Hideouts & Hoodlums: Justice Society of America

Game Master Scottenkainen

Flash continues to watch closely. He's ready to act if he's needed, but at the moment he doesn't see anything which needs doing.

The town car was backed up and the first van of mobsters started to leave. The second van was ready to pull away, but Dr. Fate was still up on the roof of it! Meanwhile, Mitsuhirato began casting a spell...

Fate remains silent and unseen atop the explosives van. Glad to be out of the range of Mitsuhirato's spell. The fire should have destroyed any lingering traces of his own illusion.
The arrival of the Japanese 'magician' suited him perfectly. He will find nothing in the ruin but he will not be believed. X's men may well assume he is trying to keep too much for himself and contact higher levels of the gang to report it. Exactly as the JSA desires.

Deciding that the plan to transform into Bruno has been abandoned, the Sandman quickly considers alternate plans. If it seems likely that the Sandman will be able to slip into one of the vans, he will do so, relying on his ability to hide.

Otherwise, he will attempt to follow the vans in his car.

Either way, the Sandman will make sure that he leave poor Bruno trussed up in a public place where the responding firefighters and cops can find him.

Mitsuhirato moved as close to the burning warehouse as he safely could. He looked about, clearly (to Dr. Fate's eyes) aided by some divination magic. Suddenly, he spun about and yelled, "There is no magic here! Dr. Fate was not inside!"

But it was too late; the mobsters were on the move. It was too late for the original plan, so Sandman left Bruno trussed up in the alley and slunk across the street to the remaining motionless van. It would be impossible to sneak inside without being seen, as he could see it was packed in the back with mobsters right by the door. However, he could lay on the back bumper and hook his grapple gun to the latch to keep from rolling off.

Dr. Fate held on tight and managed to keep from sliding off as the van started up, following the other van.

The police sirens were much louder now and had to be very close.

The Flash started to follow the vans, vibrating too fast to be seen.

Mitsuhirato, for whatever reason, abandoned the warehouse as well and beat it back to his town car. He shouted "Forrow' those cars!" to the driver and climbed inside.

Is this good for us to move to the next scene, or does anyone need to change details/intentions?

Flash will circle around ahead, to 'follow' the vans from up ahead of them. If he misses them making a turn, it should be no problem for him to do a quick loop around the block to re-locate them.

For reals . . . this is the worse idea ever.
Frustrated that he missed his chance to establish his acting chops, the Sandman creeps across the street to the remaining van. Recognizing that he won't be able to hide inside the van, he sigh lays across the back bumper, hoping to conceal himself, while using his grapple gun to secure himself.

The strange caravan headed straight for Midtown, skirting around Times Square but ending its short journey, coincidentally, just two blocks east of where the doppelganger waited on a rooftop.

The vans came to a stop on the street outside the Pullman Jewelry store.

The Sandman had moments left until the back door of the van slid open and his precarious position was revealed.

Flash was in a doorway, a few doors east of the jewelry store, watching.

Dr. Fate clung to the roof of the second van.

Mitsuhirato's town car came to a stop three doors down behind the vans and stopped.

Flash waits and watches.

The Sandman unlatches himself. "I think even Dian would agree that that was a terrible idea." Seeing that the thugs seemed to have arrived at their destination, the Sandman will attempt to quickly use his grapple gun to make his way to the roof of the jewelry store. Or if that is not feasible, he will look for a dark alley to hide in.

The Sandman was able to rappel up the side of the three-story building that housed the jewelry store on its ground floor. Hugging the wall on the second story, he pulled up his grapple line behind him so it did not dangle conspicuously behind the van.

"Did you hear somethin'?" one of the mobsters asked another as they began to emerge from the back of the van a moment later.

"Naw, probably just a car backfirin' somewhere."

"Alright, enough chit-chat!" another mobster called out as he emerged from the front of the van (not the driver, though). "Everyone from the front van, out and inside quick! Lou, come back out and let me know if the generals are here already. Everyone from the back van, surround that car back there and bring me that Chinaman! I wanna know why he followed us."

Mitsuhirato complied with the mobsters, still unflappably cool in the face of multiple gun barrels. "So solly' to have had to forrow' you here," Mitsuhirato said, "but thought you should know, my magic spell has detected magic coming from your van the whole way here. Unress' you awready' confiscated items from Dr. Fate's corpse, honorable Dr. Fate is not a dead man, but among you now."

"I don't understand half of what this guy is sayin'!" another mobster said. "Get 'em inside and have 'em tell his story to the generals!"

"Generals?", Flash thinks ((if he can overhear? :D)), "this is turning out better than we'd hoped!"

From his vantage point on the van Dr. Fate looks about for his comrades. Knowing the JSA heroes could not have failed to follow that convoy.
(Not sure this is kosher but here goes.)

Catching the momentary gleam of Flash's helmet Dr. Fate quietly climbs down from the explosives van and slips unseen around the milling mobsters to Mitsuhirato's car and the Flash. Fate takes a moment to verify that the car is empty before speaking.

Softly "Flash, it is Dr. Fate. I am standing beside you. Good work getting here. Have you seen the Sandman?
It looks like Mitsuhirato jumped to the right conclusion so we may not be as unsuspected as we hoped. These Generals may not believe him but we still need to move quickly."

From his vantage point, the Sandman scans the area, looking for his teammates and trying to find any features that would allow him to slip into the jewelry store unseen.

"Does Mitsuhirato always talk like that?" the Sandman thinks to himself.

Dr. Fate did not see the Flash, but he did see Sandman up above.

Sandman could see Flash down the street, hiding in a doorway, from his higher vantage point. He also found a window near him was unlocked.

A blimp up in the sky seemed to be slowly descending towards this street...

Unaware of what exactly is going on, and unable to see either Sandman or Dr Fate, Flash continues watching in tense anticipation, waiting for a cue to act.

If it is possible, the Sandman will try to negotiate his way to the Flash, while staying hidden. Preferably, he will slip from rooftop to rooftop, but if has to hit the ground–to stay out of sight of the blimp, perhaps?–he will do so. Once he reaches the Flash, he will point out the blimp and then note that he has discovered an open window.

The Sandman would prefer to return back to the window in an attempt to spy on this convergence of criminal conspiracy, but he can be talked out of such ideas.

Sandman left his grappling gun resting on the window ledge, ran along the ledge to the corner, and jumped across to the ledge on the next building. In this way he scampered like a squirrel up the street and darted across to where he had seen the Flash.

Dr. Fate, from where he remained perched and invisible, observed four mobsters remained outside, guarding the entrance, while the rest all filed inside with their 'captive', Mitsuhirato.

Unfortunately, one of the mobsters spotted the Sandman too. "Hey!" the man shouted and pointed. "Ain't he supposed to be dead?"

The blimp was 200 yard away and slowly closing...

Aw . . . cripes.

"Nah, you guys missed me. I'll have my revenge for the death of the Flash and Dr. Fate!" The Sandman hisses at the guards, hoping to lure them away from the entrance to the store so that he can't dispatch them with a modicum of noise.

"Maybe Dr. Fate can make me look like one of these goons," the masked crusader thinks to himself.

"After 'em!" one of the mobsters yelled and motioned for the others to give chase to the fleeing Sandman. Of the four mobsters at the door, three went in pursuit, while one remained behind.

The chase lasted for a half-block before the mobsters decided, since they weren't gaining on the Sandman, that they might as well try for a lucky shot at him. It was then that the Flash sprang from the shadows. He missed the closest two mobsters because he was moving too fast, but he clotheslined the furthest mobster, sent him flying 5', and skidded unconscious across the pavement.

The 2 remaining mobsters in melee with the Flash are 60 ft. from Dr. Fate in one direction and 60 ft. from Sandman in the opposite direction.

The blimp stopped descending at just over 500' from the roof. Instead of risking scraping against the taller buildings around it, the blimp released an autogyro.

Flash quickly turns and attacks the remaining 2 mobsters. He must quiet them before they have a chance to report his presence.

Sandman and Dr. Fate were letting Flash show off on his own, but it was really harder than it should have been to dodge all those bullets for the fastest man alive because he had to, at the same time, keep drawing their fire so they would not shoot Sandman. But Flash still managed to make a good showing of it, dodging bullets for a full minute while, in the middle of it, knocking out cold a second of the three mobsters in the street.

Back at the front door, the invisible Dr. Fate heard the mobster still guarding it shout, "I gotta warn the others!" and turn to head inside.

Up above, the autogyro circled down towards the roof of the jewelry store building from the floating blimp.

"Get clear, Helmet-head!" The Sandman yells, as he launches a gas grenade at the two remaining gangsters.

Assuming that the two gangster are knocked out, the Sandman will say to the Flash: "One of the thugs stayed behind, you might want to make sure he doesn't get inside. I want to check out that autogyro." He then tries to sneak into a position where he can watch the autogyro land on the roof and gather some information.

Really, I want to blow up the blimp.

If the two thugs are not knocked out, the Sandman will try to aid the Flash in rendering them unconscious the old fashioned way, with two fists of justice.

((By my reading, Flash has knocked out 2 of 3 mobsters, leaving one remaining. Does Sandman still want to launch a gas grenade? If so, then Flash will zip away at Sandman's warning call. If not, he'll continue pummelling the 3rd mobster.))

Any response from the store to the shots the goons fired at Flash?
Is the driver still in the van I am sitting on?

Fate slips carefully off the roof of the van. Transfering his weight first to the bumper and then slowly to the ground. No need for a sudden lurch that could alert any obververs.

If The Sandman and the Flash are together at the front door and any sleep gas has dispersed Dr. Fate will join them. Otherwise he will make his way to the wall below the open window. How difficult would it be to climb up?

Ah, I miscounted then.

The Sandman will simply help the Flash knock the last gangster into unconsciousness and then note that one of the gangsters was left behind.

Down the street from the Pullman Jewelry store, Sandman rushed the remaining mobster in the street and belted him in the gut -- a somewhat satisfying hit that left the bulletproof vest-protected mobster only lightly injured. But Flash was on him from all other sides in an instant, pummeling him the rest of the way unconscious.

Back at the jewelry store, Dr. Fate's attention was focused on other things and the remaining mobster at the front door slipped inside. It appeared to be dark inside and Dr. Fate could neither see nor hear any signs of reaction from indoors.

However, the drivers of both vans were forming a second line of defense now, having emerged from their vehicles with sub-machine guns in hand. They had apparently missed Dr. Fate's careful descent from the roof of the second van and were preparing to mow down Sandman and Flash. Dr. Fate would have to decide between intervening or trusting his comrade-in-arms to handle this and focus on the upper floor open window.

Up above, the autogyro plunged out of sight as it must have come in for a landing on the roof of the jewelry store building. The dark, unmarked blimp, or dirigible, hovered like a giant silohuette against the moon up above.

As the two gunners take aim on the Sandman and the Flash the unseen Dr. Fate walks calmly betewwn them. As he passes the air grows heavy, the moonlight fades, and even the streetlights seem lost in the gloom.

casting Dark I on the area with the gunners. Not sure if this counts as an attack for the purposes of ending the Invisibility.

Dr. fate continues his calm walk through the deepening gloom towards the door to Pullman's emporium.

Note to self. Cast 1 each first through third.

Seeing the darkness spill over the vans, the Sandman turns to the Flash "I guess Dr. Fate's been busy. Should I toss a grenade into the darkness? I'd like to check out whoever is floating down in that autogyro. We've lost a bit of the element of surprise. I don't want whoever can afford to travel by blimp to escape"

"No time like the present!" Flash replies. "If we can get up onto the roof and disable the autogyro, we should be able to prevent any escape back to the blimp."

"How about you make sure no one stumbles out of the darkness, Flash? I'm worried about zapping Dr. Fate." Assuming the Flash doesn't insist that the Sandman zaps whatever thugs are lurking in the darkness that Fate has created, the Sandman will race up to the roof of the building, attempting to hide in the shadows in order to discover who would use both a blimp and an autogyro as a mode of transportation.

Dr. Fate stepped through the darkness and through the front doors of the jewelry store unopposed.

The front room of the store was one long gallery. It looked unoccupied, though he could hear a door opening somewhere on the far end.

The walls of the gallery were paneled in teak wood, the floor was polished faux-marble, and there were decorative pillars spaced down the length of the gallery. The gallery lights were on, reflecting in the glass partitions that separated the center corridor from the display counters of jewelry. See OOC for link to store map and request for clarification on Sandman's intentions

Flash does a quick loop around the block to help locate any access areas up onto the roof.

Racing ahead, Flash found a fire escape just down the block and around the corner. Sandman would be able to reach it in one minute of running.

Flash reports his find to Sandman, then looks towards at the area of Darkness to see if any hoodlums are able to spot us leaving the area.

Flash came racing around the city block counter-clockwise, but came across the two drivers with sub-machine guns on the east side of Dr. Fate's sphere of darkness before he could reach Sandman and tell him the fire escape news.

Flash pauses for a brief wave, "Hi!". He then moves between the two gun-toting hoodlums (to try to prevent the hoodlums from shooting at him for fear of endangering each other if Flash's plans go awry) and attempts to snatch their weapons before they can react.

Dr. Fate enters Pullman's walking carefully, calmly, and unseen through the darkness. The good doctor is well aware that there may be traps magical and mundane and is watching for tripwires or runes. As he steps into the light his hands move in a complex series of gestures accompaned by some soft words in a forgotten dialect of persian. The faint scent of roses wafts in the draft from the closing door and is gone.

Casting Protection from normal missiles. Assuming it works on bullets and shotguns that is.

Activating amulet to search for thoughts.
Questions: Is there merchandise in the cases?
Anything interesting in the office to the right as you come in, assuming I can see in of course.

The Sandman's plan was to just climb the walls, using the grapple gun if necessary, but he'll follow the Flash's suggestion if the Flash can relay his discoveries to the Sandman.

Sandman grew impatient waiting for Flash to come back around and charged the nearest wall. Sandman scampered up the side from ledge to ledge like a monkey, soon one story away from the jewelry store roof.

The drivers were on guard and ready to shoot, but Flash was still moving invisibly fast and went rings around them. They were soon aware of his presence from the wind and tried to bash him with their rifle butts. One of them even came within 2 inches of striking his helmet. Unfortunately, Flash was having so much fun running rings around them that he had not snatched a gun away from either of them yet.

Dr. Fate moved carefully across half the lobby and saw what looked like quite a few valuable jewels on display. It was in the second half of the lobby that he stepped on a tile in the floor that sank slightly under his weight. A moment later, four machine guns popped out of the walls in the corners of the room and began spraying bullets across the interior and shattering glass everywhere. Protected by the spell he had just cast, Dr. Fate stood safely in the center of the cacophony of chaos.

That was good timing on that spell I think. Curent effects: Invisibility I, Protection from Normal Missiles. Remaining spells 3 first. 2 second. 2 third. 2 fourth. 2 fifth. Dagnabbit! Need to find some potions or a pearl of power or two.

Dr. Fate steps calmly to the side of the trigger plate. No need to give them his exact location. He continues to walk carefully through the hard rain.
Dr. Fate thinks to himself "Hmmm I suppose the Sandman would have seen that." "But then he would not have come through the front door."

ARRRRRGGG want to cast detect traps but I need to save 3rd level spells!!!!

Dr. Fate continues deeper into the shop, eyes alert inside his helm.

Anything in that office by the door? Do the guns empty their magaines or click off when Fate steps off the trigger plate?

After completing a few dozen more rings, Flash decides he'd better disarm these boys before they hurt somebody else.

The Sandman continues to scamper up to the roof, hoping to figure out who would go through all the trouble of taking a blimp and an autogyro to get to the city.

"Who is this guy? And how did he get a blimp into the city without causing all sorts of trouble?"

Sandman reached the edge of the roof and started to climb over the edge -- only to discover the autogyro's pilot approaching him. The man's face was obscured by an aviator's helmet and scarf, but he also seemed to be wearing the uniform of a German soldier. He and Sandman surprised each other -- so much so that Sandman almost lost his grip on the roof's edge and fell! He recovered and caught his balance at the last moment.

Flash decided that fun's fun, but it was time to get down to business. He ripped the sub-machine guns out of those crook's hands with his usual lightning speed.

Both heroes heard the eruption of gunfire from inside the jewelry store.

Dr. Fate stepped off the pressure plate and found that the guns kept dumping bullets into the room, but only for one full minute before stopping. As the lobby grew silent again, Dr. Fate stepped around some small tables and chairs that had been shot up and began searching the rooms off the back of the lobby. In an office, he spotted what looked like a secret door in the east wall, left open a crack.

As the gunfire explodes out of the jewelry store, the Sandman tries to swing himself up at the pilot, hoping to land a mighty punch at the German. "I guess I don't have to worry about the element of surprise anymore!"

Returning to the main lobby and taking care to step only where he had stepped before Dr. Fate quickly places a chair or bit of bullet riddled rubble over the pressure plate. Not enough weight to set it off but something to keep the others from stepping on it.

Good deed done Dr. Fate heads to the secret door. If he does not note any obvious problems he slips through. Taking care as he does so to jam the door open by placing a chair on its side so the back of the chair prevents the door from closing without being too obvious about it.

Amulet sifting the ether for any stray thoughts the Mighty Mystic creeps deeper into the lair.

Flash does a quick look around for Sandman, but not seeing him still around Flash dashes off with the guns, heading for the fire escape he saw earlier. Along the way he removes all the ammo from the guns and attempts to disable them so they can't be fired.

"I guess I don't have to worry about the element of surprise anymore!" Sandman said as he flipped over the edge of the roof and rose to his feet.

"No, indeed you 'vill not, herr Sandman," the German said as he took off his scarf. "I am Lieutenant Klaebisch of der German Army, and it 'vill be my pleasure to kill you."

As the two opponents circled each other, Klaebisch made the first move and landed a bruising punch to Sandman's shoulder. Sandman took it without flinching and followed up with a punch to the face that hit Klaebisch twice as hard and bloodied his nose.

Flash was slowed by doing so much with the guns while he ran, but he made it around the block and under the fire escape, where he dropped two disabled sub-machine guns in a trash can.

Dr. Fate's amulet allowed him to sense a guard behind the secret door as he laid a chair over the pressure plate.

Dr. Fate lets his body and mind become still as he focuses on the thoughts of the guard. What are they thinking? Why have they not responded to the gunfire?

Flash climbs up the fire escape to the roof. He figures that after the gunfire he just heard, someone may attempt to escape via the autogyro and he wants to stop them as a first priority.