Looking for ideas for my campaign (Danger: Long)

[Hermit]

Feeling a bit downed lately, I thought I'd perk myself up with a new campaign (If my players refuse to GM, they'll have to put up with my love of novelty for no reason). We decided to try something we'd not done before. After bouncing a few ideas off them... we all settled on a "Your characters have been friends for years, and will have a common origin."
As this was meant to be sort of in the vein of the FF, I ripped them off shamelessly where needed.


Three friends go to pick up their workaholic member at a science lab, where an NPC Scientist seeks to blend Radium and Kelvarite in an effort to form a new compound that will make fosil fuels obsolete cheaply. Her aide (said workaholic PC) warns her that she might not have taken the full strength of the reaction into affect, and that maybe it's too soon.

Naturally, she gets ignored and told to mind her place.
When the friends come to visit... there's a big boom, with NPC scientist in the center of it.

The others are on the fringe, and ... after a brief bout where "Nothing seems wrong with you" in the hospital, they begin to discover their powers.

They go on their planned vacation, and practce so they don't hurt themselves or others... unsure if they want to be a heroes or not.

When they return, a villainess called Cataclysm (Yup, the lady scientist in a Doom homage) has kidnapped an NPC hero team, and is threatening to release radium through out the city unless it makes up for the damage done to her.
The first adventure had the PC team break in, free the big name heroes, and stop her. She escaped, swearing horrid revenge on them (and later it would be revealed she knew who they were... but pscyhoticly possessive, she plans to tell no one else).
In the mean time, the Press has dubbed the Quartet "The Fabulous Four" akin to the CU's now defunct Fabulous Five (Themselves a FF homage)..and yes, there are some Beetle jokes :) They are instant celebrities and I'm throwing this sudden fame and power at them to see how they're characters will react.


Now I have to wonder where to go from here...

It's a small group, so small that I feel no shame in having an NPC among them.
The roster is :
Brainwave: Scientist of the group. Well, she's currently more of a scientist asst and working on getting a few doctorates under her belt. She's getting a hang on her mental powers, and tackles being a hero like she tackles anything else... with drive. Brainwave and Firepower have become an 'item' already. Her parents are in another part of the state, and continually sing the praises of her older brother.

Dervish: The Speedster of the group, Dervish is a computer programmer par excellance and so far plays his overconfidence disad to the hilt. Dervish loves to use his powers, and seems to be having the most fun with them. Dervish Less background on his family, but that's easily rectified.

Impact: The Brick, Impact is on the Bomb Squad for the police in her city, and from a large proud family of Italian Americans who have a history of being cops (at least the guys in it do). Impact's backstory includes the loss of an olderbrother when she, as a rookie (and before she was in the Bomb Squad) made a mistake that may or may not be responsible for his death indirectly. Her character is enjoying the 'new her' (They all gained some com points from their old appearances and are finding excuses to cover) and in costume is quite the flirt.

Firepower: Since I only had three players for this one, I decided to give them the Energy Projector for help. David is similar to Defender (wealthy, old family, etc) ,except where Defender was a dedicated young man who pretended to be more responsible than he is, David really is ... or was, frivolous. Lacking direction, he was a dabbler and a diletante. Now that he has powers, he's trying to get something in his life right for once that money alone can't solve. Fortunately for him, Brainwave seems determined to kick him in the rump and motivate him.

They have some common NPCs in their background (Besides Cataclysm). Impact and Brainwave were both played by the same guy in their backstory and met thanks to Dervish letting them know about it via a faked email. Firepower has a history of golddiggers that pursued him.

Cataclysm herself is meant to be the archnemsis of the group. She is NOT more beautiful, nor does she seem super powered (But her INT may have been incredibly increased in all non creative areas). She blames the Fab4 (especially Brainwave who was clearly 'envious') for deliberately sabotoging her experiment. She now realizes she is not a match for them alone.

I'm looking for ideas of where to go from here, be it plot seeds or whatever. I want them to have a fun time with this one. Any suggestions would be welcome.

[lemming]

That's a great FF homage. I'll have to think some for ideas. I seem to be a bit dry myself.

[death tribble]

Radical Arabs see the Dervish as an insult to the whirling Dervishes of Africa (specifically Khartoum in the Sudan) and seek to get him at best to change the name and at worst kill him for the blasphemy of using the title of a holy man who spins into a trance.

The Mob. Brainwave seems like someone with a brain, good then she can work for us plotting a crime wave. Or else....

The old standby. Someone in Firepower's family or a servant is kidnapped and a ransom is received. The person or persons unknown specify that no paranormals or police should be involved. Can the heroes crack the case without using their powers.

Bigger, Better, Faster. Cataclysm tries to recreate the experiment to create evil versions of the heroes or to reverse the effects. Unfortunately things don't seem to go to plan.

Fire in the hole. Firepower disappears. Then a mine (current or disused/abandoned) suddenly springs to life with a fountain of fire. Is someone misusing Firepower's powers ?

Sudden Impact. For no reason people try to ram Impact with vehicles and attack him with fury. But only him. Que pasa ?

These are offhand ones. If I come up with anything else, I'll post it.

[Hermit]

Thanks Death Tribble!
These are some great ideas. Would have never thought of the Dervish one pricking a nerve or two. Oh, Impact is a girl ;) Sorry about the missunderstanding.





Bigger, Better, Faster. Cataclysm tries to recreate the experiment to create evil versions of the heroes or to reverse the effects. Unfortunately things don't seem to go to plan.



This one I was thinking of doing actually (great minds think alike) :) I was wondering if it would be better to use NPCs the PCs know or knew, or just make them strangers off the street.

Brainwave has theorized that Cataclysm does not deal well with surprise, that the villainess' genius is enhanced in all other areas, but her creativity now seems stunted; Unknowns seem to confuse her.(Think the "Mad Thinker" in Marvel).

[Supreme Serpent]

This one I was thinking of doing actually (great minds think alike) :) I was wondering if it would be better to use NPCs the PCs know or knew, or just make them strangers off the street.


Who's to say that Cataclysm and the PC's were the only ones affected by the original accident? Perhaps others working nearby got affected as well. Plus, perhaps the residual energies affected some of the rescue workers. And humans aren't the only ones who could be changed. Labs sometimes have test animals around, and there's always some nearby rats or bugs that could get changed too...

Maybe later on the PC's can discover that the original experiment wasn't as flawed as they thought...that someone DID sabotage it. Big corporation with interest in the status quo? Aliens? (perhaps it was the mix of an alien beam with kelvarite and radium that caused not only the explosion, but the super side-effects as well...)

other ideas...

Impact discovers that a cop relative of hers has been on the take for years. He's due to retire soon, so won't be "in position" to do so in the future. Will she turn him in, send him to jail and make him the disgrace of the family? Or will she allow his past misdeeds to go unpunished in the name of family harmony?

Powers going out of control. Brainwave reading everyone's thoughts to distraction, can't seperate out her own. Impact getting too strong, can't control it, does massive damage with the slightest touch. Dervish can't slow down. Firepower (assuming fire powers) can't shut off, is danger to everyone around.

[Hermit]

Who's to say that Cataclysm and the PC's were the only ones affected by the original accident? Perhaps others working nearby got affected as well. Plus, perhaps the residual energies affected some of the rescue workers. And humans aren't the only ones who could be changed. Labs sometimes have test animals around, and there's always some nearby rats or bugs that could get changed too...


Oooo... I like that one as well, especially the animals idea. I sense potiential for a rampaging giant monkey, a gag lab rat that uses it's power to purloin munchies, or an evil telepathic cat. :) Could be fun.

The other ideas you mentioned are also good.

[Kevin]

In keeping with your homage to the FF, why not combine elements of Doom and the Red Ghost in Cataclysm?

Have her attempt to recreate the experiment that gave the Fab Four their powers, and her first attempt mutates the lab animals she is using.

You've got your super-powered animals, a connection to Cataclysm, and the jealousy hook can become invested in Brainwave and friends stole all the power that was rightfully hers, not just the "my brain is bigger than your brain" jealousy like the one between Doom and Richards.

Just a thought.

[winterhawk]

How about the ole' one-enemy-with-the-powers-of-all ala Superskrull, Super Adaptoid or Amazo. Seems like a natural fit.

[Supreme Serpent]

How about the ole' one-enemy-with-the-powers-of-all ala Superskrull, Super Adaptoid or Amazo. Seems like a natural fit.

I like these types of guys, esp Superskrull. I was already planning on bringing such a villain into my next game, and then I find out that one character is going to be an energy absorber, and another a kinetic-energy absorber. Wonder how they'll handle a guy who absorbs both? :eek:

[Hermit]

I like both Kevin and Winterhawk's additional ideas as well. I might go with AMAZO sort of thing for the 'has all their powers' gig in the vein of 'Tabla Rasa' from the Justice League Animated Series, for those that saw that.

[Kevin]

Tweak some other FF plot lines around, and that could be fun for your gender reversal!

What if the paparazzi were very enamored with this comeliness enhanced quartet? Being pursued more for magazine covers, dating advice, etc. could throw a girl like Brainwave for a loop.

And as if being turned into a media "Babe" wasn't bad enough, what if your frivolous male energy projector was whom the media and general public turned to, incorrectly assuming he is the team leader?

Having the perplexed party boy taken seriously and the brilliant scientist treated like a super model could make for some fun moments!

[Hermit]

Tweak some other FF plot lines around, and that could be fun for your gender reversal!

What if the paparazzi were very enamored with this comeliness enhanced quartet? Being pursued more for magazine covers, dating advice, etc. could throw a girl like Brainwave for a loop.

And as if being turned into a media "Babe" wasn't bad enough, what if your frivolous male energy projector was whom the media and general public turned to, incorrectly assuming he is the team leader?

Having the perplexed party boy taken seriously and the brilliant scientist treated like a super model could make for some fun moments!

Actually, something like that is occuring with Impact. She was 'one of the guys' on the Bomb Squad, and now she's an Mediteranian knock out instead. She's enjoying it immensely. Brainwave is a bit more camera shy so far :)

Firepower attempting to be leader could be amusing, but my fear there is that the players might let him, and having the GM as leader is probably too much influence over player actions.

And yes, the whole team is going towards celebrity status. :)

[Kevin]

Firepower attempting to be leader could be amusing, but my fear there is that the players might let him, and having the GM as leader is probably too much influence over player actions.


True, true.

But what if Firepower didn't act like the leader, but the media covered things that way?

Or he started to clumsily take on that role, but was really, really bad and Brainwave had to actually lead if they weren't all going to be annihilated pretty quickly.

Could be fun to play with, or not, as things go in your game.

[Hermit]

But what if Firepower didn't act like the leader, but the media covered things that way?


That's a winner. And yeah, the team will have to put up with a lot of "Is Brainwave dating Defender?" (The player doesn't see why Witchcraft and Sapphire have the attraction) in the media :)

[Hermit]

In keeping with the FF feel, last night I ran a short session where they encountered and defeated "The Underking", my Mole Man rip off ;)

I didn't expect him to be captured so quickly, but that's nothing a master of giant worms and beetles can't escape with help.

EDIT: Oh, and I started up the idea of Firepower being mislabeled as the leader. That was fun.

FIREPOWER: "We've got trouble."*Showing the paper*
BRAINWAVE: "What trouble?"
FIREPOWER: "What trouble? They think I'm the leader of this team..."
IMPACT: "So? Let them think what they want, we'll do it democratically anyways."
FIREPOWER: "Yeah, but what if the rest of you screw up? I'll get blamed for it."

;)

[assault]

There are lots of decent FF riffs to borrow from.

I'm not sure how you would approach it, but a Namor equivalent might be fun. And a Hulk equivalent too, of course.

And definitely a Super-Skrull. Every campaign needs a Green Shapeshifting Alien.

[Kevin]

Why start small with an FF homage?

A Galactus clone ought to make any FF inspired group quiver with fear/anticipation.

Especially if you start with a Herald clone first.

"I am the Golden Glider...Herald of Galaxia. Prepare your world for her arrival."

And the players wet themselves...

[Blue]

Things I've always enjoyed about the FF
by Blue
The Mole Man Galactus and his many heralds Ben Grimm's revolving door of girlfriends (Including Thundra, Tigress, Alicia Masters) The Negative Zone and Annihilus The U-Foes (the FF wannabe villains) The Puppetmaster Doc Doom The Sub Mariner and a potential war with Atlantis

I'm partial to the Moleman, myself. In fact, I repurchased the Invaders from Below adventure recently and updated all the participants to 5e (and removed all the "Likes to Kill" disadvantages... sheesh!). And right now I'm putting all of the 4e Atlantis sourcebook folk into herodesigner and tweaking them to my campaign.

As you can see I'm in an FF mood myself.

[Hermit]

Reading too many Nightwing Trade paper backs lately, I've ended up with the Fabulous Four also dealing with some DC like villains. :)

The Bogey Man as a Scarecrow rip off for one.
That was fun.

While it deviated from the plot a bit, I'm sort of tying in old foes from a previous 4th Edition campaign (The bloodline of old foes anyways) and they get a kick out of continuity like that :)

Galactus story? The mind boggles on how I'll handle that but I like it (And the "Golden Glider" heh :) )

[Hermit]

Thanks for the suggestion of the animals ala Red Ghost.
Cataclysm's lab animals were sent on a mission, which (after some RP and detective work) were thwarted by the PCs.
The Fab Four now have a super stretching Python as a pet for Brainwave (And Firepower doesn't want it in his bed, whether it likes his body heat or not) and a speedster rat hooked up to a generator to save on electricity at the base. :D

[Sean]

It's been a long time since I've collected comics, but one FF adventure sticks in my mind (might've only been 1 or 2 of 'em in this scenario -- heck might've just been the Thing /shrug). They come across a town where the people are acting mighty strange. They seem to have this odd fixation about milk. Push comes to shove and I think it ends up that the town is working on taking over the rest of the country with their contaiminated milk that seems to have this odd mind controlling effect. In the end they discover that skrulls had crashed to earth and somehow assumed the form of the milk cows.

That or I had a really bizarre dream one night.

Anyway, do something like that if you like the "Invasion of the Body Snatcher" scenario.

The Inhumans were pretty cool too. A misguided Inhuman like Medusa coming to the outside world is another plot hook. Just read through the Champions book a lil while ago and noticed the powers in the sidebar. :)

[lemming]

In the end they discover that skrulls had crashed to earth and somehow assumed the form of the milk cows.
IIRC, that's one of the Annuals written by Bryne. The Skrulls were the original Skrulls that had tried to discredit the FF and after they were defeated, they were hypnotized by Reed to be Cows.

[Hermit]

Things I've always enjoyed about the FF
by Blue
The Mole Man Galactus and his many heralds Ben Grimm's revolving door of girlfriends (Including Thundra, Tigress, Alicia Masters) The Negative Zone and Annihilus The U-Foes (the FF wannabe villains) The Puppetmaster Doc Doom The Sub Mariner and a potential war with Atlantis



Wanted to address your suggestions on this post myself, because some I've used, others I plan to.

The Mole Man tribute is "The Underking" who was captured, but will be making an escape soon and plotting his revenge against the surface world.

Galactus and his heralds I want to do, but I may have painted myself into a corner by using a similar idea in a higher point campaign.

There's been some romance here and there. Nothing up to Ben's love life, but then, hey, it's hard to match the ever luvin blue eyed Thing. :)

Negative Zone and Annihulus... hmmm good idea. I hadn't even considered that (And lo, I sit humbled). I'll need to make an equivilent, but nothing's coming to mind yet.

The U-foes (and I always liked them for some reason) will be made from Cataclysm's first attempt to empower human beings, now that she's got animals down pat. Of course, she'll have to steal some Kelvarite first.

Puppet master could work, but Brainwave maybe immune. Nothing wrong with giving the mentalist a chance to shine, but I don't want to leave the others out.

Doc Doom's homage is Cataclysm. The scientist scarred by her own hubris when Brainwave (in her secret id) warned her (BOY did I rip that one off pretty direct) :) Cataclysm also had her intelligence boosted, wears powered armor, but her creativitey is stiffled.

Atlantis I've been hesitant to use. The game is in Chicago for one thing (not so close to the ocean to say the least *S*), and for another I wanted more on the official CU 5e Atlantis before I went further.

[Hermit]

While not often seen as an FF villain, I ran a homage of sorts to Arcade with a villain named Minos. The Fab 4 were put in the "Labyrinth" (a section of which looked like Oz) where they had to evade death traps, and try to fend off brainwashed pawns, and agents. Minos considers himself an honorable fellow (Unlike Arcade in Marvel) and released the heroes once they won through, even defying Cataclysm who hired him. Oh, he plans to "test them again" sometime.

[SuperBlue]

That's a winner. And yeah, the team will have to put up with a lot of "Is Brainwave dating Defender?" (The player doesn't see why Witchcraft and Sapphire have the attraction) in the media :)

Okay.. I'm not familiar with Witchcraft or Saphire... but if they are villains... maybe after seeing the "Brainwave/Defender Affair" in the papers, they come a-calling to teach her not to be a little hussie lol.

Or...

They get Mind Controlled by a villain to attack Brainwave because the Mind Control induces severe jealousy. *Shrug*

[SKJAM!]

Lucky Numbers

An Asian man (Japanese or Chinese, most likely) shows up on the Fab Four's doorstep, demanding to join. According to him, four is an unlucky number, signifying death, and his I Ching readings indicate that the nest week is a crisis period. Unless he's inducted, one of the FF will die. He won't take no for an answer, either, despite the fact that his powers are considerably weaker than those of the player characters.

GM's option whether Numbers is really able to predict the future or is just deluded.....

[Magmarock]

Oooo... I like that one as well, especially the animals idea. I sense potiential for a rampaging giant monkey, a gag lab rat that uses it's power to purloin munchies, or an evil telepathic cat. :) Could be fun.

Evil Telepathic Cat: >>Rub my belly... feed me tuna... kill the dog!<<

[zornwil]

Not really FF, but most FF stuff seems well-covered, so another angle is how the world's other supers see them, in particular if there's any Magneto-esque organization that would want to recruit them, as well as other such orgs.

[Hermit]

Well, the pcs have overheard comments from the Mayor about a "Project Cerebus", and given a not too subtle hint from him later that there are some things they shouldn't pry into.

I have no idea what Project Cerebus is, but it's fun to watch their nosed twitch with interest, and their eyes narrow at the chance of official skullduggery :)

[Syberdwarf2]

Oooo... an evil telepathic cat.

Is there any other kind??

I tried something similar once,.... the group tracked down the Villains to their base and trashed them thouroughly, but not without taking a few bumps of their own. During the aftermath, a cat that was in the base (an abandoned trailer park) took to the team leader, who guuiltily took it in. Afterwards, the team kept wondering how villain groups were always one step ahead of them, almost like traps were being set by an unknown criminal mastermind. Ironically, the team takes forever finguring out who or what is behind it all, since the team leader is too busy scooping the 'master villains' poop. :shock:

[Ghost who Walks]

Depends a lot on your campaign theme...some random ideas.

Playing up the fame bit.
~Have one of the characters ex-girlfriends/boyfriend or cousin write a tell-all book
~Someone claims to have been affected by the origin explosion also, only with negative results...lawsuit ensues.


The Inevitable alien plotline (is a FF homage)
~Aliens from dimension F are affected by the explosion, and decide to invade the dimension that attacked them (provides a reason to have that babe who rules a billion dimensions to show up...)


Cataclysm Scheming Inc.
~Develops a way to boost other people's intelligence, like herself. Creates a gang of supersmart crooks, with genius intelligence.
~Alters records, showing Brainwave did not have authorization to handle radioactive materials...resulting in her arrest.
~If you have her as a European, she can bribe/blackmail the EU into doing all kinds of fun things to the PCs.


Future Character Ideas
~Scientist with mental powers? This is easy. Another scientist accuses her of stealing or intervering with his research...with her mind!
~Dervish: A personal enemy in an AI computer program...can he run faster than the program can transfer itself to Istanbul?
~Impact: The obvious one here is the crook I put away as a cop comes after me for revenge. More fun might be found in dealing with police corruption, or getting "drafted" by the government.
~Firepower: The best use for the NPC heros are to have them make mistakes, before your players do. Some things NPC heroes have done in my campaign include: Own comic book, own action figure, Pay-per-view fight with villain of PC hero, dating Dracula, and looking in PC's rooms for evidence of "drugs".


Red Ghost idea: Tweak his orgin, say he was conducting similar experiments in the 1950's, only they propeled him forward in time (like Captain Atom). This gives you a 1950's era commie, who is wandering around looking at all the McDonalds. He'll start with a ton of hunteds, can build a nuclear bomb, and breaks into Brainwave's lab for parts. Doesn't know anything about microchips...


Best powered animal I had in the campaign escaped from a VIPER lab. It was a superstrong, teleporting rat with heat vision (normal size). They also bread at the same rate as normal rats...whole cities were placed under martial law. Could do the same thing with rabbits or squirrels, I suppose.


For the Namor plot: have Atlantis be a colony of aquatic aliens who have been secretly living under Lake Superior for the past few centuries, hidden
from mankind. (like Gorilla City).


For a Neo-Galactus plot, what if Galactus was already defeated, centuries ago? Have him be one of the moons in the solar system, a villain (or the mayor) visits, and he wakes up. He starts eating the solar system, some aliens show up, ally with the PC's, and beat him up. Alien hero (who has powers just like the Superskrull) then gives long speech about the folly of mankind. :)

Best I can come up with right now.

[Hermit]

Currently, I am running the Fabulous Four through Champions Battlegrounds. They've just started 'Fatal Attractions' as they visit Millennium City (I placed the other adventures in their home town of Chicago, but Firepower's Secret ID has part ownership of certain production company and Impact is a big fan of 'To Save The World' ;) so off they went).

Truthfully, the best lines/moment so far may have been in "Let's go to the Maul" when Dervish, not knowing Black Diamond's ultra heavy nature, attempted to zip up and do a passing throw. He ended up seizing her by the waist, was jerked to a stop as he couldn't budge her.

Dervish pats her mid section a bit, looks up and goes "You know, you hide that remarkably well..."

Black Diamond arches a brow and responds, "You realize, I'm going to hit you now?"

Dervish sighs, "Yeah, I know."

:)

[Hermit]

Much has happened. Poor Interface actually got captured ... but don't worry, he'll get free.

Now, I'm finally starting up Reality Storm, and we went with the Fabulous Four for that adventure. The group is probably way over their head points wise, but I have faith they can pull it off. Besides, they aren't total novices anymore. :)


Dervish and Firepower tagged teamed some tornados, and the group just learned Dr. Destroyer and some weird horned guy they've never heard of before is behind the weather going nuts, so they are realizing with certain other super teams occupied (or worse) it's up to them to track him down, and stop him. Impact told her brothers her secret ID in case she didn't come back. Firepower has a ring and plans to propose to Brainwave, but she doesn't know yet, and indeed, they've all been so busy he keeps planning to put it off "when they have time" which is playing for a bit of humor.

I am thinking of throwing a few more FF type touches into the story line, perhaps having Cataclysm drawing energy from the Reality Storm for her own purposes and trying to use them later.

[Savinien]

Thanks for bringing us up to date.

Looks like a fun game.

[Kirby]

I don't have any FF ideas (as I never bought them), but I do like this thread. :)


EDIT: Oh, and I started up the idea of Firepower being mislabeled as the leader. That was fun.

FIREPOWER: "We've got trouble."*Showing the paper*
BRAINWAVE: "What trouble?"
FIREPOWER: "What trouble? They think I'm the leader of this team..."
IMPACT: "So? Let them think what they want, we'll do it democratically anyways."
FIREPOWER: "Yeah, but what if the rest of you screw up? I'll get blamed for it."
If you haven't, you should put this in the "Quote of the Week from my Gaming Group" thread.

[Hermit]

Glad folks are enjoying. :)


If you haven't, you should put this in the "Quote of the Week from my Gaming Group" thread.

Heh.
Thanks.

In other news, the quest to "cure" Drogen Lar continues, and Brainwave and Dr. Silverback have been working hard at it.

[MisterBaldy]

Who's to say that Cataclysm and the PC's were the only ones affected by the original accident?

For that matter Hermit...Cataclysm may even attempt to create "super-powered lackeys" because the burning desire for revenge. She develops a touch of "god-complex", creating others in her "own image"...to do her will.

[Hermit]

For that matter Hermit...Cataclysm may even attempt to create "super-powered lackeys" because the burning desire for revenge. She develops a touch of "god-complex", creating others in her "own image"...to do her will.



Update. We only gamed for a bout two hours, but it was productive:
WARNING: If you are a player in Reality Storm, this may ruin a lot for you, so I suggest you forgo it.






Still struggling with the after effects of the situations, Dervish's computer and systems operations skills combined with Brainwave's science to figure out, as best they could, the 'source' of the transmissions from the villains. Determining it was in the time stream, our heroes try to figure out how the HECK they're going to construct such a device... Brainwave tries to consult with other heroes, but Dr. Silverback reports his lab has been ruined.

With the Champions apparently deceased, Force 1 MIA, and other groups busy stopping VIPER's operation Plunder... PRIMUS turns to the Fab 4 ("You were about fifth on our list, to be honest." "Thanks, that makes us feel SO much better...") and gives them yet more data and access to NASA resources, which the villains have arrogantly ignored for now.

Using tap ins to these satalites, Brainwave discovers that someone right outside Chicago is drawing from the energy of the Reality Storm itself! Feeling they may have a lead on some super science that can help, they track it down. Dervish informs the others he will 'check it out' and leaves before they can remind him to be cautious (Well, Brainwave does get a mind link up, so SHE tells him, but he shrugs, overconfident fellow that he is).

Finding a deserted building that was once a research lab for alternative energies, Dervish checks out what he thinks to be a camera. It instead is a sonic gun that catches him off guard.

He awakens just in time to prevent himself from being locked completely into dual shackles.

Meanwhile, our heroes are flying there... and are not happy with having lost even mental contact with Dervish. They come in, and begin to fight killer robots etc.

To make a long story less so, Dervish gets free, even as his friends come to 'rescue' him. It looks like a battle is in the making, but first, of course, Cataclysm scornfully tells the heroes that she has more important matters to attend to. Brainwave realizes Cataclysm has a piece of the puzzle, and plays Cataclysm's egocentricies by challenging HER a tad... just a tad. Catacylsm informs them of the possible dangers of the Reality Storm "if that idiot Destroyer can't control it... and of course, if he can, that's rather inconvient for me as well." Then, Brainwave hints that the Fab 4 and she can help each other.

Impact arches a brow, and mutters to Brainwave, "You are -not- about to agree to work with this #$##$?"

Yet, increasingly, it seems if the team wants to get in the time stream NOW, rather than later, they'll have to deal with the devil they know. Especially troubling is that they know Cataclysm had to be draining the Reality Storm's power for SOMETHING... but have to let her plot go and foil it later. They do try to leave a message to some other heroes and PRIMUS, hoping they will be able to stop the villainess if they can't return, but it remains to be seen.

Of course, when Cataclysm hooks them up, and punchs them through the barrier into the timestream, she also gains access to their energy templates. Which will be very useful in her plans to empower a group of her own to deal with the meddlesome hereos SHOULD they live.

.......

Meanwhile, our heroes end up on the paths of the Time stream. Brief encounters occur where they are almost shoved off infnity, but soon they come to the nexus of the Universe. Now all they have to do is sneak in, figure out what fully is going on and how to stop it, and defeat one of the most powerful villains in the CU, his henchmen, and whoever this horned guy is as well.

Same Fab Time, Same Fab channel. :)


(BTW, the look on the players faces when they realized it was Cataclysm in that lab was priceless. One player accused me "Now I KNOW she is not in that book" , Naturally, I just smiled :eg: and told her that "Personalizing it for you guys shows how much I care." )

[Blue Rose]

... speedster rat hooked up to a generator to save on electricity at the base.

Sudden thoughts of PETA knocking down the door because they feel that the rat is being mistreated. If the PCs don't do something about them, PETA might sue them or worse yet might begin a smear campaign against them. They do want to keep their good name after all. Just a thought.

---Blue Rose

[Kirby]

Sudden thoughts of PETA knocking down the door because they feel that the rat is being mistreated. If the PCs don't do something about them, PETA might sue them or worse yet might begin a smear campaign against them. They do want to keep their good name after all. Just a thought.
Or a plot twist. Those from PETA actually represent the group Please Eat The Animals. (I saw that on someone's sig, but I don't recall whose.)

[Hermit]

Finished up the "Reality Storm: When Worlds Collide" Story line this eve... everyone had a blast even if it wasn't all as 'scripted' :)

WARNING: If you are a player in Reality Storm, this may ruin a lot for you, so I suggest you forgo it.




Needing to slip into the grand palace that is the center of the Eterniverse, our heroes managed to fly over the guards at the main gate unnoticed, and risked being "shredded into a thousand different dimensions" by squeezing through the panels when they were open but not yet fully charged.

Still, things went awry when Brainwave threw Dervish in, but missed ...forcing him to corkscrew and spin in midair to readjust his trajectory. He still bumped a panel, and for a moment had visions of many strange alternate worlds...
One where Bill Gates, some punk intern at Dervish's computer company ended up begging for an audiance...
One, where his girlfriend, Luna (aka a super heroine named Crecscent) assured him that SURE she'd talk to her sister and see if she was up for a three way.
One that had him with green skin...

The second one was what made him sure it couldn't be real... :D

He also took a heap of STUN, but no true harm.

The others entered, with lighter encounters of mightbes and elsewheres. Perhaps most chilling was the vision Brainwave experienced of her hands wrapped around Cataclysm strangling the villainess, even as she simulataneously used her mind to fry the #$$# for the slaying of Firepower, and their children.

But in the end, that was merely scenery.

Once inside, they encountered patrols ...one group of men in service to Kreutzritter was heard talking about the 'prisoners below'.
Realizing this must be Captain Chronos and that "other guy" (Drifter), the heroes made their way down below to rescue them. Only to run into Alice- Queen of Hearts, and Gigaton, the Right hand of Dr. Destroyer, with about 3 agents of each mastermind as well guarding the brig.

Dervish's super speed move through hit like a hammer on steroids, but Gigaton was not even stunned and to make matters worse, Firepower, ignorant of Gigaton's abilities, fed the villain energy that he absorbed into stun and strength. From there, it got hairy.

Brainwave was not yet in line of sight with many, and she was the only who could see the cloaked 'Alice'. Impact became Alice's target of choice, who used armor piercing rounds, and rude commentary in a snide british accent in conjunction. The latter just pissed Impact off, the former, however, did some serious damage to Impact's looks and nearly put her out. Impact couldn't seem to lay a glove on the invisible mercenery, and got shot... again in the head.

Seizing Gigaton in a surprise manuever, the brick threw him down hard into the hex before her, absolutely CREAMING Alice, causing the villainess to be appear at last.

"Shoot me in the face again, B####!" Snarled the Italian American super hero, in what was not her most eloquent moment, but certainly a heart felt one.

Alice, being well and truly out, gave no coherrent reply.

Dervish split his attention between Gigaton and the agents. Soon the agents were down (With help from Brainwave), but Gigaton remained. Brainwave's mental blasts didn't seem to slow the Villain much, but every little bit helped.
Dervish became enough of an annoyance that Gigaton entangled him. Switching tactics, Brainwave mental illusioned him that she was running away to 'get help'. He 'destroyed her' , wasting his attack on empty air, but thinking he had killed her made a comment about how these 'celebrity heroes failed to impress'

Firepower, feeling useless against the energy sucking villain, used his heat aborbing abilities (and power skill roll) to take back what gigaton had taken from him, though it did damage in to the NPC hero in the process. Finally, both fell into a heap.

(to be continued)

[Hermit]

Yet another warning, spoilers galore below:

seriously, and it's long as well...




Freed, Captain Chronos and the Drifter thanked our heroes (Though Captain Chronos did fuss about he was sure the heroes were late) and apprised them of the Reality Storm, and the causes for the most part. When they heard of the Champions' 'Deaths' , they also commented on an odd rush of energy they'd detected that hinted the Champions might be anything but.

The Fab 4 headed outside, and using the good Captain's ship, managed to enter into Entropus himself to aid the Champions and the Guard both. Each Fab 4 member could only go into one 'pocket world' and could only retrieve the heroes when enough 'reality space' had been cleared by defeating the foes they fought.

So it was that Nighthawk and Caliburn ended up with Dervish appearing to assist them against the radioactive mutant zombies.

Red Phoenix and Defender found Impact in their midst, ready to join them in battle against the Cyborg Nazis.

Brainwave was suddenly side by side with Ironclad and the Sentinel, facing the onslaught of wave after wave of carnivorous neanderthals.

Firepower aided Sapphire and Slipstream in their conflict with the Pteridactyal men.

Witchcraft and Mother Raven seemed to be out of luck...
However, when enough foes finally fell, the super heroes were retrieved, and though Dervish had to go in later to save the mystics, and Firepower was nearly killed and had to be rescued by Brainwave... Entropus' wardens/guardians were finally removed and that SHOULD have been the end of it.

Hasty introductions were made in Captain Chronos' now over crowded timeship.

Of course, the Trickster reappeared, teasing and cajoling the heroes with smirking half hints and pseudo lies. Now, three teams, the Guard, The Champions, and the Fabulous Four went in loaded for bear, with the F4 slipping in first to scout it out because they would be underestimated.

Brainwave and Dervish both noticed technological gear and Rakasha's behavior that hinted at the double cross each meglomanical mastermind planned against the other, and mindlinked, our heroes began to plot how to take advantage of it.

Firepower presented himself claiming to be surrendering to Dr. Destroyer on behalf of all his earth. Dr Destroyer did not trust this one bit, and made a sublte motion to the disguised Rakasha who began to use his telepathy on the mentally defenseless Firepower.

Realizing her Mental Illusions MIGHt be able to fool even mental senses, Brainwave thought fast and projected false readings into Rakasha's head. The master deciever was himself decieved, allowing Firepower to fake out Doctor Destroyer into the right spot, and lure Kreutzritter as well with a comment refering to the horned villain as Destroyer's 'lackey'.

Both in place, the camera came on, and so did the ambush weapons...
Alas, also so did the forcewalls that one of the villains had set up to keep the other from fleeing. The two archvillains would only be delayed a short time, and in the mean time the Iron Duke was now ready to rumble, and the only ones able to face all three of them until those walls came down were the Fabulous Four, on their own.

From his kneeling position, Firepower stoop up and hit the temporarily paralyzed Dr. Destroyer with his most powerful attack. Dervish swatted the lesser agents like fleas. Impact took Rakasha out so quickly it wasn't funny, and Brainwave surely would have died if Iron Duke had connected. Her own assault on the mind of the being surprised her by working somewhat, but not as well as she liked.

The heroes continued to pummel and thrash in their free phases for all they were worth, but Dr. Destroyer and Kreutzritter recovered all too soon.

Seeing Dr Destroyer charge up to vaporize Firepower, Impact aborted her own action to actually leap into the blast and protect him... the brick of the F4 was shredded down to 5 body, but somehow held on heroically to conciousness. Dervish tried another move through on Dr. Destroyer, but missed, slamming instead into one of the forcewalls, and breaking it.

This proved to be fortunate, because that let the Guard in! Now Iron Duke and his master had new targets to worry about.

But that still left Dr. Destroyer to our heroes. Even when the champions were let it, the battle seemed as if it would never end.

Brainwave continued to fuss with the controls, her brillaint mind at a loss to understand how this all worked. She did manage to siphon off a small part of the Reality Storm, and reverse its flow so it would come down and consume them instead... screaming through her mind link that they needed to get out of there.... soon the other heroes were ready to run as well.

Destroyer raced to the controls only to find out his own entangler weapons remains now lacing the levers thanks to Dervish's quick thinking. Kreutzritter, unaware of the danger of the backflow, saw only that the heroes were fleeing (as well they should!) and attacked Dr. Destroyer for his treachery (the fact that he himself was also treacherous was neither here nor there).

The three super hero teams escaped out of the palace, even as it seemed to wink out of existance for a moment, and it looked like Brainwave's plans to save their world might instead have destroyed the eterniverse itself!

Like a man come to clean house, Entropus arrived, entering in as the heroes had hoped. Both arch villains were ejected from the palace ...landing into the void. The palace righted itself, and all was still.

Our heroes went to investigate (Actually, Firepower NNDed Brainwave into unconciousness and then went to risk just himself). Entropus seemed to barely care or notice. As is his duty, the cosmic being restored the two worlds and let the storm pass on. A portal was opened, and all the heroes went through to their respective homes despite the howls of protest from the Trickster.

Exhausted, bloody, and having just battled one of the most powerful villains of their earth, the Fabulous Four materialized on top of their base. They were home, but not alone. Around them, they saw hundreds of fellow Chicagoans holding candle light vigils, prayers, and so forth for the return of their heroes. When they saw them appear, clapping began, then applause, then thunderous applause...

Only then did the battered PCs realize that their entire battle from the activation of the ambush weapons on had also set the multiversial Camera (which the villains had used to issue their ultimatium in the first place) on, and every man, woman and child in the world with access to a TV had seen the Fabulous Four and allies fight for the fate of two worlds, and it didn't take much to figure out the F4 saved them all!

They were not just superheroes, for one moment, they were THE Superheroes, -the- team that had saved billions.

And of course, while things would never be the same, some loose threads did wrap up, and new ones were born. Firepower tried to finally propose to Brainwave, only to find the gold of the ring he was carrying had melted. Tired of this, Impact got in to the base, took some copper wire, and handed it back to him telling him to do it, now!

Thus he proposed to Brainwave, who kissed him in response, and said, in a nutshell, yes.

Impact's captain spoke of how it would be unjust to fire her from the force after she'd saved two worlds, but it would be even more unjust to keep her on the bombsquad when she could do so much more as a super hero. She wasn't fired, she was granted an honorable discharge and full retirement benefits...

And Dervish nearly fainted when he found out that Crescent did indeed have a sister, "Identical twin, why do you ask?"

:)

They go to DC to recieve the congressional medals of honor next month.

~Finis for now~

[OddHat]

I was going to do a Galactus meets Haviland Tuff and Rendevous with Rama riff for my now-defunct online game; it's a perfect fit for a Fantastic Four tribute. :)

Start with Galactus and the Silver Surfer, with a few tweaks (galactic Champions had a villain with a background partially borrowed from Galactus; the guy with the minds of his entire species. Nova?).

Now throw in your favorite Sci-Fi story with a city or world sized ship. Heinlein, Asimov, Pratchett, Martin; there's plenty to steal from.

Now mix in one more sci-fi book to keep your players from guessing, stir, simplify, figure out why the Four have to deal with it, and let it play out.

The Galactus and Inhumans stories were always my faves with the FF.

Speaking of which, you can use the Empereans as the Eternals or the Inhumans (or come up with your own Inhumans tribute, or use the Lemurians).

And then you can always have an American atomic test destroy a Lemurian outpost, triggering a roaring rampage of revenge by a noble but rage filled Lemurian Princess, one who was a heroine in WWII. And of course, she finds one of the male heroes very attractive. :)

[fredrik_nilsson]

Bigger, Better, Faster. Cataclysm tries to recreate the experiment to create evil versions of the heroes or to reverse the effects. Unfortunately things don't seem to go to plan.
There might even be a possibility for Cataclysm to try to reverse the accident altogether; the entire accident, including the players changes.

Are the characters willing to sacrifice their powers for seeing the end of Cataclysm’s reign of evil?

[Hermit]

Speaking of which, you can use the Empereans as the Eternals or the Inhumans (or come up with your own Inhumans tribute, or use the Lemurians).


Odd that you should mention that, I plan to use the Hidden Lands and one of the Empyrean Plot Seeds almost verbatum. It will be interesting to see how the Empyreans react to these "upstarts" who have a name so similar to the super hero team that once challenged the very gates of Arcadia itself, but earned their respect.

[TheRavenIs]

Thanks for the suggestion of the animals ala Red Ghost.
Cataclysm's lab animals were sent on a mission, which (after some RP and detective work) were thwarted by the PCs.
The Fab Four now have a super stretching Python as a pet for Brainwave (And Firepower doesn't want it in his bed, whether it likes his body heat or not) and a speedster rat hooked up to a generator to save on electricity at the base. :D

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Hermit again.

man I wanted to give you rep for this.....a superspeed rat as power generator, that's classic

[Kirby]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Hermit again.

man I wanted to give you rep for this.....a superspeed rat as power generator, that's classic
But... but... I used a very similar idea in the plot seed thread (http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=358619&#post358619) over a year ago. :cry:

Do I get a little rep for mine? Just a little? TheRavenIs? Hermit? Anyone? Anyone? Beuller? :o

[Hermit]

I would but...
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Kirby again.

[OddHat]

But... but... I used a very similar idea in the plot seed thread (http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=358619&#post358619) over a year ago. :cry:

Do I get a little rep for mine? Just a little? TheRavenIs? Hermit? Anyone? Anyone? Beuller? :o

Repped. Superpets are deserving of our support.

[Enforcer84]

A repping I will go.

[Hermit]

Reality Storm bringing complications and drama most maternal!

With dimensional energy lingering about here and there, the earth is currently dotted with hidden egresses into other worlds. The F4 and other hero teams are being made aware of this and doing their best to seal such spots up or drain them of energy. They aren't the only ones. Our heroes stumbled onto a young mutant gal who hoped to be a sidekick to the lovely Impact. She in turn, informed Brainwave and Impact of a strange occurance at an alley way.

They check out the dimensional rift, trying to think on how to take it down. A spider like (but human sized robot) is seen dropping a foil like antanee down into the vortex and starting to drain it. Brainwave recognizes it as belonging to Cataclysm and informs Impact of this! Impact moves quickly and yanks at the robot even as Brainwave tries to warn her this might be a bad idea! Dimensional energies that WERE Being drained instead flood the lovely Brick, and, because she is mindlinked at the time, Brainwave as well.

They find themselves in Backworld, or at least a version of it. Here, Professor Protector has seemingly fallen after struggling against this world's villainous Fab Four and the Champions of Evil! An unholy alliance has formed between the super villain teams, each has taken over their own city and spreading. Brainwave and Impact see first hand the evil done to this Chicago and how it has suffered under their counterselves' rule. The details are too ugly to mention, but Brainwave relaizes that this world MUST have a Cataclysm, and she and Impact head to the lab where they last met her in their world. There, they find signs that lead to Redemption, this world's Dr. Rochelle Peters. Where Cataclysm is arrogant, Redemption is humble, where Cataclysm is ruthless, there are some things Redemption refuses to do to anyone. To their mutual surprise (But not to the GM's) Brainwave and Redemption immediately hit it off. Brainwave realizes that this world's Redemption may need an edge, and uses her mental powers (and a handy power skill roll) to CURE Redemption of the damage that prevents her from being too creative. With her innovation and imagination fully restored, perhaps Redemption will be able to carry on the good fight.

In return, Redemption measures their vibrodimensional harmonics, and tries to send them home, or at least to a closer dimension.

Our heroines now find themselves in a better chicago, a bright Shy town that is bustling, vibrant, and clean. It's also roughly 2 decades ahead of their own. The old F4 base is expanded into an almost football sized stadium of a base where the new team "The Centurians" carries on the legacy of their founders, the Fab 4. Unsure if this is their world, but in the future, or a different paralel dimension that is somehow on a faster timeline, brainwave worries about meeting herself and blowing things up reeeeal good. Still, they have to try.

The result is an education. It turns out the Centurians are indeed 100 strong, and the children of the F4 are among them. As this world's Firepower, now mostly retired but still a guiding hand behind the team explains, "Well, see, others joined, and we went to Fabulous Five, briefly, then more joined, and it as the Super Seven, and then by the time it got to the Fabulous Fifteen we decided it was just plain getting ridiculous we merged with the peacekeepers and... eventually we capped it off at 100."

Brainwave and Impact meet their respective 'future' daughters, Blister and Wrecker. Blister (who has mixed her father's and mother's powers to become a Pyrokinetic) is an outgoing actress and loves the limelight as much as her mother was shy. Wrecker is brazen and a bit foulmouthed. when Impact lectures her about consequences, Wrecker snorts about how her life was messed up enough after the divorce and such..
It would seem that Impact's marriage with Streetsmart was a rocky one.

And, when she discovers her tryst with the God Mercury lead to a child in this world, a super strong speedster calling himself Mercurial, she goes pale, for that tryst has ALREADY occured in her world, and Mercruy acted very odd about something last they chatted.

(To be continued much later, friends are rushing me out the door)

[Hermit]

(Back, Sky High was a good flick)

Impact and Brainwave meet other kids as well. Dervish had been dating Crescent (sort of a female Moon Knight type) and they meet the son that might yet be, a pranksome gadgeteer named Nocturnus. When Brainwave explains to the Firepower of this world has happened, he calls in their OTHER Resident expert in science (besides the older Brainwave herself), a young powered armor hero named ... Redemption. Turns out he is Cataclysm's son, a hero where she was a villian. Tests by him (with Brainwave Prime's help) confirm they are in yet another dimension, and not merely the future.

Another device is set up, and this time both our heroines are returned to the proper earth with a lot to think on.

Impact in particular is troubled that somehow she might have had a son by Mercury and not remember even being pregnant. True, it SHOULD be impossible, but where there are gods, there are ways. So she calls for him, repeatedly... this after she had, for all intents and purposes, dumped him.

Merc shows up, figuring the little lady misses him and wants him back (Who wouldn't, right?) but she immediately demands to know if they've had a son, how's it possible that she doesn't recall, etc. He answers frankly, that yes, they had a son. Time moves differently in Olympus, and besides, when he once asked if she'd be willing to give birth to a son (thus providing a demi god he could have do missions for him and bypass the Ban in new ways), Impact had refused, so instead, when she became unknowingly pregnant*, he had the unborn child magically wisked to one of his handmaidens to bear instead. Thus, he kept his word (she never bore him a son) and got what he wanted anyways.

Impact is (understandibly) furious. She demands to see their son NOW!
Alas, one does not make demands of Gods. Mercury's eyes narrow, and he informs Impact that he is not her friend, and no longer her lover, that any hold she might have used to implore him for a boon such as this no longer applies. If she wants access to Olympus, she'll have to earn it the old fashioned way like any hero. Then he vanishes.

So now Impact seeks a way to Olympus to see her son, and the F4 will not desert her. Seeking a rare flower called "Hypnos' Rose" that will, when properly used, put the gods to sleep, the F4, and a very confused Streetsmart, begin their journey to find that rose.

It turns out one of the locations it might be found on this world is on an Island of Amazons (Once a pensuila in the land of legends, but the Reality Storm has broken a chunk of it off into the REAL World... won't the nation of Turkey be surprised?) and trying out their new Vehicle "The Diamond" they fly towards it and land.

One Roc attack, and soon after, they are dealing with the Tribe of Artemis on the island. Brainwave and Impact do most of the talking, while Firepower, Dervish, and Streetsmart stay quiet. While some of the amazons are a bit insulted that Brainwave and Impact are unwilling to let them mate with the men and then kill said fellows, they decide to take them to the temple of Artemis anyways to see the high priestess.

The High Priestess notices their costumes, nods sagely, and explains she must talk to them all alone in private. However, no man may enter the Temple.
One 'blessing' later, and all three guys have been transformed into women!
Dervish takes it calmly, Firepower is a bit shocked...
Streetsmart faints.

In the privacy of the temple, the Priestess admits that SHE was once a super heroine known as the "Huntress", back in the World War II days. She went into the world of man, fought the men who were "Under the funny broken cross" and later returned home. Realizing now that their land is outside the land of legends it WILL be discovered, she wishes to make allies among the modern super heroes. She can not, however, risk angering the gods by just giving mortals Hypnos' Rose. Instead, there is a contest to be had that the heroes may enter. If they can win the trials of speed, riddles, strength, and hunting, they may claim the rose as a prize.

The campaign holds there... for now...

And much to the GM's surprise, no one kills him for ripping off Wonder Woman in a group that is meant to be a Fantastic Four Homage ;)



* BTW, if the player of Impact hadn't decided it would be neat to have a demigod son in the main campaign world, said GM would never have foisted such a plot onto to her. I think she wanted some drama :)

[Hermit]

Yeah, this one got a bit weird even for me, and I'm the one gaming it... but I had to see it through.

Suffice to say, while some of the Amazons qualify as superhuman, they are, for the most part, no match for the Fabulous Four... save one. The Priestess daughter, named Cyprus, is determined to win instead. HER choice of boon? She wants to be able to go out into Man's world and see much of what her mother did. In short, she wants to pull a wonder woman of her own :)

However, it is the F4 that wins out, leaving a dejected Cyprus certain her mother will not grant her permision to leave to man's world. When Brainwave tip toes through her head and finds this out, she suggests (after checking with the team) that she instead ask for a boon of being able to accompany a 'band of warriors'. Her mother will think her daughter means fellow amazons, when in fact they mean The Fab 4. As only happens in comic books with a plot to push, the ruse works! The F4 leave with both the Hypnos Rose, and an Amazonian guide.

The ritual at the base of Olympus soon sets the gods above to slumber, and the F4 must becareful, for one touch by mortal hand could wake a god...and they won't be happy!

It's actually much worse than that. Korokos, a roman mystic who craves power, is the same fellow who told Impact OF the Hypnos' rose though not its location (they didn't trust him, rightly so, and refused to retrive a stone from Olympus' side). He has journeyed to Olympus as well... and when the ritual is cast and the super heroes head up to get Impact's child, he takes the oppurtunity to pull the stone lose himself. A hole has been made allowing a side passage for the Titans to walk free!

Of course, at first, the F4 don't realize this. They face riddles, challenges, and battle because even if the gods sleep, no one just walks into Olympus univited without trouble. Impact starts to retrive her son, when the mount shakes!

When they realiize they've been set up, instead of taking the babe and running, Impact puts her baby back down, and the team splits up. Dervish tries to rouse the gods while the others try to stop Helios and Hyperion of the Titans from escaping... they really are gnats before , well, Titans! Only a LOT of dodging and some good teamwork gives them a chance.

Zeus and other Olympians join in the fray, but it's a tough fight with our heroes holding off Hyperion while the Greeks fight Helios, with Thea just itching to get out as well. Brainwave uses her TK to steal the cornerstone back from Korokos, but meeting the gaze of the Titan of sight nearly kills Streetsmart. He drops instantly, eyes bleeding. Cyprus and Korokos battle, as he summons scorpions... giant ones.

Too busy to notice the roman mystic, Dervish and Impact conspire to make the mother of all fast ball specials. Grabbing her (and just after saving her from being hit by a 150 strength Hyperion) Dervish turns around at her behest, and propels them both forward full tilt boogey for justice. He launches her like a battering ram, knocking even the mighty Hyperion backwards into the cave (and Thea) while Helios is tossed in by Zeus.

"NOW!" Someone screams, and back into the slot the cornerstone goes, and LOCK goes the gate to the prison ALMOST trapping Impact in it with the Titans they just helped Twhart.

Victory, but Zeus is understandibly NOT a happy camper about what the heroes did, on the other hand, they DID help save Olympus.. after endangering in the first place. A certain evil Roman Mystic Master has escaped, and Zeus wants him to feel his wrath. The F4 volunteer to retrive Korokus for Olympian justice (They're understandibly miffed about being played for dupes)... and so, homeward they go. Fortunately, a bit of diplomacy with the gods leads to Streetsmart's restoration, and even a flask full of mystical knowledge (Yes, it gets really complex).

Impact decides to give up the child for now, she just wanted to see him, and now has... besides, she feels the fool for endangering the world as she has.

Still, when they get home, Impact finds one of their teenage superhumans they've been tending babysitting her son. Apparently left with a note asking her to watch the boy for the weekend if she wouldn't mind? A happy mother dotes on her boy, and it seems Mercury isn't a total jerk after all.