Rising Tide Issue 3 – Astonishing Super Heroes Campaign Journal

Rising Tide is an Astonishing Super Heroes campaign set in Boston, MA. I’m the GM, and I’m joined by my brother Joel and my cousin Matthew. They each play two characters: Joel’s running DISK GIRL/Naomi Nikita Johnson and THE CAT/Bella Arthur, and Matthew’s running MONOCHROME/Simon Blake and THE SAINT (who is a sentient construct created by Monochrome, and thus has no secret identity).

I will be posting session reports (“campaign journal”) like this one of the campaign periodically. They will include commentary on — or tie into related posts about — campaign building, on-the-fly rulings, and even playtesting new game mechanics. If this is your first visit, consider starting with Issue #1 to get some of the campaign setting and character backstory.

In Issue #3, the heroes seek the final pieces of the puzzle behind Tom Wood murdering former police commissioner Thaddeus Kozer, in part because of the appearance of magical shadow monsters during what was supposed to be a less violent confrontation. Unfortunately, after they get their answers, they also get attacked by the superhuman mercenaries known as Halo Force!

The Story So Far…

In Issue #1, a group of hackers and activist journalists called The Muckrakers called in Monochrome and Disk Girl to dig into the case of Tom Wood. The skilled inventor-turned-fledgling vigilante took out some of crime-lord Big Shot’s goons before confronting and killing former police commissioner Thaddeus Kozer. The scuffle included some weird, fiery-eyed shadow monsters. The District Attorney, Jane Barlowe, is now building a murder case against Wood. At this point, the secret patron of the The Muckrakers known as “Mr. Green” revealed his identity as long-retired Silver Age superhero The Green Lama (real name Jethro Dumont). He’s interested in the origin of these shadow monsters, suspecting it might be magic. Additionally, he wants to send a message to crooked District Attorney Jane Barlowe that some heroes are looking out for Tom Wood. Throwing him away for murder and covering up the commissioner’s ties to local kingpin Big Shot’s criminal organization isn’t going to be so easy for the DA’s office, which many suspect is in bed with Big Shot.

In Issue #2, further investigation reveals that magic was indeed used to summon the shadowy monsters to protect former commissioner Kozer. Unfortunately, the creatures spooked Tom Wood enough that he ended up killing Kozer, believing incorrectly that it was Kozer that summoned the creatures. Unfortunately, that same deeper investigation puts the heroes on the radar of Halo Force, mercenary supers hired to “watch over” the crime scene due to the supernatural nature of the events that occurred. Nimbus, Eve, and Fireheart begin tailing Monochrome, but when questioned, don’t hide anything: they want to make sure the heroes weren’t part of the crime itself. Returning to the Den, teen hacker extraordinaire Colina Hill, working for The Muckrakers, is able to determine that Halo Force may have been hired (indirectly) by the District Attorney’s office. In order to learn more about the summoning magic and the shadow creatures, the heroes head to Jethro Dumont’s estate, outside Boston city limits.

The Magic…

Late June, 2022 – Driving outside the limits of Boston proper, Monochrome, The Saint, The Cat, and Disk Girl arrive at the estate of Jethro Dumont. He has much to tell them of magic and history, now that they’ve confirmed magic was used to summon the shadow-monsters that failed to protect Thaddeus Kozer from Tom Wood. In fact, a photo of the summoning circle used to call these monsters captured by Monochrome is exactly what was needed for Dumont to place the last piece of the puzzle.

When they arrive, they find Dumont’s estate somewhat overgrown and run-down, but not entirely abandoned. It appears that Dumont’s neglected the place as he’s focused his time and resources on backing The Muckrakers, the activist-journalists (and hackers) that have been keeping Boston’s politics and policing in check for several years. There are no butlers or other attendants; the place is the abode of a hermit, it seems.

Jethro Dumont explains that before long before he was the mysterious “Mr. Green” bankrolling The Muckrakers, he had a long career as Green Lama. He learned magic while living in Tibet, able to ritually summon and bind ghosts in order to give himself exceptional super powers like strength, invulnerability, and flight.

At first I used these abilities because I wanted to do good. The spirits I summoned were hardly the only ones I knew of, but they were the ones most aligned with wanting good works done on the mortal plane of existence: to stop murderers and evildoers, to bring advancements in technology and society, and to save lives. These were the ghosts of people that died traumatically, and though some sought revenge, most simply wanted to spare others from such a painful existence after death.

But after a long time, the weight of their anger, their sorrow, their trauma, and sometimes their vengeful goals…all of that began to weigh on me. I realized that I wasn’t just using them as a tool, but they were using me, draining me, and changing me in ways I had not noticed or understood. Even ghosts with altruistic agendas are spirits laden with guilt, sorrow, remorse, anger. All of these bad things began to accumulate, like a cancer, within me.

He retired, but not before having forged many alliances, and having fought many dastardly criminals. Some of these — both allies and enemies — were from worlds beyond life and death.

Among his allies was The Wizard, Blane Whitney. He was an even more powerful in the ways of magic, not needing to rely on binding spirits. But through him, Dumont learned to identify magical powers, and even inherited a few of Whitney’s magical books after he died tragically, having lost everything when his wife left him, and having been dealt too many magical wounds in his many adventures.

In fact, it’s The Wizard that holds the key to the case of Tom Wood, Thaddeus Kozer, and District Attorney Jane Barlowe: because Barlowe is The Wizard’s estranged daughter! Blane Whitney married reporter Edith “Eddie” Ashe, who became not only his wife but also his closest ally during his years of superheroics. But in the 1980s, their relationship faltered and Eddie divorced him, taking much of his wealth and moving to Boston. There, she remarried and had a daughter: Jane Barlowe. At some point soon after Whitney died, though Jethro sometimes wonders if it wasn’t suicide. Either way, the biggest mystery in all of this was what became of Blane Whitney’s many magical books, artifacts, hideouts, and other secrets.

Dumont believes the answer is that Jane Barlowe secretly inherited those things. She either was training with them under her mother’s tutelage, or found them after her mother passed away. But the fact remains that she now likely has access to significant magical power, and summoning shadow-demons to guard people important to her — such as former police commissioner Thaddeus Kozer, who might have partnered with her on criminal dealings with kingpins like Big Shot — might rank on the lower end of things Jane could do with access to The Wizard’s incredible hoard of magical treasures.

The members of Halo Force: Fireheart, Nimbus, Seraphim, and Eve

…And the Mayhem

With everything neatly explained, the heroes intend to bring the fight directly to Jane Barlowe, or maybe call in one of their contacts, like Major General Ethan Bishop, who works in superhuman affairs for the US Army overseeing the Boston Sea Wall project. But before they get a chance to discuss these next steps, a challenge issues from outside Dumont’s estate!

This is Nimbus, leader of Halo Force. We have you surrounded. Surrender, or we will use extreme force if necessary to arrest you!

Suspecting Halo Force of being in Barlowe’s pocket, Disk Girl and The Saint step outside to engage Fireheart and Seraphim. Meanwhile, Nimbus and Eve bust in through the back of the house, and engage Dumont, The Cat, and Monochrome!

A pitched battle ensues, with Nimbus and Eve attempting to capture or kill Dumont, who is unable (or unwilling?) to summon spirits to grant him super powers, making him an easy target. But luckily, some lucky hits and a few artful uses of their powers to defy the abilities of Halo Force’s members proves enough to turn the tide of the battle. Dumont is saved, and every one of Halo Force’s members are either knocked out or have their powers shut down.

When they are turned over to the authorities, Dumont mutters a curse.

I don’t think this is going to be an easy fight. Barlowe either suspects or outright knows that we have information on her potential abilities. There’s no telling the degree of her powers, and there’s no denying the amount of clout she has in Boston as District Attorney.

I suspect we are in for a rough journey towards shining a light on the truth.

Up Next…

A supervillain prison break in Los Angeles leads two superheroes into a three-way battle that might have been a distraction all along…

All art copyright the respective artists; these images are used as inspiration for the characters depicted in our homebrew campaign.