Of Red Herrings and Fatally Bad Luck

[BoloOfEarth]

I'm working on an adventure with two separate but related plots: 

1. Various NPC heroes are getting de-powered
2. Various pro-hero normals (linked to the de-powered heroes) are getting killed by what look like accidents

 

I'm using various means to disguise the true source of the de-powering (which is actually radiation-based but invisible to sight and hearing):

•  A fight at a chemical company's facility causes an explosion that exposes an NPC hero to a noxious chemical cloud
• A group of DEMON Brothers breaking into Vibora Bay's slavery museum use a magical whip there on an NPC hero, drawing blood

 

The normals are getting killed by a probability manipulator, suffering what appear to be simply unlucky accidents. 

• A pro-supers movie director is killed when a stage light falls and smashes her in the head. 
• A pro-supers university law professor running for Congress is hit by a runaway bus after its brakes fail. 

 

I'm looking for at least 2 more erroneous causes a hero might mistake for the cause of his/her depowering.  The restrictions here are that it has to be something that could be set up in advance (e.g. small explosive charges placed beforehand in the chemical facility to release the chemicals, prior acquisition and placement of the magical whip followed by tipping off both the hero and DEMON), and occur someplace where a disguised radiation field generator can be placed and later removed without being obvious.

 

I'm also looking for at least 2 more unlucky but believable ways a normal might die.  This may include the victim's job, if the cause of death ties into his/her profession.  Restrictions here are that it must take place someplace at least semi-public (so the probability manipulator can be nearby to do her thing), and it has to appear fairly reasonable (so, no Chinese satellite falling from the sky for no apparent reason) so the deaths shouldn't trigger detailed investigations, and at first glance appear completely accidental.

 

The two events (NPC hero's depowering and the normal's death) will take place on different days, maybe even separated by a week or two.  (The bad guys want to make sure the hero has lost his/her powers before taking out the friend / patron / cheerleader.)

 

Extraneous information:

This is my tribute adventure to djwebb2, a poster to these boards who recently passed away. As such, a superhero fiction writer named Dave Webb is going to contact the heroes with his suspicions that the heroes' depowerings and the normals' deaths are linked.  Of course, my players being the paranoid types they are, the heroes will likely be suspicious of him at first, but he'll give them enough useful info to help them along.  Ideally, at the end of this Mr. Webb will offer to write up the heroes' adventures for publication, making him an ongoing NPC in the campaign.

 

The writeup for the depowering field is: 

Baseline Field Generator:  Severe Transform 1d6 (Superpowered to normal, heals with application of certain frequencies / wavelengths of radiation), Partial Transform (+½), Constant (+½), AoE (4m Radius; +¼), DoT (16 intervals every 6 Hours, Power Defense Only Applies Once, stopped by certain frequencies / wavelengths of radiation; +2), Invisible to Sight and Hearing (detectable by radiation detectors; +¾); IIF (-¾), 3 Continuing Charges of 1 Minute Duration; -½), Limited Target (mutated / transformed humans – doesn’t affect inherent/alien abilities, technology, or magic; -¾), No Range (-½)  [75 AP, 25 RP]

 

The PCs have previously run into the Dynatron (from Dean Shomshak's Shared Origins: Dynatron module) and have even stolen one; the baseline field generator is based upon the dynatron's design but isn't exactly the same; however, having one they can play around with should help the PC heroes eventually find the right frequencies / wavelengths to undo the Baseline Field effects.

[archer]

Falling down the stairs is a classic way to die. 

 

Slipping and hitting your head at the pool.

 

Stumbling in front of traffic. Stumbling/falling is supposed to be the #1 cause of non-vehicle accidental deaths

 

Car loses control on a wet road.

 

Choking.

 

As for the other, any super origin story could work for that.

 

Solar eclipse 

Exposure to aliens 

Meteor

Illness

Swamp gas

UFO

Weird energy from a dimensional rift

You deity shows and removes powers

 

Anything you might have seen written up as a susceptibility on a character sheet like intense magnetic fields.

 

 

[Cancer]

A catastophic airplane engine failure and then crash while on work-related travel ... with your side constraint of "baddie needs to be nearby" that would probably have to be a crash on takeoff from the city airport.  Lots of collateral damage and unrelated deaths to this, but that might be better as far as the bad guys go.

 

Freaky, not-understood events at the particle physics lab near the city ... big bursts of unexpected rubber-physics subnuclear particles ... no obvious collateral damage except a super's powers wink out at the same time as one of the bursts.

 

Solar storm and solar-storm induced voltage surge and blackout in the city.  Some super's powers go dark when the city does, and the power failure causes a number of secondary accidents ... traffic control wrecks, elevator failure, go-dark in a subway station and subsequent panic with people trampled in the rush, electrical fires started when the brownout/blackout happened, etc.

[Ninja-Bear]

A Normal gets accidentally pushed onto the tracks of a Subway train. A branch/tree falls on the victim. An elevator crash. A power tool or anything electrical has a short. Bitten by a snake or spider.

[IndianaJoe3]

20 hours ago, BoloOfEarth said:

I'm also looking for at least 2 more unlucky but believable ways a normal might die.  This may include the victim's job, if the cause of death ties into his/her profession.  Restrictions here are that it must take place someplace at least semi-public (so the probability manipulator can be nearby to do her thing), and it has to appear fairly reasonable (so, no Chinese satellite falling from the sky for no apparent reason) so the deaths shouldn't trigger detailed investigations, and at first glance appear completely accidental.

 

Negligent firearm discharge

Unexpected allergic reaction

[eepjr24]

Death causes:

https://listosaur.com/miscellaneous/top-5-causes-of-accidental-death-in-the-united-states/

Heart attack

Stroke

Food allergies are a good one and can be developed in later life or just a newly encountered food. Can also use insect stings and reactions to plants (poison ivy, oak, sumac, etc).

 

De-powering is pretty well covered above, but the most obvious one would be... have a real nuclear / radiation disaster the NPC helps prevent? Easy cover for the radiation there. Could be a power plant or a nuclear submarine. Normal illnesses are a decent cover and easy to rig up. Food poisoning, chest pain and dehydration are all fairly easy to introduce to anyone who does not have massive regeneration and will end you up being observed for a night. Hospitals are notoriously chaotic and easy to get in and out of with any equipment that has wheels and can be made to look remotely medical. I worked in one for 12 years, it was a big concern to the physical security folks. You could probably even put it inside an ambulance and deliver the "treatment" at the scene of the problem.

 

- E