Session VIII
The party is relaxing for some time, when they hear about X at the reservation north of town. Out in the woods, they find a piece of nonferrous metal that is not of this world, as well as a subtle trail of destroyed tree tops leading to a crater just out of sight of the reservation’s trailer park. The crater is empty, and the locals nearby are not wanting to speak to them. So, they go into town in their civilian identities, Mercury hiding in the back of the rented RV. From there, they notice that the local gas station was under severe repair (bent car nearby, massive hole in exterior wall, missing safe). There was also a native american museum under repair, one of their statues missing, and the museum’s cash box missing, at least according to one of the white contractors working on repair. This self-same contractor mentions some earlier work on a busted light fixture and such at the trailer park.
They do some postcognition under the cover of darkness for footage near the gas station, seeing that a child-like figure in a space suit like outfit sneak out of the woods and shoot weird blasts from his hands at the wall, then shoot the car. It glows with the self-same energy, then moves like it was alive, the metal cracking and twisting as it goes in directions it was never designed to handle. It bashes open a hole in the station’s wall, then reverts to its ‘natural’ state while leaned up to provide cover for the wall. The figure sprints for hiding into the building, then walks out while a metal safe hops behind them.
There are two main places in the reservation that would hold enough money for someone interested in robbing. There is no bank, but there is a pawn shop and a payday loan facility, the latter in the same center of town as the gas station and museum. They look around at these places, and then are pulled over by a reservation police officer, a tall, broad native american whose name tag says Marvin. He attempts to intimidate the group, calling Valkyrie (who is in civilian persona) a granola soccer mom, that they should stop hanging around where they don’t belong.
So, they go ahead and split up to watch over the two suspected locations for the next attack (pawn shop & payday loan center), and sit for two nights until something happens. From the woods behind the payday loan facility comes the missing statue from the museum, walking toward the wall. Before it has a chance to swing and destroy the wall, Synapse zaps in front to get its attention, then blocks its attacks. As they take down the statue, the space suited figure holds a futuristic gun in hand to ready to fire, only to get disarmed by Mercury. Glowing with the same weird energy (light blue with specks of dark blue circles flowing around the exterior edges), the stranger runs away at super speed, giving Mercury a short chase before getting cornered at a nearby cave.
There’s a reservation police cruiser nearby, and as the heroes approach to fight the stranger, a humanoid droid with a feminine voice jumps between them, begging for them to not hurt the child. After a bit of parley, they figure out the stranger is in fact a venoli child (humanoid alien with an eel head). Their ship was destroyed two years ago during the Event, in which point the child and the managing droid got into the escape pod and activated the emergency engine to jump forward in time randomly. In the process, they crashed nearby and used the child’s newly gained powers to attempt to hide the vessel in a nearby cave. They’ve been hoping to find equipment to repair the distress beacon for their homeworld, but were threatened by a human authority into helping with robbing nearby locations, the identity figured out to be Marvin from earlier. It’s at this point that Marvin arrives to ‘discipline’ the child, and is readily subdued and locked in his car. In an attempt to help, they are shown the damaged distress beacon, along with another blinking light, which the robot indicates is an indicator that a single Tuvarian attack cruiser in orbit. Feeling this to be important, the team zip out of the cave and start trying to get in reach for a signal (no sat uplink systems on their persons), Valkyrie getting an urgent message that there’s an alien craft bashing its way through downtown Siaga!
This is a full-on, standard alien tripod attacking the city, and seems to be walking its way from entry crater toward the local art museum. Valkyrie is literally shot out of the sky by one of its beam attacks, while Synapse & Mercury flail their attacks uselessly against its advanced hull. Synapse & Valkyrie start trying to save people from burning rooms and knocked over cars, Project Mercury starts searching the art museum for anything that might be indicative of why the robot is heading for it, and a meta with a bouncing energy blast & a sweet motorcycle comes onto the scene. This new superhero charges a blast to something melee range, and ramps off to get in reach of the tripod’s main body.
Unfortunately, they miss the shot
Mercury finds a piece of debris in a new art piece that looks to be of the same material as the wreckage of the escape pod, which is confirmed when they run off toward the shore and the tripod changes course toward them. A few more attacks are failed hilariously against its powerful hide, managing no more than a scratch after a crit from Valkyrie. Valkyrie, Synapse, & the cyclist meta agree to attempt a combined attack; and they manage to knock the tripod into the staggered condition in one blow and defeated on the follow-up (it’s very dramatic). When the whole thing crashes, a panel pops off and alien digits start counting down, and the chassis begins to glow with intensity; they worry. Valkyrie & the meta cyclist grab bystanders to hide for safety and Synapse spends a hero point to erect a force field in a half circle between it and the city in a hope to reflect the attack out toward the sea instead damaging the coast. This manages to work and the city is saved (yay!)
After cleaning the wreckage, they return to the reservation to have Marvin properly arrested. They then assist the venoli child to repair the distress beacon and help inform them more about the local politics of the region, as the US gov’t *will* make an appearance soon. Rose makes certain to inform them that the native american reservation is in many ways its own sovereign nation, subject only to federal law. While our heroes don’t know exactly what happened over the passing week, it was revealed that after the US Gov’t had a diplomatic meeting with the Venoli mothership that came to pick up the escape pod and child, Congress began adjusting legislation relating to expanded rights and privileges of tribal lands, and Wells Corp was approached by several tribal elders who wished to sell access to a substantial amount of carbon nanotubes recently acquired (on the condition she installs any facilities on reservation land and gives priority hires to native americans)
Venoli Android [Offense PL 0, Defense PL 4, Points 45]
Description A svelte, three fingered, bipedal robot that acts as an overall servant and translator.
Stats [-2] Str 9, Dex 10, Int 12, Wis 15, Cha 12
Powers [35] Immunity 30 (Fort), Protection 8 (Flaw: Fades), Comprehend: Omniglot 2 (Flaw: Duration)
Skills [3] Computers 2 (+7), Diplo 2 (+3), Medicine 4 (+6), Notice 4 (+6)
Feats [2] Interface, Truth Sense
Combat [4] Atk +1, Damage -1 (unarmed), Defense 11, Init +0
Saves [3] Tough +0, Ref +1, Will +4
Venoli Child [Offense PL 4, Defense PL 3, Points 53]
Description A barely five foot tall ivory white alien with an eel for a head, blue fins, small antenna, and a tail. This is a venoli child trained for life as a civil servant in whatever way the powers best suit the homeworld, then placed in cryostasis until an available exposure event presented itself. As powers were not yet obtained, the Hogwarts-like schooling was one of general education.
Stats [4] Str 8, Dex 13, Con 8, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 13
Skills [7] Bluff 4 (+5), Computers 4 (+4), Concentration 4 (+3), Know: Alien Culture/Tactics 4 (+4), Notice 4 (+5), Stealth 4 (+5)
Feats [5] Imp Init, Set-Up, Equipment 3 [Armored Jumpsuit, Blaster Pistol (+4), Space Mask (Immunity suffocation, radiation, vacuum)]
Powers [14] Cosmic Energy Control 5 (Feats: AP 5; AP Force Field 3 (Extra: Affect Other, Burst Area; Feat: Selective); AP Telekinesis 3 (Extra: Damaging; Feat: Precise); AP Healing 5; AP Animate Objects 3)
Combat [14] Atk +3, Dmg +4 (pistol), Defense 14, Knockback -2, Init +5
Saves [9] Tough +2, Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +4
Marvin, Reservation Trooper [Offense PL 4, Defense PL 3, Points 36]
Description Marvin Moe, state trooper, bachelor, and overall abuser (people, alcohol, language, etc). He is 5’6” and stocky, but wields his authority with abandon. When discovering the Venoli child, he will intimidate the kid with tales of outside threats and the ‘power’ of his gun, then direct him to rob local businesses.
Stats [11] Str 14, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 10
Skills [7] Drive 2 (+3), Intim 6 (+6), Investigate 4 (+4), Know (news, streetwise) 2 (+2), Notice 4 (+5), Profession 4 (+5), Sense Motive 4 (+5)
Feats [4] Equipment 4 - Concealable vest, light pistol, cuffs, shotgun
Combat [10] Attack +3, Dmg +2 (unarmed), +3 (pistol), +6 (shotgun), Defense 12, Init +1
Saves [4] Tough +4, Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +3
Tavarian War Tripod [Offense PL 8, Defense PL 5, Points 110]
Abilities [-26] Str 28, Dex 6, Con -, Int -, Wis 14, Cha -
Skills [3] Notice 12 (+14), Know (Technology: Assess only) 8 (+12)
Feats [3] Assessment, Tech Assess Focus
Powers [136] Growth 9 (Feat: Innate; Flaw: Permanent); Speed 2; Obscure - Radio 14 (19mi radius; Power Feat: Immunity; Flaw: Range); Communication 10 (Radio; Feat: Subtle); Immunity 40 (Fortitude, mental); Blast 8 (Feat: Progression 2, AP*; Extra: Area - Line; AP - Blast 12 (Feat: Triggered - 3 rounds after death; Extra: Area - Explosion; Flaw: Range)); Protection 7 (Extra: Impervious); Protection 4 (Extra: Impervious; Flaw: Vehicular weapons); Super Senses 3 (Double Extended Venoli Tech Awareness)
Saves [0] Toughness +11 (Impervious 7, +4 vs vehicle weapons), Fort -, Ref -2, Will -
Combat [0] Attack -2 (+9 slam), Defense 8, Init -2
Drawbacks [6] Power Loss (Destructo Ray; while prone, 3pp), Disability (cannot jump, 3pp)
Rebound [PL 6, Points 90]
Description Rose Holloman, a stocky black woman (5’3”, 145lbs) that teams with a tinker in central California, and will be passing through during the Tripod attack. While not particularly aggressive or alpha, she does have a tendency to take on too much and has run into enough discrimination to err away from bureaucratic jobs.
MCC Blaster 2
Stats [26] Str 14, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 14
Skills [11] Acrobatics 6 (+9), Bluff 4 (+6), Drive 6 (+9), Knowledge (tactics) 4 (+6), Notice 8 (+10), Search 4 (+6), Sense Motive 4 (+6), Stealth 4 (+7), Swim 4 (+6)
Feats [10] Attack Specialization (blast), Defensive Roll, Equipment 4, Dodge Focus 3, Precise Shot
Equipment: Biker Suit (Protection 2), cell-phone, Motorcycle (Disguise, Jump Jacks, Alarm, Off-Road, Tire Inflators, Hidden Compartments, Autopilot)
Powers [15] Blast 6 (particle beam; Power Feats: Ricochet, Alternate Powers - Strike 6 [Power Feats: Imp Reach; Extras: Penetrating], Blast 6 [Extras: Area (Cone); Flaws: Range (Touch)]
Combat [16] Attack +4, +6 (blast), Grapple +8, Damage +2 (unarmed), +6 (blast), Defense +7 (+2 flat-footed), Knockback -2, Initiative +3
Saves [12] Toughness +5, Fort +6, Ref +7, Will +6