Ugly Ghost Squad #18 recap
Jul. 4th, 2016 09:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jkcarrierUgly Ghost Squad #18
"Escape From the Micro-Universe"
Played 7/2/2016
Roll Call:
Black Panther
Captain America
Hulk
Martian Manhunter
Thanatos
Experience Level: 8
Enemies Fought:
Viberon (Keith Mikkelsen)
Bugbear
Replica
Ipzin Soldiers
Slithering Ooze
Pillager
Amphibia
Torrid
Understudy
Other NPCs:
Roy Newbeck
Yvonne Edmond
Luis Masso
Shannen Aimes
The Atom
Adventure Modules Used:
Villains and Vigilantes: "Escape From the Micro-Universe" by James Satter
Synopsis:
The Ugly Ghost Squad heard the news that two prominent scientists had been murdered: Yvonne Edmond and Luis Masso, both members of a group called the Subatomic Physics Society. The Society was scheduled to hold their annual symposium in a few days, and the group's chairman Roy Newbeck asked the heroes to be on hand for extra security, just in case.
Thanatos examined the bodies of the two victims. Both were strangled in their own homes, with no sign of forced entry. His spirits revealed to him that whatever killed them was not of this world, and that both victims felt intense feelings of shame and regret just before they died.
Investigating the scientists' pasts, the heroes learned that the two of them, along with Roy Newbeck, had worked together on a project for the government some eight years ago. The details were classified, and Newbeck was not forthcoming, saying only that the project was "a failure" and "a dead end".
As the team was speaking with Newbeck, a mysterious vehicle materialized in the middle of the street. The ship was manned by a strange, elastic alien calling himself Bugbear, and a group of soldiers identified as Ipzin. They attacked Dr. Newbeck, but the squad jumped in to protect him, and after a brief struggle, the heroes managed to subdue the aliens.
A clearly shaken Newbeck admitted that, while he didn't recognize the creatures, he was very familiar with their ship...he had helped build it. He, Edmond, Masso, and a fourth scientist named Keith Mikkelsen were all part of the government's "Project Zacchaeus", with the goal of finding a way to travel to sub-atomic universes. They completed a prototype ship, but the government was dissatisfied with their slow progress and cost overruns and decided to shut the project down. To prove that the ship would work, the four of them broke back into the laboratory and took the untested craft on a test run.
They succeeded in reaching a sub-atomic planet, and even saw signs of civilization in the distance. But as soon as Mikkelsen stepped out of the ship, he set off some kind of booby-trap that tore him limb from limb. His colleagues panicked and immediately reversed course back to the "macro" universe. Once they were safely back home, the three of them decided to cover up their actions by sending the ship back into the micro-universe via autopilot, and then claimed that Mikkelsen alone had stolen it. That was the last Newbeck had seen of it, until today.
Clearly, someone from the micro-universe had marked Newbeck, Edmond, and Masso for revenge. Newbeck insisted that Mikkelsen could not possibly have survived his injuries, but the heroes decided to go investigate for themselves. Newbeck agreed to pilot the ship, and the heroes were soon shrinking their way into another universe.
They arrived on a small planetoid with an Earth-like atmosphere. Newbeck believed it was the same place he and his team had discovered eight years earlier, but the city they glimpsed back then was now in ruins. Just outside the city was an intact military outpost. Leaving Newbeck back with the ship, the heroes moved in to investigate.
Ghosting their way through the outpost, the heroes fought more of the Ipzin soldiers, as well as their second-in-command Replica, an android that was able to imitate their powers. Finally they faced the military base's commander, Viberon...who was none other than Keith Mikkelsen.
Mikkelsen had miraculously survived, and the Ipzin people had found him and replaced his shattered limbs with advanced cybernetic ones. He was now superhumanly resilient and able to create powerful, destructive vibrations. Brilliant and ambitious, he had risen in the ranks to become their supreme leader, and was building weapons of mass destruction to use against the Ipzin's enemies of the nearby planet Naqlid. But he also hungered for revenge against the colleagues who had abandoned them, and sent Bugbear to the macro-universe to kill them. Eventually, once he had united the entire micro-universe under his rule, he planned to invade Earth as well.
The heroes were having none of that, and after a heated battle, managed to bring Viberon down. Seeing their leader defeated caused the remaining troops to flee, and the heroes dismantled all the weapons in the base. After rescuing Newbeck from a native slime-creature that had attacked the ship, the team made their way back home, confident that the Ipzin would not be invading anyone any time soon.
Some weeks later, the squad heard that Roy Newbeck had given a full confession of his crimes, and stepped down as head of the Subatomic Physics Society. His replacement, a Dr. Shannen Aimes, contacted the team for help.
A criminal called Pillager had broken into Aimes' lab and attempted to force her to pilot the Micro-Craft to some unknown destination. Luckily, the superhero known as the Atom had also been working in the labs and was able to fight Pillager off, although he sustained serious injuries in the process. Pillager fled by shrinking out of sight, apparently under his own power. Aimes asked the heroes to track him down. The Micro-Craft's new and improved sensors would allow them to pinpoint his location within the micro-universe.
With skill, determination, and a bit of luck, the team managed to pilot the ship to a snow-covered micro-planet. There they found Pillager's hideout, a cave that he shared in an uneasy alliance with several other micro-universe fugitives: the flying fish-woman Amphibia, the fiery android Torrid, and the shape-shifting Understudy. A fierce battle followed, but despite such tricks as Understudy turning himself into an exact duplicate of Black Panther, and Torrid filling the cavern with fiery explosions, the heroes eventually triumphed. Pillager, it seemed, had learned about the Micro-Craft and had hoped to bring it back to the micro-universe and sell it to the highest bidder. But his petty schemes were thwarted by the Ugly Ghost Squad.
Memorable Quotes:
(After Roy Newbeck's tearful confession that he and his partners abandoned Keith Mikkelsen)
Martian Manhunter: "You should will us all your money and then kill yourself."
Sources and References:
The Atom:
Physicist Ray Palmer discovered a meteor containing white dwarf star material. He used it to create a device that allowed him to shrink down to any size, even sub-atomic, and also allowed him to alter his weight. He used his new abilities to fight crime as The Atom, and became a member of the Justice League:
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Raymond_Palmer_(New_Earth)
Project Zacchaeus:
I had to look this one up myself. Zacchaeus was a character in the Gospel of Luke - he climbed up into a tree in order to get a better look at Jesus when he came to town. When Jesus walked by, he told Zacchaeus to climb down and he would visit him in his home. There's a children's song that describes Zacchaeus as "a wee little man", so I guess that's where the connection to shrinking comes in.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zacchaeus
https://youtu.be/ONRxHcjvCM4
The photos I used for the members of the Subatomic Physics Society were all actors from various "shrinking" movies:
Keith Mikkelsen/Viberon - Grant Williams from "The Incredible Shrinking Man" (1957):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Williams
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredible_Shrinking_Man
Roy Newbeck - Dennis Quaid from "Innerspace" (1987):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Quaid
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innerspace
Yvonne Edomond - Heather Young from the "Land of the Giants" tv series (1968-1970:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Young_(actress)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_the_Giants
Luis Masso - Albert Dekker from "Dr. Cyclops" (1940):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Dekker
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Cyclops
Shannen Aimes - Raquel Welch from "Fantastic Voyage" (1966):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raquel_Welch
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Voyage
"Escape From the Micro-Universe"
Played 7/2/2016
Roll Call:
Black Panther
Captain America
Hulk
Martian Manhunter
Thanatos
Experience Level: 8
Enemies Fought:
Viberon (Keith Mikkelsen)
Bugbear
Replica
Ipzin Soldiers
Slithering Ooze
Pillager
Amphibia
Torrid
Understudy
Other NPCs:
Roy Newbeck
Yvonne Edmond
Luis Masso
Shannen Aimes
The Atom
Adventure Modules Used:
Villains and Vigilantes: "Escape From the Micro-Universe" by James Satter
Synopsis:
The Ugly Ghost Squad heard the news that two prominent scientists had been murdered: Yvonne Edmond and Luis Masso, both members of a group called the Subatomic Physics Society. The Society was scheduled to hold their annual symposium in a few days, and the group's chairman Roy Newbeck asked the heroes to be on hand for extra security, just in case.
Thanatos examined the bodies of the two victims. Both were strangled in their own homes, with no sign of forced entry. His spirits revealed to him that whatever killed them was not of this world, and that both victims felt intense feelings of shame and regret just before they died.
Investigating the scientists' pasts, the heroes learned that the two of them, along with Roy Newbeck, had worked together on a project for the government some eight years ago. The details were classified, and Newbeck was not forthcoming, saying only that the project was "a failure" and "a dead end".
As the team was speaking with Newbeck, a mysterious vehicle materialized in the middle of the street. The ship was manned by a strange, elastic alien calling himself Bugbear, and a group of soldiers identified as Ipzin. They attacked Dr. Newbeck, but the squad jumped in to protect him, and after a brief struggle, the heroes managed to subdue the aliens.
A clearly shaken Newbeck admitted that, while he didn't recognize the creatures, he was very familiar with their ship...he had helped build it. He, Edmond, Masso, and a fourth scientist named Keith Mikkelsen were all part of the government's "Project Zacchaeus", with the goal of finding a way to travel to sub-atomic universes. They completed a prototype ship, but the government was dissatisfied with their slow progress and cost overruns and decided to shut the project down. To prove that the ship would work, the four of them broke back into the laboratory and took the untested craft on a test run.
They succeeded in reaching a sub-atomic planet, and even saw signs of civilization in the distance. But as soon as Mikkelsen stepped out of the ship, he set off some kind of booby-trap that tore him limb from limb. His colleagues panicked and immediately reversed course back to the "macro" universe. Once they were safely back home, the three of them decided to cover up their actions by sending the ship back into the micro-universe via autopilot, and then claimed that Mikkelsen alone had stolen it. That was the last Newbeck had seen of it, until today.
Clearly, someone from the micro-universe had marked Newbeck, Edmond, and Masso for revenge. Newbeck insisted that Mikkelsen could not possibly have survived his injuries, but the heroes decided to go investigate for themselves. Newbeck agreed to pilot the ship, and the heroes were soon shrinking their way into another universe.
They arrived on a small planetoid with an Earth-like atmosphere. Newbeck believed it was the same place he and his team had discovered eight years earlier, but the city they glimpsed back then was now in ruins. Just outside the city was an intact military outpost. Leaving Newbeck back with the ship, the heroes moved in to investigate.
Ghosting their way through the outpost, the heroes fought more of the Ipzin soldiers, as well as their second-in-command Replica, an android that was able to imitate their powers. Finally they faced the military base's commander, Viberon...who was none other than Keith Mikkelsen.
Mikkelsen had miraculously survived, and the Ipzin people had found him and replaced his shattered limbs with advanced cybernetic ones. He was now superhumanly resilient and able to create powerful, destructive vibrations. Brilliant and ambitious, he had risen in the ranks to become their supreme leader, and was building weapons of mass destruction to use against the Ipzin's enemies of the nearby planet Naqlid. But he also hungered for revenge against the colleagues who had abandoned them, and sent Bugbear to the macro-universe to kill them. Eventually, once he had united the entire micro-universe under his rule, he planned to invade Earth as well.
The heroes were having none of that, and after a heated battle, managed to bring Viberon down. Seeing their leader defeated caused the remaining troops to flee, and the heroes dismantled all the weapons in the base. After rescuing Newbeck from a native slime-creature that had attacked the ship, the team made their way back home, confident that the Ipzin would not be invading anyone any time soon.
Some weeks later, the squad heard that Roy Newbeck had given a full confession of his crimes, and stepped down as head of the Subatomic Physics Society. His replacement, a Dr. Shannen Aimes, contacted the team for help.
A criminal called Pillager had broken into Aimes' lab and attempted to force her to pilot the Micro-Craft to some unknown destination. Luckily, the superhero known as the Atom had also been working in the labs and was able to fight Pillager off, although he sustained serious injuries in the process. Pillager fled by shrinking out of sight, apparently under his own power. Aimes asked the heroes to track him down. The Micro-Craft's new and improved sensors would allow them to pinpoint his location within the micro-universe.
With skill, determination, and a bit of luck, the team managed to pilot the ship to a snow-covered micro-planet. There they found Pillager's hideout, a cave that he shared in an uneasy alliance with several other micro-universe fugitives: the flying fish-woman Amphibia, the fiery android Torrid, and the shape-shifting Understudy. A fierce battle followed, but despite such tricks as Understudy turning himself into an exact duplicate of Black Panther, and Torrid filling the cavern with fiery explosions, the heroes eventually triumphed. Pillager, it seemed, had learned about the Micro-Craft and had hoped to bring it back to the micro-universe and sell it to the highest bidder. But his petty schemes were thwarted by the Ugly Ghost Squad.
Memorable Quotes:
(After Roy Newbeck's tearful confession that he and his partners abandoned Keith Mikkelsen)
Martian Manhunter: "You should will us all your money and then kill yourself."
Sources and References:
The Atom:
Physicist Ray Palmer discovered a meteor containing white dwarf star material. He used it to create a device that allowed him to shrink down to any size, even sub-atomic, and also allowed him to alter his weight. He used his new abilities to fight crime as The Atom, and became a member of the Justice League:
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Raymond_Palmer_(New_Earth)
Project Zacchaeus:
I had to look this one up myself. Zacchaeus was a character in the Gospel of Luke - he climbed up into a tree in order to get a better look at Jesus when he came to town. When Jesus walked by, he told Zacchaeus to climb down and he would visit him in his home. There's a children's song that describes Zacchaeus as "a wee little man", so I guess that's where the connection to shrinking comes in.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zacchaeus
https://youtu.be/ONRxHcjvCM4
The photos I used for the members of the Subatomic Physics Society were all actors from various "shrinking" movies:
Keith Mikkelsen/Viberon - Grant Williams from "The Incredible Shrinking Man" (1957):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Williams
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredible_Shrinking_Man
Roy Newbeck - Dennis Quaid from "Innerspace" (1987):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Quaid
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innerspace
Yvonne Edomond - Heather Young from the "Land of the Giants" tv series (1968-1970:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Young_(actress)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_the_Giants
Luis Masso - Albert Dekker from "Dr. Cyclops" (1940):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Dekker
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Cyclops
Shannen Aimes - Raquel Welch from "Fantastic Voyage" (1966):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raquel_Welch
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Voyage
