Edsel

Re: 6E Rules changes confirmed so far I said I will give it a try. I fully expect our group's other GM to buy the rules and run his games using it. I will learn the rules and play a character. If I end up liking the rules I will buy them and start using them. However in my original post in this thread I stated what I thought about each change as it had been presented. I also tallied it up: One of my greatest joys when building a Hero system character is playing with the Primary Characteristics and watching how they affect the Figured Characteristics. I like Figured Characteristics, a lot. I think that they make for a much more logical and rational character as an end product. As I view DEX it ought to have a major effect on your combat values. In my opinion A character who has good STR, BODY and CON, ought to have good STUN, to me that just makes logical sense. Etc., etc. I have literally hundreds of pages of data, all developed for 5ER, for the various campaign worlds I run. Since the new system, as presented, doesn't sound too appealing to me I sure don't want to devote years into updating all the stuff that I have now. At least not until I am sure I like the new system.

Re: 6E Rules changes confirmed so far 150 points is an optional guideline for the maximum number of disads you can take. I have had several players opt to take less than this value. It has also been common in our group to allow a lesser amount for the high end. For instance instead of playing 200 + 150 disads, we would do something like 250+100 or even 275 + 75. The idea being that fewer well-played disads are better than a bunch that do not enter play as often. Of course our group is eight players so individual disads don't get tapped as often by the GM when having to run that big a circus. I have rarely had a character that did not have that skill. A lot of our players take it as well though some seem shy about using it. Changing the name to "Charm" will probably relax people a bit about using it for non-sexual efforts (befriending, etc.). Fortunately I will probably get a chance to see how both work side by side. Personally I have decided against buying 6E since most of the announced changes are very much disliked by me. However our group's other GM is very keen on the new stuff. I figure he will buy it and use it for his campaigns. Sadly, this means that each of us will be running the game system we want to play while we each play the system that we don't like. If I find the new rules enjoyable then I can buy them once I am satisfied that they are worth it. I am perfectly willing to play the new system throughly before I give it a thumbs up or down. But I can say that I am very discouraged going into it.

Re: Appearance Effects, special and other I don't know about Haymaker, but I think that this is the article you are talking about. It was posted on Bob's Original Hero Stuff Page, or at least that is where I got it from.

Re: 6E Rules changes confirmed so far The easiest solution that I see for the loss of the COM attribute is just to use a house rule custom Talent. If I decide to go with 6E what I'll probably do is something like this: All characters are assumed to have a COM of 10. For each point you spend on the COM custom talent your COM score is raised by 2 points. So if you buy a 3-point custom talent you are assumed to have a 16 COM score. For that matter I can house rule that the formerly figured characteristics must be bought to the levels that they would normally figure to be in 5ER. A character would be allowed to not buy, or even buy down, one formerly figured characteristic of their choice. Combat values would be required to be bought to a level equal to their 5ER attribute base. So if you have a 15 DEX you are required to buy a 5 OCV & DCV. Of course the more I look at this the more inclined I am to think that I will probably just stick with 5ER. I will still likely pick-up the 6E PDF so I can more easily figure out how to back convert stuff that is later done for 6E.

Re: WF: Vehicle Weapons I figured I'd be able to count on you to know the answer. Thanks.

Re: IAF for concealed I agree with most of what others have said here. Whether or not a focus is Obvious or Inobvious is based on whether or not it is apparent that the power is produced by the focus. When the focus is not in use almost anything can be concealed. For example a pistol is an OAF, but you can easily carry it in a concealed holster and no one is aware of it until you draw it. The gun is not obvious when concealed but it still counts as an OAF.

Before I trouble Steve and/or Simon with this issue I thought I'd see if someone here has an idea about how this is supposed to be handled: On page 76 of 5ER note 13 for vehicle weapons says that they must be bought per vehicle at the cost of 1-point each. In Hero designer there are two check boxes for vehicle weapons. A 1-point called Vehicle Weapons and a 2-point labeled Vehicle Weapons (group). Either one of these two is wrong or I am missing something. Anyone care to take a stab at deciphering how this is supposed to work? Which is right 5ER or Hero Designer?

Re: Shadow Angelus Our next gaming session is scheduled for June 13th. I will be writing another session recap (campaign log) entry after that. I imagine that Eosin will continue Mirko's journal and some of the other players keep threatening to try their hands at story writing.

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles I liked SFB way back when it first came out. But years of new additions to the rules made it a non-enjoyable exercise. When all this foolishness about fighters and myriads of new weapons (with the huge amount of rules) showed up the game lost its appeal with me. I recently took my massive collection of miniatures (Fed, Rom, Kling, Gorn, Tholian and Kzin) to my FLGS where they are for sale. I never liked the addition of more races either (Hydrans, Lyrans, ISC, etc.) I like Federation Commander OK but it too is beginning to suffer from additional rules being piled on. I still have a copy of Federation Space, the first campaign system put out by Task Force games. I didn't really like Federation and Empire very much (again it got too rules heavy). Rules Heavy... kind of an odd argument coming from a Hero gamer.

Session 2 Log Campaign Log – Shadows Angelus, Session Two Real date: 30 May 2009 Game date: 19 March 2112 Early in the morning Shilo Mokushi is awakened by her alarm. Groaning with annoyance she hits the snooze button. Her hand then wanders down beside the bed as she reassures herself that her H&K P29 pistol is still secreted away in its hidden holster between the bed and nightstand. It is one of several concealed and loaded weapons that are scattered throughout her apartment. With an effort she gets herself out of bed and heads for the rest room to start her morning routine. In the bathroom mirror a very shapely girl with blue hair and pink eyes looks back at her. The eyes are actually a pale reddish brown color but the blue-violet hair makes them look lighter so everyone refers to her as having pink eyes. “Thank goodness,” she thinks to herself, “that my brows and lashes remained black. I’d hate to have to explain why and how I dye my eyebrows.” Shilo’s hair had not always been blue, as she matured and her telepathic and precognitive powers grew most of her hair changed to a deep blue color. Nowadays she explained away this unique trait as a trendy neo-gothic hair dye. Shilo checked the shower and saw that her Colt MkVI pistol was ready for action within its waterproof holster. Growing up in orphanages and in the rough areas of Osaka, with a telepathic “gift” had not been easy. She had read lots of thoughts and knew what sorts of evil lurked in the hearts of some people. When she reached puberty she had filled out almost too well, and her impressive chest had drawn the attention of every pervert that rode the subways or ogled young women anywhere in Japan. Now Shilo didn’t go anywhere without having a weapon in easy reach. She turned back to the mirror concentrated on clearing her head, the vision came and she was elsewhere… She rode in the wagon with Lady O’Shea and Mirko the Bard. She recognized Jared the teamster driving the wagon and sitting next to him was Tiberius the court adviser. Sir Silverton and his Squire Thanatos rode alongside escorting them. Prominent in the wagon was a strongbox that somehow looked rusted and decayed but still sturdy. Suddenly the wagon ground to a halt. On the road ahead a pair of knights had appeared both were afoot without sign of a horse or squire. They wore full plate mail and great helms covered their faces. Each wore a white tabard emblazoned with a red cross. Each knight held a huge two handed sword at the ready. A voice boomed from one of them “You may not pass.” Shilo looked up and once again found a blue-haired girl in a nightgown looking back at her from the mirror. * * * Though she wasn’t late, Shilo was the last to arrive for the morning briefing. Her vision had caused her to lose nearly 15 minutes. This morning’s shower had been a mad rush. Captain Alexander Richards once again graces the new 9th squad with his presence this morning. The last two members of the squad are joining the team today and if it hadn’t been for an inevitable paper work tie up they would have been here yesterday. Officers Caine and Silverton are introduced to the rest of the squad by Captain Richards. Tiberius Caine is essentially a genius, he can be relied on to know just about anything about any field of science that anyone cares to know about and a quite a few that no one cares about. Give him a box of electronic scraps and he can build almost anything and do it incredibly quickly. David Silverton is a Telekinetic Esper whose past seems very benign and unremarkable. After a brief chat about how the Aminus Mortis case is going the Captain excuses himself so the squad can get to work. After filling in the new squad members and getting acquainted the squad decides that their first order of business ought to be checking out the offices of Hanson’s Howlers in the Omicron sector. They pile into a pair of spinners and take off. The offices of Hanson’s Howlers are still locked up and apparently deserted as Mr. Patton had indicated yesterday morning. A quick scan with the spinner’s sensors indicate low levels of power usage but an almost imperceptible pulse in the energy readings (System Ops made by 10!) leads Tiberius to suspect that there is a receiver of some sort active within the offices. Fortunately Jared is able to easily and quickly bypass the electronic security lock and the squad enters to search the premises. Within the offices the team discovers six empty cradles for power armor suits and an active locator beacon that is still picking up a signal from one of the missing units. The signal is emanating from an ocean front warehouse in the Gamma sector. The squad is able to crack the security protocols on the office computers and soon retrieve a wealth of information. The transponder logs indicate that the signal from the missing sets of power armor all stopped pretty abruptly on the evening of 16 March. The armor transponder that is still transmitting indicates that life signs of the operator ceased at about the same time. The armor has not moved since that time. The team finds the names of several mechanics and power armor technicians that the Howlers apparently kept on retainer to handle higher level maintenance issues with their armor. Contacting these individuals yields little useful information since they haven’t been contacted by the Howlers for several days. The case files of the Howlers indicate that they had analyzed the residue from the footprints at Patton Manor and found the seawater and traces of marine chemicals that XSWAT labs had also found. However the Howlers had also recovered a tiny splinter of an unusual variety of teak wood and had traced it to a couple of warehouse floors in the Gamma sector. One of these warehouses is the one from which the transponder is still transmitting. Throughout the hour that the squad has spent here they have been tossing around ideas, suggestions and even had a couple of minor arguments. At this point Sergeant Thomas and several of the squad members are in favor of splitting up the squad. A couple of them could head to the Darwin Memorial Art Museum to talk with Alec Lafitte while the remainders finish up here. Tiberius is opposed to this since from what he has heard of their encounter with the Class II entity yesterday he feels it is dangerous to split up their forces. It is about this time when the squad realizes that Mirko, the squad mystic, is missing. Their fears are quickly abated when he answers his radio; he had just stepped out for tea. There was nothing magical going on at the Howler’s office and all of the chaos of the squad members squabbling was messing up his tranquility. Mirko is a monk and serenity is a virtue. The squad finds that they are just about done here anyway and by the time Mirko walks back from the local tea house they are ready to head to the museum. The squad arrives at the Darwin Memorial Art Museum at about 11:00 AM on this fine Thursday morning. The sun is shining brightly giving a welcome respite from the earlier drizzle. The museum is bustling with activity as the seven XSWAT officers enter the building. A group of school children stare curiously at the crisp blue and white uniforms as the officers pass through the main hall. Shilo’s mind wanders and so she absent mindedly scans the surface thoughts of the crowd. Several people suffer minor side effects due to this (hearing a brief indecipherable hiss of numerous voices or telepathic white noise) only a couple of the squad’s members detect this. Officer Silverton is an Esper and he senses her use of power and Officer Caine hears the telepathic white noise. Neither officer is pleased with what he sees as an unreasonable use of her power to invade the private thoughts of the local citizenry. As the group strolls through museum they begin to squabble as to whether they ought to go to Alec Lafitte’s office directly or have him paged at the information desk. Should they talk to him out here, in his office or should they see if they can get a conference room. The bickering prompts Mirko to wander off looking at paintings. This causes the group to organize more quickly as they decide to inquire about a conference room and have Mr. Lafitte paged to meet them there. They round up Mirko and head to the blue room. When Alec Lafitte arrives they have a conversation about the Animus Mortis. They inform him of the painting’s supposed destruction by burning two years ago. He seems aware of this since there was discussion of it in the art world. Alec confirms that he was consulted by Jay Patton several years ago when he sent a deep sea salvage team to see if the vault at the Bothwick estate near old San Diego was still intact. This was the location from which the Animus Mortis was recovered. The conversation drifts as he shows them pictures of the original painting and several other works that were done by Greg Stoneham. Mirko and Alec Lafitte get involved in how an artist leaves a bit of their spirit in paintings, something that is absent from photographic work. The topic is steered back on track and they discover that Greg Stoneham was known for his disturbing paintings and his madness. Apparently the artist’s career was brief he only did about a dozen works between the ages of 30 and 33. The Animus Mortis was his final and most well known piece. He committed suicide by breaking into the entomology exhibit at a local zoo and trying to swallow several very venomous scorpions. It is noted by the squad that several of Stoneham’s painting feature stellar constellations in the background and Tiberius notes that while very exacting they seem to be just a little off. Doing some quick checking he realizes that the constellations are off because some appear as they would have looked thousands of years ago and others as they will look thousands of years from now. Mr. Lafitte offers to ask around in the art community to see if anyone has heard about the Animus Mortis resurfacing, but Tiberius cautions him against this. He feels that it might not be a safe topic for a civilian to be asking about. He does ask that Mr. Lafitte contact them if someone else starts asking questions about the painting. Rachel O’Shea is the one who does most of the questioning of Alec Lafitte and after they depart the museum she relates her observations and opinions to the rest of the squad (made a very good Conversation roll). She senses that Mr. Lafitte seems more interested than he ought to be about the idea of the painting being restored. She also points out that as the curator of one of the world’s most famous art museums Mr. Lafitte has a comfortable life, yet he still acts as a well paid consultant for several art hunters. She feels that perhaps Mr. Lafitte is a bit materialistic and could be sensing an opportunity for profit if this unique collector’s item (the Animus Mortis) were to reappear on the market. The squad decides that their next stop should be the warehouse in the Gamma sector. But by now it is getting past noon and the squad decides to descend on a local restaurant for lunch. After an amazingly short discussion they even find a place that seems palatable to all of them. After lunch the squad heads to the warehouse. From the outside things appear normal enough but they fly the spinners around the exterior at altitude just to be cautious before they land to venture inside. The beacon is still transmitting but the signal has weakened which likely means that the batteries are nearing the end of their life. Within the warehouse they find a charnel house. Bits of powered armor and pieces of the pilots litter the floor of the building. There are a few burn marks and some minor damage within the edifice which indicate that Hanson’s Howlers put up a brief, and apparently futile, fight before they were brought low. Examination of the wreckage shows that some of the armor was pierced through and other parts were literally torn asunder. The warehouse contents are found to be materials and equipment used by museums to restore relics and artwork, including paintings. It also looks like some of these supplies have been used recently within this very warehouse but whatever they were used on is no longer here. Mirko is able to sense magical residue here that indicates a gate of some sort was opened here. Rachel senses a lingering residue of evil. Feeling his work is done Mirko finds a clean spot of the warehouse floor in an out of the way corner and meditates while the other squad members search the stored materials and the warehouse’s files for clues as to who owns the warehouse, who rents it and who all of the material here belongs to. Their efforts yield information which makes it clear that Marcus Bentley is the person who ordered this material from the assorted manufacturers and had it all delivered here. Sergeant Thomas calls Corporal Green (their dispatch officer) to have her check background material on Marcus Bentley. Very soon they discover that he has a wrap-sheet for burglary. In addition it is found out that the current residence of the prime suspect is only two doors down from Mirko’s uncle Augustus. The trip to Marcus Bentley’s residence was swift and without incident. Upon arrival the two spinners paused two houses down as Mirko and Tiberius exited their transport to herd two children (Ghiselle and Konrad, Mirko’s cousins) back into their father’s house (Mirko’s uncle Augustus). No sooner were the children shooed inside that Marcus Bentlley was seen emerging from his house dressed for a night on the town. Tiberius immediately shouted a challenge at Marcus and drew his sidearm, the nimble Mr. Bentley quickly ducked back inside his home. The squad immediately went into action. David and Rachel joined Tiberius and Mirko in front of the residence while Shilo, Rhonin, and Jared flew their spinner over the three story brownstone residence so they could approach from the rear. Tiberius was the first to approach the door while the Esper David Silverton removed the front door, frame and all, with a telekinetic blast. Mirko quickly joined Tiberius at the door but was just in time to see Marcus Bentley deliver a powerful eldritch blast to Officer Tiberius Caine. The force of the attack blew the officer across the street and through the front wall of the home he struck. As Mirko watched a ripple in space and wave of nausea enveloped the area and the form of Marcus Bentley swelled and took on the monstrous form of a huge entity. Behind him on the wall was the Animus Mortis whole once again. A wild battle ensues with the six remaining squad members trying to launch attacks at the creature and occasionally at the Animus Mortis itself. They soon find that their attacks against the painting are having little effect. Attacks that should have vaporized the painting barely blemish it and any marks rapidly disappear. Shilo started to snatch the painting from the wall but as soon as she touched it the creature immediately launched an attack at her which she barely dodged. Next the creature spread a blast between Jared and Rhonin, which the sergeant avoided but the officer did not. Rhonin was blown through a pair of interior walls coming to rest against the kitchen at the rear of the house. Throughout all of this the entity was taking a pounding as lasers, magical attacks and telekinetic blasts were directed at it. The creature was very tough and only weakened slowly. As the battle dragged on the effects of the entity sickness continued to assault the squad members. JT (Sergeant Thomas) fires his massive C-90 Maser at the painting but in the heat of combat he misses and rips a large hole in one of the house’s few remaining good walls. As the battle rages the house begins to creak as the damaged walls struggle to prevent a roof collapse. Undeterred by the groaning noise and with an exhausted magazine; JT picks up a fallen ceiling joist and smashes it into the creature without much effect. The creature sends another massive spiked tentacle toward Shilo who grabs the Animus Mortis and uses the painting to block the blow and apparently absorb the momentum of the blow since she barely feels the contact. A final spell from Mirko and the creature finally collapses with a burst of dark energy. This finally finishes off the remains of the house and it caves in. Trapped under the rubble Shilo sees a faint glow from the painting that she still holds. A tingling passed into her hands and arms and she drops the painting. On her hands she briefly sees what look like some sort of twisted black runes. It is writing unlike anything she has ever seen and it fades away quickly. Within a few minutes the cyborg JT manages to dig out himself out of the wreckage of the brownstone along with Rhonin, Shilo and the Animus Mortis. In the aftermath of the battle the team is left with a wrecked brownstone, several other homes with collateral damage and the Animus Mortis on the ground before them. Tiberius had managed to disinter himself from the house across the street; fortunately the force field he had cobbled together from various pieces of electronic gear had served him well preventing serious injury. Mirko attempted to destroy the painting with one of his most powerful attack spells but the painting merely absorbed it. Tiberius attempted to use phosphorus to ignite the canvas but what scorching was done seemed to rapidly fade from the demonic artifact. Soon the team sensed that the feeling of wrongness that is so characteristic of entity sickness seemed to be building again despite the lack of a creature. Shilo’s hands began to tingle. It took little imagination to realize that the painting itself was to blame and the effect seemed to be gradually increasing. Mirko and Rachel placed magical and holy wards around the painting respectively and this, for the time being seems to be holding the malevolent power of the relic at bay. Shilo rubbed her hands as the tingling subsided. The squad realizes that they cannot let the painting remain where it lies it must be destroyed but further study will be needed to determine a method that can work. Transporting the Animus Mortis within a spinner is out of the question since there is not enough floor space to etch the wards with which Rachel and Mirko are holding the item. A call is made for an armored truck in which the protective wards can be erected while the painting is transported to XSWAT HQ and secure storage. In the meantime the squad concocts a cover story in which Marcus Bentley had smuggled a baby pygmy elephant into his brownstone and there he had carried out inhumane genetic experimentation on the unfortunate beast. The creature had grown to adulthood while imprisoned within the house and it had finally gone mad and broken free of its captivity. The mutated and insane, pachyderm had caused untold damage to its prison, it had slain it jailer Marcus Bentley. At the same time the animal’s rampage had released all sorts of noxious illegal chemicals as it trashed the home lab, thus causing the sickness to those in the surrounding area who were exposed. XSWAT and the APD evacuate the area while hazmat teams are called in to clean up the chemical spill, evaluate the soundness of the damaged housing and remove the bodies of the slain creature and its captor.

Re: [shadows Angelus III] The City of Angelus I am dying to have a copy that I can print. I hate trying to read things on the computer screen. I want a nice paper document I can print on my Color LaserJet and take to bed with me.

Re: Shadow Angelus I am about half way through the campaign recap of session 2 right now. I hope I can make the time to get it finished tomorrow. I also need to review the pictures that I have sent you to figure out which ones are OK for my players to see and which ones I want to keep secret for now.

Re: [shadow Angelus III] Mirko's Journal Chris's character is Officer David Silverton (Telekinetic Esper). Audie's is Officer Tiberius Caine (The science guy and gadgeteer).

Has anybody done a write-up for the motorcycle Fenrir from Final Fantasy VII Advent Children?

Re: Shadow Angelus I will try to remember and do my future stuff in RTF, send you a copy, and then convert it to Word and pretty it up for my use.

Re: Shadow Angelus OK. Here you go.

Susano will likely be putting this on the Shadows Angelus III website soon, but since that might take a while here is the recap of our first session. I will be running our next session this Saturday (5/30/09). Campaign Log (Session Recaps) – Shadows Angelus III Introduction to the Campaign Log Throughout the years I have always made the effort to maintain a campaign log of the games I have run. These session recaps serve two primary purposes. (1) It allows everyone to refresh their memory about what has previously occurred so that no one is at a loss about the current situation when the game resumes. (2) It allows me as the games master to make minor revisions to the history. These revisions are generally done to allow me to include information that the players should be aware of but that, for whatever reason, was left out during the actual game play. The campaign log is considered to be canon. Whenever there is confusion about what exactly happened during a game the campaign log is considered to be the true account. Whenever I put together the recap of the last session I let the players involved have the opportunity to examine the proposed record for errors and omissions. Once we have all had a chance to make suggestions I complete the final copy which then becomes canon for the campaign. ● ● ● Campaign Log – Shadows Angelus, Session One Real date: 16 May 2009 Game date: 18 March 2112 Five new graduates of the XSWAT academy have been ordered to report for duty at the 13th Precinct. These new officers are Mirko Song (a wizard of Hermetic tradition), Shilo Mokushi (a telepathic Esper with precognitive abilities), Jared Thomas (a former APD officer and cyborg), Rachael O’Shea (a former detective from Old Chicago also a Crusader), and Rhonin Thanatos (the youngest at 19 who has odd tattoos and unusual powers). The new officers have only a short time to get acquainted with each other before Captain Alexander Richards enters the briefing room. With him is Corporal Janet Green, a well dressed middle-aged civilian and much to the surprise of the assembled officers Director Alice Cadbury herself. Introductions are made. The officers present will be the members of a new 9th Squad to replace a previous squad which was lost in action. Sergeant Jared Thomas will be the field commander of the new squad and Corporal Janet Green will be the unit’s dispatch officer. The new squad discovers that they have been handpicked by Director Cadbury to form the new 9th Squad. Apparently she feels that each of them have the required abilities to make a good team. Next the civilian is introduced as Chris Patton and he is the primary witness for the first case being assigned to the new 9th squad. Mr. Patton is the current CEO of Patton Financial an international investment banking firm which has provided funding to XSWAT in the past and has made it clear that assistance with this matter could result in increased funding to the department. Mr. Patton claims that magic was used to steal a very valuable item from the Patton manor. The bottle contained holy water and some ashes from a painting known as the Animus Mortis. The painting was burned two years ago by Jay Patton (Chris’s father) and the ashes were scattered. A portion of the ashes were retained by Jay to prevent anyone ever being able to reconstruct the painting. Since the ashes have been stolen he fears that someone is trying to do just that. The history of the Animus Mortis that Chris Patton tells is macabre. The painting is of pre-cataclysm origin and was lost when California sank beneath the Pacific Ocean. It was recovered several years ago by a deep sea salvage team. Of the ten members of the salvage team only three survived the dive. All three survivors suffered from exotic and mysterious physical maladies and only one of them survived. Ed Bently the sole survivor was committed to the Chadworth asylum for the mentally insane shortly thereafter. Two years ago Jay Patton’s wife and other son were brutally murdered while in a room with the painting. The bodies were literally shredded and the case has never been solved. Jay Patton clearly believed that the painting had something to do with it and that is why he burned the painting and had the ashes scattered. As soon as the theft of the bottle of ashes was discovered Jay Patton hired a mercenary company with a reputation for being discrete. Hanson’s Howlers were asked to recover the ashes at all costs. They investigated the scene of the robbery and then went to work. However, Hanson’s Howlers promptly disappeared and the Patton’s have been unable to contact them. Chris Patton is beginning to believe that there may be something to the cursed nature of the painting and he fears that Hanson’s Howlers may be lost. Hanson’s Howlers have an office in Angelus in the Omnicron Sector. After repeated attempts at communication Chris visited the office but it was closed and locked. The 9th Squad decides that their first priority is to visit Patton Manor to review the crime scene and take a look at the surveillance recordings that Chris Patton says they have. Mr. Patton has not brought the recordings with him and will not grant electronic access to the manor’s security system since this would present a potential gap in their corporate security. The crime scene at Patton Manor, in Alpha Sector, Sakura District, has been untouched since the personnel from Hanson’s Howlers investigated it. At the crime scene the squad examines a boot print on the carpet which has stained and left some crusty salt. The quick analysis from XSWAT headquarters will confirm that this was caused by seawater. The security system of the manor, while impressive, is by no means foolproof no security logs show any unauthorized access to the manor but a hidden surveillance camera did get a picture of a very non-descript person. The suspect is shown entering the room holding still for a few seconds and then heading directly to the bottle to take it. Mirko is able to detect traces of magic on the mantle where the bottle was, in the fireplace and from a spot on the wall which turns out to be the place the painting was originally hung after its recovery. There are no signs of recent powerful magic and it is clear that no magical means were used to enter the estate; it was merely the work of a skilled burglar. The fact that traces of magic can be detected after the artifact was burned make Mirko thinks that there was/is a great deal of magic to the Animus Mortis. Rachel O’Shea is also able to detect traces of evil coming from the same areas. Records kept at the Patton Manor indicate that the remaining ashes of the painting were dumped into the compost pile in the garden two years ago. This material was picked up by Jame’s Brothers Gardening Services. The team has their collected evidence taken to XSWAT HQ for further analysis and then decides that the paying a visit on Ed Bently at the Chadworth asylum would be a good idea. Rachel O’Shea contacts Ian Carnegay an old friend who works with the Order of Enoch and asks him to find out what the Order knows about the painting. Ian promise to look into it and give her a call back. As their spinner carrying the 9th Squad arrives at the asylum it becomes quickly obvious that all is not well. The asylum is tucked away in an out of the way corner of Beta Sector, away from the hustle and bustle of any main thoroughfares. The lights of the building are off and the front gate hangs half-off its hinges. The spinner comes to a hovering stop in the rain just outside the main gate. As officer O’Shea becomes aware of a strong source of evil emanating from the building an unearthly roar followed by human-sounding screams erupts from the building. One of the windows shatters and smoke begins to belch out into the suddenly intensifying rain. Several of the officers man the weapons of the spinner as Sergeant Thomas activates the scanners and detects (with a fantastic Sys Ops roll) a large “something” moving within the parking garage of the building. A wave of nausea rolls over the spinner and its occupants. Sergeant Thomas tells everyone to brace for an impact as he is confident that the armored spinner can punch through the closed garage doors. This consumes the entire surprise phase for the 9th Squad since they have to brace for the crash through the door. The spinner hits the door as Sergeant Thomas puts it into a sideways attitude. The door shatters under the momentum of the spinner and suddenly the squad finds themselves face to face with large entity. Rachel O’Shea develops a nose bleed and most of the rest of the squad hesitate at the site of the monstrosity that they face. Sergeant Thomas, being less affected than his squad, dives from the spinner with his C-90 heavy maser in hand he fires into the creature hoping to draw its attention from the spinner containing the rest of his squad. The maser burns the creature but not enough to slow it down; his distraction is also ineffective as the creature slams the spinner full of officers. The armor of their transport is dented and scored but it holds and the occupants receive nothing but a jolt. Rhonin opens up with the door-mounted mini-gun but the creature shrugs off the bullets from the gun. The remainder of the squad bail out of the spinner and scatter trying to surround the beast. Soon the creature is being attacked from all sides. Shilo and Rachel are fining away with their C-60 Masers as Mirko darts to the far side of the garage attempting to get behind the entity. The creature flails out with a huge claw at Rachel but the Crusader manages to avoid the blow. Mirko now unleashes his magic on the beast and wounds it further, while Rachel and Shilo’s masers manage to inflict minor injuries to the creature. Sergeant Thomas pumps another blast from his Heavy Maser into the beast causing it to bellow in rage as its flesh is seared. The creature sends a wave of sharply spiked tentacles at the cyborg Sergeant and riddles holes through the wall behind him as well and tearing up his uniform however the combination of his uniform armor and his cyborg body prevent him from taking any major harm. Rhonin calls forth his power and with a puff of crimson and black smoke a sword materializes in his hands as he darts forth to smite the creature with less than hoped for results. Meanwhile Shilo scores a well aimed hit with her C-60 Maser and scores a horrible wound on the beast. Shortly thereafter a combination of attacks fells the beast. As it collapses it discharges a burst of errant energy which blows out most of the roof of the garage. The creature begins to rapidly dissolve as the rain pours in through the shredded roof. As Sergeant Thomas secures the spinner and calls to have APD forces cordon off the area surrounding the asylum the rest of the team proceed into the asylum hoping that they are not too late to save the patients and staff from whatever may be transpiring within. As Sergeant Thomas hurries to catch up with the squad he hears and then sees an approaching robotic camera drone. He blasts it from the sky with the last shot remaining in his C-90s clip. He quickly reloads and hurries inside, while calling dispatch to inform the APD to keep reporters out of the still dangerous area. Entering the ground floor of the asylum through the shattered door from the garage the squad soon finds a thoroughly ripped up building. The building is pitch-black and the stark beams of the squad’s flashlights soon pierce the gloom. They soon find bodies of the asylum staff strewn about the ground floor. Many are ripped apart, some appear to have committed suicide by whatever available means they could find and others looks as if they died from bizarre physical ailments. There is smoke and heat damage in various places. The ground floor is cleared as quickly as possible and the squad heads up the stairs. They top the stairs and see a fire burning at the end of the hallway. Rachel senses evil, though not as strongly as before so the squad proceeds cautiously. Most of the rooms in this hallway seem to be patient cells though there are no traces of bodies. A shout from Rachel alerts the team as half a dozen Class I Entities charge out of various doors to attack the officers. Mirko soon finds that his protective barrier is effective against these weaker foes though just barely. The fight is brutal but brief and the squad manages to dispatch the low level entities without suffering any further harm, though the entity sickness still affects some of them. After this battle the squad finds a lone survivor. An intern by the name of Jeffrey R. Wilkins is trapped beneath some rubble but the cyborg muscles of Sergeant Thomas soon free him. Other than being quite shaken the young man is in remarkably good shape. Wilkins was studying under Dr. Spencer the chief physician of the facility. He claims that the entity emerged from D Block and gives directions as to where that is. On their trip to D Block it becomes apparent that there is no trace of the inmates. There are no bodies; they seem to have simply vanished. They find Ed Bentley’s cell in D Block with the door and surrounding door frame completely blasted away from within. On the walls of the cell are letters and pictures inscribed with dried blood. The writings are mostly nonsensical but vaguely allude to impending doom. One picture is clearly a crude rendering of the Animus Mortis. There are also names of various members of the Patton family along with the dates of their deaths. As the team studies this the lights suddenly come back on, startling the group. A quick radio call determines that APD units are on the scene and that one of their techs used an outside electrical box to resupply power to the building. Sergeant Thomas grumbles that in the future they be informed about such things. The squad finds Dr. Spencer’s office and start examining his notes and records regarding Ed Bentley. Dr. Spencer noted that Mr. Bentley made initial progress when first admitted but then began to backslide and became more and more mentally unstable. He was visited twice a year by his brother Marcus Bentley. His behavior continued to worsen until 16 March 2112 when he cut himself and began to write and draw on his cell walls with his own blood. Ed Bentley had no contact with the outside world for over a month and Dr. Spencer was mystified as to how he knew the names and dates of death for the various members of the Patton family. In the late afternoon of March 16th Ed became practically frantic, an audio recording of various ravings is included most prominently is his cry of, “I can’t hold it back anymore!” It has been a long day and the squad heads back to the precinct house to end their shift. They are all filthy. The day started off with them in crisp and clean new uniforms and now they are all covered in grime, smoke, gore and other stuff they care not to identify. A hot shower and a good night’s sleep will be welcomed by all. On the way back to the precinct Ian Carnegay calls Officer O’Shea with the info she requested. The Order of Enoch knows that the Animus Mortis is a very powerful evil artifact. Ian cautions that if Rachel finds this item it could be very perilous. They believe that the painting has a sentience of its own and it “wants to be restored.” Anyone in close proximity to the painting for too long is in danger of falling under its influence. Ian suggests that Alec Lafitte, the curator of the Darwin Memorial Art Museum, might have more info on the painting since he specializes in paintings that were lost in the cataclysm. See also Mirko's Journal for one of the character's viewpoints on this session.

Re: Transformers Hero I remember a long long time ago an old group that I was with started a game in which each player made up an autobot to represent themselves. Back then we were part of a organized gaming club. The president of the club was a school teacher whose nickname was Bingo. His autobot was Bingobot Prime (a school bus). It was about 20 years ago but we were already using Champions. It has been so long I don't remember what my own persona was. The game never got off the ground all we did was put together a few character.

Re: Shadow Angelus Yep, the second effort is much better. BTW, I finally finished the campaign log for session one (or session recap) I need to let the players look it over to see if they spot any errors or omissions and then I can send it on to Susano and/or post it here under a SA Campaign Log thread.

Re: [shadows Angelus III] The City of Angelus The the Cthulhu mythos one of the Cthulhu worshiping cults was "The Hermetic Order of the Silver Twilight" but that almost sounds too benign.

Re: Order of the Stick Still Xykon took a beating from V before the battle ended and I didn't see Red Cloak or anyone else do much to heal him. If O-Chul gets the drop on him he just might do the job or at least force him to flee so that O-Chul and V can possibly make an escape of some sort.

Re: Order of the Stick So how many people thing that this could be the end of Xykon?

Re: Mottos for use in games From a Dark Champions vigilante group, they had a calling card with this on it: "Heinous solutions for henious problems."

Re: Shadow Angelus I'd prefer to have what I can get as soon as I can get it. Ideally I may be able to use some of it for game settings. In reality I probably won't actually do that since I never seem to have enought time. But at least if I have something to read I can still have hope.

Re: [shadow Angelus III] Mirko's Journal Donn's character's (the Irish female crusader) name is Rachel O'Shea.