Guardian replies quietly "Yes, he should have no trouble breathing as long as no one holds his nose shut."
After scanning through the peep-hole once more to make sure there is no one in the room, he moves through the door and holds it open for everyone to pass before closing it carefully to avoid noise. He glides across the room to the exit the marble man used and opens another hole low in the wall to check out what is behind it.
At this point, you appear to be in a study. The books have all been rummaged through, as one might expect if these criminals were seeking a rare tome, as they claimed.
A door on the upper east wall hangs open, and leads to an obvious bathroom. A door further south on the same wall is closed. There is no sign of anyone in this room.
"So disrespectful of them..." He looks around cautiously, before opting to check the bathroom before they decided to move on.
"Hm...I guess no reason to station anyone in a place where they didn't find what they wanted."
Atticus looks around, seeing if there are any sensors that may give them away.
"Who has the plans again? Which direction next?"
"So disrespectful of them..." He looks around cautiously, before opting to check the bathroom before they decided to move on.
The only thing Stopwatch notices in the bathroom is that someone either hustled out of her or was hustled out in a bit of a hurry.
Guardian peers into the next room. As he does, a persistent thumping behind them indicates Mr. Marble, or whatever tf his name, is attempting to break free. The next room is a quite large and opulent master suite, complete with two glass doors leading onto a balcony. One of these has been broken, and wind rushes in from outside.
________________D_______________|
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----|-------------------------------D______________________
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----D___________GG_______________BG_________|_
Solid horizonal lines (underscore) are walls, Pipes (|) are vertical walls, dashes are free space, D are doors, GG is a glass door, and BG is a broken glass door.
"Um...I think our 'friend' has woken up."
Atticus considers returning and trying to make him calm down.
"Yes, it sounds like it.. we should hurry before they hear him and go on alert." Saying that, Theodore goes for the door and enters, with the impression of it being clear. He tries to stay away from the windows, just in case.
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Tesla, always one to envision a worst-case scenario, carefully opens the door they just came from, finds the eyes-and-forehead of the struggling marble man, and bends down in front of him.
At a thought his armored suit automatically deploys his plasma pistol into his hand. The illusion struggles to make it look normal, but mostly a gun magically appears in his grip, accompanied by the robotic noise of servos moving.
He places the cool metal barrel against the marble head and speaks, softly. "I'm terribly sorry, I thought this would be obvious. We've gone through a LOT of trouble to neutralize you without killing you, but if you keep making a ruckus, I'm going to pull this trigger. I don't think I'll miss at this range, hmm?
It would save me a lot of paperwork for you to just shut the hell up until we've finished here, but if you make one more attempt to break your bonds, I'm going to commit myself to explaining how I killed you in self-defense and congratulate myself on taking the safest course.
So you play nice and we'll have you out of there in 30 minutes.
Or you keep making noise and you never leave at all.
Your call."
[ooc]No idea if we know what Nicola is doing, but I'll assume I have some sense."[/b]
Atticus reaches out, using his mentla tendrils to wrap around the steel man's brain.
"Calm yourself."
Atticus fires off the order hoping the man will do as he says.
He appears to relax for the moment, though it is unclear whether Atticus' power was successful or Nicola's intimidation has pacified him.
Back in the master suite, the door on the north wall swings open; Notice checks from everyone still in that room.
You notice nothing different, just that the door popped briefly open, then closed again.
Suddenly, Rift feels a solid kick in the gut, though you still see and hear nothing.
Damage before DR:
Attacker Initiative:
Rift Initiative:
Atticus Initiative:
Guardian Initiative:
Guardian acts first, followed by the invisible attacker, followed by Rift, then Atticus. Stopwatch and Tesla can hear the combat and can move in and act after everyone else this round.
"Reveal yourself!"
Guardian's amazing senses "see" through whatever powers mask this man's appearance, but the attacker is preternaturally stealthy above and beyond the invisibility. Guardian, make another notice check.
Notice:
Guardian catches a flicker of movement, and suddenly, there is a very well toned man wearing some type of martial arts uniform between Rift and Atticus. Guardian can't believe he overlooked him at first; the man is obviously quite skilled at the arts of Stealth.
Guardian reaches out with his mind to grab the man and lift him off the ground. "Don't make a sound!" he hisses in a threatening tone.
The man is amazingly agile, but Guardian seems to have him, for the time being.
"Stopwatch, can you freeze him so I can immobilize him like we did to the other one?" he whispers. Turning back to his captive, he hisses "Just stay quiet and you will be fine. I don't want to hurt you." as he gives him a slight squeeze to let the invisible man know he is not using his full power on him right now.
"If these guys are making rounds, we need to be quick. And we need information."
"I think I got him. Someone ask him something."
"How many are there in your group, what are your powers and why do you want the book?" Guardian quickly asks the martial artist.
Theo hesitates a little, but seems to relax once it seems that Atticus might have things fully under control. "Do they know we're here? Are the hostages still alive? Are you planning on keeping them alive even if you get what you want?"
Just as the martial artist begins to answer Guardian's queries, at least some of the answers become obvious as three more individuals burst into the room.
The first is the man in the ski-mask. He's armed with a high-powered rifle of some sort. A second man wears a long coat and 18th century clothing, complete with a tall hat that narrows toward the top.
The final member of the team is a woman cloaked in black flame.
Rift, Tesla and Stopwatch have not yet acted this round, and may act before the newcomers. Then we'll move on to round 2.
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"Wonderful! More guests have arrived. Mah goodneth it has been a spell since I've entertained so many fine upstanding individuals, but I'm quite certain I've got enough horderves to go around.
For our first dish I'll be serving fresh gravitons with a side of malice. Don't eat too many because the meal is very...heavy."
The three newcomers are assault by 10 times the normal gravitons they're used to as the Earth grapples them and holds them close like an ex-girlfriend that, even though you've bought a house, moved out, and told her it's over, she still shows up at your front f#$*ing door because the b#*%+ will just not take the hint.
Hypothetically. Like that could ever really happen. ;p
He jerks back upon their arrival, and fumbles as he goes for one of the useless devices on his wrists. He aims at anyone who seems to shrug off Tesla's hold or the woman covered head to toe in fire, as she comes across as the most dangerous of the bunch.
The three newcomers are assault by 10 times the normal gravitons they're used to as the Earth grapples them and holds them close like an ex-girlfriend that, even though you've bought a house, moved out, and told her it's over, she still shows up at your front f+%+ing door because the b&~#% will just not take the hint.
They are pinned, but you immediately hear the girders beneath their feet begin to wrench and bend. The floor was not designed to hold 6000 lbs in such a small area. If they stay that way long, the floor WILL break.
Pause! DC 15 will
Having failed by more than 5, the target is paralyzed completely for the time being.
Change of plans!
"Release the invisible one!" he hisses. "I've got him!"
Atticus will will the invisible person to assail the current assailants.
"The lady is frozen in time, let up the pressure there! This building was never designed to have so much weight concentrated in one place like this!" he shouts out to the older scientist, fraught with worry and concern. He would need to divert his attention toward keeping the building in secure condition if that pressure continued to mount up.
"We need to find the hostages" Rift shouts to the others as she runs through to the next room, looking for them. "Give me a minute!"
Rift finds a small hallway with a bookshelf in the middle (right through the door she just entered).
She hears a banging coming from the other side of the bookcase. After a few seconds examination, she realizes there's a Panic Room behind the bookcase; a hole has been made from this side and some wires messed with, presumably to make it so the kidnappers could control the lock from the outside.
At this point, the man in the long coat and the one with the gun attempt to overcome Tesla's immense gravity field to take a single action:
While the man with the gun in the ski mask finds himself unable to move, the other man manages to wiggle his fingers just enough for his incantation to work. He, the man with the gun, and the dark-fire woman are immediately teleported; it is not readily obvious as to where.
Suddenly, the wall behind you (toward the Marble Man) flies inward: everyone except Rift needs to make a Reflex Save DC 15.
Anyone failing the save takes damage as above (DR applies); anyone succeeding takes only 1/2 damage. Evasion, if anyone has it, applies normally.
On the other side of the devastated wall is Mr. Marble.
Top of round
Theodore Cries out in pain as the chunks of rubble crashes into him. Blood races down his arm, bent twisted in the attack. Gritting his cracked teeth through the pain, he presses a dial on his wrist and wills his and anyone else's injuries to reverse.
Guardian just about ready to release his hold on the martial artist when he is thrown forward by the force of the blast. He instinctively pushes most of the debris away from him, but the raw power behind it catches him off guard. He raises himself up from the chair he has fallen over as his injuries suddenly vanish as if they had never happened. He turns towards the marble man, teeth clenched in anger.
"Why couldn't you do as you were told!" he yells as he lashes out with his mind to slam the figure to the ground.
TK slam
Damage:
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As the chunks of concrete come flying, Tesla turns just in time to target them with graviton waves, and the deadly debris dips downward, crashing into the floor well short of his person.
"Now isn't everyone glad that I asked about collateral damage? Especially now that some of the villains have entered the 'too dumb to live' category?"
Tesla extends his hand, and graviton field extends out. But this one is personalized, and designed to only detect and retard iron molecules. No matter how small.
Whatever passes for blood in Marble Man's lifeforce finds itself groggy and thick, like molasses in February.
Atticus is about to command the martial artist to attack the man with the gun right before he dissapears. Scowling, Atticus switches targets, commanding that the martial artist to incapacitate the marble man the best way he knows how.