The residents and travelers of Mourning Glory returned for the October trade, only to find the town overrun by Nemeses. From horrifying clowns to killer slashers, the townsfolk had more than enough to deal with. But Rogue’s Gallery didn’t think so, and re-introduced their Death Games. The prizes were items important to the town’s local factions, and thus were very valuable to the right people. Rogue’s Gallery was “kind” though, and gave each participant a ticket that could be exchanged for clues, help, or even a life.
Friday night started off with a mystery- the kidnapping of Vic Ford! After leading blue bands into town, Vic and Mustang Ford were ambushed on the way home. Vic was Kidnapped, and Mustang led folks out to a Plot Hole- the entrance to a tunnel system used by Rogue’s Gallery. Unfortunately, exploring the tunnels proved too difficult, and the town had to retreat to think of another way to save Vic.
Later there were sightings of some creepy zed- Mannequins. Headless and silent, they only moved when their target looked away. Luckily folks were able to fend them off, but they persisted through the weekend. Then the first Death Games occurred- leading to violent deaths. More explosive deaths were threatened by the emergence of the Bomb Collar, a device created by Rogue Prime himself. The collar could be set off by Nemesi with a detonator, or as some found, by pulling their own collar’s chain.
During Friday night, the locals held a Graverobber meeting to discuss the urgency of the Dead Zones, during which they met Cancer and Canaan, representatives from the Zodiac Collective and the Arbiters of Aeternum respectively.
Saturday the local Darwinists established a radiation sink as a place to dispose of Dominion irradiated material, and doubled as their place of the local Darwin’s place of worship. The Nemesis games ran on, leading to death after death. Some in the town agreed to play along, while others wanted to fight back. A clue about a final confrontation was given, and the town quickly started preparations for this last deadly game.
Meanwhile, a man came into town begging for help. He claimed to have been on the run from a strange horde of zed for days, and was afflicted by a peculiar condition that caused him to drip and vomit black ichor. Unfortunately, when he was brought in for treatment, he suddenly turned into a zed that, while not strong, was extremely difficult to permanently put down. Other similarly affected victims and zed continued to appear and present dangers to the town.
After many games and Nemesis attacks, finally, the Rogue’s Gallery showdown occurred. The town met the group of anarchists on the edge of town, where they gave them a simple choice: unarm the detonators that would set off all the bomb collars, or fight the entire Rogue’s Gallery to save Vic Ford. The town quickly went to work disarming the detonators, but a few came back to bargain with Rogue Prime for Vic’s life. By turning in 10 tickets, the townsfolk was able to save their capitalist friend while sparing the life of those collared. The town was once again peaceful- or as much as a wasteland town could be.
Sunday ruined this peacefulness with the discovery that Daisy the bear was still being attacked viciously by an unknown menace. Said menace was sighted for the first time off in the woods- a creature with many eyes and glowing green claws. The town aims to hunt the creature so Daisy can finally hibernate in peace for the winter.
Now that the Nemeses are gone, what will winter bring?
So, with the October event approaching and so many new faces in town, some of you might be asking– what the heck is “Nemesis month?” And what, for that matter, is a “Nemesis?”
Put simply, the Nemesi are a controversial subsect of the Telling Visionist faith. Whether or not they’re officially considered heretics has been debated hotly over time– but regardless, the theme of the sect has largely stayed the same. Nemesi are TVs who dedicate themselves to villainous scripts, out of the belief that antagonists are a necessary part of progressing the ‘story’ as a whole.
Both NPCs and PCs can be Nemesi (though acting as a Nemesi PC may involve CVC.) Some TVs even consider it a tradition to switch over to a villainous script during October, the holiest month for horror and frights.
A few common types of Nemesis have become pretty notorious across the wastes (and for good reason!) Some– taking after the slasher villains of old– are simply strong, dangerous killers. Others adopt their roles with the explicit goal of pushing someone into becoming their ‘heroic’ counterpart. But in truth, just like any other person, Nemesi can have all kinds of agendas and goals. Some punish evildoers, “encouraging” them to mend their wicked ways. Others compete with fellow nemeses to see who can be the scariest TV on the block— without actually killing anyone! And still others might have their own messages they’re trying to convey.
This brings us to Mourning Glory’s local faction of NPC Nemesi, the Rogue’s Gallery.
You’ve probably encountered (or heard about) some pesky clowns who’ve been causing minor mischief in town. But Moxie and Mr. Jay are just two members of a much larger Main Cast, with much larger ambitions being planned backstage. Hopefully, you’ll get to meet some of the other members this month!
Led by an enigmatic Lascarian named Rogue Prime, the Gallery is a fanatical, anarchist group of Nemesi with scripts based loosely on the Batman canon. They fancy themselves at war against the ruling class– or as they call them, the “Owls.” Their tactics may seem vicious and manipulative– because they are– but it’s rarely without some hidden truth or lesson to be learned.
More than anything, the Gallery wants the townsfolk of Mourning Glory to rise up and take action against elitist figures of authority like the Fords. The trouble with these TVs, however, is that they can’t just be straightforward and ask. Everything has to be veiled in theatrics and trickery, which may not earn them much love among the people they’re trying to liberate. Still, they’re surprisingly successful at recruiting converts from among the area’s more downtrodden populace– those with good reason to radicalize.
During the April 2020 Online Event, “Fox Hunt”, Rogue’s Gallery absconded with powerful Faith artifacts from across the Midwastes. After transforming the Fox Theatre into a booby-trapped labyrinth, they invited PCs to come participate in a gauntlet of sick death games, with these artifacts as the prize. In the end, it was a lesson on the nature of faith and greed– the dark lengths people are willing to go to, so long as something prestigious and powerful is promised at the finish line.
During the grand finale, players were forced to choose between several NPCs to sacrifice, and players chose to hand over Mustang Ford– exactly as the Gallery had planned. Mustang was later released to safety, but only after months of torture and degredation at his captors’ hands.
Interested in reading more about our local factions? You can check them out on our Faction Page!
After ousting the Dominion in June and blowing up the Observatory-- and thus the local morgue-- the townsfolk of Mourning Glory returned to rebuild the town. The trade started off with a bang when the Dominion showed up to intimidate and harass the settlement, claiming it was still their territory. Locals and travelers alike banded together to chase them off, and so started the weekend.
The main focus of the trade was to find Morgue Materials for a successful Morgue Sink- a process that creates a new Morgue, so those who’ve died have somewhere to return after being processed through the Mortis Amaranthine. Various obstacles stood in the way, including an epic ride fight against Raiders, an irradiated lab full of Glow Boys, multiple attacks by the Dominion with a recently “evolved” General Boscogn, and a surgery on a Doom Fog that attracted hordes of irradiated dead. Other notable encounters included St. Mary’s offering a suspicious life insurance, a “fun” Saturday Morning Cartoons hosted by a local Rogue’s Gallery face, many mine runs (sponsored by the Fords of course), and a brave contingent saving an endangered Cult of the Silent member from terrifying Echoes.
This all led up to the moment everyone was preparing for: the Morgue Sink. After choosing a new psionic user, a biogenetics user, a faithful psionics user, and a necrokinetics user, the town ventured into the mines to create a new space for the Gravemind. It was a long and hard fight, with many obstacles in the way. Artisans had to build, salvagers and foragers had to find materials, and four psionic users had to combine their strength to finish the job. All of this while hordes of zed attacked relentlessly, maiming some and unfortunately killing others. The Morgue was remade though, and with it a miraculous Unborn was created. The town once more has a place for the dead to return from, and possibly a new messiah of the local Cult of the Silent. Now the question is: who will be sent to the morgue next?
