Warehouse23
An episodic campaign alternative to HotZone etc, created by Ernest...
It's around 1940 on alternate-Earth, and several allied nations have recognized the need to develop multidisciplinary teams to seize precious and supernatural artifacts before the Nazis do.
Characters
These are semi-realistic 200-point heroes (-75 Dis) with no Attribute above 14 and no Esoteric or Supernatural traits.
- Lance Derrick, an MI6 agent played by John
- Jack Cooper, an American expert in esoterica & science played by Darren
- Richard Underhill, an LA Detective played by Dave
- Large Marge, a brawny mechanic and machine-gunner
What Happened
Arrival
It's October, 1940 on alt-Earth. Having been deployed by their respective bosses/mentors/handlers, the team gets to meet one another for the first time on the rain-slick tarmac of the London airport. They're greeted by Arty, a crusty gentleman who will evidently facilitate the mission, which is as yet unstated.
A limo conveys the team to the modest but well-ordered flat of Sir Edison Greywall, an old contact of Arty and the definer of missions.
Greywall's (unnamed?) partner lost something important in the Fae World, and that something must be retrieved and returned to its safe storage in "Warehouse 23", a stockpile of potentially dangerous magical artifacts.
Dick and Lance help themselves at the Greywall's bar while Jack drills into the details and Marge nods off.
The missing item is the Phoenix Medallion, said to restore life instantaneously when its possessor is killed. Its precise location is unknown, but what is known is that there is a clue on the back of a mirror in Walker's Pub -- within this mysterious other world.
Over skeptical remarks from Lance, Greywall provides each member of the team a tiny piece of paper and tell them to allow it dissolved beneath the tongue.
In an instant, the group is standing outside on the cobblestones, in a different part of London, but something is "off". Buildings are oddly mystical, flickering lights abound, crackling arcs of electricity connect the streetlights, and winged, otherworldly humanoids share the sidewalks with normal-seeming folk. A handful of "ogres", muscle-bound humanoids over eight feet tall, lurk in an alley.
Stranger still, Lance has a striking streak of white in his chestnut-colored hair, and the rest of the team is suddenly a foot taller.
Without much difficulty, the team find Walker's Pub and enters with trepidation mixed with purpose.
Sure enough there's a large mirror behind the, lined with shelving to store multi-colored exotic liquors. Lance and Dick go for a beer, while Marge is wasting no time -- she immediately proceeds to enter the back-bar area.
But she is blocked by tall weird warrior with a metal mask. Undeterred in the slightest, she challenges him. The warrior pummels her prodigious torso, and she returns the favor. A mutual bludgeoning commences, to the amusement of some, consternation for others.
Dick does his best to talk the fighters down, to no avail.
Lance notices two hulking non-human beasts (orcs?) arise from their table to intervene in the melee, at which point the MI6 operative impulsively draws his very shiny pistol and yells at everyone to sit down.
Meanwhile Jack has slunk behind the bar, and pried the mirror off the wall. He memorizes the information on the back, and also pulls the shelving down, ruining a fortune in exotic distillations.
The melee escalates and Marge wields her automatic rifle, blood dripping from her nose. Dick, sensing impending catastrophe, pulls his pistol and fires a warning shot into the ceiling.
At that, the proprietor has had enough and corrals everyone out of the building as more masked warriors arrive on weird motorcycles.
The team decides to move with purpose towards the bank, the address of which Jack has deduced from the mirror. Sensing danger, the team realizes they're being watched and followed. They consider confrontation, but then accept Lance's suggestion to sprint away.
They arrive in the alley around the corner from the bank minutes later, tails evidently shaken. After a quick tactical discussion, Lance and Jack enter the bank....
Cracking the code, and some heads
Lance and Jack have just the right energy and wardrobes to be quickly greeted by bank officials bearing fresh tea and pleasantries. Despite the distraction of the shapely redhead at the clerk's window, Lance stays focused and asks to be taken to the safe deposit boxes.
Upon arrival, Jack uses his memorized codes to open the box. Within, they discover a old leather messenger bag, within which a sheaf of official-looking papers reside. Jack has already begun speed-reading and memorizing when Edison Greywall walks in and says, "you're moving too slow."
Perturbed, Lance convinces Jack that even though there may be some hidden code or forgery within the documents, now is not the time and here is not the place to analyze them. The trio departs to collect Marge and Dick and make haste to Greywall's flat.
Reunited, the team learns that two groups of knuckleheads are observing and following them, and shortly, the inevitable confrontation plays out.
The bad guys, who Greywall assesses as '"followers of Bark Anderson, the leader of The Gray Death"', hem the party in along a stretch of industrial alleyway, fore and aft.
A quick tactical discussion ensues, resulting in Marge blasting north and Jack tossing grenades south, both to deadly effect.
A new combatant appears after a few seconds, a hulking monster on a hovercycle, racing towards the group at a high rate of speed. He is obliterated not a moment too soon, and his vehicle slams into the dumpster behind which Dick and Marge were taking cover.
Meanwhile Lance keeps Greywall nearby, out of range of the immediate melee.
Jack takes down the last two bad guys as they flee while Lance checks on the conditions of the blokes mutilated by fragmentation grenades. One will survive with immediate treatment, which Lance provides before asking Marge to scoop him up in her capable arms.
The party infiltrates a nearby warehouse, lays the prisoner on a desk for interrogation while Jack rifles through the office papers nearby.
While Lance and Dick interrogate the prisoner, a scheme is hatched to gather up the office papers into a decoy package that might be useful in the future. Marge keeps watch.
The prisoner is coaxed into revealing that the Grey Death's plan was to corral the party to this very place. It's a trap.
At that point Lance says, "We gotta go, NOW!"
And Jack says, "I broke the code! It's D-O-M-I-N-G-O!"
To which Greywall replies, "Ahah! I know where to go. Follow me!"
The team evidently escapes the trap and heads out to the perimeter of town, where a grandiose mansion with immaculate grounds commands an epic view. This is the home of Domingo, an old associate of Greywall's...
next
domingo examines the papers, his bodyguard lets us in domingo says theres a rumor we are here and looking for somehitng lance dumps out the messenger bag -- the phoenix medallion is within! Domingo is aware of its powers then a horde of 20 bad guys shows up outside -- all the flavors, winged templars, orc-types domingo leads us to the wine cellar, lance drags marge out of the shitter -- while jack throws grenades back towards bad guys wine cellar secret passage, 250 yards, emerge in farmland with trees. no bad guys. Domingo's associate Bran Mc'Berry volunteers a wildland route back into town. Bran and Dick sneak ahead when Dick has a feeling about danger ahead. Bran's ready to take a shot but isnt sure the bullet will do anything. Party decides to circumnavigate -- Lance and bodyguard Bruno carrying Marge. But then a bad guy is spotted. Bran aims and fires... and misses. Dick fires his pistol and punches through skull-guy's chest armor. Dick takes an arrow to the chest. 60% dead. Skull face guy fires an ice projectile at Bruno. Misses. Jack kills ogre #1 with marge's rifle Then floating guy shows up.. oh no Lance shoots ogre #2 3 times in the leg, he's down. Bran blows the crotch out of the skull guy. Floating guy shoots spikes at Bran. Bran dodges. Dick fires at floating guy but he dodges. Jack shoots floating guy, messes him up, while Lance and Bruno sprint for the staff. Dick shoots the floating guy two more times -- and kills him. Lance interrogates ogre #2 -- and then we run. Bark is the floating guy. Party moves to a farmhouse, teleports back to wakers pub. we're done