Rosebriar: Persimmon Hill

Next we look in on the well-to-do of Rosebriar, my setting for You Can't Go Home Again. Persimmon Hill has the money to resist Rosebriar's decay. Instead it finds itself increasingly isolated from the rest of town, distant and out of touch. Like the Others.

Rosebriar: Persimmon Hill

I’m sorry staff must enter through the back.

Description

Sitting atop one of the gentler hills surrounding Rosebriar, Persimmon Hill looks down on the rest of the town in more ways than one. Here the most well off of the community live in massive homes and palatial yards. Private security and wrought iron gates keep those who don't belong out.

A much younger part of Rosebriar, many of the McMansions here were constructed in the boom of late 90s and early 2000s. The residents care more for boasting about square footage than the functionality of the home. Care for these architectural monstrosities falls to the invisible housekeepers and landscape contractors. Meanwhile their owners focus on getting ahead and staying on top of mounting bills, victims of their own success.

A parallel with Arcadia seems clear with powerful individuals unable to sympathize with the help, foisting their troubles on others while they focus on their own betterment. But these are still people. If distance and lifestyle have made them less able to empathize with the poorer parts of Rosebriar, they are not blind to its troubles. Behind the manicured hedges and bay windows, some locals find their finances in equal disarray, owing more than their home is worth, trapped and unable to escape. Homes can linger on the market here for years, bleeding their owners dry. Those iron gates are more often made of simple steel.

Local Hedge

The trails of the Hedge that border Persimmon Hill abound in Goblin Fruits. Amid the lush foliage and numerous thorns, a traveler might think they found a sort of paradise. They soon discover other threats lurk in the woods.

Briar wolves roam thickly here as do bands of Hobs bent on robbing passersby. Rumors claim that the thieves maintain a secret lair somewhere nearby where they heap their ill-gotten loot. This hoard is said to be augmented by the stolen dreams that some of the Hobs mine from the minds of the residents of Rosebriar.

Those foraging within the local Hedge gain a +2 bonus to Survival rolls but also suffer a significant chance of encountering something hostile.

Damnation City Stats:

Physical: Access -3, Safety 3
Mental: Information 1, Awareness 1
Social: Prestige 4, Stability 3

The residents of Persimmon Hill like safety and stability and pay heavily for it. Gated communities abound and private security is available 24/7. High fences separate yards while picturesque winding roads limit any high-speed traffic. People here tend to be well-informed and keep an eye on the neighbors if only to see where they themselves stand.With the region's wealth comes power and influence, plus a final refuge of the good old days.

Vice: Aloofness. Persimmon Hill stands apart from the rest of Rosebriar, its manicured lawns and elegant homes behind sturdy gates. Though well-connected to those in power, its residents share few ties with the rest of the community. They fail to understand their needs and desires, callous not out cruelty but simple ignorance.
Virtue: Influence. The people of this neighborhood possess a wealth, power, and raw determination that allow them to do great and lasting things. When they put their effort into changing and improving the lives of those around them, they can have a profound effect.

Site: Thornton Private(er) School

Type: Academic
Background: Founded in 1995 with a generous donation by Dr. Thornton, founder of Thornton Industries, is dedicated to producing the next generation of leaders for Rosebriar. Built in the style of the Ivy League schools many of its students (and their parents) aspire to, its initial cohorts are just now taking over the reigns of power within town and local government. This may be disastrous.

A motley of privateer's run this school behind the scenes, abducting mortal children to order for the True Fae. One of their lieutenants, the Wicker Woman, learned the art of fetch making from her Keeper and hides any abductions with a custom-made fetch. The motley remains hidden by taking particular interest in the parents of these children. Disobedient offspring are replaced with compliant replicas, the weak with more aggressive replacements, the stupid with brainier versions. Thus even if the parents suspect something is off, they often choose to ignore the signs.

The 'students' of Thornton Private School have been quite successful and generous donations have given the motley significant mundane wealth. Only a fraction of the students are truly creations of this motley but enough now control the levers of power to make any assault on the school extremely hazardous.

Story Seeds:

The Abbey: this private society operates out of the local golf club, organizing monthly events after hours. Entry is by invitation only, though it claims not to discriminate based on race or sex. What the members do have in common is that they are all rich and they all enjoy the same extreme sport. Specifically, they hunt monsters. A branch of the Ashwood Abbey (from Hunter: the Vigil) they arrange trips to track down, chase, and potentially kill supernatural creatures every month on the night of the new moon. Recently they've noticed an uptick in fairy tale creatures in the area. They've decided that Changelings and their ilk need to be culled to prevent overpopulation. It's open season on the fae.

Old Blood Money: the Teesdales of Rosebriar descend from a line of witches, architects, and artists. Cursed with visions of the world as it truly is, their creations continue to affect Rosebriar to this day. But why? Did James Teesdale make a pact with the devil like his neighbors claimed? If so, which devil? A pledge with a powerful Fae? A blood pact with an ancient monster? A ritual sealed in Supernal magics? Whatever it was it left them disposed to strange insights. The Unseen Sense Merit crops up frequently in the bloodline and many are lucid dreamers, able to fend off those who would control their nightmares. Others have stranger stronger powers.

Free Title: the Changelings who haunt Persimmon Hill possess ambitions as large as anyone's. Rumors circulate that the ultimate prize is available: the title of a True Fae. Minions hunt for information on the nameless Gentry, slain within the town limits. Who was he or she? Where did they die? A ritual must be found to bind the Title, items gathered with a connection the former owner, and a sample of the blood stained earth where it fell. The hunt is on.

NPCs:

• The Imposter: some changelings can never return to their old lives since their memories were stolen with their humanity. One of these sad creatures, a Beast named Jane Doe, has decided to take somebody else's past. Using the Mirror and Dream Contracts, she has researched and impersonated the missing daughter of one of the richest families in Rosebriar. By manipulating the dreams of her "parents" she will soon be the main heir to the family's fortune. Then she can buy the life she wants. But is the real daughter lost or Lost? Some of the heiress' true memories recently appeared at the Goblin Market.
• Eric Buffington seems like a normal guy. A highly successful Realtor, he works hard to get good deals for his clients. He coaches a little league team. He helps out at a homeless shelter once a month. But beneath his 5,000 square foot home (as well as two other properties he keep elsewhere in Rosebriar), he has imprisoned several Changelings. Beautiful muses, magical artisans, a man who can spin gold, and other fae labor under this mortal 'keeper'. A member of the Abbey, he pays other members to collect such prizes for him. Bound in cold iron chains, his prisoners do what he asks or suffer painful torments.

Hedge, The Would-Be Lord of Thorns

Concept: A Shattered Monster

Seeming & Kith: Darkling (None)

Background: The Changeling called Hedge may soon be a cautionary tale among the fae.

Hedge has almost forgotten what he originally wanted. Decades of struggle in Arcadia eroded his memory. He struggled to rescue his daughter, labored under her Keeper, and was ultimately cast out by his tormentor. He made dark plans and terrible choices in his quest to get her back. He broke pledges. He killed people. He didn't care.

Then he found a way to have a happy ending. He made a pact with a fallen True Fae. He rewrote time. She returned to a mortal life. They both failed to get what they wanted.

The person he once was, Pastor Benjamin Albright was never abducted. He continues to live a normal happy life with his daughter Lucy. They were protected from the True Fae. They got a happy ending.

But Benjamin wasn't Hedge. Hedge remained in this new world, trapped outside of his old life by the very forces he used to fix it. Thrust back to the time when he was first taken, he watched this other life play out. It almost broke him completely. He clung to a final hope. If he could return to the time of the deal, maybe he could do it again. Do it better.

It didn't work out.

Now with no way home, he has lost what little tethered him to this world. Every day he grows more distant from humanity and closer to the Gentry. He took over a villa in Persimmon Hill, trapped the owners in a dream of happy endings, and now plots his return to the only place he can consider home.

Arcadia.

Description: To mortal eyes, Hedge (or Mr. Henry Edge to mortals) appears ancient. Wild white hair covers his liver-spotted head. His thin skin clings tight to his bones yet betrays no quiver or other weakness of age. His clothing seems oddly bulky, concealing a bullet proof vest he wears since an encounter with a cold iron bullet.

Behind the Mask, Hedge's skin has bleached white, thick wrinkles turning his face into a permanent scowl. White hair sticks up on spikes upon his head, leaving his pointed ears exposed. The darkness pulls in around him as he grows more agitated and any shadows nearby seem to move of their own accord. In the Hedge, his presence causes the thorns to press in and vines to wriggle along the ground and around stationary objects.

Storyteller Notes: Hedge talks quickly and forcefully. His tone remains intense and focused on whatever task he is engaged in. He never relaxes and resists distractions. Those who cross him, those he don't trust, are dealt with lethal force. In his own mind, he has been unjustly tormented by the world, the True Fae, and even his supposed friends and allies for decades. He is always the wronged party and the one in the right.

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 5, Wits 3, Resolve 4
Physical Attributes: Strength 1, Dexterity 5, Stamina 2
Social Attributes: Presence 3, Manipulation 3, Composure 1

Mental Skills: Academics 3, Crafts 2, Investigation 2, Occult (artifacts) 4, Politics 2
Physical Skills: Athletics 3, Brawl (with fire) 3, Larceny 2, Stealth (darkness) 5, Survival (hedge) 4
Social Skills: Animal Ken 3, Empathy 2, Expression 2, Intimidate (threats) 3, Persuasion 2, Streetwise (homeless) 3, Subterfuge 2

Merits: Contacts (Dream miners, Goblin Markets) 2, Danger Sense, Fleet of Foot 2, Harvest (Hedge) 4, Resources 3 (via pledges), Safe Place 3 (via pledges), Weapon Finesse (fire)

Willpower: 5
Virtue: Hope. Without this Hedge would be lost. He believes he can get his happy ending. One way or another.
Vice: Passion. Hedge possesses a powerful drive that ignores all consequences. He has done the impossible in pursuit of his goals and paid terrible prices. And he would do it again.

Initiative: 5   Defense: 6 (Armor 1/3)
Speed: 12      Health: 7

Clarity: 2 (or Stress Meters (Hardened/Failed): Helplessness 2/3, Isolation 6/2, Self 5/2, Unnatural 9/0, Violence 5/0)

Wyrd: 7
Contracts: Fang and Talon (Crows) 3, Darkness 5, Dream 4, Elemental (Fire) 4, Fleeting Autumn 1, Hearth 3, Vainglory 1

Gear: Kevlar vest