DP 7 Issue Guide #1

Annual 1:
Origins

On July 27th, 1986, software salesman Nelson Kohler was driving on the stretch of road between Milwaukee and Fond du Lac, when the White Event occurred. Blinded when it struck at exactly 1:24 P.M., Nelson drove off the road when it curved before him, subsequently striking a tree. Severely brain damaged in the accident, his wife had his life support terminated soon afterwards, and Nelson's life signs quit thereafter.

But Nelson did not die, oh no. Though his body had ceased to function, his mind continued on, suddenly disembodied from his dead flesh! Freed from the prison of his broken body, Nelson tried to embrace his wife and daughter as they mourned him, but realized he was immaterial. His intangible essence could not interact with the normal world, nor could anyone see or otherwise sense his presence.

Embarrassed at his nudity despite being invisible to the world at large, Nelson wished he had clothing... and suddenly he did. Realizing that he controlled his self-image in his new state, Nelson tried to assess his new state of being logically, only to be distracted when, despite having no body to speak of, he found he felt something... curious. Wanting answers, Nelson followed the sensation to its source.

Eventually arriving at the Sunny View nursing home, Nelson journeyed inside to find Lenore Fenzl peering into the mirror, trying to figure out what a strange gray spot on her arm was. Lenore showed it to her friend Rosalind, but she passed out immediately upon viewing it. Nelson watched as Lenore hailed a nurse to inspect this spot, but then she passed out as well. Confused, Nelson wandered off.

Unsure why he was drawn to witness this strange occurrence, Nelson debated this when he felt that strange sensation again. Following it anew, to see if this second occurrence would yield more clues, he drifted towards it for a full week. Eventually arriving at the home of Stephanie Harrington, Nelson saw her grow dizzy for a moment, and suddenly start to give off strange, twinkling sparks from her skin!

Apparently affecting her daughter, who she was hugging at the moment, these sparks suffused the child with energy, who then bounded across the living room in just one leap! Watching curiously as Stephanie's daughter rampaged through the house, Nelson noted that the sensation that drew him there had subsided, while another had begun to beckon to him. Leaving the Harrington home, he drifted off again.

Several weeks later, Nelson finally reached that which was drawing him forth - the bedroom of a strange young man. Strange in that his bed smoldered beneath him, and there was no apparent source of fire or heat. Watching as the youth's father broke into his room and subsequently beat him for smoking in bed (despite him not actually doing so), Nelson shrugged and left the young Dennis, as his father identified him, to his own devices.

Pondering why he was drawn to these bizarre occurrences, these manifestations of paranormal abilities, Nelson wondered if it had something to do with his own strange nature when the feeling began yet again. Seeing no reason not to, Nelson allowed the sensation to pull him forth, and he wandered the countryside for two weeks - until he arrived at a college campus of some sort. Its dance studio, in particular.

There he observed the manifestation of Charlotte Beck's paranormal power, her ability to control the friction on an object. It came forth with a blinding headache at first, and then rampaged out of control, flattening the entire studio worth of dancers at once. Confused as she left, Charlotte was continuing to cause such slippage again in everyone around her, whether or not they stood on a slippery surface.

Though amused by the antics Charlotte caused, Nelson fell into a bit of angst over all of this, wondering if continually watching these people's first exhibitions of special ability was a fate he was forever cursed to witness. Shrugging, he once again felt the strange compulsion tugging at him, and wandered away again, this time to a nearby trailer park, where he discovered one David Landers.

Finding the man in agony, Nelson watched as his body began a slow transformation, seemingly swelling slightly over the course of a few minutes. He didn't stay to watch the rest of the 'show', however, for he began to angst more about his situation. Raving at no one, he decried his fate in life, even while a sneaking suspicion arose within him that either he was hallucinating or perhaps causing all of these events.

Feeling no need to fight his apparent flight of fancy, Nelson allowed it to draw upon him once more, and he wound up inside a Burger King near his long-emptied death bed. Observing as the manager was overcome with a sort of nervous energy, Nelson followed him outside, only to watch in amazement as the overweight man rocketed off - seemingly faster than even the automobiles on the road beside him!

Observing the man run at this impossible pace for nearly an hour, Nelson eventually saw him stop back at the Burger King - where he fried up several burgers to 'pay' for all that energy he'd just burned up. Done with his latest spectacle, Nelson wandered off, again trying to determine what he had in common with these six spectacularly special individuals - at least, before a seventh drew him forth.

At the Winnebago County General Hospital, Nelson watched as one Dr. O'Brien began to show the symptoms of power manifestation. Feeling odd, O'Brien took some vitamins, but several people around him began to report witnessing a strange, shadow of death in his vicinity! Watching the fallout of this for a few moments, as the hospital broke out in a panic, Nelson began to fear once more that he was causing these strange events.

Resolving to stop causing more of these paranormal happenings, Nelson hunted down his own grave, nearby, and settled in to his corpse. Of course, this did nothing for him, but before Nelson could descend into deep depression again, he was greeted by a strange visitor - one of those odd, black shadow men that he saw in the hospital! Shocked that he could be seen, Nelson raved at the shadowy apparition for a few minutes.

Begging it to destroy him, to end his torment, Nelson became enraged when the creature refused, and tore it apart! Horrified at his actions, Nelson tried to ensure that Doctor O'Brien was all right, and finding him in a comatose state, entered his body. Originally hoping to just see if he was unharmed, Nelson was amazed that he was suddenly in control of the doctor's body. He lived again!

As he wrestled with the ramifications of this, the shadowy form he'd seemingly destroyed, what he thought was O'Brien's mind, returned to its point of origin. Though at first he was selfish, Nelson realized he had no right to steal the doctor's very life, and abandoned O'Brien's body even as the shadowy form it had issued forth reclaimed it. Ashamed of his behavior, Nelson drifted off yet again.

Tired of attempting to determine what the purpose of his new found existence was, much less why he was forced to do what he did, Nelson simply resigned himself to his fate. Resigned himself to a life apart from others, lest he cause any more harm to innocent people as he almost did that night. Finally, he resigned himself to simply being... the Witness...!

Issue 1:
The Clinic

At the Winnebago County General Hospital, Doctor Randy O'Brien's small talk with a nurse is suddenly interrupted by paramedics, who are wheeling in their latest charge. This fellow, one David Landers, was taken to the hospital in an ambulance after attempting to overdose on pain killers. But the doctors had a hard time getting the man stabilized, for he was a behemoth - over three hundred pounds of raw muscle!

Waking up after Randy and his coworkers pumped his stomach, David lashed out in a drug and pain-induced haze - at least, until Randy knocked him out again - this time, with Valium. The thing was, Randy couldn't manage this feat himself, and in his panic the Doctor manifested a strange, spectral shadow form (or at least the arms of such) out of his own body, to hold David in place for his shot!

Hours later, when David awoke again, Randy tried to talk to the man, figure out what happened - and how he managed to acquire such an 'extreme' build; he was larger than anyone Randy had ever seen! That's when David told his tale, about how he was perfectly normal just a week ago, until he suddenly began to gain heroic amounts of muscle after a serious bender he went on with some friends.

While Randy didn't really buy David's story, the truth was he'd been experiencing bizarre events of his own of late - in particular, the strange shadow form he keeps drawing forth at random. He even did so accidentally during a meeting with his superiors, one regarding the care of David Landers, and had to act fast to keep his strange 'antibody' from pummeling his boss from behind in a rage.

Later that night, concerned over both his and David's predicament, Randy debated calling a strange clinic he'd read an ad for in the local newspaper. This Clinic for Paranormal Research declared, in its ad copy, that it could help people who could find no help elsewhere. That it could help people who had developed strange and unusual abilities. Before he could make a move however, Randy dozed off.

Once he passed out, Randy's antibody left his sleeping frame and journeyed to the hospital where David debated another attempt on his life. While David was understandably confused upon first seeing the entity, he realized it was sent by Randy (after a fashion) when it touched him and revealed everything Randy saw and thought about that Clinic ad in the newspaper. He then decided to check out of the hospital... by way of the window!

Hoofing it to Randy's apartment, David then proposed that the two go to the Clinic together. They did so that very next day, though they gave false names to the receptionist to protect their secrets. After a short wait, they met with one Dr. Semple, who showed David and Randy around the Clinic as she tried to explain what it was all about... and also attempted to answer the dubious duo's many questions.

Convincing them to check in to the Clinic over the weekend, Dr. Semple then introduced Randy and David to Therapy Group C, a quintet of paranormals that she'd been working with for some time.

This group included Charlotte Beck, who could manipulate the friction of an object, Lenore Fenzl, whose skin emitted a sleep-inducing energy, Dennis Cuzinski, who can dissolve anything he touches, Jeffrey Walters, a man with a hyper-accelerated metabolism, and finally Stephanie Harrington, a seemingly meek housewife whose touch could invigorate and heal others - and herself (a woman who immediately piqued David's interest).

As the seven paranormals talked amongst themselves and got to know each other, they were being observed via video feed by the Clinic's leader, Philip Nolan Voigt, and his three assistants. Each of these underlings possessed a particular paranormal ability which allows them to manipulate others, and Voigt used them to induct newer paranormals into the Clinic - a feat he directed them to undertake with these latest arrivals.

Under their influence, the two decided to stay at the Clinic, quickly becoming fast friends with the various other members of Therapy Group C. Things went great for several weeks, or so it seemed, until Randy found himself questioning the Clinic and its methods more and more, possibly in response to increasing controls wielded against him by Voigt's three paranormal underlings.

Questioning both David and Lenore about their feelings, Randy found himself unsatisfied with what he heard, but wasn't sure how to proceed from there. At the same time, he realized that he was summoning his antibody less and less, and wondered if that was due to some influence by the Clinic's staff. Mustering his will, Randy managed to call it forth, at which point it promptly flew through the ceiling.

At that precise moment, Voigt's minions, Mr. Charne, Mr. Hackbarth and Ms. Speck, were observing the paranormals in the Clinic, and debating some rather heavy-handed tactics against the seemingly 'stubborn' Randy O'Brien. As their grousing got more overt, Randy's antibody wandered into the room and overheard everything they had to say about him and his friends - and it let them know it by pulling Hackbarth's chair out from under him!

As the staff panicked, Randy put his clothes on and prepared to leave, when Hackbarth knocked him senseless with his power to regulate the physical processes of others. His antibody, though, notified David what was going on, and he then exited his room in time to spot Hackbarth carrying Randy's limp body away. Attempting to stop him, David, too, fell prey to Hackbarth's impressive powers, but was witnessed doing so by Dennis.

The ruckus woke up the rest of Therapy Group C, who decided to confront Hackbarth about this. The man then immobilized all seven of them at once with his physiological control powers, until David overcame the pain Hackbarth saddled him with, and slapped him senseless. The paranormals immediately recovered upon Hackbarth's unconsciousness, and decided that maybe the Clinic wasn't out for their best interests after all.

Not even bothering to get dressed, the septet of paranormals exited the Clinic as soon as possible, making a break for civilization...!

Issue 2:
Runaways

Wandering through the woods outside the Clinic for Paranormal Research for a time, the seven displaced paranormals who fled the facility were having a hard time with the terrain, what with them being only half dressed when they made their escape in the first place. It took some doing and some time, but the septet finally managed to emerge from the thick foliage to find a highway of some sort.

They tried to hitch a ride out of there on the first truck they see, but when the driver wouldn't stop, the paranormals resorted to more desperate measures. Seeing a bus coming up the road, Charlotte wielded her friction powers on the road before the vehicle, causing the thing to come to a screeching halt. Once Lenore zapped everyone senseless with her vampiric abilities, the group then drove off to greener pastures.

As they made their escape, the head of the Clinic for Paranormal Research, Philip Voigt, burst into the doctor's office at the Clinic, and interrogated his subordinates. Once he realized how badly they dropped the ball, he instructed Ms. Speck to keep tabs on the seven escaped paranormals. Instead of having his minions go after them directly however, Voigt declared he was going to have his headhunters retrieve the group.

Meanwhile, on their purloined bus, the seven paranormals had to stop momentarily to get Jeffrey some food, since all of his high speed scouting had wore him out in the extreme. Knocking over a McDonalds with their powers, the paranormals then made for David's trailer, since his home was the only one that would offer any manner of isolation and privacy - everyone else's home was lacking in one or the other.

On the way there, Dennis brought up the prospect of code names - aliases to use so that people wouldn't have real names to report to the police regarding their activities. He devises code names for most of the group, though not too many of them liked what he came up with. Mind you, he decided that the group should keep calling him Scuzz, since he wanted everyone to know that it was him causing such a ruckus!

A few miles from David's trailer, the group ditched the bus and began to walk the rest of the way. As it turned out, David's neighbors were having a backyard barbecue at the time, so they would once again have to wait until nightfall before moving on again. It was during this time, as the paranormals were waiting for the cover of darkness, that they were ambushed by Voigt's goons!

Luckily, Randy had sent his antibody to keep an eye out for 'trouble', so he got a warning to the group at the last possible second - though about half of them still got tagged with tranquilizer darts fired from their assailants. Rushing their position, David almost managed to reach them, but was overwhelmed by multiple darts just feet away from their ambush site. That's when their attackers revealed themselves.

Meeting Bloodhound, Shrapnel and Vice Versa for the first time, the still-conscious paranormals tried to go on the offensive, but weren't too skilled at combat - unlike their foes. Scuzz wanted to fight while Charlotte panicked and tried to flee - getting a tranquilizer dart for her trouble. Randy was tranquilized as well, but not before he could order his antibody to do something - and it did!

Randy's antibody attacked one of the group's assailants, Shrapnel, only to find himself hurt by the villain's psycho-plasmic shrapnel. These unsightly attack blisters may not be pretty, but they actually defeated the antibody. As it fell to the ground senseless, the leader of the headhunters, Bloodhound, took stock of the situation, but thanks to his abilities realized that not everyone laying before him was unconscious.

Having recovered from the tranquilizers thanks to her power, Stephanie recharged Jeffrey to help him shake it off too, and then attacked the man. While she has enhanced strength to an extent, Stephanie lacked the fighting prowess of Bloodhound, who quickly knocked her out... again. Jeffrey had a similarly bad time trying to take on Vice Versa, who kept turning his own momentum against him.

Scuzz tried to use a gun he'd recovered from Bloodhound against her, but Vice Versa also reversed its projectile back at him, finally dropping him for the first time. Realizing she was too much of a pain after she took Scuzz out, Jeffrey decided to go for an 'easier' target, and with a recovered antibody's help, managed to easily neutralize Shrapnel - mainly by making him use his own skin explosives against himself.

Shortly thereafter, Vice Versa tried to 'bag and tag' Charlotte, only to realize she'd used her power on herself, and caused the knock-out dart to slide off her body without injury... much to her dismay. Scared and angry, Charlotte strangled the lady, quickly causing her to pass out due to a lack of oxygen. With the situation deteriorating rapidly, Bloodhound tried to hold Twilight's prone body hostage.

Thanks to the recovered resolve of Charlotte, this maneuver failed miserably, and the displaced paranormals then knocked him out cold too. Wrapping them up in their own chloroform masks, the group then collected their wits and finished their trek to David's trailer. Luckily for them the thing was fully mobile, and in the event the place was indeed under surveillance, they decided to drive it off as soon as possible!

DP 7 Issue Guides:

Return to the DP 7 Handbook main page!

Interested in using Technoholic content in your own project? Please read this beforehand!