Jan 7th, 2021

## Decant & Rant

Holding the captured virus manufacturing vat in a vacuum flask created by Ramshackle, the Contenders watched as Witchcraft made telepathic contact with the entity inside. It surge to life alarmingly, forming a crude face out of its own muddy substance; thanks to Witchcraft's spell, the group was able to communicate freely with the ooze and it was able to respond in kind.

The ooze identified itself as Specimen A-2891, known informally as "Dreg" to its creators. It cheerfully explained its role as a biological catalyst, a shortcut that had minimal control over its own substance but could convert nutrients into complex organic creations. It had been replicating the mutation virus when the Contenders assaulted the laboratory in which it was held. When questioned on its history, it mentioned being created and maintained by a "Doctor Moira," who had run many projects using Dreg as a tool to breed exotic organisms. He mentioned a pair of siblings, the description of one being alarmingly like that of the Gorgon, and Hardback suspected that Dreg might have belonged to Dr. Destroyer (as the Gorgon was believed to originally have been Destroyer's biological weapon). However, Dreg did not recognize a picture of Destroyer, and said that his "great Master" was someone else entirely.

Dreg explained that his laboratory had suffered an accident some years ago, during which Dr. Moira and several specimens (his "sister" included) disappeared. After that time, his Master lost interest in Dreg and he was left without important work to do. Only recently was he given the task of replicating the mutation virus, which brought him great joy. In order to keep Dreg occupied, Hardback supplied it with a lightning bug to replicate, which pleased the ooze while they discussed what to do next.

## We Interrupt This Program...

Before any further plans could be made, however, Defender was alerted to a pirate broadcast that was taking over the Chicago airwaves. It was a brief message from a by-now familiar skinless mutant, directed at the Contenders.

Identifying himself as Slush, he chided the Contenders for fleeing from his forces after their assault on his lab in Mexico. He revealed that he and his men had taken over the Ableton Family Garage, and had captured over a dozen civilians to use as hostages-- one of which was George Ableton Sr., Hardback's father. The hostages were being held in a deadly cloud of Disintegrator radiation, and could be slain in the blink of an eye. Slush threatened to carry out this execution unless the Contenders presented themselves at the junkyard and returned Dreg to him. Any sign of treachery, or any interference from the Champions, and he would slay all the hostages immediately.

After briefly conferring with the Champions, the Contenders decided that they had no choice but to play along... at least for the moment. Not willing to simply hand over Dreg to be used to once more create viruses, Hardback supplied him with an escape bug, hidden deep in Dreg's mass, that would teleport them both away at an appointed time. Then the ooze was sealed in a steel drum for delivery.

## It's a Trap (of Sorts)

The Contenders approached the junkyard's front gate while the Champions infiltrated the abandoned base below the garage, waiting for a chance to strike. When the Contenders arrived, they saw that Slush had assembled a formidable force: squads of heavily-armed guards, towering ogre-like mutants, and a half dozen power armor users. He was also accompanied by an unknown woman, clearly an associate of at least equal rank, who chided him on the unseemliness of his actions. This woman's mutations made her seem almost alien, with long hair that curled into flames at her feet and an aura of fire surrounding her oddly-colored body.

Hardback handed over Dreg's container, and after verifying the contents (and failing to detect the escape bug inside), Slush gave the drum to his floating companion. She levitated the drum and, bathing it with a mysterious blue flame, froze the contents solid. Then Slush demanded the surrender of Ghost Dance's magical amulet. With no other choice, the hero gave up his talisman. Slush pocketed it, and having stripped the hero of his powers, ordered Ghost Dance to join the other hostages in the deadly radiation cloud.

The rest of the team was forced into a makeshift arena, a huge circle junked vehicles in the center of the lot. There they faced off in a grueling battle against Slush's handpicked forces. A pair of Persuader-armor clad fighters engaged Cort, while Justicar contended with an enormous ogre. Hardback had the strangest confrontation: a pair of young mutants with insectile mutations mimicking his own entered the ring and attacked him as a duo. A brutal melee ensued, with Justicar finding himself trapped in the ogre's iron grip, Cort surrounded by armored fighters and whirling axes on all sides, and Hardback's heightened sense of taste (a keen sense he can use to locate his foes) was blinded by his attackers' pheromones as they closed to punching distance.

The melee dragged on, with vicious blows thrown on all sides. The villains got the worst of the exchange, however, and the heroes rallied as their foes began to fall. But Slush wasn't done; he ordered new fighters into the ring to harry the Contenders, and eventually (goaded by Cort's 'narration') jumped into the fray himself. In the ensuing fracas, he was thrown rudely by Cort, and in the process dropped Ghost Dance's amulet onto the dirt.

## Holy Power (Outage)

Once he'd escaped the ogre's clutches, Justicar had helped his team with his familiar bolts of fire, conjured chains, and rays of searing light. But as he unleashed more and more holy energy, he felt a growing weakness creep into his limbs, until suddenly his power left him completely. He fell to the ground, his fiery wings extinguished; his armor lost its divine enchantment and returned to crude metal; and his blazing sword winked out. Worst of all, his magically gifted sight began to fade, leaving him once more blind and helpless. The only thing he could see on the darkened battlefield was a woman, robed and blindfolded, approaching him as he struggled to find his feet.

He recognized her at once as the projected form of his goddess, Iustitia, though she had withered greatly since the last time he had seen her in a vision. She rebuked him gently, saying that his milder ways had resulted in a loss of her power. As he was no longer carrying out acts of justice in her name, he was not acting as her worshipper-- and a goddess without worshippers invariably dies. She warned him that she was slipping into a final torpor before Lord Donn escorted her past the boundaries of Tech Duinn and out of the world forever, and unless something changed quickly, her fate was sealed. She kissed Justicar's helm, once more investing his raiment with the last of her power. As she disappeared and Justicar returned to battle, he now knew that more than a few hostages' lives were at stake here: The fate of Justice herself depended on his every action, and her time was running very short.

## Table Talk

"How do you hurt muck?"

"... a sponge?"

-*Hardback and Justicar consider how best to "deal" with Dreg*

"I've chased that dragon and it's turned me into a bugman."

-*Hardback discusses the dangers of being obsessed with power*

"Did you ever decide whether you want to be called manbug or bugman?"

"I didn't, so don't call me either one, honkey."

-*Cort and Hardback have yet another conversation filled with racial minefields*