DC Villains #22: The Final Mission
May. 2nd, 2021 10:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jkcarrierDC Villains
Episode 22:
"The Final Mission"
[Inspired by the 2016 Suicide Squad movie (and the trailer for the upcoming sequel).]
Roll Call:
Bucky
Captain Republican
Chemical Lad
Mr. Roboto
Amanda Waller brought the Squad together for a briefing. The team couldn't help but notice that she looked like she hadn't had much sleep. She revealed that the current Squad was not her first. Her previous team of conscripted criminals had been sent to take out a drug cartel operating out of Peru, but had vanished without a trace. When it became clear that they were not going to turn up, Waller had recruited the current team.
However, some of the missing members had been spotted in recent days. Several of them were seen hanging around the Midway City Museum, and Waller suspected they were casing it for a robbery. She tasked her current team with tracking down their predecessors, and finding out if they'd defected to some other organization, or just gone rogue.
Traveling to Midway City, Michigan, the Squad arrived at the Museum, only to see a robbery already in progress. Midway's resident defender, Hawkman, had already been taken out, and the thieves were trying to make off with a large stone idol of the deity Dzamor. Among this crew were the Australian villain Captain Boomerang, the amazonian alien Mongal, the rogue government agent Peacemaker, the vermin-controlling Ratcatcher, and the psychically-enhanced Thinker.
Concerned about psychic attacks (which all of them were vulnerable to), the Squad concentrated on taking down the Thinker first, followed by Peacemaker. Mongal pummeled Captain Republican with fists and power blasts, while Captain Boomerang harasser Mr. Roboto with various trick boomerangs. Ratcatcher's horde of rats proved to me more of an annoyance than a serious threat -- they had trouble even targeting the invisible Bucky, and Cap's armor was too thick to penetrate. Several of the critters killed themselves trying to chew on Chemical Lad's acidic flesh. They did manage to find vulnerable spots on Mr. Robot to attack, especially after Captain Boomerang had bound him up with a Grapnel-rang.
But inevitably the Squad managed to defeat the thieves. On closer examination, they discovered that their foes were actually reanimated corpses -- zombies, in other words. When Hawkman recovered, he expressed curiosity as to why they were trying to steal the Dzamor idol...it was very rare, but there were more expensive (and more portable) items in the Museum they could have taken. Chemical Lad wondered if the idol had any connection to zombies. Not exactly, Hawkman replied, Dzamor was and ancient Peruvian deity called "The Opener of Doors", and was involved in human sacrifices. Hawkman decided to take the Dzamor idol to the JLA Satellite for safekeeping, and suggested that the Squad head to Gateway City, where another Dzamor idol was located.
[Loot Drops: Captain Boomerang's Boomerang (Grapnel), Peacemaker's Helmet (Laser).]
Arriving in Gateway City, California, the Squad found themselves again in the middle of an attempted robbery. This team of reanimated villains included the gun-toting Bloodsport, mischievous Harley Quinn, savage King Shark, the inimitable Polka-Dot Man, and the baton-wielding Savant.
Savant proved no match for the tag-team of Bucky and Captain Republican, but King Shark was made of sterner stuff, viciously chomping on Cap. Polka-Dot Man hurled flaming dots at Bucky, while Harley Quinn temporarily disabled him with laughing gas. Chemical Lad tried to come to his rescue, only to find that Harley was largely immune to his attacks (Harley pointed out that, between the Joker and Poison Ivy, she'd already been exposed to just about every chemical out there). Bloodsport peppered the Squad with machine gun-fire, but the bullets proved not that effective. Battered but unbowed, the Squad eventually triumphed.
[Loot Drops: Harley Quinn's Hat (Heightened Defense, Invulnerability to Biochemical), Polka-Dot Man's Dots (Flame Blast, Special Weapon, Force Field).]
All clues pointed to Peru, where the original Squad had vanished, and where the ruins of Dzamor's temple were located. When the Squad reached the location, they were intercepted by another quartet of zombie-villains: the self-dismembering Arm-Fall-Off Boy, the armored Blackguard, Javelin with his lethal namesakes, and the vicious Weasel.
Weasel and Javelin were taken out relatively quickly, despite the former's regenerating abilities. Blackguard, with his solid energy mace and shield, and Arm-Fall-Off Boy, who's detachable limbs were surprisingly resilient [Plasticity] managed to stay in the fight longer. At one point, Captain Republican realized that the fallen bodies of Javelin and Weasel had disappeared, and Chemical Lad heard what sounded like chewing from deep inside the temple.
The Squad raced into the temple, with the remaining villains close behind. Inside, they found the sorceress known as the Enchantress, performing some kind of magic ritual. Unlike the other villains, she was still alive, and it became clear that she was the mastermind behind the death and zombie-fication of the original Squad for some sinister arcane purpose.
Seeing the intruders, she commanded "Great One -- feed on these sacrifices!" Suddenly two purple tentacles appeared, and snatched up Blackguard and Arm-Fall-Off Boy. The tentacles crushed the life out of the two figures, and the monster completely materialized: The 30-foot tall alien starfish called Starro.
Starro flailed at the Squad with its tentacles, while trying to dominate them with mental attacks. The Enchantress also struck with mental blasts, and intermittently cast healing spells on Starro. Bucky took one too many tentacle-slaps to the head, and fell unconscious. The team realized they needed to take out the Enchantress first, and focused fire on her. Despite her magical protections [Force Field] and ability to turn immaterial [Non-Corporealness], they managed to knock her out. Starro continued to pummel the team, and briefly took control of Captain Republican, but without the Enchantress' support, the creature eventually fell, ending it's would-be invasion of Earth.
[Loot Drops: Enchantress' Skirt (Non-Corporealness), Starro's Eye (Absorption), Weasel's Pelt (Regeneration, Wall-Crawling).]
The Squad arrived back at Belle Reve Prison, weary but triumphant, only to find the whole complex deserted. Searching around, they were confronted by Sarge Steel, the leader of Checkmate. He announced that the Suicide Squad program was hereby disbanded. He disabled the explosive devices in their skulls, and said that they were officially pardoned for past crimes. "Knowing you, you'll probably be in trouble again in no time, but for now you're free to go."
As the somewhat confused team left the prison, a courier approached them and handed them each an envelope. Each contained a plane ticket to San Francisco and engraved invitation to attend a private party. There was no signature, but a postscript added: "Attend -- or DIE."
To be continued...
[The player characters earned 3 character points each, giving them a total of 166.]
Episode 22:
"The Final Mission"
[Inspired by the 2016 Suicide Squad movie (and the trailer for the upcoming sequel).]
Roll Call:
Bucky
Captain Republican
Chemical Lad
Mr. Roboto
Amanda Waller brought the Squad together for a briefing. The team couldn't help but notice that she looked like she hadn't had much sleep. She revealed that the current Squad was not her first. Her previous team of conscripted criminals had been sent to take out a drug cartel operating out of Peru, but had vanished without a trace. When it became clear that they were not going to turn up, Waller had recruited the current team.
However, some of the missing members had been spotted in recent days. Several of them were seen hanging around the Midway City Museum, and Waller suspected they were casing it for a robbery. She tasked her current team with tracking down their predecessors, and finding out if they'd defected to some other organization, or just gone rogue.
Traveling to Midway City, Michigan, the Squad arrived at the Museum, only to see a robbery already in progress. Midway's resident defender, Hawkman, had already been taken out, and the thieves were trying to make off with a large stone idol of the deity Dzamor. Among this crew were the Australian villain Captain Boomerang, the amazonian alien Mongal, the rogue government agent Peacemaker, the vermin-controlling Ratcatcher, and the psychically-enhanced Thinker.
Concerned about psychic attacks (which all of them were vulnerable to), the Squad concentrated on taking down the Thinker first, followed by Peacemaker. Mongal pummeled Captain Republican with fists and power blasts, while Captain Boomerang harasser Mr. Roboto with various trick boomerangs. Ratcatcher's horde of rats proved to me more of an annoyance than a serious threat -- they had trouble even targeting the invisible Bucky, and Cap's armor was too thick to penetrate. Several of the critters killed themselves trying to chew on Chemical Lad's acidic flesh. They did manage to find vulnerable spots on Mr. Robot to attack, especially after Captain Boomerang had bound him up with a Grapnel-rang.
But inevitably the Squad managed to defeat the thieves. On closer examination, they discovered that their foes were actually reanimated corpses -- zombies, in other words. When Hawkman recovered, he expressed curiosity as to why they were trying to steal the Dzamor idol...it was very rare, but there were more expensive (and more portable) items in the Museum they could have taken. Chemical Lad wondered if the idol had any connection to zombies. Not exactly, Hawkman replied, Dzamor was and ancient Peruvian deity called "The Opener of Doors", and was involved in human sacrifices. Hawkman decided to take the Dzamor idol to the JLA Satellite for safekeeping, and suggested that the Squad head to Gateway City, where another Dzamor idol was located.
[Loot Drops: Captain Boomerang's Boomerang (Grapnel), Peacemaker's Helmet (Laser).]
Arriving in Gateway City, California, the Squad found themselves again in the middle of an attempted robbery. This team of reanimated villains included the gun-toting Bloodsport, mischievous Harley Quinn, savage King Shark, the inimitable Polka-Dot Man, and the baton-wielding Savant.
Savant proved no match for the tag-team of Bucky and Captain Republican, but King Shark was made of sterner stuff, viciously chomping on Cap. Polka-Dot Man hurled flaming dots at Bucky, while Harley Quinn temporarily disabled him with laughing gas. Chemical Lad tried to come to his rescue, only to find that Harley was largely immune to his attacks (Harley pointed out that, between the Joker and Poison Ivy, she'd already been exposed to just about every chemical out there). Bloodsport peppered the Squad with machine gun-fire, but the bullets proved not that effective. Battered but unbowed, the Squad eventually triumphed.
[Loot Drops: Harley Quinn's Hat (Heightened Defense, Invulnerability to Biochemical), Polka-Dot Man's Dots (Flame Blast, Special Weapon, Force Field).]
All clues pointed to Peru, where the original Squad had vanished, and where the ruins of Dzamor's temple were located. When the Squad reached the location, they were intercepted by another quartet of zombie-villains: the self-dismembering Arm-Fall-Off Boy, the armored Blackguard, Javelin with his lethal namesakes, and the vicious Weasel.
Weasel and Javelin were taken out relatively quickly, despite the former's regenerating abilities. Blackguard, with his solid energy mace and shield, and Arm-Fall-Off Boy, who's detachable limbs were surprisingly resilient [Plasticity] managed to stay in the fight longer. At one point, Captain Republican realized that the fallen bodies of Javelin and Weasel had disappeared, and Chemical Lad heard what sounded like chewing from deep inside the temple.
The Squad raced into the temple, with the remaining villains close behind. Inside, they found the sorceress known as the Enchantress, performing some kind of magic ritual. Unlike the other villains, she was still alive, and it became clear that she was the mastermind behind the death and zombie-fication of the original Squad for some sinister arcane purpose.
Seeing the intruders, she commanded "Great One -- feed on these sacrifices!" Suddenly two purple tentacles appeared, and snatched up Blackguard and Arm-Fall-Off Boy. The tentacles crushed the life out of the two figures, and the monster completely materialized: The 30-foot tall alien starfish called Starro.
Starro flailed at the Squad with its tentacles, while trying to dominate them with mental attacks. The Enchantress also struck with mental blasts, and intermittently cast healing spells on Starro. Bucky took one too many tentacle-slaps to the head, and fell unconscious. The team realized they needed to take out the Enchantress first, and focused fire on her. Despite her magical protections [Force Field] and ability to turn immaterial [Non-Corporealness], they managed to knock her out. Starro continued to pummel the team, and briefly took control of Captain Republican, but without the Enchantress' support, the creature eventually fell, ending it's would-be invasion of Earth.
[Loot Drops: Enchantress' Skirt (Non-Corporealness), Starro's Eye (Absorption), Weasel's Pelt (Regeneration, Wall-Crawling).]
The Squad arrived back at Belle Reve Prison, weary but triumphant, only to find the whole complex deserted. Searching around, they were confronted by Sarge Steel, the leader of Checkmate. He announced that the Suicide Squad program was hereby disbanded. He disabled the explosive devices in their skulls, and said that they were officially pardoned for past crimes. "Knowing you, you'll probably be in trouble again in no time, but for now you're free to go."
As the somewhat confused team left the prison, a courier approached them and handed them each an envelope. Each contained a plane ticket to San Francisco and engraved invitation to attend a private party. There was no signature, but a postscript added: "Attend -- or DIE."
To be continued...
[The player characters earned 3 character points each, giving them a total of 166.]
