Dr. Eyepatch's Paragon Peregrinations

Adam J Purcell relays how it is in the world of the Massively Multiplayer Online Game: City of Heroes.


It's not easy being a doctor, you know. Everybody thinks it is - big money, respect, some wonderful feeling when you save lives... It ain't like that at all. Not for me, anyway. But then I'm no ordinary doc, oh no. You see I have a double life. In my spare time I am no longer that hard working hero - no siree, I am a Super Hero!

I won't bore you with the details of how I gained my super powers, needless to say it involved a magician's wand, a speculum, a malfunctioning X-Ray machine and a pair of red speedos...

Paragon City is absolutely full of super heroes and it wasn't long before I was fitting right in. It's also remarkably easy to find a suitable costume here - just walk into any department store and you'll find a fine collection of super hero outfits. In fact the oddest thing is the fancy dress shops - they're full of 'normal clothes' you'd find in any high street outside of downtown Paragon City! I choose a costume including nice clean spandex surgical scrubs (can't seem get the blood stains out from the lower legs, though...) and a red eyepatch to cover the eye I lost in the super-accident. I'm too sexy for my red speedos but try telling that to them - everytime I take them off they magically reappear again a few minutes later. I've delivered babies, you know, just what would they think of my too tight speedos? Such are the trials of being a Magical Defender.

Quickly my super powers were required. The very next day after getting my new costume I was in work at the local ER when our sexy nurse Velma came to me with a new patient. An infected patient. Seizing the opportunity to expose my new abilities I left Dr. Stringfield in charge of the ER and rushed to the source of The Outbreak! Sure enough the entire hood was infected by what I later determined to be a Rikti mutagenic drug. It went very well - boy did it feel good to pummel the aggressive infectees. As a regular doctor I took the oath of 'Do No Harm' but as super hero Dr. Eyepatch (a name that was just staring me in the face) it felt good to give these rioting rebels a dang good thumping! I also discovered that if I concentrated all my anger into my fist I could release a cloud of dark energy at the villain and drain their health. It was remarkably easy to summon such anger when all these Rikti infected hoodlums kept asking me to help them across the road. Who is this Green Cross Code Man, anyway?

After helping fellow super hero, Coyote, with an office infested with thugs infected by the Rikti plague I was given an invaluable contact at Atlas Plaza, the place where super heroes get onto the crime fighting ladder. Outside was the famous Ms. Liberty. Clearly she saw something about me that impressed her as she immediately upped my Security Level to 2! Oh, Ms. Liberty! I think she likes doctors in spandex...

Life as a super hero is much as you would expect, really. Paragon City is particularly filled with groups of ruffians and general mischief makers. You can hardly walk down the street for more than a few seconds without seeing some poor citizen being accosted or a car broken into. The temptation to wade in and, er, arrest these low thugs is just too much. A quick blast of my dark energies soon has them thudding to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Fun, and sometimes necessary, as this is it doesn't get to the heart of the problem. For that I needed to network...

Meeting and greeting is the key to becoming a successful, renowned and generally attractive to the ladies type of super hero. Of course I'm a selfless type and seeing my picture on the front page of the Paragon City Times or on the desktop wallpaper of attractive young women means nothing to me. No, it's all about getting the best information from the underground informants. As these contacts get to know me they are invariably impressed with my crime fighting deeds and general winning personality. Soon the contact will entrust to me their most sensitive intelligence and then usually pass me onto other contacts they know. From these tidbits, these nuggets of information invariably comes a new mission, another chance for my speedos to spring into action!

Office buildings. Why do so many gangs of goons hang out in old office buildings? At the beginning of my crime fighting escapades I was forever finding myself clearing out groups of Hellions, Outcasts or the robotic Clockwork from warehouses and offices around Atlas Park and Kings Row. Many people might think this a bit repetitive and in a way it is but at the same time it isn't. You see I get to hone my fine technique, learn new skills and slowly work my way through my contacts to more and more challenging tasks. There is also the general fun of ripping off robotic heads or feeling the crunch of bone with each thump! My real skills, however, can only be appreciated by another super hero...

Ms. Liberty is still playing hard to get. I can see it in her eyes that she wants to leave her post and join me for a good banging of evil doers but she can't abandon her post as security level boss. In fact the only time I don't see her standing outside Atlas Plaza is when it's raining, something to do with her costume clinging, I think. She was, however, good enough to point me in the direction of a new Super Group called, rather ominously, 'The Freelance Peacekeeping Agency'. Led by a rather intimidating 'mechanoid' who goes by the name of Mr D. Bringer it's a group of about half a dozen Super Heroes who regularly gather (often down by the docks these days...) to join forces and fight the good fight. And that is where I come in. Good though my dark energies and my fist work is my healing abilities are better. I've also discovered that my new found magicks allow me to teleport friends and foe. It is immense fun snatching a devilish villain away from his friends and dumping him down in front of a group of angry Super Heroes!

So, that my task as a Magical Defender. Other members of the Super Group have different callings and talents, archetypes as they're known in the biz. You've got the Tanker who can stand there and take a lot of punishment while the others attack from a safer range. Then there is the Scrapper who likes to get in there and pummel, much more damaging than a Tanker though can't take as much punishment. There's also your Controller who has all manner of weird powers to disorientate and disarm the bad guys, making them easier for the others to attack. Finally you have the Blaster, primarily a ranged attacker who can deal great damage but can be quite vulnerable without back up. Together we can be great - so long as we don't all rush into combat unprepared. When we do we invariably end up in hospital! That happens so often I think nurse Velma is beginning to see through my disguise, already...

If you want a bit of fun and you've recently discovered you have Super Powers then I recommend you introduce yourself to Ms. Liberty in Atlas Plaza, Paragon City. Tell her Dr. Eyepatch sent you and she's sure to give you a gentle introduction! You too can help stop Paragon City from becoming a hive of scum and villainy and turn it into a City of Heroes!

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