Kingfisher

Retrogarde [Fantasy Noir]

Consider me interested.

@FellowFromNod

Hop on over to the OOC :)

Retrogarde [Fantasy Noir]

I mean wouldn't the sacrifice required be high?

@Palamon

To actually summon a demon into the world would require a combination of the right incantations, acts of extreme hedonism, and multiple sacrifices. Controlling said demon is a completely separate ball game.

I'm still interested. Just a very busy week with the referendum and all. I'll get to work on my sheet this weekend.

@FitzEmpress

Okie dokie!

Retrogarde [Fantasy Noir]

@HeySeuss Sounds good!

Retrogarde [Fantasy Noir]

@HeySeuss Okay, well I can certainly help with that. There's a list of setting-specific drugs on the the first page of the OOC, but you can always just keep it simple and use heroin.

Retrogarde [Fantasy Noir]

I definitely want to get the Wild Hunt hooked up as someone's transportation of illicit goods. Ruby and I were talking, and I was also thinking that they'd probably be good for knocking off some trucks too. It's ~ten guys, not precisely a huge syndicate but I was keeping their operations vague and in the startup phase so that we could go through the ins and outs of setting up an income source or two.

That and maybe have a fight with a pack of Hunters. But I think Ruby and I have that one covered.

@HeySeuss

Sounds good! Let me know if there's anything you guys need/want some GM help with.

@Kingfisher I'm actually not sure who to play. XD

I think what I'll do is I'll let this sit for a while, read the awesome writing. Then maybe I'll come in as someone new or old. I'll see.

@DJAtomika

Alrighty, that sounds like a solid pan. Looking forwards to seeing which path you choose!

Retrogarde [Fantasy Noir]

Hey hey, thanks for the consideration – as always this looks delicious and has not failed to entice. I’d love to join if you’ll have me, this time I’ll not be fading away into nothingness.

I’ll get to work right away on a character of some type, hopefully more involved in things this time around. (Though working in the financial services in the UK, today will be a baaaad day no doubt. So no promises about timings I’m afraid).

@Tsar Gatto

Glad to have you back, Gatto! (Christ, I feel for you, my dude. As a country we've fucked up big time).

<Snipped quote by Kingfisher>

Is it possible for a vampire not "born" into Nyctary to establish himself as a very valuable asset and ally to the family or does the right of blood override anything an outsider can do?

@Keksalot

Yep! The Nyctari value any asset they can get their hands on, even if it is souly to further their own ambitions. Kreslav would likely find himself being fought over by scheming family members.

Retrogarde [Fantasy Noir]

Alfie Santini sat calmly in the front seat of his Mercedes-Benz Type 300, his arms folded across his chest in a loose knot. You’ve done this sort of thing a thousand times before he told himself tonights got no reason to be any different.

But tonight was different.

Tonight, Alfie Santini wasn’t fucking with the Rats or the Tong. Tonight, Alfie Santini was fucking with the Hanged Men.

It's all just mind games he reassured himself. They big themselves up with these stories and urban legends, but when the shit hits the fan, they’re no different than any other piece of shit gangbangers.

Nevertheless, there was this one story Santini just couldn’t shake from his head. Supposedly, the Hanged Men had made this kid prove he was tough shit by scooping some woman off the street in the dead of night, and dragging her back to this dark little basement. They’d made him slit her throat then rape her corpse. When the lights turned on, and the kid was standing over the body of his younger sister, he went mad, and the Hanged Men strung him up from a lamppost in the Narrows.

Crazy necro fucks.

Alfie gazed out of his car with hawk-like precision, looking over the United States Customs Service building for the a hundreth time in the last five minutes. The officers were a fat little cube of dusty brown brick and dark tinted windows, with a smattering of unkempt greenery springing up in the flowerbeds out front. Alfie sat and waited, watching the office lights ever-so-slowly flicker out.

Once enough time had passed, and there was only one light left glowing dimly from behind a window, Santini steadily made his way out of the Mercedes-Benz, locking it behind him, and cautiously strode up to the Customs building.

Slipping through the big steely doors outfront, Santini found the interior of the Customs building to be fairly unremarkable; with squat little cubicles and the sort of cheap-looking furnishings you’d expect from a government building.

“Don’t worry, babe. I promise I’ll take the smart route home.” A scratchy voice echoed from down the corridor.

That was James Esparza using the dial-up to call his wife. Esparza worked late on a Thursday, before heading over to the motel down the street to fuck Susan Byrne.

“I promise,” Esparza said again “Yeah, and I’m sorry about what I said about you dad, babe. You know I don’t like the way he talks to you. O-Okay, honey. You know I gotta work late, tonight; there’s nothing I can do about that. Yeah, I’m getting paid for the overtime. Okay, babe. I love you, too. Speak soon.”

Once he was certain Esparza had hung up, and there were no other stragglers hanging about the office, Santini made his way down the corridor, and into Esparza’s office.

The balding middle-aged man had been scribbling away at his desk, and when Santini appeared in the doorway he nearly jumped out of his skin.

“Jesus, -FUCKING-, Christ!” Esparza yelped “You scared the shit out of me, mister.”

Once his heart was beating a bit slower, Esparza gave Santini a quick look up and down.

“We’re closed now, I’m afraid, sir.” He said slowly “If you’ve got something to declare, you’ll need to come back tomorrow.”

“How long have you been helping the Hanged Men bring Runez into the country?” Santini asked calmly, locking eyes with the man behind the desk.

Esparza went red in the face.

“What in the goddamned…” He spluttered “Sir, I need you to-”

Santini’s hand slipped into his jacket pocket, and when it reemerged he was aiming a Mauser C96 squarely at Esparza.

“Woah...hold on now, mister.” Esparza stammered, as his face dropped “there’s no need to bring guns into this.”

“There’s one thing stopping me from pulling this trigger, Mister Esparza.” Santini spoke slowly, making sure he was easy to understand “and that’s the fact that you’re more use to the Italians alive than dead, right now.”

“By everything holy, I don’t wanna get dragged into this gang war bullshit!” He yelped.

“Too late. You should’ve thought of that before you started taking cash from the Hanged Men.” Santini said sharply “We know that Daniel Harris is being used as a cover to bring contraband into the US. You’re going to make whatever calls you need to make, and get his Import-Export license revoked.”

Esparza’s mouth fell open.

“Do you have any idea what the Hanged men will do to me, if-”

Santini cocked back the hammer on his Mauser.

“You need to make an executive decision,” Santini snarled “are you more scared of the men you work for, or the man pointing a gun in your face, who also knows your home address, and the home address of the secretary you’re fucking on the side?”

“You’re fucking crazy,” Esparza lowered his head in defeat “all of you types are absolutely fucking crazy.”

---

A few days later, Santini was relaxing in his apartment, when there came a knock at the door. He heaved himself up off of the couch, and steadily cracked it open.

Standing out in the corridor were two men and an ogre. All three of them were armed.

“You try anything and I’ll break you in two.” Grumbled the ogre, cracking the knuckles of his enormous, beefy hands.

Fuck.

They pulled him out of his apartment, forced his head into a bag, and then the world went dark around him. He could feel them leading him down a flight of stairs, then tossing him into a car of some kind, whilst his heart pounded in his ears like an african war drum.

After a short drive they pulled the bag off of his head and tossed him out into the night, pushing him down onto the pavement. The ground rushed up to meet him, smashing into his jaw with a bone-crunching ‘THUD!’.

Looming up above him was a lamp post, with a noose tied around it.

“You know what happens next?” asked the Ogre.

“Yeah.” Santini replied.

One of the men took a sip from a canteen, blowing cold air out of his nose.

“Can I have some?” Santini asked weakly.

“Did you serve?” The man asked back.

“I was at Normandy.” Santini replied, honestly.

The man handed him his canteen. Santini took a generous swig, feeling the hot liquid crackle at the back of his throat. He hated the taste of rum.

The man took his canteen back, then the Ogre scooped Santini up in his powerful hands, lifting him as though he were a doll. The noose wormed its way around his neck. He dropped through the air, and the rope started to choke him out, clenching around his throat and ripping into his flesh. As the air was sucked out of him, his limbs began to falil madly, and his eyes felt as though they would pop right out of his skull; his vision breaking away into a mess of bloody ribbons.

“Leave him up there,” he heard the Ogre’s booming voice as the world around him began to slip away “let it serve as a warning.”

Retrogarde [Fantasy Noir]

Oh, speaking of bloodsuckers!
Can a vampire of Kreslav's age, ability, influence and caliber be accepted and respected, his opinions on various matters considered and taken into account by the vampiric community of the city despite him probably not being a born member of the Nyctari family that probably holds most of the town? He does, after all, probably live in here for quite a bit of time, uphold the rules of hospitality, viciously defends his territory and domains and is at least partially in on some of the criminal dealings.
Or does Nyctari technically comprise all of vampires in the world?

@Keksalot

Not all vampires are Nyctari, so he could still have a large amount of sway in the Vampire Community. He couldn't speak out against the Nyctari and win, or try to influence the Nyctari, but some people would still find his arguments worth listening to.

@Kingfisher@Flagg Thanks duders. I'm a bit overbooked on games right now, but one of them might be waining. I'll keep this in my subs just so I can stalk you kids anyway.

@Atrophy

But baby, they don't love you like we do.

@Palamon Looks good, so far!

Retrogarde [Fantasy Noir]

By the way, is it possible for a singular vampire to be accepted as a honorary citizen and member of the civilized society due to his complete cooperation with the city's institutions which he may or may not almost completely own and his humane and benevolent nature?
"No sir, not a single drop, never for the last 136 years! A very rare, properly prepared steak - yes. A whole cow, and a completely legally acquired one, mind you, if it was a particularily taxing night - yes. But long gone are the days of silently visiting scantily clad maidens in their towers and castles, long gone."
Hypothetically.

@Keksalot

Nah, not really. The hatred of Vampirism is grounded in fear of the unknown, and that tends to cloud folks better judgement. Any prominent vampires have the good sense to hide their curse/gift

Retrogarde [Fantasy Noir]

Dear @Atrophy,

Your writing in the last one of these @Kingfisher noirfantasy RPs was some of the best I've seen on RPG, ever. So I think you should join this one too.

Regards,
Flagg

@Flagg

Definitely seconded. I still have "it's cool. You're cool. Be cool." Stuck in my head. Would be a real pleasure to have Atrophy back.

@Keksalot Im a fan. He seems very reminiscent of the Tzimisce. The vamps accepted, feel free to put him in the CS tab