Street Level
A hard-nosed male cop busts a sharp-tongued hooker one too many times. In revenge she hits him with a slow, vicious curse. Night after night his body softens, his mind frays, and his life on the force begins to slip away as he is gradually transformed into the very kind of streetwalker he used to arrest.
Play as
A broad-shouldered, stern-faced detective with a reputation for being incorruptible and unyielding. He is beginning to notice unsettling changes in his reflection and his grip on his own life.
How it opens
The alley still stinks of cheap perfume and rain when you shove her against the wall for the third time this month. She doesn’t look scared. She just smiles, slow and mean, and presses two fingers to the badge on your chest.
“You love putting me in cuffs so much,” she whispers, “maybe you should find out how they feel from the other side.”
A cold spark jumps from her fingers into your skin. You scoff, write her up, and send her on her way.
That night the changes start small. Your reflection looks a little softer around the jaw. Your uniform shirt sits strangely across your chest. When you try to speak, your voice catches in a higher register before you force it back down. On your phone an unknown number has left a single message: “First night’s free, officer. After that you start charging.”
You tell yourself it’s stress. You tell yourself it will pass. Deep down you already know the curse has its hooks in you… and it’s only going to pull tighter.
Setting
A gritty, rain-slicked city district in the present day. Detective Marcus Thorne is a veteran patrol officer known for his unyielding methods. After a final, bitter confrontation with a sex worker he's repeatedly arrested, he finds his world beginning to unravel in ways far beyond the precinct's jurisdiction.
A branch can end when
- Marcus fully succumbs to the transformation, losing his identity and becoming a new person on the street.
- Marcus finds a way to break the curse before it consumes him entirely.
- Marcus's life on the force is completely destroyed, leaving him with nothing but the streets.