After Kale was nursed back to health, and decidedly weakened
from the attack (lost a die in Agility from his injuries), the team were
surprised to discover that their Commlinks now gave them a “V-MAP” or V’Sori
Military Activities Profile. Their
options included a Recovery Mission in The Docks, a Recruitment Mission in Aruba and a Search and Destroy Mission in Downtown.
Socks immediately latched onto “Aruba”…and so the team was
briefed on Sugrot, a Fin who had been active on earth since the initial
invasion and had recently turned on the V’Sori after taking down a human
weapons depot, slaughtering the V’Sori with his unit, hijacking three M’Buna
craft and headed for Aruba .
The team rendezvoused with a just-departing Omega Cell in
The Docks, taking over a stolen Barracuda from the cell. None of the team being experienced pilots,
there a moment of much concern until Mindstorm and Socks (with very good unskilled
rolls), figured out how to pilot the thing and the team set off for Aruba . Kale stood,
silently, in the cockpit with them as they went.
The team exited the Barracuda once they hit the beach and
were immediately attacked by Warspheres, which is what happens to V’Sori
victims that don’t leave enough to turn into drones…these Warspheres had been
modified with fins welded onto their tops…making them quite distinctive.
The team quickly took them apart…Bully storming in and
smashing one first, Mindstorm summoning a storm to bring down lightning on them
and Socks ripping them to pieces.
Socks, being the tracker, quickly picked up on the path of
the Fins and the team picked their way through bombed out hotels and a nearly
deserted island…making their way to a water park where Sugrot stood with his
company of fifteen battle-hardened Fins.
Mindstorm opened the parley, asking Sugrot if they were the
Fins that went rogue…to which Sugrot asked “What of it?” Mindstorm gleefully offered him the
opportunity to join Omega..but Sugrot turned them down, having no interest in
continuing the fight for nothing.
When pressed further, he pointed out that they “Went
mercenary, not charity”. Belladonna made
the effort to sway them, but Sugrot was unmoved by her feminine wiles. When things got desperate, Kale whispered to
Mindstorm to promise them the location of an Atlantean vault off the coast of
Aruba…and Mindstorm used his adventure deck card, (which granted him a d6 in
any skill he didn’t know until the end of the session), to soften Sugrot’s
stance with an amazing Persuade roll!
Sugrot invited the squad to feast with them while Kale and a
detachment of Fins embarked for the vault.
Once they returned, dripping with jewelry and news that there was more
down there, Sugrot said they were officially “in negotiations”…then pointed out
that while Bully looked tough, the rest didn’t look like much…and until one of
them showed they could stand up to him in one on one combat, he had no interest
in dealing with Omega!
Socks quickly stood up to the challenge, and both sides
lined up to watch, Buster Squad 5 ready to attack if any funny business
occurred.
Socks outdrew Sugrot on initiative, tearing into the massive
Fin, but Surgot would not be rattled.
He lashed out with his massive jaws, but Socks blocked
them…and deflected him to the side!
Sugrot continued the spin, coming around with his claws, but Socks was
ready for those as well!
Socks chipped away at Sugrot, drawing blood this time…but
Sugrot lashed out and seemingly eviscerated Socks (three wounds!) Instead of even trying for the soak, Socks
dropped his adventure deck card (Second Wind) which removed all wounds and
shaken status! The villains winced in
dismay and the Fins cheered as Socks went down…but when Sugrot dove for the
bite to finish him, Sock rolled away and let him crash on the ground (critical
failure!)
The Shaken Sugrot got blind sided by Socks, but the attack
just shook Sugrot out of his daze, and Sugrot bit hard on Socks’ shoulder,
drawing a stream of blood and leaving Socks Shaken and Wounded! Sensing the end, Sugrot lunged with a claw,
but Socks batted him away, even in a daze!
Impressed, Sugrot said “You win. I don’t know about them (Buster Squad 5), but
I’ll fight with you.” Then he turned to
his men and said “Boys, we’ve just entered the resistance business.”
The team returned to the mainland, feeling accomplished…and
Dr. Destruction was QUITE pleased.
After a couple of days rest, the team decided to launch an
attack on a weapons depot at The Docks, and were excited to discover that it
was lightly guarded…half a dozen drones and a single V’Sori!
The V’Sori instantly realized that an Atlantean (Kale) was
present and sounded the alarm! He and
the drones moved in and he prepared a mental blast…but Socks burrowed under the
ground and popped up on him, staggering him!
Bully rushed out toward the drones while the V’Sori blasted Kale,
Belladonna and Socks with a mental blast, to little effect.
Suddenly, a portal opened up and, um, Bully burst out,
wiping out a drone! He was followed by
Belladonna, who ran for the weapons depot…and Angel’s Bane, who emerged
cackling, hurling fireballs at the V’Sori!
Another man dove out of the portal and shot a drone, while Mindstorm
came up in the rear, unleashing an electrical burst on the drones!
Buster Squad 5, entirely pleased at first because they just
assume its Omega Cell backup or something, proceeds…right up until the
gunslinger asked “Can I shoot Bully? I
always wanted to shoot Bully.” He
did…but Bully survived with a minor scrape…and the other Bully laughed about
it. Kale, remembering Belladonna’s
phobia with Angel’s Bane, warned her to back off, and he took mental control of
the other Bully, who had just started raging after being shot by a drone!
The drones had been largely picked off at this point, but
the raging Bully lunged at the lone remaining drone, missed, and the drone
gutted him! The Other Mindstorm
expressed some concern, but Angel’s Bane shrugged it off as he Decayed the
V’Sori’s head (critical failure on the Vigor roll).
Bully charged in between Belladonna and Angel’s Bane, while
Socks misjudged a burrow attack and popped up off his mark. The Mindstorms traded lightning bolts, with
Mindstorm inflicted little damage and Other Mindstorm missing, calling it a
“Warning shot.”
Angel’s Bane tried to use his Decay on Bully, but got
hammered in a double-team by Bully and Socks, and collapsed in agony!
Badger (as Mindstorm called the gunman) opened fire on Kale,
but he shrugged it off! He unleashed
radiation on Kale and Other Mindstorm, with little effect, while Belladonna
chased Other Belladonna inside the weapons depot.
Other Mindstorm blasted Mindstorm with lightning again,
after Mindstorm wiped out the last drone, but the lighting bounced harmlessly
off of Mindstorm’s telekinetic sheath.
Mindstorm lashed back, nearly frying Other Mindstorm with
lightning, and hit a sweet line: “We may have the same name, we may have the
same powers…but I don’t fire warning shots.”
Other Mindstorm, wounded internally, questioned whether or
not they really needed the alien technology available on this planet, and
departed through the portal.
Belladonna pinned down Other Belladonna inside the weapons
depot, but Other Belladonna turned on her with a large rifle…which Belladonna
laughed at, knowing what a lousy shot she is.
Kale bore down on Badger, a fury rising in him, and he dug
inside Badger’s head, wrenching control of his mind. He ordered Badger to swallow his own gun and
take his own life. Badger tried,
desperately, to resist…but Kale’s will was unshakeable.
Mindstorm saw on the horizon that the V’Sori were coming to
investigate the attack on the depot, and the Cell was forced to
scatter…Mindstorm flying between the buildings, Socks burrowing into the sewers
with Bully, and Kale grabbing Belladonna and teleporting her away.
As the V’Sori scoured the warehouse, they found Angel’s Bane
barely alive and gasping for his team…upon scanning him and realizing his
supernatural origin, the V’Sori ordered him to be prepared for an exploratory
vivisection. After capturing Belladonna,
and recognizing that she matched their database (Belladonna is wanted for
infiltrating North Point and murdering several human agents of the V’Sori while
working as an escort), they called for her execution!
The Cell returned home, feeling downtrodden about their
loss, but found out through the grapevine that while the V’Sori moved on the
depot, their naval base had apparently become compromised by another cell…
Notes: Two adventures in this session. The first one totally validated
the concept of the adventure deck, as both players got something they could
use.
They also had to learn a valuable lesson at the weapons
depot that they may not always succeed at every task.
I softened this blow for them by giving them reports that leaked
out about things that went on while they were ambushing the weapons depot, a
couple of which were precursors to future adventures.
Their..er….other evil counterparts was cute fun, and I mixed
things up by tossing in a pre-experimentation version of Socks (Badger) as well
as leaving Kale off the team and putting Angel’s Bane back on the team.
Session 4
An Omega Cell consisting of Magnetic North (with a sense of
direction and a little magnetic power), Arachne (mutant mistress of webs),
Mercury (a bladed super speedster), Miss Nemesis (a firebreathing badgirl) and
Kevin Wade (a veteran of Afghanistan with unnatural healing abilities) were
sent into a chemical factory on The Docks to blow it up…when they were taken by
complete surprise. Mercury was sniped, a
grotesque man-spider named Lycosa pounced on Arachne and ripped her apart and a
scorpion-like beast-man named Deathstalker murdered Magnetic North. Kevin Wade and Miss Nemesis holed themselves
up in an office and screamed for assistance over their commlinks…and Dr.
Destruction responded by sending Buster Squad 5!
Socks, Bully, Kale, Mindstorm and Belladonna arrived as
Lycosa, Deathstalker and half a dozen drones moved in while a Fin and a pair of
V’Sori watched on.
The V’Sori sensed the arrival of Kale, and left with the Fin
to investigate. Meanwhile, Kevin Wade
unloaded with gunfire in the general direction of Lycosa, Deathstalker and the
Drones. The Drones moved in, but quickly
cannibalized their ranks with friendly fire, while The Fin and the V’Sori
closed in on Buster Squad 5.
Mindstorm, who has been rather lucky in combat lately, was
targeted by the Fin with a Fusion Grenade…but the pitch went wrong and he
exploded a V’Sori! The Fin immediately
laughed, angering the other V’Sori, then made a half-hearted effort to deflect
the blame onto Mindstorm…giving Socks time to rip up between them and bring
them down with a brutal sweep of his claws.
Wade was shot and hurt badly, but managed to heal part of it
and made a break for Mercury. Lycosa
webbed him up, but he threw himself on top of Mercury. Deathstalker moved in on Miss Nemesis, but
she spewed flame at him, nearly igniting him, and he yelped out, activating a
warp shunt and disappeared!
Buster Squad 5 moved in, but as they helped wipe out the
drones and Miss Nemesis torched the remainders, Lycosa also decided to skin
out.
Wade used his power to restore Mercury to life, but Mercury
was nearly insane, screaming about Hell and his time on the other side. The squad set their charges in the factory
and exploded it…but not before Wade made sure a certain set of poisonous
chemicals were released…with catastrophic consequences for a poor, nearby
orphanage.
Dr. Destruction helpfully recommended the two cells combine,
especially with Mercury insane and Arachne too far gone to be resurrected.
Notes:
INCREDIBLY short session, as we added two new
players at nearly the last minute, and previous scheduling arrangements got
bounced around with no notice…so this entire session was meant to introduce
Kevin Wade and Miss Nemesis to the group…it was a nothing session, meant to set
up the new status quo.
Miss Nemesis is a firebreathing supervillainess, a walking
flamethrower with halitosis, who is quite crazy…apparently. See, she talks to her Dad…a lot…in fact, he’s
taught her everything she knows about tons of things…the only thing? He’s dead.
Has been for some time. I mean,
she has to be crazy…right? But if she
is…then how did she know what was behind that door?
Kevin Wade was a corpsman in Afghanistan , until the death and
destruction forced him to desperate measures…overwhelmed with the desire to
save people, Wade made a deal with the Devil and gained the power to heal
grievous injuries and even raise the dead.
The catch? For every
life he saves, he has to take one.
Wade has justified that by finding “bad guys” to kill, or
killing anonymously…such as releasing a horrid toxin into the air in a crowded
neighborhood.
Session 5
Here’s a short recap of the mission that
nearly killed the game. And this will be
a very short recap, really.
Mindstorm was indisposed, on a secret mission for Dr.
Destruction, leaving Bully, Belladonna, Socks, Kale, Kevin Wade and Miss
Nemesis as the operating cell.
They were dispatched to the Hoover Dam, southeast of Las Vegas , where a V’Sori
scientist named Magon was developing a secret weapon. The Las
Vegas cell went to recon the dam and hasn’t been heard
from since.
The absence of Mindstorm was immediately noticeable as Socks
is not a thinker, and the whole group ground to a halt as Miss Nemesis and
Kevin Wade argued over and over again about what to do and how to do it. After nearly an hour (real time) of this,
they acquired a high powered telescope to scout. Seeing the heavy patrols in the air around
the reservoir where the camp was set up, another lengthy debate broke out that ultimately
culminated in a protracted poisoning of the camp as Socks burrowed deep
underground and brought Belladonna to the reservoir so she could work her
magic, poisoning the water supply (and God only knows who all else).
This weakened the camp to manageable numbers for an assault,
and Bully, Socks and Wade provided a distraction while Kale, Belladonna and
Miss Nemesis attacked the superweapon.
Miss Nemesis ultimately used her flame powers to inflict irreparable
damage on the unarmored device, destroying it and robbing the V’Sori of a
powerful asset to their arsenal.
The team scurried away, hijacking an M’Buna and making their
escape, the damage done.
Notes: Again, this is incredibly short, partly because of
the months long gap from play to write-up, and partly because the session did
repeatedly grind to a halt as in-party (and out of character) bickering took over the table. The group died two weeks later.
Six months later...
Dr. Destruction welcomed the team back together, Mindstorm
included, and informed them that Kevin Wade and Miss Nemesis had been sent back
to Las Vegas to
attempt a rebuilding of the Omega Cell there .
He also told them they had another urgent mission, this time outside of Missoula , Montana United States !
This needs to be handled quickly, so Buster Squad 5
immediately sets out to bring the family back to the resistance! Luckily for the team, the alien forces were
running light on security, with half a dozen drones guarding an M’buna.
Out of character note: The adventure card drawn for Socks
allowed him to convert his bennies to experience points...which he used at the
start of the adventure to take an advance and boost his Strength up to a
d12. This also left him with no bennies.
The team decided that Socks was more than a match for half a
dozen drones and he burrowed in, springing up to surprise one…but it blocked
his attack and the others opened fire, leaving him Shaken!
Mindstorm and Bully charged into the conflict as Belladonna
and Kale crept toward the barracks.
Bully smashed into the drones, but two K’tharen guards charged out and
inflicted massive amounts of damage, leaving Bully badly hurt but in a
berserker rage!
Kale took advantage of a storm that Mindstorm had previously
summoned, and blasted one of the Fins with a bolt. Socks failed to get his head clear, but
managed to fend off any further attacks.
Another Fin emerged, and got hammered down by the enraged
Bully.
Hearing the battle raging outside, Shavak – a V’Sori warlord
– stalked out of the barracks with six more drones dragging the First Family,
and another elite Fin guard! The Fin
smashed into Kale and Belladonna and left Kale wounded…but Kale got the last
laugh when he dug deep inside the fin’s head and turned him against Shavak!
Shavak unleashed his mental powers on Bully and Socks, but
Bully shrugged them off in his fury!
Meanwhile, Kale’s mindcontrolled Fin was chewing his way through drones,
trying to get at Shavak.
Mindstorm tried to strike down Shavak and drew his full
attention…but when Mindstorm got the better of Shavak (who was burning through
bennies to stay focused), Shavak switched to desperation tactics and tried to
shoot Mindstorm down but couldn’t penetrate his force shield!
Socks burrowed up underneath the First Family and yanked
them underground, and Mindstorm unleashed an electrical surge on the
drones! Shavak, seeing his moment of
triumph fade away, swore vengeance on the team and activated a warp shunt,
vanishing into the ether!
While Kale, the Fin, Bully and Mindstorm ripped through the
remaining drones, Socks kept hitting on the First Lady, thinking that if he
could get her to marry him, he would then become the President.
Buster Squad 5 hijacked the M’buna, with Kale forcing the
controlled fin to pilot one of them, and they headed back to Star City
Dr. Destruction was QUITE pleased to see Jana had made it
back, and said he had a great many questions for her…then congratulated Buster
Squad 5 on their victory and said he would be in contact soon.
Notes, thoughts and observations: Socks REALLY regretted
cashing that card in at the beginning of the session, as he spent half of it
Shaken. Kinda short as one of the players had
somewhere he had to be, but we have now hit Episode 3 in the Plot Point
campaign, though minus two of the players. Mindstorm's player's roommate sat in on this session to observe, and wound up joining the next session...
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