I hope /tg/ is interested in a storytime.
I'm gonna post recaps from the nWoD game I'm running, which is a medley of templates and set in Transylvania County, North Carolina. The story revolves around the sheriff's department, which is made up entirely of supernaturals.
>>43977117
Does it end with you scum all being killed?
>>43977117
So before anything, I'll introduce the group.
>Mihai
A Ravnos (using the translation guide) vampire, and a bit of a crooked cop. He is vice squad, and has seedy connections. Romanian, mysterious, and kind of a dick.
>Nikolai Volonov
A weremoose eco-terrorist pretending to be lumberjack turned beat cop as he turned away from environmental crime, and recruited to the sheriff's department for his dedication.
>Sheriff Connor Denz
A changeling, fairest. He's the mastermind behind the gathering of the force, and it was his plan to create a group of supernaturals that could protect the county from the paranormal crime that mortals can't face. Transylvania County is a bit of a 'Hellmouth' and so it seemed to him a necessity.
>"Immortal" Jim Johnson
A sin-eater possessed by Sergeant Justice, a geist of police brutality. He's surprisingly level-headed, outside of gunfights, but prone to dramatic quips.
>Orcus
A Mysterium mage studying under a reclusive mentor nearby, and head of the department's records. Orcus has hopes of starting a consilium in the county, and using the supernaturally rich region to boost his career within his order.
>>43977117
As a local, I wait with anticipation.
>>43977202
Also major background to provide context:
Brevard, the county seat, is dominated by a large vampire court controlled by Count Nicodemus - a renegade Nosferatu with no covenant ties. He's really old, but has secured the city in a vice grip through a variety of means.
Nearby, a large stretch of wilderness is controlled by a renowned forsaken pack, which is third generation to the area. Logan Caldwell III is the alpha, and he's one of the most feared uratha on the East coast. His father bound a thunderbird as a totem in a radio tower and radio station built in the pack's trailer park. They publicly broadcast motivational speeches and phil collins to soothe the spirit, and he protects them with gifts of lightning and a watchful eye.
There is a dispute between the two factions brewing. A year ago, the vampires discovered a beshilu infestation under the city, and unable to contain it they enlisted the pack, which is 8 strong and fierce. In the process of clearing the city's underground, the pack found a strange shrine under the city - a locus larger than any they'd heard of buried deep in a cave underground, with a strange alter, and cave markings depicting father wolf and a moon in chains. They demanded access to the shrine, but the vampires were very territorial. With their job done, they forced the pack to leave under threat of war. Ever since, tensions have been extremely high in the region, and negotiations dry, as conflict between the two would lead to many casualties and likely a violation in the masquerade.
>>43977278
EPISODE 1: PEST CONTROL
-----------------------------
The early evening of June 9th, the department received a fax from the Rosman PD including a crime scene investigation and forensics report, as well as pictures, describing a gruesome crime scene. A man and two women were bound naked to a tree, the two women missing their arms, the man had a note nailed to his forehead, which read, 'EVERY GREAT HERO...'
The local news outlets have dubbed the killer the Rosman Reaper, until he/she decides to identify him/herself. They collected the note and nail as evidence, and investigated the bodies, and gained a rudimentary idea of what the man looks like using one of Jim's strange ghost-rituals - wild hair, lots of denim, sunglasses, wielding a bowie knife, and blood around his mouth and on his neck. They were able to learn that the killing took place somewhere in the lower West side of Rosman with some of Orcus' death and space magic.
As they were about to set out in search of the initial crime scene, they're alerted that drug smugglers in the area were tracked to a nearby warehouse a few miles outside of Rosman, but that the police pursuing them were dispatched - three of them were killed, and the last two fled, screaming about bugs. The sheriff's department figured something was up, and told other law enforcement to stand down while they engaged, then headed in. Once there, they were attacked by huge swarms of cockroaches seemingly commanded by ordinary criminal thugs. Soon enough they realized a spirit was using a numen to control the insects, and hopping from one criminal's body to the next. They were able to knock out all of the criminals but the spirit managed to escape. They seized a small fortune in gold, meth, cocaine, and heroin, and also found a piece of elegant stationary emblazoned with a gold V. What the 'V' stands for is as of yet unknown.
>>43977303
>pic is logan
EPISODE 2: MOON DANCE
------------------------------
June 10th, the Sheriff's department is summoned by the Count. When they arrive, his finacnier Amanda Quinn meets them, and leads them to a private location after explaining that things are serious. After winding through a few tunnels, they emerge into a large vault where the Count is seated across from his chamberlain, Sebastien Tellier, with a dead body laying between on a dining table. The body was that of Julian Schratter - Sebastien's vessel and lover. The young man was torn apart by a giant wolf the night before, under a full moon, and the Count assumed it was an attack made by the werewolves to send a message. He is intent on exacting his revenge on them for intruding on his land and targeting one of his subjects, but the deputies are able to convince him to wait ten days to declare any attacks, giving them time to explain the murder. Upon investigation, the deputies realize that the wolf was not one of the werewolves of the pack, but one of their wolf-blooded; Diane Casey, Logan's mate. They come to the conclusion that she underwent a first change and death-raged, accidentally killing the boy. They head to the trailer park to follow up.
When they arrive, the more dominant members of the pack are gathered around Diane's unconscious body, she hasn't stirred since coming back and changing into a human again. Logan is waiting for her to awake. Grayson, the shaman of the tribe, is confused because there was no evidence that she would become a werewolf spiritually. The Sheriff's department then arrange for the vampire representation and the leaders of the pack to meet the next night at midnight, at their HQ, in attendance would be Logan, Elodoth Steve Eaton, then The Count, Daeva Sebastien, and Gangrel Saul Harvey, his bodyguard.
>>43977338
The next day, around noon, Nikolai and Jim receive a call from Steve, informing them that Diane has finally woken up - but she didn't undergo a first change. She isn't able to manifest any gifts, and she didn't describe anything akin to a first change. Everyone is deeply troubled by this. After hours of research in their records department, Jim eventually finds a fur-bound book titled, "Waning Gauntlet" which had in it details of what was referred to by werewolf shamans as a moon-puppet. This phenomenon occurs when a moon spirit, a lune, manifests by possessing the body of a wolf-blooded, as they cannot possess werewolves or normal mortals. When this occurs on a full moon, by a Rahu spirit, the possessed changes into an Urhan and immediately death rages. The book explains that a Rahu moon-puppet manifestation is typically indicative of a threat, as each auspice of moon-puppet manifests for a particular reason. When it occurs under a full moon, it is because something distresses the spirit, or their is a danger which it believes needs to be destroyed, but the pack has been able to destroy or even notice in timely enough a manner. It's a gamble if it works, due to the death rage being indiscriminate. They share this information with the pack, which eases the anxiety a bit... but also suggests that the incident was a symptom of a larger problem which they are yet to recognize.
That evening, at midnight, the vampires and werewolves arrive, and the deputies separate them by having each group locked in parallel holding cells. The werewolves explain that it was beyond their control, and agree to keep close watch over their wolf-blooded members at night. Sebastien is angry, but the Count is calmed, and agrees to stay his hand before leaving into the night.
>>43977374
Mihai breaks off after receiving a text from Ivan Volkov, a local ghoul informant, and meets him at a wafflehouse outside of Rosman. Ivan explains to him that it's in everyone's best interest to get to the bottom of this moon spirit stuff as soon as possible, and suggests that he meet with one of the Count's most secretive contacts; the blood-bather living in the North of the county, named Nefandus, whom was originally a consul to emperor Nero of Rome before achieving immortality. Apparently the Count tributes him the blood he needs in return for ancient occult knowledge.
The deputies make the best of the latter half of the night by tracking down the apartment where Jacob Siedler was murdered, and through some questioning around downtown Rosman they find themselves at the Woods apartment complex. Sheriff Denz confronts the apartment manager and asks if he knows a man fitting the description of their suspect. The manager, a greasy blob of a man named Frank Watts, says that he saw a guy like that leave the apartment of a tenant named Angela Swain. He assumed it was business however, as she was rumored to be an escort, and many strange men came and went. He had heard on the street that she'd been killed however, and that she was one of the victims of the Rosman Reaper. He hadn't gone in to clear out her apartment yet, and she didn't have any family to contact. The sheriff convinces him to hand over the key and the rest of the force moves in.
>>43977401
In the living room of the apartment, they find a body lying on the coffee table in a suit of very state of the art combat armor. His lungs have been removed from his chest and are sitting next to him. His eyes have been cut out, and he has a patch with the letters, 'TF:V'. They find blood throughout the apartment, and in the fridge a pair of eyes are sitting on top of a slice of cake with a note reading, "I'M WATCHING YOU TOO". A revisit to the body finds a note stapled to his neck. It reads, "AN EVEN GREATER VILLAIN!" which completes the cryptic message left at the first crime scene. The sheriff makes a call to Ivan Volkov trying to figure out what's going on. He trades information, telling the ghoul that the drug bust they recently made included the presence of a spirit using its numen to attack them. Ivan seemed interested, then explained that TFV stands for Task Force: VALKYRIE, a top secret black ops military branch responsible for hunting, eliminating, and sometimes capturing supernaturals. He described horrifyingly advanced technology, which due to the victim's unarmed nature is surely now in the hands of the killer, and told them that he'd help with this since it was now a pretty serious issue. He also noted that where there's one agent, there are usually more. Where there's a dead agent, there's usually backup.
Lastly, the deputies arranged to meet with Nefandus the next night at 11 PM, to hopefully gather more information on this moon spirit phenomenon.
>>43977422
>Nefandus The Unvanquished
EPISODE 3: THE MAN WHO HAS EVERYTHING
------------------------
The department returns to the crime scene at Angela's apartment, using a mirror in the bedroom for a ceremony conducted by Jim Morrison to locate the Rosman Reaper. The image revealed is of him at the wheel of a green convertible mercedes, with a bit blood on his shirt, and a wild smile on his face. He was driving down an unobtrusive dirt road, but the license plate was visible: AH9-G743K. An alert goes out telling officers to NOT engage, but to report any sightings of the vehicle and its direction to the sheriff's department directly. They began a hunt for information to reveal whom the vehicle is registered to.
The group then made the trip to Nefandus' bunker, a sprawling and incredibly secure underground complex. He explained that he would be willing to part with information pertaining to their current cases, but only in return for artifacts which he could include in his collection. He even reveals ownership of the Chamfort Letters - a correspondence between Luc Chamfort and William Haverhill which is incredibly coveted by occultists of every caliber for its vast array of commentary and observation on the supernatural. The letters, supposedly, have some information which could be of use in deciphering the cause of this moon-puppet phenomenon. He does relay that two months ago a cell of three Task Force: VALKYRIE agents touched down in the county, and apparently the victim in Angela's apartment was one of them. In return for that, Nefandus is expecting a fetish or charm as payment when next he encounters the department. Before they left, he mentioned that he had reason to believe The Philosopher's Stone had fallen into the hands of one Vincent Voltaire, and that in return for the artifact he would be willing to pay a small fortune and part with an Atlantean artifact of some potency.
>>43977467
Vincent Voltaire is a billionaire real estate mogul and entrepreneur, having risen from the humble status of car salesmen to one of the richest men in America. He'd been in the area recently after purchasing the abandoned site of the E.M. Backus Lodge on Lake Toxaway, which was previously a christian prayer retreat known as Canaan Land. It is Voltaire's intention to construct New Canaan Land and open it as a sanctuary and retreat for fellow christians to pray and congregate. So his visits were becoming more frequent.
When they return to HQ, they learn of a hostage situation at a Well's Fargo in Balsam Grove, and they make their way there to clean up. Once they arrive, the deputies learn that there are five hostages and a bomb, and the criminal inside has left a walkie talkie behind for correspondence. It quickly becomes apparent that he is being possessed by a somewhat powerful skinrider, and that he'll have no reservations about blowing up the building. Sheriff Denz heads in to negotiate, learning that the ghost's name is Calvin Ward, and he was an adrenaline junkie in life so addicted to the rush that he remained on Earth to seek new thrills. The Sheriff is able to trick him into releasing the hostages as part of a contract, lying to him about promises of riding a dragon. Once the contract is signed, the ghost leaves to, 'take care of a few things' while the bomb squad shuts down the bomb.
The deputies retreat to Orcus' sanctum beneath the HQ, and cast a ritual to summon Calvin, whom is then manifest holding the keys to a ferrari. He realizes what's about to happen, and attacks. Nikolai and Mihai play air hockey over beers with Connor, while Jim and Orcus attempt to discorporate the angry apparition. Jim is able to blast big chunks of him apart with his guns, and Orcus attempts to trap him with an ectoplasmic barrier, but Ward retaliates by telekinetically hurling Jim into Orcus, disrupting the spell. Jim finishes him however, and eats his remains.
>>43977549
EPISODE 4: THE CABIN IN THE WOODS
-----------------------------
Sheriff Denz has found two new recruits for the department - Jack Leflare and Quinn Klien, a duguthim and a medium, respectively. Once the two are introduced, he announces that he will be making a foray into the hedge for information and possibly some bargaining chips for dealing with the blood-bather of Boyd, maybe even an artifact that could be used to take on the slasher lurking the county. During his absence, he elected Quinn Klein to take his place, having already filled out the proper paperwork for him to serve as interim sheriff.
The group then heads out to deal with a speeding car on the interstate. Apparently three police cruisers had already crashed attempting to chase it down, and in fact the deputies nearly lose control of their cars several times due to sudden losses of traction. Orcus is able to cause the breaks on the renegade vehicle to lock up, however, and they surround it. The driver is revealed to be Ajax, an Adamantine Arrow mage and friend of Orcus, whom is studying independently in the area. Something isn't right, however. He seems too relaxed, too carefree, and reminds Orcus nothing of the stoic and diligent warrior-scholar he thought he knew. They bring him back to the station where they're unable to make heads or tails of his condition. He explains that he just woke up wanting 'to drive', and seems unnaturally comfortable and relaxed for a man in a holding cell surrounded by potent supernatural creatures. Orcus even calls in his mentor, Curtis, and analyzes Ajax' aura. Neither of them determine anything out of the ordinary. His aura is just uncharacteristically calm. Curtis takes the license plate from the car, explaining that he'll use it for a scrying ritual to reveal the location of Ajax' sanctum, as the mage won't divulge the information for eerily vague reasons. In the meantime, Orcus decides to leave the overwhelmingly docile sorcerer in a holding cell.
>>43977581
A transmission comes over the scanner, the green mercedes convertible with the license plate no. AH9-G743K has been spotted off the side of a dirt road North of Balsam Grove. The deputies tell all others to stay clear and move in. At the sight of the abandoned vehicle they notice two bodies hanging from a nearby tree by their ankles. They are in national guard uniforms, their hands have been cut off, and they've been gutted from groin to neck - blood drenches their faces and piles of organs hang out and lay on the ground beneath them. The group quickly discerns that these mysterious soldiers are actually the remaining two members of the Task Force: VALKYRIE cell which Nefandus mentioned, also missing their gear and apparently killed while attempting to dispatch the Reaper. They follow a set of tracks about four miles through the woods, to a solitary cabin with a single door and smoke trailing out of the chimney. The place is absolutely submerged in death, unnerving any in the party able to detect such a thing. They determine that no one has left the cabin, and prepare to face the slasher on his own turf.
The small mob busts through the door only to find the cabin mostly empty. There are five bodies strewn about, all of them skinned and flayed. There is also a thick pool of blood in the middle of the floor, and ten bloody bootprints leaving the puddle which abruptly stop mid-stride, as though the one leaving the trail just vanished completely. Jack looks across the gauntlet, and indeed sees that this fetid shack is a Wound, and that on the other side of the gauntlet, the tracks continue. The Rosman Reaper is able to cross the gauntlet, somehow. Orcus collects a sample of the blood on the floor for study. He opines that this pool of blood may be the key to some sort of portal. The rest of the deputies stare solemnly, fearful of how to fight something that can straddle the realms with such seeming ease. What other tricks might he have up his sleeves?
>>43977613
EPISODE 5: THE SLASHER DIARIES
------------------------
The department continues the manhunt for the Rosman Reaper. While making another sweep of the cabin, they encounter FBI special agent Wren Davies, a psychic deployed to take down serial killers. They discover that the cabin is owned by it's builder, Mason Woodall, a technician at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute in Balsam Grove. They also find that Mason is in fact the true identity of the Reaper, based on images of him collected from the internet. They track down his home address and proceed, intent on taking him down once and for all.
In the lair of the killer they find more bloody bootprints, but no sign of the killer having been there in the past few days. They also find a journal, which details Mason's descent into madness. The diary explains that he found a strange bowie knife, and subsequently endured nightmares, hallucinations, and urges to kill. The book mentions him being gifted a necklace of bloody teeth by a vague entity, and the necklace is what allows his travel across the gauntlet. Upon further research back at HQ, they discover that the bowie knife mentioned fits the description of the first bowie knife smithed by James Black, on commission of the original pioneer whom is the knife's namesake. They also piece together that the entities 'haunting' Mason are murder and death spirits, considering the necklace he received is a powerful fetish known as Red Specter's Smile.
>>43977636
The group resolves to hunt down the killer in the Shadow, using a verge located on the shore of nearby lake Toxaway. To activate the verge, one must stand beneath the cross standing on the lakeside and toss a bullet recovered from the head of a suicide victim into the water at midnight, and the verge remains open for any to cross for 15 minutes. This means that once inside, they will be stuck there unless they can find another way across, for at least 24 hours. Steve Eaton of the Little Rock pack agrees to accompany the group and help them track down the Reaper, and two spare bullets are handed to the pack's shaman, Grayson. He's instructed to open the verge on the following two midnights, in case the deputies are unable to cross back over the gauntlet by some other means.
>>43977675
EPISODE 6: IN THE SHADOW OF GREATNESS
--------------------------
The deputies cross the gauntlet on the shore of lake Toxaway, and immediately regret the decision. They immediately realize that the entire property of New Canaan Land is, incomprehensibly, a massive wound steeped in a resonance of violence and greed. How none of them sensed this before crossing is beyond any of them, but they choose not to let the circumstances slow them down. They head through the main campground, noticing that the E.M. Backus Lodge itself is in immaculate, almost glowing, condition as compared to the rest of the warped, dilapidated shades of camp cabins which squat before it in blood-soaked mud. They are accosted by group of greed spirits on their way through; strange masked spirits hanging on golden strings like marionettes, and the strings seem to fade off into the sky at after a few yards vertically. They defeat them, however, and continue on into the forest, as Nikolai and Steve track the killer's scent.
After trekking for nearly ten hours, the deputies arrive in the shadow of balsam grove, and catch the trail of their killer stronger than ever. First they enter a warehouse which he had certainly passed through, only to be caught in a fight with the murder spirit known as Crassus The Butcher, whom they summarily dispatch. They follow the sent further, eventually coming to an apartment complex and one apartment in particular.
>>43977717
When the deputies burst inside, they find that the apartment has become a wound, and Mason has already crossed the gauntlet into the mortal realm. Two powerful death spirits wait inside, and give the sheriffs quite a fight before being discorporated. One of them, Death's Door, becomes nothing but a small, tarnished iron doorknob, which Jack Leflare slips into his pocket. The group then sets out, back to the verge, to cross back over when midnight comes.
Waiting for midnight, the group takes the opportunity to investigate New Canaan Land further, and are attacked again by greed spirits. They discover that the lodge is warded against spirits and impervious to any physical attacks or attempts at intrusion, and a strong spiritual presence is felt by Steve and Jack. All of this strangeness leads Steve to believe that they've happened upon the territory of a Maeljin... meaning there may be a bale hound... or bale hounds... at work in the region.
>>43977731
EPISODE 7: FEAR THE REAPER
--------------------------
The group leaves the shadow, and most of them immediately set out for the apartment in Balsam Grove, which they discover belonged to a wolf-blooded by the name of Carrie Shores. She had been in contact with the pack, but never made the decision to become a member, preferring to focus on her own career. Mason managed to lop off both of her arms and then stab her through the spine before hitting the streets to make some kills while the majority of the sheriff's department languished in the shadow.
The group follows the trail, discovering that after leaving the apartment he made his way to a gas station nearby, entered the bathroom, and left with a man in a white sedan. A search was put out for the man and the missing vehicle. They then found that he headed into Rosman and hunted down Quinn Klein, the interim sheriff whom was investigating the case independently while the others entered the shadow, killing him in the alley after a brief altercation with the sheriff's ghost companion, Dr. Gannon. Klein's body was found slumped against the wall, and without him to serve as an anchor, Dr. Gannon had presumably been sent to the underworld. The group makes their way into Brevard, where they are summoned by the Count for a briefing on a crime committed in the city. While they were gone, someone firebombed Gallery 88, a hole in the wall art gallery curated by Sebastien Tellier. This venue, however, also held a cache of seven million dollars in cash (all vampire court drug money), and so the Count was extremely irritable about the entire matter, and desperate to find the culprit.
>>43977767
The deputies investigate the ashen remains, and notice that the money isn't gone - in fact there are tremendous piles of ash which were clearly once pallets of paper money. They hand money out to some nearby bums, and probe them for information. One, named Crazi Willbanks is particularly cooperative, and explains that he saw a nurse stop across the street in a red minivan, hop out, hurl a molotov at the gallery, and then flee. He asks if the deputies are the one's that are, 'giving out the money'. When they inquire about it, he explains that he doesn't know who it is, or exactly why, but some of his friends have started to quickly come into large sums of cash without getting involved in anything in particular. The deputies know that Ivan Volkov pays the homeless for information, but never more than a couple hundred, certainly not thousands as described by Wilbanks. They also know that the vampire drug trafficking operation is extremely exclusive, and there is no room for recruitment with bums. They hand Wilbanks a card and tell him to get in touch if he sees the minivan or if he notices anything else weird.
With that, they head back to the HQ after receiving a call from junior deputy Clancy; apparently there is a visitor to the station that will only speak to the officers he's familiar with. Nikolai can smell him as soon as they get out of the cruiser. The distinct, pungent aroma of calzones, dusseldorf mustard, mountain dew, and body odor fermented in front of a brightly lit monitor could only herald one man: Wade "The Katana of Truth" Frumski. The pre-imminent cryptozoologist of Western North Carolina, and the curator of the paranormal blog/forum thelegendsarereallytrue.net, he shows up at the HQ every few weeks with a bunch of barely legible 'notes' which ramble on about reptilians, the illuminati, subliminal messages, flouride, boy bands, crop circles, and whatever else... and somehow they end up actually being useful every now and again.
>>43977810
This batch mentioned black government helicopters making some sort of drop off, homeless people ending up with money, and his calzone delivery boy somehow landing a date, as well as the usual rants about the mayor being a reptile and the werewolf pack actually being NWO agents, because he has no other explanation for their strangely insulated behavior or somewhat eery public radio broadcasts.
After he leaves, a loud noise is heard from the basement and all of the power goes out. The deputies investigate, and notice that some homemade bombs were planted on the generators, knocking out all of the power. Then deputy Howitzer calls for backup and a couple of gunshots are heard, Clancy says that she thinks someone is in the building, but the doors are locked. Mason kills her as she tries to make her way to the basement. When the deputies head back upstairs, they see the bloody footprints from where he crossed over in the middle of the detective floor, and some streaks where he wiped off his boots. They then come upon the dead bodies of Howitzer and Clancy, and make their way to a back exit. Mason jumps out from behind a door however, and sets upon the group. He takes an absolutely ridiculous amount of punishment, sinking his blade deep into Wren Davies' arm after disarming her, and managing to slice of Jack Leflare's entire left arm, putting him inches from death before Wren manages to take him down with a final shot. When he collapses, he bleeds enough for ten men, and the deputies retrieve Black's Bowie as well as Red Specter's Smile, unsure of precisely what to do with such dangerous artifacts. The EMT never arrives on scene, even after waiting for almost an hour, barely keeping Jack alive. The group makes it to Transylvania Regional Hospital in their cruisers, and Nikolai is able to heal Wren's wounds, and take care of some of the damage done to Jack, but none of the vital injuries, and there is no growing back that arm.
>>43977820
EPISODE 8: THE FIST OF GOD
------------------------
Mihai conjures up an illusion of Julian Schratter, whom was publicly declared dead after being mauled by some sort of animal (Diane Casey in Urhan form while under the possession of a Rahunim Lune spirit). He had the illusion dance and flaunt himself at a gay club in Dunn's Rock, and then leave the establishment with two black men. This being a prank to fool Sebastien Tellier into believing his lover is still alive.
The senior deputies, having grown worried at the prolonged absence and silence of their mage, Orcus, head up to his mentor's cabin to touch base. Expecting to find results on the tracking down of Ajax' sanctum, since the mad mage had given them the slip. Instead they find that Task Force: VALKYRIE agents have killed both Orcus and his mentor, Curtis Fairbanks. Curtis took a few dozen bullets to the chest and Orcus received a wooden stake to the back of the neck before he even had the chance to turn around. They search the cabin for more clues, finding a small machine with a microphone and other unknown properties. Mihai quietly palms a silver skull talisman while no one is looking, detecting that it is an artifact of some sort. The machine is taken apart and the mic disabled, and inside is a part which identifies it as a Witchbuster MK IV, a small plastic disc about the size of a hockey puck with a tiny blinking red light on top. Jim tries to locate the cell with some broken glass, and sees five of them sitting in some large vehicle, with ghosts floating outside the windows.
>>43977839
The group heads over to Nefandus' bunker with Death's Door, hoping to make a deal. He turns them away, however, having no use for a malevolent death spirit like her. They return, this time with Red Specter's Smile, a bonafide fetish imbued with part of the murder-god's power. This he takes a great deal of interest in, and considers their debt repaid and then some. He is happy to offer what else he knows about Task Force: VALKYRIE - a group which he has apparently encountered more than once. Of course, an unkillable trillionaire with a vault worth of artifacts was able to survive, but it says quite a lot that he's still not interested in tangling with them. He explains the function of the Witchbuster; it attracts the attention of mages by triggering a magical sense of theirs, and transmits sound, allowing the group to acquire targets. The more advanced models are apparently capable of disrupting the use of magic which is drawn from the supernal realm. The vehicle, he explains, is a TF:V UAV (Urban Assault Vehicle), a type of disguisable APC with all sorts of high-tech upgrades, including windows through which the passengers can look into Twilight. He also recognizes the insignia which Jim noticed stenciled onto their armor - a clenched fist holding a lightning bolt - as The Fist of God cell. This five man team is an elite takedown squad. Pointer, the tactician and leader, The Middle Finger, a master sniper, Ring Finger, a stealth agent and infiltrator, Pinky, an intel and occult expert, and Thumb, the close combat and heavy weaponry expert. God's Fist is a force to be reckoned with.
The next place they go is the Pack's trailer park, which is unsettlingly quiet. Inside Logan's trailer they find the alpha and his mate, along with the shaman Grayson Brantley and Steve Eaton. Hank Hall, their head scout is laying down on the couch, missing both an arm and an eye, his mate Charlotte is sitting next to him, holding their baby, Lily, in her arms.
>>43977856
Three strange, silver grenades embossed with equal signs are laying on the coffee table. Logan explains that Hank and his other scout Marcia were ambushed by TF:V agents, who used these strange grenades to cancel the werewolves' shifting abilities. Hank has a gift which allows him to become a shadow, and excellent stealth skills, which allowed him to grab some of the evidence and escape with his life after one of the agents sliced his arm clean off. He wasn't able to kill any of them before fleeing. Jim kept a shard of broken glass from Curtis Fairbanks' cabin, and uses it to attempt to locate the cell. He sees them standing around a map of the county, with an X marking the cabin on Wolf Mt. and a green question mark overtop New Canaan Land. They are in the process of drawing a red circle around Brevard. Jim lets the vampires know that they may be in danger.
The group meets up with Wade Frumski to get details on any sightings of a strange vehicle, and he mentions that some of his forum users have witnessed an oddly bulky RV in the area - South of Boyd, West of Eastatoe, and near Wolf Mountain. The group checks the areas for any tracks they can find, and come to a cave where it seems the group camped, a little West of Boyd. This cave was unmapped due to its small size, but the group looks into the county records to find any other caves they can in the area, and they begin checking them. West of Eastatoe they place some subtle surveillance equipment in Heath's Folly, a minor cave network. Around the center of the Dunn's Rock area they come to Black Cat's Cave, a slightly larger cave network, but after finding some ashes in the cave they decide not to place a bug. They end up having to wait the day there, but spend a good bit of time making calls and arranging for the hiring of no fewer than 20 junior deputies. Through a special agency, they bring in sleepwalkers, wolf-blooded, fetches, and people that were once vampire vessels or bound to a vinculum.
>>43977866
EPISODE 9: BUMP ON A LOG
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The deputies hear about an incident having gone down at the Sixth Circle club in Brevard from the BPD, but they don't have details because the vampires are keeping everything under wraps. They're invited to check it out, and the group drives into town. Inside they find Ivan Volkov sitting across the table from Saul Harvey, the city's 'sheriff', and welcomed abruptly before being invited to take a look at what happened. Backstage, there are blast marks on the manager's office door lock indicating use of a breaching charge, and inside the office they find the headless body (and head) of the club's bouncer sitting at the desk. He was a ghoul named Bryson Mills, and for most of the day he kept watch of the office and the adjacent room. The adjacent room is broken into, inside lies an open coffin containing Michaeux Jordan, whom is impaled through the heart, stomach, and both eye sockets with wooden stakes. Ivan explains that they already found and destroyed a witchbuster more advanced than any he'd heard of, matching the description of the MK IV that the group found at Fairbanks' cabin.
Jim checks Bryson's eyes, and confirms that God's Fist were behind the attack. The deputies speak with Ivan at some length about the court's reaction. He explains that for now most of them have gone underground, running their schemes through proxies and ghouls, and relocated their other money, drug, and weapon caches as insurance. Fearing the hospital would be the hunter's next target due to its importance in the vampire court's delicate feeding economy, Jim asks what is being done to protect it. The vampires use disciplines to convince almost any visitor to donate blood. The hospital director, a powerful daeva named Maynard Stang, then arranges for the blood to be 'charitably donated' (laundered) into the hands of the vampire court. This allows discretion while feeding the nearly 40 vampires that call Brevard home.
>>43977917
Ivan tells the group that a ghoul named Herbert Mills, the brother of Bryson, is acting as medical director instead of Dr. Stang until the count has reason to believe it is safe again, and though the donation process hasn't changed the Count has taken measures to secure the supply of blood bags to his underlings.
The group heads to the hospital to check in, and meet with Herbert Mills. They ask about anything out of the ordinary, recalling that the description given to them by Crazi Wilbanks of the gallery arsonist was a middle aged man with a moustache in nurse's scrubs, driving a red minivan. Herbert doesn't know enough about his staff to point them in the right direction, but he promises to contact them if he notices anything out of the ordinary and clamp down on security. Before leaving the hospital, the deputies take pictures of the license plates of all the red minivans they can find.
Next they hit the streets to follow up on leads regarding the mysterious benefactor paying homeless people. Eventually they come upon a white meth addict with dirty dreads and a gross sweater, by the name of Walter, whom apparently came into an unusual sum of money recently. He is incredibly nervous and uncooperative, but eventually divulges that he heard a voice, and scratching, before being approached by an unidentified man in a brown fur coat, wearing lots of jewelry. He had gold teeth, and reflective sunglasses, even though it was night, and offered Walter $2000 in return for following around a man fitting the description of Sebastien Tellier, the Count's chamberlain. He recalled later hearing the man's voice again, asking for details about where Sebastien came and went during the night, and upon divulging this he found several rolls of money, equalling the stipulated amount, in his pocket. He also heard the voice inviting him to join something called, 'The Fellowship of Canaan'. He suggested it had something to do with the nearby New Canaan Land.
>>43977929
In the morning, the deputies arranged a conference over breakfast with Violet and Lysander of the border-hopping Eastatoe motley. The supernaturals arrived at Lysander's apartment and joined the changelings for a hearty breakfast of eggs scrambled with lobster and steamed croissants. They suggested the motley avoid the county for the time being, until the hunter problem was taken care of, and the motley were thankful for the heads up, offering to assist should they be needed.
In the afternoon, a silent alarm is activated for the private residence of someone named Albert Woolworth, in a very secluded part of the Hogback region. None of the nearby police departments can drive that far to investigate and the deputies are closest, so they move in. The estate is a gated manor that seems out of place in the humble forests of Hogback, which mostly contains trailer park communities. The gate, emblazoned with a great wrought iron 'W' is already open and they park out front. Upon entering the foyer, they find large swarms of cockroaches swarmed atop the dead bodies of three men in suits, and guns lying on the floor. They make a quick tactical retreat, busting into the nearby shed to grab a hose and a propane tank, as well as a weed whacker. Nikolai quickly turns the propane tank and hose into a jury-rigged flamethrower, and Jim pulls out his fire extinguisher. They set upon the bugs, killing them quickly, and hear a scream coming from the back of the manor. They rush down a hall and upon entering a large library, notice an old man wearing large black sunglasses cowering in the corner, and across the room stands an 11 foot mound of cockroaches roughly shaped roughly like the upper torso of a man. The group attacks, being blasted with piles of roaches, and swarmed by them multiple times.
>>43977943
As the deputies cleaving through the roaches more and more, eventually a pale figure with wrinkled flesh and long black fingers is revealed underneath - the very same spirit the group encountered at the drug smuggler's warehouse. Jim is able to destroy its corpus with some quick shooting and the remaining roaches roll over lifeless. The old man is thankful for the rescue, but asks politely that the sheriff's department leave. They refuse, curious about why he was being attacked. Largely out of gratitude, he reveals that his name is Gerhard Werner, and that he is a skinchanger and spy. Taking off his sunglasses reveals two opaque black eyes underneath, which he can apparently put into the sockets of a blinded toad, allowing him to take control of its body and thus see that which others usually cannot. It is alluded that he has spied on the deputies before, as he knows all of them by name, and he explains that he has made quite a lot of money selling the information which he gathers through his toad eyes. It's also alluded that his most common employer is the Count of Brevard, unsurprisingly. He offers his services, for a fee of course, to the deputies and makes sure they are able to contact him in the future.
>>43977953
EPISODE 10: ENTER, DOLOS
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By nightfall, the results on all of the plates come down, and junior deputy Vance has narrowed it down to two suspects: Charles Howard and Kenneth Rosenburg. The deputies head to the hospital and look for them, finding only Rosenburg, as Howard was off the clock. He tries to talk his way around them, and it looks like he's going to run, so they take him in. Once he's in the holding cell, Mihai begins questioning. Vance lets them know that there is a man in the lobby looking for the senior staff. David heads up, and VASCU agent Wren Davis, who helped take down the Rosman Reaper with her cryokinesis, is staying in the county to carry out another investigation, and follows.
In the lobby is a well dressed man, whom introduces himself glibly as Henry Dolos, and Wren recalls the name at this point, having heard about the ubiquitous mayor during a case in Ohio. All good things, too, which is strange. In her line of work, Wren isn't used to hearing good things. He explains that he has retired from office, and he's come to Transylvania County after hearing rumors about the strange state of affairs in the area, seeking to offer his help to the mythical sheriff's department which he's heard was made up of a number of strange and mysterious supernatural beings. He touts his tough on crime record before proceeding to the holding cells to demonstrate his usefulness and conviction.
>>43977979
In the holding area, Dolos comes upon a gleeful looking Mihai holding a lubed mag-light and a worried Cara Delevigne. David grabs the slippery flashlight from Mihai, and Dolos shakes his clean hand. Mihai, recognizes the mayor as well, having heard of him, and is surprised to see him in Transylvania county. Dolos proceeds to calm down Kenneth, and uses his fae magic to coax the truth out of the suspected criminal upon noticing his rolex. Rosenburg reveals that he was in fact the arsonist, and was paid $10,000 to throw a molotov at the given address by a mysterious figure in a brown fur coat. As soon as he got back into the van, the money was there. Dolos thanks him for his honesty, and takes the rest of the deputies upstairs.
Steve Eaton calls them, sounding badly shaken, and requests that they come to the park because something has gone terribly wrong. When they arrive, they're informed that the pack was in the shadow hunting the Travelling Executioner Show, and successfully defeated most of the spirits along with Red Specter himself, causing the stragglers to scatter. But when they crossed over at a locus lower in their territory, an old oak tree of a particularly impressive height, they were immediately jumped by the five members of God's Fist. Martin Keane and Angela McGinnis are both killed in the attack, by a silver kukri and a silver sniper round respectively. Steve, Hank, Allison, and Logan cut their losses and flee back across the gauntlet, but Logan sprints off in Urhan form outpacing them all and fleeing deep into the shadow. They're unable to follow him or find his trace, and agree to head back to the trailer park to make sure Grayson is alive, and the radio station hasn't been sabotaged. It's been 18 hours since Logan went missing and Steve suspects he might be the Bale Hound in their midst - a truly terrifying prospect.
>>43977992
When the deputies investigate the locus, Dolos finds a witchbuster MK IV nestled in a hole on the tree's trunk, and David signals for him to quickly smash it. They bag the parts, and head back to Steve to let him know that they were set up, speculating that the hunters might have some way of locating loci or seeing across the gauntlet. They exit the trailer and privately deliberate, agreeing that they need Jack's expertise as a hacker for analysis of the witchbuster MK IV, and that the best way to heal him is by bringing him to the fractured Little Rock pack for a couple of their rites.
Steve is completely hostile to the idea, because Jack is a spirit-ridden. Not a malevolent spirit-ridden, but by his nature he caused the elimination of a human consciousness and the two can't be separated. Steve doesn't want to entertain the thought, as healing Jack would be a violation of his oath to Luna and his duty to Father Wolf, and the pack is already suffering from the predations of a Bale Hound; the loss of harmony is too great a risk. Dolos offers hired muscle to help protect the pack, as their numbers are down, but Steve remains adamant. Henry applies all of his skill as a negotiator, however, and is able to break Steve down and get him to begrudgingly agree to restore Jack to health, whom is laying on the couch covered in guaze with an IV drip and down a left arm. They agree that the werewolves can kill Jack, but only after healing him so he can assist the deputies. Dolos makes the call to a friend by the name of Jamal. The senior deputies leave the werewolves to their work, heading out to a 24 hour diner called 'Luella's Place' near the HQ, with plans to retrieve Jack the next evening.
>>43978029
EPISODE 11: HUNTERS HUNTED (aka SHIT HITLER)
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The deputies bring in two new recruits, both of whom Jim was very excited to swear in. A were-rhino names Kamwe and a Thyrus mage. Shortly after introducing themselves, Jim stumbles into the station, tired and tattered. He recounts that Nikolai had confided in him that he would be leaving the force. He had grown convinced that there was nothing that could be done to stop the supernatural shit-storm happening in the county, and he wished to move on to help with an environmental crisis in Mumbai. After turning in his gun and badge to Jim while the two were investigating the Reaper's cabin for any signs of disturbance, they're set upon by an APC with a black cross spray painted on the side along with the titled, 'DEAD RECKONING'. It let's off a gout of flame from a mounted flamethrower, and the two flee split. Nikolai draws their attention away from Jim, who escapes back to the HQ. He checks his mirror, and finds that Nikolai is alone in the forest, and has lost the hunters.
After swearing in the new recruits, Henry Dolos proposes the signing of a magical pledge binding the group together mystically, while providing them with various benefits. Most are suspicious or uninterested, but David and Jim both agree. The group then spends some time planning for the abduction of God's Fist, with the intent to ghoul the entire cell. Jim brings out the tattered remains of the TF:V armor they collected from Tobias Morden's corpse, as it's all that was left on the body, with the rest of his gear having been missing. Some rudimentary investigation reveals that the suits are made of an extremely durable fiber weave using some indistinguishable materals, certainly some sort of lightweight metal filament. The material is highly insulated, flame retardant, and has no odor of its own.
>>43978046
The boots are designed to distribute weight without leaving recognizable impressions on the ground and are totally non-stick, which keeps them from leaving visible tracks. The helmets come with a gas mask, and a digitally regulated audio intake with a state of the art visor. The visor can detect heat signatures and recognize facial patterns and body language to designate and categorize viewed targets as different known supernaturals. It can also be switched to night-vision, or etheric vision, looking into the twilight, and the heads up display assists with targeting by locating and highlighting threats. They even discover that the visor regulates light intake to negate the blinding effects of flares and likely certain spells. The visor is hooked into a set of wires which plug into a battery pack on the back of the suit.
They soon receive a phone call from Steve Eaton shortly thereafter, explaining that Jack has been healed, but in the department has 8 hours before he is killed as per the agreement with Dolos. The deputies aren't sure what to do. They've already angered the pack severely by arranging for them to heal a spirit-claimed, and likely ruined whatever goodwill they'd managed to create during their previous adventures. Rescuing Jack would ensure all out war, which could have a number of terrible results outside of the obvious disadvantages of four werewolves out for blood. However, being complicit in the premeditated execution of a sworn officer would at the very least be a felony, causing a violation of the pledge some of them just signed. The deputies eventually decide that they can't risk further destabilizing the pack, and thus saving Jack is unfortunately out of the question now that the bargain has been made, so they tear up the pledge which they signed and unbind it. The group heads over to the park with the witchbuster MK IV, hoping for answers.
>>43978054
Jack is chained to a post by his ankle, but is otherwise totally healthy, with the exception of his missing arm. Steve and Grayson are standing over him, both just short of snarling as the deputies approach. Grayson and Steve are both uninterested in any sort of small-talk, instructing the group to fuck themselves in response to any greetings or questions. Jack feels about the same, having witnessed Dolos in the act of selling him out. He has no intention to help the people that betrayed him by taking him from the hospital and offering him up to the wolves, healing him just to die a violent death. Henry Dolos, however, is already in too deep so he uses his magic to make Jack have an intense desire to assist the deputies, and hands him the witchbuster, instructing the spirit-ridden to learn everything he can about it quickly. Jack disassembles the device with relative ease, and is able to identify several of the parts that make it up. It has a microphone, and broadcasts both the sound and a GPS frequency, though he has no method by which he could locate any of the likely hundreds of receivers. He is also able to estimate that a certain part is used to give off a strange energy field, which seems to be arcane in nature. The battery is able to last for at least three weeks without need for a recharge due to its high capacity and the device's surprisingly low energy consumption. Upon relinquishing the parts and information to Dolos, he smiles, saying that he hopes it was worth it. Steve gestures for everyone to leave the park, and it's understood that they are not likely to be welcome to return anytime soon. The deputies get in their cruisers, and as they begin to drive away, David's able to hear Jack's screams.
>>43978075
Once back at the HQ, the group decides to re-sign the earlier pledge and so it is redrafted - none of them feel like loyalty will be guaranteed otherwise after witnessing this act of betrayal. Mihai does not sign, as he is unsure he'd be able to hold up the tenets of the pledge. The group then contacts Lysander, feeling ready to begin their plan to take down God's Fist. They arrange to meet him, and he's pleased to see new faces when the group arrives at his apartment - in particular he notices Henry Dolos, whom he's heard of and recognizes. He's propositioned to use his dream contract to drop in on the hunters, drop a tracking device, and then leave - something that comes with no small amount of risk considering the lethality of the hunters. Jim notices that they are resting, with Pointer, The Ring, and The Middle Finger all sleeping unarmed while Pinky and Thumb stand guard when looking through the shard of glass he took from Fairbanks' cabin. Lysander is only interested in helping if he can get the sheriff's department to sign a lengthy, dense, and convoluted joint-vow pledge.
>>43978094
It states that he will undertake a dangerous task for them, risking potentially the lives of all in his Freehold (should the hunters capture him), and in return they will owe him an equally dire favor. Likewise they will vow to protect the freehold under pain of death should it be met with a danger that it is unable to protect itself from. In return, they will be granted significant power (a power stat boost of 2 for each of them). The pledge even includes insurance, entitling them to a favor two-fold Lysander's given task should he try and fail. They sign, pleased with the favorability of the deal, and Dolos is well aware that Lysander recognizes the value of having the deputies as a contingency should his freehold be endangered sufficiently. Each of them feels significant supernatural power rush through their veins, unlocking access to abilities they hadn't thought possible so soon.
Now is the time for the execution of their plan to capture and ghoul God's Fist with Lysander's assistance, securing another significant step in their ascent to the top of the supernatural food chain.
>>43978108
AND THAT'S ALL WE'VE GOT SO FAR!!!
I hope you guys like it. Hit me with any questions or comments. I know it isn't perfectly formatted all of the time, try to forgive me.
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>>43978108
Like, are you fucking serious, friend? I have actual novels I could read if I wanted to invest this much time. Maybe summarize some shit.
>>43978774
It's 11 sessions yo, and I've seen a number of storytimes WAY longer than this one, and in a lot more detail. If you don't want to read it you don't have to obviously, but I don't understand the nature of your complaint kek
Most of these sessions are boiled down to 2-3 posts.
