[OOC] Word on the street

[wodine]

@jbear

Debt Fahrad is hiding Andre from someone, or something, powerful. He owes me a Debt. Jingle Jingle Jingle The bells on the door clamored as a large, out of place man entered The Dragon’s Hoard. The room was filled with rare books and antiques, smelled of wood, book binding, old leather, and much more. There was a counter, and under a very secure set of glass even more books. There were valuables scattered all around. Old jewelry strewn across the counter, silver hand mirrors tucked into bookshelves, centuries old paintings piled against the wall. It would be so easy to grab something of value and be back out the door. I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Andre had been gazing at his distorted face in the silver mirror, he hadn’t notice the man appear behind the corner. A very… strangely dressed man. He walked with cane, and the clicking grew louder as he drew closer. A new item for my collection. A silver mirror won’t solve your problems, boy. The man looked Andre up and down. No… you need something… else. Try the box Fahrad pointed to a child’s toybox with the tip of his cane. In the box Andre found an old teddy bear, toy horse with a pull string and wheels, a porcelain doll, and… what’s that, Detective Comics #62, a classic Batman with the Joker! Fahrad had turned his attention to something else in the store, and the comic book somehow made its way out of the store, along with a little golden chain tucked between the pages, at the end of it, a small Hamsa amulet made of brilliant blue glass.

[jbear]

Originally Posted by Roekahs

@jbear - thanks for clarifying; I am good with the gangs, I was just trying to mold a story and didn't find a ton of info (definitely missed the supernatural bent), but there was a lot of other really good stuff so thought I would ask.



I do like the supernatural element to this and the idea that both Victor and Andre might be naive together, but separately. Victor got tied up with the "mortal side" of the gangs selling drugs and guns (sort of unofficially, maybe even selling for both as time and supply dictated). Then the FBI came sniffing around. Both gangs were on edge, but Victor quickly pulled the plug on his business ventures to let things cool off. Of course, he still needed money and started selling the "supernatural" equivalent of specifics tbddrugs and gus, but this time he was doing it alone and was accidentally infringing on the gangs' sales. Stuff happens one night and Andre steps in on Victor's behalf. All Victor knows is that the gangs are both upset with him now, but he doesn't know that they are supernatural in nature and have a stake in the supernatural sales in the area. And Andre thinks he handled it that one time and that is that.

Sounds great!! I think that is a nice tie in to the FBI but widens the field of opportunities for Wyn to mess with as well.

Originally Posted by wodine

@jbear

Haha! Batman and the Joker, issue 62!! Love it!

*old Batman Theme music plays as Andre leaves the shop, boyish wonderment spread across his face as he delicately thumbs through the pages as though he were touching pure gold.

[Vislands]

A lot of really great connections being made, just wanna make sure I respond to all the ones being proposed to Brassavola before I set up her debts.

Originally Posted by Elanir

Someone is watching out for a family member of yours. You owe them 2 Debts.

Brassavola: Brassavola has taken an interest in Annie Hayes (see above) for her own mysterious reasons. The girl is bright, curious and persistent, along with being a descendant of the Irish branch of the Varney family. Perhaps there is a connection with Brassavola’s former fae court or a rival fae court. Perhaps she is part of a bet or a prophecy. Anne wouldn’t know of such things, but she does realize that the Fae looks after her and makes sure she doesn’t get hurt in more ways than one. For this she feels a certain gratitude. She will not put it into words, but if she can do something for Annie’s protector, she will.

Accepted! I really like this. Brassavola is likely doing her own research into DC history for her own reasons, perhaps this is where she and young Annie Hayes have crossed paths and formed an unlikely bond. I imagine some Courts have the less savory practice of spiriting away particularly charming young mortals to serve as handmaidens to their royalty. Brassa likely noticed the signs on Annie, that she'd been 'marked' by someone and has been protecting her from abduction.

Originally Posted by hafrogman

Someone relies on you for training or knowledge. They owe you 2 Debts. So Victor's "training" has already been covered. In the interest of spreading it around, @Vislands what do you think about Brassavola for this. Definitely more on the knowledge side than training. One of Cole’s regular customers is a fae lordling, a clothes horse and inveterate gossip. He cannot help but yammer about all of the goings on in the courts during his fittings. Brassavola in turn uses Cole as a way to keep informed of such matters without involving or exposing herself to the courts themselves.

Accepted! Yes I think this is a great connection. I imagine Cole doesn't just serve as info, but as a consultation for the streetwise knowledge of DC and its landscape that Brassa simply lacks. She'd likely have slipped up and revealed herself a long time ago if they hadn't met and Cole didn't decide to help her out.

Originally Posted by jbear

Accepted! Would Andre moonlight as security? I could see that exact scene playing out and with Brassa's abilities of illusion and putting people in specific emotional states, calming Andre down and covering up for him would certainly be possible, if extremely difficult.

Originally Posted by wodine

Brassavola is keeping a Special Agent Daniel Kensingtonmortal friend or family member safe on your behalf. You owe them a Debt.

Accepted! Keeping someone interested in the wrong direction is certainly something that Brassa could do, and having a damned dragon in her debt would certainly motivate her to do it. Do you have any more details in mind for this particular human?

[wodine]

Originally Posted by Vislands

Do you have any more details in mind for this particular human?

There's information smattered throughout my folder about Special Agent Kensington but there's a post dedicated to him here.

[Wynamoinen]

Programming note:

All this churn and muddle of ideas is great! I don't think anything is getting too lost in the mix, but please tell me if you disagree. My plan is, this weekend, to sit down and really sort through it with a fine-toothed comb to make sure there aren't any major dropped threads. That means on Sunday or Monday I'd hope to be able to come back with questions and nudges. A few days of subsequent discussion and I think this phase could be wrapped up at that point - so, mid-to-late next week?

Please do keep it up, and I'll touch back with my own items in a few days.

[hafrogman]

Originally Posted by Vislands

Accepted! Yes I think this is a great connection. I imagine Cole doesn't just serve as info, but as a consultation for the streetwise knowledge of DC and its landscape that Brassa simply lacks. She'd likely have slipped up and revealed herself a long time ago if they hadn't met and Cole didn't decide to help her out.

Excellent.

Did have one other idea that came to mind while peeking at Brassa's thread. Would it be okay for me to appropriate the Cousin as the fae customer in question?
I don't expect Cole would know about the relationship unless she chooses to share it, so mostly for Wyn's benefit of having one shared NPC to mess with both of us.

[jbear]

Originally Posted by Vislands

Accepted! Would Andre moonlight as security? I could see that exact scene playing out and with Brassa's abilities of illusion and putting people in specific emotional states, calming Andre down and covering up for him would certainly be possible, if extremely difficult.

Awesome! His Dad used to work Security. That's how he got into Pro Wrestling. So it would make sense that he might take extra jobs doing that when he can get it, especially as he is a giant. So I think that makes sense. That would actually give him another point of connection with Victor who also works part time as a security guard if I'm not mistaken.

[Wynamoinen]

I'm working through this thread now and it looks like I droped the ball on answering this question of yours @hafrogman, sorry. I think starting with a particularly lopsided debt allocation is more interesting than a criss-cross of mutually-held debts. But doubling up with one PC still means one less connection to another PC. So my opinions about trying to spread the wealth still apply. (edit:, though this particular issue is moot, as wodine withdrew one of the proposed connections)

That said, we've handed out most of the debts at this point, and from what I've re-read so far, they're very well-distributed. So I think at this point we can dial back the "no doubling up on debts" vigilance to a great degree, if we still have some outstanding connections to make.

In terms of my re-reading for deep understanding, I'm about halfway through the last week's interactions, so my plan still holds to get back to y'all with big questions and prompts tomorrow. But I may have a few more smaller comments like this one today.

Originally Posted by hafrogman

Or are doubles okay, but just specifically avoid debts where we owe each other (barring the Aware's debt where it's built in)? So instead of two people owing each other, I might combine Cole's "you owe them two debts" along with Cole being the target of someone else's "they owe you one debt" so Cole ends up owing someone three debts.

[Wynamoinen]

First pass read through of debts is complete. No short questions at this moment. But for the record, I think that Victor still has one more debt to hand out, and Brassa has all of hers to distribute. And apropos of my last post, it looks like Brassa is already connected to 4 of the PCs, so her debts will certainly need to end up doubling up with one or two folk. If my records are correct, the only PC Victor doesn't have a direct connection to is Brassa, and same of course in reverse, Brassa is unconnected to Victor via debts.

[Roekahs]

Yep, I am tracking that as well, Wyn.

In fact, might as well get the conversation started surrounding Victor's last debt: Someone told you their secrets and you haven't told anyone about them yet. They owe you 2 debts.

The obvious answer with current connections would be Brassa. However, this is an interesting debt where the implications are that the 'secrets' are - at the very least - not widely known. It seems like Brassa's old Court might actually be a good candidate for such a level of secrecy, but the other implications (with 2 debts owed) is that it is a secret the PC doesn't want to get out. I do think there would be other options, including "other" secrets or a different PC entirely. I guess this is the place to start the conversation: @Vislands how does having a major secret (worthy of 2 debts) hit you for Brassa?

[Wynamoinen]

(Apologies, Roe, if this ends up burying your suggestion, since this post will kick up some dust. Let's be sure to get back to it, if it gets missed.)

The debts have planted lots more seeds for shenanigans, thanks for all the worldbuilding! I could ask a billion questions, but I don't want to swamp the thread, and I want to keep some mysteries for myself. So here are a few directed questions that I think are important in order to 1) fill in some gaps, and 2) drive the plot in the direction you the players want.

@Roe and Frog: You're mutually protecting each other. Cole had attracted some attention that wasn't on his radar, and Victor has deflected it. I'd like to hear what that threat is. Victor is under threat and I'd like to suggest that Charity could be that exact threat: a street-level supernatural vice dealer from Cole's past (and present)

@wodine: the link to Anne's ring was particularly important due to the dragon eye gem. Does Farhad own other dragon relics? If so, what relic is most precious to him? If not, what was Farhad's reaction when he found this ring with a piece of his kin?

@Elanir: Annie Hayes is shaping up to be very important, and she is clearly "special" in one way or another. Would you like to develop this more (ie, you and me together, probably in your thread) or would you rather I plot my machinatins on my own? I'm getting that she's kind of Aware, and also Fae-inflected so far. But I can also imagine her acting as a Hunter (as a 12 year old, maybe like the Enclyclopedia Brown of Hunters) or maybe her research would push her towards Wizardliness or Oracleness. Or something else entirely. I can make a story out of it, but if you want to provide preemptive guidance, now's the time.

@Frog and Vis: I personally prefer the "Fae Lordling is a customer of Cole" version of the debt you share, over the "Brassa's cousin is the customer" version. (Unless, perhaps, BOTH are true? Was the cousin absorbed and ennobled into another court?). I think the courts could end up being an important thread in this game, and I feel like they need a lot of development. We can do that as the game goes on, and we will if that's a thread we want to tug on. But I'd really like to get something started in that vein now. For example (you don't need to answer all of these!), what Court is the lordling part of? Are they loyal or a turncoat? What kind of gossip does Cole hear? Why would Brassa be interested in this gossip? Is it vapid talk of trends, or is it life-and-death "the Wild Hunt might be summoned to find Brassa" type stuff?

@Frog & jbear: I think the "make THE WOLF a costume" connection is great. It's simple and straightforward, but gets to the base of who the characters are. I'm wondering if it's a pure coincidence that Cole picked a Wolf as someone he could help? Or did he know that Andre was a member of the Shadows? Are there other wrestlers that Cole also helped, and were they also in the Shadows? Given how shady the promoter is, I'm wondering if this this wresting league is just rife with Wolves and Vamps and whatnot.

@wodine & jbear: Farhad gave Andre a Hamsa, a protection against the evil eye. Farhad has a mixed background with Anne, and Anne is “haunting” Andre. She is a watcher, and some certainly have called her evil. I’m wondering if this is about her? If not, what else might it be about? (I'm going to admit to being a little trepidatious about Farhad's ability to just hand out items of power. It's fine to set up the story. We’ll need to make sure, once the game starts, that if Farhad keeps doing that, it has some meaning within the context of his mechanical moves)

[wodine]

Originally Posted by Wynamoinen

@wodine: the link to Anne's ring was particularly important due to the dragon eye gem. Does Farhad own other dragon relics? If so, what relic is most precious to him? If not, what was Farhad's reaction when he found this ring with a piece of his kin?

Well, there is the book – De Vermis Mysteriis. I would imagine that Fahrad didn’t know that the ring was a relic of a dragon, otherwise he wouldn’t have let the ring slip from his possession. I assure you he’s quite cross with himself, and Anne, over this. It is rather unique that a gem would have been made of a Dragon’s Eye. Magic no doubt. Now one of my poor siblings is lost, without an eye. A Xiaohou Dun to my Cao Cao… I do, however, have several relics of dragons of the bygone eras. Fahrad sighed. It is so much easier to tell in retrospect. A scimitar owned by Mansa Musa. A glass prism of Sir Isaac Newton. A silk kerchief which graced the sleeve of Catherine de’ Medici.

Originally Posted by Wynamoinen

@wodine & jbear: Farhad gave Andre a Hamsa, a protection against the evil eye. Farhad has a mixed background with Anne, and Anne is “haunting” Andre. She is a watcher, and some certainly have called her evil. I’m wondering if this is about her? If not, what else might it be about? (I'm going to admit to being a little trepidatious about Farhad's ability to just hand out items of power. It's fine to set up the story. We’ll need to make sure, once the game starts, that if Farhad keeps doing that, it has some meaning within the context of his mechanical moves)

I am admittedly uncertain about the rules of magic in this world, but the Hamsa wasn’t given out for any specific reason other than the aura of darkness that surrounds Andre. Now, if that darkness happens to have a name, and it happens to keep her at bay – so be it. Fahrad, of course, doesn’t just hand out powerful relics to anyone, but it was just a token really, a trifle! Oh, and there is one more thing. We haven't discussed the subject of payment.

I apologize for slipping in and out of Fahrad, but I think we both had some opinions.

[Elanir]

Originally Posted by Wynamoinen

@Elanir: Annie Hayes is shaping up to be very important, and she is clearly "special" in one way or another. Would you like to develop this more (ie, you and me together, probably in your thread) or would you rather I plot my machinatins on my own? I'm getting that she's kind of Aware, and also Fae-inflected so far. But I can also imagine her acting as a Hunter (as a 12 year old, maybe like the Enclyclopedia Brown of Hunters) or maybe her research would push her towards Wizardliness or Oracleness. Or something else entirely. I can make a story out of it, but if you want to provide preemptive guidance, now's the time.

I am fascinated by the idea of a changeling, but at the same time want that Annie remains a descendant of Anne’s sister. So I thought of the following:

The Fae, even the ones who are extremely powerful like the kings and queens of the various courts, are like all natural beings in that they are born, grow up, become frail and/or weaker and die. This seems to be logical for beings who are so closely connected to the seasons and the passage of time. What makes them different than mortals, however, is their ability to be reborn.

At some point in their lives they choose a newborn child. Not just anyone of course, but a child that resonates with them, one whose cries they hear beyond any distance. They mark the child, planting within it an egg or parasite of sorts. As long as the Fae lives, the egg is dormant, but when the Fae passes away, the egg wakes. From this day forward the child lives two lives: a mortal’s life when it is awake and a Fae’s life when it is asleep and dreaming.

The two personas are unaware of, but influence each other on a subconscious level, the Fae soul adopting some of the mortal’s characteristics and on the other hand granting the mortal some amazing, magic-like abilities.

The more pragmatic and logical a person is and the less they give in to the fantastical (in both senses of the word) abilities of the Fae, the longer it takes for the Fae soul to prevail and slowly devour and replace the soul of the mortal. But this is only a matter of time. At some point the Fae will be reborn - unless powerful magic is used or the mortal vessel is killed.

The Fae are not able to automatically understand whose soul slumbers within a changeling, but they might get an impression or have a suspicion, especially if they knew the Fae very well in life. Brassavola might very well suspect who Annie’s Fae soul belongs to and this might be a powerful individual, one who might have special meaning to her or perhaps an individual who was in some way responsible for what happened to the Fae courts.

I’ll leave all further details to you, Wynamoinen, and Vislands.

[Wynamoinen]

I actually had in mind "relics" in the Catholic sense - literal bits and pieces of the bodies of dragons. That is grisly and... well, we'd call it problematic nowadays. I can imagine a revulsion but also a fascination to a presently-existing dragon. But from what you wrote, it sounds like the answer is "no, no relics, but many artifacts."

Originally Posted by wodine

Well, there is the book – De Vermis Mysteriis. I would imagine that Fahrad didn’t know that the ring was a relic of a dragon, otherwise he wouldn’t have let the ring slip from his possession. I assure you he’s quite cross with himself, and Anne, over this. It is rather unique that a gem would have been made of a Dragon’s Eye. Magic no doubt. Now one of my poor siblings is lost, without an eye. A Xiaohou Dun to my Cao Cao… I do, however, have several relics of dragons of the bygone eras. Fahrad sighed. It is so much easier to tell in retrospect. A scimitar owned by Mansa Musa. A glass prism of Sir Isaac Newton. A silk kerchief which graced the sleeve of Catherine de’ Medici.

[wodine]

Originally Posted by Wynamoinen

I actually had in mind "relics" in the Catholic sense - literal bits and pieces of the bodies of dragons. That is grisly and... well, we'd call it problematic nowadays. I can imagine a revulsion but also a fascination to a presently-existing dragon. But from what you wrote, it sounds like the answer is "no, no relics, but many artifacts."

How very... Orthodox.

No, I don't think having dragon relics or reliquaries would make much sense, given Fahrad's background at least it would take considerable magic to rend a piece of his flesh and store it for long term like that. I think the uniqueness of the eye is what makes Fahrad so gosh darned determined to get it back.