D-Listers (including BB) are meeting at HQ to discuss possible base upgrades – communicators, etc., transportation in the relative absence of the BB-Mobile, etc. when a friendly-looking late-middle-aged man (some grey around the edges) knocks on the front door insistently. He’ll be very polite but won’t back down until they talk to him. He says his daughter’s in trouble and he needs help. (BB will let him in if no one else does).
“I think my daughter may have developed superpowers and she’s fallen in with some bad people. I haven’t seen her in a while. She’s not talking to me. But I hear things about her and I think she’s been making some bad decisions. I’m afraid she’ll wind up in prisoner worse if someone doesn’t set her straight. Could you help me find her, so we can talk to her?”
BB says “Of course we’ll help!
Man hugs her in thanks, but mumbles something as he does so (charm spell) – now she’s under his control.
“Oh dear… I feel odd.”
He puts his hand on her head and drops an illusion spell he was wearing, revealing that he’s Father Coughlin. A surge of energy travels from the headdress he’s wearing, through his arm, and into BB. She divides into not 4 but 8 copies of herself (all but original unclothed)
“Kill your teammates.”
All BBs in unison: “Okie-dokie master! Gotcha!” <Gives thumbs up sign.> They begin to attack.
Coughlin casts force field while saying, “I was being honest about having problems with my daughter. She’s far more independent-minded than a woman ought to be. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to let the likes of you keep sending her to prison!” Shatters window as he flies away.
Characters have to find ways to subdue all the BBs, keeping in mind that one or more of them is/are pregnant, so try not to hurt any of them!
- Characters w/arsenals have supplies available here so more charges are available instantly
- Mind or emotion control against an individual BB will not entirely work but will cause hesitation in all (-1 to initiative roll per BB copy emo/controlled; 4 controlled = they stop attacking & stand there confused; 5+ controlled = spell broken. Same effect as BB clones make end-of-round saves vs control)
When spell is broken, all copies of her will gasp as if in horror & run to hide behind furniture, each other, etc. Original BB: “Well don’t just sit there gawking – get us something to wear!”
BB says she still feels “accelerated” and doesn’t think she can re-absorb yet,and that she wants to see her doctors to try to figure out if it’s safe for the baby to do so.”
Conversation turns to other subjects (how to find Coughlin?) until interrupted by all BBs speaking simultaneously:
“Guys, remember how I used the word “accelerated”? Funny thing about that, see, because I, uhm… think our water just broke.”
One hospital visit & 12 hours later, characters are godparents to 8 healthy baby boys.
Notes
This one was designed as a relatively short session whose primary intent was to advance BusyBody’s storyline while setting the stage for limiting her 4-meat-shields-with-high-kinetic-resistance availability for at least a few sessions. I also wanted to see what happened when the players faced a challenge that forced them to rely on non-damaging abilities to solve a problem in the midst of being slapped around by a teammate.
How it played out
The action took place inside the team’s base, which at this point is just a big rectangle with a table in the middle and some research stations and item storage along the sides, plus some rest rooms in the back corners.
Most of the team clustered around the rack where Aria‘s throwable grapnel devices are stored, grabbing those and throwing them out at the BusyBodies while Velocimancer, with her natural Saurid running speed, ran around doing “hold back” hits against the BBs attacking the main team to try to draw them off while the grapnels flew.
Aria and Circe started using their mind and emotion control powers and noted they had an effect, though at first they attempted to concentrate on the original BusyBody, or “BB Prime” as they’ve taken to calling her. That, and the fact that the saving throws against those particular powers aren’t too difficult, made it take a while to subdue their opponents, but eventually they did.