Aeon B-Team (Nomads) Season 8 Session 10 Of Skulls and Cats

 

Cast: The Nomads

• Amie-Belle T. W. Lee aka Whisper (Played by Curtis): Cold War era super-soldier/spy that got put in the Freezer, because she got poisoned. After getting thawed out and cured she tried to back to work, and was given an “adjustment period”. Uncle Sam called 2 years later, with work… because once you’re in, you’re in for life. Tagline: “In and out without a whisper.” Absent
• Beauregard K. “Bo” Ratnam aka Wirerat (Played by Brice): Technopath, inventor, and hacker. He specializes in co-opting enemy systems and tech assets. Tagline: “Nice tech – I’ll borrow that.
• Stainless Steel Rat aka “Sir” (NPC Ally): Bo’s best friend and assistant. A sentient drone in the shape of a stylized shiny metal rat mindlinked to Bo. Specialties are rapid repair construction and modifications. Imagine if K-9 and R2D2 made a baby and it looks a bit like a rodent. Tagline: “Repairs and upgrades in progress”
• Derrick K. Ratnam aka Ledgerdemain (NPC Ally): Spin doctor and media liaison for Project VANGUARD. Twin to Bo. Tagline: “Well, actually that’s not how it happened.
• MIA Sentient AI made from recovered tech on a prior mission.
• Rafe Hanlon aka Nyx (played by Chris D.): An umbrakinetic petty thief still on work release several years later, on his way to becoming a true agent and hero. Tagline: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
• Layla A. de Blackburn aka Nox (NPC): CIA-trained child assassin all grown up to be Daddy’s Little Monster. Maybe a little mad. Argues with her shadow often. Tagline: “No, we shouldn’t do that…should we?”
• June B. O'Neill aka Prodigy (NPC): Savant with hyper-intelligence that may have cracked the universal power-dampening conundrum. Fresh out of the Meraki Institute for the advanced and gifted. Extremely intelligent, but young (she's 16).
• Vincenzo L. dePrezzo aka Threshold (Played by Rory): Doctor, Mathematician, and Scientist (yes, capitals) and Spatial Manipulator. Threshold can bend space like a pretzel, teleport, obliterate things, and has extraordinary senses. He’d rather be in a research lab than fight. Better known for his work with Doctors Without Borders, the United Nations, and disaster relief than famous battles. Tagline: “I can be there in a snap!”
• Nawang Sonam aka Wan Shi Tong (NPC): Martial Artist with a mysterious past. Thresholds mentor, experienced and highly capable, indeterminate age.
• Eleanor C. Bulli aka "Bubbles (NPC): Manipulates bubbles of energy, short range teleportation, can fly on the bubbles, use them for shields or attack and even see through them.
• Grant L. Wojcik aka Fridge Boy (NPC): Can control ice/cold, but mostly the ability to create ice that explodes. 16 year old emancipated orphan, Our janitor. 
• Rudy A. Coldwater aka Gimmick (NPC): Mildly hyper-intelligent savant. Stutters. Makes very accurate guesses. Typical nerd, not yet 20. Wants to make a difference, assigned to support duties.
• Summer Stratos aka Chain Jacket (NPC): Ferrokinetic
• Vargas Manwell Tilium aka "Impulse" (NPC): Speedster.

Post Conflict

Its been a week since we stopped Erebus from destroying NYC and stealing a bunch of powers from the metas in the area. With the darkness dispelled reinforcements and supplies are arriving into the city, people can go back to work, and overall things getting back to normal.

Rikers Island is still under siege with prisoners holding a cellblock, using many guards as hostages. Threshold and Wirerat offer to help repair some of the damage and for the Nomads to go in and rescue the hostages.  Between our teleporters and all the stealth we can bring to bear Threshold thinks the team can take care of that situation but HQ denies us on either.

Instead we are told to patrol our area and mainly relocate prisoners captured by other teams to secure facilities.

Threshold talks to the crystal skull he got and it gets annoyed with him and teleports him all over the universe, doing a bunch of damage in the process.

It did not like being called a computer, and when Threshold asked it about the possibility of it being captured by someone and forced to do their bidding it opted to show off and make a point.

It's telepathic voice comes off as fatherly, unusual choice for an AI personality.

* The Player knows the history of the Crystal Skulls in the campaign but Threshold is a pragmatic scientist. He does not believe in the supernatural, so will take some convincing to accept they are what the player has been told. The GM was perhaps mildly annoyed at his stubbornness - nothing new there though :)

Threshold goes into his office and finds a giant mole buried in his couch. It has been there about two days, but Threshold was busy in the labs and the field. After a brief examination and discussion the team decides to keep it around for observation and see what happens.  We recently picked up two sapient dogs, and have those squirrels hanging around so are becoming quite the zoo.

Though with tensions between Wirerat and Nox going down, its possible the squirrels will go away and stop appearing in the base. Especially if we get that wall patched up!

Space Cat

Then of course there is Space Cat.

Space Cat has been kept unconscious since its capture almost two weeks ago. Threshold gives it a though medical exam (Medic!; Pararadar with Bioscan, Microscopic, Penetrating; and some other abilities) and determines its sentient (which we figured from the fight). It was used by the bad guys as a clone of Threshold so he kind of feels attached to it (unlike the screaming head that was also a clone of him) and it was raised and controlled by villains.  He feels its unfair to lock it up and the authorities might treat it as an animal and simply euthanize it. He talks it over with the team and takes it to the roof where part of the team watches. He wakes it up after damping spatial powers in the area and Prodigy turning its powers off. Threshold doesn't tell anyone but he thinks the skull can also dampen its powers based on what it did to Thresholds powers during the fight with Erebus. The skull and Wan Tong wanted to keep things secret and Threshold respects that idea.

When asked what to do with it the skull teleported in a messenger bag for Threshold to carry it around in.

Wirerat makes a translation collar for the cat and they have a conversation. The cat is not overly friendly but is told what is going on and seems to accept the situation. Threshold gives it fresh tuna upon request.

This may easily wind up being a very bad thing but its only fair to give the cat a chance and the team has a history of rehabbing bad guys. So it feels like the right thing, if not the wise thing.

A cat that can teleport itself or others and disintegrate things is a rather scary thing to have running around the world. On the other hand Threshold with a cat familiar gives me Gary 7 vibes and is just cool. Don't even have to buy it on Constant Appearance despite its ability to teleport. After all cats tend to be independent and like their sleep.