The Vanguard! Issue #2 - Shadow from the past, a future in tatters!

FROSTBITE

Admin wrote:
"YOU FOOL!" bellowed the inner voice. "MORTAL, TARRY NOT! JOIN! OPEN THE GATE WHILST THERE ARE STILL MOMENTS LEFT TO DO SO!"

"What the..." Frostbite was in the process of thanking Caldwell when he too heard the voice. A steely determination came at that point. He knew they had little choice as once again they were in over their heads.

"Join hands, we know our allies have their own agenda, but right now we could do with all the help we can get. Join hands, for we might use this opportunity to draw other meta humans. Those in this time line who are Vanguard like us."

Reaching out his free hand to Stormwarden, he motioned for the others to do the same, hoping they'd trust him and that they could trust their shadow allies all the same.

Sj

Steeple_jackuk wrote:FROSTBITE

Admin wrote:
"YOU FOOL!" bellowed the inner voice. "MORTAL, TARRY NOT! JOIN! OPEN THE GATE WHILST THERE ARE STILL MOMENTS LEFT TO DO SO!"

"What the..." Frostbite was in the process of thanking Caldwell when he too heard the voice. A steely determination came at that point. He knew they had little choice as once again they were in over their heads.

"Join hands, we know our allies have their own agenda, but right now we could do with all the help we can get. Join hands, for we might use this opportunity to draw other meta humans. Those in this time line who are Vanguard like us."

Reaching out his free hand to Stormwarden, he motioned for the others to do the same, hoping they'd trust him and that they could trust their shadow allies all the same.

Sj

Stormwarden had hesitated with that brief anquished thought of his, but Frostbite was right. In this place it didn't matter. He held out his hand to Frostbite and extended his other to Darkshadow.

OOC Don't read another word before you've read Putty #1!

The Vanguard

As Stormwarden and Darkshadow formed hands with Frostbite and Caldwell (Lionheart was self acknowledged as not having either heard the voices or being a 'True Vanguardian') the big man expected... something. Some crack of thunder, flashing light, the lights to flicker and go all spooky. Instead... nothing. "Now what?" asked Darkshadow.

"JOIN HANDS!" came the cry in everyones heads.

Darkshadow, exasperated, shouted "We are bloody well joining hands you daft imp! Now get on with it!"

It was at this point that a gloopy gelatinous sludge poured through the hole into the room and reformed into a rough semblance of human shape.

"Now there's something you don't see every day." muttered Caldwell.

Lionheart sped up, ready to defend his friends with his own life, but paused for some reason. "Hold on." he said.

OOC 1d20+18=27, 1d20+15=25. Successful mental attack, though not by much...

"I'm...ungh... struggling to get through to this creature but... fear... anger... at the Nazis... grief... overwhelming grief... a need to right wrongs perpetrated by the Nazi regime..." Lionheart looked to face his colleagues. "I think... this isn't an enemy. Though I've been wrong before..." he smiled sheepishly.

"The circle will be completed! JOIN HANDS!" bellowed the voice in Caldwell, Frostbite, Darkshadow, Stormwarden and the newcomers heads.

Darkshadow rolled his eyes behind his mask. "Join hands? Help if he had some..."

OOC an official 'welcome to the Vanguard' David/Putty

The Vanguard

Stormwarden looked at the mass in front of them. The shape didn't put him off. This was a brother! Still holding hands he knelt, to bring himself lower to this being. "Join us brother! For brother you are. Join the Vanguard and fight with us!" He held out a hand to the mass.

FROSTBITE

Limerickcot wrote:Stormwarden looked at the mass in front of them. The shape didn't put him off. This was a brother! Still holding hands he knelt, to bring himself lower to this being. "Join us brother! For brother you are. Join the Vanguard and fight with us!" He held out a hand to the mass.

Despite knowing he shouldn't judge by appearances, still like Caldwell, Frostbite couldn't help but shudder at the gelatinous gloop that suddenly reformed into a man like shape. Not knowing what entirely was going on but again sensing the larger forces at work, he too held out a hand to the strange meta human, who seemed to have been called here by their shadow allies.

"I think you know, as we do that you are among friends. Come join us quickly..." Frostbite said an unmistakable urgency lending his voice greater authority.

Sj

Stormwarden looked at the mass in front of them. The shape didn't put him off. This was a brother! Still holding hands he knelt, to bring himself lower to this being. "Join us brother! For brother you are. Join the Vanguard and fight with us!" He held out a hand to the mass.

Despite knowing he shouldn't judge by appearances, still like Caldwell, Frostbite couldn't help but shudder at the gelatinous gloop that suddenly reformed into a man like shape. Not knowing what entirely was going on but again sensing the larger forces at work, he too held out a hand to the strange meta human, who seemed to have been called here by their shadow allies.

"I think you know, as we do that you are among friends. Come join us quickly..." Frostbite said an unmistakable urgency lending his voice greater authority.



"Muy-hu nuh-nuh-arm ishbbrr Puh-tiesss," Putty burbled as he stretched, literally, his hands out to Frostbite and Stormwarden.

Once he had both their hands he walked closer, as he did so, he took on the combined appearance of the two heroes.

"My name is Putty," he says much clearer now. "I hate Nazis. I think they did this to me and killed my parents. But I can't remember, I don't know if that is a true memory or a dream."

"A voice spoke in my head. Told me to come here."

actions: walk up, shapeshift into a combine form and uniforms of Frostbite and Stormarden, grab hands.

The Vanguard

The Vanguard glowed. Everyone in the circle gave off a red glow, their hands glowing too bright to see! Caldwell suddenly cried out "ONCE AGAIN WE ARE REJOINED!"

Then he vanished!

The remaining people in the circle disengaged as if jolted by electricity!

Inside their heads, the voices spoke as one... "The circle is almost complete! Our brother, restored! Thanks to you, Awoken, but your task is not yet done here! The White Warlock must be freed, and the gate opened, for this time is lost, and if allowed to continue on its present path the shadows will consume all! You cannot access our power... but seek that which men thought lost, and yet in reality has been guarded by a queen long dead! Seek the cup, for its power can restore the Warlock, and with strength renewed he may open the gate!"

Suddenly from behind the gathered Vanguard a voice added "It's always a struggle. This..." he rasped, "Made it easier. Thanks Joe."



Nowhere Man, clad as usual in a different variant of his all black, held out the USB stick to Frostbite. "You keep hold of that. I might need it again at some point. Other problem is... where the heck am I and what's going on?" he growled in his low rasping snarl.

FROSTBITE

Nowhere Man, clad as usual in a different variant of his all black, held out the USB stick to Frostbite. "You keep hold of that. I might need it again at some point. Other problem is... where the heck am I and what's going on?" he growled in his low rasping snarl.

"You...you...you did it! I thought you were nuts being reborn and all that stuff. But somehow against the odds here you are back from the dead."

Frostbite's voice trailed off as he stood speechless for a moment. Before finally being able to say,
"Its good to have you back. Now we've got a new companion..." he gestured toward Putty, "And an old one restored. But we've got to still get out of here and then try and make sense of that riddle about the cup. Sounded like some sort of Arthurian type of thing."

"Right introductions will have to wait, you know the situation, unless you can think of a better way to find this cup, apart from this ship, I think we still need to get her unclamped and away."

OOC:

Ok I am assuming battle conditions so time for role play intros later, right now action stations. Unless Nowhere Man has any ideas about getting out of here, I'm banking on getting this 'tower' free as it chock full of necessaries we might need if we are to complete the next part of the adventure.

Please stop me if you've another suggestion otherwise my suggestion is Stormwarden, Lionheart and me freeze and pummel the blocks whilst the rest keep guard on the perimeter, we want to make sure we know when the attack comes (though I doubt we'll be able to miss it :-). Darkshadow ought to check our prisoners to and see if the gun is operational to.

Sj

"I don't know the situation," Putty mutters to no one in particular. "I don't know where we are. And what ship are you talking about?"

DavidMcMahon wrote:"I don't know the situation," Putty mutters to no one in particular. "I don't know where we are. And what ship are you talking about?"

"This" and Stormwarden waved around them indicating the tower "is actually an alien ship. The world in which you live, Putty, is different from what it should be. This is because people from the future, MY world, went back and changed the past. So now we are going to change it back. But to do so we need certain things to happen, the first of which is to free this ship from its mooring." He shrugged. "I'm sorry but I don't have time to explain any more at the moment. For now we get out there and fight, one way or another."

He looked over at the rest of them. "Lets to it then, friends!"

DavidMcMahon wrote:"I don't know the situation," Putty mutters to no one in particular. "I don't know where we are. And what ship are you talking about?"

"This" and Stormwarden waved around them indicating the tower "is actually an alien ship. The world in which you live, Putty, is different from what it should be. This is because people from the future, MY world, went back and changed the past. So now we are going to change it back. But to do so we need certain things to happen, the first of which is to free this ship from its mooring." He shrugged. "I'm sorry but I don't have time to explain any more at the moment. For now we get out there and fight, one way or another."

He looked over at the rest of them. "Lets to it then, friends!"

"Putty, with me, I'll explain the rest on the way" Frostbite said, slightly annoyed with himself that he was still slightly off guard from the sudden reappearance of the Vanguard's mentor and founder, Nowhere Man.

As they moved out, Frostbite looked for the tower moorings, speaking quickly.

"Stormwarden pretty much covered the basics, but what is also not apparent is that beyond this storm, he has brought to bare, is a the Nazi army and their Meta human lap dogs, ready to attack. Only the storm is keeping them at bay. We have enlisted the help of this tower/ships repair facilities and are trying to get the defences working, whilst we free her so we can use her to escape. But we don't know how much time we've got before the Nazi's come charging in here, storm or no storm."

Moving to the first clamp, Frostbite concentrated as he lower the temperatures around the spot rapidly.

OOC: Field Manipulation 2d6=4 HTK if that is not enough I will do so again, until its cold enough for Stormwarden to break it free before moving onto the next one with Lionheart who I will get working on the next one as we move around the base and so on.

As he worked, Frostbite spoke again to Putty, despite the effort to concentrate.
"I'm sure glad you showed up when you did but I'm also sorry your just getting the 'cliff notes' on all this. But bare with us, if we get out of this I'll tell you everything. Now if you deploy yourself with Nowhere man and keep an eye of things with us. OK?"

Frostbite said, as again he concentrated on the task at hand.

Sj

As he worked, Frostbite spoke again to Putty, despite the effort to concentrate.
"I'm sure glad you showed up when you did but I'm also sorry your just getting the 'cliff notes' on all this. But bare with us, if we get out of this I'll tell you everything. Now if you deploy yourself with Nowhere man and keep an eye of things with us. OK?"


"As you say," Putty, still looking like a combination of Frostbite and Stormwarden replies. He is finding it easier to actually talk when he isn't in his normal Putty form. He takes a moment to form a big fist and smash it into the mooring line that Frostbite is freezing.

actions: attack the line with strength

He then looks around and moves on to wherever the Nowhere Man is at.

Moving to the first clamp, Frostbite concentrated as he lower the temperatures around the spot rapidly.

Stormwarden moved up to the spot and prepared himself to smash into the mooring as soon as it had reached breaking point. Already the rain was soaking his blond hair flat against his hair as it continued his deluge. In the meantime, he moved around, keeping an eye on the direction from whence Majestic seemed likely to approach.

The Vanguard

OOC Tricky to draw the 'hooks' that anchor the ship to the plascrete surface. Basically, this 'plascrete' needs to be heated then cooled, THEN ripped at with strength in order to break the mooring free, and there are half a dozen of the things around the base of the Ship. Each mooring is like a block jutting from the ship that appears to be sunk into the plascrete floor of the plaza, kind of bonded at the molecular level. It may be possible to smash the plascrete floor up all around it, but that will take a lot longer than you have, time wise. So expand the floor (heat) contract it suddenly (cold) then whilst the stuff is 'confused' pound away at it with strength or a blast of some kind and it should break away. Not all of the buildings/roads are made of this stuff, but those that have alien ships/bases on are - they would need a solid base to resist bombardment as they return fire on attackers.

Nowhere Man frowned behind the mask. He remembered storing his neural patterns on the USB stick, then heading with the others to Cranston Hall... and that was it. He would have to fill in the details later about what happened to him, but the world was quite clearly 'wrong'. He wasn't surprised, given the number of worlds he'd visited in order to find one where his dead lover, Sarah, would have survived. Most of those were messed up in one way or another. Kind of like his body. "Why am I half machine?" he muttered. Shaking his head, he recalled those powers still available to him. With a another frown, he figured they were 'not many' - certainly not enough at this stage to be of any use in a fight. He moved over to a console, considered for a moment, then thrust a hand at it. As he expected, metallic tendrils shot forth and he interfaced with the ship!

As Stormwarden and the others started for the hole in the wall, Nowhere Man said quietly "Try the front doors - I'm sealing the hole." He directed nannites to scurry like insects from small holes in the walls to form a membrane consisting of nannites across the hole in the wall, which was quickly built upon and reformed, with no apparent damage at all! The Vanguard made their way into the corridor, into the lift, and down to the ground level where the battle had taken place with the Nazis. The front doors opened as they approached, exposing all to the violence of Stormwardens tornado! As he stepped forwards an area of clam formed around Stormwarden, allowing himself and his friends to stand unhindered and untouched in the eye of the storm whilst the city all about was battered with weather normally associated with the Caribbean in Hurricane season!

Frostbite with Putty in tow moved to one of the half dozen or so clamps jutting from the ship like claws sunk into the floor. Where they met plascrete there were no joins, lips, seals of any kind. It simply looked like they were all one, bonded at the molecular level! With that in mind it had to be considered reasonable that any damage to the floor (and it would have to be an extreme amount to affect this material) might spread to the ship! Frostbite leant in, placing a hand on the clamp, a block of alien ceramic/metal that jutted from the craft to anchor it to the floor. Freezing it, he turned to see Putty deliver a hammer blow to the ground close to the clamp!

Not even a mark...

Stormwarden stood in the eye of the Storm, allowing rain to drip lightly on his muscled form as he soaked in the violence of the storm he'd made. It was if the storm were a living, vibrant thing, ready to do its masters bidding!

There! He looked through the Darkness to see a white clad figure standing on a nearby rooftop! He seemed in defiance of the wind and rain, whilst others near him struggled to keep their feet.



"I WAS WONDERING WHEN YOU WOULD COME OUT TO PLAY!" bellowed Majestic over the storm in accented English. At just over six and a half feet tall, built like a wrestler and weighing over 300lbs, he was a man-mountain of muscle that few could hope to stand against!

He stepped onto the roofs' edge, and soared down at high speed, landing in a crouch on the plaza floor some 20m away from the ship and Stormwarden. Stormwarden noted the way even his storm had bent aside - the mans' power couldn't be doubted or underestimated!

Darkshadow appeared at Stormwardens' side. "What's the plan?" he rasped. "And why isn't Nowhere Man getting his hands dirty with the rest of us?"

As if to answer, scurrying nannites buzzed away at the top of the ship, fixing the gun Stormwarden had fixed earlier. It tentatively extended several feet out, revealing a joint like an elbow and allowing the gun to fire at angles that would protect the lower half of the ship.

"Impressive." said Majestic. "Whomever you are, you appear to be adept at turning our own technology against us." He hawked and spat. "It won't do you any good. Who will be the first to die?"

OOC initiative... 1d10=8 Heroes, 1d10=4 Bad Guys. 2 frames to you guys.

"Grraaaagh," Putty yelled as he stretched out his arms and threw a left-right combo at Majestic. He wondered where the bird woman was and if she would join in the attack as he did.

actions: stretch arms 20 meters+, attempt to hit twice with strength. If the range is just outside the 20 meters of his stretching powers, he will take the 1 HTC for each punch.

The member 'DavidMcMahon' has done the following action : dice

#1 'd20' :

#1 Result : 1

--------------------------------

#2 'd20' :

#2 Result : 8

FROSTBITE

Admin wrote:
OOC Tricky to draw the 'hooks' that anchor the ship to the plascrete surface. Basically, this 'plascrete' needs to be heated then cooled, THEN ripped at with strength in order to break the mooring free, and there are half a dozen of the things around the base of the Ship.

OOC: Oh blast I thought it was cold or heat not both. So that sinks that as regards to breaking the ship free, unless we can utilise the gun? What sort of attacks does it do? Are they heat based in which case we would have to fire and attack and then get the nanites to repair the ship later. An workable option maybe.

IC:

Seeing the defiant Majestic strode forward, he watched as Putty seemed to loose it and strike out at the impressive figurer striding toward them.

"This is it everyone, remember what we said, together or we're all going to fail."

With that Frostbite pressed the attack, first aiming to capture the Nazi off guard with a wave of power and cold.

1d20+6+3=19 to hit with 10 dice split 4HTK/ 6 HTC
4d6=15 HTK, 6d6=20 HTC

Sj

Stormwarden

Stormwarden had sensed the power of Majestic and as his friends engaged him, he moved forward too. He just hoped that the gun wouldn't be out for too long! He charged in and laid into Majestic too.

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ooc: I'm assuming two attacks allowable?

Random number (1,20) : 6

Random number (1,20) : 13

Limerickcot wrote:Stormwarden

ooc: I'm assuming two attacks allowable?

Random number (1,20) : 8

Random number (1,20) : 19

[Bummer - don't know what roller you and Dave are using but keep to Invisible castle, these rolls are going to get us pasted otherwise - unless you have been using Invisible castle eek! ;-?]

Admin wrote:OOC there is a dice roller on this site, but I prefer Invisible castle - keeps things less cluttered (to my mind) but I don't mind if you guys roll in any case. Update today, on call so fingers crossed I won't be called into work and I can get some stuff done!

OOC: You mean to say, I don't get called in because I want to pummel challenge these spandex wearing do gooders hard working gamers and hand them their butts money's worth.

Sorry seemed to be some interferance with my message there

Sj

The Vanguard

OOC Apologies for the delay. Had a bit of game 'book keeping' to do, plus my son commandeered my computer (I could do stuff on the laptop but I was helping him out every 5 mins ) and, best of all, the wife scraped her car along the gatepost 'whilst avoiding your car' - which would have taken all of, oooh, 5 seconds to move. And she managed to get back on the drive just fine when coming back. *sigh*



OOC Couple of issues - Majestic is 20m away (map coming up by next post) Stormwarden can fly (15m/frame) but will still need 2 frames to reach swinging distance. Wanna revise his action?

Frostbites eyes glowed, and he levelled his arms at the chuckling Nazi. Even being virtually invulnerable, Majestic still grunted with the effort of shaking off the freezing cold! (OOC 1d20+6+3=19 to hit with 10 dice split 4HTK/ 6 HTC 4d6=15 HTK, 6d6=20 HTC. Dividers reduced, damage to Majestic reduced to 8 Htk, 5 Htc. Frostbite has used 10/15 Energy, 5 remaining and recharge in 5 rounds.)

Even so, he looked up, shaking the frost from his muscled form. "My body is hardened to survive the rigours of outer space. I spar with Adjutant himself! Do you truly believe you stand a chance against us little men?" he spat, knowing full well Stormwarden towered over him!

Darkshadow snarled "You scum sucking Nazi pig! We'll never give in against the likes of you! Where Evil seeks to snuff out light, Darkshadow will never give up the fight!" and he too blasted his dark energy at the Nazi! (OOC 1d20+3+6=18 Hit, 6d6=22 Htc, 4d6=15 Htk Darkshadow uses 10/22 energy, 12 remaining. Majestic takes 8 Htk, 5 Htc. He has taken 16 Htk and 10 Htc)

This time Majestic remains silent, standing there for a moment.

He sees the protoplasmic Putty hurl out two globular fists... and doesn't even bother moving aside (OOC Rolls of 1 and 8, Miss. The 1 brings up a Critical miss of 1d10=6 Wildly inaccurate. Targets Darkshadow (1-3) or Stormwarden (4) in line of fire... 1d4=4 Stormwarden, 2d6+18=28 Htc. Stormwarden is about to take 28Htc and be knocked forwards 2m. Response?) Dismayed, Putty sees his long arms shoot out - at odd angles, catching his team mate on the back of the head!

Lionheart, sensing his opponent isn't much impressed by what has gone on so far, speeds up to him, goading him. He'd already loaded up his martial arts program so felt sure he could move fast enough to get out of the way of any blows. Only problem was, he couldn't dodge forever!

OOC Stormwarden has 2 frames to act, also to see if he has a response to the ill timed swing of his new team mate Each square on the following map is 3m. To clarify:
Shrike (Nazi) in the air, struggling to control her flight at Q3
Majestic (Nazi) standing at S13
Frostbite at the edge of L12
Lionheart at K17 (moves to R14)
Darkshadow at M14
Putty at L13
Stormwarden at edge of M/N12
Nowhere Man inside concocting a plan





OOC So, just need revised action for Stormwarden. Once Stormy has moved I will update the stats for the Vanguard and put them in the combat tracking table, then get stuck in with the bad guys. Just remember: Stormwarden still had a tornado/Hurricane blowing out here. If you move away from him, you will get caught up in it, and without some form of agility/strength/wallcrawling/flight to counteract it, you will be blown over, no two ways about it. For instance...

Lionheart cried out the closer he got to Majestic. He was been blown every which way, and struggled - despite his superhuman speed and reflexes, to keep his footing. He ended up in a crouch near the Nazi who looked impassive, like a statue. He turned to stare down at Lionheart. "I've met a friend of yours." said the Nazi. "Saladin. I told him I would try to keep you alive so you could be tortured by him, but I don't often keep my promises."

OOC Hope I got all this right - took a couple of hours of on/off work, believe it or not

Stormwarden
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ooc: saved by the distance eh?

The revised plan for Stormy as he's too far away would be to fly up into the air, and come down onto Majestic from the rear AKA his first fights. Which will also bring him into contact for the next round hopefully. Stormy shouldn't have any issues with flight in this weather. He'd try and come up behind Majestic and be hidden by the rain thats driving into his face. I suspect that all of that would take up all required frames.