Let's meet the hero group know as the Champions. The Champions has 2 versions. 1 is the pre-5th edition and the other is the 5th edition. (Note, I have no clue if it was changed in 6th edition). And 5th edition is changed in Champions Universe, News of the World (correct me if I'm wrong) which drops Nighthawk and adds the first official African American member, Kinetic. But I will concentrate on the 2 main versions. From the pre-5th edition, we have Seeker Obsidian Jaguar Quantum Solitaire And Defender, who is the only member to survive The Secret Crises of the 5th Edition. (Joking of course) In 5th edition, we have Defender Ironclad Nighthawk Sapphire Ans Witchcraft Let's start from the top. Seeker Aka Don Morgan Trained Martial artist Born in Australia and raised by a member of the Japanese Army Ninja Recon Team. (Try to say that 3 times, fast) He grew up with values and training. Joined the Champions. 26 DEX, 6 SPD, comic book martial arts. (Thus was before The Ultimate Martial Artist) 4 psychological and 3 hunted disadvantages. A DNPC, and an enraged. Obsidian An alien brick. Wait a second… isn't that Ironclad's background? Hmm. Anyway, 60 STR, 30 PD, 20 ED. Growth and density increase added in. Theoretical physicist. Vulnerable to vibration attacks, 4 psychological and 3 hunted disadvantages Quantum Aka Starlyn Johnson The resident Mutant energy projector. Nuclear forces with flight, force field, energy blast, entangle, flash, force wall. Doctor Vulnerable to drain and transfer, enraged, 2 psychological and 3 hunted disadvantages, Jaguar Aka Santiago Vilagatos Resident metamorph. Can change into a tiger-man Spanish speaking private investigator. Latino descent. Martial arts and skills in normal form. DNPC, 2 hunted, doesn't like were form. Beast form has 30 STR, claws, super leap, 4 psychological disadvantages and vulnerable to flash attacks. Solitaire Aka Elaine King Mystic. Trained by a Cabal, then went against the Cabal. Ego attack, mind control, TK, teleportation, force field. Energy Blast, 4 psychological and 3 hunted disadvantages, Defender Aka iron… I mean Mark Harmon IV Powered suit from a brilliant, rich, inventor. Still talking about Defender. Entangle, flight, images, Enhanced STR from suit. 3 psychological and 2 hunted disadvantages. Gets an energy blast in 5th edition. 2 of them with a RKA, and adds a DNPC. Note: pre-5th edition was 250 point characters 5th edition was 350 point characters. So to make the pre-5th characters complete to 5th, just add 100 more powers, skills, etc. Ironclad Alien brick. That sounds familiar… hmm. Find weakness, lack of weakness, no growth or density increase, but naturally heavy. Vulnerable to magnetic attacks, 2 psychological and 2 hunted disadvantages. Nighthawk Aka Bat… I mean Mark Whittaker Martial arts, utility belt, high PRE, lots of money. Nope, still talking about Nighthawk. Scarred face, DNPC, 2 psychological and 3 hunted disadvantages. Reckless vigilante. Sapphire Aka Corozon Valenzuela Mutant energy projector, public ID. 3 energy blast and a flash attack. Singer, well-off DNPC, 2 psychological and 2 hunted disadvantages. Vulnerable to light attacks Witchcraft Aka Bethany Duquesne Mystic. Mental powers, energy blast, and a VPP. 2 psychological and 3 hunted disadvantages. Vulnerable against cold attacks. Which was your favorite?

I didn’t tell you the conclusion of Demons Rule in Shamaness’s campaign. Like I said, I’ve run the Demons Rule adventure 3 times now: The first time my PCs (5 heroes- 4 live people, I let one person run two PCs) lost to the chaos demons and our campaign fell apart, coming to a halt afterwards. The 2nd time I ran it with a PC team it went more positively (5 heroes, all real people running the 5 PCs). This team beat the chaos demons and the campaign went on much further after that victory. This go around in the “final battle” of Demons Rule, as Morgalis (Wizard) has quite a bit of stun yet to be knocked off in the battle (over +30) yet 3 of his 6 henchmen demons are dropped (like Frag, I added Blood Stone of the Crowns of Crim. There’s some meddling from DEMON, the Circle of the Scarlet Moon and Tezcatlipoca going on that I won’t go into explaining) and just about all of his gang helpers were down too. I decided that after some very close battles with Cherokee Shamaness and the 3 Omega Legion members before this battle (Crimson Hawk, Cricket and then Nastarius; Nastarius who flies in with PRIMUS’s 2 agents on a V22 Osprey earlier in the adventure, but the agents were killed at a refueling spot for the V22 at an airport to the North of Serpent Head Island). Morgalis was going to take a reality check and call a retreat. He’s got 3 heroes left standing against him. Shamaness has just dropped below 0 stun, but she’s barely unconscious. She is getting back up soon after a back and forth, tit for tat, 10D6 vs. 11D6 EB, area effect cone, duel with Morgalis that has just taken place. I allowed Morgalis to use his VPP as the seal is being broken, but he has to stay in place for the entire seal destruction. He cannot move. He can attack in just about any form. He has 6 clawed limbs in the picture of him, so with six arms he should have plenty of free arms to make gestures and cast spells while holding the fork. Morgalis can also increase his armor and aid himself; and throw up force walls to protect himself and others. But for magical reasons he may not turn intangible, or aid anyone else's characteristics on the battlefield. BUT HE ABSOLUTELY MAY NOT MOVE OUT OF PLACE UNTIL THE SEAL IS COMPLETELY BROKEN, or the spell will dissipate and stop. Once the fork has been struck upon the altar stone, and the banishment spell has taken 1 turn to be invoked, Morgalis must hold the stone fork the entire duration of the seal’s destruction. While Morgalis holds the stone fork a magical, dimensional vibrational tone is flowing through the stone tuning fork, Morgalis, the altar stone and the stone pillars the duration of the opening of the seal. That’s the mechanics of this ritual as I am playing it. Morgalis has set himself up with -10 to knock back as part of his armor. That’s the only reason he was still standing (really levitating, as he has no legs, he moves with a whirlwind torso) in the same place after the EB area effect duel with Shamaness. Most of the Backstreet Brawlers and Angels who were standing near to him were blown back anywhere from 2 to 8 meters after this duel. 6 giant snakes (4 out of 10 snakes summoned had been dropped) and 5 wyverns (Sham started with 6 wyverns) are closing in on Morgalis too. The wyverns have just dropped Bloodstone. Also, Crimson Hawk is in a back-in-forth, trading-hits battle, with a crazed Torch (Conflar). Enforcer (Alzol) is effectively being overrun and ignored by the giant snakes. The snakes figured out they couldn’t touch him after he dropped 2 of their kin. Runt (Mennigrasz), Psycho (Zoligahr), Blade (Shargaas) and most of the gang kids are down (all below -20 stun, a couple below -40) and out of the battle. Nastarius has grabbed the cube (this won’t stop the spell, only if Morgalis is knocked unconscious or out of place, or the stone fork is removed from his claws, will the spell stop) and Nastarius is about to attack Morgalis. Cricket is closing in on the axe that is now held by a Photon Shackled Hail Mary; so Cricket is coming into position for an attack on Morgalis too. Stick is crouched down close to and trying to defend Morgalis. Stick and Hail Mary and their gang charges are all fixed up with Exocain- Mary’s Wired out on top of the Exocain! All of Stick’s Backstreet Brawlers are down. Only 2 of Hail Mary’s Angels are left standing, but they’ve run for the edge of the Island to hide behind and hold onto bushes because of the winds. Mind you that these young gangstas were all wearing thick kevlar and carrying sub machine guns too. Only the best and most loyal gang fighters made it to the Island of the Serpent Father. These kids are the cream of the crops. The storm winds are raging strong by the start of the 5th turn of battle. All this I describe above and PRIMUS Command (Col. Vasquez) has also received the last transmission of doomed agents Peterson and Kobayashi some hours ago (about 4). It is video that confirms the chaos demons in battle with Shamaness (the demons had escaped PRIMUS’s positive i.d. eye up to this point, is how I played it). Glenn forwarded the video that was sent to him and PRIMUS HQ in New York City, directly to Col. Vasquez himself, just to make sure. PRIMUS has 3 air troop transport vehicles, and 3 Silver Avengers closing in on Serpent Head Island. The transports are loaded with 30 assault and 10 Iron Guard agents altogether. They’re having trouble with their approach to the island of course. Morgalis can vaguely sense the reinforcements coming. Anyway, just to make it a 3-way split, Morgalis decides to teleport away, and telepathically orders Alzol and Conflar to run away to regroup and try again later. Before the heroes and summoned creatures can get their bearings; as the wind and rain and lightning subside, Bloodstone sneaks away too. He flies in the opposite direction from the chaos demons. He is done with the chaos demons. Morgalis was still holding the stone fork when he teleported away. He loses the axe and cube. PRIMUS destroys the two artifacts and arrests Stick, Hail Mary and the other gang members (a few kids had to be administered first aid on the scene). They also destroy the bodies of Psycho, Runt and Blade post-haste. If you read The Legend of Cherokee Shamaness it all makes sense how Luther Black of DEMON may just want this outcome to be in his interest of harnessing the powers of the Kings of Edom.

"Naturally the Indian has many noble qualities. [She] is the very embodiment of Courage. Indeed at times [she] seems insensible to Fear. If [she] is cruel and revengeful it is because [she] is outlawed and [her] companion is the wild beast." Ammended words of N.G. Taylor U.S. Commissioner 1868

You know, like a high-profile star athlete or two we know that says “I’m retiring this year.” And then comes back… I realized I left a few important parts unsaid. Once again, the warning: Do not read any further if you haven’t read these adventure and source materials already. It will spoil some plots if you read ahead. There's a lot of Hunters in Sham's complications. What about Roger & Martika Duquesne, and Talisman? What about Dr. Yin Wu, the Dragon Mandarin? What about The Bogeyman (dream shadow & fear lord, not the Dark Champions version) and Demoiselle Nocturne? How has it worked out that 3 NPC superheroes are DNPCs for Cherokee Shamaness? And how is Shamaness being allowed to get PRIMUS agents killed and just walk away free? Well, Martika Duquesne has made an attempt at hurting Shamaness earlier in the campaign. Shortly after Sham acquired her Harbor Terrace apartment in the Basin District of Meriquai Falls, while sleeping (she doesn’t sleep that often) she gets awoken by an attacking golem statue. The golem statue is being animated by none other than Upton Frogge. The golem of Frogge was sent to attack Shamaness by orders of Martika Duquesne. This one encounter is all that came about for Martika Duquesne at the time. Roger Duquesne hasn’t got involved yet (his roll hasn’t been successful) and neither has Talisman’s. Of course, Shamaness easily destroyed Golem. I rolled for further influence from both of the Duquesnes, and came up with no more encounters. Until the Champions Presents #2 adventures kick in. I’ll get to that later. Yes, both Bogeyman and Demoiselle Nocturne came at Shamaness together in a dream and had to retreat. It wasn’t going their way. Manitou has also come up on an encounter roll. But I’m stewing on how I’m going to present that encounter. Two Feathers does come to his right senses, eventually. With Hunted and DNPC issues like these, I believe that the dice are like fate. If the plotline of my campaign is full of plenty of action, I don’t push out more encounters from any of the Hunted NPCs. Neither do I present more DNPC peril than already comes into play as the adventures give way to the fun. So, after the Golem encounter, the Duquesnes are biding their time. Until recently. I didn’t tell you the conclusion of Demons Rule. I’ve run the Demons Rule adventure 3 times now: The first time my PCs (5 heroes- 4 live people, I let one person run two PCs) lost to the chaos demons and our campaign fell apart, coming to a halt afterwards. The 2nd time I ran it with a PC team it went more positively (5 heroes, all real people running the 5 PCs). This team beat the chaos demons and the campaign went on much further after that victory. There seems to be a bit of fate in the Demons Rule adventure for me. I do have distant Cherokee linage, and I have other North American Tribal linage, along with European folk. So does my wife. And I have a past Love who was a “full-blood” Native American. My ex’s linage was indeed from close to the area of the country in which I base my Meriquai Falls campaign city location also. Omaha, Nebraska/Iowa. So, I found it mandatory that once I had designed the Cherokee Shamaness hero for my now current wife, and she Loves to play (even if she is not the brightest bulb on the RPG Tree- perhaps neither am I- she gives a tremendous amount of Heart and enthusiasm to Champions TSRPG). I found it MANDATORY that once this Native American themed hero was set in Meriquai Falls, I HAD to run the Demons Rule adventure again for her. Because Demons Rule has ancient Native American artifacts and shamanism for its main plot devices. And because Demons Rule was the first stand-alone Hero Games Adventure Supplement I GMed when I started playing Champions The Super Roleplaying Game, Many Moons Ago. A Full Circle kind of thing. Manitou has already been hinted as an ancestor of Crystal Blackthorn in the storyline by Grandfather Theodore Owlspeaker, and Spider Grandmother Herself… This go around in the “final battle” of Demons Rule, as Morgalis (Wizard) has quite a bit of stun yet to be knocked off in the battle (over +30) yet 3 of his 6 henchmen demons are dropped (like Frag, I added Blood Stone of the Crowns of Crim. There’s some meddling from DEMON, the Circle of the Scarlet Moon and Tezcatlipoca going on that I won’t go into explaining) and just about all of his gang helpers were down too. I decided that after some very close battles before this battle, Morgalis was going to take a reality check and call a retreat. He’s got 3 heroes left standing against him. Shamaness has just dropped below 0 stun, but she’s barely unconscious. She is getting back up soon after a back and forth, tit for tat, 10D6 vs. 11D6 EB, area effect cone, duel with Morgalis that has just taken place. I allowed Morgalis to use his VPP as the seal is being broken, but he has to stay in place for the entire seal breaking. He cannot move. He can attack in just about any form (he has 6 clawed limbs in the picture of him, so with six limbs he should have plenty of free arms to make gestures and cast spells). Morgalis can also increase his armor and aid himself; and throw up force walls to protect himself and others. But for magical reasons he may not turn intangible, or aid anyone else's characteristics on the battlefield. AND HE ABSOLUTELY MAY NOT MOVE OUT OF PLACE UNTIL THE SEAL IS COMPLETELY BROKEN, or the spell will dissipate and stop. Once the fork has been struck upon the altar stone, and the banishment spell has taken 1 turn to be invoked, Morgalis must hold the stone fork the entire duration of the seal’s destruction. Holding the stone fork as a dimensional vibrational tone flows through the stone tuning fork, Morgalis and the altar stone for the duration of the opening of the seal. That’s the mechanics of this ritual as I am playing it. Morgalis has set himself up with -10 to knock back as part of his armor. That’s the only reason he was still standing (really levitating, as he has no legs, he moves with a whirlwind torso) in the same place after the EB area effect duel with Shamaness. Most of the Backstreet Brawlers and Angels who were standing near to him were blown back anywhere from 2 to 8 meters after this duel. 6 giant snakes (4 out of 10 snakes summoned had been dropped) and 5 wyverns (Sham started with 6 wyverns) are closing in on Morgalis too. The wyverns have just dropped Bloodstone. Also, Crimson Hawk is in a back-in-forth, trading hits battle, with a crazed Torch (Conflar). Enforcer (Alzol) is effectively being overrun and ignored by the giant snakes. The snakes figured out they couldn’t touch him after he dropped 2 of their kin. Runt (Mennigrasz), Psycho (Zoligahr), Blade (Shargaas) and most of the gang kids are down (all below -20 stun, a couple below -40) and out of the battle. Nastarius has grabbed the cube (this won’t stop the spell, only if Morgalis is knocked unconscious or out of place, or the stone fork is removed from his claws, will the spell stop) and Nastarius is about to attack Morgalis. Cricket is closing in on the axe that is now held by a Photon Shackled Hail Mary; so Cricket is coming into range of an attack on Morgalis too. Stick (he and Hail Mary and their gang charges are all fixed up with Exocain- Mary’s still Wiring out on top of the Exocain!) is crouched down close to and trying to defend Morgalis. All of Stick’s Backstreet Brawlers are down. Only 2 of Hail Mary’s Angels are left standing, but they’ve run for the edge of the Island to hide behind and hold onto bushes because of the winds. Mind you that these young gangstas were all wearing thick kevlar and carrying sub machine guns too. Only the best and most loyal gang fighters made it to the Island of the Serpent Father. These kids are the cream of the crops. The storm winds are raging strong by the start of the 5th turn of battle. All this I describe above and PRIMUS Command (Col. Vasquez) has also received the last transmission of Peterson and Kobayashi some hours ago (about 4). It is video that confirms the chaos demons in battle with Shamaness (the demons had escaped PRIMUS’s positive i.d. eye up to this point, is how I played it). Glenn forwarded the video that was sent to him and PRIMUS HQ in New York City, directly to Col. Vasquez himself, just to make sure. PRIMUS has 3 air troop transport vehicles, and 3 Silver Avengers closing in on Serpent Head Island. The transports are loaded with 30 assault and 10 Iron Guard agents altogether. They’re having trouble with their approach to the island of course. Morgalis can vaguely sense the reinforcements coming. Anyway, just to make it a 3-way split, Morgalis decides to teleport away, and telepathically orders Alzol and Conflar to run away to regroup and try again later. Before the heroes and summoned creatures can get their bearings; as the wind and rain and lightning subside, Bloodstone sneaks away too. He flies in the opposite direction from the chaos demons. He is done with the chaos demons. Morgalis was still holding the stone fork when he teleported away. He loses the axe and cube. PRIMUS destroys the two artifacts and arrests Stick, Hail Mary and the other gang members (a few kids had to be administered first aid on the scene). They also destroy the bodies of Psycho, Runt and Blade post-haste. So, there you go. This is why Shamaness has been allowed to escape imprisonment so far. There’s still unfinished business with the chaos demons that anyone sane in PRIMUS or any other righteous organization, would want her to face and beat first. Unless you want to hire another super team like Justice Foundation or UNTIL’s UNITY to take Cherokee Shamaness and the Omega Legion’s place. But that’s shaky ground. And who says Sham is gonna get anyone other than herself to teleport back to the Island? I’ve designated a day and time for this to happen which has not been reached yet in the timeline. Unless Sham decides to remember that she could try to track the chaos demons down on her own... If she fails to stop the chaos demons, I have a Tennigrath written up and prepared to step through the gate. And let’s not forget Luther Black’s designs to harness the powers of the Kings of Edom. Two days after this battle, at Impulses Unlimited following the Auto Gunner, Duke, AC, Crossbow, Frag and the choppers ambush, Kitty Cochrane hands Sham a teleportation wafer. It has one fixed location: Lake Perigannsett. “When it begins to vibrate and blink that means it’s being activated at its destination point. Tap it 3 times and then place it on the ground. A platform will appear. You and up to 4 others step on to that platform and you say, “Activate”. It’ll take you to the lake to face the demons.” Moving on, shortly after the battle and then the interchange with Kitty Cochrane, in the Impulses Unlimited parking lot- the outcome of which did make the local news- a new consequence comes down on Shamaness. The board members of I.U. contact Darren Davenport and tell him to fire Cherokee Shamaness. Davenport is also to take 3 days to a week leave of absence. If these conditions are unacceptable to Davenport, then the Board will terminate both of them. Darren breaks the news to Shamaness, and she is heartbroken. Darren calls an Uber cab for Shamaness to get her back to her apartment. Sham doesn’t want to fly a beast and attract more attention than is already on her today. Her Lotus is destroyed too. *sniff* Shamaness is feeling ashamed and defeated, despite that she and Crimson Hawk just beat the bad guys in combat. Returning to her Harbor Terrace apartment, Shamaness is met by another reporter waiting with a film crew. Uncomfortable accusatory questions, with awkward answers from Shamaness- some of Sham’s answers in angry and defensive tones- as Shamaness tries to excuse and downplay the crisis befalling her for actions of the past. Not long after the reporter and her crew depart, Trina Sullivan (Vixen) shows up. Trina’s healed up- mostly. Trina thanks Sham for helping to save her life. “Hang in there, I know it’s getting tough,” Trina says in parting. Later that evening Shamaness tries to puzzle out how these killer robots came about. And what about the train? What happened to the train with the “drugs” on board she was supposed to guard for the man who gave her the laptop and money? She calls the police and asks to speak to MFPD Gang Taskforce leader Lt. Apadaca. “Nothing odd with the manifest for that train, everything checked out. There were no drugs found on that train,” the Lt. tells her. She calls Darren Davenport and asks for assistance; he’ll look into it for her. Darren gets excellent rolls (just a 9 on Bureaucratics 15- and on research of 9 or less he rolls a 7) and within a few hours calls back and tells Sham that the train that she’s referring to, which came in 2 days ago and the police searched, had liquid propane for the propane distribution plant here in town. The train also had electronics that were delivered to Armbruster Industries. Two stops in Meriquai Falls. The electronics and propane shipments came from Fordham ChemTech out of Hudson City. Later, round midnight, Shamaness hears a knock on her apartment door. A handsome man wearing an attractive and flashy business suit greets her with a smile. “Hello, are you not Cherokee Shamaness, and may I come in and chat with you? I may be able to help you with your problems.” The man says he knows things are going bad for Shamaness. He mentions details about problems Sham's been having, and the possibility that Sham could end up in jail soon over these issues. He states that if Cherokee Shamaness works for him, he can make it all get better. He’ll help her solve problems when they occur, he can stop her imminent arrest from happening too, or at least get her out of jail when she gets busted. All she has to do is sign a contract and prick her finger to produce a little amount of blood to sign the deal. That will show she is indeed sincere. Shamaness asks him if he is a demon. “Not exactly,” he replies. “Okay, I’ll work for you. BUT YOU CANNOT LIE TO ME. NO LIES!” He says, “Very well, I am not ‘a’ demon, I am Mephistopheles, the ‘Prince of Demons’. As an agreement of our contract, I promise not to lie to you.” A golden bordered piece of parchment with a lot of writing on it appears in Mephistopheles’ hand, as does a shiny and sharp needle. Shamaness nips her finger with the needle (its 1/2 pip HKA, NND, Def is holy water or holy prayer Incantations) then she signs the contract using the blood drop as ink. “Done!” Mephistopheles says with a smile. “I’ll be in touch. Remember you’re working for me now… Yes, I know about those chaos demons trying to bring their ‘forgotten gods’ muscling in on my turf. I can’t have that. Morgalis has stopped relying on kids and moved up to the Hell’s Angels old folk motorcycle gang to make his next move to release his demon lord from prison. We’ll take care of it, Shammy!” Mephistopheles grins devilishly as he teleports back to the Netherworld. A smoky *poof* that smells like rotten eggs flashes as he disappears. Shortly after this, the voice of Spider Grandmother asks Cherokee Shamaness in her mind, “Child, after all the problems and evil you have seen from demons so far, why did you agree to that contract?” “I’m sorry Spider Grandmother. But sometimes in order to make good things happen, we must work in cooperation with the evil.” The next morning is ‘Red Herring’ day: Cricket contacts Shamaness to tell her to turn on the local news. The Cooper Nuclear Power Station has been taken over by terrorists holding 30 or more employees as hostages at the station. They’re also threatening to create a meltdown of the main reactor if they are not paid $30 million for ransom. Shamaness attempts to contact Crimson Hawk but there is no response… So, Cricket is the only Omega Legion member to accompany Shamaness to the Cooper Power Station located on the banks of the Meriquai River about 75 miles South of Meriquai Falls. Which is about 95 or so miles Northwest of Kansas City (GO CHIEFS!!) Shamaness does contact PRIMUS Meriquia Falls district director Hendricks informing him of their plan to go to the aid of the hostages at the power station. Hendricks says that PRIMUS is busy dealing with tracking the robot that escaped Armbruster Industries yesterday. “Be safe. We’re on our way shortly.” Shamaness and Cricket fly on two “Thunder Rocs” to get to the station. These giant birdlike-beasts are about 50 feet (8m) tall (I gave the wrong stats before on Growth, 45pts not 60pts) and have 30 hexes (60 m) of flight with 32 times noncombat speed after 1 turn of continuous flight. Cricket learned how to ride a roc during the Demons Rule adventure. It doesn’t take long for the two heroes to arrive at Cooper Station. By the end of the Red Herring scenario a bad guy lay dead by Shamaness’s Thunder Tomahawk. Buffoon of CLOWN is Tomahawked in his unprotected face. (You can see a rundown of the killing in the topic “Fantasy Hero is too generic a name…”) After the fight ends, Hendricks arrives with agents to secure the Station. He informs Shamaness and Cricket that while tracking the AVAR 7, two Silver Avengers caught up with the robot, but were engaged by two more robots that also had lethal firepower. The two Silver Avengers (Chow and Ernie Freeman) narrowly escaped with their lives. These other robots match the descriptions of robots that were part of the Mechanon Program started by Matthew Armbuster over 13 years ago. Mechanon and all its complementary robots were stopped and destroyed around 8 years ago. Now these robots have somehow come back through a nano-tech assembly process activated at Armbruster Industries, but part of the process must have begun at Impulses Unlimited. Do nothing and stay low until further orders. We also need to question Darren Davenport. Where is he?? Stay put and out of trouble Shamaness. We’ll call if we need your assistance. The day after that, the meeting with Stuart Markham and Shannon Armbruster takes place at the AJFA headquarters. Just before this meeting Shamaness catches the ‘bad commentary piece aired on GNN with a damaging interview warning from Nathaniel Corkofsky against Shamaness. Once told the circumstances of both Larry Banks’ plight, and Matthew Armbuster’s death and hostile stock shares takeover of his company, Shamaness feels sympathy for both causes, but is unsure how to begin. After the meeting there is no response from Cricket as Shamaness attempts to contact her. In a flubbed attempt, Shamaness tries to investigate Fordham ChemTech on her own. It is obvious that her targets see her coming. She calls it off and returns to her hotel room in Hudson City. Mephistopheles has a suggestion: Go see Martika Duquesne at the Vineyard Apostolic Church of Meriquai Falls. Do whatever she asks you to perform for her- unless it is something silly like kill yourself or one of your friends- but she won’t ask you for that. You are free to choose another alternative if you prefer, Mephistopheles tells her. But once you speak directly to Martika and ask for her help, you are bound to do as she says to do in exchange for her help. If you do not want to give her what she asks for, then you will be in breach of work contract with me and there will be grave consequences that you do not wish to experience. Shamaness commits to go see Martika. The task that Martika Duquesne asks for: She gives Cherokee Shamaness a scarlet-colored, crystal glass vial. The vial has a moon symbol etched on it, and is small enough to fit in the palm of her hand. Martika tells Shamaness: “I’ll make you a faery ‘forget’ spell that will make them forget you called and came by them. I’ll also provide you with a way to meet with these men (two execs at Fordham I’m keeping to myself now). I’ll also coach you on the way to gain their trust. And they won’t even suspect you are tricking them. You have to fill the vial I gave you with the blood of Eric Marburg. You must do that first… Ha, ha, HAAAA! Think you can get my precious daughter killed and get away with it! Even if she did turn her back on me and joined those goody-goody Champions, she was still my precious offspring, and you must pay for my losssss of herrrr!” After this accusatory diatribe Shamaness asks, “What daughter?” Martika Duquesne tells Shamaness, “You knew my daughter as Witchcraft. But I named her Bethany when she was born to me. YOU, CHEROKEE SHAMANESS, GOT MY DAUGHTER KILLED WITH THOSE CURSED CHAMPIONS WHEN YOU LED THEM TO THEIR DEATHS!!” After these words cut into her, Shamaness leaves the church in silence. But she knows the task set before her. Dr. Yin Wu sent several versions of chiang-shi to haunt Shamaness directly after the Tezcatlipoca Empire incident. Using the “wrongful death” corpses of the sacrifices of the Jaguar Cultists, Yin Wu sends the harmful ghosts to harass Shamaness. The chiang-shi appeared near Sham around midnight, night after night. Finally, Yin Wu contacts Shamaness. Yin Wu uses ‘The Spirit of Chang Tao-Ling’ and ‘The Ears and Voice of Chang Tao-Ling’ to give Shamaness the impression that he is speaking from her PRIMUS phone- which is very distasteful for him, but the most convenient way to hide his presence when contacting Shamaness and making his threats. “You have visitors every night now, do you not, Warrior Woman? You have talked to my daughter Lin Mao and done a deed for her, yes. You will not get in her way or your troubles shall get worse. If she asks for more services, you will abide. I will make the ghosts stop only if you do this. I am WATCHING YOU Cherokee.” So, let’s look at the sources for all this: Hero System Fifth Edition (2002) Champions: SuperPowered Roleplaying (2002) UNTIL SUPERPOWERS DATABASE REVISED (2003) Battle Grounds (2008) Conquerors, Killers & Crooks (2002) Champions Universe (2002) Millennium City (2003) Kingdom of Champions: SuperHeroic Adventuring in the United Kingdom (1990) Dark Champions: Heroes of Vengeance (1993) Hudson City: The Urban Abyss (2004) UNTIL: Defenders of Freedom (2003) Champions in 3-D (1990) The Olympians (1990) Hero Bestiary (1992) The Hero System Bestiary 6th (2010) Meriquai Falls Free RPG Day 2018 Digital Hero #2, #3, #4 & #6 (July thru December 2002) Widows and Orphans: Hero Plus (1997) PRIMUS (1998) Scourges of the Galaxy (2008) Arcane Adversaries (2004) Watchers of the Dragon (1995) The Dragon Mandarin: Hero Plus Adventures #6 (2005) Asian Bestiary Vol 1: China, India and Beyond (2006) Creatures of the Night: Horror Enemies (1993) DEMON: Servants of Darkness (2004) Champions Villains Vol 1: Master Villains (2009) Challenges For Champions (1989) Demons Rule (1990) Hero System Vehicle Sourcebook (2004) Stronghold (2008) Normals Unbound (1992) Underworld Enemies (1993) Classic Organizations (1992) Corporations (1994) VIPER: Coils of the Serpent (2003) Champions Presents #2 (1993) Mystic Masters (1989) And: Institute For Human Advancement: Pride and Prejudice (2022) And we have just gotten warmed up! Just before Cricket went off the radar, she told Sham about a dream she had the night before. Her uncle Silver-Wolf came to her in a foggy mist of a forest and said to her, ”Shamballa... You must make the journey to Shamballa… Get to the Living Spring of… The time… The time of the Death Dragon grows near...” Silver-Wolf’s face and voice fades into the dark mist as Cricket wakes up. The Legend of Cherokee Shamaness will continue!

Let me give one last update on Cherokee Shamaness, as to not get over-annoying with this info, all. First, let me warn you reader that if you haven't read these source materials before and you don't want parts of them spoiled, read no further. I'll get a little more descriptive than just names this time. 2nd allow me to apologize for a couple missteps on names I made earlier. I said the “Dulag” from DEMON was involved, but it is the Dalang of the DEMON Inner Circle. Sorry, my mind just went to that spelling as I typed it out. Probably because I'm not that familiar with the Indonesian origin of the word, which is a spiritual shadow puppeteer of a sort, I assume. I also said the “Jack of Spades” of Card Shark was involved in the campaign plot, but I meant the Jack of Diamonds, aka Thomas Flynn. I had Flynn get involved via a contact with the Widow of Widow’s Peak. At that point in campaign timeline, Cherokee Shamaness was working undercover with PRIMUS's consent as one of the Widow’s trainee escorts during the Widows and Orphans adventure. I used a combined Dark Champions 4th ed & Hudson City: The Urban Abyss “blended” character write-up for my Jack of Diamonds. Shamaness was contacted while she was hanging out at the Champions Team HQ in downtown Millennium City, by one Clayton “Silver-Wolf” Okamura. Okamura is a PRIMUS Wizard assigned to the Meriquai Falls branch of PRIMUS. This was in the aftermath of the death of the Champions. Sham came up on a search by Silver-Wolf (who is not only a PRIMUS Wizard but also a Totem Hunter) as a good possible helper for solving the case he was investigating. And that she did- easily and eloquently- resolve the issue. As an explanation of how the Champions were killed: Anyone who knows the Battlegrounds (2008) adventure knows that the Champions as depicted in Champions: SuperPowered Roleplaying source book of 2002, with Defender, Ironclad, Nighthawk, Sapphire and Witchcraft being the lineup; all around 350pt write-ups respectively… Those Champs should definitely be able to beat Interface and his Guardbots as written. Problem is, Battlegrounds has Interface monitoring and analyzing his opponent’s strengths & weaknesses with staged conflicts throughout the adventure. Classic Master Villany stuff, right. But I added a new variation to the plot line right at the end, with indication to Interface from the beginning that something is odd with the Champs. i.e. Sapphire is showing a second persona with extended and very powerful attributes. Interface doesn’t get to see a visual of Cherokee Shamaness until the Fatal Attractions scenario. I ran the scenarios out of sequence because I planned for Cherokee Shamaness’ full separation from Sapphire to occur during Fatal Attractions at Omega World (you see the connect to Omega Legion, yeah). Fatal Attractions took place after Under Construction in my timeline. Once Interface gets an i.d. of Sham from the Omega World security cameras he basically panics. Meanwhile, Defender does the research with a small amount of clearance and help from UNTIL and locates the old ARGENT base there in Millennium City where Interface’s Slaughterhouse is located (I skipped the flying camera from Under Construction- though actually there was one there, the Champions all got knocked out and never saw it after Holocaust fled- so i used a drone with encryption Wifi capabilities that hacked the cameras of Omega World. This Defender does find, and backtracks its signal). This is how Interface gets a gander of Cherokee Shamaness, and Defender made the connects on how to find Interface's base. This is also before Col. Vasquez of PRIMUS objects to UNTIL's involvement with a US national Meta or Super Powered individual, the Cherokee Shamaness, and Vasquez gets UNTIL to back off. The problem had been of international concern when an object from space was detected racing toward Earth, with Millennium City as ground zero right before Fatal Attractions. The Millennium City branch of UNTIL had been first responder. That “object” which was detected on real radio telescopes and could be seen and was very large and changing speed, turned out to be Shamaness’ first arrival (a mass hallucination with spiritual and metaphysical properties). Thus, making Sapphire the host sharing a body form with Cherokee Shamaness, but changing appearance and power frameworks as they change form from one to the other. Upon the conclusion of Fatal Attractions, Interface contacts Holocaust, who had just made direct enemies with the Champs because they tried to stop him from leveling the construction of a new hidden IHA facility. Interface invites Holocaust to the Slaughterhouse to get his revenge on these IHA supporters, the Champions. Interface also contacts War Machine and lets them know of the coming demise of the Champs. Can they send someone to witness the event? Warpath and Warmonger are volunteered to go see the show. In apology i’ll say that Shamaness escaped from her own trap, then freed the Champs from their death traps. Then they all faced what I describe above- plus 10 Guardbots. Shamaness unfortunately did not “minion up” before the start of the fight. She and the Champions walked into a room that had more than they could handle without an advance summoned creature allotment of top capability. What she did summon was giant snakes and wyverns (and less than what you see in her write-up above, she got what you see with experience pt awards). This only after 3 of the Champions were dropped below negative 10 stun (one critically- Sapphire took a couple hits that put her down to 2 Body) Most of the creatures summoned only managed to give up their lives in order to ensure Sham’s escape from the Slaughterhouse… Shortly after the Bottler of Destruction scenario is completed, the plot of Widows and Orphans kicks in, only to find that part of the “list” of the plot- not to give too much information on this detail of a Hero product- has Cherokee Shamaness’ name on it. PRIMUS notices this via a contact informant in the FBI, and at the same time Agent Anderson of NILE is also searching for good protection for Fantasy before she gets killed. *Blam!* Shamaness is 1st asked by PRIMUS to help investigate this case, then later, as several interactions by supporting NPCs in the plot line show Anderson that Shamaness is his best possible choice under the circumstances to both save Fantasy and solve the case, Sham gets a meeting with Anderson. Agent Anderson, who has kinda fallen for Fantasy’s wounded bird and lost-thru-heroin-addiction beauty, reluctantly but with optimism hands Fantasy over to Cherokee Shamaness for protection. This is also how Cherokee Shamaness becomes one of the Widow’s new girls… Or maybe she’s just a trick! Because she never truly figures out who wants to kill Fantasy!😆 Soon there’s a problem that keeps coming to Widow’s door in the form of a pimp/dealer of Fantasy’s (Divine) who is giving Widow the blues about Fantasy’s outstanding heroin debts, and calling for a settlement on the tab, which is $8k by Divine’s accounting. Widow tells Sham that $10k will make everyone happy- of course Widow has to make some profit on this deal- and assures that Divine and the Glory Boyz will back off of Fantasy if the money is slapped down. Shamaness also doesn’t realize that one of Widow’s top girls- a real Prima Donna of a lady- is very sore that Shamaness has been welcomed into the Peak. “Wasn’t Cherokee Shamaness involved with the Champs up in Mill City? And why are we letting Fantasy live? She could testify to the laws at any time.” But Fantasy never talks about it, even when asked specifically what she knows about Cross or the Peak, she just changes the subject to her ‘acting career’ and ‘beauty products she’s marketing’ as an answer. What this angry gal (Donna) doesn’t realize is that Widow has been instructed by her new business competitor moving into Meriquai Falls– Card Shark, who is moving a new speed-enhancing drug into Meriquai Falls- and that Widow will be allowed first dibs on profit shares of this new drug, Exocain. Exocain becomes the new “Red Bull” for a lot of gangstas going up against Shamaness in the upcoming scenarios, including the Killer Klown Posse. Sham 1st stops about half of the clown alley gang when they try to jack and nap a bus load of charter school kids- rich kids- Crossbow is included, but he gets away this time. Later the other half of the clown gang make an attempt to steal Fantasy (ain’t Fantasy sooooo Carrie Anne) from right out of the New Haven shelter. Becca Jones- aka “Felicity” Jones, but Jones is working hard to put her past with Divine behind her, she’s driving in a different lane now- is house manager/bodyguard and assistant to Angela Marinetti aka Artemis, and though Marinetti is out of the house when the Klowns come calling, Becca gets into the fight. It’s a mess, only Checkers, the Monkey and Brother Namaan, who is riding with the Klowns as a favor and for a fee too- “It ain’t worth thees much trouble, mon!”- manage to get away and do not go to prison. After the fight, Angela Marinetti tells Shamaness, “Please take that girl somewhere else. My place is trashed. This is too much. I have to keep these women safe.” Shamaness gives Marinetti the other $10k as an apology as she leaves to find Fantasy a new place to stay. A rival to Widow- Ma Lin Mao, who is Dragon Head of the Jade Dragon Tongs in Meriquai Falls- will be appeased by Card Shark profit sharing too. Elimination of, or coordination with other Meriquai Falls gang threats to the product line will be provided by Card Shark for this arrangement. The two Diva Bosses merely have to assist Flynn in a couple of ‘casual’ business meetings with Shamaness. So, this is how the Jack of Diamonds meets Sham and offers her some income if she will perform a simple, ‘little’ deed. Shamaness has already bragged of her computer skills during their dinner date. She would certainly like something in the computer realm for work instead of escort jobs. So Flynn says, “Well I have something that might interest you then. I want you to download the information on this thumb drive onto a computer right here at the Towers. I’ll give you $10k in advance, and another $10k upon completion of the work. You’ll want to hide when you are entering the office for safety reasons.” They’re sitting in the Spinning Dinning restaurant of Harpcor Towers, the top of tower B, for this date. The computer Thomas refers to is in the computer room of Harlan, Fiske & Stone attorneys at law, on the 15th floor of tower A. H, F & S specializes in corporate, securities and bankruptcy. And they have several accounts with Armbruster Industries that are active right here in Meriquai Falls. But Sham never asks about, nor is informed about, any of these last 2 bits of important information… Hmmm Cherokee Shamaness is going overboard with her undercover roll- she takes the job! But at least Sham now has the money she needs to pay for Fantasy’s protection and some of the damage done to New Haven. These events taking place soon after this job. To get an access key to the law firm, Flynn instructs Shamaness to leave the restaurant after their dinner date is done. After that she will get a call in which she will then return to the restaurant and be given an access key by another individual. That individual turns out to be the Coin Collector of the Inner Circle. Unfortunately, Shamaness has no real indicators of who she is dealing with, until it is a done deal. This leads to a referred meeting with the Dalang in an attempt to get rid of the coin given to her by Collector. As I mentioned before, this opens up things for the Tezcatlipoca invasion, which comes shortly after Sham is introduced to Moon Ok-Hwa, aka Jade Phoenix, by Anderson. Moon Ok-Hwa volunteers at “New” Haven Women’s Shelter as nurse practitioner and house attendant. After some nice chatting, and Moon noticing that Shamaness is endowed with both supernatural powers and Indigenous background, Moon invites Shamaness to attend the Summer Solstice Meriquai Reservation pow wow. This is how the Cherokee Shamamaness meets other members of the Omega Legion. Later Shamaness is also taken to a secret chamber (think pocket dimension) underneath the Blue Hills, in silver mine caves where the Heart of Spider Grandmother is hidden. On this first day on the Res, Shamaness also witnesses an altercation between an angry Michael Two Feathers and a confused, but then angry Darren Davenport- secretly Thunderbird and Crimson Hawk. Darren gets punched a couple times and he punches back, but ultimately Two Feathers knocks Davenport unconscious- neither man changes into their Totem Spirit selves. This is not the Michael Two Feathers that Trina Sullivan is accustomed to. Why is he acting like this to Darren? The answer is: Manitou has returned and he has messed with Michael’s will as he has called upon the Spirit of Thunderbird to drive away or kill the “outsiders”. Thunderbird sees Darren, Trina, Moon and Cherokee Shamaness as being outsiders if they do not stand with Manitou. After a couple non-combat encounters, a fight ensues between the Omega Legion/Cherokee Shamaness vs. Manitou, Thunderbird, and the other Equalizers. The Equalizers have to retreat to escape being totally beaten. Therefore, an alliance is forged between Tezcatlipoca and Manitou and his Equalizers. Dalang’s “gift” to Sham, a piece of “Shadow-Self Mirror to relieve the illness of the ever-present coin that you cannot get rid of” Well, not such a good remedy and gift after all! In the Tez Empire initial battle Vixen is very nearly killed by Tezcatlipoca’s deadly blade. If not for a swift, flying retreat cried for by Crimson Hawk who scoops up Trina, and the assistance of Shamaness’ trusty summoned wyverns to get all non-fliers quickly to safety too, another hero would have surely perished that day. The boundaries of Tezcatlipoca Empire territory is doubling in size every day. This phenomenon starts right amongst the Harbor Terrace Apartments (Shamaness is now staying in Deborah Cross’ apartment, it is paid up for 6 months rent and located close to much of the street action here in town). The Smoking Mirror’s cultists gather people for sacrifices every night in various blocks surrounding the Empire to achieve this growth. In the regroup, Nastarius’ assistance is sought to replace Vixen for the 2nd battle. (Vixen is taken to hospital icu, Shamaness had not gathered her healing prayer into her arsenal yet, and Crimmy’s healing barely got Vixen up to -1 body) The heroes prevail as they all concentrate their firepower on the Smoking Mirror relic (it has grown quite large now) and shatter it before Tezcatlipoca, his Jaguar High Priest and Jaguar Cultists; and Manitou and the Equalizers can stop them. This is the only way to banish Tezcatlipoca before his territory and his full strength grow unstoppable by the heroes, and threaten the entire world to Tez’s rule. PRIMUS provides some support to pursue and capture as the Equalizers flee, but unfortunately Shamaness was knocked unconscious by Tezcatlipoca- howling, Tez is trapped in the whirlwind vortex of the Smoking Mirror relic as it shatters and collapses, but he puts ALL of his 1 turn of remaining ranged attacks that he can, aimed at Cherokee Shamaness and no other! The Equalizers escape as the Omega Legion narrowly save Shamaness from death, this time! So now the set up for DEMON and Luther Black has been initiated. That leads to Demons Rule. Colonel Vasquez of PRIMUS has a “No assist but arrest policy” going by the end of the Demons Rule adventure. Until a contact from Silver-Wolf Okamura (Clayton believes in Cherokee Shamaness, and he has faith in his niece Cricket too) contacts one retired Col. Glenn. This gets two PRIMUS agents who are loyal to Col. Glenn- Agent Peterson who is a DEMON specialist, and veteran Iron Guard and troop transport pilot Agent Kobayashi- ordered by Glenn to fly an Osprey V22 (modified by PRIMUS) to rendezvous and assist Cherokee Shamaness and her companions. These agents go against acting PRIMUS command orders to get these orders accomplished. Unfortunately, as the heroes rush to get to the last point in the Demons Rule adventure, a tragedy occurs. Shamaness has only Nastarius, Crimmy and Cricket with her. Moon is overseas tending to her dying father, and the rest of the Omega Legion have stayed back in Meriquai Falls for the city’s protection’s sake. The youth gangs are really riled up by now. Peterson and Kobayashi are killed by the chaos demons. A mind trick played by Morgalis- remember he's been upgraded to a 90pt Cosmic VPP- upon the hero group gets successful rolls and the 2 agents are left unprotected. Morgalis steals the axe and cube away from the heroes in the process. If you know Demons Rule, you know that VIPER comes into the mix. Well, this is Shamaness’s first contact with VIPER. But certainly not the last. During the course of the Demons Rule adventure the 2nd contact also takes place between Shamaness and Thomas Flynn- before the “scavenger hunt”. This time Flynn gives Shamaness a laptop pc and 40k cash while the meeting in Ma Mao’s Jade Dragon Mujin Spa. This is an advance to guard a train that has “product” coming from Hudson City into Meriquai Falls later in the week. As a side, Ma Lao gets Shamaness to do a favor for her and “Stop a Tong shipment of drugs on the Missouri River tonight at midnight.” But it’s another trick. This is a rival Tong Clan. It’s a message to his Dragon Head to leave Ma Lin Lao and her new investments alone, or else the Cherokee Shamaness shall be unleashed on their whole livelihood. Shortly after this Shamaness becomes more cautious of the possible charges and even imprisonment that could befall her for taking another illegal job without notifying law enforcement of the job. The VIPER Taskforce director of PRIMUS- Andrea Canfield- has some choice words with Sham about her involvement in criminal activities. Is she a VIPER agent herself? The giant snakes she summons at will certainly hit the mark for VIPER. This reprimand and warning occurs at the FUN Bank after Sham, Cricket and Crimmy stop Auto Gunner and his boys flying the LHX chopper. Crossbow (he wants another crack at Shamaness) and Scimitar were hired on for good measure too. All these blokes are augmented with Exocain cocktails. And all got beaten with the LHX left in burnt pieces of metal. So, after getting the laptop and $40k, Shamaness goes to the MFPD and turns in the laptop and cash to one Meriquai Falls Gang Taskforce leader Lt. Raquel Apadaca. But not before she goes by Impulses Unlimited- Darren Davenport recently has hired her on as a thank you for all the good work she’s done stopping bad guys in Meriquai Falls- with the infected laptop in her Lotus Esprite. The car is a sign-on advance by Darren for her starting salary wages. While at Impulses Unlimited the most unusual predicament occurs. As a shipment of secure medical PDAs are being loaded to be shipped out to the customer, the devices merge and morph together and form into two Scorpion Murder Bots. Shamaness and Crimson Hawk manage to destroy one bot and shut down the other. Also, just before the scavenger hunt of Demons Rule begins, Davenport contacts a robotics specialist he has as a contact, and asks for assistance in examining the murderbots and keeping them secure. Will he examine the bots with Sham, Darren and PRIMUS specialists present to do the research? The robotics specialist is none other than Matthew Armbruster of Armbruster Industries. Armbruster says, "Bring em in, I’ve got a secure test lab to keep them in until we are ready to examine them.” Upon the conclusion of Demons Rule, everyone returns to Merquai Falls. Tired. The second day back Davenport gets a tip from his journalist friend that there are two lion/tiger hybrids (genetically engineered) on exhibit at the Meriquai Falls Zoo in the Southwest Revolution district. The contact, Clayton Cooper, relates to Darren that these big cats may be in danger. There are a lot of security false alarms going off for Impulses Unlimited customers today, so Darren has his hands full. Since Shamaness is good with animals, and Cricket is busy herself, can Sham go babysit the big cats? Cherokee Shamaness goes to the zoo and has trouble getting in the gate (her charge card won’t work and the manager is reluctant to just let her walk on in over a ‘security threat to the Ligers and maybe the computer system too’) As Sham is trying to work it out peacefully, 4 VIPER air cavalry agents make their move 250 feet away within sight of Sham, flying in to kidnap the ligers. This is the beginning of the Champions Presents 2 adventure. Dr. Tennison and his squad are making an attempt to steal the ligers. I’ve modified Presents 2 so that both adventures will run concurrently for Cherokee Shamaness. I think you can see that with everything Cherokee Shamaness has been involved with so far- cyber crime, prostitution, property damage, killings, and more- there’s no reason why she shouldn’t be buying herself a ticket to Stronghold as a prisoner. Sham stops the cat-napping attempt by Tennison and his squad and apprehends 6 of the team. She actually makes eye to eye contact with Tennison and Mind Controls him to leave the zoo too. But Tennison and the rest of his team escape arrest. The modification I’ve done to this plot line is that MAVRIC takes some time before he decides Dr. Tennison ‘needs to go’ in order for MAVRIC to achieve his programmed objectives completely. MAVRIC’s already observing and testing this fine day at the Meriquai Falls Zoo. Tennison has activated him, but the Dr. hasn’t decided at this starting point to completely quit VIPER, yet. MAVRIC has already created Dr. Snow and wants to perform a few test runs with this unit before he disposes of Tennison. MAVRIC has also accessed VIPER’s security footage of Cherokee Shamaness and her group fighting the chaos demons that was recorded at the Indiana New Generations Technology facility. MAVRIC has tapped into PRIMUS records too. MAVIRIC is learning. The very next day Shamaness, Crimson Hawk, Clayton Okamura, Owen Hendricks (now acting Meriquia Falls district director because of the ongoing crisis) and Matthew Armbruster all meet up at Armbruster Industries in a maximum secure research and testing lab to examine the Scorpion Murder Bots. As diagnostics and decryption devices are being run, the bots shift forms again. Just before the shift, Armbruster comments that the code resembles some of the same stuff he once wrote… The Bot that was unharmed but deactivated morphs into AVAR 7. The bot that Crimmy and Sham had blown into 3 pieces becomes 3 Victrian Walkers. In the immediate fire fight that occurs, Armbruster has two Level 3 Stronghold Security robots in the lab. This tremendous amount of firepower in an enclosed armored room is devastating. By the time the fire fight is over both the Stronghold bots are destroyed, Okamura and Armbruster lay dead, and AVAR 7 changes molecular density and walks right through the wall, out of the room, and escapes. More Security Robots and PRIMUS Iron Guard agents and assault agents converge to secure Armbruster Industries. Dazed and sorrowful, acting Meriquai Falls PRIMUS director Owen Hendricks clears Shamaness and Davenport (in Crimson Hawk form, his secret i.d. is all but shredded on the floor by now) to leave. Crimson Hawk then flies back to Impulses Unlimited carrying Shamaness. He leaves his vehicle behind at Armbruster’s, Sham’s Lotus is back at their shop. Arriving in the I.U. parking lot Shamaness’ danger sense picks up danger. “Someone on a rooftop zeroing in on me for a shot” she senses. This allows her full DCV as the rifle of Wichfinder is about to release his round. From the neighboring buildings of Impulses Unlimited we have 2 snipers. Witchfinder to the East on top a building, and Crossbow on top of the West building. The sound of helicopter blades and the motor of a well equipped Iroquois Huey gunship can be heard approaching. As the gunship flies in to pinch the two heroes, another chopper sneaks in behind the backs of Sham and Crimmy. It’s another LHX helicopter on stealth mode. The LHX's approach is covered up by the roar of the Huey gunship motor and cannons flying in from the opposite side, as the Iroquois opens up firing on the two heroes. The Thunder (or Lightning, be my mind for me) Tomahawk comes out after some misses of Shamaness by the helicopters, tearing her Lotus to smoldering pieces that is parked directly behind Sham. This is a good fight. Witchfinder manages to get away. Autogunner and Frag (Frag’s a holdover from the Demons Rule adventure, she was brought in as help to Morgalis after he “fired” Blade as a punishment. Her references seemed good until she was knocked out cold by Crimmy and then captured by VIPER while at the New Generations VIPER facility.) Frag’s back to get revenge, she’s temporarily working for VIPER to accomplish this. Autogunner gets k.o.ed, Frag and Crossbow both get a fairly unhealthy dose of the Thunder Tomahawk knocking them both into bleeding-and-below-negative-1-BODY-land. Shamaness chops the Iroquois gunship in half, but the wounded and grounded LHX behind her gets in a good set of 3D6 autofire that puts Sham down long enough for Duke, AC and Witchfinder to escape the scene. The police, a crowd of onlookers and a TV news van quickly arrive on the scene at Impulses Unlimited. PRIMUS shows up soon after with the appropriate prisoner transport vehicles. A quick interrogation of Autogunner via mind control gets the info Shamaness needs. A man calling himself Dr Snow with VIPER insignia on his jacket got Autogunner, Duke and AC, and Crossbow out of jail. He promised good pay and provided the helicopters to do the ambush on Crimson Hawk and Shamaness. But this time the crooks only managed to get a half dose a piece of Exocain. Not enough, need more. Frag and Witchfinder were already with Snow with instructions on where and when to set up the ambush. They a got call several minutes before the two heroes arrived at I.U. to be ready for the targets. Kill em! After this Rex Ryder shows up with his story about Larry Banks. Can Cherokee Shamaness have a meeting with the AJFA director? I could go on, but it is safe to say, I take the materials as provided by the good folks who write and publish them, then blend and amend, and perhaps come up with a bit of a different plot vehicle often. My wife plays the Cherokee Shamamess. And unfortunately her detective and trouble shooting mindset isn’t the greatest. She never went after tracking down Interface or any of the other parties responsible for offing the Champions. But she got an INT roll when the robots at Armbruster Industries made their attack and killed Armbruster and Okamura. She remembered at that time… Shannon Armbruster secretly attends the meeting with the AJFA director. There she tells Shamaness how she thinks her husband was murdered, because his will has been changed, and another company that provided some electronics out of Hudson City has suddenly gotten a board member spot due to a huge increase in stock holdings of Armbruster by this company. This company is Fordham ChemTech. The day after the Armbruster Industries incident, the Cooper Nuclear Power Station is under terrorism seizure. And the very next morning the Global News Network has a bad commentary piece interviewing Nathaniel Corkofsky about “Cherokee Shamaness and her threat to public peace and safety.” Her violence and recklessness could get millions killed… IHA: Pride and Prejudice is good work. But take it from an old-school cat: When you have descriptions of facilities with multiple levels and barracks and such, you may be only a writer, and map making may not be your thing. But pay someone to read your descriptions and do a simple diagram or two to accompany at least the most important parts of your base descriptions as written. And then spend the money to print out that page please! Gamers need at least a bare basics diagram of bases to help the creative juices to flow on how a base is set up. We’ll modify a simpleton base drawing from there for that which suits our own vision Make the Game be Owned by you and your team😘

Okay, unknown fans. I thought I would give an update on what's happened in the story, without giving up too many details of the Demons Rule adventure. If I say Beverly, Massachusetts then Katonah, New York then Pendleton, Indiana then Ukkusiksalik National Park (of Canada) you get an idea of how the path of the Demons Rule adventure led back to very close to whence it began, which is Southeast of Manchester, New Hampshire. This is where the final battle takes place, for those of you who have already read the book Demons Rule. You may have assumed by now that Cherokee Shamaness is the PC involved in this adventure. Good assumption. Cherokee Shamaness was intended to be a solo PC since I did not have a group of players who wished to play. I had one player wishing to play who unfortunately did not comprehend the rule system of the game. So, I built what my player described she wanted her hero to do. To teach my player how game play and combat works in Champions, I gave her what i felt was the easiest female superhero to run that was available to me at the time- Sapphire of the Champions as presented in Champions Superpowered Roleplaying: A Genre Sourcebook for Hero System 5th Ed. I placed the headquarters of the Champions in Millennium City since I had that sourcebook also. Instead of instructing my player to play all the complications of Sapphire as if she was Corazon Valenzuela, I allowed my player to use her own personality- which was a bit different psychologically than Sapphire's personality as described in her bio. I kept the physical disads of Sapphire in play- her susceptibility to hard radiation and vulnerability to light-based attacks stayed active. Ironically, my player role-played Sapphire's psychological complications fairly accurately without being prompted to do so. She even began forming a closer romantic bond with Ironclad than mentioned in Sapphire's Personality/Motivations- she as Sapphire made the advancements. Ironclad I role played as a bit apprehensive of the affair- he was worried how the 'real' Corazon may take offense to his part in it. As time went forward in play I incorporated a way to 'separate' my player's envisioned hero that she wanted to use for gameplay from the NPC hero Sapphire that she was playing. By now I had created the original write-up for Cherokee Shamaness for my player to run. Sapphire was then amended with a multiform- but of course since Cherokee Shamaness was the character with the higher point total, it was really Cherokee Shamaness's multiform with instant change. Hence, the dimensional movement that is actually a summoning prayer, with a cursed possession. I don't think I accurately designed this effect though. I think it should have a major transformation linked onto the dimensional movement of the character affected by the summoning of Cherokee Shamaness..? I also wanted to leave an option that the possessed character would not necessarily have be the one to die absolutely, if circumstances were amended. But somebody must die for the effects of the Cherokee Shamaness possession to fully take place, definitely. This is how Cherokee Shamaness was born long ago. As an introduction on adventuring I ran the Champions Battlegrounds adventure supplement. During the "Fatal Attractions" chapter of the story an explosion takes place that knocks out Cherokee Shamaness in her Sapphire form, and Night Hawk also, who was helping out his team mate Sapphire rescue people off of the Speeding Bullet roller coaster. Now mind you that just before this encounter the Champions had been summoned to England by the New Knights of the Round Table. Albion of the New Knights had a papyrus that pointed at Cherokee Shamaness. The papyrus had one quote of a prophesy that pointed to Shamaness's destiny. "The Defender of Realms shall be let loose by fire and dreams, the Omega shall become the Alpha." This papyrus had been recovered by Night Hawk as he was investigating the smuggling lines of a new drug showing up in the U.S., originating from Europe, dubbed Exocaine. During his investigation he connected the buy of the drug to a plot to steal an artifact from the British Museum. When he staked out the museum he observed and engaged Durak of Eurostar as he was attempting to steal the artifact- a papyrus. He recovered the papyrus which had ancient hieroglyphs, but Durak got away. Albion requested to examine the glyphs, and by this point in the timeline UNTIL is aware of the entrance of Shamaness, because Sapphire had been acting distinctively "out of character". As it turned out the "Under Construction" chapter of Battlegrounds had by this time taken place- out of sequence- and during the pre-battle as they staked out the construction site, Ironclad and Sapphire (Shamaness) had become closer. The battle of "Under Construction" resulted with the Champions being beaten. Holocaust was the only combatant left standing, he accomplished his goal (not stated on purpose) and then fled the scene as UNTIL intervened. This of course was not taken very humbly by the director of PRIMUS, one Col. Vasquez- Col Peter Glenn has retired as director in my campaign. So at Omega World theme park, BOOM! Sapphire and Night Hawk are knocked unconscious- and into the Dream Zone- and Cherokee Shamaness gets knocked free of Sapphire and becomes a new PC assisting the Champions in the Battlegrounds adventure. After they get back to the theme park from their multi-dimensional jaunt, this is. An adventure within an adventure. The main villain of Battlegrounds did not plan on Cherokee Shamaness being part of the Champions team. Soooo, he contacts a now free Holocaust and hires him, and he hires 2 War Machine members who share his desire to depose of the Champions. You can see what happens next. "Down in the Hole" puts all but Cherokee Shamaness "in the ground." RIP Champions. Sorry, not sorry. So, as a depressed and grieving Cherokee Shamaness (she was indeed very sad that her friends, the Champions, had been killed) is hanging out at the Millennium City headquarters of the Champions, she gets contacted by a PRIMUS Wizard. One Clayton "Silver-Wolf" Okamura of the Meriquai Falls PRIMUS branch is needing her help to solve a case. You know, I placed Meriquai Falls geographically based on the real world location of Omaha, and wouldn't you know it that Council Bluffs, Iowa does indeed have a lot of ghost tales for its small area. Makes sense to me why the the writers of this scenario chose what they did for "Bottler of Destruction". Anyway, that scenario leads to Widows and Orphans, which brings in the 'New' Haven women's shelter (in southern Meriquai Falls, that is next to Revolution) as a temporary residence for Fantasy. The Krazy Killer Klowns are my version of Clown Alley. They try to kidnap Fantasy for ransom $$, and fail. Of course, Shamaness gets to meet the Omega Legion members during all this. Darren Davenport has not been Crimson Hawk for over 5 years until Cherokee Shamaness gets involved with the Meriquai Reservation. A rape charge and murder is linked to Crimson Hawk, not Davenport, so Darren has been focused on being an excellent CEO for Impulses Unlimited and he has not taken the form of Crimson Hawk all this time. His sister Moon Ok-hwa who volunteers at New Haven introduces him to Cherokee Shamaness. In comes the Jack of Spades of Cardshark, shades of N.I.L.E. and Widows Peak intrigue, and the Dulag and the Coin Collector of DEMON make their bids too, with Luther Black secretly pulling the strings. Dulag actually gives a piece of the Smoking Mirror relic to Shamaness, while the Collector gets Shamaness to sign a contract for a coin... I made Cricket the niece of Silver-Wolf Okamura. Silver-Wolf notifies Cricket that Wizard has Barren pressing robbery charges for his jewelry store. Also he warns that PRIMUS has been issued the task of serving the warrant for Shamaness's arrest since she is too powerful for the MFPD. The girls that Shamaness foiled robbing Barren's jewelry store were some of Hail Mary's young recruits... …Upon a trip into the Dream Zone that Cherokee Shamaness made, Jean Lejaques the Dimension Man had stolen the Crown of the Queen of the Dream Zone. Silly Dimension Man took the Queen’s Crown and dimensionally jumped to Olympus, and like a fool traveled across the River Styx to Tartarus. Once in the Underworld Lejaques became a prisoner among the dead. For Cerberus would not allow him to travel back across the Styx, and his power was somehow unusable while in the Underworld. If not for ingenious dialogue with the two-headed guardian Cerberus that allowed her passage into the Underworld (not to mention some excellent rolls for skills and powers that “helped to persuade” Cerberus) Dimension Man may have spent an eternity trapped in the Underworld. As reward for her efforts Cherokee Shamaness was presented this ring: Golden Ring from Zeus & Hades: An Obvious Accessible Focus (-1) Independent (-2) 25 pts real cost; 100 active pts Multipower: Lightning & Thunder Ring of the Gods 3u 4d6 EB RKA, +1 STUN Multiplier (+1/2) Lightning Bolt, 9 END 3u 14d6 EB, ½ END (+1/4) Thunderbolt, 4 END 3u 13d6 EB, Armor Piercing (+1/2) Thunder Strike, 10 END 3u 4d6+1 EB RKA, One Hex Area Effect (+1/2) Lightning Field, 10 END 3u 10d6 EB, Area Effect Cone (+1) Thunderclap, 10 END 3u 12d6 EB, Affects Desolidified (+1/2) Spirit Lightning, 9 END 4u 4d6 +1 HKA (6 & 1/2d6 with STR and Martial Arts added) Ranged (+1/2) Thunder Tomahawk, 10 END 6 Lightning Teleportation 12”, 12 END 10 +2 OCV w/ Ring powers TOTAL COST: 63 pts I wish I could tell you more. But i would just spoil too much. Merry Christmas and other Holi and Holy days too. Blessed Be.

Classic Enemies Enemies I Enemies II Enemies III Enemies - villainy unbound Enemies of San Angelo High Tech Enemies Enemies Assemble Conquers, Killers, and Crooks Predators (Dark Champions) Creatures of the Night Enemies for Hire Villains, Vandals, and Vermin Enemies - international Files Underworld Enemies (Dark Champions) European Enemies Alien Enemies Murder Row (Dark Champions) Arcane Adversaries Evil Unleashed Note, many enemies have been omitted including Viper and Demon

This is the 5th ed. Cherokee Shamaness: Val Cost 20 STR 10 8d6 HTH dam, Lift 400 kg 26 DEX 48 25 CON 30 OCV/DCV: 9 ECV: 8 15 BODY 10 15 INT 5 Phases: 2,4,6,7,9,11,12 25 EGO 30 25 PRE 15 PER roll 12- 20 COM 5 EGO roll 14- 15r PD 11 15r ED 10 7 SPD 34 15 REC 12 70 END 10 48 STUN 10 CHARACTERISTICS TOTAL= 240 Skills/Talents 3 Acting 14-, 3 Acrobatics 14-, 3 Analyze Magic 12-, 22 Animal Handling: amphibians, arthropods, bats, bears, birds, bovids, bovines, camels, canines, dragons, equines, felines, insects, magical/mythical creatures (5pts worth), raptors, reptiles, rodents 14- 3 Breakfall 14-, 3 Bribery 14- 3 Combat Driving 14-, 3 Combat Piloting 14- 3 Computer Programming 14- 3 Concealment 14-, 3 Conversation 14- 3 Cramming: complimentary for computer/cyber powers only (-¼) 12- 3 Disguise 12-, 3 Electronics 12-, 3 Forgery 12-, 3 Gambling 12-, 3 High Society 14- 45 Languages: Tsalagi (Cherokee) is native & idiomatic; Fluent conversation with: Algonquian (Objibwe), American Sign, Athabaskan (Apache), Cantonese (Chinese), Castilian (Spanish), Chahta Anumpa (Choctah), Devanāgarī (Modern Hindi), Dine' Bizaad (Navajo), English, Egyptian (ancient & modern), Farsi (Persian), Francaise (French), German (Deutsch & North), Gaelic, Greek (ancient & modern), Guk-eo (Korean), Hebrew (Israeli Standard), Indonesia Malay, Inuktitut (Arctic Indigenous), Iroquoian (Seneca), Italiano, Japanese, Kanyen'kéha (Mohawk), Mandarin (Chinese), Mayan, Meriquia, Moldavan (Romanian), Mongolic, Nahuatl (Aztec), Niimi'ipuutímt (Nez Perce'), Pama–Nyungan (Australian Aboriginal), Runa Sima (Quechua), Russkiy Yaz'ik (Russian), Samoan (Polynesian), Semitic (Arabic), Siouan (Lakota), Swahili, Tagalog, Tsėhésenėstsestȯtse (Cheyenne), Uto-Aztecan (Commanche), Yiddish (Eastern & Western) 3 Linguist (skill enhancer) 3 Lockpicking 14- 3 Magic Skill (based on EGO) 14- Martial Arts OCV DCV Effect/Damage 4 Block. +2 +2 abort 4 Disarm -1 +1 50 STR to disarm 4 Dodge — +5 abort 4 Escape +0 +0 55 STR vs grabs 5 Off Stk -2 +1 12d6 strike 9 +3 skill lvls w/ MA, 16 +4 DC w/ MA 3 Mechanics 12-, 3 Mimicry 12-, 3 Oratory 14- 3 Paramedics 12-, 3 Persuasion 14- 3 Riding 14-, 3 Security Systems 12- 3 Seduction 14-, 3 Shadowing 12- 3 Sleight of hand 14-, 3 Stealth 14- 3 Streetwise 14-, 15 Survival: arctic, forest, desert, jungle, lake and sea 12- 3 Systems Operations 12- 3 Tactics 12- 3 Tracking 12-, 3 Trading 14-, 5 Transport Fam: wagons/carriages, light vehicles, light aircraft, light water craft 10 Weapon Fam: com melee, uncom melee, com mar arts, com missle, small arms 6 Weaponsmith: muscle-powered HTH, muscle-powered ranged & firearms 14- 2 KS Agriculture 11- 3 KS Animal Spirits & Totems 14- 2 KS Arctic fauna & flora 11- 3 KS Carnival/Amusement park operations 12- 2 Coastal fauna & flora 11- 2 KS Desert fauna & flora 11- 2 KS Healing Herbs 11- 2 KS Magic/Shamanism 11- 3 KS Native American lore & legends 12- 2 KS Plains fauna & flora 11- 2 KS Prostitution & trafficking 11- 2 KS Ranching 11- 2 KS Spirits/Religions 11- 3 PS Small Business Housekeeping/Janitorial services 14- 3 PS Escort 14- 20 +2 overall skill lvls TALENTS/ PERQS 9 Ambidexterity: no off hand penalty 37 Danger Sense: as sense, out of combat, any danger in general area; 12- INT or 14- EGO 4 Eidetic Memory: complimentary for computer/cyber skills and powers only (-¼) 3 Lightning calculator: complimentary for computer/cyber skills and powers only (-¼) 5 Lightning reflexes: +4 DEX to go first (30 DEX) 3 Light sleep: + 6 PER roll to wake up for hearing sense group 23 Contacts (15 pts worth) with several individuals & groups, variable w/ adventures (+½) POWERS 10 Analyze/Tracking: smell sense 12- 6 Animal heightened senses +2 PER roll with all senses 5 Active Sonar: detects limited class of objects 3 Ultrasonic hearing perception 90 Damage Reduction 50% PD/ED/Mental 60 Detect Animals: smell and hearing group (analyze, discriminatory, large class of animals, ranged, 360-degree arc of perception) 12- 6 Extra-Dimensional Movement: primarily to summon Shamaness from Spirit World dimension to Earth dimension; may occur from Spirit World to any dimension at any location & at any time when conditions are met, Independent "The Legend of Cherokee Shamaness" prayer & curse, requires sacrifices of slain people or animals (-2) extra time 1 moon or month to activate after prayer spoken (-5) Incantations prayer (-¼) gradual effect 1 week before Shamaness may be totally in her own body, must share body with a host, after 1 week host will perish (-2) no conscious control (-2) 21 Life Support: Does not age, reduced eating & sleeping to once per week, reduced rate of 1 END per 5 min when holding breath, safe in intense heat & cold environments, immune to phytotoxins & zootoxins (not alcohol or related fermentation) 7 Healing: 2d6 Body Spirit Healing, concentrate ½ DCV (-¼) extra time 1 turn (-1¼) Gestures (-¼) Incantations prayer (-¼) 20 Luck 4d6 15 Mental Defense 15 Power Defense 15 Resistant Defenses PD & ED 63 Multipower: Magical Mentalist for Animal, Human & Cyber Minds 6u Animal Command: 10d6 Mind Control w/ telepathic communication (+¼) animals only (-¼) 6 END 6u Animal Communication: 12d6 Telepathy, animals only (-¼) 6 END 5u Cyber illusions: Mental illusions 10d6, machine class of minds, not to cause harm (-¼) 5 END 5u Find Minds: 10d6 Mind Scan for animal minds primarily, may find familiar human and cyber minds- friends & loved ones- Uncontrolled for human or cyber minds (-1) 5 END 5u Linked Minds: Mind Link with up to 20 animals and/or summoned creatures any distance or dimension, may achieve mind link with familiar human and cyber minds- friends & loved ones- Uncontrolled for human & cyber minds (-1) 5 END 6u Mental Control: Mind Control 12d6, human & cyber minds 6 END 6u Mental File Erasure/Re-write: 1d6 Major Transform for computer & video files/tapes, works on analog/digital files, BOECV (+1) Ranged (+½) Continuous (+1) Cumulative w/ 2x max points (+¾) Extra time to activate 1 min (-1½) 4 Charges per day (-½), Concentrate ½ DCV (-¼) Requires Magic skill roll to activate (-¼) 3x Endurance cost (-1) 18 END 6u Mind Visions: Mental illusions 12d6, human minds 6 END 6u Vamp of Will: 3d6 EGO Transfer from target to Shamaness, Ranged (+½) Requires EGO skill vs skill roll to activate (-½) 6 END 10 +2 lvls w/ Multipower 90 Creature Minions: Summon up to sixteen 350pt animals or magical/mythical creatures or beings- no humans or cybers (+3/4) Devoted to Shamaness (+1) Act. roll 14- (-½) Concentrate ½ DCV (-¼) ) Full phase (-½) 2x END cost (-½) 49 END 110 Grande Creature Minions: Summon up to four 700pt animals or magical/mythical creatures or beings- no humans or cybers (+¾) Devoted to Shamaness (+1) Act. roll 14- (-½) Concentrate 0 DCV (-½) Full phase (-½) Gestures (-¼) Incantations (-¼) 4 charges or use of this summon every 2 days (-¼) 2x END cost (-½) 83 END CHARACTERISTICS TOTAL Cost= 240 SKILLS/TALENTS/POWERS Cost = 980 TOTAL COST= 1,220 COMPLICATIONS: 15 Amnesia- a Psych. Limitation: Player fails to remember her past, or past events of the campaign on a regular basis. Player also doesn't remember past lives or adventures and NPC's met before this campaign. Also, timeline of events and scenario locations of the present, and names of NPC's of the present may become blurred, as will remembering to keep known skills and powers available for use (requires a successful INT roll for skill or power operation on a lvl one Unluck roll or greater in the scenario) Common Situation, serious implications 5 Casual Killer: for Shamaness and many of her summoned animals & creatures, moderate, can cause major problems 10 DNPC: Crimson Hawk; less powerful, frequently appears 11- 10 DNPC: Cricket; less powerful, freq 11- 10 DNPC: Moon Ok-hwa (Jade Phoenix); less powerful, freq 11- 5 Enraged: when intentions of her "goodness" or motives are questioned by authority; uncom, 11-, 11- 10 Enraged: when friends or loved ones are threatened or hurt- this includes most animals, but especially those animals devoted to Shamaness, com, 11-, 11- 10 Hunted by The Bogeyman: as powerful, 11- extensive non-combat influence, to torment and destroy Shamaness for several defeats from this dimensional defender "Cherokee Shamaness" 5 Hunted by Crossbow: as powerful (when well equipped and he has all of his animals) 11- in certain geological area- for now, he'll get out soon- wants to turn Shamaness into a stuffed and mounted trophy piece for beating him and putting him into prison 10 Hunted by Demoiselle Noctoturne: as powerful, 11- extensive nci, Shamaness has defeated her once & is a worthy opponent to destroy 0 Hunted by Icicle: less powerful, 8- in certain geographical area, wants to imprison or kill for putting her into prison 5 Hunted by Krazy Killer Klowns: as powerful (as a group when well equipped) in certain geographical area, 8- wants to imprison or kill Shamaness for putting them into prison 15 Hunted by Manitou & Totem Equalizers: as powerful, 11- extensive nci, wants to enslave or kill Shamaness for thwarting their alliance with Tezcatlipoca and their plans of destroying the "invaders" 0 Hunted by Mind Slayer: less powerful, in certain geographical area, 8- wants to imprison or kill for putting her into prison 10 Hunted by Martika Dusquene: less powerful, 8- extensive nci, wants to enslave, imprison or kill Shamaness for getting her daughter Witchcraft killed 5 Hunted by Prima Donna, less powerful, 8- in certain geographical area, 8- wants to imprison or kill Shamaness for saving Fantasy 5 Hunted by Roger Dusquenne: less powerful, 8- extensive nci, wants to ruin, imprison or recruit Shamaness into The Circle of Scarlet Moon 5 Hunted by Talisman: less powerful, 8- wants to imprison or kill for getting her sister killed 15 Hunted by Tezcatlipoca: more powerful, 8- wants to kill or make Shamaness his consort to enslave the world under his empire, also wants to punish Shamaness for the defeat she handed him and his followers 15 Psychological predisposition: Naive, easily trusts and follows the guidance and directions of people of authority who seem to have good intentions. Seldom questions con games until too late when person(s) pretend to be good. Situation is frequent, and can have serious consequences for the welfare and destiny of the player. 10 Overconfident: Common, Moderately affects 10 Reputation: Powerful magic user who has the ability to summon a small army of deadly animals and creatures, and also can bend the minds of animals, humans and machines, freq 11- 10 Social Lim: Public i.d. freq 11-, major inconveniences and difficulties 10 Susceptibility to alcohol: 3d6 STUN & 1d6 INT Drain instantly per 2 oz. of alcohol (10% by vol. is beginning ratio) when alcohol consumed, not recoverable for 1 day after drink is consumed. 10 Unluck: 2d6 10 Vulnerability to Sonics: 1 1/2x STUN & BODY 20 Vulnerability to Radiation: 2x STUN & BODY 5 Watched by Archmage of Earth's Dimension: more powerful, 8- has extensive non-combat influences, wants to make sure prophecies for Shamaness are fulfilled, cautious that Shamaness may have to be destroyed to save Earth dimension 5 Watched by Cardshark: more powerful, 11- extensive nci, manipulating Shamaness to work for Cardshark endeavors, but will kill or imprison her if interests are threatened 10 Watched by DEMON and Inner Circle members Coin Collector and DaLang, also Luther Black: more powerful, 8- extensive nci, wants to manipulate Shamaness to help summon Kings of Edom and harness the Elder Gods' powers 5 Watched by Dr. Yin Wu: more powerful, 8- wants to manipulate Shamaness to help institute Ancient China Dynasty Dominance of the world 5 Watched by IHA: more powerful, 8- extensive nci, waiting to see if Shamaness can be manipulated to kill or imprison other dangerous paranormals but may imprison or kill her in the future 5 Watched by the Infinite Man: more powerful, 8- He is fascinated by Shamaness and wants to understand how her "Purity of Heart" stance functions; will it prevail against the darkness? He may at times help the darkness become more intensified 0 Watched by Interface: less powerful, 8- Shamaness has already helped Interface to assassinate heros, what more can she be manipulated to do? 0 Watched by New Knights of the Round Table: more powerful, 8- interested in prophecies involving Shamaness (primarily Albion) 0 Watched by NILE: as powerful, 8- Shamaness has already interfered with part of NILE's operations, if she becomes a threat… 15 Watched by PRIMUS & Col. Vasquez: more powerful, 11- ext nci, Shamaness has accepted operative status and then has gone rogue or at least shown criminal behavior, if needs must imprisonment or termination is possible 0 Watched by Spider Grandmother: more powerful, 11- extensive nci, Shamaness has been called forth to protect the Heart of Spider Grandmother and Meriquai and all of Earth Mother from the encroaching roots of the Dark Tree of Death 5 Watched by Trismegistus Council: more powerful, 8- extensive nci, many questions to be answered about Shamaness 10 Watched by UNTIL: more powerful, 8- extensive nci, questionable whether Shamaness is an asset or a threat at this time Hunted/Watched by VIPER & The Council of Thirty: ? Watched by Archimandrite Lanzol Callixtus: ? Watched by Ma Lin Mao: ? Watched by Widow: ? Watched by Zues and other Olympians: ?? COMPLICATIONS TOTAL= 310 250 Base pts 250 pts from compli/disads 700 pts Shamaness Exp bonus Crystal Dawn was born to Rosa Dawn Blackthorn near Atwood, Oklahoma. The birth would have taken place at a hospital, but since Rosa had been drinking Salty Dogs all that afternoon, the hospital would not give her painkillers to relieve the contraction pains that were coming. Rosa left with a grimace on her face and went to the farm of a retired veterinarian she knew of nearby. The 'animal doctor' would give her something for the pain. So, Crystal Dawn Blackthorn was born near 3AM in a barn. The birth was hard on Rosa, she lost a lot of fluids. But at least she got the baby out of her body with less pain than the hospital was willing to relieve her. After that Rosa was back on the road. Crystal Dawn grew up with no stable place to stay for most of her childhood. Her mother Rosa Dawn always had another town to be in, and more gentlemen friends to entertain all the time. Crystal found the animal friends she made showed her more love than her mom or any of her mom's friends. Occasionally, Rosa would take Crystal to visit Crystal's grandparents on their ranch. The ranch animals were kind and cared for Crystal also. By age seven, Crystal Dawn found that anytime she really needed a friend, if she called on an animal friend they would be there for her. Animals seemed to understand Crystal so much better than people. At age nine, Crystal Dawn's grandmother began calling young Crystal "Butterfly", because of the way she fluttered around so joyfully on the ranch at play. She was quite a tomboy and able ranch hand too. By age ten Crystal began running away from her mom. Finally, at thirteen she found a home in the traveling carnival. There Crystal learned the way carnies work and live, and she was allowed to help in the feeding, training and shows of the carnival animals. Crystal became skilled at fixing most of the rides, and was gifted at troubleshooting the electronics of the control mechanisms and security systems when they malfunctioned too. Fate came about one day as Crystal was fixing a roller coaster frozen on the tracks over 150 feet in the air. The coaster brakes disengaged suddenly, and Crystal Dawn "Butterfly" plunged to her death. She was 19 years old. Long ago Dog was told by Wakan Tanka to take a bucket of stars, and place the stars here and there carefully. Dog grew bored after a time with his job, and threw the stars here and there hurriedly and haphazardly to get the job over and done. Thankfully, Spider Grandmother webbed the stars back into order for the cosmos to be as we see. Sometime after that Cherokee, a sister tribe to Meriquai, lived far to the North and East. Cherokee ways were peaceful and plentiful, until some others came into the land and brought war. When a village came under attack, and nearly all in the village were laying dead after the slaughter and burning, one dying woman prayed to save her people. She cried out to the animal spirits for help, for by this time, the animals were the only ones left alive near her. Cherokee Shamaness came forth. Cherokee Shamaness came first to defend her people, and hers alone. Over the thousands of years since she first came out of the ashes of that smoking village, she has returned again and again many times, and in many places. Cherokee Shamaness now defends ALL who have the Truth and Love of the Purity of Heart. This is worth defending. Recently, Spider Grandmother has called Cherokee Shamaness to Meriquai Falls to help defend Meriquai and Earthmother from the coming of many dark things. Shamaness has been to many places on Earth down through the Millennia. Shamaness has spoken to many people, and learned their languages. She has fought in many battles through time, and Cherokee Shamaness has traveled to many realms. Each time she comes well armed and skilled for the battles she must fight in the realms she travels. Unfortunately, every time the Shamaness returns, there must be great sacrifices made to bring her from the Spirit World to the physical world. This time is no exception to the times that Cherokee Shamness has come before. GM's note: Cherokee Shamaness summons just about any animal that walks the earth, plus many magical creatures from the Beastiary 4th and 6th editions. Her creatures can also come from the Asian Beastiary Vol. 1 & 2, but she is unfamiliar with who she has as allies during this campaign due to her amnesia. Once successfully "re-friending" certain animals or creatures from Asia, more helpers can join her roster for summoning.

Demons Rule re-revisted: I have used the Demons Rule adventure twice in the past with superhero team PC's that were fairly accomplished. The first run of Demon Rule i GM'd was long ago when the 4th edition was still fresh. A group of five, 300 pt supers had their hands full because one of the players had designed himself a "ghostman" type hero that could possess the bodies of npc's or even other pc's. I decided possessing the body of one or more of the Chaos Demons was too much of an edge for my heros. I modified the Clock Demon taken from "Challenges for Champions" to be what awaited this body thief hero in a pocket dimension when he tried to possess one of the demons. Recently, I have a lone PC in my campaign who has made contact and teamed up with another superhero group. This PC was fairly familiar battling gangster npc's taken mainly from Dark Champions supplements before i restarted Demons Rule, after more than 25 years. This PC hero has been going up against sinister gang members before the demons come on the scene. So the youngster aspect (teens and early 20's) of the demon's human gang member followers presented a challenge to this powerful hero who "doesn't want to hurt the kids". I beefed up ALL of the demons- Runt has 3-shot autofire with his strength and the martial maneuvers of grab, crush, throw, sacrifice lunge, etc. Morgalis has a 90 pt cosmic PP and 15pts stand-alone mental def. Psycho has a 4 1/2 d6 AP HKA and MA maneuvers that have lvls, as well as a couple all-HTH combat lvls independently. All the demons were given some onboard mental defenses. Even dumb Runt gets 5pts worth of mental Defense. I find that running every particle of the plot of Demons Rule is rewarding. The role playing that carried over from Dark Champions flavored scenarios that have already set the stage of this campaign- like the Angels of the Demons Rule supplement are painted as "more a social club". But with Hail Mary from Underworld Enemies being the leader of the Angels, and she's even being seduced and brainwashed with not only Wire, but Exocain, and riches and power, through the promise of "young gangs united" by Wizard... Excellent!😀

This time I'm going to talk about 2 adventures/supplements Stronghold and Escape from Stronghold (called Escape for ease of writing) Escape was probably the very first adventure supplement, designed during the very first edition of Champions. It's a bit rough around the edges, but not a bad supplement. When 5th edition came out, they updated it quite a bit. Both editions have guard robots. Escape had 3 types and Stronghold has 2. They eliminated the second type. Escape had Esper, Freon, Ripper, Sonar, Radar, and Indectoid. Insdctoid is a lot like Stronghold"s Dragonfly. Otherwise Stronghold has Requim (yes the same from Deathstroke [called Deathsinger], and the first Champions Universe), Frost (called Chiller in the first Champions Universe), Alchemica, Dragonfly, Geothermal, and Glacier. The guardbots can be reprogrammed, thus allowing a plot seed for Mechanon or other machine controlling villain. Geothermal is basically lava based. Glacier is ice based. Both in hot sleep and just screams plot seed. If hot sleep ever malfunctions... I can see them as natural enemies, but what if they work together? Lots of possibilities. Well, that's all for now. Thanks for reading.

It has been a very long time since I've posted here. Medical issues. So, going into the subject of Enemies, I want to talk about 2 iconic major bad guys. Dr. Destroyer said Mechanon. Both have been around since basically day 1. One of the first books was The Island of Dr. Destroyer. And one of the major first villains was Mechanon. One wants to rule the world, the other wants to destroy all life. Both have had major changes. The Book of the Destroyer and the Book of the Machine go into great detail. But be careful when using them. Even the easiest incarnations were powerful and dangerous. Destroyer uses goons, and only the Book of the Machine describes Mechanon followers. But he could use others. High Tech Enemies, stronghold, mutant Files, and even viper has robots or Androids. Some Android villains even have Mechanon in their back story. So he could use the already made army. Plot seed! When using Destroyer or Mechanon, be sure and use a version that is challenging but not undefeatable. Usually work up to the main character by using his minions. And reward creativity. I guess that's all for now. Thanks for reading. And you can post things too.

Panda and Raccoon are villains from different walks of life. Both were born with unusual features. Panda was a poor orphan and Raccoon was from a rich family that kept him hidden away. They met. Fell in love, and are married to each other. Both have martial arts and I am surprised neither is hunted br Genicide (now called IHA) They both appeared in the original Enemies book and in Classic Enemies. I also think they were in the original Island of Doctor Destroyer but I don't have that book and cannot confirm this. In the original Enemies book. Martial arts is not detailed. No maneuvers. Pluses or minuses for OCV or DCV. This can be rather problematic for new GMs. Thankfully those maneuvers were added in Classic Enemies. I think that they are included in a newer 6th Edition book, but don't quote me. Besides Martial arts they have another power which i think makes them more interesting. Panda has Ego blast and Mental defense in a multipower. As a GM. I would simply move them out of the multipower. Raccoon has the power of darkness. Which affects only IR and normal vision. He has Ultraviolet vision to see through this own darkness. Now Panda cannot see through Raccoon's darkness, but she does have danger sense if that was a problem. Panda gets extra damage from bullets (and fears guns) I'm not sure of the reason for doing this as anyone can own a gun. As a GM, I would probably drop the extra damage. I have given a few examples of how to improve Panda. To improve Raccoon, I would give him personal Immunity to his own darkness and increase it to include all sight. I have also considered giving him the power to shrink to the size of a Raccoon. Only recently have I used Panda and Raccoon and I enjoyed it. The married status gives them an almost unique feel. Very few villains note that they are married to another super powered individual. Well that's all for now. Thanks for reading.

To Serve and Protect is the next book I will comment on. The premise is simple. A hero group (the Protectors) get a hold of a mystical pendant that changes each member after they touch the pendant. The go from a group that captures villains into true killing vigilantes. The now desire to "purify" the earth by destroying all evil. Even if it means destroying everything else as well. Now there are a few unanswered problems in this book. First, it is obvious it is not a mental attack, but rather a transformation attack. This is obvious as one of the Protectors is a mentalist. But the book doesn't tell you how many d6 the attack is. Plus there is a good chance that the player's characters will be affected (by just touching it) It also doesn't mention how to change people back. Many players may not mind playing a vigilante but most don't want it to be permanent. Obviously just talking to the infected doesn't work. So, options... You could have the pendant have only 12 charges. This would be enough for all the members of the Protectors plus a few scientists (3rd section) But either way there should be a way out of that mental state. A different pendant they must find, a ritual to perform, magic, and other options as well. You could even have the characters be able to be talked out of it. Maybe an attack that knocks them out sets them straight. That is up to the GM, but should be challenging for the player's characters. I do wish they had addressed this, but alas, what can you do? That's all for now.

For a while now, I have been using the supplements, Demon's Rule. It's a good game to start off with. Although, I did make Runt a lot more powerful to go toe to toe with the heroes. It starts out with demons gathering steet thugs together to work for them. Let me tell you, street thugs are easy to defeat. Unless they have a gun on an NPC, or have something tricky up there sleeve that is.. The street thugs are stage 1. They are to introduce the demons and their schemes. The second stage is the demons attacking a museum. This is where i learned that Runt needs a power boost. So i added Lack of Weakness (since a hero had Find Weakness) , upped his defenses and even put a damage reduction at 1/4 There is one more section. Where the demons battle the heroes on an island. We haven't played that part yet. And I don't know if I will add the additional items search yet. The heroes have the scythe. The demons have the books. But if the heroes want to unbind the NPCs. They will need to take along the scythe. It's a pretty good supplement and I can't wait until we finish it. That's all for now.