Death-Duel with the Destroyers! Issue #1: Apocalypse NOW!

[Rudolf]

Perfect! No one will notice. thought Valérie as she locked her car and ducked into a dark alley. With a flash of light, the hero known as Jinn appeared. She body appeared to be made of some kind of soot-covered stone, from which a smokeless fire perpetually burned. 

People need our help! said Jinn out loud, to no one in particular. Authorities will think to protect the Golden Gate. We need to head toward Oakland. she continued, as she began to run. As the pounding rain sizzled off of her, she began accelerating to speeds that no mortal could run, merging into traffic and toward the Oakland bridge. Wherever motorists appeared in trouble, Jinn skidded to a stop to assist. 
 

This is -not- a normal storm. What is happening?

 

[eltorin]

Invulnerable

Invulnerable sees that trying to find the epicenter of the storm may prove trickier

than he first thought. "What, or who is doing this? I can barely see a thing up there,

it's almost like at night, but it's not even 9am!"

Taking a quick turn flying, he decides his strength is better used on the ground, so he lands where he sees people stuck in their cars or otherwise requiring assistance. To anyone nearby he says, "I'm here to help, everything will be alright!"

 

Edited March 7, 2023 by eltorin (see edit history)

[Civit]

Damnit, in stopping major damage I may have made things worse. Nikki reached into her backpack and grabbed her mask and used her molecular conversion to change the eumalanin in her hair to pheomelanin, turning her hair red, to hide her identity before yelling. "It's not over! BACK INSIDE!" Then turned her concentration back to the storm. She couldn't very well protect the area and search for the source of the unnatural tempest at the same time.

She always struggled with choice, one could not be everywhere, save everyone. But she thought back to her brother. When she came out to him about her powers he showed her a quote from Commissioner Gordon in a Batman novel. “You’re going to make a difference. A lot of times it won’t be huge, it won’t be visible even. But it will matter just the same.”  That always got her through the tough choices.

[AlexTGreat]

Lee curses the weather as it intensifies. As the winds pick up he quickly moves to help near by pedestrians to find the nearest shelter. Often using his body as a buffer between the wind and the pedestrians, using his armored form under his clothes to increase his own weight so he isnt as easily blown over and acting as a buffer for the pedestrians.

"Everyone get inside!" he yells. 

[Jedaii]

9:05 a.m.

 

Operating alone or with emergency personnel the heroes fight the hurricane in order to save the lives of people caught outdoors or in their vehicles! Although it's like being blasted by several firehouses the transfer of scores of terrified civilians from danger to safety is a mission the heroes will not fail at! After minutes that feel like hours and many people rescued the heroes know there are many hundreds still in immediate danger! Then --- despite the semi-darkness of the unearthly storm on San Francisco's oceanside it appears that night itself has suddenly fallen! Only, it was even more horrific: out of the Pacific Ocean emerged a colossal, humanoid shadow!! It had to be thousands of feet in height!!! The only thing louder than the torrential rainfall was the growing screams of nearby citizens witnessing the nightmarish happening! The gigantic 'shadow man' walked slowly - ponderously - and silently across the city in just one step and came to stand directly over San Francisco, the way a man towers over an anthill!! Even with the storm, the shadow-giant's slight mind-rending facial features could be made out --- was it laughing!?!?!? The rain, wind and thunder stilled suddenly followed by an almost uncomfortable silence - then 'it' spoke with a voice that boomed and echoed across the West Bay like the explosion of a 10-ton atom bomb!!

"HUMANS!!! YOUR TIME HAS COME! FOR MILENNIA YOU HAVE SWARMED THE EARTH LIKE A FESTERING DISEASE BUT TODAY YOU FACE YOUR DESTINY! TODAY -- YOU FACE APOCALYPSE!!!"

As the city stands still, the gargantuan shadow slowly raises a foot and promptly stomps it down on San Francisco's tallest skyscraper - New Horizons Tower - which instantly crumbles underfoot into a city block-wide blast of fire, smoke and disintegrated building debris!!! The petrified screams of citizens intensifies and many people faint from the unbelievable scene!

All Players

The storm has calmed to hard rain, wind gusts and occasional lightning BUT now there's a 3,000-foot shadow stomping around downtown SF. Unlike previously the heroes now have a mutual focal point to target - if they can muster the courage: Please make a Green Psyche FEAT & if you're using Karma please note it on the OOC before the roll. Failure results in the hero being too Stunned (mentally) to move and cannot move until a successful Psyche FEAT is made on subsequent turns. Questions? Just ask.

 

[eltorin]

Invulnerable

Invulnerable just finished helping out an elderly couple from their car by tearing the

front doors off and handing them to the paramedicals, when night just seemed to have fallen. After the terrible "message" looking straight at and up at the apparition, though, has him completely stunned. "..." - even the thoughts seem come to him with impossible difficulty.

 

 

OOC

 

Due to a failed Psyche FEAT Invulnerable is currently mentally Stunned.

 

Edited March 7, 2023 by eltorin (see edit history)

[AlexTGreat]

Lee slaps his cheek a few times while looking up at the large shadowed figure. "Come on Lee, wake up lee, or at least go back to the Megan Fox dream." he thinks to himself while staring in disbelief, "This has to be a dream right?" 

Lee starts jogging in the direction of New Horizon Tower. "Uh what are you doing legs? we should be going the other way."

 

[Rudolf]

There’s just no way…thought Jinn. I want to help, but that…thing just crushed a skyscraper without breaking a sweat. 

She continued trying to help motorists, putting out small fires and helping people find cover. “You can’t go downtown. It’s not safe, you’ll only make it worse.” 
 

She tried not to think about the number of people in the tower. It…it wouldn’t be good when they finally excavated. 

[Civit]

Nikki makes the flight in record time... for her. On seeing the creature, Nikki figures hey I'm already moving fast... and uses her speed to charge the shadowy figure. (+1 CS per area covered Max +3) She hits creature (Green, Hit potential dmg 70 (20 end + 2 per area @25 areas per round))

Edited March 13, 2023 by Civit (see edit history)

[Llyarden]

Kelpie had been out at sea, helping protect the vessels that hadn't been able to reach land.  He couldn't be everywhere, of course, but things had been going...at least relatively well.

Then the shadow-monster erupted from the oceans.

Kelpie himself was far enough away that he was unaffected.  Wreathing himself in water, he jetted up to hover a few dozen feet above the sea level - high enough that he saw the monster crush the tower.

People I knew...they could have been there.

It wasn't as though Kelpie hadn't been exposed to death before.  Humans died.  That was just something that happened, no matter how many people he tried to save.  But death on that magnitude, the sheer casualness and cruelty of it...

It would, perhaps, have been forgivable for Kelpie to freeze.

"SHUT UP!"

The water wrapped around the merman almost seemed to shimmer with turquoise light as he launched himself closer to the monster, dropping down so he was only just above the surface of the water, skimming behind its legs - and then he jetted back up, reached out with his control over the water, and pulled.

OOC

Using Rocket and Water Animation (and Body-Coating because it's mandatory for all his other powers) to arrive and basically try to leg sweep Apocalypse and make it fall over backwards back into the ocean with a Monstrous-rank water punch.  Which...I have no idea what to roll, I guess probably either Agility or Fighting?

[Jedaii]

9:10 a.m. downtown SF

 

Star-Girl and Kelpie all arrive combining their powers against the colossal shadow-giant - but their attacks seem to only pass right through the monster!! A hollow, booming laughter echoes from the sky, "HAHAHAHA!! YOU CANNOT HARM ME , INSECTS! NOTHING CAN STOP THE GREAT APOCALYPSE!! YOUR FATE IS SEALED! YOUR ONLY CHANCE OF SURVIVAL IS IN SUBMISSION TO ME!!" 

The monstrosity steps towards the Transamerica building and raises its mammoth shadow-hand in the air nearly blotting out the sky above the heroes, "WITNESS THE WRATH OF MY JUDGEMENT ---!!"

Llyarden and Civit

make a Green Intuition FEAT for your heroes

 

[Civit]

Nikki somehow suspected the shadowy form might be as insubstantial as shadow.

 

Psyche result: green

Edited March 15, 2023 by Civit (see edit history)

[Rudolf]

 Jinn wondered what, exactly, she even -could- do against a foe of that size. It’s just too big…

 

Then, with a flash of insight, she made a quick U-turn, and doubled back on the small trail of flame she left behind as she ran. That’s exactly the problem! 
 

OOC: looks like around 125 mph for Excellent speed on the Vehicles table? That right? 

[Jedaii]

9:10 a.m. downtown SF

 

The three-thousand-foot monstrosity brings down its hand crushing the upper 24 stories of the TransAmerica Building in a thunderous explosion of debris and flame!! Lightning flashes across the skies over San Francisco as unlucky bystanders flee the area - their feet splashing through the soaked sidewalks!! Tons of demolished debris rain down on the streets below crushing cars, SUVs, trucks and buses parked in the wrong place at the wrong time!!

The shadow-giant howls, "WITNESS!! WITNESS THE FULLNESS OF THE POWER OF APOCALYPSE!! BOW TO ME OR THIS IS BUT A SAMPLE OF THE DESTRUCTION YOUR ENTIRE CIVILIZATION WILL ENDURE!!"

 

[Civit]

Ok, if the shadow isn't real, something has to be casting a shadow. Nikki starts looking about for a possible source of the shadow.