Richard Bateman

By Andrew Hunt and Mark Warden, (c) 1998

REAL NAME: Richard Bateman

OCCUPATION: Business Analyst

EDUCATION: Master of Business Administration, Radcliffe University, Boston

SPECIALTIES: Business, psychic retrocognition

BACKGROUND: Richard was born the only child to John Henry Bateman and Katherine Whalen. According to his birth certificate he made his entrance to the world at the Albany Memorial Hospital in Albany, the capitol of New York State. His early years were spent there, but he remembers little of the time other than his early schooling at the Catholic College of St. Rose. The family left Albany, when Richard was around the age of seven, for the lure of the bright lights and big city of Manhattan. They moved into the resplendent Upper East Side on Lexington Avenue and 76th, a desirable area for those with better incomes. Richard’s father provided well for his family, but his work for the U.S. government in Washington, D.C., meant that he spent much of his time there, only occasionally returning home for long weekends. Richard would be taken to the various museums and galleries followed by a trip to Little Italy or Chinatown and some food. He remembers these brief times he spent with his father fondly. It was only five years later, when Richard was twelve, that the news came from Washington that his father had been killed in a car crash in Sand Coulee, near the Great Falls Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. Ben Murtagh, John Bateman’s colleague in Washington, brought the terrible news. Richard recalls little of what was said to his mother during this time. Time passed slowly for Richard and his mother, with little spoken of the tragedy.

It was two years later that Richard and his mother were on board a flight to Miami, a holiday paid for by his uncle Colin (his fathers older brother) that Richard showed the first evidence of his ‘gift’. For no apparent reason Richard slipped into a seizure. He awoke hours later in a hospital outside Miami. All he could remember was a violent car crash, burning, the vivid yellow flicker of flames, and the desperation of being trapped. His mind is haunted with the image of two men dressed in black suits, calmly watching as the car burnt around him as he tried in vain to smash the windows. Then there was a bright explosion, followed by cold, black emptiness. Richard was disturbed for several years after this event and spent some time in therapy with a psychoanalyst, Dr. Oswald Varrier. Despite everything he was told, Richard could not shake the belief that his experience was a real occurrence.

By his late teens, Richard’s ‘talent’ had truly manifested itself and he spent many years of sleepless nights just dealing with it; there followed a period of learning and understanding under the watchful eye of the now more open minded Dr. Varrier.

Richard’s college years were fairly uneventful other than this, his study of economics and business law at Columbia University in New York taking up much of his time. A generally lonely young man at this point in his life, he nevertheless met his first true friend, Grant Collridge. Grant was also one of the quieter students at Columbia University, being a reclusive student of engineering design. Richard realised Grant’s obvious genius and made an effort to become friends (a rare thing on Richard’s part). Richard soon understood through his gift that Grant, too, had lost his father in an auto accident. Despite the obvious difference in the nature of both accidents, the two young men connected.

The next stage in Richard’s life led him into the service of INGEN Incorporated, the International Network of Genetic Engineering, based in Portland, Oregon. This ever growing genetics / medical company, with world-wide interests and offices across the United States, took on the newly-graduated Richard as a trainee account handler when he was headhunted from a small pharmaceuticals company (Bartholomew & Daggett) by an INGEN Inc. talent scout, Anthony Swifton. This period gave Richard his first real insight into big business and corporate politics, and the five years he spent there were formulative in his early skills in the area. This was followed by a brief spell in New World Industries (NWI). The company, originally known as New World Incorporated, had collapsed in the stock market crash of 1929, following the death of its charismatic chairman Edward Chandler, Through a thorough reorganisation after the 1940’s, plus early investment in information technology, the company and its new-found power led to its revival and renaming in the 1970’s. By the time Richard joined them in the late eighties, the company was estimated to be worth at least six billion dollars, headed by the redoubtable Ms. Thalissa Chandler, grand-daughter of Edward and reputedly one of the wealthiest women in the world.

During Richards time with NWI his gift began to manifest itself once again. A close work colleague, Arden Montrose, had made a side move to one of NWI’s sister companies, Dawn Biozyme. Though the role seemed to offer much promise for the likeable Arden, it was not long before he slipped into depression, claiming the pressures of work and long hours to be responsible. Seven months later Arden committed suicide. Richard was hurt by his friend’s death and took it upon himself to help Ardens paraplegic sister, Marianne, organise the outstanding legal affairs of Ardens estate. In going through his friend’s things, Richard caught the first real flashes of talent that he had experienced for years. It was not a pleasurable affair. Arden Montrose gave Richard a look at the unimaginable insanity that lurked just around the corner for us all. Though Richard could remember nothing specific from this, it left him with the nauseous horror of a man who had slipped into vile and sickening madness. He never spoke to anyone of this, for fear of being labelled mad himself.

Still with this event firmly etched into his mind, the shocking news of his mother’s death was brought to him by his uncle Colin. She had apparently died of a stroke, without warning or sickness. Richard returned to Albany (where his mother had gone back to live several years before), for the funeral. Despite the aid from his small group of friends, Grant Collridge, Marianne Montrose and Dr. Varrier included, Richard was almost a broken man at this point. He had visions of his mother in pain and calling for his help, but he could do nothing. It seemed as if his talent could not predict such events, just haunt him after the fact. Seeking solace from this he drowned himself in alcohol (an addiction he has not shaken to this day) and gambling. A two week solid spate of this ended, and not too soon, when he was sent through the mail an old book, written in a thin spidery hand. Taped to the inside cover was an unusual Silver Key that he still keeps around his neck at all times. The book was in cipher that to date he has not been able to break.

He inherited everything from his mother’s estate including a large house in Albany, and a substantial amount of money from savings and insurance policies. Finally Richard managed to pick himself up a little, but his gambling and drinking remained. His outlook on life became permanently darkened by his talent from this point on and he knew it was time for a change.

After a year and a half at NWI, Richard, feeling uncomfortable with the companies strict Japanese style regimes, decided it was time to move on. His abilities in business forecast had begun to shine and the German commodities broker, Kleenweek Barroom, were only too happy to enlist his services as a business analyst. With offices in Europe, Richard spent some time in Berlin, Paris and London before returning to New York City as one of the firm’s head analysts for the American side of the business.

This was the most successful time in Richard’s life, with him amassing his own wealth through bonds and shares acquired through his forecasting and increasing his group of contacts in the business world. One of these contacts was his friend, and, later, business associate Carol Smith. Over the next four years he rapidly became a well respected and known individual within business circles, and it seemed as if the golden boy could do no wrong. Enjoying the high life, Richard had at last managed to push to the back of his mind his past and the shadow of his talent. That was until the events of 19th February 1993. Having purchased a retreat in the forests of Aroostook County, Northern Maine, at the small village of Clayton Lake, Richard decided to make use of it for a week’s vacation, the Musquacook Mountain and Long Lake areas being particularly serene and beautiful in the winter. Alone and away from civilisation and the city’s shadows and ghosts, Richard found time to read and rest. Two days into his holiday, Richards peace was shattered with the arrival of a friend from Clayton Lake, Jim Penahac. Jim, the son of Logren Penahac, a local Algonquian, and Isabelle Fouceau, an archaeology professor from Quebec, Canada, met Richard when he was a guide for Richard’s first visit to the Aroostook forests. The two quickly became friends as Richard liked Jim’s spirituality, and Jim in turn appreciated Richard’s open-mindedness.

On the morning of the 19th, the beleaguered Jim had come to Richard for help. Visibly shocked, Jim could only half explain his blood covered parka and apparent desperation. After Richard calmed him down, Jim related the events leading up to his arrival at the house. A small research team had come up to the forests two weeks ago, led by the emminent Professor Elliot Mills, a close friend of Jim’s mother. Funded by the BSAIR (Boston Society for American Indian Research), Professor Mills and his accociates, Professor Stephen Francks, Dr Mildred Cunningham and Dr. George Hanshaw and a group of student assistants, William Abner, Dalton Kier, Alice Donlevy and Pricilla Marsh, were investigating the discovery of an ancient burial mound of the Anakoke Indians. Jim had led the group to a good camping site near Priestly Mountain, and after helping the team set up their camp, he left them to their work. Things were seemingly fine until three days ago, when Dalton Kier was injured while climbing the foothills of Priestly Mountain. Jim was called up and, with the aid of Dr. Hanshaw, brought Kier down to the Clayton Lake doctor, Dr. Louis Beaumarle. Jim spent the next day with a group of Canadian ramblers. Returning to the camp site with supplies the following day, Jim found that Pricilla Marsh and Dr Cunningham had dissapeared in the mountains the previous afternoon. A concerned Professor Mills had the remaining members of the team search, but no sign could be found. Jim tried to persuade Mills to leave the mountain and call the authorities in, but he was adamant that they should spend at least another day looking for the lost women. After searching until early evening, Jim brought back the two students, Abner and Donlevy, to the town with instructions to contact the local search and rescue people. Jim returned to the camp that night with Dr. Henshaw only to find a distraught Professor Francks, sobbing over the mutilated body of Professor Cunningham. Her torso had been ripped open by what appeared to be a large animal. Francks related the story of how he and Mills had found her corpse in the trees near the mountain. In a rage Mills had stormed off, grabbing the teams only hunting rifle, into the foothills of Priestly Mountain. Jim followed the trail of Mills with Henshaw and the shocked Francks. Then Jims tale grew vague. He had no recollection of the events that followed other than an unusual buzzing noise, followed by darkness. When Jim awoke, it was morning, and he lay in the shallow snow of the foothills, with the headless body of Professor Francks. With blood covering his parka, Jim decided to flee, coming straight to Richards place in Clayton.

Returning to the scene with Jim was hard work, but the two finally found the corpses of Francks, Cunningham and Henshaw. Though he was loathe to do it, Richard used his gift on a corpse for the first time. Richard was in shock for several hours after this event. Laying his hands on the body of Dr. Henshaw would have pushed most normal men to the edge of sanity, to feel the experience a painful and violent death. Piecing together the course of events was difficult, but it seemed that Professor Mills had lost his mind when the men found him. Why this occured they would never know, but the contorted face and disembodied cries of Mills was the strongest visual image that Richard picked up from the dead. He had seemingly killed Henshaw and Francks in desperation to stop them from proceeding into the mountains. Jim was lucky to be alive. After calling the authorities things became even less clear. Mills and Pricilla Marsh were never found, though an APB was put on Mills. The strange events at Priestly Mountain were never truly uncovered and it remains a mystery today.

Something did come from this. During the investigation, Richard met Special Agent Laurence Chaffee, who was quite taken with Richard’s theories about the case. Chaffee stayed in contact with Richard after the case and began to regularly call him in on cases of a more unusual nature. Richard at first found it difficult to continue using his talent this way, surrounded by death and suffering, but soon he came to believe that perhaps this was the best way he could do some good with it.

Two years later, Chaffee, now based in New York, introduced Richard to the three people that would have the most influence on the course his life was taking. The first was Maria Hughes, a New York Police pathologist who has become one of Richard’s most loyal supporters. They worked together on several cases and she has a respect for his insight into how people are killed in violent crime. She has allowed Richard the opportunity to be taken seriously. The second was an African America woman in her early thirties named Ms. Nina Green. When Chaffee introduced Ms. Green, he said she “worked within the government”. Though this was never clarified, it became clear that she held a position of some importance and power, and she became Richards main contact when his services were required by the United States government. The final contact was an elderly man who worked at the Library of Congress, Dr. Joseph Camp. Introduced to Dr. Camp by Chaffee and Ms. Green, Richard found the man to be intelligent, educated, experienced and interesting. Most importantly, he seemed to have an acute understanding of Richard’s abilities and especially his gift. It was this promise of answers that led Richard to trust Dr. Camp and form a strong bond with him over the next few years. Their late night discussions opened Richard’s mind and eyes to a great deal of the truth about the world.

For the next two years Richard continued to work as an analyst for Kleenweek Barroom, while occasionally lending his services to the various law enforcement agencies in the country. These years provided good experience, and only two events tarnished them. Kevin Vogel, an FBI Agent in New York, worked with Richard on four or five cases. Vogel was an arrogant and headstrong man that sometimes resented Richard’s involvement in his work. This animosity culminated when the two worked on the Hardley murders. Vogel refused to act on Richard’s early insights and two more people were killed before Vogel tracked the killer on his own. The resentment between the two men has stopped them working together, the clash of egos making progression impossible. The second event was from Richard’s continued abuse of alcohol. It was only a matter of time before his drinking caught up with him, and it finally did after a late night out with Maria Hughes, following a particularly grisly murder case. Driving home after dropping Maria off, Richard found his ability to drive severely impaired by his over indulgence in the hard stuff. Ten minutes later he was being pulled from his car by New York’s finest after a close encounter with a large tree. He was not hurt, other than his pride and his wallet from the large fine, but the ban from driving was the most difficult thing to take. Five years is a long time.

In late 1997, Richard and his colleague Carol Smith, left Kleenweek Barroom and jointly formed their own company, Smith & Bateman Business Solutions Ltd. (SBBS), a business analysis firm with its main focus being group motivation, improvement of human potential and investment portfolios. The two would contract out and lecture to top businesses and it all worked very well. Richard and Carol became very close during this period, but things went too fast and the affair blew up, with the business nearly following. Carol left and joined with Mitchell & Creemore in the city, and Richard managed to salvage (with his good name) the business, dropping the Smith from the company name. The firm has taken off and is becoming fairly successful in only its first year of existence.

Richard Bateman is a polite and courteous man. He still likes to gamble, especially on the horses, and he is certainly not adverse to a drink or two. He generally keeps to himself, but his friends are close. Carol and he are still fairly close and talk on the phone occassionally to discuss problems. Grant Collridge has become a successful car designer for GM and lives with his wife in Detroit. The old college friends still meet when they can. Maria Hughes is one of his few single friends and they are serious drinking buddies. Marianne Montrose works from home in New York as a computer web site designer. She is doing reasonably well due to some sound financial advice from Richard, and the pretty, wheelchair bound young lady is probably Richard’s closest confidant. They dine together regularly. Richard rarely speaks to his uncle Colin, a Colonel in the USAF, but they write to each other at least twice a year.

Richard is currently thinking of buying property in the West, perhaps California, as well as thoughts at the back of his mind about a place in Europe. If the business continues to be sucessful he may even expand to an office or two there (he loved Paris and London). Things would be fine, but Ms. Green has been contacting him more over recent months, and it’s has been getting hard to keep track of everything, being spread so thinly. Bateman knows (somehow) that one day all this will get him into deep trouble, but he feels obliged to go on. He can justify his talent (which he sometimes feels may help his gambling and stock market activities, a thing that often plays on his mind) and there is always the chance that he may eventually find the answers to his father and mother’s death, and perhaps with the help of Dr. Joseph Camp, he will be able to understand the meaning of the old book and its mysterious key.

Points of note:

Owns small company, Bateman Business Solutions Ltd (BBS Ltd), that provides lectures on group motivation, improvement of human potential, general business analysis and investment portfolios to upper management. Has five staff, three researchers, an administration secretary and Bateman’s personal secretary, Miss Henrietta (“Henri”) Noble.

Owns property in New York, New York (Upper East Side Manhattan), Albany, New York and Clayton Lake, Maine. Plus an office in the financial district (Lower Manhattan).

Contacts include:

• Colonel Colin Bateman, Richard’s uncle and officer in the USAF. Based at the Indian Springs Air Force Base in Nevada, near the Nellis Air Force Bombing & Gunnery Range.
• Dr Oswald Varrier, psychologist, psycho-analyst and childhood mentor of Bateman.
• Senator Benjamin Murtagh, old Washington DC colleague of Bateman’s father. Now a senator for Delaware, he has little contact with Bateman.
• Grant Collridge, car designer for GM and old college friend of Bateman. Now lives in Detroit, Michigan with his wife Jean.
• Carol Smith, former colleague at Kleenweek Barroom and later business partner with SBBS Ltd. Brief love affair followed by Carol leaving SBBS Ltd to join Mitchell & Creemore. Still friends.
• Maria Hughes, New York City Police forensic pathologist. Close friend and drinking buddy. Worked on several cases together.
• Marianne Montrose, young, pretty and intelligent wheelchair bound web designer. Became close after the death of Marianne’s brother and Richard’s friend Arlen Montrose. Probably Bateman’s closest confidant.
• Jim Penahac, half Algonquian American Indian guide and friend from Clayton Lake, Maine.
• FBI Special Agent Laurence Chaffee, a Portland, Maine based FBI agent and Batemans main contact in the agency.
• Ms. Nina Green, high ranking and connected “government official” and Batemans main “employer” for United States Government related business.
• Dr. Joseph Camp, elderly librarian at the Library of Congress Research Division.
• FBI Special Agent Kevin Vogel, arrogant, headstrong but talented FBI agent based in New York City who worked on several cases with Bateman before an ego clash resulted in tragedy and bred resentment between the two.
• Dr. Louis Beaumarle, quiet, middle-aged doctor of medicine from Clayton Lake, Maine. Befriended Bateman after the Priestly Mountain affair.
• Anthony Swift, head-hunter from INGEN Inc, effectively began Bateman’s career by pulling him from the anonymity of the small pharmaceuticals company Bartholomew & Daggett and sending him into the world of big business at INGEN Inc. Have remained friends since.
• Erich Kaempffer, current chairman of Kleenweek Barroom and probably most important supporter of Bateman’s business methods. The two occasionally dine together when Kaempffers schedule allows it.
• Gunther Woermann, retired business analyst who trained Bateman during his time at Kleenweek Barroom. Now acts as an occasional advisor to Bateman on business matters.
• Jack Scott, shabby private investigator from Boston who spent some time in New York City when working on the (still unsolved missing boy) Joseph Kimble case. Met Bateman through Maria Hughes after a series of grisly murders in New York that Maria worked on, were discovered to be connected to the Kimble boy case. Scott’s father was a priest who died in mysterious and violent circumstances.
• Dr. Willis Hargrave, an ex-astro-medicine researcher for the NASA Mercury and Gemini programmes. Close friend of Richard’s father and uncle. Visited the Bateman household when Richard’s father was still alive on several occasions and has kept contact over the years. Now in retirement near Gove in Kansas.
• Alex Craig, writer and paranormal investigator. An expert in the field of things unexplained, Alex met Bateman when the latter was researching an apparent voudun related series of killings in New York. Craig’s information was instrumental in the capture of Sheridan Lafeve, a vicious serial killer and a cult figurehead.

CONTACT INFORMATION: Andrew Hunt

STATS FOR SIMULATION EXERCISES:

Richard Bateman, age 38
Race: Caucasian
Education: MBA, Radcliffe Occupation: Business Analyst, DG-Friendly

STR 10    CON 14    SIZ 16    DEX 10
APP 11    INT 16    POW 17    EDU 20
HP  15    MP  17    SAN 82
Idea 80%  Luck 85%  Know 100%
Skills: Accounting 50%, Anthropology 20%, Art Appreciation 25%, Bargain 45%, Computer Use 35%, Credit Rating 30%, Dodge 26%, Drive Auto 50%, Fast Talk 55%, Law – Business 45%, Library Use 42%, Listen 35%, Occult 46%, Persuade 50%, Photography 35%, Psychology 63%, Spot Hidden 40%, Business 60%, Mathematics 35%, Economics 40%
Languages: English (own) 100%, Latin 20%, French 35%, German 25%
Attacks: Handgun 35%, Rifle 30%
Spells: None
Appearance: “Hi, I’m Richard Bateman.” The man stepping into the light of the car headlamps is dressed in regulation black. He looks like he is in his late forties, but closer examination reveals that he is younger. Prematurely balding and overweight, he lights a cigarette and the flash of the match shows nicotine stained fingers. A small pair of glasses, needed for close work, heightens his chubby looks. Taking a couple of steps he draws deeply on his cigarette… “So why have I been called out this time?” he asks.
Mental Disorder: Minor Depression
Psychic abilities: Sensitive 60%, Retrocognitive 56%
(Psychic abilities are from the Dark Aether – Psychic Powers rules borrowed from an article written by Randy McCall in the January 1983 edition of the Different Worlds magazine.)