the iron labyrinth
TRANSCRIPT
THE IRON LABYRINTHSTART
100
MEPHISTO'SREALM
0feet
FINISH= Water Pool
Official Game Adventure
The Left Hand of Eternity
By Ray Winninger
Resource Book
TABLE OF CONTENTS The Entities.................................................................................................................2
Death .......................................................................................................................2 Eternity .....................................................................................................................3 Galactus....................................................................................................................3
The Death Gods .........................................................................................................6 Mephisto ...................................................................................................................6 Mephisto's Demonic Thralls.......................................................................................7 Mephisto's Footsoldiers.............................................................................................7 Pluto .........................................................................................................................8 Pluto's Footsoldiers ..................................................................................................9 Hela .........................................................................................................................9 Seth .......................................................................................................................10
Other Characters ......................................................................................................11 Voyd ....................................................................................................................... 11 Uatu ....................................................................................................................... 11 Clea ....................................................................................................................... 12 Dormammu............................................................................................................. 13 Mindless Ones ....................................................................................................... 14 Dark Dimension Inhabitant, Typical......................................................................... 14 Thanos .................................................................................................................. 15 Captain Marvel........................................................................................................ 15 The Purple Man ..................................................................................................... 16
Credits
Design: Ray Winninger Editing: Scott D. Haring Cover Illustration: Mike Machlan and Lori Svikel Interior Illustrations: Angel Medina Maps: Diesel Typesetting: Kim Janke and Betty Elmore Keyline: Stephanie Tabat
TSR, Inc. PRODUCTS OF YOUR IMAGINATIONTM
TSR, Inc. PO Box 756 Lake Geneva, Wl 53147 U.S.A.
This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written consent of TSR, Inc. and Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. Distributed to the book trade in the United States by Random House, Inc., and in Canada by Random House of Canada, Ltd. Distributed to the toy and hobby trade by regional distributors.
MARVEL SUPER HEROES is a trademark of the Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. All Marvel characters, character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of the Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. ©1988 Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The TSR logo and PRODUCTS OF YOUR IMAGINATION are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. Game Design ©1988 TSR, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
What is forever? An appraisal oftime that begins with the primalexplosion and ends with the collapseof the universe's incomprehensiblebulk? Or is it something more—ameasurement without limits or truedefinition, a calculation of theimmeasurable span preceding timeand continuing long after AII-That-lsceases to be?
Who among us can know? What-ever the true nature of Forever, is ismore than a mere mortal—or even,perhaps, a god—dares hope tounderstand. Compared to Forever,our lives are but a decimal taken tothe billionth place; the entire historyof our race does not amount to thetiniest fraction.
And yet, there are those that knowForever: Beings of unimaginablepower and age born with the Uni-verse itself, and sentenced to liveuntil it dies. More powerful thangods, more mysterious than thedarkest secret in the blackest heart,these beings know Forever. We callthese beings Entities. By this term,we mean to describe that which isindescribable. Perhaps we can saythey are intangible manifestationswhich embody abstract concepts.But this would not be quite correct,for very often men have seen andbeen touched by and talked to them.Yet it would be too simple to callthem sentient beings, for they arepart of the essence of the Universein a way we can never hope tounderstand. Perhaps it is simply bestto describe them as somethingbetween the abstract and the tangi-ble: mysterious existences whichsprang somehow from the void thatwas Before, and which will not perishuntil the universe returns to the lumpthat will be After.
This section describes the Entitiesthat appear in The Left Hand of Eter-nity. While only Death and Eternitysprang directly from the Big Bang,the other entities can be said to havecome from Chaos and exist beyondthe realm of any mortal's comprehen-sion. Therefore, we have groupedthem all together under this generalheading.
DEATH
KNOWN POWERS:Death can use any of the powerslisted in the Player's Book (or inMA3—The Ultimate Powers Book, ifyou have it) as it sees fit.with Class5000 proficiency. Death will rarelyuse these powers directly, preferringto operate through other agents, orto wait for its prey to fail and eventu-ally die through some fault of its own.The closer a victim is to Death'spower level, the more likely Death isto employ its own vast powers in aconflict.
LIMITATION: In the center of theuniverse is a 30-foot hole shaped likea man. This is where Eternity wasborn. Any being occupying this holeis immune to Death's touch and can-not die.
BACKGROUND: The origin and truenature of Death is unknown, but it isapparently one of the basic forces ofthe universe, embodying the princi-ple of mortality and decay. Somebeings who have studied the natureof the universe believe Death andEternity are siblings who embody theentire mystical essence of the uni-verse between them. Although pre-sumably beyond the understandingof mortal beings, Death sometimesappears as a sentient being withunderstandable motivations. Mostoften, Death appears in female form,apparently seeking to extend itsrealm or achieve dominance over itssibling, Eternity. Death onceappeared in the guise of a beautifulwoman to the Titanian Thanos.
Thanos fell so deeply in love withDeath that he was willing to destroythe entire universe in order to pleaseher. Death is extremely jealous of itspower and realms. It once attemptedto destroy Dracula in order to stopthe vampire from robbing it of con-quests by creating undead beings.On this occassion, Death manifesteditself to Dracula as a male rival. Thismay be an indication that Deathadopts the female form in order toseduce pliable males into doing itswill. On several occassions, Deathhas presented itself to living beingsas a skeleton wearing a hoodedrobe. Death has also manifesteditself in order to preside over thedeath of a long-lived or immortalbeing, such as an Asgardian orOlympian god. Presumably, Deathfelt that such a rare addition to itsrealm required personal attention. Inorder to win true immortality, theGrandmaster recently tricked Deathinto barring all Elders of the Universefrom its realm. This may prove to bea mistake, for Death is one of the few
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50005000
50005000
50005000
Cl 5000
Cl 5000Cl 5000
Cl 5000Cl 5000
Cl 5000Cl 5000
Health:20,000
Karma:Unlim.
Resources:Unlimited
Popularity:-1000
beings with the power to avengeitself it realizes it was tricked.
Despite the apparent simplicity ofDeath's drive for more conquests,any being foolish enough to believehe truly understands the dark entitymay soon regret his arrogance.Death moves without discerniblepattern or logic, striking whereverand whenever it feels compelled todo so. Because of this capricous-ness, virtually all creatures in theuniverse fear Death. No matter howmighty or powerful they are, theyrealize they must eventually surren-der themselves to its dark realm. TheAsgardians and Eternals age, eventhough they do so at an extremelyslow rate. The Olympian gods do notage, but a sufficiently powerful forcecan kill them. Even Galactus, theonly known entity to predate the cre-ation of the universe itself, knows hewill someday die and pass intoDeath's care. Therefore, even suchpoweful beings as these treat Deathwith deference and respect.
ETERNITY
KNOWN POWERS:Eternity can use any of the powerswithin the Player's Book (or withinthe Ultimate Powers Book) with Class5000 ability, though it does not do sowith any regularity. Eternity's formcannot be perceived unless it sowishes, as it is an abstract being.
BACKGROUND: The origin and pre-cise nature of the abstract beingknown as Eternity is many waysunknown and unknowable. Eternityis the sum total and collected con-
sciousness of all living things in theuniverse, the embodiment of their lifeas Death is the embodiment of theending of that life.
Unlike Death, which Eternity oftenrefers to as its sibling, Eternity rarelytakes any sort of an active role in thedealings of the trillions of beings thatmake up its total. However, sincecontrolling the being Eternity allowsthe controller to wield Eternity'sunlimited powers over the beingsthat make it up, this entity is a targetfor extra-dimensional attackers ofvarious abilities. Often Eternity candeflect such attacks without signifi-cant exertion, but on occasion hashad to bring its own servants intoplay. While not as organized as theDeath gods that serve Death, theseservants are usually powerful individ-uals, such as Doctor Strange, whomay combat the attackers on theirown mortal levels. These servantshave a vested interest in seeing Eter-nity survive intact, as their own exist-ence makes Eternity possible.
As Eternity is the sum total of allliving forces, destruction of Eternitymay eradicate the game universe,and with it all other quasi-physicalentities. Eternity, for its part, rarelyshows any interest in the pieces thatmake it up, though if given a suffic-ient threat, it would willingly sacrificepart of its infinite existence in orderto foil such a foe.
GALACTUSGalan of Taa
Class 3000 Intensity. EverytimeGalactus uses one of these powers,however, it costs him 10 points ofKarma, and each use at an intensityabove Unearthly costs him 50 pointsof Health.
Spirit VampirismBio VampirismPsionic VampirismEnergy VampirismAbsorption PowerEnergy ConversionElemental ConversionMolecular ConversionElemental CreationMolecular Creation
True Flight: Galactus can travel atClass 3000 speeds.True Invulnerability: Galactus hasShift X resistance to physical andenergy attacks. He has Class 5000resistance to extreme heat cold,corrosives, toxins, and disease.Force Field: Galactus can surroundhimself with protective fields of ShiftX rank.Life Detection: Galactus has theClass 3000 ability to detect the life
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KNOWN POWERS:Energy Manipulation: Galactus pos-sesses the following powers, each at
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5000
50005000
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50005000
Cl 5000
Cl 5000Cl 5000
Cl 5000Cl 5000
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Health:20,000
Karma:Unlimited
Resources:Unlimited
Popularity:0
F
AS
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75
751000
30001000
10001000
Mn
MnCM 000
Cl 3000CM 000
CM 000CM 000
Health:4150
Karma:3000
Resources:Cl 3000
Popularity:-1000
energies of planets. He can detectan occupied planet at a maximumrange of 50 light years.Kinetic Bolts: Galactus can releaseenergy blasts of Shift Z intensity.Hyper Invention: Galactus can createany device he wants by assemblingwhatever materials are on hand orcan be made from existing substanc-es.Disruption: As a side effect of hisfeeding process, Galactus has theClass 1000 ability to destroy themolecular bonds that hold a targettogether. Galactus can consciouslyuse this power with diminished effectagainst lesser targets, such as indi-viduals. In such a case the powerdecreases to Shift X rank.Power Creation: Galactus has theClass 1000 ability to transform ordi-nary beings into super beings. ThePrimary Abilities and powers of suchbeings are initially no higher thanUnearthly rank. Galactus can investthe power in either the person cho-sen or a specially designed tool.Power Control (Magnification/Reduction/Negation): Galactus hastotal control over those powers hemay have given a target. He canamplify someone's existing powersby +4 CS, even if he was not thesource of that power. He can reducea subject's power by any amount, allthe way to Shift 0. Such changes arepermanent; only Galactus canreverse his changes.Serial Immortality: If Galactus' bodyshould be destroyed while he stillhas a sufficient cosmic energyreserve, his machines can draw inhis lifeforce and recreate his body.He must have at least two points ofHealth remaining for this to occur.Telepathy: Galactus has Unearthlytelepathy.Cosmic Awareness: Galactus hasClass 1000 Cosmic Awareness andcan perceive in a limited manner thestate of the universe.WEAKNESS: Galactus has a finiteenergy supply that he must constant-ly replenish by consuming the life-force of entire worlds. Galactus'hunger is so severe that he mustfeed every 30 Terran days or his
Class 3000 abilities drop to Class1000. After another 30 days, all hisabilities drop to Shift Z, and so on.Although Galactus could eventuallystarve to death, he normally seeksout the nearest usable world whenhis abilities drop to Shift X rank.CONTACTS: Galactus has one con-tact, his Herald, and even that rela-tionship is tenuous at best. He is alsoin many ways a sibling of both Deathand Eternity.BACKGROUND: Galactus is the solesurvivor of the universe that existedbefore the Marvel Universe was cre-ated. Originally, Galactus was ahumanoid named Galan, a native ofthe planet Taa. Unfortunately,Galan's universe was in a state ofcollapse as it ended its life cycle.The universe was regathering itselfinto a "Cosmic Egg," an unimagina-bly dense sphere that would containall the matter in the universe. Theradiation that accompanied the col-lapse was destroying all life in theuniverse. The people of Taa sentGalan out in hope that he could findsome way for them to escape. Therewas none. When Galan returned, hediscovered that all but a handful ofTaa's population had been wiped out.Galan and the survivors decided toend it all by journeying directly to theheart of the Cosmic Egg. The radia-tion killed everyone but Galan, whofound himself invigorated by thedeadly forces.
The Cosmic Egg was alive andprevented Galan's ship from beingdestroyed. It explained that, eventhough both of them were dying, theywould soon be reborn. The CosmicEgg would then explode and create anew universe.
When the predicted big bangoccurred, three beings, a starship,and the Marvel Universe were cre-ated. The three beings were Eternity,Death, and Galactus; the starshipwas Galactus' worldship. Out of thebrief instant of nothingness thatbridged the gap between the old andnew universes, a fourth being wascreated: the demon known as Voyd.
For eons, Galactus drifted in thevoid, further evolving and developing
his powers. A Watcher who discov-ered him contemplated killing himthen, but the Watcher decided toabide by his race's creed of passiveobservance. Eventually, his shipdrifted into the Archeopian star sys-tem and Galactus fed for the firsttime. In the millenia that followed,Galactus rebuilt the remains ofArcheopia's worlds into an immensestarbase, the Taa II.
Originally, several centuriespassed between Galactus' feedings.This interval shortened with time. It iscurrently one month. This has leadGalactus to increase the rate atwhich he destroyed worlds. He real-ized years ago that he neededscouts to seek out the worlds thatcould sustain him. When Galactusapproached the planet Zenn-la, hefound his first herald in the form ofNorrin Radd, the Silver Surfer. TheSilver Surfer eventually led Galactusto Earth, where he finally met hismatch. Thanks to the assistance ofthe Watcher Uatu, the Fantastic Fouracquired the Ultimate Nullifier, the
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only weapon that could destroyGalactus. Galactus then returned tospace, unfed and heraldless.
Galactus then went through arapid succession of Heralds over thenext decade. The Xandrian GabrielLan was transformed into the AirWalker. Unfortunately he was soonkilled defending Galactus from theOvoids. Galactus later created arobotic replica, the Air WalkerAutomaton, but it was later damagedby the Silver Surfer and ultimatelydestroyed by Thor. A friend of Lan,Pyreus Kril became the next herald,Firelord. He gained his freedomwhen Thor traded Galactus theAsgardian robot known as theDestroyer; but Loki stole the automa-ton before Galactus could get muchuse out of it. Seeing that theFantastic Four had been the causeof the loss of his first herald, Galac-tus arranged for the FF to recruit hisnext one. This was Tyros of Lanlak, aconqueror and tyrant himself, whomGalactus transformed into Terrax theTamer. Terrax quickly became intoxi-cated with his new power and tried touse the FF to destroy Galactus.Instead, Galactus destroyed him.Finally, Frankie Raye offered herselfto Galactus. As Nova, she was hisfirst female herald.
Galactus has tried several times todevour the Earth, but was beaten,lured, or otherwise bribed away. Onhis last trip, he finally pledged neverto attack the Earth so long as thehuman race survived. This pledge isunique in the universe and the causeof some hostility toward Earth byother races that have fought or havebeen decimated by Galactus.
Recently, Galactus was the victimof an assassination attempt by theElders of the Universe, who used anewly created Kree Cosmic Cube todestroy him. When the Eldersattacked Galactus with the cube,instead of killing him, it split Galactusinto three seperate entities and flungthese beings into the godly realms ofOlympus and Asgard. The Elderswere actually secretly encouraged toenact this scheme by Death itself,who knew what would happen when
Galactus was attacked with the cube.Death was then hoping to takeadvantage of Galactus' disorienta-tion in his shattered state to convincehim to form an alliance against Eter-nity. Unfortunately, the heroes ofEarth intervened and preventedDeath's plans, forcing the Entity totrick Galactus into agreeing toimprisonment within Death's domain.Throughout most of The Left Hand ofEternity, Galactus is unconscious orotherwise incapacitated.
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MEPHISTOaka Satan, Mephistopheles, Luci-fer, and "The Devil"
KNOWN POWERS:Demonic Form: Mephisto is a hostilesupernatual being.Power Source: Mephisto draws hispowers from the beings imprisonedwithin his demonic realms. If he isever away from this realm, his Endur-ance drops to Class 1000 [it does notdrop if he controls Galactus].Dimension Travel: Mephisto can tra-vel between the various dimensionswith Unearthly ability.Diminuition: Mephisto can shrinkatoms with Unearthly ability. Thisenables him to reduce most objectsdown to .01% of their current size. Atarget must be within one area to beshrunk.Enchantment: Mephisto has the abili-ty to create magical items for the use
of his minions. Most of these itemshave power ranks and attributes ofShift Z. [Or Class 1000 while he con-trols Galactus.]Enlargement: Mephisto can increasethe size of himself or others withUnearthly ability. This enables him tocause a target to grow to 20 timesnormal size. [Note that Mephisto isnaturally about 100 feet tall while hecontrols Galactus. By using thispower at that time, he can grow to asize of 2000 feet].Forced Reincarnation: Mephisto hasthe Unearthly ability to take a disem-bodied soul and place it into a newbody.Immortality: Mephisto does not age,at least not at any rate that is recog-nizable by humans.Invisibility: Mephisto's invisibilityfunctions at the Unearthly rank.Kinetic Bolts: Mephisto can fireblasts of Monstrous energy. [Shift Ywhile he controls Galactus].Levitation: Unearthly Rank.Magic Control: Mephisto hasUnearthly control over anyone thatattempts to use magic within hisrealms. [Shift Z control as long asGalactus is under his control]. Notethat Mephisto cannot use this poweragainst the heroes during this adven-ture because of the bargain hemakes with them in Chapter 2.Matter Control: Mephisto can controlall forms of matter at the Unearthlylevel of ability [Shift Y while he con-trols Galactus].Neural Manipulation: Mephisto hasUnearthly control over a victim'snervous system and can cause atarget to suffer up to power rankdamage. [This control is improved toShift X while he controls Galactus.]Power Control: Mephisto hasUnearthly control over any physicalpowers that anyone else tries to usein his dimension [increased to Shift Ywhile he controls Galactus]. Mephis-to is also prevented from using thisability against the heroes due to thebargain he makes with them inChapter 2.Shapechange (others): Mephisto canshapechange others with Unearthlyability.
Sleep (induced): Mephisto caninduce sleep with Unearthly rank.Spirit Storage: Mephisto has theClass 5000 ability to seize and main-tain billions of dead souls. Mephistocan communicate with any souls hehas trapped at any time.Summoning: Mephisto has Unearthlycontrol over lesser supernaturalbeings [raised to Shift X control whileGalactus is under his control].Gateway: Mephisto can open up agate that will allow him to travel toany place, time, or dimension instan-taneously with Unearthly ability. Thispower is limited to teleportingMephisto 2.5 billion miles at a time,and a FEAT roll is necessary to openthe gate (a yellow FEAT if the gate-way leads to another time, a redFEAT if the gateway leads to anotherdimension).True Invulnerability: Mephisto hasAmazing protection from any sort ofattack except magic. He is immune toheat, acid, and disease. [Monstrousprotection while he has Galactus].Undead Control: Mephisto hasUnearthly control over the lowerforms of undead: zombies, skele-tons, ghouls, etc.WEAKNESSES: There are twothings that Mephisto can never do.First, he cannot read the mind of anysentient being. Second, he cannotcontrol another being without thatbeing's prior permission.TALENTS: Mephisto has Class 3000Reason in matters of Occult Lore.CONTACTS: As one of the Deathgods, Mephisto can call upon hismaster in times of dire emergency.BACKGROUND: Mephisto is anextradimensional entity that rulesover a pocket dimension which hesometimes refers to as "hell,"though it is quite clear that this is notthe hell of the Judeo-Christian reli-gion. Mephisto likes to maintain theillusion that he is the "devil" of theChristian religion in order to exploitthe fears of humans, whom he con-sequently finds much easier to cor-rupt. At times, therefore, Mephistohas allowed himself to be called"Mephistopheles," "Satan," and"Beelzebub."
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(The above are Mephisto's normalstatistics. While Galactus is impris-oned within his realm or under hiscontrol, use the augmented statsbelow. All notations given in brackets[] within the descriptions of Mephis-to's powers apply only when Galac-tus is under his control.)
MEPHISTO (w/Gatactus)
F
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75
7575300075
75100
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MnMnCl 3000Mn
MnUn
Health:3225
Karma: 250
Resources:Cl 3000
Popularity:-1000
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UnCl 1000
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Health:4200
Karma:1175
Mephisto's domain is inhabited byhimself, the lesser supernaturalbeings that serve him (see Mephis-to's Demonic Thralls, and Mephisto'sFootsoldiers, below), and the astralforms, or souls, of certain deceasedhumans which inhabit the bodies ofdemons which have been speciallyaltered to resemble the souls' mortalhuman forms.
Because he draws his power fromthe souls he imprisons, Mephisto isconstantly striving to add new soulsto his collection, the more powerfulthe soul the better. Mephisto prefershuman souls, though he will often goafter those of extra-terrestrials aswell. Indeed, he has made repeatedattempts to break the will andenslave the soul of the being knownas the Silver Surfer (see the Adven-ture Book). He has also madeattempts to take possession of thesoul of the Asgardian Thor.
The human stunt cyclist JohnnyBlaze once made a pact withMephisto, exchanging his soul inreturn for Mephisto's saving the lifeof Blaze's grandfather. BeforeMephisto could take possession ofBlaze's soul, however, a womannamed Roxanne Simpson arrivedand recited a special spell of banish-ment which she had stumbled acrossin an occult tome. Mephisto wasforced to flee without Blaze's soul,but not before grafting the essenceof the demon Zarathos on to Blaze'sbody, causing Blaze to become thecomposite being known as GhostRider.
Mephisto is sometimes imperson-ated by lesser Demons who imitatehis form. This explains the stories ofmany Earth adventures who claim tohave defeated Mephisto "easily."
Mephisto has also bound a demonto the actor Martin Preston, creatingthe being known as Master Pande-monium. He has recently beendefeated twice by Franklin Richards,the young son of Mr. Fantastic andInvisible Woman of the FantasticFour. Among the souls imprisoned byMephisto are those of the PurpleMan, Shalla Bal, Doctor Doom'smother, and Thanos.
MEPHISTO'S DEMONICTHRALLS
KNOWN POWERS:Claws: The thralls have sharp clawsand fangs which they can use toinflict Excellent Edged weapon dam-age.Flight: The thralls have leathery bat-like wings which allow them to flywith Good airspeed. The thralls havemastered the unusual physics ofMephisto's dimension and can flythere, as well as in more traditionalrealms.Leathery Skin: Their tough skingrants the thralls the equivalent ofRemarkable protection against physi-cal and energy attacks, and Incredi-ble protection against lightning,corrosives, heat, and cold.Weapons: The thralls are usuallyarmed with sharp pitchforks whichinflict Remarkable edged weapondamage.BACKGROUND: The thralls areMephisto's upper level servants.Mephisto sends these creatures outto perform errands and implementhis schemes. In addition, the thrallsare often used by Mephisto as super-powered enforcers, and several ofthem wander about his realm in con-stant patrol.
MEPHISTO'SFOOTSOLDIERS
KNOWN POWERS:Claws: The footsoldiers have sharpclaws and fangs which they can useto inflict Good Edged weapon dam-age.Leathery Skin: Their tough skingrants the soldiers the equivalent ofExcellent protection against physicaland energy attacks, and Remarkableprotection against lightning, corro-sives, heat, and cold.Weapons: The soldiers are usuallyarmed with long swords which inflictExcellent edged weapon damage.BACKGROUND: The footsoldiers areMephisto's lower level servants.Unlike the demonic thralls, the foot-soldiers are incapable of flight andhave almost no independent will-power. They must be issued a directorder by Mephisto or a thrall in orderto undertake a task. Most of the foot-soldiers are used to patrol Mephis-to's realms.
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FASERIP
50505030a1020
AmAmAmRmTyGdEx
Health: 180
Karma: 36
FASERIP
404040304610
InInInRmPrTyGd
Health: 150
Karma: 20
(The above are Pluto's normalstatistics. There is a chance in thisadventure that Galactus will becomeimprisoned in Pluto's realm for ashort time. If that happens, Pluto willgain power from Galactus: IncreasePluto's Endurance to Class 1000 andhis Health to 1300. Other changesare noted below in brackets.
KNOWN POWERS:Immortality: As an Olympian god,Pluto does not die if his Health andEndurance both fall to Shift 0. He isimmune to disease, toxins, andaging. These abilities all function atthe Class 1000 level.Regeneration: Pluto has Unearthlyregeneration powers enabling him toheal at 100 times the normal rate.Energy Mastery: Pluto has completemastery over various forms ofenergy, giving him all of thesepowers at Shift X rank [Shift Z if Plu-to controls Galactus]:
Fire ControlDarkforce ManipulationElectrical ManipulationGravity ManipulationLight ManipulationDarkforce GenerationFire GenerationEnergy Generation
Force Field: Pluto can project a forcefield that gives him Shift X protectionagainst energy, force, magic, andphysical attacks.Dimension Travel: Pluto can teleportfrom one dimension to another withUnearthly ability.Strength Drain: Pluto can touch avictim and drain away 50 points ofStrength. When the victim falls to 0
Strength, he falls unconscious. Thispower functions at the Amazing rank.[Monstrous when Pluto controlsGalactus]Mystical Flame: Pluto can sheathhimself in an Unearthly flame, pre-venting anyone from touching himwithout suffering Unearthly magicaldamage (defenses against normalflame attacks do not function). Hecan also fashion weapons out of theflame which paralyze an opponentunless he or she makes an Unearthlyintensity Psyche FEAT roll.Invisibility: Pluto had a helmet madefor him by the Cyclopes which giveshim Unearthly invisibility powers,even to other Olympians.Body Armor: Pluto's dense fleshprovides him with Excellent protec-tion from physical and energyattacks.Battle Axe: Pluto carries a speciallyenchanted battle axe made of ada-mantium (Class 1000 materialstrength). The axe does Amazingedged weapon damage, and allowsPluto to project force bolts of Mon-strous intensity. Pluto can projectbolts of Amazing intensity without theaxe.CONTACTS: Pluto is an Olympiangod, and though he is not exactly ongood terms with his fellow gods, hemay be able to call upon them inextremis. As a Death god, Pluto isalso able to call upon his master.BACKGROUND: Pluto is the eldestson of Cronus, ruler of the superhu-man Titans, and his wife Rhea. Fear-ing that he would be overthrown byhis offspring just as he himself over-threw his father Uranus, Cronusimprisoned each of his children inTartarus, the darkest section ofHades, the Olympian underworld, assoon as he or she was born.Appalled by this, Rhea gave birth toZeus without Cronus' knowledge andraised him in secret. The adult Zeuseventually overthrew Cronus andfreed his siblings. After the battle,Zeus imprisoned Cronus and hisfellow Titans in Tartarus, and know-ing they would need a strong warder,assigned his brother Pluto rulershipof the entire underworld.
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PLUTOHades
FASER
IP
10010010025075
100100
UnUnUnShift YMn
UnUn
Health: 550
Karma: 275
Resources:Unearthly(100)
Popularity:-500
Shortly thereafter, Pluto made apact with the being known as Death,and became one of the so-calledDeath gods. From that time on, Plutobegan to periodically launchschemes aimed at overthrowing hisbrother's rule aimed at securing alarger piece of the cosmic pie forhimself and his true master.
PLUTO'S FOOTSOLDIERS
KNOWN POWERS:Armor. Pluto's special warriors havedense flesh which give them theequivalent of Poor protection againstphysical and energy attacks. Whiledressed for battle and wearing theirarmor, this protection is increased toGood.Weapons: The soldiers are armedwith special spears that inflict GoodEdged weapon damage.
HELADeath Goddess of Asgard
KNOWN POWERS:Body Armor: Hela's super denseAsgardian flesh grants her Goodprotection against physical (blunt,edged, and shooting) attacks, as wellas from energy attacks.Invulnerability: Within the realms ofHel and Niffleheim, Hela is immuneto heat, cold, disease, radiation,corrosives, and toxins.Mind Control: Hela has completecontrol over the thoughts and actions
of the dead with Class 3000 ability.Illusion-Casting: Hela can createcomplex and completely realisticholograms at the Class 5000 rank.Characters having reason to disbe-lieve one of her illusions may attemptan Intuition FEAT roll; on a red resultthey have reason to doubt the illu-sion's true nature, but still feel it tobe "real." A character that success-fully passes a Class 5000 IntensityIntuition FEAT roll can ignore theillusions altogether.Death Touch: Hela can cause a mor-tal to die by simpling touching him orher. This ability operates at the Class1000 rank, and its victim must makea Class 1000 intensity EnduranceFEAT roll each round or lose onerank of Endurance (all checks aremade using the target's originalEndurance level). When the victim'sEndurance reaches Shift 0, he or shedies and his or her spirit enters Hel.Age Control: Hela can cause a victimto age with her glance. The victimmust make an Unearthly intensityPsyche FEAT roll or age a number ofyears equal to the differencebetween Hela's Psyche and his orher own.Resurrection: Hela can restore godsto life by using her Class 1000 resur-rection ability to make a FEAT rollequal to the intensity of the target'sEndurance.True Flight: Hela can fly at Unearthlyspeeds through the air or space.Levitation: Hela can levitate herselfor others with Unearthly prowess.Hand of Glory: This is a specialattack that inflicts Unearthly Edgedweapon damage upon its target.Hela can only use this power onceper day.WEAKNESS: Hela preserves her lifeforce by means of a cape and head-dress. Without these garments, shehas a Strength and Endurance ofFeeble, and cannot use any of hersuperhuman powers.TALENTS: Hela has a thoroughknowledge of all lore involving theNine Worlds (Unearthly Reason inthese matters).CONTACTS: Hela is the ruler of Heland Niffleheim. She is also acquaint-
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Karma: 40
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Popularity:-75
ed with the deities of death in otherpantheons, and is a direct servant ofDeath itself.
BACKGROUND: Legend has it thatHela is the daughter of Loki and thesorceress giantess Angrboda. Thethree goddesses of fate, the Norns,have warned the Asgardian godsthat Hela will prove a great danger tothem.
Odin himself decreed that, on theday of her maturity, Hela become thegoddess and ruler of the spirits of theAsgardian dead. He reserved forhimself the right to rule over Valhalla,where the spirits of courageous war-riors who died in battle reside. Helawas given control of Hel and Niffle-heim, both realms of the dead. Forages, Hela has sought to bring moreAsgardian souls under her control,and especially longs to possess thesouls of Odin and Thor.
In recent years, Odin's attentionwandered from Valhalla. Hela tried toannex that realm to her own, hopingto consolidate her power over all thespirits of Asgard's dead. Eventually,Odin noticed Hela's tresspass andforced her to withdraw.
Though Hela is stalled for thepresent, no one doubts that she andher army of dead will be back.
SETHHeliopolitan God of the Dead
KNOWN POWERS:Body Armor: Seth's super dense skingives him Excellent protection fromblunt, edged, shooting, energy, andforce attacks.Force Field: Seth can surround him-self with a field of magical energythat gives him Incredible protection
against all attacks.Undead Control: Seth has Shift Xcontrol over the undead imprisonedwithin his realm. Most of the undeadunder Seth's command are of thelesser sort: zombies, skeletons, etc.Dimensional Winds: Seth travels fromdimension to dimension by using aforce he calls the "dimensionalwinds." The dimensional winds cantake Seth to the dimension of hischoice with Unearthly accuracy, andcan sweep up anyone within twoareas of him as well at his option.Unwilling victims are allowed tomake Amazing intensity StrengthFEAT rolls to avoid being trans-ported.Mind Control: Seth can control mindswith his gaze. This ability functionsat the Amazing rank.Kinetic Bolts: Seth can fire kineticbolts of Amazing intensity.Invulnerability: Seth is immune toEarth diseases, toxins, and aging.He is not, however, immortal.WEAKNESS: Seth only has onehand.CONTACTS: Seth rules the Heliopo-litan land of the dead. He is also aservant of Death, and is wellacquainted with the other Deathgods.BACKGROUND: The gods ofHeliopolis came into existence overseveral generations. Before therewere any gods, there was Nun, theessence of chaos and nothingness (arelative of Voyd). Nun sired Atum, thefirst god of the Heliopolitan panthe-on. Atum later took the aspect of Raand sired the n e x t generation ofgods, Shu and Tefnut. Shu and Tef-nut begat Geb and Nut, who parent-ed Seth.
Seth is the brother of Isis,Nephthys, and Osiris. Shortly afterhis birth he was given sway over therealms of the dead. Later, Seth mur-dered Osiris in order to gain thethrone of Heliopolis; but Isis resur-rected him.
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KNOWN POWERS:Voyd can use all of the powersdetailed in the Players Book (or inthe Ultimate Powers Book if you haveit) at the Class 1000 ability level.WEAKNESS: Voyd is currentlylocked in a deep slumber. It wouldtake an enormous power (on theorder of that wielded by Death, Eter-nity, or Galactus) to revive him.BACKGROUND: Voyd is an
immense (500 + foot tall) demon, thatwas created out of the emptiness"that spanned the gap between theold universe and the creation of thecurrent (Marvel) universe. After hiscreation, Voyd was only consciousfor a brief instant before Death andEternity were created, an eventwhich placed so much strain on Voydthat it flung him into a deep coma,from which he has yet to emerge.
For eons, Voyd lay unconscious ina small pocket dimension justremoved from the center of the uni-verse. Recently, however, Deathseized Voyd and moved the helplesscreature to its inner sanctum, whereit hoped to soon resurrect the demonby exploiting the power of Galactus.
No matter what happens, Voyd'srole in this adventure will beextremely limited. He will probablyonly appear for a few seconds inChapter 14, before being quicklysnapped back into his coma.
KNOWN POWERS:Clairaudience: Unearthly range (2.5billion miles).Clairvoyance: Unearthly range.Communicate with Animals: Unearth-ly ability to speak with animals.Communicate with Cybernetics:Unearthly ability to speak with intelli-gent machines or to take readingsfrom non-self-aware devices.Communicate with Plants: Uneathlyability to speak with the higher formsof plant life.Cosmic Awareness: Class 1000awareness of this universe and sev-eral others that exist as alternates.Empathy: The Unearthly ability toread emotions.Force Field Generation: Ability togenerate a Class 1000 force field.Gateway: Uatu has a Class 5000range that can reach distances up to500 light years at a jump.Immortality: Uatu is most likely sev-eral million years old. He is appar-ently immune to aging and disease.Kinetic Bolt: Uatu can fire bolts ofUnearthly intensity.Linguistics: Uatu has the Class 1000ability to understand any language.Mental Invisibility: He has the Class1000 ability to render himself andanyone he chooses undetectable.Mind Probe: Unearthly rank probesof minds and psionic phenomena.Curiously, his use of this power ortelepathy gives its target Unearthlyprotection against any other entitiesattempting to do likewise.Remote Sensing: Unearthly ability toextend the range of all five of hissenses.Self Sustenance: Uatu has never
11
UATUThe Watcher
VOYD
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Karma: 300
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been known to eat, drink, or berequired to breathe. However, allmembers of his race must occas-sionally bathe in particular radia-tions.Shapeshifting: To aid their covertsurveillance of the universe, allWatchers have Unearthly ability totransform themselves to mimic what-ever lifeform they are observing.Telekinesis: He has Unearthly abili-ties, mostly used to operate machin-ery and fetch items.Telelocation: He has the Class 5000ability to locate anyone in the uni-verse.Telepathy: Class 5000 communica-tion with other Watchers and entities.Otherwise, Uatu decreases his rankto Unearthly when dealing with mor-tals.Teleportation: Class 5000 range (500light years).Total Memory: Uatu has Class 5000recall of everything he has everexperienced.Levitation: Uatu can levitate at theUnearthly rank.True Invulnerability: Uatu has Class1000 resistance to all attacks.TALENTS: Uatu possesses almostany and all talents imaginable.CONTACTS: Because Watchers typi-cally never help anyone, no one everhelps them. However, Uatu's peculiarbehavior has given him contacts withthe Fantastic Four, his neighbors theInhumans, and Galactus.BACKGROUND: The Watchers areone of the first races to evolve in ouruniverse. Originally, the Watchersdecided to assist the races aroundthem in attaining high levels in tech-nology and (they hoped) civilization.Unfortunately, their good intentionswere lost on some of their charges.One race to whom they gave nucleartechnology created genocidal weap-ons, destroying two civilizations.Shocked by the results of their inter-ference, the Watchers decided thatthey would only observe the Uni-verse and never again interfere.They hold to this pledge even whenthey are aware that incredible disas-ter results from their inactivity. Forexample, a Watcher had the chance
to destroy a still-forming Galactus.Adult Watchers are assigned a starsystem to monitor for developing life.
Uatu is considered the Watcher'sequivalent of a juvenile delinquent.He has developed a fascination forthe boisterous human race and hasdecided to aid its development. Rath-er than overt help, though, he tendsto warn humans of impending dan-ger or to directly suggest solutions totheir problems. He will usually ignoredirect appeals for aid.
DORMAMMU
*Dormammu draws all of hisstrength from his followers and cap-tives. These figures may verydepending upon the relativesstrengths of his followers at anygiven time, and Dormammu cannotbe destroyed as long as some of hisfollowers still exist. The stats abovereflect Dormammu in his normalstate. Use the figures below while hehas Galactus under his control.
All figures given in brackets belowrefer are applicable only while Dor-mammu controls Galactus.
KNOWN POWERS:Magical Ability: Dormammu wasonce the Sorceror Supreme of theDark Dimension and is, in any case,an extremely powerful being. He may
use any listed power as a spell, sub-ject to the limitations of Personal,Universal, and Dimensional energyrestrictions, except for those specifi-cally connected with the mainte-nance of order. He uses theseabilities at the Monstrous level[Unearthly level while he controlsGalactus], unless otherwise noted aspower stunts. In addition, Dormam-mu regularly uses the followingpowers:
Counterspell: Dormammu can can-cel out or tamper with the magicalspells of others with Unearthly ability.For example, he once caused Thorto transform into his mortal guise,reversing an enchantment of Odin.To do this, Dormammu must make aFEAT roll at an intensity equal to thepower rank of the original enchant-ment. [This power is raised to Shift Xwhile he controls Galactus].
Dimensional Aperture: Dormammucan step through a dimensional aper-ture or teleport himself into the Earthdimension only on Halloween night,
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and only after his followers haveperformed a special ceremony. Hedoes so with Unearthly ability.
Eldritch Attacks: Dormammu iscapable of launching Monstrousintensity eldritch attacks. [Raised toShift X while he controls Galactus].
Growing: Dormammu has Class1000 growth powers. He can becomehundreds of feet tall. [Class 3000while he has Galactus].
Illusion: Dormammu can castAmazing rank illusions. [Monstrouswhile he has Galactus].
Interdimensional Teleportation:Dormammu can teleport anywherewithin his dimension. This includesthe ability to slip into interdimen-sional space and travel back in timein any dimension. The use of thispower results in a -2 CS to Dor-mammu's Psyche and the powerranks of his spells for 24 hours. Inaddition there is also the normal -1CS for being in another dimension.
Matter Rearrangement: Dormam-mu has this power at Unearthly level.[Shift X while he has Galactus].
Nature Control—All: Dormammucan control nature and the four basicelements with Unearthly prowess.
Shrinking: He has Unearthly shrink-ing powers.
Telepathy: Class 1000 ability. Dor-mammu can telepathically contactanyone across the dimensions.
Transformation: Dormammu canuse this magical power on himself orother beings with Unearthly prowess.
MAGICAL ITEMS: Dormammu dis-covered two extremely potent magi-cal artifacts in the limbo in whichDoctor Strange imprisoned him aftertheir last encounter. These aredescribed below:
Dust of Orpheus: When cast intothe air, the dust of Orpheus casts apowerful sleep spell upon everyonewithin seven areas of the user(except for the user himself). Thisspell operates at the Class 1000rank. Dormammu will use the dust toput all of the heroes to sleep inChapter 9.
Amulet of Wandarr-Karr: The amu-
let allows its wearer to perfectly mim-ic any other known creature. Thisability functions at a power rank ofClass 1000 and the wearer gains allof the abilities, and the appearanceof the target. This item can only beused to mimic one target per month.Dormammu will use the amulet topose as Captain Mar-Veil in Chapters6 through 9.
TALENTS: Dormammu is a master ofOccult Lore (Shift Z Reason in suchmatters).BACKGROUND: Little is known ofDormammu's origins, other than thathe is a member of the extra-dimensional Faltine race. With thehelp of his sister, Umar, he defeatedthe invasion of the Mindless Onesand became the ruler of the DarkDimension, increasing his magicalabilities by transforming his body intomystical energy. He then consoli-dated his power, exiled his sister, andeventually became SorcererSupreme of the Dark Dimension.
As a result of his most recentdefeat, Dormammu was scatteredacross the universe. He was not,however, permanently destroyed, butjust severely weakened. During hisabsence, both Umar and Clea havebeen Sorceress Supreme of the DarkDimension. Dormammu's majorgoals are to recapture his position asSorcerer Supreme, and to conquerorthe Earth dimension to avenge hismany defeats at the hands of DoctorStrange.
KNOWN POWERS:Magical Ability: Clea is the SorceressSupreme of the Dark Dimension, and
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Health: 100
Karma: 170
Resources:Mn(75)
Popularity:70
has studied under Doctor Strange.Her magical powers are very formi-dable. She can use most listedpowers as spells at the Amazingrank. In addition, she has the follow-ing magical powers available to her:
Astral Projection (P): Monstrouslevel.
Shield-Individual (P): Amazing.Telepathy (P): Unearthly. Clea can
telepathically appear to all of hersubjects or contact characters inother dimensions.
Barrier (U): As ruler of her realm,Clea draws power from the DarkDimension in order to maintain anUnearthly strength barrier around thedwelling place of the Mindless Ones.There is a chance that this barrierwill collapse in Chapter 9.
Conjure (U): Amazing.Matter Rearrangement (U):
Unearthly.Nature Control (U): With great con-
centration, Clea can control thephysical appearance of her dimen-sion.
Eldritch Beams (U): Amazing.Teleportation (U): Monstrous.Dimensional Aperture (D):
Amazing.
TALENTS: Clea is trained in MartialArts A.BACKGROUND: Clea is the daugh-ter of Umar, a member of the Faltinerace, and of Prince Orinim the son ofOlnar, former ruler of the DarkDimension. Clea was raised by Orini,and, until recently, only Umar andOrini knew that Umar was Clea'smother. Clea befriended and aidedDoctor Strange on his first journeysinto the Dark Dimension, as Strangeengaged in battle with the dreadDormammu. The camaraderiebetween Clea and Strange led tothem falling in love. Attempting toescape the vengeance and manipu-lations of Dormammu and Umar,Clea went to live with Doctor Strangeon Earth, where she was his loverand disciple. Clea eventuallyreturned to her own dimension andlead a rebel force against the tyrannyof Umar. With the aid of Doctor
Strange, the rebels bested Umar'sforces. Clea then defeated Umar inpersonal combat and, by the peo-ple's consent, became SorceressSupreme.
MINDLESS ONES
KNOWN POWERS:Thick Skin: The Mindless Ones haveskin that acts as Excellent bodyarmor.Eye Beam: The single oval eye thateach of the Mindless Ones possess-es fires an energy beam that causesExcellent damage. The beam canonly be fired at a range of one areaand does Force damage.Mindlessness: Because these beingsare mindless, powers that affect themind (such as Confusion, Fear, Men-tal Control, and Mesmerism) have noeffect upon them.Environmental Independence: Theyneed not eat, sleep, or breathe, butseem to derive their energy from aninexhaustible internal supply. It isunknown if they ever age or die.Inexhaustible: The Mindless Onesnever tire and never cease movingand fighting. If defeated, they will layas if dead for 3 rounds, then rise upand begin fighting again. Karma isgranted as normal for defeatingthem.BACKGROUND: The MindlessOnes, gray humanoids with slightlybulkier and taller bodies than humanbeings, lived in a pocket cosmos thatwas accidentally absorbed into theDark Dimension. In rebellion, theykilled many of that dimension's mag-ic wielders, including Olnar, its ruler.Dormammu, who was later tobecome Sorceror Supreme of thedimension, herded them up andlocked them behind a special magi-cal barrier. They have escaped from
this barrier upon numerous occas-sions, caused chaos, and then beenreturned to their confines. Thesecreatures travel in large packs ofbetween ten and 100 and have neverentered the Earth dimension.
DARK DIMENSIONINHABITANT, Typical
KNOWN POWERS:Magical Ability: The Dark Dimensionseems to have more than its fairshare of spellcasters.BACKGROUND: The inhabitants ofthe Dark Dimension are quite similarto humans, with the exception of theapparent ease with which they cancontrol the forces of magic.
14
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Karma: 6
FASERIP
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Karma: 26
THANOSThanos of Titan (deceased)
KNOWN POWERS:Invulnerabilities: Thanos is com-pletely invulnerable to heat, cold,energy, electricity, radiation, toxins,and disease. He could be afected bySlam and Stun results, but a perma-nent death required the completedestruction of his body.Body Armor: Thanos' hide gives himMonstrous protection against physi-cal attacks, and Amazing protectionagainst all forms of energy to whichhe is vulnerable.Life Support: Thanos has Class 1000Life Support and can withstand pro-longed exposure to space.Energy Blasts: Thanos can projectsbolts of Unearthly Force or Energyfrom his hands.Psionic Attack: Amazing rank.Teleportation: Thanos can teleportwith Unearthly ability, but never inbattle. He can carry ten people withhim with ease.TALENTS: Thanos was a geniuslevel intellect. He has the Engineer-ing and Repair/Tinkering talents.BACKGROUND: Thanos, the son ofMentor and the brother of Starfox,was a mutant Eternal. As an adult,he set out on a career of conquest.His first target was his home planet,which he devastated with nuclearweapons. By this time, he hadbecome a worshipper of Death. Hethen went to Earth to obtain the firstCosmic Cube. Despite the power hegained from the cube, he was defeat-ed by Captain Mar-Veil and theAvengers. His second schemeinvolved siphoning power from six"soul gems" to build a weapon thatcaused supernovae. Opposed by the
Avengers, Spider Man, and AdamWarlock, Thanos slew Warlock,whose life force was absorbed by hisown soul gem. Thanos defeated theAvengers, but Spider Man and theThing rescued them. Spider Manthen released Warlock's spirit fromthe soul gem, and it turned Thanosto stone.
Because of his exemplary service inlife, Death rewarded Thanos after hisdeath by assigning his soul to Mephis-to's realm, where he now functions asan advisor and lieutenant.
CAPTAIN MARVELMar-Vell of the Kree (deceased)
KNOWN POWERS:Nega-Bands: These Kree weaponsworn on each wrist, provided Mar-Vell with several powers:
* Remarkable body armor.* Flight: Remarkable speeds in theatmosphere; Class 1000 speed inspace.
* Unearthly life support in outerspace.
* Psychic Transfer: Captain Marveland Rick Jones had a psychic linkthrough the bands. Only one of thetwo could exist on Earth at anygiven time, but the two personaecould communicate telepathically.The one who was not on Earth wasin the Negative zone. The transferoccured automatically when the oneon Earth slammed the bandstogether; the other would appearwearing the bands.
Cosmic Awareness: The cosmicbeing Eon granted Captain Marvelthis power at Monstrous rank.Solar Bolts: Captain Marvel had thepower to fire energy bolts of Remark-
able power and range.TALENTS: Mar-Veil used Martial ArtsA and E in combat, and had Militaryand Detective/Espionage skills.CONTACTS: Mar-Veil's friendsincluded Rick Jones, the Avengers,and Drax the Destroyer.BACKGROUND: Mar-Veil, a Kree warhero, was sent to Earth as a pawn ofboth Ronan the Accuser and theSupreme Intelligence (whose schemeswere in conflict); the latter schemerequired the psychic link with Jones.Mar-Veil helped protect the Earth fromKree interference. He aided theAvengers in the Kree-Skrull War andlater against Thanos; Mar-Veil gainedhis solar and cosmic awarenesspowers after these adventures. Hedied of cancer shortly thereafter.
Captain Marvel does not reallyappear in this adventure. Dormam-mu uses one of his powerful magicitems to impersonate Mar-Veil. Dur-ing this period, use the above statsfor Dormammu (though he can callupon his own magical abilities at anytime if need be).
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Karma: 120
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Popularity:-100
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Karma: 90
Resources:Pr(4)
Popularity:55
THE PURPLE MANZebediah Kilgrave (deceased)
KNOWN POWERS:Pheromones: The Purple Man wascapable of releasing powerfulpsycho-active chemicals from hisbody which tended to sap a target'swill and subject him or her to thePurple Man's direct commands. Thispower functions automatically and atMonstrous rank.TALENTS: Purple Man was skilled inMartial Arts A, and also possessedthe Espionage talent.BACKGROUND: Killgrave was aformer Soviet spy who acquired hismind control powers in a bizarrechemical accident. After acquiringhis powers he repeatedly battledDaredevil and Spider Man until heeventually met his end during a bat-tle with the Avengers. After hisdeath, Purple Man's soul was con-fined to Mephisto's realm.
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Karma: 40
Resources:Rm(30)
Popularity:-10
Official Game Adventure
The Left Hand of Eternity
By Ray Winninger
Adventure Book
TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ................................................................................................................... 2 Pregenerated Heroes:
Mantis ......................................................................................................................... 3 Gladiator ..................................................................................................................... 3 Firelord ....................................................................................................................... 4 Beta Ray Bill ................................................................................................................ 5
Chapter 1: The Summons ............................................................................................... 6 Chapter 2: And Now Mephisto ...................................................................................... 7 Chapter 3: A Rock.......................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 4:.. . And A Hot Place ....................................................................................11 Chapter 5: Riddled! ..................................................................................................... 12 Chapter 6: The Iron Labyrinth ................................................................................... 12 Chapter 7: A Tempting Offer ......................................................................................... 14 Chapter 8: From Here To Eternity................................................................................. 16 Chapter 9: At Last Galactus ....................................................................................... 17 Chapter 10: The Darkest Dimension ......................................................................... 19 Chapter 11: Into Hades ................................................................................................ 24 Chapter 12: Where Were You Going? .......................................................................... 27 Chapter 13: Back To Mephisto's Realm ....................................................................... 29 Chapter 14: Null And Voyd ......................................................................................... 29 Epilogue ....................................................................................................................... 32
Map of the Iron Labyrinth............................................................................. Inside Cover Map of Mephisto's Realm ........................................................................... Inside Cover Pregenerated Heroes Summary .................................................................. Inside Cover Mephisto's Hourglass ................................................................................... Inside Cover Map of the Dark Dimension ............................................................................. Map Sheet Map of Death's Inner Sanctum ...................................................................... Map Sheet Landscape Map #1 .......................................................................................... Map Sheet Landscape Map #2 ........................................................................................... Map Sheet
Credits
Design: Ray Winninger Editing: Scott D. Haring Cover Illustration: Mike Machlan and Lori Svikel Interior Illustrations: Angel Medina Maps: Diesel Typesetting: Kim Janke and Betty Elmore Keyline: Stephanie Tabat
TSR, Inc. PRODUCTS OF YOUR IMAGINATIONTM
TSR, Inc. PO Box 756 Lake Geneva, Wl 53147 U.S.A.
This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written consent of TSR, Inc. and Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. Distributed to the book trade in the United States by Random House, Inc., and in Canada by Random House of Canada, Ltd. Distributed to the toy and hobby trade by regional distributors.
MARVEL SUPER HEROES is a trademark of the Marvel Entertainment Group Inc. All Marvel characters, character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of the Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. ©1988 Marvel Entertainment Group Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The TSR logo and PRODUCTS OF YOUR IMAGINATION are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. Game Design ©1988 TSR, Inc. AH Rights Reserved.
The Left Hand of Eternity is a highpowered role-playing adventure forthe MARVEL SUPER HEROES™Game. It contains:— one 16-page Resource Book,describing the major non-playercharacters the heroes will encounterduring play.— one 32-page Adventure Book,describing the player characters,minor non-player characters, and theadventure itself.— a four-color, full-size map depict-ing Dormammu's Dark Dimension,Death's pocket realm, and some ofthe adventure's other important loca-tions.— a facsimile prop of Mephisto'shourglass.— and a summary of the pregener-ated heroes, for reference duringplay (inside back cover).
As judge, review these compo-nents carefully. Running an adven-ture of this scale is quite taxing, andrequires detailed knowledge of thestory, the setting, and the charactersinvolved. After reading the ResourceBook, make sure to keep it handyduring play; you will probably findyourself referring to it constantly.
The pregenerated hero summaryon the back cover provides a readyreference for consultation duringplay. If the players do not use thepregenerated heroes, create a simi-lar reference sheet for their heroes.
Death and Its PlanJust who or what is this Death?
Well, when the Marvel Universe wascreated several thousand eons ago,two beings were born: Eternity andDeath. Eternity is made up of thestars, planets, living creatures, physi-cal objects, and space itself. Death isEternity's opposite, made up ofhatred, famine, plague, and destruc-tion. Ever since their creation, thesetwo beings have been locked in aneternal struggle.
Normally, there is a near-perfectbalance of power between Eternityand Death, with neither able to gainthe upper hand. Since the events
which unfolded in Cosmos Cubed,however, Death has been hatching aplot that will finally tip the scales inits favor, enabling it to destroy Eterni-ty once and for all and gain domina-tion over the universe. Death itselfset into motion the Elders' plotagainst Galactus, knowing full wellwhat would happen when they finallyturned the Cosmic Cube upon him.Death correctly guessed that whilefragmented into individual compo-nents, Galactus would be disorientedand open toward an alliance againstEternity, who would be no match fortheir combined might.
Death hopes to use Galactus'enormous energies to reactivate thecreature known as Voyd, animmensely powerful demon that wasborn out of the emptiness whichbridged the gap between the olduniverse and the new. Shortly afterDeath, Eternity, and the Marvel Uni-verse were created, Voyd fell into adeep slumber, from which he hasnever emerged. If he could be reani-mated, it is almost certain that Voydwould launch an all out assault onEternity in order to restore the uni-verse to the nothingness which cre-ated Voyd in the first place. The twobeings would then destroy each oth-er (and, henceforth almost all of cre-ation), leaving a somewhat depleteduniverse for Death alone. Death hasnever risked using its own powers torejuvenate Voyd, because it believesthat doing so might consume it for-ever.
When the heroes of Earth unex-pectedly interfered and restoredGalactus' memories before his ener-gies could be exploited (in Ragnarokand Roll), however, Death was forcedto modify its plan. By imprisoningGalactus within its realms, Death isstill able to indirectly tap his power.You see, ruling over the Realms ofDeath are a number of Death's loyalservants, called Death gods (Mephis-to, Hela, Pluto, Seth, etc). Each ofthe Death gods is given dominionover a certain portion of Death'srealm in which are imprisoned thesouls of certain dead mortals. TheDeath gods draw their strength and
energies from the souls imprisonedwithin their individual realms. Theamount of power they receive from asoul depends upon how much powerthe soul wielded in life. Imprisoningsomeone as powerful as Galactuswithin the realm of a Death godwould vastly increase his or her ener-gies over time, eventually grantingthe being enough power to awakenthe slumbering Voyd.
After Death reached its amendedagreement with Galactus andbrought him back to its realms, itauctioned off the right to imprisonhim among the Death gods. At theauction, Mephisto won Galactus witha bid of 40 million souls to be distrib-uted to his peers, an offer whichnone of the other Death gods couldtouch.
Needless to say, Mephisto's bidwas very displeasing to the otherDeath gods. With someone as pow-erful as Galactus in his realm,Mephisto would soon be infinitelymore powerful than any of them,granting him greater favor with theirmaster and tipping the cosmic scalesin his favor. This situation was unac-ceptable enough to goad Seth, Hela,and Pluto into striking a secret alli-ance against Mephisto, aimed atgaining control of Galactus for them-selves.
For now, Death has yet to informits minions of its ultimate aims inorder to avoid attracting attention. Itis still waiting for Mephisto tobecome powerful enough to help itrejuvenate Voyd.
Impossible FEATsUse the Impossible FEATs optional
rule on page 15 of the Player's Book.This rule prevents a hero from mak-ing any FEAT roll that has an Intensi-ty which exceeds his or her ability bymore than one rank.
RollcallThis adventure was specifically
designed for a hero team consistingof: Thor, the Silver Surfer, Nova, Doc-tor Strange, Mantis, Gladiator, Fire-lord, and Beta Ray Bill. Descriptions
2
and statistics for the first four heroescan be found in the Judge's Book(Thor, page 39; Silver Surfer, page37; Nova, page 55; Doctor Strange,page 28). The other four are detailedbelow.
Karma PointsAt the end of each chapter, a list of
suggested Karma Point bonuses (orlosses) appears. These points are tobe split evenly among the heroesparticipating in the events of thechapter, though you have the optionof giving more of the points to heroeswho do the lion's share of the work. Ifthe characters elect to form a KarmaPool for the adventure, all KarmaPoint awards go directly to the pool.
MANTIS (Update)Real Name Unrevealed
KNOWN POWERS:Empathy: The Priests of Parma train-ed Mantis to feel the emotions of anyliving creature with Amazing accu-racy. She can now use her empathicabilities to communicate with plantlife anywhere in the universe.Healing: Since becoming the Celes-tial Madonna, Mantis has learned toinstill her life essence into medicinalherbs and poultices to help othersheal with Unearthly effect.Life Support: Because her body isnow composed of mental energy,Mantis can withstand hostile environ-ments (Shift Z protection) for anindefinite time.Plant Control: As Celestial Madonna,Mantis carries the spark of plant lifewithin her body, giving her Unearthlycontrol over all plant life. She maycall upon plants anywhere to do herbidding.Recovery: Mantis has complete con-
trol of her body, which she can use toheal herself with Amazing results.Resistances: Mantis has Incredibleresistance to toxins and diseasesthat affect animal life; but no specialdefenses against diseases that affectvegetable matter.Teleportation: Mantis may transferher life essence into any plant. Shemay even travel across space bytransferring her life essence into aplant on another planet. This abilityacts as Class 1000 Teleportation,with no range limit. Mantis does,however, need several minutes tocreate a new body at her destination.TALENTS:Mantis is skilled in Martial Arts A, B,D, and E. The Priests of Parma alsotrained her in the Resist Dominationtalent.CONTACTS: Mantis is currently aclose friend of the Silver Surfer. Shealso has strong ties to the Avengers.As Celestial Madonna, Mantis borethe son of the eldest Cotati on Earth,so she has strong ties with the tree-like Cotati race. Under desperate
circumstances, Mantis could proba-bly also call upon Shalla Bal, theEmpress of Zenn La. Shalla Bal isthe Silver Surfer's former love, andthe empress of his homeworld.Although she is jealous of Mantis,Shalla Bal would probably aid her ifpossible.
GLADIATORShi'ar
KNOWN POWERS:Invulnerabilities: Gladiator has theequivalent of Unearthly body armoragainst physical and energy attacks.He has Shift Z protection against
3
FASER
IP
40406
306
2050
InInTyRmTy
ExAm
Health: 116
Karma: 76
Resources: Fe(2)
Popularity: 20
FASER
IP
7550
100500100
75500
MnAmUnShift ZUn
MnShift Z
Health: 725
Karma: 675
Resources:Mn(75)
Popularity: 15(100 in theEmpire)
heat, cold, gas, disease, and mostradiation, though it is known that heis vulnerable to certain unspecifiedtypes of radiation.Life Support: Gladiator's constitutionenables him to withstand the rigorsof deep space and hostile environ-ments, giving him the equivalent ofShift Z protection from these forces.Flight: Gladiator can fly both in spaceand in a planet's atmosphere. His airspeed in space is Class 5000, but heslows down in a planet's atmospherein order to prevent the Shockwavesthat his normal flight speed wouldcause on the planet's surface. If he isflying at a safe altitude, Gladiator canfly at Shift Z speeds within an atmos-phere. Otherwise, his speed is lim-ited to Incredible.Psychic Reflection: Any characterthat attempts to make a psionicattack against Gladiator must make ayellow Psyche FEAT roll. If the rollsucceeds, the attacker realizes thenature of Gladiator's psychic defens-es and is able to break off his or herattack at the last moment. If theFEAT roll fails, the character's psio-nic attack is instantly turned backupon him or her, but at -1 CS to itsstrength.Heat Beams: Gladiator can projectheat beams from his eyes whichstrike for Monstrous damage at arange of 10 areas.Heightened Vision: Gladiator's visionis far more accurate than that of anormal person. Consider his Intuitionrank to be Unearthly when rolling todetermine whether or not he canspot a distant person or object.
ITEMS: Gladiator carries an inflat-able incarceration bubble that canhold up to six human-sized oppo-nents. He uses this portable jail cellto carry criminals and subversivesthrough space with him. The materialstrength of the bubble is Monstrous.
CONTACTS: Within the Shi'arEmpire, Gladiator has an untoldnumber of friends ranging from high-level government officials to skilledtechnical craftsmen.
FIRELORDPyreus Kril of Xandar
KNOWN POWERS:Energy Conversion: Firelord possess-es the Unearthly ability to draw incosmic energy from his surroundingsand transform it into useable forms.This may be for sustenance or to fuelhis other powers. The visible mani-festation of this power is the fieryaura emitted from his hair and eyes.Firelord can channel this energy intoseveral Power Stunts that duplicateother powers; these all function atUnearthly rank:Fire GenerationFire ControlGravity ControlHeat GenerationLight GenerationLight ControlPlasma GenerationPlasma ControlRadio GenerationRadiowave ControlSonic GenerationSonic ControlThermal ControlEnergy Sheath: Firelord is surround-ed by a fiery field that gives himAmazing protection against physicaland energy attacks. This field is notactually combustion. It does notdamage anything Firelord touches.However, as a Power Stunt, Firelordcan temporarily increase the intensi-ty of the field, enabling him to doAmazing damage to anything hetouches.Self-Sustenance: Firelord does noteat, drink, or breathe. He has Shift Zprotection against the rigors of spaceor hostile environments.Life Detection: He has the Unearthlyability to detect the presence of lifeenergies within 500 light years.
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7510050
10030
5030
MnUnAmUnRm
AmRm
Health :325
Karma: 110
Resources:Pr(4)
Popularity: 0
Flight: Firelord can attain Class 1000speed. Once his maximum speed isreached he can enter hyperspace toinstantaneously reach any section ofthe universe.Immortality: Due to Galactus' restruc-turing of his body, Firelord wouldhave to be completely disintegratedbefore he could die. Kill results donot affect Firelord, but Slams andStuns do.Staff: Firelord carries a 5-foot rod ofClass 1000 material, using it as afocal point for his cosmic energies.Although he can use his powerswithout the staff, he receives a +1CS to all of his cosmic powers whileusing it.
TALENTS: Firelord was once the firstofficer of a Xandarian starship. Assuch, he possesses Military trainingand Astro-Navigational abilities.
CONTACTS: As Pyreus, he has theNova Corps and the Xandarian peo-ple as a Contact. As Firelord, hisoriginal friend was Galactus. Sincethen he has become friends withThor and Starfox.
BETA RAY BILL(English Translation of Alien Name)
KNOWN POWERS:Body Armor: Bill's bio-engineeredbody provides him with Excellentbody armor.Invulnerability: Beta Ray Bill hasClass 1000 immunity to disease.Resistance: Bill has Shift X resist-ance to heat, cold, electricity, andradiation.Storm Breaker: Storm Breaker isBill's hammer. It was crafted by Odinand the dwarves of Nidavellir, and ismade of the same uru metal as
Health: 80 Karma: 100
Skuttlebutt: Skuttlebutt is Bill's senti-ent starship. This huge warship maymove at Class 1000 speed throughspace. It is armed with blasters(Unearthly damage), and has Inredi-ble reason and armor. Skuttlebutt isself-repairing.Sensor Implant: The scientists thatcreated Bill also grafted a specialsensor into his body. Using this sen-sor, Bill can locate his space fleet'sprecise location across great inter-stellar distances (Class 1000 range).
5
Thor's hammer, Mjolnir. Storm Break-er has the following abilities:* Returning: The hammer alwaysreturns to its thrower's hand and iscaught in the same round it isthrown. Bill can throw the hammerup to 10 areas.
*Weather Control: Bill can use StormBreaker to call storms with Unearth-ly ability. He can also call up light-ning bolts that strike for Monstrousdamage, and can issue these boltsdirectly from the hammer.
* Dimension Travel: By spinning thehammer in a certain fashion, Billcan travel to other dimensions andspan great distances throughspace.
* Flight: By throwing Storm Breakerand grasping its thong, Bill canattain Amazing flight speeds. Hecan then mentally control his flightpath, with the only limit to howmuch the hammer can lift beingBill's own strength.
*Alter Ego: Bill's inhuman visage isthe result of biogenetic changes.Odin has enchanted Bill's hammerwith the ability to transform himback to his original humanoid formupon his will. While in his originalform, Bill's abilities are:
FASER
IP
10030
10010030
2050
UnRmUnUnRm
ExAm
Health: 330
Karma: 100
Resources:10(Gd)
Popularity: 30
FEx
AEx
SEx
EEx
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PAm
SUMMARY: Uatu the Watcher sum-mons the heroes and reminds themof the importance of freeing Galactusfrom the realms of Death.
STARTING: If you have playedthrough ME2—Ragnarok and Roll,this chapter may be unnecessary;see "Alternate Start" below forinstructions. If the heroes do notqualify for the alternate start, Uatuwill summon them to his home on themoon. If you have completed ME2,this summons will come just after theclosing events of that adventure, andjust before the heroes leave Oly-mpus. If not, read the players thesummary of events ("The Story SoFar") found earlier in this booklet,making sure to stop at the sectionlabeled "Death and Its Plan," andinform them that they suddenly findthemselves in the Watcher's hiddencitadel located on the moon. Readthe following text to the players:
ENCOUNTER: The heroes are nowassembled in front of Uatu on themoon. He used his vast powers toteleport them there. All of the heroesautomatically know of Uatu and hisduties, so you might have to providea little background to any of the play-ers that are not familiar with thecharacter from reading Marvel Com-ics.
Uatu's Response to Questions.Uatu is unable to provide any furtherinformation because of his vows ofnon-involvement. If the PCs harrasshim and press for details, he will endthe encounter by simply fading outand leaving them alone on the moon.
Uatu's device. If you are usingyour own heroes for this encounter,and none of them are capable ofinter-dimensional travel, Uatu willprovide the party with one of themany inventions he has stored awayin his home: a small silver globe thathas the Unearthly ability to transporteveryone touching it to the dimen-sion of his or her choice.
Doctor Strange's Knowledge. Atthis point, by making an Occult LoreTalent FEAT roll, Doctor Strange (orany other character with this talent)can draw a few conclusions from thesituation at hand. This FEAT is ofExcellent Intensity (note that DoctorStrange's Reason is Monstrous con-cerning Occult Lore). Successmeans that the character knows:
*AII about the relationship betweenDeath and the Death gods. Fill inany appropriate background infothat the player does not have fromreading the comics.
*That the Death gods and manyother extra-dimensional entities(and probably, ultimately, Death
itself) draw much of their arcanestrength from the souls that areimprisoned within their own individ-ual realms.
*Finally, that the amount of strengththat the Death gods draw from theirprisoners is a function of the pris-oner's own power. A being as pow-erful as Galactus would provide itscaptor with enormous new ener-gies, perhaps trebling the capabili-ties of someone on the order ofMephisto, though this power isacquired gradually.
Alternate Start. At the conclusionof Ragnarok and Roll it is possiblethat Galactus planted telepathic mes-sages in the minds of the heroes,requesting that they come and res-cue him from Death's realm. If thiswas the case, it is quite possible thatthey will make an effort to trackGalactus down and proceed toMephisto's realm without need of anyprompting from the Watcher. Notethat Doctor Strange can easily figureout that Galactus is being held inMephisto's realm by exercising hismagic. In this case, skip the wholeencounter with the Watcher andaward the players the extra Karmadetailed below. If Galactus plantedthe telepathic messages, but theheroes are unsure of how to pro-ceed, go ahead and send them toUatu. In any case, allow DoctorStrange (or any other character withthe appropriate Talent) to make theknowledge FEAT roll discussedabove.
AFTERMATH: The heroes shouldnow be determined to proceed toMephisto's realm in search of Galac-tus. Traveling to this dimension isautomatically successful for theWatcher's Device or any of the pre-generated characters with the appro-priate powers.
KARMA:Attacking Uatu: -80Agreeing to go after Galactus: +10Going after Galactus without anyprompting from the Watcher: +15
6
Suddenly, you find yourselvesamongst a row of gleeming bluemetallic structures on the star-litsurface of the moon. Before you isthe being you have come to recog-nize as Uatu, the Watcher. For amoment, Uatu stands expression-less and absolutely still. Just asyou are beginning to become rest-less, however, his slight frame andover-sized cranium are suddenlygracefully animated.
"Greetings once again, myfriends. You have done well so far,but one final task remains beforeyou. Galactus must be freed fromthe realms of Death. His continu-ing presence there is a threat tothe entire cosmos.
This will undoubtedly be yourmost harrowing challenge yet.Part of the bargain that Galactusmade with Death is that a mortalmust be given the opportunity towin his freedom; but exactly howthat is to be accomplished was leftunspecified. In order to accom-plish your quest, you will be forcedto subject yourselves to the termsof Death and its minions, and bat-
tie on their home ground.At this moment, Galactus is
being held in the realm of Mephis-to, one of Death's many vassals.Mephisto's realm would make afitting destination. I am afraid thatmy vows of non-interference pre-vent me from giving you any fur-ther information."
SUMMARY: The heroes travel toMephisto's dimension in search ofGalactus, quickly meeting up withMephisto himself, who lays down theconditions they must meet in order tofree Galactus.
STARTING: Whatever form of trans-port the heroes used to travel toMephisto's domain is nearly instanta-neous. They soon find themselvesperched among the fiery landscapesof the demon lord's realm. Read thefollowing text to the players:
Mephisto's Realm. There are afew peculiar abnormalities that mani-fest themselves in Mephisto'sdomain. The following are all physi-cal laws within Mephisto's dimen-sion. They are all as absolutelyinviolable as the law of gravity on ourown world:
*Any promise or pact that is made bya sentient creature while within theboundaries of Mephisto's realmmust be kept. Once you give yourword on something, you are abso-lutely bound to it. Of course, thislaw effects Mephisto and his fol-lowers as well.
*The mechanics of flight are greatlychanged within Mephisto's dimen-sion. None of the PCs will be ableto use any sort of flight power withinMephisto's realm due to the radical-ly different physics. Mephisto andhis followers, however, have adapt-ed to the alien environment and canfly at will.
7
Mephisto's realm is a dreadfullydark place; the only light is a faintred glow that fills the air overhead.You are currently standing on avast plain of cracked granite thatstretches out in all directions for asfar as you can see. All about you isthe harsh stink of brimstone,though the air is still and calm.
It is almost too quiet here. Theonly noise you can hear is a faintmoaning which seems to be com-ing from everywhere, andnowhere.
*And finally, using the dimensiontravel power to enter or leaveMephisto's realm is only possible inthe First Circle (see below).
ENCOUNTER: Just after the playersget their bearings and decide upon acourse of action, the red sky over-head will suddenly be split by fiercelightning. As the lightning stormbegins to intensify, the groundbeneath the heroes feet starts torumble and split. Ask the players toposition their characters on Land-scape #1 (found on the reverse ofthe game map), and enact thesequence of events described below:
*On the first round of combat, roll3D10 and find each of the threenumbers you rolled on the diagrambelow. The trembling ground opensup a rift in each of these spaces. Ifany hero is in a space that opens arift, he or she must make a Remark-able Intensity Agility FEAT roll inorder to avoid falling into the open-ing rift for Amazing damage. A heroin an adjacent area that passes anIncredible Agility FEAT roll cancatch a comrade that is about to fallinto the rift, preventing him or herfrom taking any damage.
*Beginning on the second round ofcombat, three of Mephisto's demon-ic thralls (see the Resource Bookfor stats) begin arriving at the siteper round. The demons will instant-ly begin attacking the heroes fromthe air and will not cease fightinguntil they have been knocked out.
On the second round and eachround thereafter, make two morerolls to check for possible rifts. Afterthe first round of combat, the trem-bling becomes more intense (AgilityFEAT rolls are now Incredible andAmazing Intensity; and, beginningon round four, damage is Mon-strous). Due to their familiarity withthe area, Mephisto's demonicthralls are immune to the effects ofthe rifts and the lightning (seebelow).
*Beginning on the third round ofcombat, fierce lightning beginsstriking the battlefield. There is a 3
in 10 chance that the lightning willattack a random hero per round.The lightning attacks with Mon-strous Agility and does Monstrousdamage.
The lightning storm is consideredto be of Shift Y intensity for thepurpose of any efforts the heroesmake to control or dissipate it (byusing Thor's or Beta Ray Bill's ham-mers, for example).
*On the sixth round of combat, theentire battlefield suddenly eruptsand churns. Each hero that doesnot pass an Incredible IntensityAgility FEAT takes Amazing dam-age. At this point, any of Mephisto'sthralls that remain will flee the area.
*On the seventh round of battle,Mephisto himself springs upthrough the huge breach in ground.At this point, he already hasabsorbed much of the power gener-ated by keeping Galactus captive inhis realm, and uses the bracketedstatistics found in the ResourceBook. In his new form, Mephisto is100 feet tall and takes up five adja-cent areas. He is now so powerfulthat he instantly detected theheroes' intrusion into his realm andarranged this little encounter as anuisance for them. He says to thecharacters:
As Mephisto speaks, raw energycrackles about his person. It shouldbe obvious to the players that in hissupercharged state, Mephisto ismore than a match for the group ofthem. If they persist and attack thedemon lord anyway, Mephisto willuse his vast powers to quickly inca-pacitate the heroes and repeat hisquestion. If Doctor Strange or anyother hero(es) with the Occult Knowl-edge Talent failed their FEAT rolls in
Chapter 1, allow them to try again.The Intensity of the roll is now Good.Success means that the charactergains all the information outlined inChapter 1 (and hence understandswhy Mephisto is suddenly so muchmore powerful than he has everbeen before).
Bargaining with Mephisto. Atsome point, the heroes will probablyconfess that they have come to res-cue Galactus. At the mere sugges-tion of a rescue, Mephisto will loudlybellow and inform the players thatflight is impossible; Galactus mustremain in the underworld forever.
The heroes must now remindMephisto that part of the pact thatGalactus made with Death statedthat a mortal had to be given theopportunity to free him. Mephisto willthen grudgingly concede this pointand offer the following conditions forGalactus' freedom:
*In order to free Galactus, theheroes must reach him. If theyaccept his terms, Mephisto will tellthe heroes exactly where Galactusis; but they must reach him on theirown. The instant the heroes reachand free Galactus, Mephisto willallow them all to leave his realm.
*Mephisto is not allowed to use hisown personal powers to impede theheroes on their quest in any way;but his agents and lackeys maymolest them at will.
*And finally, the heroes only have 24hours in which to find and rescueGalactus. If they fail to do so withina 24-hour period, they too mustremain prisoners within Mephisto'srealm for all eternity!
AFTERMATH: Once the heroesaccept Mephisto's conditions (theyreally have no choice in the matter;Mephisto will refuse to agree to any-thing less), the demon lord willpresent them with a map markingGalactus' location. (A copy of themap is on the inside front cover ofthe module.) Mephisto's realm isdivided into nine seperate "circles."Galactus is located in the third circle.Each circle is actually a small pocket
8
"FOOLISH MORTALS. Who daresenter my domain? Although Iadmit that I admire your pluck, itwill still be immensely gratifying towatch you suffer in the pit for alleternity. Before I cast you down,however, pray tell what inspiredthis astounding feat of bravado?"
dimension unto itself, and passingfrom one to the next is oftenextremely challenging. Mephisto willthen conjure up a large hourglassthat will begin to tick off their remain-ing time. From now on, the heroesactions will be rigidly timed. As theheroes' time winds down, use thehourglass prop found on the insidecover to keep the players constantlyaware of the time they have remain-ing. As each hour passes, slide the"sand" piece down another notch(see the prop instructions on theinside cover). When the heroesfinally begin their quest, proceed toChapter 3.
KARMA:Attacking Mephisto: -20Rescuing another hero from fallinginto a rift: +5Completing the chapter without tak-ing any damage: +5Agreeing to Mephisto's terms: +10
REFEREE'S MAP: LANDSCAPE #1
1
3
2
8
7
4
5
9
10
6
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SUMMARY: While making their waythrough the first circle of Mephisto'srealm, the heroes must cross either aseemingly impenetrable mountainrange or a boiling sea.
STARTING: As soon as the heroesdecide to set out after Galactus, readthe following text to the players:
ENCOUNTER: The players mustchoose which route they wish totake. If they decide to cross themountains, refer to the encounterdescribed below, if they decide tocross the sea, go to Chapter 4; andafter they successfully cross eitherthe mountains or the sea, go toChapter 5.
The Mountains. The first step intraversing the mountains is to climbup and over the foothills. Have every-one make a Remarkable IntensityAgility FEAT roll. Climbing the foot-hills will take approximately twohours (mark off the time). If any ofthe heroes failed their Agility rolls,add an extra hour. If, however, any ofthe heroes received a red result ontheir Agility FEAT rolls, subtract anhour (if one hero fails and one heroreceives a red result the climb takestwo hours).
At the top of the foothills, the heroeswill suddenly find themselves plungedinto the midst of a frightening land-scape. Chained to crags, outcroppingsand peaks all across the mountainchain are millions of moaning humansclothed in tattered rags. These beingsare among Mephisto's many captivesouls, and are chained up in themountains as part of their torment.Every six hours, a huge flock of vul-tures swoops down on the mountainsand plucks out the livers of the cap-tives, which then magically grow backfor the vultures' return. From this van-tage point, the mountains all about theheroes seem to be several miles high,and quite steep. It will take approxi-mately six hours to climb over themountain range. If any hero tries toestimate how long the climb will take,make a secret Excellent Intensity Rea-son FEAT roll for him or her (makingsure to ask the player whether or nothe or she wishes to spend any Kar-ma). If this roll succeeds inform theplayer that the climb will take about sixhours; if the roll fails, inform the playerthat the climb will take about three
hours. If the heroes attempt the climb,have each of them make a Remark-able Intensity Agility FEAT Roll. Theclimb will take six hours plus one addi-tional hour for each hero that failed theAgility roll, minus one hour for eachhero that received a red result on theAgility roll (the climb takes a minimumof two hours). Make sure to give theheroes a chance to spend Karma.
There is, however, a faster waythrough the mountains. Just after theheroes cross the foothills and begin tothink about beginning their climb, avoice will call out to them from one ofthe outcroppings. The voice belongs tothe Purple Man, one of the many deadsouls chained up in the mountains(see the Resource Book—the heroeswill instantly recognize the Purple Manfrom his purple skin and the tatteredremains of his uniform). Read thefollowing text to the players:
The Purple Man is, of course, refer-ring to the vultures which will be arriv-ing again in exactly two hours. If theheroes try to question him in moredetail he will only babble hysterically,"Please, there is only a couple ofhours left. You have to drive themaway. I'll tell you how to get out of themountains." If any of the heroes iscapable of mind reading or some simi-lar feat, however, he or she can learnall about the vultures (and can evendiscover the location of the PurpleMan's pass—see below).
If the heroes wait around to seewhat the Purple Man was babblingabout, the flock of vultures will arrivetwo hours later, and will begin attack-ing all of the captives and heroesalike. Treat the entire flock as onecombined creature with the followingstats:
10
After travelling on toward the loca-tion indicated on Mephisto's mapfor approximately one hour (markoff one hour on the hourglassprop), you emerge from a smallforest to find yourselves face-to-face with a rather perplexingdilemma: ahead of you and to thewest there lies a steep chain ofdark mountains, to the east a vastsea which bubbles and spits asthough it were boiling! In order toreach your destination, you must
cross either the mountains or thesea. Both routes look extremelyperilous.
Wait, you've got to help me! Youcan't leave me like this. Look, youwant to know how to get throughthe mountains, right? Well I knowwhere there is a pass. Just drivethem away and I'll tell you. Hurry,there isn't much time now. Please.
Slams and Stuns have no effectagainst the flock of vultures, and theflock can attack each and every one ofthe heroes each round. If the heroessucceed in "knocking the flock uncon-scious," the vultures fly away andleave their victims in peace for themoment. In this case, a grateful Purple
Man will also give the heroes direc-tions on how to reach a pass whichwill lead them right out of the moun-tains in two hours.
The heroes may also try to free thePurple Man. The chains that are bind-ing him to the rock are made of Shift Xmaterial. If the heroes succeed inreleasing the Purple Man before thevulture flock returns, he will gratefullygive them the location of the mountainpass and flee.
AFTERMATH: After the heroes havecrossed the mountain range, go toChapter 5.
KARMA:Crossing the mountains: +10Driving off the vultures: +10Freeing the Purple Man: +5Refusing to aid the Purple Man: -10
SUMMARY: The heroes cross aboiling sea while making their wayacross the First Circle of Mephisto'sdomain.
STARTING: As the heroes approachthe water, read the following text:
ENCOUNTER: If the heroes decide tocross the sea, they must first decideon some sort of conveyance. Amake-shift raft can be constructedfrom the trees of the nearby forest inone hour. If the players come up withsome other plan, use your ownjudgement. Actually crossing the seawill take five hours with the heroes
paddling. Lower this time down tothree hours if the players come upwith some clever method of propulsion(for example, the heroes could allstand on the Silver Surfer's surfboardand use its powers to glide themalong; or they could make a sail out ofhandy cape and Thor could conjure upa strong wind to blow them across).
In any case, half way across the seathe water's churning and bubbling willbecome more ferocious; and anine-headed serpent will suddenlyspring from the depths and attack. Theserpent has the following stats:
Each of the serpent's heads canattack seperately each and everyround. The serpent also has theequivalent of Remarkable resistanceto physical and energy attacks.
By the way, the sea is, in fact,boiling. Anyone (other than theserpent) that falls in the water takesIncredible heat damage each rounduntil pulled from the water. Whilefighting, the serpent will always useone of its nine heads to rock theheroes' boat, causing each of them topass an Excellent Intensity AgilityFEAT roll to avoid falling into the water.
AFTERMATH: When the playersreach the other side of the water, go toChapter 5.
KARMA:Crossing the sea: +10Crossing the sea in less than fivehours: +10
11
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Health: 325 Karma: 34
Ahead of you the sea bubbles andthrashes profusely. A strange odorhangs in the air over the animatedbody of water. There are no signs oflife (of course), or even motionanywhere.
Perhaps worst of all, however, isthe fact that the other side of thesea appears to be so far away. F
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Fe
Health: 350 Karma: 34
SUMMARY: The heroes have finallyreached the iron tower that serves asa portal to the Second Circle, but inorder to cross over they must firstsolve a riddle to activate the gate.
STARTING: Read the following textto the players:
ENCOUNTER: The tower is totallydeserted and can be entered throughan unlocked portal on the groundfloor. Inside there is a set of stair-cases that lead up to a small roomon the top floor. The room itself iscompletely empty, save for thespread jawbones of what appears to
have been a huge shark, which hangupon one wall. Between the shark'sjaws lies the shimmering portal to thesecond circle of Mephisto's realm.Written in blood above the jawbonesis the following:
In order for the heroes to passthrough the barrier to the next circle,one of them must answer the riddlealoud. The answer, of course, is"iron." If none of the players are ableto answer the riddle after discussingit for a while, begin the followingproceedure: Have one of the heroes(their choice) make an ExcellentIntensity Reason FEAT roll eachgame hour (make sure to mark off
the hour on the hourglass). If this rollsucceeds, the players are entitled toone of the hints below. If the roll fails,the heroes must sit around foranother hour and ponder the riddle.Keep making these rolls until theplayers finally answer the riddle.
HINT 1: Whatever it is, it runs inveins and is only susceptible to heat.
HINT 2: The combination of airand water seems to have a badeffect on the item.
HINT 3: "Steal" could mean"Steel."
HINT 4: The answer must be iron.AFTERMATH: The heroes shouldnow be entering the second circle ofMephisto's realm. Proceed to Chap-ter 6.
KARMA:Passing through to the Second Cir-cle: + 10Solving the riddle with no hints (firstplayer to do so): +15
SUMMARY: The heroes make theirway through the second circle ofMephisto's realm and pass into thethird while being closely pursued byMephisto's agents. Along the waythey encounter the Dread Dormam-mu, who is posing as their fallencomrade Captain Marvel in order totrick them into aiding him in stealingGalactus for himself.
STARTING: This encounter immedi-ately follows the events of Chapter 5.Read the following text to the players:
ENCOUNTER: The heroes must nownegotiate the labyrinth in order tomake their way out of the secondcircle. Referring to the map on theinside cover, describe to the playersthe distances and directions in whichthey may move, and ask them tomake choices until they are out ofthe maze (do not let the players seean overhead view of the maze itself;note that clever players will probablymap out their progress so they won'tbecome lost). Beginning at theinstant you finish reading the abovetext to the players, time their prog-ress through the maze (in real time).Every five minutes of real time that
passes in the maze is equal to onehour of game time (mark off time thatpasses on the hourglass). Time tak-en up by encounters with "CaptainMarvel" and Mephisto's hunters(described below) do not count thesame way—for simplicity's sake,don't count them against the timespent at all. At the end of the maze ishuge iron gate that leads directly tothe third circle.
Mephisto's Forces. After theheroes were able to pass out of thefirst circle, Mephisto began tobecome a bit concerned about theirchances of success. He has sincesent out his special lieutenant,Thanos (see the Resource Book),and a number of his followers to stopthem. The hounds that the heroescan hear echoing through the laby-rinth are the hell hounds thatThanos' forces are using to track
12
After crossing (insert either themountains or the sea), you findyourselves on a wind-blown des-ert. The desert seems to stretchon away from the mountains andthe sea forever. The only notice-able feature on the entire land-scape is a small iron tower,approximately 30 feet high.
He who would descend into thenext realm must first answer thisquery:
Kneeling 'fore heat, coursingthrough vein; Air is its foe, waterits bane. At times 'tis a steal; butnot a crime. And at this point, I'llend this rhyme.
After stepping through the portal,you suddenly find yourselves with-in a hideous iron structure. Corri-dors and accessways snake off inevery direction, and coccooned allacross the walls are thousandsand thousands of wailing humans,
their moans carried through thecomplex on an icy wind. Some-where off in the distance you hearthe loud baying of hounds.
them down. As the heroes passthrough the labyrinth, the baying ofthe hounds will begin sounding clos-er and closer (clever players willrealize that they are being tracked).
Depending upon how clever orlucky the players are, Thanos willeither reach the heroes before theyencounter Captain Marvel (seebelow), just before they leave thecircle, or not at all. Just before theheroes are about to reach CaptainMarvel, have any of the heroes (theirchoice), and Thanos each makeExcellent Intensity Reason FEATRolls. There is a -1 CS penalty toThanos' roll for each of the stagnantpools shown on the labyrinth map inwhich the heroes decided to stopand wash themselves in order toweaken their scents. If the playerscome up with any other clever meth-ods of throwing off the dogs (such asbacktracking, splitting up, etc.) youshould assess further penalties rang-ing from -1 CS to -3 CS.
If the result of Thanos' roll is betterthan that of the hero's roll, he and histroops will reach the party beforethey encounter Captain Marvel. If theresults are equal, Thanos will reachthe party just before they leave thecircle (i.e., exit the labyrinth). If thehero's result is better than Thanos',the party evades the pursuit altogeth-er. If and when Thanos meets theheroes, he will be accompanied by12 of Mephisto's demonic thralls (seethe Resource Book). If "CaptainMarvel" is with the heroes when theymeet up with Thanos, he will aidthem against Thanos and thedemons (use the stats for the "real"Captain Marvel for this encounter).The hellhounds do not join the battle.During the battle, make sure androleplay Thanos' reaction to encoun-tering his old enemies once again (if,in fact, any of the heroes are his oldenemies), and encourage the playersto do likewise. Thanos and his fol-lowers, of course, will fight theheroes until defeated.
If, by some strange twist of fate,Thanos manages to defeat theheroes, you have two options: youcan either rule that the heroes have
failed in their mission (in a CosmicLevel adventure, every battle holdsthe utmost importance), meaningthat it is time to design anotheradventure in which a NEW group ofheroes attempts to stop Death'splan; or you can have Dormammu/Captain Marvel show up (if he is notpresent already, see below) and usehis magic to defeat Thanos and hisforces after all of the heroes areunconscious (assume that this will beautomatically successful). When theheroes awake, they will find "CaptainMarvel" standing over them.
Captain Marvel. Once the heroesare roughly half-way through themaze (use your own judgement), oneof them will recognize a familiarvoice among those trapped againstthe walls, that of their ex-ally CaptainMarvel (if you are not using the pre-generated heroes included with theadventure, explain to the players thatCaptain Marvel is a a powerful herothat died defending the Earth; in anycase, the Captain will recognize theheroes. Read the players the follow-ing text:
Of course, this is not the real Cap-tain Marvel, who would have neverended up in Mephisto's realm. It isthe Dread Dormammu, who is mas-querading himself as the heroes' oldfriend in order to trick them into help-ing him. While he was banished tolimbo, Dormammu discovered aunique Mystical object that enableshim to impersonate Captain Marvelso well that none of the heroes haveANY chance to detect his deception.
Any magical or other efforts to ascer-tain whether or not the Captain isreal will all indicate that he is. If theheroes release him, Captain Marvel/Dormammu will aid them in any wayhe can (without revealing his truenature) until the party reaches Galac-tus in Chapter 9.
If the heroes refuse to free theCaptain, he will begin howling andthrashing wildly within his cocoon.Then, just before the heroes leavethe circle he will show up againclaiming to have freed himself. Hewill then begin following the partyand will demand to aid them on theirquest. If the heroes refuse to letMarvel accompany them, Dormam-mu will reveal his true nature anduse his sleep dust to incapacitate theparty. Just as the heroes fall asleep,Dormammu will gloat and informthem that he is after Galactus him-self in order to draw upon Galactus'power so he can reconquer the DarkDimension and eventually the Earth.He will then retrieve Galactus himselfand take him off to the Dark Dimen-sion. When the heroes wake up,anyone that can pass an ExcellentIntensity Reason FEAT roll can figureout that Galactus has been removedfrom Mephisto's realm (the environ-ment seems a lot less hostile now). Itshould then be relatively easy tofigure out that Dormammu has takenGalactus to the Dark Dimension.Proceed to Chapter 10.
AFTERMATH: The heroes (undermost circumstances) should now bepassing into the Third Circle, accom-panied by "Captain Marvel" (TheDread Dormammu). Proceed toChapter 7.
See the instructions above in theevent that the heroes refuse to allowCaptain Marvel to join them.
KARMA:Getting through the maze: +10Avoiding Thanos: +30Defeating Thanos: +15Refusing to aid "Captain Marvel":-30Seeing through Dormammu's decep-tion: + 30
13
It is hard to imagine, but the night-mare just became even worse.Among those trapped against thecold iron wall is Captain Marvel,your former comrade in arms."(insert heroes' names), thank thestars you're here," he screams."You've got to help me. I don'tbelong here, there has been amistake. Please, get me out ofhere. Please." The material thatbinds Captain Marvel to the wall isof Monstrous strength.
SUMMARY: After making their waythrough the Iron Labyrinth of theSecond Circle, the heroes enter theThird Circle and and are chased intothe Realm of Temptation whilesearching for Galactus.
STARTING: After the heroes emergefrom the labyrinth, they find them-selves standing on a large, rockyplain beneath a completely darkenedsky. Read the following text:
ENCOUNTER: There are, in fact,exactly 1000 of Mephisto's demonicfoot soldiers. (see the ResourceBook for stats). Mephisto has dis-patched this army to stop the heroes.As soon as it emerges from the foot-hills, the army will immediatelycharge. There heroes now have twooptions: fight or flight. If they decideto fight, assume that the demonsoccupy a position that is ten areasacross and ten areas deep (there areten demons in each area). Onlydemons that occupy an area adja-cent to a hero can attack, though
many of the heroes possess powersthat may enable them to attack morethan one area at a time. If the heroesdecide to stay and fight, CaptainMarvel/Dormammu will stick aroundand help them (use Captain Marvel'sstats for this encounter). If theheroes win, the entire battle will havelasted approximately one hour. If theheroes lose, you have the same twooptions you had if the heroes lost toThanos in the last Chapter: eitherrule the heroes failed and start over,or have Dormammu secretly savethe party with his magic (automati-cally successful). Considering theodds that they are up against, it isprobably a much better idea for theheroes to flee. If they decide to doso, have them select a direction andmake a break for it. The demon armymoves at approximately two areasper round. The heroes probablymove much faster, and they beginwith a 500-yard head start.
After running for about 500 yards(11 areas), the heroes will come tothe craggy chain of hills that encir-cles the valley. The huge bouldersand loose rocks scattered all acrossthe hills are very loosely packed,making any attempts to scamper upthe hills quite difficult. Everyone thattries to climb the hills must make anExcellent Intensity Agility FEAT roll.Success means that he or shereached the top of the hill; Failuremeans that he or she remains stuckat the bottom of the hill and must tryagain next round (while the demonsget two areas closer). Once they areall at the top of the hill, clever playersmay hit upon the idea of attackingtheir pursuers with a rockslide. Anyattack which inflicts Amazing dam-age or better that is aimed at the topof the hill will send all of the looserocks and boulders rolling down onthe demonic army, automaticallydestroying it.
If the players don't think of this,they will have to come up with someother way to elude the army. On theother side of the hills are more rockyplains, another 500 yards past thehills (in which ever direction theheroes decided to flee) is a vast river
(four areas across) of bubbling acidthat cuts in front of the heroes. Thedemonic army cannot cross this riv-er; if the heroes do so, they haveeluded their pursuers. The river, how-ever, does Amazing damage to any-one that is brought in contact with itswaters each round (though theheroes may easily come up withsome application of their powerswhich will get them across withouthaving to actually enter the river).The heroes may also decide that theriver is dangerous and switch direc-tions, parallelling its course. In anycase, once the heroes are 25 ormore areas ahead of the army, theyhave lost their pursuers.
The Storm. Just after it becomesobvious that the heroes have evadedthe demon army, the sky turns evendarker and the lightning stormbegins to intensify. Following a loudhowl which fills the air (and seems tohave come from Mephisto himself), atorential downpour of acid rainbegins. The rain does Monstrousdamage to each of the heroes forevery hour they travel through it,though the party will have littlechoice but to continue on. The rain-storm is of Shift Z Intensity for thepurposes of any weather controlattempts, and prevents Mantis fromusing her healing powers for theentire period she is exposed to therain.
The Castle. After traveling throughthe rain for about three hours, theheroes come across a weatheredand wind-beaten silver castle. If theywish to enter the castle in order totemporarily escape from the rain,they can easily open the large frontgate and step inside. Inside the cas-tle, the heroes find themselves in alarge plush chamber with a fullystocked banquet table and chairs.Soon after they enter, a man emerg-es from an adjacent room and identi-fies himself as "The Keeper."
14
You come out of the winding ironof Mephisto's Second Circle andimmediately find yourselves jettedinto equally disturbing surround-ings. Stretching out in all direc-tions is a vast rocky valley, with aseries of craggy hills encirclingyou at a distance of approximately500 yards. Above you, the sky ispitch black; all of the local illumi-nation is provided by the occas-sional bolt of fiery red lightningthat tears across the landscape.Unfortunately, according toMephisto's map you still have along distance to travel before youshould reach Galactus.
Just as you are about to set outonce again, you hear a menacingsnarl from the hills behind you."There they are," a voice shouts,"the enemies of the master. Theymust die at all costs!" With that,Mephisto's thralls begin pouringout from behind the foothills—andkeep pouring out. There must behundreds of them!
FGd
AAm
SAm
EShX
RShX
IShX
PShX
Health: 260 Karma: 450
The Keeper
Read the following text to the play-ers:
Whatever any of the heroes asksfor (with the exception of Galactus,or any knowledge that could beharmful to Mephisto), the Keeperwill, in fact, grant them. This caninclude (but is not limited to) healingall of their wounds, the knowledgewhich will permit them to use theirflight powers, or almost anythingelse. There is, of course, a catch.The silver castle is known as theRealm of Temptation. If any of theheroes accepts anything from theKeeper, he or she will automaticallywish to remain in the castle for onehour. At the end of the hour, he orshe must then pass an AmazingIntensity Psyche FEAT roll to avoidasking for something else (exactlywhat is up to the player and the GM)and thus staying another hour, etc.
Any heroes that are under thespell of the castle will absolutelyrefuse to leave; the others heroesmust physically remove them if theywish to go (and any enchantedheroes will automatically do anythingin their power to defend themselvesshort of spending Karma). Attackingthe Keeper will have no effect on thespell of the castle whatsoever (ifpossible, the Keeper will flee toanother part of the castle as soon asany fighting starts). The spell onlyloses its effects as soon as the
affected hero(es) are either removedfrom the castle minus any items theyaccepted from the Keeper, or theymake their Psyche FEAT rolls whichprevent them from asking for any-thing else.
If all of the heroes refuse to acceptanything from the Keeper (which isquite likely, they should be very sus-picious of such offers while onMephisto's home turf), he will con-tinue his attempts to persuade themfor as long as they remain within thecastle. Eventually, the Keeper willbegin offering the heroes extremelypowerful alien weapons, and exoticsuper-devices in desperation (useyour imagination). All the time theheroes are within the Realm of Temp-tation, "Captain Marvel" will remainquiet and try to avoid attracting anyattention to himself. He will notaccept anything from the Keeperunless the other heroes do so, andwill join in on any attempt to removeenchanted heroes from the castle.
True to the Keeper's word, the rainwill stop exactly one hour after theheroes enter the castle. If the groupavoids the castle altogether (or ifthey leave before the hour is up), theheroes are only subjected to onemore hour of rain.
AFTERMATH: If the heroes knockthe Keeper unconscious and searchthe castle, they will find piles ofwealth and exotic weapons anddevices everywhere. If anyone takesany of these items, he or she is sub-ject to the castle's spell. Otherwise,there is nothing else of interest with-in. After the heroes make their waypast the Realm of Temptation, theywill be very close to the spot whereGalactus is supposedly being kept.Proceed to Chapter 8.
KARMA:Defeating the army of foot sol-diers: + 10Avoiding the army: +40Avoiding the castle: +10Attacking the Keeper withoutprovocation: -25Accepting anything from the Keeper(per thing accepted): -10
15
Inside the silver castle, you findyourselves in a brightly lit cham-ber decorated with tropical plantsand lush tapestries. Before you isa fully stocked banquet table. Thisentire area seems quite out ofplace in Mephisto's holdings.
Suddenly, a thin balding manemerges from a nearby room."Ah, how do you do, my friends? Iam called the Keeper. Is thereanything I can bring you? Perhapsyou would like something to eat.The rain should stop in anotherhour or so, so you may as wellmake yourselves comfortable fornow."
SUMMARY: Just before they reachthe area within the Third Circlewhere Mephisto is keeping Galactus.the heroes encounter a strange trav-eller in a dark forest who providesthem with some cryptic advice.
STARTING: After leaving the Realmof Temptation and travelling for aboutten minutes, the heroes will enter adeep forest composed of abnormallytall and twisted trees. Read the fol-lowing text:
ENCOUNTER: As the heroes passby, someone is indeed calling out tothem. The further they go on downthe trail, the clearer the voice willbecome. It is calling out to each ofthe heroes by name. Just after all ofthe heroes are aware of the voice, athin, bald man dressed in loose whiterobes will climb down out of the treesbehind them and address them in afriendly voice. Perhaps to theiramazement, the heroes will be com-pletely unable to detect this figurebefore he reveals himself, no matterwhat measures they use. Read thefollowing text to the players:
The stranger that is confrontingthe adventurers is actually Eternityitself, though it will not reveal its truenature to the heroes. Eternity hasused its vast powers to enter Mephis-to's realm completely undetected inorder to help the heroes in theirquest. Unknown to Death, Eternityhas known all about its plans to reac-tivate Voyd all along. Eternity hasbeen carefully observing the actionsof its sibling ever since the events ofCosmos Cubed, and has onlyrefrained from using its enormousenergies to interfere because it hasplans of its own. Eternity is secretlytrying to engineer a greater good thatis to arise from Death's plans due to
16
About ten minutes outside of thesilver castle you come upon athick tangle of woods thatstretches out to each side for asfar as you can see. According tothe map that Mephisto gave you,Galactus lies in a valley just pastthe glen. The trees and leavesalike are all various shades ofblack, and seem to tangle andtwist in an ever-increasing numberof directions. There is only a sin-gle narrow path that leads throughthe choke of tangled vegetationand shrubs, and the thought ofplodding blindly along makes youmore than a little nervous. In fact,you are already hearing a littlerustling in the treetops overhead.It almost sounds as though some-one is calling out to you.
"Fear not, my friends. I am not anenemy; I am here to help you. Iam a friend of Uatu. So far, you
have done very well. You are verynear your goal now, and should bereaching Galactus quite soon—though I believe it is ratherunlikely that your quest will end inthe immediate future. Before youcontinue on, Uatu asked me tomake sure that you have given alittle thought to the broader issuesthat are at hand. Why is it, forinstance, that Death proposed thatGalactus remain imprisoned with-in its realms in the first place?Why has Death placed Galactus inMephisto's realm? And, whatexactly does Death hope toaccomplish with Mephisto's new-found power? There is quite obvi-ously some sort of sinister schemethat lies behind all of this. I amafraid I can only give you one verybrief piece of advice. Listen verycarefully, my friends: Very soonyou will find yourselves in a darklibrary. On the third shelf from thetop, on the west wall, three booksfrom the left, you will find a tomeentitled Nature and Being. Look topage 38 of this work for theanswers to many of these ques-tions. Oh, and a warning: Mephis-to is not necessarily your most
dangerous opponent. Death'sdecision to place Galactus withinMephisto's domains has upset theinfernal balance and made manyof the other so-called "Deathgods" very envious of Mephisto'snewfound power. They, too, willalmost certainly be out to getGalactus for themselves, as willone or two other inhabitants of thevarious dark dimensions. Expectthese marauders to turn up whenyou least expect them."
the actions of the heroes.Talking Back to Eternity. Eternity
will not leave immediately after deliv-ering its speech, but there is verylittle that it can do to further aid theadventurers. If Eternity were to takea more direct role in the proceed-ings, it would risk attracting theattention of Death, and possiblyupsetting its own master plan (seethe Epilogue). No matter how longthe heroes stop and talk to Eternity,NO time is marked off on the hour-glass. For the duration of their con-versation, Eternity has stopped timeitself!
What if the Heroes are RunningOut of Time? The obstacles thathave stood between the heroes andreaching Galactus within the 24-hourtime limit have been formidable; butif the players have been skillful (or
lucky) up to this point, there shouldbe plenty of time left on Mephisto'shourglass to find Galactus in the nextchapter. But what if the players havemade mistakes?
You have two options: First, youcan always rule that the heroes havefailed in their quest. If this course ofaction does not appeal to you, how-ever, you can mysteriously add a fewmore hours to the hourglass and putit down to Eternity risking the use ofhis tremendous powers over time inorder to aid the heroes. Of course,don't tell the players why they sud-denly have four hours remainingwhen they had but two a few minutesago; let them try to figure it out ontheir own.
AFTERMATH: After the mysteriousold man has finished chatting with
the heroes, he will suddenly vanishinto thin air, allowing them to con-tinue on toward Galactus, who lies ina shallow valley just outside the for-est, at least one hour's travel away.Exactly how far away the valley liesdepends upon how much time theheroes have left. The number ofhours they have left on the hourglassminus one is how long the heroesmust travel in order to reach the val-ley (we have to make things excitinghere!). When they reach the valley,refer to Chapter 9.
KARMA:Listening to Eternity's Advice: +5Asking Eternity Further Ques-tions: + 5Attacking Eternity: -70Eternity must put more time back onthe hourglass for the heroes: -25
SUMMARY: The heroes have finallyreached the point on Mephisto's mapwhere Galactus is being held. Oncethere, they must figure out how toget to Galactus and release him.Shortly after they succeed in accom-plishing these goals, however, theircompanion, Captain Marvel, revealshimself to be the Dread Dormammuin disguise. Using an extremelypotent magical artifact, Dormammuquickly puts all of the heroes to sleepand runs off to conquer the DarkDimension with Galactus in tow.
ENCOUNTER: After making theirway out of the dark forest from Chap-ter 8, the heroes find themselves atthe lip of a wide shallow valley.According to their map, Galactus liesapproximately 100 yards ahead ofthem. Read the following text:
Galactus lies somewhere beneaththe 30 feet of corpses. The amountof power that Mephisto receives froma being held captive in his realm isincreased if that being is tormented,and Mephisto is tormenting Galactusby burying him beneath billions ofdead bodies: A constant reminder ofthe thousands of civilizations that
Galactus has completely wiped out inorder to satisfy his cosmic hunger.
It is up to the heroes to figure outexactly where Galactus lies. In orderto do so, they will probably want tomake their way down into the sea ofcorpses and examine the exact spotupon which Galactus is supposed tobe imprisoned. Moving on the pile ofcorpses is extremely difficult. Everycouple of minutes, Galactus' move-ments below disturb the pile andcause it to shift. Everyone that isstanding on the pile during one ofthese shifts must pass a RemarkableIntensity Agility FEAT Roll, orbecome buried deep within the pile.It is an Amazing Intensity StrengthFEAT to free yourself from the pileonce buried. If one or more heroescannot free themselves from the pile,their comrades can help, but only ifthey can locate the victims in themess. It is a Remarkable IntensityIntuition FEAT Roll to locate some-one that is trapped within the pile.Anyone that remains trappedbeneath the pile must hold his or her
17
Below you lies a wide valley thatstretches on for as far as you cansee. This is perhaps the mosthorrible site within Mephisto's
whole realm! There are corpsespiled approximately 30 feet highall across the valley; the deadmust number in the billions. Thehot sun that beats down on theentire scene is responsible for theexpected putrid stench that risesout of the valley.
According to Mephisto's map,Galactus lies approximately 100yards dead ahead, though youcan't see him. Every now and then,however, a low moan echoes backand forth throughout the valley; andif you listen carefully enough, youcan hear a much fainter sound:almost like a heartbeat.
breath until freed or else suffocate(see the Judge's Book, p. 13).
Between the heartbeat, the motionof the corpses, and the periodicmoans, the heroes should probablyhave no problems deducing exactlywhere Galactus lies. Clearingenough bodies out of the way to getto him is a Monstrous Intensity FEAT.
At the bottom of the sea ofcorpses, the heroes will find Galac-tus chained down to flat bedrock andweeping. Their are four chains thatbind him, and they are all made outof an Unearthly strength material.After the heroes manage to breakthese chains, Galactus opens hiseyes, looks at them, and slowlybegins to sit up.
Dormammu Makes his Move.While the heroes are probing aroundthe valley, "Captain Marvel" willsilently observe their actions. If, dur-ing this time, the heroes call uponMarvel to help them in removing thecorpses or severing the chains hewill do so; but Dormammu will notoffer any aid on his own, or makeany suggestions as to where to lookfor Galactus. Once the heroes havefound Galactus and freed him fromthe chains, Dormammu will make hismove. Just after Galactus begins tosit up, there will be a loud high-
pitched wail (actually Mephisto cry-ing out in defeat). Dormammu willthen take advantage of the confusionthat results from Mephisto's screamand suddenly assume his true form,casting the mystical Dust of Orpheusinto the air about him.
The Dust is a potent arcane artifactthat Dormammu happened to discoverin the exotic dimension in which hewas imprisoned by Doctor Strange(see the Resource Book). The dustacts as a Class 3000 Intensity sleepspell upon every one of the heroes.
It is very unlikely that the heroes willbe able to do anything to stop Dor-mammu before he uses the magicdust. He will automatically take themcompletely by surprise unless theyhave taken some sort of explicit mea-sures to "keep a close eye on CaptainMarvel" or something. If the heroes dosomehow manage to stop Dormammufrom using the dust and defeat him,Mephisto will reluctantly allow them toremove Galactus from his realm. Inthis case, proceed to Chapter 12.
If Dormammu does manage to usethe Dust of Orpheus, however, just asthe heroes are falling asleep he willbegin to gloat. Read the following textto the players. The heroes are totallyunable to take any actions for the entireduration of Dormammu's speech.
AFTERMATH: When the heroeswake up two hours later, they will findGalactus gone. In fact, Mephisto'sentire realm is suddenly quiet,almost peaceful (because its masterhas already headed to the DarkDimension in order to retrieve hisprize from Dormammu). After listen-ing to Dormammu gloat, the groupshould have no problem figuring outthat they will have to proceed to theDark Dimension if they want to gettheir hands on Galactus (and avoid avery real threat to the Earth as well).When they decide to do so, proceedto Chapter 10.
KARMA:Finding Galactus: -70Freeing Galactus: +15Stopping Dormammu from using themagic dust: +40
18
Dormammu! That's all you need-ed. And whatever it was he threwinto the air was powerful. Yourlimbs are starting to go weak, yourmuscles are beginning to relax,and your eyelids are drooping.You are getting sleepy.
"Fools! I knew you would fall formy ruse. (pause) I cannot leavewithout offering you my thanks.Without your aid I would have neverbeen able to take possession ofGalactus for my own purposes.With Galactus' energies added tomy own I will now have the powerto go forth and reconquer the DarkDimension, once again installingmyself as Sorceror Supreme; andwith the power of Galactus undermy control, it is only a short timebefore I go on to conquer the Earthdimension as well.
"This victory is just as sweet asI had imagined it! All of my manyyears of preparation and schem-ing, as well as the enormousamounts of mystical energy whichI had to expend in order to maskmy presence from Mephisto allpaid off. But I am afraid I must beoff now, my friends. I have adimension to conquer. I am sorrythat I haven't the time to kill younow. Sweet dreams."
SUMMARY: The heroes travel to theDark Dimension in pursuit of Dor-mammu, who has snatched Galactusout from under them in the previouschapter. As an extra-dimensionalentity, Dormammu is much morepowerful now that Galactus is in hispossession (as was Mephisto). Dor-mammu plans to use this newfoundpower to reconquer his old abode,the Dark Dimension, eventually set-ting up a powerbase strong enoughto conquer the Earth Dimension (hislifelong ambition).
After using the Dust of Orpheus toput the heroes to sleep in the pre-vious chapter, Dormammu used hismagic to knock the still-weakenedGalactus unconscious, and to begindraining away Galactus' energy inorder to augment his own. He thenbrought Galactus into the DarkDimension, where he immediatelyheaded for the Royal Palace to dis-pose of Clea, the dimension's currentruler, and to reinstate himself as Sor-ceror Supreme of the Dark Dimen-sion. Just after Dormammu stoleGalactus from Mephisto's realms,however, his actions were instantlydetected by Mephisto and the otherDeath gods. Mephisto and the Pluto/Seth/Hela alliance have each senttheir own teams out to pursue Dor-mammu into the Dark Dimension aswell. Mephisto wants to regain hisprize, while the anti-Mephisto alli-ance sees Dormammu's bold moveas presenting them with the perfectopportunity to capture Galactus forthemselves.
THE DARK DIMENSION: The DarkDimension has three peculiar proper-ties.
*The laws of physics within thedimension automatically favor themost powerful individual within itsborders that is most fit to rule. Forthe duration of this encounter, thatperson is Dormammu. This meansthat Dormammu gets to add +5%to all of his dice rolls made withinthe Dark Dimension, and that theplayers and all other NPCs mustsubtract -5% from each of their
dice rolls made within the dimen-sion.
*Also, the lighting within the DarkDimension is quite odd. There areno light sources at all (everything isdark), but everyone can still see asthough it were broad daylight (maxi-mum normal range of vision isapproximately one mile).
*Finally, physical force is much lessdeadly in the Dark Dimension,where magic rules supreme. Allphysical attacks and actions surfera -1 CS penalty.
ENCOUNTER: The heroes shouldhave no problem travelling to theDark Dimension, either by usingUatu's sphere or their own innateabilities. Once they are there, readthe following text:
Travelling Through the DarkDimension. Refer to the map of theDark Dimension on the map sheetincluded with the adventure. Noticehow the entire realm consists of anumber of hexagons connected bythin lines. The heroes begin in thehexagon marked "Start." The palaceis in the hexagon marked "RoyalPalace." The heroes must make theirway from hexagon to hexagon, alongthe red path lines, until they reachthe palace. The only way to movefrom one hexagon to the next isalong the path lines (flight, teleporta-tion, etc. do not function here), andthe heroes can move at a rate ofapproximately one hexagon everytwo hours.
Because the geometry of the DarkDimension is somewhat unusual,however, the heroes will not havecomplete control over their move-ment; at least not right away. Noticehow there are one or more smallwhite circles in each hexagon. Theseare actually navigation beacons.Whenever the heroes try to leave ahexagon through a path, they actu-ally move down a different path lead-ing away from the same hexagon.Exactly which path depends uponthe number of navigation beacons inthe hex. If there is one navigationbeacon, the heroes move down thenext open path in the clockwisedirection from their intended route. Ifthere are two navigational beacons,they move down the path that is twoopen paths clockwise, etc.
Example: The characters start atHex 1, and decide to take the paththat looks like it will lead to Hex 6.Because Hex 1 has one beacon, thecharacters end up on the next pathover in a clockwise direction—sothey end up in Hex 2. Finding them-selves in Hex 2, the characters askto go to Hex 3. Because Hex 2 hastwo beacons, the characters end upon the second path over in a clock-wise direction—so they end up inHex 6, most likely thoroughly con-fused.
While the heroes are moving, usea spare die to mark their progress onthe map. By carefully observing the
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It does not take you very long tofigure out why they call this placethe Dark Dimension. There is nolight here at all, save for a fewshimmering pathways that cutacross the darkened sky. What istruly curious is that you are stillable to see, despite the completelack of light sources. The spacearound you is odd, and judging bythe paths and the few structuresyou see dotting the landscape, thegeometry is abnormal, completelyunlike anything you have seenbefore.
Dormammu must have broughtGalactus here, you can almostfeel the power surging through theair. It is almost certain that hewould have taken Galactus to thedimension's royal palace, wherehe would overthrow Clea, the cur-rent ruler, and once again crownhimself the Sorcer Supreme of theDark Dimension. You can probablyfind him there. You only have twoproblems: first, the palace is along way away and the DarkDimension is not the easiest placeto travel through; and second,Dormammu is going to prove avery formidable foe with the powerof Galactus augmenting his own.
map and their movements, the play-ers will probably eventually discoverthe pattern, allowing them to movemuch more effectively. If not, theywill have to wander around aimlesslyuntil they eventually reach the pal-ace.
Encountering Mephisto and thePluto/Seth/Hela Alliance. While theheroes are moving through the DarkDimension, so are Mephisto and hisenemies. While they are moving,keep track of exactly where theheroes are and at what time. Forexample, they will automaticallyspend hours one and two in Hexa-gon Number One.
Below is a list of the locations thatMephisto's and the alliance's partiespass through, and when they passthrough them. If the heroes are everin one of the hexagons named belowat the appropriate time, they willencounter the appropriate group.
Mephisto and his followers willthen rush to attack. Use Landscape#2 (printed on the map sheet) for thebattle ground. If Mephisto wins, hewill not finish the heroes off since hewants to get to the palace andretrieve Galactus as quickly as possi-ble. If it looks like the heroes aregoing to win, Mephisto and hisremaining followers will all instantlytravel back to Mephisto's domain.
The Alliance. The alliance partyconsists of Pluto, Seth, Hela, andfifteen Hades warriors (see theResource Book for stats). The mem-bers of the alliance all know who theheroes are, and what they are after.As the alliance party approaches,read the following text:
The heroes have three options.They can flee, they can fight, or theycan try to reason with the alliance.There is only one argument that clev-er players can use to convince themembers of the alliance to cooperatewith them: Since Galactus' presencein the infernal regions is upsettingthe balance between the variousDeath gods (remember that Eternitytold the heroes that this is so), allow-ing the heroes to bring Galactus
back to Earth dimension is the onlyway to stabilize the situation. Yes,Hela, Pluto, and Seth will not gettheir hands on Galan, but neither willMephisto. And besides, it is likelythat a dispute over Galactus' powerwill eventually split the three alliedDeath gods as well, starting thewhole problem all over again.
If the players outline this specificargument, the members of the alli-ance will reluctantly agree to aid theheroes in locating and removingGalactus. From this point on, Hela,Seth, Pluto, and their warriors willtravel with the heroes and aid themin their battles. If none of the playersoutlines this argument or the heroesdo not even try to reason with theiropposition, the alliance party willattack (use Landscape #2 for thebattleground). If the alliance wins thisbattle, they will not take the time tofinish the heroes off, because theywant to locate and retrieve Galactusas soon as possible.
Other Encounters. As the heroespass through the Dark Dimension,there are a few other areas of inter-est which they might come across.There are special encounters in hex-agon numbers 12, 20, and 22. If andwhen the heroes enter these areas,refer to the appropriate descriptionbelow.
Hexagon #12. This area is hometo a village of Dark Dimension inhab-itants which Dormammu passedthrough on his way to the palace,and destroyed. As the heroesapproach, read the following descrip-tion:
There are approximately 75 peopletrapped within the building. Most of
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Mephisto. Mephisto's party con-sists of Mephisto himself, his lieuten-ant Thanos (if he is still alive), andfifteen of his demonic thralls. SinceMephisto is no longer holding Galac-tus captive within his realms, hispower levels have gone down tonormal (use the normal, unbracketedstats in the Resource Book).
Upon encountering the heroes,Mephisto and his followers will imme-diately realize what they are afterand attack. Read the following text:
Hours1-23-45-67-8
9-1011-1213-1415-1617-1819-2021-2223-2425-2627-2829-30
MephistoLocation
4891312111615202526273132
Gone
AllianceLocation
10111217212529303132
GoneGoneGoneGoneGone
Coming down the pathway upahead of you are Mephisto,Thanos, and 15 of Mephisto'sdemonic followers. They must behere searching for Galactus aswell.
Shortly after you spot him,Mephisto spies you in return. "YouFools! I know what you want, butGalactus must be mine! Prepareto meet your end!"
Coming down the pathway upahead of you are Pluto, Seth,Hela, and fifteen powerfully builtwarriors. Pluto, Seth, and Hela arethree of Mephisto's fellow Deathgods.
"We warn you, heroes! Galac-tus must be ours, and ours alone.We cannot allow Mephisto to con-trol his might. Turn back now whileyou still have the chance." On the pathway up ahead you see
suspended in the ether the crum-bling remains of what appears tohave been a small village. Thereare horrible screams coming fromone of the shattered buildings thatused to make up the village, aswhat was once a large stonestatue wavers precariously over itsinhabitants.
the village's inhabitants fled to thisparticular building for protection astheir homes collapsed under Dor-mammu's attack. The stone statue (a100' stone spire) has an Unearthlymaterial rank and weight (i.e., mov-ing or destroying the statue is anUnearthly intensity FEAT).
If the heroes save the trappedinhabitants, the victims will be verygrateful, but will be unable to offerany assistance whatsoever. Savingor ignoring the villagers carries withit the usual Karma awards and penal-ties (see below).
Hexagon #20. Hexagon Number20 holds one of the transparent forcepens in which Dormammu impris-oned the creatures known as Mind-less Ones long ago (see theResource Book for more informa-tion). After arriving in the DarkDimension with Galactus, Dormam-mu travelled through this area inhaste, accidentally rupturing theforce barrier as he passed through.The Mindless Ones are now pouringout of their prison toward a cluster ofvillages which lies on the pathwaysbelow them. As the heroesapproach, read the following text:
There are 40 Mindless Ones surg-ing through the hole (the horde occu-pies eight adjacent areas, fivecreatures per area). Use Landscape#2 for the battleground. The hole inthe force barrier is two areas wide,and the Mindless Ones will emergefrom the hole at a rate of ten perround (five in each area). The heroescan simply attack and destroy the
creatures, or they can attempt toreseal the barrier (a Monstrous inten-sity FEAT using energy powers or anAmazing intensity FEAT using magi-cal powers).
If the heroes proceed to the villag-es down the path, they will not findanyone that can provide them withany assistance whatsoever.
Hexagon #22. On the path upahead, the heroes find a detachmentof Clea's soldiers that tried to stopDormammu as he approached thepalace, and were wiped out. Readthe following text:
The movement is coming from oneof the soldiers who is still alive. If theheroes rush to his aid, the soldier willrelate the tale of how he and hiscomrades engaged Dormammu ashe approached the palace withGalactus and were quickly wipedout. If the heroes ask, the soldier willbe happy to act as their guide, andshow them how to properly negotiatethe paths to reach the palace(explain how the navigational bea-cons work to the players). Once theheroes reach the palace, the soldierwill leave them and go back to aidmore of the survivors of Dormam-mu's attack.
The Palace. The heroes can reachthe palace in any one of several pos-sible situations. They can arrivebefore either the Alliance or Mephis-to (i.e., before hour 19), the Alliancecan arrive at the palace first, or (ifthe heroes encountered and defeat-ed the alliance party somewhere outin the Dark Dimension) Mephisto canarrive first. Here is what the heroeswill find in each of these circum-stances.
Heroes Arrive First: Dormammuis in the palace planning his assaulton the Earth dimension. For the sake
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On the path up ahead, you cansee scores of grey, semi-shapeless humanoids pouring outof nothingness and approaching acluster of villages which lies onthe path further up ahead. Thesebeings must be a group of the so-called Mindless Ones which Dor-mammu pent up in magical forcepens long ago in order to keepthem from destroying all theinhabitants of the Dark Dimension.Somehow the barrier seems tohave ruptured. Perhaps Dormam-mu accidentally broke through thebarrier in his haste to reach thepalace. He may have even shat-tered it purposefully, in order toslow down anyone pursuing him.In any case, the Mindless Onesare quite dangerous, and must bepent up again.
On the path up ahead are a collec-tion of badly charred corpses. Thedead were apparently members ofsome sort of military unit. As youapproach, you can almost swearthat you see a bit of movement!
of simplicty, assume that the palaceconsists of only one room (no matterwhere the heroes enter the palace,Dormammu immediately detectsthem and rushes to meet them any-way). Needless to say, Dormammu isnot too happy about the heroes'intrusion and decides to do some-thing about it (but not before shout-ing out something like, "You fools,you should have given up while youhad the chance. As long as I wieldthe power of Galactus I am unstop-pable!"). Use any convenient interiormap for the battleground, and makesure to use Dormammu's bracketedstats found in the Resource Book foras long as he controls Galactus'power.
Dormammu should give theheroes a good fight, but with theproper tactics (and Karma expendi-tures) they should prevail in the end.The battle between the heroes andDormammu automatically occurs inthe palace's throne room, which is ahuge chamber that features the
dimension's large golden throne, atable that holds the great CrystalOrb, and a number of rich tapestriesand rugs. All around the outside ofthe throne room are huge book-shelves which hold scores of impor-tant arcane texts. Chained in thecorner of the throne room is thesemi-conscious Clea, the currentruler of the Dark Dimension whomDormammu has just deposed. Fornow he has left her imprisoned forhis own amusement. If the heroesrelease Clea during their battle withDormammu, she will join in on theirside (the chains that bind her are ofMonstrous material strength). Theunconscious Galactus lies on a largetable in the middle of the throneroom (Dormammu is still tapping hispower).
If the heroes somehow lose thebattle, you have the same oldchoices: either rule that they havefailed and design a new adventure,or have Eternity mysteriously inter-vene when appropriate.
After the battle is over, the heroeswill probably remember the com-ments that Eternity made to them inthe forest of Mephisto's realm andbegin searching for the tome Natureand Being. The book rests on thethird shelf from the top, on the westwall, three books from the left, justas Eternity described it. Page 38reads as follows:
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The beginning, several thousandmillenia ago.
In the beginning there was agreat explosion, and from it werecreated the two siblings that makeup all things: Death and Eternity.Eternity is light, life, structure, mat-ter, and order. Death is pain, entro-py, plague, famine, and chaos.
In addition to the great entitiesthere are two other beings with anintimate connection to the begin-ning of all things. First, there ismighty Galactus, the only survivorof the universe that came before
After reading the above, theheroes should have a pretty goodidea as to exactly what is going on.
If the heroes have freed Clea, shewill present the heroes with a gift forsaving her kingdom: the great Crys-tal Orb. Clea will also volunteer theinformation that the Orb is merely anitem of great beauty, though it dowspossess the minor power of emittingan extremely powerful burst of lightupon the command of its wielder(Unearthly intensity).
If the heroes earlier made a dealwith the Seth/Hela/Pluto alliance, thethree Death gods and their followerswill aid them in their battle againstDormammu and suggest that theheroes get Galactus back into theEarth dimension as quickly as possi-ble, before Mephisto has a chance to
get his hands on him again andbefore Galactus regains his power.The other Death gods will then leave.In any case, the heroes should prob-ably be ready to take Galactus backto the Earth dimension now, thinkingperhaps that their quest is over.
The Alliance arrives first: This isthe most likely outcome. The heroesmust move through the Dark Dimen-sion very quickly in order to beat theAlliance forces. In this case, whenthe heroes arrive at the palace, theywill find it completely desertedexcept for Clea, who is still chainedin the corner, and the unconsciousDormammu who is lying on the floor.If they ask her, Clea will relate theentire story of Hela, Pluto, Seth andtheir followers breaking in, defeatingDormammu and running off withGalactus. Clea also overheardenough of the Death gods conversa-tion to figure out that they haveformed an alliance bent upon wrest-ing control of Galactus away fromMephisto, and that they decided totransport Galactus to Pluto's palacein Hades for the time being, untilthey decide what to do with him.From what she heard, Clea knowsthat Mephisto has a party in the DarkDimension that is searching forGalactus as well. Clea will share allof this information with the heroes.
The heroes should still find thecopy of Nature and Being, and Cleawill still present them with the greatCrystal Orb and describe its function.The heroes will now probably want toproceed to Hades in search of Galac-tus. If they ask her, Clea will refuse tojoin them (she must stay behind totake care of Dormammu and beginrebuilding all the damage he hasdone).
Mephisto Arrives First: Thisresult is extremely unlikely. It canonly happen if the heroes managedto meet up with and defeat the Alli-ance party while traveling throughthe Dark Dimension. In this case,everything happens exactly the sameas if the Alliance arrived first, onlyClea saw Mephisto take Galactus
and overheard him say that he wastaking him to his own palace. Theheroes should still consult the copyof Nature and Being, and Clea willstill present them with the Orb. Theheroes will now probably head backinto Mephisto's realm, again insearch of Galactus.
AFTERMATH: If the heroes grabbedGalactus, they will probably try toreturn him to the Earth dimension.On the way, they will be interceptedby Death. Proceed to Chapter 12.
If the alliance managed to get theirhands on Galactus, they will takehim to Pluto's palace in Hades forthe time being. Proceed to Chapter11.
If Mephisto grabbed Galactus, hewill return to his own domain with theheroes in hot pursuit. Proceed toChapter 13.
KARMA:Defeating Dormammu and rescuingGalactus: +140Reaching the palace: +10Making a deal with the Alliance: +20Freeing Clea: +10Saving the Dark Dimension vil-lage: + 10Ignoring the villagers: -20Defeating/imprisoning the MindlessOnes: +15Ignoring the Mindless Ones: -30
23
our own. Then, there is Voyd, theembodiment of emptiness anddarkness that grew out of the briefperiod of chaos that spanned thebridge from the old universe to thenew.
Galactus still lives to this day,traveling around the universe andconstantly seeking out new worldswith which to satisfy his cosmichunger.
Unknown to many, Voyd alsolives. Just after the emptiness oftime and space disappeared withthe birth of Eternity and Death,Voyd fell into a deep slumber, fromwhich he has never awakened;and thank the stars that this is so.If Voyd were to wake now, hewould launch an all-out assault onthe entire universe as part of adesperate attempt to restore thenothingness from which he wasborn. Still, one has little to fear:only an immense primordial powersuch as that possessed by Death,Eternity, or Galactus could everhope to revivify Voyd; and such abeing would risk much by doingso. It is likely that Voyd wouldinstantly consume his savior. Also,know you that Voyd has one weak-ness: the light. Voyd cannot standa powerful light.
SUMMARY: Refer to this chapter ifthe Alliance forces managed to gainhold of Galactus during Chapter 10.
After Hela, Seth, and Pluto defeat-ed Dormammu and took Galactus,they decided to bring him to Pluto'spalace in Hades for the time being,until they could decide what to dowith him. After consulting with Cleaduring the last chapter, the heroesshould be in hot pursuit.
HADES: Hades has two specialproperties:*The dimension and its environs issympathetic only to the magic castby Pluto and his allies. All spellscast here by anyone else receive anadditional -1 CS.
*The River Styx functions as anabsolute barrier within the dimen-sion. The only way to safely crossthe river is to secure the services ofCharon's ferry. Though flight workseverywhere else on the plane, it isimpossible to fly across the RiverStyx. The heroes may attempt toswim the river, but it is a difficulttask. Swimming the River Styxtakes 12 turns; reduce this numberone turn for each rank of Strengthor Swimming a character possess-es. Heroes in the river must attemptan Unearthly Intensity EnduranceFEAT each turn. Failure means thehero permanently loses oneStrength rank (which means it willtake one turn longer to swim theriver, in addition to the other draw-backs).
ENCOUNTER: The heroes enterHades just a short distance awayfrom Pluto's palace. Read the follow-ing text:
The river, of course, is the legend-ary River Styx which runs all acrossHades. Styx is approximately onehalf mile from side to side; and, asstated above, the heroes cannot flyover it (it is as though there is aninvisible impenetrable barrier whichstretches overhead). The heroes maytry to swim the river, but only at greatrisk (as described above). The bestway to cross the river is to ride withCharon in his ferry, conveniently tiedup just a few hundred yards away.
CHARON
KNOWN POWERS:Navigation: Charon has the Unearth-ly ability to navigate the waters of theRiver Styx, which is generally anAmazing Intensity FEAT.Eye Beams: Charon can projectbeams from his eyes which causeAmazing slugfest damage out to amaximum range of ten areas.Dense Flesh: Charon's body giveshim Remarkable protection againstboth physical and energy attacks.Immunities: Charon is immune topoison, disease, cold, electricty, andradiation. He need not eat, sleep, orbreathe.
Ferry: Charon possesses a magicskiff which is specially enchanted toallow him to ferry the dead acrossthe River Styx. This boat is the onlyknown item which can successfullycross the river.
Charon appears as a human skele-ton, dressed in long, flowing blackrobes and a hood.
When the heroes approachCharon, he will ask the heroes if hecan be of any assistance. In order toconvince him to take them across theriver, the heroes must presentCharon with some sort of gift, as isthe custom. Allow the heroes to giveup whatever they want. Charon doesnot demand much: a cape, a belt, apair of boots, almost anything will do.Charon will accept the great CrystalOrb which Clea gave the heroesmost graciously, should they decideto part with it.
The trip across the river will takeapproximately 15 minutes, duringwhich nothing of interest will happen.After the boat reaches the other side,Charon will beach the craft and letthe heroes out. They are nowapproximately one half mile awayfrom Pluto's castle, and the battlebetween Pluto's footsoldiers andMephisto forces is now much easierto see.
Charon Attacked. Just after theheroes leave Charon's boat and tra-vel about 50 yards toward Pluto'scastle, they will hear Charon cry outin agony. If they return to see what ishappening, they will find Charondesperately attempting to defendhimself against five of Mephisto'sdemonic thralls. Mephisto sent hisfollowers to ambush Charon on theshore, hoping to take him out so hewill not be available to ferry Pluto'sreinforcements to the battle zone.
If the heroes decide to helpCharon, use any handy exterior mapas the battleground. The demons willfight to the death. If the heroes fightoff Mephisto's thralls, Charon will beextremely grateful and will offer thefollowing advice:
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You have no problems arriving onthe plane of Hades, which you findto be a grey, gloomy place with abright orange sky. Surroundingyou are vast rocky plains, andyour flesh feels the sting of a coldwind which seems to blow from alldirections at once. Off in the dis-tance, you can see what appears
to be Pluto's castle, resting atop ahigh mountain crag. There isdefinitely something wrong uparound the castle. Large firesburn, and the air is filled withwinged fliers. It seems as thoughMephisto has also come in searchof Galactus, and his forces areeven now attempting to battle theirway into Pluto's castle. The castleis about one mile away, but lyingdirectly between it and yourselvesis a dark, wide river whichstretches off in both directions foras far as you can see.
FASERIP
AmMnAmMnInInAm
50755075404050
Health: 250
Karma: 130
Resources: N/A
Popularity: 0
Entering Pluto's Castle. Thereare two possible circumstancesunder which the heroes may enterPluto's castle. If they helped saveCharon earlier, they can travel up thesecret tunnel and into the castle,bypassing all of the forces on theoutside. Otherwise, they will have tofight their way past Mephisto's andPluto's troops. Each of these possi-bilities is described below.
The Secret Tunnel: If the heroestravel down the secret tunnel, theywill come up inside the throne roomof Pluto's palace. The entire trip
through the tunnel takes about tenminutes. The throne room, like therest of the palace, is hewn from solidrock and features the thrones of Plu-to and his absent queen, Per-sephone, as well as a large banquettable laid out with silver and goldutensils, and a number of ornate wallhangings.
When the heroes enter the throneroom, they will find the unconsciousGalactus lying on the banquet table,while Seth, Hela, and fifteen of Plu-to's soldiers watching over him. Plutois absent since he travelled outsideto help fight off Mephisto's forcesjust before the heroes arrival(remember, he now wields Galactus'power since Galactus is imprisonedwithin his realm). At this point, theheroes have the same two optionsthat they would of had if they hadencountered the Alliance forceswhile travelling through the DarkDimension (see Chapter 10). Theycan take Galactus by force (Pluto willnot discover what is going on in time
to intervene by entering such a frayhimself or sending in more troops);or they can attempt to negotiate. Ifany of the heroes outlines the spe-cific argument detailed in Chapter 10(i.e., "why don't you just let us bringGalactus back where he belongs,then no one wins and the balace isrestored"), Hela and Seth will allowthem to leave with Galactus. By now,you should know what your optionsare should the heroes decide to fightand lose. When the heroes are readyto leave with Galactus, refer to Chap-ter 12.
Fighting a Way in from the Out-side: If the heroes are attempting tofight their way into the castle fromthe outside, Mephisto's forces will bemaking a major breakthrough just asthey arrive. A map of the battlefieldaround the castle is presentedbelow. Each of the "Ms" and "Ps"represent approximately five troopsaligned with the appropriate faction(M for Mephisto, P for Pluto). No
25
"Thank You, my friendsss. Per-haps I can help you as well. Ibelieve you are travelling to Plu-to'sss castle, are you not? Well,along the bank of the Styx, fiftyyards sssouth of here, you will finda cave which masks a tunnelwhich leads right up and into thecastle. It is Pluto's sssecretaccessway to his ssstronghold."
PLUTO'S CASTLE
Mountains
: Pluto's Forces
: Mephisto's Forces
Castle
matter which side of the castle theheroes approach from, they will beimmediately engaged by five ofMephisto's footsoldiers and fivedemonic thralls. After they defeatthese troops, the heroes will notmeet with any more resistance (all ofthe other combatants are too busyfighting each other to notice them)until they reach the castle wall.There they will be met by five moreof Mephisto's footsoldiers. Immedi-ately after they have entered thecastle, they will then be met by fiveHades warriors. After the heroeshave overcome all of this resistance,they will find themselves in thethrone room described above; but, inthis case, Mephisto has alreadycome, collected Galactus, and gone.Lying on the floor are the uncon-scious forms of Seth, Hela, and Plu-to, as well as several unconsciousHades warriors and demonic thralls.
Mephisto, of course, has taken theunconscious Galactus right back tohis realm. If the heroes cannot figureout for themselves what has hap-pened, they can ask any of the com-batants that are still present(everyone stops fighting once Galac-tus is taken away). If the heroes ask,they will learn that "Mephisto alreadyfound Galactus and took him back to
his palace in the infernal domain."
AFTERMATH: If the heroes man-aged to find out about Pluto's secretentrance, and consequently wereable to enter the castle's throne roombefore Mephisto and his forces, theyshould now have Galactus in theirpossession. In this case, they willprobably want to return him to theEarth dimension and end the adven-ture (or so they think). In this case,proceed to Chapter 12.
If Mephisto managed to get intothe castle before the heroes, he willhave taken Galactus back to hisrealm. In this case, the heroes willhave little choice but to return toMephisto's dimension once again. Ifthis is the case, proceed to Chapter13.
KARMA:Getting a hold of Galactus: +120Attacking Charon: -30Helping Charon: +15Ignoring Charon: -20Fighting a way into the castle: + 35Travelling to Mephisto's realm inpursuit: +10
26
SUMMARY: You should be coming tothis chapter from either Chapter 9,Chapter 10, or Chapter 11. Theheroes should now have Galactusunder their control and should be inthe process of returning him to theEarth dimension.
Because Death still has big plansfor Galactus and his power, it cannotallow the heroes to return him to hisproper place so quickly. Death there-fore intercepts the group enroute tothe Earth dimension, steals Galactusfrom them and casts them directlyinto the dimensional vortex itself,hoping to lose them there for all eter-nity.
As the heroes fight for their lives inthe vortex, Death then takes Galac-tus back to Mephisto and callstogether all of the Death gods toenact its final plan to reactivate Voyd.
ENCOUNTER: As the heroesattempt to make the trip back to theEarth Dimension, they will each feela strange "empty" sensation. Readthe following text:
The magic that Death uses tointercept the heroes' dimension tra-vel is extremely potent (we're talkingClass 5000 here!). There is nothingthat they can do to avoid this fate. AsDeath delivers its speech, it holds allof the heroes in a stasis field whichprevents them from attacking (againClass 5000).
After Death finishes gloating, itstretches out its hand and waves,causing a huge swirling pit that isapparently composed of pure energyto appear and suddenly consume theheroes. Just as the heroes are plung-ing into the energy pit, Death reach-es out and snatches up the stillunconscious Galactus.
Death has just flung the heroesinto the interdimensional vortex, the
chaotic region that surrounds andtouches each of the other dimen-sions in the multiverse. The vortex isa region of pure light. Once withinthe vortex, the heroes will immedi-ately be buffeted by the powerfulprosolar winds and partially blindedby the intense energy which perme-ates the region.
Travelling through the Vortex.Because of the prosolar winds andthe disorienting effects of the flaresand energy ripples found within thevortex, travel (and perhaps evensurvival) is extremely difficult (Deathmistakenly believes that it is impos-sible). If they are ever going to savethe universe, the heroes must nowtry to find a way out of the vortex bylocating one of the natural aperturesthat leads to an adjacent dimension.From there, they can use theirdimension travel powers as usual togo wherever they wish. DimensionTravel does not function within theinterdimensional vortex.
To simulate the heroes trip throughthe vortex, assume that they are on agiant numberline at the spot markedzero. Each turn ask one of theheroes (their choice) to choose anumber between one and twenty.Each number moves the heroes acertain number of spaces forward orbackward along the numberlineaccording to the table printed below.Once a number is chosen, it cannotbe chosen again. If the heroes havereached the spot marked "10" onthe numberline before the end ofturn ten (ie. they have moved a totalof ten spaces forward), they havefound an aperture and have passedout of the vortex. If the heroes havenot moved ten total spaces forward,they are lost on the prosolar windsforever. This procedure simulates theheroes ability to navigate in the diffi-cult conditions of the vortex.
27
You feel the familiar warmth comeover you that usually accompaniesinter-dimensional travel; but thistime there is something that isdifferent. For a moment, you feelsort of empty, as though you havebeen removed from all time andspace.
As this feeling quickly passes,you once again regain your sens-es. You are now in a region of nolight whatsoever. There are nosounds as well. In fact, each ofyour senses are greatly impaired.Wherever you are, it certainly isnot the Earth dimension.
Suddenly, a narrow beam oflight passes through the chaosand illuminates a tall dark skeletalfigure dressed only in long blackrobes.
"Good evening, my friends. Iam Death.
"I must congratulate you ongaining possession of Galactus. Itappears as though my followersare as incompetent as ever. I know
you would all like to return to yourhome plane right now, but I amafraid I cannot allow that. You see,I need Galactus' power. I swearthat mighty Voyd will walk again,and when he does he will destroymy sibling Eternity once and forall, leaving the universe all tomyself. I was trying to pass Galac-tus' power on to Mephisto andaccomplish my goals through him;but it seems that my other fol-lowers are simply incapable ofaccepting their own inferiority.Though to be fair, none of my min-ions has known of my master planuntil now.
"The only question that remainsis what to do with you. You havebeen more than a nuisance up tothis point, and I cannot simply letyou walk away. In fact, it is partial-ly due to your interference that Ihave decided to risk summoningmy followers and traveling back tomy inner sanctum in order toenact my scheme right now, eventhough there is no way thatMephisto will have the time toproperly absorb all of Galactus'might. We'll have to hope thatwhat is there will do.
"Now, what to do with you.(pause) Ahh, I think I have anidea..."
Positive numbers mean move for-ward, negative numbers mean movebackward.
Note that there is a very distinctivepattern to the way that the numbersare arrayed on the table. Clever play-ers will notice this pattern and takeadvantage of it.
There are two special numbersthat the heroes may choose: 8, and13. When the heroes choose one ofthese numbers, they encounter theDimensional Shamblers decribedbelow.
Dimensional Shamblers. Dimen-sional Shamblers are voracious pred-ators that live within theinterdimensional vortex. Wheneverthe heroes choose numbers 8 or 13,they are attacked by a group of fiveShamberls (use landscape #2 for thebattleground). The Shamblers havethe following statistics:
DIMENSIONAL SHAMBLER
KNOWN POWERS:Sting: Dimensional Shamblers cansting their opponents at a range ofone area for Unearthly damage.Tough Hide: The Shamblers' scalyhide gives them Excellent protectionagainst physical and energy attacks.
If the heroes find that they are notgoing to get out of the vortex in time,they can spend a total of 25 Karma(divided amongst the heroes how-ever they choose) to buy themselvesan extra turn (past their original ten)and extra number pick. They cankeep on buying these extra turnsuntil they are out of the vortex orthey are out of Karma.
AFTERMATH: If the heroes run outof Karma, and are still stuck in thevortex, you are back with those sameold options (either Eternity intervenesor the heroes have failed). If this isthe third or fourth time that the Eter-nity has had to intervene, you shouldthink about running a couple of sim-pler adventures for your playersbefore you put them up againstDeath and its minions (they are prob-ably not ready for a cosmic leveladventure).
If the heroes do succeed in freeingthemselves from the vortex, they willprobably try to follow Death to itsinner sanctum in order to stop itsplans to reactivate Voyd (Death toldthe heroes exactly where it wasgoing in the speech above). Whenthey are ready to proceed, go toChapter 14.
KARMA:Getting out of the Vortex: +40Defeating the DimensionalShamblers (each group): +10
28
FAm
AMn
SMn
EMn
RTy
IGd
PTy
Health: 275 Karma: 22
VORTEX NAVIGATION TABLENumber Spaces Moved
1234567891011121314151617181920
-54
-32
-1010*13310*101
-23
-45
SUMMARY: You should be coming tothis chapter from Chapter 11 Mephis-to has just recaptured Galactus andreturned to his infernal domain withthe heroes in hot pursuit. When theheroes arrive in Mephisto's dimen-sion, they quickly discover thatDeath itself has called all the Deathgods to its inner sanctum for a con-ference (at which it intends to reacti-vate Voyd). The heroes then leave todo battle with Death and its followersonce and for all.
ENCOUNTER: The heroes arrive inthe First Circle of Mephisto's realm.Read the following text:
If the heroes give any clue as totheir true nature (i.e., "we come tofree Galactus from the tyranny ofMephisto once and for all!), orrefuse to answer the soldiers' ques-tions, the patrol will attack. UseLandscape #1 as the battleground.After the heroes have disposed ofthe patrol, they will notice that thehead soldier carries a pouch on hisbelt. Within the pouch is a note thatreads:
If, however, the heroes answer thepatrol's questions affirimatively("yes, take us to Mephisto") or comeup with a suitable cover story fortheir presence ("We entered thisland by accident. Could we, perhaps,speak with your master?"), read thefollowing text:
AFTERMATH: Whether they battledthe footsoldiers or attempted to rea-son with them, the heroes shouldnow know exactly where Mephistoand Galactus are. By piecing thisinformation together with what theyhave already learned, they shouldnow have a pretty good idea as towhat is going on. In any case, theywill almost certainly attempt to travelto Death's inner sanctum. When theyare ready to do so, proceed to Chap-ter 14.
KARMA:Defeating the footsoldiers: +15Learning where Mephisto has gonewithout fighting: +20
SUMMARY: You should be cominghere from either Chapter 12 or Chap-ter 13.
The heroes rush off to Death'sinner sanctum and arrive just in timeto prevent Death and its minionsfrom revivifying Voyd. Because of theheroes' constant interference andthe problems that have developedwithin the ranks of its followers (Plu-to, Seth, and Hela attempting to cap-ture Galactus for themselves), Deathhas upped its timetable a bit. Afterhe was recaptured, Galactus wasimmediately returned to Mephisto's
realm. Death then summoned all ofthe Death gods together in order toenact its scheme to re-energizeVoyd.
ENCOUNTER: The heroes must firsttravel to Death's inner sanctum. Thesanctum lies in a separate dimensionall its own, and is extremely difficultto reach. In order to reach the dimen-sion of the inner sanctum, the heroesmust pass a Monstrous intensityDimension Travel FEAT roll. In orderto insure that they are able to reachthe inner sanctum (and thus com-
plete the adventure) the heroesMUST spend Karma to affect this dieroll. All heroes with the DimensionTravel power automatically knowexactly where the dimension of theinner sanctum lies, and are aware ofthe difficulty in reaching it (this infor-mation is also programmed intoUatu's device; the device will verbal-ly warn the heroes before it attemptsto make the jump). Once the heroeshave arrived in the inner sanctum,read the following text:
29
Once again you stand on the aridplains of Mephisto's realm. Thistime, however, there is somethingthat is not quite the same. Thewind does not bite with the sameintensity. The heat is not nearly assharp. The fiery lighting not nearlyso blinding.
Galactus is not here. You canfeel it. The intense power andenergy which once permeatedMephisto's domain is now gone. Infact, judging from the quiet, itwould seem that Mephisto himselfis not here. Are you too late?
As you ponder this question,
you hear the sound of footstepsapproaching from the west. Thereis a party of Mephisto's footsol-diers approximately fifty feet away.
"What are you doing in thisrealm? Have you come to speakwith Lord Mephisto?"
The footsoldiers are one of anumber of units that routinely patrolthe upper circles of Mephisto'sdomain. There are 12 of them in all.
I will be absent for a short while.The master has asked all of hisvassals to assemble in its innersanctum for some sort of confer-ence. I have been instructed tobring our guest along with me.While I am gone, take special careto screen out all intruders.— Mephisto
"Mephisto is not here now. Hewas summoned to the inner sanc-tum of Death itself along with all ofthe other Death gods. He is thereon very important business andmay be gone some time."
This is it. If the heroes are going tostop Death and save the universe,they have to do it here. Use the mapof Death's inner sanctum as the battle-ground. Here is what each of the com-batants will do during the battle.
DEATH: The instant the heroesshow up, Death commands his fol-lowers to destroy them and steps backout of the way. He is too enthralledwith Voyd's reawakening to getinvolved in any combat.
MEPHISTO: Use the bracketedstats for Mephisto during the battlesince he once again controls the ener-gies of Galactus (he was ordered tobring Galactus with him in order tomake it easier for him to tap Galan'senergies). During the entire battle,Mephisto will ignore any attacks madeupon him, and will continue to focushis energies into the pit in which Voydis imprisoned (see "ReawakeningVoyd" below).
PLUTO: Pluto will immediately takecharge of all of Death's forces presentin the inner sanctum, and lead them inbattle against the heroes. If possible,Pluto will attempt to engage the mostpowerful physical combatant amongstthe heroes in one-on-one combat whiledirecting his followers to engage othertargets. He will then use whichever ofhis attack modes would be the mosteffective against that hero, attemptingto quickly vanquish him or her andmove on to the next.
HELA: Hela will seek out the nextmost powerful hero, and engage himor her in one-on-one combat. Whilefighting, Hela will favor her magicalabilities over physical force.
SETH, MEPHISTO'S THRALLS,AND PLUTO'S SOLDIERS: Thethralls and soldiers will divide them-selves amongst the remaining heroes.
30
You are now present in the innersanctum of Death itself. You areall standing on a wide obsidianbalcony that looks down onto abroad surface of cold black mar-ble. The lighting in the room isdim, and the air is stale andmusty. On the walls and floors areintricately tiled mosaics that fea-ture symbols of death and discordculled from over a billion worlds inmore than 100 separate galaxies.Assembled on the floor beneathyou are Death, Mephisto and hislieutenant Thanos (if he wasn'tdefeated earlier), Seth, Pluto,Hela, ten of Mephisto's thralls,and ten of Pluto's soldiers, withDeath occupying the obvious posi-tion of prominence. Lying on along table behind those assem-bled is the object of your quest:the unconscious Galactus. Itseems as though no one has evennoticed your presence.
DEATH: "I have called you alltogether here for several reasons.First, some of you have failed me. Ispecifically assigned Galactus toMephisto's realm. My decisions arenever to be questioned."
PLUTO: "But my lord, wethought—"
DEATH: "Silence! Your actionswere almost disastrous. The heroesof Earth are much more potent thenwe had ever suspected. Theyalmost succeeded in freeing Galac-tus, and that would not have satwell with me at all. You see, I havebeen hatching a plot over the lastseveral months. Behold!" Deathwaves its hand and a huge slab ofmarble slides open in the floor toexpose two giant black handscrossed in slumber.
"Beneath you is the creatureknown as Voyd. Voyd was spawnedout of the emptiness that bridgedthe gap between the universe ofold, and the creation of myself andmy hated sibling, Eternity. When wewere created, Voyd was shockedinto a deep sleep, from which hehas yet to awaken.
Voyd also wields incredible power-power so potent that it rivals myown. If he were to awake, it is cer-tain that he would use this power toattempt to restore the multiverse tothe conditions under which he wascreated: pure chaos. To accomplishthis end he would have to attackEternity. The two entities would thenmost likely destroy each other, leav-ing the universe all to myself.
The only problem is that it wouldtake great power to reawakenVoyd—power such as that pos-sessed by only three beings in theentire multiverse: myself, Eternity,and Galactus, the only survivor ofthe universe which preceded ourcreation. I have never used my ownpower to reawaken Voyd, because Ifear the consequences; such a rashact might destroy me."
The plan I devised, therefore,was to trick Galactus into using hisenergies to do so. It was I thatmanipulated the Elders of the Uni-verse into attacking Galactus withthe Cosmic Cube, knowing full wellthat it would shatter him and leavehim open to my suggestion. Whenthe heroes of Earth intervened,however, I was forced to modify myplan. After he was reintegrated,Galactus would never agree toreawaken Voyd. I decided, there-fore, to force him into voluntaryimprisonment within one of yourrealms, knowing that this wouldpass his energies on to you andgive you the power to reawaken thecreature."
But alas, the Earth heroesshowed up yet again, and I fearthere is more going on here thanmeets the eye. Their coincidentalreappearances are very unsettling. Ihave thus decided to attempt toawaken the creature right now.Mephisto, I know you have not yethad an opportunity to absorb all ofGalactus' power, but I commandyou to come forward and directwhatever energies you can sum-mon into the pit. The rest of you willconcentrate and aid
Mephisto as much as possible."MEPHISTO: "But master, that
might mean—"DEATH: "Exactly."Mephisto steps forward, lets out a
horrible scream, and begins tofocus a powerful stream of energydirectly into the pit beneath thesanctum!
Seth will then move from hero to hero,attacking a new target each round. AsSeth moves from target to target, hewill try to attack his targets frombehind for the blindsiding combatcolumn bonuses as much as possible.Each time Seth moves to a new target,have his opponent make an ExcellentIntensity Intuition FEAT roll. Successmeans that the opponent spotted Sethin time. Failure means that Seth isentitled to the bonuses.
Reawakening Voyd. Throughoutthe course of the battle, Mephisto willcontinue to focus his energies into thepit in which Voyd lies dormant. On thefifth round of combat, Mephisto willcollapse exhausted with the effort, butthe two large hands in the pit willbegin to stir. One round later, two giantarms will emerge from the pit andbegin moving out toward the upperend of the sanctum. By reading thebook found in Dormammu's library, theheroes should know that Voyd's oneweakness is intense light. At somepoint, they will probably attempt to hithim with an intense light; probablyeither that produced by the great Cry-
tal Orb which Clea gave to them, or byusing one of their own powers. It is aMonstrous intensity FEAT to use anappropriate energy or magical powerto produce a light that is brilliantenough to affect Voyd (ie. the SilverSurfer or Thor could use their cosmicpowers, Doctor Strange could use amagical blast, etc). If the heroesattempt to strike Voyd with a powerfullight before he is awakened byMephisto (on round six) it will have noeffect. If the heroes somehow knockMephisto unconscious during the bat-tle, move up the timetable a bit, andhave Voyd come alive on the nextcombat round.
When the heroes finally use the lighton Voyd, the large powerful hands willcringe in terror, and then turn away inthe opposite direction to attack themost powerful being that is within theirgrasp; namely, Death. The hands willgrip Death and pull it down screaming(Noooooo!) into the huge black pit. AsDeath is being pulled in, its followerswill all stop fighting and watch in hor-ror. Two seconds later, there will be apowerful explosion that automatically
knocks all of the heroes unconscious.If the heroes somehow missed the
clue about Death's weakness, youmay have a problem. In this case,have one of the heroes' energy boltsaccidentally strike Voyd shortly afterhe is awakened, and describe how thecreatures seems to writhe in pain andreact to the powerful light. The heroesshould then get the idea.
AFTERMATH: The encounter shouldend with all of the heroes unconsciousdue to the powerful explosion. Theheroes will awaken approximately twohours later to find Death, the Deathgods and all of their followers gone.Galactus still lies unconscious on thetable, and the large pit has beensealed over once again. Proceed tothe Epilogue.
KARMA:Stopping Voyd: +300Defeating the Death gods (per goddefeated): +40
31
SUMMARY: Eternity appears to theheroes once again to congratulatethem, and to reveal that he has knownabout Death's plan all along, butallowed it to continue because heknew that a greater good would ariseout of it.
ENCOUNTER: Read the following textto the players:
AFTERMATH: All the heroes need donow is return Galactus to the Earthdimension, where they will receive hishearty thanks. In gratitude, Galactuswill also renew his pledge to leave theEarth unmolested in the future andask the heroes to call upon him when-ever they need a favor.
KARMA:Returning Galactus to the Earthdimension: +50
32
Shortly after you awaken, younotice a slight figure standing uponthe balcony above the floor. Youimmediately recognize this figure asthe mysterious man who came toyour aid in the woods in the ThirdCircle of Mephisto's realm. "Helloonce again, my friends. There is nomore need to appear to you in thisprimitive form, so you will forgiveme if I adopt a more comfortableappearance." The man instantlyundergoes a startling transformation.He becomes taller and broader, andhis physical form seems to meltaway. Suddenly you realize that youare standing before great Eternityhimself.
"You have done very well. Yes, Ihave been observing your progressah along. My sibling Death hasonce again greatly underestimatedmy power. I detected his feebleefforts to destroy me long ago. Ionly allowed them to continuebecause I knew that through yourefforts, I could insure that theywould backfire, and that a greatergood would come out of the entireaffair. Death and his followers havenot been destroyed, of course; Voydwas much weaker than Death hadguessed. But when you forcedDeath to fight off the creature andthrow him back into his slumber,you left Death very weak. Behold!"
Eternity waves his hand andbefore you is a scene of rainstormin what appears to be a lush foreston a strange tropical planet. "Theworld of Kathoon was locked in thegrip of a terrible drought. Now thereis water." Eternity waves his handagain. This time you see a
group of six-armed aliens adminis-tering a vaccine to long lines oftheir fellows. "On the planet Ysa-dral, a terrible virus has recentlydepleted nearly half the population.The Ysadralian doctors have justdiscovered a vaccine." Eternitywaves his hands yet again. Beforeyou this time is a more familiarscene: a small village in Africa.
"On the Earth, the petty bickeringand politics that kept aid fromreaching starving African villageshas ended, and the death rate hasbeen cut by more than half. Hun-dreds of similar examples are to befound all over the universe, and itwill be quite a long time until Deathwill regain enough of his formerpower to begin countering the greatadvances you have made possibletoday. I thank you, and the peoplesof the universe thank you."
With that, Eternity vanishes; andjust as he does so, Galactus beginsto stir.
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MEPHISTO'S HOURGLASS
DIRECTIONS:1. Cut lower piece from bottom.2. Cut along indicated lines in hourglass and the slots on either side.3. Put sand covering through slot on one side of the hourglass, sliding covering
piece in front of sand in lower half of hourglass then through the slot on theopposite side.
4. Using the scale on the back, raise the sand covering one notch for every hourthe characters spend in Mephisto's realm.
HOUR
SLIDE THROUGH SLOT
HOUR
CUT FLAP HERE
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2468
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