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ElFi
2016-01-26, 09:12 PM
Hi, all. I decided to get an account on this site to go with my first foray into roleplaying games, via a Mutants and Masterminds Second Edition campaign that I'm gamemastering for a group of old friends, all of whom are just as much noobs as me when it comes to roleplaying and roleplaying games- it's a learning experience for all of us, really. We had our first official session last Friday (after spending a night a week prior doing nothing but making character sheets) and I think it went pretty well.

As the title of this thread indicates, the name of the campaign is "Millennials", so named because it takes place in a fictional Jersey Shore city, Millennium City, which is basically the East Coast's equivalent of Silicon Valley. Long since famed for its low crime rates and relatively small number of superheroes and villains, the City's peaceful atmosphere changes when Penway Labs, a local laboratory, is broken into and robbed by an albino woman known as 'Pharos'. Suddenly, superpowered forces both hero and villain are converging on the city, in a way that definitely won't end with copious amounts of death and property damage. On that note, let's begin!

Troy Sebastian (Solemn)
A librarian and ex-experimental physicist with the ability to manipulate gravity by varying densities of various objects and spaces. Gained his powers during a freak accident in the lab when their heavily experimental singularity generator went haywire and sucked him in, powers developed on reflex and suppressed the singularity back to manageable levels. He still walks with a slight limp to this day as a result of his injuries. Stoic and antisocial (hence the codename), he's pragmatic about violence but is still probably the only member of the team with any sort of conscience to speak of.

Patrick Esposito (Dr. Ivy)
Chlorokinetic who can grow fantastical plants and bestow sentience on them, which is handy since he has a lot of affection for plants... yeah, in that way. Originally a botany student at a prestigious university, a mishap during a crucial in-class experiment caused him to be flunked out of the class and subsequently disowned by his rich but vicious parents. Unable to feed himself, his desperation manifested in the ability to grow food for himself- and also bestowed life to his failed lab experiment, who's now a four-foot tall, anthropomorphic, sentient flytrap named Fiona (who's also his girlfriend). Extremely deranged, he has a tendency to flip-flop between ignoring the bullets flying around him during a gunfight, and brutally murdering the people responsible for firing said bullets.

Aidan Umbra (Shadowboxer)
A thief who's recently decided to engage in a little Robin Hood-ing. Can control darkness for a variety of purposes, including blinding victims and temporarily assuming an intangible shadow-state. Formerly a common street thug before he got his powers, he stole from the wrong people and got in serious trouble with the mob. Chased down by goons, he hid in the shadows of an alley and subsequently discovered that he'd gained the ability to literally melt into the darkness. Rough and surly from his time on the streets, he's not much in the way of brainpower but is charismatic and extremely street-smart.

Nick Ackerman (Blackwing)
An orphan who lost his parents to criminals, he spent the majority of his life training to one day take his violent revenge on the people who had taken his family away with him. Unlike the rest of the group he doesn't have powers, but supplements the gap with raw skills and plenty of firepower. (Yes, I know this character isn't very creative. The player in question openly admits he's not very creative and is awful with backstories and general characterization, plus he wanted to play, and I quote, 'Deathstroke Batman'.)


Mid-afternoon, and Millennium City Public Bank is under attack. Rant and Rave, a pair of superpowered criminals, have along with their gang of thugs seized control of the bank, taken hostages, and are currently looting the bank's safe. The local heroes and police are nowhere to be found, so it's up to our resident band of ragtag misfits to save the day. Bursting into the bank, the foursome meets each other for the first time. Awkward greetings are exchanged as they introduce themselves and try to figure out who they all managed to arrive at the same time. Despite the confusion, they're somehow able to sneak through the guarded front doors without the thugs noticing... but not Rave, who alerts her five cronies to the presence of the heroes. Roll for initiative!

Thanks to her sizable Initiative bonus, Rave goes first and fires a searing blast of light at Shadowboxer, who's able to dodge despite the surprise attack. Blackwing moves next, pulling out a pistol and raking bullets across the closest thug, injuring him albeit non-fatally. Solemn raises a hand and lifts everyone into the air save two thugs, where they dangle helplessly. Both he and Doctor Ivy then take cover behind the fountain conveniently placed in the middle of the bank, while Fiona frees a pair of hostages stowed away in the corner, who then make a break for the door. Going last among the heroes, Shadowboxer charges at one of the non-suspended thugs and slugs him across the face. Finally gathering themselves, the criminals return fire at Shadowboxer, who once again evades the incoming bullets. Roaring in rage at being held up in the air, Rave fires an enormous blast of light at Shadowboxer (All-Out Attack), but once again fails to damage him. Blackwing tosses a flashbang grenade into the midst of the thugs but fails to hit anyone. Then Solemn makes the big move. Dropping his gravity well, he seizes Rave in a gravitic grip (Telekinesis) before throwing her into the nearby wall so hard she's knocked out from the singular blow.

Without their Empowered leader, the rest of the thugs don't stand much of a chance. One of them escapes through the back door, while a second engages in close range with Shadowboxer and gets killed for his troubles, and a third gets ganged up on by Blackwing and Solemn and Intimidated into whimpering submission. Dr. Ivy grows a few plant minions to provide crowd control but otherwise doesn't do much. It all seems to be going quite well- that is, until one of the thugs near the back of the bank grabs a hostage- a little girl who'd tagged along with her parents on a little excursion. Shouting, the thug threatens to shoot his hostage if any of the heroes move a muscle, and just like that the entire brawl freezes- except for Blackwing, who uses Stealth to slowly inch up to the unsuspecting criminals. Close enough to strike, Blackwing fires on the thug with his pistol... and fails to reach the guy's Toughness save by exactly one point. Little girl gets a bullet to the head and goes down, just barely holding on to life, and a furious Blackwing slashes the thug in question across the chest with his katana, similarly critically injuring him. The girl's just-as-angry father joins in on the melee, and despite protests by Solemn the thug gets executed medieval-style by Blackwing in short order. Shadowboxer corners the final standing thug in the tellers' office (who had previously been in a fist-fight with a pair of surprisingly brave bank employees) and Intimidates him into surrender, ending the fight.

Brawl over, a less-than-calm Solemn stomps into the tellers' office and grabs the previously-captured thug's pistol before slamming him into the wall with his gravitic powers. Holding said gun to the unfortunate criminal's head while simulatenously pinning him to the wall, Solemn demands information on the whereabouts of the rest of Rave's gang. The terrified mook confesses in seconds. Rave's brother, Rant, and the rest of the goons are currently robbing the bank's vault upstairs. Satisfied with the information, Solemn releases the thug's hold on gravity entirely, slamming him into the ceiling and knocking him out. One of the tellers informs the heroes that the vault is hidden in a secret compartment behind the bank's board room, and one of the hostages Fiona freed calls the police. First floor settled, the heroes proceed upstairs.


Proceeding upstairs, the group now comprises seven individuals- the four heroes, plus Fiona and Dr. Ivy's two newly-grown plant minions, dubbed 'plinions' both in- and out-of-character. Near immediately, they find a pair of thugs guarding the hallway leading towards the boardroom. Too occupied with their own duties, the thugs don't even stand a chance as the heroes start their initiative rolls.

This time, Shadowboxer moves first, blanketing the area in darkness and blinding the two mooks. Dr. Ivy takes cover in a conjoining accountant's office and spawns a third plinion before directing them on the attack. Solemn pins both of the thugs to the ceiling by depriving them of gravity, and the plinions take advantage, spitting potent digestive juices that completely disintegrate one thug and deprive the other of his clothes and most of his skin- all that remains of the former is a sickening scream and the sweet smell of burning flesh. Blackwing opens fire enthusiastically but ineffectively on the surviving thug. Then, on the far end of the hallway, more enemies make their presence known- Raves brother, Rant, and the two remaining thugs in their gang, all three of them laden down with bags of cash. Courtesy of the blanket of darkness separating them from their allies, Rant and Co. can't see what's happening, but the noises- acid splashing, screams of pain, and gunshots- do more than inform them of what's happening. Turning on his heel, Rant fires a sonic blast at the nearest window, shattering it outwards and providing an escape route. The two thugs leap out the shattered opening with their ill-gotten gains, and their boss moves to follow.

Courtesy of the Selective effect on Shadowboxer's Obscure power, the heroes can all see what's going on, and they move to stop Rant's escape. While the plinions finish eviscerating and melting the last remaining thug, Solemn, Shadowboxer, and Blackwing all move to attack Rave, but courtesy of the sonic manipulator's impressive Defense bonus none of them succeed in even landing a hit on him, and Rant makes it out the window with ease- then hangs there, suspended by a telekinetic field that the heroes take a little time to realize isn't Solemn's. Levitating outside the window, surviving two thugs likewise suspended in her telekinetic grip, is a woman in a black-and-white trench coat and a matching domino mask. She watches the group from the street with curious, intelligent eyes. "Greetings," she says, "the League has arrived!"

End session!

So... yeah. Our first fight was very much a wash, no-one among the PC's took a single hit that managed to actually register damage. I suppose I'll have to make combat encounters a little more lethal in the future... heh :smallamused:. Regardless, we all enjoyed ourselves, and I'll be sure to ramp up the challenge in future sessions. Comments and suggestions to better the experience for everybody are welcome and encouraged.

FocusWolf413
2016-01-27, 12:09 AM
This is pretty great, but the filter I have for chrome replaces "Millennial" with "Snake People" and it makes it just priceless.

ElFi
2016-01-27, 01:05 PM
This is pretty great, but the filter I have for chrome replaces "Millennial" with "Snake People" and it makes it just priceless.

Yay, first commenter! I have no idea about the "Snake People" thing, but it is funny.

Beleriphon
2016-01-27, 01:26 PM
So... yeah. Our first fight was very much a wash, no-one among the PC's took a single hit that managed to actually register damage. I suppose I'll have to make combat encounters a little more lethal in the future... heh :smallamused:. Regardless, we all enjoyed ourselves, and I'll be sure to ramp up the challenge in future sessions. Comments and suggestions to better the experience for everybody are welcome and encouraged.

At PL10 it behooves Rant and Rave to work together and use their combined powers against a group. I played the same adventure from the rule book and used Rant and Rave as a team-up and they can clean up pretty good if needed. That said, the fight is incredibly one sided intentionally. The follow-up with Captain Kraken is a frigging hoot though. I had a player shout "I know what to do, I've seen Pirates of the Caribbean!" As a bit of advice if you go that route really, really play up Kraken using Hollywood pirate-isms, it helps if you can manage an underwatery voice or don't mind talking into a fan for Kraken's dialogue.

ElFi
2016-01-27, 03:46 PM
At PL10 it behooves Rant and Rave to work together and use their combined powers against a group. I played the same adventure from the rule book and used Rant and Rave as a team-up and they can clean up pretty good if needed. That said, the fight is incredibly one sided intentionally. The follow-up with Captain Kraken is a frigging hoot though. I had a player shout "I know what to do, I've seen Pirates of the Caribbean!" As a bit of advice if you go that route really, really play up Kraken using Hollywood pirate-isms, it helps if you can manage an underwatery voice or don't mind talking into a fan for Kraken's dialogue.

Originally they were going to reunite and work together, but Solemn's player nipped that in the bud before I could do anything about that. At the very least, it allowed me to get a little more creative with the second floor; creating an escape scenario rather than another boring pushover melee. It also gave me the opportunity to introduce Senator (the telekinetic NPC at the end).

Sad to say Captain Kraken will not be appearing in this campaign, which is strictly Earth-based in nature. I mostly used Rant and Rave as starter villains because they were available and I wasn't very creative with character creation at the time (although I did retool Rave's powers from illusions to light control).

Beleriphon
2016-01-27, 04:02 PM
Originally they were going to reunite and work together, but Solemn's player nipped that in the bud before I could do anything about that. At the very least, it allowed me to get a little more creative with the second floor; creating an escape scenario rather than another boring pushover melee. It also gave me the opportunity to introduce Senator (the telekinetic NPC at the end).

Sad to say Captain Kraken will not be appearing in this campaign, which is strictly Earth-based in nature. I mostly used Rant and Rave as starter villains because they were available and I wasn't very creative with character creation at the time (although I did retool Rave's powers from illusions to light control).

Fair enough, Kraken is wildly silly. Although is actual power set works for a mutant monster man of sorts, if you take into account he's armed with a raygun.

ElFi
2016-03-01, 04:12 PM
We finally had our second session tonight! This one is heavily roleplay-oriented, in contrast with the prior combat-heavy session.

In case it's not clear, I'll be referring to the PC's by their codenames when in costume, and their given names otherwise. Hope this clears up any confusion.

Recap on last session: Rave and most of the criminals have been knocked out or killed, but Rant and two other crooks managed to make their escape, only to be caught by a new hero on the scene.

The new hero levitates up to the window (Rant and cronies still comically pinwheeling in the background) and introduces herself to the PC's as Senator, a fellow newcomer to Millennium City. She asks the group to meet her downstairs before dropping out of sight. Proceeding back to the first floor of the bank, the group gets a moment to survey the aftermath of the battle. The bank's mostly intact, sans bullet holes in various walls and a few gaping craters in the floor from Dr. Ivy tearing his plant minions out of the ground- a few cops are baffled at the presence of these holes, until they get a look at the plant creatures trailing behind Ivy and realize the answer. The injured little girl rolls past on a stretcher, attended by two EMTs and her worried parents. One of the bank tellers is reporting to a police officer, and a small pile of body bags is accumulating in the corner, leftovers of the criminals that didn't make it out of the brawl.

Senator's standing on the front steps when the group exits the bank. Introductions are made, and Senator identifies herself as a member of the League, an international organization that provides Empowered (the in-universe term for people with powers) heroes with support and legal help in exchange for acceptance of organization and public image management. The group attempts to press her for answers as to why she's in the city, but don't get very far before a fleet of news vans come tearing around the corner, and only seconds pass before the bank stairs are swarming with news crews and cameras. Senator declines to offer comment regarding the League's participation in stopping the heist until a press release the following day, and departs after leaving a plot hook for the heroes: meet her at the top floor of the Ritz hotel downtown tomorrow afternoon.

It's only moments later that our hapless heroes find themselves hedged in by just about every newspaper and news channel in town. One reporter in particular breaks through the mob, introducing himself as Millennium City Chronicle journalist Andy Camden and asking for comment. Blackwing doesn't waste a moment before retreating back into the bank and escaping out the side entrance, while Shadowboxer offers his name and nothing more before skulking off down the sidewalk. Solemn tries to mimic his shadow-controlling teammate before realize that Dr. Ivy's about to say something and pushes back through the crowd to drag his delusional ally away from the cameras and lights. With the point clear that nobody's saying anything, the crowd disperses.
After sneaking off, Blackwing changes back into his civilian identity, Nick Ackerman, and heads off to a shawarma restaurant for some early dinner (Avengers references ftw). Elsewhere, Troy, Patrick, and Aidan head back to the former's apartment to change into civilian clothes (well, Troy's changing. Aidan and Patrick wear more-or-less normal clothes when in their superhero guises). Troy and Patrick are agreed about wanting to meet up with Senator the following day, while Aidan is in if he gets a new hoodie with the deal- his last one is still splattered with the blood of one of the unfortunate mooks from the robbery. The trio (along with Fiona) then hit the streets to try and find Nick and ask his opinion.

They find him moonwalking down the sidewalk with a pair of oversized headphones tamped around his ears, and a take-out bag of shawarma swinging from his hand. (Blackwing's player decided that the best way to stay covert was to make his superhero and civilian identities as different as possible. Hence, in costume he's serious, while in plainclothes he's bombastic and goofy.) He's in agreement about meeting up with Senator the following day, and the fivesome (quintet?) group up to find the Ritz Hotel Senator mentioned.

What they find is a hotel fit for a king- complete with a chrome-plated security robot patrolling the lobby and scanning anyone who gets within ten feet with a pair of green, glowing photoreceptors. A Well-Informed check from Solemn informs the group that this robot is a Troubleshooter (my apologies to Paranoia), a security bot specialized in taking down Empowered criminals, complete with scanners for their unique physiology and a "Null Generator" that shuts down all powers within fifty feet. If the Troubleshooter makes anything of the presence of four Empowered (and Fiona, which Patrick's passing off as an enormous houseplant for convenience) in the Ritz, it doesn't say anything. The group votes to stay the night and be prepared for Senator, and Solemn (who by this point has been designated as the group's resident money-guy despite being out of a job) pays for two rooms on the sixth floor. The group plays rock-paper-scissors (both IC and OOC) to determine who gets to sleep with whom, and the arrangement ends up being Nick and Troy in one room, and Patrick, Aidan, and Fiona in the other.

In the Troy-Nick room, the pair end up mostly ignoring one another, Troy reading in bed and Nick playing his Gameboy in a corner. In the Patrick-Aidan-Fiona room, the night doesn't go nearly as smoothly. Aidan creates a curtain of shadows between the room's two sides and warns Patrick not to cross it, on risk of death or serious injury, before flopping down on his mattress. Patrick agrees, then spends an hour doing... things with Fiona on his side of the room, painfully reminding poor Aidan that his barriers are not soundproof. To avoid making this forum NC-17, I'll stop describing there, but after an hour it ends and Patrick falls asleep- that is, until late at night, when he wakes up with a need for water. Unfortunately, Aidan's curtain has left Patrick's side of the room completely black, and he trips over Fiona- and right onto Aidan- trying to make his way to the bathroom. Faced with a (very, very naked) teammate lying on top of him, Aidan makes the only sensible decision and hurls him into the far wall. Troy and Nick get a rude awakening in the next room, while poor Patrick's unconscious before he even hits the ground. "Justice" served, everyone not already out cold falls back asleep.
Morning time, and Troy wakes up to find Nick awake before him and once again playing on his Gameboy in the corner. Offers by the former to go to breakfast are declined, as Nick still has shawarma from last night he wants to finish. Troy heads down to the cafeteria by himself- and runs afoul of the Troubleshooter from yesterday, which scans him for a full thirty seconds before muttering "not registered" in a tinny, mechanical voice and wandering off. The gravity manipulator doesn't think much of it and goes on with his breakfast, and is joined by Aidan shortly afterwards.

Patrick comes downstairs in short order, and both Aidan and Troy (who heard plenty of went down between the botanist and Fiona through the thin walls) do their best to keep their distance from their deranged ally, up to and including Troy telekinetically pushing his chair away from their table in the subtlest way he can manage (and then in not so subtle ways).

After breakfast, the group parts ways to waste time until noon. Patrick takes a nap in his room, Nick works out at the gym, and Aidan goes for a swim in the indoor pool (after Intimidating everyone else in the general vicinity to beat feet and go do something else). Troy, ever the group's only productive member, heads to the patron lounge and goes surfing on one of the computers, trying to find information about Senator and the League. He finds Senator's dossier on the official League website; she's a telekinetic from New York City who's recently been dispatched to Millennium City along with two other League members, and the forums are already rampant with speculation. After reading up on their potential new ally, Troy searches the news for coverage on yesterday's bank robbery. He finds numerous articles and forum posts, all of them swimming with questions about Millennium's newly-acquired foursome of superheroes. Thankfully, nobody's tracked them to the Ritz (yet) despite some less-than-stealthy choices by the group in keeping their identities hidden.

Noon arrives, and Troy fetches Aidan from the pool before meeting up with the rest of the group in the elevator. They change into costume (well, Blackwing and Solemn do) and discuss Solemn's findings regarding Senator and the League. Before long, the elevator reaches the top floor, revealing a small hallway with only one door. At exactly twelve-o-clock, two minutes after their arrival, revealing a petite blonde girl sporting a padded black jumpsuit. A Well-Informed check by Solemn identifies her as a League agent and/or member based on the commlink in her ear, but can discern nothing further. Invited inside, the group finds themselves walking through the Ritz' penthouse room, which is much more spacious and richly outfitted than their simple economy rooms. Still not identifying herself, the blonde girl leads our heroes onto the penthouse's balcony, where they find a lunch table set for eight and a hot tub, in which is a ridiculously buff guy with a red-and-white mask and a goofy, friendly grin on his face. The girl seats herself on the balcony railing and informs the PC's that Senator will be along shortly.

A few minutes pass awkwardly. Attempts at small talk (and an offer to join him in the hot tub) made by the bathing man are ignored or declined. Finally, Senator arrives, and motions the group to sit. She identifies the girl and man as Changeling and Legendary, respectively, fellow League members and her teammates. While Legendary gets dressed and comes to the table (and Changeling shyly lingers by the railing), Solemn bluntly ignores social niceties and asks Senator to get to the point. Finally, she clarifies why she called them all here: her group of three heroes, collectively referred to as the League Strike Force (LSF), have been dispatched to Millennium City to investigate a robbery at Penway Labs. Producing a tablet from her robes, Senator shows the group a video of the robbery: an albino woman (with golden yellow eyes instead of red) dashes through a laboratory, effortlessly evading the various security systems and weapons that rise to block her path. Only seconds pass before she swipes something from a table and vanishes off-camera. The rest of her escape is similarly effortless. Senator clarifies that the GPS coordinates of Penway Labs were posted online a day before the robbery by a hacker who calls themselves 'Pharos', and is believed by some to be the driving force behind the Second Great Depression (an in-universe event that happened in the latter half of the New Tens. The campaign takes place in 2020, just as the world is beginning to bounce back). Senator states that she believes the hacker and the thief to be the same woman.

Blunt once again, Solemn asks what that has to do with him and the other four. Senator replies that the group is familiar with Millennium City (it's Patrick's hometown, and the rest of the group have all lived here for at least a couple months), moreso than she herself or anyone on her team is, and they need local eyes and ears- among the three resident heroes she's already contacted, Equinox and Rayshine are busy on a case, and Arbalest has stated that she prefers to work alone. Hearing her concerns, the group agrees to help her.

But, there's a catch: if our heroes want to help out the LSF, they'll need to register with the League, which entails public image management, consulting with therapists and other professionals, and (most importantly) avoiding lethal violence whenever possible. The League wants to prove to the world that Empowered can be protectors and heroes, not just dangerous vigilantes to be kept on a leash. Solemn agrees after deliberation, and (to my surprise) Dr. Ivy and Blackwing also ask to be registered, complete with Ivy conjuring up a Plinion from a nearby houseplant as an impromptu demonstration of his powers (the pot it'd been in doesn't make it, sadly). Shadowboxer agrees with a little more trepidation than the rest, claiming that he'll do what he wants but will work with the group for now.

That debate settled, the PCs get their first assignment: help Changeling conduct a raid on a storehouse by the docks, which is owned by Wonderland, one of the local gangs and an infamous drug ring in Millennium itself and nearby populated areas. After taking a moment to change back into their civilian identities, the group heads out.
The storehouse the group's looking for turns out to be the Fairytale Marriage Agency- or at least, that's what the front door says. An afternoon stakeout sees not one person go in or out, though late in the day a single woman parks her car by the entrance and heads inside.

Changeling demonstrates her shapeshifting powers by modifying her appearance to that of a pale, modestly overweight brunette. She outlines her plan to get inside under the pretense of a woman trying to organize her wedding- that is, until her monologue gets interrupted by a tremendous bang from somewhere inside the agency. Not wasting anymore time, Changeling sheds her disguise and switches back to her blonde form before charging inside, the PC's at her heels. Directly inside is a small waiting room with a desk manned by a young woman who's clearly struggling to keep her smile going. Intimidation and Sense Motive checks by Solemn reveal that she's been put in charge of manning the front, but she has no idea what's going on inside, and that "Ms. Duchess" just went inside a few minutes ago. Shadowboxer apparently decides that's not enough, and attempts a second Intimidate by picking up the girl by the shirt. His reward is getting blasted directly in the chest by the concealed shotgun behind the front desk.

Tense moments pass as the group attempts to negotiate with the terrified criminal, while Shadowboxer reels from his bullet injury. She's eventually talked down and flees out the front door, while the group makes the decision to proceed with the mission, setbacks be damned. Blackwing checks the hallway and finds two doors, one locked and in the direction of the meeting room, the other in the direction of the loud bangs that are still ongoing. Blackwing, Changeling, and Shadowboxer head for the locked door, while Solemn, Dr. Ivy and Fiona head for the noise. What the latter group finds is an armory, complete with multiple tables laden down with guns both modern and futuristic- and an escalating brawl. A humanoid creature made of a substance that can only be described as Play-doh slugs it out with a terrified mook while another criminal ineffectively fires bullets into the clay monsters' back. Just as the heroes burst into the room, a third mook is sent flying into a nearby wall, narrowly missing Ivy.

Well, that's where the bangs were coming from.

End session!

ElFi
2016-03-13, 05:55 PM
Third session's up! This one's got a healthy mix of combat and roleplaying (and more indications that I need to up this campaign's challenge rating).

Last session recap: the group's raiding a drug lab/armory run by the Wonderland gang with Changeling's help. Shadowboxer, Blackwing, and Changeling are heading for the meeting room, while Solemn, Dr. Ivy, and Fiona find themselves in an armory- and interrupting a brawl between two Wonderland mooks and a humanoid clay monster.

Cue the synths! (https://soundcloud.com/alan-easley/steven-universe-soundtrack-sugilite-theme-super-extended)

Initiative rolls ensue for the Solemn-Ivy-Fiona group, and the clay monster goes first, knocking out one mook and flicking him into the other one, taking them both out before anyone else even has a chance to react. He wheels on our heroes, and asks in a guttural, slurred voice if they're with the "tan lady". Solemn, wary but not about to make the first move, replies with a firm no. They banter back and forth with one another for awhile (for once, Dr. Ivy has nothing to contribute to the conversation, though in this case that's probably a good thing), before Solemn finally manages to clarify that they're actually here to apprehend this "tan lady". The clay monster flashes a creepy grin and gestures towards a nearby downwards-leading staircase before skulking off through a hole in the armory's wall.

Elsewhere in the building, Shadowboxer and Blackwing come upon a locked door. Shadowboxer opts to bash it down, and succeeds before narrowly avoiding a pair of laser bolts to the face. A critical failure on a Notice check (I cite sawdust from the door getting into his eyes) prevents our shadow-controller from seeing anything, but Blackwing picks up the slack and charges into the room, finding himself a pair of goons wielding intimidating, futuristic rifles and guarding yet another locked door. Initiative rolls ensue, more blaster shots are dodged, and a charge from Shadowboxer sends one unfortunate mook careening into a conveniently-placed couch while Blackwing scores a solid hit on the other with his pistol. Changeling finally arrives in the room only to realize that the pair already seem to have things handled.

Back with the first group, Solemn and Ivy hear the commotion and decide to join in on the action. Solemn bashes a hole in the wall with a gravity-boosted punch, and Ivy, not to be outdone, taps his foot and uproots a pair of Plinions from beneath the floorboards, which then go to work melting their own hole in the plaster (Ivy's player wanted to renege on doing this, but at this point I'd had enough of his nonsense and made him do it anyway). Solemn then does some scouting around the armory, finding a drug lab in the back end of the building, and a ledger that seems like it might be important for later (*cough* plot hook *cough*). Changeling takes advantage of the newfound gaping hole in the wall to reconvene with Solemn and Ivy, while Shadowboxer and Blackwing head towards the boardroom, braced for a shootout.

Blackwing bashes the door down and immediately has to dive to avoid a spray of retaliatory gunfire. This time, no wood dust interferes with vision, and the pair find four mob bosses waiting for them inside. Two of them escape through a back door- and run right into Solemn and one of Ivy's wandering Plinions. One of them gets bound by a vine, and the other is slammed by a gravity-boosted punch that KO's him in a single blow. Back in the board room, Shadowboxer leaps across the center table and slams into one of the remaining mob bosses with a flying shoulder check, smashing him into the wall and doing a good deal of internal damage, while Blackwing exchanges a flurry of bullets with the other boss. Shadowboxer's player is fixating on smashing his mob boss through the wall, so he picks up the unfortunate criminal and slams him bodily into the wall- the wall doesn't break, but the boss's spine does, and Shadowboxer finds himself with the night's one and only fatality. Blackwing knocks out the remaining boss with a pistol-whip to the temple, and in the other room Solemn intimidates the surviving boss into revealing that the stairs (specifically, the same ones the clay monster gestured to earlier) lead to a secret tunnel leading out of the building. The group reconvenes; Shadowboxer tries to claim that he used nonlethal force but doesn't fool anyone for a second. Changeling calls the police on her commlink to clean up the chaos, and the group (sans Ivy and Fiona, who opted to momentarily abandon the battle to... have some fun time) heads downstairs.

It's a dizzying staircase leading downwards, constantly spiraling and turning in different directions. By the time the PC's reach the bottom, they must be at least a half mile beneath the city's surface. A pair of metal doors, the lock on which has obviously been picked, lead into an expansive armory even bigger than the one upstairs. Weapons, drugs, and vehicles line the walls and floors, and on the far end of the expansive cavern the aforementioned tunnel can be seen, leading off into the dark.

Closer to the PC's, a pair of women face off in a vicious close-quarters fight. One of them is a frizzy redhead sporting a tan (!) costume that mixes "dress" and "riot gear", while the other is an albino with golden eyes, whom Solemn immediately tags as the sought-after Pharos. There's also a third person in the room- a black blur that streaks from place to place, snatching up anything that isn't nailed down. From the onset, it's clear that the woman in tan is losing the fight. She extends a hand and manifests a pistol in mid-air, but Pharos disarms and shoots her in the shoulder in one smooth maneuver. As the tan woman drops, clutching a bleeding shoulder, Pharos turns to the PC's and requests that they leave while they still can. Attempts to negotiate (followed by threats when diplomacy falls through) fall through, and the black blur picks up Pharos and vanishes before the party can learn anything conclusive.

So there's a clay monster on the loose, several captive criminals to be interrogated, a ledger to be read, and two more criminals to be found. This is going to be a lot of paperwork.
The ledger turns out to be written in a code that nobody in the gang is smart enough to crack. At last, the police and League agents arrive, and Solemn passes off the ledger to one of the agents, who promises to send a scan of it up to Cypher in Boston- if there's anyone who can figure out the code, he can. A car is provided so the group can head back to the Ritz, and that's the end of the first combat encounter.

Senator meets the crew on the hotel's twelfth floor (to be specific, one below the top), and after a short debriefing presents the PC's with their new all-expenses-paid rooms, courtesy of their contract with the League. In exchange for free housing, they'll each be required to fill out a form about their persons and powers (Nick, not being an Empowered, gets a special form designating him as a Special Liaison). With the late time and the amount of work they've gone through today, everyone changes out of their costumes and goes to sleep- except for Troy. Our resident gravity-manipulator has some questions to ask of his senior heroes, and heads upstairs to the penthouse.

He's greeted by Senator, now in plainclothes and clearly surprised to see him. Now that they're teammates (and thus secret identities have lost their importance), she introduces herself formally as Julie Claire-Clemont. Troy introduces himself (but leaves out his last name), and they sit down in the living room to talk. Troy gives Julie the rundown of his encounter with the clay monster from earlier, which she identifies as Mold, an Empowered criminal who's been travelling up the East Coast for some time now. She's never met or seen him personally, but his reputation as one of the strongest Empowered in the United States has long since preceded him. Curiosity momentarily satisfied, the pair exchanges an awkward good night (there's some blushing on Troy's end) and the scene ends.

The next day, the group gets woken up early by a tall blonde man who introduces himself as Legendary's civilian identity, Ray. He's hosting a party in the penthouse tonight, and all of the PC's are invited- but come in costume, because the press will most certainly be there. Without much to do, I leave the events of the day to the PC's personal choice.

Patrick spends the day in his room, and Nick heads out of town to play paintball for a few hours, while Troy and Aidan (surprisingly enough, considering his behavior the last time I gave the group free time) decide to be productive. Aidan decides to get himself an actual costume now that he's an official law-recognized hero (his previous attire was a large dark hoodie and jeans), and tracks down a boutique which caters to Empowered heroes called The Armory in Millennium City's downtown. He meets a blonde woman who identifies herself as Faith Gallagher, owner and head fashion designer. She recognizes him as "Umbra" from yesterday's robbery (Aidan, for whatever reason, chose to identify himself by his last name rather than his codename), and he places an order to get a costume in three days' time. Lastly, in a spur-of-the-moment action, Aidan asks Faith out on a date, and scores a planned meeting for coffee on the following day. Love's in the air, apparently.

Troy, meanwhile, pays a second visit to the computers in the Ritz' lounge. He finds an article about Dao, the world's first recognized Empowered, who first appeared during the Vietnam War in 1970 (fifty years prior to the campaign's beginning), and proceeded to single-handedly win the war for the Vietcong nationalists. Exactly one legitimate picture of him exists on the web- a grainy image that was obviously taken in a hurry, showing a normal-looking Vietnamese man in army fatigues surrounded by a small army of monstrous plant-animal hybrids. Troy prints out the image for later and spends the rest of the day surfing the net idly.
Day turns to night and it's time for Legendary's party. Nick's still out of town playing paintball, but the rest of the group arrives dressed and ready on-time, only to realize that "on time" for a party in Millennium City is apparently code for "half an hour late". The event's already in full swing and the penthouse is swimming with socialites, reporters, and the city's elite in full eveningwear. Searches of the place spy Senator clinking wine glasses with a group of elderly, important-looking men in suits, Legendary waiting on a pack of giggling fangirls, and Changeling sitting alone on the balcony, people-watching. There's also a man-woman pair of heroes (the former in a black-and-white garb with a cowl, the latter sporting a white jumpsuit with golden highlights) that the group doesn't recognize in one corner, holding hands and talking with the other guests.

Shadowboxer quickly makes himself the life of the party, ordering an enormous platter of drinks from the bar and presenting them to a group of fellow partygoers- merriment and drunken madness swiftly ensues. Dr. Ivy has less luck, trying to make small talk with the bartender only to be resolutely ignored. He tries his suit next with a black-haired woman sitting alone at the bar, who introduces herself as Phoebe Elias, a reporter for the Millennium City Chronicle. The conversation quickly goes sideways as Solemn sits down on Phoebe's other side, having broken away from trying to talk to Senator in order to avoid having his socially-inept teammate ruin the night for anybody else. Greetings are exchanged, and the conversation peters out, Phoebe leaving the bar to make small talk with the two heroes in white.

Satisfied with his interference, Solemn heads back to Senator with Ivy trailing behind him like a lost puppy. Solemn manages to break the telekinetic away from her group of businessmen and get her out on the balcony, where he shows her the picture of Dao he's been holding onto all day. Senator identifies him as the "Butcher of Vietnam", nowadays in control of a majority of Southeast Asia, and Solemn finds himself miffed that he missed out on what's apparently common knowledge.

Meanwhile, Shadowboxer's group of drunken party guests have devolved into a childish game of truth-or-dare. Shadowboxer gets dared to balance on the table while also balancing a glass on his head, prompting an impromptu Dexterity roll for his player. He fails hilariously (the significant penalty I imposed for his drunken state proooooobably didn't help) and topples to the floor with a clatter. In response, he dares another man to give a wedgie to Dr. Ivy (who's now standing around twiddling his thumbs without Troy to follow around). The prank goes successfully and Ivy gets a sizable wedgie, but the prankster in question swiftly finds himself with a faceful of Legendary as the brick slides across the penthouse in a split second and grabs the poor guy by his collar. Noticing the commotion, Solemn and Senator head back inside but are intercepted midway there by Phoebe. Media chatter's coming in on her phone, and something's gone horribly wrong at Astra Nightclub uptown- reports are spilling in of fires and a man teleporting around. The group prepares to head out only to be interrupted by an explosion and sounds of gunfire from down the block from the Ritz. Senator, Legendary, and Changeling fly out to deal with the immediate threat while the PC's investigate the nightclub disturbance. Phoebe offers the group a ride in her news van, and they head out.
Probably not the kind of music you'd hear at a nightclub but eh (https://soundcloud.com/anh2mai/aivi-tran-cavern-tango-string-quartet-feat-animevivi-and-vgcellomusic)

Picking up Blackwing along the way, the group arrives at Astra Nightclub to find chaos. The place is wrecked and aflame, littered with shattered glasses and trashed furniture. A few bodies already decorate the floors, and everyone else is pouring out of the front doors in a steady stream. Meanwhile, it becomes clear that there are others picking off the survivors- a black man in an armored vest teleports in and out of the crowd, pistol flashing, and every once in a while a civilian randomly drops from the floor, knife injuries protruding from their back. As the crowd flees and the chaos clears, the enemies present themselves one by one.

Standing on the DJ's platform are four individuals who clearly aren't here for dancing and drinks. At the front of the group is a tall, tanned man in an immaculately trimmed suit, flanked by a creepily smiling young lady in a white dress, the teleporting black man, and an Asian fellow who sports a blank expression and a bloodied knife in one hand. None of them sport costumes, but it's not hard to figure out that they're all Empowered villains. The man in the suit spots the PC's and invites them to join him on the dance floor. They approach cautiously, hands on weapons and powers ready to fly. A brief, cryptic exchange ensues between the PC's and their newfound foes, which identifies the group's point man as John and the girl in the dress as Theresa but doesn't produce anything else that's conclusive. John seems like he's about to attack but gets interrupted by Theresa, who insists that he "never lets her play with them first". John concedes to her terms and gets teleported away by the black man, while the Asian man just, sorta... vanishes into mist. Theresa hops off the stage and eggs the PC's on with a mocking pirouette. Boss fight!

*Theresa starts to clap along with the music.* (https://soundcloud.com/sharaxsierra/undertale-remix-sharax-spider-dance)

I roll horribly on initiative and Theresa winds up going dead last, prompting a flurry of attacks from the PC's in rapid succession- Blackwing cuts a jagged gash across her chest with his blade, Ivy blasts her a cloud of stunning pollen, Shadowboxer blinds her with a cloud of darkness, and Solemn scores a solid hit with a gravity-boosted punch. And yet, even with the beatdown she's suffered, Theresa's not even bleeding by the end of the exchange as her wounds knit back together and vanish right before the PC's eyes. She chuckles and mockingly says they're going to have to try harder than that.

Blackwing complies and goes in for another slice- and gets a critical failure on the attack roll, loosing his grip on his sword and sending it flying into the bathroom door. Ivy tries to gas Theresa with another cloud of stun pollen and gets another critical failure, blasting himself with his own cloud of pollen (thankfully, he makes the Fortitude save). Shadowboxer tries to move in to get into melee but can't get close enough to attack even with an accelerated move. Then Solemn takes his turn, and in a brilliant maneuver telekinetically rips Blackwing's katana from the door and impales it into Theresa's side. The villainess goes down, regenerating but unconscious. With the bad guy at their mercy, the heroes debate back-and-forth on what to do with her- but before they manage to come to a consensus, the teleporter reappears and warps his unconscious ally away before anyone can react. The PC's are left alone in the nightclub.

With the final battle over and a crapton of plot threads to pick up on next time, we end the session.

Once again, the battles I arranged were a wash- even the boss battle with Theresa lasted only two rounds, thought that was primarily due to a series of unlucky rolls on my side. Next time, I'm bringing in some stronger enemies for sure.

Comments and critiques are encouraged!

ElFi
2016-04-04, 04:05 PM
Fourth session, in which my efforts to balance combat encounters go a bit too well. *evil grin* Blackwing's player was unable to make it due to family responsibilities, so he sits out in roleplaying stuff, and Solemn's player controls him for combat encounters.

The authorities arrive to attend to the cleanup of the group's brawl with Theresa- at least six civilian casualties reported, and many more injured, not to mention the extensive property damage. Senator appears shortly afterwards, bleeding from a cut on her forehead and looking like she's just walked through a wind tunnel, but otherwise fine. She reports that the explosion was the work of a new gang in the city intent on making their big entrance, and damn was it big. At least two Empowered were among their numbers; an aerokinetic who could transform into mist and a barrier-generator, possibly more. Solemn fills her in on the battle, and the normally stoic Senator goes stone-quiet at the mention of Theresa's name.

Insisting they can't discuss the matter any further in public, she leads the group outside and prepares to telekinetically lift them back to the Ritz- only for Solemn to start levitating out of his own volition (his player put points into Flight in-between sessions). The group jets back to the Ritz, where Changeling and Legendary are already waiting, both with their own share of battle injuries. Senator informs the PC's that the group they'd just encountered is known as the Agony Four, a quartet of Empowered serial killers known for roaming the country and spreading chaos everywhere they go.

One by one, the group runs through the members of the team- though Solemn is really the only one that's listening. Shadowboxer is still wasted from the party, Blackwing is lost in his own head, and Dr. Ivy spends most of the meeting alternating between making nonsensical comments ("Can I stung her with pollen?" being a particularly memorable example) and hitting on Changeling (he's convinced himself she can shapeshift into a plant), to the point that he gets Senator the closest to legitimately angry that the group has ever seen her.

Anyway, the list. The leader is the sharply-dressed white man, given name John Knight. He's a pyrokinetic from the Deep South who's known for brutally scarring his victims with his powers after killing him. The second-in-command is the black man, Geoffrey Barton. A teleporting kidnapper from the United Republic of Canada (alternate history FTW), he specializes in kidnapping children and charging priceless belongings from their loved ones in exchange for their return. Theresa Barton, the token girl, is an infamous serial killer with regenerative abilities (which the group knows all too well about) from the Midwest who has a love of methodically torturing her victims before killing them. The final member of the team is the Asian man, Shane Chiu. Able to craft lifelike illusions by bending light around himself and the environment, he's known for killing groups of people at a time and twisting their corpses to resemble vivid and disturbing works of art. The Four first met at a train station in Washington D.C., in a brutal group killing that left nobody in the station alive save for themselves. They've since taken to traveling around the nation and spreading chaos. No-one in the group bothers with costumes or codenames, and their collective name, the "Agony Four", is actually an appellation given by the media.

For the moment, Senator insists that nobody in the group let anyone know that the Agony Four are in the city- just the mere knowledge of their presence could send the entirety of Millennium City into mass panic. For now, it's late, and everyone's beaten-up and exhausted. It's time to rest up and figure out how to deal with their numerous problems at another time. The PC's are dismissed to rest up and reconvene in the morning.

Blackwing and Ivy head right to sleep, while Shadowboxer heads down to the pool to relax in the hot-tub (and pass out in it after vomiting up the copious amounts of alcohol he's drank tonight) and Solemn heads out into the city to purchase a rifle for self-defense (Solemn's player spent the remainder of his points on a sniper rifle for ranged attacks). The gravity-manipulator then heads to the gym to work out for a while, and is nice enough to mentally lift his unconscious teammate out of the hot tub so he doesn't drown in his sleep. With that, the last of the group heads upstairs and falls asleep, and we skip to morning.
Morning arrives, and the phones buzz in each of the group's rooms. It's Julie/Senator, asking them to come upstairs as soon as possible. Troy is the only person who actually picks up the phone- Patrick is more concerned with sleeping in, Aidan is still passed-out downstairs, and Nick skipped out of town early in the morning for another one of his Call Of Duty-style paintball matches. So it's up to Troy to rouse his sleeping teammates and drag them upstairs, much to their protest (and to his chagrin). They find Julie, Ray, and Changeling (who introduces herself formally as Katya Restova, but you can just call her Kat) sitting around the television in civilian wear.

The news is on, and as it turns out the League finally decided to release details about the group's raid on the Wonderland cartel depot. The newscaster covers the brass tacks of the raid- Duchess and several other high-ranking members of the gang were captured and tens of thousands of dollars worth in equipment were confiscated by government agents, though the gang as a whole has continued to operate as if nothing has happened. A brief section is devoted to the deceased gang member found in the board room (Aidan gets a pointed look from Kat during this part); thus far the League has refused comment as to whether one of their members are responsible for the death. Any details about Mold, Pharos, or last night's battles are conspicuously absent from the newscast. The program ends with a general opinion on our four heroes- they're painted as untrained rookies who are a bit unpredictable but nonetheless seem to be committed to the greater good... thus far, anyway.

Press release over, Julie turns to address the group and give them the plan for the day. Cypher's returned the Wonderland ledger Solemn found last session, code cracked and fully translated. Primarily, it's a record of bank accounts, transactions, and drug sales; finances and assets that League agents are already in the process of freezing. But two particular bits of information stand out above everything else- brief mentions of two more locations where Wonderland holds stake. One is a Turkish bathhouse just out of town that acts as front for the cartel's drug runners, the other is a semi-legitimate brothel that operates out of Millennium's southwestern red-light district, but still may have something important contained within. The goal of the mission is to infiltrate in civilian wear and see if the heroes can dig up any information about White Queen, Wonderland's reclusive leader. The PC's will investigate one location, the NPC's the other. Ultimately the PC's choose the brothel, leaving the NPC's with the Turkish bath. The mission is set at 10:00 that night.

Before the group disperses, Troy sidles up to Julie and asks her if she'd like to... erm... discuss the mission tonight over dinner (Solemn's player has decided he's going to try his hand at romancing Julie, and I'm more than happy to let him have the extra roleplaying experience). She agrees and asks him to come up to the penthouse at 8:00; she'll cook and they'll discuss the mission. With that, the rest of the day passes uneventfully (though Nick returns around noon and takes Troy to the firing range to help him out with his newly-purchased rifle), until nighttime.

Aidan meets Faith for coffee, wearing his nice hoodie ("it's the one without any criminal blood on it"). Neither really sure what to talk about, they exchange idle small talk for a while, and Aidan learns that Faith is originally from Greenwich Village, New York, and moved down to Millennium City to pursue her dream of fashion design after her father died when she was a young adult. Someone's stomach rumbles, and the pair realizes they're actually hungry for dinner after all. Faith takes Aidan to a food truck near her store, and they eat on the curb while idly talking a bit more. Aidan suddenly boasts that he's seen the entirety of Millennium City, and Faith challenges him to let her take him somewhere he's never seen before!... a fancy clothing store downtown. A somewhat disappointed Aidan leaves the store wearing a new set of nice clothes, and Faith kisses him goodnight, reminding him to visit her store in two days for his costume.

At about the same time, Troy heads up to the penthouse for his meeting/date/whatever with Julie. He finds her cooking pasta on the stove, and they both sit down at the kitchen counter to eat. Julie asks Troy what he thinks of his... less stable teammates (*cough* Patrick and Aidan *cough*), to which he replies that they're a little unpredictable, but he ultimately believes that they want to do the right thing. Most of the dinner's remainder is spent by Troy trying to subtly make Julie realize that he arranged this meeting for reasons other than discussing their mission and teammates, with mixed results. Finally, the two relate how each got their powers- Troy relates the freak accident at his lab that killed over 200 people, leaving only lucky old him alive, while Julie goes into a bit of family history. Her parents were constantly fighting, starting out with bickering and emotional threats before escalating into physical violence by the time she was a teenager. All Julie wanted was a way to force her parents apart and make them stop hurting each other, and one night she got her wish. Literally, since her telekinetic powers manifested and threw her parents in opposite directions, splitting their house in half while she was at it. Troy also learns about how Julie became the leader of the New York team, courtesy of stepping up to command her team after their previous leader, Black Diamond, was tragically killed in a particularly brutal hero/villain brawl.

The hour's getting late by this point, so the two team leaders split apart to find their selective teams.
Sans costumes and equipment (though Solemn is keeping his gear in a duffle bag on his person, and Nick's got a few weapons hidden under his sweatshirt), the group locates the brothel in the city's southwestern district. Found behind an iron gate in a break between two dilapidated buildings, the courtyard of the brothel was clearly a regular alley at some point- dumpsters and puddles of dirty water still decorate it on both sides. The middle of relatively large space, has been converted into a meeting ground for pimps and their clients, while the actual prostitutes hang around, waiting to be called upon so they can bring their clients inside and... well, you know.

Despite being gang-owned, no immediate threat presents itself, so the group splits up to do a little bit of snooping. Troy sits down at one of the tables in the courtyard to discuss the brothel with a pimp, Nick loiters in the antechamber between outside and bedrooms watching foot traffic, and Aidan steals into the back to see if he can find an office or filing room of some sort. Patrick, however, perpetually unconcerned with the group's actual objective, finds an empty room currently unoccupied by hookers or other workers, and gets it on with Fiona- apparently, the sex is so intense that his powers flare up by accident and spawn a plinion beside the bed. Brain-bleaching over, we turn back to the actually productive heroes. Passing several rooms from which moaning and other noises can be heard within, Aidan finds a back room that looks suspicious, and/or important. The door's unlocked, and it opens into a room that definitely looks like an executive's office of some kind. But sitting at the desk which dominates the room isn't any sort of criminal mastermind, but a woman with enormous ears, a long pink tail, a thin layer of white fur that covers her body, and sharp, sharp claws- overall, the effect is very evocative of a mouse. "Looking for something?" she asks in a voice that's both chipper and menacing.

Outside, Troy's failed to notice that the courtyard is rapidly clearing of prostitutes and their pimps. By the time he picks up on it, the only one still in the courtyard aside from himself is the pimp he's been talking to, who abruptly gets up and walks away. Still seated himself, Troy watches as a woman in a red dress adorned with body armor and sporting a scarlet jewel-encrusted mask enters the courtyard alone, her heels clicking on the aged pavement. Drawing a deck of metallic cards from behind her back, she comments that she would've preferred to get all four of the heroes together, but one will have to do. Inside, four heavily-armed-and-armored mercenaries burst out of two adjoining rooms with a tremendous bang and train their weapons on Nick. Initiative!

Mouse-girl moves first and dashes towards Aidan with terrifying speed, narrowly missing his heart with her claws but still taking a nasty chunk out of his shoulder before vanishing down the hallway. Outside, Lady-in-red flicks out three cards, which upon hitting the ground unfold into three identical person-sized cards with arms, legs, and a rather menacing spear apiece. She directs them forwards, and they advance, surrounding Troy and hedging him in. Back inside, Nick fails to avoid a spray of gunfire from the four mercs that riddles him with bullet holes, and Patrick continues doing it with Fiona thanks to a poorly-timed Listen check failure. As the only PC actually able to act for the round (Nick and Aidan are stunned courtesy of their injuries), Troy telekinetically grabs the table he's been sitting at and flings it at the nearest card soldier with a gravitational boost, flattening the poor thing and obliterating it instantly.

Meanwhile, mouse-girl catches Patrick's scent and smashes down the door to the room he's hiding inside, leaving the chlorokinetic hoping he's got a good pull-out game. Lady-in-red tosses out more cards, and Troy finds himself surrounded by four spear-brandishing card soldiers. Aidan limps down the hallway after mouse-girl, nursing his heavily-injured right shoulder. Nick manages to pull himself together enough to avoid a second flurry of gunfire (my critical-failing on one of the four's attack rolls probably helped), only to chuck a flashbang grenade at the mercenaries for an equally ineffectual display, as all four make their Reflex saves. Finally joining initiative, Patrick rolls off the bed and cowers in the corner bare-ass naked, calling forth a second plinion for protection. The two plant creatures lash vines at mouse-girl in an effort to restrain her, who gracefully evades. Back outside, Troy decides he's had enough of fighting cards, and flexes his new flight power to levitate out of their reach and jet inside, spin-kicking an unfortunate mercenary into the pavement as he bursts into the brothel like an airborne Kool-Aid man.

As the third round of combat begins, mouse-girl shreds a plinion in half with her tail and rockets back into the hallway, hanging from the ceiling and licking some of Aidan's blood off of her claws. Aidan continues his fitful progress down the hallway, while Nick exchanges gunfire with the mercenaries (some of whom waste their turn trying to penetrate Troy's gravitational force-field) and Patrick takes advantage of the brief lull in combat to put some underwear back on and get his plinion to melt a wall into the adjacent hallway, reuniting with Aidan in the process. Troy charges mouse-girl and they tussle briefly but ineffectually- Troy isn't fast enough to hit her, and she isn't strong enough to hurt him. Frustrated with the lack of progress, mouse-girl charges back down the hall and zooms past Aidan, much to his chagrin (he's been hell-bent on making her pay ever since she got the better of him at the start of the fight). More card soldiers cluster at the door, their numbers swelled to 6 (!) and lady-in-red calls from inside that they'll be coming in in about ten seconds. Sensing that they're running out of time, the PC's start trying to make their escape. Troy flies over and plucks Nick away from the gunfight, allowing him to join Aidan in trying to batter a hole through the wall into the alleyway. Patrick ushers his minions through a hallway-hole and flicks a seed in the direction of the lobby, spawning a wall of brambles and vines that cordons-off the mercenaries and incoming card-soldiers, who, try as they might, can't seem to break through it.

Then mouse-girl charges back in and simultaneously attacks Patrick, Aidan, Fiona, and the surviving plinion, little more than a whirl of teeth and claws as she shreds through the PC's. Aidan gets a new gash across his chest and the plinion is killed outright, with Fiona barely surviving the blow and Patrick burning a hero point just to keep upright, only to collapse into a pool of his own blood moments later, breathing weakly. Mouse-girl vanishes into the manager's office and Troy flies after her to slow her down, while Nick continues his efforts to bash a hole in the wall and the mooks rain ineffective attacks on Patrick's bramble-barrier.

Suddenly, a new player enters the game: with a pop of light and sparkles, a thin man dressed in magician's trappings- tuxedo, black velvet cape, top-hat, and domino mask- appears in front of Nick and Aidan, and before either of them have a chance to protest warps them both to the roof with a shout of "Transposition!". Troy's brawl with mouse-girl, meanwhile, is not going smoothly. A second attempt at the flying spin-kick move falls flat, and he's forced to burn a hero point to avoid a lethal blow only to still get clawed badly across his chest. The teleporting magician warps the now-unconscious Patrick out next, and before Troy has a chance to react warps him away from mouse-girl next, narrowly evading a claw aimed at his jugular.

Now with everyone on the roof, Troy is immediately suspicious of their dapper savior, but with the rest of his team badly wounded and/or unconscious, he's not about to try anything. The magician introduces himself as Prospero; he's a friend of Senator's from New York. There'll be time for explanations later, but for now everyone needs to rest and heal. Everyone still on their feet joins hands (Nick and Troy make sure to hold onto the unconscious forms of Patrick and Fiona), and with a last cry of "Transposition!" Prospero warps everybody to the Ritz.

End Session!

ElFi
2016-04-18, 07:20 PM
Fifth session, during which the plot flies completely and totally off the rails. Fun times to be had by all!

We pick up right where the last session left off, as Prospero teleports the group into the Ritz' penthouse living room. Dr. Ivy immediately keels over and starts forming a fresh puddle of blood on the floor, Blackwing nurses his bullet wounds, and Shadowboxer decides to take out his still-bubbling temper on the hotel room floor, messing up his already-mangled shoulder in the process. Prospero assures the team that medical help is on the way for anyone that's injured, and sure enough, there's a ding sound as the elevator door to the penthouse slides open.

Stepping in from the elevator is a costumed individual, dressed in a white robe with red-cross symbols emblazoned on it, that the group has yet to see. He's introduced by Prospero as Triage, and immediately gets to work patching up the gang. As Triage concentrates, injuries seal up, wounds stop bleeding, cuts and lacerations stitch themselves back together. Even Shadowboxer's messed-up shoulder is back to normal in a matter of seconds. The blood covering everyone is gone just as fast, boiling away as if it was never there. Human characters mended, Triage turns to Fiona (spending a brief moment to comment on the bizarre features of her inner biology) and fixes her up just the same. Ivy immediately embraces his plant-girlfriend in a grandiose show of affection, which is shortly interrupted as the two are flung in opposite directions by a disgusted and uncomfortable Solemn. Triage leaves without further comment, or even a request for thanks.

Now that immediate dangers are over, Prospero takes a moment to officially introduce himself. He's a League-affiliated hero from New York, like Senator and Legendary, and was called down to act as the group's unofficial counselor (a senior hero who chaperones League newbies and ensures that their motivations are in the right place) while the officially-appointed counselor, Accelerator, makes her way up from the League base in Miami. The team is less than happy that they're getting Big-Brothered, but any complaints are forced to wait as Prospero relays a message from Senator: something very wrong has gone down at Harbor Square Mall uptown, and the rest of the team was forced to abandon their investigation of Wonderland's bathhouse to assist in the mall's evacuation. For now, the PC's are ordered to get some rest and regroup in the morning. Dr. Ivy immediately shoots the messenger, ranting about how they nearly died and Senator has no right to be telling them what to do right now. Prosper snarkily responds:

"You weren't paid much attention by your parents as a kid, were you?"

At that moment, the sociopathic scientist who melted two people without batting an eye in our first session collapses onto the floor, a sobbing wreck. Ivy has had a very unhappy home life that started when his father cheated on his mother, prompting her to enter a downward spiral of heavy drinking and abuse of Patrick himself, in both emotional and physical varieties. The already bad mood in the loft soured considerably, the PC's disperse and head to bed (though Aidan spends a few hours at the hotel gym to burn off steam).

In the morning, the usual invitation by Senator to come upstairs and check in with the League comes through the telephones. As they arrive upstairs, the PC's find the penthouse in a state of organized chaos: League agents in suits swarm around, filling out paperwork, organizing whiteboards, and holding impromptu meetings in the dining room and on the balcony. As for the NPC heroes, it doesn't look like they've had a good night: Ray lies on the couch rubbing his temples, Kat paces on the other end of the living room, and Julie sits at the kitchen counter rubbing at her eyes as she reads a report. Prospero is the only one who seems like he's gotten a wink of sleep, and even then he doesn't look that much better than them.

Patrick immediately attempts to rip into Julie about their almost getting killed by Wonderland goons last night, and promptly gets dope-slapped by both Troy and Aidan. Exhaustion cracking her normally stoic demeanor, Julie tiredly lets the group get a skim of the document she's reading, which reads MALADY in big red letters on the top. Apparently yet another supervillain has surfaced in Millennium City; one who specializes in the creation and spread of plagues and toxins. His latest experiment, a disease that induces homicidal rage via touch, was apparently released in Harbor Square Mall late last night. The area is now under quarantine, but so far nobody's attempted to venture inside for fear of being infected. Even Triage, the resident Empowered healer, is being barred from entering (and apparently he's refused an offer to try, anyway).

Briefing over, the group informs Julie about their owned failed adventure at the brothel. The grim truth is there: now that their secret identities are known to at least one street gang, going outside out-of-costume is a big risk at the best of times. Official Empowered law imposes harsh penalties on intentionally attacking a costumed individual's civilian identity, but hey, they're criminals, what does the law matter to them? The group naturally isn't happy with this, and grouses quite a bit, but accept that fact that they'll probably have to stay indoors until things blow over at least a little.

In any case, the group decides on their next objective: heading to the prison and interrogating the captive Duchess, to figure out what the hell is going on with Wonderland.
Prospero offers to teleport the group over at noon, and time passes uneventfully until then. At noon, the group gets into costume (Dr. Ivy, his only outfit forgotten at the brothel, is forced to make do with a self-grown curtain of plant matter), and one teleport later they're standing in the front lobby of Millennium City's downtown prison, where Duchess is being kept until she can be transported to a prison that's more specialized towards containing Empowered supervillains. Prospero informs the group that he's managed to secure them one hour alone with Duchess (albeit with guard oversight) before teleporting away.

The PC's are led by prison staff down a labyrinth of hallways, finally arriving at an interrogation room with a one-way mirror on one wall. Inside, Duchess sits at a table, still in costume (though it looks a fair bit frayed from days of constant use), one are handcuffed against the underside of the table, the other tapping a bored repetitive beat against the tabletop. The group takes a moment to plan out their interrogation strategy (Both IC and OOC, their working plan is to have Ivy and Fiona do it on the table and traumatize her into giving up information, but that's shelved until later), and Blackwing heads in first. Much to the rest of the group's annoyance, the vigilante shows a surprisingly moral side and tells Duchess to just cooperate with his teammates- otherwise, what happens next isn't going to be very pretty. In response, Duchess makes it clear that she isn't going to bend, while also informing the group that she knows of their misadventures at her gang's brothel, all the while sporting a smug smile.

Shadowboxer heads in next, at which point things start going very, very wrong. Using his shadow powers to blank out the cameras (and seemingly forgetting about the officers that stand right outside), Shadowboxer starts off idly intimidating Duchess, and when that doesn't work, escalates to grabbing her by the collar and making threats of physical violence. When Duchess still refuses to bend, he hits her across the face, and when even that doesn't work, the hotheaded hero's temper boils over, and he smashes a shadow-wrapped fist into Duchess' face, knocking her out in one blow and coming inches away from outright killing her (SB's player initially rolled for lethal damage, but he backed out at the last second, and I let him spend a hero point to change it to nonlethal). As Duchess' head droops forward limply, the rest of the group moves to prevent Shadowboxer from murdering their only lead- Solemn levies his gravitational strength to grab Shadowboxer and drag him out of the interrogation room before slamming him against the wall, and Dr. Ivy binds him with a vine. Shadowboxer drops into his intangible shadow-state to avoid getting tied up, but for the moment his hostility seems to have ceased.

The guards, however, aren't as pleased, and advance on the PC's with weapons drawn, requesting that Shadowboxer leave the prison immediately on the grounds of near-fatally injuring the witness. Remaining in his shadow-state, he sullenly refuses. Fiona's healing sap is used to revive Duchess from her unconscious state (though her shattered nose remains), and Solemn makes a brief, half-hearted stab at getting answers out of her, to no avail. Finally, the group turns to their back-up plan: send in the botanist.

Dr. Ivy and Fiona enter the interrogation room, barring the door behind them with a wall of shoots and brambles. Ivy strips out of his leaf coat (Duchess makes a dry comment about forgetting her wad of five-dollar bills) and slips off his underwear, and immediately starts getting it on with Fiona on the table. Duchess remains unfazed by the attempted traumatization- as the criminal boss of a drug cartel, she's seen far weirder things that a guy going at it with an anthropomorphic plant- so Dr. Ivy decides to ramp it up even further. Throwing out more seeds, he summons a full retinue of five plinions: three more to join him and Fiona on the table, and two to hold Duchess in place and make sure she's watching. When Ivy goes even farther and rubs... something slimy on Duchess' forehead, the rest of the group decides nobody deserves this much and attempts to break up the ongoing plant orgy. Solemn starts bashing down Ivy's plant barrier with little success, Shadowboxer jumps around shouting random statements (mostly related to trying to get his teammates to kill Duchess), Blackwing looks on, horrified by the entire display, while Ivy lounges on the table, his "pleasure center" being attended to by no less than four of his loyal minions...

...At which point a dmm sound starts up and the Null Generators imbedded in the ceiling turn on. Radiating waves of energy designed to disable the abilities of Empowered, these machines swiftly shut down the mayhem: Ivy's plant creations dissolve into lifeless green mush, Shadowboxer is forcefully shunted from his intangible form, and Solemn experiences an uncomfortable feeling of loss as his gravitic force-field suddenly shuts off. At the same time, dozens of guns, blades, and miscellaneous armaments spawn to life around Duchess- apparently her power was a personal hyperspace pocket all along. The furious guards demand that the "heroes" leave immediately, though Solemn manages to score one last five-minute window to try and get information out of Duchess (he fails) and Blackwing swipes a gun from Duchess' stash (he succeeds)

With their interrogation efforts a complete failure and the prison staff unlikely to trust them ever again, the PC's retreat to the front yard of the prison.
Once outside and free from prying eyes, Solemn's anger at Shadowboxer for nearly killing a (seemingly) unarmed prisoner bubbles over, and he slams the shadow-controlling thief with a cone of pure force. Shadowboxer goes flying but lands on his feet, and flings a lance of dark energy back at Solemn (he misses). While Solemn tries and fails to grapple Shadowboxer with his gravity powers, Ivy calls for backup, distressed at the sight of his teammates suddenly fighting (Blackwing mostly just stands to the side and bets on who's going to win), but he doesn't get much farther than the actual call before he's punched in the jaw and knocked out by Shadowboxer- "snitches get stitches", apparently.

Annoying distraction out of the way, the grudge match between the two teammates continues in earnest, though neither makes much progress against the other. Shadowboxer tries to slam a dark-reinforced fist into Solemn's face, misses, evades a spin-kick aimed at his face in return, fails to bind him with a spray of ebon chains, swivels out of the way of another gravitic blast-

With a pop of energy Prospero and Senator appear in the yard, and within moments the fight ends. With a gesture, Prospero snares Troy and sends him toppling with a cloud of scarlet chains suddenly conjured from nowhere, while Senator pins Shadowboxer to the ground with a wall of telekinetic force. One by one, the team gets teleported back to the Ritz and told to stay in their rooms, something none of them are particularly happy about (Patrick decides to express his disappointment by sitting out in the hall and barricading Aidan's room with another vine-wall). While Prospero watches a disgruntled Aidan's room, Senator pays a visit to a sullen Troy. She explains that while she's not exactly mad at him, she also can't really condone his attacking a teammate more-or-less provoked, but for now he isn't facing any penalties.

Aidan, on the other hand, gets an earful from his superior. In no uncertain terms, Senator informs him that his actions were reckless and unfounded, and that as a result of them he's on probation until further notice- one more step out of line and he'll be facing arrest and a possible life sentence. Aidan tries to defend his actions ("she was pushing my buttons in all the wrong ways" being his primary line), but Senator isn't hearing any of it. She leaves, leaving Prospero in charge of making sure Aidan doesn't leave his room until Accelerator arrives, and heads off to check on the Harbor Square quarantine along with Changeling. Aidan spends the rest of the night sulking in his room, though he gets a text from Faith informing him that his new costume will be waiting in the shop tomorrow.

Eventually, Troy gets sick of sitting around in his room and decides to go off on a fly-ride to calm his nerves (he first has to threaten Patrick to drop the plant-barrier, which has grown to encompass his door as well). He just flies around for a while, and eventually finds himself heading uptown towards the northern docks, where the Harbor Square mall can be found. When he gets there, it's clear the place is under lockdown- the entire place is surrounded by a veritable army of police officers, health professionals in white hazmat suits, and miscellaneous relief workers. Senator and Changeling also stand among the crowds, and the latter spots Troy floating in midair and flies up to meet him. Though the budding rapport between the two is a bit strained in light of Troy's recent actions, Senator tries to be respectful and asks him to head back to the hotel- after all, Accelerator has just arrived.
Rewind time a half hour to see these events from the perspective at those at the hotel. After Troy leaves, Patrick gets bored of reading and decides to head upstairs, where he finds Ray in a meeting with a group of League agents- apparently, the League is planning to establish a permanent base in Millennium City in light of the recent spike in supervillain activity. Patrick decides he has nothing else to offer to the meeting and goes off to lounge at the hot-tub. Troy, mid-flight towards the Harbor Square mall, briefly touches down on the roof before flying back towards the mall (Patrick flips him off as he leaves).

Eventually, the botanist gets bored of soaking in the tub and heads back downstairs to finish reading his (botany) magazine. Then the elevator slides open- Accelerator, the counselor has finally arrived. She's a tall, slim woman with long dark-brown curls and a neon-blue bodysuit, who introduces herself as Sam. Finally relieved of his duty, Prospero heads upstairs to take a break, and Sam asks Patrick to part his vine-wall so she can talk with Aidan. Their first meeting doesn't go off particularly well, though Sam makes it clear that she isn't going to hold Aidan's past mistakes over his head like a guillotine. They reunite with Nick and Patrick out in the hallway, for a brief impromptu meeting to discuss the terms of Sam's status as counselor. Then Troy arrives, and experiences a brief personal revelation- the girl known as Accelerator isn't just any girl, she's his long-estranged twin sister Samantha. Keeping that information to himself for now, Troy sits through the meeting in silence while Sam outlines the rules (she's going to be watching them for roughly the next three weeks, and courtesy of his probation will be watching Aidan a lot more closely than the rest).

At the end of the meeting, almost everybody heads back to their rooms, save for Troy and Sam. Ever charming, our hero decides to open his first reunion with his sisters in years with a flat "What the hell is this?" Sam isn't having none of it, though, and chews out her brother for never telling her that he was actually alive after the incident that gave him his powers. Eventually she cuts off, fearful of saying something she'll regret, and heads downstairs without saying goodnight.

Troy doesn't sleep much that night.

Nick, meanwhile, gets to have a little solo adventure that night. At the stroke of midnight, he's alerted by a noise in his room- there's a girl standing at the foot of his bed, dressed in black-and-red leather and sporting a rather intimidating crossbow strapped to her back. It's Arbalest, one of the local street-level heroes. She assures Nick he only heard her because she wanted him to, and tells him she wants him to see something. Nick agrees to hear her out, though he keeps one hand on the pistol under his sheets (Troy tries and fails to listen in on their conversation).

Without further ado, Arbalest swings out the open window and starts climbing down the side of the building, forcing Nick to get dressed and grab his pistol before she's out of sight. Unaccustomed to climbing in such conditions, Nick nearly slips but manages to follow Arbalest down the side of the building, until partway down she jumps and lands on the adjacent roof, setting off across the rooftop without waiting for him. They parkour across half the city, eventually finding themselves standing in the shadow of an enormous steel-and-glass building in the center of town. Arbalest introduces it as the headquarters of Exalt Security, the same company that makes the Null Generators at the prison and the Troubleshooter security bots. She's been trying to peg them for illegal activities for a while but has been unable to come up with anything concrete- but now that there's a fellow non-Empowered hero in the city, immune to the effects of the anti-Empowered tech that Exalt uses as security, she might just have a chance to dig up something incriminating.

Nick agrees without a second thought, and Arbalest asks him to meet her at the same spot, same time tomorrow night before hopping off the roof and vanishing into the blackness of the alleyway below. Nick finds himself needing a way to get back to the hotel, and with that we end the session.

ElFi
2016-05-13, 09:15 PM
In the case of anyone following this thread, continuing the campaign posts has been a bit of a pain for me, so my good friend (and Solemn's player) has decided to step up to the plate. He'll be handling the posts from now on.

Vihlrune
2016-05-14, 02:09 AM
What's up everyone? As the above would indicate, I've volunteered to take over posting duties regarding the Millennials M&M campaign. It's been a few weeks since the sessions have taken place, so I've decided to shorten both the sixth and seventh session into one post for convenience. It'll be a little shorter than usual, but hopefully it'll still recount the events just the same. A quick overview on what's happened before we begin; now that the group has met up with their new counselor, Accelerator, our heroes manage to track down Wonderland to a warehouse where they're supposedly holed up. The ensuing events follow the players' coordinated attempts to take down Wonderland once and for all...

All comments and any critiques are greatly encouraged for the sake of future quality.

Without further ado, let's begin:

Quick recap on recent events: The group has recently undergone a severely unsuccessful interrogation attempt with one of the Wonderland bosses, Duchess. Obviously getting no information, tensions boil over between Solemn and Shadowboxer, resulting in a straight up empowered dual; a dual which is swiftly cut short by their superiors, Senator and Prospero. Taken back to their rooms, the group meets their new counselor, Accelerator, or Sam, as her civilian identity would have it. While tensions are high, and both Aidan and Troy up for possible expulsion from the League, our heroes continue their duties as city protectors, to some very varied results.

After a rough day, the group grows tired of their home arrest. With morning approaching and a lot of nothing happening fast, Troy takes the opportunity to open his window and fly around the building over to Aidan's room. Stopping at a hover at the shadow manipulator's window, Troy taps the window in order to wake his teammate up. A groggy Aidan awakes from his presumably peaceful slumber to face his teammate, who bluntly commands Aidan to jump out of the window. Both of them being PCs, the plan works smoothly, with Troy catching Aidan by his hood and floating him up to the roof of a nearby building. Putting previous events aside, Troy tells Aidan that, in light of recent events, it's time to strike back at Wonderland where it hurts, and doing so will require a bit of gang hunting. If Aidan's willing, Troy offers to let him help out, to which Aidan gladly accepts. Having received a text from Faith the night before stating that his new costume is ready for wearing, Aidan asks his teammate to do him a solid and fly him down to The Armory. What the two are blissfully unaware of is that a surprise Blackwing had been observing their meeting the whole time from on top of the Ritz (the reasons for this have yet to be determined, but we've currently chalked it up to PC nonsense), as well as sending a text Sam's way, telling her that both Troy and Aidan are heading out into town.

Troy and Aidan soon find themselves situated outside The Armory; what they also find is an unexpected guest, Sam, having traveled to their supposed meet up to keep a close eye on them, what with her being their new supervisor and all. Troy and Aidan, disgruntled but powerless, comply, and head into the clothing store. Upon entering, Faith immediately takes notice to all three newly arrived Empowered, especially Accelerator. A short outburst of fangirling occurs as Faith faces the speedster, creating a bit of an awkward atmosphere for everyone in the area (except Faith, of course). A few passing moments sees an increasingly impatient Solemn break the conversation(?), reminding Faith that Aidan's expecting his new garb. Quickly readjusting, Faith motions for Aidan to follow him to the changing rooms where his new suit has been left.

A few silent moments pass, and Aidan reemerges from the changing rooms, now sporting a suit fit for a hero; retaining the hoodie as an ascetic, Aidan's new outfit now includes a scarf and goggles for better identity concealment, as well as some stylish highlights. Aidan gives everyone a quick spin-around, asking them how he looks in his new wardrobe. Receiving expected approval from his colleagues, the gang decides that enough time has been spent at The Armory; it's time to get to criminal hunting. Troy and Aidan are able to progress for only moments before Sam stops them, however, stating that as long as their within her jurisdiction, she'll be undertaking their operations along with them. Slightly disappointed but accepting a third member, the three head out to seek out some Wonderland thugs...
Before Troy, Aidan, and Sam head out on their little escapade, some minor action unfolds back at the Ritz and, more specifically, the quarantined mall at which the League members are routinely stationed. Both Patrick and Nick begin to feel the same sense of boredom as their two other teammates before them, and head up to the penthouse at the Ritz to seek any sort of meaningful outing. Patrick, upon asking his superiors, learns that they're both welcome to join the League members down at the mall safeguarding the quarantine zone. While it's nothing major, the two accept and head down.

Upon arriving at the quarantine zone, both Patrick and Nick station themselves, and prepare for a relatively uneventful day ahead of them. Not much action is happening outside the mall, and, much to the disappointment of both our heroes, they aren't allowed past the defensive barrier. Patrick, taking the time to relax from the group's usual outings, grows himself a comfy (I guess?) plant chair, as well as a tomato plant beside him, picking idly at the red produce as time passes by.

As a few hours pass, both Nick and Patrick find another, more exciting, opportunity to experience some action. Receiving a call from Aidan and Troy reveals the whereabouts of a Wonderland hideout. Having grown tired of their posts, the two desert to meet up with their teammates, and get their chance to hit Wonderland back.
Rewinding time finds us with Aidan, Troy, and Sam on the streets. Reconnaissance throughout town eventually allow the three of them to spot three people walking down the sidewalk, distinctively wearing blue and gold get ups, the distinguishing color pattern of the Wonderland gang. Trailing the posse and eventually luring them into an alley, the three supposed gangsters find themselves surrounded, facing Accelerator on one end, and Shadowboxer on the other, as well a flying Solemn stationed above them (a fact to which they aren't yet privy).

Before they have any time to react, Aidan rolls up behind two of them, placing his hands on each of their shoulders. Rolling a natty 20 like an ace instantly places the three gangsters at the whim of the group of heroes. Satisfied with the current state of the situation, Solemn lands down in front of the three gangsters, demanding them to throw down their arms. Concealed guns on the ground and the goons totally at our heroes' mercy, Troy and Aidan are quickly able to extract some information (with some well-rolled intimidation checks) regarding a Wonderland hideout in a warehouse not too far from their current position.

Satisfied with the information given, the group is even further pleased to hear that Doormouse will be present at the hideout. While the goons' low ranks will prevent them from luring her out (Mouse-lady gives the orders, according to them), the three heroes quickly devise a new plan to strike back at Wonderland. Ready to set out and partake in another grudge match, Aidan, Troy, and Sam quickly knock the goons unconscious and contact Nick and Patrick.

It's time to take the fight to Wonderland.
The gang, now mobilized and battle-ready, arrive at the designated warehouse. An undisturbed infiltration leads the group into an empty entry room into the main storage area. However, instead the bantering of gang members discussing their next move, the gang is surprised to here the all-too-apparent sound of thundering gunfire. Nick silently moves to an opened door to observe the newly-discovered battleground. What he finds are two teams of gunmen doing their best to out-shoot each other. One group, wearing the familiar blue and gold get-up, are clearly Wonderland goons. The other, however, sporting red and silver uniforms, are another gang entirely. Above the shootout, Blackwing spots Doormouse fighting an armor-padded assailant on a catwalk.

Wasting no time, the group heads over to an exposed glass pane and bashes down the unstable structure. Solemn, Shadowboxer, Blackwing, and Accelerator immediately bust into the scene, each targeting a select goon to take down. In the meantime, Ivy retreats and constructs a plant barrier, blocking him from any gunfire, as well as barricading the exit; a few plinion sentries are summoned as well to keep guard of the botanist. In the main room, the brawl is going down smoothly enough for our heroes. As it turns out, Accelerator can use her powers to rapidly age enemies out of commission, rendering them old and incapable of staying in the fight. Solemn sends a gravitic blast at a group of gang memebrs from both sides, sending some flying into pipes and walls and knocking them out; Blackwing's busy shooting and slashing at some goons, fighting like the true Deathstroke Batman he is; Aidan, however, takes a more tactical action, teleporting into a shadow nearby Solemn.

Up on the walkway, Doormouse easily deals with her opponent, swiftly injuring and, for the most part, taking him out of the battle. Leaving her post, she descends down into the mayhem, and spots Solemn among the fray of gunfire,sword slashes, shadow blasts, and rapid aging processes. Pounces immediately towards her opponent, she's quickly intercepted by Shadowboxer, who, in a brilliant maneuver, jumps out of his concealment and sends a deadly blast of darkness at the mouse-human hybrid (we were able to get wind of who Doormouse would be most likely to attack first, and Aidan's player readied an action accordingly; needless to say, it went way better than we initially expected it to). The attack lands true, critically injuring Doormouse and placing her at a severe disadvantage. However, despite this, she's still able to evade a combo attack from both Solemn and Blackwing, and scampers off towards the exit; right into Ivy's plant wall.

Not to be deterred, Doormouse takes a stab at Ivy's wall; not only does the wall not break, however, but the strenuous action on Doormouse's part is enough to cause her to fall unconscious. With a major player taken off the field, the gang fight quickly disperses, leaving the group of heroes with a new subject of interrogation. However, Solemn, Shadowboxer, and Dr. Ivy have some unfinished business with Doormouse in light of recent events, and decide that it's best of they quickly vacate the area with the empowered gang member, without the consent of either Blackwing or Accelerator.

Making use of Aidan's increasingly handy teleportation ability, the four are quickly transferred to an alleyway far away enough from the warehouse tat it should give the group some time to get even, and maybe get some answers or something, with Doormouse before Accelerator can find them. With Doormouse strapped down courtesy of Ivy's vines, Solemn questions her as Shadowboxer intimidates her, as well as breaking a few bones as a form of pressure. Ultimately, the interrogation isn't very successful, with the only information extracted being that Wonderland's main base of operations is "through the looking glass". Aidan quickly knocks Doormouse out, and Ivy lowers an improvised plant barricade, leaving the group facing an angry Accelerator.
As to be expected, Accelerator isn't too happy about the three ditching her and Blackwing with a valuable prisoner, and is even angrier at their barbaric methods of interrogation. While the group tries to justifies their actions (and apparently don't seem to have any regrets), Accelerator is having none of it, and demands that all of them return back to the Ritz. Upon return, both Troy and Patrick head up to the penthouse to speak with Julie. A half-hearted attempt to, once again, justify their actions, leads Julie to warn the two that they're under consideration of possible expulsion from the League (especially Troy and Aidan, considering recent event), and that, should that happen, any further actions would be considered acts of vigilantism.

That's the end of session six, but as I said, I'll also be quickly be covering the events of the seventh session:

Shortly after the events at the warehouse, everyone at the Ritz is subject to quite a rude awakening. A loud boom is heard from down the street, and, with everyone still up at the penthouse, the League members find themselves facing what seems to be a small nuclear explosion. A call from Kat from inside the room leads the group to the television screen, on which a vital message is being sent to the citizens of Millennium city. The person in question is none other than the head of the Wonderland gang, White Queen (or, according to Patrick, "White Castle"). According to the gang leader, if Duchess and Doormouse are not returned to her within a day's time, that explosion won't be the last Millennium city will be seeing. White Queen's abilities include the power to transform and transport matter, allowing her use radioactive matter to create small nuclear explosions. Troy, Aidan, Nick, and Patrick waste no time heading down the sight of the explosion.

Arrival reveals the street to be in a state of chaos. Buildings are burning and crumbling, and every where pedestrians are running for their lives. Among the crowd, the crew is able to spot a familiar face; it's the woman from the entrance of the drug lab, or, more specifically, the women who filled Aidan with bullets a few nights prior. The group quickly skulks their way over to her to question her. Some fast dialogue reveals that she could serve as a direct route to White Queen's hideout; and not only that, but she's also White Queen's niece, Anna, and she's had enough with White Queen's antics. A prime opportunity to actually get some useful information, the group quickly questions her on where they can find the gang leader. They're given an address, and now they have a chance to finally take down the crime syndicate.

Heading back to the Ritz, the four begin to strategize. Ultimately what happens is that the group decides to send Nick and Anna over to White Queen's possible place of residence, with Anna serving as a decoy to cause a distraction and get some information, and Nick acting as a lookout. Troy, Patrick, and Aidan stay behind at the Ritz, maintaining communications with the two, and heading back up to the penthouse in order to meet up with the other members of the League. Once they've all arrived, Senator runs them down on a possible alternative option to taking on White Queen guns blazing. Over at Exalt, the company responsible for the creation of the Null Generators and Troubleshooters, there's been word of a device that could be used to nullify powers, rendering an empowered, well, powerless. While Julie isn't exactly jumping at the chance to team up with Exalt (there's a chance they're caught up with some criminal activity) but she also knows that time and options are limited, and until Nick or Anna can give the team a clear opening on White Queen, Exalt may yet be our heroes' only hope at stopping Wonderland. While the group has been strictly under order from the League before to only use non-lethal force against villains, this time, Julie gives them one new rule. Regarding only White Queen, the four rookies have been given the go ahead to kill the gang boss if necessary.
Before the team can go to the Exalt HQ to meet up with the CEO and discuss terms, Nick and Aidan switch places, and Arbalest contacts Nick; it's time for their stealth mission. The two nimbly parkour their way across the surrounding rooftops en route to Exalt Security. In time, the two arrive at their destination, and the infiltration begins. The two first find themselves in what's supposed to be a vacated cubical farm, save for one single light still illuminated in the darkness. Putting the stealth in stealth mission, Nick and Arbalest silently move past the one occupied cubical without issue, and continue on beyond a door into the next room.

Exiting the farm, the two find themselves in what appears to be some sort of storage area. There are a few rooms of little interest; standard wooden crates and boxes, as well as a few seemingly scrapped troubleshooter chassis. However, all isn't well in this storage. Among all the useless junk in the rooms, Nick eventually stumbles across a cell in the middle of the center room. INside this cage is a seemingly frail women, who's erratically shaking; she doesn't want either of them to open the cage door and let her out. Strange incidents aside, it's obvious to Nick that he has to free this women; she may be valuable for something later, and it's also probably the right thing to do. The two open the door, much to the women's distress (she begins wailing uncontrollably) but before they can get any further, they hear a single chilling phrase- "empowered detected". The two turn to face three partially decomposed but nonetheless battle ready drones facing them.

Roll initiative.

The women takes the distraction as a chance to cowardly flee to the far corner of the storage area, away from saviors and robots alike. Nick, brandishing his sword, gets to slicing while Arbalest stays behind, sharpshooting with her crossbow. At first, the two make little progress. Nick's sword is sharp, but can't do much against the robots' armor, albeit a little damaged, while Arbalest is having little luck with her crossbow. Things seems bleak when one of the robots manage to knock Nick into Arbalest; while Nick gets up fine, Arbalest is paralyzed from the blow. Ever persistent, Nick eventually manages to use his arsenal to begin turning the tides of battle; his bullets begins whittling away at the robot armor, and soon his slashes begin to strike true. Soon all three troubleshooters are either covered in bullet holes, or have been slashed to pieces.

Grabbing the maddened women from the corner, Blackwing and Arbalest head out a nearby window and climb their way back up to the roof of the building. However, shortly after Nick finds ground, the women manages to knock him senseless just long enough to escape his grasp, and his sight. Whoever she was, she's gone now.

Satisfied with their raid, Nick and Arbalest part ways, with the possibility of future work in store.
Regrouping with everyone at the Ritz, Nick is ready to head back to Exalt, this time by Limo rather than by rooftop. Prepared to bring whatever weapon Exalt has devised into battle against White Queen, Senator and the rest of the gang hop into the limo and are off to Exalt Security, except for Aidan, who's taken the time at his post at White Queen's house to curl up in a bush and catch some sleep. However, something unexpected happens to the shadow controller. A women, appearing to be a visage of gold and of angelic appearance,comes into existence. She tells him cryptically that their choices will have great significance in the future, and that they must take caution. And just like that, she disappears just as easily as she appeared.With her gone, the memory of her outward appearance slowly begins to fade from Aidan's memory.

Getting word that the group is heading to Exalt, Aidan uses his teleportation to quickly regroup with them there, and the team heads into the building. Walking the hallways, alongside an overly perky assistant, exposes the group to the latest line of troubleshooters courtesy of Exalt. Along with this, the group feels the uncomfortable yet familiar feeling of having their powers nullified. Brought into a meeting room, everyone takes a seat around a table, awaiting the arrival of the CEO. A few moments pass, and a prestigious man enters the room to greet our heroes. Inquisitively asking everyone what exactly it is they need, and already knowing the answer, the man presents them with an orb-like device that, with the click of a button, can, possibly permanently, nullify the powers of any empowered. A brief persuasion attempts by Solemn fails to reveal how the device works.

While the CEO asks for nothing in return, he does make it more than clear than this is an act of generosity from Exalt to the League (in essence, we owe them one). The device, affectionately titled the Apple of Eden (I swear this wasn't an Assassin's Creed reference we accidentally came up with), in the team's grasp, it's time to head for White Queen's house.
The foursome of heroes arrive at the doorstep of White Queen's supposed residence, along with Sam, and begin devising a plan to infiltrate the stronghold. It's decided that Blackwing will hold on to the Apple for now, and that Solemn and Shadowboxer will start the infiltration. Similar to how he had done so the day before, Solemn takes hold of Shadowboxer's hoodie and flies right into the side wall of the house. Bursting into the scene reveals four henchmen strewn about the house, sitting on couches and watching television as the two bust in. No time is wasted and the brawl begins. Both Solemn and Shadowboxer currently have the combat advantage as their opponents are grounded in their seats, and they begin the rigorous process of punching in some criminal faces. In the meantime, Dr. Ivy is using his newly grown Plinions to melt a hole in the door of the hose in order for him, Nick, and Sam to enter and join the fight.

The baddies' turn gains them little ground against Solemn and Shadowboxer, and they soon find themselves back on a failing defensive. Eventually, it's more than apparent that the heroes have the fight one once the botanist breaks down the door. Soon Sam zooms in and ages a goon down the the ground, and Dr. Ivy uses his plinions to restrain any goons in sight with vines, allowing Solemn, Sahdowboxer, and Blackwing to finish off any remainders. Soon the entire living room area is a wreck, the goons all knocked out from the surprise attack. With all threats taken care, the group heads down to the cellar of the house, with Dr. Ivy staying behind to guard the entrance.

Silently entering the area, fast reconnaissance from Blackwing reveal some goons, Queen of Hearts, and White Queen all present behind behind a concrete barrier. Deciding to move in, Blackwing unwittingly finds himself trapped within a glass cubical, with the door behind him locked and no way of escape in sight. A proud White Queen turns to him, boasting that the glass he's found himself trapped in is known to be able to resist certain radioactive explosions. Just as she's saying this, both Solemn and Shadowboxer, with a combined attack, bust down the concrete barrier and step into the room. White Queen tells them what she's just told Nick, and threatens to execute the helpless hero if either of them take another step. To make matters worse, Blackwing has the Apple of Eden, and Sam doubts that she can be fast enough to reach White Queen before she can kill Blackwing.

It appears that both sides are at a standoff, with White Queen having the upper hand; that is, until Blackwing takes his action. Placing the AOE (hey, look how that turned out) on the floor and clicking the activation button, a wave is sent from the orb shattering the glass, freeing Blackwing, and erasing any smug look White Queen may brandished. Battle ready and confident as ever, the foursome of heroes have at the Wonderland goons and leaders.

Queen of Hearts instantly throws down some card guardians, and takes a few steps back, wile Sam rushes forward and ages a goon down. With his turn, Blackwing, haphazardly shoots at a goon to varying effect, and both Solemn and Shadowboxer move in to lock down Queen of Hearts, agreeing to take out the summoner early. While initial attacks gain the two little ground, soon they begin zoning her into a corner, and her card guardians become less and less effective against the duo. Accelerator, however, isn't having as much fun as her brother with the card minions, taking a gored stab from one of their spears; remaining ever strong, however, she stays in the fight.

A wiffed punch from Aidan leaves Solemn with the opportunity to send a gravitic blast at Queen of Hearts; however, it'll also hit his teammate, who, despite having gone intangible, will still be effected by the force of blast. Taking the risk, both Aidan and QOH are blasted into the wall, knocking out the Queen, and leaving Aidan with some minor injuries. His triumph short lived, solemn soon finds his outfit turned to stone, courtesy of White Queen's powers. Falling to ground, no amount of strength checks can break the stone casing. Sam manages to reach White Queen, but has little luck effective;y using her powers, as Blackwing handles the average goons on the side. But from the side lines, Aidan has risen from the blast of Troy's powers. Leaping across the room and channeling all his energy into a single blast of shadow, he fires at White Queen. Taking the full force of the blast, White Queen is launched back into the wall, her spine breaking, and her body falling to the ground- dead.

With that, the brawl soon ends. With White Queen dead and the gang's major leaders behind bars, Wonderland is an empire just about ready to crumble. Outside, the team celebrates their victory amongst themselves, with everyone filling in Patrick on all the action that went down downstairs. Before they head back, Sam meets up with Troy. While she's not ready to forgive him for his past actions, and she doesn't regret any of what she's said, she'll admit that they did good on that day. With a hand shake, the two agree on a truce, and the team makes their way back home.

While Wonderland may have been neutralized, there's still work to do in Millennium City, and the group of heroes is far from finished.

End sessions.

We covered quite a bit of ground in these two sessions. With a major side threat taken care, it's now up to us what to pursue next.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed. I'm sorry if the recount may seem a bit disconnected; it's been a few weeks since the sessions written about, and the the details are a little faded. Nonetheless I hope you were able to follow along and get a good sense of where the story lies as of now. Thanks again, and stay tuned for more!

JohnZ1t0
2016-05-14, 08:53 AM
This patrick guy? Is his player mentally sane? I was reading earlier posts and he sexed a plant during a brothel raid and during a cartel raid?

Vihlrune
2016-05-14, 09:07 AM
Tricksy Hobbit

SZbNAhL
2016-05-15, 03:55 AM
Good to see this updating again.

ElFi
2016-05-15, 05:03 PM
In case anyone's wondering, JohnZ1t0 is Dr. Ivy's player, who decided that he'd engage in a little self-deprecative humor.

Vihlrune
2016-05-19, 07:43 PM
Expect a new post in the coming days!

Vihlrune
2016-05-27, 10:44 AM
We're back with the eighth session!

After having taken down Wonderland, the group reconvenes in order to take care of other business in Millennium City, and come across more than a few strange encounters.

With the news of a rookie team of empowered taking down a major crime ring, naturally the group's next adventure is to partake in an obligatory press conference with the city's paparazzi. The group finds themselves costumed backstage and ready to face a crowd, and possibly to answer some questions. Before any proceedings can occur, however, Patrick finds himself in a brief altercation with another one of his teammates, Aidan (I think...ElFi?). With the threat of another brawl or complication happening in a public area, and in front of his superiors, Troy steps in to break the two up. All well and good, Patrick proceeds to utilize his 20 INT stat to the fullest of extents, excitedly and loudly exclaiming the name of his disguised comrade openly- in a public area- in the backstage of a press conference filled with hungry reporters. A small punch to the gut is enough to silence the group's resident botanist, and with that, it's show time.

With Senator at the podium, the group promptly step out to take their seats in front of the crowd. With Senator giving the press some opening statements, the questions begin. First up is Phoebe, the woman from the party a few nights prior. With questions concerning the League's continued presence and the fall of Wonderland aside, one particular spectator asks the group whether or not they plan to remain in Millennium City, which prompts a hearty and prolonged "YEAH!" from Esposito himself. Hopefully the crowd took that as a yes.

Unfortunately, it's Senator that cuts the meet short. According to her, a strange occurrence has happened at the Harbor Square Mall, more specifically the site of the Malady quarantine. It would seem that previously infected people are now walking freely and healthily out of the now taken-down quarantine.

Prime side-quest material, the group finds it only logical to go investigate. The heroes fly down to the mall and walk past the now taken down quarantine barrier. Walking in presents the group with a dark interior filled only with the red glow of the emergency power system. Initial investigation checks don't give our heroes much, but it isn't long before every spots a familiar face- Teresa. Characteristically jubilant, Teresa motions for the group to follow her down a hallway. The group cautiously complies, and follows her. A short stroll leads everyone to a closed closet door, and before anyone knows it, Teresa's gone behind it. The team proceeds to spend about five real life minutes coming up with strategies on how to infiltrate in the case of an ambush, until Blackwing, justifiably, rushes through the door in impatience.

What the group sees is not at all what they expected. Waiting for them isn't an ambush or onslaught from the rest of Agony Four, but rather a mangled and mutilated corpse. It doesn't take anyone too long to figure out that the corpse, courtesy of a distinctive plague doctor's mask, belongs to Malady. A small not is left over the mask, wishing that the heroes enjoy there gift, from Teresa herself. With that, Teresa vanishes, after quickly telling everyone she was never really there to begin with (so it would've been pretty awkward if any of us had started rolling initiative).

The only thing left unturned in the room is a small cabinet in the corner. Cautiously, Solemn steps forward and opens the door to reveal a silver revolver-like weapon. However, instead of bullets, the dial instead holds several small canisters of a red-substance. Ivy asks his teammate to toss him the weapon so that a more certified eye can analyze it. While Ivy is able to deduce that it must be some sort of biological weapon (likely a plague or disease), the group agrees to have it further analyzed by the professionals outside.

Business in the mall taken care of, the group heads out. Their suspicions confirmed, an analyst brands the rounds to be filled with some sort of biological agent, but further studying will be needed on it to find out anything exact. A unanimous agreement is struck, and it's time to head back to the Ritz, and prepare for the group's next move.

Back at the Ritz, the group (namely Troy, Aidan, and Patrick) drop the question about their possible expulsion on Sam. To their relief, due to recent events, the pending has been postponed at the moment. The rest of the night is mostly uneventful. The only developments are that Troy and Aidan manage to both score another date with their respective NPC interests. With that, the group falls asleep.

May the next day come.
Skipping to next morning, Troy awakens on the couch in the penthouse in front of a switched-off television (Troy managed to fall asleep in penthouse after quickly convening with Julie and Ray, because). Before he can do much, the door opens to reveal a new face. Quickly throwing on his helmet, Solemn finds himself face to face with a young and excitable Indian women, who quickly identifies him as Solemn, and shakes his hand enthusiastically. The same happens to Senator when she walks in. As it turns out, the newcomer is a genius empowered-technologist, who has a surprise for the league members. She leads them down to the pier, with the rest of the group following in short order. She produces an interesting small device on the edge of the pier, and, as if it were magic, the small device begins to rapidly expand to form a massive naval base alongside the pier.

The women, as if she hadn't expected it to work, jumps for joy at her apparent success, and the group takes a brief moment to explore their new Mother Base. It has several commodities for the League members, including quarters and a war room. Amazement aside, the team has some personal business to take care of, but first, the whole group convenes at the war room to discuss what's left to take care of. The Agony Four are still out there, a new gang is rising due to power vacuum Wonderland has left behind, and, of course, no one's any closer to finding Pharos.

With that done, Patrick gets the group together to discuss a plan of action. Patrick's father, Dominic, lives in a private estate (manor?) outside city limits, and Patrick sees the homestead as a a possible residence to fall back on for the team should this League job fall through. The only issue is that Patrick's father is now old and stubborn, a fact not aided by a falling out Patrick and Dominic had shortly before the campaign's events. With all of this, securing the house for themselves will prove a tall task to undertake, but the group decides to just take a brief moment to survey the area, and meet up with Dominic.

Changing into civilian clothes (Patrick has to buy some), the group gets into a car and heads down to the Esposito residence. A short drive brings the group to a sprawling estate complete with a a large gate. Before them flies down a strange man; appearing reptilian and sporting massive wings, it's clear that empowered are among the ranks of the apparent security force. through some deliberation, the group is allowed in. Stepping out of the car, the group walks up to the front door, and is allowed in by a few security guards and their leader, who escort the group to Dominic. Short (non) pleasantries are made, reintroducing Patrick to his father, a brilliant and successful chemist. Dominic quickly identifies Troy, Aidan, and Nick as Patrick's empowered friends, and asks him, bluntly what he wants (part of Patrick's backstory is that Dominic disowned him after flunking his classes in Harvard, which led to some complications down the road). Patrick attempts to convince his father that his old age will soon get the best, and that it may be time to consider leaving the mansion to someone else, all the while trying to make amends for their past interactions. However, when Dominic only mocks Patrick for his failures and refuses to comply, bot Aidan and Troy (namely Aidan) reprimand the old man for not caring for his son when he should have, acting unjustly and irrationally, and generally ignoring apparent problems Patrick was going through in his early years; the gist of it is that Aidan is trying to convince Dominic that everything that's happened to his son is his own fault, and that he can't be mad at anyone else for it.

It gains the group little ground in the argument, Dominic being stubborn as ever. Aidan decides to have a guard escort him to the bathroom, which may give him a chance to scope out the area for any signs of something that could give the group an advantage should a forceful eviction be necessary. In the meantime, Patrick takes another crack at his father, remarking on his breakthroughs in the realm of chemistry. Over time, Patrick appears to begin making small dents in his father's defensive nature, and in the end, it seems that the group may yet have a chance at the estate.

Eventually, the meeting ends, with Patrick gaining little ground, but opening the window for future opportunities with his father, And with that, the group heads back into the city.
As mentioned before, both Troy and Aidan have some dates to get to back in Millennium City. Both of them brandishing their best garb, they part ways. Troy's emits yet another somewhat awkward atmosphere with Julie at a restaurant in town, with the two making small talk, and neither of them particularly being in their element.

Aidan, however, is a bit more successful, and soon finds himself and Faith in arms. You Know, on the roof of a building. the lip-lock, along with Troy's operation, however, is cut short by a curious text message that the entire team gets simultaneously. The message is from Anna, the niece of the late White Queen. At first, Troy is a bit relieved that she may be alive, but that feeling is short-lived upon reading that the group is to convene at a specified location, and is to come alone. Troy quickly tells Julie the news, and she agrees to stay posted. Aidan similarly tells Faith that it's time to part ways, and teleports her of the roof.

With that, the group of four assembles, and makes way for the designated address.
The group soon arrives at an abandoned warehouse, and finds themselves face to face with an interesting sight; two women, a man, and the padded fighter from the fight between the two gangs before. It appears that the group is face to face with the gang in silver and red, yet to be named. With the team encountered, the padded man uses his wind powers to depart, and with that, the three remaining fighters rush at our heroes.

Roll initiative.

The encounter is an all-out empowered brawl, and one of the two women immediately unleashes a smog of smoke at the team, cutting Solemn's move short as he collides with an apparently solid wall of smoke. He heads back out the entrance and flies back in through a window, being spotted by the enemy team as he flies in. Cornered by the smog, Patrick constructs a line of plant walls to protect him, which effectively aids in hampering Nick's movement. Aidan already moved up past the area of the smog wall, soon finds himself under a spell. One of the empowered takes control of his mind, and commands him to kill his gravity-controlling teammate in his vicinity. With the brawl now split across the room, the smog wall is dropped, allowing Blackwing to take a potshot at one of his adversaries. Troy takes the moment to throw a nearby dumpster at cloud controller, which is subsequently smacked aside, and which a flick of her hands, the women forms a massive boulder of smoke, which collides head-on with Solemn.

Sensing imminent danger, man moves towards the mind-controller, and shapeshifts into his final form, a massive bat creature, which the group effectively brands Zubat. Acting as a body shield for his ally, the bat blocks attacks from both Blackwing and Solemn. Shadowboxer, now back on the offensive, sends a bolt of darkness at Solemn, still under the control of the enemy, and scores a critical wound on his teammate. The critical injury makes things seem bleak for Solemn, but Shadowboxer manages to eventually snap out of the mind controller's grasp, and finds himself back on the side of the heroes. The mind controller takes another crack at the team, this time commanding Ivy to lower his plant defenses, but Ivy too is able to resist the influence before long.

Solemn is still critically injured and opts to take refuge behind the cover of a tall pillar, as attacking will result in a strenuous and possibly damaging action. Shadowboxer sends another blast of darkness, this time at the mind controller, but the shot is body blocked by the bat creature. With it apparent that they're losing the fight, the mind controller hops on the bat creature's back,a dn the two fly out. Shadowboxer quickly teleports Ivy to Solemn so that he can heal him, and with that, Solemn grabs one of Ivy's newly grown Plimions, and makes chase.

With the smoke empowered left behind it's up to Blackwing, Ivy, and Shadowboxer, to take care of business. It isn't long before a blast from Aidan, the chomp of another plimion, send her out of commission, scoring the team a captive for interrogation. Back in the skies, Solemn uses the plimion to send a blast of acid at the flying bat creature. Mostly ineffective, it only sizzles of the creature's wing. The mind controller makes one last attempt to control another member of team, but can't even break into Solemn's mind to begin with. Before Solemn can make another move, the bat is frozen in mid-air, under some sort of telekinetic grip. It doesn't take long for the team to realize that Senator has arrived on the scene. The team of enemy empowered have been defeated, and with that, so ends the session.

This session was pretty packed with a bunch of new developments. As the team gets back on track, it's up to our heroes to decide from what angle they'll continue their attack against the evils of Millennium City, and only time will tell.

Again, thanks for reading, and stay tuned for the next session.

ElFi
2016-06-01, 04:44 PM
To clear up a few inconsistencies and errors in Vihlrune's post:

The Indian inventor girl has a codename, Toymaker.
It was actually Nick, not Aidan, who got in an argument backstage with Patrick at the press conference.
Theresa's name is spelled with an H.

Vihlrune
2016-06-01, 04:51 PM
To clear up a few inconsistencies and errors in Vihlrune's post:

The Indian inventor girl has a codename, Toymaker.
It was actually Nick, not Aidan, who got in an argument backstage with Patrick at the press conference.
Theresa's name is spelled with an H.

Sorry about the mistakes, and thanks for the update! I was in a bit of a rush while writing the post, but I figured that if I didn't write it when I did, it would've been pushed back much farther than it already was.

JohnZ1t0
2016-06-04, 03:48 PM
Sorry about the mistakes, and thanks for the update! I was in a bit of a rush while writing the post, but I figured that if I didn't write it when I did, it would've been pushed back much farther than it already was.

Espoespoespoespoespoespo

Vihlrune
2016-06-04, 06:37 PM
Espoespoespoespoespoespo

As can be seen, Ivy's player suffers from a rare condition that causes his own personality to begin resembling that of his character.

ElFi
2016-06-04, 06:55 PM
As can be seen, Ivy's player suffers from a rare condition that causes his own personality to begin resembling that of his character.
I am the GM and I support this statement.

Vihlrune
2016-06-30, 10:01 AM
Ninth Session's here!

With some new captives, our heroes decide it's finally time to get back on track and begin hunting down clues that could lead to Pharos. Unfortunately, Ivy's player couldn't make it for the whole session, but if that means anything at all, it means there aren't any plant walls to get in our way.

On that note, let's get to it.

With the three enemy empowered having been defeated, the massive bat creature reverts back to his normal, human form, and due to the transformation, he's at a loss for apparel. With that, the three are put in null generator-fitted restraints, and transported down to confinement.

With that, the crew heads back to the League's Mother Base. Upon arrival back, the group is in for a treat; starting that day, everyone will be subject to psychological therapy as a form of mental evaluation, and the first one up is the botanist. With the public announcement being made, our resident Esposito inquiries (loudly) as to whether or not the League believes him to be crazy. It looks like we aren't the only ones then.

A short time later, Patrick is sent down to meet with the therapist for his psychological evaluation. The questions are simple enough, but the answers, not so much. Right off the bat, Patrick introduces himself as a registered botanist, which raises some eye brows as, according to the therapist, that hasn't been listed. Disregarding the remarks, the rest of the session goes just about as well as any of us expected it to. The first inquiry made by the therapist is in regards to Patrick's reasons for joining the League, to which the botanist responds, "for the kids". However, she sees right through the lie, and comments about how, according to sources, he's in it for the money. Patrick, ever so defensive, immediately asks who told her that, giving her the options of: "the physicist", and "shadowboy".

After that, the therapist inquires about violence, to which Patrick simply responds that he "isn't a fan of the bad guys surviving". Finally, on the subject matter of his family life, he says that his father kicked him out and disowned him.

With that, the session ends, with Patrick asking the therapist if she'd like to discuss more over diner. When Patrick is confronted by the obstacle of her marriage, the response we get is silence, followed by a short "I see".
With his therapy meet over, Patrick retreats to the recesses of Mother Base to do whatever botanists do best. With that, the rest of the team convenes at the war room with their superiors. According to Senator, the team will be given night patrol routes and teams, with one person staying behind to work the computers. According to her, the two teams will be herself and Shadowboxer, and Changeling and Solemn. As Troy, Kat, and Julie take to the skies, Aidan teleports across his route to a similar effect. However, Nick ends up with a different route.

Not being given any orders from his superiors, Nick eventually stumbles across Arbalest, who has another mission for him. The two are in the territory covered by Kat and Troy, and are in search of a dangerous empowered, and Arbalest also warns Nick of a dangerous vigilante-empowered, who isn't shy about killing. After some roaming, the two find themselves in a closed gas station. But on their way, they begin feeling an ominous presence watching over them; they continue, unaware and unknowing of what it is. Coming through the back door, the two stop the empowered huddled in the front, seemingly talking to herself. It only takes a moment for Nick to recognize her as the girl who escaped from his grasp while he infiltrated Exalt. But before the group can get any further, a loud gunshot stops them dead in their tracks. Stuck in place, the two watch as a new attacker appears in front of them, walking towards their position.

Elsewhere in the city, Shadowboxer and Senator are on their patrol duties, when a report comes in of a kidnapping at the Millennium City Chronicle. Accelerator has followed Aidan, since she's still responsible for him at the moment, and the two teleport to the area while Senator flies over. The two end up in a closet, and walking out reveals a crime scene. Hunched over bodies, evidence of stolen files, and a massive hole int he wall. Senator arrives shortly after, and after some deliberation with the victims, it is revealed that Andy Camden was kidnapped. According to witnesses, the crime was committed by Mold, the clay monster from the raid.

Back at the gas station, before the new face can get any further, Both Solemn and Changeling land outside, giving both Blackwing and Arbalest the chance to escape. Running into adjacent alley, the two fall victim to some form of mental manipulation, as the long alleyways begin to twist and contort. Nick eventually loses sight of Arbalest, but keeps running until he finds himself back in front of the gas station, and the girl. Before he can act, he finds himself in her grip, and subject to extreme pain; while he can sense that it isn't real, it's pain nonetheless. With that, the girl tells him she can't control her powers, and that she must be left alone. Much like the other night, she disappears.

Back in the station, it isn't long before the attacker finds himself in the telekinetic grip of Solemn. Demanding that he be let go, Solemn is quicker to ask him as to why he's here, and what he's up to. With the vigilante being uncooperative, he's swiftly knocked unconscious, and taken back to base.
Back at base, Aidan and Nick stumble across two familiar faces; it's the two heroes from that night at the party, Equinox and Rayshine. The two have some news on the kidnapping, pointing to an empowered named Nightingale, who resides at an orphanage. Equinox asks Aidan for who's in charge, and Aidan, ever one to think things through, tells someone to fetch Solemn (I don't know).

Solemn, meanwhile, is busy in the brig interrogating the vigilante he and Changeling had captured the night before. Questions of motive and identity get him nowhere, but he does learn of Phantasm, the telepath Nick and Arablest had run into. According to the vigilante, who goes by "Wraith", she's too dangerous to be left free, and must be put down. Determined that he will receive no help, he demands that he be let go, leaving Solemn to simply say that if he won't cooperate, he can't be helped. After the interrogation, Troy meets up with the rest of the gang to receive the news about Nightingale. With that, they head down to the orphanage with Equinox and Rayshine.

Being brought to the source of information, it is revealed that Nightingale's name is Ada, the the group enters her room to question her. While the gang doesn't get far (Aidan's threats almost lead to a confrontation however), it is revealed that Ada is in league with Pharos, and that's all the group needs to hear to know that something important is about to happen. But before anyone can get any further, Ada receives a phone call, and before either Troy or Aidan can stop her, she's gone. Troy tries to use his new helmet model (a device fit with the datalink power, enabling computer interface), but it's to no avail (I didn't put points into computers, because of course I didn't).

While Ada may be gone, Rayshine points the team in the direction of Nightingale's storehouse uptown. When the team arrives, Ada is nowhere to be found, but instead, there's a note. It reads:

"Answer the phone

When the time comes, let Phoebe fall

I'm sorry"

-Pharos

Well, that's ominous.
Before anyone even has time to think, Solemn's phone starts ringing. An unrecognized number, Troy is hesitant to answer at first, but soon finds himself accepting the call. It's none other than John Knight, who tells them that he wants them to meet him at a bathhouse. However, there's a catch: for everyone person over three, fifteen people die.The team quickly decides that Troy, Aidan, and Nick will investigate.

Arriving at the bathhouse in short order, the team is faced with what can only be described as a massacre. Blood cakes the walls, and a dead, stuffed receptionist's had points the team in the right direction. Red arrows lead the team to a locker room, in which message is left, stating that they must unrobe and wear towels for the full experience (remember, fifteen people). Despite the assurance that they won't be offed upon entrance, the group is hesitant but complaint. With the group in towels, and Troy opting to keep his helmet on, they enter into the next area, in which a toweled John Knight greets them. According to John, the Agony Four would like to play a little game with the League members. Over the next days, a series of crimes, or "games", will take place.If the League can with best three out of five, the Agony Four will leave and never return, but if they lose, the criminals are here to stay, until one side is dead.

The three know that there's little they can do at the moment, but that doesn't stop Aidan from approaching John and lightly tapping his nose to ensure he's real. A laugh from John, who thought Aidan might've actually been trying to start something, prompts Aidan to start the night's only real combat session, with a punch to Knight's face. Immediately, the room is engulfed in flames, and while Aidan tanks it and Nick is able to dive out of harm's way, Troy takes the full force of the blast, being singed to the ground, and loosing his concentration on maintaining his force field. While Nick mostly remains inactive (and contemplates tacking Aidan), Aidan goes for another punch, which is largely unsuccessful. Soon, Knight demands that this stop, all traces of humor gone in his voice. While Aidan's done playing games, it's obvious that, right now, the team's outmatched, and with that, the combat ends, along with the session.

Well, that last bit could've gone better, but regardless, it's time to get back on track to hunting down Pharos and finding out what's really going on in this City. With a new game beginning against the Agony Four, it looks like it's going to be a long next couple of days (or weeks). Hope you enjoyed reading, and be on the look out for session Ten.

JohnZ1t0
2016-06-30, 12:01 PM
I would like to point out that Patrick was in the public showers at the league base 'having fun' with his plant wife Fiona, and plimions. Ray came in and casually tried to take a shower in the stall next to Patrick. Ray asked jokingly if the shower was taken, and Patrick responds yeah. Patrick, while having fun, continues the conversation by saying, 'he can multitask', and asks about Ray's league experience. Patrick finds out that this superhuman brute is relatively young, and has been in the league for 5 years. Patrick is just about finishing up when Ray asks how long he has been in here for, in which Patrick responds, 5 hours, and I plan to stay here. Anyways Patrick is done, and Ray leaves, but another unlucky guest walks into the bathroom, this time it is Prospero. Prospero is trying his best to be casual about bathing publicly, when he notices Patrick and his crew in the shower. Patrick, who hates especially hates Prospero says sarcastically, after noticing his unwillingness to be in public showers, "Come in, I don't bite." Patrick then says, "I'm not too sure about my little plant boys here though." He mentally tells his plimions to snarl and show their acidic-dripping teeth to Prospero. Prospero calls him out for that and tells him to call his 'dogs' off. Patrick begins starting up again, and notices Prospero staring at him. Patrick calls Prospero out for watching and accuses him of 'enjoying' it. Anyways awkward conversations continue, Patrick eventually notices a tattoo on Prospero's shoulder. Patrick inquires about it and finds out that Prospero has an empowered girlfriend named Viridian. Prospero eventiually leaves the bathroom, seeming a little uneasy about the crazed botanist. Patrick continue his cycle into the bathroom until about 3AM where he passes out yet to wake.

ElFi
2016-07-09, 01:54 PM
Notes from the GM:

The therapist's name is Dr. Grace Lao. Patrick, who's a colossal racist in-character (and somewhat out-of-character too, but that's another story), somehow managed to avoid commenting on her Oriental ethnicity during their entire conversation.

Equinox and Rayshine made a brief, unnamed appearance in background description waaaay back at the house party in session 3. Other important details that didn't come up in Vihlrune's post is their career as E&R Investigations, a detective agency for superpowered crime.

I admit to playing to my players' weaknesses quite a bit in this session. Troy's hesitance towards using force as a tool in interrogations prevented him from getting anything meaningful out of Wraith, Nick's continued deceptions about his double-life helping Arbalest might be driving a wedge between him and the rest of the team, and Aidan's hot-headedness screwed the group out of getting important information from Nightingale, and later nearly got them killed by John Knight.

An extremely late GM post brought to you by an extended vacation with no access to a computer and/or the Internet.

Vihlrune
2016-07-09, 04:02 PM
In reference to John Zito's post:

1) This is, in fact, canon.
2) This is, in fact, something Esposito does routinely.
3) We were, in fact, unaware of any of this until after the session.
4) We were, in fact, opposed to this.

JohnZ1t0
2016-07-10, 05:12 PM
Espo has a plant fetish if no one knew

Vihlrune
2016-07-10, 05:14 PM
Espo has a plant fetish if no one knew
Just in case anyone one this thread has a wisdom stat of 2.

GnomishPride
2016-07-25, 12:03 PM
Will there be any more updates? I miss hearing these wonderful storirs.

JohnZ1t0
2016-07-25, 12:32 PM
Will there be any more updates? I miss hearing these wonderful storirs.

Yes there will be, we had a very interesting session a little while ago. The post will be up in a few days hopefully.

ElFi
2016-07-25, 12:34 PM
Will there be any more updates? I miss hearing these wonderful storirs.
Vihlrune (Solemn's player and the current writer of these posts) is currently on vacation, with limited internet access from what I've heard. There is a forum post for our latest session in the works, but I don't know precisely when it'll be published.

Vihlrune
2016-08-01, 09:08 PM
There is, in fact, an up and coming post. Expect it soon, as well as several shenanigans including the deranged concepts of a certain botanist, paint, and a disturbing lack of high heels.

GnomishPride
2016-09-28, 09:04 PM
...and two months pass.

JohnZ1t0
2016-11-12, 12:55 AM
Ok, in effort to wrap things up, here is a little catch up.


Our fourm post writers got a little tired of doing the posts after sessions. Unfortunately, we got lazy and quit updating it. We are currently approaching the finale of millennials. When this happens, I plan[t] on doing a catch-up post on everything we failed to cover. A lot of, interesting things have happened since the last post...

ElFi
2016-12-15, 04:34 PM
Hey all,

This is the official announcement to declare that after a year and about a dozen and a half sessions, Millennials officially ended last week. As our roleplaying group's first campaign (and my first time ever in the seat of GM) it was a wild ride for all parties. Tomorrow, we begin a Pathfinder campaign by the name of Knoweyr, with Vihlrune (Solemn's player) in the DM seat. The PC's star as mercenaries known as Oddjobs in the titular Knoweyr, a hostile desert region torn in multiple directions by warring political factions. Murder! Monsters! Mellifluous elves! It'll be fun. Assuming all goes well, you'll be seeing a campaign journal from that campaign as well.

Hopefully sooner rather than later, I plan to put out a post or three of summaries of the sessions since this journal went on hiatus. Stay tuned.

Forumlurker
2016-12-16, 09:42 PM
Looking forward to seeing the remainder of this journal! I always enjoy reading about Mutants and Masterminds. It seems like a very fun system

ElFi
2016-12-28, 06:57 PM
Looking forward to seeing the remainder of this journal! I always enjoy reading about Mutants and Masterminds. It seems like a very fun system
Thanks for the enthusiasm, Forumlurker! I was on vacation without internet access for the past few days, but hopefully you should start seeing those catch-up posts soon.

Mutants and Masterminds has its ups and downs. Character creation is effortless and allows for an endless array of cool powers and concepts, but there's also a lot of potential for game-breaking abilities, so keep your eyes sharp in the event that you ever GM for the system. Also, nobody in our roleplaying group is a fan of the injury system that M&M uses in place of hit points, so that's another thing.

Vihlrune
2017-01-15, 11:36 PM
Hey guys. Just thought It'd be right for me to sign off this campaign as well. It was a wild ride for all of us, and it was a ton of fun, too. For a first campaign, this was an awesome intro to RP gaming. Now it's my turn to jump into DM chair, so we'll see how the aforementioned Knoweyr campaign goes. Kudos to everyone who took part in the campaign.

As far as the system itself goes, I'll be honest in saying that I'm not a fan of M&M, but if anyone else wants to use it to GM their own game, I'm not in any position to discourage them. However, to give my opinion of the matter: As Elfi pointed out, the system uses a point-buy process when creating characters, making the game highly exploitable for the keen-eyed player, which leads to some pretty broken abilities, both in and out of combat. As far as the injury system goes, hit points may be a bit less realistic, but they're far more fun to use. The injury system often forced battle to be more drawn than they needed to be, and sometimes led to unfair situations, where someone who's had the upper-hand the entire fight suddenly roles poorly on one toughness check, and gets knocked out or killed.

So yeah, I'm not a big fan of the system, but again, if you want to try it out, go for it.

Thanks to everyone who stuck with this thread for the time-being, and I want to apologize for the lack of updates in recent months, but there is an update/catch-up post in the works, so look out for that one shortly. It looks like this is good-bye, for now at least...

JohnZ1t0
2017-01-15, 11:40 PM
Ok let me give you guys a very brief overhaul of the ending of millennials. Unfortunetly due to the time span in which we have not posted, we have forgotten some of the things that have happened, so it will not be very detailed.


After some unfortunate incidents regarding empowered villain vs empowered hero battles in brod daylight on the streets, the league earned a very negative reputation in the city. At one point, a riot was set up outside of the League base where the protesters demanded that empowered heros leave the city. Gabe Chambers, CEO of Exalt, had said that their company would help put an end to the empowered in the city, introducing brand new Exalt technology to counter the empowered.
With growing tensions, and a bad public relations, the League orders that members use their discernment when it comes to battles, as to not stir up anymore riots.


The agony 4 was still a major threat in the city, and the League began focusing on them. The agony 4 had set up 'games', and whichever side won three games first would become the victor-- if the agony 4 wins, they stay in the city, if the heros win, they leave.

1st game- Shane Chiu's gallery: Troy, Aidan, Nick, and Espo were called to the 'first game' in an abandoned theater. There, 5 illusions were set up on stage, and Troy, Aidan, Nick, and Espo had to choose the correct illusion in order to succeed and 'win'. Failure would result in the death of the person who chose wrong. Troy who chose wrong first felt an immediate stabbing sensation throughout his body, but was able to tough it out. Next, Aidan, chose wrong as well which led to him being confused. After Aidan, Espo chose wrong too resulting in him being viciously cut by a physic blade, causing him to be disabled. Finally Nick came along and successfully chose the correct illusion resulting in the teams overall success.

2nd game- Geoffrey's Kidnappings: After some bonding attempts made by none other than the charasmatic star of the group (Espo-- sarcasm, implied), the group found themselves at a local Columbian resturant trying to get more acquainted with eachother. Unfortunately (sarcasm) the groups sorry attempt at roleplaying was cut short due to a phone call by a mysterious man who was later revealed to be John Knight of the agony 4 stating that the second game has begun. Espo, Aidan, Troy, and Nick, all were dumbfounded to hear that Dominic Esposito, wealthy chemist father of Patrick Esposito (Espo/Dr. Ivy for short) was kidnapped by the agony 4. Deep in the city, in a tombstone (new gang) base, the group aided by Dominic's personal mercenary body guards , ventured out in a stealth mission to save Dominic and win the 2nd game. Aidan blacked out the enterence, and the guards were swiftly knocked out by the group to allow an easy access point to the main building. Aidan then teleported into the house to do some stealth work and scout ahead, but unfortunately was noticed. The group unaware that Aidan has been targeted continued on with their plan-- Espos plimions going in and disintegrating/ entangling the people inside. Espo then summoned his plimions and they stormed in with fury to the base, and the guards, unaware/occupied from Aidan were caught as easy targets for the plimions. An empowered supervillain from tombstone then realized what was happening, and then the real fight began. Any non-empoweres guards still awake/alive and the supervillain began fighting back. After a long fight and some near fatal injuries in the group, they were healed up by Espo, and moved upstairs. The guards upstairs seemed unaware that there was a defeat for them downstairs, and as soon as we were seen many of them fled. And we quickly did some searching around to look for Dominic. He was found in a closet, and seemed in physically good condition aside from the usual terrifying experience of being captured. When the PCs rounded up the bodies and had them caged in a plant wall for the police to get them, an urgent call from the League stated that there was an unusual disturbance downtown...


Part 2 tomorrow

JohnZ1t0
2017-01-15, 11:42 PM
When he says it is easily exploitable, Espo, my PC became super OP after I redid him. He went from a crappy summoner to a strong summoner/support character.. Too bad it was late in the game...