Occult Tales (IC): Chapter 3

[RedBstrd]

GM Post:

KR arrives at the spot of the attack, still visible on the ground due to traces of blood. No police chalk line draws out the location of the body, likely indicating that the police were never called about the death.

Kevin can see a video camera above the door back here but after watching its rotation pattern, he's fairly confident that the attacker planned the murder to be specifically at a spot that the cameras don't cover. It's unlikely that any footage of the attack exists.

Meanwhile, Halla sweet talks one of the security guards, who agrees to bring her a few disks of footage. He retreats into the offices, leaving Halla free to meet Kevin and Chuck in the alleyway.

[Gazman]

Chuck
HP: 3 Condition: Fine

Chuck squeezes his way out of the club into the sticky New Orleans night. He pulls a pocket handkerchief out and mops up his dripping brow. The sweat gleams on his shaven scalp. "Whew." This necessity complete, the big man walks around the club exterior until he draws up at the blood traces. Chuck is more comfortable here with the bricks and mortar of an alleyway than the secrets and intrigues of supernatural creatures and night clubs.

He spots his erstwhile companion, Kevin heading further down the alley but decides to let him do his thing alone. As long as he doesn't get into any trouble. The big man hunkers down next to the blood stains and closes his eyes. He focuses on the memory of Pietro's corpse and tries to feel out any traces of the same energies here. Maybe he could place the killer or get more details out here at the scene.

Feel forces Perspective (1d20+8=19)

[Mr.United]

Kr

Kr makes note of the blood and the camera. With no police tape around, he figured that no one would anything or saw anything to report. He finds it hard to believe but then he didn't know how deep the Red's hands were in this city.

Kr makes his way into the alleyways, his eyes scanning for anyone who would call this place home. He made sure his gun was secure, for homeless seem to just run from threats of pain or death. Instead money, even small amounts could loosen their lips and perhaps releive them of any items they would pick up before the police or whoever showed up.

Perception on any Homeless around the alleyway: 1d20+7=25

[RedBstrd]

GM Post:

Kevin begins scanning the alleyway for signs of the homeless, including any indirect signs of their presence. Unfortunately, the bar seems to do a good job of scaring away anyone who might be interested in lingering there for extended periods of time. It makes sense, after all, given how scary the owners and clientele are. Behind him, Chuck kneels down and begins scanning the area for forces of the arcane. As usual when playing with the traces of magic, he gets tightness in his gut and he begins seeing traces of forces arranged in ways they wouldn't normally occur. What comes next, though, is something that's never accompanied his previous analysis...

From the doorway of the club's back entrance, Halla gets greeted by an unexpected sight. Chuck is kneeling on the ground, grasping at his neck. Some sort of spiritual entity, apparently forming itself out of arcane energy left at the site of the kill, is perched atop Chuck's back and is strangling the man with an ethereal cord with a number of charms hanging off of it. The entity looks like an artisan expertly carved a larger-than-life sized monkey out of wood - except that it's ghostly. It opens its unnatural mouth and lets out a cry that sounds like dice rolling around inside of a wooden cup. No words - or even animal sounds - emerge from the ethereal monkey doll's mouth.

Neither Chuck nor Kevin can see or hear the spirit.

Chuck gets a Hero Point for falling victim to a magical trap. He is currently suffocating but able to act.

[Arthur Eld]

Graham excused himself as the other man arrived, giving him a cordial nod. "I think it best to join my fellows in taking a look at the actual crime scene." He did wonder about any specific examples Silvia might have about the deceased's 'abrasiveness', but he decided that could wait.

Taking a tumbler of vodka, he drained it as he made his way outside, setting it down on the bar as he passed by. Then he headed out behind Halla, pleased at the view. His smile was sharpish and warm, but a dangerous kind of warm.

[Gazman]

Chuck
HP: 3 Condition: Fine

Chuck feels the disturbance of the natural forces that indicate magical energies at work. He is about to delve into their specifics when he feels something else. A cord of ectoplasm is tightening around his neck like a garrote. He chokes out a haggard breath against the pressure of something pulling from atop his back. "Ack." And then he can breathe no more.

In that instant of pressure Chuck focuses on the force pulling against his thick, but human throat. He turns that pull around and exerts his own force. He pushes back against his attacker. Hard.

Fortitude (1d20+5=8) Incapacitated. Nope.
HP reroll (1d20+5=15) Holding my breath for this round okay.
Touch is an accurate sense and this thing I can't see or hear is on my back. I want to attack it.
Shift Mass (1d20+6=25) If that hits I want to throw the monkey thing into the wall across the alley with rank 8 Move Object.

[flynnarrel]

Halla
hp 2 lp1

Halla's eyes go wide and Graham can probably sense her anxiety rising.

"It's choking him." She exclaims and calls the power of Dumballah to manifest.

Call Dumballah - Summon Snake, Heroic, Mental Link 6r, [25pp]
Snake: Dumballah
Str 4 agi 4 Dex 2 Sta 6 Fgt 6 Int 0 Awe 4 Pre 0 [52pp]
Advantages[8pp]: Fast Grab, Grappling Finesse, Improved Hold, Prone fighting, Hide In Plain Sight, Interpose, Chokehold, Skill Mastery(stealth)
Skills [9pp]: Stealth +8 (+12), Acrobat +1 (+5), Perception +5(+9), Close Unarmed 2(+8 ), Intimidate 2
Movement – slithering, Wall Crawling 1, Speed 1 [5pp]
Senses-infravision, Tremorsense [4pp]
Elongation 1, Permanent [1pp]
Strike 2, str-based [2pp]
Strength Affects Insubstantial [1pp]
Scales - Protection 2 [2pp]
Defenses: [6pp]
Tou +8, Parry 6, Dodge 6
Will 6, Fort 8
Offenses: Unarmed +8, DC21 Toughness, Grapple, +13
Complications: No Hands, Mute, i.e.- a Snake
[Total: 90 pp]
I think heroic means it acts now, if not, apply this next round.

"Get it off!" She pleads to the snake.

It strikes.

Attack, strong attack.
attack (1d20+8-2=16)
Only half his strength affects insubstantial, so DC 17 +2 from strong attack so 19. then Fast Grab to grapple
grapple (1d20+13=33)
ah, nice.

The snake would wrap around the monkey creature's torso and arms to wrench the cord from Chuck's throat.

[RedBstrd]

GM Post:

Chuck is able to force out the words necessary to shape energy around him into a force capable of tossing his unseen attacker at the wall across the alley. He hears no thud to indicate success but the pressure on his neck subsides and he is able to swallow a breath of air.

The Wooden Voodoo Monkey is insubstantial, so Chuck's attack doesn't work entirely as planned. The Move Object is energy, based on Gazman's description of how the powers function, so Chuck can toss the monkey off his back. When it hits the wall, though, the monkey takes no damage.

Strength check: 1d20+4=13. Chuck's Move Object wins the struggle.

Dumballah, the serpent snake, manifests between Chuck and the ghostly monkey. The snake hisses at the wood-like spirit creature, which returns the favor in the form of a rattling noise identical to its prior vocalization.

Heroic means that the summoned creature isn't Dazed like other summoned creatures (and it isn't a minion for purposes of combat). It is still unable to act during the round it is summoned.

[Arthur Eld]

Graham cursed in Ancient Etruscan, the words flowing smoothly from his red lips. "What is that thing?" A giant ghost monkey. Graham had never heard of such a thing-animals like monkeys didn't have ghosts, from what little he knew about the subject.

He considered his knife. What good would it do him here, against such a thing?

Still, he had other options. Graham hardly noticed, being less sensitive to such things, due to his nature, but his skin began to grow cold.

Initiative 1d20+8=10

[flynnarrel]

Halla

"Keep it off!" She pleads to the snake.

It strikes.

Attack, strong attack.
attack (1d20+8-2=16)
Only half his strength affects insubstantial, so DC 17 +2 from strong attack so 19. then Fast Grab to grapple
grapple (1d20+13=33)
ah, nice.

The snake would wrap around the monkey creature's torso and arms.

init (1d20+3=21)

Halla herself looks from the construction worker/spell caster to the private investigator growing paler and silver-eyed. She steps back from both, wary of her 'companions'.

[Psychopath]

James Smith
HP: 2

James nods to the investigator as he passes before stopping at the table he just left and smiles at the woman saying. "Well since it seems my current colleges have all left i guess i'll just have to ask you what happened the night of pietro's murder miss...?" as he looks around the club before fixing the ridge above the bridge of her nose with an inquisitive stare.

[RedBstrd]

GM Post:

Before the monkey has a chance to react, dumballah strikes at it, damaging the phantasmal creature. The snake then begins to wrap around the voodoo monkey. The monkey protests with its rattly mimicry of speech.

Toughness: 1d20+6=8. The wooden voodoo monkey is Dazed, Staggered, and suffers -1 to its Toughness checks.

Grapple: 1d20+6=19. Since the snake won by 2 or more degrees of success, the monkey is bound (Defenseless, Immobile, Impaired).

[RedBstrd]

GM Post:

Silvia shrugs. "Nothing worth mentioning. He was here with his usual friends, he stepped out or left at some point, and someone ambushed him. One of my girls noticed him at some point and brought it to my attention." She moves on to examining her nails as if she's getting bored with the conversation. "I trust my security will satisfy your other questions," she notes as she then departs.

Silvia doesn't like magi much, so she's cold to James but it seems like we've covered this ground with her already, so she's ending the conversation for OOC and IC reasons.

[Gazman]

Chuck
HP: 3 Condition: -2 Active Defenses

Chuck half collapses to the dirty alley floor for a second, coughing and rubbing his neck. He is on his feet a moment later, looking confusedly at a giant snake coiled around the nothing at all that was attacking him a moment ago. "Uh. *Cough* If something is there *Cough* I'mma git it."

He concentrates on the tiny trickle of mystic power within him and focuses it. Years of studying physics - knowing the equations and understanding the forces - channel that little spark of magic into a tightly focused beam. Charles Hoyden LeClarke forces a magic word past his burning throat "Saisir" and tries to wrap that beam around his unseen assailant.

Initiative (1d20+1=18)
All-Out Attack Move Object Grab
Shift Mass (1d20+3=9) Includes -5 for Total Concealment. Rank 8 to resist.

[Mr.United]

Kr

Kr seemed to scour the alleyway for someone, hell anyone who might know something but it seemed that the unnatural nature of the club seemed to push the homeless away. Kr knew that when it came to the streets, no one knew more than the those who lived in it.

Disappointed, Kr turned back to the club and made his way back. By the time he returned, he was stumbling upon something unnatural. The first sign was a unnaturaled coiled snake. Though it seemed the snake was really paying attention to him at all, but at some unseen enemy. Cautiously, Kr made his way closer to the snake and after hearing his partners around the corner spoke out, "What the hell is up with this snake guys? It's floating like some kinda flying snake. Samuel L. Jackson doesn't even put up with these kind of snakes!" he says as he removes his revolver, cocking it.

Though he had every intiation in shotting the thing, he wanted to know what his crew knew and why THEY weren't attacking it.

Int=1d20+3=13 Pretty much used my turn to just walk back from the alley.