WWYCD: Dead Man Running

[Marcus Impudite]

The state prison just recently carried out the execution of a man convicted of multiple counts of murder and assorted other heinous crimes. A doctor pronounced him dead after the execution and the body was transported to the city morgue. A couple of hours later though, the body is now missing from the morgue and the door to the freezer drawer it was in has been torn from its hinges! A review of surveillance camera footage shows the freezer being forced open from the inside and the supposedly disceased man climbing out under his own power! After stealing some scrubs from a supply closet, he makes a run for it and disappears into the night! WWYCD?

[McCoy]

Re: WWYCD: Dead Man Running

 

All Characters: Nothing. Sentenced to death, executed, declaired legally dead. Only crime they've comitted since then is the misdemenor pilfering of some scrubs. If he comitts another crime call us.

[Hermit]

Re: WWYCD: Dead Man Running

 

Aquatic- Check with the legal department to see if being a zombie is a crime, since technically the sentence was passed.

 

Doctor Sanguine-Find this fellow by spells arcane, and then learn of his true nature, and what unholy pact was made, de-animating him after.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: WWYCD: Dead Man Running

 

Vixen: "EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

[Zed-F]

Re: WWYCD: Dead Man Running

 

Soulbarb considers this a potential disaster waiting to happen and is not going to take a hands-off approach. She would investigate to find out how and why this fellow reanimated, whether he had any help, and what he's likely to do next. She has enough mystical knowledge and contacts, plus her Soulsight, that she ought to be able to unravel the mystery and deal with whatever she uncovers.

 

Sylph, on the other hand, is a bit concerned but not sure what she can do about it, not having any particular investigative ability to speak of. If there is no immediate and obvious trail to follow, she'll have to wait for the guy to resurface and/or for the GM to get out the clue-by-four.

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: WWYCD: Dead Man Running

 

If it was just a regen from dead thing all my characters would hunt them down, as they haven't fufilled their sentence - the gameworlds have laws that coming back after an execution means no execution, not "survived the execution".

 

Assuming Zombie.

 

Meeb - find out if he has reformed due to his execution, and if so ask him to join. A Zombie would fit right in to the Freak Squad.

 

Sift - would hunt him down, and as undead have no rights, take him out (her code vs Killing doesn't apply to Undead, Demons or the like).

Angelfire would do as Sift does.

[Hermit]

Re: WWYCD: Dead Man Running

 

Gaze-"Let me guess, now, as a Zombie, he is ALSO immune to my powers... at this rate, I'm beginning to think more are than not." He'd hunt the guy down. Innocents could be in danger.

[assault]

Re: WWYCD: Dead Man Running

 

Assault would feel the need to track him down. Having the undead wandering around is a bad thing.

 

Of course, if it turned out that the guy wasn't undead, Assault would just warn him he was being watched and leave him alone.

 

All of this assumes that Assault was somewhere where the death penalty existed.

[Trebuchet]

Re: WWYCD: Dead Man Running

 

Zl'f: This isn't really the kind of thing Zl'f would get involved with, but if she was visiting an American city and something like this happened she'd probably have to try and stop him. She's dealt with the Undead before and certainly wouldn't have a lot of enthusiasm for the mission.

 

Justicar: Just the kind of thing Justicar would want to do. As an agent of the Vatican, fighting undead is already part of his mandate.

[Psylint]

Re: WWYCD: Dead Man Running

 

Revenant: Lawyer by day, he knows that there is no crime in "killing" a "dead man" stalks down said monstrosity, dismembers it, stakes it heart, sprinkles Communion wafers on it, has last rites performed over it, burns it, and scatters to the 4 winds at sunset over looking Hollywood.

 

Paragon: Zombie Kill.

 

Reverb: Dude it's so likely that I'm stoned, or if not, that I think I'm stoned when you start talking about zombies that I'll just grab some munchies and hit the couch for some Z's. Gotta gig sometime, I'm sure.

 

Tremor: Using his connection with Gaia, locates the zombie as he pads along the ground, convinces Her to reach up, grab him, and then "embrace him" somewhere near the earth's core. Then he goes back to sleep.

 

Peace

[OctoberRaven]

Re: WWYCD: Dead Man Running

 

Mister Nonsense: He's probably with Stan (the "Man who likes to put "e"s at the end of his words" that gave him his powers). Leave him be.

 

Shift: Use my mini-rocket launcher if he's not in the vicinity of any innocent (4d6 RKA).

 

Emerald Dragon: OH BUDDHA IS THAT A DEMON... oh, it's not? Okay, I'll kick it's ass.

 

October Raven: Destroy the mockery of life.

 

Scrapper: Make a device to destroy it if it goes on a rampage. Then use said device if/when it does.

[Hermit]

Re: WWYCD: Dead Man Running

 

Mole-Mole would try to track the guy down, and invite the others along. That's about as far as he gets in planning and detective work.

[SKJAM!]

Re: WWYCD: Dead Man Running

 

Talion: Has seen this movie. He calmly acquires a list of the judge(s), prosecutor, jury members and main prosecution witnesses, picks one whose current address is known, and waits there for the reanimated killer to show up. Meanwhile, the rest of the New Legends cause massive property damage tearing apart the city looking for the renevant.

[Balabanto]

Re: WWYCD: Dead Man Running

 

Yeah. Waiting for this guy to show up does present a lot of promise, but....

 

Let's add a twist to this:

 

What if you KNOW the guy was wrongfully executed and you can't prove it?

 

Now this becomes a lot more complicated. The law generally rules, with Mhoram's exception above, that once the person dies, or if the execution is ruled to be carried out succcessfully, they are legally dead, or the execution is considered to be successful, even if the target somehow survives.

 

Now, he's not looking for the people who convicted him, instead, he's trying to stay "alive" while the people who wanted him dead try to kill him again.

 

And despite the fact that he's not guilty of THIS crime, he is guilty of several others which make him deserving of death.

 

Resolve that.

[Psylint]

Re: WWYCD: Dead Man Running

 

Actually, the "pronounced dead" but really only mostly dead isn't as cut and dried as you'd like. Anyone can bring up evidence that the pronouncement was in error, e.g. "Well Your Honor, seein' as how the supposed decedent is currently gnawing on my leg, I'd say the coroner got that one wrong."

 

There have been cases where the condemned has had to be executed multiple times, in multiple settings. The record that occurs most immediately to mind was one from Texas where a man was electrocuted 3 times at his first execution, to no avail, returned to his cell and then several days or weeks later after the appeals electrocuted again. I think it took two times, at the 2nd execution, but they could've just been trying to make sure.

 

For my characters, and myself personally, folks should have the common decency to stay dead. It jus' gives me the heebies.

 

Peace

[psychonaut_raz]

Re: WWYCD: Dead Man Running

 

Sylph' date=' on the other hand, is a bit concerned but not sure what she can do about it, not having any particular investigative ability to speak of. If there is no immediate and obvious trail to follow, she'll have to wait for the guy to resurface and/or for the GM to get out the clue-by-four.[/quote']

Icestar would be the same....she'd let the brooding detective-types hunt him down and give her a call for the fight while she worries about what she's gonna wear to the prom next week omg....

[Tigereye]

Re: WWYCD: Dead Man Running

 

For my characters, and myself personally, folks should have the common decency to stay dead. It jus' gives me the heebies.

 

It does rather make a hash of execution being a means of deterring crime. Not to mention jealous.

 

Whether or not my group gets involved would depend on the nature of the crimes.

 

If they were largely local, we could call in the Windy City Irregulars to investigate.

 

If he were national in scope of his crimes, a call to PRIMUS or another high-powered investigator would be more appropriate. They know where to find us if things get out of hand.

 

If the criminal doing his Yesua ben-Yusef impersonation is a wanted international terrorist...

 

We will investigate, of course. Did somebody not find out that this man cannot be killed by the means of execution? Did someone give him the temporary ability to sustain the damage he did? Is he a unknown supervillain of some type?

 

Deuce, Sky, Avenging Angel and Chayin'de will take the primary job of tracking track him down. Angel in particular will be very good in this role, as a former bounty hunter, she has several contacts. Deuce can always call in a favour.

 

If they are successful, then the rest of the characters will also be needed- this guy may be hard to stop!

 

Some of the members of Deuce's team may refuse to go along, as they have a CAK, or may do so only under the provision that the death sentence will be commuted if the man is captured.

 

Of course, the sentence was simply failed to be carried out- if this man thinks he is a free man just because he was not successfully executed, he will be sorely disappointed...

 

Back in the bad old days, the State would get three tries for execution- barring those, the lack of success would be chalked up to an act of God- the sentence would be commuted to life imprisonment. There are really no such restrictions now, especially with supervillains roving about, but the executions may take a different format each time. Lethal injection doesn't work? Trying to fry Battery Baron? Try Doctor Kevorkian's Insto-Disintegrator Booth!

[Drhoz]

Re: WWYCD: Dead Man Running

 

The state prison just recently carried out the execution of a man convicted of multiple counts of murder and assorted other heinous crimes. A doctor pronounced him dead after the execution and the body was transported to the city morgue. A couple of hours later though' date=' the body is now missing from the morgue and the door to the freezer drawer it was in has been torn from its hinges! A review of surveillance camera footage shows the freezer being forced open from the inside and the supposedly disceased man climbing out under his own power! After stealing some scrubs from a supply closet, he makes a run for it and disappears into the night! WWYCD?[/quote']

 

Earth has free-willed undead? Why does this not surprise Vitus at all. Unless he isn't undead, and it was a genuine resurrection. Vitus has been thru one of those, and his running off to catch up on important business is entirely understandable. On the other hand, if he IS undead, Vitus had better prepare some consecrated beer to destroy him with. If not an abomination, find him (any body parts of blood left behind at the morgue would be all he needs ), interogate him, and use ESP to determine any theological reason he was brought back.

 

If there was no good reason for him to be still walking around, cut his legs off. And give the authorities another go at finishing him off - after all, multiple murders logically implies multiple attempts at punshiment. Think of it as the universe really letting you turn the screws down on an condemned villian.

[FenrisUlf]

Re: WWYCD: Dead Man Running

 

Fenris Ulf -- well, he was made for things like this (sort of), so it'd probably be a case of "Hunt him down and find out what's going on here."

 

After that, if he's evil/hungry dead/a monster, destroy it. If some wisenheimer necromancer is involved, bring the stiff to said necromancer, and let the corpse loose on him for a minute or three before destroying it. Then warn our budding Takofanes fanboy that "Next time, I won't pull it off of you!"

 

If he isn't evil, then find out just WHY he's walking around and see if Fen can help him resolve the issue.

 

Other members of the team -- As Fenris Ulf is their resident mystic expert, they'll probably let him take point unless and until he needs to call for help.

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: WWYCD: Dead Man Running

 

 

Now this becomes a lot more complicated. The law generally rules, with Mhoram's exception above, that once the person dies, or if the execution is ruled to be carried out succcessfully, they are legally dead, or the execution is considered to be successful, even if the target somehow survives

 

[ Digression ]

 

Yeah. It seemed a logical outgrowth of the law with regeneration to bring back from the dead, undead and the like. One of the side effects of that law, is that an undead is not considered the person who he was when alive, and is considered legally dead - so there are no legal penalties for killing them. Although animating them can get you in trouble for desecration of a corpse and that kind of legal stuff. Someone who regenerates from dead or is resurrected is a little more murky - but if they were executed and came back, as said, then they are considered to be not executed under the law.

 

[ End Digression ]

[input.jack]

Re: WWYCD: Dead Man Running

 

Vixen: "EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

 

Best. Response. Ever.

 

(Id Rep ya if I could, Collie)

[Badger]

Re: WWYCD: Dead Man Running

 

Badger: Depends on his crimes (though I guess execution means they were bad. ). He generally doesnt care about zombies all that much (though if he found them it might just be a matter of disintegtrating the corpse with a big EB). If it was demonic in nature, he would sense it and kill with extreme prejudice (he really hates demons, and he can sense their energy)

 

 

Frosty Bob- "I dont care. Call me when you find him and I'll pull out my rocket launcher and send him to hell for sure, now let me get back to the card game."