Session 1 (1/19/07)

New York City, November 1938: a troubled city in troubled times. With the Great Depression barely behind them and the shadow of world war lingering on the far horizon, the people of this fair metropolis stood in need of heroes to protect and inspire them. And then, as if in answer to the unuttered prayers of New York's huddled masses, there emerged a ragtag band of costumed adventurers possessing powers and abilities beyond those of mortal men, powers that they used (sometimes less than skillfully) in the service of mankind. Perhaps they were not quite the ideal heroes that the people of New York had in mind, but they were, as the saying goes, "close enough for government work." This is the story of their first official adventure as a team.

ROLL CALL


Amarantha: Amarantha is the princess of a hidden civilization of flower-folk who has come to battle the social ills of New York City as part of a goodwill mission from her people to ours. Winsome and sweet-tempered, Amarantha (affectionately nicknamed "Amy" by her teammates) is nonetheless no shrinking-violet on the field of battle! Her superhuman powers include flight, invisibility, and stimulation of plant growth. She wields a bow and energy arrows with deadly skill. (Player: Tasha)

Blue Moon: Formerly a member of New York's seamy underworld gambling community, Dan Marcel turned over a new leaf when he came into possession of the mystical Moonstone of Merlin. Now he uses the lunar strength and outrageous good luck that the stone imparts as a daring champion of justice. His motto: "Good things happen at night!" (Player: Adam)

Janus: This grim vigilante takes his name from the ancient Roman god of beginnings and endings. He is an expert acrobat and martial artist who takes the crime-fighting craft very seriously; as such, he tends to be rather short with some of his less-disciplined teammates. Janus has the uncanny ability to "read" events of the recent past in any area he is in. He can also produce an ear-piercing shriek, which he uses to alert his fellow heroes of danger or foul play. (Player: Peter)

The Professor: A seasoned adventurer/scholar, expert strategist, and brilliant gadgeteer, Dr. Russell Johnson has invented dozens of sensational crime-fighting weapons and devices, his favorite being the "Blorp Gun." Although he is not physically fit, his keen, inventive mind enables him to hold his own in combat. He is the de facto leader of the team (a role in which he is not altogether comfortable). (Player: Jamie D.)

Quickwit: Little is known about this mysterious master of mirth-in-motion, but what New York's criminal element do know, they don't like! If Quickwit's dazzling combination of super-speed and biting comedic insight doesn't leave'em rolling in the alleys, his entrancing "hypnotic laughter" will stop'em in their tracks! (Player: Brian C.)

T.K.: Originally from New Jersey, 56-year-old Frank McCoy has little use for the finer points of superheroism. What he brings to the table is a mean-streak a mile wide and some old-fashioned ideas about justice... plus enough in-born mutant super-power, including teleportation and telekinesis, to back those ideas up! (He's also the only black man on the team. And don't you forget it.) (Player: Dana Damato)



We join our band of heroes--identified in the annals of the municipal bureaucracy as "City Task Force J," although they have yet to decide on a less formal public nickname for themselves--as they convene in their headquarters in the basement of New York's famous Flatiron Building. The city fathers have relayed instructions to the team from the FBI in Washington, asking them to investigate some very ill-defined possible subversive activity afoot somewhere in New York. The heroes split up to search for clues.

Fortunately, very soon a solid lead reaches them, courtesy of their corps of young volunteer informants, the Newsboy Network: an outlandish figure is robbing a downtown bank! The heroes race to the scene, and those who arrive in time find themselves in conflict with the robber, a hulking brute clad in medieval armor emblazoned with assorted insignia of fascist Germany, and wielding a flaming sword. Working together, the heroes subdue this "Knightly Nazi," return the stolen money, and take their captive to the Flatiron Building for incarceration and interrogation.

Despite some persuasive (and painful) questioning from T.K., the Nazi proves a tough nut to crack, telling the heroes virtually nothing (and that in German, which only the Professor can understand). Snorting derisively, he advises the heroes to turn their attention to the Empire State Building.

In short order, the team, disguised in plain clothes, position themselves at the Empire State Building. They are acting in concert with the NYPD, who have informed them that a zeppelin full of German dignitaries will be arriving at the top of the famous landmark for a gala reception that evening. Night falls, and the heroes' tense mood is not improved by the news that the Knightly Nazi, left unguarded in a makeshift cell at the Flatiron Building, has escaped!

As the zeppelin docks and the German glitterati disembark, the team begins to let their guard down; the Blue Moon actually deserts his teammates to sample the games of chance in the casino room downstairs. Then, without warning, a few of the zeppelin's passengers reveal themselves to be superpowered malcontents in disguise, and they attack! Simultaneously, the Knightly Nazi appears in the downstairs lobby, accompanied by yet another weird figure of menace, an intangible being who both controls wind and appears to be composed of it himself.

On the roof, a mighty and costly struggle ensues between T.K., Janus, the Professor, and their three foes: a human blowfish, able to grotesquely expand his body and spew thornlike projectiles therefrom, who had been disguised as a zeppelin steward; a levitating midget with psychic abilities, masquerading as a German count; and his escort, a female juggernaut with super-strength to rival the ancient Nordic goddesses of her homeland. While the Professor holds the Aryan Amazon at bay with his trusty Blorp Gun, T.K. and Janus have less luck with her two accomplices, and T.K. is soon rendered unconscious.

Meanwhile, Quickwit and Amarantha are faring little better with their opponents in the lobby. The Blue Moon arrives on the scene (having been pried away from the casino by Janus), and using his nocturnal super-strength, he manages to fell the Knightly Nazi with one punch. This leaves Quickwit free to paralyze the Nazi's ethereal ally with his "hypnotic laughter," and an energy-arrow from Amarantha finishes the job.

Back on the roof, T.K. eventually revives in time to help Janus defeat the hovering dwarf and the human blowfish ("The Mental Midget" and "The Thorn," as New York's newsmen would later dub them), but to do so they are forced to push the Thorn off the building to his death. The heroes have won the day, but it is a pyrrhic victory, and they are left with the ominous feeling that still greater threats are in the offing for themselves, their city, and their nation....

The Knightly Nazi

Here's a pic that Marty Devine did for us:
Here's a pic that Jun Bob Kim did for us:

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