A scarlet jaguar, boiling hot, leaps into the Continental Detective Agency seeking Doc Caliban. No one admits to being Doc Caliban. Eventually Franks appears and punches it in the throat, allowing everyone else to pile on.
The jaguar was evidently sent by S.V. Vasathana, an Indian gentleman living in Hidalgo, a remote province of Mexico. Monk whistles -- Hidalgo is where Doc Caliban gets his vast fortune! There's a lost valley of Mayans there, all of whom have the Mover power. Doc rescued them from criminals back in the Twenties, and now and then they send a burro-team laden with gold to the port of Hidalgo.
Doc and Monk remain in San Francisco, battling Doc's werewolf self, which has come unstuck since the encounter with Lo Pan. William Harper Littlejohn, alternatively yclept Johnny, accompanies his entourage in Doc's lieu. He is an habitual neoverbalist and polysyllabic sesquatorian, but also an expert archeologist and geologist.
In the city of Hidalgo, a red-haired man observes the team landing. Melody follows him, but is too late to stop him from sending a radio message. She does, however, use her Torch power to prevent him from blowing up the radio equipment.
A scarlet jaguar lands and attacks! And ten minutes later, another, and then another. George blows one up in a gag worthy of Bugs Bunny, but they just keep coming. Melody and Franks apprehend the red-haired man, an Irish soldier of fortune named Ward. His nickname is Amber, on account of he's ambidextrous, with both hands as well!
Ward says Vasathana can Summon red jaguars. Ward told him where the Continentals were, and Vasathana did the rest. He is now, in fact, at that very same Valley of the Vanished which Doc spoke of! Our heroes rush there, as much as anyone can rush on burro-back.
Johnny calls out in Mayan, but the valley folk do not budge the big stone sealing the valley. Francis and Franks, together, manage to move it. Then someone almost shoots Melody in the head. Shimmering strands of silk are threaded among the trees, the work of another of Vasathana's summonings: a terrifying bear-headed spider creature which Amber Ward spoke of. This makes running through the jungle very difficult.
Claire teleports ahead and locates the shooter. He's in a hut with two Dark Elves and three dwarves. Francis manages to knock the dwarves' heads together and Claire returns an electric grenade which one of the Dark Elves throws. The other Dark Elf, however, attacks Francis and would have sliced off his arm were it not for Melody's split-second intervention.
George works around to the side and sees a pale man in bright colored clothes working in a ritual circle. The man sees him, and George summons up a wind to blow the circle's dust away. But by ignoring him and patching the circle, the man finishes his spell and fades away into nothingness. All the stones of the circle shatter at once.
Apparently, Vasathana and the man in the circle, whom Ward knew only as the Changeling, had no interest in the gold, or the Mayan's Power. They wanted to dig up the old stone circle, then use it once. And apparently, they have.
Friday, April 3, 2015
Thursday, March 5, 2015
April 1932: Wake the Dragon
Lo Pan tries to wake the Dragon with his Three Storms: Rain, Lightning, and Thunder. But their bodies have been destroyed by Clare and George. What to do?
He's already possessed Joan Garrick with the spirit of Lightning. He then has Rain possess Marie, the radioactive girl, and Thunder possesses Kendrick Blair, the Derrick Devil. But what about Doc, who's missing?
Our heroes intercept an earthquake and descend into the ground along with William Harper Littlejohn, an archaeologist and geologist who luxuriates in neolatinate polysyllabic sesquepedalia. Or as Dex would say, he likes big words.
One by one, the Continentals encounter the Three Storms. Clare teleports Marie to Alcatraz, out of danger. George calls Blair by name and snaps him out of it, after several massive blows from various forms of Power have failed. Clare also presents Joan with her sword, handle up in the shape of the Cross, and Joan (well, her alternative personality, the Maid) awakens. Lo Pan screams in fury -- they're stealing all his possessed spirits!
But when Clare teleports to Lo Pan, the wizard has a captive: Doc Caliban! Yes, Doc has a silver needle in his neck holding him motionless, and Lo Pan is about to step into Doc's body and possess him!
Clare, however, teleports Doc away. Which is good, because the moment the needle is removed, Doc turns into a werewolf. Lo Pan had hoped to beat the wolf into Doc's body, which isn't so ridiculous a notion, if you ask Agent Franks.
George slips on silver knuckles and boxes Lo Pan. When Lo Pan touches the purple crystalline spine of the Dragon, his spirit energy is drained away, and he fades into nothingness, although he does manage to get a threat to George's grandchildren at least half-uttered, though short on details.
The Dragon goes back to sleep, rolling over. This crushes some of the Wing Kong Brutes, and undermines the cavern, which collapses. George goes back for Joan, reminding the Maid that Joan's body will be harmed if the roof falls. The Maid uses her sword to take herself and George back to the 14th century, then tells him to rest a while till his hour comes round again. He asks if this is goodbye, but she says, only for a time. For the crusade goes ever on and on, and crusaders meet again. When he wakes up, it's 1932.
He's already possessed Joan Garrick with the spirit of Lightning. He then has Rain possess Marie, the radioactive girl, and Thunder possesses Kendrick Blair, the Derrick Devil. But what about Doc, who's missing?
Our heroes intercept an earthquake and descend into the ground along with William Harper Littlejohn, an archaeologist and geologist who luxuriates in neolatinate polysyllabic sesquepedalia. Or as Dex would say, he likes big words.
One by one, the Continentals encounter the Three Storms. Clare teleports Marie to Alcatraz, out of danger. George calls Blair by name and snaps him out of it, after several massive blows from various forms of Power have failed. Clare also presents Joan with her sword, handle up in the shape of the Cross, and Joan (well, her alternative personality, the Maid) awakens. Lo Pan screams in fury -- they're stealing all his possessed spirits!
But when Clare teleports to Lo Pan, the wizard has a captive: Doc Caliban! Yes, Doc has a silver needle in his neck holding him motionless, and Lo Pan is about to step into Doc's body and possess him!
Clare, however, teleports Doc away. Which is good, because the moment the needle is removed, Doc turns into a werewolf. Lo Pan had hoped to beat the wolf into Doc's body, which isn't so ridiculous a notion, if you ask Agent Franks.
George slips on silver knuckles and boxes Lo Pan. When Lo Pan touches the purple crystalline spine of the Dragon, his spirit energy is drained away, and he fades into nothingness, although he does manage to get a threat to George's grandchildren at least half-uttered, though short on details.
The Dragon goes back to sleep, rolling over. This crushes some of the Wing Kong Brutes, and undermines the cavern, which collapses. George goes back for Joan, reminding the Maid that Joan's body will be harmed if the roof falls. The Maid uses her sword to take herself and George back to the 14th century, then tells him to rest a while till his hour comes round again. He asks if this is goodbye, but she says, only for a time. For the crusade goes ever on and on, and crusaders meet again. When he wakes up, it's 1932.
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
March 1932 cont.: The Purple Dragon
Joan Garrick has been having nightmares in which a Chinese man in a tall hat beckons to her with long nails. Ham surmises this may have something to do with his efforts to help her remember what she does as the Maid, so he's headed over to check on her.
"Good, Ham. Take someone with you if you think it best," says Doc Caliban.
"I have intercepted a whispering spirit, which was sent by Lo Pan to his minions at the Wing Kong Import-Export Exchange on Fisherman's Wharf. The message was,
"Egg Shen is alive, and he has reached Caliban. Both must now die. Caliban will come out from his fortress for a disaster spiced with the exotic. Use the Purple Dragon."
"We know, therefore," continues Doc, "that some showy public emergency is being planned to bring us into an ambush. I will go to the Presidio, where I am consulting with the Navy Department, and keep my public appearances. If the enemy attacks, they will do so without the element of surprise, and on territory favorable to me."
"You others, meanwhile, are free to strike at Lo Pan. There is every hope we can interrupt him before the Purple Dragon, whatever that may be, is ready to use. We do not know what powers Lo Pan has at his disposal, as he is a very old Summoner and can command the Three Storms of Hunanese legend, among many other spirits."
"Therefore speed and surprise are of the essence. If we use everyone, he will have a wide variety of Powers to try and counter. We may be able to spare this city a terrible misfortune."
Doc then equips himself with a brown business suit of voluminous cut, lined with armor and laden with hidden gadgets. He takes the elevator to the lobby, making sure everyone sees him leave, and takes a cab, loudly ordering it to drive to the Presidio.
Once he is gone, Egg Shen rolls up a black carpet and slings it over his shoulder. Things inside it slosh like jars of pickles.
"Howlin' calamities!" Monk bursts forth. "We just saved you from this Lo Pan character, and now you want to come with us right into his lap?"
"Of coursah, Monk. It is-uh my destiny. Besides, without me, you'll never survive in the lair of the Boddhisatva of the Underworld, the ultimate evil spirit."
Monk points accusingly.
"You know something you're not telling me, Egg," he scolds.
"Lo Pan has been cursed by Ching D'ai, the God of the East. His flesh, and bones, are atomized. Lost on the wind. He becomes ... only a dream. An EVIL dream."
Monk blinks.
"What?"
"Lo Pan cannot harm us unless he regains mortal flesh, which is his dearest-uh wish," says Egg Shen. "But there is something even Lo Pan must acknowledge -- that all motion in the universe is the result of tension between positive and negative furies. And when they are out of balance, as they are in Lo Pan, then we will use lightning and fire to separate the entangling hedge, and at last bring order out of chaos."
"Well, great, sounds like we can't lose!" says Monk, trying to sound sincere. "What's in the bag?"
"Magic potion!" says Egg.
"A magic potion. Great," says Monk. "Whaddya do? Drink it?"
"Yes!"
"Thought so."
The Wing Kong Exchange is a long, two-story warehouse fronting on the docks. It has a front entrance, worker's entrance, loading docks for ships, a truck loading area, a railroad spur, and a big, wide, flat roof.
"Good, Ham. Take someone with you if you think it best," says Doc Caliban.
"I have intercepted a whispering spirit, which was sent by Lo Pan to his minions at the Wing Kong Import-Export Exchange on Fisherman's Wharf. The message was,
"Egg Shen is alive, and he has reached Caliban. Both must now die. Caliban will come out from his fortress for a disaster spiced with the exotic. Use the Purple Dragon."
"We know, therefore," continues Doc, "that some showy public emergency is being planned to bring us into an ambush. I will go to the Presidio, where I am consulting with the Navy Department, and keep my public appearances. If the enemy attacks, they will do so without the element of surprise, and on territory favorable to me."
"Therefore speed and surprise are of the essence. If we use everyone, he will have a wide variety of Powers to try and counter. We may be able to spare this city a terrible misfortune."
Doc then equips himself with a brown business suit of voluminous cut, lined with armor and laden with hidden gadgets. He takes the elevator to the lobby, making sure everyone sees him leave, and takes a cab, loudly ordering it to drive to the Presidio.
Once he is gone, Egg Shen rolls up a black carpet and slings it over his shoulder. Things inside it slosh like jars of pickles.
"Howlin' calamities!" Monk bursts forth. "We just saved you from this Lo Pan character, and now you want to come with us right into his lap?"
"Of coursah, Monk. It is-uh my destiny. Besides, without me, you'll never survive in the lair of the Boddhisatva of the Underworld, the ultimate evil spirit."
Monk points accusingly.
"You know something you're not telling me, Egg," he scolds.
"Lo Pan has been cursed by Ching D'ai, the God of the East. His flesh, and bones, are atomized. Lost on the wind. He becomes ... only a dream. An EVIL dream."
Monk blinks.
"What?"
"Lo Pan cannot harm us unless he regains mortal flesh, which is his dearest-uh wish," says Egg Shen. "But there is something even Lo Pan must acknowledge -- that all motion in the universe is the result of tension between positive and negative furies. And when they are out of balance, as they are in Lo Pan, then we will use lightning and fire to separate the entangling hedge, and at last bring order out of chaos."
"Well, great, sounds like we can't lose!" says Monk, trying to sound sincere. "What's in the bag?"
"Magic potion!" says Egg.
"A magic potion. Great," says Monk. "Whaddya do? Drink it?"
"Yes!"
"Thought so."
The Wing Kong Exchange is a long, two-story warehouse fronting on the docks. It has a front entrance, worker's entrance, loading docks for ships, a truck loading area, a railroad spur, and a big, wide, flat roof.
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Monday, January 26, 2015
March 1932: Black Blood of the Earth
Doc Caliban sends his people to bring Egg Shen, a Chinese fleeing the Japanese Imperium, to the Continental's offices. In Chinatown, Egg is snatched by Chinese with super-strength, who throw him around like a baseball and jump between buildings with the greatest of ease.
Claire almost rescues Egg Shen, but hits the pavement a little too hard and loses him. Brutes attack Claire, George and Melody, but Melody sets one on fire and Claire teleports another halfway into a concrete wall.
Francis' car chases the kidnappers, eventually crashing into the kidnappers' van in a dead-end alley in Chinatown. Many Chinese gangsters are waiting for them, displaying Brute powers and martial arts skills in abundance.
Dex lands and takes one out, then gets in a karate duel with a Brute. The Brute tears Francis' machine guns out of his armored car and swats Dex with them, but Dex is able to hit him with a capacitor bomb, then another, then ANOTHER, and the Brute finally goes down.
Many karate guys jump around and kick the car into scrap, but somehow Francis stays alive until his buddies get there. Melody hits a Brute with flames, but he's tough enough to survive it. He isn't tough enough to survive being knocked backward by the flames into a fireworks factory, though. Boom!
George and Melody hit one of the Brutes at the same moment, overcoming his toughness. Everyone is down but the good guys ....
Then a bystander flexes hard enough to shred his shirt, revealing smooth, oddly shiny skin over massive muscles. Thunder crashes, green lightning flares, and his eyes glow green.
Then this man waits for someone to take him on. George tries hitting him with lightning, but this guy looks offended and takes control of the storm.
"He's a Brute ... and a Weatherman ... and wait, he just Traveled," says Francis, taking notes.
The guy yells something in Chinese, but Egg Shen replies, "The storm is not yours alone, Thunder! It serves the positive furies of the universe!" and he throws a sapphire into the air. It brings down a really big lightning bolt, which does not bother Thunder one bit. He shouts, a wave of sound knocking Egg Shen into an alley, followed closely by Ham.
Claire thinks she recognizes the oddly smooth sheen of Thunder's skin. It looks like skin that's less than one hour old: brand-new skin, smooth as a baby's cheek. She remembers that one other person with skin like that can't survive being Traveled, so she takes a deep breath and Travels with Thunder to Alcatraz.
Thunder's molecules come apart in a cloud of green mist and one hellacious boom.
Later, Egg Shen explains that the gangsters were Lords of Death, the junior members of a very old Chinese gang, the Wing Kong Society. Thunder is one of the Three Storms, three spirits who can be commanded by a master of Taoist alchemy and sorcery. The others are Rain and Lightning.
Thunder will be able to be re-summoned into a new body on the new moon, two weeks from now. Until then, only two more Storms survive ... plus the Brutes of the Wing Kong, who have started drinking the Black Blood of the Earth to gain their powers. And whoever summoned the Three Storms, who must be a mightier and more learned wizard than Doc Caliban himself ...
Sources:
Everyone in this episode is from Big Trouble in Little China.
Claire almost rescues Egg Shen, but hits the pavement a little too hard and loses him. Brutes attack Claire, George and Melody, but Melody sets one on fire and Claire teleports another halfway into a concrete wall.
Francis' car chases the kidnappers, eventually crashing into the kidnappers' van in a dead-end alley in Chinatown. Many Chinese gangsters are waiting for them, displaying Brute powers and martial arts skills in abundance.
Dex lands and takes one out, then gets in a karate duel with a Brute. The Brute tears Francis' machine guns out of his armored car and swats Dex with them, but Dex is able to hit him with a capacitor bomb, then another, then ANOTHER, and the Brute finally goes down.
Many karate guys jump around and kick the car into scrap, but somehow Francis stays alive until his buddies get there. Melody hits a Brute with flames, but he's tough enough to survive it. He isn't tough enough to survive being knocked backward by the flames into a fireworks factory, though. Boom!
George and Melody hit one of the Brutes at the same moment, overcoming his toughness. Everyone is down but the good guys ....
Then a bystander flexes hard enough to shred his shirt, revealing smooth, oddly shiny skin over massive muscles. Thunder crashes, green lightning flares, and his eyes glow green.
Then this man waits for someone to take him on. George tries hitting him with lightning, but this guy looks offended and takes control of the storm.
"He's a Brute ... and a Weatherman ... and wait, he just Traveled," says Francis, taking notes.
The guy yells something in Chinese, but Egg Shen replies, "The storm is not yours alone, Thunder! It serves the positive furies of the universe!" and he throws a sapphire into the air. It brings down a really big lightning bolt, which does not bother Thunder one bit. He shouts, a wave of sound knocking Egg Shen into an alley, followed closely by Ham.
Claire thinks she recognizes the oddly smooth sheen of Thunder's skin. It looks like skin that's less than one hour old: brand-new skin, smooth as a baby's cheek. She remembers that one other person with skin like that can't survive being Traveled, so she takes a deep breath and Travels with Thunder to Alcatraz.
Thunder's molecules come apart in a cloud of green mist and one hellacious boom.
Later, Egg Shen explains that the gangsters were Lords of Death, the junior members of a very old Chinese gang, the Wing Kong Society. Thunder is one of the Three Storms, three spirits who can be commanded by a master of Taoist alchemy and sorcery. The others are Rain and Lightning.
Thunder will be able to be re-summoned into a new body on the new moon, two weeks from now. Until then, only two more Storms survive ... plus the Brutes of the Wing Kong, who have started drinking the Black Blood of the Earth to gain their powers. And whoever summoned the Three Storms, who must be a mightier and more learned wizard than Doc Caliban himself ...
Sources:
Everyone in this episode is from Big Trouble in Little China.
Saturday, January 17, 2015
February 1932: The Spook Legion
Ghosts are ransacking homes in Salisbury, England, stealing newspapers and scaring children. The Continentals (minus Doc Caliban, and of course Heinrich) find a laughing criminal Fade called Ghost Captain haunting Stonehenge, plus a blond Traveler with a quick knife hand.
There is an active portal in Stonehenge which leads to the fair world. Claire is able to Travel through it, and discovers that Heinrich did not, in fact, disappear completely, but Faded into the fair world. She can with effort move people back and forth from the two Stonehenges, but before she can reunite Monk with his favorite dragon Georgie, Ghost Captain starts shooting at her.
Ghost Captain punches Dex through his helmet, or rather through his helmet, without touching the iron. Dex counters with blinding smoke and an arc-light, which seems to drive the attackers away.
In Salisbury itself, gray-rubber-suited ectomorphs attack with long silver pistols. They do not speak, but one of them, braver than the others, makes hand signs which Francis does not understand. They Travel away, return with a net, and try to snare Francis, but he Movers them aside. He can't nail them before they Travel, though.
Other invaders are watching from high places. George catches one on a church steeple and electroshocks him before he can Travel. Another fellow tries to imitate Francis, but George isn't fooled, and punches his lights out with a pair of iron knuckles.
Francis pursues. The guy's gone, but a policeman said he saw someone run off over a garden fence. Francis goes over the fence, sees no sign of anyone, decides he's been tricked, and returns, but of course the alleged policeman is gone.
Meanwhile, at the town library, a bunch of small mechanical men are gathering books for a massive dwarf taking notes at a table. He startles when Melody speaks, then runs away, diving through a window head-first and taking a shot at it with a sawed-off shotgun on the way out. He is too much in a hurry to take his documents with him.
The dwarf hastens to Stonehenge and disappears in a flash of lightning. The portal has been closed from the other side; Claire can no longer access the fair world.
The notes the dwarf took track events in the fair world with similar events in the grim world. For example, the rebellion called the Ingratitude occurred 140 years ago on their side, whereas the rebellion called the American Revolution was 170 years ago on our side. The Burian Concord was 30 fair world years ago, versus 60 years since German Unification. The fair world seems to experience major historical events about 30 years later than we do. Which means they're coming up on time for their Great War, a fact which the dwarf recorded in his notes.
They also stole several copies of the Domesday Booke, the original census of England from the 9th century. What they want with that is a mystery.
While the fairies' goal -- research grimworld history for clues to their own future -- doesn't really seem all that evil, especially by the standards of the Grimnoir, their instant readiness to kill anyone who finds them suggests that they can't be allowed to keep popping in.
Also, two townsfolk abducted by the fairies are rescued. They say the man who took them was all made of wires and gears, attended by many smaller mechanical men.
There is an active portal in Stonehenge which leads to the fair world. Claire is able to Travel through it, and discovers that Heinrich did not, in fact, disappear completely, but Faded into the fair world. She can with effort move people back and forth from the two Stonehenges, but before she can reunite Monk with his favorite dragon Georgie, Ghost Captain starts shooting at her.
Ghost Captain punches Dex through his helmet, or rather through his helmet, without touching the iron. Dex counters with blinding smoke and an arc-light, which seems to drive the attackers away.
In Salisbury itself, gray-rubber-suited ectomorphs attack with long silver pistols. They do not speak, but one of them, braver than the others, makes hand signs which Francis does not understand. They Travel away, return with a net, and try to snare Francis, but he Movers them aside. He can't nail them before they Travel, though.
Other invaders are watching from high places. George catches one on a church steeple and electroshocks him before he can Travel. Another fellow tries to imitate Francis, but George isn't fooled, and punches his lights out with a pair of iron knuckles.
Francis pursues. The guy's gone, but a policeman said he saw someone run off over a garden fence. Francis goes over the fence, sees no sign of anyone, decides he's been tricked, and returns, but of course the alleged policeman is gone.
Meanwhile, at the town library, a bunch of small mechanical men are gathering books for a massive dwarf taking notes at a table. He startles when Melody speaks, then runs away, diving through a window head-first and taking a shot at it with a sawed-off shotgun on the way out. He is too much in a hurry to take his documents with him.
The dwarf hastens to Stonehenge and disappears in a flash of lightning. The portal has been closed from the other side; Claire can no longer access the fair world.
The notes the dwarf took track events in the fair world with similar events in the grim world. For example, the rebellion called the Ingratitude occurred 140 years ago on their side, whereas the rebellion called the American Revolution was 170 years ago on our side. The Burian Concord was 30 fair world years ago, versus 60 years since German Unification. The fair world seems to experience major historical events about 30 years later than we do. Which means they're coming up on time for their Great War, a fact which the dwarf recorded in his notes.
They also stole several copies of the Domesday Booke, the original census of England from the 9th century. What they want with that is a mystery.
While the fairies' goal -- research grimworld history for clues to their own future -- doesn't really seem all that evil, especially by the standards of the Grimnoir, their instant readiness to kill anyone who finds them suggests that they can't be allowed to keep popping in.
Also, two townsfolk abducted by the fairies are rescued. They say the man who took them was all made of wires and gears, attended by many smaller mechanical men.
Friday, January 16, 2015
January 1932: Fade to White
A fairworld criminal, Dragon Blake, brings his dwarf thugs and his brass dragon to Berlin. He breaks in, letting zombies out, which draws Doc Caliban's interest.
Blake is using a spell which resembles the Fade Power; every time he crosses over to the fair world, zombies nearby are deanimated. Apparently there are no undead in the fair world, so the lightest touch of their magic sets zombies free of their bodies.
Blake is robbing the german natural history museum of dinosaur bones, for some reason. A fight erupts, with the brass dragon breathing on Heinrich and Francis. They both go crazy!
Francis uses his Mover power to bring every gun in the building to his hands, then shoots them all at Blake and his dwarf buddies. Heinrich, meanwhile, tackles Black and Fades into the soil, then comes up without him. Blake, it seems, is marooned deep underground, probably fused with the bedrock.
Heinrich, still mad, then touches the portal spell to the fair world. The fair world is soaking in magic; it supplies him all the power he needs to Fade all of Berlin, causing all one million zombies to collapse, their long exile in their dead husks ended. Unfortunately, Fading that hard causes Heinrich to Fade completely out of existence, trading one life for a million trapped souls.
A statue of Heinrich is slated to go up on the Unter den Linden, carrying his trademark antitank rifle.
Sources: all mine, baby. This time.
Blake is using a spell which resembles the Fade Power; every time he crosses over to the fair world, zombies nearby are deanimated. Apparently there are no undead in the fair world, so the lightest touch of their magic sets zombies free of their bodies.
Blake is robbing the german natural history museum of dinosaur bones, for some reason. A fight erupts, with the brass dragon breathing on Heinrich and Francis. They both go crazy!
Francis uses his Mover power to bring every gun in the building to his hands, then shoots them all at Blake and his dwarf buddies. Heinrich, meanwhile, tackles Black and Fades into the soil, then comes up without him. Blake, it seems, is marooned deep underground, probably fused with the bedrock.
Heinrich, still mad, then touches the portal spell to the fair world. The fair world is soaking in magic; it supplies him all the power he needs to Fade all of Berlin, causing all one million zombies to collapse, their long exile in their dead husks ended. Unfortunately, Fading that hard causes Heinrich to Fade completely out of existence, trading one life for a million trapped souls.
A statue of Heinrich is slated to go up on the Unter den Linden, carrying his trademark antitank rifle.
Sources: all mine, baby. This time.
Thursday, January 8, 2015
December 1931: Nothing Bad Whatsoever Happens
Isn't that nice, for a change?
(Season break; end of first series of the Continentals.)
(Season break; end of first series of the Continentals.)
Sunday, January 4, 2015
November 1931: Short Live the Queen
Katrina Krasnik, a resident of the Austro-Serbo-Hungarian Empire, has married King Edward of Great Britain. The Grimnoir naturally fear an Aussie plot (not an Australian plot, thank heavens) to influence the British. So they want to get their Finder, Doc Caliban, within range of Miss Krasnik to see if she's a vampire, a Mouth, or just a gold-digger. (That last is in jest; Doc doesn't understand women any more than the rest of us.)
The European Grimnoir should be on the case, but only one, Jack Hawksmoor, turns up. Seems they've had a couple of last-minute emergencies that have taken the attention of most of the Euros, and he can't seem to find the other English Grimnoir, Jenny Sparks, anywhere.
Hawksmoor is a unique Active, termed a "Citizen" by Doc: he is perfectly adapted to live in cities. He can jump and climb like Spider-Man, travel between cities, find people, and see through windows. Any window, anywhere. So getting into Buckingham Palace is blue tea for him, plus he can lead the others.
Jack calls Claire a "Blinky", George a "Bluebell" and Heinrich a "Shade", because, you know, England. They have their own names for all the Powers. And he thinks the Scots names for them are a hoot.
Once inside the Palace, everyone's Powers increase dramatically. Melody is able to keep from bursting into flame, but just barely. George shocks himself, Doc sees ghosts everywhere, and Monk feels the itch of every rat and spider in the place. Ham stays resolutely silent.
Extra Power isn't bad, so they sneak in further. They are spotted by Earl Grey, a Finder who sees the spirits in the steam from his tea. He's accompanied by Bulldog, a thin bespectacled librarian who may be the world's strongest Brute. Jack, Doc and Dex (in his antimatter-powered iron armor!) have their hands full with Bulldog. Everyone else dodges into different parts of the Palace.
Heinrich and Francis run into Franks, who is here on a secret mission. He can tell us, but then he has to kill us. He visibly thinks it over.
George, Melody, Ham, and Monk find the Royal Astronomer, who is looking at a chart of the sky. The chart updates continually; it's like a window to the stars, free of clouds, sunlight and glare. It shows a drifting crystalline starfish with tentacles, which Dex (were he here) would recognize as the Power itself. It also shows a narrow pyramid with many sculling wings and rows of red eyes diving toward the Power, on course to impale it like a harpoon.
The Astronomer is pleased by this. Soon, he says, he will be free of the Power at last! The Grimnoir don't see why that's a good thing, but then, they aren't demons trapped on Earth by the Power's influence. Once it's dead, they will regain their true strength and ... well, he doesn't say exactly what they plan to do, but he's got an evil laugh. Everyone's Powers fade out, so Melody shoots him. He didn't see that coming.
Once the Astronomer is blown to bits, he howls a last despairing demon-scream, which is answered by someone on the other side of a wall. Our heroes shoot two drums of Tommy-gun ammo through the wall, shooting the living heck out of Katrina Krasnik, who was being fitted for her wedding dress. She's a demon, obviously, and heals all her wounds with a gesture. This would be a difficult fight even if we HAD our Powers; since we don't, it's pretty bad.
Fortunately, the mirrors are expensive, backed with silver. And we know silver is poison to demons. Wounds made with silver don't heal; the offending weapon has to be plucked out of the wound first. So a handful of broken mirror fired from Heinrich's shotgun is going to take forever to fix!
This is not merely theoretical. Heinrich shoots her, and yes, it does indeed take forever.
Everyone feels a cold shock as the black creature from space (called a Void Ripper by Franks, as if he knows) stabs into the body of the Power.
Franks says, "Habbakukinell -- what the Hell are you doing here? Instead of in Hell." Habbakukinell recognizes Franks, who replies, "I beat you into surrender once, I can do it again," and punches her through the stone floor, although this blow destroys his hand.
As the Power ebbs, the demon gains in strength. Soon she's spitting poison and swinging razor-edged wings around like it's no effort at all. Dex holds forth his chemical virus which he made to destroy the Predator, after his in-depth interview with the Chairman. Dex says "Once I drink this, I will have ten times the access to the Power that I --" and doesn't even get to finish his sentence, because Katrina grabs it with her frog-tongue and swallows it whole. Green light erupts from a hole in her stomach, then two, then ten, then she's all green, then she's just gone, her matter converted into light and fear.
Unfortunately, that was all the virusol Dex had, and the Void Ripper is still sawing away at the Power up in space. Heinrich realizes that the chart in the Astronomer's room can see the Power in real time -- perhaps it reaches both ways? If only we had some kind of super-bomb that could fly up there ...
George, meanwhile, is concentrating on his Grimoir ring. He has a perfectly etched image of the Chairman, because Ham told everyone not to forget anything about their last encounter. George tries to contact the Chairman, who after all knows all about the Space Predator, and the Power spares one tentacle from grappling with the Void Ripper to send George a surge of Power. George uses every watt of that magic to make electricity, shoots it through the chart into the Void Ripper, and shocks it to death.
Every Active on Earth gets his Power back as the Power (the entity) recovers its health. Did the Chairman, in fact, save the world? No, as it turns out, because the Power sends an extra treat of Power down the line to its favorite human, George, whom it believes to be the Chairman.
George, although he may later reconsider, makes no attempt to correct the Power's mistake.
Franks admits to Francis that he's here to arrest Doc Caliban. And now that Francis knows the truth ... unfortunately, they are separated in the wild fight with the Palace's desperate demons which follows, so Franks doesn't get to arrest Doc, nor does he get to kill Francis. For now ...
Sources:
The Void Ripper is from the Chronicles of Old Guy, which I heartily recommend.
Jack Hawksmoor, like Jenny Sparks, is from The Authority.
Bulldog is from the World War II superhero game Godlike. That is also the source of the dice mechanics I use in this game, sorta-kinda.
Earl Grey is my own invention, from a Godlike game set in Colditz that I hosted 15 years ago.
The Astronomer is not the one from Wild Cards, and a good thing, too!
Katrina Krasnik originally appeared as a Communist agitator whose Dreamlands image was supernaturally beautiful, in a Call of Cthulhu/Dreamlands game in, let me see, 1988. All I had to do was point out that her limbs were as white as the foam on the wave, and the curve of her neck as graceful as a swan, and the boys lost all interest in killing her. The girls' interest in killing her, paradoxically, increased a hundredfold.
The European Grimnoir should be on the case, but only one, Jack Hawksmoor, turns up. Seems they've had a couple of last-minute emergencies that have taken the attention of most of the Euros, and he can't seem to find the other English Grimnoir, Jenny Sparks, anywhere.
Hawksmoor is a unique Active, termed a "Citizen" by Doc: he is perfectly adapted to live in cities. He can jump and climb like Spider-Man, travel between cities, find people, and see through windows. Any window, anywhere. So getting into Buckingham Palace is blue tea for him, plus he can lead the others.
Jack calls Claire a "Blinky", George a "Bluebell" and Heinrich a "Shade", because, you know, England. They have their own names for all the Powers. And he thinks the Scots names for them are a hoot.
Once inside the Palace, everyone's Powers increase dramatically. Melody is able to keep from bursting into flame, but just barely. George shocks himself, Doc sees ghosts everywhere, and Monk feels the itch of every rat and spider in the place. Ham stays resolutely silent.
Extra Power isn't bad, so they sneak in further. They are spotted by Earl Grey, a Finder who sees the spirits in the steam from his tea. He's accompanied by Bulldog, a thin bespectacled librarian who may be the world's strongest Brute. Jack, Doc and Dex (in his antimatter-powered iron armor!) have their hands full with Bulldog. Everyone else dodges into different parts of the Palace.
Heinrich and Francis run into Franks, who is here on a secret mission. He can tell us, but then he has to kill us. He visibly thinks it over.
George, Melody, Ham, and Monk find the Royal Astronomer, who is looking at a chart of the sky. The chart updates continually; it's like a window to the stars, free of clouds, sunlight and glare. It shows a drifting crystalline starfish with tentacles, which Dex (were he here) would recognize as the Power itself. It also shows a narrow pyramid with many sculling wings and rows of red eyes diving toward the Power, on course to impale it like a harpoon.
The Astronomer is pleased by this. Soon, he says, he will be free of the Power at last! The Grimnoir don't see why that's a good thing, but then, they aren't demons trapped on Earth by the Power's influence. Once it's dead, they will regain their true strength and ... well, he doesn't say exactly what they plan to do, but he's got an evil laugh. Everyone's Powers fade out, so Melody shoots him. He didn't see that coming.
Once the Astronomer is blown to bits, he howls a last despairing demon-scream, which is answered by someone on the other side of a wall. Our heroes shoot two drums of Tommy-gun ammo through the wall, shooting the living heck out of Katrina Krasnik, who was being fitted for her wedding dress. She's a demon, obviously, and heals all her wounds with a gesture. This would be a difficult fight even if we HAD our Powers; since we don't, it's pretty bad.
Fortunately, the mirrors are expensive, backed with silver. And we know silver is poison to demons. Wounds made with silver don't heal; the offending weapon has to be plucked out of the wound first. So a handful of broken mirror fired from Heinrich's shotgun is going to take forever to fix!
This is not merely theoretical. Heinrich shoots her, and yes, it does indeed take forever.
Everyone feels a cold shock as the black creature from space (called a Void Ripper by Franks, as if he knows) stabs into the body of the Power.
Franks says, "Habbakukinell -- what the Hell are you doing here? Instead of in Hell." Habbakukinell recognizes Franks, who replies, "I beat you into surrender once, I can do it again," and punches her through the stone floor, although this blow destroys his hand.
As the Power ebbs, the demon gains in strength. Soon she's spitting poison and swinging razor-edged wings around like it's no effort at all. Dex holds forth his chemical virus which he made to destroy the Predator, after his in-depth interview with the Chairman. Dex says "Once I drink this, I will have ten times the access to the Power that I --" and doesn't even get to finish his sentence, because Katrina grabs it with her frog-tongue and swallows it whole. Green light erupts from a hole in her stomach, then two, then ten, then she's all green, then she's just gone, her matter converted into light and fear.
Unfortunately, that was all the virusol Dex had, and the Void Ripper is still sawing away at the Power up in space. Heinrich realizes that the chart in the Astronomer's room can see the Power in real time -- perhaps it reaches both ways? If only we had some kind of super-bomb that could fly up there ...
George, meanwhile, is concentrating on his Grimoir ring. He has a perfectly etched image of the Chairman, because Ham told everyone not to forget anything about their last encounter. George tries to contact the Chairman, who after all knows all about the Space Predator, and the Power spares one tentacle from grappling with the Void Ripper to send George a surge of Power. George uses every watt of that magic to make electricity, shoots it through the chart into the Void Ripper, and shocks it to death.
Every Active on Earth gets his Power back as the Power (the entity) recovers its health. Did the Chairman, in fact, save the world? No, as it turns out, because the Power sends an extra treat of Power down the line to its favorite human, George, whom it believes to be the Chairman.
George, although he may later reconsider, makes no attempt to correct the Power's mistake.
Franks admits to Francis that he's here to arrest Doc Caliban. And now that Francis knows the truth ... unfortunately, they are separated in the wild fight with the Palace's desperate demons which follows, so Franks doesn't get to arrest Doc, nor does he get to kill Francis. For now ...
Sources:
The Void Ripper is from the Chronicles of Old Guy, which I heartily recommend.
Jack Hawksmoor, like Jenny Sparks, is from The Authority.
Bulldog is from the World War II superhero game Godlike. That is also the source of the dice mechanics I use in this game, sorta-kinda.
Earl Grey is my own invention, from a Godlike game set in Colditz that I hosted 15 years ago.
The Astronomer is not the one from Wild Cards, and a good thing, too!
Katrina Krasnik originally appeared as a Communist agitator whose Dreamlands image was supernaturally beautiful, in a Call of Cthulhu/Dreamlands game in, let me see, 1988. All I had to do was point out that her limbs were as white as the foam on the wave, and the curve of her neck as graceful as a swan, and the boys lost all interest in killing her. The girls' interest in killing her, paradoxically, increased a hundredfold.
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