The NEW Vanguard! Kyoko Issue 1 "The Enemy of My Enemy..."

Alex scanned about in the darkness.

His vision seemed to blur, then he saw the world in a strange negative view, with a glowing figure standing amidst rocks and trees, watching with apparent glee, though it was hard to tell from this distance aside from the excited clapping and jumping about.

Having dropped off the co-pilot and other crewmember, and left instructions for her to instruct the other helicopters to peel off and leave the scene. Would she get word to them in time?

Like a missile he shot across the sky, and swooped down.

A balding middle aged man looked up, though his glowing red eyes gave him away as something other than the hill walker he appeared to be. "What's this?" he remarked in a welsh accent - clearly a local inhabitant. "Never mind, you'll find that shiny stick has no effect against..."

Stormbreaker swooped down and swung his blade, intent on stifling the mans threat!

OOC Alex wins initiative. Attack roll 6+8 (hit) 11 RAPS. He absorbs 8RAPs, takes 3 and is stunned. Spent 8HP, on 5/8 Body. You have the option of following up (you win initiative again). Clobber the fellow till he's senseless or risk keeping him awake to question him? He's undoubtedly more durable than an ordinary human being, but there's no spandex on show or anything to suggest he is anything other than an ordinary fellow... who fires eldritch fire bolts with unerring accuracy that smash helicopters from the sky!

"No effect huh?"

With that Alex lays into the bald man again. With superhuman resiliance Alex didn't need to worry as much about slaying his opponent as he would with someone else. Instead he had to worry more about leaving him standing to attack the generally defenceless military units.

That wasn't something he was prepared to do.

---

I'm just going to hit him again. Alex and Stormbreaker have a tendency to fairly simple tactics. Hit first, hit hard, if anything is left standing then you can ask questions.

OOC Attack Roll 7+6 (13) Success.Same again. Absorbs 8, takes 3, stunned. He's now spent 16HP.

Delivering another powerful blow to the innocuous looking but doubtless superhuman opponent, Alex sees the fellow stagger backwards, then spit words from blood flecked lips...

"Ahtekk Vurr Doh Sei la ven Sye!" he calls, waving his arms and hands in a peculiar pattern.

Stormbreaker feels magic gathering...

And it fades just as quickly.

"The pronunciation was wrong..." said a female voice in Alexs' head. "must be the multiple knocks on the head..."

The man shakes his head, as if to clear it from the stars he's seeing, but appears to be waging a war with himself...

"Gahhh! Ahhhh! Help! It's in me! They said... they told me I ... Ack!" he cries, and his eyes glow red.

"Ssssword....Mmmmaster will use it to ppppick ttttteeth with!"

And cracks started appearing in his skin. Glowing cracks. Like those seen when the skin of a volcano starts to strain from the inner pressure!

Alex didn't hold back for even a moment - though a voice in the back of his head (his own voice thankfully) wondered if he'd ever manage to sort out all the different voices he was hearing these days - He dove straight in again!

He was fairly certain that this guy was about to explode in some fashion, and from what had been said it was likely to reveal an even harsher battle then what he'd just faced and probably cause even more damage to the bystanders in the helicopters over head. Instead of allowing that he chose to strike first in the hope that he could take whatever this was out before it could form properly!

Flying past he slashes at the glowing man and keeps on going to put a good amount of distance between them. If he was wrong distance was likely to be one of the few things that could help him.

---

Dice: attack at 14/15 for Dex/Sword while pressing the attack for -1OV for both of them.
Auto: Get a decent distance between the two of them.. call it 8AP or a quarter mile, right on the edge of his magic sense without running the risk of whatever this is just moving out of range and avoiding Stormbreaker.
Auto: Magic Sense to help keep track of what's happening.. because at a 1/4 mile I'm likely to lose sight of it with the weather conditions.

Stormbreaker performs a 'fly past' and thrusts the flat of the sword out to use as a metal club...

OOC Roll 3+3 (6 - DOUBLE) plus 6+5 = 117. Whack!

Stormbreaker smacks his opponent into the air, then swoops on as a glance over his shoulder shows his hunch was right - the mans skin is now orange with fading black lines that were cracks, instead of the other way around!

A moment later...

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!

The shock wave sent Stormbreaker tumbling, and he turned to see a large crater in the trees, shattered wood strewn about. Knocking the fellow into the air and into a small wood had served well enough to shield anyone nearby from the explosion as the unfortunate victim suffered the price of aligning himself with dark powers. Whatever promise had been made to the fellow had proven a lie, and Stormbreaker wondered how many others had been lured into that trap by the promise of unlimited power?

As the rain continued to sile down the debris from the explosion dropped from the sky.

Peering through the gloom and darkness Stormbreaker saw the downed crew were gathering to each other, training kicking in and medical treatment being the first priority for them.

Stormbreaker could see a glow in the distance. The prison. Whatever was going on there was escalating. Even had these army helicopters gotten there in time, what could stop what was effectively a superhuman army bursting from those reinforced concrete walls?

He glanced at his sword and wondered if this would be the biggest challenge he'd ever endured?

OOC Help the crew or head on at full speed towards the prison? Or you can investigate the site of the explosion and maybe find some clue as to who or what you are dealing with here - because Alex is pretty darned sure this fellow wasn't a one off. and more demon possessed misguided fools will be out there...

OOC Arrrrgh. Misclick and lost what I was writing. Here we go again.

He stepped out from behind an ancient overgrown stumbled down set of standing stones that had been in a circle once, now age and the elements - and possibly other forces - had done their best to dismember them.

The magic was still strong though, the stones merely having marked the intersection of ley lines that criss-crossed this ancient land and fired out across the world to such places as lost Atlantis and a lost Mayan temple far across the world, amongst other places.

Justin St Johns looked up and about. "Bloody rain. Again. Now I remember why I moved away from here." he turned, looking about on the hillside, strewn as it was with heather. "WELL? I'M HERE! YOU CAN STOP THE BONGING SOUND IN MY HEAD NOW!"

Then he heard it. Distant sounds, explosions, gunfire. "Oh no." he muttered.

Running through and over the thick heather at a pace that would leave even the fittest army personnel behind, the retired superhero didn't even register the effort with a gasp as he slowed at the peak of a hill and looked down across the valley. Miles away, but the sights and sounds were visible enough even from here... the super prison. Under attack? Siege? No. The siege was over. The prisoners were escaping, being fired upon by army personnel.

Something else, that all knowing and seeing spirit that was the land and the embodiment of the people that lived there, 'told him' that the real danger was yet to come. A cataclysm that would destroy part of Britain and especially Wales, making it uninhabitable in a way Chernobyl never did.

"Awwww no. Not a..."

FWASH!

"..gain. I thought I gave this stuff up! I serve in other ways! What about the others? Aren't they about?" echoed his voice from inside that familiar ancient magical helm.

=========

Stormbreaker blasted through the rain and darkness, homing in on as powerful a surge of magic as he'd ever experienced as far as he could recall!

St Johns? Who was he? What powers did he keep hidden? Why here? Though beyond his range to sense, the magic emnaations 'leaked' outwards curiously, like an explosion. That, again, was something he'd never experienced. Alex had a bad feeling about this.

Then he flew over a hill, blasted over a valley, swooped low past a forest and over a mountain peak...

And saw...

A medieval Knight, stood on a hilltop?

And behind him, forming from mist, a horse of some kind?

OOC The fellow you are looking at is in the middle. The other guys aren't there, but the picture is for nostalgia purposes. David (M - Haunt) knows this well, but Dave E didn't play in the Lore Knights game.


Ghost Knight and team

The Knight turned, as if sensing Stormbreakers approach. His voice echoed out, even though he was hundreds of yards away. "Oh no... another nutcase. Look, I don't have time for whatever you want!" He yanked a huge, nasty looking morning star from his belt.

'Hisssssss!' went the voice in Alexs' head!

"Don't get in my way mate" stated the Knight as he turned to the spectral Horse, climbing on, even though the legs trailed into mist and not hooves. "Once I've sorted THAT out, I'll sort you out... I hope."

Stormbreaker tore his gaze from the blaze of magical energy that surrounded the man in the suit and saw... disaster. Apocalypse. The super prison on fire, under siege, battle raging, fire flaring... and ... and something else.

Deep, dark evil magic at work, not in the prison, but below it somewhere. Though it were miles away he didn't need his magic sense to tell him that DEMONS were at work here, possibly his ancient nemesis, Kaberaxus at work!

With all the forces of magic that had been at work since this all began at the dig site, seeing a fully armed and armoured knight was not so much of a surpprise to Alex. Untill it had been destroyed in battle he had worn a suit of enchanted leather and chain of his own make.. Still it gave him somethign to consider. Just as he was about to answer the knights challange he saw it. The ruined disaster that was the prison, and the dark twistings of demonic power under it.

"I don't think either of us have time for what I came up here for now." He says after landing rather forcefully some ten feet to the side of the knight.

"There are demons at work down there. Kaberaxus' servants most likely. I don't know what they're doing here but it can't be anything good." Alex rests a hand on the hilt of his sword and turns to the knight, holding his right hand out in a classic hand shake invitation.

"We are Stormbreaker, and I think you could use my help."

The Knight pauses, then nods, taking Stormbreakers hand in a warriors grip.

"The royal 'we'?" he chuckles. "Never mind. I was never one to stand on ceremony. We need to get down there. Tha land called me here, and it wasn't to fight you. Somewhere in that mess, something cataclysmic is about to happen unless we can stop it!"

The ghostly horse strode forward, pawing the ground.

With a deft flick of a leg over it, the knight wheeled it around. "Well Stormbreaker, I'm GHOST KNIGHT, and right now you're the nearest one I've got to a team mate. Back in the day, nine of us would have answered."

With a shrug he spurs the ghostly horse forward! It gallops... then takes to the air!

=========

Nearer the camp its clear pandemonium has been left in charge...

Prisoners ran in all directions. The flying heroes soared low over the walls as bullets zinged past them.

The guards, panicked, under siege and unsure of who or where to shoot, shot at anything that moved - even each other on occasion. The prison had been badly damaged on one side. Fires burned all over, but this area suffered from burning, what looked like mountains of ice and a huge hole in the thick reinforced hole of the prison.

What looked like police or army special forces were active in this area. The heroes could head towards them, or zip straight through the gaping hole into the prison.

Ghost Knight turned to Stormbreaker. "Whatever is going on, is happening in there. Judging by the pounding headache I have, we don't have long. That said, the guards need help, and need to know we're here to help! Think you can handle that?"

"My best response to all this will stop most of them in their tracks. The trouble is it doesn't distinguish between friend or foe." Alex is quiet a moment then shakes his head. "It won't hurt anyone though and is likely the best option." With that, he looks for his best choice for the focal point of the enchantment he was preparing to loose. With a location chosen he closes his eyes to focus for a moment, gestures at the largest clump of escapees he can find and unleashes a semi translucient, glowing purple chain that split into multiple chains each bearing down on an individual in its radius of effect!

---

Auto: flight!
Auto: magic sense
Dice: Mystic Freeze; 11/9 (No AV so it uses Infl), This is an area attack, it's fatiguing, and has 'Damage Redirection' - RAPs from anyone trying to break loose make an attack against Stormbreakers mystical stats.

Important Mystical Stats - Infl 11/Spirit 12; Fatiguing and Damage Redirection will both check against that.

Targets: Looking for the largest group of escapees that I can center this effect on, preferably avoiding people who show more then normal mystical stats. Hopefully.

OOC Great. Blue screen of death and lost the whole message. Chrome 'restored'... but lost all the post reply. Anyway, the roll was double 3 (6) plus 4,10 (14)=20. RAPs ranged from 8-10 on a group of 6 prisoners who were pinning down a bunch of soldiers and froze them in place. The roll of 11 on Mystic freeze incurred no fatigue.

From a situation where a half dozen prisoners had pinned down a mixed group of soldiers and prison guards, using captured weapons and returning superhuman powers, suddenly they were entwined in a purple chain that pinned them where they stood...

"Impressive" said Ghost Knight, as he ignored bullets pinging from his armour. He turned and watched advancing soldiers run through the rain towards them. As they got closer one of them shouted "Stand down!" and he looked sheepish. "I've seen you before. Few years ago. Lore Knight?"

Ghost Knight nodded. "Knights." he said, turning to glance at Stormbreaker. "Let's get in there and sort this mess out."

The soldier barked orders and more soldiers came forward to restrain the prisoners with injections to put them under.

=========

"Easy to see where whatever broke in here went" said Ghost Knight, looking at the straight line from the thick outer wall that punched through wall after wall to head towards the main core.

Water sloshed from broken pipes, running over iced up areas. As the alarm blared Stormbreaker noticed a cracked computer screen and saw words that chilled his blood.

"Countdown to core meltdown..." the numbers were missing - as was the lower half of the screen, but the fact it was counting down wasn't good. They would have only minutes before this place - nuclear powered - suffered a meltdown that would kill not only everyone still in the prison, but others for miles around!

Ghost Knight looked to Stormbreaker. "You're fast. You can be clear of here. take as many as you can with you. Save lives."

He turned to the shattered walls and the pathway to the core of the facility. "I need to get in here. The land needs me, and I cannot do otherwise." he strode towards the holes and the prison core even as mist formed around him and into a horse that lifted him several feet off the floor onto its ghostly back!

OOC Into certain doom, or try to save as many as you can? Updates planned daily from tomorrow onas I have a couple of weeks off work - plenty to do but at least being stuck on a train isn't it

"There is risk with that power, no enchantment can match a true sorcerer after all." Alex says in reply to Ghost Knights compliment. He was about to warn the solders that the chains would last only so long when they began to put the prisoners under. With that in hand he headded foreward.

---

"Whatever did this makes me look subtle in a fight, which is a feat in of itself." Alex kept alert, Stormbreaker raised in a half guard position, ready to either defend or attack as needed.

"Something's gone wrong in here for that alarm to be so- oh. Crap." Technilogical disasters were out of his normal experiance range but he had plenty of experiance with time limits like this. He'd never be able to save more then a handful of men before this place went up, even as fast as he was.

"No, I'd never make enough of a difference doing that. In here I can likely help more. I hope you can keep up." With that he takes off to follow the damage to its source!

---

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[color=blue] Auto1: Flight! - As much as I can get away with without causing a structural collapse. I've got the Dex to react to any turns or stops I need to make at any speed I can pull after all and we're counting down to a nuclear disaster so there's no time for subtlety. I don't mind inflicting some damage with sonic booms either, just so long as the building stays standing.

Auto2: Magic Sense - I want to have an idea of I'm headding towards the stronger magical aura I sensed earlier when I'm following the damage caused by whatever did all this.

Dice: Either some sort of Int action to navigate, or just a good old Dex/Sword action to clear a path as I go if needed.

GM note: I've yet to wrap up my first issue and still have 0 HP. Admittedly I'm really hard to kill, but I do feel somewhat exposed without ANY of them.

OOC That's a good point. You've done more than enough to warrant your award, so consider yourself 123HP better off.

"Fast" muttered Ghost Knight. "And agile. Goes off like a bull in a china shop though."

"Reminds me of people I know." he added, chuckling as the horse became as insubstantial as a ghost, doing the same to the rider.

Stormbreaker knew he was quick but even he was limited to how fast he could turn in this tight place. Even so his astonishing agility ensured that he avoided any major obstacles, the sword adding another means of punching through even solid walls.

His magic sense told him there were a number of weaker sources within range, people incarcerated in this facility with some kind of magical force at their command. All that paled into insignificance compared to that which shone like a beacon at the bottom of the central energy feed shaft of the prison.

Something bad, that way lay. Bad in a world changing way.

Blasting through the wreckage of the prison he saw visible signs of battle but ignored them. Blasting through the prison he turned, twisting in mid air to spiral down... and saw Ghost Knight on horseback in front of him!

"Come on slowpoke!" bellowed the knight. Stormbreaker chuckled, knowing that the Knight had turned insubstantial to take a direct route. Indeed, the hero shone like a beacon, reeking of magic.

Rising to the challenge he sped past Ghost Knight and down into the darkness towards the distant light.

OOC Like Haunt Stormbreaker and Ghost Knight join in at the end of the next round of combat in the reactor room.