WWYCD: Collected

[Hermit]

Your character while on a solo patrol (or just dumb luck) fights one of his standard foes (VIPER, Rogue of the week, etc) and while he (or she) wins the day, is left a bit weak (Low on stun) after the fight. An overweight slightly balding citizen with thick glasses rushes over, gushing about how great you are... then blasts you with a hidden stunner. We're going with the assumption that somehow the guy hit... though obviously if there's no chance, then leave those characters out.

 

Your character then awakens to a beeping sound and an electronic voice from a computer "Chamber #14 slumber mode malfunctioning, service soon"

 

Looking around, your character sees he/she is boxed some sort of plastic like screen or forcefield with a thin outer layer of cardboard on the top, back, and most of the bottom. Across from the hero is another figure similarly encased, and also in costume. One your Character recognizes as a superheroine who disappeared from the 1980s! (or other previous decade if it suits your character better) and it is hard to tell, but pressing against the screen would show other containers are further out to the sides. Only, the superheroine (and presumably others) are still IN slumbermode, or whatever it is.

 

The defenses of the material you are in seem well researched, able to take Maximum body from your standard strike without yielding (so yes, pushing and other tactics will help), and adjusted to counter certain powers (Like teleportation or desolidification frex) you have if those powers are something research would reveal. Someone clearly has KS: Superheroes.

 

While not inescapable, it will take effort, and if/when you get out, you realize someone is collecting superheroes, and has been since they first appeared on your world. 13 others, all in 'slumber mode', are out there.

 

WWYCD?

 

(Yeah, I know, "break free and release them" is probably the standard answer, but the devil's in the details)

[caris]

Re: WWYCD: Collected

 

Your character while on a solo patrol (or just dumb luck) fights one of his standard foes (VIPER, Rogue of the week, etc) and while he (or she) wins the day, is left a bit weak (Low on stun) after the fight. An overweight slightly balding citizen with thick glasses rushes over, gushing about how great you are... then blasts you with a hidden stunner. We're going with the assumption that somehow the guy hit... though obviously if there's no chance, then leave those characters out.

 

Your character then awakens to a beeping sound and an electronic voice from a computer "Chamber #14 slumber mode malfunctioning, service soon"

 

Looking around, your character sees he/she is boxed some sort of plastic like screen or forcefield with a thin outer layer of cardboard on the top, back, and most of the bottom. Across from the hero is another figure similarly encased, and also in costume. One your Character recognizes as a superheroine who disappeared from the 1980s! (or other previous decade if it suits your character better) and it is hard to tell, but pressing against the screen would show other containers are further out to the sides. Only, the superheroine (and presumably others) are still IN slumbermode, or whatever it is.

 

The defenses of the material you are in seem well researched, able to take Maximum body from your standard strike without yielding (so yes, pushing and other tactics will help), and adjusted to counter certain powers (Like teleportation or desolidification frex) you have if those powers are something research would reveal. Someone clearly has KS: Superheroes.

 

While not inescapable, it will take effort, and if/when you get out, you realize someone is collecting superheroes, and has been since they first appeared on your world. 13 others, all in 'slumber mode', are out there.

 

WWYCD?

 

(Yeah, I know, "break free and release them" is probably the standard answer, but the devil's in the details)

 

The only one of my characters with a possibly interesting answer to this is Boost. He would probably reconfigure his bio-manipulation power to wake up the heroine. While Boost's biomanipulation power is known, it probably wouldn't be something that the collector would think of as something Boost would use to try and escape with.

[Comic]

Re: WWYCD: Collected

 

Well now. Someone has the ability to fool HighGuard's senses, get the drop on him, knock him out and trap him in suspended animation?

 

That'd be someone HighGuard would want to meet.

 

Assuming they're still alive. Which might be true, or might not have been true in millennia. To the best of his abilities, while feigning immobility, HG would scan as much of the world as his senses could reach, while waiting for someone to come and service that life support.

 

Being an inveterate liar himself, he'd also look out for the possibility that one of the figures apparently in suspended animation is the bad guy. And where is this cage located? Is it in orbit? Deep underground? Are there closed-circuit cameras hidden that will observe his actions?

 

What can he learn from the little he can see? What can he deduce from what he can see?

 

Why was he collected, by whom?

 

Oh, and yeah, he'll leave them very, extremely dead in vindication for what they've done, once he's satisfied he knows enough to do it and get away with it. Of course, proving that he's better than a dozen other supers, that's kinda nice of the Collector.

 

He'll thank him, then beat him to death, eventually.

[Victim]

Re: WWYCD: Collected

 

Shooting Star is easily taken in the bald man's ruse. Fortunately, escaping actually shouldn't be too difficult for her. Her plasma orbs are indirect in that she can both create them at a distance, or route them around obstacles. It's possible that the collector missed her remote projection ability since she usually starts them out at close range. In that case, she'd work on attacking her cell from the outside (after trying to blast her way free from the inside of course), or attempt to defeat the containment on the super opposite her - since she'll probably have different (and probably stronger) default powers, the 80s heroine should be able to release Star if freed from her own prison. Shooting Star also has amazing acceleration and manueverability on her flight, so she'd attempt to ram the walls a few times if her basic attack proved ineffective. Finally, she can unleash a far more destructive blast (especially against objects), but it can really hurt her. As a last resort - after attempting to use any of the mundane devices carried with her costume - she'll fire that off, aiming the cone to blast away her cell and clip that of the heroine across from her. With luck, she wouldn't dangerously injure herself using it.

 

Shooting Star would only release supers that she recognizes as heroes (or that have another hero vouching for them). She'd probably try to find away to access the computer system to get more information - she's pretty good at Computers.

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: WWYCD: Collected

 

Blackcat would use her ch'i projection abilities to start waking up people. She would also keep testing the different things the walls could take, she has myriad different ways to do damage (that MA pool is really handy).

[Zed-F]

Re: WWYCD: Collected

 

Soulbarb: (Street level): Thinks, So now what, I'm an action figure? The situation is a bit bizarre for her, but it can't be any worse than the time a half-dozen different dimensional duplicates paid her a visit all at once, right? She'll do what she does best, investigate... starting by trying to investigate a way out of the containment field. She may be able to find a weak point or whatever caused sleep mode to cease working properly, and keep working on that to worm her way out. Failing that, main force will have to do; now's a good time to try a few haymakers out, which she generally doesn't do. Next she'll start trying to figure out just how far this action-figure metaphor extends. Is a giant-sized kid likely to enter the room at a moment's notice?

 

Sylph: Is probably going to have some difficulty getting out. She doesn't really have many powers that are suitable for breaking objects. If there are plants around anywhere outside the containment unit she can probably figure something out using her TK -- a drop from a great hight might work well, trusting the containment unit to shield her from the worst of the impact damage. Otherwise, she's likely stuck until someone comes to put her back into coldsleep, whereupon she can try to reason with them...

[Zeropoint]

Re: WWYCD: Collected

 

Special Agent Trent's initial response would be to scoff, and teleport out. When that didn't work, he'd be worried and frustrated, and would take careful stock of his situation. There's got to be something around here that he can manipulate with his STR 55 Telekinesis, which is inherently indirect and should work through the packaging.

 

If he can't effect the world outside with his TK, then about all he can do is pray that he's got some unspent XP to spontaneously develop a new power.

[Spidey88]

Re: WWYCD: Collected

 

Phidippus' response:

 

Okay, obviously trapped here. If initial attempts to escape via simply busting out fail, then the priority is ascertaining

a) what sedated me,

how do I neutralize it without comprimizing whatever suffices for life support in here, and

c) how do I do this without tripping some sort of internal security system that will bring my captor running?

 

Hopefully his keen mind and considerable mechanical, electronics, and biology skill will come in really handy - at the very least, he might be able to plug some sedative gas valves with some extra-gluey webbing.

 

Assuming the tech skills aren't up to par, it's on to plan B (B for brute force).

 

What Phidippus has going for him:

 

- STR 45 (only demi-brick strong, but not to be taken lightly)

- crazy flexibility (no Plastic Man, but double jointed and with a Contortionist skill that would make a yoga master green with envy)

- six arms (which might justify throwing a few points at "+X STR, only for grabs, escapes, etc.) and the ability to use pretty much all of them at once for things like, oh, I don't know... punching, or pushing?

- an almost total lack of need to sleep

- he is pretty much absolutely tireless (0 END on STR), but he's got the ability to push his STR just like anyone else (+10 STR, x10 END, only for pushing).

- Clinging, for better grips and pulling at the inside of the otherwise featureless container.

 

With any luck, Mr. collector may not have taken all of these factors into account. Phidippus will be able to contort himself into unlikely and unexpected positions, hopefully use his Clinging to grip the barrier and strain against it in the most efficient way possible, and ideally be able to exert more force with six arms than the Collector would expect from a being with his general STR levels. If he can make than thing budge at all without pushing, he can keep it up all day and night without stopping, if need be.

 

The whole while, his danger sense should help keep him appraised of the situation (oh, crap! He's coming! Time for my sleepy mannequin impression...). In addition, his eyes (all eight) are like a spider's in his Hero ID (pretty featureless glossy black lenses), so he should be able to play dead and still get a look at Mr. Collector if he decides to make a close inspection of his new acquisition (and carefully remove the cardboard sleeve).

 

 

Assuming that's not enough, Phidippus has a couple final aces up his sleeves. One is his ability to change back to an (outwardly) entirely human form - he might be able to bluff his way out with some quick jibberish about "some bug-guy grabbing me and tossing me in here, he said something about 'the sensors needed life signs to not set off alarms, I'll be back to save you when I can get some help'" or some other such nonsense.

 

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, is his experience with this type of individual. See, Phidippus' secret ID is Warren Webster, comic book artist extraordinaire - his PS: comic book artist 19-, not to mention his current job as artist for the official Justice Squadron AND Sentinels comics makes him pretty well known in the comic community. He's been to a fair number of cons in his secret ID, signing autographs for the kiddies and such.

 

As a result, he is MORE than familiar with obsessive fanboys - if all else fails, he might be able to figure out what makes Mr. Collector tick and manipulate his escape that way! (probably the most dramatically appropriate escape, too.)

 

Maybe something like:

 

"Tell you what, Collector - you promise to put me at the top of the heap in your collection (thus ensuring my legacy of greatness throughout history, for you are obviously a visionary genius), and I'll help you collect the whole set!"

 

Then:

 

a) lead him on a wild goose chase, all the while trying to figure out how to surreptitiously warn his teammates and take him down in an ambush, or simply

pound the living daylights out of him. Perhaps less chance of success, but more satisfying.

 

 

Then, naturally, set to rescuing the other heroes trapped within.

 

(With any luck, Lady Enchanter will be really happy to be set free...)

 

In all seriousness, Phidippus (being the comic book geek he is), will share some level of understading with the collector; but, at the same time, take the plight of the heroes already in his clutches very personally, and do everything in his power to help them regain their place in the world after being set free.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: WWYCD: Collected

 

War Wolf would probably fall for the trick, though the action figure packaging would require something other than a sleep-mode (LS: Sleep and all that). Since you specified superheroes and not just supers, I'm assuming that there are no villains ... so, yes, he'd definitely spring everybody else, then lead them in a grand uprising against their captor(s).

 

Vixen would definitely fall for the ruse (flatter gets you EVERYWHERE with her), and could probably escape via one of her 13 powers. She'd definitely spring the 'geezers'/'old-timers'/'has-beens'/'never-wases', but unlike WW, she'd follow someone else's lead until she found out how tough this was going to be ...

 

1. If it turns out to be easy, she'll get cocky, showboat, and hog as much glory as she can muster.

2. If it turns out to be hard, she'll fight sneaky, dishonorably, and cowardly ... and if it gets harder than THAT, the oldsters are on their own, screw you guys, I'm goin' home.

[cutsleeve]

Re: WWYCD: Collected

 

Brain Eater Lad: would wake up and proceed to wonder how some one knocked out a zombie. Next he would survey his situation and the nagging question that is someone figured out how to knock out a dead buy then why bother putting said corpse in a big jar. He would then get over this and proceed to search the room for any possible way to get out. After awhile he would wonder what kind of freak spends their time trying to figure out how to knock out a zombie so they can put them in a jar.

 

Several months would pass and he will have given up on trying to figure out a way to escape, since none of his incredible "zombie" abilities seem to be of any use. Brain eater lad will attempt to use his last remaining ability in order to trick his captor into releasing him, Being an absolute annoying prick.

[hfergus]

Re: WWYCD: Collected

 

With Olorin, it would depend. If for some reason his contingency spell failed and he actually got trapped (Most of the time if knocked out he t-ports to the base infirmary - it's not foolproof though.) he would t-port out, dimension walk out, time travel out, burst out, whatever it took, and free the heroes. Then he would try to figure out why. Maybe these heroes are needed for an extreme bad guy. Lying to Olorin would be problematic (mind reading for truth) He'd deal with the situation appropriately given the reason.

[casualplayer]

Re: WWYCD: Collected

 

This is why you should never let overweight, balding people anywhere near you.

[Blue]

Re: WWYCD: Collected

 

First, look for the weakest section (top, back, whatever) to make the primary target.

 

Second, Find weakness on the surface as many times as Anthem can manage successfully. That gives her an outside shot at breaking it if she's really lucky. Not sure if a villain would know about that particular skill. Your GM may vary.

 

Failing that, other help is always appreciated. Perhaps she can rock the container into moving over and bumping/dislodging one of the other containers, thus eventually awakening its inhabitant.

 

Assuming she still has one of her throwing stars (8 are obvious but a 9th is hidden in her boot for emergencies), she may be able to use it to cut at the surface (low level KA) or pry at the seams of the case.

 

Beyond that, not much else to do. No radio communicators, unlikely any allies will come looking anytime soon, and she's not getting any stronger.

[hfergus]

Re: WWYCD: Collected

 

This is why you should never let overweight' date=' balding people anywhere near you. [/quote']

Probably very wise since I am overweight and balding.(You never know what I am going to do. Heck, a lot of time I don't know what I'm going to do.)

[Drhoz]

Re: WWYCD: Collected

 

Vitus would make a careful mental note that, next chance he gets, teach his students the Locate Person spell. Or, if he already has, kick their arses for not coming to rescue him sooner.

 

Then, summon a few giant exploding termites to eat the cardboard, destroy the value of the Collector's collection by opening all the packaging, and leave. Possibly setting the place on fire on the way out.

 

Truman, whilst also a collector, would be alarmed by the idea that anybody thinks he's worth collecting. 1950s American Musical memorabilia is one thing, but obscure Californian mentalists? This guy is obviously a fanatic.

 

after that, very determined and careful telepathic conferencing may be enough to get him out of here. Otherwise, burn XP to develop a fine control TK and smash all the other slumber circuits as well

[psychonaut_raz]

Re: WWYCD: Collected

 

Icestar would definitely fall for the trap - she loves her fans.

 

She'd try and use her PD Drain (brittle cold) on the containment device to make it weak enough to break out of.....failing that, reduce the temperature as low as she can in the entire area and hope that the systems outside of her cell aren't able to cope with the sudden shift in temperature so someone else's cell will malfunction and then they can help as well...

 

If worse comes to worst, probably fill the entire cell with ice and expand outwards hoping that the walls break before she does - she's kind of impulsive and if there's no other way out it wouldn't occur to her that she would probably squish before the cell does...