The City of Heroes Multimedia Genius Contest - 11/14 theme: Action

Submissions open every Monday only from 10 AM Pacific Time (1 PM Eastern Time / 6PM GMT / 19:00 Central European Time) until 5:00 PM Pacific Time (8:00 PM Eastern Time / 1:00 AM GMT / 2:00 Central European Time) between November 7, 2011 and January 30, 2012).

Welcome to “Multimedia Genius!” Every Monday (except holidays), a new theme-of-the-week will be posted on the Official City of Heroes® Freedom™ Forum. You’ll have until 5:00 PM Pacific Time (8:00 PM Eastern Time / 1AM GMT / 2:00 Central European Time) on the applicable contest date to submit a drawing, short text, short video clip, short audio clip, or screenshot that fits the theme. After 5:00PM Pacific Time (7:00 PM Eastern Time / 1AM GMT / 2:00 Central European Time), the judging will commence.



The individual who posts the winning submission will be determined by members of the Paragon Studios Community and/or Development Team and will receive their choice of one of the following Costume Codes and the Forum Title "Multimedia Genius [date]":

• Carnival of Shadows Harlequin
• Freakshow Tank Boss
• Paragon Police Department Hardsuit
• Carnival of Shadows Ring Mistress
• Knives of Artemis Lt.
• Praetorian Clockwork
• Praetorian Police Department
• Rikti Mentalist
• Vahzilok Meat doctor
• Coralax
• Victoria MK VI
• Olympian Guard

This week's theme is [Action]. Create a multimedia piece showing off some dynamic, heart-racing action! Examples would be an in-game screenshot taken at the perfect moment an explosive power goes off, a video of an awesome in-game battle, or a story that keeps the reader gripped on the edge of their seat! Have fun!

Rules -

1) Reply in the official City of Heroes Freedom™ forum thread created for each weekly Multimedia Genius with your multimedia submission.

2) Your reply must contain a single multimedia entry. Multiple entries (of the same or different types [e.g. two drawings, a drawing and a video, etc.]) will be disqualified.

3) Short text submissions must be 500 words or less. Short audio and video clips must not exceed 3 minutes in length. Screenshot and drawing submissions must have a filesize of 2 MB or less.

4) The use of copyrighted material or trademarks NOT owned by the Sponsors or yourself is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. Your submission must not infringe any patent, copyright, trademark or other intellectual property right, or any privacy, publicity or publishing rights of any third party, or be libelous, obscene or otherwise contrary to law.

5) Your submission must also contain the following statement. Please note that your submission will be disqualified if this statement is not present in your post:
If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.

6) To enter the contest weekly, as of November 7, 2011, you must be 13 years of age or older. If a winner is under 18 or a minor in his or her state/province/country of residence, his or her parent or guardian must also sign any applicable releases and documentation.

7) Please note, only 1 (one) entry per forum account will be accepted. If you post a second time, you'll get disqualified, so make your one entry count!
8) Entries must conform to the Official City of Heroes Freedom™ Message Forum Rules and Guidelines.

9). If you win the City of Heroes® Multimedia Genius Contest one week, you are not eligible to do so again for the next 6 weeks. This is to allow other people the opportunity to win. Please be courteous to others and bear in mind that, while you are able to participate during the weeks you are not eligible to win, you will not be able to win again until after the 6 weeks have passed.

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Dalia Montgomery stood in the center of the room. The floor around her was littered with the unmoving bodies of those she had already put down.

Her eyes swept left to right, hoping to spot the last three of her quarry. In her hands she held a small glass sphere which pulsed with intertwined bands of orange and blue energy.

Movement to her right had her spinning; dropping to one knee in a single fluid motion. Her hand extended and the orb gave a squelching electronic sound as it spat forth a bright spark. The undulating energy curved slightly, homing in on its target who glanced back over his shoulder with wide, surprised eyes even as he ran. Contact. Two more stumbling steps and he paused; swaying slightly as his eyes went slowly out of focus. He fell in a crumpled heap.

Two to go.

Dalia rose once more, hand still extended. A blur of motion, so fast she couldn’t track it. It passed a pile of papers on a desk and blew them up into the air, see-sawing down in a blizzard of distraction.

“Superspeeder… figures,” she muttered to herself. There was no way she was going to be able to draw a bead on the target unless she could get it to stop moving first.

Her prey was elusive and non-confrontational, but not particularly wily. She reached into one of her many pockets and drew out three coins, the room was dim but the golden surface of the coins still glimmered in it. She tossed them, one at a time, into the nearest corner. Crouched.

And waited.

A minute passed. Two. A flicker of movement and her quarry was suddenly there, crouching with greedy out-stretched hands to gather up the loot. A bright spark of light lit the dark room for a moment, followed by the soft whump of a body hitting the floor.

The last one. And by far the most dangerous of the lot. This one had the power of invisibility. A hunter... And not of gold coins.

This time she had to offer HERSELF as the bait.

Dalia sat on the floor. She set the orb just barely out of easy reach. She was helpless, vulnerable… surely her enemy would not be able to resist…

“RAAHHH!”

She launched herself for the orb even as she felt the impact of a body into her own…

* * * * * *

Dalia groaned as she walked into the break room. She set the Orb of Blissful Slumber on its recharging circle.

“How’d it go?”

Dalia took one of the gold coins from her pocket. Deft fingers peeled the gold foil back before popping the chocolate disk into her mouth.

“I had three hold outs,” she said, falling into the threadbare break room chair with a stifled moan. “But they’re all down for nap time.”

“Just another typical day at Paragon Meta-Child Daycare,” her supervisor chuckled.

“I swear we rate hazard pay,” Dalia said and plucked out another chocolate coin.





Legal Blah-de-Blah: If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.

I would not like to have my Forum Title changed if I win this contest... unless you change it to "Solid Gold Steelclaw"... I guess I could live with that.

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My mind wanders so often you've probably seen its picture on milk cartons. - Me... the first person version of the third person Steelclaw

On the one hand, this picture totally says, "BRING IT!"

On the other hand, it also says, "Discovering the limitations of Personal Force Field in 3... 2... 1..."

If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

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The Island of Delos;
“Surely the goddess will smite them?” said the Second. The Eldest nodded, “In time, they will pay. The wheels of Olympus turn slowly, if exceedingly sure. While the Knives are a violent cult, they have not been entirely without honor in the past. Perhaps they feel a call to the divine, and have been led astray? We should send an emissary. It is a risk, but if we can bring them to the true faith…”

The Louis Forest;
“Goddess of the Hunt, hear our prayers; Take this heretic. Take her blood shed by your servants, that we may triumph!” The serrated blade made its glittering arc in the firelight, intersecting the priestess’ throat where she had fallen after the long chase.

Olympus, the Temple of Artemis;
“...and so, my goddess, I ask vengeance upon those who have so defiled your name. Say but the word, and I shall deliver them to Hades. What is your will, goddess?” Artemis’ eyes blazed. “My will? My will is that the scheming blasphemers pay. That their lamentations echo to the uncaring skies, that their wombs lie barren, and that wild boars should dig up their unquiet graves. They have defiled my name with unclean rites, they have murdered my priestess. These mortals have lived for too long without a reminder of what incurring my wrath entails. I would have you, my Captain, go and remind them.” Diana’s eyes blazed in answering fury, as she knelt before her goddess and swore that it would be so.

Gaimen Woods;
Five Knives of the Sisterhood of the Hunt were preparing the sacrifice. A mere man, unworthy of a Hunt, he was trussed like any other rabbit. As the Blade began the ritual, the other four stood guard around the blazing fire. Suddenly, three arrows pierced three hearts striking them dead as they stood. A fourth arrow transfixed the throat of the chanter, cutting her off in mid-word as she, too, fell dead. The remaining Knife looked wildly around, but saw nothing. Holding the bound physician as a shield, she backed towards the woods, blade in hand. As she did so, another arrow pinned her to a tree through her sword-hand. She screamed, dropping the blade, and the panicked doctor.

On her knees, her raised arm still pinned to the tree, she looked out into the night. “Who are you? How dare you interfere with…” Striding out of the forest was a figure in black with golden sandals and fire in her eyes. “I? I am Diana, blood ancestor of she whom you slew in unclean sacrifice.” Her voice echoed around the clearing, as if it came from the very forest itself. “I am the Bow of Artemis, the Captain of her Companions; I am the Huntress of the goddess on earth, and you have been judged and found wanting. Tell your masters. Tell them their end is nigh.”


If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.

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Synchrotron, level 50 Radiation/Radiation Defender
Fighting crime on Champion since 2004

If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.



When the party at the D gets out of control!

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If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.

10joy

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Speeding through the end of the tunnel, he took a sharp turn to the right. His earpiece crackled with an urgent voice:

"Hurry, there isn't much time left!", Manticore bellowed.

He looked down at the package he was clutching in his arms; about the size of a young toddler, its shape was awkward and bulky. His sweating palms made it especially hard to grasp, even more so at the speed he was moving.

As he headed north, various citizens called out to him, but he didn't acknowledge their greetings. He was fully focused on the task at hand. After a few moments of weaving between pedestrians and traffic on the ground level, he leapt up and followed the thin line of the overhead monorail. He wouldn't normally break the rules set by the City, but on this occasion he felt he could forgive himself.

The radio screeched into life again: "You've got less than three minutes!". He winced as the voice mingled with scraps of broadcasts from adjacent frequencies. Maybe one day they'll give him access to the encrypted Hero band, he mused.

Through the blur of the city beneath his feet, he spotted various familiar stills: a car being vandalised by some street punks; a couple holding hands on a park bench; a meeting between Family and Council turning sour; a fellow Hero being thanked by an elderly man. A sudden, guttural roar snapped his attention away and towards the waterfront. In the murky distance he could make out a circle of columns rising out of the sea, flexing back and forth, reaching for something to smash or flatten. The bulbous mass that was Lusca's head stayed protected inside the ring, keeping watch for the imminent retaliation by emergency services.

A slight rumbling underfoot prompted him to redirect his gaze to the tracks. In the next second, adrenaline pumped into his legs, launching him into the air, his toes barely scraping the roof of the passing rail-car. He landed clumsily with his heart in his mouth, the driver's honking echoing as expletives in his mind.

"Thirty seconds left, get a move on!" The voice reminded him of his mission. Still burdened with the payload, he shot off again in his target's direction. A few moments later, he hopped off the rails and once again buzzed through the streets, careful not to pass too close to the scattered groups of villains on patrol around the neighbourhood. Finally, he rounded the corner and spotted his destination. He flew though the gates and halted directly in front of her, eliciting a slight expression of shock.

"Happy Anniversary," he panted, "these are from Justin". He thrust the package into Sister Psyche's arms, the blooms almost completely obscuring her face. He glanced at his watch mere seconds before it turned to midnight.

"Fantastic work!", Manticore cried through the earpiece. "Now maybe this year I won't be sleeping on the sofa."



Legalese: If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.

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Justice Hunter, 50 Inv/SS Tank

Slenszic, 50 Sword/Energy Stalker

MA Arc IDs: 1355, 2341, 2350

Tip Found!
Audio Tape, this aging piece of musical technology glows with strange runes, playing it brings forth a hellish voice:

http://boomp3.com/mp3/5twakgp10ck-deimokrieger-action


A transcript for those whose eardrums have burst from hearing the dark majesty contained upon it:

"Action?" I can hear you thinking, and trust me when I say I can hear you thinking. And trust me when I say it would give me no greater joy than to not have to know what you're thinking.

Now, as I was saying, "Deimokrieger," I hear you thinking, as your substandard mortal flesh is ill suited to the task and sounds like a truck stuck in gear, "Why have you arrived in the aforementioned Paragon City and also the wonderfully homey Rogue Isles where the gunshots, shrieks, and occasional plagues of the ravenous dead make one feel so at home?"

"Why would a creature hailing from a plane of eternal torment and strife, colloquially referred to as a demon, seek to leave such a fitting place? The mortal body is a limitation, and the spirit is eternal. The frail shell, confined to its own experiences, its own knowledge, the imposition upon its limited by such rudimentary things as the laws of physics."

"It is precisely those limitations, so wonderfully applied to mortal beings while as a non-corporeal entity am allowed to flout them at my merest whim. With the cape and costumed set you get the limitations of a mortal foe, while also featuring glimpses of the incredible power that the endless potential of the spirit can produce."

"And in achieving victory over my foes, I can seize a piece of that potential for my own. To grow in power you must take it from the powerful. There is challenge enough for me and my shambling hordes of the undead, and yet there is practically no danger to myself. I can shed one shell and take on another, and another, and another."

"It's not all just take. Sometimes I give back, a little dark, malignant, sinister piece of myself. It's so much fun to whittle away at the sanity of a mortal being, stripping away the comforting layer of ignorance about the way things are."

"In time, through manipulation, battle, strife, and pain the shell is worn down, allowing for the spirit inside to break through. To transcend the limitations of the flesh and ascend, or descend as it were, into something greater."

"To take shining nobility and turn it inside out, fill the purest heart with seething hatred, to make those whom I fight sink to the depths of chaos and depravity that rival my own. Or in my fondest hopes make my wickedness pale in comparison. That, kiddies, is action."


And now a reading from the dreaded Tomes of Service:
If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.

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If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.

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If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.

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Great submissions from everyone! A bit of heart-pounding action is the best way to start off the week, I say.

The award for the most adrenaline-filled submission today goes to: LLamaBoy!

Please PM me which costume code you'd like! (And remember to specify region, please!) See you folks for next week's Multimedia Genius, and don't forget to try your hand at the other games on Wednesday and Friday!

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