Savage Time #3: Strangers in a Savage Land!

[jkcarrier]

The Savage Time
Episode 3:
"Strangers in a Savage Land!"
Played on 07/01/23
Inspired by:
Savage Tales #1 by Stan Lee and John Buscema
Avengers #105 by Steve Englehart and John Buscema
(and various other Ka-Zar/Savage Land comics)

Roll Call:
Ant-Man
Batman
Booster Gold
Storm
The Wasp
Wolverine

Two new heroes join the fray:

Janet Van Dyne, aka The Wasp, receives word from the authorities that one of her old enemies has escaped federal prison: Elihas Starr, better known as Egghead. He's a ruthless mad scientist that she and her ex-husband Hank Pym fought many times over the years.

After escaping prison, Egghead and a group of unidentified henchmen hijacked a jet plane and headed north. They were last spotted near Antarctica. Whatever he's up to, it can't be good.

Wasp briefly considers calling in Hank to assist her in capturing Egghead, but thinks better of it. Instead, she calls in his replacement, the new Ant-Man, Scott Lang. Scott is eager to help, and together they charter a jet to follow Egghead's trail.

Egghead and his crew apparently ditched the stolen plane somewhere in Antarctica, and continued under their own power into the hidden valley known as "The Savage Land". A weird geological anomaly, The Savage Land has a tropical climate and is home to many extinct animals, including dinosaurs. Wasp uses her Avengers credentials to get clearance to enter the restricted zone, and she and Ant-Man continue by helicopter down into the mysterious jungle.

The international organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. maintains a base in the Savage Land, and the heroes start there. The base is under repair after a recent attack by the monstrous creature called Gog, and they learn that several other heroes are also here, with missions of their own: Storm and Wolverine from the mutant X-Men, the famous Batman of Gotham City, and the time-displaced Booster Gold.

The X-Men are here looking for a man named Karl Lykos, once known as the reptilian villain Sauron. Batman and Booster came here to prevent corrupt businessman Gregorian Falstaff from using the resources of the Savage Land to create weapons of mass destruction. They found and confronted Falstaff, but he was killed before he could reveal who he was working for.

Booster Gold also spins some tale about how the timeline has been corrupted by a teenager from the 75th Century, but it sounds pretty far-fetched.

S.H.I.E.L.D. was monitoring Egghead's descent into the Savage Land, and has his approximate location. Wasp and Ant-Man go to intercept him, inviting the other heroes to accompany them.

Game recap:

The now-larger troupe of heroes head for the village nearest to Egghead's approximate landing spot. This is the home of the Zebra-People, a multi-ethnic tribe whose members paint stripes on their bodies to more closely resemble each other ("Buncha hippies", according to Wolverine). A few of them spoke enough English to guide them to the landing spot where Egghead's transport set down.

Reaching the location, they find themselves surrounded by Egghead himself and his so-called Emissaries of Evil: The Black Knight on his flying horse, Equinox the Thermodynamic Man, The Hijacker (who keeps grumbling about his tank being stolen) with his multi-function Vario-Blaster, The armored Porcupine, and super-swift Whirlwind. "Well, if it isn't Janet Van Dyne," sneered Egghead. "I see you have new friends. Don't tell me the Avengers finally had the good sense to throw you out, like they did your feckless husband. Well, I've got some new friends too. Attack!"

The battle is joined, though for all his bravado, Egghead is the first to fall. The rest of the "Emissaries" soon follow suit. Under interrogation, they reveal the reason for their presence: Egghead had gotten word that Gregorian Falstaff had discovered something both valuable and deadly here in the Savage Land, and was hoping to acquire it for his own use. They don't know anything about its specific nature, however. Hijacker makes sure to mention that somebody snuck up on them while they weren't looking and made off with his mini-tank. "I go to all the trouble to transport it here, and then some freaking ninjas just drive it off!"

Luckily, in the open grasslands, the tank's tread marks are easy enough to follow. The heroes follow the trail to the ruins of an abandoned city. Years ago, it had been the home of the Sun God's Cult, when their numbers were much larger, but had fallen into disuse.

But it seems the ruins were no longer deserted. The heroes were ambushed by a group of Savage Land Mutates, natives who had been genetically altered by the villain Magneto to take on the X-Men: The frog-like Amphibius, four-armed Barbarus, the dwarf genius Brainchild, vertigo-inducing Equilibrius, the blind giant Gaza, and Lupo with his pet wolves. Leading the group was the man the X-Men had been looking for, Dr. Karl Lykos...having reverted back to his monstrous form of Sauron.

Sauron follows Storm into the air, eager to absorb her "delicious" life-energy, but a few well-placed lightning bolts dissuade him from this plan. On the ground, the Mutates fight with all the savagery of the Neanderthals they used to be, but prove to be no match for the good guys. They allude to someone they call "The Master", but know no more details. Sauron reverts back to human form, expressing regrets for what his alter ego had done.

In an adjoining chamber, they finally find the missing Ka-Zar; he and his sabre-tooth tiger companion Zabu have been tortured within an inch of their lives. Ka-Zar says they tried to get him to reveal the location of "my father's vault", but he refused...until they threatened to kill Zabu, at which point he capitulated. The vault contains the only known sample of a mineral called "Anti-Metal" -- it gives off vibrations that disintegrates any metal that comes near it. In the wrong hands, it would be the ultimate weapon of mass destruction.

Making sure that the Mutates and Sauron were secured, and Ka-Zar's wounds tended, the heroes make a beeline for the Anti-Metal Vault, noting that the tank treads were leading in that direction as well. Before long, they come upon the scene of the tank firing round after round at a large wood-and-stone door. Flanking the tank are a number of figures, very familiar to Batman: The venom-powered Bane, the sharpshooter Deadshot, the radioactive Doctor Phosphorus, the ace archer Merlyn, and the floral fatale Poison Ivy. They attack the heroes on sight, while the Tank continues to batter the vault door.

While most of the heroes concentrated on the villains, Ant-Man and the Wasp pounded the tank with giant punches and electric stings. The vehicle exploded, taking out most of the crew inside, but the two in charge were made of sterner stuff: the evil mastermind Ra's al Ghul, and his daughter Talia.

Talia begs her father not to kill Batman, so Ra's draws his sword and turns his attention elsewhere: "Ah, the one called Wolverine. They say you cannot be killed. Of course, they say the same thing about me..." A savage battle ensues, but the forces of good eventually triumph. Remembering the instructions of the time-traveling Anti-Lad, Booster Gold takes the Worlogog into the vault and towards the Anti-Metal, heedless of the fact that his high-tech suit is literally crumbling to pieces as he gets closer. He sets the Worlogog on the ore, then turns and runs. He barely has time to escape before a massive eruption of energy causes the mountain to implode and collapse in on itself, burying the Anti-Metal...hopefully forever.

The prisoners are taken back to S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, and Tanya Anderssen and Karl Lykos are reunited. She pleads with the heroes not to lock Karl away, and to let her take care of him. They remind her that he is in danger of turning back into a murderous monster at any moment, but she insists that she can "fix" him. The heroes are skeptical, but too tired to argue at this point. The robot Skeets confirms that the proper timeline has been restored.

The heroes prepare to go their separate ways, wondering if their paths will ever cross again...