X-Champions Issues

Issue #5 - A Fish Called...Gone

Early Monday afternoon finds our team spread out, as Aela Oceanchild is busy at work while Hamlet Laughton needs to visit the police and the mayor to straighten out some confusion about holding some prisoners.

Sammy, having attended to things in the former headquarters of the Purple Hat Gang (largely by gorging himself), returns to the erstwhile headquarters of our heroes.  Velda affectionately gets his attention and mentions that Jonas is urgently looking for him.  On his way Marty Davis spots him.  Marty also mentions that Jonas is looking for Sammy, but cautiously follows behind and listens to ensure Sammy's safety - or perhaps his own amusement.

As Sammy enters he notes his recent roommate's days-old lunch sitting on a pile of papers on the floor.  Sammy requests it of course, causing Jonas to shake his head and proceed to offer it up.  But remembering his annoyance Jonas takes back the offer and indicates he wants to save his molding lunch, stuffing it into a drawer.  Jonas proceeds to challenge Sammy for Velda's love, indicating the agency isn't big enough for the two of them, to which Sammy innocently replies, "Ok, see ya later" while he stands waiting for Jonas to leave, though still rather bewildered.  Jonas is clearly puzzled and begins to question just who and what Sammy is, focusing on his religion.  Not satisfied with Sammy's confusing answers, Jonas, after taking some notes, announces that the best way to get to know someone is to go have some drinks.  He mentions they should invite the other "teammates" to join them and as he mentions Marty's name, Marty pops his head around the corner and asks, "You called?"

The three go downstairs to collect Eliot Sihn.  Jonas launches into asking Sihn about lunch and continues his teammate spiel while a distracted Sihn tries to focus on the frenzied activities in his lab.  Around the heroes workers hurriedly complete their work on cold storage chambers to ensure the captives from last issue would remain captives.  Bob "Buick" Rogers stands by waiting to help Sihn out as Gere-luce busily works on the devices to help find the Gang of Five (formerly known as the Devil's Night Gang).  Sihn also has a pile of tissue samples still to work through.  And everyone's mind is spinning with the investigation currently in progress.  Meanwhile Davis bench-presses nearby heavy equipment and generally flexes.

As if this weren't enough, a large, heavy wooden box is delivered with instructions for Sihn with instructions to contact the office.  His boss conferences in Roger Bentley, a high-strung, snotty Englishman intent only on Sihn examining the fish inside the box, which apparently is near the point of mating and requires a thorough analysis.  Not many more details are given but a sullen Sihn is pressured into doing the job as he grumbles about a loss of sleep, an important investigation and teammates thus imperiled.  

Defeated, Sihn joins Davis, Hell, and Sammy as they go to Hell's favorite local bar.  After forcing some patrons to make room at the bar (in part by opening his jacket to reveal his gun), Jonas orders up tequila shots for everyone, the first of which Marty slips into Sammy's glass while distracting him.  As they drink the disheveled conspiracy theorist proceeds to not-so-subtly interrogate and take notes.  He asks Davis about fraternization in the workplace but gets no help there.  As they talk, Davis reveals he's been assigned a mission to save the world from none other than Superman himself.  To this pronouncement both Hell and Sihn take notes, Hell in his usual ratty spiral-bound small notebook and Sihn in his memory-taxed Palm Pilot.  

Shortly a large group of young people enter, mostly with upturned collars and looking for trouble.  The leader asks the bartender for drinks for his crew.  They are clearly too young and the bartender refuses.  They begin to threaten damage to the property, a couple of them picking up a table.  Meanwhile the leader starts to belittle the "older" men at the bar, our heroes, as losers.  Sihn and Davis warn him to step away but he doesn't.  Then Hell breaks out his gun, causing the kids to back off.  Before fleeing, the leader points at the heroes and vows revenge.  To that, Hell shoots near the kid's feet, blasting a huge hole in the hardwood floor.  The leader runs away and the bartender and patrons scramble to safety.  

As Hell puts his gun away and the situation seems defused, the bartender gets up and demands payment for the damage.  Hell indicates he's an important investigator for Laughton and Davis and if anything the bartender owes him.  Davis eventually intervenes and offers his business card and assures him the agency will pay.  The bartender whispers to Davis to keep Hell in line.  Davis quickly requests a "round on the house" for Hell's heroism but the bartender is hardly receptive.  After an uneventful last round they return to work.

Jonas proceeds to talk up Velda, hoping to revive their relationship.  As they are expecting the feds to come pick up the illegal mutants previously captured, Davis urges Sammy to hide out in his office.  Before Sihn can get to work on the new project, the "men in black" federal agents show up.  They're terse and provide authorization on paper doomed to expire in minutes.  Quickly they finish the job and move on.

Sihn moves on to tackle the unwanted fish analysis job.  He finds a cube much like a dormitory refrigerator in the wooden box and takes it to his lab.  Upon opening the door, he sees a plexiglass inner wall covering the front with a small opening at the top.  Inside he only briefly sees a beautiful fish - then nothing.  He feels water dropping out of nowhere and determines that the fish is moving itself out while desolid and invisible, with little drops of water falling off the fish and becoming solid as they trail behind.  It's quickly gone far away.  The Captain looks around a bit to no avail and Sammy also attempts to track but it's long gone.  

Disgusted, Sihn calls his boss and demands to know more.  Bentley's back on the line and apparently nobody actually covered including instructions in the packaging.  There were some controls in the back of the refrigerator that needed to be set prior to opening.  After an initial call only giving partial details due to Bentley's hysterical state as he blames them all for incompetence, a later call straightens out all the details.  It turns out the fish can stay desolid, invisible, and in rapid flight for some 30 seconds.  Also, if the fish does not mate within 5 days, it dies.  Compounding matters, it's apparently not only the member of a nearly extinct species, but also that species is quite tasty and often prey in its native Great Lakes waters.  This fish is likely bound to the far end of Belle Isle in the marshes adjoining Blue Heron Lagoon where its breeding grounds are.  If visible, it's easy to identify - it has three eyes.  Despite all this, Sihn is reluctant to do anything due to his many other responsibilities.  But the pressure turns up as it turns out that this has been dubbed the "Babble Fish" (though derived from "Babel") because it can read words expressed by people and translate them into other people via thought.  Apparently it reads the conscious thoughts of those speaking and echoes them to recipient mind, bypassing language somehow.  Thus this fish has been deemed critical to the national defense.  Meanwhile, the only other fish of this species known to be in captivity is a mate but is itself in peril as it has been rushed to Aela Oceanchild for surgery to save its life.

Hastily Sihn and Gere-luce make a detection device based on the tiny releases of pheromones in the water it was in and then Bob Rogers and the three heroes rush off.  

Once near the breeding area, Rogers seals up his mysterious black car as The Captain, Sammy, and Sihn head into the threatening mutant-ridden forests and swamps of Belle Isle.  They hear a twig snap and see a pretty young woman in a black leather jacket and black pants with black hair in a ponytail.  She greets them flippantly, recognizing The Captain, and warns them there are vampires around.  Sihn recognizes her as the vampire slayer recently reported on in the media.  She isn't merely cautioning them, but also ensuring they proceed quietly - she doesn't want them to spook any vampires.  As she walks off The Captain loudly bids her goodbye.  She shushes him and, despite seemingly acknowledging her, he then loudly wishes her well.  She rushes back in a huff and makes her expectations painfully clear.  Realizing that he should be more careful, Sihn transforms into his troll form. 

A short time later, as they cautiously walk through the eerie, swampy area with its frequent loud bursts of strange sounds, they encounter a raucous squeaky voice from above asking them about the fish-detecting gizmo the Troll is holding.  It turns out to be a blue jay possessing  seemingly human intelligence.  In fact the blue jay identifies himself as "Ray" and continues on saying "but you can call be Blue Jay - or you can call Ray Jay - or you can call me Blue Jay Ray - well you know."  He explains that he used to mimic the Ray Jay Johnston bit in the '70s when he was a man and that a witch enchanted him out of irritation, turning him for "all eternity" into a blue jay.  Given the choice by Sihn to be a man or a blue jay, Ray indicates he'd rather live forever as a blue jay than die a man.  When Ray finds out they're looking for a three-eyed fish, he immediately indicates he knows where such a fish is.  After declining a worm from The Captain but requesting and getting $20 from the Troll in return for a feather (for Sihn's studies), he flies off to stash it and returns to tell them how to find the fish.  Then he flies off.

Despite the appearance of a trap, the trio decide to forge ahead but more carefully.  The Captain flies above the trees, listening in.  Sammy turns into a squirrel and follows the Troll from the branches above.  In no time, walking down the trail the blue jay pointed out, the Troll is jumped by seven vampires.  They briefly attempt to intimidate him but realizing they're having no effect they simply jump him as he grabs one of them.  Sammy transforms to a Tarzan-like figure and sprays acid on a couple of them, though they recover quickly.  The Captain swoops through the treetops and sees the strange creatures and quickly hammers one.  The Troll manages to shake all but one of the vampires loose, then jumps up and lands such that the vampire is below him and hits the soft ground.  Sammy hits one of the vampires hard as The Captain does the same.  More vampires appear and jump The Captain, landing their fangs into him.  Then Sammy realizes he should try out one of the stakes and with his extreme deftness lands it directly into the heart of a previously stunned victim - to watch it dissipate immediately into nothing.  The Captain knocks out a couple other vampires and they begin to all run away.  Sammy chases down a couple and stakes them while The Captain keeps the others knocked out.  The Troll indicates he only wants one and the rest are staked, other than the three who got away.  The heroes are too busy to chase them down, fearing for the life of the Babble Fish.

As they proceed down a creek where the fish-detector points, they again encounter Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.  She's miffed because they let some vampires get away and didn't bother to find out about the nest.  This leads her to question their heroism.  They don't answer her directly, giving her a hard time.  She realizes Sihn is not there (because he's now the Troll) and asks after him - and is disappointed when finding out he's married.  Suddenly she takes a stab at the vampire the Troll is holding but he jumps up to a tree just in time.  She says the vampire must be killed.  As she speaks The Captain spots the Troll looking hungrily at the vampire's finger.  As the Troll pulls off the finger to eat it, The Captain intervenes and cautions him against it, as does Buffy.  Deciding she's wasting time with the gang, she heads off to find the remaining vampires and their nest, saying they'd better take care of the vampire the right way - by murder.

Within seconds they realize someone is hiding behind a tree as they stumble.  It turns out to be a mutant self-described as the Ugly Thespian, aptly at least re being ugly as he has a large bulbous head with a bumpy nose and other imperfections.  He's unsteady and nervous but seems trusting particularly of the Troll.  Apparently he's stayed away from the humans for many years in the swamps of Belle Isle.  As it turns out, he knows Ray the blue jay, whom he refers to as "that asshole?" and he claims to know about the fish.  As they walk towards where he thinks it might be he cautions the heroes about the "Heap", a mass of vegetation and chemicals feared in these parts.  And no sooner do they see the fish - and the Heap.  The Ugly Thespian disappears as does the Babble Fish.  The Captain flies up and antagonizes the Heap which follows him off.  Meanwhile the Troll and Sammy consider what to do as the Ugly Thespian reappears.  It turns out the Thespian has a way with animals and as the fish reappears he charms it enough to capture it, stroking it all the while.  

But the Thespian becomes nervous as the heroes joke about eating the fish (as they did once before), particularly as he worries about the "human" Sammy.   He mentions the fish would be happier with its own kind and tries to shape the Troll's face to look fish-like.  Obligingly Sammy shifts into a fish shape like the Babble Fish, though bigger, and the Ugly Thespian is relieved.  After awkwardly asking about how things are in Detroit, the Thespian wishes them well and takes off, warning them about a headless horseman who rides in this area.  Deciding that not only is time crucial but that they've had enough excitement, The Captain flies them out, holding the Troll who holds onto a baggie with the Babble Fish and Sammy.  

A relieved Bob Rogers greets them and quickly they all head back.  As Sihn begins his studies, now with details of how to handle the fish faxed to him, he's annoyed to be interrupted by Buffy, who has left a message for him to call her.  She seems to want to ensure the vampire is dead and asks to come over to witness it.   Once there, she acts schoolgirlish around Sihn, chatting about school (turns out she's still in high school), and finally asking him about his marriage ("Is that, like, a real serious thing?").  Sihn, both starved and embarrassed, calls Aela to bring by some food before they even go to see Tocci for dinner, and he also foists Buffy off on Davis and Sammy.  She hangs out for a time with Davis, whom she immediately greets as The Captain.  Sammy, still a bit confused about the identity  issue, passes by and indicates how he can't be The Captain - after all, he doesn't even have as much hair.  Buffy is dismissive and rude, simply saying, "Well, that's what a toupe's supposed to do, huh?"  Marty calls Jonas Hell in to meet Buffy, indicating to her that he's quite an investigator and they might work together against vampires.  Hell is nearby and stop in shortly, to be greeted by Buffy who turns and says, "Ewww - you??"  Yet, however repulsed she is by the "groty" detective whom she's seen before, she continues to speak with him and seems intrigued.  They take off, Buffy pleased as Hell's promised her he knows a bar where they'll serve her.  Marty and Sammy, hoping that Hell is now no longer hung up on Velda since he has a new target, are pleased to see she's similarly endowed with a great car, a vintage Mercedes.  Then Davis catches a chill as he realizes he's just sent Hell off with a minor... 

[Game Mechanics - Points Awarded...

Winning against an inferior opponent - for fending off the vampires, though a couple got away (would have been Thoroughly Defeating if they'd been vanquished or the nest uncovered) - +.375 RPs for all, +.025 XPs for all

Thoroughly defeating a marginally inferior opponent - for handling the Heap quite well - +3.75 RPs for all, +.25 XPs for all

Thoroughly defeating an inferior opponent - for recovering the Babble Fish safely - +.75 RPs for all, +.05 XPs for all

I might have awarded points for handling the situation with Hell and Velda *but* it was by setting him up with a minor, though at least she can handle herself, so I call that a wash

Session play - +2.25 RPs for all, +.75 XPs for all

Totals:

The Captain +7.125 RPs, +1.075 XPs
Sammy the Slime +7.125 RPs, +1.075 XPs
Troll +7.125 RPs, +1.075 XPs

Totals to Date:

The Captain 151.5 RPs, 14.925 XPs
Mermaid 108.75 RPs, 11.2625 XPs
Sammy the Slime 132.75 RPs, 12.0625 XPs
Troll 147 RPs, 15.3 XPs
Rodin 143.625 RPs, 13.6 XPs