Dramatis Personae

• Chad “The Chad” H. Ramirez (NPC): Demigod of Cupid. Surferbro. Good guy. Not really a great combatant. Guess he’ll die. Tagline: “Whoa.”
• Cosmos aka The Management (Adelphin’s Ally): Cat and hotel manager. No, really. He’s got keys to everywhere, but is still a cat. Tagline: *Forgets to cat*.
• Rui Qui (Adelphin’s Ally): Theogenic Demigod. Hacker, magician, and entrepreneur. The team’s backup fighter and sneaker. Tagline: “Reality is just another simulation to be hacked.”
• Siv (NPC): Demigod of unknown parentage. Not a big talker. Doesn’t understand modern-day and was obviously raised in another dimension. Tagline: “. . .”

Previously . . .

The group is currently in one of the private areas of the Karnival Resorts enjoying some kind of dinner. Current cuisine is Indian food, some papadums, curries, lots of various bits of food done fairly well. Obviously not up to Mitzidu’s standards, but not everything can be up to his standards. Chad is loading up on the curries while following around Mitzidu, and gets introduced to Adelphin as The Chad which causes Liam to burst out in laughter.

Vinda-who?

Adelphin Jean-Baptiste, Liam O’Shea, Mitzidu Ito, Suveer Patel, & Yannis Papadopoulos
Karnival Resort Hotel and Casino
Saturday January 14th, 2012, 1700 hours
3500 Paradise Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89169

Adelphin brings up the topic of The Thule Society, talking to folks about new information that has come to light, that they’ve currently got quite a foothold in the city. They can get easy power by nabbing low level demis off the streets, especially with the Harrowing coming along, not that they’re really a huge threat to the hotel since Adelphin threatens the existence of any one that comes into the hotel is going to disappear. She lets them know that the Thule society managed to get their hands on some demigods that got away from them the previous night. Mitzidu tries to tell the folks that the Thule Society is just a huge group, knock one out and there’s more to take their place. They get a slight introduction to Rui, a bodyguard for Adelphin, though she mostly only keeps him around to keep up the appearance of needing one.

As Yannis excuses himself, he passes a bellhop bringing up a large bouquet of roses in the shape of a goose with a note saying that they want to honk her. Under her gaze, the roses wilt and the neck go limp before the announcement that there’s almost another dozen of the bouquets. The bellhop, Devon Lynch, a demigod descendant of Hermes, is instructed to just collect the rose petals and use them for the Mardi Gras festivities since it just feels wrong to regift them, it also feels wrong just being around them.

Liam inquires about what the Harrowings are like as there are at least two people that are his seniors there. The Harrowings are all about being brought to the same general area and then the fights begin, before the Rite even starts. There are duels where they have to either accept or lose their divine side and the Mitzidu managed to hide and avoid the last ones he was in. There’s no amicable way of ending a sanctioned duel is either to kill or give up, there is no other way and the losing side either loses their life or becomes mortal. There are loopholes that can be somewhat worked with, such as intervening and challenging a challenger before they can challenge. And if someone is challenged outside the Harrowing area, they are to come back to the area to complete the fight.

Liam looks at Mitzidu and lets him know that he hasn’t hit a Las Vegas casino yet and they invite others to go join them. Adelphin declines the offer of gambling as she needs to keep an eye on Siv and on Auriol down in the sickbay.

Luck Be a Lady

Liam O’Shea, Mitzidu Ito, & Suveer Pate
Various
Saturday January 14th, 2012, 2000 hours
The Strip

Suveer and The Chad join the group, they decide to head for some tourist trap casinos, choosing The Luxor. Immediately inside, Liam drops a quarter into a slot machine and gets a bar, a cherry, and a pumpkin. Grinning and shrugging, he follows Mitzidu towards a blackjack table while The Chad gives a tug on the slot machine that Liam just left, winning the huge jackpot. At the blackjack table, Mitzidu doesn’t do too badly while The Chad brags about winning about $40k and an Asti Martin car that he just gave away to charity as The Chad does not need a car. Suveer decides to go gambling, starting with the roulette wheel, doing rather middling, up more than he is down. The Chad goes around just handing out some of his money to the rest of the group for them to gamble with before Liam draws him over to a poker table to do some gambling. Making a few minor buds at the table as he loses money. They plan on spending the rest of the night out, going through several different casinos throughout the rest of the night with Mitzidu keeping an eye out for trouble.

Between casinos they spot themselves being shadowed by three large men, blonde and blue-eyed men, clean cut and squared away and they give the impression that they’re very dangerous men with guns. They aren’t getting close, just following the group, though The Chad loudly asks for confirmation that the three men behind them are the ones following them. They are still rather unconcerned about The Chad’s outburst. The rest of the group decides to just keep going into the nearest casino and Suveer tells the security team that they’re being followed since The Chad is carrying a lot of cash while Liam sticks another quarter in a slot machine, being slightly luckier than his last attempt and winning close to a thousand dollars in pennies. The security group manages to prevent their tails from following them, and spotting the firearms has them calling the police and getting the tails dispersed.

Liam tries to get his thousand dollars of pennies changed to spending money, almost unsuccessfully, while Mitzidu looks for some depressed or down on his luck looking person. Mitzidu finds one wearing what is yesterday’s suit, and writes them a note that if they go to a certain place and does certain things they’ll be a lot better off than if they continue gambling, giving them a wealth blessing.

The Rainbow Bridge

Adelphin Jean-Baptiste, Suveer Patel, & Yannis Papadopoulos
Karnival Resort Hotel and Casino
Saturday January 14th, 2012, 2000 hours
3500 Paradise Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89169

Adelphin, back at Karnival, keeps an eye on Auriol while Rue eats ice cream with Siv. She tries to admonish them not to eat too much ice cream, their affirmative responses aren’t quite convincing.

Yannis, meanwhile, has taken his motorcycle out and is retracing the path between Karnival and MGM that they’d taken the previous night. He tries track down the car that followed them, but the license plate in his mind just keeps slipping and changing, and when he tries to figure out more information via psychometry he manages to screw up badly enough that he is forever blinded to that event. Giving up that tact of attack, he decides that there’s only one more way to go.

Downstairs, Adelphin is making sure that Auriol is being taken care of properly and she’s been in and out of consciousness, saying a name over and over: Iris. Adelphin casts Sense Sin upon Auriol, and she’s got a lot of sins, done a lot of terrible things but done one good things in her eyes, her little girl. Inside the small bag that they took from her hotel room, she finds a small locket that she cannot open. Instead she speed dials Suveer and demands he comes back to open it. Getting into a cab, he offers the driver an extra $50 to get there quickly, and the driver turns around with blue on black eyes and asks if Suveer is sure that he needs to be there quickly or if Suveer is needed elsewhere. Suveer cannot be at all places at all times, which Suveer counters that he’ll be there in the here and now and now someone is in need of help.

After the conversation, Suveer is somehow in front of the hotel where he thanks the driver, A.N.T. Bus, and asks for a card in case he needs another lift who gives him a card from the ashtray. Tipping him a sandwich, Suveer moves into the Karnival Resort and uses his ability to open the locket revealing a small picture of a girl that looks like her mother except for eyes that look like seafoam. Adelphin assembles her cult members to start a scrying circle before contacting Yannis, her scrying spell has been blocked but Suveer helps her break through the blockage.

It looks like an apartment in a large city, it’s not easy to determine where but she’s able to figure out that it’s in New York. A young girl that looks just like her mother and an older women in her 70s that is taking care of her. The girl is perhaps eight or nine, close to Siv’s age. Adelphin hears someone knocking through the spell, moving the viewpoint towards the door where the older woman opens it and gets immediately shot in the head by a scruffy looking man in a blue coat. The girl is screaming and all the man says is: “There you are, your daddy wants to see you.” He puts the gun away and drags the girl off, covering her mouth with a rag that causes her to go limp. Adelphin, already incensed, follows Yannis through a warp tunnel with Suveer in tow, entering the hallway outside the apartment.

Meet Nash, Nash Meet the PCs

Adelphin Jean-Baptiste, Suveer Patel, & Yannis Papadopoulos
Aparement 33
Saturday January 14th, 2012, 2030 hours
1261 Broadway, New York, NY 10001

At the opposite end of the hallway, they spot another tunnel open, similar to Yannis’s own. The man is only a few steps away from the portal, and Adelphin’s killing gaze didn’t work as the man has a similar ability. He’s quite surprised when he feels the aura of cold death, though it slides over him. The man moves through the portal with the girl with Suveer hot on his heels, leaping through the portal. Yannis follows the man, triggering his full Obfuscate ability before heading through. Adelphin knocks on a wall and demands the hotel sends her Rue and a very surprised Rue pops out from the portal and they run through the portal.

On Olympus

Adelphin Jean-Baptiste, Suveer Patel, & Yannis Papadopoulos
Mt. Olympus
Saturday January 14th, 2012, 2030 hours
Another Dimension

On the other side, they see a large mountain littered with Greek style temples and villas. Yannis says something completely appropriate in Greek. A thunderbolt strikes the ground before them, and Zeus stands before them. Zeus looks at Adelphin and says “My love, you have come to me.” Zeus, is rather dismayed at the presence of the other two, however. Poseidon shows up and speaks with the man in the blue coat, and the apparently the thought of Yannis wanting to get away from him angrier.

Aftermath

They try to get the man in trouble, informing Zeus and Poseidon that the man killed a mortal woman. It doesn’t make them that concerned, since the man does the dirty jobs for them. Zeus, instead, flirts with Adelphin who demands to be able to leave. Zeus says that he’ll see her soon and is dismayed when he can’t open a portal into her hotel. Instead he opens a portal into the street outside the hotel while Poseidon locks eyes with Yannis who tries to look as small and unassuming as possible. Suveer demands to know if Poseidon is allowing for Auriol to die, and he says that she isn’t important, just the girl is. And the next time that Poseidon sees Yannis, then he will kill him. Suveer grabs a handful of earth before they’re shoved through the portal in front of Mitzidu, Liam, and The Chad with Zeus waving forlornly at Adelphin.

Mitzidu asks what happened with them and Adelphin puts it succinctly with several curses aimed towards the Olympians.

After Action Report (GM)

Third session in and I get to use Anubis. Yes. That is a Death Cab for Cutie joke. I enjoyed making it. I’m enjoying pointing it out too. The PCs stepped in the crap with this one. Wisely, they wiped it off and didn’t try to step in it again. The Olympians were all bluster and bravado (the Compact means they can’t make the first move, not really), but Poseidon really hates Yannis. Maybe it’s because of the latter’s parentage. Maybe it’s something else. Regardless, it’s interesting and I intend to explore it. Yannis has a bullseye on his back and that is going to lead to some interesting situations.

Getting the PCs to kind of stick together has proven a bit problematic. I’ve given everyone what I consider equal attention and time, but as any GM can tell you a split party is a headache. To this end I need to foster a more group-oriented atmosphere and get everyone to play nice. I was a bit annoyed when Liam and Mitzidu didn’t follow Suveer back to the Karnival. That would have been a perfect moment to get everyone together even if it did result in them ending up on Mt. Olympus. That didn’t happen. I need to reflect more on why that didn’t happen and make sure the next chance is obvious and open to all. Still, a good game. Looking forward to the next one.

Other Notes

Bonus report here.

Soundtrack

“Sail” by AWOLNATION
“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
“Short Change Hero” by The Heavy (Confronting Nash and Poseidon in Olympus)
“Gimme Shelter” by the Rolling Stones (Closing Song)