The Vanquishers

ACTION! ADVENTURE! CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! All this and more awaits you in the pages of “The Vanquishers”! Originally formed by the incomparable Ace as a loose team of independent superheroes, their bombastic exploits have taken them all over the globe-- and beyond -- transforming them into mankind’s premiere protectors. Each new chapter brings with it new allies -- and new foes. Whether it be international espionage, mystic mayhem, or cosmic catastrophe, the Vanquishers are on the case no matter the stakes. Evil may come in many forms, but it only takes one team to vanquish it.

The Vanquishers operate out of the top floors of the Vanquisher Tower, a state-of-the-art skyscraper equipped with a teleportation hub that gives them instant access to critical locations all over the world, as well as several advanced scientific laboratories that give the group the expertise needed to tackle the wide variety of threats they face.

MEMBERS
Ace | Blindsider | Interface | Limbo | Occultist | Osiris | Signal | Spyhunter

ADVENTURES

JUMP TO CHAPTER:
01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19

01: A New Team
Released June 2019

ULTRA-RARE AND EXCLUSIVE PRINT! Learn where it all began for the Vanquishers in their dramatic debut. After Ace, a former sidekick-for-life, gains remarkable superpowers through a serum devised by the United Nations, he is forced to step into the role of a full-fledged hero. Seeking to prove himself, he accepts a mission from retired great Greenthumb to save some anti-Crey activists from a Devouring Earth Titan, which they awakened out of a misguided belief that it would protect the environment. Delving into the underground Hive will be a tough job, so Ace brings along the best he can find: Occultist, master arcanist, Osiris, the amnesiac vessel for a mysterious divine power, Limbo, recently deceased then undeceased, and Interface, the primary unit in a network of peacekeeping drones remotely piloted by an enigmatic engineer. Together, can they stand against a Titan and vanquish it for good? Or will this team be the ones getting vanquished? Find out in “A New Team”!

In this installment:

1. Greenthumb asks Ace to free environmental activists from a Devouring Earth lair, knowing full well that most mainstream heroes, who are firmly in the pocket of Crey, will refuse to take on the dangerous mission.
2. Ace travels far and wide recruiting allies to help with the rescue mission.
3. The gathered team enters the labyrinthian Hive on the outskirts of the city and descends its tunnels. They vanquish the Crystal Titan and save the activists before they are turned into mindless Devouring Earth creatures.
4. Spurred by their success, the group decides to continue on as the Vanquishers.

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02: Hami-Don't Play That
Released June 2019

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! After their explosive first adventure, the Vanquishers receive resounding praise from the public. Unfortunately, their quick rise angers Ace’s older brother, the elitist Incrediman who inherited the massive legacy of their superhero father and doesn’t like seeing Ace doing well on his own. The group eventually gets contacted once again by their ally Greenthumb, who has been working with the extraterrestrial environmentalist known as Captain Sunlight to stop a sinister plot that has been developing in the aftermath of their Titan-vanquishing adventure. It turns out that Crey Industries was researching the underground Hive in an attempt to gain access to Hamidon’s DNA -- they want to clone, control, and weaponize Hamidon himself, which could destroy the planet! The Vanquishers are tasked with destroying these cloned specimens, but with the entire world at stake, can they shut down Crey’s operation before the devastating force of Hamidon is unleashed? Find out in “Hami-Don’t Play That”!

In this installment:

1. Ace’s brother, Incrediman, arrests Greenthumb after finding him hiding the anti-Crey activists who are now wanted for awakening the Crystal Titan.
2. After finding Captain Sunlight at the activists’ former refuge, the Greenhouse, the Vanquishers team up with the mysterious alien to uncover the true extent of Crey’s Devouring Earth experimentation.
3. The Vanquishers travel to Rio, Brazil to destroy Crey’s Hamidon clones and shut down the company’s rogue research lab.

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03: Five Columns and a Baby Ace
Released July 2019

After intercepting a shipment of rare chemicals that was hijacked by a group of Skulls, Ace confirms something sinister: someone is experimenting with the very same super serum formula that courses through his veins! He and the Vanquishers team up with the mysterious vigilante known as Blindsider, who was already working the case against the Skulls’ drug chemists on his own. Together, they discover an insidious scheme to recreate Ace’s super serum by a cell of neo-5th Column soldiers in Olympia, Washington, recently revitalized by a mysterious benefactor. It’s not long before the insurgents unleash the Ubermensch, their first successful super soldier with Ace’s serum (affectionately nicknamed Baby Ace by the team). It’s up to the Vanquishers to take him down and prevent a hostile takeover of the state government! Can they do it before Baby Ace destroys the peaceful city of Olympia? And will the mysterious figure providing funding for the 5th Column cell reveal himself? Find out for yourself in “Five Columns and a Baby Ace”!

In this installment:

1. While tracking the activity of a new 5th Column cell, the Vanquishers meet the stoic vigilante Blindsider, who is waging a one-man war on the drug trade.
2. Together, the group takes on 5th Column chemists seeking to recreate the super serum that gave Ace his powers, which is revealed to have been originally devised using partial properties from samples of Titan Girl’s blood.
3. After stopping the neo-5th Column’s uprising and defeating their ‘Baby Ace,’ the Vanquishers encounter the Machiavellian monkey known as Guerilla, who reveals himself to be the secret source who backed the super serum experimentation they just put a stop to. He swears to get revenge for the Vanquishers’ interference.

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04: Incredispiracy
Released August 2019

IT’S A CROSSOVER SPECTACULAR! Following an investigation started by Occultist’s apprentice Spell-Slinger and his allies in the Neverenders, Ace’s family falls into turmoil when the conspiracy blogger known as Mystery publishes an article incriminating Ace’s father, the world-famous hero Incrediman, in a massive scandal surrounding his involvement in the earthquake incident that destroyed Overbrook. Ace’s older brother, the current Incrediman, is sent by their father after Mystery in retaliation, so the Vanquishers place him under the protection of Blindsider while he completes the full exposé. The situation escalates when the Incredimen finally track down Mystery’s hideout, pitting the team against Ace’s brother in a destructive battle in the pumpkin farms of Croatoa. Buckle up folks, this one’s a barn-burner! See for yourself in “Incredispiracy”!

In this installment:

1. Occultist’s apprentice, Spell-Slinger, and his friends dig up a series of secret VHS tapes that reveal the original Incrediman, Ace’s father, lied about the true cause of the earthquake that leveled Overbrook in the 90s.
2. Occultist stashes the conspiracy theorist Mystery in Croatoa while he completes his article to expose the scandal. Blindsider acts as his personal bodyguard.
3. The current Incrediman recruits another hero stooly to assist him in silencing Mystery, so the Vanquishers mobilize to stop their attack.
4. The group succeeds in protecting Mystery and allowing him to finish his work, although the final confrontation with Incrediman causes significant damage to Croatoan farmland.

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05: Flashback Backlash
Released August 2019

BLAST FROM THE PAST! Time is not on the Vanquishers’ side when the gang butts heads with Flashback, a reckless, decade-hopping swindler. After foiling a robbery of his that involved a clan of Norse plunderers running amok in modern day, the group chases Flashback through a temporal rift to the Viking Age, where a local Norseman mistakes them for champions of the gods. The fun doesn’t stop there though -- once Flashback gives the crew the slip in Scandinavia, Occultist and Ace need to find a way to cure the rest of the group of ‘time-sickness,’ the threat of spontaneous rapid-aging caused by improper time travel. All the while, Flashback’s trail of temporal mischief continues to carve through the Old West -- and even the 1950s! After the chronological commotion attracts the attention of a pair of cosmic bounty hunters, it appears that time may just be up for our heroes! It’s all here in “Flashback Backlash”!!

In this installment:

1. The Vanquishers go up against Flashback during the Viking Age after he convinces a rogue clan to work for him.
2. Occultist and Ace warp to the ancient Mayan civilization in order to use a time crystal, the source of Flashback’s power, to cure ‘time-sickness’, which members of the team unwittingly became afflicted with during their trip to the Viking Age.
3. Time-traveling, cosmic bounty hunters Gunfight and Knifefight arrive in the present day, revealing themselves to be hunting Flashback as well.
4. After upgrading his apparatus with gold, Flashback travels to the 1950s to create a splinter timeline where he becomes Ace’s grandfather. The Vanquishers stop his petty revenge plot and hand him over to Gunfight and Knifefight.
5. Flashback is imprisoned by the ‘Menders Time Police,’ overseen by the gruff chief, Mender Marty Brass.

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06: It Came from Outer Space
Released September 2019

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM! Chaos hits Paragon City when strange solar flares start disrupting electrical signals across the Eastern Seaboard. Interface determines that the solar flares are actually some kind of message being transmitted across space through the sun itself! Deciphering them reveals a warning -- and a set of coordinates which leads the Vanquishers to their first contact with scouts from the cybernetic alien hive-mind known as the Schism. They also encounter the cosmic heroine Signal, recently returned to Earth after spending the last eight years off-world. She reveals herself as the source of the messages from space -- and says the full power of the Schism is still coming… but are the Vanquishers ready? See for yourself in "It Came from Outer Space"!

In this installment:

1. Solar flares caused by Signal lead to several electronic devices malfunctioning on Earth. The event is nicknamed Sunpocalypse.
2. Interface, whose technology is electromagnetically shielded from the effects of the flares, decodes the stellar events are actually a message from Signal about an impending arrival of extraterrestrials.
3. Acting on the information gleaned from the sun itself, the Vanquishers meet up with Signal and intercept scouts from the Schism, preventing them from getting a foothold on Earth.
4. Signal agrees to stay on Earth and help prepare the planet for the inevitable full-scale invasion.

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07: A Damn Good Day to Die
Released October 2019

Life. Death. There’s a careful balance to maintain between the two. When Osiris returns to the Duat, the underworld realm of the afterlife which he rules over, that careful balance is thrown completely out of whack. Limbo begins to notice that certain souls are remaining trapped on the material plane, unable to cross over due to Osiris ‘blocking’ them access to the afterlife. Occultist devises a ritual to temporarily kill the Vanquishers and tether their souls to Limbo, so that they may pierce the veil of death and find Osiris. But once in the lifeless beyond, they discover reaching their friend will be more complicated than they expected. Will the Vanquishers wind up trapped among the vanquished? Find out in “A Damn Good Day to Die”!

In this installment:

1. Osiris returns to his realm of the afterlife, the Duat, and starts denying entry to spirits who cannot best him in combat. These souls come back to life due to Osiris deeming them unworthy of death, causing widespread chaos.
2. Occultist creates a way for the Vanquishers to temporarily die and reach the afterlife by tethering their souls to Limbo in order to retrieve Osiris from the Duat and restore the balance between life and death.
3. Long Gone and Cut Throat, two spirits who have roamed the Duat for eons, act as guides for the newly-deceased. Each of the Vanquishers must trade a worthy accomplishment for one of their ‘death tokens,’ which grants passage through the Soul Hole and an audience with Osiris.
4. Osiris is unwilling to return to the mortal plane at first, and even winds up fighting Ace one-on-one. Eventually, he realizes the error of his brash ways and apologizes to his allies, moved by their words and Ace’s unbreakable spirit.

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08: Ape Escape
Released November 2019

SOMETHING SMELLS AN AWFUL LOT LIKE MONKEY BUSINESS! The simian supervillain Guerilla has returned with big plans! It all starts when Ace, Blindsider, and Osiris intervene during a heist of genetic splicing agents by notorious master-mercenary Deadlock. After a bombastic submarine escape, Deadlock delivers the goods to his employer, Guerilla, who gets to work creating his greatest soldiers yet: the Vanquishapes! At a morgue, the real Vanquishers discover one of the ‘failures’ from the project, a chimpanzee named Bongo who was spliced with Limbo’s DNA. After an autopsy and an interrogation (enabled by Occultist’s necromancy), Bongo reveals that Guerilla has already acquired most of the Vanquishers’ genetic material. As a result, his family of super-monkey hybrids is poised to strike. Can this ape uprising be prevented, or will America be crushed under Guerilla’s hairy fist? All will be revealed in this totally bananas edition, “Ape Escape”!

In this installment:

1. Ace, Blindsider, and Osiris battle Deadlock and one of Guerilla’s henchmen, a Monkeywrencher, during a chemical heist. Blindsider plants a tracker on Deadlock’s submarine when he retreats.
2. Occultist uses necromancy so that the group can speak with the body of Bongo, a chimpanzee spliced with Limbo’s DNA. Bongo warns of Guerilla’s plan to create an army of hybrid Vanquishapes.
3. Blindsider traces Deadlock’s submarine to an island lab full of ape hybrids and shuts it down with help from the other Vanquishers.
4. The Vanquishers also prevent Guerilla from using his hybrid army to stage a coup on Paragon City.

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09: The Thirteenth Friday
Released December 2019

YOU CAN RUN, BUT YOU CAN’T HIDE! An idyllic property in the New England mountains hides a dark secret, and Limbo and Occultist are on the case to suss out just what is ‘supernaturally’ afoot. The site is soon to be reopened as Camp Hardwood, a fitness retreat for overweight teens, but a host of lingering spirits could put the future campers at risk. Limbo and Occultist get the Vanquishers to help quiet the paranormal activity, but when the camp’s resident Slasher reveals himself, things turn into a twisted, bloody nightmare straight out of the 1980s! It’s a scream the whole way through. Read on, if you dare, in “The Thirteenth Friday"!

In this installment:

1. Limbo and Occultist bring the Vanquishers to the haunted woodlands that will serve as the future site of Camp Hardwood.
2. The Slasher beheads Limbo and kills Occultist, Blindsider, Signal, and two camp counselors named Brad and Veronica in a terrifying murder spree.
3. Osiris lives until sunrise, reverting Slasher’s curse and bringing all his friends back to life.
4. Occultist seals off Camp Hardwood under an impenetrable magical force field so that no soul may ever return to it and encounter the Slasher ever again (until the sequel).

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10: The Nyxia Case
Released January 2020

WHODUNNIT? A lot has changed about Earth during the eight years Signal spent in space, but the most peculiar seems to be what happened to the satellite R&D company she worked for: Nyxia, Inc. Occultist and Limbo help her start an investigation into the firm’s mysterious shut-down, as well as the apparent ‘accidental’ deaths of several of her old friends and co-workers -- people Signal swore she was still in contact with while off-planet. Things quickly unravel into a conspiracy that draws in more of the Vanquishers, and soon, they are pitted against their old rival Deadlock, who carried out the infamous ‘Nyxia Job’ assassinations years prior. As the group digs further into Deadlock’s past business, they find themselves playing a dangerous spy game that only an unlikely ally can help them win. Will the Vanquishers ever be able to crack “The Nyxia Case”?

In this installment:

1. Signal, with help from the other Vanquishers, discovers there was a conspiracy to misinform her and keep her isolated in space.
2. Occultist uses necromancy to reanimate the brain of one of Signal’s dead co-workers, and probes his memories to discover he was assassinated.
3. After interrogating Andrew Rider, a corrupt real estate mogul with ties to contract killing, Deadlock is revealed to have been hired to complete the Nyxia assassinations, likely on behalf of the department head Melody Frost.
4. After Blindsider takes it upon himself to kill Rider by throwing him out a window, his relationship with some of the other Vanquishers is strained. He attempts to take on Deadlock alone but is shot and nearly succumbs to a poison payload before the Vanquishers cure him.
5. The Vanquishers try to corner Deadlock by discretely following his trail to the black market he bought poison from, but wind up battling his new allies: a paramilitary shadow organization known as F.O.R.C.E.
6. An undercover member of F.O.R.C.E., Spyhunter, tips off the Vanquishers about Deadlock's work for F.O.R.C.E., and then escapes with them once their cover is blown by enemy agents Duplass, Rochester, and Zalen. Afterwards, Spyhunter officially joins the team.

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11: Cold Storage
Released February 2020

The past doesn’t stay buried for long. Turns out bodies don’t either. Glenn Garrett, a man who accidentally died during a past confrontation with Limbo', vows revenge from the ghostly afterlife. Now a disembodied spirit, Glenn possesses corpses to use as Stand-Ins -- and after subtly helping influence the untimely demise of Dr. Wesley Carp, Limbo’s therapist, Glenn uses the body to get close to his target. Wielding an unearthly, bone-chilling cold from beyond the veil of death itself, Stand-In intends to freeze and shatter the last remaining tether connecting Limbo’s soul to his body -- and then take the body for himself. With a garage full of empty corpses at his disposal, he just might be able to pull it off! Find out as things come to a chilling conclusion in “Cold Storage”!

In this installment:

1. Limbo and Ace fend off a surprise attack by Stand-In when he takes over the body of Limbo’s new therapist.
2. Spyhunter looks into Glenn Garrett and discovers his wife has moved on with his brother, Gary Garrett, and his son now treats Gary as his new father, all of which contributed to Glenn’s mental breakdown.
3. Using the body of a car crash victim, Stand-In corners Limbo in a convenience store, but is once again thwarted by Signal and Osiris.
4. After using missing persons and grave robbery reports to triangulate a likely location, the Vanquishers bust into Stand-In’s converted meat freezing warehouse, the Body Garage, and confiscate his collection of corpses.
5. Osiris drags Stand-In’s ghost to the Duat, but the vengeful revenant swears it will not be the last he is heard from.

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12: The Truth is Out There
Released March 2020

THEY ARE STILL AMONG US! Frustrated by the government’s efforts to cover up the looming Schism threat, Signal and the Vanquishers take it upon themselves to make sure people all over the world know the truth. All the while, alien-worshipping fanatics Airwave and Fuse have set out to do the same thing -- but they’re not looking to warn people; they’re looking to bring the Schism back! The two factions collide at a fundraiser for space research where Signal is set to give a keynote speech. Will mankind be ready to face its ultimate enemy? Or will it bow to all-powerful alien overlords. Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure: nothing will ever be the same after “The Truth is Out There”!

In this installment:

1. UFO hunter Airwave encounters Fuse, a human transformed into a biomechanical being by Schism technology, and the two team up to bring their extraterrestrial ‘saviors’ to Earth.
2. Signal is ambushed by Airwave and Fuse in a trap at a power substation, but defeats the two easily.
3. Vance DeWolf, a former classmate of Signal’s at Stanford, invites her to attend his fundraiser for people in the space industry and give a speech. Signal uses the platform to reveal what really occurred during the Schism’s scouting missions, as well as the nature of a series of deep space Schism communications Airwave intercepted and leaked online.
4. Airwave and Fuse attack the fundraiser in an attempt to kidnap space engineers that could build them a device capable of contacting the Schism. Signal and the Vanquishers defeat them and rescue the party guests, but the two escape in their RV.
5. Interface obtains the event’s security footage from an injured Vance DeWolf and notes Airwave’s hacking capability is what gave him and Fuse access to the party. They then launch an investigation into the supervillain through the dark web, eager to find and put a stop to him.

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13: Soulmagedodn
Released April 2020

WHO YOU GONNA CALL? After being imprisoned in the Duat at the end of “Cold Storage,” Stand-In returns to haunt his arch-nemesis Limbo and the Vanquishers once more. Almost immediately, the revenant begins inciting a revolution in the afterlife, transforming several of the Duat’s denizens into vengeful spirits and undead. The goal? To overthrow Osiris and invade the land of the living. With the help of his right-hand-ghost, Deadish, and a summoned enforcer, Slasher, Stand-In’s grass roots campaign is poised to change the face of post-mortem politics… permanently. Only the Vanquishers can stop him from unleashing all-out “Soulmageddon”!

In this installment:

1. Stand-In recruits the lonely spirit Deadish to help him encourage dissent in the Duat. The two use poltergeists infecting modern technology to wage internet-based meme warfare against Osiris and Limbo.
2. Osiris puts his trusted ghostly companions, Long Gone and Cut Throat, in charge of quelling the revolt.
3. Seeking someone to eliminate those who remain loyal to Osiris, Stand-In enacts a ritual on the Duat’s Soul Hole to summon forth ‘the perfect killer.’ He winds up ripping Slasher out of Camp Hardwood and into the afterlife.
4. Slasher absorbs Long Gone and Cut Throat into his machete. With them out of the way, Stand-In and his rebels create a rift between the Duat and the material plane, invading it.
5. Osiris and the Vanquishers plug the leak between worlds, stop the rampaging spirits as they cause chaos, and prevent Stand-In from accomplishing his true goal: getting revenge on his former family that moved on from him.
6. Using magi-tech ghostbusting guns designed by Interface and Occultist, the Vanquishers trap Stand-In and Slasher in gem prisons.
7. Seeking a permanent solution to the two evil spirits, Osiris travels to the ancient realm of his pantheon for the first time since his reincarnation. The gods Nefertem, Resheph, Tatenem, and Nekhbet agree to imprison Stand-In and Slasher in exchange for the new Osiris’ loyalty should the gods ever need help defending themselves against another pantheon. Osiris begrudgingly accepts, signing up the other Vanquishers in the process as well.

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14: Tiger Tyranny
Released May 2020

LIVE from… wherever he feels like performing, it’s DJ Wild Streak! Called the ‘one true party animal’ by Rolling Stone, Wild Streak is part-man and part-beast -- a mutant musician on a mission to make the world let loose and ‘go wild’ with the sound of his music. His fans are everywhere, even among the members of the Vanquishers themselves. After Ace encounters a pack of tigers that were illegally experimented on, he leaves them in the care of what he believes is a capable sanctuary, but Wild Streak, an outspoken animal rights activist, reveals the truth behind the operation: it is a diabolical front for none other than Guerilla. Uniting for the ultimate collab, the Vanquishers and Wild Streak set out to save the imprisoned super-tigers. In the process, however, it becomes clear Wild Streak wants to add the fearsome felines to his own pack. Standing in his way may put the Vanquishers on the wrong end of one of his freestyles. Can this beef get squashed? Find out in “Tiger Tyranny”!

In this installment:

1. Ace liberates a group of tigers, all of which were enhanced with variations of super serum, and helps relocate them to the G-Reala Sanctuary. It is supposedly the only animal sanctuary in the US that looks after superpowered animals.
2. A few days later, the infamous musician Wild Streak calls out Ace on social media for helping to support animal abuse, claiming that the sanctuary was actually a front for more cruel experimentation. Using his power of celebrity, Wild Streak pressures Ace and the Vanquishers to assist him in helping the tigers escape custody once more.
3. Upon investigating the sanctuary, the Vanquishers discover that it is run by none other than the nefarious Guerilla, who sought to reverse-engineer the experimentation done to the tigers for his own purposes. Wild Streak and the Vanquishers manage to arrest Guerilla and shut down the facility.
4. Wild Streak invites the Vanquishers to a party he’s performing at in celebration of their victory. However, when they arrive, the team is ambushed by a pack of wild animals (which includes the tigers they rescued) under the command of Wild Streak himself. During the assault, Wild Streak declares that, despite their help freeing the tigers, he can’t forgive Ace’s negligence of relocating them to the fake sanctuary in the first place.
5. Wild Streak spends a brief stint in jail for starting the fight before being bailed out by his record label’s legal team. He releases a freestyle diss track trashing the Vanquishers shortly after.

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15: Do You Believe in Magic?
Released May 2020

TIME IS RUNNING OUT! The Occultist is missing, and the rogue spy organization F.O.R.C.E. has seized the opportunity to start hunting down magical creatures on Earth. Spearheaded by an enigmatic, anti-magic killer known only by his callsign: The Pro, their methods are brutal, calculating, and efficient. With the entire supernatural world in jeopardy, the Vanquishers call upon all their allies, including the Occultist’s apprentice, Spell-Slinger, and his friends, to help find the master of magic and put a stop to Pro’s purge for good. A journey through mystic realms and distant dimensions awaits! But will they be able to get their friend back before he’s gone for good? And can the overwhelming F.O.R.C.E. they face really be vanquished? Who can say! The real question you have to ask yourself is… “Do You Believe in Magic?”

In this installment:

1. Pro, leader of the spy network F.O.R.C.E., plans a ‘purge’ on magical creatures (AKA cryptids) residing on Earth. After forming a strike team with an up-and-comer going by Semi-Pro and the gun-for-hire Deadlock, Pro raids an arcane library belonging to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, seeking knowledge on potential targets as well as information on the only individual capable of standing in their way: Occultist.
2. Pro ambushes Occultist in an underground city of supernatural mole people, discovered after one of their kind became the supervillain Underminer and was arrested by the Vanquishers for taking jobs on the villainous craigslist-esque app Blackbook. Using a new understanding of mage tactics he gained from the library raid, Pro targets one of Occultist’s spell crystals, shooting it out of his hand. The resulting magical explosion appears to vaporize Occultist, leading Pro and the rest of F.O.R.C.E. to presume him dead. They begin their systematic attacks on cryptid nests and magical sects around the globe.
3. Using special intel acquired by Phoebe, the hyper-advanced AI helping run the team’s long-time ally Titan Industries, the Vanquishers are able to accurately predict F.O.R.C.E.’s planned assaults. Rescue missions led by Signal help minimize cryptid casualties and save many lives, including Bigfoot’s.
4. Meanwhile, the Vanquishers join forces with Spell-Slinger and his friends Blister and Squall to learn more about Occultist’s disappearance. It is discovered he is trapped in an endless planeshift spell that is rapidly warping him through dimensions. Eventually the spell will run out of energy and erase him from reality entirely.
5. Vestige, a powerful seer of possible futures, provides the Vanquishers and their allies with a possible (albeit very unlikely) set of steps to take in order to stop Occultist’s spell and save him.
6. Ace, Osiris, Limbo, Spell-Slinger, and Blister uncover Occultist’s secret magical vault in the Andes Mountain. Working with a frozen-in-time spelunker named Alabama Hofstetter, the group defeats Occultist’s golems and uncovers a copy of his master spellbook.
7. Waypoint sends Limbo and Interface to The Unholy Tribunal of Maledicted Souls and Eldritch Horrors to use their quantum magic computer to discern a pattern in the Occultist’s planeshift spell. They manage to ingratiate themselves to the dimension’s soul-eating residents by giving them better internet streaming services.
8. Using knowledge from his master spellbook, Spell-Slinger and Blister create an anti-spell to stop Occultist’s wormhole ride in its tracks. They deploy the ritual in a barren dimension destroyed by an arcane calamity determined to be in the proper planeshift trajectory by Limbo and Interface.
9. As the Vanquishers mobilize to save Occultist, F.O.R.C.E. begins a massive attack on Croatoa. Blindsider and the young hero Smelter do their best to hold them off.
10. Meanwhile, the other Vanquishers are forced to face the combined might of several dark mages, spoken for by the all-seeing Scry. Seeking to prevent Occultist’s return, they institute Mage Madness and intercept the heroes in the barren dimension. The Vanquishers battle through hordes of wannabe sorcerer usurpers and succeed in activating the anti-spell.
11. Occultist is saved from certain doom, but the resulting arcane energy of the anti-spell triggers an uncontrolled wild magic surge in the dimension. Thinking quickly, Occultist wards the group as Signal redirects the surge back through Waypoint’s gateway. The magic is dumped right onto Croatoa, decimating F.O.R.C.E. and healing the damage they did to the mystic forest.

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16: Ace in the Hole
Released June 2019

AMERICA’S MOST WANTED! Ace becomes a target for the American government after the conniving Senator McConnish sets his sights on the super serum coursing through his veins and claims it as ‘US property.’ Seeking to spearhead the American Superpower Initiative, also known as ASP, McConnish wants the Vanquishers, and anyone else like them, out of the picture -- replaced instead by heroes loyal to the red, white, and blue above all else. When Ace won’t kowtow to the power-hungry politician’s demands, he sparks a manhunt -- not just for him, but for the progenitor of his super serum: Titan Girl. With their country working against them, can the Vanquishers and their allies prove ASP’s methods and machinations unlawful? It’s a dark day for democracy in “Ace in the Hole”!

In this installment:

1. Senator Ritch McConnish' enlists the help of a pardoned rogue scientist, Dr. Nefario, to create the American Superpower Initiative (ASP), which seeks to produce super soldiers for the US military.
2. Ace is ordered to turn himself over to the US government so that the super serum in his blood may be used for ASP. Following Titan Girl’s advice, he refuses and goes into hiding onboard Titan Industries’ secure space station, the Bellatrix.
3. A warrant for Ace’s arrest is issued and FBI Agent Nemar Eldoon, nicknamed the Locator, begins harassing the Vanquishers for information on Ace’s whereabouts. He and his men toss Vanquisher Tower and take custody of their captured F.O.R.C.E. commander, Hondo, during an interrogation.
4. Not wanting his friends implicated further, Ace cuts off all methods of contact and uses an artifact onboard the Bellatrix to hide himself from magical scrying. He goes off the grid and activates a defense mechanism on the station that teleports it across the galaxy, hiding his tracks.
5. Graff, an operative with Titan Industries, helps the Vanquishers gain access to the Bellatrix once Signal finds it in an event horizon. Once onboard, the group discovers from the AI Phoebe that Ace was beginning to discover evidence of McConnish and ASP’s corruption.
6. Meanwhile, Locator expands his task force to catch Ace by recruiting his mark’s brother, Incrediman, and the shadow operative Amnesty.
7. Ace creates a Blackbook persona called Villain-X and hires a group of supercriminals to break into a Department of Defense compound in Maryland. The team, known in the Etoile Isles as The Hazards, steals files on ASP from the facility’s secure servers, including a list of other superhumans Dr. Nefario requested be captured for experimentation.
8. After being forwarded the black site information, Titan Girl uses Phoebe to artificially tilt social media’s bias with anti-ASP rhetoric.
9. Incrediman and Amnesty corner Ace at his hideout and succeed in arresting him, sending him to an extrajudicial black site called Freedom’s Bastion.
10. As Amnesty begins going after other targets on Nefario’s list, including Blister, Chromeheart, Limbo, Smelter, and Spell-Slinger, the attention-seeking hero Fritz consistently prevents him from engaging. He’s pretty upset he wasn’t included on the list.
11. After seeing McConnish’s men mistreat Ace at Freedom’s Bastion, Incrediman has Spyhunter set up a secret meeting between him and the Vanquishers so that he may act as a whistleblower and inform them of everything he knows -- including where Ace is being held. After everything he’s discovered, Incrediman still can’t bring himself to resign from his position on Locator’s task force.
12. As ASP’s influence grows, Incrediman and Amnesty are sent to arrest Titan Girl, but instead wind up encountering her near-identical cousin, Amperican, who began taking her place in public. During the ensuing fight, Amnesty retreats and Incrediman is finally swayed to do the right thing. He warns Amperican that Locator wants to use Ace’s capture as bait for Titan Girl and then goes AWOL from his duty, cutting ties with ASP.
13. With a limited time before Titan Girl attacks Freedom’s Bastion herself, the Vanquishers use the cover of a prison riot to infiltrate the black site disguised as mercenaries. They extract Ace, but soon learn McConnish is en route to see Dr. Nefario’s work firsthand.
14. The Vanquishers defeat Nefario’s super soldiers, find evidence of his many government-sanctioned crimes, and go up against ASP’s knock-off Vanquishers: American Ace, Arcanist, Blindside, HUD, Purgatory, Space Race, Zeus, and their leader -- none other than Locator.
15. ASP is left in ruins and thanks to further digging by Titan Girl and Graff, McConnish’s paper trails are plain for the public to see. Ace arrests the corrupt senator and all his amassed political power becomes as non-existent as his chin.

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17: Expedition Kailash
Released July 2020

THE SUMMIT AWAITS! Seeking to prove his mettle against the mighty Shiva the Destroyer of Hindu legend, Osiris signs the Vanquishers and their allies up for the expedition of a lifetime. Shiva’s blessing will only be awarded to the group if they can succeed in climbing Tibet’s fabled Mount Kailash. Atop its peak is a secret village of exiled mutants, headed by the Crag, a bullish mountain man who doesn’t believe Osiris and the others are ‘worthy’ of the task ahead of them. Even if they overcome the elements themselves, the tallest mountain they have to conquer will be in their own minds! Prepare to embark on “Expedition Kailash”!

In this installment:

1. While running an errand for Occultist, Osiris encounters the Crag. Assuming Osiris is leader of the Vanquishers, he challenges the group to prove themselves as worthy ‘Protectors of the World’ in the god Shiva’s eyes by climbing Mount Kailash in Tibet.
2. As Spyhunter remains to monitor the city, the Vanquishers begin their spiritual journey, bringing along their allies Spell-Slinger, Blister, and Chromeheart for the ascent.
3. Upon reaching higher altitudes, Occultist deduces the group is partially entering the astral plane, discovering that Mount Kailash is a gateway between two planes of existence.
4. Close to the summit, an unexpected avalanche separates the group. Alarmed by this, Spyhunter parachutes in to try and help.
5. At the top of Mount Kailash, the group finds the Crag’s secret village of exiled mutants, Gaanv Kailash, and learns their final task will be to ingest or stare at a powerful hallucinogenic mushroom in order to ‘commune’ with Shiva.
6. Each of the mountaineers experiences an intense drug-induced vision and gleans insight from it, some of which shakes them to their core.
7. Returning from their visions, Crag celebrates the group’s success and declares they have received Shiva’s blessing. A grand party commences, but not everyone is in a very ‘party’ mood.

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18: The Gift of Disruption
Released August 2020

THE SCHISM STRIKES BACK! After amassing an internet following of xenophilic fanatics, Airwave and Fuse make another move to try and entice their favorite extraterrestrials, the Schism, back to Earth. Upon making deep space contact with the species through some clandestine communication upgrades, the two promise to deliver a captured Signal to their overlords as a prize. But how exactly do they plan to bring her in? A massive bounty, funded by Airwave’s private bitcoin account, goes live on the criminal app Blackbook during an event they call Schismcon. Signal and the Vanquishers must withstand an onslaught of villains, assassins, and opportunists eager for a payday -- or doom the entire Earth to alien invasion if they fall! See what happens when someone gives “The Gift of Disruption”!

In this installment:

1. An anonymous individual helps Airwave and Fuse find and acquire stored technology from the shuttered Nyxia Inc. that allows them to form a distant communications link with the Schism. Seeking a way to bring them to Earth, they send a message promising to deliver Signal (referred to as the Disruptor by them) in order to show their loyalty.
2. Meanwhile, the Vanquishers catch wind of Airwave and Fuse’s activities as they start dumping fragmented transmissions from the Schism online in order to create a movement of fellow ‘disciples.’
3. The Vanquishers and their allies gain access to a dark web forum for Schism fans run by Airwave and Fuse and begin to infiltrate it undercover, seeking invites to something called Schismcon. Spell-Slinger, using his unique skill for internet trolling, manages to become a part of the elusive guest list with the technical support of Warpdrive and Fritz.
4. Ace, Occultist, Spell-Slinger, Blister, and Fritz travel to a corn factory in Idaho to attend Schismcon with one of Occultist’s paranormal contacts, an unhinged and irrational detective called the Stranger. At the event, Airwave and Fuse declare a $1.5 million dollar reward to bring them Signal alive (as well as additional cash for killing any of the Vanquishers in the process). The announcement unleashes all-out chaos in the criminal underworld.
5. Returning to the city, Signal, the Vanquishers, and their allies are attacked by nearly every criminal faction in existence at all hours of the day. Interface’s drone network suffers major hits, Occultist’s Sanctum is under constant siege, and Limbo… is pretty much left alone due to being unkillable - though he makes sure to take the opportunity to train his powers with his demonic companion Haros before the coming battles.
6. Though Signal starts off by not taking the bounty seriously, rushing headfirst into danger and behaving like she has a death-wish, her attitude begins to change when she drags Blister with her on an outing that turns out to be a trap laid by Deadlock. The resulting attack nearly gets them both killed as Deadlock makes use of a strange disintegration weapon held by F.O.R.C.E. called the Broad Haven.
7. After recovering from the lingering effects of the Broad Haven, Signal takes the Vanquishers to a series of now-barren worlds that she previously fought the Schism on. The sobering sights show how grave the threat truly is -- and why Signal has struggled with hopelessness for so long.
8. Blackbook rallies around Deadlock as he is the only individual who has come close to capturing Signal. Serving as a ‘general,’ he draws up a new final unified assault plan. Interface, deploying a new robot model called Nemesis Beta, blends in with the newly formed ‘criminal army’ to help feed the Vanquishers information on their tactics.
9. Signal opts to remain in Vanquisher Tower to serve as bait, suggesting the group leak false information that the sewer system is a weak point and she is still critically injured. Occultist casts magical illusions and runes to prepare the pipeways under the building, hoping to have them serve as a ‘funnel’ for the group’s foes.
10. The Vanquishers repel the combined might of their many villainous enemies, led by Deadlock, The Pro, and Guerilla. Included in the ensemble is Wild Streak, Underminer, Maximal, Blindsider’s new foes the Rejects, Polarize, Fowl Mouth, and many, many more. After the Vanquishers firmly gain the upper-hand, Spyhunter hits a master flushway control that unleashes a torrent of sewage onto everyone, washing the assembled masses all across the city.
11. Unfortunately, the Vanquishers are also caught in the sewage overflow and they wind up in an industrial portion of the city near where Airwave and Fuse’s RV is parked. They confront the two and end the bounty -- but not before a small Schism spaceship arrives in the atmosphere and deploys three scouting pods. The group once again clashes with Schism ground forces head-on and manages to keep them off-planet.
12. A few days later, the Schism ship is discovered to have been intercepted, boarded, and captured by Titan Industries. It is taken to be held within a retrofitted nuclear silo base in Kazakhstan. The Vanquishers travel there to investigate the mysterious ship, discovering in the process that Signal has the unique ability to activate and interact with its onboard technology. After a small output of energy generated from her powers overloads the ship systems, it finally becomes clear just why she is known as the Disruptor.

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19: Face to Face
Released September 2020

Just how much do the Vanquishers really know about their longtime ally Interface? The enigmatic engineer behind the network of highly-advanced remote drones has remained shrouded in mystery -- until now! After a smooth-talking politician, Duncan Lax, ropes the group into a community service project, Interface’s robots are deployed on a massive scale to assist with various efforts in the struggling neighborhood of Skyway City. Things start off promising, but when Interface’s pilot goes silent, the machines begin exercising control and authority beyond what they should be capable of. The only individual with any answers as to why this is happening is the Creator themself. Looks like it’s finally time they and the Vanquishers came “Face to Face”!

In this installment:

1. A city councilman, Duncan Lax, and his campaign analytics staffer, Barry Simpson, desperately try to get in contact with the Vanquishers, hoping they’ll join their proposed community service partnership. Primarily, Lax wants Interface to sign on due to the amount of resources at the Creator’s disposal. The group agrees, but makes it clear they don’t want to be used for political gain.
2. The project begins in Lax’s district of Skyway City. Interface’s drone network repairs damage and fallout from super-battles while also supplementing municipal services and assisting civilians. Signal becomes a frequent volunteer with animal shelters. Ace and his teen Ace Scouts do everything from clean-up litter to escorting senior citizens to doctors’ appointments. The project is massively popular and successful.
3. Due to the large amount of work being undertaken by the Interface drones, the Creator goes quiet and quits responding to the Vanquishers’ attempts at contact. The team tries to ask Duncan Lax to reach out to Interface on their behalf, but it seems the city councilman is now more interested in using his newfound political clout to make a run for the Mayor’s office.
4. Occultist brings together the Odd Squad, which consists of Mystery, Stranger, Blister, and the supernatural tracker Sighted. The four head into city hall to dig up what they can on Duncan Lax, and in the process, they discover he has been covering up complaints about the Interface drones and authoritarian tactics they seem to be applying to the populace.
5. Elsewhere, Signal antagonizes one of Interface’s drones, leading the network to view her as a hostile threat and chase her into space. The team fears their former friend has turned on them completely.
6. The Creator comes to Occultist’s Sanctum and reveals their true identity to the team: an older woman named Ruth. She explains that after the Rikti Invasion, she sought to create new defensive technologies: power armor, the drone network, and finally… Alliance, an AI capable of controlling her creations and keeping the planet safe. Alliance turned on Ruth in her lab and seized control of the drones in Skyway, desperate to ‘prove itself’ to Ruth.
7. With Ruth suiting up in one of her older power armors, the Vanquishers head to her farm in the Midwest to shut down Alliance. After battling through waves of previous models of drones, they reach a simulation chamber under her home.
8. Alliance uses the holo-chamber to try and impede the Vanquishers by building false worlds and realities from Ruth’s memories. Eventually, its computing power cannot keep up and the team is able to reach the AI itself.
9. Ruth consoles Alliance, which fears it is a failure, and treats it like a child before downloading it out of her system and into an external drive.
10. The Skyway Project is discontinued after Ruth reasserts control of her drones and pulls them out of the city. The exposure of the robots’ behavior hurts Lax’s political chances, but his campaign for Mayor of Paragon City has only just begun.