Bruce Wayne drives through the streets of Gotham City in The Batmobile. They follow on their Night Bikes. As they drive he explains via a coms system in their costumes what has been happening.
"Over the last year I've waged a one man war on crime and corruption in this city. I helped take down a lot of crooked cops and helped get the mob's boot off the cities throat. For a while at least. But whatever way you look at it, the city has changed. A few months back I fought the Red Hood - a new kind of crazy - ran around in a costume - imagine that but instead of helping people, he was taking down scores. Until he bumped into me that is and fell head first into a vat of chemicals - we try not to kill - but sometimes its unavoidable. I cry no tears for that maniac. He won't be killing any more. One at a time that's how we will bring justice to Gotham."
Batman then sees two punks beating up some kids outside a run down old factory, the Abandoned Beaverton Factory.
The players watch The Batmobile vanish into the night.
Before them are the two Punk Criminals and the kid they were mugging.
THE ABANDONED FACTORY
Once the fight is over they may take a TROPHY to remind them of their first fight.
After the fight what look likes a tramp stumbles out of a factory back door - it swings behind him.
He falls at their feat. His face has a grim smile. He is screaming, almost laughing.
A successful perception check reveals:
He appears to be a homeless
He is a veteran.
If they don't go into the factory they smell a smell coming from it.
Inside the factory there are eight more bodies. The same grim smiles on the corpses. The white flesh. The green hair.
On a successful Perception check they will discover:
Some of the bodies have been dead for over a month.
There are several vat's full of chemicals.
If they analyse samples from the vats at the lab in The Batcave then on a successful Computers check:
They discover it is not something that used to be produced at the Beaverton factory. Someone brought it here. It is toxic and mildly corrosive.
Each vat has random chemical make-up. Same pharmaceutical base with strange additions in different quantities - it with x amount of rusty water, dead rat bodies, another with varying amounts of mold and flies.
It looks like someone has been practising, perfecting the look he wants to give them.
COCKTAIL PARTY AT WAYNE MANOR
The Wards of Bruce Wayne (the party) have been asked to attend a cocktail party at Wayne Manor.
Bruce first introduces them to their 'uncle' Philip Kane.
Then to Gotham's new District Attorney Harvey Dent.
Claridge talks about whether they can get Bruce to invest in his new chemical company. If they put in a word he will make Bruce and them rich beyond their wildest dreams. He is moving the chemical company from its current location out the city - cheaper labour, less oversight, packing it up as we speak. It'll make a fortune with restrictions lifted.
Selina Kyle looks enchanted by everything he says, no matter how boring.
Finally Bruce introduces the party to Carmine Falcone Alfred serves them a drink and whispers 'keep your enemies closer'. He claims to be a harmless businessman here to speak with Claridge about his new chemical factory. Harvey Dent comes over and says that if Carmine really is just a businessman then he has nothing to fear from a new more law abiding Gotham.
Bruce and some others are gathered around a TV watching a news report:
"...his wife Pinney was allegedly raped by foreman Henry Pittance and she killed herself on the job. When Henry made the workers feed the body to the crocodiles, it is said Solomon snapped, killing Henry, and everyone else in the slaughterhouse, he then committed suicide, according to witnesses while singing a nursery rhyme."
Unbeknown to those watching the start of the news report introduces the origin story of Solomon Grundy.
"In other news, we are just two weeks away from the scheduled reopening of Arkham Asylum. We go over live to Julia who is at the Asylum to get a sense of how the last minute renovations are going."
The channel goes live to Julia Brown and as Bruce's guests watch you see many of them glance at him after she comes on screen. She says:
"Thanks Mike. The Asylum, of course, has a bloody history, beginning when its own arhitect went mad and hacked up his workmen with an axe. He was convicted and sentenced to spend his life in the same dark halls that tipped him over the edge. Hopes remain high that this newly renovated Arkham can help...cough...excuse me...cough."
Reveal the transformed version to the players.
As Bruce Wayne and his guests watch the news reporter starts transforming in the most disturbing way. Her skin turns white, her hair green, her eyes dilate, her smile stretches wide over her face - asymmetrical - like a harp. Those eyes are wild, they stare, manic, piercing. She screams/laughs falls out of shot clutching her throat.
In front of camera walks a tall menacing looking figure - Joker. Green hair, white skin, same manic eyes.
"Hello Gotham. Thought I'd take a moment out of my busy schedule to make a few not so veiled threats. So, hello, goodbye, you're all going to die. Sorry...I crack myself up sometimes. But before we get to the whole sale destruction part of our terror plan, let's pick out a few of Gotham's favourite sons for a mention. Henry Claridge, I'm looking at you old boy and your future is looking pretty dim. If I were a betting man, I would bet that the bell will toll for thee at midnight tonight. We can all have a good laugh at your expense."
He begins laughing.
The figure raises a gun at the camera - the camera stares down the barrel, there is a flash and then darkness.
There are a series of escapees from the medical centre insane criminals pulling people out of their cars and attacking them.
They will have to rescue the people. One woman is screaming, being held at gunpoint.
There are speakers playing the sound of the Joker laughing over the mayhem.
After dispatching a couple of escapees they come across Reggie Lime attacking a woman he has dragged from her car.
Getting to the medical centre you can see that the doors have been blown in with C-4.
There are two bodies on the inside.
And dead guards behind glass with holes in.
Perception check reveals:
The two bodies by the doors are orderlies at the medical center
They were killed by the blast from the doors.
The guards were sprayed with bullets from an automatic weapon.
The cell doors are all open. There is one inmate still in one of the large dormitory cells, sitting on one of the many beds at the far end of the large room.
If they can get the inmate Kelly Franks to talk using a social skills check:
Franks hasn't left because he is afraid of the dark.
The Joker came. Killed the guards. Opened the cells. Gave everyone weapons. Said he was looking for some volunteers.
They become his instant fan club and he invites them to join him for a 'night on the town'.
At this point the doctor in charge Harleen Quinzel turns up in a panic about the safety of her patients. She regards them as not responsible for their actions due to their insanity.
With a successful social skills check she will reveal:
There are 17 inmates missing.
11 of them have a military background. Ten were part of a special forces team that saw something so disturbing in the remote hills of Afghanistan that afterwards each of them murdered at least one member of their family.
If they investigate the strike team they are stone walled by the military - told nothing due to national security - but discover that there were two other members of that team. One lives in central city but the other is a cop who works for the G.C.P.D. His name is Adrian Chase.
Later in the adventure he will stab Bruce Wayne with the serum for the Joker. After that he will be taken to Arkham where he will become the Vigilante. But at this point in the story although he is working Joker he will give no indication of it. He will seem to be a dedicated cop.
If questioned what the team saw in Afghanistan he will lie and say that he was ill and left behind that day but when the team returned he could see that things weren't right. They were stressed and would fly off the handle at the slightest provocation.
TWO CRIES FOR HELP
Alfred is monitoring the internet calls to say he is getting reports of two major incidents - in two different locations that could well be escaped inmates of Williams.
Should the party split up or deal with one and then the other?
If the party head to the Old Gotham Opera Hall on the waterfront they are greeted by crowds of people feeling the building in terror.
The wealthy and well dressed members of Gotham's high society are afraid and running for their lives.
The billboards outside the opera hall announce that they are playing Mefistofele.
A successful knowledge check would reveal that in the opera, Mefistofele makes a wager with heaven that he can prove there is not one redeemable man in the whole world, and he means to do so by tempting the most scholarly and most pious man he can think of: Doctor Faust himself. He visits Faust on Easter Sunday, and makes him an offer: in exchange for his soul, Mefistofele will give Faust everything he desires. Faust accepts.
Unknown to the players four thugs have stormed the backstage, stolen some costumes - burst onto stage with the cast shot members of the audience and then run backstage, where they currently are to continue their killing spree.
If the players run onto the stage one of the thugs will try and drop lights on them from the lightning rig above. They will need a co-ordination or athletics check in avoid 6 damage and being knocked prone.
The players will need a successful perception check to see which costumed people backstage are cast and which are criminals in stolen costumes.
Three thugs and one rival in the form of Dan Mays.
They are all dressed in witches costumes stolen from the wardrobe department backstage.
They may take a TROPHY from the opera house.
TIME'S UP
Two thugs are terrorising party goers and tourists below the tower while from inside, smashing through the clock face the third man a rival named Jim Lee - is shooting at those below.
RETURN TO YOUR NEW HOME
The party return to Wayne Manor to sleep and regroup.
There are ten escaped criminals still missing and of course the Joker.
Whilst there they can use the lab in The Batcave to test the blood samples they tested from the reporter and from Henry Claridge.
A successful Computers Check reveals:
There are two different types.
One is fast acting, one is slow acting.
Henry Claridge must have been exposed to the poison before Joker even made his announcement.
If they fail they can get Alfred/Batman to run it for them.
Whilst they are there Joker uses the mobile TV truck he stole to make another broadcast.
"Hello Gotham. It seems no one can stop me. Last night was such fun. Shall we give the wheel of fate another spin. The needle appears to be pointing at you J.W. Wilde. At the hour of midnight then. Don't worry we'll have a hell of a time."
If they run Wilde's name on Batcave computers a successful check will reveal he is an investor in many large companies in Gotham and in Central City. If they cross reference with Henry Claridge they discover they are both investors in Ace Chemicals. Ace Chemicals had the factory were Batman fought and killed the Red Hood.
If they try and track the signal let them close in on the TV truck thinking they are going to capture Joker only for them to find it empty - broadcasting a pre-recorded message.
It hasn't been used since the 50s and most of the information would be out of date. But he pulls two old maps - the sewer network and the reservoir aqueduct bypass system.
He takes photo's of the maps. He doesn't try and put them back or cover his tracks.
As he leaves he turns, looks directly at the camera and smiles.
If the party explore the sewers they will hear a noise.
The sound of someone breathing heavily. Fighting for breath.
If they follow the sound they find Waylon Jones slumped in one of the sewer tunnels.
He is sitting submerged to his waist in sewer water - his open wounds are turning the dirty water red.
He is in desperate need of medical attention. He must be taken to a hospital ASAP.
Waylon says he has been hounded by a local gang who believe that because of his skin condition he is bringing bad luck to the whole neighbourhood. Tonight they beat and stabbed him and chased him into the sewers were he gave them the slip.
If they investigate the bypass system they discover it is controlled by the Gotham Waterworks office. It was designed in the late 1940s to enable repairs the bypass system allows you to reroute the city's water system down a bypass allowing the now dry tunnels to be worked on and all the drinking water of Gotham to run through a single point.
If they make a successful vigilance check they will spot one of Joker's goons watching them. When he knows he's ben spotted he will jump on a motorbike and speed away - forcing them into a chase through the streets of Gotham on their mission to catch him. Driving Checks - he is Seb Smithe.
Seb will say that in Afghanistan he saw raw power. He saw what one man would do for power and it was awesome.
He will say it doesn't matter if they kill him because 'he' will bring me back.
If they ask if he means Joker he replies 'are you joking?'.
He is in fact referring to Ra's al Ghul whose terrifying actions he witnessed in Afghanistan as he murdered the whole unit and then brought them back. Only when they came back their minds had become warped by the magic of the rebirthing pool. But the players only get oblique references to this from him. They will say he can see that they too have tasted his darkness. This is a reference to the players having been traumatised by the man they know only as 'the Master' but who is also Ra's al Ghul.
With a successful hard social check he will admit that there is a plan to use the aqueduct bypass to add the chemical that will turn the whole city into jokers - briefly before they all die.
He will tell them that the targets are just a distraction. Joker will use that time to enact his plan dumping the chemicals from Ace Chemicals into the bypass.
Alfred suggests they could use the samples collected from the previous victims to try and create an antidote using the lab in The Batcave. This will requires a Science Check. If they fail Alfred Pennyworth will keep working on it unknown to them and when Bruce is infected will arrive with the antidote.
A NEW BROADCAST
The night passes with no word from Joker but the next morning there is a new broadcast.
"I'm away for one night and you think you are rid of me for good. The fun has only just begun. The rich have lauded it over us for far too long. Let's liven things up and tonight I'll name two super wealthy targets who are going to turn into pumpkins at midnight - Judge Thomas Lake and billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne"
THE FINALE
At this point in the adventure, players might be at one of these houses or at the Gotham Waterworks.
THE JUDGE'S HOUSE UNDER GUARD
The judges house comes under attack early at 11:30.
It is stormed by Joker's goons and any men still alive from the Williams Medical Center escape.
The goons attack with submachine guns from cars in a drive-by fashion.
