Adventure Overview
Players: Mr. Rhyze, Morton, Faust.
Enemies: The Postman, Virgil and his team.
Started: As Zaya placed the station on yellow alert.
Ended: With Blank's summing up of events.
This adventure began in the station's briefing room, shortly after the conclusion of Blank's summary of the security investigations. Most of the officers had already headed back to their duties, with the exceptions of Mr. Rhyze, Morton and Faust. Some might speculate their lack of speed might have been related to their lack of real work. This allegation would surely have been denied by Mr. Rhyze, who was busy winning yet another game of Free-cell. His commanding officers seemed to assume that his continued presence implied his deep concern for the future of the station, and proceeded to expound upon further measures that Epsilon would be taking to facilitate the capture the fugitives. Commander Zaya had apparently already put in the proper paperwork necessary to take the station to a state of Yellow Alert. Morton wanted to know exactly what this meant, and Picard replied gravely that yellow lights would constantly be flashing on all levels, and all station personnel would be at the ready. Faust doubted this would help much, especially given Picard's penchant for delaying events by four to six weeks. Nevertheless, Zaya assured them that the escaped prisoners would be apprehended, even if it meant searching every one of the engineering tunnels. Mr. Rhyze, for one, was not at all eager to engage in such a search.
Despite her confidence, Zaya was still more than a little baffled by the jailbreak itself. In particular, the composition of the escaping group seemed strange to both her and Picard. It wasn't hard to believe that Moriarty might be responsible for his escape, and that he might bring Laura Secord with him. But why would he also spring Captain Crunch, McTaggert, and most annoying of all, C-Bear? Somehow, it didn't seem likely Moriarty was a big (c)rap fan. Morton had a theory that could only literally be called half-baked. He speculated that all the escaped criminals were linked by virtue of food. After all, Captain Crunch was a cereal mascot, Laura Secord was all about chocolate, and Moriarty had once disguised himself as Prof. Plum. C-Bear was indirectly linked to food via his resemblance to the A&W Bear. McTaggert was fit in through his hatred of Lucky, who owned a pub. Which served food. According to Morton, it all fit like a glove. A very loose glove, as far as Faust was concerned. Nevertheless, it was the only theory that had been presented at the moment, and so the pilot vowed to stick with it. More than a bit dubious, Zaya declared her intention to question Rikker more thoroughly, as he was considered to be the most reliable of all the prisoners. Mr. Rhyze was quick to point out that this 'reliable' witness was also accused of treason, but Picard assured him that Rikker's record would be cleared in no time. That said, the two commanding officers left the room, leaving the rest with no choice but to resume their duties.
Work log: Work…there hasn't been much of that going on at the communications station. Or so you assume. Actually, you're not really sure, because you haven't spent much time there. In fact, watching the big Blitzball game and all its surrounding coverage on the TV in your room has kept you quite occupied. But now it's all over.
Incoming Transmissions:
-The Kessel Run seems to be receiving a great deal of news coverage, though you don't think it deserves nearly so much as the Blitzball Intergalactic Cup. Still, you are amused by the fact that Johnny and Morton were apparently beaten by a pilot with a one word vocabulary. In numerous post-race interviews, Yoshi gave his analysis of the event as a single enthusiastic WEEPBONG. At least his comments were more interesting then any given by Tyrus after a Blitzball game.
-The transmissions coming to your television last night were of critical importance. You watched TBN's entire coverage of the Intergalactic Cup, and you wouldn't have wanted to miss a minute of it. Don Cherry even mentioned you in summing up the shortfalls of the Crescent Moons, noting that they didn't have Mr. Rhyze to bail them out this time. Indeed, the first half went very badly for the Deksiilan team. Lorac's Evil Team launched a blistering onslaught, firing repeated flaming shots at Julio and any other players in their path. It was almost as if their goal was simply to injure enough Crescent Moon players to end this game. They certainly succeeded in taking Julio and Tyrus out of the picture, a turn of events you can certainly agree with. You were as shocked as the crowd when the legendary Jecht joined the game for the second half. Even the Monsoons' devastating attacks couldn't stop Blitzball's most famous player. And using his Jecht Shot II, he was able to squeeze out a narrow 6-5 victory over the Monsoons. Best of all, you had Jecht marked the moment he entered the sphere, and you think you've almost figured out his Jecht Shot. You're sure that you could master it on your next trip from Starbase. If you get a chance to take one.
Personal Notes:
-Your CSSS package arrived in the mail. It contains several items, though none particularly valuable, including some geeky Linux shirts, a CSSS mug, a DVD of The Matrix and tickets for their upcoming pubcrawl, to be held on Deksiil. Not that you'd really want to hang out with these geeks anyway.
Mini-Objective:
-Brag about Blitzball while making money. What else is new?
Work Log: Although you and Falco have been tempted to designate a four to six week delay in fixing the APC, the fact that it's the station's only transport has made it somewhat more important. As such, the Buick has taken up most of your time lately. Still, after the loss of the Silverdust, you've become quite worried about the security of your ships. The fact that the hangar door requires security access to open didn't seem to stop the theft of this ship. And while some consider absolute computer security to be an impossible task, you intend to prove that complete ship security can be a reality.
Space Fleet Status:
-1 Falcon Fighter known as the Roose, belonging to Falco Lombardo.
-1 Falcon-X known as the Vesper that almost made the Kessel Run.
-1 Thunderer, belonging to Fayde.
-An APC known as The Buick, that hopefully won't be stolen.
-Custom Falcon belonging to Johnny, self-proclaimed pinnacle of style.
Military Supplies:
-11 'slightly-used' Falcon missiles purchased from Crazy Sam.
-8 Heatwave missiles purchased from the GAP.
-3 Space-suits complete with oxygen tanks providing fourty minutes of breathable air, one of which is highly asymmetrical, courtesy of Taylor.
-2 Crates of dud Falcon-X missiles.
Docked Flights:
-A fast ship called the Airmail has docked in space bay two. It apparently belongs to some group called the Postal Service, although you're not sure what would bring them way out into the middle of Deep Space.
-A high-end transport called The Nightmare recently docked in space bay one. Although it doesn't seem to be a military ship, this black-panneled vessel does seem to have been equipped with several weapons systems.
-Bahljas seems to have taken up residence on the station with Fayde, and thus the military transport that brough him is set to depart back for Electra in a couple hours. Mr. Rhyze seems annoyed by the constantly growing Electran population of the station, but it doesn't really bother you.
Personal Notes:
-Now Falco has a real reason to be upset. And so do you, for that matter. The Transporter recently delivered two crates of Falcon-X missiles to the station. But when you opened the packages, you discovered that they were all duds. Which makes them even worse than missiles provided by Crazy Sam!
-You might not have missiles for the Falcon-X, but at least you have the ship itself. And you intend to keep it that way by rigging up some sort of security. Surely there must be a way to obtain some sort of deterrance device to keep your ship safe?
-Crime and deceit seem to be running rampant on the station, even more than you can stomach. Not only did someone take the Silverdust, but someone also broke into the APC and ripped out the fridge! You have no idea who might be responsible, but you intend to find out, even if it means helping with Blank's investigation.
Mini-Objective:
-Ensure that the station's ships are protected against theft.
Work Log: You've spent a fair amount of time redeploying your corpses amongst the different rooms that have become part of your expanded morgue. It looks like your storage problems are settled for now, although a constant stream of dead Red-Shirts seems to be emerging from Blank's investigations of the engineering tunnels. Still, you've taken this slight reprieve as a chance to catch up on your reading of both the Book of the Dead and the Monstrous Manual.
Body Count: (All these corpses are currently stored in the freezer of Sick Bay.)
-Several Red-Shirts who apparently tripped and died during the filming of Mr. Rhyze's supposedly classic Red-Shirt help video.
-An Irish Boy-O whose luck had run out.
-A pair of Red-Shirts that had apparently been killed in some sort of jailbreak from the station brig. The perpetrators were supposedly alive, which means this is security's problem.
-The corpse of an Electran soldier salvaged from space.
-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 annual convention of the Necromancer's Association, which is set to take place soon at an undisclosed location. Half the keynote speakers are dead, which will likely shorten their speeches, while the others include the likes of Diablo. Though most of the topics that will be discussed at this meeting are kept secret, the magazine does mention that Diablo will speak about the evil influences of his game, Dungeons & Dragons, on the minds of the young. He has also promised to hand out a free copy of the Complete Necromancer's Handbook to anyone who attends. You were almost interested in that offer, until you remembered that this book only related to the dark world of D&D.
Personal Notes:
-Your necromancy skills seem to be progressing rapidly. Browsing the Monstrous Manual has also given you several ideas about the kinds of undead you wish to create from your corpse collection. Dracula was able to do it using the Book of the Dead, and you believe your own necromancy far outweights his Powers of Darkness. As such, you've decided that it's time to try out a few experiments on your patients.
-While stacking a number of Red-Shirt corpses down in the frigid boiler room, you happened to find several interesting items in the mess that covers the floor. The most intriguing of these were a black technician's uniform and an old tape of Days of the Week, one of the galaxy's most famous and intolerable soap operas.
Mini-Objective:
-Begin experiments to turn the dead in your care into the living dead.
As always, the action resumed in Bennigan's, the local Irish pub. As usual, the place was totally packed. There was only one table with any free seats, and it was partially occuped by Jamal and Falco. However, there was actually something different about Jamal, for the first time in many adventures. He had replaced his typical oversized bunnyhug with an even more oversized Blitzball jersey. Mr. Rhyze was especially pleased to note that it was a Deksiilan jersey, though he was a bit surprised to see the name 'Jamal' on the back. As Morton took a seat, he noted that the ex-rapper didn't seem to be supporting his home planet. Somehow pulling a donut from the folds of the jersey, Jamal replied that the Lorac Monsoons were just bad. As Faust and Morton looked on, Mr. Rhyze and Jamal quickly engaged in an excited commentary about the previous night's final match. Jamal declared he had seen the whole thing on the pub's television, and would have jumped for joy upon Jecht's arrival, had it not required so much effort. Mr. Rhyze conceded that this had been a great moment, but declared that Don Cherry's references to him were surely the best part of the entire game. Faust in particular was interested in the Monsoons' alleged strategy to win the game simply by wounding the Deksiilan players. The mortician considered it a pity that they had all left the battle alive, noting that they would have made great centerpieces for the morgue. By this point, the five noticed a timid Irish sous-chef approaching the table, asking if he could take their orders. He almost fled upon voiced demands to know what had become of Lucky. Amidst his cowering, the sous-chef revealed that Lucky was worried that McTaggert might come back for his pot o' gold, and had thus gone into hiding in his usual place. This prompted both Morton and Mr. Rhyze to ask if Lucky even had another pot of gold. The chef wasn't sure, and admitted his boss was evasive on the topic, but that certainly didn't cross out the possibility that there was indeed another pot somewhere at the end of the rainbow.
The Chef returned with their meals a few moments later. While they ate, Falco commented on recent criminal activities at the station, including the theft of the APC's fridge. Mr. Rhyze was greatly concerned by this, and wondered what had become of all the Coca-Cola that had once been stored within this cool haven. Faust response was carefully qualified. He noted that these cans might hypothetically still be in the fridge, which might in turn be found somewhere in Sick Bay. This caused both Morton and Falco to be more than suspicious, although it didn't seem to draw the attention of the only security officer present; Jamal was more absorbed with his third donut of the meal. Morton noted that this was a case in point where the security on the station was lacking. He was all too aware that he couldn't count on the likes of Jamal to protect his precious Falcon-X, especially since such a task would clearly require movement. The access codes also didn't seem to be overly reliable, since they had apparently allowed Vandred to leave in the station's Silverdust. He would have to rig up his own form of security. Falco, on the other hand, didn't seem too worried. He was confident that any thieves would be very unlikely to steal The Roose, a lowly Falcon, with both a Falcon-X and a shiny Custom Falcon present in the same bay. As this point, the conclusion of the meal was interrupted by the very noticeable arrival of a new character.
The Postman As implied in his description, the Postman entered in a disgruntled fury, firing his autoblaster in all directions. Nameless technicians lept for cover, all too aware of their own vulnerability. Mr. Rhyze quickly tipped over the table, and used it and Jamal as cover. Faust fled to the safety of the kitchen, where the Irish sous-chefs were already cowering valiantly. Only two people rose to face Il Postino's wrath. Morton had his own autoblaster out, ready to let loose a volley of his own. And an enraged Senor Nabob was willing to defend his turf with his life. Or at least with his D6-Minigun. Fortunately for everyone concerned, the Postman paused his rampage upon reaching Morton to deliver a package. This didn't stop Senor Nabob from opening fire, though he ended up hitting Morton instead. The pilot retaliated with hookpunch to Nabob's face, and while the coffee baron was plotting revenge from this attack (otherwise known as groaning on the floor), Morton quickly confiscated his D6. At this point, he finally felt safe to open the package, and discovered to his delight that it contained his Bovine University Degree. This important MBA had merited special shipping, which explained its speedy arrival. Unforunately, the consequence of this quick delivery was the presence of Il Postino on the station. Having delivered the mail to Morton, the Postman went into the kitchen looking for a beer. Faust was also searching through the kitchen, though he was looking for some twine. He felt this would be useful for sewing corpses back together before bringing them to life. The mortician had just found what he was looking for when the Postman burst in, once more firing his gun wildly. Hoping to avoid Il Postino's wrath, Faust offered him some Guiness. The Postman was more than willing to accept this drink, and paused his senseless shooting while he took several long gulps. Curious, Faust asked to know why the Postman was so disgruntled. After all, it was a simple matter to deliver mail, so long as you didn't care who you delivered it to. This notion seemed to offend the Postman, who went off on a rant about how the mail always had to go through, no matter the circumstances. Noting that Il Postino was working himself up to another firing spree, Faust quickly made his exit.
Race: Chalchakian
Occupation: Postman
This is one of those characters that could practically be described only by his name. And as it would imply, he was a Postman. Like most of his kind, he was extremely disgruntled. But unlike some of his colleagues, he had a way of venting it: a blazing autoblaster. Aside from that, his appearance fit right in with the stereotype. The Postman wore a blue postman's uniform and hat, and carried his mailbag and the aforementioned autoblaster at all times. He had officially come to Epsilon to make some deliveries, but like usual, ended up causing vast destruction due to his disgruntled nature. The exact reason for his discontent remains somewhat unclear. He made allusion to the way the mail never seemed to stop, continually piling up despite all attempts to deliver it. That might be the case, but it could also be that his low intelligence contributes greatly to the check necessary to become disgruntled. As a member of the Postal Service, Il Postino was also a rival of such groups as the Coffee Barons, including Senor Nabob, who felt that he had come to the station to start up some sort of gang war. This accusation, of course, could only make Il Postino more disgruntled.
With twine in hand, Faust felt that he was ready to begin his experiments. Now he just needed an empty room where he could perform his dark ceremonies withou being interrupted. The boiler room was the obvious choice, and so Faust and Frankenstein dragged several of the morgue's 'finest' corpses down to the station's darkest and lowest level. Fortunately, no one was at all suspicious about this mass movement of corpses, doubtless attributing it as part of the relocation of the morgue. As such, the station remained quite unaware as Faust sought to his satisfy his darker ambitions. Turning the corpses into undead would certainly eliminate the morgue's storage problem, and such a force could also reinforce the station's security. After all, Dead-Shirts couldn't possibly be any worse than their living colleagues.
When properly motivated, the dead can make very effective followers. Though mindless, they are completely loyal. And often quite scary. The only real disadvantage is that you first have to raise the dead, which is often quite difficult. Still, it's been done many times by evil villains everywhere, and thus several somewhat reliable techniques have been developed for creating undead armies.
Some of the most popular techniques are listed below. Of course, many of them are still highly experimental, and their effectiveness can depend greatly on the types of corpses they are used upon. In addition, it should be fairly obvious that only one type of experiment can be used on each set of corpses, since most of them do tend to damage the bodies rather badly. In order to perform an experiment, the Necromancer must make the related check.
| Experiment | Check | Description |
| Hypnosis | x4 Will | The necromancer takes advantage of the weak wills of his subjects, and attempts to dominate them through hypnosis, thus turning them into mindless zombies. Even more effective with proper visual aids. |
| Lightning of Life | x3 Int | An experiment that involves hooking the corpses up to some sort of electrical generator, and then giving them a high voltage shock, hopefully jolting them back into action. |
| Rise from the Ashes | x3 Hth + 10 | Burning the bodies in a big bonfire while shouting tribal chants has sometimes been known to come up with results. Or with forest fires, but fortunately that shouldn't be a problem in a space station. |
| Unholy Symbols | x4 Dex | Through strategic placement of candles, the necromancer creates a series of unholy symbols to channel dark energy into the corpses. |
| Mmm…Brains | x3 Str + 5 | In a grueling surgical procedure, the necromancer implants some fresh brains into the corpses. Particularly useful for bodies that don't come with brains in the first place. Mmmm…brains. |
| Revive! | Fail x1 Int | A beverage so bad that even the dead can taste it. It's sure to revive almost any corpse, although they will probably be quite angry about it. |
Undaunted by this setback, Faust moved next to a group of dogs that had once had bees in their mouths. In this case, he decided to go with Brains, hoping to thereby increase the intelligence of dimwitted dogs that would allow bees in their mouths. With Frankenstein as an assistant, Faust set to work on this major surgery. The zombie dog proved to a big help, handing Faust everything he needed for the operation, from his scalpel to the brains involved. It turned out to be the Brain of the Shoopuf, which was much too big to fit inside the heads of the dogs. This greatly hampered the success of the experiment, though proper use of twine was able to partially circumvent this problem. Next up was a bunch of Kenny's Frozen chickens. Faust knew how to deal with this, and prepared to have the birds Rise from the Ashes. He knew that Kenny made a strong bird, and so suspected that they would make good minions. Unforunately, Faust got a bit carried a way with the fire, and ended up instead roasting the chickens, and part of the room as well. Though this didn't prove to be much of an experiment, it did make a good snack, which Frankenstein certainly appreciated. And the mess in the boiler room certainly made it good. After this short break, Faust turned next to another group of Red-Shirts. He decided to fashion some Unholy Symbols to help him channel dark energies into the corpses. The only infernal symbol that he could come up with was the logo for Days of the Week, and a listing of those days. Unfortunately, this imagery proved too potent for the weak minds of the Red-Shirts and the symbol seared away any mental faculties they might still have possessed. The last experiment proved met with little more success. Faust's final test subject was the skeleton that had been found on the asteroid. He decided to try burning it, but once again allowed the fire to get out of control, torching most of the room. And leaving Frankenstein chewing contently on a charred bone.
Morton was all about security. For his own ship, at least. So while Faust was busy attempting to raise an undead army, he was on his way down to the Military Bay Lounge, with Falco at his side. Upon reaching their destination, they found that Johnny, often otherwise known as The Man, was already there, playing the Y-Box. Noting the customization of his ship, Morton questioned Johnny about the measures he had taken for the security of his Falcon. Johnny was all over the answer, almost literally. He declared that his Custom Falcon was protected by the special Johnny security mechanism, whereby anyone attempting to steal the ship would be personally smacked down by The Man. Morton considered the reliability of this method rather dubious, though Johnny assured him that he was all about reliability. All the same, Morton decided to fashion his own security device. He was considering making something similar to the The Club, using his mechanics and welding skills. Falco suggested instead that he simply go and purchase said Club from Doug, who was apparently having special on security devices. Morton was reluctant, noting that Doug's specials usually didn't involve any sort of discount, but rather more intense chalkboard negotiation. A solution to this problem arrived at that very moment, though Morton was just as reluctant to accept it.
Mr. Rhyze stepped into the Military Bay just in time to hear Morton's disparaging comments about Doug's selection. He offered an alternative, for what he claimed as an all-time low price. He would sell Morton a fully assembled version of The Club, the number one method of visible anti-theft protection, for the low price of seven marks. When Mr. Rhyze finally produced this item, Morton was dismayed to find it to be only a piece of wood, rather than the metal contraption he had been expecting. Noting that Morton didn't seem to be pleased by this item, Mr. Rhyze came up with another cheap method of preventing the theft of Morton's ship. Using one of his last remaining TBAs, the communications officer declared that the pilot could stack pieces of wood in front of the wheels of his sheep, making takeoff impossible. It just so happened that Mr. Rhyze had a dozen heavy logs, ready for just such a purpose.
Please proceed to page two of this adventure to delve deeper into the Black Binding Nightmare.
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