Chapter 3: Researching Crazies
Barnaby Jones thinks to himself, trying to develop a new move to put him head-and-shoulders above his opponents. (4+(Intelligence)0)
A light-bulb goes off and Barnaby develops a new technique!
LSD Boost: 50-50 shot at sucsess or failure. If sucsessful, Barnaby gets +1 to a random skill. If it fails, Barnaby gets a -1. Can only be used once per round.Name: Barnaby Jones
Gender: M
Age: 29
Appearance: An afro sporting sun-glassed man of tall stature and exaggerated disco fashion sense.
Biography: Barnaby spent his whole life wishing he had been born a decade or two earlier and lived through the age of blaxploitation martial arts and disco music you could really dig, man! He had given up on his dreams and lived the life of a mild mannered accountant, until fate stumbled upon him one day in the form of an incurable illness. Eschewing all other life choices, Barnaby finally dedicated his life to controlling and mastering his Disco Fever. Unfortunately, this fever is a chronic ailment that will inevitably destroy him, and is a dangerous affliction if taken lightly. He signed up as a duelist in order to show the world that disco was not truly dead, and victory would label him as the messiah necessary to raise disco from the ashes. Unconsciously, he is seeking a cure to the terminal illness, of which a fiery passion constantly boils his brain.
Starting Clothes/Armor: An open silver vest meant to show off his perfectly chiseled pectoral muscles, yet the sweet pecs are hidden behind a sizable layer of body hair. White bell-bottoms adorn his legs and a pair of black gators ensure a beat down that is truly out of sight.
Starting Weapons:
Survival Tool - A fierce hair-comb that ends in several sharp metal points.
Attributes: ST+1 PR+0 AG+1 EU+0 IN+0 LK+1
Conditions:
Gettin' With the Groove; +1 to all rolls if a fight exceeds 3 turns.
Disco Inferno; -1 to dodging incendiary weapons.
No bro messes with the Fro'!; Goes into a rage if his Afro is heavily damaged or destroyed. +1 to offense, -1 to defense.
LSD Boost; 50-50 shot at sucsess or failure. If sucsessful, Barnaby gets +1 to a random skill. If it fails, Barnaby gets a -1. Can only be used once per round
Designated Dueling Ground: Master Jones Karate Dojo of Harlem For Disenfranchised Young People
Undettered by his training failure, The Spirit of 45' hits the obstacle course again. (2) He doesn't mess up this time, but he finishes at a very slow pace, not enough to improve him in anyway.
Spirit of 45' heads back to the Military Intelligence tent, pulling out a new file.
(6)
#92:Name: ?
Gender: Male
Age: ?
Appearance: ?
Biography: ?
Starting Clothes/Armor: Ski mask, wifebeater, jeans and run-down Nikes.
Starting Weapon: ?
Skills: ST+1 PR? AG? EU? IN-1 LK?
Attributes: ?
Designated Dueling Ground: ?
Name: Spirit of 45'
Gender: Male
Age: Indeterminate, appears in early 20's
Appearance: A ghostly looking young man with a pair of circular horn rimmed glasses. Wearing WW2 era Marine fatigues.
Biography: The Spirit of 45'-or just 'The Spirit'-seems to be, for all intents and purposes, the ghost of a former American marine who likely died during the battle that took place 200 plus years ago. The truth is a bit more bizarre-he, and many of his brethren, are the result of a Temporal experiment gone terribly wrong-one that turned many of the slain of that battle, into time lost shades, existing simultaneously in all time lines, past, present and none. They exist as half man, half nothing.
The Spirit up till now seemed to be on endless patrol-fighting alongside his fellow marines in endless combat, against an enemy they could never kill, and who could never kill them-never quite dead, and never quite alive. On and on, caught in an endless repeating loop. The Island was closed off from the public-though the shades couldn't harm each other permanently, their spectral bullets, knives and grenades could rend living flesh as easy as they ever could when their owners were whole.
The I.D.A, in it's own particular style of ruthlessness, was prodded by the Peacekeepers to provide a potential fan favorite-Patriotism levels were dwindling in some key regions, after all. Thus, the Spirit was brought into being-pulled more or less into the now by some technological advance or the other...and set to compete. He's lost a degree of his power, but is slowly gaining strength as he understands why and where he is.
The being himself is a torn individual-unable to remember his own name, not knowing where or when he is, tormented by memories of a lives he had and didn't have, people he killed and spared and killed again, seeking only solace in the 'Mission'-to become number 1 Duelist-rationalized to himself as seeking enemy agents, and ending the War so he can go home.
Only then, he reasons, can he finally find rest...
Starting Clothes/Armor: Jungle Pattern Camouflage Fatigues.
Starting Weapon: Thompson Submachine Gun - An automatic, classic machine gun commonly used by early 1900's soldiers and gangsters.
Skills: ST+0 PR+1 AG-1 EU+2 IN+0 LK+1
Attributes:
Used to Bombardment; +1 to dodging explosives.
PTSD; Has a 15% chance to get a -1 to defense each turn.
Run & Gun; Suffers no penalty from shooting while sprinting.
Designated Dueling Ground: Iwo Jima (Entire Island)
At the club, Glowing Ether parties hard, all night long. (1) Okay, maybe that was a bad idea.
After spending half an hour vomitting into a toilet, G.E. rustles the other hung-over patrons at the club.
(3+1)
Turns out hung-over people don't have very much advice to give. Who knew?
#91:Name: ?
Gender:Male
Age:26
Appearance: ?
Biography: ?
Starting Clothes/Armor: ?
Starting Weapon: M16 - A classic, if unpratical, American Assault Rifle. Has plenty of killing potential.
Attributes: ST? PR+1 AG? EU? IN? LK-1
Conditions: ?
Designated Dueling Ground: ?
Name:Glowing Ether
Gender:Male
Age:24
Appearance:A middle-height man, broad in the shoulders and thick in the neck. He wears a large trench-coat at all times, as well as a large set of studio grade headphones. On his face is a metal mask with small slits in it only for his eyes, nose and mouth. Nothing can be discerned of his face.
Biography:He was born Wilhelm in what was Germany. He grew up in a fairly ordinary way, but developed an obsession with computers and music (and any combination thereof). When he turned 18, he set out on his own, buying a computer and some headphones with the only money he had. After a while, his underground-beats reached a higher audience's ears, and he was given a contract by a small record label. With his newly found income, he began to tinker with his equipment. He found that by drastically increasing the frequency of his speakers, he could actually cause heavy physical harm to living things. This caught the attention of the the I.D.A. He was immediately drafted into the association.
Starting Clothes/Armor: Heavy Trench coat with small titanium plates inside it.
Starting Weapon: Portable Bass Cannon - Creates hyper-sonic blasts that travel with extreme kinetic force.
Skills: ST+1 PR+1 AG+1 EU+0 IN+1 LK+0
Attributes:
Auditory Pro; +1 to Perception in closed environments.
Metal; +1 to Endurance when suffering Blunt-force damage.
Conductor; -1 to dodging electrical attacks.
Designated Dueling Ground; Any subway system
Sai begins lifting heavy pieces of debris off the ruin ground, moving to each of them as fast as she could. (3) Her speed wasn't satisfactory during the training, but she feels burning in her arm muscles from picking up rocks.
+1 StrengthTaking out another scroll, Sai looks over what she can find on Duelist #88.
(4-1)
#88:Name: ?
Gender: ?
Age: 15
Appearance: ?
Biography: ?
Starting Clothes/Armor: ?
Starting Weapon: ?
Attributes: ST? PR? AG? EU? IN? LK?
Conditions:
Designated Dueling Ground: Main corridor of 'Miller High', an abandoned school in the central United States.
Name: Sai
Gender: Female
Age: 14
Appearance: Lithe little girl with long black pigtails and green eyes.
Biography: Sai is a member of an elite dojo teaching martial arts, as well as certain philosophies behind them. Specifically, they seek to bring peace and balance to the world by bringing it to oneself first- but, there's a fair amount of wriggle room and conflicting ideologies in there, and many members end up fighting against each other. Further complicating matters is the fact that each master selects and trains their own pupils, meaning differences in technique and perspective can and often do split more with each wave of students.
Sai happened to belong to one of the more central and traditional branches of her school, but had the unfortunate honor of being her master's least talented pupil- or so he claimed, anyway. She decided to go engage in an extended fight to the death in order to prove him wrong and surpass her peers, which was perhaps not the wisest or most innerly-peaceful decision ever. She does, however, intend to bring a measure of inner calm and rationality to the competition, something she's rightly assuming is sorely lacking under the current regime.
Starting Clothes/Armor: Armorweave Gi. A tight-fitting, vaguely ninja-like outfit made of armored threads, protecting against slashing and piercing attacks while being essentially just clothes against blunt force. Her master's symbol is on the back.
Starting Weapon: Bronze Knuckledusters and matching foot bracers - Powerful, melee based weapons to multiply attacking force.
Attributes: ST+3 PR+0 AG+3 EU+0 IN-1 LK+0
Conditions:
First Strike; Always gets the first attack in any fight, regardless of her opponent's agility.
Ninja; When hiding in the shadows, enemies gain a bigger PR loss than usual.
Glass Cannon; -1 to Endurance when suffering Blunt-force damage.
Designated Dueling Ground: Urban ruins of any sort.
"I will train my agility!" Claims Miria. She starts running around the room. (4) After 10 minutes, she collapses onto the floor, panting.
Agility +1Name: Miria
Gender: Female
Age: ??
Appearance: Appears to be a little girl, skinny and small. She has plain, nondescript dark grey cloths adorned only by a single red ribbon. Her flame-red hair is tied into a tight(=high) ponytail. She has a thin leather strip around her neck, and her shoes are regular brown boots of leather. Her red eyes twinkle with something between malevolence, mischief and misandry. How they twinkle like that is a mystery even the gods don't know how.
Biography: She is supposed to be a witch, but all she was able to learn was short flights on a broom, and smacking people with said broom. She was kicked out of the witch's world when 'that' happened, and wandered around before being scooped into IDA.
Starting Clothes/Armor: Magically reinforced leather clothes (different from dark grey clothes) that extend their protection to the seemingly uncovered areas too. Defends well against glancing attacks and slashes, but not so well against stabbing and blunt attacks.
Starting Weapon: Broom with purple handle and bright pink tufts - Adorned with another red ribbon. Can fly, has magical properties.
Attributes: ST-1 PC+1 AG+3 EU+0 IN+0 LK+1
Conditions:
Magical; Has the potential to learn Magical spells.
Mischief Maker; +1 to distraction/confusion-based moves.
Light; -1 in grappling scenarios.
Magic Missle; Can fire blasts of magical energy from her fingertips during battle.
Designated Dueling Ground: Darkened room that has a high ceiling.
The Red Knights sends Veilen all he could find on Duelist #89.
(4+2)
#89:Name: Convict
Gender: Male
Age: ?
Appearance: ?
Biography: ?
Starting Clothes/Armor: ?
Starting Weapon: Shank - An improvised weapon made from metallic scrap, sharpened to a deadly point.
Attributes:ST? PC? AG+1 EU? IN? LK?
Conditions: ?
Designated Dueling Ground: Cell #001 in Texas State Maximum Security Prison
After finding out about the convict, Veilen goes to work on his Perception by target shooting with the archers, and then dealing with a shady knight only known as 'The Golden Eagle.'
(2)
Well, he barely hits any of the targets, and The Golden Eagle is away on gambling business.
Name: Veilen Farthan
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown, appears to be between twenty and thirty judging by appearance
Appearance: Lean in figure, Veilen is a man of light complexion with short cropped black hair and deep brown eyes.
Biography: Hailing from Britannia, Vei was on a quest to secure the Holy Grail along with an allied cavalcade of his brethren for the good of the realm, in constant struggle against the enemy forces - both real and magical, in his journey. They were among the best of their time, skilled in their arts and blessed by the hand of their deity.
That is his present, and is what continues to be his present. In the battle on the high peaks, a strange anomaly manifested and shifted the very fabrics of time and reason itself. In a split second, Vei found himself in a castle covered from head to toe in moss, vines and other flora, with sunlight spewing from the crumbling fortifications that were once his home keep. By Oath to his King, he still quests ever on for the Grail, having been fooled by the I.D.A. to participate in their arena, mostly oblivious to the obvious changes in his environment and vicinity.
Nonetheless, he aims to claim the top, believing that would grant him solace for his quest. The loss of his whole squadron was heavy on him, but he believed still in his cause.
Starting Clothes/Armor: Light Silver Field Cloak w/ Hood
Starting Weapon: Consecrated Arming Sword - Consecrated with the power of God and the might of the Holy Ghost.
Attributes:ST+1 PC+0 AG+1 EU+1 IN+2 LK+0
Conditions:
Trained in Swordship; +1 to Parrying and Blocking with swords.
What is this sorcery?; -1 to using modern firearms. (Does not effect Early Firearms or Modern Melee Weapons.)
Code of Chivalry; Must Assassinate any 'Demonic' force he faces. (Ghouls, Vampires, Demons, Hedonists, etc.) Can not Assassinate any 'Innocent' opponents. (Most women, priests, children, etc. However, he can Assassinate them if they challenge him.)
Designated Dueling Ground: Forested Castle Ruins
Unstatisfied with his first attempt, Mint Freehood lines a bunch of new cans on a table and fires at them again. (5) This time he manages to hit them dead-on!
+2 PerceptionName:Mint Freehood
Gender:Male
Age:82
Appearance: a tall slender man in his early eighties, Mint can always be seen with his trademark cowboy hat and six shooter.
Biography: Born to rooting tootin cowboy loving parents, Mint loved everything western, and he loved his actor/cowboy hero Clint Eastwood. When mint's age retirement fund ran out he re-watched all of his favorite movies, and slipped back into the western costume he wore as a boy, ready, and with a plan on how he was going to make it through the rest of his life.
Starting Clothes/Armor: Cowboy hat and leathers with a Kevlar vest underneath.
Starting Weapon: .44 Magnum - Classic heavy, face-breaking revolver.
Attributes: ST+1 PC+3 AG+0 EU+0 IN+0 LK+1
Conditions:
Pistol Sharpshot; Suffers no range penalty from using Pistols and Revolvers.
Saloon Fightin'; +1 to Counter-attacks in hand-to-hand combat.
Old Joints; If a fight goes beyond 3 rounds, suffers a -1 to Agility.
Designated Dueling Ground: the dusty street outside a wild west saloon, tumbleweeds added as necessary.
Top 100:.....
84. ?
85. ?
86. ?
87. Bouncer: Tough Las Vegas bouncer who has been throwing punks on their asses for many club nights.
88. ? (15 years old.)
89. Convict: (Has a shank. Lives in a Maximum Security Prison.)
90. H00d R4T: An inner-city street-raised kid who is as sharp as he is quick.
91. ? (26 years-old. Wields an M16.)
92. ? (Wears a ski-mask, wifebeater, jeans and Nikes.)
93. Bob the Generic: A generic everyman stereotype.
94. Barnaby Jones: A smooth groovy disco-risko claiming that disco never died.
95. Spirit of 45': A WWII fighter lost in war purgatory, brought into the future to continue his fighting.
96. Glowing Ether: A metallic man who lives underground, creating intoxicating beats that pump blood, to fatal amounts.
97. Sai: A young Shinobi thrust into the world of Dueling in order to prove herself a worthy ninja.
98. Miria: A psuedo-witch pulled who's magical potential got here drafted into Dueling.
99. Veilen Farthan: A Holy Crusader on a quest from God to find the mystical Holy Grail.
100.Mint Freehood: An older man who rather than retire, took up his lifelong dream of becoming a cowboy.
Does anyone notice how fast some characters are leveling up their Attributes? Well, this is a slight incentitive to kill them now, because by end-game I wouldn't be suprised to see people with +10 and +20's in various Attributes. Also, as of now, rolling a 1 on a training roll will have negative effects.
Also, my dad was listening to some funky music Barnaby would have digged.