Mister Vampire

Stories about games that you run and/or have played in.

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Chamomile
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Mister Vampire

Post by Chamomile »

Jerome "J-Rock" Husselbeck has gotten a job from Prince Lestrand, of all people, to track down whoever it is that's raiding magic shops out in Culver City. Culver is the border between Lestrand's turf and the White Lotus, but the Lotus have begrudgingly agreed to let the local Ulmian outfit work their rackets in the area so long as they don't allow any WCL members so near Lotus territory. As such, the magic shops pay protection fees so as not to be raided by the Ulmians, who cut Lestrand in on the take in exchange for operating on his territory. It's a treacherous tightrope, but also a profitable one, up until some clown went and raided them anyway. This makes the robberies Marco Romero's problem.

Exarch Martinez doesn't want to let Lestrand pull anything outside of his watch, so he's assigned his client/minion Adel San Juan to offer assistance to J-Rock, and also to make sure that Martinez knows everything that Lestrand does. Similarly, Logan Wood has asked Andrus Poder to offer his help to J-Rock in exchange or in return for a favor, exploiting their pre-existing relationship to give himself plausible deniability, and keep Logan informed of what's happening.

Finally, Harley is a relatively minor supernatural in the grand scheme of things, but has been contacted by J-Rock for her connections to street level crime. Plus, the Church of Set has decided to do the Hashshashin a favor and win Adel over on the issue of being a drug-addicted death cultist, and with her a drug dealer and already working on the same team as him, she might be just the pawn they need to get the job done.

Being from a disparate number of affiliations, it's polite to have the initial meet-up take place somewhere that's considered neutral ground for everyone. The smaller city parks, having no resident population to speak of and being far too small for lycanthropes to care about, make for excellent meeting grounds. As such, the coterie has agreed to assemble outside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Exposition Park (and yes that is a real place in Los Angeles).

Image

In point of fact, the 1984 Olympics were held here, but despite being dedicated to the veterans of all wars and being decorated with statues of decapitated naked people for no goddamn reason at all, this place is not strongly affiliated with Mictlan. Tonight, those who can see into the Shallow Limbo can see a pair of Mirror Goblins squabbling over something or other in front of the statues, and in the mortal world there is the occasional loiterering derelict in the distance. Otherwise, the place is deserted.

The curtain rises; now the cast enters from stage left. What do you do?
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Prak
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Post by Prak »

Harley sits on the lower branch of a tree, awaiting the arrival of others. She'd had a few profitable deals elsewhere in the city, and was feeling good. She was very much prepared, however, for the meeting to spoil that feeling.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.

You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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Post by Grek »

A car stops a few blocks away. A young cuban fellow in a silver suit steps out, looking over his shoulder as he walks down the street. He had dropped Terry off hours ago, but he still had not figured out how the little leech got into his car. Does Martinez have a key? Makes a man paranoid. He hurries on, muttering to himself about needing to change the locks.

He comes into the park from one of the side entrances, strolling along a path like he's just there to see the sights. He's not, but it lets him lose anyone that might be following him. You can never be too careful, after all. Soon, he is close enough to see the ridiculous pair of headless statues. Nobody stands out. Maybe he's the first here, maybe the others are just nearby. Or maybe it's an ambush. Either way, it's time for a little super-vision. Bingo: Woman up a tree, waiting by the statue just like they'd agreed on.

Adel walks over.
Chamomile wrote:Grek is a national treasure.
echoVanguard
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Post by echoVanguard »

A shuddering, beat-up Chevy rattles and belches its way to the curb on State Drive, expelling a cloud of smoke as it wedges itself in between a Smart Car and a Lexus. A tall, muscular man in a black leather jacket and slacks steps out, narrowly avoids being hit by a cyclist who gives him the finger, and begins to amble into Exposition Park while scanning the area with an easy, relaxed confidence. The loose bulk of his jacket doesn't quite hide the bulge of a heavy pistol in a shoulder holster.

Pulling an older-model cell phone out of his pocket, he flips through a few messages as he walks, oblivious to natural beauty of the park around him but all too aware of the potential threats - the mirror goblins, the bums, and most of all the criminals he's here to meet. Picking out the form of Harley in her tree up ahead, he notes the ostentatiously-attired man and scans him for weapons before sidling up near him. He nods to each of them and wordlessly settles in for the rest of the arrivals, making sure he has a clear draw if he needs it.
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Post by Omegonthesane »

A fairly spacious family sedan found itself parked on a nearby road, and out of it came an unshaven man in fingerless gloves and a ragged, patched, faded suit no longer fit for formal occasions, a lit cigarette already in his mouth. He slammed the door shut, before fumbling with the central locking and heading into the park, all too thankful the moon wasn't high in the sky.

On seeing the gathering of malcontents, two of whom he recognises, Andrus gives a glance of acknowledgement to J-Rock and Harley, before dropping his remaining stub into a bin and leaning against it, trying to have half an eye on everywhere someone could come from.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath, Justin Bieber, shitmuffin
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Post by Whipstitch »

A tall, lean man approaches, looking like something that slithered out of one of the tamer but more high concept D&G ads--Italian dress shoes, black three piece suit, jacket thrown over his shoulder, no tie, rolled up sleeves, poker face, 5 o' clock shadow and a black hat held in a scarred, incomplete hand. He takes stock of the group before speaking with the sort of slow, ostentatiously foreign accent you rarely hear outside of movies--vaguely Old World, shifting from one influence to the next from syllable to syllable. Wherever that accent came from, it isn't from Houston.

"J-Rock. It seems you'll finally get to see me work first hand."
bears fall, everyone dies
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Post by echoVanguard »

J-Rock grunts. "I can hardly contain my excitement." He checks his phone again, then slips it into a pocket and scans the assembled group.

"Right. We all know why we're here, so let's not waste any time. Romero, you're with me - we're going to check out the crime scene and see what we can dig up. Harley, you take the wonder twins here and start asking questions on the street - people might talk to you that wouldn't be quite so forthcoming to Lestrand or his...official representatives. You find something, you call me - you get in trouble, you call me. You can't call me, you text me. You can't text me, you meet back here in 24. You can't meet back here....well, you'd better have a real good excuse."

J-Rock crosses his arms. "Any questions?"
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Post by Grek »

"Just one."

Adel sticks a finger into his suit pocket. When he pulls it back out, a tiny black scorpion the size of a palmetto is clinging placidly to his fingertip.

"One of you mind bringing a friend along with you? It'll let me keep in touch. See through her eyes, talk to your mind if you holding her. She won't sting."

Adel offers Marco the bug first.
Chamomile wrote:Grek is a national treasure.
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Post by Whipstitch »

Marco nods and gingerly places the bug in the pocket of his suit jacket.
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Post by Prak »

"Sounds good, J-Rock." Harley says, the tree lowering her to the ground. She circles the group, running a hand across each members' shoulders, "If I can't call or text, I'll try to get a mind message out to anyone in range. Guess we'll start out within a kilometer of the crime scene, and spread out as needed."
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.

You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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Post by Chamomile »

The police haven't moved much of the debris. Word has come down from higher up that this is one of those cases. The cases where strange people are seen poking around the crime scene late at night, the whole thing is covered up and left to wither and die within a news cycle, and anyone who ever tries to follow up on it ends up being fired. Something to do with "the Tower," whatever the Hell that is. They don't know who it is who's paying to keep these crimes unsolved, or why, but they don't much care either because it's clear that they're someone important to the police chief since he's the one who fires people for sticking their noses where they don't belong. In any case, most officers are glad to have one less case to worry about. The LAPD have a lot to deal with as it is.

What they have moved is the body. There had been a string of these robberies at various new agey magic shops, but this was the first time they had to bust out the chalk outlines. A pair of police officers were standing watch over the scene, and had taken a bet on whether or not one of the usual private investigators would show up and ask questions about whether any Sumerian gourds were stolen.
Last edited by Chamomile on Wed Oct 09, 2013 2:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by echoVanguard »

J-Rock and Marco arrive, with J-Rock muttering about magic bugs and trees and how nobody just uses a god damned cellphone.

J-Rock rolls up to the poor beat cops. "Marty, Stefan. Who'd you piss off to get this detail?"
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Post by Grek »

"I'll drive us down. Who you want to talk to first? I figure other shops nearby might have something to say, but if you have ideas..." Adel leads the group down to his Prius. "I never get your names. I'm Adel, Adel San Juan. Mi Go if you hadn't already guessed."
Last edited by Grek on Wed Oct 09, 2013 8:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Chamomile wrote:Grek is a national treasure.
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Post by Prak »

"Harley," the woman says. "Dryad, obviously. I think we should check out the actual streets, then other stories if that proves unfruitful."
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.

You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
Omegonthesane
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Andrus follows the group as suggested, barely stifling a grimace at being referred to as a Wonder Twin. Fortunately, the route to Adel's rather snazzier Prius happens to pass by where he's parked.

"Andrus, since we're doing introductions," he answers, wrapping a scorpion in a bandage before pocketing it. "Nezumi, since the suit isn't a vow breach. And... how do I put this... if it comes to driving time we may as well cover more ground," he says, tapping his own car to emphasise the point made.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath, Justin Bieber, shitmuffin
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Post by Grek »

"Yeah, that's what I said. People who work on that... Ohhh. You mean the pavement. I get it."

Adel shrugs his shoulders at Andrus and says, "Alright, you drive. I'll keep an eye out for birds. Might want to ask them too if we're going straight ahead with the spooky end of the investigation."
Chamomile wrote:Grek is a national treasure.
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Post by Chamomile »

"Stefan let some important perp get away while we were on patrol together," Marty said, "had 'em cornered in an alley and he let him just walk on by."

"It was darker than the dashcam made it look," Stefan said.

"Uhuh, yeah," Marty said, "whatever happened, we're both on the captain's shit list now." Stefan began to protest again, but Marty cut him off. "So let me guess, the shop owner hired you, right? These New Age types never trust the police to get the job done, probably thought she was talking to Sam Spade when she met you."
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Post by echoVanguard »

"The resemblance can be uncanny," J-Rock deadpans. "We'll just have a look inside." Nodding his head to Marty and Stefan, he ducks under the Crime Scene tape and holds it up for Marco before making his way into the shop. Once he and Marco are inside, J-Rock examines the scene critically, attempting to gather clues and reconstruct the events that occurred here.

(J-Rock has 6 Perception with a specialization in Investigation, an additional +2 from Basic Discernment, and a final situational +4 from Advanced Descent of Entropy to reconstruct events that occurred. If using Intuition, his total is 19 dice; 16 if using Logic.)
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Post by Whipstitch »

Marco has his Supernatural Senses activated but he will leave the investigation to J-Rock as far as socializing and the nature of the break-in is concerned. Instead, he will be focusing his attentions like so: First, off he will use Psychometry to try and view the murder/break-in.* Second, he wants to look around the shop for the ghost of the victim or perhaps some of their personal effects of the victim in order to make it as easy as possible to Summon the spirit later for an interview if need be. Third, if he still can't identify the victim or what is missing from the shop he'll try and cross-reference what he knows with anything his outfit may have on file about this particular client.

*Assuming that the ability is a mostly covert ability, of course. I'd assume the cops could hear the initial "Well, what happened here?" question but that's easy enough to write off as a rhetorical question.
Last edited by Whipstitch on Thu Oct 10, 2013 5:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Chamomile »

((Note: I'm assuming that Marco Romero's total Psychometry dicepool is 9, from his Intuition+Empathy, but I could be missing something on the sheet. For this reason it'd probably be best if you mention what your dicepool is going forward. End result is that J-Rock rolls 19 dice and gets 7 successes(!) to investigate, Romero rolls 9 dice and gets 4 successes to Psychometricize, and everything else included in this post is a thing he can just do.))

The relevancy of even the minutest detail in the chaos of the half-sacked shop is laid bare to an android's senses. Starting with: Half-sacked. Looks like the robbers didn't have time to finish. Blood splatters show an incredible amount of blood on the ground, more splattered across the walls at high velocity. Comparing the size of the outline for approximate height of the victim to where the blood splatters on the wall are located, it looks like it was a small spread of shots through the torso followed by a deathblow to the head while the victim was on the ground, and that small spread means shotgun. Likewise, the victim was about 5'2" and was running when shot. The robbers were not professionals; the drawers are open or closed haphazardly, as though they were pulled open at random, whereas an experienced thief would know to pull open the drawers from the bottom up so you don't have to waste time closing any. On the other hand, they're also fairly strong. The drawers and cabinets were locked (several of them still are), but were simply ripped open. There are tiny fragments of shoe and bootprints in various places where dust built up a bit, or various colored sands were spilled and broken, and the blood helps too. With his incredible perceptive abilities, J-Rock is able to reconstruct a complete shoeprint of two of the culprits from the scene (if he doesn't have photographic memory, he'll want to write those down while he's still here). There is a telling lack of fingerprints, however, so while not professionals, the thieves knew to wear gloves.

Upshot of all this? It looks like the thieves were halfway through raiding the place when they decided to shoot someone, who made a break for it. Probably a witness, possibly a dispute among robbers. The robbers are not professionals, but at least one of them is supernatural and they aren't stupid either.

While J-Rock is examining the crime scene carefully, Romero is basically zoned out. A growing rush of whispers fills his ears, and then his mind is overwhelmed by images: Earlier in the morning, the shop is deserted. The shopkeeper has finished restoring a book for a customer and puts it on display on a podium (with a note that it is priced at several thousand dollars and if you damage it you will have to pay to repair it) to make the shop look a bit more authentic.

The vision becomes a blur as hours pass in a moment. The shop is crowded, now, it is mid-afternoon. A girl about fourteen or fifteen years old is reading the book on its stand. She tries to look as though she is just browsing, but is in fact trying to get from cover to cover.

The scene blurs again, and now the shop is deserted. The girl peeks out from where she has hidden in the shop and begins to approach the book, when the door flies off its hinges. The girl leaps over the counter and hides behind it, and a pack of seven masked robbers enters the store. They know what to look for, but not where to find it, rummaging through the shop for the valuables. Being prominently displayed, the book is one of the first things they take. Only one of them is strong enough to rip the drawers open; the others call him over when they find something locked, and spend most of their time going through the shelves and smashing in the glass on the display cases. The girl makes a run for it. The robber with superstrength sees her, levels his shotgun, fires through her chest. She goes down, staring in horror at the hole on her chest as her blood spills out. The superstrong robber fires another slug through her head, plastering her brains across the floor. The other robbers panic; someone will have heard the gunshots. In this neighborhood, people will call the cops over that. They take what they have and run.

The girl's ghost stands at the landline phone behind the counter, within the shallows of Mictlan but her traumatic death in the shop has dragged a copy of it into the shallows with her, so she can hardly tell the difference. The phone has been knocked off its hook in both worlds. She dials the numbers 911 over and over again, her ghostly hand passing straight through the buttons without making contact.
Last edited by Chamomile on Fri Oct 11, 2013 2:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Prak
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Post by Prak »

Harley leads the two men into the alleys, and starts looking for people, preferably bums. She has some food in her backpack she'll offer them in exchange for information.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.

You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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Post by echoVanguard »

J-Rock pulls out a slim policeman's notebook with a black leather binder and notes his observations quietly and efficiently. He sketches the shoeprints as well.
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Post by Whipstitch »

"J, I am about to have a quick chat with Casper; keep the cops busy if they interrupt..." says Marco quietly.

"Miss? You look scared, but if you listen I may be able to bring you some small measure of peace..."
Marco will turn on the charm with Attract (dicepool of 8) to make sure she hears him out and will then attempt to convince her to tell him about herself, the book and if she heard any names during the robbery. If she balks at all he'll make his case via an Appeal to Emotion (Dicepool of 12, may balloon up to 16 if she gives him something concrete to argue against). He has backgrounds of 4 & 3 in Ulmians and Undead respectively so he's not particularly ignorant regarding the needs of wraiths.
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Post by Grek »

Adel, against his better judgement, goes along with Harley and helps search for some street people and wild animals to interrogate about the shop and anyone that might have been seen going in or coming out.

((Adel's dicepool for searching for things is 10, and he has supernatural senses. Any homeless will be left to Harley and Andrus to deal with, but if they find any animals that look like they might know something, he'll be making Friendly Banter with a dicepool of 11 (13 for insects); "You there! Rat! I will give you a cracker if you tell me things about that building." and, if that fails, an Appeal to Force with a dicepool of 4; "Stupid rat. If you don't tell me what I want to know, I will crush you under my boot."))
Chamomile wrote:Grek is a national treasure.
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Andrus follows Harley's lead, for now, and attempts to work out some signal system for communicating without instantly alerting any particular mark.

((Andrus will be Testing The Waters on most people unless Harley's better at it - Intuition + Empathy = 11 > 8 = 2*4, so he can just buy the 2 hits to do it without alerting those surveyed to the exact inquiry. If they know something about the shop incidents he'll Learn the Heart's Pain at them for what good it can do (Intuition + Larceny = 9), but compared to the other two he dumped social so is mainly along as insurance.))
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath, Justin Bieber, shitmuffin
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