The Big Easy: Ghosts of the Past, Part Two

[mroehler]

I think I remember reading that at minimum, Thaumaturgy takes at least a minute. I'm not sure how long a combat round is, but it's a good bet it's nowhere close to a minute, especially with a vampire up in your grill trying to tear your arms off.

Having gotten to the bottom of both their mysteries, the question remained of what to do about them. Temper and John then concocted a somewhat true story to tell Maya Stephenson about the entropy curse, how it was provoked by Jacque St. Germaine and was basically self-defense (Cassie's house was in one of the neighborhoods that Jacque bribed Walters to stay out of). They agreed to meet her in the nightclub Purgatory, a gothy place in an old church.

They met her in a backroom, where Maya was working on her latest novel. John flippantly asked if "Edward," one of the characters in her vampire series, would turn out to be gay. She gave them a cooler with the severed head of the vampire who got away inside. They worked out a deal where Maya would let the matter drop, in exchange for a weregild: St. Germaine's head. John happily agreed to this, but was worried about the possible consequences. Maya swore that she would take full responsibility if they killed St. Germaine. John was ready to go, but Temper had her reservations about the entire plan. She thought that they were somehow being played. Maya also gave them a map of the compound, and reduced her rivals numbers by calling away six of his vampires away on an imaginary errand.

They waited until nightfall, then climbed over the manor's wall and attacked. This time, Temper used an AK47 and John a Springfield rifle. They also tagged the Map of the Grounds to give them a bonus to Stealth. They spotted two vamps as guards; John used an Air Evocation to prevent any sound from leaving the Zone. Temper, attacking from surprise, killed one of them immediately. Note: don't get surprised in DF-RPG. It hurts! The other one put up more of a fight, but was also dispatched. They climbed up a vine trellis to the top level, broke in by smashing a window quietly (duct tape ftw), then made their way to the Vampire Count's room. They got into another fight with more vampires on the way.

I managed to throw John off an indoor balcony. Falling damage is incredibly deadly. His shield ring, a 3/session enchanted item with a 6 Strength block, helped a great deal in this fight. That sucker is incredibly powerful. Temper finally turned into a monstrous scorpion, going after a vampire with an HK-MP5SD; her armor 2 from Scorpion form helped a shitload here. John also threw out an incredibly powerful Chain Lightning here, cooking another vampire. Go Evocation! I didn't really give any consequences here, b/c I wanted the fight to get over with quickly.

They finally busted into St. Germaine's room, where a video monitor was; his face was there. He congratulated them on being such saps. Maya also appeared, and pointed out that she would take responsibility for the assault if they KILLED the Count. Clearly, he wasn't here. The Count also recalled how the war first started when a wizard burned down a vampire's home; Maya pressed a button, and a firebomb went off in the house. That's where I ended it.

[Victim]

A lot of the social attacks were Intimidate, where Discipline is listed as a basic defense.  Moreover, the interactions generally involved only a few people, so avoiding an emotional reaction so you don't give something away seemed like a decent defense.  As opposed to a situation with an audience, where having the witty comeback prevents you from looking bad in front of the other people.

I don't know about the NPCs, but our maneuvers and assessments we did try also failed most of the time.  We ended up using a maneuver with magic because we had trouble succeeding at them normally.  Also, being able to take a flexible approach in conversation takes a lot of skills.  There were several times when the conversation gambit that seemed to make the most sense didn't correspond with our best social attack skill.

Whitfield could have made better use of his 3 Presence to compliment other skills or generate maneuvers.  We forgot that it could do things besides give him 4 stress boxes.

But overall, the social combat was pretty disappointing.  In physical combat, we each only have 2 Guns, but my character was still able to dish out the hurt to some vampires in a pair of fights with only mundane attacks and she avoided serious injury with 3 Athletics.  On the other hand, 2 Empathy and 3 Deceit didn't seem effective at all for me in social situations.  

----------------------------------

Temper was the one thrown down the stairs, not John.  I'm not sure why we bother attacking people.  Finding ways to make them fall seems like it'd do much more damage. 

Some of those vampires would have been screwed even if they were taking consequences.  IIRC, we had a few hits dealing around 10 damage.  And John's Chain Lightning was overloaded for +2 power, hitting for Weapon 5 on 2 targets - once of which flubbed the defense roll and was especially fried.

Supernatural Toughness was amazing.  Normally a Red Court guy hitting Temperance by 1 dealt out 4 damage, so she'd have to take a minor consequence (I could only spare an average Endurance).  Transformed, that was only 2 damage on a stress track going up 7, so she could take 6 such hits (starting fresh) before exhausting her stress track.  Potentially, she'll be fine even from the explosion.  OTOH, I expect that she might have to run around in a burning building for a bit to check for other people.

[iago]

A lot of the social attacks were Intimidate, where Discipline is listed as a basic defense.  Moreover, the interactions generally involved only a few people, so avoiding an emotional reaction so you don't give something away seemed like a decent defense.  As opposed to a situation with an audience, where having the witty comeback prevents you from looking bad in front of the other people.

It's not just about that; it's also about not tripping over your words, sussing out what the other guy is after, all that sort of thing. I think what I was driving at, really, was the notion that hey, if it's just Intimidation vs. Discipline over and over, something's wrong in the approach. "Ah," says the intimidator, "I won't get them to crack that way. I should go for a softer approach, then..." and changing up to a mixture of Rapport and Deceit strategies.

[Victim]

New session.

Social combat worked better.  Some maneuvers/assessments actually stuck, so people could deliver useful attacks.  Not using Disciple against Rapport also helped.  However, it was still considerably less decisive than a physical combat.   Another thing that helped in the social conflict was that we were doing a better job of playing to our strengths, instead of making an appropriate sounding but mechanically terrible Intimidate at +0 or something.

OTOH, I think we still needed to do a better job setting stakes for the social conflict.  The voodoo practitioner (now a Freeholding Lord thanks to the White Council, Red Court, and unknown faction) was trying to make a big reveal of telling us that a seriously powerful mortal wizard was behind a hurricane.  It was somewhat unclear what we had to gain or lose since he was going to tell us anyway.  However, I did discover two of Aspects ("Knows where the bodies are buried", and "the Laws hold us back" or something like that) and lead him to think he could divide us.  Mr. Nice Guy warden gave him a guilty conscience consequence, taking only stress in return.  I guess if he lost, then the White Council would have looked guilty or stupid in front of everyone in the neutral ground.

Also, in Whitfield's report to Morgan, he made up some gossip about Harry Dresden so he wouldn't look so bad in comparison after restarting the Vampire War - "Now I have TWO Wardens working for vampires..."  But Morgan is always angry, right?

In the end, we let the vampire writer get away because we decided to focus on the badly wounded spellcaster they had kidnapped (the girl who threw the entropy curse).  We would have had a chance at doing both if some moron had kept his mouth shut, because they would have been confident in holding the exit.  I might have able to demolish the wall facing the sun if they weren't chasing us down. 

When the vampires used a poor addict as cannon fodder when they moved out, they also kept the wizard from nuking 4+ vamps in the zone with lightning.  It really sucks when the bad guys use the laws of magic against you.

And the session ended with an ominous threat against Temper from Maya: her 'friends' have been called in...  If only she had the Lore to understand the true nature of the threat.   

But I raised Scholarship instead - both its first aid and information gathering abilities have come up.  It seemed to help open up more things than Might, the other Average skill I was thinking of bumping up.  I want to raise Athletics to Great, so I need to increase a bunch of other skills to create that opening in my skill triangle.    Not the best character design for quick growth, except to raise a Great to Superb (which I will need to do as part of increasing Athletics instead).  That's probably something I'd take into consideration in future characters.  Whitfield increased his Scholarship as well - now he has Average and can speak Latin like he should have been able to do in the first place. 

[mroehler]

So yeah, the last session ended pretty much as Victim described, with John Whitfield restarting the vampire war. Way to go John Whitfield the Third (we decided that as a group that the name John Whitfield just wasn't WASP-py enough). So now we're kicking off a new adventure, where Nicodemus and the Denarians come to town to recruit Temper do other evil things. What these evil things are, I don't quite know yet, but we'll have to find out.

We also had two of our players back from grad school, and joining the campaign themselves. Neither has read the books (unlike the original trio of us, all big fans) or ever played FATE before, so this should be pretty interesting. Note: adding new characters mid-campaign is really, really annoying, given how tightly characters and their aspects are intertwined with the narrative and city. Bleh.

Anyway, the first new character created is flying his Pure Mortal flag quite proudly; this guy is based on one of his old 3.5 Eberron characters, best described with the phrase "Vatican Assassin." I think that if the Catholic Church actually had assassins, he would be first in line to volunteer (as long as the uniform was cool). Anyway, the base of this character is Superb Fists, with the Mortal Stunts Footwork, Martial Arts, and the one that lets you use a weapon: he chose the baton and knife (police training, I guess, although this guy isn't a cop). So this guy now attacks (with a Weapon 2) and defends with a Superb skill; absolutely brutal. He also grabbed some ranks in Intimidate, Deceit, and Stealth to complete the assassin theme. In this campaign, Ignatius Salvatore works for the Venatori as an assassin. High Concept is Venatori Assassin, Trouble is something like No Shades of Grey; other Aspects include Firm in Faith, This Place Is Cursed, What Do You Think I Am, A Hippie, and I'm Trying to Help You. Probably not the best aspects, but oh well. His Trouble is fantastic . Anyway, he's in New Orleans keeping tabs on the Denarians, particularly one called Soneillon (Temper's Fallen). Ignatius also has an incredible 8 refresh (he also grabbed the Initiative stunt).

The other guy was a lot slower picking his character, but found the idea of a "sex vampire" too amusing to resist. He was torn between the Vampire and the Virgin, but upon learning that the Virgin couldn't actually sleep with anyone (w/o killing them, at least, and going full vamp) he quickly went with the normal vampire. He's got the typical WCV powers, and ended up with 3 Refresh. He decided to base his character on Sawyer from Lost, a con man and seducer who preys on women, feeding on them and taking their money. Obviously, he isn't really going to be closely connected to any of the main White Court houses; maybe he's some 'bastard' or offshoot. But finally we get a character actually from the Big Easy. He's got Superb Deceit, Good Guns and Athletics, and I forget exactly what else. But his mental attack is gonna be hella good. Anyway, this guy is something Lefleur. His High Concept is simply enough White Court Con Man, and his Trouble is Sometimes Does the Right Thing. Other Aspects include Price On His Head, and I forget what else. As for what Lefleur was doing in NO, we decided that he was a greedy conman, so he was trying to rob FEMA and that SOB Walters out of some government cash in a land deal, selling Walters (or perhaps the government; it could all be a giant conspiracy! just ask Temper) a bunch of land in the devastated areas of the city that he didn't own.

So now that we had the characters mostly completed and some of their basic motivations constructed, on to the adventure and the little we managed to actually accomplish! Next post, I guess.

[mroehler]

In another note, we're now using the changes to some of the talents, like No Pain, No Gain, as well as the upgrade to the Claws power. I'm sure that the Scorpion-Denarian is very happy.

[SoulCatcher78]

I can just hear his American counterparts referring to him as Iggy...

For a future tie in it might be worth taking a look at the character interaction from The Da Vinci Code between Bishop Aringarosa and Silas.

[mroehler]

The game started with the Warden getting a call from his boss Morgan, telling him that Summer was once again preventing the wizards from using the Ways of Summer. Summer would allow the wizards free passage if Whitfield consented to a duel with the Summer Knight, Fix. He told John that he had to accept, and that he would be contacted by the emissary chosen by Summer to mediate the duel. Morgan also asked if he needed a second, but John said t/ he would be fine.

He then decides to call his old friend in the Venatori, Ignatius (he was called Iggy a few times, but in one of our old games we also had an ice sorceress with the same nickname; also, we're used to pronouncing Ignatius w/o shortening it; I think his real name is actually the Spanish Ignacio) Salvatore, currently tracking the Denarian Soneillon...aka Temperance Smith. Ignatius was doing surveillance, and completely undetected by Temper. Ignatius was getting Legendary or Epic rolls with all of his Stealth rolls; at this point, he added the Mortal Stunt that gives him a +2 bonus when just trying to blend in. His repeated success was very disappointing, b/c I really wanted to compel Temper's Paranoid aspect to get her to attack him. As awesome as Ignatius is, I don't really think he could beat down someone with Supernatural Toughness. In my initial plan for this session, I was going to have an early Temper vs. Michael Carpenter battle, but Michael was replaced with the Venatori Assassin.

During Ignatius's very successful surveillance, he got a call from his old buddy John Whitfield, the new warden of New Orleans. During one of Iggy's background stories, he worked with John Whitfield successfully on some case or something. John wanted Ignatius to be his second on the duel. Is it just me, or did Temper get snubbed here? They agreed to meet at the Speakeasy to work out the details, since Ignatius must have been pretty bored watching Temper go about her daily routine. Where was all the evil?

Meanwhile, Lefleur was just finishing up a meeting with Walters, where Walters promised to check up on the specifics of the land deal. Or something. I had real trouble improving a role for the WC Con Man into my game, especially when everyone else was all about monster hunting and he had other goals. I'll have to think of something better for next time. I had him make a Contacts roll, which he bombed terribly, so I threw a FP at him as a Compel for one of his aspects (not sure which) for him to hear about some serious supernatural forces rolling into town, and he thought they were here for him. He does have a Price on his Head, after all.

So Lefleur heads over to the Speakeasy, knowing he's safe there, and to figure out exactly what's going on and if he needs to leave town. He hears the particulars of what's going on, and recognizes John as one of the two people topping Simon Walters shitlist. He goes over, buys John and Ignatius a beer (both almost immediately twig to the fact t/ he's WC), and starts making some chat about how they have a mutual enemy. Knowing how much Temper hates Walters, he calls her up and tells her there's someone here she should meet.

Temper grabs her bicycle and heads out to meet John and his new friends, when she sees a gang of thugs menacing a girl wearing a Catholic school uniform and a middle-aged man in a wheelchair. Temper's neighborhood isn't exactly a nice place after dark, or before it. But she approaches the thugs, tells them to get lost, then pulls out her Colt, cocking the slide. Temper absolutely blows her Intmidation roll (it was like -3 or something equally pathetic). So the slide of the pistol just comes off in her hand, causing the thugs to all laugh and make fun of her. Rightfully so. Then the girl asks "Father, can I kill them now?" in a British accent. The man in the wheelchair reminds his daughter that they have other engagements, and then throws out some Superb Intimidation and scatters the guys. One of the thugs warns that Jimbo will about this! The man in the wheelchair greets Temperance by name, introducing himself and his daughter. Enter Nicodemus. 

[Victim]

You'd think that failing would be punishment enough for a bad roll, but my stuff gets broken and my character becomes a joke in addition.     And I think it was -4.

Iggy was throwing out like +2 on all his rolls.  I was -1 on most of mine.  I think I'm going to start rolling out of cup. 

Snubbed?  That's just the beginning!  John invites Temper there and introduces her to a WCV.  Without any sort of indication that Lefleur is in fact a mind bending monster.    To get ahead of the summary a bit: Iggy kind of freaks a bit when Temper sits down there because John told him about her being the person he's looking for.  And then Nicky enters the bar a bit later.  Again, no mention of how dangerous this guy is.  And there's some back room dealing...  Temper has noticed how John was very quick to tell her the weaknesses of his enemies, but not so quick to mention anything else. 

So, what do we think the odds are that Nicodemus actually needs his wheelchair? 

[mroehler]

At this point, Nicodemus and Temper start chatting fairly amiably, with Temper wanting to know how Nick knows her name and where she lives. Nick tells her that he got the information from one of her enemies, Maya Stephenson, who probably wanted Nick and the Nickelheads to try to kill Temper. Instead, Nick says that he wants to recruit her. He hands her his business card, then apologizes, saying that he has another engagement. Nick also hits Temper with a Rapport attack for 4 stress, inflicting a minor condition, Likes Nicodemus, onto Temper. Exit Nicodemus and Deidre, stage left.

Note: IMG, Nicodemus survived the encounter with Dresden at Demonreach. However, he was grievously injured by the strangulation and drowning, and he's now partly paralyzed. He no longer wears the Barabas Noose, although he may have some other way to be invincible these days. Nicodemus is slowly recovering his strength and healing, while still weaving his plans. I gave him the Aspect "Damn this chair," and he's lost the use of many of his skills. For example, he can't really use his Fantastic Weapons skill anymore; he can still use his evil shadow magic to kick ass, not to mention his superb social skills.

Meanwhile, Jack Ellis the mechanic/citizen's vigilante and some other guy with white hair. They appear to be friends. The guy comes over, introduces himself. It's Fix, the Summer Knight. He seems like a nice guy, and regrets having to fight John Whitfield. Given the amount of damage that John can throw out, I think I'd regret having to fight John too (Fix seems pretty weak from a look at his stats, in my opinion). The Warden routinely throws out 7-8 shifts for both attack and damage with his lightning spells, so this doesn't look like a duel that Fix can win. Anyways, Fix says that the neutral emissary selected said he would meet them here. Fix's second, a centaur, also had trouble getting here (b/c he's a centaur!).

Temper finally shows up, so the band is now all back together. For the first time. John introduces her to Lefleur; Temper asks if she's being set up (for a date). Lefleur shoots down that idea rather quickly, then tells her how they have a mutual enemy, and he wants to hurt Simon Walters as much as she does. He says how he plans on robbing the FEMA director, presenting himself as a kind of Robin Hood figure. Go go gadget Deception. Temper, of course, buys the whole story. Ignatius gives Temper the cold shoulder, and throws a few subtle threats and warnings at her while doing so.

The emissary arrives: it's Nicodemus! Go figure. He wheels in, then gets John and Fix, as well as their seconds, into a backroom to work out the details for the duel. Nick isn't a big fan of tradition, so for the weapons he just suggests anything you can carry into the dueling area. No messing around with Flesh, Skill, Energy, or Will. And it's going to be to the death, of course. John's player suggests the Superdome for the duel, and that's agreed to. So now they set the date for two days from now.

Meanwhile, Temper and Lefleur work out some kind of tentative plan to screw over Walters, and Nicodemus leaves. Evidently there's some historic animosity between Ignatius and Nick as well, although Nicodemus isn't quite sure why. He wheels his way out, and John briefly considers hexing Nick's electric wheelchair just to be an ass. He decides not to.

As the group leaves, they get ambushed outside (AGAIN!) by a group of Gruffs. The Gruffs ask politely for those not involved to stand aside, and Lefleur does so. Then they open fire on the wizard, trying to kill him. Well, actually Ignatius goes first with his 6 Initiative, running up and bringing out his asp (a collapsible baton). He then attacks one of the Gruffs. Here's where I ask John's player just what an asp is made out of; he smiles and replies steel. So, ow. With one attack, Ignatius drops one of these fairy tale rejects in a single hit. Lefleur ducks behind cover, and Temper moves forward and does the exact same (taking cover behind John's Rolls Royce, an example of one of our running jokes). The Gruffs are pissed that Ignatius dared to use cold iron against them, so three of them surround him and try to beat him up. Two attempt maneuvers, the other attacks; all miss. That Superb defense is just incredible.

The other ones open up on John, to no real effect. He sets up a shield. The fight continues, with Lefleur and Temper adding in a few gunshots to weaken the enemies while Ignatius dances in the melee beating up everyone, and then John fries two Gruffs with lightning, killing them. Ignatius was a little more merciful. Here's where I offered a concession, having the gruffs pull back. As they leave, John says that Titania is a real bitch, arranging a duel then just trying to kill him in a parking lot. They just laugh in his face (knowing more than they let on). And there's where I ended the session, just trying to get things started.

Here, we have a few compels on everyone to get the adventure moving. It looks like we have the Summer Court trying to do something involving John, but the situation is more complicated than it is at first glance. One of my players (Victim) has guessed that Titania is actually using John to try to kill Fix, so she can pick her own Summer Knight. Nicodemus is in town, but it's unsure how many Denarians he's brought with him, and what his real goal is (it can't just be to recruit Temper and ref a duel). With luck, I'll have some more great social combat between him and Temper, along with some compels from her Whispers in the Dark to get her to cause some real mayhem and havoc. Maybe I'll get her to try and kill Simon Walters. Plus, there's Walter's evil greedy plans, along with Jimbo Hill, a WereGator, and his band of thugs.

On a side note, it's really annoying adding new characters to a city and campaign jointly created by the original players.

[Victim]

Whitfield #3 actually shot down the date idea.  And I think you forgot the thing with Lefleur and individual running the place. 

It's actually sort of disappointing that you dropped Michael's role for Iggy.  Michael is fundamentally decent guy - his mission is redemption.  Iggy, essentially, is a lot like Temper: a dangerous, tricky sort of person with an extremist worldview that justifies a lot of violence.  A lot of their skills are even the same.  So the dynamic would be completely different between the characters.

I suggested that Fix rig up an improvised Faraday Cage to help mitigate the Warden's lightning.  Get some use out of that superb Crafting.  And maybe he could tag it as a heat source to boost a fire attack after it is used up as a defense.

[Deadmanwalking]

Sounds like a really fun game. 

Regarding Fix: Keep in mind he should have 4 Focus Item slots, minimum, to enhance his magic (give him a level of Refinement and he could easily be a 4 shift spellcaster), and that the listed stats may be a bit low depending on the chronology (I certainly don't think they give him enough credit).

Also bear in mind that, due to Inhuman Speed he flat-out wins Initiative, and can move fast enough to attack in melee (with his Great Weapons) the first turn, and has a Superb Defense, base. A fate Point or two and he can absolutely dodge the Warden's attacks.

And finally, bear in mind that he can take Sponsor Debt to enhance his mystical power. For about 3 or 4 points he can match the Warden's Evocations for a turn. That's not ideal...but if he could reduce the Warden's effectiveness somewhat (say, that Faraday Cage mentioned...which I'd make a scene Aspect he could tag for free every time lightning is used) he could manage it cheaper, maybe 1-2 Sponsor Debt.

[mroehler]

Alright, we just met with our fifth and final player who missed the Friday game, and talked with him about character concepts. He decided on another spellcaster, this one a Focused Practioner who specializes in Crafting and Alchemy. Throw in some attitudes and phrases from the chef Emeril (or Elzar on Futurama), and you have the High Concept Iron Alchemist. Bam! His Trouble is This Works in Theory..., to reflect both his vast knowledge of all things alchemical, and the tendency to sometimes screw things up a little bit by experimenting (in one of the guest stories, the Escape potion he sold the WC Con Man transported only him, not his clothing).

Other Aspects include Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy, reflecting the fact that he grew up in New Orleans and has a lot of criminal and underworld ties, "Bam! Let's Kick Things Up a Notch!", his favorite catchphrase, and Collector of Rare Junk. Hasn't settled on the rest of his aspects yet.

[mroehler]

Oh, yeah, one other point is another rules change I made to the game. Implemented it back in Session 3, the one that Victim typed up. As is stand, the rules for enchanted items kind of suck. There's a very significant imbalance between offensive and defensive items that needs some kind of redress. You can craft your own defensive item (John uses an Air Shield Ring) to give you a free block 6 three  times per session as a reaction to any kind of attack. At no additional cost. When using spells or whatever, it takes an action to set up your block; with items, you can just use it whenever your Athletics dodge roll wasn't enough to save your bacon. It would be equivalent to letting an offensive item (like Harry's force ring) be used as a "free action" in addition to whatever offense you were throwing down that turn.

*Note: I'm using the values for John's items in these examples. The numbers could be anything.

Furthermore, I wonder what kind of idiot you have to be to pick up an Armor defense instead of a block. First of all, armor like Kevlar vests and the like is essentially free (costs no actions, no points, and it's not even illegal or particularly cumbersome). Second, with a free item block, you get a Block 6; with Armor, you reduce the damage by 3. The Block will reduce the damage by 6. Now, I realize that there are a few circumstances where the Armor is going to be better, but these are exceedingly rare. According to John's player, the Block even lasts for the duration of the round (exchange?), so it's going to provide a 6 Strength defense against every attack they hit you with for that round (one instance where it might be conceivably possible for some kind of magic armor to pull ahead).

Anyway, the change I made was that throwing down the Block costs an action, just like it would if you were using a spell. It just saves you the mental stress without giving you any kind of action advantage over your opponents.

[mroehler]

Okay, so here's my latest session report. We have a new character, Lenny (Leonard de Rossi), the Iron Alchemist: a flashy, showy focused practioner who knows more about alchemy than just about anyone. Unfortunately, he thinks he knows more than he does. He just finished a major project, a potion of the living death,  for the city's local wizard, John Whitfield. John sent the order in by mail, and now that he's finished the order, Lenny wants to collect. (GM Spoiler: John didn't actually order the potion. It was someone else in John's name.) Lenny's also a Collector of Rare Junk (the player later changed the aspect to Collector of McGuffins) and was hunting for the gris gris bag once owned by Marie Laveau the voodoo queen of New Orleans (Twenty bucks says she was a powerful spellcaster. And a hairdresser to boot, so double ouch for thaumaturgic symbolic links.) I threw a compel Lenny's way to get him to go after the bag and get him into the adventure.

Lenny goes over to the seller's house, to find it in a state of disrepair. The old man from whom Lenny was going to buy Laveau's old voodoo bag sees him, tells him how a band of thugs came over and wrecked his place, took his things. Lenny, the soul of tact and a Ruthless Competitor, tells the guy that if he doesn't have the bag, he's not going to pay him the money. Obviously. The old man tells Lenny that the leader of the thugs was some guy named Jimbo, and asks Lenny to break Jimbo's legs. Lenny happily agrees to that request, at least. Using his contacts, Lenny learns that Jimbo's gang is having some dealings with that FEMA SOB Simon Walters, and that the two groups have arranged a meeting. Lenny decides to show up, see what's going on, and take back his rare junk.

By some massive coincidence (aka b/c the plot demands it), Lefleur hears about the same meeting from Simon's secretary (he's a WCV, I'll let you figure out how). He also knows that Walters isn't going to be there, but a briefcase full of cash will. Lefleur wants money. So he tells Temper about the meeting, and how they can gather information and disrupt Walters's dealings. Temper's game, of course, so on to the meeting.

It takes place on a deserted outdoor basketball court in the Ninth Ward, the two parties each parking on different sides. A bunch of motorbikes and pickup trucks on one side, dark sedans on the other. They're walking towards each other, meeting in the middle of the courts. Lefleur shows up in his 93 Firebird (which may be stolen), Lenny in a windowless van with his company's logo painted on the side (which we hereafter jokingly referred to a kidnap van), and Temper on her bicycle. Much laughter ensues at Temper's expense, as well as quotes from Burn After Reading. ("You think that's a Schwinn!")

The two sides meet, some threats are exchanged, but the suits drop off the cash to the hillbilly's. Evidently, the plan emerges: Walters is using the gang as a way to lower the property values in the reason, and convince people to sell. Just like a Western (it doesn't matter which one, they're basically ALL like that). I'm so creative sometimes. Temper and Lefleur each hide from each side, Lefleur "pretending" to be a bum. (The bumness is fake; the whiskey is real). Lenny, master of subtlety, just wanders onto the court, says he also has a meeting with Jimbo. The suits agree to let him be there as long as he doesn't make any sudden moves.

The meeting goes well, with Jimbo's boys taking the cash and leaving. But Jimbo isn't there! And Lefleur wants that cash. So he fires off a shot towards the suits, , causing a massive firefight as each side thinks the other started shooting first. Deceit is Lefleur's best skill, after all, and it was pretty hilarious. Temper and Lenny take cover, while Lefleur uses the opportunity to shoot out the tires on one of the pickup trucks...he has a plan.

Temper's idea of cover, as it turns out, is a playground slide. The two sides continue to fight, and one of the suits is wounded. Each side is withdrawing. Lenny grabs the wounded guy and starts to drag him to his kidnap van. I think maybe he was trying to help him, or something. Who knows. Anyway, one of the mercs notices, and starts firing at Lenny, forcing him to retreat. Lefleur enacts his master plan, jumping into the bed of the other, undamaged pickup and hiding there. The thugs and mercs each leave, content to retreat. A problem quickly emerges: Temper wants to follow the thugs in case Lefleur needs backup, but she isn't going to be catching up to a truck on her Schwinn. So Lefleur throws his keys out the bed of the truck, so Temper can follow. Lenny wants to find Jimbo, or at least Laveau's old voodoo bag, so he follows the pickup truck as well.

The car chase is on! It's not much of a chase, however. One of the thugs hops into the bed as the truck pulls away, noticing Lefleur. Lefleur moves to shoot the guy, the guy turns into a gator. As it turns out, Jimbo Hill leads a gang of weregators. A wrestling match ensues, with Temper and Lenny each trying to catch up. Temper blows a driving check (I guess she's used to her Schwinn), damaging Lefleur's car in the chase. Lefleur, meanwhile, is trying to subdue the weregator, grab the briefcase of cash stowed in the cab, and get out with his skin intact.

Lenny realizes that perhaps car chases aren't his forte, so he wants to stop the thugs' truck. With Sovereign Glue. I compel his "This Works in Theory" aspect, causing a massive car accident as the truck flips over, knocking end over end, taking out the two guys in the cab. The weregator and Lefleur both take a lot of stress, and Lefleur has to take a Moderate Concussion consequence. Poor Lefleur...he didn't even get the FP. Comments on that? It was Lenny's trouble, but it screwed over the vampire. Lefleur grabs the case, gets into the F-bird, and the duo drives away. Temper can't help but notice, however, that Lefleur is more than your ordinary everyday con man. He also talks about needing to Feed. Uh oh. Too bad her high Lore Wizard buddy never told her she was working with a WCV. Kind of important, don't you think?

Lenny grabs one of the wounded guys, intent on finding out the whereabouts of his McGuffin, and drags him into his kidnap van. I had intended for the three to be united with some common goals, but instead the Iron Alchemist nearly killed the sex vampire. You know, I'm not sure how fair his Trouble really is. It causes more problems for everyone else down the line. I guess as long as it's entertaining, it's okay. Lefleur has even more things go badly for him in the second part of this update, taking a Severe Consequence. In a way, the Musts he has kind of screw him: he has Inhuman Strength, but none of his skills really use it. Maybe I should allow him not to take some of his Musts, for a better character (require additional expenditures of Refresh, perhaps, getting higher in the Incite Emotion tree).

Victim, otoh, suggests, that Lefleur uses a bow instead of a gun, since it nets a +1 damage. Kind of. Considering the size of a bow, it's really more comparable with an AK-47 than a Glock. Otoh, the example bow we've seen (used by the 3 ft. tall Keebler elves) is more of a shortbow/horsebow than one of the big Longbow models. Lefleur could be even more like the Robin Hood figure he pretends to be!

And just from this first session, Lenny is bad ass. He's got an armor item with 3 uses, a Weapon 7 attack with 3 uses (universal solvent), a weapon 5 zone attack with 3 uses (exploding flask), and 3 uses of his sovereign glue that imposes the stuck aspect on the target for 2 exchanges. As I said, Bad Ass. And he's got like 5 potion slots, and Harry Potter's cloak of invisibility. He's also got Great Weapons, and carries a baseball bat that he uses to surprising effect. Bam! He really Kicks Things Up a Notch!

Part Two to come later, when it's not so damn late.