After Arundel (OOC)

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@Delirium: We obviously don't want NPCs solving our problems for us [ref]. So we need to work out how to use Kenedi in your search for information about Elliot. Probably we will feed information from her as part of any Successes you get on any Moves you make and such?

Does Kenedi know you have been consorting with vampires? We deliberately didn't clearly establish the timing of your previous Debts.

You would need to find a relevant 'area' to do that, but yes, you have investigative abilities. This being on your sheet and in your Abilities list also means you are an 'investigator' in the fiction, so you should be able to get some results just by roleplaying investigating. You can push that with a Let It Out if you choose, but that is not the only way to access these features.

Is finding Elliot Emma's most pressing concern? You have, at least, three things pulling on your time, Elliot, the Arundel Data, and the in-laws.

How much play-time do you want to spend on the scene with the in-laws?

You might only get one shot at pulling information out of the Arundel data, if you do that before you head out to meet the in-laws you will have limited time as the pressure, if you wait till afterwards, you will have risks of the data ageing out, either way it will be risky. Enlisting hackers to help you might help if you want to go that route.

Possibly we will just let you use the data to Study a Place of Power? (with Power) This is something you wanted to do last night, but events got in the way. It is a bit strange to use it thus, but I think it works.
Yep. Where would you start looking for leads to follow?
Maybe give us a clear indication of what you tell her. (Maybe show us the email/text you send? Or a summary thereof?)

Isn’t Lizabeth at Benji’s apartment now? Not Jacob’s?

True. I forgot you even had an apartment. Ignore that whoopsie, we can fix it later. She is at your apartment.

Ha! That made me lough out loud... in public. :)

I can relate. Being denied the ending of a book by something like death seems very unfair. I will die once I am finished all my reading, thank you. :)
What do you think? She would like to have been out at the river, picking over the detritus. Was she disciplined enough to stay in based on your warnings?

If she went out we can find out if there are complications (already). It is up to you, we can have her be there just as easily and deal with any drinking that might arise.

You have gone to some effort to keep her safe, she probably Owes you for that. Do you call in that Debt for a drink? Cash in a Debt Marks the Circle, so that will give you Mortalis if you want to go that route. Or does feeding on your regulars not incur Debts?

Okay, I like that! Let's say she got sick of being cooped up in Benji's apartment and decided to go down to the river.

OK. Go find her if you want to.

@Delirium: Moving us along, [ref]. We can backfill anything you may have done in the interim if we need to.

Absolutely.

Though Hit the Street does have the caveat that the person you are going be able to provide you with what you are looking for. So they will only be able to help you in ways that make sense for who they are: the stronger they are the more they may be able to help, the weaker they are the more inclined to help they will be (for their own benefit).

This Move only appears to deal with whether they are available and have the stuff, it does not force them to help you, so you may need to engage in roleplay or other Moves to persuade them to actually do anything (in a way the 7-9 outcome can make this easier, since, if they are 'dealing with their own problems', and you are able to help them, that could put them in your Debt, or serve as leverage for Persuade).

We did not roll this for Kenedi, since you actually have to go out and meet them to trigger the Move (a strange rule, which we can chat about on a case by case basis). She is still an option for this Move later, if we need to.

This is, of course, dependant on whether you can glean any information from The Administrator's files that are directly applicable here. As you suggest, a contact number makes a lot of sense, this can be useful for other things in the future, but does not make them your friend (actually, it does the opposite, people don't like cold-callers:), but you are charming, so you can overcome this.

Do you have any ideas about these siblings? Or should I just create drama?

I have nothing more.
Go for it!
Ooh! That was fast, he has been missing for less than a day, so this 'ghoul' needs constant work?

This does sound a bit more like a 'zombie', though. The Vamp playbook does get 'ghouls' but they are described as:
It's semantics, but calling this poor soul a 'ghoul' could confuse things later if our Vamp player takes that option? If Emma does not know what they are, we can leave them undefined till we work it out ourselves.
'Planned'? I don't know this word? Is it foreign? :)

Aw. I was looking forward to that. :)

But never mind.

They might never come up if you don't seize the opportunity to bring ideas in. They needn't be a 'ghoul' in the Vamp Playbook sense.
They may never do so. I am not sure having servant totally fits with Benji's aesthetic (as we see it ... at present)? If we just steer clear of elements of others' playbooks and we can freely define similar things.
Absolutely. Do the in-laws (thanks for giving them names, but the way:) know Henry at all? I don't recall where David was from and if there was overlap with who you went to school with.

Has Henry been to these meetings before or is he there to track Emma down? Do you have ideas as to why, or should I come up with something?

Where are the in-laws visiting from? (roughly).

That is all I really need.

Hehehehe, loved the scene with the in-laws! ^_^

This has the potential to go wrong. Maybe a roll of Figure Someone Out (• how can I get your character to ... open up? trust me? not freak out? with possible followup if you roll well) can guide us?

It sure is a good thing we don't roll much in this game... though you guys clearly could use the practice! :)
I'm thinking... Having her freak out is the most obvious consequence. Unless you can think of another price that makes sense in the scene.

If she does freak out, that need not end the scene with her, but you might have to make decisions with other consequence (follow her but abandon your in-laws, maybe? need to restrain her, maybe? something else, maybe, though I don't really want to 'suddenly ogres!' this:).

This sort of conversation is very useful, we can calibrate our 'prices' such that they hurt, but avoid the ones that will fall flat because they will definitely be turned down (a 'choice' with only one option that will ever be picked is no choice at all).
Sure, that was just icing on the cake if you bailed on them again. :)
We can go with that. Having her stay with you ... and David ... and asking questions about what is real could 'complicate your life' a lot. :) ... but that also makes sense.

Do you want to do this? One smooth way to handle it is for her to run off now, but track you down this evening with the request for protection/safe place, that way you can get a clean finish with the in-laws and the group. What do you think?

Oh, man, that was indeed intense. We do have a real writer with us! Clap, clap, clap.

Alright, There you go. :)

Well, yeah. It's written right there in the character sheet... oh, wait, I see, yes. :)

Thanks, Delirium! :) Happy to hear you're having a good time! I've been having a lot of fun playing with you too

Consulting the Oracle...

Taking a look at the Move... Study a Place of Power does not seem to actually be about studying a place. I would 'reveal something that is not what it seems', but that does not help you work out how to use a dimension door you have found...

Since there is no one here, it also can't really show you much about 'the Circle that controls it' nor 'their politics and schemes'... :( though I can make it work if we do roll ): But that is my fault for putting you in a situation with no people in a game that —it turns out— has no mechanical way of getting such answers.

I would think your roleplay is enough to start working out how to use this thing. Tell use if you want to make it quick, or play it out in more detail. If you want to get out now, maybe a roll of Escape a Situation will tell us what it costs you (even a Miss will get you out). Or you can try connect this to your Establishment and use Let it Out to allow teleporting from here to there, the portal-pool would allow Crowley to make the trip as well (into your Establishment, mind), so you would not be abandoning him here (unless you chose to as part of your Corruption, or course:).

Okay, I think I'm ready to Escape a Situation, if you think Jacob has narrative justification to state he can find out how the portal works.

You have already used one of these portals (or something similar), and you have inherent teleport abilities. You might not know how to work it, but, for sure, you can manage to make it work...

The roll of Escape a Situation can tell us how well you control and understand these sorts portals.

Yeah, you know that this is tricky. You are, again, trying to Figure her Out, though with the knowledge of how it went last time.

I am not quite seeing it, but it may be possible to Persuade her to be more receptive? You would need to do it in the fiction, though, so we can work out how to trigger that Move if you can see a way to go that route.

You know she has never spoken about that stuff —no one in the group has any ideas— so, without something to induce her to open up, you won't get any answers.

So probably the worst roll ever! xD

No kidding! :)

How do you feel about violating the sanctity (if you will allow such a word to be used) and the security of your Establishment? I am thinking about 'permanently' linking this portal directly into you 'Secure Venue', bypassing your 'Wards' and such. This would be (eventually) solvable, but also is not a immediate threat, given that this place is —so far as you can tell— 'empty'. It might be, mainly, a psychological price.

I like it. After all, that roll is a big fumble, so it feels right that there should be a long-term complication, tied to one of the core attributes of the character.

Hi there,

I am very sorry to say this, but I think I have to back out from the game.

Since start of the new year, there have been quite significant changes at work, and over the next 2-3 months I expect that I will travel more and more, and the workload will also increase... so I don't think I can honestly commit to a decent posting rate. As I said, this started January 1st, and I was postponing the decision in the hope that I could make it work, but unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be the case. :-/

Thank you very much for your time, it has been a fun ride with vagueGM and oopsylon for... wait, 9 months?! Wow, time flies when you're enjoying yourself. And Delirium was just the best replacement we could have got. :)

Sorry for leaving you with one less player, and I hope we can play together again sometime in the future!

Best of luck to you with the new work situation. It was a joy playing with you, too. Thank you.

You are welcome to return when things settle down.

---

Maybe it is a pity we brought Jacob back though the portal. :) Do you think he goes back to try find Crowley? If so we can close the portal trap him over there, but that leave a mystery that the other two would want to solve, and does not make a good, clean exit.

Do you let Benji (and by extension) Emma know what is going on, and then leave? Going back to search for Crowley appears, at first blush, to be an option, but that also takes Crowley and Hali out of the picture for the others, and they may want to pursue what was happening there.

Maybe your place is just not safe till you can work out how to close the portal? And you have to leave town?

We don't need to go into details about why, we can leave it open or we can make it final. Up to you.

---

If you don't think you will be bringing Jacob back, maybe we can look at your End Move?
Benji has been helping out with your Scheme, can he finish it for you? Only a few of the Payouts make sense for another character (but then this is a once-only-ever thing). A +1 to the Statues Circle makes sense if he deals with them more to finish it, but you could always pick an Arsenal or Underlings if you think they will be needed in the times to come.

This is an End Move, meant for when you die (but a permanent exit could also trigger it), so, if you think you might come back as this character, maybe we should not do this.

Well, you never know, but I don't see I can return in the short term, so I'm fine triggering the End Move, and let Benji reap the benefits.

I would just rewind and let Jacob trapped in the other dimension as a "permanent exit". And who knows, that may leave the door open in case things change in Real Life™️

OK. You choose the Payout (though you can talk to the other players, of course). What does he get? We will play out the resolution with the player.
My concern is that that leaves us with Benji wanting to discover what happened to his friend. It is not a very clean exit since we can't easily resolve it for the other characters without involving Jacob more. We can do that, but we will need to get answers about what happened, and that answer will need to be what takes the character out (terminally?).

A message from the character saying they need to leave town is the neatest if we want to leave things open.

But this does assume Benji wants to keep going. If we are not keeping the game going we can do a more dramatic exit that does not clean itself up.

I will take the 'continuing' question to the General Chat.

@Delirium, which two of the questions are you seeking to answer? You can deal with them one at a time and base second question on the answer to the first, play it out.

On an 8 [ref] he gets an answer from you too, but we will deal with what that is based on what you do next.

 • who's pulling your character's strings?
 • what's your character's beef with ˍˍˍˍˍ?
 • what's your character hoping to get from ˍˍˍˍˍ?
 • what does your character worry is going to happen?
 • how could I get your character to ˍˍˍˍˍ?
 • how could I put your character in my Debt?

Henry is not in the Mortalis Circle, he is mortal, part of your mortal life. So you don't get to ask an extra question.

The first is easy, we will answer that once we have resolved the questions the other brings.

The second has complications. Remember that a valid answer can be 'that is not possible, there is no way to do that', and that is valuable information (and is different to 'that is not something you can learn here', which is not a valid question and forces you to ask another). But that is often not as satisfying.

In this case you can wriggle out of having him more involved by involving interested parties. The devil you don't rather than the devil you know? But remember that he is always going to be involved, he is a part of your life (and you sheet) till you cut him off.

Shall we deal with the first question and then see if you want to keep that second question?

Sorry to hear that, @gnomius! I’ve had a great time playing with you. Thank you for everything and I hope we get to play together again one day! :)

I sorta forgot about that, given his character. :)

The only one that really makes any sense is:
• what's your character hoping to get from ... meeting these guys?

But I don't think it fits for Henry to wonder about that and try to get that as an answer. Do you? Maybe you (accidentally?) drop some hints that he can pick up on? But maybe only later? Maybe when they question him after the fact? That way he does not change his mind now, and has to choose whether to support you or his business interests?

These hints could come any time, even during the meeting. Figure Someone Out last the whole duration of the 'interaction' and this one just happens to happens in two or more separate scenes. If we can't come up with a way to see you drop hints, we would need the (truthful) answer OOC and can then shape his story around that truth.

Henry is not equipped to understand any of that. But we can work that into the scene with the new guys.

Do you have any ideas about who these new guys might be? Anything you want to see? Any preferred Circle?

We will come up with something when we have to, no need to worry about it before then.

@vagueGM Since Benji isn’t in a hurry to meet with Shelyna [ref], perhaps we could catch Benji up with Emma in the timeline (I think Emma is a day ahead of Benji at the moment, yes?) by skipping ahead to the next day. We could say that, in the meantime, Benji has spoken to Lizabeth and arranged a meeting between her and Amira?

Benji is a few hours ahead of Emma. Benji spent the night on the Arundel train station while Emma came home directly.

Emma's brunch probably started around the time Benji was finishing feeding Lizabeth and himself and going into his closet. A lot of parallels going on, with more than just the eating. Both are protecting wayward waifs in their home... well, I suppose only the one parallel and breakfast.

Would Benji be answering his phone while crashed in his closet, or does Lizabeth answer Emma's call [OOC ref]?

Do we want to give Benji some more time to sleep? Should Emma Hit the Street on her own and then we join you guys up?

Do you want to get Emma involved in your Amira meeting? Do you make them come to your Haven and into your Web?

Excellent. We can resume when you both wake.

What do you do with Sarah when you sleep? Let her finish cleaning or encourage her to sleep as well?
Yeah, you can roll now, but the answers may still take time.
Figuring her Out should be fairly innocuous, with low stakes consequences, but Persuading her to talk carries much higher risks of implosion. Maybe, if the Figure answers lead you there you can try to Persuade?

Ya. I don't think have her being completely inscrutable is fun, so we will reveal 'answers' anyway, you just won't like them.

Oh! Sorry, my bad! I thought she spent the day with her in-laws after the party and then the brunch with Henry was the following day.
If Emma calls while he’s still asleep, let’s say Lizabeth answers it so that Emma can meet Lizabeth :)
Sure! I’m happy for Emma to be involved if Delirium wants her to be

I don’t think Benji would invite them to his Haven but I don’t think he has to do that in order for them to enter his Web necessarily.
So I think that means they would enter his web if they come to him for help, advice, or a favour (which I don’t think they’ve done… he reached out to them, not the other way around). I think possibly Emma would be about to enter his Web if she is going to call him up for advice or a favour though. He’s also trying to get Shelyna in his Web by waiting for her to come to him to ‘bargain for info’ about the lamp situation.

You are right. I lost a whole day! How shall we ever get it back!? :)

So, yes. Whenever Emma is ready we can get the characters together 'tomorrow'.

Jacob also lost a day, he is back 'tomorrow night/morning' (24 hours after he teleported away, so, maybe these portals take 12 hours?). Did you do anything about him being missing? We can flash-back to that when we know what @gnomius' picks are about the End Move. Emma wanted to hear you play, and you might need to play for the Horse and Byron to finish Jacob's Scheme, so maybe she can be there for that, too?
We can still do this 'tomorrow'. The characters can, then, work out what they are doing.
No, you're right. It is one of the more straight-forward ways, else we need to work out if Amira is 'coming to you to ask for a favor, seek advice, bargain for info'. This situation does sorta fit that criteria.

We can leave the Haven for if we need a safe place to do it, or something. Are you trying to keep it more secret?
I don't think it matters who phones whom. You reached out to them because they asked you to keep them informed, you are doing it as a favor to them. We can see how it goes, but I think it might end up counting. Let's use the Playbook features.
Agreed. It did not count before since you were doing Elliot the favour of babysitting her.
Fair enough. Again, though, it does not matter if you call her back, we would still need to work out the terms, no matter what. So far this might be a bit too 'mutual', but letting her dangled a bit and making her try harder to contact you does sway it in your favour.

Yeah, true. So we skip that.

We can easily find other ways to introduce Lizabeth and Emma if we want that to happen.

Okay, great! @Delirium, where would Emma like to meet up? (I figure its easier to sort out the details here than to have future-Benji respond in the RP thread :P)
I do think Benji would be very worried about Jacob being missing. At some point, he would probably go check on Jacob’s store to see if Jacob ever made it home from Arundel. Maybe Jacob could have left a note or something behind there to let Benji know he’s okay but that he’ll be gone for a while (maybe he asks Benji to wrap up his scheme for him in the note).

I think we should leave the stuff with Byron and the Horse until we’ve resolved Jacob’s exit because I don’t think it makes a lot of sense for Benji to go resolve the scheme on his own unless he knows Jacob isn’t coming back anytime soon.
Sort of. As I understand it, the Haven is meant to be very secure. I don’t think it makes sense for Benji to have a ton of actual security measures in place, so I think a big part of the security of Benji’s Haven is its secrecy. He definitely trusts Lizabeth enough to invite her into his Haven, if need be, but he’s not completely sure about Amira and the Night Sisters yet.
Ohh! Okay, gotcha. The fact that Benji does not actually have to give the person what they asked for, but that it is the mere act of asking for a favour/advice/information that incurs the debt and traps them in the Web, made me think that "coming to him" or them being the one to approach him was an important part of the equation, I suppose.

We can also skip the 'response' post and just be where you arranged to meet. Whatever works.
That wouldn't have happened yet in your time, but we can look at that 'tomorrow'. Maybe you checked today and found he was not home, but we can deal with that when we resolve things.
Sure. Would a 'note' be more likely than a message on your phone? We can assume you use whatever communications make the most sense.

Can you get into his place?
Yes. Let's see what gnomius proposes. Do you have a preference as to which of the Payouts you would want for Benji?

Many, like the 'investment' and 'problem' options, don't apply since they are part of the Establishment feature.
The 'After 4+ payouts:' options are probably not appropriate, but we can talk about it if you really have your eye on one of them.
I am not sure an 'arsenal' makes much sense for Benji or the story, but gaining unexpected 'Fiendish Underlings' seems like an obvious result which may surprise you and complicate your life.
The simplest —and least interesting— is '+1 to a Circle'. That is something you can get anyway, so less unique.
Amira asked you to help her get information from Lizabeth. Your calling her back is part of that, so this triggers that whole business. Her asking while at the house probably did not since she did not come to you and also did not actually believe you would follow through. Now that you have established yourself as reliable there is a reason for people to 'come to you', your public speech last night also sets you up as someone to go to.

With Shelyna: this is less clear. You approached her and are asking for information about the artifact. The fact that she calls to make arrangements to meet does not mean she is asking for anything from you, her asking for something in return for what she gives you also does not count, that is Cashing in a Debt, not coming to you for help.

The logistics of the situation are less important than the intent behind what is happening. Let's focus less on the 'coming to you' and more on the 'to ask for a favor, seek advice, bargain for info, or threaten your interests'.

Add Amira to your Web since she asked you to arrange a meet with Lizabeth. We could have spoke about your Web after the first meeting, but did not think about it and she is in it now anyway, so same result. Let's remember it for next time.

One of the consequences of your recent Miss is that Sarah may well 'freak out' as well if you try to leave her alone. :)

No worries! Benji will invite her over to his place then :)

Really? The consequence of your choices and roll are not convenient for you? :)

They should not prevent us from playing, but you may need to deal with her clinginess... or face more consequences later.
David could babysit tonight... and you could call in a favour from Charles and Evelyn before they head home?

Sounds good!
Good point! I’m not sure Benji would actually have access to the bookshop and you’re right that a phone message probably makes more sense anyway :P
I agree that the arsenal doesn’t fit at all. +1 to a Circle probably makes the most sense narratively (the scheme involves helping the statues so it tracks that Benji would get +1 to Wild) although I agree it is a bit boring. Fiendish Underlings is very fun, on the other hand, but I’m not sure how Benji would end up with Fiendish Underlings as a result of helping a statue find a lost book. It does sound super fun though so if you have any ideas about how to make that work, I’m all ears :)
Okay, understood!
Done!

Will do! I probably won’t get that up until tomorrow though, as it’s pretty late here and I’m about to go to bed

Yeah, you are friends, but that felt like a bit of a stretch. I am fine with it if you say you are that close, though.

Jacob can always ask you to look in on the place when he is gone, but we can deal with that if it becomes interesting to maintain access (to the pond portal).
I can absolutely see how that could happen. You are fulfilling a demonic deal, after all. The Schemes have mystical binding power. Benji need not know anything about this till they turn up... or start obeying his wishes, or something.

Sorry, guys, I really can't keep up with your posting frequency anymore. ¬¬'

So for the End Move, I will just leave it up to you. If you ask me, I'd say that Jacob returned to his Establishment, but has to suddenly leave the city without further explanation of when he will be back.

He leaves a note for Benji at his place, assuring him that he'll be alright, and asking him to take care of his white raven (!), and feed him often. Not a text to his phone, as Jacob would rather not let anyone else know about the existence of the raven. ;-)

Regarding the scheme, once Benji finds the book, hopefully with Byron statue's help, the payout I suggest would be "solve a problem". So perhaps the statues can have a way to close one of the many threads we have open (climate problems, hell hounds in the subway, the strange artifact found in the river, the Night Sisters...). I just feel that we were starting to have too many. But of course, I'll leave up to vagueGM if he wants to give a different payout.

Sorry, but I don't think I have time to write another post in RP thread! Wish you all the best, thanks again for playing with me! ^_^

No worries, we will sort it out.
We will do it that way.
We might skip that part if it makes our ongoing game too complicated, but might also bring it into play if it works.

We will leave it vague for the time-being and just not mention it, that way we can later say that the request was made.
'Problems' are an aspect of your Establishment: 'A dangerous competitor edging in on your market', and 'A demonic ex-liege seeking your immediate return'. They are not relevant anymore.

Giving Benji 'Fiendish Underlings' seems the most interesting to the ongoing story.
That is a deliberate part of the game. We are not on a simple quest. This is life, and life is messy. There are always many things going on. Since we are not an adventuring party, we don't all have the same goals.

Some of the loose threads are related to PCs that are no longer with us. The hellhound and the residual demon rocks are things we might not care about without Rhiannon; the missing Josephine is, presumably, resolved when Mark left town, and so on. We can ignore them unless they become relevant to what the other characters are doing. We can pretend they are resolved, but we don't need to see that until we care.

---

---

Quite understandable. Thank you for introducing us to Jacob (and Crowley and Hali:). It was great playing with you.

All of the best.

If it’s alright with you, I was just going to add the raven to the description of Benji’s apartment I’m in the middle of writing (implying that Benji has been by Jacob’s bookshop and seen the note and such without needing to get into it or do a flashback or anything). The raven is a trapped faerie knight, yes? So it might very well be relevant to the ongoing story with the fae and I think it's a nice detail anyway

Thanks for playing with us too, gnomius! It was a lot of fun :)

Go for it. I did not want to place it as a burden on the players if they were not into it. But if you are keen than we can keep that in the story. It could be important.

Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it :D

Is this a fact? Can vampires not enter a home uninvited?

What time is it now? If they say 'evening', do we go straight there? Or do you want to speak to Sarah, and David, first?

Do you have any thoughts about who 'they' are? I can pull something together if you don't, but your input is welcomed.
Which Circle, maybe? I figure Mortalis is the most likely (and helps with your playbook).
The setup has changed a bit —with starting characters leaving— but we are, technically, in the 'University Hub'. Maybe a university/college activist group, or something like that?

Done.

... though they don't put that on the recruiting brochure. :)

How do they present to lure in victimsmembers?

OK. Henry has not told you this, so you don't know how to dress for the occasion.

I left the time undefined so we can have it happen whenever it suits the story. Maybe it is a dinner arrangement? Emma would know that much, at least, from the arranged time.

Looks pertty fine too. :P

Yeah, I think that’s fun :) As far as I can remember, the only private residences we’ve seen Benji enter so far (other than his own) are Bev’s (who explicitly invited Benji and Rhiannon inside) and Lizabeth’s (who we can assume invited Benji into her home at some point before the story began) so I think it works with the story thus far too.
Benji only promised to call Teddy back if he found Elliot, right? Since he didn’t find Elliot, I didn't think there was any need to call Teddy back… Unless you were referring to a different promise that I’m completely forgetting about :P

Yes, that was deliberate to allow for this lore.
Makes sense that she would have.
Nope. That's the one. And agreed, no need. Hence all the qualifiers and quotes.

We do already have an Alasdair [ref]. It might become confusing to have two... but I get the feeling this one may be temporary... and a fake name. Anyway, he prefers to be called Sinclair, or just Sin... for reasons he thinks are 'ironic'.

Are you sure you want to do that? They are a gentlemen's club and, even in 2024, women are not allowed to be members, and it has been made pretty clear to Emma that they expect her not to speak until spoken to. Being 'disruptive' is more likely to get you tossed out (in the rain) than to miraculously get them on your side.

If you choose to keep this reaction, roll Keep Your Cool to avoid ending this meeting prematurely. (We will provide another avenue for you to learn something if we have to.)

On a Miss you offend them enough that they have you removed (or attempt to, you can, of course, resist (and they can, of course, call the cops if you do)).
On a Hit they are offended, but you apparently have enough value that they make concessions for your lack of couth and speak to you more.
On a 10+ ... I don't know... what do you think Emma is offering them? What value would they gain from allowing your rudeness and disruption to their club? You may still have to smooth things over (with a Persuade, maybe) before they would let you stay and berate them in their own club, or one of the men (you can choose which) may take you aside (as the women tried to do) and speak to you privately.

You are not in a position of power here, and are being rude. :)

What Benji is trying to do feels like it could be Mislead, Distract, Trick maybe but I'm not sure so I wanted to check if that seems right before I make a roll

Nice. I can't respond right now, but do you have a preference about what happens next? It seems like you want to stay here and have them begrudgingly let slip answers?

That could work.

The challenge is that they are, apparently, quite good at their job, remaining unseen so far, but maybe they did not factor in your vampire sense, or there is a new shift on duty, or something that allows you to expose a weakness and create an opportunity for you to catch them in the act.

Mislead, Distract, and Trick won't reveal much, by itself, you will need to exploit the weakness or opportunity to really learn more. No matter what, a hit will confirm that you are being watched, and probably confirm that Lizabeth is the primary target.

Roll it. On a Hit (7 or above) make your choices if you can, and narrate what you do to use the weakness/opportunity/whatever to learn something. Provide as much as you want, I will be back later and can take over. If you want to talk over the implications of the choices (you don't have to make them all at once, and exploiting one may lead to the other(s)) we can do that before you post.

I rolled a seven! I'm inclined toward 'you create an opportunity' and 'you expose a weakness or flaw', as neither of the other two make much sense to me in this context. I would think that Benji is going to be 'further entangled' with whoever is spying on him no matter what, since there's no reason that luring them into following him would stop them from continuing to watch him.

'You confuse them for some time' doesn't make much sense either... Maybe not selecting it means the opportunity created is short-lived and must be acted upon immediately?

I would like the opportunity to be an opportunity to confront them, if possible. Maybe 'expose a weakness or flaw' means he gets them in a relatively vulnerable position or else he notices something about them that gives him an advantage. Would that work with your understanding of the situation?

Agreed. Sometimes we don't get to select the full number if they don't make sense in the fiction. In this case those two are the main ones and feed into each other.
Um... it is futher entangled. :)

It is not about stopping what is already happening, it is about preventing more from happening. This will depend on the what you do, but could have been used to avoid having the scene turn from surveillance to capture, but I don't think that is really an issue here, anyway... depending on what you do.
It could give you more time to act and study the opposition. If you want to take it slow (not get answers now, but possible get stronger answers over the next few days/hours of watching) then this might be worth trading for one of the others, but the chosen two are sorta needed for what you want, so this could have been good third option if you had it.
OK. So you would rather it be direct than allowing you to observe and watch your watchers?

We can do that.

The benefit of a slower approach is that it could reveal information about who they work for rather about them. But has the risks of revealing less if your long-term play fails. You can always leverage what you find here towards finding deeper information.

If you want to narrate your catching a glimpse of 'them' and how you react (give them the slip, watch them, corner them and threaten them, ...) and include as much detail about who it is you catch as you want, you are welcome.

Else, let me know if you want a clandestine discovery, or a chase and capture, stalk and capture, or something else.

This is probably a Persuade, with threats, to get him to talk.

It sounds, from the description, that this guy is Moratilis? But he could be a different Circle (the fact that I need to ask is not just that I don't plan these details, but may be that I also, sometimes, do plan, and there may be more than one Faction watching you:), the one you caught could be anything you want.

Do you think Benji might recognise him? Do you want to Put a Name to a Face?

Would I roll now? The threat isn't quite explicit yet (other than physically preventing the guy from leaving which is a bit threatening for sure). Is that enough to count?
I don't have a preference but yes, I was also thinking Mortalis. Happy to be surprised though! :)
No, I don't think Benji knows him

I don't know how threatening it is to have a vampire corner one in a dark(ish) alley. :)

The intent to threaten is implicit in the desire to get answers, you both know this. If you think it is clear enough, then roll and we can assume it was enough (either way), else we can establish it a bit more.

On a Miss you still threatened him, and he will 'respond appropriately'. You will get an opportunity to avoid a confrontation, if you want (with Cold-Blooded, maybe?).

Oh, yes, agreed. That was very much my intent. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't getting ahead of myself. I've added the roll to my post :)

If he knew these were included, he may well have read your columns, but he didn't ... :)
Is there a chance he does not know about the book?

It is silly, but my first thought was: "You wrote a book‽" :)

We can also just pretend that was scheduled for tomorrow. Or not define the time too much?

I meant we schedule the Lizabeth/Amira meet for tomorrow, while Emma is with David or Kat.

Trying to plan the minutia of the characters' lives makes different speeds of play very difficult, so we leave it vague and bend around it.

oopsylon: It seems Miriam should be in Benji's Web, should she not? And, from the backstory, she might Owe Benji a Debt for helping her with her addiction?

Ayayay! I did forget who I was talking to. :)
I am not sure that's how that math works. :)

It does say: 'If you're in their Circle, ask an additional question, even on a miss.'

This does not change that there was still a Miss, of course.

Alright. Here's you answer: Help her overcome what's bothering her.

Maybe Benji wants to roll and get a feel for what that is? Else you can play out feeling her out if the scene allows.
Let's see if Benji's choices can change what comes next. Then I will resolve everything in one go.
Hey. I just undress the women... wait... distress the women. You decided to invite them in.

Sure! That would make sense

I rolled a 6 for Figure Someone Out but that could be a 7 if Emma is able to Lend a Hand

Agreed. To do it, you have to do it, and I also don't see how that would have worked. We would need fiction to support the roll before a roll were relevant. Let's ignore that roll, this time.

Cool, I knew it came up recently, but could not check if it was spoken in-character to Emma (or if she knew this some other way).
Getting out of the city is not that easy, not only might Sarah not have anywhere to go, it is covered by one of the Faction Moves in the Long-Term Play chapter. See Offer Passage (on page 264). You might be able to get this pushed to the top of the priority list, but the weather situation —and all it entails— probably trumps one wayward waif being exploited.
I am not sure Miriam has the means to help. Maybe she can introduce you to someone who could? Then you could Hit the Streets with them to see if you can arrange something like that? There will be Debts and costs all over the place.

Alright. Just saying, someone tough —like Persephone— may be able to help. But no one has much interest in fighting, so we can leave that as a last resort. :)
Tonight, or does she have to call around?
Who are these guys? You can shape as much detail as you want.

Let's see if Benji has anything to add, then we can jump to 'tomorrow morning' and your talk with David.
We can do that. Soon as @Drgwen is ready, no rush if we don't need to overlap them.

Do you have thoughts about how that would work? How do you meet? When is this happening?

We need to keep this scene unentangled with the parallel events. So it may behoove us to set them close together, this way there is not much realm for things to 'develop'. Maybe we set a cap on things and you talk to David in the morning, then (somehow) run into Persephone in the afternoon? Anything mentioned in the Persephone thread will need to be retrofitted into the David thread if they connect ("But I don't want to talk about my life, right now. What is happening with you? How long are you in town for?" ... type delaying actions:).

We can fit the Sarah talk in there wherever it fits, or leave it for later.

I don’t have anything to add so we can move on if Delirium likes. Benji feels guilty for neglecting to check in with Miriam, so he will stay with her until she wants him to leave or until just before dawn (whichever comes first).

That works for me! She'll arrive, looking a bit hungover or under-slept, depending on how it goes with her sister the night before! but yeah let's do a coffee shop in the afternoon. Say I sent you a text, finally, because I saw you in town (but maybe you didn't see me) and I felt guilty.

Would this be a good time to Put a Name to a Face for the statue of Byron?

OK. Roll and it let's see if we can make sense of the outcome.

I can see why the rule says this Move is only for when you first hear about someone. We have had some talk about it and there has been no indication that Benji has history with Byron, but also no clear statement that he doesn't. We might need to work on the trigger.

@Delirium: So the course of events is:

• In order to trigger One Way or Another you promised to serve as eyes and ears for Uskglass, this is a promise, not a Debt, so there is nothing mechanical enforcing that, but it will affect your reputation (if you are effective or not, if you follow through or not, if you brush it off, and so on, tells people about what sort of person you are).

• As a result of the above Move, Uskglass agrees to Overlook a Harm, so you Owe him a Debt.

The promise provides the trigger for the Playbook Move, the Move snowballs into Overlook, and Overlook results in a Debt. The promise is just that, nothing more.

Fair?

Completely up to you. If you want the guilt and all that.

You could just as easily run into each other right there in the scene. Whatever you choose.

Sounds good! I like the idea that Pers knows Emma hangs out there and, so, arranged an "accidental" meeting.

I’ve added the roll to my post! It was an 8 so no debts either way

Presumably Emma Owes Benji a Debt for introducing her to Miriam [ref]?

This fits the level of things one can ask for when Cashing In a Debt '• arrange a meeting with an NPC in their Circle', and is therefore in line with Do Someone a Favor.

Yes, I think so! Plus a debt for coming to him for advice and entering his Web

True. I forgot about that bit.

Would this be a good time to move to ‘tomorrow’ (and the other thread)? Maybe we could skip to the meeting with Amira and Lizabeth? In the time between, I think Benji will just spend some time busking at the station to make some money but we probably don’t need to play that out

That sounds good.

The other players are already at 'tomorrow night', so, unless you hurry, you probably can't easily do that and show up at the party (to get a signed copy of Emma's book for Byron, maybe:), but showing up there does not seem in character for Benji even if we assume he knows the address, right?

We can also ignore 'time problems' and bring the characters together whenever it works for everyone.

Where does the meeting with Amira take place? Your place? Did Lizabeth agree, or are we just springing this one her? Go ahead and set that up for us.

Hahahah yeah, I wasn’t planning to gatecrash the party. I don’t think Benji would show up to Emma’s house uninvited like that without a good reason
Yeah, Benji’s place makes the most sense. He told Amira that he would have to ask Lizabeth if she would be open to meeting her, so he definitely got Lizabeth’s permission before arranging anything
Okay, I’ll do that tomorrow!