Ugly Ghost Squad #15 recap
Jun. 13th, 2016 11:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jkcarrierUgly Ghost Squad #15
"Pre-Emptive Strike"
Played 6/11/2016
Roll Call:
Black Panther
Captain America
Hulk
Martian Manhunter
Experience Level: 7
Enemies Fought:
Tympanus and its minions:
Voltoid
Trojan I
Flame Dragon
Frost Dragon
Sprite
Vendetta
Titano
The Primevils:
Blonde Berserker
Contessa
Glacia
Oberon
Rocker
Soulburner
Other NPCs:
Personnel at the Strategic Air Command base
Rond Vidar, time-traveler
Adventure Modules Used:
Villains and Vigilantes: "Pre-Emptive Strike" by Stephen Dedman
Synopsis:
The Ugly Ghost Squad received a call for assistance from a Strategic Air Command missile base. An unknown assailant had appeared out of nowhere inside the command bunker, killed the two officers on duty, and disappeared again with the twin keys used to launch missiles. The base commander asked the heroes to stand guard while technicians worked to alter the launch computers so that the stolen keys could not be used.
While the team stood watch, a strange portal appeared in mid-air and a boxy-looking robot called Voltoid emerged and tried to access the launch computer. It fought the heroes with a powerful electrical weapon built into its arm. As the squad took the machine out, a second, more humanoid-looking robot called Trojan_I appeared from the portal, attacking with a disintegration ray. After the second robot fell, the portal eventually disappeared. The scenario repeated itself a day later, but this time, after defeating another Voltoid robot, the heroes charged into the portal before it closed.
The portal lead to a large, featureless room, inhabited by a pair of what appeared to be dragons, one breathing fire, the other frost. The creatures put up a fierce fight, but the squad was triumphant and moved further into the mysterious base.
The next room was also empty, but when they entered, energy-fields covered the walls, trapping them inside. Toxic gas began pumping into the room. Concentrating their attacks on one spot, they managed to blow a hole in the force field and escape before succumbing to the gas. Captain America had sustained serious injuries, and fell back to the rear to nurse his injuries.
In the next chamber were a pair of human adversaries: Vendetta, wielding a gun that induced painful muscle spasms, and his sister, the tiny Sprite, who could throw around large objects with the power of her mind. The battle was difficult, but the heroes won out, and decided to hide out for a time to try and recover some of their strength.
Eventually the master of base found them: a crystalline alien called Tympanus. A member of an extradimensional race that lives on radiation, its goal was to provoke a nuclear war that would leave Earth a radioactive wasteland, making it suitable for colonization. To that end, it had recruited a pair of disgruntled Earth criminals (Vendetta and Sprite) as well as the magical lizards from yet another dimension (the dragons), promising them whatever material wealth they could carry once the planet had been depopulated.
Tympanus could create devastating sonic waves by vibrating its crystal form, and was also armed with a powerful disintegration gun. It was a near thing, but the Ghost Squad managed to defeat the alien menace, and was able to figure out the controls to the portal, giving them a path home...
...which didn't work out quite as planned. The portal did take them to Earth, but some glitch in the system caused them to appear back in prehistoric times, the age of the dinosaurs. Following a trail of slaughtered sauropods, the team came across the cause: a 30-foot tall ape called Titano with the power to fire green laser beams from his eyes. The heroes subdued the ape, only to be approached by a man wearing futuristic clothing.
The man introduced himself as Rond Vidar, time-traveler from the 30th century. He had come to this era because he had detected numerous time anomalies. Unfortunately, his time machine malfunctioned, immobilizing him in a bubble of suspended time. But he was able to project his mind outward to explore the area, and discovered its secret: An advanced civilization from a parallel universe was using this era as a prison, dumping their most dangerous criminals and political prisoners there to fend for themselves. Vidar's time machine had been confiscated by a group of prisoners calling themselves the Primevils. Vidar promised that if the squad could liberate his machine, he could take them all back home.
That evening, the heroes approached the Primevils' fort, a primitive log-built structure on a small island. They were immediately confronted by a trio of female Primevils: the morningstar-wielding Blonde Berserker, Contessa with her laser-staff, and cold-powered Glacia. They proved not too difficult to defeat, but were then reinforced by the Primevils' nastiest bruisers, the clawed Oberon and a 9-foot-tall brute called Rocker. They in turn were reinforced by the sorcerer Soulburner, who could draw the life-force from his enemies to heal his allies. The battle was long and difficult, and the Black Panther fell at one point, but rallied back to consciousness and the heroes emerged triumphant. Vidar's time machine was freed, and he was able to bring the squad back to the 21st century.
Memorable Quotes:
Martian Manhunter: [clucks like a chicken]
Captain America: "Fuck you."
Sources and References:
Only a couple this time out.
Titano the Super-Ape:
A recurring menace in the Superman comics of the 1950s and 60s, obviously inspired by King Kong. Originally a chimpanzee named Toto, he was sent into space in an experimental rocket. While orbiting the Earth, he was exposed to radiation from the collision of meteors containing Uranium and Kryptonite. When he got back to Earth, he began to grow to enormous size, and had acquired the ability to shoot Kryptonite beams from his eyes. Superman had a lot of trouble subduing him, but eventually managed to trap him in the prehistoric past, where there would be no people for him to endanger. At least until you guys came along...
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Titano_(Earth-One)
Rond Vidar (Alexander Tissaveerasinghe in the module):
A native of the 30th century, Rond was the son of the notorious supervillain Universo. Rond turned against his father and helped the Legion of Super-Heroes defeat him. As a reward for his help (and in recognition of his invention of the pioneering time machine, the Time Cube), he was made an honorary member of the Legion. Later stories revealed that he was also secretly a member of the Green Lantern Corps, but I opted to ignore that bit. I was tempted to use DC Comics' other resident time-traveler, Rip Hunter (see the "Legends of Tomorrow" tv series), but I didn't want to do the British accent. ;-)
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Rond_Vidar_(Pre-Zero_Hour)
"Pre-Emptive Strike"
Played 6/11/2016
Roll Call:
Black Panther
Captain America
Hulk
Martian Manhunter
Experience Level: 7
Enemies Fought:
Tympanus and its minions:
Voltoid
Trojan I
Flame Dragon
Frost Dragon
Sprite
Vendetta
Titano
The Primevils:
Blonde Berserker
Contessa
Glacia
Oberon
Rocker
Soulburner
Other NPCs:
Personnel at the Strategic Air Command base
Rond Vidar, time-traveler
Adventure Modules Used:
Villains and Vigilantes: "Pre-Emptive Strike" by Stephen Dedman
Synopsis:
The Ugly Ghost Squad received a call for assistance from a Strategic Air Command missile base. An unknown assailant had appeared out of nowhere inside the command bunker, killed the two officers on duty, and disappeared again with the twin keys used to launch missiles. The base commander asked the heroes to stand guard while technicians worked to alter the launch computers so that the stolen keys could not be used.
While the team stood watch, a strange portal appeared in mid-air and a boxy-looking robot called Voltoid emerged and tried to access the launch computer. It fought the heroes with a powerful electrical weapon built into its arm. As the squad took the machine out, a second, more humanoid-looking robot called Trojan_I appeared from the portal, attacking with a disintegration ray. After the second robot fell, the portal eventually disappeared. The scenario repeated itself a day later, but this time, after defeating another Voltoid robot, the heroes charged into the portal before it closed.
The portal lead to a large, featureless room, inhabited by a pair of what appeared to be dragons, one breathing fire, the other frost. The creatures put up a fierce fight, but the squad was triumphant and moved further into the mysterious base.
The next room was also empty, but when they entered, energy-fields covered the walls, trapping them inside. Toxic gas began pumping into the room. Concentrating their attacks on one spot, they managed to blow a hole in the force field and escape before succumbing to the gas. Captain America had sustained serious injuries, and fell back to the rear to nurse his injuries.
In the next chamber were a pair of human adversaries: Vendetta, wielding a gun that induced painful muscle spasms, and his sister, the tiny Sprite, who could throw around large objects with the power of her mind. The battle was difficult, but the heroes won out, and decided to hide out for a time to try and recover some of their strength.
Eventually the master of base found them: a crystalline alien called Tympanus. A member of an extradimensional race that lives on radiation, its goal was to provoke a nuclear war that would leave Earth a radioactive wasteland, making it suitable for colonization. To that end, it had recruited a pair of disgruntled Earth criminals (Vendetta and Sprite) as well as the magical lizards from yet another dimension (the dragons), promising them whatever material wealth they could carry once the planet had been depopulated.
Tympanus could create devastating sonic waves by vibrating its crystal form, and was also armed with a powerful disintegration gun. It was a near thing, but the Ghost Squad managed to defeat the alien menace, and was able to figure out the controls to the portal, giving them a path home...
...which didn't work out quite as planned. The portal did take them to Earth, but some glitch in the system caused them to appear back in prehistoric times, the age of the dinosaurs. Following a trail of slaughtered sauropods, the team came across the cause: a 30-foot tall ape called Titano with the power to fire green laser beams from his eyes. The heroes subdued the ape, only to be approached by a man wearing futuristic clothing.
The man introduced himself as Rond Vidar, time-traveler from the 30th century. He had come to this era because he had detected numerous time anomalies. Unfortunately, his time machine malfunctioned, immobilizing him in a bubble of suspended time. But he was able to project his mind outward to explore the area, and discovered its secret: An advanced civilization from a parallel universe was using this era as a prison, dumping their most dangerous criminals and political prisoners there to fend for themselves. Vidar's time machine had been confiscated by a group of prisoners calling themselves the Primevils. Vidar promised that if the squad could liberate his machine, he could take them all back home.
That evening, the heroes approached the Primevils' fort, a primitive log-built structure on a small island. They were immediately confronted by a trio of female Primevils: the morningstar-wielding Blonde Berserker, Contessa with her laser-staff, and cold-powered Glacia. They proved not too difficult to defeat, but were then reinforced by the Primevils' nastiest bruisers, the clawed Oberon and a 9-foot-tall brute called Rocker. They in turn were reinforced by the sorcerer Soulburner, who could draw the life-force from his enemies to heal his allies. The battle was long and difficult, and the Black Panther fell at one point, but rallied back to consciousness and the heroes emerged triumphant. Vidar's time machine was freed, and he was able to bring the squad back to the 21st century.
Memorable Quotes:
Martian Manhunter: [clucks like a chicken]
Captain America: "Fuck you."
Sources and References:
Only a couple this time out.
Titano the Super-Ape:
A recurring menace in the Superman comics of the 1950s and 60s, obviously inspired by King Kong. Originally a chimpanzee named Toto, he was sent into space in an experimental rocket. While orbiting the Earth, he was exposed to radiation from the collision of meteors containing Uranium and Kryptonite. When he got back to Earth, he began to grow to enormous size, and had acquired the ability to shoot Kryptonite beams from his eyes. Superman had a lot of trouble subduing him, but eventually managed to trap him in the prehistoric past, where there would be no people for him to endanger. At least until you guys came along...
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Titano_(Earth-One)
Rond Vidar (Alexander Tissaveerasinghe in the module):
A native of the 30th century, Rond was the son of the notorious supervillain Universo. Rond turned against his father and helped the Legion of Super-Heroes defeat him. As a reward for his help (and in recognition of his invention of the pioneering time machine, the Time Cube), he was made an honorary member of the Legion. Later stories revealed that he was also secretly a member of the Green Lantern Corps, but I opted to ignore that bit. I was tempted to use DC Comics' other resident time-traveler, Rip Hunter (see the "Legends of Tomorrow" tv series), but I didn't want to do the British accent. ;-)
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Rond_Vidar_(Pre-Zero_Hour)
