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 #2, the heroes investigate the scene of the crime: the uncharacteristically high-society estate that the retired police commissioner lived in. They come into contact with metahuman security mercs from Halo Force, and begin to realize things are a lot more complex than they first appeared.

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 a recent case, wherein fledgling vigilante Tom Wood killed former police commissioner Thaddeus Kozer in a scuffle that also included some weird, fiery-eyed shadow monsters. The former secret patron of Monochrome known as “Mr. Green” revealed his identity as long-retired Silver Age superhero The Green Lama (real name Jethro Dumont), and he’s interested in not only the origin of these shadow monsters, but also in making sure Monochrome and Disk Girl make it extremely clear 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.

The Magic Circle

6/4/22 – Stationed outside of retired commissioner Kozer’s fancy-pants Beacon Hill estate, Monochrome and The Saint listen to Disk Girl’s run-down of Tom Wood’s description of the scuffle in which Kozer ended up dead. At the same time, Monochrome begins prepping some tools: in this case, he recalls the images of old sci-fi movies to conjure a 1950’s-style UFO, about the size of a frisbee, to act as a drone to scout out the estate. Armed with a tractor beam — what UFO didn’t have tractor beam in those movies?! — it should be able to get into places that Monochrome either can’t, or would be noticed if he tried.

Whirring motor as quiet as can be, the UFO drone peers into windows to get a general layout of the place. The estate is well above the former police commissioner’s suspected lifestyle and salary: it’s a low-walled plot of land with a three-story brick masonry house sitting on it. The remote-monitored front gate is currently closed, though police tape is visible over the front door. No police appear to be on scene, and no other vehicles or movement is immediately obvious. With that, the flying saucer uses its tractor beam to open a window, and scopes out the second floor library and study.

The study appears to be the scene of the crime! A large oak desk features paperwork strewn about (all of it boring estate and financial stuff), some broken panels and few nick marks that suggest claws or other sharp objects. A few bullet holes can be seen in the surrounding shelves and the liquor cabinet, and a pool of dried blood is still visible on the floor. All of which jives with Tom’s story; the claws appear to be the work of the “fiery-eyed shadow monsters.” What’s interesting and new to the story is that an area rug is folded partially over, revealing a circle of mystical-looking runic letters using the Old Norse alphabet of the Elder Futhark. Many pictures are taken by the drone.

Halo Force

Just then, the drone picks up movement. Two individuals are patrolling inside the house, engaged in meaningless banter about the weather. Monochrome is able to send images of them back to Marian Michaels of the Muckrakers for identification, and sure enough, she knows who they are: two members of a mercenary superpowered security group, Halo Force.

Michaels provides some background:

Halo Force is made up of Nimbus and Eve, who you’ve just spotted, as well as two others: Fireheart and Seraphim. They are straight-up metahuman mercenaries, working for the highest bidder. Not badguys,  per se, but not exactly the kinda people who’ll go out of their way to maintain a respectable code of honor.

Eventually, Disk Girl meets up with Monochrome at his car, and they decide to lead with a friendly conversation, just to see what happens; they are expecting a fight. But to their surprise, the duo remains (mostly) on the level. They explain that they’ve been hired by folks whose identities they won’t divulge to investigate the crime scene and keep an eye on it. Nimbus is relatively forthcoming about the appearance of the magical symbol — it’s got some symbols that suggest elemental stuff on it — but beyond that, they prove largely ignorant of what’s going on. When the three heroes — Monochrome, The Saint, and Disk Girl — decide to leave and report back to Marian in person, however, they notice they’ve picked up a tail.

In short order, they determine Fireheart is following them, though there’s no sign of Seraphim. They make a show of pointing out Fireheart has failed to follow them stealthily (despite showing a good amount of skill at the task), and send him on his way.

Back at The Den

The trio meets up with The Cat and the Muckrakers back at The Den. Once Marian is up to speed, one of the hackers among the Muckrakers is brought in to find out a little more about what Halo Force is up to. Hacker prodigy Colina Hill is able to dig up the fact that Halo Force has been on Boston city payroll a few times, which may tie them (indirectly, at least) to DA Jane Barlowe. Meanwhile, The Cat’s mythology electives come in handy when examining the photos of the magic circle: the use of Norse runes depicting the antithesis of light (in this case, shadows) and some sort of controlling power suggests a spell of summoning or binding shadowy spirits. This happens to be eerily similar to how Jethro Dumont as The Green Lama gained his powers, so the crew reaches out to him, and he confirms it.

Indeed, my powers were derived from summoning and speaking to spirits, and requesting certain specific powers from them. Please, come to my estate outside the city and let us see if I can’t be of more direct help to you in figuring out what is afoot!

Up Next…

Disk Girl, Monochrome, The Cat, and The Saint are all headed to Jethro Dumont’s estate outside the city of Boston. As one of the greatest heroes of the Silver Age, it’s a sure bet that he’ll be able to help them get answers, but will it be any surprise someone with such a storied past has complications surrounding them?

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