The atomic abomination was bad enough before it was defeated the first time, but when it was revived, repaired, recharged, and equipped with a cyber-psychic symbiote things really got scary.
Ettin-class Mega-Mutate Original Form
A product of one Doctor Mordecai Mentallax's monster forges, the Ettin-class mega-mutate was apparently an experiment in gene-grafting entities adapted for post-apocalyptic nuclear wastelands. In addition it incorporated internal bio-reactors to produce its own atomic power supply rather than subsisting on environmental energies. The first field trial was only stopped from rampaging through Toronto by the concerted effort of a whole quartet of superheroes. Even then the creature survived seemingly mortal wounds, merely lapsing into a low-energy torpor that complicated efforts to study the beast's metabolism for potential vulnerabilities.
While active, the mega-mutate displayed extreme aggression toward anything that moved, weakening foes with beams of hard radiation emitted from its four eyes before using its size and brute strength to crush them. Despite its distant human ancestry the creature behaved in an animalistic fashion and displayed no sense of self-preservation or emotions beyond berserk fury. Whether its creator regarded the thing as a success or not was unclear in the weeks following its defeat.
Description: A towering freak of genetic engineering, glowing and crackling with barely-controlled atomic energy. The thing is clearly derived from human DNA but sports four powerful oversized arms and two disproportionately tiny heads, each barely thrice the size of a normal adult's. It seems to be wholly non-verbal, growling and shrieking like an enraged animal and unresponsive to speech - including pleas for mercy.
Gender: Neuter Age: Uncertain Height: 32'4" Eyes: Glowing Radioactive Green
Hair: Left Head Dark Green, Right Head Light Green Skin: Medium Green
Build: Microcephalic, Two-Headed, Four-Armed
Approach: Dampening
Archetype: Titan (Status Challenge: Locate Atomic Power Glands 00 Short Circuit Power Flow 0)
Health: 55 + (5 x H)
Powers: Nuclear d10, Strength d8, Momentum d8
Qualities: Close Combat d10, Alertness d8, Fitness d8, Radioactive Mega-Mutate d8
Status: Titan Challenge Start - d12 / Stage 1 Completed - d10 / Stage 2 Completed - d8
Abilities:
Atomic Aura (R) When Attacked by a hero with a penalty, ignore the damage and remove a penalty on that hero.
Deadly Eye Beams (A) Attack multiple targets using Nuclear. Hinder each of those targets using your Min die.
Draining Eye Beams (A) Hinder multiple targets using Nuclear. While a hero has this penalty, reduce all their power dice by one size.
Crushing Grasp (A) Attack using Strength. Use your Max die. The target can either be Hindered using your Max + Mid + Min dice, or be unable to take actions other than using an Overcome to attempt to escape.
Gargantuan Brute (I) Reduce all damage you take by 6 (at d12 status), 4 (at d10 status), or 2 (at d8 or less status).
Upgrades & Masteries (usually in effect unless its Titan's challenge was solved in an earlier scene):
Power Upgrade (I) +20 Health. Increase the die size of all your powers by one step (max d12).
Master of Annihilation (I) If you can cause massive collateral damage without regard for casualties, automatically succeed at an Overcome in a situation where a show of overwhelming force would help.
Tactics
The Ettin is a berserker, fighting relentlessly until destroyed and attempting to kill everything that moves. Its sheer size and mass lets it wreak huge amounts of property damage. The mega-mutate usually opens with its Draining Eye Beams or Deadly Eye Beams to weaken opposing foes, which also hand out penalties to fuel its Atomic Aura defensive reaction. After that it closes with the largest group of targets and begins using its Crushing Grasp to seize them one after another, with its extra limbs letting it hold up to four victims nearly helpless at once. Fighting back against the Gargantuan Brute is difficult until its Titan's challenge is overcome to weaken its defenses and energy output.
Its upgrade and mastery reflect the creature's baseline performance and will generally be in effect unless at least three successes were scored in the Titan's challenge in a previous scene, or if the beast has been operating for an extended period (several weeks at least) without an opportunity to rest or feast on an outside radioactivity source.
____________________________________________________________________________
Ettin-class Mega-Mutate Refit Alpha
About a month after its defat, unidentified forces assaulted the facility where the mangled body of the Ettin was being studied, somehow making off with the gargantuan hulk and destroying almost all the recorded research data on site. Later that year, the reason for the attack became clear when "Refit Alpha" went on a new rampage in northern India. The original Ettin had been revived, recharged and repaired with extensive cybernetic upgrades. Its missing head was replaced with a specialized cyber-psychic symbiote that acted as a controller for the beast's innate violent instincts, and proved to be capable of limited independent operations on its own when briefly separated from its host by force.
The "new" Ettin proved to be much harder to stop and withdrew through a huge teleport gate after doing extensive damage and soundly defeating half a dozen heroes. Authorities assume this second "field test" was more of Mordecai Mentallax's doing, but if so he's made no further use of Refit Alpha since. It's possible that some other villain or organization was behind the thing's recovery and upgrade, but if so their identity remains a mystery.
Description: A towering freak of genetic engineering, glowing and crackling with barely-controlled atomic energy. The thing is clearly derived from human DNA but sports four powerful oversized arms a disproportionately tiny head, barely thrice the size of a normal adult's and offset on the left side of its torso with a stump of a neck on the right. Silver metal cyberware replaces large sections of the center and left side of its chest, and caps the stump of its right-side neck. Non-verbal, the creature is weirdly silent but seems to understand a wide variety of languages.
Gender: Neuter Age: Uncertain Height: 52'4" Eyes: Glowing Radioactive Green
Hair: Dark Green Skin: Medium Green Build: Microcephalic, Four-Armed
Approach: Tactician
Archetype: Titan (Status Challenge: Locate Atomic Power Glands 00 Short Circuit Power Flow 0)
Health: 50 + (5 x H)
Powers: Nuclear d8, Strength d8, Momentum d6, Vitality d6
Qualities: Close Combat d10, Alertness d8, Bonded Mega-Mutate d8, Fitness d6
Status: Titan Challenge Start - d12 / Stage 1 Completed - d10 / Stage 2 Completed - d8
Abilities:
Coordinated Attack (R) When a nearby ally makes an Attack, you may also Attack the same target by rolling your single Bonded Mega-Mutate die.
Crushing Grasp (A) Attack using Strength. Use your Max die. The target can either be Hindered using your Max + Mid + Min dice, or be unable to take actions other than using an Overcome to attempt to escape.
Cyber-Psychic Bond (I) As long as you have at least one nearby ally, you may reroll all ones you roll on your dice.
Deadly Eye Beams (A) Attack multiple targets using Nuclear. Hinder each of those targets using your Min die.
Gargantuan Brute (I) Reduce all damage you take by 6 (at d12 status), 4 (at d10 status), or 2 (at d8 or less status).
Upgrades & Masteries (usually in effect unless its Titan's challenge was solved in an earlier scene):
Power Upgrade (I) +20 Health. Increase the die size of all your powers by one step (max d12).
Master of Annihilation (I) If you can cause massive collateral damage without regard for casualties, automatically succeed at an Overcome in a situation where a show of overwhelming force would help.
Tactics
The Ettin Refit Alpha is an eerie combatant, fighting in perfect coordination with its cyborg ally to maintain a devastating flurry of activity. While its physiology has been weakened by its previous defeat and ensuing cybernetic repairs, its size still makes the Gargantuan Brute a tough customer. Its Deadly Eye Beams remain a threat to groups of enemies, and its Crushing Grasp is nearly as dangerous as ever. It gains dice efficiency from its new Cyber-Psychic Bond ability and considerable offensive potential from using its Coordinated Attack reaction to pile on damage with an ally's strike, while its own Attacks draws supporting fire from Intellect Alpha's Coordinated Eye-Beams own reaction.
Its upgrade and mastery reflect the creature's baseline performance and will generally be in effect unless at least three successes were scored in the Titan's challenge in a previous scene, or if the beast has been operating for an extended period (several weeks at least) without an opportunity to rest or feast on an outside radioactivity source.
____________________________________________________________________________
Intellect Alpha
A specialized cybernetic organism, this thing appears to be wholly robotic at first but psychics will quickly detect a formidable formidable organic mind within the metal shell, one possessed of potent telepathic powers and limited telekinesis. Despite its inhuman intelligence it exists solely to interface with the Ettin Refit Alpha, controlling its actions for purposes as yet unknown and coordinating with it to make the symbiotic pair far more dangerous than either would be separately.
Description: A slivery metal skull more than three feet in diameter, with glowing green eye sockets and long "hair" made of metal cables, with more trailing down from where its spine would be. It can hover about slowly under its own telekinetic power but is usually found atop the right-side neck stump of its giant host body, with its cabling anchoring it securely in place and interfacing with the host's own cybernetics. It can speak with a cold artificial voice, but usually only does so to issue commands and ultimatums.
Gender: None Age: Uncertain Height: 3'4" Eyes: Glowing Radioactive Green
Hair: Ribbed Metal Cabling Skin: Metal Plating Build: Disembodied Metal Skull
Approach: Tactician
Archetype: Formidable (Weakness: Anything Interfering With Its Host Linkage, whether Physical, Electronic or Psychic)
Health: 45 + (5 x H)
Powers: Nuclear d8, Telepathy d8, Telekinesis d6, Gadgets d6
Qualities: Ranged Combat d10, Conviction d8, Cyber-Psychic Symbiote d8, Alertness d6
Status: No Weakness Mods - d12 / Both Bonuses and Penalties - d8 / Only Penalties - d4
Abilities:
Coordinated Eye-Beams (R) When a nearby ally makes an Attack, you may also Attack the same target by rolling your single Ranged Combat die.
Psionic Flare (A) Boost using Telepathy. Use your Max + Min dice. Remove all penalties on yourself.
Synchronized Action (A) Make a basic action using Cyber-Psychic Parasite. Use your Max die. One nearby ally also makes that same basic action as their reaction.
Telepathic Overdrive (A) Boost using Telepathy. Use your Max die. The resulting bonus is persistent and exclusive. Also Attack using your Mid die.
Upgrades & Masteries (usually in effect unless its host has been defeated in an earlier scene):
Power Boost (I) +20 Health. Increase all Power dice sizes by one (max d12).
Master of Total Chaos (I) Automatically succeed at an Overcome when you throw out all the rules during a situation that is spiraling out of control.
Tactics
Intellect Alpha normally remains securely attached to its host, the Ettin Refit Alpha. If separated from it by some means it will attempt to return as quickly as possible, using desperate Overcome actions and taking twists if necessary. While interfaced, it works in tandem with the host by using Coordinated Eye-Beams whenever the Ettin Attacks. It will usually open a battle by using Telepathic Overdrive twice to establish lasting bonuses on both itself and the host (triggering the Ettin Refit Alpha's Coordinated Attack reaction as an extra). If hampered by penalties aimed at its weakness Intellect Alpha uses Psionic Flare to clear them, usually applying the ability's Boost action to the host rather than itself. It rarely uses Synchronized Action unless it can spare the host's normal reaction ability, but it comes in handy for doing dual Overcomes (usually with large bonuses in place already) or piling on penalties with twin Hinders just to be cruel.
Its upgrade increases Intellect Alpha's durability and raw power considerably, while its mastery represents the thing's vast and unpredictable intelligence at work.
No comments:
Post a Comment