Ugly Ghost Squad #3 recap
Feb. 28th, 2016 11:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jkcarrierUgly Ghost Squad #3
"Housecleaning"
Played 2/27/2016
Roll Call:
Black Panther
Captain America
Hulk
Martian Manhunter
Thanatos
Enemies Fought:
Arcade and his various robots:
"Doctor Doom"
Water Tower Bots
Aztec Warriors
Fighter Planes
Goblins
Space Tanks
The Frightful Four(ish):
Wizard
Klaw
Sandman
Super-Skrull
Simon Magus and his minions:
Air Spirit
Earth Spirit
Water Spirit
Other NPCs:
Lois Lane (sort of)
Adventure Modules Used:
Marvel Super Heroes "Murderworld!" by Jeff Grubb
Synopsis:
The Ugly Ghost Squad was approached by reporter Lois Lane for an interview. As they were giving her a tour of their headquarters, the building was attacked by what appeared to be Doctor Doom. The heroes quickly realized that this was not the real Doom, but a rather shoddily-constructed robot. In the robot's smashed remains, they found a business card for "DeCara Electronics".
Approaching the electronics shop, the heroes were attacked by several more robots, disguised as water towers. The machines were dispatched quickly, but the final one took off like a rocket towards a small island off the coast of New Jersey. Pursuing, the heroes came upon the ruins of an abandoned amusement park.
Inside the park's crumbling fun house, the heroes were separated by force fields and forced into four different trap-filled chambers:
Captain America came upon a scene where robotic "Aztec Warriors" were attempting to make Lois Lane a human sacrifice. The Warriors attacked with laser spears, but Cap emerged triumphant, only to find out that "Lois" was another robot, which self-destructed. Cap survived the explosion, and began to search for a way out of the chamber.
Black Panther found himself in a medieval castle, which was being overrun with tiny but vicious robotic Goblins. More and more kept appearing, and they seemed to grow stronger as their numbers increased. The Panther was soon overwhelmed and knocked unconscious.
Martian Manhunter was deposited in a large desert canyon, with a kamikaze fighter plane trying to ram him. Every time he destroyed a plane (or after it successfully rammed him), another would appear, slowly wearing him down.
Thanatos and Hulk ended up together in an empty room, with "boundary lines" marked on the floor and an exit door on the other side. Each time they crossed a boundary, either an electrical charge would zap them, or a futuristic tank would appear and begin firing its laser cannon. Thanatos determinedly marched his spirit minions across the room, taking multiple lightning zaps and laser shots, only to find that the "exit" door was fake, and booby-trapped to explode. Hulk was the one who finally figured out a winning strategy, ignoring the enemies and concentrating on pounding a hole in the floor to escape.
Hulk and Thanatos made their way through the maintenance tunnels, surviving more hazards, including giant rolling pinballs, poison gas, and more exploding robots, and finally made it to the control room. There they found Arcade, notorious assassin and builder of this "Murderworld". He immediately surrendered, saying that he had fulfilled his contract by keeping the heroes occupied while his employer invaded their headquarters.
Racing back to the Secret Sanctuary, the heroes found 3/4th of the Frightful Four -- Wizard, Sandman, and Klaw -- attempting to make off with an old computer that had been put in storage and forgotten by the previous owners. The Wizard considered the computer, a custom-built Univac system from the 1960s, a priceless collector's item. He'd tried to purchase the Secret Sanctuary on eBay in order to acquire it, but had been outbid by Ruby Ryder. The heroes were a bit nonplussed at the lengths Wizard had gone to in order to steal a crummy old antique, but nonetheless subdued him and his partners.
But no sooner had the Frightful Four (er, Three) fallen, then the heroes realized that there was another intruder in the building. The alien Super-Skrull had snuck in while disguised as Lois Lane, and was frantically searching the Souvenir Room with a hand-held scanner. He claimed that there was a powerful teleportation device hidden somewhere nearby, and he was determined to acquire it for the Skrull Empire. The heroes had no idea what he was ranting about, but were able to subdue him.
After a good night's rest, the heroes returned to the Souvenir Room and used the Skrull's scanner to pinpoint the "dimensional breach" he was describing. The source of the signal turned out to be a dusty old book that had fallen behind a cabinet. When the book was opened, it opened a portal to another dimension -- the sorcerous realm called "Magic Land" -- and unleashed the evil Simon Magus and his Earth, Air, and Water Spirits. Magus believed he could conquer our world, then use it as a base to take over Magic-Land. But the heroes took out his minions, and then the magician himself. And then hoped they had finally cleaned up all the old junk in their headquarters.
Memorable Quotes:
"You know, if you'd just asked for the computer, we'd probably have given it to you." - Hulk
"The Wizard does not ask -- he takes!" - Wizard
"I'm gonna build a book -- a beautiful book! And we'll keep all the spirits in it. And I'll get the Magicians to pay for it!" - Black Panther, channeling Donald Trump
"I'm not gonna pay for your fucking book!" - Simon Magus, channeling Vicente Fox
Sources and References:
Arcade: An eccentric assassin-for-hire who uses elaborate death-traps called "Murderworlds" to carry out his contracts. He's had memorable encounters with Spider-Man, Captain Britain, and the X-Men, among others.
http://marvel.com/universe/Arcade
Doctor Doom: Armored monarch of the country of Latveria, long-time foe of the Fantastic Four. He is known to use robotic doubles of himself called "Doombots", one of which was acquired and repurposed by Arcade to lure the heroes into his trap.
http://marvel.com/universe/Doctor_Doom_%28Victor_von_Doom%29
Frightful Four: An ad hoc group of supervillains, lead by the mad scientist called The Wizard. The group usually consists of The Wizard, Sandman, The Trapster, and a fourth member who was replaced more often than Spinal Tap replaces drummers. This time out, that slot was filled by Klaw, master of sound. The Trapster did not appear in this adventure, because he's basically "ordinary dude with a glue gun", and I got bored trying to write up his statistics.
http://marvel.com/universe/Frightful_Four
Lois Lane: Famous reporter for the Daily Planet, even more famous for being Superman's girlfriend. Not actually in this adventure, except as a disguise assumed by Super-Skrull.
http://superman.wikia.com/wiki/Lois_Lane
Simon Magus: Evil magician hailing from "Magic-Land", an other-dimensional world where sorcery rules and science is unknown. He and his allies tried to overthrow the good magician Merlin, but were thwarted by the Justice League.
http://www.dcindexes.com/features/comic.php?comicid=17317
Super-Skrull: A soldier of the alien Skrull Empire, who have frequently tried to conquer Earth (as well as waging war with another alien race, the Kree). He was genetically modified to have all the powers of the Fantastic Four, as well as having the Skrulls' natural ability to alter his shape.
http://marvel.com/universe/Super-Skrull
"Housecleaning"
Played 2/27/2016
Roll Call:
Black Panther
Captain America
Hulk
Martian Manhunter
Thanatos
Enemies Fought:
Arcade and his various robots:
"Doctor Doom"
Water Tower Bots
Aztec Warriors
Fighter Planes
Goblins
Space Tanks
The Frightful Four(ish):
Wizard
Klaw
Sandman
Super-Skrull
Simon Magus and his minions:
Air Spirit
Earth Spirit
Water Spirit
Other NPCs:
Lois Lane (sort of)
Adventure Modules Used:
Marvel Super Heroes "Murderworld!" by Jeff Grubb
Synopsis:
The Ugly Ghost Squad was approached by reporter Lois Lane for an interview. As they were giving her a tour of their headquarters, the building was attacked by what appeared to be Doctor Doom. The heroes quickly realized that this was not the real Doom, but a rather shoddily-constructed robot. In the robot's smashed remains, they found a business card for "DeCara Electronics".
Approaching the electronics shop, the heroes were attacked by several more robots, disguised as water towers. The machines were dispatched quickly, but the final one took off like a rocket towards a small island off the coast of New Jersey. Pursuing, the heroes came upon the ruins of an abandoned amusement park.
Inside the park's crumbling fun house, the heroes were separated by force fields and forced into four different trap-filled chambers:
Captain America came upon a scene where robotic "Aztec Warriors" were attempting to make Lois Lane a human sacrifice. The Warriors attacked with laser spears, but Cap emerged triumphant, only to find out that "Lois" was another robot, which self-destructed. Cap survived the explosion, and began to search for a way out of the chamber.
Black Panther found himself in a medieval castle, which was being overrun with tiny but vicious robotic Goblins. More and more kept appearing, and they seemed to grow stronger as their numbers increased. The Panther was soon overwhelmed and knocked unconscious.
Martian Manhunter was deposited in a large desert canyon, with a kamikaze fighter plane trying to ram him. Every time he destroyed a plane (or after it successfully rammed him), another would appear, slowly wearing him down.
Thanatos and Hulk ended up together in an empty room, with "boundary lines" marked on the floor and an exit door on the other side. Each time they crossed a boundary, either an electrical charge would zap them, or a futuristic tank would appear and begin firing its laser cannon. Thanatos determinedly marched his spirit minions across the room, taking multiple lightning zaps and laser shots, only to find that the "exit" door was fake, and booby-trapped to explode. Hulk was the one who finally figured out a winning strategy, ignoring the enemies and concentrating on pounding a hole in the floor to escape.
Hulk and Thanatos made their way through the maintenance tunnels, surviving more hazards, including giant rolling pinballs, poison gas, and more exploding robots, and finally made it to the control room. There they found Arcade, notorious assassin and builder of this "Murderworld". He immediately surrendered, saying that he had fulfilled his contract by keeping the heroes occupied while his employer invaded their headquarters.
Racing back to the Secret Sanctuary, the heroes found 3/4th of the Frightful Four -- Wizard, Sandman, and Klaw -- attempting to make off with an old computer that had been put in storage and forgotten by the previous owners. The Wizard considered the computer, a custom-built Univac system from the 1960s, a priceless collector's item. He'd tried to purchase the Secret Sanctuary on eBay in order to acquire it, but had been outbid by Ruby Ryder. The heroes were a bit nonplussed at the lengths Wizard had gone to in order to steal a crummy old antique, but nonetheless subdued him and his partners.
But no sooner had the Frightful Four (er, Three) fallen, then the heroes realized that there was another intruder in the building. The alien Super-Skrull had snuck in while disguised as Lois Lane, and was frantically searching the Souvenir Room with a hand-held scanner. He claimed that there was a powerful teleportation device hidden somewhere nearby, and he was determined to acquire it for the Skrull Empire. The heroes had no idea what he was ranting about, but were able to subdue him.
After a good night's rest, the heroes returned to the Souvenir Room and used the Skrull's scanner to pinpoint the "dimensional breach" he was describing. The source of the signal turned out to be a dusty old book that had fallen behind a cabinet. When the book was opened, it opened a portal to another dimension -- the sorcerous realm called "Magic Land" -- and unleashed the evil Simon Magus and his Earth, Air, and Water Spirits. Magus believed he could conquer our world, then use it as a base to take over Magic-Land. But the heroes took out his minions, and then the magician himself. And then hoped they had finally cleaned up all the old junk in their headquarters.
Memorable Quotes:
"You know, if you'd just asked for the computer, we'd probably have given it to you." - Hulk
"The Wizard does not ask -- he takes!" - Wizard
"I'm gonna build a book -- a beautiful book! And we'll keep all the spirits in it. And I'll get the Magicians to pay for it!" - Black Panther, channeling Donald Trump
"I'm not gonna pay for your fucking book!" - Simon Magus, channeling Vicente Fox
Sources and References:
Arcade: An eccentric assassin-for-hire who uses elaborate death-traps called "Murderworlds" to carry out his contracts. He's had memorable encounters with Spider-Man, Captain Britain, and the X-Men, among others.
http://marvel.com/universe/Arcade
Doctor Doom: Armored monarch of the country of Latveria, long-time foe of the Fantastic Four. He is known to use robotic doubles of himself called "Doombots", one of which was acquired and repurposed by Arcade to lure the heroes into his trap.
http://marvel.com/universe/Doctor_Doom_%28Victor_von_Doom%29
Frightful Four: An ad hoc group of supervillains, lead by the mad scientist called The Wizard. The group usually consists of The Wizard, Sandman, The Trapster, and a fourth member who was replaced more often than Spinal Tap replaces drummers. This time out, that slot was filled by Klaw, master of sound. The Trapster did not appear in this adventure, because he's basically "ordinary dude with a glue gun", and I got bored trying to write up his statistics.
http://marvel.com/universe/Frightful_Four
Lois Lane: Famous reporter for the Daily Planet, even more famous for being Superman's girlfriend. Not actually in this adventure, except as a disguise assumed by Super-Skrull.
http://superman.wikia.com/wiki/Lois_Lane
Simon Magus: Evil magician hailing from "Magic-Land", an other-dimensional world where sorcery rules and science is unknown. He and his allies tried to overthrow the good magician Merlin, but were thwarted by the Justice League.
http://www.dcindexes.com/features/comic.php?comicid=17317
Super-Skrull: A soldier of the alien Skrull Empire, who have frequently tried to conquer Earth (as well as waging war with another alien race, the Kree). He was genetically modified to have all the powers of the Fantastic Four, as well as having the Skrulls' natural ability to alter his shape.
http://marvel.com/universe/Super-Skrull
