It’s time for an update all about a brand new villain! Get hype! Also, maybe get scared?

Dr. Benjamin Garner was a very pleasant fellow. Most of his friends knew Benji as an even-tempered if somewhat distractible introvert who was always thinking about work. His colleagues thought of Benji as an absent-minded genius who would likely one day revolutionize the energy industry, if only he could get out of his own way and actually focus on results instead of on being a perfectionist with the process.

None of them knew his fury.

Benji was a deeply angry man, far below the affable surface that was no mask — he was truly a happy and friendly fellow! But at his core burned a terrible fury against all those who burned through the world’s resources for their own selfish ends. He knew all too well the ticking clock that was the modern energy industry, and his work was a constant struggle towards making any sort of difference. Before it was too late.

Dr. Garner was researching the most literal green energy — the natural life force of all living things. What if there were some way of harnessing the living energy of everything in the world, but without taking it away from those living things? He develops a process to do so, but it is more harvesting than harnessing, and it creates a terrible sludge by-product, which is just the sort of thing he’s trying to avoid. 

In the process of trying to get from what he’s made — a terrible device for draining energy from living things and creating a corrosive sludge — to something that might actually improve the world, his lab gets wrecked by a massive rhinoceros. Bizarre! Unexpected! The lab he was working for quickly ejected him, not believing his story that his work was trashed by a very large and very surprising animal, and he was left with nothing. Soon after the lab disaster, he was approached by Vince Snyder of Conteh Energy, who offered him a job and a lab doing his very own research. Benji is uncomfortable with the idea of working for an energy company, but with the destruction around his lab and the sludge and collateral casualties, Snyder has enough both carrot and stick to control Benji. 

A little coercion and blackmail later, Dr. Garner is working at Conteh Energy, turning living things into pure energy. It starts with plants and moves to small animals, each living a distinctive “husk” behind on expiration, but creating massive charges of “clean” energy. Benji doesn’t love the way things are going, but he has to admit to himself that progress is being made, and the sludge and husks are all acceptable losses for the sake of research. He’s not usually an “ends justify the means” sort of scientist, but with the pressure from Snyder, he’s doing what he can. Right up until a human test subject is brought to the lab.

Snyder claimed that this was a volunteer trial subject, but Benji was pretty sure this was just someone off the street who wasn’t fully aware of what was going on. Either way, Benji was done — he would have no part in this. The Conteh Energy employees were hooking the test subject up to the machine, but Benji drove them back, pulling diodes off the man as fast as he could. Snyder, watching from the control room, activated the machine — if it worked, he would have all the data he needed. And if not? Well, then it would be a problem that solved itself.

Unbeknownst to anyone, working in close proximity with the machine for so long had infused Dr. Garner with much of the energy generated by the machine, so even as he watched the man he was trying to save melt away and reform as a husk, Benji felt that same energy invigorating him, blazing through the energy pathways of his body, and remaking him from the inside out. Energy arced off Dr. Garner’s form leaping to each living being in the room, draining them of their energy. Vince Snyder, safe in the control room, watched with equal parts horror and fascination as Dr. Garner howled in terror and madness as he felt himself absorb the life energy of every living thing in the room. The resulting husks turned as one, obeying his subconscious commands, and tore a hole in the side of the building. The man who many knew as Benji was no more. Necrosis was born.

Now, all would know his fury.

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Whew! Sorry, got a little carried away when writing the backstory. Sometimes, I just get on a kick and have to keep going! Anyway, you can hear us craft this story live on Episode #190 of The Letters Page podcast. I think of Necrosis as a very recent creation, but that episode is from 2021, so, uh, not THAT recent. The story has evolved and refined since then, but all the key parts of what we say in the episode are still true. This is just a retelling in a different format. 

Necrosis is terrifying AND tragic! Poor Benji — such a good man, turning into such a monster.

As you can see, Necrosis’s energy affects the Heroes over the course of the fight, marked by the tokens accumulated on Hero character cards.

And oof, does he do stuff with those tokens…

Also, unsurprisingly, he’s got Husks to do his dirty work for him. But they’re hardly stable!

Necrosis has plenty of tricks to keep the Heroes at bay, and to build up the energy he needs.

Necrosis hasn’t been around all that long, but his appearances are as dangerous as they are consequential. Be careful! He’s already lost everything, and he won’t stop until you do, too.

A couple of recent questions!

A: The Imp Pilferer deals damage to the Hero target with the second lowest HP. Since no such Hero target exists — with only one Hero target in play, a “highest HP” and a “lowest HP” exists, but not any “second lowest/highest” targets — the damage does not happen.

A: Certainly not by me! I’m usually far more vague with my hinting. Who can say? Time will tell!

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Thanks, everyone! I hope you’re excited for another Hero update tomorrow. I sure am!

And keep on saving that dang Multiverse! It seems like it’s always getting itself into trouble.

-Christopher