assault Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 I'm thinking of bringing back Professor Muerte as nuisance for Eurostar. Unfortunately, he's dead. Obviously I need a way for him to not be dead. Does anyone have any good ideas? I think that he would work well as a shadowy figure whose identity would come as a nasty shock when it is revealed... Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storn Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 It would help to know how he died. What circumstances. Then I can get all devious... But with a name like Muerte, an obvious pre-occupation with death...why else name yourself that... maybe he is still dead... now undead. Maybe, w/o anyone knowing it, Stalker of the Aesinos is Muerte's great-great-great uncle and after Muerte "died", Stalker managed to find the body, revive a spark of life just long enough to bite him and turn him into a mucho muerte vampyr. I dunno... just riffing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 Even though the Muerte is dead, perhaps another villian is using the same name and identiy? Or Professor Muerte's spirit is possessing the unfortuante villian who has taken his identiy... Now the villian has opproached the Heroes, confessed his crimes etc and asks them to help him to exorcise Muerte's spirit, but Muerte doesn't want to leave. Of course how can the Heroes believe or trust the villian in the first place, huh? just some thoughts. Hope it helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterdeath Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 He cuts a deal with ... something to bring himself back. Possibilities include: Teleos: Clone and Braintape. Takofanes: Undead. DEMON: Raise him with Demonic powers as a minion. Real Demons: Muerte cuts a deal. Krim: Death Crown of Krim, perhaps. D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted March 28, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 OK, well it seems people aren't familiar with the character, so here is a brief summary: He first appeared in one of the Enemies books way back in the days of first edition! He was a fan of Dr Destroyer, who had a suit of armour similar to, but weaker than that of Dr D. He had his own little superteam, agents, and all that. In CKC, we discover that Scorpia and Feuermacher, two of his former followers, had murdered him and defected to Eurostar. Hence, if he survived, he might be a little bit annoyed with them. The murder is described in Scorpia's writeup in CKC. She poisoned him, and then Feuermacher slagged his suit around his corpse and dumped him into the Pacific. He's a science based character, so I'm tempted to consider some kind of solution along those lines, rather than something mystical, but I'm open to any ideas. Of course, if he could do something like downloading his personality into a new body, Dr D could do it better... Other possibilities that have occurred to me have included aliens, mysterious Lemurian artifacts and so on, but none of them really appeal to me yet. It's quite possible that he wasn't quite as dead as Scorpia thought, too. After all, Dr D built his suit for him originally, and probably did a bit of surgery on him, so he might have had some backup life support systems Scorpia wouldn't have known about. I dunno. Simple is good, but so is ridiculously corny. Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altamaros Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 Originally posted by Storn It would help to know how he died. What circumstances. Then I can get all devious... if i remember correctly, Scorpia stinged him with a poisoned blade and Feuermacher burnt him inside his armor. but i'm unsure but anyway to restore someone's life there's plenty (read too many) of ideas in the comics. remember " Villains are not dead til you see the corpse and even there" As misterdeath said - raised as something else after his death --> Muerte is dead but a clone and a braintape has been created before. --> undead --> demonic body/golem --> robot / I.A./cyborg --> simply resurrected by a higher(lesser) power - he was not really dead --> A clone/look-alike/robot was killed (destroyed) and the true Muerte is still alive. --> illusions/images --> a elaborated plot whose Scorpia and Feuermacher are secretly/inconsciously (through hypnosis/Mind control) part. --> "Last chance" teleport device inside his armor. - Someone else took the mantle --> A clone (but conscious of his nature) --> A hidden relative (son or better, daughter inside a male-looking armor, brother, pussycat, etc...) --> A lucky criminal/former associate --> Another Professor Muerte from a alternative reality/future - The timestream is strongly disrupted by a cosmic crisis on infinity of earths occuring at the zero-hour and Muerte has never died. -use the S.U.I.M. rule (Shut Up, It's Magic) D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Shecky Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 Originally posted by altamaros ... he was not really dead ... --> a elaborated plot whose Scorpia and Feuermacher are secretly/inconsciously (through hypnosis/Mind control) part. Terror Inc. has always been my favorite super villain group, so I was disappointed when I read in CKC that Prof. Muerte was dead. I decided to change that right away too. It seems to me that Steve intentionally left some room in the story for that development (especially Feur dumping his body in the ocean). There are tons of good suggestions on how to bring him back above, but one of altamaros's ideas is closest to my own: Muerte isn't dead; it's just an elaborate plot. Muerte has always been hunted by EUROSTAR, so he developed this plan to destroy them from the inside. My idea was that Feur and Scorpia were in on it, although they might need some kind of hypnosis (Mental Defense, only vs. telepathy) to allow them to hide their duplicity from Mentalla. And Giganto? What's he been up to? His disappearance should be tied into the plot as well, though I haven't figured that out yet. It could simply be that Muerte is in hiding and keeping Giganto with him for protection, but I'd like something more devious. As far as I'm concerned, any way you bring back Muerte is a good one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allen Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 Re: Cheating Death Originally posted by assault I'm thinking of bringing back Professor Muerte as nuisance for Eurostar. Unfortunately, he's dead. Obviously I need a way for him to not be dead. Does anyone have any good ideas? Dr. Destroyer is actually Prof. Muerte... Doc D died in the Battle of Detroit. Prof. Muerte decided to raid the doctor's lair and labs, salvaging what technology he could. Eventually, he found a suit of prototype armor, put it on, and fulfilled his life-long desire of becoming Doctor Destroyer. Prof. Muerte's death at the hands of Scorpia and Feuermacher was faked. The two villains are a fifth column within Eurostar, just waiting for the order to betray Fiacho and the rest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 I'm agree with Uncle Shecky, Terror Inc has also been one of my fav teams so I'm thinking of one of two options: 1) ignore what CKC says and have Eurostar intact with Bora and Pantera - well, maybe not Pantera. 2) Muerte faked the death. According to Feuermacher origin, he pretty well slagged Muerte's body. Now, Muerte's been hunted by Eurostar for quite a while and I'm sure he's been studious to keep tabs on what Eurostar's doing and who's in Eurostar. How is it Muerte is still alive? After all, a slagged body is pretty dead. That is, unless he temporarily brainwashed both of them into thinking they actually killed him when it was one of his agents. After all, Fiacho would automatically have Mentalla check their story out. As for Giganto, he's just been waiting around with Muerte, waiting for the time when Muerte would come out on top of Eurostar's plans, exercising and getting stronger. (i.e. convert Giganto from 3rd/4th to 5th ed. as well as Muerte) Muerte can easily upgrade his armor in the interlude as well (convert to 5th ed). Again, there are numerous ways to prevent his death, change it or whatever else comes up. I rather like the degrade in stats for Eurostar; Fiacho no longer has a 32 Dex, although he's more lethal now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altamaros Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 I forgot a case : Prof. Muerte IS dead but now there is four prof. Muerte : Kid Muerte Steel Muerte Cyborg Muerte and Krypton Muerte Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterhawk Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 Re: Re: Cheating Death Originally posted by allen Dr. Destroyer is actually Prof. Muerte... Doc D died in the Battle of Detroit. Prof. Muerte decided to raid the doctor's lair and labs, salvaging what technology he could. Eventually, he found a suit of prototype armor, put it on, and fulfilled his life-long desire of becoming Doctor Destroyer. Prof. Muerte's death at the hands of Scorpia and Feuermacher was faked. The two villains are a fifth column within Eurostar, just waiting for the order to betray Fiacho and the rest. Wow that is really cool! Hmmm, how about Giganto escapes into the jungle with Muerte's DNA. He comes upon a lost tribe of Aztecs/Incas/Toltecs and they use a Blood Ritual to bring him back to life. He has spent his time away learning from the lost tribe there ways and when he returns, he comes with not only the tech...but Aztec sorcery as well, for a real Dr. Doom style feel. While with the Aztecs, he 'finds his roots' and no longer worships Destroyer, but instead seeks to reinstate the Aztec Empire on a global scale. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Giganto?" Just noodling here. Hard to top allen's suggestion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoctorItron Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 What is Mechanon's status in your game? Assuming that you use the standard "rebuilds himself in a better body after every defeat" Mechanon: Keep what is written in CKC: Muerte's body and ruined armor were dumped into the ocean. Then add: The body and armor sink, landing on Mechanon's undersea base. Muerte is still alive, but barely. Mechanon plans to nurse Muerte back to health so he can be tortured, interrogated, and used for experiments. Mechanon also reverse-engineers the Muerte armor and adds new features into Mechanon version 8.0. M v8.0 happens to look a lot like the Muerte armor. When Mechanon launches his next grand scheme against organic life, the world assumes that Muerte is back. The PCs confront "Muerte" and make their soliloquy. Then "Muerte" responds and everyone recognizes Mechanon's voice. The PCs defeat Mechanon. Meanwhile, the real Muerte breaks free and takes over Mechanon's undersea base to gain revenge on Scorpia and the world. Maybe Muerte's new armor looks like Mechanon That should keep your PCs on their toes. They'll never know if they're dealing with Muerte or Mechanon. And, of course, the real Mechanon v9.0 gets constructed at one of Mechanon's many other bases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allen Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 Re: Re: Re: Cheating Death Originally posted by winterhawk Wow that is really cool! thanks... It's the basis of an adventure I was going to pitch to Steve for HERO Plus. I dropped the idea, 'cause Steve posted somewhere on these boards that Muerte was never-ever coming back. I never really fleshed it out much, but if your curious, this was as far as I got... Act One Destroyer/Muerte conquers small European country. Fiacho, knowing that this is contrary to his plans for uniting Europe, opposes this. Chaos ensues. UN/UNTIL asks PCs to intervene. In the climatic fight between PCs, Eurostar, and Destroyer/Muerte, Scorpia and Feuermacher switch sides. They've been "Manchurian Candidates" all along. The trigger phrase is "Muerte Lives!". Anyway, at the conclusion, the PCs are left with this weird-o trigger phrase. Act Two PCs investigate Destroyer's "death" in Detroit and Muerte's "death" in South America. Muerte's armor is an empty shell. Giganto is off in some Lost World type thing deep in the Amazon Jungle (either Mayans or something along the lines of Nova Roma from The New Mutants). Destroyer's corpse is in a satellite orbitting Earth (protected by Destroids of course). Act Three This is all vague, but basically... Sennacherib (Destroyer's AI) has been over-written with Destroyer's "brain engrams", and has been manipulating events, trying to engineer the return of Destroyer to the flesh. Destroyer/Muerte doesn't know this. I was going to call it "Night of the Destroyer" -- a sort-of homage to the old "Day of the Destroyer" module, although I don't know what exactly night had to do with it. I'm sure thinking of something sufficiently fiendish wouldn't be difficult. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 Time for something fiendish and grotesque: The events of CKC happened as described, but with additional details that weren't readily apparent. Prof. Muerte was poisoned by Scorpia, but his armor had automatic life-support circuitry that sustained his life and started to reverse the damage. Then Feurmacher slagged (most of) his armor, melting it into and around Muerte's body. But the life-support and self-repair systems continued to function, gradually healing Muerte's body of his most critical injuries while he lay beneath the sea; but they were forced to rebuild his body around the twisted portions of his armor. When Muerte awoke, he found that his flesh was now permanently fused with his partly melted, grotesquely warped armor. Maddened more than ever by his pain and his even more freakish appearance, Prof. Muerte stalks his former followers with plans for an equally hideous revenge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEmerged Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 Allen said... Dr. Destroyer is actually Prof. Muerte... /* panics Delete that post! Quick! Before my players see it! Please! That's what I had defined as being what has happened in my campaign! /* grumbles and goes back to the drawing board... Just kidding. Nice idea, wish I really *had* of thought of that one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allen Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 Originally posted by TheEmerged /* panics Delete that post! Quick! Before my players see it! Please! That's what I had defined as being what has happened in my campaign! /* grumbles and goes back to the drawing board... Just kidding. Nice idea, wish I really *had* of thought of that one LOL... you're probably right -- i should delete the post before it gets out. Someday, somewhere I'll run that adventure and all my players will be sitting around with shucks-eating grins... "What're you guys smiling about?" "Nothing." "Nada." "Just happy to be here." "Yep. Just love you're game so much, we gotta smile." *Razzle-frazzle* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prometheus Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 Scorpia and Feuermacher had obviously failed to take into account Giganto's misguided devotion to Professor Muerte. Like an overprotective St. Bernard, Giganto fetched Muerte's broken body- still living, but barely- from the ocean. He had fled with it to one of the Professor's hidden bases, where the automated facilities nursed Muerte back to health. In time, Muerte recovered, but he would never be the same. Bitterly, he vowed revenge on his former team for their treason. But how? In his current condition, facing his betrayers directly was out, and most of his organization and resources had been burnt to the ground, literally and figuratively. All he had was his incredible incredible intellect, burning hatred, and a brainless, simpering lap-dog in a... near... indestructable... body... The professor poured giddily over the plans before him. The project had been originally discarded, tossed into a corner when he had reached an intellectual impasse. It might work, he had found, only if the victim had insufficient will and brain power to resist- useless against the driven mindset of his heroic enemies. Giganto moved the machine into place, as Muerte had directed. "Stand... here," croaked Muerte, and he obeyed. The professor hobbled to the control panel for the final adjustments and donned the Encephalo Helmet attached. "You have served me well." The words were almost a bark. "And you will again, one last time. Engage." Professor Muerte smiled. In a moment, the Personality Tranference Device would complete its work. And then, he could begin his. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted March 28, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 Thank you all for your suggestions. You have renewed my faith in Mad Science. Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted March 29, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2003 Re: Re: Re: Re: Cheating Death Originally posted by allen Steve posted somewhere on these boards that Muerte was never-ever coming back. I've been thinking about this a bit. A fake Muerte would work pretty well. Basically, someone runs a Black Op against Eurostar by making them think that Muerte is alive. This could cast a bit of doubt on Scorpia and Feuermacher's loyalties, incite them to hunt down "Muerte" and suck them into a trap, and could cause the already paranoid Ultrasonique to go even more crazy. Result: a villain team in disarray, possibly with some dead members. There is an infinite number of possible culprits. Viper comes to mind, but I might go with someone else. Setting Eurostar against Viper might be phase two of the plan... Maybe this is the option I should go with. Let's see: find Giganto, recruit some former Terror, Inc. agents, and some new ones. A fake Muerte is easy... A couple of mercenary villains... Stir well and simmer for a couple of weeks... A fake trail to Viper shouldn't be too hard, although you might want to find a Nest to betray to Eurostar. That could be easier said than done, but it should be possible for a mastermind capable of pulling this kind of job off. Motives for all of this: get Eurostar and Viper out of your way, while settling some old scores. Suspects: any old mastermind, really. Hmm. I might actually run this. I don't usually run my games in Europe, so getting the PCs involved might be a bit tricky. Maybe I need to get them travelling a bit more. Unfortunately I've tended to have a bit of fun with them being bush league provincial heroes who aren't considered to be as tough as the Big Boys. I may have to change this a bit. A thought: maybe we need a European city along the lines of Millennium City? Something well documented that can make playing scenarios in Europe easier. (It would have to be written by a European writer, of course.) Of course, picking a flavour for it could be a bit difficult: is it "French", "German", "Italian" or whatever. Of course, it would be "all of the above", but it still would have an underlying social context. Tricky, but possibly interesting. I'd like to see it, anyway. Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted March 29, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2003 OK, well I've been thinking about this some more. This is kind of my third draft. The Viper lead is sucker bait. Fiacho is smart enough to realise this isn't real. That's OK, because the real plan is far more complicated than any "mere mortal" can understand. You see, the real plan is to steal the Mental Enhancement doohickey in some other city. The whole Eurostar plot is a distraction, to draw away the local supers and whatnot while the real theft happens. Of course, if Mentalla falls into the hands of .. umm, the mastermind..., then she will be an adequate instrument in his plan for mind controlling the entire world, but, let's face it, Menton would be a better mind-slave. But, if neither of them are available, there are various twinkies from PSI, or there's that young mutant from Australia. Mwa ha ha ha ha... Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrosshairCollie Posted April 1, 2003 Report Share Posted April 1, 2003 I was kind of annoyed/upset about some of the altered origins and the like in CKC myself, so I know whatcha mean. On the other hand, I like Scorpia and Feur better than I liked White Flame and Pantera, so I'm not sure what to do. Anyway, what I was thinking was that, after being in that battlesuit for as long as he was, especially with the stress he had to have been feeling at the time of 'death', somehow the brain-wave engram readers in the cybernetic battlesuit absorbed/copied his whole brain pattern instead of just being an 'extension' of his body. The Armor now *is* Muerte. Of course, Muerte won't want to admit he's dead, so he'll never take his helmet off now. There's all sorts of fun limitations he could get (like a BODY Susceptibility to being convinced that he's dead!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Bushway Posted April 2, 2003 Report Share Posted April 2, 2003 I like Prometheus' idea: The image of a half-melted Meurte, driven mad by pain and dragging himself across the ocean floor until he reaches land, all the while plotting his revenge, just does it for me. Of course, the first thing he does is activate the transciever he had implanted beneath Giganto's skin, calling the behemoth to him. The PCs are first involved when they recieve reports that Giganto has finally come out of hiding, and is cutting a swath of destruction towards wherever Muerte came ashore, single-mindedly plowing through anything in his path. If they manage to stop him, the beast pleads piteously to be let go, because "The Master calls!" The transciever may even give him a new ability to insure he isn't held long (charges of Desolid or Teleport). From there, nothing for a few months. UNTIL moves into the territory vacated by Terror Inc to stabilize the region. Representatives from the newly-formed regional government come to New York to meet with UN officials - but their bodies are found horribly crushed by some unknown assailant before the meetings can take place. Former memebrs of Terror Inc. begin disappearing from prisons or wherever they've been hiding out, their bodies also crushed. Seems Meurte is cleaning house in preperation for his grand return. After close-call attempts on Scorpia and Fuer's lives, Fiacho brings Eurostar to South America and begins assulting the UN forces there, attempting to draw Muerte out. Meurte laughs from the shadows as Eurostar does the work clearing the UN out for him. If the PCs do manage to subdue Eurostar, Scorpia and Fuer beg for the PCs protection - but can the PCs protect them from an un-catchable Giganto? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.