Gracie stands fast, digging the tip of her mystic blade into the floor to help her remain unshaven by the earthquake. "'No one has to get hurt'?! Your friend started off by drowning people! You bastards already lost your chance at cooperation." A nagging feeling floats the idea that all this is a distraction--why else attack a public event let alone start off with a tidal wave of death and property damage? Well, sheer desire to sow terror, in fairness, but something felt off. Nonetheless, people were being threatened by the watery guy. Leaping closer if necessary, she points her blade at him, hoping a creature mad eod water can be blinded.
Oz acts quickly, allowing the ripples of marble to permeate through him.
Why aren't you guys getting in the portal? It's for your safety! Let the Eldritch Team take care of this, please?"
A ten foot diameter golden dome shields Cesarina and Win, who was standing next to her. An older couple stumble on the undulating floor and fall into it, gaining its protection.
Oz makes clear that the portal is safer than the current museum battlefield, and patrons begin to move through it, most of them not moving as quickly as you would hope.
Kathar turns toward the South. "Not a jinn, professor, but an elemental spirit, indeed. The Circle of Samara is sufficient to hold a jinn, let us see if it will hold this Pyre."
He moves his hands in a circle reminiscent of Tai Chi, blue white energy tracing his movements. "Insert Cuneiform Here"
Bands of bright white magical energy encircle Pyre, not touching him, but not allowing him to move.
Pyre: The white bands surrounding Pyre are immediately rattled by his fiery form.
Pyre grins at Kathar, "Your magic is no match for the the very idea of fire, Mr. Wizard."
Pyre's flaming aura swells and brightens, pushing against the white bands. Kathar's magic blackens and cracks before the bands shatter like glass.
Professor Fathom:
The other Professor, this one made of water, turns part of his attention to Gracie. Without releasing the patrons he has swept into his wave, he propels a pseudopod toward Gracie, which becomes a wave before it slams into her, only a 6 inch tendril of water connecting them.
Granite:
The man-mountain moves toward Oz, clapping his massive hands together on the young man.
The mist in the main gallery thickens, not just covering the floor but filling the entire room. Max's normal vision is clouded completely, but his arcane sight is still entirely functional.
Invisible and flying, Max follows the Bloodstone like a homing beacon. It helps that he was intimately a part of the setup and organization of the exhibit to know where everything else is supposed to be, too.
He positions himself next to the Bloodstone and readies his bands of Cytorrak against the air elemental when he can pin point its position.
Grace observes Fathom may need the water in the courtyard to manipulate and starts thinking about options of how to deal with that... but in the meantime, she decides to test to see how Calesvol, magical blade protected by a lake faerie for centuries, works against Fathom's watery "flesh". She slices through his outstretched tendril.
Fathoms liquid form slides over Gracie's blade, maintaining its cohesion for the moment.
"How quaint. It's going to take more than a knife you found on sale at Costco to dent me, Lady Knight, Knight Lady, whomever you are..."
While maintaining the dome around herself and the civilians, Cesarina spins off a more complex structure, aiming to confound and jail these vile villains, starting with the rock man!
"That's Tesco, you American wanker!" She swings again.
While maintaining the dome around herself and the civilians, Cesarina spins off a more complex structure, aiming to confound and jail these vile villains, starting with the rock man!
[dice=Attack vs Dodge]1d20+2
[dice=Insight]1d20+12
"That's Tesco, you American wanker!" She swings again.
[dice=Attack]1d20+10
[dice=Attack]1d20+10
Fathom pours himself toward Gracie, attempting to flow into her mouth, nose, ears, suffocating her.
While maintaining the dome around herself and the civilians, Cesarina spins off a more complex structure, aiming to confound and jail these vile villains, starting with the rock man!
[dice=Attack vs Dodge]1d20+2
Free of Kathar's bonds, Pyre launches himself down the hall like a rocket, weaving through the museum with grace into the main exhibit hall. He expects to find Max guarding the stone, but sees nothing as Max is invisible.
"Oh, Mr. Wizard, playing it sneaky like...Nice. Well, I guess if I can't find you, I'll just have to BURN IT ALL DOWN!"
Granite
And Sylph...
Eldritch watches the Bloodstone carefully, so when a hand coalesces within the mist, he locks it down with the Bands of Cytorrak. The form of a woman, barely composed of whisps of mist, is wrapped in the magic Bands.
Now visible, Eldritch moves Sylph away from the Bloodstone and into the fire between Pyre and himself using the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak. Mr. Wizard then requests the villain, "Extinguish the fire, Pyre."
With a trained swimmer's reflexes, she manages to stay calm (which is 90% of the battle) and get her face above the stream, and then she spits out the water back at him. "You might want to read my origin story sometime."
Fathom and Gracie can't get an edge over each other. He is easy to hit, but too slippery to land anything solid.
Grace looks around for options to get creative. She's assuming the water in the courtyard is helping amplify his powers--which may be a flawed assumption, but she doesn't have much else to go on. She's wondering if she could get him or the water in the area separated she's wondering if he'll be easier to deal with. Like, since this is a fancy museum in a superhero city, would it have foam fire retardant instead of sprinklers to protect the artifacts from fire damage?
Win has moved into the garden area, she crouches behind an overturned stone bench. Her right hand is pressed into her ear, he left holds her phone to her other ear. She is shouting something, but in all the chaos, it is hard to hear.
With Pyre gone, Kathar turns to the civilians. "Let's see if we can move these folks along, friend." he says to the angelic being beside him.
He stretches his hands toward the people moving toward Oz's portal.
The civilians are hoisted, tumbling but unharmed, through the portal by a blast of wind.
Now visible, Eldritch moves Sylph away from the Bloodstone and into the fire between Pyre and himself using the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak. Mr. Wizard then requests the villain, "Extinguish the fire, Pyre."
"I CAN'T EXTINGUISH THE FIRE, ELDRITCH. I AM THE FIRE!"
But the roaring aura around him does subside, drawn back into his fiery form. He extends his hands toward Eldritch and unleashes a blast of pure elemental flame. It misses Max to the right, but engulfs the case surrounding the Bloodstone. The reinforced glass melts away like water, leaving the stone out in the open.
Sylph:
Wrapped in the Crimson Bands, though her face is little more than so much mist in a vaguely human shape, Sylph smiles. "So clever moving me away from your pretty stone. It's a shame you didn't realize that I am the f!$*ing air in the room..."
In the direction of the fiery eyes Max saw in the corner, Sylph nods and says, "Got it, mistress. We're good to go."
Max turns away from Pyre and Sylph to the Bloodstone, only to realize that a tendril of fog stretches form Sylph through the fog in the room to the stone, clutching it in a sort of fog tentacle.
Suddenly, the Factor Four are surrounded by a sulphurous flame, their forms growing indistinct as the flame consumes them.
This takes us out of combat.
As the last of the civilians enter the portal, Oz releases the orb back into the Dreamtime ether. He shakes his hands, pats himself down and gives Cesarina an awkward thumbs up. "Hey, we work well together Cessie! How'd the others do?"
"Damn. Damn. Damn the HellQueen." Max whispers to himself searching the areas where the Factor members or fiery eyes were. He attempts to determine where they went, such that he could scry them or teleport there.
He knew he should have put a decoy in the case and starts blaming himself for this whole catastrophe.
As Fathom disappears and the waters recede, Grace moves toward the people who had been caught up in the waters to help, applying first aid to anyone not breathing but still has a pulse, her armor and blade disappearing into the air as she moves toward the first unconscious person to check. Seeing Win on the phone she knows she has the presence of mind to both call the local authorities as well as UNISON.
Once EMTs arrive she gets out of their way and rejoins the group.
Investigation reveals that the area that was covered with Sylph's mist exhibits a dew-like moisture. There isn't anything left that would point to a place where they came from or where they went.
As the last of the civilians enter the portal, Oz releases the orb back into the Dreamtime ether. He shakes his hands, pats himself down and gives Cesarina an awkward thumbs up. "Hey, we work well together Cessie! How'd the others do?"
"It appears we managed to drive them away somehow? I see no other reason why they'd retreat, unless they somehow managed to snag what they were here for while we were distracted?"
"Damn. Damn. Damn the HellQueen."
Cesarina raises an eyebrow. "I'm quite certain she already is, Eldritch. That's somewhat the problem with her."
Once EMTs arrive she gets out of their way and rejoins the group.
The woman vomits water as Gracie compresses her chest. He eyes flutter open, her dark dyed hair clings to her face, her makeup drips from her face. "Thank you, thank you. That monster" Her hand climbs to her neck, "My necklace, he took my necklace!"
Eldritch stalks toward the group while surveying to ensure that his talents are not required to save civilian lives now.
Approaching Cesarina, he replies, "The HellQueen took the Bloodstone. And the collateral damage covered their magical tracks. She hired the Factor and watched through a scrying spell. We probably need to wait for her next move."
Hearing of the civilian's robbery, Eldritch suggests, "If there are unique mundane pieces that were stolen, we might be able to track the Factor through their fence. And the Factor to the Queen."
Presuming no one else needs assistance, or after she is done with her first aid, she asks the woman to describe the necklace, agreeing with Eldritch's assessment that information on other stolen goods may be helpful to them.
There are several people with minor injuries, but Fathom doesn't seem to have been out to kill people. Just rough them up and swipe their jewels and wallets while he was at it.
The woman describes the necklace, "...platinum chain, alternating diamonds and rubies. My husband gave it to me before he passed. It was quite valuable...and obviously also had sentimental value."
Win catches Gracie's eye, "Medical and Police are already here, they were covering the event. This is AEGIS territory, so UNISON's involvement will be minimal." She moves closer so that she can speak with only Gracie hearing, [smaller]"Listen, I'm going to have to go. Apparently we lost contact with a UNIQUE team deployed in the Middle East 15 minutes ago. They thought it was just a communication problem, but it hasn't come back."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Kathar moves to Max, "Does it not seem strange to you, Eldritch, that these villains would attack this place while your team was obviously in attendance. Why not later when the exhibit is open to the general public? Surely that would have been easier? I shall see if I can trace their movements. Should you need to contact me, here is my card."
With a minor act of legerdemain, he produces a white business card embossed with simply, Kathar, Keeper of the Keys.
And then he moves his hand in a circular motion, opening a portal that shimmers with a white light.