Rickards
From UTRPG
Rickards is a former Imperial Guardsman, based on Koss. He inadvertently interfered with Group 57's mission to retrieve a corruptible idol-in-a-box.
The ship carrying most of Group 57 crashed and barbarians stole the idol. As they did so, Darl and Rickards attacked the barbarians... well, Rickards was supposed to attack, but ran away like a coward. As Rickards' superior NCO, Darl resolved to execute him.
The mission went south as the barbarians became corrupted and planned to kill loyal Imperial citizens. Given our track record, no surprises there. Group 57 had brought the idol to a Guard base garage and put it in a truck, intending to move it to safety. Rickards didn't know of the plan, he just wanted to steal the truck to make it to safety.
He used non-lethal poison gas to distract the opposition and escape. However, Darl and Mythos chased him down. Noticing him about to (inadvertently) steal the idol they had no choice but to shoot him. A pity they had no non-lethal ranged weapons. Mythos blew Rickards' right arm off with his shotgun, then inherited his armor.
[edit] Yassir
Rickards appeared to Group 57 on the transport ship to Yassir. The group was unarmed, but he had smuggled a gun in there in his "nature's pocket". For some reason he not only survived the encounter, he even got to pretend to be a hero of Koss, and in fact assisted them at a pivotal moment in his own cowardly fashion by diverting a unit of guardsmen to assist in the destruction of the beast.
When the group fought the Beast of Yassir in space, they found Rickards in the control room. Again, he was in a position where killing him would be counterproductive, much to Darl and Mythos' distress, and again he helped the party thwart a great evil.
[edit] Transhipment Point Theahtus
At Transhipment Point Theahtus, Group 57 needed an escape route for when they killed the Arch Primate. After four days of getting nowhere in his searches, Mythos made contact with a mysterious robed figure, who promised to get the group to safety. Only then did he recognize the voice as Rickards. (The robes were to hide the missing arm.) The group had to swear an oath not to harm him, and promised him a large sum of money that they would probably never see. In lieu of the money, he'd accept their equipment. They would be shipped to safety in yeast containers. The group is getting sick of yeast...
During the battle, the yeast was corrupted. Group 57 managed to escape and meet Rickards (except Darl, who took her time due to being beaten by three tech priest soldiers). Rickards realized the group didn't have any money but was willing to take the Epiphany that Ephese had been hiding on her. He was happy that Darl was "dead" (since she was the most willing to kill him) but she showed up right afterward, wounded and with a broken arm.
The group had to hide out in a familiar-looking red substance in the ship, after being divested of their equipment. Some members of the group were convinced that the substance was Epiphany, although it was in fact industrial lubricant, as evidenced by the fact that none of the party has yet grown a million extra arms.
The group was later let out, and were supposed to pose as slaves. Instead, they ended up in charge of the ship! Knowing which side the bread was buttered, Rickards sent the group's things back in an icebox. Unfortunately for him, he was rounded up and tortured, just on general principle. He was so badly off he couldn't trust Mythos to save his life when he came to "rescue" him. A smart move, all things considered. Still, he trusted Mythos (forcing him to swear another oath not to kill him) enough to inform him of a threat to the ship, in return for escape. The information proved true, but Mythos commanded the transport to destroy Rickards ship, breaking his several oaths.
So ends the villain the party loved to hate, and there is almost no chance he's coming back, especially given that he has no history of surviving questionable deaths in the past.
