Chapter 2: Training Time
Putting on a spin by the Four Tops, Barnaby Jones challenges his new entourage to a Dance-Battle, partially to see if these newcomers were worthy, and also to train his Agility and Perception. (2) The entourage got some good moves, some
really good moves. Barnaby out battle-dances all of them, but only slightly, and not well enough to learn any new tricks in the process.
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.
Designated Dueling Ground: Master Jones Karate Dojo of Harlem For Disenfranchised Young People
The Spirit of 45' makes his first goal to boost his athletic performance. Being a paranomoral figure and all, he was a bit more sluggish than the living folk. Going to the Military obstacle-course, he runs through to boost his speed to that of a fully physical person. (1) 45' learns that spirits like himself have more of a glide to their step, and thus ends up mis-stepping and tripping quite a lot. And although he is no longer a human, he still feels like one. And by that I mean it still hurts him when he keeps running into walls and falling on his face.
Recovering from his training failure, Spirit of 45' brushes himself off and heads over to the Military Intelligence tent. Picking up a folder entitled #90, he looks to find all he can figure out on this Duelist. (5) He discovers the following:
#90:Name: H00d R4T
Gender: ?
Age: Late Teens
Appearance: ?
Biography: ?
Starting Clothes/Armor: ?
Starting Weapon: Dual Switchblades - Two concealable knives you could get from any pawnshop.
Attributes: ST? PR? AG? EU? IN? LK?
Conditions: ?
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)
"Glowing Ether, only you are responsible for finding information regarding your opponents." G.E. sighs and pulls out his laptop for a quick search. (3+1)
#91:Name: ?
Gender:Male
Age:26
Appearance: ?
Biography: ?
Starting Clothes/Armor: ?
Starting Weapon: ?
Attributes: ST? PR+1 AG? EU? IN? LK?
Conditions: ?
Designated Dueling Ground: ?
Sighing, Glowing Ether looks down the dark railway, seeing if he can train his eyes to spot little details. (4) Soon, he begins to notice the mouse holes, the pieces of trash and debris, the invisible hobo sleeping in the corner. The world begins to seem like a bigger place.
Perception raised by +1.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 resumes her personal training, jumping around the ruins looking for ways to train. (4) Sai constantly looks around corners for tests and trails that would require muscularity, but she can't find anything. However, after hopping everywhere she has gained more spring in her step.
+1 Agility.Afterwards, she pulls out her all knowing Ninja scrolls to find out info on Duelist #87.
(15-1)
#87:Name: Bouncer
Gender: Male
Age: 31
Appearance: A huge, over 6 feet tall, stocky, African American man bursting in muscle.
Biography: After being thrown out of Private Bodyguard duty for failing to stop a crazed fan from killing a mediocre pop-star, Ridley Washington took the job of being the Bouncer at 'Tequila Haven', a popular night-club in downtown Las Vegas. Every night, Ridley Washington was known for effortlessly breaking up fights, throwing out drunks and junkies, and beating the crap out of wannabe thugs making a racket. People began nicknaming him 'The Bouncer' and finally just 'Bouncer.' He rose to
I.D.A. drafting after he took down a dozen or so armed Mafioso by himself, without using a firearm. He still resides in Tequila Haven to this day, doing his job there to train for Dueling.
Starting Clothes/Armor: Black sunglasses, black suit, black pants, black shoes. You know he's serious when you see him.
Starting Weapon: Tequila Mix - Specially made brass knuckle-rings on each of his hands. The one on the left contains the letters 'BOU' and the ones on the right 'CER'.
Attributes: ST+2 PR? AG? EU+0 IN+0 LK?
Conditions: ?
Designated Dueling Ground: Tequila Haven Nightclub, and if necessary, into the club parking lot.
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+2 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.
Miria tells her entourage to fetch her magical tomes. (5) They come back with a tome that enscribes the power of projectile magic.
Miria learns Magic Missile.Name: 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+2 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.
Veilen Farthan decides to gain knowledge of this new world, and his entourage is happy to bring him texts on this new world. The
PeaceKeeper sponsored books give him insight on new and exotic forms of government.
Democracy: A chaotic, anarchic society in which primitive humans decide how government works based on who is the most psychically capable.
Fascism: A centralized government were a group of educated intellectuals work together to maintain balance and strive for the betterment of it's people.
Communism: A despotic economic system where supplying is stripped to it's barebones so that distrubution of products and services will be equal, not paying heed to the special needs of anyone.
Capitalism: A government-styled economic system where elected commities of able-bodied Chief Executive Officers, running large corporations that distribute goods to individuals that are most worthy of recieving them.(6) Soon, Veilen's mind is soaking in new concepts, theories and philosophies like a Freshman college girl.
+2 IntelligenceWith all this information, he is able to operate a magical device called a 'Personal Computer' which houses a large encyclopedia called 'The Internet' to which he can utilize to find information on Duelist #93.
(16+2)
#93:Name: Bob The Generic
Gender: Male
Age: 37
Appearance: Average black hair. Average black eyes. Average Cascusian skin. Average White-collar working clothes.
Biography: Six years ago, everyone on the Waiting list for the Top 100 had been out killing each other. So when one Duelist died, the
I.D.A. was short one Duelist. And no one wants to watch the Top 99. So, they looked around for someone who wanted the 100 spot. Bob had recently been layed-off at his office. They offered it to him, because the pay was good, and the health plan looked nice. (Besides the whole getting murdered part.)
Bob has 2 children, a blonde wife, and a two-story house. He enjoys football and rock music. He is totally generic, and was happy for keeping the bench-warm for 6 years at the #100 spot, where he was never bothered...until now.
Starting Clothes/Armor: White-collar Working Clothes.
Starting Weapon: ?
Attributes:ST+0 PC+0 AG+0 EU+0 IN+0 LK+0
Conditions:
(None)
Designated Dueling Ground: Suburbia, North Carolina
-----
Finishing gaining information on Bob the Generic, Veilan saw his reply from the Red Knight had came in.
"Dear Veilen,
After are research, we find that no one in the Top 100 International Duelists Ranking is on a quest for the Holy Grail. However, there are numerous Duelists on similar quests for the Almighty Lord, God. But we are required by oath not to give you any information on them, for that will be up to you.
- Red Knight." 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
Mint Freehood decides to research Duelist #90, H00d R4T, by paying a nickel of an copy of the newspaper,
The Saloon Duelist Times. His research is aided by the fact another Duelist has already started researching H00d.
(19)
#90:Name: H00d R4T
Gender: Male
Age: 19
Appearance: A skinny, spiky-haired Cacausian youth. Seems to always have a devilish grin on his face.
Biography: The streets are a tough place to live. Tony Misto learned that the hard way by being born there. Because he wasn't the biggest kid on the block, he couldn't fight, he had to run. And run he did, getting really good at running. But he got tired of running. He realized that being fast could be just as much of an advantage in a fight as being strong. So he developed a tactic in fighting: Dodge, hit the sucka' before he could react, jump back, hit him, dodge, and repeat. He won many fights this way, some of them deadly, and soon the
I.D.A. noticed it. This is when he stopped being Tony, and started being H00d R4T.
Starting Clothes/Armor: Gray hoodie, navy track pants, worn-down clothes and sneakers.
Starting Weapon: Dual Switchblades - Two concealable knives you could get from any pawnshop.
Attributes: ST-1 PR+0 AG+2 EU+0 IN+0 LK+0
Conditions:
Runner; +1 to non-combatic running, i.e. fleeing or strategic strafeing.
Designated Dueling Ground: Brooklyn
------
Pulling out some cans in town, Mint Freehood sets up an improvised range to practice shooting. (2) He misses most of them, only managing a few dents here and there.
Name: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+1 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. ?
89. ?
90. H00d R4T: An inner-city street-raised kid who is as sharp as he is quick.
91. ? (26 years-old.)
92. ?
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.
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Topic: ~Los Desperadoes~ (Ch. 6: I dun' goof'd) (Read 12131 times)