New Gladiators #11b: Mother's Milk

[jkcarrier]

New Gladiators
Episode 11a:
"Mother's Milk"
Played on 12/03/2022
Inspired by:
"Mother's Milk" (Godsend: Agenda module by Matt B. Carter)

Roll Call:
Claw Master
The Dude (with Donny Kerabatsos)
Hulk
Sonic Boom
Walter Sobchak
Weather Wizard

Having dealt with the immediate threat of the zombie-like hordes of milk-loving townspeople, the heroes turned their attention to determining the cause of this strange behavior. Looking around, they saw that the citizens seemed to be pointedly avoiding two locations: the town's police department, and the Hightower Dairy on the edge of town. They opted to investigate the dairy first.

Inside, they saw none other than their old enemies The Amazing Floop Brothers (including Blastin' Butch, who'd contacted them earlier). Judging by the villains' milk moustaches and glassy stares, they too had been taken over by whatever was menacing the town. The Floops were attempting to batter down the door to the office of the CEO of the dairy. The Gladiators moved to subdue them.

Blastin' Butch
[Multi-Function Gear/Amulet (Heightened Expertise, Heightened Strength, Invulnerability, Power Blast]

Captain Floop
[Experience Levels, Flame Blast Gear, Force Field Gear, Heightened Intelligence]

Lodestone
[Arsenal Gear/Grenade Launcher (Darkness Control, Special Weapon, both with Area Effect), Heightened Attack, Heightened Strength, Siphon (Power Points, Area Effect)]

Psi Demon
[Heightened Intelligence, Heightened Strength, Natural Weaponry Gear, Telekinesis, Telepathy, Weaknesses: Special Requirement (Special Drug), Vulnerability (Attract Psychic Damage)]

Rocket Ma'am
[Arsenal Gear/Rockets (Sonic Blast, Poison/Venom, Power Blast), Flight Gear, Heightened Defense (Linked to Flight), Life Support]

Whippet
[Multi-Function Gear/Helmet (Heightened Senses: Full Hearing and Scent), Heightened Defense, Ice Blast Gear, Speed, Weakness (Distinctive: Noticeability)]

[Loot Drop: Blastin' Butch's Amulet (Invulnerability to Energy Damage), Captain Floop's Flame Gun (FLame Blast), Rocket Ma'am's Sonic Bomb (Sonic Blast w/Area Effect)}

Once the coast was clear, CEO Cedric Hightower emerged from the office with his twin sons Benjy and Reed. They had barricaded themselves inside once the townspeople had been taken over. Hightower mentioned that he and his sons were all lactose intolerant (ironic for the head of a dairy), confirming the heroes' suspicion that it was something in the milk that was turning people into automatons.

Hightower (with help from the Hulk) inspected the dairy equipment and determined that nothing there had been tampered with, leading him to conclude that whatever was tainting the milk must be happening at the source: the large pasture outside of town where they kept their cows.

Arriving at the field, the Gladiators found themselves assaulted by cattle that had been transformed into monsters. As the battle continued, they felt a rumbling under their feet, and emerging from the ground was a massive alien creature called a Chimeran. The Chimeran informed them that it had lain dormant under the pasture for centuries, slowly mutating the cattle above it to give milk that took over the minds of anyone who drank it. The absorbed psychic energy from it's minions finally allowed it to gain full power and movement again. Today, Sugar Creek...tomorrow, the world!

Bull Monster
[Density Increase, Natural Weaponry, Size Change (15' Tall), Speed]

Cow Skeletons
[Chemical Blast, Chemical Body, Energy, Heightened Endurance, Heightened Strength]

The Chimeran
[Armor, Disintegration Field, Disintegration Ray, Natural Weaponry, Size Change (24' Tall)]

[Loot Drop: Bull Monster's Tail (Size Change), Chimeran's Hide (Armor), Cow Skeleton's Skull (Energy)}

After a pitched battle, the heroes managed to knock out the Chimeran, ending its threat against the town, and the human race.

[Officially, the adventure should have ended there. But since I had an additional encounter planned for the police station in case they went there, and we had some time left in the session, we went ahead and ran it for funsies.]

At the police station, they saw a group of tourists locked up in the holding cells, being doused by high-pressure hoses full of milk in an apparent attempt to transform them into more zombies. Their captors were the Vigilantes, the team of heroes who had been pursuing the Floop Brothers when they all ended up in Sugar Creek and fell victim to the milk-borne virus. The Vigilantes and the Gladiators had a bit of a rivalry going, so the team weren't exactly heartbroken to have to fight them.

Condor
[Multi-Function Gear/Suit (Armor, Flight, Heightened Senses, Heightened Strength, Natural Weaponry)]

Kali
[Heightened Defense, Heightened Expertise, Power Blast Gear (Nunchuks), Special Weapon (Katana), Special Weapon (Shuriken)]

Shatterman
[Flight, Heightened Endurance, Vibratory Blast (with Ability Field)]

Skyhawk
[Flight, Heightened Senses, Power Blast]

[Loot Drop: Condor's Claws (Natural Weaponry), Kali's Harness (Heightened Defense)]

[The characters received 3 Character Points, giving them each a total of 145]