Episode 20 - Stretched Thin

[Phoenix1]

A few weeks passed at Haven Academy, and the training missions didn't seem to be slowing down. If anything, they were becoming more common, to the point that Wulf, somewhat grumblingly, had to give up on sending out utterly overwhelming force any time she deployed students. I mean, don't get me wrong. It wasn't like anyone had been facing anything they couldn't handle. But it was changing to the point that even when you were taking your picks from the Mission Boards, you were getting actual fights. Well..."you" collectively as in the students of Haven. I'm not saying you guys personally actually faced anything over the past few weeks that would warrant rolling dice over, or anything.

Investigation DC 20 or Expertise (Current Events) DC 25, Eidetic Memory applies

You've been paying attention to the Mission Boards and while activity is still high it hasn't actually been growing.  It's seeming to you like it's taking longer for Hunters to finish missions, or they're resting longer between them, or...something. In other words, the backlog is because some missions are staying on the board for longer than they usually would, rather than because new missions are coming in faster than they had been.

Two degree success

It seems to mostly be Seek and Destroy missions that are sticking around for longer.

Anyway. Today you guys were being assigned missions again. I promise classes do actually happen in this school and you are in fact in classes more than on missions, it's just that they're not generally actually worth playing out on-screen. And these particular missions are actually on two different days but whatever, close enough.

Team FLNS

So hey, wild coincidence, remember that town you guys had airboated to that time? (I don't think I had ever actually named it back then, but it's called Leensvard). You were actually heading pretty near there! A hunter (lowercase h) had seen a couple Devil Grimm in the woods about a couple hours outside of town, and they had called in some Hunters (capital h) to deal with them; they weren't what would be considered dangerously close to the town for normal Grimm, but given the threat level of Devils, better safe than sorry.

(Yeah Devil Grimm were more widely known these days, after the attack on Vale. Partially because you know people had seen video of the weird red Grimm and such, partially because in the aftermath of Vale "preventing a panic" wasn't really a practically achievable goal, and partially because thanks to you guys it was confirmed that Apex Idiom was up to his old tricks which meant Devil Grimm might start becoming more common.)

The report indicated the hunter had only actually seen a couple of them, but couldn't positively confirm there weren't more on account of having taken one look at red Grimm and gotten the heck out of there. This was the main reason your team had been assigned to the mission. Your objective was to scout the area, locate the Devil Grimm, ascertain their number and type, and if you felt confident you could destroy them, do it, otherwise report back so a sufficient force could be fielded.

Helpfully, Pyrrha had landed on a mission with SMIL today, so Sorena was free to assist. Huh Sorena had been there last time too. Double coincidence I guess. "I figure that'll up the odds you'll be able to just take them out outright," Wulf said.

Nicoale

The tone of voice she said it in, and the look she gave you when she said it, if you had certain context, might have conveyed that her true thoughts were probably more along the lines of, Knowing you lot you'll end up fighting them regardless of how many there actually turn out to be, so I may as well just accept that and send a newbie Maiden with you in case there happen to be a lot.

So the five of you were down at the airdock to get an airship to take you. This was pretty routine although this time you were directed to a different...terminal? Sure I guess they're still terminals. To a different terminal than you were usually sent to. Slightly unusual but not unprecedented.

Chapi or Insight DC 15

You notice that some of the staff in this terminal seem to recognize Chapi in particular. Like, plenty of people around the city recognize you guys in general, at this point, but she gets some like nods and smiles and such that seem more personally familiar rather than the general maybe-not-so-minor celebrity that all of you have received since the horde of dino-Grimm.

Team RACL

Your mission had been assigned on a somewhat-emergency basis. A raiding party of bandits - identified as members of the Garud Tribe, one of the three biggest bandit tribes in the kingdom - had been sighted heading for a logging town called Berdsrun, and no Huntsmen or Huntresses were in the area. It wasn't the entire tribe or anything, but the Garud tribe was big enough that even just one of their raiding parties could be a serious threat to a town that size, a dangerous opposition to a typical team of students, and...plausibly a halfway-decent challenge for Team RACL? It's a rough curve but it's the one we grade on here.

Of course the day's Team Randomizer had landed Pyrrha with you, so that was pretty sad for them, but hey they're the ones who decided to be bandits so they deserve what they get am I right?

This wasn't to say the town was totally safe and everything was going to be fine. Even taking the fastest airship available, it was a flight of several hours to Berdsrun. The bandits were in much slower vehicles - hauling wagons that could carry a lot of goods and could handle the rough roads that were about the best infrastructure got out away from the cities - but they were approaching from a much shorter distance. It was impossible to say whether you'd arrive first.

But you'd find out shortly. The pilot reported ETA to destination was five minutes.

Robin

Your Semblance has been acting weird.

Not weird like glitchy, like it had been with the vampires, but...weird. It's doing things it doesn't usually do. Normally it Warned you of danger. But three days ago it gave you a Warning that the latest Ninjas of Love volume had {arrived at the local comic store or been posted on-line as applicable, I've never quite been clear if Ninjas of Love is a comic or a fanfiction}. Yesterday it had Warned you that the cafeteria was going to be out of chocolate chip cookies.

And as you drew closer to this town, it wasn't giving you any Warning about how dangerous these bandits might have been to you. Instead, for the first time in your life, it was giving you a Warning about somebody else.

To be specific, it was Warning you that Rhys was going to be faced with an important choice.

One option would cost him an opportunity that might be hard to get again.

A second option would place him in substantial personal, but not mortal, danger.

And a third option would place the village you were flying to defend in peril.

Semblance Perception DC 30, cannot be Routined

...Oh wait actually sorry here's the Warning about the personal danger level. It's higher than you'd expect but not excessive. Definitely gonna be more to this than just a raising party of bandits, though.

DC 35

You get a vision of people all in black plate armor, wielding enormous flaming greatswords, and marching under a black flag emblazoned with a red moon trailing what look like drops of blood rather than the moon's normal shards.

DC 40

By hitting this DC you predict that there will be four Knights of the Bloody Moon among the enemy force (if you hadn't hit the DC/didn't hit it but are reading this anyway, this is the base number which I may choose to increase depending on certain circumstances).

[Keramane]

:: Lapin "Chapi" Champagne :: 『Attack 6/11』『Defense 14』『Resistance 8』 『H.P 4 (+5 Party)』 Condition: None Active Powers: Notes: Captain Bun

Chapi would be all smiles and waves when greeted by people, even going so far on one occasion to strike up a quick back-and-forth with a tech seemingly named Greggy, one of those little walk-by banters. She was in quite the chipper mood it seemed which usually meant there was an incident on the horizon...

 

Glancing back to everyone, Chapi would ask "Does everyone have that mystery keycard I gave you awhile ago? When I came back from Atlas? Yes? Good~" Striding with the confidence of a million-dollar bun, she would take the lead. "So after the Battle of Beacon I was kind of upset about how the Atlesian Fleet was basically rendered inoperable and thought to myself 'If only we had a functional ship, how many more people could we have saved? How much destruction could be prevented?' At the same time I was investigating the Atlesian wreckage to find the virus that was used to bring the fleet to a standstill, accidentally doing some intercity military espionage as a result, but that's not important, and decided around then that we should have our own way to defend in the case that Atlas fumbles again."

 

She would turn about before a very large gateway and with a little spin of the wrist, swipe what a sharp-eyed teammate might see as an administrative card across the console which starts the big gate opening to reveal~! A top-of-the-line Battlecruiser, one that is just a bit larger than the Atlesian Battlecruisers present during the Battle of Beacon, though with a bit smaller armament. "I present~ The Lunatic Moon~! I might have gone a little overboard on the planning, and it totally set back my spending for most of the year, but tadahh~ It's fully crewed with a staff of 25 (and 20 Bun-Bots) with full living quarters capable of supporting twice that in a pinch, bears an armament of Six Tri-Barrel 18-inch MDD Cannonades, Twelve 8-inch MMD Cannonades, and 28 5-inch and 32 4-inch Anti-Air Vulcanic Cannons with Airburst rounds, obviously. The onboard scrollnet is entirely isolated from external signals with a secondary net for outgoing/incoming signals and bears a security rating that would probably set me for life if I sold it to Atlas~ Keycard access for all doorways with a lockdown mode to isolate unwanted guests, a fully staffed and equipped medical facility, hangar for up to four vessels (currently all lifeboats, though we're looking at putting a Bun-Walker Deployment Rail for ground conflicts, once I iron out the bugs on the Bun-Walkers) and the whole thing is powered by two J-Class Lightning-Crystal reactors that can operate independently in the case of a precision strike. It also has an onboard workshop capable of maintaining everything onboard and a significant number of replacement and repair components for near-any emergency situation. Also, a fire suppression system that has been thoroughly tested, capable of putting out even the most serious of non-dust blazes (and some dust blazes). Very.. very thoroughly tested.... AND!" as if that wasn't already information overload "Once airborne, there is a visual concealment device that via the light-forged underplating displaces our visual element, making us nigh undetectable while in flight~!"

 

The pride of the bun was at an all-time high as she strode over to the boarding ramp and booped the panel to open the boarding doors. "Your keycards are each for your own rooms, nameplates and everything on them. If you press the little logo it will display a light on the floor that will lead you to your room. The logo can be swiped to lead you to most of the major rooms and is coded to your aura signature so they're only usable by you (it took the reading when you accepted the gift~). That card is also your access through the entire ship so don't lose it~"

 

Edited May 10 by Keramane (see edit history)

[Dodgeson]

Emergency or not Robin was having a great day, another mission meant another fun trip out with his best friend Rhys and get to know his new best friends Lapis and Anya even better! Also it was just bandits this time so there was going to be no weird fog powers or grabbing him away from his friends or any tackling issues he'd been ignoring since Vacuo or anything! Also also Pyrrha Nikos was here! One of his top three favourite favourite breakfast cereal mascots!

"You guys hear that? We're gonna land!" He echoed the pilot's commentary excitedly, bouncing around the room until he found himself in front of the face of Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes "I nearly forgot! Please can you sign m..."

And then he zoned out, eyes going wide and his tail going ramrod stiff as his vision hit. Semblance's could evolve and change over time as their owners grew but since Robin's understanding of them basically stopped at 'cool super powers' he had no idea what was going on with his Warnings and just rolled with it, occasionally just spouting out some snippet of the future as they hit him, but this one was a biggun.

Blinking back to reality he quickly pulled out his scroll from his jacket and a few seconds later he was brandishing it in everyone's face "Does anyone know what this is? I saw it and some guys in black armour with big fire swords!"

From the Scroll of Robin Argos

 

[RavingScholar]

It is a good day, Rhys thinks. He finally gets to fight alongside Pyrrha in a true mission. Their sparring had been interrupted by that damn Apex, but now they could both show the fruits of their labors in true combat. He is watching with a gentle (for him) smile as Robin bounces around the plane. Then Robin stops, and Rhys tilts his head in curiosity as the good boy scribbles on his Scroll and shows it to them.

 

Ah. It had been a good day.

 

Rhys frowns mightily, but he is slightly proud of himself that that outward display of frustration is the only sign he shows of his inner ocean of fury. "That is the symbol of the Knights of the Bloody Moon," he rumbles. Okay, so maybe some of the anger leaks into his voice, too. "They are a terrorist group led by a man with a similar Semblance to mine. Team FLNS and I fought them when I was swapped onto their team that one time. They are responsible for routinely destroying settlements...including Shiragumo, the settlement that Jade's father attempted to form."

 

He thinks that went pretty well! ...except for the sparks coming from the sheer friction with which he's gripping Athloi. He forces his hand to relax.

[Dodgeson]

"You know who they are!" Robin's tail wagged happily behind him as he held his Scroll out to reach Rhys' eyeline, of course he knew the answer, he had the best friends. With that all cleared up he was ready to drop down in to Berdsrun and show these bandits what had happened to the last guy they'd fought that wore scary black armour, then he remembered something and spun back round on his heels to face Rhys with wide eyes.

"That must be why you're gonna make the choice! I don't know what it is but you're gonna have to give up an opportunity you wont see again! Or you're gonna put yourself in danger! Or put Berdsrun in danger!"

 

[Llyarden]

Sorin had not missed the way things seemed to be...changing...in the missions, so frankly, as far as he was concerned, he wasn't particularly going to complain about Wulf's habit of making the missions they went on consistently complete overwhelming victories.

Of course, the increasing volume of missions didn't mean that he hadn't had some free time to himself. And...honestly he'd used most of it to kinda act like everything was still like it had been when they'd first joined, when the biggest thing they had to worry about was surprise launches into the forest by Professor Montana. (I mean, to be fair, they had almost immediately run into a giant Grimm Pool when that had happened, so Sorin had sort of been looking at it with rose-tinted glasses.) He'd just kinda been hanging out with other students, both people in their class and in the other years (though he was a bit more cautious about interacting with Roxie's class, for fear of being accused of being an embarrassing big brother), and working on his paintings - and while he was of course still doing his pictures of the others being awesome Hunters and destroying Grimm left, right and centre, he'd actually spent a fair amount of time painting more peaceful situations. Oh, and he'd also tried to bring back the pizza parties...or, well, they'd probably not really stopped, but he was at least putting some effort into the work that Lin and Aeryn had started to make pizza a force for...diplomacy? Grimm destruction? Honestly he'd sort of lost track of what the actual goal was with the pizza thing, but it was a nice thing to do that could take his mind off everything else that was going on.

(He did also spend a bit of time with the Fable brothers, just to check in on them occasionally and make sure they were adjusting to their new lives, at least until they managed to pick up enough sign language that they could communicate directly with Fen.)

He didn't miss the fact that Chapi seemed to know the people they were walking past. But he absolutely did not put two and two together to get 'Chapi built a battlecruiser' until she opened the gate to reveal it.

"Um."

He...uh, he didn't actually have anything to follow that 'um' up with.

Now, of course, it wasn't like Chapi was the only person who'd wanted to try to change things after the Battle of Beacon. After encountering the difficulties in getting the SDC to deliver their Dust to Beacon's defenders, once they'd returned to Mistral Sorin had made a point of starting to make contacts all across the city, so if bureaucratic tangles happened here he'd know who to put in contact with who. And at this point he did have a pretty extensive list of people, and it had taken quite a lot of work, but it...wasn't exactly on par with building a whole flipping battlecruiser.

Perhaps if he was someone else, he might have been envious, or frustrated. Instead, though, Sorin just kinda stared at the battlecruiser for a few moments. "...yeah, that checks out."  He cleared his throat. "So, uh, how much extra credit does this get you with Professor Brown?"

[Keramane]

:: Lapin "Chapi" Champagne :: 『Attack 6/11』『Defense 14』『Resistance 8』 『H.P 4 (+5 Party)』 Condition: None Active Powers: Notes: Credit Bun

"Professor Brown would give me extra credit for this?"

[Imtar]

Nicoale had a bit of a pep in her step. Ok, maybe she wasn't going quite that far, but she was definitely in one of her better moods. Classes had been going well and the recent emphasis on live missions had been a boon to her work. The SDC didn't become less demanding, but the more frequent huntress missions meant that her work windows were on average smaller. They'd adapted without missing a beat by deploying her to shorter assignments or less far afield then they'd used to. Her work load hadn't been reduced - never that - but it had significantly reduced her time spent travelling and overnighting away. That left her with more time at the academy, and for once she might almost be caught up on rest.

The shift away from bringing overwhelming force on each mission had also been a pleasant change for her. Overwhelming force was, well, dull. True, she was the first to say that missions weren't a game and reminding teammates not to get careless, but overwhelming force was quietly frustrating. There was barely any chance to use what she was learning from Wulf when any enemy was buried under a pile of students. It did bother her a little that the cause for the shift was to help clear a backlog off of the mission boards rather than Wulf showing confidence in the class, but she'd take what she could get and run with it.

When Chapi opened the gate to reveal her pet project, Nicoale blinked, stared, and blinked again.

Having a fully operational battlecruiser... that was impressive. And also jealously guarded Atlassian technology. Nicoale decided very firmly not to question what Chapi meant by 'military espionage' and that it would be best to avoid mentioning either around Winter. That aside though, she didn't really know what else to say.

A thought struck her, and she shifted her gaze to Chapi. A sickly sweet gaze that loomed over the bun. "Chapi, did you say you stole all of our aura signatures?"

[Ridai]

With the ice broken, Lapis actually managed to get some proper training with his team in since the impromptu rescue mission! Adjusting to the RACL spirit will continue to take time, but at least the foundations are getting there. A fair bit of time was eaten up by making sure Solstice was alright after her experience of being mind-controlled. And, of course, hanging out with Tabby.

...Which also led to more FACTS manifesting. Those seem to appear with increasing frequency, which is building dread.

During the flight, Lapis prepares additional Dust thread, given they may be fighting over a wide area.

"Teams appear reluctant to take Seek and Destroy missions. Perhaps they are deemed too dangerous at the moment?" Team SCCS sure didn't shy away from that type of mission, that's for sure. Lapis only started being ready-ish for those later on.

Robin chiming in about incoming danger is nothing new at this point. It sounds fairly serious, however, given the description and Rhys' explanation. Elegance is feeling somewhat offended by the team leader's art.

"Then we should keep an eye out for any Knights taking part in the raid. If they are part of command, taking them out may disrupt the-" And Robin chimes in with...

Did... did Robin just prophesize possible futures? Is that something his Semblance can do?

ELEGANCE - I am more willing to blame his fondness of cheap prose for this.

METTLE - Do not underestimate the leader of Team RACL and his... unorthodox ways.

OOC

Using the time to use Artificer to prepare Multiattack for Affliction. If possible, also Variable Descriptor 2 for Damage and Affliction (and maybe Weaken and Strength, but those are tertiary).

 

[Keramane]

:: Lapin "Chapi" Champagne :: 『Attack 6/11』『Defense 14』『Resistance 8』 『H.P 4 (+5 Party)』 Condition: None Active Powers: Notes: Not-a-Crook Bun

"Technically no, since the device that has a read of your aura signature is technically held by you. It was about the only way I could get a read for the personal rooms without trying to crack the school database and I'm not really planning to do that yet. Basically, once you held the card, it took a reading using your scroll's processing power - thus the case attachment - and sent a numerical representation to my scroll which I then added to the security codes for the doors to your rooms. The number is modified by a random number I chose ahead of time to make the result essentially unpredictable without the original series and that's a tricky code to crack. I don't trust keycode combinations for security... Too easy to brute-force."

[Phoenix1]

 

Team FLNS

"Hot dang, Chapi! That is awesome!" Sorena said, sounding...well, yeah, more-or-less at the same level of surprised as Sorin. It was both something she never could have predicted in advance and yet somehow also something that did not at all violate any of her expectations about reality.

Lunatic Moon's staff had already been appraised of your destination, so it could take off once you all had boarded. If and when you did, a voice would sound over the intercom, "Welcome aboard, Team FLNS. Name's Cid, I'll be your pilot. I suggest taking seats and buckling in for takeoff, might be a bit rough until we hit cruising altitude, but once we do you can move about as you please. Or I guess you can do that beforehand since Hunters, whatever." Regardless he'd give you some time to get situated if you wanted to, and then take off.

Good news was, Lunatic Moon basically operated at the same speed as an international-class airship, which was a substantial improvement over the transports you guys were typically assigned. Bad news was vehicles of that scale cruised at altitudes of 25,000 feet or so; the Air and Gravity Dust that were key to keeping airships airborne got more efficient the higher you got, and ships of that sort of speed and scale needed a lot of efficiency. While it wouldn't impede Nicoale from getting an aerial view while they flew, it was high enough to prohibit effective scouting of the ground even for her Semblance.

Ordinarily the flight would have been maybe six hours; at these speeds it didn't even take two. Still would be enough time to get a tour though!

The airship didn't actually land. It was equipped with enough Gravity Dust that at these altitudes it could hover in place for days before needing to refuel. "We're about half a mile due east of the target coordinates," Cid reported over the intercom. Technically the Lunatic Moon had dropships, but given you were Hunters they were technically only actually useful for pickup.

Just so as to not waste a post

Once you guys get down there, a quick check will determine that there aren't any Grimm, Devil or otherwise, at the coordinates you were given, so they must have moved. So do whatever scouting you like.

Team RACL

Pyrrha was about as surprised as Lapis at Robin's prediction. "I...thought your Semblance was some manner of a personal danger warning?" she asked.

As the airship got closer, Rhys would be the first to pick up the trouble, as his inhumanly sharp sense of smell picked up the scents of smoke and blood on the wind. It wouldn't take long for Anya's ears, enhanced both by her faunus heritage and her Semblance, caught the sounds of screams and the clash of blades. And only shortly after that, everyone would be able to see a plume of smoke rising into the air.

Berdsrun was already under attack.

The attack was coming from the north. Berdsrun was secured by a fifteen foot tall wooden wall, but its gate had been blasted open. Bandits were swarming into the town, at least a hundred strong, and several buildings were on fire. Many people were fleeing further into the town. Several people, most of them apparently militia, were lying on the ground, unconscious and Aura broken. A few, regular civilians who lacked the ability to form an Aura barrier, lay dead or dying in pools of blood.

Near the gate, seemingly standing guard so that nobody could flee past them, were four bandits who stood out from the rest, armored in full suits of dark plate mail and equipped with enormous greatswords that blazed with flame.

The bandits hadn't gotten too far into the town, yet, but even so this was a horror show even by the standards of Remnant's bandits. Sure, bandits would raid a city, they'd kill people who got in their way, and they'd leave enough panic and anger and despair to draw the Grimm upon the survivors. It was not without reason that in Mistral at least bandits were considered no mere criminals, but enemies of civilization. But...they were still at the end of the day bandits. They raided for food, for supplies, for Dust, and for money. The fact that their attacks called down the Grimm on communities already weakened was a side effect.

And sure, these bandits were doing some looting, but they were setting fires as they went. There was no way that was the most efficient way to extract useful resources. These particular bandits were going even further, were actively destroying the town even where it conflicted with what should have been their own interests. The looting was, if anything, an afterthought.

Assessment DC 15

The Garud Bandits are PL 7-1 Minions (so PL 7 for stats, but 30 fewer PP).

DC 20

The Garud Bandits are base attack +4/+3.

The Garud Elite are PL 8.

The Knights of the Bloody Moon are PL 12.

DC 25

The Garud Bandits are Defense and Resistance 7.

The Garud Elites are Base Attack +4/+4.

The Knights of the Bloody Moon are Base Attack +4/+8.

Detect Skill

Garud Bandits

%5Bb%5DDeception%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B5.%20%20%5Bb%5DExpertise%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B5.%20%20%5Bb%5DInsight%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B5.%20%20%5Bb%5DIntimidation%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B5.%20%20%5Bb%5DInvestigation%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B0.%0A%5Bb%5DMobility%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B10.%20%20%5Bb%5DPerception%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B5.%20%20%5Bb%5DPersuasion%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B0.%20%20%5Bb%5DStealth%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B5.%20%20%5Bb%5DTechnology%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B0.%20%20%5Bb%5DTreatment%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B0.

Deception: +5. Expertise: +5. Insight: +5. Intimidation: +5. Investigation: +0.
Mobility: +10. Perception: +5. Persuasion: +0. Stealth: +5. Technology: +0. Treatment: +0.

Accurate Attack, All-out Attack, Move-by Action, Skill Mastery (Mobility), Power Attack, Teamwork. Add Defensive Attack and Improved Aim for the humans among them.

Combat Training: Damage 7.

DC 30

The Garud Elites are Defense and Resistance 8.

The Knights of the Bloody Moon are Defense 8, Resistance 16. Powerful as they are, the Knights of the Bloody Moon are still basically mooks, and cannot score critical hits against non-Minions.

Detect Skill

Garud Elites

%5Bb%5DDeception%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B10.%20%20%5Bb%5DExpertise%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B5.%20%20%5Bb%5DInsight%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B5.%20%20%5Bb%5DIntimidation%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B10.%20%20%5Bb%5DInvestigation%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B0.%0A%5Bb%5DMobility%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B10.%20%20%5Bb%5DPerception%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B10.%20%20%5Bb%5DPersuasion%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B0.%20%20%5Bb%5DStealth%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B10.%20%20%5Bb%5DTechnology%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B0.%20%20%5Bb%5DTreatment%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B0.

Deception: +10. Expertise: +5. Insight: +5. Intimidation: +10. Investigation: +0.
Mobility: +10. Perception: +10. Persuasion: +0. Stealth: +10. Technology: +0. Treatment: +0.

Accurate Attack, All-out Attack, Defensive Attack, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Aim, Interpose, Move-by Action, Skill Mastery (Mobility), Power Attack, Teamwork. Add Takedown 2 for the humans among them.

%5Bb%5DCombat%20Training%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20Damage%208.%0A%0A%5Bb%5DEndurance%20Training%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20Regeneration%204%3B%20Regeneration%204%20(Restorative%3B%20Limited%20%5BRestorative%20Function%20Only%5D)%20%7B16%7D.%0A%0A%5Bb%5DSkirmish%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20Enhanced%20Garud%20Weapon%20Array%2016%20(Limited%20%5BRequires%20Movement%5D).

Combat Training: Damage 8.

Endurance Training: Regeneration 4; Regeneration 4 (Restorative; Limited [Restorative Function Only]) {16}.

Skirmish: Enhanced Garud Weapon Array 16 (Limited [Requires Movement]).

Knights of the Bloody Moon

%5Bb%5DDeception%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B10.%20%20%5Bb%5DExpertise%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B6.%20%20%5Bb%5DInsight%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B0%2F%2B15.%20%20%5Bb%5DIntimidation%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B15.%20%20%5Bb%5DInvestigation%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B0.%0A%5Bb%5DMobility%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B15.%20%20%5Bb%5DPerception%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B10.%20%20%5Bb%5DPersuasion%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B0.%20%20%5Bb%5DStealth%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B10.%20%20%5Bb%5DTechnology%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B5.%20%20%5Bb%5DTreatment%3A%5B%2Fb%5D%20%2B5.

Deception: +10. Expertise: +6. Insight: +0/+15. Intimidation: +15. Investigation: +0.
Mobility: +15. Perception: +10. Persuasion: +0. Stealth: +10. Technology: +5. Treatment: +5.

All-out Attack, Assessment, Defensive Attack, Favored Environment (On Fire), Fearless, Improved Initiative 2, Interpose, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Startle, Takedown, Teamwork.

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Tactical Training: Enhanced Insight 15 (Limited [Combat Purposes]).

Combat Training: Damage 12.

Soldier of War: Array.

Brute Force: Damage gains Penetrating, Linked Strength 12.

Sweeping Strikes: Damage gains Multiattack, Linked Deflect 12.

Dire Strike: Damage gains Secondary Effect, Linked Weaken Resistance 12.

Rhys

Last time you faced the Knights of the Bloody Moon you hadn't been able to smell Auras. This time you notice that their Auras smell similar, although in a very distinct way from how Vlad Pale's vampire spawn were similar. For the Knights it's more like...they have their individual Aura scents - and you can confirm now that none of them have a Semblance - but it's like there's a second Aura barrier overlapping their own, which smells the same for all of them. This second barrier is also containing a bunch of the Aura energy that should be radiating out as waste, basically giving them a far greater Aura reserve than they would normally be able to maintain.

When you land, you also catch the scent of another man a few hundred yards outside of the town. Once you guys have landed, he starts moving away, almost as fast as you can run. You could catch up to him if you move now, but if you don't give chase immediately (i.e. on your first turn) he'll be out of your scent range quickly.

His Aura smells like the secondary barrier on the Knights of the Bloody Moon. It also smells pretty monstrously powerful. You can smell that he has a Semblance, and it's some manner of personally augmentative one, but it's a simple fact about the sense of smell that of all the senses it is the one that habituates most quickly to common stimuli. You can't really say whether his Semblance smells like your own, because the smell of your Semblance is just background data that your nose is habituated to, you don't really have it available to compare directly.

...But you do notice, weirdly enough, that his Semblance smells kinda-sorta like Professor High's, of all people, although with a much more...martial bent.

Assessment DC 25

PL 14+1. Note this means he'll have an armor track against PL 10 (or 11 for that matter).

DC 30

Base attack +7/+7

DC 35

Defense 16, Resistance 12 at baseline, but he can scale to as much as Defense 9, Resistance 19.

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Deception: +15. Expertise: +12 (+24 with +5 Circumstance for Military). Insight: +15/+24. Intimidation: +15. Investigation: +0.
Mobility: +24. Perception: +15. Persuasion: +0. Stealth: +0. Technology: +0. Treatment: +0.

Accurate Attack, Agile Feint, All-out Attack, Assessment, Benefit 3 (Ambush Master [Substitute Expertise: Military for Stealth to achieve surprise], Battlesense [Substitute Expertise: Military for Perception against hostile creatures], Defensive Disarm), Defensive Attack, Eidetic Memory, Evasion 2, Extraordinary Effort, Favored Environment (On Fire), Fearless, Improved Aim, Improved Grab, Improved Hold, Improved Initiative 4, Improved Smash, Inspire, Interpose, Leadership, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Precise Attack 2 (Both/Concealment), Prone Fighting, Takedown 2, Teamwork, Tracking.

Tactical Training: Enhanced Insight 9 (Limited [Combat Purposes]) {3}.

War Hero: 28-point Dynamic Array.

Super Soldier: Multiple Effects.

Combat Training: Damage 14 (Perception [Limited to One Degree Miss]).

Ranged Combat Training / Mass Combat Training: Enhanced Range 14 (900'), Damage gains Shapeable Area.

Defensive Combat Training: Deflect 14 (Shapeable Area).

Strength Training: Strength 14 (2,400 lb; Extra Condition).

Accuracy Training / Leadership Training [Tactical] [Maneuver]: Affliction 14 (Vulnerable/Defenseless; Reaction [Immediately Before Attacking], Limited Degree, Instant Recovery, Limited [Selfish]), Enhanced Extra 14 (Buy off Selfish).

Endurance Training: Regeneration 14.

One Man Army: Damage 6 (+3/+3; Reaction [When Attacked]), Improved Critical 4.

Mechanics

Here's a map. I haven't positioned your icons since you guys can just Landing Strategy wherever you want. Note that one square on the map is 15' rather than the usual 5.

Note also that each enemy listed on the map is actually a small unit, consisting of one "main" enemy (the gray ones are Garud Elites, the black ones are Knights of the Bloody Moon) and six Garud Bandit Minions.

I'm rolling initiative but you guys can act immediately. However, if you lose initiative, then any main enemies you attack receive the benefits of a Defend action, and their Minions will each get to make an attack against you as a readied action (if you only attack Minions they and other Minions in their unit will attack back).

Robin

Anya

Rhys

Lapis

Pyrrha

Enemies

All PCs are on turn, although Lapis has to beware Defends and Readied attacks.

Edited May 14 by Phoenix1 (see edit history)

[Ridai]

"That... that was my understanding as well, yes," Lapis adds to Pyrrha's words, audible unsure what is going on. His hands do not skip a beat, however, judging by how they keep moving in a blur.

But there is little time for Semblance Discussion, as their destination is already actively on fire and under attack.

Seeing what is happening on approach, this really is not the first time he is seeing a brutal bandit raid. Well. Normally they aren't out to just murder everyone primarily and loot a distant second. Still, it's been two very long years. There was much to learn from, and prepare for.

"I'll do something about the fires," he says to his team just before he leaps from the airship. Spreading his arms, Air Dust needles jet out across Berdsrun, trailed by an ever-expanding net of Dust threads. Air Dust encasing Ice Dust, with a smidge of Fire Dust. So the bandits see flashes across the sky, followed by the Air Dust triggering into large clouds. Another flash as the Fire Dust and Ice Dust are activated, the threefold mixture creating downpours across the village to combat the fires.

Descending, crackling thread forms around Lapis in a vortex, contracting into a storm cloud, before exploding outwards into a great many lines shooting towards the bandits further inside village. Lines seeking to pin the bandits in place and preoccupy them with shock therapy rather than slaughtering innocents. Or engaging the figure that lands in the center of the crossing.

Thread rises from Lapis' hands. Cover would be preferable. But he would rather stand in the open if it means they are coming at him than the people of Berdsrun.

"Two years in the wilds, two thousand bandits shattered against Mistralian tree and rock. Clutch your little flames all you want, you are not the first, nor will you be the last!" Lapis shouts, channeling Mettle, the storm of crackling lines whipping against the ground, causing thunderclaps and burst of lightning. Declarations like these really are not Lapis' style. He would also prefer to not have dozens upon dozens of bandits descend upon him (not again). But one has to present oneself as a preferable target or, failing that, something annoying enough to want to kill first.

What a life one Lapis Centaurea, formerly merely a young craftsman, is living now...

Actions

Spending a Hero Point to Edit Scene for a Dust-fueled cloudburst over the town. Gains 5 Limit due to Always Prepared.

New Lapis Centaurea FACT: Thunder God Lapis Centaurea's wrath makes the sky weep for all who oppose him! (Lapis deployed a Dust thread web upon arriving at Berdsrun to douse fires laid by raiders with an artificial cloudburst.)

Land in square Y43

Artificer Extras: Multiattack [Affliction], Variable Descriptor 2 (Dust) [Damage, Affliction]

Free Reconfigure to Proverbial Haystack (Range), Spin A Yarn, Bundled Up, Joining Skeins, Thread Sling, Quality Control

Standard Attack Garud Elite 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20 with Affliction (Impaired+Vulnerable+Immobilized -> Disabled+Defenseless+Stunned; Shapeable Area, Multiattack, Extra Condition; Limited Degree), Enhanced Range 9. Multiattack (Multi-Target) -4

Natural 20s vs 12 and 18!

 

Edited Wednesday at 07:38 PM by Ridai (see edit history)

[RavingScholar]

The revelation of Robin's Semblance's apparent evolution elicits an intrigued grunt from Rhys, but he keeps his focus forward. His mind is consumed with thoughts of that fateful night at Shiragumo. And the last time they had encountered the Bloody Moon Knights. His mind burns with questions of why? Why do they do what they do?

 

The acrid stench hits his nose first, then the horrific sight that is far too familiar. Rhys is the first one off of the airship, axe in hand, ready to leap into the fray...when he suddenly stops. Another scent has caught his nose, and he snaps his head to the side to focus on it. His laser-focus shifts.

 

"I think their leader is here. I can smell him."

 

He glances at the atrocity unfolding before them, then turns to more fully face the direction he had sniffed out. "I have to confront him. Stall him. Something. Scroll me if you need me to return."

 

With a nod, he digs a foot into the ground and kicks off with enough force to unearth a dozen pounds of solid earth. His weapon shifts to knuckle duster chains wrapping his body as he approaches his target at an appreciable fraction of mach speed. Without hesitation he lands himself like a meteor onto the man attempting to flee, hands flying and lashing out in graceful moves to attempt to wrestle the man into the ground.

 

Whether he manages to grapple the man into the ground or not, Rhys stands his ground and growls out, "You have much to answer for...Olympian."

OOC

Array set to:

 

Maneuver Training: Enhanced Strength 10 (Precise, Quirk [Maneuvers only]) [10]

Hyppolyta’s Belt: Strength gains Penetrating [10]

Agility of Hermes: Enhanced Flight 14 (2 miles) [14]

Combat Training: Damage 10 (Multiattack) {20}

Prowess of Ares: Unbridled Strength [Can exert full force with minimal motion and any body part], Supreme Grappler [May use any body part to maintain a Grab, and unless the Grab is broken or released Rhys can change which body part is doing the Grab as a non-action]) {2}

Push Through: Mundane Physical Immunity {10}

 

Move action: Shoot off like a rocket towards the enemy.

 

Standard action: Attack with Close Quarters Grappling. Not gonna add any modifiers for this first attack, so just crits on a 16+ vs DC 25/20 Damage (Multiattack Overwhelm Immunity) Linked Strength Grab (Penetrating Overwhelm Resistance)

 

Crits on a 16 or more

 

Status: Fine

HP: 1

 

[Dodgeson]

"It was!" Robin confirmed cheerfully "But then it got better!" If he spent more than a second trying to rationalise how he had suddenly become an oracle he would probably guess that his Semblance was just trying to keep up with Rhys and Nicoale but if you thought he was actually going to spend that second then you didn't know Robin Argos! Why think about the nature of ones intrinsic soul bound super power when there was jumping to be done?

"Lets get em'!" Team RACL's fearless leader laid out the sort of cunning strategem he was known for before abruptly yeeting himself out of the airship, tucking his arms in and plummeting downwards towards one of the black armour clad Knights, bouncing off their helmet and skidding to a stop amidst their minions.

"Hi, I'm Robin! What's your name?" He asked the knight (and his minions if they were feeling chatty) "I don't know if you've heard of us but we're team RACL and that's THE Lapis Centaurea so you should probably just give up now."

Extending Inugami into its bat mode he set to work, gleefully springing between each of the bandits and swinging out hard.

OOC

Gonna Landing Strategy in to Z7 to start things off, don't want to move the Robin marker there because it'll replace BM2

Move Bounce around Z7 to activate Combat Zoomies

Free Set Huntsman to Combat Training, Defensive Combat Training, Counter-Strike Training & MAXIMUM DOGGO

Standard Attack everyone in Z7, DC26 Resistance vs Damage if that hits. Robin is Deflected at 1d20+16.

BM2

I'll Routine the roll against the Minions for a total of 21.

HP 4

Status Deflected (1d20+16)/Counter-Strike Active

[Keramane]

:: Lapin "Chapi" Champagne :: 『Attack 6/11』『Defense 14』『Resistance 8』 『H.P 4 (+5 Party)』 Condition: None Active Powers: Notes: Yeet the Bun

During the flight, Chapi was in full show-and-tell/proud-ramble mode so everyone who couldn't tune her out would get nearly two hours of ship specs, design history and "funny" anecdotes about how this all came to be. Thrilling!(?) Still, once the call was made, she would lead everyone to the launch points, slinging a seatbelt-like cord to what would look to be a powered rail arm. "So, obviously we could just hop out and do our thing but I've been wanting to try the launch rail for ages now so that's how I'm going~ If you want to deploy like this, you just loop the belt around yourself, under your arms, clip the clasp to the rail loop here when it's locked in place and press this but-" boop.

 

Now, Chapi was a smart bun. Quite clever. However, in her excitement over the ship, she did just press the launch button while mid-sentence. So, there was a slight look of surprise on her face as she was immediately propelled along the launch rail and yeeted out the side of the vessel as one might do to an emergency craft during evacuation. Certainly this was a ride for those with unique tastes. Still, off she went towards the landing site.

 

Impact was not overly dramatic, given that she was able to aura-rebound her way down tree branches and whatnot until making the Hero Landing™ at the destination, wherein with a cursorary bun-radar search with those ears of hers would confirm a distinct lack of Grimm. Which was odd.

Edited Friday at 10:41 PM by Keramane (see edit history)