In their search for the Ring of
Eon, Vanguard had unknowingly travelled
back in time to World War II where they and the Liberty League were ambushed by
the Nazi Ubermensch and the Japanese Imperial Guard (see last issue, true
believer!)!
The Ubermensch (or Over Men) were the Nazi supervillains of
WWII, Hitler’s vision of the Aryan superman realized. Created by the mad
scientist, Dr. Swastika, they were:
Blitzkreig: The lightning warrior!
Panzer: The human tank!
The Aryan: The perfect man, except for his soul!
Baroness Von Zero: Ice flows through her royal veins!
U-Man: The human torpedo!
Blitzkreig, Aryan and Von Zero all
wore ingenious, Nazi-engineered retro-tech helmets and pressurized suits, emblazoned
with a swastika and a SKULL symbol, entwined in a loving embrace. Baroness Von
Zero had crystalline ice armor in the style of a Teutonic knight outside her
pressurized suit.
The Japanese Imperial Guard were the personal soldiers of the divine monarch, Emperor
Hirohito, the 124th emperor of Japan. They were:
Shogun: Noble
samurai general, and leader of the Imperial Guard!
Rising Sun: Warrior of fire and light!
Ninjitsu: Mysterious
master assassin!
Kamikaze: The living bomb; the spirit of divine retribution!
Rising Sun and Ninjutsu wore
highly advanced, red enviro-suits of Japanese design.
The Ubermensch and the Imperial Guard all but ignored Vanguard, instead targeting their sworn
enemies, the Liberty League, who had been completely distracted by Vanguard.
The Liberty League
were savaged by the sneak attack! They were:
The Original Sentinel! America’s beacon of
justice; the beloved leader of the Liberty League!
Agent America! The star-spangled
super spy, escape artist, and master of disguise!
Lady Liberty! America’s
super-strong sweetheart!
Doc Rocket! Britain’s greatest scientific
mind!
Sgt. Stone! The fighting footsoldier with
skin of granite and a heart of gold!
American Eagle! The air force
fighter pilot turned human bird of prey!
Blazing Glory! The fiery flying
teen!
The Mystic! Enigmatic sorcerer and sometime
ally of the Liberty League!
The unconscious, drowning heroes
of yesteryear sank downward into the darkness!
Manetti spoke through
his helmet radio, “This is impossible! The Liberty League didn’t die in the
1940’s!”
Ortiz gasped with
dawning realization, “It’s us. We caused the change. We distracted them. Our
presence here has altered history!”
The underwater meta-battle raged
on!
[OOC: Here are everyone’s positions at this
point. Characters at a lower depth have “darkened” markers. Visibility is 100’,
or 20” in game terms. Anyone higher or
lower than 100 feet is hidden from the core group.]
With the Liberty League torn open,
the Ubermensch started turning their attention on Vanguard. Their savage
onslaught continued unabated!
Blitzkrieg hurtled
through the water deep into Vanguard’s ranks and once more discharged a shock
of ball lightning! BZZAT! His electrocution attack hit
Symbiote, Sentinel, Avatar, Slate, Menagerie and Manetti!
Ortiz, Doc Rocket, Ninjutsu and
Slingshot were just outside the ball lightning’s radius! Clone was within the
area of effect, but his evasion saved him!
[Symbiote, Sentinel, Avatar,
Slate, Menagerie and Manetti each take 10 points of damage, and can roll with
it. All remain conscious except Manetti!]
U-Man wasn’t done with
the Liberty League just yet. He dove
downward with amazing speed, beneath Vanguard and fired his wrist torpedoes at
Lady Liberty! He deftly placed them so that her body would shield Panzer from
much of the blast! ZWOOOOSH!! BOOM! Lady
Liberty took the blast dead on and was knocked unconscious! She began drowning!
Ninjutsu, his victim’s
head now exposed, quickly produced a garrote from a pouch on the outside of his
enviro-suit and began ruthlessly strangling Doc Rocket from behind! The master assassin put his knees into Doc’s
back and pulled with all his strength! Doc struggled valiantly, but he was out
of air.
Suddenly, a U-Boat slowly emerged from the darkness behind the Liberty
League’s original position [at the “bottom” of the map]. Emblazoned with the Nazi SKULL emblem, it was
identical to the submarine that the Liberty League had commandeered and
Vanguard had destroyed! Was it part of the same wolf pack?
From this second U-Boat’s
location, it was clearly both the source of the torpedo attack on the Liberty
League (see last issue!), and the launching point of the Ubermensch and the
Imperial Guard attack! Both villain teams were unsurprised by its arrival,
smiling malevolently when they saw it coming.
Avatar’s morale power continued to
help Vanguard keep firm their resolve even in the face of this.
The second U-Boat loomed over the
heroes and…
FWOOOOSH! KA-BOOM! BOOM!!!
The second submarine was suddenly
torn apart from a torpedo attack emanating from behind it! The second U-Boat’s engine room exploded and
the craft came apart in a catastrophic blast of flame, air bubbles and twisted
iron! Two dozen Nazi SKULL crewmen flailed
among the sinking wreckage.
The outermost effect of the
explosion hit Shogun, Kamikaze and
Rising Sun, battering the last two, but not into unconsciousness.
Through that wreckage came another
Nazi SKULL U-Boat! This third, identical
submarine had just destroyed the second submarine! Unbeknownst to anyone, at its helm was Lightning Strike!
The third U-Boat now
loomed over the undersea battle. It was 25 wide and 200 feet long and its twin
forward torpedo doors remained open!
The Ubermensch and the Japanese Imperial Guard were stunned that their vessel had just been destroyed by
one of their own!
[OOC: The sudden, unexpected
arrival of the third U-Boat, and its successful attack on, and destruction of,
the second U-Boat, forces the Ubermensch and the Japanese Imperial Guard to
make Cool Rolls. See the game blog for
rules on this. Cool rolls are the thing
that Vanguard is nearly immune to, due to Avatar’s Morale Power.
The villain teams fail their
rolls, but not critically. The result is that they lose all their remaining
actions for this issue, as they are stunned by this sudden turn of events! All the heroes may act normally this issue,
in a weird reversal of last issue’s sneak attack ambush! Next issue, the
villains may act freely again.]
Avatar, sensing
his foes’ hesitation, seized the moment.
Deadly in any environment, the eternal warrior quickly turned and closed
with Ninjutsu, thrusting his spear into him in a desperate bid to save the life
of young Doc Rocket, or at least avenge it!
The Spear of Ares struck true! Ninjutsu was hurt but
conscious. More importantly, his enviro-suit was pierced and filling with
water! Ninjutsu released his grip on the garrote in momentary panic! A cloud of
Ninjutsu’s blood floated around him, strong in the nose of Menegerie’s Megalodon
form!
Doc Rocket fired his
rocket pack and roared upward to get free of his insidious assailant. Mid-“flight,” he reached into his belt pouch
and affixed a small, retro-tech breather device to his face and gasped for air.
He flipped and reversed course, diving straight down at the unconscious Lady
Liberty. In the shadow of the titanic
Panzer, he took her in his arms, held his breath and placed his rebreather over
her face.
Sentinel turned his
energy as close to transparent as he could
and let it carry him downward to the largest group of drowning Liberty
Leaguers! Using his energy sense to guide him, he found the unconscious forms
of the original Sentinel, American Eagle, Blazing Glory and the Mystic in the
pitch darkness. Sentinel reformed his energy
sphere around them all, complete with airlock again, and cycled the water out,
creating a breathable atmosphere once more!
Sentinel risked a little illumination and used his training in CPR [via
his First Aid skill] to clear the water from the lungs of all four golden age
heroes! The Leaguers were still unconscious, but no longer drowning to death!
They were all breathing on their own.
[OOC: fyi, Rules: All these heroes
are out of hit points. They will make an
Endurance save on d100 every hour to wake up. If American Eagle has a 22
Endurance, he has a 22% chance of waking up. If they wake up, they have one hit
point and their current Power Points. Any conscious character may try to wake
one of them up. Every action spent trying to wake one up gives the unconscious
hero a d100 Endurance save as per above.]
Simultaneously, Clone, Slate and Slingshot were diving
for the other Leaguers!
Slate saw the beating
his team and the Liberty League had taken and began to calculate the odds that his
presence would make a difference in the coming battle. He decided discretion in
this case was best where he could make a difference. The bigger goal here was to recover the ring,
not defeat the villains.
Hoping his gray uniform would
blend in with the surrounding blackness, he began to swim down, and thought sent
to Menagerie. "Menagerie, I'm going
after the artifact. If nothing else,
maybe we can use it to get us out of this mess."
Clone, Slate and Slingshot swam down until they could see Sgt. Stone, unconscious,
drowning and drifting downward. Clone
and Slingshot shared their rebreathers with Sarge, letting him breathe
again.
Slingshot noticed that
Doc Rocket was watching him. The malleable man of might stretched a big arm out
to Lady Liberty and Doc Rocket and reeled them in. Doc didn’t resist.
Slingshot carried Lady Liberty,
Sgt. Stone, Doc Rocket, Clone and Slate to Sentinel’s new construct, and got
everyone through the manual doors, that served as an airlock, and safely
inside. They could all breathe now.
They couldn’t see the Ubermensch
or the Imperial Guard due to the darkness’ impact on visibility. They assumed
the villains couldn’t see them, at least for now.
Young Doc Rocket saw the
modern Sentinel performing CPR, and that his Liberty League teammates were unconscious,
alive and breathing.
Slate knew where Sgt.
Stone’s pockets were, and from one he produced an ancient ring. Slate’s recent high-intensity studying of
Atlantis helped him identify it as a design style similar to Ancient Greece. Its condition indicated it had been exposed
to salt water for centuries… or longer.
The ring looked like to the one
they had found on the time-lost Dr. Change, save for its condition.
Sentinel’s energy
sense recognized the aura of the Ring of Eon, in its “dormant state.”
[Clone, Slate and Slingshot did
all that with movement, and use their actions to Evade, readying themselves for
the battle to resume. Two of you requested evasions as your actions, but if any
of you would rather have used your action on something else, let me know. You can’t “save” them because you used the
movement portion. ]
Meanwhile…
Ortiz grabbed the
unconscious Manetti to keep him from sinking!
The two CHESS agents were surrounded by supervillains!
Symbiote moved
into position to best to defend the two agents, and readied himself! [OOC: Evades!]
Agent America,
still encased alive within the one-ton ice tomb of Baroness Von Zero’s
creation, continued to float upward through the pitch
black fathoms at increasing speeds!
Menagerie
thought-sent to Vanguard: "The fastest of us need to protect the Ring of
Eon and the Liberty League. Bring them to the Manta Craft! The rest of us, join
me in protecting the rear."
Menagerie remained in his incredible C Megalodon form and hurtled
upward through the water, ramming Shogun and Kamikaze at full speed, and trying
to position himself as best he could between the scattered heroes and the
scattered villains!
KTOOM!!!! The dinoshark monster’s violent impact
damaged Shogun’s samurai armor, and badly injured Kamikaze, but both remained
conscious!
Meanwhile, inside Sentinel’s energy sphere…
Young Doc Rocket said
to Slate, “Stop! That isn’t yours to take, young man!” Then he looked at Clone,
Slingshot, Slate and the modern age Sentinel with his Rocket Gun in his hand. The ingenious hero’s perceptive eyes glanced
at their high tech wrist communicators.
He said, “’Heroes displaced in time?’… ‘Sentinel’s grandson?’… Just who
are you and what exactly is going on here?”
[OOC: Replies?
Actions!! Next issue, the villains are no longer
surprised and everyone is free to act!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!]
Current
Conditions:
Avatar: Hit Points: 35, Power Points: 85, Manifestation:
Poseidon, Evading until his action in Issue 194
Clone: Bodies: 3*, Hit Points: 11, Hit Point Pool: 22, Power
Points: 58, Evading until his action in Issue 195
Lightning Strike: Hit Points: 39, Power Points: 38, Has
electrical control over the third U-Boat
Menagerie: Hit Points: 50, Power Points: 66, Form:
Megalodon!
Sentinel: Hit Points: 4, Power Points: 31, Creation Points: 62,
Construct Sphere: 62
Slate: Hit Points: 13, Power Points: 45, Evading until his
action in Issue 195
Slingshot: Hit Points: 34, Power Points: 31,
Invulnerability: 8, Evading until his action in Issue 195
Symbiote: Hit Points: 25, Power Points: 82, Charges: 12,
Activated: Inhuman, Evading til his action in Issue 195
*Clone’s first two bodies are (1)
in Vanguard Vault, and (2) here in the past.
The one in Vanguard Vault had created another duplicate (as all duplicates
can, using their respective hit point pool.)
So hit points are:
Clone here in the past: 11
Clone in Vanguard Vault: 5
Clone in Moscow: 5
Power Points are at full for the
two Clones in Vanguard Vault and Moscow.
[OOC: Here are this group’s positions
at the end of this issue. Characters at a lower depth have slightly “darkened”
markers. Sentinel’s sphere construct and everyone in it is 125 feet below the
group’s starting depth. Visibility is 100’, or 20” in game terms. Anyone higher or lower than 100 feet is
hidden from the core group.]
--------------------
Earlier…
Lightning Strike’s quick thinking
had just sent the experimental Nazi SKULL jet screaming into its aircraft
carrier’s control tower!
KA-BA-BOOM! The
tower exploded! Burning roils of black smoke billowed out like something out of
Pearl Harbor.
Sirens wailed; old fashioned,
European claxons. Many Nazi SKULL soldiers rushed toward the fire, and many
began rushing toward Strike, drawing their weapons and yelling in German!
Strike thought, given
that the flight deck was currently burning, it was time to work on the rest of
the ship. The electric avenger moved to
the closest metal deck plate and transmitted himself into it. SHAKOW!
Once inside the ship, Strike quickly disabled
the following systems in this order:
Communications
- to prevent them from contacting Vanguard!
Navigation
- to prevent them from finding Vanguard!
Weapons
Targeting - to prevent them from attacking Vanguard!
“Who said I never cared about the
team!?” Strike thought to himself.
With the carrier burning and its
key systems disabled, the fighter jets it had launched (the bogeys that
Vanguard had detected) would be returning, further helping Vanguard.
But in the process of successfully
disabling those three systems, Strike noticed something puzzling. The carrier had far less electronics than he
expected. The computer systems were
antiques. SKULL was infamous for having access to high technology. But this was something that they would have
possessed in the 1940’s.
Then it dawned on Strike (with a
successful Detect Hidden).
The antique technology. The old
fashioned claxons. An aircraft carrier.
Plus Vanguard’s crash landing…
[Flashback! From
issues 189:
“Mayday! Mayday! This is CHESS five zero six niner…”
“Everyone, your parachutes are
under your seats. PUT THEM ON!”
KRAKOOM!!!
“7,000 feet and falling. 6,000 feet. 5,000…”
“Pull up! PULL UP!”
“Something won’t LET IT!”
VRASHHHH!
Light flared through the cabin, longer than a lightning flash and without the sound of
thunder.
“Can’t
keep her up! I’ll put her down in the water! Brace for impact!’
SPWOOOOSHHH!!!!!
The Manta
Craft crashed across the surface of the ocean a few times before its momentum
finally gave out. The craft settled atop the ocean waves and rocked like a
boat.
Vanguard and the pilots climbed up out the
hatches and stood on the wings of the craft as it floated atop the calm waves.
Something was wrong. The storm had lessened in strength. No rain or lightning,
just cloud cover. The sky was lighter. It should be noon, but it appeared to be
afternoon. And it was too warm for the season.
“What the…” Manetti said, looking at the sky.
End Flashback!]
Lightning Strike suddenly realized… somehow, they had all travelled back in time!
Strike's first course of action was
to try to get off this essentially crippled ship and rendezvous with the rest
of Vanguard.
SHAKOW!! Lightning Strike materialized in the
leviathan ship’s submarine bay. There
were unconscious Nazi SKULL agents scattered everywhere! The bay could hold three submarines, but now
it held only one, emblazoned with the SKULL emblem entwined within a swastika.
Lightning Strike boarded the sub,
and used his electrical powers to control its primitive computer systems. The craft could hold 30 men, and carried 12
torpedoes. It could fire front and aft.
He disembarked from the crippled
carrier, submerged, and piloted the U-boat back toward Vanguard’s last known
heading! Light didn’t penetrate down to
his depth. He piloted blind, navigating
by sonar.
Running silent, dark and deep
through the ocean, he approached the target site. His sonar detected another
sub in the area! It was motionless. A quarter mile off.
Through his viewing window, Strike
witnessed an explosion at a great distance, near the other U-boat! The light briefly illuminated it, revealing
it was identical to Strike’s! It faced away from him toward a dozen or more
figures swimming and battling in the water!
Strike saw energy blasts, smaller explosions and flashes of light. He
didn’t see the tell tale illumination of Sentinel’s energy constructs. Some of
the figures held high powered flashlights, which was now the battle’s primary
source of light. Strike knew the Manta Craft carried similar flashlights.
He was too far to identify the
figures. Getting closer would reveal his
position to them and the other submarine, if it hadn’t detected him already!
OOC: Actions?
Current Condition: Lightning Strike: Hit Points: 39, Power Points: 41
Best,
Jeff
--------------------
Elsewhere…
Just before Mystic was ready to
cast the gate spell, he produced an old revolver from his robes. It looked like
it had seen action in WWII. “One more thing. Take this. If you’re in danger of
being captured, kill yourself. You’ll disintegrate and re-assimilate with your
Clone collective, and escape captivity and torture… Any questions?”
Clone hesitated for second and then
reach out towards the pistol being presented to him. He cradled the antique
fire arm with both hands and looked down at it with a look of uncertainty on
his face. He thought to himself, “Maybe Oracle is right . . . this might be the
single most craziest thing I’ve ever done. Can I actually do this?” The look of uncertainty resting soundly on his
face was quickly replaced by a look of grim determination. His hands snapped
closed firmly around the pistol as he thought to himself, “I have to do this!”
Clone then looked up and said to Mystic; in a cold and confidant tone, “No . .
. no questions.”
The Master of Multiplicity then
spun the revolvers cylinder around quickly like an old-west gun-fighter and
took a mental note of how many rounds were inside of it: eight. As he held the revolver at his side, a
duplicate suddenly appeared next to him. He looked at the duplicate and then
back at Mystic and said with a wink, “Just in case.” The duplicate would be sitting back at the
Vault – snug and secure .
“Very well,” said the Mystic.
“Why does no one ever listen to
the psychic?!” Oracle asked Clone and Mystic.
BOOM!!! Mystic’s gate opened out of thin air, forming
a hole in the fabric of reality.
Suddenly Clone passed from
Vanguard Vault to the subterranean labyrinth beneath the Kremlin. The rabbit
warren of corridors in this sector were dimly lit. The smell of standing water, mold and
concrete was strong in Clone’s nose.
Clone knew exactly where he was
and was overcome by an acute sense of déjà vu. He had been here before as a
Super Soldier when he was Alexi. Or was it the Collective?
Clone snapped out of it and his
espionage skills kicked in. He moved silently through the low-ceilinged halls
of grey painted cinderblocks, fully aware that if he was found, he’d be
tortured and killed and no one would ever know it. It was late morning in Moscow. Clone recalled
the timetable of daily activity to avoid any unwanted encounters with guards,
staff or Super Soldiers.
Clone had reached the target site:
the Super Soldier’s containment unit. A massive safe, a vault whose door took
up an entire dingy wall. If they still had
the Spear of Destiny, or any of the other Artifacts of Power, they’d likely be
stored there.
Clone stared at the
vault door for a second and thought to himself, “Of course there’s a vault door
. . . what did you think? Did you think you were just going to pop-up inside
their base, grab a couple of mystical artifacts, and then just stroll out of here
with them?”
He shook his head gently and then
refocused his thoughts, “Ok, so what are the chances that the door is just
unlocked and the artifacts are just sitting there waiting to be stolen? Zero!
So let do this another way . . .”
The Multiplying Mutant than
stepped slowly from the shadows and reached for the handle of the vault door.
The little voice in his head continued, “ . . . if the mountain won’t come to
me . . .”
Clone willingly triggered the
proximity sensor on the door. Security
alarms brayed.
Six masked soldiers with assault
rifles poured into the room before the safe door. They lined up in formation,
and pointed their automatic rifles at Clone, who calmly acknowledged the firing
squad. They all held their positions as behind them, in walked Doctor X. He turned his head slightly and the alarms
stopped.
The silence that followed was long
and deafening.
Then the aged creator
of the Soviet Super Soldier Program said in Russian, “So… my prodigal son returns. Sweet, young Alexi, I am glad
you’ve come home to be with your family for this, the ending of all things.”
Then Doctor X
recited an old Russian proverb about the importance of preparedness: “Carry
fire in one hand and water in the other.”
The proverb was
actually the command phrase that Doctor X had placed inside Alexi’s mind (with
the help of the insidious lunatic, the Puppet) years ago when X had learned of
the Rogue Clone’s successful escape from the Iron Curtain. The command phrase was
an insurance policy that would place Clone’s conscious mind in a deep trance of
suggestibility.
Instead, this time,
nothing happened!
[OOC: Unbeknownst to
Doctor X, Clone had bought off this Weakness with a Level Advancement since
they last met! Game-wise, the command
phrase controls the personality of Alex, not of the Rogue Clone who is
currently the dominant mind of this collective. You may act freely. Actions, please?
Thanks, Jeff]
--------------------------------------------------
Menagerie:
OOC:
Wow,
awesome issue again Jeff.
Poor
Agent America, no matter what universe he is in, he always ends up in a pickle,
:)
Via
Vanguard
Tom
--------------------------------------------------
Sentinel:
Doc
Rocket said, “’Heroes displaced in time?’… ‘Sentinel’s grandson?’… Just who are
you and what exactly is going on here?”
A piece
of Kirk wanted to revert to the star-struck fan boy that first met Doc Rocket
longer ago than he’d like to think possible, but he had no time for that
luxury. His relationship with Doc had
grown from awe to a sort of mentor-ship to comrade-at-arms. And he needed the Doc he had that relationship
now… and he responded to this Doc exactly in that matter.
“Doc,
we simply don’t have time for this. I
know exactly how you’re going to react to our explanation and sort of mimicked
him, ‘I’d always considered the possibility with all the legends and with the
historical references, but to think it possible in the here and now, in the
modern era… (Jeff, swap out however 21st
Century Doc responded to the concept of the threat of Cthulhu)
But
here is the short version since Gramps… Lancaster clued you in as I’d hoped,
“This goes beyond this battle and the here and now and even the Ring of Eon; we
are your second generation predecessors, many of us fighting the good fight
because of what the League began at this time period. We are responding to a 21st Century threat of
the coming of Cthulhu and the end of the world.
Gathering the Ring is a necessary part of putting a stop to that threat.
Now as
I said, no time. You need to tell me
something. I see the condition of the
League and I know what my team has been through the past few days. We need to know just how dire our situation
out there. In your taking of the other
sub, had you battled and defeated The Ubermensch and the Japanese Imperial
Guard or are they running ‘fresh’.
He
continued to Doc, ‘we have a medicinal aid to assist in reviving some of your
team.’ As he was speaking he pulled out his med pack for the stim shot they all
carried and looked to Slingshot and Slate and said, “I think having Gramps and
Mystic conscious could help here most” and he administered the shot to
Lancaster indicating one of them should do the same for Mystic.
(Jeff –
from what I recall we each carry a small Chess emergency type kit which
includes a stim shot as standard. I’m
pretty sure we said that some time ago and also that the stim shot will
automatically revive someone (an hour later they lose all their power points,
but at this point that is a non-issue)).
Doc
analyzed Kirk as he spoke to him. He
noticed the manner he addressed him, as someone he knew, in a way he didn’t
think could be faked. In observing his
body language he also saw some of the family mannerisms he’d seen in
Lancaster. He glanced at Lancaster and
then Kirk and also came to another conclusion.
Noting some of the concussive bruises and slight bleeding from some
areas, the pained movement, as well as
the degree of the fluctuation of the energies currently protecting them and
surrounding Kirk… he saw something he'd seen Lancaster do many times before, he
was compensating not to show it, but Kirk wasn’t far from joining his
grandfather in unconsciousness.
“Doc,
our last known player on the board just bought us this moment but we are out of
surprise rescues; looking to Slingshot he said “I’d bet my life Strike
commandeered the sub and controls it… at least
for now,” Doc any chance you’ve got some help on its way?”
“I see
two plays here, we get the League to safety in the sub and fight it out mano a
mano, or we try one desperate play… They
have to want the ring as much as we do and we know they want the League. I by-passed the safeties and jury-rigged the
Manta Craft to explode on my signal. We
go up. We go up quick. They chase. We go past the Mantacraft and out of its
blast range high into the sky. The blast
takes out the Ubermensch and the Japanese Imperial Guard.
We get
Lancaster conscious, he conveys the plan to Menagerie, Menagerie transmits it
to the rest of the team and everyone is one board. That doesn’t work we try to manage it
ourselves.
I know
it’s a long shot but I don’t see another way given what we have been through
and with the League down. And he looked
to Slingshot, and for the first time gave a hint of his current condition…
“Worst part Scott is I need interference here.
I don’t know if I can hold this thing,” and he thumb-pointed at his
construct, “together to get this done but I damn well will try. Maybe we can pool our efforts to move this
thing upward…”
OOC: Jeff please do adjust dialogue to fit
information revealed. I’m kind of going
from the assumption here that our enemies haven’t been softened up already to
our knowledge. And if they have not I
really don’t see any way we could win mano a mano.
I’d
love for more options and if anyone has anything better to improve this plan
Kirk is all up for it. Oh, and from game
terms another glitch is that much is relying on Kirk and Scott here and they
are the slowest members and some of our enemies may have two actions before
they move once… but you did say we may be hidden from their sight. Oh, and one shot, not even a strong one and
Kirk goes out (four hit points).
Best,
Seth
--------------------------------------------------
Sentinel:
OOC: If everyone agrees with the plan…
Assuming
everyone is on board for the plan of action as best as possible (and especially
Slingshot/Stephane since there really is no way Kirk can do this unless they do
it together – from a game perspective perhaps Slingshot can sort of combine or
morph with Kirk’s construct to combine their effort or he can reside inside or
outside the construct – maybe since right now the plan is movement upward
working together they can do more & perhaps both can evade for action so
hopefully as they make their ascent they can keep it together – Kirk’s
construct environment should prevent the bends for those inside if the movement
might cause it otherwise since the bends has to do with oxygen and pressure to
my knowledge which is now properly regulated)
Once
they agreed on the plan of action, Doc noticed a change in Kirk. It was almost if the physical signs he saw
previously weren’t being covered up but were gone, he noticed the fluctuations
of the energy construct grow stronger and faster and the glow around Kirk
enhanced. His stature was again strong
and he smiled. (picture Kirk channeling
his inner Steve Rogers as he rallies the Avengers for battle in what seems like
a no-win scenario)
Looking
at each of his teammates he said and said, “An architectural genius with
demolition skills (Scott), a mathematical and scientific genius (Doc), and a
human computer with undefinable data processing and calculating ability
(Slate).
Slate calculate
the range of the blast of the manta craft blowing up. Share the speed of the transmission rate of
the signal and the timing for it to be received and explosion to begin. Help to formulate our speed as we exit the
water and gain altitude. Scott, guide
our ascent with their calculations to help us be in the best position to
magnify damage to our enemies and to escape our minimize impact for our
teams. Doc, any local environmental
variables to consider in our calculations."
Jeff –
idea here is to have our best minds here calculating our placement in the sky
and when to transmit the signal to explode the MantaCraft and to let Kirk know
when to transmit that signal… have to think with their skill set and
mathematical calculations it should make it far more effective than Kirk
winging it.
Also
Kirk would suggest that prior to the explosion Slingshot enter his forcefield
entirely if not already done so hopefully it will absorb the impact of the
blast and if totally shattered or some of the force gets through he could
prevent damage to the team. If somehow
Kirk could set things time wise to reform his shattered shields the moment they
are destroyed (another action would be needed) to prevent further damage to the
team assuming they don’t escape the blast entirely he would try to do so. Given his power levels even his maximum
shields, assuming they do work might not be enough to prevent damage to the
heroes.
Lots of
assumptions here (including everyone being on board with the plan) so feel free
to delete or adjust any of this. This is
only if we get to the point if it actually happening and other players agreeing
and subject to any and all of their input.
Seth
--------------------------------------------------
Menagerie:
Menagerie
will try to protect Sentinel and the others as best as he can. Keeping his body
between them and the enemy. He will again slam into the biggest threats where
he will be able to hit 2 or 3.
Menagerie
will thought send to Sentinel that he will help protect the Liberty League as
best as he can.
Best
Tom
--------------------------------------------------
Slingshot:
[OOC]Seth,
That's an interesting plan. I'm game.
Jeff,
Not sure I can do the following: I wish to not evade but use my action to grab
the rest of the team before we go up. I can't quite make out Manetti/Ortiz in
the diagram. I would like to grab Clone as well. Avatar should be ok, so if he
waves me off, I won't force him as he's manifesting Poseidon. I would dump them
unceremoniously in the bubble and then start pushing it up according to the
plan.
Alternatively,
if I can do the "grab" with this round's action while I
"evade" the enemies with the bubble in my care, then I'm also good
with that.
[/ooc]
Slingshot
listened to Kirk's plan. He wasn't sure that it would be the best plan, but we
were overwhelmed two teams against us. Most importantly, U-Man was there, in
his element. He would be trouble all his own.
He
through that this would give us a chance to even the odds a bit.. So he nodded
to the plan and conferred with the others on the details.
If he
was needed to be outside to help with the propulsion, he would (elongate his
feet to create paddles of some sort).. His invulnerability should protect him
from the bends.
If I
have an action (if this is all movement), then I'll protect/evade (along with
the bubble) as my action.
--------------------------------------------------
Symbiote:
Symbiote
will go along with Sentinel's plan of luring the Axis Antagonists within blast
radius of the Manta craft, and will also do his best to take out the one enemy
most likely to spoil the plan--U-Man. At
the moment, with Inhuman's power set, the Superheroic Simulator is best
prepared to take on Aquatic Aryan. He
will focus his water powers into another underwater vortex, buffeting U-Man
with waves of pummeling force, while the others make their escape to the
surface and hopefully tricking the rest of the villains into proximity of our
booby trap.
Viva
Vanguard,
Greg
--------------------------------------------------
Slate:
ic:
Slate provided the information Sentinel requested, and nodded along with the
explanation regarding the ring. "We must have the artifact to save the
world."
Slate
will use his ability to remove, or poke holes in the helmets of any opponents
that get within range. He can do this with the current and next action as
needed.
Instead
of creating a disintegration beam, he'd do this with a distance effect, similar
to when he disintegrated the cameras at the pizza parlor what seems like 100
years ago.
--------------------------------------------------
Clone:
The
Atlantic:
( OOC:
Clone doesn’t have many options here – he’ll go along for the ride to the
surface and save his action )
SSS
Stronghold:
( OOC:
Jeff, I’m going to assume by the way you wrote this issue; combined with
everything that transpired with Clone over the last several issues, that he’s
aware of Doctor X’s attempt at Mind Controlling him )
Although
he never knew the exact trigger phrase, Clone knew that Doctor X had just tried
to reestablish his mental control over him. With only a few choices available
to him, the Replicating Russian decided to play along with the “good doctor”.
With a
sinister grin on his face, Clone chuckled maniacally and said in Russian, “Yes,
Comrade Doctor . . . I am back.” He than continued, “. . . the stupid Americans
thought they could keep me from you and thwart your plans, the fools. He then
placed his hand inside of his shirt and nodded his head towards his would be
master in reverence and said, “. . . and I have not come emptied handed. I have
one of their ‘Items of Power’ with me.” Gripping it by the barrel, Clone
produced the revolver Mystic hand given him from his shirt and asked, “Shall I
place it in the vault with the others?” He than placed his hand on the vault
door; and like an obedient servant, waited patiently for Doctor X’s response”
( OOC:
If he says yes . . . )
Clone
nods his head in confirmation and proceeds to open the vault door just enough
to allow him enough of an opening to slip inside, but not enough to give the
group before him a good view of the interior. ( OOC: If he see’s any other
artifacts inside he may try to scoop them up and call for a portal out of the
area – not sure if he’ll be able to contact Mystic through the walls of the vault
however. A lot depends on the size of the objects – if any – and his ability to
contact Mystic. This should be interesting lol ).
( OOC:
If he says no . . . )
Clone
released his grip on the vault door and walked slowly towards his “master” as
he said, “You are right Comrade Doctor, this Item belongs in your hands.” (
OOC: Clone will than walk towards Doctor X and try to surprise attack him.
Ultimately he wants to spin him around, get behind him and put the gun to his
head )
OOC:
Jeff, I
have to admit – I never saw the whole “Doctor X” thing coming – great job! I
may have to take advantage of this and start playing with Clone’s personality
again lol
Talk to
you guys soon,
-Kev
--------------------------------------------------
OOC:
Hi
everyone,
Your
action attempts so far are legal.
Stephane: Manetti and Ortiz are behind Symbiote, on the
last map, in the twin CHESS tech pressurized suits with the circular goggles.
Seth,
yes, everyone has one CHESS emergency stimshot patch with them except Slate who
isn’t a card carrying member of Vanguard yet ( and has the weakness,
Prejudice). The stimshots are as
dangerous as you recollect. It gives you 1d4 + your Healing Rate in Hit Points.
An hour later, you crash and lose all your Power Points. If you have no Hit
Points when that happens, you're dead.
Like
any die roll, spending a Luck Point allows you to roll the d4 twice and use the
better of the two rolls.
Two
patches placed on the same person will probably give them an instant heart
attack.
Best,
Jeff
--------------------------------------------------
Lightning
Strike:
Hopefully
Skull will think Strike's submarine is part of their attack force and not
attack. Strike will maneuver the sub
into striking distance and then fire a torpedo at the other submarine in order
to take it out. He will attempt to avoid
Vanguard as much as possible with collateral damage.
After
that, Strike will fire another
torpedo at the biggest cluster of villains that are not that close to any of
the heroes.
Thanks,
Tony
--------------------------------------------------
GM:
OOC: Wow. Thanks for the quick reply! It makes up for the last 8 years.
--------------------------------------------------
Lightning
Strike:
OOC:
Don't get used to it!
--------------------------------------------------
