BoloOfEarth

A guy on another message board made this video as a tribute to the space exploration game Elite: Dangerous.  The video is brilliant; the song even more so.  It would be great if they could put the song in the next Star Trek movie.
 

Crimson Phoenix snarled at his fallen foe, the blood still dripping from his sword.  "Nobody, and I mean nobody, tries to screw me in a deal."  He ripped a length of cloth from the dead DEMON Morbane's robe and wiped the worst of the blood off the sword.  His own wounds were already healing at an incredibly fast rate.  He had gotten so used to his ability to regenerate that he didn't even notice it any more.  Ever since he had come back from supposed death a decade before, he trusted that nothing could truly harm him for long.
 
The DEMON initiates had fled while Phoenix was shrugging off the Morbane's magical attacks and slicing the back-stabbing jerk to pieces, but he didn't want to stick around any longer than necessary.   The authorities just might show up to investigate all the weird lights in the night sky, and Phoenix didn't want to have to slice his way through a couple cop cars to get them to leave him alone.  As Crimson Phoenix reached back to sheath his sword, he felt a pain in the middle of his back and winced.  That's right, he thought.  The Morbane had literally stabbed him in the back, and he never had pulled the dagger loose during the fight.  It took a swing or two with the sword to knock the dagger free, and it fell to the ground with a clatter. 
 
Shaking his head, he walked over to the stone altar and picked up the small oxyx skull DEMON had hired him to procure.  "I wonder what the heck DEMON wanted with you," he said, then shrugged indifferently and dropped it into his leather shoulder satchel.  "Whatever it is, I'll bet I can find someone else willing to pay me for you."  With that, he strode off into the night.

The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection.
 
Cast of characters:
Dent: ork, rat shaman
No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer
Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist
Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic
Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems
Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator
Young Elven Technologists (YET): An elven policlub that tried to refute common stereotypes about elves.
Lancelot Windtree (NPC): An elven mage who tried to embody every stereotype of elves ... particularly the negative ones.
 
Are They Framed YET
This module was previously described by Drhoz (here).
 
The team had been hired to do a run against the Young Elven Technologists to frame them for a crime nearly identical to the ones they had been getting away with. In order to perfect the frame, the decking had to be done from inside YET's building.
 
Planning the mission....
 
Happy Jack: "This mission has the best chance of succeeding if we can get in and out without them even knowing we were there."
Audacity Jane: "So we wait until tomorrow night."
Byte Force: "No. We should do it this morning, between 5am and 7am. I don't know any deckers that get up that early." (pause) "Though I do know a few who stay up that late."
 
Dent: (to Byte Force) "I keep telling you, you need to become a combat decker. Learn some infiltration skills."
Byte Force: "Why would I waste my time learning those?"
Dent: "For jobs like these. We have to sneak you inside YET's building so you can do the run from there."
Byte Force: "I found it more useful to invent this little device." (holds up his 'device') "You can sneak into their building, plug it into a dataport, and it will look like that's where my cyberdeck is located."
Audacity Jane: "What is it?"
Byte Force: "It's a complex invention known as 'an antenna'."
 
Audacity Jane: "I can get us in through the back door."
Happy Jack: "Don't go in there. Use the front door instead."
Audacity Jane: "Why?"
Happy Jack: "The back door is in the kitchen. You'll run into anyone who has the munchies."
Dent: "Not everyone eats like you do, Jack."
Happy Jack: "Okay. I'll revise that. You'll run into one of the troll street samurai who has the munchies."
Audacity Jane: "I'll get us in through the front door."
 
Dent and No-Step did thorough astral reconnaisance of YET's building.
 
No-Step: "... and we weren't able to learn the layout of Ehran's suite, because the walls are magickally warded, so we can't get in."
Eye Spy: "If you can't get in, how can you be sure that it's Ehran's suite?"
Dent: "It's the only room in the living areas that they bothered to put a ward around."
 
Eye Spy's drones were able to contribute to the scouting, since a massive skylight allowed her to see into the indoor gardens that filled one third of the building.
 
Dent: "I thought YET was trying to refute elven stereotypes."
 
Dent and Jane had no difficulty getting into YET's building, sneaking through the indoor garden, slipping upstairs, and getting into Ehran's quarters.
 
Dent: (whispered over the radio link) "This is like taking candy from a baby."
Byte Force: "Obviously you've never tried to take candy from a baby. They may not put up a fight, but they make a big fuss."
 
Byte Force's run through YET's system went smoothly, which was suprising, given that it was created and populated by a group of deckers. After finding the backdoor passcode to Dassurn, Byte Force began his run into Dassurn's system ... while still plugged in to the dataport in Ehran's suite.
 
Even on a smooth run, things can get complicated in a hurry.
 
Eye Spy: "A group of people just pulled up on motorcycles outside the building. There's ten of them."
Audacity Jane: "Are they coming into the building?"
Eye Spy: "They're parking and getting off their motorcycles. They're moderately armed ... submachine guns." (long pause) "Make that heavily armed. One has a rocket launcher!"
 
Audacity Jane: "Is Byte Force still doing his run?"
Eye Spy: "Yes."
Audacity Jane: "Drek. He probably doesn't even know he needs to hurry." (pause) "Jack, as soon as Byte Force is done with the run, we may need a diversion to get out of here."
Happy Jack: "Okay."
[bOOOOM]
The building shook. Plaster cracked and dust fell from the walls and ceiling.
Audacity Jane: "That's too soon!"
Dent: "We're not ready to go yet!"
Happy Jack: "That wasn't me."
Eye Spy: "The guy with the rocket launcher blew a hole in the front of the building." (pause) "And they just ran in through the hole."
 
Happy Jack had been sitting in an alley across the street, disguised as a homeless troll. Listening to the shooting and shouting coming from YET's building, he picked up an important detail.
 
Happy Jack: "They're the Association Para-Noblis. Those elf posers who kill real elves for not being elven enough."
No-Step: "I was hoping we had ruined them."
Happy Jack: "Well ... there are only ten of them left."
 
Deep inside Dassurn's network, Byte Force triggered Mr. Johnson's program, which immediately began draining all of Dassurn's liquid assets. After watching a moment in awe, Byte Force raced over to a nearby Trace and Report security program.
Byte Force: (slapping the Trace and Report program with his avatar's tail) "Wakey, wakey!"
 
Byte Force: (jacking out of the matrix) "Mission accomplished. Grab my antenna and sneak back out. Don't forget to lock Ehran's door behind you."
Audacity Jane: "We'd love to do just that, but the exit is blocked. Most of the elves and trolls are covering the garden from the balcony. The rest are covering the stairs. We would have to pass through a raging gun battle."
No-Step: "Can you use smoke or invisibility to get past them?"
Dent: "YET has two elven mages. They'll be able to assence us."
 
And one of the elven mages was making his presence known....
 
Lancelot Windtree: (yelling at the troll street samurai) "Why are you staying up here? Go down and shoot them."
troll street samurai: "That's a stupid tactic."
Lancelot Windtree: "You're too stupid for tactics. That's why we hired you."
Audacity Jane: (quietly to Dent) "I forsee a 'friendly fire' episode in that elf's future."
 
The exit may have been blocked, but there were other options....
 
Audacity Jane: "I have detcord. I'll just make a new exit."
Happy Jack: "Don't. If you make an exit, they will know you were inside. I'll make the exit from out here."
No-Step: "They will still know we were here if you blow a hole in the building."
Happy Jack: "The APN posers already blew one hole in the building. Who is going to assume that somebody else made the second hole?"
 
Jack blew a hole into the room across the hall from Ehran's. After Dent and Jane climbed down out of the hole and ran for cover, Dent couldn't stop giggling.
 
Audacity Jane: "I think he's suffering from hysteria."
No-Step: "I'll slap him out of it."
Audacity Jane: "We can take turns."
Eye Spy: "What about the APN? Are we just going to leave them?"
Dent: (still giggling) "I already took care of them."
Everyone stared at Dent.
Dent: "Before I left the building, I gave one final order to the hearth spirit. I told him to wait one minute, then use his Accident power on them."
Eye Spy: "I hope its a really serious accident."
[bOOOM]
No-Step: "I'm guessing it was ... because I've never seen a 'minor' accident involving a rocket launcher."

Crimson Phoenix snarled at his fallen foe, the blood still dripping from his sword.  "Nobody, and I mean nobody, tries to screw me in a deal."  He ripped a length of cloth from the dead DEMON Morbane's robe and wiped the worst of the blood off the sword.  His own wounds were already healing at an incredibly fast rate.  He had gotten so used to his ability to regenerate that he didn't even notice it any more.  Ever since he had come back from supposed death a decade before, he trusted that nothing could truly harm him for long.
 
The DEMON initiates had fled while Phoenix was shrugging off the Morbane's magical attacks and slicing the back-stabbing jerk to pieces, but he didn't want to stick around any longer than necessary.   The authorities just might show up to investigate all the weird lights in the night sky, and Phoenix didn't want to have to slice his way through a couple cop cars to get them to leave him alone.  As Crimson Phoenix reached back to sheath his sword, he felt a pain in the middle of his back and winced.  That's right, he thought.  The Morbane had literally stabbed him in the back, and he never had pulled the dagger loose during the fight.  It took a swing or two with the sword to knock the dagger free, and it fell to the ground with a clatter. 
 
Shaking his head, he walked over to the stone altar and picked up the small oxyx skull DEMON had hired him to procure.  "I wonder what the heck DEMON wanted with you," he said, then shrugged indifferently and dropped it into his leather shoulder satchel.  "Whatever it is, I'll bet I can find someone else willing to pay me for you."  With that, he strode off into the night.

Crimson Phoenix snarled at his fallen foe, the blood still dripping from his sword.  "Nobody, and I mean nobody, tries to screw me in a deal."  He ripped a length of cloth from the dead DEMON Morbane's robe and wiped the worst of the blood off the sword.  His own wounds were already healing at an incredibly fast rate.  He had gotten so used to his ability to regenerate that he didn't even notice it any more.  Ever since he had come back from supposed death a decade before, he trusted that nothing could truly harm him for long.
 
The DEMON initiates had fled while Phoenix was shrugging off the Morbane's magical attacks and slicing the back-stabbing jerk to pieces, but he didn't want to stick around any longer than necessary.   The authorities just might show up to investigate all the weird lights in the night sky, and Phoenix didn't want to have to slice his way through a couple cop cars to get them to leave him alone.  As Crimson Phoenix reached back to sheath his sword, he felt a pain in the middle of his back and winced.  That's right, he thought.  The Morbane had literally stabbed him in the back, and he never had pulled the dagger loose during the fight.  It took a swing or two with the sword to knock the dagger free, and it fell to the ground with a clatter. 
 
Shaking his head, he walked over to the stone altar and picked up the small oxyx skull DEMON had hired him to procure.  "I wonder what the heck DEMON wanted with you," he said, then shrugged indifferently and dropped it into his leather shoulder satchel.  "Whatever it is, I'll bet I can find someone else willing to pay me for you."  With that, he strode off into the night.

Crimson Phoenix snarled at his fallen foe, the blood still dripping from his sword.  "Nobody, and I mean nobody, tries to screw me in a deal."  He ripped a length of cloth from the dead DEMON Morbane's robe and wiped the worst of the blood off the sword.  His own wounds were already healing at an incredibly fast rate.  He had gotten so used to his ability to regenerate that he didn't even notice it any more.  Ever since he had come back from supposed death a decade before, he trusted that nothing could truly harm him for long.
 
The DEMON initiates had fled while Phoenix was shrugging off the Morbane's magical attacks and slicing the back-stabbing jerk to pieces, but he didn't want to stick around any longer than necessary.   The authorities just might show up to investigate all the weird lights in the night sky, and Phoenix didn't want to have to slice his way through a couple cop cars to get them to leave him alone.  As Crimson Phoenix reached back to sheath his sword, he felt a pain in the middle of his back and winced.  That's right, he thought.  The Morbane had literally stabbed him in the back, and he never had pulled the dagger loose during the fight.  It took a swing or two with the sword to knock the dagger free, and it fell to the ground with a clatter. 
 
Shaking his head, he walked over to the stone altar and picked up the small oxyx skull DEMON had hired him to procure.  "I wonder what the heck DEMON wanted with you," he said, then shrugged indifferently and dropped it into his leather shoulder satchel.  "Whatever it is, I'll bet I can find someone else willing to pay me for you."  With that, he strode off into the night.

Re: Jokes
 
THE BLONDE JOKE TO END ALL BLONDE JOKES!
 
A blonde woman was speeding down the road in her little red sports car
and was pulled over by a woman police officer who was also a blonde.
 
The blonde cop asked to see the blonde driver's license. She dug
through her purse and was getting progressively more agitated.
 
"What does it look like?" she finally asked.
 
The policewoman replied, "It's square and it has your picture on it."
 
The driver finally found a square mirror in her purse, looked at it
and handed it to the policewoman. "Here it is," she said.
 
The blonde officer looked at the mirror, then handed it back saying,
"Okay, you can go; I didn't realize you were a cop."

Yep, I could see that.  All citizens required to wear body cameras that can record their slightest misdeeds to back up their arrests.  Restrictions put in place to forbid defending themselves at all.  And if you can't afford a body camera and don't wear one?  Well, you're probably actually trying to hide something.  That's probable cause for arrest right there.
 
Oh, wait, you were talking about body cameras for the police.  Ah, sorry.  Sometimes my cynical side gets the better of me.

The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection.
 
Cast of characters: 
Dent: ork, rat shaman
No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer
Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist
Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic
Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems
Jonathan Bridges / Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator
Urlan Manes (NPC): President/CEO of Global Technologies; hired the team to recover stolen goods
Roxanne Wunter (NPC): Senior VP at Global; Urlan's liaison to the team
Thomas Martelli (NPC): Senior VP at Global; Urlan's rival
 
Dreamchipper - Fixing the Meeting
This module was previously described by Drhoz (here).
 
The team had recovered all three chips about 30 hours before the deadline. A decision was made to wait another 12 hours before giving Urlan Manes and Roxanne Wunter the good news.
 
Dent: "Why are we waiting? Is this going to give us some negotiating leverage?"
No-Step: "No. We're going to have to run some kind of op to ensure that Martelli wins. I'd prefer to get a full eight hours of sleep before that happens."
 
Once rested, the team met to brainstorm a way to turn the tables on Urlan and Roxanne.
 
No-Step: "We'll need to come up with something exceptionally subtle. Otherwise Urlan and Roxanne will suspect that we were behind it."
Audacity Jane: "Why would we have to be subtle? After Roxanne leaves her meeting with Jack, we grab her and hold her until after the meeting. Urlan will be missing his chips again, and he'll be missing one of his VPs."
No-Step: "And who besides us will know about the meeting?"
Happy Jack: "Martelli found out about the other meeting. He's the person who will benefit most. He'll be the main suspect. He'll have plausible deniability, but they will suspect that he is behind it. And to a certain extent, they will be right."
Eye Spy: "But everyone knows that Jonathan Bridges works with a bunch of orks."
Byte Force: "Urlan and Roxanne might not. They've never met any of us."
Happy Jack: "Jonathan Bridges' team is made of orks and trolls. Guess who works with a team of just orks? Martelli."
 
Byte Force: "Martelli could be the weak link. He's met you before. If you negotiate with him, he could put two and two together."
Happy Jack: "I won't be negotiating with him. While I'm meeting with Roxanne, one of you will contact Martelli." (pause) "No-Step has the skills to pull it off. And if Martelli refuses to take his call, No-Step can just project astrally."
Audacity Jane: "No-Step doesn't lie nearly as well as you do."
Happy Jack: "But he likes to sell win-win solutions. And that's exactly what we're doing with Martelli."
No-Step: "What should I do if Martelli flat-out refuses to reach a deal?"
Happy Jack: "Then he loses to Urlan. Stupidity is its own reward."
 
Surprisingly, Urlan and Roxanne wanted to wait until early Friday morning, hours before the shareholders' meeting, to collect the dreamchips. As before, they both attended and they both arrived early. They also brought an extra attendee.
 
Dent: "Their guest looks like a techie, but he has two bodyguards that look like retired military."
Eye Spy: "And there's a military vehicle parked a block away, with 8 more people in it. I think it's a trap."
Happy Jack: "I think it's their buyer. The army is supposed to be buying these things. Those bodyguards are probably active soldiers at Fort Lewis. The techie is probably an officer or a specialist."
Audacity Jane: "So, do we have to take on a squad of soldiers to get the chips back?"
No-Step: "Why would we? If we abduct Urlan and Roxanne, they can't announce to the shareholders that they saved their pet project."
 
Just before Jonathan Bridges went into the meeting...
 
Jonathan Bridges: "No-Step, I have one piece of advice for your negotiation."
No-Step: "And what might that be?"
Jonathan Bridges: "You like to beat around the bush when you negotiate. Martelli is blunt."
No-Step: "So what course of action would you advise?"
Jonathan Bridges: "At the beginning, be blunt enough to get his attention. Then you can beat around the bush all you want."
 
No-Step: "And I have one piece of advice for your meeting."
Jonathan Bridges: "What's that?"
No-Step: "You're going in without back-up this time. Try not to get killed."
 
As Jonathan Bridges entered the back bar...
 
Roxanne's bodyguard: "I see that you're still traveling with invisible bodyguards."
Jonathan Bridges: "There are two generally accepted strategies for bodyguards. One is to have obvious bodyguards. The better strategy is to have obvious bodyguards for show, and inconspicuous bodyguards to provide the real protection."
Roxanne's bodyguard: "And you think it's even better to do without the obvious bodyguards entirely?"
Jonathan Bridges: "No. I am my obvious bodyguard."
 
And No-Step made his call to Martelli's private phone number....
 
Thomas Martelli Jr.: "Who are you and what do you want?"
No-Step: "You are about to lose control of your daddy's company ... again."
Thomas Martelli Jr.: "WHAT !!"
Audacity Jane: (under her breath to Dent) "Yep. That was blunt enough."
No-Step: "Do I have your undivided attention? Splendid. Mr. Urlan Manes has recovered his stolen property. I'm sure he is looking forward to announcing that to the shareholders in a few hours."
Thomas Martelli Jr.: "Who are you?"
No-Step: "I'm in a position to make Mr. Manes and Ms. Wunter late to the meeting. Very late. Days late. And I can also ensure Tee Hee gets delivered to you, rather than them. Does that interest you?"
Thomas Martelli Jr.: "And what's in it for you?"
No-Step: "Coincidentally, that was going to be my question to you. What is in it for me?"
 
The team planned to capture Urlan and Roxanne when they reached their helicopter. The first step, while they were still in the meeting, was to capture the helicopter pilot.
 
No-Step: "This is going to be complicated. That helicopter is heavily armored. In this neighborhood, the pilot is sure to keep the doors locked. And if he sees trouble, all he has to do is get on the radio before we're able to stop him."
Dent: "I bet you 5,000 nuyen that I can get the pilot out the helicopter without him warning the others. I don't even need any help from any of you."
Audacity Jane: "I'm not going to let you blow this mission just so you can flex your ego."
Dent: (whispering his plan to Jane) "I'll cast silence so he can't say anything over the radio. Then I'll have my city spirit materialize inside the helicopter and use its Fear power."
Audacity Jane: (to No-Step) "I'll bet you 10,000 nuyen that Dent can do it."
Unsurprisingly, No-Step declined to take the bet.
 
No-Step disguised Eye Spy as the pilot, so Urlan and Roxanne's bodyguards wouldn't realize anything was wrong when they returned to the helicopter.
 
Dent: "Where is the best place for us to hide for the ambush?"
Audacity Jane: "I'm going to hide inside the helicopter. It's the one place in this neighborhood that the bodyguards will consider 'safe', so they won't be prepared to defend against an attack from that direction."
 
No-Step used his city spirit's Concealment power to hide Jane inside the helicopter. Nobody realized she was there until Roxanne and Urlan had boarded the helicopter ... and Jane had shot them with narcojet darts.
 
Audacity Jane: (to the bodyguards) "Hi there. I'm using your boss as a human shield."
 
Eye Spy forced the bodyguards' hand by taking the helicopter up into a hover 5 meters over the tarmac. The bodyguards had to jump and climb to try to get into the 'escaping' helicopter.
 
Audacity Jane: (seeing a bodyguard struggling to hold his gun, climb into the helicopter, and shoot simultaneously) "Let me guess ... your training didn't cover this?"
 
Dent wanted to steal the helicopter, which led to a disagreement.
 
Dent: "We could sell it for at least another 100,000 nuyen."
Eye Spy: "It's too easy to track, especially in a city."
Audacity Jane: "And we don't steal from our current employer."
Dent: "Urlan is our ex-employer. He's fair game."
Audacity Jane: "The helicopter belongs to Global, not Urlan. Martelli is our current employer, and in a few hours, he should control Global."
 
Eye Spy programmed the autopilot to fly the helicopter (and the unconscious pilot and bodyguards) back to Global.
 
No-Step: "They're going to have an interesting afternoon of debriefings."
Eye Spy: "It could be worse. They could be dead."
Happy Jack: "Spoken like someone who has never experienced a corporate 'debriefing'."
 
No-Step met with Martelli at the docks to hand over Tee Hee and get paid.
 
No-Step: (manifesting out of the Astral to where he could be seen and heard) "Good evening, Mr. Martelli. Congratulations on your coup at the shareholders meeting."
Thomas Martelli Jr.: "Cut the drek. Where is my decker?"
Audacity Jane stepped out of the shadows and opened the doors of one of the containers, revealing Tee Hee.
Thomas Martelli Jr.: "Nice ... but I'm thinking we should renegotiate our deal."
No-Step: "We completed our portion in full."
Thomas Martelli Jr.: "You're going to turn Urlan and Roxanne over directly to me. For that, you get half of the remaining fee. Otherwise, there's nothing stopping me from killing your razor and taking what I want."
No-Step: "Actually, there are several things preventing you from doing that."
Thomas Martelli Jr.: "Like what?"
No-Step: "First, Tee Hee's belt is made of detcord. If you try to avoid paying, you will no longer be playing with a full decker."
Thomas Martelli Jr.: "..."
No-Step: "Second, there are three heavy weapons aimed at you and your compatriots."
Audacity Jane: "I'm sure you're bullet-proof, but we don't particularly care."
Thomas Martelli Jr.: "..."
Audacity Jane: "And third, I'm wearing a heart monitor that's linked to a dead-man switch. If I die, you boys get to find out where I hid the fuel-air explosive."
No-Step: "The rest of our precautions will remain a surprise."
Audacity Jane: "A girl's got to have her secrets."
Thomas Martelli Jr.: (bursting out laughing) "I like you. We have to do business again sometime."

The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection.
 
Cast of characters: 
Dent: ork, rat shaman
No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer
Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist
Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic
Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems
Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator
Griffin  (NPC): a street samurai; using the Jack the Ripper dreamchip
 
Dreamchipper - Hooker, Line & Sinker
This module was previously described by Drhoz (here).
 
In order to find Griffin (and the Jack the Ripper dreamchip), the team searched through the information provided by the Lone Star records clerk....
 
Six joygirls and joyboys had been murdered in one small Redmond neighborhood. One the first night; two the second; three the third.
Byte Force: "So he's either going to kill four or five tonight."
Eye Spy: "Five?"
Byte Force: "It might be a Fibonacci sequence."
Eye Spy: "I have no idea what you just said."
 
The murders had all taken place in the same small neighborhood in the Redmond Barrens. The victims had been primarily human, but also one ork and one dwarf.
 
Dent: "No elves or trolls?"
Happy Jack: "Other than the dwarf, it matches the racial and economic demographics of Redmond." (pause) "It seems that Griffin is just hitting targets of opportunity."
Eye Spy: "So we finally found someone in Redmond who isn't racially biased ... a serial killer."
 
The murder weapon was always cybernetic hand razors. First the throat was cut, then the bodies were swiftly dissected.
 
Audacity Jane: "Messy."
No-Step: "You don't approve."
Audacity Jane: (shrugging) "I don't particularly care. I'm not the one cleaning up after him."
 
Eye Spy: "We don't even know what Griffin looks like."
Dent: "Yes we do. I used Mind Probe on Tee Hee, Cooperman and Val."
No-Step: "That's wonderful. So what does he look like?"
Dent: "Human, average sized or maybe a little smaller, brown hair, black cybereyes, normal looking otherwise."
Audacity Jane: "That's reeeally helpful."
Dent: "I'll recognize him when I see him."
No-Step: "That doesn't help much if one of us sees him."
 
This challenge was solved with concealed microcams which would feed pictures to Dent, allowing him to confirm Griffin's identity. There were, however, other problems to be solved.
 
Audacity Jane: "There are a lot of other joygirls and joyboys in the area. We could put out bait for a week before we catch him."
No-Step: "What if we warn them to stay off the street? Tell them it's too dangerous?"
Happy Jack: "Many of them will need to eat or feed an addiction. They will be out anyway, hoping for the best."
No-Step: "We could offer to protect them for free. Get them all in one place. That would make it safer."
Happy Jack: "That's a good idea ... except they would be too suspicious of 'free' protection. I'll charge them 10 nuyen a trick for protection."
Dent: "Jack's going to be a pimp."
Happy Jack: "Yep. I'll blend right in."
 
As one of the best hand-to-hand combatants, Jane was the obvious bait. No-Step would use his Physical Mask spell to conceal the amount of armor she was wearing.
 
No-Step: "I can make her the best-looking joygirl in the neighborhood."
Happy Jack: "Make her one of the ugliest. Griffin doesn't seem to care about looks, but potential customers will."
No-Step: "Right." (suggestively to Jane) "What are you going to do with actual customers?"
Dent: "Service with a smile!"
Audacity Jane: "No. I'm going to give them the Sprawl Special."
Dent: "As I said, service with a smile."
Audacity Jane: (ignoring Dent) "That's where I knock them out, tie them up, rob them, then dump them in the alley behind me." (grinning evily Dent) "And after doing that, I will be smiling."
Eye Spy: "Hey Dent, do you want to be her first customer?"
 
Dent would wander the neighborhood invisibly, using the city sprit's Search power to look for Griffin.
 
Eye Spy: "What if Griffin sees him?"
Dent: "Nobody is going to see me."
Byte Force: "Griffin is going after joygirls and joyboys. Dent looks homeless."
Dent: "I do not look homeless."
Happy Jack: "Well, you smell homeless ... and it will just take a quick wardrobe change to make you look that way too."
 
Eye Spy and Byte Force would cruise the neighborhood, letting the real joyboys and joygirls know where Jack was providing protection.
 
Eye Spy: "What should we do if we spot Griffin?"
Audacity Jane: "Vehicular homicide."
 
It was a dark and foggy night.
 
Dent: "Why can't we get this kind of weather when we're pulling a B&E job?"
 
Life as a working girl....
 
well dressed pedestrian: "Hate to bother you, but are you going my way?"
Audacity Jane: "Honey, I may be a streetwalker, but I don't actually go for walks with people." (pause) "Are there any other services you're interested in?"
 
Life as a pimp....
 
potential customer: (as Jack peered at him so the microcam could take a picture) "Why are you looking at me that way?"
Happy Jack: "I memorize your face. If you damage joyboy, I know who to collect damages from."
potential customer: "Collect damages? Like in court?"
Happy Jack: "Like ripperdoc bill, lost wages."
potential customer: (giggling nervously) "I don't carry that kind of money with me."
Happy Jack: "That okay. You have headware. I just sell used headware."
potential customer: (scoffing) "It would take a skilled surgeon and a clinic to remove my headware."
Happy Jack: "Nah. I take your head to techie. He remove headware and clean it off. No damage to headware."
potential customer: (aghast) "That would kill me!"
Happy Jack: "Well ... don't damage joyboy ... unless you can afford damages."
 
The team members patrolling the neighborhood had sent a number of joygirls/joyboys over to Happy Jack's block. They had also run across the cooling corpses of two girls who hadn't accepted the offer of protection.
 
man with glowing cybereyes: "Nasty night. I hate this weather. Don't know why I put up with it."
Audacity Jane: "Because you live here." (pause) "But I'm sure you didn't come out here just to talk about the weather."
man with glowing cybereyes / Griffin: (popping out hand razors and slashing at Jane) "Die. Die, Tramp. Die!"
Audacity Jane: (punching Griffin with her shock glove) "Not a tramp.... Not going to die."
 
After Dent had arrived at the scene...
 
Audacity Jane: (pointing at Griffin's glowing cybereyes) "You said his cybereyes were black. Do those look black to you?"
Dent: (looking at the shiners appearing under Griffin's cybereyes) "Yes. Yes they do."
 
After Griffin had been subdued and the dreamchip removed....
 
Eye Spy: "I'm not entirely certain, but I think Griffin's going to be permanently catatonic."
Happy Jack: "This leaves us with an ethical dilemma."
Audacity Jane: "What ethical dilemma? We sell him to the organ leggers."
Happy Jack: "Alternatively, we could recruit more informants by delivering him to the joygirls and joyboys. I'm sure they want to celebrate his capture ... and every good party needs a piñata."

Finishing off Songs of Summoning (for real this time)
 
Maker is outside, worried about taking on the creature.
 
Shadowboxer:  (points to a series of arced lines on the map)  Just hide under one of these balconies.
Malarky:  Those aren't balconies.  They're curved walls.  (turns his PC around to show a satellite overhead view of the back side of the club and smiles at the GM.)  Don't you just love Google Maps?  (proceeds to get the street view from that alleyway)  Here, Maker, this is what you see back there...
 
Circe goes outside and tries mind-blasting the creature, exposing her to its Insane Thoughts (a mental damage shield that drains her EGO and PRE).
 
Circe:  Ewwww!  You would not believe what is going on in that thing's mind!  I am not doing that again!
 
The creature grabs Maker and Circe with its tentacles, but before it can try to eat either one, Pops teleports them back into the club.  Maker begins flying back outside to confront the creature.
 
Pops:  Remember, just one save per person!  Go back out there at your own risk.
 
Back inside, Screech had put up a force barrier around the stage, with himself, Ted, and Heavy Metal inside, protected from the heroes' attacks.
 
Nexus:  We need to get past that barrier.
Honey Badger:  Easy.  (Makes rude gestures and disparaging comments at Ted, who proceeds to smash a hole through the barrier to take on the hero brick.)  See?  Problem solved.
 
Once most of Road Kill was down, the heroes were trying to figure out what do to against the creature.  Most of their attacks were bouncing off.
 
GM:  (to Nexus)  Aren't you going to try attacking it?
Nexus:  If Honey Badger throwing a dumpster at it didn't hurt it, my puny elemental magic blast isn't going to do much.
GM:  (looks down at creature's character sheet, where the Damage Reduction has the limitation "Doesn't work vs. Magic" and shrugs)  Your choice.
 
Nexus finally blasts it, causing it to scream in agony.
 
Nexus:  Hey, guys!  It's vulnerable to cold!  Should I try fire next?
Several other heroes:  NO!!  Freeze the #$&@!&@#!
 
The heroes figure out that someone gave the "lyrics" (summoning incantations) to Heavy Metal, and they try to figure out how to keep Road Kill from unintentionally summoning more other-worldly creatures in the future.
 
Malarky:  Could Circe mind-control them not to play those songs ever again?
GM:  Maybe.  She does have a Mind Control with Cumulative on it.  But they're contrary enough that dropping those songs might not be something they're inclined to do, so the control may break at some point.
Malarky:  Any way I can alter the magic so the summoning just wouldn't work?
GM:  I suppose Circe could mind control Heavy Metal to "fix" some of the lyrics...
Malarky:  (smiles)  Yeah.  "Those new songs are good and all, Heavy Metal -- but couldn't you come up with better lyrics on your own?"

Finishing off Songs of Summoning (for real this time)
 
Maker is outside, worried about taking on the creature.
 
Shadowboxer:  (points to a series of arced lines on the map)  Just hide under one of these balconies.
Malarky:  Those aren't balconies.  They're curved walls.  (turns his PC around to show a satellite overhead view of the back side of the club and smiles at the GM.)  Don't you just love Google Maps?  (proceeds to get the street view from that alleyway)  Here, Maker, this is what you see back there...
 
Circe goes outside and tries mind-blasting the creature, exposing her to its Insane Thoughts (a mental damage shield that drains her EGO and PRE).
 
Circe:  Ewwww!  You would not believe what is going on in that thing's mind!  I am not doing that again!
 
The creature grabs Maker and Circe with its tentacles, but before it can try to eat either one, Pops teleports them back into the club.  Maker begins flying back outside to confront the creature.
 
Pops:  Remember, just one save per person!  Go back out there at your own risk.
 
Back inside, Screech had put up a force barrier around the stage, with himself, Ted, and Heavy Metal inside, protected from the heroes' attacks.
 
Nexus:  We need to get past that barrier.
Honey Badger:  Easy.  (Makes rude gestures and disparaging comments at Ted, who proceeds to smash a hole through the barrier to take on the hero brick.)  See?  Problem solved.
 
Once most of Road Kill was down, the heroes were trying to figure out what do to against the creature.  Most of their attacks were bouncing off.
 
GM:  (to Nexus)  Aren't you going to try attacking it?
Nexus:  If Honey Badger throwing a dumpster at it didn't hurt it, my puny elemental magic blast isn't going to do much.
GM:  (looks down at creature's character sheet, where the Damage Reduction has the limitation "Doesn't work vs. Magic" and shrugs)  Your choice.
 
Nexus finally blasts it, causing it to scream in agony.
 
Nexus:  Hey, guys!  It's vulnerable to cold!  Should I try fire next?
Several other heroes:  NO!!  Freeze the #$&@!&@#!
 
The heroes figure out that someone gave the "lyrics" (summoning incantations) to Heavy Metal, and they try to figure out how to keep Road Kill from unintentionally summoning more other-worldly creatures in the future.
 
Malarky:  Could Circe mind-control them not to play those songs ever again?
GM:  Maybe.  She does have a Mind Control with Cumulative on it.  But they're contrary enough that dropping those songs might not be something they're inclined to do, so the control may break at some point.
Malarky:  Any way I can alter the magic so the summoning just wouldn't work?
GM:  I suppose Circe could mind control Heavy Metal to "fix" some of the lyrics...
Malarky:  (smiles)  Yeah.  "Those new songs are good and all, Heavy Metal -- but couldn't you come up with better lyrics on your own?"

The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection.
 
Cast of characters: 
Dent: ork, rat shaman
No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer
Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist
Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic
Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems
Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator
 
Dreamchipper - Interlude (information gathering)
This module was previously described by Drhoz (here).
 
Happy Jack: "I'm going to go talk to the Lone Star records clerk that Byte Force and I recruited."
Byte Force: "Well ... he doesn't know that he's been recruited."
No-Step: "How do you recruit someone without him noticing?"
Happy Jack: "We bribed him."
Byte Force: "... but he doesn't know that he's been bribed yet."
No-Step: "Why is he going to do something for a bribe that he doesn't know about?"
Happy Jack: "Because I'm going to use that bribe to blackmail him."
 
Chester, the records clerk: (answering his apartment door) "How may I help you, patrolman."
Happy Jack: (disguised as a Lone Star patrolman) "Are you the owner of a gold 2046 Ford Americar in the parking garage?"
Chester: (alarmed) "Why? What happened to it?"
Happy Jack: "There was a minor collision. Would you mind coming and looking at the damage?"
They took the elevator to the parking garage.
Chester: (looking at his car) "Where's the damage?"
Happy Jack: (handing Chester a piece of paper) "Actually, I wanted you to look at this bank statement of yours."
Chester: (barely glancing at it) "This isn't my bank."
Happy Jack: "True ... but it's your daughter's account. It has your daughter's money in it. That money has been used to pay your daughter's medical bills. And since your daughter is too young to work, that looks rather suspicious."
Chester: "Wait! What?" (slowly dawning realization) "Are you saying that I'm a dirty cop?"
Happy Jack: "No. I'm saying that you're being framed."
Chester: "Oh..."
Happy Jack: "Because I'm the one who is framing you."
Chester: "WHAT?!?"
Happy Jack: "So you can either give me the information that I want, and continue to pay your daughter's bills, or you can explain to your superiors why you accepted my bribes for three months before mentioning anything to them."
Chester pulled his gun and shot Jack. The armor jacket stopped the bullet.
Happy Jack: (smacking the gun out of Chester's hand) "Attempted murder. That's very illegal. More illegal than bribery. Good thing we caught that on tape."
Eye Spy: (over the radio link) "We didn't catch that on tape."
Audacity Jane: (to Eye Spy) "Chester doesn't know that."
 
Chester: "What do you want from me?"
Happy Jack: (handing Chester a burner phone) "I want to know about every joygirl, joyboy, escort or other sex trade worker murdered since Saturday."
Chester: "Why?"
Happy Jack: "I've been hired to catch the person committing the murders."
Chester: "You're blackmailing me into helping you stop a murderer? But that's something I don't mind doing."
Happy Jack: "See. It's your lucky day. You're getting paid to do a good deed."
 
The gunshot had attracted the attention of the building security.
 
security guard: (running up with a drawn gun) "What's going on here?"
Chester: "Uh ..."
Happy Jack: "Chester dropped his gun and had an accidental discharge."
Chester: "..."
security guard: "..."
Happy Jack: "I wrote him a citation for that." (pause) "Better be careful with your gun, or I'll be writing a second citation."
security guard: "..."
 
Later...
 
Happy Jack: "That went perfectly."
Dent: "Perfectly? You paid Chester for that information, and you probably could have gotten it for free."
Happy Jack: "I didn't want to get it for free. I wanted him to take the nuyen."
Dent: "WHAT?!?"
Happy Jack: "This morning, it only looked like Chester was taking bribes. Now, he is knowingly taking bribes. That means we're making progress in our relationship."

Our group now alternates between my Champions game and a D&D-4 game.  However, the D&D DM texted me a few days before our normal game day asking if I could run instead.  I didn't really have anything prepared, so I threw something together.  But I did take the time to put together a weekly news page.
 
One article mentions the "newly-formed team of superheroes, as yet unnamed".
 
Nexus:  Does that mean we have to come up with a team name?  You know we suck at that.
(That's true -- past team names have included THEM (The Heroes of Eastern Michigan) and S-Squad (because all the team members names began with "S")
GM:  If you don't come up with a team name, the editor of the Heronet Herald will give you one.  This is the same guy that came up with "Earth-818" for the alternate world.  So, not very creative.   You'll probably end up with something like Boston Area Super-Heroes.
Maker:  BASH!  I like it!  You know, that's actually the kind of name we'd come up with.
 
Maker's player looks through the prior week's news, which included a Name That Dimension contest,with appropriate hokey prizes, to come up with a better name than Earth-818.  She then passes the GM a note:
 
"Maker wants the Foxbat inflatable punching bag and submits Ogygia for Earth-818."
 
Another article in the current news talks about Pops taking down a misshapen creature attacking a supermarket, so I started the night off with that encounter.  Pops is on his way home to get ready for a hot date.
 
Pops:  Why are you picking on me?  You know that if I saw something happening, I'd probably just teleport the other direction.
Nexus:  Hey, at least you know up front you're going to win!
 
The creature is a star vampire, which is normally invisible but becomes temporarily visible after feasting.
 
GM:  As Pops teleports into the store, he sees a badly maimed person lying on the ground, with several other people apparently fighting something invisible, which tosses them aside like gnats while it sucks blood from the maimed guy.  As Pops watches, the creature becomes visible as the blood it's drinking circulates through it's body.  (Shows Pops a picture of the creature.
Pops:  Okay, that's just wrong.  I don't do tentacles.  I don't even like anime.  That's more Honey Badger's or Circe's thing.
 
After a few phases of combat...
 
GM: You notice that, as the blood it drank is being absorbed, the creature is starting to fade away.  You figure it'll be invisible again by the end of the Turn.
 
The creature grabs Pops and latches a tentacle onto his throat to begin sucking his blood.
 
Pops:  Well, at least it'll be visible a bit longer.
 
Pops eventually defeats the creature and turns it over to PRIMUS.  He then pays a visit to his teammate Malarky.
 
Pops:  You know that healing thing you did while fighting the Boston Commons?  Could you do that to me?  (points to his neck)  I have a date tonight, and I don't want her to see this hickey.
 
The heroes investigate, and discover that odd-looking creatures have been popping in and out of existence all over town.  Some pop up in the afternoon, but most show up from about 9 pm to 2 am.  None are reported between 2 am and noonish.
 
Shadowboxer:  I map out all the appearances and look for patterns.
GM:  You actually see two groups -- the afternoon appearances are in one part of town, near some apartment buildings and warehouses converted into condos, that sort of thing.  The late evening/early night appearances are in a different part of Boston.  Most of them have been pretty close to a number of lower-grade bars and other dives.
Shadowboxer:  That would explain the appearances ending by 2 am.  That's when the bars close up.
Malarky:  So basically, we're looking for a drunk summoner.
 
(More to follow)

Boston Champions - Songs of Summoning (cont.)
 
The heroes learn that most of the summoned creatures didn't do much more than scare a few people before popping back to wherever they came from.  Curious about the one that Pops fought (which had specifically targeted the grocery store manager while ignoring pretty much everybody else around it), some go to the hospital to see how the mauled man is doing.  Unfortunately, he's still in a coma. After establishing that they're working with the Boston PD...
 
Malarky (to the ICU nurse):  Can I maybe try a wee something that might help perk him up?
Nurse Ratchet:  I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to touch my patient.  (walks away to treat another patient, but keeps an eye on Malarky)
Nurse Nice:  (walks up)  You're one of those new supeheroes, aren't you?  I saw something about you in the news.
Malarky:  Aye, that's us.  I'm Malarky, a bit of a junior mage.
Nurse Nice:  Magic, huh?  So, you can heal him, with one touch?
Malarky (realizing his Healing spell is Area of Effect):  That I can.  Don't really need to touch him, though.  (pauses)  Say, do you mind if I stand over there in the corner for a bit?  Won't be a bother.  (smiles impishly)  And if you should happen to move any really sick patients within, oh, a dozen or so meters of me in, say, five minutes time, who's to say what might happen?
Needless to say, there was some miraculous healing that day in the ICU at Mass General.
Malarky:  Wonder if I can get a date with that nurse...
 
Other heroes go to check the mauled man's apartment.
 
Honey Badger:  Maybe he was dabbling in the black arts...
Enters the apartment to find it a mess -- furniture trashed, possessions destroyed, walls sliced as if by claws, and overly large maggots squirming all over the place.
Honey Badger:  ... and it got away from him.
 
Circe tries reading the man's mind, but he's just as clueless as they are.
 
Mr. Goodman (walking around a mental construct of his trashed apartment):  Would you look at this mess?  Why me?  What did I ever do?  I'm a law-abiding guy, try and keep the peace.  Serve on the neighborhood watch.  Try and keep things nice in my neighborhood, call the police when people aren't being civil.  And this is what happens?
 
Unfortunately, they didn't catch the clue and so they didn't ask if he had made any complaints against neighbors lately.  Instead, they start checking out the bars near where some of the creatures appeared.
 
Malarky:  You guys realize I'm not allowed in a bar, don't you?  I'm only 18.
Pops:  Wait, don't you use booze for one of your spells? 
Malarky:  That's different.  It's not alcohol, it's a spell component.
 
Shadowboxer listens in on a few conversations between patrons.
 
Guy #1:  Hopefully they'll have a better band tonight.
Guy #2:  Yeah, those guys last night were horrid.  I mean, their early stuff was alright, I can dig some good metal, but then they started on their 'new' stuff.  Talk about dark and depressing...
Shadowboxer:  Excuse me.  Couldn't help but overhear.  Do you remember what the band who played here last night was called?
Guy #1:  Something like Road House, wasn't it?
Guy #2:  No, it was Road Kill.
(players groan in agony.  Ah, the lamentations of players are like nectar to the GM!)
 
Circe:  That was the band that tried out at my club last week, wasn't it? (smugly)  Good thing I refused to book them.  They won't be trashing my club.
GM:  Funny you should mention that... (pulls out the game map and begins laying it out)

Finishing up Songs of Summoning:
 
In my games, I ask each player to provide at least 5 NPCs to flesh out their own world a bit.  These aren't DNPCs; the only dangerous situations they get into are typically off-screen.  I allow the PCs to use them as pseudo-Contacts, just like you would any friend or family member.  And I use them to advance the plot at times.
 
Nexus and Circe each provided way more than 5 NPCs, and Nexus (who plays and sings in a band) decided that her four bandmates were all low-level supers. (The band is named Paranormal.)  If she was trying to get her own mini-super team to help fight crime, she's going to be disappointed...
 
Nexus arrives at the Paradise Rock Club, approaching the back door, and sees her bandmates running away down the alley/street, screaming in terror.  She stops the last one.
 
Nexus:  Stop!  Calm down!  What's wrong?  What's going on?
Bandmate:  We showed up to set up... and they were there already!  He... he's huge!  I thought he was going to rip my arms off!!!  (screams in terror and runs off)
Nexus:  (shakes her head sadly)  My band is a bunch of pansy-boys.
 
Circe walks in the front door to see the patrons of the club all standing around staring at Road Kill up on stage as they launch into their hit song (topped the charts at #546), "I Say Screw You."
 
GM:  What they lack in quality, they make up for in 'loud.'
Circe:  (turns one of her regular club patrons to face her)  What is going on here?
Misc. Person:  (drooling slightly)  Band.  They good.
GM:  (OOC) Game-wise, you're looking at the effects of an area-effect Drain of INT, EGO, and PRE. 
Circe:  So that's how they get fans.
GM:  Which might also explain Nexus' bandmates running away when Ted glared at them.
Honey Badger:  Running away like pansy-boys.  (When Nexus glares at him)  Hey, you're the one who said it.  I'm just repeating what you called them.
 
Pops teleports to the Paradise Rock Club, sees that only half the team there, and disappears to collect the rest.  He starts with Malarky, who is riding his bicycle there as fast as he can pedal.
 
Pops:  I appear next to Malarky, grab him off the bike, and teleport both of us back to the club.
Malarky:  Hey!  What about my bike!
Pops:  Oh, boo hoo.  If it gets stolen or wrecked, I'll buy you a new one.
 
Honey Badger arrives at the back of the club.
 
Honey Badger:  I pick up the guitar one of Nexus' pansy-boys left behind.
Nexus:  Hey, that doesn't belong to you!
Honey Badger:  It does now.
 
As Road Kill finished up their song, to scattered applause from the brain-numbed audience, Honey Badger walks up to the stage with the guitar in hand.
 
Screech:  Hey, we already told you twerps, we're rockin' the Paradise tonight!
Honey Badger:  Oh, Honey Badger doesn't play.  Honey Badger was wondering if you guys would sign this guitar.  Road Kill is one of Honey Badger's favorite bands.  (under his breath)  To beat up.
 
The band members are all more than happy to sign the guitar for a fan.  (Well, Ted just puts a big "X" on it.)  It works as a nice distraction so the rest of the team can start herding out the audience and reduce the number of innocent bystanders.  But before too long...
 
Heavy Metal:  Aright, folks, we're going to do one of our new numbers, we're sure you're going to like it.  It's called The Bazaar.
(The band launches into a haunting, vaguely creepy song.)
Shadowboxer:  Watch out, everybody.  It was during their new songs that creatures started popping up.
(The heroes redouble their efforts to get the audience outside.)
 
GM:  Is anybody attacking Road Kill?
Honey Badger:  Not yet.  We want to get the people out of here first.
GM:  Which way are you sending them -- out the front, or out the back?
Malarky:  Out the front.  We don't want to take them past Road Kill.  (getting suspicious)  Why?  Do I see anything out the front windows?
GM:  No.  But anybody toward the back of the club will hear screaming from outside.  (pulls out 5" tall cardboard character standup with a picture of a Flying Polyp printed on it, setting it on the map outside the club's back door.
 
The heroes begin attacking the members of Road Kill, even though the summoning is complete.
 
GM:  Anybody going outside to deal with that?  (points at the Flying Polyp)
Pops:  Hell no.  I already fought one of those.
Circe:  No, you fought one of these.  (picks up normal-size character standup of the Star Vampire)  That (points to the Flying Polyp) is Big Momma, wondering what happened to Junior.
 
Pops teleports Axeman outside, where the guitarist is promptly picked up by the creature.  Screaming in terror, Axeman hurls his guitar/axe at it, somehow managing to miss it entirely.  The creature responds by trying to stuff Axeman down one of its sharp-toothed maws.
Malarky:  He prooooobably should have kept that.  Might have been useful.
Pops:  Well, now the beastie has a chew toy.
 
(Drat.  Work interrupts.  Will try to finish tonight or tomorrow)

Finishing off Songs of Summoning (for real this time)
 
Maker is outside, worried about taking on the creature.
 
Shadowboxer:  (points to a series of arced lines on the map)  Just hide under one of these balconies.
Malarky:  Those aren't balconies.  They're curved walls.  (turns his PC around to show a satellite overhead view of the back side of the club and smiles at the GM.)  Don't you just love Google Maps?  (proceeds to get the street view from that alleyway)  Here, Maker, this is what you see back there...
 
Circe goes outside and tries mind-blasting the creature, exposing her to its Insane Thoughts (a mental damage shield that drains her EGO and PRE).
 
Circe:  Ewwww!  You would not believe what is going on in that thing's mind!  I am not doing that again!
 
The creature grabs Maker and Circe with its tentacles, but before it can try to eat either one, Pops teleports them back into the club.  Maker begins flying back outside to confront the creature.
 
Pops:  Remember, just one save per person!  Go back out there at your own risk.
 
Back inside, Screech had put up a force barrier around the stage, with himself, Ted, and Heavy Metal inside, protected from the heroes' attacks.
 
Nexus:  We need to get past that barrier.
Honey Badger:  Easy.  (Makes rude gestures and disparaging comments at Ted, who proceeds to smash a hole through the barrier to take on the hero brick.)  See?  Problem solved.
 
Once most of Road Kill was down, the heroes were trying to figure out what do to against the creature.  Most of their attacks were bouncing off.
 
GM:  (to Nexus)  Aren't you going to try attacking it?
Nexus:  If Honey Badger throwing a dumpster at it didn't hurt it, my puny elemental magic blast isn't going to do much.
GM:  (looks down at creature's character sheet, where the Damage Reduction has the limitation "Doesn't work vs. Magic" and shrugs)  Your choice.
 
Nexus finally blasts it, causing it to scream in agony.
 
Nexus:  Hey, guys!  It's vulnerable to cold!  Should I try fire next?
Several other heroes:  NO!!  Freeze the #$&@!&@#!
 
The heroes figure out that someone gave the "lyrics" (summoning incantations) to Heavy Metal, and they try to figure out how to keep Road Kill from unintentionally summoning more other-worldly creatures in the future.
 
Malarky:  Could Circe mind-control them not to play those songs ever again?
GM:  Maybe.  She does have a Mind Control with Cumulative on it.  But they're contrary enough that dropping those songs might not be something they're inclined to do, so the control may break at some point.
Malarky:  Any way I can alter the magic so the summoning just wouldn't work?
GM:  I suppose Circe could mind control Heavy Metal to "fix" some of the lyrics...
Malarky:  (smiles)  Yeah.  "Those new songs are good and all, Heavy Metal -- but couldn't you come up with better lyrics on your own?"

Finishing off Songs of Summoning (for real this time)
 
Maker is outside, worried about taking on the creature.
 
Shadowboxer:  (points to a series of arced lines on the map)  Just hide under one of these balconies.
Malarky:  Those aren't balconies.  They're curved walls.  (turns his PC around to show a satellite overhead view of the back side of the club and smiles at the GM.)  Don't you just love Google Maps?  (proceeds to get the street view from that alleyway)  Here, Maker, this is what you see back there...
 
Circe goes outside and tries mind-blasting the creature, exposing her to its Insane Thoughts (a mental damage shield that drains her EGO and PRE).
 
Circe:  Ewwww!  You would not believe what is going on in that thing's mind!  I am not doing that again!
 
The creature grabs Maker and Circe with its tentacles, but before it can try to eat either one, Pops teleports them back into the club.  Maker begins flying back outside to confront the creature.
 
Pops:  Remember, just one save per person!  Go back out there at your own risk.
 
Back inside, Screech had put up a force barrier around the stage, with himself, Ted, and Heavy Metal inside, protected from the heroes' attacks.
 
Nexus:  We need to get past that barrier.
Honey Badger:  Easy.  (Makes rude gestures and disparaging comments at Ted, who proceeds to smash a hole through the barrier to take on the hero brick.)  See?  Problem solved.
 
Once most of Road Kill was down, the heroes were trying to figure out what do to against the creature.  Most of their attacks were bouncing off.
 
GM:  (to Nexus)  Aren't you going to try attacking it?
Nexus:  If Honey Badger throwing a dumpster at it didn't hurt it, my puny elemental magic blast isn't going to do much.
GM:  (looks down at creature's character sheet, where the Damage Reduction has the limitation "Doesn't work vs. Magic" and shrugs)  Your choice.
 
Nexus finally blasts it, causing it to scream in agony.
 
Nexus:  Hey, guys!  It's vulnerable to cold!  Should I try fire next?
Several other heroes:  NO!!  Freeze the #$&@!&@#!
 
The heroes figure out that someone gave the "lyrics" (summoning incantations) to Heavy Metal, and they try to figure out how to keep Road Kill from unintentionally summoning more other-worldly creatures in the future.
 
Malarky:  Could Circe mind-control them not to play those songs ever again?
GM:  Maybe.  She does have a Mind Control with Cumulative on it.  But they're contrary enough that dropping those songs might not be something they're inclined to do, so the control may break at some point.
Malarky:  Any way I can alter the magic so the summoning just wouldn't work?
GM:  I suppose Circe could mind control Heavy Metal to "fix" some of the lyrics...
Malarky:  (smiles)  Yeah.  "Those new songs are good and all, Heavy Metal -- but couldn't you come up with better lyrics on your own?"

Finishing off Songs of Summoning (for real this time)
 
Maker is outside, worried about taking on the creature.
 
Shadowboxer:  (points to a series of arced lines on the map)  Just hide under one of these balconies.
Malarky:  Those aren't balconies.  They're curved walls.  (turns his PC around to show a satellite overhead view of the back side of the club and smiles at the GM.)  Don't you just love Google Maps?  (proceeds to get the street view from that alleyway)  Here, Maker, this is what you see back there...
 
Circe goes outside and tries mind-blasting the creature, exposing her to its Insane Thoughts (a mental damage shield that drains her EGO and PRE).
 
Circe:  Ewwww!  You would not believe what is going on in that thing's mind!  I am not doing that again!
 
The creature grabs Maker and Circe with its tentacles, but before it can try to eat either one, Pops teleports them back into the club.  Maker begins flying back outside to confront the creature.
 
Pops:  Remember, just one save per person!  Go back out there at your own risk.
 
Back inside, Screech had put up a force barrier around the stage, with himself, Ted, and Heavy Metal inside, protected from the heroes' attacks.
 
Nexus:  We need to get past that barrier.
Honey Badger:  Easy.  (Makes rude gestures and disparaging comments at Ted, who proceeds to smash a hole through the barrier to take on the hero brick.)  See?  Problem solved.
 
Once most of Road Kill was down, the heroes were trying to figure out what do to against the creature.  Most of their attacks were bouncing off.
 
GM:  (to Nexus)  Aren't you going to try attacking it?
Nexus:  If Honey Badger throwing a dumpster at it didn't hurt it, my puny elemental magic blast isn't going to do much.
GM:  (looks down at creature's character sheet, where the Damage Reduction has the limitation "Doesn't work vs. Magic" and shrugs)  Your choice.
 
Nexus finally blasts it, causing it to scream in agony.
 
Nexus:  Hey, guys!  It's vulnerable to cold!  Should I try fire next?
Several other heroes:  NO!!  Freeze the #$&@!&@#!
 
The heroes figure out that someone gave the "lyrics" (summoning incantations) to Heavy Metal, and they try to figure out how to keep Road Kill from unintentionally summoning more other-worldly creatures in the future.
 
Malarky:  Could Circe mind-control them not to play those songs ever again?
GM:  Maybe.  She does have a Mind Control with Cumulative on it.  But they're contrary enough that dropping those songs might not be something they're inclined to do, so the control may break at some point.
Malarky:  Any way I can alter the magic so the summoning just wouldn't work?
GM:  I suppose Circe could mind control Heavy Metal to "fix" some of the lyrics...
Malarky:  (smiles)  Yeah.  "Those new songs are good and all, Heavy Metal -- but couldn't you come up with better lyrics on your own?"

Finishing up Songs of Summoning:
 
In my games, I ask each player to provide at least 5 NPCs to flesh out their own world a bit.  These aren't DNPCs; the only dangerous situations they get into are typically off-screen.  I allow the PCs to use them as pseudo-Contacts, just like you would any friend or family member.  And I use them to advance the plot at times.
 
Nexus and Circe each provided way more than 5 NPCs, and Nexus (who plays and sings in a band) decided that her four bandmates were all low-level supers. (The band is named Paranormal.)  If she was trying to get her own mini-super team to help fight crime, she's going to be disappointed...
 
Nexus arrives at the Paradise Rock Club, approaching the back door, and sees her bandmates running away down the alley/street, screaming in terror.  She stops the last one.
 
Nexus:  Stop!  Calm down!  What's wrong?  What's going on?
Bandmate:  We showed up to set up... and they were there already!  He... he's huge!  I thought he was going to rip my arms off!!!  (screams in terror and runs off)
Nexus:  (shakes her head sadly)  My band is a bunch of pansy-boys.
 
Circe walks in the front door to see the patrons of the club all standing around staring at Road Kill up on stage as they launch into their hit song (topped the charts at #546), "I Say Screw You."
 
GM:  What they lack in quality, they make up for in 'loud.'
Circe:  (turns one of her regular club patrons to face her)  What is going on here?
Misc. Person:  (drooling slightly)  Band.  They good.
GM:  (OOC) Game-wise, you're looking at the effects of an area-effect Drain of INT, EGO, and PRE. 
Circe:  So that's how they get fans.
GM:  Which might also explain Nexus' bandmates running away when Ted glared at them.
Honey Badger:  Running away like pansy-boys.  (When Nexus glares at him)  Hey, you're the one who said it.  I'm just repeating what you called them.
 
Pops teleports to the Paradise Rock Club, sees that only half the team there, and disappears to collect the rest.  He starts with Malarky, who is riding his bicycle there as fast as he can pedal.
 
Pops:  I appear next to Malarky, grab him off the bike, and teleport both of us back to the club.
Malarky:  Hey!  What about my bike!
Pops:  Oh, boo hoo.  If it gets stolen or wrecked, I'll buy you a new one.
 
Honey Badger arrives at the back of the club.
 
Honey Badger:  I pick up the guitar one of Nexus' pansy-boys left behind.
Nexus:  Hey, that doesn't belong to you!
Honey Badger:  It does now.
 
As Road Kill finished up their song, to scattered applause from the brain-numbed audience, Honey Badger walks up to the stage with the guitar in hand.
 
Screech:  Hey, we already told you twerps, we're rockin' the Paradise tonight!
Honey Badger:  Oh, Honey Badger doesn't play.  Honey Badger was wondering if you guys would sign this guitar.  Road Kill is one of Honey Badger's favorite bands.  (under his breath)  To beat up.
 
The band members are all more than happy to sign the guitar for a fan.  (Well, Ted just puts a big "X" on it.)  It works as a nice distraction so the rest of the team can start herding out the audience and reduce the number of innocent bystanders.  But before too long...
 
Heavy Metal:  Aright, folks, we're going to do one of our new numbers, we're sure you're going to like it.  It's called The Bazaar.
(The band launches into a haunting, vaguely creepy song.)
Shadowboxer:  Watch out, everybody.  It was during their new songs that creatures started popping up.
(The heroes redouble their efforts to get the audience outside.)
 
GM:  Is anybody attacking Road Kill?
Honey Badger:  Not yet.  We want to get the people out of here first.
GM:  Which way are you sending them -- out the front, or out the back?
Malarky:  Out the front.  We don't want to take them past Road Kill.  (getting suspicious)  Why?  Do I see anything out the front windows?
GM:  No.  But anybody toward the back of the club will hear screaming from outside.  (pulls out 5" tall cardboard character standup with a picture of a Flying Polyp printed on it, setting it on the map outside the club's back door.
 
The heroes begin attacking the members of Road Kill, even though the summoning is complete.
 
GM:  Anybody going outside to deal with that?  (points at the Flying Polyp)
Pops:  Hell no.  I already fought one of those.
Circe:  No, you fought one of these.  (picks up normal-size character standup of the Star Vampire)  That (points to the Flying Polyp) is Big Momma, wondering what happened to Junior.
 
Pops teleports Axeman outside, where the guitarist is promptly picked up by the creature.  Screaming in terror, Axeman hurls his guitar/axe at it, somehow managing to miss it entirely.  The creature responds by trying to stuff Axeman down one of its sharp-toothed maws.
Malarky:  He prooooobably should have kept that.  Might have been useful.
Pops:  Well, now the beastie has a chew toy.
 
(Drat.  Work interrupts.  Will try to finish tonight or tomorrow)

Finishing up Songs of Summoning:
 
In my games, I ask each player to provide at least 5 NPCs to flesh out their own world a bit.  These aren't DNPCs; the only dangerous situations they get into are typically off-screen.  I allow the PCs to use them as pseudo-Contacts, just like you would any friend or family member.  And I use them to advance the plot at times.
 
Nexus and Circe each provided way more than 5 NPCs, and Nexus (who plays and sings in a band) decided that her four bandmates were all low-level supers. (The band is named Paranormal.)  If she was trying to get her own mini-super team to help fight crime, she's going to be disappointed...
 
Nexus arrives at the Paradise Rock Club, approaching the back door, and sees her bandmates running away down the alley/street, screaming in terror.  She stops the last one.
 
Nexus:  Stop!  Calm down!  What's wrong?  What's going on?
Bandmate:  We showed up to set up... and they were there already!  He... he's huge!  I thought he was going to rip my arms off!!!  (screams in terror and runs off)
Nexus:  (shakes her head sadly)  My band is a bunch of pansy-boys.
 
Circe walks in the front door to see the patrons of the club all standing around staring at Road Kill up on stage as they launch into their hit song (topped the charts at #546), "I Say Screw You."
 
GM:  What they lack in quality, they make up for in 'loud.'
Circe:  (turns one of her regular club patrons to face her)  What is going on here?
Misc. Person:  (drooling slightly)  Band.  They good.
GM:  (OOC) Game-wise, you're looking at the effects of an area-effect Drain of INT, EGO, and PRE. 
Circe:  So that's how they get fans.
GM:  Which might also explain Nexus' bandmates running away when Ted glared at them.
Honey Badger:  Running away like pansy-boys.  (When Nexus glares at him)  Hey, you're the one who said it.  I'm just repeating what you called them.
 
Pops teleports to the Paradise Rock Club, sees that only half the team there, and disappears to collect the rest.  He starts with Malarky, who is riding his bicycle there as fast as he can pedal.
 
Pops:  I appear next to Malarky, grab him off the bike, and teleport both of us back to the club.
Malarky:  Hey!  What about my bike!
Pops:  Oh, boo hoo.  If it gets stolen or wrecked, I'll buy you a new one.
 
Honey Badger arrives at the back of the club.
 
Honey Badger:  I pick up the guitar one of Nexus' pansy-boys left behind.
Nexus:  Hey, that doesn't belong to you!
Honey Badger:  It does now.
 
As Road Kill finished up their song, to scattered applause from the brain-numbed audience, Honey Badger walks up to the stage with the guitar in hand.
 
Screech:  Hey, we already told you twerps, we're rockin' the Paradise tonight!
Honey Badger:  Oh, Honey Badger doesn't play.  Honey Badger was wondering if you guys would sign this guitar.  Road Kill is one of Honey Badger's favorite bands.  (under his breath)  To beat up.
 
The band members are all more than happy to sign the guitar for a fan.  (Well, Ted just puts a big "X" on it.)  It works as a nice distraction so the rest of the team can start herding out the audience and reduce the number of innocent bystanders.  But before too long...
 
Heavy Metal:  Aright, folks, we're going to do one of our new numbers, we're sure you're going to like it.  It's called The Bazaar.
(The band launches into a haunting, vaguely creepy song.)
Shadowboxer:  Watch out, everybody.  It was during their new songs that creatures started popping up.
(The heroes redouble their efforts to get the audience outside.)
 
GM:  Is anybody attacking Road Kill?
Honey Badger:  Not yet.  We want to get the people out of here first.
GM:  Which way are you sending them -- out the front, or out the back?
Malarky:  Out the front.  We don't want to take them past Road Kill.  (getting suspicious)  Why?  Do I see anything out the front windows?
GM:  No.  But anybody toward the back of the club will hear screaming from outside.  (pulls out 5" tall cardboard character standup with a picture of a Flying Polyp printed on it, setting it on the map outside the club's back door.
 
The heroes begin attacking the members of Road Kill, even though the summoning is complete.
 
GM:  Anybody going outside to deal with that?  (points at the Flying Polyp)
Pops:  Hell no.  I already fought one of those.
Circe:  No, you fought one of these.  (picks up normal-size character standup of the Star Vampire)  That (points to the Flying Polyp) is Big Momma, wondering what happened to Junior.
 
Pops teleports Axeman outside, where the guitarist is promptly picked up by the creature.  Screaming in terror, Axeman hurls his guitar/axe at it, somehow managing to miss it entirely.  The creature responds by trying to stuff Axeman down one of its sharp-toothed maws.
Malarky:  He prooooobably should have kept that.  Might have been useful.
Pops:  Well, now the beastie has a chew toy.
 
(Drat.  Work interrupts.  Will try to finish tonight or tomorrow)

Boston Champions - Songs of Summoning (cont.)
 
The heroes learn that most of the summoned creatures didn't do much more than scare a few people before popping back to wherever they came from.  Curious about the one that Pops fought (which had specifically targeted the grocery store manager while ignoring pretty much everybody else around it), some go to the hospital to see how the mauled man is doing.  Unfortunately, he's still in a coma. After establishing that they're working with the Boston PD...
 
Malarky (to the ICU nurse):  Can I maybe try a wee something that might help perk him up?
Nurse Ratchet:  I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to touch my patient.  (walks away to treat another patient, but keeps an eye on Malarky)
Nurse Nice:  (walks up)  You're one of those new supeheroes, aren't you?  I saw something about you in the news.
Malarky:  Aye, that's us.  I'm Malarky, a bit of a junior mage.
Nurse Nice:  Magic, huh?  So, you can heal him, with one touch?
Malarky (realizing his Healing spell is Area of Effect):  That I can.  Don't really need to touch him, though.  (pauses)  Say, do you mind if I stand over there in the corner for a bit?  Won't be a bother.  (smiles impishly)  And if you should happen to move any really sick patients within, oh, a dozen or so meters of me in, say, five minutes time, who's to say what might happen?
Needless to say, there was some miraculous healing that day in the ICU at Mass General.
Malarky:  Wonder if I can get a date with that nurse...
 
Other heroes go to check the mauled man's apartment.
 
Honey Badger:  Maybe he was dabbling in the black arts...
Enters the apartment to find it a mess -- furniture trashed, possessions destroyed, walls sliced as if by claws, and overly large maggots squirming all over the place.
Honey Badger:  ... and it got away from him.
 
Circe tries reading the man's mind, but he's just as clueless as they are.
 
Mr. Goodman (walking around a mental construct of his trashed apartment):  Would you look at this mess?  Why me?  What did I ever do?  I'm a law-abiding guy, try and keep the peace.  Serve on the neighborhood watch.  Try and keep things nice in my neighborhood, call the police when people aren't being civil.  And this is what happens?
 
Unfortunately, they didn't catch the clue and so they didn't ask if he had made any complaints against neighbors lately.  Instead, they start checking out the bars near where some of the creatures appeared.
 
Malarky:  You guys realize I'm not allowed in a bar, don't you?  I'm only 18.
Pops:  Wait, don't you use booze for one of your spells? 
Malarky:  That's different.  It's not alcohol, it's a spell component.
 
Shadowboxer listens in on a few conversations between patrons.
 
Guy #1:  Hopefully they'll have a better band tonight.
Guy #2:  Yeah, those guys last night were horrid.  I mean, their early stuff was alright, I can dig some good metal, but then they started on their 'new' stuff.  Talk about dark and depressing...
Shadowboxer:  Excuse me.  Couldn't help but overhear.  Do you remember what the band who played here last night was called?
Guy #1:  Something like Road House, wasn't it?
Guy #2:  No, it was Road Kill.
(players groan in agony.  Ah, the lamentations of players are like nectar to the GM!)
 
Circe:  That was the band that tried out at my club last week, wasn't it? (smugly)  Good thing I refused to book them.  They won't be trashing my club.
GM:  Funny you should mention that... (pulls out the game map and begins laying it out)

Our group now alternates between my Champions game and a D&D-4 game.  However, the D&D DM texted me a few days before our normal game day asking if I could run instead.  I didn't really have anything prepared, so I threw something together.  But I did take the time to put together a weekly news page.
 
One article mentions the "newly-formed team of superheroes, as yet unnamed".
 
Nexus:  Does that mean we have to come up with a team name?  You know we suck at that.
(That's true -- past team names have included THEM (The Heroes of Eastern Michigan) and S-Squad (because all the team members names began with "S")
GM:  If you don't come up with a team name, the editor of the Heronet Herald will give you one.  This is the same guy that came up with "Earth-818" for the alternate world.  So, not very creative.   You'll probably end up with something like Boston Area Super-Heroes.
Maker:  BASH!  I like it!  You know, that's actually the kind of name we'd come up with.
 
Maker's player looks through the prior week's news, which included a Name That Dimension contest,with appropriate hokey prizes, to come up with a better name than Earth-818.  She then passes the GM a note:
 
"Maker wants the Foxbat inflatable punching bag and submits Ogygia for Earth-818."
 
Another article in the current news talks about Pops taking down a misshapen creature attacking a supermarket, so I started the night off with that encounter.  Pops is on his way home to get ready for a hot date.
 
Pops:  Why are you picking on me?  You know that if I saw something happening, I'd probably just teleport the other direction.
Nexus:  Hey, at least you know up front you're going to win!
 
The creature is a star vampire, which is normally invisible but becomes temporarily visible after feasting.
 
GM:  As Pops teleports into the store, he sees a badly maimed person lying on the ground, with several other people apparently fighting something invisible, which tosses them aside like gnats while it sucks blood from the maimed guy.  As Pops watches, the creature becomes visible as the blood it's drinking circulates through it's body.  (Shows Pops a picture of the creature.
Pops:  Okay, that's just wrong.  I don't do tentacles.  I don't even like anime.  That's more Honey Badger's or Circe's thing.
 
After a few phases of combat...
 
GM: You notice that, as the blood it drank is being absorbed, the creature is starting to fade away.  You figure it'll be invisible again by the end of the Turn.
 
The creature grabs Pops and latches a tentacle onto his throat to begin sucking his blood.
 
Pops:  Well, at least it'll be visible a bit longer.
 
Pops eventually defeats the creature and turns it over to PRIMUS.  He then pays a visit to his teammate Malarky.
 
Pops:  You know that healing thing you did while fighting the Boston Commons?  Could you do that to me?  (points to his neck)  I have a date tonight, and I don't want her to see this hickey.
 
The heroes investigate, and discover that odd-looking creatures have been popping in and out of existence all over town.  Some pop up in the afternoon, but most show up from about 9 pm to 2 am.  None are reported between 2 am and noonish.
 
Shadowboxer:  I map out all the appearances and look for patterns.
GM:  You actually see two groups -- the afternoon appearances are in one part of town, near some apartment buildings and warehouses converted into condos, that sort of thing.  The late evening/early night appearances are in a different part of Boston.  Most of them have been pretty close to a number of lower-grade bars and other dives.
Shadowboxer:  That would explain the appearances ending by 2 am.  That's when the bars close up.
Malarky:  So basically, we're looking for a drunk summoner.
 
(More to follow)

Finishing up Songs of Summoning:
 
In my games, I ask each player to provide at least 5 NPCs to flesh out their own world a bit.  These aren't DNPCs; the only dangerous situations they get into are typically off-screen.  I allow the PCs to use them as pseudo-Contacts, just like you would any friend or family member.  And I use them to advance the plot at times.
 
Nexus and Circe each provided way more than 5 NPCs, and Nexus (who plays and sings in a band) decided that her four bandmates were all low-level supers. (The band is named Paranormal.)  If she was trying to get her own mini-super team to help fight crime, she's going to be disappointed...
 
Nexus arrives at the Paradise Rock Club, approaching the back door, and sees her bandmates running away down the alley/street, screaming in terror.  She stops the last one.
 
Nexus:  Stop!  Calm down!  What's wrong?  What's going on?
Bandmate:  We showed up to set up... and they were there already!  He... he's huge!  I thought he was going to rip my arms off!!!  (screams in terror and runs off)
Nexus:  (shakes her head sadly)  My band is a bunch of pansy-boys.
 
Circe walks in the front door to see the patrons of the club all standing around staring at Road Kill up on stage as they launch into their hit song (topped the charts at #546), "I Say Screw You."
 
GM:  What they lack in quality, they make up for in 'loud.'
Circe:  (turns one of her regular club patrons to face her)  What is going on here?
Misc. Person:  (drooling slightly)  Band.  They good.
GM:  (OOC) Game-wise, you're looking at the effects of an area-effect Drain of INT, EGO, and PRE. 
Circe:  So that's how they get fans.
GM:  Which might also explain Nexus' bandmates running away when Ted glared at them.
Honey Badger:  Running away like pansy-boys.  (When Nexus glares at him)  Hey, you're the one who said it.  I'm just repeating what you called them.
 
Pops teleports to the Paradise Rock Club, sees that only half the team there, and disappears to collect the rest.  He starts with Malarky, who is riding his bicycle there as fast as he can pedal.
 
Pops:  I appear next to Malarky, grab him off the bike, and teleport both of us back to the club.
Malarky:  Hey!  What about my bike!
Pops:  Oh, boo hoo.  If it gets stolen or wrecked, I'll buy you a new one.
 
Honey Badger arrives at the back of the club.
 
Honey Badger:  I pick up the guitar one of Nexus' pansy-boys left behind.
Nexus:  Hey, that doesn't belong to you!
Honey Badger:  It does now.
 
As Road Kill finished up their song, to scattered applause from the brain-numbed audience, Honey Badger walks up to the stage with the guitar in hand.
 
Screech:  Hey, we already told you twerps, we're rockin' the Paradise tonight!
Honey Badger:  Oh, Honey Badger doesn't play.  Honey Badger was wondering if you guys would sign this guitar.  Road Kill is one of Honey Badger's favorite bands.  (under his breath)  To beat up.
 
The band members are all more than happy to sign the guitar for a fan.  (Well, Ted just puts a big "X" on it.)  It works as a nice distraction so the rest of the team can start herding out the audience and reduce the number of innocent bystanders.  But before too long...
 
Heavy Metal:  Aright, folks, we're going to do one of our new numbers, we're sure you're going to like it.  It's called The Bazaar.
(The band launches into a haunting, vaguely creepy song.)
Shadowboxer:  Watch out, everybody.  It was during their new songs that creatures started popping up.
(The heroes redouble their efforts to get the audience outside.)
 
GM:  Is anybody attacking Road Kill?
Honey Badger:  Not yet.  We want to get the people out of here first.
GM:  Which way are you sending them -- out the front, or out the back?
Malarky:  Out the front.  We don't want to take them past Road Kill.  (getting suspicious)  Why?  Do I see anything out the front windows?
GM:  No.  But anybody toward the back of the club will hear screaming from outside.  (pulls out 5" tall cardboard character standup with a picture of a Flying Polyp printed on it, setting it on the map outside the club's back door.
 
The heroes begin attacking the members of Road Kill, even though the summoning is complete.
 
GM:  Anybody going outside to deal with that?  (points at the Flying Polyp)
Pops:  Hell no.  I already fought one of those.
Circe:  No, you fought one of these.  (picks up normal-size character standup of the Star Vampire)  That (points to the Flying Polyp) is Big Momma, wondering what happened to Junior.
 
Pops teleports Axeman outside, where the guitarist is promptly picked up by the creature.  Screaming in terror, Axeman hurls his guitar/axe at it, somehow managing to miss it entirely.  The creature responds by trying to stuff Axeman down one of its sharp-toothed maws.
Malarky:  He prooooobably should have kept that.  Might have been useful.
Pops:  Well, now the beastie has a chew toy.
 
(Drat.  Work interrupts.  Will try to finish tonight or tomorrow)

Boston Champions - Songs of Summoning (cont.)
 
The heroes learn that most of the summoned creatures didn't do much more than scare a few people before popping back to wherever they came from.  Curious about the one that Pops fought (which had specifically targeted the grocery store manager while ignoring pretty much everybody else around it), some go to the hospital to see how the mauled man is doing.  Unfortunately, he's still in a coma. After establishing that they're working with the Boston PD...
 
Malarky (to the ICU nurse):  Can I maybe try a wee something that might help perk him up?
Nurse Ratchet:  I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to touch my patient.  (walks away to treat another patient, but keeps an eye on Malarky)
Nurse Nice:  (walks up)  You're one of those new supeheroes, aren't you?  I saw something about you in the news.
Malarky:  Aye, that's us.  I'm Malarky, a bit of a junior mage.
Nurse Nice:  Magic, huh?  So, you can heal him, with one touch?
Malarky (realizing his Healing spell is Area of Effect):  That I can.  Don't really need to touch him, though.  (pauses)  Say, do you mind if I stand over there in the corner for a bit?  Won't be a bother.  (smiles impishly)  And if you should happen to move any really sick patients within, oh, a dozen or so meters of me in, say, five minutes time, who's to say what might happen?
Needless to say, there was some miraculous healing that day in the ICU at Mass General.
Malarky:  Wonder if I can get a date with that nurse...
 
Other heroes go to check the mauled man's apartment.
 
Honey Badger:  Maybe he was dabbling in the black arts...
Enters the apartment to find it a mess -- furniture trashed, possessions destroyed, walls sliced as if by claws, and overly large maggots squirming all over the place.
Honey Badger:  ... and it got away from him.
 
Circe tries reading the man's mind, but he's just as clueless as they are.
 
Mr. Goodman (walking around a mental construct of his trashed apartment):  Would you look at this mess?  Why me?  What did I ever do?  I'm a law-abiding guy, try and keep the peace.  Serve on the neighborhood watch.  Try and keep things nice in my neighborhood, call the police when people aren't being civil.  And this is what happens?
 
Unfortunately, they didn't catch the clue and so they didn't ask if he had made any complaints against neighbors lately.  Instead, they start checking out the bars near where some of the creatures appeared.
 
Malarky:  You guys realize I'm not allowed in a bar, don't you?  I'm only 18.
Pops:  Wait, don't you use booze for one of your spells? 
Malarky:  That's different.  It's not alcohol, it's a spell component.
 
Shadowboxer listens in on a few conversations between patrons.
 
Guy #1:  Hopefully they'll have a better band tonight.
Guy #2:  Yeah, those guys last night were horrid.  I mean, their early stuff was alright, I can dig some good metal, but then they started on their 'new' stuff.  Talk about dark and depressing...
Shadowboxer:  Excuse me.  Couldn't help but overhear.  Do you remember what the band who played here last night was called?
Guy #1:  Something like Road House, wasn't it?
Guy #2:  No, it was Road Kill.
(players groan in agony.  Ah, the lamentations of players are like nectar to the GM!)
 
Circe:  That was the band that tried out at my club last week, wasn't it? (smugly)  Good thing I refused to book them.  They won't be trashing my club.
GM:  Funny you should mention that... (pulls out the game map and begins laying it out)