The cold hand of death by d_knight7, with additions by DM


It was starting to get even colder outside. The alphans had found some shelter fom the elements and some wood to burn but that was gone now. Walter had reverted to his Sasquatch form just for the fur coat. But the others were still feeling the effects. He had started to break the wooden furniture to fuel the fire that AJ had started.

As Walter tossed on the last of what use to be an end table he warmed his hands on the flames,” That should help for a bit.”

“Teelll mmmmeeeeee aggggain why we don’t jjjust carve him up for warmmmth like Solo did. I mmmmean he cooouullldn’t possibly smeellll wwworssse on the insssside, right” asked Wade in between gritted teath.

“You mean besides the fact that he’s out teammate?” came Jean-Paul’s reply, ”Besides your healing factor should be helping with the cold. Vrement, I should be the only one to feel the cold so much. You and Kyle have your healing factors, Walter comes with his own coat, and AJ can warm herself from brief periods.”

“Says you,” came a more even reply from Wilson as he warmed himself on the fire, ”If you were a bit bigger I’d think of making you into a pair of gloves…….or maybe a scarf.”

Kyle who had been quite again had his arms wrapped around him, he wasn’t playing up the cold like Wilson but it was clear that he was being affected by the cold as well, ”I am feeling the cold as well.”

Walter was starting to get confused, “That doesn’t make any sense…….”

“Hey! Look what I found,” came an excited reply from AJ.

Walter walked over, “Looks like a journal.”

Wade looked very interested for a second, ”Hey Red, does it involve boobs?”

AJ didn’t understand, ”I don’t think so, no.”

“Does it involve time-travel?”

“No.”

“Does it involve time traveling boobs?”

“Of course not, how cou……”

“Then why do I care? Toss it on the fire…that would help.” suggested Deadpool.

Jean-Paul shook his head, ”Mon diue, ignore him AJ. Why don’t you read us some of the passages it’s kill the time a bit at least.”

Journal of Doctor F.R. Crozier

Feb 25th 1848
We still lay stuck in the cursed ice, sails billowing futilely in the breeze. It has been six months since Captain Franklin set out with most of the crew and supplies to attempt to reach help, I fear if he does not return soon we shall have to make the attempt ourselves before supplies run too low.

March 7th 1848
Desperation led us to abandon the ship and attempt to follow the Captain’s route, but we had not anticipated how bad the weather could get. We planned on making twenty miles per day, yet barely manage three. I can only pray the weather improves.

March 21st 1848
Further progress was impossible in this demon-spawned storm. We found a cabin fashioned seemingly by the Captain and his party, but there was no sign of them.
We were forced to break down the covered sleds and use the wood for fuel while we try and wait out the worst of the storm. I fear if the storm does not let up soon we are all doomed.

May 10th 1848
The last of the food has gone and we are too weak to much care. Robert, Thomas, William, Peter and John, all dead. The ground outside is too hard to put spade in to, and we few who remain have not the energy even if it wasn’t, so we throw them in to the snow and let them lie. This may be my one chance though!
As ships doctor I brought my collection of medicines along on our hopeless trek and the desperateness situation has driven me to a great discovery! Using a concoction of various chemicals I believe I can slow my body’s functions down to the point where I neither need to eat nor drink. I shall appear dead to my crewmates, but once springs warmth falls upon me I shall awake, ready to make the journey to safety.
Sadly there is only enough formula for myself. I confess I feel great shame at what I now do, and at the stores of food I secretly squirreled away for my recovery, but would it be better for us all to die? No, I must live, it is a burning desire within me against this cold!

As AJ finished the last entry, she closed the journal and regaurded it like she held a slug, ”Well that was disturbing.”

Wade still warming himself by the fire agreed, ”No kidding……the doctor is supposed to go down with the ship. Gutless freak.”

Walter shook his head, ”I think that it’s the captain that is supposed to go down with the ship.”

Wade turned around,” That doesn’t sound right.”

As he looked back Puck wasn’t looking at him but spoke anyway, ” It’s the captian that goes down with the ship, Wade.”

Wade shrugged and turned back to the fire, ”Well he’s still a freak. Now toss it on the fire.”

Kyle was working on some of the floor boards already and carried two of them over to the fire. Breaking one with his hand he tossed in the bigger piece. As he looked down he noticed a large sliver in his left hand. He pulled it out and made sure it was all out.

As he tossed in the second piece Northstar noticed hi looking at his arm.“What is it Kyle?”

“What? Oh, well I got a sliver from the wood and I pulled it out…….but the wound didn’t close. Normally I start to heal before I can even get the slivers out. Odd.”

“Oh, gross!” Everyone looked at AJ, ”This floor board has markings on it. Oh my god, I think it's a grave marker! I guess the ground under the cabin wasn't as hard as the permafrost outside..."

With an unholy scream of triumph, a pair of gnarled hands shredded up through the floorboards of the cabin. A wizened ghoul of a creature wearing tattered Victorian finery climbed out of the ground and smiled evilly at the Alphans.

“Those FOOLS! Out of some twisted loyalty they used their last ounce of strength to dig a grave for me and lay me to my fate! For countless seconds I have lain there, screaming in my mind. I have felt every worm, every creature of filth that crawled over and through my body, and I screamed. But now, sweet children, you have freed me, and I must give you a gift. It is a special gift that I have longed for through all of these putrid sunless ages, the gift of DEATH!”

With lightning speed the creature lashed out and grabbed at Kyle. It fastened its mouth on Kyle’s arm and Kyle screamed out loudly before kicking the creature loose. Kyle lay shivering, cradling a hideous diseased wound. The creature purred, flesh in its teeth. “Sooo sweet!”

With a roar Sasquatch drove his fist down on the creature, sending it crashing through the floorboards again. He stood for long moments, but nothing stirred. Turning to check on Kyle, Walter reverted to human form to inspect the wound. Suddenly the cabin began to shake, and hideous moaning filled the air. With a roar of triumph the creature flew up from its grave again, as the door burst open and five skeletal sailors burst in.

“I have awakened my crew to share in the feast,” announced the creature triumphantly.

Firestar attempted to reason with the monster. “Doctor Crozier, you were a good man once, what is it that you want from us?”

The creature hung in mid-air and tilted its head to one side. “Crozier is gone, his mind died screaming in that pit an age ago, only PESTILENCE remains. As for what I want, I want your LIVES!”

Alpha Flight formed a circle and prepared to defend themselves as the horrors closed in around them…

With a roar of bestial fury and shattered wood, a large polar bear burst in to the room. The Alphans turned to face the new adversary, only to see an otherworldly woman in white standing where the bear had been.

“I am here to help you, you can trust me,” said the strange woman who had been a bear, and instantly they all knew that they could.

“What is this…thing?” mused Pestilence. “It bursts forth with life but it is not wholly of this mortal flesh. Does it rot I wonder? Is its flesh sweet?”

The woman growled, as she became a white fox and slipped in to hiding behind the circled Alphans. “I am Snowbird, goddess and defender of this land and all that lives on it. Today you are finally put to rest foul creature,” said the fox with the voice of a woman, then she was gone from sight.

Pestilence laughed, and mold and worse fell from his lips. “Today I feast on a goddess and become a GOD!”

==========================================================

Alpha Flight
Rk Sasquatch 80 pts(guest added)
Rk Deadpool* 65 pts
Exp Northstar 61 pts
Exp Wildheart 50 pts (-1 health)
Rk Firestar 45 pts
R Snowbird 64
* Auto-regen 12 pts
377 pts

VS

Pestilence and his crew
Loki 160 (Pestilence) * **
(I.C.) R Rogue 38 (partially resurrected crewmate) Tomas
(I.C.) R Rogue 38 (partially resurrected crewmate) Robert
(I.C.) R Rogue 38 (partially resurrected crewmate) John
(I.C.) R Rogue 38 (partially resurrected crewmate) Peter
(I.C.) R Rogue 38 (partially resurrected crewmate) William
The darkness within 15 *
Damage Shield 10 **
375




The map is Star Labs, it represents a 19th century polar explorers cabin.

The Radiation leak BFC is in effect, representing Pestilence’s aura of decay polluting the area and drawing the life force of the Alphans in to himself.

Pestilence attacks using decay. Rotting wood, decaying flesh, summoning maggots and flies, rusting metal in seconds, these are his weapons.

The skeletal sailors are mindless undead awoken by the power of Pestilence. They do not do slapstick or ask for brains, they are mindless killing automatons, please play them as such.

Sweet! Even with the Radiation Leak.

Rolls

INT: 1, 6 for 7
OBJ: 2,3 for 5


Good luck Wakanda.

Cool I've been hoping for another crack at the Alphans. Has anyone defeated you yet Vince? Because if not, then I think this is going to be it. Loki is a really nice piece, and the Radiation Leak is gonna make things a bit tougher on your team as well.

I appreciate all the detail on the characters. I must admit though, I am saddenned by the mindlessness of the walking dead. There's nothing funnier than undead sailors doing a Moe, Larry and Curly while in the pursuit of Brains.

Anyway, good luck to you too, and here's ,my rolls:

Initiative: 6
Objects: 8

I'll take the left (1&2)


Alpha Flight
[]Rk Sasquatch (9/9), S-1
[]Rk Deadpool* (7/7), Q-1
[]Exp Northstar (5/5), P-2
[]Exp Wildheart (5/6), P-1
[]Rk Firestar (5/5), R-2
[]R Snowbird (6/6), Q-2
* Auto-regen

Objects
HO: V-14
LO: P-20, I-21

==============================


Nope the Alphans are still holding strong, although I did just squeak out my last two training games against TMNT .......vs SHEILD we ran out of turns and I had one good turn from Puck and Wildheart that turned the Brotherhood game in my favor.

Radiation leak is definetly make me think a few tmes before I even try a regen roll. I was really worried when I first saw the match-up and you as an opponent..........but I broke it down and re-read some stuff, and I think I'll be all right. But we'll see for sure soon.

Actually...........now that you have me thinking about it. Not inlcluding the games where I played as villains, I think I've only lost once in on-line play.

But that was a while ago (it was my first on-line game too!), you see there were these smurfs and this guy running a JLA team...........

Heheh. Good times.

Set-up

Alpha Flight
[]Rk Sasquatch (9/9), S-1
[]Rk Deadpool* (7/7), Q-1
[]Exp Northstar (5/5), P-2
[]Exp Wildheart (5/6), P-1
[]Rk Firestar (5/5), R-2
[]R Snowbird (6/6), Q-2
* Auto-regen

The Baddies
U Loki (Pestilence)* ** (8/8) P23
R Rogue (IC) Tomas (7/7) Q23
R Rogue (IC) Robert (7/7) R23
R Rogue (IC) John (7/7) S23
R Rogue (IC) Peter (7/7) T23
R Rogue (IC) William (7/7) T24
The darkness within 15 *
Damage Shield 10 **

Objects
HO: V-14
LO: P-20, I-21

Psst, your objects....:whistles

But that was a fun game.

Oh sorry, yeah objects...how could I forget....Hmmmm, I can't see how to place them to hinder you at all, since you've got three flyers, plus you've also got the only Super Strength on the board, so I guess I'll just have to be a jerk about it.

Set-up

Alpha Flight
[]Rk Sasquatch (9/9), S-1
[]Rk Deadpool* (7/7), Q-1
[]Exp Northstar (5/5), P-2
[]Exp Wildheart (5/6), P-1
[]Rk Firestar (5/5), R-2
[]R Snowbird (6/6), Q-2
* Auto-regen

The Baddies
U Loki (Pestilence)* ** (8/8) P23
R Rogue (IC) Tomas (7/7) Q23
R Rogue (IC) Robert (7/7) R23
R Rogue (IC) John (7/7) S23
R Rogue (IC) Peter (7/7) T23
R Rogue (IC) William (7/7) T24
The darkness within 15 *
Damage Shield 10 **

Objects
HO: V-14, A2, A24
LO: P-20, I-21, G13

So 'Damage Shield' damage is reducable, but 'Darkness Within' damage isn't right? Damage Shield activates after you've made a close combat attack against Pestilence (which probably won't have much effect, since almost all your close combatants have Toughness anyway) and Darkness Within works when I am about to make an attack. From what I read of it, you don't actually need to target the same character that you do the pushing damage to, but their must be an adjacent character to get the push damage. Can I use 'Darkness Within' to gain a damage bonus when there's no opponents adjacent?

Oh hang on.....I have to damage a friendly character to get the bonus?! Now I get it, and that card isn't nearly as good as I thought it was. Man, why anyone would ever choose this card over the ridiculous ICWO is beyond me (beyond theme reasons of course).

Free) Deadpool will perplex up Snowbirds move to 10.

Free) Northstar will pick up Deadpool and fly to X-13 and dropping Wade in W-13.

Free) Snowbird will Pick up Wildheart and fly to V-12 and dropping Kyle in W-12.

Free) Sasquatch will take a 0 move action.

1) Firestar will pick up Walter and fly to S-5 dropping Walter in S-6.


========================================

Alpha Flight
[]Rk Sasquatch (9/9), S-6@
[]Rk Deadpool* (7/7), X-13
[]Exp Northstar (5/5), W-13@
[]Exp Wildheart (5/6), W-12
[]Rk Firestar (5/5), S-5@
[]R Snowbird (6/6), V-12@
* Auto-regen

The Baddies
U Loki (Pestilence)* ** (8/8) P23
R Rogue (IC) Tomas (7/7) Q23
R Rogue (IC) Robert (7/7) R23
R Rogue (IC) John (7/7) S23
R Rogue (IC) Peter (7/7) T23
R Rogue (IC) William (7/7) T24
The darkness within 15 *
Damage Shield 10 **

Objects
HO: V-14, A2, A24
LO: P-20, I-21, G13

=============================

You know, if I didn't think I'd need every single action I'd go out of my way to grab one of those HO you placed............spite is fun.

Yeah you got the hang on DS and DW, I almost forgot that DS was reducable and what the prerequisits for it are(see my reading I did a while back). Turns out it only works on Loki's first 2(INV) and last 2 clicks(ESD). As for DW, well I can see it for teams that need to give damage to teammates..........ie: (old style)Hulks. But yeah unless I'm missing something it does seem to be .............er........quirky at best.

As the Alphans looked on the other-worldly woman turned into a larger than usual Snowy-Owl. In her soothing voice she spoke to Kyle.

"Come young one, there is evil to be smote."

With little effort she picked up the Alphan and began flying towards thier opposition. Walter just stared at the sight in disbelief.

"There is no way that should have been possible."

"OK, I'll bite Fussy, why couldn't that work?", asked Wade.

"What do you mean why? There are so many reasons......I wouldn't even know how to start."

"Well she just grabbed him by the shoulders, what's the probelm?

"It's not a matter of how she grabs him, him it's about size and weight ratios. For starter that was way to fast. Do you know what the air speed volocity of fully laden owl is?"

Deadpool thought about it for a second, "And African or a Canadian Owl?"

Walter was actually surprised, "I'm impressed Wilson, not many people even know that there are owls in Africa.......but for the sake of this argument we'll talk about the Canadian ones."

Jean-Paul had heard enough, "I don't care about it being possible it just happened. She's obvioulsy magical in nature. But while you two disscuss it they're all by them selfes. Oh and Walter, if you could change back that would be most helpful."

With that Northstar grabbed Deadpool and caught up to Snowbird and Kyle quick enough.

You listed Deadpool's and Northstar's positions differently in the recap compared to teh move description. Which way is it meant to be?

Whopse. Deadpool should be in W-13, Northstar in X-13(line in the move section)

Personally I blame DK. Sure to the untrained eye it seems like he had nothing to do with but I'm going to blam him anyway.................it's a thing I do.

Blame Can-Ah-Dah, blame Can-Ad-Ah, it's not even a real country anywwaaayyy!

Man that waas an impressive opening move. Well thought out and planned...this is a great example of how to turn the usual disadvantage of going first into an advantage. You've really left me with very few tactical options, and certainly no way of dealing with that irritating Hypersonic. I can see now why you haven't lost yet.....

Page 1

Free (copy Brotherhood move): Pestilence picks up Tomas and Phases to O13, placing Tom in O12.

Free: Robert moves to J22.

Free: Peter moves to X15.

Free: William moves to X14.

========================================

Alpha Flight
[]Rk Sasquatch (9/9), S-6@
[]Rk Deadpool* (7/7), W-13
[]Exp Northstar (5/5), X-13@
[]Exp Wildheart (5/6), W-12
[]Rk Firestar (5/5), S-5@
[]R Snowbird (6/6), V-12@
* Auto-regen

The Baddies
U Loki (Pestilence)* ** (8/8) O13 @
R Rogue (IC) Tomas (7/7) O12
R Rogue (IC) Robert (7/7) J22 @
R Rogue (IC) John (7/7) S23
R Rogue (IC) Peter (7/7) X15 @
R Rogue (IC) William (7/7) X14 @
The darkness within 15 *
Damage Shield 10 **

Objects
HO: V-14, A2, A24
LO: P-20, I-21, G13

=============================

Hey Wakanda, silly map question for you.

What is the Star labs center section considered?

1) Just tiles, no hindering. (I think this one)
2) All normal hindering.
3) Water surrounded by hindering?

I think it's #1 but it's late........and I'd like to be sure.