Corrupted Inventor for Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars

A lawn mower thought turned into form. . .

Michael Grabowski: Corrupted Inventor, 10^th level for
Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars

 

Fictional picture of Michael Grabowski created at this-person-does-not-exist.com

In the Beginning

Michael Grabowski, son of Michael senior and Marjorie (nee Smith), grew up as the weird kid. His father was a garbage truck driver and his mother was the school nurse. While talented in maths and sciences, he was always a little “out there” with his nose in science fiction novels, maps of abandoned (and often fictional) places, and a constant desire to know more.

In college, he drifted into science technology studies. He pushed the limit of what was known at the time. He excelled at somehow making the impossible possible, but had a hard time replicating his work a second time. His inability to replicate his own work led his sponsors to believe him a fraud. He dropped out of university before obtaining his doctorate in Differential and Computational Geometry.

The Chosen One

Along the way, Michael made the acquaintance of Terrance “TJ” Julius by pure accident (and luck!). Michael was investigating an abandoned subway tunnel when he was attacked by a pack of vampire spawn. A Sage and a Chosen One saved him. Michael attempted to follow the Chosen One home, but was intercepted by the Sage, TJ. Michael’s rantings and demands to talk to the young lady, were eventually too much for TJ. So, he explained things at a very high level to Michael. Being Michael, this fed his need for information.

Michael implanted himself into the lives of TJ and Eve. He developed a talent for creating scientific devices the Chosen One could use to hunt and slay monsters. He read tomes about fighting the forces of darkness. He became an integral part of the Chosen One-Sage team. He continued to develop tools for the team to use. Michael learned about Legion and how this monsterous being would eventually return to Earth and swallow everyone’s souls.

During a harrowing fight with a pack of werewolves in service to Legion, Eve was killed. Despondent, Michael rushed to the lab and created a device to revive her. It succeeded with zero defects: Eve was back and with a few days of rest, ready for round two with those werewolves.

Another One

They eventually stumbled upon another Chosen One by accident while hunting a growing population of vampires. Michael and TJ studied this new Chosen One and found it to have similar abilities to Eve. They took this new Chosen One in and began their training.

This Chosen One was too headstrong and sought danger. Eventually, it led to their death and again, Michael was able to revive it.

And later, they found a third Chosen One.

The Scientific Process

In 1998, he broached the idea of killing the Chosen Ones to create more Chosen Ones to TJ. TJ refused to pursue the idea. He realized it was a morally irresponsible thing to do. Michael soon thereafter finished developing a tool to track the Chosen Ones.

After the second Chosen One died again and he revived it, he used the new device to track down the newest Chosen One. He didn’t inform TJ or the Chosen Ones of his intentions. Once he found the new Chosen One, he left TJ and the three Chosen Ones.

He mentored his Chosen One, readying it for the battle against Legion. He also led the Chosen One into a fight they couldn’t win, resulting in the Chosen One’s death. Michael used the RE-viver on it and then the tracking device to find the next Chosen One. Now his army had two soldiers.

Michael realized this process was going to take planning and a lot of work if it was to be successful. The Chosen Ones eventually figured out that something was amiss. Michael feared this day would come and had been working on a way to control the situation.

One of the many weirdos that Michael met over the years developed a military program designed to fight witches. This particular weirdo discovered that certain low frequency vibrations are able to turn off a witch’s ability to cast spells. Michael took those ideas and advanced them to work on Chosen Ones, as well. He sold the device back to the weirdo for a large sum of money, knowing the weirdo would turn around and sell it to the military.

Michael took that money and purchased the old Tranquility Sanitarium. He remodeled the building and put speakers in every room, hallway, and the fenced in yard. Those speakers emit the frequency at all times. No spells or Chosen One powers work when near them.

He also installed standard security systems and hired a staff.

Michael then began a process of turning off the speakers, quickly killing a Chosen One, RE-viving it, and allowing it to heal almost nearly all the way back to health before turning the speaker in their room back on.

He’s stopped capturing Chosen Ones. Now, he collects and grooms them.

Follow the Money

Michael remains in contact with several university acquaintances that went on to become multi-millionaires in the world of science and technology. After discovering the Chosen One existed, he launched a scheme to convince those multi-millionaires that evil existed and that he could help stop the evil. . . if only he had monetary resources. The initial plan failed. He needed a way to convince them they were in danger and then save them. So, he kidnapped one, placed them in a locked basement with a chained up, hungry vampire, and let them sit in the dark for a few hours. Then, he sent the Chosen One down to the basement to save them. Funding started immediately.

The first years were clumsy and to an outsider, would appear unorganized. In truth, Michael was simply failing at different attempts to accomplish his goal: to build an army capable of defending humanity from the machinations of Legion.

As donations came in from more multi-millionaires, Michael grew their stable of Chosen Ones and the means to bring them up fighting. He completely usurped the Chosen One process meant to keep balance in the world. This inbalance has led to the forces of darkness growing in power at a rate never before seen.

The idea to start a scholarship for Chosen Ones was suggested by one after watching a cartoon about superheroes in such a place. Michael immediately realized the usefulness of the idea and went to work. He contacted several of his benefactors and requested their recommendations of schools that would be ideal for this environment.

More than Just One Chosen

Two years later, the Marjorie Grabowski Scholarship was launched at the Lares and Penates School for the Gifted. The following year, he began sponsoring the lady’s lacrosse team in exchange for automatically placing all recipients of the scholarship on the team. He’s recently begun socializing the idea of sponsoring the rugby team with the center’s leadership and other donors.

At the Lares and Penates School for the Gifted, Michael provides scholarships for children deemed to be “beyond average.” He is using the school to marshal an army. The gifted students he gifts scholarships are Chosen Ones that he finds via the tracking device.

With several Chosen Ones retained in the Tranquility Sanitarium and the ability to bring it back to life, he kills one biannually. He then sends his new, groomed Chosen Ones out to find the new recuit. Once the new Chosen One is found, he visits the family and offers the scholarship.

The Evil Men Do

If that same outsider did not realize the evil things Michael was doing to the Chosen Ones in Tranquility and the outsider was only exposed to the Chosen Ones that Michael is grooming to fight Legion, they might be forgiven for thinking he is doing good work. To a limited extent, he is doing good works. The scholarship provides for an education regardless of social class. Sponsoring the lacrosse team ensures the ladies have a team and the means to obtain equipment if they do not have the funds to buy their own. The Chosen Ones are also fighting the forces of darkness.

Net Losses and Gains

Michael is unable to capture every Chosen One he triggers into creation. Some slip through, like any of your player characters portraying a Chosen One. When this happens, he simply slays another one and brings it back to life for later use.

In the early years, he discovered slaying a Chosen One for the sixth time resulted in perma-death. He has yet to determine why that is, but there’s always another Chosen One to take their place!

Michael realizes that if there are to many of these Chosen Ones in existence, it will draw unwanted attention. He also knows that he has to play to the family and friends of the new Chosen One when contacting them. He’s been doing this since the turn of the century and is very good at it.

At the time of writing this article, Michael Grabowski has been raising Chosen Ones for twenty-eight years. There are now Chosen Ones throughout society. Several of them are instructors at the center. One is the coach of the lacrosse team. Another one runs fundraisers for the school, with an eye towards watching for new Chosen Ones. These are highly educated, highly skilled, motivated people. An unseen army.

You can learn more about Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars at Elflair.com

The Abyss Group: Enemy Faction

The Abyss Group: Enemy Faction

The Abyss Group is a collection of vigilantes who believe it is their right to kill the supernatural and anyone they deem “evil.” 

The group started as individuals hunting down specific supernatural creatures for revenge. However, they each continued to hunt and kill monsters after completing their initial goals. As they continued on their individual journeys, they eventually met each other and formed a collective. They still operate more like a group of individuals than a team, but they all realize the importance of working together when hunting a foe.

The Abyss Group are not good people. At best, one might consider them anti-heroes, since they fight supernatural creatures and have tragic backgrounds. They are driven by emotions related to anger, hate, and revenge. Their goal is to put a stop to the supernatural creatures in the world and they are willing to use innocents as bait to achieve that goal.     

The Abyss Group takes its time investigating potential targets. They know they are only human and the supernatural creatures they are hunting are far from it. They follow, they stake out, they do their research, and when it is time for a showdown, they do everything they can to exploit their opponents’ weaknesses. 

No tactic is too cruel, no technique is off limits for this group of vigilantes. They have burnt down buildings, exploded gas mains, and flooded cellars to achieve their goals. Their planned attacks use a high amount of lethality to ensure a successful mission. While they do their best to not harm innocents, anyone in the wrong place at the wrong time has a higher than average chance of dying. 

The group survives by taking everything they can use from their targets: money, weapons, food, and even shelter by living in their victims’ homes.

Members

Darren Overmeyer knew his fiance was cheating on him with his best friend, Andrew. One night when Darren was supposed to be at work, he drove by Andrew’s apartment to see if she was there. She was and Darren decided to wait outside the friend's apartment to confront her. 

As Sarah left the apartment, Andrew walked her to the car. A long kiss goodnight drove Darren over the edge. He exited his car, retrieved a replica sword from the trunk, and rushed up on the couple. Sarah heard him and screamed. Andrew turned around just as Darren swung his cheap replica sword. Andrew threw his arms up to protect himself from the sword. The force of the blow knocked Andrew to the ground. As Darren prepared to take another swing at Andrew, Sarah screamed for him to stop. Darren flicked his sword in Sarah’s direction in an attempt to force her back. Instead, the sword slipped from his hand and penetrated one of Sarah’s carotid arteries. 

Darren stood in shock as his fiance began to bleed out in front of him. Andrew yelled for Darren to help him try to save Sarah. Darren, however, was in shock. He realized what he had done. He knew she would not survive. Darren chose to save himself and ran. 

He drove home as quickly as he could manage. He packed everything he could not live without into two backpacks and left town. He eventually ditched the car in a very bad neighborhood of the City.  

The following night, Sarah visited Darren in his dreams. The night after, she began to haunt him. He read everything he could find on ghosts. He networked with ghost hunters. He eventually met Casey Nottingham, a theosophist and learned there may not be an answer for how to drive away the ghost. However, Ryan did introduce him to the rest of the supernatural world. A world that Darren would pillage in his attempt to discover the knowledge needed to rid himself of Sarah’s ghost. He has yet to banish her from the mortal realm. 

Darren is of the opinion that all supernatural creatures are evil and should be destroyed. Since forming the Abyss Group with the others, he has learned how to use firearms and fight with real swords. He should be used as a 10-15 level Survivor. His preferred weapons are heavy caliber pistols, shotguns, and real swords, but is proficient in all civilian firearms. 

Image: approximately 28 years old, stocky male, wire rimmed glasses with small, round lenses, blonde hair, moustache and goatee, blue eyes, 5’10” and 190 pounds, black pants, military boots, and black, long sleeve  shirts. At the time of the death of his fiance, he had long hair in a pony tail and no facial hair. 

Casey Nottingham is mentally not well. He was on several antidepressants before his wife and kid left him. This began a long slide to desperation and degeneration. He immediately switched his prescribed medications to illicit drugs and alcohol. He became violent when out drinking. He lost his driver’s license when he drove his truck into a pond while driving under the influence. He beat to death several drug dealers who were, according to him, “charging too much” for their product. 

It didn’t take long for him to lose his job. His drug use, bad behavior, and finally, fighting on the job helped promote him to customer. He would return to the chemical plant to exact revenge on his employers after closing. He beat and placed two of his superiors in vats of acid. While doing so, a splash of sulfuric acid hit him in the face. He now wears clothing and masks to cover the disfigured half of his face.

Soon after he received the scarring, he began to see dead people. He cranked up his drug use to try and shut them out. When that didn’t work, he changed drugs. When that didn’t work, he tried using drugs to gain a better understanding of his newfound necromantic ability. He eventually reached out to other necromancers and dark warlocks he found online and through bookstores. He learned more about his abilities, himself, and how to grow his power. 

Casey rose in power and fame quickly. He embraced his new life as a Theosophist, or as he prefers to be called, a necromancer. He killed several of the people he trained under in an effort to gain their power, control their souls, or because they owned something he wanted. Along the way, he met Peter Nixon and Darren Overmeyer. They helped him focus his learning on hunting evil creatures for power and artifacts, more so than evil people. When not using his powers to kill, his preferred weapons are a heavy pistol and a dagger with a wavy blade. He knows it is a stereotype and he leans into it.

Casey should be used as a 12-15 level Theosophist. 

Casey’s wife has since divorced him and the legal system has removed all parental rights from him. 

Image: approximately 32 years old, long, blue hair, no facial hair, many body piercings, 6’2” and 160 pounds, black or blue jeans, black high-top shoes, black metal band t-shirts, and aviator sunglasses. 

Peter Nixon’s parents died in a car accident when he was a baby. His paternal grandparents took him and tried to raise them as their own. Before the boy turned three, his grandparents died in an airplane crash. This brought the young man to his maternal grandmother. 

Mamaw Amthor’s husband had died years prior and she lived off his meager pension and governmental aid. While the state did provide her with additional benefits for taking the boy in, their life together was not one of luxury. The electricity was not always on and the water was not always hot. However, they got by and Peter knew no better until he started school. He quickly learned about money and social cliques, being poor and having very few friends.

When Peter started puberty, he also started developing psychic powers. Unbeknownst to Peter, Mamaw Amthor was a psychic, as was her daughter, Peter’s mother. Mamaw was not a strong psychic, but she knew enough to recognize the signs as Peter developed. By his senior year of high school, Peter was a functioning empath and had started down the path of an esper.

Peter moved to the City to attend a liberal arts college with high hopes of earning a teaching degree. He met other psychics at the college, including the woman he would later marry, Dawn Carlyle. His new friends and acquaintances introduced him to more of the supernatural world. He danced at clubs that catered to creatures of the night and made friends with Sages and Theosophists. 

Peter and Dawn volunteered at a soup kitchen near campus. It was there that he met Jacinto Garcia, a psychic gunslinger. Jacinto was living on the street, on the run from Sinaloa Cartel assassins. Peter’s easy going nature and Jacinto’s sarcastic side made the two fast friends. The two began spending time together outside of the soup kitchen, whether sharing information on their supernatural abilities, sharing a meal, or Peter and Dawn buying Jacinto new clothing. Eventually, Jacinto would move into their home. 

Jacinto’s past eventually caught up to him in the City. The assassins found him and the Nixons. They came at night, blasting their way through the home with semi-automatic rifles and grenades. The Nixons and Jacinto were caught unawares, but managed to survive the attack. All three were severely injured, but Dawn’s ability with Bio-Feedback made short work of the injuries.

Jacinto disappeared into the night. The police would have questions and he had zero interest in being deported to Mexico. The Nixons told the police that the hitmen broke into their house to try and kill Jacinto. They didn’t deny the fact that Jacinto shot and killed the assassins. Nor did they deny that they had met him via the soup kitchen and were trying to help him improve his life. They cooperated insofar as they could, without discussing the supernatural aspects of the case or the fact that they knew he was wanted by the Sinaloa Cartel. 

Six months later, Jacinto returned and asked Peter to help with a child trafficking ring that was kidnapping children who ate at the soup kitchen. Soon after, Peter and Dawn disappeared off the grid. 

The Nixons joined the rest of the Abyss Group after busting the child trafficking ring. In addition to their psychic abilities, both of the Nixons typically go armed with medium caliber pistols. After a run in with a pack of werewolves last year, Peter carries a semi-automatic shotgun in the trunk of his sedan. It is loaded with silver flechette rounds. Peter should be used as a 10-15 level Psychic and Dawn as a 8-12 level Psychic.

Dawn does not participate in their activities, but does provide healing when needed. Dawn spends most of her days picking up after the guys, cooking meals, and looking for new places to live. This isn’t the life she wants, but law enforcement officials want her just as much as they want the men. She simply sees no way out of her current life. If there is a weak link in the Abyss Group, it is her.

Image:  Peter is a stocky male with short cropped brown hair, thick glasses or contacts, green eyes, blue jeans, t-shirts, work boots with steel toes, and a beard-moustache combo that would make Dusty Hill proud. He is 5’10” and 210 pounds. Dawn goes about in simple clothes like blue jeans, t-shirts, and tennis shoes. She has short-cropped, black hair, blue eyes, and tattoos. She doesn’t care for Peter’s beard. She stands 5’3” and weighs in at 120 pounds.

Jacinto Francisco Vargas Garcia is an illegal immigrant from Ciudad Juarez. He developed his Psychic Gunslinger abilities in his late teens. At 19, he stood up to the cartel’s local henchmen, refusing to pay them insurance money for his aunt and uncle’s safety. Naturally, this didn’t sit well and Jacinto needed to learn a lesson. The cartel leader sent a posse over to rough him up. Jacinto shot and killed each member of that posse. 

The cartel leader and fifty men came looking for Jacinto. Killing the posse was an affront that could not go unpunished. Jacinto had gone into hiding and when they couldn’t find him, they visited his aunt and uncle. The couple had no idea where their nephew had gone or how he managed to kill the well-armed posse with just a single action revolver. After torturing them for several hours, the leader had them hanged and left as an example.  

Jacinto came out of hiding for revenge. He snuck into the cartel’s local complex and murdered every single person he found on the premises. The next day, he used their fake USA passports to cross the border into the United States. He took one of their cars, brought along their money, and enough bullets to last for some time. Recognizing the vehicle and his fake passport, the corrupt border guards let him into the country without so much as a glance.

Jacinto wandered north, trying to put distance between himself and the hunters he knew would be coming. By the time Jacinto reached the City, he had spent all of the money, shot most of his bullets, and was driving his fourth car since arriving in the country. He eventually found a shelter and soup kitchen. The same one where he would meet John and Dawn Nixon. The same one that brought Jonathan James into his life. 

Jacinto has made it his purpose to pick fights with bad people. Since arriving in the City, he has killed every member of the L Street Bloods, put several prostitution rings out of business, and dusted a master vampire. His bravado will eventually catch up to him. Jacinto should be used as a 10-15 level Pscychic Gunslinger.

Image: approximately 26 years old, 6’1” and 200 pounds, long, black hair pulled back in a pony-tail, black dress pants, white, wrinkled dress shirt, dress shoes, and black trench coat. 

Jonathan James’ wife was killed by a religious fanatic possessed by a djinn. The fanatic targeted a shopping mall in the suburbs where Jonathan’s wife happened to be with friends. More than 30 people, including Jonathan’s wife, were killed in the mass killing. The fanatic was stopped by an off-duty police officer who shot and killed him. 

Jonathan believes he can see the djinn leaving the body of the fanatic in close captioned tv and recorded video from cell phones. Casey Nottingham has stated he sees the soul of the fanatic leave. No one else will confirm they can see the djinn leave the body. 

Jonathan was serving as the leader of a local coven of witches and warlocks when his wife was murdered. Following her death, he took a step back from the leadership role to try and heal from his loss. Her loss proved to be too great and Jonathan turned from a path of light and helpfulness to a path of darkness and selfishness.   

Jonathan has since dedicated his life to exposing the evil side of religious fanaticism. He has ousted money launderers, exposed rapists and drug dealers, and used his spellcasting abilities to destroy those who traffick children. His work requires knowledge not only surrounding the evils of man, but also those creatures who would help man do his worst to others. His favorite targets to hunt are people within religious organizations who hurt children and the demons who benefit from the suffering.

Jonathan met Jacinto Garcia, a Psychic Gunslinger, while investigating the goings on at a soup kitchen. Jacinto was a regular at the kitchen. Teaming up with Jacinto, they were able to identify the local leaders of a child trafficking organization. The organization was kidnapping children who frequented the soup kitchen and trading them to evil creatures for power, money, and supernatural artifacts. The organization was not only active in the City, but also several other metropolitan areas across the country. They had ties to politicians, megachurches, crime syndicates, and social organizations like QANON. Clues found in cell phones and laptop computers suggest they have ties to other countries.

Realizing they would need more firepower, Jacinto brought in Peter and Dawn Nixon to assist them. Jonathan contacted Casey Nottingham for assistance, who then brought Darren Overmeyer. Their combined effort destroyed the trafficking organization, destroyed the careers of several religious leaders, and exposed child exploitation groups. They fought their way through class I and II demons, banishing several class III demons before they were done.  

Prior to this case, Jonathan had stayed out of the sight of law enforcement. He turned over the cell phones and laptops of criminals. He sent in anonymous tips. He worked through social services. He banished demons. This case revealed the true depth to which other men will go for power. He bore witness to acts unimaginable and crimes so heinous, no jail sentence would be enough punishment. He broke during this case. No actions were off the table. He baited criminals, murdered rapists, blatantly stole from the rich, and mentally justified it all. 

His fingerprints were found by the police and there is now an active warrant for his arrest. The others were already sought by the law for their crimes. When he isn’t using magic to stop his enemies, Jonathan has found he likes using a medium submachine gun with silencer (use stats for medium caliber pistol) to encourage people and creatures to change their ways. He isn’t too good with the gun and tends to use too many bullets to accomplish his goals. 

Image: approximately 30 years old, average build, 5’10” and 180 pounds, black eyes, brown hair, beard, and moustache, and wears boring clothes that help him blend in with society

Legal

The Abyss Group: Enemy Faction is copyright 2021 Derek Stoelting

Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars is copyright Jason Vey and Elf Lair, LLC 2020 and is used without express permission.

No challenge to the copyright owners' rights is meant or implied.

RPG Organization: Montrose Safeguard of Chicago: a Security Company

Montrose Safeguard of Chicago: a Security Company

Montrose Safeguard started as a private investigation firm in 1975. The company was founded by David Hagger and Samuel Bond in the city of Schiller Park (near O'Hare). Over time, the company grew to include basic security guard details and armed officers. When the supernatural became a full-on topic, company president Emily Watson used her contacts within City Hall to go after a contract with the city of Chicago for that type of work.

For their part, the city of Chicago tried to handle the accepted existence of vampires and shapechangers. To this day, the city still has no idea how to deal with the supernatural creatures. Should they be allowed to vote? What about marriage laws? Shapechangers appear to be human, but vampires are technically dead. Then comes the fact that vampires must consume blood. Does consuming blood from the living count as a criminal offense? Does it matter if the “victim” is willing or unwilling? Is killing or “dusting” a vampire the same as murder if the vampire is technically already dead? Shapechangers do not appear to have separate needs from humans regarding sustenance. However, their ability to control themselves is still vastly not understood. Several cases are pending in the courts where the defendants claim to have not had control while in a changed form.

Aldermen across the city brought the problem to City Hall just as quickly as the local newscasters took the challenges to the television and public at large. The tipping point for the mayor's office was a fight between a gang of vampires and a gang of werewolves. The fight broke out during the annual A Taste of Chicago event. The brawl claimed the lives of two vampires, one werewolf, and five citizens. It also caused a mini-riot shutting down the event for the rest of the week. At this point, the mayor was forced to take action. Enter Emily Watson and Montrose Safeguard.

Emily Watson's parents are friends with the Chief of Police. Emily went to school with the chief's son, dating him their senior year of high school. While the chief's son would go on to study law at UCLA and then start his own practice in San Francisco, Emily joined the US Army and served as an intelligence adviser during the US's invasion of Panama. Emily moved back to the Chicago area once she mustered out from the Army and took a job with Montrose Safeguard. She started in management and worked her way up from there.

Emily Watson made the right telephone call at the right time, lining up a meeting with both the Chief of Police and the mayor. Within a month's time, Montrose Safeguard became the city of Chicago's answer to the supernatural challenges. They would handle all cases related to the supernatural, including the ability to make arrests. Soon after, Montrose Safeguard signed contracts with Cook, Lake, and DuPage Counties plus the State of Illinois for the northern portion of the state. A competitor based in Springfield is working the rest of the state. Montrose Safeguard has two teams of investigators dedicated to supernatural incidents fed to the company via local law enforcement agencies.

Montrose Safeguard has developed several other agents who handle supernatural cases that come to the company via individuals. Most of these are related to “spooks,” ghosts, poltergeists, haunting, etc. At this time, Montrose Safeguard does not engage in the removal of incorporeal denizens.

Montrose Safeguard of Chicago currently operates out of the city of Cicero near the intersection of Cermack (22nd Street) and Cicero (Ill Rte. 50). They have an office building and a fleet of cars.

Game Play Notes:  Montrose Safeguard operates as a tier three organization in my game. The world’s citizens are just beginning to know vampires and werewolves. There are no catalogs of abilities. The company does not have tools or weapons designed to go after these new challenges. They have fewer than 20 security agents dealing with the supernatural case load. Outside of two teams of four, the agents deal with things individually, feeling their way through the cases. Once the organization can compile enough data to become a viable source of information or tools in dealing with supernatural events, the company will become a tier two organization.

The setting has put vampires and werewolves in the public eye. However, mages, fae, ghosts, etc. really have not been accepted in public. They are potentially in the game world, just currently unknown.

Legal

Montrose Safeguard of Chicago is copyright 2021 Derek Stoelting

Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars is copyright Jason Vey and Elf Lair, LLC 2020 and is used without express permission.

No challenge to the copyright owners' rights is meant or implied.

Night Spot: The Archer Hotel

The following location is designed for use with games such as Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars, Buffy: the Vampire Slayer, Nights Black Agents, or Deadlands, but with a little work can be used in nearly all role playing games.

The Archer Hotel resides next to a lonesome highway. The highway’s numerical designation and name have changed so often over the years, that no one remembers what it is currently called. Most folks refer to the highway outside of the Archer as the “1-0-1”. You can call it whatever you want - no one will care. 

The Archer has passed through divers hands over the years. It has never stayed in any single one family’s possession for more than two generations. The current owners are Kane and Lana Rezick. The couple is from “back east”. They managed several successful bed and breakfasts before selling out and buying this hotel. They were looking for a change in scenery and clientele. They got both in spades. 

Archer Hotel Background

The Archer Hotel was originally built by a copper mine baron, Michael Allen Grant Archer, III, in the early 20th century. His descendants would squander his riches and MAG Archer, IV, eventually sold the property.

The property was immediately cleaned out, fixed up, and sold to a hotel developer. It was further updated by the developer and then sold off as a hotel. The property went through several hands before the Rezicks purchased it. During the 1950s and 1960s, it was a popular spot for vacationers traveling through the area. Low cost room rates and access to the highway system increased profits. However, the decline of cross-country travel in the late 20th century destroyed the halcyon days of low cost-high profit. 

When the Rezicks purchased the property in the early 2000s, most of the hotel’s guests were either old timers traveling to relive their youth, weird desert dwellers, or outlaw bikers. The first of those groups were the only clientele the Rezicks had experience with. Learning how to manage the other two groups as guests took trial and error over time. Different weirdos were into different things. Some were into experiencing the desert while intoxicated on magic pills. Others claimed to be tracing ley lines across the country. A few used the hotel as a place to conduct business, whether it involved drugs, guns, or magical fetishes. 

The bikers were frequently one percenters and more often than not, either drunks or cokeheads. Where the senior citizens and weirdos might break something by accident, the bikers often did it on purpose and did not feel they needed to pay back the hotel for the damage caused. Confronting them could lead to more damage to the hotel, not paying for their rooms, and more than once, a broken nose for Kane. The Rezicks flexed their supernatural gifts and came to an understanding with the bikers: don’t start nothing, won’t be nothing. Now, most of the bikers who stay at the hotel police each other and keep things under control. . . mostly.

Archer Hotel Today

The Archer Hotel was originally built in the California Mission Revival style. The Rezicks are slowly returning the hotel’s appearance to that charm, while maintaining modern guest expectations. 

Parking for the hotel is a graveled area between the hotel and the highway. While guests can park on the side or rear of the hotel, there are no lights outside the hotel on those sides. Additionally, the only doors for the hotel lead into the courtyard. 

Entrance to the hotel is through an arched walkway wide enough for five men abreast. The archway is connected to a low wall that runs across the front of the hotel’s courtyard. After passing through the walkway, the guests cross a bricked courtyard, circumventing a gorgeous fountain, and enter the hotel through a set of double doors. Guest room windows and simple, wooden doors line the interior walls of the courtyard. Above, the second floor provides a walkway around the courtyard and the third floor offers balconies from which guests in the suites can listen to the gentle bubbling of the fountain. 

The guest service area of the hotel is not large and guests often say it feels claustrophobic. There is a desk wide enough for two computers and desk clerks. There is a small pantry closet with a few snacks, bottled water, Mexican style beer, tequila, and to the side is a porter and valet stand. Down the hallway is an office shared by the hotel’s concierge and management. 

The interior of the hotel is rustic. The walls are rough and the floors are not finished. The walls are adorned with replicas of Chumash cave paintings and replica oil lamps. The guest rooms are bare bones, with only a bed, chair, and desk for furniture. The only electronics in the rooms are the lights, heating and cooling, and a television. A single window in each window provides better light than the yellowed bulbs in the rooms. All rooms face the courtyard. Only the ground floor and third floor hallways are protected from the elements. The second floor rooms open to a veranda, again, facing the courtyard.  

The manager/concierge office is still used as the manager’s office. It is not well-organized and papers cover most surfaces. An old CRT monitor sits on the desk, hooked up to a desktop computer sitting on the floor. Several metal cabinets stand next to the walls, with copies in triplicate of every transaction ever processed by the Rezicks. 

A shelf display unit in the hall outside of the manager’s office is the closest thing the hotel has to a concierge. Everything a visitor could want to do within a thirty mile radius is represented amongst the tri-folded pamphlets. A nearby wall map of the county highlights the nearest gas stations, quickie marts, and restaurants. 

Stairs to the second and third floors exist in the corners of the hotel. All of the stairs are interior and do not have windows. 

The area surrounding the Archer Hotel is arid desert. Cacti and sunflowers are the only plants that grow near the hotel. There is a dam in the area which supplies water to the hotel. The Rezicks are in talks with the water and power providers to set up a small wind farm on their property that would pay into both bills for the hotel. From their research, the Rezicks think they might even turn a bit of a profit from a wind farm. 

The Rezicks

The hotel is entirely staffed by the Rezicks, who live on property. Kane is a Psychic Gunslinger and Lana is a Spirit Rider.

They most recently lived in the Killington, Vermont ski area where they ran several bed and breakfasts. While they made most of their money during the busy ski season, they pulled in enough summer vacation guests to make it all work. Many of their peers worked second jobs during the summer to make ends meet. It was during the summer months that they ran into some trouble.

A group of vampires and a group of werewolves chose to meet in the Killington area to hammer out a deal. The vampires were trafficking people into and out of Burlington from Saratoga Springs. They wanted to expand over to Champlain and potentially into Canada. The werewolves, on the other hand, were established along the U.S.-Canada border as the go-to for moving people across the border illegally. While the two groups were not directly in opposition to each other, the werewolves felt the vampires might bring unwanted attention from border agents. So, they decided to make it a problem. After several incidents involving trafficked people turning up dead and law enforcement investigations, the vampires asked for a “sit-down”. 

The werewolves obliged and chose the Killington area due to the fact that it was off-season (so fewer people) and its remoteness. Most people vacationing in the area would be in the Gifford Woods State Park, not at ski resorts. The werewolves chose to stay in a few of the bed and breakfasts supplied by the Rezicks. The vampires chose to stay at a hotel in nearby Rutland, Vermont. The talks broke down, because neither side was willing to give up rights to the other. The werewolves felt they should be moving all product across the border and Champlain, Vermont. The vampires did not want to pay the werewolves to do what the vampires were already doing. Bad attitudes and angry words led to the inevitable fight. Both groups eschewed using firearms and instead, went tooth, claw, and vehicular for their killing. 

The Rezicks prided themselves on running a proper business. They made sure to check in with guests either upon arrival or the first evening of a stay. They tried to reach the werewolves by telephone to make sure the locations were up to expectations. Receiving no answer at the cell phone number used to make the reservations or at the houses being rented, they decided to go visit the properties to make sure all was alright.

Unfortunately for the Rezicks, they showed up during the fight and witnessed both supernatural species in all their glory. Worse still, both groups saw the Rezicks and gave chase. Through a combination of local knowledge and their innate abilities, they were able to escape certain death. They quickly gathered up what belongings they could fit in their cars and left the state.

The Rezicks sold their Vermont properties through a third party. They stayed on the move, never stopping in an area for more than a few days. Lana was forced to dismiss her association with the land in Killington, losing access to many of her abilities.  

While trying to determine where and how they wanted to stop running, the Rezicks saw an estate sale advertisement for the Archer Hotel. The owner had run the place into the ground and died without heirs. The state wanted to sell it as quickly as possible, realizing it would not bring in a lot of money from investors. After a thorough walk-through of the property with the broker, they low-balled an offer. To their surprise, it was accepted almost immediately. 

The Rezicks immediately set about renovating the property. They began with the inside of the hotel and eventually worked out to the outdoors and ended with a new sign above the wrought iron doors in the archway into the courtyard.

Kane Rezick should be used as a fourth level NPC. If used as a PC, he can be created as a fourth level Psychic Gunslinger. Lana is a third level NPC or a third level Spirit rider if used as a player character. Lana has attuned herself to the local land. The length of time she was not associated with the land slowed her level progression. The Rezicks are not meant to be used as all-powerful NPCs. However, if the player characters are far and away better than the Rezicks, Game Masters may wish to raise their levels.

Kane is a tall man with lean features. He has medium-length, dark, messy hair. He has a constant five o’clock shadow. He wears silver, wireframe glasses. His current clothing colors are whites and light browns.

Lana is also tall, but with more angular features. She keeps her fiery red hair cut short. She typically wears monochrome, business casual clothing. 

Guest Services

There are many reasons for the player characters to visit the Archer Hotel. In fact, all of the usual reasons work. 

On the Hunt

In this story, the characters are after someone or something holed up at the Archer Hotel. If it is someone, that person heard that the Archer Hotel was a great place to hide out and wait for a storm to blow over. Unfortunately, either the player characters heard the same thing or the person hiding out made a mistake that the players caught (like paying for the room with a credit card in their name). Finding the hotel is the easy part. There are advertisements on all of the usual social media platforms, in addition to targeted marketing in travel magazines. The hard part will be extracting whomever or whatever the player characters are after. 

The Rezicks consider their property to be their place to control. To that end, if the player characters come onto the property and rough-up a guest, they will consider the characters to be villains. The guest’s alignment does not factor into how the Rezicks react to the player characters. The Rezicks also have zero interest in being known for selling out their guests. So, unless the player characters can make a good case as to why they should be allowed to leave with a guest or the guest’s property, they will have a fight on their hands. 

The Rezicks will not protect everyone. Obviously bad people or supernatural species will be turned out. These include killers, rapists, Nazis, child abusers, etc. If the person in question is considered bad by way of opinion or they have not committed a crime the Rezicks feel is worth their reputation as a safe haven, they will stand by protecting their property and everyone on it. However, if the guest has paid through tomorrow and tries to purchase a longer stay, the Rezicks may just decline the request.  

The Rezicks are not meant to be arch-nemesis level opponents. If the players decide to fight them, they will be a speed bump to slow down the player characters. This may serve to soften up the characters before fighting the big bad hiding on the property. 

The Hunted

In this story, it is the player characters who are using the Archer Hotel as a place to hide out. So they reveal themselves or who they are hiding from to the hotel’s owners? In addition to the Rezicks, they will have the opportunity to interact with other guests at the hotel. GMs are encouraged to create guests that can expand the characters’ backgrounds or challenge their presumptions. Additional guests do not need to be supernaturally orientated. In fact, depending on the Night World or the player characters’ species, they may need to hide their supernatural abilities from the other guests. 

After interacting with the other guests, they will need to deal with whomever comes looking for the player characters. Are they minions who show up and cause problems? Are they player character level NPCs who know what they are walking into and will be smart about their tactics? Maybe those cute senior citizens are actually spies for the demon lord searching for the magic knife the Sage carries. And if the demon lord does show up, can the players convince the Rezicks that they really are the good guys?

Meetings

Due to the remoteness of the hotel and the owners’ disposition about causing problems on their property, the Archer Hotel is a good place to hold meetings. Player characters looking to buy information can meet with turncoats and certified informants here. Sketchy magic item dealers might choose the Archer Hotel as neutral ground for closing deals. They know the Rezicks aren’t going to put up with guests fighting, so they book a room for a few nights out of paranoia.

The location also works for hand-offs and dead drops. Need to pick up a battered spouse and whisk them away to safety? The 1-0-1 provides an open highway with very little police presence to enforce speed limits or safety. Naturally, this also means the Game Master can arrange for a car chase or fight scene inspired by their favorite post-apocalyptic movie series. 

Because the property is old, there are many nooks and crannies that have developed over the years. The door frame inside room 212 has a habit of coming loose across the top. Need to leave a message for someone? Place it here. Have something small you need to hand off? Put it in a magnetic key box and leave it attached to the iron railing along the balcony of room 315. 

Helping the Owners

Because the Rezicks are not meant to be all-powerful NPCs, they might need help with something outside of their abilities. If the player characters are well equipped to handle hauntings, perhaps an old ghost has taken up residence on the property. Maybe there is a secret door that leads to a cave system below the property where a loogaroo has been trapped for nearly a century! The Rezicks may put the word out that they need help protecting a guest from a vampire coven. 

One day, the werewolves or the vampires from Vermont are going to catch up with the Rezicks. When they do, Kane and Lana will need help defending themselves.

Sanctuary

Game Masters can use the Archer Hotel as a location for the Sanctuary from the Night Shift: VotSW corebook. The remoteness of the hotel provides a perfect place for healing and recovery. Game Masters using the hotel in this manner will want to add staff to the hotel. Security guards, psychologists, family medicine doctors, cleaning crew, and front desk staff would likely be needed. Some roles may be shared by the same person or they may be on call.

The player characters could work for Sanctuary as couriers. They could travel to whomever needs help and bring them back to Sanctuary, fighting off whatever evil haunts the survivor. The characters can also serve as the team who delivers the victim to their new home after healing at the hotel. When not picking up and delivering survivors, they can serve as security for the property or take on their own caseload.

Legal

This work of fiction is copyright Derek Stoelting 2021

Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars is copyright Jason Vey and Elf Lair, LLC 2020 and is used without express permission.

Sanctuary is copyright Timothy S. Brannan 2020 and is used without express permission.

No challenge to the copyright owners' rights is meant or implied.

Slayer's Gauntlet

I took a break from #RPGaDay2015 to type out my latest campaign idea. This idea was inspired by the first 50 seconds of the following advertisement for Gauntlet:  Slayer Edition.

Don't worry, Dave. I re-scripted my video. I will re-shoot it this weekend. 

Slayer’s Gauntlet

High Concept:  Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Gauntlet/Diablo

The Pitch:  The characters discover a deceased friend accidentally opened a portal to a demon realm. Now, they must suit up and fight their way through dungeons and armies to stop a demon prince before he brings Hell to 21st century Earth.

Overview:  The characters are all college students or have good reason to all have lives that revolve around the same college or university. They are friends, through classes, majors, sports, clubs, or high school friends. All of them are well aware of the supernatural world and have a clue how to handle themselves, even if it means knowing when to run away. One night, they stumble onto a dead friend and it leads them to Hell and back. Can they stop a demon prince’s plans to invade Earth or will they fall victim and rise as one of the dead to serve in the demon prince’s army?

First Arc:  The characters stumble into the situation and must decide what to do and how to do it. During their investigation into the situation, they could discover the deceased student’s Instagram feed showing what the student was doing. They then move on to investigate the Book of the Dead and what the missing page is for. As the characters move through the motions, more demons enter the Earth plane. If the characters falter in their decision to fight the demons, students come to them for aid and assistance.

Second Arc:  Their research leaves no doubt as to what will happen if the portal is not closed. They must go after the page from the Book of the Dead. They can do some research into this demon prince. The research reveals potential realms within his demense. However, there is no indication as to which one the demon prince calls home. The research also reveals a wife, Astarte, and her minions are among the dead. The characters go through a montage wherein they gather arms and armor, spell books and written incantations. Will it be enough?

Arriving at the portal, the characters discover a demon spellcaster with an honor guard. He has cast a spell to make humans not notice the demons and their activities. The characters can discern this through speaking with other humans, perhaps the tough campus security guard or even one of the characters could be affected. They could also overhear the demon speaking to the honor guard about how it needs to cast a larger version of the spell tomorrow. They will need as many virgins as they can gather for a sacrifice. The power from the virgins will allow the demon to cast his net over the entire city. As soon as they can cast the spell tomorrow at midnight the following evening, the armies can start marching upon Earth, enslaving humanity. The characters’ only choice is to wade in and slay these demons while the portal into Hell shimmers in the background.

Entering the portal, the characters find themselves as a stasis point. Hallways, doors, and stairs lead away from what appears to be the inside of a castle. Studying the room reveals it is the central traveling chamber in this Hell. The characters have three main path choices from which to choose. They will need to fight and clear each level of this dungeon-like Hell.

If this is a long-term campaign, the characters are in for an old school dungeon crawl. They will need to fight through each major path in order to find the demon prince (Diablo, Gauntlet, The Temple of Elemental Evil). Each path will feature different elements. The final one features undead. There should be no doubt to the players that each level is harder, but also that there are simply too many pathways to go down. They stick to the major pathways in an effort to more quickly find the demon prince. After all, why would a demon prince scurry along in darkened, hollowed places instead of striding through the halls of his own realm. Along the way, they may discover allies who also wish to end the demon prince’s rule (e.g., humans stolen from Earth and enslaved, races from other realms who are also here to end the demon prince’s rule).

If this is a short-term campaign, the characters will need to fight creatively, pitting demons against each other, and using the element of surprise. After all, what demon underling would expect a band of human warriors to bring the fight to Hell.

If this is an one-shot, the characters find themselves in the castle of the demon prince. They will need to move quickly and decisively if they want to win the night and stop the hordes from invading Earth.

Having won through to where they think they will find the demon prince, they instead face off with his wife, Astarte, ruler of the dead. This fight will take the characters to the brink of death. One or more could die in this fight.

In defeating Astarte they discover the lair of the demon prince and rush to it. If the characters decide to face off against the demon prince, the fight is ugly. He does not hold back and nor should they. Weird magics and unholy items come to play. Did the characters bring any holy relics of their own? How will those items affect the demon prince, his powers, and those Lieutenants not already defeated.

If the characters decide to instead steal the page from the Book of the Dead, they do not get away without notice. Something will notice. If the characters pull it off without a hitch, they gain a huge lead in escaping the demon prince’s lair. In fact, with a few more successful stealth and fighting checks, they make it all the way to the portal where they discover the demon prince or his highest lieutenants await the characters.

Third Arc:  The characters face their final moral dilemma. Do they cast the spell to close the portal while they are still in Hell or do they fight their way through the portal and cast it from the other side? If they cast the spell while in Hell, they are trapped until they re-cast the spell to open it. This means casting the spell, fighting their way out of the portal room, and going “underground.” Ideally, the game ends here, but the campaign could continue into a second season exploring those options.

If the characters fight through the portal to Earth before casting the spell to close the portal, the demon prince follows them through the portal. Reality warps around the portal due to the high level of magical creatures and magic in and around the portal. The characters will need to either hold off the demon prince while another character casts the spell, closing the portal or they will need to defeat the demon prince and then cast the spell, while holding off his minions. Once they close the portal, the demons and the demon prince on Earth lose access to any sort of regenerating powers. They have no way to tap into the Earth’s natural powers as the characters’ abilities allow.

Original Outline:

1.       Setup

a.       Beginning:  College student gains a page from the Book of the Dead or some other equally horrible book. Doesn’t realize what they are doing and opens a portal to another world. Something comes through, kills the college student, leaves the body, takes the page of the book, and runs off to tell is master.

b.      Inciting Incident:  Increase of demon activity on campus. College student found dead by character/s. A small, scouting band of demons steps through the portal and attacks the character/s.

c.       Second Thoughts:  Are we the right people to do this? Other “friendly” students harmed and/or come to the characters for aid.

2.       Confrontation

a.       Ascending Action

                                                               i.      Obstacle #1:  Knowledge of what is going on. Where does the portal go? How do they close it? (research reveals they need the page from the book)

                                                             ii.      Obstacle #2:  A demon comes through and begins spellcasting to make the locals ignore the portal. People formerly looking for help now don’t know what the characters are talking about.

                                                            iii.      Midpoint with a big twist:  A demon prince plans to send his many minions to Earth, unless the characters go in, gain the page from the book, cast the spell, and potentially kill the demon prince.

b.      Obstacle #3:  Fighting through dungeon levels, trying to determine the location of the demon prince’s lair.

c.       Disaster:  The characters must defeat Astarte, wife of the demon prince

d.      Crisis:  They defeat Astarte, but lose something in the process (e.g., hit points, magical weapon, an ally). They hear demons discussing the fact that the armies are gathered and ready to pass through the portal. They are simply awaiting their prince to lead them through.

e.      Climax:  Do they fight the demon prince or steal the page and run?

3.       Resolution

a.       Descending action

                                                               i.      Climax Continues:  If fight the demon prince, they won and now have the page and must escape the demon realm before casting the spell or be trapped in the demon realm. If they stole the page and are on the run, they must escape to Earth and cast the spell before the demon prince’s army comes through the portal.

                                                             ii.      Wrap up:  Fight off straggler demons on Earth or if caught on the demon realm side of the portal, find a place to hide, awaiting the right time to re-open the portal to escape back to Earth.

                                    iii.    End