Posting in a Harlem Quest

>Systematic gaizer
That's me!

Part I: http://archive.easymodo.net/cgi-board.pl/tg/thread/13796767#p13796767
Part II: http://archive.easymodo.net/cgi-board.pl/tg/thread/13808265#p13808265
Part III: http://archive.easymodo.net/cgi-board.pl/tg/thread/13868014

I highly suggest you read both because a shitload of things have happened and although I'll try to summarise shortly I won't be able to get down all the details.

Skills:
Guns - all guns, rifles, semis etc
Bartering - The bluffing, the negotiating, the double dealing, it all comes naturally to you.
Intimidation (basic) - You can scare civilians if you give them the evil eyes.

Spells:
Summoning (Level Four) - you can now summon people up to 3 years dead, faster and with less energy than you used to.
Bind (Level Three) - You can bind a ghost or a spirit to your cause for 3 days.
Life Leech (Level Two) - you now have the ability to heal minor wounds. If you're already healthy and use it you get stronger, quite a bit faster and gain some stamina. Your target feels like they've run a marathon unless you decide to only take a little. You still cannot leech from magicians.
Rip (Level One) - essentially ripping out the souls of living people from their bodies by summoning them. Makes them unconscious for about 30 seconds since their souls return to the bodies relatively quickly.

Items of Note:
Magic Knuckleduster, with ONE charge left in it. Each charge that connects is a killing blow. The kid was quite clearly an amateur so he could only throw the energy a few inches forward of the knuckleduster. You're experienced so when you use it you can punch from several feet away and the knuckleduster's energy will take a man down, permanently. You noticed the two times you've used it so far that it wanted to be used.
Happy Magic Juice - a high quality concoction that mystics use to power their astral wanderings: some laudanum, a some rare chinese opium, and a dash of Ghost. You've got enough in the bottle to get a mind and soul high and keep it there for a whole weekend.
Weak Physical Protection Amulet - Recovered from the Freeman's unconscious body. If he had been smart he would have invested in something a bit more powerful that would absorb the blow and spread it out around the shield instead of just taking it one point and letting some of the force through. It offers very basic physical protection.
Medium Astral Protection bracelet - This will protect you from attacks on the astral plane, whether you're a sleep or you're awake although it does require a ritual in the mornings to activate it for the rest of the day.

General:
- 1 Browning Automatic Rifle.
- 2 Tommy Guns with straight mags.
- 2 M1917 Colt Revolver's
- 2650 dollars.
- 1 apartment.
- 1 office + sanctum.
- 1 car

Money generation: 350 dollars per night.

Your underlings are as follows:

- Randy, an innocent sounding name for a dangerously cynical 16 year old kid. Loyal beyond death, really, because you helped him kill the judge that sentenced his father to death. You've taught him a bit of magical theory but he's not your kind, so for now he's a low level elemantal magician until he gets some real training. But boy can he set fire to shit. Special Items: 1 Elemntal Booster stone. (BONUS: Pyromaniac.)
- Big Jim, a muscular behemoth with no magic whatsoever. He resents the fact that he is the same age as you and yet you give the orders. Nevertheless he obeys because you've got the juice and he don't. He ain't all that smart but he's good in a scrap. Special Items: 1 Medium Strenght Amplifier necklace.
- Chandler Raymonds. A punk kid you killed that has agreed to work for you for a time as a ghost, to spy on your enemies for you on the understanding that you keep his brothers safe if he finds out they're in danger. Because he's a free ghost who you haven't bound he can show initiative and do things on his own away from you and for extended periods of time without having to constantly rebind and set the parameters of his mission to him. He's agreed to work with you on a long term basis now.
- O'Leary, a cop you killed. You've got him Bound for 1.5 more days at which point he turns into a free ghost.
- The Three Amigos, three nameless henchmen who've been with you through thick and thin. (BONUS: Loyalty Level Two)

DISADVANTAGES:
DEATH LEECH - if you're mortally wounded and you get knocked out you will drain until death whoever is standing closest to you in order to recover and wake up. This disadvantage will stay with you until you gain better control of leech life (i.e. Level Four).

To summarise your present circumstances: you're alone at your office, it's almost 1 am so you've still got a few more working hours in your day to get shit done. You've just dismissed the ghost of Squeaky who gave you the location of a place where Jackie is shacking up with some drunkard. You sent Chandler off to investigate the location and make sure there aren't any traps waiting for you.

Phew. Now that that info dump is out of the way we'll get started in about 15 minutes. I'm gonna get me some food.

See you shortly.

Beautiful. Let's do this,

Alright. I'm ready to get started.

What do you want to do?

>>13893003
Do our 3 mooks have weapons yet? I am talking about basic defense weapons not tommy guns. If they don't we should see to it that they are armed.

I'll bump with a crazy shotgun shooting horseman inexplicably on a boat.

>>13893031
Of the amigos, two of them have Tommy guns and one of them has a revolver.

What did you have in mind?

We cast spells by singing scat

Let's get some decent food, since we've been through a lot in the last couple days and not had a good meal as far as I can remember. Treat our minions. Hopefully our intel on Jackie will have come in by the time that's done and we'll be able to move on it.

>>13893034
Some good ol' fashion mookin... Have them go to and start causing some trouble around henry's to get a feel for the security around there.

Knives. Why don't we have knives? Switchblades, fixed blades, folders. Knives are always useful.

>>13893083
>>13893087
Your minions are fulfilling duties elsewhere so they can't join you at the moment.

You go to a nearby restaurant on your own and sit down for a meal, killing time until Chandler finds you with new information.

People look at you out of the side of their eyes, talking in hushed tones that tell you you're the subject of their conversation.

>>13893116
Before we leave we should give them a friendly smile and nod.

Are any of the old men about in the chess parlor? I say we work on our game a little bit so we're not entirely rusty. If the old men aren't about, maybe we can play with Randy or Jim while we wait for Chandler to return with intel.

>>13893116
Waffles.

A big stack of fucking waffles. And if you think shit's going down tonight, coffee.

You ordered waffles and though it's in the middle of the night and everyone else is having savoury dishes, the waiter hops to it and comes back with the breakfast of champions.

Chandler arrives suddenly sitting opposite you.

"I went there and had a look around. As far as I can tell there ain't no dangerous defenses you need to be wary of, or any white madmen waiting to ambush you," he adds with a smile.

"The woman isn't there but the man is, playing some records on his own and drinking. Doesn't seem to be doing much else."

>>13893105
Good point. They're relatively easy to get so let's say you have two of them on you, a switch knife in an easily accesible pocket and larger almost-dagger in a sheath attached to the small of your back, placed pointing upwards so you can pull it out downwards in one smooth move.

Don't go thinking you're an expert in knife fighting though.

>>13893139
Seconding this. We should brush up on our chess.

>>13893175
Let's bring a little gift to our drinky little friend.

Some fine 18 y/o single malt Scottish whiskey, yes?

Ellington, what ever happened to that ghost that we asked for intel on the financial district from? Did we let him go or is he just forgotten?

>>13893139
>>13893196
You played some chess with one of the old men before leaving for the restaurant. You played three games and lost three games, although in the third one you held your own and he didn't demolish you like in the first two.

You're now aware that you're good at chess but nowhere near as good as the weakest of the old men in the parlour who live and breathe for the game.

Tell Chandler to return to the guy's place and wait until the skirt is there, then he should come fetch us. Until then, we brush up on chess.

>>13893229
He is still contained in a circle at your office. Any questions you have for him can be asked and answered at any point and we'll say that you asked him when you were last at the office.

What's O'Leary doing now? Can we send him on a mission to scope out the financial district? I don't want to show our superiors that we can get shit done, and get it done in a timely matter.

>>13893262
O'Leary is available for work. Please give me some specific wording for your order if you want to send him into the financial district.

>>13893239
>>13893208
Two options have appeared. Go to the apartment now with present-drink in hand or tell Chandler to stake the place for you while doing other things?

Vote.

>>13893235
Can we get better by playing chess in here from time to time?

Also, research the game a bit. Openings and stuff like that.

>>13893269
Hold on, we still haven't summoned the ghost of Patrick, yet, if I remember correctly.
I think we should see for ourselves what will happen if we summon Patrick with O'Leary standing by.

>>13893276
Have him stake the place, get some decent drink to bring as a gift in the meantime. Although I would point out that having something for Jackie would be nice as well, and we don't know what she favors.

>>13893269
The financial district is far too delicate a situation to send someone as resistant to our will as O'Leary into. Do not.

>>13893276
Have Chandler stake it.

>>13893282
Yes. You remember that one of the books your former master master left you was a book on chess. At the time you ignored it because you had no interest in the game but now you're starting to realise maybe there was a reason why he left you with both a chess parlour as a legitimate front as well as books on the matter.

It seems your old Master has still got things to teach you.

>>13893276

Chandler stake out.


Also, no fucking way is O'Leary going near the Financial District.

>>13893377
this

You pay up at the restaurant, despite the waiter saying there's no need for you of all people to do that, but you do so nonetheless because that's your style. You leave the waiter a handsome tip and tip your hat to the clientele as you leave.

When you step outside you send Chandler off to stake out the apartment building to wait for Jackie to return home.

You return to your headquarters and begin searching through boxes of books for the one that you know is in there somewhere. You pick it up and open it.

The book is hugely instructive on chess but it's your Master's notes that catch your eye. Just by flicking through you see that your old Master left all sorts of annotations on the sides but they don't seem to be about the game itself.

GAINED - Knowledge of Demon Etiquette and some Basic understanding of their realms.

Now that you've finished dealing with the O'Leary brothers, you ordered that cop bastard to go back to being in standby mode at your office, never being seen, never being heard until required.

>>13893397
Perfect, while we're at our headquarters and waiting for chandler's intel I think we should go with
>>13893283
After all, we could always use some more summoning practice

>>13893397
That book sounds worth spending a solid day or two studying. As long as we're waiting for word on Jackie, let's read through it in some more detail.

>>13893412
Ok. In the sanctum or regular circle in the office?

rolled 3 = 3

>>13893276
Drink present in hand, I favor. And when this gets done, hopefully without murderin', we head back to our place, rebind O'Leary and then bind his mick brothers to him.

And we tell the Boss about the fire, after we start putting money into fixing it up.

>>13893414
You read the book cover to cover over the next two days. I'll parse out new information to you based on this as you gain insight from the book and as time passes.

>>13893412

Agree'd

>>13893431
Stronger circles are better when summoning unknown powerful deceased magicians.

>>13893431
The sanctum, we're not really sure if magician ghosts are innately more powerful, but in case they are we should be sure that it doesn't have a chance of breaking out with a normal circle.

>>13893431
Sanctum. And re-bind O'Leary and bind Patrick and the other brother to O'Leary.

You enter your sanctum and as usual just being there reinvigorates you. Maybe you're just imagining it or perhaps you're becoming more attuned and sensitive but it feels like the place almost welcomes you in.

You pull out the hair of Patrick O'Leary from your grimoire.

Before you summon him you transfer David Cole to a lesser circle in the sanctum, one that conceals his presence from the main circle. You're the only one who can see both but the two ghosts in the circles can't see each other.

You re-bind O'Leary and he is now yours once again for three more days and you keep him in the corner of the room. Him, Patrick will be able to see.

You summon Patrick and he appears before you, sitting cross legged on the floor and staring at you, mute and bitter, waves of anger reeking off him.

>>13893547
"It was damned unkind of you to kill Squeaky, you know. He didn't do shit to ya."

>>13893547
Do we have anything to cause agony to a ghost? Because I want to do whatever they did to Henry onto him before fixing him up and binding him to us and then his brother.

>>13893572
"Roight, an me brother was the scourge of yer life, aye? Hounded you wid bullets and hatred for the past decade, is dat so? An I imagine 'e kilt yer ma and yer pa, raped yer wife and shat on yer dog?"

>>13893547
Bring O'leary into the same circle as his brother, let them talk.

>>13893547
"How long has it been since the youngest and eldest O'Leary brother saw each other?" *Smirk* "I'm sure you've got lots of catching up to do." I'd like to let them talk, just observing them might let us gather some info. We can bind later.

>>13893615
"No, he was just dumb enough to threaten my life on my own ground. As you found out, I don't take terribly kindly to others challenging me on this turf. But really, I'm surprised that you care so much... from what he tells me, you never gave two shits about him in life. Why change that in death?"

Presumably our bound O'Leary is watching this and Patrick knows it.

Then >>13893594.

>>13893661
Since it looks like we already started the conversation I agree with the gist of this. Bring up the youngest's disrespectfulness and stupidity. But I still don't want to lay the pressure on him yet. See if we can get them talking to each other of their own will.

>>13893616
>>13893633
You push O'Leary into the circle with his brother and give him permission to speak and interact freely.

As you do so the recriminations begin.

O'Leary insults Patrick.

Patrick insults O'Leary.

O'Leary brings up a multitude of past sins that he reckons have been committed against him by the rest of the O'Learys and Patrick sneers at him for his persecution complex.

"So why'd you tool up and come gunning here then you bastards? None of you ever cared about me and I ain't spoken to any of you for a long long time."

Patrick get silent for a second and says "How's I suppost'face Ma wit me knowin she'll ask what we done to t'man dat kilt ya. Ye might be a fuck-right-off cunt but you're an O'Leary cunt an no doubt. Wish I'd took this dirty necromancer bastard wit me though. Demon summoning freak."


>>13893661
>>13893594
There is something you can try but you might just end up embarrassing yourself. Roll a d100 and we'll see.

>>13893728
>you might just end up embarrassing yourself
Do not risk this, then.

>>13893728
About the agony, if attempting it won't cause any possible breach in his containment then we might as well get some practice in, since it doesn't seem anything else important is going to be forthcoming. Then we can bind and get to the real questions. Most importantly making sure they didn't have any ulterior motives or other connections that let them here.

rolled 15 = 15

>>13893728
Lets see if we can do our ancestor's proud.

rolled 4 = 4

BY THE POWER VESTED IN ME BY THE MIGHTY THOR

>>13893728
Then Do not Attempt, even if other people roll. The Duke does not embarrass himself.

>>13893802
>>13893804
Soooo.... this is like dark heresy, and we are trying to roll under the target number, right?

>>13893800
>>13893816
I already said as much, so this isn't a seperate vote, but why not? We are going to be binding him anyway, this isn't going to effect our reputation and the experience is valuable.

>>13893728
I'm interested in seeing where their conversation goes. Watch it for a while, and remember that Patrick insulted you... one day, we'll eat his soul for it.

>>13893804
>>13893802
Wow, you guys pulled off pretty much a critical roll. I wanted low numbers to give you this and you went pretty damn low.

You extend your own energy and shape it into a whip. You begin whipping the ghost of Patrick O'Leary. He screams as you whip him again and again for the hurt he caused one of your people. If Squeaky had been around he would definitely have enjoyed this.

At one point your whip extends into two tendrils, one choking him and the other continuing to cause damage to his body with every snap.

O'Leary looks on at what you're doing to his brother and he's horrified. For the first time he looks at you with none of his characteristic smugness and seems more scared than you've ever seen him.

GAINED - GHOST WHIP (Level One) - you can now cause untold amounts of agony to the newly dead, up to three days. As you get more practice at this you can cause more damage to older ghosts.

>>13893848
If their conversation has any life left in it, I also vote not interrupting tell its done.

>>13893858
Ghost ride the whip?

>>13893867
I have no idea what you're asking....

>>13893858
Well, pointless but cathartic vengeance aside (hm, maybe it will help keep them in line in the future) I guess its binding time. Still want to establish that they truly came of their own will, without outside connections.

>>13893858
Aww yeah.
Now, I think we should tell him to apologize to his brother without binding him, and ask him about how his "Luck magic" works

>>13893867
>>13893902
Pun of no consequence.

>>13893902
A little joke.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=ghost+ride+the+whip&aq=f

>>13893926
>>13893925
Aha. Ok.

>>13893914
"I'm sorry! Sorry!" he screams as you torture him. You take a break to ask him how his luck magic worked and he explains that he doesn't know, it's just a family thing that's been passed down from parent to child for centuries.

His other abilities came from making deals with a certain Seelie Lord he met as a young man.

>>13893910
After you glean all the information you can from him you decide it's time to bind him and make him cough up any other tidbits that he was trying to hide.

You force your will on him and slowly (slower than usual), Patrick O'Leary is now bound for three days. You release him the chokehold you have with the whip and he falls down to his knees.

"What can I do fer ye, my lord?" he asks without any of the superciliousness of the other O'Leary.

>>13894037
"Tell me everything important you know. Any rumors of magic, of double-dealings, your tricks, and the means of dealing with the Sidhe-and of anyone who might be a threat to me."

>>13894064
This, also information about Seelie Lord, who sounds familiar though I'm not quite sure.

>>13894064
"How am I to know what's important?" Patrick asks.

"I've not lived on this soil fer a long time so I dun know naught about dealins and doins 'ere."

"As fer them of the Faerie Courts, they've small connections to this world via mounds. They're mostly in Ireland and Germany but I hear they created two new mounds that open out to somewhere in Pennsylvania."

"The Lord I made a deal with is called Hadriel. In exchange for my powers I swore to serve him for the rest of my life when I turn 60."

"I don't know what else I can tell you. Ask and I'll answer as I must." he says, more resigned than anything else.

Even though you're in a dark room with no windows, you can tell that the night is over. Rays of sunshine are beginning to hit the city.

It's now morning.

>>13894064
This sounds like a good start.

I guess my primary concern was that these Irish boys (or the cops in general) were working with Pitt. But we could have easily found that out from O'leary when we first bound him. I can't tell from the archives, though. I assume this is something we would know by know, but if you don't want anymore gimme's than ask the both of them now.

>>13894093
If you mean in the course of the story, we haven't heard anything about the Fair Folk.

>>13894209
O'Leary made it clear that he was hired by Father Connors to retrieve stolen crystals. The other brothers were here on an illfated revenge trip.

>>13894209
In fact we should be drilling Cop-O'Leary for anything he knows about Pitt and goings on in the financial district.

>>13894244
"Oh Master had I known anything about this "Lord Pitt" or about the Financial District, I surely would have told you. I am but a humble beat cop from the streets of Brooklyn," O'Leary says, having regained some of his annoying mannerisms now that the torture session is over.

>>13894207
Morning, and Chandler isn't back yet. We may want to make this a long 'day' and go over to Jackie's place and talk to the man, see if we can find out whats up. I'm concerned she was out on 'business' and ran into trouble.

I think we ought to get make an attempt to life leech Patrick before going to sleep, we'll want to have plenty of time to deal with Jackie, and still have some daylight to burn when we wake up.

>>13894353
You woke up from an eight hour sleep 4 hours ago. You'll find it difficult to sleep.

Your attempted Life Leech on Patrick doesn't work. Patrick doesn't notice.

>>13894288
As the dawn extends you see two kinds of people as you walk out to see where Chandler has been doing his stakeout. You see early morning people who are just about to go to work, the milkmen, the garbage men, the butchers, the bakers (the candlestickmakers??!) and assorted others. The other kind you see are late night people returning home from wherever they were. Men and women in dishevelled formal clothing leaning on each other for support to make it home, drunk and insensible to the beginning of a new working day.

You look at the bottle you have in your hand and it's not your best but it's damn near it, some excellent whiskey for Willy Dean.

You arrive outside the building and step in, sensing Chandler waiting for you by the steps.

"Hey Duke, I'm sorry to tell you but no sight of the dame and that Willy guy is just sitting in there getting a nice buzz going. He's been playing on his guitar on his own for the past hour. I have to say he's pretty damn good."

"How'd you want to play this?"

>>13894387
Chandler means the Candlestick Makers are covered.

I'm going to sit back and watch from now, though. This is NOT my area of expertise.

>>13894412
That didn't even occur to me. I lold hard.

>>13894387
Go on up and knock on the door. If/when he answers: "Good morning." *Hat-tip* "The names Duke. I know its early but I heard that lovely music and knew you were awake." "May I come in? I brought a gift." Put the bottle on the nearest table/counter. "You see, I have business with Jackie but haven't seen her around lately. But maybe you can help."

>>13894387
Do we have a bass?

>>>13894177
"The Lord I made a deal with is called Hadriel. In exchange for my powers I swore to serve him for the rest of my life when I turn 60."

Oh boy. We done goofed.

>>13894464
Unfortunately no. You have the musical talent of a deaf frog.

>>13894456
You knock on the door and you hear the playing on the guitar on the other side continue for a few more bars until it stops. A couple of footsteps later and you see the door open.

On the other side of the door is Willy Dean.

He's a short man with fine features, so fine they're almost effeminate but the jutting strength of his chin stops him from being completely so. His skin is the colour of milk chocolate and clear as you can imagine. He leans against the door frame in a louche kind of way and smiles as he sees you and your drink.

"A handsome man carrying wonderful drink comes to me in the middle of the night? I had no idea my music was capable of such feats, what gods must have I pleased lately?" Willy wonders with a smile and a welcoming wave into his apartment.

"Why don't we forget about Jackie and start thinking about what you and me could get up to, fella? A big, strong man like yourself, I could think of a thing or two." Willy says as he gets closer to you when you put the bottle down.

He gets out two glasses and pours them, offering you one.

"Shall we drink to...possibilities...Duke?" he asks coyly.

>>13894561

>>13894556
now that this has been brought to my attention as possibly important I think its worth pointing out that Hadriel is an Angelic name (specifically Magesty of God, and an unimportant angel from Diablo 2) possibly pointing so some conflation of the Fair Folk and Christianity.
>>13894561
Oh boy... HELP SOMEONE HELP! Maybe I'll give this a shot in a sec

>>13894561
Laugh. Laugh hard. Also, point out that it's past dawn.

The explain that your possibilities stop with the drink unless he's hiding a truly spectacular pair of breasts under his shirt and something even more feminine in his pants, but he's flattering nonetheless.

>>13894561
Okay. Remaining calm. Don't want to offend him. Nod and raise the glass in a toasting motion before having a drink. "Well, actually, what I really need is to get in contact with the Panther's Shadow. You wouldn't happen to know anything about /that/, now would you?"

Mentioning PS straight up like that might be risky, so maybe don't go with it unless others agree.

rolled 20 = 20

>>13894561
The Duke be Tone Deaf? This shall not stand! Will will learn music!

Anyway, chuckle at the offer - the Duke enjoys being appericated, but he puts the moves on you, not the other way around.

"Business Possiblities first, I'm afraid."

>>13894680
Willy takes your open laugh and friendly reply in stride, finding the challenge more attractive than anything else.

"My dear, I think you'd be more than a little surprised by what you find tempting if you just let it happen. But alright, just the drinks for now."

"Past dawn?" he asks, looking out his eyes narrowing at the beams of light starting to enter the apartment. "Well, bugger me hard if you're not right." he jokes. "I guess I got carried away with the music. Sometimes it just...leaves me elsewhere," he says, sighing wistfully as he looks at his guitar in the corner of the room.

"As for business. If you've got any with Jackie, well as you can see she ain't here right now. Isn't a panther some kind of jungle cat? Did Jackie start a zoo while I was out on a gig? Haha."

"Why don't you stick around. Maybe she'll turn up. Maybe she won't. Maybe we'll find, other, mutual interests we can explore."

Willy's smile widens like a predator seeing its prey hesitating.

>>13894843
Challenge him to a game of chess

>>13894754
Seconding this.

But segue the comment about moves into asking if he plays Chess. Then play a game while you chat.

>>13894843
I wouldn''t mind chilling here for a while. But we need something to pass the time. Maybe we can talk about music and get some vocal lessons. I doubt this guy is into chess enough that playing with him would be constructive. Although it would let us get the social upper hand...

"Course I play chess. What kind of savage do you take me for?" he asks, offended that you'd even assume he didn't play it. He takes a few light steps to a separate room and comes back with a small chess set, looks like he or someone he knows carved it themselves.

You begin to play with him and he notes your moves with a nod here and there.

"Aggressive openings, huh? Just the way I like them." He grins, slurring his words slightly.

At one point you surprise him with a move he didn't see coming and as his eyes widen, you notice a surprising similarity to the way Jackie's eyes were wide with fear back at Squeaky's when you killed O'Leary in front of her. Come to think of it, they were of a similar height.

You win the first game. When both of you trap each other's queens in corners for the second game it devolves into a long trenchwarfare type of game that you eventually call a draw.

Even as you play though, Willy is still drinking away and smiling at you with rapacious eyes.

>>13894988
>you notice a surprising similarity to the way Jackie's eyes were wide with fear back at Squeaky's when you killed O'Leary in front of her. Come to think of it, they were of a similar height.
...genderswapping shapeshifter? So screams my paranoia.

Regardless, we can't play chess all say. Let's bid him goodbye and get going, leaving a ghost to watch for Jackie.

>>13894988
If he's a bottom and important enough, I say we fuck him. Why not? If anyone objects, we can kill them-or just kill anyone who lets it get out.

If not, just keep stalling until Thiefgirl shows.

>>13895070
>If he's a bottom....fuck him

a.k.a. it's not gay if you're the one doing the fucking and your balls don't touch and you beat him up afterwards and kill anyone who talks about it, it's completely not gay. it's super straight.

>>13895029
This. She was smart enough to pretend to be her own secretary, why not smart enough to pretend to be her own gay roommate?

It would explain why she hasn't shown all day.

>>13894988
Some questions that it would be worth slipping in over time.
So, what is it that you do with your time? besides playing games and making sweet music that is.
How long have you been here? How do you know Jackie?
I'd also like to get some talk of the arcane in there, although it would probably be best to be subtle about it. Maybe something like "Your music seems to move even you. Is it a spiritual experience for you?"

About the relationship with Willy, I think we can keep it friendly for now. We aren't even sure what his natural sex is at this point. If it seems worth extending things further I'm not against it, though.

>>13895029
Or simply a trap. You Decide! He could be pretending to be her.

>>13895029
could just be a crossdresser

>>13895108
>Some questions that it would be worth slipping in over time.
>So, what is it that you do with your time? besides playing games and making sweet music that is.

"That's about all it is man. I'm a guitar man and I play rooms all over New York and New Jersey. Sometimes I get called out to Chicago but not nearly as often as I'd wish. Taking it easy's my thing. One day at a time."

>How long have you been here? How do you know Jackie?
"Been here 3 months or so? I don't know. Time passes quickly. Me and Jackie go way back. I feel like I've known her all my life."

>I'd also like to get some talk of the arcane in there, although it would probably be best to be
subtle about it. Maybe something like "Your music seems to move even you. Is it a spiritual experience for you?"

"Ain't no mumbo jumbo in it, my man, just the music itself. There's something special about going into a dead room, people just sitting around killing time, drinking and then you walk in and you play that first note and they all perk their heads up. They look around to see what's changed. You play a few more notes and you've got them in the palm of your hand, they're ready to go wherever you'll take them. And that's when the party starts. It's a beautiful thing."

"You should come see me some time."

----

Time has passed and it's almost 8 am now, you've been there for over three hours. Jackie has not turned up.

Options:
1) Leave and keep Chandler watching Willy
2) Sleep with Willy.

>I feel like I've known her all my life.
The "same person" theory gathers evidence.

Let's just leave. I am not inclined to sleep with him, and Chandler will pick up on the Jackie bit eventually if that's the truth.

Mention that Jackie can find us at our office and should do so as soon as she gets the chance before we go.

>>13895101
Troll troll is troll. Does the Duke seem like a bottom to you? Furthermore, this is the 20s. Homosexuality, if I remember correctly, was NOT AT ALL well received.

But then, troll troll etc etc bluh.

Sleep with Willy, and leave Chandler to keep an eye on him, just in case.

>>13895230
I'm going to have to go with 1 here, if only because
I fear that he might not only be Jackie and the Panther's Shadow, but some kind of creature that kills people during sex.

>>13895230
Goddamnit. When I read the options I laughed so hard I started a coughing fit.
>>13895295
I like this, since I don't really see sleeping with him as the key to the information we need. Maybe add on that he should visit as well, if he hears anything about the Panther's Shadow, or wants another game of chess.

You shake Willy's hand briefly and thank him for the chess.

He shakes your hand longer than necessary and thanks you for the drink.

You tip your hat to him and leave, giving Chandler orders to stay in there and keep an eye on him.

You slowly walk back towards your office and it's not even been 15 minutes when you feel Chandler pulling on your energy. You stop abruptly and he catches up to you.

"Boss, you're not going to believe this."

And so he begins to relay exactly what he saw.

The moment you left Willy's face lost all it's geniality and took on an angry frown. A woman's voice came out of his mouth and admonished him, "I can't believe you were trying to sleep with him! Don't you know how dangerous he is? I told you just yesterday I saw him kill a man in front of me."

Willy's face started smiling and he replied more relaxed than ever "A hint of danger in a man just adds to the appeal. Something which you'd know if you ever parted your legs for anything other than pissing."

Willy walked over to a mirror and then saw Jackie looking out at him from the other side.

"We have to start packing and leave immediately. He's on to us and who knows what he'll do. He's fucking nuts!" The Jackie in the mirror looks slightly panicked.

"Maybe, maybe not. I, for one, think he likes us," replies Willy.

Chandler looks at you as he relays the story, looking perturbed and shocked. "They're still arguing now about whether to leave or not. You made quite the impression on the fella," he smiles rakishly at that.

And now....?

I also think we could stand to leave a less trustworthy ghost to watch willy/jackie. I would rather have Chandler watching over US, we just need to give explicit orders to O'Leary.

Let's go wait in a spot where we can ambush her if she tries to leave, and have Chandler stay up there and report to us their decision.

If she decides to leave, we can catch her before she runs and try to talk her down.
If she decides to stay, we'll try her again some other time.

For anyone who has to leave midthread we are now archived here: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/13892779

And here : http://archive.easymodo.net/cgi-board.pl/tg/thread/13892779

>>13895431
Well, that was pretty much expected. Share this with Chandler, and also what tipped us off about it. He should become more magic-savvy if he's going to hang with us in the long term.

We should linger nearby, maybe stop in at a place or two that we normally patrol, while Chandler keeps a close eye on Jackie/Willy. If they try to leave, he should tell us immediately and we'll move to intercept. Otherwise, we can wait and see if they drop by; it's not like we don't have other things to worry about.


...we DO have other things to worry about, right? How about binding a couple ghosts with a serious hate-on for Lord Pitt?

>>13895499
She's got information we need to continue down that route. This is our current priority.

I think it would be fine confronting them, especially if Willy was currently in control of the body (if that is how it works). Or delivering a letter. We just need to be perfectly clear. Lord Pitt, a dangerous Magician, is after the Panther's Shadow because of the crystals. We just want to help.

>>13895576
In fact, impressing upon Jackie the danger inherent in Lord Pitt might be helpful, so we could tell her about Auntie Clarissa as well.

You do some local rounds, and people are surprised to see you. This is a time of day they usually don't ever see you but you're glad to see that your underlings are hard at work. Your constant presence in your neighbourhoods is once again noted and your control of your areas deepens further.

After half an hour you feel another tug on you and you stop.

You hear Chandler before you see him coming through a wall.

"They're making a split for it boss. Except they've changed their appearance. He's taller now, taller than you and he's got a fatter nose and a real bruiser forehead. You'll recognise him though because he's carrying a suitcase in his left hand and a guitarcase on his right. Follow me!"

And so Chandler leads you back to the apartment and then towards Portertown where they entered.

"There they are!" he points them out and it's just like he described. Willy/Jackie hasn't seen you, they're walking ahead at a steady pace doing a good job of someone just calmly minding their own business with somewhere to go.

>>13895617
Move up and start walking next to them. Politely ask if they would please stop for breakfast before continuing on their way- our treat- because there are a few matters to clean up before they leave the area.

Try to imply that we're playing nice, but we don't have to. Make it obvious we know who they are.

I think now is a good time to enact this plan.
>>13895576
>>13895611
Maybe starting with with just an "Excuse me." To get their attentions. Since Jackie is scared of us I'm hoping she won't try to make a break for it.

>>13895694
>>13895683
You catch up to them and as you say excuse me, they turn to you and you see both panic and pleasure appearing on that face at the same time, a bizarre combination.

Willy doesn't even pretend to be someone else. He can tell that somehow you've seen through their secret.

He smiles widely, and you notice that despite the different face the lips are the same, "You just can't get enough of me can you, Duke? You should've took me up on my offer, we could've made some real sweet music together." He winks, the gesture looking more intimidating than flirtatious on this new brutish face of his.

"Let's sit down, shall we." he nods his head towards a nearby cafe with outdoor seating. "What do you want and what can I do for you to keep quiet about my little secret here?"

>>13895758

"Well I'd love to know more about your little arrangement, but I also know the value of discretion. No my friend, I've come on more serious business. I'm sure your friend remembers the incident during which I first met her. That mick hassling her seems to be only the tip of the iceberg, and I don't feel right about such a fine lady walking around unawares."

Fuck yes, Harlem Quest.
Unfortunately, I need to head to bed - 9am classes and all that...

>>13895758
"Oh, don' worry 'bout that. Some things aren't mine to share without reason. But I was serious on needin' information. People- MY people- are dying for it, and that means I get serious. Crystals and Lord Pitt, Willy. Jackie. Shadow."

>>13895758
"Well, fist of all, I'm sorry Jackie is so worried about me, and would like to assure her that I have nothing but the most magnanimous intentions."
"You are well aware by now that I wished to contact contact the Panther's Shadow. That is because I am acutely aware of a potential threat to his continued well being. A Powerful man calling himself Lord Pitt has taken an interest in the Father Connor's crystals, and already killed a dear old woman for even tangential relation to the things."
"I am only trying to help."

>>13895818
>>13895842
>>13895882
"Well, you've really got me over the barrel here, metaphorically speaking that is, if it was literal well then I'd probably..." Willy trails off and a woman's voice quietly cuts in and hisses, "Shut up and tell him so we can leave, idiot."

Willy smiles apologetically.

"We pulled a job, ok? Jackie got word that some guy called Lord Pitt wanted some crystals stolen from a Church. Jackie's the manager and I'm the talen."

"I stole the crystals and it was easy, some crummy old church with only the most basic of wards. The only protection it had was that it was so unknown. Once I got the crystals, Jackie had a meeting with one of Pitt's men, a guy called Henders and handed them over. We got the rest of our fee and were gonna give the "Panther" act a break for the next few months and keep low, stick to my musical gigs. Unfortunately, I don't know how, that cop O'Leary got on our trail and that's where you entered the tale and so bravely saved us." Willy flutters his eyelashes at you.

"I'm not surprised that Pitt killed anyone nosing around. When we handed over the crystals we could tell that he was seriously considering getting rid of us to keep us quiet. Hence our plan to stay out of sight for the next while."

"What else?"

>>13895947
"How long ago did you give the crystals to Henders? Also, any descriptions/locations/contacts that come to mind?"

>>13895975
"We had our initial meeting with Pitt himself at the Wessler building. That was the only time we saw him. Jackie had to dress up as a cleaner and go there late at night to see him, after all a black woman walking around freely in a white building like that?" he snorts. "After that our only contact was Henders, who seems to be Pitt's right hand man. He made quite a deal of the fact that he was a werewolf, kept trying to get into Jackie's pants with some bullshit about how he can control his shifting and please her any time she wants with a huge wolfcock. It was disgusting," Willy sighs "and so artless. I mean just shifting into one thing? How boring is that?"

"We met Henders at a nightclub they own in the Financial District to hand off the crystals, it was the night before you killed O'Leary."

"Look, this is just between us ok? You can't go around telling people I'm the one who told you this shit." Willy stops smiling and looks at you earnestly, showing you a more serious side to him. "No one will ever hire me if they can't rely on my discretion and I certainly woudn't have told you any of this if you didn't have me over the barrel, like I said."

Ok, a few pieces of new information. We know that this Henders guy, Pitt's assistant, is a werewolf. Do we have any prior knowledge of lycanthropes?

Also we need to be careful in the Financial District. He had a point, that's a White neighborhood and we're likely to catch a lot of attention we don't want. Might there be any way to disguise ourselves? Is that something we want to look into?

>>13896040
"Of course, and since it seems you were leaving on account of me, I would like you to know that that is wholly unnecessary. In fact I would be more than happy if you were to stay around. I could even offer protection, if you are still fearful for your safety."

>>13896040
Shake head. "Keeping secrets is easy. First thing you learn when the dead start telling you tales. As I said, your tricks won't be getting out- and neither will that what know came from you.

"If you've got anything else, I would appreciate it. Aside from that... you can leave, if you want. Or stay; I certainly don't have any reason to go after you and having someone with your talents around could be damned useful, if you feel like working for me occasionally. I'm not terribly dangerous to people on my good side."

>>13896085
Or what about even "I understand why you might want to spend some time out of the spotlight. I hate to send you on the run like this, but I'll put in a good word with some contacts over Chicago-way if you'd like. Get in touch if you're ever in town, I may just have a few gigs for you of the musical sort."

I mean, we DO handle the speakeasy's. We are in a perfect position to help these guys out.

Okay, well personally, I need to reassess the situation. I really didn't think Pitt already had the crystals. We need to start disrupting his operations pronto. Getting contacts within the FD, dead or alive, and getting a feel for what he's doing. Then Making a plan for how we're gonna take him down.

>>13896130
Yeah, but I wanted to encourage them to stick around. Its always nice to have friends nearby.

>>13896178
Good point, I should have emphasized that

When you offer them protection to stay you see a moment of conflict in them, you can tell they're silently arguing but eventually they come to an agreement and nod together.

Willy quickly, but thoroughly, looks around to see if there's anyone else on the street or watching you two.

When he sees the coast is clear, he turns back to you and you slowly see his face begin to morph back into what it was. The forehead gets less neanderthal, the fat broken nose becomes small again and the colour of his skin begins to change for darker-than-night black to milk chocolate again.

He smiles like he just performed the greatest party trick of all time. "Thanks for the offer sweetie but things are just too hot for me in this town, I'm a lover not a fighter. I'll be back though, don't you worry. There's no chance I'd leave a treat like you uneaten."

He gets up to walk away and when you get up with him to shake his hand goodbye, he ignores your hand, gives you a lingering peck on the chin and then walks away.

-----

Ok. We need to establish some medium term goals again since we've pretty much done everything that was on our list last time.

Talk it out and then I'll summarise the options and we'll vote.

>>13896288
Possibilities. Number One for me is talking to Lenny Brokowitz, although at the time I thought he was just beyond our summoning reach, is that still true?
There is also talking to the Jews and Chinese in the Financial District, I'm not so sure how we should go about that though.

Just to remind you what they were:

>Deal with Freeman, follow the Jackie/Panther lead, work on levelling up.
Freeman = dealt with. Jackie = solved. Levelling up = done and dusted.

You guys are serious about getting shit done, that's for sure.

>>13896288
We need to start raising up people who hate Pitt or his minions. We'll need a serious ghost hit squad going into this.

>>13896349
DavidColeFlashBack: "Brokowitz hasn't left yet. He's been known to haunt certain places in the Financial Districts, trying to figure out some way to get revenge on his murderer. I met him a couple of times myself before I moved on."

>>13896288
One lead I think we've totally ignored henceforth is Father Connors. The man obviously has some connections considering he originally was in charge of divine crystals owned by Jesus. He most likely knows plenty about Pitt and may well have contacts that we'd need to start a ghost army or otherwise.

>>13896352
Shi/tg/ets done around here.

Also, I seem to remember a certain pimp we talked to who left with the condition "Needs to be followed up on". Don't wanna forget that.

>>13896412
I'm not so sure about him being directly helpful, but I definitely see some heretofore overlooked support. We might be able to make some allies by talking to him, since he did get his shit stolen, he might be willing to help us, or tell us who would.

Alright:
1) Enter the Financial District, Find Lenny Brokowitz, Check Out Henders, Attack Pitt.
2) Go to Brooklyn, Find Father Connors, Talk to him.

Please vote unless you have some third option to suggest.

Fuck! I'm late again

>>13896538
Well, I would think, if we are going to talk to Connors, we would want to do that first. The thing I'm worried about, is that shit just got pretty real for me, seeing as Pitt has had the rock the whole time. Do we have time, or do we need to be in the Financial District right now? Gentlemen?

Personally, I think Brokowitz is a sure bet, while Connors is a chance.
Then again, Brokowitz will probably be harder to contact than Connors, since we could just drop by his church.
Is there anything in our Grimoire, text or mental, that would help us, maybe 'call out' to Lenny? Snooping around the Wessler building looking for ghosts sounds like a bad idea.

>>13896650
You've still got David Cole as an information resource, he can tell you the sites where he spotted Brokowitz and more likely than not you'll find him because ghosts who have stuck around this plane to do some casual haunting are creatures of habit.

>>13896538
Voting for having a word with Father Connors, I hadn't thought of that but having more info would be great before we go charging in. Maybe bring some of the boys with us?

Shit, just reread that Squeaky had heard that O'Leary was dealing with the Dutch. What does he have to say about that?

i vote that we skip connors. what's connors gonna know about some random guy who stole his crystals? now that we know pitt has the crystals time is of the essence we've already used up a lot of time settling things in harlem before going out into other parts of new york

>>13896698
I was thinking about that. We don't want to go in too heavy, we aren't trying to start a fight. But having someone wait in the car, and the others just hang back wouldn't be a bad idea. Pistols only for the guys out of the car.

>>13896700
O'Leary: Why those good old Dutch boys used to pay me a fine fee to put away those that they didn't like. They were good to me, fine upstanding gentlemen!

>>13896688
Okay, my vote is also to go look for Brokowitz.

By my count we've got 2 votes for Connors and 2 votes for entering the District. Anyone else voting or will someone change their minds?

>>13896758
I didn't see your post. Plan 1 it is then.

Next post: timeskip because you need sleep.

>>13896761
I am both >>13896728 and >>13896758. If you were counting the first as a vote, mine final decision was the second.

After your meeting with Willy you made your way home and went to sleep at 10 am, this is later than your usual bed time but dangerous times call for late bedtimes.

You wake up at 4 pm, still feeling groggy but almost fully recovered and in peak condition. The effects of the previous day's Irish ambush have gone away.

You put on your clothes, quickly shovel some food down into your stomach (you're going to need all the energy you can get today), and then step outside. You do your rounds, showing your face, but everyone can tell you've got something else on your mind and that you're going through the motions as quickly as you can.

However at one of your stops a bit of information piques your curiousity. "Oh you'll like this bit of news Duke, the Gambinos in Little Italy bring in a whole shipment of whiskey from Canada, and then when they arrive and start delivering to their places what do they find? All the whiskey bottles are water! Hahaha. The greasy fucks got themselves ripped off! They're a joke!" And the man telling the story laughs himself hoarse.

It seems Pitt has taken his crystal out for their first test drive. Successfully.

What do you want to do?

>>13896852
We need something special for a lycanthrope. Let's make a quick stop back to Hell's Kitchen and get a few silver slugs.

>>13896852
Fucking hell.

Chase down that unrestful shade, quickly. We'll need him.

Yeah we need to get our asses to the Financial District and see what we can do.

>>13896852
Even if he's covered in the rounds we should take an extra few minutes for Sweets, see if he has anything to say. Don't want him to think we're forgetting him.

After that, its getting a last rundown from Cole and trying to find Lenny, I think.

>>13896871
Shit, this is also important. What do we know about werewolves?

>>13896961
As in, are they nearly unstoppable save silver, or are they just fast melee powerhouses?

>>13896936
>Even if he's covered in the rounds we should take an extra few minutes for Sweets, see if he has anything to say. Don't want him to think we're forgetting him.

Noted. He informs you that some of the Madams who worked for him were thinking of going deeper into Opposition territory because they were worried you'd bring your own whores into Portertown and take over the place but he calmed them down and now they'll stay, keeping their girls and their legs pointed at the ceiling for the Outfit.

>>13896961
>>13896871
WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT WEREWOLVES: They're one type of many shifters. For some weird reason most werewolves tend to have German ancestry. Rumour is that silver will kill a shifter but rumour also has it that garlic bothers vampires and you've never met a vampire in your life so rumour can't be relied on.

Let's say the Hell's Kitchen shop doesn't require that much time to go to and buy stuff from. What do you want?

Silver rounds for your revolvers? The Tommy Guns? The BAR? Anything else?

Speak up now or forever hold your peace.

Tell me and I'll make a deduction from your savings.

Oh, and since we might be seeing action soon (and maybe going shopping), I was thinking we might want to get our buddies some basic defense juju. Just enough to make lethal shots into incapacitating shots, you know? How much would that cost?

>>13897036
The basic physical protection amulet that you have costs 200 dollars. A medium one costs 700 dollars. Winters doesn't have anything more powerful in terms of physical defense.

>>13897026
Just a dozen rounds for our revolver. If we hit him, we'll want to do it by surprise and hope silver works. Of course, we'll want to scope him out before hand, but we'll want to be prepared.

>>13897063
Would their bonuses stack?

Defensive stuff might be nice. And definitely gonna say yeah on the silver ammo. Isn't fire also anti-werewolf? Let's keep Randy around for this one.

As mentioned before, the financial district is the white part of town. Perhaps we should be thinking about ways to not draw attention to ourselves? We may be a big man in Harlem but this is a much bigger pond and I suspect an "uppity black man" is not going to get a warm reception.

I'm formulating a plan here. Perhaps we could convince Jackie to arrange a rendezvous with this wolf bastard. And surprise surprise, we ambush him.

Of course, being a werewolf, he might be able to smell us, so the location would have to be somewhere where a lot of people would be, like a whore house or something. Some place where the smell of another man so nearby wouldn't raise alarms.

AND BEFORE WE TRY TO ATTACK HIM, WE NEED TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT WEREWOLVES.

>>13897081
Nope.

>>13897095
Distraction charms are available. People will see you and note your presence but they won't think anything of it. It'll be like you're a part of the background that's meant to be there. Although, if you're openly carrying heavy weaponry in broad daylight that will stretch the power of the charm to breaking, people will notice you and call the cops.

>>13897107
Sorry, Jackie's already split and you don't know how to get in touch. They did give you the location of that nightclub that Henders runs though.

>>13897130
Well this foray into the financial district is just to scout things out and gather intel. So I say we get a few of those, and a medium protection amulet. We'll hand off our weak one to Randy for now.

>>13897149
How many distraction charms? i.e. Are you taking yourself, Randy and Big Jim as well as the The Three Amigos or just Randy, or Randy and Big Jim?

>>13897063
I think the basics are a worthwhile buy, definitely for Randy at least. I've been wondering about Big Jim, his thing is being a big bruiser, but he hasn't had a chance to shine. Is he significantly better than the Amigos? (I actually would like to get an amulet for everyone, but that's a lot of money, we would want to be bringing in some loot soon to make up for big expenditures like that).
I also think we should invest in silver, and try to ambush or drive-by Henders.

>>13897171
Yes, you're right he hasn't had a chance to shine and he is meant to be better than the Three Amigos. He's pretty much a tank, especially with his strength amplifier.

How about incendiary rounds? What other neato toys does Winters have (conventional or unconventional)?

>>13897189


I persdonally think we should put down the Funds for the medium strength Protection Amulet, Its already saved us for Death/Critical Injury, and we may Very well need some better protection.

- Medium Physical Protection Amulet x 1
- Basic Physical Protection Amulet x 1
- Distraction Charm x 3
- 20 Silver Bullets for Revolver

That will cost you 2000 dollars gentlemen, leaving you with 650. Remember you generate 350 a night.

With this buy you have enough to equip Randy and Big Jim each with a Distraction Charm and a BPPA, and yourself with an MPPA and a Distraction Charm.

>>13897247
Add a few more silver rounds, so that we have enough to fit in our revolver, and an entire magazine for a Thompson.

>>13897207
Some seriously neat shit but you don't can't really afford it at the moment.

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

It's 5 PM.

You've got Randy and Big Jim with you in the car, geared up for war both offensively and defensively, as well as the ghosts of Chandler, and Patrick and O'Leary.

David Cole has given you three locations, at one of which you will find Lenny Brokowitz's ghost.

Now you need to vote on:

1) Track down Lenny Brokowitz.
or
2) Stakeout the nightclub in the District for Henders.

I'd say $700 for that medium strength amulet, and give the low strength one to Randy.
Silver rounds for the revolver, though incendiary rounds are of negligible necessity thanks to Randy.
The distraction charms would be good for Duke, Randy, and Big Jim, I think.

>>13897305
Done. You now have 500 dollars left and a magazine worth for a single Thompson.

>>13897309
Brokowitz first.

>>13897309
Track down Lenny Brokowitz. He's basically part of gearing up here; there's no reason not to pick him up. Could mean the difference between life and death to have a strong and willing ghost in our corner.

>>13897309
I think we should go deal with Brokowitz while Chandlers sees if he can stakeout the nightclub, or even enter it.

>>13897309
See the Jew first. Definitely. We need to find out as much as we can first before doing anything else.

The people have spoken.

Next post: Finding Lenny

>>13897343
I like this.

I assume, even in this magical world, the owner wouldn't care about ghosts coming and going, seeing as there appears to be ghosts everywhere. So even if they could tell there was a ghost there, they probably wouldn't care.

>>13897365
Maybe he's got ghost liquor? Soothes the soul (heh)?

>>13897408
Bad anon.

Oh and just planning for when we tackle Henders. We have Chandlers watching him while we wait across the street from the entrance. Big Jim and Duke chilling outside the car, Randy in the car with the Thompson out of view. When Henders steps out Duke gives him a well aimed Pistol round to the dome. If he's got juju blocking the shot then ghosts capable of physicality help Big Jim wrestle Henders down and get any necklace or ring or other suitably magical looking object off him, while Duke and Randy are ready to unload once he's vulnerable. (Chandler originally watching in case Henders leaves through the back or something, so we can reposition and catch him the alley or whatever)

The weather has turned. The clouds that promised water yesterday have followed through and delivered a genuine thunderstorm to New York. The water is pummelling the streets with their force and frequency, and you won't be surprised that some badly maintained streets will flood.

As Randy drives you slowly see the neighbourhoods change.

The people stop being black and then become light brown as you pass through Italian neighbourhoods. From brown they become yellow as you go through some Chinese neighbourhoods, and then from yellow they finally become white. Or rather disgusting pink.

You start to see white people venturing around like they owned the world and suddenly you remember why you don't leave Harlem as often as used to. Just looking at them, with their damn pointy noses looking down on everyone, made you sick to your stomach. You recognise some Dutch gangsters walking in a pack down, all of them hunched over with huge raincoats and umbrellas pointlessly trying to avoid getting wet, and for just a moment you're seriously tempted to throw out any plan of gathering information and dealing with Pitt in order to have a moment of genuine satisfaction as you gun down those pink swine. But you resist.

The Dutch will have their day inside your circle, and then there will be Justice.

You finally enter the Financial District and suddenly the low rise buildings disappear. You're surrounded by would be skyscrapers and pretenders to the thrones of power. The first site is a bust. You don't even need to get out of the car to sense that no ghosts are residing inside. The place has been empty for several years.

It's at the second place that you get a glimmer of hope. Strangely enough it's a playground. The sun hasn't gone down yet but the very dark clouds and the very high buildings that surround the playground make it seem like night has already fallen. Lightning cracks across the dark clouds and illuminates the place briefly. It's empty.

Except....You see someone sitting on a swing inside.

Honestly guys, unless we have a good plan to go directly from Henders to Pitt, we should kill him with subtly. Not out in the open. Somewhere where we can hide the body.

Otherwise Pitt will know shit is up. If Henders simply disappears, then shit will still be a mystery.

>>13897502
If it's a little girl, I don't want anything to do with her. Just, like, keep the fuck away.

>>13897502
Make sure no one else is around, and go ask if we can take the swing beside him.

>>13897516
We could stalk him all the way to his home. Chandler shouldn't have a problem tailing him and remaining out of sight. Then getting a chance to use the Thompson is harder though, and I think its unlikely we'll ever be able to get him where there are genuinely no witnesses, depending on where he lives. Someone is going to hear us shoot, and that's our best 'shot' at killing him. But yeah, trying to be more subtle than outside his favorite haunt is probably a good idea.

>>13897523
Luckily for you, it's not a creepy little girl.

>>13897529
You step out of the car on your own and walk into the playground.

As you get closer you see a very solid ghost, just sitting on the swing not even being bothered by the water. Lenny Brokowitz is an old man, over sixy, his beard looks like that of Abraham Lincoln, although Lincoln wouldn't be seen dead with a handlebar moustache like Lenny's. Brokowitz is skinny and gaunt, as he was in life, wearing the black suit he was buried in. He cheeks are nearly hollow, his nose as aquiline as you can get.

You approach him and before you speak he says, "No. Do not sit."

"What is it you want, shvartser? Go bother some other meysim."

>>13897661
"I want to tear a certain Welshman's soul from his still-living body. I understand you might be inclined to help out someone looking to take down Pitt."

>>13897661
"I have a certain . . . respect for the dead. More than most, perhaps. But you'd best mind your manners before you find yourself on my bad side. I'm not here for idle chatter. All you need to know if that I aim to kill that Welshman Pitt."

More like this >>13897686 Less like this. >>13897687
I want to at least start out friendly.

>>13897706
Actually I guess I would want to start like the second, just not chide him on his manners.

>>13897686
>>13897687
>>13897706
>>13897722
Noted.
------------
>>13897686
>>13897687
"Oho, you would kill that bastard Pitt, would you?" he asks, displaying how confident he was in your skills to manage this task with the sheer amount of sarcasm in his voice.

"You and what army would that be? Those boys and ugly pugs you have in the car?"

"You fool yourself, shvartser."

"I have walked around the Wessler building a thousand times, poking for holes in his defenses so that I may walk in there and choke that bastard Pitt. But he has defenses against ghosts and so I am kept outside by his wards."

"He knows I wait for him so he has not left that building in five years."

"Five years I have waited and I will wait five more if need be."

"One day I will choke him. Choke him with my bare hands."

Lenny mutters that last line to himself several times over.

>>13897744
"If he will not leave, then perhaps he will burn."

The main page is down, so we might not have as many players right now as we might otherwise.

>>13897744
"No defense is perfect. Tell me how his work, where they are, and I might be able to do something about them. Tell me others he's killed, and you won't be the only one coming after him when they go down. That will be my army, and he'll rue his every sin when you get your hands on him."

>>13897768
We might say that, but we can't burn him to death. We need to get information out of him. And to do that, he needs to be either alive, or we need a piece of him. And if he dies in a huge fire, that'd be hard to find.

Actually, since this is starting to look quite difficult, we don't even need to kill Pitt. We just need to get the Rock. It seems like it has to be used specifically, so it is probably Henders that goes out with it and uses it on a target. We could attack while Henders is out on a run, maybe even warn whoever he is out to fuck with so they will help us, then we just scoop up the Rock when he's dead. Lenny might be interested in helping us, if we present it as a prime way of fucking with Pitt, and possibly luring him out.

>>13897810
What rock?

>>13897827
Jesus' crystal.

>>13897768
Ahem. I just want to remind that you that:

>PITT: He's the illegitimate son of Pitt the Younger and some Welsh maid that got knocked up and decided to head to America to start a new life. He's over 100 years old but looks like he's 30. He specialises in astral magic and elemental magic.
>elemental magic.

He'll just eat the fire and have an orgasm.

>>13897789
"I don't know how they work or where they are placed. All I know is that every time I approach that building and try to enter it I feel the agony of a thousand stabs upon my body."

"As for other ghosts with grudges? The streets of this District are littered with their corpses. Pitt climbed to the top of this place after swimming through the river of tears cried by widows and orphans. You get those defenses down and I will have them all ready."

"But you can't do that. You're a pup. Matching you against Pitt is like watching a mouse trying to ambush a tiger. Laughable."

>>13897847
Then get ready to laugh, old timer. The whole damn world, living and dead seems to want Pitt gone. It's just a mater of time, and I aim to be the man who piles on that last piece of straw on his camel.

And I'll make damn sure he never gets to pass on proper. Stuck in limbo for as long as I'm alive, never completing the Journey. That's a promise.

>>13897847
How do wards generally work, are they tied to a physical object, made with symbols and magic power at certain points?

>>13897847
"Round up whoever you can. If I can do it, you'll all have your revenge. Otherwise, what else are you going to do? Sit on a swing for the rest of eternity and want for a revenge that will never come?"

>>13897847
"So, a chance to strike against Pitt presents itself, and you would rather scoff and continue your despairing vigil? If you truly think it impossible to take down the Wessler, then I have another idea. Pitt has gained a potential monopoly on alcohol, and I intend to end that. I suspect he enacts his will by proxy through a man called Henders. Do you know anything about him? Would you help me strike at him, at least?"

>>13897904
As you get soaked in the rain and make your announcement you see Brokowitz get cheered up for the very first time in your conversation, before this his head was bowed down in resignation and contempt.

He laughs at your statement. With you, that is. Something about the way you said that made him like you.

"I like your spunk, black man."

He stands up, closes his eyes and something happens. He's imparted some of his essence into you.

"Use that to call to me when you will attack that bastard Pitt. I will be there with many a friend at my side and we will see him dead."

>>13897908
For wards that protect buildings, there are two different kinds. Those that are based on a single item that extends in a sphere from the the center outward and those that are based on sigils and symbols carved into the building itself that create a barrier of sorts.

At the moment you don't know which type that the Wessler building has.

>>13897949
I'd bet on sigils myself. A sphere initially to keep things out, then work in sigils on everything. Foundation, supports, the god damn front door.

>>13897949
>>13897964
Keep in mind ghosts aren't the only thing Pitt would have to defend against, so not all his resources are going to anti-spirit wards.

Guys, I'm going to be leaving in about 20 minutes so think of some final actions you want to do for the night.

>>13897982
Yeah, I'm sure he probably has anti fire wards and runes etched all over to prevent someone from burning him out anyway.

We need to get people inside. Disguised as janitors maybe. Using the disguise charms.

Of course, we need to find out where these wards are located. That werewolf would probably know.

>>13897996
Get any information Brokowitz has on the werewolf. He's going to be our first target; once he's dead and bound, we'll have enough inside information to move on Pitt, or if not at least enough to go after someone who knows more.

>>13897996
"I think it will take more preparation before I am ready to assault Pitt himself. But in the meantime I must strike against him." Then-
>>13897927 Pitt has gained a potential monopoly on alcohol, and I intend to end that. I suspect he enacts his will by proxy through a man called Henders. Do you know anything about him? Would you help me strike at him, at least?"

>>13898018
the 'at least' is a little much since we've gotten somewhere with him now, omit that.

Final commands, I think we should get ghosts rotating staking out Henders' Haunt, and then following him, once the do see him, ready to report to us when they see or hear anything about a plan with the crystal. That is, if we like the 'strike while he's out on a crystal-mission' plan. No one else commented on it, so I suppose it can be queued up and voted on next time.

>>13898086
And I suppose while we are here we can ask about any other specific ghosts that might be eager to help. I bet Henders has a list of victims himself.

>>13898013
>>13898004
"I cannot help you strike at him, it will take me time to gather my troops for they are far flung and hanging on bitter winds, but I can tell you about him."

"Henders full name is Erik von Henderschmidt. I do not know when he arrived in this country but he still has a strong accent of his homeland on his tongue. You are right in that he is Pitt's right hand. Pitt is the velvet glove and Henderschmidt is the iron gauntlet that breaks faces."

The old man makes a fist and covers the other with his open hand.

"I have followed him on occassion and can give you his home address and his working address."

You now have both.

"Are you aware he is a werewolf? Yes? Do you know what that means though? No. Why would you know, you are a child." Brokowitz laughs a heavy, snortfilled laugh. "A werewolf is not a magician or someone who chooses to train in something to gain that power. It is a curse passed from father to son, always. Never have I seen a female werewolf. There is a story of how silver bullets cause them damage, yes? No. It does not. Everything causes them damage but they are so damnably quick, so damnably strong and so ferocious that causing them damage is nigh on impossible. They heal so constantly that I honestly do not know how you intend to cause him harm."

"The only advantage you have is that he cannot strike at you magically. He can only affect his own body and has all the magical defenses of a newborn babe, unless Pitt has given him defenses, I do not know."

>continued in next post

"Until I see you next, I bid you good day, black man."

Brokowitz turns away from you and walks slowly, but speed doesn't matter as his essence takes flight and disappears. Brokowitz has been a ghost for a long time and seems to have learnt some neat tricks.

>>13898086
After that you give Chandler orders to go to Henderschmidt's home and stake it out, watch it closely and give you a tug when he sees Henders arrive. After that he is to give three tugs on your energy if he hears anything connected to the crystals.

Chandler is an old hand at spying for you at this point and knows exactly what to do. You can rely on him.

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

And that's all for tonight gentlemen. Feedback time? How did we do tonight? Did you mind that there wasn't any combat? I thought yesterday was a bit combat heavy so I didn't think you'd mind if it was otherwise today. Lay it on me if you didn't enjoy it though.

>>13898123
Well seems like all those silver bullets were a waste.

Fire, once again, seems the way to go.

OF COURSE, WE COULD ALWAYS FUCKING RIP HIM, GET HIM OUT OF COMMISSION FOR 30 SECONDS, AND KILL HIS UNCONSCIOUS ASS, FUCK YEAH!

That is if he doesn't have any protection.

>>13898132
It was good. It's nice to have a balance between these sessions.

>>13898132
My favorite parts so far have been non combat. Our meeting with Olukwele for example. It adds so much to the setting.

>>13898132
Was plenty fun, and your characters are wonderful. Willy was a great surprise.

>>13898151
>>13898158
>>13898201
Fantastic. I was tempted to make Willy a badass killer type but then I felt like I'd be ripping off Omar from the Wire. Glad it worked out well in the form I chose.

I'm not sure when I'll be able to run Part V, it'll be Wednesday or Thursday evening, so once again I ask that you all email me so that I can email you back with the time. Unless you've emailed me before in which case I already have your email address and there's no need, since I'll send a message to those anyway.

Thanks for the great time guys!

>>13898220
Whoops. Forgot to put the address in the field.

>ghost jews with a grudge
>immortal african crime bosses
>welsh dragon elementalists
>genderbending shapeshifter musicians

ARRRGHHHHROOOAARRROMGSOFUCKINGAWESOME

>>13898279
This. A million times. A perfect articulation of why my imaginary vagina is so moist when I read this thread.

bump. i'll keep you alive duke!

>>13898921
TTT