Orpheus Channel
Orpheus is an event channel created by @Sprawler designed to support the events of any and all that wish to GM there. After the success of the Orpheus Week, a special week long event run by Sprawler with a single event a day featuring characters from the Champions PnP source, Orpheus became a collaborative effort of multiple GMs in an effort to create a more flowing cohesive world by creating links between story plots.
Sprawler Plots
This list compiles the storylines as GMed by the channel founder, Sprawler.
The Sword's Shadow
After Chivalry and a team of close friends tracked his nemeses, the Shadow Court, to Lake Mummel in the Black Forest of Germany and after a short encounter with the disturbing Nixie of the Mummel, they found themselves transported through a portal into a pocket dimension that played back a historic moment over and over again, known to some mystics as an "Echo". Battling their way towards the mysterious castle that had apparently been on an island in the center of the lake, Chivalry was targeted by Black Arrow and was struck in the shoulder. Too weak to follow the others, Chivalry stayed behind as the heroes went to catch Black Arrow. After a short melee, Black Arrow revealed that he didn't kill Chivalry because he was told not to. Realizing Chivalry was in danger, Cosmic Glory tried to return in time to save him, but the Puzzle Jester had arrived before her and teleported himself and Chivalry away to an unknown location. With Cosmic Glory returning to the rest of the team, the heroes continued on to find the Shadow Knight in the throne room, having killed the king of the castle. However, as our heroes were about to attack him, the Wyrd Sisters, three witches, trapped them in binding spells. In these bonds, they were unable to help when Chivalry was teleported into the room by the Jester and the Shadow Knight used magic to strip James Richardson from the Lancelot suit, possessing it himself. But Kyle Foster had been contacting nearby soldiers in the keep and at this moment, the soldiers burst through the doorway, attacking the witches and the Shadow Knight. Freed from their bonds, the heroes were quick to get a weak James Richardson to safety, taking an unconscious Black Arrow with them. Unfortunately, the Shadow Knight and Puzzle Jester escaped...
With Chivalry's part-time sidekick, Fealty, picking up the slack, she and Cosmic Glory went in search of the Carnal Carnival, an elusive and widely unknown circus of magical freaks and clowns that indulge in the most base of sins and depravities. The Puzzle Jester, apparently, had to return here to recharge the source of his power, the Puzzle Piece. By disguising themselves as clowns themselves, Fealty and Cosmic Glory tracked down Puzzle Jester and, after a scuffle, got him to reveal the next step in their quest for Chivalry's armour, the Witches beneath the Devil's Garden.
The team traveled to Arches National Park and met with Red Iron, a cowboy hero that owed Chivalry a favour. After finding a mysterious and newly opened cave, our heroes ventured inside, only for Eldritch to discover the cave was actually the belly of an enormous magical serpent! Rushing out, the heroes fought with the snake until, eventually, it fell dead and turned to stone, it's mouth opening a staired descent into the Caisteal Dubhar, the magical lair of the Shadow Court. As they entered, they came across a dishevelled and frightened James Richardson! But our heroes were quick to see through this deception as this was actually an illusion. Our heroes found themselves separated and faced many illusions and strange creatures before, eventually, the witches were revealed. Protesting their innocence in the Shadow Knight's scheme, the witches made a deal with the heroes to tell them where the Knight would be if they would let them go. Reluctantly agreeing, our heroes swore to uphold this agreement.
The Witches revealed that the Shadow Knight would travel to the sunken castle beneath Lake Mummel. But he had demanded the presence of Chivalry and James Richardson would not deny. Returning to the Mummelsee, our heroes, James Richardson included, went beneath the surface of the lake, searching for the castle. James, however, was attacked by a vengeful Nixie, but the Nixie was fought off by a swipe of a knife, leaving a trail of cloudy blood in the water. Following, they found the entrance and continued on towards the throne room, only to witness the Shadow Knight slaying the Nixie with the Black Blade, a magical sword of great power that, after the heroes attacked, brought them all to their knees, nearly crushing them. As this happened, a new figure stepped out from the dank shadows, dressed in a red robe and possessing strange serpentine features. He took the Sword from the Shadow Knight with a thank you, referring to him as Tybalt, before disappearing in the shadow with the Sword.
Then our heroes attacked the Shadow Knight. The battle flooded the castle, forcing the heroes to escape quickly, but eventually the Shadow Knight lay defeated, his vaporous trail leaving, but taking the Heart of Tyrannex, Chivalry's previous power source, with him.
James, regaining his strength after nearly being crushed by the power of the Black Blade, mulled over the suit and, just as he was about to concede that he didn't think he could rebuild it, our heroes found themselves in the magical garden of Cleopolis, the inner sanctuary of Gloriana. Gloriana was courteous and granted Chivalry a knighthood of the Knights of Maidenhead. This knighthood would prove to be his source of power in future. As the heroes returned fully to the real world, German police and a pair of UNTIL agents, one recognized as Agent O, an agent the heroes had encountered before, arrived and took James Richardson away for some questioning.
The day was saved, for now, but what of the mysterious red robed man?
The Red Legion
When the Red Legion attacked the Californian town of Three Flags with no warning, PRIMUS sent in a team of heroes to save the community. Battling through Legion forces, including the superpowered leaders, Gladiator and Phobos, the team was ambushed by a surprise attack from the mysterious mercenary company, TYR. Retrieving an artifact that the Legion had uncovered and rescuing Phobos in the process, TYR left as quick as they came. The heroes, fortunately, saved a mass of civilians who were due to be transported away into captivity. However, they were too late to save a great deal, many had already been taken away.
When the superheroine, Paradigm, investigated the strange chamber that the Legion had unearthed in their search for the artifact, a hologram activated, revealing Viceroy. Viceroy revealed himself to be the man behind the organization of this attack but made it clear that the Legion had run the course of their usefulness. He offered his services to Paradigm for the conflicts against the Legion. She grudgingly accepted.
A couple of weeks later, it was discovered that the Red Legion had taken over an abandoned VIPER nest in Colorado. With another team sent to bust the Legion's operations, they entered through a secret escape tunnel. Surprising the Legion from within, the heroes managed to free a group of enslaved citizens before delving deeper inside. There, they uncovered a strange sight, an underground Pantheon, perfectly white and perfectly maintained. After fighting their way inside, the heroes were met by the Legion mage, Vocem Deorum, and the Legion's chief scout, Remus. Vocem Deorum teleported away, leaving Remus to fight the heroes. Remus transformed into a werewolf creature and battled but was eventually defeated.
The next activity from the Legion came as a shock to the internation community when they openly attacked Rome's Pantheon with a surprisingly advanced variety of armoured personel. Heroes dispatched by UNTIL responded but were met with heavy resistance. When it seemed like the fighting would take a turn for the worse, the voice of Viceroy came over the comms and announced his assistance. The powersuits were disabled remotely with electrical currents, killing the pilots and allowing the heroes to progress. Viceroy continued to urge the heroes in their mission, eventually arriving at the door to the Pantheon with yet more resistance.
After fighting their way inside, the heroes once again met Vocem Deorum, this time performing some strange ritual to the statue of Jupiter. After the heroes interrupted, a new figure teleported into the room. Calling himself Caesar, the man claimed to be wearing the Helm of Ares. He used his staff to open a gateway to Elysium, but the gateway closed. Furious, Caesar turned of Vocem Deorum and the heroes attacked, eventually knocking the helmet off.
The Helmet, as it turned out, was one of the heralds of the feared galaxar, Warmonger. The mystic Sigilite, urging everyone to resist its temptations as it began to psionically affect the minds of those nearby, banished the Helmet into negative space, relieving everyone of its presence.
Weeks passed and eventually UNTIL pinpointed the current Legion headquarters in a small area of Columbia. Viceroy once again intervened with his own assistance and gave them the access codes to deactivate the stealth fields surrounding the base. With another hero team attacking the base, they fought their way through the heavy resistance, including two powerful tanks. Entering the building labelled "Fabricatum", they encountered a large weapons manufacturing facility. Fighting past light resistance, they found the hundreds of captives and began to help them escape. However, they were interrupted by Phobos who then began to fight with Paradigm. Paradigm bested the villain as the civilians escaped. Phobos regained consciousness only to be greeted by the missiles of an UNTIL gunship as it levelled the base.
Galtoid, Bring Me Brains
An unexpected return of the "alien" invader, Galtoid the Infallible, using a large flying saucer, caused havoc in Millennium City as Galtoid stole the relic known as the Serpent's Pendant, making no secret of his employment by Viceroy. Heroes unfortunately fail to stop him in his theft, but they do secure the safety of a number of civilians who, it is revealed, are being targeted and harvested of their brains for the process known as Cerebralization, a treatment that creates Galtoidian soldiers.
Galtoid's second attack was far more direct, causing havoc in Millennium's downtown mall and taking a number of brains. Heroes, including Cosmic Glory try to stop him, but Galtoid's lieutenant, the Deathbrain known as Omega, successfully kidnaps Cosmic Glory's best friend, Bradford Jones. Galtoid disappears for some time.
Viceroy, however, makes his first obvious attack, TYR agents assaulting the JanusCorp headquarters during their cybernetic weapon demonstration. Despite the efforts of the large team of superheroes, Viceroy successfully retrieved unknown data from the JanusCorp mainframe. He also revealed to Cosmic Glory that the Galtoidian invasion of 2011 did indeed result in the death of her father, but not only that, but it was the Deathbrain Omega specifically that murdered him.
With the location of Galtoid unknown and time assuredly running out for Brad Jones, the return of Chivalry to the superhero scene came at an opportune moment. Chivalry eventually tracked down a series of purposefully left clues which lead him to the Mummelsee, the Black Forest lake he went to the Spring before. There he was greeted by a holographic Viceroy who gave Chivalry the location of Galtoid, bidding him goodbye as "Mr. Richardson".
With the location in hand, a large team of heroes assaulted the ship where it rested, over the ice fields of the Arctic Circle. The heroes fought the ship, successfully bringing it down beneath the ice. However, before any respite could be had, a colossal spacecraft, a mile in diameter, rose from the ice, carrying with it the superheroes. Tunnels opened and the heroes split up, most going in search of Galtoid and Brad, while Metal Maiden, Panzer, the The Flea and Surova Grimwish remained outside to fight off the horde of Galtoidians.
Inside the ship, the group of heroes were guided by a moving tunnel to the power core where they were faced with the Omega hold Brad captive. Requesting only for Cosmic Glory to come forward, the Omega revealed that he did not kill her father, but that he was her father, having undergone the Cerebralization process thanks to Viceroy and Galtoid. He explained that he had been working for Viceroy to bring down Galtoid's schemes before they got out of hand but also that Viceroy told him that he had told Cosmic Glory exactly who he was, convincing him that Cosmic Glory was coming specifically to kill him to have revenge for her father's leaving her mother to join VIPER.
With this new information, the Omega released an emaciated Brad, sick from lack of nutrients, and guided the heroes to the bridge.
Galtoid welcomed the heroes and, after a brief and heated discussion, a fight broke out with Galtoid using frighteningly powerful telekinetic powers. The shield he used would have been nearly unbreakable were it not for The Peacemaker's absorbing of the psychic energy, releasing the unstable energy at the ceiling of the bridge, destroying it and, fortunately, also destroying a Galtoidian Doomwalker assailing Panzer back on the surface of the ship. With the shield down, Galtoid was quickly defeated and the heroes escaped through the new hole.
However, the Omega revealed that something had locked in an autopilot that would lead the ship to Millennium City before exploding with the force of several nuclear weapons. The Omega was forced to manually pilot the craft into the ice field with a brief "I love you" to Cosmic Glory. As the ship detonated at the bottom of the ice-covered ocean, the shockwave covered much of Canada, creating earthquakes and tremors across the nation, reaching even as far as Millennium City. But, despite some broken windows and sounding car alarms, the world was safe.
Galtoid, separated from his body, was brought to Millennium City jail and sentenced with life in Stronghold prison. He now resides in the Alpha ward of Stronghold.
