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I recently ran an adventure aboard a more modern
ghost ship. I used the USS Eldridge (aka The Philadelphia
Experiment). I figured if a ship that can disappear from
Philly and reappear in Norfolk then disappear/reappear in Philly definately
would have the Reckoner's attention.
Brief History: In 1943, The USS Eldridge (DE
173) was allegedly used, with is skeleton crew, in an experiment to test
"Electronic Camoflage." This caused the ship to be teleported. The
problems were however, severe. Radiation sickness, burns, (allegedly) men
fused to the bulkhead, and others becoming visable/invisable. The project
was called "Rainbow." The fate of this ship was that it was, after a
tenure in the Greek Navy, scrapped.
Now, lets infuse this with Deadlands
history:
It was reported that Einstein was used briefly on
the project because of his "Unified Theory of Matter." With the help of
Hellstrome, the US Navy was able to add a few "Phase Modulators," an
earlier use of the current "Spirit Fetter," to several parts of the bulk
head. These modulators were used with ghost rock generators that
were housed in the engine room. The ship, when the device was activated,
vanished in an eerie green glowing cloud and appeared in the Confed Shipyards in
Norfolk. (You can imagine the questions about that) It quickly
reappeared in Philly. However, since the ship was in the Hunting Grounds,
manitous appeared and started to terrorize the ship's crew. With the ship
being "phased, " ie: not quite part of the Hunting Grounds but not quite part of
the "real" world, all the manitous could do was scare the crew. But it was
enough to send people into heart attacks, cause fires from shorting equipment,
cause ghost rock fever from severed pipes, and even make people take cover
and somehow fuse with what they were hiding from. The manitous,
however, weren't lucky to leave. The modulators fused them with the ship's
hull. An unlucky seaman, Ensign Clyde Carmicheal, ducked a manitou and
found himself fused into the bulkhead under the main power coupling. His
head was fused directly with a modulator. This caused him to be the
"Spirit Fetter" for the ship. The mess was cleaned up and those with
side-effects were quickly hushed away. Carmicheal's head however, was left
in the bulkhead forever fused with the hull, the modulator, and
manitous.
How did it get to HOE? Well, I just summized
that a ship like this would find its way back to the Hunting Grounds when the
Ghost Rock bombs dropped. As for evading the scuttle, well it
"disappeared" through the old true method of "red tape."
Description:
Using the USS Slater E-tour, I was able to get a
detail layout of each deck. On the outside, its a fully metal, intact
ship. The "crew" consists of ghosts that continue their jobs as if the day
never ended.
When entering the Hunting Ground, think Event
Horizon and Cthulu. The Ghosts "materialize" into actual walking dead that
seem to disappear randomly. I used the fears of my posse to push them in
the right way. And to help them out, Carmicheal (disembodied head and body
carrying it) would point the way.
Result: Well, i used a Glom of the former
crew to be the main "boss." Also added Stone because one of the posse
feared him. Suggested that this was "Stone's Love Boat" just to make them
fear the ship even more. They ended up finding the head and actually
severing it from the wires. This caused the ship to reappear in "real
time" and let them off as it fell into rusted scrap (The Manitous were keeping
the ship together after all that time). My highlight was sending them,
temperarily, to Denver and to fight one Raptor. The Black Hat (had to get
them on board somehow and used a Black Hat patrol.) that was working with them
turned on them. The Syker was able to pop the chip with detonate and even
cause damage to to Raptor with Detonate on a missle. So, now the Templar
in the mission is carrying around a head that wants to be "put down" so it can
rest. Imaging 150+ years of watching WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War, and
the Apocolypse while having Manitous running amouk through your noggin?
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