Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

[NightStick]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

Not to be late, or slow, but...

running a weekly campaign brings back fond memmories!

 

Session one was superb!

 

Session two was even better!

 

The detail that you bring to life with the journal, only means that the actual events MUST have been spectacular!

 

[Edsel]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

Nice write-up. I am looking forward to the next one.

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

SESSION SUMMARY – SESSION THREE – “FALLEN ANGEL”

Starring: Barry as Powerhouse (AKA Rhonda Savage)

Brad as The Sentinel (AKA Justin Patrick)

Shawn as Cypher (AKA Jay Dietz)

Co-Starring: Nightwraith

James Roman

Wendy Connors

HCPD Sgt. Faith Padruski

Dr. Seth Goldman

Brown Sugar

Game Dates: 2000.28.JUL.2006 thru 0600.29.JUL.2006

Interlude Notes for 15 JUL 2006 thru 27 JUL 2006

1) The warehouse that Powerhouse and The Sentinel defended back on 14 JUL 2006 (Session One) was successfully robbed by latex-clad robbers wearing Goth face paint on 18 JUL 2006. The crew was led by a lady who affects a similar fighting style to the missing DarkAngel. The cowl and hair are the same, but the costume is both familiar and strange enough that no positive I.D. can be made. Video of the heist appears on www.hcvigilantes.org on 19 JUL 2006.

2) Rhonda Savage has been out of town for several days checking out several investment opportunities around the Northeastern U.S. and has been unable to sustain her normal crime-suppression patrols.

3) Justin Patrick’s work on his prototype computer processor has hit a snag, and he has been spending significantly more time and money on it than he originally estimated. This has curtailed his vigilante activities over the past two weeks.

4) A new crime-fighter called Cypher scores a major victory against the Sing Chun tong, breaking up a white slavery ring and rescuing two men, five women and four children from the flesh peddlers overseas. Several members of the Sing Chun are arrested after being incapacitated by Cypher.

Session Synopsis – [To those of you used to my artistic embellishments on these, I offer my sincere apologies. Due to time constraints, I’m just going to summarize here – I have a Fantasy Hero campaign to run on Sunday!]

Opening Scene – 2100 28 JUL 2006

James Roman is having a party to mix and mingle with other investors at the Berkley Grande Plaza Hotel Ballroom, and has invited Rhonda as his “companion” for the evening. An invitation also found Justin Patrick, who decided to attend with his favorite woman in the world, Wendy Connors. (Justin hopes that some wealthy investor will fund his continued development of next generation of computer processors.)

After an hour of being serenaded by a chamber group, dealing with a group of men who have patently ignored her (other than to run their gaze up and down her curves framed in a red silk dress) while talking to James, and watching beautifully-carved ice sculptures melt, Rhonda has had enough of the party and is politely making overtures to James about leaving. Justin is in roughly the same mood, having heard more ways to politely say “no” to his ideas and opportunity for investment in a single night than he has in a month of individual presentations.

Things heat up when Wendy corners Max Bishop, city councilman from Hudson City’s 65th ward (central Freetown) and begins to dress him up and down for his continued accusations of police corruption regarding enforcement of drug trafficking in his ward. (It is a fact – though not well known – that Max used to be a member of The Nubians gang when he was younger.) Wendy points out that those “hot tips” he has been handing the police via the press have been for dealers associated with The Overlords and The Warriors, who are competitors in the drug trade with The Nubians. Max responds hotly that there wouldn’t a drug problem in Freetown if the cops were honest. “Then these pushers would fear justice!” he shouts loud enough for the rest of the room to hear. “And they wouldn’t be poisoning the next generation of our youth with their vile candy!”

The crowd start shouting hostile responses and soon even Rhonda is swept up in the rage – as she drags her “companion” toward the shouting matches that are rapidly degenerating into a mob. James slaps her hard across the face to get her attention, and then slaps a handkerchief soaked in champagne across her mouth and nose while pointing toward the doors that lead to an outdoor balcony. Having regained her senses, Rhonda helps Justin corral Wendy and drag her to the fresh night air of Hudson City.

The shouting match turns into fisticuffs and then a genuine brawl as the four recover their composure. James explains his peculiar actions by saying he survived the toxic smoke of a cruise ship fire with the same tactic about two years ago. It is obvious that something is being added to the air of the ballroom as even waiters and security guards join the fray. The four discover a fire escape ladder next to the balcony and ascend to the roof to escape the melee. It is there where Justin discovers a misaligned air duct grill and finds a battery-powered atomizer in operation, pumping a mist from its reserve tank into the duct. Obviously, this is what is causing the problems and Justin wastes no time disabling it.

The atomizer is a common store-bought model, but the reserve tank has about a quarter inch of a golden-yellow fluid remaining. A tag attached to the machine reads “Just for you, James! -- Love, Kandi.” While James isn’t the only person with that name at the party, he was the one who paid for it. Trouble is, James doesn’t remember anyone named Kandi…

Scene Two – 2213 28 JUL 2006

Pursuing information about the wave of near-suicidal recklessness on the south side of the city over the past week, Cypher does some hunting on his Harley in the Forsyth district. His hunch is that a new drug may be responsible. He knows that all of the victims of their own idiocy so far have shaved their heads and covered up with dark-colored baseball caps or bandanas.

During his wanderings, he glimpses a group of three young men kicking out a panel of a wooden fence – and all of them appear to have recently shaven heads and are wearing ball caps. By the time the crime-fighter can get his ride parked and arrives at the hole in the fence, the men have climbed an elevated train trestle and are running toward an oncoming commuter train making chicken noises and flapping their arms.

Cypher wastes no time, quickly ascending the trestle and running to catch up with the idiots on the tracks. He grabs each of the first two as he reaches them and tosses them onto rooftops below the tracks (the only option besides letting them fall 20’ to the streets). He grabs the last with barely a second to spare and jumps with him to a roof 10’ below the tracks as the train roars by above. The man is knocked senseless by the impact, but is otherwise unhurt.

After regaining his breath, the crime-fighter searches the man’s pockets, finding three small sections of soda straw which have been crimped at both ends. Although they are empty, he notices traces of a golden-yellow powder in each. He pockets the evidence, noting the mottled appearance of the man’s scalp and the yellow stains on the inside of his cap…

Scene Three – 2249 28 JUL 2006

[brad had to leave the session early and will not be back next week]

Justin begs off crime-fighting tonight, citing his workload and concern about lingering effects of the aerosol contaminant on Wendy, leaving Powerhouse to continue on her own. Once at the base under the Cherry Grove Pet Cemetery mausoleum, she makes a call to Flashman Jackson. The Flashman says the new drug is something strange called Pixie; it is being sold in pieces of plastic soda straw; and the Nubians are dealing it.

Armed with the new information, Powerhouse dons another plastic raincoat and cheap wrap-around shades, then boards the EL heading for known Nubian turf in The Numbers. On the ride over, she stares down the punks on train after deforming a metal handgrip with her superhuman strength. They decide there are easier pickings somewhere else.

Powerhouse draws stares, catcalls and curses as she walks away from Parsons Station. Her booted feet hammering the pavement as she strides in search of a dealer, she is surprised when another set of platform shoes fall into step with hers. The lady’s name is Brown Sugar and she sports a retro 70’s look that includes a genuine article afro hairdo, silver spandex disco pants with bell bottoms and a matching bandeau top with a transparent plastic jacket and 4” platform shoes.

[brown Sugar, while not a crime-fighter or vigilante, is a sort of “Robin Hood of the Projects” doing what she can to help people while still making a buck or two in the process.]

After giving Brown Sugar a quick rundown of what’s been happening, Powerhouse is instructed to wait in a nearby alley while her confidant makes the Pixie purchase with the crime-fighter’s Shamrock. Brown Sugar quickly returns with three straws of Pixie and a ten-year-old kid who was a lookout for the buyer. “Figured you wanted information,” says Sugar as she dumps the kid at the heroine’s feet, “and it’s a good thing I made the buy because those hoodlums were just looking for trouble tonight.”

Powerhouse decides to play the kid straight, and crouches down to look less intimidating. [i allow characters to creatively use skills occasionally – here, Barry made an Acting roll mingled with a PRE attack at standard effect to “coax” the information from the kid.] Powerhouse quickly learns that the Nubians are getting their Pixie from a supplier in Forsyth named Kandi Cain, though the kid doesn’t know where. “She’s crazy, so even the warlords are scared of her,” he says, “They say she has a fallen angel working for her. I don’t believe it, but they do.” After thanking the kid for his help (by giving him a Shamrock) and sending him on his way, Brown Sugar and Powerhouse part ways…

Scene Four – 0026 29 JUL 2006

Cypher follows up information he coerces from one of the junkies from the train trestle, looking for a Nubian dealer in The Numbers. He has cruised the streets here for nearly two hours (in costume) and had no luck. He’s about to give up when he happens to catch a glimpse of Brown Sugar and Powerhouse leaving the alley together. He’s heard of both of these women, but knows that Powerhouse is the crime-fighter, and quickly confronts her with the information he’s learned.

Fortunately, Powerhouse is well aware of Cypher’s recent past, and also desperately needs quick ride out of here. An accord is quickly struck and information exchanged while the two motor into the Forsyth district on Cypher’s Harley. [Good thing he didn’t want a soft tail!] The initial plan is to stakeout various routes into and out of the district, looking for Nubians who are returning to buy more Pixie. Cypher points out that any operation with this much money involved will have their own lookouts as well, but Powerhouse is confident she can solve that problem, should it occur. [Powerhouse has PSY: Overconfidence, by the way.]

The pair parks the motorcycle in an alley near one of the choice stakeout locations, only to find that it is already occupied by the woman who led the raid on the warehouse last week! Cypher drops his jaw as Powerhouse easily pulls up a manhole cover and hurls it at the figure on the roofline across the street. The rumors about her superhuman strength are true! Unfortunately, the figure easily side-steps the attack (which takes out a 3’ section of the building’s facing). The figure jumps easily down to the street from the roof a three-story building and the battle is joined.

The battle is swift and vicious, but also strange. The woman in black keeps mumbling heroic lines such as “drop the gun” and “I don’t want to hurt you” as the fight continues, but there is no force behind the words. The figure is a wraith of the night, landing barely effective punches on the two with inhuman speed, but avoiding their attacks far more effectively. A particularly vicious spin kick nearly puts Cypher on his seat, and something clicks with what the kid said to Powerhouse. That kick is a trademark move DarkAngel, so this Kandi Cane’s “fallen angel!”

Acting quickly, Powerhouse grabs the woman, shouting “DarkAngel” at her repeatedly. The woman struggles for a moment and then wails a broken cry that gives the unspeakable horrors of chemo-psychological conditioning a voice. Shuddering in the grip of the crime-fighter she collapses into a mound of pain and drug-induced tremors.

Acting quickly, Cypher jimmies open a late-model parked car and Powerhouse snaps the lock tumbler on the column to beat a fast retreat from the scene with DarkAngel in the back seat. Cypher pauses only long enough to retrieve his motorcycle, and then the three are en route to the secret base in Pierpoint. [Admittedly, it was a bit of metagaming here, knowing that Cypher was a player-character, to let him in on the secret so soon, but there was little choice for Powerhouse as DarkAngel could be dying for all she knew at the time.]

Scene Five – 0107 29 JUL 2006

Cypher sweeps a buffet table clean and locates the medical crash bag Powerhouse has stowed in the base while the heroine starts treating DarkAngel for shock, removing the bodysuit and cowl in the process. Soon, using a pirated wi-fi connection to the internet, Cypher surfs medical websites (and a couple medical databases Powerhouse knows about) to determine that they’re in over their heads and DarkAngel is dying.

In desperation, Powerhouse calls HCPD Sgt. Faith Padruski, begging for medical help that will preserve DarkAngel’s identity. [Nobody here knows who she really is, so it’s okay for the moment.] Faith knows an old family friend who can help, and it is quickly worked out how to get the pair there without revealing the location of the base. As an afterthought, Powerhouse asks Faith to bring a spare set of sweats with her so DarkAngel will have something to wear.

Soon, Faith and Dr. Seth Goldman are in the subterranean base, and the aging doctor quickly gets to work stabilizing and treating the ailing heroine. Dr. Goldman has done extensive work treating drug overdose cases in the past, and quickly recognizes that the woman is suffering from atropine poisoning as fallout from whatever she was being injected with to keep her under Kandi Cain’s control. Fortunately, the good doctor has just what the woman needs and soon the color is returning to her cheeks. Advising rest and warning both Powerhouse and Cypher that his patient will have extreme sensitivity to heat and cold for a few days, the doctor and Faith are escorted out (blindfolded, as they entered) with many thanks.

While Powerhouse is returning their helpers to their car, Cypher overhears DarkAngel murmuring something about “Fill ‘er up, Paul” and “rotate the tires.” Thinking it over, he decides to search for an auto service business with Paul in the title. He gets lucky when he stumbles over an outdated entry at www.switchboard.com [this site is real, though the listing isn’t] for “Paul’s Gas & Auto Service” at the corner of Hobbs St. & Burns Ave. in Forsyth.

“Gotcha!” he growls as he waits for Powerhouse to return…

Scene Six – 0241 29 JUL 2006

After dropping off Faith and Dr. Goldman, Powerhouse takes a moment to call James Roman, and finds he is not answering the phone. Knowing that a phone would wake him up from past experience together, she decides to swing by his apartment before she returns to watch over DarkAngel’s recovery.

When she arrives, she discovers that his apartment door has been forced and she hustles inside. In the master bedroom, she finds him in bed, but barely breathing with a handkerchief in his hand. She smells something medicinal in the air, and it takes all her strength to resist the gas being released into the room as she hauls James clear and out to the balcony. Taking in fresh air, she takes a deep breath and searches the room, finding a small plug-in air freshener that looks home-built. She removes the item, tosses it into a sealing baggie in the kitchenette and then tosses the bag into the freezer before returning to the patio for more fresh air. Once she recovers, she dials 911 for James. An ambulance ride later, she finds out that her quick action has saved James’ life, though he will need a few days in the hospital to recover completely.

During this time, Rhonda discovers she has strong feelings for James and a growing hatred for Kandi Cane. She drives back to the base with a certainty that Kandi is going to have a lot to answer for when the Powerhouse catches up with her…

Scene Seven – 0530 29 JUL 2006

DarkAngel awakes and our heroes fill her in on all that has happened since she disappeared on June 27th. The heroine explains that she bumbled into one of Kandi’s booby traps in Forsyth investigating a rumor that the West Coast villainess was in town. “After that, it was mostly a blur,” she says while shivering in her blanket and sweats. Cypher points out that DarkAngel’s personal information and secret identity has probably been compromised, and advises her to lay low until Kandi has been “dealt with.” Powerhouse agrees, and rents a nice motel room for the heroine for a few days, advising her to rest and only take room service until further notice.

Cypher shares what he gained from DarkAngel’s murmurings, and Powerhouse decides it must be Kandi’s lab for Pixie. The session closes with the two formulating plans on how to take it down.

SESSION NOTES

When I finally let these characters spend some of their well-earned XP, they’ll have a lot of things to apply it to – more contacts, vehicles and the base, of course.

Brad will be unable to attend next week, but Shawn will be there, as will Barry.

Admittedly, all we have of this adventure is the final battle with Kandi Cane, but I’ll redesign the ending so there will be a bit more to it than just taking down the lab.

Jay Dietz is a party DJ who occasionally supplements his income by working as an unlicensed detective and as a hero for hire. That business in Chinatown was a contract job for Cleopatra who had a couple of employees disappear.

FUTURE PLOT ELEMENTS

Introduced Brown Sugar and Dr. Goldman – they’ll probably be back in the future.

James Roman will be taking some time to recover from his brush with death – will the fact that Rhonda saved his life make the difference to the renowned Romeo?

OVERALL SELF-EVALUATION

Admittedly, it was a crazy session with interruptions galore, but the adventure went more or less as planned, even with the last-minute addition of another player and the abrupt exit of an established player. The introduction amongst the vigilantes went very well, though The Sentinel will probably be upset that their little duo has become a foursome…

-- Matt Frisbee 0326 29 JUL 2006

[Edsel]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

Good to see session three. I'll print it out and read it tonight instead of my usual bedtime fare.

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

Knightshift Stories Character – Cypher

 

VL..CHAR..PT

15..STR...05

20..DEX...30

18..CON...16

13..BODY..06

18..INT...08

14..EGO...08

20..PRE...10

12..COM...01

08..PD....05

08..ED....04

04..SPD...10

07..REC...00

36..END...00

35..STUN..05

COST.....108

 

POWERS

PT..POWER (DESCRIPTION)

18..8D6 EB: M1911 PISTOL WITH RUBBER BULLETS. OAF, 2 C OF 7 SHOTS EACH.

05..A SECOND M1911 PISTOL WITH RUBBER BULLETS.

08..3D6 NND EB: MICRO-TASER (INSULATED ED IS DEFENSE). OAF, NO RANGE, BEAM ATTACK, 4 CHARGES.

04..+2” RUNNING (8” TOTAL, 16” NC) END=1/5”

05..+5” SUPERLEAP (8” TOTAL, 16” NC) END=1+STR

12..6 PD / 6 ED ARMORED TRENCHCOAT. OIF.

10..HARLEY DAVIDSON MOTORCYCLE (STATS IN EYE FOR AN EYE)

 

62..POWERS COST

 

TALENTS & PERKS

PT..TALENT/PERK

03..SCHOLAR

 

03..TALENTS & PERKS COST

 

MARTIAL ARTS – DIRTY INFIGHTING

PT..MANEUVER (DESCRIPTION)

04..PUNCH (+0 OCV, +2 DCV, 6D6)

05..ROUNDHOUSE (-2 OCV, +1 DCV, 8D6)

04..LOW BLOW (-1 OCV, +1 DCV, 2D6+2 NND)

04..DISARM (-1 OCV, +1 DCV)

04..KIDNEY BLOW (-2 OCV, +0 DCV, 1D6+1 HKA)

04..+1 DC WITH DIRTY INFIGHTING

 

25..MARTIAL ARTS COST

 

SKILLS

PT..SKILL

05..BREAKFALL 14-

04..CK: HUDSONCITY 14-

05..CLIMBING 14-

05..COMBAT DRIVING (MOTORCYCLE) 14-

08..CSL: +1 WITH ALL COMBAT

03..COMPUTER PROGRAMMING 13-

05..CONCEALMENT 14-

03..CONVERSATION 13-

05..CRIMINOLOGY 14-

03..CRYPTOGRAPHY 13-

05..DEDUCTION 14-

09..DISGUISE 14-

03..INTERROGATION 13-

02..KS: CLASSICAL MUSIC 13-

02..KS: HUDSON CITY UNDERWORLD 13-

02..KS: ORGANIZED CRIME 13-

02..KS: POPULAR MUSIC 13-

01..LIP READING 8-

03..LOCKPICKING 13-

03..PERSUASION 13-

02..PS: PARTY DJ

03..SCI: CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY 13-

03..SCI: PSYCHOLOGY 13-

03..SECURITY SYSTEMS 13-

05..SHADOWING 12-

03..STEALTH 13-

03..STREETWISE 13-

02..WF: SMALL ARMS

 

102.SKILLS COST

 

192..POWERS, TALENTS, PERKS & SKILS COST

108..CHARACTERISTICS COST

300..TOTAL COST

200 BASE POINTS + DISADVANTAGES

PT..DISADVANTAGE

15..HUNTED BY SING CHUN TONG (8-) (AP, NCI)

20..NORMAL CHARACTERISTICS MAXIMA

20..PSY: DEDICATED TO JUSTICE (VC, STR)

15..PSY: LETHAL FORCE IS THE FINAL OPTION (UC, TOT)

15..PSY: PERSONAL CODE OF HONOR (COM, STR)

15..SECRET I.D., JAY DIETZ, PARTY DJ

300 POINTS TOTAL

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

I've mentioned the opening newscast props a few times, and I really wanted to post the .mp3's here, but they are just too large for this forum. However, I've decided to go for the next best thing -- posting the scripts from them. The following documents are the newscasts for the beginning of session 1, the one I intended for Session 2 (I had to scrap the original story line when I found out that Shawn was joining the festivities), and the one I will use to open Session 4.

 

Enjoy!

 

Matt "One-busy-GM" Frisbee

 

SESSION ONE NEWSCAST -- FOR GAME DAY 14 JULY 2006

GOOD MORNING HUDSON CITY! FOR NEWS-PULSE 10-50 W-C-X-Z NEWS -- I'M KEVIN STONE. THE WEATHER FORECAST FOR TODAY SAYS PARTLY CLOUDY AND WARM WITH A HIGH NEAR 85 ALONG THE SHORE, AROUND 90 INLAND. CURRENT TEMPERATURE IS 75.

IN THE NEWS -- HUDSON CITY POLICE ARE INVESTIGATING AN ATTEMPTED BURGLARY OF A BAYSIDE WAREHOUSE EARLY THIS MORNING. POLICE WERE CALLED AROUND ONE-30 THIS MORNING TO A WAREHOUSE ON THE CORNER OF SILAS STREET AND NEEDHAM AVENUE. THERE THEY FOUND SIX ALLEGED MEMBERS OF THE CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION CARDSHARK WHO REQUIRED MEDICAL TREATMENT AT THE SCENE. TWO GUARDS AT THE WAREHOUSE ALSO REQUIRED MEDICAL TREATMENT AND ONE REMAINS HOSPITALIZED IN GOOD CONDITION THIS MORNING. H-C-P-D OFFICERS AT THE SCENE CONFIRMED THAT VIGILANTE ACTIVITY MAY HAVE PREVENTED A THEFT, BUT WOULD NOT SPECULATE AS TO WHO MAY HAVE BEEN INVOLVED.

A VIDEO CLIP OF THE INCIDENT, APPARENTLY TAKEN FROM SURVELLANCE CAMERAS AT THE SCENE AND POSTED ON H-C-VIGILANTES-DOT-ORG, TENTATIVELY IDENTIFIES THE CRIMEFIGHTERS AS POWERHOUSE AND THE SENTINEL. THE VIDEO ALSO REPORTEDLY SHOWS THE ALLEGED CARDSHARK MEMBERS SUBDUING THE GUARDS BEFORE ENTERING THE FACILITY, AND FIRING ON THE TWO HEROES WITH PISTOLS AND A SUBMACHINE GUN.

THE HUDSON CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT HAD NO COMMENT ON THE VIDEO, AND SAYS ITS INVESTIGATION OF THE INCIDENT IS ONGOING.

ANOTHER RARE TIMEPIECE WAS STOLEN LAST NIGHT, BRINGING THE STRING OF SUCH BURGLARIES IN HUDSON CITY TO SEVEN IN THE LAST TWO WEEKS. LAST NIGHT'S BURGLARY WAS FROM AN IRISHTOWN RESIDENCE, AND THE ITEM STOLEN WAS A ONE-OF-A-KIND MECHANICAL POCKET WATCH WHICH HAS OVER TWENTY SEPERATE FUNCTIONS. THE WATCH DATES BACK FROM LATE 1940'S AND WAS REPORTEDLY PROTECTED BY A SOPHISTICATED HOME SECURITY SYSTEM. THE OWNER WAS NOT IDENTIFIED, BUT NEIGHBORS DESCRIBE THE VICTIM AS AN AVID COLLECTOR OF WATCHES OF ALL KINDS. ACCORDING TO SOURCES CLOSE TO THE INVESTIGATION, THE POLICE ARE SEARCHING FOR A TEAM OF PROFESSIONAL BURGLARS WHO MAY BE EMPLOYED BY AN UNSCRUPULOUS COLLECTOR.

CRIME RATES IN THE BLACKBRIDGE AREA ARE UP IN THE ABSENCE OF DARK-ANGEL. THAT'S ACCORDING TO THE STEWARD COUNTY

9-1-1 BOARD IN THEIR LATEST MONTHLY ASSESSMENT, WHICH WAS RELEASED LATE YESTERDAY. VIOLENT CRIME IS REPORTED UP FIFTEEN PERCENT IN THAT NEIGHBORHOOD OVER LAST MONTH'S FIGURES. PROPERTY CRIME IS UP NEARLY TWENTY-FOUR PERCENT AS WELL. DARK-ANGEL WAS LAST SEEN IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS OF JUNE 27TH NEAR LE-MASTRE PARK. THERE HAS BEEN NO WORD ON WHERE SHE HAS GONE OR WHEN SHE MIGHT BE BACK IN ACTION, IF AT ALL. MAINTAINING ITS HARD LINE AGAINST VIGILANTES, THE HUDSON CITY POLICE REFUSED TO COMMENT ON THE SITUATION.

AND, IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE AROUND MOTT PARK THIS WEEKEND, YOU MIGHT WANT TO LOOK TWICE BEFORE REPORTING THAT U-F-O. THE 15TH ANNUAL HUDSON CITY KITE FESTIVAL GETS UNDERWAY THIS AFTERNOON WITH A PUBLIC FLY-IN. EVERYONE IS INVITED TO COME FLY A KITE FOR FREE AT THE PARK STARTING AT NOON TODAY -- YOU CAN BRING YOUR OWN, OR PURCHASE ONE FROM ONE OF THE VENDORS IN THE PARK, AND KIDS 12 AND UNDER CAN ATTEND A KITE-BUILDING CLASS FOR JUST TWO DOLLARS AND FLY A KITE THEY BUILD THEMSELVES. THE PROFESSIONAL AEROBATIC KITE COMPETITION AND THE EVER-POPULAR FIGHTING KITE TOURNAMENT GET UNDERWAY TOMORROW MORNING AT NINE.

HUDSON CITY TRAFFIC AND NATIONAL NEWS FROM C-N-N ARE COMING UP NEWS-PULSE 10-50 W-C-X-Z.

SESSION TWO NEWSCAST -- FOR GAME DAY 28 JULY 2006

IT'S 7-55 AT NEWS-PULSE 10-50 W-C-X-Z. GOOD MORNING! TODAY IS FRIDAY, JULY 28TH, 2006 -- AND WITH LOCAL AND REGIONAL NEWS, I'M KEVIN STONE.

THE NEWS IS BROUGHT TO YOU THE SPINNING DIAMOND RESTAURANT, WITH MAGNIFICENT VIEWS, FLAWLESS SERVICE AND AN EVER-CHANGING MENU FOR THE TRULY DISCRIMINATING PALATE. ATOP HAR-CORP TOWER B IN WORTHINGTON

TOPPING THE NEWS THIS MORNING, THE WAVE OF BIZZARE BEHAVIOR ON THE SOUTHSIDE CONTINUES. AROUND 2-30 THIS MORNING, THREE PEOPLE WERE CRITICALLY INJURED AFTER ALLEGEDLY PLAYING A GAME OF CHICKEN WITH AN ELEVATED TRAIN NEAR LIBERTY STATION IN ELMVIEW. THE INJURED HAVE NOT BEEN IDENTIFIED, PENDING NOTIFICATION OF RELATIVES, WHILE THE HUDSON CITY POLICE AND RAPID TRANSIT AUTHORITY CONTINUE TO INVESTIGATE THE INCIDENT. BECAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT, ELEVATED TRAIN SERVICE AROUND THE ELMVIEW AREA IS BEING REROUTED THIS MORNING. THE R-T-A SAYS RIDERS OF THE SOUTHSIDE EXPRESS, CHURCH-SOUTHPOINT, AND THE OUTER LOOP LOCAL AND EXPRESS TRAINS SHOULD EXPECT UP TO 15-MINUTE DELAYS ON THE MORNING COMMUTE.

IT WAS A FIREY SESSION IN THE HUDSON CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS LAST NIGHT, AND ENDED WITH DISORDERLY CONDUCT CHARGES AGAINST A PROMINENT FREETOWN COUNCILMAN AND SEVERAL OF HIS SUPPORTERS. OUTSPOKEN AS EVER, 65TH DISTRICT COUNCILMAN MAX BISHOP LEVELED CHARGES OF POLICE CORRUPTION IN A PROFANITY-LACED TIRADE AIMED SQUARELY AT POLICE COMMISSIONER ALEXANDER RINGWALD. BISHOP ACCUSED SOUTHSIDE POLICE OFFICERS OF LOOKING THE OTHER WAY WHILE DRUG PUSHERS ARE QUOTE -- "SELLING NEW AND LETHAL CANDIES TO OUR CHILDREN." COUNCILMAN BISHOP WAS JOINED BY SEVERAL MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC GALLERY IN REFUSING TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE CALLS FOR ORDER BY MAYOR GRAYDON UMSTEAD, WHO EVENTUALLY ORDERED BISHOP AND HIS SUPPORTERS TO BE FORCEABLY REMOVED FROM THE CHAMBERS. ACCORDING TO POLICE REPORTS, BISHOP'S SUPPORTERS REPEATEDLY RESISTED ARREST AND SEVERAL FOUGHT BRIEFLY WITH POLICE IN THE HALLWAY. ACCORDING TO POLICE RECORDS, COUNCILMAN BISHOP WAS CITED FOR DISORDERLY CONDUCT IN A PUBLIC PLACE FOR HIS EXCESSIVE USE OF PROFANITY IN THE CHAMBERS AND INCITING THE INCIDENT. COMMISSIONER RINGWALD'S OFFICE HAD NO COMMENT ON EITHER COUNCILMAN BISHOP'S TIRADE NOR HIS ACCUSATIONS.

OVER FOUR HUNDRED PEOPLE GATHERED IN BLACKBRIDGE PARK LAST NIGHT FOR A CANDLELIGHT VIGIL MARKING ONE MONTH SINCE THE VIGILANTE DARK‑ANGEL WAS LAST SEEN. SEVERAL MEMBERS OF THE CROWD WORE REPLICA COSTUMES OF THE AREA'S CRIMEFIGHTER, WHILE SPEAKERS TO THE CROWD, INCLUDING HUDSON CITY THUNDERBOLTS QUARTERBACK ANDY "STONEHAND" MAWSER, CALLED ON THE HUDSON CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT TO ATTEMPT TO DETERMINE HER FATE. MANY OF THOSE PRESENT HAD PERSONAL STORIES TO TELL OF THE CRIMEFIGHTER'S ACTIONS ON THEIR BEHALF. DARK‑ANGEL WAS LAST SEEN ON JUNE 27TH NEAR THE NORTH END OF LEMASTRE PARK WHERE SHE ALLEGEDLY FOILED AN ATTEMPTED MUGGING.

TRAFFIC AND NATIONAL NEWS FROM C-N-N ARE NEXT ON NEWS-PULSE 10-50 W-C-X-Z. W-C-X-Z NEWS TIME IS 7:58.

 

SESSION FOUR NEWSCAST -- FOR GAME DAY 29 JULY 2006

IT'S 5-55 AT NEWS-PULSE 10-50 W-C-X-Z -- TIME NOW FOR THE EVENING NEWS BRIEF, BROUGHT TO YOU BY DOLMAN'S CONFECTIONERS, 6-20 CROWLEY AVENUE IN MINT RIDGE -- THE PLACE WITH SUCH GOOD TASTE. WITH THE NEWS, I'M KEVIN STONE.

HUDSON CITY INVESTOR JAMES ROMAN REMAINS IN SERIOUS BUT STABLE CONDITION AT KATZ MEMORIAL HOSPITAL FOLLOWING A MURDER ATTEMPT AT HIS BANKHURST APARTMENT EARLY THIS MORNING. POLICE SAY THAT SOMEONE INTRODUCED AN AIRBORNE DEPRESSANT INTO HIS APARTMENT WHICH LOWERED HIS METABOLIC RATE TO A CRITICALLY LOW LEVEL WHILE HE SLEPT. QUICK ACTION BY NEIGHBOR RHONDA SAVAGE IS CREDITED FOR SAVING HIS LIFE, THOUGH SHE WAS TEMPORARILY OVERCOME BY THE FUMES. SAVAGE WAS TREATED AT KATZ MEMORIAL HOSPITAL AND RELEASED.

THIS ATTACK ON JAMES ROMAN MAY BE LINKED TO ANOTHER INCIDENT FROM LAST NIGHT AT THE BERKLEY GRANDE PLAZA HOTEL BALLROOM. FORTY-TWO PEOPLE WERE TREATED FOR MINOR INJURIES AFTER AN AIRBORNE CHEMICAL AGENT WAS INTRODUCED INTO THE BALLROOM'S VENTILATION SYSTEM DURING A PARTY HOSTED BY ROMAN LAST NIGHT. THE AGENT HAD THE AFFECT OF AGITATING THE PARTY CROWD INTO A GENERAL RIOT, AND MOST OF THE INJURIES WERE INFLICTED UPON PARTY GOERS BY ONE ANOTHER. HUDSON CITY POLICE WERE FORCED TO CALL IN THE RIOT SQUAD TO CLEAR THE BALLROOM, THOUGH NO CHARGES WERE FILED IN THE INCIDENT. POLICE SAY THEY ARE NOW KEEPING ROMAN UNDER GUARD AT THE HOSPITAL AND INTEND TO MOVE HIM TO A MORE SECURE LOCATION WHEN HIS CONDITION IMPROVES. POLICE CONTINUE TO INVESTIGATE BOTH INCIDENTS.

POLICE ARE ALSO INVESTIGATING REPORTS OF A BRAWL IN THE FORSYTH DISTRICT BETWEEN COSTUMED CRIMEFIGHTERS AND A COSTUMED CRIMINAL. DETAILS ARE SKETCHY BUT BLURRY VIDEO OF THE INCIDENT FROM A CAMERA-PHONE HAS BEEN POSTED ON H-C-VIGILANTES-DOT-ORG CLAIMING THAT CYPHER AND POWERHOUSE WERE INVOLVED. SEVERAL WITNESSES IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD CONFIRM THAT CLAIM AND ALSO SAY THE THIRD COMBATANT WAS THE SAME ONE FROM A VIDEO OF A WAREHOUSE ROBBERY IN BAYSIDE FROM LAST WEEK. SOME WITNESSES, WHO DECLINED TO BE IDENTIFIED, ALSO SAID THE CRIMEFIGHTERS SUBDUED AND RESTRAINED THE OTHER COMBATANT, AND THEN STOLE A NEARBY CAR TO EXIT THE SCENE. THE CAR WAS FOUND ABANDONED IN A PARKING GARAGE EARLY THIS AFTERNOON ABOUT TWO MILES NORTH OF THE SCENE IN CROWN POINT. POLICE HAD NO COMMENT ON THE CASE WHICH THEY CONTINUE TO INVESTIGATE.

IN OTHER NEWS, ALL CHARGES AGAINST SIX ALLEGED MEMBERS OF THE CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION CARD SHARK WERE DROPPED YESTERDAY AFTER JUDGE STERLING KELLER DISALLOWED VIDEO EVIDENCE FROM BEING ADMITTED AGAINST THE DEFENDANTS. IN HIS DECISION, JUDGE STERLING SAID THAT SINCE THE VIDEO OF THE INCIDENT HAD APPEARED ON THE INTERNET, THE SECURITY OF THE PRIMARY SOURCE WAS SUSPECT, THUS INVALIDATING IT AS AN ACCURATE PORTRAYAL OF EVENTS. STEWART COUNTY PROSECUTOR ALAN KIMBRELL IMMEDIATELY DROPPED THE CHARGES, SAYING THAT WITHOUT THE VIDEO RECORD, A LACK OF PHYSICAL EVIDENCE AT THE SCENE WOULD NOT ALLOW FOR SUCCESSFUL PROSECUTION OF THE CASES AGAINST THE DEFENDANTS.

TRAFFIC CONDITIONS AND NATIONAL NEWS FROM C-N-N ARE COMING UP NEXT ON NEWS-PULSE 10-50 W-C-X-Z. W-C-X-Z NEWS TIME IS 5-58.

[Edsel]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

Excellent! Something to copy and read when they think that I am working.

[Thrakazog]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

This campaign rocks on wheels. Now if I could only find a PBeM or PbP campaign this good...

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

NOTICE

 

Due to last-minute personal scheduling problems, Session Four of this game has been pushed back one week to August 11, 2006. It's a bummer, but as we all know, these sorts of things happen occasionally.

 

Matt "Dealing-with-it" Frisbee

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

Murphy's Law: Whatever can go wrong will go wrong.

 

Frisbee's Law of Gaming: The probability of one of my game sessions getting cancelled or delayed is inversely proportional to my anticipation of playing in it or running it.

 

Barry is still recovering from a minor health problem and Shawn was not available for this week's session, thus Session #4 has been pushed back one more week to August 18, 2006. Hopefully, I'll have something to report next weekend.

 

Matt "Still-waiting-for-it" Frisbee

[Edsel]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

Though I am still at Gencon I am waiting for it.

[Thrakazog]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

Yay!

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

SESSION #4 – 18 AUG 06 “EVERYBODY WANTS KANDI”

 

Starring: Barry as Powerhouse (AKA Rhonda Savage)

Brad as The Sentinel (AKA Justin Patrick)

Shawn as Cypher (AKA Jay Dietz

Co-Starring: DarkAngel

Wendy Connors

Kandi Cain

Game Dates: 1800.29.JUL.2006 thru 2400.29.JUL.2006

Session Synopsis (from the personal journal of Justin Patrick)

 

August 7, 2006

We all have choices to make. I made a choice over a year ago to don a mask and fight crime as best I could. Six years ago, a teenager named Candice Kennedy made a choice to turn her back on her dreams of a perfect life and live a waking nightmare. That nightmare ended last night as her body, deprived of the poisons that had sustained Kandi Cain’s efforts to fulfill a nihilistic vow of vengeance, finally stopped working. So much has gone wrong on my own quest for justice, that now, home to convalesce from a set of broken ribs, I have time to reflect on whether it was the right choice, and whether it will continue.

Cypher, Powerhouse and The Sentinel have all been charged with being accessories to murder. Four members of the Cain Gang and a member of The Nubians are dead. Kandi was ultimately responsible for the deaths, but she never came out of the coma she entered shortly after being taken into custody, and I doubt she would have cleared us, anyway. On top of all this, DarkAngel has been forced to hang up her cape and start a new life somewhere else, lest the police make the connection between her brainwashed activities and the sudden disappearance of her alter ego.

It has all gone so wrong so very quickly, I’m almost unsure of where to begin. I could almost feel the wrongness of it after getting gassed at James Roman’s party at the Berkely Grande Plaza Hotel Ballroom. That was Kandi Cain’s work. I should have found some way to get Wendy home and joined Rhonda in suiting up that night, but I begged off, claiming an epiphany at the party and wanting to follow it up on the prototype at the workshop. I did manage to ride the residual tweak of adrenaline through some design changes, but the crash of that drug’s upper effect had me crawling for my cot at the workshop on leaden limbs as it washed out of my system.

It was late afternoon before I awoke. But after a few moments of pain and a half-hour of grogginess, I finally managed to pull myself together. It was then that I realized my epiphany had been merely a drug-induced delusion – my prototype processor was in shambles from the “modifications” I’d performed upon it. The work of the past six months lay in broken ruin on the bench, and all attempts to locate the original specs on my computer were for naught as well, as I had wiped the entire contents of the hard drive to make room for the “revolutionary changes” I had made. Fortunately, I keep weekly updated copies of the processor project in a downtown vault, but I was going to have to start over again with money I didn’t have on an already short budget for the project.

Fortunately, Wendy called and tried to drag me out of my funk. We ate a nice hole-in-the-wall restaurant and she recounted her misadventures in trying to mend fences with Councilman Max Bishop (who she had greatly insulted during Roman’s party) and the leads she was following concerning the attempted murder of Roman (which was news to me). Rhonda called during the dinner on our special vigilante hotline, so I had to cut it short. Wendy was sympathetic to the excuse I handed her, saying that she had work of her own to do, but if I was free by midnight, to give her a call.

At the bunker, Powerhouse filled me in as I suited up. Our newest ally on the streets, a gun-toting stranger in a trench coat by the handle of Cypher, had given the once over to the possible source of the city’s recent Pixie outbreak. Cypher was certain The Nubians would be there that night to collect the latest batch of the drug. I didn’t question his assessment as Powerhouse assured me his connections were solid. Instead, the two of us piled into the van to meet the mystery man about four blocks away from Paul’s Gas & Auto Service.

The stranger was waiting for us in an empty lot astride his battered Harley-Davidson. His form was sheathed in a dark gray trench coat and a matching fedora shaded his eyes to the color of the streets. I bit back a comment about being a bit too stereotypical, reminded by the cocoon of spandex and Kevlar I wore that I had no place making smart remarks about anybody else’s fashion sense. “Brown Sugar called about two minutes ago,” Cypher said as we got out of the van. “The Nubians are on their way.”

“How many,” said Powerhouse as her pale blue eyes bore into him. She never asked for anything -- she simply made a statement and intimidated people into responding to it.

His eyes were safely hidden behind the smoked lenses of the eye shield he wore below the brim of his hat. “Three cars,” he said with a smile, “hauling nine Nubies and a duffle bag with four kilos of coke and a big cool of cash inside.”

“And packing all kinds of heat, no doubt,” I added with a bit of an edge. “How many in the building?”

He stepped off of the motorcycle and put it on its kickstand. “Two on the roof,” he said casually as jerked the bike into position, “and at least two more inside. It was pretty quiet when I checked it a half-hour ago.” He pulled out a chrome automatic pistol and loaded a magazine into the handle. He chambered a round with swift precision and slid the piece back into the holster under his left armpit. I frowned at him as he walked past me.

Powerhouse laid a hand on my shoulder. “Rubber bullets,” she said as she turned to follow him. I shook my head and took up the rear of the party as we moved silently toward our target. We abandoned the alleys as soon as we could, passing like three spectral shadows up the fire escapes and then across the rooftops until we reached a decrepit three-story business building overlooking the former garage and gas station.

Paul’s was a rectangular building with a single story some twelve feet high made of brick and architectural glass blocks. The two repair bays were on our end of the building, while the disused pumps and convenience storefront were on the other. A couple of surprisingly intact and functional vending machines stood guard between the service bay doors, but most of the windows of the building had been covered from the inside by a coat of translucent white paint.

Cypher’s two sentries on the roof were still there, camouflaged by nests of cardboard boxes and plastic tarps. Fortunately, they seemed more interested taking occasional hits off of pressurized inhalers than keeping an eye open for trouble. The barrels of shotguns protruded from each position, so I shelved my impulsive suggestion about sweeping the roof clean before The Nubians got there.

The point was made moot less than a minute after our arrival, as three late-model cars with deeply pulsing sound systems rolled up to the bay doors and parked. Each vehicle had a driver who remained behind the wheel, a gunner who stepped outside of the vehicle to keep an eye on things with a submachine gun, and a runner who joined the others at the door. One of the bag men carried the duffle bag that supposedly had the cocaine and cash inside to the door and presented to the guy who appeared in the doorway as the bay door rolled up and away.

Cypher wasted no more time, moving silently but swiftly down the fire escape with Powerhouse close behind. I cast out a line from my combat baton and swung onto the roof. I made a rough landing and the goons on the roof burst from their cardboard and plastic nests, brandishing their shotguns with fiendish glee. I flung my baton at one of them, who was staggered by the blow, only to have a shotgun slug graze my shoulder. A second baton throw sat the first thug down for a long ten-count and I turned to face the second, only to have the world blow up in my face.

I managed to get my left arm between my face and the muzzle of the shotgun, so the first blast simply broke a couple of bones in my forearm. But while I was reeling from the first hit, the thug pumped another round into the right upper part of my chest. The slug pancaked on the Ferro-graphite armor plate there, but the force of the impact shattered it along with two of my ribs. I managed to cast another swing line to get clear, but was forced to grit my teeth at the broken glass feelings in my ribs and forearm.

As I made a lazy circle in the darkness, I could see Powerhouse throwing one of the vending machines at her attackers, scattering them like so many tenpins, while Cypher methodically picked off the gunners and drivers with his pistol while they were distracted by the lady brick. In my absence, the lone gunman on the roof was moving to draw a bead on my partner as she tore down the bay door one of the people inside the building was trying to close.

The smart play at that point would have been to run for safety. Unlike myself, Powerhouse was bulletproof in most cases. But I couldn’t let that sentry start firing at her. I steeled myself against the pain, and swung directly into the gunman, sending us both sprawling. To my dismay, the latex-clad white-faced thug drew a bead on me yet again with the shotgun before I could recover my footing and fired. I took the brunt of the third hit in the abdomen, which drove the air from my lungs and sent me sprawling.

Amongst the pain came a dull panic that I couldn’t breathe. I could taste blood and bile in my mouth, but I couldn’t get my breath back around the searing agony of broken ribs and the pulsing ache in my guts. I winced at the sound of gunfire near me again, but didn’t feel the sledgehammer blow of impact. As my lungs finally started working again, I realized that it was Cypher and the thug blazing away at each other.

I staggered to my feet one last time, and found the thug had his back to me. I lurched toward him and clocked him at the base of the skull with my baton – literally all of the fight I had left. He graciously went face first to the tarpaper. Cypher slapped a fresh clip into his pistol as he trotted towards me. “You’re welcome,” he said as he hustled past.

I staggered to edge of the building and cast a swing line to lower myself down to the ground. As I painfully edged down the side of the building, I became aware of a strong gasoline odor. I wondered if one of The Nubians’ cars had been damaged as I reached the ground. I noticed one of the punks lay sprawled on the pavement near the trunk of one of the cars. He had obviously been carrying the cardboard box of filled Pixie straws which now lay spilled a foot or two away.

As I checked him for a pulse (which he had), I noticed the box had a shipping label from its manufacturer to Dohlman’s Confections in Mint Ridge. I quickly memorized the address, then the saw the duffle bag a few yards away and painfully collected it. I used my tactical headset to inform Powerhouse that I was going to take the duffle bag to the van and then started painfully walking back to it.

Just as I reached the van, I was staggered by the concussion of a huge explosion. I turned to see a greasy fireball hurtling skyward where the old service station had been. My pain forgotten, I threw the bag into the van and raced back toward the scene.

As I arrived, smoke boiled from the crater where the service station had been. The force of the blast had thrown The Nubians’ cars into the street and had blown out every window in the surrounding buildings. Powerhouse was carrying Cypher toward the van, who looked dazed and a little singed, but otherwise whole, cursing as she went. As she set Cypher down in the floor of the van and gave him the once over. “That bitch booby-trapped the place!” she snarled. “She must have figured we’d get it out of DarkAngel eventually.”

I drove away as I heard sirens approaching the carnage. “Was there anyone in there when it blew?” I asked over my shoulder.

There was an ugly pause, the silence aching like an open sore. “Yeah,” said Powerhouse at last, “Maybe half a dozen.”

I swore once, loudly, and the pain from my injuries came down like a hammer. I gasped and wheezed, coughing up blood. “Hell’s gate!” she exclaimed from behind me, “You’re bleeding!”

I nodded. “Took three slugs from a shotgun,” I said. “My left arm’s starting to swell up and I’ve got broken ribs on the right side.” I swerved and over-corrected causing the van’s tires to squeal. “I think you’d better take the wheel.”

She slid into the driver’s seat while I painfully crawled to the passenger seat. “I’ll get you back to the bunker,” she said, “then call Dr. Goldman.”

“No,” I said. “You do that and Kandi Cain will get away from us, maybe take another crack at your boyfriend.” I coughed again and spat. “She’s getting the straws for her poison from Dohlman’s Confections, so I figure she’s there or will be soon.”

She seemed to weigh the decision as she drove toward the river. The sound of Cypher’s pistol chambering a round cut through the silence with a mechanical certainty that seemed to make up her mind. “I’m still in the game,” he said.

“Then we’ll take the bitch down right now,” said Powerhouse, “before she kills anybody else.”

Cypher draped an arm over the back of Powerhouse’s seat and smiled. “So Roman’s your boyfriend, huh?”

Powerhouse shot me a look that would have killed a lesser man. I sighed and tried to smother a groan as we jostled over a pothole.

The raid on Dohlman’s didn’t take long. The lights were on in the back, so Powerhouse and Cypher went in strong. Within a minute, Powerhouse was lugging a large metal container with a locking lid behind her which seemed to jerk and twitch of its own volition, while Cypher carried a harness arrangement which had a large number of darts attached to it, like an ammunition bandoleer. During the fight, I watched two of Cane’s latex-clad lackeys smash out a storefront window to escape the fury of the two vigilantes, but couldn’t muster enough courage to chase them.

Within an hour, we turned over the container (with an increasingly desperate Kandi Cane inside) along with the duffle bag with the cocaine and cash to Sgt. Faith Padruski while Dr. Goldman set my broken bones. I made up a convenient lie about an accident at the workshop to cover my injuries and managed to spend a couple of days over at Wendy’s under her doting care. Her reporter’s instincts got the better of her, though and I was eventually forced to tell her the truth – the whole truth this time. She filled in the parts I tried to keep secret – about Powerhouse, about Faith and about why I never told her.

“You’re going to have to make a choice,” she said at last. “I’m not going to be able to live like this, now that I know what’s going on. You’re going to have to choose between being a vigilante, or being with me. It’s that simple.” I was about to answer, but she put a finger to my lips while shaking her head. I could see tears in her eyes as she continued. “No, don’t answer now. Don’t make a snap judgment. You’re going to be down for a few more days, at least, and you’ve got nothing but time on your hands. You weigh it all before you come to a decision.”

She leaned in close and kissed me softly and slowly. I could feel her tears on my cheeks as she pulled away. “But whatever you decide,” she whispered, “I will always love only you.” And then she was gone. And it was my turn to cry.

Choices. Candice Kennedy had made the choice to become Kandi Cain because the love she wanted could never be hers. Candice was pretty, open and honest when she was in high school, but James Roman was heir to a fortune and flexing his social muscles. He told Candice he loved her, and at the time it might have been true. Then he took from her what she so willingly gave, only to leave her cold and alone, like all the others before her.

She recovered, and tried to find someone new. She did, only to have her hopes dashed again when that boy moved on as well. Seven more times it happened, and then Candice lashed out, hurting the last one who had wounded her so deeply, the fury of her frustration savaging the boy’s body until he begged her to stop. And in that moment, Candice gave a name to her fury – Kandi Cain. She reveled in her newfound power, giving form to it in a radical makeover of makeup and clothing – Gothic, fearsome and strange.

The rest is history. She drifted through the underworld, turning her talents to pharmacology. Soon, the world began to feel the pain she refused to acknowledge – the pain of addiction, alienation and abuse. She developed her own drugs to cover for imagined deficiencies, creating real ones instead. Addicted to the “candy,” she threw away the choices she had left to make when a chance encounter with one of her old flames from high school.

Her full measure of revenge left him dead, and she began to actively seek out the others who had put her on the shelf. With eight down and one to go, she came to Hudson City to finish the job. But with her life of revenge nearly at an end, she decided to toy with this final one, the one who had started it all and wounded her so very deeply. In the end, though she tried, she found that she couldn’t really kill him after all. Candice’s first love had been a true love, even if it hadn’t been reciprocated. She needed someone else to do the deed.

That’s where DarkAngel entered the picture. Kandi captured the heroine and brainwashed her into the killing machine that could do what she could not. But Kandi could not understand true love like Candice did, and even in the seeds she planted in the mind of the heroine, was the love that would kill them and allow DarkAngel to escape the suicidal shackles that had already been firmly attached to Candice when she first embraced Kandi.

And now, Kandi, along with Candice, and the madness of her broken dreams is dead. She died surrounded by people who were trying to save the life she had already thrown away. What becomes of her now is not for mortals to say, even if I can feel some sympathy for Candice while despising Kandi at the same time.

I called Wendy this morning and told her I’d made up my mind, provided she could allow for a little leeway. The Sentinel seeks justice no more. Justin Patrick, however, will still be around to lend what technical support he can to Powerhouse, Cypher and any of the other vigilantes who are trying to hold back the darkness in Hudson City. As for me, it’s time to step back into the light and live for the future that Wendy and I will be able to make together.

SESSION NOTES

Brad has decided to change characters, and will be playing a new one (Nightblade) next session.

This was essentially a battle session, with the main fight and an epilogue scene – however, The Sentinel got hammered during the main fight (non-statistical dice rolls again), requiring this last little bit to explain his exit from the story.

The characters will be made aware of their wanted status in the next session (provided they don’t read it here, first), but this is just a matter of form for the police department, since they don’t particularly like vigilantes in the first place.

It is time to start incorporating more of the characters’ hunteds into the campaign now, so expect some slightly grittier action for the next few sessions.

FUTURE PLOT ELEMENT

DarkAngel has officially quit Hudson City, as her extended absence in her private life has compromised her ability to conceal her identity if she remains.

We’ll have a new character to introduce into the storyline next session – along with new villains!

OVERALL SELF-EVALUATIONS

The capture of Kandi Cain was anti-climactic. She should have been at the gas station, even though I wanted the thing to be a death trap for the characters to escape. Make sure that you have some wiggle room for the characters in the future, with a little less intense scene work.

XP AWARDED

Both Powerhouse and Cypher received 1 XP for this primarily battle session.

-- Matt Frisbee 0539 18 AUG 2006

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

For those of you who are interested, here are the pertinent maps from sessions 3 & 4. They include James Roman's apartment and Paul's Gas & Auto Service (where the main combat and explosion happen). Enjoy!

 

Matt "Still-doin'-the-GM-thing" Frisbee

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

Finally, here's a background write-up from Shawn about his character Cypher!

 

CYPHER BACKGROUND (by Shawn)

Jeremiah Dietz (Jay to most people) grew up wanting to be a cop. He used to follow Patrolman Mark Holtz around on his beat. Holtz was an old school cop who did foot patrols two days a week. He told Jay it helped build a rapport with the people in the neighborhood. He also admitted, somewhat wryly, that it was the only exercise he had time for anymore.

Jay was 15 when Mark retired from the force. A younger cop replaced Mark. The younger cop never left his car. This allowed the Tongs to step in, starting up protection rackets. Jay didn’t realize it at the time, but that patrolman was getting paid to look the other way.

Jay’s parents owned a small record store in those days. When they refused to pay protection money to the tongs, the tongs burnt it to the ground with their broken bodies still within it. No one lifted a finger to help. No one was arrested. Nobody seemed to care except for Jay.

He moved in a widowed aunt. Jay’s parents had life insurance, the benefits of which languished in a trust fund until he turned 18. But the death of his parents served to strengthen Jay’s resolve to become a cop – a good cop. The blasé student Jay had been until then suddenly became a focused and driven young man, devouring subjects, challenges and moving ahead to graduate from school a year early. College followed with the same intensity, and Jay graduated at the age of 20 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Psychology.

Just days after his graduation, he joined the HCPD. Mark warned him about corruption in the force, and how persuasive it can be. It had taken all of Mark’s resolve to stay clean long enough to retire. Jay kept his eyes open but only saw things getting worse on the police force. Ever the optimist, Jay tried changing things from the inside by working with the system.

Things changed when his partner was found floating face down in the Stewart River. Jay became more forceful in his accusations, ruffled feathers, stepped on toes and was increasingly isolated from the rest of the force. But Jay stayed clean and turned on anyone who was dirty. That’s when Becky “Becka” Awo’a recruited him for the vice squad.

In the year the two worked together, they took down various street players and their small organizations. Jay played the face, good enough at disguise and to keep the bad guys guessing. Becka was the tactician, figuring out how the organizations worked and finding their weaknesses. Jay learned a lot about the art of conducting investigations from her.

Then it all went wrong. They had uncovered a lead on a Tong white slavery deal and waited for approval from the division captain to move on it. Everything looked good on Saturday, and the captain told the pair to cool it Sunday while he got approval from the Police Commissioner. But when Monday came along, he caught Becka storming out of the captain’s office. The bust was off, Becka raged, the evidence had been taken from the cage over the weekend.

His partner fumed the rest of the day. And while the rage faded the next day, Becka didn’t say more than two words to him the whole day. Wednesday came, but Becka didn’t show up for work. Thursday, she turned in her badge and gun without saying a word. Jay tried to follow her, tried to talk her out of it, but all she said was goodbye.

Friday, a body in Becka’s police uniform was found floating in the bay near the Bayside docks. The victim had been badly mutilated, but Jay was convinced that it wasn’t his partner. He was ordered to take a week off and patrolmen were assigned to keep him under surveillance.

Jay waited until two rookies were on watch, easily shaking them. He followed his hunch all the way down to the warehouse they had pegged as one of the Tong’s holding pens for the slavery ring. He slipped in past the security and verified the evidence of ring and its victims. He also found Becka – drugged stupid and beaten senseless, but alive. He slipped back out again, and called for backup.

An hour passed and nobody showed. Nobody.

Jay raced over Mark’s house, pouring out his frustration and rage. Mark only nodded, then took Jay to the basement. He opened up a gun safe and told Jay to take what he needed – this was the way the “old school” cops would do it. Some old clothes from a forgotten oak chest made Jay’s costume. The rest was history.

Jay rescued Becka and the other victims. Several tong members were wounded and left for the police to clean up, provided they would get their hands dirty. Becka spent nearly a year recovering from the physical and psychological wounds of her captivity, testifying against her captors in court.

The badge and gun joined Becka’s on the captain’s desk. Jay never looked back. He spent some time doing unlicensed detective work for the shadier parts of society before his aunt died, leaving behind her share a rich collection of records bought from Jay’s parents’ store before it burned down. Inspired by the legacy, Jay starts his own DJ business and finds it a welcome change from his darker side.

But after a brief respite, he finds himself being drawn back into the pulse and challenges of bringing justice to the streets. He takes on the handle of Cypher because he likes the name. He keeps the costume, updating it slightly to include some armor in the trench coat and rubber bullets from Mark for his pistols. He buys a motorcycle to get around town and begins to point up the corruption of the police force by taking down the cases they won’t touch.

Old School Justice – just the way Jay dreamed it would be.

(A big thank you to Shawn for writing this up – it’s one of the first character backgrounds ever handed to me without my asking for it!)

 

Looking forward to Session # 5 on Friday, August 25th!

 

Matt "The-busy-GM" Frisbee

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

Player Character – Nightblade (Brad’s Second Character)

CHARACTERISTICS

VL..CHAR..PT

15..STR...05

20..DEX...30

15..CON...10

14..BODY..08

13..INT...03

14..EGO...08

20..PRE...10

12..COM...01

08..PD....05

06..ED....03

05..SPD...20

08..REC...04

35..END...02

35..STUN..05

COST IS..114

POWERS

PT..POWER

15..Multipower (Hitori Hanso Katana) (30-pt reserve); OAF: -1

u1..2d6 HKA (The Sharpest Blade) (Total 3d6 with STR) END=3+STR

u1..Missile Deflection (The Strongest Blade) (Bullets or less with no reflection)

07..Clinging (bought as Super Climbing Ability, -1/2) (Clinging STR +0)

18..6PD / 6ED Armor (bought as Super Dodging Ability)

06..+3” Running (9” Total, 18” NC) END=1/5”

05..+5” Superleap (8” Horizontal, 4” Vertical, 16” NC) END=1+STR

05..5” Gliding (bought as Weightless Technique for Martial Arts) (No NC glide, only to descend from high places or walk on objects that wouldn’t normally bear his weight)

03..+3” Swimming (5” Total, 10” NC) END=1/5”

61..Powers Total

TALENTS & PERKS

PT..TALENT/PERK

07..Combat Sense 14-

03..Fast Draw (Katana) 13-

05..1d6 Luck

03..Simulate Death

18..Talents & Perks Total

MARTIAL ARTS

PT..MARTIAL ARTS

....Karate Martial Arts

04..Punch (OCV +0, DCV +2, 6d6)

05..Kick (OCV -2, DCV +1, 8d6)

04..Block (OCV +2, DCV +2, Block)

04..Disarm (OCV -1, DCV +1, Disarm)

04..Escape (OCV ---, DCV +5, Escape)

04..+1 DC for Martial Arts Attacks (figured in)

25..Martial Arts Total

SKILLS

PT..SKILL

03..KS: Karate 12-

01..LANG: Japanese (Basic Conversation) [English is native]

05..Acrobatics 14-

05..Breakfall 14-

03..CK: Hudson City 12-

09..Climbing 16-

03..Concealment 12-

05..Contortionist 14-

16..CSL: +2 with All Combat

05..Paramedic 13-

03..PS: Paramedic 12-

05..Security Systems 13-

07..Shadowing 13-

09..Stealth 16-

03..Streetwise 13-

82..Skills Total

186..Powers, Talents, Perks & Skills Cost

114+.Characteristics Cost

300=.TOTAL COST

DISADVANTAGES + 200 BASE

PT..DISADVANTAGE

10..DF: Yakuza Tattoos (EC, MAJ)

10..DNPC: Sakura Kuragawa, daughter (Normal, 8-)

15..Hunted by Card Shark 8- (MP)

15..Hunted by Yakuza (8-) (MP)

20..PSY: Honorable (Com, Tot)

05..PSY: Smart Alec (UC, MOD)

10..REP: Former Yakuza Member (8-, EXT)

15..Secret I.D., Jack Kuragawa, EMT

100..Disadvantages Total

200+.Base Points

300=.TOTAL COST

 

This character will be making his debut in Session # 5.

 

Matt "Stayin'-on-top-of-things" Frisbee

[Trebuchet]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

SESSION SUMMARY – SESSION ONE – “ON FAITH”

Co-Starring: HCPD Sgt. Faith Padruski

 

Session Synopsis (from the personal journals of Faith Padruski)

Great synopses; and repped!

 

Is Faith Padruski going to be a regular contact/ally for your heroes? Even as a narrator she has a nice "flavor" to her (Gotta love a woman who carries a .45 ACP longslide pistol!).

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

Great synopses; and repped!

 

Is Faith Padruski going to be a regular contact/ally for your heroes? Even as a narrator she has a nice "flavor" to her (Gotta love a woman who carries a .45 ACP longslide pistol!).

 

Thanks for the praise.

 

Faith is a contact of Powerhouse's, so she should be a recurring character in these chronicles. As for her weapon choice, yeah, I have a hangup for that particular model of gun, though I imagine it probably kicks like a mule throwing the heavy slug down a longer barrel...

 

Matt "Haven't-handled-guns-since-I-left-the-military" Frisbee

[Ephelides]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

Finally, here's a background write-up from Shawn about his character Cypher!

 

CYPHER BACKGROUND (by Shawn)

Jeremiah Dietz (Jay to most people) grew up wanting to be a cop. He used to follow Patrolman Mark Holtz around on his beat. Holtz was an old school cop who did foot patrols two days a week. He told Jay it helped build a rapport with the people in the neighborhood. He also admitted, somewhat wryly, that it was the only exercise he had time for anymore.

Jay was 15 when Mark retired from the force. A younger cop replaced Mark. The younger cop never left his car. This allowed the Tongs to step in, starting up protection rackets. Jay didn’t realize it at the time, but that patrolman was getting paid to look the other way.

Jay’s parents owned a small record store in those days. When they refused to pay protection money to the tongs, the tongs burnt it to the ground with their broken bodies still within it. No one lifted a finger to help. No one was arrested. Nobody seemed to care except for Jay.

He moved in a widowed aunt. Jay’s parents had life insurance, the benefits of which languished in a trust fund until he turned 18. But the death of his parents served to strengthen Jay’s resolve to become a cop – a good cop. The blasé student Jay had been until then suddenly became a focused and driven young man, devouring subjects, challenges and moving ahead to graduate from school a year early. College followed with the same intensity, and Jay graduated at the age of 20 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Psychology.

Just days after his graduation, he joined the HCPD. Mark warned him about corruption in the force, and how persuasive it can be. It had taken all of Mark’s resolve to stay clean long enough to retire. Jay kept his eyes open but only saw things getting worse on the police force. Ever the optimist, Jay tried changing things from the inside by working with the system.

Things changed when his partner was found floating face down in the Stewart River. Jay became more forceful in his accusations, ruffled feathers, stepped on toes and was increasingly isolated from the rest of the force. But Jay stayed clean and turned on anyone who was dirty. That’s when Becky “Becka” Awo’a recruited him for the vice squad.

In the year the two worked together, they took down various street players and their small organizations. Jay played the face, good enough at disguise and to keep the bad guys guessing. Becka was the tactician, figuring out how the organizations worked and finding their weaknesses. Jay learned a lot about the art of conducting investigations from her.

Then it all went wrong. They had uncovered a lead on a Tong white slavery deal and waited for approval from the division captain to move on it. Everything looked good on Saturday, and the captain told the pair to cool it Sunday while he got approval from the Police Commissioner. But when Monday came along, he caught Becka storming out of the captain’s office. The bust was off, Becka raged, the evidence had been taken from the cage over the weekend.

His partner fumed the rest of the day. And while the rage faded the next day, Becka didn’t say more than two words to him the whole day. Wednesday came, but Becka didn’t show up for work. Thursday, she turned in her badge and gun without saying a word. Jay tried to follow her, tried to talk her out of it, but all she said was goodbye.

Friday, a body in Becka’s police uniform was found floating in the bay near the Bayside docks. The victim had been badly mutilated, but Jay was convinced that it wasn’t his partner. He was ordered to take a week off and patrolmen were assigned to keep him under surveillance.

Jay waited until two rookies were on watch, easily shaking them. He followed his hunch all the way down to the warehouse they had pegged as one of the Tong’s holding pens for the slavery ring. He slipped in past the security and verified the evidence of ring and its victims. He also found Becka – drugged stupid and beaten senseless, but alive. He slipped back out again, and called for backup.

An hour passed and nobody showed. Nobody.

Jay raced over Mark’s house, pouring out his frustration and rage. Mark only nodded, then took Jay to the basement. He opened up a gun safe and told Jay to take what he needed – this was the way the “old school” cops would do it. Some old clothes from a forgotten oak chest made Jay’s costume. The rest was history.

Jay rescued Becka and the other victims. Several tong members were wounded and left for the police to clean up, provided they would get their hands dirty. Becka spent nearly a year recovering from the physical and psychological wounds of her captivity, testifying against her captors in court.

The badge and gun joined Becka’s on the captain’s desk. Jay never looked back. He spent some time doing unlicensed detective work for the shadier parts of society before his aunt died, leaving behind her share a rich collection of records bought from Jay’s parents’ store before it burned down. Inspired by the legacy, Jay starts his own DJ business and finds it a welcome change from his darker side.

But after a brief respite, he finds himself being drawn back into the pulse and challenges of bringing justice to the streets. He takes on the handle of Cypher because he likes the name. He keeps the costume, updating it slightly to include some armor in the trench coat and rubber bullets from Mark for his pistols. He buys a motorcycle to get around town and begins to point up the corruption of the police force by taking down the cases they won’t touch.

Old School Justice – just the way Jay dreamed it would be.

(A big thank you to Shawn for writing this up – it’s one of the first character backgrounds ever handed to me without my asking for it!)

 

Looking forward to Session # 5 on Friday, August 25th!

 

Matt "The-busy-GM" Frisbee

 

I like this a lot! Very interesting, very evocative.

 

However (excuse me whilst I critique), the jump from past tense to present is a bad idea. All the events described in present tense are "done deals"; they should be in the past tense, just like the rest.

 

I am sorry is you find this picky, but I was jarred, badly, by that sudden and (IMHO) unnecessary jump in tenses. I think it would be extremely improved if the penultimate paragraph were changed to past tense.

 

Other than that, one of the best character backgrounds I've ever seen.

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

I like this a lot! Very interesting, very evocative.

 

However (excuse me whilst I critique), the jump from past tense to present is a bad idea. All the events described in present tense are "done deals"; they should be in the past tense, just like the rest.

 

I am sorry is you find this picky, but I was jarred, badly, by that sudden and (IMHO) unnecessary jump in tenses. I think it would be extremely improved if the penultimate paragraph were changed to past tense.

 

Other than that, one of the best character backgrounds I've ever seen.

 

Yeah, I probably should have edited the thing a little better, but I was trying to preserve the feel of what Shawn wrote (which I think is very good). I'll pass along your praise when I see him next session. And thank you for your commentary!

 

Matt "Never-was-a-good-editor-which-is-why-I-had-to-give-up-being-a-computer-programmer" Frisbee

[longbow]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

I can't wait for the next time we game and I do have nightblade's bio. done and I just need to type it up and let yoo look over it.

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

I can't wait for the next time we game and I do have nightblade's bio. done and I just need to type it up and let yoo look over it.

 

Hey hey!

 

Whatever you're comfortable with, my friend. As long as you're making the effort, it's worth the trouble. I look forward to reading it! I'll start work on Friday's adventure after I get off work and get some sleep. I'm not sure if I'll have time for a newscast this time around, but if not that I will at least have a screamsheet.

 

Until Friday,

 

Matt "Devious-wheels-are-a-turnin'-up-there" Frisbee

[Thrakazog]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

SESSION #4 – 18 AUG 06 “EVERYBODY WANTS KANDI”

 

A great read!

[Vassoom]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

SESSION #4 – 18 AUG 06 “EVERYBODY WANTS KANDI”

<...SNIP...>

-- Matt Frisbee 0539 18 AUG 2006

Tremendously enjoyable read.

 

Kudos to you, sir! Kudos, I say!

 

- Vassoom

[Edsel]

Re: Knightshift Stories -- Campaign Log

 

Very entertaining story for #4. I am glad I was finally able to make the time to read it.