Urban Fantasy Adventure[Original Setting/DFRPG Rules]

[RedOrion]

Crosspost on SV/SB/QQ
So I've been meaning to start writing for a while now, but I never muster up the energy. Hopefully this quest will help me practice. We'll be using Dresden Files RPG for the rules, as I like the system and it's pretty rules light. If any of you experienced writers has some ideas on how to improve my writing, please send me a PM. I'd greatly appreciate the help, and would rather not clutter up the thread.
Options:
You wake up...
[X] You don't wake up. Clawing your way out of a freshly dug grave, you rise up to begin your vengeance upon the living.
[X] in a dank cave, surrounded by your many brothers and sisters. The last year was hard on your tribe but with this many children the losses should be replaced.
[X] in a perfectly normal bed, to begin your perfectly normal day.
[X] in a high rise in the swanky side of town. Your business might be rather specialized, but you can make good money trading things between the mundane and magical worlds.
[X] You don't. The sun has not yet set; it is not time for your kind to be about.
[X] still trapped in this disgusting, fleshy vessel. One day you will escape, and ride the firmament once more.
[X] and look out from your mountain home. You're still to small to fly, but it's getting late and Mother hasn't returned. It may be time to go hunt on your own.
[X] and grab your gear before brewing up a pot of coffee. Working night shift sucks, but the nasties are rarely active during the day.
[X] in a palatial mansion. You ring a bell and the homunculus' bring you your breakfast.
[X] with a panic, in the middle of nowhere and covered in blood. This isn't the first time this has happened.
[X] and say a quick prayer to the lord.
[X] where the hell do you wake up? (write in option)

 

[jake jack]

[X] and grab your gear before brewing up a pot of coffee. Working night shift sucks, but the nasties are rarely active during the day.

 

[RedOrion]

Giving it a day, then I'm calling the vote.

 

[RedOrion]

Anyone know how the Vote tally program works? I'm having entirely too much trouble with it.

Vote Tally:

[X] in a dank cave, surrounded by your many brothers and sisters. The last year was hard on your tribe but with this many children the losses should be replaced.
2

[X] and grab your gear before brewing up a pot of coffee. Working night shift sucks, but the nasties are rarely active during the day.

2

[X] still trapped in this disgusting, fleshy vessel. One day you will escape, and ride the firmament once more.

2

[X] in a palatial mansion. You ring a bell and the homunculus' bring you your breakfast.

2

[X] with a panic, in the middle of nowhere and covered in blood. This isn't the first time this has happened.

2

[X] in a high rise in the swanky side of town. Your business might be rather specialized, but you can make good money trading things between the mundane and magical worlds.

2

[X] in a dank cave, surrounded by your many brothers and sisters. The last year was hard on your tribe but with this many children the losses should be replaced.

2

[X] and say a quick prayer to the lord.

2

[X] You don't. The sun has not yet set; it is not time for your kind to be about.

2

[X] where the hell do you wake up? Is that really ten meters of snow, or are you still dreaming? OWCH, yeah, you're not dreaming, that pinch hurt your fingers as much as your arm.

1


I know I said that the vote would close today; but with how close everything is I decided to give you guys more time to talk it out. Vote closes 2 days from now.

 

[jake jack]

okay which option was the warden one

 

[RedOrion]

[X] and grab your gear before brewing up a pot of coffee. Working night shift sucks, but the nasties are rarely active during the day.
Won by two votes. Votes closed.

 

[RedOrion]

Character Sheet

Spoiler

High Concept: Monster Hunter

[X] and grab your gear before brewing up a pot of coffee. Working night shift sucks, but the nasties are rarely active during the day.
Won by two votes. Votes closed.

The coffee sucks; it always does. Still you'll need your wits about you for this most recent case. Something or someone has been preying on the transient population. Normally it'd be a smart move. Sad as it is, most people don't notice, and those that do don't care.
Unluckily for whoever it is, you did notice.

[] You grew up on the streets; your contacts in the community gave you the heads up.
[] Your time as a cop served you well here. Taught you the importance of keeping an eye on the community. Most problems start here, and nipping them in the bud saves you effort down the line.
[] You got lucky. Growing up privileged, you never really spent time in the bad parts of town, but when chasing some scum down the alleys you lucked about a body.
[] Money talks. With the money you throw around, it easy to keep informed.
[] How did you figure it out? (Write in option)

The first thing that hits you is the stench. A cloying too sweet odor; it worms it's way up your nose like something alive. The body isn't much better. Whatever did this was vicious; the man mauled beyond all recognition. As you watch, a single fly lands on his eyeball and you almost puke. Taking a step back you remind yourself not to get attached. This wasn't a person anymore. People are vibrant, alive. People laugh and love and live.This is just a body. If it was a person you'd be mad. If this was a person you might make bad decisions, the kind that get yourself or others killed. So you disassociate. Tell yourself that it is just a body. You are not entirely successful.

As you investigate you discover...

[] This guys is dead. Definitely dead. (No Investigation Skill)
[] This guy is dead, his organs are gone and you think his spine is broken.(average)
[] Whatever happened here was supernatural. Few mundane things can leave gouges in solid stone. Not to mention his spine.(fair)
[] Whatever this thing was, it caught him unaware. What's more, this creature was strong. Strong enough to dent the ground when it landed.(good)
[] This fight was over quick. The creature leaped on the victim from the nearby roof; the force of the landing breaking his spine. It then pried open his chest to access to his organs. Finding out any more would take an in depth analysis.(great)

Starting Refresh
[] 6 Refresh/20 points
[] 7 Refresh/25 points

This first vote is going to be one of your aspects. This one deals with how you grew up. The second is how many ranks you have in the Investigation roll. Was going to put the Refresh as an in character vote, but it broke the flow and had to be removed.

Not entirely happy with this, but it's way overdue.
EDIT: Added the levels, so everyone know what they are spending points on. Also the character sheet.

 

[jake jack]

Is the character mundane or Supernatural

 

[RedOrion]

Depends on how the votes go. As of right now he is human, but Character creation isn't done yet. I'm trying to tie it in with the first adventure.

 

[Silversun17]

[X] Your time as a cop served you well here. Taught you the importance of keeping an eye on the community. Most problems start here, and nipping them in the bud saves you effort down the line.
[X] This fight was over quick. The creature leaped on the victim from the nearby roof; the force of the landing breaking his spine. It then pried open his chest to access to his organs. Finding out any more would take an in depth analysis.(great)

not sure what refresh to vote for.

 

[RedOrion]

If it helps, think about it as how long you have been doing this. At refresh 6 you've just started out. You might have a case or two under your belt, but nothing major.
At Refresh 7, you aren't a novice anymore. You aren't a grizzled veteran or anything, but you have been at the job long enough that you have reached name level. You aren't Joe who happens to fight monsters, but Joe the monster hunter.

 

[RedOrion]

Closing the Vote.
Cop, Fair Investigation and 7 Refresh won.
Don't know if I will write today or not, but it'll be out by today or tomorow, China Time

 

[RedOrion]

[] Whatever happened here was supernatural. Few mundane things can leave gouges in solid stone. Not to mention his spine.(fair)

You may have been a cop, but murder investigations were never your beat. Working in...
[]Narcotics
[]Organized Crime
[] Internal Affairs
[] Domestic Violence
[] Other (Write in, I don't know all the various divisions)
didn't really prepare you for a scene like this.

Besides, you're still pretty new to the supernatural side of things. Knowing this thing was strong enough to rend stone and break a man's spine tells you distressingly little about it's identity.
Thank god you've managed to keep some contacts. Flipping open your phone you call...

[] Morgan, your former partner. He still trusts you, and is more than willing to help out. (locks you out of the police force)
[]Morgan, your current partner. Living a double life as both a police officer and a monster hunter is hard, but they have a surprising amount of overlap. (comes with the trouble Double Life)
[] Tracy, another hunter. She showed you the ropes when you first "looked behind the curtain". If she wasn't there to guide you, you might have gone insane. She also introduced you to some other like minded people, and you get together some times to indulge in your "hobby".
[] Tracy, your boss. She showed you the ropes when you first "looked behind the curtain". If she wasn't there to guide you, you might have gone insane. She also hired you, giving you a chance to make some money off of your monster hunting. Its a lot like being a police officer really.(locks you out of police, though you might still have contacts)
[], that smug bastard. You met him one night while tracking down a low level demon. He's a wizard with a flair for the dramatic. By which I mean he's an asshole. He should help me identify mystical side of things.
[] No one. At least, no one you are willing to call for something like this.

While you wait, you decide to do a bit more investigating. Talking to the locals doesn't produce much, your rep as a police officer making them shy away. Finally you manage to track down someone who, if not willing to talk, at least hasn't run away. You find him in an alley, hunched over like a beaten dog. Dressed in a too long coat, mismatched gloves and more scarves then you can count, he presents a pitiful picture. Winter's coming, and you don't think he'll survive.

[] After two seconds of greeting him he tells you to fuck off. (No empathy or Rapport)
[] Well he hasn't told you to leave yet, so that's a good sign. Right? (Average)
[] Managed to start a dialogue, but he's not willing to tell you anything useful. (fair)
[] A little bribery goes a long way. Stopping by the local store, you shell out some money for a good winter coat. Giving it to him, you indicate their might be more where that came from, if he's willing to keep his ears open.(good)
[] You're a professional schmoozer. You can make even the most hardened criminal sing. This guy? He doesn't even realize what's happening. (Great)

 

[RedOrion]

Closing the Vote, Domestic Violence, the smug Bastard, and Good win.

 

[RedOrion]

So here's the next section. Sorry it took so long, but I'm not very good with dialogue and I wanted to use this segment to practice. Any constructive criticism is welcome. The meeting with the smug bastard will be in the next update.

Character sheet

Spoiler

High Concept: Monster Hunter
Aspects: Worked in Domestic Violence
Fate 7/7

[] A little bribery goes a long way. Stopping by the local store, you shell out some money for a good winter coat. Giving it to him, you indicate their might be more where that came from, if he's willing to keep his ears open.(good)
You've always been good with people and your time as a cop has only honed that talent. Working in Domestic Violence, you learned early on the importance of choosing your words carefully. Sad as it is to say, most victims didn't want your help. Too often you would be told, "it was my fault, I shouldn't have made him mad" or "he's just having a bad day". In order to help these people, to really help them, you had to open a dialogue. Get to know them, give them a shoulder to cry on. It was hard, but rewarding.
Now you put those skills to another use. Deciding to do some prep work, he go to a nearby store. It's nothing fancy, the paint is peeling off the walls, and the dim fluorescent gilts give everything a wan sickly look. Grabbing a warm coat, and a couple of socks, you head back over to your new witness.
As you approach, he tenses. As you move forward he moves back, making sure to keep the trash can fire between the two of you. You stop a short distance away, making sure to give him some room, before throwing him the bag. He looks through it for a bit before shooting you a puzzled look.
"Take it," you say "you looked kind of cold."
"Thanks," he says, putting on the jacket. "but what's the catch?"

You shrug your shoulders, trying to appear nonchalant. "No catch. The stuff I just gave you, it's yours. You can walk away right now, no hard feelings." He tenses up. This guy knows there's no such thing as a free lunch. "But if you want this to happen again, we've got to have a little talk." At this he starts to relax. Now that the other shoe has dropped he actually feels safer. He knows what you want now, and feels better for it.
"Suppose I say yes, what do I get out of it?" You have him. If he'd walked away this would have been a wash. But him staying here means he wants something, you just have to find out what.
"Nothing much, but you'll get it often. Some clothes, a few amenities, maybe a little spending money. If you want something specific, I'll get it for you."
"Okay then, what d'you want to now?" He's still wary, but he's talking.
"Lets start with your name."
"Jim, you?"
"I'm []Insert Name Here. Nice to meet you. I was hoping you could tell me what happened in the alley over there." You point to the alley where you had found the body earlier today.
"Don't know much. Wasn't there when it happened." Disappointing, but he wouldn't be alive if he was.
"But you live around here, right?" One of the most important skill when talking to witnesses is coaching them through the event. Anything and everything can be useful, and they often remember more than they thought.
"Eh, kinda sorta. I tend to move around the city a bit." His voice drops low as he continues to speak. "It can be dangerous to stay in one place here. Certain things are always on the lookout for fresh meet." You give him a sharp look, but he continues as if nothing had happened. "I got a kinda circuit going on." he continues "There are a few different places I hang out at, and I tend to switch them up every few days."
"Was the body here before you got here?"
"Yeah, and it was pretty ripe to."
"How many days ago was that?"
"Bout two days, got here Thursday evening." Damn, that means the corpse was sitting there for at least two days. The crime scene was surely contaminated by then, not to mention what it says about the police here. As a matter of professional pride, you can't help but a little pissed off. Shaking your head a little, you refocus on the task at hand.
"Thanks, the information you gave me will help us track down the killer" Pausing for a moment, you scribble your number down on a piece of paper before handing it to him. "and should you have any information about those things you were talking about, please call this number." Having said your piece, you head back to the alley to talk to *ugh* him.