death tribble

A car sponsored by Oreo cookies. It could be called the Oreo Speedwagon.

Tell me you wouldn't freak out if you met these guys in a dark alley.

I dare you.

So one of my players creates a new superhero called Doctor Enigma, with a long and storied history and an archenemy called The Black Scarab. On his character sheet, it says "Hunted by the Black Scarab." This means pretty much, the guy is bound to show up every so often and make the hero's life completely miserable.
 The relationship between the characters was meant to be adversarial but cordial, in a sort of "I really do apologize for throwing you into that pit of snakes."
 "And I am sorry for crushing your leg with that log," etc.
 Also integral to the story is the fact that Doctor Enigma and the Black Scarab were in love with the same woman, and Esmerelda chose Doctor Enigma. Doctor Enigma didn't age. Esmerelda did.
 So he's young and handsome, and she's elderly and on her deathbed. Not so great.
 But wait. There's more. So the heroes encounter The Black Scarab, and he tells Doctor Enigma that he's dying. The player flips out. He's like "how?"
 The villain says "The ring makes me immortal. It doesn't make me immune to neurological disorders or, unfortunately, Lou Gerihg's disease. So I am looking for a successor."
 They talk for a bit, exchange cordialities, and the villain leaves. An occult plot happens, during which time the Black Scarab is not present.
 So Doctor Enigma gets back to his mansion to discover this heap of ash in his easy chair, along with this note.
 "Dear Doctor Enigma,'
       I must apologize for the unfortunate state in which you find me, but if you are reading this, I am dead. There could truly only be one worthy successor for the power of the Black Scarab, and so I have given it's power to our Esmerelda. I am certain that this gift will be looked upon in the manner in which it was intended.
 Farewell, old enemy,

 The Black Scarab."
 Player: THAT (Censored)! Not only did he restore my wife to health, which I have been unable to do, not only did he turn my own wife against me, and make me incapable of harming my greatest enemy in any way, but now he's DEAD, and I can't do anything about it! And on top of it, the son of a (consored) died in my favorite easy chair!
  So now she's young and attractive, but irredeemably evil! Ooops. Fortunately, the players ALL love this twist, regardless of how mean it is. (And it is pretty mean.)

The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection.
 
Cast of characters: 
Dent: ork, rat shaman
No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer
Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist
Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic
Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems
Jonathan Bridges / Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator
Urlan Manes (NPC): President/CEO of Global Technologies; hired the team to recover stolen goods
Roxanne Wunter (NPC): Senior VP at Global; Urlan's liaison to the team
Thomas Martelli (NPC): Senior VP at Global; Urlan's rival
 
Dreamchipper - Fixing the Meeting
This module was previously described by Drhoz (here).
 
The team had recovered all three chips about 30 hours before the deadline. A decision was made to wait another 12 hours before giving Urlan Manes and Roxanne Wunter the good news.
 
Dent: "Why are we waiting? Is this going to give us some negotiating leverage?"
No-Step: "No. We're going to have to run some kind of op to ensure that Martelli wins. I'd prefer to get a full eight hours of sleep before that happens."
 
Once rested, the team met to brainstorm a way to turn the tables on Urlan and Roxanne.
 
No-Step: "We'll need to come up with something exceptionally subtle. Otherwise Urlan and Roxanne will suspect that we were behind it."
Audacity Jane: "Why would we have to be subtle? After Roxanne leaves her meeting with Jack, we grab her and hold her until after the meeting. Urlan will be missing his chips again, and he'll be missing one of his VPs."
No-Step: "And who besides us will know about the meeting?"
Happy Jack: "Martelli found out about the other meeting. He's the person who will benefit most. He'll be the main suspect. He'll have plausible deniability, but they will suspect that he is behind it. And to a certain extent, they will be right."
Eye Spy: "But everyone knows that Jonathan Bridges works with a bunch of orks."
Byte Force: "Urlan and Roxanne might not. They've never met any of us."
Happy Jack: "Jonathan Bridges' team is made of orks and trolls. Guess who works with a team of just orks? Martelli."
 
Byte Force: "Martelli could be the weak link. He's met you before. If you negotiate with him, he could put two and two together."
Happy Jack: "I won't be negotiating with him. While I'm meeting with Roxanne, one of you will contact Martelli." (pause) "No-Step has the skills to pull it off. And if Martelli refuses to take his call, No-Step can just project astrally."
Audacity Jane: "No-Step doesn't lie nearly as well as you do."
Happy Jack: "But he likes to sell win-win solutions. And that's exactly what we're doing with Martelli."
No-Step: "What should I do if Martelli flat-out refuses to reach a deal?"
Happy Jack: "Then he loses to Urlan. Stupidity is its own reward."
 
Surprisingly, Urlan and Roxanne wanted to wait until early Friday morning, hours before the shareholders' meeting, to collect the dreamchips. As before, they both attended and they both arrived early. They also brought an extra attendee.
 
Dent: "Their guest looks like a techie, but he has two bodyguards that look like retired military."
Eye Spy: "And there's a military vehicle parked a block away, with 8 more people in it. I think it's a trap."
Happy Jack: "I think it's their buyer. The army is supposed to be buying these things. Those bodyguards are probably active soldiers at Fort Lewis. The techie is probably an officer or a specialist."
Audacity Jane: "So, do we have to take on a squad of soldiers to get the chips back?"
No-Step: "Why would we? If we abduct Urlan and Roxanne, they can't announce to the shareholders that they saved their pet project."
 
Just before Jonathan Bridges went into the meeting...
 
Jonathan Bridges: "No-Step, I have one piece of advice for your negotiation."
No-Step: "And what might that be?"
Jonathan Bridges: "You like to beat around the bush when you negotiate. Martelli is blunt."
No-Step: "So what course of action would you advise?"
Jonathan Bridges: "At the beginning, be blunt enough to get his attention. Then you can beat around the bush all you want."
 
No-Step: "And I have one piece of advice for your meeting."
Jonathan Bridges: "What's that?"
No-Step: "You're going in without back-up this time. Try not to get killed."
 
As Jonathan Bridges entered the back bar...
 
Roxanne's bodyguard: "I see that you're still traveling with invisible bodyguards."
Jonathan Bridges: "There are two generally accepted strategies for bodyguards. One is to have obvious bodyguards. The better strategy is to have obvious bodyguards for show, and inconspicuous bodyguards to provide the real protection."
Roxanne's bodyguard: "And you think it's even better to do without the obvious bodyguards entirely?"
Jonathan Bridges: "No. I am my obvious bodyguard."
 
And No-Step made his call to Martelli's private phone number....
 
Thomas Martelli Jr.: "Who are you and what do you want?"
No-Step: "You are about to lose control of your daddy's company ... again."
Thomas Martelli Jr.: "WHAT !!"
Audacity Jane: (under her breath to Dent) "Yep. That was blunt enough."
No-Step: "Do I have your undivided attention? Splendid. Mr. Urlan Manes has recovered his stolen property. I'm sure he is looking forward to announcing that to the shareholders in a few hours."
Thomas Martelli Jr.: "Who are you?"
No-Step: "I'm in a position to make Mr. Manes and Ms. Wunter late to the meeting. Very late. Days late. And I can also ensure Tee Hee gets delivered to you, rather than them. Does that interest you?"
Thomas Martelli Jr.: "And what's in it for you?"
No-Step: "Coincidentally, that was going to be my question to you. What is in it for me?"
 
The team planned to capture Urlan and Roxanne when they reached their helicopter. The first step, while they were still in the meeting, was to capture the helicopter pilot.
 
No-Step: "This is going to be complicated. That helicopter is heavily armored. In this neighborhood, the pilot is sure to keep the doors locked. And if he sees trouble, all he has to do is get on the radio before we're able to stop him."
Dent: "I bet you 5,000 nuyen that I can get the pilot out the helicopter without him warning the others. I don't even need any help from any of you."
Audacity Jane: "I'm not going to let you blow this mission just so you can flex your ego."
Dent: (whispering his plan to Jane) "I'll cast silence so he can't say anything over the radio. Then I'll have my city spirit materialize inside the helicopter and use its Fear power."
Audacity Jane: (to No-Step) "I'll bet you 10,000 nuyen that Dent can do it."
Unsurprisingly, No-Step declined to take the bet.
 
No-Step disguised Eye Spy as the pilot, so Urlan and Roxanne's bodyguards wouldn't realize anything was wrong when they returned to the helicopter.
 
Dent: "Where is the best place for us to hide for the ambush?"
Audacity Jane: "I'm going to hide inside the helicopter. It's the one place in this neighborhood that the bodyguards will consider 'safe', so they won't be prepared to defend against an attack from that direction."
 
No-Step used his city spirit's Concealment power to hide Jane inside the helicopter. Nobody realized she was there until Roxanne and Urlan had boarded the helicopter ... and Jane had shot them with narcojet darts.
 
Audacity Jane: (to the bodyguards) "Hi there. I'm using your boss as a human shield."
 
Eye Spy forced the bodyguards' hand by taking the helicopter up into a hover 5 meters over the tarmac. The bodyguards had to jump and climb to try to get into the 'escaping' helicopter.
 
Audacity Jane: (seeing a bodyguard struggling to hold his gun, climb into the helicopter, and shoot simultaneously) "Let me guess ... your training didn't cover this?"
 
Dent wanted to steal the helicopter, which led to a disagreement.
 
Dent: "We could sell it for at least another 100,000 nuyen."
Eye Spy: "It's too easy to track, especially in a city."
Audacity Jane: "And we don't steal from our current employer."
Dent: "Urlan is our ex-employer. He's fair game."
Audacity Jane: "The helicopter belongs to Global, not Urlan. Martelli is our current employer, and in a few hours, he should control Global."
 
Eye Spy programmed the autopilot to fly the helicopter (and the unconscious pilot and bodyguards) back to Global.
 
No-Step: "They're going to have an interesting afternoon of debriefings."
Eye Spy: "It could be worse. They could be dead."
Happy Jack: "Spoken like someone who has never experienced a corporate 'debriefing'."
 
No-Step met with Martelli at the docks to hand over Tee Hee and get paid.
 
No-Step: (manifesting out of the Astral to where he could be seen and heard) "Good evening, Mr. Martelli. Congratulations on your coup at the shareholders meeting."
Thomas Martelli Jr.: "Cut the drek. Where is my decker?"
Audacity Jane stepped out of the shadows and opened the doors of one of the containers, revealing Tee Hee.
Thomas Martelli Jr.: "Nice ... but I'm thinking we should renegotiate our deal."
No-Step: "We completed our portion in full."
Thomas Martelli Jr.: "You're going to turn Urlan and Roxanne over directly to me. For that, you get half of the remaining fee. Otherwise, there's nothing stopping me from killing your razor and taking what I want."
No-Step: "Actually, there are several things preventing you from doing that."
Thomas Martelli Jr.: "Like what?"
No-Step: "First, Tee Hee's belt is made of detcord. If you try to avoid paying, you will no longer be playing with a full decker."
Thomas Martelli Jr.: "..."
No-Step: "Second, there are three heavy weapons aimed at you and your compatriots."
Audacity Jane: "I'm sure you're bullet-proof, but we don't particularly care."
Thomas Martelli Jr.: "..."
Audacity Jane: "And third, I'm wearing a heart monitor that's linked to a dead-man switch. If I die, you boys get to find out where I hid the fuel-air explosive."
No-Step: "The rest of our precautions will remain a surprise."
Audacity Jane: "A girl's got to have her secrets."
Thomas Martelli Jr.: (bursting out laughing) "I like you. We have to do business again sometime."

The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection.
 
Cast of characters: 
Dent: ork, rat shaman
No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer
Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist
Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic
Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems
Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator
Sandii (NPC): a fixer who put the team in touch with Mr. Johnson
Mr. Johnson (NPC): the ubiquitous alias used by/for people hiring shadowrunners
Young Elven Technologists (YET): An elven policlub that tried to refute common stereotypes about elves.
Lancelot Windtree (NPC): An elven mage who tried to embody every stereotype of elves ... particularly the negative ones.
 
YET Another Party
This module was previously described by Drhoz (here).
 
According to Sandii, Mr. Johnson wanted to meet at a Young Elven Technologists party. One drawback of being an ork/troll team ... it's hard to pass for elves.
 
A little research led to the discovery that YET's party was intended to allow them to meet and recruit elven deckers. Due to recent threats, however, they had hired additional, heavily-armed security.
 
Byte Force: (laughing) "You won't believe who YET hired for security." (pause) "Troll street samurai."
 
Astral reconnaissance showed one elven mage at the party. He didn't appear to be magickal security, since he was doing nothing to actually make the building more secure. On the other hand, he didn't appear to be a guest, because he looked like he would rather be anywhere else....
 
Lancelot Windtree: (to street samurai Jack) "Get out of my way, you oaf!"
street samurai Jack: (looking confused) "No .... I troll. You elf."
Lancelot Windtree: "I said oaf, not elf."
street samurai Jack: (looking more confused) "What is elf-not-elf?"
 
Surprisingly, Mr. Johnson was able to recognize Happy Jack, despite his disguise.
 
Mr. Johnson: (quietly to street samurai Jack) "Hello. I'm Mr. Johnson."
street samuria Jack: (quietly) "Let's go somewhere more private."
Jack grabbed Mr. Johnson by the shoulder and walked him out the back door.
street samuria Jack: (loudly) "I think you had too much to drink. You need to go outside and sober up."
 
Outside....
 
Mr. Johnson: "The Young Elven Technologists have committed a number of atrocities that have gone unpunished. It is up to you to correct this."
street samurai Jack: "Are you asking us to punish them proportional to their crimes, or are you asking us to commit atrocities on them that are greater than the ones they've committed on others?"
Mr. Johnson: (sounding genuinely curious) "Does the latter bother you?"
street samurai Jack: "Balanced justice is a very tricky and subjective thing. Excess is far easier to manage." (long pause) "And since we intend to go unpunished for whatever activities we commit on your behalf, we'd prefer to avoid having you hire a team to 'correct' that later."
 
YET did computer programming for other companies, and had used that privileged position to install backdoors into a number of computer systems. It then used those backdoors to siphon funds from its ex-clients.
 
Audacity Jane (ooc): That's his idea of an atrocity?
 
Mr. Johnson had a very specific idea of how to get justice.
Hack into YET's network and steal the backdoors.
Leave a copy of the backdoor passcodes, and another document, in the suite of Ehran the Scribe ... located inside YET's building.
Use another copy of the backdoor passcodes to enter the system of Dassurn Securities, one of YET's clients.
Unleash a piece of software inside Dassurn's network.
 
The kicker ... the run had to be completed by the following night, because that would leave YET no time to fix things before Dassurn audited its books the following morning.
 
The bigger kicker ... all of the hacking had to be done from inside YET's building.
 
Mr. Johnson: "All paths must lead directly to the Young Elven Technologists' doorstep ... especially if things go sour."
street samurai Jack: "If you want paths leading to their door, we'll make a point to blaze a few."
 
Since the party was being held in the same building where the run would occur, Jack decided to return and do some scouting. That plan was revised when the team noticed a disturbance by the front door.
 
elf who looked exactly like Mr. Johnson: "But I tell you, I am Lee Corbin!"
Happy Jack: (over the radio link as he walked away) "It looks like Mr. Johnson pulled one of our tricks. He came looking like someone else."
No-Step: "I assensed him. His aura was mundane, and there were no spells on him. Did he do that with makeup?"
Happy Jack: "It would be extremely difficult. Maybe impossible. He was a very distinctive looking elf."
Dent: "I think we just got hired by an initiate. They can mask their auras. But why would an initiate that powerful need us for a run?"
Byte Force: "He needs a decker." (pause) "Some problems can't be solved by magic."
Dent: "They can if you use enough of it."
 
The envelope that the team was going to leave in Ehran's suite was of particular interest.
 
Byte Force: "The last time we left an envelope behind, it was a page of Ehran's book in the lap of a dead elf-poser. This can't be a coincidence."
No-Step: "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action."
 
The envelope was sealed with wax.
 
No-Step: "This is an old-school way to know if someone was reading your mail. If the wax seal is broken, you know that someone read the mail."
Eye Spy: "So we can't look at it without someone noticing?"
No-Step: "There's an old school ways to bypass it. Use an extremely thin, heated wire to separate the wax from the paper. When you're done, reheat the back of the wax seal until it starts to melt and stick it back on the paper. Monomolecular wire should be perfect."
Byte Force: "I didn't realize monomolecular wire was 'old school'."
 
No-Step: "Wear gloves when you handle the letter."
Audacity Jane: "Fingerprints."
No-Step: "That too. But mostly because contact poison is another 'old school' technique."
 
Byte Force: "There's no poison on the page in the envelope, but I've seen it before." (pause) "It's from that book we stole from the troll Baron in Germany."
Audacity Jane: "We left a metal attache case there."
Dent: "Three times. That's enemy action."
Happy Jack: "@#$%! We didn't try to conceal our appearance for that German mission. And we were under heavy surveillance.  Someone could tie all these jobs to us."
Eye Spy: "Great. Mr. Johnson is going to get us killed." (pause) "I suppose there's a bright side. We have a repeat customer."

Crimson Phoenix snarled at his fallen foe, the blood still dripping from his sword.  "Nobody, and I mean nobody, tries to screw me in a deal."  He ripped a length of cloth from the dead DEMON Morbane's robe and wiped the worst of the blood off the sword.  His own wounds were already healing at an incredibly fast rate.  He had gotten so used to his ability to regenerate that he didn't even notice it any more.  Ever since he had come back from supposed death a decade before, he trusted that nothing could truly harm him for long.
 
The DEMON initiates had fled while Phoenix was shrugging off the Morbane's magical attacks and slicing the back-stabbing jerk to pieces, but he didn't want to stick around any longer than necessary.   The authorities just might show up to investigate all the weird lights in the night sky, and Phoenix didn't want to have to slice his way through a couple cop cars to get them to leave him alone.  As Crimson Phoenix reached back to sheath his sword, he felt a pain in the middle of his back and winced.  That's right, he thought.  The Morbane had literally stabbed him in the back, and he never had pulled the dagger loose during the fight.  It took a swing or two with the sword to knock the dagger free, and it fell to the ground with a clatter. 
 
Shaking his head, he walked over to the stone altar and picked up the small oxyx skull DEMON had hired him to procure.  "I wonder what the heck DEMON wanted with you," he said, then shrugged indifferently and dropped it into his leather shoulder satchel.  "Whatever it is, I'll bet I can find someone else willing to pay me for you."  With that, he strode off into the night.

The Rules: First one person posts an image that is or could be a superhuman. Then others submit a name, powers and basic background. This doesn't have to include Champions mechanics or be in the Champions universe.
 
Once three submission are done or a week has passed then the person that posted the original image picks the best description.
 
Then that poster can post an image or pass it on. Then the first person to post an image takes their turn.
 
Hopefully this will be fun and provide some inspiration for NPCs if nothing else.
 
First Image
 

Fishing has no age limit.

http://crimefeed.com/2015/03/saved-bell-actor-terrorizes-bar-smirnoff-ice-challenge/?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=CrimeFeed

Man Gets Ticket For Carpooling With Cardboard Cutout Of “The Most Interesting Man In The World”
 

A couple of months ago, news came out that they are going to pull down the dorm I lived in for three years, starting forty years ago this September. Winter quarters being my enormous load term, I had to wait until today to go back and retake pictures of the environs taken while I lived there but were lost when my subsequent dwelling burned in 1983. Dorm life seems like a silly thing to wax nostalgic for, but three years was as long as I had lived anywhere at a stretch at that time.
 
Weather was warm and sunny, so I took lots, even of places and pathways that are outwardly nondescript but where various memorable events occurred, like lofting water balloons with a three-man slingshot at random targets late at night. Things have changed, of course, as big campuses are wont to do. But most of the old familiar paths were still there, except for the one I most wanted, that went back forty years in time.

HUG US!