HF RPG 2.0
hf 2.0
IC: Markus Vex - Underground Lake Shore.
"I've only got bombs and knives, you know that," he replied gruffly, "and I'm not seeing any ropes just conveniently lying around, so I guess you gotta hold on tight and wait it out. Or let go and enter the sweet embrace of death. Either option works for me."
OOC: True, but in that particular case, two objects/people/whatever are usually also provided as points of reference for comparison somewhere in the conversation in order to convey that what's being said should be taken at face value. When used as an idiom, however (which seems to be the case here), it's generally accepted that the two phrases are synonymous with one another, hence rendering it somewhat futile to point it out as a mistake no matter how improper the literal wording technically is, as both terms are considered to be correct.
So in short, what I'm trying to say is that we're now essentially having an unnecessary discussion OOC over what is basically a moot point, and people should have the right to choose which one best suits their writing style without needing to be called out for it because of someone else's personal preference. Otherwise, players would be more open to doing the same for words and suffixes as well (ax/axe, gray/grey, and -ize/-ise are just a few that come to mind) when instead, they could simply focus that time instead on playing and enjoying the RPG. 
....people should have the right to choose which one best suits their writing style without needing to be called out for it because of someone else's personal preference.
Agreed.
IC: Wilbur Flood - Dropship
He slid to the hatch, thankfully remaining on his feet. He'd have to be careful not to slip out of the ship. He pulled his gloves on and grabbed onto a bar on the wall, and slapped the door release with his other hand. He unholstered his blaster and fired some carefully aimed shots on the remaining Flyer Beasts.
~
IC: ??? - Following His Heralds Into The New Beyond
While the Hero was bickering with what was presumably his friend over the comm., he was edging towards the hole dug by the beasts. He knew the Heroes knew he wasn't Makuro- the one with him hadn't even seemed concerned that his creator had nearly been sucked into a death pit. There was no guarantee they wouldn't immediately arrest him once they were in the city. He didn't have any outstanding warrants, but since the real Makuro was around in some big fancy conference, they probably didn't want to take chances. Even if they were just going to question him- he doubted they'd actually charge him, and he hardly faulted them for taking precautions- that was some time off the street he'd rather not have.
The beast from earlier was friendly enough, and it seemed to have found an alternate exit. Even if the light coming from the tunnel definitely wasn't the right tone for sunlight, it went somewhere. Possibly somewhere radioactive, but at this point, he'd take his chances. If he got back to the city for his gig, he'd have enough money to pay for any repairs.
He scrambled up the hole while the Hero's back was turned. It was pretty easy to climb, luckily, and he soon reached the other end of the tunnel. He kept out of sight, in case there was something nasty at the other end, and peered into the cavern beyond from his hiding place behind a stone outcropping.
He froze.
This didn't look good. Maybe he should have stayed with the Heroes.
~
OOC: Look, you dangle a Glowing Tunnel of Dastardly Deeds in front of me, I'm gonna want to shove a character through it. There was no avoiding it.
Upon reflection, this may not have been wise. But it had to be done.
OOC: I will agree to disagree simply because you are right in your statement that this conversation doesn't below in an RPG.
IC: Good Cobra Shard! - Not Evil Anymore
Shard awoke to find himself basically scrapped and with only a few minutes of life left in him. His quaza meter read 1% and was flashing crimson. "Help..." he gasped weakly.
OOC: Why do I consistently get my characters into fights they can't possibly win? First Drift vs. T. Pecs (he didn't stand a chance), then Shard vs. a whole boat full of flyer beasts ("Bad move, Neil"), and then Shard vs. Nex of all people. I need to find a fight where I can actually WIN sometime. 
GM IC TRAFEROUSTraferous was baffled as to how Kavok was going to control a flint igniter with a remote controller, but he shrugged and pulled a refrigerator away from the wall, revealing a stairway up to the ceiling. "Need help carrying those?" he asked Kavok. "This is just a shortcut."He was starting to wonder if this whole thing was a ploy to get him to reveal all of his resources, and not really about getting him what he needed.
IC: Kavok Quake
He found five small levers with a remote signal and a controller. He went downstairs and put the lever near to the button which ignited the flint.
"This will activate the lever thus igniting the flint."
"He put the lid down on each of the canisters.
"Lock and load."
He said with a blank expression on his face.
IC: FOCUS [HERO FACTORY]
"Lead the way then," Focus said. "Find us a spot, and let's set up the trap."
OOC: Okay, so I keep being unable to make time to post, so I'm technically going to let Xiphias be in Zippy's hands at least for one or two posts.
In other words, Zippy is dragging my hero by the metaphorical ear and dumping him at the boat.
OOC: *Hands shake with the effort of not making Billade tell dumb jokes*
IC: Xiphias Billade - Finally Joining Team Will
The best way to describe Billade's current mood was a mix of frustration and deep-seated annoyance. Gladius was quiet where he was resting against Billade's side, but grunted as he was bonked against the Hero's hip a little too hard to be an accident.
~BZKT~ Xiphias, stop being so immature. You're denting my face!
"You got us lost," Billade seethed.
~BZKT~ Look, I said I was sorry, didn't I? Give me a break here, it was one mistake. How often does that happen?
Billade glared hard forwards, and the witty retort he was planning froze on his vocaliser. He started gunning his turbines, aiming for a dark shape on the water's surface. Gladius piped up, happy for the distraction.
~BZKT~ A boat, huh? And I'm picking up Hero signals all over the place here! Mind the spinny bits on the end of the boat, Xiph.
"First," Billade snapped, "I've told you about calling me 'Xiph'. Second, thanks, but you know as well as I do that this isn't my first go-round."
~BZKT~ Wow, someone's grouchy. Get up on the wrong side of the recharger?
Billade did not bother with a response, instead speeding for the side of the boat.
IC: Echo - Hero Factory
Echo nodded and began walking in the direction of the nearest hangar. The "poetic justice" approach of dropping a ship on the killer seemed the best course of action. A hangar would give them room to maneuver, ships and speeders to get the bait out of danger once the trap was sprung or provide heavy firepower if things went south, walkways as vantage points to observe, and plenty of security systems to take advantage of. "This way."
IC: FOCUS [HERO FACTORY]
"Follow us," Focus ordered, exiting the room behind Echo.
GM IC TRAFEROUS
"Good," Traferous said. He looked over at Night Stalker.
IC: Night Stalker
"If we're pressed for time I can make my compound later. If not, could you show me where the lab is?"
IC Kathrine:
"Th-There's not time!" I said, laying him on the ground. "I'm gonna give him an emergency power transfer from my own core!"
I pulled the appropriate wire and hooked it to myself, trying to mentally prepare myself for a large power loss.
This mission was going south just as fast as the last one.....
IC: Stupid Cobra Shard - Why WHYYY
Shard didn't even feel the wires being attached to his core. He watched, helplessly, as his life drained out. The power meter slowly faded from red to white. His HUD began to dissipate. The seconds thudded against his aural sensors.
5...
4...
3...
2...
IC Shade - With Mr. Makuro:
Shade was behind Mr. Makuro while turning himself around and around in an attempt to keep track of everything surrounding him. He had nearly blown his cover a few times already as a few bots bumped into "nothing." Shade had always hated crowds. If he had been one of the prototype assassins back in the day, it wouldn't have been so nightmarish. Hordes of bots made for one of the top hiding places for visible heroes. For a predator making use of a cloaking device, however, a crowd would quickly expose the "bubble" created.The dropship was a welcoming sight as Shade drew nearer to it and then, hopefully, a refreshing break from escort duty would soon ensue.
IC: Jason Ferro- Flyer beast's back
Jason turned his attention to the skies, firing at the two flyer beasts who had attempted to attack him earlier.
IC Kathrine:
"Initiating power discharge! Stand clear!"
Energy surged from my Core into Shard's. This was risky, for both parties, really. There was always a risk of one or both hero's cores shorting entirely. But when it worked, it could keep a hero from the brink of death.
IC: Mr Vyle - Conference Room Second Floor.
Pushing through the crowd of jostling media people, he peered out the window to get a better look at what was going on.
It seemed the Brain Master hadn't taken too kindly to the hero's intrusion, and had sent the very same brains Vyle had brought with him to attack the crowds outside the conference. Interesting... teleportation at play once again...
OOC: Ooohh...
What would happen if I had Shard's core explode in a fiery ball visible from space?
OOC: The brain master would laugh.
But that's somewhat unrealistic given the situation, and it would probably kill Kathrine, so I'd have to null it.
IC: Wilbur Flood - Dropship
His eyes widened at the Beasts. "Uh, Furno? We may have attracted some unwanted attention. Be prepared to make evasive manoeuvres!"
He tried shooting at those in range of his blaster, but any that flew under or behind the ship were out of sight and unable to be aimed at. Though it was too high up to reasonably do so, he still tried to aim for the brains. He certainly didn't want to hurt the beasts, but they weren't close enough for that to be reasonable.
OOC: Only Kathrine?! No no no, I'm talking Stormer, the civilians, the brains, maybe Mr. Makuro, and a good part of the conference hall too. The whole lot of them! (Obviously I'm joking)
It seems really sad to kill this guy off on his first mission though, so I'll just go ahead and revive him.
IC: Cobra Shard - Narrowly Avoided Catastrophe
Shard's systems crackled horribly as a fresh surge of quaza tore through his system and revitalized his destroyed body. The blank white infinity that had clouded his vision reduced to a shimmering fog that allowed him to see concerned faces, another Hero, and sunlight.
He was alive.
For now...
GM IC TRAFEROUS"Good," Traferous said. He looked over at Night Stalker.
IC: Kavok Quake
"Plant these wherever you wish. But remember there is only five for now. I would happily fight with you but I have more experimenting to do."
OOC: Rylinth, waiting on you to determine where Echo is leading us
IC: Wilbur Flood - Dropship
Flood had to pause for a moment to grab the wall with both hands so he wouldn't fall out, but managed to steady himself. He fired more shots, aiming for the brains. They were closer now, so he had an easier time of it.
~
IC: ??? - Glowing Hole
He ducked under the staff and immediately decided this was not the place to be. He scrambled away, back down the hole. The possibility of a couple of days locked up was looking far, far better than the alternative.
The Hero was still there, on his communicator. Perhaps he hadn't noticed his absence?
IC: Jason Ferro- Flyer beast's back
Seeing that the remaining flyer beasts would most likely be taken care of, Jason again turned his attention to the ship's deck, where he saw the Splitter beast had recovered from his earlier barrage of gunfire. Ferro took aim at the creature(s)?, intending to put both brains out of commission.
OOC: Was about to post anyways, but thanks for the reminder none the less. =P
IC: Echo - It's a Trap!
Echo led the group into Hangar Four-Four-Bravo and began his evil plotting. There were three entrances, the one they had come through, another one farther down the wall, and a maintenance door that led to an adjacent hangar. The room contained only five ships at the moment, four dropships and one hulking gunship. Trolleys, carts, cables, fueling tanks, scaffolding, ladders, hoses, tools, and anything else you might expect to find in a hangar bay were scattered everywhere, lending the entire area a sort of "industrial messy" look. A quick glance at the ceiling would show that most of the panels were closed, but several were open and huge mechanical arms powerful enough to lift the ships were extended towards the ground. Catwalks rimmed the room high above and a few crisscrossed in between the arms and cables that hung down from the roof. This was the place where they would trap this killer.
Echo took advantage of the nearby terminal and hijacked every security system in the room. Cameras were fed false displays, sounds systems were fooled into playing the wrong audio, turrets were reprogrammed to target only who Echo told them to, and all the doors were locked tight. Anyone trying to see into the hangar would perceive nothing of their operation.
"Block of all the exits except one. We're going to create a choke point so the killer has to come in the way we want him to. You three," he said, gesturing at the Focus Fans, "Need to get on that fueling cart. When he comes in, we'll use it to pull you out of harm's way. Focus," he turned to the other Hero, "I'll need your help designing a system to capture him, or, if that won't work, take him out. He somehow burned Vale, so I'm guessing he's equipped with an illegally modified plasma launcher or a fire-based weapon of some kind. What do you suggest we do?"
IC: Anamnesis - Library.
"What?" He cycled through the camera feeds, confused. He'd been tracking the group as they made their way into a hangar, and then the cameras had gone into a loop, his quarry vanishing into digital fuzz. "Why?" He couldn't understand it. The distinct lack of a security team closing in on his location meant that they clearly weren't onto him, and it seemed like a rather abrupt leap in logic for them to suddenly assume they were being watched.
He waited for a few minutes, but saw no sign of the group exiting the hangar. Taking note of the number, he closed down the computer with a strung-out curse,and headed for the hallways. He couldn't risk going in blind to what was probably an ambush; he needed to figure out what was going on with those cameras. And he knew exactly who to ask...
GM IC TRAFEROUS"That's where we're headed. Follow me." He looked over at Kavok Quake. "You're coming with us?"He presumed that Night Stalker already knew the way out. If he didn't, Traferous would enjoy himself watching his pathetic attempts to escape. But he doubted that he would have that enjoyment.
IC: Kavok Quake
"I really shouldn't, I have more experi-"
Then he froze and remembered what an old friend said to him
"Don't show them fear, someone has to start the fight against them"
He turned around
"Ah who cares, I'm in enough trouble as it is!"
IC Shade - With Mr. Makuro:
He had nearly blown his cover a few times already as a few bots bumped into "nothing."
GM NPC CITIZENS (NEAR SHADE)
Shade's stumbling into people caused them to flee in terror away from him, clearing Mr. Makuro a path through the crowd.
OOC: I suppose the term "nearly blown cover" has room for bots to notice where Shade is and clear a path for him. He won't complain though. 
IC Shade - With Mr. Makuro:
Apparently, the couple bots that had run blindly into Shade had caused enough turmoil that the others in the crowd stayed clear of the invisible wall and left a path between it and the dropship. The bots abstained from the aisle they had created long after Shade had caught up with Mr. Makuro and Stormer. Directly behind the inventor, Shade began to survey the area to see if anything was out of place.
OOC: Incidentally, about how much in-game time has passed since Shade last recharged?
IC: FOCUS [HERO FACTORY]
Focus shrugged. "We're working with far too little information. I say we wait for him to show up and then ambush him. You'll be able to detect him - hopefully before he detects us - and my equipment should be sufficient to defend and retaliate."
OOC: Just to be safe, I calculated Shade's remaining power using the time lapse of 1 hour 30 minutes. That puts him at 70.44% total power right now.
IC Shade - Investigating Dropship Intruder:
Shade stalked towards the figure to determine if it was a hero or not. An assassin that takes things for granted is not a long-lasting one.
IC: Echo - Hero Factory Hangar
Emily Sharp and John Flak had by now welded the maintenance door shut and pushed a huge fuel tank against the door they had come through. "All finished, dude!" Flak said, pushing his cap farther back on his head.
"Good, now get on the cart. You can drive, right?"
" 'Course I can!" Flak jumped up into the cart and the other two targets climbed in the back.
Echo turned back to Focus. "I can find him exactly when he arrives, but I'll have to run echolocation nonstop, so if he comes in fast, you'll have to cover me while I shut down the sonar."
GM IC ??? ("POHATU")
The mysterious figure abruptly ducked back into the conference hall and backed up several feet. He tensed, waiting for an attack. There was too many enemies on the other side of that door. Not only that, but he had just seen his own death at the hands of an invisible being that he couldn't see.
Inside, he might have a chance. It was too many variables for the Sight, but he would chance that over certain death.
IC: Xiphias Billade/SMASH
"Okay! Remind me again! We don't kill the hosts right? Just the brains?"
~BZKT~ What kind of question is that? Of course we don't kill the hosts!
"Yeesh. You didn't have to yell!"
~BZKT~ Of course I have to yell! You have DOZENS OF TURBINES IN YOUR BODY MAKING TONS OF NOISE!
That was too loud for his sound receivers and Xiphias recoiled by literally flipping the **** out of the water This action inadvertently caused him to whack a flyer beast out of the air and into the water. He fell back into the water, and had to recollect himself.
"Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow! Okay, let's just forget this and beat some stuff up, kay?"
~BZKT~ Okay! Let's execute the dolphin fire maneuver!
Billade used his thrusters to propel him upward and out of the water, and as he made the serene drop back in, he fired a couple of blasts from Gladius at the brains on the low flying beasts. Just in case, he set the lasers on stun to prevent seriously injuring the beasts. He just need to hurt the brains. He repeated the action as he kept up with the ship.
GM NPC BEASTS (NEAR BILLADE/FERRO/FLOOD)
Stunned, several flyer beasts fell out of the sky near Billade. Hopefully Flood would see Xilphias below.
The boat pulled up to a dock on the other side of the ocean. A bunch of civilians fled the area, while others pulled out swords and blasters and advanced on the boat, heading for the beasts.
OOC: I have made an effort to update the profile list in the first post:
GM fishers64's profiles: Traferous Diafianous (V), Fravi (V), Adam West (V), Tracia Tartonles (CV), 78 East (V), Dan Barker (CV)
Approved Profiles:
Please feel free to point out any profiles I missed, and make fun of me for missing them, again.