Log:Reign of Terror, Scene 1

Reign of Terror 2010/04/08 	 Amy Dark Horse Ellbeth Phoenix Riot 1

A palpable sense of dread permeates this place. People walk by quickly, not making eye contact. Despite the warm weather, all the cars have their windows rolled up. Then: a scream. A SUV is lifted into the air, an 3m tall grotesquelly proportioned humanoid figure with an eyeless face and mouth filled with maggot like tendrils stands up under the SUV. Another scream: The shadow of a lamppost unfolds, stretching 4m wide wings and raises a long snake-like head with a lamprey eel's mouth.

"Oh gross!" Flux declares, deciding to see what the source of the screaming is all about, the dread pushed aside in her mind in the interest of maybe helping someone and at the same time, helping her image. Above she floats, wings and aura of flame showing strong. "Could you set that down please?" she calls down.

Amy is driving along in her old van, after delivering some furniture tot he edge of town, when she sees the lamppost. "Uh-oh!" shes says, and jams on the brakes and readies herself to jump out.

Ellbeth was on her way to talk to a building contractor in Harrisburg when she, and Harry, see the unusual phenomena occuring. Instructing Harry to bring the car to a halt Ellbeth steps out and looks up the street.

You know, sometimes Jeremiah thought that the whole of the world was designed around keeping him from having a day off. The bemasked super hero had been over yonder, just chilling in the sun, soaking up some rays and generally being a lazy bum.

Until the scream.

Phoenix rockets through the air over Newtown, on her way over from the Student District. The plan: get a quick fly in before her next class starts. Sometimes these plans don't work out, though. She tucks her arms at sides and rushes headfirst towards the sound of the screaming.

Panic Spectre

A 3m tall grotequelly proportioned humanoid figure with an eyeless head a    mouth filled with maggot-like tendrils. It is black and purple, translucent, and (to mental awareness) crackling with mental power.

Panic Wing

A large winged creature with a narrow snake like body and head, a 4m wingspan, and a mouth like a lamprey eel. It is purple and black, translucent and (to    mental awareness) crackling with mental energy.

Amy changes her mind last minute and drives on a bit more to stop about 8m from the SUV. There she sends out luck to protect the people in the car, leaving the fighting of monsters to other heroes!

Panic Wing rears back and take to the air, flying 5m up. It then turns it's attention to a young man in stylish urban clothes. A beam of pure blackness erupts from its mouth heading for him!

Flux reacts in time, creating a wall made of ice between man and horror, large enough to deter further attacks from that angle, surrounding the man on all sides except the rear.

The lack beam scythes into the ice wall, gouging a large hole in it. The man smiles gratefully at Flux.

Phoenix dives for the Spectre Wing and pulls to a stop beneath it. "Hey! If you want to fight," she says, "Fight with me!" She floats on her back and points both hands up towards the creature unleashing a torrent of fire at its snake-like body.

FOOSH! Phoenix walks her jet of fire towards the Spectre Wing, but the flying creature manages to keep just ahead of her flames.

Riot lands one last time, roughly 10m from the Spectre. And - with only a grunt - leaps once more. At first, it may seem that Riot is aiming to tackle the Spectre itself, until his arc seems destined for the SUV instead.

Riot hits the SUV a little cock-eyed. His plan seems to be working, at first - until metal shrieks and tears away. Riot landing another 14m behind Spectre, with the -top- half of the SUV and the civilians. But, uh, the bottom half is still with the Spectre.

Guess Riot's reputation for collateral destruction isn't all rep after all. "Git ya'll ***es outta dodge!" He yells at he family, before turning back to the threats.

Panic Spectre lumbers silently after Riot and swings at him with one of its mishapen fists.

The blow sends Riot smashing into a nearby building...

Riot turns, ready to rumble with big bad and purple - only to be NAILED by a hit. His body, limped from the hit, goes arcing past the people he just saved, across the street, and through the wall of a department store. Bricks explode outwards, and a big ol' Riot shaped hole is left in the rubble. The sound of crashing ensues from inside as he goes through a few shelves too. There he remains, sprawled out, blood leaking from a cracked mask where even his impenetrable flesh wasn't able to take that thump.

Ellbeth takes a moment to look over the creatures for magic, without spending the extra time needed to analyze any traces she detects. Then she decides, as she really doesn't want to get any closer than the 30m down the road she currently is, to see if a mental spell will affect them. Targeting the Panic Spectre she attempts to shut down it's sight with a Blackout spell.//OMCV 7, DCV 5, 10D6 Sight Flash versus Mental Def and OMCV.

Ellbeth takes a moment to look over the creatures for magic, without spending the extra time needed to analyze any traces she detects. Then she decides, as she really doesn't want to get any closer than the 30m down the road she currently is, to see if a mental spell will affect them. Targeting the Panic Spectre she attempts to shut down it's sight with a Blackout spell.

The Panic Spectre turns to look in Ellbeth's direction.

Amy gets out of her van, heading toward the spectre, and gestures at it, trying to curse it with clumsiness

Light motes from Amy dance about the spectre, but to little obvious effect.

Panic Wing flaps 5m higher and emits a beam of pure blackness toward Phoenix.

Phoenix hovers beneath the Panic Wing until she sees the blast coming. She kicks with her feet and flits out of the way of the dark blast.

Riot shakes his head, and begins to sit up from the nice 'little' mess he made in the department store. Idly shoving a shelf off his lap.

Flux hesitates, suddenly aware of just what kind of trouble she might be in at the moment...

Panic Spectre turns and lumber toward Amy. It doesn't seem hinder by Ellbeth's spell.

Ellbeth realizes the Blackout spell failed, and now the creautre is closer she can understand why. No eyes! But it's reaction showed it was aware of the attempt, which in turn means it can be affected by her psionic mage abilities. Again her mind, focused by magical power and enchantment, reaches out but this time attempting to stop every voluntary ovement.

Flux tries her hand at helping matters, sending an icy coating to englobe the creature that Ellbeth attacked somehow but didn't have any visible result that she could discern...

Ice forms around the Panic Spectre, much to Flux's delight. "I got it!"

Panic Wing rears back it's head and vomits forth a crackling beam of purple light at Phoenix!

Phoenix rolls over onto her stomach, and flies superman style out of the way of the blast. She banks upwards into her next move...

Phoenix rights herself in the air, then zooms upwards, hoping to take the Panic Wing's attention with her and away from the bystanders on the street level. "That's it, follow me," she says aloud as she hovers above the Panic Wing. She shoots again, this time spreading her flames over a wider area.

The Panic Wing writhes as the blames burn it.

Impressed that she managed to do something useful, Flux turns to the other panic thingie, "Oh you don't like fire? That's too bad. How about more!" She sends out a blast of flame, like Phoenix, though with far less practice in pointing it at things...

The Panic Wing writes as unde searing blast catches it!

Phoenix says, "Good shot, Flux!"

Amy keeps trying to make the spectre-thing clumsy. That usual helps, and should stop it from hurting anyone if it breaks out. "Hey, anyone know what these things are? They're kind of creepy!"

"Yeah! Flammable!" declares Flux, ready to give the thing another dose, and feeling the adrenaline rush.

Ellbeth calls over, "Hello, Amy. Good fortune for us you were passing by. I'm guessing this is related to that Fearmonger that Dark Horse posed about on HeroNet."

The 'bad luck' motes dance about the ice-encased monster, and Amy, satisfied, looks at the other one. "Oh yeah, right! I didn't know about the monsters though!"

Riot pushes himself back to his feet, grunting briefly, and then 'skips' right back out that hole. Well, slightly off, brushing his shoulder and causing a few more bricks to come crumbling down behind him. He pauses, and huhs.

"Dayumn. Ya'll quick." One's on fire, the others frozen.

Ellbeth decides to give the Panic Spectre another taste of Mental Lockout. She's never used this spell before today and isn't quite sure how effective it will prove to be.

The Panic Spectre remains immobile.

The bystanders continue running, putting 24m more between them and the fight.

Panic Wing turns it's attention toward Flux and cuts loose with another corsucating beam of purple energy!

Flux erects an icy wall, deciding that she does not want to be part of the people who are struck by purple nasty beams of whatever it is.

The beam diffracts as it hits the thick ice barrier, splintering off shards of ice but not breaking through.

Flux holds her breath, expecting to see a giant hole form, but is rather happy when it does not, "Is that all you got?!" she says after a moment.

Ellbeth shakes her head slightly at Flux's remark. o O(New at this I guess. I've never seen or heard that kind of comment resulting in anything good.)

Phoenix doesn't see any reason to stop attacking the Panic Wing. "Flux?" she calls out, worried for a moment. She relaxes a bit as she circles on her side over its head, with one arm at her side. With her other arm, she directs fire at the beast. She pushes herself, hoping bring down the Wing before anyone is hurt.

The force of the blast drives the Panic Wing 6m toward the ground. It's vigorous wing flapping bring sit to a halt 4m above the ground.

Amy decides to make the flying-thing clumsy too now it's got closer. "They don't really talk a lot, huh?" she says, as she fires bad luck in its direction.

Ellbeth glances to Phoenix, "Are you intending to use flames again when you get the opportunity?" she asks.

The 'bad luck motes' seem to cling to the Panic Wing.

Phoenix focuses on her the Wing as she answers Ellbeth. "I will, until it stops moving."

Ellbeth nods, "Your next blast should drive it into the roadway. If you have a chance, please wait a moment for me to cast a spell."

Riot seems to still be a little shaken, however, as he lands too far away to really get a hold of the Wing.

Phoenix sounds reluctant to hold back. "Alright," she says to Ellbeth.

Ellbeth reverts to cooking mode for a moment, and casting Ellbeth's Banquet she creates several gallons of exquisite Polish vodka right beneath the Panic Wing, just where a successful flame blast from Phoenix will send the flying creature.

Panic Wing rights itself and turns to Phoenix. It vomits a glob of viscous black fluid at her.

Phoenix stops pouring fire down onto the Panic Wing when it fires back. She tucks her arms and rolls backwards out of the path of the blob.

Flux moves upward, smelling the alcohol and deciding that she has an idea of what Ellbeth had in mind. From there she spouts a blast of flame directly downward.

The Panic Wing bursts into a cloud of smaller wings that burn up in the flames and disappear.

"Woohoo!" Flux declares, feeling the rush of her telling shot.

Phoenix watches Flux attack. o O ( What talent -- she's more powerful than I am. )

Ellbeth turns her attention back to Panic Spectre, and while it's contained takes the time needed to thoroughly analyze the magical signature, if any, from it.

Amy returns to giving bad luck to the entangled monster, just in case it breaks free.

Riot huhs as the Wing disappears, and glances up at Flux and Phoenix with a laugh. "Dayumn. I shoulda jes' stayed up an' kept on' chillin'." He laughs, and then hops back over to the Spectre, pausing for a moment.

Flux looks to the other thing, then at Ellbeth, unsure what she should be doing. "Uh. So now what?"

Ellbeth says, "The creature will break free of my spell before too long. I fear the ice sheath is unlikely to hold it for long either."

Amy says, "I'm trying to make sure it's really unlucky when it does get out!"

Flux grins, the flame surrounding her going out, though the wings remain. "And when it does, we can hit it with a whole lotta fire, and probably a Riot won't be all that liked by it either!"

Amy once again gives the creature bad luck. "I wonder when it'll get out?"

Flux sees what Riot is about to do, and wills the ice around the creature to fall apart. So it won't hinder Riot.

Riot grins back at Flux and Ellbeth, and laughs. "Hell, baby, lets open 'er up and see what it got." He then spits on either hand, rubs them together - and hops up in the air. Looking to grab the Spectre by the side of it's 'head' as he swings his own skull back, muscles bulging as he prepares to headbutt that sucker straight into the ground.

The Panic Spectre flexes and shatters the ice around it!

Glad she waited, Flux just grins. "Aww. It broke out. That's so special."

The Specter is hammered to the ground, cratering the road with the impact.

Phoenix flies to 8 meters over the Spectre's head and rains fire on it, using both hands to direct the blast.

The flames swirl about the Spectre, singeing it

Flux stands ready to erect another wall for the creature to blast past or something, having an idea of how tough this one is after seeing it take a hit from Riot.

Phoenix continues pouring on the fire, swaying her legs slightly towards the Spectre to counterbalance the flow of heat.

Flames once againt batter the downed creature.

Flux continues holding back, just ready for the thing to do something...

Amy says, "Huh! How come it's so tough?"

Phoenix says in Mandarin. << What the hell does it take to floor this thing?! >>

Ellbeth says, "A good question, Amy. I'm not detecting any magic from it. I wonder if it's real the the usual sense? I shall be interested to see what occurs when it is neutralized."

Amy just keeps pouring on the bad luck, to make sure the thing doesn't hit back!

Riot grunts, landing as the creature gets cratered. Riot staggers for a moment, his mask crumbling along the forehead where he had butted skulls. And then the Flamers begin doing their stuff, but the sucker -still- ain't going down. Riot 'hops' right on top, and begins punching. HARD. The air trembling with each of his titan blows.

"WHY." WHAM "WON'T" WHAM "YOU" WHAM "DIE?!" WHAM

Panic Spectre clumsily gets to its feet and swipes at Riot!

Flux sets an ice wall in front.

Flux creates a wall of ice in front between Riot and the thing, which seems to surprise the thing and make it miss timing enough to not even hit the broad side of an ice wall.

Phoenix flits above the Spectre's head. She looks for an open shot as Riot and the Spectre trade blows. When it appears, she takes it, aiming and blast of fire for it.

The Panic Spectre staggers and momentarily becomes more translucent.

Flux takes this moment to fire a shot at it, "Go back to wherever you came from!" and pours on the flame.

The Spectre gives a voiceless scream and collapses into a pile of intenstines that vanish in afew seconds. The feeling of dread that permeated the area begins to lift.

Flux sits down then, obviously spent. "that... was awesome!"

Amy says, "But they didn't say what it was about! I hate it when bad guys don't do that."

Phoenix floats over to Flux. "It looks like your practice is starting to pay off." She raises her hand for a high-five.

Riot straightens back up, bits of his clothing charred off from being in the midst of flames. Or, at least, nearby the white hot Phoenix and Flux flames. He wipes a hand across his brow, mask mostly shattered. And then laughs. "AW hell yeah."

Dark Horse catches a view of the beast just as it screams and disappears. He's swinging from building to building as he moves around the neighborhood. He furrows his brow, and swings down to ground level, and then coils up his swingline.

Amy says, "In fact they didn't say anything at all."

Dark Horse looks pretty grim. "Well, that looks...familiar, in a way." He doesn't quite get to where the spectre was before it's gone completely. "Very familiar, actually." He looks around at the heroes. "Any of you see the posting I put up on HeroNet?"

Flux looks up from her ground seat, "The what on where?"

Amy says, "Uh-huh! I did, I've been remembering to look lately! But you didn't say anythng about these creepy monsters!"

A little girl from the wrecked SUV runs over and shyly gives Riot a lollipop.

He then takes a moment to pat out a few of the minor fires, before shaking his shoulders to loosen them up. Still smoldering slightly.

"AY YO, Big Mama E! Didn't see ya."

ANd then he glances back down. And blinks at the lollipop, before accepting. "Oh, uh... thanks." With a sideways grin, he knuckles the girls' head. Playfully, and -gently-.

Phoenix offers Flux a hand up. Looking back to the others, she says, "Someone mentioned a 'Fearmonger'..."

Dark Horse looks to Flux. "It's kind of like a forum for heroes online." He looks to Amy, "Bard and I fought something like this. If it was like the last one, it was created by the Fearmonger, I'd wager. I bet there was a general feeling of at least uneasiness was in the area, too. It didn't occur to me to include it in the posting. Damn. I should have included it."

The girl smiles and runs back to her mother. People start cautiously coming back and taking pictures.

Taking the offer, Flux stands, and coats herself partly in ice to prevent moral problems, tattooed or not. "Oh," she says lamely to Dark Horse.

Amy says, "Uh-huh so what are these monster things?"

Dark Horse looks over to Ellbeth, "Was there any magic involved with the creature? I was curious if it was magic, or if it was some kind of mental construct. This 'Fearmonger' definitely seems to have some kind of mental powers. I'm just curious as to the nature of them."

Riot grins, and glances back towards the hole. "Lissen. Dis all real damn sweet, but, uh... I'm hella outtie, fo' de Five Oh come rollin' up." A snort. "After all de damn work ovah."

Flux looks to Phoenix, "I should go. Um. Thanks!" Her fiery wings spread again, and she extracts herself from the area before people she is not fond of show up to take stories.

Dark Horse glances over to Riot, "Be careful what you say about the police. They were right there with Bard and I, fighting the last one."

"Do you think he's nearby? Watching us?" Phoenix asks. She zips up into the air, three stories up. She starts to scan the area from there. She's not quite sure what she's looking for, but that doesn't stop her.

Amy looks about too.

Amy says, "I guess he *could* be. Villains like to do that sometimes!"

Riot grins at Dark Horse. "Baby, I -knows- what I'm sayin' 'bout de Five Oh.From 'sperience." And then he crouches down - and pushes off. Leaving little tatters of his shoes behind, where the soles had melted.

Ellbeth emerges from a near trance state. "Oh. Hello Dark Horse. We had a couple of creatures here I suspect might be related to your HeroNet posting."

Amy says, "I don't see anyone! I guess if there was he had time to run off, though..."

Phoenix waves to the other heroes. "I've got to get to class! Afterwards, I'll try to catch up on this matter." She flies into the sky, back towards campus.