ADVENTURES
BOOK 2: GODS & MONSTERS
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ISSUES
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STORY ARCS
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The Silver
R.I.N.G. # 7
Arc: Prodigal Gods, part 1
Title: “The Hammer”
Story: Fred Furtado
Real Date (RD): 3-June-01
Campaign Date (CD): 23-Feb-01
Following a lead from Eliminador's
contact, the Silver R.I.N.G. mounts a stakeout operation in the harbor. According
to their lead, a shady operation involving paranormals will be conducted on
pier 16, next to the Danish ship H.C. Andersen. At 2:30 am, a van and
a truck arrive at the pier, parking next to the ship. After a brief conference
between the van's driver and an Andersen crewman, a crate is unloaded
from the ship. Four zapped men, with great
effort, load the crate into the truck, and both vehicles depart. The heroes
follow, since Nebuloso told them that there is a lead-lined box inside
the crate with several danger and hazard signs on it.
The small convoy goes to a Volkenstein,
Ltda. warehouse complex near Vila Kennedy. Thanks to an invisibility spell
cast by Nebuloso, Ligeirinho gains access to the complex, while
the rest of team waits in a nearby block inside Eliminador's van. The
field team leader witnesses the crate being unloaded from the truck and deposited
inside one of the warehouses, amid several similarly-looking crates. The warehouse
is locked up with Ligeirinho inside it. Nebuloso, using his
powers to scan it, senses that the warehouse has very high security, with
laser and ultrasound sensors. They then decide to teleport the lead-lined
box to Eliminador's van. Nebuloso accomplishes the feat, bringing
the box and Ligeirinho to the van. After contacting Sérgio,
they teleport the box to Lagoinha Base to be analysed.
Drs. Eduardo Werner and Márcio Mourão,
Silver R.I.N.G.'s physics and engineering experts respectively, ascertain
that the box presents no health hazard to anyone. The only energy coming from
it is a very low intensity radio signal. Sakura, then, uses her skills to
bypass the box's electronic lock. Inside the box, they find a hammer. It is
composed of an unknown metallic alloy stronger than zaridium.
Engraved along the surface they find Futhark and alien runes. A search on
the database identifies it as being the hammer used by the Nazi paranormal
Donner, Mjöllnir,
or a very good copy of it. Ligeirinho talks to Valiant
II, who corroborates their findings, but can offer no new information.
Meanwhile, Nebuloso uses his power to scan the hammer and discovers
advanced circuitry imbeded deep within it, lending credence to Marina's
earlier statement that the hammer is not a mystical artefact.
At this time, the Field Team is summoned to
the Briefing Room by Sérgio. Apparently, Volkenstein, Ltda., has found
out about the robbery and somehow identified the culprits as being the Silver
Field Team. Sérgio informs them that the company is sending a representative
and two lawyers to resolve the situation. Volkenstein, Ltda.'s representative
is an imposing man named Fasolt. As soon as he arrives, a heated argument
between the Field Team and him starts. He demands to see the hammer, which
he claims is a legal property of Arthur
Volkenstein. He is taken to the lab where the Research team is still analyzing
Mjöllnir. A few seconds after they arrive, the faint radio signal emitted
by the hammer spikes, followed by a blinding flash of light.
When the flash ceases, the Silver Field Team,
Fasolt, Sérgio, Eduardo, Márcio and the two lawyers find themselves
somewhere else. They are standing on a grassy plain, with mountains lining
the horizon to one side, and the glare of city lights to the other. Above,
there is a night sky with one quarter of it covered by Jupiter. Fasolt explains
that they are on Asgard, home of the Norse gods. Those gods, he says, are
in fact aliens who posed as divine beings and conquered the Norse people.
They were expelled from Earth by a revolt led by Loki
and his son Fenris. Now they are returning
to enslave the whole planet. Earth's only chance is for them to free Fenris
– who was captured at the end of the revolt. He has the power to absorb
energy and can neutralize Asgard's main power source, leving it unable to
fire its weapon or activate its defenses. Ligeirinho agrees, but orders
Nebuloso to create a shelter so that Sérgio and the other normals
can remain hidden and safe until the mission's end. While Fasolt scouts ahead,
the mage also alters his companion's appearances so as to make them less conspicuous
to Asgard's natives. Fasolt returns and the whole group walks towards the
city.
Once there, they go to a tavern where Fasolt
has contacted an Asgardian woman that will help them. However, before they
can meet, two Valkyries enter the tavern.
They are gorgeous, and Eliminador cannot help but stare at them. One
of the Valkyries notices him and walks towards him. She stops next to him
and asks where is he from. Unfortunately, Eliminador, who understands
the question thanks to Nebuloso's spell, does not speak Asgardian...
The Silver
R.I.N.G. # 8
Arc: Prodigal Gods, part 2
Title: “The Wolf that Ate the
Sun”
Story: Fred Furtado
RD: 5-June-01
CD: 24-Feb-01
By a convoluted spell that creates a
sound illusion, Nebuloso allows Fasolt
to answer the Valkyrie as if the voice
was coming from Eliminador's mouth. The Valkyrie makes a pass at Eliminador,
but sensing no interest on his part, rejoins her companion and leave the tavern.
Waleska, the woman contacted by Fasolt, joins the group and they go to an
inn where they hire a room.
In the room, Fasolt tells the group that Fenris
is held in Niffleheim, Asgard's security area. Nebuloso scans the area,
but cannot penetrate into Niffleheim. So, they teleport to a corridor just
above it. The corridor ends in a teleport chamber. Sakura hacks the chamber's
command panel and teleports the group to Fenris' security level. There they
take the Einherjar guard by surprise
and knock him out. Sakura, boosted by Nebuloso's magic, hacks into
the security desk and deactivates the restraints that keep Fenris unconscious
and his powers neutralized. Then, she teleports him to the security station.
The group take Fenris' unconscious body and use the teleport chamber to go
back to the corridor, taking out another Einherjar in the process. From the
corridor, Nebuloso takes them back to their room.
When Fenris wakes up, Fasolt brings him up to
speed. Fenris declares that it is time to take revenge on the Asgardian scum
and changes into his lycanthropic form. His statement sounds odd to Ligeirinho,
but he does not mention it. The group then teleports to the power core, where
powerful containment fields keep a protostar fueling Asgard's systems. As
soon as they arrive, Fenris starts basking in the fiery energies. The group
leaves him there, their mission acomplished.
Back at the room, Fasolt announces to the Silver
Field Team that it is best if they split. Before anyone can argue, he is gone.
At this same time, they notice that the inn's power is failing. Waleska feels
Heimdallr's global telepathic alarm
and a great commotion is heard outside the inn. The Asgardians are crying
that Ragnarök has come, while up
above Einherjar troops fly past.
The Silver Field Team realizes they have made
a mistake in helping Fasolt. Without energy, Asgard's life support will fail,
killing not only the Asgardians, but also their normal companions who are
hidden in the plains beyond the city. Furthermore, without power, Asgard will
not deaccelerate and might overshoot or hit Earth...
The Silver
R.I.N.G. # 9
Arc: Prodigal Gods, part 3
Title: “Ragnarök”
Story: Fred Furtado
RD: 10-June-01
CD: 24-Feb-01
While deciding what course of action to take,
the Silver Field Team is surprised by a group of Valkyries
bursting through the door. Nebuloso teleports the group to the hideout
they had created for Sérgio
and the others. There they inform their Chief of Staff what has transpired.
After a few moments, they are once again found by the Valkyries who demand
that they surrender. Ligeirinho convices their leader that the Silver
Field Team has been duped by Fasolt and
now wants to help the Asgardians fight
Fenris. She agrees to take them to Freyja,
their leader, but the normal humans will be taken to Valhalla.
The Valkyries do as promised and take the team
to the Well of Urd, where they meet Freyja and Tyr.
Freyja uses her empathic abilities and instills love in Ligeirinho,
guaranteeing that he will not lie to her. He explains that people on Earth
believes the Asgardian gods are myths and that Loki
sacrificed himself to save the planet. So, when Fasolt told them the Asgardians
were alien conquerors bent on enslaving humankind, they didn't really have
a reason to doubt him. Convinced they are speaking the truth and might help
in the fight, Tyr takes them to Hel, where
the other Asgardians – Thor, Hel
etc – are futilely trying to defeat Fenris.
Playing a desperate gambit, Nebuloso
creates four duplicates of himself, who then join their powers and try to
transmute Fenris into lead. They almost have success, but Fenris is protected
by a powerful mystical shield. He counterattacks by sending waves of plasma
against his agressors. The Silver Field Team and the gods escape the wave's
destructive power, but the Einherjar are not so lucky. Ligeirinho locates
Fasolt among the machinery and, together with Sakura and Eliminador,
attacks him. Meanwhile, Fenris uses his gravity powers to attract Nebuloso
and his copies to the center of the protostar. The Brazilian mage teleports
back and attempts to control Fenris' mind. Fasolt unleash his fire breath
on Ligeirinho, but that doesn't stop the speedster from hitting him.
Eliminador and Sakura also attack, angering Fasolt, who reveals part
of his draconic nature before teleporting away. Nebuloso gains control
of Fenris' mind and orders him to stop consuming the protostar, but it is
too late. Fenris has initiated a minor supernova reaction within himself who
will destroy all of Asgard.
A few seconds before the dreadful explosion,
the Silver Field Team and the Asgardian gods, with the exception of Hel, are
teleported to an Asgardian ship, which rocks violently with the shockwaves
from the explosion. Asgard and all who were on it, like Sérgio and
the Silver R.I.N.G. experts, are destroyed. The Asgardian ship, a 10-kilometer-long
behemoth, shelters the last living survivors of the mighty Asgardian race.
Although a good portion of the mental patterns stored in Mimir
were downloaded to the ship, many were lost. The Silver Field Team is taken
to see Odin, who regrets that their coming
back has brought so much sorrow for both races. He tells the heroes that the
time does not seem right to return to Midgard
and so they will leave. The team is then taken back to Earth aboard a shuttle.
Back at the base, they have the difficult job
of communicating the demise of Sérgio, Eduardo
and Márcio.
Overwhelmed by the guilt he felt for being partly
responsible for the destruction of Asgard, Nebuloso makes a tough choice.
He decides to leave Earth and join the Asgardians to help rebuild their home.
In his place, he leaves a clone with no mystical powers. He also leaves gifts
to his team members in the form of magical items.
The Silver
R.I.N.G. # 10
Arc: Samba, Sweat & Blood, part
1
Title: “Mad Sunday”
Story: Fred Furtado
RD: 17-June-01
CD: 25-Feb-01
The next day after the events on Asgard, the
team is still trying to come to grips with the aftermath of the mission. This
is made difficult by the fact that Carnaval, Brazil's famous festivity,
has begun and the city is pulsing with the rhythm of samba. Still,
each team member tries to concentrate on calmer things. Sakura spends the
day studying Norse mythology. She believes that knowledge of that subject
could have prevented the tragic events. Ligeirinho writes a long report
on the last mission and contacts SWORD's
Brazilian representative, Major Caio Quintana, to brief him on the nature
of the Asgardians. Eliminador
starts packing, intent on joining Carla
on Búzios, a famous beach resort town north of Rio. He is interrupted,
however, by a call from Zequinha, his informant, who asks for his help. Zequinha
believes he is being followed by a tall, pale American man and wants Eliminador
to protect him. Ian agrees and goes to the Sambódromo, where
the samba schools parade, to meet Zequinha.
Also at the Sambódromo, Jorge
da Silva – a famous community leader in the Morro do Macaco favela
and percussionist of the Vila Isabel samba school – takes a leak
during a break. As he finishes, he hears moans and voices coming from a nearby
alley. His investigation is cut short by a tall, muscled young man dressed
as a grunge rocker, who orders him to go away. Jorge tries to argue, but cocnludes
that only brute strength will solve the situation and hits the grunge. The
man barely feels the punch and hits Jorge twice at blinding speed. Realizing
his foe is a paranormal, Jorge changes into his Homonça form
and manages to get past the grunge. At the alley, he sees two other men and
one of the samba school dancers. One of them looks like a Hell's Angels
biker, the other – the one holding the dancer and, apparently, molesting
her – looks like a yuppie. Jorge takes the woman from the yuppie man
and all three of them attack him. His powers protect him and the unconscious
dancer. After a few seconds, the men give up and climb up the walls at lightning
speed, disappearing into the night. That is when Jorge notices the twin bloody
wounds on the dancer's neck.
Meanwhile, Eliminador arrives at the
Sambódromo and contacts Zequinha. The informant describes the
mysterious gringo who is stalking him and asks Ian to protect him. He agrees
and tells Zequinha he will look around for the man. Eventually, he locates
the American man. He is exactly like Zequinha described him – tall, pale,
with slicked-back blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. Eliminador blinks
and the man is gone. Before he can find him again, he notices a commotion
by the medical center and decides to investigate it. There he meets Jorge,
in his human form, and learns of the attack. He calls Ligeirinho and
tells him to come down to the Sambódromo.
The rest of the Silver Field Team arrives and
begins the investigation. Ligeirinho interrogates Jorge, while Sakura
checks the location of the attack. Jorge tells Ligeirinho what happened,
but neglects to mention Homonça or any thing that might indicate
he is a paranormal. Sakura finds footprints, mostly of shoes, but one belongs
to what seem like an animal. At this moment, the American man approaches her
and tells her that he believes the attack is the work of cultists, and that
they gather at a place called Sob a Linha Vermelha [Under the Red Line],
in the Gamboa neighborhood. He then leaves. Ligeirinho decides to take
Jennifer, the dancer, to Lagoinha Base where Dr.
Teresa and Marina can
take a look at her. Jennifer's mother and Jorge go along.
At the base, Marina strengthens their suspicion
that Jennifer was attacked by vampires. They also press Jorge to reveal that
he is, in fact, Homonça. Jorge maintains the façade that
he and Homonça are two different people, but tells the group
he will contact the paranormal and leaves. After a while, Homonça
shows up. Ligeirinho e-mails the Exorcist,
hoping the occult vigilante will be able to help them. Without any leads except
the Gamboa place, the Silver Field Team goes there to investigate.
The place seems to be a goth/techno nightclub.
Ligeirinho and Sakura – in plains clothes – enter the club,
while Eliminador and Homonça wait at Ian's van. Sakura,
who received a card to get into the VIP room, uses it and finds the yuppie
vampire. She starts a conversation with him and learns his name, Camilo. Outside,
Eliminador is contacted by the American man, who tells him that something
bad will happen in the club at midnight. Suspecting the club might be a trap
to lure victims for the vampires and that the trap will close at midnight,
Ligeirinho starts a fire in the bathroom. The fire alarm and the sprinkler
system go off and everybody starts to run away. Camilo runs out of the club,
but Eliminador blocks his way with the van and Ligeirinho confronts
him. At this moment, a wooden arrow crosses the night and lodges itself in
Camilo's heart. Sakura does not leave the club because there is a woman screaming
in the VIP room. She tries to help her, but the woman's bodyguards stop her
and she asks for help. Eliminador and Homonça try to
enter the club, but the owner – Artur Alencastro – forbids them.
Artur pushes Ian, and he hits the owner back, sending him sprawling to the
floor with a bloody mouth and a few missing teeth. The two heroes enter the
club while Artur yells that he is going to sue the living daylights out of
Eliminador. Outside, a strange blue man appears in a blinding flash
of light. He tells Ligeirinho his name is T'ien Lung and rises in the
air.
As the Field Team Leader is putting Camilo's
body into the van, he is attacked by the grunge, while the biker takes the
body. They flee at superspeed, but Ligeirinho follows. T'ien Lung notices
the commotion and attacks the vampires, but they evade it. After being assured
by the woman that she is okay, Sakura leaves the club with Eliminador
and Homonça to help in the pursue. The vampires enter random
houses and attack the people in there hoping that will stop the heroes. They
do stop, but T'ien Lung goes on and manages to knock out the biker. He moves
to intercept the grunge, but the vampire grabs a baby and tells the blue paranormal
he will snap the baby's neck unless he is allowed to escape. T'ien Lung agrees
and the grunge throws the baby at him while he disappears into the night.
With the vampires captive, Homonça
says goodbye to the group and leaves. T'ien Lung tells Ligeirinho to
put a stake through the biker's heart, because that will keep him down. Ligeirinho
agrees and the group takes both vampires back to Lagoinha Base. T'ien
Lung parts company with them, saying he has something else to do.
The Silver
R.I.N.G. # 11
Arc: Samba, Sweat & Blood, part 2
Title: “Bloody Monday”
Story: Fred Furtado
RD: 19-June-01
CD: 26-Feb-01
Back at the base, the group puts the staked
vampires in a reinforced cell. Ligeirinho contacts the police and the
SEAM while the rest of the group examine
their wallets in search of clues. They find out Camilo's
address and Eliminador and Sakura investigate it. The expensive flat
in Ipanema yields no new information save a phone book that they take back
to the base. They also find the address of a house in Gávea owned by
a man named Kassad Alhamud, and the name and birthday of a woman named Luciana
Valente. Jorge arrives to watch over Jennifer.
While the group discusses their next course
of action, the base alarm goes off: the reinforced cell has been breached.
Ligeirinho is the first to arrive. He sees the vault door open and
hears the sound of something being cut violently. He tries to close the door
and lock whoever it is inside, but the invader leaves the cell at high speed.
He is carrying a compound bow and a bloody machete, which leads Ligeirinho
to believe he is the one responsible for shooting Camilo with a wooden arrow.
The invader introduces himself as Stalker, a vampire hunter, and tells Ligeirinho
that he has decapitated Camilo.
Back at the briefing room, Stalker tells the
Silver Field Team that Camilo and his companions are real vampires. He also
reveals to them that the Sob a Linha Vermelha nightclub is part of
something called the Bloodline, a worldwide network of vampire havens. The
group asks him if there is any other vampire hunter in the city. He answers
that the only other one he knows is the Exorcist
and that he is not in town. Stalker also denies being the mysterious American
man who helped the team before. He then asks to be allowed to decapitate César,
the other vampire. Ligeirinho denies him and the two discuss for several
minutes what is at stake (no pun intended). Ligeirinho proposes an
alliance, but Stalker thinks their modus operandi are too different
for such an alliance to work. Finally, he decides to leave. Jorge also takes
his leave.
A while later, Ligeirinho receives a
call from Stalker. The vampire hunter tells the Field Team leader that Homonça
is watching the base from the forest. Ligeirinho keeps a camera set
on Homonça. Stalker decides to talk to Homonça
and asks for his help in entering the base again. Homonça declines,
saying he is waiting for the vampires to attack.
The base alarm goes off once again at the cell.
When Ligeirinho checks it, he finds Stalker again. The vampire hunter has
decapitated César. Stalker aopologizes
for his methods and leaves. Ligeirinho contacts Black
Diamond, the Gold Team leader, and asks
what to do with the beheaded vampires. Black Diamond suggests he talks to
SWORD. He takes the Gold Leader's advice
and manages to get in touch with Cap. Mariana Plügel, head of the Mystical
Department of SWORD's Brazilian office. She assures him she will send a team
to recover th bodies and contact her boss, Major
Caio Quintana, about the deployment of a Silver
Dagger squad for the undead decontamination of Rio.
The next morning, a SWORD team arrives at Lagoinha
Base and takes Camilo and César's bodies. Jennifer is cleared by Dr.
Teresa and returns home with her mother. Ligeirinho convinces Homonça
to join the Silver R.I.N.G..
When everything seems to be back to normal in
the base, Ligeirinho is informed that Sérgio's funeral will
be held late that afternoon.
The Silver
R.I.N.G. # 12
Arc: Samba, Sweat & Blood, part 3
Title: “Fiery Tuesday”
Story: Fred Furtado
RD: 26-June-01
CD: 26-Feb-01
At Sérgio's
funeral, the team meets Walter Aragão, Ring,
Ltda.'s president, who informs them that the new chief of staff has been
chosen and will report to the base on Thursday.
Back at Lagoinha Base, Eliminador
asks for a leave to visit his girlfriend and Sandro
tells the rest of the group what he has found out about the people they asked
him to investigate. Kassad is the owner of a flower shop in Rio's downtown,
Luciana Valente is a Carmelite nun, and the grunge vampire's name is Cássio.
Sakura goes to the nunnery to try to talk to Luciana but finds out the Carmelites
have made a vow of silence. She manages to convince one of the sisters to
pass a note to Luciana. With her mission cut short, she decides to check on
Kassad's house, which is near. Eliminador, unable to locate Carla
through the phone, decides to wait in her apartment. Jorge, who was also checking
out Kassad's house, meets up with Sakura and both return to the base without
discovering anything suspicious about the place. Cap.
Mariana contacts Ligeirinho to tell him SWORD
will not be able to deploy the Silver
Daggers because the Brazilian government has not invoked the Damocles
Imperative. After waiting for an hour and a half, Eliminador gives
up and returns to the base.
Luciana calls Lagoinha Base and, breaking
her vow of silence, speaks to Sakura and sets up a meeting. Ligeirinho
accompanies Sakura and distracts the onlookers so her and Luciana can talk
quietly. She tells the heroine that she and Camilo had been friends since
childhood and that after he returned from the United States he had been acting
strange. Meanwhile, the mysterious American man appears again and talks to
Ligeirinho. He tells the speedster there will be a reunion of 5 vampires
at Kassad's place at midnight and that would be a good time to arrest all
of them. Ligeirinho inquires about the man's reasons for helping them
and he replies that vampires are an evil that must be exterminated. He then
leaves. Sakura comes back after walking Luciana back to the nunnery and both
heroes return to the base.
Based on the man's tip, the Field Team mounts
a stakeout near Kassad's. At 11:30pm, they see a car approach the house. Inside,
they see a brunette woman who sakura recognizes as the woman she tried to
help in the nightclub the night before. She enters the house and the team
concludes all the others are inside already. By reading the mind of the drivers,
the group discovers the name of 4 other vampires: Alex Mosqueiro, Artur
Alencastro, Glória Quintão and Suely Cintra – the last
one to arrive. Sakura then controls one of the drivers and forces him to enter
the house and go to the room where the reunion is being held. Suely, the driver's
boss, thinks he is acting strange and Kassad uses his power to probe his mind.
sakura releases her hold on the driver's mind, not wanting to be found.
The group waits for an hour, expecting someone
to leave. At 12:40, they hear a buzzing sound inside thei ears that becomes
Uíra's voice. She tells them to get
far away from the house immediately. When they ask why, she just replies that
they will not want to be close to it one minute from then. Realizing the SEAM
will destroy the house and that she sent an innocent man to his death, Sakura
runs to the house. Her companions can do nothing but follow her. She breaks
down the house and, using her mental powers, starts ordering the normal humans
to leave the house. Helped by the other members of the Silver Field Team,
she storms into the reunion room and grabs the driver. Kassad and Cássio
try to stop the heroes, but the combined power of Homonça and
Eliminador keeps them at bay. Artur and Suely turn to mist and drift
away, while Alex and Glória move at superspeed for the door. Ligeirinho,
who was ferrying people to down the street, approximately 100 meters from
the house, encounters SEAM troops mountinga road block.
With only a few seconds left for the one-minute
deadline, Homonça returns to the house and, after a very brief fight,
stakes both Cássio and Kassad. The very next instant, SEAM incendiary
bombs drop at the house incinerating it everything at up to4 meters from it,
including the staked vampires' bodies, Homonça and Eliminador's
motorcycle. The explosion is contained by a cylindrical force field created
by Uíra.
Following the attack, Ligeirinho and
Sakura argue with Uíra about how the SEAM conducted the whole operation.
Tempers flare, but at the end the Silver Field Team can do nothing about the
whole affair. After being debriefed by the SEAM agents and told that the mission
is classified, they are dismissed.
Back to the Silver R.I.N.G. Campaign
Last Update: 27-June-01