Combat Test: Sticky vs. Human

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In this post I’ll consider what would happen if a sticky encountered a human via a quick combat playtest.

Combat Example

During actual game play this might look like the following. Imagine that (ST/DX/IQ/HT = 10) an average person wearing a short-sleeved shirt encounters a sticky. Numbered lines represent combat turns.

  1. Sticky rolls vs. DX to touch person on their exposed arm (-2 to hit). Person dodges, but fails dodge. That means person touches Sticky. *Bloop!* Grappled. It burns! -3 HP (corr). Person enters sticky. No more air. Person’s HP is now 7. Possession ability is activated automatically by trigger.
  2. Sticky is merging and must take concentrate maneuver because of involuntary trigger on possession and its requirements. *It feels like… like it’s in my mind!* Person tries to break free (quick contest ST) — fails. Existing attack -3 HP (corr) & new attack -2 HP (corr). HP is now at 2. There are 9 seconds of air left. Person is in shock from last round’s attack (-3 DX/IQ) but this doesn’t affect attempts to break free.
  3. Sticky must perform quick contest of Will for control of mind. Sticky wins. Person’s personality is suppressed and they can do nothing. Person’s body is reeling (at half move). Person’s body is in shock (-4 DX/IQ, the maximum). Existing attacks -3 HP (corr) and -2 HP (corr) plus new attack -0 HP (corr). Person’s body HP is now -3. Person’s body rolls vs. HT to avoid unconsciousness–fails. There are 8 seconds of air left. *The two minds are merging!* Sticky rewrites its character sheet, “forgetting” as necessary to free space to add any of the person’s skills based on ST- DX- HT- IQ- Will- or Per-. Sticky enters coma.
  4. Person and sticky remain unconscious. *The body is suffocating! And dissolving!* Corrosion continues vs. person’s body. Existing attacks are -3 HP (corr), -2 HP (corr), and 0 HP (corr). New attack is 0 HP (corr). Person’s body HP is now -8. There are 7 seconds of air left.
  5. Existing attacks are -3 HP (corr), -2 HP (corr), 0 HP (corr), and 0 HP (corr). New attack is -3 HP (corr). HP is now -16. Must make HT roll to avoid death. Failed by 1: mortally wounded. *The body is dying!* There are 6 seconds of air left.
  6. Existing attacks are -3 HP (corr), -2 HP (corr), 0 HP (corr), 0 HP (corr), and -3 HP (corr). New attack is -3 HP (corr). HP is now -27. There are 5 seconds of air left. *They are one!* Receiving new injuries while mortally wounded requires HT roll to avoid death, as does passing another multiple of -HT. Roll failed. Dies. The person’s “suppressed” personality is presumably located in their body’s brain. It is destroyed when the body dies.

The body continues to dissolve until there is nothing left, but really in the first six seconds all of the action is over.

The blob quivered, flowed, and finally patches of the surface began to form a dull fibrous pattern against the overall shine. Someone said doubtfully, “It looks like they’ve moved some of their bottom onto their tops?”

Other Sticky Situations

In the above scenario, does the person have any hope? It will be hard to kill the sticky due to the nature of the sticky’s body (see Injury Tolerance [Diffuse] and Immunity to Metabolic Hazards). Remember imp or pi attacks can only do 1 HP of damage, maximum! And other attacks are capped at 2 HP.

However, the GM could allow an ally or another player could try to cut someone out of a sticky. If it happens fast enough and the sticky’s juices are washed off, the GM could plausibly rule that this leaves two of the same person in mental terms. This is not strictly in line with the Possession rules as written but it would be a very fun situation in roleplaying terms (and that is my guiding principle).

That is, the victim would be alive (albeit wounded) but the sticky would recover from the mind-merge coma after a day or so and would also have the person’s memory and some of their skills.

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