Occult Tales (IC): Chapter 3

[Gazman]

Chuck
HP: 3 Condition: Fine

Chuck shudders a little and withdraws his hand from the vampire's coffin. His normally dark brown skin has paled to an ashen gray. "Yeah. Blood magic. Evil stuff. Fueled by strong emotions. And I think those emotions really did make our killers control slip during the casting. Somebody sure felt some kinda way about Pietro there."

The big man takes a breath and turns toward Kr. "You were right on with that read, son. You start talking sense, who knows where you could go."

"I think checking out this club is the best lead. I'll meet you there." Chuck pulls a giant ring of keys from his pocket and quickly pulls out the key for his van. "Does anybody here need a ride?"

[flynnarrel]

Halla
hp1lp1

"I drove here. I'll also meet you at the club. Is there a dress code?"

"And, I guess we should get a list of his enemies and personal contacts. Only someone who knew him personally would be able to generate that kind of emotion, wouldn't they?" She considers this a moment.

"No, I guess if someone convinced the caster that Pietro did them wrong or was the embodiment of a long-standing hatred..."

[Gazman]

Chuck
HP: 3 Condition: Fine

Chuck runs a hand over his plaid work shirt and looks up sheepishly. "Yeah. Dress code. Guess it's been a while since I went clubbing. But I thought that list was why we were going to Umbra. Find out who our boy was hangin' around with?"

[RedBstrd]

GM Post:

The assistant considers Graham's request but declines. "I apologize, but Mr. Napolitano was clear that he wanted you to be doing the investigation so that everyone knows that everything is legit with his justice. We noticed that stuff but if you could bag it and look into it, that would be best." Deciding that some help would be appropriate, he adds, "I'll get a bag from the kitchen..." The assistant leaves the room.

It's up to you guys who actually bags the stuff.

[flynnarrel]

Halla
hp1lp1

"But I thought that list was why we were going to Umbra. Find out who our boy was hangin' around with?"

"Sylvia, from the Umbra Club only found the... uh... body. There's nothing to say he was hanging there that night... I was looking to see if we could get a list of his business contacts or acquantances. Heck even his cell phone could give clues.... or... roladex if vamps have as much trouble with cells as practitioners do. Anything like that?"

[RedBstrd]

Halla
hp1lp1

"But I thought that list was why we were going to Umbra. Find out who our boy was hangin' around with?"

"Sylvia, from the Umbra Club only found the... uh... body. There's nothing to say he was hanging there that night... I was looking to see if we could get a list of his business contacts or acquantances. Heck even his cell phone could give clues.... or... roladex if vamps have as much trouble with cells as practitioners do. Anything like that?"

The assistant grunts in acknowledgement and informs Halla that a list can be made. He swipes a copy of the phone records off of a table in a nearby office and delivers them to Halla. Pietro made no calls for three or four hours preceding his death.

[RedBstrd]

Chapter 2: Shadows on the Wall

Within a half an hour, the members of the team assembled by the Red Court duke have arrived at the establishment known as the Umbra Club. The building itself looks to be a few decades old but in good repair with relatively recent and hip decor. The front has room for parking but most guests seem to get dropped off by taxis or park along the street in front of other buildings which are closed in the late evenings. An alleyway leading between the club and one of the neighboring buildings sneaks back past a small number of other places which are probably a mixture of residential and commercial properties. The alleyway, the apparent place of Pietro's death, is fairly well lit and visible from the sidewalk in front of the building, but not from the front door. Depending on the exact location of the kill site, the timing of the attack may have been well chosen or possibly even very bold.

Not being a posh bar in a trendy neighborhood, the establishment boasts only a simple unarmed bouncer at the front. He checks the ID of incoming customers but no waiting line extends from the door.

Inside, the club appears lively and the sounds of dance music and conversation carry out of the club.

[RedBstrd]

GM Post:

Outside of the club, Halla waits for Graham to drop off his little bag at the police station. Back at the estate, something told her to get her own sample of the material - particularly when she noticed the spiritual residue around the stuff. It clearly is composed of things linked to the spirit world. As she looks at the bag for the dozenth time, the same nagging thought occurs to her; she's seen stuff with the same ghostly aura before. It's not exactly the same, but for the most part, it's eerily reminiscent of things she'd seen in her mother's shop.

In a district not far from there - James sits in a nearly empty bar, mostly catering to a crowd of professional drinkers a few decades his senior. The owner is an aged Polish man named Gavel. He has a weak bladder and strong dislike for most customers, but a healthy dose of honesty behind his words and a sense of respect for the wonder of the world. A product of a grandmother's frequent telling of legends about faeries and other folk tales, he just accepts the occasional oddity that accompanies James through life. Gavel doesn't read into any of the weird stuff; instead he just waves his hand and begins a short "In the Old Country..." story which he almost never ends. Either distracted by his weak bladder or a customer, he forgets his train of thought. In the midst of one of these stories, Gavel proceeds to the restroom, leaving James almost alone in the bar. A voice behind the wizard breaks the silence.

"Just when were you going to inform the Council that the Red Court tried to involve you in some manner of intrigue against us?"

The voice belongs to Ampelia, a half-Greek, half-Indian Warden. She leans on the counter and looks James up and down in a manner which is unfortunately more confrontational than not. If not for her strong jaw line, the wizard would be quite attractive. Despite her still slightly better than average looks, the sword at her side generally convinces people that she means business.

[flynnarrel]

Halla

Halla carefully scrutenizes the dust.

Perception (1d20+11=20)

No matter what her findings she'll figure out who among the Community of folks who used to frequent her Mama's restaurant might know something about either the vampire or the killing. She'd stretched her already-tentative friendships a little thin with all her fruitless inquiries trying to get justice for her mother or even just getting the House rebuilt, but maybe there was someone she could ask.

[Halla has Connected Persuation w/attractive (1d20+13=31)
Not sure if it's worth using now. Or even if there are limited uses.]

Halla shows up to the club, her mother's gris-gris gift now attached to a leather choker mostly covered by her hair. Worked into the leather, however, is Erzulie's spirit symbol - an implement of her faith.



Otherwise she was in a tasteful if revealing party dress.

[Psychopath]

James Smith
HP: 2

James looks at Ampelia with an unamused expression on his face. "You know if you are going to threaten me in public like this the least you could do is buy a drink from Mr. Gavel for taking up his counter time away from other customers." openly showing complete disregard for her "status" as warden. "But since you asked i wasn't going to inform the white council because i have no reason to care if you all are shown to be incompetent, senile, hypocrites that i know you to be because you one won't follow up on a potential magical murder because a red court asked you to and two you openly scoff at the idea that anyone who doesn't measure up to your ideals isn't even worth recognizing for what they can do, and lastly you expect everyone to follow your codes and ideals even if you tell them they are never going to be anything to the council." James takes a breath and drinks from his beer "Now if you are done posturing about like you are the only thing that matters i would like to get back to my night of forgetting about the amount of evil that would have to be wrot just to even make a spell to harm let alone kill someone vampire or not." and with this James stands up and makes his way over to a secluded booth the same one he sits at when he's doing some severe thinking.

[Arthur Eld]

Graham arrived at the club, his white town car pulling up with a hint of jazz playing through the windows. When he emerged from the vehicle, he had added a white suit coat and black tie to his ensemble.

He strode up to Halla, smiling widely. "Find the place all right?" He asked.

Then he offered her his arm, like a proper gentleman. "As easy as it would be to cause a ruckus, I imagine our task would be easier to be discreet about approaching the owner. My investigations have usually gone smoothest with a delicate touch." He smirks over his last words.

[RedBstrd]

GM Post:

Ampelia fishes in her pocket and draws out a crumpled $10 bill, tossing it on the bar counter. "Drink it quickly because you're not staying." She places a hand on the pommel of her sword. "See? Now that's what a threat looks like. Before, I was just asking you a question." Taking her hand off of the sword, she leans in towards James and barks out a few more words: "Your answer was not good enough."

Backing up to a more comfortable conversing distance, she explains, "The Red Court hasn't asked us for any investigation. We'll look into the matter but our investigations are not privy to public scrutiny from the likes of them or you." As the Polish bar owner returns from the restroom, the Warden motions for the man to pour James another of whatever he was having. "Now you know why you aren't staying?" Not waiting for James to respond, she answers her own question: "Because we are in a war. Perhaps you have forgotten. Perhaps I have to remind you that you don't want to be on the wrong side of that war. Right now, you're pissing us off and you're pissing them off. Do not doubt that I'll protect you from Red Court scum but also don't forget that the reason for that protection is because you're in a community. DO YOUR DAMN PART!"

Gavel brings the drink over and then quickly pivots and walks back to cleaning glasses, wanting no part of any conversation with angry women bearing swords. Ampelia has little more to say, though. "Call the Duke's men back and tell them that you reconsidered. Take the job and keep an eye on the rest of the people who are working for the fangs. If you find anything that could help unveil the alleged black magician, bring the news to us too. Do that and you'll have done your part and we'll be grateful. The others just drove to a place called the Umbra Club. Meet them there but say nothing of our little talk." From her demeanor, she isn't up for much discussion of the proposal she just put forth.

[flynnarrel]

Halla

She smiles a brilliant, charming smile, mostly to hide flutters of nervousness.

"With most of the city still demolished, directions become easier, Inspector." She takes his arm.

"I'll submit to your expertise in this matter and suppotr however you want to play things."

Halla fixed in her mind the presence of Dumballah, a serpentine avatar of her... no, of Erzulie's husband, well one of the three, she had to keep that strait. She took comfort that she could call forth an ally as she took the arm of this relative stranger and prepares to walk in to the den of potentially hostile predators.

She knew a little of the Red Vampires.

occult (1d20+1=18)

But she should confirm her knowledge.
She leans in to Graham, her tone more serious.
"So, Red court. Sunlight, symbols of faith, euphoric saliva, anything else I should know?"

[Mr.United]

Kr

Kevin drove into one of the empty parking spaces. His stereo blurring of Hair Metal from the 80s. As he places the truck in park and opens the door, the song blurs out. Luckily his own voice was drownded out by the song as he sung along, "ROCK YOU LIKE A HUUUURRRRIIIIICCCANNNNEEE!" After the guitar solo of the song, Kevin kills the engine, grabs his K-mart special suit jacket, his 2 dozen roses, and then heads for the door to the Umbra. He quickly spots Halla who was hard to miss who seemed to be talking with one of the other guys from the mansion.

Kevin gave himself a once over from a car who's tinted windows gave a nice reflection. His hair though combed, still seemed to choatic, his button up dark blue shirt refused to hide the wrinkles it had from being in a suitcase and his shoes seemed to once shine, but those days were long gone. However, Kevin merely shrugged as he called it close enough.

As he made his way to the door, Kevin, double checked to make sure his gun was secured and safely hidden inside the roses. Kr didn't want to take any chances with these vamps and some places didn't like guns too much. Few would question roses, especially if a beautiful woman holds them.

"Hey guys! Wait up!" he yells as he does a fast walk towards the two.

Not sure what to roll...Sleight of Hand...Disguise....Deception.... for the gun in the flowers....which was from T2 if you didn't know. Let me know.

[Arthur Eld]

He chuckles-no one had ever called him Inspector before. He got 'dick' a lot-and only once in the old timey, detective slang way. "A fair point from a fair maid." He smiled as he considered her question.

"Well, I'm hardly an expert, but you've got the highlights. They're faster and stronger than any man could hope to be. Like all predators, they like to be reminded of just how strong. I say we play to the ego of whoever runs this place. Seeing as how we're working for one of their Dukes we should have no problem." He kept his voice low-the average clubber had no idea what the Red Court was-and it should stay that way.

When they walked up to the bouncer, however, he was a lot louder-happily so. "Sup?" He said by way of greeting. He had learned from his father that overly formal speech was a mark of the supernatural community-if he slipped in and out of it, people would assume it was an affectation and not his custom. A smart predator must know how to use camoflauge. He presented his ID to the man, wrapped in a hundred dollar bill. "That's for you, pal. Now, if you wouldn't mind directing my friend and I to whoever's in charge, I'd really..." His voice trailed off as he saw that man again. Honestly, Graham had hoped he might get lost or something.

"Appreciate it." He managed to finish. Then h e turned his head to KR, wondering what exactly this man was afraid of.

"Glad you could make it. We're going to go in and hopefully speak to the owner, and then the woman who discovered the body. Get permission before we examine the scene itself. Discretion is important here, and simple courtesy. Do you think you can manage that, or is it going to be a problem?" He made it sound like he didn't care one way or another, but Graham was not a very patient person. If this person insisted on making Graham's job more difficult than it had to be, he'd have to do something about it very quickly.