The Wonders of Arlia

Bulma Briefs

Quick facts

Role: CEO of Capsule Corp, inventor · Family: Dr. Briefs (father); a daughter with Reginald Barqs · Owns: Controlling stake in the Cackler Barrel · Status: Alive (as of C2 Session 83)

Character art from Dragon Ball (Akira Toriyama / Toei Animation).

Bulma Briefs is the obscenely rich inventor who runs Capsule Corp. In Campaign 1 she bailed The Cacklers out of West City with a capsule and became one of their closest allies. In Campaign 2 she is a power broker in North City, the target of an assassination contract, and Wilbur Crushmore’s girlfriend.

Overview

Bulma pairs a sharp intellect with a warm personality and a habit of solving emergencies by throwing a capsule. Her capsules can open teleportation circles, foam enemies in place, or hold whole kits of tools. She swears freely, drinks vodka, and does not hide when she finds someone attractive. Her business dealings are wide enough that even she can’t track where all her money goes.

History

Campaign 1

West City. Juliette’s old contact Reese worked at Capsule Corp, and that is how the Cacklers met its CEO. Bulma briefed them on King Piccolo’s hold on the city and watched Emperor Pilaf’s speech with them from a rooftop. When Piccolo bit Pilaf’s head and turned his children loose on the crowd, Bulma said, “Holy shit guys we gotta get out of here,” spiked a capsule, and gave them six seconds to decide. The circle took them to her father’s lab in Parmesan Diego.

Parmesan Diego. Bulma introduced the party to her father, Dr. Briefs, a member of the What Has Science Done Institute. She drove them to the state hall in one of her vehicle inventions, and after two Androids ambushed them on the road, she teleported everyone to North City by capsule. They landed in her ex-boyfriend’s living room, and she immediately called him an “unbelievable asshole.” She gave Juliette a glove with a blue crystal that let her cast Bulma’s Voltaic Bolt.

North City. When Terra announced she wanted to be “the baddest bitch in Arlia,” Bulma promised to help. She pressed Greene about his evening plans over vodka, and when he explained the plumbing “won’t work,” she decided he seemed to have a “talented tongue.” Her serious advice on Piccolo: “stay the hell away from West City.” She later agreed to build Greene a backup teleportation capsule.

After Rice Town. Juliette handed Bulma the portal device the party had pulled off the Rootbeer Float. Jebidiah announced he had sold the controlling stake in the Cackler Barrel to “nice young Bulma.” She warned the party that her father could be “a little callous and awkward,” and then revealed she was pregnant. When Oolong asked, “Is it Barq’s baby?” Bulma confirmed it. She couldn’t track down Terra without more details on the crystal Terra touched, though she noted Terra had a “very distinct jewel in her axe.” The Cacklers later used her workshop for the divination that found Terra.

Campaign 1.5

By Campaign 1.5, about twenty years later, Bulma had set all of The Cacklers up with retirement accounts full of stock options, and the Cackler Barrel had become a worldwide phenomenon. The Cacklers’ gold was “kind of innumerable” (C1.5 Chapter 01).

Campaign 2

First contact. When The Whisper confronted Prince Vegeta in the crowded Cackler Barrel, Bulma stopped the brawl by using a mechanical arm in the ceiling to teleport the combatants and the FAM to a field outside the city (Session 60). She burst into the Cacklers’ war room during Escher’s interrogation, demanding to know who had sent him (Session 63), then suggested he enroll at CAGS under Oolong’s supervision. She also slipped Wilbur a note inviting him on a date (Session 64).

The contract on her life. By then, the Pale Fang had offered Escher 250,000 gold to assassinate her, and he had accepted without telling his friends (Session 57). At her dinner with Wilbur at the Cackler Barrel, she gave him a shock pistol and he gave her a magically forged rose. Then the assassin Scorch killed her bodyguard Will Jr. outside the door (Session 66). Bulma pinned Scorch with a foam capsule, took a Fireball that left her badly burned, and triggered a distress signal that brought the Cacklers. Scorch turned out to be Escher’s brother, Fable Reverie, hired through the handler Scuzz because her contracts with the Velvet Truffle Company were “a blight on the world.” Wilbur stayed with her afterward (Session 67).

Wilbur. On the eve of The Cell Games, Bulma gave Wilbur a capsule case of tactical tools (Session 68). During the Games she hosted the FAM in her private suite above the Coliseum, with a buffet and her newest invention, air conditioning. She admitted to Wilbur that she couldn’t track where all her money went and feared it was ending up in shady hands; Wilbur half-proposed they marry and give part of their combined fortune to charity. Her daughter then ran in, followed by Reginald Barqs, the girl’s father; Bulma made clear they had never married (Session 70). The FAM had already met Reginald the night before, when Ellery kissed him in a game of truth or dare (Session 68).

The airship deal. Wilbur asked whether their ship could become an airship. Such ships normally need brumestone, but Bulma had been looking to prototype an alternative and agreed to start work (Session 70). The VTC took notice: Cadbury Vex planned to meet her at the Garden Terrace to demand fifty years of exclusive manufacturing rights, and if she refused, to buy whatever Capsule Corp was leveraged against. Wilbur warned her that nearly every evil the FAM had faced traced back to the VTC, and she agreed to take that under advisement. He then told the party he had been seeing her for four days (Session 71). When the FAM left through the Underdark, Wilbur called to apologize for leaving without a goodbye and ended with “love you” (Session 72). Her airship was finished in their absence: the first airship not powered by magic (Session 80).

Elsewhere. The Coghaven Machine listed Capsule Corp as one of its trade partners (Session 73). In Coghaven, Wilbur loaded salvaged parts into the pistol Bulma had given him to slow Dr. Wheelo (Session 78). When Wilbur tried to bond with the Gnoloo over his girlfriend, the Gnoloo remarked that Bulma sleeps with a lot of short men (Session 79).

Relationships

Notable quotes

  • “Holy shit guys we gotta get out of here.”
  • “You’ve got 6 seconds to decide if you’re coming.”
  • “Stay the hell away from West City.”

Appears in

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