Hero System: Battle over Britain

[nomad3k]

For those interested I'm currently running a Hero campaign, called Battle over Britain.  The PCs are all British Second World War super-heros.

We have Corporal Cardiff, empowered by control over the Earth's magnetic field.
Mechanismo, with his supernatural affinity with machines.
Drake, possessed by the spirit of an ancient British dragon which has risen up to defend the motherland.
Brittania, the embodiment of everything British.  She rides into battle atop her Lion, Shield and Trident held high.
And The Scarlet Falcon, genius research scientist who was caught in a blast that covered him in a bulletproof coating.

Together they are The Albions.  Taking to the Sky from their Zeppelin Base, aboard the fearsome Rocketcar to engage the Luftewaffe head-on.  A mighty force.

Here's the story so far...

British Superheroes The Albions were summoned to a meeting in the Ward Office, where they were to talk with General Sir Arther Caspian, a rotund and bullish man.  A number of problems had arisen lately with the war effort and the general was looking to assign the heroes to look into them.  But before the meeting could even begin the air raid sirens were sounded.  Through the windows could be seen the huge searchlights illuminating a flight of german bombers.  The meeting was ended abruptly and the players rushed outside.

The bombers, mighty HE-111s, the pride of the Nazi airforce, flew in steady formation.  Determined to reach their target.  The Houses of Pariliament.  They bristled with machineguns and menacingly cut through the night sky.  The drone of a dozen engines sounded imminent doom.

The Scarlet Falcon, who had been attending the meeting in his capacity as a government advisor, dipped into a side room and donned his costume.  Betty Hetherington calmly finished the job of writing up the meetings notes before taking herself off to the Ladies' room and summoning forth Britannia.

Outside the heroes looked up into the night sky.  With the blackout imposed on London it would have been virtually impossible to see anything, were it not for the full moon.  The spotlights were following the bombers as they edged ever closer, and overhead the familiar sound of Merlin engines of Spitfires signalled the RAF joining the fight.

Once outside though the Heroes dithered a little, standing around the Rocketcar waiting.  They didn't have to wait long though.  A streak of flame and smoke was seen above.  The germans had claimed a British kill, and the burning wreckage was now headed down directly toward the Rocketcar.  Corporal Cardiff rose to the occasion, leaping into the sky and bringing his considerable might to bear upon the falling plane.  Stopping it midflight, with little more than the power of his own mind.  The burning wreckage was dumped into the Thames where it could no longer act as a beacon for the Luftewafe.

Then, the Heroes were away.  Mechanismo rushed into the Rocketcar, followed closely by the Scarlet Falcon.  The Falcon donned his famed piloting helmet, took to the controls and engaged the rocket engines.  In moments the rocketcar would be amongst the clouds.  Britannia sat astride her mount, the might Lion Ariel, and spurred him into the sky, flying low above the houses with Corporal Cardiff a short distance away.  Their plan was to engage the bombers from below.  Drake summoned forth his mighty smoking wings and leapt upward.  His plan was to distract the bombers with his fearsome appearance.

The Rocketcar, piloted by the Scarlet Falcon, was the first to reach the bombers, coming up from underneath.  And this did not go unnoticed by the german gunners.  They unleashed a hail of machinegun fire upon the Rocketcar, and nearly all found their target.  Inside, the Scarlet Falcon and Mechanismo heard the bullets bouncing from the vehicles considerable armour and remained unharmed.  Passing low, and at speed, Mechanismo reached out with his mind to dismantle the bomber from the inside.  The German engineering was a little complex, and the buffeting from the ride provided too much distraction.  With a phenominal piece of flying the Scarlet Falcon pulled the Rocketcar around and nearly landed it upon the bomber's wing.

Britannia was next upon the scene, her mount bringing her within range of one of the bombers.  Her Trident unleashed a blast at her target, but it provded ineffectual against the aircraft's armour.  Drake reared up in the sky, spreading his wings wide, eye burning and struck fear into the hearts of the nazi cremen who could see him.  Corporal Cardiff took advantage of this and zoomed underneath the central bomber, crushing the belly gunner's position as he did.

Mechanismo still struggled with the german engineering, while the Scarlet Falcon did his best to keep the Rocketcar close to the the bomber.

The din of machine-gun fire filled the night sky.  The Nazi gunners, those not held in place by the fear of the mighty Drake, did their best to find their targets but the Rocketcar proved too strong and Britannia too agile.  Under this hail of searing hot lead Britannia dove onto the tail of the passing bomber, her steed Arial sinking his claws into the control surfaces.  The bomber lurched downward in a deadly dive.  Brittania's trident was quick to speak out as well.  The blast shattered the glass of the top gunner's turret and also knocked the nazi into unconsciousness.

Corporal Cardiff meanwhile grew ever more confident with his amazing powers and swooped in on the rear gunner of the central bomber and without hesitation he wripped the entire turret away from the plane and tossed it into the cool air.  A cry of "Himmel" was heard as the Nazi inside parachuted out.

Drake turned his attention to the third bomber.  Summoning forth a mighty ball of fire he lobbed it right through the waist gunner's open window.  The explosion ripped through the plane and laid waste to all the gunners.  The pilots were unscathed.  Then, with a snap of his smoking wings, flew inside.  This time his flaming blast shot through, along the fuselage, shattering glass and searing equipment as it passed.  The pilots stood no chance.  The heat was too much and they were rendered unconscious.  The plane then lurched.  Noone was at the helm and it fell into a deadly spiral.  It's bombload in tact, Drake's instinct to protect the Innocent drove him to the controls to wrestle it back into the sky.  But to no avail.  The controls meant nothing to him.  Then a thought.  He rushed to the bomb bay, opened the door and dropped out.  As the mighty aircraft cut a dark shadow against the sky once again he left forth his fearsome flames.  The explosion detonated the bomb load and the plane disintegrated.  The sky was filled with shards aircraft and the sight of german airmen parachuting down, to be met by British soldiers.

This still left two bombers.  Britannia's mount had one in a deadly spiral, and Corporal Cardiff was astride the other.  The Scarlett Falcon was doing an admirable job of keeping the Rocketcar to within a short distance of the bomber.  To close even for machinegun fire.  Meanwhile Mechanismo finally started to understand the complex german mechanics.  Bolts started to fly loose from the bomber.  Coolant suddenly spewed from the engine casings.  It would not be long before this beast fell from the sky.  But Corporal Cardiff, eager to show Mechanismo as feeble compared to his prowess, intervened.  Taking hold of the rudder and tail of the aeroplane he simply ripped it clean off.  The whole tail section fell away and the aircraft fell into it's death dive.  Mechanismo, fearing nothing, stood up tall, laughing.  He intended to ride the plane down to the ground like some giant monster, then using his powers of magnetism bring it to a gentle stop just feet above the earth.  Mechanismo did not appreciate the interfearance though, and continued his work upon the wings.  Metal buckled, rivets shot out at high speed and the propellor fell from their mountings.  With little more than a thought Mechanismo had dismantled the aircraft midflight.  It's wings simply fell away.  And Corporal Cardiff, proudly riding his kill, suddenly had to hold on with all his might as the fuselage spiralled downward.  The G-forces were threatening to toss him aside.

Britannia meanwhile battled her own foe.  A blast from her Trident shattered the propellor blades on one engine.  The engine could not withstand the blast and immediately caught fire, sending out a stream of black oily smoke.  At this moment Britannia spotted Corporal Cardiff's predicament and leapt to his aid.  The embodiment of Wales had over excerted himself and had barely the strength to fly.  Britannia drew closer and he lept onto her mount.  He cried to the rest of the Albions, "AWAY FROM THE BOMBER".  The Scarlett Falcon brought The Rocketcar around with a glorious motion as Corporal Cardiff reached out with his mind.  He crushed bombs as they sat in their racks.  The explosion disintegrated the central bomber, but somehow the nazi airmen had once again parachuted to safety.

The Scarlet Falcon, whose role so far had been largely that of a glorified taxi driver decided to take things into his own hands and truly test The Rocketcar's endurance.  He pulled the wheel hard and twisted.  Curling and rolling The Rocketcar he pulled off an amazing maneuver, aimed at a direct collision with the remaining bomber.  His aim was nothing less than perfect.  The Rocketcar ripped through the bomber's wing and fuselage, leaving nothing but a husk falling to the ground.  A husk laden with bombs.

Corporal Cardiff was unable to crush the bombs, and Mechanismo was unable detonate them without seeing them.  As the bomber spiraled and rolled through the sky The Scarlet Falcon's piloting was again impecible.  He kept the Rocketcar positioned directly under the bombdoors.  To Mechanismo this became a simple task.  He triggered the bomb doors and let the payload drop out.  The idea was that the heroes could pick them off one by one.  But time was running out.

Drake's mighty fireballs consumed two bombs in a glorious explosion.  Mechanismo was able to trigger the detonator on another.  Britannia's Trident found one also, and Corporal Cardiff crushed one with his telekinetic might.  Whereas there were once dozens of bombs destined for London, now there was only one.  It crashed through the wall of a terraced house and must have hit the cellar before it finally exploded because the effect of the blast was not immediate. 

The side of the building started to crumple.  And outside..... what was that?  The streets should have been deserted.  Everyone safely in their shelters.  But no.  Five children rushed around, oblivious to the danger they were in.  Curiously each child was dressed in costume.  One small girl carried a cardboard shield bearing the union jack in one hand and a mop in the other.  At the same time she was trying to negotiate with a ragged looking dog.  She was sitting on it and beckong it on to do mighty tasks.  An older boy had a long black flowing trenchcoat, obviously his father's, that he had cut into dark wings.  Another boy wore another familar set of garb.  And finally two children sat in a wooden cart, racing around the streets.  On the side of the cart were the words "The Rocketcar".  These children had been watching the skies and aping their heroes, unaware of the peril it had placed them in.

The real Rocketcar hovered overhead, seemingly incapable of helping the horrible scene that was unwinding below.  The wall was falling and the children, realising their predicament, were frozen with terror.  The Scarlet Falcon looked on in shock at what was happening.  Distracted, he had not thought to use The Rocketcar's tractor beam.  The swith lay just inches from his hand.  Mechanismo felt incapable of helping, as he had no power of bricks and mortar.  Corporal Cardiff had no power to stop the falling building either.  He held power over metal.  He searched around, and seeing the street lamps he ripped them up.  Jamming the lamps against the wall stopped the wall's falling.  With the children still in danger though Drake snapped his wings and shot along with furious speed.  He reached out to scoop up the children in his arms, but missed!  There was not time for another pass as the wall finally cumbled.  The lamp posts could simply not hold it as it fell apart.  In the final moment Britannia came to save them.  Her shield shot out a beam of light that completely encased the children.  The rubble fell, but the children got out unharmed.

The heroes, thinking their night's work was at an end, gazed into the night sky only to see dozens of nazi jet-powered V1 bombs.  Each left an eiry yellow tail, and most bizarrely... on top each one sat a Nazi soldier.  Goggles protected their eyes from the wind, and a maniacal grin covered their face.  This was definitely something out of the ordinary.

And there it ends.

[nomad3k]

Once again the Heros took to the sky, but the V1's had too much of a lead.  The distinctive dum-dum-dum-dum sound from their pulse jet engines and the trail of yellow vapour made them easy to pick out, but each one flew too low for AAA or fighters to stop them, being guided in by nazi soldiers who rode them like grim horses.

Six in total were seen, and six in total stuck home.  The explosions they caused were really very minimal.  Just dull booms.  Completely unlike the previous V1 they had encountered not two weeks earlier.  That one had delivered an almighty payload.  These new ones, with their maniac pilots, served a different purpose though.

The closest bomb struck an abandoned factory, crashing through the thin corrigated roofing, to explode somewhere deep inside.  The Heros were close behind.  Seeing that the roof would not support the weight of The Rocketcar Mechanismo suggested that The Scarlet Falcon crash through and land inside.  The roof put up no resistance to the mighty Rocketcar, and The Scarlet Falcon did an expert job of bringing it down safely.  Britannia, Corporal Cardiff and Drake followed closely behind.

Inside the factory it was difficult to see much.  Brick dust and debris filled the air, and the only light came from the full moon filtering through dirty windows and the gaping hole in the ceiling.  The moonlight formed beams in the dust as it swirled.  Arial, Britannia's Lion, found the brick-dust too uncomfortable and refused to enter the building, so she would have to progress alone.

The Scarlet Falcon (being absent from the session) stayed in The Rocketcar so that he could keep in radio contact with the War Office.  Mechanismo delved around in the back of The Rocketcar and produced a couple of torches.  The might Albions could bring bombers from the sky with their bare hands, but would be defeated by a darkened room if it weren't for these.  Britannia held a torch and Mechanismo the other.  Corporal Cardiff, a little put out by Mechanismo having something and him being left in the dark, flexed his telekinetic muscle and whipped the torch from Mechanismo's hand.  It shot through the air into The Corporal's waiting hand, but before it even arrived Mechanismo had used his own powers to dismantle it.  Holding a useless chunk of metal, glass and batteries the Corporal shot it back to Mechanismo, who promptly reassembled it with his powers, only to have Mechanismo crush it, wrecking the batteries, the only part Mechanismo wouldn't be able to fix.  This little spat cost the Heros one of their torches, so Mechanismo headed back to The Rocketcar and, borrowing some parts, fashioned a mighty beam torch that would blind most people who looked at it.  The thought flashed through Mechanismo's mind to try this out on the Corporal, but decided that it would just end in another lump of useless metal and prolonged moments in the darkness.  Putting this futile display of powers aside the Albions moved on.

Corporal Cardiff reached out with his senses, trying to discern the flow of the magnetic field through and around the building.  He could sense that the factory had a large amount of cast iron girders, that there were three floors, and some large machinery on the bottom floor.  And also, at the very edges of his perception, he could sense some tiny fragments of metal moving.  The pieces were too small to accurately pinpoint, but there was definitely something moving down there.

Mechanismo used his mighty torch to look around the floor they were on.  It was clear this building had been abandoned a long time ago, even before The War.  Large concret plinths stood empty, where once they would have held great machines, metal looked rusted, huge piles of boxes lay covered with thick dust.  The only thing of note was the huge gapging hole in the ceiling, caused by The Rocketcar, and the hole in the floor, caused by the V1 bomb.



Drake leapt into the hole, arriving on the building's first storey.  He could see little except darkness, dust and more boxes.  Finer detail escaped his sight.  Fire flowed from his hands, igniting the boxes, providing an adequate amount of light.  Again this floor held little of interest.  Boxes, empty plinths and a service lift that was stuck between floors.  Again the bomb had passed through this floor, as again the large hole in the floor was evidence.



Britannia leapt from the hole in the ceiling to land nearby Drake and Corporal Cardiff followed suit.  Mechanismo took the more sedate approach of using the stairs.  Seeing nothing of interest on this floor the proceeded downwards.

The ground floor of the factory held more boxes, soon ignited by Drake, two abandoned lorries and a generator/boiler room, which had received the V1 bomb.  The bomb had carried on still further, smashing deep underground before it finally exploded.



[edit: RL interrupts]