Unusual Suspects: Completed Characters

[jp1885]

Please post your completed characters in this thread.

[SaintMeerkat]

Investigator Improvement Phase completed.

Investigator Name: DC Leo Dansby

STR 50 (25)
CON 50 (25)
DEX 40 (20)
INT 60 (30)
POW 80 (40)

Luck: 59 (Reset 1/2024)

Magic Points: 18

Occupation: Police Detective (Detective Constable)

MOV: 8
Age: 32

Advantage: Magical

Common Skills
Athletics 30/15
Drive 30/15
Navigate 30/15
Observation 60/30
Read Person 60/30
Research 60/30
Sense Vestigia 60/30
Social 30/15
Stealth 30/15

Expert Skills
Computer Use 60/30
Law[sup]†[/sup] 60/30
Magic 70/35 (1 development point)

Signare: Wheezing, groaning sound; a waft of dank air, hot steam

First Order Spells: Werelight*, Impello*
Second Order Spells: Shield (Basic), Fireball (1 development point)

* - mastered

OOC:   24-5-2023 Spent 1 development point to master Werelight.

Combat Skills
Fighting 30/15
Firearms 30/15

[sup]†[/sup]required

Language
English 60/30

Affluence Rating: Average

DC Leo Dansby.jpg (16.73 KiB) Viewed 1002 times

Leo Dansby was a freshly-minted Detective Constable in Cambridge when he came to the attention of Dr. Harold Postmartin. After showing exceptional acumen during one of his first murder investigations there on campus, Postmartin approached Dansby to see if he would be interested in being part of the initial wave of the Folly Expansion plan. He had been in the Covent Garden area the night of the incident and felt the magic in the air, so he never bought the official line that incident, so the apparent existence of "weird bollocks" caused a lot of mental stones to fall into place; he eagerly volunteered.

For Leo, family was his parents and his two brothers and three sisters, and aunts, uncles, and cousins that regularly came by their Brownstone at regular intervals. He never wanted for a playmate, and got along with everyone for the most part. Although he is still close to his siblings and aging parents, he know thinks of his chosen family of friends and co-workers as providing the most support.

When he came out as gay to his parents as a late teen, they were incredibly supportive, as were his brothers and sisters. Only one of his older aunties turned a disapproving eye, but she wasn't brave enough to cross her sister over it. He auditioned for, and made, the London Gay Men's Chorus while still in school. Though the copper hours forced him to drop out, he still has a lot of friends that sing. He goes to as many concerts as possible.

For Leo, home was the brownstone in Wimbledon where he spent many happy hours as a child. Now, he is more at home in a pub that is filled with noisy, loud, obnoxious patrons, and the more that are fellow coppers, the better.

A brownstone in Wimbledon was Leo's childhood home, and his aging parents still live there with his youngest sister handling most of their day to day arrangements.

The Dansby family was mostly of Anglo-Saxon stock. Leo's father was a scientist by heart, if not by trade, so while he and his siblings didn't have a religious upbringing themselves, one of his uncles married a Jewish lady from there in the community, and he has attended all of his cousins' bar and bat mitzahs over the years.

Although he didn't know it at the time, Leo's first brush with the supernatural was when he was almost overpowered by Beverly Brook's vestigia during the flooding at Covent Garden. It left him with an indescribable feeling of wonder, and a newfound sense that there might be more to this mundane world than he previously believed. He never bought the official explanations that followed, but when he found out from Harold Postmartin that magic was real, suddenly that evening made sense.

[Trivun]

Investigator name: Isabel "Izzy" Cooper
Age: 23 (birthday July 2000)
Occupation: Police Detective (Detective Constable)

Development Points: 5 gained total, 5 spent

- Increased Athletics to 40%
- Learned 2nd order spell (Impello Palma)
- Learned 1st order spell (Aqua)
- Mastered Aqua
- Learned 1st order spell (Flash Bulb)

STR: 40 (20)
CON: 40 (20)
DEX: 60 (30)
INT: 80 (40)
POW: 60 (30)

Luck: Starting: 72 --- Current: 51
Magic Points: 14 --- Current: 12
MOV: 8

Damage: 0 points
Status: Fine

Advantage: Magical (major)

Common Skills:
Athletics 40/20
Drive 30/15
Navigate 60/30
Observation 60/30
Read Person 60/30
Research 30/15
Sense Vestigia 60/30
Social 60/30
Stealth 30/15

Expert Skills:
Language - English (own) 80/40
Law 60/30
Magic 60/30

Additional Expert skills (gained during investigations):

History 40/20

Combat Skills:
Fighting 30/15
Firearms 30/15

Signare: The deep contented purr of a cat; the scent of lavender; a clockwork tick-tock precision

First order spells: Werelight (mastered); Impello; Aqua (mastered); Flash Bulb
Second order spells: Candano; Impello Palma

Affluence rating: Average

Backstory:

Izzy Cooper was born at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, and raised in Croydon, well within the M25 circle, to a fairly average middle class family. She was always known as a quirky sort, with a love of the morbid that would rival an Addams, but with a bright and cheerful personality and a bizarre tendency to say whatever she was thinking, mostly oddball stuff that made for a strange mix of endearing to her friends and off-putting to those who didn't know her well. She got better at hiding her quirks as she grew older, but could never push them down entirely.

Izzy had wanted to join the Met ever since an officer came to her school during her early teens to give a speech on career opportunities in the police force. Ironically her older brother had already had plenty of run-ins with the police, due to a combination of numerous petty thefts and the simple fact that he hadn't spent a day of his adult life without being high on either weed, 'shrooms, or LSD, although none of this did anything to diminish the family's love for him, considering that other than the thefts Izzy's brother was completely harmless (bordering on pacifism). Still, even with how close she was to her brother, Izzy enrolled at Hendon Police College not long after her A-Levels (two As, a B and two Cs), completing her 13 week course not long after her 19th birthday. Two years of probation later, and she was quickly tapped up to join the Murder Squad, after impressing DS Stephanopoulos and DCI Seawoll with her quick thinking and deductive reasoning.

Seawoll figured he could learn to live with her quirks and her tendency to not shut up.

Izzy's first few cases went fairly well, despite an embarrassing incident where she asked someone out on a date who turned out to be the killer they were looking for (she had to cancel the date which she already had fully planned, although it might have been a lucky escape considering the girl was a psychopath who had murdered her cousin for the life insurance). Even so, it wasn't to last. A strange case came up, where Izzy was assigned to the crime scene of a corpse that had been mysteriously drained of all fluids - blood, water, spinal, stomach acid, you name it, it wasn't there. Seawoll and Stephanopolous already suspected 'weird bollocks', but when Izzy arrived at the scene she was overcome with the strangest sensation - industrial waste, the smell of rotting sewage, visions of pig carcasses, and an overwhelming sense of regret - and just like that, she was seconded to the Special Assessment Unit, aka The Folly.

It was a shock to the system to learn that magic was real, and more so when they discovered alongside DC Peter Grant that the culprit was some type of mutated vampire dwelling under an old slaughterhouse in Rotherhithe that had since been converted into fancy apartments. When the case was closed, Izzy was eager to learn more, and with the dawning of the Folly Expansion document she was one of the first to put her name forward for transfer to the SAU. Seawoll wasn't too happy, but he could see she had her heart set on joining the Folly, and gave his grudging acceptance, sad to see one of his brightest young officers leaving his own ranks.

Since then, Izzy has been studying the basics of Newtonian magic under DCI Nightingale (taking on part of his signare, his tick-tock precision, as her own), whilst working to serve the citizens of London through her new role as both a practitioner and officer of the Folly.

Now, Izzy is living alone in a fairly cheap studio flat at Argyle Court, located on Seven Sisters Road just down from Finsbury Park. She is currently single (though not for lack of trying, the aforementioned murderess being her latest attempt at dating) but does share the flat with a two year old black and white cat named Freya - one of a litter of kittens born to her parents' own cat, Maisie. She is still close to her older brother, Anthony (aged 28) despite his run-ins with the law, while he lives somewhere in Camden, and her parents Anna (aged 54) and Michael (aged 56), who still live in Croydon in the house she grew up in. She enjoys going back to their place for Christmas, but most of her social life is in Finsbury Park - nights out at Rowan's Tenpin Bowl, rock climbing at The Castle Centre, and jogging in Finsbury Park itself. She has a close knit circle of friends, mostly young people from her current neighborhood and old friends from school who didn't go off to university.

Updates since Case File 1:

Izzy spent some formative months at the Folly, learning how to use magic and even mastering her first basic spell, as well as getting involved in a few minor cases under the supervision of DC Grant and DCI Nightingale. She was paired with fellow DC Leo Dansby, who had been recruited to the Folly from the force in Cambridge. Soon enough, they were sent on their first proper "weird bollocks" case without direct supervision - investigating a bookstore in Theatreland that may or may not have been haunted. In doing so, Izzy and Leo would be paired with new 'Folly-adjacent' colleagues, or civilian consultants - pathologist Jordan Schneider, private eye Skipper (Raymond Pearson, though he never told them his actual name...), and the waif and stray, Destiny Orivo, aka Des, who could apparently see ghosts, Haley Joel Osment-style.

The case seemed to go smoothly enough, and they discovered that the 'ghost' was in fact a brand new Genius Loci, similar to the river goddesses, created from the mix of children's energy in the bookstore and the lingering emotions of an old cock fighting ring once located on the site. This strange invisible chicken/toddler hybrid entity simply wanted someone to read books to it, or else it would throw a tantrum. Newly christened Errol by the pop culture spouting team, the entity was calmed, and a plan put in place to keep it happy in the future.

Oh, and Izzy managed to bag herself a date with Alice, the cousin of her best friend, for the next day! She worried about being too tired to turn up, given she'd spent the previous night ghost hunting and cleaning up books until the wee hours, but a nap when home and a lot of coffee beforehand were enough to keep her sane. The date seemed to go well, and Izzy looked forward to seeing a lot more of Alice in the near future...

Updates since Case File 2:

A few months after their first case, the Folly Irregulars (as Izzy liked to think of them) along with Izzy herself and her colleague Leo, were sent to deepest darkest Herefordshire (well, a small village just outside Hereford, at least) in the autumn to pay back a favour for an old friend and colleague of DCI Nightingale's. Mike Butterfield, former detective and now aspiring skittles champion and retiree, wanted the team to look into a strange occurrence that was haunting his local pub's skittles team - why did they always seem to win at home, and lose when playing away? Though Izzy was skeptical at first of any supernatural involvement, the clear presence of vestigia on site was enough to prompt an investigation. Meanwhile, Izzy also kept an eye out for anywhere nice to stay for a weekend away with Alice, by now firmly both her girlfriend and resident cat-sitter.

As they dug into the history of the village of Nennington, and the Nennington Nutters skittles team, the group ended up uncovering the tragic deaths of one Lee Snelgrove (former skittles player for the team), and a local builder, as well as discovering the existence of a very strange urn with some rather horrific runes decorating the sides. The urn allegedly contained the ashes of Lee's old scoresheets and other skittles paraphernalia. Elsewhere, Leo was on the hunt (unsuccessfully) for a nice civil servant boyfriend at the local records office, and Skipper's eye was caught by a modern lady vicar with a taste for The Cure, much to the annoyance (as everything is) of Des.

Returning to the pub, the group ended up mostly ensnared by the magic of the missing urn, which turned out to have been hidden for years in a wall cavity behind the scoreboard - with the revenant of Lee Snelgrove giving a bit of supernatural aid (in other words, his ghost was a cheating bastard) to his old team. As Izzy secured the urn for safekeeping in the Folly and further research, Leo accidentally burned down the outbuilding where the skittles games took place, with a rather errant Fireball spell. Jordan gave his best medical aid, and the group managed to get back to London without further mishaps, handing over the urn to DCI Nightingale to allow further study by the Folly's resident archivist, Harold Postmartin.

Izzy returned home to Alice where they had a rather enjoyable late night reunion, the others all headed home to their respective abodes, and Nightingale got to watch the Harlequins get absolutely trounced by the Maori All Blacks (because of course they did, it's the All Blacks...) in the Autumn Internationals. Still, some questions remain. What did pub landlord Neil Sholto-Jones have to do with the urn? What were the strange runes decorating it, and what could they mean? And was Lee Snelgrove involved in the builder's death in some way, or was it simply an unhappy coincidence...?

[Philulhu]

Investigator Name: Destiny ‘Des’ Orivo

Age: 17

Occupation: Chancer

STR 60 (30)
CON 70 (35)
DEX 75 (37)
INT 65 (32)
POW 70 (35)

Luck: 63 69
Magic Points: 14
MOV: 8

Common Skills:

Athletics* 60 (30)
Drive 30 (15)
Navigate* 60 (30)
Observation* 60 (30)
Read Person* 60 (30)
Research 30 (15)
Sense Vestigia 30 40 (20)
Social 30 40 (20)
Stealth* 60 (30)

Combat Skills:

Fighting 30 (15)
Firearms 30 (15)

Expert Skills:

Sleight of Hand* 60 (30)

*boosted skills.

Advantages:

Fast reactions (Des has to keep her wits about her on the streets)
The Knowledge (She has roamed far and wide, keeping herself busy, out of trouble and safe).

Affluence rating: zero.

Development points: 3

Background

“Man, wat happen der?” Des looked around but no one was watching her. She slipped over to the wall and touched it experimentally. It was solid. She’d been seeing ghosts since she was three - ‘shades’ her Mama called them - but that weren’t no shade. It was a living, breathing man, as real as her, and he had just walked through a brick wall!

Her lip curled as she smelled Old Spice and overcooked vegetables. Now where had she smelled that before?

What did ‘family’ mean as a child? Her mother left when she was young and Des was brought up by her paternal grandmother (Mama) with occasional visits from her father (Desmond (Des) Powell) and her aunt (Precious Orivo). Her father has twin girls from another relationship but they are younger than her and she doesn’t spend a lot of time with them.

What does it mean now? Mama is in a local authority studio flat in Kentish Town. It’s just about big enough to swing a cat and staying visitors aren’t encouraged (not that there’s room).

What did ‘home’ mean as a child? Her Mama’s two bedroom Council flat near Finchley Road. It’s all she ever really knew, remembering very little of the time before then.

What does it mean now? Mama moved into a studio flat when her benefits stopped covering the rent. Des wasn’t allowed to take over the rented flat and although the Council found her somewhere to stay, drug-taking and violence there was rife and she’s been alternately sofa-surfing or living on the streets for the past three months.

Where did you live as a child? Her Mama’s flat near Finchley Road.

Where do you live now?Alternatively sofa surfing or on the streets.

What culture were you brought up in? A typical, matriarchal West Indian culture.

How does it (or gender, sexuality etc.) affect you now? Although she never had any serious run-ins with the Police, she has a distrust of the Police brought about by decades of over-zealous policing of the West Indian community.

What was your first brush with the supernatural? Her Mama told her she had a ‘gift’ when she found out that Des had been seeing ghosts. Nothing concrete, more shadows that flickered around the edge of her vision, which became more acute particularly as she entered her teens.

How did you feel? It was something she grew up with so wasn’t scared, although she sometimes senses ghosts who are malign. She gives those ones a wide berth.

How did it affect your life? Des finds that the impact has been relatively minor, so far. It’s helped avoid some situations in which she might otherwise have found herself involved e.g. a bus crash were some people were injured or, more benignly, avoiding the traffic jams when the Arsenal play at home.

She also seems to have a knack for missing keys. She has no idea if the two are related.

What did you do about it? She was teased by friends when she mentioned it and when a teacher found out, she was referred to CAMHS for assessment. She tried to pass it off as a joke and hasn’t mentioned it to anyone else since then.

Friends and family – who do you trust and go to for advice? Her Mama, although her memory is becoming increasingly unreliable. Her Dad, when he’s not at work (refuse collector).

She doesn’t see much of her Aunt Precious but she does see Precious’ eldest son, Malcolm (her cousin). He can often be found in local pubs, playing pool with his mates. Malcolm doesn’t work but isn’t short of money either, which makes Des wonder what he does for cash… Precious’ long-term boyfriend, Marland, runs a semi-legal shebeen and he’s offered Des work in the past but she’s wary of the kind of people who drink there.

Des has a number of casual contacts among the people who live on the streets, particularly the girls, who learn quickly how dangerous it can be and to look out for each other.

Update: After the events (‘dat weird shit!’) at Stonewaters, Des has settled into life at the Folly. Regular meals and somewhere safe to bed down at night has made the world of difference to her and she’s a bit more relaxed and less guarded. Her relations with the rest of the team have improved - she wouldn’t exactly call them friends but she tolerates them better now.

[Snapper]

Investigator Name: Raymond "Skipper" Pearson

STR 70 (35)
CON 55 (27)
DEX 60 (30)
INT 40 (20)
POW 55 (27)

Luck = 67
Magic Points: 11

Occupation: Private Investigator

MOV: 8
Age: 35

Advantage:
Damage Bonus
Fast Reactions

Common Skills
Athletics 30
Drive 30
Navigate 30
Observation 60
Read Person 30
Research 70*
Sense Vestigia 30
Social 30
Stealth 60

Expert
Art/Craft (Photography) 60
Computer Use 60
Law 60*

Combat Skills
Fighting 70
Firearms 30

*required

Damage Condition:

Affluence Rating: Average

Equipment: notebook, pens, camera, covert surveillance equipment
Backpack
Small mobile phone operated drone
Mobile phone
Pack of cigars
Zippo lighter
1990s model Nikon F3 film SLR camera (pre digital, pre micro-chip)
Colour, B/W, B/W+IR film, assorted other accessories for camera
'Leatherman' multi-tool
"Rugged" tablet computer
Chunky old, black-rimmed, NHS-issue glasses

Backstory:
Raymond "Skipper" Pearson is the product of a large and very broken home, or more accurately several broken tenement block units, in London's East End. Before they finally ODed, Skipper's parents produced seven or eight siblings or half siblings. Skipper's childhood was your basic textbook example of urban disaster.

Having somehow survived to the end of school, Skipper ran afoul of local gang rivalry and suddenly joining the Royal Navy seemed a wise choice. The RN was a better training ground for him (better paid, better food, more brutal) and ultimately he became quite adept with surveillance and recon technology.

Eight years in, Skipper was manning the scanning equipment in the back of an RN Sea King helicopter when it was shot down in the Middle East. Skipper survived but the rest of the crew were killed. To his horror, the dead crew "woke up" and chatted with him while he waited for rescue. Something about a nearby temple having an effect, they said.

A very creeped out and rather injured Skipper was medical-ed out and returned to London. His Navy days have left Skipper with the nickname, a collection of current and ex-Navy friends, a few tattoos, some savings and some compo pay.

Skipper's phone hacking skills were quite in demands with several dodgy journo's but subsequent parliamentary inquiries ended that career. Nonetheless, Skipper discovered private investigation was not the worst sort of job. Navy money paid for the retraining. Now fully licensed, Skipper spends his days photographing spouses behaving badly or tracking down missing persons.

In his free time, he's taken up Brazilian jujitsu to keep the kilos at bay.

Description:
A tall-ish, solid looking bloke. Few visible tattoos, nothing scary. Every item of clothing on his body looks like a decent quality second hand buy from one of the city's wandering laneway markets. Shades of dark blues and dark browns. Acceptable wear in an old corner pub or a City gourmet gin bar. Frequently has a backpack over his shoulder.

[Mr. Handy]

Dr. Jordan Schneider
Occupation: Doctor
Age: 38

STR: 70/35
CON: 70/35
DEX: 40/20
INT: 70/35
POW: 30/15
MOV: 8
Luck: 60 (-1) 59 (-20) 39

Advantages: Damage Bonus, Natural Toughness
Damage Bonus: +1

Common Skills:
Athletics: 30/15
Drive: 30/15
Navigate: 30/15
Observation: 70/35* (1 Development Point spent)
Read Person: 60/30*
Research: 60/30*
Sense Vestigia: 30/15
Social: 70/35* (1 Development Point spent)
Stealth: 30/15

Expert Skills:
Language (English): 70/35
Medicine: 70/30* (1 Development Point spent)
Science (Biology): 60/30*
Science (Chemistry): 30/15
Science (Forensics): 30/15

Combat Skills:
Fighting: 50/25 (2 Development Points spent)
Firearms: 30/15

Backstory:
Jordan Schneider is tall, strong, and tough, but he also has a brilliant mind that most people don't see at first glance. He always strives for honesty, and his compassion for his fellow human beings led him to become a doctor. He studied hard in school, and later at university and in medical school, but he also made time to have fun. He played rugby, where his large frame proved useful and his keen intellect came up with good tactics. As a black man in the UK, he only rarely encountered racism, unlike in his parents' and grandparents' days, but that changed when he met and fell in love with a white nurse named Sarah. He was surprised to encounter opposition from white and black people alike, but he followed his heart and ultimately married her. They now have two children, a 14-year-old son named Robert and a 6-year-old daughter named Caroline.

After completing his residency, Jordan took a job in the medical examiner's office, where he didn't have to worry about the possibility of making a mistake that killed a patient, as his patients were all dead before he ever saw them. That didn't stop one of them from getting up and walking out right before he was about to make his first incision. He had been too startled to react at the time, but he told what really happened in his report. There had been cases before where someone thought to be dead and sent to the morgue had actually still been alive, but as a doctor, Jordan was certain that this one had been dead. His report got someone's attention, because he was soon brought in as a consultant to what was known as the Folly.

Affluence:
Average

Equipment:
Folly Consultant's Card, mobile phone and spare batteries, high visibility jacket, and a doctor's bag containing photo ID, a prescription pad, safety alarm, alcohol wipes, PPE, alcohol gel, sharps bin, small torch (flashlight), specimen bottles, syringes, dressings and surgical tape, stethoscope, blood pressure monitor, thermometer, paracetamol (acetaminophen), ibuprofen, penicillin, adrenaline (epinephrine) auto-injectors, and asthma inhalers (among other things).