Savage Time #1: A Fast Descent Into Hell

[jkcarrier]

Since one of our regular players is out of town for a few weeks, I volunteered to run a "one-shot" to fill the gap. For a change of pace, I asked the remaining players to pick a low-to-medium powered Marvel or DC superhero, and I built an adventure around their choices.

The Savage Time
Episode 1:
"A Fast Descent Into Hell"
Played on 06/10/23
Inspired by:
Marvel Fanfare #1 by Chris Claremont & Michael Golden
Astonishing Tales #3-4 by Gerry Conway & Barry Smith
Uncanny X-Men #115-116 by Chris Claremont & John Byrne
(and various other Ka-Zar/Savage Land comics)

Roll Call:
Batman
Booster Gold
Storm
Wolverine

The introduction I wrote to explain how everyone got together:

BATMAN and BOOSTER GOLD:

Booster turns up at Wayne Enterprises, demanding to see Bruce Wayne. Batman has worked with him before in the Justice League, and while he's not crazy about his greed and publicity-seeking, he knows he's basically a good guy, so he agrees to see him.

Booster explains that his robot assistant Skeets has detected an anomaly in the time stream. His "future history" records keep shifting. Apparently the turning point is that a man named Gregorian Falstaff (a business rival of Wayne's) finds a mysterious resource in a remote part of the world. This resource allows him to build Weapons of Mass Destruction, which he sells to the highest bidder. The resulting wars wipe out the human race. This is not what is supposed to happen.

The location where Falstaff finds this resource is a hidden valley in Antarctica called The Savage Land. Surrounded by mountains, the Savage Land is well below sea level and the geothermal activity below give it a tropical climate. The land is populated by primitive tribesmen and extinct animals, including dinosaurs. Like the rest of Antarctica, it is considered a "scientific preserve", and military action is prohibited there. Many nations have "research bases" at various places on the continent, but the only base within the Savage Land itself is manned by the international organization, S.H.I.E.L.D.

This timeline business seems more of a job for Flash or Superman, but the JLA's "heavy hitters" are all off-planet at the moment. Batman agrees to investigate, and as Bruce Wayne he pulls some strings to get permission for Wayne Enterprises to conduct a "survey" of the region. Wayne and his "assistant" Michael Carter travel to the U.S. research base at McMurdo Station, and from there board a helicopter bound for the Savage Land.

To their surprise, they are not the only passengers on board. There is a young woman named Tanya Anderssen, who says she is looking for her fiancé, Dr. Karl Lykos, who went missing in this area years ago. She believes he is somewhere in the Savage Land. With her are a short, bad-tempered fellow who goes by Logan, and a tall, strikingly-beautiful African woman named Ororo. They seem...odd.

WOLVERINE and STORM:

Professor X calls Logan and Ororo into his office and introduces them to a woman named Tanya Anderssen. She has come to the Professor looking for help in finding her fiancé, Dr. Karl Lykos. She had previously believed he was dead, but she saw a photograph in a magazine recently that she is sure is Karl.

Lykos has history with the X-Men. He had an ability to drain the life-force from other people, making him stronger while weakening them. He would take small amounts of his patients' energy to sustain himself, but when he was called upon to treat the mutant named Havok, he felt a huge surge of life-energy that transformed him into a pterodactyl-like creature. Driven mad with power, he renamed himself "Sauron" and attacked the original X-Men to get more mutant energy. The battle ended in the mountains of Tierra Del Fuego in South America. In a moment of lucidity, Lykos threw himself off the mountainside rather than give in to his evil side. He has not been seen since.

However, National Geographic recently ran an article about The Savage Land, a hidden valley in Antarctica which has a tropical climate and is home to primitive tribes and extinct species (including dinosaurs). Tanya points to a figure in the background of one of the photos that she is sure is Karl Lykos. There's some resemblance, but it's hardly conclusive. But Tanya is convinced that Karl survived his fall and made his way to nearby Antarctica. She wants to go there and find him, and she knows that the X-Men have some experience with the Savage Land, so she is asking them to accompany her. She offers a generous donation to the charity of your choice in exchange.

While the original X-Men have been to the Savage Land before, Storm and Wolverine have not*. But the Professor asks them to look into the situation, both for Tanya's sake, and to determine if Lykos (assuming he's still alive) is still a threat to humanity.

The Professor makes arrangements for Tanya, Logan, and Ororo to travel to McMurdo Station, the U.S.'s research base on the Antarctic continent. From there, they will be flown by helicopter to the S.H.I.E.L.D. base within the Savage Land.

Strangely, they find that there are other "tourists" on board. The famous billionaire Bruce Wayne is here, along with an "assistant" he introduces as Michael Carter. Apparently, they're here to scout out possible natural resources to exploit, although such things are currently forbidden by international treaty. Wayne is charming, but a bit vapid, and his stooge seems downright dim. But somehow the X-Men sense there's more to them than meets the eye...

(*Editor's Note: Wolverine and Storm did indeed visit the Savage Land, back in Uncanny X-Men #114-116. Consider this an "alternate world" version of that classic tale! - Continuity-Keepin' Kev)

The recap of the actual adventure:


As the heroes' helicopter descends through the perpetual cloud cover that conceals the Savage Land, they abruptly cross paths with a giant Pterodactyl. The collision tears the copter's rotors to pieces, and the pilots call for everyone to bail out. Several of the passengers' parachutes fail to open, but Booster and Storm are able to surreptitiously guide everyone to the ground safely.

The group has landed several miles north of their destination, and begin the long trek towards the S.H.I.E.L.D. base. Along the way, they stumble into a battle between a Triceratops and a Stegosaurus. The two creatures put aside their differences and decide to gobble up theses tasty little mammals instead. Putting aside any secret identity concerns, the heroes fight back as the two pilots try to get Tanya Anderssen to safety. Claws, Batarangs, lightning bolts, and energy blasts turn out to be highly effective deterrents, and the two titanic beasts are soon chased off.

Further down the trail, Wolverine picks up the scent of several humans in the trees above, and the heroes are surrounded by a group of very angry native tribesmen. They skirmish briefly, before their leader, Seesha (the only one among them who speaks English) calls for a pause in the fighting. She demands to know why the outsiders attacked the village of the Fall People, and what they have done with the people they kidnapped (including her husband, Tongah). The heroes manage to convince them that they were not the ones responsible, and promise to keep an eye out for any sign of Tongah and the others.

Finally reaching the S.H.I.E.L.D. outpost, the heroes are greeted by the agent in charge, Bobbi Morse. She has been instructed by Director Nick Fury to give them S.H.I.E.L.D.'s full cooperation. When they explain their respective missions, Morse admits that she has no information on either Karl Lykos or Gregorian Falstaff. She suggests they make contact with the man known as Ka-Zar; he grew up in the Savage Land, knows the territory like the back of his hand, and there's very little that goes on here without him knowing about it. (She also lets slip that the two of them had a brief affair many years ago, but it didn't work out because he prefers to live out in nature, and she "was too fond of indoor plumbing").

Morse gives them the location of Ka-Zar's tree house, and they set out once more, with Tanya still insistent on accompanying them. Reaching Ka-Zar's home they find his wife, Shanna, tending to the wounds of her pet leopard Ina. She had gone out with her other leopard, Biri, to gather food. When they returned, they found Ka-Zar and his sabre-tooth tiger Zabu missing, Ina injured, and signs of a struggle. Ka-Zar has no shortage of enemies who might want to take a shot at him, but Shanna mentions that he had expressed concern that the evil Sun Cult had become active again recently, after years of laying low. She suspects they may be the ones responsible. She isn't able to lead them herself, since she has to take care of Ina, but she gives them directions to the Temple of the Sun.

Stealthily approaching the temple, they see the Sun Cultists gathered for what appears to be a human sacrifice to their living god, Garokk the Petrified Man. High Priestess Zaladane leads the ritual, while Pterodactyl-riding Sky Demons keep watch overhead. One of the sacrifices, tied to obelisks surrounding the altar, matches the description of Tongah of the Fall People.

Detecting the intruders, Zaladane saddled up another Pterodactyl to lead the Sky Demons in an aerial assault with javelins and crude firebombs, while the other Sun Cultists attacked with axes. Living up to his Sun God status, Garokk fired beams of solar energy from his eyes. Charging into the fray, Storm and Booster soon realized that their own energy-based attacks were only making Garokk stronger, so they withdrew to deal with the others, while Wolverine and Batman assaulted the Petrified Man "the old-fashioned way".

Zaladane attempted to use her magic to steal Storm's powers, but only siphoned off a small fraction before the Wind-Rider could zap her into unconsciousness. It became apparent that Garokk was also drawing strength from his hostages, so the heroes moved quickly to free them, diminishing his power further. Eventually, a final blow from Wolverine reduced the Sun God to a pile of ash. With their leaders defeated, the other Sun Cultists fled into the jungle.

Tongah and the other prisoners thanked their rescuers. Tongah told them that Ka-Zar was not here, but he had seen a group of Swamp Men descending on the tree house before he himself had been captured by the Sky Demons. If the Swamp Men have Ka-Zar, then his life is in deadly danger.

To be continued...