Session 11: Whiteout in the Desert Report

General Summary

Archer and the Schizos

Issue #6

Road Trip: Whiteout in the Desert

The heroes arrive at their designated campsite in the Lincoln National Forest in New Mexico to wait for the contact that Dean Warner told them would meet them. To pass the time, the heroes take turns telling ghost stories around the campfire after dark. After Cady tells her story, the heroes hear a whimper coming from a large... rock? As they investigate, it turns out that the "rock" wasn't there earlier in the day, and it's not actually a rock. It's Grond! Grond whimpered because he was scared by Cady's ghost story. The heroes manage to keep him calm and even win him over with attention from He-no and s'mores. The team wonders if Grond was who was sent to meet them, but Grond doesn't know anything about a delivery. As Cady tells Grond some nice stories, a dwarf in a cowboy hat riding a Harley arrives. They hide Grond while they talk with the dwarf. The dwarf, who calls himself "Bronco" and fancies himself to be a cowboy, explains that his team has "asked" Dr. Tomlinson, the contact the heroes were expecting, to be their "guest" for a bit and that they hoped that the heroes would offer up themselves to trade for the release of Dr. Tomlinson and forego any unpleasantness. He even tells the team that his team will even make the delivery for them. When the heroes start discussing reading Bronco's mind or perhaps keeping him as a hostage, he points out that his friend, Snipe, is sitting on top of a nearby mesa with his scope on the team and a small red dot appears on Angel. Dark Hawk locates Snipe by blowing the campfire smoke across the laser sight path and then illuminates the top of the mesa to reveal Snipe. Cady takes off towards the mesa and Grond follows. At the campsite, Angel uses his spores to mind control Bronco, but it might have caused brain damage to the dwarven cowboy so Zoetrope mitigates the damage but manages to keep the affect. Ghostface manages to snatch Snipe's rifle by sending Tomaso to the mesa. Dark Hawk takes the rifle and breaks it. By the time Plastiq and Grond get to the mesa, Snipe is gone but he left his ammo box. When Plastiq picks up the box, it explodes. While Plastiq manages to escape harm, it manages to anger Grond who wants to find Snipe and smash him. At the campsite Bronco, under the influence of Angel's spores, reveals the person who hired the mercenaries was Lockup, apparently the second in command of the interdimensional prison the heroes encountered some months previously. They direct Bronco to take them to where the mercenaries are camped with the plan to launch a surprise attack to free Dr. Tomlinson and the "package." Zoetrope creates an illusionary van with an illusionary team inside. Bronco rides his bike ahead of the fake van while the actual van follows behind invisibly with Grond riding on top. Arriving at the cave, the fake team enters but the real team is able to still see inside the cave. They see the other members of Bronco's team: Doc, Bard, Sturdy, Splodey, Snipe, Cap'n and the boss, Whiteout. They also spot Dr. Tomlinson. Invisibly, the team gets into the cave near Dr. Tomlinson. Tomaso enters into the cave and snags the artifact while Archer teleports the Doctor out before going back into the cave. Grond follows Plastiq into the cave and he goes after Snipe while Bronco tackles a surprised Sturdy. Outside, Eddie takes the van with Tomlinson and Angel and starts driving away. In the cave, the fight continues with multiple Gronds appearing thanks to more illusions. When the mercenaries try to escape by teleporting out, Plastiq sends her fingers to hold onto the pins of Splodey's grenades but something goes wrong and the grenades explode, collapsing part of the cave. When the others portal out, Grond arrives inside the van, smashing the windows and bending the van into new and interesting shapes. Archer gives Grond a coin so she can locate him later and says that he should go since the "army men" are coming. He says goodbye to everyone and leaps away. Archer returns to the cave. In the cave, Plastiq and Archer help dig out the mercenaries and treat their wounds. Archer reads them the riot act and they leave, disappointed that they will, for the first time, have to return their retainer fee. Dark Hawk uses his sorcery to try to fix the van. While he repairs it to fully function, it looks a little different. Specifically, it now looks exactly like the Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo. The heroes decide to use the Skyship Victorious to go back to New York, with a side trip to Roswell, NM.