A Marvel Super Heroes Adventure

based on the story by Kurt Busiek and George Perez

©1999 Marvel Comics and Wizards of the Coast

Introduction

And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth’s mightiest heroes and heroines found themselves united against a common threat. On that day, the Avengers were born-to fight the foes no single super hero could withstand! Through the years, their roster has prospered, changing many times, but their glory has never been denied! Heed the call, then – for now, the Avengers Assemble!

Avengers: Live Kree or Die! is an introductory adventure for the MARVEL SUPER HEROES Adventure Game intended for up to six players. You need the MarvelGame Book and the Fate Deck in order to play. The players take the roles of the Mighty Avengers to stop their old foes, the alien Kree, from turning all humanity into “neo-Kree” and the Earth into the center of the new Kree Empire! Hero sheets for the members of the Avengers are provided at the end of the adventure. If there are fewer than six players, some of the heroes can be ignored or run as characters by the Narrator.

The events in this adventure are inspired by the “Live Kree or Die!” storyline published by Marvel Comics in Iron Man, Captain America, Quicksilver and Avengers. While it uses the original storyline as inspiration, it does not try to exactly duplicate the events from the comics, allowing Narrators to work in some surprises for players who may have read the stories themselves.

How to Narrate

One player in the group takes the role of the Narrator. The Narrator handles all the actions of the characters other than the heroes and describes what happens in the game to the other players. Narrating a Marvel game requires quick thinking sometimes, since heroes often do the unexpected. Advice and hints for the Narrator is provided throughout this adventure.

In general, the most important things to do are to keep the game moving and make it fun for everyone involved. The Marvel Universe is an exciting, fast-paced world, so try and run the game the same way. Liven up your descriptions with dramatic sound effects, use different voices for the characters and villains in the story and don’t let the players get too bogged-down in the rules or numbers of the game. As long as you’re trying to make the game as much fun as reading an issue of The Avengers, you’re doing a good job.

Each chapter makes suggestions about various Dramatic Events that can be used to provide additional fun and complications for the heroes. These events are printed on the cards of the Fate Deck and can be used during the Narrator Draw of an action scene or ignored as desired.

Choosing Heroes

The end of this adventure contains hero sheets for six members of the Avengers: Captain America, Hawkeye, Iron Man, the Scarlet Witch, Thor, and the Vision. Their hero sheets can also be found in the Marvel Roster Book and the Avengers Roster Book. If you have fewer than six players, you can play any remaining heroes as characters in the adventure, or simply ignore them. If wish to run the adventure for more than six players, you can use additional heroes from the main Roster Book or from theAvengers Roster Book. Quicksilver, Firestar and Justice are particularly appropriate heroes. If you use additional heroes, you should increase the size and power of the opposition accordingly.

If two or more players wish to play the same hero, have each player draw a card from the Fate Deck. The highest card wins, unless a player draws the card with that hero’s picture on it, in which case that player gets to play the hero.

Background

The Kree are an alien race from the planet Hala in the Greater Megallanic Cloud, a distant galaxy from our own. Many thousands of years ago the Kree built a star-spanning empire while humans were still primitive. They colonized and conquered many worlds and explored beyond the bounds of their galaxy. They created a powerful computer system, linked to the preserved brains of the greatest statesmen, scholars and scientists of the Empire to rule it, known as the Supreme Intelligence.

One of the worlds the Kree visited was Earth. In studying primitive humans, the Kree discovered the genetic tampering of the godlike alien Celestials, which led to the creation of two branches of humanity: the Eternals and the Deviants. The Kree conducted genetic experiments of their own on primitive humans, in hopes of creating a new soldier or slave race for their Empire. Eventually, a war with the alien Skrulls caused the Kree to abandon their outpost near Earth. They left behind robotic Sentries to keep watch over their creations.

The humans modified by the Kree became known as the Inhumans. In time, they discovered the genetic-altering Terrigen Mist and found the fabled city of Attilan. For a time, Attilan occupied a portion of the ancient Kree outpost, known as the “Blue Area” of the Moon.

The Kree warrior Captain Mar-Vell became known on Earth as Captain Marvel. He worked with the Avengers and fought with them against enemies like the Kree and the mad titan Thanos before dying of cancer caused by an exposure to deadly chemicals. Mar-Vell helped Carol Danvers (Warbird) gain her original powers and knowledge of the Kree.

Over the millennia, the Kree Empire fought many wars, particularly against their old enemies, the Skrulls. Eventually, the Supreme Intelligence determined that the Kree were at an evolutionary dead-end. They were no longer evolving as a race. In an effort to find a solution, the Supreme Intelligence tried several schemes involving the inhabitants of Earth, who the Kree knew to have great genetic potential. All of these plans were thwarted by the Avengers and their allies.

Eventually, the Supreme Intelligence drove the Kree into war against another stellar empire, that of the Shi’ar. Although the Supreme Intelligence told the Kree it planned to conquer the Shi’ar, in truth it wanted the Shi’ar to defeat the Kree, providing a catastrophic event to “jump-start” the race’s evolution once more. That billions of Kree would die in the process was of no concern to the Supremor’s cold intellect. The Avengers intervened in the Kree/Shi’ar War and helped prevent matters from being far worse than they could have been. A group of Avengers decided to end the conflict by destroying the Supreme Intelligence, which they did. The Kree Empire fell and became a vassal of the larger Shi’ar Empire.

But, unknown to the Avengers, back-up systems saved the Supreme Intelligence and Kree loyal to the Supremor spirited it away from Kree-Lar, the Kree throneworld. Calling themselves the Lunatic Legion, these Kree established a secret base in the ruins in the Blue Area of the Moon and planned to gain revenge on the Avengers, while turning Earth into the center of a new, more powerful Kree Empire!

The Kree

The alien Kree are the main villains of this adventure, led by the Supreme Intelligence and Admiral Galen Kor.

The Supreme Intelligence

Strength 0X , Agility 0X, Intellect 16A, Willpower 16C, Health 17. Scientific Genius (all science skills); Leadership, Mental Control. Computer Link 20, Invulnerable to Mental and Emotional Control, Illusion 16 (rangeless), Mind Control 10 (Kree only), Telepathy 16 (rangeless), Teleport 25 (passengers only). Calling: World (Galactic) Domination. Hindrances: Sedentary (the Supreme Intelligence is part of a vast computer system. He has no Strength or Agility of his own and cannot move).

The Supreme Intelligence (also known as the “Supremor” or Supreme Organism) is a vast organic computer system made up on the brains of the greatest Kree leaders, scholars and statesmen, linked together to form a single, powerful group-mind. The Supremor has vast intelligence and mental powers, some of which can reach across intergalactic distances. Although unable to move on its own, the Supreme Intelligence operates by using its vast mental powers and by controlling various robot servants like the Sentries. It’s prime goal is to revitalize the Kree’s stagnant evolution, and it has been willing to sacrifice the greater good of the Empire in order to do so. During the Kree-Shi’ar War, the Supremor plotted to kill a large portion of the Kree population in order to “jump-start” their evolution once again. A group of Avengers attempted to kill the Supremor, but it managed to escape apparent death as it has in the past. It is now concealed in the ruins on the Blue Area of the Moon.

Unknown to the Lunatic Legion, the Supreme Intelligence wants their plan to fail. The Kree are at an evolutionary dead-end, and the Supremor sees no reason to perpetuate their mistakes by turning humanity into neo-Kree. Because of this, there are times during the adventure when the Supreme Intelligence may actually help the heroes overcome the Kree. It never does so overtly or in any way that the heroes will know they are being helped. Instead, the Supremor uses subtle manipulations to “lend a hand” to heroes who might need it. With its Computer Link and Mind Control powers, the Supremor can affect Kree devices and soldiers to do its bidding, causing a device to malfunction or a soldier to miss a critical shot, with no one the wiser.

You can use the Supreme Intelligence as a kind of “guardian angel” for the heroes during the adventure. If things go really badly for them, have the Supremor give them a little unseen help to make things easier. Don’t turn the adventure into a cakewalk, just help the heroes out if they really need it and keep the adventure going. Keep in mind that the Supreme Intelligence never does anything to give away its true intentions and that it is amazingly patient, since it is effectively immortal.

The Lunatic Legion

Strength 8X, Agility 4D, Intellect 4X, Willpower 4D, Health 10. Marksmanship or Martial Arts, Military. Equipment: Body Armor +2, Blaster +4 Calling: Soldier.

The Lunatic Legion is a group of exiled Kree soldiers, led by Admiral Galen Kor (see below). They are completely loyal to the Supreme Intelligence and the ideals of the Kree Empire, refusing the believe that the Supremor actually intended to sacrifice the Empire to the Shi’ar (they believe it is a lie spread by the Avengers). Galen Kor and the members of the Legion blame the Avengers for the fall of the Kree Empire and reserve particular hatred for the seven Avengers who attempted to kill the Supreme Intelligence.

Admiral Galen Kor

Strength 11B, Agility 6X, Intellect 4X, Willpower 6C, Health 17. Brawling, Military, Leadership. Equipment: Body Armor +2, the Universal Weapon +5 [all powers intensity 16, Absorption (energy damage), Energy Blast, Disintegration (disintegration ray), Force Field (remote field), Gravity Control, Teleportation, Transmutation (inanimate only)] Calling: Soldier.

Admiral Galen Kor is the commander of the Lunatic Legion and the mastermind behind the plan to gain revenge on Earth by turning Earth into the center of a new Kree Empire. He is a tall, powerfully muscled Kree with blue skin. His face is badly scarred and he has a cybernetic replacement for his missing left eye. Kor is a fanatic devoted to the Supreme Intelligence, the Empire, and a desire for revenge on the Avengers (in that order). He is completely unaware of the Supremor’s duplicity and continues on with his plans believing he is serving the Supreme Intelligence by doing so. Kor carries the Universal Weapon, a Kree device originally wielded by Ronan the Accuser, which grants him considerable power, making him a match for even the Avengers.

Kree Sentries

Strength 16X, Agility 6X, Intellect 3X, Willpower 2X, Health 20. Body Armor +4, Computer Link 15, Energy Blast 14, Force Field 18 (projected field), Invulnerable to Aging, Corrosives, Disease, Emotion Control, Mental Control and Poison. Calling: Soldier. Hindrances: Uncreative (0 Intellect in fights, always responds with the simplest and most apparently logical powers regardless of consequences).

The Sentry robots are used by the Kree for military and surveillance purposes. Sentries have no creative intelligence and simply follow their programmed instructions. Several Sentry robots have been stations in Earth’s solar system since it was discovered by the Kree. The Kree are currently using the Sentries as weapons against the Avengers and the people of Earth.

Warbird

Strength 16X, Agility 6B, Intellect 5B, Willpower 7D, Health 17. Aerial Combat, Martial Arts, Piloting; Energy Control, Espionage, Journalism; Military. Energy Blast 14,Flight 14. Calling: Gloryhound. Hindrances: Addicted to Alcohol.

Although herodom is a long, strange trip for anyone, Carol Danvers gets top marks for a bizarre ride. Carol was a top notch intelligence agent for the US Air Force for several years before becoming chief of security at NASA. There, she met the Kree Captain Mar-Vell and was exposed to the Kree Psyche-Magnetron at his secret base on Earth. The radiation from the Psyche-Magnetron augmented her genetic structure, granting her enormous strength, invulnerability, flight, and a “Seventh Sense.” She took the name Ms. Marvel in honor of Captain Mar-Vell and fought crime with her new abilities.

Carol moved to New York, became the editor of Woman magazine, and joined the Avengers. Shortly afterward, Immortus’s son Marcus seduced her, brought her to Limbo as part of a creepy escape scheme, and impregnated Carol-with himself. When Carol left Limbo, he was rapidly born from her, and grew up fast-so fast, in fact, that he turned to dust.

Feeling violated and angry at the Avengers for letting Marcus walk off with her, Carol was hardly back before Rogue (then a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants) stole all her powers and memories. The powerless amnesiac Carol stayed with the X-Men while Professor X helped restore her memories.

Traveling with the X-Men led her to be captured by the alien Brood, who used an evolution ray on her, giving her a whole new set of stellar energy-based powers. She changed her heroic name to Binary, and joined the Starjammers for outer space adventures. Binary came back to Earth to help out during Operation: Galactic Storm and was nearly killed.

Following that she decided to remain on Earth. Carol’s Binary powers have faded for some reason, reducing her power-level. She also began drinking heavily as a means of forgetting her problems. Taking the new name Warbird, she rejoined the Avengers feeling she had a great deal to prove. Her dependence on alcohol and her need to prove herself have caused problems with the team.

Warbird is not a hero in this adventure, since she gets captured in Chapter Two. Run her as a character along with the rest of the heroes and play up her independence, grandstanding and erratic behavior. Carol is very proud and can’t admit she has a problem to her teammates. She pushes herself to greater and greater acts of daring in order to impress them (especially Captain America).

Chapter One: Bad Moon Rising

When the adventure begins, read the following to the players:

Iron Man recently battled a dangerous new villain called Firebrand in the Caribbean. Firebrand works for a terrorist group known as the Flaming Sword. During the battle with the Flaming Sword, an unknown party transmitted information to Iron Man about Firebrand’s origin. Rick Dennison was a member of an eco-terrorist group known as Terra Tactics. The group staged a sabotage mission of an alternative energy project run by a company in the Boston area called PowerSource. In the saboteurs’ escape, Rick was shot by a guard and left behind. The explosion blew Rick through a tank full of an experimental super-charged plasma. When rescuers found him, he was glowing, his body melting metal at touch. Before doctors could help him, his containment tank was stolen by another terrorist group called the Flaming Sword. They renamed him Firebrand and used him as their chief operative.

Although Firebrand and the Flaming Sword escaped from their battle with Iron Man, shellhead still wants to check out PowerSource and their involvement in the whole affair. It might be that they are innocent, or they may have ties with Firebrand. Either way, it would be good to find out who sent the information on Firebrand. A trip up to Boston will also give the team a chance to check in with Warbird, who took some temporary leave. Everyone on the team is worried about her, she simply hasn’t been acting like herself lately.

Captain America raps his gavel on the table. “Meeting adjourned, Avengers. Let’s fire up the quinjet and head for Boston!”

Carol’s House

Carol Danvers (aka Warbird) is staying at her parents home in Beverly, Massachusetts, near Boston. The general public does not know that Carol is Warbird, so the Avengers should approach the house covertly so as not to attract too much attention to themselves (landing the quinjet on the street would be a bad idea, in other words). Let the players come up with some suitable means of arriving incognito, from wearing civilian clothes to using image inducers to Thor whipping up a fog to cover their appearance. If the players can’t come up with something on their own, an easy Intellect action allows a hero to come up with an idea (tell the players one of the above or make up your own).

The Avengers are greeted by Carol’s mother, who’s a little surprised to have the world-famous Avengers in her house. She tells them Carol is in her room. There are several discarded beer bottles on the night stand and the floor in front of the bed, which is unmade. Air Force posters decorate the walls and model airplanes hang from the ceiling. The smell of alcohol is strong in the room. Carol greets her teammates and asks them what they want. She’s still technically on leave, after all.

At first, Carol is friendly, if guarded, in dealing with her fellow Avengers. Any effort to get her to talk about her problems gets Carol to recap her origin story (given under Warbird’s description in the Introduction). Make it clear that Warbird has had a tough time of it, it’s understandable why she feels persecuted. However, any mention of her current problems or her drinking sets Carol off. She transforms into her Warbird costume and shouts angrily at the heroes, telling them to mind their own business and leave her alone. She seems on the verge of attacking them as she orders them out of the house.

In general, this scene serves to introduce Warbird and her problems to the players and gives them a chance to get a feel for their heroes and how they interact. It’s a role-playing scene, not an action scene, so no real cardplay is needed. If any of the players wants to start a fight with Warbird, remind them that they are in Carol’s parents’ house, which would almost certainly be demolished by even a minor brawl between members of the Avengers. Captain America, at the least, should try to keep the encounter peaceful and agree to leave when Warbird asks them to.

Powersource

The Avengers’ next stop is the PowerSource building off Route 128 north of Boston. PowerSource is a small high-tech company specializing in alternative energy research. As it happens, the president of PowerSource, Victoria Snow, is an old employee of Tony Stark (Iron Man). Tell the player of Iron Man this, and allow the heroes to decide how they want to approach the situation. Tony Stark can try talking to Victoria in his civilian identity, or the Avengers can ask to speak with her directly.

In either case, Ms. Snow is aware of Firebrand’s connection to PowerSource. She basically recounts the description of the accident given to the players at the beginning of this chapter. She denies any knowledge of a data-transmission to Iron Man or any other knowledge regarding Firebrand, trying her best to end the interview quickly. She refuses to allow anyone to search or look around the building, claiming that PowerSource handles many sensitive and top-secret projects. Any hero who makes a challenging Intellect action can determine that Victoria is probably lying. She is definitely hiding something. Before the heroes can press her for more information, they find out what.

Enter the Kree

Suddenly, Ms. Marvel comes crashing through the window of Victoria’s office. She’s angry and has clearly had too much to drink. She accuses the Avengers of trying to force her out of the team. “I’m as capable as any of you!” she yells at them, stellar energy glowing around her hands.

Before the Avengers can respond, a group of eight Kree soldiers burst into the room, weapons at the ready, and order the Avengers to surrender. More than likely, a fight erupts between the Kree and the Avengers. Warbird sides with her teammates, taking every opportunity to prove to them that she can handle herself against any opponent. Unfortunately, she tends to grandstand, ignoring team tactics and Captain America’s orders.

The Sentries

The Avengers should make fairly short work of the Kree, but as soon as the fight is nearly over, the room of the PowerSource building is ripped away, revealing two Kree Sentry robots, which attack the Avengers to cover the escape of the Kree soldiers. The Sentries surround the PowerSource building with a Kree force field (intensity 18) and attack. If none of the players point it out, remind them that the building contains dozens of innocent civilians who may be caught in the line of fire. The first priority of the Avengers should be to safeguard their lives, then take out the Sentries, and deal with the Kree soldiers last.

On the first negative draw during the fight with the Sentries, any unconscious Kree awaken, regroup and move towards their hidden aircraft to escape. Warbird breaks off whatever she is doing to fly after them. If any of the heroes try to do the same, a Sentry gives them something else to worry about, attacking that hero or threatening some of the innocent people in the building (collapsing part of the floor or ceiling, or overloading an experimental generator, for example). Warbird’s energy powers allow her to penetrate the force field surrounding the building with a heroic effort. Any other hero who pursues is stopped by the force field and must break through it or destroy the Sentry (which is maintaining the field). It is important that the Kree escape, pursued by Warbird, since that leads into Chapter Two.

If the Team Splits Up

It is quite possible the Avengers might choose to split up at the beginning of this chapter, with some of the team going to see Carol Danvers and the rest checking out PowerSource. If this is the case, run the scene at PowerSource first and have the Kree soldiers burst into the room, but do not have Warbird show up yet. Switch over to the scene at Carol Danvers’ home with a statement of “Meanwhile, at the Beverly home of the parents of Carol Danvers, alias Warbird…” leaving a cliffhanger for the heroes at PowerSource (and giving the players a chance to come up with ideas of things to do).

Play out the scene with Warbird as described above. Right around the time Carol is ordering the heroes out of her home, the Avengers’ Identicards beep with an urgent alert from the rest of the team at PowerSource, they’re under attack! The other Avengers rush to the rescue and Warbird chooses to follow them so she can help out and prove herself to them. Go back to the fight with the Kree soldiers and have the other Avengers show up in time for the fight with the Sentries, allowing Warbird to go after the Kree while the heroes handle the robots.

Dramatic Events

During the fight scenes, you can use various dramatic events from the Fate Deck to liven things up. Each card has a particular event printed on it, along with the Calling that responds most strongly to that event. These events provide the heroes with additional roleplaying opportunities and things to do. For example, Costume Damage might result in an attack or accident damaging a vital system of Iron Man’s armor, temporarily disabling him and requiring a challenging Intellect action for Iron Man to get the system working again. Cry for Help or Endangered Innocents may indicate people endangered by the Sentry or damage to the PowerSource building. Heroes with a Calling the corresponds to the event (such as Guardian and Cry for Help) should react to the event, otherwise they risk losing their response bonus for the adventure (see the Marvel Game Book for more information).

Doom Cards

If the players play any Doom Cards during the initial fight with the Kree, save them up in the Doom Pool to make the fight with the Sentries more challenging. The Kree soldiers should be no match for the Mighty Avengers, but the Sentries should be a fairly tough fight. You can play cards from the Doom Pool if it looks like the Avengers are having too easy a time of it to increase the difficulty of actions against the Sentries. You can also play Doom Cards to prevent heroes from breaking through the force field to follow the escaping Kree.

On the other hand, if the heroes are having too tough a time with certain parts of this chapter (mainly the fight with the Sentries), the Supreme Intelligence may step in to help the heroes out. The Supremor can mentally control a Sentry using its Computer Link power, and may deliberately cause the robot to miss heroes or provide them with an opportunity to destroy the Sentry (lowering the difficulty of attacks against it). It may also cause one Sentry to shoot another, giving the heroes an opening. Don’t tell heroes why the robots suddenly seemed to have a run of bad luck, let them wonder.

Chapter Two: Stuck in the Middle

At the beginning of this chapter, read the following out loud to the players:

Not long after dealing with the aftermath of the battle at PowerSource, you’re in the quinjet heading back to New York. Shortly before you reach Manhattan, you receive an emergency signal from Warbird’s Indenticard. “Team, this is Warbird,” she says. “I’m pinned down fighting a group of Kree at an abandoned missile silo near Cape Canaveral. Home in on my coordinates and…” suddenly, the message ends in a burst of hard static. You managed to get a fix on it before it was cut off, however. The quinjet’s flight computer has the location of the silo Warbird mentioned, a short distance from Cape Canaveral, Florida. You should be able to get there in a matter of minutes. You only hope you’re not too late.

The Missile Silo

The Lunatic Legion is holed up in an abandoned missile silo in Florida, which they have converted into a hangar for their ship and a testing group for humans they have captured. They expose human prisoners to Terrigen Mist, stolen from the Inhumans, in attempts to find the genetic “key” needed to transform humanity into a neo-Kree slave race. Thus far, the experiments have been unsuccessful, resulting only in a lot of dead humans.

Shortly after sending out the emergency message to the rest of the Avengers, Warbird is captured by the Kree. They hope to use her unique combination of Kree and human biology to further their experiments. Warbird is placed in a containment vessel hooked up to various monitoring devices in the center of the testing chamber, filling with human test subjects. The heroes arrive on the scene just as the Kree begin pumping in the gas. Warbird is firmly held by Material Strength 18 restraints, so she is unable to do anything to stop the Kree until the heroes free her. The walls of the testing chamber are only wood (material strength 7), so the heroes should have no problem busting in and freeing the prisoners.

The instant the heroes break in, the Kree attack them in order to cover their own escape. There are at least a couple dozen Kree soldiers in the silo, armed and armored as described in the Introduction section. In addition, there are two Kree cyborgs, which have the same statistics as the other Kree except they have Strength 16D, Brawlingand Body Armor +2, making them a match even for some of the Avengers. The cyborgs leap to the attack and try to keep the Avengers occupied while the other Kree fire their energy weapons at the heroes.

Escaping the Blast

Four exchanges after the fight begins, most of the Lunatic Legion boards the Kree ship concealed in the silo and blasts off for their base on the Moon. The back-blast of the rockets does intensity 22 damage to anyone still in the silo when the ship takes off. Any of the human prisoners still inside will be killed unless the heroes can get them to safety in time. Let the heroes come up with their own ways of doing this. A challenging Willpower action can help coordinate the evacuation (Leadership skill reduces the difficulty to average). There are several dozen prisoners, so several heroes must coordinate their efforts to get them all clear in time.

Once again, Warbird tries to prove herself by stopping the Kree. She ignores the efforts to get the prisoners clear and flies at the Kree ship. The Lunatic Legion catches her in a stasis beam and pulls her on board the ship before it takes off. They use the stasis beam on any other heroes who try to stop them, but do not pull them on board. Instead they leave them paralyzed, to be killed by the rocket blast. Evading the Kree stasis beam is a challenging Agility action. Heroes struck by it are paralyzed and must make asuperhuman Strength action to break out of the stasis field. The primary concern of the Avengers should be to get the prisoners clear and protect them from the effects of the rocket-blast. Heroes who ignore their Calling to go after the Kree rather than helping the prisoners may lose their response bonus, feel free to remind the players of this.

Dramatic Events

Dramatic events that come up during the fight with the Kree may involve the human prisoners, the various equipment (both Kree and human) in the silo and the bodies of the Kree’s other human victims. For example, Mass Panic may cause the humans to stampede over each other in an attempt to escape, forcing the heroes to try and calm them.Never Say Die or Remembrance of Heroes may expose a hero who is knocked through a wall to the dozens of dead bodies of the Kree’s other experimental subjects, inspiring the hero to fight that much harder. Unstable Ground may indicate a stray blaster bolt collapsing a section of the silo onto a group of helpless prisoners, and so forth.

Doom Cards

Save up any Doom Cards the heroes play during this chapter to help ensure the Kree’s escape at the end. You can use Doom Cards to increase the difficulty of avoiding or breaking out of the Kree stasis beam, allowing the Kree to paralyze any other heroes who try to capture them (and forcing the other heroes to rescue their paralyzed teammates from the rocket blast). Give all the heroes something to do (either helping prisoners or fighting the Kree, or both!) so they can spend their Doom Cards.

The heroes shouldn’t have too difficult a time against the Kree in this chapter, since their opponents haven’t got anywhere near their power-level. However, if needed, you can have the Supreme Intelligence use its powers to help the heroes out a little, as described in the Introduction.

Chapter Three: Blue Moon

At the beginning of this chapter, read the following out loud to the players:

The Kree have taken Warbird and escaped! Their rocket has gone to the mysterious Blue Area of the Moon, where the Kree must have some kind of base. You’ve returned to Avengers Mansion to prepare to launch a rescue mission, recover Warbird and put a stop the whatever the Kree may be planning. In short order, Iron Man has the space quinjet ready for launch and you’re off to the Moon!

As the quinjet leaves the atmosphere and heads towards the lunar surface, the communications system beeps and a strange image appears on the viewscreen. It is a bulbous green head with glowing yellow eyes, topped with writhing tentacles, the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree!

“Greetings, Avengers,” it says. “Despite the best efforts of your ally, the Black Knight, I survive. His energy sword could not destroy me, as I am a sentient computer, not a corporeal being. I downloaded my sentience into another terminal and escaped from my home planet of Kree-Lar. Now a faction of Kree warriors called the Lunatic Legion has used the technology here to rebuild part of the ruins on your moon as a base.”

“They have acquired a generator from the earthbound technological firm PowerSource, which is being used to fuel a powerful omni-wave projector, directed at Earth. The omni-waves will be filtered through a portion of Terrigen Mists, stolen from the Inhumans, our genetic creations. When the waves strike Earth’s atmosphere, they will cause a chain reaction that will cause all human life to change. Those whose genetic code is unsullied will be changed into beings genetically identical to pure-breed Kree. Those whose DNA is mutated-such as many of the superhuman heroes and villains of your planet-will die.”

“In a way, you have provided the key to this plan. As the only surviving hybrid of human and Kree, Warbird’s DNA has provided the information needed to program the omni-wave projector. Soon General Kor will make all of humanity pay for the destruction of the old Kree Empire, but turning Earth into the foundation of a new one!”

If the heroes ask the Supreme Intelligence why it is giving them this information (apart from the opportunity to gloat), it says only “My reasons are my own.” Then it ends the communication. In truth, the Supremor isn’t gloating, it’s warning the Avengers what they are up against so they can foil Galen Kor’s plan.

Lunar Defenses

As the space quinjet approaches the Blue Area of the Moon, Kree weapons batteries open fire on it. Heroes must make a challenging Intellect action to avoid being surprised by the batteries. Avoiding their attacks and landing the quinjet safely on the lunar surface requires a series of four challenging Agility actions by whoever is piloting. Other heroes can try to use their powers and abilities to protect the quinjet (set difficulties for these actions as you see fit). The Kree weapons do intensity 16 damage against the Quinjet’s Hull Strength of 14. If the quinjet is hit, the heroes themselves may be damaged. Apply the intensity against them as well, but the quinjet gives all the Avengers Body Armor +8 against outside attacks.

If the heroes are having too much trouble evading the weapons, the Supreme Intelligence may covertly lend a hand (see the Introduction), causing the weapons to fire slightly off-target and lowering the difficulty to evade them to average or even easy. Of course, you shouldn’t tell the players why things seem so much easier than they thought.

The Kree Attack!

Moments after the Avengers land in the Blue Area, dozens of Kree soldiers swarm out of the ruins and attack (use the game stats provided in the Introduction). Give the heroes a good fight against the Kree and give all the players a chance to let loose against their enemies. Don’t worry too much about the exact number of Kree soldiers-it will soon become irrelevant when the Kree sacrifice themselves. Just let the players have a good time pounding on the Kree and avoiding their attacks. Encourage innovative actions and roleplaying during the fight. The Kree should shout taunts and insults at the heroes, telling them they cannot win against the might of the Kree Empire. The Avengers will pay for their crimes against the Empire. They will fall and Earth will be next! Such threats should help inspire the players to get into the fight and roleplay it.

Freeing Warbird

Warbird is being held in part of an underground complex near where the Avengers land their quinjet. Finding her is a challenging Intellect action. Alternately, a dramatic event could send a hero or Kree soldier crashing through the wall into the room where she is held. The restraints holding her are Material Strength 16.

Once freed, Warbird is not overly grateful to her teammates, instead she powers up and goes after the Kree, doing her best to demonstrate her fitness as an Avenger to everyone. However, it is quite clear that she is not up to the task. Her Addiction to Alcohol hindrance is in full-force, so many of Warbird’s attacks miss or hit the wrong targets. You should feel free to use any Dramatic Events that come up as hints for how to handle Warbird’s actions. For example, Cry for Help might mean Warbird gets in over her head, forcing a hero to rush to her rescue (it would be bad of any Avenger to abandon a teammate, even if she is acting poorly). Lack of Support might cause Warbird to fail to help out a teammate in need in favor of going after another goal (since she is acting poorly for an Avenger).

Destorying the Generator

Warbird’s main target is the power-generator the Kree stole from PowerSource on Earth. It powers the omni-wave projector and Galen Kor pointed it out to Warbird when she was held captive. She doesn’t tell the other Avengers about it because she wants to destroy the generator herself and be the hero of the day, but any hero who asks if there is a pattern to Warbird’s actions can make an average Intellect action to figure out she’s going for the generator. This may allow other heroes to help Warbird (not that she wants or appreciates any help).

The generator itself is Material Strength 12, so it should not be too difficult for the heroes to destroy it. Once they do, the omni-wave projector powers down. It seems like the threat to Earth has been averted, until the Kree play their final card (so to speak).

The Kree Sacrifice

The Kree suddenly stop fighting the heroes and, one by one, they start to glow and disappear. The Kree are using devices in the Blue Area to turn themselves into energy to power the omni-wave projector aimed at Earth. All the Kree soldiers rapidly vanish and the Projector begins powering up again, building towards a blast that will transform the people of Earth.

However, not all of the Kree are transformed. Admiral Galen Kor remains behind to make sure the Avengers cannot stop the projector. He remains in hiding and attempts to surprise the heroes as soon as they try to tamper with the projector. It requires a daunting Intellect action for heroes to detect Galen Kor sneaking up on them. Heroes who succeed have a last-second flash of intuition and may act normally; heroes who fail are caught off guard and may not take actions during the first exchange (although they may take counteractions).

The first thing Galen Kor does is enclose himself and the Avengers in a force field created by his Universal Weapon, cutting them off from the omni-wave projector. The force field is intensity 16. Kor then attacks the Avengers with his Universal Weapon, using its various powers to try and disable them and keep them away from the projector. Although the Avengers outnumber and out-power Admiral Kor, the Universal Weapon makes him a formidable adversary, and the heroes don’t have much time before the projector activates, dooming all life on Earth.

The heroes have four exchanges before the Projector activates. In that time they must overcome or outwit Galen Kor and disable the Projector. The Omni-wave projector itself is Material Strength 18. Destroying it causes it to explode, doing intensity 24 damage to everyone within about a mile. Lifting and moving the projector requires anunfathomable Strength action. Heroes might try to break into the Projector to shut it down. This is a bit easier, the hatches are only Material Strength 12, but overriding the Projector’s programming requires a superhuman Intellect action (reduced to desperate if the hero has the Computers skill, like Iron Man). Let the heroes come up with their own plan to disable the projector and apply an appropriate difficulty to it, based on the information above.

Dramatic Events

This is the big final scene, so the tension should be running high. The fate of the entire Earth rests in the hands of the heroes (no pressure or anything). Keep the events moving and don’t give the players too much time to stop and think.

You can use Dramatic Events throughout this chapter to add spice to the different scenes: during the approach to the Moon, the battle with the Kree, freeing Warbird, destroying the generator, fighting Galen Kor and stopping the omni-wave projector. Always try to use the dramatic events to enhance the scene rather than distract from it. There’s a lot going on towards the end, so it’s best not to clutter things up too much. Some sources of dramatic events may include: stray shots collapsing parts of the ruins (Structural Collapse), ancient Kree or Skrull weapons in the ruins going off (Explosion), and Kree booby traps (Cunning Scheme). A Dramatic Entrance or Retributive Strike event while the heroes are busy disarming the omni-wave projector might cause Galen Kor to regain consciousness and make a last effort to stop them. A Malfunctionevent while trying to disarm the projector might cause the countdown to skip an exchange, forcing the heroes to act quickly.

Doom Cards

In general, try to save up Doom Cards from the earlier parts of this chapter to play during the big climatic fight with Galen Kor. The Kree Admiral should be a powerful and dangerous opponent. Let the Kree soldiers in the early parts of the chapter go down to defeat fairly easily. Don’t make overcoming Admiral Kor impossible (remember, the heroes have only a limited time to stop the projector from firing). In fact, if it looks like the heroes can’t beat Kor, you can have the Supreme Intelligence step in once again to tip the balance, using its mental powers to throw Kor off balance or causing him to hesitate, reducing his abilities to 0 for one exchange, long enough for the heroes to take him out.

If the Heroes Fail

What if the heroes blow it? It is possible Galen Kor might delay the Avengers long enough for the omni-wave projector to fire on Earth. Or the heroes might overcome Kor, but not be able to shut down the Projector in time. If this happens, you have two choices. The first is to have the Supreme Intelligence step in and stop the Projector from firing, using its Computer Link power. It never intended to allow Galen Kor’s plan to succeed, it simply wanted the heroes to force Kor’s hand and capture the Lunatic Legion so they would no longer be a threat to the Supremor’s plans. Of course, the Supreme Intelligence doesn’t tell the heroes what happened, the Projector simply doesn’t fire. If asked, the Supremor denies any knowledge of sabotage. It suggests instead that Galen Kor’s plan was flawed. Use this ending if you want a simple, clean wrap-up for the adventure.

The other choice is to allow the Projector to fire and start the process of transforming the population of Earth into neo-Kree. The heroes will have to come up with some way of reversing the effects of the omni-wave before it is too late. It might be as simple a matter as reprogramming the projector, using Warbird’s human/Kree DNA as a pattern (and requiring a desperate Intellect action).

If you’re willing to do some additional preparation, reversing the effects might require an additional adventure where the Avengers acquire the necessary components of a reverse omni-wave projector from the Blue Area or even from the former Kree throneworld of Kree-Lar, in a distant galaxy. The heroes must race against time to assemble the needed components before the effects of the Projector become irreversible. Allowing the heroes to deal with the effects of the ray may be more satisfying than simply having the Supremor step in and sort things out, since it makes the players and the heroes more responsible for the consequences of their actions and reinforces the feeling that they were the ones to save the Earth, not some giant green, tentacled potato-head.

Epilogue

Once the threat of the omni-wave projector is ended and Galen Kor is dealt with, the Avengers can wrap things up. Experts from S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Starcore space station arrive in the Blue Area to oversee the dismantling of any remaining Kree equipment, and to study the Supreme Intelligence. The Supremor shows no emotion (good or bad) over the defeat of the Lunatic Legion and denies that it had anything to do with helping the Avengers. In truth, the Supremor is quite pleased: the rogue Kree are beaten, it has human scientists to help maintain it and talk with it, and its own plans to continue the evolution of the Kree race continue undisturbed.

After the adventure is over, Warbird tearfully resigns from the Avengers. The heroes should recommend that she get help for her problems and she says she’ll think about it. If any heroes try to convince her not to go, Warbird thanks them but says that she is obviously outclassed in the Avengers right now. Maybe once she’s had some time to sort things out, she’ll come back.

If the heroes completed the adventure successfully (meaning that Earth has not become a planet of blue-skinned neo-Kree), give each of them a 1-point response bonus.