largosama

Re: Time in between major events The Null Invasion was a worldwide problem, so the Freedom Corps themselves didn't have to pay... HOWEVER... there has been some fallout. The public is blaming the meta-humans for causing this whole Null problem and an Anti-Meta Human League has been formed. Currently they are just protesting, throwing trash, etc... this will get worse as time goes on... especially as a battle between one of the PCs and Firewing caused one of the AML members to get killed... bad bad news! The state or federal government may have to eventually jump in and do some things that the Freedom Corps may not like! As for the God situation, the only people who know about that are the Freedom Corps members. To everybody else, they disappeared/moved on/were killed in the Null attack. The characters that became gods are now NPCs and won't be seen much (if at all). The only reason the Gods got involved at all was due to the fact that the Null Leaders couldn't be affected by the Gods (due to the fact that they weren't planned by the Gods) as well as the fact that the Null were invading the Heavens. They do have minority representation... a few of them in fact... Oh, and speaking of the Freedom Corps not having insurance... side story... during a battle with Eurostar within the Binary Corporation's main building, some high tech equipment was damaged... Eurostar was arrested and so the Binary Corp went after the Freedom Corps for damages... due to some deals with the mayor, the city ended up paying the damages... and the city is NOT happy about it... So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that the city would have reason to lay down some restrictions on the Freedom Corps (the various liasions between the big and powerful government officials and the Freedom Corps understand the situation and realize that the Freedom Corps is getting a little screwed, but the Mayor and company are just looking at the bottom line)

Re: Time in between major events I still have various sub-plots going on... the Freedom Corps back and forth battle with DEMON... I just introduced the serial killer that I discussed in a thread a few months back... there's a vacancy in the government of the Undead (Undead Council) which is causing a rift between the two remaining Undead leaders... the NPC leader of the team has a son whose evil powers have been sealed away and who knows when that could open up... all of the Freedom Corps members have alternate reality counterparts, some good and some bad, some even at the world-destroying level... Anyway, I feel that if I introduce 'world changing' storylines too quickly, it ruins the impact. I've had two issues since the Null Invasion ended, and it's been pretty basic but still involved some good background stuff on some characters and introduced some Hunteds to the game (one was about Foxbat and Black Harlequin kidnapping an NPC friend of the team and the other was a Malvan alien named Preet Junction who has occasionally harassed the team and forced them into arena fights, forcing a PC (Johnny Bam) who technically was the current Arena champion, to fight Firewing. Now, maybe after 6 issues of random stories and fun stuff, we dive into the next major story arc (give them time to relax and think things are safe! MWHAHAHA!)

Re: Tales of the Freedom Corps #033 The Main Event Johnny Bam leaves the Golden Bull and is immediately challenged by Firewing, who calls Bam, Mean Streak. Apparently his DNA matches Mean Streak’s and because Bam is the current Arena champion (Mean Streak to Maar to Bam), Firewing challenges him for the title. He gives Bam a week and leaves. Preet Junction appears on various TV screens and hypes up the match a bit. Meanwhile, back at the base, the AML protest grows. Inside, Vargas talks about the Gear and the Gyroscope, showing the team how the connected devices powered Shirak. Apparently, however, there are more parts to this Gyroscope that could lead to this being used for other purposes. Meanwhile, the Freedom Corps long lost pal, Trace, shows up. Apparently, he has been watching over Christopher Vargas, making sure that he doesn’t remember much about his dark past. Trace said that he’s doing fine, but there’s two DEMON brothers watching him as well. Julian Vargas sends Trace back out there to track them and find out what they’re up to. Meanwhile, the team makes preparations for the battle. However, Vargas is worried that the battle may affect the AML situation in a bad way. Phantomme steps outside and the crowd takes it the wrong way and throws garbage at him. Phantomme uses that to force the issue with the police who set up barriers and force the AML back. Finally, the night of the fight arrives. Malvan guards as well as a Preet-bot show up for the fight. Bam and Firewing are introduced as well as the undercard, a three way battle between Silhouette, Phantomme, and a newcomer, the God of Storms, Boomer! Bam and Firewing clash and Firewing unleashes a variety of flame attacks. Bam resisted much more then Firewing expected, but Bam finally fell to Firewing’s onslaught and was sent flying into the crowd. The crowd beat up on Bam and Firewing went to his rescue. However, Firewing’s natural powers set one of the AML members on fire, burning him to a crisp instantly. Most of the AML ran in fear after that. Firewing shook Bam’s hand as a show of respect and left as the champion. Meanwhile on the other side, Phantomme and Boomer clashed while Silhouette hid. Boomer did some damage to Phantomme, but was taken out by several mind blasts from Silhouette. Phantomme picked up Boomer’s hammer and fled into Freedom Corps HQ, disqualifying himself, leaving Silhouette the victor. Preet and his guards leave the scene, disappointed that Boomer lost. Boomer, encouraged by such mighty warriors, demands to join the Freedom Corps team. They accept him, realizing that they need more heavy hitters since Baron Von Awesome left. The first thing Boomer does is summon a storm to try to intimidate Phantomme. Phantomme gives back the hammer, not telling Boomer, however, that it is being put up for auction.

Re: Tales of the Freedom Corps #032 The Joke's On You 30 days after the Null Invasion ; The Anti-Metahuman League, run by Jessica Turnbull, whose husband and children were killed in the Null Invasion, begin protesting outside of Freedom Corps HQ ; The Freedom Corps gets a note directed to Krakatoa saying that Dr. Silverback has been kidnapped even though Silverback is still right in Freedom Corp HQ. Apparently, if they want him back, they have to attend Big G’s concert, staying in Luxury Box 6. Centurion, Fade, Padre, and Techno Grrrl attend the concert. Techno Grrrl dances in the front row, Padre hangs out in the Luxury Box, and the other two keep watch. It doesn’t take long for them to discover another Luxury Box being robbed by Foxbat. Foxbat runs to the parking lot after robbing several people and takes a hostage for apparently no reason. Centurion and Fade take him down and save the woman that was being held. Foxbat reveals to the team that his boss, the Black Harlequin, is hiding out at the old amusement park just outside of town. A cop soon reveals that this actually isn’t Foxbat. It’s an imitator. The team checks in with Dr. Silverback who is drinking at the Golden Bull. The team ventures to the amusement park and is immediately taunted by the Harlequin over a loud speaker. Soon after that, several rides start up, including two roller coasters carts full of people, about to run into each other. Padre and Techno Grrrl fly up and find that most of the people are actually mannequins except for one person on each. They save the people just before the carts crash. Fade heads off towards the Haunted House where he saw someone go while Centurion heads towards the Fun House. Fade, due to his desolidification power, avoids several death traps before reaching the end. He catches up with a person in a cart only to discover it’s a dummy made to look like the Black Harlequin. Suddenly, it explodes, launching strawberry jelly everywhere. Meanwhile, Centurion reaches the Fun House utility room where he encounters mobile teddy bears with knives! Centurion quickly leaves the room and gets the remainder of the team, but not before shutting off power to the Fun House. They enter the room and find that the battery on the bears has run out. The team goes further when suddenly thousands of lethal chattering teeth fall from the ceiling. The team takes a lot of damage and the Padre is lethally damaged. They drag the Padre out and have Techno Grrrl clear the room with her lasers. Soon, however, as the team enters the room and is attacked by several other creatures… Raggedy Aneurysm, Choo the Sad Little Train, and the Angry Apache all attack, causing all sorts of problems for the team. However, the team manages to break through and they see the Black Harlequin standing on top of a pyramid like structure. The Padre takes out the floor that the Harlequin was standing on as the rest of the team runs/flies up to him and finishes him off. They grab the mask and reveal that the Harlequin is actually the real Foxbat. However, a teddy bear walks up to the team with an envelope containing a tuft of Silverback’s hair and a matchbook from the Golden Bull

Re: Tales of the Freedom Corps #031 The Null Invasion Part 7 The Angels of Order fly the team at the Altar to the Chaos Prison under orders to stop Chaos and Maar. Meanwhile, Maar uses Mean Streak's speed and the Holy Sword to cut the chains of Chaos. The rest of the team arrives as does the Man in Chains. Chaos seems concerned about the Man in Chains, but before he could react, Maar stabs Chaos through the chest with the Holy Sword and absorbs him, becoming the new God of Chaos. Maar looks at the Man in Chains and sees him for who he really is. Maar throws the Holy Sword and it impales the Man in Chains. The illusion fades, revealing the Man in Chains to be Diatasso, the God of Order. Diatasso reveals as he lay there dying, that now that Maar has become a God, what can kill a God can kill Maar, pointing to the Holy Sword. Bam picks up the Sword and a battle ensues between the Freedom Corps and Maar, the God of Chaos. The battle lasted for a long time, with the team taking heavy damage, several heroes close to death. However, the Watcher, with Diatasso's urging as his final breath, tosses the now dead God of Order into Maar. Maar absorbed the God, but was paralyzed with ecstacy. This gave the team the delay that they needed. Bam pounced and slashed Maar with the sword, causing a wound. Maar screamed in pain and then showed his Null form, a gigantic one hundred armed Null with Maar's face on it. Then, Necrosis and Vitae appeared, revealing that because he is a God now, Maar is recognized by the Fates. Destiny now controls him. The Fates have decreed that he immediately receive the God-Plague, a deadly disease targetting the Gods. This immediately weakens Maar. Vitae and Necrosis then reveal that the Fates have decreed that Maar will die by the Freedom Corps hands. A battle ensues and after several minutes, Maar finally succumbs. Johnny Bam, with a smirk on his face, removes Maar's head from his body, killing the God. However, Order and Chaos are now dead... now new Gods must be chosen or reality could be destroyed. Baron Von Awesome and the Watcher volunteer to be the new Gods and they disappear. The Sol leave the planet, with the Null destroyed. Also, as the team returns to Earth, they realize that their HQ has been destroyed. However, the Gods appear and show them to their new base, right where the old Quarry was. It is very technologically advanced and also now houses a miniature version of the Archway to the Heavens which they must now guard. The Null, however, have been defeated.

Re: Tales of the Freedom Corps #030 The Null Invasion Part 6 Padre, Centurion, Fade, and Big G enter Null Space from Heaven and approach the Castle. Fade enters the castle and finds a tower with a sleeping Null Dragon around it. The team quietly flies up to a window and enters it. They enter the room and then into a corridor where they are attacked by Null dogs, Null spiders, and Null snakes. The team defeated them and made their way to the basement where they found the Burris guarding the Null Source. Big G telekinetically grabs the Burris and throws her through a wall at tremendous velocity, but the Null wall seems to just open up for her. The team approaches the Source, but the Burris impales the Padre from below and rises up, her Null spikes extended. Padre, Big G, and Centurion battle the Burris as Fade enters the Null Source. The Null Source displays some schizophrenic traits which throws off Fade a bit. Meanwhile, the Burris began dismantling the rest of the team, severely wounding Padre and impaling Big G. However, as Big G was impaled, a strange occurence happened. He stopped feeling pain, even as his internal organs were spilling out. It seems that Grueber's Undead potion had turned him into a Zombie!!! Meanwhile, Fade convinces the Null Source to remove the Null from the Burris's body. It does so and the Burris, now without her Null, withers away into dust. The team takes the Null Source and heads for the portal. Fade tells them to stop any Null in their way and the Source decides to destroy all of Null Space instead. As the dimension begins to shatter, the team dives into the portal. Back on Earth now, they view absolute chaos going on as the Sol battle Null. The team sets off the Null Source and it quickly destroys all of the Null on Earth. The Sol fly up to the sky and look up as if looking for something.

Re: Tales of the Freedom Corps #029 The Null Invasion Part 5 The team left behind in the Castle are sent to Null Space with the mission to get the Null Source and bring it back to Earth to destroy the Null there before returning it to Null Space to destroy all Null there. Meanwhile, the man in chains summons Angels of Order to stop the team from progessing. The Angels immediately began capturing some of the team members, but the Freedom Corps were able to free themselves and defeat several of the Angels before the rest of them fled, leaving the team alone with the man in chains. They battle the man, but everytime someone tried to hit the man, they were teleported to some kind of prison, being shackled up by whatever they were vulnerable to. Soon, though, the man threw the imprisoned heroes out in a new location and he himself left, leaving the other team free to go to the Altar. The formerly imprisoned team ended up right in front of the prison that holds the god Chaos. Two Angels of Order were chained to a pillar, apparently tied up by the man in chains. The team frees the Angels and they check to see if Chaos is still there. Chaos is shackled to the wall still and he boasts that Maar is coming with the Holy Sword to free him and restore balance to Order. Meanwhile, the other team reaches the Altar, finding themselves there too late as Maar has reached the Altar, taken the Sword and has slain two angels. He battles the team, easily handling them, stripping Johnny Bam of a layer of skin before the man in chains appeared, telling Maar that he has more important business to do. Maar leaves them, using Mean Streak's speed as the man in chains tells the team of Maar's plans to free Chaos.

Re: Tales of the Freedom Corps #028 The Null Invasion Part 4 More Null come through the portal, including a gigantic Null Dragon. Nebula and her fellow fighter pilots arrive on Earth to help out and take on the Null. Meanwhile, a Sol leaves a mysterious message that the team still on Earth cannot decipher. Titus Grueber appears and gets the team to come with him to the Ruun's lair, where they link up with the other part of the team left on Earth. Meanwhile, Maar is contacted by a Null Angel that the Archway to the Heavens has been found and he leaves to go find it. Samuel of the Ruun deciphers the message and reveals that they have 24 hours to get rid of the Null or the Sol will destroy the Earth. The team goes to the Quarry, fight off some Null, and find the Archway. They enter the Heavens and go to the Castle of the Gods. They encounter Diatasso, Vitae, and Necrosis along with the remaining portion of the team. They send 2/3 of the team to go after Maar who apparently is after the Holy Sword, a weapon that can cut through anything god-like. Their theory is that he is there to destroy the gods and cause the Universe to unmake itself. The majority of the team leaves to travel to the Altar that holds the sword. However, halfway there, they are stopped by the glowing man in chains.

Just within the past month, I finished off the 'Null Invasion' for my campaign... I refer to each adventure as an issue (as in comic book issue)... so, the Null Invasion has been hinted at and building up to from issue #5 to issue #25 where the actual invasion of creatures called the Null came into play. Finally, on issue #31, the Null Invasion was finally finished for good. It ended with the Null creatures being completely destroyed, the Null's leader killed after he became the God of both Order and Chaos (I'll make an actual play post later), and two of the Freedom Corps (the PC team) ascending to take over the God of Order and God of Chaos position (meaning that the players need to make new characters), one Freedom Corps member killed, their HQ destroyed and rebuilt, and Millennium City in shambles. Annnyhooo, while I do plan to have decent storylines that may take an issue or two (a issue typically takes 1-2 game nights), how many issues do you think I should wait until I introduce the next big big storyline? Granted, it may not be as earth-shattering as the Null Invasion, but it will be big enough that it will take 5 or more issues to resolve AND major characters/PCS could very easily die. Anyway, thoughts?

Re: Tales of the Freedom Corps #27: The Null Invasion Part 3 Grueber gives the apple to the team who eat it and turn into undead (with the exception of Centurion who doesn't need it). It sickens them, but they survive. Grueber shows the team on various video screens that the Null are invading all over the planet. A ghost appears and warns the group that the Null are coming. Grueber summons some Zombies and retreats to an upper level hallway as the Null invade. Hydro-Electric rips several Null apart with her electric attacks now that she can affect them, but soon retreats as they overrun the room. In the hallway, the team sees a room filled with pale faced people doing research, apparently part of the Grand Library. Grueber steps in and murders them all and then destroys the room itself, not wanting it to fall into Null hands. They eventually reach a portal and teleport directly into an underground hallway where the Ruun known as Samuel stands and days 'We will fight by your side'

Re: Tales of the Freedom Corps #26: The Null Invasion Part 2 Bam tells his story about what happened in Null Space and how he escaped. Apparently someone in chains has been telling Maar about the Archway to the Heavens! Is this the same guy from Grueber's lair??? Vargas realizes that if the little girl who dreamed of Xertia has an Archway to the Heavens in it, it's because she's seen it somewhere in real life. The team tracks the girl (Stephanie) to a psych ward, where she's been ever since the team destroyed Xertia. She's a scared girl and it's revealed that she has a pentagram carved into her arm. It was something her father did to her. The team visits the father in jail and he claims that the girl's grandparents sexually and physically abused the girl and he was framed for it. The team visits the grandparents and finds them taking care of another little girl. Silhouette finds another little girl tied up in the basement and after confirming the grandparent's acts through telepathy, the team accused the grandparents of misdeeds. The grandparents teleported to the basement, took the child, and left through some magical means. Silhouette scans and finds them in an old rock quarry outside of town. The team enters a network of caves and finds a massive room with the Archway to the Heavens. They defeat the grandparents, but soon encounter DEMON brothers, Maximillian Narcisse and a new powerful DEMON member from India who has power over the shadows. DEMON tries to sacrifice the girl on a stone altar, but they are stopped by the Freedom Corps. A battle ensues and Big G saves the girl. The team knocks out Maximillian and shakes up the Indian guy. The Black Shepherd teleports in and takes away the Indian guy and Maximillian, but leaves the Brothers, just as a Nullruun, two Null Spiders, and two new winged Null dissolve through a wall. The Nullruun orders one of the winged Null to tell Maar that the Archway has been found. Silhouette mentally controls one of the Brothers to attack the Null. The Brother misses and the Null go on the attack, dissolving the brothers. The Null then stop and ignore the team. Bam uses this to his advantage and slams the Nullruun into the archway, breaking its foundation. Bam beats the crap out of the Nullruun, hurting his hands in the process. However, the Nullruun rose up, bursting from its own body, this time with Bam's looks and powers. Silhouette attacks the Nullruun and succeeds, but the Nullruun splits again into a Silhouette style duplicate. The Archway begins to fall. Silhouette grabs the little girl from Big G and begins to leave. The mysterious chains guy appears above the archway and activates it by some unknown means. The archway falls over the team and the Null, taking them into the Heavens. Realizing there's little hope for the girl in a Null-invaded Earth, Silhouette dives into the Archway, taking the girl with him. The team is now in the heavens, watching angels battle Null.

Re: Tales of the Freedom Corps This is it! Issue #25! This is the start of the story that wraps up the previous 24 adventures: Issue #25: The Null Invasion Vargas receives a package containing the stolen Gear and Gyroscope, mailed from California. Soon after, chanting can be heard and it’s get very dark outside. Someone knocks at the door, and it’s a old friend of Vargas’s, a metahuman priest known as the Padre. According to the Padre, the island above Millennium City is spouting out darkness. Vargas orders the team to split up. He wants the Padre, Baron Von Awesome, Shadow Wolf, and Fade on the ground patrolling to keep the calm. The rest of the team should go to the island to investigate. Big G launches the team up to the island. They open the door to the tower on the island and Techno Grrrl goes right in. The Null Portal has been activated, but she also noticed a humanoid shape running into a glowing purple circle to the right of the Null Portal. Techno Grrrl runs into the portal and is soon followed by Centurion, Hydro-Electric, and John the Cop (now known as the Watcher). The team in the portal end up in the Undead Council chamber and are face to face with Mort Krieger. Did he open the portal? Krieger orders a dozen undead to attack them, but Hydro-Electric takes care of all of them. Krieger gets up to attack, but before he does he asks them how they came here in the first place. After being informed about the Null portal and the Purple Portal, Krieger declares that no one else came through this room… unless… somebody was invisible. He uses a power and sees that someone recently had crossed through this room invisibly. He orders the team down a corridor to follow the footsteps. The team encounters another Purple Portal and throws some of the team aside as he charges in. The team, realizing there’s no way out, charge in and they fall into what looks like Grueber’s lair! Krieger is suspended in mid-air by Grueber’s magic as Grueber declares that Krieger broke an Undead Council law of entering his lair without permission. Standing next to Grueber is some kind of glowing humanoid. Upon seeing the team, he tosses Krieger aside. Grueber activated the Null Portal, hoping that the team would blame Mort Krieger for it and kill him. He cannot simply murder Krieger himself. So, he teleports Krieger away. The team inquires about the glowing figure who then stops glowing, revealing a being made up entirely of chains. Hydro-Electric investigates the being and touches one of the chains and is instantly teleported to a prison cell made of fire. Grueber gets the being to teleport her back shortly afterwards. Grueber wants to attack the Null head on and catch them off guard. He reveals that while the Sol can hurt the Null, so can the supernatural. He wants the team to take a bite out of a magical apple that will turn them undead so that they can hurt the Null. Grueber then began telling a story about the last Null Invasion (a long one as Grueber tends to do). Apparently, there is a Source machine dedicated to controlling the Null. This was used to clear the Earth of Null during the last invasion. This machine was moved into Nullspace to destroy what was left of the Null, but it was never set off. The Sol destroyed much of the Earth to make sure no Null Portal was left standing. Grueber has a contact in Null Space that revealed to him that the Null Source still exists and is still workable. But, they would need to find this contact so that he can show the team where it is. The team needs to find Johnny Bam! Meanwhile on the ground, the team stops some looters who are arrested by red crystal gun carrying police. However, the team is soon attacked by two Null Spiders! The first spider dissolves a police officer. The other attacks the group. Despite Awesome’s attack that could level a building, the Null Spider still survived, though knocked around a bunch. The other Spider went after Fade. The cop shot his red crystal gun at the Null and managed to damage it severely. The Null went after him, but the Padre swept in and saved him. The Padre dropped him off on a balcony and then grabbed his red crystal gun. He aimed and fired which destroyed the Null completely. He went after the other Null, but before he could destroy it, the red crystal blew up. Bursting forth from the crystal was a full grown humanoid shape, made completely of fire. Were these the Sol of legend? The being launched an attack at the Null which dissolved it completely. It then took off the to the sky, followed by thousands of other Null, forming the equivalent of a small sun in the sky. Meanwhile, on the island, out of the portal stepped the Freedom Corps toughest enemy, Maar. Maar attack, quickly knocking around the members of the team that didn’t know his power. After nearly killing Big G, Mean Streak attacked Maar head on. Maar dodged all of the speedsters attacks and then without moving a muscle, all sorts of wounds that felt like a Null attack opened up on Mean Streak. Mean Streak slumped to the ground. Before the team could react, more slashes hit Mean Streak and he let out his last gasp. Mean Streak was dead. Maar picked up Mean Streak and like he did with Phon-Arath, absorbed Mean Streak into his body. Maar. The team braced for another attack, but suddenly out of the Null Portal came half of a body thrown at full force at Maar’s head. Maar was dazed at the attack. Out from the portal stepped a large man wearing scraps of clothes. It was Johnny Bam! Bam apologized to the half of a body, calling it Rolf. He then said that the battle could not be won. With that, he used his full strength to bash through the wall of the tower and jumping down to the city below, carrying Rolf with him.

Sooooo, this upcoming week is the 25th adventure for my group. Going by comic book logic, the 25th should be an important one, most notably for my campaign, an invasion by creatures known as the Null (see the Tales of the Freedom Corps thread). They were built up as big baddies starting in issue #5 until the team closed the portal to the Null dimension in issue #10. After that, with the exception of a small adventure they encountered a Null leader from an alternate Earth, they have not seen a Null since. However, prophecies, warnings from alternate Earth's that have been overrun by Null, and other bad omens from issues #11-19 led the team to believe that it was not the end of the Null. #19 saw the culmination of another major storyline where Zorran resurrected Shirak the Destroyer. Upon Shirak's defeat, Zorran cursed the world and raised portals to the Null dimension all over the world before he himself turned into stone. For the past four issues, all adventures have been fought while islands float in mid-air over most cities in the world, each carrying a Null Portal. A dark omen indeed!!! Anyway, thoughts on this story, the concept of Issue #25 in your campaigns, or the concept of story buildup for this thread are welcome!

Re: Tales of the Freedom Corps #22 To Hell and Back (Continued from Pirate Attack) Hydro-Electric was saved by the Champions team as they broke down the door to the Tower. Narcisse and his DEMON brothers faded into the shadow. Witchcraft and Alicia Blackmun send H-E into Hell to save Centurion who was captured by a demon. This demon literally stuck him with a pitchfork and began dipping him into a lava pit filled with souls for torture purposes. H-E defeated the demon and freed the souls as well as Centurion. Two of the souls stuck behind and told them that they know how to defeat the Freedom Corps enemy, Jack Fool, but they requested to be resurrected before they told. Before they could get out, the team encountered Luthor Black, the leader of DEMON who tried to convince Centurion to give him the artifact. However, despite trying to use a demon to possess Centurion as well as trying to turn H-E into fire, they managed to escape. The team got back from Hell and went the Ruun’s lair to find the bodies of the two souls, and then went to their on again/off again ally, Titus Grueber to get them resurrected. As soon as they arrived at Grueber’s lair, he used a spell to sneak them into a meeting between the various lower level leaders along with Titus and Mort-Krieger, the death knight (a co-leader of the Undead Council with Grueber) arguing about whether they should try to take over the Null from their current leaders or team with the metahumans of the world and try to defeat the Null. No decision was reached. Titus, after everybody left, resurrected the dead duo, but the price for doing that was basically that sometime in the future, he will ask the team to do something very strange and they will have to do it without hesitation. The resurrected guys, as it turns out, were cops along with Jack Fool. Their names are Luthar Mannheim and Jimmy Finn. They hunted DEMON in the 1930s, but were killed in the end. DEMON made sure that Jimmy and Luthar went to Hell while Jack Fool's body was used as an instrument of destruction for DEMON’s purposes. The only way to destroy Fool now is to get his body and bury it in holy ground. Titus informed the team of the supposed whereabouts of Fool's body, but when the team went there, it only had two low level DEMON brothers trying to sacrifice a hooker. The team defeated them but didn't find Fool's body However, one of the Brothers was 'borrowing' Maximillian Narcisse's robes and in it was a safety deposit box key in the local National Bank. The team investigated and found documents talking about Julian Vargas (the leader of the Freedom Corps) and how 18 years ago a Succubus was sent from Hell to seduce him and produce a child of untold dark power. She was successful, but when the child finally met it’s father when the child turned 18, a battle ensued with the child’s power unleashed. However, while the child manage to destroy Vargas’s physical body, the child's dark powers were locked away deep within it’s in mind by Vargas’s mental powers #23 To Save a Gallows It is announced that starting today, due to a major government contract, Binary Corp will now begin supplying weapons using the crystal from the crashed meteor to the police and MARS. Also today will be a dedication ceremony at Stronghold where a new wing will be opened for non-super powered villains (the gadgeteers mostly). At the dedication ceremony, giving a speech, will be one of the city’s top heroes, Baron Von Awesome (secretly nearby, a hired bodyguard, Le Phantomme, is nearby). Vargas orders Silhouette and Fade to sneak into Stronghold to get some of the Cloaca’s blood. With their stealth ability, they may be able to get in better then others, especially with most of the prison guards watching the speech. The team gets into Stronghold and looks into a security office to turn off the power dampeners. However, they notice that the power dampeners themselves have already been turned off in certain areas, including the Cloaca’s cell! Also, there is evidence that the guard in the security office has been mind controlled to ignore the dampeners. The team is soon attacked by two escaped prisoners, now known as Zigzag and Blackstar. An alarm sounds and Baron Von Awesome and Le Phantomme join the battle. Zigzag attacks Phantomme, but a stretching punch bounces off of his force field. Awesome soon unleashes a huge energy blast and knocks out Zigzag in one shot. Blackstar uses density powers to increase his mass and smashes a guard through a window. Phantomme creates a area of darkness surrounding about half of the room. As Silhouette goes to heal the guard, Blackstar stumbles around in the dark and ends up breaking the guard’s leg by stepping on him. Soon after though, after the darkness goes away, the Cloaca emerges from her cell flanked by a chanting DEMON brother. Both are surrounded by a golden glow. The Cloaca uses one of her tendrils to snatch away Blackstar and drain him completely. Following that, the Freedom Corp runs down the corridor and begins a battle with the Cloaca and the DEMON brother. Fade tries to get behind the brother and take him out, but the Cloaca trains him of his mental strength which she also does to Baron Von Awesome as well. The Cloaca seemed to have the upper hand and even seemed to be able to partially resist Stronghold’s power dampening field that Silhouette activated. The Cloaca went all out with her attacks and all seemed lost. However, Silhouette, knowing she didn’t have a chance to take out the Cloaca on her own, used her mind control powers to take over Awesome’s weakened mind. Using his strength, Awesome crushed the Cloaca as the Phantomme snuck around and crushed the brother. Silhouette, seeing the Cloaca retreating in her host’s body, quickly cut off a piece of the tendril. Later on, the tendril was given to Alicia Blackmun who manufactured a powder which when combined with Silhouette’s healing ability, was able to finally heal the stab wound given to Jennifer Gallows by Jack Fool. #24 A Challenger Awaits A Freedom Corps team meeting is held which included, Victor Eversole, Alicia Blackmun, and Witchcraft as well as new Freedom Corps member, Baron Von Awesome and Le Phantomme. Eversole announced that the city had paid the Freedom Corps bill from the damage they caused at Binary Corp and warned them to not do it again. Vargas also announced that Blackmun will help them out with any magical supplies that the team will need while Witchcraft will be the team’s liaison to the Champions. Vargas had the team brainstorm for allies in the likely event of a Null invasion. Soon, though, the window in Vargas’s office breaks as a young Japanese girl crashes in followed up by a detective only known as John. John wants to take her in for destruction of property. However, the girl says that if he does that, her family may be killed. They are currently at a warehouse in the city. After convincing John to not arrest her, Mean Streak and Centurion take the girl (known as Kumiko) to the warehouse and then deal with the arrest afterwards. Soon after the team arrives, John is shot by a sniper. Mean Streak quickly finds the sniper and takes him out. He reveals to John that he was hired by a man named the Thin Man. John uses telepathy to invade his mind to find out more, but he only sees a unknown guy sliding him money. Interestingly enough, what John was hearing in the sniper’s mind was actually heard on all of the surrounding radios as well. After John has the sniper taken away, the team enters the warehouse. The door slams shut around them and a blue field forms around the walls. The team sees multiple crates in the room which all burst open except for a large crate in the back. Robots come out of some of the crates, some fitted with cameras and one fitted with a monitor with Preet Junction’s head on it. Out of other crates, Malvan guards step out. Preet announced that they are live and that Mean Streak will now have to defend his title. Out steps a powerful looking humanoid known as Herculan. Mean Streak and Herculan battle while the rest of the team go after the guards. However, it seems that every time Centurion, John, or Kumiko hit one of the guards, Mean Streak would received a shock through his electronic device. This ended up being a serious problem for Mean Streak. Herculan used his transferring powers to draw strength and dexterity from Mean Streak while blasting away at him with punches and energy beams. However, Herculan’s arrogance caused his downfall. He had Mean Streak on the ground, barely conscious. Instead of finishing him off, he simply spits on him and insults him. This enrages Mean Streak who proceeds to grab Herculan and spin him at super speed for almost a full minute! Meanwhile, Kumiko runs to the large crates and dives into it, reappearing shortly thereafter with a power armor body suit! Nearby, a dizzy and nauseous Herculan tries to punch and shoot at Mean Streak from the spin, but he is way off. Herculan is spun onto the ground and Mean Streak pounces on him, using rapid fire punches to pound Herculan’s head into the floor, finishing him off. Preet announces that he never had Kumiko’s family in the first place, but thanks her for bringing Mean Streak to the building. He then teleports the guards and equipment away, leaving Herculan there to be arrested by MARS. Meanwhile, John is ready to arrest Kumiko. However, Dr. Silverback, who followed the team, convinces Kumiko to join the team in face of the crisis. John still wants to take her in, but Silverback gets John to join the team as well so that Kumiko can be watched. The team gets ready to leave when suddenly, Firewing makes a long awaited reappearance, crashing through the ceiling. The former arena champ challenges Mean Streak to a battle for the title, but gives him a week to heal up. Mean Streak accepts and Firewing leaves the warehouse.

In the middle of the adventure last night, we all went off on a tangent and tried to come up with ideas for how to build the Looney Tunes characters in HERO. So, how would you build: Bugs Bunny: (Bends shotguns, master of disguise, etc) Daffy Duck: (Can take damage like no other!!!) Road Runner: (Speedster and Luck!) And the zillions of others... let's have some fun with this one...