Kid Kinetic and the Space Knights! Issue #2 "Ummm where are we?"

"In that case, I will take my dinner to go. With an emphasis on the GO." Kid Kinetic scooped up some dead insects and broke out at a sprint for the safety of the canopy.

The other two needed no prompting and scooped up armfuls of dead insects, as much as they could easily carry anyway.

Without his super speed Kid Kinetic seemed to be moving through treacle, but things had changed in so many other ways... Hie strength was... boundless, his reactions so fast that anything he reacted to seemed to be frozen in time. Whatever the alien symbiote was, it took something from him but gave so much more. Might there be hidden dangers though? What had it been doing on that junkyard in space?

Making their way through the teeming jungle, dodging any encounters with ... well, anything... it seemed EVERYTHING here including some of the plants viewed humanoids as food, and they were on a scale that made giant redwoods appear like shrubs... Finally the trio got back to the camp.

Ian didn't waste any time. "RYAN!" he barked, marching over with Matt/Bioforce at his side. Matt had been easy going, happy go lucky and pretty much carefree but Ian had clearly pressganged him into being his number two, his 'go to guy' for back up and moral support.

The others - Mystralla, Shadowhawk, Mentallica and Mimic Lad, looked over from where they were sat together. The crash survivors were all grouped into separate clumps and Cutthroat sat alone, nursing his wounds. At least he was conscious now.

"You and I need to have words!" hissed Transmutor. "And why are you carrying giant icky things?"

Ryan takes a bite of a wasp in response.

"<chomp chomp> What do you want? We are quite busy."

Matt looked aghast. "Ewwww dude. Gross!"

Ian pulled a face. "I have to agree. The others are at least... uh, trying to cook the ... uh, wasp thing first."

All three turned to see Cutthroat, mask off and alien face exposed, crunching on a raw Wasp abdomen whilst the New Knights looked like they were struggling not to gag at the pile of dead insects that had been dropped in the camp.

"Or maybe not." said Matt. "Didn't you see anything that looked like, I don't know. A chicken?"

"SKRAAAAAAAAA!"

The deafening shriek made everyone's heads turn... and look up. And up. What looked to be a twenty foot high chicken peered through a gap in the trees and thudded forward, shaking the ground!

The space station scavengers/staff squealed and ran for cover whilst the others - new knights and Kid Kinetics' team, assumed defensive stances...

This thing was massive, some kind of chicken like beast with... wait. Chicken.

It pecked at the dead insect then up at the (to it) tiny superhumans spread about it. Suddenly the chicken giant thing was...

..."Much better. Almost tastes southern fried." said Mentallica.

The massive chicken carcass, having been plucked, sliced up and pulled apart, was cooking on a large open fire.

"As I was saying..." said Ian, scowling still as he looked at everyone sat about gorging on chicken like meat and football sized grapes.

"Give it a rest dude." said Joe/Mimic Lad. "We have food. We're good. For now."

Ian scowled at Ryan then huffed, scooped up a bark shard as a plate then tore at a slice of roasted giant chicken thing.

OOC you are fed and your super powers have returned!

Depth Charge looked more his normal self now as he perched on a rock. Next to him Cutthroat looked rested and his recuperative powers seemed to have him back on his feet bit not at his best quite yet.

The New Knights were more relaxed now. The scavengers were resting and fed. The suns were starting to dip below the treeline and that brought a new challenge.

Ian, still scowling, looked about. "Nightfall. We may be in big trouble if anything comes out to feed. Do you want to stay here or move on? We need to protect the ship but Marionette - I think she was called - said she needed something to use as fuel. I can fix that but it will take a while for her then to repair the flyer."

"I need volunteers to scout and see what there is on this planet." he said, looking about. "Well?"

Ryan felt Shadowhawk and Mimic Lad were the most suitable choices for scouting at night. The had the right power sets. He wasn't about to suggest that to Ian though. How the the New Knights decided to handle themselves on missions was not his problem anymore.

Kid Kinetic waved Cutthroat, Depth Charge and Moth-Lady into a huddle. "I know Depth Charge can see in the dark so he should go. I do not know the full capabilities of the rest of you (or even himself, for that matter). I can cover a lot of ground but can't see in the dark. Could Marionette make us some night vision goggles or GPS or something? I had a gas mask with night vision but I lost it in the crash."

Shadowhawk and Mimic Lad volunteer, as predicted correctly by Kid Kinetic.

ShadowHawk could see in the dark and Mimic Lad copied her vision, looking about. Depth Charge rose and rolled his neck. "I can see proficiently." he rumbles.

Ian glanced at Kid Kinetic. "I want you to go with them, to make sure your... friend..." behaves.

Kid Kinetic couldn't see well at all in the dark and there were no lack of dangerous things to trip up on!

Mystralla/Samantha sighed and stepped up. "Ian, stop being such a dick. Ryan is doing his best here and we're all still alive! Sending people out to scout is a bad idea! We should set up camp in the trees off the ground and..."

She turned as a foot long spider with legs several feet long crept from the undergrowth, seemed to consider the humanoids in the clearing as prey then scuttled into the bushes...

Ian scowled and turned. "Stay, go, Whatever! Just stay out of MY way!" he said, stomping off.

=========

"They should have been back by now." said Cutthroat.

They stood looking into the pitch blackness of the jungle the deafening chirp and screech of insects mingling with the roar of animals and the sound of conflict!

"Should we go look for them?" he asked.

"No. Well, at least not yet. The New Knights have a telepath. If he cannot locate them we can go out and look for them. I would feel better if Marionette could rig us some night vision goggles. I can't run very fast if I can't see where I am going."

"Marionette is like you. She... it... needs energy and raw materials to power her. We need to find somewhere on this planet to get the stuff she needs otherwise your little ship won't get us off this rock." Cutthroat says, glancing about at the darkness.

It seemed like the steamy, thick, cloying jungle was alive, and it actually was as foot long insects crept about, animals preyed on them, plants preyed on them and apex predators the size of houses or larger preyed on everything else.

Ian came over, perma-scowl in place. "I gave the robot lady some uranium. She was able to ... absorb it somehow. Here." he handed over a headset. "She made a hole in the ship to make this thing so it had better work."

Kid Kinetic wondered why Transmutor was being so... neutral. Less antagonistic, less angry. "To get out of this mess we'll have to work together." he mumbled.

Slipping the headset on Kid Kinetic looked about... and could see in the dark!

"The headset will vanish in an hour." Ian said. "She can make stuff, change materials, create objects... but it's not permenant. They vanish into nothing after an hour or two."

Cutthroat relaxed, leaning back. "I wonder when you'd get round to it."

"Get round to what?" asked Transmutor.

"Pull that stick out your ass." laughed Cutthroat.

Ian scowled and turned to Kid Kinetic. "With this and your speed you should be useful as a guard for the camp and some of the others can get some rest. I'll try to cook up some more radioactive materials for Marionette and see what she can cook up."

Just then Tim/Mentallica rolled up, being pushed in his wheelchair by Matt/Bioforce. "Ryan, Ian... I was listening in on Rachel (shadowhawk) and it all went... dead. My range isn't all that though. A few hundred yards. Doesn't mean anything. Only... I saw in her minds eye a cave, then everything cut off. Thataway." he said.

Ryan was if Cutthroat's crude demeanor stemmed from the culture of his alien homeworld or if it was just him. It didn't really matter. He was the closest ally he had at the moment. And Ryan preffered to live in the moment. This philosophy was mostly on account of his speed. There was little time to dwell on the past as it is gone in a blur. The next adventure would be rapidly approaching.

"I will go look for them, Mentallica. Keep trying to contact her. I will check in using this headset once I find the cave."

Kud Kinetic sprinted off, grateful to have his powers back. He did not offer to let Tim follow along telepathically. He'd already been sharing his thoughts with the symbiote and three is a crowd.

With vast superhuman strength AND his speed back Kid Kinetic felt able to handle most situations...

Even so he used caution as he sped through the trees, zipping from place to place. He was aware only heartbeats after he'd moved from a spot there were predators of all shapes and sizes closing in... only to be disappointed. It seemed that to survive in this hellish place for any length of time you needed to keep moving.

With only a rough direction all he could do was search, but at speed and with little fear of bumping into anything in the near pitch black thanks to the thick canopy overhead but with the night vision headset in place, he soon found what he was lookig for.

A cave, overgrown with vines and with an entrance about twenty foot wide and fifteen feet high. It was in the side of a hill/mountain and a clearing around it showed various bones of creatures Kid Kinetic didn't recognise.

There, in front of the cave, some fifty feet from where KK crouched in the bushes, was a creature that reminded him he most definitely was NOt in Kansas anymore!



Standing around seven feet tall and slim, the creature calmly gazed out into the night. Kid Kinetic had a nasty feeling that it used more than it's eyes to 'see' with...

Ryan had seen stranger things on this planet but this particular lifeform gave him the creeps. It reminded him of something from one of those long boring games Tim and Joe were always playing. Ryan never understood the appeal nor did he possess the required attention span. He'd much rather play sports or zip around the city.

"Tim would probably know what to do here," Ryan thought. Actually, it was getting harder to think clearly ever since he first bonded with the symbiote. Mental acuity hade made way for speed and power. Ryan preferred the latter but attempted to again reconfigure.

OOC: KK will use the symbiote to rejig his stats to emphasize intelligence and willpower.
Dexterity: 9 Strength: 2 Body: 7
Intelligence: 9 Will: 7 Mind: 5
Influence: 2 Aura: 1 Spirit: 5

Kid Kinetic felt a direct assault was worth the risk. He attempted to lay the alien out with a haymaker.

OoC: Critical Blow

With his superhuman speed Kid Kinetic sped up to the creature and delivered hundreds of super powered punches!

Despite being slower than the attacker the alien creature appeared to have some kind of mental energy field about it, probably a good idea given the nature of the planet where anything and everything was ready to eat everyone else!

OOC Assume 1d for attack, one for defence. DEV ATTACK! Dex 9 + 1D M Arts + Roll(3d12)+0: 1,11,1,+0 Total:12 (21) vs
OV6 + Acrobatics 1D - Blindside 2 + Dev Attack 8 + Roll(3d12)+0: 7,4,11,+0 Total:18 (30) Attack missed

The creature seemed quite agile despite Kid Kinetic catching it on it's blind side! (OOC plus terrible roll...)

Hissing, the creature mind zapped Kid Kinetic!

OOC Mind Blast 10 + Roll(2d12)+0: 11,5,+0 Total:16 (26) vs
OV9 + Roll(2d12)+0: 7,12,+0 Total:19 (28) Attack Missed!

Kid Kinetic felt the creature blast at him with mental force... but was able to avoid it thanks to the change to his mind and body after bonding with the alien!

OOC And now he's up again (wins initiative). Dev Attack again? Maybe a Crit Blow might be more advisable ... And use both dice on attack (save nothing for defence?)

OoC: Kid Kinetic did originally attempt a Critical Blow not a Devastating blow. He will try again with both dice. on attack.

OOC Weird. My wires must've been crossed sorry about that, but even with Crit Blow instead of Dev Attack would have been a miss (if it had hit I would have posted that up as an edit).

Kid Kinetic was fast, and his incredible brain could see patterns, movement, predict his opponents position and where it would be in a few seconds time.

The creature was smart too, and the battle was more like a fast paced chess game with blow, counter blow and manoevre taking place faster than most ordinary human beings could register that anything had happened at all!

OOC Crit Blow Dex 9 + 2D M Arts (0D Acrobatics) + Roll(4d12)+0: 11,8,4,9,+0 Total:20 (29) vs
OV6 + Acro 1D + Crit Blow 4 + Roll(3d12)+0: 7,8,4,+0 Total:15 (25)
+3 (to EV5) vs RV6 - Crit Blow 6 (RV1)=4 RAPs. The Alien is on Body 2/6

Flying backwards the Alien stumbles then rights itself, snarling, hissing... reaching out with its mind and launching a powerful mental attack at Kid Kinetic!

OOC Mind Blast 10 + Roll(2d12)+0: 2,8,+0 Total:10 (20) vs
OV9 + range 1 + Roll(2d12)+0: 6,2,+0 Total:8 (18) Hit +2 Effect (to 12) vs RV5=7 RAPs.

To stay on his feet Kid Kinetic must spend some HP (6) to absorb 3 raps leave him on Mind 1/5 and even then he will be stunned. Or he could go down and pay 15HP for a desperation recovery check to wake up in a round or two. In either case in his next round of action he will be STUNNED and unable to make any dice action check (attack) or use skills but he can still defend.

Current HP 170

Ryan had to stay on his feet. His..friends..still needed him. Who knew what this alien had planned for them. For all Ryan knew, it had already finished them off. No. He would not think that way.

OOC Kid Kinetic will spend the 6 hp.

KID KINETIC
HP 164
Mind 1/5
STUNNED

With fog in his head Kid Kinetic reels and looks about for the alien. He'd gone. No! There he was... The creature stepped back into the darkness of the cave and KK felt relieved that it did not press the attack. A stiff breeze would knock him over and he had the mother of all head aches...

CHOMP!

He glanced up and saw something - large, dark and with a LOT of teeth, like a giant snake with a head twenty feet across and a body hundreds of feet long! It had sprung from the forest floor without warning amongst the trees to launch its body up in an arcing curve and down on top of him like a predator, plunging to stike at what it could... sense...? Maybe so, what it could sense was a wounded animal!

He was reminded that this place was an alien planet with creatures and fauna so deadly that they not only preyed on each other but also on the unwary - including any superheroes stranded light years away from home!

OOC AV7 + 1D M Arts (equivalent) + Roll(3d12)+0: 7,10,7,+0 Total:14 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 7,9,+0 Total:30 (37) vs
OV9 - Flank attack 2 + Roll(2d12)+0: 8,12,+0 Total:20 (27)
+4 (to 12 EV) vs RV7=5 RAPs

Rather than damage (with teeth) the creature has swallowed Kid Kinetic. He will be attacked round after round by constrictive muscles and stomach acids directly against his Body attribute!

Suddenly the world went dark! Darker even than it was before and what he needed thermal imaging goggles for! He also couldn't breathe! There was something else, something burning on his skin... and the muscles of this snake constricted inwards, crushing and preventing movement! Every push outwards against muscles yielded muscular but pliable tissue that stretched and closed in even tighter! He was in danger of suffocating, being crushed to death or digested by stomach acids!

The acid didn't worry Ryan much. After all, hefirst found hissymbiote snacking on green goo strong enough to eat through metal. The suffocation, on the other hand, would be an issue. And Ryan didn't come all this way only to wind up a meal for some giant alien reptile. He was going to need a bit more muscle to extract himself from this situation.
OOC
Dexterity: 9 Strength: 9 Body: 7
Intelligence: 9 Will: 1 Mind: 5
Influence: 1 Aura: 1 Spirit: 4

KID KINETIC

Dexterity: 9 Strength: 9 Body: 7
Intelligence: 9 Will: 1 Mind: 1/5
Influence: 1 Aura: 1 Spirit: 4/7 Doesn't regenerate (symbiote)

The symbiote did indeed seem to draw sustenance from the acid inside the creature and Kid Kinetic felt for a moment that it was more interested in that than helping him!

It morphed, changed and enhanced his abilities as he needed...

OOC What we have is an opposed roll and the winner damages the loser!

Str 9 + Roll(2d12)+0: 3,8,+0 Total:11 (20) vs
OV7 + Roll(2d12)+0: 10,10,+0 Total:20 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 10,9,+0 Total:39 (46) +7 EV (to 14)

The creature 'wins' and squeezes Kid Kinetic, trying to crush him!

EV14 vs RV7=7 RAPs. Kid Kinetic must absorb at least 1 damage to stay conscious! He is also STUNNED

KID KINETIC

HP 163

Dexterity: 9 Strength: 9 Body: 1/7
Intelligence: 9 Will: 1 Mind: 1/5
Influence: 1 Aura: 1 Spirit: 4/7 Doesn't regenerate (symbiote)

Kid Kinetic knew he was in trouble! If he lost consciousness this thing would crush him up and despite his symbiotes' best efforts, would drown him in acid to eat his mashed up remains! He was also running out of air!

OOC You can defend against the crush next round but even if you win the contest all youo do is not take damage rather than break free (because stunned). You may want to boost strength!

Kid Kinetic gulped furiously at what little oxygen remained. He was not even certain the symbiote he wore needed to breath but he sure did. Actually, there was a lot he did not know about his new suit of clothes. He wondered if Tim could communicate to a mind so alien but it would have to wait. "It's now or never, pal." Kid Kinetic braced himself and pushed outward with all his might.

OOC; Kid Kinetic will spend HP to boost his Str. Can he spend 9?

OOC in order to increase your strength without switching stats around you will have to push your strength. Because we do things differently these days around here, you don't increase Acting/Effetc value with Hero Points. Instead you buy dice and roll those hoping to get a boost... Then pay 3HP for every point you want to increase. Of course you don't have to buy any extra dice at all and trust to luck. If you fail the attribute is burned out for 1 hour, hence why it's probably advisabled to buy a die or two to help you out.



The changes to hero point usage were done because the players would rack up mountains of HP over the years and more or less sail through every adventure spending HP as required to boost AV/EV/OV/RV and why not? That's what they were there for. I was never a fan of the bidding mechanic either so when I changed the way HP are used I made it so you don't get a guaranteed increased chance of success, instead you trust to dice and they can be fickle! The best you can do is improve your chances by rolling more dice and picking the best two to use, then hope they come up with a roll better than the GM's roll.

As you can see on the chart above it's not cheap, so don't go crazy spending HP that you could use on increasing stats or helping you out later!

That said Kid Kinetic is in the belly of a beast and if he stays there long enough, he'll be eaten, so... your call

OOC. KK would like to buy two dice. Thanks.

KID KINETIC
HP 150

Dexterity: 9 Strength: 9 Body: 7
Intelligence: 9 Will: 1 Mind: 1/5
Influence: 1 Aura: 1 Spirit: 4/7 Doesn't regenerate (symbiote)

OOC two dice to push Strength

Str 9 + 2D HP + Roll(4d12)+0: 12,3,10,2,+0 Total:22 (31) vs
OV9 + Roll(2d12)+0: 9,8,+0 Total:17 (26) +3 (EV) to 12 vs RV9=3 RAPs. Cost 9HP to boost Str to 12

Av12 + Roll(2d12)+0: 8,1,+0 Total:9 (21) vs
OV7 + Roll(2d12)+0: 2,1,+0 Total:3 FAILED OV ZERO
+6 EV (to 18) vs RV7=11 RAPs

With a roar and tremendous flex of his muscles Kid Kinetic stretches the creatures body further than it wants to go... and he is regurgitated in a foul pool of yellow slime across the jungle floor!

The creature writhes, thrashing about and Kid Kinetic rolls to the side, leaping to his feet and moving beside a tree as it splashes about in the mess of its own innards! Finally with a roar it flops to the ground, exhausted. Just as Kid Kinetic is considering going back to the others and suggesting they eat this thing - it would keep them all fed for days - all manner of creatures rush from the forest! Insects the size of footballs, spiders, birds, what looked ot be mammals with sharp spines and too many to keep track of piled in from the jungle at the injured creature, tearing at it and ripping with razor fangs and deadly talons!

Kid Kinetic was soaked with sludge and absolutely stank... but he was alive! he looked across the clearing and knew the alien was in there... and so were his friends!

"One day you're at the top of the food chain, the next you are dinner. Speaking of which, I could use a snack. Yeah yeah. 'How could I think about a meal after almost becoming one?' I can't help it, okay?"

Kid Kinetic rubbed his throbbing temples. He'd received the psychic whammy before from his sparring sessions with team. This one hurt every bit as much. His guess was the alien had similar powers. It had probably gone into the cave to lick its wounds but it could probably sense what was happening outside. That gave it the advantage. Ryan could run back and get the others but there was no telling what it was going to Joe and Rachel. Joe....hmmm.

Ryan reached out with his thoughts. . o O (Joe? It's Ryan. Where are you guys?)