Vanguard: Issue 211: The Vanguard Reserves!

Previously, in Vanguard:

It is a dark time for this universe. Three harbingers of doom, Mystic, Archimedes and Oracle, warned Vanguard of the coming of Cthulhu to this dimension. To stop this threat, they sent Vanguard on a series of quests across time and space to locate nine artifacts of power. Anyone of them possess the power to summon Cthulhu when the stars are right.
On these quests, Vanguard encountered and recruited Doc Monster (of the defunct European superhero team, AEGIS) and Nemesis, former Freedom Forcer and “brother” of Nanite.
But they were betrayed, all of them, by Mystic. The former hero and Liberty Leaguer destroyed Vanguard’s HQ, and murdered the other harbingers and the friends and family of Vanguard. He stole all the artifacts, for a purpose Vanguard can only guess.

But Vanguard turned the tables on Mystic, and retook the artifacts back from Mystic’s otherworldly pocket dimension. Now, Vanguard prepares for Mystic’s inevitable retaliation onboard the CHESS Omni-Carrier, over the Atlantic Ocean, as the clock winds down to the moment when the stars are right for Cthulhu’s invasion of this dimension, in 44 hours. In two hours, Vanguard will teleport to the Salt Flats for what they believe will be the final confrontation with Mystic!

Now:
At 4:14am EST, alarms blared across the CHESS Omni-Carrier.

Director Grey called Vanguard from the bridge. They saw him on the wall screens in the Special Projects Room, and in the nearby Battle Command Center.
“Radar’s picked up something on approach to us.  It’s all the former members of Vanguard, flying in, requesting permission to land. They’re here to help!”

Some within Vanguard had their suspicions. But they kept their thoughts to themselves.
CHESS Director Grey okayed permission to land and the Vanguard Reserves flew in.
In the Projects Room, Vanguard watch them on the wallscreen. The reserve heroes touch down on the flight deck and once they are past the Omni-Carrier’s defenses, they attack without warning!

Blue Comet blasts cyan flames from his hand, detonating a fighter jet on the carrier flight deck! It triggers a chain reaction, erupting two other jets nearby!

Talon and Viper sucker punch the cadre of CHESS rooks that had gone out to meet them.

Forester fires a techno-arrow into the communications array atop the carrier!

Soldier fires something hard to see onto the ship’s hull!

Inhuman controls the teeming rain of the World Storm and uses it to blast a path into the Omni-Carrier and everyone follows him in!

Vanguard hears Grey’s voice on the monitor: “What the hell?!”

Another voice near him: “Sir! Hip Hop has been sighted!...”
Vanguard knew Hip Hop was a young, celebrity-conscious superhero with the power of teleportation.

ZARK! Suddenly the wallscreen went dead. Communications too. The lights were next. The constant hum of the engines suddenly can’t be heard. Nor can the ever-present vibration of the rotors.

Alarm claxons blare throughout the decks! Backup generator lights kick in and bathe the room red.

Suddenly, the floor begins to tilt. Furniture and equipment slide across the projects room as the CHESS Omni-Carrier starts to plummet out of the sky!


Actions?!?


[OOC: This surprise attack preempts any of your orders for this turn that occurred after the Vanguard Reserves landed, which is about 90% of what you wrote. Sorry! It was great stuff, and can still be used should you all survive.  :)

Below is the map of the CHESS Omni-Carrier.

• The Blue V is Vanguard (in the Special Projects Room, formerly the Computer Support room, or the Battle Command Center directly above it).

• The Red VR are the Vanguard Reserves, last seen at the front of the ship, on the flight deck.

• The bottom half of the map are cutaway views from the front of the ship to the back.

• The carrier is 1100 feet long. To calculate your character’s movement into feet, multiply the number on your character sheet by 5. So 60” = 300 feet per turn. One turn is 15 seconds and usually includes a move and an attack.

• The PCs don’t know the Omni-Carrier’s layout well. Trying to get from point A to point B will require an Int save on a d20. Every point higher than your Int that you roll, means it takes an extra turn (15 seconds) to reach point B. A 20 means you’re lost.]

Current Conditions:

Aperture: Hit Points: 25, Power Points: 73, Nanotech: Disintegration Ray (default)
Avatar: Hit Points: 21, Power Points: 85, Manifestation: none
Clone: Hit Points: 7/6, Bodies: 1/1, Power Points: 67/67, Hit Point Pool: 13 (Stats: NYC/Russia)
Lightning Strike: Hit Points: 23, Power Points: 85
Menagerie: Hit Points: 16, Power Points: 66, Form: Man
Sentinel: Hit Points: 7, Power Points: 70, Creation Points: 140, Shields: 0%
Slingshot: Hit Points: 39, Power Points: 92, Invulnerability: 8, damage that can’t be regenerated: 30

Countdown:  44 hours until the End of the World.


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Slingshot:
OOC:
A question before I start making any decisions -

Do I still have my teleportation disruption invention that I created at the beginning of this story arc? I know that I've never used them and never really talked about them since that original work to stop the Russians.

Side-comment: Scott will not let the helicarrier go down at the hands of these people. They saved our asses when the HQ exploded.

Also, I'm surprised we are being attacked by them - Are they under someone's control? Assuming we could help them get out of that and turn them to our side. Do we want to take the time to talk to them? Do we want to take the time to engage them or just take them out.

Stephane

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Sentinel:
Immediately Kirk summoned his energies and as he did so he created them around himself and the artifacts simultaneously.  He awaited the arrival of Hip Hop hoping his energy sense would alert him to his arrival so that the surprise would be on Hip Hop and not Vanguard ready to take him out.

Kirk wasn't surprised that the attack came.  Only that it was so immediate.  He was expecting and prepared to route out a possible infiltration once the reserves had boarded.

Hearing the shouts of his teammates he said, "Avatar is right.  We need to take go. That would be the prudent course. We gain nothing from a battle here and no doubt the goal is securing the artifacts.  However it seems that since this started we have lost all that we are... and leaving the Omni-carrier and Chess to the Reserves 'good graces' hardly seems heroic."

"Given the damage we've heard and seen before losing communication, what probability do we have of saving the ship.  Surely Chess has an evac plan if needed.  We need to quickly weigh the cost of staying vs the potential of the good we can do staying".

(OOC - Jeff pooling each individuals, powers, expertise, skills, etc do we have a chance to save the carrier given what has already happened to it?  Truly seems prudent course is porting out of here with the artifacts as long as Chess personnel can evac.  Or perhaps we flee the carrier with the artifacts so they follow and it allows Chess to secure the safety of the carrier before they further destroy it.)

"If my shields are taken out everyone needs to take an artifact into their possession to guard and protect... unless you feel it more prudent to take one now."

"I've no doubt that some, if not all, of the reserves are not acting of their own accord which makes a battle even more fruitless and frustrating.   We have encountered at least two enemies capable of that feat.  I have to say that their attack is quite reminiscent of when Black Bat sent part of Vanguard on a quest to destroy Silas Caine.  When we secured his artifact he mentioned other allies.  Perhaps now that we have secured all of their artifacts he is making a move here - which would be just like him.  But how would he know our location?  Or course you know whom I think is ultimately behind all this..."

OOC:  Well that should help us to determine our course a bit.  We need to do so quickly before the choice is taken from us.

Seth

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Sentinel:
OOC:
I'd 'lost' my copy of the latest issue when I did the below but found it.  Since 'talk is free', Jeff can we have a run down on all the weaknesses of the Vanguard reserves that we know about to share them and exploit them if we are going to battle.

Any way it goes we're pretty screwed in an ongoing battle given they are likely 'fresh' and we are all run down from the days of this adventure (although no doubt if we don't deal with them now we will be dealing with them later).

I'd add to the degree possible Kirk will try to focus to on them (assuming we do encounter them) and his energy sense-mind skills to try to determine if he can figure out under whose influence they may be...  maybe if any of them are 'fighting' a mind-control enough even without a specific surface scan me might pick it up or perhaps his energy sense can pick up something.

Seth


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Stephane:
OOC:
I did some research. Here's our opponents:

Viper: Strong: Fast, hypnosis - weakness to cold
Blue Comet: Hyper fast, Flames powers - Keep away from Slingshot.
Inhuman: Water Breathing, Hydrokinesis, Water weakness, but it's measured in hours.
Forester: Archer with trick shots and hard to sneak up on. He was a werewolf in the making when we last saw him. He may be weak to silver
Soldier: Bionic Capt America. Boosted physical attributes and lots of tech based sensors and smart gun. Weak to Magnetics
Talon: Winged Berserker. Low Self Control

Team, How do we want to break this up?

Jeff, what's the penalty for stopping the research?

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GM:
OOC:
Thanks, Stephane for the rundown on the Vanguard reservists. Their character sheets are all on the game blog, I believe.

Seth wrote: "OOC - Jeff pooling each individuals, powers, expertise, skills, etc do we have a chance to save the carrier given what has already happened to it?"

GM Reply: You're not sure what's happened to it, so it's hard to say.

Stephane, what do you mean by "penalty for stopping the research?"
If you mean for the inventing time, then: If you stop inventing long enough to deal with this threat, then when you return to it, you pick up where you left off, so some of the inventions will be complete after 2 more hours of work.
I hope that's what you were asking about.

Best,
Jeff

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Slingshot:
OOC:
The blog is where I got the info, of course. Thanks for keeping track of all the information there. I was doing it for the team.

You've answered my other question perfectly.

I'll dig up my invention when I get home

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GM:
OOC: Hi,

I don't recall the teleportation disruption invention as something that was actually worked on. I know Menagerie was looking to re-"invent" his one shot spell that blocked teleportation. But that said, there were many ideas being thrown around in the months of brainstorming.

Can you please direct me to where you said Slingshot is working on it? Thanks.

Best,
Jeff

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Slingshot:
OOC: I scoured my emails and I can't find it. It may very well have been my imagination. I thought I had spent a luck point at some time to come up with a teleporter disruption device for the SSS teleporter a while back. I never used them,


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GM:
OOC: Hi, Stephane.
I don't think it happened.
I just remember the anti-teleportation spell that Menagerie created.

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Aperture:
As aperture had all but ignored the arrival of the "Reserves", he was still at a work desk.  When the ship started to list, and hearing the motors winding down, he realized the peril everyone on the ship was in.  He will move to the closest workstation, and see what he can do to get the motors/anti-gravity working again.  He'll look for updates online as to what is going on, but be focused on keeping the ship in the air.  Using his Heightened Comprehension and Advanced Computer skills to accomplish this goal.

Turning he glanced over to see the Clone's running for the door.

Jon

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Sentinel:
OOC:
I thought that perhaps we may be nearing the end of the turn and although I gave stuff already figured I'd add the following including clarifications.

My actions are pretty much going to be taken up this turn by summoning my energies while encircling the artifacts.  If Avatar is ready for it Kirk wants to get Excalibur in his hands both for its protection and the fact that if that righteous sword could be used for their advantage in any way at this time it seems it would be in his hands.

If it helps in any way to prevent and/or intercept Kirk is sure that Hip Hop's next action is going to be to 'pop in' to grab artifacts so if that can help Kirk to prevent it and/or take him out over the next turn that would be great (ie perhaps he is materializing and Kirk senses him with his energy sense he is unexpectedly overcome by Kirk's energies smashing him into a wall or something as he is entering the area and materializing.

At this point Kirk is convinced of mind control and actually this whole scene really reeks more of Black Bat than Swastika control.  Swastika was more individual at a time and insidious and long term.  Bat was group control and it would be right up his alley to surrender his artifact to Vanguard to let them to the 'heavy lifting' of gathering them all and then to sweep in at that moment and secure them all.  That is his MO to the 't'.

At this point I'd ask since I don't recall nor have the time to check, what was it that final got Vanguard out of his control - was it time? distance of influence? an event that allowed them to break free?  -- the idea being if we know perhaps we can facilitate those conditions to help the reserves (yes, this is assuming it is the Black Bat, but even if it doesn't perhaps we eliminate him as a suspect at this point)

Slate is trying to get the heliocraft back under control, assuming he does goal set should be (1) determine if we can save the craft and (2) where did the reserves come from at this point?  If it was from another craft and the heliocraft is going to be be a loss and it appears that the craft that bought them is an enemy craft then we have a huge battering ram to return their 'favor' to us.


Thanks.

Seth

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GM:
OOC:
Seth,

You refer to the now legendary events of 2008's Vanguard Issue 53: The Devil You Know!
(Available in official CGC slabbed issues, rated 9.7, here:  http://vanguardhq.blogspot.com/2008/12/vanguard-issue-53-devil-you-know.html )

As you can see, those mind controlled by Black Bat just suddenly weren't under his control any longer. They smashed into Silas Caine's penthouse apartment and suddenly, all of them simultaneously regained free will.

It was never clear what the cause was.

Best,
Your friendly neighborhood librarian

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Avatar:
John thinks the same of the control that must be influencing the former/inactive members of Vanguard.  He makes his way to where they are, manifesting Heightened Charisma and Oration and hoping that his aura of "cool" can also aid in influencing his former teammates and breaking them out of whatever/whoever's control.

When he arrives, he addresses them:  "Brothers, what are you doing?  You are HEROES, not villains!  We are fighting for the very survival of our race against other-worldly powers, not among ourselves!  Don't you see?  Something has you under its influence!  We should be friends and allies, not foes!  We should be fighting side-by-side, not each other!"

He'll gauge their reactions before going on.  Hopefully something positive will come out of this.  He'll use a Luck Point if it is applicable in this matter.

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Clone:
IC:
As he braces himself from the Omni-carrier's eventual free-fall, one of the Clones turns on his Vanguard Communicator and shouts out, "It is seeming that we are not having of electricity, perhaps Comrade Lightning Strike can be changing of this!"

OOC:
I'm guessing Soldier's 'little package' that he dropped caused some kind of EMP event - perhaps we can find out what it was that he dropped and neutralize it.

Do you think Lightning Strike is capable of re-electrify the Omin-carriers engines? He can effectively teleport all around the ship through its wiring, correct?

-Kev

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Slingshot:
I'll hold my action until Avatar's attempt at giving the reserves a chance to stop.

I'll also engage them in conversation in an attempt to understand if they are aware of their actions or if they are controlled (unless avatar's attempt shows us that)

If they are controlled, I'll go attempt to knock some senses in their heads the Slingshot way (i.e taking a scene from Avengers movie, between black widow and hawkeye)

Slingshot will avoid Blue Comet and will focus on the communications array. He'll see if he can do a quick fix and protect it. The boat needs to stay afloat.

This assumes that I can easily get up and out of the helicarrier from our current position. What are my options there?

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GM:
OOC:
Stephane: Slingy can use his super movement to hurtle down the hall to the nearest porthole and burst outside.

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Slingshot:
OOC: Just to be clear, I'll still hold for Avatar's move (unless it's clear that he's not going to do it this turn, then I'll go for the communications array)

While I'm outside, I'll try to understand what made the power loss happen (engineering roll or whatever else is appropriate)

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Menagerie:

Menagerie will turn into a rat. He will follow Avatar and stay hidden prepared to help as best he can.

Vanguard: Issue 210: Reinforcements!

At long last, Vanguard have completed their quest! After battling...

• The Soviet Super Soldiers in the Lost Lab of Dr. Swastika:

• The Black Bat and his Cadaverous Captains of Crime in Big City:

• The Crimson Coven at a New Jersey U-Stor-It:

• 2000 Dino-Men in the Ruins of Remorse in the Lost Lands of Antarctica:

• The Original Ubermensch and the Japanese Imperial Guard:

…whilst alongside the original Liberty League in WWII:

 • A schism faction of the Crimson Coven in a Broceliande forest fire:

• A titanic, eldritch horror in Mystic’s otherworldly pocket dimension:

…Vanguard, Nemesis and Doc Monster found the Artifacts of Power they had long quested for!

1. The Spear of Destiny from the Lost Lab of Dr. Swastika (and the SSS!)

2. The Splinter of the True Cross from Black Bat's penthouse vault.

3. The Sacrificial Dagger of the Maya from the Crimson Coven's U-Stor locker in New Jersey.

4. The Stone Idol of Cthulhu from the Ruins of Remorse in the Lost Lands of Antarctica.

5. The Ring of Eon from the Liberty League in the mid-Atlantic circa 1943.

6. The Sword Excalibur from Broceliande, France.

7. A Bronze Mirror crafted in ancient China.

8. A Green Gem.

9. An Iron Crown.


It was midnight EST aboard the CHESS Omni-Carrier, over the Atlantic Ocean.

Vanguard had all the Artifacts of Power, and the timeline now read:

End of the world: 48 hours.
• Rebuilding the Janus Chair: 23 hours remaining.
• Aperture’s Dimensional Travel Portal from his modular nanotech power: Complete!
• Aperture inventing a Digital Pulse Cannon from his nanotech power: 6 hours remaining.
• Menagerie and Avatar re-inventing a spell to block teleportation: 6 hours remaining.

Vanguard knew a confrontation with the Mystic was coming, and soon. They believed they might be able to choose that confrontation’s location. They debated and discussed their options.
After much meaty discussion they decided that:

Onboard the CHESS Omni-Carrier:
• Menagerie and Avatar will invent the Anti-Teleport Spell.
• Aperture will invent an Anti-Magic Cannon, Clone helping with labor.
• Sentinel will read the Necronomicon.
• Lightning Strike and Symbiote will re-create the Janus Chair, just in case, Clone helping with labor.

Then, in 6 hours, when the first two inventions are complete, all of Vanguard except Symbiote (who will need more time for the Janus Chair) will teleport (via Aperture’s modular nanotech) to the Salt Flats to await Mystic's coming.

Vanguard got to work!   (OOC: Sentinel, see separate email)
Four hours later, at 4:14am EST, alarms blared across the CHESS Omni-Carrier.

Director Grey called Vanguard from the bridge.
“Radar’s picked up something on approach to us.  It’s all the former members of Vanguard, flying in, requesting permission to land. They’re here to help!”

Actions?

Current Conditions:
Aperture: Hit Points: 25, Power Points: 73, Nanotech: Disintegration Ray (default)
Avatar: Hit Points: 21, Power Points: 85, Manifestation: none
Clone: Hit Points: 7/6, Bodies: 1/1, Power Points: 67/67, Hit Point Pool: 13 (Stats: NYC/Russia)
Lightning Strike: Hit Points: 23, Power Points: 85
Menagerie: Hit Points: 16, Power Points: 66, Form: Man
Sentinel: Hit Points: 7, Power Points: 70, Creation Points: 140, Shields: 0%
Slingshot: Hit Points: 39, Power Points: 92, Invulnerability: 8, damage that can’t be regenerated: 30

Countdown:  44 hours until the End of the World.


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Slingshot:
OOC: It's here!! <little dance>

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Aperture:
Aperture stepped away from the workbench, on which his gleaming metal creation sat.  Polished chrome stared back at his metallic eyes, creating a picture in picture reflection that continued on to infinity.  The casing was complete, but the internal components were not.  Turning to another table, covered with wires and circuitry he sighed.  Two Clones worked in silence, removing hardware from other devices as they had been instructed, looking up as he changed position.

His mother who had been sitting in the corner on a chair with her knees held before her gracefully unfolded and moved to her son's side.  "Is there anything I can do to help," she asked, looking with some pride at what her son had done.

"I don't think so mom," he responded. "The concepts for the machine are the portal IT created when he sent you and Nemesis here.  I've modified it to open a portal of focused digital energy, basically allowing it to flow in a controlled manner from that dimension, into ours.  If I'm right, it should nullify, and even damage magical creatures.  Of course the only ones I have to test it on are the members of our team, which I'm unwilling to do. I know you want to be here, but I'm fine," he smiled looking back to his work.  "There are others on our team that could use your help, and I have all the help I need," looking up at his friends. "Sentinel and Menagerie were both hurt in our last encounter.  Maybe you could check on them while I finish this?"

She smiled, laying her hand gently on his head.  Leaning over she gently kissed him, and turned silently leaving the room smiling at the Clones.

Aperture did not turn to watch her go, as he began focusing on the targeting array... he had to make sure this would work.

Later,

A Clone entered the room, informing them of the arrival of the reinforcements...  Aperture longed to rush to greet the new arrivals.  He had studied each of them, and felt his youthful excitement rising at the thought of working with these historical members of Vanguard, but he instead tilted his head to the left, and turned back to his work, "Thanks for letting me know, that is great news," he said with some hope of a victory for the first in what seemed a very long time.

There would be time for introductions later, this had to be his priority.

Jon

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Menagerie:
Menagerie introduced himself to the newcomers. Forester created a sense of uneasiness in him. "What is it about him? There is something unnatural about him. Never mind, as long he is a hero he is welcome." Menagerie thought to himself.

Menagerie worked with Avatar to create the spell to block unnatural movement (anti-teleportation). He planned out how to place a salt protection circle around their defensive positions. He made sure that every sandbag had salt in it. He tried to draw on the experience of the previous Vanguard members in creating fortifications at their chosen location.

He asked Soldier if he would lead the efforts with detailing our defensive setup. Menagerie asked Forester if he had any special insight in creating defenses against supernatural and occult opponents. He explained to all what Mystic had been up to and speculated on what forces he might have at his access. He listened to any suggestions they had.

 Via Vanguard
Tom


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Slingshot:
If I read correctly - We are 4 hours in so there's 2 more hours before we have our first batch of inventions done.

Since Scott has no specific task with the inventions - He'll warmly greet all the newcomers. Great embraces and catching up with each of them as much as he can. "Where are they now? What have they been up to? How are their families? Did they manage to keep them safe? Etc.." He'll make sure they have time to go let them set themselves up in the helicarrier.

Part of the questioning is also to see who has changed, who hasn't. In these times, Scott is very suspicious - His father and brother were in on it. So he'll work them, nicely, to understand if allegiances have changed. He'll prod if something is off. He'll enlist his wife to help him (for two reasons, 1) he'll have her close 2) she's got her own way of getting information)

In the meantime, he'll try to let the other finish their work while occupying the old gang.


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Sentinel:
After four hours Sentinel put down the Necronomicon in frustration.  He felt drained from his fruitless efforts so he meditated to focus his mind in as positive a way he could to prepare for the final battle.  He used his senses and training to check himself and the ‘dreaded book’ to be as sure as he could be that he was ‘clean’ from its influence.  And to see if anything had changed in the energy readings of the book itself from his interaction with it.
Joining the rest of the team he tossed the book down on the table as if it was an unsatisfying trashy novel.  Then he looked to Menagerie and slid it across the table to him.  “Check it out if you want to do so but I got nothing useful to help us.  Frankly, I don’t get the big deal here.  Talk about ‘an elder race of mad, malevolent, alien, all-powerful, God-like entities who wish to enter this world,’ tell me something I don’t know.  Give me an edge to fight them.  Or the key to defeat them.  Read it or don’t, but it comes with us where we go.  If Mystic took it, that’s all the reason not to let it out of our sight.   And I figure if we leave it behind someone or something comes to retrieve it and there’s already been enough shed blood.”
Although Kirk somehow looked more drained than when he had stormed off earlier to read it, he now seemed calmer and more focused then he had in days.
And he added, ‘Oh yea. Almost forgot,’ pointing at himself, “Still me, at least as far as I can tell,’ for those concerned about the book possessing him.

**********

He saw them coming, and he couldn’t help but smile.  His first smile in some time.  It was poetic in a way.  It seemed that with each leg of their journey for the artifacts they had come into contact with virtually every major opponent they had previously faced from their most prominent missions since their formation.  It was appropriate that as the endgame was upon them that those heroes that fought by their side over the years would be here too… the Vanguard Reserves!
“Gentlemen, thank you for coming.  When each of you left you said if you were ever needed you would stand by us.  Today is certainly that day.”
Kirk helped to make introduction between the two teams and in the roll call gave a general description of the capability of the heroes so they could mesh together as a team… perhaps for the final time.
As Kirk did this he paid special attention to the energy readings of all in the room including Vanguard and Grey and especially the returning Reserves.  He would use every means at his disposal to be sure his team would never be infiltrated again by those that might use them for their own selfish ends.  His days of awe for those of the Golden Age were passed.  The best of them had been his close friends, the worst of them betrayed them all and slaughtered them.  And if he wouldn’t be awestruck by those heroes, then he would be awestruck by no one and nothing.

(OOC:  Jeff – if anyone here seems off Kirk will be looking.  Including Grey who was possessed by Swastika, Talon who was imprisoned by him and in his body banks, Blue Comet with his memory lapses, Inhuman who happens to resemble one of the ancient races, Forester who seemed to come and go and hid secrets from his past, Soldier who perhaps might be manipulated by means of his nanotech, and Viper who already betrayed them in another reality.  He is genuinely happy to see them and welcomes their help but it is difficult for him to trust at this time.  And he is angry at himself for not pushing things further with Mystic from day one.)

**********

Kirk asked the team to gather the artifacts and placed them on the table and had Vanguard circle around them.  He consulted with Menagerie to use his mystical perceptions and he himself would use his energy perceptions.  He said, “At this point whether we believe strongly in a God,’ and he looked to Clone, ‘or Gods’, and he looked to Avatar, or ‘a Universal force of sorts’ and he turned towards Menagerie, ‘the one thing I do know is that if there is a side of good and a side of life, that is the side we fight for here.
In times like this, when it seems all this ‘is, was, and will be’ is threatened, it seems in all the legends that if there is some greater force for life and good they choose champions for their cause.” And he nodded to Menagerie and Avatar, ‘we have some of them seemingly in our ranks already’.
‘We’ve been wondering what to do with the artifacts.  I say we see if there is something more here. If perhaps this struggle is meant to be greater than each one of us and if perhaps these artifacts that we were told could bring destruction, could also be used to bring life.
As we stand here let’s see with the sight we have beyond the norm if we were meant to wield or carry the artifacts into this final righteous battle.”

(OOC:  So Jeff, at this point Kirk is calling upon his knowledge skills and history and heroic lore.  It sure as hell seems that the forces of good/life should care what happens here. If they exist in this universe this is our effort to reach out to them.  Perhaps with Sentinel’s energy sense and Menagerie’s magical perception they may see a connection between a specific artifact and a specific member of Vanguard… something that shows they would be the ones to carry it and/or protect it during the upcoming battle… and perhaps it may give them something more than expected.
If something positive happens here, great.  If not, after a few moments of silence Kirk can say something along the lines of ‘Well, that’s a wash’ and use it as comic relief at a tense time.  They could use a good laugh even if at Kirk’s expense before what is to come.

**********

“Those in this room that you see are all that is left of both Vanguard and our Chess brothers that worked closely with us.  He jokingly said, ‘the stakes we face, well, only the extinction of all existence as we know it’.
I’ve often thought about how Gramps was able to transform his personality into one that could inspire loyalty and courage in his men during wartime. It was hard for me to envision him that way.
In recent hours I have thought about what Doc said to me after I’d taken my first life in battle, although unintentional.  ‘Kirk, you did what had to be done.  Don’t second-guess it.  Don’t beat yourself up about it.’
As we depart men I would say, make no mistake, this is nothing less than war.  We fight for humanity and for all of existence.  Prepare yourselves.  Embolden yourselves.  And simply ‘do’.  Do what must be done!”

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Clone:
In addition to helping with the labor needs of the group, one of the Clones will approach Director Grey at some point and ask, "Please to be excusing me, Comrade Grey . . . but would it be most possible if when it is that we are to be going to place where we are to fight Mystic, that maybe it is possible that I can have several of the CHESS energy hand weapons? I am thinking that maybe we will be needing a small army to defeat or enemy and it is that I can be a small army , , , I am thinking that this is maybe ok, no?"

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Avatar:
I have no idea, honestly.  Avatar will rest up as much as possible to go into this with maximum PR, will assist anyone who is injured with Healing skill to try and get them a little better for the coming combat, and will ready himself with a variety of weapons.

If no one has any objection he will actually look at using Excalibur as a weapon in the coming conflict, reasoning that it's a "good-aligned" magical weapon and we are good guys fighting evil guys so there's bound to be some advantage(?).  While I wonder if it might not be better to do something a little less "tank" with the variety of powers that he has available, he'll go ahead and activate Heightened Strength and Heightened Endurance as soon as it looks like something is going to "go down", hopefully having both of them in place quickly and by the time combat occurs.  This should give somewhere around 100 more hit points and 30 more PR points plus significantly greater HTH damage so he should be able to wade into any physical fight with the hope of doing some damage and surviving.

Beyond that?  He'll make sure that his "Cool" ability is boosting morale and courage (probably gonna need it when dealing with the Mythos) and will stand to back up anyone who looks to need it when things happen.  He'll have spear, bow, sword, and knife available, if that's ok.  In most instances he will charge in, first throwing his spear and then drawing sword to engage an enemy unless otherwise stated.

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