Ugly Ghost Squad #13 recap
May. 24th, 2016 01:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jkcarrierUgly Ghost Squad #13
"The Secret of the Swamp"
Played 5/21/2016
Roll Call:
Black Panther
Captain America
Hulk
Martian Manhunter
Thanatos
Experience Level: 6
Enemies Fought:
Psi-Prime
Alligator
Asi-Vaholo
Coot
Indian Spirits
Indian Villagers
Prime Squadron
Shaman
Sludge
Swamp Rat
White Heron
Other NPCs:
Maj. Tony Nelson
Dr. Deana Nay
John Croaker
Other inhabitants of the Seminole reservation
Adventure Modules Used:
Villains and Vigilantes: "The Secret of the Swamp" by Stewart Wieck
Synopsis:
The Ugly Ghost Squad received a call for help from the U.S. Army. A supposedly-secret facility in the Florida Everglades had been broken into, and several barrels of chemicals stolen. Flying to the scene of the crime, the team found smashed up fences and walls, mud tracked all over the floor, and, strangely, an old German Deutschmark coin embedded in the wall.
The base's security chief, Maj. Nelson, mentioned that some of the Seminole Indians from a nearby reservation had been seen creeping around in the swamp a few nights earlier. Investigating the small community, they met their leader, Shaman Rolock. He in turn introduced them to Dr. Deana Nay (who ran the local hospital) and college student Karen Moran (researching a term paper on ancient Indian artifacts). Rolock mentioned that the reason some of the Indian men had been lurking in the swamp was that they were hunting a black panther that had been menacing the town. He also suggested the heroes look up an old man, known only as "Coot", who liked to fish in the swamp and might have witnessed the robbery.
The team traveled further into the swamp and found Coot at his favorite fishing hole. Coot admitted that he had indeed heard some "commotion" at the Army base, and furthermore believed that whoever robbed the place might have hidden the loot in an abandoned shack deep in the swamp. He couldn't tell them exactly where the shack was, but told the heroes they could find it the same way he had...by following a white heron that always appeared near the fishing hole at midnight.
Figuring they had nothing to lose, the squad returned to the spot at midnight, and sure enough, a white heron appeared and led them towards a small island with a wooden shack in the center. This turned out to be a trap, however...the shack was filled with TNT, and they barely managed to get far enough away so as not to catch the full brunt of the explosion. This was followed up by an ambush from a man in fatigues calling himself Swamp Rat, who circled the island in his motorboat while taking pot-shots at them with an automatic rifle. Meanwhile, a giant mud-monster called Sludge engaged the team up-close and personal. The group managed to defeat the two villains, but neither was willing (or able, in Sludge's case) to divulge any information.
Returning to Coot's fishing spot, the heroes learned that the seemingly-harmless old man was in fact a powerful interdimensional being. He held of the team single-handedly with his powerful eye-blasts, but eventually they managed to take him down. He implied that he was not the mastermind behind the chemical theft and the other goings-on, and that he didn't really care about Earth one way or the other, but would give no further details.
The heroes were approached by a young Seminole from the reservation named John Croaker. They had been told that John had been one of the victims of the black panther roaming the swamp, but John removed his bandages to reveal that he was uninjured. John said that something in the reservation was clouding his mind, and it was only outside that he could think freely. He asked the squad to meet him at the old Indian burial grounds, and he would show them what his fellow Seminoles were really up to in the swamp at night.
At the burial grounds, the heroes witnessed the Shaman and several other Indians digging up bodies and carrying them towards the large burial mound in the center of the grounds. The Ghost Squad jumped into action, taking down the Shaman just as he reached the entrance of the mound. Inside, they found the reanimated spirits of several Indian warriors, led by a ghostly demigod called Asi-Vaholo. The battle was hard-fought, as the undead and still-living Indians harassed the team, while Asi-Vaholo smote them with his spectral touch. At one point, the self-proclaimed lord of the dead even managed to wrest control of one of Thanatos' spirit minions, but in the end the heroes triumphed. The remaining Indians immediately surrendered, having been under the mental domination of the Shaman and Asi-Vaholo. However, the captured Shaman revealed that he, like Coot, was merely an ally of the true mastermind, a man named Psi-Prime. The Shaman revealed the location of Psi-Prime's hidden lair, confident that the heroes could never defeat him.
After tending to their wounds, the Ghost Squad headed for the mastermind's underground base. Psi-Prime was waiting for them, along with a small squadron of troops, a human-lizard hybrid names Alligator, and the sonic-powered bird-woman named White Heron (who had been both Karen Moran and the white bird that led them to the TNT-trapped shack). Psi-Prime had the ability to control the speed of objects, hurtling coins at terminal velocity with devastating effect. The battle was long and difficult, but the team eked out a victory, thwarting Psi-Prime's plan to use his chemical formula to dehydrate most of the world's water supply, leaving him in control of what remained. Thanks to the Ugly Ghost Squad, his plans turned out to be...all wet.
Memorable Quotes:
"First I'm gonna kill the bird, then I'm gonna kill the old man, and then..." Hulk, after Coot and White Heron led them into a trap.
Sources and References:
Major Tony Nelson, of course, was a character on the "I Dream of Jeannie" tv series of the 1960s. On the show, he was an astronaut; here he has a less glamorous job, working security for a government testing lab.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Dream_of_Jeannie
"The Secret of the Swamp"
Played 5/21/2016
Roll Call:
Black Panther
Captain America
Hulk
Martian Manhunter
Thanatos
Experience Level: 6
Enemies Fought:
Psi-Prime
Alligator
Asi-Vaholo
Coot
Indian Spirits
Indian Villagers
Prime Squadron
Shaman
Sludge
Swamp Rat
White Heron
Other NPCs:
Maj. Tony Nelson
Dr. Deana Nay
John Croaker
Other inhabitants of the Seminole reservation
Adventure Modules Used:
Villains and Vigilantes: "The Secret of the Swamp" by Stewart Wieck
Synopsis:
The Ugly Ghost Squad received a call for help from the U.S. Army. A supposedly-secret facility in the Florida Everglades had been broken into, and several barrels of chemicals stolen. Flying to the scene of the crime, the team found smashed up fences and walls, mud tracked all over the floor, and, strangely, an old German Deutschmark coin embedded in the wall.
The base's security chief, Maj. Nelson, mentioned that some of the Seminole Indians from a nearby reservation had been seen creeping around in the swamp a few nights earlier. Investigating the small community, they met their leader, Shaman Rolock. He in turn introduced them to Dr. Deana Nay (who ran the local hospital) and college student Karen Moran (researching a term paper on ancient Indian artifacts). Rolock mentioned that the reason some of the Indian men had been lurking in the swamp was that they were hunting a black panther that had been menacing the town. He also suggested the heroes look up an old man, known only as "Coot", who liked to fish in the swamp and might have witnessed the robbery.
The team traveled further into the swamp and found Coot at his favorite fishing hole. Coot admitted that he had indeed heard some "commotion" at the Army base, and furthermore believed that whoever robbed the place might have hidden the loot in an abandoned shack deep in the swamp. He couldn't tell them exactly where the shack was, but told the heroes they could find it the same way he had...by following a white heron that always appeared near the fishing hole at midnight.
Figuring they had nothing to lose, the squad returned to the spot at midnight, and sure enough, a white heron appeared and led them towards a small island with a wooden shack in the center. This turned out to be a trap, however...the shack was filled with TNT, and they barely managed to get far enough away so as not to catch the full brunt of the explosion. This was followed up by an ambush from a man in fatigues calling himself Swamp Rat, who circled the island in his motorboat while taking pot-shots at them with an automatic rifle. Meanwhile, a giant mud-monster called Sludge engaged the team up-close and personal. The group managed to defeat the two villains, but neither was willing (or able, in Sludge's case) to divulge any information.
Returning to Coot's fishing spot, the heroes learned that the seemingly-harmless old man was in fact a powerful interdimensional being. He held of the team single-handedly with his powerful eye-blasts, but eventually they managed to take him down. He implied that he was not the mastermind behind the chemical theft and the other goings-on, and that he didn't really care about Earth one way or the other, but would give no further details.
The heroes were approached by a young Seminole from the reservation named John Croaker. They had been told that John had been one of the victims of the black panther roaming the swamp, but John removed his bandages to reveal that he was uninjured. John said that something in the reservation was clouding his mind, and it was only outside that he could think freely. He asked the squad to meet him at the old Indian burial grounds, and he would show them what his fellow Seminoles were really up to in the swamp at night.
At the burial grounds, the heroes witnessed the Shaman and several other Indians digging up bodies and carrying them towards the large burial mound in the center of the grounds. The Ghost Squad jumped into action, taking down the Shaman just as he reached the entrance of the mound. Inside, they found the reanimated spirits of several Indian warriors, led by a ghostly demigod called Asi-Vaholo. The battle was hard-fought, as the undead and still-living Indians harassed the team, while Asi-Vaholo smote them with his spectral touch. At one point, the self-proclaimed lord of the dead even managed to wrest control of one of Thanatos' spirit minions, but in the end the heroes triumphed. The remaining Indians immediately surrendered, having been under the mental domination of the Shaman and Asi-Vaholo. However, the captured Shaman revealed that he, like Coot, was merely an ally of the true mastermind, a man named Psi-Prime. The Shaman revealed the location of Psi-Prime's hidden lair, confident that the heroes could never defeat him.
After tending to their wounds, the Ghost Squad headed for the mastermind's underground base. Psi-Prime was waiting for them, along with a small squadron of troops, a human-lizard hybrid names Alligator, and the sonic-powered bird-woman named White Heron (who had been both Karen Moran and the white bird that led them to the TNT-trapped shack). Psi-Prime had the ability to control the speed of objects, hurtling coins at terminal velocity with devastating effect. The battle was long and difficult, but the team eked out a victory, thwarting Psi-Prime's plan to use his chemical formula to dehydrate most of the world's water supply, leaving him in control of what remained. Thanks to the Ugly Ghost Squad, his plans turned out to be...all wet.
Memorable Quotes:
"First I'm gonna kill the bird, then I'm gonna kill the old man, and then..." Hulk, after Coot and White Heron led them into a trap.
Sources and References:
Major Tony Nelson, of course, was a character on the "I Dream of Jeannie" tv series of the 1960s. On the show, he was an astronaut; here he has a less glamorous job, working security for a government testing lab.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Dream_of_Jeannie
