DM Play Report, Champions 6e: Atlantaverse - Pulp

The adventurers:

Jack: Francis Xavier 'Frank' O'Brien, called 'Philosopher' by cops and criminals alike. An International Courier and P.I. based in Chicago, he specializes in cases involving ghosts and magic. Can see auras and his gun can fie 'ghost bullets'.

Sam: Edward Oliver Wilson Arthur John 'Hammy' Hamm-Smythe, called 'The Mask'.  Amateur archaeologist and professional polo player. Wields numerous magical artifacts.

    Edmund. Hammy's valet is Edmund, a gorilla of Gorillaville in Africa. Human-level intelligence and speaks French. Other seem to never notice he is a gorilla until it is pointed out to them.

Nick: Grigore Zugravescu, Carpathian nobleman called 'The Baron'. Master of mystical 'sunshine boxing' techniques and a vampire hunter.

Having earned the gratitiude of Baron von Gewitter and the ruling party of Germany the team departed Berlin and took the Orient Express and lines east all the way to New Delhi. There they began negotiating for a plane to fly them to the only airport in Tibet. Unfortunately a Nazi Party expedition was doing the same thing! Luckily the word that Baron von Gewitter was friends with them had gone ahead so Dr. Wunder, dared not oppose them.  Hammy's ties with the British allowed him to get a plane and dealy the Naizs for 3-5 days.

Arriving in Tibet in October of 1932 they were met by an ox cart from the Temple of Fu Shou, where they intended to go. The monks told them the abbot had a dream they were coming. And nightfall they went to Ravenwood's, a bar and in run by Abner Ravenwood, a former professor. Speaking with Abner and his early-20's daughter Marion the adventurer's learned of the incredible chaos of 1932. Multiple Communist uprisings, conflicting Republican governments, Japanese invasions, Tibetan invasions, scattered warlords trying to carve out their own domains, and widespread Triad violence meant that no place was safe.

   Retreating to an area protected by Kabbalistic symbols and fire Abner warned them that the powerful Chinese mastermind Fuchow Manzu was behind a majority of these issues. In a long discussion of their mission they were able to realize that Fuchow Manzu was trying to trigger a war between the United States and an Asian power so that he could fill the following power vacuum.

  Marion pointed out that since the Pilgrim left the Temple of Fu Shou had been under constant threat. The locals warned that a mighty storm was coming and that the Nazis had arrived earlier than they hoped. The party, realizing something critical was afoot, decided they had to get to the Temple of Fu Shou as soon as possible. Marion took them to the stable and between her knowledge of the area and Hammy's horsemanship and knowledge of the wilds got them to the temple through a fierce Winter storm.

  The monks were grateful to see them. They sheltered Marion and immediately sent the adventurers through a teleportation gate hidden in the vaults beneath the building....

  ...they arrived in Shambhala instantaneously. Grigore had trained here in martial arts, Frank had been given his abilities by Monks of Shambhala as payment for saving a life, and Hammy had an amulet forged by them. All were welcomed and cared for due to their injuries from the cold (the valley was perfectly warm).

  The abbot soon explained that a pupil, called the Pilgrim, had left in anger and accidentally broken a ward, revealing that Shambhala was resting place for a shard of pure vril! Now the Red and Back Triad (Fuchow Manzu's personal army and spies) were racing the Nazis under Dr. Wunder to get to Shambhala and steal the Vril. The abbot said the three of them and Edmund had been summoned because they alone of all men had had the combination of trainings and experience to handle the vril without being warped by it.

  As the sound of gunfire could be heard the monks began to flee into the snowy Himalayas while the abbot to the party to a central chamber. Giving Grigore the vril shard he then put them into a train! The steam train, without a conductor, plunged into a tunnel that went straight down into the earth as the monks triggered a landslide behind it. The trained raced the rocks and won, but the tunnel was sealed by over a mile of debris. The adventurers were stunned to feel as if they were straight and level  as they plunged straight down.

  After a little over 5 days the train arrived on an island in the middle of a sea. At the shore was a small steam-powered boat with supplies, bows & arrows, and a device that always pointed in a particular direction. The adventurers realized that the horizon wen up and soon noted the sun never moved from directly overhead. If it wasn't for their watches they would have had no idea of time as they saled to follow the compass-like device.

  Soon they saw a 45' long shark fighting a plesiosaur and realized the world was very dangerous. Over the following weeks they encountered semi-civilized Neanderthals called Sagotes, telepathic evil pterosaurs they called Mind Breasts, cave lions, woolly mammoths, T. Rexes, 70' long anacondas, and more as they crossed the oceans and sometimes stopped for fresh water and food.

  After many adventures they sighted a silver-walled city in the distance. As they approached men riding boards that hovered just over the water approached them and began interrogating them in strange tongues. Eventually Frank and the leader realized they both spoke Sumerian and could hold a discussion. They were led into the massive city of gleaming spires under guard. 

  In the next few weeks they learned that the city was the Last Outpost of Atlantis, the people the last airbreathing Atlanteans. Cut off from the surface world in the 3,000 BC by the cataclysm that sank Atlantis they had survived in the Hollow Earth for over 4,000 years as the technology of the city slowly failed. Now that their lightning guns had no power the Sagotes tribes were growing more and more bold. They feared that in another generation the city would fall.

  Investigating the city they eventually were allowed into the main power cell where the last power crystal was down to just 3% power, which was being used for water pumps only, now. Inspired, the party rigged up some gear and and used the vril charge to re-charge all 200 of the power crystals, instantly reactivating all the city's technology!

  The vril shard was placed into a deep vault shielded by wards and technology, safe from prying eyes and hostile forces, just as the abbot wished.

  Heroes of the city, the adventurers were all ennobled by the city governor. As the festival period was winding down a trade caravan arrived and the party met David Innes, an American who was leader of a small nation not too far away. After spending some time together Innes explained that he knew of a way back to the surface, but it was far and they could only pass through if they were "supposed to".

  The adventurers set off with David and his lovely wife Dian and after trekking through jungles and mountains they reached a swamp. Entering alone they met the mighty guardian of the Portal. Approved by the guardian they stepped through...

   ...and arrived in Florida. 

  After cleaning up in town they departed for Chicago, arriving back in town a in May 1933, gone 8 entire months in the Hollow Earth, although they could have sworn they were there for over a year.

---------------------------------------------

  There were a LOT of cameos in the last two adventures ranging from meeting Oberst Sturm as a 16 year old to one of their own Cosmic Champions characters to the Green Lama and many more.

  Nick's comment: "This adventure in summary 'Rick Stump read everything Edgar Rice Burroughs ever wrote and loved it all, a lot'." He isn't wrong.

  Jennifer's comment: "You fixed the plot to Disney's Atlantis, thanks. It always bugged me."