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
Intro
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....