Shadowland - The Vanguard Issue #1 The Shadow Deepens

DavidMcMahon wrote:Grab Frostbite and back up fast.
"Calm down! Calm down," Anyman yells. "I know what it's like to be an experiment too! A part of me went through the exact same kind of torture. But you got to control yourself."

OOC:
Sorry couldn't answer till now very busy.

Frostbite thanked his friend, unwilling to get another blast of the radiation if he could help it.

"Corporal, I know you've been through a lot, but pull yourself together man. We're here to get you out. But I'll be honest with you Bentham and Trowers are so dangerous we need to take them in. Both men have a lot to answer for, but sadly we've got a worse problem."

And then quickly, Frostbite outlined the whole purpose for them being there, citing the danger of the Devourer, but leaving out their part as the Vanguard. Then he continued, "Desperate times and all that. If it wasn't in Earth's best interest and the millions, even billions who'll die, we'd leave these two to rot in this prison. I know you've been through a lot Corporal, but we can get you off this rock, but we need your word that you'll stay calm till we can get you and them down to earth. There we might also be able to get Bentham to restore you back to the way you where. Now what do you say?"

Frostbite hadn't given the man many choices, but what could he do? Either he was with them, or he'd be the undoing of this mission, before it had even got started.

Sj

Having yanked Frostbite back out of range, Anyman said his piece, and Frostbite backed him up...

The giant crystalline form seemed to quiver, with hairline cracks appearing everywhere, but then, as it seemed he would explode and bathe the Vanguardians in that deadly red radiation once more, he sagged and gave out a sound like a sigh.

"All right. I have heard of you." he grumbled. "Seen the papers. You are heroes. I wanted to be like you... hoped..." With another deep breath the Lunarium Man straightened and gave a very rough salute to the Vanguardians, who both outranked him in military terms. "I had thought I was stuck here but if you can get me off this rock..."

His words trailed away, and he looked at his now solid hands. The cracks appeared to seal with fresh crystal, and the glow subsided to a dull throb deep within the Lunarium mans heart. "Then what? Look at me! I am no longer human!" He shook his head. "I am best off here, alone. I don't need to eat, save that Lunarium stuff. I absorb its energy to eat. I don't need to breathe, and being here alone knowing that the rest of this place is crawling with dead things..."

Frostbite and Anyman felt pity for the soldier. A prisoner of war, and victim of a vile experiment, his life had been destroyed by Bentham and Trowers. He looked at the Vanguardians then turned to the corridor that lead to the mine. "Do you want me to guide you through there?"

"If you would, please," Anyman replies. "And don't give up hope. You may be like me, not human-looking anymore, but we still have our human heart. As long as we have that, we remain human."

He shifts into the blue blobby shape of Putty and then into the burned head and hands of Anyman and finally back into his bandaged form.

"I hope to one day use this place as a base to protect all of Earth from," he continues as they start to walk. "So we will have to clear out the undead after we save the universe. Welcome aboard, Moon Man!"

Moon=Luna and Lunarium.

DavidMcMahon wrote:"If you would, please," Anyman replies. "And don't give up hope. You may be like me, not human-looking anymore, but we still have our human heart. As long as we have that, we remain human."

Frostbite relieved to have finally found an allies, at least he hoped what would prove to be a solid allies, said "You'd be surprised what technology this whole time has turned up here on Earth. Besides, Bentham made you this 'Moon Man', the man is quiet capable of making this work in your favour, perhaps even reversing it. But right now we need all the heroes we can get, don't underestimate your contribution yet Corporal."

Sj

With the first coherent, friendly words ringing in what passed for ears, the Lunarium Man looked at the pair then nodded. "It's an honour, sirs. And... sorry about that, before." he added, referring to the glowing radiation that had attacked the Vanguardians at the molecular level!

The crystalline 'moon man' turned, crunching with every step, and stooped to duck down where the corridor abruptly ended and became a hole cut in the rock of the moon.

Anyman was relieved to find his suit had withstood the radiation, but wondered what further affect it might have had on him. With his body already badly affected from a powerful dose of radiation only a few weeks ago, it was clear that he would need getting another dose anytime soon! Perhaps going into the mines wasn't such a good thing...

For his part Frostbite felt numb, but strangely invigorated. Time would tell what the Lunarium Mans radiation had done to them. The robots seemed to come back to life, albeit clumsily, as overloaded systems and protective circuits reactivated. Frostbot announced "The radiation levels being emitted by the 'Lunarium Man' would be lethal to a normal human being. Tests MUST be run on your superhuman bodies to ascertain whether any lasting effects were suffered. Query - the Lunarium Man exists by drawing radiation from the rocks found on the moon. Therefore, by removing that 'food source' would he then suffer from starvation and die?"

As they walked into the rough hewn stone tunnels, mindful that there was little in the way of air seeing as the major systems of the moon base had long ceased to function as a repellent to invasion by anti-Nazi forces, the pair were careful not to tear their suits on jagged rocks jutting from the walls. As they got further in, the glow increased and the tunnel started to slope downwards. The Lunarium Man paused, then turned. "I believe the radiation may be harmful to you. I will nullify it."

With a shrug to one another Frostbite and Anyman followed with the robots at a distance. Whenever raw Lunarium shone that deadly red glare, the Lunarium Man would simply move near it. The rock became hard and crystalline thereafter.

After a while of carefully picking their way through tunnels, the strange group emerged into a large cavern. The Lunarium Man turned "I am the only living thing down here. There are... unliving things, warped and changed by the same glow that changed me."

Truly, the cave was vast, with large dormant drilling machines scattered about. A faint red glow lit the cavern and revealed ore seams where the strange moon rock lay ready to be cut out. "I believe the Nazis wanted to alter the prisoners they put in here after the other miners died, or were changed. I was there when one man turned into glass, another grew wings and scales, and his head became like a snakes. A friend of mine, Fred Marshall, turned into a cloud of green gas and burned through his spacesuit. This place... this metal, or rock, whatever it is. It's dangerous!"

The Vanguardians didn't need telling twice! Lunarium, they'd found out, was the most valuable and sought after ore in the known universe!

"These seams are tip of much larger ones. That man, Bentham, theorised that there is some process active on the moon, perhaps near the core, that changes the rock here into that Lunarium stuff. We never got the chance to dig that deep. The place was gassed and all the Nazis died, then got up again. I was left, because I don't have to breathe and the Nazi undead can't eat me. I can't leave either - I need this stuff..." he picked up a fist sized chunk of crystalline Lunarium "To survive!"

Just then there was a noise, and the trio looked about. The shadows in the vast cave (OOC about the size of four football fields) could hide any number of evil creatures, and the faint eerie red glow cast a dim light which didn't make things easy to see by.

Across the Cavern, some 200 yards away or so, was an exit from the place. The path to it was littered with glowing red rocks.

Just then a rock tumbled from a wall some 20 yards or so to the right of one of the robots... the war-bot turned, training guns at shadows....

OOC Something nasty this way comes... run for it, stand and fight, or wait and see what turns up?

"Let's run for it," Anyman suggests. "I'm good for only one fight and then I will have to call upon the Dark Powers to heal myself. Rather use that one time to try out my plan instead."

DavidMcMahon wrote:"Let's run for it," Anyman suggests. "I'm good for only one fight and then I will have to call upon the Dark Powers to heal myself. Rather use that one time to try out my plan instead."

"Wait a sec..." Then turning to the Corporal Frostbite asked, "Do you know what this might be?"

Frostbite was aware that Anyman wasn't well, heck he didn't even fully understand how he was still standing. However if they had one shot left to give, he wanted to make sure the gave it where it counted.

OOC:
I don't disagree, but if you've got one shot left lets make it count. What can Moon Man tell us?

Sj

The Lunarium Man turned to look down at Frostbite. "Not all of the prisoners in here died after changing. Some died... and then got back up again. The Nazis were testing their undead virus I think. On us."

Just then there was a screech, and a form soared ahead, fast as an arrow, across the cave into darkness!

Just then another flitted from the side... and landed some 10m away. Bathed in the red glow of Lunarium the strange creature rose from a crouch and hissed...



"They torment me, and I cannot kill them..." said the Lunarium man. "For they are already dead!"

Anyman saw another land in the exit to the cave, and hissed, crouching in wait... He groaned and looked about, counting three.

The War-Bot swivelled guns, tracking motion, and fired... instantly the barrel of the gun exploded, with complex electronics and firing mechanisms all out of whack thanks to the Lunarium radiation! With smoke pouring from the runs of its arms, the robot fizzed, sparked, then keeled forward to crash on the cave floor. All eyes turned to look at the robot, then back up again to stare at their enemies!

OOC There are three of these Lunarium mutant vampire nazi beasts wanting to suck your blood! ONe is in the shadows, somewhere above. Another is 10m away, the other across the cavern, 175m or so away in the exit tunnel.

Admin wrote:The Lunarium Man

OOC There are three of these Lunarium mutant vampire nazi beasts wanting to suck your blood! ONe is in the shadows, somewhere above. Another is 10m away, the other across the cavern, 175m or so away in the exit tunnel.

"Looks like you get your fight after all, Anyman." Frostbite said with a grim determination. As he spread his fingers out ready to freeze these creatures to the spot. "Lets hope we're up to it!"

And with that the air around the closest vampire creature began to drop. Frostbite knew that the cold itself might not effect the creature, after all it was 'breathing' in a vacuum, but it might impede its flight.

OOC:
Field Manipulation cold, to do damage specifically to that which is uses to fly or else just to try and stop it taking off again and focus on me so the others can get in.

Sj

"Looks like you get your fight after all, Anyman." Frostbite said with a grim determination. As he spread his fingers out ready to freeze these creatures to the spot. "Lets hope we're up to it!"

"How about we let them suck MY blood," Anyman quips. "After all, I bet it taste really nasty and they may be undead but maybe I can infect them with the same things that are killing me."

"How about it boys," he yells out to the vampires, "any of you want to be undead who suffer eternally from the pain of cancer? If so, come suck on me!"

Anyman prepares to stretch and punch the middle distant vampire, the one 10 meters away.

OOC Initiative Heroes 8, Nazi Vampire Mutants, 6. You get an action apiece then they make their move...

Frostbite turns, points at the nearest (OOC 10m away, others aren't quite in range) and rather than try to hurt the thing, he tries to slow it down so his team mate can flatten it!

OOC 2D10 roll to see how effective you are is 7,2 (9) Not great, but enough to stop it from taking to the air for a round or so

The creature shrieks as the wing membranes under its arms freeze rock hard! It starts to shake them free, but not before Anyman launches a head sized fist at the thing!

OOC It has DC6, Anyman has WC3 plus roll 5,5 (10, double) plus roll 5,1 (6) = 16 + 9 = 25 - 17. 8 Accuracy +8 from the punch +25 from strength. 41htc!

POW! The creature flies backwards through the air, crashing into the cavern wall! Anyman smiles, but is somewhat dismayed when it becomes clear the creature seems more inconvenienced than hurt! Indeed, it starts to struggle to its feet...

OOC But needs a frame to recover, then spends 2 frames shaking the ice free from its wings, so it's acted this round. Another dives from the shadows above, with a 'dive into combat' and slashing with its claws... Roll 4,9 (13) plus WC2 + DC6 on Frostbite. That hits for 4 Accuracy, plus 4 from claws and 15 from strength including the dive attack fro 23htk on Frostbite. It's attack ignores dividers from natural defenses (armour piercing thanks to the lunarium mutation)... Any response?

The other (standing in the exit tunnel 175m away) flies for 3 frames but will need another round to get into the fray. You have 2 frames remaining each. If Frostbite dodges or parries that will burn up his 2 frames, or he can take the hit. These things are powerful, but not really in your league. That said, the Lunarium mutation has evened things up some... Over to you...

Admin wrote:The other (standing in the exit tunnel 175m away) flies for 3 frames but will need another round to get into the fray. You have 2 frames remaining each. If Frostbite dodges or parries that will burn up his 2 frames, or he can take the hit. These things are powerful, but not really in your league. That said, the Lunarium mutation has evened things up some... Over to you...

OOC:
Ok looks like I can just parry, and then its over to them again. I will, parry for now, since anything else is going to see me beaten to a pulp pretty quick. Frostbite, without the dark power was never a very optimised character. In a straight up fight, he's pretty useless without his grade 2 powers or dark power.

Sj

Hit it at often as I can at range.

OOC Roll of 9,1 (10) for Frostbites parry, which is 1 accuracy, +1htc + 17 from Strength. He takes 4htk.

Batting the blow aside, Frostbite grits his teeth as he sees glowing red claw marks on his arm! The creatures claws were powerful, enough to make the ice sheath he wore seem like it wasn't there!

Anyman stretches out to strike at the one that hit Frostbite

OOC Roll 8,4 (12) + DC6 + WC3=21-17. 4 accuracy + 4 htc plus 25 damage from strength. 33htc.

The creature is battered to the side, then whirls its head round, hissing! Anyman doesn't waste time with dialogue, smacking the thing with another backhand!

OOC 7,1 (8) + DC6 + WC3 = 17. Miss

Which the creature avoids! It then leaps at Anyman, whilst the other two move in to close the distance!

OOC initiative Heroes 9, Vampires 3. 3 frames apiece.

Anyman noticed the two he'd struck - with powerful superhuman blows that would put a dent in a tank - seemed to have recovered almost as quickly as he'd been struck! Did these things have some kind of healing power? If so, he figured it would take a concerted effort to put them down!

OOC two are in range (20m) the other is flying over.

The Lunarium Man looked about. "They torment me, these things! I am too slow to strike them!". Nonetheless he started to stride - slowly - towards one of the Vampires, intent on grabbing it and tearing its limbs off!

"Change of tactics," Anyman thinks to himself. "Let's see what Moon Man can do to these things."
action: Grab the closest one and try to get it to Moon Man.

DavidMcMahon wrote:"Change of tactics," Anyman thinks to himself. "Let's see what Moon Man can do to these things."
action: Grab the closest one and try to get it to Moon Man.

Frostbite shouted out a thought to the others, "Anyman, Corporal, could these vampires be weakened if we move the fight away from the Lunarium?"

Having seen how little impact they were having, Frostbite had to wonder what advantage they might gain from more of the same, unless they got lucky. Moving slowly back, he again used his powerful control of the elements to aid Anyman, by freezing the closest Vampire once again.

OOC:
Freeze then move back seeing if I can tempt the Vampires out of the caves, if they come it gives me a chance to test the theory, if they don't come it sort of confirms it as well. Sort of maybe!

Sj

Sj

OOC Anyman reaches over to grab a Vampire - Roll 8,6 (14) + WC3 + DC6 = 23 -17. Hit for 6 accuracy.

Anyman stretched over, clamped an arm on a Vampire and dragged it across the room! Lunarium Man looked down, then grinned! With a large hand he grasped the Vampire and his eyes widened! The creature cried out as the Lunarium radiation that had mutated it was sucked from its body by the Corporals power! Deprived of the Lunarium radiation that empowered it, the creature had to fall back on its other form of sustenance - human blood.

Which it'd not had in months!

It turned, squirming in the Lunarium Mans grasp, hissing and spitting like a caged animal as it reached for Anyman and Frostbite!

Another creature swooped in, eager to attack the hated foe, only to SLAMMM!!! into a solid wall of ice that sprung up without warning, thanks to Frostbite! The thing crashed through it, tumbled and slid across the floor... to where Anyman and Lunarium Man stood! Anyman pounded a foot into the creatures head, then Frostbite coated it in a sheet of ice! Lunarium Man reached a hand and pressed it to the Vampires head.

That creature shrieked, the radiation draining from it and the need for blood replacing it!

Anyman responded with another foot to the head, and this time the skull crushed like an egg! Frostbite formed an ice spear and slammed it into the chest of the Vampire that Lunarium Man held. The creature screamed and writhed, then sagged. It glared with eyes that were still active, but its body had been immobilised thanks to the improvised stake!

The final Vampire circled near the roof, then turned and sped out of the cavern, back the way the Vanguardians had come from!

The Vampire with the crushed skull was still 'alive' in a strange sense, but without blood, or the Lunarium it had adapted to feed on and increase its powers of recovery and slash through any protective armour as if it wasn't there, the creature would be dormant. Probably forever.

Lunarium Man looked down at them. "They share the same curse as I do. These mines give us our power... and our life. Without the Lunarium in them I would starve to death. I am trapped here, forever. I can escort you through the mines and warn off any other creatures, however." he offered, sadly.

=========

The Mine tunnels continued for some distance, twisting and turning, rising and falling throughout the Nazi base...

Having been exposed to massive Lunarium radiation, the pair of heroes felt somewhat uncomfortable walking through tunnels of the stuff, but the glow was muted. Lunarium Man explained "I am siphoning the radiation off. Eventually it will get too much even for me, and I will have to rest, but I can get you through the tunnels safely."

From the shadows the heroes felt the malevolent gaze of the creatures as it rested on them, but they stayed aware, somehow knowing that the huge glowing red man held the power to drain them, this close in the caverns.

Finally the caverns became more like corridors, uniform and shaped, and the gradual rise to a ground level had become more pronounced. The cold and silence of the corridors in this section of the base resembled a tomb.

OOC Unless you have some master plan - or crazy plan - Lunarium Man won't follow you any further. You've passed through corridors of the most valuable element in the known universe, and can reach out and grab the stuff. Effects on you are unknown, but there has been an effect...If you're ready to move on, the next post will have you looking for Mssrs Bentham and Trowers, but depends on your actions...

Admin wrote:OOC Unless you have some master plan - or crazy plan - Lunarium Man won't follow you any further. You've passed through corridors of the most valuable element in the known universe, and can reach out and grab the stuff. Effects on you are unknown, but there has been an effect...If you're ready to move on, the next post will have you looking for Mssrs Bentham and Trowers, but depends on your actions...

Frostbite turned back to the Corporal, his sad expression and his sagging shoulders expressing his deep sorrow.

"I know we have resources that might be able to help, but given what we face, the nature of the disaster against us, I can't make any promises. But if its within my power to come get you, even free you from this prison and give you a semblance of the life you once knew, back to you. The I will do so, if chance is given me to do it. Thank you Corporal, you've honoured your country and your country will not forget you."

Frostbite then smartly saluted the man, then watched as he turned away and he nodded toward Anyman, to move off into the base. He said quietly as they departed, "The shorter route was certainly the best route, thanks old friend."

Before falling silent as they continued on into the Nazi base.

Sj

Anyman also saluted.

"Hold the Bridge, Horatius! Hold the Bridge," he said, refering to the Roman soldier who held the bridge that saved Rome from invasion.

He follows Frostbite after that.

OOC aha! Realisation dawns! Wondered what the reference to the Roman Soldier was about!

With a sad farewell the pair leave the Mine area and enter the maze of corridors once more. Their air supplies were still holding up, and the suits themselves had - mostly - stayed intact. Frostbites had been slashed open, but the air seal to his helmet was still intact and he could comfortably ignore the cold hard vacuum of space!

Where they passed open doorways, the signs that not all the Nazis on the base had been 'turned' into undead were evident - half eaten bodies, rotting carcasses and dark stains marked where soldiers and scientists had made their last stand. It would be impossible to shed tears for these people though. They'd been part of a grand, mad dream to invade the world with an army of darkness, and the Vanguard had stopped them!

In other places there were signs that someone had fought back. Though still animate, pieces of undead monstrosities remained largely ineffective as they squirmed and wiggled where the corridor had clearly been subject to a localised explosion, enough to shatter metal panels and destroy the undead!

Frostbite and Anyman glanced at each other, then walked on. The trail of devastation continued with empty shell casings, more explosion craters and scattered body parts. Finally a turn in the corridor revealed a small horde - around 20 or so - of ravening ghouls tearing at a ruptured metal door which had been welded closed, only to be mostly torn from its hinges!

Gunshots rang out, several Undead fell back, only to come forward with a red gleam in their eye! Seemed that only a killing shot counted, even when the shot came to the head itself!

The Vanguard were stood some 20m behind the horde who were close to breaking into the barricaded room.

Frostbite confirmed "There are two human life forms in the room, and several others with fluctuating life signs who may be human beings suffering from near fatal wounds or some form of infection."

Bentham and Trowers!

The men responsible for the Vanguards having to travel into the past, who placed the Nazis on the throne in the future, and sought to capture and clone Lionheart, to make an unbeatable army of super soldiers, were on the menu of Nazi undead!

The question was, would Frostbite and Anyman let the undead have their way, or would they risk their lives to save their most persistent and hated enemies?

The question was, would Frostbite and Anyman let the undead have their way, or would they risk their lives to save their most persistent and hated enemies?.

"Guess this is what we came for," Anyman said quietly to Frostbite.

actions: Use stretching to grab a rear-most zombie's head and then use super-strength as a killing attack to rip its head off. The body may not die but let's see if it is still effective with no eyes or undead brain to direct it.

DavidMcMahon wrote:

The question was, would Frostbite and Anyman let the undead have their way, or would they risk their lives to save their most persistent and hated enemies?.

"Guess this is what we came for," Anyman said quietly to Frostbite.

Frostbite for his part nodded, freezing the ghouls at the back, so that they were fair game for Anyman's grizzly work.

OOC:
Field Manipulation, to either freeze on the spot or and around the head so Anyman can just shatter what passes for the thing that controls their actions. If they turn on us, will put up some force wall around some so that we don't get overwhelmed then let Anyman grab a few more etc.

Sj

Frostbite for his part nodded, freezing the ghouls at the back, so that they were fair game for Anyman's grizzly work.

Do you think if Anyman shifted into Grizzly Bear form it would make it easier?

DavidMcMahon wrote:

Frostbite for his part nodded, freezing the ghouls at the back, so that they were fair game for Anyman's grizzly work.

Do you think if Anyman shifted into Grizzly Bear form it would make it easier?

OOC:
No it was just the way you described killing them ;-)

Sj

Attacking from behind against the single minded ghoulish figures clawing and tearing at the door, Anyman reached over, twisted the head of a ghoul around with a dry sounding CRICK! then pulled, yanking the head clean off! Dark ichor spilled from the wound, and the body floundered, falling to the floor and twitching. It would need fire, or an explosion perhaps, to destroy it, and so it continued to be 'unliving' but without the head, it was clear there was no drive or intelligence, albeit basic and driven by one instinct - to feed on the living.

Frostbite froze the head in Anymans hand, causing the eyeballs to freeze in place staring their hate at the Vanguardians. Anyman dropped the head, causing it to shatter on the hard floor!

Noticing the fall of one of their number, the ghouls turned and a dozen broke off from their attack on the room to start walking, jogging, then running towards the pair and their robot! They would be swamped by ravening hands in seconds!

OOC you have 2 frames then initiative time. You'll have half a dozen ghouls on you apiece, and I probably don't have to tell you what a wound from one of these things will do to you, eventually....