Billyboy

Podo, a bit touched, just smiled at Becky's concern. "Thou underestimates me, as do all humans I meet. Do not let my size fool thou, I have lived and fought against powerful enemies all of my life, ever since the day I was introduced into manhood and chosen as my tribe's Warrior Incarnate. I have fought villains on the surface since I arrived, and I still draw breath. Your concern is misplaced, thou need not worry about me!"

The doors of the arena swung open before them, taking the smile from Podo's face. To survive in combat, one had to take it seriously, and he always survived. He tensed his powerful leg muscles and leapt, soaring into the air and landing in the middle of the arena after several midair flips.

The goblin unsheathed his sword, pulling it from his scabbard, which had a large slit at the top so he could pull it out without difficulty. He began a deadly dance of swordplay for the crowd's amusement, spinning and leaping, his sword a blur as he flipped over it again and again, performing feats that seemed physically impossible.

With lightning speed, the sword returned to its sheath and Podo gave a bow to the audience. Not a bow that expected applause, but one that showed respect. He turned back to the doors and motioned for Becky to follow with a wink of his remaining eye.

"A useful and amazing skill!" Podo said with awe. "I envy thou, I was not so lucky to have regenerating limbs!" He held out his mechanical arm to emphasize the point. "One of my own kinsman, the shaman of my tribe, led a traitorous attack against my village, that is how my arm was cleaved off. I took many monsters with me, but I could not protect my people, I was not yet strong enough. A man in silver armor powered by human technologies rescued me and fixed my arm, but his intentions were not pure, and he gave his cybernetics control over my body! I was lucky to meet several human youths, the Caper Brigade. They cut the controlling 'circuits' on my arm and allowed me to join them in their own quest to defeat the nefarious Dr. Phillis! I have come to Paragon in pursuit of our nemesis, who has flown to the Rogue Isles like a cowardly dog. I was hoping to see the skills of the heroes that protect this city by fighting in the arena. I can only hope I am up to par!"

"Well met, human swordswoman Becky, I am Podo." the goblin introduced himself with a bow. "Art thou competing in the upcoming match? I would be delighted to match thou in combat! Mayhap you have no powers, such as I?"

Podo, looking a bit confused by the vague directions, was nonetheless grateful to know the general way to go.

"Many thanks, swordswoman friend Little Miss Attitude!" he smiled. "I hope to meet you in the Arena to study your skills with the blade!"

Podo walked down the hall, looking this way and that for the correct door. Eventually, the little man found where to go and took a very short and rushed test, the Arena wanted to get him into this next fight. With a hurried shove out the door, the registrar pushed a card into his non-metal hand and slammed the door.

Podo flipped the doorslammer the bird, a gesture he had been told showed disapproval. He looked down to his card to see a picture of himself, one that had just been taken in the rush. He looked down at his classification and looked puzzled, unsure of what to make of the letter and number.

"Well met, human friend Little Miss Attitude!" Podo shouted as he rejoined Becky. "I would be in your debt if you could translate this strange symbol." he said, pointing to his card. "It states I am of the power level A-5, but alas, I am not certain what this means! The desk-sentry stated that you were A-3, I would suppose you know. You see, my letter is the same, but my number is higher. I would normally be lead to believe that this means I am of a higher power, but I have seen humans use lower numbers to signify higher rank many times since my journey to the surface. Would you be so kind as to clarify, my good friend?"

Despite being called a squirt, Podo was quite grateful to the man and gave him the "rock on" symbol, something Billyboy, a teammate who had volunteered to teach him a bit about human affairs and customs, had told him let humans know you appreciated them.

Turning to Becky, he smiled widely as he noticed her sword. "Hail, swordswoman Little Miss Attitude!" he said happily. "Perhaps you would be interested in journeying with me to the place I must go, so I may face the perils of the test and also become an A-3!"

((OOC: I'd like to enter one of my heroes! Prepare to meet one of my favorites!))

Looking at the hole in the wall curiously as he walked through, the little green man shook his head and shrugged, his right arm clanking at the gesture. Just topping 3' tall, Podo wasn't the most imposing looking hero, but that's if you think size matters.

His skin was green, his ears pointy and large, and his head so bald it shined. One of his arms, previously torn out in a terrible battle in his native home of Abaddon, had been replaced with a large cybernetic arm, which seemed ridiculously large on the little creature. He did manage to hold it up well, though, as he was hugely muscled, lair upon lair of muscle sitting atop his frame from years of protecting his village from the threats of roaming monsters, which attacked more than often and often in force! He would seem fat to some, but none of his bulk jiggled a bit, and any who saw him fight knew it didn't weigh him down in the least. His right eye was also cybernetic, torn out in the same battle that took his arm.

The goblin stepped up to the desk, dressed in a white muscle shirt, orange shorts, and brown knitted boots from his underground home. His weapon of choice was obvious, as there was a sword strapped to his back almost as large as the goblin himself.

"Shall I suspect the fighting has already begun?" Podo questioned the man sitting at the desk in his odd old-world dialect. "Methinks I would like to join in the next battle, can thou assist me in my quest?"

Yes, as a goblin cyborg swordsman, Podo was certainly an oddity to all around him. But for every odd stare the little man received he gave another back, for the human world is as much an oddity to him as Podo is to the human world!

((OOC: Reference Pic It's the best I could make him on the game, but I imagine his head being more sized with his body, his eye glowing in the infared spectrum, and his ears much large and pointier. Oh yes, and he's a broadsword/super reflexes scrapper, entirely natural. He fights using warrior instinct and an uncanny ability to depict danger from all angles. Almost like a spider sense. He can take hits, but not devastating ones.))

With a triumphant giggle to her love, Iron Fist, Jord walked out of the arena. She didn't really need the prize money, Iron Fist owned a hidden kingdom and provided her with everything she needed, but she'd be damned if she was about to let someone else have it.

She sneered as she passed by Goro, the ugly brute, and the foolish Coldfire, who seemed to think repeating the same attack over and over again was an effective strategy. Jord was certain she could have won without their help as long as Iron Fist was on her side.

“Don’t do that!” a junky looking robot shrieked as Billyboy’s fist, whirling with loose energy, slammed into the consol it was working on. With a thunderous blast and the desperate screams of the shredded robot, mixed with the excited hoots of a certain teenage hero, the computer exploded and sent the two flinging backwards. Billyboy stood again with a smirk and brushed himself off while the robot let out a final groan and shut down with a burst of sparks.

“Listen, can we try not blowing up everything for once?” a tall teen with spiked blonde hair asked, his costume black and gold tights with a large J on the front and a black cape flying out behind him. “They may have something we need one of these days.”

“Meh, don’t be a buzzkill, Jaredman!” Billyboy laughed heartily. “C’mon, let’s go find the Doc!”

The two walked out into a large metal corridor, only to nearly fall as a shockwave greeted them, followed by a loud “CURSES!” The heroes grinned at each other, it looked like the team was already on it. Billyboy shot into the air with a wink, following the noise. Jaredman shortly followed, his cape snapping in half and contorted into two angelic white wings. He leapt into the air and flapped, propelling himself forward at amazing speed, already working on a battle strategy.

They entered a large central chamber, lined with decimated turrets and littered with broken robots, metallic faces twisted with fear and agony. Farther in, backing into a corner, was the nefarious Dr. Phillis, his face contorted with rage and determination, firing blasts from his pulse rifle at three other pursuing heroes.

A teen in chainmail and a red winged helm ripped a chord off on his powerfully enchanted lute, the ensuing sonic wave forcing the evil genius to leap and frontflip in the air, his power suit giving him amazing agility and strength. The Red Hot Maestro pulled off another short tune, this one enhancing his feet with extreme speed, throwing the hero out of the way as a pulse rifle blast few at him, then the pulse rifle itself, its ammunition depleted.

The Champion, a blue haired boy with a large pair of horns, pointy ears, and black, blue-striped tights and jeans, rushed forward to fill the gap, fists drawn to unleash a devasting barrage of super powered punches. He aimed for Dr. Phillis’ head, but the man was faster than he, and managed to roll out of the way. The Champ’s fist collided with the metal wall and nearly broke into the next room, bruising the boy’s knuckles with a curse.

Jaredman held out a hand as Billyboy attempted to stage his own attack. He lifted into the air with a flap of his wings and let out a yell as a bolt of holy energy fired from his hands, flying straight at Dr. Phillis. The doctor’s eyes widened underneath his blast goggles as it rushed toward him, but he had his own tricks up his sleeve, and countered the blast with a rush of crackling red lightning, compliments of the powerful artifact, the Philosopher’s Stone, that powered his suit.

Thankful for the distraction, the fifth and final hero, Podo the goblin, rushed forward. Just reaching over three feet tall, with green skin and pointy ears, Podo wasn’t very imposing. That is, if you ignored his huge cybernetic arm and mechanical eye, not to mention his glowing white normal eye. And the giant sword he wielded, nearly as tall as he was himself, that was also imposing. The goblin rushed and ducked under a bolt of lightning, then flipped through the air with a slash of his sword, nearly beheading the scientist had it not been for his defensive shoulder pads, which shot up and countered the blow as Podo sailed over Dr. Phillis’ head. Of course, the move had just been a feint, a distraction so he could land behind successfully and begin an attack on the doctor’s back.

Dr. Phillis turned and fired off a ball of crackling red lightning, but the goblin was already moving, flipping and leaping around the doctor as his sword came in again and again, his powerful strikes nearly cutting through the power suit on the occasions that the scientist didn’t manage to back away. With a frustrated cry, Dr. Phillis threw his hands into the air and a ball of lightning formed, then threw his hands to the sides, the lightning snaking around him to create a shield. The sword hit once again, but this time the energy flowed up the blade and right into Podo, who was shocked and was thrown back by the force.

“You cannot win, ‘heroes’!” Dr. Phillis snarled as he loosed a bolt at the prone goblin, only to have it intercepted as the Champion leapt in front to save the little green man’s life. He was thrown back with a grunt. “You foolish hypocritical society will see new order under my rule, a rule that will bring peace, happiness, and order! Don’t you see, I’m not the villain here!”

“Alright, this time, I’m just not going to let you get too into it.” Billyboy yelled as he flew forward, his hands blazing with energy, referring to the evil genius’ amazing ability to monologue in any situation, no matter how detrimental it may be. “We’re gonna end this now, fair and square!”

”I couldn’t agree more!” the evil genius retorted. Then with a sarcastic grin he added, “Though I don’t see how five on one is fair and square.”

“Robot army…”

”Oh, yes.”

“You’re finished!” Billyboy bellowed as Dr. Phillis sent a blast of lightning his way, only to have it deflected by a shell of pure light that surrounded the hero, one of the defending power of Jaredman.

“Bring it on!” Dr. Phillis screamed back as his foot slipped back and suddenly a cannon lifted from the floor, the evil genius hopping into the gunner’s seat and aiming at Billyboy quickly.

Time seemed to stand still for a moment as the hero and the villain screamed at one another, ready to end it all with their greatest attacks.

Then the two disappeared.

The remaining heroes blinked, stunned by the sudden absence of the two. Podo lifted himself to his feet, his stamina recovered, and the Champion pushed himself into a sitting position and looked all around, puzzled.

“What the hell?” the horned hero asked to his friends, looking to each one, who could only respond with a similarly ignorant expression.

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Billyboy hit the ground with a grunt, the wind knocked out of him suddenly and unexpectedly. He looked around and found himself in a small grey room with a bed to the side and a portal on one wall. Looking confused, he walked to the bed and read the note on his pillow several times before coming to the conclusion that this displacement had nothing to do with Dr. Phillis.

Evil gods? Not again! He already had one of those at home…. He sighed and kicked the ground, but he knew he couldn’t pass this up. He didn’t want omnipotent power, but if there was one man he also didn’t want to have it, it was Dr. Phillis. If he’d been brought here also, then Billyboy would do all he could to stop him.

“Alright then, a fine welcome to a fine affair.” Billyboy said with a forced grin, hoping that whoever had organized this was watching. “I’ve got this down! Leave the impressive stuff to me!” he shouted as he barreled through the portal.

With a wink of bent reality, the young hero found himself surrounded on all sides… by liquid hot magma. He was in a volcano! He was relieved to see that he was standing upon solid ground, one of many rock pillars jutting above the surface of the lava by various heights, his only a few feet above. There were walkways along the sides, all manner of rock formations, plenty of cover and vantage points.

Suddenly a bit unnerved, wondering if this had been such a good idea, Billyboy jumped to the nearest pillar and onto a nearby walkway, wondering how he was going to get out of this mess.

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Doctor Midas Phillis spat a curse as he looked from the note to the portal continually, pondering what exactly he was doing here. Was this another of Immortal’s odd tricks? The mad god was certainly powerful, but this powerful, to just grab them in mid-battle and whisk them away? No, not even he. Anyway, this wasn’t his style.

Dr. Phillis let out a profound sigh and began to pace, options whisking through his formidable mind. He had none of his equipment, none of his henchmen, not even his lover, Cyba, by his side. Only his power suit and his wits, which were also formidable. But this revelation didn’t prove to be helpful in his dire predicament, and he was beginning to get a bit panicky.

Omnipotent power? Just granted? Surely, it sounded like a great opportunity, but at what price did it come? Servitude, more than likely, or some kind of transformation, neither of which he was interested in by any means. But he knew one thing: if he didn’t get this power, someone else would, and that could prove much worse on the whole. A less sane villain would more than likely reign chaos upon the planet with that kind of destructive power, and he simply couldn’t allow his world to be ruined, he was to rule it! He wasn’t here to hurt or rule with an iron fist, he wanted to establish a better world order, where the people could go on with their lives unchanged, but without the continuous lies and slander coming from the government, and without the wars. There were more important things to worry about than other humans, the rikti, for example!

Shaking himself from his mental rant and back to his present predicament, the evil genius sat on the bed and stared loathefully at the portal. It was his duty to stop the power from getting into the hands of anyone who may use it for less than honorable purposes, and he would just have to do his best.

Jord snarled as she was thrown back, but quickly rolled herself back up and locked her gaze on the teleported Andraxus. She smiled and licked her lips as she watched Coldfire become inprisoned in the pillars and giggled, she just thought it was funny when people got hurt!

She reached to the ground in an attempt to rip up a chunk of earth, but found only sand. With a muttered curse, some of her most frequented words, she opted for her normal strategy and charged forward as quickly as she could, hoping to surprise Andraxus and crush in his face.

Jord growled and charged forward, imagining how good it would feel to tear this puny mage in half. She saw the man swing his staff and leapt into the air. The goddess felt something brush her feet, but she'd avoided the attack and kept soaring, her amazingly strong leg muscles propelling her forward.

With a feral snarl, Jord lifted her hands above her head and came down at the mage with a haymaker.

((OOC: Sorry about the delay, have had a busy spring break!))

Jord's strides easily pulled her feet from the glass that had once been sand, he strength was too much for such inefficient holds. A golem leapt to bury her, but it obviously had misjudged her, and badly. She lifted her hands above her head and caught it easily, smiling. She turned back to the Circle mage and laughed wickedly, even as the newest additions to his team appeared.

Filled with battle lust once again and cheered on by the presence of Iron Fist, Jord heaved with all her strength, flinging the golem with all of her amazing power straight at her magical opponent.

Jord felt the presence of Iron Fist as she entered the room, coming from above her. She ran to the sand and leapt straight up, the unnatural strength in her legs propelling her all the way to the top of the fall and she scrambled up. After gaining her footing rather quickly, she looked to Iron Fist and saw his current targets, a pair of golems who had thrown boulders at him.

She rushed forward with a snarl, her battle lust taking her. Her first thrust forward, a super strength punch sent straight at the nearest golem.

"Now." Jord said simply. She hated forming whole sentences, and didn't whenever possible, unless she really wanted to taunt someone. Iron Fist didn't mind, their relationship wasn't very verbal, so most of his questions could be answered with a nod or a shake.

With that, she strode out of the room, not caring if Goro followed. After all, she had gone in to get an opponent, not an ally. The only person she needed on her team was Iron Fist, she was positive.

The self-proclaimed goddess stood at the door to the arena, waiting for the announcer to give her the que to enter.

((OOC: I'm a little confused here. Is Jord supposed to team up with Charcold, or is that not gonna happen because you don't like multiple characters? They could all make it onto the field now, Jord on one team with Charcold on the other and Infernus and Goro on opposite teams.))

Jord was angered slightly by the guard's response, but she allowed him to live, for he feared her as he should. She gently ran a hand down his cheek, then slapped his viciously, sending him sailing and knocking him out. Yes, she wouldn't kill him, but no one got off free when they refused Jord.

She walked to the appointed room and saw two men fighting, one wielding a stone hammer and the other slinging fire. She stood next to the entrance and watched with a smirk, thinking their fighting styles to be very impotent and stupid.

"Out of my way, worm, I need to get into the arena." Jord said politely to a guard positioned at the door. "Iron Fist is my partner, and your stadium has started the match without me."

((OOC: Hope you don’t mind this character’s late entry into the fight, but she goes hand in hand with Iron Fist, we’ve RPed the two together before.))

She brought the seashell comb through her waist-length blonde hair one more time before standing to examine herself fully. The stunningly beautiful woman had, at one point, been nothing more than a mercenary, selling her services to the highest bidder. Back then, her hair had been constantly dyed back, she had worn patterned skirts and shirts that constantly showed off her toned midriff. She wasn’t that girl anymore. She wasn’t Vim.

Things had changed so much during the breakout. She’d been scared and useless, without any type of guidance. But she’d found him, Iron Fist, and he’d showed her the path to true power. Using a spell of bloodlust upon the ignorant girl, the mastermind had turned her into the perfect killing machine, a hunter without mercy. The heroes had felt the full force of her, and some of her hits had been too quick and precise for even the mediporter to get the hero away in time.

She remembered the first time she had seen Atlantis, her home. She remembered the overwhelming awe she felt as she first entered her hunting grounds within the lair, a rich forest dotted with small pools filled with magnificent fish. She’d trained within her domain, her innate super strength becoming more than just a blunt fighting style.

She looked into the mirror and smiled, she looked beautiful. She used to wear ridiculous makeup, darkening and outlining her eyes, but she didn’t do that anymore. Jord needed no makeup. She was an incarnate, a goddess in her own mind. She shook her head and watched her brilliant blonde hair sway back and forth as her armor, a lightweight and virtually invincible plate mail that looked like a dress of metallic green leaves, gleamed with the artificial light.

Jord balled her fist and punched the mirror, shattering it to tiny pieces. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the mirror, not that she didn’t like what she saw, for she truly did. She just liked breaking things, and mirrors were so easy and satisfying. How easily it shattered under her blows!

The self-acclaimed goddess walked from her dressing room and to the fighting grounds. The battle had already started, her intangible connection to Iron Fist, her lover and savior, told her that. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to enter by conventional means, but she would. Men crumpled under her blows as easily as the mirror she had recently decimated, she wasn’t afraid of killing a few guards to stand next to the man she so desperately loved.

Of course, Jord doubted very much that Iron Fist needed her in this fight; he never got himself into anything he couldn’t handle. Of course, Jord doubted there was anything the man wasn’t capable of. But she wasn’t there to rescue her lover.

She was there for the thrill of the hunt.

Did you know-

- That Nemesis' love for steam technology began when he was given a clockwork horse for his birthday. After it broke, he demanded that he be taught how to make his own, and had soon made a clockwork robot for every animal he had ever seen.

- Nemesis had never intended his robots to be killers. His family dealt in weaponry, and his brother didn't think his machines were of any use to his family. He taunted him to make a useful automaton, which Nemesis did quickly.

- Nemesis' brother was the first man to be killed by a Nemesis automaton.

- Nemesis troops had steam powered jetpacks when he took over Washington DC way back when, yet we've never seen any of these troops in the modern game, many years after!

- Jaegars are not actually automatons!

- Nemesis fought for the south during the Civil War and was thought to have been killed during a bombardment on his base. His men rode steam powered horses, yet another of his robots yet to be seen in-game.

I've got an extremely small roleplaying SG, and we've managed to scrap together enough prestige to make a functional base. Unfortunatley, we can't add any more rooms... we can't afford to upgrade the plot. We have enough to easily upgrade our rooms to bigger ones, even make a grand hall, but the cost is just too ridiculous. If there's one thing that I7 needs, it's more reasonably priced plots.

Grandville is NOT PvP! That would be Recluse's Victory.

Goodbye, Alexa, you were the best support a group of overly whiney and doom-saying computer nerds could ask for!

*hugglez*

Not to ruin anybody's fun, but is does say that the bottom level is for outcasted losers too, so what we're seeing may not be the thug powerset, they could just be mobs.

Other than that, the preview looks great! I love the idea of fighting an Arachnos flyer, especially one that's said to patrol the area! Being shot in the back randomly keeps you on your toes! The whole Spider City looks awesome, from the shots I've seen, I like all the monitors with Lord Recluse's ugly mug on 'em. It's my kind of town!

The red lightning had me thinking patron power immediatly, and I definately want that set once they come out! It would fit my villain's concept perfectly to be shooting evil lightning crap down, since the source of his power was used to suck the mad mojo from the PTS system for a day! *Pwee pwee pwee*

I'm really looking forward to I7 now, it just all looks so great! Now if my robots can keep up with me and avoid falling off cliffs (They do fine in Arachnos forts), we'll be good! Great job, devs, you're keeping me excited!

Oh, and I fail to see how Lord Recluse looks anything like Magneto!

I’d drag the injured hero off to the death chamber, put him on a mercilessly slow dipping mechanism, and lower him into a pit of flesh eating fruit loops. Luckily for him, I didn’t remember he kept some type of rodent, monkey, bird, or other small and agile animal in his pocket. While he’s trying to keep me distracted with feigned begging, which I take as all kinds of funny shizit, the animal scurries across the pulleys and to the control panel. It presses a few buttons and luckily manages to stop the mechanism and unbind the hero. With a “Curses”, I flee the scene in my escape *thingamajig* before the last blow is struck, then the base proceeds to explode with the hero walking out triumphantly.

So, you’re dead now, and I followed orders.

Is anyone else outraged they changed Arbiter Leery's requirements to using a respec? I'd done most of his arc, but was waiting for the AV patch to go after Indigo, and then it comes out and he tell me I can't talk to him anymore! I don't need to freaking respec, my character is perfect, I have all the moves I want and I like my slotting, it would just be a nuissance and a waste! And now I'm gonna be stuck with his story arc in my clues for the rest of my character's existance, wonderful!

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Some stories describe him as a feral hero, barely able to communicate. He pulls in new heroes to his cause with a terse, muttered phrase, “Go. Hunt. Kill Skuls.”


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He shoots, he scores!

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Best-thing-ever!