Marchwarden Posted March 30, 2003 Report Share Posted March 30, 2003 Hello. I'm looking for commiseration. The Champions of 2018 went up against their nemeses and got creamed. Particularly rough, since they're the latest incarnation of the Crowns of Krim. The GM found them suitable regular opponents for plot reasons and also because of the fairly clear-cut morality (you don't have to feel guilty about opposing the CoK). So, they pop up on an 8- or whenever the GM decides we could use some straight-up action. The only problem is that they aren't the kind of villains who Stun you and then escape before the law arrives. Losing badly to the Crowns can't help but entail infernal woe for the defeated. Mind you, they have us outnumbered 6 to 5, and heavily outpointed (this is a high-power setting, so we started at 450 and have since garnered eight sessions of experience, but our highest-point members are about even with their lowest). Their roster is: Force, Phoenix, Temblor: essentially unchanged. Bloodstone: finally souled out and got his powerup. Eclipse: met with a cruel end. He had heard that a certain archaeologist had unearthed the fabled Tablets of Krim, and decided to pay "John Black" a little visit. Desol'd through the wall and got Eater of Shadows right in the heart. While he was still in shadowform. Schwup! Now Giles de Morphant has become Shadowlord, and adding the power of the Shadow Crown to Black Paladin makes for an ugly customer. Yet even that was only the opening strike of a dreadful coup. De Morphant had entered into a grim bargain with a yet crueler power than he. And so it was that, undone by treachery, Dark Seraph perished in hellfire. The Iron Crown now rests upon the brow of Talisman, self-styled Bride of Krim. Very bad. The combined power of the Crowns offers her a chance to match the power of her sister, the Archmage, but she has learned to move cautiously, gathering strength and corrupting the flow of Earth's magic aura, turning it to the dark. On our first encounter, we cleaned their clocks; this was mainly because they are quite notorious by 2018 and their basic capabilities are quite well known to heroes and the law; we had trained together, but had not yet made our debut. We capitalized on this; we were able to mop up the 5 lesser Crowns before their leader showed up, and then team-piled her. The second time we tangled, they knew what they were up against, but we had found all the necessary clues and followed the leads and roleplayed well enough to convince the Trismegistus Council to fortify us with defensive wards and consecrated weapons and such, so we were able to take them in battle thanks to past performance in the noncombat part of the storyline. This time...I'm fairly certain we overlooked something. The GM is too experienced to just fling us into a meat grinder. There must have been a warning we overlooked, an opportunity we failed to take...once we've licked our wounds, we'll be back. But, oh man what a pounding we took. Our base is in ruins. Radar Rider was shot out of the sky (nonpersistent Force Field types hate getting stunned in midair) and escaped death by plummeting into Lake St. Clair (he was fished out by a boater). Marchwarden, his body battered and all his arrows spent, was was able to grab his unconscious, nearly exsanguinated teammate Heartseeker and flee ignominiously with Bloodstone in hot pursuit - lost him in a churchyard, thankfully, and made a Paramedics roll to staunch her bleeding. Defender, our leader, is Talisman's prisoner - he's always given her a funny "mystic vibe" which she no doubt wants to understand better, although her studies may not be pleasant for him. Eternia - was torn limb from limb by the Crowns. They scattered the pieces amidst the rubble of our base, as a message to those who would oppose them. Fortunately, they clearly underestimated her awesome regenerative properties ; but we can't count on them making the same mistake twice. All in all, a dark day for the Champions of tomorrow. Heartseeker will be low on BODY for a while, even with proper medical care, and Radar Rider isn't in much better shape. We need to find and rescue Defender, obviously. Eternia is physically fine, but being dismembered can't have done much good for her self-confidence issues. Homestead is a wreck, and the only bright spot is that no civilian staff were present when the attack fell. Not our finest hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted March 30, 2003 Report Share Posted March 30, 2003 Nice try, do-gooder. You can maintain your elaborate charade if you wish, but we are well aware that it was all a plot to insinuate your leader Defender into our midst by the expedient of having us capture him. It was all too pat, you see, and the fact that all the help-staff had been sent away for the day tipped your hand. Defender, sadly for you, of course broke under our focused questioning and admitted to the nefarious ruse. He cried most piteously as we cast his pathetic armor into the Marrianas trench, but even more so when we amputated his hands and feet. A lesson for you then "hero", we may be EVIL, but that doesnt mean we are STUPID. Mwah-ha-ha-ha! Disrespectully, Giles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayday Posted March 31, 2003 Report Share Posted March 31, 2003 Interesting story March Warden. I do not know what to say to help you feel better except cliches, however true they are. Life goes on and so will you. Look again at your data, see if you can find the error and if you cannot then move on to the future. You have much to do and my prayers go with you. You may want to disguise Eternia as a new heroine if at all possible, fake a new gimmick and look for her to deceive your enemies at least a little while. Have you tried hypnotism? I hear that persons can develop new voices and accents under its influence. My powers have a unique visible aura to them so I could not be disguised, but perhaps she can be. For Heartseeker I recommend armor. Did wonders for me. Bon chance. Mayday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted March 31, 2003 Report Share Posted March 31, 2003 It is nice to hear that Eternia survived. Not many heroes have the regeneration from death ability. Good for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marchwarden Posted March 31, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2003 Originally posted by Mayday Interesting story March Warden. I do not know what to say to help you feel better except cliches, however true they are. Life goes on and so will you. Look again at your data, see if you can find the error and if you cannot then move on to the future. You have much to do and my prayers go with you. You may want to disguise Eternia as a new heroine if at all possible, fake a new gimmick and look for her to deceive your enemies at least a little while. Have you tried hypnotism? I hear that persons can develop new voices and accents under its influence. My powers have a unique visible aura to them so I could not be disguised, but perhaps she can be. For Heartseeker I recommend armor. Did wonders for me. Thank you, Mayday. Eternia would be tricky to disguise, but not impossible. At any rate, we've kept her out of sight since then. Bloodstone's does-BODY NNDs make a mockery of armour, unfortunately. Against most foes, her ninja tricks keep her safe; in fact, this is the first time I can recall her taking a large amount of damage in a fight. The Bride of Krim used a HUGE AE TK attack to grab her, and then Bloodstone was able to tag her with his Continuous does-BODY NND while she was at 1/2 DCV. They were definitely fighting smart. Not that we had poor tactics, but in a straight fight with both sides at full effectiveness, they had the raw power and the numbers, and once a few of us were down, they could use teamwork more effectively (hard to combine your efforts when your buddies are sprawled in a heap). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted March 31, 2003 Report Share Posted March 31, 2003 They've obviously learned from their first encounter and loss with you. It's time to research your enemies further, delve further into information about the Tablets of Krim. If the Crowns have been around so long then perhaps someone long ago knew of a way to defeat them. Such information is to valuable to not pass down in writing. My own former team met a grisly demise and of the two known survivors, one has fled the dimension and the other has fled this time. So I am an orphan of just such a holocaust as that of which you speak. Nothing is harder than picking up the pieces, but you are fortunate to have not lost anyone permanently. -Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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