Edsel

Originally posted by Eosin

The Skull of Tzavos:_

Has a very Lovecraftian feel to it.

 

And the blade too. There are some "good guy" magic items out there I hope?

Originally posted by Eosin

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

 

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

 

 

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

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

Part 15

 

April 23

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

 

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

 

April 24

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

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

 

April 25

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

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

 

April 26

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

April 27

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

 

April 28-29

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

 

April 30

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

 

Wednesday, May 1, 1996

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

 

May 2

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

 

May 3

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

May 4

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

I managed to start a thread in which I posted 5 of the 6 replies. It benefited nobody but me. I'm getting better at padding my post count.

Hippocrates

 

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

 

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

Part 14

 

April 15

The Omega Team all arrives at Harpcor Towers in the evening before 10 o’clock. Nightstick conceals himself in the basement of the building. He finds a place that gives him a good view of much of the underground parking area and the majority of the stairway and elevator entrances. Hippocrates swipes a maintenance uniform and stashes a set of cling-grips and a force pistol inside the elevator shaft on the twelfth floor, near his rented office space. He then retreats to his rented office (in which the team has cached the combat gear of Hippocrates, Dancer and Specter) and waits. Dancer and Specter, in disguise, go to a late dinner at the Spinning Diamond restaurant and keep an eye on the helipad on the adjacent Tower, and the guest who are eating here. The restaurant is located on the top (twentieth) floor of the north tower. The restaurant rotates and gives a splendid view of the city.

 

April 15, 10:15 p.m.

A helicopter approaches and lands on the helipad atop the south tower, at the same time Nightstick witnesses the arrival of a large catering truck in the parking garage below. Armed men stream out of the catering truck and swarm up the south stairway. Nightstick calls a warning over his radio to his teammates and begins to stealthily approach the two guards who were left at the truck. The assault has begun.

The tense struggle that follows lasts for about a half-hour. Numerous small engagements consisting of one or two Omega Team members and as may as 6 or 7 terrorists occur through out this period. Of the 42 Terrorists that are involved in the take over attempt, 38 are killed or wounded. Only five terrorists, led by Martyr, manage to escape. Colonel Wolf if killed in the final fighting inside the building.

Of the Omega team, only Dancer is uninjured. Specter takes a serious wound to his left arm at the hands of Colonel Wolf. Hippocrates has several, very minor, wounds. It is Nightstick who pays the highest price. At one point in the battle Hippocrates had been captured by a group of terrorists. Nightstick attacked to aid his comrade but was critically injured in the effort. He was caught by a burst of fire from a terrorist’s M16. One round hit the vitals for almost maximum damage, only his light body armor saved his life. Nightstick’s attack did succeed in stunning two of the three terrorists and allowed Hippocrates to overpower the remaining guard. Hippocrates soon dispatched the three terrorists and tended to his wounded comrade. (Nightstick was also lucky that Dr. James was the person available to tend him.)

 

The goal of the terrorists was apparently robbery. They were trying to cut open the vault inside the offices of Callahan Gem Importers. The CIA contact made good on his promise and the Omega Team was quietly evacuated from the building, and Nightstick rushed to Hudson City University Medical Center, with the cover story that he was a hostage shot by the terrorists. Of 84 hostages, 79 were rescued without injury. 5 Hostages were killed along with 3 unfortunate firefighters. The Fire Department had responded to a fire alarm that was triggered early on in the situation. When their fire truck pulled up to the front doors, it was machine-gunned.

 

Joe Dishwasher underwent surgery that evening. Dr. Thomas James displayed nearly unbelievable skill. After the procedure Trauma Surgeon Dr. Richard Wexley stated, “Rarely is one lucky enough to witness so gifted a surgeon at workâ€. (Dr. Richard Wexley is a surgical resident at Hudson City University Medical Center. A natural roll of 3 on the surgery skill roll, followed up by an additional level of luck on the follow-up roll prompted his remark (This has to do with a house rule on rolling a “critical successâ€)).

 

April 16

During the afternoon Zhu Hsaio and Eden Blake pay a visit to Joe Dishwasher at the Hudson City University Medical Center. Zhu Hsaio waits until Joe is asleep and then requests that Eden leave him alone with his “impetuous studentâ€. Eden Blake waits down the hall for nearly a half-hour before she ventures back to Joe Dishwasher’s room. Inside she finds that Zhu Hsaio is asleep in a chair and that he looks more pale and gaunt than usual. Joe Dishwasher, however, seems to have regained his color and look much improved. She awakens Zhu Hsaio when she checks to see if the old man has passed away.

Zhu Hsaio voice is weak but he insists that he will be fine. He admonishes Eden to allow Joe to sleep. “No child, let him sleep he needs his rest. Now you will take me back to my home so I may rest as wellâ€.

 

Early in the evening Dr. Wexley and Dr. James are astonished to find Joe Diswasher sitting up and reading in bed. Their examination determines that Joe has seemingly healed at an unnaturally rapid pace. Normally a patient with his injuries would take two weeks to heal as much as he has in a single day.

 

GM NOTE: The real problem with a modern era campaign as deadly as this one is that character’s can often be laid-up with injuries that are going to take quite a while to heal naturally. I was forced on several occasions to come up with some “miracle†cure to get the player back into the action. I probably was more generous in doing this than I should have been.

 

Local television and newspapers are highlighting the action of a new vigilante group that call themselves the Pack. Three gang-bangers were shot to death by the vigilantes while setting in their car at a red light. The police found 3 kilos of cocaine in the trunk of the car. The vigilantes sprayed the car with automatic weapon’s fire while other motorists looked on.

 

April 17-18

Joe Dishwasher continues to recuperate at Hudson City University Medical Center. He now seems to be healing at a more normal rate. Due to the enormous strides in his recovery on the 16th, Dr. Wexley has decided that he can be released tomorrow afternoon.

 

Authorities locate the helicopter used by the survivors of the Legion of Death terrorists. It has been abandoned at a small airstrip in a neighboring county. No trace of Martyr or the other terrorists is found.

 

April 19

Joe Dishwasher is released from the hospital this afternoon. Dr. Wexley requests that he come by for a check up on Monday, April 22nd.

 

Just after noon Card Shark agents raid an old movie memorabilia show that is in progress at the Hudson City Convention Center. Two armed guards are gunned down when they attempt to intervene. One is critically injured and in the ICU, the other is in satisfactory condition. Stray bullets slightly injure two patrons of the show. The Card Shark agents seize two pairs of Ruby Slippers that were used in the original production of the Wizard of Oz. The Ruby Slippers are, of course, merely sequence but are worth an estimated $50,000 a pair to collectors. Other more valuable items, such as guitar actually used by Elvis Presley in “Viva Las Vegasâ€, are untouched.

 

Sunday, April 20

About a week ago a pair of new vigilantes moved into Hudson City. Predator (a.k.a. Dutch Watkins) and Snapshot (a.k.a. Daniel Sanders) are their names. The two are long term associates who have just made the move from the Houston area.

Predator is also knows as the Invisible Vigilante. Dutch Watkins is based on the character played by Arnold in the first Predator movie. In the novel trilogy (only two movies were made) the same man is the lead character throughout. Predator has obtained several pieces of alien equipment during his battles with them, including an “inviso-shieldâ€, “alien frisbeeâ€, two sets of “wrist bladesâ€, a helmet and a spear.

Snapshot’s reputation labels him as the Silent Killer. Daniel Sanders lost his voice box due to injuries sustained in Vietnam. He is an expert in the use of small arms and is the first character in the campaign to have purchased several of the special automatic fire maneuvers listed in the “Eye for an Eye†supplement. In his secret ID he is also a master Go player and has amassed a small fortune through tournament play in Hong Kong and America’s several “Chinatowns†over the years.

 

Dutch and Daniel have been reading about the now, somewhat famous, vigilante group known as the Omega Team. Since Dutch and Daniel are both former military men the idea of finding a team in which to work appeals to them.

Since the Omega team has proven hard to uncover through conventional means, Predator hatches a plot to make contact with them. That evening, after consulting with Snapshot, he heads to the Strip to search for a few criminals and make his presence known.

He soon finds a couple of drug dealers and watches them from a nearby alley. As he contemplates his available courses of action a car containing three Hispanics carry out a drive by on the two, Afro-American, drug dealers. The shooting takes place regardless of the proximity of several bystanders (fortunately none are hit). Predator takes out the cars engine with a well placed toss of his “fisbee†and then takes out the trigger man as the trio flee from their unseen attacker. As the unconscious gunman lies bleeding to death, Predator carves a large W symbol in his chest. Predator then departs.

 

The presence of the symbol carved in the chest of the deceased pusher obviously points to the Omega Team. This is a little out of character for the normal behavior of the Omega Team and several of the detectives are worried. This could indicate that the Omega Team is become jealous of all the media attention the Pack is getting, and that the violence will escalate. The police are mystified about what sort of weapon was used to disable the car (it sliced through the fender, gashed the engine block, and then exited the grill of the car without leaving any residue except what seems to be an unknown lubricant). The few witnesses in the area reported seeing a metallic streak that seemed twist and swerve sharply as well as appearing and disappearing out of thin air.

Records from early 1991 indicate a brief rash of similar incidents that resulted in the deaths of over a dozen known violent criminals and three police officers. The FBI’s MIB (Mysterious Incidents Branch) took over that investigation and has never shared their final conclusions with the Hudson City Police Department.

 

GM NOTE: Thus two new Player-characters enter the campaign. I really let Predator’s character talk me into too much. I feel, on reflection, that the character unbalanced the game.[/i]

 

Monday, April 21

The morning papers are dominated by two stories. The Pack has hit another drug house. In the raid 3 people in the house were slain as well as two users who were just outside the house. Unconfirmed reports state that a “beastman†was working with the Pack. The other story is about the rather blatant, for the Omega Team, killing of the drug dealer on the Strip. The police assume that the “beastman†must have been wearing an elaborate disguise of some sort. They are wrong.

Andrew Hobbs (now going by the name Savant) is very upset when he reads the story in the morning paper and quickly contacts the other Omega Team members to discuss just what happened on the Strip last night. It quickly becomes evident that none of the four Omega Team members was responsible so they decide to investigate who is using their symbol and to what end.

 

GM NOTE: Current members of the Omega Team are; Andrew Hobbs (Savant, formerly Specter), Dr. Thomas James (Hippocrates), Joe Dishwasher (Nightstick), and Eden Blake (Dancer, NPC). The former member Gunner was long gone by this point (the player moved on) and the Remittance Man is now in California. His player is USAF (a Lt. Colonel now) and at the time he had been transferred to the Pentagon, he is now at Edward AFB.

 

By 10:00AM Dr. Thomas James has used his connections with Dr. Ernest Steiner (Chief Medical Examiner of Hudson City) to examine the body of the dead drug dealer. With information obtained from the corner’s report and through their other connections they, they determine that something really unknown and weird was going on here. They also recall and research the previous incidents from 1991. Once they determine that the Feds took over and blacked out the previous incident, Andrew Hobbs contacts CIA agent Jason Calvin for further information.

By calling in the favor they were owed by the CIA they determine that the most directly involved person in the previous incident was HCPD Lt. Detective Dutch Watkins. Mr. Watkins was a former US Army airborne ranger who was involved in a possible alien encounter in Central America in 1988. After being the sole survivor of the encounter, he retired from the military and became an HCPD detective. Three years later in early 1991 he again had the unfortunate coincidence to become involved with a second alien encounter in Hudson City. Late in 1993 he was, involuntarily, recalled to active duty to investigate an alien crash in Siberia. After that incident he returned to the US and became a private investigator in Houston, Texas. Over the last year-and-a-half the Invisible Vigilante has been operating in the Houston area. The CIA suspects that Mr. Watkins is the Invisible Vigilante and may be using some alien equipment that he retained. Just last week Mr. Watkins moved back to Hudson City. The CIA has not intervened against Mr. Watkins since he is considered a valuable asset whom they do not wish to further alienate. Before Agent Calvin finishes his discussion with Mr. Hobbs he admonishes him not to harm or compromise Mr. Watkins in any way, and also not to reveal where they have gotten this information.

 

Around noon the Omega Team scouts the home of Mr. Watkins and quickly discovers he is not at home. Savant (formerly Specter) hacks into the telephone company records to determine 6 new businesses have had telephone service installed over the last week. Only one of these is a PI firm but the phone bill is in the name of one Daniel Sanders. Joe Dishwasher recalls that there had been a minor hubbub in Chinatown about world famous (at least as far as avid Go players are concerned) Go player in town this weekend by that name.

 

By one o’clock they have a plan and go to see Mr. Dutch Watkins, private investigator. Andrew Hobbs (disguised to look a bit older) tells Mr. Watkins that he believes that his wife (played by Eden Blake) has been cheating him. He pays Mr. Watkins $500 up front, plus expenses to place her under surveillance, starting immediately. He explains that her car is now parked at the Basset Arms motel about 5 blocks away, he followed her there himself and suspects that she may be meeting with her lover. Andrew leaves and Dutch proceeds directly to the motel to begin his surveillance.

Soon after Mr. Watkins arrives at the motel he observes the subject (Dancer) leaving the motel in her car, he follows her. He soon finds himself in the suburb of Maple Valley. He follows her through a railroad underpass and suddenly suffers a quadruple blowout. (Nightstick was concealed alongside the road and threw caltrops in front of the car as Mr. Watkins passed.) Being mildly paranoid, Dutch floors it and in a shower of sparks begins to accelerate. In his rear view mirror he spots a mobile auto-repair van (the newly replaced Omega Truck) and also barely catches sight of a ninja looking character hopping in the back of if. Predator veers off the road into some tall grass, quickly rips off his outer garments and activates the inviso-shield. Predator soon finds three Omega Team members fanning out around his disabled car (Hippocrates, Savant & Nightstick). Recognizing who they are he deactivates the inviso-shield and makes contact.

 

GM NOTE: The inviso-shield is a mesh bodysuit that will render its wearer, and any garments worn under it invisible. Predator equipment held by the user is also rendered invisible, but any non-alien items held by the user or worn outside the mesh will not be cloaked. The inviso-shield gives a –6 PER penalty to those attempting to sight the wearer, or a –3 penalty if the wearer is moving. This is one of the items that I began to think of as unbalancing to the campaign.

 

By four that afternoon they are back at the motel room the Omega Team had rented. They discuss the incident of the 20th and learn of Predator’s partner, Snapshot. Dutch soon calls Daniel Sanders and he arrives at the motel where they continue their discussions. The Omega Team gives Predator one of their cellular phones so they can keep in touch, and work together on a trial basis, then every body goes home.

 

The police have a couple of witnesses who report the incident of the car running a short distance on the rims and the mysteriously dressed people who were seen in the vicinity. Since no shots were fired and no serious damage was caused to the street the police are not seriously interested in the incident. A patrol officer looks at Dutch Watkins’ disabled car but Mr. Watkins soon makes arrangements to have his disabled vehicle picked up. The private eye tells the police that he wishes to press no charges against any one and that client confidentiality in his current ‘divorce’ case prevents him from discussing the matter further. The police do not consider the incident worthy of investigation.

 

April 22

Andrew Hobbs begins to make some serious inquires into the escape of Ashtray Art. Extensive investigations and inquires finally lead him to believe that a night orderly who has now vanished assisted in the escape of the psychopathic arsonist. The orderly in question, Jerry Hodges (whose real name was Rod Hopkins), started work at the Todberry Asylum just after Ashtray Arts’ incarceration, and quit his job (and vanished) about a week after his escape. Rod Hopkins had a record of several drug related offenses and was believed to be involved in the occult subculture. The Omega Team becomes concerned that the Cabal might be involved in some way.

 

About 4 o’clock in the afternoon police scanners alert the Omega Team (as well as Predator), of a violent home invasion in Irishtown district near Hudson City University. Apparently Dr. Malcome McNeely, his wife, daughter and all 4 members of the household staff were murdered. The invaders took only 4 small statuettes. The statuettes are known as Tellas, they are of Hawaiian origin and are supposed to represent fire spirits that serve the great goddess Pelé.

 

End of Part 14, part 15 tomorrow. Cardshark is up to something, the Pack, the Cabal and a serial killer are all loose in the city, and what's up with Ashtray Art?

 

I'm going to try and get Hippocrates entered in the HD and post him later today.

Good back story for the trolls. Will Trollkin be a replacement for Orcs in the campaign or do they exist as well?

I've done something like this before using Images to cause a PER penalty to spot the character. Of course that can get a bit expensive if you buy the PER modifier up much. You could also try something with change environment. Or lastly just put a Limited Power limitation on standard Invisibility.

Originally posted by Eosin

Kazren the Greater Troll

 

Player: NPC Monster

That's pretty brutal. I'm a little worried about playing in your campaign.

Originally posted by Killer Shrike

and heres the template to make it happen for you:

 

Ohhhh! That really kicks a**.

 

Thanks a bunch!

Originally posted by NightStick The bottom line now means that I have to go out and get a copy of HD.

I should get a commission then.

 

If you really want to buy a copy of Hero Designer check out Hero's Online store.

Originally posted by NightStick

From what I am told, Thanks go out to Killer Shrike for the additional coding done to allow the complete story to be told:D

 

THANK YOU! KILLER SHRIKE!

I used an export template written by Killer Shrike, that allowed background fields to be posted.

Omega Team Characters

 

You can follow this link to see the write-up of Nightstick.

 

Attached is the HDC file for the character. I have gotten rid of the old HTML code here since it was no longer functional. The current write-up is 5th Edition but was done before the Resource Pool rules were released in the new version of Dark Champions. As a result a home-brew system was used for equipment.

Part 13

 

Team Omega Campaign History

Start of the 4th Story Arc

 

April 8, 1996

The Omega Team returns home to Hudson City. After their experiences with the Susan Gael, Andrew is much more willing to take a jet back home from Glasgow. They return home on a Virgin Atlantic 747. They arrive at mid-morning at James Aberdeen International Airport and head directly to their own homes to recuperate from the jet lag.

 

By late that evening they become aware of the single most disturbing bit of news that occurred during their absence. Arthur Connally (a.k.a. Ashtray Art) had escaped from the Toddberry Asylum.

 

April 9

That evening Dr. Thomas James is able to contact Bob Goldfield (the D.A. and a personal friend) and inquire about the escape of Ashtray Art. D.A. Goldfield is unable to give much information other than that they believe that Ashtray Art was assisted in his escape. The police are investigating but have little to go on.

 

This evening Dr. James has a dream that, with the help of his friends and Zhu Hsaio, he is eventually able to interpret. He believes that something terrible is going to happen at Harpcor Towers, perhaps an armed take-over of the facility.

 

GM NOTE: Sadly I did not write down the dream I created for him. So much time has passed that I don’t have the slightest inkling of what it was.

 

April 10

During the day the team hits the streets and starts to nose around about any unusual activity on the streets. Since part of the dream featured a playing card, Andrew Hobbs and Eden Blake go looking for information on what Card Shark has been up to lately. Their results do not seem to indicate any Card Shark activity of an unusual nature.

 

At one of the bars they visit, Andrew notices a card tacked to a bulletin board that has a large Omega symbol on it. He examines the card and finds that it has a telephone number written on the back of it. No other writing or clues are available.

 

Specter and Dancer leave the bar and pick up Nightstick and Hippocrates. Nightstick had been patrolling in the China Town area and Hippocrates had been checking for the availability of vacant office space inside Harpcor Towers. Specter explains the situation about the card and they drive around town while Specter calls the phone number on his cellular phone (an anti-tracing precaution). The mysterious voice on the other end of the line says that certain things should not be discussed in the clear and asks them to check back on the card they saw in the bar, then severs the connection.

 

By evening Andrew and Eden are disguised and revisit the bar. Nightstick remains in the vicinity of the bar In case they need aid. By the time they get back to the bar the card has been replaced with an identical one. This card has a post office box key taped to the backside. They collect the key and prepare to leave when Eden spots something. One of the thumbtacks in the bulletin board is odd looking. When Andrew examines it he comes to believe that it is a micro-camera of some sort. He drops the item to the floor and crushes it before they leave.

 

At the post office box they find a package. It is in a plain brown wrapper with no return address. Knowing that the Unabomber is believed to have been captured they take the package with them. Within the package is a cellular phone with a built-in scrambler. Otherwise, it is a normal phone but has no marking on it to betray where it came from, or even what its own number is. An hour after they pick it up it starts to ring. Again the mysterious voice is on the other end. The man on the other end states that he represents a company that would like to talk about obtaining the Omega Team’s services. He desires to meet with them face to face and even allows the Omega Team to pick the time and place. Andrew chooses LeMastre Park, at the fountain, midnight tomorrow evening.

 

April 11

The morning paper has a noteworthy item in the headlines. Late last evening agents of Card Shark hit the Thorson Museum of Archaeology in a daring raid. Several guards were seriously injured but none were killed. The agents took a pair of jade jaguar statuettes from the Mesoamerican exhibit. The two jaguars are quite valuable, on the order of half a million for the pair, but none of the other museum treasures were even touched.

 

The rest of the day passes without incidents worthy of note.

 

Late that night the Omega Team makes its rendezvous a LeMastre Park. There they meet a company man (CIA Agent) by the name of Jason Calvin. They begin a discussion as to why the CIA wants to talk the Omega Team. Calvin and Hobbs (sorry I couldn’t resist) do all the talking.

 

Mr. Calvin explains that the CIA is not legally allowed to operate within the USA. That is where the Omega Team comes in. Certain things have come to the agency’s attention that they believe the Omega Team would be interested in. The Omega Team has pulled off some feats that have even impressed the company.

 

A terrorist organization known as the Legion of Death (Infamous in the campaign world, sort of a Black September group) may be planning a strike in the United States. For years the terrorist/mercenary organization got most of its most lucrative work in the Middle East in the covert employ of groups like the PLO. With the relaxing of tensions in that region the Legion of Death has operated for a few years in the former Yugoslavia. But now even that source of employment has dried up. The Legion of Death has started to feel the financial pinch. Unlike most true terrorist organizations the Legion is more like a mercenary group that specializes in terrorism. They will bring the worlds attention to your group’s plight in some horrible way, for the right price. The CIA has sources that indicate the group may try to pull off something big in the United States. If they can succeed they will become the most publicized terrorists in the world, with every little faction in the world vying for their services.

 

GM NOTE: Wow, the world has changed a bit since I ran this adventure. The game was played in 1996, back then the middleeast was starting to quiet down and it looked like Yugoslavia was going to as well. Of course this all takes place before the horrible attack of September 11th.

 

Calvin goes on to explain that they have no idea when and where the Legion might strike and the FBI cannot possibly cover the entire country. Calvin asks only that the team be alert to the possibility of terrorist activity. If the terrorists do strike in Hudson City and the Omega Team can do something about it, the CIA would owe the Team one.

 

The Omega Team says that they will do what they can in such an eventuality. No one in the Omega Team drops any hints of their suspicions of coming events at Harpcor Towers. Agent Calvin tells Hobbs to keep the cellular phone and gives them a phone number to call if they need to talk.

 

April 12

Andrew Hobbs and Eden Blake disguise themselves and attempt to gain information about the business at Harpcor Towers by socializing with some of the employees of the various firms there. They are not very successful. That evening the team enters the building, using Dr. Jame’s passkey (he had managed to rent some office space in the north tower on the twelfth floor). They get into some of the personal offices of the executives of Harpcor Technologies and discover that several of the high-ranking executives and stockholders are supposed to hold a private meeting on Monday, April 15th at 10 p.m.

 

April 13

Eden Blake goes out and picks up one of the executives of Callahan Gem Importers. She spends the day seducing him to find out what valuables the Importers will have in the building on Monday. She discovers that the company will be storing one of its largest shipments ever, in their vault on the night of Monday April 15th.

 

April 14

On the evening of the 13th a murder is committed in the city’s Gadsden district. Since the counties chief medical examiner is on vacation and out of the state, Dr. Thomas James is called in to consult on the autopsy. Data as follows;

 

Name: Kimberly Ann Brickford; Hair: Blonde, long; Eyes: Blue; Height: 5’7â€; Weight: 126 lb. Race: White; Age: 27; Job: Secretary, Allied Mutual Insurance Company.

 

Wounds: Bruises and signs of beating on the face and head; deep stab wound in right side; two-inch deep cut across stomach; throat slit (cause of death). Time of death about 11:00 p.m. last night.

 

Scene of the Crime: The body was found twenty feet inside an alley next to a sewer grating. The victim was shoved into the alleyway and thrown to the ground. There were only a few blood splatters, but there was a large pool of blood indicating that the victim bled to death from a slit throat; she was blood type O+. There was also a square shaped bloody smear (type O+) on the side of the alley away from where the victim was found; nobody knows what caused it.

 

Police Reconstruction based on Evidence Recovered: The police believe that Miss Brickford was walking home from a date with Greg Hassel, her current boyfriend, when she was attacked from behind (she was walking by herself because they had a fight that evening). The attacker stabbed her in the side with a knife with a wide, slightly rounded blade, she was then shoved into the alleyway and thrown to the ground. Then she was hit several times in the head, perhaps to keep her quiet. The attacker then slit her throat and, as she bled to death, made the cut across her abdomen for unknown reasons.

 

Saliva and hair samples from the attacker were obtained. The attacker is not a secretor, so his blood type cannot be ascertained from his saliva, although it would prove useful for DNA typing if and when he is captured. The only fingerprints that were found were too smeared to be identifiable.

 

Dr. James manages to call Andrew Hobbs who goes out to look over the crime scene. He is unable to find any additional evidence that the police may, or may not, have missed. A seemingly innocent inquiry made by Dr. James to one of the police detectives reveals that Greg Hassel has an alibi of some sort. The Omega Team does not pursue this matter any farther at this point since it may simply be an isolated incident. (Of course since it made it into the campaign log you can be certain it isn’t.)

 

End of Part 13, tomorrow part 14.

Nightstick Background

 

Below is the background for the character Nightstick as written by the player and forwarded to me the other day. The original Nightstick is a sample character that was originally presented in “Hudson City Blues†written by Edward J. Carmien. We modified the character somewhat and the player re-wrote the background. By the end of the campaign this character had racked up 107 experience points.

 

(7-20-95)

Re: Background on “NightStick†alias Joe Dishwasher, alias Daemon Dog....

 

As I sit in my room this night, as with most nights, my thoughts race back to my childhood home, and the peace and tranquility that were at one with the world. I remember only glimpses of my past, kind of like a self imposed amnesia. I guess that I don’t want to remember after all....

 

I am not quite sure why Zhu Hsaio wants me to journalize my memories, but I know that I must not question the ways of my mentor. Only disgrace can come from that - like what happened to Cong Feng, and when he tried to murder his brothers. I still shudder to think what would have happened had he been successful.

 

My first memory centers around a temple fountain, and how I would sit for hours and watch the coy playfully chase each other around and around the pool. It seemed that they never tired of the chase, or of the eventual conquest. I guess that what I really wanted was for some other children to play with.... there were no other children at the temple where I grew up.

 

I can’t remember either my mother or my father, all that I had was Zhu Hsaio.

 

It was at my 10th celebration, that I was to learn a very important life lesson, perhaps the most important lesson that I have ever learned. Zhu Hsaio invited the surrounding farmers to bring their children, and a great day was planned. I was excited at the concept of other kids to play with, and I couldn’t sleep a wink the night before. Well, to make a long story short and less painful, no one ever showed up. I was devastated, I was mad, I was upset, and I was - ashamed. It was my day, and no one came for me.

 

Late that night, as I was watching the coy play in the moonlight, Zhu Hsaio came to me. He asked me if I knew why I was alone on my day. I did not. He told me.

 

Zhu Hsaio simply stated that... â€For a man to command respect, he must earn it.â€

 

It took my childish mind several years to begin to comprehend what Zhu Hsaio had said that night, and several years more to understand what he didn’t say.

 

I remained a “loner’ all throughout my adolescent years, immerging myself into the studies that I was given. Kung Fu was the key that held my sanity in place. It is the one thing in my life that makes sense, and the one thing that I am good at, I mean REAL GOOD at.

 

My training taught me to help those that are in need. It also taught me to hate those that take without rights. Maybe that is why I feel compelled to, um; well shall we say enjoy the moonlight.

 

Still to this day, I prefer solitude to the company of others.

 

Trust must be earned.

 

Joe Dishwasher

Part 12

 

March 21

The Susan Gael pulls into Glasgow at about 9 o’clock in the morning. The authorities are summoned. Scotland Yard interviews all of the crew and passengers, but by noon they are able to disembark and go about their business. The party heads for the apartment of Dr. Angus Gough and arrive there about 12:30.

 

During the trip to Dr. Gough’s apartment, Thomas James and Debbie Taylor have a long talk about the happenings on board the Susan Gael. Dr. James is eventually able to convince Ms. Taylor that things are not as sinister as they seem. The weapon he has is not a ‘lethal’ weapon, but is merely a self defense item, sort of like mace or pepper spray, etc.

 

As they arrive at the apartment of Dr. Angus Gough it is quickly apparent that the door is standing ajar. Fearing what they might find, they have Andrew’s butler Alfred, take Ms. Taylor to a corner café for dinner. Inside the apartment they find the bodies of Dr. Angus Gough (hanged), Professor Larry MacDonald (stuffed in the oven), and Dr. Charles Chargg (drowned in the toilet). An unconscious fifteen-year-old boy is also in the front room. Dr. James is able to determine the boy has a concussion but is otherwise okay.

 

They awaken the boy and find out that he was sent by his dad to inform Dr. Gough’s party that a boat is waiting to take them to the Island of Iona (located off the west coast of Scotland). They also quickly search the apartment and find several things of interest: In the master bedroom they find a packed suitcase with a note about Iona (The note reads, “Iona, Southwest cliffs, careful, Brother Pace, AGâ€). The library is full of signs that Dr. Gough had been busy studying up on the ancient Celts. The library also yields a silver dagger the hilt formed into a ram-headed snake. A fragment of ancient parchment with Sanskrit writing preserved between two sheets of amber is found along with a letter from Brother Pace explaining its meaning (The writing tells of a horrible sacrifice of horses to a “god of the long hand.†This is clear evidence of a link between the Celts and the ancient peoples of India. A very significant archaeological discovery.) The letter goes on to explain that the document and its amber case came from a monolith located on the cliffs of Iona. Books in the library indicate that an ancient monastery was founded on Iona about 563 AD.

 

The safe in the library has scratches, burns and water stains on it. The door is twisted as if something attempted to rip it from its hinges. Dancer is able to crack the safe. Inside they find a glass, iron and wood case and inside it is an ancient poem written in Gaelic. Fortunately a translation is also in the safe. The poem is about an ancient hero named Cuchulain. It details how he battled three evil demons and tells how he defeated them. On one wall in the library is a calendar with April 1st circled in red and the word “Lugnasad†written down. Andrew Hobbs recalls that Lugnasad is an ancient Celtic holiday.

At about this time Nightstick, who has been acting as look out, warns of the approach of a suited man and two police officers. The group quickly covers any traces of their snooping.

 

Inspector Campbell and Officers Roberts and Donald are from the local police. Inspector Campbell relays that they have had an anonymous phone call telling that some murders have been committed. With some fast-talking, the characters are able to get Inspector Campbell to believe that they are who they say they are. They are permitted to leave after several hours of interview. (They even manage to convince the police that the dagger and writings are theirs. That they were going to have Dr. Gough examine them. When they leave they manage to take the items with them.) They are asked not to leave the vicinity of Glasgow until the police conclude their investigation.

 

They quickly check into the hotel that Alfred and Ms. Taylor have already arrived at, send the injured lad to a hospital for observation, and make a canvass of the area to see if they can acquire some black market weapons. They are rushed for time, since they intend to meet with the boy’s father and sail for Iona as soon as possible. They manage to obtain several combat knives and a .38 Special Revolver and ammo for Specter. Next they dash off to the dock and sail for Iona. They arrive late that night and resolve to begin their investigations in the morning.

 

March 22

The party spends the morning researching on the Island of Iona. Most of the records here are written in Latin. Fortunately Dr. James is literate in Latin. Dr. James and Andrew spend most of the morning in the monastery’s records. They are able to find records of an attack on the monastery during the 7th century by many terrible creatures. Old documents tell of many hangings, burnings and drownings made in an attempt to restore the old Celtic gods. Apparently a “lord of evil†and its druid priests lead the attack on the monastery. It seems that the “beast†and his minions were driven back to a northern lake, referred to as the “Lake of the Beastâ€. Other records hint at the existence of a long tunnel that leads beneath the lake.

While Dr. James and Andrew study, Eden and Joe wander about exploring the old monastery. They happen by the Abbot’s office. On the wall is a huge map of ancient Scotland. On the map the Lake of the Beast is clearly indicated as being what is now known as Loch Ness.

 

That afternoon they head to the cliffs of Iona and the monolith. The monolith sits in a crevice set into the top of a cliff 70 feet above the seashore. Examination reveals many strange carvings on the weathered surface of the monolith.

One shows the large head of a strange beast rising from the water where the blood of a sacrificed horse spreads over the waves.

Another engraving shows what seems to be a ram-headed snake in some type of room. Dead horses lie about the strange creature, known to the Celts as Cernunnos, lord of animals.

One engraving shows another room filled with bones. Two creatures stand amidst the bones, but their forms are weathered and unclear.

The best engraving shows several druid priests, with the body of a horse killed on an altar. Lines lead from the base of the altar downward to a square. Within the square is a circle containing the rayed head of a bull. Other marks and symbols show this to be a holy or sacred place to the druids.

After they finish their examination they scout about the top of the cliff looking for any other clues. Suddenly (seemingly out of nowhere) several bulls move out of the nearby woods and charge them. As poorly armed as they are, they are still able to make pretty quick work of the bulls. Only Brother Pace, their host, is injured. He gets a nasty bump on the head when he dives into the crevice of the monolith to avoid a charging bull. As the short battle subsides, Andrew sees a white heron winging away in the distance.

 

March 23-26

A few days are spent explaining to the police where they went and why they could not be reached all day yesterday. Some legal wrangling starts as the police threaten to arrest them as material witnesses. When they disappeared on the 22nd the police checked out their record and found that they were passengers on the Susan Gael. Due to the murders that took place on that vessel, the police are very suspicious of the group. (Remember that the characters are traveling in their normal Identities.)

 

March 27

Tiring of the veiled threats that Inspector Campbell is making Adrew Hobbs decides to obtain the services of one of the best barristers in the United Kingdom. For a substantial incentive payment the barrister puts the rest of his work on hold and proceeds to threaten Scotland Yard with a harassment suit if his clients are not given some peace on their vacation. Being frightfully rich makes the little legal entanglements so much easier to dispense with.

 

March 28

The group is able to continue their ‘vacation’ and around noon head to Fort Augustus, Loch Ness. They arrive by early evening and get hotel accommodations. They will begin their investigations tomorrow.

 

As they sleep Dr. James has another of his unusual dreams. Again he finds himself in darkness; the air is cool and moist. Something flutters past his head on hot, papery wings.

Suddenly the cavern is lit in an eerie light, rising from a crystal dome in its rock floor. Around the dome crouch a number large stone statues—statues of weird and horrible beings.

Quickly and silently the dome fills with water, which cracks its crystal surface and begins to rush out onto the cavern floor. Now the statues begin to move, setting their stone hands on the cracks in the dome, trying to force the glowing water back to its source somewhere deep beneath the earth.

 

March 29

The day is spent sight seeing and inconspicuously snooping for information. They soon learn several things of interest.

A man was found dead near the Cullough estate last night. He looked as if a stag had gored him. The dead man was known to have been a poacher on private lands.

Under the pretense of reading about old Loch Ness Monster sightings, they are able to determine that newspaper and police records indicate that the incidents of drowning, burning to death and hanging have nearly tripled in the last five years. The number of these deaths is almost equal to each other.

Inquires about Davirr Cullough indicate that he is a breeder of fine Arabian horses. Strangely nobody can seem to recall him ever selling one.

The local library’s archaeology records indicate that there is a place on the edge of the lake where the ancient druids used to worship and make sacrifices. That place is now located on the estate of Davirr Cullough.

 

March 30

It is known in the area that Davirr Cullough gives tours of his operations and the old manor house on his property. The characters decide to call Mr. Cullough to arrange one of these tours. They are mildly surprised, and wary, when Mr. Cullough invites them out this very evening. Dr. James makes some business excuses to Debbie Taylor and has Alfred take her on a tour of the lake (Fortunately Hippocrates had told his DNPC that this trip also involved some business dealing, so her suspicions are not overly aroused).

 

After arriving they briefly exchange pleasantries with their host and then are given a tour of the property by Mr. Cullough himself. Andrew Hobb’s curiosity is aroused when he spots a path that leads into a patch of oak woods in the direction of the lake. Mr. Cullough makes no mention of the trail and seems to hurry by the area. Andrew Hobbs starts making all sorts of remarks about ancient druid’s, their impending holiday, and the sacrifices to recall the god Lug, etc. Remarkably Mr. Cullough retains his composure better than some of the other characters.

As they approach the manor house Nightstick notices Mr. Cullough make a very subtle signal to someone watching from an upstairs window. He quickly and quietly informs Dr. James and Ms. Blake. He is also able to subtly signal Adrew to be ready for trouble.

When they walk across the back porch of the manor house they are ambushed by all of the household staff. The attackers are armed with a variety of knives and clubs; the butler has a double-barreled shotgun. They never knew what hit them. Soon the members of the Omega Team are standing over the broken bleeding remains of Mr. Cullough and about a dozen of his servants.

They tie Mr. Cullough, who has a broken nose and elbow, to a chair and start to question him. Dr. James prepares his penethol while the rest of the team quickly searches the manor house. As Dr. James prepares to administer the shot to Mr. Cullough, a huge gash suddenly appears on the estate owner’s head. He expires almost immediately. No attacker is seen and for a while the team fears an invisible enemy is at hand.

 

Examination of the wound reveals that it is very odd. It appears almost as if a semi-sharp, long instrument of some sort was placed on his skull and pushed, not struck, with incredible force to cause the injury. Dr. James has never seen a wound quite like this.

The quick search of the manor house reveals a lot of reading material on Celts in the library and some duridical paraphernalia lying about, but little of any real use.

 

It is now rapidly getting dark. As they head toward the unexplored path they hear a strange chanting and the frightened snorts of horses. At the end of the path they find an ancient wooden altar and two men in druid robes. A corral nearby holds three Arabian horses. Upon three low, wooden stands are a magnificent stag, a bull and a deadly cobra. Though they stealthily approach the snake seems to be aware of them. In the quick battle that ensues they kill both of the druids. One of them twice, after his fellow druid animated his corpse. The bull and the stag give them a close call but are soon dispatched as well. The cobra fades off into the woods.

 

They examine the area and release the horses. Beneath the Altar they find a tunnel, carved with steps, that descends into the earth. They start their descent. Little clay oil pots weakly light the way. (They also have several sets of night vision goggles. Combined with the weak lighting they are able to see pretty well.) They travel about a thousand feet under ground before they head out, under, the lake. A huge, double set of oak doors awaits them at the end of the passage.

Inside the first room they encounter some strange little beings that are hidden inside four statues. Until they tip over the statues and slay the nearly defenseless creatures, all their metal items begin to rapidly heat up.

The second room is covered with the bones of a great many dead horses. It is here they encounter the first two of several powerful beings. Kralecht (a tall spindly humanoid with the head of a stag) and Kravecht (a creature with a bulls head and the body of a muscular man, with no covering skin) await them. The servants of Lug put up a tremendous battle. The creatures are good hand to hand combatants and command evil magics. It is only due to luck that none of the Omega Team are injured. Indeed more than once a single pip on the dice saved a character from grievous injury (I really scared the hell out of them – GM.) They finally manage to overcome the creatures. They hang the remains of Kravecht and drench Kralecht’s remains with water thus destroying the creatures. (A good thing too. Both of the creatures would have revived shortly (fully whole) and renewed the attack.)

 

In the next room they encounter Zmija (a large flying snake with a skull for a head). This time they are ready. When the creature charges they cover it with an, oil drenched overcoat and set it afire. This destroys the creature.

In the final room they find a large glowing wooden dome on the floor. An unnaturally, shimmering curtain is suspended from two oak pillars against one wall. Three Arabian horses are in a wooden corral against the far wall. The horses scream in terror as a huge ram-headed snake attacks them. Andrew’s knowledge of the occult, x-files (he has a knowledge skill: X-files. It is used to represent knowledge of all the weird stuff he has studied), and his recent studies of the Celtic material lead him to realize that if the horses die, Lug will be released into this world. Cernunnos is the creature they face. Fortunately the creature is intent on destroying the horses and Nightstick is able to attack the creature with the special dagger they recovered from Dr. Gough’s apartment. When struck by the dagger Cernunnos is forced to spend a Phase at 0 DCV changing forms. In this state he is helpless and the characters are able to destroy him and put an end to the menace.

 

The horses are freed (except one that has to be destroyed) and the curtain is torn down. Before leaving the underground the team rigs a small explosive charge to rupture the dome. After they are safely out of the tunnel they trigger it, flooding the Drunemeton forever. (Drunemeton is the term for this place. An underground holy place of the druids.)

 

End of Part 12, this ends the 3rd, short, story arc. Part 13 (tomorrow) begins the 4th Story arc which is much longer.

House Rules

 

The attached file is in RTF (Rich Text Format) so hopefully most people will be able to read it after its unzipped. These are four pages of the house rules that dealt with making up a character in the Omega Team campaign. Equipment rules were worked into the equipment list I made.

 

The Equipment list is about 40 pages long and in Word format. The amount of formatting in it will make if very ugly if I try and convert it to RTF. But, if there is interest, I'll try to get around to posting it as well.

 

EDIT: I am going to try and fix the unreadable posts, that I did, as I get the chance. I hope to provide links to the character sheets in some of the later posts that I will edit.

Character Write-ups

 

I got looking through the compressed archives and found the original spreadsheet in which is a copy of everyone of the player characters at the time of the campaign's end. It is a little interesting that the copy of I have of Specter differs some from the one you presented. Also, if you'll remember, Specter eventually changed his name to Savant.

 

The good news is that I have all of the characters. The bad news is that they are all in our old Excel spreadsheet format. I, or someone, will have to take the time to convert them all into Hero Designer if we want to post all of them. They'll be a little tricky to convert due to the special house rules we used (resistant piercing, different ways to do weapons, etc.).

 

I even have the data on the Omega Team HQ, the Omega Truck and the Omega Cycles. I have all the DNPC and other important NPCs as well.

 

EDIT: The characters have been transfered into HDC format. As I sift through these old posts I am trying to fix a few things.

Originally posted by Killer Shrike

Keep them coming. I like how this is getting more supernatural. I'd just about move to Oklahoma to play in this game.

You'd be welcome to play, whenever I get the next campaign ready.

 

The story arcs are as follow:

 

Arc one: Street level Dark Champions.

 

Arc two: Supernatural influences start, almost Horror Hero.

 

Arc three: (current arc) As you can see this one is pretty supernatural too.

 

Arc four: Returns to a more nearly Dark Champions feel, but supernatural influences do not fade completely.

 

Arc five: Supernatural influences strengthen... but sadly the campaign grindes to a halt without a conclusion. It had been going for 2 years with weekly games at this point. I'll go into the reasons for the campaign's end at the conclusion of the logs.

Hippocrates (Dr. Thomas James)

 

Below is the character background for the character Hippocrates (a.k.a. Dr. Thomas James). This is the unedited version as submitted by the player. Note that this is one of the two characters who survived throughtout the campaign and this background all takes place before the first game secession.

 

Character Background: Thomas James (Hippocrates)

 

Thomas James grew up in the rich and affluent neighborhood of Irishtown, in Hudson City. Since he was one of the sons of the founder of the James Financial Empire, he grew up safe and protected. He never had to face any of the grim realities of life that challenged people in the real world. As a result he was ignorant of the dangers outside the cloistered James Estate, and the society of the very rich.

 

Thomas was always the most rebellious of the James siblings. Both of his brothers and his sister as well, chose to follow in their father’s footsteps, but not Thomas. To him financial work was boring and dreary; instead he had decided to become a Doctor, an ER Surgeon. This would be a life of excitement, filled with life and death decisions every day. His father was not amused, but grudgingly supported Thomas’s wishes.

 

Thomas attended one of the finest Boarding Schools in the country during his teen years. Since the campus was in Irishtown as well, he was given special permission to live at home as long as he would abide with the school’s curfew policy, Thomas’s father agreed to this arrangement. However, Thomas was now old enough to drive and he longed to explore the nightlife that TV had so glamorized. He often would sneak out of the house at night and drive into the city to cruise the hot nightspots.

 

It was during one of Thomas’s many sojourns into town that he met a girl. Her name was Diana, she was beautiful, she was adventurous and though poor, and she was the stuff of Thomas’s dreams. Many were the nights that they would explore the city in his red corvette. They soon fell in love. Thomas bought her expensive gifts, and she made him rejoice in life. But all was not well.

 

Diana had grown up in the seedy neighborhoods of Hudson City it was here that she had met her first boyfriend. His name was Timothy Bohn; his street name was T-Bone. T-Bone was the leader of a small time gang called the Checker Reds. He had broken up with Diana easily enough, “girls like you are a dime a dozen,†he’d said. But when he had seen her cruise through town in the red corvette, with the “rich kid,†his fellow gangsters had poked fun at him for loosing to a pansy like that.

 

Thomas could not always get into town to be with Diana, his dad suspected he’d been sneaking out and was not pleased. T-Bone started trying to intimidate Diana into dumping her new friend, and to be his girl once again. Diana did not want to be pulled into the gang scene; she’d had enough of that already. As T-Bone became more persistent and more militant, Diana became very afraid of him and began to hide out when Thomas was not around. One evening Thomas was caught by his father as he attempted to slip out to meet with Diana, he was grounded for a week.

 

This was the week that T-Bone got fed up with Diana’s rejections. As Diana waited in vein at a small park where she and Thomas usually met, T-Bone showed up instead. He and his gang kidnapped Diana and took her to one of their crack houses. They held her for five days, she was repeatedly raped and abused, and they hooked her on crack. When they weren’t watching she broke a window and slit her own wrists. Diana’s nude body was dumped in the park.

 

At first Thomas was shattered when he read the story in the paper. He contemplated suicide himself, but then a new emotion welled up inside him, rage. He knew that T-Bone and the Checker Reds were responsible and he vowed to make every last one of them pay with their lives. When Thomas was once again able to sneak into town, he used the knowledge of the city he had gained. He got a gun, a submachinegun, and began to hunt for T-Bone and his gang. Over the course of the next few months the Checker Reds became extinct, except for T-Bone who merely vanished.

 

Thomas has never stopped searching for T-Bone, though now he holds little hope of finding him. Thomas has become a vigilante. He prowls the streets bringing justice to those who the police can’t seem to stop. He feels he owes this to the memory of Diana. He got his medical degree and is now an emergency room physician. Everyday he sees those who have been victimized by the scum of the streets, and every night he does what he can to make the streets safer.

 

Recently he has started seeing another girl. Debbie is her name. Though he has recovered from his grief, he still carries on his fight.

Originally posted by loraxxx

Are there any pics of the OMEGA TEAM?

 

If not, then how about descriptions of the characters?

Sadly none of our group has much skill as an artist. I do not believe that any of the character's, other than Dancer, had any character art.

 

I do have the character background of at least one of the characters though. I'll go ahead and post the background of Hippocrates (Dr. Thomas James) a little later tonight.

Originally posted by Killer Shrike

[bOk, no more thread-jacking, I promise [/b]

Well they are nice miniatures. But I did kind of wonder what had happened to my thread when I tuned in this evening.

Part 11

 

Team Omega Campaign History

Start of the 3rd Story Arc

 

Winter 1995-96

After returning to Hudson City the Omega Team is able to take several months off. The organized crime situation in the city is quiet. Many of the criminal organizations in the city are still in a period of rebuilding from the aftermath of the Retro affair. Other vigilantes in the city are still active and are able to concentrate on the common street crime of the city. The Omega team only engages in periodic information gathering and minor anti-criminal activity.

Andrew Hobbs soon notices that the headaches that he has suffered from have mysteriously abated. He soon discovers that the tumor he has suffered from, that was terminal, has disappeared. Dr. Thomas James hypothesizes that Mama Regina’s healing elixir may be responsible. His near brush with death has changed Andrew in other ways as well. Many of his juvenile ways have been put aside. He no longer considers his ‘night job’ to be a game.

 

GM NOTE: The character Specter (Andrew Hobbs) originally had a physical limitation. He suffered from an inoperable, and terminal, brain tumor. By this point in the campaign the player (known on these forums as Eosin) was able to save enough EP to buy off the disadvantage. The mystical healing abilities of Mama Regina presented a perfect rational for this.

 

During the winter a new vigilante appears; he is called Mongrel and concentrates his activity, almost exclusively, on drug dealers and users. He seems, to some, to go to extremes in his war on drugs. Even street dealers and junkies are fair game in his, usually, fatal attacks. Dancer becomes increasingly concerned over the new vigilante’s zealousness.

 

GM NOTE: Mongrel and his activities are actually a precurser of the 4th Story Arc.

 

March 6, 1996

Andrew Hobbs receives a letter from one of his former college professors. Dr. Angus Gough is a former professor of Zoology at Harvard. He is now in Scotland pursuing his real interest, cryptozoology. He has been researching the ancient history of the Loch Ness Monster and now has called upon his former pupil for help. Dr. Gough’s letter indicates that he has made some startling discoveries about the lake creature but needs help to continue his quest. The tone of the letter leads Andrew to believe that his old teacher is worried or possibly fearful of what he has discovered. The exact nature of his discoveries is not enumerated in his letter.

Specter shares his letter with the rest of the Omega Team and invites them to accompany him to Glasgow to meet with Professor Gough.

 

The other team members are agreeable and look forward to this as an opportunity for a much-needed vacation. Since Andrew Hobbs is loath to fly they book passage on a small steamer, the Susan Gael. The vessel will depart Hudson City on March 9th and will steam directly to Glasgow to arrive on March 20th. The Susan Gael is a small, 165’ long, steamer. It has a crew of 15 and has accommodations for 12 passengers as well as several hundred tons of cargo.

 

March 8

During the night Dr. Thomas James has a peculiarly clear dream:

He finds himself at sea on a ship that is surrounded by fog. In the distance, far to starboard, a dark shape rises in a swirl of mist. The ship veers toward the object as if drawn by a magnet. The shape comes into focus as a huge iceberg and the ship heads on a certain collision course with doom. Frantically Dr. James looks back at the bridge, a child stands at the wheel. The child has long hooks instead of hands. As the ship crashes into the glistening mountain of ice the child laughs with unnatural mirth.

 

March 9

Dr. James shares his dream of the previous night with his friends. They take it as evidence that he needs the vacation that they are all about to embark upon.

Before noon they are all at the port. The Susan Gael leaves Hudson City bound for Glasgow, Scotland. On board are Andrew Hobbs and his butler Alfred, Dr. Thomas James and his lady friend Debbie Taylor (DNPC), Joe Dishwasher and Eden Blake. The other passengers are: Dr. Ramit Singhar, recently retired he is returning home to India to be with his family during his last years. The MacCowan family, a husband and wife (Rufus and Arleen) and their three children (Danny, Lilah and Theo). The commander of the Susan Gael is Captain Dace, a bluff old man of 50. Lt. Lucius Maxwell is the First Mate. The passengers are all given a complete tour of the ship.

 

The cargo of the Susan Gael is simple and not extensive: four antique automobiles, six breeding bulls, six cows, ten sheep, three Arabian horses and crates of machine tools such as lathes and grinders. One of the automobiles and all of the animals are listed for delivery to a Mr. Davirr Cullough, Fort Augustus, Loch Ness, Scotland.

 

March 10

About 2 o’clock in the afternoon a commotion starts. A terrible accident has taken the life of one of the crewmen. He has been found burned to death in the furnace of the old auxiliary, coal-fired, generator in the engine room. The Omega Team members go to the engine room and it becomes quickly apparent to them that this was no accident. The furnace door is to small for someone to have ‘accidentally’ fallen inside. Dr. James offers his services as a forensic pathologist to Captain Dace. Captain Dace has no idea what a forensic pathologist is.

 

Dr. James, Dr. Singhar and the ship’s Doctor, Phillipe Fanshaw, all examine the corpse. Though the body is badly burned, they conclude that the body does exhibit signs of a struggle and that the crewman was most likely alive and conscious when he was forced into the furnace. (It should be noted that Dr. Thomas James, in addition to being a skilled ER physician and surgeon, is also extremely good at forensic medicine.) After the examination the body is wrapped in sheets and placed in the ship’s meat locker.

 

That evening the doctors report their findings to Captain Dace who is very alarmed at the prospect of a murderer on board. Captain Dace personally knows all his crew and believes that one of the passengers is most likely the murderer. When an attempt is made to contact the authorities the radio refuses to work. Examination of the radio can find no fault. The Captain decides to continue on to Glasgow, but warns everybody to be on the lookout and urges them not to wander off alone.

 

March 11

At about 4 o’clock that afternoon word comes that another crewman has been found dead. He was found face down in a shower stall, drowned in 6†of water. A towel had been forced down the drain to stop it up. Investigation of the area leads Dr. James to discover scrapings of some sort of unidentifiable bone or horn that was used to stuff the towel down the drain. The body displays the signs of a struggle. The only fingerprints to be found are smooth, without texture.

(I have no idea why the team did not think to check and be sure everybody had fingerprints.)

 

The Captain now requires all people to move about in pairs at the least. He still suspects some of the passengers are responsible and the Omega Team members seem to be the most likely suspects. They have been seen practicing some martial arts on the deck of the ship during the day.

 

March 12

After a third victim is found the Captain orders all passengers to be confined to their cabins. The available weapons (2 M1 Garand rifles, 2 .45 Cal. Colt Revolvers and a Colt M1911A1 Pistol) are distributed to the crew and guards are posted.

The third victim was another crewman found hanging from a light fixture. His body also showed signs of a struggle. No explanation is given as to why the crewman was alone in contradiction of Captain Dace’s orders of the previous day. (Again none of the Omega Team catches this anomaly.)

 

That evening Joe Dishwasher has a dream about of a swarm of cockroaches. Unlike the previous dream that Dr. Thomas James had on the 8th, this dream is pretty vague but nonetheless frightening.

 

March 13

About noon a swarm of cockroaches erupts from one of the ventilation shafts near the passenger cabins. Several crewmen and the passengers are witness to the disgusting spectacle that soon subsides. The Omega Team make it a point to remember and jot down any dreams they have from this point onward.

 

After spending the day cooped up in his room reading, Andrew Hobbs makes a startling discovery. He has been reading a book on ancient Scottish history and finds that several of the old druid deities accepted sacrifices that were made by burning, drowning and hanging. He suspects that something doesn’t want them going to Scotland to assist Professor Gough. (Specter made a spectacular roll against one of his knowledge skills.)

 

That evening Joe Dishwasher has another vague dream in which he sees giant rats.

 

March 14

During the afternoon several rats of incredible size come out of the woodwork and attack the passengers. A few people suffer minor bites before the creatures are slain. The Omega Team members manage to defeat the rats that face them without revealing the hidden weapons they have smuggled aboard.

Hippocrates has a Force Pistol (based on the weapon from the Tekwar novels & TV series), Dancer has her Colt Mustang (.380 Automatic) and silencer aboard. Nightstick has his martial arts weapons, and he and Dancer have several throwing stars. Some utility belt gadgets and some light body armor round out the equipment the characters have.

During the night Dancer has a vague dream of someone nearly being poisoned.

 

March 15

When lunch is served all seems well until Debbie Taylor touches a piece of chicken on her plate. Instantly the chicken transforms into a rotted, maggot-infested, piece of meat.

 

Though no one is sleeping very securely at night anymore, they do manage to. That evening a vague dream of the ship becoming shrouded in fog is visited upon Andrew Hobbs.

 

March 16

The ship soon finds itself in a dense fog. Though the radio still inexplicably refuses to work, the radar is working fine and the ship continues on its way.

 

This evening Joe Dishwasher has a vague dream of the ship striking an iceberg. The Omega Team makes a quick survey of the life rafts and other rescue gear.

 

March 17

Feeling frustrated and noticing how panicked the crew and passengers have become, the Omega team embarks upon, what appears to them, to be the most logical course of action. The Omega Team decides to seize control of the ship.

 

After several nights of dreams that have come true, they have no desire to wait and see if Joe’s will likewise fulfill itself. Any dreams that have been brought to the attention of Captain Dace have been dismissed off hand. The Omega Team easily overcomes the crew and takes over the ship. Captain Dace, now a captive is convinced of the group’s guilt in the murders and the recent strange happenings. Fortunately, no one is seriously injured in the brief struggle to capture the ship.

 

Debbie Taylor is very distraught and confused about all of this. Dr. James has a pistol unlike any she has ever seen before and he seems to be very good at all of this. She has always considered Thomas to be a man capable of great compassion, but the activities of the last several days, and today in particular, have brought out a side of him she never suspected. The emotional overload is almost too great and Dr. James gives her a sedative to calm her. For the next several days she is calm and does her best to stay out of the way of Dr. James and his friends. What she will say once, and if, they safely arrive in Scotland nobody can guess.

 

All the off duty crew and other passengers are kept in the mess hall, the largest room on the ship.

 

March 20

The ship eventually breaks out of the fog without the iceberg dream becoming reality.

Within hours of the ship reaching port the MacCowan family transform into their true shapes. They appear as small, wrinkly skinned, humanoids with staring red eyes and bristly hair. Each arm ends in a sharp curved hook. They attack the Omega Team in a battle that is witnessed by most of the crew and the captain. The creatures prove tough but are eventually all slain by the Team. In a nice touch, the final creature is shot by Captain Dace.

 

Captain Dace, though shaken by what he has seen, now realizes the Omega Team is not guilty. The passengers and crew agree to come up with a story to tell the authorities in Scotland. The bodies of the creatures turned to black goo that evaporated without a trace, once they were slain.

In order to make the arrangements for their cover story the Susan Gael will stay at sea tonight.

 

Hippocrates has another startlingly clear dream this night. He finds himself in pitch-blackness. It occurs to him that his next step could send him hurtling down into the bottomless, deadly stillness. Ahead he becomes aware of the glow of the faintest of lights. Slowly he heads toward it. As he nears its source he is aware of a low, sinister hissing.

Eventually he arrives at the source of the light. Around him sits a coil of thick rope. As he watches in horror the rope unwinds, rising slowly into the air. As it rises it bursts into a cold green flame. From nowhere a bucket of water appears in his hands. He throws the water on the rope: the fire fades, the rope screams as the water runs in red, thick currents down its unraveling strands.

 

End of part 11, tomorrow I’ll post part 12, the team reaches Glasgow. Loch Ness awaits.

My Dark Champions campaigns have always been intended for, essentially, non-superpowered player characters. I hope for a truely street-level supplement. I agree that the superpowers genre is covered pretty throughly by Champions. Checkout my Omega Teams Campaign logs thread if you want to see an example of one of my Dark Champions campaigns.

 

I have always been partial to horror as well and Dark Champions and horror seem to mesh very well. I hope that a new version of Horror Hero will be released as well but who knows how far off that it. I am very eager for Dark Champions and I checkout Steve's News each Friday looking for the first mention of it.

 

The old 4th Ed. Dark Champions was great but just a little too high-powered. Fortunately it was written in a manner that allowed it to be easily scaled and I expect that the 5th Edition will be similar.

 

What I want to see in Dark Champions is a good coverage of modern real-world equipment. Modern real-world criminals, terrorists, and settings. A good rewrite of Hudson City would be wonderful though I believe that this is to be subject of a settings book.

Part 10

 

August 31

This day is spent analyzing the materials collected during the raid.

 

September 1, 1995

The team decides to head to LaForche Parish, in Louisiana, to attempt to ferret out Cabal influences that they know must be operating there. Eden Blake knows of a man named Remi Lacroix who operates around New Orleans and is very familiar with the bayou, he goes by the name Phobos. Ms. Blake contacts him and informs him that she and some friends are going to be heading his way. Phobos agrees to help however he can.

 

September 2-3

These days are spent on the road. The team decides to drive to allow Nightstick extra time to heal and so they will have the Omega Truck for use. The vehicle is disguised as a Southern Express truck. They spot an interesting newspaper report. It tells of the disappearance of three bodies from the morgue in the town of Galliano. The town is located in LaForche Parish. The coincidence seems too unlikely to actually be one. They arrive in New Orleans on the evening of the 3rd and are met by Remi Lacroix.

 

September 4

They leave New Orleans around noon and drive to Galliano. Arriving about 2 o’clock, they get rooms at the Hotel Galliano. They scout out the town and find that most people are a little touchy about the theft from the morgue. Notable exceptions are the funeral home operator (who also operates the morgue) and the secretary at the local paper, the Timbailer Times. Evidence at the morgue seems to indicate that the corpses may have left under their own power. Andrew “Specter†Hobbs is able to glean useful information form the newspaper files. Apparently bodies have been occasionally disappearing from this area since at least the 1850’s. Local folklore tells of a person (or thing) known at Timbailer Tommy. The creature is said to live off in the Bayou. Timbailer Tommy is supposed to occasionally take the bodies of the deceased to raise as undead for his own purposes. Phobos discovers some signs of voodoo activity (rock etchings, carvings in tree trunks, etc.) around the outskirts of the town that seem to be more numerous toward the east. The thickest part of the Bayou lies in that direction.

 

Phobos knows of an old lady who lives in the Bayou around here. She is known as Mama Regina, and is a voodoo practitioner/witch of some repute. Remi suggests that they should go and visit her to see what she can tell them. The group sets off for Mama Regina’s late that afternoon, Remi explains that she is not home during the day, “she’ll be off in the bayou collecting things till near dark.â€

The trip through the Bayou is sticky and hot. The darkness of the overhead canopy and the chirps of unseen animal life make the whole area feel repressive. The whole group feels as if they are being watched.

It is near sunset when the group arrives at a ramshackle wooden hut hidden deep in the swamp. Mama Regina acts as if she was expecting them. She tells them of Timbailer Tommy and how to destroy him. “You got to get his body, his head, his hands and his feet all together. Then burn them till there’s nothing left but ashes. Be careful Tommy is tricky.†She also attempts to interpret Andrews’s earlier dream by saying, “Tommy can be very deceptive. Tommy can take on the form of a large fly but normally appears as a headless, handless, footless corpse.â€

 

They head back to Galliano, in the dark, and resolve to set out in search of Timbailer Tommy tomorrow. Despite the darkness Remi proves to be adept enough to lead them back to the town without any mishaps. They arrive in Galliano at about 10:30 PM that night.

 

September 5

Knowing only the approximate location of Timbailer Tommy’s place the team sets out by 9:00 a.m. to begin their search. The swamp is hot and wet and miserable. Mosquitoes are everywhere and the poling of the raft is exhausting work. It is nearly dark before Phobos believes that they have found the beginning of Timbailer Tommy’s domain. They decide to camp overnight before continuing. Andrew begins to have the feeling that something is watching them. Specter begins to survey the surroundings and finally spots a large fly perched on a branch about 20 feet away, watching them. When he confides in his comrades they begin to shine IR spotlights about looking for the fly in the darkness. The fly, and the feeling of being watched, soon leaves.

 

September 6

The next day they proceed into the domain of Timbailer Tommy. About noon the raft bumps against something submerged in the swamp. The gruesome, bloated corpse of a man floats to the surface just ahead of and to the right of the raft. Specter quickly draws his Colt Anaconda and puts a .44 magnum bullet through the skull of the body (which make it even more gruesome). As most of the party is distracted, looking at the body, a swarm of severed hands begin to rise out of the swamp and tug at the raft. All the team members swing on to nearby trees after grabbing as much of their gear as they can. Several of them fire weapons at the hands or try to beat them back with knives, but it is to no avail. The pale, discolored hands pull the raft and the remaining gear, to the bottom of the bog. The sense that somebody or something is watching them prevails as the raft is destroyed. As soon as the damage is done the hands, and the sense of foreboding, fade away.

 

The group continues on through the swamp, either on foot or by swinging from tree to tree (several of them carry swing-lines). Eventually, just as dusk begins to fall, they spot a derelict house. It blends in well with its surrounding and is half-covered in moss, the grey wood hardly retains any of the paint. It’s anyone’s guess how long this rotting husk has been here. A few tatters of rotted curtains hang forlornly in the windowless frames. The home of Timbailer Tommy has been found. The tired, wet and unnerved group cautiously approach as an alligator, which was perched on the porch, slaps into the mossy water and swims away. Just as the first of them climbs onto the porch, a dead man walks out of the door with a water moccasin draped around him.

 

Soon the team is involved in a life and death battle with eight decaying fugitives from the grave. Seven of the zombies stay to battle the party while the last one, who is missing its head and hands, tries to flee through the swamp. Numerous gunshots pursue the corpse into the Bayou and it collapses and sinks under the surface. The team defeats the rest of the zombies. None of them are eager to wade into the water after the headless corpse and so they proceed into the house. Within the house another battle with a group of six more zombies occurs. In one room of the house they find a pile of severed heads and hands. In another room is a pile of putrid bodies. Finally another body of that matches the description of Timbalier Tommy is identified. A burlap bag containing a head, hands and feet are located. When the bag is brought to the body it leaps up to attack (as best it can) but the team restrain it and set fire to the lot. As the team wipes dead flesh and other slimy material from their hands the remains shrivel and wither away in the flame.

 

After destroying what they hope was truly Timbalier Tommy the team decides to head back for Galliano. They note that the whole swamp now seems to have a more natural and wholesome feel (as least as much so a swamp can). They travel some distance away from the old house and find a marginal area to rest overnight before heading back.

 

Since the team’s activities in the swamp were covert and since the Cabal members who attacked them were also avoiding attention there is very little chance that the local authorities will ever know that anything happened out there.

 

September 7

The team spends the day slogging through the swamp.

When they are about two miles short of the town a group of men armed with assault rifles and grenades ambush them. The attackers are equipped with Kevlar vests and are wearing the red and yellow pentacle of the Red Cabal. The Cabal was ready for the Omega Team and their rifles are loaded with AP-KTW rounds. Initially the fight goes very badly for the Omega Team; Hippocrates, Specter and Dancer are all seriously wounded. Hippocrates is shot badly in the chest (disabled and can’t recover). Specter, barely able to crawl, finds that it is all he can do to keep Dancer (who is incapacitated) from drowning in the swamp. Unfortunately for the Cabal the one person they fail to drop is Nightstick. Fortunately, for the Omega Team, Nightstick’s An Chi training is ideal for the swamp. While the rest of the group is pinned down, the Forest Demon fades into the shadows and, one by one, eviscerates the ambushers. The cultists are powerless to stop the unseen predator. None of them ever see the man who kills them, nor are they aware of each of their comrade’s demise.

 

Phobos and Nightstick are able to obtain aid from Mama Regina (fortunately they are fairly near her house). They take the critically injured team members to her shack where she performs voodoo magic to heal the wounds of Hippocrates that should probably have been mortal. Phobos decides to head to town to scout it out and says he’ll be back before dawn.

 

September 8

By the next morning many of the badly injured team members are making miraculous recoveries. Hippocrates remains unconscious. Even with the (apparently supernatural) aid of Mama Regina it will take him another day to recover enough to be effective.

 

That evening Nightstick heads into town to discover what has become of Phobos. He finds out that the Omega Truck is missing and there is no sign of Phobos anywhere. The Forest Demon glides through the town like a shadow, even animals are unaware of his passage. He stalks the town until an inebriated elderly man who is sitting out behind the grocery store drinking shine spots him (If you don’t know what moonshine is you’ve led a very sheltered life). He pays little heed to the old man and hopes that the drunk will forget what he sees. Fortunately the black cowl of Nightstick’s costume hides the glowing red of his face. Nightstick creeps back to Mama Regina’s to report what he as learned.

 

September 9

The team is now almost completely healed and decides to head back into Galliano. They have lost some of their weaponry, but were able to gather some of the weapons that their ambushers had used. They approach the town cautiously. They quickly obtain some sacks and a Styrofoam ice chest from the grocery store in which to conceal their weapons. They next purchase some clothing to wear over, or instead of, their combat gear. Much of their non-essential items were lost in the swamp when the raft was sunk on September 6th.

 

In talking with townspeople they are surprised to discover that everyone remembers the team-leaving town, in their truck, several days ago. The desk clerk/owner of the Gilliano Hotel is surprised to see them back so soon. When they inquire about Phobos they find that it was believed that he left with them, but that old Ben, the town drunk, claims to have seen Phobos snooping around the night of the seventh. Old Ben is the same man that Nightstick encountered the previous night.

 

They resolve that someone must go and talk to old Ben. Nightstick is selected since he has, at least, seen him before. After asking around they find that Miss Rosemary makes the best shine around, she lives just north of town. Nightstick goes and talks with Miss Rosemary and gets a jar of shine with which to entice Old Ben. Rosemary mentions seeing the Omega Truck several days ago when, “them other visitors left town a few days ago.†(Miss Rosemary had never met the team members and so has no idea that Joe Dishwasher is one of them. She merely thinks he is another fisherman who happens to know the previous visitors.) It struck her as odd because the Truck took the west turnoff to the deserted town of Katen Creek, and never returned.

 

Joe next goes to talk with Old Ben who warmly receives his gift of the bottle and talks freely. He says he saw Phobos on the night of the seventh. Phobos was searching around and went out west of town. Shortly thereafter a couple of dark shadowy shapes, “black as night and with wingsâ€, landed near the edge of the swamp and went west after him. A little later he thinks he heard screams.

 

While Nightstick is talking with Rosemary and Old Ben, the rest of team has checked into their old rooms at the Gilliano Hotel. They search the rooms for listening devices and find something strange. Behind a dresser Dr. Thomas James finds a ‘thing’. It resembles an insect cocoon of some sort but it is like nothing any of them have ever seen. It looks like a listening device, but it also looks as if it is, or once was, alive. Unable to determine its workings, Dr. James attempts to cut it open. The object is instantly consumed in a burst of flame that even melts the tip of the knife Hippocrates was using.

 

After Nightstick returns they agree that they must try to resolve what has happened to Phobos and the Omega Truck. They need to rearm themselves before they go to visit Katen Creek. Since New Orleans is only a few hours away they decide to head there and use some of Dancers old contacts to obtain the weaponry they need. (Dancer originally worked in the New Orleans area). A rental car is delivered to them, after Andrew Hobbs calls Alfred, his butler, in Hudson City to make the arrangements.

 

September 10

The morning of the tenth finds the Omega Team on the overgrown road to the deserted town of Katen Creek. They have resupplied themselves after spending the night in New Orleans and head from there to the ghost town soon as they awaken. It is now about 10:00 a.m.

Once they judge that they are getting close the to town they leave their vehicle, a 4-wheel drive rental, and proceed on foot.

 

The only residents they find are undead zombies and a pair of Nightgaunts. Nightstick narrowly avoids being carried away to his doom. After a fierce fight they manage to slay the two Nightgaunts and dispatch about a dozen zombies.

 

From their examination of the town they surmise that it has until recently been used to house some sort of installation. Most likely a drug distribution point for shipments the Cabal has managed to get into the US. There is a partially buried, but well kept-up, boat dock on the banks of the Atchaflaya River, and one of the buildings is in much better shape that it first appeared. They find the remains of what may have once been Phobos, but the body is too mangled for them to be sure. The Omega Truck and any Cabal presence has already been evacuated. The Omega Team decides that they have done all they can here and prepare for the return to Hudson City.

 

These activities will also likely avoid the attention of the authorities. It all took place out in the sticks with no know witnesses anywhere around.

 

End of Part 10, This ends the, short, 2nd Story Arc. Tomorrow I'll start the 3rd Story Arc with part 11.

 

I'm only going to try and post one part per night for a while. I have several things on the fire that are keeping me busy.