The NEW Vanguard! Haunt Issue #5

"Mr King? You're late. Is this a trend that we can expect to continue if you were chosen to be part of our cast?" asked the sniffy director as Haunt (in his civilian guise) stood in front of him.

It looked like things had been packed up for the day, and the place was shutting down. It was a push to get the security guard to let him in. He'd passed the Director on his way out, announcing that he was here for the audition, and had been caught up in an incident in London involving a superhuman fracas.

The Director sighed, rolling his eyes and affecting a uncaring air. "Discipline and timing sir! You should prepare for ALL eventualities and be adaptable!" He gave Rush a long, uncomfortable stare. "As it happens, we had another dropout, Alexander Harworth-Jones. It seems his agent    couldn't get him out of bed either. You have..." he glanced with exaggeration at his expensive watch "4 minutes sir. 'Wow' me, and remove from me the memory of this wasted day."

OOC Rush has a shot at impressing this jumped up effete snob. He has Artist (Actor) 7 and it's a bit of a tough call. Using dice alone or Hero Points to give a boost? If so how many - how important is it for Mr King to get another acting job...

I forgot, what's the job. A single episode on a TV show? Part in a movie? A commercial? OR a regular or semi-regular spot on a show?

Movie or semi/regular spot on a show is worth spending HP on. The others, not really. His wallet can survive a bit. If worth it, will spend enough HP to get a bump on his acting.

OOC It doesn't matter what the actual job is, but let's say it's a walk on part in a regular tv show that *might* lead to a bump in his status and finances were he to make an impression. I'll assume that's worth spending HP on.

Spend 4HP on AV and EV

Roll(2d10)+0: 10,2,+0 Total:12

Good enough!

HAUNT HP 244


Reading from the lines and pouring out his heart, the actor/hero looked up when done and saw the bored, nonchalant face of the director softened, his eyes moist, phone hanging limp at his sides, mouth agape.

"Wonderful... " he breathed. "Just... just wonderful!" Attempting to recover some of his composure he went on. "Of course, ah, we have other actors to see. And there are producers to satisfy, agents to negotiate with... Just..." a pause, then "Leave your schedule open next week. If it's up to me, you shall have more than just a walk on sir! Bravo! Just... bravo!"

Rush King breathed a sigh of relief as he walked from the theatre. Acting, his 'day job' gave him an anchor to normalcy when the rest of his life was like living in the most ridiculous Hollywood action movie. He's not have to worry about money if this job panned out. Well, for a month or so anyway. Rush waited in line for the bus, then climbed aboard, reading the theatrical press newspaper and circling other interesting sounding jobs. He'd have to follow up on the hard drive, and those other, freed, heroes needed checking up on. After all there was no way of telling what...

He looked up. Instincts honed from his short career as a superhero told him the bus was braking too sharply. Sure enough, the squeal of tyres followed and a telltale metal CRUNCH! The bus lurched forwards slightly and several people called out in alarm. It was pretty much full, mostly of work commuters and shoppers, and all were straining for a look out the windows. Rush couldn't see anything out the side, save for other traffic and the drivers of those vehicles straining to look forwards.

Then there was a loud BANG! and no one was left in any doubt that something was going on!

Slip out the door of the bus while it is stalled. Find a spot where he can change. Stretch to the nearby roof and get a rooftop look at what's going on.

If there is a place with a revolving door, that would be nice. Go in the door as Rush King, then halfway round, turn into the Haunt.

As people ran away from the commotion - and others ran towards it, mobile phones filming - Rush King moved through the ruckus to find a revolving door...

That of a hotel provided what the actor/hero needed. The doormen gaped, straining to see what was the problem. Somewhere, distant sirens began to wail...

Filling the section of the revolving door with white, then stepping out as the white garbed hero, Haunt stretched an arm to a nearby roof and pulled himself up like a shot!

Crouching on the roof ledge he looked down.

The traffic was stopped some way in front of the bus he'd been travelling on. A police motorcycle was lying in the road, its rider down as well. A mess of cars blocked the road having screeched to a halt or slammed into one another in an attempt to avoid the accident. If such it was.

Haunt thought otherwise. A black range rover with darkened windows was being stopped from driving away by a man in metal armour who held the back end off the floor. The front wheels spun and bucked as the four wheel drive system tried its best to break free of the mans grip. Another armoured man flew down to crash onto the floor. Their plain steel grey armoured suits looked primitive and clunky, but had jet packs on the back and what looked like wrist mounted blasters of some kind. The helmets concealed their features.

Another police motorcycle came on the scene, having turned around and headed back to where the Range Rover was. The officer stopped some distance short and pulled out a hand gun, shouting a challenge to the armoured men. They ignored it, he opened fire... to no avail. The bullets flattened against the suits and clattered on the floor.

Haunt heard what he thought were more jet packs roaring in the near distance, obscured by the buildings about. Suddenly one of the doors of the Range Rover flipped open and a suited man jumped out, shooting with a pistol at the armoured men. The one holding the car up with a hand levelled an arm to blast the fellow...

The scene was chaos. With so many bullets zipping about, someone was BOUND to be injured!

"Right," the Haunt thought to himself. "Either a new government sponsored group or some company's or rich person's attempt to create a "citizen's patrol" of armored folks. Or a new powered gang in town. No time to worry about it now. Got civilians to save!"

Leaping down from the roof, the Haunt quickly stretches himself in a ring around the combatants, using his pliable body to protect the people from the random shots and ricochets by keeping them outside the fight.

actions: Just to be sure, use his stretching defensively to add to absorbing physical damage as he basically creates a donut of his body with civilians outside and police and armored folks and goons in the car inside the circle of the donut.

Also as a calling card, create a small haze, not fog, with just a bit of fog hugging the street around his body. Since he is "otherworldly" he should have some kind of fog clinging to his body even when he isn't using his Fog as a power. Just cause it would look cool and maybe a bit scary.

The armoured men were surprised "HEY! WHO THE HELL IS THAT?"

Another shouted "NO ONE SAID ANYTHING ABOUT SUPER FREAKS!"

"STUFF THAT! JUST BLAST HIM!"

One of the police scrambled behind cover and called out on his radio near to where Haunts head stretched as he became a human barrier.

"This is Royal Protection Squad 03! The Prince is under attack, I repeat the Prince is under attack! Two armoured men, flying, bullet proof, have disabled the Princes' vehicle and are trying to abscond with him! Another ... metahuman is on the scene. He appears... to be protecting people from the gunfire..." said the Copper, shouting to be heard over the RATATATATA of gunfire!

With his ghostly haze about him, Haunt became a white wall separating the bad guys from the general public. This overturned Range Rover was inside as well though. Haunt noted a determined looking man climbing over the seats and pulling the unconscious driver up with him. If that was the Prince these men were after, Haunt felt sure that they would stop at nothing to gain their prize!

The two armoured men let rip at Haunts pliable body...

OOC 2d10 → [4,5] = (9) Hit
2d10 → [3,9] = (12)

Haunt couldn't do much else when he was using his body to soak up damage but the bullets zipped into him, hundreds of them, and didn't do much other than stretch out on the other side before recoiling and gathering in heaps on the floor!

"WHAT THE..." spluttered one of the armoured men. "Switch to flamethrower!" he said. The tip of his fingers suddenly immolated and he levelled an arm at the white hero!

Meanwhile Haunt saw three more heading inwards from the sky! Clearly they'd had a plan to disable the police escort, then between them carry the Ranger Rover off, Prince and all! They would be here in about 10 seconds!

OOC Which is actually over 2 rounds away... Haunt wins initiative. If he wants to keep protecting the public by stretching and absorbing bullets he can't make a dice (attack) action in the same round. If he wants to attack, he can attempt to hit both of these guys at the same time, but that generally makes things harder. When the others get there he can try to hit all five if he wants to... Over to you!

The stretching only affects physical damage if memory serves so it won't do anything for the flamethrowers.  Just have to rely on my limited invulnerability for that.  So the new plan, while stretched out, stretch an arm out and grab one of these guys and use him as a club to hit the other guy with him with.  Put HP into the grab.  Using him as a club is next round, I guess, but will put HP into hitting and damage when I do.

When the other guys land or get into their attack range, gonna hit all of them with the Fear blast.  That would be round three, I guess.

Haunt reforms his body to project a tendril like arm to snake out and grasp one of the armoured would be kidnappers...

OOC HP into the attack, 4 into attack, 3 into effect. That gives 13AV and 16EV. Should be a cinch to grab one of these guys...

2d10 → [9,7] = (16)

And that helps.

HAUNT 237HP

With a wince inducing crunch of metal and a muffled cry, Haunt snatched up one of the metal clad assailants and whipped him through the air...

Another armoured man came into Haunts view, with three now on the scene, albeit one being in Haunts grip. The other had been obscured behind the large shape of the Range Rover, clearly trying to help with the carrying away of the car and its valuable occupant. When Haunt grasped one of the armoured men up, their plans changed...

This gave pause to the others. One shouted "Roger! Quick, Kev, do something!"

'Kev' snarled "Stick to the plan. Think about the payday. Everything is set."

"Stuff that!" said the first. "He's my brother! I'm coming Rog!"

One of the armoured men clanked towards Haunt, then levelled a mini gun mounted from his back at the white garbed hero.

OOC 2d10 → [8,7] = (15)

Hit, Haunt takes 3 Damage and is on Body 8/11 unless you choose to absorb the damage with HP.

Turning slightly aside, Haunt feels the slugs ping from him. He notes that they are not metal this time, rather they seem to be plastic pellets, fired at a high enough velocity to punch through steel, brick and flesh, but leaving much less of a wound than a bullet would. Of course, they could still be fatal were they to strike a vital organ, but injuries to limbs would not be life threatening. It seemed these people had a choice of lethal or non lethal attacks, and had used both thus far.

"What are you doing? BURN HIM!" shouted 'Kev'.

OOC Flame Project attack 2d10 → [2,10] = (12)

Hit, 7 points of damage! This would put Haunt on 1/11 Body. I assume you want to absorb some of all of this.

This seemed far more limited in range than the projectile attack, and doubtless had a set number of charges, but it definitely had a stronger effect!

When the others turned up Haunt might well be in trouble! The other problem was all these cars and civilians running about - any stray shots would cause complications at best, catastrophe at worst!

OOC One more round and these guys get company. Haunt may need to change his plans. Also note the damage Haunt will take if he doesn't burn a load of HP to soak it up. You win initiative, over to you...

use HP to absorb the flame damage but take the bullet damage. Ok then, no more Mr. Nice Smash You With Your Buddy Guy! Hit 'em with the Fear Affect! Targeting just them.

"I am the Haunt," he intones in his spook voice, "Justice personified! Feel what awaits you soon!"

With a voice dripping menace and narrowed eyes glaring with fury, the Haunt unleashes his most effective weapon - preying on the mind of the criminals and turning their inner fears - amplified - on them!

HAUNT
Body 8/11
HP 230

OOC Attacks on three of the goons. This compares their Intelligence and Mind against Haunts power (9APs). The rolls:

2d10 → [6,10] = (16)
2d10 → [9,10] = (19)
2d10 → [7,9] = (16)

Boom! Holy smoke, aside from rolling doubles which would really be the icing on the cake, they are excellent rolls. You have Invisible Castle to thank for that.

All three of the armoured men stand and freeze in fear! Haunt feels their terror. Cooped up inside their armour, imagining they were out of air, being hunted in the dark or dangling from the lip of a doorway of a plane by fingertips, whatever their fear, these men with bathed in it, then slam dunked face down and held their, till their screams rang hoarse!

Haunt turned, fury still on his face under the mask. The incoming armoured would be kidnappers veered upwards and away, seemingly having heard the screams of their companions. They were heading separate directions. Distant sirens grew louder. The police would be on the scene too. Haunt had choices to make. Among them, he could go after the other assailants, see if the VIP in the car was ok, leave the scene before the cops arrive, or even question the armoured crooks.

Check the VIP and then question the armored guys, getting them out of their suits before the fear affect wears off and they try to get away.

"Th.. Thank you!" said the VIP, a suited man who looked like he belonged on the stock exchange rather than a battlefield!

Haunt noticed for the first time a chain on his wrist leading to a metal case. "I am Prince Conrad of Danovia" he said, glancing over Haunts shoulder at the armoured men.

"Sir! We should go, he could be one of..." said one of the royal protection officers.

Considering he was a foreigner, Prince Conrad spoke immaculate Eton english. "Quiet, Jones. This man saved me." He turned to Haunt "I have.. sensitive information pertaining to this countries defence and well being. I need to get to Buckingham Palace!"

Just then screams were heard down the street. Haunt looked up, and saw people running between the cars and and bolting for cover! What on earth was happening now?

He turned to the armoured men. He could question them and find out more about what was going on, but right now there was...

Haunt narrowed his eyes. A quarter of a mile distant, with traffic scattered about and people running screaming there was ... something that looked like a 15-20' high green slime! It sizzled and burned everything it touched with a corrosive touch!

Prince Conrad paled "They really want what I have..." he turned to his bodyguards. "We need to get to the palace, and have them turned out the Coldstream Guards!"

He paused, then continued "Not the ones in funny hats, the real guard. Superhuman soldiers, enhanced and empowered to protect the royals. They can contain the threat of super villainous attacks until the Army turns up!"

One of the bodyguards shook his head. "We're stuck sir. The traffic... I've called for a helicopter, but it will be five minutes..."

That slime will be here before then!

"Come with me, Prince," the Haunt says in his spooky voice. "I will get you safely to where you need to go and then will return to handle this monstrosity!"

The Haunt summons his Fog

[The Haunt is doing his best not to show how shaken he is to see a giant acid monster heading his way since he has that little pyscho problem about acids. So, no, he isn't running away at all!]


ooc: You ever see a picture of Batman's whirly batcopter? One-man copter with bat designs.

The Haunt shapes himself into such a one-man copter without the bat stuff. Grabs the prince in the Fog and takes off for the palace. The Fog won't keep up with him but will hide their escape until he gets out of range of it.

OOC Had forgotten about the acid thing. If it gets much closer chances are it will be an issue.

With billowing fog pumping forth from the cape the Haunt formed himself into a gyrocopter for the Prince to climb into.

He paused for a moment, unsure, and the bodyguards rushed forward to protest, but they in turn whirled to see the Green Slime project pseudopods that shot out like tendrils to land and splash nearby.

One of the bodyguards made a decision. "Prince! GO!"

The fog closed in all around, and Haunt the gyrocopter took off into the air, going up, up...

The prince, to his credit, didn't cry out, simply holding onto the case for all he was worth. Haunt turned for the palace and sped at his top speed!

Closing in, he saw three red and black blurs speeding through the air towards him! Slowing, they appeared to be Coldstream Guards as might be found guarding the palace, but the famous black hats were half covering their face as a kind of mask. The uniforms were more like armoured suits. They encircled Haunt in a pincer motion as he approached. Then he noticed another coming down from above!

Before Haunt could speak he risked a glimpse behind. The fog was where he'd left it but the slime had grown, and towered over the buildings nearby. Using stretched tentacle pods it had formed eyes on the end and looked about. When it saw the palace/Haunt in the distance it started to pull itself through the air by stretching and releasing its hold on the floor!

"ANNOUNCE YOUR INTENTIONS! YOU ARE ENTERING RESTRICTED AIRSPACE!" bellowed one of the guards in his best parade ground growl.

Prince Conrad looked back at the Slime. "It's fast. Closing in! We don't have time to chat to them!"

"I'm saving a prince's life and running from that," the Haunt-copter yelled back as he put on the speed and headed down towards the ground. Maybe he could lose it zipping down around street level and going through alleys and such and producing more fog to hide in.


ooc: Forgot how large an area the Fog can cover. Yards? Miles? Feet?

OOC Haunt has 7APs Fog. That has a range of 200 yards from Haunt, and a volume (in a sphere) up to 4000 cubic feet. Sounds a lot but once you break it down an example of size might be, say, 24ft x 24ft x 7ft. You can play about with the numbers but its not a huge area.

HAUNT

The Coldstream Guard faltered, looking past at the green mass. He appeared to go silent, but the other two took action. One gained height and levelled an arm at Haunt/The Prince and the other headed back towards the Palace. The leader approached Haunt. "You can't enter the palace grounds." he offered. "Off limits. There are protocols."

The tone was decisive, firm. "I've called for backup and Royal protection safeguards are being put in place. Facial recognition on the man you're with confirms he is Prince Conrad of Danroivia, but there are diplomatic rules in place that..."

"The Dragon stands proud with the Lion to protect the lamb" said Conrad.

The guard spluttered "What? I mean... I..." He appeared to hesitate, and the green slime behind Haunt was getting closer!

OOC Haunt doesn't have long. Get out of there, wait for the guard to do/say something or tackle the Green Slime?

move, get to the palace, dump the prince and head back to the monster. Any stores nearby? My high school chemistry is long past but I seem to recall baking soda is great for either neutralizing or absorbing various kinds of acids, so find boxes of the stuff to fight the acid monster with seems like a good idea to me.

OOC From what I can tell Baking Soda is a means to nullify some kinds of acid (for instance the acid in a car battery should it splash on something). The thing you face is a magnitude more powerful than a car battery, however, and you'll need tons of baking soda to made a dent!

Haunt flew on, soaring low to land in the palace grounds even as other flying armoured guards and conventional soldiers rushed out, weapons brandished and shouting for Haunt to surrender.

The Coldstream Guard who'd heard the phrase spoken swooped down "Get the Prince to safety! Code Omega 2!" The soldiers looked up, and seemingly forgot Haunt was there as they fell into a practised routine that saw them usher Conrad from view into the palace, whilst an alarm went off somewhere in the palace grounds. The windows were sealed with a near clear material that looked like bulletproof glass but was something more advanced.

"Wait!" shouted the guard. "What about you? Where are you going?"

Haunt flew up and away leaving the sight of the approaching Slime giant to answer the question of the guard.

He scoured the landscape and saw several potential sites for what he needed. Convenience stores in the suburbs of London, the odd larger supermarket, because space was at a premium. He wondered about DIY stores, then looked at the sheer size of the creature and noticed something.

It was getting bigger.

Everything it touched sizzled and was absorbed into its mass! Even the floor, being concrete or tarmac for the most part, wasn't immune though it took only inches off the top layer rather than eating right through like it did with thinner material such as steel, glass, plastic... and flesh.

Whoever, whatever had unleashed this monstrosity must REALLY want the Prince. What did he know, or do that was so important? Fortunately as the creature gained mass it burned more objects as it touched more, and that seemed to dilute the acidic process somewhat, as if the ability to burn everything was retained, but spread out more and thus less effective. When smaller, about human size, there must be little or nothing this thing couldn't simply melt through! Haunt shuddered to think about one of those hands would do to...

He blinked. What had...? Oh no! He'd suffered another flashback! The creature was now looming over the palace fences! It was so bloated its movements were ponderous now, and in its wake the path had been picked clean, with only the occasional tyre to mark the space where a car had been parked, and smouldering earth where plants and trees might have been! Buildings remain mostly intact down the street but the windows were missing, and the whole place stank like burning plastic! Haunt had only moments before the creature oozed towards the palace! Even as he considered his next action he saw a dozen of the armoured Coldstream Guards fly up and out of the Palace and towards the slime creature, blasting energy from wrist beams at it!

OOC Haunt has a few choices. Tossing a couple of cans of Baking soda at it might annoy it - if it notices. Something on a bigger scale might get its attention. Diluting it, or testing whether its flammable, or finding something a little more serious in terms of nullification. Visiting a chemical plant or laboratory but time is of the essence. He would have to break all his previous speed limits to find and get to such a place, then convince those inside to help him, then get back! Or he could simply duke it out with the thing, but given his past history that option would prbably be his last one, after having exhausted all others then pulled out his own finger and toe nails, and subjected himself to the discography of Justin Bieber on repeat for a week...

The Haunt was stumped. The only power he had that MIGHT work against the creature was his Aura of Fear and that was only if it had some kind of brain or independent will. He would give it a shot of Feat and see what happens, then pull up some more Fog around him as he hovered in the air near it.

next plan, as I doubt fear is going to work is dump lots of sand/salt on it. You guys have salt/sand trucks somewhere in London for clearing icy/snowy roads? If so, he will head for the nearest holding area for the department in charge of those kinds of things and scoop up what piles he can find using his stretching/shapechanging powers to make giant scoops with his hands and dump it on the creature.

Haunt tried his fear power on the approaching creature...

OOC 2d10 → [4,2] = (6)

As he'd 'feared' the creature seemed to ignore the emotion. Perhaps it was being remotely controlled by someone or something, or was incapable of understanding fear. After all, everything it touched sizzled and melted away, mostly, so why did it need to fear anything at all?

Haunt, in his guise as a manta ray type creature, flying through the air (I assume), soared through the air and looked down, scouring London for some kind of depot for the salt deliveries. Council buildings would be the best places, the kind of depots that had lots of trucks parked at them.

OOC Perception check... 2d10 → [6,6] = (12) Ah ha! Double plus 2d10 → [4,7] = (11) 23 Total.

Haunt saw something in the distance, amidst the crowded streets and suburban areas of the sprawling capital, but nearby the potential depot for salt supplies he saw something else. A Boc Gas Depot. Such places held industrial gas and chemical supplies for local industries, and they would have something, surely, that could put this thing on ice.

On ice.

Like liquid Nitrogen maybe?

He saw the thing getting closer to the palace gates. Tourists had by now ran screaming from the scene, and cars were now in danger as they swerved to get away from the massive green slime creature and caused multiple low speed pile ups! People began to spill out, running through the streets to be away from the thing!

Did Haunt have time to get to the salt supplies, or would he try his luck at the chemical depot? If he could gather just a few cannisters of nitrogen, maybe, just maybe, he be able to freeze enough of that thing to give it a reason to leave!

"Knew I should have paid more attention to chemistry," The Haunt grumbled to himself. "Oh well, let's see if they have some kind of liquid or frozen chemicals and see if that works."

"I'm going to have to get a communicator built into my cowl so I can get on the spot help for the my friendly neighborhood mad doctor as soon as possible," he mumbles as he swoops down to see what he can find to stop the acid monster.

actions: get down and grab some liquid anything gas, as many as he can find and then fly back to the creature and throw the things at it. The acid should "eat" the bottles so they will explode inside the creature.

Swooping down to the depot and looking about, Haunt was immediately challenged by an employee...

"Oy! What the ... what's your game!" shouted a burly looking chap as he huffed and puffed his way across the yard. Haunt looked up and down the place. metal racks held tubes and cylinders of varying sizes. Larger storage cylinders were kept behind lock and key and intended to fill the most commonly used gases, those for the likes of welding and so on.

Ignoring the fellows protests as he looked about, then narrowed his eyes.

OOC Intelligence check, he's smart so this isn't hard. 2d10 → [9,9] = (18) Boom. No need to roll the double save for checking double 1 doesn't come up. 2d10 → [8,1] = (9) It's all good.



"Oy! It's not blummin Halloween! I'm callin' the cops! Oy! I'm..." the man grabbed Haunts shoulder, pulled... and fell over backwards, having tried to move an immovable object. He looked up fearfully at the white clad hero and spluttered "Don't hurt me! I got a wife... and a dog!"

Handing this stuff would be tricky. Haunt wasn't sure whether it could hurt him, but if it leaked, anyone it touched would lose limbs or worse. Chances were this would do the trick against a liquid based creature, but the question mark over its acidic nature remained.

OOC Haunts call. He could ask the guy for a little, or take a hold of the whole (large) container and rip it up, crimping the metal pipe leaky bits and flying off with it. His call, but the guy on the floor is petrified. Might take a bit of persuasion to get him to help.

"What kind of dog," the Haunt asks a bit wonderingly. "Never mind. I need all this frozen nitrogen to fight a giant acid monster heading for the palace. I would suggest getting back as far as you can before I pull this out. There might be a few leaks and that would be ... bad!"


not sure but it looks like it is bolted to the ground. The Haunt can easily unbolt the big container and turn off any buttons and turn any knobs before trying to lift the thing up. Gonna take it all. Big Acid Monster! Acid BAAAADDDDDD!!!!!

With a metal shriek that drowns out the employees own as he runs off, Haunt tears up the large container, shredding pipes and stretching bolts beyond their snapping points as metal easily gives way to superhuman strength!

As luck would have it...

OOC 2d10 → [9,1] = (10) good enough. Low roll would have meant things got messy

The nitrogen froze the moisture in the air around the severed pipes and formed an icy hard crust to block them off. Not great, and a hard knock would shatter it, but hopefully enough to prevent Haunt being turned into a white Ice Lolly before he could deliver his frosty payload! He considered that the superhuman who he'd teamed up with on the odd occasion, Frostbite, would have been ideal to take on the acid monster.

Haunt soared over the rooftops, aware that the thing he held above his head could burst at any moment! He heard screams and gunshots up ahead, plus the distinctive sounds of laser fire going off, and the buildings thinned out until the approach to Buckingham Palace could be seen. By now the Acid creature was enormous, moving slowly because of its mass but inexorably heading towards the palace and ignoring the massed attacks of Police, Soldiers, Palace guards and the armoured guardians of the Royal Family. They refused to back off though, and the soldiers started tossing grenades.

Some vanished with a sizzle inside of the acidic mass, others exploded and rippled the thick gloopy mass. One created a hole about the size of a house in the creatures body, only for the gap to close in an instant!

This was getting desperate!

Haunt had only one shot at.... He heard an ominous crack above his head, and saw the metal container was splitting, and about to loose its contents - all over him! He was still over three hundred feet away. The time to decide was now - get closer or throw it, and hope it doesn't break up in mid air!

OOC your call!