Incendiary Lass

Atsegine was so grateful for my help she gave me access to her personal library. She keeps her library in a magically disguised apartment in Steel Canyon, which is pretty convenient for me these days. Its a decent-sized library. A lot of great books I've heard about but have never had a chance to read.

In particular, I found a copy of Hulgerth's Guide to Movement Spells. Very interesting. I need to try out some of the spells now that I'm spending a lot of time running back and forth through the various Paragon City neighborhoods.

While I was in Steel, I managed to chat with Wilson Zucco. He had a lead on a warehouse where the Skulls were storing a stash of Superdine. My investigation into magical phenomena in Paragon City is at a bit of a standstill right now, so I agreed to look into it. Besides, I need to get more experience battling those dark energy-handling lieutenants they have.

A couple of Skull missions and a Clockwork mission and Lass made it to level 12. My personal preference for travel powers is Fly, so I had been planning to take Hover. Some interesting discussion on the Tanker forum persuaded me to take Air Superiority, instead. Also, now that Lass is level 12, she can pick up a few DO's. 'Course, she can't afford many, but I wanted to get some Endurance Reduction DO's to see if they would help with my End problems.

I did some basic swag-math to see how beneficial they'd be. CoH Planner tells me my net end gain with TI+UY running is 0.92 end/s. With an attack chain of Scorch-AirSup, its a loss of 2.15/s vs. 2/s - that's 13.5 attack cycles vs. 15.5 attack cycles before full end drain. Not really a big difference. Of course, this is all pretty rough.

I will say, after doing a mission with Air Superiority, I regret not looking into it sooner. I've replaced Brawl with it in Power Slot 1. Its pretty quick, not too costly, and the knockdown affect is nice. It doesn't do great damage, but at these levels, i'm not doing great damage anyway. I'm kindof regretting not picking it instead of Fire Sword at lvl 6. If I had done that, I could have picked up Swift to start towards Stamina already.

Another Paragon Protector Snapshot

I was digging through my snapshots and found this one ... don't remember including it in my journal entry back when Bunny and I were battling Paragon Protectors, but I thought it was a good one.


Forgot I had this picture. This was from a few days back when Bunny and I were battling Paragon Protectors.

Incendiary Lass

Word from Incendiary Lass:

I took the cloak I found to Azuria and she's going to examine it for me. While I was there she gave me some surprising news. Atsegine had been kidnapped by the Hellions. Some upstart named Burnscar. Since I already had some sense these events were all connected, I took off immediately to Kings Row.


Finally got a good shot of Combustion.

It was a simple matter to find the abandoned office building and it was easy to penetrate the Hellions' defenses and work my way to where they were holding Atsegine. Burnscar was another matter. It brought back some horrible memories of my fight against the Damned in Perez Park. Thankfully I was able to take him down.


Fighting Burnscar

I found Atsegine in an office under the guard of two easily corralled Hellions. She told me the Hellions were asking her questions about the artifacts in the MAGI vaults. She also mentioned a Warrior leader had been there earlier in the day to meet with the Hellions.


Freeing Atsegine

I've heard some vague rumours about the Warriors, but I ddidn't think they frequented Kings Row. I thought they stuck more to Talos Island. If there's anything you can tell me about them, Tiff ... I'd appreciate it!

I think its been a while since I updated Lass's progress. She's lvl 10 now. Clearly she has Combustion. Here's her current build:

01 : Scorch acc(01)dam(5)
01 : Resist Physical Damage damres(01)damres(3)damres(3)damres(5)damres(7)
02 : Temp Invulnerability endred(02)
04 : Taunt tntdur(04)
06 : Fire Sword acc(06)endred(7)
08 : Unyielding damres(08)damres(9)damres(9)
10 : Combustion endred(10)

According to JoeChott's Hero Planner, her net end gain with TI and UY running is 1.34 end/s.

If Lass sticks to Fire Sword and Scorch, she can basically get two Scorch's and one Fire Sword off in ten seconds. Thats a burn rate of 2.2 end/s. So, she can run through that attack cycle about 11 times before being out of end, which seems about right.

Combustion is pretty much of no use right now. It doesn't do nearly enough damage and it costs way too much end to be useful. Its going to need slotting and DO's before it becomes useful.

ArchVillain Terra

Bunny has been plague by Devoured Earth lately. I've helped her off and on trying to rescue Tanya from Hamidon and his minions. Apparently, Bunny's attempts were largely unsuccessful, and Hamidon was able to tranform Tanya into a giant Devoured called Terra.


Bunny and I taking on ArchVillain Terra

So I got a frantic call from Bunny early this morning while I was munching on my bagel and scrambled eggs, "I'm about to board the train to fight something really bad and I need your help." Needless to say, I tossed on my boots and flew out the window to join her.

By the time I arrived, she had already scouted out the terrain and knew where Terra was. It was a simple matter to defeat a few of the milling groups of DE minions on the way, and we thinned out the crowd around Terra a bit before engaging the big beast.


Take _that_, Terra! 

Terra was a big one! I never got a chance to meet Tanya before she became Terra, but Terra was the biggest Devoured I've fought to date.


Victory after a long hard battle 

Its nice having the "twins" around (Bunny's singularities), because with them and Bunny, Terra barely got to move. I got hit a few times and Terra was able to summon a handful of swarms, but a couple Fire Sword Circles took them out easily, especially when Bunny's Fulcrum Shift was active.

Terra took a while to beat down, but at the end of a long fight it was Bunny & I: 1, Terra: 0!

Dragons, Succubi, Crey, and Nemesis - Oh My!

Bunny and I were cleaning the streets this morning when Mystic Dragon called and asked we wanted to team up for a bit. Shortly afterwards, Blu-sucubus joined us and the four of us spent the morning arresting Crey and Nemesis.


Mystic Dragon's foot inserted in a Paragon Protector's mouth.

Mystic Dragon is apparently investigating Crey these days. I didn't catch the details, but he was looking for some information and Invisible Falcon or something.


Fighting Crey with Bunny and Mystic Dragon

Battling Crey is always interesting. There never seem to be just a few of them, and those Paragon Pretectors are certainly tough!


I occupy a small group of Crey while Mystic Dragon picks them off.

After following a couple of Mystic Dragon's leads on Crey, one of our contacts asked us to take a quick trip into a nearby office building to look into some Council activities. Who's going to pass up an opportunity to battle darwolves and big robots!?


Blu joins the fray to help take out some Council.

Ever since I kept that necklace out of Nemesis' grip, they've been dogging my heels, so I thought I'd take 'em down a few notches again this morning. So after we cleaned up the Council, I called Anton to see if he had any new leads on Nemesis. Apparently he was just about to call me. Nemesis had filled a building in Steel with something called a Macroassembler? I didn't really understand what was going on, but it was a chance to go arrest a few Nemesis so I took the team to Steel.


Mystic Dragon and I round up a few Nemsis Jaegers.

Apparently the macroassemblers were going to somehow break the building down into its components and rebuild it to Nemesis' taste. Unfortunately, there were still people inside. Along with a whole bunch of Nemesis.


Fighting a Warhhulk and a few Nemesis with the gang.

In particular, there were rooms jammed full of those Jaegers. They can be tough little buggers! Blu helped us find the last macroassembler and we freed all the civilians.

All in all, a productive morning!

Incendiary Lass

Hey Tiffany! Thought I'd check in again.

Couldn't sleep last night, kept having a strange dream about a magical cloak. Since I wasn't sleeping anyway, I figured I'd call Willy and see if there was any work. Willy said he knew of a gang war brewing between the Skulls and Hellions. A powerful Skull called Marrowsnap was expected to show up. I pulled on my boots and headed to Kings Row.

Nighttime in Kings Row is kindof pleasant. By now I've learned enough that the minor thugs really aren't a danger. Theres something peaceful about running down the streets towards the Garment District, seeing the occassional hero fly or run by.

The gangs were meeting in an abandoned warehouse. I entered carefully and proceeded inside. Marrowsnap must have just arrived, because he was pretty close to the entrance. I could hear fighting deeper into the warehouse, but there were only a couple minor skirmishes before I ran into him.


Incendiary Lass facing down Marrowsnap 

I hadn't realized the Skulls had the types of dark powers Marrowsnap exhibited. His negative energy attacks were certainly able to get past my amulet's defenses. I guess that's another attack I'm going to have to find some way to defend against in the future. I still took him down without too much trouble.


Preparing to combust!


I was surprised to find the Skulls and Hellions were fighting over a cloak. The magic resonance reminded me of a friend of my mothers. I think she was a mage named Atsegine. She and my mother didn't get along very well, but she seemed nice to me.

I'm going to take the cloak to Azuria in the morning to see if she knows to whom it belongs or why the Skulls might have it.

That Darn Nemesis

I've been taking down a lot of Nemesis lately. So it was only slightly surprising when one of my contacts came to me and told me Nemesis had contacted him specifically to dare me to bust one of his current plots. Of course, I suspected it was a trap, but I didn't have anything else pressing to do, and I was itching for a fight.

Incendiary Lass told me about a recent band of CoT she arrested in Perez Park (see the post below). They were holed up in one of the many underground caves. Imagine my surprise when my Nemesis lead takes me to the same cave. Of course, from what Lass told me about her visit, the CoT have done a bit of magical redecorating in the last couple days.


Wow, the CoT did a lot of redecorating since Incendiary Lass was here yesterday.

I get through the door and I'm immediately attacked by a few Air Thorn Casters and Behemoth Overlords. I must be getting closer to the CoT Inner Sanctum, because the Air Thorns are clearly more powerful than the Earth Thorns, and I've been seeing more of them lately. I make easy work of this batch, and head further in.


Scorching a Behemoth Overlord

The caves aren't too extensive, and it doesn't take me long to work my way through them. What a surprise, no Nemesis. I really hate being played for the patsy! That does it ... I plan to personally take down Nemesis and make sure to scorch every last hair on his body! (Yeah, I can do that without causing a person serious harm).


Apparently Air Thorn Casters have a special ability that makes my butt look big.

Gamma Ray Gal at the Tattoo Parlour

I heard from Gamma Ray Gal this morning. I think she must have a "thing" for Sir Jaymes or Zeltyc, because she seems to be hanging around with them a lot:

Hey Tiff! Boy, those Tsoo are tough! Sir Jaymes (BS scrapper) was investigating something about the tattoo process the Tsoo use - something about how it relates to the powers they manifest. He had reason to believe there were a lot of powerful Tsoo hanging out at the warehouse, so he wanted to bring in some reinforcements. In addition to asking me to join, he also brought along Zeltyc (Grav/Emp controller) and severe mary (Katana scrapper), both of whom I've worked with before.


Fighting Tsoo in the warehouse

The warehouse was pretty dark. I think the Tsoo were trying to avoid attracting attention. The place was swarming with them.


Battling Tsoo in a creepy back room.

I had never fought Tsoo before this. Many of them seem to be martial arts experts, specializing in particular weapons. Particularly frustrating are the Tsoo that throw out caltrops. I had to tweak my shoulder bands a bit to reinforce hover mode over flying mode while we were battling these guys. I'm going to have to build some triggers into my gloves or something, as I found it difficult to shift back and forth between flying and hovering. Maybe I can do something to more closely couple the gravity dampening field generators with the propulsion units.


A view from overhead

My shoulder bands operate by generating microscopic magnetic and gravitation fields to essentially perform micro-surgery on biological organisms. Really the same magnetic and gravitic field generators that power my costume's hovering and flying abilities, but on a much much smaller and more refined scale. Boy did my costume get a hefty exercise in this outing!


The Tatoo Parlour inner sanctum

I was knocked unconscious in battle twice during this mission. Thankfully, Zeltyc also possesses some healing powers and he was able to revive me. He also has this nice trick where he can teleport people short distances, so if he escapes battle, he can teleport the rest of us to safety. Zeltyc is a mutant who can manipulate gravity, and i believe this power must somehow involve gravity manipulation. I'm hoping to work with him some to see if i can discover the underlying principles so i can reproduce the effect.

After many long hard battles, we were finally able to arrest Iron Web, the ringleader. It was a tough mission and i learned a lot! Hopefully i did a good enough job keeping everybody battle-ready that Jaymes will ask me to join him and the others again soon!

Incendiary Lass - Combustion

After digging through some of my old spellbooks and consulting with a few friends, I've been able to modify the CoT Mage omega strike spell to suit my magical abilities. Now I'm able to create an expanding ring of flame around me to damage a group of foes surrounding me.


Showing off my new Combustion spell to the Council

I was eager to try out my new spell in battle conditions, so I took a mission from one of my contacts to investigate some Council activity in a nearby wharehouse.


More combustion

The spell still needs to be refined some. I hope to pick up some minor magical artifact to help me improve its power, but it may take some time to do that.

Incendiary Lass

Another report from iLass:
A new contact of mine in Skyway City, Haley Philips, asked me to look into a report that a local fortune teller was kidnapped by the Circle of Thorns. Apparently Corrine, the fortune teller, was able to give a reading in advance that some mage named Lysus would kidnap her.

I was able to track down Lysus to a cave in Perez Park. Boy is Perez Park a dangerous place. I had more trouble reaching the cave than I did in taking out Lysus. There's confluence of minor magical nodes in the park, which appears to draw plenty of ranking Circle members. I'll have to come back when I'm more powerful and try to clean the place up a bit.


Looking for Connie, the fortune teller. 

Really, Lysus' magic was no match for mine. He was able to break through the amulet's protective magic with some of his mind attacks, but i was never really in any serious danger. He tried to hypnotize me and confuse me with his mind powers, but my amulet's Second Circle protection appears to deflect these kinds of attacks.

I did learn a few interesting things watching his spell-casting. The Circle of Thorn mages have an omega attack they like to use, when they sense they are near defeat, they concentrate their remaining magical energy into a burst of power. It knocks them out cold, but creates a wave that would probably seriously hurt a less well-protected hero. I need to research the effect and see if I can make any use of those spell components.

I did better on the way out of the mission, except near the park exit i managed to run into a pair of Hellion Damned. I was able to defeat one of them, but the other one knocked me out cold. I'm going to have to work on mastering the magic necessary to dampen the effects of fire attacks at some point, but its not really on my list of priorities.

Oh, I also wanted to mention ... a few of my contacts have admonished me over what they believe to be severe, err ... immodesty - when it comes to my costume. Its always frustrating having to explain basic magical principles to those unfamiliar with the magical arts, but my magic is tied closely to my personal magical energy. The amount of clothing I wear exponentially dampens the effects of my defensive magic. So I'm not really trying to flaunt my body as much as I am trying to get the most benefit from my spells. Of course, the tall boots are necessary for all the sewer and cave trips. I spend nearly all my meager income on boot repair as it is!

I had forgotten how unpleasant Perez Park can be for a low-level hero looking for a door inside the park. The large groups of blue Hellions and Clockwork were annoying, but not a serious threat. The masses of orange CoT inescapably grouped near the mission door nearly sent me to the hospital. I just happened to be lucky enough, stuck between two groups actively aware of me, to notice i was standing in front of the door. Phew! Also, thank goodness for www.vidiotmaps.com! I don't actually use the "replacement" maps, but i do use the web site as a reference ... especially for Perez Park ventures.

It was interesting being on "the other side" for the Damned encounter. Boy, its easy to underestimate the effect of damage over time. Those 6 health ticks from two Damned added up quickly.

After my success with the fortune teller, Haley asked me to help clear some Hellions out from a local club, the Crash Site. I felt a little pay back was deserved after my enounter with the Damned, so I agreed to help.


Preparing to Scorch a Hellion.


Incendiary Lass cleaning out The Crash Site. 

All in all, it was pretty a pretty typical bust. Lots of Hellions ... no serious danger. I did come close to draining my magical energy reserves a few times when I had to find a series of thugs, but nobody was able to seriously impact my defenses.