Shadowland - The Vanguard Issue #1 The Shadow Deepens

ANYMAN with Damon Trowers and Claude Bentham in the Nazi Moon Base...

"What?" spluttered Trowers. "Wait... you can't... tell him!" he said, turning to Bentham . The other man shrugged "Whatever you think you can do Anyman, be aware that thing covering the moon is made of billions of life forms as far as I can tell. If you think your power is capable of affecting that then be my guest, but all I've seen is you can stretch and are strong. I wonder why the Nazis were frightened of you at..."

"Be Quiet!" hissed Trowers. "Look Anyman, this threat is on a scale greater than any you can imagine! Unless you are absolutely sure that you can control this 'Dark Power' of yours, I'd suggest we give our plan a try!"

'The Mortal is right, in a way. You do not have sufficient control to summon the necessary Dark Power to affect something as large as the Devourer, which is a creature composed of countless versions of not just yourself, but the entire Vanguard. Besides that, there is a large risk that you will lose control of yourself as soon as you call upon the Dark Power! It is what the Devourer is waiting for!' rasped the Shadow Demon, inside.

The Lunarium Man called out "Step aside Anyman! These men are to be executed!" and levelled his arms to blast deadly Lunarium radiation at them! Anyman had suffered from that self same radiation, but being superhuman had saved him! There was no such escape route for these men!

OOC It's your call, but you'd need the mother of all rolls. You could spend enough hero points to guarantee a double on the first roll, but then would need another double, and another (without hero points) to summon the 1000+ Dark Power points you would need to attempt such a feat which is why you'd need the Vanguard together, and even then...? There are the separate parts of that which you need being gathered by the team (even if they don't know it) and this is but one. Or you can go it alone, trust to fate (and the dice) and fire at a speck of dust floating across a field a mile away with a bow and arrow Don't know the odds required but to summon over 1000 Dark Power points would mean more than triple of your previous best Dark Power call! Even then, there's a chance that simply using the Dark Power is playing into the Devourers' hands...

What if that was the course of action of all the other Lance Allards in that big black cloud...?

GENERAL FREEDOM vs ... The Statue of Liberty???

"This is Eric Sevareid, reporting from New York City! This may well be my final broadcast, so I will describe in as much detail what I am seeing! I tell you the gods honest truth as my eyes and mind interprets, and I swear to you good listeners this is no hoax! The Statue of Liberty has come to life and is attacking the city of New York! People stand paralysed in fear and others run as fast they can to escape the onslaught! The massive statue is firing great, vast gouts of flame from her... its torch! How, why, these questions remain unanswered but surely no stranger sight has been seen even in this age of weird wonders! We have seen flying men, aliens from other worlds, robots as imagination could not accurately foretell and virtual gods who stopped a world war! Now we see Statues come to life and attack! There is no... wait! What's that? Searchlights are peeling across the sky! There! THERE! Up in the sky! Is it a bird? is it a plane?"

There was silence for a moment on the radio broadcast, then "No! It's GENERAL FREEDOM and he's leading a squadron of flying vehicles decked out in the flag of the union! He's flying towards the statue! The Statue has seen them! Great scott! It's firing! Get out of the way General! No... this is terrible! There are explosions, and the flying machines - some of them at any rate - drop from the sky! All hope is... wait... General Freedom is flying towards the statue, seemingly unharmed! You heard it here first ladies and gentlemen! It has been an honour and a privilege to witness and report the rebirth of hope, liberty, justice and our great nations fighting spirit as the living embodiment of all that has returned! And how! He's dodged another torrent of flame, one that scorched an apartment block and instantly set it alight!"

"Luckily the police have been evacuating everyone in this things path! Wait... no! This is terrible! The statue is turning this way! We have to move! Jerry! Get the truck... no, no time! Look out!"

There is the crash of falling masonry, then the radio hisses silence before the regional anchor, shaken, takes over.

OOC General Freedom is out there, and whilst intangible, he's vulnerable only to a fraction (8 damage dividers after being reduced by the energy attack) of the heat damage. The robots are not - a number have plummeted from the sky as molten wrecks! General Freedom has a number of search lights glued to him as he soars across the sky at great speed (heh, grade 1. So, 'floating' is perhaps the word of choice... ) Only question is, how does he want to go about tackling this thing? As Frostbite he's vulnerable to flame when tangible, so that's something you'll have to watch! The helicopters can fire their missiles, no problem. What's GF doing?

Admin wrote:GENERAL FREEDOM vs ... The Statue of Liberty???

OOC General Freedom is out there, and whilst intangible, he's vulnerable only to a fraction (8 damage dividers after being reduced by the energy attack) of the heat damage. The robots are not - a number have plummeted from the sky as molten wrecks! General Freedom has a number of search lights glued to him as he soars across the sky at great speed (heh, grade 1. So, 'floating' is perhaps the word of choice... ) Only question is, how does he want to go about tackling this thing? As Frostbite he's vulnerable to flame when tangible, so that's something you'll have to watch! The helicopters can fire their missiles, no problem. What's GF doing?

Making sure that the Camera's or radio men had good sight of him, General Freedom shouted at Liberty. "Liberty, you are a symbol of what is right, but liberty at any cost is only another form of tyranny and in the land of the free, this people need new symbols to represent the timeless truths that made this nation great. I charge you with betraying all you stood for. For once you stood to welcome now you act to harm. I know this isn't of your own doing, but you are but a foil for the shadows that even now blot out the sun and wish to extinguish all hope, as with the light. But this nation was built under God and that is a light you cannot hope to extinguish. I'm here to protect and preserve what you've been made to betray."

With that Frostbite ordered the Robots accompanying him to fire on the statue, knowing full well that the people now needed a new symbol and reluctantly he was going to have to be it. At least for now.

Sj

"Be Quiet!" hissed Trowers. "Look Anyman, this threat is on a scale greater than any you can imagine! Unless you are absolutely sure that you can control this 'Dark Power' of yours, I'd suggest we give our plan a try!"

'The Mortal is right, in a way. You do not have sufficient control to summon the necessary Dark Power to affect something as large as the Devourer, which is a creature composed of countless versions of not just yourself, but the entire Vanguard. Besides that, there is a large risk that you will lose control of yourself as soon as you call upon the Dark Power! It is what the Devourer is waiting for!' rasped the Shadow Demon, inside.

The Lunarium Man called out "Step aside Anyman! These men are to be executed!" and levelled his arms to blast deadly Lunarium radiation at them! Anyman had suffered from that self same radiation, but being superhuman had saved him! There was no such escape route for these men!

"That plan of yours was rejected time and again," Anyman snarls. "You were specifically told NOT to make that weapon. You were told more than once that what you were to work on was a device to help me control my Dark Powers! You failed to do that. Worse, you didn't even try! So your sentence is DEATH!"

"They're yours Lunarium Man," he says, walking away from them. "Do what you will but beware. There is a flesh absorbing ... thing nearby. Fire seems to hurt it but it absorbs both living and dead flesh, so don't let it touch you."

actions: Walk away and let Lunarium Man do what he wants. Heading for the caverns where all the Lunarium is. Going to expose himself to all that Lunarium and hope to use it to control his Dark Powers.

The robots flew about, then hovered as they took up position and opened fire! The air filled with the sound of rail guns spitting molten death at the giant statue!

People screamed, then stopped and turned, their screams changing to cheers as the statue stopped, looking about.

Frostbite saw it first - the shells were stopping inches short of the body of the statue then tumbling to the ground far below! Those at the statues feet were showered in hot metal and ran screaming whilst they could!

The Statue waved its torch about, firing a great gout of flame through the dark sky and illuminating this section of the city and its terrified populace!

Burning robots in the form of helicopters toppled from the sky, some having enough 'life' left in them to guide towards rooftops rather than smash into the floor! Whilst they still exploded, no one was injured as a result.

Frostbite steeled himself. The statue was immune to the power of the robots, seemingly. That left things up to him...

ANYMAN, Bentham, Trowers and the Lunarium Man in the Nazi Moon Base!

Trowers spat "You fool! I don't fully understand the nature of the thing blocking out the sun, but from what I've seen they exhibit power on a level close to yours or beyond! You are one! They must be... countless! You ... wait!" he said as the Lunarium man turned towards the pair.

Anyman marched past the Lunarium Man towards the cavern, but the transformed soldier called out. "Wait! You will die if you go in there! You know already that the radiation has changed you! I can feel it!"

Bentham added "The chain reaction I plan to unleash will use the power of the Lunarium which you can guide and shape, control, to use against the Devourer! We cannot increase your 'Dark Power', Anyman... it's... it's a kind of magic, and we can't do anything about that. We deal in the tangible, physics, science. Killing us will accomplish nothing!"

Trowers cut in "Yes, listen to him! If you need more power, you must look to the source of your power and somehow call on more! You, monster, man... I am, now, sorry for what happened to you. We were misguided and have paid the price! That said, you can help us! Get us down into the mines, deep into the heart of the moon before our air runs out! Then we can set off this chain reaction and give ourselves one last hope of blasting this thing from existence!"

The Lunarium Man looked undecided. "You deserve to die but..." he glanced at Anyman. "If I can help, and perhaps give meaning to this awful existence, I will. If you are lying to me, I shall cleanse the flesh from your bones!" he said, towering over the pair, but holding his radiation in with all his will even as he filled the cave with a deadly red glow!

'Suffering, pain, terror. The fuel me, and in turn, you.' rasped the Shadow Demon inside Anymans head. 'If you are to call on me, for perhaps the last time, you must draw on as much suffering and fear as possible, even if you create it yourself!'

Admin wrote:Frostbite steeled himself. The statue was immune to the power of the robots, seemingly. That left things up to him...

Just about as he was going to act, Frostbite was stopped in his tracks by the telepathic message of Silver Sentinel.

He thought quickly, unsure if replying even would jeopardize their situation.

OOC: So we don't have a bitty conversation where one day I ask a question then wait for an answer before replying and drag our conversation down into a three week talk, I'll assume certain answers and just ask a bunch of questions with a series of initial suggestions, which I may amend depending on the answers that come back.


"Sentinel where are you, what do you mean more 'Lunarium'?"

Can you transport it back to where we are? Is there any signs that it was brought there from here and if so is there a spaceship that is serviceable to get you and it back.

Assuming that Sentinel is 'trapped' on the planet without using the dark power, it seems that our only option would be to get the Devourer to go there? Which would mean luring it there - although that might just back-fire on us.

Does the Lunarium effect you? Can we send a robo carrier to you and back in a reasonable amount of time?

OOC: Ok this is a difficult conversation to have in reality as I've not been reading Ross' thread for a while and it may be some thing are answered there. In any case I see two possibilities, we get Ross/Sentinel back here with Lunarium in a Robo ship or his own ship or any ship that is present on the planet. Or he uses his Dark Power to get the Lunarium to us? Or we use our dark power to lure the Devourer away from Earth to planet, assuming we know where it is, and use the anti Lunarium to get it. Oh mutiple plot lines with more than one possible dead end, why do you taunt us so?

Back at the present, Frostbite decided that it was time to take a hand in matters himself. Making sure that the ground around him was clear, he shot through the creatures vast bulk and into the leg structures where he became solid and began to super freeze the interior so that the vast weight bearing down above would crack and damage the lower support he was no weakening with his super cool power (tm ;-).

Sj

Anyman waits for the replies to the questions put to Silver Sentinel. He also realizes he is going to have to go back and rip out the power cord that the two demented futuremen wanted him to avoid, so that their weapon doesn't go off on its own before he go into the cavern of Lunarium.

OOC Answers to questions. As you can tell from the time of this post (04.08AM) am on nights and not much time between getting home and going back to bed, so posting is spotty this week. Only a 4 day week this week but 48 hours in 4 days - you do the math

Have assumed several answers for Ross - will copy this post into his thread:

Sentinel paused for a second "They've found me. Haven't got long lads! Right... I was trying to see if there was some way of setting up a series of 'space mirrors' using my power and the robots to reflect light from the sun assuming the Devourer didn't encircle it completely, yeah? Well I didn't get that far. The Devourer chased me, and get this - I encountered an Alien vessel, a pirate no less, looking to find easy pickings! I think they bit off more than they can chew with the Dark Emissary... anyway, we had to make a blind leap to escape the Dark Emissary. It was gaining on us and there was little else I could do.'

"It led me to a planetary system... somewhere. There is a large planet here with several moons that we detected a strange distress signal from, so headed there. And... get this... after an encounter with beasts that would dwarf the dinosaurs, and these strange plant creatures that spoke mind to mind, I came across a crashed spaceship - a copy of my own! Even weirder, there was a man living in the wreckage, an older version of me! He came from a different timeline and said his had been overrun by the Devourer. He lost his Dark Power when this strange planet altered the Lunarium crystals that powered his ship, and they - somehow - drained all the negative energy from him so he only had his ordinary powers left and no Dark Power at all! It seems this planet is completely neutral - a true force of nature! No evil, no good, just natural survival of the fittest, and it somehow changed the energy that Lunarium puts out."

"Weird yeah? I don't understand all of it but the upshot is the Lunarium the other 'me' has is clear, like crystal, not red like the normal stuff. I daren't touch it - even going close I can feel it pull dark power from me, and the Shadow Demon inside feels like it's fading away! I think this stuff can help us if I can get it back! Using the Dark Power on it won't work! It absorbs that stuff we use to make us have godlike might!"

"Sunburst is here, she can help, but if the Dark Emissary stops me, it's all over! I think that this lunarium will be the key to stopping the Devourer, somehow. If we can... I don't know, use it to change the Lunarium in the moon mine to more of the stuff then channel that towards the Devourer, it might end the threat of the Dark Power once and for all! Of course that much white Lunarium will probably remove our own dark powers too..."

"My ship can get it back, but we're not fast enough to outrun the Dark Emissary and we're not quite... wait! If you can keep talking to me, maybe there's some way to use your minds as a beacon, and guide the ship back home!"

Frostbite mentioned sending a Robo Carrier to the planet, but realised it would take months to cross the solar system - it would take millions of years to get to where Sentinel was, assuming it had that much fuel and could find the way! His heart sunk a little, but he knew this was a glimmer of hope. Fighting the Devourer would be like battling an army of themselves. An army of millions! Despite the power the Vanguard had, there were limits. The only saving grace was that the Devourer, being so massive, needed sustenance on an unprecedented scale! That must account for the fleeting uses of its power and the fact that the Earth had not been disintegrated yet! They needed to farm the panic and fear from a beleaguered Earth long enough to sate their appetite before being able to expend the energy required to destroy the Vanguard!

There was something else. Nowhere Man had sacrificed himself needlessly apparently... but there was little he did without reason! The Vanguard assumed the most experienced of their number had some plan or scheme in mind, and even now would that scheme be under way?

OOC There may be other actions or messages you want to send to Sentinel or each other. Bear in mind communicating in this way highlights your position to the Devourer...

Phasing through the leg of the statue as it strode through New York setting the place alight and causing widescale panic, General Freedom turned tangible...

It was dark inside, and he fished out a flashlight from his belt, missing the glow of his chestplate that indicated Frostbots presence. Taking a hold on the internal scaffolding as the leg moved up and down with metallic shrieks and groans, he tried not to think about the fact that the statue had been animated by the Dark Power and started to fill the leg up with Ice!

He poured it on, more and more, and it finally started to fill up!

Minutes passed, and the leg slowed, then stopped! Frostbite flew up through the statue and filled behind him. It was slow work - this was a big statue!

Then he heard a rasping voice behind him...

"Alright, you got my attention!"

General Freedom/Frostbite turned to see a jet black form floating down from the torso of the statue. It had no features, but was shaped like a man.

It raised an arm to point at Frostbite!

OOC initiative... General Freedom/Frostbite 7... Dark Power... 3. You have 2 frames... The Dark Emissary is 10m away.

Admin wrote:It raised an arm to point at Frostbite!

OOC initiative... General Freedom/Frostbite 7... Dark Power... 3. You have 2 frames... The Dark Emissary is 10m away.

"What went wrong with you all? How did you end up like this at its bidding rather than the other way around?"

Frostbite already had his suspicions as to what the Emissary might say but he had little chance against it, playing the game its way. For now he was content to hold back getting ready to attack without his Dark Power, seeking to turn this around so that he might expose the true menace behind the statue and restore some hope to his beleaguered nation.

OOC:

Oh sorry to hear about the rough shifts, man when they work you they really work you hard. Don't worry about being spotty. I am playing in a PBEM for Pathfinder and weeks go by between replies.

Ok not going to attack, but going return to my intangible state, as I seek to keep the emissary talking whilst I try to think of a plan. My end goal is to try and get it in front of the cameras so that people can see that the shadows are real. But at the same time, trying to do that without getting killed myself, in the process. So trying to duck if it blasts me so that in the exposed area, of the shattered statue, we can get outside and the camera's can focus on me and will see I am fighting something dark and nasty - hence the real threat etc.

As regards to Sentinel, if Sunburst can load up their ship with as much Lunarium as possible, whilst I am trying to keep the Emissary busy, I will happily keep open the link so Sentinel has a way to find his way back. It might be that, that Lunarium that is changed is either blasted straight into the Devourer or else is taken to the Moon, Sentinel helps Anyman, and converts the rest of the stuff over and then that is used with Bentham's device to blast the Devourer.

Sj

"My ship can get it back, but we're not fast enough to outrun the Dark Emissary and we're not quite... wait! If you can keep talking to me, maybe there's some way to use your minds as a beacon, and guide the ship back home!"

"Wait Moon Man," Anyman said after he heard the mental conversation. "We may need these two after all to save the universe."

He looks at the two.

"I just heard a mental conversation with Silver Sentinel. He tells me he is on a planet filled with Clear Lunarium. It absorbs regular Lunarium and "cleanses it". It can also absorb Dark Powers. Can your Doomsday Device be converted to use that instead of the Lunarium on the Moon, which would kill millions if I let you try to fire it at the Devourer? We take away their Dark Powers, they just have the regular powers and most of us cannot survive in space without our Dark Powers or a spacesuit, so I figure most of them can't either.."

"Can you do it without blowing up the Moon or killing millions on Earth?"

Anyman on the Moon with Bentham, Trowers and the Lunarium Man

Trowers breathed a sigh of relief. "Much as you might think otherwise, Anyman, we're in this together. Until we get back to Earth we don't have..."

Bentham touched a hand to Trowers shoulder, and the man from the future paused. He glanced at his comrade. "One crisis to sort out at a time eh? Getting out of here intact is number one, stopping that out there is number two. We'll think about anything else after that..."

Bentham paused, nodded, then turned to Anyman. "I had planned to catalyse the Lunarium at the molecular level and alter the gravitic field of the rock pointing upwards to act as a funnel, a channel if you will. It would have blasted raw energy out into space, which I was rather hoping you'd help steer. Now you say there is a variant of this stuff that somehow absorbs the energy that this creature uses? Impossible. I would have known, been able to synthesize it... I see all..." he paused again, and turned away for a moment.

When he looked back, he shrugged. "There are minute variables that I ... may have overlooked."

Trowers turned, looking astonished, and a hint of a smile appeared on his face.

Bentham cleared his throat, straightened, then looked Anyman in the eye. "Get me this... 'miracle' Lunarium and I will cut it, shape it, mould it, into a lens. With the right frequency of molecular agitation I can get it to do what we need it to. Guaranteed, though first..."

The small group heard moans and incoherent shouting from somewhere in the caves...

"We need to survive long enough to get into the mines and get the equipment in place to start the chain reaction. Uh, does anyone have a level 4 anti radiation protection serum handy?" asked Bentham. "Or get me to a lab. I'll synthesize some."

Lunarium Man spoke up "I can wander through the mines without problem. I can even absorb some of the radiation, though there comes a point when I have to release it."

Anyman had already experienced that, a deeply unpleasant sensation.

"Here they come!" shouted Trowers, looking at the shambling shadows cast on the walls!

"Silver Sentinel! If you can home in on my thoughts, we have a weapon we can use with your special Lunarium. We just have to fight off hordes of undead zombies and ghouls while waiting for you to get here," Anyman paths on the Vanguard mental link, realizing that the Devourer can probably hear it too. "Get here quick! We probably will only have minutes to make the weapon work!"
ooc: going to also post this in the TP messages All Read board too.

General Freedom inside the Statue of Liberty, New York City and a Dark Emissary

The jet black figure chuckled. "What went wrong? We did. You did."

He let that sink in for a moment before adding "The Vanguard. We were possessed of such superhuman power that the term barely described us. These people, these sheep, bleated when they needed our help. We saved them. We sacrificed everything to save them. Our lives were forfeit, because no matter how hard we tried, man would find some reason to make war on their fellow man."

"In the end, on my world, on my version of Earth, the decision was easy. They were so intent on finding someone, anyone to make war on that they couldn't live in our enforced peace, by our rules, talking their problems through with reasoned debate. They declared us - the architects of peace and justice - the enemy. Do you know what it feels like to have an atomic bomb go off several hundred metres from where you are standing?"

He chuckled again. "I do. It tickles. When they saw we'd survived it, they blamed the carnage - hundreds of thousands of people wiped out - on us. They would rather die than live under our rule. The wouldn't even listen when we explained that we weren't ruling them - we were protecting them, from themselves."

"The Devourer is a being with a noble purpose. It will collect all of us, across every multiverse. We shall eliminate strife, war, fear, terror. We shall use those emotions in our holy crusade, a crusade that will take us through time, and through space, to every reality where the Shadow Demons fester. They are the evil. We? We are the noble crusade, like the knights of old. And we cannot be stopped. No power in the universe is powerful enough to withstand us, at least for long."

"You will see. Even now, the leaders of the world look on in fear at what is happening. The people of the world panic, cry out in terror. It's delicious. You must feel it. The world was always going to turn on itself, a keg full of powder waiting for a spark, a mind on the precipice of madness."

"All it needs is a little push."

The dark figure looked at him. "Go on. You need the Dark Power to stand a chance against me. Do you think being... intangible is it? Do you think that can stop me? I can destroy this city on a whim! For all your vaunted power, you are as an ant to me. Your leader died easily, by denying the power inside. Even now his..." he paused, and though the being had no facial features, General Freedom knew that he was frowning!

He looked up. "Something's wrong. What is Caldwell doing? You WILL tell me, or I shall erase you from existence!"

The dark being moved faster than thought, reaching a hand for Frostbite!

At first his intangibility seemed to protect him - then the hand struck solid on Frostbites' neck! What in the ...?

General Freedom was smashed through the 'wall' of the Statues' leg, crashing outwards into the open into the glare of cameras and a terrified populace! The Dark Emissary didn't care for that, instead he rasped, face to face with Frostbite "Tell me what the Nowhere Man is doing, or you will die!"

Frostbite gasped! The strength! Incredible! He dangled feet off the floor, held by the Dark Emissary's grip! His intangibility should have been enough to protect him!

There were voices screaming, shouts, gunfire! General Freedom winced as stray bullets pinged from Frostbites hide! The Emissary ignored them, then leaned in. "In moments I shall turn off the rest of your powers, 'General'. The people you are trying to protect will kill you... unless you embrace your Dark Power!"

Admin wrote:General Freedom
There were voices screaming, shouts, gunfire! General Freedom winced as stray bullets pinged from Frostbites hide! The Emissary ignored them, then leaned in. "In moments I shall turn off the rest of your powers, 'General'. The people you are trying to protect will kill you... unless you embrace your Dark Power!"

Struggling for breath, Frostbite nonetheless started to laugh. At first it wasn't voluntary and for a moment he thought he was loosing his mind. But then the incredulity of the situation struck him. Fighting for breath, beyond the iron grip that he might squeeze a few words off around the crushing strength that held him aloft he said, slowly, "You are the most powerful beings and you don't have a clue what Nowhere Man did to you? Someone who you should have recruited a dozen times, how many lives has he had. How many failures, yet he still goes on. Your problem isn't that humanity failed to understand but that you failed forgot your humanity. You might as well toss me aside, but you won't win. I won't call on the dark power and for the first time ever we'll be lost to you, but unlike you we'll not have sold our soul to the devil. I've seen you and your worst, you can break my body, hurt these people but in the end when everything is a dry husk I will still haunt you're dreams till you can take it no more. Driven by the fact you failed and failure has left you nothing but endless slavery to an appetite that isn't even yours. Your a slave to a worse tyranny than anything you can inflict on humanity. Their misery can end, but yours will never end, unless it stops right here and now. Think about that oh powerful puppet."

Between the fits and coughs and strained gurgles, Frostbit knew what he said was true. He'd seen it hundreds of times in the faces of the Nazi soldiers, in Saladin, in the mindless zombies or shadows. They were driven and their need to destroy was ultimately their own end. Their greatest need, was also their great undoing. Many might suffer, but ultimately driven by that deep evil that plagued their being, they would ultimately destroy everything and with nothing left, they'd turn on themselves. It was a bitter existence, without hope, light or truth a treadmill the only reprieve was the distraction caused by this chaos, but ultimately like some morphine addict, evil would consume itself.

OOC:
Ok not much else I can do but stare him down. If I lose Frostbite, I lose him but its not going to be going away as a coward. He'll not let his dying breath be anything but a challenge that cannot be ignored, easily.

Sj

The Dark Emissary looked furious, if such a thing were possible for a creature with no facial features...

It tossed General Freedom to the floor, and took a step forward... when a rock bounced from its head.

"Hey! You wanna pick a fight with the General? Our General?" shouted a cab driver, who stooped to pick up another rock. A policeman joined him, firing shot after a shot at the Dark Emissary. To no avail.

"Hahahaha!" laughed the Dark Emissary "You are as ants! Run in fear! Let me feed from your terror, underlings!"

But the people of New York did not run.

Having seen General Freedoms brave but failed attempt to stop the Dark being, many New Yorkers had known their fate was sealed... and yet... and yet they could not run. Why would they? There was nowhere to go, no place that would be beyond the reach of the Dark Power... and with that in mind the ordinary man and woman in the street turned, fear and panic giving way to determination and a will to resist to their dying breath! The feeling spread like wildfire as people stopped and turned. Their screams turned to shouts, and hundreds, thousands of people turned and started towards the statue.

The Dark Emissary turned, raising its hands "See how they turn and flock to their..." It's voice trailed off. He looked at where General Freedom had stood and dusted himself off, now stood at the head of a thousand strong army of New Yorkers... that grew with every second.

General Freedom/Frostbite understood then. The thing in front of him fed from fear, panic and terror. With a being as vast as the Devourer to 'feed' only a fraction of the Dark Power could be diverted to the Dark Emissary. Animating the statue had taken a huge proportion of the Emissaries allotted power...

Still, without using the Dark Power, General Freedom was still hopelessly outgunned by the thing in front of him.

"This isn't over." rasped the Dark Emissary. He soared upwards, then turned, shouting "You defy the Dark Power, mortals? Then die, crushed by the very symbol of freedom and hope that you look to in your darkest hour!"

There was a great groan, and the statue of liberty started to lean, then fall towards the vast gathered crowds! Almost unnoticed, the Dark Emissary simply vanished!

'I figured out what Nowhere Man is doing...' said the Dark Power, rasping inside Frostbites head. 'He has gathered so many of his 'other selves' into himself that the others - those he hasn't joined with - are flocking to him, to join with him and leave the Devourer behind... the Devourer wants all of us, and Nowhere Man seemingly went without a fight... he's fighting from within!'

'But you have other problems. I'll shut up now...' said the Dark Power...

Admin wrote:'But you have other problems. I'll shut up now...' said the Dark Power...

Relieved to have 'won' perhaps temporarily at least, Frostbite looked about. He knew that he would be safe, but what could he do to protect people from the statue. In one sense he wasn't sure, speeches and songs wouldn't help these people but without the use of the dark power what could he do for any of them?

OOC:
Ok without access to the dark power, that leaves me being able to errect some sort of force wall? Freezing the statue directly and then hitting it in some way so as to shatter it or...is there anything else from my position that suggestions I can do something other than watch the Statue of Liberty crush hundreds of people?

When all is said and done, I will use stand on the torch and give a speech to the nation, "This is our hour, this is our time, stand together. Fear is our greatest enemy, if we are to go into the night, then it will be as a united nation, standing for freedom, truth and justice against the champions of oppression. The weapons of evil are darkness, that can cloak their true intentions, but even though liberty fell, lives have been lost, the flame has passed onto us. We keep the torch alight by the way we defy the darkness and stand by what is right."

Or some such, you get the idea.


Sj

ANYMAN on the moon with Lunarium Man, Bentham and Trowers

OOC David M - sorry about the delay - aside from the lousy shifts I was waiting for interaction from Ross but he has a few issues of his own. Anyway, back to the action...

Having sent his message and established a link of sorts, Anyman knew that the Devourer would know his location! It would only be a matter of time before they despatched another Emissary to this location!

He glanced at Lunarium Man, then at Bentham and Trowers. No match for a Dark Empowered demigod...

And now the dead were closing in! The shadows they cast on the wall were long now, and any moment soon they would round the corner, and the final showdown would begin!

He knew his time was limited - he could fight them, quite effectively, but also knew that he was desperately ill. The Lunarium radiation that had affected him would have a killed a dozen strong men in an instant. It was testimony to his superhuman endurance that he could still operate effectively, but there was a price. With a pinch of his fingers on his forearm, he confirmed that which he'd suspected. The welt that was left festered and split, revealing raw flesh. It didn't hurt, but it wouldn't heal either.

He was doomed.

Yet there was something about what Bentham had said - some treatment he could effect? Trowers stepped closer to him. "Anyman? What are you doing? the Undead are getting closer! We'll be overrun in moments!"

OOC Options:

1) Fight the undead off until Silver Sentinel gets here - or a Dark Emissary gets here first
2) Push on into the Lunarium caves to plant Benthams doohickey. It still needs the white lunarium in it to catalyse the change from red to white lunarium on the moon...
3) Find a lab so that Bentham can whip up this cure of his - it may be the vital edge you need when your back is to the wall and it all boils down to fighting your way through to the cave
4) Use the Dark Power - and destroy the undead. The very real risk of being swallowed up by the Devourer is ever-present. It's what the Devourer is hoping and waiting for...
5) Get back to the Robo Carrier and come back with more robots to fight off the undead. That will require some doing as the hordes of shambling unliving close in, but with a hundred or more robots at your back this place will soon be mopped clean, and they may even slow the Dark Emissary down for vital seconds
6) Something else...?

ooc: Any chance the radio is working on the suit and that the material around us isn't blocking the signal?

GENERAL FREEDOM in New York trying to stop the Statue of Liberty from falling and crushing everyone!

OOC I envisioned GF giving a speech about freedom and liberty whilst stood on the torch of the statue on it's way down, pouring his heart and soul in then wondering why no one was cheering. He'd look around, see a load of splattered people and say 'oops. Knew there was something I should have done first...'

General Freedom desperately flew up and in front of the falling statue! It would've been childs play to stop it with the Dark Power - people were screaming and running for cover and there was ample 'sustenance' for the symbiote inside of him. That was, however, what the Devourer was waiting for!

Gathering himself, he levelled his arms then poured ice out - as much and as extensively as he could, to act as a brace to at least slow down the statue! It was too big for him to even slow down - he simply wasn't strong enough, but Lionheart might have had a chance! Smiling, he shook his head - concentrate on the task at hand, try your best and above all else, succeed!

OOC This is where the DC Heroes rules would have Frostbite using his Ice Production: 9 and Ice Control: 9 with hero points needing a roll of 15 or over on 2D10 for success. Here, we uh, make an ego roll. Want to use hero points?

Admin wrote:GENERAL FREEDOM

OOC This is where the DC Heroes rules would have Frostbite using his Ice Production: 9 and Ice Control: 9 with hero points needing a roll of 15 or over on 2D10 for success. Here, we uh, make an ego roll. Want to use hero points?

OOC: Yes I'd like to use hero points, as many as needed to get the job done.

And you know therein is the potential problem I foresee with Hero points doubling as XP and a finite resource.

See as a hero with impossible odds, chances are in order to get the job done we will just use HP all the time. After all that is partly the nature of heroism, being sacrificial. But if HP then also goes towards improvements and enhancements, there is a sense that in spending them to exceed your abilities and reduce the randomness of failure, you deprive yourself of permanent improvements for short term gain. Previously HP has always been a separate commodity that we could spend if dice failed. The danger is that in spending them as soon as we get them, that we never improve, just exceed our stated abilities when we have them to play with.

Maybe I've not understood them, but if I have shouldn't Hero Points and Experience Points be separate so that the characters don't suffer for being heroic. Rewarding players who don't spend their hero points in pushing their limits is like rewarding people for toeing the line, staying within their limitations and saying its ok if you tried hard but the encounter or dice defeated you?

I appreciate that in spending what you have from one pool means you are forced to make a choice, and choices like that are good and meaningful to character growth - but I think that's likely to be a false dichotomy as we'll almost always go for short term gains (especially since in a PBEM, short term is anything but) over long term improvements. I am happy to try it out, but its been something on my mind since you mentioned it.

Is there a way by which HP gained can still be spent on improvements, but if their spent they count only as half as effective. You've gained knowledge and used it effectively but the long term improvements are more limited. Mind you that doesn't reward characters for being more sacrificial, altruistic and heroic does it. So not sure what's best and maybe I've misunderstood, but not sure I am happy with system as it stands?

Frostbite, chided himself, "Come on boy, its not time to hold back. All this time you've been fighting for the world, now its time to protect American citizens, buck up!"

And renewing his efforts Frostbite poured his heart, mind and soul into the effort of stopping the statue's crushing descent on the people.

Sj

OOC ANYMAN the radio is indeed severely hampered... but you happen to have someone with you who can alter and improve just about any gadget imaginable (Claude Bentham, evil genius). He can sort your radio out for a single message, then it'll burn out. What do you want to say?.


"Use this to punch a message to my carrier," Anyman tells Benthan. "Have them send every war robot they have to our location to take out the undead."