Ugly Ghost Squad #23 recap
Sep. 22nd, 2016 09:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jkcarrierUgly Ghost Squad #23
"Final Fight With the Furies"
Played 9/17/2016
Roll Call:
Black Panther
Captain America
Martian Manhunter
Thanatos
Experience Level: 9
Enemies Fought:
Dreadlord's Furies:
Anarch
Brahman
Burst
Deadeye
Devastatia
Eliminator
Fallout
Grav
Mastodon
Ore
Raptor
Redback
Spider-Robots
Vortex
Star-Ion
Other NPCs:
Ace Gunner (aka Sky King)
Djanado (Anarch in disguise)
Robert Gonzales
Merlin
Nimue
Nixie
Adventure Modules Used:
Villains and Vigilantes: "Final Fight With the Furies" by James Bishop
Synopsis:
The Ugly Ghost Squad was contacted by SHIELD agent Robert Gonzales for help with a "sting" operation. An ex-SHIELD agent, code-named "Grav", had gone rogue, becoming a mercenary-for-hire. Intel suggested that he was recruiting known supervillains for some unknown employer. One of Gonzales' agents had arranged a meeting with Grav, pretending to have information on incarcerated villains. Gonzales asked the squad to be on hand to apprehend Grav when he showed up.
The meeting took place at the food court in a nearby mall. Grav turned up on schedule, and the heroes moved in to arrest him. Grav used his gravity-manipulation and energy-draining powers to hold the team off single-handedly for a time, but the tide soon turned against him. But before the heroes could finish him off, a teleporational gateway appeared behind him, and Grav made his escape. He left behind a list of known supervillains. Gonzales confirmed that the names on the list with a check mark next to them had all recently escaped from custody, while the names that were crossed out remained in prison. Gonzales promised to follow up and contact the team if Grav reappeared.
A week or so later, the squad got word that a mysterious energy barrier had appeared around the Natural History Museum downtown. The force field proved impenetrable even to their ghosting powers, but after some searching, they found that they could access the building underneath via the sewer lines. Entering, they were attacked by the spider-powered villainess Redback and her army of Spider-Robots. The robots turned out to be tougher than their mistress, but in the end they all fell.
Agent Gonzales appeared on the scene and confirmed that Redback was one of the escaped villains on Grav's list. She refused to talk, but an inventory of the museum revealed that one item was missing: an ancient Egyptian (actually pre-Egyptian) artifact consisting of a large stone disc studded with gems. Apparently there had once been even more gems on the disc, as there were several empty spaces. The heroes suspected that Grav and his mystery employer were trying to reassemble the pieces for some nefarious purpose.
Upon returning to headquarters, the team was greeted by their old acquaintance, Nixie the water elemental. She handed them a small metal orb, covered in strange markings and circuitry. Nixie said it had been given to her many years ago by her grandmother, who told her she would know what to do with it when the time came. That morning, she had woken up with a sudden urge to give it to the humans.
Examining the orb, the Martian Manhunter realized the markings were an ancient Martian script. He was able to activate the device, which displayed map coordinates leading to the small town of Payson, Arizona. Following the directions, the squad came to the small cottage of Ace Gunner, an elderly man who revealed to them that he was once the World War II-era superhero called Sky King. He told the heroes about his wartime ally, a British hero named Sovereign. Sovereign died trying to rescue a family from a collapsed house during the London blitz. But before he passed on, he gave Sky King his necklace, claiming that it had been made from a piece of metal from King Arthur's sword, Excalibur. Gunner gave the sword-shaped pendant to the heroes, and they realized that it fit into a slot on the Martian orb.
Before the team could investigate further, they were attacked by a squad of villains: the marksman Deadeye, the super-strong Devastatia, the radioactive Fallout, and the clawed cyborg Raptor. They were after the Orb and Sword, but the team managed to defeat them. But before they could catch their breath, an emergency call came from the city of Phoenix: the famous space-faring hero known as Star-Ion had gone berserk and was wrecking the city.
The powerful Star-Ion was beyond all reason, and the team had no choice but to attack. As they closed for battle, the heroes noticed that the distinctive gemstone that was normally embedded in Star-Ion's chest had apparently been torn out, and they speculated that this might have caused his madness. They further realized that the gem matched the description of the ones embedded on the missing Egyptian artifact. Star-Ion attacked the team with flames and lasers, and his near-invulnerability made him difficult to injure. But as the fight wore on, he showed signs of weakness, and finally something went critical in his alien biology, and he exploded in a blast of laser light. A sad fate for such a famous hero.
The combined Orb and Sword lead the heroes to another location: the city of Timbuktu in the nation of Mali. As the squad arrived, a group of Tuareg rebels had taken control of the city. However, they seemed to be expecting the team, and lead them to the mosque where their leader, a man named Djanado, was waiting. Djanado taunted the heroes, showing them the gem he claimed to have torn from Star-Ion's chest and daring them to come get it. As the team approached, he shifted to his true form: a Martian warrior called Anarch. His ability to shrug off much of the damage inflicted on him made for a difficult battle, but the squad slowly whittled him down. Before he fell, Anarch hurled the gem into the air, where it was swallowed up by a telportation portal, much like the one Grav had used. But this time the heroes were able to follow through the doorway.
The portal took them to a chamber that combined ancient stone walls with futuristic technology. Waiting for them was a sophisticated android that claimed to be Nimue, the figure from Arthurian legend. She told the squad that the stories of the fall of Camelot were only partially true. The forces of Modred and Morgaine Le Fay did attack Arthur's knights, but the two sides struck a truce when an even greater threat appeared: an invading army of Martians, led by the monstrous, shape-shifting Dreadlord. There were heavy casualties on both sides, and King Arthur sacrificed himself to drive the Dreadlord into an extra-dimensional prison created by Merlin and Nimue (shattering Excalibur in the process). Nimue saved herself by transferring her mind into one of the Martians' abandoned machines, and managed to partially preserve Merlin by splitting his essence among three artifacts: the Martian Orb (given to the water elementals for safekeeping), a shard of Excalibur (which became Sovereign's sword pendant), and the Well of Avalon, guarded by Nimue herself.
Nimue placed the Orb and Sword into the Well of Avalon, and Merlin's spirit appeared. He revealed that the Dreadlord's minions, the so-called Furies, were working to free him from his other-dimensional prison. Elsewhere in Avalon was the Hypergate, a mixture of magic and Martian technology, which could release the Dreadlord. It was hidden within a labyrinth of traps, but the Furies had discovered an artifact, the Egyptian Compass, that could bypass the defenses and reactivate the gate. Nimue healed the heroes' wounds and transported them to the Hypergate chamber, where the remaining Furies were already at work.
The warrior Brahman, the toxic-blooded Burst, the laser pistol-wielding Eliminator, the massive Mastodon, and the steel-skinned (with a molten lava core) Ore confronted the squad. The teleporting Vortex warped into the chamber to try and retrieve his teammates, but found that he could not teleport back out -- Merlin and Nimue had blocked his power. The battle was furious (no pun intended), but eventually the Ghost Squad emerged triumphant. The Dreadlord remained trapped in his other-worldly prison, and Nimue and Merlin vowed to reinforce the defenses around Avalon to prevent future incursions. The Earth could rest easy...for now.
Memorable Quotes:
"Wait, people get paid for this?" - Martian Manhunter, after hearing that Grav was selling his powers to the highest bidder.
Sources and References:
Ace Gunner/Sky King was a character in the video game "Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich". In the module, the old hero was named "Bullet", but since you'd already met a hero named Bullet back in issue #11, I swapped him out for this guy. I used a photo of actor Jimmy Stewart, because Sky King's voice actor in the game was doing a very obvious Stewart impression:
https://youtu.be/BVB3lJ8f-_M
Robert Gonzales was a character on the "Agents of SHIELD" tv series, played by Edward James Olmos (the character in the module was CHESS agent Charles Parnee). On the show, Gonzales was the head of a rival faction of SHIELD, but eventually he and Coulson came to terms and started working together. He was eventually killed by the Inhuman Jiaying:
http://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Robert_Gonzales
Merlin and Nimue, of course, are from the old Arthurian legends. In this version, the story of Nimue "imprisoning" Merlin turns out to be a misinterpretation of her saving him by imprinting his mind into a Martian computer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_of_the_Lake
"Final Fight With the Furies"
Played 9/17/2016
Roll Call:
Black Panther
Captain America
Martian Manhunter
Thanatos
Experience Level: 9
Enemies Fought:
Dreadlord's Furies:
Anarch
Brahman
Burst
Deadeye
Devastatia
Eliminator
Fallout
Grav
Mastodon
Ore
Raptor
Redback
Spider-Robots
Vortex
Star-Ion
Other NPCs:
Ace Gunner (aka Sky King)
Djanado (Anarch in disguise)
Robert Gonzales
Merlin
Nimue
Nixie
Adventure Modules Used:
Villains and Vigilantes: "Final Fight With the Furies" by James Bishop
Synopsis:
The Ugly Ghost Squad was contacted by SHIELD agent Robert Gonzales for help with a "sting" operation. An ex-SHIELD agent, code-named "Grav", had gone rogue, becoming a mercenary-for-hire. Intel suggested that he was recruiting known supervillains for some unknown employer. One of Gonzales' agents had arranged a meeting with Grav, pretending to have information on incarcerated villains. Gonzales asked the squad to be on hand to apprehend Grav when he showed up.
The meeting took place at the food court in a nearby mall. Grav turned up on schedule, and the heroes moved in to arrest him. Grav used his gravity-manipulation and energy-draining powers to hold the team off single-handedly for a time, but the tide soon turned against him. But before the heroes could finish him off, a teleporational gateway appeared behind him, and Grav made his escape. He left behind a list of known supervillains. Gonzales confirmed that the names on the list with a check mark next to them had all recently escaped from custody, while the names that were crossed out remained in prison. Gonzales promised to follow up and contact the team if Grav reappeared.
A week or so later, the squad got word that a mysterious energy barrier had appeared around the Natural History Museum downtown. The force field proved impenetrable even to their ghosting powers, but after some searching, they found that they could access the building underneath via the sewer lines. Entering, they were attacked by the spider-powered villainess Redback and her army of Spider-Robots. The robots turned out to be tougher than their mistress, but in the end they all fell.
Agent Gonzales appeared on the scene and confirmed that Redback was one of the escaped villains on Grav's list. She refused to talk, but an inventory of the museum revealed that one item was missing: an ancient Egyptian (actually pre-Egyptian) artifact consisting of a large stone disc studded with gems. Apparently there had once been even more gems on the disc, as there were several empty spaces. The heroes suspected that Grav and his mystery employer were trying to reassemble the pieces for some nefarious purpose.
Upon returning to headquarters, the team was greeted by their old acquaintance, Nixie the water elemental. She handed them a small metal orb, covered in strange markings and circuitry. Nixie said it had been given to her many years ago by her grandmother, who told her she would know what to do with it when the time came. That morning, she had woken up with a sudden urge to give it to the humans.
Examining the orb, the Martian Manhunter realized the markings were an ancient Martian script. He was able to activate the device, which displayed map coordinates leading to the small town of Payson, Arizona. Following the directions, the squad came to the small cottage of Ace Gunner, an elderly man who revealed to them that he was once the World War II-era superhero called Sky King. He told the heroes about his wartime ally, a British hero named Sovereign. Sovereign died trying to rescue a family from a collapsed house during the London blitz. But before he passed on, he gave Sky King his necklace, claiming that it had been made from a piece of metal from King Arthur's sword, Excalibur. Gunner gave the sword-shaped pendant to the heroes, and they realized that it fit into a slot on the Martian orb.
Before the team could investigate further, they were attacked by a squad of villains: the marksman Deadeye, the super-strong Devastatia, the radioactive Fallout, and the clawed cyborg Raptor. They were after the Orb and Sword, but the team managed to defeat them. But before they could catch their breath, an emergency call came from the city of Phoenix: the famous space-faring hero known as Star-Ion had gone berserk and was wrecking the city.
The powerful Star-Ion was beyond all reason, and the team had no choice but to attack. As they closed for battle, the heroes noticed that the distinctive gemstone that was normally embedded in Star-Ion's chest had apparently been torn out, and they speculated that this might have caused his madness. They further realized that the gem matched the description of the ones embedded on the missing Egyptian artifact. Star-Ion attacked the team with flames and lasers, and his near-invulnerability made him difficult to injure. But as the fight wore on, he showed signs of weakness, and finally something went critical in his alien biology, and he exploded in a blast of laser light. A sad fate for such a famous hero.
The combined Orb and Sword lead the heroes to another location: the city of Timbuktu in the nation of Mali. As the squad arrived, a group of Tuareg rebels had taken control of the city. However, they seemed to be expecting the team, and lead them to the mosque where their leader, a man named Djanado, was waiting. Djanado taunted the heroes, showing them the gem he claimed to have torn from Star-Ion's chest and daring them to come get it. As the team approached, he shifted to his true form: a Martian warrior called Anarch. His ability to shrug off much of the damage inflicted on him made for a difficult battle, but the squad slowly whittled him down. Before he fell, Anarch hurled the gem into the air, where it was swallowed up by a telportation portal, much like the one Grav had used. But this time the heroes were able to follow through the doorway.
The portal took them to a chamber that combined ancient stone walls with futuristic technology. Waiting for them was a sophisticated android that claimed to be Nimue, the figure from Arthurian legend. She told the squad that the stories of the fall of Camelot were only partially true. The forces of Modred and Morgaine Le Fay did attack Arthur's knights, but the two sides struck a truce when an even greater threat appeared: an invading army of Martians, led by the monstrous, shape-shifting Dreadlord. There were heavy casualties on both sides, and King Arthur sacrificed himself to drive the Dreadlord into an extra-dimensional prison created by Merlin and Nimue (shattering Excalibur in the process). Nimue saved herself by transferring her mind into one of the Martians' abandoned machines, and managed to partially preserve Merlin by splitting his essence among three artifacts: the Martian Orb (given to the water elementals for safekeeping), a shard of Excalibur (which became Sovereign's sword pendant), and the Well of Avalon, guarded by Nimue herself.
Nimue placed the Orb and Sword into the Well of Avalon, and Merlin's spirit appeared. He revealed that the Dreadlord's minions, the so-called Furies, were working to free him from his other-dimensional prison. Elsewhere in Avalon was the Hypergate, a mixture of magic and Martian technology, which could release the Dreadlord. It was hidden within a labyrinth of traps, but the Furies had discovered an artifact, the Egyptian Compass, that could bypass the defenses and reactivate the gate. Nimue healed the heroes' wounds and transported them to the Hypergate chamber, where the remaining Furies were already at work.
The warrior Brahman, the toxic-blooded Burst, the laser pistol-wielding Eliminator, the massive Mastodon, and the steel-skinned (with a molten lava core) Ore confronted the squad. The teleporting Vortex warped into the chamber to try and retrieve his teammates, but found that he could not teleport back out -- Merlin and Nimue had blocked his power. The battle was furious (no pun intended), but eventually the Ghost Squad emerged triumphant. The Dreadlord remained trapped in his other-worldly prison, and Nimue and Merlin vowed to reinforce the defenses around Avalon to prevent future incursions. The Earth could rest easy...for now.
Memorable Quotes:
"Wait, people get paid for this?" - Martian Manhunter, after hearing that Grav was selling his powers to the highest bidder.
Sources and References:
Ace Gunner/Sky King was a character in the video game "Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich". In the module, the old hero was named "Bullet", but since you'd already met a hero named Bullet back in issue #11, I swapped him out for this guy. I used a photo of actor Jimmy Stewart, because Sky King's voice actor in the game was doing a very obvious Stewart impression:
https://youtu.be/BVB3lJ8f-_M
Robert Gonzales was a character on the "Agents of SHIELD" tv series, played by Edward James Olmos (the character in the module was CHESS agent Charles Parnee). On the show, Gonzales was the head of a rival faction of SHIELD, but eventually he and Coulson came to terms and started working together. He was eventually killed by the Inhuman Jiaying:
http://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Robert_Gonzales
Merlin and Nimue, of course, are from the old Arthurian legends. In this version, the story of Nimue "imprisoning" Merlin turns out to be a misinterpretation of her saving him by imprinting his mind into a Martian computer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_of_the_Lake
