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Ugly Ghost Squad #9 recap
Ugly Ghost Squad #9
"Crisis at Crusader Citadel"
Played 4/16/2016
Roll Call:
Black Panther
Captain America
Hulk
Martian Manhunter
Thanatos
Experience Level: 4
Enemies Fought:
The Crushers:
Bull
F.I.S.T.
Hornet
Marionette
Mercury Mercenary
Mocker
Shocker
Shrew
Stormlord
Temper
Vulture
Ambush Bug
Captain Ultra
Elastic Lad
Razorback
Other NPCs:
The Crusaders (appearing only as disguises worn by the Crushers):
Blizzard
Dreamweaver
Enforcer
Evergreen
Laserfire
Manta-Man
Adventure Modules Used:
Villains and Vigilantes: "Crisis at Crusader Citadel" by Jeff Dee and Jack Herman
Synopsis:
While enjoying a quiet lunch at their headquarters, the Ugly Ghost Squad were surprised when their salads started moving around of their own accord, forming a message from the lettuce leaves: "CRUSADERS CRUSH". Deducing that this might have something to do with the famous superhero team known as The Crusaders, they attempted to contact them by phone. Receiving no reply, the Squad hopped onto their jet and headed for the team's hometown of Center City.
Arriving at the downtown skyscraper known as "Crusader Citadel", the team found a group of aspiring superheroes camped out on the street in front of the building, apparently waiting for a chance to audition for the Crusaders. Angered by what they saw as an attempt to "cut in line", the wannabe-heroes attacked: Ambush Bug teleported around the battlefield, pulling down heroes' pants and blinding them with lemon meringue pies. Captain Ultra seemed to be manifesting new super-powers every few seconds. Elastic Lad used his inflated fists to good effect. And Razorback shocked the heroes with his electrified mane, and later summoned a remote-controlled truck to try and run them down. But in the end, the novice heroes were no match for the Squad, and the police thanked the heroes for giving them an excuse to haul the loiterers away.
Making their way to the upper floors of the building, the Squad met the famous Crusaders, apparently in the middle of preparations for a trip. The Crusaders seemed confused at first by the heroes' presence, but when they mentioned the leafy message they'd received, the team's leader Manta-Man asked them for a favor. The Crusaders had recently triumphed over their arch-enemies, the Crushers, and captured a large number of their members. But the remainder of the villain team was still at large. The Crusaders were preparing to testify at a Congressional anti-crime hearing in Washington next week, and didn't have time to track the villains down. They had a tip that the Crushers were going to stage a robbery at Manning Electronics that night, and asked the Ghost Squad to be there to stop them.
The Squad was immediately suspicious, but decided to play along. Sure enough, a group of Crushers broke into Manning that evening, but seemed to know that an ambush would be waiting for them. The savage Bull, tech-armored F.I.S.T., stinging Hornet, emotion-controlling Temper, and steel-taloned Vulture put up a mighty fight, but the heroes prevailed. The team interrogated Bull, thinking the simple-minded brute would be easy to bamboozle, but he turned out not to have much information about what the Crushers were up to.
Returning to the Crusader Citadel, the Squad eavesdropped on the Crusaders, and overheard their plans to stage an attack on Congress during the hearing. That was evidence enough, and the team rushed to subdue the phony "heroes". Knowing the jig was up, the "Crusaders" removed their disguises and were revealed as the supposedly-defeated Crushers: diminutive psychic Marionette, super-speeding Mercury Mercenary, android Mocker, electric-powered Shocker, martial arts expert Shrew, and weather-controlling Stormlord put up a fierce fight, and nearly had the heroes on the ropes, but the power of the Ghost Squad triumphed in the end. But the Crushers claimed to have no knowledge of the whereabouts of the Crusaders -- they had broken into the Citadel some weeks ago, only to find it abandoned. So the fate of Center City's resident superteam remained unknown...
Memorable Quotes:
"You couldn't have sent an email?" Martian Manhunter, referring to the mysterious leaf message.
Sources and References:
"Crisis at Crusader Citadel" is the introductory adventure that came bundled with the Villains & Vigilantes box set. We'd played it several times in previous campaigns, so I was intending to skip over it this time out, figuring everyone would be tired of it. But "Cap" specifically requested it, so I put it back in, with a few tweaks. I beefed up the Crushers a bit to reflect the team's higher level. And this time, instead of being the ones who kidnapped the Crusaders, the Crushers merely took advantage of their absence (a plotline that will play out over the next couple of sessions).
Ambush Bug: Irwin Schwab started out as an eccentric-but-deadly bad guy, fighting the likes of Superman and the Doom Patrol. But over the course of his appearances, he got wackier and less mean, and eventually became a sort of (not very effective) superhero.
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Irwin_Schwab_%28New_Earth%29
Captain Ultra: Griffin Gogol originally tried to be a villain, but was rejected from the Frightful Four when they found out he had a fear of fire (something of a liability if you're going to fight the Human Torch!). He then decided to try being a hero, but despite the fact that he seemed to be able to manifest nearly any superpower he could think of, he never quite broke into the big leagues.
http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Griffin_Gogol_%28Earth-616%29
Elastic Lad: Jimmy Olsen, Daily Planet's cub reporter, besides appearing in various Superman comics, also had his own comic book from the 1950s-1970s. During the course of his series, he took on many bizarre roles and identities, including Giant Turtle-Boy, the Human Porcupine, and of course the super-stretchy Elastic Lad. Usually when he got in trouble, he'd use his special signal-watch to summon Superman to bail him out. But he decided to try and win on his own efforts this time out. You see how well that worked out for him.
http://superman.wikia.com/wiki/Jimmy_Olsen
Razorback: Truck driver Buford Hollis originally became Razorback in order to save his kid sister Bobby Sue from an evil cult. After teaming up with Spider-Man to defeat the "Legion of Light", he continued on in his role of hero. But despite his neato boar's-head mask and remote-controlled truck (the "Big Pig"), no one seemed to take him seriously. Go figure.
http://comicvine.gamespot.com/razorback/4005-6057/
"Crisis at Crusader Citadel"
Played 4/16/2016
Roll Call:
Black Panther
Captain America
Hulk
Martian Manhunter
Thanatos
Experience Level: 4
Enemies Fought:
The Crushers:
Bull
F.I.S.T.
Hornet
Marionette
Mercury Mercenary
Mocker
Shocker
Shrew
Stormlord
Temper
Vulture
Ambush Bug
Captain Ultra
Elastic Lad
Razorback
Other NPCs:
The Crusaders (appearing only as disguises worn by the Crushers):
Blizzard
Dreamweaver
Enforcer
Evergreen
Laserfire
Manta-Man
Adventure Modules Used:
Villains and Vigilantes: "Crisis at Crusader Citadel" by Jeff Dee and Jack Herman
Synopsis:
While enjoying a quiet lunch at their headquarters, the Ugly Ghost Squad were surprised when their salads started moving around of their own accord, forming a message from the lettuce leaves: "CRUSADERS CRUSH". Deducing that this might have something to do with the famous superhero team known as The Crusaders, they attempted to contact them by phone. Receiving no reply, the Squad hopped onto their jet and headed for the team's hometown of Center City.
Arriving at the downtown skyscraper known as "Crusader Citadel", the team found a group of aspiring superheroes camped out on the street in front of the building, apparently waiting for a chance to audition for the Crusaders. Angered by what they saw as an attempt to "cut in line", the wannabe-heroes attacked: Ambush Bug teleported around the battlefield, pulling down heroes' pants and blinding them with lemon meringue pies. Captain Ultra seemed to be manifesting new super-powers every few seconds. Elastic Lad used his inflated fists to good effect. And Razorback shocked the heroes with his electrified mane, and later summoned a remote-controlled truck to try and run them down. But in the end, the novice heroes were no match for the Squad, and the police thanked the heroes for giving them an excuse to haul the loiterers away.
Making their way to the upper floors of the building, the Squad met the famous Crusaders, apparently in the middle of preparations for a trip. The Crusaders seemed confused at first by the heroes' presence, but when they mentioned the leafy message they'd received, the team's leader Manta-Man asked them for a favor. The Crusaders had recently triumphed over their arch-enemies, the Crushers, and captured a large number of their members. But the remainder of the villain team was still at large. The Crusaders were preparing to testify at a Congressional anti-crime hearing in Washington next week, and didn't have time to track the villains down. They had a tip that the Crushers were going to stage a robbery at Manning Electronics that night, and asked the Ghost Squad to be there to stop them.
The Squad was immediately suspicious, but decided to play along. Sure enough, a group of Crushers broke into Manning that evening, but seemed to know that an ambush would be waiting for them. The savage Bull, tech-armored F.I.S.T., stinging Hornet, emotion-controlling Temper, and steel-taloned Vulture put up a mighty fight, but the heroes prevailed. The team interrogated Bull, thinking the simple-minded brute would be easy to bamboozle, but he turned out not to have much information about what the Crushers were up to.
Returning to the Crusader Citadel, the Squad eavesdropped on the Crusaders, and overheard their plans to stage an attack on Congress during the hearing. That was evidence enough, and the team rushed to subdue the phony "heroes". Knowing the jig was up, the "Crusaders" removed their disguises and were revealed as the supposedly-defeated Crushers: diminutive psychic Marionette, super-speeding Mercury Mercenary, android Mocker, electric-powered Shocker, martial arts expert Shrew, and weather-controlling Stormlord put up a fierce fight, and nearly had the heroes on the ropes, but the power of the Ghost Squad triumphed in the end. But the Crushers claimed to have no knowledge of the whereabouts of the Crusaders -- they had broken into the Citadel some weeks ago, only to find it abandoned. So the fate of Center City's resident superteam remained unknown...
Memorable Quotes:
"You couldn't have sent an email?" Martian Manhunter, referring to the mysterious leaf message.
Sources and References:
"Crisis at Crusader Citadel" is the introductory adventure that came bundled with the Villains & Vigilantes box set. We'd played it several times in previous campaigns, so I was intending to skip over it this time out, figuring everyone would be tired of it. But "Cap" specifically requested it, so I put it back in, with a few tweaks. I beefed up the Crushers a bit to reflect the team's higher level. And this time, instead of being the ones who kidnapped the Crusaders, the Crushers merely took advantage of their absence (a plotline that will play out over the next couple of sessions).
Ambush Bug: Irwin Schwab started out as an eccentric-but-deadly bad guy, fighting the likes of Superman and the Doom Patrol. But over the course of his appearances, he got wackier and less mean, and eventually became a sort of (not very effective) superhero.
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Irwin_Schwab_%28New_Earth%29
Captain Ultra: Griffin Gogol originally tried to be a villain, but was rejected from the Frightful Four when they found out he had a fear of fire (something of a liability if you're going to fight the Human Torch!). He then decided to try being a hero, but despite the fact that he seemed to be able to manifest nearly any superpower he could think of, he never quite broke into the big leagues.
http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Griffin_Gogol_%28Earth-616%29
Elastic Lad: Jimmy Olsen, Daily Planet's cub reporter, besides appearing in various Superman comics, also had his own comic book from the 1950s-1970s. During the course of his series, he took on many bizarre roles and identities, including Giant Turtle-Boy, the Human Porcupine, and of course the super-stretchy Elastic Lad. Usually when he got in trouble, he'd use his special signal-watch to summon Superman to bail him out. But he decided to try and win on his own efforts this time out. You see how well that worked out for him.
http://superman.wikia.com/wiki/Jimmy_Olsen
Razorback: Truck driver Buford Hollis originally became Razorback in order to save his kid sister Bobby Sue from an evil cult. After teaming up with Spider-Man to defeat the "Legion of Light", he continued on in his role of hero. But despite his neato boar's-head mask and remote-controlled truck (the "Big Pig"), no one seemed to take him seriously. Go figure.
http://comicvine.gamespot.com/razorback/4005-6057/