After a month, we finally returned to Dresden and Las Vegas. Lana gave us an early warning that this arc would be titled Things Go to Hell. I won't give any spoilers this early but the theme is totally appropriate- at least from the set up. This was a great start and it will only get better as situations progress. I foresee many OOC comments in this post.
September had come and tourist trade was winding down. Cooler temperatures and even cooler temperaments had prevailed over the summer heat. The mood in Vegas was more or less content. A break between disasters was very much needed.
In the downtime, Neil had been very busy. With his windfall, he had managed to buy the Baron's estate- house, land, and furnishings. Then came the daunting task of exploration and inventory. Even though he didn't move in, he spent many hours going through the entire house. There was an abundance of clothes, he found (the Baron did have good taste...and the money to indulge). He also figured out that the house was riddled with secret passages. He did find a few disturbing implements, mainly dealing with the draining of blood (the Baron didn't bite anyone but he did need to eat). The vibe of the house took a definite creepy turn when Neil went into the basement. It was filled with old furniture and more clothes. These clothes, however, seemed to come in many different sizes and for both genders. The sub-basement was ever creepier. It was set up as a torture chamber, complete with blood stained walls. In a small room off of it, Neil found the vampire's resting place. A search of the coffins turned up personal belongings- jewelry, journals, other keepsakes. As for Neil's dating life, since Uri's promotion, Christine had become even busier. Their weekly dates had turned into monthly booty calls. Neil didn't seem particularly devastated by that occurrence.
Brandon kept busy as well. He had a sword he needed to get to know. With time and proximity, he became attuned to the weapon. That earned Brandon the Marked by Power aspect. With use, he learned that carrying the sword gave him Winter Strength and using the sword conferred Winter Speed to him. Business was good. The summer tourist crowd had given way to the in town trade of local magicians. Besides playing with his sword (snicker) and running his business, Brandon spent time with Skip. He soon found out that Skip sucked at evocation but excelled at thaumaturgy (Skip's training in the hard sciences really enforced this). Of course, a fair amount of time was spent teaching Skip to learn from his mistakes. One incident involved the need for Black Court Vampire blood. Brandon told Skip to head over to Mason's and get some. Not long afterwards, Skip returned. Or rather, Mason hauled Skip back to the shop by his ear.
With the city quiet, Brandon and Neil didn't have much to do for their second jobs as Spades. They mainly had to keep the tourists safe from muggings and such. The only other thing on the Spade radar was the sudden expansion of the Fey into new territory and the influx of money that meant. It wasn't a problem yet but could lead to instability, something much frowned upon.
Shade didn't spend her time relaxing either. She continued to speak with the Changelings one on one (she is determined to get at least a couple to choose their Fey heritage). Business at her shop had picked up as well. Even with her work, Shade managed to spend time with Neil, Brandon, Skip, and Wyatt. One issue with Skip did come up. Once he learned that Shade's talent was in thaumaturgy, Skip showed up at her place asking questions. Once again poor Skip was dragged back to Brandon by his ear (Shade was not going to step on Brandon's toes when it came to his apprentice). However, Brandon gave his permission for Skip to learn from her. As for Shade and Max, they spent as much time together as they could, at least once a week. Work took much of their time but they managed (Could there be something brewing here? Possibly, they seem really into each other). As for the monthly Board meetings, they passed fairly uneventfully. There were a few snide remarks made about the Fey expansion but Shade ignored them (she saw an opportunity, took it, and made it a success. Perhaps she is a bit more capable then they thought).
The work day started off normally for Brandon. He and Skip were at his shop when the bell over his door rang. Brandon looked up and noticed two customers coming in. At first glance, the man and woman seemed like normal patrons. However, a quick check showed Brandon that the man had an aura of power and that it was very dark. Deciding that aggressive customer service was in order, Brandon walked over to them. The two focused on Brandon as he walked up. The man introduced himself as Jack, the woman as Michelle (For loyal followers, yes, they are the two from the New Orleans game and...they aren't. They are the same characters to a point but, since Lana is playing them, some of their actions will not be true to how we each created them). They were looking to talk to a Brandon Wall. Brandon told them they had found him and asked what they wanted. Jack suggested they retire to a private place for their chat. Back in Brandon's office, the three sat down and Jack started speaking. They were looking for a particular person- Arthur Skavis. They had information that he might be in the city. Brandon told them that he knew a Fredrick Skavis but didn't know an Arthur. He suggested that the two should head over to Luxor to check in and maybe get some better information. Asked why, Brandon tried to explain to them how things were in Vegas with the Board and how things were run. Jack seemed amused by it all. Michelle just looked impatient. She tried to push the Skavis issue but was silenced by Jack. Jack them brought up the other reason they were in Vegas. Jack was a member of the White Council and it had been brought to the Council's attention that the Warden was no longer there. Brandon said that the Warden was just on a vacation and would be back. Jack then asked Brandon if he would care to join the Council. Brandon politely declined. Business concluded, the two left.
While Brandon was getting the dubious honor of meeting Jack and Michelle, Shade was working. Her day was pretty normal. She and Max had a date planned for that night. Closing up, Shade went upstairs and got ready. Since it was a chance for them to spend more then a half an hour together, she dressed up a bit. He picked her up and they headed out. He took her to a Damian Demos magic show. They were sitting in the front row, enjoying the show when the final trick of the evening started. Damian came into the audience and singled out Shade as his "victim". It involved the usual pick a card and write your name down bit (by that time I knew exactly where this was going). She did so and, surprise, he pulled her card out of her pocket. However, what had been written on the card was "will you marry me". Shade looked down and saw Max kneeling in front of her with an engagement ring (the diamond was actually purple tinged and was ringed with amethysts- Tyrian purple is her favorite color). He spoke of his esteem and love for her and she formally accepted. As they hugged, she whispered that they needed to get the fuck out of there for a serious conversation. Max agreed and they left.
As they sat down to eat, Shade launched into her list of concerns. First, she wasn't Catholic, had no intention of converting, and refused to go through the mandatory counseling. Second, she absolutely would not move to Chicago. Third, there would be no children. Fourth, there was the very good possibility of their jobs causing conflict. She made it clear that she would not tolerate the Mob messing with the Fey territory. Max answered each point- she wouldn't have to convert, they would lie about her being Catholic, and the counseling would be a non-issue (in other words, there would be a nice donation to make that go away). However, a church wedding was non-negotiable. Chicago was not a problem as he was moving permanently to Vegas. Once they got all that hammered out, Shade brought up two more requests- she wanted to tattoo him and they would have to finally have sex-before the wedding. Surprisingly, he agreed to both (there is one other thing she feels a strong need to do but she is saving that for later. She figured that he had been hit hard enough, especially with the "have to have sex" request). After all that, they talked for awhile longer with Max being quite eloquent about his feelings for her (Shade does feel the same way but hasn't said so yet. Don't worry, she will). When they parted, Shade hightailed it to Legends and pulled Tess aside to show her the ring. Tess had a few reservations about the whole thing. She point blank asked Shade if she loved Max and Shade answered that she didn't know (that was a little white lie. She does love him but she won't say it until the still unknown and unnamed event takes place). They decided to go out and celebrate, which they did.
Blissfully unaware of the momentous events shaping up, Neil was at a casino doing Neil things (I am willing to bet that included handing out business cards. I figure by January everyone in Vegas will have one and then he will have to think of something else to hand out). His phone rang and he answered it only to hear Skavis shouting that someone had burned his fucking bar down. Neil told Skavis to calm down and explain what was going on. Skavis repeated the whole "burned my fucking bar down" and asked if Neil would meet with him. Neil said he would and hung up. Getting to the Crucible, Neil saw that the entire bar was in flames. Paramedics, firefighters, and police were on scene. Seeing Neil, Skavis walked over. He looked rough. Someone had beat the hell out of him. Finally calmed down a bit, Skavis told Neil what happened. Two people, a man and woman, he didn't know had come into his bar (one guess just who they were). They asked some questions about an uncle of his and, when he wouldn't give Arthur up, things went to hell. The woman started shooting and the man started to toss fire around. The end result was three bodyguards dead and the bonfire that used to be his bar. Always practical, Neil asked if Skavis had insurance. After calming down a little bit more, Skavis told Neil that he wanted to buy his services. He wanted to know just who those people were and where to find them. They agreed on the price of 25,000$ and two Ghouls as helpers. Skavis then said he would be moving Arthur to the Luxor. With that decided, Skavis left and Neil got to work. He first talked to the firefighters about the blaze but didn't get much more then it seemed odd. Before calling it a night, Neil called Drusilla Malvora and told her what happened. He wasn't sure if the attack was only aimed at Skavis or at all the Vampire Courts and thought it best to cover all the bases.
The next day, Neil headed out early to talk with the businesses surrounding the Crucible. He wanted the footage from all their security cameras. He was able to get what he needed and was able to put the footage together. He saw the man and woman arrive and go into the bar. After a bit, Neil was able to discern flashes of light behind the windowpanes. Then he saw the couple leave and Skavis come out a bit after them (is anyone really surprised it went down like that? Jack and Michelle are reasonable to a point and then after that, things tend to get...messy. Especially with Michelle. Skavis would piss her off just by breathing. One smart ass, sexual innuendo from him and she would not hesitate to shoot him). Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get the license number of the car. Figuring he had gotten everything he could from the footage, Neil started to leave to go visit Wyatt. However, before he could head out, he was joined by two guys- the Ghouls Skavis had promised him. Not wanting to take them on his visit, Neil sent them off on their own errands. The smarter of the two he sent to the police station to ask about the case so far. The second he sent off to guard the second most profitable of Skavis' holdings.
That taken care of, Neil went in search of Wyatt. Finding him at his job, Neil showed Wyatt a still shot of the couple and asked if he could get a location on them. Wyatt tried but came up blank. He told Neil that he would continue to try. Business concluded, Neil asked Wyatt how he was doing. Wyatt said he was doing great, even had a date with a showgirl. Neil gave him some money and told Wyatt to take her someplace nice. Neil's next stop was the Luxor where he looked up Running Mouth. After finding him, Neil asked him he had seen the couple. In the verbal torrent that followed, Neil was able to find out that no, they had not been seen by Jeremy. Asked why he was looking for them, Neil told him what had happened. Running Mouth almost was speechless at learning all that happened. Neil told him to keep the information quiet (not going to happen Neil. Think of who you just told the information to. That was a good move, by the way. Michelle and Jack will have everyone looking for them once Jeremy tells the story a few times).
After their night of debauchery and tequila, Shade and Tess weren't quite ready to face the day. Most of their morning was spent trying to recover and piece the previous night together. They were pretty sure there had been some table dancing involved. It took awhile but Shade finally was able to open her shop. It didn't take long for the events befalling Skavis to reach her ears. She called Skavis to see how he was doing. Skavis at first seemed to think she was calling to gloat a bit and he point blank asked her if the Fey had been involved in what happened. Shade told him that the Fey had nothing to do with the fire. Then he congratulated her on her big event and followed up with some very lewd comments (they were funny as well). After hanging up, Shade sent a message to Philip about what happened. She also included the news of her engagement in the note.
At Sleight of Hand, it was business as usual. Customers kept Brandon busy and a Homecoming visit from his parents kept Skip in panic mode (that poor boy is going to stroke out if he doesn't relax). Finally, the bell on his door ringing gave Brandon the chance to escape Skip's issues. Looking up, Brandon saw a young, black women come in. She walked up to the two men and asked for Brandon Wall. Brandon introduced himself and asked what she needed. She needed a few of his special supplies for a locating spell and possibly his help with the ritual as well. Brandon showed her downstairs to his workshop. She seemed very impressed with his selection of books and set-up. When asked if she had something personal of the person, Sharee produced a handkerchief. At first she wasn't impressed with how Brandon was putting the spell together. She basically told him to cut the crap and give her something that would work. Brandon assured her that if this spell didn't work he would cast something stronger. Mollified a bit, Sharee told him to continue. Brandon cast the spell and hit what seemed to be stone wall. However, he was able to recognize the ward. it was the Luxor. He told Sharee that.
That ended a gaming session full of fun and surprises. This arc is going to be awesome! Of course, the potential problems are growing. Will Jack, Michelle, and Sharee get Arthur? Will they be able to do it without burning half of Vegas down? Is Jack the only White Council member in town or are they there in force? How will the Board and Spades react to it all? Will Locke be called back? What about the impending wedding (and I really hope the wedding/reception does happen and we get to role play it through. Shade is my first character that is fairly normal and isn't borderline crazy. With Shade's focus and organizational skills, I am sure she would have the entire event planned in week...lol)? There hasn't been a celebration where something hasn't gone wrong or had a surprise involved. So many possibilities! And Lana said something about finding a picture that represents how Max looks. Can't wait for that either. I am 1 for 2 on being correct. I got it right with Locke but totally was wrong with how I imagined Uri.
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