Adventure Overview
Players: Mr. Rhyze, Morton, Faust.
Enemies: Blitzball Hooligans, The Fenixa Infernos, Alex Trebek, and many more.
Started: At a security conferance dealing with the kidnapping of Mr. Rithos.
Ended: With Johnny's explosive entrance.
The opening of this adventure broke some of the traditions that have been established throughout the Deep Space campaign. After the usual and oft-interrupted opening monologue, the adventure began with the distribution of the reports.
Personal Notes:
-Jecht is truly an amazing Blitzball player, if a bit old. All biases aside, you have to admit that he's almost as good as you are. And his Jecht Shot is surely impressive! You would have no trouble showing up Johnny's twisting shot with a move like that. Of course, learning to do it could be a bit difficulty, especially with the confusing and bizarre instructions.
-You are very much annoyed by the Player from Harvard. He seems to think himself superior to all others due to his prestigious degree. More importantly, he constantly pushes people over from behind. You happened to experience this at the Blitzball Party, and have yet to recover from the humiliation. Of course, you did knock him through a window afterwards, but that hardly seems to be repayment enough. In fact, you wouldn't mind sending him down for another three count, provided you can find him.
-As an observant man, you've noticed something rather odd. In the chaotic aftermath of the kidnapping of Mr. Rithos, you happened to spot a small, hovering probe that seemed to be following your every movement. It could be described as black and circular, about the size of your fist. You're not sure if anyone else noticed its presence.
Mini-Objectives:
-Get retribution on the Player from Harvard by knocking him down for the three count.
Personal Notes:
-You're still ecstatic about your new ship. With this Falcon-X, you're confident that you could take on anything the space pirates can throw at you. After all, a pilot of your caliber needs a ship to match their skill, and this Falcon-X fits the bill perfectly.
-It seems that you've now entered Double Jeopardy. Your old enemy, Alex Trebek, is here on the station. And he's already tried to accuse you of sabotage. The fact that you're guilty is quite beside the point. Clearly, the only way to respond is through further actions against Trebek. You'd like to see him rephrase that as a question!
-On the topic of revenge, you would still like toget even with the cast of Mortal Kombat. It's bad enough that you've had to play the game, but getting beaten up by Scorpion and Sub Zero is just unacceptable! Hopefully, you'll get a chance to take your frustrations out on Johnny Cage, who is supposedly at the station to promote his new movie.
Mini-Objectives:
-Earn revenge on Alex Trebek for his attempts to have you arrested by Chris Tucker. There are probably many methods of accomplishing this, so you'll just have to pick a catergory ranging from vandalism to sabotage, and everything in between.
Work Log: The Army of Darkness that Dracula forged now adorns your morgue. In fact, sorting out all the body parts of the various undead soldiers has taken you quite some time. You also acquired some great reading material in the Book of the Dead, and have been continually reading it to Frankenstein in the hopes that he will become even more powerful.
Body Count: (All these corpses are currently stored in the freezer of Sick Bay.)
-Three Red Shirts, all crushed by Big Boy.
-The corpse of an Electran soldier salvaged from space.
-About twenty crushed bees.
-The brain of a Shoopuf. Almost as good as chilled monkey brains.
-Some dogs that once had bees in their mouths.
-The burnt skeleton you recovered from the asteroid.
-A half dozen frozen chickens, taken from Kenny Rogers Roasters.
Necromancy Report:
-The most recent issue of Necromancy Monthly, the only official Necromancer's magazine (quite understandably), focuses on the new Mortal Kombat video game. The characters in this famous fighting series are all based on real people. As such, there is great controversy about whether Scorpion is actually undead. His fatality certainly seems to imply that this is the case. As well as offering several viewpoints on the matter, the magazine also notes that this infamous assassin was last seen bound for Starbase Intergalactic Space Station.
Personal Notes:
-The military bay lounge has acquired a copy of the new Mortal Kombat game for its Y-Box, allowing you to judge Scorpion's state firsthand. The fact that his head is apparently nothing more than a skull leads you to believe that he's dead. And that would make him your responsibility. Clearly, such a high-profile corpse could only strengthen your case for a real morgue.
-You learned not long ago that a shore leave team was being dispatched to the Starbase Station for the big Blitzball game. Although you were not technically designated to be part of this team, you know it's your duty to investigate Scorpion's nature yourself. As such, you crept onto the Station's Silverdust without attracting any notice. Fortunately, the Silver Dust is equipped with refrigeration facilities, so you were able to make the journey in relative comfort. In fact, you even fell asleep while on the ship, and have only now just awakened. Some quick investigation revealed that you are already on Starbase, and that the other members of the shore leave team are attending a classified meeting at the station's security center. You're currently on your way to meet up with them at this very moment�
Mini-Objective:
-Discover if Scorpion is truly a member of the Undead, and claim him for your morgue if this proves to be the case.
The action began as Morton and Mr. Rhyze arrived at a meeting to discuss issues surrounding the kidnapping of Mr. Rithos, coach of the Deksiil Crescent Moons Blitzball team. This gathering was held in the security center's conferance room, and included several of the most important people currently present at Starbase Intergalactic Space Station. This certainly included Vice-Admiral Flanedra of Deksiil's Starfleet, Daikon-7, the owner of the powerful Daikon corporation, and a big sponsor of Blitzball, Don Cherry, Mean Gene (whose only role at the gathering appeared to be amazed exclaimations about everything that was said), Graav, Captain of the Deksiil Crescent Moons, and Starbase's fast-talking security agent, Chris Tucker. Due to their rank as Deksiilan officers, Mr. Rhyze and Morton had also been invited to attend this classified meeting. Tucker greeted them with his usual jive-talk, complaining all the while about Mr. Rhyze's alleged inability to speak galactic. Once all were settled, Tucker introduced two other important people who would be attending the meeting.
Gene Roddenberry
Race: Deksiilan
Occupation: Commander of Starbase Intergalactic Space Station
Most would be surprised to find a man like Gene Roddenberry in charge of a space station. That's because Roddenberry appears to be extremely generic. He is an older man, mostly bald, who wears a grey GAP uniform. These seem to truely be his only defined physical characteristics. However, while not known for his rank within the military, Gene Roddenberry is actually a fairly famous name in the television business. He was the man behind several successful series, including Star Trek, and its less popular spinoffs. As such, Roddenberry was always trying to stretch the current situation into some sort of TV series. This seemed to involve numerous re-casting of who the main protagonists and villains were, as well constant discussion about the demographic that any given event would reach. Roddenberry was also responsible for bringing in the following character, who he termed a 'special man to deal with the current situation.'
Dave Spector
Race: ??
Occupation: A Special Man?!
Dave Spector was a special man brought in by Gene Roddenberry to help deal with the kidnapping of Mr. Rithos. The exact manner in which he was supposed to help remains unclear. In fact, all who met him were subtly convinced that they were supposed to know him from somewhere, implying some level of fame. But Dave really didn't seem to justify any sort of fame. His appearance was certainly nondescript: dark hair and a trenchcoat made up his most distinguishing features. His contributions to the meetings he attended were even less memorable. That's likely because he didn't make any. In fact, he seemed to have a disturbing habit of spacing out at extremely inopportune times, and could be counted on to remain totally oblivious to the often critical events occuring around him. Nevertheless, Gene intended him to be a costar in events to come, claiming he would surely increase ratings.
Now that all the important people were present, Chris Tucker began with his briefing on the situation. Security teams had investigated the site of the party, and had discovered an unidentified substance within all the food served. Apparently, many Red-Shirts had somehow been injured in obtaining this information. No one questioned had seen anyone making illicit additions to the food, and the security cameras provided no more informative results. Even Chris Tucker's 'astute' observation skills had failed to reveal anything about those behind the kidnapping. As such, the only action Chris could propose was sealing the station, to prevent kidnappers from fleeing the station. Roddenberry agreed with this notion, since it would reduce the costs of extra sets needed to film the new series he intended to craft from this incident. Daikon-7 next asked about the ransom demand, and about who would be expected to pay it. As the representative of the Crescent Moons, Graav noted that the team would certainly be willing to pay for the safe return of Mr. Rithos. A million marks would be a small sum compared to the salaries of some of the more famous Blitzball players. In fact, all could agree that a million marks was not at all high price. But they would be willing pay. Mr. Rhyze and Morton did not agree with this idea, and stated that the kidnappers would not be likely to actually give up their hostage for such a sum. However, they did agree that any sort of exchange would be a good way to gain information on their mysterious foes. Gene stated his agreement by adding that a dramatic confrontation would certainly provide a much better conclusion to his series. As such, he quickly cast Mr. Rhyze and Morton as the protagonists of his series.
As the meeting wound towards its conclusion, Don Cherry was asked to explain the significance of the Blitzball-related demand left by the kidnappers. As an expert on the sport, Cherry angrily noted that an abdication from the Crescent Moons would see the Electran Currents taking their place in the final match for the Blitzball Intergalactic Cup, against either the Lorac Monsoons or the Armorian Defenders of Justice. This seemed to implicate Electran fans, a notion that Mr. Rhyze was more than willing to entertain. Before any more was said on the matter, Gene asked Dave for his thoughts on the current situation. Looking startled, Dave responded that he had just spaced out for a moment, and had consequently missed out on the entire conversation. This didn't seem to concern Gene Roddenberry at all, which Mean Gene declared incredible. At this point, a wounded Red-Shirt poked his head in the door to inform those gathered that the media had arrived on the scene, and was demanding to be admitted into the meeting. In the hopes of avoiding a media frenzy, several of the more important people gathered made a quick exit through the back of the conferance room. Both Daikon-7 and Vice-Admiral Flanedra intended to return to their ships to prepare their own security forces. Graav wanted to keep his team informed of the current situation. This left Mr. Rhyze and Morton to confront the media.
In this case, the media turned out to include only Tintin. The journalist was convinced that a large conspiracy was behind the kidnapping of the Blitzball coach, and that drugs were also somehow involved. The connection between the two wasn't altogether clear. However, Tintin was more than willing to jump to conclusions, and make baseless accusations. He did so moments later by accusing Faust, who had just arrived on the scene. The mortician had come searching for his fellow Epsilon officers, and was not overly interested in begin accused of masterminding this vast conspiracy. When Tintin pronounced him suspicious due to his undead dog, Frankenstein, Faust replied with a few disparaging comments about Snowy/Milou. At this point, Morton and Mr. Rhyze felt compelled to come to Faust's defense, and assured Tintin that he could be trusted. The discussion of Faust's suspicious appearance would surely have continued if not for the arrival of Zellas. The Blitzball fan had urgent news. It seemed that the conclusion of the recent game had resulted in several riots and protests, which were currently ravaging several sections of the station. All quickly understood the inherent dangers involved with raging Blitzball hooligans, and agreed to help restore order to the station. Chris Tucker had several questions (as usual), but only ended up with time to ask one, and demanded to know why Zellas had brought them this information as opposed to just joining in the protests. Her response was to flip out an IBI (Imperial Bureau of Investigation) badge and declare it was part of her job to report such intelligence. Tucker had to admit that he was impresse by the way she'd managed to flip out her badge.
According to Zellas' information, there were three major protests occuring on the station. The first was taking place outside the Blitzball stadium itself. Mr. Rhyze clearly considered this his responsibility. Morton was more interested in the riot occurring outside Labatt's Bar. This left Faust to deal with the protesters who had congregated around the Palaco. In addition, Chris Tucker offered the services of the station's security forces to help calm the crowd. These units would be led by most of those present, with the exception of Gene Roddenberry, who apparently insisted on directing the development of his new series from afar. When all had been divided up, Mr. Rhyze led a group of Hardboiled Detectives towards the stadium, accompanied by Mean Gene and his 'unbelievable' Security forces, and by a rather dazed Dave Spector, who was leading a group of Red-Shirts in an extremely ineffective fashion. Morton was leading a Riot Squad, accompanied by Chris Tucker and a Security group and Don Cherry angrily coaching some slack-jawed Red-Shirts. Finally, Faust had been granted command of a SWAT team. Zellas was leading a Riot Squad, while Tintin followed at a dead run with a bunch of Red-Shirts straggling behind him. It wasn't long before one of the teams encountered signs of protest.
Mr. Rhyze had led his contingent towards the stadium, and only had to pause while a bunch of the hardboiled detectives stopped for coffee. A few of them also grabbed him by the collar and demanded to be taken to the protests. Mr. Rhyze was happy to oblige, and soon all could hear the loud shouting of protest slogans, that seemed to mostly involve seals, bombs and nazis. Upon rounding the nearest bend, the security forces were confronted by two groups of Protesters, all armed with banners and signs that proclaimed this 'peaceful protest' was fully sanctioned by the IBF, more commonly known as the Imperial Blitzball Fanclub. It gave Mr. Rhyze great pleasure to dispatch his team of surly detectives to restore order. The hardboiled detectives were very good at dispersing this peaceful crowd, mainly through much shaking and interrogation. Meanwhile, the other group of protesters threw rotten tomatoes and protest billboards at Mean Gene's security forces. Though the commentator found this unbelievable and predicted the protesters' victory, it still did very little damage. The security then retaliated and imposed order on the second group of protesters. Dave Spector spent the whole time spaced out, and didn't even notice when the protest was surpressed. As the last of the protesters were rounded up, Mr. Rhyze suddenly heard a shout of terror. It eminated from Lin Ye Tang, who came running up to inform the communications officer that some of his wooden robots had joined the riot! These incredibly destructive menaces would have to be stopped.
In moments, Mr. Rhyze's team found themselves facing a bunch of wooden blocks. Not surprisingly, Dave Spector's Red Shirts went down in moments. However, it was quite a bit more worrying when the robots brought down Mean Gene's security squad. Even Mr. Rhyze's hardboiled detectives were hardpressed by this new foe. Their typical shaking interrogation methods didn't seem very effective, since the wooden robots simply wouldn't talk, while in the process giving the detectives painful slivers. It didn't help that Mr. Rhyze was reluctant to engage in such violence himself. Finally, with the last of their coffee-induced strength, the hardboiled detectives were able to break the wooden robots. A large crowd had gathered to watch the battle with these wooden blocks, and while the detectives cleaned up the remains of their foes, a member of the crowd stepped out to confront Mr. Rhyze. It was Tortilla, a member of the Fenixa Infernos Blitzball team, and she was eager to take the confusion of the protest as an opportunity to gain revenge on Mr. Rhyze. However, while he had been reluctant to take on the wooden robots, Mr. Rhyze had no qualms about fighting this Blitzball rival, and in a few blows he sent her down to defeat. Several Fenixans in the crowd lept forward to drag Tortilla away. Mr. Rhyze paid them no mind; he was too busy listening to Mean Gene's comments on the athleticism Mr. Rhyze had demonstrated during the fight.
The riot confronting Morton did not have even a semblance of civility. It consisted of two groups of Blitzball Hooligans, rampaging through all the businesses surrounding the bar with alcohol induced rage. They were joined by Crazy Sam and his rifle-toting NRA, who were gleefully firing their weapons in the air, protesting some sort of gun registry. Chris Tucker requested that all these protesters not panic and peacefully desist in their destructive activity. But when that didn't happen, he got their attention with several shots fired in the air. Morton decided to first send in Don Cherry's Red-Shirts, since he was convinced that they didn't have any staying power. Much to his surprise, the Red-Shirts actually managed to take down one of the two groups of Hooligans. This was in fact entirely due to Don Cherry's heavy and clean hits, as well as his overwhelming salary. Meanwhile, the NRA levelled their semi-legal weapons at Chris Tucker's security forces and proceeded to fire several random volleys. This caused great destruction, and also destroyed Tucker's squad. On the other hand, this didn't have the effect of silencing the fastest mouth on the station. Meanwhile, Morton led his Riot Squad against the NRA. After a great deal of tear gas and rubber bullets, the wild NRA were taken down. Despite their fury, the Blitzball Hooligans soon followed them down to defeat. As Don Cherry provided some wrap-up commentary, Morton suddenly heard the bouncing of an official Blitzball. He quickly spun around to face Rayde, captain of the Fenixa Infernos. The two wasted only a few moments on taunts before the battle begun. Morton whipped out his autoblaster and fired some rounds, but Rayde managed to deflect them, without even deflating his ball. Things were beginning look grim for Morton, until Don Cherry intercepted the rebound of one of Rayde's attacks. This sent both the Fenixan and the pilot into a scramble to retrieve the ball, but in the end Rayde proved faster. And after retrieving his weapon, he vowed to settle things with Morton at a later time.
Faust's team also found itself up against a violent and angry crowd. Although there was a squad of Protesters that seemed to be advocating peaceful protest, their caused was completely undermined by the senseless destruction created by a group of Blitzball Hooligans and the pure greed demonstrated by a force of Papa John's Delivery Boys. Recognising that the Delivery Boys were the most dangerous of his foes, Faust sent in his SWAT team to deal with them. With a great deal of shouting about 'mobilising' and 'hustling' and an overabundant use of force, the SWAT team began shooting in all directions. This shocked several of the protesters, who now started chanting something about police brutality. Meanwhile, the pizza boys made a delivery to Tintin's Red-Shirts. Needless to say, this was more than the Red-Shirts could take. Meanwhile, Zellas was leading her riot squad in an attempt to disperse the fairly passive protesters. The riot squad's lighter touch seemed more effective than the brute force demonstrated by the SWAT team, who quickly finished the Delivery boys and then the Hooligans. Despite numerous demands, Faust was completely unwilling to hand over any sort of tip to the beaten Delivery Boys. Just when it appeared that things were under control, a large Fenixan stepped out of the crowd to confront Faust. It was Flavius, another of the Fenixa Infernos. Though he had never actually met Faust, Flavius knew he was associated with Mr. Rhyze, and intended to treat him accordingly. The duel pitted Flavius' great scimitar and big muscles against Faust's scythe and relative annorexia. Nevertheless, the Mortician easily brought down his opponent with some frightening necromancy powers. Shocked by this display of might, Flavius conceded defeat and stumbled away in defeat. Of course, these powers only served to convince Tintin further that Faust was not to be trusted.
All the riots had now concluded, and thus the various forces returned to the security center. Gene Roddenberry was waiting for them. He claimed their excellent performance would clearly cause their ratings to skyrocket. Chris Tucker wanted to know if there had been any word from the kidnappers. The response to this was a negative. As such, the three heroes were free to go about their business until information was sent about the manner in which the exchange was supposed to take place. Tucker also agreed to give them all security clearance, with the exception of Morton, who he still considered a bad partner. Meanwhile, Chris himself would be on standby near the phone, just in case the kidnappers should call. Now left to their own devices, Morton declared his intention to search for Alex Trebek's ship. He had plans, and they were the kind that other security officials really shouldn't be informed about. During his search through the ten docking bays, Morton picked up a spare tank of oil. But he saw no sign of Alex Trebek's Quizmaster. Eventually, by checking the station information network, he discovered that it was parked in a private dock. Furthermore, the network also offered pertinent news. It seemed that an edition of Celebrity Jeopardy was currently being filmed on the station, at the Chevrignon hotel. Doubtless to take advantage of the large crowd and volume of celebrities currently on the station. Morton considered this presentation the perfect venue to obtain his full revenge on Trebek.
Mr. Rhyze was seeking revenge of his own, although his intended quarry was the Player from Harvard. As such, his first stop was the Blitzclub. An inquiry with the clerk revealed that Harvard was indeed staying at the hotel, but was not often seen and was not currently in his room. As a disappointed Mr. Rhyze made his exit from the club, he found himself facing the extremely tall form of Charles Barklay. After getting in Mr. Rhyze's face, Barklay finally agreed to talk about the player from Harvard, mainly because Mr. Rhyze assured him that anything less would be uncivilized. Apparently, none of the other Currents really paid much attention to Harvard's activities. He was notoriously difficult to locate, and would often only show up when given a chance to push someone from behind. The only reliable way the team could contact him about upcoming games was through his email address. Once he had gotten this information, Mr. Rhyze made his way over to Labatt's bar and opened his laptop. Within moments, he had created a fake email account at the IBF webpage and sent a message to theplayer@harvard.com, inviting him come and meet him in a hour at Labatt's bar for some free merchandise. Mr. Rhyze then turned his attention to a game of free-cell. Harvard's response came surprisingly fast, along with a bunch of junk mail from the IBF, promoting the Electran Currents and bashing one Mr. Rhyze, confirmed enemy of all Electran fans. Harvard's reply was brief, and basically asked if he was being offered some free internet degrees. When Mr. Rhyze replied in the affirmative, citing such influential colleges as Bovine University, the Player promised to be there in a few hours once he finished with his current business. With this encounter now arranged, Mr. Rhyze was ready to return to his game of free-cell.
Faust was having somewhat less luck in his search for Scorpion. Most people seemed fairly hesitant to reveal any information about the infamous assassin. In fact, his attempts to get information at Labatt's Bar almost resulted in another riot. Apparently, several of the Blitzball hooligans also held passionate views about the best characters in the Mortal Kombat series. After a fair bit of intimidation, the bartender revealed that if Scorpion were on the station, he would probably be staying somewhere low-key such as the Palaco. Armed with this new information, Faust made his way over to the extremely cheap hotel. Although the clerk claimed to offer confidentiality to his clients, the mortician overcame this diffculty by noting that, as one of Scorpion's biggest fans, he would be willing to rent a room so long as it was next to Scorpion's. In that case, the clerk was willing to hypothetically suggest a room that would be next to the one Scorpion would be staying at, if he were indeed at the hotel. But he couldn't guarantee the assassin's presence within the room. For his own safety, the Palaco officials didn't try to keep track of their customers' movements. Faust soon found himself in one of the cheapest rooms. Noting that the door nextdoor was locked, he decided to simply break through the flimsy wall. Within moments, he had entered Scorpion's room. It was currently unoccupied, with a yellow mask as the only sign that it was occupied by the assassin. Faust decided to leave a message, proclaiming himself Scorpion's biggest fan, and wanting to meet at the bar. He also noted that the hole in the wall should be ignored. Once finished with the message, Faust paused only to grab Scorpion's mask before leaving the hotel.
Faust's next task involved several purchases. In particular, he was looking for some strap armor. He wasn't overly thrilled by the used items offered by Crazy Sam, especially since the armor had already been used frequently for Sam's target practice. Instead, he went with the swishy trendiness and quality of the GAP, and its consequently high prices. Still, the mortician was left with enough cash to pick up a cellphone from a computer-illiterate Radioshack employee. This is the kind of item every character should carry.
The quest for revenge continues on page two of this adventure.
Return to The Deep Space Main Page