Monday, January 1, 2018

Actual Play: Dresden Files Accelerated Hollywoodland Session 4

Dresden Files Accelerated: Hollywoodland Session 4 Write-up

Played Friday, May 26th, 2017

Dramatis Personae
  • Father Darren O'Connell, Catholic priest and holy sword bearer (played by C)
  • Daniel Ehrlichmann, hot-shot reporter/wereleopard (played by F)
  • Sammy Wesson, Clued-in Mortal/Changeling (played by R)
  • Ted Summers aka The Dazzling Dante, White Court wizard (played by B)
  • Raymond Sanders, monster hunter/Changeling (played by N, not present)
  • Concierge at the Biltmore Hotel
  • Kenneth the waiter
  • "Mr Smith", Legend's associate
  • Arthur Legend, enigmatic businessman
  • Legend's goons
  • Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Black Court Vampire
  • Black Court cultists
  • Darlene Merritt, Daniel's nemesis

The session started with Ted Summers still on a bender (Compel that creates Aspect "Three Sheets to the Wind"), realizing that he needs to earn his $10,000. He uses magic to track down Father Darren, knowing him from church.

The magic leads him to the Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel, where the others are exiting from Daniel's car.

After a brief discussion, they go into the hotel and the concierge, thinking Ted is a homeless person, gives him a dollar and tells him that there is a homeless shelter down the street. Ted pockets the dollar as the concierge turns to Daniel, the best dressed of the lot, and asks what he can help with.

Daniel says they are there to meet with the Boss and expects to be shown right up. The concierge acts like he wants a tip, something Daniel refuses to do, but Ted gives him back his dollar as a tip and soulgazes him.

Ted learns that the concierge is an active participant in criminal activity (Aspect: In on the Take) and uses that to blackmail the concierge to giving them free access to the bar. The concierge calls up to the penthouse and tells them that they might as well wait in the bar till the Boss is ready to see them.

In the bar, Ted gives Kenneth the waiter the pass for free booze from the concierge and orders whiskey. Darren orders Irish Whiskey and Sammy orders a brandy. Daniel has coffee. The waiter returns with their drinks and they enjoy them. 

Four big burly bodyguards enter the bar and "Mr. Smith" slides between them and introduces himself. He's very pleasant to the group and is satisfied with their answers. He escorts them up to the penthouse where Mr. Legend is. When Sammy is too familiar, by calling him "Arthur" instead of "Mr. Legend," "Mr. Smith" corrects Sammy, as "Mr. Legend does not like familiarity until friendship is established."

They pass many guards in the hallway and in an outer room until they get into a room that has a single desk and chair, which Mr. Legend is sitting behind.

Both Sammy and Daniel recognize Arthur Legend as Dutch Schultz, a gangster who was killed in New Jersey in 1935, after supposedly hiding $7 million. 

Legend eschews a handshake with Daniel, claiming to have "a cold" and Darren, drunk, gets abusive. Legend subtly threatens Vaughn Owen, saying he'll get what is coming to him and implies that he'll get the canister, not Owen.

Ted wanders over to the window and look out, down 11 floors to the ground while trying not to be sick.

Daniel hears noises in the outer room and the hallway as Black Court cultists bust through the doors and smash through the windows! A Black Court Vampire orders his minions to kill everyone. Daniel recognizes the vampire as Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, a Hollywood star who died in 1933.

Daniel, thinking fast, tries to rush past the bodyguards to get next to Legend but can't manage to get past the closest bodyguard to Legend (failed Overcome). 

The cultists attack, killing several bodyguards, attacking Daniel, Sammy and Ted. Daniel is hard pressed against the desk (Boost: Hemmed In). 

"Mr. Smith" is attacked by the cultists as well and starts freaking out. Legend's men open fire on the cultists, killing several. Legend, observed by Darren, sinks into the floor, escaping and leaving his men to their fate. Perhaps he's a spectre or a ghost!

Sammy rises up and uses the full force of the Winter Court on several cultists near him (Stunt: Winter Fear), causing 4 cultists and one of Legend's bodyguards to flee in fear. Ted lights two of the cultists on fire with alcohol and magic, while Darren, still drunk, draws Durindal and cuts through three of them.

The remaining cultist escapes through the window as "Mr. Smith" has a freakout in the corner. Daniel rushes up to Arbuckle and roughly interviews him (Aspect: Don't Mess with the Press) and the vampire flees.

The room is filled with dead, blood and fire. Daniel takes a bunch of pictures of the carnage, especially of "Mr. Smith". Two of the remaining bodyguards grab "Mr. Smith" and leave while the third grabs some of the papers and tries to burn the rest. Daniel manages to grab one of the ledgers before the desk goes up in flames. 

They flee into the master bedroom, where they descend a fire escape to the ground. Once there, they push through the crowd and drive off in Daniel's car.

They noodle through the info they have so far and determine that Legend also wants the canister, the Princes don't have it and the Black Court attacked simply to try to kill Legend, it doesn't seem they were after the canister. Darren reveals that Legend is some sort of ghost, having escaped through the floor, and Legend didn't know that Eddie from the Princes was also most probably a ghost as well.

The other three try to convince Daniel that Persephone is a vampire and bad news but he won't hear anything against her (Compel: Pretty Face). He drops them off at Mick's and goes off to visit Dimi, giving him Legend's criminal ledger.

Ted, Sammy and Darren have a few drinks and decide on some action. Ted and Sammy go to Laurence the Fence's shop to see if they can get a ritual spell to track down the remaining Bloodmarked mobsters and the sorcerer who cast the spell. 

Darren goes to find the remnants of the Berlin Monster Hunters, the "Begleiter von Engeln und Teufeln" (Companions of Angels and Devils). He goes to meet them at a local restaurant and, unexpectedly, Peter Lorre and Fritz Lang walk through the door and sit down at the table with him.

Daniel gets home and sees the newspaper headline: Vaughn Owen dead the night before! Legend couldn't have done it since he thought Owen was alive several hours ago. Daniel dismisses Persephone as responsible for Owen's death, recalling and then dismissing the voice he heard in the background when he talked to her calling for help as Owen's.

He gets a few hours sleep but is awoken when a naked woman slips into bed with him. He recognizes Persephone's perfume and makes love to the woman, not realizing until later that it is his nemesis, Darlene!

Next Session: the thrilling conclusion! The final fight! Will they find the canister and solve the mystery?

No comments:

Post a Comment

Unfortunately, due to spam, I have set up comment moderation. I will review and approve your comment as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.