THE NEW VANGUARD! HAUNT Issue #11 with Special Guest Star Steeplejack!

DavidMcMahon wrote:
OOC Initiative...

THE NEW VANGUARD! HAUNT Issue #11 with Special Guest Star Steeplejack! - Page 10 Haunt-steep-next-round

Attack one each? Bothering to put anything into defence? Crit Blow? Devastating Attack?


================================

Team Attack worked so well last round, I would like to do it again.  If Steeplejack is up for it, then Haunt will use exact same attack as last round on both of them.

Seeing the effectiveness of working together, and their test time in combat given them an edge in knowing what the other was thinking without having to say it. Steeplejack nodded at the slight inclination of his friend's head as they then both attacked as one.

OOC: Team attack 4/1 attack, No dev this round just see how mods stack up first.

Sj

STEEPLEJACK and HAUNT

Steeplejack waits a heartbeat then attacks at the same time as Haunt!

OOC AV13 + 4D M Arts (1D acro) + Roll(6d12)+0: 4,3,11,1,8,10,+0 Total:21 (34) vs
OV8 - team attack 2 + diff 3 + 2D acro (3D weaponry) + Roll(4d12)+0: 9,2,10,6,+0 Total:19 (28)
+3 (to 14) vs RV12 + Diff 3 (RV15)=No damage

Landing a blow Steeplejack winces as his hand cricks a little and inflicts no damage on the mutons!

Haunt wallops the pair of Aliens with mighty mallets and hopes to finish the battle!

OOC Multi Attack Team Attack Crit Blow Haunt AV10 + 3D Weaponry +Roll(5d12)+0: 5,6,12,10,6,+0 Total:12 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 9,1,+0 Total:22 (32) vs
OV8 - team attack 2 + diff 3 + multi 2 + crit Blow 4 + 2D acro (3D weaponry) + Roll(4d12)+0: 7,2,8,5,+0 Total:15 (30)
+2 (to 17) vs RV12 + multi 2 + diff 3 - crit blow 6 (RV11)=6 RAPs each. Both Mutons on 6/12 Body.

The mutons are injured but fire at their targets!

OOC On Steeplejack ... AV8 + 3D Weaponry + Roll(5d12)+0: 12,7,8,3,9,+0 Total:21 (29) vs
OV13 + 1D acro - Diff 3 + Roll(3d12)+0: 7,9,11,+0 Total:20 (30) attack missed

Evading the blast (just) Steeplejack hopes to have more success with his next attack against the injured Mutons.

OOC on Haunt... AV8 + 3D weaponry + Roll(5d12)+0: 1,6,3,10,4,+0 Total:16 (24) vs
OV10 + 3D Acro - Diff 3 + Roll(5d12)+0: 8,4,5,10,10,+0 Total:20 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 12,11,+0 Total:43 (50) Attack Missed

Haunt EASILY evades the blast and is confident of finishing off his foes!

OOC initiative...



Ok Haunt is obviously the more powerful fighter, so my suggestion would be for Steeplejack to go all out on attack with a crit blow or devastating attack and no dice on defence... because he has his force shield to protect him. The Difficulty level makes it hard for him to injure the Mutons who are naturally tougher than Steeplejack can usually injure (they have 12 Resistance Value vs Steeplejacks 11 Effect value so he needs a decent roll or crit blow/dev attack to hurt these guys when they have +3 Difficulty on top)

The Haunt continues to do the same as the last few times with his attacks.

ooc;  Kind of interesting to be the more powerful fighter here while over on the Lionheart/Miss Victory storyline, my character is the weaker one.

Admin wrote:Ok Haunt is obviously the more powerful fighter, so my suggestion would be for Steeplejack to go all out on attack with a crit blow or devastating attack and no dice on defence... because he has his force shield to protect him. The Difficulty level makes it hard for him to injure the Mutons who are naturally tougher than Steeplejack can usually injure (they have 12 Resistance Value vs Steeplejacks 11 Effect value so he needs a decent roll or crit blow/dev attack to hurt these guys when they have +3 Difficulty on top)[/i][/color]

Seeing that despite connecting he was making little headway with the creatures, Steeplejack redoubled his efforts and struck harder with all he had.

OOC: OK all in 5 die to attack and make it Devastating to try and breakthrough and do some intended harm.

Sj

Admin wrote:OOC With regards the power disparity between Haunt/Steeplejack, that was intentional - Steeplejack is not a street level hero but has his roots in Golden Heroes and was street level there. Over time he will have improved his abilities and the like but the points cost/build for the character was intended to make it so that he had improved over time and after a hiatus he could run with the 'big boys'. Haunt is a Class 3 (high)/Class 4 (low) level hero and I need to come up with a wider range to describe the power level of superhumans for the British Government. So many of the Vanguard and the independents now fall into Class four it has a range in and of itself! Easiest way to classify is by the number of points used to initially create the character but over time we have seen power levels increase. Lionheart for example can muster stats at almost 30APs which in the DC Universe would place him amongst the biggest of hitters in post crisis terms. I have no doubts he and Miss Victory could give Superman a very hard time and only a stash of HP would save the Man of Steel for long. My money would be on those two over the last son of krypton.

That is a different universe however and it also reminds me that I need to update the Who's Who. It will get a new '5 year anniversary' edition and I will scour my notes/previous issues to include as many characters as I can. The Ultrahumans are playing a much, much larger part in ouor gaming universe for example.

I guess a better system would be to add in the best attack and best defense a character has and maybe average them and come up with a rating from that? 

Some heroes, I'm thinking Lightning Bullet here, have a lot of powers and skills but are not really heavy hitters.  While others have fewer powers and skills and do more damage.  So it is a matter of versatility versus sheer power and just straight Hero Points wouldn't demonstrate that.  If it is a government ratings system, I think that they would go for damage able to be done and absorbed rather than versatility of the hero or villain.

And, evil thought, I can't wait for one or more us to time hop into the future and run into our universe's version of the LSH.  

OOC That's a fair measure. Maybe Class 1 is average of attack/defence/damage/resistance from 3-6, Class 2 from 7-11, Class 3 12-16 etc. Requires some thought. A Magic Blast for example of some 11 APs might 'only' be Class 2 but they can affect characters much more powerful as many characters have lower mystical statistics.

Steeplejack redoubled his efforts and smashed out at the Muton!

OOC AV13 + 5D M Arts + Roll(7d12)+0: 11,1,3,10,11,11,11,+0 Total:22 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 9,6,+0 Total:37 (50) vs
OV8 + Team Attack 2 + Diff 3 + 1D Acro (4D Weaponry) + Dev Att 8 + Roll(3d12)+0: 1,6,12,+0 Total:18 (35)
+5 (16) vs RV12 + Diff 3 - Dev Att 12 (RV3)=13 RAPs. Muton is DOWN and OUT!

Seeing his friend successful Haunt grins behind his full face mask and hammers away with giant hand mallets!

OOC AV10 + 3D Weaponry (3D Acro) + Roll(5d12)+0: 9,12,2,3,1,+0 Total:21 (31) vs
OV8 + 1D acro (4d weaponry) + diff 3 + crit blow 4 + Roll(3d12)+0: 9,1,1,+0 Total:10 (25)
+3 (16) vs RV12 + diff 3 - Crit Blow 6 (RV9)=7 RAPs. Final Muton is DOWN and OUT! the fight is over!

The Muton falls and the Heroes stand in the warehouse. All was quiet now, the aliens dropped and the Heroes triumphant. There were still civilians with those wire mesh skullcaps on. The boxes of part assembled AK47s and those all packed up ready to ship to who knows where.

Grab time stones very first thing Haunt is going to do and get these things out of this time period.  Then use Theif and Detective abilities to find clues, though I figure Steeplejack may have that handled by the time the Haunt "vanishes" their foes by getting the time stones out of "reach" and they disappear.

Hmm ... weird thought but is his stretching power long enough that he could just stretch his arms straight into the air and out of range for them to stay here?  If it is, stretch up through any hole or skylight that there might be.  Otherwise, fly up and stretch.

DavidMcMahon wrote:Grab time stones very first thing Haunt is going to do and get these things out of this time period.  Then use Theif and Detective abilities to find clues, though I figure Steeplejack may have that handled by the time the Haunt "vanishes" their foes by getting the time stones out of "reach" and they disappear.

Hmm ... weird thought but is his stretching power long enough that he could just stretch his arms straight into the air and out of range for them to stay here?  If it is, stretch up through any hole or skylight that there might be.  Otherwise, fly up and stretch.

Whilst Haunt attended to the grim duty of removing the anchor, the time stones that permitted the Advent aliens to remain in this time period. Steeplejack checked the people to see if there was anything that could be done for them. Then the munitions and the warehouse for clues. Last time he was here he was seriously outnumbered and outmatched. Having Haunt along with him certainly evened up the odds in their favour. Though his powers were incredible versatile his stretching ability alone, had come in handy more than once. Something he'd not seen even with that old villain, he'd once encountered, Tactile or as Steeplejack like to call him, Plastic Pete as it always wound him up. Still, he was glad the adventures that they'd got themselves into, adventures that had brought him out of some sort of retirement, where somewhat beyond what he'd ever faced before.

SJ

Haunt stretched his arms with the time stone fragments (and they were tiny) and watched the prone aliens... fade from view!

Whatever science, magic, amalgam of the two allowed them to travel through time and remain here was tied specifically to the alien and to the fragment of the time stone. Separated, there was nothing to stop the natural order of time and space from ejecting the aliens and sending them back to the 21st century.

Something else happened. As Haunt and Steeplejack looked for clues around the place they saw the civilians start to stir. One woman groaned, then reached onto her head and took the wireframe head cage off, seemingly without any ill effects! She seemed none the worse for wear but very confused, looking about then seeming startled! The people seemed to have no idea how they got here or what they were doing and it appeared that while they were mind controlled they retained no idea of what they were doing.

Haunt was a startling white dressed man with stretchy arms so Steeplejack in his muddied, stinking, soiled tuxedo was about as 'normal' an appearance as the pair could manage.

He helped people to their feet and found the language barrier to be a problem but at least the people would recover.

There remained the problem of the weapons and who they'd been delivered to but the racks and boxes of the prepared AK47s were easily dealt with by either hero and their superhuman strength!

OOC Depends on how much you want to chase this up. The boxes had been dumped in the sewer channel that lead to the river and picked up by... someone. Without ammunition (the heroes have shut that down) they would be useless unless someone was resourceful enough to modify machines to create the appropriate shells. Without the weapons the ammo is useless and vice versa. The mystery of who they were going to remains to be solved, but it depends on how far you want to follow that breadcrumb trail...

Admin wrote:OOC Depends on how much you want to chase this up. The boxes had been dumped in the sewer channel that lead to the river and picked up by... someone. Without ammunition (the heroes have shut that down) they would be useless unless someone was resourceful enough to modify machines to create the appropriate shells. Without the weapons, the ammo is useless and vice versa. The mystery of who they were going to remains to be solved, but it depends on how far you want to follow that breadcrumb trail...

With the people freed Steeplejack was aware that the weapons were out in the wild and that with people like Moriarty and his co shorts at large the opportunity to reverse engineer shells or vice versa was a real possibility with the tec to work from. However, they were still after the grail, and the longer that slipped away the greater the risk to England.

Turning to Haunt, Steeplejack outlined his concerns and asked his friend what he felt they ought to do, grail or guns?

Sj

"IF we can track down the guns tonight, I say we do it, but if it takes longer than that, then ... Grail comes first," the Haunt replied after thinking it over. "One thing we can try, I can shape myself to look like one of these packages and drift down the river and see who fishes me out. With luck, it will be who we are looking for. If not ... just hope for the best I guess."

DavidMcMahon wrote:"IF we can track down the guns tonight, I say we do it, but if it takes longer than that, then ... Grail comes first," the Haunt replied after thinking it over.  "One thing we can try, I can shape myself to look like one of these packages and drift down the river and see who fishes me out.  With luck, it will be who we are looking for.  If not ... just hope for the best I guess."

Steeplejack nodded, it seemed like they had a plan. If he followed on till they got to the open water, perhaps floating on Haunt then slipped away when they got closer, it might afford them the chance to get close and personal to those who were receiving the weapons.

Sj

So the Haunt will shapeshift himself in one of the packages and start drifting from where they were originally dropped into the water/sewer and sees what happens.

Already stinking from a dousing in sewer water Haunt plunged once more into the depths with Steeplejack swimming some way behind after the pair had led the confused civilians back to the surface.

After what seemed like an age the shape changing here burst into the River Seine and started to float away from the capital.

With time ticking on Steeplejack watched from the riverside, staying practically invisible with what amounted to the worlds greatest thieving skills in his repertoire.

Keeping his eyes peeled Haunt saw movement up ahead near a bridge. A horse and cart and half a dozen people moving about, some stripped to the waist to get into the water and fish the crates out.

They wore dark clothing but appeared human.

Steeplejack watched from the bank in the cover of trees and saw more of the people moving about. He counted. Another two wagons parked in cover of the trees and more people sat about in groups around fires, some keeping watch and others checking the contents of the crates.

Haunt heard voices from where he floated. He wasn't sure on the language but it sounded like Russian...

The Haunt is going to allow them to fish him out of the river and then hit the ones he can see with Aura of Fear.

DavidMcMahon wrote:The Haunt is going to allow them to fish him out of the river and then hit the ones he can see with Aura of Fear.

Meanwhile, Steeplejack used the available cover to get as close as he could, even moving earth silently if possible to create spaces for him to duck into where there was no tree's one builds or street furniture to hide behind.

Sj

As the smugglers/spies lean in to gather the 'crate' from the river Haunt burst from his polymorphed form and spread his cape out to present his aura of fear to all involved (except Steeplejack)

OOC Aura of fear 10 + Roll(2d12)+0: 11,8,+0 Total:19 (29) vs
OV2 + Diff 3 +
Roll(2d12)+0: 7,6,+0 Total:13 (18) +5 (15) vs RV5=10RAPs
Roll(2d12)+0: 5,8,+0 Total:13 (18) +5 (15) vs RV5=10RAPs
Roll(2d12)+0: 12,5,+0 Total:17 (22) +4 (14) vs RV5=9RAPs
Roll(2d12)+0:3,7,+0 Total:10 (15) +5 (15) vs RV5=10RAPs
Roll(2d12)+0: 2,10,+0 Total:12 (17) +5 (15) vs RV5=10RAPs
Roll(2d12)+0: 8,5,+0 Total:13 (18) +5 (15) vs RV5=10RAPs
Roll(2d12)+0: 7,1,+0 Total:8 (13) +5 (15) vs RV5=10RAPs
Roll(2d12)+0: 11,2,+0 Total:13 (18) +5 (15) vs RV5=10RAPs
Roll(2d12)+0: 4,3,+0 Total:7 (12) +5 (15) vs RV5=10RAPs
Roll(2d12)+0: 5,10,+0 Total:15 (20) +4 (14) vs RV5=9RAPs

All that gobbledigook boils down to the Spies instantly crashing to the floor in fetal positions and curling up, immobile.

Two of them, however...

Roll(2d12)+0: 6,11,+0 Total:17 + OV5 + Diff3 (25) +3 (to 13) vs RV9 + Diff 3 (12)=1 RAP One of the Spies runs away...
Roll(2d12)+0: 11,10,+0 Total:21 + OV5 + Diff 3 (29) +0 (10) vs RV9 +Diff 3 (12)= Failed...

And another...

One of the 'Spies' suddenly starts, bucks, twists and morphs into... a Faceless!

Steeplejack isn't surprised...

OOC Danger Sense 10 + Roll(2d12)+0: 2,11,+0 Total:13 (23) vs
OV4 + Diff 3 + Roll(2d12)+0: 3,5,+0 Total:8 (15)
+4 (14) vs RV4 + Diff3 (RV7)=7 RAPs He detects danger but never got quite enough information to say in what form or where from... (needed 8RAPs)

He sees the Faceless tower over his friend!

OOC Steeplejack is up. He wins initiative over the Faceless who is going to get a free swipe at Haunt (though acrobatics will help)

Admin wrote:He sees the Faceless tower over his friend!

OOC Steeplejack is up. He wins initiative over the Faceless who is going to get a free swipe at Haunt (though acrobatics will help)

Needing no cue to know this is his shot, Steeplejack launches into the offensive, striking he hoped undetected against the monstrosity.

OOC: OK go for Critical attack all dice in to attack

Sj

Steeplejack leaps over to face off against the eight foot high grotesque creature that looked like a giant melting candle and was awful to behold!

OOC CRIT BLOW AV13 + 5D M Arts (0D Acro) + Roll(7d12)+0: 4,9,9,1,5,3,11,+0 Total:18 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 5,10,+0 Total:33 (46) vs
OV8 + Diff 3 + Roll(2d12)+0: 1,7,+0 Total:8 (19)
+7 (to 18) vs RV12 + Diff 3 - Crit Blow 6 (RV9)=9RAPs. The Faceless is dropped to Body 3/12

Despite delivering a jarring blow to the face of the creature with an overhead kick Steeplejack cannot put the creature down!

It replies with a scything slash at the hero!

OOC CRIT BLOW AV8 + 3D M arts + diff 3 + Roll(5d12)+0: 6,8,10,8,2,+0 Total:16 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 6,5,+0 Total:27 (38) vs
OV13 + Crit Blow 4 + Roll(2d12)+0: 8,1,+0 Total:9 (26)
+5 (to 20 + diff 3 so EV23) vs RV20=3 RAPs. Steeplejack is on 6/9 Body

The Faceless slashes at Steeplejack who leaves himself open after that all out attack on the creature!

OOC Initiative...



Steep, Haunt then the Faceless

Stretchy mallet hands, if needed, on Faceless One. If not, then multi attack with it on the downed foes to make sure that they stay down for more than a few seconds.

Admin wrote:Steeplejack leaps over to face off against the eight foot high grotesque creature that looked like a giant melting candle and was awful to behold!

Steep, Haunt then the Faceless[/i][/color]

Steeplejack felt that blow and chided himself for leaving open his attack. But seeing that he had hurt the creature he rallied his efforts and pressed the attack.

OOC: OK 3/2 on martial arts and going for Crit again.

Sj

Steeplejack got stuck into the Faceless one more time, hoping to take the creature down!

OOC CRIT BLOW AV13 + 3D M Arts (2D Acro) + Roll(5d12)+0: 6,6,11,12,2,+0 Total:12 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 12,4,+0 Total:28 (41) vs
OV8 + Crit Blow 4 + diff 3 + Roll(2d12)+0: 3,11,+0 Total:14 (29)
+5 (to 16) vs RV12 - 6 Crit Blow + diff 3 (RV9)=7 RAPs. The Faceless is DOWN and OUT!

Steeplejack delivers punches again and again to the creature, sending it to the floor as a puddle of goo! He stands back, shaking the goo from his fists. Haunt finishes the job off by smacking the terrified smugglers into unconsciousness. There is still a Faceless out there... who turns and starts running back to the battle!

Haunt steps up and delivers a devastating attack to the remaining Faceless (who'd run away as a smuggler and reverted to its normal form on the way back)...

OOC DEV ATTACK AV10 + 6D Weaponry + Roll(8d12)+0: 12,6,10,5,7,4,4,7,+0 Total:14 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 6,12,+0 Total:32 (42) vs
OV8 + Dev Att 8 + diff 3 + Roll(2d12)+0: 7,3,+0 Total:10 (29)
+5 (to 20) vs RV12 - Dev Att 12 + Diff 3 (RV3)=17 RAPs. Remaining Faceless is DOWN and OUT!

THHHHHHWAAAACCCCCKKKKKK!!!! With a single blow the remaining Faceless crashes to the ground as a puddle!

The battleground is suddenly quiet as the smugglers cower in terror, the Faceless are both down and the weapons are in crates loaded up or about to be loaded up into two horse drawn carts.

"I'll get the time stones if you want to question our "friends" Steeplejack," the Haunt suggests. "Find out if this is the first shipment and where they were taking them. You know, the usual."

Gathering the fragments of time stones and stretching an arm to only a hundred feet or so saw the two faceless piles of goop vanish!

Steeplejack roused some of the captives, leaning on them. Hardly a word of English they knew between them and they were terrified to boot! It was clear they were Russian and Steeplejack knew that someone somewhere had concocted a plot to arm Russians with AK47s decades before the weapons had been invented. It would completely change the face of warfare and without any thought to the timeline.

ADVENT had a lot to answer for.

OOC Wrap up from you guys then it's HP awards and next issue with the League of Extraordinary Individuals pursuing Moriarty and his compatriots across the world to retrieve the Holy Grail before the powers of darkness overwhelm Britain!