New Gladiators #15: The Pack

[jkcarrier]

New Gladiators
Episode 15:
"The Pack"
Played on 2/10/2024
Resources used:
"Shadows of the City" (Champions module by Scott Sigler)
"Intercrime: Hostile Takeover" (V&V module by Jeff Dee)
"Market Forces" (V&V module by Stephen Dedman)
"Mercenaries" (V&V module by Darren Tenor)
"To Dream, To Conquer, To Rule" (V&V module by Steve Effler, Dan Jones and Foster Coker)
"Vigilantes International" (V&V module by Ken Cliffe)

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

The police alerted the Gladiators to the presence of a vigilante calling himself "Mongrel". He and his paramilitary group, "The Pack", had been targeting drug dealers, suppliers and kingpins. Which might not normally be a problem, but the Pack had a serious problem with collateral damage -- several undercover cops and innocent civilians had been killed in the crossfire of their "crusade". In their latest raid, on the mansion of Mafia kingpin Don Ballado, they killed not only Ballado and his mobsters, but the Don's entire family. They also made off with the Don's laptop computer. The police were able to pull backups from the cloud, and came up with a list of upcoming drug shipments. The next shipment was due to hit Cincinnati the very next night, and the Gladiators were asked to intercept it (particularly because The Pack was likely to show up).

The heroes arrived at the appointed hour, and heard a commotion already happening on the ship carrying the drugs. Mongrel was nowhere in sight, but he'd sent his Pack to the scene:

CYBERIAN HUSKY
[Adaptation, Density Change (Increase), Natural Weaponry (with Devitalization Ray Carrier), Speed, Unliving]

DOBERMAN
[Heightened Agility, Heightened Endurance, Natural Weaponry, Physical Ability (Super Leap, Wall-Crawling), Regeneration, Speed, Phobia (Water)]

HELLHOUND
[Flame Abilities (Flame Aura, Flame Blast, Fiery Flight), Heightened Endurance, Heightened Senses (Infrared)]

ROTTWEILER
[Heightened Strength, Regeneration, Sonic Blast, Lowered Intelligence]

WAR DOG
[Heightened Agility, Heightened Endurance, Heightened Expertise, Special Weapon (Knife, Rifle)]

The Pack prided themselves on being smart and organized, but largely lacked the firepower to truly threaten the Gladiators. As members began to get taken out, the field leader War Dog called up a group of foot soldiers in a heavily-armed and armored van.

PACK MINIONS
[Armor, Communicators, Disintegration Ray Device (Pistol), Heightened Expertise, Low Self-Control (Obeys extreme orders)]

BATTLE VAN
[Armor, Power Blast (Missile Launcher), Special Weapon (Recoilless Rifle), Speed]

The Minions tried to gather the fallen Pack members into the Van to escape, but Walter was able to dive in and tear off the steering wheel, putting an end to that plan. They then scattered and fled on foot in different directions. Some got away, but Cyberian Husky and Hellhound were captured. Searching the ship, they found that the entire crew had been killed, but they were able to recover the drug shipment.

[Loot Drops: Anchor (Grapnel), Life Jacket (Life Support)]

The captured Pack members weren't talking, and the Gladiators were temporarily stymied. Word on the street was that the drug trade was being strongly affected by Mongrel's attacks: There were fewer dealers working, and prices were skyrocketing. The various crime factions -- the Mafia, the Columbians, and the Jamaicans -- all thought that Mongrel was working for one of the others.

Several days later, a bulletin came in of a savage gunfight between the Mafia and Columbian forces in the nearby town of Milford. The heroes had a hunch that the Pack might turn up, so they raced to the scene. The Columbians were in the middle of the street, hiding behind their cars and trading shots with the Mafia troops holed up in a nearby gas station.

But as the heroes arrived, they realized they'd been lured into a trap. The "mobsters" were all working for the Pack, and the members (including the leader, Mongrel) were hiding out in various places around the scene:

BULLDOG
[Heightened Expertise, Heightened Strength, Invulnerability (Kinetic), Size Change (Smaller), Weakness Detection, Low Self-Control (Goes into rage if his height is insulted), Natural Weaponry (only when raging)]

DOBERMAN
[Heightened Agility, Heightened Endurance, Natural Weaponry, Physical Ability (Super Leap, Wall-Crawling), Regeneration, Speed, Phobia (Water)]

MONGREL
[Armor, Heightened Agility, Heightened Expertise, Natural Weaponry, Power Blast Device (Grenade), Special Weapon (Rifle), Personal Problem (Public Identity), Nemesis (Rival drug lords)]

MOONDOG
[Armor, Heightened Agility, Heightened Endurance, Heightened Strength, Natural Weaponry, Size Change (Larger), Speed, Vulnerability (Heat Energy)]

ROTTWEILER
[Heightened Strength, Regeneration, Sonic Blast, Lowered Intelligence]

With more manpower on their side, and the heroes scattered around the battlefield, the Pack gave a better accounting of themselves this time. Still, they eventually began to fall, and once again they called in the Battle Van (this time driven by Doberman) to try and withdraw. The heroes managed to blow out one of the Van's tires, and successfully grabbed Mongrel and Rottweiler, but the others managed to escape.

[Loot Drops: Bag of Chips (Healing), Bucket of Water (De-activates Ability Fields)]

Unlike his troops, Mongrel was more than willing to talk about his "brilliant plan", confident that the heroes would be helpless to stop it. He confirmed the heroes' suspicion that he was trying to take over the drug trade, not destroy it, by eliminating the competition. The next phase of his scheme was to bring in all the drugs he'd stolen from the other gangs, sell them cheap, and therefore cement himself as the biggest drug lord in the region.

The drugs had been hidden on a passenger train heading for Cincinnati, and several of the Pack were on board in disguise. The plan was to hijack the train, ram it at top speed into the station, and in the resulting chaos, they would retrieve the drugs and carry them off. The heroes checked the train schedules and realized that the hijacking had already happened, and the train was rapidly heading their way.

Working quickly, the Gladiators caught up to the train as it went under an overpass, and jumped onto the engine car. Sonic Boom immediately climbed down between cars, and was able to figure out how to de-couple the rest of the cars from the engine. As the rest of the cars began to fall behind, the remaining Pack crew (except War Dog, who was manning the engine controls) climbed up to the roof of the engine and attacked:

BULLDOG
[Heightened Expertise, Heightened Strength, Invulnerability (Kinetic), Size Change (Smaller), Weakness Detection, Low Self-Control (Goes into rage if his height is insulted), Natural Weaponry (only when raging)]

DOBERMAN
[Heightened Agility, Heightened Endurance, Natural Weaponry, Physical Ability (Super Leap, Wall-Crawling), Regeneration, Speed, Phobia (Water)]

HOUND
[Heightened Expertise, Heightened Intelligence, Heightened Senses (Tracking Scent), Heightened Strength, Willpower (Fortitude), Pistol (Special Weapon with Ice Blast Contact attack)]

MOONDOG
[Armor, Heightened Agility, Heightened Endurance, Heightened Strength, Natural Weaponry, Size Change (Larger), Speed, Vulnerability (Heat Energy)]

STREET WOLF
[Heightened Attack, Heightened Defense, Heightened Expertise, Special Weapon (Sai, Pistol)]

WAR DOG
[Heightened Agility, Heightened Endurance, Heightened Expertise, Special Weapon (Knife, Rifle)]

Hound and Moondog were in the rear section of the train, and so had to leap the rapidly-growing gap between the engine and the rest of the cars. Moondog made it handily, but Hound stumbled and fell between cars, crushed under the wheels. RIP Hound, we hardly knew ye.

When Weather Wizard summoned a thunderstorm, the hydrophobic Doberman ducked back into the engine. Some of the heroes followed him, and the battle raged simultaneously outside and inside. With no escape route this time, the Pack fought to the last man -- which was Bulldog, who finally surrendered. Faced with the control console of a runaway train, Walter played a hunch [successfully rolled an Intelligence save with a -6 penalty!], and managed to stop the engine successfully. The city was safe, and the drug trade was severely crippled, a win all around.

[Loot Drops: Instant Tunnel (Teleportation), Lump of Coal (Energy), Train Whistle (Sonic Blast)]

[The characters received 3 Character Points, giving them each a total of 160]

NOTES:
* I have a bad habit of underestimating how much damage the PCs can soak up -- and how much they can dish out. As a result, the Pack ended up being a bit underwhelming. Gotta beef up the opposition.

* In particular, since they were "paramilitary" themed, the Pack relied a lot on conventional firearms and martial arts, which the PCs are especially resistant to (because of Ability Fields, etc.). Need to switch up the damage types more.

* The module emphasized how tactical and organized the Pack were, especially in terms of having escape plans. I tried to implement that in the game, but didn't do a very good job. Especially in the first encounter on the docks, there was a bit of miscommunication: the players thought I was trying to force an escape by DM fiat, so they gave up chasing them. Which I mistook for them just not being interested in pursuing, so more of the Pack members got away than should have. I keep telling the players that they should not be trying to guess what I "want" them to do, but just do what makes sense to them. But it's hard to break through that "metagaming" mindset (I'm just as guilty of it when I'm playing). There was also a bit in the module about how the Pack had planted explosives on some of the other ships, and would set them off to cover their escape, and I just plain forgot about it.

* Since I knew at least some of the Pack were going to get captured along the way, I had various "dog-themed" villains from other sourcebooks in reserve to replenish the ranks as needed. "Hound" was the least interesting, so I didn't add him in until the very end. And of course, he immediately died after missing a very easy jump. I didn't plan it, but it was hilarious.