Week 5 write up - Part 4

The party reassemble outside the church keeping close enough to stay in the zone where the zombies fear to tread. Its presence continues to upsets Simone so they make a quick decision to continue following Zdradnik and the girl. Invisible, Marcel follows the old man across the square, passed a very odd clock, around the corner, down a street to an apartment block. All the buildings encountered so far, other than the theatre and the church, have been either façades or empty shells, but the apartment building is fully detailed. Moving around in the lobby area are normal people but as they exit they seem to turn to mist and blow away. From the mist others coalesce and walk into the lobby. Zdradnik and the girl cross the lobby, get into a lift, which then takes them to the top floor. Marcel checks things out for a short while before entering. The 'people' don't react, in fact they don't even seem to notice his existence. He attempts to spacial warp to the top floor. He finds he cannot. He has to warp to the penultimate floor and then takes a lift to the top floor where he hides and waits.

Meanwhile the rest of the party leave the church and follow, crossing the square as quickly as they can to avoid the zombies wandering around. They stop at the odd clock that Marcel had noticed. Having been to the real Prague he informs them over the walkie talkie that it is called the Orloj. This is one of the buildings that Chuck detected had some form of mechanical or electrical power and is clearly the source of the odd, faint background ticking sound the party first heard as they first went into the open air from the theatre and have been hearing ever since.

Chuck is most interested in it. The party inspect it closely and see that the time part of the mechanism is passing very quickly indeed, the lower face, showing the months is moving visibly. Hours pass in minutes and on each hour doors open at the top and through them can be seen what the party diagnose as the 12 apostles, except they are not looking very holy. Their faces are weeping, racked with anguish and pain and a couple have their faces in their hands. Their bodies are distorted, bent and their metal halos twisted and blackened. This they decide is probably not a good thing. They also notice that on the constellation ring, one of the symbols is missing. A merry half hour is spent working out which one it is, finally coming to the conclusion that it is Virgo. The link is then made with the girl with Zdradnik. Is she the/a virgin? He said she was the portal keeper.

The team decide to split up and check out the buildings that Chuck thought were active. As Samson and Simone head to one they are once again afflicted with pain. The zombiefication process has kicked in again.  For Samson he finds that in addition to the yellow/orange mucus problem and the a slight weakening of his Absorption power

• He now finds he can understand what the zombies are saying
• One of his eyes has gone black and the other red
• His tongue is long and black
• In a moment of madness, finding his clothes strangely restrictive and choking, he rips most of them to tatters. 
• He also feels the nature of his voice changing a bit and the urge to howl and scream like a banshee presses on his mind. He fights it off and keeps his mouth shut, which also helps to stop him from biting his long tongue.

Simone is having it worse. Having fought off the effects of the translocation to this dimension so well her system suddenly collapses in the face of the zombiefication process. The issue of not being able to go too close to holy sites pales before the total loss of all her powers. In addition:

• Idly playing with her hair as she normally does, she finds it now falling out in clumps and her skin has become blotchy and rather soft and fragile in a necrotic sort of way.

• Her tongue feels funny and flicking it up in front of her eyes she sees that a) she can flick it up in front of her eyes, b) that it is now quite a dark red, c) it seems quite prehensile.
• As she moves she leaves a fine cloud of black particles behind her.
• She to has the urge to make odd noises, a low groan that Samson says he find a bit unnerving. OK, a lot unnerving. It makes him want to scream. He chokes it back. He also tells her that as she groans her eyes go jet blank, no pupils. Simone grunts that this is fine coming from him, pointing out his own eye colouring.
• Like Samson she also tears her clothes to shreds. It just feels right.
• Her mouth feels odd but Samson tells her he can't see any change, but that could just be the mucus in his eyes. He does point out however that she doesn't seem to be casting a shadow any more either.
• Instinctively she knows there are other changes too. When some zombies appear she can understand their very basic language. Angry, she tells them to get lost, and surprises herself as she does so in the same guttural language. She steps towards them and they flinch back, now more intrigued and humbled than hostile.

The pair hear a cry, like a child's cry and head towards it into a basic building. Crouched on the floor on her own is a woman, clearly zombiefied.

“Go away,” says Simone.

“Fuck off bitch,” the zombie hisses to Samson and Simone's great surprise. “Hmmm, who's that with you? Nice.”

She stands up. She's painfully thin with black claws instead of fingers

“Fresh meat.”

She rushes at Samson at tremendous speed and screams in his face, a high pitch scream that passes up beyond a normal person's hearing. Both Samson and Simone can hear it climb and climb and it chills them to their core. Samson's bottle goes and he turns and flees in terror. Unfortunately for him the zombie is faster and she leaps onto his back, bearing him to the ground where she starts tearing at him with her claws as he screams in terror.

Simone leaps to his defence, grabbing the woman and trying to get her off Samson.

Simone isn't strong enough, the woman is incredibly strong, so Simone changes tactics and sinks her teeth into the woman's neck, the paralysing bite takes hold and Samson is able to snap out of his terror and throw her off.  They run off, the woman's eyes following them as she twitches on the floor.  Back out on the street they come to a library.   Avoiding the ghosts walking about, they search the place. Most of the books are false, either just rows of spines or empty books. However they come to a section, titles on the occult, where the books are real. Some are obviously quite old, some modern. A few have the name Milan Zdradnik marked on the inside.  Most are in Czech but a few are in English. Simone browses quickly through them and something catches her eye, a diagram of a pentagram with five bowls, one on each point. Meanwhile, not particularly attracted by books, Samson has also come across something interesting, a large iron bowl, just like the one in the theatre. It too has dried blood in the bottom of it. It is very heavy but Samson can lift it.

Roslayn heads back to theatre to check on the others whilst Chuck and Eldnah head back across the square, avoiding the zombies and come to an apartment block. Again, it seems to be populated by ghosts and as per Marcel's building, Chuck finds that he cannot teleport to the top floor and neither can Eldnah space warp. They take the lift to the top. Hunting around they find the only door that opens and it gives on to a large corner suite. A quick look around and it is clear from the few personal objects that this room is where the young girl is staying. It too has a large iron bowl in it which also has dried blood at the bottom.

Marcel calls in shortly afterwards. Zdradnik and the girl are leaving. They turn left out of the building and up the road, approaching the library but pass it by. Samson and Simone give a sign or relief. They then turn right and approach the north end of the square. They look to be heading for the girl's apartment building, where Chuck, Rosalyn and Eldnah are. They leave the floor in a hurry, down the stairs to a lower floor where they wait.

Samson, carrying the iron bowl and Simone carrying some books, leave the library. The theatre is not far away so they head there. Simone wants to try the bowl on the pentagram and check on the state of the other Supers. The other 5 Supers: Leonid, Leonardo, Poncio, Michael Anthony, a.k.a. Bowling Ball and his friend Bernie Mays, a.k.a. Cuttleman, are at least conscious when they pair arrive but not feeling at all well. They are all a bit confused and wondering what the hell was going on back at the barracks, where the hell they are now, when can they go home please and who is the zombie babe with the skin as pure as driven pus?

So how is everyone looking?

Eldnah

Already suffering from the foul, black ichor he's constantly drooling, another burst of zombiefication means that he now also has the following:

• Immune to Fear attacks and loves attacking things without regard to his own safety
• He tears all his clothes to shreds.  It feels real good.
• He notices a small extra head growing out of his shoulder.  It argues with him and tries to make him do things.  (1 on a D20 and the DM decides what you are going that round).

Leonid

Leonid seems to have suffered no ill effects what so ever. He's really tired but OK. Looking around him he realises that people are missing and that his friends are not looking so great.

Unfortunately his strong constitution doesn't shake off the on-going zombification process a second time.

• He finds his time control power is lessened (by 2 ranks) and that his strike power is also lessened (by 1 rank).
• He casts no shadow.
• His left eye has a horrible habit of falling out if he does anything too physical, but he finds he can still see with it when it isn't connected to his body.
• His fingernails are amazingly claw like, doing +1 damage in melee attacks.
• He has an odd feeling.  He finds he wants to lick a party member when ever he can take the opportunity.  They just smell and taste yummy.  In fact he wonders if he could get away with just taking a little nibble.....
• Like Simone, he'll find that he prefers to shun sacred or blessed religious sites.  They make him very uncomfortable – Sickened condition.

Leopoldo

The Argentinian is suffering. His initial recovery from the transportation is slow. He comes to eventually but he's slowed, stunned and bruised.  It could have been worse.

• He finds all his powers are not operating as well (-1 rank on Mystic Darkness array, teleportation and ESP.
• His tongue is long, red and prehensile.
• He can understand the talk of the undead, which he realises when he finds he can understand what Poncio is saying to him.  See Poncio's results below
• Flies, which seem to appear out of nowhere, find him irresistible.  Luckily for him he finds they make a yummy and nutritious snack and that he can catch them with his new tongue.
• He finds, or at least everyone else finds that he can spit acid (Level 2 blast/acid attack).  This is not helped by the fact that his long tongue and love of flies means he's always flicking spit everywhere
• He finds that a random limb, including his head, drops off with any strenuous activity, including teleportation.  In one attempt to traverse the theatre he left his head behind.  It takes a round to reattach it.
• In a similar situation he actually finds he can pull his hand off and send it off on its own
• Some time later he feels the zombiefication process kick in again but he shakes it off, causing his left leg to drop off.

Poncio

Poncio has it bad, real bad. He's totally zombified.

• He comes to and finds he has no powers at all
• He feels very, very, very hungry all the time and must eat every 10 minutes or so or suffer a slowed condition.
• He acquires the Improved Grab feat
• He doesn't know it yet, but he's totally resistant to paralysing effects.
• His hair is very sparse and thin and his skin blotchy.
• Sloping around the theatre he finds some chains that are used to raise the curtain and scenery.  He finds he really likes chains.  Pulling them down he starts clanking them around. It feels nice and he goes off to find the others to show them how lovely his chains are.
• He gains the Improved Grapple feat
• He too can speak with the undead.
• In addition to the chains he finds he loves to groan a lot.  It scares and unnerves people which he rather enjoys.  (Rank 2 Emotion Control – fear attack).  He quite noisy really.
• Unwittingly finds he can drain 1 point of Con from any party member by touch in order to gain an additional saving throw or healing check.  The party member recovers the drained Con after 1 minute.
• Following on immediately from the Drain above on Leonid and the abuse he gets from Leonid for doing it, he finds he can make people forget the last 5 minutes of time.  (Emotion Control with Mind Blank)
• He finds he can levitate himself twice a day
• He smells really, really rank. 

Some time later he feels the zombiefication process kick in again but he too gets no further effects from it.

Rosalyn

Rosalyn is looking fine and dandy.  She feels the zombification process continue in her body so now...

• In addition to her existing extra large pointy canines, which she's growing rather fond of, she also notices that a clear liquid can be ejected from them.  Looking around she wonders who she can bite to see what it does.  (DM's notes:  It's poison.  Rosalyn?  Poison?  Don't you just love dice rolls sometimes!)
• Her Mind Shield power has dropped by 1 rank
• Her eyes go completely red when she uses a power, including her zombie powers
  

Meanwhile the two Supers who were at the barracks

Bowling Ball

Michael Anthony initially looks fine. After a time however...

• His skin goes blotchy and necrotic
• He too leaves a cloud of fine black particles wherever he goes.

Cuttleman

Bernie Mays meanwhile stays unconscious. He looks very zombified and it clearly isn't suiting his system at all.

Week 5 write up – Part 3

The doors to the church are not locked and the group sneak in. The first thing they notice is a slight headache which turns into a dull pain that seems to permeate every cell in their bodies, like a deep chill. It is very unpleasant.

Milan is far up ahead to the left, near the altar, above which, suspended in mid air, are two huge contra-rotating concentric rings of a dull rusty metal, probably iron, one inside the other. They are about a foot wide and the outside diameter of some 30'. In the centre is a dimensional hole, not unlike the one back at the theatre, but much bigger, almost filling the space inside the rings. The inner edge of the ring scintillates with silver flecks of energy and shimmers with St Elmo's Fire. Standing against the far right wall near the altar are two rows of creatures, big armoured humanoids. They are totally still, no sign of life at all.

Oddly, off to Milan's left is a girl, perhaps 13 or 14. She stands very still, blank expression, her lank hair falling about her shoulders is oddly grey for someone so young. Marcel also recognises her face, it is one of the young girls from the first village they encountered. She was one of the girls about to pass the ceremony of womanhood, the ceremony for which Leopoldo was going to be a sacrifice, but a sacrifice to what? She was an almost tubby girl when they last saw her, now she is gaunt and skinny.
Floating above the alter is an odd, iron sculpture of Christ which lacks any legs.
Milan meanwhile is talking up to the black hole.
<A very deep voice or voices perhaps> "We see you again Milan Zdradnik. The attack on the Guardian was successful?"
"Yes, zat threat has been removed. Many of the Legion of Wrath vere destroyed."
"It matters not. There are more. Many, many more. We were most impressed by your ability to maintain the portal rift. You are getting stronger."
"Yes, it vas hard vork. Ze boundaries between your dimension and mine are surprisingly tough and very energized."
"It seems that the actuators we spoke of are not active. This is very good. Did you find any evidence of their key mechanism?"
"No but zen I do not know vhat I am looking for and since you said it could be anyzing, ze search is a little fruitless!"
"The Guardian will have left it but will have made it safe, disguised it. You must find it Zdradnik! Find a way of detecting it."
"I left a few of ze Legion searching."
"This is not work for them. Do it yourself or get some of those human slaves to do it. What about that adolescent female?"
"Pah, she would be too young and anyway she is nearly drained. She is only good for being ze portal keeper now.”
"Portal keeper?"
"I prefer to avoid any possible trans-dimensional backlash so she acts as a key and fuse to open and close ze portal. Any dangerous energy surges pass through her and not me. Ze Depravity of Faith is still here with me you know."
Milan waves his hand vaguely off to the left and for the first time the party notice the presence of an indistinct creature in the shadows of the church beyond the girl. Its smoky indistinct shape, tall and looming, shifts, twists, changes constantly, sometimes showing noticeable shapes: biped, quadruped, winged, but never the same twice as they look.

They also notice that the stone floor on which it stands is blackened and grey, the colour sucked out of it, the great slabs cracked like a dry lake bottom. Smoky tendrils drift out from the creature, feeling the air around it, distorting the air itself. A couple brush ever so lightly across a pew, which dries, buckles and twists beneath the caress, before turning grey and falling apart as the middle of it crumbles into dust and fine wood fibres.
"So we see. The Depravity has accepted you, but do you accept our offer?"
"I have considered it at length and I have decided to accept your offer Chaos Lords."
"Good, we see much potential in you. You can be of great service to us. In return there is much we can teach you. We see that you are now able to create this little world of yours."
"It is good. I have been practising and I am now able to Shadow Walk briefly to my real home and collect some belongings of mine. Most impressive"
"Good, with knowledge and your increased strength there is much you can achieve, but you can become oh some much more Zdradnik, so much more. However remember, what we give, we can also take away. Do not cross us. Now, go and find the Guardian device and seek the gamma-rift that first drew our attention to this dimension."
"Zis gamma-rift you are so interested in still persists hmmm?"
"Yes. Usually they are quite transient. We thought it was just the usual natural phenomena but it appears it is being held open from your side. Find it Zdradnik, find it. We need that rift secured."
<pause>
"You cannot come yourselves can you?"
"What?"
"I have been observing you most closely for weeks now, since you first made contact, and you don’t have ze power to open a hole to my world I’m thinking or, or perhaps you cannot survive here hmmm? You send your minions but seem very reluctant to come yourselves."
"Do not question us puny human! The boundaries to your world are strong but we will breach them soon and you shall see us in all our might!"
"Ha, zo very interesting. Since you cannot safely come here it seems you need me but I zuspect, not necessarily ze other way around? I have what I want here. Oh yes I am enjoying myself in zis new milieu but you, you are hungry for something, something here. Vhat is it eh Lords? Vhat do *you* need so badly?"
<Angry> "DO NOT seek to push your own agenda here Zdradnik."
A stream of black energy pours out of the hole and flows around Milan, up his body. The Legion of Wrath move as one, quickly with a clacking of hard feet on the stone and arrange themselves around the small old man.
"And vhat if I am? I am no longer just zome old and frail man to be used and thrown avay. My powers grow! In that world of yours you may be ze Chaos Lords but in zis one...I am!"
"This is a pitiful little dimensional fold you have here. Lord of virtually nothing is what you are at the moment."
"Pah! Zis is a mere sand pit I have created here under your tutelage. Its size suits me, a world of my choosing populated by little play things for me to enjoy. I would be a powerful ally and a fearsome foe. Which would you rather?"
And with that Zdradnik looks taller, stronger, Rosalyn recognises him from the form she and Simone saw walking in amongst the barracks. His eyes glow with power as the black binds around him pulse, stretch thin and finally start separating as streams of purply-green energy push out from his body. It pushes the black energy back, the two forces curling and fighting but the black energy is forced back into the inky hole. The Legion move to attack with their obsidian blades but the Depravity of Faith moves in and with a touch sucks the life from those nearest to it whilst with a sudden raising of his arms Zdradnik summons cold, steely tentacles that burst from the ground and rip the remaining Legionaries apart. There is silence for a moment.
<slow, deep laughter> "Ha ha ha ha ha ha! We like you all the more Lord Milan of Earth. I see the Depravity has acted on your behalf. That is high praise indeed Zdradnik, high praise indeed. Let us not bargain then, let us instead negotiate a treaty, a mutually beneficial pact."
"Zis seems like a better course. I vill give it zome thought Chaos Lords. I am not an ungrateful man. I vill seek this Guardian's key device and the gamma-rift, but not right now. There are matters on my vorld I have to attend to. I vill need some more information on this gamma-rift. To zis end I vill open another dimension fold from here zometime zoon. I assume you can find it?"
"Yes, we can find it and we'll be ready with the data you require."
"I look forward to it."
With a wave of his hand the black hole closes and the rings start to slow down. He turns to the girl and ushers her away, talking more to himself than her as they slowly walk.
"Just as I thought, qvite taken aback by ze iron rings no? Wouldn't come close to the boundary, but oh zey zo vanted too. I vas right about the ze iron. Ze old legends may have zome truth in zem after all. Pah. Zey are too eager. Patience is what they must learn."

They pass the Depravity of Faith and the party hear them disappear through a door. Invisible, Marcel follows, carefully giving the stationary Depravity as much room as he can. The others meanwhile back quietly out of the church and once outside, they give Simone a call on the walkie-talkie.

Week 5 write up – Part 2

Rosalyn and Simone come to almost immediately. They feel a bit rough but generally OK. Bizarrely they find themselves sitting in the front row of the small theatre they glimpsed momentarily what feels like hours previously.

Around the auditorium lie the other Supers, including the two who were working for the government.

The place is clean and comfortingly worn, not shabby or run down, but not brand new either. There is a really very small open stage in front. Burned into the floor is a pentagram. It glows with a dull, sickly light. On the point of the pentagram nearest them is a large, heavy looking iron bowl. Floating above the pentagram is a strange, spherical distortion, about 3 feet across and looks a bit like the local reality if spiralling down a plug hole. The girls investigate. From which ever way they look at it, it looks the same. In the very centre of the anomaly is a tiny hole through which they can see what looks like the area of the base they just came from, barracks and all. The hole is too small to see details but what is apparent is that time is passing very quickly as the barracks seem to be being dismantled in time-lapse.

Behind the anomaly there is a fair amount of stage scenery and gear piled up and strew, abandoned on this are some 12 marionettes. This is a marionette theatre.

Rosalyn realises that something feels odd. She checks her mouth. Her two canine teeth are somewhat longer than she remembered them being, considerably longer. Simone feels fine and checks out Rolf, who after a shaky start seems his normal self.

Some of the guys start waking up. They feel groggy but glad to be alive. Samson finds he cannot see. This is an advantage because it means he cannot witness the foul, yellowy-orange mucus that seems to be leaking from every orifice...every orifice.

Chuck is too physically exhausted to move at all, he just lies in his seat.

After throwing off his exhaustion, Marcel feels, well, pretty damn good actually. He too starts to investigate.

Eldnah doesn't feel too bad at first but then has a coughing fit, and he brings up a thick, black ichor which drools down his front and over the seats. It reeks. Everyone gets as far away from him as possible, so he wanders off to the back stage area to have a look around. He finds some toilets, a workshop and eventually a door to the outside.

The party focus their minds and throw off their ailments, i.e. they use Hero Points, but they cannot rid themselves of the new, strange conditions.

Despite her best efforts, Simone fails to heal anyone so she decides that the time has come to get out of here. She heads for the exit at the top of the auditorium. As she turns the handle on the door there is a sound from the stage. Those still down that end report that the marionettes moved briefly. Simone lets the door handle go. The marionettes are quite still. Simone tries the handle again. The marionettes twitch.

The party agree that this is probably not a good thing and that proceeding with utmost caution is what's required here.

Out back Eldnah opens the door.

“Oops. You cannot leave,” chirps a merry marionette, and they all jump up.

Eldnah steps outside. The light is strange. It has a purple hue and an oppressive feel. Grey clouds scud overhead across the dull purple sky.

Simone opens her door and runs into the lobby with Rolf.

“Please don't go. Come an play” says a high pitched, cheery female voice.

“Yes, play with us,” adds a chorus of similar voices.

A frantic fight ensues. The party quickly realise that the marionettes fall into two categories; females, with their bright, happy voices and mute male marionettes. They also quickly find that the females are powerful Mind Controllers and that the males are tough brutes whose touch drains their resistance to the female's Mind Control. Chuck and Marcel quickly succumb to the females.

“Hello Chuck,” she says. “You are mine.”

“Hello Marcel” another says. “You are mine.”

“Sit down and enjoy the show.”

“Yes, it's going to be good fun.”

The Supers plant themselves back in the seats.

Rosalyn finds she cannot control the males, there is no mind to control, but she mind control the females and fight them for control of the minds of her own party, which she finds herself having to do quite a lot.

“Oh, she's good. Join us Rosalyn, join us!” Rosalyn gives the offer a serious consideration. It might be fun being Queen of the Marionettes. She likes puppets after all.

Despite the mucus dripping from his orifices, Samson puts good use to his Thunderclap power, sending out shock waves of sound to send the marionettes flying. But this attracts the attention of the females and one takes his mind over.

Eldnah, still occasionally spewing black liquid, hearing the commotion and screams has a bright idea. He runs for the workshop, finds a battery powered saw, and bursts onto the stage to attack the marionettes. They don't like the saw.

The battle swings one way and another, Rolf chewing, Simone shooting, Marcel trying to avoid his mind from being dominated as scoops a couple of marionettes into his dimension pocket. Chuck meanwhile has come up with a cunning plan to use the strings still attached to the marionettes to tie them up with, using his telekinesis. It's a bit tricky but it starts to work. A couple of males get tied up, thus stopping them from reaching the party with their deadly draining power.

It is touch and go. Which side is going to run out of puff? Both sides are getting worn down. Following another thunderclap a female marionette grabs Samson's soft little mind again. He's standing along an row of seats from Rosalyn. The marionette commands him to take her. His mind swings interprets the command in only one way. Unzipping his fly, not easy because it is full of foul yellow mucus, he steps eagerly forward. Rosalyn, attacking one of the female marionettes doesn't see him approach. At the last second, with Samson mere inches from her back she goes invisible to hide from two approaching male marionettes and swings round 180 degrees to attack a female marionette over whom she gains control. This happens to be the one controlling Samson. Samson's mind spring free and quickly assessing the situation, he goes for his thunderclap to take out the two approaching males. What he doesn't realise is that Rosalyn is still standing mere inches in front of him. She sees what is coming and knows she either has to drop to her knees or Samson's hand are going to try and meet where she is. She drops, he claps, blowing the two marionettes against the auditorium wall. As a side effect of his movement he neatly deposits a large blob of mucus on the end of her nose with his knob.

“Not the worst facial I've ever had,” she thinks. ED: Dabe's words, not mine

There then comes a series of surprises for Samson.

1. He notices that there appears to be a blob of mucus floating in the air.
2. He then notices that his troos are around his ankles.
3. Rosalyn suddenly materialises right in front of him, on her knees.
4. It is apparent that the blob of mucus isn't floating.
5. She draws her stolen, standard US marine issue 9mm M9A1 Beretta and thrusts it between his legs.

6. She fires....at the marionette now coming up behind him, which has managed to escape from its own strings. It staggers backwards with the blast.
7. With that flash and heat Samson decides to get the hell out of there. Unfortunately he moves as Rosalyn fires a second shot, putting her off her aim and so the bullet hits him in the right buttock.
8. Normally his strong Absorption power would soak up the blast. Unfortunately the zombification process has reduced this power and so he feels pain, lots of pain.

A female marionette decides to mind control Rolf and unknowingly she has her power reflected. She decides, oddly, that she wants to run up to one of the marionettes and bite it.

The marionettes are being backed up by Eldnah wielding his saw with maniacal aplomb, Rolf, Chuck, following Eldnah's lead, with a drill and Simone blasting away with her shotgun. Marcel, in a desperate struggle with one particular female marionette gives in trying to get her into his dim pocket and retreats to the top of the auditorium to sulk. Finally the two remaining marionettes decide to call it day, rush to the back of the stage where they originally came from and collapse to the floor, inert once again.

All goes quiet, except for whimpering from Samson and Marcel his worm shape fattened by the two marionettes in his dim pocket. Deciding that the theatre has fall too low a ceiling to drop the annoying buggers from, his warps outside, a 1000' up and tips them out. From this vantage point he can see that this world is quite small, a mile across. It is the centre of a city, a European city. IN fact he recognises it, Prague. Of course, Milan is Czech.

 

He spots the old town square and off it a huge church. Aware of Milan's apparent love of such buildings he hazards a guess that this is Milan's location. After making a note of the direction, he warps back to the top of the theatre, lands neatly and spring back up. He didn't expect that. A powerful leaping power. So he was affected, albeit in a minor, perhaps positive way by the move to this world too. He thought he had got away with it. He warps back inside and explains the situation to everyone.

The party leave the theatre, turn right and head to the junction at the end of the road. To their right is a small square and on its corner are four soldiers, of a sort. Their skin is pale and blotchy, their clothing tattered. One still has dog tags around its neck. A fifth is crouching on the ground on all fours like an animal. Its limbs look longer than normal and it sniffs the air before leaping at the party, covering the 100' gap in two bounds. It is fought off and killed.

The party notice more zombie soldiers, lots of soldiers shambling in to view. When they see the party they break into a fast run but are taken down by fire power and Samson's mighty thunderclap.

The party decide that warping across the roofs would be a safer route to the church. They skirt the northern edge of the old town square which is pretty well populated with zombies, and drop down on the far side of the church near the main doors. Simone starts feeling unhappy about their location. They decided to sneak in, pretty sure that Zdradnik is not going to welcome them with open arms. Simone simply can't bring herself to go in. The feelings of fear and dread are too strong and seeing how the zombies on the streets in the area are also avoiding the church she too surmises that she has not escaped the zombification process without side effects either. Telling the others to go in, she and Rolf sneak off, find an empty building and she strips down and checks them both for other physical signs of the process. They seem fine. Some zombies, looking in from the outside feel deep down that they ought to be oh so very interested in this, but the feeling eludes them and they drift with a strange feeling that they've really missed out somehow.

Meanwhile back at the Church of Our Lady before Týn....

Week 5 write up – Part 1

Present

PJ – Samson

Dabe – Rosalyn

PhilM – Simone/Rolf

Dave - Chuck

Blob - Eldnah

Kell – Marcel

Not Present
Sukh - Leonid
PhilJ - Poncio
Rich - Leopoldo

The final push on the US base is imminent. The Crack Commando Unit A, i.e. the party, are introduced by Richard Bering to a new member, an Australian/Nigerian bit part and advert actor called Eldnah Eman, known in Aus, as he proudly states, as the Durex Man. There is much sniggering from the UK contingent. Everyone else just looks blank. He takes a shine to Simone even more so when Samson explains on the quiet that she is the party bike and a right goer. Simone sighs as appears she has to cope with yet another sexist male pig as Eldnah fails to impress her.

The plan is explained.

The party are to spearhead the taking of the base. Mumbles of 'cannon fodder' are heard.

They are to secure the new barracks on the base in order to remove the large population of soldiers from the fight. Richard wants minimum casualties for the whole operation.

“We are here to force them to talks, not rack up casualties and just confirm to the various governments why they were right to put us here in the first place.”

Rosalyn looks disappointed.

The party are to attack at night and take out the security tower nearest the barracks, then get the old Czech man, Milan Zdradnik, over to the barracks where he has assured Bering that he can summon a ring of tentacles, like the ones the party encountered at the old church, to seal off the area thus preventing the soldiers from getting out. The party need to protect Zdradnik whilst he summons up the eldritch energies required to create such a large fence of tentacles.

Eldnah is key with his ability to create worm holes in space that will allow the team to traverse a mile with a single step bypassing the clear ground, the mine field and the fencing. Once they've secured the tower, silently, without massacring everyone, they can cover the 500m to the barracks where Zdradnik will do his thing before they send up a flare to say the job is done. Then the other Supers, will go in and force the rest of the base and their masters to the negotiating table.

Simple really.

However there is no sign of Zdradnik yet so the party go shopping, during which there is a small earthquake.

<Outside the game there then followed 2 hours of real time party planning...about how to take out one security tower with 3 guards in it. 8-) >

What does becomes apparent during this planning phase is that Eldnah's spatial worm holes are in fact only 200' long, not a mile. Simone comments that it is not the first time she's encountered a man over estimating his length to impress the girls, and then coming up short. Plans are revisited. Finally, mere hours before the attack, Zdradnik finally turns up, looking tired and ill. He nevertheless assures everyone that he is going to be able to fulfil his part of the plan. Unfortunately the taem are not done with planning just yet, which seems to involve a set of scales and working out what combinations of people Marcel can best carry. Zdradnik looks at them like they are something he scraped off his shoe.

Finally the party are ready togo, Marcel using his 1000' spatial warping power to carry groups of the team over in his dim pocket in a series of hops, depositing them in the darkness underneath the unsuspecting tower. Unfortunately the warping of space does generate a bit of noise and a soldier opens the trap door in the tower to see what's going on underneath. The few team members there scatter and hide and the soldier drops his torch. Muttering, he is sent down by the squad leader above to get it before being told to return to the top of the tower. What with the abuse being heaped on him from above, he fails to noticing everyone hiding in the dark underneath. Phew!

Eldnah raises the knotty issue that now they are underneath the tower, how do they know where on the soldiers are standing? The plan was to worm hole right behind them! Someone kindly points out that he should perhaps turn on his x-ray vision?

The ferrying continues, again with plipping noises, so once again the soldier has a look. He starts shining his torch around and as people scatter, Samson falls over his own laces, not being very good at tying them up in the first place, with quite a thump. The torchlight instantly swings around and picks him out. The muscle man limply surrenders immediately.

The balloon has gone up and so Eldnah opens a worm hole to the top of the tower and heroes pour through and take out the soldiers, whilst Samson, now under fire, leans through the worm hole and yanks the squad leader back though. Up top the soldiers are subdued, eventually, without too much effort. Down below Samson has the squad leader in a deadly crushing embrace and Rosalyn has his mind pinned down. Unfortunately his fights off the mind control and then, putting his close combat skills to use, he throws Samson with apparent ease, for which the strong man receives heaps of abuse. Still, it is 10 Supers verses 3 soldiers so eventually, after a bit more chasing around, phase 1 is completed, the tower is theirs!

However one soldier managed to get a shot off and Chuck has noticed that the other towers alomng the fence line are turning their attention in the party's direction. Time to make a break for the 6 big barrack buildings.

Most of the team spatial warp to the middle of the barrack area where Zdradnik says he needs to be.

Marcel is aghast. “Can't we hide just off centre on one of the roofs?” he asks, to which Zdradnik informs him crabbily, that this is a tricky operation and that if he is to ensure that he does encircle all 6 barracks with his ring of tentacles, then he needs to be dead centre. He starts his spell. Chuck uses his superpowers to kill the generator and all the lights go off. A few disgruntled soldiers come out of their barracks and head to the generator building to see why the damn thing has broken again. Most are blissfully asleep. With people walking around Leopoldo decides to create an area of darkness to shield the team gathered around Zdradnik. Now no one can see them, but then, they can't see anyone else, including each other, either. Outside the zone of darkness Samson, Rosalyn and Eldnah take out some patrolling guards.

Meanwhile some muttering starts. Questions are raised about how long it is going to take Zdradnik to create his ring of tentacles. No one remembers it taking him very long back at the small church, but then it is suggested that it was a small church and perhaps he had them prepared? More soldiers start appearing and two people in civis are spotted. When one turns into a small ball and bounces into the strange area of blackness the party realise that there are other Supers here.

Leonid notices a glowing ring of St Elmo's Fire appear, encircling area of the barracks. Zdradnik starts chanting out loud, much to everyone's consternation. This raises more questions from the team about what the old man is doing but they don't have much time to continue the discussion as the small ball has transformed itself into a big, heavy one and comes ricocheting loudly through the darkness, narrowly missing Leonid, passing through Zdradnik, who the party now realise is insubstantial before mowing Poncio to the ground from behind, laying him out cold. The ball bounces away as Zdradnik stands up and starts chanting ever more loudly. The party prepare as more soldiers appear, wandering bleary eyed out of their barracks to see what the hell is going on.

The entire party wonder what is going on as everyone is covered by St Elmo's Fire. Someone suggests that perhaps they should get the flock out of there but the discussion is interrupted as with a sharp cry, Zdradnik stops chanting. Everyone stops and waits for a second before the old man quietly says “Time to go”.

The party look nervously at each other. “Um, where?” enquires Simone.

Zdradnik shouts some strange words and a shock wave blasts out from him, dispelling the area of blackness and a dome of St Elmo's Fire forms over the entire area.

The general opinion within the party is that this was most certainly not part of the plan and that this is probably not a good thing. Any fighting between the two sides quickly peters out as everyone jointly contemplates their situation...which starts getting worse.

Simone quizzes Zdradnik over what is going on, and he vanishes. Leonid notices that time outside the dome seems to be running faster than inside. Everyone can see the main attack on the base has now started, but it is like watching a slightly speeded up film, and the rate is increasing.

The general opinion within the party is that the plan is shot to hell and that this is definitely not a good thing! Feck!

Attempts are made to teleport or wormhole outside the dome. They cannot get out. Chuck tries to search for computers or contact the machines he can still see outside the dome. He can't detect them. He traces the computer network links from the barracks, and they go no where now. Uh-oh!

Frantic discussions are interrupted by sudden excruciating pain. Some soldiers start to fall, writhing on the ground, some are staggering around holding their heads and screaming, some start throwing up, others are passing out. Some force is tearing at everyone's very being, physically, mentally, like their very souls are being torn from their bodies.

The Supers resist.

The pain increases, many soldiers are down and out, but some are now tearing at each other, screaming in agony. They look wild and crazed.

Poncio is still out for the count, possibly a saving grace. Leonid faints and joins him on the ground. Then the two Supers with the army collapse. Time outside the dome is still getting faster. More pain. Samson, Leonardo, Marcel, Chuck and Eldnah pass out. Rolf whimpers before falling over.

Crawling on their hands an knees in agony, the girls nevertheless hang on in there. They notice a person, tall, well built, well dressed, walking quite normally passed the end of the barracks and then out of sight again. Despite the pain they investigate.

The stranger is touching the wall of the dome. He turns when he hears the two woman stagger over. It is Milan Zdradnik, but a much younger, almost supernaturally younger and more handsome version. He greets them casually.

Fighting through the pain they quiz him on what is going on, why did the plan change?

“But Ladies, *my* plan has not changed,” he says with a smile. “I zaid to Berink zat I vould secure ze barracks und ensure that ze soldiers were taken out of ze equation, and I am being true to my vord.”

“Why can't you let us go?”

“Oh, I do not have time vor such zings. I am a busy man vith much to do.”

“Where are you taking us?”

Editor's note: It is a shame no one added “you fiend” at some point 8-)

“Ve are going to my little vorld, my playpit.”

“And what is going to happen to us?”

“Who can zay? I care not. Zere vill be pain and you vill die, but I shouldn't vorry, it vill be all over for you zoon.”

Simone shoots him with her shotgun. The pellets pepper the man's chest, tearing into his clothing and skin. He doesn't flinch, he doesn't bleed, he doesn't seem to care. Rosalyn shoots him point blank in the head with her pistol. Again, no effect. There is a neat wound but it doesn't bleed, he didn't even move.

“Good, ve have arrived,” and he disappears.

Their whole world twists, folds, collapses in on itself. The pain is unbearable, but somehow they don't seem to feel it any more, almost as if they are in the eye of the storm of pain, trapped within it, unable to do anything about it and yet oddly unaffected by the maelstrom boiling around them. Then blackness and the pain goes and they are left floating for what feels like ages, vaguely aware of the unconscious Supers around them drifting, ringed with St Elmo's Fire. There is no sign of the soldiers. A light appears and everyone spirals towards it. There is a fleeting glimpse of what bizarrely looks like some sort of small theatre before finally Simone and Rosalyn pass out.