Unearthly Adventure Comics #253: The RetConQuest Part 2

With a cover-date of April 1958 and on newsstands in February of 1958, Unearthly Adventure Comics #253 concluded the tale of the Unwanted's first battle against the evil Tempus Khan. With some hand waving, the Cardiff Giant and Atomizer were not present in this issue. Yuyu, an ancient Egyptian priest of Osiris was and was "retconned" to have always been part of the team, supposedly due to the acts of the heroes in the previous issue. With his addition, the first lineup of the Unwanted was established, though not all of them were featured in every issue.

Though the comic had intended to be more science based, three of the heroes had magical origins and two had scientific.



Based on the adventure of the same name written by Steve Kenson. Some text taken from that adventure.  Images from that adventure as well, illustrated by Dan Houser. Adapted for the Port Henry Campaign.

Cast of Characters

  • Susan Samiel - Widowed reporter for the Port Henry Times-Herald, sorceress. Specializes in binding magic.
  • US-Polaris 1 - Robot space probe invented by Jack Parsons. Altered by aliens and now possessing telekinetic abilities. 
  • Yuyu - High Priest of Osiris in the 19th Dynasty. Granted immortality and superior abilities by a mystical Ankh, as well as the ability to summon minions.


Capsule Summary


Their former selves restored, Master Tulku explained to Samiel, US-Polaris 1, and Yuyu what must happen next as their Gateway Island subway car neared its station...

Through the power of your memories and interventions, I have restored you to your rightful forms. Time is not as it should be, for Tempus Khan—he who imagines himself Master of Time—has altered the course of your history. This conquest should not be, but if it is allowed to continue, Khan’s quantum stabilizer will harden time’s flow into a fixed point, and nothing will be able to undo what he has done. 

You must reach Tempus Khan’s fortress and disable the quantum stabilizer, for they are the dam holding back the natural flow of time. Once that is done, history will reassert itself and sweep away this altered timeline. It will never have occurred. The world as you knew it will be restored, and Tempus Khan will meet him fate... in due time. Act quickly: once this timeline stabilizes, even the respite I have given you will be undone and you will have no memory of your former selves, as they will never have existed. Would that I could do more, but it is up to you. Go with my blessings and the hopes of the future...
Arriving in the station, a group of Scimitar Robots, servants of Tempus Khan, was waiting for them. However our heroes made short work of them - Samiel binding them while US-Polaris 1 hurled them about and Yuyu's mummy smashed them.

 They took possession of a zeppelin (as alternate timelines always have zeppelins) and arrived at the ruins of Sentinel Island, where the giant Sentinel Statue once stood, now replaced by Khan's fortress. Battling their way in they found Tempus Khan waiting for them - he laughed at them, declaring that he had hardened his defenses around US-Polaris 1 and his telekinesis would be of no avail this time. Looking at the controls of the quantum stabilizer, a vast crystalline pillar in the center of the fortress, they struggled with the controls, unable to figure them out. But smashing them always worked. Avoiding the attacks from Khan and his robotic servants they were able to smash it... And then they vanished. As did everything else...
They found themselves back in their timeline. It was early 1958 and all was well. The three were in one of Heiro Silver Water's houses that they had been using as a meeting place while they contemplated a more permanent headquarters. But then air raid sirens pierced the quiet air. They were being invaded - by Tempus Khan - for the first time, from his perspective... A broadcast played over all radios:
Primitive peoples of Earth! I, Tempus Khan, am your conqueror! I have come from your distant future. Your weapons and armies cannot oppose me. Your costumed champions cannot overcome me. Those who resist my inevitable rule will be punished, for this era will be added to my Eternal Empire. So says your new Khan!
Commandeering a harbor ferry they sailed to Sentinel Island where his fortress was preparing to destroy the Sentinel Statue. However Samiel saw he was wearing a portable quantum stabilizer as the clasp for his cloak, allowing him to change his own past by conquering the Earth without vanishing in a paradox. US-Polaris 1 used its telekinesis to tear it off, allowing Yuyu to smash it - causing Khan and his invasion to vanish! 

 Unfortunately they vanished so quickly that many believed the invasion to have been a prank of some sort. However, Master Tulku visited them once more, for Khan's vile reign in another reality was no illusion:
You have done well, heroes, acting directly where I could not and righting a terrible wrong. Time is now restored to its proper course and flows unrestricted and undisrupted. I have done a small part of the work of absolving myself of my misdeeds for, you see, I was once feared throughout history as the dread Tempus Khan, but time changes us all and has showed me the error of my ways. In time, perhaps, the cosmos will be permitted to forget my crimes, even if I may never do so. You have an old man’s thanks. Know that we may meet again... in time.

GM Note - Per Wikipedia, Yuyu was a real priest of Osiris over 1200 years BC.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jules Verne Translations That Don't Stink

Image
Shortly after I graduated from college R. Talsorian published their fantasy steampunk RPG,  Castle Falkenstein. Having missed out on Space: 1889  when it first came out this was my first steampunk RPG, though I had been exposed to the genre by Gibson and Sterling's novel The Difference Engine (a novel which, though I though I found the setting compelling, I did not particularly care for - must reread some day). Jules Verne was one of the authors in the inspirational reading section of Castle Falkenstein.  Heck, the game also made him into France's scientific advisor, having him responsible for their massive Verne Cannons  which formed a sort of nuclear deterrent.  With that in mind, one Sunday afternoon I was at a Barnes & Noble bookstore my new girlfriend (now my wife of nearly 16 years!).  On a whim I decided to pick up a Jules Verne novel. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea . That night I started reading it, never having read any of his works before but having vagu
Keep reading

Stepping Away and a New Beginning

Image
After maintaining this blog for nearly seven years (an eternity in internet time), I've decided to step away from it. When I first began I wasn't 100% certain what it would be about. For a while I thought it would be a blog related to OSR type RPGs but I found my own tastes not firmly rooted there. Looking at the history of the blog, I see a lot of Call of Cthulhu which is hardly surprising. However, some lack of consistency definitely made it tough for me find a defined niche and over the past few months I've been giving some thought to starting a new, more narrowly focused blog. The imminent end of Google+ played a part in these thoughts, with much of my traffic coming from that site. I write because I enjoy writing, but I do enjoy growing an audience. My plan to start a narrowly-focused blog took a turn when I had the opportunity to join the  Rolling Boxcars  blog. Talking with the contributors (one of whom I game with on Discord already) and going through thei
Keep reading

RPG Review: Fate Accelerated

Image
Fate is a difficult system for me to grok. I like it conceptually, but I have a difficult time when it comes to running it.  Fate is what's considered a narrative game. Instead of modeling a simulation of the reality of the RPG setting, it is designed at supporting a story. I've seen arguments as to whether or not this makes it a "real" RPG. I think the whole debate is a bit silly, dealing with issues of "bad wrong fun". Truthfully the challenges I have with it are largely a function of me being a grizzled gaming grognard, gaming since the early 1980's. To paraphrase Yoda, I must unlearn what I have learned. I've a hunch that I'd actually have an easier time grokking Fate were I to know less.  Overview With that prelude behind us, let's take a look at the Fate Accelerated game. It is a variant of the Fate Core game. Fate Core looks a lot like what one would expect from an RPG book - pretty thick, lots of skills, stunts, etc. F
Keep reading

Using the Force in D6 Star Wars

Image
Defending yourself with just 1D in Sense is not easy, as Luke discovers when training with a remote. My previous post discussed the proto-D6 System as found in the Ghostbusters RPG. For those unfamiliar with the D6 System and the way it does the Force (or for a brief review) the essentials are: You roll a bunch of six sided dice against a target number, typically ranging from 5-ish (easy) to 20 or even higher. Your rating is listed as something like 2D+2 which means roll 2d6+2. By default, most normal/non-heroic people have 2D in most stats.  Starting heroes will might have their best skill be at 5D or a touch higher. You can take as many actions as you want in a round. However, taking two actions in a round reduces all dice codes by 1D, taking three reduces all by 2D, etc. Starting with Force skills will lower a characters starting attributes. Unlike most skills they start off at 1D. There are three Force skills - control, sense, and alter. Control lets you control t
Keep reading

Developing Boston for 1920s Call of Cthulhu

Image
While Chaosium has produced sourcebooks for many locations in Lovecraft Country (Kingsport, Arkham, and Innsmouth) as well as non-fictional cities of the 1920s (such as New York City and New Orleans), the nearby city of Boston, while being featured in many adventures, has never received its own full sourcebook. The most common era for my Call of Cthulhu  games has been in the 1920s - some campaigns have been in New York City while others have been in Lovecraft country. For those in Lovecraft Country, many adventures have been in nearby Boston. Over the years I've slowly been building up some expertise in the area and I thought it might be of interest to others gaming in the same setting - whether with Mythos horrors or a purely mundane game. First, let us investigate those official sources. While Boston has found its way into many adventures, I can think of two sources where it has been given a fair amount of detail. First, The Unspeakable Oath  double issue 16/17 has a ref
Keep reading