“Howard
Firstly, I want to say what a lot of people are going to be saying to you these next few days: Congrats on joining our little circle. Most of the boys are ecstatic to have you. I know Dorian can be a bit of a hardass, but considering he helped storm Normandy, we give it a pass. That said, if you made it past his tests, you can’t be all that bad.
Speaking of service records, your time in Korea gives you a lot of credit in my book. Great service record generally makes for a good background for this line of work. Lots of us come from the military for a reason.
Regardless, I just wanted to send you with some written information about what you’ll need to know before your first patrol Friday night. You’ll be going with Anderson and Harcourt, they know their stuff.
Firstly, to get this out of the way: Yes, the old clock tower is haunted. Yes, the central street bank is run by wizards. Yes, there’s a vampire in the mayor’s office. No, we’re not dealing with them right now. Each time has gone pretty poorly.
You see, in this business, there’s not a lot of action. You might hear a lot of war stories, dramatic battles with werewolves or fae monsters. But the truth is, those big fights are usually only successful because of two things: Time, and luck. No one in our position who throws themselves into the deep end lasts very long without one or both.
But our patrols generally aren’t dramatic fights. Your primary goal is going to be either:
- Eliminating minor threats you encounter. What constitutes a minor threat is up to you, generally, but listen to your patrolmates. Good rule of thumb is that if it looks like one bullet will bring it down, and it acts like one bullet will bring it down, you engage.
- Gather information about major threats you encounter. If it doesn’t look like one bullet does the trick, it’s a major threat.
The city is infested with minor threats. We aren’t sure where shit like this comes from, but it seems every alleyway has a trash creature or specter…or something else. Not harmful by themselves, but before we started this little outfit, they’d occasionally group up and kill pets…or kids. We’re trying to do some research, but stuff like this is hard to come by.
For the big stuff? We’ve got a planning committee which takes information from patrols and works through it. For example, currently, we’ve got a plan to take out a chimera in the woods. Trying to get some specialty weapons made and shipped in for it, but once it’s ready, we’ll try to get a team together. And of course we’re trying to get rid of that vampire, but he’s a slippery fuck.
So most of what your job will be patrolling, information gathering, and staying in shape. Seems simple, I know, but it’s the best way to stay vigilant to this sort of thing. Because weird freakish beasts aren’t our only competition.
If you ever encounter anyone who carries around an engraved silver token, either kill them if you think you can get away with it, or leave. Similarly, if anyone flashes a badge and wants to ask some questions about ‘strange occurrences’ , claim you’ve seen nothing and move on. We’ve got competition in our field, and they don’t like collaborating. In fact, they’d sooner shoot us for being a hazard then deal with our common enemy. So don’t trust Feds, and don’t trust any other organizations like us.
That said, we don’t only ask for labor from you. There’s some decent benefits to come with joining up, most of which you just get right away. We’ve got one of the downtown row houses bought out as a headquarters. It’s actually bigger than it looks, a huge basement. The rooms there are somewhat warded, lines of salt and similar keep them safe. If you ever think you’re being followed, just head there. You can stay there up to a week at a time, no questions asked. In addition, if you ever need a particular type of weapon, we’ve got a decent armory. Some silver, some cold iron, even a fancy gold spear. Plus, a few knick knacks that can do some magic, nothing big, though. We keep anything stronger locked up if we can’t destroy it. Of course, this is America, we’ve got enough guns to arm a militia if that’s what you need. We really don’t want this line of work to be cost prohibitive, that defeats the entire point. Swing by the place sometime, and I’ll cook you a killer tetrazzini.
I think you’re going to be a good fit here, if what I’ve said so far hasn’t made you want to turn tail and run. This city is infested, and only through people like you can we start to stem the tide. Good luck on your first patrol, really. It’ll be a good indicator of how well you’ll do going forward. But again, if your service record is anything to go by, I think you’ll do great. If you ever need anything, either swing by headquarters or send a letter like this one. We’ve got someone in the post office that’s in the know. I’m always happy to chat about findings, or anything really. I’m lucky enough to not need a day job like most.
Best of luck, and happy hunting,
-Lincoln Marshal
P.S-Burn this letter when you’re done if you don’t have a fed proof place to keep it. Unfortunately, we can’t really afford sentimentality.“
Kindling And Miscellany 