The Adventure

The robot has been beaten all to hell, and now looks quite pitiful...but maybe there's something of use in its shattered body?

Ripping through the unit quickly, Rocketeer finds the power core: a glowing blue ball, about the size of a baseball, partially surrounded by an intricate protective shell. At full power, the core's brightness would burn the eyes, but now it's barely as bright as a night-light.

Disconnecting the various cables and lines running to and from the core, Rocketeer takes it, and then follows after the others.

Without its power, Lightning Strike powers down. As it fades, Rocketeer will hear a metallic laugh and a whisper as she flies away: "You're doomed."

---

This is a Mostly Depleted Power Core (1).

You can either keep it for future use, or absorb its remaining power, and restore a cliche.

You can absorb it into your armor, and restore 1 dice for Mad Rocket Scientist...or give it to Ragnar and let him restore 1 dice for his Demi-god cliche.

Small Fry is at full power, so doesn't need it. Shield Maiden is missing Mild-Mannered Alter Ego, but that's not a cliche that fits for absorbing this energy.

The furious demi-god is yelling at the facility's personnel, which have all congregated at basement one, as noticed by Rocketeer's hacking. As you all catch up to Ragnar, you see why they've done so: to defend the final stairwell and elevators to basement level two.

You can see these down the wide hallway, but between them are at least 20 people, all armed; there must be an armory somewhere on this level.

Some have standard weapons like shotguns and pistols; others have advanced tech, like energy swords. Still others have tech so exotic it's difficult to determine its function.

They crowd the corridor, or peer out from four different rooms...but aren't immediately attacking. There are, actually, two different groups, each with different ideas on how to handle this, now that it's come to "fish or cut bait" time.


1.) Timid Group of Underlings (3)

2.) Gung-ho Group of Underlings (3)


Timid: "Hold up there, Ragnar! Yes, we know who you are! Let's all take deep breaths and----"

Gung-ho: "Cowards! Traitors! Blast 'em all, dammit! Raines is almost done!"

Timid: "Fuck Raines! These intruders tore through our defenses with ease! I ain't dying for that psycho!"

Gung-ho: "Fuck Raines?! Imbecile! Why did you join up with him, if you thought he was a lunatic?!"

This back-and-forth continues. Having no patience for this nonsense, Ragnar raises his sword, likely preparing to slaughter everyone....

The gung-ho group of minions stops in unison, as if someone had frozen them in time. Small Fry's "red mist" phrase sticks in their minds, and the full import of their situation finally hits them.

Even from a distance, you can see the sweat glistening on their foreheads, and see their hands shaking.

Gung-ho: "Well...shit. We...uh...don't wanna fight. Let us go? We'll call the authorities, while you all deal with Raines!"

Timid: "Wait a second...that was a quick reversal...."

Gung-ho: "Red mist?! Red fuckin' mist?! C'mon! Ya'll were right, OK? Don't be sore winners!"

The timid group glowers at the gung-hos for a moment, then nods.

Timid: "We'll make sure they don't backstab you, and we'll watch this level in case Raines has any more tricks. Go!"

All the underlings part (some sheepishly, some with comic enthusiasm), allowing you to move down the corridor and finally reach basement level two.


1.) Timid Group of Underlings (3)

2.) Gung-ho Group of Underlings (1)

You've finally made it to basement level two. Rather than hallways and multiple rooms, it appears to be just one large room, about 100 feet square. It's jam-packed with scientific equipment, monitors, control panels, thick cables running to and fro. Even the ceiling is cluttered with stuff.

Towards the middle of the room, you see something that looks like a high-tech sarcophagus. Glass panels show a female form inside. This is clearly the containment chamber Meghana is trapped in, as WeatherCore leeches her power.

Following the cables running from the chamber, you see them end at a device that's obviously WeatherCore. It rises up from the floor, powering a white-blue ball of energy. All of you can feel the immense energy pulsing off of it. You also feel constant weather change as you move through the room: one second it's -20F, another second it's 70F.In a corner sits a muscular man in some sort of cape-and-suit scientific uniform. His feet are propped up on a control panel, and a bottle of red wine sits open by his side. He grins at you wolfishly, and downs some of the wine from the glass he's holding.

Your opponents:

Dr. Elias Raines
Megalomaniacal Scientist (4)
Aspiring Oligarch (3)

Aspiring Oligarch is an inappropriate cliche for this fight. Beware!

Raines also has Holographic Duplicates, making it difficult for you to land attacks. Anyone who attacks him with a physical/combat-related cliche suffers a -5 penalty to their roll!

WeatherCore (7)

7 dice?! Goodness!

However, you have another option besides attacking it!

You can use a turn to interact with the control panels/containment chamber/cables/equipment/etc. in an attempt to redirect, weaken, or disable WeatherCore. This will be a target number roll, sliding difficulty based on cliche used, like we've discussed.

A good roll will generate a positive result, a bad roll a negative. You don't lose dice or gain dice either way; your action only affects the state of WeatherCore.

Raines may also use his turn to interact with WeatherCore!

Now roll those d20s! Unless you're gonna be a wimp and run away or something....

Round One

19: Victor/Shield Maiden – down to Mild-Mannered Alter Ego (2)
16: WeatherCore –
14: Small Fry –
12: Dr. Elias Raines –
7: Ragnar Thunderheart – down to Alcoholic (2), Demi-god (4)

3: Team: Rocketeer – down to Mad Rocket Scientist (3), High-Flying Daredevil (2)
3: Team: Allied Defense Droids – (1)

Shield Maiden, you're up!