Pentagram Peril (Episodes 24-37) PL 11

Our heroes returned to Freedom City triumphant, just in time to attend a gala being held in honor of Adrian Eldritch at the Freedom City Super Museum. It was at this time we were introduced to Sophie, a colleague of Bowman’s working with him to revitalize Southside through Operation Custodian. The two of them struck up a romantic relationship (despite Fletch not being super smooth in the beginning.) The team enjoyed the evening up until it was attacked by the Factor Four.

The elemental villains escaped with an object from the exhibit, a Bloodstone of Vhoka. A similar robbery took place at the same time over at FCU, with Professor Azoth’s homunculi stealing a second Bloodstone. Our heroes learned from Sallah that there were five of these stones in total, and if they were all brought together, they could provide power to any number of terrible rituals. So they took off after the Factor Four.

Centuria caught the fiery team member by slamming him to the ground with a parking meter, declaring for the first, but not the last time that she was in fact the attacker.

After scanning his magical energy, our heroes found the employer of the Factor Four, the hateful spirit Knightfire.
Knightfire was using a construction office in association with Operation Custodian to orchestrate his plan. He mobilized an alt-right militia in Southside and caused a devastating explosion to distract the Freedom League Dark, while he dispatched the remaining members of the Factor Four to recover the other bloodstones. One from Dakana, one from Sub-Terra, and one from Antarctica in a lost temple known as Nullatempus.

Our heroes stopped the attack on Southside, but realized the villains had a head start. Bowman called his contact in Dakana, Internal Security Director Gawiji Habimana, to let him know to increase security around the Bloodstone and then they departed for Antarctica. There they found the temple under attack by the Arctic Fox and his VLPES mercenaries. The temple’s defenses had already dealt with most of the mercenaries, so the heroes and the Arctic Fox struck an uneasy truce. Together they conquered three challenges and unlocked the Bloodstone chamber.

Unfortunately, Sylph was already inside and driven quite mad by the guardian of the temple. This guardian, a terrifying hydraesque monster arose but the heroes were able to defeat it. They took the Bloodstone and left the frigid wasteland, but not before Bowman rather conspicuously placed a tracking arrow on the Arctic Fox’s plane.

Next, the Freedom League Dark headed to Sub-Terra, a realm located deep in the Earth’s crust. They attempted to use the Alternity Atlas to appear within the Terra King’s palace, but the magic of Sub-Terra warped the book and they wound up in a maze-like expanse. They managed to escape using Overdrive’s speed, but found something completely unexpected in the tunnels: an outpost full of Resonant’s people, the Lifandi. These soldiers, led by Agent Emerald, were fighting a group of stone men and Man-Drake. During the battle, Overdrive used his Possibility Shard to cut himself free from a mystical binding. In the process he switched places with the Overdrive of Centuria’s universe, who up until this point, was trapped in Davey, the Overdrive action figure in Centuria’s pocket. This would have far reaching consequences.

The heroes managed to capture Agent Emerald after a tense standoff between her and Resonant. Before they could interrogate her, the group came under attack by Doctor Tectonic who said they were trespassing in his domain. Mortis managed to free Doctor Tectonic’s mind from the nanites which had corrupted it, performing a sort of machine exorcism/reverse possession. Unfortunately, Agent Emerald escaped in the chaos. With all of these threats out of the way, the heroes managed to arrive in Sub-Terra, only to find out that their connection to Daedalus made them an enemy of the Terra King and that Granite had already absconded with the Bloodstone. The Terra King gave them a stay of execution in exchange for their returning the Bloodstone. He placed a geas on Resonant to ensure it happened.

After a quick pit stop in Dakana, where our heroes learned that security had been successful in protecting the Bloodstone, they returned to the Nerian Nexus. They had a couple of the stones, but the remainder were still in Knightfire and Doctor Azoth’s hands. Sallah informed the heroes that the villains would be making their way to the Maw of Vhoka, a Middle-Eastern volcano which was used in ancient times to destroy magical items to absorb their essence. The Freedom League Dark arrived just in time to stop the villains from destroying the stones to take their power. Knightfire was utterly destroyed by Mortis, never to be seen again and the others were taken into custody by Warden, except for Granite who fled the scene and is still at large.

Noteworthy NPCs

Villains: The Factor Four, Knightfire, Nullatempus Guardian, Doctor Azoth, Man-Drake, Petra, Takwin, Agent Emerald, Doctor Tectonic

Allies: Sallah, Sophie, The Terra-King, Internal Security Director Gawiji Habimana, Thunderbolt