Heads Will Roll [horror/supernatural], game full but wait list spots available

[Roo]

 

Game Title                         Heads Will Roll

Inspirational music for the game by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Game Description/Teaser

Simon’s Bull is a rundown old bar on the east side of town. The lights outside the joint flicker, like there’s something leeching the power from the lines. Inside you can find all manner of people in the lambent atmosphere, their fears wafting off their skin and sinking into the booze in front of them. Tonight Otis is inside; he’s a large man, tall too. His hair is long, greasy and you’re not sure of his age. He could be thirty; he could be fifty. There’s no way to tell, but his voice is low and smooth like pebbles at the edge of a lake.

They’re out there, you know that, right? They don’t want you to know that though—they’re hiding in plain sight. Lurking at the corners of our vision. If you’re careful though you can see them sometimes—the trick is to make sure they don’t notice you noticing them. If that happens, well, then it’s time to put up or shut up.And if you can’t do that, well son, you best run . . .

It’s only after he stops talking and looks up at you from over his pint of ale that you see the long, jagged scar that scores the right side of his face. The eye on that side is milky blue: blind. He smiles unevenly; something is wrong with the musculature on the right side of his face—the scraggily beard there is also interrupted by the length of the taut-skinned scar.

OOC

Welcome to Heads Will Roll, a game that pits player characters against all the things that go bump in the night. Heads Will Roll is set in Cape Merrin, ME, a large metropolitan area that has been infested with the supernatural: ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and all other manner of creepy things lurk here, including monsters that are or appear human. Player characters will be tasked with fighting against these forces of evil—as well as investigating them, and determining if they are indeed evil.

This game will be inspired, in part by Hunter: the Vigil, but this game will be without a system.

We welcome character concepts of three types:

The Initiates:  These characters have not been baptized into the world of the supernatural. You are a typical person with your own beliefs, motivations, and personal goals. In game, these goals and motivations will alter, probably irrevocably, when you encounter the supernatural for the first time. Perhaps a loved one is murdered, or you are thwarted in your career by the meddling of someone who is not wholly human. This type of character, however, will be able to discuss with the GMs (Roo and Rick957) exactly the type of encounter that they would like to experience in game and we, the GMs will help make that happen. We are also happy to generate a surprise for you, if you prefer that.(Examples of Character Types that might fit well into this category: low-ranking police officers, news reporters, history buffs, etc.)

These characters should not generally be especially combat effective unless there is specific justification for that in their background stories. So, yes, a police officer would have access to a sidearm, but if said officer is also a crack shot, there ought to be some explication of this in the backstory.

The Indoctrinated: These characters have been introduced to the world of the supernatural, and for the most part, it should have altered or scarred them in some way, not necessarily physically. These characters come into the story with a self-designed justification for why they want to fight the darkness. Did they lose a spouse or child to some sort of supernatural creature? Did they get attacked personally? These questions are all things the player will decide on and describe in his/her backstory, and so you may start the game with a more combat-savvy character. That is, your character knows a little bit about the weaknesses of one type of supernatural character as well as some of the ways to defend against them. (Examples of Character Types that might fit well into this category: jaded detective, someone orphaned by the supernatural, priest or minister, occultist, etc.)

The “Reformed” Monsters: These characters are themselves supernatural. Perhaps a mage or a werewolf, but one who has “seen the light” and works against the more vile creatures of the supernatural world. There will need to be a strong backstory justifying your alliance with mere humans. These characters, pending GM approval, may also masquerade as humans among the other hunters, though this secret will come out over the course of our story. If you wish to masquerade as human, mark the Character Type on your sheet as either Initiate or Indoctrinated; make sure your true Character Type as a shape-shifting Reformed Monster is not given away anywhere in your sheet.  Include only the "street" image of your character with the sheet, showing your appearance as most of the mortal world sees you.  Then PM the secret information to the GMs:  your Reformed Monster description and/or your out-and-out monster image, e.g. your appearance as a werewolf.

Characters will require GM approval and we will be selective based on the following criteria:

   
• Willingness to post 3x per week at a length of at least 4 sentences per post; lengthier posts are welcome and can occasionally stand in for shorter, more frequent posts, but everyone should post at least once a week.

   
• Literate posts (no textspeak, intelligible grammar though perfection unnecessary)

   
• Originality and interesting backstory that indicates your character would be willing to be part of a group (i.e. loners who like to sulk and be moody won’t be a good match for this game—characters will have to work together to survive)

   
• Willingness to take detailed and extended encounters of a sexual nature to PMs between the appropriate characters so the thread does not become overcrowded with sex scenes (several posts are fine, but if this is an epic sex scene—take it to PMs)

   
• Willingness to sometimes read lengthy posts from both GMs, as we both write rather lengthy posts. This should not be a call for you to respond in kind, though you certainly may tend toward lengthier posts if that is your tendency.

Mood and Tone: This game will feature gritty and dark material, including violence. If that’s not for you, it probably won’t make for a good game. Black humor and other humor are welcome—but as players you should be aware that no one character will have the clue to everything in this setting. Your knowledge of the supernatural is incomplete, partially incorrect, built off of assumption, hasty research done in libraries after work while you constantly check over your shoulder. Teamwork will be essential to survival, and so we welcome players who are willing to write scenes cooperatively and work together to solve problems. There will also be a fair amount of action in this game, but your characters’ first impulse when faced with a problem that is not immediate physical threat, should not be to seek a physical or violent means of solving that problem. In-game actions will have in-game ramifications for characters. Sexual interactions between player characters are certainly welcome (though see above on extended encounters) and there is a possibility for monster-on-player character romance should it become viable in terms of plot (e.g., a vampire attempts seduction to feed, etc.).

Character Sheets

Name:
Character Type: (Initiate, Indoctrinated, or Monster)
Physical Description and/or image: Sex:
Sexual Preferences:
Skills: (list 3, one of which may be combat or very physical for Initiates; 4, two of which may be combat-related for the Indoctrinated)
Backstory: (This doesn't need to be as long as the example below but should be at least one solid paragraph.)

Please post your character sheets here in the want ad, and we will PM you approval after both of us have had the chance to review your character sheet. See below for a sample character sheet for Otis, the figure who appears in the vignette above.


Happy Gaming!

Roo and Rick957


Sample Character Sheet for Otis

Name: Otis Treehaute

Character Type: Indoctrinated

Physical Description and/or image: Otis is a large man, tall and well-muscled. His age is indeterminate, but he’s somewhere over 30, and probably not in his 60s yet. He has a long, uneven scar that runs nearly the length of the right side of his face, and his right eye is blind. His hair is long and oily. He sometimes wears it back in a pony tail, which makes his scraggly goatee all the more prominent.

Sex: Male

Sexual Preferences: Women, Vanilla Sex, though mostly Otis is celibate these days.

Skills: Otis is proficient with a double barreled shotgun and his career working for construction companies as a demolitionist has left him with a reasonable working knowledge of mainly explosives and a strong ability for how to plant charges in order to bring down buildings. Otis is also a bit of a gourmand; he loves to cook, and if he can arrange to have someone tolerate his company for very long, he will inevitably cook a delicious meal for his guest. Otis is an excellent chess player.

Backstory: Otis has worked in construction for decades, and specifically, he has always been part of a demolitions team. His life was typical, happy. He was a working stiff and his wife, Patty, stayed at home to watch their daughter and son—Margaret and Jason. Life was good; he loved his wife and children, and his pay was more than enough to keep them living comfortably though not richly. He went to church with his family on Sundays, and the Treehautes were generally considered good Christians by most of their fellow churchgoers. This might have to do with the annual barbeque that Otis helped prepare every year for the church, or it might have been his recipe book that was put together for the community and sold as part of a church fundraiser.

All of this changed when Otis came home late from work one night. He and his crew had brought down a doozy of a building and the guys had all blown off steam together as a way of releasing the tension about the building’s fall. He’d come home not quite drunk, but definitely a bit more than tipsy. His buddy Carl had dropped him off; Patty would be annoyed the family truck was parked in the parking lot of Simon’s Bull. She did chide him for drinking sometimes, but she should understand, or at least that was what Otis told himself as he crossed the threshold into his house. In the stark yellow kitchen light of their home, Otis saw crimson. Blood pooled on the floor, sprayed the normally cheerful walls with its red stickiness. Otis said nothing intelligible, but made a horrid keening noise in the back of his throat as he ran for the kitchen. He slipped in the blood and landed painfully on the kitchen floor on his back. He jolted his head on the linoleum so that he was disoriented when he turned to look at the pile on the floor next to him. It took him a moment to realize what it was: Patty, Patty strewn with her own guts and more or less torn apart. He turned and retched but struggled to keep the vomit down and dashed up the stairs with bile coating his throat. He left his bloody footprints on the carpeted stairs. The lights were off up here, but Otis was insane with rage and fear. He stumbled through the dark to the children’s room, calling out the whole way, his voice ragged with emotion, “Margaret! Jason! You answer your pa, hear! Margaret! Jason!”

He burst through their door in the darkness. He could see something hunkering down on one of the children’s beds. There was the smell of wet dog, piss, feces. He hit the light switch and immediately wished he hadn’t. The thing perched on his daughter’s bed was—he didn’t know—something between dog and human, but there was nothing human at all in its features. Its mouth was a cavernous maw filled with ragged, yellowed teeth; it held up one of his daughter’s eyes, popped it into its mouth and swallowed. Glaring its bloodshot eyes at Otis it opened its mouth and laughed a low, husky laugh that shook its form before it mouthed two words Otis had to fumble with mentally in order to understand because of the thing's contorted speech: “Sweet meat!” As Otis stood there puzzling it out the thing stepped off the bed and began moving toward him—Otis raced back down the hall toward his bedroom where he knew he kept the shotgun loaded in their closet. But he didn’t even get to turn around. Instead, the thing buried its festering claws in his left shoulder and spun him around. Screaming, Otis unloaded both shots at the thing seconds after it batted his face with its large, clawed paw. They both fell backward, the thing yelping; Otis was more badly injured and laid on the floor slipping toward shock while the thing got up and crept away, licking its wounds.

He laid there for about twenty minutes before the police arrived; he had thought, once he got better, that he had lived in a neighborhood where gunshots would have brought the police much sooner. So much for his pride in raising a family in a good neighborhood—but then none of that mattered anymore to Otis because he had no family anymore. All that mattered now was revenge—all that mattered now was bleeding the fucking dog that stole his family.

[Kaisude]

Small question. Is it possible to play a monster who was human, but turned against his/her will. Thus making them want to help fight the darkness? So an Indoctrinated and a monster. Either way I am going to join, just curious about that mix of character.

[Roo]

Hi Kaisude, that could definitely work! Look forward to seeing your character ideas.


Also, to clarify, age ranges for characters, since I've had a couple of inquiries about that--as long as you're human a typical age range would be 16 at minimum on up to about 50 or so, basically just to make sure that your hunter is still realistically viable in combat. For supernaturals, upper limit on that age range can vary a bit more.

[Aurora Wayland]

Name: Samantha "Sam"

Character Type: Monster



Appearance: Long black hair, pale blue eyes and pale skin. Shes lithe, standing only 5'1 and weighing 90lbs. Her breasts are small and she wears provocative clothing to blend in with the hookers.

Sex:Female

Sexual Preferences: None - As of yet.

Skills: Drawing. Shes always been a skilled artist since she was young. Sam also excels in history. Since her 'turning' she had spent numerous nights at the library, learning what she could in attempt to break her curse. Samantha also knows quite a bit about the human anatomy. Knowing just where to strike an opponent in combat.

Backstory: Samantha was a typical sixteen year old girl She had friends, family and a career in mind. She was smart and attractive. At the time she was dating a boy named Billy Kaid. He was a bit of a bad boy, and her parents hated him. But to Samantha he was everything she wanted.

Their relationship started out innocent enough. Talking and holding hands. But as the months went on, Billy became more aggressive, groping her and forcing their relationship to move quickly. Many times Billy attempted to force Samantha into having sex with him, and each time she said no.

One night as Samantha was leaving her part time job at the Gap at the mall, Billy pulled up in his car. "Get in..." He had said, voice slightly slurred.

"Billy, your drunk..." Samantha had replied, walking away from his car.

"Baby, come on. get in. I just want to apologize for last night..." He cried out, his car idling next to her.

Samantha knew it would be a mistake getting in the car, but she loved Billy and the desire to make him happy was strong. The girl sighed and stopped, turning around and climbing into the passenger seat. "We can talk on the way to my house." Samantha said.

Billy sped away in his car. Of course it wasn't to her house. Instead he has driven 20 minutes past the mall and turned down a dark alley. "Billy, take me home!" Samantha had demanded, looking around. her heart rate was fast and blood pumped into her ear with nervousness.

"Fuck you! Ain't I good to you? Buy you dinners and take you to movies!? Huh?" He growled, grabbing a fistful of Sam's black hair and yanking it back. With his other hand he produced a knife, holding it to her throat.

Sam's eyes went wide, struggling to get away as she screamed for help. "Billy! your drunk! Don't do this!"

Sam's boyfriend spat in her face and pressed the bladed edge tighter to the skin. "Shut the fuck up! I'm tired of paying and YOU not putting out!" he hissed into his ear, then licked it. What happened next was a blur. Billy raped her ruthlessly and Sam could only thrash and scream. 

As Billy climaxed, he realized he couldn't let her go. She would surely call the cops and tell her parents. So instead he gripped the handle to his knife and jabbed it up into Samantha's ribs. Blood flowing and collecting on the bottom of the car.

Samantha's eyes grew wide, then distant as the world seemed to be fading from her. Of course it didn't end there for her. Instead she managed to see the car roof be torn open, and a man, who's face she could not make out grab Billy by the throat and yank him out.

What followed next were screams from Billy as the stranger brutally mutilated the corpse. Samantha was growing tired, her eyes drifting close when the Stranger's hand opened the door and pulled the girl out. She couldn't make him out clearly. He was tall. Dark. and his voice had an accent to it.

"Sweet child...I am Azrael..." he said, his voice like honey to her. "Do you want to die to night?" He asked, towering over her as she looked on from the ground.

"N-no..." She manged to choke, blood trickling out of her mouth.

"Then drink...and know it is not your time..." The stranger's voice whispered as he knelt down beside her. To Samantha, the world went black.

She awoke hours later, laying on the cold wet ground. She was naked from the waste down, blood between her legs from where the rape had occurred. She struggled up looking around and then screamed when she saw bits and parts of Billy on the driver's side of the car.

Samantha panicked, grabbing her clothes and hastily putting them on before running home, sobbing. When she got home, she managed to sneak in through her bedroom window, not wanting her parents to see.

Within minutes she was in the shower, scrubbing excessively to get the blood off her skin. This has to be a nightmare...a nightmare..., Samantha thought. The poor girl was so thirsty and no matter how much she would drink the the shower's faucet, she couldn't seem to quench the thirst.

Samantha left the shower and dried herself off. She collapsed on the bed, exhausted. Soon sleep over took her. As she slumbered her dreams were vivid. In them she had left her room, and visited her parents. It was there that she slaughter them and drank their blood. Samantha wanted to scream, but couldn't. The drinking of the warm red liquid was orgasmic and she felt as if her body was on fire with pleasure.

Screaming, Samantha woke up in her bed. She ran a shaky hand through her hair when she noticed it was smeared in blood. The dream was real, she had murdered her parents. Heart broken and truly alone, Samantha left that night.

For the next 5 years she spent on the street. She had taken refuge with the hookers near Simon's Bull. She had not aged a day since she was cursed by the Stranger known as Azrael. Mostly feeding on the perverts that tried picking her up, Samantha managed to survive, being careful to not give away what she was.

[Crovonovin]

You can definitely color me interested!  This looks like a very well thought out game, and I'm always keen on seeing multiple GMs working together to form an engaging plot.  Splitting up the workload always tends to help in the long run.

I can't say for sure exactly what sort of character I like to play.  I think this one deserves a bit of good hard thought.  I'll be sure to get back to you when I've come up with something concrete!

[Kaisude]

Name: Micheal Summers
Age: 27
Character Type: Indoctrinated
Physical Description and/or image: 
Micheal is a tall man 6'4 to be exact. He's a buff tough son of a bitch. Practically bronzed skin complexion, and chocolate brown hair which; he wears slicked back. He has a thin strip of a beard stretching from his side burns connecting at his chin. His eyes an almond shape with brown chocolate hues. He tends to wear loose clothing, something he can move freely. A hoodie and track pants is the usual apparel. Colors are a cliche red or black most likely both. 
Sex: Male
Sexual Preferences: Heterosexual
Skills:
Craftsman- Micheal is a handy man in sorts, can fix, break and re fix things. He's also a creator he likes to tinker so inventions are made.
Hand To Hand- Micheal is a natural brawler. He believes the only way to fight is with fist. Not to mention the minor muay Thai lessons he had.
Knife Handle- It's not very often that he uses it, but Micheal is also a bit of a swordsman.
Morale booster- Despite the hard times now, and the hard times ahead Micheal does his best to keep spirits up. Some might find small joy others could feel brand new. He does his best.
Backstory:
Micheal Summers was born native Maryland. He lived in a small town of La Plata growing, and for the majority of his life was spent there. Good at a majority things one thing mainly, fixing things. All through school he played football, and wrestled so he was always kept in shape for a fight. Though his life wasn't the greatest it had it's worst times. When Micheal was graduating high school the day before his graduation his mother was murdered. They say she was attacked by a pack of wild dogs, but that was never really confirmed in Micheal's eyes. They wouldn't allow him or his father to see the body. After the graduation the funeral came, and after that Micheal split from Maryland. He got a scholarship to a collage in Maine. He spent a while in collage and made plenty of friends, and still his main trait was fixing things. He even fixed a relationship too.

Though the good times come back they go again as well. The head lines after homecoming night read a group of college bludgeoned to death, and drained of their blood. Micheal didn't know a single student, but the chain continued. He had witnessed loss twice in his life, and still it had done nothing to effect him.  He was becoming colder to those around him because he knew he would be losing someone again. Left and right people were dieing, and Micheal got the idea to get out of college. He found his way through Maine trying out different spots, but nothing caught his interest. He didn't really have much to go for, so it wouldn't take much to make him stay. Finding his way in to Cape Merrin Micheal liked the atmosphere. Despite the depressing feeling Micheal felt at home. He spent much time working out, and after hours at Simons Bull. Another late night and an early morning Micheal found himself drunk and wandering the streets after leaving the bar. He made his way towards the park. He had no real reason for being there, but he was just going there. Not even aware of his surroundings Micheal had no idea he was being followed. Making his way to the fountain Micheal felt a push to his side, and rolled over not even sure what happened. Attacked by something, but not being harmed. As he woke up he held his head, and awoke back at the bar. A man had saved his life and kept Micheal unscathed. The following days the man introduced Micheal in to the world of the supernatural.

Micheal of course didn't believe at first, but stuck around to see proof. The man shown him the ropes to killing the supernatural, and how to survive. Though it was a lot to take in Micheal stuck it out, and became a hunter. A killer of the supernatural.

[Esoteric Myobi]

Oh no, I was trying so hard to behave this time around and was only going to limit myself to solo games but this! This is just...too tantalizing!

But to be fair, I can't throw my hat into the ring 100% yet but I am most definitely interested. :-)

[rick957]

Hey everybody,

Wow, I feel like I'm late to the party.  :)  *waves to Shihong and Myobi and all the interesting unfamiliar folks too* 

I'm the other GM in this game, so any time you're PMing Roo about game stuff, try to remember to PM me too, and vice versa.  (You can type as many names as you want into the text field for the recipients.)  Credit where credit's due:  pretty much the whole write-up at the top of this thread was Roo's doing, though we discussed all the rules and game ideas a good bit.

I've been on Elliquiy longer than Roo and have GMed here before, but she's an experienced GM and knows way more than me about roleplaying in general.  Between the two of us, we should be able to keep the rest of you entertained.  There will be gore aplenty.  Hopefully also some strong characters and fine storytelling.  Not sure where the sex will fit in yet, but it'll be in there, one way or another.  ;)

Roo and I are busily trading PMs back and forth to discuss everyone's submissions, and then one or the other of us will get back to everyone.  There's still lotsa room for more!  Hope to hear from you.  :)
-- Rick

[AndyZ]

 (I'll try to use he as a pronoun to avoid the usual problems of switching around, unless he's in a female form.)

Name: Arathel
Character Type: (Initiate, Indoctrinated, or Monster) Monster
Physical Description and/or image: Sex:

Arathel appears alternatively male, female or androgynous depending on a number of factors, but his true form is androgynous.  However, his true form is one that is rarely seen.  Even when revealed in the white robes and angel wings, most people simply can't seem to see anything other than an ordinary man or woman.  However, Hunters and those more aware of the true nature of the world have little trouble seeing the angel form once he reveals himself, though he doesn't do so casually.
The three forms that others have seen him in which appear mortal are:
A young man in a white T-shirt, faded jeans and sneakers.
A younger woman dressed in a white dress, purse and heels.
A hermaphrodite dressed in an expensive but somewhat pale business suit.
Each of the three have the fiery red hair and the green eyes of the angel's true form, and each one could easily be mistaken for siblings of the others.  It's rare but not unheard of for someone to see him in one particular form and actually end up seeing an alternate form which they recognize.  Further clarification below:

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

He effectively has four forms that he can choose to appear in, the angel form, or one of the three human forms.  While in one of the human forms, it is possible once in a great while that he will seem to one of the other humans to be in an alternate form.  The reasoning for this is because the person recognizing the glitch has seen the angel before and recognizes him, even though he's in an alternate human form.  The three forms do look similar enough that he can easily be recognized anyway if one knows what to look for; the three are close enough to be siblings or closely related.

For example, let's say that he appears in female form to start off.  She will head around the place, say hi to everyone, introduce herself as Arathel and so on.  Now Sam and Max see her, meet her, greet her and so on, as do others.  Now, later on he meets them in male form. 

Sam will see him and have very little trouble recognizing Arathel despite the different form because they're so similar.  Max, however, is one of the rare exceptions.  For some unknown reason, he'll see Arathel in his female form still, still recognizing Arathel but his brain just has an easier time processing that it's the same female that he met before.  Arathel has no control over this aspect of things.

If Arathel is in angel form, mortals who aren't used to the supernatural will see him just as one of the three forms, maybe at random, maybe whatever they feel most comfortable with or is most beautiful.

Sexual Preferences: Sexually attracted to females
Skills: (list 3, one of which may be combat or very physical for Initiates; 4, two of which may be combat-related for the Indoctrinated)  Melee Weaponry, Empathy, and Musical Instruments.
Backstory: (This doesn't need to be as long as the example below but should be at least one solid paragraph.)

Arathel is rather silent about his true upbringings and backstory, but those who have seen his wings, his white robes and the glow from his form have little choice but to recognize an angel.  Some have theorized that he doesn't willingly explain himself in order not to tarnish the faiths of others, others that his existence is a mockery in an attempt to convince people of untruths.  Arathel simply seems more concerned in actions than words and guesswork.

He's shown an ability to heal and seems to be able to call a flaming sword from nowhere, with which he is exceptionally proficient.  Just as with his true form, however, the flaming sword appears perfectly mundane to those unaware of the supernatural, who see either a mundane sword, a torch or flashlight, or something similar.  He can also summon a golden harp in the same method, which he sometimes plays beautifully.  Occasionally he can be seen out in public in one of his human forms, playing the harp for tips.

Further, he seems to be able to judge the hearts and minds of those he sees, recognizing the good and evil as easily as others would notice colors.

One of the stranger things about him seems to be his concept of life and death.  Though most would traditionally expect an angel to be strongly devout to saving every life possible, Arathel is more devoted to the greater good and is willing to let people die for a cause.

With the world in the sorry state that it's in, sometimes it can be hard to believe that an angel could just appear from nowhere to save people.  Sometimes it just seems a little too convenient.

When Arathel first came to Earth, swooping down to the ground with the speed and burning precision of a meteor, the only ones to witness the crater that he left in the cement were Otis and the large gathering of vampires that Otis had been hunting.  It would be difficult to say who rescued whom, but between the two of them, and a lot of luck, they managed to dispatch enough to send the other monsters running.  Ever since, Arathel has made sure to keep enough of an eye on Otis to watch for those that seem worthy of aid.

Short term goals: Ally with hunters to destroy monsters and save the innocent

Long term goals: GM secret ^_^

[TheHangedOne]

Name: Leofwine "Leof" Carter
Character Type: Indoctrinated
Physical Description and/or image:

Sex: Male
Sexual Preferences: Heterosexual, slightly kinky; light bondage/femdom, masochistic tendencies.
Skills:
First Aid ( (Un)conventional ): Their are plenty of ways to treat a wound, and he's starting to learn them to help out others. This includes using herbal compresses (as often featured in his Iron Shirt training, below), as well as how to do things such as (but not limited to) making impromptu splints, stitching wounds with a needle and thread.  In addition to this, he does know his way around a first aid kit.
Escrima (Knife): Escrima is a Filipino martial arts school that focuses on the use of actual, some times improvised, weapons. Leofwine, despite his gentle nature, is quite well with smaller blades, and usually carries a seven inch folding pocket knife for this reason.
Escrima (Staff): As mentioned above, Escrima is a school of martial arts that focuses on using weapons besides the wielders hand and feet. Leofwine is good at using lengths of wood, metal pipe, etc. as a staff like weapon.
Iron Shirt: Training under this form of martial arts has led to him having a high degree of pain tolerance, as well as stamina.
Backstory: Leofwine's mostly been seen  as a gentle soul, which to many, makes the fact he is so martially focused seem....strange. However, he all too quickly brushes it off. It's good exercise, it's for self defense only, so on, so forth.

Back when he was 17, he found himself in a rather awkward position. His first encounter with the supernatural.  He had been hanging out with his friends at a snack bar, during which time he had somehow manage to draw the damnable attention of a vampire to himself. Leofwine was not sure what she wanted, or why she had followed him, but the woman did follow him, and he only seemed to become aware of the presence once he had seen that the rest of his friends got home.

At first, her approach had been a simple one. The lady in the red dress was new to the city, she was lost, and she wanted to know if he could help her. Not thinking much on the matter, he had said yes, he could, and that's exactly what he did. They chatted casually about a few things as they walked.

Then, when finding her home, things took a turn for the odd. She wanted him to come in, have a drink. He told her he couldn't do that, he was underage. She thanked him for being such a polite, truthful young gentleman; a fact that probably saved his life. Nonetheless, she encouraged him to at least take a bottle of water for his trip home, and since he was indeed thirsty, he acquiesced.

The following events were something akin to a blur. He found himself forced up against a wall, and practically being raped; like an animal, she ripped and tore away at the accursed shirt that had dared to cover his neck, and then she was...kissing him..? No, no, something worse than that. She bit him!

And the vampire drank. She filled herself up on the tasty mortal, but not to the point of death. No, she left him alive, and she even let him go, with the warning that if he ever came back, if he said anything to anyone about this encounter, she would end him; and that would be such a shame, wouldn't it?

That was eight years ago. It was during this time that Leofwine took up his Escrima and Iron Shirt training, seeking a way to not only keep himself in peak physical shape, but so that he would be ready for if and when he ever encountered another 'monster'. It should be noted however, that he doesn't truly view such entities as monsters right off the bat; just like real people, different creatures must surely possess different temperaments, different attitudes, different philosophies about life, and that was what was more important than what they were.

He sees his role in life to be three-fold: protect innocents from the predations of the more violent and homicidal monsters. Redeem those monsters which still have a sense of humanity intact. Tend to the wounds of those who share his cause.
Secretly, he hopes to one day find the Lady In The Red Dress, as he refers to her.

[Roo]

Hey everybody,

I just want to reiterate what Rick said above; we are discussing characters and character sheets, and we'll contact everyone once we have a few more people submitting write ups.

To TheHangedMan: Thanks for becoming our first human hunter!

For those of you still considering submitting, we'd be super happy to see more humans, though supernaturals are also still welcome.

Roo

[TheHangedOne]

Hey everybody,

I just want to reiterate what Rick said above; we are discussing characters and character sheets, and we'll contact everyone once we have a few more people submitting write ups.

To TheHangedMan: Thanks for becoming our first human hunter!

For those of you still considering submitting, we'd be super happy to see more humans, though supernaturals are also still welcome.

Roo
You're welcome.  :-)

[Mhina]

I'm definitely interested, although I need to do some thinking on a character.

[Crovonovin]

Hello again rick!  I'm glad to see that I may get to participate in one of your games, especially after I had to drop out so suddenly from your previous one!

I've definitely got a Hunter character set down (A Louisiana-born chick with a rather unorthodox weapon), and will have something up here later tomorrow!

[Reia]

I'm definitely interested in this and am working on a character. I do have one question: Would there be a problem with a hunter that was born into the life? As in, it's something that their family has done for generations? They wouldn't be untouched, as they'd have family members die - but they'd maybe have a little more "experience" in dealing with the unknown.

[Roo]

Hi Reia,

I don't think that would be a problem, especially if you are billing your character as Indoctrinated. You may want to address the issue of your family in your backstory--are they alive, have you lost them?

Rick and I look forward to seeing your ideas,

Roo

[Reia]

Yes, they'd definitely be indoctrinated. Will have a profile up shortly. :)

[abandoneddolly]

 
Name:Alice  Sheapored
Character Type: Indoctrinated

Physical Description and/or image:
http://fav.me/d16sew3
Alice stands only at 5 foot, and has a skinny build.  She tends to wear casual clothing usually thrown together as if she didn't care what she looked like. She has brown eyes and medium length brown hair.
Sex:Female
Sexual Preferences: heterosexual.
Skills: 1) interrogating. Alice was a journalist and held many interviews with high profile people. She knows just what questions to ask, and what just to say.
2)Hand to hand-  Alice has been going to self defense school since he encounter with the supernatural and has learned a little about fighting with her hands
3) Writting- Alice has been writting for a living for a long time.
Backstory: Alice is 25. She had a child at the age of 20, but had not had that much time to spend with him. Being a singel mom she spent a lot of her time persuing her career goals as a journalist and writer trying to keep her kid living in comfort and giving him anything he could want. That was why she was so excited when she got a week vacation to go camping with her son. It was her chance to get reconnected with her kid.At first things were going good. She spent her days swimming and playing with her son.

Then one night in their tent Alice was awaken to a chilling howling noise. She sat up and saw shadows pacing outside her tent. She pulled her sleeping son into her lap, and watched as the shadows drew closer and the howls grew louder. She was a bit scared, but was certain that whatever beast it was could not get into the tent. That was where she was wrong. With a loud rip something dog like broke his way into the tent, and bite into her child's leg. She tried to keep a good hold on her son, and screamed and yelled at the dog to scare it away. The dog thing ripped her son out of her hands and ran off with his body. Alice ran after him, but lost the dog thing.

She called the cops, but no one believed her story.  There was a search party, but her son was never found. They said that he must have got up in the middle of the night and took a swim, and the river pushed his body off somewhere. Alice began to believe that story, and the dog thing she saw must have just been a nightmare. She spent a lot of time and money on a councilor trying to make herself be live that lie.
She has buried herself even deeper into her job, and convinced herself there is no such thing as monsters.  Though in the back of her mind there is a lot of doubt. The monster in her nightmare she cc an remember just as clearly today. She can never look at anything the same again.

[Malrunar]

Dibs! I'm interested! It's going to take me a little while to work on a character sheet, but I'd love to play an Initiate. You need a sassy human detective to investigate the violence in this city.  ;D

[TheHangedOne]

This is quickly looking like it's going to be quite awesome.  :D

[Reia]

Alright, here's my character. I especially enjoyed creating a backstory for her. I also decided to add a bit to her profile - hope that's okay.

Name: Diane Elkin
Character Type: Indoctrinated
Age: 26
Gender: Female
Sexual Preferences: Pansexual with a kinky side - she's very dominant in the bedroom.

Physical Description and/or image: Diane is of average height at just over 5 feet 4 inches. Her hair is never longer than mid-back length and never shorter than just below her shoulders. For the past few years she's been dying it a deep reddish-brown using henna as a way to keep her ties to her family severed. The color of her eyes seems to change, from an odd pale-green with brown rings around the edges to a light green-hazel. She's naturally pale and doesn't tan at all - when she does stay out in the sun for long she turns a nice, bright red. Her figure is toned and lithe, and while she may seem small, she's strong and able to stand her ground against people or things much bigger than her. Her clothes are casual and convenient - jeans and a t-shirt/tank are her staples, along with an old bomber jacket she found at a flea market a few years ago; she's never worn a dress in her life and sees them as extremely impractical. At first glance she seems like the average all-American college girl.

Skills: Diane has a strong set of skills thanks to her upbringing, but while she's good at what she does, it all has a rough quality to it and no real finesse.

• picking locks - learned this from her brother at a young age and quickly surpassed him in skill
• knives - pretty adept at using knives of all kinds to defend herself and always has a dagger or two strapped on her somewhere
• shotguns - when it comes to guns, these are her specialty, especially sawed-offs
• self-defense - this skill was drilled into her by her father from the moment he felt her old enough to learn

Weakness: Her family is her greatest weakness - she senses they're in trouble and she loses all rationality. She's also extremely freaked out by cockroaches and she hates the smell of corpses (enough to where if exposed to it for too long, she'll get physically sick).

Backstory:  The Elkins come from a family of hunters. Diane's father had even boasted once that they had ties to the infamous Samuel Colt. Growing up, Diane had a strange childhood. She wasn't like most other kids and she never attended regular school. From as far back as she can remember, hunting had been the number one priority in her education. Her mother, while not a hunter herself, was supportive of her family and home schooled her kids. While she doesn't exactly love the life she lives, she knows nothing else and wouldn't actually want to be a "normal" person. Diane has a brother (Jason) and a sister (Amy), both older than her. They were trained by their father, being taught everything under the sun that they needed to know in order to go after the supernatural.

Regardless of her unconventional upbringing, Diane had a good life. Due to the work they did, her family was extremely close-knit and also had some close family friends amongst other hunters. They had their home base in central Texas, on an old ranch that had been in their family for generations. When a strange or unusual "something" cropped up, they'd travel to the city to check it out and take out whatever it was. Being the youngest, though, Diane was left home with her mother quite a bit. She didn't resent it, not to much at least, because her father would always tell her that someone needed to stay home to watch Mom.

When Diane turned 18, Jason and Amy took her for her first solo-hunt - a simple ghost haunting one state away. With only a few scrapes and bruises to show afterwards, she was delighted at her success and more than ready to tell her dad everything. When the three siblings arrived home late one night, about a week later, they realized something was wrong - as the red warning light wired to the top of the house was lit. Scared and clinging to Amy, Diane followed her brother and sister into the house, a knife held in her shaking hand.

The house was empty and completely quiet, all electronics off and no light coming in from outside. They inspected every bit of the house they could and found nothing. Which worried them even more. Upon declaring the house clean, Jason led his sisters outside to check the barn. That's where they found their parents. There wasn't much left to them, just measly shells of the people they had been. They were still alive, even though just barely, but non-responsive. Terrified, the three siblings quickly gathered up their parents and took them to the nearest hospital.

Their mother and father lived, but never truly regained full sanity. They could recognize their kids and talk about when they were younger, but that was it. Jason, furious at what had been done to his family, practically tore the house and barn apart in his search for answers. It was during one of his rampaging sprees that they found the message scribbled on the roof of the living room. Scratched into the plaster and speckled with bits of sulphur and black dust, were the words: We'll get you.

After that, Amy decided it would be best if they split up - to hopefully distract whatever was after them if it had three trails to follow. There was an long and intense argument, but eventually they all agreed. They also agreed of a way of letting each other know that they are okay. Every two weeks they each send in a classified ad to several newspapers around the country with a coded message.

Since splitting from her brother and sister, Diana has been traveling all over the country on her dad's old motorcycle. She hunts daily and takes down what she can, occasionally accepting help from others when she knows it'll be a tough job. While it was hard at the beginning - as most of the seasoned hunters wanted nothing to do with a small 18 year old girl - she's managed to make a name for herself. She's made mistakes and has the scars to prove it, but she's not afraid of shooting first and asking questions later. When it comes to gathering information, she's a bit impatient and relies mostly on her own knowledge and the tattered notebook she jots things down in. However, she does work well with others and is more than happy to let someone else take the brunt of a job if it means her assured survival.

For the past few years Diane has been trying to find out what got to her parents and if there's any way to stop it. So far she hasn't found much more than myths and lore. But she's determined to get revenge and kill the thing so her family can be together again.

When we meet Diane she's in search of her sister as it's been over two months since last hearing from her and Cape Merrin is the place of Amy's last known whereabouts.

[Malrunar]

Name: Cori Michaels

Age: 26

Character Type: Initiate/Human -Detective

Physical Description and/or image:

Sex: Female

Sexual Preferences: Curious.

Skills:
*Hand-to-Hand-- Through Cori's training with the US Army, she's skilled in a variety of hand-to-hand combat, including disarming her opponents, and quickly bringing them to the ground. With much buried aggression, she's been described as 'beautiful but brutal' while sparring with others.
*Luck-- Looking at her past, one wouldn't call her lucky; but Cori's sense of intuition seems to be rather acute, giving her a step above the others when it comes to survival.
*Parkour-- Instead of drinking, or taking to other acts to make up for the events of her live, Cori prefers the more gratifying sensation of a hard workout. When she was a kid she would play with the neighbors, and through foster care, Cori was introduced to parkour by some new 'sisters' and 'brothers'. This has developed over the years, and comes in handy when chasing down a felony or person of interest for her cases.

Backstory: Daddy wanted a boy; and got beautiful little girl instead. It could be said that Cori Michaels was a mixed blessing from the start. Her presence in the world gave Cori’s mother someone to talk to and confide in, adding a little lace to the heavy masculinity of her home. Yet, Cori’s father, Police Chief Donald M. Michaels of the Santa Barbara precinct, had the old-world beliefs that a woman’s place was in the kitchen; and not bringing home the proverbial bacon.

Growing up was difficult for her, but not horrible. Cori’s relationship was strongest with her mother, while her father was a figure who sat at the dinner table and occasionally spoke up about an arrest in the neighborhood or to give a foreboding warning to watch out for the Masterson boys. Through Cori’s mother, she harbored the wants and desires of a romantic, the princess who wanted to be swept off of her feet and carried away in an extravagant parade of flower petals and forest critters. When Cori turned thirteen, romantic thoughts of Fairy Tales died with her mother, who was found raped and brutally murdered in their Santa Barbara home. The only evidence that turned up was large animal tracks around the front windows of the bedroom, and a tuff of dark hair that belonged to some canine.

Donald picked up the bottle to drown his sorrows, finding himself in a world he didn’t know how to live in; with no woman able to take care of him, and with the daughter he never wanted. For a couple of months, Cori tried to return structure by picking up the duties of the mother she had lost, but found her father disinterested in the meals made or in Cori at all. She took care of herself, did well in school, and knew that the moment she was able to leave, that was the route she was going to take. Donald took his life when she was sixteen, by wedging his toes into the trigger of his most prized shot-gun.

From there, Cori lived with foster parents, moving from home to home until she was eighteen. With no money for school she joined the Army the day she graduated from high school, and knew that if she didn’t find any structure in her life, statistically she wouldn’t last long before following the fates of her parents. It was that little girl’s ever present need to please her father that she joined as an MP, and began to get involved with MCU.

Cori had a natural talent for picking up details; and a unique point of view that allowed her to ask the right sort of questions. The army life, however, reminded her too much of her old home life, and so when her contract was up, Cori looked for work in the civilian world. Cape Merrin was far enough away from her old life that she felt refreshed, almost new, and was all too happy to dig her heels into the soil and find new roots.

[Kaisude]

I'm loving the characters here. I can't wait to get this thing started. Yggdrasil I am rather turned on that your character knows Parkour I am a huge fan of it, and know a little my self. Though near death experiences aren't accomplishments I had fun.

[Mhina]

One quick question I wanted to ask before I post a character. How exactly were you planning to run this? I mean is it going to be character driven and we all sort of do our own thing or did you have a plot in mind already?

[Roo]

Hi Mihna,


Thanks for your question. We have an initial story arc outlined loosely, but as much as possible we are going to prompt the hunters to work together. Once we establish a final roster we are probably going to ask each player to think about 2-3 short term and 1 long term goal. Basically these will help drive subplots. This game won't be about railroading you along one path, but we will look for you to work together cooperatively to solve the mysteries and catch/kill/maim the villains. Rick and I very much want to allow for individual character freedom and I think we are both open to talking with players about character ideas and where they can fit in to the overall plot. So, if you do create a character and ever end up feeling lost in the shuffle, well you can always PM one or both of us and we will be happy to help you come up with some ideas that can move your character in the direction you'd like to see him/her develop.

Hope this gets at an answer that makes sense-if not, feel free to inquire further.

Roo

[Malrunar]

Kaisude:  ;D Its a lost art, I think! And while Cori isn't going to be any sort of 'Buffy' character, she certainly isn't helpless or ignorant on how to give the slip. She almost should have been a criminal. I think she's going to be a lot of fun to play.

[TheHangedOne]

I have a question now. Not counting the people that will be entering play as just having come to the city, would Hunters (like my own Leofwine) who have lived in the city for a long time (in this case, all his life) know or know of each other?

[Roo]

I have a question now. Not counting the people that will be entering play as just having come to the city, would Hunters (like my own Leofwine) who have lived in the city for a long time (in this case, all his life) know or know of each other?

I'll need to discuss this with Rick as well, but I believe we will push for at least an acquaintance. Then within the first few GM posts, we hope to give you a reason to band together, so perhaps you haven't hunted together before, but now you have the motivation to. Probably Otis, since a number of people have worked him into their backstories, will feature somehow. Perhaps he will call the hunters from the area together. I don't want to say more than that though without talking to Rick about this specifically.

[Reia]

Going along with TheHangedMan's question - what about a character that's from outside of the city and just arriving?

[Kaisude]

Kaisude:  ;D Its a lost art, I think! And while Cori isn't going to be any sort of 'Buffy' character, she certainly isn't helpless or ignorant on how to give the slip. She almost should have been a criminal. I think she's going to be a lot of fun to play.

I look forward to the interaction between our characters. I look forward to the interaction of all of our characters.

[Roo]

Going along with TheHangedMan's question - what about a character that's from outside of the city and just arriving?

Rick and I will find a way to get you introduced to/integrated with the group. It will hopefully be exciting and fun.

[Reia]

Rick and I will find a way to get you introduced to/integrated with the group. It will hopefully be exciting and fun.

Awesome, thanks! I'm very excited about this game. :D

[Reia]

I look forward to the interaction between our characters. I look forward to the interaction of all of our characters.

Ditto!!

[Crovonovin]

A question.  Seeing as how there seems to be a bit of a lopsided balance between female and male characters, is there any sort of gender restriction?  I ask because the character that I'm diligently working on is also a woman (though perhaps a bit more 'one of the guys' due to her upbringing), and it always pays to ask instead of making assumptions!

[Mhina]

I'd be interested in the answer to that.

[rick957]

Glad to see so much interest, and new folks popping up too.  :)

Roo and I have never attempted to co-GM anything, so this is something of a learning experience for us; hopefully all the players will be patient as we work out the kinks.  For example, there may be instances where one GM makes a decision assuming the other will be fine with it, and then the other GM turns out to have an unforeseen problem with the decision, so then we have to revoke or revise the decision.  I doubt it will happen often, if at all, but it's good for everyone to be aware that such a situation may come up.  We'll try to avoid it, if at all possible.

As to characters knowing each other prior to the game events:  I think it would be great if there were acquaintances or even relationships between certain characters, but at this early stage, it's best if we simply leave room for those things to be revealed later on, rather than nailing those things down now.  Unless there's a pair of players who know in advance that they will be happy for their characters to be closely involved with each other, we won't know which players will be eager to have their backgrounds intertwined, until we've all had the chance to play with each other for a little while.  Later on, as we get to know each other's characters, we can learn about their past connections to each other.

As to male/female ratio -- if you're putting together a character and feel that you can contribute a type of character that we need more of, such as an extra male or another non-Monster, that would be great.  But by far, the most important thing is that you end up with a character you will enjoy playing.  For the time being, unless we announce otherwise, feel free to make up any kind of character you like (according to the instructions in the first post in this thread).  If the GMs decide we can't take any more of one thing or another, we'll let you know, but right now it's too early to make such restrictions.

Hope that helps!  Looking forward to seeing more cool characters, and more joiners, too, there's still room.  :)

[Starlequin]

Hm, I'm starting  to suspect I might be missing out here! Perhaps I'll try to generate a CS for this one.

[Esoteric Myobi]

-gives happy glomps to familiar faces and waves cheerily at new ones-

After giving it some thought, I can't resist and shall give in to temptation. It seems that I'll finally be participating in one of your games Rick :-)

Am bouncing around ideas for a character...hrm...-ponders-

[Roo]

Rick and I would be excited to see whatever you come up with, Starlequin and Esoteric Myobi!

[Kaisude]

Well I offer my character if anyone wishes to have him as an acquaintance or something more. It doesn't matter really eventually we all will end knowing each other on some level or another. 

[TheHangedOne]

Squee! Hi, Myobi! *Gives her a big ol' bear hug.*

[Mhina]

I made a character. I hope it makes sense. Sorry it's so long.

Name: Abigail Diederich

Character Type: Indoctrinated

Physical description: (working on finding a picture) Abigail is on the short side, standing 5’5 and thin to the point of sometimes appearing frail. She has messy black hair, falling to her shoulders and dark brown eyes. She has the appearance of not sleeping much, with rings under her eyes and a pale complexion. She has no distinguishing characteristics other than a gouge taken out of the arch of her left ear. She appears younger than she is by a few years due to her small size.

Age: 24

Sex: Female

Sexual preference: Male, though it has been a long time since her last sexual encounter and she hasn’t put much thought into her own sex or that of others for quite some time.

Skills: Abigail has spent years training herself in the use of a handgun, which she claims is the new instrument of divine retribution. When necessary and when she can clamp down on her natural persecutory tone she is a skilled and convincing orator, though this is somewhat offset by her disheveled appearance. She has also developed some skill with knives and metal working, stealing silver from holy sites in order to infuse her bullets with more divine power, though this effect may just be in her head.

Personality: Abigail has become difficult to get along with, touchy and suspicious of everyone around her. Her overzealous behavior and lack of focus or a stable mental state make her somewhat unreliable although she usually tries to follow through with her promises when she makes them. She is genuinely kind when talking to other members of her faith, but it takes a long time for her to trust those she sees as outsiders.

Back story: Abigail grew up in a very religious house, hearing stories about the monsters that awaited little girls who didn’t obey their parents and properly recite their verses. Her mother was harsh but never cruel, hoping to give Abigail an example of a strong, devote, and faithful woman to model herself on. In large part she succeeded but as much as Abigail loved her mother she idolized her father, who served as a minister at one of the city’s largest and most well attended churches. Growing up she would spend hours watching him rehearse his sermons, and for years she never missed a single one. As she got older she began to follow in his footsteps, trying to find a way to become as devoted a member of the church as her father.

By the time she was in her teens almost all her spare time was devoted to volunteer work at the church, and she could be found there more often than at home. By this point of course her mother, proud of her daughter’s faith and acknowledging that at a certain point a girl was simply too old to be scared by stories of demons and monsters, had stopped telling them to Abigail. Some small part of Abigail always remembered those stories though, and she always kept them in the back of her mind. As she got older, she began to believe that there were monsters watching her and her family from the shadows and from behind the faces of the unfaithful.

When she was finally old enough to leave home her relationship with her parents had turned somewhat tense. She and her father got into frequent arguments over the scripture and his method of preaching. He maintained that universal acceptance was the solution to the world’s problems, while Abigail, growing increasingly fearful, maintained that the unfaithful were to be avoided at all costs. She believed that a lack of faith merely meant a place for evil to be harbored. She thought that he should be advocating harsher methods and that ultimately it would be an “us versus them” scenario.

Tensions might have continued to rise had it not been for the events leading up to her nineteenth birthday, her first year away from home. She had returned to the house she grew up in that night, expecting a warm welcome and a temporary ceasefire in regards to the disagreements she had with her parents, but had walked into a dark house that stank of sulfur and burning flesh. Abigail tore through the house in a panic desperate to find her parents. All of the things she had feared since her childhood ran through her head, all her fears and warnings seemed confirmed in a single instant as stumbled into the basement, finding the bodies of her parents covered in horrific burns, chunks of their flesh torn from their bodies and the festering wounds sizzling and popping as they corroded. Abigail fled the house then, running to the church where she shut herself up in her father’s wardrobe, sobbing into his vestments. She stayed there for days before thirst drove her out.

It would be a year before she found out that it had indeed been a monster that had killed her parents. During that year what had been left of her sanity had slowly begun to slip away, leaving her with nothing to fill her head with but the teachings of her faith. She vowed to hunt down the beasts that had done this, and any others she could find, in the name of the Almighty. She took up residence in the church until she was thrown out and now spends her time hiding out in any church or holy place she can lie or break her way into. She wears her father’s robes and collar, proclaiming herself his rightful heir and passer of judgement on all creatures of evil.

[Aurora Wayland]

I must say, I am loving all the characters. I hope we all get to roleplay together. :D

[rick957]

By the way, I assume everyone interested in joining is keeping an eye on this thread for announcements/questions/discussion etc.?  Great, that's what I figured.  :)

Roo and I are still busy discussing all the great characters that have been submitted so far.  In the meantime, here's some small questions for a few of you.



Question for AndyZ:  Can you help me understand this line in your char sheet?  Maybe I'm being thickheaded.  Or is there a word missing or something?

It's rare but not unheard of for someone to see him in one particular form and actually end up seeing an alternate form which they recognize.

Also I could use some help understanding Arathel's physical appearance.  Does he see himself in angel form or human form, or both at different times, or both at once?  What determines whether a viewer sees him as angel or human?  And what determines which of the three human guises are seen?  If your response contains info that you don't want the whole group to know, you can PM rather than replying here.



Question for TheHangedMan:  I like to know pronunciations if I'm going to read a name frequently.  Can you help me with the pronunciations for "Leofwine" and "Leof"?  Do the names rhyme with any other, familiar words, for instance?  I'm guessing "Le-" rhymes with "ice tea" and "honeybee"; and "-of" rhymes with "off," like turning off a light; and "-wine" just rhymes with "wine," like goes well with the chicken.  :)  Am I guessing right, or is one or more of those wrong?



Question for Kaisude:

He even fixed a relationship too.

I didn't know what this line was referring to.  Is this line going to be explained later, or did I overlook its meaning somehow, or did you forget to elaborate, or -- ?  :) 



Question for Yggdrasil:  Little help -- what's MCU?  Maybe I missed it.



Question for Mhina:  Does your character wear her father's robes and cloak all the time, or just sometimes, like if she's hunting a monster?



Looking forward to seeing char sheets from the rest of you who have expressed interest. 

Thanks folks!

[Kaisude]

Rick: That line only implied that Micheal's biggest strength in his life was his ability to fix things. So fixing a relationship was on the list of things he had fixed at one point in his life.

[rick957]

Cool, that's sorta what I figured.  By the way, Roo PMed you another question, Kaisude, a while ago; if you replied to her already, that's fine, she just hasn't told me your answer yet, but I'll get it from her later.

[Kaisude]

Rick shot you a pm hope it helps.

[Roo]

Hello All,

So far we have 9 characters under submission and 4 more interested parties. Rick957 and I have decided that this will be enough characters for beginning the game.

So, we have character submissions under consideration with us from the following people: Aurora Wayland, Kaisude, AndyZ, TheHangedMan, abandoneddolly, Reia, Yggdrasil, mrsjaz, and Mhina.

We've heard interest from the following parties: Shihong, Esoteric Myobi, Starlequin, and Odin. If you've posted or PMed either Rick or myself prior to this going up, and I've left you off the interested party list, please let me know ASAP. When you have the chance to think over your character, go ahead and post it here in the thread.

We want to ask anyone else who may be interested in submitting a character to either PM both of us, or to post here and ask to be put on a waiting list. If, after we get the game under way, we have slots open up or we need some fresh blood, so to speak, we will contact people on the waiting list first before we post a general recruitment ad.

Rick and I are busily formulating some specifics in regard to the supernatural elements of the game and constructing some opening posts. We are still discussing characters a little bit, but I am hopeful that we will have firm acceptances/denials of character submissions out to everyone who has submitted thus far in a fairly short time period.

Thanks to all of you for your interest and enthusiasm,

Roo

[Mhina]

@Rick

I meant to say robes and collar,, since robes and cloak is almost redundant (not quite, but almost). She wears them at all times, whether she's hunting or not.

[Malrunar]

@Rick: MCU: Major Crimes Unit. Homicide.  etc. :)

[TheHangedOne]

Question for TheHangedMan:  I like to know pronunciations if I'm going to read a name frequently.  Can you help me with the pronunciations for "Leofwine" and "Leof"?  Do the names rhyme with any other, familiar words, for instance?  I'm guessing "Le-" rhymes with "ice tea" and "honeybee"; and "-of" rhymes with "off," like turning off a light; and "-wine" just rhymes with "wine," like goes well with the chicken.  :)  Am I guessing right, or is one or more of those wrong?

His name would be pronounced Lee-off-wine, and lee-off, so yes, you have the right of it.  :D

Edit: Addendum: I would like to ask if it's alright that I specify Leof works as an assistant trainer at the Eskrima school he attends, so that not only does he still get the training and exercise he desires, he also gets money for doing it?  :-)

[Crovonovin]

Name: Delilah Etienne

Character Type: Indoctrinated
Physical Description and/or image: Delilah is a powerhouse of a woman, standing at about six foot two inches and weighing in at a fiercely athletic 164 pounds.  This is a chick who cares not one jot about what other people think of her or her gender, prizing personal wellness and strength above all else.  Her dirty blonde hair is typically cut short and slicked back out of her face, practical and professional.  But for all the muscle and confident swagger, it's Delilah's eyes that really draw one in and send them reeling backwards in equal measure.  Like two glaciers they are, a blue so blinding as to be nearly white, glaring with all the intensity of a hawk scoping out its prey.

She's never found without coils of silver chain around her arms and neck (though the latter are designed to snap off easily enough), and even a few wrapped about her abdomen for good measure.

Sex: Female
Sexual Preferences: Isn't picky.
Skills:

• Street-Fighting: Though not professionally taught in any established martial art, Delilah is a bruiser through and through.  Years spent in illegal underground fighting rings have taught her much about surviving in close quarters with a desperate combatant.  Every weakness can be taken advantage of, every object in sight can be used as a weapon, and no rules apply when it comes to defending yourself from harm.  The woman fights like a feral cat with the strength of a small bear, and is generally extremely unpredictable with her movements; such is the strength of her improvisation.
• Marksmanship: Delilah first held a rifle in her grip at the age of six, and knew all the intricacies of most firearms by the age of seven.  By eight she could reliably dismantle and reassemble just about any rifle, pistol, or shotgun she was presented with.  Sometimes it pays to have a father with a healthy love of Second Amendment.  She's a damn good shot and she knows it, and will always try to put as much space between her and her opponent when she can manage it.
• Singing: Those who have actually heard her claim that Delilah's voice could melt even the blackest of hearts, but they are few and far between.  The most she manages most days is a lilting hum, or some old tune whispered under the breath whenever she thinks she's alone.  A broken songbird.
• Survival: Though at her prime in marshlands and other damp climates, Delilah knows how to live off the land for long stretches of time without contact with civilization.  She prefers to stalk her targets in cities and towns, but if it comes down to it she would stalk right into the belly of the beast if it gave her the opportunity to gut it like a fish.

Backstory:

Hailing from deep in the swamps of Louisiana and born to an old Cajun ex-Marine and his second-generation French immigrant wife, Delilah had a rather unconventional upbringing.  Her father had been shooting for a son to carry on his legacy, but when he wound up with a daughter his stubbornness just wouldn't allow him to be disappointed.  Gender be damned, Savoi was going to have the rough-and-tumble child he'd wanted.  As soon as she was old enough for her blonde locks to start getting long, he promptly buzzed 'em right off and raised her as the boy he couldn't manage to get.

Of course, his wife didn't simply exist in the background.  Dione (who had been adamant about naming her daughter something appropriately feminine, much to her husband's chagrin) taught her what it meant to be a young lady whenever her dad wasn't around to get all irate about it.  Fortunately for him, it became swiftly apparent that she took after her dad's sensibilities.

The family lived out on the water in a particularly scenic part of the state where the air wasn't quite so filthy with mosquitoes, but the nights were often noisy as the swamp came alive with all manner of wildlife.  On more than one occasion a wily snapper or an alligator would wander too close to the front porch and need to be staved off with shovel (for the former) or a well-placed shot between the eyes (for the latter), and Savoi made damn sure his daughter knew the proper respect that a loaded firearm deserved.

It wasn't the guns that Delilah loved though, for her dad had more talents than just being ornery and ex-military.  Like many down that way he fancied himself a bit of a saxophonist.  Unlike many down that way, he also happened to be a damn good one.  His instrument had been passed down from his father, and he'd taken to it like a fish to water.  It was a massive thing, for his old man had been a veritable giant, and as a kid Delilah couldn't even manage to get her hands around it.  So she'd merely listen to her dad play whatever came to mind, all the feelings he was too gruff and proud to talk about washing out of him in his music.  It was never more to him than a side hobby, an excuse to go down to the local bar and play for tips, but to her it was the gateway to a strange and exciting world of sound and expression.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a world that she'd ever get to experience.  It was sweltering night when her childhood came to an abrupt end, at only eleven years old.  A noise woke her in the night, the sound of splintering wood punctuated by two sharp cracks from a rifle, a crash, then silence.  After a few minutes and no word from her father, she'd plucked up the nerve to venture out of her room, through the billowing mosquito nets, and down the hall to the parlor. 

The walls were painted a sickly shade of red and the humid air stank of bile and excrement, but they were merely the horrid backdrop to the thing dominating the center of the room.  It was, quite simply, the largest god forsaken alligator that the girl had ever seen, and what's more it was standing upright on two legs.  Everything was off about it, from the hulking shoulders and the too-large arms rippling with muscle and ending in a too-human fist, to the twisted smile that was too sadistic to possibly be natural.  It stared at her out of the corner of its eyes, stark blue pools that practically mirrored her own in their sheer coldness, grotesquely tilting its head back to swallow the morsel of meat that had once been her father's right arm. 

"Sorry, sweety," it said, sounding not unlike a man attempting to whisper cruelly through a mouth full of razorblades and broken glass, "But yer a wee too small fer my likin'.  Maybe I'll come back fer ya in a few years, when ya put summir meat on dem bones, eh?"

He laughed then, a hateful sound that would stay with Delilah for the rest of her natural life.  Unthinking, numbed to what she was witnessing, her small body jumped at the rifle the beast had forgotten on the floor.  The monster sideswiped her with the entire length of his powerful arm, flicking her into the wall like a worn out ragdoll, but not before a single shot rang out and a fountain of blood splattered from what had once been the thing's right eye.  The last thing she remembered was a pained roar, an explosion of wood, and utter darkness.

The next few years were not kind to Delilah, and she wasn't kind to them.  The mere fact that she'd managed to survive was nothing short of a miracle according to the doctors, but she knew better.  The Etienne's were made of sterner stuff than that.  But her father was dead, and her mother with him, and she knew that whatever distant family would come to claim her would be no family of hers.  Turns out she didn't have much to worry about in that regard, as the only blood she had was either too drunk and unfit to take up the responsibility, disinterested in accepting her, or back in Europe and far out of reach.  Much to the surprise of her physicians and the police, she insisted on being put up in an orphanage.  Of the talking alligator she told no one.  She was a kid, but she wasn't stupid.  The last thing she needed was to get sent off to the Funny Farm, not when there was a murderous git that needed to get what was coming to him.

Her education was questionable, and she gave the Sisters and just about every other authority figure all the trouble she could muster up, but she was smart and learned quickly whenever she applied herself to something.  It's just that she tended to apply herself to target practice out in the woods and beating up schoolboys in back alleys, was all.

When she came of age, having done a damned good job driving away anyone who would even dare to think about adopting her, she received all of her parent's possessions and their property, as per their joint-will.  They had put everything they had into raising her--their money, their time, their hopes and dreams, and ultimately their lives.  It would take some doing, but she wasn't about to let all of that go to waste.  She sold the property and all the old wounds that came with it, bought a sturdy truck with a flatbed, and packed up all the essentials (the guns, mostly) before hitting the road and the wider world. 

She knew what her prey was from books nicked from the library.  A Skin-walker, a half-man who could wear the guise of any animal (or person) he chose by wearing its pelt in order to pass through the wilderness unchecked, and whose voice as as malleable as water and could deceive any who heard it.  Knowing that the killer could be anyone or anything did not deter her, for those ungodly eyes were burned into her vision, staring back at her every time she fell to slumber.

And she knew exactly what she would do to the bastard once she tracked it down.  Savoi's old saxophone had still been at his side when the man was torn apart.  It was a grim realization that her arms were large enough to hold it properly, only now that it had been stained with his blood.  She didn't dare to play it, but took a few lengths of steel and welded them to support its brass frame, covering the bend with cruel silver spikes, and added a sizable handle just past the mouthpiece.  To anyone else it would have been a desecration to mutilate the treasured heirloom like that, but in her eyes it seemed a most fitting instrument of revenge.

The past few decades have been spent on the road, taking odd jobs here and there for a few months at a time whilst tracking down whatever shifters she could find, conversing with others of her informal trade and those who knew the Old Legends themselves.  Delilah's been working as an interstate truck driver for the past few years, using her shipping lanes as a convenient excuse to travel about the country while getting paid to do it.

[Vergil1989]

You know, I'm tempted to join this one since I'm trying to get a Supernatural RP off the ground but this seems more my alley lol.  I just started watching the show really and I'd be happy to give this a try.  Just not entirely sure what I'm going to pull for this just yet, but I'll figure something out.  For now, here's the character sheet for when I do get my thoughts together.

Name:  Jason Jefferson.
Character Type: Indoctrinated.
Age;  31
Physical Description and/or image: Sex:  Male.

Sexual Preferences:  Straight.  (Check O/O page for more.  Both the one you make by clicking the link at the top and the one listed in the sig lol.)
Skills:  Hand to hand combat experience.  Military training, the best the Marines could offer a man like JJ.  A natural brawler, Jason trained extensively in many forms of combat until he went home a couple months ago.  Even so, he still trains regularly against a punching bag....or the occasional soul sucking demon from Hell.

Marksmanship.  Sniper rifles are his specialty, but Jason is proficient in many firearms and knows how to take them apart, as well as putting them together, blindfolded if challenged though he's not as fast as some people are.  Even so, he prefers to pick his targets off at a distance, but if the need arises, he loves to the weight of a pump action shotgun in his hands which he's quite deadly with.  Too many FPS games will do that.  (lol.)

Hacker.  He's a computer whiz, having been born around them pretty much.  He started hacking when he was twelve years old, nothing big, just to see if he could get away with it.  His dad taught him everything he knew, and Jason went from there.  Nothing malicious, but information was his specialty and getting it is second nature for him, no matter the source.

Mechanical engineering.  When he wasn't hacking, Jason loved tinkering with anything and everything that moved on wheels.  Car maintenance was a favorite pastime of his, although he did get into a little trouble when he hotwired a car and drove it off into a ditch, at a slow speed thankfully or he wouldn't be around now.  That was when he was 13, and his first driving experience to boot.

Backstory:  JJ, as he was often called as a kid growing up, had a regular childhood for the most part.  No brothers, a single parent that treated him well despite their rocky start.  Mother died giving birth to him, but Dad had gotten on well enough afterward.  A well paying job in the construction business, old man Jefferson might have worked long hours but he always made time for his kid, his one and only joy that he had left in the world.  That gave JJ plenty of time between school and time alone, to get into computers, mostly just picking up the tools of the trade of a hacker at a young age, his keen mind helping him along to keep ahead of those that decided to fight back.  He went after sites that promoted hatred of any kind, destroying them with well placed viruses as well as Trojans, bugs, and other nasties he could cook up, all at the same time of covering his tracks, making it seem he was never there, earning him the nickname Ghost among other hackers, no one suspecting he was just a kid.

Joining the military, more specifically the Marines, just like his old man had before him, Jason left town right after high school graduation, leaving with a perfect academic record, all straight As.  He stayed in from 18 to the age of 25, having earned an honorable discharge.  It was when he came home that he found out the horrible truth of the world, and that it had far more shadows than he ever could have imagined.  War was hell, and he thought he was leaving it all behind.  Rumors of a strange woman popping up in town became prevalent when he moved back into his father's home, but he had thought nothing of it at the time until she came to their house.  JJ was out with a few old friends from his school days, so he didn't see what came into their house until he got home shortly after it was too late, and his father near death, in his own bedroom, looking like a gaunt skeleton.  The woman, a full fledged demon from Hell, a succubus, was firmly planted on his father's dick, riding him for all she was worth and sucking the life out of him at the same time.  His father had apparently tried to fight her off, but it had been no use.

The woman had wings like a bat, horns that curved to the back of her head, and dusky gray skin with red fire like hair falling over her shoulder blades.  His father saw him and couldn't even shout a warning as he climaxed one last time before turning to dust, and the bitch demon from Hell climbed off and turned towards the son.  "Oh, such a strong little man aren't you?"  Her voice seemed to caress Jason's ears, as if she had her lips to them, and despite the horrible scene he had just witnessed, his groin responded long before the rest of him caught up.  "I've had my fill for the night, but I think I might come back for you later."  With a laugh that chilled his bones, Jason watched the succubus disappear in a flash of fire and smoke, leaving Jason with the dust that used to be his father on the bed.  That was the start, and he has yet to find that 'woman', but he knows what is out there and he's made it his personal mission to kill every single one of the bastards he comes across.

Driving his father's car that he and him had put together from scratch, and purred like a kitten for that matter, JJ left it all behind that terrible night without a single word, burning down the homestead in the process since his father would have wanted it that way.  The car his dad had started with his own, and had kept it up pretty well, and it was Jason and his own father that finished it up.  It was the only thing that he had left that wasn't either stolen, made from scratch, or otherwise faked in some form or another.  It was the only thing he kept that was truly his and his family.  And...it was the only thing that he could have bore to take with him without breaking down into tears.

For money, he does fix things when he's asked, for the right price, but otherwise he usually commits credit card fraud, hacking rich people's bank accounts, among other things, although he hates to do that since it leaves a trail.  Beyond that, the occasional odd job helps to keep food in his stomach and ammo in his weapons, as well as gas in the tank of course.

[Starlequin]

Alright, took me long enough, but here we go. What with all the brawlers and tough guys and bad-ass monsters, I figured maybe something with a twist might be interesting. Here's Reginald.

***
Name: Reginald Barker
Character Type: Initiate
Appearance:
Age: 19
Sex: Male
Sexual Preferences: Bisexual

Skills:
Contacts -- Reginald may not be great shakes at much, but he's a lot of friends on the internet, and some of them really know their shit. If something weird's going down, he can usually get in touch with someone more in the know and get some 411 PDQ.

Danger Sense -- Reginald has an extremely well-honed sense of impending danger, mostly thanks to an abusive home life and plenty of practice avoiding the usual school bullies. As a result, he's not exactly Lionheart, but he makes up for it by knowing how to rabbit with the best of them. If there's a hiding spot or a quick exit anywhere nearby, it's a sure bet Reginald can find it, and in a hurry.

Book of Sorrows -- During one of his weekly library crawls, Reginald discovered this book tucked away in the Suspense and Horror Fiction sections he usually haunted, almost as though it were left there just for him. He'd never seen it before, and when he showed it to the librarian on duty, the old woman informed him there was no such book in their files and told him to stop wasting her time. Reg took the book home and began rifling through it, and discovered it was filled with arcane spells and incantations. At first, Reginald wrote it off as some hokey old hoax and shelved it with his comics and back-issues of Phantasmagoria. But every night since he discovered it, he's felt a strange tingle in the back of his head, as though that book is calling out to him. As if it wants him to read it...

Backstory: Reginald was born in Cape Merrin, and according to his mother it's where he'll die. After an unremarkable grade- and high school career, Reggy tried to move out and escape her domineering control, but luck (fate, destiny, whatever the hell you'd wanna call it) just wasn't on his side. Every job he tried fell through, his first apartment was flooded when his upstairs neighbors busted their water main, and his second turned out to be under seige by militaristic rodents. In the end, he was forced to call it quits and move back home, much to his despair.

When he was younger, Reginald had a great relationship with his father. A good man, Sebastian Barker was, kind and patient, and little Reginald thought he hung the moon. The darkest day of Reggy's life was the day they laid him in the ground, a cold and rainy September morning when he was only seven. That was also the day he realized he lived with a genuine, honest-to-God monster. His mother never missed an opportunity to harangue him, and she used every weapon in her considerable arsenal. Oh, she never laid a hand on him, though; her methods were much crueler, and left far worse scars. Every day she offered her son a new lesson on how pathetic, how worthless, how insignificant he was, and ever night she reminded him how much she wished he'd never been born.

That he even made it to puberty, much less through it, was a miracle. Reginald eventually realized his imagination was his only real escape, that the only place he would ever be safe was his own mind, and he lost himself in books, in movies, in journaling. When he was fifteen he discovered the internet, a wonderous place filled with like-minded people who really listened to what he had to say. Through a few chat and email acquaintances he discovered sites that dealt with the bizarre, the unexplained, and the occult, and he's been fascinated ever since. Even though he's a bit of a skeptic at heart, Reginald truly wants to believe, but how can he? Nothing cool or interesting ever happens in Cape Merrin...

[TheHangedOne]

Nice to see someone who can be an active supporter type, Starlequin.  :-) Nice history, too...I can really empathize with him.

[Kaisude]

I was curious to know when wouldn't have a slick shit killer joining. I loved reading his background Star. Don't worry though with all the bad asses here Reg shouldn't have to lift a finger lol.

[Mhina]

But where would be the fun in that?

[Roo]

Hey Everybody,

Just to update, Rick and I are working diligently to build Cape Merrin together, and we're happily cooking up details for you.
For your patience, here's a teaser, and because I'm lame, I can't get it to load in as an image, so I'm sorry you have to click the link!

[TheHangedOne]

Oooh, that is positively delightful, Roo! Squeee.

[Kaisude]

But where would be the fun in that?

Good question. I don't think there would be any fun in that honestly. I would want to do something.

That was a interesting read Roo. Makes the wait all the better.

[Starlequin]

Hey, THM, Kaisude, glad you liked him. I was originally gonna make him way more obnoxious and unlikable, but you know how it is when an idea starts writing itself.

Mhina, don't worry. Reg is a coward and a weakling, but he's not useless. I've got a couple tricks up my sleeves planned for him (pending a lil chat with Rick and Roo to confirm, of course).

Also, I'm guessing its cuz I'm surfing from my phone, but I can't see anything on the linky. *tries to  peek over da fence* whatsit whatsit whatsit??

[Kaisude]

It's a newspaper clip about a girl who was found dead in Devil Bat cave I believe. It's more or less a teaser as to what our characters will looking in to, and what we can expect from the rp. Just a small teaser.

[Starlequin]

Ahh, we see. Much cool, much thanks, Kai.

[Malrunar]

Sweeeeet.  >:)

[Kaisude]

No problem.

Going back to your character.

Well not saying that all obnoxious people are deutsch bags but I kind of like playing the guy who everyone hates, but for some reason puts up with. I guess it's because of who I am or was as a person. Don't worry I'm not an complete ass. Maybe 80%. *shifty eyes*

[rick957]

No problem.

Going back to your character.

Well not saying that all obnoxious people are deutsch bags but I kind of like playing the guy who everyone hates, but for some reason puts up with. I guess it's because of who I am or was as a person. Don't worry I'm not an complete ass. Maybe 80%. *shifty eyes*

Sorry, random lol moment.

Obnoxious people are like ... German luggage?  :)

[Aurora Wayland]

Oooh. I loved the link. A mystery needs solving! *scooby dooby doo music plays!*

[AndyZ]

Here's the trick to putting up images, or at least what I use, Roo.  I'll post it here so that everybody knows my trick, just in case some other people had some trouble, but I'll also remove this if it seems too condescending or anything mean.

Go to http://imageshack.us/ and upload the picture.

Clicking around a bit, right click the image and click "Open Image in New Tab" a few times.  New Window works fine too if your browser doesn't have multiple tabs.

Eventually you'll get an image name of just that picture, which is a direct link.  You'll know because it'll have just the picture in the window/tab and it'll end in the file name, jpg or whatever.

Here's a link to this one's direct link: http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/3284/tanyadeerhornclipping.jpg

After you do that, you want to put down the picture's URL (as in the link to the picture), select it with your mouse and click the Insert Image button directly below the B for Bold.

The final result looks like this:

[Roo]

Thanks Andy, I don't normally have issues with the stupid upload spot I use, but apparently my newspaper clipping messed it up.

[Vergil1989]

I'm looking forward to this myself thanks to someone showing me I could watch Supernatural online lol.  This remind me of that show so far that I've already watched most of the first season for.

[Kaisude]

I'm looking forward to this myself thanks to someone showing me I could watch Supernatural online lol.  This remind me of that show so far that I've already watched most of the first season for.

That's a great show to be honest though I don't watch it faithfully. I catch it every once in a while and enjoy not knowing what's going on.

[Roo]

Hi All,

To clarify the status of Heads Will Roll: we have our maximum number of characters in play or under construction now. If you're interested in taking part, PM either myself or Rick957 and we'll add you to our waiting list.

Accepted characters have been notified, and we are still waiting on characters from a few people who have expressed interest (Esoteric Myobi, Odin, and MistressofPen). I'll ask everyone who has been accepted to please travel over to the Heads Will Roll Character Thread located here. Post up your final versions of your sheets with your occupation/income source included. Many thanks! If you're one of the people who hasn't posted a character yet, please either PM it to Rick and I or post it here in the Want Ad thread, so we can discuss it before issuing final acceptance/denial/request for revisions.

This thread will also be a spot for a plot summary, once we've had the plot begin, and I'll be posting details about Cape Merrin shortly--not everything about the city, but a sense of the overall districts.

I've also gotten the OOC thread up, so feel free to take chat there now if you like.


I'll post a link to the IC thread here, once we get that up too.

Roo

[MistressofPen]

Name:  Allison “Al” Garvey

Character Type:  Indoctrinated

Physical Description: 28 years old, pretty, 5’9”, long dark hair, pale blue eyes, pierced left eyebrow, tattoo of the eye of horus on her shoulder blade-a piece visible when she wears her usual uniform of wife beater tank and jeans.

Sexual Preference:  Hetero and vanilla experience so far.

Skills
   Daring:  Has been known to try anything at least once.  Not fearless, just not controlled by fear.
   
   Planner:  Can see the end from the start and able to see pitfalls before they happen.

   Running:  She’s fast.  Went to college on a track scholarship; got a liberal arts degree which earned her a job as a research assistant for a professor.

   Research:  She knows how to find out things.  If she hits a dead end, she usually finds another way to her goal.

   Hard-headed:  This is a good trait in that she isn’t a follower just because; people would have to convince her their way was better than hers.  This is a bad trait because she might argue about the color of the sky if she took a dislike to someone.

. _ .

Cape Merrin, fucking Maine, Allison thought, standing beside her steaming car.  A light had lit on the dash a few hours before, but she’d stuck a piece of gum over the light and turned up the stereo in case anything made noise because she wasn’t stopping.  Well, until she had to. Even now, after 8 hours of driving, she felt she hadn’t gone far enough.

It had been the middle of the night when her mother’s drunken boyfriend had come home to knock her mother around some.  It was a weekly occurrence.  Allison had listened for a few minutes as the sounds escalated before grabbing her baseball bat and charging down the hall.  Her mother was watching Ghost Hunters on TV; she loved all of that paranormal, Syfy crap. 

Now, the sonofabitch was losing it, holding her mother to the couch by her hair and ---  Allison stepped back, bat raised.  She couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing.

“Get off her, asshole,” Allison said.

The man looked up, his eyes gone black from lid to lid and blood coating his lips.

Allison stared.

He licked his lips and it almost looked like he smiled.  Allison swung for the moon, the bat connecting with his head and knocking him back.

Her eyes took in her mother’s ravaged neck and she felt like she might pass out.  The blood oozed.  If her heart was beating, Allison knew the blood should shoot across the room from the carotid artery if not the jugular.  She had to look away. If she passed out, she knew she’d be dead, too.

Too.

Allison turned and ran for the back door.  She got there a split second before what had been her mother’s boyfriend caught up, moving with odd-sounding steps after Al.  A glance back and she feinted to the side; avoiding being impaled by his claws at the last second, feeling the wind caused by his movement pass her face.  Allison turned and ran into the dining room and towards the front door, knocking chairs and tables over in her wake.  The front door was unlocked and she jerked herself around it and out.
He grunted and growled as he chased her.  There were thumps as he fell, not moving too well for some reason.  He hit the door, catching Allison’s hand in it.

Allison screamed, but stuck the bat in the door to lever it open and pull free.  She ran to the end of the porch, leaped over the rail, screaming to wake the dead, and wrenched open the door of her old VW bug.  The bug was on its last legs and had to be pop started, so was always parked facing the street at the top of the drive.  Allison released the brake, pushed it a few steps, then paused, wondering why he didn’t follow her. 

Curiosity was killing her...  She slammed the brake on and ran to the window by the drive.  He was skewered, leaning against the front door.  He hadn’t intentionally caught her hand in the door.  It appeared a broken picture frame or chair had pierced him.  He wasn’t dead, he was just immobile.

His eyes slid towards the window.

It was enough for Allison.  She ran back to her car and got the hell away.

She was heading for Canada, maybe a ship somewhere...somewhere safe. 

Allison hated that she ran, that she left her mother.  She wanted to go back and find out what had happened, to finish Gerry off...if that was Gerry.  What was he?  She felt shaky as words popped into her head from those stupid games her friends had all played in high school.  Vampire.  Nosferatu.  Allison had never believed.  All those stories of Count Dracula were from some sick bastard who liked to put people on stakes and drink their blood to scare his enemies.  And, with rapists and child molesters and serial murderers, why did we need other monsters? She wondered, wrapping her arms around herself, shivering.  She looked at her VW and sighed, shivering in the pre-dawn chill.

That was five years ago.  Al had settled in Cape Merrin by necessity; no money and no transportation.  She took a job at a local pub, putting her liberal arts degree to good use pulling beers and fending off the advances of the drunks.  Now that she knew, now that she’d had a slap in the face from reality, she kept watch and saw things that made her stomach roil.  Someone should do something, she thought—never thinking she was that someone.