Seasoned Play Begins!
(or, Plot Point Episode 4!)
Kale spent a few days magically mending the wounds of Socks,
removing most of the damage done in the last mission. Flux, feeling quite disoriented from his
flare-up of power when he destroyed the Science Lab in Tarrytown ,
took off for a while, though Kale assured the team (or tried to) that he would
be back.
Dr. Destruction gave them their next mission, which was
two-fold: Make contact with a
disgruntled V’Sori battlelord at his communications outpost and gain his aid,
then assault the V’Sori occupied base of Hydra, the Mutant Mastermind. The team was quite pleased to discover that
the Warlord occupying the base was Shavak, who they had dealt with in the
past. Dr. Destruction’s orders were to
find a device that looked not unlike a silver and blue phone booth, and to
destroy the base.
The team quickly learned through Dr. Destruction’s
debriefing that Shavak and the communications officer, Ikaran, had some bad
blood between them because Shavak had publicly dressed Ikaran down and demoted
him.
Some common knowledge rolls later, and the team deduced that
Hydra was actually the father of the President’s grandchild (which kinda
impressed me).
Before they set out, Bully announced “as team leader” that
he’d arranged back-up for them: Human
resistance fighter Tula Michaels, whom they had aided in Tarrytown ! Socks was quite pleased to see Tula , and Bully helpfully
suggested that they should “be one unit”, to which Mindstorm replied “I didn’t
know we were splitting up” and Bully asked “Whose talking about the mission?”
The team was surprised to discover that Ikaran was holed up
in a tenement about two blocks away and took off to meet with him. They found signs of a recent struggle, where
Ikaran had fended off some dregs that had tried to attack him. The team went right to him and confronted him,
with Socks quickly telling him they were after Shavak and wanted his aid. Socks dropped the Turncoat adventure card
here, and Ikaran quickly rolled over and offered to kill communications at the
base, if they would kill Shavak and show them his silver pendant, which was a
sign of his demotion.
With that helpfully resolved, the team stole away in a
submarine to the mainland and Hydra’s compound.
As they approached the compound, they decided to have Socks burrow his
way under the compound, taking Kale, Bully and Tula with him. Mindstorm brought in storm clouds and headed
into the skies, trying to get recon.
Unfortunately, he was quickly spotted by a pair of
Warspheres, which took to the skies opening fire on him. Mindstorm lashed out at them, unleashing the
fury of the storms on them and trying to gain a closer look.
Meanwhile, Socks led his crew under the compound, awaiting
word from Mindstorm about the layout.
Mindstorm flew in for a closer look, but saw four more
Warspheres and two more headed deeper into the compound! He sent out the order to Ikaran to shut the
communications down, and tried to chase the two retreating Warspheres but had
to deal with the four that were heading at him!
Only singed by one of them, Mindstorm shrugged it off and blasted the
four Warspheres out of the sky. He got a
layout of the land and relayed it in detail to Socks, but had no time to rest
before four more Warspheres attacked!
Once more, Mindstorm handled their assault, then headed toward Hydra’s
mansion.
As he moved in to land, his heart sank: A dozen Drones, four Fins and Shavak were waiting
on him. Shavak mocked him for walking
straight into their hands like that all alone, and blasted him with a mental
assault, then ordered his Drones to open fire.
Kale cast an ineffective earthquake, but Socks, Tula and Bully popped
out of the ground, with Socks tearing his way through Drones, Tula blasting one
in the face and Bully pounding another.
Shavak was annoyed by this, but the Fins moved in, three opening fire
with rifles while one made the mistake of slashing Bully and sending him into a
rage.
Shavak blasted Socks with a mental assault, but he shrugged
it off and slashed the Warlord, wounding him.
Tula and
Bully tore their way through Drones while Kale electrocuted a Fin. Mindstorm, wounded from a blast fired at him,
found his concentration shaken as he tried to summon lightning to attack his
foes.
Kale took control of a Fin and sent him after the nearby
Drones to no effect while Shavak physically assaulted Socks and was
outmatched. Mindstorm pitched the silver
pendant to Socks, who caught it and said “This is from Ikaran…and so is this”
before slashing the Warlord down.
Shavak, his voice filling with blood and death, screamed at the travesty
that a warlord such as him could be brought low by a pathetic traitor like
Ikaran and insignificant bugs like these villains (Mindstorm played the
Villainous Verbosity card to prevent Shavak from attacking or escaping). Mindstorm lashed out with another bolt of
lightning, blasting Shavak into unconsciousness…Socks sneered and ripped his
throat out, saying “I hate V’Sori.”
Kale, Bully and Tula
cleaned up the Drones, then the team went inside to find the tube. Deciding to look around before finishing the
place off, they spied Hydra, floating inside a chamber filled with green
liquid! Bully smashed it with a
headbutt, and they freed Hydra! Hydra,
upon seeing Bully, was convinced that he was in Hell! However, Mindstorm explained the situation to
Hydra and Hydra agreed to leave with them, to meet with Dr. Destruction. Before he left, he set the base’s
self-destruct mode, which blew Socks’ mind.
Hydra’s response? “Of course I
have a self-destruct. I’m a
SUPER-VILLAIN…what are you?”
As the villains escaped in their sub, the cliff-side base
erupted in explosion.
A few hours later…
Socks knocked on the door of Ikaran’s communications
outpost. Ikaran opened the door and said
“Oh. It’s you.” Socks offered “I have something for you,” and
tossed him Shavak’s head. “Now I want
yours,” Socks said with a sneer. Ikaran
looked taken aback, then blasted him with a mental assault that Socks was
seemingly immune to. Socks advanced and
Ikaran yelled “Do your worst!” Socks
brought the battlemaster low with a brutal assault, then parried Ikaran’s sword
attack. Ikaran, sensing his end said,
with a sigh, “Go ahead then, kill me…it’s worth it, knowing Shavak is
dead.” Socks brutalized Ikaran with a
claw full of gut, but stopped short of beheading him as well. He did pick the blaster and vibro-sword off
of Ikaran before departing, leaving the dead V’Sori in his tenement.
15 minutes later, another V’Sori communications outpost
tried to raise Ikaran repeatedly…an hour later, a detachment of V’Sori strode
to the top floor of the building and looked disappointed to see Ikaran
dead. One offered “Check the feeds…this
building is wired…it was probably dregs that did this, let’s find out for
sure.”
And at the wreckage of Hydra’s base, an Mbuna landed,
releasing its crew to the carnage. As
they spread out, their leader remarked “Scour this base…seek out any clues. This is becoming far, far too common.”
Notes: The honeymoon
is over. Mindstorm is a known commodity
among the V’Sori, and now their repeated tactics are finally being
noticed…plus, Socks went “off the reservation” a bit and killed Ikaran in his
own tower, albeit before Ikaran could alert anybody…however, Ikaran’s death
(and manner of death) has not gone unnoticed.
Flux’ player flaked out on us at the last minute. This would become a common theme. Socks and Mindstorm are both
Seasoned now, and I am changing the dynamics of the setting on them a tad.
New Session!
Flux emerged from his sabbatical, having discovered the
secrets of his armor, The Flames of Atlantis.
He rejoined the team just as Izzy informed the squad that word on the
street had it that Capone’s safe had been found…by the government of Star
City! Izzy gave them the details as he
knew them: That the government would be transporting the safe from Star City PD
to Warlord Grypon at dawn.
Mindstorm, Bully, Kale, Flux and Socks prepared their
assault at dawn…the plan being that Kale would cause the armored truck to shut
down…Socks would tear through and get the safe, hand it down to Bully, and Flux
would shift them through the earth to get away.
Everyone got into position…Kale zapped the truck and shut it
down…Socks decided to attempt to be stealthy in removing the safe…and he rolled
a 12 versus both the Drones and the SOCorp Operatives critically failing their
Notice rolls! Socks managed to remove
the safe from under the truck without being noticed! Everyone was so distracted by the truck
shutting down and a potential outward assault, that Buster Squad 5 was long
gone before anyone saw it was missing!
Bennies abounded for that, from participation in a perfectly
executed plan, as well as Socks pulling off his sneak-steal without winding up
in an unnecessary fight.
Kale got the safe open and the crew was surprised to find
$200,000 in gold bars, a map to Capone’s hideout and a note from Capone,
revealing that before his execution in 1959, Capone used a yogi mind trick to
jump into a cloned body of Capone!
Buster Squad 5 saddled up in a sub and headed toward the coast of Maryland , where Flux
avoided V’Sori patrols and guided them to the cave entrance. He widened the cave entrance so Bully could
enter, and the group found an Atlantean sarcophagus with a body inside. Kale quickly opened it, and Capone rose from
the sarcophagus! He asked the team if
they were here to kill him, but Mindstorm assured him they were not, and that
they had found his note.
Capone, content with that answer, told them he had a hidden
weapons cache inside the cave. Mindstorm
asked how long he had been in the cave, and Capone asked what year it was…did
the math…and said it had been 45 years.
Mindstorm gave him the good news and the bad news: The good
news being that superheroes were no longer a problem, the bad news being that alien
invaders had taken over the planet!
Mindstorm tried to recruit Capone for OMEGA, but Capone brushed it
off. He gave Buster Squad 5 his weapons
cache, which included Energy Knives, Octo-Bombs and Palm Blasters. Kale took the Palm Blasters while Mindstorm
loaded up with the rest…and Buster Squad 5 found themselves better armed with a
tentative ally!
Notes: Before the session began, Socks used an earned
Advance to take the Bring It On edge from a Martial Arts supplement that
allowed him to diminish the Gang Up bonus for attackers against him. The force on the armored truck was a dozen
SOCorp Operatives and four Drones which was hardly insurmountable, but Socks’
stealth and their botched Notice rolls made that laughably easy. Rather than find an excuse to get them into
combat, I let the whole thing go smoothly, giving them a well-earned moment of
a well-executed plan. At the conclusion
of this adventure Mindstorm and Flux earned advances, with Mindstorm taking
Power Points (adding Force Control with Telekinesis trapping and the Gale Force
modifier for Storm) while Flux revealed his previously unknown Streetwise
skill.
That having gone so smoothly, we launched into a new
mission.
Dr. Destruction, pleased at the news from Buster Squad 5
about their mission, told them that he had (yet another) double-agent working
for him infiltrating the V’Sori, an Atlantean named Lucian. Lucian had been supplying superhumans for an
underground fight club ran by a V’Sori Warlord named Darb, who was – sources
said – due for a promotion! Destruction,
not wanting his brand of barbaric entertainment to be spread further, ordered
Buster Squad 5 to infiltrate the club and assassinate Darb. The plan was for two of the team to pose as
prisoners and enter the arena, while the other three would disable the transports
from the arena and try to free the prisoners.
Bully fell all over himself trying to volunteer as a
prisoner, and Socks – of course – was eager to volunteer as well. Socks and Bully beat each other up to make
their imprisoning look legit, while Flux, Mindstorm and Kale formulated a plan
to sneak into the club. Mindstorm threw
an Octo-Bomb at the back entrance of the club while Kale cast a spell to gain
Darkvision and tried to sneak in with Flux (using their telepathic link to
guide him through the darkness)…Flux tripped up and drew the attention of Drones
inside the facility, but Kale blasted one and another fell from a stray shot
into the darkness fired by another drone.
Flux charged one Drone and caused flames to erupt around
him, but it didn’t seem to affect the Drone.
Flux, Mindstorm and Kale looked rather helpless against the Drones, not
really being hurt, but not stopping the Drones either. Kale gave up and moved on into the cells,
where French thief Cyber-Burglaire kept calling for him to release him! Kale made his nullifier shackles malfunction,
and Cyber-Burglaire unlocked the prison door from the inside!
The two men released Rictus, the Undead Clown of Crime, who
quickly bolted for the exit. They next
released Brimstone, who cackled and teleported away.
Mindstorm finally electrocuted one of the remaining drones
and Flux burned the other one down, putting them to rest, while Kale and
Cyber-Burglaire freed the jingoistic vigilante/villain Patriot, the Darkforce
manipulator Shadowcaster, the angry Elven warrior from Asgard known as Sarveen,
Hiro – a martial artist who had fought Mindstorm before, and Lycan, a werewolf
hero.
Cyber-Burglaire, Shadowcaster and Sarveen (especially
Sarveen) were eager to do whatever it took to bring this down, while Patriot
seemed reluctant to go along with it, and Hiro and Lycan weren’t sure they
trusted the villains…still, the lot of them finally agreed to join forces and
ambush the V’Sori transport crews.
Socks and Bully entered the arena, where Darb watched on
surrounded by Drones. Two Groks were
unleashed on them, but Socks and Bully fended off their attacks, with Socks
wounding his and Bully dropping his with a single blow!
Darb looked confused at just what had happened, so Bully
sneered, grabbed Socks, and launched him through the air at Darb! Socks snarled and tore through the force
field that was supposed to protect Darb, and came to rest at his feet! (This was accomplished through the Teamwork
Adventure card, and some very nice rolls from Bully and Socks).
As Socks prepared to battle Darb and his drones, the V’Sori
Internal Police arrived and ordered everyone to surrender…but Darb refused and
ordered his men to fight! Seconds later,
Socks tore most of Darb’s face off (a vicious attack combined with a botched
Soak roll).
Bully battled the remaining Grok, but Drones and Warspheres
were advancing on him, and a V’Sori fired a well-placed shot at Socks that
would have been QUITE brutal, but Mindstorm’s player played the Lucky Break
card…Socks turned, holding Darb’s body still, and Darb absorbed the shot! Socks dove off the platform and burrowed into
the ground, coming up under Bully and yanking him to safety!
Outside the arena, Kale made the big pitch on behalf of
Mindstorm to the villains (and heroes) that they had rescued.
Cyber-Burglair and Shadowcaster quickly agreed to join
forces, while Sarveen swore he would aid OMEGA to the end against the
V’Sori. Patriot seemed unsure about
working with Omega, while Hiro and Lycan, reluctantly, decided that perhaps
OMEGA was just what the world needed…a necessary evil.
Notes: Again, another
rousing success for the team. I have
done away with the random mission selections, picking and choosing the missions
as I think it will benefit the campaign.
Other than the embarrassing 5 rounds it took to beat the two drones
inside the facility, this session was very good to the villains, going a long
way toward letting them feel suitably awesome.
Exterminate!
The session began inside the team’s HQ, where Dr.
Destruction had arrived surrounded by his guards. He told the team that he had a very urgent
mission for them: Another cell of OMEGA
terrorists had broken from the organization and Dr. Destruction now considers them to be huge
threats to the future of OMEGA. His
orders? Hunt them down and kill them.
Dr. Destruction gave them team personnel dossiers on all
five members of the team: The powerhouse Crunch, the Voodoo Master known as
Curse, the fearmonger known as Effigy, energy controller Vesper and
superspeedster Zephyr. Mindstorm asked
if any of them could be salvaged, to which Destruction replied “Doubtful”. Mindstorm quietly contemplated that answer as
he stared at the files. Destruction said
he would leave them to it, trusting in them to finish the deed.
First up was Crunch, an insanely powerful brick who had been
tracked to a summer camp, and – Destruction believes – is planning on swimming
from Star City
Bully snarled and charged Crunch as Kale and Flux got into
position around him. Crunch flinched at
the charging Bully, but shook it off when Flux summoned the earth up around
him. Crunch broke free and hurled a
chunk of rock and soil, smashing Flux and staggering him. Mindstorm and Socks got into position around
Crunch as well, Socks burrowing under a cabin and Mindstorm flying to a roof.
Crunch surprised everyone by leaping through the air and
truing to crush Bully, though he missed and Bully spiked him with his
horns…which did no damage to the horrific creature. Mindstorm tried to bind Crunch, but wasn’t
nearly strong enough. Kale summoned
Socks to his side, putting Socks in position to rip up through the ground and
lay an attack on Crunch that left him Shaken.
Flux surrounded him in rock and dirt once more, this time holding him
tight. Crunch tried to break free, but
failed. Kale, once more channeling
dangerous levels of magic, unleashed a power bolt of eldritch energy, but
Crunch was still only barely harmed.
Socks assaulted him as well, while Mindstorm tried to telekinetically
reinforce Flux’ grip.
As they pushed hard to keep him from escaping, Bully roared
and drove his head and horns deep into the earthen tomb until blood and dirt
began to run down his face…then he pushed again harder. Crunch stopped struggling, and Flux and
Mindstorm released their grip.
Kale summoned Healing magic and restored Flux…not a moment
too soon, either, as word came that Zephyr and Effigy were robbing a bank and
Dr. Destruction did NOT want them falling into V’Sori hands.
Notes: First target down.
Mindstorm laid out a plan and it mostly worked. Good thing, too, because Crunch’s Strength
was growing every round. The huge
difference maker was Flux successfully binding Crunch in place so he could be
whittled down.
Buster Squad 5 descended on Star City Bank where Effigy was
keeping the bank staff and customers cowed and Zephyr was rapidly emptying the
vault. Socks tore his way up through the
vault, with Mindstorm and Bully behind him.
He tried to attack Zephyr, who heard him coming and was far too hard to
pin down…so Socks moved on through to block the door. Mindstorm zipped in and swooped past Socks,
sealing the vault so Zephyr couldn’t escape…but was immediately targeted by
Effigy, who unleashed nightmarish thoughts of Belladonna on Mindstorm, but the
leader of this squad’s will was too strong to be broken.
Flux and Kale entered the bank from a side entrance, and
Flux spewed flame at Effigy, who initially freaked – but calmed when it had no
real effect. He snarled about how “All
the heroes are supposed to be dead”, and Kale replied “If we were heroes, you
wouldn’t have anything to worry about” before launching a fireball at Effigy
that erupted and set him on fire. Zephyr
just laughed at Socks and literally ran through him, the vault door and
Mindstorm, then out the door with two bags of money while Bully charged up into
the vault, confused to find himself sealed in with Socks.
Kale reached out with his mind and forced Zephyr to come
back and face them, while the burning Effigy shrieked in terror and unleashed
his Fear power in the bank. The staff
and customers, as well as Mindstorm, ran away from him, while Zephyr freaked
and fell to his knees vomiting. The most
unfortunate effect came from Kale’s heart seized up and the Atlantean wizard fell
to the ground in cardiac arrest.
Socks burrowed his way under the vault door and ripped into
the blazing Effigy, tearing the constructed scarecrow apart. Bully came up through the same tunnel and
charged the Shaken Zephyr, smashing his spine and breaking the fragile
speedster apart.
Flux immediately dove onto Kale and worked feverishly,
trying to provide medical aid to keep Kale alive. With a lot of luck and some natural talent
(Healer Edge plus bennies), Kale was stabilized, but the V’Sori were en route
to the bank. Mindstorm ordered a
retreat, since their goals were accomplished…and turned when someone grabbed
his arm. A bank teller, frightened but
grateful, thanked Mindstorm and the rest of the team for saving them…Mindstorm,
obviously taken aback by this, pulled his arm free and they escaped.
Notes: Wow. Second fight in this mission down, and Kale
is in bad shape. This took Kale out for
the rest of the session…though Flux definitely saved Kale’s life. Effigy’s desperation Fear effect totally
changed the complexion of this fight, setting up Zephyr (total glass ninja
normally) to be taken out by Bully since he was Shaken. I gave them a 6 round time limit on this one
before SOCorp would show up and turned it into a three way battle.
Back to the game…
Socks came up with the idea of contacting Willy the Fish,
and Flux did just that with his Streetwise skill. Izzy, henchman of Willy, told them he would
meet with them to pick up Kale and get him some help.
As the Squad met with Izzy outside a gas station, they were
stalked by a villain-killing vigilante named Blind Justice! Justice opened fire on Mindstorm with a
Nullifier gun – which had no effect – and pitched a grenade that came awfully
close to the truck they had just loaded Kale onto. Socks dove onto the grenade and absorbed a
ton of shrapnel into himself…but kept the grenade from further harming
Kale. Izzy dove into the truck and fired it up, trying to get Kale away. Bully
charged Blind Justice, who snapped a katana free from its sheath and slashed
into Bully…but Bully’s tough hide deflected it (really, Flux played an
Adventure Card that kept Bully from behind harmed in that one attack)! Bully attacked and missed, but Mindstorm
wasn’t playing around and wrapped him in force bands. Flux tried to ignite him, but Blind Justice
was too well protected. Bully smashed
Blind Justice with a brutal headbutt that ended his resistance. When Mindstorm drew a knife and walked over
to finish Blind Justice off, Bully stopped him…saying that he had suffered
enough from guys like them. Mindstorm
looked at Bully, then told Blind Justice that if he came at any of his people
again, Mindstorm would kill him…even as Dr. Destruction provided information of
a rendezvous between Curse and the V’Sori.
Notes: Just a bit of
an interlude with a Punisher-type vigilante attacking the team. Socks made a huge sacrifice, risking life and
limb to keep Kale safe from the grenade.
Blind Justice could have given any one of them a run for their money,
but the team was thus far gelling really well together.
Buster Squad 5 approached the park where Curse was planning
to meet with The V’Sori. The team began
to move in, unaware of the fact that Curse sensed them coming and was summoning
zombies as well as preparing to copy Socks’ burrowing ability to sneak attack
them. Mindstorm swooped in first (first
round, got a Joker) and Curse smiled from ear to ear…”I was expecting you…saw
you all com—“ Without a word, Mindstorm
summoned a bolt of lightning from the sky that ripped through Curse! An impressive 32 point attack dropped Curse
where he stood (a soak roll provided no successes, and I decided just to run
with it).
The team considered, for a moment, waiting for the V’Sori to
arrive, but thought better of it.
Notes: Wow. This one was supposed to be BIG…Curse was
summoning Zombies, he had Copycat and Danger Sense, and the V’Sori were arriving in
3 rounds to provide backup…but Mindstorm, his closest ally on the shelf, was
very, very angry.
Dr. Destruction sent only coordinates for the final target:
Vesper. The team arrived in a
residential area, but seemed rather confused when they couldn’t find their
target. Examining the area, they all
realized at once who they were looking for:
The woman across the street unloading groceries with her kids.
The jaws around the table dropped at this final target.
Taking a moment to compose themselves, Mindstorm opted to
fly over to her and called out her real name, Theresa Hammond. Seeing Mindstorm floating in the air, she
told her kids to go inside. Mindstorm
was brutally honest: He told her he was there to kill her…but that he didn’t
want to. He asked her to come back to
Omega so that no one would have to kill her.
She countered by pointing out that someone WOULD kill her if
she went back…she would get sent on some stupid mission where some teammate
would be too slow and she would pay for it.
She told Mindstorm that she’s the only thing her kids have, and she
can’t risk that being a part of OMEGA again.
Mindstorm quickly offered a compromise: Mindstorm told her he would have her added to
his team’s roster, but she would remain at her house in Westpoint with her
kids, and would remain off the active roster except in circumstances of dire
emergency. She hesitated, weighing her
options…and realized how few she had.
Finally, she agreed to his terms.
Mindstorm, before leaving, pointed out to her that if OMEGA failed, she
and hers would pay as bad a price as they will if they don’t fight.
On the way back to HQ, Mindstorm informed Destruction that
Vesper was back onboard, as an inactive member of his team. Destruction asked if Mindstorm was now
dictating terms to him, to which Mindstorm said no…just that he hoped
Destruction would trust him on this.
After a moment’s thought, Destruction told Mindstorm he would abide by
Mindstorm’s decision.
Notes: I
intentionally tossed this one out there for the team to decide what to do…there
was no wrong answer, even from Destruction’s perspective. He intentionally did not tell them any
circumstance about Vesper’s situation, in order to surprise them and see their
reaction. He figured that if they killed
her, they were loyal footsoldiers. The plan Mindstorm came up with, I thought,
was rather brilliant.
Incidentally, out of character, the players commented that
they can’t wait until the V’Sori are defeated so they can bring down
Destruction.
One thing the guys seemed to like is that I typed up the
personnel dossiers on the cell, and handed them out at the table when we began
to play…they really rather liked that.
I also helpfully pointed out two more things about this
mission: 1) This is what happens when
people leave OMEGA and 2) Destruction clearly has files on all of them as
well. That’s actually what prompted the
comment about bringing him down.
Next session, I believe we are now going to tackle some black marketers, and then Plot Point 5.
Do you know how awesome this has been, reliving these old adventures? I'm so excited to see the next part and be fully caught up.
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