New Champions campaign idea... Earth, 2030 - Whatchya think?

[Echo3Niner]

So, for the last several years I’ve had a stable RPG group.  We play at my house and with a couple (out of stater’s who moved) on Google Talk, every other Saturday, or so (based on life).

 

After many years of D&D, AD&D, 2ed AD&D, and literally dozens of other games (including Champions way back); I’m a big FASA guy from back in the early to late ‘90’s.  I love how Earthdawn and Shadowrun are both in an altered history/future Earth.  I loved how much of it’s mythology was based on possible science.

 

Then, I got on a superhero kick lately, partially because my family and I decided to watch the entire Marvel movie series from the beginning of Phase 1 up to the release of Capt. America 2 recently in Phase 2; in Marvel phase order.

 

Then, my daughter and I are discussing the Rock’s recent revelation that he’s playing Black Adam in the new Shazam film, and she’s like “Who’s Black Adam?” and I’m like “WHAT?!?!?!”

 

So, I had to go online and find my favorite super short film, which is actually the lead in to DC Universe Online (DCUO), and show her Black Adam calling down the lightning and destroying himself, Green Lantern and Flash all at once (man I still love that movie).

 

So, that leads me to looking up DCUO and finding out it’s free to play, so I download it and mess around.  Next thing you know, I’m jonesing to play a Superhero RPG with my group.

 

Having played Champions years ago, I start reading, find out about CC, buy the book, and here we are with me figuring out how to build a campaign I think my group and I will enjoy playing.

 

So, many of my group are not Comic fans per se; while several are, the rest just kinda know comics some, watch some super movies and such; casual fans.  So I figure, the idea of the Champions (or Marvel or DC for that matter) universes, with all their history and complexity, just wouldn’t work with my players.

 

So, I need something different.  I think about Earthdawn/Shadowrun, and the movie for DCUO and the cool way it suddenly allows for a ton of new heroes, and I start to get an idea.

 

I always prefer for my players to be able to play heroes they want, even like Batman, Superman, Wolverine, Spidey, whomever; so I don't want an established universe.  I decided 2030 was a good year, so that between a 17 year leap forward, the new radiation and the aliens, you could have cool comic super-tech, too.  While still being recognizable to today's Earth.  I also decided I’d use the Book of the Empress as the invading force that will pull everyone together against the single enemy (at least to a point), a la DCUO.

 

So, without further adieu, below is an intro to my next Champions Campaign…  Earth, 2030.

 

Love to hear your thoughts.

[Echo3Niner]

From the journal of Master Gunz – American Hero

 

The year is 2030 and Earth has changed, everything has changed.

 

On December 21^st, 2012 – when the Mesoamerican’s long count calendar ended, the solar system that Earth is in, passed through an area of the Milkyway galaxy which the Mesoamericans called “The Void”; an area of the Milkyway galaxy which looks like a rift, as it is devoid of many stars.  A place very important in their mythology and a place located in the plane of the galaxy.  The Mesoamerican’s put much mythological/religious significance to this event.  We now know, that there was real, scientific significance as well.

 

It had personal significance for me too, cause that’s the day I joined the US Marine Corps; I had just graduated from Boot Camp.

 

There was a bunch of crazies back just prior to 2012 that made a bunch of money talking about how the world was going to end, cause the Long Count calendar ended on that day.  Bunch of idiots.  It didn’t of course; the calendar is based on a 25,695 year processional cycle of the equinoxes through the galaxy.  This procession is broken into segments of the processional cycle, lasting just over 5100 years.  We are now in the 1^st segment after a full cycle of the 25,695 years.  This is why the long count ended, because we started over on 12/22/2012.

 

But, at the end of the day, none of that really matters; what matters is what it was tracking, which is where we sit in the Milkyway.  Why?  Well, because it turns out, our little corner (solar system) of the galaxy oscillates across the galactic plane.  So, why’s that so important, I hear you asking.  Well I’m here to tell ‘ya, it’s about the most important thing we’ve ever discovered.

 

So, turns out there is a radiation that exists on one side of the galactic plane, that isn’t present on the other side.  A simple fluke of galactic geography and some event which took place in our galactic past?  Could be.  It’s been around 17 years since we crossed over and were exposed, so our scientist are still trying to figure it all out; in between figuring out what the Hell happened to those of us susceptible to this radiation, and dealing with the arrival of the aliens…  So cut ‘em a little slack, I suppose.

 

So, this radiation has many uses.  Most people are not affected by it directly.  Only like .0001% of the earth’s population is susceptible to the effects of this radiation on their genes.  So, in 2012, when we crossed the galactic plane, that was about 700,000 people on the planet earth.

 

Today we call it Sudden Unexplained Radioactive Genetic Expression, or SURGE.  .0001% of the human population of Earth have a gene, which when exposed to this radiation, expresses some sort of random mutation.  Many people have small effects, some don’t ever even notice; lucky bastards.

 

Some of us, well, some of our “random mutations” can cause Hell on Earth.

 

So think about that.  700,000 random people; in every clime and place, every culture, every socio-economic level, suddenly had powers that our ancestors called Gods.

 

Oh, did I forget to mention that?  Yeah, this happened before.  As I said, we oscillate across this plane, so using our current calendar, between 8239 and 3114 BCE we were on this side of the plane, and they had .0001% (of a much lower) population express these SURGE powers.  Turns out that’s where much of our mythology, folklore, stories and many of our religious beliefs came from…  But today, we don’t have those same quaint ideas; instead, we have Superheroes.  Of course, if you have Superheroes, it stands to reason that you also have Supervillains…

 

So, think about it again, back in 2012; .0001% of the two-bit punks, street thugs, gangbangers, organized criminals, serial killers, white-collar criminals, corporate criminals, and international criminals got juiced.  But that wasn’t the worst of it.  That was reserved for the crazy extremist of all stripes.  From Jihadist Terrorists to White-power Aryan Nation wackos, to the anti-governmental nutbirds.

 

What about that Head Hunter from Papua New Guinea, or that newly found Amazonian tribe?  Doesn't matter to you much when they stayed where they were; but, what if the Head Hunter can fly over here to hunt now?  What if the Amazonian tribesmen wasn't very well liked, and mistreated by his people, and now can run 4000 mph?

 

But, there were some of us on the other side of those tracks; local cops, Feds, and us in the military; well, .0001% of us changed too.

 

There have been a bunch who just decided not to get involved, I’d say the majority.  Might have been a good idea, if you could do it.  Cause some nations hunt us SURGE’ers down and burn us at the stake.  Other’s, they want to use us, however they can.  And many of them, want us in a lab.

 

So, from early 2013 through 2015, the human race had to recalibrate.  It wasn’t easy.  There were about 20 SURGE’ers in the US Marine Corps with me, we’ve lost almost half.  But midway through 2015, everything changed again.  Cause that’s when the alien residents of HAT-P-11B decided to open a Lorentzian Stable Transversable (LST) or Morris-Thorne Wormhole (MTW) using powerful engines that use this new (to us) radiation as the Exotic Matter to hold the wormhole open and stable.

 

Suddenly, right in the middle of all our chaos about SURGE, we found out we weren’t alone in the galaxy.  And the neighbors had stopped by for coffee and cake.  Since then, we’ve had another neighbor stop by too.  Lucky for us, both neighbors have been fairly friendly.  Cause at that time, we’d have had some major issues dealing with them if they weren’t.

 

So, after 15 years of getting used to the new neighborhood, things were going much better.  We’d all settled down about SURGE, and our visitors.  Our science and technology sectors have been going nuts figuring out what it all means; from the new radiation (known as “Z-rad” by the media), to the MTW’s the aliens use to move about our galaxy, and what the extent of us SURGE’ers abilities might be.

 

Now it’s 2030, and you had to know it; at some point the bad neighbors would show up, and the neighborhood would go to Hell.  This year, we finally noticed that some of the changes we’ve been experiencing for the last several years, on Earth and our friendly neighborhood alien’s planets too, aren’t due to Z-rad or anything random, they were early deployment of resources to help soften us up, cause this year, the Empress showed up…  And all bets are off now.

[TheQuestionMan]

I LIKE IT!!!

 

Campaign Settings premise looks good Character Creation Guidelines neef to be clearly presents as well as Character Backgrounds.

 

Istvatha V'han, Empress of a Billion Worlds.

 

No guts, no galaxy'

 

QM

 

P.S.: Champions Complete, Champions Beyond, and Champions Universe would make good purchases.

[Epiphanis]

Nice one. I did something vaguely similar once, in which around the turn of the millennium teenagers began manifesting superpowers. Researchers discovered that every one of the new supers had been conceived after the Harmonic Convergence of August 1987. Why remained uncertain -- various occult, scientific and pseudo - scientific theories were abound -- but nobody knew for sure. The supers became known as "vergers".

[bubba smith]

very nicely done

[Kirby]

Very nice!  Are you planning to do this on HeroCentral or for your in-person game? (Or both?)

[Echo3Niner]

This would be our next in-person game; though as I said, two of our players are out of state'ers and we use Google Talk to have them join us.

 

We just started a new Earthdawn campaign, so it'll be a while...

[Scott Baker]

I'd play in it! (Pretend that's a good thing, even though it's coming from a total stranger!  )

[Echo3Niner]

"Holy resurrection Bat Man!"

 

Yes, after 7+ years, we're about to resurrect this campaign world!

 

Making new characters tomorrow!

[Tjack]

   You’ve got a lot of interesting ideas here.  What exactly would you like us to do?  Chime in with character/backround ideas and plot lines or hang back a little more so you can bounce your plans off of us like a collective editor for your story or just help with the number crunching for stuff you’ve already got thought out? 
   We’re pretty good at all three, but without some direction we tend to stampede in every direction at once.

    My first question is about the fact that 2030 is a lot closer now than it was before. Do you want to keep that as a hard start date or move the beginning of the game closer to 2040?

     The next one is about the set up for the team. Will it be a random group of do gooders who came together and decided to partner up (Relatively low resources and no outside support-Teen Titans).  A mysterious benefactor put the group together to help the world for his own reasons (Some resources like a base and some future plots threads-Legion of Superheroes) Or a Govt. or Law Enforcement agency putting a team together (Strong resources but a group watched-MCU Avengers)

    What kind of characters your players will be creating and your first few adventures will be heavily influenced by these decisions.

[Echo3Niner]

Thanks Tjack.  This was really just about getting folks thoughts on the "game'verse" (setting and mythology).

 

Back in 2014 we ran a series of test games, as a couple of us had played Champions 4e WAY back, but the rest had never played it.  Then, life intervened, and the campaign never got off the ground.

 

I've moved from the DC area back to the mid-West (Northern Indiana, just south of the MI boarder).  I have not looked for a group here, so it's just my long-time player/best friend who plays via Zoom from MI (except every blue moon when we're together), and my wife, so small group, and no drama.

 

This time around, they have decided they want to play 'Galaxy-class' superheroes (e.g. Silver Surfer, Binary, Beta-ray Bill, etc.).

 

So, I intend to get the game going slowly, let it build a little, let them settle into their characters, and then I'll bring in the Empress invasion.

 

I have created the Intra-Galactic Quasar Corps (IGQC) as a galaxy-spanning superhero organization, who will oppose The Empress - which these two characters will eventually be introduced to.

 

So no real "action required" on the part of the forum at this point; mostly just sharing...  If you look at some of my old posts, you'll see I have a lot of questions at times, but I'll post specific threads for those.

 

Thanks for asking.

Edited May 15, 2021 by Echo3Niner
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[Tjack]

11 hours ago, Echo3Niner said:

 

I have created the Intra-Galactic Quasar Corps (IGQC) as a galaxy-spanning superhero organization, who will oppose The Empress - which these two characters will eventually be introduced to.

        Very cool, kind of a cross breeding of Legion of Superheroes/Galaxy Rangers and a Star Wars:Alpha Team kind of thing.  Looks like a lot of fun, good luck with it.

[drunkonduty]

I love it!  A really cool setting.

[Echo3Niner]

Well, first game in the books!  A shortened version of what happened -->

 

I did an solo intro (kind of like a tutorial) with each character:

• Solar - wife's flying energy projector with a big VPP (based on Binary) - she had to stabilize the Golden Gate bridge after a massive earthquake and rescue many people on it.  She used her strength (80) along with massive force fields (VPP), to stabilize the bridge; then flew around and rescued many of the people injured on the bridge (regenerate other - from her VPP); then flew into the city and used her force fields and STR again to stabilize several buildings that were in danger of falling.  Eventually working with several local supers and supers with FEMA and the Red Cross to help people; until the government started asking questions about who she was (she's a new hero) - at which point she flew up into space to escape them.
• Capt. Force - buddy's martial brick - called upon to stop a rampaging brick from running amok in the city center (he is on Narrai Prime, as he is a Narrai character).  He flew to the scene, where the berzerking worker caste Narria was rampaging and confronted him, initially trying to stop him by "talking him down"; when that didn't work, he analyzed him to learn his powers, learning he had a damage shield and then started the fight.  Having learned about his damage shield, instead of just going fisticuffs, he used martial throw to Judo the guy, slamming him into the ground over and over, until he was unconscious.

 

Capt. Force was then asked to accompany the ambassador to earth, as both the Narrai and the Lyrissi were going to address the UN General Assembly.

 

Upon arrival, they see the human woman in space, absorbing huge amount of Z-rad (Wife's character); just as Capt. Force has flown out of his Narrai ship and started a discussion with her, another object catches her attention, and Capt. Force radios his ship who are tracking it on sensors also - an unidentified craft, approaching at a high rate of speed.

 

Solar flys out to meet the craft, while Capt. Force (who is not near as fast), helps prepare the ship for possibly battle.  Solar scans the ship for life (VPP), finding life in it; she then scans for danger (Danger Sense, again from VPP) and determines there is great danger to earth from the ship/it's inhabitant.  Just as she is about to try to disable it's propulsion, it shoots off at an even higher rate of speed, landing in the mall in DC.

 

Capt. Force goes down to join Solar, as they watch a bioluminescent, octopus/squid like alien exit the craft - both heroes have universal translator, so they both understand the creature as it repeats over and over, "Weapons, must acquire…  She is coming…"

 

The heroes eventually confront the creature, after it has knocked several Capital Police out with TK strikes, and then completely destroys a SURGE'd Capital Police officer who jumps to attack it.  Solar eventually encloses the alien in a force barrier sphere (VPP), that it cannot get out of.  After Capt. Force uses his mental control power to get the alien to agro on him; Solar scans the alien and determining it is susceptible/vulnerable to heat/dehydration; she heats the air in the sphere, doing STUN only damage, and knocks the creature unconscious.

 

They then mind-probe (Solar's VPP again) the creature and learn it is an alien from Europa (moon of Saturn, aliens based on the movie Europa Report).  They learn that the species was enslaved during the last invasion by the Empress, some 7500 years ago, and that the alien's oracles have foreseen her return.  The alien was sent to recover some sort of ancient relic housed at the Smithsonian (one of the elemental bands - of liquid).

 

The heroes speak to the ambassador of the Narrai, who told them of ancient legends/myths of a time when this sector of the galaxy was invaded, and the Narrai, Lyrissi and Human (Gods of old), joined forces, using some ancient relics and made her invasion so costly, she eventually abandoned it; though she vowed to return.  The ambassador didn't (and still really doesn't) think it was true.

 

The game ends with the FBI SURGE team taking the alien to a containment facility (after they promised Solar they would not dissect it; sure they won't).  And the heroes ensured the ambassador would at least warn the Earth and Lyrissi delegates - which he did, begrudgingly; basically only telling them only what the alien believed...

 

In the next game, the heroes plan to travel to Europa (having mostly forgotten the relic), to speak to the aliens and discover what they know...

 

Everyone had a great time!

 

Edited June 13, 2021 by Echo3Niner
Typos

[Echo3Niner]

P.S.  We also learned, which the book tells you (and I should have taken to heart); that we need to premake several power-cards up for Solar's VPP, so we're not having to do the math on the fly as she comes up with them...

[Tjack]

2 hours ago, Echo3Niner said:

P.S.  We also learned, which the book tells you (and I should have taken to heart); that we need to premake several power-cards up for Solar's VPP, so we're not having to do the math on the fly as she comes up with them...

   The only guy I ever knew who could do VPP’s on the fly in his head was an M.I.T. alumni, who for a living designed missile guidance systems for the govt.    He actually was a rocket scientist, and his name was I swear to you on everything I hold holy....Sheldon.  Right now I think he’s in the afterlife correcting God’s math,  R.I.P. buddy.

[drunkonduty]

What a great session!

 

Wish I could convince my group to try Champions.

[Echo3Niner]

Per another thread, I figured out a way to pre-make 18 different powers for Solar's VPP, so we're not creating them on the fly - it worked great.

 

In our second exciting episode -->

 

The heroes first have a conversation in space - introducing each other, learning a little about each other's backgrounds and figuring out that they're going to work together.

 

They then head to Europa.  Solar providing mental defense to both of them from her VPP, having learned in the last episode that the aliens are mentalists.

 

Upon landing, they decide not to burn through the ice and come in like bulls in a china shop - instead, they simply wait on the ice above the largest concentration of lifeforms (Solar using her VPP to scan for lifeforms on the planet).

 

Eventually, two aliens approach (Solar has her Spatial Awareness and Danger Sense from her VPP turned on).  Capt. Force speaks out to the aliens, using the famous line; "We come in peace, take me to your leader."  (Which killed us all with laughter).

 

An alien drone steps out of cover, speaking in a gruff voice - asking why they are there.  After some diplomatic small talk, suddenly the drone's voice completely changes, to a nicer, feminine voice.  The heroes realize the other alien hiding, is a warrior class, who was originally speaking through the drone, but then one of the leaders takes over.

 

After a lengthy discussion with the aliens, the heroes learn that the Europaites want the return of the captured drone, their ship, their relic, and technologies from the Narrai and Lyrissi (Z-rad powered weapons and wormhole generators).  While Capt. Force and Solar are trying to be sympathetic to the Europaites plight, it become apparent after the speaker attacks them mentally, trying to force them to do what they ask - that there is an issue of culture that will be an ongoing problem; the Europaites society is based on everyone being linked mentally, not exactly hive mind, but they think as a whole, for the entire species.  They are lead by a counsel, and the woman talking through the drone is their spokesmen, Octassia.  Because their society is always linked mentally, they do not understand the concept of individuality as we do.  To them, the concept of "listening" is the same as doing what the counsel wants (what you're being told to do, mentally).  It is clear, after the Europaites ask the heroes to bring the leaders of their nations to a summit, that really they just want less powerful beings they can force to do as they ask.

 

O1H the heroes want to be able to "see" mentally, what the Europaites Oracles saw of the impending invasion, but doing so means opening your mind to them.  The heroes leave, unsure how they are going to coordinate with the Europaites.

 

The heroes decide to return to earth and take a look at the relic.  They land at the mall in DC, and head toward the Smithsonian.  Two men in black suites, with black ties and sunglasses, and white shirts, approach them.  They introduce themselves as Agent Mikkelsen and Johansson, of UNTIL, the United Nations Tribunal on Intergalactic Law (I brought in UNTIL, but changed them a little - basically my version of SHIELD, the Intergalactic part fits better with this game-world).

 

After a short discussion, they take the heroes to meet their Director - Col. Richard (Dick) Rage (OG Nick Fury).  The heroes and Dir. Rage have a conversation, figuring out who everyone is, what's going on, and what the heroes found out from the Europaites.

 

Eventually they all decide to head down to the Smithsonian to see the relic (known as the Generator to the Europaites).  Upon arrival, they learn there's been an "event".  The curator and head of security show surveillance video of where the relic was in storage.

 

The video shows a black clad "Ninja" teleport into the area, use some sort of Z-rad powered device to unlock the enclosure, take out the relic and then teleport away.

 

The team all head down to the area, where Solar uses her VPP and various senses to scan the area - they determine that the villain used SURGE'd powers to teleport, and Z-rad powered tech to unlock the enclosure.  Capt. Force tells Solar to use her VPP detect powers to find the relic - she does, and it is in northern Lake Michigan.

 

Col. Rage exclaims, "Oh, great" and explains that Gull Island in Lake Michigan is the known lair of a super-powerful villain named MasterMind!  UNTIL also determines that the teleporting ninja is a mercenary (likely just hired by MasterMind), known as Black Mist.  He explains that MasterMind is not only personally powerful, but leads a team of villains known as The Fearsome Foursome.

 

Col. Rage takes Agent Mikkelsen's UNTIL super-phone and resets it, setting it up for Solar and gives it to her, so they can all communicate.  Just as they're talking about what they're going to do, all the UNTIL phones go off with an alert - A 'ZERK ALERT!

 

Col. Rage quickly explains that Dr. Morgan Whitaker is a mild-mannered scientist who was studying Z-rad, early after earth crossed the threshold, when an experiment at the Large Hadron Collider caused him to be exposed to massive levels of Z-rad; Dr. Whitaker became, THE BERZERKER!  The monster commonly referred to as 'Zerk, is immensely powerful (OG Green Hulk) and completely uncontrollable.  Luckily, Dr. Whitaker is a peaceful, nice human being, who has tried to repress 'Zerk.

 

There have only been a few outbreak 'Zerk events - however, this time 'Zerk is beyond consoling, and is tearing Kansas City apart; and UNTIL doesn't know what to do…  They need the heroes help!

 

Zerk looks like OG Raging Hulk, with the glowing gold coloration of Nuklo -

 

Capt. Force immediately notes that something setoff 'Zerk, and he wonders if it could be MasterMind trying to create a diversion.  The heroes talk about if they should split up or not...

 

And that's how this week's exciting episode ends!

 

Edited June 26, 2021 by Echo3Niner
Typo

[Echo3Niner]

I give you 'ZERK (The Berzerker!) (3-page character sheet attached.)

 

Gonna be a tough fight! (If they go head-to-head with him...)

'Zerk.pdf

[Echo3Niner]

I'd love anyone's thoughts on 'Zerk - as the next episode is tomorrow (Saturday night, 06/26)...

[Echo3Niner]

In our third exciting episode -->

 

Solar and Capt. Force decide they are not going to split up, even though they know that MasterMind will have time to manipulate the relic.

 

They fly to Kansas City and see 'Zerk tearing it apart!  After a few minutes strategizing, they come up with a game-plan; Capt. Force goes down and engages 'Zerk to hold him still, while Solar uses her VPP to create a Gate under him, gating him 24 klicks into space.  The plan works; while Capt. Force's move-through attack did no damage, it did get 'Zerk's attention long enough for Solar (who had held her action) to open a gate below 'Zerk and teleport him into space.

 

As the heroes started helping victims, suddenly they hear the sound of rocket thrusters and there is a loud metallic clank sound from behind them.  They turn and see a man in a suit of red and silver power battle-armor.

 

"Easy there Big-man star-field and Roman Candle…  He's one of ours." Says the man in the armor.

 

Solar and Capt. Force do not immediately react, but as they are deciding what to do, a woman with golden metallic skin also lands next to the man in the armor, and says "Silvercloud, stop being a jerk."

 

As she speaks, a gate opens behind her, and a large man in Viking armor, with a shield and sword steps through, then a woman who looks like a cross between a human female and a Jaguar, another woman in a skin-tight power suit in a lion motif, and finally an Asian man in traditional monk garb steps through the gate as it closes behind him.

 

The Golden Girl announces that they are the PeaceKeepers; a UN sponsored super-group of Earth's Greatest Heroes.  They explain that 'Zerk is a member of their team, and that Col. Rage called them after he sent our heroes to deal with 'Zerk.

 

(The PeaceKeepers are my version of The Avengers in my gameworld, but are more global:

• Silver Centurion, aka Jonathon Silvercloud = Tony Stark/Forge crossover, Iron Man - from USA
• 'Zerk, aka Dr. Morgan Whitiker = Dr. Banner (who looks like a cross between a younger Morgan Freeman and Forest Whitiker)/Hulk - from USA
• Golden Girl, aka Heather Cameroon = looks like LifeGuard, but other than her nano-skin armor, is a mentalist and former SAS agent; tactical leader of the team - from Australia (Capt. America/Black Widow)
• Tyr = based on the Norse God, a human "God of old", who left with his other "Gods" to another planet before the transition of Earth back over the threshold, then came back to Earth to protect it once it crossed back over - from Europe
• The Jaguar, aka Maria de Guzman = superheroine who is a ware-jaguar - super-regen, deadly fighter (Sabretooth analog) - from Brazilian
• Lioness, aka Queen Ramonda = Black Panther, queen of kingdom that is the home to Z-radmium, a metal that stores and manipulates Z-rad - damage shield suit - from Africa
• Wuxian (Immortal Shaman) = Keeper of the Immortal Flame Ur Tsing ("Fire" band), cross between Shang Chi and Dr. Strange - from Tibet)

Capt. Force and Solar take their queue to leave the recovery to the PeaceKeepers and head to MasterMind's base.

 

Before they go, Capt. Force asks Solar to use her detection again to sense the "generator" - when she does, she discovers it is no longer at the base.  The heroes decide to go ahead and go to the base, to look for clues.

 

When they arrive at Gull Island in northern Lake Michigan, Solar scans the base and they find no living beings there.  Capt. Force has her use x-ray vision to learn the layout (there are 40 floors below the surface of the island), and to look for power sources - she finds several, including one using large amounts of Z-rad.

 

The team flies down to the base, being attacked by a large swarm of armed drones; however, they are not powerful enough to stop them, so they blow through them as they approach.  The touchscreen on the door has an AI face, who tells them they are trespassing on private property and should leave before he responds with more force.  At that announcement, Capt. Force punches the doors off their hinges into the building.

 

The AI defense system responds with more bullets and some laser weapons as well, but none are powerful enough to slow down our heroes.   Capt. Force asks Solar to interface with the computer system and get a schematic of the base; she does so (VPP) and they learn that the control room is on the 4th level, and the large power source is the vault.  They go to the control room first, where Solar again interfaces with the computer system, and learns that MasterMind has taken the relic to his secret base on the dark side of the moon.

 

After contacting Col. Rage and telling him what's going on, they fly to the moon and find the base.  As Col. Rage was unaware MasterMind even had a secret base there, they take picture with the UNTIL super-phone and text them to Rage.

 

Solar scans the base, and finds 6 living beings in the base.  After discussing the right way to go about infiltrating the base, they decide to have Solar desolidify and inviso, and go in to recon and see if she can find out what's going on.  She does so, passing 4 costumed villains on her way down.  When she reaches the lab, she finds MasterMind and Black Mist ending a conversation, at which point Black Mist teleports away.

 

After stepping around the corner, to an unseen location in the base, Solar contacts Capt. Force and he teleports to her location; at which point she immediately makes him invisible also.  They discuss a plan, and settle on Capt. Force flying over invisibly, and simply grabbing the relic and teleporting back to DC, to take it to Col. Rage.

 

Solar stays behind for a moment, to see the reaction; as the alarms go off and MasterMind begins to react, one of the team of The Fearsome Foursome zooms in immediately (she is obviously a speedster).  The rest arrive moments latter on the elevator.  Solar take that as her queue to leave, flying back to DC.

 

Capt. Force is reviewing the box, as he flies to the UNTIL HQ.  Inside the now open box, he finds a band with the markings of water on it.  He scans it and can tell it is immensely powerful, and something to do with the manipulation of liquid.  He and Solar arrive on the roof of UNITL and speak to Col. Rage.  Solar remembers seeing a band just like this one, on the wrist of the Asian member of the PeaceKeepers, Wuxing.  After speaking to Col. Rage for a bit, they fly out into space; where Capt. Force contemplates putting on the band.  After much discussion, where one of Solar's concerns is that activating the band may alert other cosmic entities to them, they decide he will simply stay there in space, while she goes and speaks to Wuxing, while using telepathy with Capt. Force so he can participate in the discussion.

 

Solar flies to Tibet and arrives at the monastery where Wuxing lives.  He meets her and tells her he was expecting her.  They discuss the bands, and learn that the band he has controls "fire" (plasma).  He explains that his sect has had the band since the last battle with the Empress, and they have kept it safe.  He was selected as the one; the bearer of the band, after many ordeals and trials.  He has trained his whole life to be able to bear the band.  He explains that putting it on causes a massive influx of power and can drive most people insane.  So, if there was a concern that activating the band would alert a cosmic entity, that "horse had already left the barn".  After further discussion, where Wuxing explains that Tyr was at the last great battle, the heroes decide they need to discuss this with the whole team, so they ask Wuxing to arrange a meeting of the PeaceKeepers.  He agrees and gates to gather the team, saying they will meet at Silvercloud's tower in NY.  The heroes also call Col. Rage to meet there as well.

 

When the heroes arrive, they explain everything going on, and ask Tyr to tell everyone the story of the past battle.  Tyr tells them all the story; but no one, including him believes that the Empress could come back, and even if it was possible, no one knows how they would unite the three systems peoples to prepare to oppose her.  Capt. Force asks Tyr what happened to the other bands?  Tyr explains that the "Earth" band went back to Narrai Prime with the Narrai hero who was it's wielder, and the "Air" band went back to Lyrissi 3 with it's wielder.

 

Eventually, they decide to take Golden Girl (who is a mentalist) to the Europaites.  There she convinces them to "show her" what their Oracles saw.  After some additional discussion, they return to NY, where Golden Girl projects into everyone's minds, what she saw (which is not only the preparation of the Empress' armada and legion for her return, but the fact that she populated whole planets with humans in order to study them and prepare for her next conquest).

 

Capt. Force then asks them what their plan is?  Col. Rage explains that he will work politically to try to convince the UN/earth to prepare.  The PeaceKeepers explain they will work to prepare as well.  With that, Capt. Force decides to leave the water band with Col. Rage; so Silvercloud whips up a tech-box that will contain and shield the band from "prying eyes".

 

Though all of this, Capt. Force struggled with whether or not to give the band to the Europaites - however, after learning that the original wielder of the "water" band was a Lemurian earthling; though still concerned that the Europaites would again be enslaved as no one seems to have much stake in defending them, he decided to give it to UNTIL for now; though he declared he would keep Europa as a priority in his defense of this sector of the galaxy.

 

Capt. Force and Solar decide they will go to Narrai next, to try to track down the "Earth" band - and that is where this exciting episode ends...

 

Edited June 27, 2021 by Echo3Niner
Typos

[rjd59]

Enjoyable read so far!

[Echo3Niner]

In our fourth exciting episode -->

 

Capt. Force explains to Solar that Narrai Prime and the other planets/moons/asteroids the Narrai have colonized in their system have 24 times Earth Gravity (25Gs) - which is why the Narrai species is so heavily muscled and dense; this requires Solar to use some of her VPP to increase her density in order to survive.

 

Our heroes fly to Narrai space, and go to a mining colony where Capt. Force's original mentor in the rebellion (from his backstory) lives.  They discuss what all is going on with the pending invasion and the artifact from Coullum The First (the Narrai hero from 7500 years ago, who had the "Earth" band).  The mentor does some electronic digging, and finds that the rebel cell that operates in the Great Go-Shibbi desert on Narrai Prime, have reported a recent expansion of an archeology site, where some of the Science Caste have recently erected barriers with military support, and that they heard it has something to do with Coullum The First.

 

Our heroes travel to the desert and are surprised to find a wall erected around an area, where the sand has been excavated from; in this area are ruins from long ago, dominated by a large arena with a large statue at one end.  Solar uses her VPP enhanced senses and sees the "Earth" band in the palm of the large statue.

 

The heroes land at a large tent erected near the arena, and encounter the lead scientist of the dig.  After speaking to him for a few moments, it is clear to the heroes that he is being affected by the band.  He describes how Narrai have come from all over the system, in order to attempt to claim the band - whenever anyone sets foot in the arena, another Narrai always steps in to fight them.  The scientist is super excited to study this phenomenon and admits he hasn't really reported everything to his superiors in the Science Caste, because he wants so badly to be here to study whomever actually can claim the band.  He further explains that every time there has been a victor, but every time that victor claims the band, they have gone insane, and have had to be killed by the military.

 

As they are discussing this, 3 Narrai assault ships land outside the enclosure.  Leading a squad of heavily armed and armored troops into the enclosure is Sgt. Roc-12, one of the most highly decorated Special Forces members in the entire Narrai military.  He is clearly making his way directly to the arena; and the scientist is almost giddy with anticipation.

 

Capt. Force steps in front of Sgt. Roc-12 and asks him why he is there.  Sgt. Roc-12 explains that he is there for the band.  Capt. Force asks if he is aware there will be a fight to claim it, and Sgt. Roc-12 simply says, "Of course there will be."  Capt. Force also asks if he is aware that if he does win, he may go insane if he claims it?  Sgt. Roc-12 acts almost insulted, claiming that will of course not happen to him, once he claims it.

 

After a quick conversation, the heroes realize that it may not be a good thing either way, so Capt. Force decides to follow Sgt. Roc-12 into the arena.  As Sgt. Roc-12 enters, a random Worker Caste Narrai in the stands gets up as if he was going to enter the arena as well, but when Capt. Force enters, he simply sits back down.

 

Once Capt. Force enters, a barrier springs up, encompassing the entire floor of the arena.  Immediately Sgt. Roc-12 draws a fighting knife, and prepares to fight.  Sgt. Roc-12 tries several  times, but never lands a blow - initially Capt. Force martial throws Sgt. Roc-12 into the barrier; when that doesn't do enough to slow him down, Capt. Force then does a nerve strike, which also only slightly injures Sgt. Roc-12.  Eventually, Capt. Force has to use his "Killer Laser" punch (his highest HTH attack), which knocks Sgt. Roc-12 across the arena and into the barrier, almost knocking him out.  Capt. Force finishes him off with another nerve strike.

 

As Sgt. Roc-12 falls, the barrier comes down.  His squad moves to take him to medical, and Solar flies down to meet with Capt. Force, who has taken the band from the statue.  As they are discussing their next move, several Narrai assault ships begin arriving, and the troops that arrived with Sgt. Roc-12 appear to get radio messages, and start to secure the perimeter around the arena; apparently the Narrai military isn't so good with Capt. Force just leaving with the band...

 

Capt. Force makes the hasty decision to slap the band on his wrist...  A massive influx of Z-Rad power courses through Capt. Force's veins, and he experiences the origins of the band, and their time they were together, then the rest of the entire history of the "Earth" band, up until now.  The band makes a mental attack, however, Solar remembered to provide mental defense to Capt. Force, and because of that, he was able to survive the bands assault, and keep his sanity (barely).

 

But, before anyone can do anything, a massive ship wormholes into low orbit, launching hundreds of fighter ships.  The ship then fires a beam to the ground, and something travels down the beam, landing with such impact, that the 3 assault ships that had landed are destroyed, as are several of the military members who were nearby.

 

Once the beam stops, and the dust settles, there is a huge Narrai-like warrior standing there.  He yells above the din of destruction, "I am an Outrider, of the Black Order; The Empress demands the band, hand it over barbarians, you don't even know what you're dealing with…"

 

The Narrai military begins attacking this new fleet, while Outrider calmly stalks into the enclosure.  Capt. Force scans Outrider, and discovers he is massively powerful, and will likely be a difficult fight for both our heroes.

 

Capt. Force orders the military nearby to evacuate the enclosure, and tells Solar not to hold back.  Solar is the fastest of the three, so she flies up to Outrider.  After much discussion of various options by the players, it is decided that Solar will use her VPP to increase her density to maximum, and then put the remaining point in a straight increase to her STR; this gives her a total punch of 55D6!  Solar rolls her punch, and hits.  She then rolls her damage; doing substantial damage with the punch alone - then we calculate the knockback, in which Outrider crashes through several vehicles and other structures, before eventually hitting the enclosure wall, almost 90 yards away.  This damage results in knocking Outrider out completely!

 

Capt. Force then uses the "Earth" (solid matter) band (which has a massive VPP of 500 points, restricted to only work on solid matter), to Transform 2 meters of all the alien fighter ships, into bubble wrap...  Causing all 500 ships to crash at once.

 

With this, the massive ship beams the unconscious Outrider back aboard, and wormholes out of Narrai space.

 

Having survived the battle, the heroes grab one of the enemy pilots (a lizard like alien), and take him with them, to the capital city of Narrai Prime - there they speak to the ambassador they originally warned about the Empress' return.  After explaining that now everyone can see what the threat is, they call for a video conference with Col. Rage from Earth, and the ambassador from Lyrissi as well.  Once they have them on holo-vid, Capt. Force plays a replay of the battle to the group, then explains that everyone should now see how they need to work together.

 

Col. Rage agrees and says they will continue to prepare and keep the two bands on Earth safe.  The Lyrissi ambassador explains that they do not know where the "Air" band is...  Though they agree they will search for it.

 

The heroes discuss their next move; Capt. Force decides he wants to ask Golden Girl to accompany them back to Europa, returning the drone that was left on Earth and see if he can convince the Europaites to join cause.  They then figure they will need to follow-up with the Lyrissi, to determine what the status is of the "Air" band.

 

And that is where this exciting episode ends!

 

Edited July 11, 2021 by Echo3Niner
Typos

[drunkonduty]

Eagerly awaiting the next exciting instalment! 

[Tjack]

Makes me wish I was still playing.