Sunday, March 18, 2018

Crusade: Clash beneath the Burial Mound - Issue 42



{Location: Everglades Florida}

The New Crusaders went to the path of the Burial Mound. There Black Orchid removed her mask and gloves and covered herself in the “darkness clothes” as she had before.

When she approached the boy, realized she knew him. It was John Croaker, the Indian boy she had talked to at the village. The boy that the doctor has falsely claimed had been attacked by a panther. John had claimed ardently that he had been attacked.

Since she had already met him, Black Orchid put back on her mask and gloves, dropping the “darkness clothes”.

“John,” Black Orchid said, “what are you doing hiding out here in the trees?”

Looking intently at her, he said, “I think I dimly remember you. The last few days or weeks are only a clouded memory to me, but when my ‘sight’ was clear again, I knew that something was not right at the reservation. You see, this black panther tale, I think, is not a real memory. I think somehow it was put in my mind.”

“I have been trying to figure out why. I think it is something the Shaman has been doing at night at the Burial Grounds. That is why I am here. I am trying to figure out what it is they are taking from the Burial Grounds to the Burial Mounds. … shh, they are coming …

 Black Orchid and the New Crusaders from where they were located could all see the path into the woods back towards the village. The Shaman and 8 other Indians emerged from the woods and walk towards the middle of the Burial Grounds. The 8 Indians carry four boxes, 2 per box. The boxes could vaguely be made out to appear to be coffins. They sat the boxes down at the command of the Shaman. The Indians began to dig.

“Strange”, John Croaker said, “They do not bury here anymore.”

After several long minutes, the Indians cease digging and the Shaman looked up and gazed searchingly around the area, as if he was making sure that they were unobserved. Appearing satisfied, he commanded the Indians again.

Form the holes dug, four bodies were lifted out and put into the coffins. Shaman led the Indians to the Burial Mound.

John Croaker stood up from where he was hiding. His bodied stiffened and he appeared to not see Black Orchid anymore. A few tense seconds later, his body relaxed. He pushed the bushes aside stepping onto the path. John walked up the path to the Burial Mound.

John walked down into the Burial Mound entrance, into a large chamber. He passed a pair of large wooden statues. These are both old and had no hidden meaning beyond their obvious archeological interest.

John walked along one side of the chamber until he reached the entrance to a smaller chamber. It had been hidden from view before. John entered into the smaller chamber.

In the chamber the Shaman was performing an ancient incantation. There were the eerie sounds of drums as if from beyond this world. Storm Clouds were appearing and growing at the top of the small chamber. Below the clouds was the source of the drumming, an Indian spirit was beating its tom-tom. There were 3 other spirits with it.




[12] At the sight of the spirits the Skink froze. The thought that the dead could be brought back to life shocked him. This realization brought back the memories of the horror of finding his father dead in his lab. “Could he have done more? What if he had tried to find Dr Arcane or Guardian Spirit back then? Would they have been able to bring Dr. Harris back?”

Doubts plagued him as Skink wondered if fear for his freedom had doomed his father, Henry forever.

[10] StrikeForce asked, “Adamas do want to dual rush the Shaman?”

Adamas said “Oh, yeah!  I haven't wanted to hit someone this bad since we fought Samhain...”

"Samhain? Sounds like an interesting story, would you tell me about it later?" StrikeForce replied.

Adamas used his ethereal vision to ensure he was attacking the actual Shaman, not some illusion. Once he knew for sure he went in blasting with his auto fire power blast.

All 5 blasts struck Shaman hard. The Indian Mystic collapsed incapacitated.

[ 7] StrikeForce followed Adamas as he auto fired. If Shaman was still able to attack, StrikeForce was prepared to engage him, but Shaman was out, StrikeForce attacked the next closest enemy which was the weaponless Spirit.

“You dare attack Asi-vaholo? Invader of our lands, my vengeance is at hand!”

Both of StrikForce’s escrima sticks hit the Spirit Warrior. Asi-vaholo was unhurt as the escrima sticks passed harmlessly through it.

{GM Note: Mighty Protectors has departed from V&V 2.1 where ability to damage is combined with ability to hit. Mighty Protectors separated it. StrikeForce can hit with escrima sticks which are a Blunt Kinetic damage attack. Non-Corporealness is completely immune to Blunt Kinetic damage when in the Non-Corporealness state. The escrima sticks passed harmlessly through Asi-vaholo’s body}

[ 7]  “At hand and administered are two different things. You are in the wrong time and place. Time to go back to the happy hunting grounds.” Manta-Man fired an electrical bolt at Asi-vaholo. The Aquatic Avenger’s shot missed.

[ 5] Asi-vaholo screamed in rage! “This is our sacred burial mound and these are my people to do with as I please!” Asi-vaholo waved his hands, the amulet around his neck glowed, and he spoke in a language none of the New Crusaders could understand. A fine red glow appeared around Asi-vaholo hands then released a beam toward Manta-Man.

When the beam struck Manta-Man, his body turned rigid. Manta-Man straightened into a “soldier at attention” like position. Manta-Man skinned transmuted into wood. He became a wooden statue like the two that were seen by the New Crusaders when they entered the burial mound.

[ 4] The Indian Spirit with the spear gave a loud war cry and moved toward Adamas. The Spirit Warrior stabbed his spear twice at Adamas, hitting both times. Adamas’ Invulnerability stopped the majority of the blows and he rolled with the rest.

{GM Note: In Mighty Protectors, invulnerability isn’t an all or nothing defense, that stops everything until it is gone then it stops nothing. The Spear did 11 points of sharp kinetic damage on the first hit. Invulnerability stopped ¾ of the damage which was 8 points. 3 damages points made it through which Adamas rolled with -3 PP. The Spear did 16 points of sharp kinetic damage on the second hit. Invulnerability -12 points and -4 Power Points.}

[ 3] The Indian Spirit with the bow shoot 2 arrows at StrikeForce. Both of them hit his armor barely penetrating, StrikeForce rolled with the damage.

{GM Note: In Mighty Protectors, armor isn’t ablative (reducing for damage taken) or has to be rolled to see if it blocks (ADR % roll). It works every time for the type of damage it protects from. The first Arrow did 8 points of sharp kinetic damage. StrikeForce’s armor stopped 6 points and -2 Power Points for the rolled damage. The second Arrow did 9 points of sharp kinetic damage, armor -6 points and -3 Power Points for rolling with damage.}

[ 3] The Black Orchid steeled herself and threw out a blob of darkness in front of where John was hiding. "Stay behind that." She watched the attacks and tried to analyze who might be most vulnerable to her vacuum blast. She wasn’t able to determine who was vulnerable to her vacuum blast.

{GM Note: In Mighty Protectors, this is called a Perception Test. It is a roll of d20 vs. Intelligence save of 14-. So a 14 or less needs to be rolled. Black Orchid rolled an 18. Mighty Protectors does allow Save rolls to be improved by effort (spending power points). For 2 Power Points, Black Orchid can increase the Intelligence Save to 16-.}

[ 2] The Indian Spirit with the drum started chanting and playing the drum. It moved from the small inner room of the burial mound into the larger outer room, past Adamas, StrikeForce, and Manta-Man. The Spirit Warrior chanted louder and sped up the tempo of his drum playing. The mystical drum began to vibrate. A force wave for vibration launched from the drum at Skink. The vibration blast missed Skink.

The Indian chanted, “Ai – Ah – Oi- Ai –Ah – Oi”

The drum beat.

Bum-a-Brum Bum-a-Brum Bum-a-Brum Bum-a-Brum Bum-a-Brum Bum-a-Brum




<Turns and Actions due March 11th>

Battle Conditions (Mighty Protectors character data):
Adamas                        Hit Points:   24  Power Points:   60        
Black Orchid                 Hit Points:   24  Power Points:   92         Visible
StrikeForce                  Hit Points:   31  Power Points:   93        
The Skink                     Hit Points:   24  Power Points:   82         Attack Style: Defensive
Manta Man                    Hit Points:     1  Power Points:   66        


Phase of Action for next turn:
[11]       Skink (2 actions, Held action from last turn and this turn)
[10]       Adamas
[ 7]       StrikeForce
[ 7]       Black Orchid
[ 4]       Manta-Man

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
OOC: So Gentlemen, how do you want to proceed?

Jamey
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It looks to me like the Shaman is behind this, and it needs to stop. 

Adamas will use his vision powers to find the Shaman.

Jon
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Shaman is standing beneath the storm cloud and the Indian Spirits

Tom
----------------------------------------------------------------------
OOC: This doesn't look good. Jon, does Adamas want to dual rush the shaman?

Jamey
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, yeah!  I haven't wanted to hit someone this bad since we fought Samhain...

Adamas will use his ethereal vision to ensure he's attacking the actual Shaman, not some illusion.  The he'll go in blasting.  Autofire...

Jon
----------------------------------------------------------------------
OOC: StrikeForce will follow Adamas as he auto fires. If the first option is still able to attack, StrikeForce will engage him, but if he is out, then StrikeForce will attack the next closest enemy.

IC: "Samhain? sounds like an interesting story, would you tell me about it later?"

Jamey
---------------------------------------------------------------------
I think Tom has it documented on the Megalopolis website... is that still up?

Jon
---------------------------------------------------------------------
I believe that it is. I was attempting to have it be interaction between our characters. I guess that I wasn't clear enough, sorry.

Jamey
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The Black Orchid steels herself (activates Willpower) and throws out a blob of darkness in front of where John is hiding. "Stay behind that." She'll then watch the attacks and try to analyze who might be most vulnerable to her vacuum blast (since it looks like everyone else is jumping in and she's used her actions for this round)

Marc
----------------------------------------------------------------------