Episode Guide for
ProteX
Episode Guide
Each weekend, the players assembled to play what has been designated as an episode. Each week, a recap of the most recent episode’s happenings was posted to allow those who have been missing for many or few episodes to get a feel for what they have missed.
Episode 1
Date: June 6, 1994
Attendance: Daniel, Derek, Fritz, Robert
Summary: ProteX has just graduated from the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. While the X-Men are away on a mission, some of the new graduates were invited to one last trip to the Danger Room before they would leave the mansion to start off their own careers. Chingon, Forq, Ms. Majesty, and Reboot were not sure where their lives would take them, but they all agreed to try to beat Wolverine’s best score before they left. Professor X had them mentally pick a number from 1-40 with Reboot getting the closest, meaning he was the victim with the rest of the party tasked to save him. As Chingon, Forq, and Ms. Majesty entered the Danger Room, the PCs saw Reboot stuck in a cage at the end of the area. The Danger Room came alive, sending out opponents to attack the PCs, leaving Reboot in the cage. Two giant robot lions (not aligned to Voltron) appeared and engaged Chingon and Mr. Majesty, while Dr. Octopus-like tentacles sprang from the wall and attacked Forq, while Reboot watched on. Reboot was not there, with only a hologram of his person trapped in the cage, but he was upstairs making lunch at Professor X’s behest. Watching on the security monitors, Reboot saw ProteX starting to make quick work of the Danger Room obstacles. Using his technokinetic abilities, he accessed the Danger Room difficulty parameters finding the settings were left on medium. Wanting to give his friends a good challenge (and he was a little bitter about lunch duty), Reboot upped the setting to high, causing the rest of the team more grief. The rest of ProteX and Professor X immediately noticed the new protocols, but the group was confident it would still win AND beat Wolverine’s score. While enjoying his antics, Reboot failed to notice the perimeter sensor warning and was rudely interrupted by a man, crashing through the window looking outside to the garden. Recognizing the intruder as the Fixer, Reboot narrowly escaped a “capture sphere” lobbied in his direction. The battle in the Danger Room continued, but Ms. Majesty and Professor X became distracted with their mutant abilities, sensing Reboot was in peril. Trapped away from the alarm lever, Reboot attacked the Fixer’s battlevest directly, detonating several devices causing harm to both himself (lesser) and the invader (greater). The battle ended with Ms. Majesty flying into the kitchen, using the “Power Cosmic” to finish off the Fixer while Chingon stayed to miss beating Wolverine’s record by 5 seconds.
Combat: While most of the PCs are working on a mission in the Danger Room, the Fixer invades the mansion, but is quickly subdued.
Episode 2
Date: June13, 1994
Attendance: Daniel, Derek, Fritz, Robert
Summary: With the Danger Room session completed and the Fixer defeated, the rest of the PCs joined Professor X to assess the real assault on Xavier Mansion. Reboot was still recovering from his wounds and other party members removed the Fixer to a secure room for holding. Professor X insisted on a mental probing rather than a physical interrogation and found the main reason for the Fixer’s attack was to get revenge on Wolverine. A search of the Fixer’s possessions found a damaged CD-ROM with a single video file. Upon playing the file, the video showed Wolverine slashing to death the Fixer’s ally, Mentallo, on top of a building which the PCs assumed was New York City, based on the skyline. Professor X noticed the video must be a fake since he just communicated with Wolverine (who was on a mission off-planet) and trusted his story. The Fixer asserted the X-Men were mutant assassins and swore revenge until Professor X calmed him. Reviewing the video again gained no further evidence, but Professor X used Cerebro to amplify his mental detection abilities, finding Mentallo in a confused state, but in New York City. With the Blackbird jet being used, the PCs rented a limo to take them to NYC. Although the Fixer was adamant about coming along to help his friend, ProteX felt it best for him to stay confined. While in NYC (and after a bottle of complimentary champaign), the PCs arrived at Minski’s Cannery, the location Professor X directed them. A quick look around outside of the building gained nothing as it appeared locked up and abandoned. Ms. Majesty noted her view from the skylight showed a gutted building, only with canning machinery. Forq sensed weird low-frequency sounds coming from inside, which was enough for Chingon to tear open the reinforced steel doors and bound inside. He was greeted by wall-mounted lasers which focused on him until other party members arrived. Before Ms. Majesty could enter through the skylight, Wolverine AND Mentallo burst from a door on the empty roof water tower. Trying to negotiate with her friend, Wolverine got the jump on Ms. Majesty who noticed Mentallo was using lasers (like Cyclops) rather than mental blasts. Chingon and Forq attempted to destroy the central machinery but were stopped by a force field. Reboot sensed a central machine was the main threat and used his technokinetic power to shut down everything, including the robot versions of Wolverine and Mentallo.
Combat: Robot versions of Wolverine and Mentallo, and several laser turrets are deactivated by ProteX.
Episode 3
Date: June 20, 1994
Attendance: Daniel, Derek, Fritz, Robert
Summary: As the sparks still radiated off the destroyed machinery and robots, the party convened inside the cannery with any pertinent items to try to better comprehend what exactly this all meant. While Chingon lobbied to keep robot Wolverine’s head as a trophy, the rest of the PCs searched the area for any additional information. Forq indicated there were still sub-sonic frequencies at play, with Reboot confirming another force field emitter was active below the cannery floor. Blasting away, Ms. Majesty ripped open a basement level, showing the active force field containing the real Mentallo, held in stasis. Using Reboot’s power, freeing Mentallo was easy, but when Chingon manhandled him into giving up additional information, a brief combat ensued and Mentallo was knocked unconscious. Deciding the robots would be enough and the remaining destroyed machinery would not be able to fit into the limo, ProteX (with Mentallo) returned to the mansion for a briefing with Professor X. Back at HQ, Reboot pulled both robots’ memory cores and used Cerebro to locate video records to search for clues about who was behind everything. Upon review, Magneto was seen in several instances, and once focusing on four points on a world map. Interrogating Mentallo (and using the Mentallo robot head as a prop), the evil mutant revealed Magneto had hired him, and after implementing a mental booster to enhance Mentallo’s illusion creation abilities, worked together to steal nuclear materials from a government site in central Pennsylvania, then Magneto turned against him. When further pressed, Mentallo revealed Magneto’s plan to set high-radiation emitters in the upper atmosphere to increase the likelihood of mutant births (and human deaths) for the next 20 years. Unsure if Mentallo had shared everything, the PCs pressed Professor X to further scan Mentallo’s mind for any additional information. In a group mind link, the party witnessed the Pennsylvania theft, but noticed Magneto seemed to use physical force rather than magnetism to deal with issues like tearing open metal doors. Mentallo was questioned whether Magneto displayed his magnetism power, and revealed yes, but only in a limited capacity. The party speculated whether Magneto had made changes to his body or if it was the real Magento. Regardless, with the X-Men off-planet and Professor X designating this as a “mutant problem-mutant solution” issue, the PCs were ordered to deal with the situation.
Combat: A weakened Mentallo did not put up much of a fight.
Episode 4
Date: June 27, 1994
Attendance: Daniel, Derek, Fritz, Robert
Summary: While taking in the information that the X-Men’s enemy, Magneto, is involved, the PCs took stock of how they should deal with him as it appeared fate would have their paths intersect with the evil mutant. Tasked by Professor X, Reboot set about creating a scanner that could detect Magneto’s device within a 10-mile radius. Performing a deep scan into Mentallo’s mind, Professor X deduced a first step in locating Magneto’s “breeder bombs” would be to investigate the Denning Military Reservation, just west of Parachute, Colorado. Since the Blackbird was still off-planet and ProteX did not want to drive or charter a plane, the PCs connected with a long-time friend of Professor X named Airdrop, whose long-range teleportation circle, left the PCs outside a local Qwik-E-Mart just west of Denver; a place Airdrop had visited in the past. Transportation was acquired from a local car rental company and the PCs headed west to Parachute. Supplying themselves and leaving the car, the party trekked overland toward the Denning Military Reservation atop the Project Rulison test site using Reboot’s scanner to locate the breeder bomb. The PCs encountered a prospector named Augie who also laid claim to the device he recently found in some old barracks, and although some PCs thought intimidation would work, better ideas came about with Reboot’s powers helping in the bargaining. Safely deactivating the bomb inside the barracks took longer than expected, but in the end, the party agreed that was not the reason behind the arrival of two Mark V Sentinels as the robots blared “mutants detected” for anyone within earshot. With Reboot engaged in deactivating the breeder bomb, Ms. Majesty attacked the first Sentinel by herself while Chingon and Forq (with Augie wielding a shotgun) attacked its partner. During the combat, Forq noticed the distant vibrations of military helicopters heading toward the barracks, increasing the party’s anxiety of the situation. Defeating the Sentinels and deactivating the breeder bomb, Reboot tore through the remainder of both, creating a small short-range rocket sled from Sentinel parts which whisked ProteX and Augie away from the four military helicopters. Thankful for Augie’s help, Reboot repurposed the rocket-sled, merging it into Augie’s old pickup truck guaranteeing the engine would not need replacing for up to 100 years. The party was dropped off by their rental car, returned to the Qwik-E-Mart, and signaled Airdrop to pick them up for return.
Combat: Two Mark V Sentinels were scrapped, and savvy decision-making helps avoid an encounter with the United States Army.
Episode 5
Date: July 11, 1994
Attendance: Daniel, Derek, Fritz, Robert
Summary: With the party back at the mansion, the PCs were able to use the auto-doc to heal their wounds, but Reboot used his time instead to help create his own Sentinel-butler to help with the chores he had been tasked with in the past. Although Sentinel-Butler started out brilliantly, the rest of the ProteX had reservations when the robot would randomly make anti-mutant remarks to both its maker and other members of the Xavier School. Regardless, Professor X summoned the team to brief them on another breeder bomb location which Cerebro had detected. Argenistan is a small Asian country on the border of the Soviet Union, but even with Cerebro’s advanced sensors, a specific location could not be determined. Calling upon Airdrop, the PCs teleported to the Argenistan capital, Barjareen, to investigate what they could, using a Reboot-created language translator based on Cerebro’s genetic scans from the currently deceased mutant, Cypher. Obviously not a local, the PCs avoided confrontation with law enforcement and Soviet Super-Troopers who also seemed to be investigating the area. Through a series of events, the party contacted a Barjareen mercenary named Solomon Rushdie, who directed the party east of the city to an abandoned mujahideen bunker deep in the Hindu Kush. Traveling by horseback (no matter Reboot’s complaints), Rushdie led the PCs through the mountainous area with the promise of weapons to help outfit local resistance fighters pushing back on the invading U.S.S.R. army. Locating the bunker, Forq detected weird frequencies in the area as the party discovered the breeder bomb. Certain that there was more to this, the PCs investigated the area, and found nothing amiss, but Ms. Majesty did detect the Crimson Dynamo and eight Super-Troopers closing quickly on their location. Combat ensued when Rushdie initiated a rocket attack on the Crimson Dynamo and the party found this combat to be different than with the Sentinels, as being outnumbered came with certain challenges. To complicate matters, Reboot found the Crimson Dynamo’s armor came equipped with a mutant dampening field preventing his countermanding the Soviet power armor. Chingon found difficulty with enemies who refused to land and resorted to unusual attacks to defeat the Super-Troopers. In the end, the Soviet power armor squad was defeated, Reboot created Rushdie’s weapons from the breeder bomb, and Airdrop returned the party home.
Combat: ProteX won despite being outnumbered by the Crimson Dynamo and eight Soviet Super-Troopers.
Episode 6
Date: July 18, 1994
Attendance: Daniel, Derek, Fritz, Robert
Summary: The auto-doc spent more time with the team than from the previous excursion to Colorado, giving Sentinel-Butler plenty of time to verbally accost the PCs during their time of healing. Although threats to the automaton were made, it was Sentinel-Butler who took the initiative to access Cerebro’s mainframe to upload a program to assist “Herr Reboot” in better tracking down the breeder bombs. Using satellite telemetry and Airdrop’s teleportation abilities, the PCs were able to track down the next breeder bomb to a rocky outcropping in the Great Dividing Range of eastern Australia. However, what the party found was the remnants of the breeder bomb torn asunder with the plutonium core missing. Investigation of the area led ProteX to believe the wreckage was caused by a powerful ferrokinetic (like Magneto), but evidence also indicated local extremists might be involved, especially when Chingon located a tactical map of Sydney. Curious if the plutonium might be used for nefarious purposes in Australia’s largest city, Reboot created another rocket-sled from the debris and the PCs arrived in Sydney later in the day. While skimming the airwaves, Forq registered a scramble of signals from the ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organisation) about confronting a terrorist group holed up at a local mall and making demands for the release of political prisoners and legal protections from the Great Barrier Reef. The PFA (People’s Front of Australia) reportedly held twenty hostages at the Sydney Galleria along with a thermonuclear bomb, and the ASIO was evacuating civilians from the area, until radio chatter picked up about Magneto in the area. When the party arrived, the PCs found freed hostages running through the mall, and Magneto floating in the middle of the food court with the “bomb” and several unconscious terrorists. Unsure how they would fare against a very powerful mutant, the PCs initiated conversation with Magneto, who spoke to them in demeaning terms of how he saved the humans from themselves and that he had his own plans for the bomb. Further conservation revealed he knew nothing of the Fixer and Mentallo, and that the PCs should join his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to track down the remaining breeder bombs. Not satisfied with the dialogue, the PCs attacked, striking before Magneto could erect his force field. With the evil mutant in hand, the PCs quickly contacted Airdrop, taking the bomb with them before ASIO forces could arrive.
Combat: The PCs were able to overcome Magneto quickly before he could react.
Episode 7
Date: July 25, 1994
Attendance: Daniel, Derek, Fritz, Robert
Summary: The PCs were pleased their last outing did not result in the need for the Auto-Doc to help bring them back to full health, and rather than having time to recover from their travels, Professor X directed the PCs to use Airdrop’s mutant powers to send them off to recover the next breeder bomb in the ancient city of Cabamba in the Chilean Andes, thanks to scans made by Cerebro. The main point of issuance was Professor X’s insistence that Magneto accompany the PCs, after the two mighty mutants had come to détente in dealing with this threat. Sentinel-Butler added fuel to any suspicions when he indicated Magneto had already tried to access his internal workings but could not get past Reboot’s security parameters without alerting the PCs. As the party teleported into the cool mountain air, the PCs noticed a recently renovated large step pyramid. More conflict ensued with Magneto pushing to enter the pyramid alone. After a brief argument, Magneto resolved to work with the PCs and the group stayed together to investigate one of the many pyramid entrances. After the party entered the structure, combat ensued with a weak tribe of Deviants, whom the PCs defeated although Magneto fled back out of the pyramid during Round 1. Questioning the Deviants, the PCs learned “Magneto” had been with them for months, and never absent. Not wanting to chase him, ProteX continued into the pyramid for several hours with Forq leading the way from his sensing of odd frequencies in the area, finding a central cavernous room lined with technology. Chingon sensed Magneto in the room, and found their ally suspended from the ceiling with another Magneto issuing orders to a robotic group that resembled the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Not exactly sure what was going on, Ms. Majesty initiated combat by directly engaging the false Magneto, only to find he was an advanced robot. The rest of the party participated with Reboot tearing up much of the tech in the area, while Forq and Chingon eliminated robot versions of Blob, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Toad. Freeing Magneto, the evil mutant made disparaging, yet complimentary remarks to ProteX before leaving with the promise to no longer cause any trouble…for now. Investigating the wreckage, Reboot surmised the false Magneto was an experimental Sentinel akin to a S.H.I.E.L.D. Life-Model Decoy. Mistaken it was the real Magneto, the Sentinel created the breeder bombs to foster mutant births.
Combat: ProteX defeated warriors from a Deviant tribe, and destroyed false Magneto and the false Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
Episode 8
Date: August 1, 1994
Attendance: Daniel, Derek, Fritz, Robert
Summary: Traveling across the globe hunting down the Breeder Bombs can lead to some jetlag even as Airdrop made the trip seamless, and as a reward to the party, Professor X ensured ProteX could use the Blackbird for a quick trip to New York City to relax after saving the world. Reboot quickly programmed Sentinel Butler with MS Flight Simulator to provide piloting, and the party was off to the Big Apple where all seemed interested in seeing upcoming Broadway shows and newly released movies. As the Blackbird returned to Xavier’s School, the PCs partied the night away traipsing across NYC but avoiding any real trouble. Using Xavier’s gold card, food and lodgings were acquired, as was a good night’s sleep. Morning broke with Chingon sensing something in the air, and local television broadcasts pointed to a live nearby bank robbery by two powered villains. ProteX moved quickly to the scene and encountered Pestilence and War, minions of Apocalypse. Combat ensued with the party changing to distance attacks after hand-to-hand combat led to Pestilence’s disease attack consistently weakening the PCs. However, the combat was short with the PCs using smart tactics, and the two Horsemen were defeated, but blipped away along with the money they stole. Not wanting to tarry without reporting their activity to Professor X, the Blackbird was summoned and the PCs returned to Xavier’s school. The following day, the PCs were beckoned to Xavier’s office to meet with Captain America and Thor who charged ProteX of attacking members of the West Coast Avengers the previous day. Defiant of the accusations, the PCs used Reboot’s power to receive satellite signals that recapped the combat with the two Horsemen. Encouraging ProteX to investigate these reports starting in Los Angeles, the Avengers left on their Quinjet, though Forq trailed the heroes sensing weird frequencies nearby. As Forq continued to scan the area of the now-departed Quinjet, he was ambushed by several robots who rendered him unconscious, but not before he mentally called out to Professor X for help. The rest of ProteX were quick to the battle site with Chingon and Ms. Majesty taking significant damage before Reboot tore apart the automatons. Investigating the wreckage, the PCs found these “X-Terminator” robots were regenerating to better adapt to the PCs’ powers until Ms. Majesty turned them to slag. Where the robots came from was still a mystery.
Combat: The PCs handled Pestilence and War, along with a separate combat with 4 X-Terminators.
Episode 9
Date: August 8, 1994
Attendance: Daniel, Derek, Fritz, Robert
Summary: Wanting more answers to issues posed by the Avengers, Airdrop was contacted to transport the PCs to California for the party to call upon Quicksilver and U.S. Agent during their hospital stay. Greeted by the Scarlet Witch at Azusa Memorial Hospital, the West Coast Avenger was curt with ProteX about how her friends were in intensive care. Finding out very little they did not already know, the PCs left the hospital perturbed, but those feelings soon abated when another group of X-Terminators arrived ready to fight. Using the same tactics from the previous combat had limited success, as Reboot (correctly) surmised the robots were adapting to their powers. Still, ProteX was able to win, without needing to call upon the West Coast Avengers for help. Melting the robots to slag again, Chingon sensed Storm observing them from afar, but when Ms. Majesty flew to investigate, the X-Man left without a trace. Contacting Professor X, he indicated Storm was still at the X-Mansion, and this sighting bore more investigation. Forq scanned the area for energy signatures akin to the Breeder Bomb robots, but found nothing. In the morning, talk of meeting the West Coast Avengers was interrupted by news reports of Storm causing tornados in Griffith Park. Wanting to solve this mystery, the PCs used a Reboot created rocket sled made from a local scrap yard to transport them to the Griffith Observatory, amid stormy conditions forcing the PCs to land. As Ms. Majesty flew into the clouds to confront Storm, she was blind-sided by a Ms. Majesty clone who engaged in combat. The remaining members of ProteX were ambushed on the ground by clones of themselves who chose not to engage in their twin-self. Although the doppelgangers were less powerful than the original mutants, a clone of Professor X appeared using mental blasts on the PCs. Overwhelmed on the ground, it was only Ms. Majesty who survived the combat, dealing with her clone and Storm, whom she lost track of as they fell from the sky. Returning to the ground, Ms. Majesty was able to tend to the party, finding the attacking NPCs to have disappeared. Searching the area for her clone and Storm also found similar results, and the party fled the area on the rocket sled before law enforcement could arrive. Regrouping outside of L.A., the party could not contact the X-Mansion for unknown reasons, wondering if an attack would happen there also. Chingon used his powers to detect a unique scent from this clothing: Apocalypse.
Combat: ProteX is knocked unconscious, with the exception of Ms. Majesty, by their clones and other X-Men clones.