At the party, we had John's asshole brother Roger making the rounds and talking to people. It became apparent to some (but not John) that Roger was basically badmouthing John while using his house. John also introduced his friends to Roger, which strained his politeness when meeting some of them, especially Jack Ellis the mechanic. Roger was less than impressed. Temper didn't end up wearing a dress made out of duct tape or camouflage, so she actually made a pretty decent impression pretending to be with one of the charities. Lenny took the time to network, but he came across as a little pushy or predatory (he also left fliers under everyone's windshields!). He was able to drum up some business though, mainly with his anti-aging potions.
Lefleur and John arranged a meeting with Machete Dan, with the greatest High Concept ever devised: Bloodsucking Lawyer. I know I've already mentioned it, but it's so awesome. Enter the social conflict, with Machete Dan being all pissed and throwing a lot of Intimidations around. Lefleur and John gang up on the poor RCV, and eventually get a Concession, with Machete Dan saying that as long as the money's good he'll call off the hits. It may take some time to call off the hits, though. Success for Lefleur? You know it's not going to be that easy. At one point, I have Machete Dan throw like 3 or 4 Fate Points at Lefleur, but the attack still did didly. I couldn't roll above average at all.
Meanwhile, Temper and Lenny have a discussion: how to tell if a Sex Vampire is controlling someone. Lenny has the best answer: does that person LIKE the WCV? If yes, then the vampire's probably in control. Lenny is evidently blinded by the finery, however, and misses all the subtext. So that's when I throw a Compel at Temper for her paranoia, and she sneaks upstairs and starts looking at all of John's stuff, trying to find some way of contacting John's superiors. Temper is convinced that Lefleur is manipulating John; it's understandable. I don't see why John's always helping Lefleur either. PCitis? Then she remembered that at one point John used her cell to call his boss, so she uses that, reciting the code he used to get in touch with Morgan. John's player attempts to argue this point, saying he kept all of this information secret, but in reality he wasn't; he was right next to Temper when he made that call (Temper held the phone while he talked from inside a circle, IIRC). And in any case, I never recall him acting all paranoid either, so he was just trying to edit circumstances after they happened (and let's face it, John is not a subtle or paranoid guy).
So, Temper calls up Morgan going through the switchboards (it's an older code, but it checks out
), meeting a very pissed off Morgan. He sounds busy. Like, killing vampires busy. Temper warns Morgan that John might be controlled by the White Court, playing on his paranoia. Morgan tells her that he'll check it out and to never call again. What a charmer.
Lefleur noticed Temper head upstairs, though, and alerts John to this whole development of Temper sneaking upstairs. They find Temper in John's bedroom, with his sock drawer strewn out over the floor. John wonders what the hell is going on, and Temper counters with a lame lie about checking for bugs. No one believes her. At this point, John's player asks for a Compel on his Band of Brothers aspect, as Temper leaves the party at John's request. He says that the Compel is for him NOT stopping Temper and making her tell the truth. WTF? I'm not exactly sure what he had in mind other than somehow restraining Temper and torturing the information out of her. Which, quite frankly, wouldn't really work. In any case, he doesn't get a compel for acting like a rational human being and letting Temper leave.
So, Temper leaves the party early. On her way out, she passes a woman waiting outside the mansion, who asks her if she's seen someone of Lefleur's description. It's Elli the Changeling Assassin. Temper notices that the woman is packing twin pistols, but doesn't care; she tells Elli about Lefleur being there. Temper just misses the excitement of finding the vamps spiked the wine.
After having a glass, John and Lenny discover that the wine is laced with vampire spit. I made a mental attack on everyone, and no one was hit with a single consequence, damn it all (they all only failed by 1). Save the rest of the party, some of the richest and most influential people of New Orleans. Uh oh. And everyone is drinking it, save a few. Roger seemed normal (I don't think Roger actually drinks), and Jack (who brought a cooler full of beer) was just Jack. John, realizing danger, asks Jack to help get everyone home for some reason. So he essentially makes the same speech from Batman Begins, insulting everyone until they leave. What a jackass.
Also, kind of stupid. He was worried that the vampires would all bust in through the windows and start shooting, I guess. I mean, they just hit some of the richest people in NO with addictive saliva. That's called winning, in my book. They were actually with the catering staff, spitting into all the wine then. And John sends them home, easy prey for more saliva. Maybe John should take Egocentric as some kind of Aspect.
Roger bitches at John for his actions, his friends, and everything else, leaving in a hissy fit. So the rest of the group, Lenny, Lefleur, and John sit in the mansion and wait for the vampires to attack. And wait. And wait. They realize the vampires aren't coming to attack. Temper, about to leave, comes back after she sees everyone leaving. She wonders where everyone was going, and why. John explained the vamp's actions, and it's clear that Temper thinks John is an idiot. They hear sirens, and Temper flees around to the back to leave that way, hopefully avoiding the police.
Then the cops show up, to ask John some questions about his known association with Temperance Smith, domestic terrorist. They wonder if he's somehow funding her organization or something. John denies everything, including Temper being at his party tonight. Doesn't know her, hasn't heard of her. The FBI guy tells John that he'll be back. John: "Yeah, I know
" This is where I threw a Compel at John for his Band of Brothers aspect, since he was defending Temper against the police.
While she makes her way through the back way across John's monster yard, she heads into the small woods at the back of John's property, walking her Schwinn. She's naturally sneaky, so she sees a group of mercs in full camo, NVGs, and M-4s heading towards John's place before they notice her. The fact that one of them is playing his iPod may also have something to do with it. She calls up John, warning him of the danger, then makes her way home again.
The mercs try to sneak up to the mansion, hoping to kill Lefleur, but they find Lenny, John, and Lefleur waiting for them. With a magical blinding flare, a few precise gunshots, and the overall insanity of Lenny the Iron Alchemist, the mercs are driven back and take their wounded with them. Those guys were schmucks; Pure Mortals with no FPs. They were actually the remnants of some of Walter's private army of security personnel, wanting to collect on Lefleur's contract.
However, the gunfire draws the cops back again. Damn it. The quick-thinking Lefleur sets up an impromptu firing range in the backyard, so the cops find him and John shooting at cans. The cops are pissed, and tell them to stop firing their guns in the middle of the night in a residential zone. They'd clearly like to arrest John, but they don't really have anything they can make stick. Lefleur's Epic Deception rolls help smooth things along as well.
John performs a quick Thaumaturgy ritual to locate the vampires, using some of their spit as the symbolic link. Clever bastard. This is one of the few Thaumaturgic spells John's ever used. I don't really know how the rules work myself, I really need to read up on them. Like, seriously. When my NPCs use them, it's basically just plot magic. He finds them, using a map of the city and some triangulation, so him and Lenny suit up and drive towards the vamp's location. It is ass kicking time.
Lefleur, meanwhile, takes the opportunity of the cops to sneak away from John's mansion, heading to yet another hotel room. He meets a pretty girl at a bar, seduces her, then brings her back to feed from her. During the night, he gets a call from Machete Dan. Remember Walter's briefcase full of irradiated money? That's half of Lefleur's payment. And the Machete Dan is pissed off, and spends twenty minutes telling Lefleur exactly how he's going to kill him. Machete Dan really has anger issues. There's another Compel thrown at Lefleur.
Lenny and John find the vamp's hideout, a catering place. The very same catering company that did his party. Now things begin to make sense. Lenny breaks the window, and the two let themselves in, finding some vampires there. Led by Maya's lieutenant the Goth Poser Raven Darkblood, who was nearly killed by John their last battle. Raven starts saying something threatening, but John just raises his copper rod to blast him. It's on! And it's over quickly. Raven and another vampires charge towards the front of the building, but John had set up his magical defenses before entering, and Lenny defends with his trusty baseball bat. The other two try their hand at automatic weapons fire, but it's even less effective.
John makes like Thor and calls down some lightning, frying the two vampires in the back, ruining the store and setting it on fire. No compel here, I think; this is just what happens when you throw like 15 dice of evocation around in a building. Shit gets messed up. Lenny then melts the vampire in his face with some solvent, leaving Raven. Raven's number is clearly up, so I suggest a concession where Raven runs and escapes. Lenny and John are having none of it, though, demanding that Raven tell them everything he knows.
Instead, we compromise. Raven runs across the street into an alleyway, bragging about how the party was just the beginning, and the vampires are going to addict a whole lot more people to their Kiss. Then he trips over some garbage cans and falls, causing John and Lenny to laugh at him. He does manage to escape though. They search the burning catering place, find some unconscious people who have been clearly hit with addictive saliva. The answer is clear: haul them out of the building and put them into the kidnap van. John's player is excited that he gets to experience the thrill of using the kidnap van, since he missed out on it last time.
And that's where we ended. It really seems like the party is fragmenting, with John pissed at Temper for thinking he's somehow being influenced by a vampire, and Temper not trusting Lefleur (or John now). We also had a discussion over who the "wildcards" of the group were, the ones who do the unexpected things. Lenny and Temper's players insisted that they weren't the crazy ones. They totally are though, and that's fine.
