Setup - The Adventure Zone: Dust

Synopsis
Full transcript available here.

''Travis takes the wheel as we create our characters for our next mini-arc, The Adventure Zone: Dust! We're playing the supernatural RPG Urban Shadows this time around. Listen in to get a brief primer on the game, our characters, and the unincorporated, Wild West-inspired town of Dry River.''

Game and System

 * System: Powered by the Apocalypse
 * Game: Urban Shadows

Premise
From the GM himself:

" [in a deep, southern voice] Welcome to Dry River. Back before the drought, we used to call it Twin River. The town was settled on a big spit of land nestled between where the river split and then flowed back in itself. Of course, that was back when the river flowed. All that’s left now is the dry bed, just a ravine really.

North and south bridge used to be bustling with folks traveling west, who would stop and spend some time in our thriving little town. Now folks give Dry River a wide pass. They’ve heard stories. When the water flowed people came, business thrived, and the fleshes, the fangs, and furs all lived peaceful. Now every day gets a little worse. The fangs and the furs snarl at each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. The fleshes just keep their eyes low and hope to stay out of it all. The peace, if you can call it that, was barely holding.

Then tonight we found Jeremiah Blackwell dead in the street. Jeremiah was the eldest of Joseph Blackwell, Blackwell Senior is just about the most respected fang in town, not to mention the richest, thanks to the copper mine up north. All the other fangs seem to look to him when it comes to matters. As if his eldest dying suddenly weren’t trouble enough, it has every sign of an attack of one of the furs, Dylan Mathis.

Now nobody seems to have seen the murder, but Nick Winstead was leaving the Sterling late last night and found Dylan hunched over Blackwell’s body, Dylan’s clothes soaked through with blood. The three of you work for the Grayson Agency. Greyson agents are detectives, bodyguards, arbiters, enforcers, whatever the client needs. What they ain’t, is lawmen.

Abigail Mathis, Dylan’s mother and owner of the silver mine south of town had hired Graysons as arbiters but didn’t state in the telegram what it is you’d be handling. You had only just dropped your bags in your rooms above the Sterling when deputy Rosa showed up to bring you to Sherriff Connors. When Connors first brought Dylan in he wouldn’t shut up about his innocence. Now he’s keeping quiet. Wary. Abigail and Connors have agreed to bring y’all in on this to try to sort it out. It’s midnight now. At eight am the whole town is going to be awake. Once they find out what’s happening, all hell is going to break loose. You have eight hours. Good luck."

Augustus Parsons

 * Faction: Night
 * Archetype: The Spectre
 * Character:  Augustus is the ghost of a wealthy industrialist who used to own a cashew company and who died under mysterious circumstances, leaving behind his daughter, Anna Parsons. He currently seeks to regain control of his company from the current owner, Garrett Althiser, who he believes is running it incompetently.
 * Moves:
 * Manifest: Regular people can’t sense or interact with Augustus unless he manifests. He manifests by spending a few quiet moments concentrating and choosing 2:
 * He can be heard
 * He can be seen
 * He can touch and be touched by the physical world
 * Ghost Town: When Augustus hits the streets with ghosts, he takes +1 ongoing to dealing with them.
 * “Wall? What Wall?”: Augustus always has an opening to escape a situation. He can choose an additional option off the list to bring someone with him. On a miss, he attracts the attention of dangerous spirits and ghosts in the area.

Gandy Dancer

 * Faction: Power
 * Archetype: The Wizard
 * Character: Gandy is a wizard whose parents died a tragic but heroic death saving their fellow railroad workers. She was then adopted as a PR move by the head of the railroad company, Emil Moche. Due to the trauma stemming from her parents' death, Gandy now studies the arcane obsessively in order to learn how to beat death itself and become immortal by any means necessary.
 * Moves:
 * Channeling: When Gandy channels and collects her magics, she rolls with Spirit. On a 10+, she holds 3. On a 7-9, she holds 3 and chooses 1 from the list below. On a miss, she holds 1, but cannot channel again this scene.
 * Take -1 ongoing until you rest
 * Suffer 1-harm (ap)
 * Mark corruption
 * Sanctum Sanctorum: When Gandy goes to her sanctum, which in her case is an old-school paddy wagon, for a spell ingredient, relic, or tome, she must roll with Spirit. On a 10+, she's got just the thing. On a 7-9, she's got something close, but it’s flawed or lacking in some significant way. On a miss, she doesn’t have what she's looking for, but she knows someone who probably has it in stock.
 * Spells:
 * Tracking: Spend 1 hold to learn the location of someone. She must have a personal object that belongs to the target or recent leavings of their body (a lock of hair, fingernail clippings, their blood, etc.).
 * Elementalism: She conjures the elements to strike out at her enemies. She must spend 1 hold to unleash an attack with her magic as a weapon (3-harm close or 2-harm close area).
 * Shielding: She must spend 1 hold to provide armor+1 to herself or someone nearby, or spend 2 holds to provide armor+1 to everyone in a small area, possibly including herself. This armor lasts until the end of the scene. She can stack multiple uses of Shielding at once.

Errol Ryehouse

 * Faction: Night
 * Archetype: The Wolf
 * Character:  Errol is a former werewolf politician who, due to a botched attempt of reversing his lycanthropy, is now permanently stuck in a state between werewolf and human, leaving him an outcast from both the werewolf and human communities. Despite this, he is still very passionate about making the town of Dry River better and keeping his hometown safe.
 * Moves:
 * Comes with the Territory: If Errol is actively patrolling his territory at the start of the session, he must roll with Blood. On a 10+, his territory is secure and trouble is at a minimum; take +1 ongoing to hitting the streets in his territory. On a 7-9, one of his troubles surfaces, but things are mostly stable. On a miss, or if he isn’t attending to his territory, things go south and his troubles are fast and furious.
 * Bloodhound: When Errol hunts someone, he must roll with Blood. On a hit, he knows exactly where to find them and can follow their scent until he does. On a 10+, he takes +1 forward against them. On a miss, someone unpleasant finds him first.

People

 * Griffin McElroy
 * Travis McElroy
 * Justin McElroy
 * Clint McElroy