Colors ExplainedPart Six: Live-ActionThe game started with the helicopter of Arctic Light landing in front of the house of Acidhand. As the wounded Nighthawk Airburst was taken to the medlab for surgery, the rest of the team was cornered by Arctic Light who wanted to know what exactly was going on. Most people started out there, with two exceptions. Scourge and his team were going to enter the game two hours later, in an entirely different location. It would take them another two hours to drive the 100 miles (game time and game distance; in reality, they were only across town some three miles away, although the players were going to drive on the highway for two hours so that the trip would feel more real to them). Two members of Arctic Light also started their game elsewhere. The characters hadn't been in the HQ at the time of the original distress call, but one of them, a precognitive psychic Spectre, had seen serious trouble on the horizon. She and another member of the team were also heading for Acidhand's house in their car; they would arrive an hour and a half after the game had started. Since the year was 1987, none of the characters had cellular phones. This was important for the plot as it was hard to communicate long distance while on the road. (Scourge's team had access to a car phone, however, which they used to their advantage. Practically all the players had cell phones, of course...) There were several scheduled events: the surgery would be completed by 0100 hours (the doctor was played by one of the game staff), the patient would wake up at roughly 0200 hours (at the same time the psychic and her friend would arrive), a storm was to hit the area at 0230 (making the use of the helicopter too dangerous and the roads at the small town pretty mucky) and finally, Scourge and his team would show up at 0400. I was betting that the Nighthawks were unwilling to risk travelling in the terrible weather (in addition, they didn't have vehicles suitable for transporting wounded) if they were, Scourge wouldn't find them, tough luck. As it turned out, Scourge was not about to leave things to chance. Immediately upon finding out where the Nighthawks had gone, he called a local private detective and hired him to watch the house. Nobody played the detective in the game (would have been incredibly dull anyway); I just assumed he was out there in the rain, and decided that anybody going out to do a thorough search on the area would find him. Nobody did. The game went smoothly. The players enjoyed their characters immensely, and just roleplaying the interaction of the two teams was interesting enough. Arctic Light and the Nighthawks distrusted each other at first, and there was a moment of extreme tension when the Canadians found out about the mind control trick one Nighthawk had played on their leader. However, the Hawks were able to convince Arctic Light they meant them no harm and just wanted shelter until Airburst could be transported. Many speculated about Scourge's fate, but everybody figured he would just cut his losses and come back another day. At one point both teams sent their flyers out for pizza; the players drove out to a pizza house, with the assistant GM accompanying them, and playing several NPCs who they encountered, such as a bunch of teenagers seeking autographs. Finally, as Airburst got to his feet (with some help from the healing powers of Redeemer) the Nighthawks sent for some rent-a-cars and prepared to leave. However, some minutes before they would have left, Scourge and his team arrived. They briefly interviewed the private eye, then announced their presence to the heroes. Their message was: we want the Nighthawks, and if Arctic Light stays out of the way, they won't be harmed.
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