Twilight of the Dark Master
This plot "seed" is based on the Japanese anime of the same name:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=89If you haven't seen the anime you might not want to. It has extremely graphic violence (people getting their limbs ripped off and then SHOWING the limb in the demon's mouth, etc), extremely naked chicks, etc. But the plot itself was kinda cool, so I figured I'd make a V&V ripoff.
**SPOILER ALERT**
Introduction
In 1980 on a clear (winter, spring, summer, fall)'s night, between 2:30 - 3:00 a.m., in (insert city name here) several reports were called in to the police department of gunfire/explosions. Police responding to the scene witnessed a white haired metahuman who was flying and using flame powers against some sort of ogre/demon creature approx 7 - 9 feet tall. The ogre had super strength and basically hurled cars, etc at the metahuman. The metahuman took no particular care to avoid property damage or harm to anyone who happened to be nearby. The police were forced to withdraw from the senseless carnage and summoned the local hero group. The (insert ancient hero group name here) arrived on the scene in time to witness a huge explosion equivalent to a small nuke. Quickly responding to the disaster, the hero group saved as many people as they could. Unfortunately there were still dozens of casualties and hundreds of injuries.
Investigation showed that the damage from the explosion was caused by eldritch (magical) energy in the form of fire. Residual eldritch radiation was still present. It was, however, determined that the radiation was not harmful in itself and neither innately good nor evil. It was also determined that the radiation would quickly fade. Over the course of the next few weeks, scanning revealed that the magical residue did indeed fade and disappear.
The fate of the metahuman and ogre was never clearly determined. It was assumed that they both perished in the blast.
Life went on. Everything seemed to get more or less back to normal except that the local underworld became much more violent. The area where the explosion occurred became seedier and crime increased every year. Gang violence increased. Investigations could not find a connection of the increased crime to the mysterious battle that occurred on that fateful night.
GM's introduction and background
This adventure takes place in a large metropolitan city that has an organized criminal element (local Mafia/Yakuza/etc). If your adventure party is a bunch of country bumpkins then arrangements should be made for them to be the lead investigators in a nearby large city. You could say that the hero group in that city is currently out of town/off planet/in another dimension and the players were asked to stand in temporarily. You could then simply have the police get in touch with the players unless Doctor Doom decides that their beloved Mayberry is the key to world domination.
If your players are big city folk, then this adventure would work fine as a part of their normal everyday grind. You should, however, be prepared for situations where the players ask silly questions like "My player was ON the city's police force in 1980! How come he's never heard of this?!" or "Our team was here in 1980, but we never did that!", etc. It could be justified a number of ways; like saying "That was the time your team were on the Island of Dr. Apocalypse and a nearby team was working here temporarily", etc. A little preparation will ensure that this adventure fits seemlessly into your regular campaign.
The white haired metahuman is actually an angel named Tsunami (with FLAME powers; go figure). He's part of a group of angels called the Watchers (or whatever less-cliche'd name you prefer) who were assigned to protect humans from demons. These angels are not overly concerned with protecting individuals as much as the human race as a whole. This is why they're generally careless in battle. These angels have been protecting the earth for thousands of years.
Anyway, as it turns out neither Tsunami nor the demon were killed in the blast. Tsunami used his Gotterdamerung spell in a desperate attempt to destroy the demon. Unfortunately, he failed. But since he was never completely sure he became a local private investigator in an attempt to determine if the demon survived and to kill him once and for all.
The demon was, of course, badly injured in the fight. He assumed a human form and escaped in the aftermath. He has since taken up residence in the local criminal organization and has, over the years, achieved a very high level of rank. He's also working with a local pharmaceutical company to develop a drug that will convert a human victim into a demon. He will use all of the new demon's blood to regain his own demonic form and become even more powerful than before. The victim, of course, cannot be just anyone. The criteria for the victim can be determined by the GM, but the general idea is that the victim should be incorruptably good and be an excellent specimen of humanity. For this adventure I'll use Mr. Local Police Hero as the victim.
It's suggested that Tsunami escape at the end of this adventure because he is, after all, an angel.
Present day
As the players are watching tv late at night a newscaster interupts with a special news bulletin. A local (minor) celebrity was attacked in her home by an unknown assailant. Miss Minor Celebrity was getting ready to wed Mr. Local Police Hero in a few weeks. Miss Celebrity was injured very badly and was taken to the (local hospital name). Police are currently at the scene investigating. Mr. Local Police Hero is currently unavailable for comment. More updates will follow shortly.
When the players arrive at Miss Celebrity's house they'll find the living room area ransacked by something big with claws. Police were summoned when neighbors reported a domestic disturbance and discovered Miss Celebrity on the floor in the living room. Miss Celebrity sustained nearly fatal wounds and was taken to the hospital.
If the players choose not to investigate the scene of the crime, they should be defeated by a gang of elderly bank robbers and stripped naked on national tv for their negligence.
GM's notes
The GM can determine the precise circumstances himself, but the run down is this: Mr. Local Police Hero arrived home in the late evening and then transformed into Mr. Bad and Ugly. Miss Minor Celebrity witnessed the transformation and was attacked. Mr. Bad and Ugly didn't finish her off (he probably still vaguely remembered his love for her) and left. He made his way to a local park or whatever suits the GM and was captured by the highly trained thugs working for the pharmaceutical company. The players should not be allowed to capture the beast nor determine the precise details of where he disappeared to. If the players do manage to capture Mr. Bad and Ugly, then the pharmaceutical company should become involved in the investigation. Their goals are: 1) prevent the discovery of the pharmaceutical company's involvement, 2) obtain ALL of the creature's blood (at the expense of his life). If the players discover that Mr. Bad and Ugly was being taken to the pharmaceutical company then it will likely blow the company's cover wide open. The company will of course claim that they happened upon the beast by coincident and merely wanted to capture the beast for study. Of course they had every intention of cooperating with authorities.
If Mr. Bad and Ugly is successfully and secretly captured by the pharmaceutical company, then it's unlikely he will escape (GM's option). The pharamceutical company will feed him human bodies. These bodies can be obtained a number of ways. One idea is a local gang war (captured on security cameras). Witnesses and cameras will show that approximately 12 casualties were incurred, but when police arrive only 7 bodies were recovered and the cameras disabled. Disappearing people/bodies should occur under mysterious circumstances and generally leave very little evidence. However, not that many bodies will be necessary to feed Mr. Ugly until his blood is ready for extraction, so players need to move fast before the demon regains his power.
The pharmaceutical company employs a couple of demons who happen to be brother and sister (and lovers-yech!). They can fly and utilize air-control powers that look pretty cool in the anime. In addition, the company employees the usual criminal thugs. These thugs are given access to a drug that turns a human into an ogre (not demon) temporarily. The drug is eventually fatal if taken repeatedly. If any blood samples of Mr. Bad and Ugly and the ogre thugs are obtained and studied, then the drug found in Mr. Ugly's system will be found to be similar to the drug used by the thugs. Obviously, Mr. Bad and Ugly will not consent to a blood sample being taken, nor will the ogre thugs. So getting these two samples side by side to compare will be a bit difficult. And, of course, if the pharmaceutical company is involved in the investigation this information will be even harder to determine ("What drug?! Their blood contains no drugs!").
Meanwhile, Miss Minor Celebrity is in the hospital. If players interview her, she probably can't give too many details except that her fiance is a lot meaner and uglier. Someone involved in the investigation should point out to the heroes that Mr. Bad and Ugly strongly resembles the ogre in the 1980 battle. This could be an officer or doctor who's the son/daughter of a witness to the 1980 incident. Players should probably realize that Mr. Local Police Hero couldn't be the same ogre because he wasn't born yet, or was much too young, etc and that he's never been unusual in any way before.