The Second Worst Scenario Ever Written

Enter Ebola

It was at this point, with Blackout lying on the grass, and the comatose Dual being carried back into the house by Korelli, that Ebola decided that the time had come for him to get involved.

I should point out that at this point there was a fair amount of hysteria going on amongst the players as to what Korelli might do to Dual. I did try to point out that Korelli was actually a "good guy" and was probably at this moment calling for an ambulance... (and police, after all Dual was an illegal intruder) but they seemed to be locked into some kind of group victim mentality, and were having none of it.

They seemed to think that Dual was in some kind of terrible danger (there might have been some references to Korelli's sexual orientation at this point).

So Ebola, invisibly, entered the building, knocked on the living room door, waited until Korelli opened it, and then dakked* him with his disintegrate power.

(* "Dak" is our groups slang for a ranged energy attack, usually accompanied by a chant of "Dak! Dak! Dak!", and inspired by the film Mars Attacks!)

Now you have to remember two things at this point:

a) Disintegrate is a pretty heinous power which litterally melts the victim's flesh.

b) We'd misunderstood the damage rules, and as a result combat was two to three times deadlier than it should be.

Ebola didn't actually leave Korelli dead, but the poor bastard was terribly fucked up.

I think maimed was the expression we used.

Plan B

Do you remember earlier in this piece, when I was talking about the only way for the players to solve the scenario, I mentioned that there was actually an emergency Plan B for the GM to use?

Well, since Plan A was to suck up to Andy, and the PCs had just maimed his boyfriend for life, I figured it was time to fall back on Plan B.

What was Plan B? Well it was similar to Plan A, in that involved someone who knew where Charlotte was, simply giving this information to the PCs because he thought that they were all round good guys. In this case, the person was Orzaiz, leader of the Terragen (if you've forgotten my primer at the start of this piece, they're the racist Nova-supremacist terrorist types).

Now the heroes had already met Orzaiz earlier on the first evening. Mr Jones (Bubba) had been invited by Orzaiz to sit at his table, where for two hours he had said damn all, and then left abruptly. Apparently he wanted Orzaiz to think he was just another dumb, arrogant prick of a Nova.

No, we didn't understand either.

Plan B involved a Proteus assassin, disguised as Orzaiz, killing Orzaiz's assistant, after tricking her into revealing Charlotte's location. Basically, the PCs would see Orzaiz following the woman into the toilet. At this point the scenario considered it could go too ways, depending on whether the PCs follow Orzaiz into the bog:

Outcome 1

One or more of the PCs follow Orzaiz into the bog, where they see him reveal himself to be the assassin, brutally murder the woman, then attempt to leave by busting a hole through the wall. They (the PCs) attempt to stop the assassin. Although they (presumably) fail, the real Orzaiz is so:

a) Worried about Charlotte; and

b) Angry about the murder; and

c) So impressed with what really cool, together guys the PCs are,

that he tells them where Charlotte is.

Outcome 2

The PCs (who in this outcome didn't follow "Orzaiz") see some other women (who happened to be in the bog when the killing took place) come out of the loos screaming. They enthusiastically investigate, attempt to stop the assassin, etc. etc.

What Actually Happened

Ebola (Demonic) was a bit curious about why Orzaiz was going to the bog, so he followed him in (having turned invisible). He then just stood back and watched "Orzaiz" transform into the assassin, and brutally slaughter the woman (think of the liquid metal geezer from Terminator II).

But he didn't think he should "get involved", so while the assassin smashed his way through the wall and escaped, Ebola just went back to his seat and said nothing.

At this point I figured my scenario was basically clinically dead, so it was time to whack the voltage up to max, shout "clear" and give it (the scenario) a couple of thousand volts through the chest.

To be honest, I can't remember exactly what happened in the next few minutes. I think I've repressed the memory. I think I fell back on the second outcome recommended by the books, which was to have two women come out screaming having found the body (except if Ebola hadn't gone in they would have come out as the murder was happening, not a few minutes later).

The PCs did a bit of skulking around outside to see if they could spot anything, but discretely, so no-one knew they were doing anything.

(At this point I figured the scenario was flat-lined and it was time to call the time of death).

Then Dual (Bog Boy) wondered over to Orzaiz and said a few words that could, if viewed in an extremely generous light, be viewed as comforting words of sympathy and support.

I thought to myself:

Dual's only saying what anyone would say...

Orzaiz thinks they're all a bunch of dickheads...

He doesn't know them from Adam, they could be Utopia, they might be Proteus, they certainly aren't his Terragen...

There is no reason, absolutely, on this whole wide world why he would tell them where Charlotte Holden was...

He told them.

What else could I do?

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