Background
The wife of a Scottish laborer named Lachlan Garrow perished in a house fire in 1757, leaving him quite unhinged. He became obsessed with the notion of bringing his beloved back to life, for he simply couldn’t bear to go on without her. This led him down the dark path of witchcraft.
Eventually, he came across a ritual that would return her spirit into the body of a scarecrow; an unsuitable vessel, to be sure, but he was a des-perate man. Garrow performed the macabre ceremony without hesitation, though something went awry. Very awry. It’s true that something entered the scarecrow’s husk. However, it wasn’t his wife’s spirit, but something of a much more sinister cast; something with murderous intent. Garrow was slain by it immediately.
Now inhabiting this body of cloth and straw, the unknown being from the netherworld stalks the earth, thirsting for bloodshed.
Tattie-Bogle (a Scottish slang term for “scarecrow”) possesses superhu-man strength. Its lack of bone structure makes it abnormally flexible as well, and it can stretch its limbs up to about fifteen feet. This combination of strength and a lightweight body makes leaping long distances a breeze.
Furthermore, gazing into its fiery eyes can inspire abject fear in even the most stalwart of souls.
Concept by Cynthia Celeste Miller; Art by Michael Nigro
Team Background
What’s better than a gun-toting mercenary? Two gun-toting mercenar-ies! That was the thought process behind the formation of this formida-ble duo. The two soldiers-for-hire actually first encountered each other as adversaries. It just so happened that Lockke’s client learned that his long-time rival had procured a mercenary to kill him. Not to be outdone, the man responded by hiring a mercenary of his own with the intention to kill the rival. This put the mercs on a collision course that couldn’t be avoided.
Coincidentally, during their stalemated battle, they discovered that they were both being betrayed by their respective employers. It was decided that they would team up to teach both bosses a lesson they wouldn’t soon forget. After this was accomplished, Lockke and Lode agreed to stick together and form a long-term partnership.
Issue Ideas
“Do I hear One Billion?”: An experimental military weapon is stolen, all signs point to Lockke and Lode. But maybe instead of stealing it for a particular person, they look to ransom it off to the highest bidder in a supervillain auction.
I Got Your Back: What happens when a foreign dignitary (with the appropriate diplomatic immunity) hires Lockke and Lode to be his body-guards?
Crossing the Line: A despicable Villain does something despicable to a child or group of children. This doesn’t sit well with Lockke, and he decides to take the law into his own hands. He offers Lode enough funds to make it worth his while, and off they go. Normally Villain-on-Villain violence might not be worth the attention of the Heroes, but what if they go after the Villain in his secret ID. What if they decide to kill the Villain?
What if it occurs as the Villain is being taken on his perp-walk? Will the Heroes stand with or against Lockke and Lode.
Ed. NOTE: Two-Man Tactics
One is a non-powered merc; the other a cybered-up career criminal, but they work well together, like a well-oiled machine. Although LOCK AND LOAD might imply only ranged combat, Lockke will sometimes lay down a suppressing fire while Lode wades into combat smashing with his ARM. But they are also able to spread out the battlefield, each firing their guns. They have extensive contacts in the military and merc fields, so access to cool gear is part of what they are about. Lockke tends to prefer ranged combat, while Lode will be all over the place, embracing his incredibly powerful AR as well as unloading his GUNS on any foe who might run from him. They will use this to assist one another with their attacks, getting extra dice and causing lots of mayhem.
Miscellaneous
Base EC: +0 Threshold: 10 Points: 150
114
Playing the Villain
Look at that EC and Threshold! He’s one tough son of a gun (like what I did there? Raised in the military, son of a gun. Hah!).
Lockke is basically a 100-point merc bumped up to 150 points because of his partnership with Lode. If they ever split, remove his LOCK AND LOAD Trait and 1 Point of EC (and 2 Points of Threshold) and shave 4 more points off, and he is a per-fectly viable 100-point character.
He will use that extra EC to stay in the fight and recharge his BIG-ASS GUN.
Complications
• Not “evil” compared to some villains
• In it for the money
• Will NEVER allow a child to be harmed
Factoids
• Family man
• Mercenary
Miscellaneous
Base EC: +3 Threshold: 16 Points: 150
Traits
LOCK AND LOAD 9 (1/2/3)
• Can only be used Assisting Lode or being Assisted
• +2 if Linked with BIG-A$$ GUN (34 Points)
LIFELONG MILITARY MAN 7 (1/1/1)
• Versatile (Tactics, _____)
• +2 Assisting Others
• Auto-Defend
• Link +3 (30 Points)
BIG-ASS GUN 7 (1/2/3)
• +2 Attacking Multiples
• +2 if Recharged
• Link +3 (30 Points)
PORTABLE ARSENAL 5 (3/2/1)
• +2 When Attacking Multiples
• Link +3
• Only When the Chips Are Down (20 Points)
Lockke
Background
Having grown up on various army bases where his father served, the mili-tary life is just about the only life Brian Lockke has ever known. As soon as he was old enough to enlist in the Army himself, he did exactly that, eventually moving out from his father’s sizable shadow to become one of the most respected soldiers in the military. He served admirably for well twelve years, taking on and succeeding in missions his superiors thought were impossible.
Lockke thought he could sim-ply leave that life behind and become a regular citizen – a house in the suburbs, a white
picket fence, a wife, kids and an SUV. He was wrong. He tried desperately to make it work, but soldiering was in his blood. After six years of living in turmoil, he left without an explanation to his family and embarked on a career as a mercenary. Despite his disappearance, he still sent his wife and kids plenty of money; enough, in fact, that they’d never want for anything again. When you’re as good as Lockke, merc work can be very, very lucrative.
Regardless of what one might think, Lockke isn’t an evil man; he’s a prod-uct of his lifelong exposure to the military. He was groomed to be a soldier and has excelled at it thusly. Killing comes as easy to him as breathing, though he still has scruples. Foremost among these scruples is that under no circumstance will he harm a child.
Concept by Cynthia Celeste Miller; Art by Michael Nigro