Army of the Afterlife

This is another, smaller, story arc that brings a little more of a horror feel to the game.

1: Contact: "Recent storms have unearthed many of the coffins in the Paragon Cemetery. Cleanup crews found many of the coffins empty. I want you to get over there and investigate the missing bodies." Mission: (Train Mission) Investigate missing bodies at Paragon Cemetery. At the cemetery, the hero finds the Skulls (of widely assorted levels) have moved in to vandalize the rest of the cemetery. The hero must rescue the cleanup crew and search for clues to the missing bodies. In the caretaker's shack, the heroes find records that show the empty coffins all came from the same mortuary (assuming a shack can be placed here, given the current floorplan options of CoH; if not, a rescued groundskeeper will have these records). The hero proceeds directly to mission #2.

2: Mission: Investigate suspicious mortuary. The hero goes to the mortuary. This is a small mission and map, using perhaps one of the magic store maps for the outer room and a hospital map for back rooms. In the outer rooms are Vahlizok zombies. In the back room is an Eidolon about to kill the undertaker. "There are heroes here! You can't be allowed to speak to them!" There is a ("glowie") briefcase full of money on the table. The undertaker has health bars and will be attacked by the Vahz here. The hero must protect him and defeat the Vahz. If rescued, the understaker will tell the hero that he was being paid to send empty caskets to the cemetery and send the real bodies to a storage warehouse. If the hero saves the undertaker, the mission changes... Mission: Investigate storage warehouse. (Proceed to mission #3.) If the undertaker dies, ("Mission Failed") the hero must return to his contact with the glowie clue. (Go to mission #2A.) Additionally, the hero (heroes) loses all XP and Influence gained in this mission.

-2A: Contact: "It's too bad you couldn't save the undertaker. He was our best lead to the missing bodies. Take this money over to Jonathan Smyth for analysis. Maybe he can get some clue where it came from." Mission: Take money to Jonathan Smyth. Smyth: "I'll run this money and case through a full analysis and report anything I find to [hero's contact]" (Go to mission #2B.)

-2B: Contact: "Smyth found nothing unusual on the money or case, but he reported that the serial numbers on the bill match those reportedly destroyed by the Federal Reserve. I smell the Family's hand in this. Go talk to ?? (a Family-related contact) and see if he knows anything about the mob's recent money laundering activities. With the undertaker dead, all we can do is follow the money." Mission: Talk to ?? about the Family's money. (Go to mission #2C.)

-2C: (Family-related contact): "Yeah, there's a couple of Family guys laundering money out of a storefront in Steel Canyon... Frankie "Fold" Gionelli and Paulie "Press" Gionelli. I'll bet if you shake them down, they can give you a lead on this money." Mission: Shake down the Gionelli brothers about the undertaker's money. The Family isn't expecting any trouble, so when the hero arrives there will be a couple of thugs immediately inside the door but little else for the first parts of the map. Resistance will get heavier deeper into the building. Once both Gionelli brothers are defeated, one will talk. "Yeah, we gave this money to one of them creepy zombie lords of the Vahlizok. He also rented a storage place from us over on 5th Street." Return to contact. Contact: "This sounds like the break we've been looking for! Get over to that warehouse and see if the missing bodies are there. But be careful... If the Vahlizok are involved, this could be something bigger than simple grave-robbing." Mission: Investigate storage warehouse. (Go to mission #3.)

3: The storage warehouse is located in one of the most populated areas of Paragon City. The hero arrives as usual, but upon clicking the door, they find it locked. This triggers an ambush on the street by a large group of Vahlizok. "They must not be allowed to reach the device!" Once the ambush is defeated, a key to the door will be found.

4: Entry message mentions the "smell of death." Standard warehouse layout, many of the halls are lined with roll-up doors. Behind all the doors are rooms lined with racks; on the racks are body bags. Upon defeating the Eidolon boss ("In just a few days, the device will have built up enough energy to bring to life every corpse in Paragon City, and this will be the epicenter!"), the hero is left with a strange, arcane looking device (combining graphics of bombs with some Tsoo portal or artifact). The device is both clickable and has a life bar. Heroes with a magic or technology origins can click on the device to disarm it normally and the mission ends. Heroes of other origins will receive a "you cannot disarm this device" message. (Alternately, whether or not a hero can disarm the device could be tied to those skills I keep meaning to write up.) If the device is destroyed, it will explode with some mystical effect, draining some life from all nearby. The lighting of the mission map will lower (as it is in the Tsoo "tattoo parlor" mission, or darker, as in Dark Astoria), and the sound of multiple roll-up doors raising can be heard. All of the body bags change into Vahz zombies (who appear in a laying-down position) who slowly begin to spread out throughout the warehouse. The zombies are all 1-2 levels higher than the hero. The mission window message changes to "Get out!" The mission then ends when the hero has exited where he entered or he is defeated and goes to the hospital. If the hero completes the story arc without dying and without letting the undertaker die, he is rewarded with [higher bonus or a badge].

Obviously, this story arc is set up to accomodate different outcomes to protecting the undertaker, and to make the mission harder if the hero fails to protect him. The final mission is designed to bring a creepy feel to the outcome, should the hero be forced to destroy the device. The hero must flee through darkened hallways filled with zombies, or defeat them all before leaving.