Mister Vampire

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Wed Dec 11, 2013 6:05 am

Informed of the slight change of plan, Andrus hides somewhere that facilitates ambushing Ortega with a bottle of industrial cleaner due to it having a higher alcohol content than any of the drinkable spirits.

Stealth 10 still.

Chamomile · Post by **Chamomile** » Wed Dec 11, 2013 8:33 pm

It's a shame that extra hits don't do anything for Curse of Failure, because Romero gets 4 net hits against Ortega. The not-terribly-perceptive Ortega doesn't notice as his car is boxed in from behind, either.

Ortega briefly seems to notice something off and looks around for a few minutes, but discovers nothing; J-Rock is too well-hidden (3 successes compared to Ortega's 2, and he was spending less time than is recommended for searching a house in the first place) and Andrus is invisible, something this muggle just isn't equipped to deal with.

After Ortega turns his back, J-Rock emerges from his hiding place, creeps up behind him, and attacks. And because I have never done After Sundown combat before, I'm going to lay out every single step of the process so people can catch it if I mess something up:

-Ortega's Agility+Combat is 6, so the Threshold to hit him in melee is 3 by default. However, he is not aware of the attack, which means the threshold is instead zero. This will end poorly for him.

-J-Rock gets 7 hits, minus the threshold of zero is seven net hits.

-Ortega rolls his 3 Strength + 0 Edge for a total of 3 soak dice, and manages to soak two of the hits. This means that the total damage is five, which is a terminal wound.

So what happens is: J-Rock hits Ortega from behind with a terrifyingly powerful punch to the back of his head. Ortega immediately collapses like a sack of bricks and is running a serious risk from death. Lacking both the Survival skill and an Edge stat, Ortega is guaranteed to die unless someone gets 3 hits on a Logic+Medicine test within the next five minutes.

echoVanguard · Post by **echoVanguard** » Wed Dec 11, 2013 11:00 pm

J-Rock stands over the unconscious Ortega, shaking his fist and frowning down at the recumbent form. "Damn. I thought he'd be tougher." The private eye bends down to administer some basic first aid and see if he can get the bum talking.

(J-Rock has a Medicine (First Aid) of 4 and a Logic of 2, giving him 6 dice. He'll keep trying until Ortega is revived.)

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Thu Dec 12, 2013 12:57 am

Upon entering the house Romero mutters something under his breath about police brutality when he sees Ortega laid out on the ground--Romero may not know medicine, but there's at least one lifetime kicking around in the back of the skull that knows a dying man when it sees one. He'll lean out the door and gesture for Harley to make her entrance, then see about tidying up a spot for Ortega to rest and work to make sure everyone stays organized.

Romero's only got 3 dice to assist in Medicine tests, but he's got a Tactics of 6, so just about everyone present should be able to try making an assist on the stabilization test.

Grek · Post by **Grek** » Thu Dec 12, 2013 1:31 am

((Adel has a dicepool of 9 on Healing tests.))

Adel rushes up the walk, having been alerted by his insect allies.

"We should take him inside, get him on a couch. Be careful with the neck."

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Thu Dec 12, 2013 5:42 am

Harley will quickly assess the crumpled man and administer first aid "J, let me. There's a reason my clients are so reliable." (Medicine 6 + Logic 4)

Chamomile · Post by **Chamomile** » Sat Dec 14, 2013 4:24 am

Results, in order of lowest to highest:

Romero gets 1 success, but his coordinating efforts allows everyone else to do their part moving him to the couch without making things worse, and prevents people from getting in each other's way as you try to revive the unlucky bastard.

J-Rock gets 3 successes. Being right next to the guy, he's able to make some immediate progress in stabilizing him in the critical first few seconds of the wound.

Adel, arriving soon afterwards, has considerably less luck, contributing 2 successes as the crowd tending to Ortega grows.

Which means Harley is rolling a total of 16 dice as the main contributor, and gets a total of six successes. Ortega is stabilized and taken down to 7 boxes with the little / slashes for normal wounds. Within sixty seconds of the moment he hit the ground, he starts coming to. For the next twenty minutes or so he's also basically completely removed as a threat. There's really no way his Willpower is higher than 4 (and even that's a huge stretch), which means he's looking at penalties of at least -5 to any action he takes. So despite a brief scare, you've basically got him right where you want him for purposes of interrogation; he's dazed, groggy, scared, and angry, but a lot more scared than angry.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sat Dec 14, 2013 5:41 am

Harley will hand him a glass of water and something from her stash that will make him pliable (but still lucid and no less reliable than he'd otherwise be), "Here, this will help with the pain."

echoVanguard · Post by **echoVanguard** » Sat Dec 14, 2013 1:50 pm

J-Rock looms over the recumbent Ortega, his face expressionless. "Good morning, sleeping beauty. Now, if you're still enamored of having all your limbs, I'd think really carefully about what you might like to tell me. Particularly on the subject of a break-in about raided magic shops in Culver City. Spin me a tale, little friend."

(J-Rock has 12 dice for Interrogations, with a potential for 4 additional dice when attempting to spot discrepancies between his interpretation of a reconstructed event and the interrogee's story.)

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Sun Dec 15, 2013 9:09 am

Romero will assist, obviously--he's got a pool of 10 for Logic/Str+Intimidation and 13 for Willpower+Intimidation. He'll deepen the shadows and lurk off to the side, interjecting the occasional pointed question or comment on how they could always just dump Ortega's body somewhere and ask Reyes instead.

Chamomile · Post by **Chamomile** » Tue Dec 17, 2013 1:21 am

Ortega's eyes widen like dinner plates when he sees a pack of unfriendly looking strangers surrounding him on his couch. "N-N-No se nada-" he stammers out in a panic, catches himself, switches to English, "I don't know anything about Culver City, i-it's the other side of town, we don't work there." J-Rock seizes his arm in a vice-like grip, and begins to twist. Ortega winces in pain and says "w-wait, no, I know, I-I was there! We just...There's a guy in our crew, he knows a fence who deals in the occult, he pays big, that's all I know, I don't know the fence's name!"

But there's clearly something he's not sharing, because from the crime scene one member of the crew demonstrated obvious supernatural strength. Even the dumbest thug would've noticed a door go flying across the shop. "This guy who knows the fence, is he the one with the supernatural strength?" J-Rock asks.

"I-I..." Ortega considers his options briefly. "Yes. He's the one."

"Where can I find him?"

"I don't know, I just...it was a new place every time and I backed out after this one," Ortega says.

"Why don't we just kill him and dump the body?" Romero offers, "ask Reyes instead. He might be more cooperative after he sees what we did to this one."

"Wait, there's a place," Ortega says, "I-I don't know if the guy is there but there's a place, this, this church for la rata, t-the rat. He might be there." Ortega gives an address: An abandoned hotel in Eastside.

Anything else you wanted to know?

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Tue Dec 17, 2013 11:51 am

I can't think of anything off the top of my head, although I'd like to steal his cell phone if that's convenient, in case he's got any useful numbers in there. Also, does anyone have any amnesia inducing powers, by any chance?

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Tue Dec 17, 2013 6:45 pm

Does Harley have any amnesia inducing drugs in her stash, Cham?

Grek · Post by **Grek** » Tue Dec 17, 2013 7:11 pm

Adel's venom causes amnesia and vivid hallucinations. He would like to sting Ortega once we're done here, so he doesn't remember any of this in the morning.

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 12:23 am

Sweet. If that's the case we can minimize the risks of leaving him alive and plant a bug on him. Hell, we could probably create a false narrative of what happened just by leaving behind a couple party favors and a sexy voice mail from Harley--with how many career criminals we have on the team god knows we've got a spare burner phone to blow on keeping this guy on the hook. Granted, he's just some dumb ass mook, so it's a long shot bet that it'd pay off, but the opportunity cost is pretty low, so we might as well give it a shot. Of course, knowing my luck it'd turn out that we picked the one gay tweeker rat cultist in LA to try that trick on.

Chamomile · Post by **Chamomile** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 3:11 am

@Prak: A lot of drugs cause blackouts, but I don't know of any that can make you forget stuff from before the drug hits your brain. If you want Harley to have something in her stash, you are best off googling up an actual drug that does what you want it to, because I'm just going to eyeball it and figure out if there's any drug that I know of off the top of my head that can do what you want it to.

Adel can sting the guy, at which point he spaces out in a daze of amnesia-inducing hallucinations. Basically everyone has the Rating 1 Finances needed to justify having a $20 pre-paid phone around, so you can try and fake your narrative. I am strongly tempted to roll something to see if this guy really is the one gay tweaker rat cultist in LA. In any case, Harley can roll Charisma+Expression to leave the message, and whoever plans on decorating the place can roll Logic+Expression. Since time is no issue, there's not especially any benefit to having more than one person set the place up to look partied in, so for the Logic+Expression roll I'm just going to take whoever has the highest dicepool and ignore the others. And in case it's not clear, this is a teamwork roll between Harley and whoever has the highest Logic+Expression. If you have any weird bonuses, now is the time to mention.

And since how well that goes isn't going to have much impact on anything for several hours, there's no need to wait on results before making your next move.

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 11:45 pm

(Sorry, been busy)

"You heard anything 'bout this hotel before Andrus?"

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Sat Dec 21, 2013 12:41 pm

"Sounds like the kind of thing that would stand out. Doesn't instantly ring a bell, I could ask around..."

Andrus will think back to his internal Map of LA 3, built up from years of homelessness before he got the current place; if he doesn't remember anything he'll do the rounds in the pubs (Bar Scene 6, done second as that takes actual effort.) Should all else fail he'll consult his pet colony of sewer rats (Assets 1, not a background I know but it's an approach that has at least a >0% chance of working.)

Chamomile · Post by **Chamomile** » Fri Dec 27, 2013 10:55 pm

With two successes on Logic+Map, Andrus can dimly recall the hotel. It was one of a million hotels in LA, and nothing particularly stood out about it, so probably this cultist set up shop fairly recently. Rat temples are the kind of thing that would've stuck out if it was around last time Andrus was in the area.

I'll give it a day or two to see if anyone else plans on doing anything before/during Andrus' bar/sewer crawl.

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Sat Dec 28, 2013 7:34 pm

(So, we thinking negotiating or busting down this guys door? Either way, who do we think is best suited to taking point on this one? Perhaps Andrus or Adel? Romero's got some nice magic tricks, but he's mostly built around performing mundane tasks at superhuman levels--Discernment is probably the single best thing he has for dealing with an unconventional warfare splat like the Nezumi. Just waltzing into a rat nest and making demands is probably not the best idea, at least not without being immune to disease and ways to cope with swarm tactics.)

Chamomile · Post by **Chamomile** » Sat Jan 04, 2014 3:46 pm

Well it's been like a week with no relevant responses so I think it's safe to say that Andrus is the only one using the downtime.

There's not a lot of overlap between the bar scene and people who know about this place, but with four successes Andrus is able to find some poor bastard trying to drown his sorrows after a narrow escape from the place. The hotel is known to offer lodging to random homeless people as an act of charity to appease the creature known as la Rata. This particular unfortunate happened to have a friend with whom he had fled home, seeking a new life in the city of dreams, which went about as well as you'd expect. Both she and him were chosen for a special devotional dinner with some high priest/vessel for la Rata, but he got spooked and backed out of it at the last minute, fearing some sort of devious ritual. He did, however, work up the courage to sneak into the meeting hall, a large room that was probably rented out for events back when this place was in business, and spy on the proceedings.

Arriving early, he observed the corpse of a dead man. When pressed, he is able to give a loose description: Average height (so a little over five and a half), hispanic, was wearing what looked like gang clothes. The 'high priest' was a white man with a stubbly beard, and was discussing what to do with the body with several other hispanic men in gang dress, two of whom the eavesdropper observed were armed with submachine guns. Apparently this dead man was one of the acolytes who had displeased la Rata somehow, and had to be executed. Fearing that the police might find them if they kept leaving evidence, the high priest and his acolytes resolved to find a way to dump it in the ocean.

The eavesdropper was detected by a rat. The things were ubiquitous in the hotel but very well behaved, and it squeaked out what the man swears was some kind of warning, and then he was attacked by a swarm of them. After chewing off his ear, he fled the hotel.

He has no idea what happens to the dinner guests, having been chased off before they even arrived.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Mon Jan 06, 2014 7:33 pm

Once he has as much info as a single pub crawl can give (and induced vomiting, repeatedly, because Nezumi lose their powers while they contain enough alcohol), Andrus will text the group to meet at an agreed relatively quiet place, before texting Logan with another summary of the events since page 2.

"Met a guy who says he escaped Hotel La Rata. If he can be trusted, they take in tramps to appease the boss, and he got spooked about their invitation to dinner at the last moment, but had the balls to sneak in the back. His girlfriend wasn't so sensible. They got a white high priest, bunch of hispanic goons, two with uzis. They decided to dump a body in the sea, and this is apparently a policy change as they think any more evidence might summon the cops."

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Thu Jan 09, 2014 8:25 am

Romero's definitely down with meeting up again.

"Interesting story, but it doesn't narrow things down much. My best guess would be that our target has a buddy that needs to feed on the living. If we were talking trogs or necromancers I doubt there'd be any questions on what to do with the bodies."

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 3:26 am

Romero responds to the silence by lighting a cigarette and continuing: "I'm going to put some cards on the table here: As long as my turf is respected I don't care if I have to kill or cut a deal. I tire of the status quo, and I'm willing to kick things up the chain to protect my territory. And I assure you the Makhzen laws have no shortage of useful precedents to cherry pick from when such domains are involved. If any of you need a more specific result, now would be the time to bring it up."