Save Science City - session 2

Night began with the award of 1XP (it's not small in Mutants and Masterminds) for last session.  This led to the difference between XP for PCs, and CP, intended for players to mandate improvement of the NPCs.  (GM has villain points for nefarious purposes, including development of NPCs, but not a lot of them.)

Morning

 Went by an hourly clock, to help avoid the spotlight chaos of last session.  Wasn't totally successful, but it helped immensely.

    9AM

        Prof Morgan decided to recruit NPC Alexandra the Conqueror as their prosecuting lawyer for the Sunset Boys.

        Anduin Wessex organized and motivated the task force, giving them a +1 defense bonus (which they really didn't need).

        Reece went around Greymark, making intimations to the police that the FBI was coming after corrupt cops soon.  Police Corruption rolled a 3 on its saving throw, and went into temporary remission (PCs jumped all over it with hero points, it was a massacre for permanent remission.)

        Trinket made some rough plans from a thermal camera for a thermal sniper scope.

    10AM

        Genevere arrests Consuela Cuevas at her job at a local barber shop.  Consuela goes along willingly, unaware that the PCs have already filed a legal warrant to charge her with conspiracy for all of her brother's crimes. 

       The PCs just rolled over the Sunset Boys, taking out the hostages by stealth and overwhelming melee provided by Anduin Wessex.  Reece got to watch it all through his sniper rifle, but every time he took an aim action, the minion was down before he could pull the trigger.  Such are the woes of a sniper around minions.

        Recovered from the Sunset Boys:

• A set of maps to the city sewers.
• Small arsenal of military grade weapons, including some C-4, and two light machineguns that aren't supposed to be available as military surplus.
• large volumes of drugs, organized on pallets
• a chest of gold bars, stamped with the stylized lamp logo of the Watchmen

    11 AM

        The FBI PCs unleash the agents at their command.  Sunset Boys members are picked up from their homes or even off of street corners.  The Sunset Boys cease to exist as a threat before it's even time for lunch.

Afternoon

    All afternoon was the PCs following up on weapons, drugs, the gold, and various leads (like the Sassanak shock prod) of interest to them.  Trinket took the time to make a critical success on the development of a thermal scope for Reece.

    The drugs are delivered from Columbia, specifically the Cordova Syndicate, in the person of Osbaldo White.  He owns a yacht called the Tiburon Perra, and Reece has a copy of the registration form pulled from federal records.  Osbaldo is expected to make deliveries on the 12th and 26th of this month, and the Boys have no way of contacting him prior to him docking.

    The weapons were provided by Master Sergeant Sieve, who is the default supply of military surplus in Science City.  Because criminals don't exactly file public records on their business aliases, the PCs have no clue on his actual name, but they get a description from several Boys that match.

    The gold was delivered to the Boys by a young man and woman matching the descriptions of the Acrobat and Frogwoman from the Steel Hand.  They purchased a copy of the city sewers maps for unknown reasons.  

    Prof Morgan is unable to put the pieces he has together into an idea of what the Steel Hand are up to.  He realizes that this is because he is missing pieces that may become available as more of the gold is tracked down.

    The shock prod used by Fernaldo Cuevas is because he traded three barrels of toxic industrial waste to a Sassanak alien who goes by the name Snakeface and is part of the Carnival, at the Boardwalk, inside of tomorrow way.  He has no clue what the reptilian alien wants with the waste, but he was happy to take it.

Evening

    5PM

    Into every GMs life, random rolls of the dice will de-rail the best laid plans.  Deciding to pick up Snakeface after his act, the PCs are mistaken as fans and offered his autograph.  He doesn't even pick up the scent of Anduin Wessex, who is an Olympian, a race known for its genocidal treatment of his species.  He gladly gives them a tour of Snakeface Chemical Company, and shown that he recycles waste chemicals into useful chemicals, which he sells to companies in Tomorrow Way.  He gladly tells them that he sells uranium to Carl Smith, whom he believes sells it to the military.

    Carl Smith, the PCs learn because so many of them have instant checks on their knowledge skills, is the alias of Jasper Coleridge, a rogue CIA operative working in the United States.  The CIA, when contacted, is happy to provide a file, and expresses a great interest in having him taken into custody and turned over to them.

    Immediately realizing that he probably has the place under surveillance, they quickly locate his micro-camera, a brand new Zinkmann micro-camera, not a product they advertise.  Trinket rapidly locates the signal, and traces it to an apartment.  The PCs arrest and detain a student at the local College of Business, who claims to be blackmailed into being Carl Smith's accomplice.  She gladly provides them with Smith's actual apartment, in Greymark.

    6PM

    It actually takes two combat rounds, but the PCs surround and capture Jasper Coleridge, who happily agrees to outline everything he's doing in Science City.

    Recovered evidence:

• der Wurm Dunkle (The Dark Worm), an actual tome of dark spells, including a ritual for slaying an immortal and transferring their immortality to another.  Jasper Coleridge admits he was trying to barter this book for entry into Oriflamme.

PCs were awarded 2XP (for a total of 3XP).  They each have CPs in: Crucible: 3CP, Four Corners: 2CP, Greymark (2CP).