Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Smoke and Mirrors

The group consists of:
  • Guts, a warrior from another time and place, clothed in what seems to be living armor
  • Black Jaguar, a man in a catsuit who has with feline abilities. Hypothetically not a furry.
  • Kiree Myrr, a mind-reading blogger, with a penchant for monoblogging during combat.
  • Gray Blacklock, a lich with arcane powers.
  • The Crimson Dredd, bearer of a mystical bow and possibly other weapons.
  • And last but not least, Aaron Avery Ayers, a normal kind of guy.

The crew, only but barely recovered from their previous adventure, headed home. The next morning, they once again set out, this time for LA, the third of the three suggested destinations. Unfortunately... their teleporter seemed to have malfunctioned. Instead of dropping them within a few blocks of the Foundation's LA HQ, they instead wound up almost three miles away. Worse, the area around them was surrounded by dense forest! As they walked, the trees seemed to sprout from the ground, growing at a phenomenal rate.

Even more odd, the group seemed to have changed costumes; they were now clad in pith helmets and beige, multi-pocketed jackets, draped in the occasional bandolier. Only the mundane clothing seems to have been affected; Guts' armor, for instance, was unchanged. In fact, Guts was rather more at ease in this new terrain. Blacklock attempted to nullify any powers that might be affecting the area, and succeeded, though only for a brief time. The jungle crept back... Blacklock muttered about "illusions," and the team pressed on.

As they turned a corner, they saw a strange sight - four pirates, sitting atop an elephant! The pirates didn't seem to notice them, and the party remained out of sight. Dredd fired an arrow, attempting to nullify any illusion, and indeed succeeded; the elephant, for a brief moment, returned to its normal form: a streetcar, meandering along its tracks. Then, the streetcar was gone, again an elephant. One of the pirates kicked it, and away it went.

Not long after that, about halfway to their destination, they came across a strange scene - a group of natives carrying spears were facing down another small group of pirates! The two yelled back and forth, then suddenly, a young man strode into view. He was dressed impeccably in safari gear, and called out in a jovial, Edwardian British accent, asking the pirates to stand down, lest they be hurt. The pirates responded by firing at him; every shot either missed or was deflected by his clothing. Blacklock fired a blast of energy, and managed to wipe out the group of pirates in a single blow. The young man turned, and the group sized him up, as he sized them up.

Deciding on peace - for now - the group asked him about the forest. "I say, it's rather grand, don't you think? These mighty trees are called redwoods; quite the sight, eh?"

He gestured to a large tree that seemed suspiciously like an office building, only with bark and leaves. "I've been exploring these forests for, well, a bloody long time, let me tell you! Hmm? The pirates? Jolly nuisance! I've run into more than my fair share, but the rum buggers never stick around for long, wot wot! One whiff of a brave chappie in Her Majesty's Service, and they head for the hills!"

The party quizzed him about a few things, but eventually asked him about the Foundation headquarters. He explained that he had, in fact, been held there; or rather, brought in for questioning. It was a strange, dark place... but, once the slavers had attacked, they blasted the building to rubble, and he had made his escape - after taking out the slavers, of course. They may have freed him, but slavery was slavery, wot wot.

The tribesmen followed as the man - Thomas McDermott, he said - until they reached the HQ. It was, indeed, destroyed; still-smoking rubble littered the area. "The fort was totally destroyed, as you can see."

He lead the way into a half-buried tunnel, down a flight of stairs, and into a damp jail. The cells were open, iron-bar cells, with pallets to sleep on. Nullifying one of the cells showed it to be a modern glass holding cell, its walls solid; but as soon as the jungle reappeared, it was easy to put your hand through the bars. No simple illusion, then!

Thomas stared into one of the cells morosely... as one of the natives crept up behind him, and pushed him in! The forest began to fade; the native slammed the cell shut, and a moment later, the damp jail had been replaced with a hallway and three glass-walled cells! And the natives were suddenly revealed to be wearing Nazi swastikas!

The battle was short; the three "natives" were quickly taken down. The team quickly called for assistance - the Foundation. The man on the other end of the line was somewhat incredulous that they had managed to trap Mirage - Thomas's code name. It seems that Thomas has abilities far above what others had seen; at power level 8, his abilities were beyond comprehension. At a minimum, he could manipulate matter and energy to create forests and jungles around him, and add illusions on top of all that. What's more, he can manipulate the minds of those around him; most people never thought twice about his effect on the world. As they came into his presence, they merely believed that they had always been pirates, or natives, or slavers - slavers being what he called the Nazis.

As powerful and disruptive as he was, Mirage certainly had his uses; the Nazis the team brought down were part of an elite strike team, sent to destroy him... because every other Nazi force sent it had been destroyed! Giant mech or otherwise, Mirage had dealt with them all, swiftly and easily.

The man from Foundation suggested they send him north, to Canada; they were fighting a large incursion there, and his assistance would be appreciated - and perhaps, less obvious. He talked Blacklock through opening a very secure vault, and removing some handcuffs inside - nullifier handcuffs. Placing them on Thomas, the group lead him out of his cell, letting out a sigh of relief when he didn't reactivate his jungle...

Kiree handed him her phone. Even through the nullifying handcuffs, he still managed to change the electronic device into a paper map. Blacklock gave him a copy, then transported him outside the city limits.

As the others filed out of the destroyed Foundation building, into the bright sun - no longer obscured by a half-fantasy jungle - they saw a group of people waiting for them. Tough looking grunts, and a flying man hovering above them! With a scream of rage, the man sent his thugs forward - it was Ultraman! Super tough, super angry, and super scary!

Unfortunately, Ultraman was not prepared for the Crimson Dredd, who blasted him with three arrows in quick succession, not was he prepared for the leap-and-destroy from Guts. Ultraman fell to the ground, bleeding. After a quick talk with Foundation (who was ambivalent about doing anything with Ultraman - he seemed to get out of trouble a little too easily), they decided on dismembering him and tossing his composite parts into the nullifying cell. Brutal!

Meanwhile, Guts was the first to get a green chip; he drew the 3 of Clubs, which means his work has gotten the attention of a low-level group of supers, who want to help the cause!

The party returned home, with another victory under their belt, and 3 XP.

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