The NEW Vanguard TEAM UP! Haunt Issue #14 with special guest star Steeplejack!

Admin wrote:HAUNT and STEEPLEJACK with MINA HARKER

About fifty feet away a white 'glow' was approaching... It was getting colder and Mina shivered, hugging herself. "Do you two not feel that?" she gasped!

OOC: OK sorry I need a do-over, we need to 'kill' the remaining vampires, maybe it's me being a bit muddled being between homes, newly married and all, but last time Steepljack mixed it up with these horrors, he had to take the stake to them so they didn't infect anyone else. Like a disease, I think we need to cleanse them. Not sure if a do-over is doable. But on reflection, these cannot be left to roam 'free' as it were.

"I'm not liking the look or feel of this..." Steeplejack was aware that there was something else at work here that could 'freeze' an undead being like Mina. Placing a hand on the floor, he moved the earth so that the space around the creature was thick with a rock and death shield. He had to see if the creature was insubstantial and therefore magical in nature. Or if it had flesh and bones that made a material difference to being able to attack it or not.

OOC: I get the feeling of wraiths whenever I hear of cold... not so much draining levels, nasty, but maybe mobilising us or draining life, heat or something else maybe?

Sj

ooc: I was planning to come back to them after we get the Grail, could even use it to help destroy them once it is back in our hands. But if Steeplejack doesn't want to wait, the Haunt will follow his lead.

OOC Should start to get back to normal (or as normal as I can get) from today/tomorrow. Still got 12 hours of work to negotiate on each day of course My rules exam was pretty bad but I did enough to scrape through - the problems of juggling too many things and not enough time to do it in!

STEEPLEJACK and HAUNT with MINA HARKER

Mina whispered "That... is something not of this world. I feel it. I think they have discovered some way to make the grail have an 'Unholy effect'. I should be repelled by it, as should those accursed others upstairs, but might it mean we are running out of time, if not already?"

Haunt and Steeplejack glanced at one another.

"There may yet be time." whispered Mina as the glow flitted closer, slow but sure. "I do not feel compelled yet to do evil or give into the vile dark nature of my being. If I turn on you... you MUST put me down, once and for all! Until that time I am with you and will fight the darkness with every fibre of my unliving being!"

OOC Your call - forward, to deal with the new approaching spirit or back, upstairs to stake those bloodsuckers who could spread their evil across the land? If what Mina says is right you may have time enough for only one of those choices!

"Let's get the Grail and then come back to take on the other vamps," the Haunt suggests. ""Having the Grail might make it even easier to do that."

HAUNT and STEEPLEJACK with the vampire MINA HARKER

The oncoming Spectre was vaguely human in shape, mostly robes and dark places under the hood with an evil gleam as twin points for eyes.



OOC It has a fear effect. much like Haunt! This is Mystic Linked and affects you with Magic rather than mental attack!

AV9 + 2d12+0 3,11+0 = 14 (23) vs

Haunt 8 - Diff 4 + 2d12+0 11,7+0 = 18 (22) Success + 1. EV9 +4 (diff) (!3) vs RV10=3 RAPs Haunt Flees in panic!
Mina 6 + 2d12+0 2,2+0 = 4 DOUBLE plus 2d12+0 11,4+0 = 19 (25) FAILED
Steeplejack 8 - Diff 6 + 2d12+0 6,6+0 = 12 DOUBLE plus 2d12+0 2,3+0 = 17 (19) Success + 2. EV9 + 6 (diff) (15) vs RV8=7 RAPs Steeplejack flees in panic!

The heroes feel an icy grip on their hearts and childhood terrors come back to them... or in Haunts case the image of the acid that changed his life, slowing moving through the air towards him and crashing against his skin!

He blinks, turns and runs ...

OOC Or does he? Does either of them?

Haunt has 187HP
Steeplejack 69HP

To absorb all 7 RAPs will cost Steeplejack 28HP, not sure if it's worth that. Maybe a few to reduce it so you aren't running away for 4 minutes... You'll end up outside the castle!

For Haunt it's easier, just 6HP to absorb those 3 RAPs, your call

Then it's your actions. This thing is floating along the corridor, you can see through it and it's giving off one of those cold but more supernatural cold than need an extra coat on cold vibes.

ooc: Haunt will spend the HP to recover. Will try his Mallets of Justice on the haunt and hope it is more powerful than its intangibility.

OOC I'll move things on. I can retcon if Dave E/Steeplejack counters any of the fear effect with Hero Points...

Haunt 181HP

Haunt shrugs off the supernatural fear! No stranger to fear himself, he hid his own appearance because of it and used it to project into the cowardly hearts of others!

This time though... he forms his hands into his 'mallets of justice'.

OOC Haunt Dex 11 + 6D Weaponry + 8d12+0 9,8,8,8,7,1,10,3+0 = 16 DOUBLE plus 2d12+0 9,7+0 = 32 (43) vs
Other Haunt Dex 7 + Fluid Form 10 + 2d12+0 11,6+0 = 17 (34) Success +4
Haunt EV15 + 4 (EV19) vs Other Haunt RV5 + Fluid Form 10 (RV15)=4 RAPs Other Haunt is 1/5 Body!

Despite being immune to weapons that are not holy or enchanted, it seems there is something about Haunts' fists that can connect with the spook and it wails in pain, something it has never felt before!

Rather than push its luck it turns and moves through a wall!

Haunt is suddenly in the corridor with Mina and Steeplejack nowhere to be seen, having fled in panic!

Admin wrote:Haunt is suddenly in the corridor with Mina and Steeplejack nowhere to be seen, having fled in panic!

Steeplejack looks at his friend and nods in approval, pleased that things didn't get more difficult there. Resolute, in their determination, he moved forward his hand resting on the rock. The feel of the familiar, the soil, and the stone was a comfort even if what it enclosed here was evil and wicked. He continued to reach out, his mysterious other sense of danger ready he hoped to warn them of further ambushes before they finally tracked down and cornered their enemies.

OOC: Press on, but with caution.

Sj

ooc: Steeplejack is still running away in fear for the next four minutes. So ... all three of us are split up as Mina is gone too.

Steeple_jackuk wrote:

Admin wrote:Haunt is suddenly in the corridor with Mina and Steeplejack nowhere to be seen, having fled in panic!

Steeplejack looks at his friend and nods in approval, pleased that things didn't get more difficult there.  Resolute, in their determination, he moved forward his hand resting on the rock.  The feel of the familiar, the soil, and the stone was a comfort even if what it enclosed here was evil and wicked.  He continued to reach out, his mysterious other sense of danger ready he hoped to warn them of further ambushes before they finally tracked down and cornered their enemies.  

OOC: Press on, but with caution.

Sj

DavidMcMahon wrote:ooc:  Steeplejack is still running away in fear for the next four minutes.  So ... all three of us are split up as Mina is gone too.

Steeple_jackuk wrote:

Admin wrote:Haunt is suddenly in the corridor with Mina and Steeplejack nowhere to be seen, having fled in panic!

Steeplejack looks at his friend and nods in approval, pleased that things didn't get more difficult there.  Resolute, in their determination, he moved forward his hand resting on the rock.  The feel of the familiar, the soil, and the stone was a comfort even if what it enclosed here was evil and wicked.  He continued to reach out, his mysterious other sense of danger ready he hoped to warn them of further ambushes before they finally tracked down and cornered their enemies.  

OOC: Press on, but with caution.

Sj

Opps should have read that correctly. Oh boy, OK so when we get our heads back in gear we get back to where we were, I hope

Sj

The Haunt shapeshifts his ears in order to hear better and try and find his compatriots.

Haunt has all manner of sensory enhancements available to him thanks to his cartoonish shape changing abilities!

Instead he creates huge bat like ears to hear sounds - like breathing, running, panic of his companion Steeplejack!

Moving through the house and to a broken window he tracks the sounds onto a roof.

There he finds Mina, crouched in the shadows and huddled, head covered.

Steeplejack is harder to find and Haunt has to strain his senses as his friend covers ground so quickly with every leap that at first, he's out of range!

Instead Haunt hears him coming back, and the sheepish superhero lands on the flat roof section of the castle in a crouch as Mina makes her way over, brushing herself down.

"Such icy fear gripped my heart!" she gasped, trying to regain her composure. "How did you resist it, Haunt?"

Steeplejack had felt terror such as never before, dredged up from the corridors of memory of his childhood when he thought he was lost and abandoned by his parents who were in fact looking for him. When the effects of the fear had worn off he found himself near on half a mile from the castle and was confused for a moment then he turned to see the distant castle in the darkness.

Summoning a rock from the earth he leapt onto the back of it then leaped off as it crumbled into fragments at his will to land on the roof of the castle where Haunt waited with Mina getting to her feet.

"Something is happening..." whispered Mina, looking about, fearful.

"They are trying again to corrupt the grail, to turn its power to their evil ends! The grail is weakened and I feel its power - which would normally compel me to stay away - weaken! We do not have long!" she cried.

OOC Make your way through the castle again? How are you progressing? With as much pace as you can muster or with caution in case there are more undead nasties summoned to hinder your progress?

Admin wrote:OOC Make your way through the castle again? How are you progressing? With as much pace as you can muster or with caution in case there are more undead nasties summoned to hinder your progress?

OOC:I would say that we are running out of time, but cracking the defenses of this place is proving slower and harder than we'd first envisaged. We'd been making progress, albeit slow, but with nasties able to make us turn and run, we might well be struggling to get where we need to go. One thought I have is that Haunt and I dig down, wherever our foes are, is where things are deepest and darkest. Since Haunt can use his considerable strength and Sj his earth-moving powers I am wondering if the direct root through the walls, floors, etc, might get us where we need to be quicker. What do you think Dave?

Sj

ooc:  Yeah literally digging/plowing through the floors or just dropping outside and start digging from there would work. Use our sense of where the Grail is to head right for it.  Avoid most of the traps and use speed to get through the others.  If we move fast enough we could be out of attack range before they can set off their ambushes.  Maybe we do two tunnels a bit apart or smash through two spots on the floors to make it harder to ambush us all at the same time?    Where's the speedy Lionheart when we need him?    

The Haunt could turn into a super-strong man-sized mole and dig through stone and earth.  

Hmmm .. didn't Robbie Reed turn into King Mole or something like that in the original Dial H for Hero series.  Got to go check.

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Hah!  very first appearance!

OOC Despite having to resume the never ending struggle against work I have survived the kids summer holidays! Yay! Is there like a badge, or medal ceremony or something? Do I get a certificate?

Anyway, back to our scheduled programming. Now where was I...?

Picking their way through the castle to find the lower floors - where the combined villains were no doubt performing the rites that would see the powers of the Holy Grail turned to evil - meant being tripped up and hamstrung by mystical foes summoned up to perform just that duty!

The heroes considered another approach.

Both were superhuman strong and Haunt was about as versatile as one could get, being able to change his form into ... well, just about anything to get the job done!

Mina had seen him do some amazing things but when he changed into a machine that started spinning its nose she was speechless! For a start off, where was the steam?

With a CRUNCH! and CRACK! the old wooden floors shattered and a neat hole punched through into the floor below! With superhuman strength it would have been easy to smash a foot through then pull the floorboards up and apart but this seemed much faster!

With an 'after you' to Mina Steeplejack hopped down to the next level of the castle, much the same as this one. Stone walls, barely decorated, a damp smell and not much in the way of light.

Two floors later they landed on packed earth and the damp was thick in the air. It was also pitch black but Haunt fixed that by morphing a finger into a flashlight, then his hand into a lantern to provide all around light.

The castle depths were old.

The stone was ancient and rough hacked from the earth, the ground uneven and roots had tried to force their way through at some point and been roughly chopped away.

They stood in a corridor and could hear chanting down it. It was easy to tell the direction but a cold child filled the hearts of the adventurers. Words were being spoke from a long dead language that never should have been used again.

Mina was the first to speak, and shivered as she did so. "This is worse than Nosferatu... the fools are summoning something, an ... an unholy power!" she whispered as she peered into the darkness beyond the edge of the lantern. The light faded to black but revealed a turn in the corridor and a faint light suggesting a large room or cavern of some kind.

And... a LOT of voices. Chanting, singing... summoning... Something dark, something ... evil...

"Time to kick butt and don't bother to take names," the Haunt quipped as he readied to fight. "Let me go in first, hit them with the ole Fog and then my tried and true Aura of Fear. I'll then drop the fog so you can see and enter or you stay here for a bit and clobber any that run out this way then come in. What do you think?"

His Fog was one of his more useful defenses but wasn't one he could use often with teammates around since it interfered with their vision as well. This might be one time where he could use it even if it was for just a few seconds.

DavidMcMahon wrote:"Time to kick butt and don't bother to take names," the Haunt quipped as he readied to fight.  "Let me go in first, hit them with the ole Fog and then my tried and true Aura of Fear.  I'll then drop the fog so you can see and enter or you stay here for a bit and clobber any that run out this way then come in.  What do you think?"

His Fog was one of his more useful defenses but wasn't one he could use often with teammates around since it interfered with their vision as well.  This might be one time where he could use it even if it was for just a few seconds.

OOC: Argh, as usual I didn't get an email telling me of an update so only just noticed Dave replied today, but Paul had written back along. Anyway I agree with Haunt, lets end this. I'm wanting to be aware of my danger sense and take account of any traps or pitfalls that might also be before us.

Sj

OOC: Yeah, I check the site every couple of days just in case I don't get a message via email.    

or can the Haunt use his fog just around himself or one hex out from himself so envelopes just himself and whoever is standing next to him instead of the whole room?  That would be the best way to do it with teammates around.  

ooc2:  Maybe Steeplejack could get the power to see through the Haunt's Fog with his next bundle of HP?  
Not sure if you would want to but think of all the fun we could have fighting EVERY battle in the middle of a London Peasoup Fog?!  

DavidMcMahon wrote:OOC: Yeah, I check the site every couple of days just in case I don't get a message via email.    

or can the Haunt use his fog just around himself or one hex out from himself so envelopes just himself and whoever is standing next to him instead of the whole room?  That would be the best way to do it with teammates around.  

ooc2:  Maybe Steeplejack could get the power to see through the Haunt's Fog with his next bundle of HP?  
Not sure if you would want to but think of all the fun we could have fighting EVERY battle in the middle of a London Peasoup Fog?!  

OOC: I normally do as well, but sometimes when my work is very busy it gets overlooked. As regards additional senses, my danger sense has been a bit dohicky of late so anything that can help in that dept is worth considering.

Sj

The time travelling adventurers crept along the damp stinking corridor. Tree roots thrust from gaps in the stone walls were swept aside as they crept.

The floor was muddy and well trodden. Looking back revealed the corridor ran on into the darkness dotted with occasional torches hung on the wall. This tunnel led somewhere outside below the castle and probably to some river bank or cliff side.

Turning back to the matter at hand Haunt and Steeplejack led the way followed by Mina the Vampiress. Her urge to drain blood was a constant battle to fight against but easy in the company of these two. She was supernaturally strong and agile but in the company of these heroes her abilities paled and she was little more than an ordinary human in comparison.

Still, her nature made her useful in other ways. She could see in the dark as if it were day and her senses were heightened to...

"Wait!" she hissed. "The others. Holmes, Watson and the rest of our... gathering... are ahead. I can smell them. There are other scents. Lots of them, I cannot identify."

Indeed the chanting and singing as they moved along the corridor got much louder and it sounded like a cavern FULL of people.

As the corridor turned again the light grew from another torch. Beyond that were two cloaked and hooded figures with their backs to the adventurers. Beyond that was a large - huge - chamber! Though they couldn't see much past the guards with their backs to them the heroes could make out a huge underground cavern and the noise of dark chants/songs sung in a language from another time was now very loud indeed!

Haunt and Steeplejack got that uneasy feeling. Cultists. Sacrifices. Dark forces using a magical artefact turned to evil... This could be a much bigger deal than stopping time travelling Aliens messing up the time line by stealing stuff and trying to eliminate important people!

OOC the guards with their backs to you are humanoid in shape and cloaked/hooded from head to toe. Standing about twenty feet from the turn in the corridor where Haunt and Steeplejack are, the cavern beyond must be hundreds of feet across in all directions judging from the volume of the chanting and singing!

As a side note be VERY careful guys - there's lots of magic/sorcery floating about here and we all know how troublesome such things are!

Finally, copying over what I said in Frostbites' thread...

By the way, thanks again for your patience guys. It's hard when players/GMs go AWOL but this has been the hardest year I can remember for a while. Even when I left my wife in 2015 I managed to find time to post in this place and retain my sanity. When it's someone else (Girlfriend) and having to support them as well as juggle work and seeing my youngest son (who still, thankfully, wants to spend time with his 'old man') my free time shrunk to nothing. Even now I'm rushing about with limited time but it feels so good to be posting again...

I plan to post later on today. Taking the other half out for the afternoon to take her mind off yesterday which was a big deal. Her dad died last Monday but it still occupies her thoughts, understandably. From a personal, selfish point of view I'm hoping we can finally start to rekindle our relationship rather than it being dominated by running about after her (now departed) Father. Fingers crossed anyway...

"Looks like we found them," The Haunt whispers to the others. "A LOT of them! Mage types I bet. May I suggest a flash past the two guards and try scaring our foes in the chamber into running or curling up into fearful balls while you two take down the guards and then follow me in?"

DavidMcMahon wrote:"Looks like we found them," The Haunt whispers to the others.  "A LOT of them!  Mage types I bet.  May I suggest a flash past the two guards and try scaring our foes in the chamber into running or curling up into fearful balls while you two take down the guards and then follow me in?"

OOC: I am good with this, but either this is going to work really well or go really badly! With mage types they can skin the hides off us and leave little to work with. So what might our plan B, be?

I am wondering if we could strategically place ourselves underneath the grail or destabilize it (but not the whole chamber else our friends lives might be forfeit) and then go with the fear attack? Could we can dig under the sight, and grab the grail? Paul what do you say?

Steeplejack looked concerned at his friend, he didn't doubt his powers but he was concerned about the effective range of them if even one of the more powerful magic wielders present were not limited by it. But both of them had earth moving power, Haunt by transformation and he by his unknown connection to the earth, rock and soil. Perhaps they could get to the grail and thus pull the legs from under their foes, before Haunt attacked with his aura of fear?

Sj

ooc: Oh! I hadn't thought of that! Tunnel in under where the Grail is and bring it down underground and then seal the opening so they can't follow. That might work.

"You're better at moving earth than I am, Steeplejack. Why don't you tunnel to the Grail and I will distract the cultists," The Haunt offers. "I will hide until I think you are close to the Grail and need a distraction to steal it, then I will summon my Fog to hide in and blast them all with my subsonic fear blast."