This is the first in a series of articles detailing a character that can be used as an asset or a threat. You choose.
Jim Clarke
Jim is a tall, spare man in his mid 50s. He has fine greying hair cut short and sharp observant eyes. He smiles frequently and laughs rarely. He has an abiding love of John Wayne films and all things Bette Midler. Jim has an uncanny ability to attract sharp sassy women in their 20′s with low education but loads of life experience. He always has a Mary-Lou or Charlette on his arm. After a few months they drift away and are immediately replaced. One thing they all have in common is that they are young and lithe, take no grief from no-one, know how to handle money and learned how to handle a pistol and shotgun before finding their way into Jims life.
Jim owns several prop aircraft located at a small airfield on the fringe of a city. Each plane is named after a Midler song ie: The Rose, Beast of Burden, etc. He operates a small business doing crop spraying, sky writing, short hop freight and whatever niche trade he can pull. He doesn’t seem to be as busy as some of the other similar businesses working out of the airfield but he never has any problems paying his fees and maintaining his aircraft.
Jim is a very good single and multi-prop pilot and aircraft mechanic. 30 years ago he flew cargo for the air-force and he knows his way around most cargo aircraft. His business is in essence a hobby that mostly pays for itself.
Several times a year Jim gets a call, packs his bags and heads off to some primitive country where he is paid good money to keep a plane on standby ready to go in and collect some guys who have become unpopular for all the usual reasons. He keeps it prepped and fueled, drinks plenty of coffee, listens to some Midler and keeps in contact with his most recent Mary-Lou who is scouting the perimeter with a high powered rifle that she learned how to use stalking deer in the back-country as a child. The call comes, Jim does some final checks and calls in Mary-Lou. Then they get airborne and go collect the team. No matter what. If he has to skim the jungle canopy to stay under the radar or fly next to the power lines to avoid RPGs, he can do that. He lands, collects his passengers and gets out of there. Then he goes home.
Jim has done jobs for several US government agencies, especially the DEA. The key to his success to date is that he is very good at what he does and he never talks about the past.
Using Jim Clarke
- The PCs need a pilot for a job. They ask around and word is that Jim Clarke is the man for the job. Time to find him and start negotiations.
- The PCs investigations have lead them to an airfield. The <insert object/person/etc> is arriving tonight. They sneak in and start snooping. A tall, thin man calls out asking what the hell are they doing? Time for some answers because Mary-lou has them in her sights.
- The PCs are in some shitty country when all hell breaks loose. A running gun-battle rolls over them and they find themselves pinned down. Suddenly a battered Cessna drops out of the sky and a bunch of guys haul ass onboard before it departs. A posse of angry, well armed locals are left in the dust and the PCs are in for a whole lot of trouble.
