- Grant heads out onto the Stair and attempts to track down the world that is ‘under attack’ by the V’sori. It is the middle of the night. He ends up at an ordinary plain-white, modern-looking Door. Stepping into a corridor which looks like it belongs in an office building, he investigates carefully in his Shadow Form. The place smells like a hotel. He passes a janitor’s closet. He makes his way to the ground floor. It is definitely a residential apartment building. The ground floor is quiet. There is a security door here but it is easy for Grant to bypass and slip outside.
- Outside, the streets are quiet. It is an urban environment with many large buildings. It’s cold at this time of night. The streetlights are modern. The parked cars are wheeled, modern and more akin to American cars than European ones.
- At the nearest interaction is a strange round-shaped vessel which is floating on anti-gravity. It appears to be a tank of some kind, definitely of a different tech level from the other vehicles on the street. Grant uses Umbral Sight and finds it manned by humanoid creatures. He isn’t sure if they are human or not.
- Looking around, he finds a newspaper box but it is empty. Hunting around, he finds two other tanks at different street intersections. They appear to be an occupying force. He notes a vessel with the same rounded curves as the other tanks fly overhead – some sort of transport plane.
- Then he sees a large placard on one of the buildings. It shows a blue-skinned, hairless alien shaking hands in friendship with a man. The slogan below says “Stronger together.” Grant wonders if this is propaganda or not. He guesses that it probably is.
- As he makes his way back to the Door, he realises that there are some shaggy, hunched over, dog-like things on the street. They appear to be sniffing for some sort of trail and heading in his direction. Grant is surprised by this – there are few things that can detect him in his Shadow form. He shifts form into a bird and the creatures immediately detect the shift. One gives a howl and they start scampering in his direction….
- Grant’s head is aching. Something hit him pretty hard. He is disoriented and nauseous. There is the cold feeling of metal around his neck (a collar) and he is not alone. There are other people nearby him. The place smells of sweat and fear. He has trouble concentrating.
- He knows that he almost made it back to the Door but then there were more of the creatures and he decided to head elsewhere and create another Exit. But they got him first. Whatever hit him knocked him clean out. (GM’s note – the power of ‘plot device’)
- There is a portly fellow nearby wearing wire-rimmed glasses. A large ‘person’ opposite who is big, hairy with reddish-brown skin. Grant gags – he is finding it hard not to be sick. He tries to use Umbra but it makes the feeling even worse, leaving him reeling. He wonders about Gorgorin, trying to feel for the weapon on his ring-finger which simply must be there ….
- BOOM! There is an explosion as the flying vessel that they are travelling in is hit. One side of the transport is blown open. The vessel spins as it crash lands into the street. Without seat belts, Grant is flung about the interior along with everyone else. He lands on someone. The craft comes to a halt. There is smoke everywhere and the sound of gunfire nearby.
- The shadow of a man cuts through the smoke and enters the downed transport. It is “Doctor Destruction”. The most powerful supervillain left alive in this realm. He wears an armoured suit and has a flowing red cloak. He carries a kick-ass comic-book sized gun. He asks them in a mechanical voice which of them wants to live.
* Image by Gil Formosa from Savage Worlds Necessary Evil
- Grant is feeling quite shaken up but he manages to find his voice. A few others with enough wits to answer also respond. Doctor Destruction turns away and sends in his minions. A group of green-suited masked men grabs whoever is willing and drags them, none too gently, into a waiting jet-black transport. The minions slap small lumps of clay and tiny receivers onto each of the prisoner’s collars and dumps them on the floor of the cargo section. Doctor Destruction pays them no heed as the seven are thrown around once more as the transport blasts off.
- They are only airborne for a few mins before Doctor Destruction slams his fist down on a red button which opens the cargo hatch on which the prisoners are standing and they are jettisoned. Freefalling, nauseous, Grant hears the voice of Doctor Destruction in his head. The voice tells him that he’ll blow the collars off them if they agree to work for him. The first ‘job’ is to break out a cape called Mindjack out of V’sori holding pen. Hurtling towards the ground, Grant tries to ask a question and only realises just before he hits the ground that he’s not going to get an answer. He agrees and the collar is blown off just as he hits the detention block. He goes clean through it, smashing through the roof and landing on a humanoid drone.
- His head feels much clearer but his body hurts like hell. The drone that he landed on twitches as part of its death spasm but another three leave their rest bunks and move to attack him. Each humanoid is covered in a skinsuit but they could be human for all he knows. Grant doesn’t hold back – he cuts them to pieces with Gorgorin.
- Using Umbra to improve his rate of recovery, Grant hears the sound of fighting nearby. No doubt other prisoners who have had their restraints removed. Grant goes hunting and joins the fray. He fights two ‘fins’ (massive shark-headed aliens with bulging muscles and assault weapons) and slaughters them. A villain named The Cremator who has flame powers incinerates their bodies for good measure.
- Grant continues the hunt, using Wayfinding to find the command centre. A humanoid drone with four arms is quickly dispatched and he tackles the lone V’sori who seems to be charge of the installation. He attempts a mind-to-mind contact – he is not as good at this as Ethan but he just wants to rip information from his target’s mind quickly.
- The V’sori’s memories tell him that they came to Earth, pretended to be friends and then ambushed and killed all of Earth’s heroes. The ‘Champions’ as they were once known are all dead. There are no heroes left. Only the human resistance and a few former supervillains who have joined the resistance.
- The interrogation is cut short as a woman with pink hair in a black bodysuit comes into the room. She is carrying a V’sori blaster. She makes sure that the drones are all dead and then executes the V’sori ‘scum’. Grant sizes her up and decides that it’s better to have her with him – he takes charge and tells her to accompany him.
- The remaining battles are relatively swift. There is a firefight leading down to the holding pens but Grant’s forces quickly prevail. Mindjack is found. The Cremator leers through the bars of the cells, clearly wanting to incinerate the defenceless people who are held prisoner here. Grant orders that everyone be released and he knocks The Cremator unconscious.
- A dark-skinned prisoner warns Grant that The Cremator will hold a grudge as he’s known to be unstable. Grant thinks on this and decides to kill The Cremator on the spot.
- With Mindjack with them, they head for the centre of the complex and the landing pad on the roof. Doctor Destruction’s carrier is waiting. Doctor Destruction sneers as he notes that they have released all of the prisoners. He calls them ‘heroes’ and laughs. They board the jet-black ship and escape before V’sori reinforcements can arrive.
- Doctor Destruction takes them to an abandoned facility in the southern part of Star City which they can use as their base. He offloads them and tells them that he will be in touch.
- The six survivors check out the facility and introduce themselves. The portly fellow with wire rimmed glasses is Claude Pedrovski. He is also known as the Fabricator for his ability to make advanced tech. The pink haired woman is Rachel, also known as Hardcore. She feels no pain. The strong looking man is called Max – the less sleep he has, the stronger he gets. The dark-skinned fellow gives his name as Vibron – he has vibratory powers. Finally the girl who is little more than a teenager is called Kristin. She haughtily calls herself the Ice Queen, but she refuses to reveal her powers.
- Grant gives his name as Rook.
- After reassuring himself that only a few hours have passed, he decides to leave. He slips back to the Door. He is pretty sure that he was hit by some sort of power nullifier or scrambler that affected his Umbral ability.
- Grant wonders who the bird reached. He doesn’t know. It must have been someone with heroic qualities. Perhaps there is a hero left here? A hero who survived the ambush by the V’sori…. He mulls on this.
- Returning to Marindar, he takes the long route to avoid pursuit. It is dawn when he returns to his own house. It feels good to be back.
- Julius reports that Lady Sophia has returned and is having tea on the balcony. Also another robin has returned.
- Grant goes to speak with Lady Sophia. She is nursing herbal tea. She asks where Grant has been (noting that his garments are damaged) and Grant brushes over his latest adventure. When Grant asks after her, she reassures him that she is fine now. She mentions that ‘a friend’ talked some sense into her. She acknowledges that she will have to talk to Tressa, even though she is finding the thought challenging.
- Grant joins Sophia and they talk for a long time. They talk about Tarik – he seems to be harmless. They talk about Surin – the flutist. Sophia observes that there is a kind of magic in music. She wonders about her purpose for coming here. She also notes that there is a young girl in the marketplace who can ‘command fire’. Grant is surprised by this – he hasn’t seen her.
- There are two robins waiting to deliver a message. One is an acceptance. The other is not. The bird found no one in a place called Charn. This is unusual. Charn is a heavily populated, high magic world. Grant wonders if he should investigate this. It sounds very odd.
- They talk about the upcoming qualifiers for the games. Sophia’s qualifying race is four days away. Grant asks if she will wear his ‘favour’ (ie: a black/blue ribbon) when she races. This pleases Sophia. She accepts and kisses him.
- That afternoon, Grant heads to the market and finds a young girl entertaining her audience by juggling what appears to be living fire. She is a pyrokinetic of some kind. Grant doesn’t know where she comes from but her clothes are worn.
* Image by Anna Steinbauer from Magic the Gathering
- After watching for a time, he decides that he should organise suitable care packages for travellers who come to Marindar so that they are well fed and clothed whilst here. After all, they are guests.
- GM’s note: And yes, that is it for Chandra. I’ve introduced her younger self into the game but David hasn’t played Magic The Gathering in 20 years so why would he recognise the character. Goody for me.
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