UNITY 2010: A New Champions Campaign

[TheRavenIs]

I've asked the players to send me the most recent updates for their characters, so I'll try to remember to post 'em.

And for your viewing pleasure, here's a piccie of the Slug & the Sluggettes vs. UNITY Team C in the depths of the underground Slug City!

At the bottom of the screen is Ifrita. To her left is Aurora. STanding on top of the mushroom building is New Man. The black figure (unpainted as of yet) on the left is Thich Nat Han. The black figures in the upper right corner are the human-possessed Worms. The painted figures are hapless humans being sent to their dooms. The dice box represents the pillar on which the gem had rested (before being stolen by Straight Arrow, not pictured here -- the rest of the team is behind the mushroom building).

Ok, once again we have props to look at. Bill you are nice to show us this. I so wish you could be my GM.

Raven

[Lonewalker]

I know that Lonewalker posted Straight Arrow. Any chance we can see some of the other characters?

I'm in the process of tweaking and lightly revamping both Straight Arrow and Aurora (who is played by my fiancee Kate). Once I've got them finished, I'll send them to Bill and post them here.

I've also got a version of Red Dragon, but it hasn't been updated for a month or so (since I first re-designed him for Allen). If I can get the updates from my fellow player, I'll post him here too.

Lonewalker

[Cardinal]

I'm in the process of tweaking and lightly revamping both Straight Arrow and Aurora (who is played by my fiancee Kate). Once I've got them finished, I'll send them to Bill and post them here.

I've also got a version of Red Dragon, but it hasn't been updated for a month or so (since I first re-designed him for Allen). If I can get the updates from my fellow player, I'll post him here too.

Lonewalker

Great! I'm looking forward to seeing them.

It is always interesting matching builds with descriptions.

[teh bunneh]

It's been a while since the last update (thanks to me jetting off to Gencon for a few days), so I figure I owe y'all one...

-----
When the heroes returned from their mission in Africa, they were met with a surprise. A couple of members of Team D had finished their training early, and had been temporarily assigned to Team C as a shake-down, to get a little real world experience to go with their training.

The new members were known as Vilkacis (a Russian ex-patriot, who was named after a Lithuanian shape-shifter of legend) and Mitarbeit ("Cooperation," a Swiss hero). Straight Arrow knew Vilkacis from years ago, when the hero had helped the shape changer escape from the Soviet Union, where they became friends. Ifrita also knew Mitarbeit – the two of them were roommates back in college, where they had both studied international law. It was a warm reunion all around.

After spending a couple of days filling out the requisite paperwork, the team was granted a week's vacation. They jetted down to the Riviera to the famed city of Monte Carlo – home of fabulous beaches, world-class shopping, and of course, the famous casinos!

The first couple of days were uneventful and relaxing. People shopped, sunbathed, gambled, and hobnobbed with the beautiful people. Aurora met Brad Cruise (he's so hunky!) and Mitarbeit got an annoying number of date offers. On the second day there, Straight Arrow ran into an old friend of his father's – a business associate named Lord Byron Stindoff. The two talked for a while, Simon admitting that he had been disowned by his parents because of his military career. Lord Stindoff wouldn't hear any of it – "The military is an honorable tradition! Why, I myself served in Her Majesty's navy before I joined the family firm!"

Straight Arrow (AKA Simon) introduced Stindoff to his co-workers (AKA the rest of the team) before Stindoff was called away on business. But just before the older man left, he told Simon that they needed to talk further, and asked if he was going to the grand opening tonight. Simon admitted that he hadn't even heard about it, so Stindoff said he'd ensure the young man (and his friends) got an invitation.

A little research revealed that the grand opening was of "The Grace," a new casino-hotel-restaurant owned by the royal family of Monaco, and that it was the event of the year – everyone who was anyone would be there.

That evening, Simon invited his whole team to a private dinner at an exclusive restaurant. After their meal was underway, Simon told everyone that he had something he wanted to share, the highlights of which follow:

There is a fourth UNITY team, known as Team Omega, which was founded in the early 1970s by Mentiac (one of the original members of UNITY) and Midnight (Omega's leader). Their job was to "watch the watchmen," because they feared that UNTIL and UNITY were being infiltrated/corrupted by aliens. Midnight told Straight Arrow that superheroes are antibodies created to protect the Earth from foreign invaders, but that some diseases disguise themselves as part of the body in order to weaken it. He cautioned Straight Arrow to make sure he was part of the cure, not part of the illness. He told Straight Arrow that Team B was fully compromised and was not to be trusted. However, Straight Arrow didn't want to take that on this stranger's word – he was still looking for final proof before he became totally paranoid.

UNTIL is aware that there are other alien races out there, besides the ones who invaded, but little is known about them. According to what Straight Arrow and Aurora have been able to find out, Team A has been seeking these other peoples. However, command has been very tight-lipped about the status of Team A; they have not been seen since shortly after Yggdrasil opened.

Aurora fears that Team A may have been killed. She was able to talk with the Goddess before she died, and learned that they made contact with the aliens, but that the Mondabi may have destroyed Team A's ship.

Red Dragon wondered how Aurora knew all this, but she explained that she had once been a part of a private organization which was attempting to research the aliens. Her group learned of the existence of another alien race (called the Mythnari) and had even made tentative contact with them (which is how she learned to understand the Mythnari language) before her lab was destroyed by the Soviets.

Ifrita then chimed in. She said that she had spoken with Gadget Man, who told her about his latest project. He had been assigned to link LOKI with PRIMUS' computer system, but with a catch – he was ordered to create backdoors in their software so that UNTIL could secretly access (and even crash, if necessary) PRIMUS' entire system.

Gadget Man also revealed that UNTIL knows more about the aliens than they've publicly revealed – including what the mysterious Wraiths are. Apparently, they are a race of shape-changers. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to find out more because his access to the computers was revoked – immediately after he informed Myrmidon of his suspicions.

Straight Arrow told everyone that despite what seemed to be an organized effort to weaken the team (and possibly UNTIL as a whole), he didn't want paranoia to overwhelm his team. So he shared a bit about his personal history and invited the others to do so as well. Everyone talked a bit about their history, how they came by their powers, and why they joined UNITY.

They then talked about going to the big party tomorrow night. They decided it was an opportunity too good to pass up. Someone mentioned the possibility that this was the type of target that GRAB liked to hit, so they decided to be prepared for trouble. Vilkacis would disguise himself as Mitarbeit's bodyguard, and would carry Straight Arrow's armor in a shoulder bag; most everyone else had natural powers. Red Dragon mentioned that he might have a trick up his sleeve to get his armor through security...

TBC!

A note: People have been using their real names on vacation, so I thought I'd include them:
Straight Arrow - Simon Montgomery-Pryce
Ifrita - Peri bin Shula
Aurora - Alida Agmaar
New Man - John Aguilado
Red Dragon - Saingo Yamazaki
Thich Nat Han - Lhak-pa Gyal-tshen
Vilkacis - Leshey Patrovic
Mitarbeit - Astrid Zubriggen

[Dragonblade]

This thread is awesome!!! You have given me a lot of inspiration for my game. And made me wish I could play in yours!

[Dragonblade]

I copied and pasted all the game recaps into a word document for my own offline reading pleasure.

Its 88 pages!! Truly you are a master GM. I wish I could play with you. Duly repped!

[teh bunneh]

I copied and pasted all the game recaps into a word document for my own offline reading pleasure.

Its 88 pages!! Truly you are a master GM. I wish I could play with you. Duly repped!

88 pages? Wow, that's more than I'd've figured. Let's see... I've run 12 adventures (some running multiple sessions), so about 7-8 pages per adventure. I guess I'm a long-winded cuss, huh?

Glad you're enjoying the recaps! There won't be one this week 'cause we were playtesting a Legion of Heroes demo game. Regular recaps should resume next week.

Bill.

[Scifi_Toughguy]

88 pages? Wow, that's more than I'd've figured. Let's see... I've run 12 adventures (some running multiple sessions), so about 7-8 pages per adventure. I guess I'm a long-winded cuss, huh?

Glad you're enjoying the recaps! There won't be one this week 'cause we were playtesting a Legion of Heroes demo game. Regular recaps should resume next week.

Bill.

So sad! Updates so good.

[teh bunneh]

Good news! An update this week! More Monte Carlo Goodness!

-----
UNTIL granted UNITY Team C a few days off. By popular consensus, the team decided to go to the south of France – Monte Carlo! Glitzy parties, high-stakes gambling, sunny beaches, fantastic shows, and more celebrities than you can shake a stick at.

Straight Arrow somehow managed to score tickets to the opening of the Grace – the newest, hottest casino/hotel/bar/nightspot in Monte Carlo. Named in honor of Princess Grace, it promised to be all the rage.

And so it was, the heroes rubbing elbows with celebrities and royalty from across the world. Astrid (Mitarbeit) had more than her share of would-be beaus, so many that Leshey (Vilkacis) had to fend them off. Alida (Aurora) met quite a few of her favorite celebrities as well. Simon (Straight Arrow) played the tables a little bit, while Peri (Ifrita) kept John (New Man) company (he was having a hard time dealing with the crowds). Saingo (Red Dragon) found the gambling tables to be too boring, but luckily he brought his Gameboy along. Lhak-pa (Thich Nat Han) on the other hand met a fascinating man from India, and the two of them settled into a café to talk.

Around the hour of midnight, the party's host – the king of Monaco – arrived. He stayed in the main casino for a while, gambling a bit, meeting people, until he spotted Astrid. He invited her up to his private dining room for dinner, and she graciously accepted (you don't just turn down the king!)

Just as the party was really jumping, a few people noticed something odd. Some of the waiters were converging near the main entrance. The closed and locked the doors, then produced automatic weapons!

The sound of gunfire rang out! "Everybody stay where you are!" A former-waiter holding an assault rifle shouted. "This is a hold-up. We'll try to make this quick and easy for you – just hand over your cash and your jewelry and nobody has to get hurt. If anyone tries to be a hero, my boys here will take you apart."

He pointed to a handful of people who just entered through a side door. One of them, a huge man dripping with flames, hollered: "We're EuroBlast, and you'd better do what we say, or I'll personally rip the heads off of every living loving one of you!"

People screamed, women fainted, and one brave young man – a Saudi prince, by the looks of him – stepped up. "Now see here…" he started, but a woman in blue and white tights kicked him across the room, sending him crashing into a priceless statue. No one else stepped forward. The villains and the henchmen quickly fanned out, collecting money and jewelry from frightened patrons.

New Man telepathically told everyone to hold their ground, that this place was too full of people to start a fight. The team decided to wait until the villains were leaving before they stopped them. When one of the henchmen tried to rob New Man, the hero telepathically ordered the crook to remove his uniform and give it to New Man. The hero donned the clothes and joined the escaping villains. Vilkacis had a similar idea, shifting into his shadow form and hiding under a sack of money that one of the thugs was wheeling out.

Things became very tense for a moment when Rage picked up a patron and threatened to break him in half. Just as the heroes were about to jump in, Raising Caine turned around and ordered Rage to back down. "We're only here for the money," he said calmly. It was quite interesting to see a huge, hulking, flaming giant of a man back down from a guy in a tuxedo, but that's exactly what happened.

Once the villains left the casino, the heroes sprang into action, chasing them down and attacking them before they could get into their helicopter. New Man telepathically ordered the pilot to shut the engines down. Vilkacis, disguised as one of the goons, KO'd the pilot and wrecked the control panel. Meanwhile, Ifrita raced past the villain team and melted the helicopter rotors, making the villain's getaway impossible. The fight was on!

Aurora and New Man blinded Rage, rendering him all but useless throughout the fight. Though he destroyed a lot of property in his rampages, he never laid a glove on any of the team. He was eventually dropped by a combination of attacks.

Lyonesse kicked Red Dragon (sans his armor) through a wall, but was then herself flattened by Ifrita.

Straight Arrow and Amazon traded blows for a while, neither one gaining the upper hand.

Executioner knocked Thich Nat Han to the ground, and landed a near-fatal blow on Ifrita. He was then triple-teamed by Straight Arrow, Aurora, and Thich Nat Han.

Aurora and Thich Nat Han both tried to take down Raising Caine, but their mightiest blows just seemed to make him stronger.

Gunrunner raced around the battlefield, picking his targets randomly and shouting that they had no time to fight, they had to leave right away. Vilkacis and New Man sniped him as he tried to get away.

At the end, Raising Caine and Amazon were the only ones left standing, and they chose the better part of valor. A few straggling henchmen manage to escape in a stolen limo, but UNITY Team C took out EuroBlast and saved millions of dollars from being stolen. Once the fight was over, sultans, princes, and celebrities mobbed the heroes, thanking them for their service (and making offers for employment as bodyguards and/or movie stars, as well). The police finished mopping things up, and UNITY made the front page of every society paper on the planet.

Next week: Finish the vacation, and then it's back to work.

[teh bunneh]

So, have I left this thread fallow for too long? Anyone still following?

[Cardinal]

So, have I left this thread fallow for too long? Anyone still following?

Despite being forced to go too long without my fix, I have been faithfully following along.

I'm looking forward to seeing the continuing adventures of Unity C.

BTW, any luck in gathering those character sheets so that we can check out our friends? If not, no worries, but I always love to check out how people model characters.

[teh bunneh]

D'oh! I keep forgetting about that. Well, to whet your appetite, here are most of the bad guys from the Monte Carlo game...

http://www.herogames.com/forums/show...t=35080&page=4

[Red Knight]

The time away only makes us want it more... and gives us time to be inspired by your wonderful prose and use this inspiration to further our own meager attempts at crafting a cohesive story that may provide enjoyment to those that play along with us...

<TRANSLATION>

Steal your ideas and use them in our own game.

[TheRavenIs]

The time away only makes us want it more... and gives us time to be inspired by your wonderful prose and use this inspiration to further our own meager attempts at crafting a cohesive story that may provide enjoyment to those that play along with us...

<TRANSLATION>

Steal your ideas and use them in our own game.

I have to agree, I wait for my Unity C hit every week. It's given me idea's, ohh so many idea's. Plus stealing your idea's happens to be one of the highest compliments I can give you.

[teh bunneh]

Once again it's time for another UNITY Recap! This time with pictures of the giant charlie-foxtrot the battle turned into towards the end...

-----
The vacation was over and the team was back at work. Midgard and Hel have been rebuilt (and Hel is boasting a few new guests as well!). A new Mjolnir has been commissioned for the team but wasn't finished yet.

It didn't take long for things to go to hell. The heroes barely had time to unpack when the red alert went off. Major Bec called everyone to the conference room for an emergency briefing.

"A few hours ago," Bec began without much preamble, "The United States reported that one of their military jets had been damaged in a storm, gone off-course and had veered into Chinese airspace, where it went down. The Chinese confirmed that an unauthorized plane entered their airspace. They claim they shot the plane down when it failed to heed warnings to land.

"The Americans have demanded full access to the crash site so they can recover the wreckage and the crew. The Chinese have refused, claiming that the intrusion into their airspace is an act of war. The Americans are reacting poorly to these perceived threats. Now, the United States has mobilized PRIMUS (in clear violation of international treaties), while the Shu have sent Metal Storm into the area.

"The Americans are being coy on what kind of plane went down. They claim it was a stealth plane on a training mission, and that it was unarmed. Our Intel boys think the plane may have been armed with a nuke – this would explain the Americans' desperation to get it back; they don't want a nuke to fall into the hands of the Chinese. Satellite pictures are unclear; Intel can't identify the design of the plane, which means it's either something we haven't seen before, or the crash was so bad that the plane is unidentifiable.

"We've got an international incident of incredible proportions brewing, and it's up to us to stop it before it turns into a full-fledged war. UN diplomats are working overtime to try and defuse this before it blows up, but UNTIL has activated both active UNITY teams; your counterparts are up in Yggdrasil right now getting the same briefing. You'll Bifrost up and join them as soon as we are finished here.

"Myrmidon is team leader for this mission; you'll be backing his plays. Straight Arrow, you are XO. Your job is to prevent the Chinese and the Americans from starting a shooting war. Your secondary mission is to find survivors and to recover the wreckage. If the Americans are flying around with nukes, we want to know about it.

"Intelligence is sorely lacking at this point, but here's what we know.

"The region is in the middle of the Himalayan Range; very rugged, mountainous terrain. Thich – it's not far from your homeland, as the crow flies, so your insight is welcome. It's late summer, so most of the snow is melted except on the highest peaks. It's a sparsely populated area – mostly semi-nomadic herdsmen. We have satellite pictures of the area, so I suggest you study them.

The heroes asked a few questions, and then Major Bec passed the floor to Thich. As the team's resident expert on the nation of Shu and its superteam, Metal Storm, Thich gave a rundown on what he knew about them:

"Shu is one of the most powerful of the Chinese states. It's ruled by Fandao Junzhu (The Overlord). Shu is an aggressive, expansionist state and they've tried to annex Tibet at least once. They have a moderate-sized army, but their main power comes from The Overlord's technical mastery. He builds robots for nearly every purpose – from farming to mining to surveillance to warfare. He is a devout Confucianist and has built his society based on its principles: personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, and swift, harsh justice. He considers himself his country's "father," and therefore it is right and proper that he rule without question.

"He claims to have banished poverty from his nation; he certainly controls the media so the only images that come out of Shu are of smiling, healthy people. The reality is, of course, much grimmer. He brutally suppresses dissent and monitors every moment of his peoples' lives – it's like 1984 in there; every house has a monitor that hooks up directly to his "Great Eye" (the name of one of his palaces). He's run the country since 1956. He has close ties with Destruga and with Albert Zerstoiten (AKA Dr. Destroyer) personally, and we suspect he has run eugenics programs similar to the Doctor's."

After the briefing, the team teleported up to Yggdrasil to meet Team B. Myrmidon took Straight Arrow aside and ask for his tactical opinion. The two of them agreed that Team B would focus on keeping PRIMUS away from the area, while Team C would focus on securing the crash site and keeping the Chinese out. They agreed to leave Red Dragon behind on Yggdrasil to guard the satellite in case something bad happened up here.

Gadget Man spotted Ifrita and wandered over to talk to her, but El Picaro called him away before he had the chance to say more than hi.

The two teams teleported down to China. The air was thin, cool, and dry. It was early in the morning. The team was roughly 1 mile from the crash site. Ifrita took to the air and spotted it – a long, blackened trail through the tundra, spots of jetsam scattered around it, with a long, cigar-shaped wreck at the end. Smoke still trailed out of the wreckage.

LOKI reported that an aircraft was rocketing towards the site and would arrive in roughly 5 minutes. It was a PRIMUS Gladius jet, and it got here very quickly – much quicker than their estimations indicated. Satellites revealed two aircraft already on the ground, about 3 miles from where the heroes stood. They were Shu Lightning Troop Carriers. Mymidon took his team and headed east in the hopes of intercepting the PRIMUS team, while Straight Arrow lead his people towards the wreck.

As the heroes got closer, they noted movement around the wreckage – something like large, metallic insects of some sort. The wreckage itself was very bad. Whatever the plane was, it came down hard and fast, leaving a trail of debris at least a kilometer long. It sat in a gulley, with steep slopes on either side. There was a lot of vegetation around, mostly smashed and burned by the crash. There wasn't much left of the plane, so it was impossible to identify.

The place was swarming with dozens of dog-sized robots that looked sort of like ants. They were plainly marked with the symbol of Shu. As soon as the heroes arrived, they all stopped what they were doing, and turned to face the heroes. They made no aggressive actions, so the heroes picked their way through the bugs toward the wreck.

They had no sooner made it to the wreckage when The Overlord himself made his appearance. He stood before UNITY in all his majesty, surrounded by the members of his Metal Storm team. He recognized the heroes and demanded that they leave his territory. Straight Arrow told him that they were on a rescue and recovery mission authorized by the United Nations, and that he should excuse himself from the area so they could do their job.

At about that time, New Man decided to play a little mental trick. He attempted to access The Overlord's mind in order to plant a distracting thought – but the dictator's will was too strong. "Fools!" he yelled. "You dare attack me on my own soil? Destroy the interlopers!"

Straight Arrow was confused – he hadn't ordered an attack… but then he noticed New Man looking sheepish, and figured it out pretty quick. Metal Storm moved to attack and to secure the wreckage while UTC attempted to keep the enemy away from the plane.

Vilkacis disguised himself as a shadow and slipped into the plane. To his shock and surprise, he recognized it immediately. It wasn't a human aircraft at all; it was a Mondabi medium-range Corsair scout craft. It was utterly wrecked and appeared to have been shot down, though by who was impossible to determine. Vilkacis immediately radioed Straight Arrow with this news.

Straight Arrow knew that by international treaty all alien artifacts are the property of the UN. They are too dangerous to leave in the hands of national governments or private citizens. Therefore, UNITY was obligated to not allow either the Shu or the Americans to have it. This made our heroes even more determined to fight. Vilkacis asked LOKI to teleport the entire wrecked ship to Yggdrasil. LOKI informed him it would take a few seconds to calibrate Bifrost, and told him to keep the Chinese heroes away from the ship until that time.

The battle was a difficult one; Metal Storm lived up to their reputation as a tough, determined superteam. Charming Snake mesmerized Straight Arrow early in the fight, but New Man was able to eventually break him out. Fierce Storm shot Aurora with a lightning bolt, which only proved to make her stronger (she also thought he was awfully cute and wanted to ask him out after the fight was over). Soaring Eagle entered the downed aircraft and removed Vilkacis from it (several times; he kept going back). Tank took down Silverwings (with a great assist from Mitarbeit).

As the battle was raging, Straight Arrow got a message from Myrmidon. "PRIMUS is on its way – we haven't stopped them yet." Shortly thereafter, UTB and PRIMUS arrived, fighting it out. The melee became even more confusing, as four superhero teams duked it out, swirling around the battlefield in a dance of destruction.

Gadget Man (from Team B) and Gadget Girl (from PRIMUS West) flew over the battlefield, bickering as much as they were fighting. "You never came up with an original idea in your life!" she told him. "All your inventions were copies from my designs!"

"Oh yeah?" Gadget Man retorted. "Well if you're so smart, why didn't I have any trouble breaking the security protocols you put up on the PRIMUS Mainframe?"

There was a moment of silence as the enormity of his admission sunk in. Before anyone could do anything about it, Guan Di the Archer fired at Gadget Man. The arrow struck true, burying itself deep in his back. He screamed and dropped to the ground. Ifrita grabbed Thich and sped across the battlefield at top speed, depositing the Buddhist sorcerer near their stricken ally, where he was able to stabilize Gadget Man.

Aurora was left to guard the ship by herself. She noticed one of the ant-robots found something and began carrying it away from the ship – she recognized the device as the Mon'dabi's "black box." The robot scurried away from the fight, towards the Overlord, but Aurora shot the beast and then New Man telekinetically carried the box back over to the ship. At that point, the Overlord joined the battle, trying to collect "his rightful prize."

The fight continued until suddenly Bifrost locked on to its location. The ship glowed with black light and then was gone (carrying along with it Vilkacis and Mitarbeit – along with Bai Hou and Soaring Eagle!). The combatants quickly re-evaluated the situation and decided to call it off. "You win," declared the Overlord. "Now get out of my country." UNITY was happy to leave, PRIMUS a little less so, but leave they did.

Bai Hou and Soaring Eagle, realizing where they were, quickly surrendered to the UNITY troops and a very angry Red Dragon (the ship teleported in just as he was about to defeat the boss on level 22!). UNTIL diplomats are currently working on repatriating them to their home country.

Gadget Man was taken to Yggdrasil's med-bay for emergency surgery. It appeared that he would survive his injuries – though just barely, and only thanks to Ifrita's and Thich's quick reactions.

The captured ship was quickly trundled off the Intel for analysis, but before they took it, Vilkacis was able to figure out a few things about it. First, the ship was obviously shot down, and from a very high altitude. It looked like a missile had struck it, though this was difficult to tell for certain, given the bad shape of the wreck. It probably vectored in over the ocean and came down in the mountains of China. There were two bodies in the ship – both Mon'dabi, both badly burned and broken. There wasn't much left of the ship (interior or exterior), but the black box appeared to be intact.

Vilkacis knew that the ship was a Mon'dabi medium-range scout. Medium-range indicates that the ship is not based in our solar system, but isn't based as far away as Mon'dabi space, either – so it came from somewhere between the two. The ship carries a crew of 2-4 and is designed to be fast and tough, but it isn't armed. The Mon'dabi send a small swarm of then ahead of their main fleet to keep an eye on their enemies. At a guess, knowing what he knows of Mon'dabi fleet speeds, he would say that the aliens are only weeks away from Earth...