WWYCD #86 (I think)

[OddHat]

WWYCD #86 (I think):

 

The Old Woman, who is widely believed to be Earth’s first metahuman and is known to be one of its most powerful mystics, contacts your character in a dream. She has been known to lie and to kill, but all of her plots (as far as you have heard) have been designed to protect humanity from what she perceived as a threat.

 

“Hero, the Kings of Edom have planted the seeds of their madness in the minds of six mortals; three men, three women. How they hid this from me I do not know, and even now my magic can not touch the chosen vessels. The King in Yellow stands at the gates of our world, and I can not hold him back much longer. I plead with you, find the six, find them and end their lives, before our world falls!â€

 

Characters that do not sleep receive the above as a vision. Waking, your character knows that this was no ordinary dream. What do you do next?

[Metaphysician]

Re: WWYCD #86 (I think)

 

Microman II: Would defer to his more mystically-inclined teammates. He would definitely not be in favor of just killing them outright, especially if they are otherwise innocent bystanders.

[BcAugust]

Re: WWYCD #86 (I think)

 

Cyrande would need to get some explantion from the other heros on what exactly all those entities were, but once she does, she'll check if the threat is real. If it is, she would quickly and painfully kill collaberators. She would see if Starguard could free the rest, if not, she'd quickly and painlessly kill the innocents to protect the world.

 

(I should point out at this point she has a "kill on sight" attitude considering what most people would consider demons. It's sort of a cultural thing.)

[Acroyear]

Re: WWYCD #86 (I think)

 

My dreams are always telling me to kill innocent people. It's nice to see the face behind the voice, at last!

[Blue]

Re: WWYCD #86 (I think)

 

Anthem could never kill anyone. Not even the bad guys. No formal CvK (so I can leave such things open ended) but it would never happen. She'd go to friends and try round up the individuals in question.

 

Uncle Slam has a CvK. He could not do it. He's done enough killing for the beneift of all mankind. He'd use all his resources to find these people and take them into protective custody.

[SKJAM!]

Re: WWYCD #86 (I think)

 

I am presuming that the Old Woman has implanted enough information to make finding the victims within the time limit possible.

 

 

Mask of Justice: Calls upon his doctor friend for assistance, making a series of rare house calls. He uses his powers to spot the "Seeds of Madness" inside each person's skull, and direct the doctor in brain surgery. The Seeds are safely removed and crushed, saving the world. "Obviously, the Old Woman hasn't kept up with advances in modern medicine."

 

Rock Bottom: Hopes that someone on his team knows the contact number for a supermage, because this is way beyond him (and he has a CVK.)

 

Calculus: Will use his superintelligence to figure out if the threat is real, and how to stop it without killing innocent people. If he can do it without even ever being seen by the innocents, so much the better.

 

Kira Midori: Calls upon her own team's supermage; presumably her psychic abilities are necessary to find the potential victims. No killing, of course.

 

Talion: Mentally contacting him must have given the Old Woman a severe headache, so it must be important. He's the only one who'd even consider for a moment killing anyone, but he's going to be damn suspicious that he's being set up. Again.

[OddHat]

Re: WWYCD #86 (I think)

 

Mask of Justice: Calls upon his doctor friend for assistance, making a series of rare house calls. He uses his powers to spot the "Seeds of Madness" inside each person's skull, and direct the doctor in brain surgery. The Seeds are safely removed and crushed, saving the world. "Obviously, the Old Woman hasn't kept up with advances in modern medicine."

 

While I like and appreciate all of the responses, this is the one that I was absolutely not expecting.

 

Tres Cool.

[nexus]

Re: WWYCD #86 (I think)

 

Mask of Justice: Calls upon his doctor friend for assistance' date=' making a series of rare house calls. He uses his powers to spot the "Seeds of Madness" inside each person's skull, and direct the doctor in brain surgery. The Seeds are safely removed and crushed, saving the world. "Obviously, the Old Woman hasn't kept up with advances in modern medicine."[/i']

 

While I like and appreciate all of the responses, this is the one that I was absolutely not expecting.

 

Tres Cool.

 

Are the Seeds of Maddness actual physical objects and not some metaphysical thingie?

[SKJAM!]

Re: WWYCD #86 (I think)

 

Are the Seeds of Maddness actual physical objects and not some metaphysical thingie?

 

In the Mask of Justice's comic book, they are. (Of course, I'm influenced by various anime where people are corrupted/infected by seeds, jewel shards, etc....)

[Guest WhammeWhamme]

Re: WWYCD #86 (I think)

 

Are the Seeds of Maddness actual physical objects and not some metaphysical thingie?

 

He didn't say, and for Golden Age hero, I think that's a clever response.

[Wanderer]

Re: WWYCD #86 (I think)

 

This scenario is especially meaningful for Nova, as he is the survivor of an alternate timeline overrun and destryoed by demonic entities like the Kings (darn, when is that Arcane Adversaries going to show up ? I really need the info and stats of the Kings), and his becoming a superhero came out of his efforts and desire to defend the Earth from such menaces. He would quickly and mercilessly kill anyone that would be a willing accomplice or collaborator of the Kings or similar entities, as per his standard procedure. Truly innocent links would plunge him in a moral dilemma, though, as his "Protect the Innocent" and "Protect Earth" Psych Lims would come into conflict. Roughly, he would probably try something like this: first, seek the help of some allied mystic in breaking the link; if the link cannot be broken, try to persuade the victims to end their lives by their own accord, trying to stiffen their resolve by feeding them his own vivid recollections of his Earth being destroyed by the Kings (even borrowing the help of some friendly psychic or psionic gadget to give them full sensory recollections). In the case they are adamant, he would probably give them quick and painless death, after deep and long soul-searching (i.e. summoning the resolve to break a Total Psych Lim in such an extreme case). Alternatively, he might put them into eternal animated suspension (assuming unconsciousness does put the link into suspension), but given it would be functionally equivalent to death anyway, and there would be the slight chance of DEMON getting hold of them, he would see euthanasia as the most humane and secure choice.

[OddHat]

Re: WWYCD #86 (I think)

 

Are the Seeds of Maddness actual physical objects and not some metaphysical thingie?

 

When I wrote the scenario "seeds of madness" was a figure of speech, but if one of my players had come up with that I might have run with it.

[farik]

Re: WWYCD #86 (I think)

 

Husky and Kenneth aren't going to kill anybody. They'll hunt down the 6 victims and capture them as Husky. As Kenneth he'll either elimimate the "Seeds" or else he'll suspend them time and place them in an alternate dimension so the bad guys can't use them to get "here." He'll refer to the Impossible Hand Kid for advice on the mystical elements of the problem.

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: WWYCD #86 (I think)

 

Ballistic would talk to the guy who taught him magic (who is the apprentice to the Sorceror Supreme) for advice, and probably get the six, but not kill them. In getting them, he would be very careful that they not come to close together in case getting them together opens the gate right there.

 

Blackcat doesn't kill. She would track them down one at a time, and send them to her friend Owen, a guy who runs dimension that is a major interdimensional crossroads, and have his help in fixing them.

 

Terminal Velocity would run around flailing, and not know how he is supposed to help, and end up following his teammates suggestions... he would not kill however.

[Wanderer]

Re: WWYCD #86 (I think)

 

Quick question, for all those in the know (grr, I really hate not yet having AA): but is exiling the link people to another dimension going to be a safe thing in not allowing the Kings to break in "ours" ? I answered assuming it was by far the best thing to keep Lovecraftian baddies out of the Multiverse altogether.

[Chuckg]

Re: WWYCD #86 (I think)

 

Starguard -- could kill the demon seeds without hurting the people.

 

Baron von Darien -- might very well kill the six people. Or might not. Depends on whether or not the Trismegistus Council can either a) confirm the presence of the seeds and be unable to find another solution.

[Insaniac99]

Re: WWYCD #86 (I think)

 

eh, Meteor Man would gather them, but he woudln't Kill them, (total CVK) instead he would get a mystic to help him find where the portal would open, then use his Contacts at Primus to get a BUNCH of help placed where the portal will open. this entity will get a rude suprise when he crosses over to find ~50% of the heroic poulation waiting at the gate, including his master, Orion, the protector of the Universe....

[Metaphysician]

Re: WWYCD #86 (I think)

 

Well, if dimensional proximity is needed, than putting them all in separate dimensions might stymie the thing.

[The Watcher]

Re: WWYCD #86 (I think)

 

Warp: Will locate the six and try to get someone with the necessary powers or skills to extract or destroy the Seeds without harmng the innocents.

 

As a backup plan he'll get the Sentinels and any other heroes he can find to the site of emergence, get his powers pumped via an AID by Starguard, and then try to slam the gates shut. He does, after all, bend dimensional fabric like paper.

 

Spectrum: Will locate the six and put them in government custody, and then get experts in every field imaginable to figure a way out to extract the Seeds or keep them from empowering the gate. He won't kill them till all other options are exhausted, and there's no time left for anything else. But if the safety of his country and world are at stake, he will do what is necessary.

 

Then again, he might just tap into the subconscious Progenitor knowledge implanted in him and come up with a godlike superscience way to kill or repel the Kings of Edom themselves upon arrival.

 

Mystic: "Perhaps your magic alone is not enough to touch the vessels, but working together we can cleanse them of this taint."

 

He is potentially the next Archmage, after all. I forsee an adventure in which he and the Old Woman cast a spell which projects the entire teami into the mindscape of each of the six, and then they go and destroy each of the seeds in a dream battle.

[Zeropoint]

Re: WWYCD #86 (I think)

 

Special Agent Trent would wake up in pain before the Old Woman got to the important part of the message--he has a Susceptibility to mental powers. It's a good thing she's not where he can see her when he wakes up, too.

 

Zeropoint

[S7Michelle]

Re: WWYCD #86 (I think)

 

Cannis: Is definitely talking with Adam before doing anything, this is the kind of issue where not asking first could lead to him being angry with her and she hates having him angry with her. Cannis would prefer not to kill, especially if the six are innocent victims. Most likely, Cannis will be put to work tracking them down or trying to find a medical solution. If the team can't find a a way to solve the problem, her teammate Kono (the groups assassin) will be sent in to make the kills.

 

Sailor Io: Calls a team meeting as soon as possible. The group brainstorms and tries to come up with any technical or mystical way they can think of to remove the seeds from the people. With the combined abilities of the group, odds are very good that they will find a way to remove the seeds and fight the possessing demons without killing the innocents. Though, if we had no choice but to kill the six to save the world, I think we would. However, there would be a lot of guilt, a lot of crying, and a lot of regrets and Io would be furious with herself for not having been able to find a better way.