The top secret location of CHESS Castle, 30 miles north of New York City, beneath Ossining Penetentiary (aka, 'Sing Sing,' or 'going up the river.')
Last Issue! Manetti yelled: “This is the best I can do!” and opened the manta craft’s side hatch as it hovered. The rain was louder. The yells of rioting prisoners in the surface buildings. Sirens. Gunfire. Thunder. Pure chaos.
Last Issue! Manetti yelled: “This is the best I can do!” and opened the manta craft’s side hatch as it hovered. The rain was louder. The yells of rioting prisoners in the surface buildings. Sirens. Gunfire. Thunder. Pure chaos.
Now! The sky darkened, artificially hurrying nightfall. Hail the size of golf balls fell. The temperature was plunging and the wind made standing still a challenge! Vanguard deployed into the mob of super villains escaping CHESS Castle!
Kairos got the layout of the sub-basement back-up generator from the rallying guards. “There are more prisoners down there… in Hotsleep Sector,” one added.
The avatar of antiquity vaguely recalled that years ago the US government wanted to place uncontainable extranormal convicts into cryogenic suspension for the duration of their sentences. The Supreme Court ruled against coldsleep, as it flatlined the prisoners, meeting the definition of murdering them. He didn’t know what hotsleep meant.
Kairos leapt out into the prison yard like a warrior borne. He muscled his way through the gale force winds and hail that assaulted the yard.
Half way to the crater he caught Hyena’s attention. Hyena had picked up Kairos’ scent when the wind shifted. He remembered him from the battle of Vanguard and Homicide for Hire. Kairos had leapt off the runaway 7 train into the feral freak’s chest (way back in Issue 42! –Ye Expositional Ed). Forester could wait, especially since he didn’t fight back. Hyena, soaking wet from the storm, lunged savagely at the evading Kairos and missed! “Dammit!”
An unidentified prisoner also took a swing at Kairos as he made his way through the chaotic gauntlet of weather and prisoners! Kairos evaded his fist, thought he might have been Goth, a west coast gang enforcer in for murder one, but he didn’t look back to confirm it. (Continued below) 
Ratman looked out at the mess in the yard and knew he wanted no part of any of it, especially not superheroes. True to his namesake, the sneaky cowardly twerp turned tail and ran for it, scurrying on all fours north around the access building and away.
Forester nocked an arrow. Ratman had turned a corner out of sight. Even if he hadn’t, visibility was shot. And the darkness, wind, rain and hail would ruin his accuracy. He sent a flash arrow over the access building anyway into what he calculated would be Ratman’s path, hoping for the best. FASSSH!
Symbiote coiled and compressed his newly malleable body in a spring-like manner and launched himself up in an arc over Accelerator. Once in position, Hal spread his body wide as he descended upon the speed demon. Accelerator suddenly found he wasn’t being rained upon. He looked up… too late!
Symbiote fell on the surprised speedster, covering him completely (Didn’t see attack coming, his evasion doesn’t count). Symbiote began constricting him, trying to crush him into unconsciousness.
Accelerator was still wriggling. He touched Symbiote and sent the rubbery replicator flying. Symbiote heard muffled laughter. Speed + Rubber made for a wild combination. Symbiote was a 400 lb. ball that ricocheted around the yard at deadly velocities! CRASH! Symbiote rocketed into a guard tower! BOOM! He caroomed off a building toward the group of unidentified convicts! SLAMM!
Goth was flattened! 
CRUUNCH! (OOC: Line on map shows your path. Symbiote takes 30 points of damage! 8 off Invulnerability. 10 off power. 12 off hits! Accelerator takes kinetic damage equal to your hit point damage/2, but he cannot roll with it). More laughter from inside: “Had enough?” (continued below!)
CRUUNCH! (OOC: Line on map shows your path. Symbiote takes 30 points of damage! 8 off Invulnerability. 10 off power. 12 off hits! Accelerator takes kinetic damage equal to your hit point damage/2, but he cannot roll with it). More laughter from inside: “Had enough?” (continued below!)
Jellyfish touched an unidentified convict that got in her way. He locked up and fell over as she smiled.
Elemento was trapped, but not helpless. He looked through the translucent walls of his energy construct prison directly into Sentinel’s eyes. More lightning was summoned from above, crackling down white hot into Sentinel! SHA-KAKOOOOMM!(OOC: 18 more points to shields!) The intensity of the storm increased further!
Sentinel was struggling to hover in one place and not be swept away in the climate cataclysm. The heir of heroism closed his hand into a fist as his energy globe likewise closed onto Elemento, knocking him out! The storm was no longer being controlled but it did not weaken!
Lightning struck the ground near the prison yard! SHAKABOOOOM!
Sentinel began descending with his vanquished foe and saw the mayhem on the ground.
Lightning Strike struggled to remain standing in the gale force wind. He looked up at the electrical storm and thought he might help control it. But there were more pressing matters. The high voltage vigilante transformed himself into living lightning and entered the prison’s electrical system! SHAKOW! He was gone!
The unidentified convict that had emerged with Ratman was suddenly covered with ice! The translucent nature of his covering made him hard to see once he tore off his orange prison jumpsuit. He might have been Black Ice, a known anarchist terrorist!
Other unidentified convicts kept running, one leaping through the hole in the outer wall!
Slingshot shook concrete dust off his sore head and slungshot toward at Crab Man! SWOOOOSH! The malleable man of might landed, grabbed Crab Man and hurled him at a crowd of extranormal convicts! Jellyfish got out of the way. Figment laughed as Crab Man passed harmlessly through his holographic likeness and slammed into another unidentified convict! KARRASHHH! Crab Man crushed him into the mud! Later he would be identified as Ray Argo, an Intercrime goon who had returned to human shape again ten years after the startling transformation into the swamp creature known as Gangrene!
Crab Man untangled himself from the hapless Argo and charged through the storm at Slingshot! The two massive metahumans were about to be locked in a titanic struggle while…
Inhuman lay paralyzed in the dark electrical hailstorm and serenely pondered the appearance of his aquatic adversaries. He could not quite place their exact species but did hazard a guess that they seemed likely to be Atlantic spawned.
He realized that Jellyfish did not have tentacles. She touched him with her “hand.” Her touch left nothing on Inhuman’s person save an overwhelming paralysis. His hydro-sense was fouled by the torrential precipitation in the air.
He reached out his mind to seize control of the water that made up over 90% of Jellyfish’s body. And succeeded! She suddenly fell over, likewise paralyzed!
Crab Man saw his fallen partner and stopped charging Slingshot. Hail bouncing off his impenetrable carapace, he said: “What the hell? You allright, baby?” The crustacean criminal went to her, picked her up with surprising tenderness and carried her in his claw-like arms toward the hole in the outer wall.
Crab Man looked up into the sky and muttered something to himself that Slingshot overheard: “Where the hell are they?”
Crab Man looked up into the sky and muttered something to himself that Slingshot overheard: “Where the hell are they?”
Soon Jellyfish would be out of range of Inhuman’s eerie powers!
Two more extranormals emerged from the broken access building:
Gadget Girl, an ingenious ingénue inventor who rushed out with a makeshift device assembled from parts she must have just recovered from the prison! She appeared to have tools. She ran to the fallen CHESS Knight and started cannibalizing his armor!
Gadget Girl, an ingenious ingénue inventor who rushed out with a makeshift device assembled from parts she must have just recovered from the prison! She appeared to have tools. She ran to the fallen CHESS Knight and started cannibalizing his armor!
The other was the first convict to emerge wearing the markings of a Level Three prisoner. He remained perfectly still and everything around him moved.
The water in the air rippled, and so did the ground! An earthquake wave rolled out, knocking people off their feet! A gas main was torn open and the yard was exploding with fires! BOOOOMM!
He might have been Singularity, who could warp reality itself. (10 points of damage to Forester and Kairos. 20 to Symbiote and Slingshot who have a vulnerability to fire! Damage can be rolled with.) The Guards that Kairos had rallied saw this and fell back! The extranormal mayhem of the prison yard was too much for them!
Accelerator, still inside Symbiote’s elastic epidermis, pointed his finger upward, touching Symbiote again! The superhero simulator rocketed straight up! He was hurtling up 100 feet, 150 feet, 200! He passed Sentinel and kept flying straight up into the heart of the electrical storm! “You’re in trouble now, sucker!” laughed Accelerator.
Agent Drake and Kairos met at the edge of the impact crater. Agent Drake looked back at the perfect chaos of the storm, the escapees, the giant rubber pinball, the earthquake and resultant fires. He squinted up at the swirling tempest. “CHESS jets won’t make it through that.”
Then he looked down into the smoking pit. He unlimbered a high-powered flashlight from the network of pouches that webbed his combat uniform, revealing the fire blackened crater to be 100 feet deep. From here they could hear into the prison. Below were sounds of rioting. Prisoners fighting each other. Explosions. Yelling. CHESS Knight energy weapons.
OOC: Actions?
Current Conditions:
Forester: Hit Points: 27 Power Points: 61
Inhuman: Hit Points: 25 Power Points: 53 Note: Currently paralyzed!
Kairos: Hit Points: 42 Power Points: 72 Evasion: until first action in Issue 61
Lightning Strike: Hit Points: 40 Power Points: 62
Sentinel: Hit Points: 20 Power Points: 51 Creation Points: 102 Shields: 68
Slingshot: Hit Points: 33 Power Points: 72 Invulnerability: 0 until Issue 61
Symbiote: Hit Points: 57 Power Points: 82 Invulnerability: 0 til Ish 62 Charges: 13
Inhuman does not make his save between turns vs. Paralysis!
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Symbiote:
OOC: Cool issue. Rock 'em, Sock 'em action. Before we go any further, however...does Accelerator have the power of flight that we know of? He's obviously sent me bouncing high and he's along for the ride, but can he fly under his own power (again, that we know of)?
Best regards,
Greg
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GM Reply:
Thanks.
Accelerator is not known to have the power of flight.
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Forester:
“You've lost your edge, Gadget Girl," Forester shouts. "One might even say you've gotten rusty." He fires a corrosive arrow at the ad hoc antagonist.
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Slingshot:
OOC: I'm willing to bet that he can "transfer" his acceleration just before he lands, although I must say that the first thing that I would have thought of would be just that.
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Kairos:
Kairos looks at Drake and asks, "Do you know the layout of the place? If so, let's get going."
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Kairos:
Kairos looks at Drake and asks, "Do you know the layout of the place? If so, let's get going."
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Symbiote:
OOC: OK, great. One more question (should've asked it earlier, but my head was still spinning from all the pulse-pounding action!): Are Accelerator and I still ascending? As in, are we still rocketing upward? Or have we reached our apogee--the point where gravity overcomes our momentum and we're holding weightless for a few seconds? Or have we already reached that pointed and started falling back to earth?
Let me know, and then I'll have a response.
Thanks,
Greg
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GM Replies:
Kairos looks at Drake and asks, "Do you know the layout of the place? If so, let's get going."
Drake uncoiled a thin line of rope and said bleakly: "Yeah... but I've never entered this way before."
OOC: Where would you like to go? Still attempting for Sub-Basement back up generator? Following sound of prisoners fighting? Of CHESS Knight energy weapons? Thanks.
Symbiote wrote: OK, great. One more question (should've asked it earlier, but my head was still spinning from all the pulse-pounding action!): Are Accelerator and I still ascending? As in, are we still rocketing upward? Or have we reached our apogee--the point where gravity overcomes our momentum and we're holding weightless for a few seconds? Or have we already reached that pointed and started falling back to earth?
GM Reply: Still ascending but starting to slow.
James wrote (privately): I replied before looking at the art and it's funny because Gadget Girl looks almost exactly as I had imagined. Here's something I'm curious about: are any/all of these escaping villains ones that you've used in your Freedom Force campaign before Vanguard formed?
GM Reply: Here are the villains who fought the FF in the original campaign:
Mother Russia (Soviet Super Soldiers)
Crab Man (Sinister Sea Squad)
Jellyfish (Sinister Sea Squad)
Smog (Blight, a team of anti-environment terrorists)
Elemento (Intercrime)
Ray Argo aka Gangrene (Intercrime)
Ratman (Destroyers, in a different incarnation)
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Inhuman:
OOC: Q: are my powers reactive or non reactive? IE like a rope (which will pull me along) or like Silly putty (which will snap and break?) Q:Is he supporting Jellyfish or constraining her? It sounds like he is doing the Creature from the Black Lagoon with her.
If not constrainment I'll use My attack to have her hands touch him in some likely weak spot (recalled from my visual of him when he [IIRC] leaned over me and suggested I join their side) disguised as a "seductive/gentle" move at first and see if i can activate her powers through my Hydro awareness/manipulation (I think I Should be able to sense this and do this because I allready have the water in my senses assuming it is some sort of chemical ability. Unless it is an energy attack then I probably won't be able to do so.) then use movement to pull her up and over him slinging her past/behind him and then head closer to me but not directly to me. If I cannot activate her powers though my manipulation and he is constraining her then I will have her slap him, turn her head away in apparent disgust Point Wildly at Gadget Girl, mime the "kill" signal (drawing her pointer finger across her throat from left to right) and then have it appear as if she is trying to struggle free. If I cannot activate her powers though my manipulation and he is not constraining her then I will have her slap him, turn her head away in apparent disgust Point Wildly at Gadget Girl, mime the "kill" signal (drawing her pointer finger across her throat from left to right) and then head back in my range perhaps swinging threateningly at other criminals.
Note: this does hinge upon my paralysis type power being a grab like attack and enabling me to manipulate my targets after they have been paralysed. I certainly hope I can! But if you Don't see it this way then I will have to come up with something else. Inhuman lay there apparently helpless as he struggled to do more with much less than he wanted to have. Oh well he thought, Ice can be used to prevent the spread of the reaction to jellyfish stings if there is no baking soda paste to be applied. Inhuman smiled at the hailstorm to the best of his ability as he saw a myriad of ways for the Aquatic Assailant to turn this Calamitus Cacophony to his advantage. Perhaps, he thought, I can manipulate this fight another way.... If they get out of my reach before I can perform the listed actions or my HK (Hydro-Kinisis) is not usable as outlined above then i will grab nearby water as stated previously then move closer to GG (Gadget Girl).
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Symbiote:
GM Reply: Still ascending but starting to slow.
Perfect. Just what I needed /OOC):
IC: “You're in trouble now, sucker!” laughed Accelerator.
Symbiote whispered back to his entangled antagonist. "In case you hadn't noticed, Zippy, you're along with me for the ride. Pretty much anything that happens to me from this point happens to you too. Don't worry, I've got an idea that'll make it a real interesting experience for you."
(OOC: My actions are based on what I certainly hope is a correct interpretation of Accelerator's powers. I'll keep constricting him for whatever damage I can inflict until we reach the apogee of our launch--the point where we have stopped moving upward but haven't yet started falling down. At this point, assuming Accelerator has to work up his own momentum before transferring it to another party--well, he'll be pretty much helpless. He'll have no personal momentum, no leverage, and nothing to run against even if he did have leverage.
At that moment I'll do a move I've seen Mr. Fantastic, Elongated Man and Elastigirl pull dozens of times--I'll form my body into a parachute, with my arms and legs forming the struts and my torso forming the canopy. My legs will be entangled around Accelerator's legs. My left arm will be around his biceps and torso and still constricting for damage. My right arm will be around his neck, still constricting for damage. The idea is to try to suffocate him into unconsciousness.
We'll presumably start falling to the ground--slowly, maybe a couple of miles per hour. That's not a lot of momentum for Accelerator to transfer to me, and even if he can, what's he going to do with it? Drive us horizontally or further back up into the atmosphere? I'll still be choking him. Try to drive us back down to the ground? I assume my canopy torso will provide resistance to help overcome that and, even if it doesn't, he'll be hitting the ground first.
If he goes unconscious I'll stop squeezing him. If he's still conscious when we hit the ground I'll envelope him again. Since his legs are entangled he hopefully won't be able to build up any movement to speak of and we'll just lie there in a heap until I've squeezed him off to slumberland.
Through all this I assume there's a chance we'll both get hit by a lightning bolt from the storm, but since there's nothing I can do about it I'm not going to worry about it either. /OOC).
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Symbiote:
GM Reply: Still ascending but starting to slow.
Perfect. Just what I needed /OOC):
IC: “You're in trouble now, sucker!” laughed Accelerator.
Symbiote whispered back to his entangled antagonist. "In case you hadn't noticed, Zippy, you're along with me for the ride. Pretty much anything that happens to me from this point happens to you too. Don't worry, I've got an idea that'll make it a real interesting experience for you."
(OOC: My actions are based on what I certainly hope is a correct interpretation of Accelerator's powers. I'll keep constricting him for whatever damage I can inflict until we reach the apogee of our launch--the point where we have stopped moving upward but haven't yet started falling down. At this point, assuming Accelerator has to work up his own momentum before transferring it to another party--well, he'll be pretty much helpless. He'll have no personal momentum, no leverage, and nothing to run against even if he did have leverage.
At that moment I'll do a move I've seen Mr. Fantastic, Elongated Man and Elastigirl pull dozens of times--I'll form my body into a parachute, with my arms and legs forming the struts and my torso forming the canopy. My legs will be entangled around Accelerator's legs. My left arm will be around his biceps and torso and still constricting for damage. My right arm will be around his neck, still constricting for damage. The idea is to try to suffocate him into unconsciousness.
We'll presumably start falling to the ground--slowly, maybe a couple of miles per hour. That's not a lot of momentum for Accelerator to transfer to me, and even if he can, what's he going to do with it? Drive us horizontally or further back up into the atmosphere? I'll still be choking him. Try to drive us back down to the ground? I assume my canopy torso will provide resistance to help overcome that and, even if it doesn't, he'll be hitting the ground first.
If he goes unconscious I'll stop squeezing him. If he's still conscious when we hit the ground I'll envelope him again. Since his legs are entangled he hopefully won't be able to build up any movement to speak of and we'll just lie there in a heap until I've squeezed him off to slumberland.
Through all this I assume there's a chance we'll both get hit by a lightning bolt from the storm, but since there's nothing I can do about it I'm not going to worry about it either. /OOC).
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Sentinel:
As Elemento went unconscious Kirk took a moment to get his bearings on what was happening around him. He had hoped that with Elemento out of the game the storm would subside, but apparently it now just raged uncontrolled. "Well, better uncontrolled then serving the will of these rogues," he thought. “For whatever problems it causes our side, it should equally hinder their side now; a draw.”
He saw and felt the area, a few prone cons in the prison yard and more cons pouring out, with the worst yet to come. Things were proceeding exactly as to how he'd been concerned before they entered the fray. "This is useless ... it's like trying to prevent water damage from a leak by sopping up the exposed water, if you don't find out what's causing the water flow and stop it at the source you’re not preventing anything, only delaying it,” he thought.
Kirk saw Drake and Kairos at the crater, the source of the impact and the closest link to the direct physical cause of the current predicament, and he thought, “I should have thought of it sooner, that’s our way in and our quickest means to find out what is really happening here.”
Kirk knew that Strike had already dived into the situation alone as only he could to get to the heart of things. When Vanguard was discussing strategy he noted Strike’s usual silence and knew Strike said nothing because Strike figured what approach the team would take initially and he already knew what he was going to do. It was exactly what Kirk expected of him; the no-nonsense logical approach on his own and his low expectations of anyone listening to his reasoning.
With Elemento in tow, Kirk joined Drake and Kairos as they were about to descend on Drake’s rope. “I’d suggest lowering the line as a backup ‘just in case’ but I can get us down there quicker if you’d like. I’m going down to the generators to find out exactly what caused this mess and if I can do anything to assist to get them back online. My guess is that Strike is either there already or on his way in his own unique fashion … I hope so, since Symbiote is in the thick of things out there and he and Strike are our best bets on getting the generator up and running again.”
Kirk pointed to Elemento and looked at his teammates, “He’s got control and at least some form of generation of electricity so I thought he might be of some use with the generators, although we’d have to get him to cooperate. And I was concerned if he became conscious again he’d use the storm against our side up here. Should we take him in or leave him here?”
As they descend Kirk will try to pay keen attention to his energy senses to be sure that they aren’t attacked unawares being tuned in to energy forces (possible weapon attacks) and energy auras (beings they are about to encounter) and if they do tow Elemento down to making sure he doesn’t become conscious and attack them unawares.
OOC: Kirk would likely regenerate his shields to be best prepared for whatever they find below and to give them the quickest speed of descent possible, although I’d have hoped for them to absorb another attack of sorts before expending the energy, but it would seem prudent to make the move before encountering whatever lies below. Can I ask at this point, if Kirk used his action to ‘evade’ lowering his chances of being hit would it apply since we’re somewhat out of combat as we go down? Although I suppose he could ‘evade’ and then make his approach to them. I know in game terms evading makes it harder to hit him but can you help me practically here regarding the advantage to reforming the shields verses evading? Or if evading would really apply in his actions? (Jeff: Must be fun to bounce back and forth between those of us that are mostly clueless to the game rules verses those that are fully versed in them.)
As Elemento went unconscious Kirk took a moment to get his bearings on what was happening around him. He had hoped that with Elemento out of the game the storm would subside, but apparently it now just raged uncontrolled. "Well, better uncontrolled then serving the will of these rogues," he thought. “For whatever problems it causes our side, it should equally hinder their side now; a draw.”
He saw and felt the area, a few prone cons in the prison yard and more cons pouring out, with the worst yet to come. Things were proceeding exactly as to how he'd been concerned before they entered the fray. "This is useless ... it's like trying to prevent water damage from a leak by sopping up the exposed water, if you don't find out what's causing the water flow and stop it at the source you’re not preventing anything, only delaying it,” he thought.
Kirk saw Drake and Kairos at the crater, the source of the impact and the closest link to the direct physical cause of the current predicament, and he thought, “I should have thought of it sooner, that’s our way in and our quickest means to find out what is really happening here.”
Kirk knew that Strike had already dived into the situation alone as only he could to get to the heart of things. When Vanguard was discussing strategy he noted Strike’s usual silence and knew Strike said nothing because Strike figured what approach the team would take initially and he already knew what he was going to do. It was exactly what Kirk expected of him; the no-nonsense logical approach on his own and his low expectations of anyone listening to his reasoning.
With Elemento in tow, Kirk joined Drake and Kairos as they were about to descend on Drake’s rope. “I’d suggest lowering the line as a backup ‘just in case’ but I can get us down there quicker if you’d like. I’m going down to the generators to find out exactly what caused this mess and if I can do anything to assist to get them back online. My guess is that Strike is either there already or on his way in his own unique fashion … I hope so, since Symbiote is in the thick of things out there and he and Strike are our best bets on getting the generator up and running again.”
Kirk pointed to Elemento and looked at his teammates, “He’s got control and at least some form of generation of electricity so I thought he might be of some use with the generators, although we’d have to get him to cooperate. And I was concerned if he became conscious again he’d use the storm against our side up here. Should we take him in or leave him here?”
As they descend Kirk will try to pay keen attention to his energy senses to be sure that they aren’t attacked unawares being tuned in to energy forces (possible weapon attacks) and energy auras (beings they are about to encounter) and if they do tow Elemento down to making sure he doesn’t become conscious and attack them unawares.
OOC: Kirk would likely regenerate his shields to be best prepared for whatever they find below and to give them the quickest speed of descent possible, although I’d have hoped for them to absorb another attack of sorts before expending the energy, but it would seem prudent to make the move before encountering whatever lies below. Can I ask at this point, if Kirk used his action to ‘evade’ lowering his chances of being hit would it apply since we’re somewhat out of combat as we go down? Although I suppose he could ‘evade’ and then make his approach to them. I know in game terms evading makes it harder to hit him but can you help me practically here regarding the advantage to reforming the shields verses evading? Or if evading would really apply in his actions? (Jeff: Must be fun to bounce back and forth between those of us that are mostly clueless to the game rules verses those that are fully versed in them.)
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Lightning Strike:
Strike assessed the chaos above ground before making his decision to turn to electrical form and enter the Castle. He made the determination that although there were some formidable foes already making a break for it, none of them were supremely dangerous. He felt he had one choice and it better be a good one.
He decided to turn into electrical form and head for those backup generators. Any villain in hotsleep might be too dangerous to stop on their own. If all of them escaped the consequences could be disastrous.
His plan was to ensure that the back-up generators were still functioning and if not, see if they could be restarted using his own electrical energy. If they could not, he would trace the circuits down to the hotsleep cells and use his own electrical ability to keep these villains secure.
Finally, in the back of his mind he was trying to think of any weather control villains who may have a connection to known villains incarcerated at the Castle. This may help him prioritize who this jailbreak was orchestrated for.
That's all for now. I will attempt to reply more frequently.
Take it easy all,
Tony
Strike assessed the chaos above ground before making his decision to turn to electrical form and enter the Castle. He made the determination that although there were some formidable foes already making a break for it, none of them were supremely dangerous. He felt he had one choice and it better be a good one.
He decided to turn into electrical form and head for those backup generators. Any villain in hotsleep might be too dangerous to stop on their own. If all of them escaped the consequences could be disastrous.
His plan was to ensure that the back-up generators were still functioning and if not, see if they could be restarted using his own electrical energy. If they could not, he would trace the circuits down to the hotsleep cells and use his own electrical ability to keep these villains secure.
Finally, in the back of his mind he was trying to think of any weather control villains who may have a connection to known villains incarcerated at the Castle. This may help him prioritize who this jailbreak was orchestrated for.
That's all for now. I will attempt to reply more frequently.
Take it easy all,
Tony
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OOC GM Replies:
Hey,
Today marks the 3rd anniversary of this game.
I don't often get the chance to say it but thanks to each of you for playing! It's a pleasure to GM for you.
I might have the next ish be an Annual or a Giant Size Special but it would throw off the issue count. How did Stan and Jack handle it?!
Best,
Jeff
Hey,
Today marks the 3rd anniversary of this game.
I don't often get the chance to say it but thanks to each of you for playing! It's a pleasure to GM for you.
I might have the next ish be an Annual or a Giant Size Special but it would throw off the issue count. How did Stan and Jack handle it?!
Best,
Jeff
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Lightning Strike OOC:
Well, I am not the comic expert that some of us are but from what I remember, then Annual issues were generally outside the regular issue storylines and were taken as an opportunity to either write a one-shot storyline that was self contained or in the case of Marvel in the later days, introduce a new character for the purposes of test marketing that character for their own issue.
Of course, I would never assume that our GM would be so callous as to introduce a character just to advance sales. (or e-mails as the case me be)
Well, I am not the comic expert that some of us are but from what I remember, then Annual issues were generally outside the regular issue storylines and were taken as an opportunity to either write a one-shot storyline that was self contained or in the case of Marvel in the later days, introduce a new character for the purposes of test marketing that character for their own issue.
Of course, I would never assume that our GM would be so callous as to introduce a character just to advance sales. (or e-mails as the case me be)
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Inhuman:
OOC:Annuals were numbered outside of the regular spectrum, which makes it difficult for A-retentive
comic book filers like myself to properly place the product.
comic book filers like myself to properly place the product.
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Symbiote:
I always place my annuals behind the regular run in my longbox. Of course, Marvel also did "Giant-Sized Fill-In-The-Blank-Title" or "King-Sized Fill-In-The-Blank-Title" periodically, and has recently taken to doing so again with "The Hulk" (undoubtedly to cash in on the upcoming movie). Possibly some other titles as well, though "Hulk" and "Thor" are the only Marvel books I'm currently reading.
The hell of it is that those Annuals, Giant Sizeds and King Sizeds often had reprint material in the back as filler. Annoying if you already owned the comic they were reprinting, possibly interesting if you didn't. Maybe you could give us a "Best of" Liberty Legion or Freedom Force reprint, Jeff? Perhaps something to do with the Black Cat/Black Bat, since he's very much a part of our lives today?
Symbiote:
I always place my annuals behind the regular run in my longbox. Of course, Marvel also did "Giant-Sized Fill-In-The-Blank-Title" or "King-Sized Fill-In-The-Blank-Title" periodically, and has recently taken to doing so again with "The Hulk" (undoubtedly to cash in on the upcoming movie). Possibly some other titles as well, though "Hulk" and "Thor" are the only Marvel books I'm currently reading.
The hell of it is that those Annuals, Giant Sizeds and King Sizeds often had reprint material in the back as filler. Annoying if you already owned the comic they were reprinting, possibly interesting if you didn't. Maybe you could give us a "Best of" Liberty Legion or Freedom Force reprint, Jeff? Perhaps something to do with the Black Cat/Black Bat, since he's very much a part of our lives today?
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GM Replies:
Inhuman wrote: Q: are my powers reactive or non reactive? IE like a rope (which will pull me along) or like Silly putty (which will snap and break?) Q:Is he supporting Jellyfish or constraining her? It sounds like he is doing the Creature from the Black Lagoon with her.
GM Reply: Once the range is exceeded their effect ends. Crab Man is doing the Creature of the Black lagoon with her. Also, Inhuman has never tried to manipulate someone before with his “paralysis” ability, despite the extensive power testing he has undergone. He doesn’t know if it can be done!
Sentinel wrote:I know in game terms evading makes it harder to hit him but can you help me practically here regarding the advantage to reforming the shields verses evading? Or if evading would really apply in his actions?
GM Reply: You can evade in this situation as there is combat all around. Evading costs you action/attack and it gives you the tens digit of your current power as a negative to be hit. In your case right now, you would get a -5 to be hit on a d20, or a -25% to be hit (5 out of 20). But you have to be mobile and aware of the attack to gain the modifier. Evasion starts on your action phase and continues for this issue, all of the next and until your action phase on the third. (2 full issues). This is how speedsters like the Flash and super agile heroes like Spidey or Daredevil avoid being hit; they have so many actions per turn they don’t mind spending one in this way. Indestructible heroes like Green Lantern or Iron Man rarely evade because damage doesn’t affect them as much.
Recharging your shields would make you pretty indestructible for a while again. Either choice is legitimate.
Symbiote wrote: Maybe you could give us a "Best of" Liberty Legion or Freedom Force reprint, Jeff? Perhaps something to do with the Black Cat/Black Bat, since he's very much a part of our lives today?
GM Reply: Hmmm.
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Sentinel:
OOC: As I've said many times, I'm thrilled that we got a game going that we're all enjoying and happy that Kirk and friends are a part of my life ... and that I've gotten to interact with some new creative people to boot!
Thanks for a great ride Jeff, and everyone's input to the fun.
I like the idea of some "reprints" having missed out on the original Freedom Force playing, but that sounds like even more work than usual for our overworked editor/GM. Your call, although it would be fun.
Having more of a DC background to fall back on, special events were handled different ways at different times. DC did the annuals or specials and even more so in later years, but many times DC celebrated anniversaries without a special annual. Sometimes they would just do an giant-sized issue of the regular title (as you've done with Vanguard). However something that was done for the event was a big play-up on the cover about the "special anniversary". From memory Action #484 celebrated the 40th anniversary of Superman (Action#1 debuted 40 years earlier), in just the normal numbering and not even giant-sized, but had a special story (Superman takes a wife) ... this remains one of my favorite covers even now. There was a Superman issue (#411) that celebrated the 70th birthday and contributions to the comic world of Julius Schwartz (may the Schwartz be with you). Detective #627 was a giant-sized issue celebrating Batman's 600th appearance in Detective Comics. I'd guess there are others I don't remember.
FF/Vanguard didn't have an annual for our first or second anniversary ... and I like our numbering going up (ever looking for progress); I was happy that ye editor didn't restart our numbering when we went from Freedom Force to Vanguard like some of the other companies out there, so I'd vote for not having it separated.
But, hey, if you do want us to give you even more work than ever, how about pulling out the old pen and ink and doing up a genuine Vanguard "special cover" for the issue. I bet some of our new players don't even know what a talented artist you are! Of course, that might be so much work that you'd prefer to save it for our 5th or 10th anniversary!
Whatever you decide, I'm just happy to be part of the event. I can't believe we got one to "stick" this long, and I sure hope it continues.
Special thanks to you Jeff and to the rest of Team Vanguard!
Seth
Sentinel:
OOC: As I've said many times, I'm thrilled that we got a game going that we're all enjoying and happy that Kirk and friends are a part of my life ... and that I've gotten to interact with some new creative people to boot!
Thanks for a great ride Jeff, and everyone's input to the fun.
I like the idea of some "reprints" having missed out on the original Freedom Force playing, but that sounds like even more work than usual for our overworked editor/GM. Your call, although it would be fun.
Having more of a DC background to fall back on, special events were handled different ways at different times. DC did the annuals or specials and even more so in later years, but many times DC celebrated anniversaries without a special annual. Sometimes they would just do an giant-sized issue of the regular title (as you've done with Vanguard). However something that was done for the event was a big play-up on the cover about the "special anniversary". From memory Action #484 celebrated the 40th anniversary of Superman (Action#1 debuted 40 years earlier), in just the normal numbering and not even giant-sized, but had a special story (Superman takes a wife) ... this remains one of my favorite covers even now. There was a Superman issue (#411) that celebrated the 70th birthday and contributions to the comic world of Julius Schwartz (may the Schwartz be with you). Detective #627 was a giant-sized issue celebrating Batman's 600th appearance in Detective Comics. I'd guess there are others I don't remember.
FF/Vanguard didn't have an annual for our first or second anniversary ... and I like our numbering going up (ever looking for progress); I was happy that ye editor didn't restart our numbering when we went from Freedom Force to Vanguard like some of the other companies out there, so I'd vote for not having it separated.
But, hey, if you do want us to give you even more work than ever, how about pulling out the old pen and ink and doing up a genuine Vanguard "special cover" for the issue. I bet some of our new players don't even know what a talented artist you are! Of course, that might be so much work that you'd prefer to save it for our 5th or 10th anniversary!
Whatever you decide, I'm just happy to be part of the event. I can't believe we got one to "stick" this long, and I sure hope it continues.
Special thanks to you Jeff and to the rest of Team Vanguard!
Seth
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Slingshot: What's the intel we have on Singularity? What about black Ice? (I actually don't recall reading anything on him in the battle to date.
PS:I've stopped reading myself almost 10 years ago, but I'll concur with the other's suggestion.
Gratz to Jeff and all the players that made it this far. While I'm not part of the original players, it's been definitely fun.
PS:I've stopped reading myself almost 10 years ago, but I'll concur with the other's suggestion.
Gratz to Jeff and all the players that made it this far. While I'm not part of the original players, it's been definitely fun.
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Kairos: Back-up generator is where I'd like to head.
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GM Replies:
Slingshot wrote: What's the intel we have on Singularity? What about Black Ice? (I actually don't recall reading anything on him in the battle to date.)
GM Reply: Part of the challenge of this combat is the limited intel due to the chaotic nature of the early moments of a major crisis (not to mention the arrival of new adversaries every issue!). You have no access to Ajay or CHESS due to the static field. So you are relying on memories of long-ago imprisoned extranormals.
Both extranormals were "ID'ed" only in Issue 60, and I quote: sa
"The unidentified convict that had emerged with Ratman was suddenly covered with ice! The translucent nature of his covering made him hard to see once he tore off his orange prison jumpsuit. He might have been Black Ice, a known anarchist terrorist.
Other unidentified convicts kept running, one leaping through the hole in the outer wall!"
"Two more extranormals emerged from the broken access building:
Gadget Girl, an ingenious ingénue inventor who rushed out with a makeshift device assembled from parts she must have just recovered from the prison! She appeared to have tools. She ran to the fallen
CHESS Knight and started cannibalizing his armor!
"The other was the first convict to emerge wearing the markings of a Level Three prisoner. He remained perfectly still and everything around him moved.. The water in the air rippled, and so did the ground! An earthquake wave rolled out, knocking people off their feet! A gas main was torn open and the yard was exploding with fires!
BOOOOMM! He might have been Singularity, who could warp reality itself."
Slingshot wrote: What's the intel we have on Singularity? What about Black Ice? (I actually don't recall reading anything on him in the battle to date.)
GM Reply: Part of the challenge of this combat is the limited intel due to the chaotic nature of the early moments of a major crisis (not to mention the arrival of new adversaries every issue!). You have no access to Ajay or CHESS due to the static field. So you are relying on memories of long-ago imprisoned extranormals.
Both extranormals were "ID'ed" only in Issue 60, and I quote: sa
"The unidentified convict that had emerged with Ratman was suddenly covered with ice! The translucent nature of his covering made him hard to see once he tore off his orange prison jumpsuit. He might have been Black Ice, a known anarchist terrorist.
Other unidentified convicts kept running, one leaping through the hole in the outer wall!"
"Two more extranormals emerged from the broken access building:
Gadget Girl, an ingenious ingénue inventor who rushed out with a makeshift device assembled from parts she must have just recovered from the prison! She appeared to have tools. She ran to the fallen
CHESS Knight and started cannibalizing his armor!
"The other was the first convict to emerge wearing the markings of a Level Three prisoner. He remained perfectly still and everything around him moved.. The water in the air rippled, and so did the ground! An earthquake wave rolled out, knocking people off their feet! A gas main was torn open and the yard was exploding with fires!
BOOOOMM! He might have been Singularity, who could warp reality itself."
But Slingy imagines there would be very complete data of all the prisoners somewhere inside CHESS Castle.
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Slingshot:
As what Crabman said sunk in, Slingshot cursed the loss of the communicators. He yells out to the friendlies close by," Stay alert people, bogeys from the sky. The clouds are giving them cover! Stay Alert! We need to stop the flow of criminals. Anyone who thinks they can go down and do it, get to it fast. I'll try to hold the fort here."
The heat and flames seared his flesh, Scott yelled at the crustacean villain. "Crabman! Stand down! I don't want to hurt Jellyfish. Stand down and stay put and I'll let you be."
[ooc: assuming that Crabman does not comply]
Slingshot looked at Crabman and shook his head. "So be it," he muttered under his breath. He lunged at Crabman wrapped his fingers around the behemoth and took two elongated steps and in a complete mockery of any NBA superstar, he dunks Crabman (and Jellyfish) into the crater.
[ooc: assuming that Crabman complies]
Slingshot looks around for a target. He's not sure that he could handle someone who has the power to warp reality itself, but he'll try. Here's to hoping he has a glass jaw.. Scott winds up a haymaker and lays it into Singularity.
Slingshot looks around for a target. He's not sure that he could handle someone who has the power to warp reality itself, but he'll try. Here's to hoping he has a glass jaw.. Scott winds up a haymaker and lays it into Singularity.
[ooc: assuming that Singularity is not around by the time that I act]
Slingshot looks around for a target. He sees Black Ice. Let's hope he doesn't like fire as much as I do. He envelops the icy villain and hurls him at the fire coming out of the ruptured gas main.
Slingshot looks around for a target. He sees Black Ice. Let's hope he doesn't like fire as much as I do. He envelops the icy villain and hurls him at the fire coming out of the ruptured gas main.
