The Vanguard! Issue #3 - The Vanguard, The long dead Queen, and the Holy Grail...

The Vanguard

OOC well, after a lovely weekend (weather wise) and completely dismal everything else (car show, football... ) am back. Getting up to speed.

No sooner had Frostbite barked out his orders and frozen the door itself then another large shard of door burst through, with several brown/red stained pair of hands grabbing at the thick wood to tear at it!

They stepped back from the hole, and the torches from the Vanguard shone through the hole...



The creatures that stood in the dark room were straight from nightmare! Long dormant, it seemed, they had sensed fresh meat to feed on, and renewed their ceaseless pounding on age old doors almost thick enough to stop a charging Rhino! The doors were more brittle, and crumbled under near superhuman strength as the long dead Nazis sensed food for the first time in decades!

Without air to work with (to generate various weather patterns) even the mighty Stormwarden would struggle to generate any weather effects - though there were pockets of it that hadn't leaked to the hard vacuum of space as yet. Still, he had other weapons - his powerful fists, fighting skills, and indomitable will to win!

The three P'utinarians nodded and headed back down the corridor as ordered - to the airlock and across the compound to find Nowhere Man.

Even as the Zombie Nazis seemed to pause - or perhaps gather their strength for one last lunge, a P'utinarian calmly answered Stormwardens' questions! "We can survive without sustenance for a similar time to that observed of humans - we are, despite appearances, carbon based and...."

CRASH!

The Zombies crashed against the now frozen wooden door! It held, but shards tumbled slowly to the ground in the near zero gravity!

Lionheart shook his head "If the Nazis are on their way here, perhaps the place was alarmed in some way, to prevent tampering? Should I zip on ahead whilst you deal with these?" He nipped close to the hole, ducked an outstretched hand, then looked back before moving away. "I see half a dozen in there. And some... remains. There were windows too. As if... as if they were watched like lab rats..."

With that the Zombies crashed against the door again, and despite Frostbites hardening of it, it gave more thoroughly this time! The first Nazi zombie began to emerge!

OOC you win initiative - these are zombies. You get ...1d10=7 all four frames gents. You only have one target in sight. And it's not a pretty one. These things can't be bargained with, reasoned with or communicated with. They are hungry, and you are on the menu! As a side note I know Zombie Nazis are a cliché but I've never used them in games I run, so it's a first for me!

PUTTY

With that the Zombies crashed against the door again, and despite Frostbites hardening of it, it gave more thoroughly this time! The first Nazi zombie began to emerge!

OOC you win initiative - these are zombies. You get ...1d10=7 all four frames gents. You only have one target in sight. And it's not a pretty one. These things can't be bargained with, reasoned with or communicated with. They are hungry, and you are on the menu! As a side note I know Zombie Nazis are a cliché but I've never used them in games I run, so it's a first for me![/quote]


ACTIONS - Stretch along the walls and hit the Nazi Zombie twice, holding the other frames to see the result.

"Let's see how hard these things are to kill," Putty says as he stretches along the wall and stretches out his mallet-sized fists to pummel at the zombie a couple of timess

FROSTBITE

OOC: Good to have you back Paul yeah know what you mean about the football.

Zombie Nazi's don't bother me, but it was clear from the set up where this was going. The only thing I've not been able to work out is if this is a whole dead end we're pursuing or, as I hope, there will be some tangible benefits to being altruistic in our attempts to help out the P'utanarians. My fear is this is a lost cause, especially since it would appear these guys are going to be HTK drain only and who knows how many are on the base.


IC:

Frostbite readied himself as he spoke up. "Stating the obvious here, but these things seem to have super human strength, if they tear our suits we could be in real trouble so lets try and keep space between us and them."

With that Frostbite launched a double frost attack from both hands, chilling the atmosphere around the Zombie. Dead or not, it still have a physical body and that could be stopped.

OOC:

Ok Paul don't know what refinements came through but this is the first outing since that discussion I am going to do my 'normal' attack - which would use up four frames, all HTK on lead zombie. 2d6=9 HTK, 2d6=8 HTK so 17HTK total.

Sj

Stormwarden

Stormwarden was as concerned as Frostbite about losing possible suit integrity but it looked as if this was going to be a pure slugfest for him.

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ooc. Unless there's something handy for him to chuck, he's just going to go hand to hand in this. If there's anything he can throw, he'll do it that way instead.



This dice is not existing.

+3

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

#1 'd20' :

#1 Result : 1

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#2 'd20' :

#2 Result : 9

The Vanguard

OOC ouch some rough rolls there Kendal. Dave - I know what you're getting at - ultimately, if you succeed, this timeline won't exist so everything you do here might be wasted, right? However, with the P'utinarians, and not just the ones on the Mothership - on your side, your chances of success go way up from what they are at the moment. So the Lunarium might not just power the Mothership, but every 'pod' ship scattered about London too, along with P'utinarians that have been hiding for years coming out of the woodwork! Well, it *might* happen that way... or not Depends on what you guys do - I don't know how it will play out! With regards your enhancements, we seem to have gone all quiet on that front - not sure if anything was decided for sure, but I *think* Frostbite wanted to enhance an existing power (Field Manipulation) to work in a frame rather than an Action, which I'm fine with, then wanted to enhance himself with Vigour, Strength or similar, but that would have to wait if you did the Field Manip thing. You could go with Field Manip and Weather Control being boosted (the Weather control more focussed on cold weather effects). I'll update the character sheet once we know something for sure. Kendal you want Stormwarden to get Tough Skin? It's overdue for him, in my opinion... if so, we'll have them kick in with this combat...

Putty stretched an arm, huge mallet like fist on the end swinging at the slow moving Zombie! It was clear to those gathered that the things were emaciated and possibly weakened as a result, but with fresh meat inside what was left of their bellies they would be a far more dangerous prospect!

OOC 1d20+4+9=15 Miss, 1d6-6+18=17, 1d20+4+9=24 Hit, 1d6-6+18=17 Htk. 1 miss, one hit. Did HTK damage - these things can't be knocked out, and you are essentially at war, so the rules about killing things being unheroic don't apply as such - especially as they are dead already.

The Zombie totters to the side as it stumbles into the corridor, but Puttys' second swing after the first scythes the corridor space above the Zombies' head slams downwards, buckling the things knees! It opens its mouth, but no sound comes out!

OOC Zombie taken 17Htk

Frostbite focuses his vision, eyes glowing white, same as his chest plate, then gestures at the Zombie. Instantly frost and ice form on the thing, and the outer layer of its skin in places simply slides off, revealing stringy rotten muscles and tendons underneath! Despite this it totters on unsteady legs and glares at the warm bloods! It is determined, if nothing else!

Stormwarden stepped up, towering over the long dead thing. With a vicious swing he slammed a ham like fist against the things head, then stumbled, losing his footing even as the Zombie crashed against the wall. Against a faster opponent he'd have been in trouble, and his curses himself for a novice until he sees the Zombie more or less fall to pieces after his first punch!

OOC 2d6+18=23,Critical miss 1d10=4, last attack not applicable. Zombie goes down with 23Htk from first blow meaning the Critical never really took place. Stormwarden has 3 frames remaining, Putty has 2 remaining, Frostbite has none - or see earlier - 2 frames remaining, depending on whether you upgrade Field Manipulation Dave.

The decomposing form, covered in ice, bones broken and stringy muscles torn and snapping, crashes in a heap.

It isn't 'dead', however. It is undead, and baleful hate filled eyes follow you in a head lolling at a nasty angle from a shattered spine! A hand flexes, but in truth the thing will always remain where it lies, for its broken shattered body, though a match for piercing weapons which for the most part pass through it, is not suited for the kind of crushing power the Vanguard hand out, nor the colder than deep space effects Frostbite can produce!

Lionheart gapes, mutters "Damn things still moving!" then he looks up. "More of them!"

As they shambled into the light cast by the groups torches, more Zombies were revealed. Some were dressed in soldiers uniforms, others wore the tatters of white (now a decidedly filthy shade of grey) gowns, some with rotted tatters of bandages on! What exactly had been going on here?



OOC Red dots= you guys. Blue dots = 7 remaining P'utinarians. Dirty yellow dots=Zombies - that your light has shed upon. No real scale for the map - these things move so slowly you're not going to have trouble moving around them, and assume, for arguments sake, they move at 2m per their frames, of which they have 2.

Lionheart is just about to leap into action, telekinetically enhanced strength acting as a triphammer, but instead says "Be a real shame if these things got down to Earth, more specifically in the heart of Nazi Germany or Nazi garrison. Saying that, maybe they'd multiply... perhaps a bad idea..."

He steps up to the closest (OOC 1/2 frame) delivers three swings (OOC 3 frames) then moves away (OOC 1/2 frame)

OOC 1d20+11=25 Hit, 1d6-6+16=15, 1d20+11=12 Miss, 1d6-6+16=12, 1d20+11=13 Miss, 1d6-6+16=16. Only 1 hit doing 15Htk.

With a curse Lionheart dusts off his fist. "I should have uploaded my Martial Arts program!" he mutters. (OOC I don't think he did so before or after leaving the ship, but he's still got surgeon loaded?)

The P'utinarians wait for the order to pile in, but they seem reluctant for some reason. Even Putty has a strange feeling of dread - is there something in the room not yet revealed?

OOC to remind you - Stormwarden has 3 frames remaining, Putty has 2 remaining, Frostbite has none - or see earlier - 2 frames remaining. The P'utinarians have 3 frames, and some of the powers Putty has, but not all (the leaders would have, but not common rank and file citizens). Over to you. Apologies for the delay in posting - been up a ladder most of the day getting the house painted before it rained, then put the little 'un to bed, had tea etc etc

Putty stretches out again and slams his huge spikey fists into two separate zombies.

actions - one attack of two zombies within view

Stormwarden

The doorway was nice in some ways, Stormwarden thought as he missed wildly with his punch as the zombie lurched unexpectedly. His fist went into thin air instead.

Stormy recovered and pulled back and braced himself to deliver another attack. That doorway was going to channel the Zombies. It should prevent them surround them or getting to the P'utinarians.

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ooc: 2 attacks
And thanks, yes, Tough Skin is the next choice for Stormy I think. We've still got a long way to go and with the fights we get into it might just keep him going a bit longer in future.

2 d20 rolls +3 follow:

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

#1 'd20' :

#1 Result : 2

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#2 'd20' :

#2 Result : 7

FROSTBITE

OOC:

Thanks for the heads up Paul, now we're into combat, my last post on the upgrades had several options depending on your agreement for approval here: https://darkeningshadows.darkbb.com/out-of-character-chat-f1/chat-about-the-game-t8-15.htm#434.

I would like Field Manip to become one frame, so that's my main upgrade and since the second thing was to have an increase to vigour or weather control, as a refinement I'll hold off on that. Besides which if I went for weather control in this atmosphere we already know it won't work. So lets say I've used two frames and have two left. And sort out the other upgrade/refinement when its due.

IC:

Surprised and disgusted in equal measures by what they faced, Frostbite didn't have time to react to that fact this his ability to control the cold, was suddenly more powerful. Frostbite shrugged, who knew what would be different in this time line and or in this in environment.

Right now this was a fight for survival and one in which that stakes had got so much higher.

Leaping into the air, [1 frame] he again concentrated on the lead zombie and focused on its legs seeking to immobilise the shambling monstrosity further.

OOC: So field Manipulation to the lead zombie for 2d6=4 HTK.

I'll make sure that height wise I'm high enough to see if I can also get a look into the room they're leaving from.

Sj

The Vanguard

OOC Will update the character sheets with the following - Frostbite upgrade Field Manipulation to Grade 2 - allows attack/frame rather than round and we can flesh out more details with regards area of effect, intricacy of effects and so on. Stormwarden gets much needed Tough Skin grade 1.

Putty stretched outwards again, launching two head size spiky clubs at the lead Zombie (OOC already injured by Lionheart).

OOC 1d20+4+9=22 Hit, 1d6-6+18=15 Htk, 1d20+4+9=18 Hit, 1d6-6+18=17 Htk. Both hit, total of 32 Htk added to 15 Htk, total 47 Htk on this zombie...

The massive strikes break chunks of rotted flesh from the Zombies frames, smashing bone and tendon to ribbons! There's no blood, but a brown dust sprays all over with every strike. Though downed, the Zombie continues to claw about, though with its spine broken in several places there's little or no threat from the vile thing!

Stormwarden, perhaps unnerved at the sight of the walking dead, surely an abomination to right thinking people everywhere - maybe even the Nazi led people - swings wide again, making a fist shaped dent in the metal panel of the corridor. Curiously enough, whilst he winced, he felt no pain at all, and pulled his fist back to take a look.

Not a mark.

With a shrug he stepped in, delivering a jarring kick just above the knee to another zombie...

OOC 2d6+18=26 Htk damage.

With a snap like breaking twigs a bone somewhere inside the things legs shatters, and it crashes back into one of it's fellows, dragging them down with it. The thing isn't finished yet though and despite its lack of speed comes on, relentless, towards those that would be its first sustenance in an age!

Frostbite hovered in the air of the corridor, then gestured at the Zombie that Stormwarden had felled, inflicting more damage on it. (OOC that Zombie has now taken 30Htk)

Lionheart frowned "They're no match for us, but they're too tough to take down in a couple of hits! If they get into the corridor they might wear us down!"

Just then his voice trailed off... "What in the name of...?"



Oozing into the light cast by the torches carried by the group, a snarling, oozing monstrosity, like and yet very much unlike Putty and the P'utinarians! What had the Nazis been doing here, and more importantly, what could the Vanguard do against this! It stretched to the high ceiling, but compressed, oozed, flowed and trickled towards the doorway and the prospect of fresh warm flesh!

OOC Stormwarden, 1 frame left by my reckoning (I could've counted it as movement but speed is not critical in the tight confines of the corridor against such slow opponents, though would be if you wanted to get some distance between you and this thing!). Then its the Zombies to act...

ooc: Stormwarden will hold the last frame

The Vanguard

The oozing monstrosity was a Cthulhu-esque thing from nightmare, all sucking, oozing vile stinking evil and bile, the product of the evil that Nazis were adept at. It oozed around the zombies, leaving them unharmed in its wake, and moved with surprising - though less than superhuman - speed towards the doorway!

Lionheart yelled "Watch it! We have no idea of what that thing does when it touches you!"



As he spoke great tendrils shot from the thing, one for each of the 11 strong party (OOC I put one too many blue dots on the last picture, by my reckoning. 15 strong P'utinarian presence, 5 went with Nowhere Man, 3 went back to find Nowhere Man and advise him of what was going on). The things developed mouths as they neared their targets!

OOC Here we go. Order: Frostbite, Stormwarden, Putty, Lionheart, P'utinarians. 1d20+2+6=17 Miss on Frostbite, 1d20+2+6=16 Miss on Stormwarden, 1d20+2+6=27 Hit on Putty - Response?, 1d20+2+6=28 Hit on Lionheart, Critical. He chooses to use a frame from next round to dodge. Rolled, 9 with bonus of +5, dodge successful. Lionheart has 3 frames next round. On the P'utinarians... 1d20+2+8=14 Miss, 1d20+2+8=25 Hit, 1d20+2+8=11 Miss, 1d20+2+8=25 Hit, 1d20+2+8=18 Hit, 1d20+2+8=12 Miss, 1d20+2+8=27 Hit. Those P'utinarians who are struck are taken somewhat by surprise...

As the pseudopods lance out in all directions, the main body continues to ooze slowly forwards, the tendrils seemingly having a mind of their own and snapping like snakes at the prey! They lash out at the P'utinarians. Some are aware enough to move out of the way, whilst others ... the tendrils bite down, hard, and something horrific happens!

The P'utinarians that are struck (OOC 4 of them) instantly shriek, thrash about, and go rigid, before a pulse shimmers down the length of the tendril! The P'utinarians with the jaws clamped on their form then go limp, and seem to deflate, like balloons gone flat! The tendrils pull away, gorged, and the main body of the creature pulses, swells and balloons, vile smelling blisters erupting and popping on its hide!

Fortunately for the Vanguard it now fills the doorway and is spilling out into the corridor - thus preventing the Zombies from moving out to attack!

The P'utinarians that remain are in shock - they stare aghast at friends, colleagues, loved ones... now nothing more than an empty membrane, victim of a thing from their worst nightmare!

The creature starts to squeeze and pulse, and the walls around the door frame cracks and splinter!

OOC Response from Putty, 1 frame for Stormy then initiative with this thing... 1d10=7 Heroes, 1d10=4 Bad guys 2 frames to the Vanguard

PUTTY

"What a monstrousity," Putty yells out in surprise as he attempts to dodge and then strike out at the monster.

actions - with his two remaining frames, he tries dodging and then striking back with fist.

The Vanguard

Putty sees the oncoming tendril, mouth champing like a machine, coming right for him! He tries to coil his way round it, having seen what the slightest touch did to his kinsmen!

OOC 1d6=4. Plus dodge mod (2) - Weapon Class (2) means glancing blow, damage halved... The creature has a special attack against its (once) fellow P'utinarians. Then again, Putty is no ordinary P'utinarian any more!

The tendril catches Putty on the side as it lunges past, though the damage is nowhere near as catastrophic as it was to his fellow P'utinarians!

OOC 3d6/2=6. 6 damage, halved from the glancing blow, reduced to 1 point from Puttys' Htk dividers. Putty is on 57/58 Htk

The creature recoils as it touches Putty, the tendril folding in on itself as it sizzles!

Putty is as surprised as the creature - from the merest touch four of their number had had the life sucked dry from them! And yet it seemed Putty himself was a living weapon against this undead mockery of his people!

With that in mind his fist forms into a large hammer, and he slams it down on the main body of the creature!

OOC 1d20+10=18, 1d6-6+18=17. Just scrapes a hit. The blow from Putty (only, perhaps because of some special property in him?) ignores dividers the same way the creature does on normal P'utinarians. And it doubles damage. 34 Htk delivered. The creature stands firm with wallcrawling, and its gelatinous mass soaks up the hit by oozing back.

Where Putty struck, the foul blue/grey skin chars and turns black, the smell of ash in the air! The creature howls, and turns its attentions to Putty - he can be sure this time the creature will try its utmost to destroy him!

OOC Stormwardens last frame from previous round (which should have taken place before Puttys, but I was here, so thought to resolve it *shrug*) then 2 frames from this round to resolve for Stormy and Frostbite, 1 for Lionheart. The P'utinarians get their two frames too, but attacks against this creature are lethal to them, seemingly!

Stormwarden

"Well now!" breathed Stormwarden. "I wonder?"

He knew that he could not call on the Dark powers, but he still had some power and perhaps he too could damage this. He strode in and swung.

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d20+3

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

'd20' :

Result : 18

The Vanguard

The mighty Master of Storms tm stepped up to tackle the huge creature. It seemed the bulging slime exuding thing would absorb all shock from any blows aimed at it, but Putty had clearly proven that was not the case! Luckily, thanks to the vacuum environment, the foul stench - which would surely cause retching and doubling over - could not transmit to the Vanguards' olfactory senses!

Stormwarden slammed a huge fist into the thing, using his Martial Arts prowess and aiming at a point where he thought the most damage might be done!

OOC 2d6+18=25 damage - a solid hit in any other case. In this one?

Whilst the floor shook with the impact, to Stormwarden it was like punching water! After the initial slap the creatures body rippled outwards, reforming to try and grasp the Vanguardians' arm! He was too fast for that though, and yanked it out of reach before the thing could have it's way!

Lionheart gasped "I felt that blow, and I'm stood three metres away! How come that thing barely acknowledged it, and yet Puttys' slightest touch was like poison?"

Frostbite (OOC temp run as NPC whilst Dave is away) shouted "We need to keep away from it - attack from a distance using energy attacks, projectiles, anything that can burn or freeze the thing! They must be sluggish from having lain dormant in the vacuum for so long - surely something that can burn them will be effective!"

Frostbite concentrated, his hands and eyes glowing. Even through the suits the others could feel the cold he emanated. "Let's try something new!"

OOC This is something I was going to offer Dave as an option for Frostbite - energy points for his Field Manipulation Grade 2. It will make it slightly weaker than it is (damage wise) but more versatile by far. I'll wait till he comes back for the call on yay/nay but for now I'm using it as : 15 points over 5 rounds. 1 point buys 2d6/action damage, 3 points buys 2d6/frame damage. Various effects for certain point expenditure. It'll need the math working out so it's not rubbish or overpowered, but for now...

Frostbite gestured, then thrust his chest out, arms back, as a beam of pure cold shot from his chest! The creature screamed as the flesh the beam struck froze instantly into a rock hard lump, and more or less froze the creature completely in the doorway! The ice glistened like diamonds, and through the thick sheath the team could see other layers pulsing and bulging. There was a terrific tearing and sucking sound, and even the vacuum couldn't stifle the roar of pain as the creature tore half it's body away!

Across the doorway a frozen barrier, more than a foot thick, of ice and the creatures' flesh!

Frostbite gasped, hands on knees. "I can't do that too often!" he muttered.

The P'utinarians spoke up "We must leave! That... that horror can wipe us out with a touch! Imagine the terror our people must have felt when the Nazis unleashed it on them!?!"

OOC 2 frames for Stormwarden then the creatures actions. The P'utinarians are already starting to slither away down the corridor - they want nothing to do with the thing! Lionheart saves his frame.

Stormwarden.

Now there was a sliver of a chance. Within the ice bound behemoth in front of him was now the germs of something he might be able to deal with. He drew on what little heat there was, the very dust in the air and the now steaming ice pile in front. With the temperature difference he could enhance, he should be able to form a discharge of some sort. He concentrated hard, remembering how he had done it, oh so many eons ago it seemed like.

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ooc
With the extra mass in there, Stormwarden will try to summon an electrical discharge straight into the creature. It can't approach what he did in London, but he should be able to do something in here, especially now.

Admin wrote:OOC normally I'd agree but Stormy is a fish out of water in an airless environment. You probably know better than I do how 'weather works' but my understanding is that storms are born when air rubs together to make electrical discharge? And without moisture (save the frozen sort that Frostbite can knock up, and even he's limited in space - no water means no much opportunity to make ice) no rain etc.I think that's why we were talking about the energy attack as an upgrade/addition form Stormwarden with regards his powers - then he can pop out an electrical blast when he likes, rather than having to churn up the weather first... With Grade 3 Weather control he'd probably have a field day on some of the planets in the solar system mind - I think Jupiter is one big storm isn't it? So... he could try it... but it wouldn't work - unless there's some big glaring physics explanation I'm missing. Heh. Physics. Superhero games. As if However, a little creative thinking... he could punch the ice wall to make a shower of deadly razor sharp shards that fly into the thing, or maybe reach out to find some air or moisture still lurking in the pipes and have it all gather in the room where the creature is - though that might take a little time to gather. Over to you.

OK then - drop the idea.

He'd be more likely to want to rip up the frozen bit & door and throw it at the creature.

The Vanguard

Stormwarden flexes his muscles, lines up his biggest punch, and slams it into the ice wall!

The shards explode inwards with razor sharp, devastating force! They rip like razors into anything and everything given the perfect circumstances - enclosed room, enemy right behind the wall, superhuman punching a perfect ice wall that shatters into thousands of diamond sharp fragments flying at hundreds of miles an hour...

OOC No roll to hit with regards this one - the wall shatters and anything in the room is hammered by ice shards!

The creature convulses, reforms and tries to absorb the blows, but individual blows numbering in the hundreds prove too much to withstand and it sags back, ichor spilling from myriad wounds!

For the moment, at least, it is immobile, but given it's nature, the thing may well reform. The zombies, on the other hand, if not protected by the bulk of the creature with them, stagger forwards, lacking limbs, balance, any semblance of coordination lost as limbs dangle from tendons and the things shamble forwards. Others will not rise again.

The Vanguard have bought time. Whilst the thing tries to reform, and the zombies struggle to make their way through the creatures reforming mass, the heroes know they have time to outrun it, seal it up in the room, somehow kill it, or even, perhaps, use it as a weapon against the Nazis...

OOC For now - and I'm talking a round or two at best before this thing reforms - combat is over. Actions?

PUTTY

"I think I may be able to take this thing down," Putty tells the others. "But you would have to stop the other zombies. Or do we run and have them follow us? Hoping that they get lost on the way?"

The Vanguard

OOC been up to my eyeballs all weekend (working both days ) apologies for the delay.

Lionheart turned to Putty after looking at Stormwarden and Frostbite "Wow! You guys... I mean... I gather you aren't as powerful as you normally are and all, what with that thing you have with the time effect, but... are you sure you don't have a little extra punch in ... uh oh."

The Zombies, having been flattened by the retreating creature before it collapsed into a giant rotting puddle, rose, making their way to the doorway whilst wading through knee deep sludge, which, even as the Vanguard watched, began to ooze back together!

Frostbite (OOC still run as NPC) turned to Putty "Lionheart might be right, but all we've done is delay it! If you can put it down, we can keep the Zombies off, right guys? Hey... where are the P'utinarians?"

Even as the Zombies shambled close the heroes looked about. The other P'utinarians were nowhere to be seen! Lionheart looked back. "Best take care of these first!"

OOC initiative goes with you guys over the zombies - whether you get enough frames is the question though: 1d10=9. Answer? Yes. 4 Frames. Lionheart will zip in, deliver two punches to a zombie, then zip out again, shaking the dead gunk from his legs... 1d20+2+9=21 Hit, 1d6-6+16=11 Htk, 1d20+2+9=30 Hit, 1d6-6+16=12 Htk. Two solid hits, but the zombie keeps coming! It's taken 23Htk, and there are four more with it, five in sight at the moment, maybe more lurking! 4 frames... over to you.

Stormwarden

Stormy waded into to get at the Zombies, relying on Putty to put down the 'blob'. "OK, batting times here." He struck twice, one fist after another. But the Zombies were no slouch themselves, his first shot swinging wide as the Zombie moved to the side - just to find another fist crashing into it.

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the real nice thing about invisible castle is that at least I know when the dice have screwed up! Its truly amazing how many sites I can't access from work now. If the word G.A.M.?.E doesn't turn up too often then this site won't get blocked.

1d20+3=4, 1d20+3=21