The Avengers of Justice--new static team on Virtue

First of all, great run finishing Posi the other night. I've heard it can one of the more "painful" TF's--especially with a full team of eight--and we pretty much rolled right through it.


Now:

[ QUOTE ]
Just because we're not making a SG doesn't mean we shouldn't show pride in our team...I direct you to a certain badge we could all wear.

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Wow, thanks for finding that badge! Lightson and Liberty-Flame have tracked it down and are prouldy displaying it.

Since several people have to miss next week, the Aug. 26 run will be radio/safeguard missions in Skyway City. I picked Skyway because that is where Synapse is, so we will already be there when we start that TF on Sept. 2. Does that sound good to everyone? (If anyone is curious, the 15-20 safeguard temp power is Resuscitation--a self rez: http://cityofheroes.wikia.com/wiki/Resuscitation).

Also, I would suggest that at some point in the future we schedule a non-Tuesday "special session" to run Directrix through Synapse since she will likely miss the original run.

Finally, since we are taking a semi-break this coming week, I may decide to wait a little longer before working on the next issue.

Anyhoo, see (some of you) Aug. 26 in Skyway at 7pm!

I'll get back Wednesday night, so I figure I can arrange to maybe find a PUG or tag along on somone else's run of the task force. No need to make special plans because I'm gone. But I appreciate the thought.

So what level should we be at on Tues?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Sure, the devs are supposed to listen to their customers, mister business 101 out there. And if I decide to start suggesting that the devs change the game from being about superheroes and supervillains to being about clowns that is my right as well, and technically Paragon Studios is supposed to pay attention to me. But I hope strongly that they assume a meth-head somehow managed to hack into my forum account and make paper airplanes out of my posts, because I hope they recognize stupid when they see it. I assume they will recognize futile just as accurately.

[ QUOTE ]
So what level should we be at on Tues?

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey everyone, hope you all are doing well. Since half of us were out last Tuesday, we didn't play very long. So anyone out didn't miss much. I would suggest trying to get somewhere in the 17-18 range by Tuesday.

Just as a reminder we will being the Synapse TF this Tuesday at 7pm.

Looking forward to it!

Okay guys, here is issue six. Let's just say that this issue is dedicated to those who, although they love CoH, feel like the cannon is a bit too focused on the "surviving eight" and other NPC's at the expense of the PC's. Anyone who has felt like a member of "The Legion of Substitute Heroes" while playing CoH, this issue is for you. As always, portions of this are borrowed gratefully from Paragon Wiki (with a few alterations, as addressed in the dedication):

VI. Issue Six: The Rule of Three

Within moments, all eight members of the Avengers of Justice were present and listening intently to Positron’s briefing.

“Recently the Vahzilok . . .” Positron began.

“Oh, wonderful, them again . . .” Solar Tech interrupted.

“Err, yeah . . .” Positron continued, “so the Vahzilok are trying to poison the water of Paragon City. I’ve done a little recon in the area, and I came across a nest of Vahzilok . . .”

“Is this nest in the sewers, again?” Burnt Sacrifice asked. “I really hate the sewers.”

“Yes, unfortunately it is, sorry. Anyway, this nest was led by an Eidolon called Epidural,” Positron explained.

“Wait, a villain named himself after an anesthetic?” asked Mutant X-7. “Why would a villain name himself after something that blocks pain? Does that even make sense? Wouldn’t he rather inflict pain?”

“Huh . . . never thought about it really . . . right then, so I was planning on taking this nest out, but since you’re here, I’ll let you have the honors,” Positron answered. “If you find any evidence that they are planning to revamp their poisoning plot, let me know immediately.”

“Will do,” Lightson responded. “We won’t let you down Positron.”

This time, the team’s jaunt through the sewers went much differently than their first adventure together. The Avengers of Justice tore through reapers, cadavers and abominations with ease.

“Here comes the boom!!” Mutant X-7 exclaimed as he dispatched Epidural’s last minion with a jolt of electricity.

“You can’t win Epidural, don’t make this harder than it needs to be,” Doc Midnight forcefully proclaimed.

Epidural’s only response to Doc Midnight’s ultimatum was to fire a blast of x-ray energy. Doc Midnight shrugged the beam off, and then muttered to himself, “fine with me, maybe you’ll actually be a challenge.” Seconds later, Epidural was vanquished. After defeating Epidural, the team discovered a barrel of chemicals in the Vahzilok lair, which Solar Tech immediately began to analyze with his battle suit.

Positron’s voice then rang out from the team members’ Global Comms. “Wow, that was a great job. I watched you via one of my remote cameras . . .”

“Oh, I was wondering what that camera was doing down here.” Solar Tech noted. “You really should have just told me if you wanted to observe us. My battle suit is equipped with top of the line surveillance equipment, and I can broadcast the signal over an encrypted line. The resolution of my signal would really have been much higher than this camera. Not to mention that the camera really isn’t environmentally friendly at all, what with these short life batteries . . .”

“Okay, I see, well I’m sure my camera is just as good. But let me patch into this signal of yours just to check. Hmm, I guess this IS a very high resolution. Anyway, you all work really well as a team. Now, would you mind bringing me a sample of that chemical you found in the lair for analysis?”

Just as Positron finished his question, a computerized voiced echoed out from Solar Tech’s battle suit. “Analysis complete, . . . ” The voice then proceeded to indicate the precise chemical makeup of the sample. “Long story short, gang,” Solar Tech summarized, “this compound is highly potent poison.”

One could perceive a slight sigh before Positron concluded, “Well, I guess I don’t need to analyze the chemical for you. Good. Fine. But maybe you should bring the chemical back to me until we figure out what the Vahzilok planned to do with it . . .”

“Hold on team,” Blind Justice interrupted. Unknown to his teammates, Ian’s smart suit could more throughly explore the liar than any of them could using their own senses. “I think we may have missed a hidden passage over here . . .”

Sure enough, after Blind Justice pushed in a slimy brick on the far side of the room, a secret door popped open. Inside the disguised compartment were blueprints of the Paragon City Dam. Notations on the blueprints indicated the Vahzilok intended to poison the reservoir.

Just then The Directrix chimed in “No time to sort all this out just yet, PPD just radioed with another crisis. The Circle of Thorns are attacking the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Skyway City. They are being led by a mystic named Rollister. For now the Vazhilok plot needs to take a back seat team, our priority is to save those workers and then take Rollister out of commission.”

“Roger that, Directrix.” Lightson responded. “Positron, we’ll maintain communication with you through Solar Tech’s battle suit. Avengers of Justice out.”

Positron answered, more to himself than anyone else, “Umm, ok sure, I’ll uh, just wait here until I hear back from you. Err, Positron out. Hey Valkyrie, check out my new helmet . . .”

Once again, the Avengers of Justice ably demonstrated their increased competency, as the Circle of Thorns minions provided little resistance. After the brief skirmish, one of the FEMA workers told The Directrix “that horror dude kept going on and on about he was wantin’ the plans to the city dam in Faultline. I ain’t got no ideas why they would want that!”

“That’s quite alright, sir. You’ve been through quite an ordeal. Trust me, you are completely safe now. We appreciate the information you were able to give us.” The Directrix responded.

“Hey Lightson!,” Doc Midnight shouted “check out this altar that Rollister was guarding. Its got some kind of book on it.” The book was written in a language none of the team members could decipher.

“Odds are,” Lightson said, “if the Circle of Thorns were guarding it then its some sort of mystic tome. Lets take it to Azuria and see if she knows anything about it. Positron, are you still monitoring our status?”

“And that, trainees, is how I became a flesh and blood person again. Fascinating, no? Oh, what’s that Lightson? Oh sure, I’m still listening. I was just mentoring some of Valkyrie’s trainees. So what’s up?”

“We found some sort of mystic tome . . .” Lightson answered.

“Oh, you should take it to Azuria . . .” Positron responded.

“Wow, did you take the name Positron because Captain Obvious was taken?” Burnt Sacrifice mumbled.

“I’m sorry what was that, team? I couldn’t quite make that out.” Positron asked.

“Err, nothing.” Lightson stated. “Great idea about Azuria. We’re on our way.”

Azuria’s eyes widened when she saw the tome the team brought her. “Ah, heroes. I see you have managed to find The Book of T’Jer’imikanu. It was presumed lost in the Chicago fire of 1871. That’s quite an amazing discovery you’ve made.”

“It gets better,” Lightson noted, “we found it with a group of Circle of Thorns. They apparently were using it in conjunction with some sort of plot that also involved the Paragon City Dam.”

“I see . . .” Azuria said with a hint of curiosity. “Well, I shall have my translators examine the book.”

Just then, Solar Tech interrupted, “Uh, guys, I hate to send us chasing yet another rabbit trail, but my scanners are showing that a nearby abandoned warehouse is infested with Clockwork. ”

“Excuse us Azuria, but we should probably check that out.” Lightson responded.

When the Avengers of Justice arrived at the abandoned warehouse, the grinding of Clockwork gears was almost deafening. It seemed they had stumbled onto yet another major operation. As with the previous encounters, the team was able dispatch the Clockwork on site hastily. Moreover, amid the rubble the Avengers of Justice discovered various mechanical parts in the Clockwork nest. Curiously, the parts did not belong to any Clockwork construct. Nonetheless, the parts were defended by the robots with vigor. Obviously the parts were important to the Clockwork.

“Wait, I know what these parts are.” Blind Justice finally interjected. Although he was too modest to say so, Blind Justice was a engineering genius. Moreover, his Smart Suit enable him to triangulate the precise shape of the part down to the micrometer. “It’s a modified support structure used in large scale construction projects. The dam uses support structures exactly like these. If one of these structures was outfitted with an explosive device, the entire dam could be demolished . . .”

Blind Justice was interrupted by Azuria’s voice over the Global Comms “Avengers of Justice, I translated the book you recovered from the Circle of Thorns. It speaks of a ritual that transfers the energy of a lightning storm to those who perform it. The text implies that the larger the conflux of lightning and rain, the more powerful the ritual will be . . .”

“Interesting,” Solar Tech responded. After a brief delay, he added, “I just tapped into a few global weather satellites and it doesn’t appear that any major storms will be approaching Paragon City in the foreseeable future.”

“All the same,” Lightson said, “thanks for the info Azuria. We’ll be on the lookout.”

“Hold on.” Liberty-Flame said, “Let’s think about what we’ve got here. What if this conflux of rain and lightning was boiled down to its elements? What is rain? Water. What is lightning?”

“Electricity.” Mutant X-7 continued, “And what is the biggest conflux of water and electricity in Paragon City?”

“The dam.” Doc Midnight interjected. “ So today we’ve uncovered three plans: the Clockwork intend to destroy the dam . . .”

“The Vazhilok plan to poison Paragon’s water supply through the dam,” Burnt Sacrifice explained.

“And the Circle want to use it in a ritual to create great power,” The Directrix finished. “Well its great that we’ve figured all this out. But these villains could still implement these plans at any one of a number of different substations. Even if the eight of us split up, we couldn’t guard them all.”

“I think I can help with that, Avengers of Justice,” Positron answered, “it turns out that the Circle, Clockwork and Vazhilok each know of one another’s plans for the Paragon City Dam. Even worse, now that know this it looks like they’ve each decided to move up their schedules. I just got a call from dam substation seven. They are reporting attacks by the Clockwork, the Circle of Thorns, and the Vazhilok! Not only that, but the villains are attacking each other as well! Its chaos in there. I need you to protect the substation.”

“We’re on it Positron,” Lightson responded.

As with the previous encounters, the Avengers of Justice tore through hordes of minions at a brisk clip. Ultimately, they reached a level of the substation that now appeared abandoned except for a lone Vahzilok. At his feet were two defeated villians: one Circle of Thorns mage and one Clockwork Cannon Knight.

“Welcome heroes. Don’t you agree that its quite an unfortunate coincidence that these meddlers also had plans for this substation? No worry, I suppose, as you can see they and their leaders have been dealt with. Ah, but where are my manners? I am Cortex. I would ask for your names, but that is really not necessary. You see, I will rip your names from your minds as I watch you slowly die.”

Cortex then assailed the Avengers of Justice with a series of psychic blasts intended to incapacitate them. However, before the blasts could do any harm, Lightson created a energy field which shielded the team from any ill effects.

“It doesn’t have to be like this Cortex, you could still surrender. There’s still hope that we can undo what Dr. Vazhilok has done to you,” The Directrix pleaded.

“Spare me. Do you really think this force field will stop me forever. I’ll still tear your minds to shreds. You will become my playthings, my pets–to be destroyed when I bore of torturing you . . . ”

“Alrighty then, we’ll do this your way, Cortex,” Doc Midnight declared as he charged in to take the brunt of Cortex’s onslaught. Before he could react, Cortex was assailed by a flurry of punches; punches that were empowered by the very essence of darkness.

After Doc Midnight initiated the battle and had Cortex distracted, The Directrix assessed the field of battle. “Avengers of Justice: maneuver delta, assault alpha, tactic omega on three, two . . .” Part of the reason the team had become so efficient was that they had practiced fighting as a unified force. Doc Midnight would always initiate the battle, and with a series of silent cues instruct the rest of the team how to follow up. The Directrix was a natural at communicating to the rest of the team these instructions and also adapting them on the fly. She was a instinctive leader. Not only that, but on the fringe of the battlefield a few Circle of Thorns mystics were chanting incantations that actually assisted the Avengers of Justice. Apparently, The Directrix had convinced them of the errors of their ways and they had begun their reformation immediately.

“Right behind you, Doc!” Liberty-Flare shouted. Even as Cortex was already starting to buckle under Doc Midnight’s shadowy assault, Liberty-Flame followed up with a series of blazing hot punches. “Fan the flames of Liberty!!”

Cortex, seeing that he was on the verge of defeat, began to flee. Just as he started to put some distance between himself and his assailants, Mutant X-7 blasted him with a bolt of pure concussive
force. The power of the bolt knocked Cortex back into a wall, allowing the melee combatants to easily catch up with him. “You’re not going anywhere, Cortex!”

“I’ll make absolutely sure of that,” Burnt Sacrifice added just as he surrounded Cortex in a ring of holy flames. The smoke and flames seared Cortex’s lungs making it nearly impossible for him to concentrate, much less act. For added measure, even as Cortex struggled for pure air, Blind Justice shot a poison gas arrow at Cortex’s feet. The gas weakened Cortex to the point that his attacks were feeble. Liberty-Flame and Doc Midnight, having been apprised of the battle plan by The Directrix’s orders, knew the exact moment to leap out of harm’s way as the fast acting gas ran its course.

All the while Solar Tech’s battle suit launched white hot beams of solar energy at Cortex with surgical precision. Cortex’s plan to harm Paragon’s citizens by polluting the water supply struck a very personal chord with Solar Tech. Ever the hero, however, Solar Tech still kept his energy output in the non-lethal range. “Hey, Cortex, go green, go solar, OR ELSE!!”

Inevitably, Cortex succumbed. As Cortex fell helplessly to his knees, Doc Midnight asked, “You know what just got served?”

“Justice!” The Directrix finished.

Lightson activated his Global Comm and declared, “Positron, we’ve got everything under control here at substation seven . . .”

“Wow. That’s all I can say. You sure earned your stripes today! In one epic battle, you thwarted three different plots to take over Paragon City dam. To say I am impressed would be putting it mildly. You have done a wonderful job working as a team, Avengers of Justice. If there’s ever anything I can do for you guys, let me know.”

“Actually,” Lightson answered, “after we wrap up here we’d like to ask you a few questions about Crey Industries. It’s a long story, but let’s just say it was more than coincidence that brought the Avengers of Justice together. We each have a history with Crey . . .”

“As do I,” Positron responded, “I’d be glad to compare notes if it will help bring down Crey!”

JUSTICE IS SERVED!!

To be continued on Tuesday, September 2 at 7pm as we begin the Synapse TF.

Lightson, thanks for another great issue. Your stories are the highlight of this team! They're awsome! And as this quote shows you managed to capture Solar-tech's character perfectly:
[ QUOTE ]
“Oh, I was wondering what that camera was doing down here.” Solar Tech noted. “You really should have just told me if you wanted to observe us. My battle suit is equipped with top of the line surveillance equipment, and I can broadcast the signal over an encrypted line. The resolution of my signal would really have been much higher than this camera. Not to mention that the camera really isn’t environmentally friendly at all, what with these short life batteries . . .”

[/ QUOTE ]

Just a note that I will be gone for the next two weeks. Heading to the Gulf for disaster services with The Salvation Army. Go ahead and fill my spot.

Just a quick reminder that we will be running again tonight (09/02) at 7pm. We will be starting the Synapse TF. Try to be in the level 17-18 range if possible. We will be running with six tonight, as Argot and Pliska will be out.

There is an off chance we will finish tonight in the alotted time if we really roll, but I'm guessing Synapse will take two sessions. Looking forward to it!!

I may be running a little late tonite, it's my GF's nephew's birthday and we are going to Chuck E Cheese (I just found out last night).
I assume that I will be home by 8 the latest.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Sure, the devs are supposed to listen to their customers, mister business 101 out there. And if I decide to start suggesting that the devs change the game from being about superheroes and supervillains to being about clowns that is my right as well, and technically Paragon Studios is supposed to pay attention to me. But I hope strongly that they assume a meth-head somehow managed to hack into my forum account and make paper airplanes out of my posts, because I hope they recognize stupid when they see it. I assume they will recognize futile just as accurately.

So so so so so sorry I didn't make it last night.
The nephew birthday thing was ALOT later then I thought it would be, hope the TF went well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Sure, the devs are supposed to listen to their customers, mister business 101 out there. And if I decide to start suggesting that the devs change the game from being about superheroes and supervillains to being about clowns that is my right as well, and technically Paragon Studios is supposed to pay attention to me. But I hope strongly that they assume a meth-head somehow managed to hack into my forum account and make paper airplanes out of my posts, because I hope they recognize stupid when they see it. I assume they will recognize futile just as accurately.

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So so so so so sorry I didn't make it last night.
The nephew birthday thing was ALOT later then I thought it would be, hope the TF went well.

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No problem. I actually appreciate the level of communication from everyone regarding the times they won't be available during our regularly scheduled time.

The Synapse run is going quite well. Key word on "going". We didn't finish so we'll still be in that TF next week. Which means we won't be able to invite anyone who wasn't already there last night. Sorry about that

Just a reminder to everyone that we have another run scheduled for tonight at 7pm. Those of us who started the Synapse TF last week will finish it up tonight. Thanks!

Back and eager to rejoin the group. I'm making an effort to get caught up level-wise and maybe manage the TF this weekend, to be ready for next tuesday. At or about lvl 20, I'm assuming.

I am at lvl 18 right now, if you want to do some mishes tonite while they finish up the TF ill be probably be around.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Sure, the devs are supposed to listen to their customers, mister business 101 out there. And if I decide to start suggesting that the devs change the game from being about superheroes and supervillains to being about clowns that is my right as well, and technically Paragon Studios is supposed to pay attention to me. But I hope strongly that they assume a meth-head somehow managed to hack into my forum account and make paper airplanes out of my posts, because I hope they recognize stupid when they see it. I assume they will recognize futile just as accurately.

Is everyone going to be on tomorrow? Hope so

And what lvl did we decide to start the TF at? I know everyone who was in last week got to the begining of 21, but if others have lvled up some i may go ahead and get 22 and upgrade a few of my IOs before we start. Let me know por favor

"When I returned from my 'conference' in Nevada, I discovered that I'd somehow been outed to my superiors. Rather than the disciplinary action I would have expected, they were excited at the prospect of the PR that could be developed around a young female hero associated with the department. Basically they're hoping for another Blue Steel, just without all the 'rough edges' and think I'm their girl. As a result I've been instructed to carry on as I had been, but to wear this revealing new costume---complete with cape and everything---and to use my name a lot when in the presence of civilians. I hope you folks don't mind too much.

"While much more flashy, the new getup doesn't offer as much protection as my old SWAT surplus costume, so when no one's looking I might switch back sometimes. By the way, what did I miss?"

The Daring Directrix is somewhere between 20 and 21 and waiting next to Sister Psyche.

She was having trouble because her toggle buffs used up 1.68 end/sec, and of course she only recovered 1.67 end/sec. But now that she's developed more stamina she can afford to actually use a few controls every once in a while.

I believe I got to 20 over the weekend, however it may have only been 19, or I'm 19 and really close to 20, I didn't play nearly as much as I had planned this past week.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Sure, the devs are supposed to listen to their customers, mister business 101 out there. And if I decide to start suggesting that the devs change the game from being about superheroes and supervillains to being about clowns that is my right as well, and technically Paragon Studios is supposed to pay attention to me. But I hope strongly that they assume a meth-head somehow managed to hack into my forum account and make paper airplanes out of my posts, because I hope they recognize stupid when they see it. I assume they will recognize futile just as accurately.

Solar Tech:"First I just wanted to say its good to have you back Directrix. The team is definately stronger with you watching our backs and providing reliable intel! In light of your new position within the PD, do you think you could get me access to some more of their confiscated evidence? The access granted me after our team stoped those bank robberies in KR and Skyway has really paid off! Why, if Blind Justyce and I hadn't reverse engineered those Sky Raider packs we might not have made it in time to save Paragons dam! Willickers! That was a close one! Speaking of Blind Justyce, does anyone have any clues regarding his disapearance? He seemed...out of sorts while we were investigating those Freakshow freaks, and has been unreachable since that night. Very mysterious, yes very mysterious indeed. Should I try and invent a mind control residual energy tracker or maybe a dimensional teleportation detector? What do you guys think?"
mumbles: "eh, I guess I could just try his cell again." and starts to wander off then stops abruptly and turns back to say:
"Oh, before I forget, I am continueing to hear rumors in the mad scientist comunity of something major involving a Crey/Freakshow partnership. YES OF COURSE THERES A MAD SCIENTIST COMUNITY! What was I saying? Oh yes. While the info isnt the most reliable I think we should investigate the Freakshow more thoroughly than last week. I cant imagine what the likes of Crey would want with street punks like Freakshow, but the continued presence of very ominous rumors makes me think it worth the effort of another investigation."

Hey guys, just wanted to remind everyone we are scheduled to roll again this Tuesday at 7pm. We are going to try to tackle the Sister Psyche TF (again, for real this time!!)

Lightson and Liberty Flame are both level 22 now.

I haven't forgotten or given up on the storyline either, I plan on writing something up for Synapse and Blind Justice's departure. Just been busy with real life stuff. I'll try to get caught up in the next few weeks.

Finally, I am up for suggestions as to replacing our now-missing eighth member.

Looking forward to taking out some freakshow with you this Tuesday!!

Just a heads up for everyone. I may miss tonights event, got a meeting with a district and regional manager about expanding my current role within the company I work for. Not sure how long the meeting will last but it's scheduled for 6pm est so I may miss entirely. If I'm not there by start time go ahead and go without me, sorry bout the short notice but just got the email this morning.

Doc M

Good luck Doc!

Edit: also, Theres a patch today, you guys may want to save a few minutes and download it before our start time.

Just got off the phone with my girlfriend and apperently we are having dinner at her sisters and not at home like planned. Looks like I won't be around to start the TF .

I'd just stay home, but she's been working 2 jobs lately and has been upset we haven't spent much time together so I gotsta go.

I'll try to make it home by 7 but I don't think i'm leaving til bout 6ish

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Sure, the devs are supposed to listen to their customers, mister business 101 out there. And if I decide to start suggesting that the devs change the game from being about superheroes and supervillains to being about clowns that is my right as well, and technically Paragon Studios is supposed to pay attention to me. But I hope strongly that they assume a meth-head somehow managed to hack into my forum account and make paper airplanes out of my posts, because I hope they recognize stupid when they see it. I assume they will recognize futile just as accurately.

Hey guys, I have a question about the next run--right now we in the middle of finishing the Sister Psyche TF. We are probably a little more than halfway through.

My question is basically for the people who had to miss last week: would you prefer us to start the TF over so everyone can participate or would you be okay with those who are already in the TF finishing it?

Just let us know.

I wonder if Perdix/ I C wassisname will be there...

I'm good with you guys finishing it. I know you put the time in and shouldn't waste that for the few of us who had to miss last week.