Archive: Stormwarden/Frostbite Issue #1

Stormwarden
[Guy St Ives]

Whoever this man was, he at least wasn't one of the terrorists. That could be a plus. He needed help.

His voice sounding loud to himeself, though he kept it to a close whisper, he floated silently on and up behind the frostman and practically whispered in his ear. "Shhhh. Keep the noise down."

FROSTBITE
[Joe Rigdon]


Quote from: Limerickcot on November 03, 2009, 01:22:01 AM

Stormwarden [Guy St Ives]

"Shhhh. Keep the noise down."


Almost leaping out of his skin, Frostbite turned defensively to face the source behind the voice. "Listen friend, you've got about a nano second to explain...or were both likely to be pinned down and plugged by gun fire!"

Looking at the man in question it was difficult to tell whether he was a hero or one of the so called terrorists, he didn't sound French, as had the voice calling out earlier. Frostbite had the feeling he'd seen the man before, but couldn't be sure.

Stormwarden
(Guy Saint Ives)

Gently Stormwarden replied, keeping his voice low. "For gods sake, keep it down!" He looked through the man in front of him. "Blooming well wish I had your talent. At the moment they're just firing wildly, all over the place, even." He listened again, straining to hear things, and then continued.
"There's quite a few of them, all armed and dressed in combat gear. I counted 22, maybe 23 from the air before I had to thicken up the cloud again. No idea who's inside." He knew that the opposition would be straining to find them. The veil of fog was thick around them but he cleared a tiny bubble to let the two of them look at each other. Looking down he could see some loose bricks and he reached down, carefully gathering a number up and then threw them, as hard as possible towards the farthest corner of the power station neared the railway bridge - well away from the two of them.

FROSTBITE
[Joe Rigdon]

"Ermm right." Frostbite whispered back. He didn't know what to think, but somehow he felt he could trust this man. He hoped his soldiers common sense and gut instinct was right. Neither of them had the luxury to debate their position.

"If they are concentrated so thickly on the roof, it suggests they are expecting trouble from up there...they're not using lights but if they are well equipped I'd guess they might have night vision. In any case this pea soup has helped a lot. Can you keep it up, sufficient to get us to the building. I might be able to slip us both through when we get there?" Frostbite said quickly and as quietly as he could so only the stranger could hear.

"Oh and for want of a better name, you can call me Frostbite."

STORMWARDEN and FROSTBITE

When Stormwarden hefted the bricks and lumps of concrete, sized them up and hurled them against a brick wall near the railway bridge, they exploded like fragmentation grenades into powder.

And the gunfire quickly followed them, with barely audible shouting (all in French) mixed in.

The heroes could just about - through the thick dense fog - make out that the terrorists on this side of the roof were firing in the rough general direction of the noise - unfortunately that meant any stray bullets would spray buildings and cars, possibly injuring anyone unlucky enough to be stood near shattering glass or brick. The police had done a fairly good job of keeping people away though, so for the main part it had burnt up more of the terrorists ammo.

"Interesting tactic - make them think you're complete idiots" rasped a gravelly voice from behind the pair, from about 10 feet or so away.

Barely perceptible in the darkness, never mind the fog, the shadowy figure of a man in costume, hat and cape stood there. He was making no aggressive move, simply stood there, watching the pair of you.

Neither of you heard or saw him coming, and Stormwarden - according to your 'fog' sense he's not there, in the same way you can no longer sense Frostbite...



(The raspy voiced newcomer...)

FROSTBITE
[Joe Rigdon]

"Man alive what is this a super hero flash mob or something." Frostbite whispered back. "Do we take it that you to are here to stop our French friends as well? 'Cause right now it isn't going to take them long to figure out where we are and then we've lost the element of surprise that is hanging by a thread right now!"

Frostbite wasn't sure what to make of all this, is this what Meta humans did? Still I guess it wasn't like, they could have put a card in the local newsagent or something.

Sj.

Stormwarden
[Guy St Ives]

He wasn't bothered about where the bullets were going at the moment. Most of the surrounding area wasn't built up that much and it kept the bullets away from them. Which was the more important aspect just at the moment. He certainly didn't want them firing at the river which was where he suspected half the police storming party would come in at some point, probably backed up by some kind of SAS attack on the roof.

"Love the costume, mate. And yeah, being a total idiot is what I'm feeling like, standing around here, chatting like I'm in a library. You got any better ideas?"

FROSTBITE [Joe Rigdon] and Stormwarden [Guy St Ives]

There was a pause as the dark garbed man pondered their words, or perhaps smiled under his mask, maybe remembering a time when a young foolhardy man bitter against every criminal in the world set out to right every wrong personally.

Whatever it was, he rasped "These shindigs tend to attract every hanger on and wannabe, though I suspect you two are the real deal, if a little wet behind the ears..."

He looked up, about. "This fog your... doing?" he asked, glancing at one of you, then the other. "Never mind. I'm taking a look inside. See if you can find a way to get their attention some more." he added, pointing straight up, gesturing towards the terrorists on the roof. "I have a feeling they're only the starter, and the main course is inside. I won't be long, then I'll find you."

With that the dark stranger simply faded from view!

Stormwarden
[Guy St Ives]

As the unknown man stalked away, Guy turned to the other and, feeling a bit embarrassed and thrust his hand out. "Hi. I'm calling myself Stormwarden." He looked towards the building. "Even if I don't think about it, the fog will last till a breeze stops it. And he wants a diversion that won't send everyone back inside, so that means keeping them on the roof..."

Frostbite
[Joe Rigdon]

Frostbite took the offered hand, glad of the company as much as anything. Quickly he continued to offer a suggestion in a low whisper.

"Well I need not worry about bullets, so what if I make myself their target? Draw their fire whilst you make get to the building. Once I've given them ample reason to hang around I can slip into an area where they can trap me and slip out between the walls double back and get inside with you? What do you think?" Frostbite offered.

Sj.

Stormwarden
(Guy Saint Ives)

"Sounds good, with a little bit more." said Stormwarden as they both moved cautiously towards the building. "I can light up the fog with a few strokes of lightning. That should temporarily blind them, but bring their focus here and concentrate on you. In that moment I'll lift myself up and away and see what I can do. Just say when."

Frostbite
[Joe Rigdon]

Frostbite nodded to Stormwarden anything that could draw attention so that they might more effectively breach the power stations defences and find out what was going on was welcome.

He concentrated again and move over to where the stones had been thrown, then nodded to Stormwarden to light up the fog, where he would purposefully begin to then move about, whipping up the mist about him with a sudden light breeze and playing with the winds about him to draw as much attention his way as he could.

Stormwarden
[Guy St Ives]

Stormwarden smiled as he gently hovered behind his new found colleague. Concentrating, he thickened the fog into the band he wanted to move into, lightening it between them and the building. More concentration was needed now to produce the right patterns needed. And there it was, starting to stir. He summoned lightening down and forced it to transform on its descent into ball lightning brilliantly lighting up the fog. As he lifted off up and to one side to sweep the building from 90 degrees to his current position he directed the lightning so that it would disperse, gently, to feed the now moribund overhead electrical pylons of the railway behind them.

Frostbite
[Joe Rigdon]

Frostbite smiled as right on cue Stormwarden sent brilliant balls of lightening through the dense fog giving an erratic glow to the site and hopefully lighting up his silhouette within the fog as well.

[OOC Paul assuming its ok with you,. I am intangible but aiming to be very visible, letting the fog play around me to the greatest effect to draw attention to myself. I will wait for the bullets to come down and continue to be evasive so as to continue to capture attention, seeking to move away from the building. When I have a suitable wall or other obstruction I can duck into I will and then aim to double back to find the others.]

Sj

STORMWARDEN and FROSTBITE

When the mysterious stranger had left (or more accurately, vanished into thin air) the new superheroes made their introductions and got to work.

By now the Terrorists on the roof (OOC I'm guessing here, but the rooftops of the two wings of the old power station look to be around 50' high - for these purposes that's what they are though I'm sure I'll probably be wrong - heck, this is a superhero rpg - throw realism out the window anyway ) were extremely twitchy. They stopped firing when the fog lit up with what can only be described as blanket lightning. Whilst too dispersed and unfocussed (OOC to attack with it you'd need energy attack BUT a power stunt might see a weaker form of electricity attack at a lower weapon class, or future improvements would have an energy attack as a logical upgrade) to actually cause harm, each terrorist stood in the mist felt the mild charge about them as their hair stood on end.

And then all hell broke loose!

"L? il est ! L'obtenir ! TIRER !" (OOC translate: There he is! Get him! Shoot!)

The sky lit up with the uninterrupted clatter of hundreds of rounds of ammunition being pumped in Frostbites' direction...

FROSTBITE

Whilst he had a good idea from every test he'd conducted on himself so far that his skin would prove impervious to most small arms fire, Frostbite saw no point in testing the theory. Simply willing himself to 'spread' in his minds eye made him intangible, and for the most part, invulnerable. Arcing fire lit up the ground as bullets zinged and pinged this way and that, cutting up the ground and splintering the floor.

Calmly the fledgling hero made his way over to cover and waited for a moment before the gunfire slowed to a stop as the panicked terrorists hastily reloaded. Then he started to make his way via shadow and obstruction/cover to the wall of the power station where he'd be out of sight unless the nearest terrorists looked straight down.

They'd also need to be able to see in pitch darkness/fog with their night vision goggles whiting out from the lightning flash.

STORMWARDEN

Stormwarden grinned as the plan seemed to be working. Though he couldn't risk thinning the fog to look through a gap, he could hear shouting and running on the roof that suggested the terrorists would be congregating on the nearest rooftop looking for targets. Whether they'd be brave enough to come down and investigate the wraith-like figure Frostbite had made would be another matter.

Then Stormwarden 'twitched'. Somewhere, something was moving through his fog cloud, and close by where Frostbite was. One moment there was nothing, the next a trail formed through the fog and closed in behind, much like had happened with the bullets. But... this was roughly man sized! And moving... fast! Another mysterious stranger, come to help...? Peering through the fog revealed nothing, but tracking the trail made showed that Frostbite was making his way directly towards whatever had made the trail!

Frostbite
[Joe Rigdon]

Grateful that the diversion seemed to be having the desired effect, Frostbite moved to one of the outwalls, seeking to get inside as quickly as he could. He remained intangible, 'no sense in taking chances now', he thought to himself, 'Besides which,' he continued, 'if I walk in on anything unexpected then I have an opportunity to get out and not blow my first mission.'

With but a moments slight hesitation, Frostbite began to sink into the wall slowly wondering what he might find on the other side?

Sj.

Stormwarden
[Guy St Ives]

"I feel like a blinking yo-yo" Guy muttered to himself as he homed in on the object making the trail for him. The lightning balls had done their job, it was just a pity that he couldn't direct them finely at the moment - he'd have to work on that. He could have driven the terrorists off by making a tornado or putting down driving hail or rain - but he needed them 'in the way' not out of the way at the moment.

Whatever was below him, well quite frankly Stormwarden was getting annoyed. "Lets see who we have today, eh?" and he dived down to come up behind his new target, using the fog and its boundaries to work out just where to go to, and how not to end up on the ground.

STORMWARDEN and FROSTBITE

As Frostbite was about to sink into the wall of the derelict power station and find out what was on the other side, a rush of air alerted him (more from the fog swirling violently behind him than actually feeling it) that someone was behind him. Thinking it would Stormwarden with an alteration to the plan perhaps, he instead heard a curse then "Ces rochers et les d?combres font ma vitesse difficile !"

"Ey! EY! Eeenglish pig! Where you goin' ah?" came a thickly accented - and reeking of onions - shout from less than 10 foot away behind Frostbite.

STORMWARDEN

The hulking hero soared gracefully down through the mist leaving no trail of his passage, forming the fog thicker where he assumed Frostbite was and ... there. A man sized shape. And a ... reek of onions? Even from here it was strong...

As he soared lower and faster towards this newcomer he caught the words "...you goin', ah?", spoken in a hostile, condescending tone. Not too dissimilar to the black garbed strangers first comments and tone, but he'd left without making enemies of anyone.

Suddenly the man turns, looks up to where you are and his eyes narrow, grinning.

How the hell did he know...?

FROSTBITE

You're about to enter through the wall when you're challenged by someone from behind. What was this? 'Some kind of yearly social gathering for the badly dressed?' you wonder as you behold another newcomer...



"I am... VITESSE! And you, monsieur, are DEAD!" he laughs, hands on hips. "You sink you can sneek up on ze Eurotrash viz no one knowin' eh?"

You're guessing - and this may be a long shot - this guy, wherever he came from, had something to do with the chaos London is plunged into right now...

Frostbite
[Joe Rigdon]

"Oh man you need to get out more, and maybe some fresh breath mints."

Frostbite new an enemy and he knew this guy wasn't part of the welcome party. He was ready to throw down...

Actions - Roll for initiative 4 http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2309760/ to check.

Playing the air around him, a veritable gust of concentrated air seemed to suddenly arise swirling around Frostbite...

[OOC ok since I rolled Initiative for myself I'd better see who goes first before I decide my actions etc.]

Sj.

Stormwarden
[Guy St Ives]

Initiative
Roll Results
Roll Again

Roll #1
1d10 4
(+0) = 4

Two on one. But he had no idea about the capability of his new friend, or even how he, himself would deal with this.

STORMWARDEN and FROSTBITE

Vitesse cackled "You are no match for ze normal criminals, never mind ze Eurotrash!" in an accent Inspector Clouseau would be proud of. Having said that, his stance seems mostly defensive, and he mutters "Alerte ! Le metahumans est ici ! J'exige l'assistance !" though it's not quite clear to whom he's speaking...

Then he grins beneath his mask, speeds up to Frostbite with incredible haste and swings at him with an expertly executed Martial Arts kick, delivering a kick that might have taken a normal persons' head clean off save that it scythes through the cold sheathed hero as if he wasn't there. What follows is a string of curses before the Gallic villain sprints off to stand some 8 metres away in the fog with a casual wave and declares "Over 'eer Eenglish peegs!" with a slightly less confident tone. You can hear he's muttering curses under his breath all the while...

================

Combat breakdown

Initiative - http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2309840/ rolled 8 for initiative for Vitesse. Vitesse gets 2 frames on the heroes...

* 1/2 Frame move 3m up to Frostbite
* 1 Frame Attack with Martial Arts vs Frostbite (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2310083/ 25 total). Despite hitting it's ineffectual against Frostbites' Intangibility. No damage.
* 1/2 Frame move 8m away and taunt the heroes


The heroes have four frames to act against the garlic munching speedster...

Frostbite
[Joe Rigdon]

Actions

1st and 2nd frame strike out with wind whip

1st to hit:17 If hit damage from windshock (stunner) 11

2nd to hit: 19 If hit damge from windshock 6

[OOC at this stage I'd like to see what he does...but I guess that might be out of the question so I will continue to strike back another two times with the windshock whip]

3rd to hit:14 If hit damage:11

4th to hit:8 if hit damage:12

As the cold air blasted out like a living thing, snaking all around the French fiend, Frostbite couldn't help but let out a shout as he revelled in his powers.

Stormwarden
[Guy St Ives]

Stormwarden didn't even think about it but continued his movement towards the man, keeping out the way of Frostbites whip and, on reaching him, let forth his own attack,

Frame 1 & 2 - move to target
Frame 3 - attack using martial arts
Frame 4 - attack using martial arts

(ooc - still not used to this dice roller so I had it roll four times instead of two)
1d20=19, 1d20=19, 1d20=15, 1d20=5

OOC thanks to Stormwarden I can now format my rolls without all that code showing up. Thanks mate.

Sj.

STORMWARDEN and FROSTBITE

The cocky Frenchman regained some of his demeanour when he awaited the attacks to come in. Because surely he was fast enough to evade these buffoons?

What the...?

He narrowed his eyes as something nigh on invisible - a writhing, whirling snake of a whip lashed out of the darkness, coiling and whirling about like a mad, wild thing!

He ducked underneath the first lash, uttering "Enfer sanglant!" before twisting to see the whip coming back from a different direction! The big man with the blonde hair closing in - Vitesse could deal with him in a - Whoa!

He ducked away from the wind lash eager to avoid its touch, and in doing so, sowed the seeds of his downfall.

"You are not fast eeenough to eet me, peegs!" he spat.

=============

OOC Vitesse spends his remaining 2 frames from this round and one from the next dodging (3 frames from 6 possible dodging) both blows completely. In this time Stormwarden moves forward to within striking distance of the mouthy Frenchman.

1d6+3=9, 1d6+3=5, 1d6+3=5, 1d6+3=5 Dodges vs Frostbites attacks

=============

By this time Vitesse sees the huge man looming out of the fog and isn't so confident. "Ey! Zis eez not fair! Zere are two of you and... HELLLLLLLLP!" he yells.

The wind whip flies in again at the same time as a huge scything karate chop from Stormwarden!

Incredibly, whilst standing on the spot, Vitesse ducks the whip completely by bending over backwards, his head almost touching the floor, then places his hands on the ground and flips over to somersault onto his feet - and Stormwarden clips his leg as he does so.

"Arrrgh!" he yells.

=============

OOC Once more Vitesse dodges, using his future frames and needing two more to completely avoid the third blow thrown by Frostbite, and his last (of 6 future frames) against an attack by Stormwarden. However, a poor dodge has him take a glancing blow from Stormwarden (half damage)

1d6+4=5 Dodges vs Stormwardens attacks

I assumed Stormwardens attack would be 'heroic' (doing more HTC than HTK, but please specify in future hits Maybe Stormwarden ain't such a nice guy ) so damage as 2D6HTC+18. 2d6+18=21

Vitesses' glancing blow dodge cuts this by half to 11 points.

=============

Clutching his leg and hopping, panting now, the Frenchman says "Wait! Zere is no need to 'it me again!" whilst holding out a hand to ward off more attacks. "You are... formidable...oui... but..."

The snaking wind lash flies in with the panting Frenchman unable to move now. It wraps around him like a thing alive and 'yanks' itself to spin Vitesse on the spot! Where it lashed about him Vitesses' costume is shredded and angry welts mark his skin from the friction burn!

"Geeee....yarrrrrrgh!" he screams, clutching his new wound.

Stormwarden can't help but grin and steps up to deliver a solid karate punch to Vitesses' jaw

CRACK!

The Frenchmans' eyes widen momentarily before impact and he's sent flying through the air some 3m to thud against a partially fallen brick wall previously obscured by fog!

Even the heroes can only wince as the Frenchmans' flight stops suddenly and he drops to the floor like a limp rag doll!

=============

OOC Frostbites new attack strikes unopposed delivering 12 points of damage.

Having burnt through all of this rounds frames and the next, Vitesse can't dodge Stormwardens second attack either. It's a good one.

2d6+18=27

27 damage and in addition the knockback is 3m, enough to send him into a brick wall. The wall absorbs 2m per 4HTK and stops him completely, adding 2D6 HTC to the Frenchmans' damage tally. 2d6=8

By now he's taken 11+12+27+8=58 damage, enough to render him unconscious and exactly equal to his HTC and Vigour, so whilst asleep (and bruised!) he suffers no HTK.

=============

The Frenchman crashes to the floor amongst the rubble, leading Stormwarden and Frostbite at first to grin at each other, then to wonder if they've killed him!

They don't get chance to wonder long...

The wall of the power station behind them explodes outwards in a 3m by 3m section, showering the area with powdered rubble and small fragments. Despite being showered, Frostbite feels no ill effects and Stormwarden has moved just out of range.

From the smoke, rubble (and still in fog and darkness) two imposing figures come. One is garbed in some ancient looking black and red armour. He strides purposefully over the rubble and points his sword at you, though says nothing, as if in challenge.

The other, much bigger, on a par almost with Stormwarden, is clad in plain grey though energy lancing about his eyes and hands lends him colour, somewhat.

"Vitesse! Sie werden das bezahlen, Brite Hunde!" he bellows. (OOC "Vitesse! You will pay for that, British Dogs!")

Looks like Vitesse brought a few of his friends along with him. Who knew how many more were inside the power station?

Furthermore both Stormwarden and Frostbite noticed the terrorists had stopped firing, and from somewhere behind them they could hear many running feet in the distance, as the police/special forces sought positions around the power station!

This was getting serious!



(The big newcomer)



(The armoured newcomer)

=============

OOC End of the round. Stormwarden and Frostbite have successfully dealt with the potentially annoying threat of Vitesse before the speedster could 'draw fire' for his colleagues and distract them. Now they face a potential one on one situation however, a far sterner test!