DC Villains #24: The Long Game
May. 17th, 2021 09:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jkcarrierDC Villains
Episode 24:
"The Long Game"
Roll Call:
Bucky
Captain Republican
Chemical Lad
Mr. Roboto
Manhunter gathered the villains for a new assignment. Their anonymous employer had discovered several projects that they felt could eventually be a threat to their plans for conquest. Therefore, they needed to be stopped.
The first target was a new piece of medical equipment being unveiled at a hospital in New York City. Created in cooperation with Amazon scientists from Paradise Island, the so-called "Purple Ray Machine" promised to revolutionize healthcare. The villains' benefactor wanted it for themselves, and more importantly, they wanted the people of New York NOT to have it.
Arriving at the hospital on the day of the unveiling, the villains were surprised to learn that several of the physicians who had traveled to New York to see the new machine were actually superheroes in civilian guise:
Besides Paula Von Gunter, the reformed Nazi spy turned Amazon engineer who was in charge of the project, there was:
The nocturnal avenger Dr. Mid-Nite (and his owl, Hooty),
Polymath Mr. Terrific (and his floating T-Spheres),
Energy-blasting Tempest, formerly of the Doom Patrol,
And super-strong social activist Thunder.
The heroes put up a good fight -- Dr. Mid-Nite sniped at various targets with his paralyzing Cryotuber from within a concealing cloud of darkness, while Tempest blasted Chemical Lad out in the open. Thunder entered into a pitched hand-to-hand battle with both Captain Republican and Bucky, while Mr. Terrific sent his electrified T-Spheres as backup. Paula slashed at Mr. Roboto with her wicked whip until a lucky shot [critical hit] from Captain Republican destroyed it ("That was a personal gift from Hitler!" she fumed). She had better luck with her gimmicked cigarette holder, and the mind-numbing smoke managed to infect Mr. Roboto's circuits, eventually causing him to knock himself out.
But in the end, the medical do-gooders were no match for the determined bad guys, and they made off with the prototype Purple Ray. "Won't they just build another one?" asked Chemical Lad.
"Not right away," replied Manhunter. "And now that we've demonstrated the hospital's lack of security, the Amazons may be reluctant to work with them in the future."
Chemical Lad sneered. "Next time, they shouldn't have such wimpy guards."
(The unconscious Mr. Roboto had no comment.)
[Loot Drops: Mr. Terrific's T-Sphere (flying sphere that can attack independently with its touch-range Electrical Bolt), Paula Von Gunter's Cigarette Holder (Emotion Control, confusion only).]
The second target was an international teachers' conference being held in Gotham City. The attendees hoped to pool their resources and trade theories and practices in order to improve education worldwide. The villains' employer was very much against this, since an ignorant population would be much easier to conquer. The villains were to disrupt the conference and kidnap the keynote speaker, Prof. Raymond Palmer.
Once again, the group of seemingly-ordinary educators hid several superheroes in their midst:
The size- and mass-shifting Atom,
Electrifying Black Lightning,
Bat-family renegade The Huntress,
Nature goddess incarnate Isis,
And divinely-powered Israeli hero Seraph.
Chemical Lad and Mr. Robot fired on Black Lightning from a distance, so as not to risk touching his high-voltage force field. Meanwhile, Seraph's Samson-like strength and protective Mantle of Elijah got a workout against Cap and Bucky. Captain Republican tried to use Paula's mind-warping smoke against him, but Seraph shrugged it off ("My mind is not so easily clouded, because The Lord is always foremost in my thoughts!"). He had better luck with Huntress, and she ended up firing crossbow bolts into several of her allies. Isis battered the villains with tornado-force winds, but turned out to be a bit of a "glass cannon" once they turned their attention to her. The Atom lasted longer than the rest, his tiny size making him almost impossible to hit, and his little fists, backed with his full 200 lb. weight, hit like high-caliber bullets. But as the other heroes fell around him, he realized he was fighting a losing battle, and shrank out of sight to fight another day. And since the Atom and Ray Palmer were one and the same, the bad guys failed at their kidnap mission, but still managed to get the conference cancelled.
[Loot Drops: Black Lightning's Belt (Electrical Field), Isis Amulet (Flight, Heightened Defense).]
Last but not least was the launching of a new weather satellite due to take place at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The villains' mysterious master had learned that it was actually a spy satellite, and they did not want any more "eyes in the sky" snooping on their schemes.
One cross-country plane ride later, the villains made it to the launch site, only to be confronted by a trio of defenders:
Animal Man, with the powers of any beast, bird, or insect,
The mutant Captain Comet,
And the quadruple-threat Ultra the Multi-Alien.
Alarmed by Captain Comet's mental blasts and his energy-sapping pistol [Devitalization Ray], the villains concentrated on taking him down first. Meanwhile, Ultra's magnetic hand was giving Mr. Roboto a tough time, and Animal Man alternated between elephantine strength and the healing powers of an earthworm to keep himself in the game.
Sometime after Comet fell, another player entered the field: Striding out of a doorway in time and space came the massively muscled OMAC, the One-Man Army Corps. He began talking to someone that no one else could see: "I understand, Brother Eye! I must make sure this ancient satellite launches, because it is the prototype of what you will become!"
(Animal Man: "Is he with you?"
Ultra: "I thought he was with you!")
OMAC's earth-shattering punches battered the villains, knocking Bucky out of the fight. His steel-hard skin repelled most of their counter-attacks. But as the other heroes fell, and the remaining villains dog-piled on top of him, even the One-Man Army Corps found himself out-gunned and overwhelmed. The villains were then able to sabotage the defenseless rocket and prevent the launch. As they did, they saw OMAC's form briefly morph into a much smaller, scrawnier form...and then vanish entirely.
The villains anonymous leader was now three steps further in their plans for conquest.
[Loot Drops: Animal Man's Harness (various animal abilities that can be used one time each), Captain Comet's Pistol (Devitalization Ray), OMAC's Belt (Armor+Absorption Effect).]
[The player characters earned 3 character points each, giving them a total of 172.]
Episode 24:
"The Long Game"
Roll Call:
Bucky
Captain Republican
Chemical Lad
Mr. Roboto
Manhunter gathered the villains for a new assignment. Their anonymous employer had discovered several projects that they felt could eventually be a threat to their plans for conquest. Therefore, they needed to be stopped.
The first target was a new piece of medical equipment being unveiled at a hospital in New York City. Created in cooperation with Amazon scientists from Paradise Island, the so-called "Purple Ray Machine" promised to revolutionize healthcare. The villains' benefactor wanted it for themselves, and more importantly, they wanted the people of New York NOT to have it.
Arriving at the hospital on the day of the unveiling, the villains were surprised to learn that several of the physicians who had traveled to New York to see the new machine were actually superheroes in civilian guise:
Besides Paula Von Gunter, the reformed Nazi spy turned Amazon engineer who was in charge of the project, there was:
The nocturnal avenger Dr. Mid-Nite (and his owl, Hooty),
Polymath Mr. Terrific (and his floating T-Spheres),
Energy-blasting Tempest, formerly of the Doom Patrol,
And super-strong social activist Thunder.
The heroes put up a good fight -- Dr. Mid-Nite sniped at various targets with his paralyzing Cryotuber from within a concealing cloud of darkness, while Tempest blasted Chemical Lad out in the open. Thunder entered into a pitched hand-to-hand battle with both Captain Republican and Bucky, while Mr. Terrific sent his electrified T-Spheres as backup. Paula slashed at Mr. Roboto with her wicked whip until a lucky shot [critical hit] from Captain Republican destroyed it ("That was a personal gift from Hitler!" she fumed). She had better luck with her gimmicked cigarette holder, and the mind-numbing smoke managed to infect Mr. Roboto's circuits, eventually causing him to knock himself out.
But in the end, the medical do-gooders were no match for the determined bad guys, and they made off with the prototype Purple Ray. "Won't they just build another one?" asked Chemical Lad.
"Not right away," replied Manhunter. "And now that we've demonstrated the hospital's lack of security, the Amazons may be reluctant to work with them in the future."
Chemical Lad sneered. "Next time, they shouldn't have such wimpy guards."
(The unconscious Mr. Roboto had no comment.)
[Loot Drops: Mr. Terrific's T-Sphere (flying sphere that can attack independently with its touch-range Electrical Bolt), Paula Von Gunter's Cigarette Holder (Emotion Control, confusion only).]
The second target was an international teachers' conference being held in Gotham City. The attendees hoped to pool their resources and trade theories and practices in order to improve education worldwide. The villains' employer was very much against this, since an ignorant population would be much easier to conquer. The villains were to disrupt the conference and kidnap the keynote speaker, Prof. Raymond Palmer.
Once again, the group of seemingly-ordinary educators hid several superheroes in their midst:
The size- and mass-shifting Atom,
Electrifying Black Lightning,
Bat-family renegade The Huntress,
Nature goddess incarnate Isis,
And divinely-powered Israeli hero Seraph.
Chemical Lad and Mr. Robot fired on Black Lightning from a distance, so as not to risk touching his high-voltage force field. Meanwhile, Seraph's Samson-like strength and protective Mantle of Elijah got a workout against Cap and Bucky. Captain Republican tried to use Paula's mind-warping smoke against him, but Seraph shrugged it off ("My mind is not so easily clouded, because The Lord is always foremost in my thoughts!"). He had better luck with Huntress, and she ended up firing crossbow bolts into several of her allies. Isis battered the villains with tornado-force winds, but turned out to be a bit of a "glass cannon" once they turned their attention to her. The Atom lasted longer than the rest, his tiny size making him almost impossible to hit, and his little fists, backed with his full 200 lb. weight, hit like high-caliber bullets. But as the other heroes fell around him, he realized he was fighting a losing battle, and shrank out of sight to fight another day. And since the Atom and Ray Palmer were one and the same, the bad guys failed at their kidnap mission, but still managed to get the conference cancelled.
[Loot Drops: Black Lightning's Belt (Electrical Field), Isis Amulet (Flight, Heightened Defense).]
Last but not least was the launching of a new weather satellite due to take place at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The villains' mysterious master had learned that it was actually a spy satellite, and they did not want any more "eyes in the sky" snooping on their schemes.
One cross-country plane ride later, the villains made it to the launch site, only to be confronted by a trio of defenders:
Animal Man, with the powers of any beast, bird, or insect,
The mutant Captain Comet,
And the quadruple-threat Ultra the Multi-Alien.
Alarmed by Captain Comet's mental blasts and his energy-sapping pistol [Devitalization Ray], the villains concentrated on taking him down first. Meanwhile, Ultra's magnetic hand was giving Mr. Roboto a tough time, and Animal Man alternated between elephantine strength and the healing powers of an earthworm to keep himself in the game.
Sometime after Comet fell, another player entered the field: Striding out of a doorway in time and space came the massively muscled OMAC, the One-Man Army Corps. He began talking to someone that no one else could see: "I understand, Brother Eye! I must make sure this ancient satellite launches, because it is the prototype of what you will become!"
(Animal Man: "Is he with you?"
Ultra: "I thought he was with you!")
OMAC's earth-shattering punches battered the villains, knocking Bucky out of the fight. His steel-hard skin repelled most of their counter-attacks. But as the other heroes fell, and the remaining villains dog-piled on top of him, even the One-Man Army Corps found himself out-gunned and overwhelmed. The villains were then able to sabotage the defenseless rocket and prevent the launch. As they did, they saw OMAC's form briefly morph into a much smaller, scrawnier form...and then vanish entirely.
The villains anonymous leader was now three steps further in their plans for conquest.
[Loot Drops: Animal Man's Harness (various animal abilities that can be used one time each), Captain Comet's Pistol (Devitalization Ray), OMAC's Belt (Armor+Absorption Effect).]
[The player characters earned 3 character points each, giving them a total of 172.]
