased his x-ray vision and ability to see details diminished. "Ok, we might have to go with plan endgame people!" She said to the others in her group-all of whom nodded and looked grim.

Brenda turned back to team Moley. "If Necromizer tried to screw us and leave our people in the lurch, we each have plans to use hand grenades and try and take him out before he kills us. We don't want the three of you close by if it comes to that. It won't stop the Amazonian, but it might hurt him. Besides, he may not be able to drain us if we are already dead."

As for Moley himself, the trucks where headed right towards the graveyard at high speeds. They where also moving much faster than his burrow speeds, and once he was a bit closer he could see why. Chasing them was several Amazon infected, running at about 60 mph each. Following them, on a transparent chariot pulled by ghostly light based horses, was the Amazonian herself. Screaming in rage at the convoy as she pointed at them, her amazons howling in a high toned chorus as they followed.

Warhead - he needed to start thinking of himself in that way with a fight on the horizon - looked grim. He glanced at the people and said, "I guess you do what you have to do."

He glanced at Natalia,

He began hurrying towards the cemetery, angling a bit towards the convoy so he could try and see some of those chasing the convoy, but had to wait until they were in range.

Moley felt the hairs rise up on his fur as he sensed the Amazonian along with her Amazons chasing the convoy. He radioed the group. “Amazonian and Amazons incoming fast! Hide in the buildings. I’ll coming back to pick y’all up. We need to let them slug it out without getting caught in between.”Moley turned around and started heading back towards his team who hopefully would head for cover.

Natalia was very confused with all of the different orders coming from Moley and Richard, so she leaned on Richard's generalized advice first and foremost. Nodding once to him, she didn't respond verbally, instead trying to assess and analyze everything appropriately.

As soon as Brian looked back as well, Natalia darted off for cover, attempting to hide in the buildings in a position where the Amazonian would not pass near her. She kept peeking, just to make sure Richard or Brian didn't get into any trouble without her being able to at least help a little bit!

As Warhead moves to get closer to the convoy, he can see what is in the trucks with his special vision. Terrified people, clutching each other. Children sobbing as their parents use the window mounted machine guns to fire on the Amazons, to very little effect. While the average infected where fast, the small group of infected woman chasing the chasing the trucks could avoid the worst of the gunfire, although some where knocked back.

Moley zipped back towards his team, but even at top speed he did not burrow very quickly. It would take him some time to hunt down Warhead and Mindhaze.

Mindhaze however could hear the thoughts of the people within the convoy. Normally her mental range was much shorter-but the sheer amount of panic and despair was very easy to pick up on. She too could sense the thoughts of the parents and children, calling out for someone, anyone, to help them.

As if all that was not bad enough, rising from the earth in front of the convoy was skeletal masses with glowing transparent flesh. Dressed from multiple time periods, they were both ghostly and solid bone at the same time. Behind them, walking as if he had all the time in the world, was a withered creature with scraps of flesh on him. His eyes glowing as he grinned with a too wide smile that showed no warmth or welcome.

The Necromizer.

OOC-None of your senses detected the Necromizer and his troops until they appeared. He seems to be able to transport himself and his minions somehow.

What is your plan?

Reaching out instantly when she noticed Necromizer to her allies, Natalia knew it was vitally important... even so important as to reveal her ability to speak in people's minds to newfound acquaintances,


She swallowed, even if only she could see it. She didn't know how Moley would respond to her mental communication, but she felt that the alternate of leaving him open to attack was unacceptable.



Can I sense the Necromizer's thoughts from here? Or the Amazonian?

Moley continued burrowing toward his teammates. The mental communication from Mindhaze was surprising a welcomed discovery. The Weremole responded.

Warhead was already moving even as he replied to the others. ~We're here to collect data and stop the Necromizer, or find out how he's still around, right? So let's complete the mission.~ He kept going, ~I guess maybe see what the Necromizer's intentions are or...you could chat him up or I don't know. I don't know if he's going to let the convoy by though.~

He moved away from Mindhaze and tried to find a perch where he could get an angle on both the Amazon Infected and the Undead. He figured the Necromizer was going to feast and make more minions of the convoy rather than protect it or let it go by.

He let out a sigh and started there. He pointed one hand at the Necromizer, his shield already humming, and hesitated. Then he let out a growl. ~I'm on the Amazons. I'll try to draw fire.~

He blasted the Infected Amazon closest to the convoy.

OOC: I figure it's just us in the thread, we don't need to make it PMs when it's all 3 of us 'talking', but I did the ~ instead of " for the mental dialogue. =)

08:40, Today: Warhead rolled 17 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 9.  Blasting Amazon Infected nearest the convoy.

In reply to Warhead (msg # 86):

Warhead moved into position, aimed, and fired. The Amazon in question was fast, almost dodged the blast-but caught it in the shoulder. She flew back, slowed from the damage, unlike the bullets peppering her fellow Amazons.

The Amazonian herself notices the sudden blast of energy, points at Warhead with a suddenly appearing glowing spear, and screams the high screech that was almost musical that was famously her war cry. The four other Amazons break off the chase and start to close in on Warhead.

What Warhead notices...other than the fast moving threats heading his way at 60 mph, was the scanner on his wrist. It broadcast something on its screen.

'Data retrieved. Excess info gained. Target's physiology noted for disruption due to radiation. Remaining data needed: 75%.

Note-Omega strike option is now available upon full data being gained. Target recommended: Amazonian.'

OOC-All players roll initiative!
This message was last edited by the player at 15:59, Mon 28 Aug 2023.

12:28, Today: Holey Moley rolled 8 using 1d20 with rolls of 8.  Initiative .

Warhead spared a quick moment to glance incredulously down at the new 'jewelry' he was sporting. Did it just tell him to engage the alpha-level former Justice Brigade member they were told specifically to not engage?? He let out a half-growl/half-sigh.

He had had more immediate concerns at the moment - and re-focused on the four Amazons heading his way with haste. He had to make sure they were far enough away from the convoy, but they were so fast he didn't have a lot of time! A small ball of glowing energy grew in his palm and then he hurled it at the front of them to explode into a wash of red energy as they reached it.

10:40, Today: Warhead rolled 13 using 1d20+3 with rolls of 10.  Initiative.
10:43, Today: Warhead rolled 12 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 4.  "Nuke" on the Amazons approaching.

Seeing Richard move off to perform well, as always, Natalia focused her mind tightly on the scene ahead. She didn't want to allow those Amazonians to keep moving at those speeds, because they would quickly close in on her and her team. Instead: if she slowed them down it would benefit them a LOT.

Lifting both hands into the air, she twisted the air in front of her eyes, as she shifted the world to become her playground. As she did so: a giant concrete barrier with jagged edges began to form RIGHT in front of the Amazonians, not giving them enough time to avoid crashing full speed into it!



Rolled a 21 initiative! Yay!

Using my "creation" power to create a concrete wall with concrete spikes facing them in front of the 60 mph amazons! Hoping that they will smash straight into it, and it will collapse on them and slow their movements to a crawl.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:47, Fri 01 Sept 2023.

OOC-initaive breakdown:

Mindhaze-1
Amazons-2
Warhead-3
Holey Moley-4
Necromizer-5

This message was last edited by the GM at 16:01, Wed 06 Sept 2023.

Warhead's reflexes where not nearly as fast as the immortal berserker. Still empowered by the gods of old, and now sustained by the Cancerverse, the four charge him at inhuman speeds. He sees thier glowing red eyes and open glowing mouthes as they bear down on him before he can raise his hands for a second blast.

However, not 15 feet from him the lead Amazon hits something. Hard. Her head makes a crack in a glowing barricade in front of Warhead. She seems momentarily surprised, but not harmed. She even leaves a crack in the energy barrier.

Then the second Amazon attacks the wall, and a third, and the forth. Each blow makes a bigger crack, as MindHaze can feel each strike hit with 3 tons of force. Sure enough, the wall cannot sustain such punishment. The forth Amazon shatters the entire barrier leaving Warhead unprotected.

However, Warhead now is ready to fire at four close range targets. Before the ancient warriors can react again, he fires a point blank nuke at the ground between him and them. With no barrier between them to get in the way.

The four infected women go flying, and not under thier own power. Warhead can see the radiation course through thier muscles and veins, causing disruption and damage. Each of them land in a heap, knocked down...but not out. They begin to stagger back to a standing postion, but they are slowed down enough that's all they can do.

Sure enough, the scanner on Warhead's wrist reacts to the events unfolding.

"65% data collection required. 45%. 25%. 5% before Omega Strike available." each number seems to link to an amazon struck with his powers. Only a little bit left. However, the suggested target of the machine is no where in sight.

(Ooc: Amazons destroy the wall for thier action. Warhead then goes, and does his area effect.

4 Amazons dazed and cannot act next round, as they have to stand and are dazed, thus using up future actions. However they are not in a close group now.

Moley is up next!)
This message was last edited by the player at 16:02, Wed 06 Sept 2023.

Moley burrowed underneath the 4 active Amazons, trying to make them all fall within the collapsing earthen pits.


This message was last edited by the GM at 19:43, Tue 05 Sept 2023.

In reply to Holey Moley (msg # 94):

Sure enough, all four Amazons already dazed by Warhead's blast suddenly find large holes under their feet. Two of them despite their dazed state still have the inhuman reflexes to jump clear.

OOC-
11:18, Today: Secret Roll: Amazonian rolled 38 using 4d20+7 with rolls of 11,12,4,4.  Amazon reflex save vs Moley's pits. Total rolls, 18, 19, 11, 11. Meaning two are 'Stunned' and will have to make saves to escape next round. The other two are unaffected.

Moley must spend a hero point or be fatigued.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:02, Thu 07 Sept 2023.

While all this is going on, Necromizer is busy. He ignores the fight between infected and hero, and spurs on his skeletal/ghostly minions.

"Bring me life! LIFE! For only death is forever, if fed by the living!" He says with a hiss and a voice sounding like he had just crawled from a tomb.

Several trucks veer off, trying to get rid of the various undead clingers on. Also while running over several skeletal creatures not smart enough to get out of the way.

It's clear the people inside those vehicles won't last long against such an onslaught.

OOC-Heroes are up, starting with Mindhaze! The Amazons are next, then Warhead and Moley.

Seeing the cars be assaulted, Natalia glanced back towards Richard. He seemed safe, for the moment, as they had dazed the 4 attackers coming for him. With that in mind, she turned her head to focus on the Necromizer's undead, and she lifted her hands, launching telekinetic projectiles at the undead covering the cars. She hoped she would give the humans a chance to escape!




Telekinetic multiattack on the undead on the cars to knock them loose.


22:32, Today: Mindhaze rolled 13 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 5.  ranged tk.

I THINK that's how I roll for that!

In reply to Mindhaze (msg # 97):

OOC-Multiattack is best for attacking one foe, or 'spreading' the fire to up to five targets standing next to each other. The problem with the second option is it is very inaccurate. You get -1 to hit per target. As a result, you would be at -5 off your roll. You could do all out attack to cancel the modifier however, getting +5 to hit and -5 to your defenses until next round.

Instead, I would recommend your create object. As it is moveable, and thus counts as TK as well as an object at the same time, you can create a giant TK hand(Or even broom) to just brush all the undead off the truck. They will still roll to resist, but because its area effect and TK, its just a roll of their strength vs your tk.

Please Roll 1d20+8 for you TK strength check. I will make a resistance roll for the undead.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:59, Thu 07 Sept 2023.

Ok, thank you!

Alright, I rolled even worse for my strength check than my first attack roll (haha)

12:35, Today: Mindhaze rolled 11 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 3.  strength check

In reply to Mindhaze (msg # 99):

OOC=You have 3 hero points. You can re-roll with 1. If you roll less than an 11, it counts as a 10-then you add your skill rank, power rank, save bonus, or plus to hit as appropriate.

That's ok. I'm alright with bad rolls :) I will save my hero points to save Richard and Brian!

The cars are moving too fast, and as a result the TK construct Mindhaze uses only manages to to sweep off five of the seven hangers-on cling to the lead truck.

OOC:

Their rolls where worse than yours, Mindhaze!

16:13, Today: The Haze rolled 62 using 7d20+3 with rolls of 15,11,2,10,2,10,9.  Skelly str saves on car.

Three of the dazed Amazons shake off Warhead's blast, and proceeds to head for him once again. However, the damage had been done-and all they could do was close in on the radioactive hero.'

The other two spend their time trying to escape the earthen pits Moley had dug for them. Only one of them manage to do so. The final clumsy warrior buries herself a bit deeper.

OOC:
16:17, Today: Amazonian rolled 23 using 2d20+7 with rolls of 5,11.  Two saves to escape the pits. 12 and 18.

Warhead and Moley are up!

Amazonian herself is no where to be seen...
This message was last edited by the player at 19:32, Fri 08 Sept 2023.

Moley had managed to slow down a couple of them, but one was able to free itself. The Weremole then burrowed underneath it and stuck a paw up to try and grab it missing. He dug down back into the earth and away to avoid a return attack.

16:18, Today: Holey Moley rolled 13 using 1d20+6 with rolls of 7.  Fast grab attack on freed Amazon .

Warhead was satisfied that the Amazons had been pulled from the convoy for the moment. There was a whole other problem to deal with, while still worrying about the Amazons...and the no-longer-visible Amazonian.

He switched his aim towards the undead master who causing the most trouble now and blasted him with some radiation as well, hoping to hurt him or divert his attention away possibly.

The ground beneath him glowed red for a moment and then he vanished in to the earth and started moving towards the convoy.

OOC: Blasting the Necromizer if he's in range (if not will target the Amazons with Nuke).
Using burrowing power to move underground and away from the Amazons, sealing the tunnel behind him (if he can).

8:50, Today: Warhead rolled 21 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 13.  Feel The Burn on Necromizer (or nuke on the 2 Amazons again if not).
This message was last edited by the player at 13:19, Sun 10 Sept 2023.

Necromizer is not close to Warhead's position. He would have to burrow all out, as he only moves at 16 mph in loose earth. Not to mention the infected Amazons are going after him.

Moley tries to grab one of the Amazons that are still active, but even disoriented and dazed they are still too fast for the giant mole. Moley does go back under the earth, and leaves the two in a perfect position to be blasted.

Sure enough, Warhead's blast hits dead on both targets. Once again, they go flying...expect this time they don't get up. Usually its head shots that take down an infected. Often temporarily. However, these two don't seem to be getting up anytime soon.

Just as before, the scanner on Warhead's wrist chimes in once more. "Data fully uploaded. Omega strike option, available. Suggested target-The Amazonian." It even shows a picture of one the most famous members of the Justice Brigade-as if it was needed.

However, the device does show an 'arrow' pointing up on its digital display. When Warhead eyes follow along, he sees the Amazonian travelling on a misty chariot pulled by ethereal horses through the air. She's out of range of any of his blasts, and moving too fast. However, its clear where she is going-right to Necromizer.

OOC-It will take a full round action for Warhead or Moley to get to Necromizer's position-and be in range to attack. Mindhaze is far faster than her two teammates, so she could fly to that area as a move action, and still have an attack action left. Next up...Necromizer!

Even as all that chaos is going on with the Amazons, Necromizer seems annoyed that most of his minions have been swept aside by Mindhaze. "Enough of this interference! The master of the dark void will not tolerate such lesser creatures!"

He gestures at Mindhaze, and a dark energy comes from his boney hand, striking at the TK flying hero!

OOC-
14:30, Today: Secret Roll: Necromizer rolled 19 using 1d20+10 with rolls of 9.  Blasting Mindhaze.

Mindhaze, please make a toughness save vs DC 28!

Edit-Blast DC should only be 27, not 28.

Mindhaze is up next, but first must roll her save!
This message was last edited by the player at 15:10, Wed 13 Sept 2023.

No chance with that DC haha, even with hero points, but let's see!

01:11, Today: Mindhaze rolled 18 using 1d20+10 with rolls of 8.  save dc 27.

Darn! Am I squished?
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:10, Wed 13 Sept 2023.

In reply to Mindhaze (msg # 108):

OOC-If you spend a hero point, you get a re-roll and your minimum roll is 10. How much you fail by matter a lot when it comes to damage and saves against some effects.

Understood, thank you. That means, in THIS case, however, I have a ~50% chance of getting the same result, so I'll take this one on the chin.

Mindhaze is blasted by the ebony energy, and goes flying. He head is pounding, but her shields hold...barley. Another couple of blasts like that might prove different.

OOC-Mindhaze takes 1 injury. As a result, she is -1 off toughness rolls until it is healed. She is also dazed, meaning she can take a move action or an attack action-not both. She will be dazed until the start of her next turn.

Mindhaze may now take her 1 action.

Natalia was dazed, and a hand went to her head, searching for any lasting injuries. A bad bruise, but she'd live.

Turning her face back towards Necromizer, she lifted her other hand, and as she did, a massive telekinetic hand appeared above him, smashing down upon him and smothering him!




Attacking with my AOE power of telekinesis!

Rolled for damage:
00:14, Today: Mindhaze rolled 16 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 8.

In reply to Mindhaze (msg # 112):

The huge fist comes down, smashing the decayed form of the undead mage. He is obscured from view for a moment, and then as the fist raises for another blow-his gravely voice is heard.

"Fools! Your powers are nothing compared to the endless void of death itself!" He certainly does not sound any worse for wear...

OOC-Reflex roll to have damage, made. Toughness save made.

Warhead and Moley are up!

Warhead traveled underground for a bit then popped up, the ground melting above him as he surfaced once more, dripping with liquefied earth. He blasted one of the remaining mobile Amazons, still too far from the 'main event' fight that was about to happen between the Amazonian and the Necromizer.

OOC: Burrowing as far as he can in a move action. Then surfacing to blast an Amazon. Poorly, lol.

11:18, Today: Warhead rolled 13 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 5.  Blasting one of the Amazons.

Moley once again burrowed under one of the Amazons and reached up through the earth to grab one by the neck and pulled it down into the earth with him. He dragged the infected straight down collapsing the tunnel behind him as he burrowed. Even if the Amazon escaped his grasp, it would have nowhere to go. Even it’s strength would not be able to dig out of dozens of feet of earth especially when it did not have the same sense of direction and distance that the Weremole had.

12:36, Today: Holey Moley rolled 26 using 1d20+6 with rolls of 20.  Fast grab.

Amazon needs to make DC 25 Toughness check against damage
Amazon needs to make a DC 20 Strength check at -5 from Improved Hold to escape grab

Warhead was in too big a hurry to aim at beings as agile and fast as the ancient warriors like the Amazons. Despite being disoriented by his pervious attack, she manages to duck under his non-nuke single target blast.

(OOC-Miss)

Warhead and his own burrowing are getting closer to the Necromizer and his foes. He should be there soon. The scanner on his wrist keeps flashing the words "Enable Omega strike: Y/N? Suggested Target-Amazonian."

(OOC-If you do one move action towards Necromizer, you will be in range of both him and anyone fighting him.)

However Moley was successful in his efforts...but he also found some failure. His intent was to grab the Amazon and drag her down into the earth, where her lack of burrowing would hinder her. He does manage that about halfway. As in he now has her lower half. Her upper half is still on the surface, not moving very much at all.

Necromizer, just smashed by a giant TK hand gets up no worse for wear. His hand glows black, and he levels it in Mindhaze's direction. "Now, you will feel the full force of Dea..." He is suddenly cut off.

In reply to Necromizer (msg # 117):

The reason is clear. Amazonian falls from the sky, right on top of him. Fists first. Mindhaze might have thought it a tactic, but she soon sees the reason when she reflexively looks up. The transparent chariot and winged energy horse pulling Amazonian through the skies, as she had been many times in the media, had faded. Maybe it was something about Magic not surviving the Haze for very long? It was unclear. However, Necromizer was now distracted by the most famous Amazon and whatever she was now, punching him in the face over and over.

Given how she had been strong enough to lift a 747, it should have pulped his skull. However, his death-mask like face stayed intact. "You petulant child! You cannot destroy me! You never could before, and even with this Haze draining both of us, Death is still forever!"

The Amazonian just screams in response, and keeps hitting him.

OOC-New Initiative, Amazonian goes after Warhead and Moley. The Amazons-whatever is left of them-go after Mindhaze.

Mindhaze is up! Now no longer dazed!
This message was last edited by the player at 18:58, Tue 19 Sept 2023.

Sensing the amazons coming for her, Natalia immediately lifts up into the air, far above their reaches. Looking down at the fight between Necromizer and the Amazonian Queen, she hesitates, and then looks at the humans getting away.

Most things were going well. She was safe, as were Brian and Richard. Turning towards Necromizer, she knew his toughness was formidable, but his defenses, maybe not so much!

Reaching out with her mind, she tried to mentally punch Necromizer, with very poor results. It seemed she and her allies were cursed this day.





03:32, Today: Mindhaze rolled 11 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 3.  tk ranged attack!

Did a ranged attack with TK, assuming that means he can't use his insane toughness (just defense), but I rolled low enough to miss the average rock :) Are we averaging something like a 6 on rolls now?

One of the Amazons buried in earth proceeds to burst forth from her tomb. The other blasted by radiation shoots off at 60 mph towards Warhead's burrowing form. The third remains trapped by earth, while the forth stays still being torn in half and all.

Mindhaze's TK grab gets nowhere near its target due to Necromizer and the Amazonian struggling and moving.

OOC-Warhead and Moley are up! Warhead must use one move action to be in range of the Amazonian and Necromizer.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:02, Wed 20 Sept 2023.

Warhead paused in his burrowing to glare at the thing on his wrist. He let out a sigh. "Fine! Yes! Activate omega strike or whatever." He tried to press the Y as well just to make sure.

He wished he could just let the Necromizer and the Amazonian go at it until they were both too weak, but he had a feeling the undead would keep trying to kill the survivors during that fight.

He burrowed further and then popped out once more. He knew he didn't have long before at least one of the lesser amazons was on top of him, so he hurled a nuke at the high-powered combatants, hoping to hit them both and do some damage.

OOC: Hahaha, it's a good thing there's a minimum on a re-roll. Sheesh. So hit 18 I guess.

11:14, Today: Warhead rolled 15 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 7.  Tossing a Nuke at The Necromizer and The Amazonian.
11:17, Today: Warhead rolled 10 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 2.  Hero Point re-roll.

Moley released the bottom half of the Amazon he had then returned to the surface where he thrust a claw through the surface to grab the legs of the Amazon that had just freed herself and began to drag her down through the earth.

07:08, Today: Holey Moley rolled 20 using 1d20+6 with rolls of 14.  Fast Grab freed Amazon.

DC 25 Toughness check
DC 20 Strength check with a -5 penalty to escape grab

Once again...Moley fails to grab all of the Amazon in question. He does get some of her. She tried putting up a bit of a fight against the Giant Mole, forcing Moley to pulp her head. So all he comes away with is a messy bit of goop in his enormous clawed paws. One of these days, this tactic is going to work! Just to a slightly lesser extent...

(OOC-she actually made the grapple check and totally failed the toughness save...)

In reply to Warhead (msg # 121):

OOC-You don't roll to hit with area effect attacks. You keep your hero point.

Warhead actually has to tap the 'Y' on the digital screen several times before he gets a response. It was clearly not voice-activated. However, after what seems like forever, it finally works.

Omega strike activated. Please note, there may be side effects. The digital screen says with seemingly information that it might have wanted to state earlier.

What happens next may very well be visible from space. At first, it seemed like a normal blast. But Warhead could feel the device on his wrist drawing on every aspect of his power. Unlike his normal 'nuke' blast, which he could do all day-Warhead felt like his blood and body where being forcibly poured into this one attack. The closest he could come to describing it was he felt like a tube of toothpaste being squeezed from every part all at once. It certainly lit up the sky like a full powered nuke went off-but without all the excess blast zone and radiation.

Still not fun to endure for Warhead and his two targets.

It was certainly less fun for the Amazonian and Necromizer. The undead sorcerer was hurled backwards, and even let out an shocked cry of what could be considered pain...for him. He was knocked back so far he hit the small hillside the group had awoken at several miles away. A small 'poof' of dirt could be seen at his impact point.

The Amazonian herself does not move. She does scream at the center of the blast, and then turns towards Warhead, and clearly plans to charge. At first it seems like she was totally unaffected. But Warhead can see as she is bearing down on him she is moving slower than normal. Plus, her body seems to be glowing in parts-which normally does not happen for her in that manner.

This is all basic information, because when Warhead is able to stand back up on very shaky legs the next thing he notices is something is very wrong with him. As in he has no radiation left to emit. At all. Even his special senses, his force field, and his ability to burrow.

Nothing is working-and the Amazonian seems really mad.

(OOC-Warhead gets a hero point for being in a bad spot. His powers are turned off. However, something is happening to the Amazonian and Necromizer is out of the picture. For now, at least.

Mindhaze is up! Followed by the remaining Amazons and Amazonian herself.)
This message was last edited by the player at 20:09, Tue 26 Sept 2023.

Seeing the massive explosion erupt from Richard, Natalia's eyes flash wide. She'd never seen that from him before! Could he do this the whole time? Not likely... most likely something to do with that device that she still didn't fully trust.

He looked lost... weakened? Was he hurt?

She didn't like the thought of that.

Flying rapidly down from the sky, she arrived at his side, and erupted a massive telekinetic wall over both herself and him, putting them in a small "room" to protect him from anything outside. Reaching out her hands to take in his shoulders, she tried to meet his gaze,

"Are you alright?" she asked in the sudden silence of her telekinetic 'room' she'd created. She kept her focus on the walls, as she figured the running Amazonian would be beating them down soon, but she knew he needed this moment to recoup from whatever he'd just done.


Fly to Richard's side, so I can stand and erect the telekinetic walls around us.

The Amazonian charges Warhead, eyes blazing red. Expect...they don't. Not all the way. Her eyes actually flicker back to a normal seeming-blue for a second. Her face seems...confused. Then the red haze of energy from her orbs return, and the hunger and rage on her face also returns in full.

She hits Mindhaze's field with a full charge. The Tk hero can feel the power of the blow slam into her mind energy wall, trying to take the impact.

The remaining Amazon is still trapped, but trying to dig her way out...

OOC-Mindhaze, make a TK power roll of 8+1d20 vs a DC of 27!

Warhead and Moley are up!
This message was last edited by the player at 15:45, Wed 27 Sept 2023.

Moley felt the shockwave through his digging claws as he swam through the earth. “What the hell just happened up there!?”The Weremole yelled into his mic to see if they were both still okay. Seeing through the vibrations, he could tell it was two on one with Mindhaze and Warhead against the Amazonian since Necromizer got sent flying. He decided to go after the one that was still partially buried to keep it at those odds. Moley once again tried to grab it by the waist and yank it down into the ground like a ground hog with a carrot, but immediately felt his vice like grip crunching through bone.

20:09, Today: Holey Moley rolled 26 using 1d20+6 with rolls of 20.  Fast Grab attack.

Crit! Toughness Check DC 30 to resist
Strength check DC 20 with -5 penalty to escape grab

Richard, no longer Warhead for the moment, had looked surprised but had no time for any other reactions to the 'omega strike'. "ahh, fu- He dropped to one knee, breathing heavily. His mouth was dry and he felt a little dizzy. Drained. That was it. He felt drained. Like all his power was just...gone.

He blinked several times, trying to get his bearings once more. He looked up as he saw feet near him and saw Natalia. She looked she was speaking, but he shook his head. He tried to speak but he struggled a little.

Finally he croaked out, "O..omega...strike..." He licked his lips as he pointed at the thing on his wrist. He shook his head. "I'm...all tapped out..."

OOC: As a move action he struggles to stay on his feet. As a standard action, he speaks. Lol

Necromizer does not reappear. Furthermore, the various skele-ghosts clinging to the various cars and trucks fade away. Thus allowing the convoy to keep driving as the Amazons are pretty much taken care of...save the Amazonian herself. Moley once again adds to his new corpse collection of torn in half ancient greek warriors.

OOC-Mindhaze is up! First part of your action needs to be rolling your TK wall's toughness save.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:05, Thu 28 Sept 2023.

05:26, Today: Mindhaze rolled 20 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 12.


As the Amazonian punched a human sized hole in her wall, Natalia jumped, clearly not expecting such force behind the woman's assault.

Glancing over towards Richard, she realized there was no way she could pick him up, and she didn't think it would be smart to drop the walls, so instead she re-strengthened the walls as powerfully as she could, lifting her hands up to recreate them as she (and hopefully Richard) backed away.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:24, Sun 01 Oct 2023.

The Amazonian, still on wobbly legs, gestures and seems to draw a sword from thin air. A glowing blade seemingly made of pure light, she does a massive overhead swing at the shield separating her from her prey.

(OOC-Mindhaze, make a 1d20+8 TK roll against a DC of 28 this time!

Warhead and Moley are up! Moley is a full move away from the Amazonian.

OOC-Warhead and Mindhaze, both of you may make an insight or perception roll on Amazonian, whichever is better.)

12:01, Today: Mindhaze rolled 11 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 3.  tk.

12:01, Today: Mindhaze rolled 14 using 1d20+10 with rolls of 4.  insight.

A 3 and a 4.

For superheroes, we REALLY stink, haha.

In reply to Mindhaze (msg # 132):

Amazonian shatters the entire orb, leaving Mindhaze and Warhead without protection. However, you do see her sword break and vanish as soon as she finishes off the TK construct.

OOC-I will post the result of your insight check as soon as I know Warhead's roll.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:12, Tue 03 Oct 2023.

Richard watched as the Amazon powerhouse kept smashing through his friend's telekinetic shields. He grimaced, knowing she was coming after him. So he had to lead her away from his allies. "Take to the air!"

He then hurried away from the Amazon and where the convoy was, trying to keep himself safe with a more defensive posture as he did so.

OOC: Taking the Defend action and moving away from the Amazonian and not towards Moley either. Unless there is a double move sort of thing, he'd do that instead.

19:13, Today: Warhead rolled 20 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 12.  Insight (or Perception, they're both the same).

Moley feels Warhead running away from the Amazonian and him. “Run towards me! You can’t outrun her without your powers. I can slow her down by pulling her into the ground.”The Weremole then burrowed as quickly towards the Amazonian as possible.

OOC: Double move to the Amazonian to reach her or one move and ready action if Warhead leads her his way

OOC-Mindhaze is up! Moley had to make a double move even if Warhead runs.

OOC-Insight/Perception Checks

Mindhaze fails...no surprise with that roll.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:04, Thu 05 Oct 2023.

Turning and facing the Amazonian, she extended both hands, and yet again, created another telekinetic force wall. If she wanted to catch Richard, she'd have one hell of a time doing it! Even if she broke through it, Natalia would keep even with Richard, and not leave him!





19:29, Today: Mindhaze rolled 28 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 20.  another tk roll.

In reply to Mindhaze (msg # 138):

The Amazonian creates a gaint axe of golden light, and swings it directly at the barrier Mindhaze created. There is a flash, and everyone is blinded for just a second. When Mindhaze blinks, and clears her vision she sees something that she never thought would happen...

In reply to Amazonian (msg # 139):

What Mindhaze sees now is the Amazonian laying before her TK shield. Totally knocked out. And looking...much like her old self. No pale, withered form. No glowing eyes or mouth. She looked...healthy. Whole. And unharmed.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:43, Sat 07 Oct 2023.

OOC-Moley and Warhead may act. Technically combat is over.

Richard stumbled when the mental thoughts ripped in to his mind with much more force than Natal...Mindhaze had ever spoked to him with before. He dropped to one knee and turned back to look. He hesitated and then slowly stood back up.

"Uhhhh..." He started to make his way cautiously back towards the two women. "Did you kill her? I thought they couldn-" He frowned as he got closer. "Wait...whaaaat? She doesn't look...infected anymore? Are you seeing this too?"

Moley heard his two teammates say what happened. It seemed the device had worked. The question is if the infection had been completed purged or just temporarily subdued. Then there was the sudden disappearance of the Necromizer. There was no telling how powerful he would become if he absorbed the Amazonian’s life energy. He needed to isolate the variables. He quickly burrowed through the ground and snatched up the former Omega and pulled her underneath filling the hole as he did. <<Stay frosty everyone. The Necromizer is still out there now without the Amazonian in his face. I’m going to take one of your Environmental devices and slap it on her to keep her underground while you all talk to the survivors of the caravan. I’ll come back for a pickup when you’re done. By the way…where’s Queen Cobra?>>Moley then popped up next to Warhead and held out his hand for his device. If/when acquired, he placed it on the Amazonian and burrowed them back down to where he could excavate a room to watch her wake up for questioning and observation.

First, the Amazonian seemingly knocked herself unconscious. Then: she watched as their friend Moley popped up suddenly underneath her, and yanked her underground, warning them about the Necromizer.

Natalia was starting to get tired. That had been exhausting, and now they still had to deal with the Necromizer. And without the device now, Richard wasn't going to be able to blast him like he'd blasted the Amazonian.

Turning towards Richard, she leaned over and gave him a big hug, leaning into his chest. That was plenty for now. She just left it at that. She felt a big relief, now that he wasn't about to be chopped into bits by a crazy infected woman, and that felt nice.

Richard had been leaning forward and examining the Amazonian when the Mole pulled her under the earth. He stifled a yelp even as he hopped back a foot. Then Natalia was hugging him. He had no issue with that, putting an arm around her in return.

When Moley surfaced once more, wanting one of their devices, Richard was frowning at him, but handed it over. He then began walking Natalia towards the caravan - if they had stopped. He looked to see if they were still driving away pell-mell or not.

The next thing those above ground hear is a group of trucks pulling up to their location. Brenda, Mark and the others also show up-signaling the convoy its safe to join them. Mark has a very large grin on his face, and nudges Brenda repeatly until she growls in frustration.

"Ok, ok! You were right! There, happy!?" She grumbles, a short lived smile on her face when others start to notice.

"Yes...yes I am." Mark said, folding his arms. "Nice job you guys. If its alright, I am pretty sure the others would like to reconsider the offer of the Freebooter's help if its still on the table."

The others nodded with large grins.

"By the way, did you guys kill the Amazonian? That was amazing!" He said, looking at Warhead.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:39, Wed 11 Oct 2023.

In reply to Holey Moley (msg # 143):

The Amazonian does not wake, but she is breathing. Moley can tell via his tech that she does not need any form of life support...but that is not due to the infection. He recalls many times the Amazonian went into space without a protective suit when she was...'normal'. It is doubtful lack of air or sunlight was going to do her any harm now.

Moley radios up to the surface. “Observations would indicate that the Amazonian has been cured for the time being. We don’t know this technology enough to be able to tell whether her condition is temporary or permanent. I will need to conduct further studies. Good job team. How are the people doing topside?”

Richard looked at the arriving others. He shook his head, though hesitantly. "Infected can't be...killed." He frowned. He still felt very weak and...un-powered. "But...I don't know. We tried something new and...it may have done...something. We'll see I guess."

He looked in the distance but asked them, "Did anyone see what happened to the Necromizer? Where he disappeared to?"

He didn't immediately respond to Moley, figured he'd leave that to Natalia.

Confused at the news, and what exactly she should say, Natalia tapped the mic to respond,

"Is the Amazonian restrained? Err, safe? Or...?" was she supposed to be concerned about her health, or her lack of ability to kill Moley? She was in some strange territory here for sure.

Turning back towards the civilians, she tried to clear her mind and put a smile on her face, to act as a representative for the Freebooter's,

"Well, we may not be certain about everything that's happening right now, but we certainly still intend to help, if you'll allow us." she reassured them, "Now: is anybody else in need of medical treatment after that fight?" she asked, clearly willing to help. She darted a glance Richard's way... she didn't want to leave his side even for a second, no matter who needed help, and she wouldn't.

Moley responded. “She is not restrained as I don’t have anything to restrain her with, but all it would take is a second to leave her buried down here. She wouldn’t suffocate, but she wouldn’t know which direction to go or how far. I’m going to stick around until she wakes up. I may just put her in a bear hug until then in case she starts freaking out.”The giant Weremole decides to pick up the Amazonian with both hands and hold her in a solid but gentle grip until she wakes.

Brenda and the survivors begin to organize the convoy as various people and families begin to disembark. There are smiles, hugs, and handshakes offered to the two heroes. For the first time in a long time, those gathered seem able to hope for something better.

Meanwhile, Moley keeps a hold on the Amazonian with little change. She is sleeping, for lack of a better term-which might also be 'coma'. Even then, she shows no sign of resisting or fighting...and more importantly, no indication she has the extra dimensional plague.

Warhead starts to feel something inside him as the haze clouds above begin to break up slightly as they do from time to time. Unfiltered sunlight comes through the cloud bank, and the second it touches him he feels...charged. The normal seemingly unlimited power that courses through his body rushes back into him, clearly feeding on the UV radiation within the rays. It almost like going down a steep hill on foot, and then suddenly noticing somebody put roller-skates on your feet. He needs to focus to keep the radiation from leaking out all at once.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:16, Thu 12 Oct 2023.

Moley radioed up to the surface. “She’s still out. Might be in a coma. I don’t see any signs of infection. We can try to bring her back with us, and Thinkmaster can decide what to do with her. I’ll give you back your life support device Warhead. Shall we get going back to the rendezvous point?”

"Well...uhhh, happy to help." Richard smiled at the survivors and Natalia...until the sun appeared. He started to feel strange, like his powers had been there but behind a wall or something weird. "Excuse me..."

He quickly stepped away from everyone and brought the wrist device towards his head. He kept his voice quiet as asked, "hey. what's happening to me? I was completely drained and now I feel like there's too much power in me all of a sudden..." He wasn't sure if the device even COULD answer him. He concentrated on the radiation for the moment.

In reply to Warhead (msg # 154):

Warhead gets no response from the device. He does recall how it felt when he first got his powers. Like he was a living reactor, ready to emit energy at the slightest loss of focus. It had taken time to learn his current level of control.

However, he knew what he was doing now. All that power restored all at once had been  disorienting. But by just going over his learned control methods to keep his power from leaking he was able to get back under control.

At least...it seemed that way.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:49, Thu 12 Oct 2023.

Richard...or rather, Warhead once more...staggered a bit, before sliding down to one knee, clenched hands resting on his thighs. He drew in deep breaths, held them slightly before letting them out slowly. He spoke very quietly under his breath to himself.

He stayed away from the survivors and the others until he was sure though. In fact, if he needed it, he'd release some of the energy away from them to be sure, but only if he needed to.

Moley strapped the Amazonian to his back and dug his way back to the surface. “We should start heading back to the meeting spot. Everyone get ready and saddle up. Keep an eye out for the Necromizer.”

Moving to Richard's side, Natalia crouched next to him and placed a concerned hand on his shoulder,

"Hey... are you alright?" she asked softly. She could see him struggling, and she didn't like it. Sometimes with Richard, when things got dicey, he got... explode-y? She wanted to make sure he wasn't in some sort of trouble, because if he was, she would be damned before she'd let him fight it alone!

Broadcasting mentally to both Moley and Richard, her thoughts were direct, but decided,

Warhead looked at Mindhaze slowly. "I...think so. That...Omega Strike or whatever? It like completely drained me. I was...empty. For the first time in a very long time." The ghost of a smile touched his lips for a moment before fading.

"And then radiation started flooding back in to me again, filling me up. I almost lost control. I think...I might be okay now." He sounded...half-sure about that. "I'll hang back a bit to make sure the Necromizer isn't coming after us or following us, but I'll keep in sight. I just don't want to endanger anyone, you know?"

The convoy, not having anywhere else to go, loads up the sacrificial committee they had sent out, and followed their heroes. All in hopes of finding some way out of the dangerous endless horde of infected that filled the landscape. Warhead and Mindhaze see children waving them from the windows of the trucks, each eager to catch sight of them.

And the giant mole, of course. Kids love Moley even more than his fanbase at the bar.

The team had been given an extraction site. Of course it involved them going to sleep, as they would not risk detection. The problem was-the last place Necromizer was flying off to against his will was the large hill overlooking the city. Precisely where they needed to go in order to picked up.

Moley handed the Amazonian of to Mindhaze. “I’ll scout ahead to the hill and see if the Necromizer is there waiting for us. Maybe he was waiting for us to finish off the Amazonian before attacking.”The giant mole burrowed into the ground using his digging claws to see ahead of him if there was anything there.

Smiling brightly and waving at the children that seemed so eager and excited to see them, Natalia knew that they needed to inspire these children to possibly be the next wave of people fighting for survival. Hearing Richard's words made her a little nervous, as she knew he was struggling, but she shook her head,

"I'll stay with you. Maybe I can help shield you if something happens, but I'm not leaving your side." she assured him.

Next, when Moley dropped the Amazonian off to her, she looked a bit surprised, as she hadn't imagined this would be her role (keeping a prisoner). She wasn't even entirely sure she could do it, as the last fight between them had been Natalia failing over and over. Still: she didn't want him to think any less of her, so she smiled and nodded,

"Of course. We'll be here."

When Moley left, however, Natalia confided in Richard.

In reply to Mindhaze (msg # 162):

The Amazonian seems to be having troubled dreams, but is in such a deep sleep even being lugged around like a sack of potatoes does not awake her. As a result she seems fairly harmless, even though you all know how powerful she could be.

Richard glanced at Natalie and smiled at her for a brief moment. He looked over at Moley and gave a small, hesitant nod. He couldn't take the Amazonian if she woke up and was violent but...he wasn't going to shy away from being helpful.

Shaking her head, Natalia responded verbally,

"No, you're right. I won't. Wouldn't be right anyways." she said, looking a bit embarrassed, "What should we do next? How are you feeling now?" she asked, watching his face for a reaction.

Richard thought about it for a moment, but then gave a shrug. "I am...I guess I'm okay." He spread his hands. "Definitely 'full' again." He almost sounded...disappointed?

He looked around to make sure that the Necromizer or more enemies weren't around.

Moley scouts ahead of the Convoy and his team, but does not sense the undead magic user or his ghostly minions. However, he does find the weather station his team awoken at arriving here. It seems the same as it was before, totally clear.

Mindhaze and Warhead lead the convoy up the hill along one of the roads leading to the weather station. Both heroes are peppered with questions, most of which involve how they are going to be picked up and rescued from this place. Did it involve aircraft? It seemed risky with Alpha Man's speed and hearing.

The truth was-none of the heroes knew. It was done that way on purpose in case their minds where read. They all know what they where supposed to do from the written message they got when they first arrived. Set off a signal from the comms device and proceed to go to sleep.

Moley had the people gathered at the weather station and sent the signal after informing everyone they had to be asleep and would then wake up safe. Any questions that were asked how that worked was responded with a shrug. The Weremole spoke to his teammates. “I’ll go to sleep last in case of an ambush. My animal danger sense instincts should wake me up if danger is near before pick up.”

Once they got where they were going, he motion for Moley and Mindhaze to pull away from the gathered group of people. Once they were just a bit away, he lowered his voice and leaned in slightly. "Sooo...only problem is, we only got half the mission done. Pretty sure we didn't actually stop the Neecromizer, y'know? He's still out there."

They'd stopped and potentially saved? the Amazonian, which would be HUGE if true. And they HAD gathered data about his powers and the Infected. But the Undead guy was still out there to wreak havoc.

Whispering back, Natalia responded,

"I think its a win overall. You've had something happen to you that I'd like for the people back at the place to look over too. Give us more information. And we have data on the Necromizer, and we've rescued a great hero from the past."

Hearing that Moley was going to watch out, she nodded and smiled thankfully. She appreciated that much.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:55, Sat 04 Nov 2023.

The heroes and the others make camp, trying to go to sleep in order to get a pick up from the Freebooters. However, unlike before where sleep just seem to happen all at once, that is not the case. Some people and kids manage to drift off, but the heroes don't. Granted they are still tired due to today's events-but not unnaturally so.

It is Warhead's bracer that clues him in. A message is blinking when he tries to sleep and cannot. Moley's senses are still keyed up, and Mindhaze's telepathic detections are tripped.

Warhead perked up and read the message on his bracer. He let out a sigh. "Yep. See? As I thought..."

He stood up and put his shield back up. Then he began to scan their surroundings in the different specrtums he could see in to, looking for the Necromizer or undead or more infected or whatever.

15:50, Today: Warhead rolled 25 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 17.  Perception.

Moley whips his head from side to side trying to see what it is that has his instincts screaming at him that danger is nearby. He closes his eyes and plants his right set of digging claws in the ground while the others up in the air trying to feel the vibrations of a possible invisible foe nearby. Anything under or above ground within several hundred feet would be felt. Where was it coming from? “Something has its sights on us. Don’t know if it’s the Necromizer or not. Should we wake the others?”

Lowering her voice, Natalia responded,

"Whomever it is, is telepathically talented enough to avoid my direct detection. This is dangerous. This also may be the way that the others usually pick us up, so that we are watched before we're picked up. Thoughts, Brian?" she asked, knowing he was more comfortable with their 'team' than they were.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:55, Sat 04 Nov 2023.

Moley thought about it. “It could be that they are unable or unwilling to pick up the others. We may have to ask the group to wait somewhere safe and away from the Necromizer while we make our case. With the Amazonian out of commission, it will be a while before another Omega figures it out and takes over the territory.”

Richard eyed Moley, and then the survivors. "But we didn't drive off the Necromizer. He left on his own, it looked like."

He let out a sigh. "Let's check around first and make sure nothing's out there before we make that kind of call, yeah?"

He glanced at Natalia. "You good to watch over them for a couple minutes? I can see in the dark and I'm guessing Moley can too. I'm going to walk a perimeter and look out a bit in the different spectrums."

Hearing her two male companions think things through, Natalia realized she was very lucky to have these boys on her side. She watched as Richard glanced her way, and she nodded in response. She had no problems with that.

Keeping her mind alert, she reached out mentally to the presence, asking softly...

In reply to Mindhaze (msg # 177):

As Warhead and Moley head off, both used their inhuman senses to detect the foe. However, neither seems to find any trace of anything. Nothing setting off Moley's motion senses, and nothing using cover that Warhead could see through-even the darkness.

Having an idea, Warhead returned the camp. "I have a thought."

So saying, he gestured at the seemingly-cured Amazonian. "I'm wondering if she represents a threat. Like...maybe she's not cured, or just the fact that if she woke up and wanted to get free she might be able to or at least do some damage, you know?"

He gave a shrug. "I can take her a bit away out of sight and set her down to see if it gets us a different message?"

Moley shrugged. “Worth a shot. It would make sense if the cure was only temporary.”

OOC-Need Mindhaze to post to move scene along.

Holding a finger up in the air to get attention, Natalia spoke,

"Wait!" she said softly, "Somebody out there is talking to me... they have said that if we give them the Amazon we may live. I'm going to assume we're being blocked somehow by them from being picked up, but they're most definitely capable of speaking into my mind." she said, shrugging, "I don't get the feeling that they're being honest..." she said nervously about the promise.

Moley had an idea. “Can you give me a feeling as to what their power feels like? Does it feel similar to yours? I might be able to do something about it.”

Warhead paused, turning back to Mindhaze with the female bundle in his arms. He face had a mix of anger and annoyance on it. He let out a sigh. "They'll let us live?" He shook his head. "Sound like a villain to anyone else? Maybe...the Necromizer?" One eyebrow arched.

Then he frowned. "Buuuut...does he have telepathic abilities??"

He looked up and then around.

Necromizer's abilities are not well known. He was not so common a villain that the media paid him much attention other then to mention the basic details.

OOC-An expertise in supervillains would help here. However, it requires some ranks in the skill to make the roll, unless you have a feat to make some rolls unskilled. You may be able to substitute another expertise if you could make the connection between it and Necromizer.

Could I possibly use a hero point to maybe make one of the "listeners" pipe up with the information? Like "adjust the scene" so we randomly have a plot pusher in our midst? Or perhaps use it to give Moley a random bit of inspirational knowledge or something? I figure its a win-win: we get information, you get to drain one of my 9182391824 hero points :P

In reply to Mindhaze (msg # 186):

OOC-I will gleefully tell you info if you spend a hero point...muahahaha!

:P

Hahaha, you devil!

Alright, I will! Spending hero point for information on this monster, so that Natalia can help Moley figure it all out!

In reply to Mindhaze (msg # 188):

PM

Nodding her head, Natalia was certain she remembered something,

"I am quite certain it is him." she said, "He has the power to reanimate dead people... we all know that much, but he can also access the spirits of the dead, and enslave them. We would require a force of absolute positive force... of good, to counter-act him. That would be somebody like the Amazon here. That would be the only reason the voice could want her to themselves." she said, shivering, "We must protect her." she finished flatly, her eyes searching the men's for hope.

Warhead shook his head. "Of course we're not going to give her to that...villain. I'd only leave her behind if she became dangerous again, or if we couldn't be taken back with her along."

He frowned and lowered his voice. "Do you have any way to tell where he's at? At least somewhat? Moley and I could try to get at him underground."

He kept looking around for any sign of the villain or his minions.

Shaking her head, Mindhaze wasn't certain,

"I have no idea, other than lying to him and convincing him to come in, which I don't think is likely." she shrugged, "Unless you can somehow dress me up like the amazon, and have me pretend so we can lure him in?" she wasn't sure at all how that would work, but she was open to any ideas.

Giving his answer visibly to the 'demand' from the super-villain, Warhead turned in a slow circle and then set the Amazonian's limp body back down on the ground near his two companions. He waited for a response, facing outward and occasionally looking up, trusting his two allies to watch other directions.

As they put the Amazon down, suddenly Moley's senses go off telling him of a threat-but not its location. Mindhaze can sense a mind suddenly appear from nowhere. Warhead can see through the ground all around them-and through the tree cover nearby. However, he sees nothing out of the ordinary.

Then the Necromizer was floating in front of them. His semi-tangible, ghost like form hovering over the earth.

"Give her to me, and you will all live to see another sunrise. Fail to do so, and you only delay what is pre-ordained." He says, his voice like a combination of growl and a bubbling stew. "For only death is forever, and it bows to me in all its forms!" His eyes blaze with an unnatural light, and he glares at all of you. He gestures with an outstretched boney hand, and more ghostly skeletal beings come into view behind him. A small army of the dead, their blank faces and groans of pain staring back the heroes and the woman between them.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:43, Fri 24 Nov 2023.

Warhead flinched at the sudden appearance of the villain once more. He listened to what was said, but immediately dismissed it all. He stepped to stand over the Amazonian's body and shook his head. "No. You'll get nothing but pain and suffereing if you come for her."

He didn't feel as confident as he tried to sound. He was worried about the survivors being hurt in the crossfire of a fight, but he wouldn't just hand over someone to a villain.

Stepping up next to Warhead, Mindhaze stood as confidently as she could and spoke with him,

"There is nothing for you here, Necromizer. You should leave and not come back!" she tried to sound confident as well, but she felt like her voice came out like a mousey squeak.

"You fate is chosen-as if your choice made any difference!" The lich-thing hissed. He gestured, and Moley interrupts him as the giant mole charges Necromizer. Before the hero can get his claws on the immortal thing, more than a dozen undead spectral skeletons zoom forward and grapple the mole. While Moley seems stronger than any one of them-he's not stronger than all of them. They start to drag him into Mid-air, away from the safety of the earth he can burrow through.

OOC-Heroes are up! Moley is disabled by ghostly skeletons for now!

"No!" Mindhaze called out, worried about Moley's safety. Knowing that he wouldn't be very safe if he was lifted out of the ground, she pointed her hands at the skeletons targeting him, and slammed her telekinetic force down upon those skeletons to break him free.

"Let him go!" she cried out, hoping somehow that she would be able to help!




TK Strike on as many as she can. If you think it makes more sense to the scene, she'll instead "create object" to push a force around moley downwards, to hit as many of them as possible. If any of this requires a roll: I'm comfortable with you making it, or here is a generic d20!

09:07, Today: Mindhaze rolled 19 using 1d20 with rolls of 19.

Warhead glared at the a-hole villain who kind of came out and said he'd have killed them anyway, if he understood them correctly. He saw that Mindhaze was trying to free Moley, and he didn't want to accidentally blast Moley in trying to get the undead off of him.

So instead he focused his efforts on The Necromizer himself, while still standing over the Amazonian's body. He loosed a blast of radiation at the bad guy. "Fine! Hard way it is."

So the blast has Affects Insubstantial 2, Penetrating 3 in case it matters, but not a great attack roll so probably doesn't hit.

21:42, Today: Warhead rolled 15 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 7.  Feel The Burn.

Necromizer actually looks surprised as the blast got close. He actually twisted to avoid it, as if he could sense it could actually harm his ethereal form. He seemed to raise a withered skeletal hand which glowed with dark energy, but paused as he seem to feel the various ghostly skeletons paying tug of war with Mindhaze over Moley's body.

He growls with frustration, and instead of doing something to Warhead, he focuses on his minions dragging Moley away. The skeletons get a burst of strength, and pull Moley away from Mindhaze's giant TK hand. They go higher and higher, and another group of undead form and begin to head for the humans that are still sleeping...

OOC-Because Moley is not here, Mindhaze will auto fail as I need to focus on you two. However, because it is a plot device, Mindhaze gets a hero point!

Heroes are up! People are in danger!

Warhead's eyes widened and then narrowed. "Bastard!" He glanced at Mindhaze, "Nat! Forget Moley! He can take care of himself. Can you help the people??"

He then yelled to the people, "WAKE UP! WAKE UP!

He started to move towards the people, keeping himself between Necromizer and them, for all the good it would do. He fired off another blast but was distracted and this one was even less close to hitting.

19:05, Today: Warhead rolled 14 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 6.  Feel The Burn vs Necromizer.

Seeing Moley get pulled away, Natalia cried out at him with an outstretched hand,

"No!"

Richard's voice pulled her back from the anguish she was feeling, and she looked back over her shoulder at him. She knew he was right, but she hated it. Gritting her teeth, she nodded to him, and spun on the undead chasing the people that were still sleeping.

Spinning on the humans, Natalia extended her hands and created a massive telekinetic form over the people, keeping the skeletons away. She blocked them with a bubble coming up from the ground, covering their sleeping forms so that they couldn't be assaulted while unconscious!

"Wake up!" she cried as the walls came up, "Move!" she tried to get them motivated to get up, as she knew holding off the undead would only last a short time.



May I use a hero point for 'inspiration' from the GM - maybe a weak point in the Necromizer, or something she can do to really help? Against an undead, I'm not sure if mind-powers even work, so I figured this would be a good usage so I know how to contribute, or if maybe there is something we can "find/see" about him that she can notice?

The Lich hovers in the air, moving like a floating phantom. Not tangible, but still vulnerable to Warhead's atomic power.

Mindhaze manages to make a TK wall, blocking the semi-tangible undead. Unlike their master, they had to stay somewhat solid. As a result, they hammer away at the wall in question.

(OOC-Mindhaze, make a Toughness(1d20+8) save for your wall-DC 22!

Mindhaze uses a hero point...)

Moley fought against the pull of the undead carrying him up. He realized that he couldn’t escape by brute force. He also came to a realization now that he had come in contact of Necromizer’s power and now Amazonian. This was going to hurt. The botanist in an instant shrunk back down to human form leaving the undead grabbing at air. But… that also meant he was now hurtling down to the ground. Using trajectories, he aimed to land on the Amazonian to cushion his fall. She was strong enough that it wouldn’t kill her. Shaking his head from the impact of the fall, he stuck his finger in the Amazonian’s mouth and swabbed the inside of her cheek. “Cover me. I have a plan!”

I apologize for my sudden absence. Holidays and issues at work kept me away besides working then going straight to sleep.

Shrinking down from 30+ foot mole to regular human to escape grasp and trying to land on Amazonian to cushion his fall. Don’t know what sort of Toughness check he would need. Swabbed inside of Amazonian’s cheek to get some of her DNA for something coming up.

In reply to Holey Moley (msg # 204):

OOC-Damn you, Holidays!!!

Needless to say, the ghost-like skeletons suddenly find themselves holding nothing, as Moley falls-in his very vulnerable human form. Trying to aim for the Amazonian will difficult, as he cannot glide or fly.

OOC-Moley make an acrobatics check! Then make a toughness save, the DC of which will be based on how well you roll acrobatics, as crashing into the Amazonian won't do her any damage...

13:22, Today: Holey Moley rolled 7 using 1d20+4 with rolls of 3.  Toughness .
13:21, Today: Holey Moley rolled 13 using 1d20 with rolls of 13.  Acrobatics.

This is really going to hurt unless Mind Haze catches him lol

In reply to Holey Moley (msg # 206):

OOC-Mindhaze is focusing on the wall. However, I will let her use extra effort to make a TK roll(1d20+8) to bring Moley safely to the ground. That will fatigue her unless she uses another hero point to buy off said fatigue.

quote:

Fatigued
Fatigued characters are hindered. Characters recover from a fatigued condition after an hour of rest.

This is also only the first level of fatigue. Next level is exhausted which is much worse...

quote:

Hindered
A hindered character moves at half normal speed (–1 speed rank). Immobile supersedes hindered.

Seeing the wall hold off the undead, Natalia jumped in the air and pumped her fist in excitement,

"Yes!" she was clearly motivated by the scene seeming to go their way for once!

Seeing Brian suddenly change back and land on the Amazonian, Natalia forced her mind to flicker, just a moment, to catch him just as he fell to the ground. Next, he hopefully landed well just to put his finger in her mouth, made her pause, but she knew this was her chance!

WAKE UP AMAZONIAN! THE NECROMIZER IS KILLING INNOCENTS AND WILL TAKE YOUR LIFE AS WELL IF YOU DO NOT WAKE FROM YOUR DREAM AND HELP US! she screamed as loudly as her mind would allow her to into the Amazonian woman's consciousness, hoping to wake her up!


Yes! I finally rolled well, for the wall to maintain, I got a 27!

I just caught your message, and I rolled a 22 to bring him safely down! I'll accept the fatigued condition for now! Seems appropriate for the scene, given that she's exhausting herself haha!

In reply to Holey Moley (msg # 206):

Moley lands, as gently as a feather, and proceeds to stick his finger into the sleeping Amazonian's mouth.

He then sees the Amazonian's eyes flutter as Mindhaze does...something. He is not clear what his fellow hero is doing, but its...something?

As he gets his spit sample, he notices the Amazonian open her eyes and meet his gaze.

And she does not look happy.

The next thing Moley feels is himself flying through the air and smashing into the side of the nearby mountain. He is surprised that his very human form is not broken in half.

(OOC-Moley, you got your spit take! You are also dazed this round, take an injury, and are prone! You also get a hero point!)
This message was last edited by the player at 19:47, Tue 05 Dec 2023.

Necromizer spins about, and glares directly at the Amazonian Princess. She in turns meets his eyes, or the glowing orbs he has that passes for eyes. The ghostly skeletons, failing to breech Mindhaze's TK wall, turn about and head for the heroes-all of them.

OOC-All Heroes are up! Followed by Amazonian!

“Ask for permission before sticking your finger in a woman’s mouth…got it…”Knowing that his human form was much more vulnerable, he quickly shifted back into his mole form. He would need a few more seconds to enact his plan.

OOC: Standard to shift back into mole form. Still prone. Dazed ends. Still got her spit.

"Uhh...Miss Amazonian?" It was a little tentative. What was her title? "The" Amazonian? He also didn't want to get punched or thrown like Moley had. "Are you okay? Can you stop the Necromizer? He's trying to kill people."

And just in case he fired another blast at the Necromizer after moving a bit to try and keep him from fleeing the Amazonian - if she even attacked him - and away from the people.

He spared a glance at Moley. "Are you okay, Moley?"

OOC: I guess third time IS the charm.
18:48, Today: Warhead rolled 27 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 19.  Maybe third time's the charm? Feel the Burn.

Mindhaze shifted her focus now that the Amazonian was up, to keeping the skeletons from killing anybody. Shifting the shape of her wall that was defending the humans against them, she now folded the bubble over the skeletons, so that turning on the heroes wouldn't work!

"Stay there, you bony jerks!" she said under her breath, concentrating fully on preventing the skeletons from going anywhere really...



Just shifting the same wall to cover the skeletons from reaching us too! She'll keep following their movements to prevent anybody from getting murdered!

Necromizer roars in sudden pain as Warhead strikes him. The thing he had been avoiding sure enough was able to harm him even in his immaterial state. So much so he seems slightly disoriented. Worse, he seems to start...flickering...in and out of visibility. He looks alarmed at this situation, even as the damage of the blast knocks him off balance.

OOC-Necromizer takes an injury and is dazed!

The skeletal hordes, while not able to breech the walls, are fast enough to avoid being trapped by them. While they cannot attack the humans now waking up, they can attack all the heroes. And proceed to do so.

OOC-All heroes are struck by the ghostly hordes! Everyone must make a toughness save against the ghost-like yet solid claws of the boney undead! DC 21

Amazonian looks at Warhead as he speaks to her. She seems to want to say something, her eyes swelling with tears. However, instead she turns her gaze at Necromizer as he is struck by the radiation blast, and her face becomes grim once more. Even as the skeletal hordes surround and attack her, she lashes out with one powerful sweep of her arm and a large group of the undead go flying! Dispersing into mist as they strike solid objects.

Then she strikes her fists together, and as she pulls them apart she produces a glowing spear of light. She hefts it as she prepares to use the weapon against her ancient foe...

OOC-Heroes are up!
This message was last edited by the player at 14:59, Wed 06 Dec 2023.

Moley stands up and is about to start working on a device when the ghosts slam him on the head while his defenses were down. The Weremole sees stars and is wobbling on his feet barely able to stand.

09:28, Today: Holey Moley rolled 12 using 1d20+10 with rolls of 2.  DC 21 toughness .
Forgot that I had -1 to the toughness roll for taking a wound making it fail by two degrees making him staggered until he recovers. His only action is to stand up.

Warhead let out a roar as his blast hit the undead foe and seemed to hurt him! Other undead minions tried to overwhelm them, but his shield was up and he held on. Wanting to cut the head off of the snake, and hoping that without the master the puppets might fade away or be more manageable...

...he once again focused on the Necromizer and blasted at them once more with his radiation. "Would you just re-die already?"

14:11, Today: Warhead rolled 27 using 1d20+9 with rolls of 18.  Toughness save.

18:38, Today: Warhead rolled 16 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 8.  Feel The Burn vs The Necromizer still.

Hit by the multiple units of undead, Mindhaze was immediately glad that she hadn't allowed them to attack the innocent humans. That would have resulted in massive deaths, certainly. The undead armies struck her violently, and she had virtually no defense, even with her reflexive telekinetic defenses coming to her aid.

One of her hands came to her skull as she winced, trying to fight off the assault. Ducking under another attack, and then being slammed into by yet another, she was really struggling here to deal with the hordes.

As such, instead of attacking: she simply lifted herself up into the air, high enough that the undead couldn't reach her. This would prevent her being smashed again in the future, and that would enable her to reflexively protect her friends more than herself!



Oh no, me and Moley are still consistently rolling really low!
I got a full 2 degree failure, so I'm dazed until next turn AND -1 to further toughness saves! Save us Richard!

The hordes of ghostly skeletons bash, bite, and claw at Mindhaze and Moley, causing damage, dazing and staggering the two heroes despite their impressive defenses. Mindhaze takes to the air, escaping her attackers while Moley is forced to stand and endure the pain.

Warhead's shield manages to keep off all his foes, but being surrounded by almost-ghosts threw off his aim and he missed the Necromizer once more.

The lich itself was totally focused on the Amazonian. He growls and points at her, his hordes try once more to overwhelm the champion of the Amazons.

Now wielding her spear of light, the Amazonian shrugs off the claws and skeletal hands. She leaps clear of her foes, and stabs the now flickering undead monster in the chest! The Necromizer screams out, the damage from Warhead's blast causing him to destabilize his incorporeal nature! As a result the Necromizer is quite solid when the Amazonian runs him through!

She lands, pinning the lich to the earth with her weapon. However, the various skeletal wraiths are not gone, nor does their undead master stop screaming and lashing out at the Amazon Princess. He blasts her point blank with his ebony energy, and she is lashed again and again from the hordes.

Clearly Necromizer is in trouble, as the foes on Moley and Warhead leave their targets to overwhelm the Amazonian...yet still she grips the spear, shoving it deeper into the lich!

OOC-All heroes are up! No skelea-ghosts are attacking you!
This message was last edited by the player at 18:43, Fri 08 Dec 2023.

The skeletons relented with the Amazonian attacking the Necromizer. He opened the plate on the front of his suit and rubbed the Amazonian’s DNA on the luminescent flora that provided light in his tunnels. Closing the plate and turning on the suit projected a pure white light 60 feet in all directions shining on everything.

OOC: spend hero point to jury rig a device making construction time one round per PowerPoint of device. Skill Mastery gives 24 total roll versus DC 16. Takes one round to make.

Light of the Amazon: 1pp
Immunity 1 (Immune to specific powers: Necromizer): affect others +1, area burst +1, Distracting -1, Concentration-1

Warhead would like nothing more than to run in to the mass and Nuke everything. Just like in the movie - "from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." But the Amazonian was in the mix and...well, she kind of seemed like she might no longer be Infected anymore. He wasn't a hundred percent on that but...maybe. And he wasn't sure how much she could take normally, how weak she was after having been Infected and now not after a bunch of radiation, etc. etc.

And for the moment, the people were safe, with ALL the undead clustered on the Amazonian.

So. Instead. He narrowed his eyes once more and tried to blast the Necromizer once more, again hoping that if the big cheese went down, the rest of the undead might as well, or might at least scatter or something. He didn't really know what else to do.

17:29, Today: Warhead rolled 26 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 18.  Feel The Burn vs The Necromizer once more.

"No!" Mindhaze called out, narrowing her focus on the Amazonian.

Suddenly, a massive telekinetic, glimmering shield appeared tightly around the Amazonian's body, enhancing her defenses!

Keep fighting! I will defend you, and the others are helping with the Necromizer the best they can! she called out to the Amazonian woman's mind, not wanting her to let go of the Necromizer on her spear!

In reply to Mindhaze (msg # 223):

OOC-when anyone goes on full defense, they roll 2d20 and take the best roll. They add it to the defense which applies to that attack. This does take your attack action.

Deflect works in a similar way. Expect it is ranged, defends others as well as your self. If you also reflect as after action any attack you succeed deflecting can be sent to another source.

LOL The game doesn't like the dice "advantage" so I rolled 12 and 12!

12+10 = 22!

OOC-Turns out I am wrong on the deflect. When rolling for deflect-or anyone going on full defense, you roll 1d20+your defense score and if you roll less than a 11 you add 10 to your roll. In this case, it does not matter because Mindhaze rolled a 12.

Thanks to Mindhaze, the various ghostly-like undead cannot reach the Amazonian as she keeps the Necromizer pinned via her spear of light. He screeches and claws at her, his powers seemingly rendered unstable by Warhead's blasts and perhaps other factors.

However, to manifest a shield around the Amazonian, Mindhaze cannot also keep up the TK walls that blocked off the enemy from the various humans in their vehicles. The Necromizer recognizes this, and gestures between cries of inhuman pain. The Ghostly undead turn from the Amazonian and head for the cars full of people...

OOC-Heroes are up! Mindhaze won't be able to protect both the humans and the Amazonian.

OOC: the area immunity to the Necromizer’s powers were not addressed in the last post.

Not wanting to let the Amazonian face the Necromizer alone, nor let him slip away to being incorporeal again or whatever, Warhead attempt to keep the pressure on. His eyes shifted in fear and concern as the horde of undead were sent towards the humans once more. He couldn't help them on his own, so he focused his radioactive energy into another blast at the Undead Master of Puppets instead.

20:25, Today: Warhead rolled 16 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 8.  Feel The Burn vs The Necromizer - once more with feeling?

In reply to Holey Moley (msg # 227):

OOC-sorry I missed that. You can use this to give the humans immunity from attack. Please go into detail how it works visually.

This message was last edited by the GM at 03:35, Wed 13 Dec 2023.

Moley stumbled towards the humans. The light shining from his suit powered by the DNA of the Amazon’s pure soul shone on the humans. The undead tried their best to harm the humans but could not stand the pure light. The botanist did his best to analyze and keep recalculating the necromantic wavelengths and light output to keep the power effective which took his whole concentration. “I’ve got the humans protected. Focus on the Necromizer and protecting the Amazonian.”

Focusing entirely on the Amazonian, who Mindhaze thought was just as important as the humans, she called over her shoulder,

"Guys! Protect the people, I can't do both!"

Behind her, she wasn't sure what exactly was happening, but she heard Moley working, and figured something would be done. None of their group seemed willing to sacrifice people (thank God), so she had good faith that it would continue.

Meanwhile, she kept her shields up on the Amazonian, assuming she needed them! If the Amazonian didn't need them, or if the Necromizer stopped attacking her, Mindhaze would turn on the full juice and attempt to trip him up with her attacks!

Warhead's blast hits the lich, due to him being pinned down. He screams again, his energy more disrupted. One withered hand claws uselessly at the spear of light.

The Necromizer's undead goons assault the various humans, but are forced away by Moley's lights and the Amazonian's DNA.

Mindhaze maintains her shield on the newly-restored hero, keeping the few undead from striking her. However, the Necromizer's free hand gestures-and blasts the Amazonian through the neck with a beam of black energy. Ripping through Mindhaze's barrier.

The Amazonian tries to speak, but can't. The hole in her neck has clearly taken out her vocal cords. Yet somehow she remains standing. She turns, still leaning on the spear to force her foe down, and points at the three of you. Then she points at the ground near the humans.

Then she turns back to her ancient enemy, and with both hands shaking due to her painful injury, twists the spear as it is inside its victim. The lich scream again, and a portal of light-the same sort of light the spear is made from appears in mid air. With a huge effort of her weakening limbs, She flips the Necromizer over her head, and forces the thing through the portal.

From the glowing opening, black energy tendrils shoot out and ensnare the hero. Dragging her through her own portal. She turns briefly back to the three of you, raises a fist, and then vanishes into opening. It then closes with a popping sounds.

Even as the Amazonian and the Necromizer vanish, the hordes of undead-now planning to attack the remaining heroes stop moving. They stare at all of you, and their expression change from feral beasts to almost calm. Many of them seem to just close their eyes, almost in relaxation. Then the bones fall, the glowing transparent flesh that was animating them suddenly gone.

As if that was not enough, a storm breaks out above. The Haze cloud, obscuring the sun, moon, and stars seems to...break. As if the fog over the land just dispersed. You can actually see the sun without any red coloration. And a perfect blue sky. The storm suddenly ends as soon as it began.

While the otherworldly Haze still exists below you over the city, up here-it seems to have broken. What that means you don't quite know...if it means anything anything at all. However, even the air itself seems cleansed for the first time in a long time.

Her arms collapsing as the Necromizer finally seemed to vanish, Natalia was breathing heavily as she looked around to ensure everybody else was fine. She knew Brian had been attacked, so she rushed to Moley's side to check out his wounds, and see if she could do anything to help with them.

"What was that?!" she asked her two male compatriots, "Was that a good ending for us? It seems like it, but where did they go, exactly?" she looked nervous. Clearly she didn't like so many unanswered questions.

"Do we just casually go back to sleep and wait for pickup?" she was clearly lost, and trying to focus on Moley's wounds as she talked.

Warhead looked excited for a moment that the Necromizer appeared to be losing! But then he flinched when the hole was blasted in the Amazonian's neck, his face surprised and horrified. The smile quickly faded as he continued to watch, the expression on his face going slack and then sliding in to a frown of confusion.

"NOOO!" he yelled out when she was pulled in to the portal as well, one hand outstretched.

He stood there, stunned and silent, for a long moment after, eyes still wide.

Mindhaze's voice gently snapped him out of his mind and horror. He turned to look at her, and then shook his head. His voice was quiet when he spoke, "...I don't know."

He let out a small sigh and hung his head. "I don't know." he repeated.

Moley watched as the events played out with the battle between good and evil. Staying in place to protect himself and the people around him was all he could do as the two vanished. It wasn’t long after the undead vanished that the special flora that had been crossbred died out letting the angelic light return back to its normal glow. He hadn’t had enough time to allow the mutation to produce seeds for further production.

He sat down heavily holding his wounded shoulder and sternum. His thanks was given to his comrade for trying to see to his wounds. When inquired as to next steps, he had only one conclusion. “I have no idea where they went or how much longer they will stay there. I will dig a quick escape tunnel for the humans in case Infected come to see what the commotion is about. After that, the only thing we can do is try to sleep again and hope for a pick up.”The Weremole bit his lip through the pain as he dug out a tunnel big enough for any vehicles and the humans to make a dash into if they were attacked again. At least this time, they would be better defended.

In reply to Holey Moley (msg # 238):

The convoy travelers all come out of their cars. Numerous men, women, and children all look curiously at the three of them. They stare, finally realizing what had happened. Then all of them give a vast cheer, all coming over to thank the heroes personally.

Finally Brenda comes forth. "I want to thank you, like all of us do. We mistrusted you and thought the Freebooters where self serving jerks. If there is still an offer to take us into the Freebooter base, we are willing to work."

Richard glanced over at Moley, quiet for a moment. Then he finally gave a small nod. "Okay. I guess that's what we do then." He sounded kind of like he was on 'automatic' a bit. Maybe he was just drained from the whole experience. Or trying to keep his emotions in check. Who could say.

He looked to the convoy people, listened to what they said and then just gave a bit of shrug. "Sure. We're happy to help if we can, though we aren't the decision makers ultimately."

He got ready to try and got to sleep again, but he didn't think sleep would come for quite some time. Or maybe it would rise up and crash over him like a wave after the exhausting events.

Smiling, a bit worn down from the fight herself, Natalia didn't mind that the humans were now jumping on board the plan. She was glad for it, after all, that was the entire point of their efforts!

Turning to Richard as he accepted the people in on behalf of the Freebooters, she beamed with happiness. She was glad that Brian and Richard both seemed to be like-minded in these ways.

Nodding at the men's mention of sleeping again for a pick-up, she agreed fully,

"Let's do exactly that then. I think it best that we at least recover our strength, just in case this doesn't end how we hope." she said softly, hoping that they would wake up comfortably inside the freebooter's base.

Sure enough, eventually everyone manages to get to sleep. Mindhaze can tell there was some level of telepathic 'help' in being able to rest at all. She does not remember who did what to her brain however, as per normal. When they awaken, they are in their own rooms they had been assigned when they left the Freebooter's lair. Moley having the nicest room with its own bathroom and shower, of course.

A holographic message awaits each of them upon awakening in their beds.

"Please come to Conferance room 7."

Moley stretched and was relieved that they were finally back. He had no idea how long he had been asleep, but there was still some soreness from his wounds. The botanist showered off any remaining dirt and got dressed for his next meeting in conference room 7. He took his normal raised seat at the table in the conference room. He waved hi to all those who came as well.

Richard awoke with a groan. He was sore in...a lot of places actually. He had to stretch slowly as he tried to shake off the sleepiness, careful of where he'd been hurt. Memories came flooding back, however, and he hung his head. The Amazonian. And she might have been cured!

"damnit."

He stood up and got himself ready, splasahing some water on his face and at least dressing himself. He didn't think he had time for a shower, and he honestly wanted to take a hot relaxing bath instead now that he thought about it.

He let out a sigh and trudged to the conference room to see what the end results were, if nothing else. Maybe the data collected would be helpful. He could hope.

OOC: Are those of us who were injured, still injured?

In reply to Warhead (msg # 244):

Despite the mental disorientation of being allowed back into Freebooter HQ, physically most people feel fine. Any injuries or exhaustion one might have had is now gone. However, mentalists like Mindhaze feel a headache, as if something had gotten by their impressive mental defenses.

Waking up with a groan of her own, Natalia rolled over onto her side, and gripped both sides of her head.

Really? she thought to herself grumpily. It was as if whomever mentally wiped them didn't take care, but instead smashed their way through her defenses like they didn't have time. Rude! she thought outwardly at whomever it was, knowing full well they likely wouldn't hear her.

Rolling out of bed, her head still pounding, Natalia showered and then got in front of the mirror and took care to make sure her appearance was not only presentable, but pleasant. After the long day of fighting and sweating, she would like to at least present herself well, given the chance.

Leaving her room, wearing the simple clothes that she was provided, she headed down towards the conference room 7 area, and kept her eyes peeled for Moley and Richard. If she saw them, she would wave, smile and try to sit near them.

You all meet up on the way to conference room 7. Everything and everyone in the Freebooter base seems normal. People running back and forth in the underground tunnels. Shops seem to have sprung up in areas you don't recognize. Mostly some sort of worm stew or rat burger. Not to mention all the mushroom snack places. No moles are used for food down here...for obvious reasons.

OOC-Thread closed! Please post to Debrief thread!