Our story begins in Star City, U.S.A. in the year 2004. The world has been conquered by alien occupiers for a couple of years now and hope is dwindling. The superheroes were blown away in the surprise attack that announced the V'sori's turn from savior to conqueror. They didn't have much trouble after that. As the bootheel grinds down though, other forces on the planet begin to reach their limit - they can only tolerate so much. So the villains find they have a new nemesis now - not the old ones in capes but the new ones who think they are the rightful rulers of the world, who didn't account for the egos, the megalomania, contrariness, greed, and immense capacity for violence that had been laying dormant for the past two years. Deals were made, old grudges put aside - for now (mostly) - and a new resistance began to rise.
Our Villains:
- MEGASTRIKE - He's big! He's strong! He's ... radioactive! The nuclear-powered enforcer for the Russian Mob has been stuck in Star City since the invasion when he was sent here to teach a lesson to a rival criminal organization. Played by Paladin Steve. A returning character from the prior attempts at this campaign.
- LEGION - She's hot! She's smart! She's well-connected ... she's the deal-making demon! On assignment from Hell and busy tending to her rising criminal organization based in Star City and trying to work things out with rival criminal organizations when the invasion hit she was inconvenienced more than anything else. Played by Grognard Mike.
- NIGHT BLADE - He's from the East! He has a magical spirit-infused sword! He's an "independent contractor" and while he may not have a heart of gold he does have a code of honor! He's newly arrived in Star City as he was escorting an important shipment into the city that needed to be kept quiet and not interfered with. As it turned out it was not kept quiet and it was interfered with and that led to some personal complications ... Played by Shootist Will and another returning character.
- NIGHT TERROR - He's stealthy! He walks through walls! He's ex-CIA now gone independent contractor as a paid assassin! He moved to Star City after the invasion to get away from the heat he had generated in Europe and because the aliens seemed to take a lighter hand there - starting with not flattening the city. He's looking forward to new opportunities. Played by Variable Dave and yet another returning character.
- Y2K BUG - It's artificial! It's intelligent! It's stole a military grade humanoid combat chassis and downloaded itself into it! Only recently awakened it has some technological abilities and is very tough but is frankly terrible at actually doing most things. I'm sure the hardened criminals around it will totally not take advantage of its lack of experience... Played by Battletech Terry.
- A MYSTERIOUS ROBED, BOUND, AND GAGGED FIGURE UNKNKOWN TO ALL- at least that's how it begins. Played by Blaster.
The session opens with the aforementioned troublemakers restrained and drained on an alien craft. They are being transferred between secure facilities and they know the journey likely ends with a trip off world and death at the hands of alien scientists. Those who are not gagged begin to talk about what got them into this situation. Some of them know each other but do not necessarily like each other and shots are taken as often as possible. With the nullifiers on there's little else they can do ... until ...
Suddenly the M’buna flies into the air! It flips end over end, sending you tumbling into the other captives. The world is a jumble of color and cursing before you finally come to rest. The M’buna is ripped wide open and you see blood and smoke everywhere. A massive explosion rocks the wreck, killing the Fin guards as they stagger forth. You’re
stunned, trying to gather your senses, but the nullifiers keep you weak and useless.
Then a familiar figure strides through the smoke holding a massive gun. There can be no mistaking the famous form of Earth’s most powerful supervillain — Dr.
Destruction!
“You want to live?” Destruction asks
Everyone says yes to this except the Mysterious Figure who can only nod. They are lifted out of the wreckage of the craft and into a new flying carrier . Dr. D begins to explain his plan. In short he doesn't really care about them but he needs a new Omega cell in the city and their job application for this is to break another villain out of a V'Sori prison nearby. As he shoves them out the rear ramp of the craft our team agrees to the deal and so he detonates their nullifiers and their powers return on the way to the ground - or in this case the roof of the main building.
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| Yeah we all know what it is but I'm going with this for a visual on the M'Buna for now |
Freed and looking extremely angry the mysterious figure blows a large hole in the roof with a flaming blast and much of the rest of the party drops inside, getting the lay of the land. As the guards rush to the opening, firing along the way - to no effect - the stranger screams "IMBECILES! YOU FACE THE WRATH OF THE MIGHTY XYZZIFAX!" and begins blasting every potentially hostile thing in sight.
A bit more mission-focused, MegaStrike and Night Terror begin looking for Mindjack, the prisoner they are supposed to rescue. Legion searches for her sidekick Kasha, a particularly violent cat-person from another world. Night Blade and Y2K Bug start dealing with any guards still standing amid Xyzzifax's fiery rampage.
In short order the guards are down, various cell doors are melted, ripped open, or phased through, and both Mindjack and Kasha are found and freed. Another wave of guards, this time in the form of war-spheres, is dispatched as the team prepares to leave. While doing that Night Terror, always with an eye for the ladies, frees a woman named Valerie who seems to be more together than the rest of the prisoners, and Xyz recruits a trio of minions in a fairly similar way to how this team was just recruited.
Emerging into the courtyard another squad of war spheres goes down and then Dr. Destruction's craft appears overhead and takes the party & their picked-up strays up and away, leaving the other freed prisoners to fend for themselves. The Arch-Villain drops them off in a not-great neighborhood in Southpoint, points to a nearby warehouse, tells them they did better than he was expecting and that he will be in touch, and zooms off into the night sky.
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| She's more "business suit" than "tank top" but I just recently played this so she's going to be appearing as Legion a lot. |
Still ruffled, the group begins to debate their next move. The Russian and the Demon are not sure about working together (well he's not anyway), others are not keen on taking orders, and many are concerned about the consequences of having been arrested.
Valerie thanks Night Terror and heads out on her own - she seems to have a plan. Half the group thinks she's a spy for the aliens and will rat them out but they end up letting her go. Xyzzifax's three newly acquired minions agree to work for him - for now - and stick around
In the end MegaStrike decides to stay in the warehouse while the rest of the crew head off to one of Legion's safe houses. Once there, she goes to another room and brings a nice gun back which she hands to Y2K Bug - "I saw you fight back there - please take it. You'll need it."
GM Notes
Yeah this was fun. Old characters returning was already going to be fun and then Blaster decided to bring in his wizard character from the Temple of Elemental Evil and it just went nuts. He is using the regular superpower, not any kind of amped-up "normal" arcane background option, but the superpowers are probably more on-target for a high level wizard from modern D&D. The campaign premise is still good, my players were enthused, and we already have intra-group rivalries taking shape. We do have a 7th player but he couldn't make it to the first session. Not super-excited about having this many players in a superhero campaign but he will probably be an intermittent player - we will see. Even six is probably too many but I'm just going to roll with it - there are six of you, you all have superpowers, and you've all played RPG's for years - there will be no whining at this table.
Next session is later today and I expect it to be a ton of fun too.
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