sawtooth forever ago

<Carly|Evan> Evan manifests the gem in his hand, directs the energy towards the fortress wall, and at maximum power. He tosses it carefully. ||
<Nick|GM> ...
<Nick|GM> The gem clinks off the sloping wall, and falls into the snow at its base. Nothing happens for a few seconds, and then the same inky black tendrils erupt from it, all pointing towards the wall, searching for a grasp on the cold, smooth metal. ||
<Nina|Max> ...
<Nina|Max> With the distraction of the tentacles, Max drops the cloth coil on the ground behind her and begins to manifest a creature. ||
<Nick|GM> ...
<Nick|GM> The tentacles keep grasping at the wall. They don't seem to be able to maintain a grip on the featureless surface.
<Nick|GM> Meanwhile, Max's minion grows slowly, emerrging from and wrapping itself in the bundle of rags. ||
<Nick|GM> -||
<Nick|GM> "Well, it doesn't look like your power's better at this than any of ours," says Backdraft. ||
<Carly|Evan> ...
<Carly|Evan> Evan sighs, slightly disappointed. "Damn." He turns and notices Max's creature manifesting, his eyes growing wide. ||
<Nina|Max> ...
<Nina|Max> Max sees Evan looking and crosses her arms, unresponsive. ||
<Nick|GM> ...
<Nick|GM> The thrashing tentacles are drawing the attention of most of the people there, but Backdraft, looking at Evan, notices the creature growing.
<Nick|GM> "Is that your power?" ||
<Carly|Evan> ...
<Carly|Evan> -...
<Nina|Max> ...
<Nina|Max> Max makes eye contact with Backdraft, (or thinks she's making eye contact, not recognizing that there is a mirror blocking her face) and slowly nods her head. ||
<Nick|GM> ...
<Nick|GM> The tendrils work at grabbing the thing, but they seem to be kicking up more dirt and snow than anything.
<Nick|GM> Backdraft looks at the growing creature, and noticing, so do the other people there. ||
<Nina|Max> ...
<Nina|Max> Max feels a little nervous at all the eyes on her, as her creatures have been the only ones to ever make an appearance. She clenches her fist a little and patiently waits for the creature to grow. ||
<Nick|GM> ...
<Nick|GM> Before the creature can get bigger than a toddler, Evan's tentacle bomb implodes, sucking dead grass, dirt, and snow back into the gem before the gem fades into the ground.
<Nick|GM> It's a violent display, and the crowd is suprised if not shocked, but the only visible effect on the fortress is a general dirtying. ||
<Carly|Evan> ...
<Carly|Evan> "Well, at least we know it's not immune to dirt." Evan says with a smirk.
<Carly|Evan> ||
<Nick|GM> ((roll social))
<Carly|Evan> $roll 2h6+1
<[ATM]> Carly|Evan [5] (5) +1 = 6
<Nick|GM> ...
<Nick|GM> The joke doesn't seem to go over well, even though Evan's delivery was, in his mind, on point. Backdraft frowns and crosses her arms. ||
<Carly|Evan> ...
<Carly|Evan> Evan is a little offended by how poorly his joke was taken. Bunch of hard asses.||
<Nina|Max> ...
<Nina|Max> Max chuckles at Evan's joke and continues to wait for the creature. ||
<Nick|GM> ...
<Nick|GM> An awkward silence ensues, with Evan, Max, Backdraft, and one of the other capes staring at the growing minion. The other four turn back to the fortress. ||
<Carly|Evan> ||
<Nick|GM> ...
<Nick|GM> Max's creature eventually reaches the full size. It turns its face towards her, eerily silent. ||
<Nina|Max> ...
<Nina|Max> Max turns to face the creature.
<Nina|Max> "Hello lovely," she mumbles, grinning.
<Nina|Max> She gestures to the fortress, and makes a motion to, in her words, fuck it up. ||
<Nick|GM> ...
--> FossilLord (uid191092@hathersage.irccloud.com) has joined #WDSawtooth
<Nick|GM> The creature strides over to the fortress. It isn't fast, but it's long legs make the short distance even easier to cross.
<-> FossilLord is now known as FossilWork
<Nick|GM> It plants it feet on the ground, and the ground noticably attaches to its feet. It takes a small step forward and plows its shoulder into the sloped wall.
<Nick|GM> $roll 1d6+5 L. Brawn
<[ATM]> Nick|GM "L. Brawn" [6] +5 = 11
<Nick|GM> The fortress wall bends in at the force of the impact. The metal dents noticeably.
<Nick|GM> As the creature gets back up into a normal stance, however, the wall slowly returns to its original position and state.
<Nick|GM> ||
<Nina|Max> ...
<Nina|Max> Max grumbles, annoyed that the damage didn't last. ||
<Carly|Evan> ...
<Carly|Evan> Evan raises his eyebrows at the dent. These things were strong. He made a mental note to never get on Max's bad side. "Well... there's got to be a way for  Dread Ax to get in and out. Maybe we're going about this the wrong way."
<Carly|Evan> ||
<Nick|GM> ...
<Nick|GM> "You'd think, right? Problem is, no one's seen her outside this fortress since she got here. We have footage of her entering, but the wall just sort of opens up for her and then closes after she's in," says the other cape who'd been hanging out with Backdraft. His costume is white, with blue stripes crisscrossing in every direction. ||
<Carly|Evan> ...
<Carly|Evan> "Huh. A tinker made this right? Is there no record of anything like this," Evan gestures to the giant fortress, "happening before?"||
<Nick|GM> ...
<Nick|GM> Taking interest in the conversation, one of the other capes walks up. His costume is dark purple and gray, with angular patterns, and he has a sleek helmet instead of a mask.
<Nick|GM> "Yeah, there have been other Tinker fortresses," says blue stripes.
<Nick|GM> "The problem is," chimes in the new addition to the conversation, "they're all different, just like the Tinkers who make 'em. At least this one doesn't fly." He shakes his head, apparently remembering something. ||
<Nina|Max> ...
<Nina|Max> Max walks over to Evan and taps his shoulder, shifting a tiny bit back from the crowd. ||
<Carly|Evan> ...
<Carly|Evan> "Sorry, just a sec," Evan says to the capes. He turns to Max. "What?" A terseness creeping into his voice. ||
<Nina|Max> "I can summon more," Max speaks quietly, "Have them all line up and hit the wall one right after another, see if it makes a difference."
<Carly|Evan> ...
<Carly|Evan> -...
<Nina|Max> Max looks around uncomfortably, before bringing her attention back to Evan. "Any idea what the hell I should call myself?" ||
<Carly|Evan> ...
<Carly|Evan> "I don't know! Call yourself the Big Friendly Giant. Fits perfectly." Evan says, slightly irritated.
<Carly|Evan> "I'll talk to the capes about your idea. We can try it out." He finishes.||
<Nina|Max> ...
<Nina|Max> "You know what buddy? Fuck you." Max crosses her arms. "Fuck you and your attitude. I will talk to them myself."
<Carly|Evan> ...
<Carly|Evan> "Hey," he looks around, making sure no one is close enough to eavesdrop.
<Nick|GM> ...
<Nick|GM> The other capes are close enough that they could probably hear, but they seem to have started discussing Tinkers they know amongst themselves, and aren't paying attention to Max and Evan's sidebar. ||
<Carly|Evan> ...
<Carly|Evan> Evan lowers his voice to a whisper. "Hey, Max, we have to be careful. We want these capes on our side, at least to help us get through the wall. They might have information that could help." His voice is more apologetic now, as he realizes his mistake in irritating her. ||
<Nina|Max> ...
<Nina|Max> "Ok, then help me pick a goddamn name that isn't a dumb name for a dumb child's book so that we can communicate my idea with it being fucking awkward, capisce?" Max whispers angrily. ||
<Carly|Evan> ...
<Carly|Evan> Evan sighs. "Maybe... umm... I really don't know, I'm not that great at coming up with stuff on the fly. How about Orion? Goes with your space theme." ||
<Nina|Max> ...
<Nina|Max> Max thinks for a moment. "Yeah ok, sure. Orion. That's fine." ||
<Carly|Evan> ...
<Carly|Evan> Evan motions for her to approach the capes with him.||
<Nina|Max> ...
<Nina|Max> Max follows Evan to the group. ||
<Carly|Evan> ...
<Carly|Evan> "Orion thinks they can try to hit the wall with a whole bunch of the monster... things." Evan says, slipping the name into the conversation as causally as he can.
<Carly|Evan> "Maybe that would, like, overwhelm the tinker's power in some way."||
<Nick|GM> ...
<Nick|GM> "Well, it's worth a shot. We've done something a bit similar, before, just whaling on it with all our powers that could move it at all. If we want to do an all-out assault, though, we should get the Kiel Foundation capes here. They've got some heavy hitters," says Backdraft.
<Nick|GM> She turns to the unpowered, unmasked man in a suit. "When's a good time for your capes to come out?"
<Nick|GM> The man replies, breaking off his examination of the fortress.
<Nick|GM> "In about half an hour is the soonest. Should I tell them to come by?"
<Nick|GM> "Does that work for you two?" Backdraft asks Max and Evan. "And Terrorbird?" she glances back at one of the other capes who hasn't been part of the conversation so far. ||
<Carly|Evan> ...
<Carly|Evan> "Ya, that should work." He confirms, with a glance at Max.||
<Nick|GM> ...
<Nick|GM> "I'm not doing anything else," says Terrorbird. ||
<Nina|Max> ...
<Nina|Max> Max nods at no one in particular. She looks past the capes and makes a gesture for her creature to come stand next to her as they wait. ||
<Nick|GM> ...
<Nick|GM> Her minion does as she bids, and looms over the assembled group.
<Nick|GM> "OK, Mr. Hammond, do that," Backdraft says. "Looks like everyone else can be here." ||
<Nina|Max> ...
<Nina|Max> While they wait, Max builds two more creatures out of cloth, leaving one coil intact as a backup. ||
<Carly|Evan> ...
<Carly|Evan> While they wait, Evan makes some small talk with some of the less hero-ey capes present, then decides to stay next to Max.||
<Nick|GM> ...
<Nick|GM> Evan learns that the three mercenary capes here are the West Company, and that they've dealt with kill order capes before. Weatherman, the cape in gray and purple from before, is the leader, and he has a shaker power that makes ash and crystal fall from the sky. Terrorbird jumps high and falls hard. Consonance has a mysterious Thinker power. She's been focusing on looking at the fortress to try and learn about the Tinker who made it.
<Nick|GM> |||
<-> Antioch is now known as Antioch|Evie
<-> ColdGold is now known as ColdGold|GM
<Nick|GM> In a little while, Evan and Max see a van pull up on the nearby road. Four capes come out of the van, with some of the most impressive costumes that they've seen outside the top-tier of Portectorate capes. The man in the suit walks up to Xolla, the leader of the team. She's well known to most Coloradans as a kind and generous cape, and she's done lots of impressive things. She helped stop a wildfire last summer that threatened a few mountain towns, and, along with the other capes in the Kiel Foundation, stopped the old Pueblo gang "New Anarchy" from expanding their reach into Colorado Springs.
<Nick|GM> Xolla and suit guy talk for a few seconds, and then Xolla leads the other three capes, less well known but still popular, down to the fortress, where everyone else is waiting. ||