OK, I explained this to Rob, but I'll repeat most of it here for posterity...
The KHEX (short for Katie Hannon Express) Task Force is a popular "farming" task force for all levels, as one of the reward options for finishing the Task Force is a Rare recipe out of the Tier 3 drop table (Task Force only recipes). The contact for the task force is no other than Katie Hannon, a member of the Cabal who's been having severe problems with RedHats for about the last 400 years or so. She needs the heroes to help her out. She hangs out under a huge gnarled tree pretty much due north of the Croatoa train station, about .6 miles or so.
To access the task force (i.e. initiate it) there are two requirements. First: the person "launching" the task force must have unlocked the Katie Hannon contact through a series of 4 short story arcs in Croatoa (Flambeau Noir did this). Second: A minimum 6 person team, levels 30 through 50 are needed. Anyone below 30 on the team will not allow the task force to start. People above Level 34 are auto-exemplared down to Level 34 for the duration of the task force. Most folks try to load up on an 8-man team, since it makes a couple of the missions easier.
The task force is a series of 4 missions, each with a different goal. I'll discuss them in sequence, but it's important to note that since this is an "express" task force, speed is of the essence. An average run is less than 30 minutes start to finish, usually around 22-24 minutes if done correctly.
Mission one is simple. The team is asked to defeat Mary Macomber (an AV witch). The entire team, save one person, stays put. That one person who volunteers or is designated travels to the mission location and "fails" it, thus opening the next in the series. The mission site is a glowing circle of mushrooms east and slightly south of the task force starting point under the gnarled tree. The mushroom circle is near the river, but on the top of the embankment. To "fail" the mission, one person enters the mission and then immediately leaves (by clicking on the mushroom patch in the mission where you spawn).
On to mission two. The team travels pretty much due east across the river. There is a cave just to the left of a plaque near the river's edge. All team members enter the mission. Inside, is a series of caves. The goal for this mission is to free a captive witch being detained by RedHats. The key to this mission is to find her and free her in the minimum amount of time. Sometimes that means someone lays down group invisibility and everyone rushes in. Most times people with stealth and/or SuperSpeed just sneak/streak in and search for her. The other option is pretty much only for Tanks like me... We just run in and keep running. Redhats will attack you, but if you keep running they disengage. If you are a AT without stealth or a means of avoiding combat, you STAY PUT in the entrance to the mission. It is not frowned upon, it's encouraged. When someone finds the spawn keeping the witch hostage, they call out and start "arresting" them. Once the spawn is down and the witch is free, the mission is immediately complete (you don't have to lead her out). Everyone exits pronto and moves on to the next mission.
Mission three is very straightforward. Clear Katie's home of unwanted guests. The mission is in the southeast base of that gnarled tree your task force started under. It's just a short hop back across the river from mission two when you exit. This mission is filled with RedCaps and the team just chews through them as fast as possible. Tanks lead, Scrappers lock up the bosses, etc. Once all the RedCaps inside are defeated, the mission is complete and everyone bails out. Everyone contributes on this mission to take down the RedCaps in the shortest amount of time. It's not a very big map.
Mission four is the last and most tricky of them all. After exiting mission three, the team travels NorthEast to a mushroom circle on the other side of a ridge near the zone border. Once inside, ONLY flying characters proceed across the map. All others stay at the entrance. This is important (I'll explain). The goal of the mission is to free Katie's soul that is trapped by RedHats between three mystic pillars. The "trick" to this mission is getting her back to the exit without fighting a bazillion RedHats along the way. The way to do this is flying characters move across the map above the spawns below and then drop in on the pillars. Once the three pillars are destroyed, Katie's soul attaches to one player (she looks like a regular witch). ALL people at the pillars IMMEDIATELY jet straight up, as a RedHat spawn will swoop in immediately once she's free. If you go straight up, she'll be out of range and won't aggro on the RedHats (once she does, she doesn't let go of them until all RedHats in range are defeated, which sucks since while she's out, additional spawns keep rolling in on her position). Once in the air and out of range, the heroes gain maximum altitude and head to the entrance. Players at the entrance gear up, as RedHats will be rushing the position as Katie arrives and will likely need to hold them back for a minute or so. Once Katie is near the exit, the mission and task force completes and everyone participating is given the option to pick a reward. The first choice on the list (that nearly EVERYONE picks) is the rare recipe. Grab it and exit the mission.
That's it. Four missions, all in the same zone, with a fight in only one mission really. Quick and easy if everyone knows what to do. In the mission Rob and I ran, one guy screwed the last mission up bad because Katie's soul followed him and he started attacking RedHats. Once the rest of the team figured out what was going on, it was a grinding non-stop melee to get her to the exit. A 8 minute mission took close to 30 minutes. People were less than pleased.
Anyway, that's the scoop. Feel free to indulge. I use in on Flambeau to work the market and burn off debt accumulated while soloing outside. It's a fun change of pace, but not for everyone.
Cheers!
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Saturday, June 30, 2007
How To: The KHEX Taskforce
Invention Salvage Explained
There are two kinds of invention salvage: tech, and magic. This distinction has NOTHING to do with which characters can use that salvage in their recipes, nor which recipes they can make. The distinction between tech invention salvage and magical invention salvage relates only to which loot table (or tables) any given NPC uses.
Whether defeated NPCs drop tech invention salvage, magical invention salvage, or a mix of both, is determined entirely by their faction:
* Magic Only: Banished Pantheon, Cabal, Cap au Diable Gremlins, Carnival of Souls, Circle of Thorns, Fir Bolg, Ghosts (Croatoa), Hellions, Lanaruu, Minions of Igneous, Psychic Clockwork, Red Caps, Rularuu, Slag Golems, Snakes, Spectral Pirates, Tsoo, Tuatha de Danaan, Wailers, Warriors.
* Tech Only: Arachnoids, Cage Consortium Guards, Coralax, Council, Crey, Devouring Earth, Dockworkers, Family, Freakshow, Gold Brickers, Hydra, Infected, Knives of Artemis, Legacy Chain, Lost, Luddites, Malta, Mooks, Nemesis Army, Outcasts, Paragon Police Department, Prisoners, Rikti, Rogue Isles Police, Security Guards, Shivans, Skulls, Sky Raiders, Spetzsnaz Commandos, Trolls, Turrets, Vahzilok, Wyvern.
* Mixture of Magic and Tech: Arachnos, Clockwork, Ghosts (ghost ship), Longbow, Scrapyarders, Void Hunters.
Within each type of invention salvage, there are three levels of rarity: common, uncommon, and rare. Within each combination of rarity and type of invention salvage, there are three "tiers" that correspond to different level ranges, which I am calling tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3. You can see this variation in the order in which salvage is listed on the consignment house. There are 6 types of salvage in each tier, rarity, and type, and they are clustered together. So, for example, of the 18 kinds of common tech salvage, the first six are tier 1, the second six are tier 2, and the last six are tier 3. They are, in the order they're listed at Wentworth's and on the Black Market:
Tech Common:
* Tier 1: Human Blood Sample, Inanimate Carbon Rod, Computer Virus, Simple Chemical, Brass, Boresight.
* Tier 2: Improvised Cybernetic, Inert Gas, Scientific Theory, Circuit Board, Stabilized Mutant Genome, Iron.
* Tier 3: Kinetic Weapon, Temporal Analyzer, Ceramic Armor Plate, Hydraulic Piston, Silver, Mathematical Proof.
Tech Uncommon:
* Tier 1: Mutant Blood Sample, Heavy Water, Daemon Program, Chemical Formula, Polycarbon, Scope.
* Tier 2: Commercial Cybernetic, Corrosive Gas, Scientific Law, Data Drive, Mutant DNA Strand, Steel.
* Tier 3: Energy Weapon, Temporal Tracer, Titanium Shard, Pneumatic Piston, Gold, Chaos Theorem.
Tech Rare:
* Tier 1: Alien Blood Sample, Enriched Plutonium, Source Code, Complex Chemical Formula, Plasma Converter, Heads Up Display.
* Tier 2: Military Cybernetic, Reactive Gas, Conspiratorial Evidence, Holographic Memory, Mutating Genome, Impervium.
* Tier 3: Photonic Weapon, Chronal Skip, Rikti Alloy, Positronic Matrix, Platinum, Synthetic Intelligence Unit.
Magic Common:
* Tier 1: Ancient Artifact, Luck Charm, Clockwork Winder, Spell Scroll, Spiritual Essence, Runebound Armor.
* Tier 2: Masterwork Weapon, Rune, Demonic Blood Sample, Alchemical Silver, Ancient Bone, Spell Ink.
* Tier 3: Nonmelting Ice, Fortune, Ruby, Demonic Threat Report, Regenerating Flesh, Spirit Thorn.
Magic Uncommon:
* Tier 1: Unearthed Relic, Temporal Sands, Clockwork Gear, Volume of the Obsidium Liborum, Psionic Ectoplasm, Soulbound Armor.
* Tier 2: Ensorcelled Weapon, Symbol, Blood of the Incarnate, Alchemical Gold, Carnival of Shadows Mask, Living Tattoo.
* Tier 3: Unquenchable Flame, Destiny, Sapphire, Psionic Threat Report, Bleeding Stone, Thorn Tree Vine.
Magic Rare:
* Tier 1: Lament Box, Strand of Fate, Psionicly Charged Brass, Page from the Malleus Mundi, Psionic Manifestation, Symbiotic Armor.
* Tier 2: Deific Weapon, Empowered Sigil, Black Blood of the Earth, Enchanted Impervium, Mu Vestment, Soul Trapped Gem.
* Tier 3: Pangean Soil, Prophesy, Diamond, Magical Conspiracy, Essence of the Furies, Hamidon Goo.
You have a chance to get invention salvage whenever you defeat any NPC that cons green or above except for Underlings and Objects. This includes times when you are exemplared or malefactored down to a lower level, including times that you are auto-exemplared such as in PvP zones or when you're a member of a task force.
According to the developers the odds of getting invention salvage are: minions 8%, lieutenants and snipers 10.64%, bosses and elite bosses 25.00%, and archvillains and monsters 43.22%. Which tier of salvage is dropped is determined entirely by the level of the NPC you defeat. The tiers work like this:
* NPC level 4-19: Tier 1 only.
* NPC level 20-25: Mixture of Tier 1 and Tier 2.
* NPC level 26-34: Tier 2 only.
* NPC level 35-39: Mixture of Tier 2 and Tier 3.
* NPC level 40-54: Tier 3 only.
Note that this information was taken from InfamousBrad's post on the forums (see link at http://tinyurl.com/28j6kj)
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Friday, June 29, 2007
End Game Foes
You know, last night I started to reflect on the Rularuu and general level of danger present in the Shadow Shard content we experienced. In a way, the somewhat insane lethality that they represented makes sense...
When you get close to the level 50 cap for characters, it would make sense that since you're not going to be running into +5 mobs, that the +3 mobs you run into are more powerful. I was exceptionally surprised by the various "tweaks" that the Rularuu showed in fights. Specifically, their AI was a LOT less stupid than most of the foes we fight. They tended to scatter and run around, making targeting difficult. Other than Brutes, the Wisps, Natterlings, and Observers didn't hang around. They flew, circled, ran and came back, and otherwise just made it a pain to get at them. The Wisps were perhaps the most terrifying enemy Mantlet has faced after the Master Illusionists. Their Psy attacks had a DoT component to them, they healed and buffed the spawns, and they hover, so knockback/knockdown has virtually no effect on them. It was very exciting, as Mantlet hasn't been "pwnd" like that in quite a while.
In a way, it's too bad. The rest of the mobs we face on a regular basis (Council, Freakshow, etc.) seem downright dim-witted in comparison. The more sophisticated AI and pace that the fights took place at definitely took some getting used to.
We'll have to go back. Now more than ever, I am convinced that Mantlet needs to start building Impervium Armor enhancements for his Resistance powers. Their set bonuses offer BOTH Psy Resistance and Defense. With his Invulnerability passives, I have a LOT of sets I can slot up with these... Damn expensive though. We'll see.
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Mantlet's SG Uniform
Pictures attached. Some slight modifications to Orleans' costume to accommodate Mantlet's big noggin. (See main body of post)
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Thursday Night Highlights
Here they are! (pictures attached in main post)
Great night guys, tons of fun. Thanks for a great session : )
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Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Orleans' SG costume
Pics of the suit in flight. And some alternatives
As promised, detailed pics of my costume. (Lots)
The pictures don't really require any commentary. Click to enlarge.
The colors stay the same throughout.
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Shadow Shard
This is a freaky, scary place.
(Click pictures to enlarge. The pictures, that is.)
This is what you see when you enter.
I put on my "heavy suit," just in case.
Once I figured out how to get out of the firebase, I went to "The Chantry." One of the first things you see are these nasty bitches.
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Ideas for 6/28/07 Tight Night
And yet another week's adventures in Paragon City draws near. How will Apotheosis rise to challenge the rampant villainy plaguing the streets of the battered metropolis? What shining heroes will emerge from the fortress of justice that acts as their base of operations? Tune in Thursday at 7:00PM for the riveting continuation of... APOTHEOSIS RISING
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Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Fire God for an Evening
There are a few times in CoH where I actually get to FEEL heroic. Playing Tanks a lot, that also plays into certain times where you FEEL like the comic references you have seen over the years... Charging in, near indestructable, throwing cars and standing solid in the middle of the swirling melee like an unstoppable juggernaut. Last night I had one of those moments...
After the kids went to bed last night, I had an opportunity to jump online for a while. Amy was out with her mom doing "girl" stuff, so it was a rare treat to get a little unplanned CoH time. I logged into Flambeau Noir and after a couple bum teams, went to Founders Falls and built my own. In short order, we had (not counting Flambeau): An Ice/SS Tank, a Fire/Inv Tank, Spines/Regen scrapper, a AR/Dev Blaster, a Fire/Rad controller, a Dark/Dark Defender, and a Empathy/Archery Defender. Solid team.
So, since I was the leader, I started picking missions in Founders on the radio (boring I know, but hey). The first one I picked was a Council mission set on Unyielding (+1/+2 mobs, but lots of them) and we set off to the door to fire it up. Inside, the first room we came to had (I kid you not) about 30 council standing and sitting around. Even for an 8 man team, that's a LOT of enemies, and they all conned +2 (orange/red/purple) to me. The rest of the team was about L37 as well, so it was pretty well balanced that way.
We started with a standard Tank rush on the spawn and suddenly, I was in 7th heaven. Mobs everywhere were clustered around me like glue, virtually ignoring the other Tanks while I spammed my AoEs in sequence and torched a nearby boss with single target attacks. And all the while, my health bar barely moved. I looked at my status bar, and the only buff running was Accelerate Metabolism from the Controller. SWEET! The rest of the mission, I was diving headlong into spawns of 20 or more council and not only surviving, but mowing them down like grass before the scythe. It was incredible. In retrospect, Council are something of a "sweet spot" enemy for Flambeau. They are vulnerable to fire, tend to cluster in one spot, and tend to deal Smashing/Lethal damage (which Flambeau is highly resistant to with his shields and Tough running).
For the next 6 missions, I was like some sort of flaming Superman. The team was actually dumbfounded and started cheering me on throughout the missions, presumably because we were raking in some incredible XP at the pace we were chewing through the spawns. One mission I actually asked permission to try a new manuever and ran off from the starting point, dragging about three spawns with me by taunting and using my taunt aura. I had an entire hallway of council stacked like they were trying to get into a college kegger. And I was in the middle of it, flaming away with everything I had. The hilarious part was when I got done, the Ice Tank who had been kicking back watching with the rest of the team said "Holy Shit. I was watching your Endurance bar the entire time. It didn't move, and your health barely dropped... What the hell?" I explained that I had AM running thanks to the Controller and that I had been cycling Consume (large AoE, drains endurance from foes to fill your blue bar) along with the rest of my AoEs. It's a high point for a Fire Tank's toughness and damage output to be looked at in awe by an Ice Tank (one of the tougher Tank primaries in the game by that level with the layered defenses). I was having a freaking FANTASTIC time of it. The team actually started teasing me about leaving some for the rest of them, but since we were all raking in the XP, it was all in good humor.
At the end of the last mission, we all were on a "high" from the great mission runs, and all of us had leveled during one or the other. I got a lot of very nice compliments as the team broke up and some private tells that I had been added to their Friends lists. Overall, as a Tank, the night was a complete success. I protected the team, had a great time, and kept the pace of the missions up so everyone was earning XP and having fun at the same time. It was one of those rare pick-up-groups where everything clicked, even their appreciation of my corny humor (usually you guys are the only ones who "get" the references). I know that the buffs and support from the team contributed and made possible my feeling invulnerable, but in turn, everyone seemed thrilled that their individual contributions were resulting in such a rewarding and productive set of missions.
It's hard not to be happy with a set of missions like that, especially since Flambeau saw the big yellow "Level Up" at the end of the last mission of the nite. It was the perfect end to a great evening. I only regret that you guys weren't there to share in the festivities. : )
Thanks for reading the rant, I'll see y'all on Thursday.
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Next best thing
I was going to post Orleans costume schematics, but I failed to realize that Print Screen does not take a screen shot while within the costume editor. It's now too late to go back and do it right, so you'll have to be satisfied with a new look I've got...
Sometimes you find yourself needing that LITTLE bit of extra protection.
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Monday, June 25, 2007
Hot Time in Founders Falls
So I saw Rob online last night for a spot. Kids were in bed so I rolled Flambeau Noir over to Founders Falls and joined a small team with Specimin, a Spines/Regen Scrapper I got chummy with over Double XP weekend. Together, they make a damn fine AoE team.
Our tactics are for Flambeau to hop into the middle of the spawn clicking Fiery Embrace (+100% fire damage attacks) and then spams the AoEs... Combustion first (since it has the largest radius), then Fire Sword Circle (the enemies slammed by Combustion are closing to melee range and are within the smaller radius of FSC by this point), with Blazing Aura ticking away in the background. After the first AoE goes out, Specimin hops into the spawn and fires off Spine Burst with Quills running. The resulting spew of damage numbers over a decent sized spawn is "impressive".
We wound up running a great mission, one of those ones in the huge outdoor cities with the parking garage in the center area. It was Flambeau, Specimin, a MA/Regen Scrapper, and a Fire/Kin Controller who was Exemplared down to our level (friend of the MA Scrapper, apparently). It was big fun launching myself headlong into swarms of Devouring Earth and flaming everything in sight, including "Terra" a HUGE (like 3 times the size of a normal DE Boss) green Arch-Villain. He was big tough for the 4 of us, since he was a +1 AV. Took a while to whittle him down to size...
Anyway, figured I'd share. Cheers!
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Sunday, June 24, 2007
Apotheosis Character Backgrounds
This will be a post just for us to collect the character descriptions from our many toons in one place.
I guess we should do one toon per comment. We know them, but if ever others join our sad little addiction, it will help catch them up. Character name first, followed by class, you may put power set types if you like, and then the text from our in-game I.D. Cards description fields. If you're into it, each person should post his own.
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Apotheosis Fiction
I thought it only right to include the fictional pieces we'd written to boost our graphic novel style appreciation of the game.
My name is Billy and I live on the 27th floor of Pride Towers in the corner apartment with my Mom and my Uncle Jed. I’m 12 years old and I have a disease that makes it hard for me to walk. Doctor says too much time on my feet builds up spinal fluid that could make me die. It doesn’t stop me from watching you from my windows, though. You guys are my favorite heroes. One time you went after the Clockwork gang on my roof and I could look at you so close when you went passed the window that I could read your badges. That was cool.
Anyway, I wanted to say thank you for all the hard work. You have inspired me. I’m really good in English. Got a 100% record for my vocabulary tests. The only extra credit I ever missed was for the word ‘inspired.’ I didn’t really know what it meant until today. See, last night I watched you guys team up again. I stayed on my stomach in the window box just squinting as hard as I could to make you out down there in the street. It looked like you had some hard fighting, that’s for sure. Then Mantlet, you went home , and Orleans, you went out the city zone gate. Cacophony, you flew up by my window and I started to cry. I could see the bugs coming out from under your armor and the green seeping from your skin. I knew the fight must have been hard, but I had no idea it would give you the Vazhilok disease. It must be eating you up inside, sapping all your power. I wondered if you told the others. Then I started thinking about my disease and how much it hurts me. I couldn’t watch one of my heroes wither away like that. The way I figure it, the only way to get better is with a strong circle of friends to watch your back. I would like to be one of those friends.
By the time you read this, I will have walked all the way to City Hall on my own. I am going to fill out that paper that officially makes you guys a team, even if it ends my life. I’ve seen you guys work together. You are good for each other, even if you don’t know it yet. You need each other now more than ever or Cacaphony might die. I know you guys aren’t the types to want your names in the paper or have big statues like the old timers. You are just about protecting kids like me, all the way down to the back alleys. That’s why I’ve decided that my last act on this Earth is going to be a heroic one. I am going to go there and fill out that paper for you. I hope I can sneak it into the pile. Thank you. Thank you for showing me everything I ever wanted to see and for teaching me what it means to be ‘inspired.’ I wonder if there is extra credit in heaven.
Sincerely,
Billy
He swore he could still feel it, the reverberations in his solid breastplate, tingling still from the final blow Mr. Shin had deigned to land. Mantlet, a thickly clad hero on the rise in Paragon City had vanquished many an evil-doer in these once urbane limits, but felling Mr. Shin was different. It was as if Mantlet had come of age in a generation of inexplicable titans, now better able to count himself among them. It felt...good. Mantlet scarcely understood the new wellspring of emotion threatening to pound its way through his armor. His was a life of servitude and selflessness, a man dedicated to the people, born of a singular cause. One lawbreaking foe was usually no different than the next, a line drawn in proverbial sand separating right form wrong, work from duty. Mr. Shin lay flattened, lifeless, all about him the corpses of those who would defend him. His secret lair, doomed to be sealed off for good, would be as close as this villain would come to a coffin, but somehow, he was mysteriously undefeated. Perhaps, in death, Mr. Shin did triumph after all. His criminal empire crushed, the terror he struck in the hearts of citizens, erased, the last remaining candle that burned in homage to his deeds burned deeply on within his very executioner. Prevailing over Mr. Shin should have been a task like any other. Yet, the spark of joy that pressed from the deed to the bosom of the doer might well have been Mantlet's fatal chink. Was it not wrong to LIKE killing?
Cacaphony remembered his first implants. His introduction into the world of the hearing was not without its social dilemmas and headaches of all kinds. The experimental implants of his teen years interpreted input in monaural tones. As a result, he was hard pressed to understand human emotions as expressed through voice. The lilt in children's laughter might as well have been tortured women screaming in agony. The hums and whirs of the world came to him as mundane cadences without spirit or art. These days his heroic deeds are woven into the history of the city, but back then, his greatest triumph was overcoming the madness set to ensue from the musical monotony of the undeaf. Technology was not to better him, without first he bettering himself.
In Cacaphony's present, those memories are all but shed, along with his Christian name, the family he loved, and a happy, silent past that knew nothing of Rikti. Today, his is a range of hearing sensed beyond several spectra of sound, and returned ten-fold with the speed of inward thought. The chills set in his spine at the true din of a human scream led him to a hero's path. The consternation set in his gut at this new change in his partner's tone, leads him now to a path of fear. It was no wonder the memories began unburying themselves.
Little was said as those last breaths left Shin's body. It was suddenly quiet, a once familiar quiet to the defender, an altogether stirring quiet for his tank. Cacaphony could sense the change in Mantlet's inflection, even if Mantlet could not. There was a seed of contentment, even thrill to Mantlet's exasperated words, all be they few. Mantlet had languished in the shade of Cacaphony's trust for all these daunting months knowing that his devotion to duty put the mechanized warrior at ease. He knew the unwavering focus with which he dispatched justice sounded almost robotic to the people, but to Cacaphony it sounded percussive, familiar, a flashback to a world of monotones and midi levels. Mantlet's was always a balanced approach. Today, for merely a moment, that had changed.
"Partners to the end" was always a certainty among true heroes. For every grain of heroism that fed their thankless battles, there was a hundred times the solidarity lacing their friendships. Heroes are demigods of teamwork above all else. They are the "best" moniker in the very concept of best friends. Yes, "partners to the end" should well have been printed on every hero's back. Now, for the first time in everyone's ever, this dyad had to ask themselves, "to what end?" Cacaphony did not mention the change he'd heard in Mantlet's voice, indeed a change in his otherwise unyielding soul. Mantlet cast aside the notion of discussing this new feverous pleasure in watching a fiend expire. Both knew there was no slipperier slope for a hero than to LIKE the tasks set before him. Tales tell of super villains hold up in parts unknown that came to be amidst this exact lapse in judgment. In a moment, Shin's was not the only heart that had stopped beating.
Together, and silently, the two took to the streets. They hunted wrongdoers at random at a greater pace than they ever had before, Mantlet to prove to himself the existence of flukes, Cacaphony to bring the team's work back to the forefronts of both minds. If it was a practice in denial, it was so to the benefit of Paragoners everywhere, foe after foe dropping as if spit by the sky. Every landed blow, another excuse to ignore what both had perceived, and what every hero fears. The valorous deeds looked little different to the eyes of passers-by, nothing unexpected even for the likes of insiders, a budding blaster named Silver-Suit, a side kick called Pussiewillow. Nobody noticed a thing. Nobody said a word. And like this the duo of Mantlet and Cacaphony began to navigate their uncertain futures through the zones of Paragon City.
Behind her the bubbling pings of another transported hero echoed throughout the tiled space. His reflection in the retractor looked a little like Statesman, but maybe that was just Sally's flair for nostalgia kicking in again. She'd gotten used to the sounds as if they were white noise. There had been so many heroes stomping through here since the gangs were on the move again. It was like they were getting more organized, growing in numbers, maybe even casting aside their differences to fight together, perhaps even under the influence of some darker force afoot in the city.
Again, the pings bubbled up, this time Sally taking a cursory glance over her shoulder to see Rickey Jackson, ex-football great turned super, rush past her in a whoosh. He'd been coming here since his playing days and though she wasn't on a first name basis with the tanker, she surely knew his file inside and out. Dauntless, Jackson only managed a half wink in her direction, as much of a wink as one could expect from a diesel locomotive, before blazing back out into the frenzied streets. Sally heard his elevator hit ground floor when the next hero buzzed into the rings, and did very much the same as the last.
Sally called maintenance one more time, this time on the intercom, booming over several floors, and then settled into doing charts. A couple residents had been arguing the finer points of extubation with a crop of first years, but it all blended into the everyday rush of heroflow and patients' families trying to pass the time. Ping, there went Pussiewillow. Boing, Maverick behind her. There was a burgle sort of sound as three transporters blazed up at once sending through Steel Blossom, Black Ice, and a none worse for the wear Flux who'd thought his fighting days were over. If chart time was going to be like this, Sally was going to need some coffee.
Her chair scraped more perturbedly than usual on the tile as she made for the dispenser in a single, full-body gesture. The retractor vibrated ever so slightly on the desk as it sensed both the chair and her footsteps making away. Ping, a lesser known Cacaphony anatomized almost in her way and further stressed Sally with that little awkward moment that is the dance around an unknown defender. Always polite, Sally silently excused herself, as if the intersection were her fault, and half spun around the hero's left leg to arrive at her destination, Java Jetson. Then, she heard something she hadn't heard in all her years of working the ER. It came from the hero...and it was a cough.
Almost glossing over the familiar sound of the cough altogether before realizing it came from who it did, Sally shook a little, dropping the paper cup back onto its stack and turning 180. She stopped the defender from running directly out with a simple grasp of his arm.
"You there. Hero. What's your name?"
Cacaphony answered only with a cryptic, "Not what it used to be."
Sally, pressing, urged with, "You'd better come over here so I can take a look at you."
This was the first time anyone had ever stopped Cacaphony in the hospital. His impetus was always to run out without even managing a hello. Sally couldn't see a shred of skin or expression under Cacaphony's fully protective duds. She did, on the other hand, know he was sick. Her diagnosis was less from the cough, and more from the way the black and red clad stranger sort of swayed a little from side to side, unbalanced. It couldn't have been anything physical. The transporters had been programmed with the absolute bulk of medical knowledge the planet had to offer, most contributing doctors to the project still on staff here in the zone. It had to be something else, something bad. Before she could motion him to a chair, Cacaphony coughed a second time, and as if embarrassed, ran out silently into the setting sun. Little could Cacaphony know, his very fate was about to take his place under Sally's care.
The radio crackled to life with a static facsimile of an EMT's voice calling out to Sally from a mile away. Sally rushed to the transmitter.
"ER, go ahead Jester. Over."
Again the static and then with boosted gain, "Incoming code red, minor, approximately 13, no pulse, not breathing, pupils dilated and unresponsive! Found him collapsed in the lobby at City Hall, maybe five minutes! Med tags say acute meningitis, histoplasmosis, allergy to Demerol. Chest compressions two minutes in, CPR, running a unit, heparin, antifungal 2ccs, antibiotic spectrum. I.D. s^&FFFFS, Over."
Sally retorted, "Say again Jester. You're cutting out. Say again, I.D., Over."
"School I.D. matches bracelet. Name Billy Sawyer. Try to find the parents, Sal' fast! We're three minutes out. Over."
Sally again, "Billy Sawyer. Copy. ER Out."
Greetings From The Rogues Isles
Dear Mom and Dad,
I guess you've heard by now that I've broken out of prison. I hope the Feds haven't been hassling you too much. It really wasn't my fault. This guy came into my cell and told me I had to leave. He was in this crazy uniform. I thought it was the army or something. Turns out, it was "or something". I really don't know how much I can say about it, but they think I'm really special. So don't worry too much. I'm doing just fine. And if they ask you any questions about "Lokhead," well, that's what they call me now. It's a long story.
In fact, I made some friends here already. Here's a picture of me and my friend Jimmy.
This was taken while he was on duty. He doesn't carry that thing around all the time!
Here's another one of my friend Tommy. We were just checking out the scenery on Mercy Island.
You might notice that I look a little different. As you can probably guess, that's another result of the accident. I don't know how much they told you, but apparently all the guys at Lockheed and NASA were right. Dark Matter and liquid oxygen will NOT make a good alternate propulsion system. But we wouldn't know for sure unless I tried, right? And if it hadn't been for the storm knocking out the generators and the containment units failing, I still think it could have worked.
Which brings us to the point I really wanted to talk about. We never really discussed what happened in New Orleans East. What with the storm and the feds and the army hauling me off, it was hard to get around to it, I'm sorry. I should have explained. First of all, it was blown WAY out of proportion. I mean, the place was pretty messed up to begin with. Sure, I helped things along, but come on! It's not like anybody was going to be living there for awhile anyway, right? And nobody let me tell my side! It's not like I was in my right mind. I mean, I was pretty upset at just having been blown up. Not to mention all my work. And the fact that I continued to blow up over and over again was a little disconcerting, as well. (I'm sorry about the garage, too, by the way) So I went a little crazy. Who didn't, right? Is that a reason to treat me like some kind of criminal?
But I guess it doesn't matter. What happened, happened. I know this has been hard on you, especially you, Mom, and I really wanted to say I'm sorry. Let everybody know that I'm doing okay, I'm working with some really good people, and as soon as I figure out how to get some money out of here I'll be sending a little something to help out, okay?
By the way, you don't have to worry about me blowing up, anymore. The company that runs the prison finally figured out a way to make a suit (the one in the picture) that keeps everything under control. So if you get a chance, you can even come visit and we won't have to worry about anybody getting hurt this time. Tell Uncle Harry I'm sorry about that, too.
I love you very much.
Frankie
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