The Golden Age of Comic Books: A Mutants and Masterminds campaign. Interest and OOC here!

[RazorWind]

Riiiiight now I remember.. I thought I took attack specialization: Twin Iron. Perhaps I did and forgot to write it down? Ah well thanks for reminding me Bramble! If the will of the dm allows I shall have to make some adjustments as listed. So that Mighty Strike 6 for +11 to a save DC can actually HIT something.

[Kirby Krackle]

Bramble, if I see one Device with Alternate power: device... ONE. So help me.

No, but seriously. Sure I don't mind a respec after this.

[Bramble Rose]

Don't be ridiculous.  That wouldn't make ANY sense, unless Twin Iron could, like, unfold into a giant kite or reveal secret compartments full of miniature ice crossbows or the end could uncap and there was actually one giant ice ballista bolt that could fire out.

 

...

 

 

Hrmmmmm... hey, Razorwind ...

 

[RazorWind]

*Hides in a bushel of spice patches* "Ah' be wantin' nuthin' to do wit' this.."

Although that -does- sound entertaining! Still, Dusty's supposed to be the pinnacle of the phrase "Four hooves and Guts" as spoken by Curtain Call, so a Staff-Mounted Ballista would be pushing it. Even if it would be highly amusing to block an attack with one end, have that end open up and have the enemy only see the gleam of the bolt's tip and the smug grin of Dusty's face.

...Perhaps that will come about in another game, but not this one!

[Bramble Rose]

Heh.  I was just kidding.  But also making a Nicholas Wolfwood joke.

[Kirby Krackle]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RocksFallEveryoneDies

[RazorWind]

I hear ya loud n' clear, Kirby xD

[AzalR75]

Sorry. Been out of town all weekend, and didn't realize it was my turn. Still in the back of a Chevy. Texas shouldn't have snow…

Would like to use Hero Point to unstun, but would like to hold action to let Bramble go first if you don't mind Kirby

[Kirby Krackle]

Both of those things are good things to do. I don't mind at all! And it brings me to another point: Hero points.

I have failed to mention them because, when I play RPGs such as this, and extra special one time use bonuses come up, I have a tendency to hoard rather than use. Rare candies and Pokemon or when October comes around and I buy the yummy pumpkin butter but never eat it because if I eat it, it will be gone until next October and.... Yeah. Hero Points.

Upon character creation, you get one. You earn more by performing fantastic feats of heroism pleasing to the GM. Foiling a scheme or diving in front of a bullet aimed at the president for instance. What they do is... a lot. You could remove a status effect or ignore that critical miss or lift many more tons than usual. Etc etc etc.

[Kirby Krackle]

[Kirby Krackle]

Azal, give me a chance to post a response before you go, as your next action probably REALLY hinges on how Bramble rolls. I will make it as hasty as possible.

 

Edit: Day 1 of no content. Microsoft Works genuinely hates me. Maybe day 2 will be better for me. Is Glory's... uhm... 

 

 

That. Is that happening on Glory's turn? Or Azal's? Because I think that blast needs the "Triggered" modifier as well. I'm tired. 

[Bramble Rose]

Something like that, but on Azal's, yes.  I was thinking of something like a cross between that and the scene near the end with Ironman shooting Cap's shield.

[Bramble Rose]

Arcane Comics Issue 2
Where There's Smoke...
 

(Editor's note: This happens before Golden Age Issue 1, True Friends!)

The clash of battle resounded under the night sky, the forest creatures all gone silent except for the noises of combat hidden under the canopy.  Small creatures cowered deep in their burrows, not asleep, but just hiding and hoping that these predators would not find them.

A tree shuddered in the forest, struck by great impact.  That impact was a tall, green-pelted mare, an alicorn, garbed in a golden breastplate with blue skirts and cloak, and wielding a great blade between her teeth.  She staggered to her hooves again as the chimera leaped at her, the tiger's head snarling defiance.  Morning Glory, guardian of Justice, was struck again, and smashed right through the tree she had just shook, a whole section of the trunk splintered into shards in a moment.  The tree fell, shuddered, and slowly, with great creaking noises, toppled to the side with a crash and a bounce.

Once more, Morning Glory stumbled to her feet, the sword's hilt still gripped tight in her teeth, squinting through the shower of sawdust and splinters to see the huge shape flying towards her.  She crouched down, readying for the collision this time, and grabbed hold of the beast with her forehooves, twisting around and slamming it into the ground.  The jaws snapped at her face, and she twisted her head to bring the blade between the incoming tiger's jaws, ignoring the impact as the goat's horns butted into her side.  She was just glad the snake's head was already unconscious.

A pause fell over the battle as she held the sword there between the tiger's teeth, trembling, and the chimera slowly realized that it was trapped under her.  It was strong enough to just throw her off, but she was fast enough to twist that blade ...

"OK," muttered Morning Glory around the hilt of the blade.  "I'm gonna take my fword out of your mouf ... and you're gonna talk wif me and not attack me"

There was a little bit more of a pause ... and then the goat's head nodded.  "Aaaaaaaall right," he bleated.  "We'll talk!"

Morning Glory drew back, sword wary and at the ready.  The chimera rolled over to its feet and stood up, the tiger's mouth working slowly.  "I coulda taken her," he growled.

"I coulda been down one brother," the goat head responded.  The tiger growled but subsided.

"Right," Morning Glory said, standing tall before the chimera, glaring defiantly up at it, despite the beast outmassing her by at least three or four times.  "I don't know what you expected to get away with, but you must leave."

"This is our home!" cried the goat's head.  "A chim's gotta eat, amiright?"

"Which is well and good until you tried eating ponies.  If you had actually killed anypony, you wouldn't be here to have this conversation.  You're lucky you failed.  And now you have to leave."

The chimera managed to look a bit bashful as it dug at the ground with one massive forepaw, then the tiger's head said "But where will we go?" while the goat's head said, "But ... where will we get our cheese?"  The two heads glared at each other.

Morning Glory's face went through several emotions - confusion, bewilderment, indignation, and then amusement, before finally settling on exasperation.  "You should have thought of that before you tried spicing your meal with ponies!  You brought this on yourself.  BUT!"  She held up a hoof, forestalling any argument.  "Tell you what.  I'll give you one more chance.  You do have to move - but I'll let you stay in Equestria.  Find someplace to live in that Fire Swamp we fought our way through - learn the ways of that place.  Guide ponies through it safely, and you can charge them cheese for the service."

"Exiled?" asked the tiger, looking stricken.

"If it makes you feel better to call it that."

"I don't want to live in the fire swamp!"

Morning Glory slammed the point of her blade into the turf, face angry, but her voice low and quiet.  "But you do want to live.  This isn't a negotiation."

The chimera paused, the heads glanced at each other... the goat glanced back at their snake-headed tail.  "He's gonna be angry when he wakes up and finds out."

"Yeah, but he's always angry.  Sounds like the best deal we'll get."

Heads hanging low, the chimera moved off towards the distant swamp, which occassionally lit up the night with a gout of flame.  Morning Glory stood tall, watching the chimera slinking away, until it was out of sight.  Then she sagged and clutched her rib cage, letting out a low, pained groan.  "Sweet Celestia, that thing hits like an avalanche..."  She curled up around her aching ribs for several long seconds, then slowly and achingly straightened out, spread her wings, and took off into the sky.

The clearing lay quiet for several more moments, and then three dark pony figures emerged from the deeper shadows.

"Did you see that?!" cried the smallest, her voice excited.  "Bam!  That tree just shattered!  And she took it!  Why didn't she kill the monster?"  She reared up and kicked her forehooves at the air in eager triumph.

"Because she's not a war-crazy idiot like you," said the largest, a beefy stallion.  "She's interested in justice, not battles.  She's got experience."

The third shook his head.  "No.  She was clumsy with that blade.  It was pure luck that she ended up with it in the chimera's mouth at the end there - she was just as surprised as it was."

"Do you ... who do you think she is?" asked the largest, cautiously.  "I've never seen such a small alicorn.  I mean, there's really only supposed to be two of them, right?"

"Maybe she's Luna reborn," piped up the smallest.  "She's doing the job, right?  Like, when The Nightmare took over Luna's body, and was banished, maybe some small piece of her goodness escaped the exile, and she's trying to keep on with the good fight ... but all the fighting experience went with The Nightmare?"

The other two groaned in exasperation.

"I don't know who she is, but it seems we won't be getting into a fight tonight, after all.  We should head back to the tavern."

"We should tell Captain Deadeye about this!"

The medium-sized stallion slapped his hoof across the back of the young mare's head.  "You stow those horseapples, kid.  There's no more Nightguard, and if there's no Nightguard, then there can't very well be a Captain of the Nightguard, can there?"

The mare rubbed at the back of her head with a sullen expression.  "Nopony's out here this late at night.  Nopony can hear."

"I bet that alicorn thought nopony was around to see when she finally let on how badly hurt she really was."

The mare looked around, suddenly more wary and uncertain.  "Right.  Um.  We should ... tell Old Mare Deadeye about this.  Bet she'd find this story interesting."

"There's hope for you yet, rookie."

Three pairs of bat-wings spread wide, and three dark shapes took off over the treetops, their shapes swiftly lost to the night.  After several more minutes, the sounds of the forest finally started up again, and peace reigned once more.

The day rose bright the next morning, and ponies were soon up and about.  In the Thoroughbred Savings & Loans sat Bravado, a young grey stallion with a dusky blue mane* who was a student at the local university, arguing with an older stallion in a suit.

( * Editor's Note: Bravado is the civilian identity of Morning Glory, True Friend, but you already found that out in Issue 1! )

"But this is a STUDENT loan!  I thought I wasn't going to have to pay it back until after I graduated!"

"That's not true, Sir.  You also have to begin repayment in the instance that you drop below half-time at the university or drop out entirely.  As such, you are arrears."

"But I'm full time *right now*!  I turned in the paperwork and everything!  You guys even know this because you sent your collections letter to my address at the university dorms!"

"I'm afraid we do not have evidence of your current enrollment in our records, Sir, and as such, you are required to begin repayment of loans immediately."

"Look.  OK.  You lost my evidence of enrollment form, so let's -"

"Oh, no, Sir, we have the form, but not the evidence you were supposed to include with it."

"Fine, so you lost my evidence of enrollment-"

"I'm sorry, Sir, but you have failed to submit it along with the form."

Bravado gritted his teeth and let out a frustrated hiss.  He briefly got an urge to step outside, use his amulet, and then come back to deliver some very appropriate justice to this officious pony, but got that impulse under control.

Hold on, Bravado.  I'm a bit familiar with paperwork and paper pushers.  Repeat after me.

Thanks, Doc.

"All right," Bravado said in a tight voice to the bank representative.  "So can I see that form, please?"

"Of course," said the suit, pushing the paper across the desk for Bravado.

"Ah, yes, here we are.  Your employee signed - no, wait, that's your name, isn't it?  You personally signed right here, confirming that I had submitted all required documentation - including my evidence of current enrollment, which - "

"No, what happened -"

"STOP interrupting me.  Which means that by the paperwork you have right here, and of which I have my own copy, I did indeed submit my evidence of current enrollment - and FURTHERMORE, this means that you lost it, and my personal information is floating around somewhere for anypony to pick up, in clear violation of your guarantee of security for said information.  And as the final sign-off on the existence of this private information, it is your sole personal responsibility to determine its whereabouts or thus be in violation of our contract."  Bravado thumped his hoof against the desktop in punctuation, and gave the bank representative a knowing look.

Wow.  Well spotted, Doc.  Thanks!

No problem, Bravado.  I hate these sort of obstructions to my research.  You just have to make sure to bring it around back to them.

The bank representative started sweating.  "Ah ... right, so, as I was saying, I'm willing to work with you - we can avoid late fines and immediate repayment if you can simply furnish a duplicate of your proof of enrollment."

Oh, joy, days of working through university red tape.  Let's try this instead.

"Which still doesn't deal with my personal information being in the wind.  Tell you what - I'm willing to work with you.  I'll go get myself a nice leisurely lunch, which should give you time to locate ALL my paperwork and provide evidence that this bank has not been negligent with my information."

"Oh, it's actually almost time for my lunch, too, so -"

Bravado leveled a glare at the pony in the suit, who wilted a little.

"So ... "

Don't say anything, Bravado.  Just keep up that glare.

"Soooooo ... I suppose I'll have to get right on that if I want time to snag a bite."

"I'm so glad we understand each other."

Wow, Doc!  You're amazing at this!

Your problem is that you're too used to being a kid.  Adults still have that air of authority to you.  To me, that jerk is just an unruly young colt.

Right.  So ... lunch.  I suppose I could waste a bit on a veggie dog, right?

Those things are no good for you.  I swear they don't change that water but once a week!

That's what's makes them so delicious!

Bravado, wait, look behind you!

The pegasus turned to look, but he missed whatever the Doc had been looking at.

What was it?

That group of ponies who just went into the bank?  They put on masks right before heading in!

A bank heist?  Whoah.  Um.  Should I ...

Of course you should!  Quick, into the alleyway!

Bravado followed Doc's order, slipping between the buildings and pulling the amulet from around his neck.  He'd never used the amulet without the the Call to Justice driving him, and he'd not had an opportunity to practice his powers except in the heat of battle.  Still, that strange impulse that drove him to transform had left him with at least the knowledge of how it worked.  He lifted the amulet above his head, and it glinted even though the alley was dark.

"For Loyalty!" he cried, "for Justice!  And for Equestria!"

The light glinting from the amulet shone brightly, wrapped around him.  He floated up off of the ground, turning slowly in the air, as bands of light wrapped around his form.  He swelled, growing a little bigger, his form growing feminine.  Her wings flared to an impressive wingspan, she turned a half-rotation, and a light shone from her forehead, then swelled out to a long horn.  Another half-rotation, and a light shone from her flank, settling in as the rising-sun cutie mark of Morning Glory.  The amulet disappeared from her hoof, then, and the light at her horn spread out to cover her head in the distinctive helm.  The light settled around her chest, formed into a breastplate.  Around her hooves, forming into the distinctive boots.  Along her flanks, turning into the skirts of her uniform.  And then the rising sun cutie mark flashed, and settled into the center of the breastplate, before Morning Glory settled back down to the ground, her wings spread, her head low, and a fierce, ready grin on her face.

Inside the bank, a dozen ponies in masks had spread out, some with swords, some with ice-crossbows, threatening the civilians who were cowering in the corners.  One pegasus in the center didn't have any weapons, but was obviously the one giving the commands as he strode around confidently.

Suddenly, the skylight shattered, and down from above came Morning Glory, surrounded in a nimbus of light from the shining sky.  "Attention, everypony.  I am Morning Glory, and this bank robbery is over.  Surrender now, and you won't get hurt."

The head of the thieves unexpectedly grinned.  "Well, well," he said.  "The stories are real.  A new alicorn.  I was rather curious how I'd do against one of you."  And suddenly his form disappeared into a puff of dark purple smoke that flowed swiftly towards Morning Glory.  

She tried to strike at it with her forehooves, but she passed through the smoke like it was nothing.  The smoke swirled around her, coalesced right above her, and a powerful kick from a pair of back hooves hit her right in the back of the skull.  Morning Glory stumbled forwards, her horn glowing briefly, but he was gone again, and the next kick came to her long horn, disrupting the spell and making her feel queasy from the shock.

The pegasus formed out of the smoke on the far side of the room, his dark cloak blowing wide.  Underneath, he was wearing a snug grey leotard with dark red streaks suggesting smoldering embers, and he twisted an anklet made of some dark metal around his wrist.  "Nice to meet you, Morning Glory.  You can call me Smoke."

[AzalR75]

This post brought to you by actually being hit enough times to be knocked out for a round.

[AzalR75]

Oh and Kirby, I have been reading the rules on Fate Core (Been really wanting to play in a game of it) and it has Fate Points, rather like Hero Points. Don't know how the two compare, but the rules actually addressed to the GM something about that, in that if fate points are given a fair amount, they're more likely to be played, and thus lead for more awesome things (that said... the gm baddies have fate points too, so the economy of fate points are always being thrown around) Just a thought to give you.

 

I admit being stingy on my points like this usually as well. The reason they got used this time was a combination of not realizing how few there were and thinking I was about to get murdered if I didn't move this turn. Was before Morning Glory came back in and distracted XP

 

 

and Bramble... yea... I don't have words. Fralling amazing when you write stories.

[Bramble Rose]

Every issue you actually reset to 1 hero point. So it's not actually worth it to store them up from issue to issue.

But thank you very much for the compliment. *^_^* Your building up of the Nightguard history and culture there inspired me for part of that.

[Blueblood]

Wait.... hero points?  I must have missed that whole thing...

[Kirby Krackle]

You didn't miss it. I didn't throw it. I'm not a good DM...

[RazorWind]

Hey all, I'll post soon! Sorry, been busy this week ><

[Bramble Rose]

No worries.  We kinda gotta figure out what happens to the bad guys first, anyway.   

[Kirby Krackle]

I'm trying.

[Bramble Rose]

I know, it wasn't a comment aimed at you.  You've been busy!

[Kirby Krackle]

Make the cats go away.

[Kirby Krackle]

OKAY. PHEW. That took... a lot. Anyway. I'm relatively sane at the moment. Yes. Thank you all for your patience! I'm trying my darnedest to keep up with that time limit I... kinda imposed on myself. Thank you all for putting up with me. It should please the court that some of the things eating up my time are 1) the second story arc and 2) Curtain Call's side comic ala Bramble's Arcane Comics.

 

With any luck, I can put together a story as well as he does.

 

Thank you for your time.

[RazorWind]

Well I shall post Dusty's action, but it seems Quil already has attacking Maxie covered.

Oh well, I now have a few hero points I didn't know about so, may as well pop one to ensure that massive iron smack of the gods will hit something.