Appearing in "Piper of Peril!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Brandy Clark (First appearance as Starshine)
- ⏴ Steve Jackson ⏵
- ⏴ Torpedo ⏵
Antagonists:
- Dweller on the Threshold ⏵ (First appearance)
- Dire Wraiths
- Wraith High Witches
- Piper (First appearance) (Banished)
- Doctor Dredd (Wraith Warlock)
- Deathwings (Only in flashback)
Other Characters:
- Ray-Na (Only in flashback)
- Starshine (Only in flashback)
- Terminator (Only in flashback)
Locations:
- Scotland
- Newtonmore (First appearance) (Unnamed)
- West Virginia
- Galador (Only in flashback)
- Dark Nebula
Items:
Synopsis for "Piper of Peril!"
Somewhere on the Scottish moors, a coven of three Dire Wraith High Witches and some 'Science' Wraiths gather to discuss the Cosmic Alignment between the Black Sun and Earth that will occur later that night. During the gathering, the male ‘science’ Wraiths express their feelings about how Wraith sorcery has fared no better against Rom than Wraith science. One of the female ‘magic’ Wraiths recounts the spells cast against Rom in four recent encounters but the males point out that none of those spells killed Rom or dominated Earth's children, something that must happen for their current sinister scheme to succeed.
Elsewhere Rom scours the countryside for signs of Wraiths and thinks back on his quest, the loss of Ray-Na and his own humanity. He's so lost in thought that he careens into a mountainside but is unharmed. Rising, he hears eerie pipes playing from a nearby hamlet. He finds a figure leading an entranced group of children to a nearby hilltop with the magical pipes. The Piper mystically opens a portal and through it is revealed Wraithworld in the dreaded Dark Nebula. Rom steps between the portal and the children and confronts the Piper.
In Clairton, Doctor Dredd has subdued Steve Jackson and continues to mystically merge Brandy Clark with the Starshine armor. The Torpedo crashes into the lab and sees Doctor Dredd as a Wraith with his newly-activated Wraith Detector-Visor. Doctor Dredd reveals that he is no ordinary Wraith but a Wraith Warlock and powerful in the mystic arts. He attacks the Torpedo with sorcery but Brock Jones pushes through to strike him with a Jet-punch. As the Torpedo moves in, he is struck from behind by the now fully-merged Starshine/Brandy Clark who has been entranced by the Wraith Warlock.
Back in Scotland, the Piper plays a mystic tune that seeks to bind Rom and allow the just-awakened Dweller on the Threshold to cross over the portal from Wraithworld to Earth. Rom banishes the Wraith Piper and flies into the portal, pushing the Dweller back into some other realm. The portal closes behind him and the children awaken from their trance, unharmed.
Notes
- The Cosmic Alignment between the Black Sun/Wraithworld and Earth that was first mentioned in Rom #36 takes place in the issue.
- The hamlet from which the children were spirited away by the Piper in this issue was not named. Its name would not be established as "Newtonmore" until 26 years later, when a profile on the Dire Wraiths in Dark Reign Files referred to the Wraith piper as the "Newtonmore Piper."