The Lakelanders watch as the Time Machine falls from the sky, expands and lands squarely on their heads. They suddenly find themselves in a brand new place. It’s a small stone room, seemingly with no doors. The team finds themselves somewhat weary from the jarring maneuvers of traveling through time instantaneously. They pat themselves down and make sure everyone is alive and well. They quickly realize that their clever rouse has already had one significant set back. There are some things missing! All of the weapons the team intended to bring back (other than the staff they brought with them in the first place) have not made it through the trip. The real tragedy is that the magical jewels did not make it back to the present day with our heroes. There are only three more things with them now than when they left: the morningstar, the chest (possibly with the fake jewels inside, sure feels like it weight wise) and Goodbeard.
However, the room does have a mirror (20 feet wide, 4 feet high, starting at waist height) on one side of the room. Below this mirror is a giant metallic drawer, definitely built to be the size for the team to place the chest and the morningstar within. The team gets their wits about them and is about to start thinking about what is happening and what they can do, when the mirror on the wall starts to brighten and the team realize that it is, in fact, a giant TV screen. On the screen, the same chair appears with the same villain sitting within it. He turns his metallically-based head, realizing that our heroes have returned. He looks directly forward and says “Well, I heard you proclaim your idiocy, so I decided to bring you back. And I see you have my… rewards. You are trapped in a room within my skyscraper home base and if you do not do as I say, I will kill you all by pressing a single button. I have no reason not to. You have so innocently fallen into my perfectly executed plan. So, here are my orders! Place my treasures in the silver box in front of you” at this moment the shelf automatically opens to receive the treasure chest and the morningstar. “Do so, or you shall suffer a most haneous…
“Wait a second!” the man on the screen says as he startlingly sits forward in his throne, “Who is that knocked out….weenie!!!”
“That’s our new teammate, you punk! It was Goodbeard to you, but to us, even if his powers are gone, he’ll always be known as INTERNET CARSHAFT!” proclaims Dr. Dementia, triumphant in his proclamation and with an exuberant patting on the back from Lone Wolf and Chimera.
“Yes! Finally! Our team is whole once again!” a phrase coming from the least likely of sources Lone Wolf.
“BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!” the man on the screen laughs and laughs menacingly, thus enraging and confusing the Lakelanders. Then he continues; “You think that heap of useless, crying, wimpering meat is Internet Carshaft?!? You fools!” The team looks at one another with a look of confusion and realization that their assumption had been wrong. “That’s not Internet Carshaft,” the man on the screen says as he rises to his feet, approaches the screen and begins to remove his helmet. “I… am Internet Carshaft!!!”
The Lakelanders in a moment of panic and confusion, look closer to their surroundings to try to identify escape/attack/defend routes. They notice a 3 opportunities. The first is a hidden door. On the other side of the room, there is a steel door painted the same color as the wall. It’s not initially visable, but it’s there. In all likelyhood, the door is locked from the other side, knowing Dr. Doom, but it does seem to be an opportunity. Simultaneously, there is an air vent directly above the team. Its about 3 foot x 3 foot, big enough for a normal sized human to fit through. Where it leads? Well, thats a mystery, but it’s likely better than here.
Third is something the team had a hard time comprehending at first. Since its such a large screen, its easy to believe it had good resolution, but it couldnt possibly be this good. They look closer and realize something about the giant big screen in front of them, above the box. It’s not a screen at all! It’s a two-way mirror that is now simply a window. It’s likely very thick, but the key point is that Internet Carshaft is actually on the other side of that window! But is attacking IC at this point the best decision? Is there a trap in the making for our heroes?
Regenerate:
Lone Wolf: 5+4 = 9
Dr. Dementia: 5+2 = 7
Internet Carshaft = 15
Chimera: 5+3 = 8
Goodbeard: KO’d for 9 more panels
Katherine Heigl: 3
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Lone Wolf:
1 stone into teamwork
After weighing the options with his team through a series of sublte glances and gestures, Lone Wolf breaks the silence and with a scream takes the Morningstar in both hands and swings it mightily with a baseball swing, no doubt channeling memories of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hero Casey Jones. The two-way mirror is the target.
4 stones into close combat attack
5 used, 4 remaining
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Chimera:
1 stone into teamwork – moved position
Using the scream and the swinging Morningstar as a distraction, Chimera desides to use his cloaking ability.
3 stones into invisibility – Chimera backs to a wall as to avoid the shards of glass flying from the mirror. As well, he hopes the mirrors won’t affect his ability to stay hidden.
4 used, 4 remaining
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Dr. Dementia:
Puts 1 stone into teamwork, moves position to before LW
Quickly cruising as far from the mirror as he can, the Dr tries to do a bit of focussing on the situation on hand to see what they are getting themselves into.
Puts 2 stones into Concentration to look into the situation, and what to expect on the other side of the mirror.
3 used, 4 remaining
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Internet Carshaft:
Always prepared for the worst, IC gets himself into a cat-like state of readiness, knowing that the Lakelanders would, of course, not take this indiscretion lying down.
5 into Ninja – close combat defense
5 used, 10 remaining
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Goodbeard: KO’d for 5 more panels
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Katherine Heigl:
Katherine doesn’t really wanna get into fisticuffs with the most powerful villain in all the world. She runs to the door and attempts to open it to escape the terrifying room.
1 into running in heels and opening stuff without breaking nails
1 used, 2 remaining
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Dr. Dementia swings around the room in his hoverround and makes sure to look at every corner of the other room that Internet Carshaft is standing in. He looks high and low, left and right, and it seems that there are no traps of any kind back there. One more thing to note is that there appears to be a door leading out of this room as well, on the opposite side from the door in their room. it is also made of heavy metal, painted the same color as the room and appears to be air tight.
This might seem like good news, but our doctor, ever careful, knows better than to underestimate his former teammate and well known world villain. There must be something fishy going on in there. While in his defensive stance, Dr. D notices Internet Carshaft reach for a small electronic device. The device only has a few buttons on it, but surely its something menacing.
And so, giving a short shrug and a nod to Lone Wolf, Dr D gives the go ahead to attack the two-way mirror. The morningstar, under the force generated by the brute strength swing crashes all of the glass to the floor and our heroes suddenly that they gotten themselves into a fight in a small room with a powerful villain.
Chimera, noticing that the fight is about to begin, shimmys his way to the back of the room and uses his invisibility to avoid detection. He knows that Internet Carshaft is smarter than any villain he’s faced thus far, so the opponents apparent willingness to let our hero cloak himself so readily seems to be add suspicion to the situation.
Internet Carshaft isn’t letting on much with his actions, but it is clear that he is not the simpletons that the LL’s have battled thus far. A fight with him might be entertaining and profitable, but also, in their somewhat tired state, might be dangerous, unnecessary. A retreat, though a safe, smart decision, may be easier said than done; there are exits to the room, but who knows if the team can make it there safely, let alone where they would be when they escape.
Katherine attempts retreat without discussing it with the team and helps the team discover one thing about the room around them. The painted over door in the room the Lakelanders find themselves in is locked. It’s steel bolted into concrete. A big guy with enough strength could likely yank it loose, but it wouldn’t be easy. Then again, there’s always the other door. The one in Internet Carshaft’s room…