Villains!: The Campaign That Got Me Into Worm (Part 1)
Featuring some post-reading all of Worm + some of Ward commentary, indicated by yellow text
Gamantha Sparkson | House (she/her) (my character) - Tinker/Thinker. Can create tech specialized towards surveillance, usually in the form of camera drones. Also has a minor power to assess potential risks in certain actions. Ex-Boston Ward after an incident killed her teammate and close friend.
Robert Storis | Tremor (he/him) - Brute/Mover. Self-vibrakinesis, which at full output lets him effectively drill through walls and shrug off most physical attacks. Lower outputs also allow him to effectively “slide” on the ground at a higher speed than running. Triggered after falling into a cave while on a hike.
Jackie Will | SoloS (they/them) - Master/Stranger. Creates an “evil” clone of themselves (more chaotic, reckless, Swiftie, etc) that acts independently but follows the original’s orders. Other people who see both of them perceive the original as the clone and vice versa. Homeless after they were framed for an arson incident at Immaculata High.
Carol (lmao) | Charybdis - Striker/Mover (she/her). Rapidly “dashes” 5 meters in any direction, erasing any matter between her originating point and where she ends up, including living matter. Goes fishing with her dad, triggered when she fell overboard and got swallowed by a whale (I later learned from the GM that Carol had undergone a Taylor-style double trigger, hence the Manton limit breaking power)
The team met at a warehouse in Brockton Bay, similar to the scene above. Notably, however, it wasn’t exactly the same. They met 2 NPCs, Riley and Hattie (who claimed to be Riley’s babysitter. Riley didn’t say anything weird and Hattie had a normal dark skin color. They said Riley had also received a letter to meet there, though after waiting for a while, no one seemed to show up. After looking around for a couple hours, the team decided to head home. House discretely left some camera drones behind, and SoloS decided to sleep at the warehouse.
That was until on their way home, each of them discovered another letter in their pocket, detailing a heist planned a couple days later at the Nightlark Casino, which was also a front for the ABB. What’s curious is that parts of the plan seemed to have had some input from the team themselves, but they had no recollection of it. With the promise of a cut of the stolen cash, the team spent some time preparing. House, however, also made a small tracking device she later planned to try and sneak onto the mysterious boss at the next meeting.
The plan involved 2 teams. The first was the distraction team, which was made up of SoloS… and just SoloS. They would go into the casino and, when given the signal, create a distraction. Meanwhile, the rest of the team would sneak in through an entrance they’d be directed to by the boss’ mole, and break into the vault. Riley and her babysitter were notably absent from the plan.
During that time, House checked back on the cameras she left to see the empty warehouse suddenly full of furniture and equipment that wasn’t there before. SoloS woke up in that same warehouse, finding Riley and Hattie there as well.
The plan was put into action, SoloS going in with their “twin sister” and participating in some gambling, dropping a few cameras House designed to blend in. House, Charybdis, and Tremor were directed to the entrance by the mole, and made their way to the vault. There was a console that could potentially be hacked into, but House’s thinker power detected some risk in that action. Instead, the team decided to brute force it, having Charybdis burst into the vault. At the same time, SoloS caused a commotion outside by throwing their winnings into the air around the casino before pretending to get into a fight with each other, distracting the guards as they were brought out of the building. Both teams made their way out with duffel bags totaling up to $80,000, getting away just before a certain demon-masked cape arrived on the scene.
Arriving back at the warehouse, they met their boss face to face, who turned out to be none other than Hattie, who was a Case 53 cape who went by the name Delusion. They explained their power, and that they were here to “piss certain people in high places off”. They also introduced Riley, cape name Remedy, as their teammate who could help patch up the team should future jobs go less smoothly. Everyone decides to properly start working for Delusion, and got a 15% cut each, with 40% going to the hideout and a Tinker fund.
Hattie | Delusion (they/them) - Stranger. Can “undo” actions they performed within 24 hours, changing everyone’s perception of the events that actually transpired. Case 53, visible mutation is pale lavender skin, which they usually disguise using one of Remedy’s vials.
Riley Grace Davis | Remedy (she/her) - Tinker. Biotinker that specializes in surgery and creating vials with various biological effects. Hey wait a minute-
Our GM did a pretty cool thing of actually writing interludes between sessions. Here are some highlights from the first one (a PHO interlude)
A couple of days pass between the first heist and the next, ending up on April 11. House (admittedly due to me being a bit cheeky) had been doing a routine monitoring of her drones placed in different parts of the city, and noticed the ABB making some moves. Once a building in the docks suddenly exploded in flames, she sent a drone to get a closer view. Unfortunately, the drone got caught by none other than Armsmaster, who asked to meet with the drone’s Tinker to confront them on illegal surveillance. With no other option that late at night, House went to meet him, playing it off as her trying to stay in the know while she’s still figuring things out (like if she would go into the Protectorate).
Armsmaster, wanting to follow protocol, brought House to the PRT headquarters for questioning. This was actually resolved later on in a 1 on 1 session, but basically House’s strategy for avoiding suspicion was… trauma dumping. She spun the conversation towards the lingering trauma from her teammates death and made the poor man uncomfortable enough to let her leave after offering some very Armsmaster advice (“Just push through it”).
The next day, the team woke up to a news report of Lumg being arrested and Dauntless being the cape credited for the takedown. Seizing the opportunity, Delusion planned out a new heist that would hit the both the ABB and the E88. They also gave a quick rundown of most of the heroes and villains in the city for the team’s benefit, including some less public information like weaknesses of some of the heroes (wonder where Delusion got that from?)
The plan involved hitting 2 locations consecutively, taking a van as well as some additional assistance from the independent villain Circus. The first of these was an arcade that was another front for the ABB. However, what the team didn’t expect when entering was for the arcade to be filled with dozens of tied up hostages. Approaching one of the hostages, Delusion removed their gag only for the hostage to scream “Bakuda!” before being liquified. Right as Delusion shouted for the team to get back, Oni Lee appeared with a grenade in hand.
The team quickly made it back into the van, Delusion losing an arm in the explosion Oni Lee set off but survived thanks to Remedy’s enhancements. As they tried to get away, the getaway driver was quickly beheaded by Oni Lee, forcing Delusion to take over driving while the team fought off the assassin. Using SoloS’ clone to confirm his position at the top of the van, Charybdis did a burst upward, taking one of Oni Lee’s arms as he dodged out of the way. He tried to catch up to the van again, but seemed to give up after likely losing a dangerous amount of blood.
While they weren’t able to grab the target at the first location, the team decided to try and hit the second location, one of Hookwolf’s dogfighting rings. Delusion stayed behind after Remedy gave them something to help heal while they rested, and House stayed behind as well to guard the van and scout with her drones.
They spotted someone causing a commotion in the ring, fighting off both Hookwolf and Stormtiger. Rachel. The team debated exposing themselves by helping Rachel, who would most likely die if she fought those two alone. In the end, SoloS, Charybdis, and Circus went in to distract Hookwolf, while Tremor and Remedy fought Stormtiger. They managed to temporarily restrain Hookwolf and temporarily blind Stormtiger, before a sniper House noticed setting up on the roof incapacitates Stormtiger with a shot to the side (Coil’s Sniper remains the goat as always). Circus located the target, a safe hidden in the building, and the team headed back out.
Meanwhile, outside in the van, House spotted something in the shadows moving towards them. Before she could react, she was knocked to the ground by the figure, a crossbow pointed towards her. Shadow Stalker. But the Ward was suddenly hit from behind with an electric shock by Delusion, who’d briefly regained consciousness in time.
Rather than getting a thanks from Rachel, SoloS got a punch instead since they’d used one of her dogs to distract Hookwolf (the dog’s fine but yknow how Rachel is about others using her dogs). The team made their way back into the van and back towards the warehouse, after dropping off the unconscious Shadow Stalker somewhere near the PRT building. While it could’ve gone better, at least half of the plan was done.
Interlude 2 - Shadow Stalker / Kaiser / Oni Lee / Delusion
(Just a quick aside the pettiness of the Sophia Vista interaction here is really funny)
To summarize the Kaiser and Oni Lee sections (since I’ve apparently hit the image cap lol), Kaiser had Hookwolf say that they were attacked by Oni Lee rather than a team of unknowns, in order to spark the E88 into hitting the ABB hard in ‘revenge’. Oni Lee, meanwhile, is meeting with Bakuda while tending to his wounds, and she is a bit panicky with the E88 and probably most other gangs getting ready to descend upon them with Lung arrested and Oni Lee weakened. This effectively accelerates her plans to go straight into bombing the city and rapidly building up numbers with her bomb implants.
Meanwhile, Delusion gets in contact with an informant in the PRT, who informed them that the team has been designated with the name ‘Friday Black’ by the PRT.
Got one last image I can put in this post so I’m putting the really cool ending of the interlude:
The team arrived back at the warehouse, where Remedy immediately brought Delusion in for surgery. She asked what should be done about the getaway driver’s dead body still in the back of the van. After some debate (partially ooc) about the ethics of telling the 12 year old surgeon what to do with dead bodies, the team decided to let her use the body for parts. She used the body, along with some supplies the others helped her get, she was able to patch up Delusion and even replace their arm. Once they were back on their feet, they wasted no time getting back to work, heading out to meet with ‘the client’ to work things out regarding the missing safe, leaving their phone behind to avoid surveillance. Shortly after, the phone rang, which the rest of Friday Black answered. It was Tattletale, who told them that they needed to get the safe from the ABB arcade, and that it could not end up in the PRT’s hands, before muttering something about a bank heist later that day (a bit of an accelerated timeline for canon ik).
Friday Black ended up planning an independent heist, this time without any non-player help (Circus was only hired for that previous job, and Riley had Delusion-mandated naptime after pulling an all nighter for the surgery.) Using SoloS’ clone to scout the area, they found that the PRT were already investigating the building, which had collapsed after Oni Lee’s explosion. They’d also brought Vista to help move the rubble. The team would need to move fast, as the PRT could effectively move that safe back to HQ in an instant with the Ward there.
They figured out a plan: Use the sewers. They’d wait for the PRT to find the safe and put it in one of their vans, cause a distraction, and steal the safe using a burst from underneath. House monitored the situation as the team got into position. One of the PRT officers had set off a trap in the building, trapping their leg in what appeared to be a grey bubble and needing it amputated. They did manage to retrieve the safe, however, and loaded it in their van. Right on cue, SoloS’ clone drove around in a stolen car, swerving and nearly hitting some of the officers if not for Vista warping space to direct it away. At the same time, Charybdis did a burst below the van, just barely clipping the safe as it fell down to them. Tremor picked it up and the two made a break for it, as House and the main SoloS did the same from a safe position nearby. It went smoothly. Almost too smoothly.
Arriving back at the warehouse, the team decided to investigate the contents of the safe, as there was already a hole in it. Inside was an unsigned PRT document detailing one Dinah Alcott, who claimed to have visions of the future and that she would apparently be kidnapped by… every gang in the city? Including Friday Black, despite the document supposedly being made before the group had gotten the name? The team didn’t know what to make of it, and decided to leave it for Delusion to handle when they got back.
Checking the news, they overheard that the Undersiders had hit the Brockton Bay Central Bank, taking down both the Wards and an accompanying Miss Militia (considering the accelerated timeline, I’m actually not even sure if Amy and thus Victoria would be there)
Later that night, as Friday Black was settling in while waiting, House saw explosions go off across the city. Bakuda’s attack had started. At the same time, another call from Delusion’s phone. Tattletale again, asking for Remedy’s help. Some of her teammates got hurt, with someone named Skitter being in particularly bad shape.
Friday Black decided to once again use the sewers, rather than being exposed to more bombing runs by the ABB. It was maze down there, making it difficult to navigate their way to the location Tattletale had given them. House noted to make an X-ray upgrade to her goggles after this. But for now, they just had to try and roughly make their way there from underneath.
At one point, they came across a manhole cover. SoloS had their clone poke their head out to scout the area above. However, when they did so, soldiers shot them and climbed down to chase after the intruders. House, Charybdis, and SoloS made a break for it, with Tremor and Remedy covering the team by attacking some of the soldiers. Remedy threw a scalpel that got caught in one soldier’s armor. While bullets proved ineffective against Tremor, one of the soldiers mounted a special attachment to their weapon. It fired a laser, piercing through Tremor’s leg and knocking him down.
Charybdis turned back, and determined to help Tremor, did another burst backwards. Bursting through the soldiers. Without a second thought, she reduced 3 of them to nothing more than some limbs and smears of blood that escaped the matter-erasing dash. The last of the soldiers, in a panic, surrendered, offering to tell Friday Black anything they want to know about someone named Coil. In that instant, however, a bomb was activated on the mercenary’s chest, consuming the tunnel in a fiery explosion.
When the smoke cleared, things were in a terrible state. SoloS had been caught in the blast and was badly burnt. Tremor and Remedy were a bit injured. And Charybdis, who was closest to the soldier, was dead-
At one point, they came across a manhole cover. SoloS attempted to open it, but it was blocked. The team continued making their way to the location, and made it without any issues. No one died, it had gone smoothly. Almost too smoothly.
As the GM informed us after the session that this was our one and only do over. From my understanding, exactly one time, an action that resulted in one of our deaths just happened to end up on a timeline Coil collapsed. Which was lucky, since this would’ve been a pretty bad way to lose people. But also, with how things end up going later, it would’ve been nice to have had this in our back pocket longer.
The location Tattletale had marked was a veterinarian’s clinic. She met Friday Black there, leading them inside through a cloud of pitch black smoke. Inside was a man in a biker outfit they identified as Grue from Delusion’s rundown. And on one of the beds, seemingly physically fine but near motionless, bugs crawling towards her, was girl in bug-themed armor. Skitter.
No images left so quick summary. The bank heist had gone about as smoothly as it did in canon. What changed, however, was that the events of Arc 4 essentially happened in the same day (again, really accelerated timeline ik) likely due to Bakuda being pushed to attack sooner. Things go the same up until Skitter gets hit with one of Bakuda’s bombs. But instead of a pain bomb, the GM rolled. And she got a bomb based on Victor. A bomb that targets a person’s basic functions, and over a short period of time erases them. Their ability to speak, walk, breathe. A bomb that by all means should result in death.
But by some miracle, the GM rolled for Skitter, and she effectively rolled the max possible value. She survived.
Not a controlled swarm. Just a command. An emotion. A rage.
Bugs. Bugs. Bugs. Bugs. Bugs. Bugs. Bugs. Bugs.
Bugs. Bugs. Bugs. Bugs. Bugs.
Running. Running away. Tattletale awake. Knife, blood, in hand. Stabbed Bakuda?
That’s all I’ve got for this post! Wraps up the introduction sessions to the campaign pretty nicely I think. Been writing this post on and off since April, so will likely be a while before the next (unless I start locking in on these). Hope y’all like reading about this, and I’ll add a link to the next part once I’ve typed it out!
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