Yep. Bug ya later! Hopefully not too long.
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Baxter nods his head to nothing for a while, then finally breaks down and breaks the silence. "So uh, what's your music flavor?" He asks quite genuinely while breaking out a small stack of cassette tapes.
Baxter looks hesitant, but he decides to trust his team and see what they can accomplish. He can blend in when he needs to, but probably not all the way through a secure facility. He's light on his feet, not invisible.
Baxter slowly flips his phone open and closed in between making popping sounds with his mouth and looking in the (metaphorical?) rear-view mirror. Finally he speaks. "Well mi amigos, I think it is safe to say this did not go as planned. So... do we go looking for bugs, or come up with a new plan for our hero friends?" He asks, feeling perhaps a little guilty for potentially compounding their problems rather than solving them. "I'd say we plan B this pig and wait for the phone to ring on the bugs." He suggests with a loud snap of closing his phone before tucking it in his pocket.
Baxter throws the van in reverse and creeps backwards towards a turn-around. "I'd say the window for that is like, not even an hour. But don't worry, I have a special phone number just for these kinds of emergencies." He says with a reassuring grin. "It's forwarded to my other number."
OOC, I want to make sure Brisk is indeed able to run through or over the barbed wire that tops the walls before he rushes up there and slices himself into little bits.
"You can run through barb wire?" Baxter admires aloud. "Man, that's next level."
Baxter stops short enough that the team can scope out the situation without getting picked up by likely surveillance. However, when he kills the engine he heaves a sigh and starts tapping the steering wheel thoughtfully. "Well... I think our best shot is to have someone go right up to the gatehouse. Ask to speak to someone, tell them we tracked an infestation this way, give them one of my-" He stops and fishes around in the glove box, which is awkward as he's still buckled in. "Brand new business cards!" He shows off the stationery proudly. After giving everyone a moment to admire the card he himself clearly designed, manifesting a complete lack of graphic talent, he continues with the idea. "And while they're distracted, I can huck these eggs right over the fence. Unless someone can like, turn invisible and get past the wall somehow."
Baxter nods along agreeably. "Alright, let's do the thing. I'll try to drive careful." He reassures with a final uncertain glance at the eggs. "Here goes everything."
"Oh they're totally dangerous, yeah. But I mean, lots of bugs are dangerous. And these are gonna be like the size of a big dog, and big dogs are dangerous too. So yeah, dangerous. But they're still bugs. They'll probably avoid light, look for unattended food, burrow through the walls, and if provoked, attack." Baxter responds, making little clawing motions in the air as though to clarify what "attack" means. "They should be sterile, and won't live too long on their own. But I bet they make a heck of a scene. And that's what we want, right?" In spite of the apparent criticism, Bug Hunter still seems quite pleased with the results. Even though he seems a bit unsure what those results will ultimately be. "It'll be fine, dudes. I wouldn't make something I couldn't handle." This one is accompanied by finger guns and mild sound effects.
"Pretty cool, huh?" Baxter says as he admires them through thick goggles accompanied by a well-worn lab jacket and a pair of rubber gloves. "In my defense I didn't invent the genetic refactor agent. I just discovered it." He traces an X over his heart with one gloved finger as he sports an ambient smirk. "They're gonna be these like, gnarly beetles with probably some big fangs or something. I think." He scratches his head curiously. "They should hatch soon. We'll need to get them down to the sewer or up to the roof or something. Roof is safer... unless they can fly. But sewer is easier, and they might have a chance to eat some stuff and get bigger. But we better figure it out fast." He warns with an innocent shrug.
I was using the Minion advantage instead of Summon, because they aren't things I can manifest or dismiss.
"I mean yeah, about a week maybe? Unless I just kinda live down here for a couple of days. Then I might be able to manually speed up the hyper-growth. But you know, present company might find that a little invasive right?" Baxter responds with a nod towards Siphon. To Brisk's remark he shakes his head. "Oh no man, they're only gonna be like, maybe half the size of a guy. But yeah they're totally going to kill some people." He says proudly before realizing that's not the response he's supposed to give. "Uh, I mean, if we don't show up to stop them!" He gives a cheesy thumbs-up as reassurance.
Wait. 32 hours of work. 40 total. I can't do math.
Alright, so here's my plan. Advantage: Minion [4], Uncontrolled, 2pp x 4 minions = 8pp total Minion (60pp, PL8):
With routine checks that's 8 hours design + 36 hours work = 44 hours to cook up 4 nasty bug minions!
Hey, isn't Brisk's family life a complication? And he's pretty fast, right?
Let's get some IC input from the team first.
I can't really imagine what kind of bug constructs I might need in the future, but I didn't see this one coming either, so I think you're right, he should have inventor if only to be thematic. And who knows? Maybe he'll get some more mileage out of it down the road. By the time you read this, profile will be updated.
Obviously Bug Hunter loves Doc Night's idea of the whole bug infestation thing. I was thinking I could spend a Power Point on the Inventor advantage, albeit with Biology instead of Technology. Or perhaps a Hero Point to jury-rig something? Or should we just hand-wave the whole thing? Supposing we all decide to go this route. Which I am hoping we do.
Bug Hunter continues to marvel at the impressively thoughtful planning of the group, and at the mention of a bug infestation he can't help but smile. "Heck, if you want bugs, I can give you bugs. I can cook up an infestation they'll never forget." He says with a chuckle as he scoops up a pair of safety goggles from a nearby table and perches them just above his eyeline in preparation. "This should be fun."
"Woah. You guys are smart." Bug Hunter admires aloud. "I guess this hero stuff is more complicated than hunting bugs." He scratches behind his ear and idly palms some trinkets on his desk, wondering if perhaps he really is out of his league. Then again, who else is going to save all those people? It's not like it used to be, when there were still heroes. It was easier to just watch them on TV always saving the day. But now it's them, and the day could go either way.
Bug Hunter marvels at the idea of experimenting on people. He did some crazy things in his garage, but nothing like that. "Man, I wonder if they've been experimenting with bugs too. Like, that would explain the crazy half of my job, you know?" Idle thoughts aside, he spins his key ring around his finger and shrugs. "So go bust out some supers? Sounds like a thing. I just gassed up the van so ready when you are."
Baxter has trouble sleeping the whole week, worried the girl downstairs is going to knock something over and accidentally hybridize with an insect. Of course it wasn't all that precarious, or that potentially hazardous, but if anyone had seen too many insect-themed horror films it was him. When he got the call from Sahara he was glad to be back in business. He hardly had to say a word before Siphon was up and ready to go. "Alright, lemme text the boys and we'll get this band back together. Uh, maybe call Sahara to make sure nobody got her phone." He'd learned that one the hard way. <Hey it's Bug Hunter. Sahara has some brain food for us. Tell me where to pick you up.>
Baxter shakes the girls hand before flipping up his sun visor and cranking the engine. He'd already introduced himself, so as he careens backwards out of the driveway he simply responds, "Me too, sister. Me too."
Baxter bobs along to some internal soundtrack as he continues to tap the wheel, but now somewhat more musically. Or at least rhythmically. Well, whatever it is probably makes sense to him. "Yeah man, Stickmaster is my pal. This guy's got it all, you know? Natural camouflage, tough armor, night vision, and they heal like, crazy fast. Pretty neat stuff." He says proudly with a gentle one-finger tap on the top of Stickmaster's box. "My gear? Yeah man, that was years ago. I used to be this like, regular exterminator dude, you know? Squishing roaches, spraying for spiders, all that. But then one day I got a call for a job that ended up being like, way above my pay grade. Supersized man-eating bugs with bullet-proof exos and pincers like, uh... big and scary, you know?" "But I was saving up to buy my house so I did the job, with hazard pay. It was this whole improvised flamethrower thing, lots of burning and screeching and--" He starts pantomiming and making sound effects to give the retelling some flair. "Anyway I got more of those jobs, it kinda became my niche I guess, so I geared up." He looks over his shoulder at the flamethrower carelessly discarded on the floorboard in the back. "Flamethrower's not really legal, but like, I'm the only one in the phone book for this kinda thing, so I kinda get a pass."
Isn't bouncing around the battlefield just high-level Leaping with like, Move-by Action & Takedown 2?
Baxter shuts off the engine as it appears they're not moving anywhere soon. Which is a shame, because he's not looking forward to getting stabbed again if the samurai does show up. His fingers tap the wheel impatiently. "Hey uh, Professor Night? You wanna go try to speed things up in there? I'll honk if anything happens. Once for the samurai, twice for I'm hungry." He glances down at Stickmaster, who'd been taken for much more of a ride than he'd bargained for. But still no movie. "Sorry buddy. We'll make it up later."
While the jumper goes off investigating, Baxter jingles his keys and takes a turn around the warehouse. He's a little shocked at all the dead people around him. He'd seen a few bodies here and there, but not like this. "Oh man. That's some straight villain stuff right there. I hope these guys are making good money, cuz the health plan sucks." But soon Doctor Night returns and suggests they keep moving. "Yeah sure, and I can show you my lab. I mean, uh, the garage I guess. But I've got some crazy stuff in there. You'll love it." He says far too confidently before dropping himself into the driver's seat and turning over the engine of his exterminator truck. "All aboard, this is a one way train. No stops until paradise." He says with a smile, carelessly aiming his mirror into the back. "Don't touch anything. Especially the flamethrower."
We may be conflating hero points and power points. I thought we had two hero points (rerolls etc) and no power points (for buying powers). But I am not sure.
Party in the bug truck!
Baxter eyes the other two warily but unseen from behind his goggles. "They sure are jumpy about the police..." He ponders, suddenly smirking at his unintentional pun with the jumper of the group. "Yeah sure, but uh..." He jingles his keys and looks around, "I might need a ride back to my van."
Baxter doesn't exactly smile, but it's something like it. "Okay, yeah, no problem sister." He did want to do that sand surfing thing again, but this was a little sudden. That's the hero life though, right? Maybe? He's not sure, and it's visible. "So like, we should phone the police. Send them to pick up your parents. Maybe they can find you a safe house long term, you know? I think they do that kind of stuff. At least they do on TV." In truth that's where most of his understanding of police came from. Well, and a lot of other things too.
Finding nobody alive in the hoverjet, most especially not the Samurai, Baxter bugs out and loops back into the group in time to grab a business card from Sahara. He returns one of his own, taking a moment to compare and admire. "Nice fonts, lady. Yeah I'm Bug Hunter, but you can call me Baxter." He can't help but look over his shoulder, feeling like the samurai is going to pop out and stab him, but so far nothing. His irreverent joviality, or at least general chill, is furrowed by the news of VampGirl's family. "You were the one he was after, huh? And now your family?" He stops and thinks a bit when Doctor Night makes his implications. "...Welllll, I do have a couch in my garage, but I also have just a whole lot of bugs and bug-related, uh, science fair projects packed in there." He says it tentative expectation, if not hopefulness, that VampGirl won't find that acceptable.
Bug Hunter finds the girl he was surfing with preoccupied on the phone, and the jumper from before apparently giving out that same healing juice to the... other sand girl. They must be sisters or something. But the samurai is still mobile, and this time Baxter wouldn't get left behind. He flies towards the main bay of the hoverjet where the archer had been shooting from back at the warehouse. He tries to sneak inside.
Having never sand-surfed through the city before, Baxter was having a hard time staying heroically focused on the objective instead of having a good time. He'd have to hang out with this girl again later. Winding up a hornet like a baseball pitcher, he gives a quick introduction as an aside. "I'm Baxter by the way. Bug Hunter on the web." He hurls the hornet, only momentarily wishing he'd thrown a spiderweb mine to cash in on the obvious "web" joke.
It doesn't say anywhere in Leaping that you gain a land speed equal to your rank in leaping, so there's no reason to think you do. But yes, ultimately it's not my call.
I believe "your speed rank maxes out" refers to a cap on speed gained through the leaping power. You can't combine multiple leaps to gain additional distance any more than you can combine multiple runs. However, you can jump less than your maximum jump distance in order to complete a jump in a single move action (if your ranks are otherwise too high). Otherwise, a single rank of leaping would make you faster than a speedster with rank 5 of speed.
Baxter is a little surprised to be suddenly whisked away on a sand platform by a, what, emo high school girl? "Oh--ohhhkay here we go." He says as he tries to hold on. It was way faster than buzzing around, and felt way less secure, but at least they were keeping up. Still one thing bothered him about the whole arrangement. "Aw man, I think I left my keys in the van." Soon they were closing in on the hoverjet. As he gets close enough to throw, he fishes a lightning bug out of his jacket and hurls it towards the sputtering craft. But crashing it wasn't a great option if this was a rescue mission, prompting him to query the emo girl, "Can you get me inside?"
I don't want to spoil anyone's fun but leaping 4 gets you a speed rank of 2 (120ft).
I'm down for that! Or, I guess I'm *up* for that!
There's no way Baxter's truck is keeping up with that thing on the streets. I'd hoped to have him fly into it before it left, but I guess I didn't. Brisk can tail it and be in touch. He has my phone number I think?
Bug Hunter watches the hoverjet speed off, taking a few people with it, but his wings are totally helpless to catch up. He slowly touches back down and looks around at the mayhem around him. "Hey, anybody alive? Think we'd better call some emergency services. Like, maybe all of them."
Just when he's sure it's lights out, at least for the afternoon, the jumpy guy from the school shows up and splashes some potion on him. Baxter is amazed at how much better he feels. "Woah, thanks dude." With no time to waste he whips around to take on the samurai, only to find him gone. A quick assessment reveals he has somehow entered a box, and taken one of the women with him. Thinking quickly, Baxter's coat spreads open in the back and large, thrumming insect wings spring to life, carrying him towards the hoverjet. "Hey, mind if I hitch a ride?" He asks as he flies toward the archer, lobbing a lightning bug towards the hoverjet itself.
Baxter takes an arrow that he's pretty sure should kill him. Luckily, he's made of different stuff than most people. Literally. However, he's not going to just shrug that one off either. He starts to go down, overcome by the powerful need for a nap, but then he sees the girl get surrounded by samurais. That doesn't look good. Struggling to keep moving, Baxter pats around his jacket but comes up disappointed. Anything he has is going to hit too many people or not enough. His hand comes out with a spiderweb mine and after just a moment of consideration he tosses it high in the air towards the archer and the airship. He then falls to one knee and wonders if he's getting paid enough for this. Or if he's even on the right side.
Baxter is all ready to pick off the last couple of thugs when some kind of double earth wall knocks the samurai on his backside. No time to cheer however as he comes back in triplicate. Suddenly facing a room full of swordsmen, he only hesitates a moment before looking down and chuckling to himself. "Oh yeah. I got a flamethrower." He whirls around into a tactical crouch and swings the danger end from left to right as he holds down the trigger.
Dazed just means you lose your move action. So he didn't go anywhere.
Did somebody take out the sword guy that stabbed me? I don't think he got a turn after I healed, but I don't see him getting taken out. Does he need a turn? Am I still fighting him?
It's worth noting that Regeneration works by healing your Toughness penalties first, and it functionally needs more ranks than Healing to be meaningful at all. So Healing is much better, except that it takes your action and you can't use it if you're knocked out.
Baxter swivels suddenly as he hears Red Samurai speak. "Hey, did someone say insect?" It's all the distraction the other swordsman needs to plant his blade in the Bug Hunter's body. The sword goes deep and he can only mouth the word "ouch" before nearly collapsing to his knees. But it's far from the first time he's been stabbed, and he'd long since borrowed a trick from the insect world: rapid regeneration. Of course, his has a little extra juice.
His skin hardens into an iridescent green shell, giving him a very insectile appearance, before it then falls off to reveal a brand new layer of fresh pink skin below it. He stands up straight again and uses his free hand to taunt the swordsman, shaking some devil horns. |