WWCYD: De-Animator

[Balabanto]

Your Superhero PC's have been tracking a necromancer for days, and you've been fighting his undead minions.

 

When you're in final battle with the Necromancer, a guy calling himself De-Animator comes along and waves his hands, making undead fall over left and right.

 

He thanks you for your help, shakes your hands, and sends the Necromancer to prison with you.

 

Two days later, he makes a public appearance on TV and says "Give me 50 million dollars, or I'll reanimate them all. Right now. I'll just turn my power off. You'll never be able to contain the damage, and your loved ones will surely come home and ruin your lives, or feed on the living, or whatever it is these creatures do. You have one hour. If I'm attacked, I'll shut my power off. Thank you, people of the campaign city, you've been so kind."

[Hermit]

Re: WWCYD: De-Animator

 

Aquatic-*Groan* Aquatic works with city officials to destroy and dismantle the corpses (Most of which are still in evidence) before they can be reanimated while negotiations continue.

 

Dr. Sanguine- has already freed the corpses from the magic that cursed them before.

 

Gaze-A mind control informing this fellow he wants to keep the undead deanimated doesn't seem too unethical at this time. It should buy the others time.

 

Mole- "Uh, Hannah?"

[Zed-F]

Re: WWCYD: De-Animator

 

Soulbarb will by now have already figured out who this De-Animator character is and what he's up to, given that she's a detective type and his sudden appearance during the fight with the Necromancer and his self-aggrandizing manner will have started alarm bells ringing in her head. So she'll have made quiet preparations to ensure the Necromancer's minions have already been disposed of, and will already be in place on location when the De-Animator makes his self-incriminating broadcast, ready to pounce.

 

Of course, she won't do it while the cameras are running. Soulbarb hates publicity.

 

Sylph, on the other hand, is no detective, and is disinclined to be suspicious. So, she'll be caught by surprise by the announcement. She has no special abilities which will let her deal with the corpses or find the De-Animator, so she'll look to UNTIL or other members of the New Pantheon to take the lead. In short... time to break out the clue-by-four.

[Spidey88]

Re: WWCYD: De-Animator

 

Phidippus would first make sure that the De-Animator was referring specifically to the zombies of the defeated necromancer (as opposed to ALL deceased people in the campaign city, the country, etc.), and that his powers extended only to those bodies already reanimated from another source that he's contacted.

 

If that is the case, step one would be locking up the zombies in some way (or incinerating them, or some other method that would ensure they wouldn't be an issue). Let's face it - unless the zombies are super-contagious or nigh-indestructible, a dozen or two should not be cause to call in an airstrike.

 

Step two is relatively straightforward - find him and kick him in the teeth.

 

 

If, on the other hand, his powers could extend to any persons already deceased (like a typical necromancer), OR the pool of zombies he has available to him is otherwise incredibly huge (making them a serious threat), things are harder.

 

 

He'd try and analyse the properties of the animated dead to see if there was the equivalent of an "off switch" (eg. exposure to specific chemicals or frequencies of radiation), either for the zombies or the guy's powers.

 

If that didn't work, he'd change "find him and kick him in the teeth" to "find him, sneak up on him, perform a move-through, give him the old 'one through six', then kick him in the teeth". Phidippus has a mean alpha strike, so with any luck, De-animator will be out cold before he knows what hit him (and can turn off his powers).

 

Then, it's off to hot sleep for bunky!

[Zed-F]

Re: WWCYD: De-Animator

 

If that didn't work, he'd change "find him and kick him in the teeth" to "find him, sneak up on him, perform a move-through, give him the old 'one through six', then kick him in the teeth". Phidippus has a mean alpha strike, so with any luck, De-animator will be out cold before he knows what hit him (and can turn off his powers).

That ignores the very likely possibility that his powers will automatically turn off when he gets knocked out... though I suppose if he's exhausted other reasonable options first it might be worth a try anyway.

[Comic]

Re: WWCYD: De-Animator

 

Well, I'm all for superheroes being paid a reasonable fee for services rendered.

 

$50 million seems a reasonable fee.

 

Of course, De-Animator's just kinda made himself the target of every villain on the planet who wouldn't mind a little re-animation happening, or having $50 million, in addition to being targetted by less understanding heroes than myself.

 

I'm sure for a reasonable fee, he can afford my protection.

[The Weapon]

Re: WWCYD: De-Animator

 

Agree to meet him with $50M dollars at a convenient location. Have whole team meet him there. Point out that once he reanimates the undead he really has no leverage. Point out that some of the team are REALLY good at finding people. Point out that if he does this I will pound on him for several hours, break for coffee and then pound on him again, if neccesary taking it in shifts with my teammates. Point out that the best way for him to leave without the help of an ambulance is to agree not to reanimate. Do however offer him money for _useful_ information and resources to turn undead off. Also offer to pay reasonable rates for him turning off undead in the future.

[Spidey88]

Re: WWCYD: De-Animator

 

That ignores the very likely possibility that his powers will automatically turn off when he gets knocked out... though I suppose if he's exhausted other reasonable options first it might be worth a try anyway.

 

Well, I kind of assumed that the De-animator had to sleep at some point over the last two days, and that his powers didn't go off then...

 

A very important part of any investigation that might be followed up by the teeth-kicking solution, anyway. The "beat the bad guy up" method is sort of the lazy way; but it's based on the assumption that the zombies will be easily pre-emptively contained/disposed of (again, barring anything clever questioning and investigation turn up), that he can't animate more if he's out cold, and that this chump rather deserves it!

 

My gut reaction to the question, at least. In play, there would likely be plenty of other details to affect Phidippus' chosen course of action. He's fairly methodical, and pretty sharp.

[Inu]

Re: WWCYD: De-Animator

 

Kid Dynamo: no ability to do anything about the main guy, but yeah, she'd be in for trying to destroy the corpses. I'll bet if the bad guy gets wind of this, though, he'll lift his spell.

 

Haze: not a government type, would leave it to them, while stocking up on canned food and shotguns. And chainsaws. Protect those he cares about, screw the rest. He has something of a conscience but is not a hero; he's not out to save the world.

 

Jacob al-Duri: has very similar methods to Haze, but is more heroic. Is also a government type. He'll volunteer to deliver the $50 million. No ability not to. The plan, though, is to delay the guy long enough to destroy the bodies, then take him out. The money's just a delaying tactic to give everyone else the time to render the dude harmless. Jacob has the ability to put people in a brainlock (he has electrical powers with fine control more than destructive ability), so that's a last resort -- no telling if the guy can resist it. But it's a reason for him to be the one to deliver the money.

[Guest steamteck]

Re: WWCYD: De-Animator

 

Thunderchild " nice try, son but we're a little more cautious than you're used to here in Lasari city. since we weren't sure if they'd reanimate anyway your corpses have been disposed of. At least you've shown your true colors. perhaps this is a sign and its not do late for you to start doing the right thing."

 

Black Avenger "What kind of idiot place do you come from that zombie corpses aren't contained and cremated but lets pretend you succeeded just for fun" ( screaming by re-animator)

 

 

Well, you get the idea.

[Drhoz]

Re: WWCYD: De-Animator

 

Vitus : "Interesting. You can reanimate the dead even in that state? I guess the relatives of the deceased were right to complain when I dismembered their loved ones. 'Omigod! What have you done to my mother?? Where is her head??' Ah well, you live and learn. Or not, as the case may be."

[Kevin Schultz]

Re: WWCYD: De-Animator

 

Jake the Troll - "Wow. Zombies are completely and utterly NOT part of my portfolio". In fact, they're kind of his anti-portfolio, as he's sorta the personification of nature and life. Once he realizes this, he'd probably figure out how to "listen to the hole in the water": ie, look for the locations where life is not.

 

Icon - "What, zombies AGAIN? Well, thanks for the warning, I guess..." All of Argus City just got hit by a zombie attack, and survived relatively unscathed; threatening to do it AGAIN will just cheese the community off, create calls for this guy's butt behind bars, and let the citizenry get a head start on re-arming themselves with shotguns and axes. at that point, it's really just a standard villain-hunt.

 

Shinji - Has a continually-running, targetable, discriminatory "sense Magic" ability; he would have noticed that the de-animator's power was a Suppress. None of the bodies would have gone anywhere but into a large, remote warehouse that was mined with explosives. If this wasn't noticed, he does have a precognitive ritual that he performs on a daily basis; it may have given him a hint about what was coming up. If THAT didn't work, he'd likely be able to build some sort of undead bug-zapper (Mind Control "Come Here", Increased Maximum, Only on the mindless undead, AoE, MegaScale).

 

Widower - "Ah, %$#!". Jason is self-aware of the comic-book genre tropes of his life, and so may have been aware of this as a possibility. He may also have gotten a continual 'this isn't right' buzz from his Danger Sense from the Suppressed zombies. If that was the case, then the bodies may have been already incarcerated. If that wasn't the case, Jason lives too near Washington DC for this NOT to be a federal emergency. Sanction would be on the case, and Jason would try not to get in their way.

[McCoy]

Re: WWCYD: De-Animator

 

Your Superhero PC's have been tracking a necromancer for days, and you've been fighting his undead minions.

 

When you're in final battle with the Necromancer, a guy calling himself De-Animator comes along and waves his hands, making undead fall over left and right.

 

He thanks you for your help, shakes your hands, and sends the Necromancer to prison with you.

 

Two days later, he makes a public appearance on TV and says "Give me 50 million dollars, or I'll reanimate them all. Right now. I'll just turn my power off. You'll never be able to contain the damage, and your loved ones will surely come home and ruin your lives, or feed on the living, or whatever it is these creatures do. You have one hour. If I'm attacked, I'll shut my power off. Thank you, people of the campaign city, you've been so kind."

All, but Snow Leopard says it best: "Are you out of your freaking mind? We live in a variant of the Marvel Universe. Do you know who's going to be in your mob of mindless undead other than Ben Parker and Bucky Barnes? NOBODY! The Williams' brothers been dead and come back so many times they get Frequent Die-er Miles! If you find anyone who does happen to be dead right now they'll just wake up, fully cured, ten minutes after you raise them. Now let's play a little game. See how few times you can make me smash your head against a wall until we reach the padded ones."

[WalkerMyHero]

Re: WWCYD: De-Animator

 

Vindicator, a Mystic and Metamoprh, Privite Investigator, and Thaumatogist would investigate using all his skills and abilities before caving in. And then only to lay a trap.

 

 

I seem to be repeating myself... Hmmm

[OctoberRaven]

Re: WWCYD: De-Animator

 

Mr. Nonsense will know it's going to happen, so he will inform one of the saner heroes who will have a better idea.

 

Shift: "I need grenades. A lot of grenades."

 

Emerald Dragon doesn't have THAT kind of money, so he'll do the next best thing: Chop up the zombies one at a time.

 

October Raven will get every mage in the city to help destroy the zombies

 

My newest PC, Scrapper, is a gadgeteer in power armor. An hour is enough to make a 'psionic enhancement devices' out of an old football helmet and an iPod (Mechanically, a +30 to his EGO and a 10d6 Mind Control). Simply use them to mind control De-Animator to prolong the deadline until the zombie problem can be taken care of.

[Balabanto]

Re: WWCYD: De-Animator

 

Wow, did I just hear...every mage in the city? Your gameworld must be MUCH different from mine.

[OctoberRaven]

Re: WWCYD: De-Animator

 

Well I wouldn't expect any powerful mages, of course. I'd say the United States if that was the case.

 

I figure in Vibora Bay (much of the game took place there) or Salem, Mass (Where October Raven would have been revealed to have been from had he not, well... died), there's bound to be at least a few mages who can at the very least help destroy a few zombies.