Gaming Summary, 7/16/06

Two blog entries in six days? Is such a thing even possible? What could have caused this strange event? Find out within!

When we last left our party, they had discovered their role as super-powered government agents, and were methodically demolishing their way through the prison complex of Tartarus, in an effort to rescue a political prisoner named Pradesh…Something. [I wrote it down! Really! I just left the paper at Josh’s.] And that’s pretty much what they’re still doing when we join them again, mowing down auto-cannons and guards in powered assault armor with ease.

The group paused to consider if brute force was their best option, and if perhaps they could disable the security systems. A quick effort at a security console led them to realize that Tartarus didn’t call itself “escape-proof” for nothing, and that it really wasn’t possible to disable, misdirect, or otherwise fool the security system from anywhere except main control. The Darkness (Doug) was able to determine where Pradesh was being held, in a chamber reachable only by elevator, with a large antechamber that was perfect for an ambush. Mr. Zero (Brian) suggested leaving the complex and going overland to Pradesh’s location, since no one would expect that, but The Lightning (Wendy) pointed out that no one would expect it because the surface is uninhabitable, and they’d be dead before they got there. Any enviro-suits were stored in the hanger, which had at least as much troops and firepower as any ambush.

Thus resolved, the party continued in straightforward fashion until they reached the spot of the ambush, where they found…nothing. To be more accurate, they found an empty room with a hatch in the far wall, but a complete lack of heavily-armed guards and other people trying to kill them. After carefully opening the hatch, Darkness made himself invisible and intangible to scout inside, where he found a bank of elevators, and a man of indeterminate age, with white skin and hair, and a completely white suit. It was also cold enough in the room that he could feel it, even while intangible.

Darkness returned to the group, where the players then engaged in stunningly fruitless extrapolation for several minutes before the penny dropped – they were facing another super-agent, probably with cold-based powers, and he was waiting for them. [The Frost was his name (I think), as we learned later.] Lightning revealed that her force field could counteract the cold, so she and Darkness teleported back into the room, while Zero and Blade (Paul) waited outside. Lightning appeared from behind Frost and gave him her best Zorch ™, but to no effect. Frost retaliated with a beam of cold, but couldn’t get past the force shield. Zero and Blade charged into the room at that point, but their physical attacks didn’t do much more good. Lightning resorted to pulling the gun that she’d taken off a guard earlier, but had to use it to shoot Zero first, to charge up his powers.

Since the frontal assaults weren’t working, Zero tried using his time-stop power on Frost, but his will was too strong at first. After another couple of rounds of cold damage for everyone, Zero was able to successfully time-stop Frost, whereupon Blade removed his head with one stroke. With no one else to challenge them, the party entered the elevator.

[You’re invited to imagine, at this juncture, our four heroes standing in the elevator, staring at the doors, while “The Girl from Ipanema” plays softly in the background.]

Upon exiting the elevator, they found themselves challenged by a tall, striking young woman dressed in flowing silk scarves, called The Dancer (or La Danseuse, if you like). With a small smile, she began to dance, instantly mesmerizing everyone except The Darkness, who managed to resist. Darkness quickly created a cloud of shadow around Dancer, snapping the others out of the spell. Lightning quickly plunged into the cloud, where a silk tendril attempted to wrap itself around her neck, but couldn’t penetrate her force shield. One Zorch ™ in the dark later, and it was all over but the cleanup.

In the next room, the group found Pradesh, along with a number of other people, held in suspended animation tanks. The tanks were all labeled, some with the names of infamous criminals, others with names the party had never heard. Rather than spend too much time thinking about it, the party simply grabbed up Pradesh’s tube, with convenient self-contained life-support system, and all shadow-jumped to their waiting steal ship. Roll credits, end of adventure, yay for the Good Guys!