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