Vuldoruss (A.K.A. The Sinkhole)

Concept: Hungry Hole  (Hunter: The Vigil style Elder Demon)

AKA: Third lord of the mark, Battle marshall of the Eighth Infernal Legion. 

Desc:  In his manifested form he appears as a mottle-skinned man with a bright, far too wide, smile. Usually, if he’s trying to be charming, he’ll only show you one set of eyes. His ears are a bit upswept, and his form is covered with scars and rank markings.  

History: Vuldoruss sleeps a lot. He’s not the most active demon.  This is mainly a function of the fact that Vuldoruss ended burning out the body that he was in, in a spot way out in the sticks, He was lucky insofar as he found a place that was amenable to his habitation. But again, it was way out in the sticks.

It’s a bit of a bring-down because in his dreams he remembers the old day of the wars. He became Battle Marshal by dint of the fact that he ate his angelic enemies.  There was so much blood and glory and mayhem...At least, that’s the way he remembers it.

Now Vuldoruss lives within the heart of a sinkhole, caused by a mine collapse that swallowed a house killing all of its inhabitants. And he’d probably just slumber if it weren’t for the Rancher.

There was something about him that roused him from sleep. He too had a hunger and it rang in Vuldoruss’s head like a bell. So he showed his face, and they talked a bit. And then he showed MORE of his face, and for some reason, the rancher didn’t run or show fear. And so, they decided to do something for one another.

And that’s how Elijah Van Doren and Vuldoruss became friends...Well, Okay. Maybe that’s overselling it. But since that fateful day, the Van Doren family and Vuldoruss have worked together.

Once a quarter at very least, Someone comes around and dumps bodies for Vuldoruss, and he, in turn, rains his blessings on the Vermillion House.  Occasionally, he even gets a live one tossed down to him. Those are the best nights.  And you know, he’s a bit more active than he used to be. It seems like he’s gathering his strength.  He’s still bound by the same rules that all Elder Demons are bound by, but he has hope in his dark heart that there will come a time where he can finally find a body that can house his raw power.

Attitude: “Once...In the time before time...I was an avatar of destruction. A ravening engine of consumption.  There will come a time when I will once again stride this world and drink its marrow.

Skills:  Vuldoruss possesses the following Dread Powers: 3 dots of Confuse, 2 dots of Drain, 4dots of Dread Attack (his rather nasty bite) 3 dots of Lurker in Darkness, and Tendrils. The mystical boons that he confers on the Van Doren family and by extension, the Vermillion House are outside the scope of demonic abilities as given in the Hunter: The Vigil book. They are in the realm of Storyteller Fiat.

Gear: Demons don’t really need much gear

Home:  The mine actually runs a fair piece in a lot of directions, The mine hit some patches of limestone and they had to close it because it was structurally unsafe. The house that fell into the sinkhole broke into pieces but Vuldoruss has reconstructed it for the most part. It sits at the bottom of the sinkhole. The house and the whole mine smell of natural sulfur.

It should be noted that the bones of about 500 people litter the floor of the sinkhole. An amount of physical evidence of crimes stretching back decades and pointing directly at the Vermillion House.  This would be thoroughly damning in any court if it weren't for the fact that the House has gone to great lengths to make sure that the judiciary in the region wasn't already suborned.

Circle: While at present, his social circle is confined to the members of the Van Doren family and the occasional demon who is passing through and might want to visit and talk about old times. (I.E. Pick Vuldoruss's brain for a bit of ancient lore.) Vuldoruss himself is not closed to the idea of making new friends.  Anyone looking to dump a body in the sinkhole might find themselves with a new demonic acquaintance.

Story Uses:
" Come closer. I want to taste you."
Vuldoruss would be a nasty and unpleasant unplanned encounter, but it may be that the players are looking into the affairs of the Vermillion House.  If that's the case, They might just be armed with proper knowledge and equipment.

"Ordinarily, you'd never have seen me. But you went and fell asleep"
Right on the very edge of his demesnes, there is a patch right near the highway that they are thinking of building a gas n' go on. If that happens, the employees of that gas n' go, will likely be snacked on by Vuldoruss. Naturally, weird goings on at the Circle K will bring hunters and then...Who knows.

Additional Notes: Vuldoruss has the Demonic Flaw: The Malodor.

He also has the following bans: He cannot have a living creature asleep in the area he has claimed. Normally, this invites attack. Also, if anyone sings he can’t attack them. And lastly, If anyone consecrates the ground of his sinkhole and the surrounding environs, he will have to vacate. an attempt to do so will ALWAYS rouse Vuldoruss from his slumber and bring him on the hop and furious.

Connections:
*As mentioned above, Vuldoruss has only one real connection, at the moment, and that is to The Vermillion House

Chris Murphy

Concept: The usual dead unarmed black man

AKA: None

Desc: Kind, but pain-filled eyes. Heavy-set although the media painted him as “Hulking” Booming laugh, not that there is much to laugh about these days. The hands of a skilled machinist. The left side of his head is a bit ragged and still leaks a bit.

History:  These are the facts: Chris Murphy was driving home from a worksite. He was stopped along the interstate, The reasons for it are sadly lost as the officer's cameras malfunctioned. Whatever took place, Mr. Murphy was shot dead by the officer.

Everything that comes after is speculation.  Mostly by talking heads in the media, you know, the sort of people who talk a lot of shit about people they don’t know, and sadly never will.  They dredged up all the things Chris had done as a teen. They slandered his wife. Speculated irresponsibly about the “Actual” parentage of his kids.  Speculated about what could have possibly been running through his head that night. Chris could have been the actual second coming of Jesus Christ, and they still would have painted him as everything wrong with “Black America”

The truth is this, Chris was fighting off sleep. He got stopped because he crossed the center line. Without a moment’s worth of thought, he reached into his back pocket for his wallet, and the officer drew down on him. It’s even remotely possible that the officer in question was, for a hot second, scared shitless.

    But after that hot second...Well. Let’s just say that the M.E found cuff marks on his wrists. He didn’t own the gun they “Found” in his glovebox.  The LEO community closed ranks and the officer dummied up, and about a year and change after the fact, after the memorials and candle light vigils died down, they quietly found the officer not guilty at the grand jury.

And Chris...Well. He’s had to watch his wife’s tears. And his daughters.  He’s watched as his son got into fight after fight at school. He had a ringside seat for watching the officer thank Jesus on local tv for his acquittal.  

Is he pissed off? I’d say so. In fact, “Livid with Rage like a head full of radioactive bees” Might be a mild description. But so far, he hasn’t found a way to revenge himself...

Yet.

Attitude: “I don’t honestly know why I should care if you’re a good cop or a bad one. Nobody gave a shit that I might have been innocent. You just had the bad luck to see me.”

Skills: Chris is not a particularly old spirit so his stats aren’t great. He has trouble manifesting at the best of times.  He has learned Ghost Speech and Telekinesis.  Since he doesn’t have a lot of juice, he focuses on using his TK and he uses his knowledge as a machinist and jack-leg engineer to jack up police equipment and vehicles. It always gives him a pretty good laugh when brakes fail. He’s also caused an occasional jam or misfire that has saved a life or two.

Gear: Not being exactly carnate, Chris doesn’t exactly need gear of any sort, but it bears mentioning that he has numerous Anchors.  The gun that was planted which sits in a box in evidence lock-up. The set of cuffs that he was wearing when he was slain are riding the hip of another officer now. No one’s put it together yet that bad shit seems to follow those cuffs.  That officer. He’s still out there and while Chris hasn’t been able to kill him yet, He does have a plan.  The only other anchor he has is his old car, which his son is trying to fix up.  It’s the only way the old man can spend time with him now.

Home: While he makes time to spend looking in on his family, He spends more time roaming around the police station which is the home of the evidence lock-up. He gathers intel. He works on the equipment. He files conversations away for later use...  Sure...There are a couple of the police working there, that he isn’t interested in harming...But if he happens to see one of THEM covering for a bad cop...Well. That’s sad. Sad for them.

Circle: Chris has made a few acquaintance among the ghostly community. Most of them are kind of wrapped up in their own thing. Chris is beginning to realize that’s par for the course.  He’s not entirely sure he’s willing to get involved with some sensitive or a Sin Eater.  On one hand, it might be good to have some help. On the other hand, he realizes that any living person isn’t going to be as..Driven as he is.

Story Uses:

“I’m not interested in your excuses or your life...I don’t have one of those.”

If your PC is a cop or cop friendly, Obviously this man is going to be a problem.  If not, You might find yourself sympathizing...especially if he can tell his story himself.

Connections:

*Knew Darla Grumman in life. Liked her just fine. Although, like most people who know Darla, wishes that she'd stop dating women who are bad for her.  While Chris is a church going dude and is pretty conservative about SOME things, He also has a gay cousin who's been through some real shit.

*He's buried at Parker Mortuary and Black Creek Cemetery. He goes strolling around the grounds when he needs peace. He's met a few of the unquiet dead round there.

* Officer Honus Brightwater Oh come on, you had to know that this guy was going to turn up. You HAD to know that this human waste dump was the guy who pulled the trigger. Someday, there's going to be a day of reckoning for Honus, and if Chris has anything to say about it, he's going to make his afterlife a unliving hell too.

Rupert Lowdermilk

Concept: Troll/Scriptkiddy

AKA: Rupert has a bewildering number of online guises. His favorite handle is Mechassassin and he tries to get people to call him that. It hasn’t really stuck yet,

Desc: Pale. Curly blond hair. A face that has had, and will have, the ravages of puberty-based acne likely for the rest of his life. Piggy little eyes. There’s some intelligence in there, but not nearly as much as he thinks. Heavy. He’d likely be a school bully but for two things. He gets winded really easily and he’s not very physically imposing at all.  His voice is pretty grating.

History: Rupert’s father decided to hit the bricks one night and left his mother Pam holding the bag. That’s pretty hard. Also, Rupert was just old enough to sort of know what was going on.  Also pretty hard.  Pam is kind of a dishrag. Tired all the time from work. Struggling to pay the bills. Doesn’t really make much of an effort to parent anymore. In fact, the only real interaction they have are screaming arguments about... Well, it doesn’t really matter.  The only time he’s ever nice to her is when he wants something. 

       Rupert is, to put it mildly, a real piece of work. He’s not smart enough to code. But he’s smart enough to use tools he’s bought online. He’s smart enough not to hack anything like a bank or a serious corporate target, but he does have enough ability to make a person’s life a living computational hell. 

   And he does. Drove a fellow classmate to suicide. Outed another one by editing the text of the school news blog. Makes enemies at school and online during his Call of Duty games. 

   It’s just barely possible that he’ll grow out of it. Maybe even feel sorry for the things he’s said and done. But that’s not the way to bet.

Attitude: “FUCK YOU SHITLORD! I’M GOING TO ANAL RAPE YOU TO DEATH AND THEN RUN YOUR IP ADDRESS, FIND OUT WHERE YOU LIVE AND DO THE SAME TO YOUR FUCKPIG MOM!”

Skills: He’s got a real gift for invective. That much is for sure. He has enough computer knowledge to be really dangerous to anyone who isn’t actually skilled. Mentally, he’s got some decent wits and Intelligence, but no resolve to speak of. Socially, he only has some manipulation to work with.  Physically the kid is a mess.

Gear: He’s got good gear. He’s stolen identities and used re-mailing services to commit mail fraud. He’s never really done it for cash, but for gear, oh yeah. Pam bought him the X-box but she has no idea where he got the money for the computer. She’s pretty sure she doesn’t want to know. She thinks he’s in a gang and is selling drugs or something.  Pam has never actually seen a gang member.  

Home: They have a small house in the lower middle-class burbs. Pam’s home-life is a constant struggle to take care of the place in the face of Rupert’s slobbish indifference. Her bedroom is her only real retreat. Rupert’s, by contrast, is bordering on biohazardous and a lot of the common areas of the house fluctuate between messy and clean. Rupert is firmly of the opinion that if you can still balance stuff on the pile, then the sink isn’t full.

Circle: To put it mildly, Rupert is a candidate for a future school shooting. He loathes most of his classmate, even the ones he secretly wants to fuck.  They, in turn, loathe him, when they can be bothered to think about him at all. The only social group that he actually wants to be a part of, The hacker community, want nothing to do with him.  They can see him coming from a mile off. He’s bad news and they don’t want to be anywhere near him when he goes off.

Story Uses:

“I think I'm just misunderstood.”

No. He’s not. He’s a venomous little toad. But maybe you’re a friend of Pam’s or maybe you see something of yourself in the little scumbag, and maybe if someone puts forth some effort, he might be saved... Hey, It’s not impossible.

“NO PAM, YOU FUCKING BITCH! I TOLD YOU THE BRAND OF CHOCOLATE MILK TO GET! NOT THIS SHIT!”

If you happen to be a Beast. Rupert Lowdermilk is an all you can eat buffet.

“Kiss your credit rating goodbye dickbag.”

I don’t know what might cause you to run afoul of him. Maybe you have a child or child friend that he’s causing problems. Maybe you’re an adult who jacks him up something fierce on social media or Call of Duty, by pointing out how his running commentary falls squarely under the rubric of terroristic threatening. The problem is, the little shit can actually cause you a host of problems before he can be rooted out and hopefully stopped.

Connections:

*Rika Martinez and he, attend the same school. You should probably understand, that any abuse I could heap on this little shithead pales in comparison to the cold, hard, fact that even Rika doesn't like him.

* T.C. Mitnick uses him as a beard for hacking jobs at the Donut Hut. He hands the kid the shit jobs that his skills can handle and has him pass the interesting work up to him.  T.C. also figures that anyone willing to put up with the kid is fairly desperate.  T.C is also the guy that has warned other hackers off of Rupert. Not because he has no skills, but because the kid can't keep his mouth shut. Rupert has never actually met T.C. in person. And if T.C. gets wind that Rupert's got himself in trouble, all the means that Rupert has to contact him will cease to exist in four minutes.

Boolie Hinson

Concept: Black Hat

AKA: Boolie’s given name is Parker. Boolie is short for “Boolean”

Desc: Skinny as a rail. Partakes of caffeine, truckstop uppers, and on the occasions he can afford it, cocaine. African American. Keeps his hair putting green short. Thick glasses. Fairly youngish. While he prefers to have his mind go a thousand miles a minute, he’s not generally a talker. Not because he’s shy or introverted or anything like that, but because most people, in his opinion, are monstrously stupid. Fastest typist you ever saw. Hums while he works. Constantly tapping his fingers or wiggling his feet at his desk.  If you see him in anything other than a T-shirt and sweatpants, it means someone has died.

History: While Boolie isn’t exactly the most stable guy you’re ever likely to meet, he has a particular flavor of smart and he has it in bucketloads.  Never all that good at the softer academic subjects, he excelled at Mathematics and when he got his first computer, well...it was on like cheap on a K-mart.

   Boolie came from a poor family and the only way he was going to a decent school was with an academic scholarship. So not only did he begin popping Dexatrim to be able to stay up late enough to get the AP course work done, but he became very adept at test cheating on subjects that he wasn’t so hot on.  He got that scholarship and he went away to become a CS major. He even finished his degree in 2 1/2 years.

    He came home with a newly minted CS degree from a top school in the region and found, as you sometimes do, that you had put forth a LOT effort to attain a certain amount of mastery in a field that wasn’t hiring.

  Well, it wasn’t that they weren’t hiring exactly.  But they wanted the fucking moon in terms of qualifications. Boolie didn’t read a single job application for an IT position that didn’t require deep knowledge of a dozen separate pieces of software, a half dozen programming languages, 5 years of experience, and oh yeah, you should probably be white.  All this, for a job that pays a couple of bucks over minimum wage and will eat up every scrap of your free time if it can.

    Boolie did eventually get hired. He’s got a gig as a junior IT guy with a statistical analysis company. He does a lot of work because frankly the senior guy doesn’t do fuck all.

   But that period where he couldn’t even get arrested in this town changed something in his attitude. He’d worked hard all his life to master the one thing that he loved, had been told all his life that if you worked hard and put the effort out, you could achieve anything...And of course, once he was out of school it turned out to be bullshit.

   Well if that’s how the world is going to be, FUCK it.

Boolie began using his mad skillz to make himself rich. He’s done a lot of reading and he’s talked to a number of hackers online and has honed his skills considerably. And while he’s impatient about a lot of things. Spending the money he’s making on the side is not one of them. He’s found that amassing a small fortune tends to create a certain amount of Buddhistic calm. and when his Mama needs something for her diabetes or her glaucoma, somehow those bills get paid.

   The means by which he manages these feats are multifold.  Like T.C. Mitnick, he’s got his hooks into the systems he uses at work so he has all the computing power he needs.   He buys Terabytes and 30 gig thumb drives in bulk.  He loads virtual machines onto those drive along with a few custom scripts and crypto-breaking scripts of his own design.  He constantly tinkers with his own, but he sells these tools on the dark web for serious bitcoin.

   He’s also set up his iPad as a mobile RFID collection station. Did you know that you can hack phones and even credit cards in unshielded wallets?  He’s very careful to make his identity theft as unobtrusive as possible. He uses multiple re-mailing services for the goods he purchases online, and he’s careful to disguise his chipping away at people bank accounts as charges they are likely to have on their bank statement anyway.  Almost all the executives at his firm have a Brazzers account so he’s been quietly ripping them off for years now. It makes it easier when one of those dudes is dressing him down for some damn thing or another. He can still smile.

Attitude: “Nearly every point of sale device in my neighborhood is in my pocket. I’m not hurting by any stretch and I always get my lunch for free. Fuck corporate America.”

Skills: While Boolie is no great shakes physically, he can type and run like the wind. He’s also not terribly great on the social front having only a few friends that he can really talk to. However, on the mental front, he is damn near unbeatable.  He’s trained himself to speed-read and he can do math almost as fast as a calculator. His personal computer is set up for voice commands and he can even dictate code strings into it.  He’s a genius with scripts and he has automated a number of his processes to such a degree that he can call his home computer on his phone, dictate an IP address to it and launch a series of hacks against that IP address. When the system in question is owned, it will even text him back to let him know.  Boolie has a few plans in place should things go south of course, and while he does own a gun or two and has shot it before, he isn’t really a combatant. Boolie’s best plan is to leave the country immediately for a place that has no extradition treaty. He’s even thinking about converting to Judaism “on paper” just that he can utilize Israel’s “law of return” you know, just in case.

Gear: Boolie’s home system is a thing of beauty. Three full machines networked together and connected to 4 separate storage units (each about 8 terabytes apiece) It is inhumanly fast and he pays top dollar for a T3 connection. He’s faraday caged his room. He also keeps a microwave in the room and a power drill for his hard drives should the authorities break down his door.  His laptop is mostly specced out for media watching as he rarely uses it for anything like hacking. But he can run all the processes on his home system from either his laptop or his iPad. His phone is a dumb phone oddly enough. He tends to carry 3 burners in his oversized tool bag.  He usually has about 8 thumb drives in there along with a tool kit, sour apple Bubble tape, a couple of canned sodas, and a few other odds and ends. 

Home:Boolie, like most hackers, knows that if you steal big you’re liable to get caught. But if you can steal small, over a long period of time, then the sky is the limit. Boolie currently owns 3 separate business licenses which he uses to lease his home, car, and pay for his mama’s expenses. Mama thinks that Boolie makes WAY more at the company than he actually does. Boolie does what he can to keep a low profile, living-wise.  He doesn’t want to attract IRS attention.

Circle:  Boolie has only a couple of friends from the old hood, 3 women from his past that he is still kind of obsessed with, (He’s very repressed) and a few people he liked in his CS program at school. The rest of his social circle are hackers and as a group, are obsessively protective of their anonymity. He’s even met a couple of them in real life and didn’t know it.

Story Uses:

“So I stole his identity. He wasn’t really using it.”

Boolie is a career criminal and an unrepentant one at that, but he isn’t a monster. He’s not one to steal money from people who can’t take the hit and he’s more likely to rip off corporate targets than personal ones.  That said, he’s not a nice guy and supernatural people have uses for not nice guys.

“Don’t you worry mama. I’ll make sure that the insurance company pays...and pays...”

Even a bad man loves his mama. and even a bad man can feel outraged for the occasional injustice done.  Pity the poor fucker who runs afoul of either if Boolie is on the case. His intellect cuts like a knife, and he never ever fucking sleeps.

Connections:

*Grew up with Grace Cook. Was at the wedding. Has heard the stories. Feels bad for the family because everyone knows ghosts aren't real.

* Has two sets of class-A documents from Clavo Hernandez. Best guy in the business as far as Boolie is concerned.

* Knows and yet has never actually met T.C. Mitnick Along with Ramirez, Doctor Cero, Pengo, Arcangel, and that whole crew.

*Has done occasional contract work for Holmes, Gillis, Baker, Savage, North, and Dean They pay on time and never change the details of the deal. That's all that matters to Boolie.

Rosalie Prescott

Concept: 3rd shift Cashier with a little bit extra

AKA: Rosalie has a vibrant social life on Deviant Art as an artist going by the handle "Degree Absolute" Or D.A. for short.

Desc: On the short side and heavy. Unafraid of any man or beast and strong eye contact as a direct result. Long straight black hair strenuously tied back. Multiple piercings in her ears, at least two are there for the sole purpose of averting migraines. (it seems to be working.) A stud in her bottom lip. Ink in various places, but not with any kind of coherent theme. Some good muscle in her arms. Not particularly pretty, and yet undeniably sexy when she feels like showing it. Has a voice that could stun a police dog.

History: Rosalie knows that she’s made some mistakes in her life. Wrong guys. Bad decisions with drugs and alcohol. Screwing up in college and losing her scholarship. Being fucked over by feckless room-mates and gormless boyfriends.  And on those occasions when she has time alone, and with nothing to do, she has a bad time with her mind downing her for those decisions.

And sure, she’d like to have gotten a real job somewhere. She just wants an opportunity to make her art. (She paints but mostly does digital art now because it’s too expensive to buy real art supplies) and raise her kid Stuart.

And maybe that day will come.  But until then, Rosalie works 3rd shift at Gas-N-GIT! on the third shift. and on those nights when Stuart isn’t with his father Jamal, Usually he’s on the floor next to her chair fiddling with his beloved legos. It’s never a problem usually. Stuart is autistic and not all that verbal really. He melts down occasionally, but Rosalie has a positive gift for cooling him out.  

In fact, Rosalie has begun to notice that she seems to have a gift for cooling ANYONE out.  One night some hopeless homeless guy rolled into the GnG. Policy is that they are allowed to sit in the area by the deli section and that customer service representatives can even give them a cup of coffee. But they aren’t allowed to let them sleep.  One this particular evening the fellow in question sat there, nursed his coffee, asked the occasional incoherent question (greeted with a nod and a smile). and then, as predicted, he nodded off.

Well, S.O.P. is to call the cops and have them roust the guy and move him along, but you’d be surprised at how little the S.O.P. actually trickles down to third shift. So Rosalie touched the guy on the shoulder to wake him up and move him along. and he flipped the fuck right out.  and he tried to turn over the racks and shove the roller grill off the counter. And then at some point, she touched the guy and she felt something go out of her...and his eyes cleared immediately.

Embarrassed, he started and ran out the door. But then he came back a week later. and he was very contrite. Not more coherent mind you, but he seemed so pitiful that she reached out to him and she touched his shoulder. and it happened again. His eyes cleared and he said, “Oh dear Jesus. I can think straight again. I think YOU did it! ”   

They sat and talked for hours. He made lists to remind him of things he should remember when he wasn’t able to think straight again. and he wandered back into the early morning light with a promise to seek out some help...Which he got. Thank God.  He’s recovering still and he’s got meds now.

It happened another time. Some dude wired on crank came in with a kitchen knife and demanded all the money in the safe. He was not interested in the idea that the safe had a time-lock and she couldn’t open it at all. Without thinking ,as the guy came closer, she threw up her hands and accidentally touched his wrist.

It was surreal. Sitting outside, on the 12 packs of Pepsi, one arm thrown over the guy's shoulders as he cried it out. But he left the kitchen knife and she never saw him again. He did send her a card, though. Thanking her.

She doesn’t know what to make of it yet. But she’s grateful for this gift...if it is a gift.

Attitude:  “ So. Guys...there’s a new element in my life and I don’t know exactly know what it is or why it’s come into my life. But it’s interesting and I just wanted to share it with my Deviant Art Peeps...”

Skills: Rosalie has decent physicals although she’s not really a combatant. (Although she has been in a fight or two and normally walks away.) She’s gotten pretty good with social skills and has an undeniable presence. She’s got a smattering of Spanish. She’s got some actual serious computer skills.  Her artistic skills are weapons grade but since it’s mostly digital art, she’s kind of ghettoized in the art world. Getting the book jacket of a sci-fi or fantasy paperback is essentially a holy grail for her.

Still, she picks up small change commissions from deviant art folks who want her to do character sketches and the like. She’s also been approached multiple times about producing art “for exposure” and her usual response is something along the lines of, “And how exactly am I going to use exposure to feed my autistic toddler? How about you directly go fuck yourself!”

Additionally, she has developed a psychic gift that essentially chills out emotional agitation and suspends the effects of derangement for the space of a single night and a day. This gift requires a skin to skin contact and the expenditure of a willpower point and if you are using “Second Sight” may be the gateway to additional powers detailed in that book.

Gear: Rosalie has exactly one thing in her life,aside from her son, that is well cared for. Her laptop. It was top of the line about 2 years ago when her old one went tits up. Since she got it from a rent-to-own business, by the time she actually owns it, it will be terribly obsolete and she will have paid 350% what she would have if she’d bought it retail...but it truly doesn’t matter. Her Lappy is her absolute lifeline.  She normally carries rolls of quarters for both laundry and bus riding purposes but she HAS discovered that they make good “Brass Knuckles” in a pinch.  She also normally has a large handbag for toting Lappy and Stuart necessities.

Home: Rosalie and Stuart live in a shabby little duplex that is right on the bus line. Rosalie’s car is in various states of repair/decay and hasn’t moved from the driveway since they moved there. Rosalie is the only one on the lease but she sublet the back bedroom to various people. Carl moved out two months ago taking his half-ass automotive expertise and his bass guitar with him. Fortunately, Rosalie was able to get her actress/stripper friend Lisa to come and share the rent. Lisa makes good money but likes nose candy a little too much and so she normally has to be OUT during the day because Stuart and Rosalie sleep in the daytime.  Both the living room, which doubles as Stuart's bedroom and Rosalie’s room have black poster paper gorilla taped to the windows.

Circle:Online, Degree Absolute is considered an art goddess, but IRL, she has only a few real friends. Some people she went to high school with and some people from college. Most of her friends have made the same sorts of questionable choices in their lives and have the police records and shattered credit scores to prove it.

Story Uses:

“Don’t worry. You see this sort of thing all the time on the night shift.”

Rosalie might be a good person to know, not just because she has this weird gift, but because occasionally, you want Burritos and smokes after dealing with your usual world of darkness problems and the Gas-N-GIT is well stocked for both.  Also, people on the third shift have seen some stuff.  It may only be a matter of time before Rosalie might have to cool out some pissed off werewolf or a frenzying vampire.  Then, I suspect, it will be ON like barbecue sauce.

“I didn’t know the two of you knew one another...Shit.  Fountain drinks are on me tonight.”

Weirdly, Rosalie like Rory O’Halloran has the potential to be one of the sorts of characters that nearly everyone in Painted Corners town has met, even if they don’t necessarily KNOW her.  Sure, Rosalie has some people she considers her regulars, and she even LIKES some of them. So you never know who you’ll bump into over at the Gas-N-GIT.

Connections:

* Jack Marston has been in the GnG more than a couple of times in the late nights and early mornings. Some time ago, he bought one of those ENORMOUS insulated travel mug deals which he routinely fills with coffee. While this normally means killing a whole pot that Rosalie has to then turn around and make fresh, he's such a nice guy that Rosalie doesn't grumble. also, he's easy on the eyes.

* Jackson "Whitey" Savaliga comes in often enough that Rosalie recognizes him and they struck up a conversation when she noticed his camera case. His house is about a two blocks away and he comes in all the time because he's occasionally restless or there's so much fucking going on that he wouldn't be able to sleep anyway. Rosalie loves him, He's one of the few people she can talk art with in real life.

* Officer Wesley Ullman and Detective Bela Janofski and Officer Honus Brightwater are all regulars. S.O.P. is that all law enforcement professionals get their drinks free and if they want day old donuts and there ARE any leftover, they are welcome to those as well. Bela and Wesley are decent dudes in Rosalie's book. Wesley's a little high strung, but he doesn't have any problem with coming out on an official call involving asshole customers. Brightwater, on the other hand, seems like a stiff. Or maybe he's got issues with fat girls or some crap.

* Used to fuck Rick Deluca in high school.  Heard that he went into business for himself.  He drops by occasionally. Sometimes he has treats. He seems to get on well with Stuart, being that he has some medical training there is a whole host of things that she doesn't have to explain to him about autism.

* Joseph Cartolano is the regular donut delivery guy. He's also a fellow comic book nerd. Follows her Deviant Art Account with interest.

* Rosalie and Ezekiel Stubbs knew a lot of the same people growing up. Once, at a party, he knocked it through her uprights. He may not necessarily remember doing so. Rosalie remembers, though. Oh yes.

* Clavo Hernandez did most of her ink. They were acquainted in college and he also follows her Deviant Art Account...to the point of thinking about creating one himself.

* Has bumped uglies with, and still does occasional business with Teflon John Galloway. In fact, there was some question as to whether or not Jamal was Stuart's father after all.  John, for his part always seems to be able to get a smile out of Stuart and Stuart ain't like that with ANYBODY else.

* Occasionally, one of the regular customers is kind of creepy. Rosalie just gets bad vibes off of Lewis Flowers and Stuart will hide in the cooler until he goes away. Flowers is very careful to not let Rosalie touch him for some reason. Does he know something? WTH?

* The Caboose is not far from here. Rosalie is always glad to pick up the ones for her drawer. She's friendly with most of the girls and is not unfriendly with DJ Razor Burn...She sees the signs already that he's a "Wrong Guy" but she just can't help herself. The one thing that prevents her from going after him is that he's been impatient with Stuart and looks like the type to smack a kid.

Jack Marston

Concept:  Bounty Hunter

AKA: Some of the people in his office call him “Cactus Jack” Jack’s okay with this because he’s a Mick Foley fan.

Desc: Jack looks like he ought to be on old school cigarette advertising. Rangy and tough looking. He has a nice smile( he flosses)  and pleasant blue eyes. He tends to wear jeans and a denim jacket as his everyday wear. He tends to go for boots. His frame is fairly compact but he has serious muscle. He’s got a deep tan that comes from growing up on a farm and working outdoors a lot. Keeps his blond hair short and clean cut.

History:  Jack isn’t dumb but he knows that a guy who grew up on a farm, and who went into the Marines as soon as he was old enough has limited options when it comes to the job market. After a while, it was clear to him that career Marine wasn’t going to be for him.  He came home and for a while did some bouncing.  And that was okay and all.  But it just wasn’t for him. He wasn’t interested in getting into crime. Finally, he answered an ad in the paper for a Bail Bondsman’s office.

It turned out that Jack had a real talent for it.  The way it works is like this.  Some guy gets himself arrested. That guy may not necessarily have the monies to pay the bail. So they get a bail bondsman to cover the necessary payment.  Then at some point, the person may go to trial.  If they decide that they’d rather skip and take their chances on the run, that’s when Jack swings into action.  A lot of his actual work day involves a little pre-emptive investigation on the people who use the bail bondsman’s service. This way, if a guy decides to skip, They already have a certain amount of intel already banked and they aren’t caught flat-footed and on the clock.  Of course, when they skip, that’s when Jack has to go on the road and run them down.

      There’s something about it that he likes. He’s good at solving puzzles.  He’s decent at talking to people and getting them to give him information. And he likes meeting new people and traveling to new places, even if it does mean people setting their dogs on him or pointing shotguns at him.

Attitude: “Listen, Jorge...Are you listening?  Dude, It only takes about 17 foot-pounds of pressure at this angle to break your arm.   Now I don’t know what unfortunate state of affairs led you to this sorry pass. But whatever it was...You ARE coming with me.  I’d just as soon you be conscious and ambulatory.”

Skills:  Jack breaks down like this. He’s got more Resolve than other forms of mental. More Manipulate than other forms of social.  He’s got more stamina than other physicals but his other physicals are pretty high. He’s got a martial artist’s build (He’s a practitioner of Jiu Jitsu and has some dots in M.A.C too.) and he runs to stay in great shape. Running tends to figure into his work.  On the social side of things, Jack doesn’t tend to come on heavy. He smiles and is pleasant to people and usually has a premise worked out ahead of time for contact with locals, (“No Ma’am. The lawyer sent me to find him because his uncle died and he’s coming into some money. Might be he might kick a slice to someone who helped me find him”. *Big sincere smile*)  He’s also got lots of dots of Animal Ken which has come in handy more than once. (“ That’s right. you were just being a good boy. I get it. I understand. Yes.”)

While he’s nobody’s hacker, He’s got more than a single dot of Computer and a few dots of Investigation with a specialty in “finding people”.  He is actually pretty good at answering a lot of questions through statistics, reference books, and web searches.  And clients of  Mr. Lee’s bail bonds service have their affairs looked into, BEFORE they skip, as I mentioned.  Mr. Lee is prudent that way.

Gear: Jack’s primary mission is to bring them back alive.  As such, he is usually armed with Taser and stun baton.  He keeps a bull-pup configured shotgun with bean-bag rounds in the trunk of his 76 Dodge Duster. (Don’t laugh, it’s got a v8) He has kevlar inserts for his denim jacket and if he’s expecting fire, he’ll bring along a motorcycle helmet.  He also carries a sheaf of zip-ties. (He knows that zip ties can be snapped in two, so he’ll tie the thumbs too.)  If he can close, he’ll use his martial arts.   He also carries a hunting knife. Because you never know.  He’s jacked up more than one runner just by jamming the thing through the front of a radiator.  Can’t get far with a hole in your radiator.

Home: Jack lives in an apartment. A nice one too. He has a large Irish wolfhound named “Mick” which keeps an eye on the place while he works. They also go running together. Jack has a fairly large collection of music. His CD’s take up a whole wall in his apartment.  He may have every single album that Johnny Cash ever recorded.  He has friends in the apartment complex too, who aren’t shy about looking after Mick. In fact, Mick may have more friends than Jack does. 

Circle: Jack has friends at his office, at his apartment complex and on the weekend he has friendly people at his dojo and at the C&W watering hole where he likes to line dance. Jack is pan-sexual but doesn’t exactly put that on blast. (Mr. Lee is a bit conservative. He might not take it well.) so he occasionally brings home people...And sometimes they end staying in the spare bedroom for a while.

Story Uses:

“Can I bring him in? Yes.  Will he be any use to you by the time I get him back here...That I can’t say.”

As you can imagine Jack would be a pretty good addition to any supernatural creatures payroll. He’s competent and doesn’t rattle easily. He’s good at what he does and takes pride in his work.

“Stings like a sumbitch, don’t it?”

On the other end of the scale, One might have to deal with him in a more professional arrangement. Most supernatural creatures think they’re above the law. And as such, might pay the bondsman and then just skip, thinking to disappear.  This does not work out well when Cactus Jack is on the case.

Connections:

* knows Joseph Cartolano from his dojo. The kid really dropped the weight.We're all really proud of him.

* Has used Rory O'Halloran to case certain targets. The P.I. who put him onto Rory said he was gold and he was right. Also, who'd have thought Irish cuisine could be so good?

* Has had peripheral contact with Tyronne "Tiberius" Glover by dint of having to run down some of his boys. There was a tense situation or two where Jack was forced to explain to Tyronne that some of his boys had made certain promises and had broken them. Weird thing is, Tyronne gets pretty upset about broken promises.  On both occasions, he handed the boys over to Jack, although both were the worse for wear. Tyronne has an interesting relationship with Mr. Lee and boys who attempt to skip...Are endangering it.  He doesn't take that well. Tyronne's got RULES.

* although he is essentially a part of the Law Enforcement community, there are times when it might be necessary to patronize someone on the other side of the tracks. Hence, he knows Dr. Ronnette Franklin and is, just a little bit smitten with her. In fact, if he gets hurt, he'd rather go to Ronnette and put money in her pocket than to another doctor. 

* Had to run down Teflon John Galloway once after he tried skipping on a narcotics bust. It was too bad. John was kind of cute in Jack's assessment.  His lawyer got him off, though. 

* Used to work as a bouncer at The Witness. So he knows all the crew there. Every once in a while business takes him that direction and he stops by and they treat him like the prodigal son. He'd go there more regularly, but the music isn't to his taste.

* After his bouncing gig, Big Dan Tarleton made an approach, but Jack wasn't interested. 

Selma Collins

Concept: Arsonist for hire

AKA: As will become apparent below, Selma once became a woman named Emily Coleman

Desc:  Selma is about 5’8 with shoulder length brunette hair. For fitness, she runs and swims. She has eyes that seem to take in everything.  She’s also got a bit of “Resting Bitch Face”. When under stress, she tends to hum to herself.  If you listen long enough, you can eventually identify the song she’s humming as “Sunny Came Home” by Shawn Colvin. She is not aware that she does this.

History: Pyromania is a form of pathology that is essentially about stress relief. Selma as a young child was one of those few children who went through the sociopath troika. (I.e: Bedwetting, Cruelty to animals, fascination with fire.)  Both of the other phases were short, but the fascination with fire lingered.

It was the strangest thing. Her old home town was simply PLAGUED with fires.  Any place that was old and looked deserted. Houses of kids in her neighborhood that she didn’t like much.  Uncle Lou’s house. The Junior high (once)  and even the high school (3 times).   Most of the time, nobody ever looked twice at Selma.  It’s fairly rare for women to express as pyromaniacal and she was able to keep her mouth shut. So naturally the community thought it was a boy, or boys, who were setting these fires. No one ever put it together that Selma was the one common element at each of these fires.

Selma is Off the Chart Smart.  And like many teens who go through a period of lawbreaking without getting caught, she had to determine whether or not to continue until she set a fire so big that she would HAVE to be caught. Was that what she was planning for herself?  Setting herself up to fail in the biggest way possible. It didn’t feel that way really. It’s just that setting fires was such a deep release for her.

So, she reasoned, If I can’t really stop. I’ll have to find a way to do it professionally. Taking some money she’d saved from birthday savings bonds and such, she bought herself a decent fake ID and got herself a job. Convinced her clueless parents that she’d gotten a job as a secretary in an office.  Which was technically true.

What she didn’t tell them, was that she’d gotten hired as a secretary in the Fire Marshall’s office. She spent all day and many nights surrounded by all the information she could ever want about how to set fires, what sorts of chemical residue would be found at the scene and the kind of decision-making process during investigations to determine whether a fire had started via natural misadventure or arson. Like many budding young sociopaths, she would use her youthful body to deflect attention and to allow her to be close to the office so she could keep learning more. Sure, she’s almost completely asexual. It’s only the fire that arouses her really. Although, if a person caught her in just the right mood on a night when she’d set a fire...That person might be in for a wild ride. Pathologies can be complicated.

Then, at the point when it was clear, she couldn’t really ask any more questions without tipping her hand, and she’d learned all she could from reading the reports, she simply disappeared.

A year later she turned up here. She put her out shingle out as an arsonist for hire.  Naturally, it’s a bit of a specialty in criminal circles, and hard for unknown people to break into.  So she had to set a few fires in order to stymie the local Fire Department and get her name into the hands of the right sorts of criminals. When she began to work, she bought a new identity and went back to school to get a degree in chemistry.  Granted, she’s double majoring in psychology because she’s interested in understanding this problem in her mind... But as long as she can keep setting fires and getting paid for it. She isn’t necessarily wanting to cure herself.

Attitude: “No one can exactly accuse me of being a sensualist. But we all have a sensual relationship with the elements. The feel of the wind, how our skin reacts to water and earth. I tend to have an affinity for fire. The way the heat feels on your skin and in your bones. The smell of it. The way that a large fire will drive the moisture out of the air. the snap and crackle of it. There is something about it that feel like coming home...Like touching the face of an angry god...I don’t know how to describe it properly...”

Skills: A dot or two of athletics and a single dot in Firearms. Several dots in Science, with specs in fire science, chemistry, and psychology, and some dots in crafts for making home-made explosives and detonators. Also some dots in Investigation with a spec in Arson. Some social acumen, mostly in persuasion. 

Gear: Owns a mini-van. Normally keeps her fire-making materials in a bundle in a stroller. No one looks at her twice coming into someplace, but they might notice she hasn’t brought the stroller out.  On her person, she keeps a flaregun, (which has come in handy more than once.) a tiny multi-channel radio detonator, and a stun gun.  She also carries picks, (which she’s not very good with) and a set of bump keys, (which don’t require much skill at all.)  For certain gigs, she’ll wear a Nomex suit and a respirator, but those are rare. Normally, the gaff with her is to set up a fire to go off at a certain time and be elsewhere when it occurs. She dislikes clock timers though and prefers timed chemical reactions.  She got a lot of mileage out filling the bottom of an envelope with a certain type of discontinued hair crème and sprinkling pool chlorine on it, sealing the envelope and then walking away.  The chemical fire caused by that is very very hot and doesn’t leave much in the way of trace residue for accelerants. Has a smartphone and leaves it in her glove box when she’s “Working”

Home: Bought herself a nice place with a large concrete reinforced basement/attached garage. Manages to keep the usage of her own personal fireplace down to about once a week  in the spring and fall. And she seems to do a lot of grilling out in the summer months. Funny.

Circle: Doesn’t have anyone she holds particularly dear. She’s gotten herself a new job working in an insurance office.  Occasionally, it puts her wise to investigations, it points up other arsonists (pro and amateur) and suggests clients to her (which she might approach through a proxy.) Pretends to be BFF’s with the other girls in the office. Can’t help but fantasize about burning the place down.  To be clear, Selma does NOT actually need the job. But she uses it to her advantage.  

Story Uses:

 “Don’t worry, the chemical reaction won’t happen until the aluminum triiodide dries out completely. We’ll be long gone by then.”

Selma prides herself on being a pro. Sure, there is a whole other side to it for her, she’s not just in it for the money, but she CAN be patient and wait if it’s necessary. She’s the sort of criminal specialist that many different types of people would like to have in their Rolodex..or in their back pocket.

“They told me about people like you. I must be something like your worst nightmare...”

Fire cleanses. Selma might be a problem for the sort of PC that fire is bad for.  Worse thought, what if Selma developed Pyrokinesis?  I mean, even if she was only able to kindle a fire with her mind, her knowledge of chemicals and accelerants would make her super dangerous on ground she had prepared ahead of time.

Connections:

* Psych department usually being small, she's met both Dr. Paul Pickford and Collette Reeves. Both have pegged her as Asexual, but they figure she's on the autism spectrum somewhere. She comes off as a bit of a cold fish around the department.  She tends to save her "Friendly" act for the insurance office. It's too draining otherwise.

* John Patmos has turned up at a number of fires that she's caused. Occasionally, if she can manage it, she likes to watch the fire she's set and take video footage if she can.  She's seen this man more than once.  He seems to have an appreciative look on his face when he looks at the fire. Could be a fellow arsonist or a fellow pyromaniac. Selma is wary of both because of the one's she's met, she has better impulse control than any of them.  But this one is strangely intriguing.

* Once got hired by Lorna Crane in another city a few years ago.  Doubt they would recognize one another, though.

* Don Pentangelli has hired her in the past. sometimes, a good bust out scheme needs a blow-off or a business partner needs an insurance windfall to finance a do-over. When this occurs, The Don calls Selma.  The Don is perhaps one of the few people on earth that Selma thinks might be as smart as her.

She's not afraid. That would require greater emotional sensitivity than she is capable of. But she IS respectful.

*While Selma is smart, she doesn't have all the time in the world being a part time employee and a part time student.  As a result, she's found that it's good to do some digital recon and the best person for that is T.C. Mitnick.

* Told Clavo Hernandez a cock and bull story about working as an accountant for the mob and needing to get out of sight. He didn't buy it entirely, but he took her money and gave her good paper. He also liked her look and sketched her, but she wasn't into him. Must just not like fat guys or something.

*Is in the Rolodex of Alejandro Dean of Holmes, Gillis, Baker, Savage, North, and Dean. Occasionally it's handy if a place burns down right before a trial. I'm not saying that's happened...Wink wink nudge nudge.