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A parliament of monsters hides behind the curtain. They emerge, sometimes, past the red velvet. They move in shadows among the human herd, reaching out and plucking the unsuspecting into their grip. Humans can be livestock to the hungry, lovers to the lustful, and toys to the wicked. All the horror stories talk of it: vampires filling their mouths with our blood, lycanthropes harrying mortal prey through dark forests, demons convincing a man to hand over his soul in a gift-wrapped bundle.

But they aren’t just stories, are they? No, the horrors are real, hiding within a labyrinth of mystery.

They have many names. Rakshasa. Oni. Agma. Shaytan...

Demon.

Whatever they are called, one thing remains constant: wherever there are demons, there are people who hunt them.

You are one such person. Armed with steel, fire, and faith, you keep the Vigil. Someone must bear the burden of your thankless Crusade-- so let it be you. But you are not alone-- others like you fight elsewhere, doing what needs to be done. Perhaps you still fight that good fight, or perhaps you've laid down your arms, having passed on your teachings to someone else. Whatever the case is, today you have received a message: a summons, directing you to Las Vegas, where an entire Compact of hunters has gone silent.

Intel suggests that this Compact uncovered a small clan of vampires, and likely perished in the attempt to eliminate it. An unfortunate loss, to be certain, but organizations in the region are scrambling to contain the situation. Boots on the ground are already establishing a perimeter while trying to keep things hidden from the public. They've even sent for hunters from different parts of the world. Whether you're the on first flight out, or are already driving across states to reach the infamous Sin City, you know things won't be easy when you get there.

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Hey everyone. As stated on the interest check, this is a short, campy action RP about killing demons. Part 1 will involve arriving at the scene and fighting to the skyscraper, Part 2 will involve ascending the skyscraper, and Part 3 will be about finishing the fight.

To help facilitate the idea of what is and is not acceptable in this action RP, I've filled out a short list of guidelines to follow in combat. Check the guidelines section for that. In addition, to give people a better idea on how combat works, I've ripped a system wholesale adapted a simple rank system from a TTRPG that will hopefully streamline the action part of the game.

Rank

Although there is no 'official' power ranking system among hunters or demons, many organizations have attempted to stratify and classify the various threats they come across in such a way that they can reasonably assign the proper countermeasures. The below table describes the ranks and gives examples to give readers a better idea of what's going on.


The PCs are Rank 4 Hunters. Their apprentices, if any, are either Rank 2 or Rank 3. When fighting as a unit, a group of lower-ranked fighters can defeat higher-ranked threats, but only to a certain extent. The closer the fighter gets to another fighter in rank, the more even a fight is. When a lower-rank fighter enters combat against a higher-ranked opponent, there's a noticeable 'pressure' exuded by the higher-ranking fighter-- you know when you're outclassed, so to speak. Lastly, if a fighter is at least three ranks above an opponent, the power difference is so noticeable that the fight is quickly won without any issues.

These details invariably mean that the Rank 4 Hunters can essentially mow through hordes of Rank -1, Rank 0, and Rank 1 enemies, and can easily dispatch Rank 2 opponents. Rank 3 opponents may prove to be more trouble, but can be eliminated with dutiful labor. Rank 4 opponents are expected to be quite rare, and can equal a Veteran Hunter in strength-- which is generally a life-or-death scenario with the hunters at a disadvantage. Lastly, Rank 5 opponents cannot and should not be engaged alone; there is a reason the US Conspiracy has called over a group of Rank 4 Hunters-- by working together, they should be able to eliminate any conceivable threat.

That being said, these details are very abstract, and with good planning and proper use of equipment, lower-ranked fighters can take on foes of much higher rank, though of course, the same goes for the opponents. Another detail that is quite notable is that this is not a linear scale-- a Rank 3 threat is many times stronger than a Rank 2 threat, and a group of Rank 5 fighters may still not be enough to take on a Rank EX threat. It's all context-based and there are many monsters that are supposedly low on the danger scale, but can easily kill a high-ranked hunter, if the right situation presents itself. When in doubt, it's best to use this scale only as a rough guideline, rather than Gospel.

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Discord Server can be found here.

And now to ping everyone that I accepted on the interest check.

@Smike@Inertia@Spectral@Goma@wikkit@Mendicant Bias

Hey lads. Sorry for the delay. Between losing internet for several days on two separate weeks, and then the storm hitting this week and taking out my power... as well as my semester at school, this RP has definitely been relegated to the backburner, and for that, I do apologize. Still, I'm here now, and I want to get things moving.

And what better way to get things moving than to throw people right into the thick of things?

Chapter 1: The Flop

This is an introductory chapter, starting strong with a huge combat encounter to get everyone acquainted with their characters.

The friendly list is as follows:



The enemy list is as follows:



Using the fortifications set up at this perimeter has allowed this team of soldiers to hold the line in spite of overwhelming odds, but thankfully, you're here to relieve them. The soldiers are engaging threats equal to their level, taking them off your lists. Pastor Jin, Mother Ekaterine, and Sister Bianca would all recognize the Executor as Father Alistair, having worked together with him on previous operations. He's currently engaging x2 Lesser Vampires, which takes them off your lists.

Naturally, fleeing civilians do not assist in taking out enemies, and instead get in the way.

Protecting a fleeing civilian means counting them as a Rank 1 enemy. Protecting an injured soldier means counting them as a Rank 0 enemy. Protecting a trained soldier means counting them as a Rank -1 enemy. It's not enough that you kill the enemies chasing them, as doing so means you kill the target after they kill theirs-- actively protecting these people means exerting extra effort (which is why some hunters tend not to bother with it).

With that in mind, if we tally up the number of enemies that can be targeted and the number of allies that can be saved...



With all of that said, choosing not to protect any of the allies here will make cleanup quicker. Either way, I suspect this will be finished in one or two rounds of posting. Of course, you are free to follow the guidelines in the OOC post to instead make your own arrangement of who kills what-- these things have always been intended as guidelines rather than hard-and-fast rules.

In addition, the nature of the enemies are left vague intentionally. If you want to fight a vampire with a weapon, sure! If you want to fight one that's more animalistic than the others, that's fine too! Either way, they're Lesser Vampires, and don't pose much threat. The only one who is set in stone is the Vampire Leader, who fights with sharp nails, superhuman strength, agility, and reflexes, as well as mental dominion. She will retreat after engaging in one round of combat with a Hunter. You can leave her critically injured and allow her to retreat, or finish her off in that post, but become slightly injured yourself.