Super Villain Dilemma

[Kzinbane]

Hello.

My name is Demonicus and I have a bit of a problem with some local super heroes. I am hoping this discussion board can provide me some advice.

Here is the situation. In my world one can’t do a permanent transform except under very unusual circumstances. Even then it’s difficult and takes time and an unusual mix of powers. Anyway to make it short I know how to do it now, and can only do it under a full moon and in a place open to the sky AND with the assistance of a nuclear powered villain I’ve teamed up with.

Basically I build a containment circle, call up a demon who’s name I know – sacrifice my victim to the demon and the victim is changed to solid gold – stabilized by the nuke lady.

 

The heroes know about the who (me) what (changing living things to gold) when (full moon) and why (GOLD!!!). They know something of the where (open sky) too.

One hero is a mage and by using various sorts of detects can almost certainly track the summoning and transformation ritual.

 

What do I do? Kill heroes – let them come and wipe them out? More would come next full moon and I’d have a hornet’s nest stirred up as far as law enforcement.

Capture heroes? Then what?

Decoy them? Hmmm, been thinking about this one.

Skip this full moon? Possible, but that bitc.. I mean nice nuclear powered lady insists on being paid. I could possibly find other means to pay her and let the heroes chase around all full moon day for nothing.

 

I am not currently wanted by any law enforcement but the heroes know what I’m up to – heh heh, they can’t prove a thing though.

 

There are many, many more things I can do beyond what I have mentioned. I know one of the heroes reads this forum but that’s fine, I want him to know I am aware of his plans to try to stop me. So please come up with some good ideas. Let the foolish hero read the responses and worry about which (if any) I choose. Fool, if he’d just join me I’d make him very rich…

 

Demonicus… channeled by Kzinbane

[Victim]

First of all, consider transmuting stuff into diamonds, not gold.

 

If you have access to super rapid travel (mega scale port, super stealth jets, etc) either go someplace really far away with no notice, or set up multiple sacrifice zones and go to which ever one heroes don't visit.

 

If temporary transforms are possible, and more convienent, then turn a bunch of people into werewolves. The outbreak on the full moon ought to keep them busy.

 

Contact other villians who hate the heroes (hunteds) use them to help fight the heroes. After all, you know they'll be at such and such location (where ever your holding the sacrifice).

[Mayday]

Fake your death this time and sacrifice a sumo wrestler next month.

[devlin1]

Your weak point is that mage. Deal with the mage first.

 

(But keep the pie. The pie's your heart!)

 

Surely one of the "many, many more things I can do beyond what I have mentioned" must include jamming his Dark Ritual Sense. Blind that sense, or make your activities invisible to that sense. With all that sweet, sweet demon cash, hire thugs or another superpowered badguy to create a diversion while your flesh-into-gold spell is happening.

 

Or forget the invisibility thing, and give them something better to do. Blow up a building. Sure, the mage may be able to sense that you're doing your thing, but would they rather save many lives at the expense of one, or one at the expense of many?

 

Tell them you're going to eradicate Hackensack, New Jersey with your orbital laser unless they deliver a yeti heart to your door by noon tomorrow. Then when they're gettin' that yeti, or cruising around in space looking for your nonexistent laser, you can do your ritual in peace and quiet (or, if you prefer, chaos and screaming-- you are a villain, after all).

[Mike W]

Well Demonicus, it seems to be that the easiest thing to do is to find some lesser mage who is just powerful enough to control the spell and just gullible enough to think that you won't set him up...then let the heroes capture him instead of you, maybe plant some evidence to make it look like HE was framing YOU and then move the party well away from the heroes.

[freakboy6117]

First of all I know gold seems everyone’s favorite negotiable commodity but really its a nightmare to find a good fence for the stuff and even then they don’t give you top dollar especially with yours which is after all going to be sacrifice shaped without authentication stamps etc.

 

if you can produce anything might I suggest some of the even rarer metals if your only going to get 20% of the value best go with palladium or iridium alternatively producing a commodity that people are willing to buy with less authentication say cocaine or saffron spice both have a very high per kilo value and are much easier to dispose off for close to market value.

 

As for avoiding the heroes have your self incarcerated well obviously not your self but some poor schmuck transformed onto you the trick then is to distract the magic user if you could subdue them you could use them as the sacrifice I guess killing two birds with one stone

 

Alternatively could you perform the ritual on a boat in international waters the jurisdiction problems may keep the team occupied long enough. Even better postpone the ritual a month but have an aquatic dress rehearsal you can have the team tried for piracy

[loraxxx]

yes--i do believe some sort of distracion is in order-- you say you're working with a NUCLEAR POWERED villaness....

 

....well, perhaps raining down nuclear fire on helpless women, children, baby goats, DNPC'S etc. could serve as sufficient motivation for your foes to be elsewhere at the time you intend to make your summons....

 

you know how this one works:

 

"....hear that, batman--it's the sound of a steel pattern-cutter, and it's about to go to work on BATGIRL..."

 

"....be at 211 pussyfoot lane in 20 mins. unless you want to find batgirl--BESIDE HERSELF....!"

 

....i'm sure you'll have no trouble working out the appropriate details....

[Ghost who Walks]

Gold is actually pretty easy to sell outside of the US/Western Europe. Just get someone to turn it into bracelets, rings, and bangels.

 

As for thwarting the heroes, I would attempt misdirection,. Get some Bums (er...deprived Homeless people) and some statues painted with gold paint. Tell them if they stay and pray/dance over the statues until

 

Cast a minor spell, perhaps with a time delay, in the area to draw the heros in. After about the third golden statue, the heroes will divide themselves to cover the remaining sites. This is when you start the ritual, leaving yourself with only one hero to deal with. When he shows up, caper about like a drunk...he'lll probably run off without even hitting you.

 

As for the nuclear lady who needs to be paid, tell her you are planning to incorporate your little operation once the heroes are dealt with. Offer her the meaningless title of "Company President" and stock options. You will be the CEO.

 

You of course will still control everything through the Board of Directors, which is filled with attentive golden statues, that agree to your every desire.

[Kzinbane]

The real clincher is that I prefer to remain off the most wanted list (or any wanted list). Personally I don't care if the super fools think I'm responsible for consorting with known terrorists (the nuclear babe), guilty of animal cruelty (so far I have only tested the life to gold power on plants and a dog - golden retriever - and birds (gold finches of course). I now have two idiots the heroes had watching my establishment though that are happy to volunteer (with a bit of mind control help).

So far I have not seen anything here I have not thought of myself - except the "use a sumo wrestler" idea (LOL, great idea!). I'd have to re-negotiate with the demon to see if he'd make diamonds. He's not too happy as it is making Gold, but he does get his sacrifice. Note - most demons are not happy at all unless you just let them go on the Mortal plane then they cheer up quite a bit. He may be convinced to make Pleutonium though once I tell him what trouble it could be put to (bwah ha ha) - that's what nuke babe wants anyway.

 

Killing them may be the best bet - just covering it up is the trouble! I have the WMD (Women of mass destruction) Anthrax, Saren and Megaton (Ann, Sara and Megan) - and Void at my call (well, and of course I could do it all alone but why make it anything near fair?).

Oh decisions, decisions. What is a super villain to do. I have 'til full moon Sunday (game day) to decide...

[devlin1]

Yeah, I was going to ask what you plan to do with all that gold. I'm reminded of the Underpants Gnomes from South Park.

 

Also, is there any particular reason you need to sacrifice humans? Why not stick with the animals? Say, horses. Horses are plentiful, heavy, and won't be as missed as people. You go around kidnapping horses and these superheroes are likely to leave it to the street-level guys.

 

Finally, your name makes me think of Orbnauticus, from Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

[Mike W]

I would guess that the demon wants some human souls for doing its part, hence the need to sacrifice a few humans.

 

Since you now have a couple of "spies" it sounds like time to use them as bait for a trap, or a distraction. After all, if the heroes' own sources tell them be at place X, why wouldn't they go. Send one out as a decoy this time, then next time, use the other as bait, preferably when the other mage is taking the fall.

[lemming]

Originally posted by devlin1

Also, is there any particular reason you need to sacrifice humans? Why not stick with the animals? Say, horses. Horses are plentiful, heavy, and won't be as missed as people. You go around kidnapping horses and these superheroes are likely to leave it to the street-level guys.

Go with cows and since you'll make a much better profit, just buy them.

Horses get some protection from some animal laws in various states. Dogs, you could get charged with a felony.

 

Now if you really need to do humans, what you need to do is maybe for a couple more months, do some legally bought cows, but have some non-kidnapped humans there that go unharmed. After a bit, the heroes will leave you alone.

[devlin1]

Or how about getting a job, Demonicus? That ever occur to you? Get off your fat ass and earn a respectable wage. It'll build character.

[Kzinbane]

Note from GM: I restrict my super villain sa bit too, not jus the players. Yes, continuing to turn horses and doggies into gold would be less likely to attract super hero attention and mean less jail time if anyone is caught, but there just isn't the gritty horor aspect of it unless it's a human.

2nd the Demon is not happy about doing anything and gold was just something he agreed to. He (the demon) is obviously motivated to try to escape the "entangle" (confining magic circle) and cause havoc on Earth.

Demonicus is (for now) just making Gold and has a way to "launder" it and get cash for his boss. Eventually the aim is to be able to make anything (diamonds, uranium, platinum) but it's a learning curve for him AND the demon's cooperation is not assured at all times.

All role playing the villain aside my aim is to come up with something intersting and challenging for the PC's to do. If I skip this full moon it's going to be a let down. If I just magically make my next sacrifice/gold production invisible to being found - well that's no fun for them. If I just stack the super villain deck with all bad guys I have available the good guys probably will die - also not much fun for them.

No, I have a pretty good idea of things I can do that will be challenging (meaning fun). I posted here just to see what sorts of evil things other super villain minds may think of.

We need super villains only forum!

[devlin1]

Originally posted by Kzinbane

2nd the Demon is not happy about doing anything and gold was just something he agreed to. He (the demon) is obviously motivated to try to escape the "entangle" (confining magic circle) and cause havoc on Earth.

 

Ooh! In that case, let the PCs find you. Let them interrupt you in the middle of the thing and get into a fight with you and Nuclear Lass. They foul up the ritual, and the demon breaks free! That's a much bigger problem, and presents an interesting situation in that the heroes might team up with the villains to get the thing contained/killed, especially if Demonicus is the only one who knows its weaknesses.

[Victim]

Hmm. How about proceeding as planned. However, when the heroes show up, see that the circle containing the demons is disrupted so it gets loose.

 

Then you ally with the heroes to fight against the greater evil. Wail about the "horror that I've unleashed! Oh! What have I done?" to make sure you have their attention. Set up something to remove the gold from the area while the fight is in progress - port+TIme Delay or something.

 

Arrange the whole thing with the demon - if it gets to run around and cause chaos for a bit, it might be more willing to work with you again for further chances.

 

 

Then you move to cows or something. You've fooled the heroes, sacrificed a person, and let lose a demon, so you can take it easy for a while.

[freakboy6117]

i wouldnt advise making uranium a human sized liump woudl over critical mass which isn't good.

 

does the scarifice have to be human you'd probably do a lot better say sacrificing an aging elephant or some such i mean then the heros can only get you on animal cruelty charges.

[Kzinbane]

Let it loose. Yeah, that has crossed my mind. I strongly suspect though that the Demon's first motivation will be to kill Demonicus. He after all is the one that is dragging it to the mortal realm and making it do things it really doesn't want to do, confining it, etc.

As Demonicus I'd be leary about letting it out. I could however give the big demon a day off (he kicks back in hades and watches hellvision sports on Sunday or RP's bing normal humans with his friends). I could then call up one or more of my lesser more tractible creatures from the pit...

I mean if a demon kills the heroes and I don't do anything but stand around and scream oh my, oh my... be hard to stick anything on me. I have good lawyers too (paid in gold, heh heh). They are nice to me, after all Lawyers know they are all going to hell after all! (just kidding, I have lawyer friends).

 

Ah the best part is that foolish mortal novice mage Spellbinder will no doubt read this forum and see all the things that people have thought up. Of course that's just a taste of what I have thought up myself too. What am I going to do. He will find out Sunday bwah ha ha ha!

[devlin1]

Originally posted by Kzinbane

Let it loose. Yeah, that has crossed my mind. I strongly suspect though that the Demon's first motivation will be to kill Demonicus. He after all is the one that is dragging it to the mortal realm and making it do things it really doesn't want to do, confining it, etc.

As Demonicus I'd be leary about letting it out.

Demonicus, I'd like to speak to Kzinbane now. Can Kzinbane speak to me?

 

I'm not saying purposely let the thing loose. Something goes wrong, and it breaks loose. I.e., Demonicus is not in control of the situation, but it makes for a good game.

 

I have good lawyers too (paid in gold, heh heh). They are nice to me, after all Lawyers know they are all going to hell after all!

What?! I am deeply offended by this statement! Grr!

 

(just kidding, I have lawyer friends).

Oh.

 

 

 

Okay.

[Kzinbane]

slap, slap, slap... Ok... Kzinbane is here. The way the heroes found out about Demonicus' activities was that the first time it was attempted (last full moon) a secondary gate opened up where a couple ley lines cross not far from Portland, and a fairly nasty demon and a couple of imps got out. The heroes beat the demon and took another game to chase down the imps but also figured out (some magical detective work) that something else was involved that weakened the boundries between heck and here. THey found the ritual site and the dog blood - and the darn mage managed to track the dog remains (which are now Gold) down. Anyway the heroes have put together what's going on and know that the dog and birds was just a warm up.

Of course the big bad gold changing demon COULD get out. One goof up in the circle, one energy blast gone awry that mucks it up and... yeah - all the heroes and villains would be very busy. Yes there would be a bit of irony if they had to save Demonicus from his own monster.

[freakboy6117]

ive got to say teh more i think of it the funnier it would be to have demonicus steal a geriatric elephant an incontinent elephant that keeps falling asleep and bludering into things.

[Kzinbane]

Actually I thought of having Demonicus "kidnap" Packy - the first Indian elephant born in the US I think. He's about 40 now and Portlanders love him. Kill a person and they'd generally not take much notice, but if someone offed Packy there'd be quite an uproar!

Let's see though.. An elephant bull weighs 5000 to 6500 kg. Convert that to solid gold. Hmmm, what would one need to lift and or move that to the smelter? Rather hard to hide too I should think.

[lemming]

Originally posted by Kzinbane

An elephant bull weighs 5000 to 6500 kg. Convert that to solid gold. Hmmm, what would one need to lift and or move that to the smelter? Rather hard to hide too I should think.

Density of gold is 19.3 while flesh is close enough to 1 to be a wash.

 

So you just multiply 5000 by 20 to get a good ball park for your average elephant for 100,000 kg. So just a 60 STR.

[rayoman]

Sacrifice CHICKENS!

 

There are millions and millions of chickens in the world. There are many infected chickens that are going to be destroyed anyway due to the bird flu.

[BoneDaddy]

Kidnap the mage, and turn him to gold. He'll have no trouble finding the cermony, and he'll never find another one. Additionally, since he'll just disappear (into bullion), no worries about seeing your picture down at the post office.

 

As they say, solvy-solvy.

 

The challenge is isolating him so you can kidnap him without letting on that you're isolating him so you can kidnap him. Ambush can be so hard.