Episode: 1.01
Air date: March 7, 2003
Cast Members: Desi Stark, Doug, and JD 

This was our first session of BtVS RPG, so about half of the time was spent making up the characters. What follows is the story that unfolded in the remaining two hours of the game session. Because this was the first experience with the BtVS RPG system for all of us, I consciously held off on any in-depth combat scenes until Episode 2 so that we could ease ourselves into the system.

Teaser

Exterior shot of William Allen High School. It's a Friday afternoon and the kids have just been dismissed for the weekend. Many are headed toward the buses that are parked alongside the school; others who live closer have begun the walk home.

A cluster of students exits the school onto the street. Behind them is a lone female student. Freeze frame on the loner. She's a bit scruffy. Her clothes are very worn, possibly hand-me-downs or from a thrift shop. She's got the look of a survivor. This is JD. Freeze frame ends. As JD walks along, we can tell that she's aware of everyone around her, although she's not blatant about observing people. She's one of the first people to notice the gang members (Carmines) across the street.

Out the door of the school come two boys and a girl. One of the boys has outlandishly spiked hair. Freeze frame on the spike-haired dude. Well dressed, in the sense that his clothes were once very expensive before they were defaced to make them appropriate punkwear. Permanent sneer on the kid's face. It's obvious he believes the world owes him something. This is Doug. Freeze frame ends as Doug and his two friends, John and Alison, are heading to their bus. Conversation reveals that John is a drummer in Doug's band. Alison appears to be a groupie. Doug suddenly notices that Jason and his ganglet of bullies are standing right outside the door of Doug's bus. Doug is frequently a source of entertainment for Jason, in a strictly Neanderthal sense of the word. Jason hasn't seen Doug, but Doug can't get into his bus without walking directly through Jason's posse. Doug pauses to consider the situation.

Cut back to JD, who notices that across the street, the Carmines and an Allen student are trying to conceal some sort of activity with their bodies. Instantly JD recognizes the body language of a drug deal. Other students are walking past them, giving them as wide a berth as the sidewalk allows.

Out the door of the high school comes an attractive redhead. Freeze frame on the redhead. She's very good-looking, smiling, confident. She's got poise. This is Desi Stark. Freeze frame ends as Desi heads past the row of buses to go to Phoebe Home, where she does volunteer work with the old folks. As Desi walks past Jason and his dogs, one of the boys (we're not sure which) reaches out and pinches Desi's butt. She stops and tells them politely to knock it off. As she turns to leave, Jason grabs her butt for another pinch. Desi snatches Jason’s hand and puts him in a wrist lock, intending not to hurt him. Jason, however, struggles in exactly the wrong way and puts himself in severe pain. "Let go of me, you freak!" he says fiercely as he struggles to get away. Doug takes advantage of Jason’s preoccupation to get onto the bus unimpeded, with John and Alison in tow.

That's when a battered car comes squealing down the street. Shots are fired. People scream, students dive for cover, panic ensues. Through the turmoil, we see two young bodies lying on the sidewalk. Cut to black. Roll theme song and title sequence. 

The Rest of the Episode (in outline form)

Act 1: Immediately Following

• JD dives under a bus for cover, where she meets a screaming Melissa, a schoolmate who frequently says rude things about JD. JD tries to get Melissa to calm down by slapping her. Repeatedly.
• Desi notices that one of the Carmines who was fired upon is reaching into his coat, probably to return fire. She dashes across the street and disarms him, taking away the gun he has just drawn. He and the other Carmines run.
• Desi finds that the two gunshot victims are one of the Carmines (a male) and a young black student with whom Desi takes her history class (Miranda).
• JD runs over and attempts to administer first aid, only to discover that Miranda is dead. The Carmín is wounded, but alive.   JD and Desi formally meet.
• Police come and take statements, haul off the Carmín, and get everything under control.

• Morning classes are cancelled for an assembly to help students deal with Friday’s events. Assistant Principal Kovacs tells Doug that there will be a memorial service for "What’s-her-name" and that Doug will be there. By the time Doug gets home, AP Kovacs has already called Doug's parents to ensure his attendance at the memorial.
• JD sneaks into the bathroom and spray-paints a memorial portrait of Miranda. She tries to get it to Miranda’s parents, but the first opportunity she has to do this is at the memorial service.

• Doug’s dad asks if any city officials will be at the memorial service. He drives Doug there, although it’s apparent that his primary interest is in hobnobbing with the city's elite.
• The memorial is at the Baptist church on 6^th St near Allen. It’s packed.
• Closed-casket service with a photo of Miranda.
• Cut scenes:
• Chief of Police Stephen Kuhn addresses the crowd. "We will not allow this to happen again. But we need your help to keep our neighborhoods safe…."
• Kuhn’s voice-over to an exterior shot of a group of Lobos, the other big gang in the city. A ganger who looks like a young Lou Diamond Phillips (henceforth Young LDP) gives a street hug to a ganger who then exits. Young LDP shakes a can of spray paint as the ganger leaves.
• Minister of the church (Rev. Elijah Foster, a black Baptist preacher) takes the pulpit. He moves -- nay, foments -- the crowd amid shouts of "Amen!": "How many more of our daughters and sons have to fall to gang violence? How many more homes will be broken by this evil? NONE, I say! We will take back the night!" The crowd is filled with passionate energy, but they have no one to vent it upon.
• Rev. Foster’s sermon continues as a voice-over as we cut to an exterior scene. The ganger who left Young LDP creeps up on a run-down house. Most of the first-floor windows are boarded up, yet dim lights reveal movement inside. On the porch, two Carmines are smoking and talking in whispers. The ganger emerges from the shadows and skillfully tosses his rocks, shattering two upstairs windows and beaning one of the Carmines on the porch before they figure out what’s happening. Then he runs. Carmines flood out of the house and give chase.
• At the church, the service has ended and people are streaming out the doors. Many stop on the sidewalk to exchange final gestures of comfort or to talk. The Cast Members just cross through the church door onto the steps when a lone ganger runs by the crowd on the sidewalk, skirting most of the people there. He is closely followed by the mob of Carmines, who run through the crowd, roughly knocking people to the ground as they go.
• Amid the confusion, someone suddenly yells, "Oh my God! She’s been stabbed!" That whole take-back-the-night riff has evaporated in the face of genuine predation.
• What happens next:
• JD tries to help the old woman who’s been stabbed. JD is the only one who saw exactly who did it.
• Desi chases off after the gang. Along the run, she identifies the stabber and locks in on him.
• Doug taunts Police Chief Kuhn , then chases off after Desi.
• As Desi chases the stabber, all the other Carmines gradually peel off along various routes in an attempt to head off the rock-thrower that they're chasing. By the time Desi's quarry comes upon a final corner, it’s just him and Desi. Desi follows just in time to see the ganger has run into a blind alley and there’s a Lobo (Young LDP) who appears to be waiting for this Carmín. A second later, the Lobo shoots the Carmín with a pistol, then takes aim at Desi with a gun in his other hand.
• Desi lunges for Young LDP. The Lobo shoots, but the bullet whistles past Desi's ear. Desi disarms the Lobo by throwing her purse at his hand. 
• Doug has heard melee and gunshots from several locations around him. He realizes that the gang that ran past the church has been lured into an ambush. He's very concerned for Desi's safety -- and for his own. He finally turns a corner and comes face to face with Desi and Young LDP. Doug tries to tackle the Lobo, misses, and stumbles into Desi. Young LDP runs off. 
• Desi and Doug finally have the chance to look around. Desi knows without looking at the body that the Carmín is dead. The walls of the alley are practically covered in gang graffiti. They can't find the gun that the Lobo fired on the Carmín -- the one that Desi knocked away with a well-aimed purse. This place makes Desi and Doug uneasy, not just because of what has happened here, but not for any reason that they can put their fingers on.
• Desi and Doug head back to the church. As they leave the alley, the camera tilts down to reveal Desi's purse lying in the litter. Desi has forgotten completely about it.
• Back at the church:
• While JD is trying to be of help, a very young but very together security guard shows up. He's apparently off-duty. He asks JD for information about the condition of the stabbed woman and radios this back to his HQ so they can pass it on to the ambulance. The security guard introduces himself as Kevin. JD disappears into the shadows to keep an eye on what's going on.
• At the end of the scene at the church, Doug returns and JD and he head to Doug’s house. Kevin the security guard is acting as a perimeter guard at the crime scene while the cops and EMTs do their thing. He sees JD leaving. For a beat, he looks relieved, but does not attempt to wave to her or call out to her. He immediately returns to his duties. The stabbed woman apparently will live. Doug and JD separate before reaching his house.
• Desi returns to her home.

• Desi is in bed. She's in a restless sleep. In her mind, she replays parts of the scene where the Lobo shoots the Carmín. Dissolve to dream sequence:
• In her dream, the Lobo doesn’t have a gun. Instead, when he extends his arm toward the Carmín, Desi sees that there's a mouth in the palm of his hand. A mouth with many big teeth. 
• Suddenly, these fangs shoot out on an extendible tube (think Alien, but the appendage here is more flexible than the alien's jawed "tongue") and sink into the Carmín’s gut with a sickening, wet sound. 
• When Young LDP then extends his other arm to Desi, instead of a bullet whistling past her ear, it’s another set of teeth-on-a-tube that shoots by. In her dream, she hears the teeth snap closed on empty air.
• Desi wakes in a sweat. Cut to black. Roll end credits.