We begin with the murder of PC Akina the werewolf. A large humanoid chases her through Denny Park, grabs her face in one hand, and crushes/suffocates her to death. The same thing happens To Jacob, Steven, Molly, and Cyphus. Total party kill? No. It turns out that everyone was hit with a Death Curse from Jenny Denny, the actual murder victim that shared her death with everyone she thought might be able to help her.
After some phone calls that verify they all had the same vision, the group gathers at the scene. Cyphus the changeling, under veil, finds $4,000 and a cold iron rod in her purse. Molly, being a cop, IDs the victim. Steven, our cursed instigator trying to be helpful so he does not get arrested, shares that the victim is a member of the last wizard family in town. Her shoes are gone, which is odd because she had them in the vision. Cyphus, thanks to his fae heritage, recognizes traces of ectoplasm. A fairy of some type was at the murder scene, though for some reason all evidence of footprints and damaged branches are gone. Jacob, wizard in training, looks at the contents of her purse for protective wizardy things and finds a phone number for the Blue Jazz club, the local Neutral Grounds. Steven remembers that there is a party going on and promises to get the group invitations.
The group scatters. Jacob borrows Akina's book store to research ogres and ghouls. Steven contacts Scarlet, the Red Court Vampire, to get invitations. Cyphus gets a Sidhe date to the party. Molly calls the police and works with them as they find one more piece of evidence the party missed: a man's gold ring that smells of mistletoe. Akina tries to get a rental dress, then waits for the police to leave so she can sniff around. She gets a whiff of Jenny's scent, then also finds a gold ring smelling of mistletoe. She takes the ring with her as the group meets for the big party.
At the VIP room (Steven got good invitations), the group gets to mingle with a few other people aware of the supernatural world. Scarlet the vampire is there with a dedicated meat candy escort, as are Chin Xi and Lurch from Chinatown. Lurch is the official police suspect of the murder, since he is the only human they know big enough to leave the hand-shaped bruise on the victim's face. The police chief isn't there, since the ring in evidence mysteriously vanished.
Cyphus makes a fabulous first impression, out shining even his date. Steven chats up the bartender while his date, Akina, helps herself to the open bar. Molly and Jacob do some observation of folks and realize that Lurch is actually Chin Xi's arm candy despite the appearance that things are the other way around. Jacob talks with her a bit to establish a good impression, and Cyphus's date reveals that while she is a summer Sidhe Lurch is actually a Winter Sidhe.
Sven, the white court owner of the club, arrives and offers the guests a tour of his collection of rare items (mostly so he can sip on their GREED). He leads them to his quasi-dimensional vault, where things can be seen but not touched. Cyphus and Jacob bring a drink; Akina brings a bottle. The vault is like a museum displaying many things that catch everyone's interests. Cyphus finds a dragon egg, Molly finds a little mermaids in a fishbowl, Chin Xi finds an important Japanese sword, Scarlet finds an Arabian Lamp, Akina...well, she has her bottle, and Steven finds his soul in a box.
<insert dramatic music>
Cyphus's date and Scarlet get into a verbal fight, as only a southern belle vampire and a noble fairy can. Akina, in a slightly drunken slur, calls them out for dampening the party's mood. Despite everyone's half-hearted attempts to stop her from making things worse, a fight breaks out. Scarlet claws at Akina, but Akina shoves her to the floor. This causes Jacob to stumble back (or he did it on purpose) and bump into the glass around the case. Wait, did he just touch it? And crack the glass?? Sven hoists him up, and Jacob creates a veil so the two can have a private chat. Chin Xi and Lurch withdraw from the fight, and Molly eavesdrops on their conversation in hopes of getting evidence about Jenny's murder. She overhears a confession from Lurch, which upsets Chin Xi, and finds out that Chin is a high ranking member of the local Triads.
Back to the fight, Scarlet sheds her flesh mask to go all bat monster. Akina goes werewolf and pins the vampire down. With a little glamour, Cyphus makes the booze bottle look like holy water, terrifying Scarlet. Steven, enjoying how the tables have turned on the one he owes a debt to, tries to get a murder confession from Scarlet, but she knows nothing about the death of Jenny Denny. Sven and Jacob, meanwhile, come to an arrangement: Jacob gets the sword that Chin Xi is so interested in if he gets everyone to stop fighting. After all, they are fighting in Accorded Neutral grounds. Every supernatural nation could condemn them for it.
Which is when Akina, with a little compelling encouragement from Steven, rips out the vampires throat. Uh oh. Now the group has to come up with a peaceful plan that everyone agrees on. So they plot and scheme and negotiate with each other until they come up with a plan. The official story is that the meat candy killed his mistress, and he can't object since he lost his mind when she died. Molly gets to arrest Lurch for Jenny's murder. Jacob promises to bring the sword to Chin Xi the next day. Akina gives up the ring to Cyphus's date so she won't hold a grudge against Steven for socially putting her in time out while the fight was happening (it was an epic use of fate points and a high roll combined with some dramatic roleplaying). Cyphus trades the ring, which they found out is enchanted to steal a wizards powers, for the dragon egg.
Everyone wins.
A couple of questions were never fully answered though. Why did Lurch kill Jenny Denny? Why didn't Jenny use her cold iron rod to protect herself? How was Jacob able to accidentally make the vault items corporeal? What happened to Jenny's shoes? How did the crime scene restore its self to its natural state? Who left Steven a note about trading his soul for killing the wizard? What is Cyphus's date's name?
And how did the mistletoe ring get back in Akina's pocket the next morning?
