The Riddle of Death

Life, Achievement/ Win

The Freedom Society rush to save Freedom City from its challenger The Answer and they ultimately win the day.

GM's Notes:
-In Freedom at dawn the sunlight breaks the building tops and the rain that has been raging for seven days and seven nights but has calmed but not stopped.
-Weather Baloons blot out the later morning sky (they are full of chemicals and are primed to detonate if the city is entered or left). The Answer declares, on repeat, on the radio and via loud speaker throughout the city that the city is his and if anyone should leave or attempt to enter he will destroy it utterly. Then he gives his challenge.
-The man on the radios, police radios, and the loud speakers declares, "the city is mine. Should anyone leave or enter, the city will be destroyed. Should anyone attempt, they will be slaughtered. Any attempt by law to breach the city from the outside will result in my unleashing of a cloud of death upon this city from the baloons above. I have blown the bridges," he says as you hear roughly ten or more distant explosions around you "I have flooded Riverside," he says as you hear a massive explosion to the East. "And I will flood and destroy this city if my challenge is not met." The voice goes on, "so, journey to Midtown Circle, give your name and mount my challenge beneath the statue. Prove that we deserve what we have, that we can make more of it, and I will lift the threat I've placed upon this city."
-(There is a limestone statue in Midtown Circle of a WWI hero with a rifle in one hand and the other outstretched offering help with a door beneath it that has the challenge in it.)
-Titan and Soldier run into the flooded area and begin saving people. The save several and some from a collapsed warehouse.
-The police radios begin to buzz as people flood out of the flooded Riverside district, they tell Soldier and Titan. A riot has erupted in East Midtown (13) and cops aren't numerous enough to to attend. The cops ask Freedom Society that most of the cops are dealing with the fallout of the South River Penn. incident and are stuck outside the city they only have half of the FCPD and the North Freedom Precinct. They stated that there was a riot starting in an empty lot (41) (Its a fight between two gangs nicely dressed Germans under attack and criminals).
-Dawnguard and Gadget head towards Mid-Town Circle. Dawnguard uses his astral projection and finds a utility closet with a knocked down wall and a trapped door that would flood the "challenge area" with gas. He then dispersed some rioters in Eastern Mid-Town.
-Dawnguard was joined my Lucy and then Soldier and Titan. They all decided to head to the circle and Soldier stayed behind to deal with the riot.
-Soldier was joined by Ms. Citizen, Cliona, and Dan and together they stopped a murderer and took his wallet. The murderer killed his wife who cheated on him and shot out at people in the street with a revolver. Soldier tied him up. Then soldier ran toward Mid-Town Circle.
-They went to investigate the statue and found that the arm was established later, replaced so that it could house the weapon. The room is a decoy to kill a man of mystery.
-They find several receiver/transmitters on the surrounding buildings. They also find a video transmitter on the corner of a nearby rooftop that is sending video back to the Answer.
-Lucy modulated the frequency of the antenna on the tower by accident and the city got gassed. Dawnguard uses a spell to run time back and saved the city, only Dawnguard remembers it well but Soldier can remember it too but it pains his mind to do so.
-Dawnguard begins being chased by Timewraiths but ultimately escapes their grasp. (Some Freedom Society members dispute these events interjecting an unknown hero "Cardinal Ranger")
-Everyone returns to the Atrium for a chance at figuring out what is going on.
-Copycat is pulled into the ground by a rock hand and as copycat struggles out a face appears in rock and declares, "time can't kill me."
-Copycat informs Dawnguard and together they recover Grome.
-The radio broadcast begins, its the voice of The Answer. "Wonderful to see and hear you all again, at this evenings magic hour. It is magic isn't it? Because right now, thanks to the meddling of our intrepid heroes, we're stepping up our time table. It's now that time of day when one of you, any of you, has the chance to step forward and break the dark, dark spell I've cast over this fair city." He continues, "So, tell me.. Who will it be? Give your name and mount my challenge! Takers? Any takers?" After some time and radio silence he goes on. "*Sigh* Really? Really?! Well, I'm very disappointed folks. After all, I'm only trying to help here. Trying to make you Freedonians the Prometheans the world needs! I mean, after all.. We're mankind. We're pink squirming, hairless things. No fangs, no claws. We were basically designed as a quick snack along the evolving food chain. And yet, here we are, dominant, rrrregal. And why is that? Our brains people! We get cold, we invent mittens. We get sick, we invent chicken soup. We out think our own demise!"
-They drive toward the statue as he continues, "And right now, at this moment, we're in desperate need of some out thinking. Rising tides, dwindling resources, overpopulation, pan-global conflict, and the world's largest economies running on fumes. All I have done is speed up the circumstances." He pauses briefly.
-"Freedom City is now the future, can't you see? It is the grand riddle, one bigger then even I can solve. So take it away from me! Be the hero people! The one found in every culture throughout the world. The hero who gives answers to prove his worth, to save his people!"
- After a long pause he goes on, "so where are you hero? Where are you hiding? Are you out there somewhere? All I'm asking is for one of you to show me, show me you're a smarter man then I and I'll remove the question from your lives, for now."
-"Ha! Well, clearly you bunch aren't up for giving me a question I can't answer and I'm afraid there will be no deals or bargains. So, how about today's simpler game? Today I'm thinking the basics, sit and watch the show." (Different then the reckoning several members of the Freedom Society have.)
-"Welcome, welcome heroes. Our mystery men and woman have arrived."
-"For you I'll pose a riddle, something simple like the child-like robot before us. When is the time of a clock like the whistle of a train?"
-Titan answers and he says that he needs a smaller participant for the door. Soldier volunteers but Gadget asks about traps. The Answer explains that they can play another game or someone could enter the door and face a challenge that could prove the city has a hero so that he could lift the curse he's placed upon it.
-Titan exits his machine and the party discusses whom should enter.
-The Answer exclaims that only The Soldier survived and that he is the Hero of Freedom. He says that the city has its Promethean and that the citizens can feel safe, even if it must be a mystery man.
-Soldier climbs the building where the camera is hooked up and finds the tiny camera (Sony 2019) and the small box behind it with an antenna (Gadget later pulls a component out of the AA slot that has "Year: 2231" on it, it is the same cosmic liquid in it), he throws them in a sack and climbs down.
-Meanwhile Gadget investigated the inside and found the tech. to be average for the times.
-The crew returns back to the Atrium and Soldier and Dan head back out to check the bridges before gathering Iron Maiden and Dan to help with the flooded area. Gadget then explores the tech whilst Titan tries to recreate the gas in hopes of understanding it better.
-Addresses are given out and the team returns to their dwellings for the night.