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Bedlam City October 31, 2020 - Sundown "H-hey, how long is this gonna take already?" Robert Meza asked for the dozenth time, fiddling with the expensive looking watch on his wrist and looking about the interrogation room as though he was going to spot something new inside the four dour walls. His chair creaked as he shifted his weight about and his flop sweat made his dark hair fall limply against his forehead. "You got somewhere you'd rather be, Meza? There's the door," Detective Montgomery snapped irritably. Heavyset and red faced he'd left his jacket draped over the back of the chair across from Meza while he paced back and forth in front of the two-way mirror. "The ADA's running late is all. Once she gets your statement, we get you out of the city for a while, like you asked. So until then, just shaddup, yeah?" Meza drew his shoulders together and ducked his head slightly then looked about the room again. "Yeah, yeah, okay. But what's he doing here?" The third man in the room, lounging in a chair in the corner raised an eyebrow over one ice blue eye. "Lucky for you your lawyer knows a police station is a pretty stupid place to go if you wanna avoid anybody on the Mara's payroll," Lou Lubrano replied dryly, smirking in Montgomery's direction. He tugged at the cuffs on his rumpled suit jacket. "Consider me insurance. You like insurance, right Robbie? Firebug like you?" The informant looked away but set his jaw, hands palm down on the table in front of him. "Look, I'm not saying I'm no angel. But I hadda do something this time. Th-they was just kids, y'know? Ain't right." Lubrano's expression remained impassive, partially concealed by his black beard but he paused in silence for a moment. "Yeah, Robbie. I know." A tinny rendition of a cheerful pop tune broke the heavy silence permeating the room. "@#$% ringtone," Montgomery swore as he stomped back to the table and fished a phone out of his jacket pocket. "Yeah?! Of course I'm-- what? You got held up by what?!" With a sudden groan Meza collapsed over the table in front of him, muscles spasming. Lubrano was on his feet in an instant but stopped mid-step at a screeching noise. Mesa's fingernails, suddenly more bestial talons than anything, were carving deep trails in the metal surface. When his head shot up it was with luminous yellow eyes and teeth too large and too sharp for his jaw. He opened his mouth to ask a question but all that came out was a confused growl. He thrashed with another spasm and the table was tossed away from him, torn free of the rusted bolts attaching it to the floor. Montgomery went for his sidearm but was caught in the shoulder by the flying furniture on its way to smash into the two-way mirror, spiderweb cracking but not quite shattering. With tearing polyester, cracking bone and popping watch links Meza's form doubled then tripled in size, becoming a hulking creature covered in dark fur that towered over Lubrano. The beast stumbled froward a step before throwing its head back in a deafening howl, a sound that could be heard faintly echoed through the walls of the police station. Suddenly seized by a need to get away Meza leapt forward, swatting Lubrano aside like a straw dummy and crashing through the mirror in a rain of broken glass. Forcing himself back to his feet and ignoring Montgomery's attempts to free himself from under the dented table, Lubrano looked through the broken pane to see the path the werewolf had torn through the adjoining room and out of the building. Pulling a pack of cigarettes from his pocket he shook one loose without looking away and put it unlit between his lips. "...huh."

Around Sunset, Bedlam City Very few who live in a blighted urban landscape like Bedlam wouldn't suspect that it had much in the way of magic. The founders of the city had made sure that several convergences of ley lines meant the city was brimming with the stuff. Like the city, the magic was icky and blighted, though many still argued which caused the other. Away from the prying eyes of many a superteams and powerful mystics, Bedlam made a perfect place for those who practiced the less savory styles of magic to meet up and exchange, or more often sell, rituals and artifacts that were unpleasant if not outright evil...

Bedlam City 1st June 2018, 06:30 am Life was cheap in Bedlam but every now and again something would happen across that would disturb even the jaded citizens of the blight of Wisconsin. The corpse in question appeared ancient, even though several witnesses saw them mere hours before going to a hotel that charged by the hour. Normally Bedlam Cities "Finest" would sweep this desiccated corpse into the gutter and forget about it. But Merryn Blundell was a person of some influence being an auctioneer of some repute. Mostly there was high value, and dubious origins, that meant some very important Bedlamites wanted whoever had done this caught right away.

Dr. Rosa Thorne Power Level: 8/10 (173/200PP) Unspent Power Points: 27 Trade-Offs: None In Brief: One's an Occult Scholar the other a down on there luck private investigator, who happens now to share the same body. Together they fight the forces of the occult! Alternate Identity: Dr. Thorne, Occult Detective (Public) Birthplace: Milwaukee, Wisconsin Occupation: Former Occult Scholar, Private Investigator Affiliations: Black Rose Detective Agency Family: Phillip Thorne (Father), Rhosyn Thorne (Mother), Anissa Thorne (Sister) Description: Age: 26 (DoB: 1990) Gender: Female Ethnicity: African-American Height: 5'3" Weight: 140lbs Eyes: Brown Hair: Black Rosa has never been one to worry about her figure though she has always been active enough that she's never gotten too large, though she still has some curves about her. Likewise, she tends to wear only a little makeup, enough to allow her natural beauty to shine through. Countering this though Rosa has never had a day when she felt she should dress casually, still dressing even now as if she is about to go to a days work. Of the two of them, she's the one most likely to wear a sensible trench coat, if the weather calls for never as any kind of fashion statement. History: Rosa’s father had always told her that she could achieve anything that she could set her mind, something she’d taken to with some gusto. Whilst other followed the exploits of the brightly colored superhero’s Rosa was drawn to lesser known, but no less fascinating, exploits of those that fought the forces of the supernatural. She devoured every report and story of such thing, even sneaking into movies on such themes even if they were well above her age. A smart capable girl turned into an even more capable young woman who with a keen intellect had managed to gain an education at an early age in every field of occult studies, despite no magical talent of her own. She eagerly looked forward to a fruitful career in academia sharing thoughts and idea’s among her intellectual peers. Unfortunately for her many in the field where quite conservative in outlook not ready to listen to someone as young as she was, especially one of her gender and a few unfortunately of her race. Despite this, she soldiered on not willing to surrender so easily to those who wanted to put her down, instead of putting her efforts in pure academic research more and more esoteric subjects. But even she had days when despair would get the better of her and on one fateful occasion, she meets someone who would change her entire life. After one especially draining conference lecture, where her rather elegant discourse on a very poorly known aspect of occult lore had been dismissed out of hand by her audience, she was approached by a man with a literal Faustian pact. She of cause knew of him, the infamous Mr. Infamy, and in normal circumstance would have been fascinated to have the chance to talk to such a renowned occult figure of mythic proportions. But that day she was angry, tired and had maybe one too many whiskeys already and was more than willing to complain to him about how hard it was to get the kind of respect she was after in a field dominated by men. Rosa couldn’t remember exactly what she’d ask for but to the best of her knowledge if must have been something about being able to compete on an equal footing with men. When she awoke the next day she was in for a shock as the face she saw in the mirror wasn’t her own but of an older white man. And she wasn’t alone for now she was sharing her consciousness with that of the bodies original occupant, Liam Conners. Rather calm for such a momentous event the two of them quickly reached an uneasy peace and with a little investigation it was discovered that they could easily shift between the forms of Liam and Rosa. Such a victory was quickly tempered by another rather less pleasing revelation Dr. Rosa Thorne apparently had never existed all her documentation, achievements and right now more importantly saved money had vanished overnight. All they had to their name was a few dollars and a Private Investigation license to operate in a city that Rosa had never even heard of, that of Bedlam. Despite all this, both of them weren’t willing to give up completely and with Rosa help they managed to subtly alter the kind of business the now rebranded Thorne Investigations would deal with, a cesspool of a city like Bedlam tended to draw the worst of Supernatural entities something calling for their rather unique skills. Personality & Motivation: Rosa might be an excellent scholar but she isn’t exactly a people person she often crotchety and rude to people and tends to treat everyone like she’s the smartest person in the room, which to be fair in many situations this is true. It’s not helped by the fact that she’s extremely strong-willed and stubborn to a fault. She also has a very nasty habit of keeping things to herself only reluctantly revealing information when push comes to shove, not that she’s withholding information to herself she just want to wait until she has all the information to hand to come to a conclusion. Sometime the drive to discover the truth of a certain supernatural event or creature will overcome the necessity of dealing with said problem. Despite sometimes not seeming to care Rosa is a very passionate believer in helping people in trouble, making the city better by saving the souls (sometimes literally) one person at a time. Any friends she has are vanishingly rare since “moving” to Bedlam, lovers are nonexistent, very few can see beyond the hardened shell to the actually quite kind and generous person that lives under all that baggage. Powers & Tactics: If she can help it Rosa isn't really a fighter, that Liam's job, and will happily allow others to fight her battles for her. When it comes to magic matters, however, Rosa is more than happy to get involved, especially now that for some reason she can use all the knowledge she's gained over the years. She's still not one to rush into things, however, preferring to take the time to gather all the information before acting. Power Descriptions: The consciousness of Rosa are Liam are bonded together into a single entity and whilst both of them exist at the same time only one of their bodies, along with their accumulated skills and knowledge's, can be present at one time. With almost no effort they can shift between either of them, with the others mind taking a back seat to watch over and offer suggestions. With both always being active they remember everything that's happened since being bonded, through their own personalities can color their viewpoints, event prior to this are often only available when occupying that form. Whilst they have very different body shapes, and obviously, genders, the necessities of the bodies, for good and ill, are magically linked in such a way that they don’t have to make an effort to maintain both forms. This also means that if one of them get drunk or drugged the other would feel the effects and same goes for anything injuries the other might suffer. When one sleeps so does the other and as far as they can tell neither of the two consciousness's can operate independently of the other. Whilst neither of them are in a hurry to find out for certain it appears that anything specific to one form over the other does not appear to function, as far as they can tell Rosa would be incapable of getting pregnant for example. Somehow the bonding of the two has allowed Rosa to use the occult knowledge she had to collect to achieve real tangible results, but only when she's in her own form. Complications: Bedlam City Limits: Somehow her magical powers are tied to Bedlam, the further she gets from Bedlam the less her powers seem to operate. the knowledge behind the powers never, however, goes away. Never go home again: The whole world no longer knows of the existence of Rosa, including her family. But she still tries to keep an eye on them and help out where she can. Twin Shows: The transformation between Rosa and Liam is for most people completely unnoticed, they don't see the change happen just that one had left and other has taken their place. Supernatural creatures and extraordinary people, including but not restricted to supers, will notice the transition between the two. You want to do what?: Rosa tastes are very different from Liam and sometimes tries to take over when he's doing something she doesn't like. Abilities: 0 + 4 + 4 + 10 + 10 + 0 = 28PP Strength: 10 (+0) Dexterity: 14 (+2) Constitution: 14 (+2) Intelligence: 20 (+5) Wisdom: 20 (+5) Charisma: 10 (+0) Combat: 16 + 8 = 24PP Initiative: +2 Attack: +8 Base Defense: +8 (+4 Base, +4 Dodge Focus), +2 Flat-Footed Grapple: +8 Knockback: -4 Saving Throws: 4 + 5 + 7 = 16PP Toughness: +2/8 (+2 Con, +6 [Force Field]) Fortitude: +6 (+2 Con, +4) Reflex: +7 (+2 Dex, +5) Will: +12 (+5 Wis, +7) Skills: 200R = 50PP Computers 10 (+15) Concentration 15 (+20) Craft (Artistic) 10 (+15) Drive 3 (+5) Escape Artist 13 (+15) Gather Information 15 (+15) Investigate 12 (+20) Knowledge (Arcane Lore) 15 (+20) Knowledge (Art) 10 (+15) Knowledge (Behavioural Science) 10 (+15) Knowledge (Current Affairs) 10 (+15) Knowledge (History) 10 (+15) Knowledge (Popular Culture) 10 (+15) Knowledge (Theology and Philosophy) 15 (+20) Language 9 (Arabic, French, English [Native], German, Greek, Hebrew, Mandarin, Japanese, Latin, Russian) Medicine 5 (+10) Notice 10 (+15) Search 10 (+15) Sleight of Hand 8 (+10) Feats: 12PP Artificer Dodge Focus 4 Eidetic Memory Fearless Luck 2 Ritualist Second Chance (Concentration) Well-Informed Powers: 6 + 21 + 8 + 8 = 43PP Force Field 6 [6PP] Magical Knowledge 8 (16PP Array; Feats: Alternative Power 5) [21PP] Base Power: Damage 8 (Mystical Blast; Extra: Range) [16PP] Alternate Power: Clairvoyance 8 (Sight beyond sight, 2000 miles) Alternate Power: Exorcism 8 Alternate Power: Nullify 8 (Dispel Magic, 80 ft radius) Alternate Power: Obscure 8 (Mystical Darkness, 80 ft radius, 1,000 ft) Alternate Power: Snare 8 (Mystical Snare, 80 ft range) Morph 4 (Twin Souls, single appearance Feats: Innate, Metamorph, Subtle 2) [8PP] Super-Sense 8 (Magical Awareness - Mental Sense [Accurate, Acute, radius, Ranged]) [8PP] DC Block ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC 15 Toughness Damage Dispel Magic Ranged DC 18 Willpower Nullify Exorcism Ranged DC 18 Willpower Banish Mystical Blast Ranged DC 22 Toughness Damage Mystical Snare Ranged DC 18 Reflex Snare Totals: Abilities (28) + Combat (24) + Saving Throws (16) + Skills (50) + Feats (12) + Powers (43) = 173/200 Power Points