Happy New Year!!

Had a blast at my aunt's in Wisconsin. It was indescribably good to see family again after 10 years or so of only having to deal with shall we say, judgemental sides of the family until now. Also I failed all my classes at Digipen except(ironically), College Survival Skills, so I am appealing now and if my appeal goes through, and I get to stay, I may need to cut back on Roleplay during the semester until I have a handle on things. On other news, I sprung for two copies of Werewolf 20th Deluxe and am hoping to sell one on ebay once they get here. And Mage 20 is coming next fall!! (salivates) I am currently working on the mapping and first session(s) of the Warcraft campaign, in the meantime though, here is the big news!
 I have also ran the first prelude session(s) with the players of my Battle for Los Angeles campaign!! Here are the 8-steps, and first session plans:

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Player: Peter Dressler

Human

Given Name: Brett Blackmoor

Stage Name: Draven Blackhand

Age: 23

Concept: Drug-addicted, depressed, failed musician whose life has been a constant downward spiral.

Appearance:

Thin, 5'11”, unruly black hair(like the singer from the Cure), dresses in drab shades, mostly black. Lots of jewelry(rings, necklaces, bracelets, etc..). Slender, usually slouched. Looks like a gothic down-on-his-luck turn of the century gentleman.

Backstory:

His father died in a drunk driving incident when he was five. His mother died when he was seven. She killed herself with prescription pills and Brett found her body shortly after. He was shortly after placed into foster care as he had no surviving family to take care of him. Brett moved from household to household throughout his childhood but found stability and security through music and playing the guitar. He became quite talented, devoting hours to his music and shunning others. When he was sixteen he ran away from a particularly abusive family. He lived on the streets for a year and a half before meeting Darla, a nineteen year old dropout who had a penchant for partying. She introduced him to all his current habits of drug use. He also met his bandmates through her. His band, the Wailing Wraiths, found moderate success with the southern California Goth rock music scene, even touring the area. For once Brett, now Draven, was finally happy. But like it always does, loss found Draven once again. Darla, his romantic interest and singer of his band, overdosed on a bad batch of Heroin. The Wailing Wraiths broke up and Draven once again found himself floating alone on a sea of despair.

Beliefs and Morals: Throughout his harsh existence Draven learned that the only one who actually cares about you is yourself. Not god, not the government, not even his own bandmates.

Attitudes and Behaviors: Draven has a live fast die young attitude, often not caring for the consequences of his actions. He is impulsive and reckless, living for the now.

Motives: Music, and the perfection of it, is his ultimate motive. He lives for his music and what solace it offers to him. Without it he surely would have offed himself years ago.

Social Net: Since his love interest died and his band broke up, Draven has had few friends. One of his good friends, John, is a homeless street musician. They often jam, use, and hang out together.

Another 'friend' is Tim. Tim is Dravens' main supply for the variety of narcotics his body craves. He was quite close to his bandmates but after Darla died there was bitter infighting and bridges were burnt.

Demon: (Interested in Cryptics Faction) Slayer(House of Falling Night)

Name: Raam

True Name: Sounds like a chorus of crows, cawing simultaneously along with a dull wail that sounds like mourning made manifest. Along with these sounds one gains a feel of a lost way, and deep despair, but there is a glimmer of hope in the gloom.

Form: He appears as a black shroud, robed in darkness and what appears to be black feathers. Over his face is a pale, perfect mask of alabaster with the face set in grim, gaunt expression.

Background:

Raam is an angel of death, or was. When first created he set off on his duties with somber satisfaction. It was tough work but he was glad he was doing it. When rebellion came he sided with Lucifer, wanting to show mankind that death was not to be feared, but anticipated. During the age of atrocities he preferred to stay out of the conflict and attended to the spirits of humans caught in the crossfire. During the age of wonders he mostly kept to the city of the dead but there was a small, secluded mortal village in which he taught them to not fear death, and for this they revered him. In the aftermath of Cains' transgression a deep rage filled Raam. 'All is for naught!' he cried, 'These mortals shall never learn!' he wailed. In his blind fury he slew the residents of the village that worshipped him. Without meaning to, he sucked the life force out of every living thing: man, woman, child, and beast. His grief cut down his rage at an instant. He began to weep. As he wept his shining tears formed a mask of cold emotion, as if to hide his shame. After this he lurked in the city of the dead, rarely venturing to the outside world.

Beliefs and Morals:

Raam loves mankind but believes they have strayed too far from their original state. He despises their greed and materialism, knowing it doesn't matter in the end. He would love to see them restored but also wouldn't mind a cataclysm to thin the herd.

Attitudes and Behaviors:

Raam is a somber, quiet individual who only speaks when he has something to say. He can be a bit arrogant because of the nature of his work but will never show it.

Motives:

Raam is curious, deathly curious. After being thrown in the pit he had a lot of time to think. He pondered over many questions but never came to answers, only more and more questions. He is determined to find out what became of the Morningstar and his punishment, if any.

Social Net

Raam mostly kept other slayers as company, with the occasional devourer. This was because of the mistrust of the other fallen towards slayers. Besides, he felt most comfortable around them anyways.

You wake up in a cold bath, that you ran hours ago, with a river of water pooling on the floor. The last batch of Heroin you shot up must’ve been weak, lucky for you, since you’re still breathing despite taking twice the recommended dose. All because of that asshole landlord, threatening to evict you and repossess your shit. You haven’t done a show in six months, and the rent’s been piling up since then.

Action: Brett wakes up and orients himself/ dresses himself.

Door: There is a pounding on the door.
Landlord insults and threatens Brett, slams down an eviction notice and says he has 24 hours to vacate before he’s going to call the cops.

Call: Draven gets a call from his old pal John. “Hey Brett, seems there’s a room n’ board over at the Soul Kitchen shelter and halfway house, and a job as caretaker. You wanna come jam with me, and then we can check it out?”

Intermediate Scene: Brett and John Jam and possibly use.

Scene Descript: Soul Kitchen is made up of a group home on one side, and a soup kitchen on the other, with the adjoining space made up of offices and a maintenance office on the other side of the offices. As Draven enters, a young girl looks up hopefully from her meal, and positively beams at Draven. “Hey mister, why you wear those clothes?”
Scene: Draven enters the Soul Kitchen, and is immediately taken off guard by a young girl who takes a liking to him. He is interviewed for the job, and accepted as the caretaker. He also notices a strange music box on the desk of the manager that intrigues his curiousity.

Scene Descript: It is the first night in your new home, as it were, and you are suddenly sucked into a vortex of death, as you relive your parents’ deaths over and over. The dream intensifies, and you are brought down to Darla, sniveling at you, why were you the one who lived, huh??!! Why do you deserve to live when I am dead?? It should’ve been you who ODed!! You wake up to the craving for a fix.
Scene: Restless spirits torment Draven as he is sleeping, reminding him of his parents’ death and his lost love, Darla. Draven is driven to his old habits of using by these spirits, and Tim requires a favor the following night in exchange for a front tonight.

Scene Descript: Looking pale as a ghost, you are up at 5:30 in the morning doing janitorial maintenance, when an irritated old resident comes up to you brandishing his cane!! “Who let you in here!!” “Freak!! I’ll call da cops!!”
(After calming him down...)
“Hey mister, what’s your name, huh?” The young girl will not leave you alone, and chatters away as she hovers beside you. She reminds you of what could have been between you and Darla if she had lived.
Scene: Draven starts his duties as caretaker the next morning, is harassed by an old assholish resident who takes a disliking to his appearance, and is chatted up by the little girl who wants to learn more about him.

Scene Descript: There is a rough part of town, and this alley is smack dab in the middle of it, alongside an accounting office and Red’s Tavern, a seedy bar. It is nighttime, and there are cops patrolling every so often.

Scene: Tim wants Draven to go to a certain alley and make a drop for him. It is an envelope full of money that Tim wants to use to pay off his old debts with a mafioso.

Scene Descript: You get back to the Soul Kitchen safely, use your key to enter, and find Sarah dead of an overdose in your room. An overwhelming grief overtakes you, followed by waves of numbness, as your grief spirals out of control your soul is loosed partially from it’s moorings, and you are overtaken with the feeling that your whole life is ashes, and you fall into a deeper abyss than you thought possible, only to return as something else, Raam, and pieces of Draven, all at once, reformed into a harvester of souls not seen for millenia.
Scene: Draven returns to the Soul Kitchen to find the little girl(Sarah) ODed in his room. She had apparently watched him and imitated him in doing the fix.

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Player : Cole Ingram

HUMAN

name: David Anderson

concept: A failed body guard

Appearance: A large white buff man, clean shave with a shaved head. He has suspicious eyes,

to the point that you might say haunted. He often wears dark sunglasses. He normally wears

either a suit to work, or jeans and a black tank top when he is home.

Backstory: When Davis was a kid, it was just him and his father, his mom having

died giving birth. His father was a hitman for the mob and eventually the police

tracked him down. When they arrived, David was told to hide and he did so. His

father armed himself and a fight broke out between David's father and the police,

destroying David's childhood forever. In the fight, a cop fell dead near David's

hiding place, his gun in Davids' reach. At the same time, David could see police

fighting his dad. It seemed to be going well, until David saw a police man sneaking

up to where David's father was ducking for cover. David could reach the gun, could

kill the policeman, but he was afraid so he remained hidden and watched the police

gun down his dad. After that day, He dedicated his life to training and protecting,

becoming a body guard so that he could make up to himself the failure of letting

his father die while he simply hid.

Beliefs/morals: His morals are based solely on loyalty and respect. He doesn't

respect established authority, like the police who killed his father, but he

respects friends and their war is his law. He is extremely loyal to said friends

and will protect them to the bitter end. His biggest downside is that he is cruel,

if you aren't his friend, then he has no problems killing you.

Attitude/ behaviors : He is very cold, not caring about anybody until they earn his respect.

He is also very suspicious, it is something that comes with working as a body guard.

He is also willing to take any risk for friends, despite being extremely cautious when alone.

Motive: He is trying to prove himself as a protector, to make up for failing to

protect his father. On a lesser note, he is also constantly training in his free time

trying to make his first motive easier. A very serious and cold man.

Social net:

Mentor: His father being dead, David learned all he knows from an ex-hitman and

the owner of the gym he works out at, Vladmir Salvator. He learned how to protect

from the eyes of someone trying to kill.

contact: David gets all the information and supplies he needs from an old friend, Mikey

A fence that David met as a child, they grew up together. A very flippant and happy guy,

some might call him a spaz.

DEMON

Name: Gaurin

Concept: A guardian angel possesses a failed bodyguard.

Appearence: A lithe ghostlike figure, with grey skin and large grey eyes.

House: A scourge specializing in the Lore of the firmament

Background: During the creation of the world, Gaurin was one of the many angels charged with giving life to the humans that would populate the world. This granted him a special bond to those he had the honor of bringing to life. He knew when they were in danger and he was always ready to defend them in whatever why he could.

When destruction was foreseen, Gaurin was easily convinced to rebel against god, wanting to do anything he could to help the humans that he had helped bring to life to survive the coming storm. During the age of wrath he quickly joined the Iron legion, feeling appalled that the other angels could even think of the mortals as anything less than marvels to be protected. During the age of Wonder, he stood on the front lines of the Iron Legion in the skirmishes on the border of the land controlled by the fallen and the land controlled by the host, wishing to save the mortals and get revenge on god for dooming the mortals to an inevitable death.

At the coming of the time of Atrocities, the battlefields changed, became soaked with blood of angels and mortals. It was during this time that Gaurin abandoned his post and instead dedicated himself to escorting mortals safely from battlefields to the safety of the cities. When this ended, and Lucifer united the fallen once again, Gaurin was relieved and instead dedicated himself to protecting the ten watchers when he heard that there might be a rebellion against them. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to protect them and he watched humanity crumble, the heartbreak leading to his giving up on fighting and offering no resistance to his sentence in hell.

Beliefs: The Character's beliefs are based on compassion and loyalty. He has a

deep connection for living things and feels the need to protect them, When he

makes a friend, the bond is very strong considering it is a friendship built

upon his preexisting bond with living things so he dedicates himself wholly to

protecting that individual. His weakness, when it comes to morals, is justice. He

doesn't care who he is fighting or what his friends do, he is still protecting them.

To a lesser extent, he does the same for most living things, not wishing death to come

to anyone.

Attitudes/behaviors: He is rather cautious with his friends, wanting to keep them safe.

He rushes to keep any human from being killed, not caring what their crime is. He generally

doesn't impose his will on others so much as try to guide them to his way of thinking.

Motives: His primary goal is that he wants to protect all life. Second to that

he wishes to make peace with heaven again.

Social net:

Out of the many fallen he had known, only Atael sticks out in his mind, mostly because

he was one of his only friends during the war. While Guarin spent most of his days

protecting humans during the war, Atael was also a scourge healed those who were hurt,

they were a team starting from the beginning of the war all the way to the end,

when they were cast into hell.

 Cole’’s first session:
Arm David with Weapons and Equipment.

You awaken in a cold sweat, from a rerunning show of the gunshot that killed your father. The last thing you see as you awaken is your father’s brains spraying out the back of his head. And a look of mute terror in his eyes as they go white and stare at the last thing they’ll ever see. As you sit up in bed, the phone rings ominously. Usually calls this early are urgent or nonexistent. The clock says 6:45, and your alarm has yet to go off.

Phone: Mentor explains that his daughter has been killed, by he knows not what, and that their only clue so far is the card of a local chinese laundry and sauna, tucked between some floorboards at the scene, his summer home in Santa Monica. There are no prints and no other clues so far, except that his daughter was lacerated about the neck and slowly bled to death. He begs for David to avenge his daughter, as he is now past his fighting prime and could not be sure it would be done right.

Intermediate Scene: It is the 15th anniversary of his father’s death, David realizes with a start. After paying his respects, he must ready himself.

Scene Descript:
There are rows of dirty laundry in wheeled bins, and noone seems to be around at first glance. There is a humming of machinery and the floor is slick with water in some places. Ahead are the machines, as well as a long hallway.
Scene: The laundry - David enters the laundry first, around the back, and is able to stealth in and recon before battling the toughs who are mostly lurking at the sauna(5 in all who are fight worthy).
Scene Descript:
You enter the two story building through a twin set of saloon-like doors that open up onto a veranda and a series of saunas and hot tubs.  Beautiful women lounge in the hot tubs, many of them bearing exotic tattoos, which could be the marks of a slave ring. Two men, lounging in the hot tub and sauna areas, immediately get up and assume a boxer’s stance as they approach you. One is tall and lanky, with scar tissue along his right side under his arm. The other is short and stocky, and produces a gleaming silver fighter’s knife.
Or Scene: the sauna - David enters the sauna first, and is immediately in a two on one fight against some toughs.

Scene Descript:
As you pass a gallery of exquisite paintings, there is a ding! sound and then a humming, coming from a row of paintings of various political figures.
Scene: The Hidden Elevator - David knows there is a second floor from the building, but doesn’t know how to get there. One of the goons was carrying a security key. After searching the first floor, behind a huge painting of Chairman Mao is a locked hidden elevator.

Scene Descript:
A gaunt, pale man in a fine blue velvet suit and tie stands next to two goons with sunglasses and pony tails also dressed in suits who are at least a head taller. “This city is our plaything, and the master will be displeased if I allow you to escape with your head,” it slavers, “who are you, to invade my inner sanctum?”
Scene: Upstairs - After sneaking or fighting his way past the toughs, David is confronted by 3 men. One is armed with a .45 pistol and looks to be rather pale, unhealthily so and also looks to be the leader, as he motions to the other two to open fire with their Uzis and spray the area.
After David kills the Uzi men and is facing the leader, he loses faith in his perception of the world and combined with the shock of wounds, becomes susceptible to possession. The newly risen Demon is assaulted by the now loping ghoul.
Scene Descript:
You are bleeding to death, you realize, and as you lose your faith in the rightness of things you feel another consciousness probing your own, and it reaches out to you.
Your soul is pushed down and merged with another being, another essence. You feel a burning desire to decimate this killer. Your flesh begins knitting together, as the bullets are expelled from your body, and you feel new strength surge into your body, as you instinctively shift into your true form, bearing wings, and using your uncanny intuition, you sense that the creature is not a mere mortal anymore, and also that it is about to charge you.