Professor Wynde issue #1 - The finer things in life cost!

Wonder Man brightened up "I could use my charm and charisma. Like I did on Bren... Nora. She'll be sure to swoon into my arms!" He looked cheerful as he wandered after the police officer.

Prof Wynde rolled his eyes then set to detecting magic... He immediately detected Wonder Man... and Officer Coles, worryingly. As for anything else...?

Hmmm. A statue shouldn't be able to up and walk off but apparently this one had. Unless it was out of range. He knew his own range, from experience, was about a mile. Perhaps he could... push... it beyond previous limits but knew from previous failed attempts that it would 'burn out' if he failed and wouldn't work for an hour. It was his choice... or he could fly about and hope to get lucky and catch it at the edge of his range...

Fly a quick circle about a 1/2 mile out from where he is, detecting as he circles.

OOC Still nothing, and it takes a while because a) unless he wants to go supersonic about 8aps is the practical limit and b) he mikght whizz past , catch a sniff then retrace his steps taking more time.

With a sigh Prof Wynde continues to circle, widening his search pattern. Wherever the statue was, it was probably getting further away as time passed. He turned back. Doubtless either Officer Coles or Wonder Man would need rescuing from ...

Then he got it. A faint glimmer...

Swooping in that direction he saw in the distance - as the sense of 'magic' got stronger - a hilltop at the edge of town... a graveyard! Amongst the rows of gravestones were a number of tombs.

OOC Don't worry we're not going on a dungeon crawl, but you might need some extra muscle for what's about to happen...

He circled back around to find Wonder Man to get him to help out. Mucking about in graveyards is not something one does solo!

He also wanted to give Officer Coles a card that contained an website that would get her started in contacting OOP. They would be able to help her out on her first steps of magicdom.

The Officer still looked confused but took the card for OOP. "Magic... and that voice in my head. I... No, Wonder Man, I wouldn't like to go to a bar for a drink afterwards."

Wonder Man looked crestfallen then listened as Prof Wynde explained about the find at the graveyard.

He puffed his chest up, eyes narrowed and muttered "That's more like it! Something I can get stuck in to! Lead the way!"

Flying slower so that the hero from the past could keep up, they landed at the edge of the graveyard. It was very old, and desperately overrun. The attached church had been burned down quite a long time ago but no one had ever taken the time or sorted the paperwork out to demolish it. The gates were rusted and locked/chained and vegetation had overgrown the place dramatically.

Wonder Man looked down at the distant town bathed in sunshine then at the clouds above this place and the general area. It was dark, gloomy and foggy. Slightly spooky in fact.

"What's the plan? Go in there and start punching things? I find that works best." said Wonder Man.

Prof Wynde knelt and looked at tracks in a muddy puddle. VERY recent, in the last few minutes probably! Some sort of large SUV or truck had been here very recently. He looked about. The road from the town was more of a dirt track, disused for an age except for recently... No truck here, but the angle of the tracks suggested driving round the graveyard wall (8' high) and to somewhere round the back, where the church was...

Magic Sense again and follow the direction it leads.

"Let's see if I can track the magical aura and find where it goes first, then we punch stuff," Prof. Wynde replies while concentrating, "By the all Revealing Eye of Efrem Zimbalist Jr., find what I seek!" He waves his hands as he "casts" his spell.

Wonder Man raised an eyebrow. "impressive." he stated, but wasn't quite sure what the modern superhero was doing. The pair walked around the graveyard wall and up a dirt track towards the very top of the hill where the burnt out remains of the church were.

There they saw a rental truck, back open, and the interior seemingly empty!

"Where can they have taken the statue?" asked Wonder Man as he got to the back of the truck. "Still can't believe the variety and shape of vehicles. I mean, the cars back in my day were fast but..."

"Shhh!" reminded Prof Wynde and both crouched to peer around the truck side to a place about 100' or so away where a man in all body hood and robe, face cast in shadow, walked out of what remained of the church. Some of the walls still stood but most of it had collapsed and were blackened ruins. The interesting part was that the lowest ten foot of the church had been old stone when most buildings of the era this must have been were of wood.

Prof Wynde sensed magic again... and looked all around. This was some kind of very old burial ground, and it was STEEPED in magic.

"Want me to take out that galoot? A swift one two should sort him out." said Wonder Man. "Then we can get in there and find out what this is all about!"

Prof. Wynde thought about it for a bit.

"Can you instead grab him gag him and bring him here for a quick question and answer? If we know who and what we are dealing with, that will help us figure out what to do next."

Prof Wynde is going to bring up a breeze, strong enough to stir up dust and leaves from behind him towards the building. The idea is it will either get some dirt in his eyes and blind him for a bit or he will turn his face enough to avoid that happening, giving Wonder Man a better chance of running up and grabbing him.

With the wind swirling up the guard turned away, raising a hand to his eyes.

Wonder Man whispered "I'll go easy on him. Sometimes I don't know my own strength!"

OOC Wonder Man leaps up to the fellow and grabs him with 5 Str so as not to injure him too much.

Dex 11 + three martial arts dice + Roll(5d12)+0: 6,12,11,9,3,+0 Total:23 (34) vs
Dex 9 (!) + not able to use acrobatics (surprise) - 4 (surprise) + Roll(2d12)+0: 10,1,+0 Total:11 (16)

+6 EV (to 11) vs RV 9=2 RAPs

"Ok pal you're coming with me and... huh. Guess they make goons stronger than they used..."

The guard swung at Wonder Man!

OOC Dex 9 + Martial Artist 2 dice + Roll(4d12)+0: 1,12,3,5,+0 Total:17 (26) vs
Dex 11 + Roll(2d12)+0: 5,4,+0 Total:9 (20) HIT

+3 EV (to 14) vs RV 11 (Skin Armour ineffective against this power)=3 RAPs

The Guard is HEALED (full 9/9 Body)

Wonder Man makes a strange 'Gluck' sound as a hand clamps around his neck and he is lifted off the floor! His legs writhe and he glows slightly as a slight electrical crackle plays across his body!

OOC Prof Wynde can act then initiative...Wonder Man still has the guy grabbed.

Possible to do a magic blast at him or too many minuses with Wonder Man being held?

Prof Wynde takes aim with an eldritch bolt at the surprisingly strong and dextrous guard...

OOC Magic Blast 10 + Roll(2d12)+0: 9,2,+0 Total:11 (21) vs
infl 9 + Roll(2d12)+0: 1,1,+0 Total:2 FAILURE OV is zero!

+6 EV (to 16) vs RV 9 =7 damage!

The man/creature screams in agony and all of a sudden decides discretion is the better part of valour!

OOC initiative...

Roll(3d12)+0:
9 Wynde (33) ,8 Wonder (33) ,4 (27) guard

Wynde Goes first - Wonder Man defers to the mage seeing as he's just blasted him rather effectively!

"Dark Powers of Light, blast my foe!" Magic Blast.

OOC Magic Blast 10 + Roll(2d12)+0: 6,10,+0 Total:16 (26) vs
Infl 9 + Roll(2d12)+0: 5,9,+0 Total:14 (23)

+3EV (to 13) vs RV9=4 damage (Spirit 5/9)

"Wow!" muttered Wonder Man as eldritch light made the guard scream though no sound came from the shadowed hood!

"No way I'm holding back now!!" said Wonder Man and he tried to deliver a jarring right hook to his foes' chin!

The guard snarled "I have the strength of ONE HUNDRED men! You cannot kill me! I am... IMMORTAL!"

Wonder man grit his teeth and replied. "Yeah? Well I'm a hundred or more years old an' I reckon that makes me Immortal too! Let's see who is more immortal... er."

Prof Wynde cringed at that last quip. Clearly Wonder Man needed to get back into the swing of quips and banter!

OOC Grappling so STR is the AV/OV for each character... and here Wonder Man has the advantage!

Going for a Critical Blow!

Str 13 + Roll(2d12)+0: 3,9,+0 Total:12 (25) vs
Str 9 + 4 (Crit Blow) + Roll(2d12)+0: 6,4,+0 Total:10 (23)

+2 EV (to 15) vs RV9 - 6 (crit blow)=12 damage! The guard is DOWN.

With a terrific left hook Wonder Man sent the guard sprawling backwards! His cloak fell from him and Prof Wynde gasped! The man with great strength was spindly, emaciated, his clothes tattered and hanging from him. his face was drawn, pale white skin thin as parchment with blue veins underneath! His eyes... blood red!

He was also unconscious, for the time being.

"Who... what ... was he? It took all of my strength to down him! I can tear a tank apart with my bear hands and this guy just had to touch me and I feel ... tired... drained somehow!"

He looked at the ruin. It was dark, shadow cast and stank old... and of something else.

Evil.

OOC Wonder Man is on 8/11 Body.

Using Occult Knowledge to find out what we are dealing with here. Vampire? Ghoul? Wight? or something else.

Relay that information to Wonder Man then ...

"I don't see a way to tie him up other than tearing his robe into strips and using that to tie he," Prof Wynde says looking around to see if there is another choice [if there is and it is better, we will go with that].


"So I will let you do the honors and then we will move into deeper and find our missing stoned boy and the ones who took him."

Try following the trail of magic.

Wonder Man trusses him up and shakes his head. "As Fred Carson I could only dream about things like this happening to me. Even as Wonder Man, it's hard to believe that people with abilities are so commonplace! back in my day there was only one guy and he was dressed in Blue with a cape of red that..." he glanced up.

"Someone's coming!" he hissed.

There came a noise of crunching feet and it was coming from the ruins of the church. More specifically from stone stairs and the heroes ducked behind a blackened stone wall that had formed part of the church to see that the building had been quite large, and that there were steps leading down. Presumably they led to the crypt or a basement area but amidst the rotted wood, overgrown vegetation, pools of water and general detritus of age it all added up to a creepy hideout for a bad guy!

Another cloaked and hooded figure, like the one they'd trussed up, appeared and looked around, sniffing the air.

These two definitely had the strength to move a stone statue and Prof Wynde put it together. Someone, somewhere, had detected the magic in the town and raised an interest, calling to help some Vampire-like creatures that served as henchmen and muscle. Waiting for their chance to strike they'd stolen the statue in the car park and put it into a truck to bring it here, and now it was down those stairs. The time scale suggested it hadn't been here long at all and maybe the heroes were only minutes behind!

Whatever they were planning to do with the statue maybe hadn't taken place yet. But who was down there, and what did they want? The guard looked about, and seemed suspicious.

"Hey Larry." he called, in a smokes too much gravelly voice. "Everything alright out there? Thought I heard somethin'. Since the boss gave us da juice everythin' is... sharper." he muttered.

"I'm going to try to blow him into the air and you get under him and give him your strongest sock as he falls to the ground," Prof. Wynde whispers to Wonder Man. "Hopefully he can't fly."

action: using air control blast the new foe and to direct the knockback up into the air, something the power lets me do and now is the first time to try it out in actual combat.

OOC Initiative for the good guys with Surprise.

Air Control 10 + Roll(2d12)+0: 6,5,+0 Total:11 (21) vs
Dex 9 + (no acrobatics) - 4 surprise + Roll(2d12)+0: 1,11,+0 Total:12 (17)

+3 EV (to 13) vs RV 9 = 4 RAPs less 2 APs of weight.

Prof Wynde whips up a wind that lifts the vampire like guard forty feet straight up in the air with surprise!

Wonder Man leaps up to meet him!

OOC He gets the surprise attack too.

CRIT BLOW Dex 11 + martial artist three dice + Roll(5d12)+0: 11,6,12,7,1,+0 Total: 23 (34) vs
Dex 9 - Surprise 4 + Crit Blow 4 + Roll(2d12)+0: 5,9,+0 Total:14 (23)

+5 EV (to 18) vs RV 9 -6 (3RV)= 15 Damage. Guard is OUT.

THWACK!

Wonder Man sends him even further up with his punch and lands. The pair see the vampire go up... and up... (another eighty feet)

Using his air control Prof Wynde easily lowers the man down and once more they find an emaciated man with deathly pale skin and smelly clothing.

"Another like the first. It took ALL of my strength to lay him out! If we meet more than one or two of these guys..." muttered Wonder Man...

"Tell me about it," Prof Wynde mutters back. "Tie him up and let's get going down into that dank dark crypt and find something really nasty down there."

after tying the guy up, head down below, looking for booby traps as I go.

"It won't hold someone who can punch through a stone wall for long, but it's better than nothing." said Wonder Man.

With that he joined Prof Wynde after trussing the second guard up. Footsteps in the slime and dirt suggested there'd been a fair bit of traffic down these stairs very recently. The stygian gloom was soon too hard to see in!

"Don't suppose you have any matches?" whispered Wonder Man. "What I wouldn't give for a cool, calm, relaxing and thoroughly healthy in no way bad for you smoke right now." he moaned.

The pair continued to descend into the gloom with their eyes barely adjusting. Feeling their way down a wall they finally got to the bottom. It was cold here, absolute pitch black and aside from dripping water there was no sound.

And yet... something was down here with them. All of a sudden there was a scuffing of feet, but it was impossible to tell which direction it had come from! Something was coming closer!

"Doubt it is anything goof," Prof Wynde mutters to Wonder Man, also wondering why he didn't think to bring a torch or night vision goggles. He would have to remember to put that on his "always carry" list.

"Oh Zephyr Wing's that lift us on high," he intones quietly, which he uses to cover him summoning a strong wind to blow down the passage in front of them. {Strong enough to do 3 Ap knockback minus the 2 aP for human weight.}

"Ugh!" came a voice from the darkness!

Wonder Man peered into the darkness. There was someone there!

A string of words spoken in a language long dead rang out, and Prof Wyndes' blood chilled!

OOC Neutralize 12 plus Roll(2d12)+0: 2,7,+0 Total:9 (21) vs Air Control 10 plus Roll(2d12)+0: 3,12,+0 Total:15 (25) attempt to Negate FAILED

Luckily his magic withstood the negation spell and he poured the wind on!

There were more curses and the scuffle of feet indicated someone had left the corridor!

Wonder Man made a 'phew!' sound and muttered "Stay here. Be right back."

A minute or so later he came back and sparked up a light, then lit a cigarette. Prof Wynde was immediately struck by how old this place was. Like REALLY old.

And it shouldn't be here.

The walls were stone, carved with runes, magical wards, symbols and more...

Visuals of human sacrifice... raising from the dead... worse. Plague... famine... an army of the dead walking the earth... What was this place?

"Ahhhh. Cool, relaxing, not harmful in any way." said Wonder Man taking a long drag from the smoke. "I searched the bodies and the truck and found some smokes and matches! Cool huh! Whatever those guys were in their lives before... whatever happened to them... they were regular joes."

Prof Wynde gathered debris, wood, strike, twine, branches... anything he could wrap up and use as a torch. In moments they had a guttering flame. The corridor led on deeper into the darkness, into the depths of a hill. How did this get here? Who made it... and why?

He had a bad feeling about all of this. The Statue had been brought here, but why?

"Cigarettes have been proven to cause lung cancer and other breathing problems," Prof. Wynde says absently as he looks over the room, wondering if maybe he should blast it and destroy the symbols, "though with your regeneration, it probably won't hurt you. Smoking cigars is a lot less dangerous, fewer of the harmful chemicals in cigarettes are in cigars."

Occult Knowledge, would destroying the runes and mystic signs in this room help destroy the taint of this place and perhaps weaken the powers of those further in?

OOC infl 10 + occult dice three + Roll(5d12)+0: 7,8,4,10,7,+0 Total:14 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 5,5,+0 Total:10 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 7,12,+0 Total:43 (53) Wow! vs
OV10 + Roll(2d12)+0: 2,1,+0 Total:3 FAILURE OV ZERO

+10 EV (the highest we've yet seen in the new system) In the old system (rules as written) that result would give +12CS (16RAPs for Wynde). In this one it gives:

+10EV (to 20) vs RV10= 10 RAPs. I'm clearly meaner.

1) The symbols are an ancient text depicting the nature and meaning of this place
2-3) Many of the symbols are magical warnings or wards. As such they are designed to warn the caster or someone who activates them of intruders and even trigger certain effects.
4-6) The more intricate of the symbols indicates this place has been transported lock stock and barrel from another place entirely (probably Europe or a Persian country) and destroying or damaging the runes might transport the place BACK to its original place. That might be a very bad thing indeed as who knows what has been built on that site in the intervening centuries.
7-10) The magic is old and very powerful. Not only would the spells required to negate the magic be powerful but any failure might result in spell backfire (ouch) or even the release of a demon that may be trapped in servitude to bind the spell. Powerful magic such as that required to transport a hillside and the contents therein would come at a huge cost and the penalties for messing about with that magic would be severe indeed. To mess with this is to mess with unknown and powerful dark forces, ones that have a 'long game' and a purpose that is somewhat far about the ambitions of petty modern day magicians. Such dark forces may exist still, lying in weight to be awoken and may even be in this complex, awaiting the right combination of forces and sacrifice to trigger their return to the world and make it a living hell for all who live there!

Prof Wynde blinked and carefully looked at the runes.

Wonder Man blinked and carefully looked at the smoke. "Huh, all those years of companies telling us smokes were good for losing weight and health benefits. Who'd have thought they were lying multi million dollar corporations who's only thought and desire to make money at the expense of other peoples' health? Huh." He looked at the cigarette, thought about taking another drag and stamped it out, tossing the others but keeping the matches.

"So, what's it say Prof? Do we smash this place up until the guy who lives here cries uncle and hands over the statue? Sounds like a plan to me." he says as he pulls back a fist...