Proof that I still do RPG stuff on here!! This is a scenario I wrote for the latest game jam on the UA fan discord, which is themed around death, rebirth, sex, and other things associated with early Spring holidays/traditions. Also cannibalism (CW for that, and also references to nazis.)
No idea if yall will read this, but thanks to my playtesters for your feedback! One last note before the scenario - I could only include the stats for Schuyler in the jam entry due to the word cap (which I met exactly; it was meant to be.) I'm adding some for the other characters I had hoped to stat out here, as well as a generic stat block that may be useful in the climactic scene (which is kinda weird to do in UA, where stats are so personal to a character's psyche. But I tried to account for that.)
Anyway, here it is!
THE BITTER TASTE OF VENGEANCE
The Premise
A “reverse investigation,” if you will. Your pony/street-level cabal has made the mistake of hiring a real occultist to hex a loathsome cop against whom they all hold a grudge. They wanted him scared, maybe food poisoned; instead he nearly dies, and soon HE wants revenge, and is more than capable of getting it. Play will focus on the PCs’ efforts to avoid consequences for their actions.
Have each player define what Officer Stirling has done to earn their enmity.
Opening Scene
Schuyler has gotten a job as a waitress at Ray’s cop hangout, Walt’s Bar and Grill (she magickally blackmailed the manager to speed up the hiring process)
Ray has been drinking with a couple buddies, both cops and both nazis. They order dinner. Other than that, the owner tends bar and an elderly couple eat quietly at a booth.
The PCs are in a secluded corner of Walt’s watching as Schuyler brings Ray his hexed stroganoff. She can’t help herself, smugly telling Ray that “he deserves a bloody good meal.” Then she winks at the PCs, subtle as a brick, and returns to the kitchen.
The PCs watch as Ray eats, and as he’s waiting for his check he doubles over in pain. Then a jet of animate menstrual blood bursts out of his gut and slithers away like a crimson snake. Schuyler has deployed a blast spell of her own invention.
For all PCs: Unnatural or Violence (5) check. Ray’s friends shout “nobody leave!”, botch a first aid attempt, and call in: Officer down.
The owner enters the fetal position under the table. The old man gets agitated; his wife tries to calm him down. By the time the blast triggers, Schuyler has already fled out the fire exit.
If the PCs obey the order to remain, they are suspects, questioned accordingly. If they sneak out while the cops are distracted, one cop notices radios in about them, unless they use magick or a very clever plan.
What Happens Next
The PCs can do whatever they want, until they can’t; GMC agendas are on the timetable below. The scenario ends when the PCs either clear their names or at the probably bloodbath three days later.
Within Hours:
Barring PC intervention, Death Ray survives, but is hospitalized. He has a ruptured lower intestine, severe internal bleeding, and will need a colostomy for life.
At the crime scene forensics finds a second person’s blood mixed in with Ray’s.
Police requisition security footage from Walt’s; full cooperation from the owner.
Schuyler blocks the PCs on Etsy and any other platform they communicated through, and tells her wife they need to lay low for a while and be ready to skip town. They pack.
One Day Later:
While lucid between morphine doses, Ray speaks to two friends: Detective Pope and Max De Ven
Pope gets himself assigned to investigate the attack and calls each PC, Schuyler, and the old couple (though they’re irrelevant) from an unlisted number to get their statements, ideally in person and ASAP. He legally can and probably will lie to get them to talk – promise they’re not suspects, claim he has proof they’re guilty, or anything in between.
De Ven makes a couple calls to bring in professional muscle from out of town.
Schuyler lawyers up and meets with Alaina.
Two Days Later:
Schuyler’s blood is ID’d and she is arrested before Alaina can get a coherent case together. Under duress, she names the PCs as accomplices, and later pins the blame on them entirely.
Nick Sangster hears about the incident through the grapevine. He messages at least one PC a vague Sleeper-y threat and then blocks them once it’s marked “read.”
The nazi thugs arrive in town. Detective Pope sneaks them the PCs’ addresses, names, etc. that night.
Three Days Later:
The cops arrive to arrest the PCs at the same time the nazis come to kneecap them. If the PCs have tried to get ahold of Sangster again or been obviously magickal, he comes too, with an unregistered gun and no real plan. This is liable to end messily.
Counter-Investigation Leads
Schuyler has minimal online presence aside from her Etsy page (reviews show she is effective but a bad communicator.) Her wife, however, shares her surnames, has photos of them together on Instagram, and works at a local occult (mainstream) shop.
If the PCs get in touch with Olivia, they can reach Schuyler (if she’s yet to be arrested), who can be pressured or guilted into explaining basically everything.
The owner of Walt’s is around and trying to find out what the fuck is going on herself.
If the PCs decide they want a lawyer and are broke or not willing to do much research, it’s likely they end up hiring Alaina, too.
Dramatis Personae
Schuyler Burroughs-Sokol (the witch)
Early-thirties white cis woman. Medium-length curly hair dyed dirty blonde. Short and scrappy.
Menstrual blood exesusurge (see the RITE fan sourcebook), but she does other workings too; note her missing nostril.
Intends to feed her reproductive organs to her wife once she hits perimenopause; still working on getting consent.
Bloody_Sundae1 on Etsy. 4.2/5 stars.
Helplessness: Hardened ***** / Failed
Isolation: Hardened ** / Failed **
Self: Hardened ****** / Failed **
Unnatural: Hardened ***** / Failed
Violence: Hardened *** / Failed *
Obsession: the menstrual cycle as a mystic power source.
Fear: abandonment by loved ones. (Isolation)
Noble: I can get myself out of any jam.
Rage: misogynistic men in positions of power.
Exesusurge 80%*: casts rituals, casts gutter magick
She has 3 minor charges after the opening scene.
Etsy Witch 40%: subs for Knowledge, evaluates Helplessness, coerces Unnatural
Olivia Sokol-Burroughs
Mid-late twenties white theyfab (she/they specifically), short black hair, chubby. Kind, prematurely aged face.
Schuyler’s wife.
Has aura sight; straddles the occult underground and mainstream.
Half terrified for Schuyler (and herself), half hoping this’ll be the end of their troubled Uhaul lesbian marriage.
Raymond “Death Ray” Stirling (the target)
Mid-thirties white cis man. Square jaw, close cropped black hair. Mean little eyes.
Semi-secret neo-nazi cop; he had it coming.
Herman Pope
Mid-late-forties white cis man. Mostly grey hair, mostly bald on top. Scrawny for a lifelong killer.
Police detective. Another nazi.
Lazy and unimaginative, but loyal to his “brother in arms” and thus committed to finding his assailant, despite the confusing security footage.
Helplessness: Hardened * / Failed
Isolation: Hardened * / Failed
Self: Hardened ****** / Failed *
Unnatural: Hardened / Failed
Violence: Hardened **** / Failed **
Fear: Being cornered in a firefight. (Violence)
Noble: "Putting the world to right."
Rage: Whiny minorities and woke-ists who fill up his day with busywork.
Cop 50%: subs for Pursuit, evaluates Violence, coerces Helplessness
Hateful 60%: subs for Struggle, provides firearm attacks, coerces Violence
Max De Ven
Mid-fifties white cis man. Styles himself after his deluded concept of a viking. His goons look the same but younger.
Fixer for a couple neo-nazi gangs in the region. Well-practiced and cold-blooded.
Softspoken but terrifying
Mary Walther
Mid-seventies white cis woman. Angular face, conservative clothes and attitudes.
Owner and sole full-time employee of Walt’s Bar & Grill. Her dad was a footnote to Operation Paperclip, immigrating as a favor to his hotshot rocket scientist brother.
She has become convinced that Schuyler made her into a vampire, even though the spell that made her crave blood wore off days ago.
Nick Sangster
Early-twenties white/Latino cis man (Mom’s Argentinian. They don’t get along.) Semi-incel scarecrow. Has a hollow, hungry look.
Closest faux-sleeper to the area.
Buys into a lot of mundane conspiracy theories; not very smart.
Wants to channel the Executioner but isn’t sure how yet.
Tries to buddy up with the local cops on a regular basis, but they think he’s too overzealous, and probably crazy.
Helplessness: Hardened *** / Failed
Isolation: Hardened ***** / Failed *
Self: Hardened ******* / Failed **
Unnatural: Hardened * / Failed *
Violence: Hardened ** / Failed
Obsession: Protecting America from the evils of shadowy cabals.
Fear: any kind of magick he's never encountered before. (Unnatural)
Noble: I am destined for something great.
Rage: the forces that have conspired to make my life hard and miserable.
Conspiracy Theorist 45%: subs for Secrecy, evaluates Unnatural, evaluates Isolation
Wannabe Vigilante 20%*: subs for Notice, subs for Struggle, provides firearm attacks
- Sleeper 10%: supernatural identity, see Book 2: Run, p. 76
Alaina DiNatale
Late-thirties white cis woman. Caked in makeup but sleep deprived. Frumpy fashion sense.
Public defender. Well-intentioned, but easily flustered and exceedingly skeptical of the unnatural, even when shown proof.
Nazi Bruisers (stat block)
Failed notches are irrelevant as these guys are likely only going to get used in a combat situation.
In the climactic disaster outlined above under "three days later," they arrive with shotguns and machetes (+6 damage.)
Helplessness: Hardened *
Isolation: Hardened *
Self: Hardened *******
Unnatural: Hardened
Violence: Hardened *******
Fear: something to do with their paranoiac relationship with their lives of violence.
Noble: something to do with the master race.
Rage: something to do with the kind of "degenerates" they beat on.
Nazi Bruiser 65%: subs for Pursuit, provides firearm attacks, provides wound threshold
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