Help me brainstorm consequences for PCs in Las Vegas (the Paranet Papers one)?

[WadeL]

So, the players decided they wanted to take a road trip to Las Vegas to get away from some heat in their hometown. The group consists of a Wizard in a Midlife Crisis (he came to magic late in life and is sort of having a second youth), a Rabble Rousing Sorcerer, a "Good ole Boy" ex-cop Alchemist, a Nixie-Blooded Changeling, and a Ghost Speaker Musician.

This happened just after I read the Las Vegas preview chapter from Paranet Papers, so I was like "Sweet, I'll just use this stuff". We're set back before the Red Court War, so not only are Red Court vamps still around, they're not even at war with the White Council. So The Dragon is definitely still large and in charge in Las Vegas.

Anyway, they mess around in the casinos and such, and then one of them ran into a human trafficking situation. The group managed to, through some subterfuge, arrange a meet with the human traffickers to try and rescue a girl... Turns out the guys they met with were Red Court Vampires, and the group opened up on them. The Alchemist killed one RCV, and the second managed to flee the scene.

These guys are chest-deep, so two RCVs was a hard fight, so they all evac'd pretty quickly - calling the cops (who, incidentally, showed up to react with shock at the corpse of the one RCV in the middle of the street), getting medical attention, etc, and then crashing back at their hotel for the day.

So, the subterfuge they used to meet up with the human traffickers did involve the wizard giving his real name (or, like, a portion of it, not the whole thing) to the traffickers. And he'd also, upon first coming to the strip, antagonize Big Cory...and told Cory his name in a "You'd better remember me" kind of way. And he used the same name to check into the hotel. So presuming there is any flow of communication amongst the various vampires underneath the Dragon, it seems by the time evening comes again, there's a good chance the Dragon will know:
a) There's a Wizard in town named Don Black.
b) This people baited two RCVs into meeting him, and one of his associates killed a RCV.
c) They called the cops before doing anything to get rid of the RCV corpse.
d) They are staying at Circus Circus.

Now, from how the Dragon is described in the Paranet Papers, it seems he isn't going to care too much about someone just mucking stuff around...but you go killing a member of the Red Court, you freak out the cops... I dunno, it seems some action has to be taken.

It would seem the logical thing would be to have the PCs woken up by a knock at their door, and have some goons from the Dragon want to escort them into a meeting with either the Dragon or one of his subordinates. And then have the Dragon demand weregild or payment of some type... Presuming the PCs don't turn it into an "Escape from Las Vegas" scenario, which is fine, too.

But I have no clue what types of demands the Dragon might make, etc.

Anyway, so if you've got any ideas - on what the Dragon might demand or some other way the scenario could play out - I'd love to hear them. Brainstorm with me!

[Theogony_IX]

Here are some thoughts:

Most hotel rooms in Las Vegas only fit two non-intimate adults comfortably, three is a little cramped, five is out of the question.  Multiple adjoining rooms would be the best thing, but they aren't always available.  I bring this up with the thought that the Dragon could send some goons in the night and kidnap a few of the group as ransom, to use as an example, or even both.

The Dragon could demand payment for the loss of his employee by requiring the PCs to carry out a series of tasks such as: go deliver this message to this scary high powered creature; go pick up a package from this group of dangerous whatevers but don't open the package; the dead employee had some information for me, now you track down this bit of information since you lost it; etc.  Fun ensues.

Maybe the Dragon requires a form of payment that is incredibly rare that takes the PCs on an adventure

Maybe that particular RCV didn't belong to the Dragon, but someone higher up the RC food chain.  The Dragon sees this as an opportunity to pit one formidable foe against another and benefit either way especially if he can get the PCs tangled up enough to be unable to leave Las Vegas.  This could ultimately balance out a rising power in the area bringing the city back to a precious equilibrium.

[kgy121]

In this case, The Dragon is basically getting his authority challenged. As such, he will probably need to make an example of them to keep the delicate balance of power in Vegas.

If the wizard is the one who was 'responsible' for it, he'd probably be the only one to be singled out for retribution. As was established in the Faerie War, lesser beings used in the course of a hostile action qualify as 'tools' and as such their actions simply add to the punishment inflicted on their master.

Were I in that position, I'd probably either have the wizard mutilated somehow to send a message to the White Council along the lines of 'You breached the accords and killed one of my men. I'm being merciful this time' or addicting him to the Red Court Saliva and then sending him on a suicide mission to excorsize The Cowboy or something.

[KARASOTH]

In this case, The Dragon is basically getting his authority challenged. As such, he will probably need to make an example of them to keep the delicate balance of power in Vegas.

If the wizard is the one who was 'responsible' for it, he'd probably be the only one to be singled out for retribution. As was established in the Faerie War, lesser beings used in the course of a hostile action qualify as 'tools' and as such their actions simply add to the punishment inflicted on their master.

Were I in that position, I'd probably either have the wizard mutilated somehow to send a message to the White Council along the lines of 'You breached the accords and killed one of my men. I'm being merciful this time' or addicting him to the Red Court Saliva and then sending him on a suicide mission to excorsize The Cowboy or something.

And we could in turn use these events to hook the Characters in to the war and the crushing of the Red Court Vampires. The Characters being sent on some crazy suicide mission and they come back and they come into the vacuum of power, and in turn rumors happen that they were part of a set up by the white council to get the dragon in a place they could kill him

making a nice red target on all of the players

[WadeL]

In this case, The Dragon is basically getting his authority challenged. As such, he will probably need to make an example of them to keep the delicate balance of power in Vegas.

True, but...

Were I in that position, I'd probably either have the wizard mutilated somehow to send a message to the White Council along the lines of 'You breached the accords and killed one of my men. I'm being merciful this time' or addicting him to the Red Court Saliva and then sending him on a suicide mission to excorsize The Cowboy or something.

With the exception of the last one here, I can't at all see these being good for gameplay. Players will sometimes stomach that type of stuff if they take it as a result of a fair fight going badly, but when forced on them as "punishment" by something outside their weight class...yeesh, I've never seen that go well.

[PirateJack]

True, but...

With the exception of the last one here, I can't at all see these being good for gameplay. Players will sometimes stomach that type of stuff if they take it as a result of a fair fight going badly, but when forced on them as "punishment" by something outside their weight class...yeesh, I've never seen that go well.

That just means they're emotionally invested in their characters and now have something to work towards in regards to beating the Dragon. Never underestimate how far players will go to have their revenge.

[WadeL]

That just means they're emotionally invested in their characters and now have something to work towards in regards to beating the Dragon. Never underestimate how far players will go to have their revenge.

Perhaps people have had different experiences, but in my experience this only works when they lose what they perceive as something resembling a fair contest. They tend to go the opposite way and utterly disengage if they feel it is coming from opposition they had no meaningful way to try and stop.

[Cadd]

You can always pitch it to the player(s) in question.

For me personally, surprise is a bit overrated in roleplaying. It absolutely has its place, put a lot of times my enjoyment is just a big when I know what's coming and can help "push" toward that with my characters choices.

In this case: ask the player if one of those options would be interesting to play. If it is, go for it. If not, go with something like the exorcism.

I think however that I prefer Theogony_IX's idea about a power play, and it can even be combined with the "demanding payment" idea - it's a RCV in his town, so he can demand payment. That it also happens to be someone belonging to a competitor and now the players are pawns of The Dragon in this conflict is neatly hidden by the obvious (and in the eyes of the rest of the supernatural world completely fair) demand for weregild.

[Sanctaphrax]

Do the players have a chance at beating the Dragon in a fight? I think he'd be an appropriate fight for a high-combat-power Chest Deep party, but you said they had trouble with two standard RCVs so maybe that wouldn't go so well.

If they do have a chance, I'd probably just have him demand something unreasonable and let the situation escalate. If they don't, I'd probably just have the Dragon sit them down and explain that he needs a gesture of submission/compensation. Have him challenge them to come up with a way to pay him back publicly.