Bruce (Sting Ray) is stunned when Chris (Scarecrow) agrees that migas at El Arroyo actually sounds like a good lunch option. Tim (Sylvan Sentinel) is chagrined by the fact that Bruce refers to his character by his faerie name of "Verdingalingen". Paul (Darren Stone), in between being obsessed by the "Gallopagus" that Chris found at the dollar store, spends time reminding everyone else that he has a better social life than anyone else in the group. Chuck smirks and offers, "Speak for yourself, Bucko." Ernest calls out, "Everyone make a saving throw!"
Archangel is flying high above the city when his supernatural senses (specifically, his "hearing") identify the distinctive tones of a burglar alarm. He flaps down in time to see a bunch of South Side C gangsters rushing out of a check-cashing place. He calls out to the other characters over his communicator shard, "Robbery in progress at the check-cashing place!" Sylvan Sentinel swiftly comes back with, "Which one? The one on eighth or the one on ninth?" Sting Ray, sitting on his couch at home, pops up on line to clarify, "There are two on ninth. Next week, there will also be two on eighth." Archangel, by now just a bit ticked at the concept of franchises, exclaims, "It's the one next to the Starbucks!" Sylvan Sentinel gripes, "Oh, that's useful. You might as well just say it's on a street." Sting Ray finally connects to MapQuest and uses it to guide the others in.
Meanwhile, Archangel watches as two gangsters jump into a beat-up Chevy Impala; a third runs down an alley. Archangel gives chase to the Impala and tries to disable it. He discovers that his secret weakness is cars. Then Scarecrow rushes out of a side alley and unleashes a deadly blast of crows... at a row of parked cars. He looks at the devastation and muses, "I better not patrol around here tomorrow." Archangel's next blast of cosmic energy sets the parked cars on fire. The gangsters drive for the Highway 6 access road. Archangel swoops down, grabs Scarecrow, and flies after the escaping car. Scarecrow howls, "Careful! Don't rupture me!" They gain altitude.
Sylvan Sentinel and Darren Stone head for the alley. They arrive in time to see the third gangster clamber up a fire escape. Sylvan Sentinel transforms into a mass of vines and swarms up after him. The gangster, panicked, tries to fire an ancient .38 at the nature spirit. The gun explodes in his hand. Sylvan Sentinel leaps to the rooftop to grapple, putting the guy in a wood-lock. The gangster shrieks, "I give up! Hey, where did these naughty tentacles come from?"
Sylvan Sentinel leaves the gangster tied up in vines on the wall, Spider-Man style. It turns out the cops are already there, and are just a bit surprised to see the gangster getting lowered down. A stout-looking patrolman grouses, "Aw man. Fuckin' superheroes."
Meanwhile, back in his condo in Kingston Sting Ray leaps to his window and… drifts. He figures out that he can head the Impala off at the Highway 6 Bridge. He floats down onto the top of the bridge and waits. Then he lashes out with an electrical strike. The Impala's engine explodes! The hood flips into the air end-over-end. One gangster is blown out of the passenger-side door, the other seems to be caught inside the wreck. Archangel flies up and points out, "I can heal people! I'll drop Scarecrow on the running guy, then check out the wounded one!" Scarecrow doesn't even get a chance to howl before he finds himself deposited onto the roadway. He lands in front of the running gangster, who very intelligently gives up instantly. Scarecrow follows up quickly by asking questions:
Archangel drags the gangster out of the car, noting that the fellow is so badly burned that he isn't even screaming. Then he heals him. The gangster's burns vanish, leaving him unconscious. The characters leave the gangsters for the cops and fly off. They head to Sting Ray's condo, where they watch the traffic reporters discussing the incredible traffic jam on the Highway 6 Bridge.
There is a knock at the door of Sting Ray's condo. He looks out to see two guys who look like white laborers in gold chains with a really big box. They tell him that they've brought him a 53-inch Sony plasma TV, "No signatcha necessary." Archangel watches as the thick-necked guys bring in the box. Sting Ray asks him, "Why didn't you tell me you bought a TV?" Archangel protests, "I didn't buy a TV. But is that gourmet goat cheese here yet?"
It turns out that the TV is a gift from Mister Driogano, and the two deliverymen very clearly won't take no for an answer. The characters reluctantly accept the thing. They stare at it for a while. Only Archangel speaks, noting that it is the biggest plasma screen TV money can buy, at least on the Best Buy website. Then Darren Stone starts speaking sense, suggesting, "Let's donate it somewhere." Sylvan Sentinel mentions, "I've got a place, and I don't have a TV..." Archangel offers, "Maybe we could keep this one and donate the old one?" Sting Ray ends the discussion by exclaiming, "I'll have none of it! We're donating it to Wilson Jeffers' community center!"
Darren Stone, Sylvan Sentinel and Sting Ray head down to Lincoln to drop off the TV in a rented U-Haul. Archangel and Scarecrow go to patrol the downtown sewers. Sylvan Sentinel joins up with them
The characters drive up to see that some of the youths are outside erasing a big graffiti tag reading "SONIC!" from the side the building. Darren Stone has actually heard of Sonic: he is a new, young, black superhero who is becoming very popular among the youths of Southside. He also has some run-ins with the gangs. Wilson Jeffers comes out when someone runs in to tell him that white people have arrived with a U-Haul.
Darren Stone tells Jeffers, "Mr. Jeffers, we brought you something for the kids. Let's go get it." Jeffers seems to not really know what to say. He asks Darren, "This isn't off the back of a truck, is it Darren?" The Sylvan Sentinel comments, "No, it came from the Maa... oof!" He is cut short by a swift elbow to the ribs from Sting Ray.
Darren Stone carries the TV in to the rec room, turning himself into the Pied Piper of Lincoln in the process. By the time he's inside, every kid within miles is in the rec room. Stone turns the TV on to a station showing the Freedom City Comets game. Wilson Jeffers asks Stone, "Would you like a receipt for tax purposes?" Sylvan Sentinel replies, "No, consider this to be as anonymous as Catholic priest sex. Hey! Stop poking me in the ribs!" At least the kids seem happy.
Once out of the chaos of the rec room, Jeffers asks the characters, "So, what brings you down here other than TV delivery?" Darren Stone replies, "What can you tell me about the missing child?" Jeffers thinks a moment, then says, "Yeah, he lived a couple blocks over. The cops looked for him a bit, but they gave up after that hyena thing in the park. He was young, wasn't mixed up in anything bad. Some of the local folk are looking for him, but they haven't found anything. Quite a mystery. None of the gang boys know about it, and I think they're telling the truth." "Can you give me that address?" "Sure."
The characters leave with the missing child's home address.
Archangel and Scarecrow find the place where the body was recently discovered in the sewers. They notice that the area is still surrounded by police tape. They search for clues. Scarecrow crows, "I rolled 11! There's water!" Archangel shoots back, "I got a 16! It's dirty water!" Scarecrow grouses, "Aw man! I wish you'd told me that before I took a sip!" It looks like the police have carted off most of the interesting evidence.
The characters decide to hunt down some sewer workers. They use the obvious plan: they head up to street level and look for Freedom City Department of Public Works trucks. They find one with a couple of workers nearby fairly quickly. Scarecrow explains that he and his friend Archangel are investigating the body in the sewers and asks, "You seen anything down there? Maybe something strange that you wouldn't have wanted to tell the police?" One of the workers claims that he's seen albino baby alligators down in the sewers. Then his friend tells him, "Dude, that's an urban legend!"
Scarecrow leaves them with Lewis Ray's phone number. They agree to call if they see anything.
Darren Stone and Lewis Ray show up at Starmount Estates with Scarecrow, Archangel and Sylvan Sentinel in tow. The neighborhood turns out to be more of a HUD housing development of cookie-cutter scroungy houses with barred windows and cars up on blocks in front. Darren Stone comments, "I can't feel these buildings... there's no stone in them... they are made entirely of cardboard." Darren Stone has the address for Angela Gardner, the child's aunt. Everyone is trying to be inconspicuous, and is dressed in civilian garb. Except for Scarecrow, who is up on the roof, reverse Cape Fear style.
Ms. Gardner is an older black woman dressed in Elder Sunday-school Instructor style. Lewis Ray offers, "We are private citizens, upset at the way that the police have ignored the neighborhoods in the city. We are concerned about the disappearance of your nephew. May we come in?" He makes a very dramatic Diplomacy check. She thinks he is just the nicest white man and lets the characters in. Except for Scarecrow, who is up on the roof. Watching the playground. At high noon.
The basic facts come out quickly: Kennhie vanished a week and a half ago. He had been out playing with his friends, running around like kids do. He just didn't come home that night. The police came out and did a bit of walking around, but they didn't turn anything up. Kennhie's dad left a while back, and his mom is off doing a short stint upstate for goofballs. Plus she's also got those check charges outstanding. He was always talking about two friends of his, Harry and Johnny. But he'd play with all the kids around here.
Darren Stone talks his way into Kennhie's room, but can't find anything. Archangel helps. He only smells Aunt Angela's fried chicken in the kitchen.
Darren Stone asks Aunt Angela, "Can you talk to Harry and Johnny's parents so we can talk to the children?" She makes a quick call to Mr. Conner, but comes back to report that they don't want to talk to outsiders. She assures the characters that they're not really good people, "you know." She also notes that it is getting dark outside, and the curfew will be starting. She suggests that the characters could show up tomorrow and probably talk to some of the kids. Sting Ray gives her a card with his phone number on it.
Sting Ray finds a phone number and address for a Conner in the area. The characters head over and knock on the door. The whole house is thundering with the loud sounds of hiphop music. "Kill whitey! Kill whitey!" Mr. Conner comes to the door and shouts "I told that woman I didn't want to talk to anyone!" Slam!
Scarecrow looks over at Sting Ray and suggests, "Use your mind control powers! Hahahahaha!"
At this point, the characters see a police car moving up and shining a spotlight around. The characters hide or pretend to be lawn flamingoes. The cop goes on by.
There is a big oak tree in the park; a nearby plaque indicates that it is a historic tree - fourteen people have been hanged here. Sylvan Sentinel merges with the tree and keeps a vigil. Scarecrow comments, "When he said he was going to merge with the tree, I didn't think he was going to… mount it."
The characters head back to their various homes. Lewis Ray goes back to his condo and watches roller derby on TV. Lightning flashes. A dark, cloaked figure stands waiting outside on his balcony. Ray curses, "Dammit, Scarecrow! This is the third time this week! Get your own balcony!" Archangel walks in from the kitchen to see what the fuss is all about. The two of them sit there blinking. Then the door opens and the figure walks in. It is clearly not Scarecrow. Archangel and Sting Ray click their force fields on.
The figure speaks, "You can call me Foreshadow." Nobody else says anything.
It continues, "Lewis Ray, what is your connection to the Driogano Crime Family?" Lewis offers a lame explanation of how he helped save Lady Tarot from a drive-by shooting, and got a TV as a thank-you, but has already donated it to charity. Then he requests, "Could you close the door? The bats will get in." Foreshadow ignores him.
It turns out that Foreshadow keeps tabs on the Drioganos. He asks of Sting Ray, "What are you and your friends doing here?" Sting Ray explains, "I led a questionable life, and have been told that I must perform deeds to redeem myself." It is impossible to tell if this explanation satisfies Foreshadow, who shoots back, "Who's your friend?" Archangel introduces himself and indicates that his goal is, "Redemption. For myself and the human race."
Foreshadow warns the characters to stay clear of the Drioganos, then vanishes from the balcony with a whoosh of his cloak.
The next morning is Sunday morning and Archangel goes to church to talk to his boss. He comes back with a hot tip about an anti-Semitic incident at Temple Ben David. The characters decide to go to Starmount Estates first to talk to the kids, and then to Ben David to talk to Rabbi Feingold.
Verdingalingen is watching early in the morning as a bunch of kids come running into the park. He notes that kids in the 9-11 range tend to run around unsupervised. The younger ones stay closer to home, and the older ones do other stuff (like going to the Lincoln Youth Center to watch the big 53" TV).
He spots two kids who look like the bullies of the group. One is big and surly, the other is weedy and weaselly. He hangs out until the other characters show up, then tell them what he has learned.
Lewis Ray talks to one kid, figures out who Harry and Johnny are, then walks over to talk to them. Ray does a great job of not acting overly intimidating or sociopathic, but the kids are having none of it. They think he's a narc, and they won't tell him anything even though it's pretty clear that they know something.
Darren Stone sits nearby on a swing set. A little girl starts swinging next to him. She is much more willing to talk. She doesn't know what happened to Kennhie, but she knows he was following her brother around. She explains that her brother is over there talking to that weird man. Darren Stone asks her, "Is there someplace they like to go?" She tells him they wander all around the neighborhood. She also claims that Kennhie was always wanting to be like Harry. Darren asks her what Kennhie was like? She breezily says that he was, "Just like any big brother, I guess."
Sylvan Sentinel watches as a couple of kids sit under the tree and break out a portable chess set. They seem to share many interests, including board and computer games. But after a moment, he concludes that they are unlikely to talk about the missing child. So he steps out of the tree. The kids look at him with fascinated suspicion. "So, do you know where's the missing child?" "Why do you think we know? We know nothing." "Okay. See you!" He walks over to Scarecrow and complains, "I can't think of any dignified way to get out of this situation."
Everyone gets really upset when Sting Ray refuses to mind control the obstinate kids. Seeking to do random good deeds to atone for even thinking about mind-controlling children, Sting Ray walks over to the local Ice Cream Truck and hands the guy $150. He tells him to give kids free ice cream until the money runs out. It takes him a couple of minutes to persuade the vendor not to just hand him several bags of controlled substances. In the process of arranging for free ice cream, Sting Ray overhears some kids with a theory about how the ghost got Kenny. The ghost hangs out at a haunted house, and looks like a little twinkling light. One kid claims that he's seen the ghost twice, that other kids are scared but not him. A little girl mentions Radley Manor, an old house that has been abandoned for a long time. She tells some other kids that it is a very spooky place covered in cobwebs and dust. There are two ghosts inside, but they're not mean - the other kids think so 'cause they're just chickens.
Sylvan Sentinel wanders around chatting with kids after growing a swing set and a wooden fort. He hears kids talking about a man on a motorcycle who was being real quiet.
Darren Stone talks to some kids and learns about Barbie.
Someone mentions Foreshadow to Scarecrow. Turns out he's a spooky superhero known for being in the right place at the right time all the time. Plus he's noted for being an anti-mob guy. He has the attitude of Batman and the powers of the Shadow.
Sting Ray goes to the library. So does Archangel, but he's not useful. They learn that Radley Manor is an old abandoned place in Starmount Estates, but it's on a national register of historical places so they didn't just bulldoze it when the housing project was built. It was originally built by the Radley family. Sting Ray finds a community-interest story on the legend of the ghost. It claims that Avery Radley once got so mad at a servant that he dragged her out and hung her on an old oak tree in front of the house. And now her ghost haunts the place. The place was built before the turn of the century, and has been uninhabited for decades.
Archangel tells Sting Ray, "I have learned your culture. I'm going to ask the homeless around here about it." Sting Ray replies, "Wow. You have learned our culture."
The characters rather briefly stop by the Temple Ben David and talk to Rabbi Feingold. He tells Archangel that one of the tags spray-painted on the synagogue wall was GFBD. He doesn't know what it means, but the characters know it is a biker gang code for "God Forgives, Brotherhood Doesn't."
Night finds the characters in front of Radley Manor, ready to carry out deeds of daring and menace. The grounds occupy all of a city block. The entire compound is surrounded by a stone fence topped by five-foot wrought iron bars. The whole wall is clearly in an advanced state of disrepair. There is a metal gate across the driveway, but one side is fallen in and easy to bypass. The characters move in, with Scarecrow scouting in the lead.
The characters head towards the back of the mansion. Scarecrow finds a coal-chute in back and uses it to enter the building. He takes great delight in his Clinging powers; he moves along walls and ceilings real creepy-like. He finds himself in a small furnace room, alongside a coal-powered furnace that looks like it has been dead for years. He smells a sort of acrid, chemical scent. He opens the door very carefully and finds ten guys listening to AC/DC in the basement beyond the furnace room door. They are working with acrid-smelling chemicals. All of them are dressed like biker gang members in denim shirts with no sleeves. A couple of them look like guards and carry guns. Labeled bottles of ether and solvents are stacked everywhere, making it very clear to Scarecrow that the slightest flame or spark could set the entire house on fire. He passes on a warning to the other characters to not use fire- or electricity-based powers. Sting Ray grouses.
Darren Stone starts off by ripping the door off its hinges and ensnaring most of the workers in the room. The guard is too deeply into his music to notice. Sylvan Sentinel follows Darren Stone in and smashes up one unentangled guard. Sting Ray, his electric aura off to avoid causing unnecessary explosions, runs upstairs to look for more bikers. Behind him, a biker lieutenant fires off his shotgun, failing to hit Sylvan Sentinel but also failing to set off any chemical explosions. Archangel whooshes into the room, kicking up ice crystals in the wake of his passage. A goon pulls a knife and rushes the Sylvan Sentinel. Another goon sends a bottle of ether towards Darren Stone, missing. And then someone fires a gun. The enterprising shooter burns to death. The top of the worktable springs into flame, and it looks like there will be a huge explosion soon.
Faced with imminent destruction, Sylvan Sentinel thinks about using Plant Control to suck away all the air in the room by causing huge plant growth. Darren Stone objects, "Hey! Some of the rest of us breathe!" Sylvan Sentinel comes up with an alternative plan: he sprays out huge clouds of pollen from his various orifices to suppress the flames.
Seeing that the pollen cloud is working nicely, Sting Ray sparks up his force field and zaps the lieutenant. Unfortunately, the pollen cloud wasn't working that well. Lots of people (including Sting Ray) take hits in the ensuing explosion. The characters notice a nearby rack of plastic bags full of ice that looks like it might detonate soon.
A gangster rushes up and throws a bag of ice at Darren Stone. A burst of white powder expands from his chest. Stone snorkels it down. Stone gets seriously coked-up. Sting Ray yells out, "Look! Darren is hopped up on goofballs!" He ignores Sting Ray's jibes as he entangles the goon, then sprays earth and stone from the floor all over the new fire, putting it out.
Sylvan Sentinel and Darren Stone clean up the remaining goons.
Archangel heads into the last corner of the basement to find a nasty-looking biker with a shotgun. The biker points his weapon at a nearby closet door and threatens, "Mess with me and the kid gets it!"
Archangel boosts up his Charisma and issues some very convincing threats: "Drop the gun now! This is your last chance to avoid burning in the pits of hell forever!" The gangster drops the shotgun and begins to snivel in the manifestation of his manifold sins. Archangel proclaims, "Go out and redeem yourself!" The goon ends up converted. He runs up the stairs, potentially to be murdered by the rest of the party.
Sylvan Sentinel opens the closet and finds child tied up inside. He cuts his bonds and leads him out.
Scarecrow and Sting Ray rush upstairs. They come into a kitchen. Not only are the shades drawn but the windows are actually painted black. In addition to food, there is also a final packaging station for ice. And some goons, all of them ready for the characters because they can hear their comrades downstairs screaming like girls. Girls who are on fire. There is some gunfire, to little effect. Then a biker lieutenant comes on the scene with an SMG. Gunfire rips across the room, but bounces ineffectually off Sting Ray's force field. Then a goon jumps on the table and tries to kick Sting Ray in the head. He misses Sting Ray, but does hit his energy field. His colon goes spastic as he gets electrocuted and collapses.
Darren Stone arrives and smashes the lieutenant around some. He notices that the fellow is wearing a jacket with a metal wolf's head on the back. Darren Stone thinks, "Gee, doesn't that hurt when he leans back?" And then, some crows arrive. Scarecrow's attack knocks the biker back, but the fellow's Kevlar vest helps absorb the impact.
Interested in leveling the playing field a bit, the biker pulls a hypo and injects himself with something foul-looking. Just in time, Archangel bursts up through the floorboards with Sylvan Sentinel on his heels.
The situation becomes even more confused as another lieutenant and a cloud of bikers come rushing down from the second floor. Scarecrow casts an Obscure across them, and is rewarded with a grenade for his efforts. And then the juiced-up biker storms through the characters. While they are beating him into a pulp, the other bikers make for their hogs and thunder off into the night.
The session ends with the characters ready to pursue the fleeing bikers into the night. There will be more fightage next time. The characters will start the next session with their hero points restored, but any hits they may have gained remaining.