Richard James

"Students remain as they are, quite... oblivious of certain biological laws."

Professor James is one of the biology professors at Fallcreek University and mentor of the ΔΘГ Student Fraternity. He appears in ObsCure II.

Appearance
Richard is bald, wears glasses, and has a grey five o'clock beard. He is Caucasian and his eyes are brown. He wears a striped black dress shirt with a blue tie, he has blue jeans with grey dress shoes.

Personality
Always calm, almost cold, Richard James is a professor at Fallcreek University, being used to dealing with crowds of rowdy young adults. Besides being the biology professor, he is also the mentor and honorary member of the ΔΘГ Brotherhood and proves himself as an intuitive and skilled man in various subjects such as medicine, electronics, and electrical engineering. Rarely seen to lose control, he can tackle anything with analytical interest and cold logic; although he doesn't feel easily immersed in the action, preferring to work the brain more than the physical.

The outbreak of Mortifilia in the city doesn't seem particularly surprise him and let alone scare him. It seems to awaken his interest. He proves to be helpful and resourceful to the group of survivors by providing them with special syringes that allow them to take blood samples from the heart of the downed monsters. In addition, he increases the battery charge of protagonists' electrical weapons.

Though later on, it is revealed to be a facade. As a scientist, he is very interested in the research of the Friedman brothers to the point where he could care less about human life. More than a traitor, he can be considered as an opportunist that supports the protagonists when their interests match without exposing his intentions.

ΔΘГ's last Party
On the evening of November 30th, 2005, during the party, he was reading in his office before being found by Amy Brookes and Kenny Matthews, who escaped from the party. Before Richard could be informed of the massive outbreak, the group is attacked by two Runners. Surviving the battle, the three take refuge in a basement. Richard, very interested in the matter, dissects the corpse of one of the creatures trying to shed light on their nature. Shortly thereafter, Corey and his girlfriend Mei arrive, who came late to the party and escaped the hellish situation.

Hospital
The group decided to escape from the place, thanks to Kenny and Corey, who are able to reach an exit. Richard, however, remains to examine the body and contact his fellow partners, however, they needed time to organize. He decides to go to the hospital, where he calls Corey and they decide to meet on the ground floor. Corey and Amy, escaping from the spores released by Kenny's transformation, get into an elevator. Corey repairs it and they arrive to the ground floor and in anticipation, he readies his gun as the elevator doors open, only to reveal Richard standing in front of them.

Shortly after Sven and Mei arrive after attempting to rescue Mei's sister Jun in vain. Following their arrival, Richard improves the battery that the group uses to operate their electrical weapons by taking a hospital battery. Sven asks him how he did it, and he responds that he learned it from the internet. Richard suggests to the boys to make a homemade explosive to reach the hospital's warehouse where they could get to the parking lot to retrieve an ambulance to escape, but, once they arrive on site, they are all attacked by a now monstrous Kenny, devoid of all humanity. Struck by one of his mutated arms, Richard is thrown back against the wall and knocked out cold.

Dam & Turtle Stone Island
Along with the survivors, Richard flees the hospital aboard Stan's van, but it crashes on the road due to an Amorphous. The group regains consciousness near Fallcreek's Dam. The professor is among the first to wake up and after Shannon and Stan clear the way, he began to inspect the place. He meets up with the two and decides to search for an alternative route to save Amy if they can't find a welder to repair the dam's controls.

A little later he saves the group from another of Monster Kenny's attack, opening a door for their escape and, together with Stan, Amy and Sven escapes to Turtle Stone Island by boat; on the way, though, Amy and Sven are lost, after being separated by the fog.

Richard, along with Stan, arrives on the island and awaits the arrival of Corey and Shannon, who stayed in the dam to face Kenny; once reunited, the group decides to go look for Sven and Amy. The group separates again and he and Corey go to search for another boat.

The Friedman's Legacy
They land on an isolated shore and they find an enormous abandoned residence where the group meets and finds Amy in a closet hiding. She tells them that a deformed freak has kidnapped Sven. After gaining access to the cellar where the maniac was torturing their friend, the group watch Sven's death, while the executioner, who turns out to be Jedidiah Friedman, son of Leonard Friedman and Elisabeth Wickson. He flees through a door leading to a mine, he is promptly chased by Stan and Shannon.

Richard, Amy, and Corey search for another route which leads them through the sewers and they find a manhole leading to the ruins of Leafmore High. They exit it and join the others. Here, Amy is affected by strong contractions, revealing that she's pregnant with Kenny's infected and unborn child. Richard is particularly interested by this, he then calls for a rescue team, while Corey and Stan go to the basement to deal with Jedidiah.



The aid arrives quickly but to the group's surprise and dismay, it turns out that the ΔΘГ Brotherhood, under the facade of a school fraternity, proves to be a secret society obsessed with studying Mortifilia and its potential benefits. Richard being an honorary member is completely loyal to it. They capture Shannon and Amy to examine the effects of contamination of mortiflia on them, especially Amy, who is carrying Kenny's unborn child. The Brotherhood men await the return of Corey and Stan, but after they are back, Richard talks to them and learns that the cause of the spread of the Mortifilia's flowers was because of a still alive Leonard Friedman, who had extended his roots throughout the city.

Lincoln Stadium
The boys are loaded onto the ambulances, Richard and his colleagues make their way to the extraction point, but one of the two ambulances is hit by a black aura and overturned by spores, allowing Shannon and Stan to escape. After losing Corey, Richard contacts Socrates 3 to change the landzone to evacuate with Amy: the fixed meeting point is at Lincoln Stadium.

Just as the pilot lands the helicopter, Richard notices that Corey enters the stadium, just like Monster Kenny. Kenny throws away Richard and his 2 companions as he tries to reach Amy and his unborn child. However, Corey faces in him battle and during the course of it Kenny infects him. He attempts to persuade Corey to join him, instead he kills himself, just as Stan and Shannon arrive.



After the battle, the professor and a ΔΘГ member recover their senses and manage to escape taking Amy with them on board the helicopter. However, Amy gives birth prematurely filling the cabin with Mortifilia spores which destroy the helicopter, it's unknown if he managed to jump out in time or if he died due to the explosion.

Trivia

 * As a mentor of ΔΘГ, the prof. Richard James had an office within the Brotherhood headquarters where he spends much of his time studying old tomes.
 * Among the readable documents in the Brotherhood church, there are 2 letters addressed to each Friedman twin signed by William James, his grandfather.