Fantasy Department of Defense Against the Supernatural

[Hel]

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Welcome to the Department of Defense Against Supernatural, Paranormal, and Extraterrestrial Activity with Malicious Intent. Oftentimes, this is abbreviated to DDASPETAMI. This is an organization devoted to, as you might guess, defending the public from malicious creatures ranging anywhere from ghosts to shapeshifters and more.


 


 

The World:


The world you’re looking at is one of normalized magic -- around here, everyone knows vampires are real because they probably work with a couple of them. Everyone knows magic exists because it’s used daily. In a modern world full of supernatural and mythical creatures of all kinds, we’re past having those “others” hiding in the shadows and trying to cover their existence. There’s a reason it’s the Department of Defense Against Supernatural, Paranormal, and Extraterrestrial Activity with Malicious Intent. We’re defending non-humans from these forces as much as we are humans, because not all supernatural, paranormal, or extraterrestrial creatures are malicious. This is a world where you can go to a coffee shop and get a shot of charisma in your drink before a presentation, or go to a palm reader who actually is a psychic, or a dog trainer who can actually communicate with dogs.


That isn’t to say that there aren’t dangerous things in the world. Recent sightings suggest that dragons aren’t extinct, mysterious murders do occur, and criminals of all sorts still own the streets, and when it becomes clear that these criminals aren’t humans, that’s when the Department steps in and takes over.


Our own dimension isn’t the only one, either. In this world, there are various realms and dimensions you may end up in -- the underworld, which is watched over by Death itself, the Dreamscape, a constantly-shifting and strange realm of spirits, and more. Occasionally you’ll find yourself meeting characters from these other realms.


 

The Department:


With this knowledge in mind, it’s time to talk about your very own DDASPETAMI. You’re looking at a government department run by a vampire by the name of Cornelius Greyston. The goal of the Department is of course to protect the public. How do we do this? When criminals of the non-human variety run rampant, that’s when we step in, track them down, and apprehend them. The Department deals with all sorts of cases and disasters, ranging anywhere from murders up to handling mass threats that could endanger entire cities.


Corin Greyston prides himself on his staff -- we’re equal opportunity employers around here, and don’t hire by race. Anyone can join the department -- vampires, ghosts, nymphs, mages, so on and so forth, including normal humans.


 

The Cases:


When new cases come in, the agents will have a chance to pick out their own. While the same pairs often end up working together frequently, partners aren’t necessary and you’ll have to chance to choose who you work with on any given case.


These cases can be following any number of different crimes -- sometimes you may be looking for a missing person, tracking a mob boss, a murder, or any other number of different jobs. Sometimes you’ll find yourself in some pretty unusual places -- sometimes you won’t even be in our world. Occasionally cases will take you to other realms including the Underworld or the Dreamscape, a realm defined by the fact that this is where your consciousness goes when you dream.


Aside from typical cases, occasionally the Department is called on to handle more long-term cases, such as attempting to pin a vampire-supremacist mob or even defending cities or more from powerful enemies of life as we know it.


 


 

The Rules and Expectations:

• 
  While you’re free to make whatever species of character you like, they must absolutely have legitimate weaknesses.
  
• 
  No godmodding, powerplaying, controlling other people’s characters, be polite in the OOC -- you know the drill. Common courtesy.
  
• 
  RPN Rules apply as always.
  

 

[Sleipnir]

Trackidy-Track


neigh

 

[Sleipnir]

Oct. 31 -- 11:45


He knew he wasn't going to make it in time -- the soul was already gone. But the great white dog tried anyway, appearing from the ground in the alley. As he had suspected, the soul wasn't there -- but what creature could beat him to a soul? What could be taking them? It wasn't one of his own, this much he knew. Instead, the dog turned to look at the body. She looked far too peaceful to be dead, but dead she was, without a single mark on her -- it looked as if she had simply gone to sleep and her heart had stopped beating. This was nothing special for him -- it wasn't what was here but rather what was missing that disturbed him.


The body meant nothing to him. So the great beast turned away and disappeared into the floor once again.


Nov. 1 -- 7:30 a.m. -- Washington, DC


Another morning.


There was frost on the trees and leaves scattering across the street as a chilly autumn wind breezed by. The sky was just beginning to turn a deep blue, and the denizens of the capital were just beginning to wake up and move around.


As she always was, agent Piper Reed had woken up and left her apartment almost before sunrise while the streets of D.C. were still relatively quiet. She had picked up breakfast and a coffee on her way in and was now pushing open the glass doors at the front of the Department Headquarters and heading up to her office. She unbuttoned her coat as she went -- it wouldn't be so cold inside that she'd need it -- and paused in front of the office door to unlock it, taking a moment to glance up at the two names that labelled the door: Piper Reed and Director Cornelius Greyston.


Before she sat down, she hit thee com for the Tech department. "Cross, are you in there? Anything interesting happening overnight?" she called as she took a seat at her computer. She didn't know whether Luke would be in or not -- but she wouldn't be surprised if the boy was working all evening.

 

[Kylesar1]

"Yea, yea. I'm in."


Luke's voice came in over the intercom. "Nothing much. We do have a woman found dead. No scratches, no wounds. Natural causes, apparently, but you know we have to go to the scene to see any supernatural forces at play. Should I send you the address?"


Luke was known be able to stay at the Department for a full week without sleep without losing his mind, a talent gained by binge gaming. He hasn't had breakfast, so when they go out to the scene, he'd probably pick something up


@Sleipnir

 

[Hel]

Greyston looked back up at the DC skyline from where he sat on the edge of the roof. It wasn't the most beautiful, but it was his home, and he'd been working on sketching it for the majority of the night. Now that the sun was rising he wondered if he should perhaps try his hand with some sort of colouring tool.


No, I shouldn't, it would ruin the sketch. Greyston thought to himself as he looked back down to the pencil drawing he'd done. It was no masterpiece, but it wasn't bad either. With a sigh, he closed his sketchbook and and stood, brushing himself off. He'd already changed for the day and had only to head back downstairs, it seemed to be time for people to show up, so he thought he would too.


After a few flights of stairs, a stop at his room, and an elevator trip, Greyston sauntered into his office with his suit jacket draped over an arm and a dark red drink with an orange label in the other. 


"Good morning, Pip." He greeted with a smile on his lips. "Found a case yet this morning?" 

 

[Sleipnir]

Piper glanced up when Corin appeared in the doorway. She nodded. "Cross said we have something. A woman found dead, no apparent cause of death. You want to take it?" She paused again to eye Greyston's drink skeptically. It looked terribly unappetizing in her opinion, but she didn't comment on it. Vampires, after all, weren't exactly on the same page as humans when it came to culinary preferences.

 

[Hel]

"Poison? Or more of a locked door case?" Greyston wondered aloud, "Either way it sounds interesting enough to me, we can head out and see what we find. Will it just be the two of us, then?" He asked his partner before noticing what she was looking at.


"Do you want a sip? It's orange flavoured."

 

[Kylesar1]

Luke's voice came in again


"Look, when you guys go, I'm riding with you. This is day 4 of my consistent stay here, and I'm not fit to drive. I'm gonna fall out if I stay inside any longer. Plus I'm starving."


Luke had some good forensic equipment, but it was all in his bots


@Sleipnir


@Hel

 

[Sleipnir]

Piper pulled a face and shook her head with a grimace. "Orange flavored blood — I think that sounds like the worst thing possible." Once Luke came through again, she paused to listen then nodded. "Sounds like the three of us. I'm ready to go whenever you two are." She glanced up. She knew Luke could hear her. "Let's go see our crime scene." She, too, was perplexed — if there was no outward sign of damage, that did leave plenty of options, but many of those would be difficult to track — if it was hemomancy, it would be easy to tell, but difficult to pin on someone. It could have been a curse or a poison as Greyston had suggested. But then, they couldn't be sure until they saw the scene and did some tests. 

 

[Ammagaruqnik]

Valerian peered her head as she overheard the conversation. "Sounds spooky." She murmured without thought as she rubbed a tea mug in her hands, an unconscious soothing motion for herself and the chilling feeling that this talk of murder gave her. She didn't envy the agents going out there to search for whoever or whatever killed the poor girl... 


She looked to Piper, and nodded a little after she spoke. "Be careful." It was all she could say- all she could pray to the witch's many gods and goddesses in hope for. It was times like these were Val wished she could go. Alas, she'd only get in the way of their work! It was better to stay put. 

 

[Muffinboi]

Akira awakened from slumber in her small but practical home within an alley. She flexed her lithe paws and proceeded to do a wake up stretch and yawn before climbing out of her bed. The catlike creature got dressed in her usual kimono, then she opened the door to her house and went outside, closing the door behind her.


The breeze of the cool autumn day hit her when she went outside. She preferred spring, but was usually fine with the weather of autumn.

 

[Remmock]

Martin had woken up at 5:15 am like clockwork. The idea bothered him, though it bothered him a little less every day. There were benefits to his new body. Nothing ached, and the sluggish feeling of being neither here nor there when first coming around wasn't something to be missed. As such, he rose and skipped by the bathroom, a now unused room in his house. Smooth hands that were and weren't his own took hold of a canister of compressed air. An electric surge ran through his hair, making it relax before he blew it out with the canister, only for another brief surge made it snap back into place.


He went to his closet, sifting through the suits to find one to his liking when he realized he had forgotten a part of his routine. He basked in the brief reminder of his humanity before closing his left hand into a fist, essentially giving a thumbs-up. A blue line appeared along the right side of his cuticle, running halfway to the edge while the left side continued to flash red in a steady pulse. Martin sighed and returned to his bedside. Another moment passed as he silently asked himself why he bothered mimicking sleep, while a hand tugged on a wooden drawer. Within the nightstand were three cylinders, of which he grabbed one and placed his fingers at opposite ends. A blue line appeared, reaching nearly all the way across the cylinder. Satisfied, Martin reached to his ribs on his left side and rubbed, a spot opening seamlessly from which he took out one cylinder to replace with the other.


Yet again he made the thumbs-up gesture, and the left side showed a blue line now which ran nearly to the end. "That's better," he announced to no one in particular. Getting ready and driving to work were short, simple tasks now. Once again he arrived early, never needing to bother with stopping for food or to shower or groom. As such, he checked into the Cage and began cleaning and prepping his gear while the rest of the city was still coming to life.

 

[Sleipnir]

Piper turned to Valerian when she spoke, nodding to the thin witch. "We always are," she assured her with a smile. She was always glad to see the agents paying attention and taking care of one another, and despite the fact that she was not a field agent, Valerian was no exception. Then she turned to look at Greyston again. "I'm going to grab my equipment and another coffee. You and Luke meet me out front. We can take my car if you want," she told him, She didn't wait more than a couple seconds before heading off to go down to the armory. She noted Martin's presence and nodded to him in greeting. "Good morning, agent Kim." She took up her issued hand gun and picked out plain bullets without any enchantment attached to them. She doubted there would be any need for anything special. After she finished she headed back toward the front.


Sanja too had just gotten in the door and run up the stairs. She stopped short when she came past where Valerian and Greyston where still standing. "Oh -- hey, Val, can I get your help with something? I was doing a thing and need help with an enchantment. It's related to the Dreamscape, I have this theory on jumping between planes and need it for that. Hi, Greyston," She added cheerfully, flashing the ampire a smile at the end of her request. A morning person, this one -- it showed with as quick as she spoke.


The young man made his way down the street as the sun started up. He kept his head low, trying to keep from attracting any attention on the street. He had something of a noticeable bruise along one cheek bone under his dark brown eyes. Aidan Gallagher was his name. He had both hands in his pockets, and a fine silver chain was just visible around one wrist as he walked down the street. He could see various people hurrying up and down the streets around him and was pleased that no one really said anything or looked at him. His attention had just been caught by some car passing him when he walked into someone -- someone much shorter than him. He looked down to see a calico cat wearing a kimono  and immediately, he stepped back. "Sorry 'bout that," he told her quickly with a sheepish smile. "I didn't see you -- wasn't paying attention."

 

[Hel]

Greyston bobbed his head when Luke informed them that he would be coming along also, the company would be nice and from what Piper had said it likely wouldn't be terribly  dangerous. Besides, these were the sorts of cases that the police usually got to first and cleared the scene during. After all, they were only heading to the scene to double check that the death wasn't due to supernatural causes. As Sanja greeted him, Greyston offered her a friendly smile back.


"Well, then, I'll leave a note on the door and we should be back well before lunch." Greyston said with a nod, setting his drink down long enough to write up the note that he'd leave on the door to tell anyone looking for him to give him a call. "Anyway, Luke it will be nice to have you along, Meet us at the elevator to the parking garage? I feel like driving today. Piper did you catch that?" The second part he said a bit louder as his partner had already started to leave.


Once Luke had replied, Greyston shrugged back into the jacket of his suit and hung the note on the office door with a little tack.


___________________________________________________________________________


Meanwhile, Lilliana was making her way in for work. She didn't stop for breakfast, but did have a Sundoe coffee as she walked through the doors, past the automated help-bot that ran the front desk and into the main work room. Greyston and Piper had offices upstairs that overlooked the large, open room. This was wear the rest of the agents and detectives got to work, their desks sectioned off with optional cubicals. 


She had left her gauntlet here the night before, so after setting her own jacket down at her work space she headed to the weapon room and found Piper and Martin. She gave a brief nod to the two but chose not to interrupt either of them in case they had been talking. Instead she moved to find where she had left her own weapon. It was a silver gauntlet that had been enchanted. She used it to summon various other weapons that she kept in her personal arsenal at her home. 

 

[Ammagaruqnik]

"Doing a thing?" Val immediately asked initially, a grin pulling at the corners of her mouth as she clutched her tea. When Sanja elaborated further the witch nodded to her and took a step in her direction to follow. Her sweeping silver hair was still messy from waking up, evidently her mornings took a little time, but her hair was always a little... everywhere. 


"Everyone's working so hard this morning." She murmured to herself as she took a deep drink of her tea. 

 

[Sleipnir]

Piper threw a thumbs up to Greyston as she took off.


Once she was ready, she waited for Greyston and Luke at the elevator. It was nice in her opinion that she didn't have to use her own gas. She glanced at her phone for just a moment to check the time, but she didn't really register it; rather, her mind was still on the case they were handling. She assumed it would likely be passed off to other agents once they looked at the scene.


Sanja  nodded. Once they reached the lab, she pulled out several different sets of notes and objects. "Right. I wondered about a grounding object, you know? This is completely experimental. I've read about these things in different tomes, you know, but a lot of it -- oh, I'm no witch. It's over my head. There are stories of people going to the Underworld or supposedly coming here from the Underworld, and they have to keep these enchanted objects if they're going to stay there," she explained. "I have the books. I wondered if you wanted them to see if you can make more sense of it than me."


(Me: *Comes up with this stuff on the fly so I can use Sanja*)

 

[Ammagaruqnik]

Despite the nature of Valerian's job, the young girl didn't often come to the lab. If anything, she usually treated people in her office/bedroom where she had everything she could need so stepping foot in this extraordinary enclosure certain grabbed the witch's attention. So to speak the lab put in her in awe. The technology- the lighting even, made it feel so big- shiny, she was fascinated by the space- even if she herself didn't prefer it. "Grounding?" Valerian was familiar with divination and scrying through dreams but she never thought of holding her consciousness tethered- anchored, whatever you wanted to call- to reality. She'd never been very good at that stuff as controlling dreams- it seemed to her that in order to accomplish a task like that, one needed to be in strong command of their subconscious- years of training, in theory, at least. Even then that seemed like an inborn talent, didn't it? Still, she couldn't refuse. She loved being needed- and wanted to help regardless of her abilities. She didn't want to let Sanja down! "Oh-ah- sure!" Val smiled a little, "I'm not sure if I'm qualified-- I mean, I'll definitely try- I'll start working now while everyone's out." She nodded to Sanja as she fought herself not to ramble. 


"Why the sudden interest?" Was it sudden? She wasn't thinking about trying to go into the underworld- right? That seemed dangerous, did it not? 

 

[Kylesar1]

Luke gathered his stuff and met them by where the car would come. He yawned. He needed some coffee in his life. He recalled stealing Piper's coffee before. He didn't know if it was a 1-time thing, or if she always liked it like that, but it tasted like Starbucks on Sugar steroids. Luke didn't like his black, but he did like it not too sweet


He waited for the car to arrive. He anticipated what'd be at this crime scene


@Sleipnir


@Hel

 

[Hel]

After a few minutes Greyston met Piper and Luke in the garage and led them to where his car was parked. Having been well off to begin with, Greyston's long years and good investments had apparently payed off well. The car that he drove was definitely not an agency car. It was a low seated, matte black Lamberghini that 'could carry four people.' Clearly with greyston's height, though, three would be all that actually fit. 


It was a very quick drive to get to the murdered woman's house, even in the crowded morning traffic. This was more due to Greyston's method of driving than miraculous green lights and light traffic, to be honest. Greyston even stopped at Sundoe's to get some coffee- though very clearly they were not to spill the drinks in his car. 


Once they reached the house, Greyston parked and unfolded himself from the seat, looking up at the place. 


"So remind me Pip- or Luke- what was the young girl's name? I don't want to seem like I don't know if her family happens to show up." Greyston said, turning to look at the two of them once he'd finished asking the question.


@Sleipnir @Kylesar1

Spoiler

Greyston's car (for funsies):

 

[Sleipnir]

Piper had not been expecting such an extravagant car from Greyston and while she got herself a coffee, didn't dare drink it til she left the vehicle partially because she didn't want to spill it on the interior — though she doubted the damage would be a problem financially — and partially because she didn't want to dump it on her. She was all too happy to get out of the car and wasn't looking forward to getting back into it. 


Piper nodded as they walked into the room. "Arianna Heights," she replied. She had to admit she was taken aback by the scene a bit — nothing out of place, no sign of a struggle. She was just... Dead. Surely a poison would have caused spasms or distress — neither of those were evident here. 


Sanja glanced at Val and flashed her a smile. "I've been studying this realm for awhile, this plane of existence — the Dreamscape. It's where your consciousness ends up if you're asleep. I wanted to find a way to actually physically be there."

 

[Kylesar1]

Luke dusted himself off and got out the car. He walked into the house to the scene. "No wonder they called us," he said, his voice a low whisper. Nothing was out of place, which was the equivalent of a murderous blood pool scene of normal cops.


"Whoever worked this place, be it the owner or the maid, they have some serious dedication when it comes to keeping this place pristine." He ran through some scenarios in his head. "Suicide by poison is the only scenario that's not the supernatural. We're looking a pretty good chance of a supernatural murder............"


@Sleipnir


@Hel

 

[Ammagaruqnik]

Val was scrambling to recall past notes she's read- anything about tuning in, and all she could think of was ritualistic hallucinogens that some cultures used to force their present mind into dreamscape. That's pretty risky though, and not to mention the drug wasn't readily easy to gather. "Okay... Let's see then... Do you have one of the books? I'll start looking at once." She smiled a little, feeling lack-luster confidence but all the same, determined to help.

 

[Hel]

Greyston nodded at Luke's observations, in agreement. He looked around himself, the place was nice- clearly the girl who lived here was wealthy. That was the first thing that struck him as out of place- obviously the dead woman did too, but what college student could afford a place like this? He made a mental note to look into her family and see where she came from.


"Have you ever seen a more pristine murder scene?" Greyston asked aloud, musing to Piper and Luke. 


A few minutes later, the police detective who was on the scene came to greet them. He was a large man, and very hairy. Judging from the faint odor of dog he was some sort of lycanthrope, Greyston guessed. The wolf-man looked the three of them over, then spoke: "I suppose you three must be the department agents?" Greyston nodded and the man continued.


"Well, we think this case belongs to you. Security system was armed, and there are no traces of anyone getting in or out. There aren't any signs of this being a stroke, heart attack, or really any normal occurrence. There's still a chance that it was some sort of brain tumor, but it seems unlikely. If it's poison, it's one that's odorless- one we don't know of too. I couldn't smell anything on the victim that didn't belong. Do you need a breakdown on her as well, by the way?"

 

[Remmock]

Martin had been in the process of reassembling a piece when Piper had walked in. His greeting had been just as quick as he responded to her morning salutation. "Good morning, Agent Reed." The sound of tightly bound metal slamming home and locking into place followed as he finished putting together the assault rifle he'd been working on. Other than that however, he had been both quiet and patient, opting to observe rather than comment. As such, when he noticed Val he had merely nodded in response and spent the rest of the time unassumedly readying the equipment in the cage. After all, he knew that if he were necessary that he would be called upon.


His strong, nimble fingers made quick work of keeping the equipment tidy and ready, to which he got up and began filling out the logs regarding his work. It was about this time that the Agent typically in charge entered and immediately sighed in exasperation. "Kim, you did it again, didn't you?" As the pen in Martin's hand scratched out the details of his work, the other hand moved to run the radio, keeping alert of any calls that might come through from field agents. "Didn't touch a thing," came Martin's cavalier response. With that he shut the book and got up. "I inspected everything and wrote multiple false entries. You're going to go through this gear piecemeal and ensure it's all correct." The agent just stared as he left, then turned to examine the equipment all around.


 The expletive that followed put the first smile on Martin's face for the day.

 

[Kylesar1]

"We know her name and her basic info............ All we'll need is her medical history," Luke said. He was convinced that this was supernatural. "How about we work and you take the body for the autopsy. Get in contact with us with whether it was something or not."


Luke was fairly certain it wasn't a brain tumor. These people were wealthy. They had access to healthcare that normal people didn't even know existed. A brain tumor would've been spotted. Even if it wasn't fully "cured," it wouldn't have caused her death like that, where no one knew.


"What about her house help? We need to speak with the maids and butlers if they were in last night."


@Hel


@Sleipnir