Dresden Files RPG

Watkins' Emporium is the foremost supernatural merchant in the city of Las Vegas. Any book, trinket, or material that you desire can be found for the right price. Watkins himself was, for lack of a better term, a pillar of Las Vegas' supernatural community. Though he himself was not a particularly pleasant man, who had fingers in a lot of very shady pies, the fact was that after a long time in the business he had become respected. Not just amongst the Vegas crowd, which was admittedly quite small, but he was beginning to become known amongst the global community. He made sure not to piss off the wrong people, and to be useful enough to all the seedier crowds that they left him alone. So when they found him tied up in the back of his store, badly beaten, and with his throat slit, there was general panic. Messages went out over the Paranet, people spoke to each other in hushed voices, all asking the same questions - "Who killed Tom Watkins, and why?"

Players may want to introduce their character and present their reason for coming to Las Vegas

Signup Thread Discussion Thread

edited 21st Jul '11 12:45:37 PM by Squire

Felix walked down a somewhat shady Las Vegas street. Depending on your definition, there weren't many non-shady streets in the town, but this place certainly made the Strip look like a high-class type of place. A gaudy, noisy and generally obnoxious high-class type of place, but the chance of being shanked was considerably higher. Some say it boiled down to luck, but Felix didn't believe in that, in fact, he didn't believe in luck at all. One might see this as odd, considering what paid his bills, but knowing who he was and what he could do, it made somewhat more sense. Luck or no luck, though, he kept one hand in his pocket, clutching his coin, there were some unsavory elements at work in this street, not to mention there were a couple of casinos who wouldn't mind at all if he disappeared.

Still, the street past Watkins' was the quickest way home, and who knew? Maybe he could pick up a clue to that grizzly murder case and become Paranet famous? Yeah, he owed the network a favor or two, after the thing with the murderous Nordic babe and all. Also, attracting more wizard wannabe groupies, there was always wizard wannabe groupies too.

Sighing, Tim walked down the sideway from the train station looking over the list he got from Warden Ramirez about Practitioners of Interest in the Area, making notes at the side which would be interesting to Visit and question about their ongoing research, which to avoid, and which to ignore as ‘‘Möchtegerne''.

Walking down the strip the looked up and at the street signs. The whole city didn't go well on his trust and he took care to occasionally look if he was followed. With all the Light and Displays, he noted to himself lightly, at least no other Practitioner could sneak up on him with ill intentions without good advance warning. But there was always the common thief and Tim was not that eager to give the local crime scene investigators cause to try to figure out how a criminal could have caught frostburn in the middle of the desert.

Going around another corner he consulted his map. Watkins Emporium was only a couple hundred meters away and while he was not that confident he would find something, he had made it a rule that whenever possible he would visit Places like the Emporium or Bock Ordered Books in Chicago and just look around. Who knows maybe someday he would find something of interest for the Council Archives, or his personal studies, in them.

He walked further, still reading his list and the notes the Warden with the, at least as he had informed Tim, active sexual life had provided, as he felt a resistance in his belt area. Taking a step back it turned out to be yellow band, proclaiming "CRIME SCENE - DO NOT ENTER", which sealed the building that should have been the Emporium.

Tucking away map and notes into his bag, he carefully looked around, just as a male figure appeared and walked toward him. Slowly Tim's hand slid into his Mantle, finding his Freezing Rod and turned to the newcomer.

edited 21st Jul '11 3:02:33 PM by 3of4

Felix looked up, spotting the other man. Normally, strange-looking types was nothing unusual in Vegas. Both the insincerely and disturbingly sincere weird ones, of course, there were more of them when there was a con in town. This guy seemed nervous, and that was seldom a good sign, the only thing that was worse was complete calm. Also, the fact that he was reaching for something, seemingly as a response to Felix, did not bode well. He decided to take a pro-active stance. "Afraid Walkins' is closed, you'll have to get your knick-knacks somewhere else." It was a calculated risk, but this guy seemed to be a practitioner of some kind.

Tim looked over the Newcomer and found him rather unthreatening. On the other hand, he had noted Tim's Hand, though he might just put it down to reaching for a gun. Which, while not that far off, wasn't the thought to create a peaceful mind. He pulled his hand out of the Mantle again, showing the open Hand with a slow smile to the Newcomer to show him he had no ill intentions, but readied his Shield Rings nontheless. He wore the Rings against Force, Fire, Lightning and Light, and hoped he was just being paranoid.

"Too bad, do you know what happened here?" He asked the man. He had a feeling that the Wardens would at least like to know about this and the more information he got the better.

edited 21st Jul '11 3:23:02 PM by 3of4

"Don't really know much about it, I'm afraid." Felix said as he withdrew his hand from his pocket to mirror the stranger's show of trust. Of course, if this guy really was a practitioner, an open hand didn't have to mean squat. "The owner got found beaten up, throat slit, and that's about it, I hear the police's thinking robbery by some guy with daddy issues, but don't quote me on that one." He didn't know what forces were working in Vegas, looking for things like that was an excellent way to attract their attention, but he knew there was more than one thing that went bump in the night. It wasn't something he discussed in the open, for much of the same reasons.

Throat slit. That meant blood. Lot of it. And that could mean...Calm down, not everything these days are the Reds. So far the cease-fire did hold but...he had to find out more. Slowly he walked up to the other. He wasn't sure if he was a normal or another Practitioner, but there was a good way to find out.

"Do you know some place where one could find out more? A Bar or something maybe?"

He reached his Hand towards the other man.

"I'm Tim by the way."

edited 21st Jul '11 3:37:58 PM by 3of4

"Felix's the name." Felix said, shaking Tim's hand. Skin-to-skin contact made it abundantly clear that this guy, indeed, was a practioner, and one a power tier or two above Felix. He didn't flinch, but rather filed it away for further reference. He had met a warden or two in his life, and he knew that showing signs of fear was a bad idea. "There's a couple of meeting spots for the local community, but the Council's not awfully popular there as far as I can tell."

The tape across the storefront indicates that the police have already searched the premises, at least partially. This would also suggest that the body has been taken to the county morgue and that any evidence has been taken to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police HQ. That said the police wouldn't be looking for the same magical phenominon that a practioner would. What would you like to do?

Tim tried not to flinch. Well, there IS a downside to that approach... Instinctivly he noted the way the other pronounced his Name, even if incomplete. He shrugged demonstratively and pointed to his black Mantle. "Well the least I could do is try in that case, and the lack of Sword and Grey Cloak might help a bit. Also, I'm buying. Interested?"

He tried so smile convincingly. He had to find out a bit more to convince the Wardens to send someone investigating this, IF it was really more than what the local police thought. Maybe he could sneak in and take a look around, if the other would be willing to wait - assuming he would take the offer - for a few minutes...

edited 21st Jul '11 3:51:51 PM by 3of4

"Keep the engine running" Leo told the driver as he stepped out the cab, and onto the somewhat deserted street. He tossed the man a $50, and smiled as the cabbie repeatedly jabbed at his watch."Just do your job, and there's more." he said as he began to walk down the street.

In all honestly, Vegas was one of the last places he would rather be right now; he didn't gamble, and women and alcohol could be found anywhere, but he had a job. Days earlier he had been contacted by one of his usual clients, who informed him that one of his associates had been killed; revenge was brought up rater quickly. The job was to find the individual or individuals responsible, and bring them back dead or alive. Now Leo wasn't a fan of detective work, but the numerous 0's at the end of the contract had shoved that protest to the back of his head.

He took a moment to go over some data on his phone "Watkins' Emporium" he said to himself, "Let's go have a look see." Screwing the suppressor onto his Glock, he kicked down the door and made his way inside.

Felix didn't interupt as the new arrival kicked the door to Watkins' Emporium down. "I'm not one to turn down a free drink. Let's go." He said, deciding to not acknowledge the potentially crazy, definitely armed man at all. Maybe he'd go away. That'd be nice. "There's this really nice place just a couple of blocks away. Got working lights and all."

"I'm sorry." Leo said as he raised an eyebrow, "It seems like I might of interrupted something here. Now before you two decided to take each other out on your little date, think you could answer a question or 3? I figure it'd be easier to do it without shooting anyone in the back."

"Sorry, man, but I don't know anything that's not in the papers. Good day." Felix said as he headed towards the place he had in mind. At this point, he really didn't care if the Council Wizard followed him or not, no amount of paranet fame was worth tangling with people who decided that kicking down the door to a crime scene or mentioning shooting people in an offhand manner was a smart idea.

Amerikaner... Was Tim's first thought as the Lunatic turned to them. He started to prepare both the Force and the Light Shields, the one to stop Bullets and the other to block all light to prevent the other from aiming properly, while he looked that the other Man, Felix, was also under its effect if needed. He remembered his training and decided it was better to take him up front instead of risking said bullet in the back.

He then took a breath and answered slowly. "And what Questions do you have in mind?"

edited 21st Jul '11 4:40:13 PM by 3of4

Keeping his gun squarely pointed at the mans head, Leo tilted his head at the other person, before returning to his "interviewee". "Well, you could start with who you are and what you're doing here." he said.

"Oh and wizard" he said with a small smile, "There's no point in trying to use your magic here; if I wanted you dead you would be."

edited 21st Jul '11 6:26:26 PM by Kino

Tim rolled with his eyes "Well, where I come from it is considered polite to introduce oneself before expecting others to do so. And to answer one clichéd sentence with another...if I got an Eurocent for every time I heard that before..." Who was that guy? Some lowlevel practitioner wo watched to many action movies? Or a hired gun of the supernatural world? He was unsure if it was the latter, but the first rule with his kind of bully was to never show fear. He tried to calm himself by slowly counting down the spells he might use in this situation.

"Bear also in mind, please, that I see you. Very clearly indeed. Are you by any way familiar with the concept of a Death Curse?"

He focused his look at the space between the Lunatics eyes, carefull to avoid a Soulgaze und tried to look not as nervous as he felt.

"I;m familiar with a great many concepts." Leo said, "And if I'm not mistaken, you need to speak the curse; somewhat difficult to do if you get shot in the mouth." he paused for a moment to let that information sink in, before continuing with his "interrogation". "You can call me Leo."

"Now that the formalities are over with, care to explain why two wizards are traipsing around a crime scene in the middle of the night?"

Felix grinned to himself as he left the two behind, by the sound of it, the gunman was underestimating the wizard, which was good news for the wizard, unless, of course, he had reasons to be confident, which probably was bad news for the wizard. Either way, he needed a drink. The Obsidian would do.

"Well, I was thinking of purchasing a good read. Sadly my plans seems to have been cut short. And what brings you in this nice establishment?"he asked, trying to smile while he held the Spell to activate the Shield ready in his Mind. Whoever that guy was, he was confident and thought himself in full control of the situation. Noticing that Felix was slipping away he readied himself in case the Gunman would make his thread of shooting him in the back true.

"Business as well." he said before taking a glance at the recently deceased proprietor, "Though it seems that neither one of us will make much progress on that front. it seems as though I'll have to look elsewhere." With that, Leo used his free hand and gave him the signal to leave; his aim still focused on the mans head.

"Oh, one more thing." he said, "Your friend back there; not very sneaky."

Tim shrugged. "He's out of the way, so who's to argue with results?" He too looked at the giant bloodstain where the body had been only shortly ago. "I don't suppose I could convince you to step away for a moment and not point the weapon at me?"

Felix adjusted his bandanna as he approached The Obsidian, he was planning to go home, but then again, his winnings had been pretty good today, and casino security hadn't looked at him twice, so returning was not out of the question. Plus, maybe that cute goth chick had decided to take a pint of pale ale in the corner again, that would certainly be a pleasant surprise. Sporting his best "mysterious practitioner"-look, he walked through the doors of the Obsidian, hoping for a little bit less gun-happy mercenaries.

"That depends" he said, "Do you feel like powering down and realizing that the death curse you're ready to perform won't be effective?" Leo took a few steps away from the crime scene and slightly lowered his weapon.

"I never said I wanted to perform one. I merely wanted to inform you of the possible unfortunate consequences of pulling that trigger. And if I may add...you were the one wo started with the Weapons." Tim answered , still keeping the Shield ring ready.

edited 22nd Jul '11 11:40:58 AM by 3of4