Scything

I'm curious if any of the other PCs have in-character connections to any of these cities. Anyone have or want a backstory in the heart land of America? Where was Beretta's first final girl experience? Where did Jack get recruited into the Ordo? Have Drew and Joey always been southern California boys? Where did Kilroy make his real estate empire?
 
Given that we've only had two months of in-game down-time to setup our business and acquire real estate, I suspect we currently only have one or two properties, unless people are willing to help buy them with XP.

I'd say New Orleans, Ann Arbor or Las Vegas would be convenient. I would also suggest St.Louis, Memphis, or Milwaukee due to these cites crime rates in the real world.
 
Also we could have a location in all four directions. We already have a east and a west location, so all we would have to do is get a north and south location, and possibly a middle of America location like a St.Louis. If we were  to do that, which I believe we should, then here are my recommendations for the locations...
 
1. East- Boston- Due to the CEO being most familiar with the area
2. West- San Diego-San Diego is where all the players lives so every player would be familiar in the area
3. North- Milwaukee or Detroit- High Crime rate and Milwaukee, Detroit are pretty close to each other-Grand Rapids wouldn't be a bad choice either because it's in between both
4. South- New Orleans- Basically what Steve said 
5. Central (Optional/Not Mandatory)- St.Louis- Highest crime rate in America, close to Kansas City, and is pretty much in the center of America (8 hour drive non-stop from St Louis to the center of the U.S)
 
 

Just confirming that we're gaming today Saturday August 24th at 5pm in the back room of At Ease Games.
 

Speaking as someone who works in the commercial real estate industry, that seems like a pretty fair deal.
 
Here are some real world numbers to consider.
 
$100k cash outlay will pay for a one-year lease in Boston in a Class B building for about 3,300 or so rentable square feet ($30/sf annually or $99,000). There's about 20 million square feet currently vacant in that city, so even a Class A space can probably be found for that rate in a lower occupancy building, given Killroy's knowledge of real estate.
 
In comparison, here in suburban San Diego county, you can pay about the same price for office space in a Class A building. Location will really determine things.
 
Warehouse rental rates in the US are averaging about a quarter of the rate that Class B office space goes for in Boston, or about $7 per square foot.
 
There are also dying strip malls where space can be had for real cheap nowadays, especially in less popular areas.
 

While Boston is fine with me for a home base area, we do need to think about where we should set up remote staging bases. I have a few suggestions, in no particular order.
 
1) Ann Arbor, MI: It's about 45 minutes away from Detroit and is also the current HQ location of the Pinkerton agency. It would be cool if the Pinkertons were involved in supernatural stuff, given their Deadlands lore.
2) New Orleans, LA: This place has got to be a hot spot for supernatural activity, right?
3) Orlando, FL: Disneyworld must have some spooky happenings going on from time to time. Maybe that's why it's so successful. What dark things might go on in the tunnels underneath the parks?
4) Las Vegas, NV: We already know some weird stuff is going on here. There could be much more than we've seen so far. The desert around the city also hides many secrets.
5) San Francisco, CA: Chinatown. What more need be said?
6) San Antonio, TX: It's got a lot of history, what with the Alamo and all.
7) Portland, OR: It's got it's share of supernatural weirdness from all accounts.
8 ) New York City, NY: I wonder if there are any abandoned fire stations we could procure?
9) Honolulu, HI: If nothing else, it would make for a great rest stop area.
10) San Diego, CA: It's where we game in real life, so seems a waste to not use it.
 
 
 

Here's how I imagine Drew's departure and return went:
Murgatroyd: "We should band together for mutual protection from L'Éminence Nocturne. They'll be coming for us, but together we can face any threat."
Drew: "Sounds great. Count me in. On a completely unrelated note, I'm taking a vacation in Mexico. See you in two weeks"
Murgatroyd: "I don't think now is the best time to..."
Drew: "Stay out of trouble, Kid, and make me proud at your agent training."
Murgatroyd: "You're risking making yourself a target..."
Drew: "I'm officially off the clock as of... now. Hasta la vista, hunters. Don't call me, I'll call you."
Murgatroyd: "If you'd allow me just a moment to ward..."
Drew: "No time for magic mumbo jumbo now, Murg. I've got a plane to catch." <Departs>
Murgatroyd: "Shit."
<Several weeks later at the Unconventional Solutions LLC offices.>
Murgatroyd: <Holding an old-fashioned phone receiver to his ear.> "Yes, we're well-equipped to deal with such situations. I'll send my best consultant out today..."
Drew: "I'm back."
Murgatroyd: <Speaking into phone> "...to review the scene and give you an estimate. I think your Pixie problem will be a thing of the past..."
Drew: "Those vampires have a long reach, Murg. I could have used your magic mojo down South..."
Murgatroyd: <Looking at Drew but speaking into the phone> "...Yes. One moment please, my associate has some new information." <He covers the phone mic with his hand>
Drew: "It's like you said. Together we can face any threat."
Murgatroyd: "Sounds great. Count me in. On a completely unrelated note, you've got a 2 o'clock appointment to purge some Pixies."
Drew: "Shit."

(Click the pictures)
 
Joey is fresh off his two months of training, sporting a new haircut and a clean Fed-friendly look. @Scything Drew survived a "cerveza, tequila, murdered girlfriend, Mexican prison, your enemies really do intend to kill you" kind of vacation, escaped, survived, resisted, evaded his way to Mexico City, and managed to stay alive long enough to call in his favor with SAIC Harker and get secretly extracted to the US on a banana boat headed to Miami by way of Guantanamo. In the process, divested of his trusty Glock 20 he was forced to rely more on his close quarters battle skills and make do from time to time with crappy pistols he acquired here and there from assailants and corrupt cops which incentivized Drew to broaden some of his "Glock 20" only skills to Pistols in general. He may have also gotten just a little bit luckier, if that can be imagined. @WilyQ Forced to adapt his usually methodical and thorough magical acumen to exigent conditions under extreme stress and imminent risk of death, and to stretch himself to harness more raw power than he is used to, Murgatroyd has found new depths to his ability to work powerful magics. He's also taking the idea of the company he proposed, Unconventional Solutions LLC, very seriously and has busied himself with incorporating and bending his considerable intellect to learning the necessary lore of being an effective CEO for a small but savvy business venture. @Durzan Malakim Killroy has been diligently taking care of the money and real estate side of things to get Unconventional Solutions LLC off the ground, but under his stoic outward demeanor he's quietly excited about being covertly approached by members of a very elite and secretive society he has been intensely interested in joining for many years. He's alert to possible further contact and also being very careful to always present himself in the best possible way just in case he is being clandestinely observed. @King Red Baretta has flourished under Harker's tutelage; in particular Harker has trained her on how to maintain the optimal distance from threats in a gun fight and honed her already excellent situational awareness to a razors edge. Additionally, having sold her share in the questionable business arrangement the other Hunters invested in to Murgatroyd, Baretta finds herself even more financially comfortable than she was before...she definitely isn't continuing to hunt monsters just for the money...it's personal.  @Steve Jack's time spent at Harker's left hand over the last few weeks and the ensuing after hours "cross training" has paid off; Jack's reflexes are even more honed and he can take a punch even better than before. Additionally, he had time to brew up a new batch of Vampire Repellent...sure to come in handy in the nights to come. And also, I finally got around to writing up Jack's Armored Van. @L0rd_Magg0t  
 

 
Name DEX SPD SPD Chart REC END STUN OCV DCV Levels Beretta 15 4     3     6     9     12 6 20 30 5 5 +2 with Colt M1911; OIF (Colt M1911; -1/2) Jack  13 3       4       8       12 6 20 30 8 7   Killroy 13 3       4       8       12 8 25 30 5 5 +2 Overall
+2 with Barret 95
+2 with Barret 95; OAF (Acog Doc Reflex Scope; -1) Joey  10 2/3       4       8       12 4 20 24/36 5/7 4 +1 with Move Through, Grab, Strike Drew 10 3       4       8       12 5 20 30 5 4 +1 Overall
+1 with CQB
+1 with Pistols Murgatroyd 10 2           6           12 6 30 20 4 5 +1 with Ring of Arcane Blasting
+3 with Arcane Magic; Only for OCV or OMCV (-1)
+1 Any 3d6 roll pertaining to Cthonic SFX; (-2)  
Name PD rPD ED rED Mental DEF Power DEF Powers & Equipment Murgatroyd 2/8 0/6 2/8 0/6 0 0 Wristbands of Warding: Resistant Protection (6 PD/6 ED) (Impermeable) (18 Active Points); IIF (-1/4), Perceivable (Those With Supernatural Awareness Can Detect This Ability Being Used If Its "On"; -1/4)   Arcane Shield: Barrier 8 PD/8 ED, 5 BODY (up to 3m long, 3m tall, and 1/2m thick), Impenetrable (+1/4) (45 Active Points); Unanchored, Cost Endurance To Maintain, Emanates From Ring, Limited Range (up to 3'' away from self) ((Green Lantern style force shield); -1)   Supernatural Resistance: 7   Miraculous Survival: 1 Killroy 8/16 0/8 3/11 0/8 0 0 Ain't Got Time To Bleed: Resistant Protection (8 PD/8 ED); Does not protect from first point of body (-1/2) Joey Manegarm 5 1 3 1 0 0 Survival: Garmrhide: Damage Negation (-6 DCs Physical, -6 DCs Energy, -3 DCs Mental) (75 Active Points); Perceivable (Supernatural Awareness; -1/4)   Survival: Garmrhide: Resistant Protection (1 PD/1 ED), Impenetrable (+1/4) Jack Maywood 8/16 0/8 2/10 0/8 5 0 Mental Discipline: Mental Defense (5 points total)   Bullet-resistent Trenchcoat: Resistant Protection (8 PD/8 ED) (24 Active Points); OIF (-1/2), Half Mass (-1/2), Real Armor (-1/4), Torso, Arms, Legs (-1/4) Drew Altman 5/14 0/9 2/11 0/9 0 0 Concealed Bullet Resistant Vest: (4 PD/4 ED) (12 Active Points); Torso Coverage (-1 1/2), Half Mass (-1/2), IIF (-1/4), Real Armor (-1/4)   Lucky Bastich: Combat Luck (9 PD/9 ED) Beretta Colt 5/11 0/6 2/8 0/6 0 0 Cool Shades: Sight Group Flash Defense (3 points); OAF (-1)   Armored Boots & Punching Gloves: Resistant Protection (2 PD/2 ED), Impenetrable (+1/4); Hit Locations 6, 17, 18 (-1)   Final Girl Survivability: Resistant Protection (6 PD/6 ED), Impenetrable (+1/4) (22 Active Points); Nonpersistent (-1/4)  

In preparation for the next session, I implore you all to start thinking about the following:
I'll be narratively ushering the PC's who chose to become Section M consultants (EDIT: which is everybody) out of the LA area to the Section M training facility at Quantico for a week of in game time immediately following the events of the last couple of sessions...for onboarding and orientation. Your bounty payouts will be expedited while you are in Quantico in recognition of your crew stepping up and doing Section M a couple of 'solids'. The Hunters will have their wealth bumps in pocket by the time the 1 week of orientation has concluded if that has any impact on your down time activities. After that, control passes back to you the players and you can decide to do whatever you individually want to do during "down time" and I'll react to it on the fly.  This might be 100% narrative, or it might fork off into one or more encounters, depending on what you guys initiate.  If you already have a feel for what you want your PC to be doing during this time, or an interesting character focused scene you want to interject, feel free to shape those thoughts and send them to me via a private message so I can prepare something in advance. I intend to let 4-8 weeks of game time unspool in this fashion before kicking off the action of Arc 4, depending on what makes sense given whatever you the players want your PC's to be doing.  As @Durzan Malakim astutely points out, you all have a powerful enemy who wants you dead or worse. Also consider that in addition to the obvious vampiric threat vector, your enemy also likes to use normal minions, and also possesses vast resources to hire other types of threats as well. It would be a mistake to ignore this threat It would also be a mistake to get all super paranoid, turtle up, and refuse to go out or do anything, and shut the game down through analysis paralysis and FUD. Try to find some Goldilocks zone between blithe lack of concern on the one end and taking yourself completely off the grid to live on an undisclosed mountain top in Tibet ringed by an impenetrable defensive perimeter on the other end. Ask yourselves what would make a good episode of TV or a movie sequel? A bunch of scaredy cats hiding and not doing stuff, or bold men & women of action taking sensible precautions and then getting on with being awesome? Looking forward to the next session. 
 
@L0rd_Magg0t @King Red @Steve @Scything @WilyQ
 

I'll mention this again in-game and in-character, but Murgatroyd will mention to each of his fellow hunters that it is a matter of when, not if, L'Éminence Nocturne will attack us supernaturally. As the arcane expert of the group, Murgatroyd will recommend either cohabiting in a warded home or having him come out regularly to ward where you live. It's time I start using these Lore skill to protect us.

Jack Maywood Slayer / Alchemist Lord Maggot Joey Manegarm Lokispawn Scything Beretta Colt Final Girl Steve Drew Altman Lucky Operator WilyQ Murgatroyd Arcanist Durzan Killroy Sniper / Cabalist King Red
 
 
Session 1:
 
Murgatroyd...aka Saul Jacobson (his true name was revealed for the first time thanks to having to file incorporation papers for the team's new company Unconventional Solutions LLC) was going about his routine in Boston, trying to drum up business for the fledgling firm. Cleverly, he was using magic to disguise himself as some other late middle aged business man (whom we'll call "Ira" to hopefully avoid confusion) each day when going about his day in public.
 
About a month after the Hunters went their separate ways, as he walked from his townhouse to his office Ira was accosted very rudely by a trio of Boston thugs who were luckily fooled by the magical guise. The thugs' leader asked Ira questions about Murgatroyd in a somewhat comical conversation loaded with subtext and allusions to mobsters movies.

The main thrust of the conversation was that Murgy was being offered a deal by "the powerful people he had made an enemy out of out west". A business card with nothing but a phone number printed upon it was pressed upon Ira to pass on to Murgatroyd and the thugs faded out of the scene.
 
Arriving at the office clearly shaken, Murgy fortified himself in his office and cast a divination spell to trace the card's recent past back to the most magically powerful thing it had come into contact with...the resulting vision revealed the card changing hands a few times down some kind of crime organizations' chain of command to arrive in the hands of the goon who had handed it to Murgy. The card originated from a slim, charismatic, smartly dressed vampire...handed off to a local crime lord in the back room of what looked like a classy restaurant downtown several days ago. 
 
Murgy, characteristically, freaked out. With Drew somewhere in Mexico, Joey in FBI training, and Beretta and Jack somewhere out west running around with SAIC Harker...Murgy wasted no time calling Killroy who was in NYC doing Killroy-ish things. Once Killroy arrived in Boston late in the day, the two Hunters began to do some desperate planning. Killroy's plan basically consisted of "kill them all" but Murgatroyd pointed out the various flaws in that particular approach. The two of them then attempted to use their new access to secured online resources available to them as Section M Special Assets but neither one of them were technical enough to figure out how to manage it.
 

 
The firm's new secretary Laverne, a nice older lady from a town north of Boston proper and a survivor of a ghoul attack many years ago which sadly left her family dead and eaten but happily made her hire-able by enterprising supernaturally active individuals such as our heroes, offered to help but as she lacks the necessary clearance Murgy thought it best to decline. 
 
Instead, it now being early evening, Murgy called Joey down  in Quantico and asked for his assistance. Joey was able to pull up a significant amount of data including a surveillance photo about a suspected vampire fitting Murgy's description named Allan Carr active in Boston since perhaps the late 1930's. According to the case records, it appeared that as many as seven groups of Hunters had attempted to root this vamp out of Boston and none of them were ever heard from subsequently. Also, Alan Carr appeared to somehow be involved with an international shipping and industrial services company with a major office located in Boston, called Aleante.  
 
Murgy and Killroy decided to call the number and find out what the vamps wanted. His first attempt in the late afternoon went to voicemail, but a second try after sunset was answered promptly on the second ring by an urbane, persuasive voice. 
 
Murgatroyd was offered a deal...L'Eminence Nocturne was willing to "forgive" Murgatroyd's transgressions in L.A. if he would deliver "the young man" (meaning Joey) to them and agree to consider future business opportunities for his wizardly services "at fair market prices". The other Hunters would of course have to die. 
 
The vampire on the other end, Allan, did not identify himself and was playing the mysterious voice on the other end game, but at some point in the conversation Murgatroyd adroitly flipped the table on Mr. Carr by revealing that he knew who he was talking to. This obviously unsettled Allan a bit, but he adapted. He gave Murgy 24 hours to decide. However, determined not to get a clean win, Murgatroyd accidentally let slip that "the young man"'s name is Joey. Oops.
 
Murgy, getting even more nervous, called Jack for vampire hunting advice. It turned out that Jack and Beretta were getting settled in to a highway motel somewhere south of Chicago, having just completed a armed delivery of cargo to a Section M facility in the region. Jack, hearing the promise of a vampire to kill, rousted Beretta from her room and convinced her to ride with him overnight to Boston to help Murgy and Killroy out. Beretta sensibly wanted to fly, but Jack pointed out his van is a rolling armory full of vampire killing  stuff. It was also recently repaired and detailed, and he's keen on putting it back into service in his vampire slaying hobby. The two rolled eastward and arrived late afternoon the following day at Murgy's house where the wizard and Killroy had holed up for the night.
 
Beretta, showing that Harker's field craft had been paid attention to, almost immediately spotted a couple of goons watching Murgy's house front and back. Various magic-facilitated shenanigans later, the team eluded the dopes staking out Murgy's sanctum townhousum, followed the trail of Murgy's scrying into and around downtown, and eventually arrived at a upscale condo highrise with heavy magical wards on it, where Allan's trail ended. Going off residual energy, Murgy was able to guess that either Allan lives in the building or visits very frequently. Murgy was also able to tell that the wards on the building were very old, and had been maintained and extended over the years by several practitioners. It was entirely possible that part of the reason Allan had been able to survive as a vampire in the city for so long without major detection was the anti-surveillance protection the wards on this building would have conferred to him. 
 
Surprisingly, Murgatroyd received a call from the number he had called Allan at the day before. A different, deeper and more menacing voice was on the other end. Even over the phone, Murgy felt an unpleasant tingling in the back of his neck. The thought crossed his mind that he might be talking to a master vampire...
 
This conversation was short and couched in less friendly language. Murgy pointed out he had a couple more hours before 24 hours had fully elapsed, but the entity on the other end of the phone was not swayed and demanded an answer. Murgy politely declined and the phone simply went "click"
 
Killroy did some leg work and found a boutique upscale hotel on the opposing street, catercorner but within view. The team relocated to a room with a view of Allan's roof and settled in for some surveillance. Joey, back in Quantico, was reached out to again and he was able to do some hacking and get a plan design document for the Boston City building department with the details of a fairly serious security-related upgrade to the top two floors of the building, including schematics and floorplan. Things got busy, particularly for Murgy...he teleported around a bit and retrieved Joey from Quantico. Then, back in the hotel once again but with plus one more meatshield, the Wizard patiently concentrated and began to bore a hole through the wards encasing the building. That took a while, but paid off, and Murgy was then able to scry into the building and get a tactical assessment. Finding three armed guards and Allan in the top two floors, Murgy described the layout and the positions of the guards to his teammates. 
 
Despite the sun having just gone down, the team (minus Drew) opted to press an assault, and raid the building. Using teleporation, Murgy moved the team to the roof of Allan's building. Moving down the fire escape to the floor below the top floor, Joey kicked the firedoor in and then everyone except Murgy assaulted inward to take out the vampires guards, one after the other. Shots were fired back and forth, blood was sprayed, a guard's leg was severed by Killroy's hand cannon of a pistol and a max-damage roll. 
 
Murgy  had been maintaining an anti-scrying anti-video surveillance spell to cover the teams advance into the building and shield them from any street side cameras (metagame commentary: this was a very smart move by @Durzan Malakim). Once the Hunters were well inside the building and the lights had been killed, Murgy dropped that spell and quickly prepared a new one to make himself invisible to sight and hearing. 
 
This proved to be fortuitous, as while the other Hunters were clearing the lower floor and assaulting up the staircase to the vampire's lair on the upper floor, the vampire himself had dropped down to the fire escape from a balcony and was stealthily coming in behind the Hunters and the trailing far behind Murgatroyd was isolated and in the vampire's path. 
 
The vampire very nearly bumped into invisible Murgatroyd, coming to almost the same spot to look through a doorway from the back side of the condo to the front where the other Hunters were advancing. Seeing the situation had turned against him, with his guards taken out and a team of confident and well equipped Hunters leaving a trail of the odor of vampire repellent behind them, Allan decided to cut his losses and escape.
 
However, before doing so, he muttered "Well played, wizard."
 
As he was standing nearly shoulder to shoulder at the time, Murgy assumed the vampire could see him and lost his $#!^ (failed his freak out complication roll) and started screaming and gibbering uncontrollably. Fortunately, his invisibility covered sound and no one witnessed this and his dignity was retained.
 
Allan Carr escaped down the fire escape and faded into the night.

Awesome. Joey is going to start taking his career as a monster hunter seriously. I took a proficiency with KS: Supernatural Lore to show Joey studying what's out there and getting smart on how to function in the strange reality of hidden things. I'm also continuing to slowly buy off some of his "Only at night" limited abilities so that he isn't a weak link during the day. I hope the group agrees with the direction I'm going 👍.  

Awesome. Joey is going to start taking his career as a monster hunter seriously. I took a proficiency with KS: Supernatural Lore to show Joey studying what's out there and getting smart on how to function in the strange reality of hidden things. I'm also continuing to slowly buy off some of his "Only at night" limited abilities so that he isn't a weak link during the day. I hope the group agrees with the direction I'm going 👍.  

Ok, I've got some adminstrata to do to transition the campaign into Arc 4, and also write up last nights session to close out Arc 3: A Trick Of The Night (for now). But in the meantime, @Scything was eager to advance Joey, and he's even more beastly than before. @WilyQ verbally told me what he wants and Drew is bringing his A-game. @King Red is good to go; Killroy is deadlier than ever. @Steve is all in; Baretta is taking aim at whatever enemies the future might bring. @Durzan Malakim has immanentized the next stage of apotheosis; Murgatroyd is more potent and also scowlier than ever. @L0rd_Magg0t is locked in and Jack is back.
 

(CLICK THE PICS)
 
The important detail for everyone is the following: all the survivors of the Trick Of The Night have gained a shiny new 20 point Hunted:
 
  Hunted: L'Éminence Nocturne Infrequently (Mo Pow; Covert; Kill); 20 points  
Each character's complication limit has been raised by 20 points and the commensurate number of character points are added to their available xp.
 
However, some of those points are spent on your behalf; Joey, Drew, Killroy, and Murgatroyd each have +2 points of the Wealth Perk applied representing a combination of their Cthonic and Vampire bounties. Baretta and Jack have +1 point of the Wealth Perk representing their Vampire bounties.
 
All six characters have a 1 point Favor: SAIC Harker; you get to call in that favor exactly once, so don't waste it. 
 
All six characters gain a 1 point Positive Reputation (alternately if any of the characters already have a similar rep I'll bump their existing rep by one point): 
Positive Reputation: Capable Monster Hunter (A small to medium sized group) 11-, +1/+1d6  
All six characters have the option (player's choice) to get upgraded to an FBI: Section M Consultant / Special Asset; this is a +1 point upgrade of your Licensed Monster Hunter perks. Each of you should let me know if you want to take the opportunity to become a Special Asset or not...if you don't that 1 point is available to be spent on something else as you see fit.
 
FBI Special Asset: This is an upgraded version of a Supernatural Hunter License granted to certain Hunters or "special talents" in the US who have higher status and a closer relationship with FBI's Section M. This level grants limited access to federal facilities in general and Section M facilities in particular, and limited access to Section M resources. However, in return, the Special Asset will be called upon to assist Section M at the FBI's discretion.
 
Ill be going through each character in turn over the next few days and will tally up the available points for each and post them here.
 
I'm looking forward to the next arc. I do ask that when deciding what to level up on your PC's you reflect on the idea that the next arc will be more of a 50/50 split between [investigation & roleplaying] / combat so I encourage people to spend at least some of their points on other-than-combat abilities.

The Hunters:
         
 
Part 3: 
 
We resumed in the middle of the battle between the hunters and the three yuppy vampires from the end of Part 2.
 
  
 
At the van, the dexterous vampire lunged across Jack in the driver's seat, reaching for Killroy in the passenger seat, in an attempt to get his dagger back.  Killroy shot him in the forehead with his pistol, but as it was loaded with mundane bullets it failed to cause any harm, the bullet ricocheting harmlessly away. The vamp did not get the dagger, however. Jack had stealthily palmed a holy water globule earlier in the fight, and took the opportunity to awkwardly cram it into the face of the vampire reaching across him. The globule burst and resulted in an immediate catalytic reaction, burning and melting the vampire's neck and face like hydrochloric acid would a human.  With a shriek of rage and pain, badly disfigured and with one eye severely damaged, the dexterous vamp leapt backwards out of the van and ran away from the fight. Off to the side, though laid out on his back with Joey standing on his chest crowing and showing off, the superstrong vamp was not out of the fight yet. He quickly grabbed Joey's ankles and flung himself upright with brute force, tossing Joey off to land on his back a few feet away, all in one abrupt moment. Joey's bragging cut off with a surprised squawk.  Joey got up and took a big swing at his foe, but missed.  The superstrong vamp stepped in with a boxer's confidence and unloaded a punishing triphammer jab to Joey's stomach, doubling the teen over with an "ooof!" of escaping air. In the wrecked government SUV, the tough vamp crouched on the passenger seat facing backwards towards the rear of the vehicle attempted to shoot Murgatroyd (who was in the back seat) in the face at basically point blank range. Drew, still a little off-kilter from getting shot in his armored vest, managed to throw a beefy arm out to push the gun aside and deflect the shot into the passenger's seat headrest instead of Murgy's nonplussed face. Improbably, in the kerfuffle the magazine release of the pistol was also depressed and the clip slid out, bounced off the seat and ended up somewhere between the seat and the center console, out of reach. The vamp was heard to say, "What the #*@! ", while attempting to pistol whip Drew with his now unloaded pistol. Murgy attempted to return the point blank favor, aiming his arcane ring at the vamp, but still shaken from his near-death experience the wizard was unable to focus the necessary magical forces...the ring momentarily began to subtly glow but then flickered out.  Despite the awkward firing position created by the ergonomics of the small space in the cabin of the SUV, him facing forward and seatbelted in, his target crouching facing backwards on the seat next to him, Drew still managed to shift his bulk sufficiently to get his pistol out and put a bullet into the vamp's noggin. It didn't penetrate, but it whiplashed the vamp's head and neck with the audible popping of vertebrae and caused some obvious discomfort.  Meanwhile, Joey continued to swing and miss his superstrong opponent, while in turn the vamp landed heavy golden gloves worthy hits...buying time for his regen to slowly begin to repair his damaged chest; Killroy got out of the van. Not having enough time to unlimber his sniper rifle, he snapped a shot off at the superstrong vamp beating up Joey, but the bullet bounced. After a couple of exchanges Joey got KO'd and dropped to the pavement. Superstrong vamp picked up Joey, probably intent on kidnapping the unexpectedly powerful youth and perhaps take him back to his master for study.  Killroy concentrated and shot the vamp again in the head, and though his mundane round again had little effect, the kinetic energy of Killroy's shot did manage to knock the vampire backwards and off his feet, causing the vamp to drop Joey's unconscious form. But, undeterred the vamp stood again and moved to pick up Joey once more. Jack calmly drew his pistol and swapped from mundane ammo to something a little more effective vs bloodsuckers, unbuckled himself, and exited the van. Seeing that Joey was in danger of being carted off, Murgy displayed a rare moment of selfless heroism, focusing his will and concentrating intensely he projected an intense beam of UV-enhanced eldritch energy out the window of the gov SUV...striking the superstrong vampire directly in the chest. At first a moment of unnatural silence seemed to descend on the battlefield as a subliminal tension mounted and a pulse of power visible to those with supernatural awareness surged from the agitated Murgatroyd down the path of his arcane beam, culminating in a massive eruption of heat as the surprised vampire rapidly overheated and burst into intense white-hot flame from within...in moments nothing was left but a man-sized pile of fine ash which collapsed into a charcoal effigy of a man, streamers of ash drifting away on the wind. The tough vampire, seeing the writing on the wall, bailed from the gov suv and leaped to Joey's unconscious form, apparently intent on completing his dead ally's attempt to steal away with the boy. The vamp picked up Joey, but was pelted by a hail of bullets and an eldritch bolt. In the end Drew, having exited the ruined gov SUV, executed a flying tackle, taking the vamp out at the knees.  The vamp decided to cut and run, and extricating himself from Drew ran away. The fight ended. Joey regained consciousness while the "adults" stood around over him taking stock of the situation and deciding what to do next... Drew wanted to split up and chase down both vampires, who had run away in different directions. The other Hunters were not keen on that idea. There was some indecision about which vamp to have Joey track down. While the discussion was developing, the rapidly recovered Joey got bored so Jack told the young man to pick up the very badly burned remains of the super strong vampire and put them into the back of Jack's armored van. Joey easily carried the corpse over to the van while the grown ups continued to argue in the middle of the street, opened the sliding side door and tossed the body in...then his sensitive hearing picked up the sound of a helicopter approaching. Soon most of the other Hunters could hear the helicopter as well. Drew said "It's just Harker again" and kept trying to convince the rest of the group to go after the super tough vamp instead of the holy water scorched dodgy vamp. A military surplus helicopter with a decidedly illegal nose mounted minigun cleared some buildings and did an attack run down the middle of the street, tearing holes in the pavement as its nose gat spat bullets. "WTF!" and similar exclamations of surprise were flung upon the wind as the Hunters all desperately dove for cover. The oversized Killroy was unable to get out of the way and was stitched by several rounds; a combination of his armored trenchcoat and his stubborn durability saved him from certain death, but left him with several flesh wounds. Jack took a glancing shot as well, leaving a bloody streak across one cheek. Drew and Murgatroyd were unscathed. Joey, still by the van, dove into the van and was unharmed...but the bullets probably would have bounced off his supernaturally resilient body anyway Joey jumped into the van's driver's seat and restarted the engine; moments later the van surged forward to close the distance to the Hunters picking themselves off the ground, as the helicopter was heard to be circling for another gun run. "GET IN!!!", Joey shouted. Drew, Killroy, Murgatroyd, and Jack did not have to be told twice; they all piled in to the van wily nilly. Joey stomped on the gas, and recklessly barrelled forward down the deserted side street... The helicopter executed a strafing run from behind, the armored shell of the van barely managing to stop the bullets pelting the rear and roof of the heavy vehicle with pings and pops, leaving bullet shaped dents visible within the cabin. "She can't take much more of this!", Jack yelled, trying to hold himself steady by gripping a utility rack mounted to the van's inner wall. "LET ME DRIVE!", Drew yelled over the din, and Joey slammed on the brakes...sending everyone lurching but having the benefit of causing the helicopter overhead to overshoot. Joey and Drew changed places rapidly while Killroy finished breaking out his big rifle and boldly took up a firing position by leaning far out of the passenger's side window, his blood dripping down the door panels. "Hold my legs steady, kid", Killroy told Joey. Drew snapped in and the van resumed its forward travel but in a much more confident fashion. The helicopter had managed to flip back around and started another gun run head on, basically playing chicken with the van down the long empty street. Before the helicopter could open fire, Killroy...hanging half out the window very precariously, with Joey the only thing keeping him from falling out, scoped in and put a bullet unerringly through the windshield of the approaching helicopter and into the forehead of the pilot...instant killshot. Unfortunately, this caused the helicopter to nose down and begin to crash...it would surely hit the van head on! "HOLD ON!", Drew shouted, and pressed the gas pedal down as far as it would go. Joey forcibly yanked Killroy back into the vehicle, and everyone braced for impact. But Drew's driving proved to be impressive once again, and he just managed to get under and past the helicopter as it crashed a few feet behind the van....the explosion knocked the back tires off the pavement and pushed the van forward abruptly and nearly flipped it, but Drew managed to steer out of it and get the vehicle stable again, then skidded off to resume pursuit of the runaway vampire...sparing only a single glance at the flaming pile of helicopter wreckage in the rearview mirror. "Since when do vampires have attack helicopters?", Drew asked Jack over his shoulder. Jack shrugged. That was exciting, but a Hunter's job is never done. The gang resumed their search for the super tough vampire that had fled the scene, Drew still driving Jack's van, Joey tracking by scent by standing behind Drew in the back of the van, sliding door locked open, head stuck out the side of the van. Via a series of zigs and zags, Joey navigated Drew around the maze of industrial and office buildings...and a few minutes later the van careened around a corner to illuminate the fleeing vampire limping down the street trying to get to a rare, lonely pay phone attached to the side of a brick building midway up the road (the vamp's cell phone had gotten smashed during the earlier battle). Wasting no time, Drew propelled the van hurtling forward and whipped it around into a vicious drifting sideswipe that sent the vamp flying off the sidewalk and into a pile of trash stacked up by an overflowing dipsy dumpster. Drew halted the van, and Hunters poured out to assault the hapless vampire in the shredded designer suit. Jack ended it by driving a stake through the vamp's heart, causing the undead to lock up into a rigid statue-like stasis. "YES! I DID IT! TAKE THAT BLOODSUCKER!!!" Jack crowed, taking out a cell phone and taking a selfie of himself posing in front of the vamp and emailing it to Harker. "Um...I thought you were a veteran vampire slayer?", Drew commented. "Oh, uh, yeah, I am. This is totally not my first staking.", Jack assured him. "...k..." Harker responded to Jack's text with a terse "good job...rtb"...i.e. return to base...the facility near Riverside. Joey tossed the staked vamp into the back of the van next to the crispy vamp's corpse, and the crew piled back into the van to resume their journey.  
The team relaxed as best they could for about an hour, as Drew continued to "drive with a purpose", making good time in the relatively light early A.M. traffic of L.A. County. Some side conversation between Hunters occurred, but for the most part people settled in for a drive.
 
Jack's phone rang...it was Harker. Answering, Jack heard the distinct sound of automatic weapons fire and screaming in the background. "We're under attack!", Harker shouted into the phone so loudly almost all the Hunter's could hear it despite the phone not being on speaker. "The #$@$ing vamps and a bunch of mercs have penetrated the facility. Get here A.S.A.P.!" Jack said "OK!", and Harker hung up in the middle of a much louder series of gun reports. Drew grimaced and hauled ass, but knew there was no way they would get to riverside in time...they were still at least 45 minutes out. Drew glanced up and made eye contact with Murgatroyd in the back via the rearview mirror. "Fix this, wizard.", Drew commanded. Murgatroyd looked surprised to be directly tasked like that but got over it, nodded, and started digging through his travel notes trying to figure out away. He was coming up short, but then had a flash of insight...the teleportation room in the facility itself! He could attempt to open a portal using the teleportation room as the anchor for the other end! Looking back up he ordered, "Get off the freeway...find some place out of sight!". Drew wasted no time, and took the first exit. Finding an abandoned area beneath the overpass, he pulled over. Murgatroyd shared his plan, to open a gate to the t-port chamber in the facility, and everyone to cross through quickly, and then he'd let the gate collapse behind them. The van would have to be left behind...too big. Jack pulled everything useful out of the back and geared up. Joey grabbed the staked and barbecued vamp bodies, and everyone grouped up while Murgatroy'd sketched out a rough circle and star on the ground while mumbling various stanza's of a spell, making on the fly adjustments to suit the unusual circumstances. He directed everyone to stand in the middle of the circle. Murgatroyd's spell was true, and with a snap of eldritch energy, a shimmer formed around them and as quickly disappeared...leaving the team in the t-port chamber of the Riverside base! It worked! The sound of automatic weapons fire could be heard elsewhere in the building. Standing in front of the closed double doors exiting the chamber, was a surprised Special Agent Brooks...Harker's gofer. His pistol in his hand. Also in the room were the fresh corpses of two SWAT-geared tactical agents...both shot in the back of the head.  

 
Brooks got over his shock and said..."Thank goodness you're here! I was just about to teleport to Vegas for reinforcements!", he said. "What's going on here? We were told vamps are attacking? Where is Harker?", Drew pelted out. Brooks gave the exposition that a team of "a bunch of vamps" and "former sec force mercenaries" had assaulted the facility, somehow evading all the security protocols, and that the last time he had seen Harker was in the underground motor pool garage. "He sent me to teleport for back up", Brooks claimed. Jack took Brooks at face value, but Joey smelled the scent of fear and heard Brooks' heart skipping a beat...which made him intuitively think Brooks was lying. Drew, always suspicious, spotted subtle inconsistencies in Brooks' tale. Killroy's expert ballistic awareness had puzzled out that the two headshot corpses were likely shot from at or near Brooks' position. Murgatroyd was suspicious that Brooks, who gave no indication of being a spellcaster, would be able to operate the t-port circle in the first place. Collectively realizing that Brooks is a traitor, Joey, Killroy, and Drew surged forward to incapacitate Brooks. Drew got his gun away, Killroy and Joey battered him. Not understanding what was going on, Jack lurched forward and punched Drew in the face. "Brooks is a traitor, idiot!", Murgatroyd called out, holding well back from the altercation. To the Hunters' surprise, it turned out that Brooks was not a normie...he's a "special talent", as Section M refers to its supernatural Agents. Possessed of some kind of weird bio-energy field, he proved to be extremely difficult to injure and even pulsed out a bubble of disruptive energy at one point that numbed and briefly semi-paralyzed most of the Hunters. But despite this curveball he was badly outmatched by the Hunters and was soon wrestled down. At some point in the altercation with the traitorous Brooks, the sounds of a firefight outside of the room escalated. Killroy opened up one of the doors to peek out and do a threat assessment...outside the room a clutch of tactical agents were fighting a losing battle with a team of heavily armed mercenaries and several vampires...including two particularly monstrous looking ones.   

 
Getting a quick tactical read on the situation, Killroy dropped back from the doorway, sprawled out prone in the middle of the room, and set up his sniper rifle to project shots into the corridor beyond the t-port chamber.  One of the mercs with an assault rifle noticed the opened door and fired a burst through it into Joey, who was still helping to subdue Brooks. The bullets ricocheted harmlessly off of the supernatural teen, but got his attention. Another merc threw a grenade, which bounced around and landed roughly in the middle of the Hunters...a nice little kill radius. Thinking fast, Drew snapped a shot off with his pistol and improbably rather than explode the grenade was deflected by the bullet like a billiard ball and bounced down the hallway to land at the feet of one of the monstrous vampires menacing the last few surviving tactical agents. The grenade detonated, injuring, aggravating, and getting the undivided attention of the frightening vampire. "Go deal with those mercs!", Drew barked at Joey, still wrasslin with Brooks. Joey unslung his shotgun and boldly strode out into the middle of the corridor, fully exposed to the mercs and vamps; he shotgunned the merc who had shot him, shredding flesh and ragdolling the human back into a wall to slump broken and bloodied.  The other mercs, seeing this apparently suicidal young man pull such a stunt, turned their attention to him and a unloaded a lot of ammo into Joey's slim frame, but other than shredding his already badly abused clothing their mundane weapons had no effect. Joey returned fire, shotgunning one merc after another.  Killroy took a shot past Joey down the long corridor, splattering one of the lesser vamps before it could finish off one of the FBI tactical agents.  The monstrous vampire who had gotten grenaded hurled himself down the corridor at Joey but somehow missed and was carried into the t-port chamber by her own momentum.  Murgatroyd, hovering somewhat anxiously towards the rear of the t-port chamber, was somewhat alarmed by the frightening vamp that was now in close proximity to him, but held himself together and unleashed a lance of energy from his blasting ring, which singed the vamp and angered her further...great, another extra durable vamp. Meanwhile Special Agent Matthews and the Hunter Baretta Colt had holed up in room further into the facility after intense fighting during the earlier stages of the assault; Matthews had gotten shot in the thigh, and Baretta had applied first aid to keep him in the fight. Hearing the boom of Killroy's big gun and guessing her allies from earlier in the night had joined the fight, Baretta made a tactical decision to leave the temporary safety of the room they were hiding in and press onward. Matthews agreed but insisted on coming with her...she helped him to his feet and provided a strong shoulder to help him limp along. Guns at the ready, the ad hoc duo crept through the hallways in search of things to shoot.  

 
The main fight had turned into a wild melee at this point, Jack got into the fight in earnest, demonstrating that he is indeed good at fighting vampires. Joey demonstrated that he's good at killing normal humans who lack the means to hurt him, Murgatroyd demonstrated he's good at mincing around and taking pot shots, Killroy demonstrated that he's good at killing things from far away, and Drew demonstrated that he's able to adapt to nearly any situation and do what is necessary in the moment.  Baretta and Matthews, having dealt with a couple of minor vampires, rounded a corner and entered the main fight from the far side from the t-port chamber. Matthews moved to assist the last two surviving tactical agents, one of which was being fed on by a lesser vamps.  Baretta took aim and exploded the head of the female scary vamp with a volley of highly accurate pistol shots. The other scary vamp, seeing this, lost their sanity and rushed Baretta at high speed, crossing the length of the corridor in a blur; latching on the vamp began to feed on her. A couple new lesser vamps joined the fight and jumped Matthews who was trying to finish off the lesser vamp he had attacked...the trio of lesser vamps bore him to the ground and began to feed on him.  Finally getting Brooks under control, Drew cuffed the traitorous agent arm and leg to the two corpses of the dead agents Brooks had shot in the head. "You don't understand! They MADE me do it!", Brooks pleaded. Drew stuffed a dirty sock from one of the corpses in the traitor's mouth to shut him up. An invisible (or just very sneaky?) vampire materialized in the t-port chamber and menaced Murgatroyd and Killroy, but the sniper revealed that he also is pretty good in a brawl, and with Jack's assistance he fended off the vamp.   

 
Joey was finishing up the mercs, and Drew joined in. Jack, seeing Baretta and Matthews getting fed on, bravely ran down the hall and was just about to stake the vamp feeding on Baretta when another big boom of Killroy's rifle was heard and the vampire's torso simply exploded in a gooey burst of blood and viscera. Baretta and Jack worked together to save Special Agent Matthews, who was still getting fed upon. Seeing how that the fight was lost, the sneaky vamp disappeared and (apparently) fled the scene. The Hunters regrouped. Special Agent Matthews was in bad shape, but alive. He and Baretta provided some exposition on the current situation, and confirmed that as far as they knew Harker was last seen in the underground motor pool.   
The store was closing so we had to stop before closing out Act 2. Steve got 5 XP to apply to Baretta for his combined work of piloting Joey (Scything was unable to play) and Baretta and helping me track some of the combat details over the course of the night (I was operating on almost no sleep and not at full mental capacity, particularly as the evening wore on).
 
Killroy got 3 XP; everyone else got 4 XP.  Murgatroyd was voted MVP. No XP can be spent between this session and the next.
 
@Steve@Durzan Malakim@WilyQ@Scything@L0rd_Magg0t@King Red
 
 
<< Part 2 ... Part 4 >>

Would alliteration help?
 
*Horror Hounds
*Terror Trackers
*Monster Management
*Fear Fighters
*Scare Slayers
*Nightmare Ninjas
*Bogeyman Busters
 
Do we need to sound macho?
 
*Team Bravo
*The Trouble Shooters
*The Lionhearts
*The Courage Club
*The Last Hope
*Knights of Valor

All very good entries, there @King Red. I can just see making business cards with "Lionheart LLC, monster management and magic consulting."

Liked the new addition to our team. Can't wait till he blows the head off one or more of the vampires. 

Thanks to @Scything for being nigh indestructible so we get to fight more vampires rather than roll up new characters. We have our very own Tick defending the City. Does that make me Arthur?

Now, now my snark is worse than my bite, which is why I need capable warriors to do my biting for me, but since I'm playing a wizard, the good news is I can teach you all defense against the snark arts. Once you've mastered it, I'm sure each of you will leave your snark on the game. In fact, I fully expect us all to be Raiders of the Lost Snark by next session.

@Panpiper, I have seen many of your characters and they all have cool concepts. It's shame that you have never played in this setting because I've you are one of the founding fathers of Here There Be Monsters. 

@Panpiper, I have seen many of your characters and they all have cool concepts. It's shame that you have never played in this setting because I've you are one of the founding fathers of Here There Be Monsters. 

I finally got around to actually reading all the threads here. I do want to thank especially KS for making the effort to post the writeups. As much as I was invested in the development of the Here There Be Monsters setting, I have never had the opportunity to run it, let alone play in it. (I have brought up the notion to my existing gaming group, but at least a couple of them have a hard enough time grasping D&D and find Hero too intimidating.) Anyway, reading the threads here allows me the ability to at least vicariously experience it.