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This is from Victory RPG’s Flying Solo. There are three solo adventures and my intent is to use the three characters of Next Flight as characters from the solo adventures. Will that work? I dunno. I also intend to interleave those solo bits with the scenes from the same publisher's Sewer Kings. I have no idea if that will be successful.
Anyway, the first one will be Flip-Flop, then The Reach, then Succubus.
- House Rule: Prone people are +2 to hit hand-to-hand, absent cover.
Credit for the story in the first three scenes goes to Victory RPG’s Flying Solo, which I presume is written by Fran Vaughan as an M&M Superlink module for Mutants & Masterminds 2nd edition. When I converted characters, I used the same artwork as in the module, but I don’t see attribution on them. Anyway: no intent to infringe or take money; if it’s an issue, please contact me at jhmcmullen@gmail.com and I’ll remove the artwork.
Corporate Raider
Henny (as herself, not as Flip-Flop) was passing time until Dr. Kittner appeared by checking out an automated CRISPR tool on the Expo floor. Dr. Kittner had said that he was going to unveil something that (he said) would “revolutionize computing.”
(Which explained one of the local TV reporters shoving her microphone at people for comments. Henny avoided her as she was telling her cameraman that they’d do bumpers later.)
Kittner wasn’t prone to mysterious inflated announcements, so it was probably big and newsworthy. And she had a ticket into the Link booth because her C&O prof was a grad school buddy of Kittner’s and had scored tickets for students who wanted them. Really, Henny couldn’t understand why her entire class wasn’t there. Her watch alarm went off, and she ducked away from the booth bimbo and skipped toward the Link booth. The thing, whatever it was, was already on a table there, covered with a cloth and bolted to the display. There were three hulking men standing there, guarding it and being paid not to smile. (As if to underscore the moment.)
There were already crowds. She wished she could shove them aside with telekinesis but that would be, well, obvious. Secret identities are a pain. Well, she could—
From outside, she heard a man’s voice: “Your puny weapons are no good against me!” and then sounds of pain from someone else.
Well, that didn’t sound good. She looked at the booth and sighed. She wasn’t going to get inside there to see the mystery box, was she?
She angled aside and found a spot to change to Flip-Flop. She flew to the rafters and stashed her backpack. While she was securing it (now she understood why The Reach had requested that she always keep a bungee cord handy), there were screams from the floor.
Well, I guess the puny weapons really were no good against him, she thought.
One guy. She didn’t need to call anybody in. Yay! A chance to do it myself and show that I can do it. She wished she could crack her knuckles, but settled for sheathing herself in a telekinetic barrier.
Wait…this could be some kind of publicity thing. She would wait for cause. She peered at the floor. Bad Guy was striding to the area where she had just been. Kind of a Ren Faire re-enactor vibe, with a bag over his head.
Okay, some kind of hood. Bag, hood, same thing except for eyeholes.
People seemed to be getting out of the way all right; no one was getting hurt. But crowds were thicker there in anticipation of the announcement.
And then one man tripped. Because of course. And right into the…Bad Guy’s?…path. She carefully used telekinesis to lift and move the fallen man.[1]
The sight of a man floating is not so common as to be ignored. The Ren Faire guy looked around, then up and spotted her.
“I am the Brigand, and I take what I want. And you will not prevent me!”
“Cool,” shouted Flip-Flop. “And you want…what? Chili fries? Because I tried, but food isn’t allowed on the Expo floor.”
Suddenly a ghostly spear appeared in his hand and he threw it at her. She side-stepped just in time, but the spear severed a support cable and dropped a lighting assembly. The people below the light screamed.[2]
Scream and run, people. It’s not that tough. She caught the light fixture, all four hundred pounds of it, but there was nowhere to put it. The show floor was full of booths, tables, displays and people, and the upper decks, where the seating remained, had people escaping from the show floor.
“I see you have found…light work,” said Brigand. “I leave you to it.” He kept moving.
Dad jokes? Spare me.
She scanned the upper decks for a place to put the light.[3] There. Shame I can’t whack Brigand with it but too many people around.
The seats splintered and broke loudly as the lighting smashed them, but at least the people were safe. Now to find Brigand again.
The timing of his attack couldn’t be a mistake, so he was probably after the Link computer.
There he is. Brigand had actually made it into the Link booth, and he was dealing with the security guards.[4]
And…they’re dealt with. Should she pick up the table with the supercomputer and move it? No, he had a pointy thing, so he could hurt others. It would be better if she picked up Brigand.
Ooof. He’s moving too fast.[5]
Brigand used his sword and sliced through two of the bolts holding the mystery box down.
Take the computer.[6] Maybe she was rattled, because all she managed to do was shove it a bit sideways.
Well, that sucks. Not the thing that proves you can go solo.
Brigand looked up and saw her, and threw another ghostly spear. This one just nicked her, but her telekinetic barrier kept her from harm.
The mystery box.[7] She could see it clearly, and she moved it up in the air, farther than Brigand and his sword could reach. She would put it up in the stands somewhere; it wasn’t as big as the lighting assembly.
Brigand threw his ghost-spear one more time[8], and this time he hit her.
It didn’t hurt much, but the surprise startled her, and she had to think to hold the computer and the telekinetic sheath and stay in the air. She was busy holding all of them.[9]
Brigand took advantage of the moment by throwing another ghost-spear.[10] It hit her but she was prepared for it now.[11]
Some kind of magic or high tech? Aw, who cares, put down the mystery box and fight! She carefully set down the mystery box beside the lighting assembly and then, once again, wished she could crack her knuckles on purpose. She had never got the hang of it.
Brigand wished up a ghost horse, a phantom steed, and he flew up to the mystery box.[12]
“You cannot hurt me but I can hurt you. So the solution to this impasse is that I ignore you.” He suddenly held his ghost sword again, and he swept off the other two bolts. The cloth fell off, revealing…a computer, and clearly a prototype.
“Yeah, I don’t think I can be ignored. Do you remember the worst pain you ever felt? Feel it again.” She touched her hand to her temple.[13]
He paused and looked at her. “I choose to leave instead.”[14] He reached over and grabbed the computer.
Flip-Flop said, “Oh, have childbirth as my friend Dara experienced it.”[15]
He babbled something and dropped the computer, then fired up and rode his phantom steed out of the Expo. A girder started to fall directly toward Dr. Kittner.
She had to choose, and The Reach had drilled into her that people were more important than things. She dove to put herself between the girder and Dr. Kittner in case she missed, and still tried to grab the girder.
She grabbed the girder but plowed into Dr. Kittner, knocking them both to the floor.[16]
Oh my god, I’ve killed Dr. Kittner. “You okay, sir?” she said.
He didn’t move for long seconds and finally he took a deep shuddering breath. “You pack quite a wallop, young lady.”
“Sorry. Sorry sorry sorry.” She stood up and extended a hand.
“Thank you.” He grabbed her hand and slowly got up, then started patting himself all over.
“Sorry about your computer,” she said.
“Prototype. All the research is recorded. The real value was the Entanglement Board, which was irreplaceable.”
“Oops.”
He held up a finger. “But.” He pulled a small board from inside his jacket. “You bought me the time I needed to get the Entanglement Board. Ta-daa.”
Flip-Flop laughed delightedly. Dr. Kittner smiled and then winced. “Oh, my back. You do hit hard.”
“Let me help you back to the booth.”
Someone shouted happily, “I got it all on my phone!”
The reporter from earlier shoved a mike into her place. “Flip-Flop, right? How do you feel about that fight?”
“Uh…It wasn’t perfect. They got away, but they didn’t get what they came for, and no one got hurt.”
With this crowd, she was not going to be able to get her backpack without being noticed. Not right now, anyway.
She grinned. She’d be back.[17]
Flip-Flop (Henny Barker)
Brigand
Game Mechanics
[1] He’s difficulty 2 to hit; she rolls 6+1. Easy-peasy.
[2] This would be Trouble. She earns a Determination point.
[3] Awareness Test…let’s say it’s Difficulty 4. She gets 4+1>4, so she sees a spot.
[4] He stunts Burst on the sword to signify attacking all of them; not her, so she doesn’t get the DP. The guards are minions, so he hits (5+0>3), knocks them all out.
[5] Her 6-1<7. She misses.
[6] Thank goodness it’s immobile. 6-4=2. Marginal success.
[7] It’s immobile, difficulty 2. 6+0>2. Whew.
[8] 4+1>4. Moderate success.
[9] In game terms, she made a Willpower roll to keep concentration, and it sucked: 6-5=1. So she used Tactics: traded Lost Panel for keeping concentration, activating Mind Over Matter. She could have spent a DP, but I wanted more story.
[10] He would miss, but he’s going to spend +2 to improve things, and she gets a Determination Point.
[11] Willpower roll: 6-1>1
[12] He’s stunting Flight from the Super-Speed; she gets a DP.
[13] She wants to hit, so she’s spending a DP and activating Mind Over Matter for +2 to hit. 6-1+2>5, moderate hit: 6 Stamina.
[14] He grabs for the mystery box and barely gets it (not a good grip): 5-3=2
[15] She hits 6+2>5 and does 6 Stamina. She also uses that hit to create the quality Distracted so that he drops the computer. She spends another DP to create it, but we’ll activate Mind Over Matter and use a Damage versus Willpower test. 6+2>5, so she gets two activations, and she does it immediately. He drops the computer.
[16] But she makes the Concentration roll easily: 6+3>6
[17] Suddenly she’s become a college student in my brain, so she’ll spend her Minor Achievement from last session for Science (+1) with the theory she’s studying Computer Science.
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