Well, August 26 was fun-but it was followed by a 56 hour work week, then a week i've not yet finished and already made 39 hours...
And of course the Counter-Earth Cold War chooses this week to turn Hot as Germany tries a probe into Russia's defenses, got swatted hard when Baba Yaga let her Winter Guard loose, but we still had to show up at the Diplomatic functions afterwards...guess we're officially Allies now. I've literally overdosed on the Zeta Beam commutes lately-
(sees order99 approach with baked potato)
Oh, beef gravy and shredded cheddar, that looks good!
(goes into kitchen and makes potato)
(approaches order99 at computer desk)
//Chrono-spatial Loop closed//
Whoa. Zeta Vu....
Anyway, my Report is a bit late...
***
August 26, 2023:
It was never expected to be a big convention-the Community Center had a maximum capacity of 65 persons. Also, our Elfgames had to compete with a lovely sunny day and directions which caused Google Maps a tizzy (it recognizes a North and a South Hwy 403 even though the official designation is East/West...sigh). Even so, we got a decent 25 persons-and nearly half of them were slated to run an event.
So after the other groups had settled in, the rest of us went into 'standby mode' for a few hours with a game of Talisman and some Funny War Stories...
At roughly 2:30 we decided that nobody else was showing, scrapped the unused portion of the Program and decided to form our own little play group. Voting on the game ended up being a tie between the 'Retrofuturistic Gonzo' of
Star Frontiers vs the 'Literally Anything Goes' of
Hideouts & Hoodlums...it was a tie-but then I won because I had Pre-gens...
(Spinning Newspapers Intro!)
Lakefront City was under attack! Last week a warehouse near the docks was invaded by 'strange metal men' who casually walked away with a cargo of nickel and iron plates, a barrel of Industrial-strength lye and a box of medical-grade Lithium bound for a local pharmacy. A Shotgun wielded by a brave Teamster was utterly ineffective-
("That Lithium was MINE!!!!" emotes Tedd (The Insomniac) Raines. "I only have a week's worth of my Mind Booster Serum left!")
( "Yeah, we need to talk about the possible side effects of that stuff Teddy," returns Todd (The Hound) Howard. "Seriously, those mood swings of yours are getting worse...")
Two days ago Roland's Jewelry was invaded by the Metal Men in broad daylight! Three of them simply walked through the mesh-reinforced glass like it wasn't there and helped themselves-but left the most valuable pieces completely untouched, taking only sapphires and rubies regardless of cut or quality, leaving the rare ten carat "Reid Water Diamond" inside its reinforced display case! How bizarre-
("Great Mictlan Plains!" emotes Sheila (Miss No One) Miklos, "My girlfriend works there! I must....er, that is, an associate of mine might have valuable information. We must speak-privately".)
("So," replies the Editor, "i'm assuming that was an internal dialogue there?")
( "Well it was a softly muttered one at least! A Sapphic Romance in 1935? No one must know of our Forbidden Passion!")
(Editor shrugs as the Other Tables wonder just what kind of a Game we're running and Katie's husband chokes on his Mountain Dew mid-guffaw)
( "I...don't get it?' replies nearby Ray (Mannikin) Adelier,getting into character as an Android and former Iron Lung patient raised on Spicy Pulp Magazines. "What's so secret about you and Gwendol-")
("SHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!")
Last night the Lakefront Credit Union was broken into, alarms silenced and locks artfully picked-but the steel Vault was peeled open like a can of tuna! Stocks, bonds, jewelry, silver-all untouched. Missing items were gold bullion(24 carat only!) and some pieces with sapphire and ruby components-
(House Rule-Synchronized Wrecking:If characters are within one level of each other in Wrecking Ability they may join together and contribute a Bonus Die per effective member. Even with Wynorski's extra Wrecking Die vs Structures and three assistants it would have realistically taken between 20-40 minutes to Wreck the (admittedly inferior) vault...)
Time for a meeting at the White Lodge. Private Eye Todd Howard has the best relationship with Lakefront PD, so he and Tedd Raines actually stand a chance of getting access to the Credit Union. Once there, Raines' serum-enhanced Skills and Howard's almost supernatural sense of smell(devloped during years of former blindness) yield the following:
-oversized gouges in the steel made by massive hands (the Hussar Waldoes)
-traces of an advanced alloy scraped from same
-an overpowering smell of peroxide and traces of a jasmine perfume
Sheila Miklos and Ray Adelier travel to Roland's for a chat-Sheila catches Gwen Zieman during her lunch break and makes conversation over chicken salad and rye, while Ray politely introduces himself as an Insurance Adjuster (the real one will pop up mere minutes after they leave!) and they glean the following:
-a detailed description of the Metal Men from those with an eye for fine details. Heavy, quilted suits with gleaming interlocking plating, skull-like faces and muffled yet grating voices, thick shoulders and spine as if they were all hunchbacked, hands about 2:1 proportion-and strange, winglike engraving on the wrists and ankles. Who would put a delicate Maker's Mark on a Metal Man?
-one of the janitors had a Kodak periscope camera and took several decent photos of the Metal Men, several copies were just developed at the drugstore, here's one for you Sir.
-Gwen overheard one of the Metal Men asking 'when they were going after the Radium' only to be chastised by another for 'breaking Operations Protocols', whatever that meant.
Sheila racks her brain over that 'engraver's mark', she knows it from somewhere (roll=5+1 from History/Archaeology). But why would someone mark Metal Men with the Coat of Arms of the Polish Winged Hussars?
Outside the jewelers, Howard and Raines have caught up to the other two. They retire to a nearby coffee shop and pool their clues-the tech-minded Adelier postulates that the Metal Men are powered by an advanced Fuel Cell of some kind with a peroxide component-possibly electrolytic-
(I try so hard not to applaud... )
-that the Metal Men are either advanced radio-controlled devices or vehicles piloted by people, powerful and bullet-resistant. That the components taken so far are perfectly in line with either the 'fuel cell' theory but can also be used to make large amounts of alkaline batteries much like the Edison Nickel-iron cells. That both ruby and sapphire have unusual properties in the embryonic field of Cohered-light Theory. That if the Metal Men want more of those gems then the Lakefront Museum of Culture (Sheila Miklos, co-curator) would be next on the list-but if they skip to the Radium then Lakefront General is the only place in 250 miles with access due to MIT's recent experiments in Human Enhancement (Ray Adelier, Patient Zero)-
"-and that's why the culprits are obviously Martian Time Travelers, out to immunize their ancestors so that the invasion can re-commence!" finishes the Android proudly. The other three just sigh...
Three squad cars with lights and siren speed past Our Heroes in the direction of Lakefront General-must be the Radium.
Go Time.
End Act One.
We take a quick break for snacks and beverages, and a Player finishing up his D&D 5th Edition wants to know if he can join. He picks Jack (The First Response) Griffith, so when we reconvene I start him off at Lakefront General.
Act Two:
Four Metal Men crash through the Hospital doors like they weren't there, wreathed in thick black smoke. One of them begins randomly questioning anybody in Hospital whites about Radium while the others make short work of the guards, slowly traveling towards the Atrium. From there, three split off and head to Records for some reason-while one heads left with fast, thudding tread...
Jack hears the intruder before he sees him, and is already in costume (Public ID) and so manages to lock the door behind him as the metal intruder nears. And decides on the best plan he can manage.
"I surrender," he states simply. "Tell me what you want, promise to leave when you're done, and i'll get you whatever it is. I'm not sure what's in that black smoke trickling out of your right cuff-but it can't do my patients in there any good".
"What I want," rasped the metal monster, "Is the Radium stored in that room."
The First Response opens the door, remaining in the door frame. There are a half-dozen oxygen tents in use. "You're going off the plans we submitted to City Hall four years ago, aren't you? We remodeled since then-anything even remotely dangerous is in the basement-even the X-ray machinery and plates. I'm a man of my word-follow me down and i'll give you all ten pounds of it."
"My intel says you have twelve."
"Also out of date. At least one pound was used to make me. It was in the Papers last year-which means you aren't local. We have a Deal?"
The Metal Man looms over the EMT. "No. Tricks."
"Those people," snarls the hero in response,"are worth a blasted mountain of radium to me! Take what i'm offering-or By God I will introduce you to the concept of battlefield triage"!
"Deal," laughs the intruder. "i'm watching you though" (two Karma for both playing his Hangup and understanding True Heroism).
The other four Heroes arrive in costume, avoid getting shot by the rookie cops and get waved through by the Chief of Police-who wears the White Rose ring himself, and knows what's up. Hound and The Insomniac point out the carpet marks where there was a split-Hound and Mannikin turn down one path, Insomniac cautiously heads down the other-and Miss No One turns Invisible with a spell. These Metal Men don't seem to be holding hostages, and many panicked folk are headed outside...but there are those guards who were knocked out and restrained, confused or terrified patients who either wander in circles or hide behind furniture. Miss No One spends the rest of the Adventure casting no Spells and making no attacks, instead gently whispering encouragement and instructions to the hysterical, spreading calm and insight, organizing a careful exodus of people from the building...those who cannot be moved are tended to by the remaining staff. Lakefront General will soon be awash in rumors of an Invisible Angel of Mercy (three Karma for multiple Good Deeds).
Hound and Mannikin track their prey to the basement stairs, where they see and hear a Fellow Member conversing with one of the Metal Intruders. Hound attacks with twin Whisper Guns-that ping gently off of the enemy's armored back.
"You idiots!" screams the First Response,"He was going to leave! They were all-URK!" The intruder decides The Truce is over and grabs the EMT in a metal grip(grappling combat) The Hero responds with a point-blank Electroblast right into the helmet! (7 points damage) and the Metal Man screams in agony...Mannikin decides that he wants some of that Grappling Action and launches (Natural 20!). Well, the injured Hussar was not expecting a full-body headlock from what appears to be a Human Python!
The next few Combat Turns are a haze of adrenaline as Our Heroes fail to penetrate AC 15 but the Hussar is too hampered by a full-sized Android wrapped around his helmet to capitalize...Mannikin declines to damage the Metal Man in order to make Wrecking Rolls, but 'Large Robot' remains out of reach. Meanwhile First Response has activated Wreck at Range (useful for victims trapped in debris) but though the armor creaks and groans and looses a few screws to the magnetic assault it holds...right up until a 19 by Hound puts a plastic bullet right through an eyepiece.
The Hussar is Down-sadly, he falls the rest of the way down the stairs and the weighty suit breaks his neck. Angels sing thee to thy Rest Sam Wynorski....
The Insomniac peers around a corner and spots three Hussars going through Records. Irate at the loss of his precious Lithium (the last time he went off his serum he lost his Abilities and had a week's worth of nightmares!) decides to boldly attack all three of them at once!
The Hussars are caught in the gently flashing All Seeing Eye(+2 to Strike for our Mysteryman). One ignores the foe, the other two get ready for a fight-but the Surprise Attack (and an 18+2 roll) result in a Head Blow! As the Hussar runs towards Our Hero at great speed the latter simply sidesteps and launches Brass Knuckles across the back of the helmet-and while the helmet prevents the Head Blow Effects it does not stop the Hussar from barreling into the wall for 5 points of damage! Next Turn the Insomniac gets Initiative but decides to hold it-the second Hussar takes flight and Barrel Rolls towards the vigilante-but bolstered by the All Seeing Eye he gets a 17-and a heavy Dart does full damage (3 points) to the airborne villain, sliding between the armored plates and into his neck! Despite the Hussar's high Morale, he fails the check. "INDIGO!" he screams, and the third Hussar tosses a heavy desk at Our Hero (barely missing) and then seems to fade into the woodwork as the other two rush straight through the window and cannonball over to another rooftop, then away... Cole Richards, Kenneth and Barbara Dahl have made their escape, but with no files to show for it. The two on the floor(dropped by the escaping Hussar) read 'Griffith, Jackson' and 'Adelier, Raymond'..DUN-DUH-DUN-DUNNN!!!!
Pity it wasn't longer...but we had fun. I expected the Hussar Armor to be a bit more daunting in action-but teamwork, tactics and luck was on the side of the Heroes. And where were the other two Hussars you might ask? Off on a Platinum hunt in Chicago...
Ah well, off to work now-wait, i'm already home? Hi Me! Did we have a decent day? Oh...
(order99 leaves for work in order to prevent Paradox)
So after the other groups had settled in, the rest of us went into 'standby mode' for a few hours with a game of Talisman and some Funny War Stories...
The Hussars are caught in the gently flashing All Seeing Eye(+2 to Strike for our Mysteryman). One ignores the foe, the other two get ready for a fight-but the Surprise Attack (and an 18+2 roll) result in a Head Blow! As the Hussar runs towards Our Hero at great speed the latter simply sidesteps and launches Brass Knuckles across the back of the helmet-and while the helmet prevents the Head Blow Effects it does not stop the Hussar from barreling into the wall for 5 points of damage! Next Turn the Insomniac gets Initiative but decides to hold it-the second Hussar takes flight and Barrel Rolls towards the vigilante-but bolstered by the All Seeing Eye he gets a 17-and a heavy Dart does full damage (3 points) to the airborne villain, sliding between the armored plates and into his neck! Despite the Hussar's high Morale, he fails the check. "INDIGO!" he screams, and the third Hussar tosses a heavy desk at Our Hero (barely missing) and then seems to fade into the woodwork as the other two rush straight through the window and cannonball over to another rooftop, then away... Cole Richards, Kenneth and Barbara Dahl have made their escape, but with no files to show for it. The two on the floor(dropped by the escaping Hussar) read 'Griffith, Jackson' and 'Adelier, Raymond'..DUN-DUH-DUN-DUNNN!!!! 
