So, my group has been playing Rotted Capes for awhile. While we don't play every week, we pick it up every couple months and play the campaign we're doing. Normally, I'm a player. However, this weekend, I found out two of our people were going to be out so I opted to run a side campaign set in the Rotted Capes universe with two of my remaining players.
The Two Characters:
Blackout - Blackout started in the 1930s in LA taking on the mafia and other degenerates of the city. She was able to control darkness which made her a bit of an urban legend to criminals since no one ever saw her. In truth, there has been about five Blackouts through the years. Moms pass it to their daughters. This Blackout, sadly, had to take the mantle far too early because her mother was killed six months before Z-Day. When Z-Day hit, she did what she could but not even the legend of Blackout could stop the Super Zs.
Exclusive - Exclusive was a pencil pusher for the mob. He specialized in collecting rumors and jobs and handing them out to the best people. However, being greedy got him in trouble. When the mob found out he was taking money from them, they put him in cement shoes and tossed him into a lake. Lucky for Exclusive, a company had been dumping toxic waste illegally into the lake. The waste transformed him into a Speedster. When he got out of the water, he decided that he'd make the mob pay. No - he'd make CRIME pay. So, he donned a costume and tried to stop a bank robbery... only for him to realize that he REALLY liked money. Half way through the rescue, he stole the money from the bank himself and ran away. Exclusive continued this sort of crime spree - mugging muggers and robbing bank robbers - until he was caught. He was on his way to to prison when Z-Day Hit.
The Story
During Z-Day, several metas were captured by a remnant of the government. Originally the government and the metas worked together, but slowly but surely, the few of Super Z's turned the base against them. When the metas wanted to leave, the general in charge refused and imprisoned them. So the metas tried to escape... only to be betrayed by a tech hero called Eagle One.
The metas were caught and the general strapped some collars that Eagle One made which could detonate if sent a signal. Not only that, but the general could make the collars have a timer. If the collars didn't get deactivated in a timely manner, they'd explode.
This campaign took place two years after they were collared. Out of the four metas of the original team, only two were alive. Blackout and Exclusive. Blackout was kept constantly in a completely lit cell which made her a little crazy (great RP from the player) and Exclusive lived his life in shackles unless they put the collar on him and let him out for a mission.
The two of them were brought out to run a mission. They were being sent an hour away to a small neighborhood to look for a generator that the base needed. Their collars were set to explode in five hours if they didn't return. The two of them were sent alone with their collars on, and they eventually found the home that supposedly had the equipment. Oddly enough ... it just looked like a home.
After killing several zombies, they began exploring the home. Inside, they found several skeletons picked clean and inside the master bedroom, they found a dead body inside a tech outfit. When Blackout tried to salvage some of the equipment, the body inside the suit came alive. The zombiefied tech hero was eventually put down. Lucky for Blackout that it was unable to bite her due to its helmet.
However - the two had made a lot of noise. Zombies began filing into the house. They stumbled into the basement where they located a hidden lab that belonged to the tech hero. Inside, they found the equipment that they were sent out to find. Lucky for them, they also found an emergency escape hatch. They escaped and made it back to their truck and they had about two hours to get back to base. PLENTY of time.
However, as they were driving, they couldn't reach home base by radio. As they got closer, they saw smoke in the distance. Finally, about ten minutes out, they got a weak radio call from inside: A Super Z had found them. Not just any Super Z... The Patrician (which is our version of like... Superman. He's the most powerful Super Z there is).
So the two stopped the truck and thought about it. Going into the base was suicide... but not going into the base to find the key to unlock their collars was suicide. So they decided to chance it. They drove into the base. As they made their way deeper into the base, they got glimpses of the Super Z tearing through soldiers and tech. They did their best to stealth and rolled decent enough. Finally, as they made it to Ops, they heard the Super Z leave... which was odd. It seemed he was more interested in biting everyone than actually consuming everyone.
Inside Ops, they found the general. He was barely alive, and when Blackout tried to find the key on him, she found it was missing. By now, their collars had only 10 minutes left until they exploded. Blackout pleaded with the general to tell her where the key was but he just smiled and called her a freak. This was when Blackout went crazy and macheted the man over and over again while Exclusive tried to figure out what to do.
Exclusive looked towards the OPs station which he was never allowed to see and realized why the Patrician attacked - this base was used to track his movements around the globe! Also, while he was looking through the footage, he saw a familiar face: Eagle One.
Seeing that Eagle One designed the collars, they hoped maybe he'd help them. They ran to the mess hall where the tech hero was pacing and pleaded for his help. He laughed, showed them he had the key, and then locked it away in his chest plate. He then revealed that he was bitten. And even with the burn, he could feel the infection. He was going to die which was bullshit. So if he was going to die - they were going to die.
The three of them battled in the mess hall. Blackout and Exclusive kept running and firing, avoiding melee with the tech hero. Eagle One blasted them with his hand cannon, causing severe wounds to Blackout. Yet, finally, with a minute on their collars left, the got the tech hero on his knees. Blackout used shadow tendrils to rip his chest plate open, the two got the key, and they pulled their collars off in time.
And then both promptly slapped the collars around Eagle One's neck.
They stepped back as the collars ripped the tech hero's head off.
As they stood there, they could hear zombies throughout the base. Yet for the first time, they felt hope. They could escape. Be free. Exclusive looked at Blackout and asked 'Are you going to turn me in for what I just did?"
Blackout shook her head and said "Who would I turn you into?"
Exclusive reached out, grabbed her hand, and said with a smile, "I don't know. Let's find out."
And that was the end of the game.
It was fun! It ran for about four hours. We tripped up on some of the rules, but overall, we had a fantastic time!
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