Tachyon Hammer
Pocket-D was jumping, the dance floor full, the bar sections packed. Sitting next to the jukebox with a drink in one hand and a Devouring Earth spine in the other, she's studiously ignoring everyone, Tachyon Hammer sits and stares at the floor. Obviously drunk already, her open leather sleeveless jacket shows the bandages on her stomach, and she's done little but sit and stare for over two hours.
She's normally one of the more aggressive members of the Patriot Brigade but since returning from an assault on Praetoria several days ago she's been subdued and constantly drunk. She's only in the supergroup base to pass out drunk on the couch in a dark room with a bottle of whiskey in one hand and tightly gripping the Hamidon spike in the other. Since returning she wakes up screaming, swinging, and occasionally throwing lightning at the walls as she panics. She often returns from Pocket-D with blood seeping through the bandage over her stomach where the Hamidon spike she constantly holds had been embedded, but won't let anyone get close enough to her to examine the wound, changing the bandage herself.
Right now, she's just staring at the floor, once in awhile using the spike to carve in the tile of the floor in front of her the same thing over and over and over.
"SUBMIT"
Skrunchie
The young girl's fire trails behind her as she chases Nemesis robots through the streets, swinging her rocket-hammer and screaming "CANDY!" at the top of her lungs. Having slipped Miss Moral's supervision she's enjoying the rush of combat and trying to find out which Nemesis drone is packed with candy. After all, everyone knows that Lord Nemesis uses his automatons to rob candy stores and hides the candy inside of one drone.
Now, if she can just find it! Soooo much yummy yummy candy.
With a jump and twirl Nemesis automatons flew away, brass gears and steam bursting from their steams. She could hear Nemesis' voice booming through the streets and immediately homed in on the sound.
After all, hadn't Ascendant told her that one of the Nemesis was really made of solid chocolate, complete with milk chocolate coolant, chocolate gears, and just brass foil coating it? She'd find it, beat down its force field, and jump on its back to see if she could gnaw through its head!
Around her people screamed and fled from the oncoming Nemesis automatons, but Skrunchie merely moved faster toward the sound of Nemesis' booming voice. A car flew toward her, propelled through the air by a Nemesis Warhulk, and Skrunchie leaped up at it. Her blue eyes noticed that there wasn't anyone inside, making it safe to smash it into the ground with her rocket-powered hammer. With a scream of "FOR SOCK MONKEY!" she swung the hammer, slamming it into the pavement and using the momentum to propel her into the next group of enemy.
"CAAAAAAANDY!" erupted in a scream from her lips as her fire melted brass, her hammer shattered automatons, and her sugar fueled rampage picked up speed.
Her attention jumps from one subject to another. Where hidden Nemesis automaton full of candy? How many visitors and readers has my latest slash-fiction about Ascendant and Ghost Widow ha? Is Positron actually a person or just a puppet operated by a dozen Rikti monkeys? Who stole my shoe? I like Pixie-Stix! Where is the brass-foil chocolate Fake Nemesis? Who does Lady Grey's hair? Will Mythus give me a piggy back ride?
but above all...
CAAAAANDY!
As usual, there was no thought of Galaxy City in her chaotic little mind.
John Dunlop
"Your grades are slipping, Miz Arnold, and if you keep up with this trend you have been following since last semester I'm afraid that you will be able to attend the college you set your sights on at the beginning of the year." John Dunlop, High School Guidance Counselor, told the young senior in front of him.
The young girl snorted and rolled her eyes before looking off to the side. John felt anger rise up and pushed down the urge to grab the young woman's hand, press it flat on his desk, and drive a combat knife through it.
Instead, he leaned back in his chair, folding his hands over his stomach and twisting his OCS ring with his thumb, staring at young girl. "I have it on good authority, Miz Arnold, that twice you have been rescued from the Carnival." The young woman jerked and stared at the scar faced man across the desk from her. "If you'd rather go through life a minion of someone else, chained to their will by a mask that was grafted onto your face, dancing to the tune of someone else, then you are well on your way to that."
The young girl opened her mouth, but John kept speaking. "Which is fine, if that's what you want." John lowered his head to stare at the young girl over his glasses. "You can be just another statistic when some Rogue Isles stalker jams a sword through your heart, or some brutal street fighter in spandex puts you in ICU for two months. Either way doesn't matter to me."
She opened her mouth and John cut her off by slamming his hand down on the desk. "But it matters to your parents, Miz Arnold. It'll matter to your friends after you vanish into the Carnival." He leaned back again, touching his OCS ring with his thumb. "And it will matter to you when the mask you put on your face completely obliterates your personality, uses your soul to fuel magics, and renders you an empty shell full of nothing but hedonistic thoughts."
The girl was trying to work up the anger to overcome her sudden fear. Mr. Dunlop was usually silent, just watching the students of Kings Row's Liberty High School, but the way his head was tilted made the deep scars on his face more prominent, the way he kept playing with that thick and ornate ring kept bringing her attention to it, and she was suddenly aware that the picture on his desk showed a younger Mr. Dunlop, dressed in desert camouflage, unscarred, standing in a desert with seven other men. Her eyes kept drifting to the fact that he held a *gun* in his hands and his expression in the photo matched the one he was giving her. Sharp, intense, focused.
"So the choice is yours, Miz Arnold." John said, his voice low and intense. "You will leave my office and make your choice."
"What?" Lois Arnold was confused. Where was the fussy man who cared about grades and getting kids into colleges and to better their attendance records? Who was this stranger staring at her from across the desk?
"You stink of the Carnival. You reek of their magics." John's face twisted and the urge to grab the girl and take her down to the nearest morgue so she could see what a subjugate of the Carnival looked like after the mortician managed to pry their mask off.
The young girl, Lois, pulled away at the expression of loathing and rage on the adult's face, at the harshness of the tone.
"So you will leave my office. Once you do, you will either return to class, never approach the Carnival again, and try to get your grade point average up." Dunlop told her. "Or you can just leave and I will call your parents, inform them that you wish to drop out, and you can run back to the Carnival."
That made Lois Arnold smile, until John continued.
"And someday soon, a costumed vigilante will kill you, but you'll have been dead."
To Lois' surprise, John stood up, walking around the desk to open the door.
"Either way, I no longer care, Miz Arnold."
With that John Dunlop, Guidance Counselor, left his office, going to the principal's office and simply walking in. In the hot seat in front of Principal Strickland was Tommy Pullman, who had recently discovered he could coat small areas in patches of frost.
"Mr. Dunlop, I'm in the middle of disciplining young Mr. Pullman." Strickland started.
"I'm taking leave. Immediately." John Dunlop told the other man. When Principal Strickland opened his mouth John turned around. "I'm going to check in at the Steel Canyon Veteran's Center and see about admitting myself."
Without waiting for an answer John Dunlop walked out of the Principal's office, pausing at the desk of the office secretary long enough to toss his ID badge on the desk. Without answering any more questions he left the school, stopping in the parking lot.
A twist of the OCS ring and a press on its stone made the man vanish from the parking lot to reappear in the superbase.
God, I hate kids. John thought. He twitched his wrist and the Detonics Combatmaster .45 popped out of his sleeve and into his sleeve.
Maybe some time at the base firing range will calm me down. John mused, his fingers caressing the barrel of the compact pistol. Don't worry, Miz Arnold, if the Carnival takes your soul, I'll put down your shell myself.
It was a thought that would have frightened the young girl if she could have heard it.
"If you build it, they will run you over with it."-RPG Designers Mantra
Working on: YotZ Legends: Even Heroes Die (First Round Edit)
Patriot Brigade Tactical Planning Team
Location: Patriot Brigade Superbase
Time: Day One
Present: Colonel Victory, John Dunlop, Miss Moral, Sergeant Longshot, Wahl
Above the table were multiple holographic images displaying Paragon City, the Rogue Isles, Primal Earth, Praetorian Earth, and Imperial City. A rough and strangely put together holograph is a ruined Paragon City, complete with below-ground maps was on one side, and everyone at the table was staring at it. Sergeant Longshot and Colonel Victory were examining the topographical maps that surrounded both Paragon Cities and Praetoria's last remaining city. Once in awhile they looked at the rough hologram, labelled "Paradise City", which was a map of Paragon City from an alternate Earth that pinpointed Hamidon's assault on Paragon City and then Hamidon's occupation and domination.
"We need information." John Dunlop said, leaning back and staring at the maps. "We need to know the disposition of Vanguard, Longbow, UN, NATO, and US military forces in CONUS. We need to ferret out the disposition of Praetorian military forces."
The scarred face man sighed and rubbed at his temples, his West Point ring glittering in the holographic lights.
"If any of us go back to Praetoria Powers Division will be all over us. Emperor Cole will look at it like another invasion strike force." Dunlop said. "Hopefully Omicron Team can find any useful information."
The scarred face John Dunlop rolled his shoulders to crack his neck and then shrugged.
"We need to do intel gathering, and fast, before Hamidon is moving too fast for us to track." He looked at the other military or paramilitary members of the Patriot Brigade at the table with him.
"Suggestions?"
"If you build it, they will run you over with it."-RPG Designers Mantra
Working on: YotZ Legends: Even Heroes Die (First Round Edit)
Prologue
The Bounty Hunter's War is ashes and the Herald of Hamidon has been escaped. Many fell during the assault on Portal's Corpse and the escape through the jury-rigged portals. Of the heroes who fought through the years and survived Paradise City only a handful reached what some called "Virtueverse" on an alternate Earth.
Most recovered easily, slipping into new lives, even if they had changed their names. Some had left being the life of a superhero, preferring to set aside their costumes and let their powers wither as they nursed their scars and wounds. A few were not able to set aside the wounds, refusing to forget when Statesman returned as the Herald of Hamidon and 6 billion people died.
When Marcus Cole AKA Statesman died at the hands of Wade, those who survived Paradise City breathed a sigh of relief, believing that Hamidon would not return in fire, blood, tearing teeth, and ripping spines.
A single voice, slurred by alcohol, often swore that while the timelines between the worlds had drifted slightly it wasn't enough to be sure that Hamidon would not succeed in his goal to convert mankind.
With the Praetorian War, it soon became knowledge that Emperor Cole had not defeated Hamidon. Instead he had bargained with the ultra-power entity.
But now the bargain is broken, Cole has gone mad, dragging his lieutenants down with him into insanity, and the Devouring Earth have begun to attack the citizens of Praetoria yet again.
The remnants of the Paradise City Survivors and their Virtueverse friends know that it's only a matter of time until Hamidon's endless armies overwhelm Praetoria.
With Tachyon Hammer constantly drunk and recently seriously injured and stripped of her abilities of the Well, Mythus distracted by screams and prayers of fear, Miss Moral's psychic powers unstable since taking on Raluulu-Wade, Inertia Flare vanished into the encampments of the Lost, and Johnny Blaster dead at the hands of Longbow, the Patriot Brigade now turns to its younger members in order to help evacuate the threatened people of Praetoria.
And prevent another Herald of Hamidon from devastating Virtueverse's Primal Earth.
--------------------------------
GM: TWillard
Players: Patriot Brigade
Story: AE Arcs and Forum Thread
Mechanical Support: City of Heroes MMORPG, d20 Modern for out of game requirements.
Currently Tapped Players:
TWillard: Tachyon Hammer, Skrunchie, John Dunlop, Kinetic Karrie.
Wolvorine: Mythus
HeatherDawn: Miss Moral, Electro-Circ, Daemon Mistress
GMRiley: Sergeant Longshot
Alpha Team: Tachyon Hammer/Kinetic Karrie, Miss Moral/Electro-Circ, Mythus
Epsilon Team: Skrunchie/John Dunlop, Daemon Mistress
Omicron Team: [TBA]
Gamma Team: Miss Moral, Tachyon Hammer, Mythus, Sergeant Longshot
Other players will be listed in this thread once players check in.
This will be a two front campaign for us, ladies and gentlemen. Our high level characters will be continuing the Praetorian War and other high end missions. Mid-Level character will be taking on Hamidon altered meta-humans in Praetoria. New characters will be tasked with saving civilians.
Requirement:
40+ Characters will be part of Alpha Team, which will be Dark Astoria/Incarnate Trial teams, tasked with keeping up the pressure on Mot and the Mad Emperor, as well as taking on Hamidon Hive-Spawn Pits. Additionally, Statesman's body must be kept secure, since we don't want a repeat of the Herald of Hamidon.
20-40 Characters will be part of Epsilon Team, which will be taking on Preatorian Hamidon creatures as well as trying to rally military forces cut off and/or ignored due to Hamidon incursions, the Mad Emperor's obsession with Primal Earth, or damage done by Primal Earth Incarnates to the military supply lines.
1-20th Characters will be part of Omicron Team, which is tasked with getting civilian refugees from cut off areas or endangered areas to Primal Earth. Each player will be required to create a new member of the Patriot Brigade.
Gamma Team: This team will be engaged in political discussion with Primal Earth authorities, using contacts, favored owed, whatever they can, in order to get refugee zones set up. This is a non-combat team for injured characters, tasked with everything from convincing Primal Earth authorities to set up encampments to keeping supply lines open to ensuring that the refugees aren't preyed upon.
Primary Play Times: Thursday Nights, 20:00 PST. This will focus on Epsilon and Omicron Teams.
"If you build it, they will run you over with it."-RPG Designers Mantra
Working on: YotZ Legends: Even Heroes Die (First Round Edit)