An 8 Hour Gaming Session of the Dresden Files RPG
The Back Story: (aka the idea that became the setup for this game)
Note: This episode gets a little dark and is not recommended for young or sensitive readers -- I’ve skipped some things and kept it fairly tepid, but you’ve been warned.
The Adventurers: (aka the Player's Characters)
Name |
High Concept |
Trouble |
Template |
Power Level |
Aaron Jones |
Rookie Ghost Cop |
Too Nice for his own Good |
Exiled Nevernever Being |
Chest Deep |
Heinrick Von Klinsburg |
Apprentice Wizard, University Student |
Things don't always go as planned |
Wizard |
Chest Deep |
James Lee |
CSIS Avenger |
Obscured Focus |
Pure Mortal |
Chest Deep |
Session Start: Saturday -- 12pm (Actually started at 2pm due queuing up the new character)
Scene: 1 |
Checking Up On Cindy |
Setup: |
6am, Mid-March, in downtown Toronto, at a Timmies near the University |
Aspects: |
Cold, Early Morning, The Local Timmie |
It had been a long hard day, and Aaron just wanted to get home, but he needed to check on Cindy.
Heinrick was heading to the local Timmy’s -- just before class -- for his daily caffeine and to meet up with Aaron -- to make sure that Cindy was all right.
Both men were worried about her. Two months ago, Cindy had been kidnapped by Red Court Vampires, but that wasn’t in the police report -- nobody wanted to believe that vampires exist -- the official report cited gang bangers who kidnapped and drugged Cindy but blew themselves up with badly made explosives before they had their way with her. But they knew the truth. In fact, Aaron had also found out that Heinrick was from that strange world too -- a no joke, spell slinging Wizard!
Had it not been for his spells, all of them would have died. He had also warned Aaron that Red Vampires had highly addictive spittle -- to help keep their victims passive as they fed -- so they would need to watch over Cindy to make sure she didn’t wind up being blood chattel for some other vamp.
They saw each other and entered the Timmy’s through the same door, but instead of finding Cindy, they found the Day manager, looking haggard. When they inquired about Cindy, they got a harsh and mad reply that she never showed up for her shifts.
Worried, they both left to search for her...
Hours later, Aaron thought he saw her at the far end of a small park and they rushed to catch up.
Scene: 2 |
Enter Stage Left |
Setup: |
A CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) agent comes to Toronto after a police report is flagged for possible terrorist activity |
Aspects: |
Division 51, Federal Umph! Busy streets |
Agent Lee had just flown into Toronto -- the report that had brought him here was not what it appeared to be, and he needed to find out why.
But when he arrived at Division 51 headquarters, there was no constable Jones, he hadn’t arrived for his duty shift yet. Tired and hungry he went outside to grab a Coffee and a sandwich.
Scene: 3 |
Lost In The Dark |
Setup: |
The three of them awoke in a dark and water filled cistern-like room |
Aspects: |
Soaking Wet, Night Time, Frigid |
Aaron was the first to wake; it was a dark place and he was soaking wet and he was just about to phase when he heard the swishing and splashing of other people starting to stand. He floundered around and found his backpack floating nearby -- he got out his flashlight and gun belt. He saw Heinrick and a CSIS agent.
Then they heard the scratching on the walls.
Flashlight and gun-light flashed everywhere, but they could only see a hint of what was on the walls. They were small grey things with 6 spiky legs -- like a preying mantis -- and they avoided their cones of light like roaches.
The group walked the perimeter of the room and figured out that they were in some kind of cistern or silo. The water was knee deep and smelled stagnant but sweet and had a pink tint to it -- none wanted to know why it was pink.
At least the water appeared to be keeping the things on the walls away.
The scratching was getting more intense and it sounded Hungry -- it was creeping them out.
Their search revealed a closed heavy steel rolling door, but it was 12 feet off the ground and the ladder rungs that once led up to it were rusted away.
While the others tried to scale the wall, Heinrick stepped back into the gloom and tried to use a short sharp Air Evocation to lift the door -- but it was too heavy.
In the end, it took all three of them standing on top of each other to reach the chain and get the door opened -- then the mad dash to get out, seal the door again, and run for their lives as the scratching hit the door.
Once outside, they found themselves coming out of an abandoned manufacturing plant in the downtown harbour front district. It was predawn and snowing. If they didn’t find a warm place fast they were going to freeze to death!
Leave it to the university student’s nose and stomach to find the scent of fresh baked bread -- it saved their lives.
Paper work had to be done and James had managed to get Aaron assigned to him. After a quick rest the three agreed to meet up later that morning.
Scene: 4 |
Rail-Roaded |
Setup: |
The vamp that got away in Episode 1 is back and he wants revenge! |
Aspects: |
Mid-day traffic, busy streets, targets galore |
James had asked what had really happened two months ago -- he’d opened with his own paranormal encounter -- so they told him and added that Cindy looked to be in trouble again. James wanted to talk to this Cindy and had used his position to get her address. They headed out to her place.
11am Saturday, near Queen & Bathurst Street. They found her place: a large 2 floor apartment. They also met her 5 roommates. They were all worried about her too -- with some questioning, they let the guys know that she recently started going to a fetish dance club called Compression. Armed with that knowledge, they left. Heinrick made a payphone call to confirm a hunch and James called his CSIS team from his cell to get everything they could on the club.
As they were making their calls, Aaron noticed a black cargo van passed them by a second time. As he turned to warn James there was a squeal of tires and the van was racing back at them with doors open and assault rifles blazing -- he barely managed to knock James to the ground before the bullets tore through the cars and storefronts. Heinrick was in a glass phone booth with nowhere to go and in full view of the public -- he had to use magic to save himself. He threw up a Spirit Shield to deflect the bullets into the sky -- it saved him, but at a price. James witnessed the entire thing and his mouth was agape -- it was such a pain to explain it away, and he doubted James would buy it in any case.
In minutes, the first responders arrived to take care of the wounded. After that, there was only the paperwork left for the two officers.
Scene: 5 |
Diving Into The Deep End! |
Setup: |
The boys head into Compression to see if they can find and save Cindy. Aaron got help from the drug unit to blend in |
Aspects: |
Hunting Ground, Almost Too Dark, Eye Candy Everywhere!, Feel The Beat! |
They arrived in their own black van -- courtesy of the Drug unit -- and stepped out in various fetish outfits. Heinrick was in a full leather body suit with zipper face mask, James was in next to nothing but chaps and Aaron was in slave wear and attached to Heinrick. There had been a unanimous silent declaration that this would NEVER be mentioned after the night’s business was done.
They had done a drive by to see what they were getting into and there was already a large crowd waiting to get into the place -- the DU had been bang on with their outfits.
Aaron got out and scouted the rear of the place while the others got in line to get in. Aaron found a guarded rear exit with a stretched limo, so with no easy entrance he went back around and joined the others just as they were getting in the door.
The place was far beyond what they had been briefed on. The club had once been a the cold storage for a butcher shop above it, but now it was a mix of rave and techno dance club -- the beat of the music was so intense that they could feel it change their heartbeat to match. The people were a mix of leather, PVC, bare skin, body paint, sweat and hormones. The place was full of eye candy of every description and doing everything from necking to down and doing it in the dark corners and side rooms. At one point James was separated from the others -- with all the people, it was next to impossible to find him.
They found that one area of the club was invite only, so they went about trying to get invited. It took a while, but eventually they found a man, with five women, that was willing to take them into the back.
As they passed through the doors the pulse of the club subsided, but it was taken up by a different almost subliminal sound. Here the sexuality was more pronounced, many of the loungers were occupied with groups of people and there was a slow but steady flow of people going into yet another guarded area. The eye candy here was even more distracting -- the servers especially, as they were next to nude and were all as hot as hell -- so much so that it was hard for them to keep their mind on the task at hand. Heinrick was handed a glass of something that he drank down without a thought and Aaron just barely caught sight of a woman that might have been Cindy.
The man they had come in with was handing out drinks and sharing the women with them.
The fog of distractions and the feel of the women was hard to push aside but they managed it -- barely -- and after a time were able to get their host to bring them into third area, which was in fact the old walk-in meat freezer. The freezer had been renovated into 8 soundproof play rooms, each with a different theme. They went into one on the back wall -- its theme was a torture room. Things got blurry after that.
Scene: 6 |
Save the Girl! |
Setup: |
The boys are in the most exclusive back area of Compression, they were drugged and tied to torture devices |
Aspects: |
Tied up, soundproofed, hungry vampires, willing thralls |
Aaron recovered faster then Heinrick; he’d only got a taste of the vampire venom off one of the girls, whereas Heinrick had taken a full dose and more from the drink and the girls. He waited for the other’s attention to be on Heinrick, then phased -- dropping to the ground -- to free himself. But the man turned out to be very fast -- Vampire fast -- if he hadn’t still been phased the saddle horse would have crushed him. Heinrick must have also been faking it -- when the Vampire turned he used an Air spell to smash it into the wall with a loud crack of shattering skull. Within moments they were both free and no one had come to investigate the brief clash -- even the 5 thralls were so doped up on venom that they were nearly comatose and with one “shut up” they went as silent as moaning mice.
They slid out of the room and checked the nearby ones for Cindy. They found her -- entwined with another Vampire -- in the room across from theirs.
A few quick whispers of planning and in they went. Again Heinrick used his spells to great effect and Aaron was able to free Cindy from the table.
In the end the vampire was impaled on a table leg and then had its head removed. There was the mad dash out of the club -- with even more vampires giving chase -- and narrow escape into the moving van as James swept in and saved them.
-- To Be Continued --
Session End: Saturday -- 8pm