Chiba Bob Posted February 5, 2006 Report Share Posted February 5, 2006 Re: Billy Deighton What about a roleplayer who is exceptionally good at playing evil characters... and only evil characters? Damned Joxer... Quellar may be in need of developing some new brain surgery techniques … then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GestaltBennie Posted February 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 Re: Billy Deighton There's a new installment in the fists.pdf file that's attached to the first post on page 1 of this thread. The new adventure runs from pages 118-130. Warning: because of the way that InDesign's been working the "small file size" option in the Create PDF. you may need to refresh the file to get it to load. Anyway, in this new exciting adventure... Dr. Quellar and Billy receive a message from an old friend. Meet an all-new, obnoxious. powerful foe! Quellar and Crusher come face to face with a giant man-ape with big feet! Quellar tests a new invention! Billy gets upset! Crusher receives a smooch! Also... Two messages from beyond the grave send our heroes into a panic! Dr. Fume unveils a new weapon! Disquiet on the set! Billy receives devastating news! Jack strikes a deal with his arch-rival! Famed medium Sabrina Wickman returns... and she's not happy! All this and more in "Hour of the Grappler" and "Terror From Beyond the Grave!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GestaltBennie Posted March 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2006 Re: Billy Deighton Just a note to the players. No game this week, due to home renovations and some events in Chiba Bob's life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GestaltBennie Posted March 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 Re: Billy Deighton There's a new installment in the fists.pdf file that's attached to the first post on page 1 of this thread. The new adventure runs from pages 118-130. Warning: because of the way that InDesign's been working the "small file size" option in the Create PDF. you may need to refresh the file to get it to load. Anyway, in this new exciting adventure... The rescue of Faye Dietrich! When Rimi gets annoyed -- off with their heads! Billy gets a new job! Dunsmuir throws a party! Plus what may rank as the most treacherous plot twist yet, as our heroes are forced to confront (in our most aptly titled adventure to date)... "The Curse of the Countess!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiba Bob Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 Re: Billy Deighton "Around the world, the many governments who had the misfortune of dealing with the Countess Ariadni von Hapsburg breathed a huge sigh of relief." "Awwwwwww..." The relief maybe premature' date=' the countess’s legacy may reach far from the grave unless the specialists can stop it.[/quote'] He He Heeee!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Gillen Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 Re: Billy Deighton "I am the Ring!" "Everyone knows that people in Quebec are a bunch of Catholics, oppressed by nuns." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GestaltBennie Posted March 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2006 Re: Billy Deighton There's a new installment in the fists.pdf file that's attached to the first post on page 1 of this thread. The new adventure runs from pages 138-146. Warning: because of the way that InDesign's been working the "small file size" option in the Create PDF. you may need to refresh the file to get it to load. Anyway, in this new exciting adventure... A shocking daylight crime forces the newly christened Specialists into a confrontation with one of their oldest enemies! Whiskey Jack returns! The Countess reveals the secret of the Wraith! Rimi's run of bad luck continues! Billy's luck runs out! Crusher gets on the receiving end of his own medicine! Jack gets to fufill an old ambition, but at what cost? Plus a movie scene is shot that will go down in history! All this and much more in... "Hands of Murder, Grace of God!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GestaltBennie Posted March 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2006 Re: Billy Deighton There's a new installment in the fists.pdf file that's attached to the first post on page 1 of this thread. The new adventure runs from pages 147-153. Warning: because of the way that InDesign's been working the "small file size" option in the Create PDF. you may need to refresh the file to get it to load. Anyway, in this all-new all-exciting adventure... Billy lies dying in a Vancouver hospital! Von Hagen appears to the Rocket Men, and reveals a shocking secret!Crusher faces his greatest enemy! Knuckles' gang responds to their boss's capture with a St. Patrick's Day celebration that Vancouver will never forget! Hunky Bill faces an opponent he will never forget too! The Canadian Rocket Brigade tries to regroup, but is it too late? Plus... the return of Queen Nefira? All this and much more in... "A Night on the Town!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheQuestionMan Posted March 28, 2006 Report Share Posted March 28, 2006 Re: Billy Deighton Can I be jealous and inadequate now. Damn good stuff. QM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiba Bob Posted March 29, 2006 Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 Re: Billy Deighton Can I be jealous and inadequate now.QM Sorry... but no! Scott and I have been GMing and playing together for longer than you have been alive and for the most part ... the Hero system. For us, it is a well honed craft we have be perfecting for years so you are allowed feel inspired but never to feel inadequate Thanks for your support:cheers: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GestaltBennie Posted March 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 Re: Billy Deighton Can I be jealous and inadequate now. Damn good stuff. QM Thanks QM. By their nature, campaign writeups don't often receive feedback, so it's nice to know they're appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GestaltBennie Posted April 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 Re: Billy Deighton I'd love to do these in long form, but I'm really pressed for time at the moment with paying work (sorry folks). I may expand these back at some future point, but here are my notes for the last two sessions. Episode 20: Unit of Death With the help of Captain Price, the captured Rocket Men are safely returned by Skymaster. Callaghan says that he wants to find a missing Japanese gardener named Masahiro Kitano. Major Rutledge, whom Callaghan works for is studying martial arts in Japan, and Kitano’s family in Japanese friends are worried because they haven’t heard from him in four months. Rimi recognizes Kitano as a Japanese spy, and promptly launches her own investigation, trying to keep her secrets from the others. Jack, Callaghan, Price and Crusher investigate separately, along with Kristina Rutledge, the Major’s daughter, and her pet cheetah “Fluffy Wuffy”. The trail leads to Pitt Lake in the northern Fraser Valley. It’s on an Indian reservation, and there have been several shootings lately. Rimi is cornered by a cougar, but Fluffy Wuffy saves her. They bond, much to Kristina’s dismay, as she takes an instant dislike to the “oriental”. Callaghan intimidates her into silence. They get involved in a firefight with some Russian spies, who are also investigating Kitano’s whereabouts. Circumventing them, Rimi tricks a Japanese agent into taking her to Kitano. Kitano, protected by two daughters/bodyguards and a big sumo wrestler, recognizes Rimi as a traitor; he knows that “the pig” (her former commander) tried to force herself on her, but the appropriate Japanese response to that would be to commit suicide. Rimi is less than thrilled. Kitano has captured several sasquatches and is performing medical experiments on them. Rimi is horrified. Kitano is surprised —didn’t anyone inform her about the true purpose of Unit 731? Rimi had made a deal with Callaghan to take the specimens (not knowing what they were), but now tries to backstab him by making a private bargain with Kitano. Callaghan smiles and informs her that he speaks perfect Japanese and understood everything. He wants the sasquatches to make his own experiments - Kristina reveals that he killed the one that Crusher and Quellar had killed months earlier. Rimi insists on protecting the creatures, and a fight finally breaks out. Kitano’s two daughters are slain, one by Rimi, and one (gruesomely) by the cheetah. Kristina faints into Price’s arms. Callaghan imbibes a chemical made from sasquatch testosterone that swells his body to a grotesque proportion, but he chooses to run instead of fight. With his daughters dead, Kitano does the honorable thing and commits suicide. Rimi takes the old master’s katana. Jack and the others agree to release the sasquatches, and they set them free. Episode 21: My Cup Runneth Over A freak bank robbery becomes even more bizarre for Rimi when a thief steals an ancient crucifix from a bank vault; Rimi kills the robber and grabs the crucifix, discovering a tiny glowing ruby, the Fire of Syria, inside the crucifix and pulsing like a heartbeat. Montreal crimeboss Maurice “Mad Dog” Lemaire visits Vancouver, with the intention of taking over Knuckles’ old operations. He warns Jack not to get in his way. He offers to forgive Crusher for his past sins if Jack gives him a stolen crucifix. Crusher is visited by Seamus Hannigan. His intrusion into “Hunky Bill’s” match is the talk of the wrestling world, but Bill insists that Crusher now meet him in the ring and “lie down” for him to avenge his humiliation. Hannigan makes a deal with Crusher to backstab Bill. The match takes place: Crusher is accidentally stabbed in the back by an overenthusiastic fan, Hatpin Harriet. During the match, the ring collapses on top of Crusher as he tries a risky move from the turnbuckle, giving his opponent the first fall. In the second fall, Crusher gets the crusher lock on the opponent and nearly snaps his neck, but the ref says that Crusher is losing too much blood from the wound, stops the match, and awards it to Bill. Crusher goes berserk again. The challenge between the Canadian Rocket Brigade and the American all-star Wild squadron takes place. The opera singer Giuseppe Destafano, whom the Specialists met earlier in Victoria, returns, but proves to be an obnoxious lout, as do several of the American pilots. The leader, “Diamond Ted” Garnett, is an old boxing enemy of Billy’s (who is still too injured from his gunshot wounds to leave his hospital bed). Giuseppe gets into an argument with the gypsy stage magician Rudolfo the Magnificent, and receives the Evil Eye. One of the singers, a Filipino girl named Salome Dill, seems very familiar to Rimi. Several disturbing things happen: Greta Gable, the Countess’s old rival in Vancouver’s social scene, says that the Countess has requested a song: “Death of a Whore”. Then Gable pulls out a gun and shoots herself. Dunsmuir comes up to present the Lindbergh Cup, which he hopes will prove as much a symbol of air competition as the America’s Cup is on the sea. But it’s been stolen. The Americans accuse Dunsmuir of pulling a fast one —the Canadians don’t really want to face them, so Dunsmuir arranged for the trophy to vanish so they’d save face. Dunsmur asks Jack to investigate. They discover that someone pulled the trophy through the side of the case, someone whose hands could go through solid objects. They receive a phone call to take money to a grain elevator in exchange for the Cup. This turns out to be a trap: first they get ambushed by French-Canadian hitman sent by Maurice Lemaire, then (after brutally killing most of them) they confront the thief. The woman who walks through walls is Salome Dill, who was exposed to strange meteor radiation several years earlier and acquired that amazing power. She uses that power as an assassin - and has accepted a contract on their lives. Dill walks through the walls as the ceiling closes above them and the walls close in on the Specialists. Thanks to Crusher’s brawn, Rimi scampers up a ladder and uses light from the Fire of Syria to get enough illumination to pick the lock. The heroes escape. The heroes pursue Salome Dill to an airfield, where she’s making her escape via plane. Fortunately, Rocket Man Red Walker, obsessed with beating the Americans, is there practising. He’s glad to help Crusher get the trophy back. Crusher jumps on Dill’s plane and is shaken off. Walker uses his plane to catch the wrestler, and takes him back to Dill’s plane. Crusher smashes through the cockpit glass, grabs the trophy, and starts clubbing Dill with it. The spy escapes by falling through the fuselage. Crusher can’t fly the plane, but Walker ignites his rocket pack, grabs Crusher and flies him back to base. With some of his best hired guns dead, thanks to the unsuccessful ambush, Mad Dog Lemaire decides to return to Montreal. The competition between the Canadian Rocket Brigade and the Americans takes place. It ends up a draw. Dunsmuir offers to host a tiebreaker competition at a later date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GestaltBennie Posted April 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2006 Re: Billy Deighton Another quick update. --- When Titans Fall! Six weeks have passed after having been hospitalized by Knuckles' goons, and Billy finally feels well enough to challenge Crusher to his favorite pastime –wrestling. As Crusher wants a higher quality opponent than "Hunky Bill", the two have a match in which they agree to wrestle until one of them drops. Three grueling hours later, Crusher can't continue, but Billy drags him back to his corner and goads him into pushing himself beyond his limits. Crusher tells him he's made a mistake, but the Rocket Man manhandles him. Fifteen minutes later, Billy pins Crusher, but both men drop from exhaustion. The match is a draw. A couple of Knuckles' old boys sneaks into the gym to finish them off, but with guns pointed at them, the two friends manage to find the strength to pound the gangsters into an unconscious pulp. Billy tells Crusher that he'd heard how he'd been shaken up by his confrontation with Knuckles Malone and was pushing him hard to help him shake off the aftereffects. Crusher didn't particularly notice: he just thought it was a good match. Rimi has a dream of Master Kitano, the Japanese master who committed suicide. Kitano taunts her for her love of death. "What is more beautiful," he asks. "A bird in flight, or a bird who lies dead ipon the ground?" Rimi replies that it depends on how the bird died. What is more lovely, a stagnant pool or a fast moving mountain stream that skips down the hill?" her asks. Again Rimi affirms her love of death. Kitano sighs. Rimi bitterly associates the concept of "life" he's lauding with dreary child-bearing and menial servitude to abusive men. Kitano agrees that Yoshiro Hiro, the Major-General Rimi whom accidentally killed was a pig, but the alternative to being a killer isn't necessarily misogynistic servility. He does give Rimi his blessing to hold onto his sword and points out the irony in the stage name that she selected as an actress. "You have already chosen the flower and the seed, Rose Acorn," he says. "So grow." Rimi just rolls her eyes. A ghost in a dream is bad enough, but a moralizing one is much, much worse, They have a brief conversation about the Fire of Syria, the gem in the crucifix she'd found. He says it was a living heart made by an idol-maker who had empowered it with a demonic pact, but a holy man sanctified it, so now it lets people know the fires of their own heart. Jack hears a report of a shooting at a train station. He goes to the CPR station downtown and discovers that both the shooter and his quarry had escaped. He returns to his office to discover it boarded up and all of the furniture's gone. An obnoxious man named Danny Culpepper, surrounded by four policemen who Jack recognizes as being in Knuckles' pocket. Culpepper's interests bought the building, and threw all of Jack's furniture and files in the Vancouver garbage dump. Jack tells him that he won't get away with it. Culpepper smiles and says he has a lot more work to do today. A few minutes later, at the Rocket Plant, Crusher is shaking off the effects of the previous night's bout when Culpepper comes in and announces that the Rocket Plant is closed and that everyone who works there has to look for a new job. Dunsmuir and Quellar are outraged. Culpepper reveals that when Dunsmuir was kidnapped by Knuckles, control of his empire temporarily went to Dunsmuir's right hand man, a brilliant financier named Ian Taylor. Taylor signed a short-term $120 million loan, using Dunsmuir's properties and industries as collateral. Taylor then embezzled the money for the loan, so there was nothing to pay back. An American syndicate bought the loan, so now they're confiscating all of the Rocket Plant. Quellar points out that the rocket packs are the property of the Canadian Department of Defense. Culpepper smiles and says that because of the Canadian Rocket Brigade's "seemingly endless list of blunders", culminating in the theft of the Balaclava by Skymaster, the Canadian government was glad to shed itself of an "embarrassment". Then he turns to Quellar, and informs him that radio emissions from his house exceed national broadcast standards, and that he won't be allowed on his property until they're "thoroughly investigated". Enraged, Quellar shoots Culpepper and his crooked cop bodyguard and suspends them over a vat of acid. Culpepper threatens that he'll be sharing a cell with Knuckles Malone. Other police storm the plant and release them. Quellar threatens to blow up the rocket plant, then walks away. Dunsmuir still has enough pull to keep Quellar from being arrested. The Specialists converge at Quellar's house and discover that the house has been ransacked, and Mr. Newton's tank has been taken outside and dumped - had they not arrived when they did, Mr. Newton's brain fluid would have been completely drained from the tank and he'd be dead. Then Culpepper shows up and hands Billy a note from the US government; they've charged Billy $10,000 for the US Navy defense boat that Billy sold in Shanghai. Fortunately, Culpepper says, Billy had the means to repay the debt, being co-owner of a large piece of land in Alberta. It was unfortunate, Culpepper smiled, that Billy's mother and brothers had to be kicked off the family farm when they foreclosed on it. For the first time that anyone had ever seen him, Billy went berserk. He grabbed Culpepper by the throat, and began to squeeze the life out of him. Culpepper threatened to do worse things to Billy's family, but the threat didn't seem to register on the berserk Rocket Man. Fortunately, the police and Crusher barely manage to wrench him off the sleazy financier. Examining the contract, Dunsmuir finds a loophole. There's a forty-eight hour grace period after notification by which the loan can be repaid with interest. All Dunsmuir needs to do is to raise $120 million dollars in two days, and the rocket plant (and his fortune) will be returned. Dunsmuir needs to find Taylor to return the embezzled money - and he needs to prevent the Rocket Plant from being dismantled and shipped away to Culpepper's backers. Rimi investigates Culpepper, who's reopened the Bar and the Hotel Europa and is making it his haunts. She infiltrates the casino and finds several known assassins in residence, including the Darques twins, a pair of separated Siamese twins with reputed psychic abilities. She avoids contact with them, and overhears Culpepper talking with someone he calls "Senator", and that the plan "is going perfectly". She follows Culpepper out of the club and tracks him down to the warehouse where the plant equipment is being stored. It's near the US border, and clearly going to be shipped stateside. That evening, the Specialists, a squad of Rocket Men, and a vengeful Mr. Newton in the "Newtonmobile" (a rigged truck with a snowplow) hit the plant to recover as much of the rocket equipment as possible. The plan goes perfectly, and the night shift surrenders without firing a shot, except for a sniper who draws a bead on Quellar - and then collapses with a crossbow bolt in his back. Jack tries to track down Ian Taylor, and discovers he's addicted to the ponies. He didn't have gambling debts - in fact, Taylor was such an intuitive genius at probability schemes that he regularly won big at the track. But he did have a favorite pony: "Willie B. Victorious" and Jack figured he'd show up at the Lansdown Stakes, a big race in which the horse was running. That hunch turned out to be correct. Quellar sat down next to the disguised Taylor, who recognized him and tried to run away. Quellar tripped him, and Taylor fell to the bottom of the grandstand. The Rocket Men scooped him up and escorted him to Red Walker's apartment - as Red's someone who's not associated with the Specialists, they figure it's a safe place. Another sniper tries to take a shot at Taylor but once again the Wraith intervenes and the sniper goes down before he can strike the target. Taylor is not cooperative. Jack determines that months ago, Taylor used his talents at analysis to make a comprehensive study of the world's political situation. According to his calculations, all of Europe's major governments except for Britain would be taken over by Mussolini-style military dictatorships within the next 8-12 years, which would form an alliance with a newly invigorated Japan to take over Russia. A second Great War would be the result of this aggression. He figured the only hope for democracy against this fascist alliance would be America's industrial might producing fleets of Rocket Men - according to Taylor's calculations, Canada was too small to produce enough rocket packs and qualified pilots to save the world. Taylor made alliances with several US banks, Baldwin Aviation (a rising American aeronautics firm), and their patron in the US Senate, Indiana junior senator Wayne Garnett, an American WW1 air ace and father of Billy's old boxing archenemy. Diamond Ted Garnett! Dunsmuir mutters that he can't wait for the Hoover administration to get kcked out of office. Jack is actually sympathetic to Taylor's goal, if not his means –he certainly believes that another Great War should be avoided at all costs–, but Dunsmuir doesn't take betrayal well, and Billy, enraged at what was done to his family, is almost unhinged. He intimidates Taylor into cooperating with the Specialists. Jack sighs, but counts the money he won at the track betting on Willie B. Victorious. Culpepper is outraged by the attack on the warehouse and confronts Dunsmuir. He's not expecting to discover that Billy and Crusher push away the crooked cops while Rimi injects Culpepper with Dr. Quellar's "longevity formula", actually a powerful hallucinogen. When Culpepper begins to act irrationally, Dunsmuir calls men in white coats to have him committed. With Dunsmuir's restored fortune, he can afford to bribe the asylum attendees to keep Culpepper committted –he reckons that Culpepper's dearly earned revenge. Quellar mentions that he'd like to do something similar to a certain Senator from Indiana… The only real loose end is Billy's family, who still ended up losing the family farm. The Deightons move to a mining town north of Vancouver, though not before they pay a visit, and Crusher gets to be terrorized by a pair of Billy-sized 19-year old twins. Skymaster and his newly acquired sky fortress strikes for the first time since the Balaclava was captured, raiding timber stocks from Port Alice, a mill town on the northern tip of Vancouver Island. Billy, who once worked there as a lumberjack, tells the group that the archvillain now has the raw materials to build the superstructure of dozens of planes… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GestaltBennie Posted April 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2006 Re: Billy Deighton Another quick update. --- When Titans Fall! Six weeks have passed after having been hospitalized by Knuckles' goons, and Billy finally feels well enough to challenge Crusher to his favorite pastime –wrestling. As Crusher wants a higher quality opponent than "Hunky Bill", the two have a match in which they agree to wrestle until one of them drops. Three grueling hours later, Crusher can't continue, but Billy drags him back to his corner and goads him into pushing himself beyond his limits. Crusher tells him he's made a mistake, but the Rocket Man manhandles him. Fifteen minutes later, Billy pins Crusher, but both men drop from exhaustion. The match is a draw. A couple of Knuckles' old boys sneaks into the gym to finish them off, but with guns pointed at them, the two friends manage to find the strength to pound the gangsters into an unconscious pulp. Billy tells Crusher that he'd heard how he'd been shaken up by his confrontation with Knuckles Malone and was pushing him hard to help him shake off the aftereffects. Crusher didn't particularly notice: he just thought it was a good match. Rimi has a dream of Master Kitano, the Japanese master who committed suicide. Kitano taunts her for her love of death. "What is more beautiful," he asks. "A bird in flight, or a bird who lies dead ipon the ground?" Rimi replies that it depends on how the bird died. What is more lovely, a stagnant pool or a fast moving mountain stream that skips down the hill?" her asks. Again Rimi affirms her love of death. Kitano sighs. Rimi bitterly associates the concept of "life" he's lauding with dreary child-bearing and menial servitude to abusive men. Kitano agrees that Yoshiro Hiro, the Major-General Rimi whom accidentally killed was a pig, but the alternative to being a killer isn't necessarily misogynistic servility. He does give Rimi his blessing to hold onto his sword and points out the irony in the stage name that she selected as an actress. "You have already chosen the flower and the seed, Rose Acorn," he says. "So grow." Rimi just rolls her eyes. A ghost in a dream is bad enough, but a moralizing one is much, much worse, They have a brief conversation about the Fire of Syria, the gem in the crucifix she'd found. He says it was a living heart made by an idol-maker who had empowered it with a demonic pact, but a holy man sanctified it, so now it lets people know the fires of their own heart. Jack hears a report of a shooting at a train station. He goes to the CPR station downtown and discovers that both the shooter and his quarry had escaped. He returns to his office to discover it boarded up and all of the furniture's gone. An obnoxious man named Danny Culpepper, surrounded by four policemen who Jack recognizes as being in Knuckles' pocket. Culpepper's interests bought the building, and threw all of Jack's furniture and files in the Vancouver garbage dump. Jack tells him that he won't get away with it. Culpepper smiles and says he has a lot more work to do today. A few minutes later, at the Rocket Plant, Crusher is shaking off the effects of the previous night's bout when Culpepper comes in and announces that the Rocket Plant is closed and that everyone who works there has to look for a new job. Dunsmuir and Quellar are outraged. Culpepper reveals that when Dunsmuir was kidnapped by Knuckles, control of his empire temporarily went to Dunsmuir's right hand man, a brilliant financier named Ian Taylor. Taylor signed a short-term $120 million loan, using Dunsmuir's properties and industries as collateral. Taylor then embezzled the money for the loan, so there was nothing to pay back. An American syndicate bought the loan, so now they're confiscating all of the Rocket Plant. Quellar points out that the rocket packs are the property of the Canadian Department of Defense. Culpepper smiles and says that because of the Canadian Rocket Brigade's "seemingly endless list of blunders", culminating in the theft of the Balaclava by Skymaster, the Canadian government was glad to shed itself of an "embarrassment". Then he turns to Quellar, and informs him that radio emissions from his house exceed national broadcast standards, and that he won't be allowed on his property until they're "thoroughly investigated". Enraged, Quellar shoots Culpepper and his crooked cop bodyguard and suspends them over a vat of acid. Culpepper threatens that he'll be sharing a cell with Knuckles Malone. Other police storm the plant and release them. Quellar threatens to blow up the rocket plant, then walks away. Dunsmuir still has enough pull to keep Quellar from being arrested. The Specialists converge at Quellar's house and discover that the house has been ransacked, and Mr. Newton's tank has been taken outside and dumped - had they not arrived when they did, Mr. Newton's brain fluid would have been completely drained from the tank and he'd be dead. Then Culpepper shows up and hands Billy a note from the US government; they've charged Billy $10,000 for the US Navy defense boat that Billy sold in Shanghai. Fortunately, Culpepper says, Billy had the means to repay the debt, being co-owner of a large piece of land in Alberta. It was unfortunate, Culpepper smiled, that Billy's mother and brothers had to be kicked off the family farm when they foreclosed on it. For the first time that anyone had ever seen him, Billy went berserk. He grabbed Culpepper by the throat, and began to squeeze the life out of him. Culpepper threatened to do worse things to Billy's family, but the threat didn't seem to register on the berserk Rocket Man. Fortunately, the police and Crusher barely manage to wrench him off the sleazy financier. Examining the contract, Dunsmuir finds a loophole. There's a forty-eight hour grace period after notification by which the loan can be repaid with interest. All Dunsmuir needs to do is to raise $120 million dollars in two days, and the rocket plant (and his fortune) will be returned. Dunsmuir needs to find Taylor to return the embezzled money - and he needs to prevent the Rocket Plant from being dismantled and shipped away to Culpepper's backers. Rimi investigates Culpepper, who's reopened the Bar and the Hotel Europa and is making it his haunts. She infiltrates the casino and finds several known assassins in residence, including the Darques twins, a pair of separated Siamese twins with reputed psychic abilities. She avoids contact with them, and overhears Culpepper talking with someone he calls "Senator", and that the plan "is going perfectly". She follows Culpepper out of the club and tracks him down to the warehouse where the plant equipment is being stored. It's near the US border, and clearly going to be shipped stateside. That evening, the Specialists, a squad of Rocket Men, and a vengeful Mr. Newton in the "Newtonmobile" (a rigged truck with a snowplow) hit the plant to recover as much of the rocket equipment as possible. The plan goes perfectly, and the night shift surrenders without firing a shot, except for a sniper who draws a bead on Quellar - and then collapses with a crossbow bolt in his back. Jack tries to track down Ian Taylor, and discovers he's addicted to the ponies. He didn't have gambling debts - in fact, Taylor was such an intuitive genius at probability schemes that he regularly won big at the track. But he did have a favorite pony: "Willie B. Victorious" and Jack figured he'd show up at the Lansdown Stakes, a big race in which the horse was running. That hunch turned out to be correct. Quellar sat down next to the disguised Taylor, who recognized him and tried to run away. Quellar tripped him, and Taylor fell to the bottom of the grandstand. The Rocket Men scooped him up and escorted him to Red Walker's apartment - as Red's someone who's not associated with the Specialists, they figure it's a safe place. Another sniper tries to take a shot at Taylor but once again the Wraith intervenes and the sniper goes down before he can strike the target. Taylor is not cooperative. Jack determines that months ago, Taylor used his talents at analysis to make a comprehensive study of the world's political situation. According to his calculations, all of Europe's major governments except for Britain would be taken over by Mussolini-style military dictatorships within the next 8-12 years, which would form an alliance with a newly invigorated Japan to take over Russia. A second Great War would be the result of this aggression. He figured the only hope for democracy against this fascist alliance would be America's industrial might producing fleets of Rocket Men - according to Taylor's calculations, Canada was too small to produce enough rocket packs and qualified pilots to save the world. Taylor made alliances with several US banks, Baldwin Aviation (a rising American aeronautics firm), and their patron in the US Senate, Indiana junior senator Wayne Garnett, an American WW1 air ace and father of Billy's old boxing archenemy. Diamond Ted Garnett! Dunsmuir mutters that he can't wait for the Hoover administration to get kcked out of office. Jack is actually sympathetic to Taylor's goal, if not his means –he certainly believes that another Great War should be avoided at all costs–, but Dunsmuir doesn't take betrayal well, and Billy, enraged at what was done to his family, is almost unhinged. He intimidates Taylor into cooperating with the Specialists. Jack sighs, but counts the money he won at the track betting on Willie B. Victorious. Culpepper is outraged by the attack on the warehouse and confronts Dunsmuir. He's not expecting to discover that Billy and Crusher push away the crooked cops while Rimi injects Culpepper with Dr. Quellar's "longevity formula", actually a powerful hallucinogen. When Culpepper begins to act irrationally, Dunsmuir calls men in white coats to have him committed. With Dunsmuir's restored fortune, he can afford to bribe the asylum attendees to keep Culpepper committted –he reckons that Culpepper's dearly earned revenge. Quellar mentions that he'd like to do something similar to a certain Senator from Indiana… The only real loose end is Billy's family, who still ended up losing the family farm. The Deightons move to a mining town north of Vancouver, though not before they pay a visit, and Crusher gets to be terrorized by a pair of Billy-sized 19-year old twins. Skymaster and his newly acquired sky fortress strikes for the first time since the Balaclava was captured, raiding timber stocks from Port Alice, a mill town on the northern tip of Vancouver Island. Billy, who once worked there as a lumberjack, tells the group that the archvillain now has the raw materials to build the superstructure of dozens of planes… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheQuestionMan Posted April 10, 2006 Report Share Posted April 10, 2006 Re: Billy Deighton ROFLOL, your idea of a quick update and mine are totally different. Nice work QM P.S.: How is CotN5ER Coming Along? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GestaltBennie Posted April 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 Re: Billy Deighton ROFLOL, your idea of a quick update and mine are totally different. Nice work QM P.S.: How is CotN5ER Coming Along? I've giot one big assignment to do before I start on CotN5, plus there's the possibility of eye surgery. I won't be starting work on the book until September. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheQuestionMan Posted April 11, 2006 Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 Re: Billy Deighton I've giot one big assignment to do before I start on CotN5' date=' plus there's the possibility of eye surgery. I won't be starting work on the book until September.[/quote'] Take good care of yourself Scott. Stay healthy. QM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GestaltBennie Posted April 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2006 Re: Billy Deighton Episode: 23: “Terror in the Trenches!†At the Vancouver garbage dump, the policemen who had previously been helping Culpepper were now engaged in a search… they’d been ordered to recover every piece from Jack Roscoe’s office, which they’d dumped on Culpepper’s orders. “Can’t seem to find your desk,†one of the cops said. “It’s getting kinda late.†“So’s your career.†Jack replied. Meanwhile, Michael Dunsmuir bought the newly constructed Imperial Building in downtown Vancouver and moved the team’s installations. This recently completed $2.2 million skyscraper would now be a secure home to the Specialists following the Culpepper incident, which demonstrated the vulnerability of separate operations centers. Their acting careers in limbo, Rimi returned to her career as a cigarette girl at the Pharaoh's Club, while Billy tried to find work as a pilot. Crusher went back to work at the Rocket plant, which finally reopened. The day also arrived that Jack dreaded most – his appearance on Gilbert Godfried's "Psychic Radio Hour". “I have a special guest, Mr. Jack Roscoe," Godfried introduced. "Psychic and detective working with the police and Sir Michael Dunsmuir. Let's talk about your abilities. You were born with these abilities?†“Yes," Jack explained. "But I could only do a few parlor tricks – tell people what cards they were holding, and so on– until the war.†“You had a traumatic incident?†"I don't remember it." Godfried introduced Dr. Zimmerman… past life regression, hypnosis and memory loss. "How would you like to remember those events?" he asked. “No thank you," Jack said. "God gave me these abilities.,, I don’t want to mess with them." Dr. Zimmerman smiled sagely. "I understand the delicate balance of the mind… this is a clinical investigation," he said. "But I would be honored to investigate and discover how these events can bring about psychic revelation.†Jack agreed to do it, with reservations. “Just consider this a parlor trick, Just imagine yourself in your favorite chair, even if the police still haven’t found it yet." he said with a smile. A few seconds later. Jack lost consciousness… The year was 1916, and the battle of Ypres, one of the most terrible conflicts of a terrible war, was fully engaged. Jack Roscoe, coughing blood from the effects of German gas attack, was being tended by several soldiers, including a downed pilot named Biscuit Jack Deighton. Deighton, a French soldier named Romeo Lafleur, and several others, caught sight of a German soldier in the trench. Immediately, they went in pursuit of him. Lafleur and Deighton heard the sound of screams as some thing ripped the soldier apart. Investigating, they found pieces of the dead, eviscerated soldier, and a small, soft earthen tunnel in the side of the trench, its walls clawed as if it had been dug by a giant mole. A second scream rang out, as a second soldier was eviscerated. Deighton suggested they regroup in strength, so they headed back to Roscoe. Roscoe, who had command in the situation, decided to investigate the tunnel. On the way, they found the disembowled bodies of Allied soldiers, whose bodies had been partially eaten. Whatever it was, the creature had a taste for human flesh. Deighton speculated that the Germans were breeding some sort of attack wolf –or were engaging in the supernatural. Jack figured the creature could be found down the tunnel. Roscoe managed to make his was to the tunnel, and, ordering them to fix bayonets, they proceeded down the shaft. The tunnel led into a small cavern, located deep under the Allied lines, which was filled with explosives. Hundreds of tons of TNT filled the chamber. “There’s enough here to blow up my wife,†Lafleur said. Daniel, a fourth soldier, checked out a tunnel that led to the German lines. He found partially devoured German bodies –the creature wasn't selective and returned to the cavern, only to be jumped by the creature. He too was eviscerated. Lafleur charged ahead and came face to face with a deformed man, a huge naked canid like a hairless werewolf. He wore a German helmet –whatever it was, it was once a German soldier. With two quick blows from the beast, Lafleur was gutted, dead. Fortunately, the beast had not noticed the approach of Biscuit Jack Deighton, who had a clear shot at its back. The shot wounded the creature enough that it slumped to the ground. Deighton rolled it over, but the sight of its body was so horrifying that he froze. Jack managed to finish it off with a pistol shot. They emerged from the trench as the battle was carried to the forest. Roscoe was still seriously injured from the effects of the gas, and Deighton looked to take him to a medic. They heard a whining sound, and an exploding shell landed near their position. Comes out. Shell knocks out Jack, Roscoe is semi-conscious. He sees a white light. Two men, one with an American accent (an oddity, as the Americans hadn't joined the war yet), came over to him. “He’s seen too much,†one man said. “Should we finish him off?" the other man asked. “No, he’s finished.†The first man affirmed. Jack woke up with a start. Meanwhile, over at the Rocket Plant, Crusher heard what sounded like hay bales landing on the top of the plant. Sneaking his way to the roof, he spotted squads of men jumping from a huge, silent,V-shaped aircraft, using special bubble suits to absorb the impact of the fall. Crusher ran down and placed a call to warn Quellar that the Rocket Plant was under attack. Rimi was working at the Pharaoh's Club when four Asian males and an Asian female walk into the club. She's a very familiar Asian woman. A disguised Rimi is forced to sell a $5 cigar to her archenemy. They announce that the Rocket Plant is under attack, and Rimi slips away before a confrontation takes place. The Sky Pirates crash through a skylight and rappelled down ropes into the factory. Crusher, jumping from a catwalk, tackles two Sky Pirates. Unfortunately, when he hits the ground, another Sky Pirate shoots him in the head, Crusher goes down immediately. Billy's trying (unsuccessfully) to get into another nightclub when he hears the news. The Rocket Man goes to his car and immediately drives to the plant. He spots Quellar's gyrocopter in the distance –being shot down by some sort of missile. Billy grabs his rocket pack from the back of his car and takes off. He finds Quellar barely conscious at the crash site, but a cursory examination shows his life is not in immediate danger. He heads to the Rocket Plant, where he's attacked by the V-shaped craft. Dodging a stream of bullets from its tailgunner, Billy takes a shot at the craft as it departs, but misses wildly. He doesn't have enough fuel to pursue. Entering the plant to refill his tank, he finds a badly injured Crusher. Billy quickly refuels, grabs the wrestler, and flies with him back to the hospital. "VCR-4 to Skymaster," an agent reported as he visually tracked the trail of the retreating Rocket Man. "We've completed our objective." "Excellent," Skymaster replied. "We'll send in the bombers." Jack, having recovered from his psychic flashback, arrived to find Rocket Men pulling survivors from the plant, and treating Dr. Quellar. "Where's Deighton… Price…" the scientist moaned. "We can still stop them, but I need a pilot..." Unfortunately, Jack heard a familiar sound overhead, and shouted at everyone to run from the area. The Sky Pirates were bombarding the plant. In seconds, everything is flamer and rubble, including the second skyship that Dunsmuir was building, the sister ship for the stolen Balaclava. One of the men pulled from the wreckage was a sky pirate, one of the agents Crusher had tackled. Roscoe does a psychic whammy on him and telepathically follows the V-shaped craft as it . They’ve built a shelter on two sides of a west coast valley. A couple of islands are used as fuel points. Beyond that, Roscoe can't identify the location. British Columbia is a big province, and there are many valleys on its 600 miles of coastline, most of which are uninhabited. The Sky Pirates, emboldened by their success, launch a series of raids along the West Coast of North America, from Oregon to Alaska, using the neutrally buoyant delta wings as the vanguard of their force. Woods, metals, fuel, even grain and cattle, are fodder for their thirst for materials –western Canada has become their stockyard. They also raided B.C.'s penitentiary, liberating one prisoner –Ian Taylor, Dunsmuir’s former financial advisor. Despite the cry in the press about the ineffectiveness of the Rocket Men, the gallant sky sentinels soldier on, and so do the Specialists. Billy's astonished when he receives his first pay cheque –$250 for his week's salary. He also discovers that Dunsmuir has relocated his family to a farm in the Fraser Valley. Dunsmuir's also been busy on the political front: he's trying to track down his enemies who enabled the transfer of Rocket Men technology to a foreign power (the States) and pursue charges of treason. Even so, the spirits of the Rocket Brigade are downcast, seeing that they have only a dozen or so rocket packs with which to fight the Sky Pirates. Quellar took the Specialists to a hidden warehouse and unveiled his secret weapon: the Aurora Mk-I, an advanced metal-skinned monowinged rocket plane armed with twin 10-mm cannons and exploding ammunition that could destroy most aircraft in a single hit. Billy's jaw dropped when he heard the craft's capabilities. "So this is the future of aviation," he said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GestaltBennie Posted May 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Re: Billy Deighton San Francisco, a few weeks after the Sky Pirates’ raid on the Vancouver Rocket Plant, the Specialists go to an aviation conference in San Francisco, hoping the high profile conference will draw a Sky Pirate attack It doesn’t, but a disgruntled engineer who was fired from Baldwin engineering (the same firm involved in the attempt to bring down the Dunsmuir financial empire) attacks the gathering by sealing the doors and windows and targeting the delegates with remote control miniature airplanes. “It’s raining bullets!†Jack exclaims. Dr. Quellar shields himself with his bullet-proof umbrella. The other specialists take out the planes. The Master Aviator, (as the engineer calls himself) announces that he is about to detonate a bomb. Rimi finds that a cardboard bomb exhibit conceals a real bomb, which is quickly deactivated. A man from Baldwin Aviation thanks the Specialists and tries to recruit Quellar. Our heroes respond by calling him a thief. “If you change your mind, take this,†the confused PR flack says, handing him a business card. Quellar takes the card and conspicuously places it between his own buttocks. Billy, Jack, and Crusher attend a fight at the Cow Palace between Max Baer and Billy’s old friend Gordie Linehart. Linehart is TKOed in the 11th round. Crusher notices a very wistful expression on Billy’s face during the fight --clearly the Rocket Man misses being in the ring. Determined to do real damage to Baldwin Aviation, Quellar and Rimi fly out to Baldwin Aviation’s Indiana HQ. In the dead of night, Quellar breaks into the office of Alexander Baldwin, the head of the company, and steals his fountain pen. This is Quellar’s idea of “real damageâ€. He also forges an order to return the stolen rocket packs to Canada. The heroes return to Vancouver, where Gilbert Smythe-Godfrey has a special guest on his radio show: Mai, a teenaged psychic girl from Japan. Mai claims that the the psychic masters of the Orient has had thousands of years to hone their psychic talents and that they were masters. “If I were to use my psychic powers to hunt someone down, no one could escape me,†Mai claims. Rimi suddenly decides to take a *much* lower profile. Back at the Specialists’ HQ, Billy is disgusted to discover that Kristina has redecorated his office to have “less clutter†and be “more space friendlyâ€, junking his trophies and boxing equipment. They get into a yelling match. Uncharacteristically, Kristina apologizes and brings Billy a cup of tea to calm his nerves. The Rocket Man sullenly drinks it and heads off into the streets. Kristina is upset that Billy was gone--the tea contains a love potion and Billy was supposed to stay behind and dote over her! Jack asks her where she’d gotten a love potion. “From Billy’s actress friend, Fay Dietrich,†Kristina explains, “She said it’d take the Presbyterian right out of him.†Kristina’s description of the woman matches the description of the Countess’s last known physical form. Quellar analyzes the tea for necrolytic properties, and finds it's derived from the neurochemicals produced by the Countess’s transformation. Mercifully, they’d have only a temporar4y effect, but while Billy is loose, he is vulnerable. Quellar speculates that Billy’s male hormones are probably running at ten times their normal level, furthermore, he’ll be producing pheromones that would accentuate male and female "tendencies". Jack receives a report that Billy has gotten into a fight with five lumberjacks at a bar. By the time they arrive there, Billy's gone, but clearly the Countess’s drug has had its effect. Everyone around Billy was out of control: women wanted to fawn over him, men wanted to fight him. Next, Crusher heard a report that Billy had gotten into a fight with a cop and had been thrown in jail. By the time he gets to the jail, someone has bailed him out. Rimi is working at the Pharaoh’s Club in disguise, when once again Yukio Aiko walked in, complete with entourage. Rimi tries to roll a hand grenade under Rimi’s table and blow her to pieces, but her wily rival notices it and rolls it back. Fortunately, Rimi has already left the area when it explodes. Unfortunately, she runs into a young teenaged girl and five large Japanese men in gangster suits. The young girl opens her mouth, and a dragon flies out of it and claws Rimi’s eyes. Blinded, the young adventurer is no match for the gangsters. Jack discovered that the man who had taken Billy is none other than Dante Lafleur, son of a man that Jack had served with in the Great War who’d been killed by a demon in the trenches. Dante had followed in his father’s footsteps as a mercenary and an adventurer, and Jack feared that he held Jack Deighton and himself responsible for his father’s death. Meanwhile, Crusher is facing “the Masked Bolshevik†in a wrestling match in downtown Vancouver. The Bolshevik deviates from the script by drugging Crusher and uses a wrist strap smothered in chloroform to put him unconscious, masking the sneaky move with a sleeper hold. Rimi wakes up to find herself on a boat. A man plays a phonograph for her: a it's a message from the Countess. The Countess announces that (like everyone else these days), she was going into radio. The first programme on “The Countess’s Mystery Theater†would be.... “The Mystery of the Disappearing Asian Girlâ€. She, not Aoki, had hired Mai, and was now about to ship her enemy to the South Seas, to be sold into slavery. “Not again,†Rimi sighed. “I hate that woman.†Jack receives a call from Dante Lafleur, who wants a showdown. He follows the Frenchmen into a cave. Dante seals the cave entrance with a triggered explosive. He says he’s not sure whether his father’s death was due to negligence or the will of God, so he’s set up as close a recreation as possible, trapping Billy and Jack (along with Crusher, Kristina, and himself as cannon fodder) with a werewolf. They manage to arm themselves and kill the werewolf. Dante declares his father’s death was the will of God, and calls off the vendetta. Billy, still driven by the hormonal brew, is an uncharacteristically bloodthirsty mood, but Jack manages to calm him down and allows Dante to leave. Perhaps now he can find peace (and you never know when a mercenary ally will come in handy. Rimi is rescued by the Wraith, who kills Mai with a crossbow bolt after her psychic powers failed to affect him. Rimi asks the Wraith to keep on the prowl after Aoki. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GestaltBennie Posted June 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2006 Re: Billy Deighton Over the skies of British Columbia, Skymaster's troops suffer a serious setback. Flying Quellar's experimental Aurora Mk-I, Billy Deighton and William Price mow down an entire squadron of Skymaster's best pilots as they perform a raid over Vancouver Island. The men land back in Vancouver and bask in their victory. Back at their HQ, Jack Roscoe receives a phone call from their old enemy, Dr. Quon-Loo, the head of the Black Dragon Society in Vancouver, goes on a rant: "My diabolical deeds are going unchecked!†he protests. "I have given you clue after clue as to sinister designs, and still you do nothing! I love to have intellectual challenges, but you are nothing! It is like fighting an unarmed man,†"What do you want?" Jack asked dismissively. "Today is my birthday," the oriental mastermind said. "And I'm bored! So I've poisoned you all! In twenty-four hours, you'll all be dead!" Jack doesn't take the threat seriously until his secretary starts to get sick. He gives a sample of the water to Quellar, who discovers a rare poison in it. He phones Scotland Yard and places a call to a famous inspector who was Quan-Loo's nemesis. He receives confirmation on Quon-Loo's M.O. -- and the deadliness of the poison. The Specialists head for the Yin Trading Company, the Black Dragon's old haunt in Chinatown, but the building's been wired with explosives. Two cops are killed in the resulting blast and several are taken to hospital. At the hospital, they encounter William Duke, Archbishop of Vancouver, who seems to have a gift of healing and insight into people's sins. He sees a blot on Billy's soul and tells him that he's committed "the Sin of Judas", the one unpardonable sin. Billy, confused, tells him that he's a redeemed Christian and that no outside force has the power to rob a person of Christ's gift of redemption. "Protestants!" Duke mutters. Duke learns of the Specialists' plight and asks to accompany them. Jack's psychic abilities have narrowed down the location of Quan-Loo to a place called Pocahontas Bay on Texiana Island, a source of the whiskey trade where Billy's uncle Alan runs a bar called "The Buckets of Blood". With Crusher at the helm, the team takes Price's yacht to the island. The archbishop asks to accompany them. The birthday party just happens to be taking place at a mansion which once belonged to Knuckles Malone. The Archbishop decides to knock on the door first, and is immediately captured. He spots one of his paritioners, a widowed British peer named the Lady Rose, sitting next to Quan-Loo. He chastizes her. “I am attending a birthday party.†Rose says defensively. “In a den of thieves?!†the archbishop asked. “Even thieves have birthdays,†Lady Rose replies. Quan-Loo pulls a lever on his throne and the archbishop falls down a pit that suddenly opens under him. Billy tries to sneak into the complex, gets spotted, and mows down the defenders with his tommy gun. Crusher and Price take out a pair of Vickers guns stationed on the roof. Guards pour out of the house, only to be shot down with ruthless efficiency by Billy and Jack. The Specialists storm the house. Quan-Loo is retreating, Billy hears the Archbishop in the pit and goes to the throne to find a button that releases the pit. The first button floods the room with poison darts, the second button deposits a live, hungry leopard on the floor, which Billy guns down ("I hope Kristina never finds out about this."), and the third button releases the trapdoor, Th archbishop is furious, and threatens to excommunicate everyone. They find a lab where the antidote is located,, and Quan-Loo is waiting for them. He insults Billy, and the Rocket Man stoically accepts the insults and bravado. The archbishop gets bored and throws a grenade, which he'd taken from a guard, at the mastermind. Quan-Loo laughs, pushes a button to lower a barrier between himself and the Specialists, and escapes. The team finds the antidote and successfully administers it. The encounter between Quan-Loo and the Specialists ends in a draw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GestaltBennie Posted June 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 Re: Billy Deighton Billy takes Jack to the Pharaoh's Club, "Jack, there's something wrong with me," the Rocket Man said, explaining what Archbishop Duke had seen in his soul. "I was alone and unconscious with the Countess. I'm wondering if she didn't get her hooks into me." Jack looked deep into Billy's soul - and Billy was suddenly forced to repress an urge to kill him. Jack looked into Billy's mind and saw the Countess had indeed compromised him. "Can't that Teutonic witch ever die?" the detective muttered. Jack pondered how to cure Billy of his affliction. Billy called for a telephone, phoned Dr. Quellar, and stoically asked him to perform the same surgery he'd done to "cure" Price. Billy calls Crusher, as if he turns on them, he figured that Crusher was the only one who could stop him. Jack, not wanting to see Billy lose his libido, phones the archbishop and (after mentioning that he'd have to return to the services of a rival priest) persuades him to come to Quellar's and perform an exorcism. The archbishop asks about the Countess. "If there was physical representation of the whore of Babylon, it's her," Jack said. Billy was about to be strapped to the chair when the archbishop arrives with a friendly protestant exorcist. When Billy recites a Latin phrase giving glory to Christ, the exorcist concludes he's not possessed. Quellar says the bishop's crazy and the only thing that ever made him consider the existence of the supernatural was Jack. "Sorry," Jack replies. Quellar adds that this was before he concluded that Jack's psychic abilities were actually supergenius deductions made on a subconscious level. Jack rolls his eyes and says nothing. However the archbishop, incensed at Quellar's disbelief and determined to prove the power of the Church, begins phoning contacts. Neither the Vatican nor the Inquisition would be able to help him. Ominously, the bishop from the Inquisition who spoke with Duke says: "Coming, Countess" at the conclusion of the conversation. Billy tries to break free. Crusher tries to stop him, and Billy begins to punch him out. Quellar catches him with a sticky grenade, then hits him with his "bug zapper". The hardy Rocket Man is still conscious, but a woozy Crusher finishes him off with a head butt. Billy, now back to his senses, decides to go through with the surgery. Quellar drills a hole in his skull and inserts a wire into the appropriate spot, lobotomizing his ability to feel passion. The team goes about their business when they receive a distress call from Dunsmuir in Victoria. The head of Baldwin aviation has descended on Dunsmuir's mansion, along with a pack of hired goons. Quellar puts the pen he stole from Baldwin in a safe. Billy uses Quellar's plane to fly the Specialists across Georgia Strait and land at Dunsmuir's. The archbishop, still concerned with Billy's moral state, decides to tag along. They arrive to hear Dunsmuir arguing with a man in another room, a loudmouth with a midwestern vocal; inflection. Dunsmuir's butler is outraged; one of Baldwin's goons is in the drawing room, smoking one of Dunsmuir's cigars. After he's repeatedly told to put it out, Billy grabs at the cigar. The man somehow anticipates Billy's move and Billy ends up fumbling like a stumblebum and crashes into Dunsmuir's furniture. The man puts the cigar out in the palm of his hand. Billy gets up, and despite the man's insults, responds only with an evil stare. This response isn't good enough for the archbishop, who gets into an insult match with the lout. The lout tells him that they'll take it outside. The archbishop agrees to a fight, to the surprise of the Specialists. The archbishop, who was thinking "duel" and not "back alley brawl", takes a sword from Dunsmuir's collection, The lout says he doesn't need a sword and sucker punches the priest in the groin. The archbishop responds by thrusting his blade into the same location on his opponent. The man growls, and smashes him square in the face with his fist. There's a sick cracking sound, and the archbishop goes down like a sack of potatoes. Billy steps between them to stop any further damage, but the archbishop's already out cold. The goon staggers away. Crusher offers to take him to a hospital. "Don't be a dead tough guy." "I'm an American," the man declares proudly. "Don't be a stupid tough guy," Crusher replies unkindly. Roscoe tells a long story on how RCMP frontier officer Sam Steele handled Americans during the time of the Yukon Gold Rush. The stranger is decidedly uninterested in learning about Canadian history. Several men come up to Jack and take the Specialists to task. They show badges that identify them as FBI. They're accompanying Baldwin for his protection. Because of Billy and Price's feats of daring-do in the Aurora Mk-I, Skymaster's stopped raiding Canada and has turned his attention to the United States. Because Canada lost the skyship Balaclava to Skymaster in the first place, they're too incompetent to carry the fight against the air villains, and that's putting America in danger. Baldwin wants Dunsmuir to surrender the Aurora Mk-I to the United States (namely, to his company) so America can defend itself against a Canadian-built threat. "Now calling us incompetent is just an insult," Billy said. "But they're right to be concerned about their security." "Then let them build their damn own rocket planes," Jack rplied. The man who was stabbed by Duke returns, walking as though he was never injured. Roscoe recognizes him as a two-fisted adventurer named Mark Derrrenger, from Hudson City. Derrenger, it seems, has the preternatural ability to anticipate an opponent's moves, and some odd regenerative abilities. He's part of a corps of American adventurers known as the Minutemen, along with a psychic detective from San Francisco known as Shamus, and a scientist named Doc Masterson, and a lot of agents. "Great," Jack moaned. "We're facing the American version of us." Dunsmuir emerges from his meeting with Baldwin with an angry expression on his face. He tells the Specialists they've got to move the planes, as he anticipates Baldwin's boys will make a move against them. The archbishop secretly contacts some Italian mobsters and persuades them to retaliate against the American consulate in Victoria. The men who are sent end up dead, with no apparent wounds on their bodies. The team returns to Vancouver, where they find themselves being tailed by Baldwin's men. The FBI agents are, unsurprisingly, fakes –Baldwin has no scruples about having his men impersonate G-Meen. They discover Derrenger is based in Port Angeles in Washington State; he blows up rumrunners for fun. Billy receives a late night phone call from the Countess. She asks him for the latest news. Thinking on his feet, he tells her that Quellar's working on a secret project and that he hasn't been able to uncover what it is, and that the Americans are interested in it. Hopefully, by keeping as close to the truth as possible, he'll be able to lure her into a trap. Jack gets a call from the morgue. One of Baldwin's agents was brought there, with a crossbow bolt lodged squarely in his back. Obviously, they tried to trail the Wraith. The man's armed with a strange pistol and an undershirt made of a strange material. The undershirt turns out to be something that protects people from the effects of the gun - an experimental death ray… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GestaltBennie Posted July 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2006 Re: Billy Deighton With the Specialists plagued by their American rivals, the Minutemen, Billy suggests that the team hire Dante Lafleur to back them up; the mercenary seemed genuinely penitent about his attempts to kill them, and would bring a bit of grit to the team to counter people like Mark Derringer. Jack agrees and contacts him. It appears that Dante is eager to atone for his sins, and not particularly fond of Americans. Meanwhile, Jack's brought in to investigate the murders of more prostitutes on Water Street ("You'd think they'd have found a safer location by now.") It looks as though they were grabbed and eaten by a sea monster that looked an awful lot like the monster that the team fought in the sub-basement of the now destroyed Yin Trading Company. Rimi, who's being brought up to speed about the last adventure, volunteers to serve as bait. Meanwhile in the waters off the coast of Washington State, Rimi's friend Whiskey Jack is aboard a rum-running ship when he hears the sound of a rocket pack. He goes on deck to see if it's Billy… and receives a boot in the face by a big blond man in a star-spangled rocket pack that knocks out his gold tooth. The boat is secured by the rest of the Minutemen, including a man in Wild West garb wielding two sawed-off shotguns and a creepy woman who seems to come out of nowhere and grab two sailors necks' from behind, snapping them with a casual display of strength. The man in Wild West gear frowns and bandages the survivors. The heroes get a call from a sailor friend, saying that Whiskey Jack has been kidnapped and is being held in prison in Point Roberts, a peninsula in Washington State. The Specialists plan a rescue. Jack phones the American authorities, only to get a lecture on the evils of rum-running and how Whiskey Jack deserves anything he gets. “I’m sorry you’re so intemperate about your temperance,” Jack replied, taking a swig from his canister. With the team's attempt at diplomacy an abject failure, a frontal assault is the next logical course of action. Quellar sets up a customized WW1 tank, the Groundhog, to guard the Auroras. The team, minus Crusher and Price but with Dante in tow, drives across the border, a "Welcome to the United States" sign the only barrier (those were simpler times). They drive along the edge of the docks and find Whiskey Jack's boat, complete with blood stains where the battle had taken place. The team goes to the local jail to search for him. A hound dog sits in front of the place: Billy feeds him some beef jerky. The team discovers the jailor's pretty much a bumpkin who just wants a quiet town. Jack hectors him on Whiskey Jack's neglected rights. “Habeas corpus?" the sheriff wonders. "I thought that you had to produce a body.” Whiskey Jack is being held at the local hotel. The team walks in, ready for a showdown. Rimi walks in first, and finds the Minutemen playing poker. She tries to buy a beer, but they ask for "real money". Rimi walks away in disgust. The Specialists walk in; Billy discovers the big blond man with the rocket pack is none other than Ted Garrett, Billy's boxing archrival and son of the US Senator who'd been pulling the strings in the downfall of Michael Dunsmuir. Garnett has his stolen rocket pack on the counter. The Minutemen laud Garnett's abilities as a "real rocket man", Jack responds by praising Billy. The two men glare at each other, but only share a few barbed words. Dante Lafleur tries to join a poker game. Doc Masterson, the western garbed guy, tells him that the game is full. While the teams trade quips, Rimi sneaks around the hotel and finds a set of stairs leading down to a cellar. Rimi invites Dante to investigate with him. They find a woman sitting demurely at a table. She says that her name is Amelia, and she wants to spend time alone with Dante. Rimi asks about Whiskey Jack. "He's doing a good impression of a masthead on the Sea Ranger." Amelia says. Dante is compelled to enter the room. Rimi is compelled to leave. Disturbed by her power, Rimi returns to the hotel, mentions the Sea Ranger, and fetches Jack to rescue Dante. “I certainly hope they’re not going down to the cellar," Doc Masterson says. "Not good for you or not good for them?" Jack asks. "Yes." Doc answers. Billy remains upstairs to keep an eye on the Minutemen while the rest of the Specialists extract Dante. Amelia is bending over a very pale Dante, who seems enraptured by her. She compels Jack to enter, while getting Rimi to leave. Jack shakes off the effects of her effects and attacks. Amelia is torn to ribbons, but goes berserk and just keeps coming. Finally, Billy comes down, drawn by the noise of shotguns and broken doors, and knocks her out, only to get cold-cocked by Mark Derringer, who hits him from behind. The Minutemen laugh. Billy gets up, and knowing where Whiskey Jack's being held, decides to look for an exit strategy. "It looks to me like my friends came down here and were attacked by a madwoman," he says. He grabs Dante. "We'll be leaving now." "Sure," Derringer smirks, and the Minutemen exalt in their triumph. They weren't interested in arresting the Specialists -- just in humiliating them. Jack snaps an angry comment about Derringer taking a cheap shot, but Billy just straightens himself and acknowledges that he saw the punch coming. Doc treats Dante for injuries. "You're playing with fire, having that woman around." "I know," Doc says grimly. The team searches the coast near Point Roberts finds Whiskey Jack tied to a boat's mast. They cut him down. Whiskey Jack absconds with the boat. The boat is well-stocked with steaks and champagne. "These Minutemen like to live well," Jack noted. "Nah," Billy replied. "This is meant for us. It's all part of the gloating." The team returns to Vancouver. Billy gets a call from the Countess, who still believes that he's under her control. She wants to make sure the Specialists are out of town when she raids their armory on Sunday evening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GestaltBennie Posted September 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2006 Re: Billy Deighton My aoologies for the lateness of this write-up; a recent deadline left me with little time for spare writing. We've gotten to an awkward place where we temporarily skipped the adventure that will conclude this story, and I'm running a 4-5 session string of scenarios. Be it as it may, Rocket Man Theater Proudly Presents... ---- The Specialists! This week's exciting adventure: “Mad Countesses and Clockwork Menl” Back at Dunsmuir's headquarters. Dr. Quellar and Newton debated the Sky Pirates' next move. There's a knock on the door. Jack, stirring groggily, answered it. "I have a goat for Dr. Quellar," the messenger said, bringing out a rather scraggily looking animal on a rope. Jack raised an eyebrow, but brought him into the HQ. "What's that?" Dante asked. “I’m the goat whisperer.” Jack replied, and he brought the creature to the door of Quellar's lab and rang the bell. “It’s not that damn bishop again?” Quellar asked. Archbishop Duke had been a frequent visitor to the office in recent days (he'd mentioned something about their souls being jeopardy). “No, it’s the goat you ordered.” Jack replied through the speakerphone. Quellar was pleased. “Are you going to eat it or are you going to sacrifice it?” Jack joked. “Yes…” Quellar replied. What might have been an interesting conversation was suddenly interrupted by Billy Deighton, who had excitedly driven to the HQ to share his revelation about the Countess's plans. A great deal of speculation about the target of the raid. There were just too many valuable targets in the armory to reliably guess which one the Countess wanted. The team agreed to divide their forces and watch each of level of the armory complex. A policeman from the local bomb squad came by and took away the goat. Quellar accompanied him, mercifully missing the arrival of Archbishop Duke by a few minutes. The bishop, grateful for their help at the mobster's mansion, decided to take the Specialists out for a night on the town at (where else) the Pharaoh's Club. Not wishing to disappoint his eminence, our heroes accompanied the eccentric prelate for an evening of drinks and dancing, only to run into their American rivals, the Minutemen, who had decided to attend the club that evening, as well as the Lady Rose. Billy did his best to ignore them, even though the sight of Ted Garnett, his old boxing rival, caused him to clench his fists. He went over to the bar and tried to chat up an attractive lady. Unfortunately for Billy, the combination of farmboy awkwardness and the removal of the "true love" centers of his brain doesn't help his pick-up lines. Worse, Ted Garnett decided to horn in and pick up the spare. Billy, taking rejection with a rigidity that was halfway between a stiff upper lip and constipation, withdraws, but Garnett taunted him: "That's always been your problem. You always gave up too soon." Billy almost bit his tongue. With a fighting expression on his handsome face, he turned to face his adversary. "Some of us have manners." "Sure!" Ted laughed. "You call them manners. I call them excuses!" An argument ensued. It might have gotten to be more than an argument, except the woman who was their quarry (who was now feeling quite ignored) sighed and pounded her hand on the bar. "I see you two are already engaged!” she snapped sarcastically, storming away, leaving Billy and an incredulous Ted (who was neither used to rejection nor sleeping alone) to wonder what they'd done wrong. Meanwhile, the other Specialists focused their attention on the suspected vampiress Amelia. Dante asks the bishop to examine her: to his horror, Archbishop Duke looked into her face, and perceived that she was clearly damned beyond redemption! Amelia, enjoying the notoriety that only comes when the archbishop of Vancouver publicly declares that he wants to burn you alive, laughed him away and attempted to seduce Dante. Dante barely snapped himself away from her entrancing clutches. Billy, not realizing that she was a mobster who was in league with their Chinese nemesis, the nefarious Quon-Loo, approached the Lady Rose's table and asked her to dance with him. "I'm Billy Deighton," he said. "I know who you are," the Lady Rose smiled. Things might have gotten interesting, but suddenly the archbishop interrupted them and told Billy to go back to his table. Duke wanted to hire Lady Rose and use her mob connections to kill Amelia, offering her a lifetime's indulgence. Amused, the Lay Rose agreed to the deal. As the evening wound down, the Minutemen left, packing themselves into a sedan. Jack, Dante and the archbishop decided to follow them. Sensing that they were being pursued, their American rivals abandon the car. Archbishop Duke started to smash it for no discernable reason. "I think I'll leave his psychoeminence to whatever malarky's causing this,” Jack said as he drove away, stranding the bishop in the middle of the wilderness. Meanwhile, over by Vancouver's docks, the monster that had plagued the waterfront grabbed the goat. Quellar pushed a button and triggered the goat's explosive collar. Good-bye monster. The Specialists gathered at the Rocket Brigade HQ, and after more discussion about the Countess's aims, moved into position. Dante stationed himself on the roof as a lookout, Jack remained on the ground floor, while Billy, anticipating that the Countess would only steal the most heavily guarded item, took sentry duty on the ground level, dressed in his rocket man regalia. Night came, and Dante spotted a number of tracked vehicles approach the armory. He rushed to a telephone wire that had been strung between levels. "They're here!" Dante said. The tracked vehicles crashed effortless through the gates and came to astop near the front doors. Suddenly several transport vehicles opened up, and out stepped a squad of robots, issuing out of the tanks with machine precision. The metal men gunned down a pair of rocket men that guarded the front doors and burst through the chained double doors at the front entrance. Jack recognized them as the Clockwork Men, creations of Dr. Quellar's archenemy from the Great War, the Clockmaker! Quickly the Rocket Men scrambled to defend the plant, only to be mown down by a merciless barrage of machine gun fire that shot out of the hands of the chrome-steel invaders. The Specialists felt helpless against their assault. Dante scrambled for position, while Jack waited for the right opening. Meanwhile Billy, still guarding the lowest section of the complex, when he was suddenly shot from behind in the leg by one of his own comrades! His partner on sentry duty, Sky Corporal Hutch, was under the Countess's spell! Billy retaliated with an expert shot that landed squarely in his traitorous comrade's gut. Hutch crawled to a control booth, but collapsed before he could do more damage. By this time, Henrietta, the Countess, Hanz, and a platoon of Gassengrifters had blasted their way into the bottom of the complex, accessing it through Quellar's hidden supply train, a secret spur line from the CPR Building in downtown Vancouver. Henrietta tapped into the communications line that the Specialist had set up before the operation and heard Dante and Jack frantically talking through the wires. "Auntie! Billy has betrayed you!" the all-too-clever girl declared. "No!" the Countess snapped. "He loves me!" Billy could almost detect a sliver of genuine emotion in her voice. The Countess's usual response to betrayal (or any form of setback) was rage, not denial. Billy, showing an unusual amount of stealth and guile, snuck his way into the German's transport. Now he could see that their only target was the Groundhog, a WW1 tank that Quellar had taken from the Clockmaker. Unbenownst to him, the Clockmaker had teamed up with the Countess to steal it back. Alone and heavily outgunned, Billy latched onto the undercarriage and waited for the perfect moment to foil their plan. Jack, similarly outgunned, prepared to do the same with the Clockwork Men above, when suddenly the homicidal automatons began to collapse too the ground. Someone was shooting them in a vulnerable spot, in the back of their heads. Jack turned around to see Doc Masterson, guns smoking, tip his hat at him. The Minutemen and the Specialists rallied. Jack climbed onto one of the tanks, opens a hatch, and discovered it’s being driven by a brain in a jar, much like Quellar's assistant, Mr. Newton. Amelia joined him and began rubbing against him. Jack recoiled. "Maybe if we could join together just once, we could get something done," he muttered. “Don’t you like women?” Amelia replied playfully. “If you don’t mind, I’ve been married once.” Jack replied. Meanwhile across town, Billy and the Groundhog were loaded into a ship. Billy immediately rocketed out of the vessel, dodging machine gun fire from the Countess's German henchmen fired at him. He phoned Quellar, who was astonished to hear of the presence of the Clockwork Men. The doctor realized that they had to sink the Countess's transport before it left Vancouver harbor, or else the Clockmaker would regain control of his machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GestaltBennie Posted October 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2006 Re: Billy Deighton A new Specialists Adventure! This week... "Target.... Countess!" In the wake of the attack by the Countess and the Clockwork Men on the Rocket Men's armory. Jack Roscoe climbed aboard the tank with Mark Derringer and Amelia of the Minutemen and discovered it was being driven by a brain in a tank! "This will not do…" a man with monocle-like glasses said, watching the scene through a pair of binoculars. He grabbed a radio control and pushed a button… Suddenly, Jack and Derringer both had a premonition that the tank would explode. They immediately leapt off the speeding vehicle, tumbling as they hit the ground. Amelia leapt down with cat-like precision. The tank exploded. The Clockmaker chose to destroy his creation rather than allow it to fall into enemy hands. Jack, brushing himself off, examined the wreckage. He had the distinct impression that he knew where it came from. Meanwhile, Billy watched as the Countess's ship sped out of the haror, He waited for the promised rocket planes to fly over and bomb it, but they never came. Unbenownst to him, Sky Marshall Montclair refused to bomb a ship flying an American flag and cause a major diplomatic incident. Next, the jaunty Rocket Man tried to contact Rimi and Crusher, and took a boat to scour the nearby inlets, hoping to find the Countess's boat. No luck. Jackand Dante, after searching the garage, decide to check out the Pharaoh's Club and see if anyone there had anyone had any clues to the Countess. Instead, he finds the Clockmaker sitting at a table. The two men sit down on either side of him. “It is good to meet to meet you, Mr. Roscoe," the villain smiled. "What can I do for you fine gentlemen?” Jack offered to buy information about the Countess. The Clockmaker shook his head. “I don’t sell information, I trade it.” “What do you want?” Jack asked. Predictably, the Clockmaker wanted the location of the Jade Emperor. “I don’t know where it is.” Jack protested. “I believe you have the ability to find it." The Clockmaker said. When Jack wondered why a man of science would believe in the occult, the Clockmaker declared that he believes in the supernatural, because his grandmother had the Gift. He began to talk about how the artifact must not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands, especially a group known as the Order, who'll stop at nothing to find it. “I will warn you now," the Clockmaker added, "I do not think Quellar is the one to possess it. He is unstable.” “Quellar?” Smiling, the Clockmaker offered to bring Jack into his organization. He told him –in exchange for Jack's promise that he'd investigate the Jade Emperor's whereabouts– that the Countess wants to use the mole machine to kidnap Dunsmuir in Victoria, and then take it to the United States. Once they've lain low in San Francisco for awhile, she and Henrietta plan to smuggle the groundhog back into Canada by train and use it to dig into Sumas Mountain to get back into the snake cult HQ. "There's something there that she wants," he explains. "And as additional proof of my goodwill, may I have your shoe?" Jack handed it to the Clockmaker. The villain removed the heel, revealing circuitry. It was a listening device. "Shamus," Jack said, realizing that the Minuteman detective had bugged his footwear –and probably the boots of everyone on the team. "Hey Shamus!" Jack snarled. "We’ll see you in San Francisco," he promised, stepping on the device Meanwhile. Dante made.a quick phone call to Dunsmuir in Victoria, which was interrupted by the sound of a commotion. The warning had come too late. Jack sighed and prepared to take his leave of the Clockmaker, who was expecting him to keep his end of the bargain. "So what's going on between you and Quellat?" he asked. “We were in love with the same woman.” The Clockmaker said. “Who wound up with the Betty?” Jack asked. “He had her killed.” The Clockmaker answered. "What?" Jack exclaimed. Jack returned to Headquarters and infomed the group about Dunsmuir's kidnapping and the Countess's plans. Billy figures that Henrietta wants to resurrect Nama in Dunsmuir’s body. This immediately sets off Crusher, who demands to join the expedition. Quellar shows off one of Skymaster's skywings, one of the neutrally buoyant craft that the aviation villain used in his raids. The Specialists could use that to catch the Countess in open water. Jack informed Quellar about his meeting with the Clockmaker and what the Clockmaker told him about his failed romance. "He'd see it that way," Quellar said. Quellar examined the listening device, and discovered it was the same technology that he'd given the Wraith for his listening bolts. "Baldwin!" he snarled, cursing the US aviation executive who'd stolen his rocket technology –obviously that wasn't the only thing he stole. But at least, Quellar boasted, he still had the fountain pen that he had stolen from Baldwin! The Specialists flew away to intercept the Countess, discovering them 100 miles off the coast, in international waters off Washington State. Billy strafed the ship, killing 10 sailors with expert, merciless precision with the powerful cannons that Quellar installed on the vehicle. He then landed the craft on the front deck with incredible ease. It was as though he were born to fly this ship. The Countess, Henrietta, and a troop of Gassengrifters poured out of the ship, a bound and gagged Dunsmuir in tow. A stand-off ensued. Billy pretended to still be under the Countess's control, but lit his rocket pack and grabbing Dunsmuir, carted him to the other side of the ship. The Countess pulled out a cannister. Jack shot it, and green gas came pouring out. Sarah Ann runs up to engage the Countess. Jack covers the Countess. Crusher rushed forward to tackle a horde of agents, Countess pulls another grenade. Jack shoots it again. It was a white phosphorus grenade. Sarah Ann climbed to the upper deck to fave the Countess. “You bitch, I promised your death and now I shall have it!” the undead heiress shouted, shooting Rimi in the chest. Six Gassengriffers go after Billy. Billy grabbed Dunsmuir again and flew him over his pursuers and back to the other end of the ship. He considered untying Dunsmuir, but wondered what would happen if he untied him and he turned out to be under the Countess's control. He left him on the far side of the ship, well away from the fighting. The Gassengrifters shot him anyways. Ooops! Meanwhile, Rimi tried to disarm Countess and failed. The Countess, augmented by necrolytic magic, laughed at her attempts to kill her and continued to shoot the ex-Japanese spy full of holes. Crusher was also surrounded and badly shot. Billy tried to use the rocket pack to gain an aerial advantage, but was also shot repeatedly. Finally, with Rimi dying in a pool of her own blood, and all but Jack badly wounded, Billy grabbed the Countess and flew out with her over the ocean. "Have a drink, your highness," he quipped, and he dropped her into the ocean. "Not again!" the Countess said, sinking like a stone." On the ship's bridge, Henrietta saw that development and frowned. “Captain, it’s time," she said. "But you can't be serious!" the Captain said. The little German girl drew a pistol, shot the captain dead, and flicked a switch. In the hold, the Groundhog made a large hole through the bottom hull of the ship. It descended downwards, reached the ocean floor, and continued to dig. The ship was engulfed by water. The Specialists rushed for the safety of the neutrally buoyant craft. While Jack fought to stop Rimi from bleeding to death, Billy made a rocket-pack assisted turn to get the aircraft pointed in the right direction. He then made an unbelievable takeoff and brouht the Specialists back to Vancouver, where Dr. Quellar mourned the loss of his trophy. "At least I still have Baldwin's pen," he said. Meanwhile, the mole machine, undaunted by ocean pressures or the fires of the earth's crust, continued to dig into the earth…. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GestaltBennie Posted November 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2007 Re: Billy Deighton The campaign's continued, but I haven't had time to do extensive write-ups on what's happened. In part because Chiba Bob has had to relocate across town and hasn't been able to GM. I've been filling in for him, but I've been reluctant to touch a lot of the main plots (the Jade Emperor, the Countess, the Lady Rose, etc,) Nonetheless, some of you folks might be interested in hearing what's happened since the last writeup so long ago, so here we go: The Specialists teamed up with their archrivals to defeat Skymaster and his Armada. Skymaster's raids were curtailed, and the stolen Balaclava hasn't been seen in a year. Skymaster had allied with Dr. Ohara, a Japanese sorcerer, in an attempt to gain control of a Haida nexus to the land of the dead. The Specialists defeated the plot, but Ohara, who had an ancestral grudge against the family which had founded Vancouver's Japantown, was far from finished. Determined to destroy everything his enemy had created, Ohara incited the Asian Exclusion League to violence, and Vancouver nearly tore itself apart. However, the Specialists managed to keep a lid on the situation and eventually, with the help of a mysterious crimefighter named the Ronin, they confronted Ohara at the Japanese war memorial in Stanley Park. Meant to commemorate the Japanese who died fighting for Canada in the Great War, Ohara used it as another spirit nexus. He summoned the ghosts of the war dead and tried to persuade them to wipe out the Japanese population of Vancouver, however Kando Rimi, managed to argue persuasively against this, and swore an oath to protect the city's nisei and issei population. This turned the ghosts against Ohara, who swallowed him up and sucked him into the memorial for all time. Crusher's purchase of the local wrestling promotion met a wrong turn as, Dr. Queller, tired of Crusher constantly being hypnotized and turned against the Specialists, performed surgery on him to make him immune to hypnosis -- which ended up nearly destroying his brain. Crusher wandered into the wilderness, where the spirits arranged for him to meet three opponents in the mythical Golden Ring, the arena of the Platonic ideal of wrestling. Crusher won the bouts, and was restored to full health. Reinvigorated by his exposure to perfect wrestling, the agreeable Quebecker left on a world tour and has become one of the biggest wrestling stars in the world. Kando Rimi fought a final battle against her enemy Yukio, only to discover it was an illusion planted in her mind by the Japanese psychic girl, Mai. Recently she's become more involved with the Wraith, who's become more active in Specialist affairs, and she's also concerned by the appearance of Major General Yoshiro's son, who's out to avenge his dad. Jack's life has largely been unchanged, except for the presence of his ex-wife, and by Sylvia Flute, the secretary of their old enemy Culpepper, who (having been freed from the sanitarium) is now running for the office of the mayor of Vancouver. Sylvia's revealed that Culpepper is a front for Baldwin aviation and Garnett Enterprises; if he becomes mayor, he'll arrange for sweetheart deals that will give the Specialists' American rivals control over much of the city's waterfront real estate and industrial parks. Knuckles was finally executed, only to be revived by the necrullytic process and its mysterious Egyptian doctor. Knuckles left the city to take control of the doctor's East Asian crime network. Knuckles left another necrullitic lieutenant behind to do his dirty work -- Dr. Hell, once Canada's leading criminal psychiatrist, now a necrullitic fiend who has been developing gasses that cause people to experience intense emotions. One of these gasses triggered a freak use of Jack's powers that mentally projected Jack and the Wraith into the nightmare world of 1947, where Canada was occupied by the armies of the Continental Republic, a fascist America that, under President Charles Lindbergh and Vice President Ted Garnett Sr., had allied with Japan and the Nazis. Jack learned that it was the murder of Billy's rival, Ted Garnett Jr., that had hardened a hatred of Canada in Ted Sr., leading him to found an anti-Canada movement that led to America's conquest of the entire North American continent in the Second World War. Armed with this knowledge, Jack prevented the Clockmaker from murdering Ted, which would have set off this terrible timeline. However, Dr. Hell is still at large, obsessed with destroying the Specialists, especially Jack Roscoe. The Wraith has been very active lately, fighting bizarre criminals like the Ghoul, the Tarantula Woman, and his archenemy, the Scream. His personal life was disrupted by an old army buddy who discovered his secret. Stealing the Wraith's suit as part of a scam, the phony Wraith was captured by Vancouver's criminal underworld, who held an auction to assorted parties for the right to kill him. Fortunately the Specialists freed the Wraith's friend and recovered the suit. Billy regained his boxing license and returned to the ring. His pugilism comeback has been successful, while (in the absence of Skymaster), the Rocket Brigade has been largely inactive. Billy finally got his long-awaited boxing rematch with Ted Garnett and beat him, however the arrogant American rocketeer accused Billy of cheating; in the ninth round, Ted was knocked down after he was distracted by a young girl who appeared at ringside - a girl who was a dead ringer for his long dead sister, Ivy Garnett. A Haida spirit elder has declared that the fate of the world depends on Billy and Ted being able to reconcile their differences and strike up a friendship, unfortunately their mutual dislike is extremely strong. Most recently, the Specialists received an SOS from their friend Kristina requesting help. A journey to Japan seems quite likely, however Dr. Hell on the loose, Culpepper may soon become mayor, and one of these days, a certain German countess is certain to reappear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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