shizaru

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"No! Sleep! Til! Boomtown!"

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or "My posse's in Boomtown"

LR: "Who borrowed my "Greatest Hits of the Carpenters" CD?"

This is my amatuer short story. Its just a little idea I had abnout how some villains may interact. I hope its at least moderately entertaining:

Honor Among Villains
The soft spring rain fell all over Paragon City, but the dense fog rolled solely over the Tranquil Repose Cemetery on the far outskirts. If anyone passing by thought that it was strange they would have shrugged it off as appropriate for the sprawling gothic cemetery, but only one man walked among the tombstones as dusk fell with the knowledge that it was no natural fog.

Brother Midnight went to great lengths to keep his presence in Paragon City a secret. The necromancer did not want any interference from the metahuman do-gooders that populated the town….especially his arch nemesis, Doctor Ghost. Three times he had faced that hero in combat and three times he barely escaped . Brother Midnight was under no illusions that he could not overcome Doctor Ghost’s power without an edge. The spell that created the fog had components that would shield him from the doctors mystical senses for awhile, but it had cost him dearly in terms of deals bartered with the various demons he parlayed with. But it would be worth it, if he achieved his goal tonight. Long ago he had traded away his soul for power…it was too late to undo that.

Besides, he had also spent a good deal of the money he had earned in the rogue islands on setting up his distractions. He had arranged for the hellions to start a few fires, the idiotic freakshow to rampage a little and for the simple minded villain Mangle to go on a berserk spree all for the sake of attracting any heroic attention away from this place. He could see his goal ahead in the mist…a large monumental tombstone marking the burial place of James St. Aubrey.

“Come”. Brother Midnight commanded to his three companions…three shambling walking cadavers, that he raised from the netherworld. They were near mindless, and slave to his will. The unholy quartet approached the tombstone. As he drew closer though, Brother Midnight saw that he was not truly alone. Standing to one side of the grave marker a figure watched. It was an old man, dressed in a long dark blue overcoat watching him. He was taken aback momentarily, as he should have noticed this man before.

“I cannot let you do this, Mortimer Knight.” the old man said as Brother Midnight approached. Again, the arch villain was struck, he knew I’d be here…and he knows my true name.

“I am not accustomed to people not being frightened of me….we have not met, mister….?” Brother Midnight purred cordially. His voice was as cold as ice, and not without a threatening tone.

“Oh, I know who you are, Prof. Knight,” the old man replied, “You were once Mortimer Knight, professor of the occult. You became enamored with necromancy, made deals with unholy entities for power, etc. You were last seen fleeing to the rogue islands several years back after Doctor Ghost defeated you.” The old man sighed. “I also know why you are here tonight. Its my business to know these things…I’ve gone by other names, but now you may call me Chessmaster.” The old man produced an ornate walking stick, with a head that looked like a king of a chess board from beneath his cloak and leaned on it. He looked to be in his 90’s but his blue eyes had a strong sense of life behind them as he stared unblinking through his old style spectacles.

Brother Midnight was not moved…he had killed men for less than daring to confront him. “If you know why I am here, then you know I will not be denied!”

“I know that recently you have acquired a list of the secret identities of several heroes in Paragon City from a Longbow database,” the Chessmaster answered, “Most of whom are deceased. One of whom was James St. Aubrey, formerly known as the hero Soul Crusader. He’s been dead for what, ten years now? But you want to retrieve a part of his soul for a spell you’ve unearthed. One that would allow you to tap into powers denied to you.”

A slight smile crossed Brother Midnights bloodless face. “Yes…Soul Crusader’s powers were mystical…he had a connection to the Astral plane similar to that of my enemy Doctor Ghost. What business of your is it?”
“As I stated earlier, I have gone by many names. Suffice it to say, that over 30 years ago I fought Soul Crusader myself…more than once. I almost killed him several times. But he always prevailed. He was a worthy opponent, and one of the few black superheroes in an age before the civil rights movement. But I never held any grudge against him even when he stopped my various schemes. He was an honorable man, and I respected him. He fought for what the status quo calls justice, even when his own people were denied basic human respect. He retired from “heroing” in 1985, and died while working in various Anti Gang organizations. You may say that I admired him. That is why I cannot let you defile his grave.”

“Touching,” Midnight growled, “but not my concern. So you respected your enemy. Cry me a river. I need part of his soul, in a spell that cannot be delayed. Stand aside “Chess King” or whatever you call yourself, or join your foe in death.”

“I think not.”

“Its your funeral.”

Brother Midnight gestured and his three zombie minions moved towards the Chessmaster. The old man simply raised his walking stick and before Brother Midnight could react he found himself and his undead henchmen unable to move, held several inches over the ground in some kind of force field. The old man chuckled dryly, “It’s a gravimetric stasis field….technology beyond your intellect, I’m afraid. You cannot move or speak until I release you.” The Chessmaster’s demeanor switched from kindly old man to sinister villain in a heartbeat.

“I respect your power, Midnight…but you must respect mine….I could kill you in a second but I do not wish to. Be aware however, that any move you make against me in the future will result in a nasty demise for you. Also understand that that beneath this grave I have placed several magical artifacts. Any sort of necromancy will fail…and the backlash will destroy any spell caster. I have done this to make sure you do not return to this grave at a later date. You may speak now.”

“H-How?” Brother Midnight groaned…the force field that held him made it difficult to breathe, even when the Chessmaster lowered it enough for him to talk.

“How did I know to do this? I am the Chessmaster.” the old man replied, “I make it my business to know who is doing what and counter them if need be. I have personally given up direct villainy years ago. I find that I can make enough to satisfy my own endeavors by serving as….an advisors….to likeminded individuals.”

The Chessmaster reached into his cloak again and produced an envelope. He tossed it on the ground in front of Brother Midnight. “I offer you a consolation prize….a wealthy collector in Talos Island has recently purchased a magical scroll you may find of some limited use. He doesn’t know its true purpose, he believes it to be an item of purely historical value. You should be able to make off with it with little effort. And you needn’t fear Doctor Ghost this night. He is at the moment busy in the Rikti War Zone. Consider this a peace offering, Brother Midnight. You may find my consulting services useful in the future….this is a freebie.”

With a wave of his hand the Chessmaster released the force field. Brother Midnight fell to his knees, while his zombie minions merely staggered, confused. Their limited intellect telling them that to continue an attack would be a futile move. They would sacrifice themselves if instructed to, but what little bit of self preservation existed in their dim minds kept them from acting independently.

“I am leaving now.” The old man continued, “Have a care…James St. Aubrey’s grave is more than adequately protected against your magic.”

“How can I contact you if I require…consulting work?” Brother Midnight asked, humbled. He did not know if the Chessmaster was using magic or technology to thwart him right now, and that was even more frightening. He could sense that this senior villain had power and intellect to carry out the threats he had made. His advanced age, in fact, probably made him more dangerous than Doctor Ghost.

“You will receive contact information at a later date. Farewell, Brother Midnight. That scroll is only available for theft tonight. Tomorrow it will be donated to an overseas museum…if I were you I’d get moving.” The Chessmaster made the bye-bye gesture with his free hand, and vanished suddenly into the fog. Again, Brother Midnight could not tell if it was a teleportation beam, or a magical spell that allowed him to do so. It was as if his mystical senses were blunted in his presence.

Standing alone now, in the fog and misty rain, Brother Midnight picked up the envelope. All of the planning he had done for this night was in vain. He had no doubt that whatever arcane barrier was in the grave, it would result in his destruction if he tried to breach it.

But he could salvage something of this night…Talos Island wasn’t that far away and had already paid off a bunch of Freakshow morons to keep the heroes running wild goose chases there. Summoning his own dark powers, he clouded himself from sight in a cloak of darkness and flew off into the night, his zombies dissolving into nothingness until summoned again….

It was about 2 months ago on Freedom for me, but I lucked out. I had exited a mission when another player asked me if I would join their Scrapyard team. Apparantly Scrapyard had just spawned and didn't have his followers yet. He was just standing there in some spot when we attacked. He's tough and there were deaths involved, but since we didn't have to fight his followers it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

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Nemesis: Nemesis are also intending to replace people, slowly, with their new, incredibly realistic automatons. Sadly, they're starting with you and the technician who indirectly caused this situation, Grant Naylor.



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Did 2nd Technician Grant Naylor cause this situation by failing to properly seal the drive plate resulting in a radiation leak?

Smeg! That means my cat is gonna procreate, mutate and then where expensive gaudy clothes doesn't it?

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Oh, one more thing. "The Six Million Dollar Man"


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Lavern and Shirly.
Carl Burnett
Laff Out
Gong Show

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The Jackie Gleason Show. Not the Honeymooners, but The Jackie Gleason Show.

Truth or Consequences

Lawrence Welk

Candid Camera

I'm not talking reruns either. I'm talking original run on the big honkin' TV in our living room that we needed pliers to change the channel with.

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That MTV showed music videos 24/7, and rap and hip hop had not been invented.

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What about the Suger Hill Gang, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and Houdini. Rap was around before MTV was even thought of.


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Never heard about them in the town I lived in, at that time (I am soooo glad to be out of that town, let me tell you!) As a result I can't name anything they did or what time frame they came on the scene.

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Aw man.... I'm sure you have heard the phrase "Hip hop...hippy to the hippity hip hip hop you don't stop rockin' to the bang bang boogie to up jump tha boogie to the rhythm of the boogity beat!" Suger Hill Gang, also an old lady in "The Wedding Singer"

"Don't Push me cuz I'm close to the edge...I'm trying not to lose my head.....huh huh huh huh" Grandmaster Flash

" Friends.....How many of us have them....friends.....the ones we can depend on....friends!" Houdini

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*SNIFF*....you just brought back some memories....I was so excited when my mother gave me a sony walkman for my birthday and I could listen to my cassette taped recordings of those songs....

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I knew I wouldn't get my five points...

But have you seen _the_ doctor in a Sinbad movie? (Golden Voyage in this case) My dad took me to all 3 of the Harryhausen Sinbads in the theater. Wasn't until years later I realized it was the doc. Tommy plays a great villain.

And once again, the old gamer thread comes back to haunt me...

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When to you, The Doctor was John Pertwee, and not Tom Baker. (ok, I'm just waiting for someone to say The Dcotor was Patrick Troughton or even worse, William Hartnell)

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I am glad I was able to enjoy Troughton through Davidson, but I'll hire a well-placed sniper to take out the first [censored] who preaches the "fine acting ability" of Colin Baker.

That fudge head drove me away from Doctor Who.

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Me too....and his companion Peri was only on the show because she had big cans.

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....when people you are playing with go, 'There was a Battlestar Galactica before this one??'

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I refuse to watch the new one because:
1)where the hell is Muffet?!
and 2) STARBUCK IS NOT AN ASIAN CHICK!

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Actually, its pretty darned good. You should give it a try, Mirra.

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"The Jaunt" was also a Steven King short story, I think it was part of the "Night Shift" collection. It had a pretty nasty punch at the end - ever wonder what happens in that microsecond 'tween ports?

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Actually I remember the Tomorrow People playing on PBS when I was a kid. I never got into the show, but I liked the theme music for some reason. I have an MP3 of it somewhere.

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Actually, I made a big booboo on the shuttles and couldn't get back to edit the post. D'oh!

Enterprise (Atmospheric testing only, prototype...wonder if it's in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum?)
Columbia (R.I.P.)
Challenger (R.I.P)
Atlantis
Discovery
Endeavor
(In no particular order.)

Someone once told me that the destruction of the Challenger is a generational hallmark. If you were old enough to remember it, you were on one side of a generational divide, and if you couldn't, you were on the other side. Dunno if that's true, but I can sure tell you where I was when it got destroyed.

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I was gonna mention Challenger when I posted, but I remebered the other 4 first...then I went back to trying to remember the name of the game I mentioned and basically forgot. I am unsure if the Enterprise is in any of the museums or not, haven't heard of anything since It was first tested..

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I am pretty sure the Enterprise is run as an exhibit by the Smithsonian, it is not on the mall, but at a seperate facility.

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If you mean the Starship Enterprise from TV it is in the National Air and Space Museum.

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You know you're and old gamer if you can identify this quote, 'Trisle, Trasle, Trosle, Trone. Time for this one to go home.'

I dare ya.

I double-dog dare ya!

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Tooter the turtle? Thats an obscure toon there, up there with The Kingdom of Could-Be-You and Hector Heathcote.

King Kong, you know the name of King Kong
You know the fame of King Kong
Ten times as big as a man.....


I know I can't be the only person to remember that cartoon.

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you watched Pink Floyd's the wall, and realized that it made NO sense straight.



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It sure didn't. But I remember in the 80's I had a really painful breakup with my fiancee' (the dreaded evil Molly) and my mother wanted to cheer me up. She called me at work and said she left me a cheer up gift at my house. Not knowing what was what in my taste of music she just grabbed the Wall. And left it on my table with a bottle of Jack Daniels. My buddy that was with me, who knew I was really really broken up and depressed by the girlfriend thing looked at me and said 'Sh**, she might as well have left you a pistol with one bullet'.

Hey she met well, but depression, JD and the wall is dangerous.

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I turned 48 2/16

I remember Pong.

Who remembers the original Railroad Tycoon? Or better yet, the first time that head bobbed to the surface of the cauldron, in Elvira, Mistress of the Dark the game?

I had a Commadore Amiga 2000.
I played Ms. Pac Man in the Pinkly Pub in the basement of Hunter College

I also used to watch Tobor The 8th Man, Gigantor and Astroboy. I remember Space Ghost as a hero.
I used to watch the Winchell Mahoney Club fer cryin' out loud.
Krazy Kat and her nemesis Ignatz.
I remember when Heckle and Jeckle as well as Buzzy the Crow were part of the Harveytoon line-up. Before the precursor to 'Political Correctness' relagated them to the bargain bin.

I never played and D&D with pencil and paper. Because I was waiting for this game. I always knew it would get here eventually.

I've played; EQ, WoW and Shadowbane. But once I discovered that it was possible to create and play with the type of comicbook heroes that I still read and love, I was a goner.

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You got me beat Bruthaman. Remember oldies like the original Gumby, Crusasder Rabbit and Ruff and Reddy? Roger Ramjet?

I have vague memories odf them but you've got about 6 years on me.

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My wife and I have a pair of Illusion Controllers who use that as their battle cry!

Who remembers this line from a cartoon? "My wings are like a shield of steel!"



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Good Lord!!! Bat-Fink? I thought I was the ONLY person on the planet that rememebered Bat-Fink!

Yep, thats old. But you're REALLY old if you know this theme song: *answer at bottom*

Theres a prehistoric monster
That came from outer space
Created by the martians to destroy the human race
The FBI is helpless, Its thirty stories tall
What do you do, who can you call?

Chorus: Call (hero name)
Call (hero name)

Faster than a rocket faster than a jet
He's a mighty robot, he's the one to get

Chorus: Call (hero name)
Call (hero name)

Quick, call (hero name) the mightiest robot of them all.









Tobor the 8th Man. Yep, I'm old enough to remember seeing this show on TV in Black and White. I'm also old enough to know what toon is referenced with the phrase "Bigger than big, taller than tall, quicker than quick, stronger than strong, made to fight for right against wrong".

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/em sigh......l33t!

....and I just got used to ebonics.



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I have yet to meet any black person that takes ebonics seriously. And yes, I'm black. I must have been absent that day in school.

If you mean the @$$ thats only because the word *rhymes with bass* would probably be cesnored out. But you do have a point. In the future I'll modify my way of "speaking" to avoid having to do that.

But l33t is still stupid.

I find l33t to be one of the stupidest things I've seen in a long time. Like back when kids thought it was cool to let your pants drag down on your @$$ so your underpants showed, or the Spice Girls. The instant I see someone using it is the second I realize I'm not too interested in communicating with that person as my opinion of them goes into the toilet.

You didn't know that the isolator badge is given in OUTBREAK.

Well, I've been playing for a year and I didn't know that. Guess I'm still a noob.

Good post. I have an emp controller, not defender, with illusions as a primary. While I agree with the poster that said witholding heals from a bad player *cough cough* blaster *cough cough* is a crappy thing to do, sometimes you have to.

Heres what I mean: i've been on teams where the blaster(s) like to get all up close and personal with the tank while in melee. The blasters usually go down fast and if he's not within the AoE of my healing aura I always choose the tank first for a heal (unless someone else is really close to dying.) Why? Because if the tank loses aggro its MY a$$ too. I've been killed too many times for getting too close to raging mobs to heal someone that has ranged attacks and shouldn't be that close! The blaster IMHO should be near ME in the rear blasting away and watching the healer's back especially if the healer is the only person that can rez.

I don't like it when anyone on my team dies, but if the have a habit of charging into mobs willy-nilly or going off on their own they move to the bottom of the priority list.

Don't get upset if my ills/emp controller says "RA and Invis gather now" before we engage a big mob but you miss it because you're screwing around leaping all over the place.

(Actually I'll say that once or twice on a team, but if people don't gather, and seem to be ignoring it I stop and I'll only fire off RA if when I need it or if I'm in range of everyone else when its recharged....In that order. But I'll stop giving the warning since no one is listening.)

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If you are playing with an Illusion or Mind Controller:

If the controller has cast Deceive/Confuse on a bad guy who can buff your team or mez the bad guys, don't kill him first. Treat him the way you **should** treat an anchor, and let him do his thing, at least until Deceive/Confuse is about to run out.

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Can I get a " Hell Yeah!" for that one? While fighting the Tsoo with one group I got tired of repeating "Don't kill the sorcerer yet! He's been decieved and will heal US instead of the bad guys!". As much trouble as Tsoo sorcs are I'd have thought that strategy would have been easy to grab onto. But later on with the same character I find myself saying to teammates while fighting the Skyraiders "Don't destroy the FF generator until we kill the rest of these guys! Its been decieved and is protecting us, not them.".

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Do not send a tell with an invite right behind it when someone has in their search comments, "No blind invites."
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I got this the other night....when the tell came for a split second I considered it, but a second later the invite screen popped up and I turned it down solely on the basis that the jack a$$ sending it was essentially sending a blind invite! Sending a tell to be followed less than five seconds later seems to be a weak excuse to send blind invites nowadays.

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this is more a story thing but it seems like each of the arachnos LT's (ghost widow and the like) have a personal island.

I know that Mercy belongs to Widow and Sharkshead belongs to Mako, But I'm wondering who controls the others.

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Master-Blaster runs Bartertown.

Sorry couldn't resist.