Omega Team Campaign Logs

[Edsel]

Hippocrates

 

This link will take you to the write-up for Hippocrates.

 

Hippocrates equipment was all of the common variety, guns, grenades, etc. so I have not written-up any of it for the character sheet. Attached is the HDC file for the character.

[Eosin]

Yes friends, when you are trying to contact the mean and evil vigilate group known to really work at spairing innocents and even - very often- spairring the bad guys who have a chance to be redeemed, a known sure fire tactic is to CARVE into a living human being the initials of the group.

 

We almost shot them as sadistic freaks anyway.

 

 

I built the Predator [Eddie built the gadgets, I build Arnold!] and I used to complain that he had a special power DCV Transfer to DCV Only Useable on his team mates - special effect was him going invisible and all 4 guards or DEMON or VIPER deciding that there was only one Vigilante after all and all of them opening up on ME!

 

PS - I don't really think healing got out of hand, if anything it was still a little too slow. Several adventures PCs went in wounded from the previous game session and on two occassions I know people stayed wounded for at least 3 game sessions from 1 wound. That stunk and it was not me.

[Killer Shrike]

Hmm...the invisio shield doesnt seem that bad -- it basically sounds like a good Stealth roll + a few extra inches of movement only usable while Stealthing built into a Focus.

 

How badly did this guy abuse it?

[Eosin]

It does not sound bad until you are standing right next to him and 10" from four MAC - 10 armed thugs and he aborts to Invso so that you take the whole load.

 

Like I said the inviso shield was really just a DVC Transfer ...... His DVC went up and mine went down. It happend to me so many times that it wasn't funny. I am pretty careful, but he would just TONK away and then turn invisible leaving me holding the bag of dung.

 

 

EDITED IN: I think at one point I threatened to shoot him myself if he turned invisible while it was just me and him facing some DEMON agents. They had 2.5d6 AP AF lightining guns.....I had 5 points of armor.. You had a good chance of dying when DEMON showed up.

 

 

 

 

[Killer Shrike]

My answer to that kind of bs: Grenades. Turn invisible all you want

 

When ever my players crank their DEX too high, abuse desolid or invis, or over use any other stay-out-of-harms-way tactic, grenades of all sorts (millieu appropriate of course) suddenly become much more common....

[NightStick]

Originally posted by Killer Shrike

My answer to that kind of bs: Grenades. Turn invisible all you want

 

When ever my players crank their DEX too high, abuse desolid or invis, or over use any other stay-out-of-harms-way tactic, grenades of all sorts (millieu appropriate of course) suddenly become much more common....

The only problem that WE would have had with the grenade thing is, well, for the slower players:D it would have meant certain death, and not for the one who was the abuser.

The inviso thing worked pretty good, taking into consideration all of the aspects of the balance of the team getting hosed quite often.

[Edsel]

Part 15

 

April 23

The Omega Team steps up their investigations into the activities of the Cabal. Andrew Hobbs finds out that Lt. Theron Long (see campaign history August 30th, 1995) is currently in Todberry Asylum and is still in a catatonic state. Through the use of Savant’s computer hacking, Dancer’s forgery and acting skills, and Hippocrates’ medical connections they arrange to have Lt. Long remanded to their custody so he can be subjected to “a safe, experimental treatment in an attempt to revive him.†That evening they charter a private jet and fly Lt. Long to New Orleans.

 

Lt. Theron Long has no local family. He was divorced and apparently his ex-wife takes on interest in him.

 

April 24

They take Lt. Long into the bayou near Galliano and leave him in the care of Mama Regina (see campaign history September 4th, 1995). Mama Regina believes she can break the spell he is under but it will probably take a week or so. She should know by the next full moon (which will occur on May 3rd).

That evening they return to Hudson City sans Lt. Long.

 

April 25

Early in the morning the corpse of a woman is found in Bankhurst Park. The media reports claim that police believe this to be the work of a serial killer, possibly the same killer responsible for the April 13th murder.

The characters continue investigations into the doings of the Cabal, but are making no appreciable headway.

 

April 26

Dr. Thomas James is able to get into the ME’s office and make inquires about the murder victim found on the 25th. Data is as follows:

 

Name: Monica Beverly Garrison; Hair Blond, short; Eyes Green; Height 5’9â€; Weight 130 lb.; Race White; Age 32; Job: Advertising accounts manager, The Boyles Agency.

 

Wounds: Multiple stab wounds in the breasts, chest and stomach (cause of death), left arm hacked off halfway up the humerus (upper arm bone); she was blood type O+. Carved on the rear of the lower right thigh is the word “Bogeyman.†Time of death approximately 10:45PM April 24th.

 

Scene of the Crime: The body was found inside a thicket in Bankhurst Park; a passerby saw a piece of red clothing and found the body when he investigated. A sock (not one of the victim’s) was stuffed in her mouth. Prints from sneakers and gloves are visible in the moist earth. About thirty feet away are signs of a scuffle, indicating where she was probably tackled.

 

Police Reconstruction Based on Evidence Recovered: The victim was assaulted last night while she was jogging. According to her fiancé, Ted Parker, the two of them normally went jogging in the Park every evening at about 10:00PM, but he was sick that night so she went by herself. The murderer tackled here while she was jogging, stunned her, and then dragged her into the thicket. After stuffing a sock in her mouth to silence her, he stabbed her repeatedly (using the knife he used on the last victim, plus a second one, which is longer and narrower). Then he used a butcher’s knife or an axe to chop off one of her arms; after that he used the long, narrow-bladed knife to carve the word “Bogeyman†into her right rear thigh, apparently to give himself a name; the letters were carved neatly, without any tearing or jagged edges. The arm has not been located; either the killer kept it or a dog took it.

The sock had no fingerprints on it. It is a standard style of sock, available in hundreds of stores. The only evidence here besides the stab wound data are the shoe and glove prints left at the scene. The gloves are unremarkable. The shoes are Nikes, and there is a distinctive slash on the bottom of the left shoe, which will aid in identification if the shoes are ever found.

 

Andrew Hobbs tries to formulate a profile of the killer after reviewing the data obtained about the two murders; he consults with Jun Sun (his contact at the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit). He believes the killer is white (serial killers tend to stick to their own racial group). The killer is probably right-handed (the first victim was clearly stabbed from behind on the right side). The Bogeyman is going to continue to kill, and thinks that he is unstoppable—he was brazen enough to give himself a name. He may try other “publicity stunts†(such as letters to newspapers) in the future. The letters were so well carved that he is probably used to handling a knife. He is strong enough and/or stealthy enough to tackle a young, physically fit woman and drag her into a thicket without causing much of a disturbance.

 

Early in the evening the Pack hits another crack house, 6 are killed. It is now believed that there are at least four of them and reports of a “beastman†persist.

 

April 27

At 5 o’clock that evening Card Shark agents kidnap the Caldwell Triplets (well-known young socialites, the daughters of millionaire parents). The kidnappings occurred simultaneously while the Triplets were apart. One triplet was at a piano recital, another was at the ballet, and the third was at the Bayshore Yacht Club.

 

April 28-29

These are days of relative calm. Minor inquires are made about the Cabal and some contemplation is given to the activities of Chard Shark. Efforts to determine any commonalties between the two victims of the Bogeyman prove fruitless.

 

April 30

The Caldwell kidnapping is resolved. The parents of the girls pay an estimated $1 million in ransom and the girls are released unharmed, though somewhat traumatized by their ordeal. That evening the girls identify the bodies of four of the kidnappers. They were found in an alley near the Gadsden precinct house. Each of the dead had been shot once between the eyes. In the breast pocket of each was black card with a blue crescent moon on it, the calling card of the Harbinger of Justice.

 

Wednesday, May 1, 1996

A local branch of Nations Bank is robbed around noon. The robbers are seven men all dressed identically and armed with AK-47 Assault Rifles. The group escapes in a van, which is later found abandoned. The hold-up nets around $50,000.

 

May 2

The characters spend most of the day covering for their secret identities and also continue keeping an ear to the ground for any further Cabal activity. During the group’s spare time they assume a “rapid response†mode in case they become aware of any Cabal presence.

 

May 3

The Omega Team and their new allies (Predator and Snapshot) continue the activities of the previous day (waiting and listening). That night their vigilance is rewarded.

 

Just after midnight they are in the Omega Truck driving around town. As they enter the Pier-Point district they hear an explosion, several blocks away, which is soon followed by automatic weapons fire and other sounds of battle. As the team speeds toward the sound of the guns they witness a ball of fire rise in the area of the disturbance; the ball of fire then arcs back toward the ground about half a mile away.

 

Within a minute the team arrives at a warehouse that is dreadfully familiar to some of them. It is the Cabal warehouse at which Hawk was killed last August (see campaign history August 30th, 1995). The doors of the warehouse are all blasted down and several bodies litter the surrounding area. The Omega Team has a short but frightening battle with Cabal members who are armed with bio-technical and mystical weaponry. In the ensuing battle the Omega Team kills 9 of the 10 agents they encounter. All of the slain agents rapidly decay to dust and blow away. They are able to get one unconscious agent out of his robes and take him alive. The bodies around the warehouse appear to be street thugs who were armed with gang-style firearms. All of the ‘thugs’ bodies bear a pentagram tattoo on their right forearm, as does the agent they have captured. During the battle both right side tires of the Omega Truck are shot off and fire from a ‘lightning gun’ penetrates the truck’s armor and causes some minor chassis damage (the damage was not as serious as it first looked). Inside the warehouse they find several more ‘thug’ bodies wearing ceremonial robes, a stone alter and the four missing Tellas, one of which is shattered and ruined (see campaign history April 22nd, 1996 for information on Tellas).

 

It is obvious to the team that they have arrived just after someone else has hit this warehouse. A spent recoilless rifle casing is near one corner of the building along with tire marks that indicate that a large van or truck has left the area in a hurry. The Omega Team hurriedly replaces the ruined tires on the Omega Truck and flee before the police arrive (fortunately the Omega Truck carries two spare tires).

 

The police find eight bodies at the scene. All of the dead have a background of gang involvement, mostly in voodoo posies. The Pentagram tattoos also point to occult involvement. This is not especially alarming since this type of occult ‘nonsense’ is common among voodoo posies. They determine that all of the doors of the warehouse were blasted down by explosive ordinance of some sort and they also recover a spent recoilless rifle casing (the lot numbers have been filed off). Metallurgical analysis will indicate that it is probably from the same lot as a, previously recovered, casing used in a crack house raid that wall pulled off by the Pack. The police recover the fragments of one of the missing Tellas (the Omega Team took the rest). Fingerprint dusting finds only the prints of the dead. In addition to slugs and casings from the slain’s weapons, the police recover several 7.62mm NATO slugs from at least two different guns and a single .48 caliber slug from a unique weapon known to be used by Mongrel. A couple of belt linkages from a 7.62mm machinegun are found. Remains of two solid rubber truck tires are collected (all identifying markings have been, purposefully, eliminated). Burn marks from, what are believed to be some type of laser weapon is evident. Two of the dead appear to have been mauled by a large wolf or bear. One man has a broken back and numerous shattered ribs caused by constriction of his mid-section. The body of one of the dead bears the distinctive slashes, which the medical examiner believes to have been, caused by some sort of steel claw, perhaps a martial arts weapon of some sort. All of these distinctive wounds are hallmarks of the vigilantes known as the Pack.

 

The police believe this to be the work of the Pack. This is the first time that the Pack is known to have used two large vehicles, which leads some to fear the Pack is growing in numbers.

 

The Omega Team retires to the Beta Base. Dancer and Hippocrates (at the urging of Savant) begin an immediate interrogation of the captured Cabal agent. They are able to determine that the Pack raided the warehouse and left just seconds before the Omega Team arrived. The Pack included a “werewolf†who was wearing a University of Alabama football jersey. The Cabal members at the warehouse were attempting to release the spirit of a Tella (a fire spirit) to possess the ‘suitable’ subject that they had. That subject was Ashtray Art. The Ceremony was a success but before the circle could bind the spirit they had released the Pack attacked and broke the circle when the explosions that destroyed the doors killed several members of the circle. Ashtray Art is now fused with/possessed with the fire demon and is free, but since the demon is a servitor by nature it will seek a master to serve.

 

Before any further information can be obtained the agent screams in pain and blood flows from his ears as he dies. It took about three hours and the use of penethol to get this much information. Dr. James is able to determine that the subject has expired due to a massive cerebral hemorrhage, the cause of which is unknown.

The three Tellas are locked away in the Beta base’s vault.

 

May 4

Since the some members of the team were up late, no activity gets started until afternoon. Dancer takes delivery of the new Omega Truck just after one o’clock. The new Truck is identical the original except that it sports a more powerful engine and better suspension. The original vehicle will be down for repairs for two days, at which time it will receive the new upgrades. The new engine will allow the Omega Truck to reach a top speed of 136 mph, very impressive for a 2½-ton truck. The new suspension system will allow a considerable improvement in handling as well.

 

GM NOTE: The Omega Truck’s DEX is raised from 15 to 18 and the SPEED is increased from 3 to 4. The truck now has 2 levels with turning as well. Due to the influx of new characters, more points were available to improve the vehicle and to purchase a duplicate as well. Now one vehicle will be kept at each base. Perhaps I’ll try and enter the Omega Truck into Hero Designer and post it one of these days soon.

 

The team is very worried about the developments with Ashtray Art, the Cabal and the Pack. They become more apprehensive as the day wears on. By late afternoon the group has hit the streets looking for any information about the Pack or the whereabouts of the fire creature that they fear Ashtray Art has become. The team is also starting to look for patterns in the strikes carried out by the Pack.

 

Savant heads to the Barton Street Mission. He hopes to ply the homeless and street junkies for information. By talking with an addict he finds at the Mission and by following up at the small church of Reverend M, Savant is able to glean the following: The street addicts are more paranoid than ever. The supply of drugs has not dwindled but the prices have increased dramatically. Some of the junkies are cleaning up their act, getting off the stuff, with the help of Reverend M. Other addicts are turning to petty theft and muggings to raise the extra money they need to support their habits, street crime has increased. One addict witnessed a hit carried out by the pack and described a short, extremely stocky, individual who crushed a dealer to death with a bear hug. He said the other Pack members called the man Rottweiler. It was estimated that Rottweiler is about 5’6†tall and around 300 pounds. His facial features are reminiscent of somebody with Down’s syndrome.

 

Hippocrates has Dancer disguise him as a rich street punk. He heads down to the strip in search of dealers to talk with. He finds one, and with the help of a generous bribe, gets him to talk. The dealer is reluctant to talk since the fear on the street is that anybody could be an informant for Mongrel (leader of the Pack). Among the dealers other observations are the following: “We’re still getting stuff, just from different sources. The flow hasn’t slowed down at all, it’s just a matter of finding out who has what.†“I absorb more territory all the time. There’s no fighting, there are just fewer dealers every day. If space is available, you absorb it. No one fights over it, there’s plenty to go around.â€

 

Before Hippocrates can question the dealer any further two other dealers confront the pair. It quickly becomes evident that they do not trust the newcomer (Hippocrates) and fear that the dealer is informing on them to someone who might be in the pay of the Pack. Words quickly escalate to threats, the threats to a scuffle and the scuffle into a battle of knives and guns. The talkative dealer runs and Hippocrates is forced to use his knife against the two troublemakers as the situation deteriorates. He leaves one dead and one seriously wounded. Hippocrates flees the area before any police are drawn to the sight of the altercation.

 

The police find the two dealers, one is dead and the other is seriously wounded. An Omega card is also left at the scene. Witnesses state that the injured dealer was knifed, along with his partner, after a close melee that lasted several seconds. The police are hopeful that the wounded dealer will be able to give them an improved description of the vigilante that he fought with. Bloody footprints lead a short distance from the sight of the melee so the police now know the shoe size of the assailant as well as the type of shoes he was wearing. Police also have reports that a fourth person (a known drug dealer) was scene talking to the vigilante prior to the melee, they are actively seeking this individual as a material witness.

 

Snapshot and Nightstick patrol the Chinatown area and are soon rewarded when Nightstick spots fresh graffiti on the wall of a restaurant, the graffiti is written in Mandarin Chinese. The message reads “To the Demon Dog, the wisdom you seek can be found at the corner of Dragon and Canton Street, tonight at 11 o’clock.†The corner of Canton and Dragon Street is the heart of Chinatown. On weekends the intersection and the streets for a block are sealed off from automobiles and the area becomes a pedestrian bazaar/open-air market. On Saturday nights the area is packed with Orientals and occidental tourists.

 

The whole team stakes out the Chinese market. The entire incident turns out to be an attempt by the Qi On Triad to eliminate their enemy Nightstick (The Triads hunt nightstick on an 8 or less). In the ensuing battle Lang Wong, DNPC of Snapshot happens to get caught up in the situation, but he, fortunately, escapes unharmed. He was here to buy some Peking duck, just a coincidence (GM rolled the 8 or less again). All but one of the fifteen-man Triad hit team is eliminated, the survivor escapes leaving his right hand behind ( Predator’s “alien frisbee†cut it off). Dancer suffers a serious injury to her left, lower, leg when she is hit with a darn-do (a Chinese broadsword). Snapshot suffers two, non-impairing, wounds as he is shot in the left arm and shoulder. Savant is hit with a hail of 9mm bullets after he knocks several civilians to the ground for their own safety. Of the five bullets that hit him, none strike his unprotected head. Savant is stunned pretty good and suffers a minor wound to his right foot. The stray fire of the Triad hit-team hits three bystanders. Two are seriously injured and the third is critical, once again the extra-ordinary medical skills of Dr. Thomas James prevents any deaths . (One civilian was down to –8 BODY when Dr. James rolls very well and saved him. Later in his civilian ID he was able to operate on the victim and ensure his survival.)

 

Numerous 9mm casings and slugs are recovered in the area. A single 12-guage shotgun casing for a fireball slug is recovered but is has no traceable markings. Two casings from a .300 Winchester Magnum rifle are recovered from the top of a roof as well as several 7.62mm NATO casings. None of the .300 Win Mag slugs are recovered in good enough shape to be usable for ballistics tests. A pair of fairly clean 7.62mm slugs are recovered for ballistics. Witnesses tell of a fight between the Omega team and the, now mostly dead, Chinese gangsters. Several witnesses report that the Omega team took chances to reduce the threat to bystanders. There is no known cause for the ruckus but it is rumored by residents of Chinatown that the Triads of the Far East have a grudge against Nightstick, a known member of the Omega team. Due the nature of the injuries of some of the dead and witness reports of a wispy, barely glimpsed figure, police now believe that the Invisible Vigilante, once of Houston, Texas, has joined the Omega Team. They are also able to piece together enough information from the fragmentary reports of the witnesses to lead them to believe that there might be another new member as well. This would bring the Omega Team up to six members, more powerful than it has ever been. Blood samples are recovered from the street where witnesses say the female member of the Omega Team was injured. The sample should be enough to form a reliable DNA sample. After the battle one of the Omega team members took time to render, very professional, first aid to the three wounded bystanders. The quality of the treatment has now convinced HCPD detectives that at least one member of the Omega is, at the very least, an excellently trained paramedic.

 

End of Part 15, part 16 tomorrow. We’ll start off tomorrow with a quick run-down of what the police know about the Omega team.

 

I'll be trying to post the NPC Dancer a little later.

[Edsel]

Originally posted by Eosin

It does not sound bad until you are standing right next to him and 10" from four MAC - 10 armed thugs and he aborts to Invso so that you take the whole load.

 

Like I said the inviso shield was really just a DVC Transfer ...... His DVC went up and mine went down. It happend to me so many times that it wasn't funny. I am pretty careful, but he would just TONK away and then turn invisible leaving me holding the bag of dung.

 

 

EDITED IN: I think at one point I threatened to shoot him myself if he turned invisible while it was just me and him facing some DEMON agents. They had 2.5d6 AP AF lightining guns.....I had 5 points of armor.. You had a good chance of dying when DEMON showed up.

Hmmm... I sense a little bitterness here. Perhaps the inviso-shield wasn't that bad. Perhaps the angst of the other players made me feel it was that bad. He eventually got it in the end, if you'll remember.

[Edsel]

You can follow this link to see the write-up for Dancer.

 

I have not included any equipment for Dancer since she uses normal everyday sorts of equipment (and H&K MP5, shuriken, etc.) The character photo for her is actually a porn star, but I can't remember the name. Suffice to say it is not Rachel or Kara.

 

Attached is Dancer's HDC file.

[Killer Shrike]

Originally posted by NightStick

The only problem that WE would have had with the grenade thing is, well, for the slower players:D it would have meant certain death, and not for the one who was the abuser.

The inviso thing worked pretty good, taking into consideration all of the aspects of the balance of the team getting hosed quite often.

Yeah, but you remember how it was in the CORPs. When one person screws it up, everybody suffers until the unit takes it on themselves to "correct" the problem

 

In this case, "Oops! Dunno how I managed to smash your Invisio belt 17 times with a ballping hammer. Just clumsy I guess."

[Killer Shrike]

Edsel, post the pic of Dancer, click the img link it will create when you post it to open up a new browser window displaying the image. Copy the URL (the http line).

 

Edit the Dancer character sheet post. Put your cursor in the message window and press CTRL+F for the find dialog. Find <img src=""> and paste the URL to the pic between the quotations.

[NightStick]

Yeah, but you remember how it was in the CORPs. When one person screws it up, everybody suffers until the unit takes it on themselves to "correct" the problem

Yes, I do fondly:( recall that, along with the "classroom":cool:

HOWEVER, I am sorry to say that NightStick would not have handled the problem that way,

and, he didn't.

NightStick usually made it a point to be NOWHERE NEAR Predator during any "planned" activities.

[Eosin]

Originally posted by Edsel

Hmmm... I sense a little bitterness here. Perhaps the inviso-shield wasn't that bad. Perhaps the angst of the other players made me feel it was that bad. He eventually got it in the end, if you'll remember.

 

 

I think everyone is missing the point here...It was not too powerful. It was just fine. What it did do was shift the burden of absorbing incoming MAC-10 rounds to everyone with you.

 

The was not one of "how can the bad guys get him" - the problem was him kicking down the door or shooting someone giving away [usually my] presence and then turning invisible and saying "I'll move around behind them. You hold them here." I should point out that I am the most ineffective in combat and just about the only member who does not have advanced autofire weapons/moves or moving martial passing strikes that are a dream to sweep. Whah! Poor me but it sucked having to take the shots meant for another player.

[NightStick]

I should point out that I am the most ineffective in combat and just about the only member who does not have advanced autofire weapons/moves or moving martial passing strikes that are a dream to sweep. Whah! Poor me but it sucked having to take the shots meant for another player.

 

I must admit Eosin, that while it is quite humorus in HINDSIGHT:D , it did always appear that you did take the brunt of most of the initial vollies.

You generally overcame the situation and came out smellin like the proverbial rose.

I rationalize this by comparing the calibur and style of the players.

NO CONTEST.

I hope that you never personalized this, and have long since recognized that situations like this crop up in almost all scenarios.

In any event, it was still a blast!

[Edsel]

Originally posted by Killer Shrike

Edsel, post the pic of Dancer, click the img link it will create when you post it to open up a new browser window displaying the image. Copy the URL (the http line).

 

Edit the Dancer character sheet post. Put your cursor in the message window and press CTRL+F for the find dialog. Find <img src=""> and paste the URL to the pic between the quotations.

Okay I'll give it a quick try before logoff for the night. Attached to this post is the image. Note that this is not artwork. It is just photograph I got somewhere of a pretty attractive redhead and it seemed to fit. I have no idea who the girl is.

[Eosin]

I just wanted to whine a little bit

 

DId I mention that I have already written up my character for the next DC game that Eddie runs and is he a dozie of a combat monster

[Edsel]

Originally posted by Edsel

Okay I'll give it a quick try before logoff for the night. Attached to this post is the image. Note that this is not artwork. It is just photograph I got somewhere of a pretty attractive redhead and it seemed to fit. I have no idea who the girl is.

I find it quite amusing that the Dancer picture has been downloaded 18 times, whereas her .hdc file hasn't been downloaded once.

 

We are computer geeks and we are proud!

[Killer Shrike]

Originally posted by Edsel

I find it quite amusing that the Dancer picture has been downloaded 18 times, whereas her .hdc file hasn't been downloaded once.

 

We are computer geeks and we are proud!

Actually, everytime the page is refreshed, the img tag in the character file causes the file to be downloaded again.

 

So basically that meant that at that point the page had only been viewed 18 times, which is basically -2 for the first time the img was downloaded for you to get the URL and then once you edited the character for it to display, and then -1 for when you opened the page today. So basically it means that only 15 people max looked at this page after you posted the pic and put it into the character file. I opened the page 3 times last night hoping for more Omega goodness, so cut that down to no more than 12.

 

For some reason, people on this forum seem more interested in aimless Polls, what ifs, what would your character dos, and arguing about Captain America's STR in HEROs terms than actual content. It's frustrating, but you get used to it.

[Edsel]

Part 16

 

Summary of Police knowledge of the Omega Team. There are at least four members of the team and possibly as many as six.

 

Nightstick (a.k.a. Demon Dog) is one member. He is Chinese and speaks English with an accent. He is obviously a skilled martial artist but it is unlikely he partakes in competition. He is known to favor a Three-section-staff in melee and uses tsubute (a type of blunt shuriken-thingie) as missile weapons.On July 26th, 1995 the police recovered a large shuriken that is believed to have been thrown by Nightstick, from it they have obtained two partial fingerprints.

 

Another member of the team is female. Witness descriptions claim that she has a very shapely figure and moves with uncommon grace, the newspapers have dubbed her Dancer. She is believed to be the same Dancer that once operated in the New Orleans area. It has been reported that she has red hair. She is known to favor a H&K MP5 Submachinegun and has also been known to use shuriken on occasion. Since the events of this night (May 4th) the police have a good blood sample and are confident that a DNA test can be used to positively identify her when she is apprehended. A footprint left in her own blood when she was helped from the scene has given police her shoe size.

 

The papers have also named one the team members Hippocrates; this is in light of continuing evidence that one of the members of the team is skilled in emergency medicine. Hippocrates is known to be a male who often uses an Ingram Mac-10 submachinegun. This night he also, apparently used a shotgun.

 

The fourth member of the team is less well known and is not believed to be one of the original members (the previous three are believed to be). He is thought to be less than 30 years old

 

The possible fifth member is the Invisible Vigilante, lately of Houston, Texas. It is not known why he has moved to Hudson City or how he got involved with the Omega Team. Little is known of him other than witness reports that state he is nearly invisible. He uses a missile weapon of unknown origin that seems able to cut through metal and leaves only traces of a lubricant that defies analysis.

 

The possible sixth member is almost totally a mystery. He is believed to have acted as a sniper in this most recent encounter and also may use a 7.62mm weapon of some sort.

 

All members of the Omega Team are believed to have some level of martial arts training. They are known to use some type of souped-up, easily disguiseable, truck. They are all considered to be armed and extremely dangerous. Their reputation is not as bad as many vigilantes since they seem to go out of their way to avoid harming bystanders when possible.

 

May 5, Sunday

The day passes uneventfully and the characters sleep late, before going on to cover their secret identities.

That evening Andrew Hobbs (Savant) disguises himself and, unbeknownst to the rest of the Omega Team, makes a secret rendezvous with Frank “Fedora†Keaton (a Pulitzer Prize winning free-lance crime reporter). The next day an exclusive interview with Savant appears in the Hudson City News.

 

GM NOTE: I have a hard copy of the interview. I’ll have to see if I can find an electronic copy in my archives. If I can I’ll post it later tonight. In this case I wrote up the interview questions and Randy (A.K.A. Eosin) wrote his character’s (Savant/Specter) answers.

 

The headline causes several members of the Omega Team to become woozy, but none faint. The story is generally fair but gives little detail about who or what the Omega Team is. It is generally a philosophical account of why one man has become a vigilante. The interview also denounces the activities of the Pack and, to a lesser extent, Crusade. (Crusade is another of Hudson City’s vigilantes. Since his secret Identity was leaked to the police by Retro, Crusade has vanished.)

 

May 6

The “Bogeyman†has claimed his third victim. The victim is discovered this morning by late that afternoon Dr. James has managed to get involved in the autopsy. Several calls to well placed contacts allow the team to get the full police report of the crime (following).

Name: Karen Wilson McGregor; Hair Redhead, long; Eyes Green; Height 5’6â€; Weight 125 lb.; Race White; Age 29; Job: Accountant, self-employed.

 

Wounds: Bruise on left side of face, both arms broken, long bone-deep cut in both thighs made while victim was still alive, 56 stab wounds all over the body (one wound in the heart region from the back was the cause of death); her blood type was B+. Time of death approximately 9:45 PM, May 5th.

 

Scene of the Crime: The victim was killed in her first-floor apartment. All windows were locked, but the door was open. A few end tables and lamps were knocked over, indicating that there was a struggle of some sort. Blood splatters and smears were found in the kitchen, den hallway, and bedroom and bed.

 

Police Reconstruction Based on Evidence Recovered: The victim came home and accidentally left her door open. The Bogeyman must have been in the neighborhood looking for a victim and came inside to try doors. He found that this one was open and went inside. He surprised Miss McGregor in her den area. She screamed; a neighbor reported hearing a scream at about 9:20 PM, but though that it was just someone’s television. After a brief chase or struggle, the Bogeyman trapped her in the kitchen and began to stab her. Defensive wounds on the victim’s arms and hands indicate that she tried to fend off the blows, with no success. Bloody sneaker prints matching the ones found in Bankhurst Park were found in the apartment.

 

After the first stabbings, the killer dragged Miss McGregor to the bedroom, leaving bloody smears on the carpet from the kitchen to the bedroom. In the bedroom, she tried to fight back (she knew karate), and so in a fit of rage he broke both of her arms. Then he used his longer, narrower knife to cut both of her thighs from the hip joint to one inch above the knee. The cuts run to the bone; she was still alive when he made them. After making these cuts, he stabbed her some more, finally killing her.

 

The killer’s knife left some tiny chips of metal in the victim’s thighbones. The knife is made of stainless steel. Additionally during the fight she managed to claw at him with her fingernails, where traces of his blood and skin were found. He is blood type AB+, a relatively rare blood type.

 

An alternate police theory is that the Bogeyman is someone who knew McGregor. This would allow him to gain access to her apartment without her becoming suspicious—hence, the unlocked door. McGregor had a large circle of friends, and it will take the police four days to investigate them all.

 

That evening Savant, Hippocrates and Predator sneak into the crime scene and discover some evidence that the police and FBI (they are now actively assisting the Hudson City Police in the Bogeyman case) have missed. A few small scratches on the windowsill indicate where the window was pried open with a knife. Examining the ground outside the window a small, torn, piece of red flannel cloth is discovered. The Omega Team is able to surmise the following:

 

The police reconstruction of this crime is correct only from the point where the victim sees the Bogeyman in her apartment and screams. The Bogeyman crept up to her window and watched her until her back was turned. The window was unlocked so he climbed in, when he shut the window she looked up and screamed. When he left he locked the window, unlocked the door and made his exit.

 

Andrew Hobbs makes the following conjectures based on this new evidence.

 

(1) The Bogeyman is very strong: he broke both of his victim’s arms and then dragged her across the apartment (and according to the theories, she would have still been struggling against him). Furthermore, the Bogeyman can either take a lot of punishment, or is a very good fighter, since he broke both of the victim’s arms even though she knew karate.

 

(2) Based on the handholds outside, the Bogeyman is between 5’10†and 6’3†tall.

 

May 7

The team’s Investigation of the activities of the victim’s of the Bogeyman has finally yielded one commonality. All of them have visited the Hudson City University Medical center within the last few months. The first victim’s father died two weeks before her murder. He had been hospitalized at HCUMC for several weeks before his death. The second victim’s fiancée was a radiologist at HCUMC and she occasionally met him at work for lunch. One of the most recent victim’s former boyfriends was a doctor at HCUMC.

 

Dr. Thomas James talks Eden Blake (Dancer’s leg is currently in a cast thanks to the incident in Chinatown) into coming up to the hospital while he is there to see if they can bait the killer into the open. Eden has long red hair and another commonality is that all the victims have had either red or blonde hair.

 

Late that afternoon Andrew Hobbs goes to pick up the first Omega Truck from the Hudson City shipyards where it has been undergoing repairs and upgrades. The custom builders have been operating out of a locked up warehouse on the waterfront.

 

The Cardshark hits the Klienmann Center. Five painting, all by different artists, are stolen. Two security guards are injured. All the painting range in value between $125,000 and $250,000. Two of the paintings were not on display, but in storage. Five cards of the same suit but not in order constitutes a Flush. The Omega team has now realized the Cardshark crimes seem to be tied to poker hands. The Omega team surmises that the Straight, as the next highest poker hand will be next. Five cards of the same suit but not in sequence.

 

Also this day, Dr. Thomas James has an awkward moment when Debbie Taylor encounters him as he shows Eden Blake around the hospital. Since she has red hair and green eyes, Dancer was pretending to be from Ireland. Debbie had met her before, on the trip to Scotland, and knew she was not Irish. Fortunately they met in an out of the way area and Eden’s superior acting ability was able to save the day.

 

May 8

Just afternoon Andrew Hobbs is able to persuade his criminology professor to get them supervised access to the scene of the third Bogeyman murder. During this “field trip†Andrew points out the scratch marks on the windowsill and discovers a tiny piece of red flannel (He split the sample they had previously acquired and arranged to “find†the new evidence). Thusly Andrew manages to get a good grade in his criminology classes and also furthers the police/FBI investigation into the murders.

 

Dr. James has another encounter with Debbie Taylor today. Once again he is displaying Eden Blake around the hospital. Once again Dr. James and Ms. Blake talk their way out of the situation. They decide to call off the baiting idea since Ms. Taylor seems to be getting suspicious.

 

That evening, due to several unfortunate circumstances, Dr. James has a very bad experience. While wandering around the hospital, looking for anyone who seems suspicious, he encounters a medical student in the hospital morgue. The student is up late dissecting the hip of a female cadaver. Since it is very late for a student to be in the morgue and because of coincident of his study subject, Dr. James becomes suspicious and engages the student in a conversation.

 

Everything here is legitimate. The student had missed his anatomy class earlier due to a family emergency. His professor had allowed him to make up the class by having a cadaver limb released to the student for study.

 

The student becomes nervous when Dr. James begins talking about the recent Bogeyman murders. Dr. James notices that the student seems to perfectly fit the description they have of the probable killer (the product of a natural 18 on the PER roll the player made) and is also wearing shoes of the proper type. (The student’s shoes are Reeboks, the killer’s are Nikes, again this is a product of the failed PER roll.) The student gets more nervous when Dr. James begins to press him further. The student begins to secretly fear that Dr. James is a wacko, or possibly even the Bogeyman. Dr. James’ psychology skills indicate to him that the student’s nervousness is a fear of being caught and not a fear of Dr. James.

 

GM NOTE: Really cosmic bad luck here. The player blew his Psychology roll with a natural 18. Three blown rolls in a row and two of them are natural 18s.

 

The student quickly puts his biological samples away and starts to leave. When the student attempts to leave Dr. James blocks the door and the student panics and grabs a large knife. Dr. James quickly pummels the student into unconsciousness, breaking his nose and knocking out several teeth in the process.

 

Once Dr. James is able to examine the student more closely he realizes his mistake. He quickly calls Andrew Hobbs who rushes to the hospital. They put the unconscious student on a gurney and cover him with a sheet. They then proceed to take the student to the cadaver storage facility in the neighboring medical school building so that Dr. James can treat the student’s injuries without fear of detection. Soon they arrive there a police car also arrives. Dr. James goes out to investigate as Andrew Hobbs avoids contact to prevent his being implicated in this disaster. Apparently a fatality accident had necessitated a delivery to the morgue where upon the orderlies had discovered the signs of a struggle (blood, a couple of teeth, student books on the floor). Realizing that he has blood on his shirt from the brief melee, Dr. James admits what has happened to the police. He leads them to the unconscious student and surrenders to police custody. Andrew Hobbs trips the fire alarm in the medical building and then swipes a fire fighters coat and helmet. When he gets the chance he goes to the security desk and manages to run a powerful magnet over the videotape that is currently running in the security recorder. (He obtained the magnet from a nearby science lab. This renders the security tape recording unreadable and so prevents his image from being discovered. Really quick thinking.)

 

Dr. Thomas James is quickly bailed out of jail. Over the next couple of days he has his lawyers offer a generous out of court settlement to the student he pummeled. The student’s medical expenses are fully paid and a six-figure sum is paid to the student as well. In return the student agrees to drop all charges and further agrees to not discuss the incident or the settlement with anyone.

 

GM NOTE: Dr. James has admitted he got creeped out by the suspicious actions of the student. He began to have unreasonable thoughts that the boy might be the Bogyeman. He did not, of course, indicate that he is an Omega Team member and there is no real evidence to indicate that. The erasure of the tape makes this settlement possible since Dr. James’ lawyers point out that in court it would come down to the Doctor’s word against the student’s as to what exactly had transpired.

 

May 9

Late in the afternoon Dutch Watkins has a meeting with a fence who is known to traffic in stolen works of art. Lenny, the Stain, tells him that Cardshark is way too cautious to use a local fence to sell the paintings stolen from the Kleinmann Center. He says that the word on the streets is that Cardshark is holding a competition between teams of his agents and that the recent thefts are probably part of that contest.

 

Late that night a group of Chinese gang members (Scarlet Dragons gang affiliated with the Sing Chun Tong) carry out a bloody hit at the Jade Lion restaurant. Twelve people are slain including Kwan Meizhu, the English Secretary of the Sing Chun Tong, and a Hong Kong national. Apparently the two were conducting a large Heroin deal. The gunmen take the money and the heroin. It seems a civil war has broken out within the Sing Chun Tong.

 

End of Part 16, part 17 tomorrow. Stay tuned for more vigilante goodness!

[Edsel]

Originally posted by Killer Shrike

Actually, everytime the page is refreshed, the img tag in the character file causes the file to be downloaded again.

Okay, your knowledge of Geek Fu is greater than mine.

[Killer Shrike]

Originally posted by Edsel

Okay, your knowledge of Geek Fu is greater than mine.

Yes, my Geek Fu makes me invincible.

[Edsel]

Savant's Interview

 

Below is the interview that Savant granted to Frank Fedora. This was mentioned in part 16 of the Omega Team Campaign logs. The part of Savant was played by Eosin (at least that's what he's called on the Hero Forums).

 

Omega Team Campaign History Addenda

 

Frank Fedora Interview with Savant

May 5th, 1996

 

1. Why did you become a vigilante?

Look around you! We live in a hellhole, 62 people will be beaten, raped or killed today in HC. While we are talking, one woman will die - she is alone, afraid, in pain. With HCPD so stretched and unable to reign in the runaway criminal element in the city, it almost seems to me that we have a civic duty to stop crime in any way we can. Part of the ‘social contract’ if you will. Each man and woman out their can help make this city safer in their own way, call the police, testify, report the thug who you know are crack dealers.

 

2. Don’t you think the police can handle crime on the street?

Come on Frank, we both know what it is like out there. There are 50,000 crips in HC and 18,563 policemen. The police are under budgeted, so understaffed it is laughable, and under equipped. HCPD does the best it can, they should be proud. Never has one group faced such an undefeatable enemy. The funny thing is we can all do something, if we would just approve tax codes to fund the department a lot of this could be solved. Imagine what nine thousand more cops could do out there.

 

3. Aren’t you afraid you will kill an innocent bystander, or kill someone because of mistaken identity?

That is a risk. I can’t speak for other vigilantes but I normally use a non-lethal weapon to reduce that risk. There are always going to be tragic accidents, that applies if you work in construction, the police force, the medical field; tragic accidents just happen. I will admit I have dreams about it and like everyone else I hope I never have to deal with that situation.

 

4. How many people have you killed?

I don’t know. I would seem to me that keeping track (notching my gun) would indicate some perverse fetish, Mongrel might keep track I don’t.

 

5. Are you a member of the Omega Team?

I have an affiliation with a select few vigilantes.

5A. Can you name them?

No.

5B. Are you friends with them?

We have a working relationship, other than that I can’t tell you much.

 

6. How many other people are on the Omega Team?

I can not answer that.

 

7. Have you ever had a run in the Card Shark?

Luckily, no. I know where to catch my fish and how to bait my line. I am too inexperienced of a fisherman to try for the Great White.

 

8. What other Vigilantes have you met?

I really can’t answer that.

 

9. Aren’t you a little young for this?

How old are the men we send off to die in war? Trust me Frank, I am a lot older than they are.

 

10. Have the criminals that you have fought killed any of your comrades.

Again, I will have to pass on that one Frank.

 

11. Are you afraid of being caught by the authorities?

That is probably my greatest fear. I know that I am thought of as a criminal, but my self-image is quite different. I know that I could not harm an officer of the law, who was performing within the law. So it is a real and complex situation that I hope never arises.

 

12. Have you ever been injured badly?

I have been injured, but we use the same doctors that the NFL uses. We are usually back up the next day.

 

13. The police suspect that Hippocrates is a Doctor is that true.

I can’t really answer that.

 

14. Are you an expert in martial arts?

Lord no. I am just willing to get out there and swing. It is like baseball. Anyone who steps up to the plate can hit a .250, it just takes stepping up to the plate.

 

15. What is your view of the other vigilantes in town?

A. Crusade

He isn’t really a vigilante. He is a psychotic killer who only hunts criminals. He isn’t trying to keep anyone safe; he is in it for the joy of the kill.

B. The Pack

The Pack are new and inept. They overcompensate for their lack of skill with violence; I read a profile on them that had some interesting data. I think they are small men, the vigilante bullies if you will. Soon they will meet Buckshot, or Pokerface and they will lose the stomach for the game. Like all bullies they are just hiding behind the violence because they are afraid.

C. The Harbinger

I don’t really know, they should call him the Enigma. He seems to me to be closer to the laws of thermodynamics than human? What am I supposed to think of him? What do you think?

 

16. Do you intend to do this for the rest of your life?

No. I will always feel that it is my responsibility to serve the civic body. We are a blessed nation and a blessed city. However, something my cohort fails to recognize is that nothing is free. If you want freedom, and democracy, the right to free speech and all the other things, you have to be prepared to fight for them.

 

17. How do you get all of the weapons, are you rich.

No. Some weapons are hard to come by, but we could walk out of here and buy an M-16 in less than an hour and you know it.

 

18. What are your views on gun control?

Hahahahaha. Control? I have yet to see control. What I see is good honest people having trouble getting weapons to keep themselves safe but we, not so honest people, can still go get that M-16. I am pretty sure Hector is not running FBI checks, and I know Dr. DMZ offers volume discounts on military hardware, he sells stuff that small countries can’t buy.

 

19. Why have you decided to grant this interview?

Because we can help each other Frank.

 

20. Just how bad is crime in HC.

Crime is unbelievable. The police can’t stop it, vigilantes can’t stop it. I walk the streets sometimes and pass by hundreds of small crimes. Making such shades of gray judgments, as to what to combat, makes me get nauseated sometimes. You have seen it, haven’t you Frank? You walk by thinking to yourself, she is 15, if I tried to save every fifteen year old Junkie, or prostitute I wouldn’t finish with the ones that are on HC streets right now until the year 2000.

 

Serial Killers stalk our streets, killing young, hopeful women. How many children will be unborn because of the bogeyman? A simple frustrated homosexually repressed nerd. He has taken so many futures. There is a gay district on 39th, Mr. Bogeyman go pick up some guy named Lonnie and unleash that pent up homosexual inside you, in a socially acceptable way. Read cosmo guy. It is hip to be gay in the 90’s there is no reason to kill someone over it.

 

Card Shark is stealing anything that is not nailed down. The Idea men are robbing banks left and right. Jamaican posses are killing anyone who even looks at them funny. Our prisons are letting more violent felons out, or they check themselves out.

It is bad out their Frank.

 

21. Is Nightstick in the Omega Team?

I am not sure.

 

22. How well do you get along with your fellow vigilantes?

We don’t go out for BBQ’s if that is what you are asking. We all wear masks, are paranoid, and carry hidden arsenals on our person, we converse through BBS’s and anonymous e-mail, and our secrecy is how we survive. It is a professional relationship.

 

23. Are your teammates aware that you are giving this interview?

No. Like I said, we aren’t involved with each other off of the streets.

 

24. What guarantee do I have that they won’t kill me for this?

What guarantee did you have that I wouldn’t?

 

25. What do you think of our criminal justice system?

I think the word JUSTICE should be taken out first of all. It fails on every account. They ideals that it is founded on are sound, they the American court systems have strayed so far from what was intended for them. Why does the Supreme Court legislate our morality? I thought we were supposed to vote on issues like that. Judicial review is a crock.

 

Appeals court? Who are we kidding? How about the OJ trial? Did we need televised proof that the law is for he who has the gold? JUSTICE ISN’T ABOUT THE COLOR OF YOUR SKIN, JUSTICE IS ABOUT THE COLOR OF YOUR MONEY! Not in Hudson City!

 

GM NOTE: If you haven’t realized it yet, some of Savant’s answers were intended to lead the authorities astray. But some were pretty honest answers as well. As you can also tell this particular game took place just after the OJ Simpson trial. And before the Omega Team starts to have some serious “run-ins†with Cardshark and the Pack.

[NightStick]

Edsel,

Do you propose to post all of the interviews?

 

Just curious.......

 

I believe that I still have all of the copies that you had sent out, in case that you need them.......

 

Hint*******Hint***** *****

 

[Killer Shrike]

You know, it would be pretty cool if you wrote up your version of Hudson City, or even just a detailed supplement-style synopsis of "the Omega Team" and their Rogues Gallery.

[Eosin]

I think alot of the characters are around somewhere on harddrive in excel. I know Eddie's Harbinger is and we feared him. We also feared the Terminators that Eddie made up but had yet to use on us.

 

Personally, the new stuff that he is working on looks like it is gonna rock on toast. I keep trying to talk him into submitting it to DH or something.

 

You can find a dead thread on it here somewhere.....I will go digging be right back.

 

Ahhhhh.... here it is - Vigilante Group Thread