[DitV] Spring's Fork Branch

[dyjoots]

Here's my first try at a town.  I feel like I might have made it a bit complex, so I definitely want some tips or advice before I spring this on my players tomorrow.



Spring's Fork Branch

This is a relatively nice town situated on the shores of a small river that runs through the middle of Faithful territory, and splits just where the town ends (hence the name).  While the climate is normally dry in the desert, the area around Spring's Fork is humid and beautiful.

The Dogs are Sister Constance (trained by her father since age 7 to be a Dog, resents and resented by her mother) and Brother Hezekiah (a Mountain person who was adopted at a very young age by a Faithful family who found him alone).

Pride
1A:  Jedediah Carter, cousin to Constance on her mother's side, is a proud man.  As the town's dry goods store owner, he runs a strong, profitable business, and he is a spiritual leader to many of the people here.  His motto is "to be successful, one must present the image of success at all times."  And that's where the problem arises.  His obsession with these endeavors leaves little time for his wife, Emiline, and the time he does spend with her is focused on making sure his image to the town is a strong one.

1A:   Cornelius Torvalds, an unmarried friend of Jedediah, is the son of the town blacksmith, and he has always tried to be a good man in the town.  Recently, he has been making it a point to help where Jedediah needs it, mainly in the home.  He has become smitten with Emiline Carter, and longs after her.

Injustice
1B:  Emiline Carter is distraught.  A good, faithful woman, she does everything that should be expected of her, and due to the fact that Jedediah spends little time following his duties, she is forced to do more.  In doing a broad variety of chores, she has met one of the Mountain People, Jorge, who comes into town to trade with various merchants.

1B:  Cornelius' father, Ebenezer Torvalds, wants his son to court Phidelia Cooper, the girl who he had been planning on marrying until just recently, but because he is secretly smitten with Emiline, he is neglecting his duties as an unmarried man.

Sin
2A:  One day, a few weeks back, Emiline found herself alone with Jorge, and as one thing led to another, they made love.  Since then, they have been trying to hide their secret trysts from Jedediah, who is still so caught up in work and other duties to notice anything is wrong.  However, she is now pregnant with Jorge's baby... and she hasn't had relations with Jedediah in such a long time that he will soon figure things out.

2A:  Cornelius' inability to have Emiline is putting too much stress on him.  He knows that he cannot sleep with her or marry her, so he has begun to drown himself in booze and, when he gets the opportunity, "available" women who come through the town.

2A:  Ebenezer is so greatly saddened by the fact that his son will not court any women, that he has given up hope.  He no longer feels passion for worship, and he no longer is repulsed by sin.

2A:  Phidelia Cooper has realized that Cornelius is in love with Emiline, and she is planning on taking Emiline out of the equation.

2A:  Jorge has become convinced that if he were to kill Jedediah, that he could leave Spring's Fork with her and they would like "Happily Ever After."  He plans on using the recent attacks (see 2B) as a cove for Jedediah's death.

Demonic Attacks
2B:  The demons are causing Jedediah's business to boom, but despite that fact, he cannot make ends meet.  His home is falling apart, and he is just beginning to notice the problems.

2B:  There have been minor intrusions from the Mountain People, who normally aren't warlike in this area.  These are raising questions about Jorge's role in the town, including a decent-sized group of townspeople who are putting the blame directly on his head.

2B:  Ebenezer's tools are falling to pieces, and the things that he creates are no longer of the same quality.  The weapons that he became famous for are of almost no use against the recent attacks.

2C: The demons want the sins to become habitual.

2D:  Skip to the end!


6A: The People

Jedediah Carter – He wants his business to run smoothly again, and wishes he could spend more time being a father and a husband.
Emiline Carter – She wants the Dogs to give her absolution for her affair, and to find a way for her husband to come back to work.  She wants them to find a way for her to deal with her pregnancy, as well.
Cornelius Torvalds – He wants the Dogs to nullify Jedediah's collapsing marriage, so that he has a chance with Emiline.
Ebenezer Torvalds – He wants the Dogs to set his son straight about his responsibilities, and help Cornelius and Phidelia agree to marriage.
Jorge – As a non-Faithfull person, he wants the Dogs to leave town, and not do anything with regards to his relationship with Emiline.
Phidelia Cooper – She wants the Dogs to convince Cornelius to court her again, but if they cannot, she wants them to deal with his "puppy love" for Emiline.

6B: The Demons

-   They want Ebenezer to become so depressed that he becomes useless as a leader to the town.
-   They want the dogs out of the picture, and they will send the possessed Mountain People who have been making the recent attacks after them
-   They want these families, strong as they are, to fall apart and lead to a domino effect.
-   They want to raze the town to the ground with their Mountain People soldiers.

6C: If the Dogs never came

Phidelia's dislike of Emiline would lead to murder, just as Jorge killed Jedediah.  This would cause Cornelius to hate Phidelia, destroying their budding relationship permanently, and sending Ebenezer into a spiral of depression over his faithless son.  The town, lacking a dry goods store and a blacksmith, would be destroyed by the Mountain People who have been possessed.

[dyjoots]

We played through it today, and it went really well.  The players got knee deep in the shit, and they were worried for a while how they would pull things together.  It really hit the fan when Jorge was trying to kill Jedediah, and Brother Hezekiah stepped in to defend him.  Br. Hezekiah is alright with words, but when it comes to a straight-out fight, he's got little skill.  So Jorge escalated to fighting and Hezekiah got put into a sleeper hold that ended it it right there with some pretty bad fallout on the player's side.

Anyway, it went really well, despite the fact that I messed up some characterizations and pulled one all too important punch.  The players had to make some tough decisions, and in the end things got put back together, albeit not as sturdy as before.