Into The Wild
Mindstorm, Flux, Kale and Socks were loaded aboard a small
cargo plane, headed over Asia . Dr. Destruction had arranged them a flight
with a pilot that the group knew fairly well…”Eagle” McGee, the
pilot/mechanic/handyman for the former protectors of the Earth: Alpha
Force! Socks had a weird flash looking
at him…remembering back, back before the V’Sori…when he was part of a group
that had held McGee hostage…a group of villains…that’s strange.
Flux and Socks kept bugging McGee about letting them fly,
each kept getting turned down…and McGee finally turned his handgun on Socks
when Socks started to press buttons.
Kale, meanwhile, was very relieved when he was able to regenerate the
horrible damage to his groin from the previous mission.
The plane flew over China with a sobering look
first-hand at the devastation that had been caused by the V’Sori. Some time later, McGee informed the team that
they would be heading over Siberia …this
excited Socks for some reason.
The instruments began to seize up, and the lights in the
plane flickered. McGee told the team not
to panic, they were just having complete instrument failure. When they got mildly agitated, McGee pointed
out that he’d crashed planes before, and it would be fine…to which Socks said
he’d rather have someone whose never crashed before, namely him, flying the
plane.
When the plane was definitely going down, Flux summoned the
air to buffet the plane, and Mindstorm joined him, the two guiding the plane
down to the ground and a reasonable landing.
Once on the ground, the team was rather annoyed…though safe
and sound. They got outside the plane
and looked around, seeing some trees and a lot of wasteland. Socks got a scent on the wind, and notified
the team that Fins and Drones were coming!
Mindstorm flew into the air to see what he could see, which
wasn’t much. He and Flux again combined
their powers to try to snow over the plane, hiding it from view. Socks, meanwhile, burrowed into the ground to
make a hiding place for the team. The
team laid in wait, as Kale tried to sense what was above but couldn’t, so Socks
moved in…only detecting two Fins and half a dozen Drones, Socks relayed this to
Mindstorm who made the order to attack.
Socks erupted from the ground and went at a Fin, while McGee
lunged from the hole and pitched a snowball at the other Fin. Flux, Mindstorm and Kale emerged, with Flux
sending eruptions of flame and Mindstorm hurling lightning.
Socks dropped his Fin, but McGee’s plan for Flux to blast
two Drones while moving in on one Fin and unleashing his fiery aura didn’t work
out too well, as the Fin shrugged it off.
He then attacked Flux and Kale, injuring the Atlantean sorcerer.
A Drone blasted McGee, injuring him very badly.
Socks also took a hit from a Drone, and the team was getting
awfully concerned with how much damage the Drones were dishing out.
Socks caught something else approaching, and a robotic form
grew from a tiny size and slugged him!
With a bit of a laugh, announced he was here to kill the team!
Mindstorm unleashed energy knives and went at the remaining
Fin, but only got light wounds. Kale
took a step back and blasted him, but the Fin just pressed him. Socks slashed at the robotic attacker, who
shrugged off the claws and then turned to the plane and magnetically tore the
door off, whipping it at Mindstorm, MISSING and wrapping it around a Drone.
He then sheepishly laughed, saying he’s still learning that
trick.
He then decided that if he’s going to kill our villains, he
should introduce himself: He’s the
“Multifunctional Automaton Requisitioned for Killing” Designate: Talos!
Notes: At this point,
Mindstorm’s player dragged me out of the room and strangled me. Why?
Because Talos, aka MARK, is Good Mindstorm’s best friend in our Marvel
SAGA game. Back to the game.
Flux blasted Talos with flame, but it did little. Socks attacked repeatedly, but Talos shrugged
it off. Kale unloaded a mental assault
on the Fin and staggered him, then slipped away. The very wounded McGee moved in as well,
using the plane for cover.
The Fin kept shrugged off assault after assault, even when
Kale burnt his powers out firing eldritch energy into him and not harming him.
Flux and Mindstorm grew frustrated at their inability to
stop the Fin, until one Drone tried to blast Flux and the shot was deflected by
his air field into the Fin, killing him.
Talos turned his back on Socks, giving him a free shot, to
clobber Mindstorm…but had his confidence shattered when the scrawny leader of
the team shook off his big fist! Talos,
clearly rattled, decided to leap away, swearing he would be back!
Mindstorm, harnessing the weather, unleashed lighting to
drop the remaining Drones.
Flux moved quickly, trying to nurse wounds…and when Kale
regained his powers, he made with the magical healing on his friends to get
them back to fighting shape.
McGee worked on the plane late into the night, frustrated
because nothing seemed to be broken…everything just seemed to be locked up.
Socks, Flux and Mindstorm managed to fix the door of the
plane, and get it refitted. McGee gave
up for the night, and the five of them took shelter inside the plane.
As the group tried to rest and the night stretched on…the
plane began to rock! It went back and
forth…and flipped upside down! Mindstorm
flew out of the plane, and caught a glint of metal…Talos had magnetically
flipped the plane upside down!
In the process of taunting them, Talos accidentally let slip
that a couple of miles up the road, V’Sori Warlord D’Beck had a Drone factory
firing on all four cylinders and that Talos would make sure that the villains didn’t
get anywhere near the village they were using as fodder for the Drones.
Talos has a big mouth.
Realizing how bad he was shooting off, Talos decided to get
with the fighting as the team exited the plane.
Ready to take him en masse, the team left themselves wide
open for Talos dropping the plane on them.
Flux and Kale did not get away in time.
Flux slipped free and blasted Talos with fire, but Kale grew
enraged at being pinned down, teleported out from under the plane and ripped
into Talos with a well-placed shot from a palm blaster!
Talos, stunned, quickly shook off the disorientation and
leapt away, threatening to finish them off after the cold did its work!
Then he returned throughout the night, bugging them
repeatedly and threatening to kill them some more.
He also told them that he had magnetically locked up their
plane, and it wouldn’t move again as long as he, um, drew breath…or whatever.
Socks burrowed into the ground so he could avoid listening
to him. Talos went to the tunnel
entrance and offered to come down and fight, but gave up when Socks gave no
response.
As daylight came, the team departed the plane and headed
toward the factory, planning to assault the Drone factory…when they caught
sight of about fifty refugees in a forced march, led by a Fin, and surrounded
by Drones!
Socks burrowed ahead, trying to come up on the Fin in the
lead to take it out.
McGee cried out “OMIGOD IT’S A FLAMING COMET!”, completely
distracting the Drones and Fin alike!
Kale vanished into the crowd as Flux and Mindstorm unloaded
with fire and lighting on the Drones.
Socks tried to surprise the Fin, but this was no mere grunt,
but a K’Tharen commander and he was waiting on Socks as he erupted from the
ground…but he missed Socks altogether!
Mindstorm and Flux kept hammering the Drones while the Fin
Commander and Socks feinted, parried and brawled. Each man kept getting light hits on the
other, slowly trying to wear them down.
The crowd went into a panic and ran this way and that, getting caught in
the electrical and fiery bursts of Mindstorm and Flux. Flux shrugged it off, figuring that if they
died, that would make for fewer Drones.
Suddenly, one of the refugees threw its shawl off and
revealed a yellowed complexion, bloodshot eyes and a cannon in its mouth! It opened fire on Mindstorm, but missed.
Another attacked Socks, helping the Fin double-team him
until Kale blew it away with a Palm Blaster.
As the people tried to run away, back to their village, Kale
cast a spell and caused the earth to rise up, separating them from the Drones!
The wounded Fin soon found itself unable to hit Socks, while
Socks failed to score a strong enough hit to put it away.
Kale finally told Socks to burrow, which he did, as Kale
telekinetically yanked the pins on the Fin’s grenades, causing the fusion
grenades to erupt and kill the Fin.
In all the confusion, the team realized that Eagle McGee had
disappeared.
Flux provided the theory that McGee was one of the beings
that had a cannon in its mouth, but Talos popped in and pointed out that he saw
a pair of those guys, called Hyper-Drones, dragging McGee to the factory!
The team braced itself to fight Talos once more, but Talos
said he’d had a secondary directive initiated:
To find the Protean secrets in the nearby village! Once more, his loose lips piqued the interest
of the team, and they became split: Head
to the factory, or head to the village.
After offering to reprogram Talos was rejected, a rather
amusing exchange ensued in which they agreed to go with Talos to the village to
find the Protean secrets, and then battle to the death. Talos agreed, and Mindstorm made him promise
not to leap away this time. Talos
assented, saying that “to the death” means “To The Death”.
The unlikely quartet then headed to the village.
As they neared the village, Socks and Mindstorm felt a
strange pull drawing them closer, and once inside the village, Flux felt it,
too. Socks followed the sensation,
inside a home, where he tore apart the floor and dropped to a cavern underneath
the home! Mindstorm followed while
Talos, Kale and Flux watched on…Kale said he would follow, but told Talos he
would be going first. Socks, Mindstorm,
Talos, Kale and Flux entered the cave…but not before Talos asked if any of them
had any potato chips.
Immediately, a spear shot from the wall, but Socks managed
to dodge it and smack it aside. This put
the lot of them on notice.
Socks had the perception to notice traps set in this place, but
not the skill to remove them. He spotted
some kind of pressure plate in the floor, which Mindstorm just flew over. Talos shrank down and then leapt over it, and
Socks ran across the wall. Kale flew
over it as well, while Flux made a pathway extend from the walls to walk over
it.
The team winded their way down and into a larger cavern with
a stream, and crossed it. A cavern in
the distance was glowing with a bright, bright light and the urge to advance
was overwhelming.
Socks entered the final cave, batting away a swinging blade,
as he stared at a shining, crystalline formation! A legion of voices emerged from within, and
they thought they could see figures inside…
…when Talos decided now was time to kill them all.
Talos spun on his heels and decked Kale, but Flux ignited
Talos and did horrible damage to the robot!
Mindstorm unleashed lighting, and the onslaught was too much…the fight
was over quickly, with Talos wiped out!
As the team was impressed with themselves, the voices from the crystals
turned into one: Willy the Fish!
The team looked on in awe as Willy explained that they were
appearing in a form that would be familiar to the team…and they explained how
the Proteans had been massacred by the V’Sori, and came to Earth because the
V’Sori had come FROM Earth…this little tidbit turned the team on their ear, but
Willy continued. He explained how they
had crashed in Siberia over 100 years ago and
posed as humans, until The Outsider ordered them to move out into the world and
procreate. He spoke of their vision of
an 8 pointed star, and how they didn’t know what that meant until The Outsider
came to Earth, battled the Silver Sentinel and Star City was born.
He told them that they are the descendants of those
Proteans…bred to fight this invasion that The Outsider knew was coming…and a
tremendous flash of light filled the chamber, healing Kale, and then
disappeared.
The team, shaken by the revelations, took the metal body of
Talos and exited the cave.
There they found the people in a panic, for Warlord D’Beck
was on the march, and bringing his entire detachment…100 Drones, Hyper-Drones
and Fins, to sack this village for daring to run!
Mindstorm figured they should move around the army and get
to the factory, while Flux offered another idea: They run.
Kale said maybe they should fight, and Socks silently assented. They saw the villagers, panicked and
desperate, grabbing any weapons they could to defend themselves…Mindstorm
looked at Kale, nodded, and moved into action.
Telepathically feeding thoughts all around, he directed
Socks to dig trenches and pitfalls, and began whipping a storm. Flux began drawing the elements to him, while
Kale cleared his mind and summoned his magic.
Socks had a very clear, important goal:
Kill this Warlord. Kill D’Beck.
Somewhere in the distance, a V’Sori airship looked to be approaching,
but the team shut it out.
Mindstorm tried to repair Talos, and he came to…threatening
to kill. Realizing that reprogramming
him was out of his ability, he was able to find a retired Soviet scientist in
the village. The scientist agreed to work
on Talos, but said it would take some time…shoddy American work is hard to deal
with.
The foreboding approach of D’Beck and his minions sent
chills through the spine of the villagers…then Socks caught the V’Sori on the
wind, roared, and dove into the Drones.
The battle was joined.
Socks ripped arm cannons, and arms, from his opponents. He dodged and ducked, slashed and swiped,
swept and pounced. Drone and Fin
fell. The ferocious warrior sought his
target and would not be denied.
Flux summoned a whirlwind, blasting Drones aside. He scattered men left and right, giving
openings for the villagers to fall in behind Socks. Drones saw Flux, Mindstorm and Kale standing
in the rear support line and opened fire.
Mindstorm brought electric death from the skies, lashing
into the Drones and Fins. Hyper-Drones
opened fire on him, but his force shield was impregnable.
Kale was a man possessed.
Sweat ran from his mask as his eyes glowed and spell after spell ripped
from his lips. Eldritch bolts tore
through the air, the earth erupted around his foes, trees tore from the ground
and swept their enemies aside and Kale yelled out to the villagers: “Fight
now! Fight for your lives!”
D’Beck was stunned at the fury of the onslaught. He expected an overwhelming slaughter of
defenseless people…not trained superhumans pushing back. The land itself was pushing back, with his
men falling into pits that had been dug into the ground!!
His will very nearly broke right there.
So long since he had faced real resistance…but he held. He had brought Asia
to its KNEES. He was directly and
indirectly responsible for the death of MILLIONS. He cowed the populace of China with
overwhelming force and a vastly outnumbered army.
D’Beck held.
His men paid in blood.
Socks was a dervish, tearing through the field. Fins closed in on all sides, tearing at him,
but he pressed on.
Flux swept his twister through the crowd and bolstered the
charge of the villagers when a bolt struck him in the chest.
Mindstorm, swept up in the moment, drew his energy blades
and charged, tearing into the Drones and fins.
He fought side by side with common people, and have gave them a chance
to live.
Kale hurled blasts around Socks, deeper and deeper into the
field, trying to help clear the path. He
felt his powers burning out, even as he dug deeper and drew up fallen villagers
to continue fighting. He said, quietly,
to a driven Socks that could not possibly have heard him: “We will not fail
you.”
D’Beck was furious.
He ordered the airships forward, even as he saw a singular form tearing
a swath toward him.
Every time Socks took a foe down, two more rose up. For a moment, he imagined that this is what
Bully must have felt like, leading Tula Michaels’ resistance fighters…and for a
moment, he swore he saw Bully fighting by his side as he grabbed a Hyper
Drone’s mouth cannon and ripped his head off.
Flux was consumed:
Earth, Air, Fire, Water all answered his call as he drew the elements to
him and he turned them against the foes in force! The planet itself was answering his call to
remove his obstacles. A V’Sori airship
was blasted away by the turbulence of a gale force. A single Fin broke toward him…and was
consumed with fear. This mighty K’Tharen
warrior ran far, far away from this unassuming half-Atlantean.
Mindstorm became a whirlwind of energy blades, slashing and
stabbing, ducking away from attacks. A
handful of Drones were swept aside in a telekinetic barrage. A Fin came up on him from the side, but
lightning struck it down. A Hyper-Drone
struck, digging into the side of Mindstorm, causing him to slip.
Kale began to fall to his knees, his powers overwhelming
him, but he would not give. Delirium was
setting in, and Kale screamed out to Leviathan, needing more power to continue
pushing back.
D’Beck broke.
He ordered the retreat.
His last line, his elite Fins, pulled back. The Drones began an orderly withdrawal. D’Beck began to run like Hell.
Socks hit the hard line of Elite Fins. Villagers were killing off his wounded behind
him, but the Fins were closing around on him in front. Fire…lighting…magic…the Fins were rocked,
shocked and finally slashed.
Socks broke through the line.
Flux hammered forward, using his four-pronged assault to
batter the opponents down. He was in
sole position to see the amazing thing:
Their own losses had been slight, if it all.
Mindstorm prepared to be brought low by the Hyper-Drone that
had stabbed him, but a villager with a machete attacked it. Mindstorm rose up, joining the assault, then
flew into the air and unloaded a dozen lighting bolts in rapid succession on
the retreating forces.
Kale struggled to stand, a Fin desperately threw a
grenade…as it exploded, Kale retaliated…and the Fin’s own head exploded as
well. Kale was thrown hard to the
ground, exhaustion overtaking him.
D’Beck ran. D’Beck
ran for his life. This horrible,
slavering spectre of Death was bearing down on him.
A sharp pain in his leg brought him down and claws tore into
the flesh around his face.
D’Beck turned to Socks and begged for mercy…
“Please, let me live…I will give you anything you want! Anything at all! Name it!”
“I want your heart.”
This Warlord who had been an integral part of the invasion
of Earth…who had cowed Asia to the point that he only kept a small garrison and
a Drone factory…who had unleashed death and devastation on millions…begged for
mercy…
…and received none.
D’Beck thought he was at the top of the food chain…and found
out that this bloody, unintelligent beast of a man was his better.
As claws dug into his torso, reaching for his heart, D’Beck
cursed whatever foul being could have created such a monstrosity.
The proud warlord D’Beck died in the snow of Siberia at the hands of a man who had been twisted by the
V’Sori into a killing machine.
Notes: We ended
there, with the group planning on finishing the job sacking that Drone factory,
and trying to reprogram Talos, presumably to replace Bully.
This was my first experience with the Mass Combat rules, and
though it was on a fairly minor scale, it felt epic as all Hell, my players and
I agreed. Mindstorm used the Adventure card granting d6 in a skill to pick up Knowledge (Battle) for this session...and the sheer badassness of the team did the rest.
The most epic session of an RPG I have ever ran.
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