Lightson

[ QUOTE ]
That sounds like a plan, Major Laser has run that TF before so he doesn't care.

I'm sitting at 29 almost 30.

I think we are ready for whatever Mr. Hess wants to throw at us.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, IQ and I spent some time this weekend trying to unlock the Hess TF.

Unfortunately, we got stuck on the mish in which you have to destroy the "vampirri spawning chambers." Long story short, the spawning chambers, err, spawned too close to each other and we consistently got overwhelmed. Never got past it, and therefore the next contact never got unlocked for us.

We began the whole process by "auto-completing" a mish (in hopes of speeding things up) so we couldn' just skip it. So what was supposed to be a few hours of fun unlocking a mid-tier TF turned into a lot of frustration.

At any rate, count us out for the Hess TF because we couldn't unlock it. More to the point, it made me realize that CoH is really starting to feel repetitive and "grindy" to both of us.

Just wanted to give you guys a head's up that IQ and Bio-Fusion won't be able to make the next couple of runs. We will be good to go again on July 13. If you guys could post what levels you reached and what you accomplished each week, we will do our best to keep up.

Thanks!

[ QUOTE ]
I'm assuming you all saw this: http://www.cityofheroes.com/goingrogue/?

Probably more than a year away, but exciting.

[/ QUOTE ]

Seconded!

BTW, Perdix made a pretty cool post in the members only section of the AoJ page. Check it out if you get a chance.

Perdix, it your are wondering why the post says "edited by" me, its because I couldn't read what you typed and so I played around with the colors so it was readable.

[ QUOTE ]
Hello all,

Ok here is my 2 cents worth.

I can see one downside to expanding it to more than 8 members. Here is the scenario, 8 of us log in at the set start time, and we all decide to run a TF that night, ½ hour later person 9 logs in. Ok now what do we do? Do we stop the TF and start over? Is person 9 just SOL that night?

If we go past 8 members I think a sign up is VERY important!! That way we can plan the night’s events accordingly. If we know who is going to show up and when I think going past 8 members will work just fine. It is the not knowing who is going to show and when that leads us to standing around. We can always do scanner missions while we wait, but the knowing we have to wait for someone to login is important.
It takes 5 seconds to sign up for access to Lights fantastic Guild Portal page, and another 2 seconds to sign up for the nights run. I don’t want to exclude anyone from the nights run, but I also don’t want to sit around thinking that so and so is going to show and have then not show up.

Ok I hope that made sense, if not I will explain tonight.

Next Generation Here We Come!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Had a blast tonight guys!

Just wanted to post a few things right after our run to get us on the same page.

First, just a reminder we will be running Posi TF next week. To go along with Perdix's point, here is the link to the sign up:

http://www.guildportal.com/Guild.aspx?Gu...urnView=Monthly

Please get into the habit of signing up so everything will go smoothly if/when our membership expands beyond 8. Let me know if you have any troubles signing up.

Also, it would be very helpful if everyone is signed up for Skype, even if you can only listen to the discussion.

Looking forward to next week.

[ QUOTE ]
and why would splitting teams take a long time? just divide by 2. or pick captains schoolyard style...

Just my 2 1/2 cents.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think we just disagree about how quickly we will be able to split up teams and get rolling.

Bear in mind that my position is largely influenced by my motivations for starting the group in the first place: because of real life responsibilities I don't have a ton of time for gaming. On an average week, the time with the static group is usually the only time to get to play CoH. I would just like those 2.5 hours to be "productive".

Ultimately, I just want to keep the static team going so I will go with whatever the majority wants to do. I am willing to give an 9-16 person team the benefit of the doubt.

Thanks for the input.

[ QUOTE ]
OK, so my old job called me back for another couple weeks. it looks like i will be about an hour late to join this week (and next).
So, in this case I would recomend you guys start up the next Gen characters and i will join you when i get home. Just dont do the bank robbery mission without me! should be np since you have to do 3 radio's first.

Also, I MIGHT have a friend getting back into the game this week or next. he hasnt played in years, but im gonna try and get him into our group if his schedule allows.

[/ QUOTE ]

As for the next generation, adding new people is fine but I am starting to think going past 8 as we had discussed before is not such a good idea. The whole "sign up so we who know who is coming" attempt has been a bomb, and without that I think we will spend half our time online splitting up the teams and deciding who's doing what.

I say we get to 8 and cap it. But I would be interested to hear everyone else's thoughts.

Along those lines, MX we haven't heard from you in a while and the new generation will be starting this week. Are you still in?

[ QUOTE ]
Ok all.
My buddy has claimed one of the spots on the next generation team.
He does have a 50 and would love to run the Shadow Shard TF’s with us.

I am still waiting to see if my posts on other SG sites generate any interest in our second generation team.

Thanks

[/ QUOTE ]

You had mentioned that his wife/girlfriend (can't remember which) was interested in playing with him. Is that still the case?

If its just your friend by himself--and assuming MX starts joining us consistently again--that puts us right at 8 for Monday nights.

[ QUOTE ]
I hope you guys werent just waiting for just me yesterday, and i apologize if you were.

This was my last week at current job, so next monday i will either be available all day or have a completely different schedule (i have an interview thurs)

[/ QUOTE ]

Nope, Lightson was late too b/c we forgot that one of our computers was not patched. Last night I was as much to blame as anyone else. Just pointing out that those waiting might as well do something to kill time

[ QUOTE ]
Yes I agree we spun our wheels a little bit last night, but I still had fun.

I think we could start using our Guild Portal Page for some of this. There is a calendar what we can schedule events like what is planned for the next run, and people can sign up there. Then we can check to see who has all sign up and go from there.
I kind of like the idea of the CoH forum post being our story and exploits and not so much business stuff.

I agree we don’t just sit around waiting for everyone to login, police missions are a good time killer.

I also agree on the MA ideas.

I will post on a few of the SG that I know people in and post a recruitment post.
I will direct them here and to our Guild Portal Page. I will also ask a few friends I know if they would like to join us.

Later

[/ QUOTE ]

That all sounds good to me.

Here is a link to the Guild Portal page calendar. Please sign up

http://www.guildportal.com/Guild.aspx?Gu...urnView=Monthly

[ QUOTE ]
K, we got the LGTF tonight and who know what else. As the MA missions go......be afraid be very afraid . I did find one that we may want to try, it's a single mission with several AV's from Lord Recluse and his crew to some created ones.
As for Gen 2 team, I figure we should be good 2 go in bout 2 weeks. I have my fire/thermal at lvl 5 and a plant/rad at 7 for whatever is needed.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have a few humble suggestions since we spun our wheels a bit last night. These are also in anticipation of us trying to expand to 16, when we will have to be a bit more organized anyway:

1) Lets start taking a head count of who will be present. The morning after we finish a run, I'll post something like this for the next run:

[ QUOTE ]
April 14 Sign-up, [Tentative plan for that week]:
1) Lightson
2) Liberty-Flame
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8) on so on up to 16


[/ QUOTE ]

Each person could just add their own name to the list when they knew they would be able to make it. Then, a day or two before the run we can look at what we have and decide what we want to tackle that week.

2) I would suggest we never try to do something we don't have enough people signed up to do (i.e.--plan on trying to pick people up to meet the minimum team size). If we would like to do something like the LGTF (which requires 8), but by Monday we only have 6 or 7 people signed up, then I would say we just plan on doing something else.

The only exception I would suggest we make to this is to recruiting friends (coalition members, ect., i.e. not strangers) to help us get to the min team requirement and then drop them (unless they are willing to park in the TF with us). It would be ideal to have the "fillers" lined up beforehand.

Just as an aside, this is something I believe we will have to do more frequently for the second gen if we do expand to 16 because I anticipate many nights the numbers wont work out perfectly (i.e. we want to do a TF requiring 6 and we have 10 or a TF requiring 8 and we have 14).

3) If we have enough people signed up, but we are waiting for for everyone to log on, I suggest the default plan to always be running radio mishes in the appropriate zone while we wait. If we can do radio mishes because we are already in a TF, maybe we could street sweep an appropriate level hazard zone.

4) With regard to the MA my suggestion would be that we not use it unless:


a) we are specifically helping a team mate tweak one of his own creations; or

b) its a story arc one of us has personally run in its entirety and we enjoyed it.

Just a few thoughts/suggestions. Be interested to hear everyone's reactions.

Thanks!

[ QUOTE ]
Hello everyone its been awhile since the early days when the group first gather and even though Blind Justyce blew up (real life issues) I will love to join again and now that nights are no problem for me please let me know if a spot is open and I will play anything the team/s need.By the by gratz to all on a amazing run!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey Blind, good to hear from you again. If you are pretty sure you will be available on Mondays from 7:00-9:30 pm, then I would copy the list above, add your name to the first open slot with your proposed AT for the second gen and then re-post it.

We can use that list as a running sign-up for the second generation.

Also, just to be clear, we will occasionally go back to the "original 50's" from time to time even after we start the 2nd gen. We had talked about doing some of the shard TF's, maybe try State's TF, or even some MA content with our current (soon to be) 50's. Obviously, to do some of those things we will need to expand, because most of the things mentioned require a team of 8.

In short, it would be ideal for anyone new signing up (or re-signing up in your case) if they currently had a lvl 50 toon on virtue already. Not a deal-breaker necessarily, but it would help.

[ QUOTE ]
Happy Monday

We will not start the Second Gen until we all hit 50 on the current generation, so we do not have a solid date yet for the start of the Second Gen.

I will post on some of the SG boards that I know to see what kind of interest I can stir up.

Will we be staying with Mondays from this point forward or will we be switching back to Tuesdays at some point?

See you all tonight.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just to be more specific, Solar, we decided it would be best to check the interest of those we know or have played with before and then open it up to everyone.

I suppose its not too early to at least let people officially "sign up" for the second gen, and we can talk about the best ways to actively recruit later. I believe this is what we have:

1. Lightson (2nd gen Defender)
2. Liberty Flam (2nd gen Blaster)
3. Perdix (2nd gen Tanker)
4. Doc (2nd gen Controller)
5. D (2nd gen Scrapper)
6. Solar (2nd gen controller)
7. MX (mentioned being a tank 2nd gen)
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.

I believe the rest of the spots are technically still open and I think I am remembering correctly that we agreed that 16 peeps would be a nice sweet spot.

Regarding changing dates, my wife and I have a running commitment on Tues/Thurs during the spring and summer. In the fall, my wife has a commitment on Monday. That was for the reason the switch. So when fall rolls around again my wife and I will probably request a switch back to Tuesdays.

Finally, for the MA story arc, the mission # might be the easiest way to look them up. Mine is 3062. I don't know D's otherwise I'd plug it.

See you guys tonight. Since Doc is now able to join us again, I think the plan is to give the LGTF a whirl.

[ QUOTE ]
I tried Dark Rising on two different toons. The lowbie one couldnt get past the first spawn but my 50 Brute did relatively fine up until the last AV. It was one of those standoffs where he wasnt hurting me but I wasnt hurting him either.

I have only three comments:
1) Maybe think about toning down the Priests and/or the Elementalist. The Elementalists were especially difficult. That one toon that couldnt get past the first spawn was because it had two priests and the healing was greater than the damage that my lvl 7 scrapper could dish out. With mine its pretty difficult but I know I toned down a couple lieutenants just to make it less frustrating.

2) It looks like you published the story twice. Remember you can edit a published mission and then 'republish' Just saying.

3) I like the look of your critters. I was pleasantly surprise to have He Man (or I guess maybe Faker) helping in the last mission, but mainly I liked the look on the aliens. Not a big deal.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for the input!

I toned down the difficulty some, and deleted the redundant story arc (don't know how I did that).

I know you were unable to finish the arc, but story-wise was it making sense (i.e.--did the clues/contact text/ect. seem to flow decently?)

[ QUOTE ]
Nice, thanks for the edit. I'll get to work on the base after next weeks go or after I run my scrapper through some created content I found that would bring in some prestige....quickly.

On to the created content, after spending 4 hours running through missions and such with my sr scrapper, that is almost at the softcap for defense(melee, ranged and AoE) all I got to say is damn Light and Pliska you trying to kill me . Tried both of your missions and damn....just damn. I felt I was being thugged and necro'd to death.....oh wait I was and actually had to quit . You buncha sickos, I say skip LGTF and do their missions on max difficulty to see if....and I do mean IF we can survive it. Truly sick and twisted with the necro's and thugs damn bunch of sadists

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for trying out the story arc. All joking aside--do you think I need to tone down the difficulty to appeal to the masses with my story arc?

First, I just wanted to say again that I think we did a pretty good job on the ITF considering we had a less than ideal team configuration for the task before us. Nice work everyone!

Next, someone (I forget who) was asking for permission to edit the base. I logged on today and edited the permissions so that anyone who is in the SG can enter and edit the super base. If anyone wants to take the ball and run with it--go for it! It would actually take something off of my rather full plate.

Perdix, while I was on I tried to enter the coalition and it said access denied because I didn't have the proper permissions. If you get a chance could you check into that? I think it would be nice for the second generation lowbies to have access to full fledged base when their time comes.

Also, Perdix, as soon are you are done gauging interest among your friends/sg-mates/coalition-mates, if necessary I'll think up an appropriate "recruitment drive."

Finally, on a personal note, I published a MA story arc today called "Dark Rising" (#3062). I welcome any positive or negative feedback from you guys. It is essentially part one of an origin story I have for Lightson's arch-nemesis.

Finally don't forget we switch to Monday next week! Looking forward to the LGTF.

Later guys!

For anyone interested, I've posted some new pics from the ITF to our gallery:

http://www.guildportal.com/GroupGall...;TabID=2289359

Looking forward to finishing the ITF tomorrow night!

[ QUOTE ]
I'd go with the two team idea, split the group up between 2 teams and go. Next week rearrange the teams so everyone will get involved with others that they may not have been able to team with and of course a lil team on team friendly competition in missions or TF's would be good.

[/ QUOTE ]

I tend to agree with erring on the side of being inclusive rather than exclusive.

Let's chat on Skype during the run tomorrow night about what a two team set up would look like and the best way to recruit about 5 new members.

[ QUOTE ]
Wow...I never noticed this thread until now.

Now i'm depressed because it's the EXACT theme group i've always wanted to join. Please let me know when you guys hit Gen 2 cause I REALLY want to join in on that.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just a few odds and ends I wanted to run by everyone to make sure we are on the same page and also get some opinions.

First, just a reminder that after this week (starting April 13) we will be switching to Mondays from 7:00-9:30. Most of the current toons are in the 48-ish range. The plan is to get them to 50 and then start our new toons (at around level 5; i.e.--everyone get to level 5 on their own and then we start teaming). After that, we will periodically switch between the new toons and "the 50's" (I think we had talked about switching back and forth every several weeks or so). Perhaps we could finish a TF/story arc with the lowbies and then do a TF/story arc with the 50's (we often "park" in a TF from week to week). Does that sound right to everyone?

Now, about starting the second generation:

1) Right now we have 6 consistently showing up;

2) Klyxx has said he will be able to more consistently show up for the "second run";

3) Perdix has two friends that want to join;

4) TrystnD ("Burnt Sacrifice" from the first run) has PM'ed me saying his schedule has changed and he could do the second generation run;

5) See the above quoted post by Mr. Awesome.

If I've counted right that puts us at 11 people interested. How should we handle this? I've got some suggestions (with none of them really being a preference, just some thoughts):

1) Go with the 11 who are interested now. This will require some thinking on our feet if we ever have a week where more than 8 people show up;

2) Have a "recruiting drive" and try to get up to 16 or so and have two static groups running concurrently; or

3) Cap the team at 8 and go with the people who are fairly certain they can show up on Mondays from 7-9:30 on a consistent basis.

Thoughts?

[ QUOTE ]
Good Morning all!!

Last night was a great run, Hope you are all having fun with the ITF!!!
We should rap it up next week no-problem.

I’m working on an introduction story for my next generation hero; it is something I have never done before, so before I post it for the world to see I will send it off to our resident writing expert Lightson for comments.

One other thing I would like to bring before you all I kind of feel that we should get all these guys to 50 before we team up with the next gen heroes. We are so close lets just get them to the finish line.

Let me know what you guys all think.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would be absolutely fine with holding off the new guys until we hit 50 with the first gen.

I would be absolutely fine with starting with the new guys pre-50.

In other words, I'm good either way I just enjoy having this static team, the toon is secondary.

Speaking of next-gen we never did resolve the potential issue of having a 8 & 9th member interested and how we want to handle that. Thoughts?

[ QUOTE ]
Yep looks awesome Light!

I also have some pictures that are kind of cool that we could post also; do you want me to send them to you? I did some work on the My SG Guild page; let me know if you need any help or have any questions.

Solar Tech is getting his suit cleaned and pressed on Tuesday so he will more than likely be a ½ hour late. We will begin the run as soon as the old fart he logs in.

For those that have run it before, I have a buddy that can bring a hero to help if you think we would benefit from it. He could bring a tank, another scrapper, or a radiation something defender.

Let me know if you ant me to pull him away from Resident Evil 5 and lend us a hand.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for commenting about the GP page. When I get time, I'll definitely look into take a specific screenshot of each of our toons and making blurbs for each character. That sounds like a good idea. Also, feel free to forward any cool screenshots you guys might have.

I welcome any help or ideas from anybody with either the GP page or the SG base. I just want us to have something that is functional and fun.

I messed around with the MA some this weekend for the first time. I have no idea how balanced my mishes are, but it was fun to tinker around with. I am working on a story arc (or 2 or 3) that basically establishes an AV and villain group that will serve as Lightson's arch-nemesis.

Looking forward to ITF!

[ QUOTE ]
I've been trying to find out how to make missions easy enough to be hard but still doable. I haven't started working on how to use the story options yet.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's funny, I'll probably do the opposite--focus more on the stories at the risk of making the missions too easy

At any rate, if you guys get have time, check out my attempts to craft us a guild portal page:

http://www.guildportal.com/Guild.asp...;TabID=2289358

Feel free to chime in with comments, suggestions, snide remarks, etc.

Looking forward to ITF on Tuesday!

[ QUOTE ]
Not one to normally worry but the "You Guys Are All Dead" comment has me a tad bit concerned. Not for anything other than Pliska's twisted mind working in overdrive .
K, Light I managed to get most of the beacons for the SG, save for the ones I'm not in level range to get yet. We have all but RWZ, Eden, DA and Terra Volta.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for getting those beacons, Doc!

Sorry we missed last night, but Liberty and I rolled in pretty late last night. We will definitely be ready for the ITF next week though!

In the meantime, I have (slowly) been working on a base and guild portal page for us as a team. Neither is "ready", but I do have an image gallery of some screen shots for you guys to check out:

http://www.guildportal.com/GroupGall...;TabID=2289359

See you next Tuesday!

Issue 13, War of the Fir Bolg, Part II

The story so far: Evil forces are attempting to pull Salamanca into the spirit world through a magic ritual. With, the assistance of Dark Omen, the team attempts to thwart this plan. They are currently attempting to retrieve a book of runes stolen from Paragon City University by the Fir Bolg.

After venturing deep into the Fir Bolg’s cave lair, the team eventually overheard a supernatural voice saying, “this book will show us how to protect ourselves from the Red Caps.”

“Alright”, the Directrix said, “let’s see: there’s about 12 of them; tight quarters . . .” She mumbled a few other details under her breath and then eventually said, “I think attack formation Epsilon ought to handle it.”

“Sounds good,” Lightson noted, “but don’t forget about Dark Omen.”

“Oh right,” The Directrix responded, “you’ve been fitting in so smoothly Omen, I forgot you were new. I’ll bring you up to speed, real quick. Basically, with attack formation Epsilon were are trying to contain our opponents so that . . .”

“Um, I don’t mean to burst your bubble,” Dark Omen interrupted, “but I’m not much on ‘attack formations’. The extent of my strategy is usually: see bad guy, hit bad guy, repeat as necessary. You guys feel free to plan all you like, but subtlety isn’t really my game . . .”

“Fair enough,” the Directrix replied in a somewhat displeased tone.

“Man,” IC Touch whispered to Dark Omen, “I’m glad you said that. I still don’t know what half these ‘attack formations’ mean. I’m like you: I see ‘em, I freeze ‘em . . .

Before IC Touch could finish, an inhuman voice snarled, “You will not take the book from us! Destroy them.”

“We really need to work on attack formation ‘talk less, attack more’” Solar Tech quipped.

“No time for subtlety. Dark! Liberty! Take point and help MX get to the frontline. MX: do what you do!” Despite being taken by surprise, the Directrix was in complete tactical command of the situation.

Dark Omen and Liberty-Flame charged the group of oncoming Fir Bolg, with Mutant X-7 just behind.

“Your judgment is at hand, fiends!” Dark Omen cried, “Feel the dark grasp of the Netherworld” As he spoke dark tentacles arose beneath the Fir Bolg, immobilizing them. Dark Omen continued his onslaught by smiting various foes with powerful punches. A mysterious dark energy force swirled about his fists as he delivered the blows.

Liberty-Flame followed suit, leaping into the very center of the pack of Fir Bolg. When she landed, she swirled around, round-housing punching two of the larger Fir Bolg. As she swirled, flames leapt from her body, hitting every nearby villain. “You’re all clear, MX! Do your thing!”

The advance of Dark Omen and Liberty-Flame allowed Mutant X-7 to position himself just behind the mob of Fir Bolg. He then began concentrating intensely as he beckoned all the energy at his command and focused it. Rivulets of sweat dripped down his cheek as he strained to not lose control. Finally, he released his awesome power in a devastating explosion of kinetic energy and electricity.

Lightson anticipated the blast and shielded the Avengers of Justice–including Dark Omen and Liberty-Flame–in a durable force field. He strained to maintain the field as it was assaulted by the powerful explosion.

The Fir Bolg were devastated. Only their leader remained conscious, and him only barely.

Dark Omen extended his hand to Mutant X-7--who had fallen to his knees from exertion, “Nice work, kid.”

As the leader of the Fir Bolg struggled to remain conscious, reinforcements flooded the room.

The Directrix stepped forward. “Stop!” she yelled at the reinforcements. “Look around you,” she gestured to all the fallen Fir Bolg. “Do you really want to end up like them? Even with the element of surprise, we dispatched them in seconds. It is in your best interest to surrender now.” As she spoke, the Fir Bolg began to quarrel among themselves. Some even became violent towards each other, although a stubborn few still advanced. The Directrix took another step forward, and then even further steeled her voice, “By the authority vested in me by the Paragon Police Department, I am ordering you to return the book of runes to us NOW!.” All the Fir Bolg stopped in their tracks.

After a long silence, the leader of the Fir Bolg finally muttered in a defeated voice, “Give them the book . . .”

Later, after returning the book to Mayor Gordon Bower, the Avengers of Justice met again with Skipper LaGrange

“Good work,” Skipper said “Without objects of power like the book of runes, I'm afraid Salamanca would be entirely overrun. But this latest crisis has made me realize we can't keep fighting this war battle by battle; we've got to get to the heart of this war and stop it for good. And for that, I think you'll have to look up a new friend of mine. I want you to talk to Buck Salinger. If anyone knows how to stop this war for good, it’d be him . . . “

To be continued . . .

[ QUOTE ]
Ok guys, I think we are ready to give the ITF a try. I know we have talked about waiting till we hit 50, but I think we should give it a shot.

Now that we have a few AVs under our belts I think we are ready for this Task Force.

So I am suggesting that we give this a try next week.

Let me know what you guys think.

[/ QUOTE ]

Me and Liberty are all for this . . .

BUT . . . (there's always a but)

we will be traveling through Tuesday and there is a possibility we might not be back in time Tuesday to roll.

Would it be too much to ask to tentatively plan for the ITF but push it back a week if Liberty and I aren't back home in time?

I know, I know, some people are high maintenance . . .

The story so far: The Avengers of Justice, with the assistance of Dark Omen, are investigating strange happenings in Salamanca. They now have learned that Salamanca is actually being pulled into the spirit world. Mayor Gordon Bower has asked them to speak with Skipper LaGrange for more information.

“Well, I’ll skip the pleasantries since the mayor already told me your were coming, and more importantly why you were coming,” Skipper addressed the team, “I’ll get straight to the details, I expect you're aware of the ancient Irish legend about the Fir Bolg and the Tuatha de Dannan. Well, you're in for a treat. The Fir Bolg controlled Ireland for hundreds of years, until the Tuatha arrived. They were big, burly warriors, and they drove out the Fir Bolg, leaving them only the small area of Connaught to themselves. It seems that ancient enmity never really died. It seems that somehow, the Fir Bolg and the Tuatha have carried their war into the spirit world, and they're still fighting it! If we're going to keep Salamanca safe, we need to know more about their war and what we can do to end it. That's where you come in. I've located a cave full of Fir Bolg nearby. I need you to get in there and get out, with whatever information you can find.”

“Will do,” the Directrix answered.

Soon, the team arrived at the cave. The air smelled foul and dank.

“Alright team, be on the ready. They could be anywhere in here,” Lightson stated.

“Yeah, be on the lookout for the great pumpkin Charlie Brown . . . “ IC Touch joked.

“From what I hear, he’s trying to steal Christmas from the Whos,” Solar Tech added.

“Alright you two, try to keep a straight face,” the Directrix instructed, laughing in spite of herself. “Don’t let their appearance fool you, from what Skipper said the Fir Bolg are plenty dangerous.”

“Yes we are,” a guttural voice snarled, “and we will prove it by returning your lifeless corpses to that meddling mayor.” The team was surrounded by dozens of Fir Bolg that seemingly materialized out of the shadows.

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to take threats seriously from a talking pumpkin?” Solar Tech blurted.

“Fool! You will die for your insolence,” the leader of the Fir Bolg growled in anger, “Destroy them!”

A few minutes later:

“Good work team,” the Directrix said after the Avengers of Justice had defeated the last of the Fir Bolg, “I’ll radio the PPD and let them know we have these guys ready to be taken in. While we are wrapping up be on the lookout for any clues.”

“Actually,” Dark Omen added, “their leader dropped this parchment right before he went down.”

Dark Omen handed the parchment to the Directrix and Lightson and they began to examine it.

“Any ideas what it says,” the Directrix asked.

“Not a clue,” Lightson answered.

“Actually, this is as good a time as any to mention a growing concern of mine,” the Directrix whispered to Lightson.

“Yeah, I think I know where you are going with this,” Lightson responded.

“We’ve got a huge ‘blind-spot’ on the team: magic,” the Directrix continued, “No one on the team really understands magic. You’re the only one on the team with any sort of background in magic . . .”

“Any my ‘background’ is far from expertise,” Lightson added.

“Right”, she agreed, “we’re basically a team full of scientists–which is great. But someday our lack of diversity might cost us if we get into a tough battle with a magic based foe. We don’t understand magic enough to combat it.”

“I agree,” Lightson said, “we’ll have to address that sometime soon. But for now we have other problems to tackle. Let’s get this parchment to Skipper–see if he can decipher it.”

Later:

“Sure I can read this thing,” Skipper said, “it says:”

And so we came to this new land, where we met new friends and found our new home. But an ancient enemy, more fearsome than the Tuatha de Dannan, had followed us. The Red Caps. Our misery is their joy.

Skipper continued, “ This is an ugly story. Based on what you guys found, it looks like the Fir Bolg blame the Red Caps for trapping them in the mystical world of Croatoa. That explains a lot. As interesting as this parchment is, though, we don’t have much time for chit-chat.”

“What’s the problem?” the Directrix asked.

“Well,” Skipper answered, “Salamanca houses the Occult Studies annex for Paragon City University. Unfortunately, the Fir Bolg have gotten their hands on a book of runes that the Salamancans were using to keep the worst of the monsters out of the village. They need that book back, and bad. Can you go and retrieve it?”

To be continued . . . .

Edits: Typos