WinF Conclusion: The Lost Episode

Because the players and GM of the New Champions were out of the country for several weeks (lucky dogs) or alternately in and out of town, we weren't able to conclude the City of Secrets campaign by means of in-person game sessions. The following "lost episode" is a conclusion to the World in Flames event crafted by the GM. The City on a Hill campaign begins approximately 6 months after the events described here.

Under the Sea

Held captive aboard Warlord's submarine base, the New Champions are berated by the Warlord. Warcloud arrives from the parade in Freetown, having failed to prevent the assassination of Warlord's double by Harbinger or to capture the vigilante and his fellow Punishers.

Pointing to the danger of keeping a powerful superteam on board his headquarters, Warlord instructs Warcloud to take the New Champions to Freetown, where he is to interrogate and then publicly execute them. Warcloud protests that he needs to be "outside the killzone" when Doctor Destroyer's doomsday device is activated. Unsympathetic after his recent failures, Warlord suggests he go about his work quickly if he hopes to survive. Warcloud is to board another submarine in Warlord's fleet once the team has been disposed of and follow the coordinates in the navigation computer to the safe-zone Destroyer has established for his allies.

As Warcloud is preparing the team for transport, Warcry says something to Warlord about "Project Manticore." In response, Warlord decides to keep Feral Cat prisoner aboard his submarine.

Rescue

In Freetown, the convoy carrying the New Champions (w/out Feral Cat) is ambushed by the Punishers and Sentry. In the midst of their escape the two teams destroy a tank and capture Warcloud. Taking advantage of his injured pride, they convince him to reveal the location of the second submarine Warlord has spoken of and to help them deceive the crew.

In Pursuit of Destroyer

Using subterfuge and aided by a disgruntled and disloyal Warcloud, the team sets off with a crew of Shadow Army sources for the coordinates in the submarines navigation computer. The team reaches a submerged beacon, one of many, that form a chain leading to the "safe zone" Doctor Destroyer has established for his allies.

Rather than transmitting the signal provided in the nav computer, leading to the next beacon in the chain, Cypher uses the signal link provided by the submarine to hack the beacon. She discovers that another set of coordinates exist in the memory of the device, corresponding to a much more complicated code. Cypher cracks the code and transmits it to the beacon. In response, the beacon transmits coordinates to a location in the South Polar Ocean. Consultation of navigation charts reveals that the coordinates correspond to an uninhabited island near the Ross Ice Shelf.

McMurdo Research Station

The New Champions transmit the coordinates to the island to the New League of Heroes. On orders from Thunderstrike, those league members not badly injured or incapacitated from super villain attacks on major US cities or assigned to other task forces are directed to travel immediately and discretely to the U.S.-operated McMurdo Research Station to be used as a staging area.

When a critical mass of heroes has arrived, including the New Champions and the Punishers, the assembled heroes develop a plan to blitz what they believe to be Destroyer's new base. It is agreed that the New Champions have the best chance of discovering and disabling whatever device Destroyer plans to use to execute his plan. The rest of the heroes are to provide cover and protect the team so that they can complete their mission.

The New Island of Doctor Destroyer

In a full-scale superheroic assault, members of the New League battle with several hundred of Destroyer's agents, Destroids, boats and hovercrafts, as well as island defenses--including surface-to-air and tunneling missiles, and Destroyer's ally Gamma. To everyone's surprise, the battle is joined by Redeemer, Tenebris, and Multitude of the original Champions.

Amidst the chaos of the battle, the New Champions slip into the island power plant by means of a back-up shaft used for pumping steam from the island's geothermal reactors should the main tunnel be inoperable. Interrogating the technicians in the plant, they learn the location of Destroyer's main headquarter on the island. The team shares this information with the other assaulting heroes, who begin battling their way towards the HQ.

The Final Confrontation

The assembled heroes keep Gamma occupied and drive a wedge through Destroyer's other security forces to allow the New Champions and a handful of other heroes to breach the defenses of Destroyer's HQ.

Confronting Doctor Destroyer, the archvillain claims that the doomsday device is wired to his armor and can only be stopped by killing him. With this, Destroyer fires a powerful blast from his gauntlets that kills the hero Menagerie.

The handful of heroes valiantly battles Destroyer and his automated defenses, but Gumshoe and Cypher sees through his deception. While Destroyer is occupied with the battle, Cypher hacks into the AI computer that runs his base and is actually responsible for controlling the doomsday device. Before Destroyer turns his attention to her, she orders the bases automated defenses to destroy the tower that is to transmit the deadly signal to the brains of 90% of the human population of Earth.

The battle is joined by Gamma who collapses the roof of the lower level of the HQ before escaping the island with Doctor Destroyer. At the conclusion of the battle, the human race is saved but the heroes Menagerie, Garou, and Multitude lie dead at Destroyer's hands.

Thwarting Menton

The New League of Heroes task force assigned to Destroyer's minion, Menton, pursues him to the UN building just as world leaders meet to discuss a response to Destroyer's ultimatum. Just as they are about to confront the world's most powerful mentalist, Brainchild, member of the hero team the Invincibles attacks Dementia and Psyche, revealing that he has been in league with Destroyer for some time. While Psyche holds off Brainchild, Dementia engages in a psychic battle with Menton. In this moment of crisis, Dementia's powers and her control over them appear to have reached an entirely new level. Finally, she confronts Menton directly, using her telekinesis to hurl him from a balcony; he lands, broken and unconscious on the floor below. The strain of using her powers at this level and of Menton's incredible assault on her mind overwhelms her and she passes out.

Brainchild, having narrowly overcome Psyche escapes with Menton, Destroyer's agents providing cover from the responding PRIMUS and UNTIL agents.

Aftermath

For more on the impact of these events on Alternate Earth, see Recent Events