Golden Bee
Explorer
(Gumshoes pick up a nun!)
On Ice by Eric S. Trautmann
The Parisian stepped out of the taxi. There was supposed to be a club here, but all she saw was a desperate throng of people, police cars, chaos. She stumbled onto the curb, falling into a strong man’s arms.
“Oh, pardon moi”, said Claudette, caught up in the man’s eyes.
“I’m Marcus… I was just running late, but I think I found the rest of my life.”
Flashback, 1926!
In the Fate of the World Magazine headquarters, we were wondering…
Could our 1930s heroes defeat the Chicago mob at the height of its powers?
We put Eric S. Trautmann, the genius behind a lot of West End Games hits, behind the typewriter and he came up with a doozy.
‘We start with the two fiercest brawlers we’ve got. Tacíto Velasco, lawyer and boxer inhabited by the Jade Jaguar spirit. JP Diamond, ace detective, with a bad case of undeath. But we need an egghead, someone with little sugar to mix with all that gunpowder… we’re bringing back a fan favorite, kind of obscure, sister Helene Ynez. Electrical genius, woman of the cloth, trained with Einstein. Put in Devika Velyapur too. Kid millionaire, Velasco’s number one client.
JP is hired by the Chicago [anti] Crime Commission. A local wise guy has been doing some killing, some bootlegging, and smuggling gems. So our group goes to reporter Eddie Stanchek… who gets whacked, with our heroes caught in the frame job. Normally, they might fight their way out… but they’re smart. Not ‘too smart to get caught’, but smart enough to take on the system… picture it, a Mexican lawyer, taking on the slimiest prosecutor in the Chi Town machine… and getting off with a mistrial!
There’s also this really funny scene where the nun takes off her wimple to sneak into a cruddy smoke joint… Only getting in when she reveals that she doesn’t know it’s a trap! And how does French Ynez rescue Devi from the mob? By calling in a swarm of truant officers! I guess no one in the Cosa thought to pay them off.
The Moon Glow nightclub, that’s gonna be a winner. Owned by the mobsters, but the most glamorous place in town. Our gang will split up. Dressed in her civvies, the sister’ll suffer a case of mistaken identity and get a round of drinks as "Claudette". What French woman could say no? I’m sure the PI will enjoy escorting a drunk woman on a sneaking mission.
Meanwhile, Tacíto is the star of the party. He flirts with the coat check girl and gets a date, as well as the hidden location of the boss’s office. Then, while dancing, a gorgeous woman cuts in to make her palooka boyfriend jealous… when the lunk taps the lawyer on the shoulder, he spins the man around, dips him, makes him look like he has two left feet! The jamoke is laughed out of the room.
This isn’t [just] a funny book though, so the danger comes back. The group makes it into boss Tony Torponi’s office… and the first thing the nun does is reach for the champagne. But it’s not cold… Because the ice in the bucket is the missing diamonds!
The detective is about to put everything together, when the mob boss and his hired assassin come in the door. The guy’s all in white, calls himself fFost, real bad ass. (I know we already had a Chicago villain called Frost, but she had a weather control machine, completely different person.)
Frost is a real-deal killer, but JP is ready, jumps in for the gun. Jaguar is a smart customer too, hitting Torponi in the throat. Unfortunately, Frost gets a shot off, and the bouncers investigate the noise. Here comes the mob. Tommy guns at close range! Detective Diamond is going to get winged, but the nun is gut shot…
She pulls herself together, pulls the fire alarm. Jade Jaguar uses the distraction to barrel through the button men. Our heroes flee the club into the Chicago night, gangsters on their heels…
And this is the best part. The only other thing open on the block is a radio station. WXXL* is the hot ticket, and our group gives a diamond to the doorman in order to cut the line.
If you don’t know, radio was often performed for an audience, so our Quartet ducks into the costume room. While Velasco sews up the nun, JP finds the ultimate disguise, complete with a facemask… The Gray Gargoyle!
Mafia leg breakers start to patrol the hallway, so the players duck into somewhere else… Which turns out to be the writers’ room. The Gray Gargoyle has licensed his radio show across the country, but tonight’s episode has hit a snare. This is what they have so far:
JP suggests that the hero reveals his secret Gargoyle gas. The writing team loves it, sends them over to sound effects, where they create a passable noise with a bicycle horn and some spackle wrap. They better hurry though, Marcus, the actual actor who plays the Gargoyle might show up…
Meanwhile, Frost is getting closer, so Velasco explores the building, and finds the VIP audience section. Guess who’s a big fan of the Gargoyle? The Al Capone outfit!
Our group doesn’t know how to get close, until JP suggests Al would love to meet the actor. We have second until showtime, the group goes through all their evidence… Tony had betrayed the commission, screwed up a framejob, and was clearly after Capone’s money. The would-be kingpin arrived too late to argue his case, earning himself not a crown but a pair of concrete boots.
Crime solved, the group has to rush to the stage. The only question left: how’ll the Mexican lawyer do on his date?’
READ ‘ON ICE’ IN OUR NEXT ISSUE!
[*Not a sponsor! -Ed]
On Ice by Eric S. Trautmann
The Parisian stepped out of the taxi. There was supposed to be a club here, but all she saw was a desperate throng of people, police cars, chaos. She stumbled onto the curb, falling into a strong man’s arms.
“Oh, pardon moi”, said Claudette, caught up in the man’s eyes.
“I’m Marcus… I was just running late, but I think I found the rest of my life.”
Flashback, 1926!
In the Fate of the World Magazine headquarters, we were wondering…
Could our 1930s heroes defeat the Chicago mob at the height of its powers?
We put Eric S. Trautmann, the genius behind a lot of West End Games hits, behind the typewriter and he came up with a doozy.
‘We start with the two fiercest brawlers we’ve got. Tacíto Velasco, lawyer and boxer inhabited by the Jade Jaguar spirit. JP Diamond, ace detective, with a bad case of undeath. But we need an egghead, someone with little sugar to mix with all that gunpowder… we’re bringing back a fan favorite, kind of obscure, sister Helene Ynez. Electrical genius, woman of the cloth, trained with Einstein. Put in Devika Velyapur too. Kid millionaire, Velasco’s number one client.
JP is hired by the Chicago [anti] Crime Commission. A local wise guy has been doing some killing, some bootlegging, and smuggling gems. So our group goes to reporter Eddie Stanchek… who gets whacked, with our heroes caught in the frame job. Normally, they might fight their way out… but they’re smart. Not ‘too smart to get caught’, but smart enough to take on the system… picture it, a Mexican lawyer, taking on the slimiest prosecutor in the Chi Town machine… and getting off with a mistrial!
There’s also this really funny scene where the nun takes off her wimple to sneak into a cruddy smoke joint… Only getting in when she reveals that she doesn’t know it’s a trap! And how does French Ynez rescue Devi from the mob? By calling in a swarm of truant officers! I guess no one in the Cosa thought to pay them off.
The Moon Glow nightclub, that’s gonna be a winner. Owned by the mobsters, but the most glamorous place in town. Our gang will split up. Dressed in her civvies, the sister’ll suffer a case of mistaken identity and get a round of drinks as "Claudette". What French woman could say no? I’m sure the PI will enjoy escorting a drunk woman on a sneaking mission.
Meanwhile, Tacíto is the star of the party. He flirts with the coat check girl and gets a date, as well as the hidden location of the boss’s office. Then, while dancing, a gorgeous woman cuts in to make her palooka boyfriend jealous… when the lunk taps the lawyer on the shoulder, he spins the man around, dips him, makes him look like he has two left feet! The jamoke is laughed out of the room.
This isn’t [just] a funny book though, so the danger comes back. The group makes it into boss Tony Torponi’s office… and the first thing the nun does is reach for the champagne. But it’s not cold… Because the ice in the bucket is the missing diamonds!
The detective is about to put everything together, when the mob boss and his hired assassin come in the door. The guy’s all in white, calls himself fFost, real bad ass. (I know we already had a Chicago villain called Frost, but she had a weather control machine, completely different person.)
Frost is a real-deal killer, but JP is ready, jumps in for the gun. Jaguar is a smart customer too, hitting Torponi in the throat. Unfortunately, Frost gets a shot off, and the bouncers investigate the noise. Here comes the mob. Tommy guns at close range! Detective Diamond is going to get winged, but the nun is gut shot…
She pulls herself together, pulls the fire alarm. Jade Jaguar uses the distraction to barrel through the button men. Our heroes flee the club into the Chicago night, gangsters on their heels…
And this is the best part. The only other thing open on the block is a radio station. WXXL* is the hot ticket, and our group gives a diamond to the doorman in order to cut the line.
If you don’t know, radio was often performed for an audience, so our Quartet ducks into the costume room. While Velasco sews up the nun, JP finds the ultimate disguise, complete with a facemask… The Gray Gargoyle!
Mafia leg breakers start to patrol the hallway, so the players duck into somewhere else… Which turns out to be the writers’ room. The Gray Gargoyle has licensed his radio show across the country, but tonight’s episode has hit a snare. This is what they have so far:
JP suggests that the hero reveals his secret Gargoyle gas. The writing team loves it, sends them over to sound effects, where they create a passable noise with a bicycle horn and some spackle wrap. They better hurry though, Marcus, the actual actor who plays the Gargoyle might show up…
Meanwhile, Frost is getting closer, so Velasco explores the building, and finds the VIP audience section. Guess who’s a big fan of the Gargoyle? The Al Capone outfit!
Our group doesn’t know how to get close, until JP suggests Al would love to meet the actor. We have second until showtime, the group goes through all their evidence… Tony had betrayed the commission, screwed up a framejob, and was clearly after Capone’s money. The would-be kingpin arrived too late to argue his case, earning himself not a crown but a pair of concrete boots.
Crime solved, the group has to rush to the stage. The only question left: how’ll the Mexican lawyer do on his date?’
READ ‘ON ICE’ IN OUR NEXT ISSUE!
[*Not a sponsor! -Ed]
