The Decisions We Make
Date: October 24, 2014
Characters in attendance: Hex, 99, Quantum, Shimmer
Experience awarded: 1
The fallout from the last two events, the alien scout party and the encounter with the secret government agency, has yet to be fully realized. But life goes on.
After the request from Lady Paladin, Olivia provided a quick biography of Keith Miller, the person once known as Neanderthroid, more recently as The Beast, now semi-catatonic and held in high security down in the Oregon Metahuman Containment Facility.
Soon after, the group (sans Lady Paladin) receives a letter from the Mother Superior of the Catholic order down at Marylhurst, requesting they meet with her. They travel there, and meet with the new Mother Superior; the previous one was described as “having moved on to her final reward.” She tells them that they need to help Keith Miller, the one known by them as Neanderthroid. If they bring him to her here, she can assist them in “setting him back on the right path.”
The group travels down to the OMCF, east of Salem, next to the Oregon Penitentiary. They are allowed in to see Keith, still in a very passive state. The heroes give the officials a story on taking him for a special medical treatment in Portland, and since there were only minor property crimes against him, and the Rose City Five were clearly able to handle him, he was released to them.
Back to Marylhurst, and The Beast was totally passive, allowing himself to be led into a room. In there was the Mother Superior, two nuns, Keith, and our four heroes. The Mother Superior asked the heroes that their job was to help Keith make the right decisions. Then everything faded to black..
Scene 1: A house in Gresham, 1967
Our heroes appear in a slightly run-down house in what appears to be the 60's. Everything has a slightly hazy appearance, and standing in the living room is Keith as a teenager, a slightly older brother, and Keith's parents. An argument is in progress. It appears that since Keith now has superpowers, the parents and the older brother are attempting to convince Keith to join up with a local crime lord. Keith is not sure that he wants to be a criminal. At this point, someone else walks in; he looks like Keith, but much more brutish and cruel. He looks at the heroes, tells them “He should only be a vicious brute.” and starts whispering in Keith's ear.
The heroes step up. While some of them engage in a fight with ID, others try to convince Keith to chose being a hero over being a villain. There were some good phrases, including “a hero will have many friends” and “choose life, not death”. ID is a powerful brute, but a combination of attacks against him and convincing arguments caused Keith to choose to be a hero, ID screamed in pain, and fade to black.
Scene 2: A warehouse in East Portland, 1978
The heroes appear in a warehouse, where they see Keith as an older, costumed superhero, talking with Mr. Wonderful, Amazonia, and Brain Babe, who are trying to convince him to join them as a team; he is unsure, preferring to remain a solo hero. Now someone else appears, looking like Keith, but much more charismatic and conniving. This person tells the heroes, “He doesn't need friends, he's better alone.” and starts whispering in Keith's ear.
Again, the heroes simultaneously engage the villain and try to talk Kevin into joining the group. EGO has a powerful mental attack, but the heroes are strong, and have compelling arguments.
“There is strength in numbers.”
“More heroes can save more victims.”
“Remember synergy: the whole is stronger than the sum of its parts.”
Keith chooses to join the group, and EGO is defeated. Fade to black.
Scene 3: The top floor observation deck of the US Bankcorp Tower, 1988
The heroes appear in the middle of a tense hostage situation. In one corner, there are are a dozen civilians, surrounded by thugs with nasty-looking high- tech blasters, and some unknown crate by them. Brain Babe and Mr. Wonderful are unconscious and bleeding, and Amazonia is badly injured but conscious, with a villain pointing a gun directly at her. Keith is facing off against the Big Bad, the Blue Butcher, who is brandishing an obvious remote control, and is monologuing. He is taunting Keith, telling him that he can save his friend Amazonia, or save the hostages. Keith seems unsure of what to do. Another person appears, someone looking like Keith, but obviously looking like a powerful, confident leader. He looks at the heroes, says “He should be the one dying, not his teammate” and starts whispering in Keith's ear.
SUPEREGO is much more powerful than the other two, with great strength and a mind control that makes people stop what they are doing and consider the morality of their actions. He attacked the heroes, and was able to take out Quantum, but the heroes abilities, and their words of encouragement, turned the tide.
“It is more important to save innocent lives.”
“You must allow Amazonia her own free will; she would choose to save the innocents.”
“Amazonia will not be forgotten; she will be remembered by everyone.”
“Don't be bullied to do the wrong thing.”
99 tried a wonderful, risky move by attempting to show Amazonia how she would die and help her do the right thing, but unfortunately it had no effect.
Kevin made the right choice. He stopped the Blue Butcher from triggering the device that would kill the hostages, and defeated the Blue Butcher, but Amazonia was killed by a blast from the thug's rifle. Fade to black.
Scene 4: A bedroom in hospice care, sometime in the future
Kevin is an old man, lying in bed with an IV. Standing in the room is Mr. Wonderful and Brain Babe, also much older and dressed in normal clothes. There are a few other younger adults in the room as well, and they all appear to be friends.
For the first time, Keith turns to face the heroes, and speaks directly to them. He thanks them for showing him that he had made the right decisions in his life. He then spoke directly to 99, telling him “My biggest fear was that I would die in bed, an old man, not on my feet fighting. That terrified me; I obsessed over it. But I see now that it is a good death, one I will willingly accept.” Fade to black.
Afterward
Everyone appears back in the same room in Marylhurst, and seemingly almost no time has passed. Keith is conscious, rational, and his normal self (although still physically a mutated brute). There is much talk, comparing of notes, and then he is taken to Doctor Labcoat in OHSU for multiple examinations. He is OK physically and mentally, but the group take him back to the containment facility for their checkout. After about a week, he is released, a free man, all charges dropped.
GM's Notes:
This all started on the very first game. Neanderthroid was a generic brick hero, and 99 put him in a mental paralysis, one defined in which the victim has thoughts of their own death repeatedly going through their mind. It was way too powerful for him to break out of, and my thought was that it was a pretty horrific power, to be trapped that way. So he became broken, got mutated, and finally the characters were able to help him past his mental issues. A bit of fighting, a lot of role play. I liked the idea of ID, EGO, and SUPEREGO as the supervillains, even though they weren't one hundred percent Freudian.
I have to be careful doing these emotional games; it was pretty hard doing that final scene. I get teary-eyed just writing it up.