As part of a more-or-less throwaway line in an earlier post, I had Alison mention that she's got book signings almost every day this week, and a book launch party on Saturday night. Kaarin, Ally and I were just chatting and it occurred to me that Alison's agent may have decided that a goth nightclub would be a great place for the party, since it has vampire overtones, etc.
The agent, like Alison, has no clue that real vampires exist. So on Saturday night there's a party at the Graveyard. Alison will be there, as Lucinda Graves. Pablo could be there as her date. Jasmin owns the club, so that's a no-brainer. Evelyn's her friend, ditto. Cadee could be dragged along by Anne who wouldn't miss a Lucinda Graves party for the world. Logan and Meredith might find reasons for being there.
It's also the first time our player characters encounter a Revenant first-hand. Yep, there's a murder in the club - or possibly nearby (since the club itself is a bit public). Perhaps our Revenant spots their target (someone they personally hate, Ally suggested) and might follow them out to the alley to kill them.
We can work out those details. The main thing is there's a Lucinda Graves party at the Graveyard on Saturday night, and we'll have a Revenant appearance.
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Yay, even a ravenant is
Yay, even a ravenant is invited!!!
Cadee and Anne will be there, that's for sure :)
how to get to the party
Balthazar may attend. Given that he's a 'friend' of Jasmin's, and that he would probably be rubbing elbow with powerful Publishing types...
I can hear Jasmin groaning
I can hear Jasmin groaning already, and thinking, "They hate you, Balty. They hate you so much that it keeps me up at night."
"They hates us, my precious.
"They hates us, my precious. Nasty little revenantses."
Party time ^_^
Party time ^_^
Logistics
Right. It's been a while since we did one of these larger collabs. Makes me wonder: how do we want to handle the actual writing of this. Work out what small meetings and introductions would go on, write those seperate? Or try to - somehow - find some time we're all on the weekend? A massive, week-long chat?
I'm thinking most of this
I'm thinking most of this doesn't have to be all of us in together. We can mostly write little vignettes all set at the party. So it'll be a bunch of 2- and 3-person collabs for the most part, I'd say.
Largely my thought, too. Just
Largely my thought, too. Just wanted to toss the question out there. :) Imagine most of us that haven't met can easily find excuses to here.
And now, off to work late, thank you snow!
suggestion
What if we all put down in bullet form the flow of the night and then everyone can work to fill in each bullet.
Ex:
1. Jasmin orders waiters and stuff around
2. Alison and Pablo arrive, they meet Jasmin
3. Meredith arrives at same time as Cadee and her friend
4. Pablo goes to bathroom and Cadee spots Alison, they begin to talk
5. Logan Arrives with Balthazar, they briefly talk to Jasmin
etc etc etc
6. Meredith realizes that her hatred for Logan was actually masked lust...they make love in the bathroom stall (ha)
7. Revenant appears DUN Dun dun....
Each bullet can then be a mini colab and we can stitch them all together and make one round of final edits.
Thoughts?
Just for fun lets each
Just for fun lets each suggest story ideas for other people's characters at the party. Of course you are free to ignore them this is just for laughs.
I Actually quite like the
I Actually quite like the ideas Dave came up with. I was trying to think of other ones, and came up with
Anyone else have any suggestions?
Amanda and I had already had
Amanda and I had already had a similar idea as that last one. Their first meeting should be pretty interesting.
I think "Balthazar causes
I think "Balthazar causes issues in some way or another" is a no-brainer. With the way he's been written personality-wise so far, he's probably apt to make some kind of scene, likely in something as simple as being leacherous towards female guests. Honestly like all of the ideas tossed forward.
Click for full-sized
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Be sure to read the Publisher's note on this
Wow, that's just... great!!!
Wow, that's just... great!!! Good work :D
Wow, that's really cool!
Wow, that's really cool! Props Dave!
Love it!
Love it!
That's awesome Dave. I love
That's awesome Dave. I love you so much. :)
Slow day at work, huh?
confirming party
So with all the good ideas, thrown out, do people want to confirm what they want their characters to do and then we can all begin the mini colabs.
For example i'd like to do the following:
Logan running into Sandoval
Balthazar makes lewd comment to Cadee and or Meredith (maybe both if they're together)
Logan seeing Cadee and Meredith.
Also, if Sierra is there, definitely wouldnt mind her bumping into him.
Basically, I need to know if you guys agree with that. Vice Versa, anyone let me know if they need Logan for anything
Balthazar makes a lewd
Balthazar makes a lewd comment to Cadee and is rejected, of course, and then he sees her all friendly with Logan -maybe dancing. That would be cool. He won't like it a bit, i'm sure.
And what are we going to do with the ravenant?
I think the idea with the
I think the idea with the Revenant, at this point, is that the trouble it causes is going to come at the very end of the night - once we've all done our meetings. I have two thoughts for that to propose, the prelude bit being that the victim is someone who our Revenant hated. I could easily write up a little vignette thing to get us started on that. Two thoughts:
Since it's so early in the
Since it's so early in the game, I'd say the Follow method is probably best. It could even be one of Balthazar's (other) henchmen that the Revenant targets, which would bring Logan into it.
OMG
This dovetails with my idea to introduce Cheidra to the game. She is a merc for hire and my thought is she has been hired to protect a favored son of a mob family. The twist is this son is the nemesis of a revenant and is targeted by the revenant who hates him. That gives me an opening. She can be at the party watching her charge, who is then attacked by the revenant. What do you think?
That would be a good idea -
That would be a good idea - nothing like a dramatic in. :)
That sounds perfect.
That sounds perfect.
Rather than "favored son of
Rather than "favored son of the mob" why not "high-ranking member of the [another gang]".
I found this information about a Manhattan gang:
The Flying Dragons, Chinatown (Canal St.): The Flying Dragons are connected to one of Chinatown's major tongs the Hip Sings and outsource protection and extortion rackets to smaller Vietnamese or Chinese gangs while they smuggle drugs. The Flying Dragons' longtime head Johnny Eng was arrested five times in the 70's and named one of the five biggest heroin dealers in New York by the late 80's.
The Tongs have BIG money and could easily afford a big-name bodyguard.
Works
That works and works if the Revenants attacking at the party are your Bloods. So to be absolutely clear, I am going to have Chiedra guarding a high-level member of the Tongs and he is going to be attacked by Revenant Bloods at the party. Cool?
Official party pooping plan
Ok,
So it works for everyone (and Kris and I already discussed and works for us) this is a recap:
The Bloods come to the party looking for Balthazar. While there, one notices Ricky (Chiendra's charge) who is the son of Vietnamese gang leader and takes the opportunity to attack him as well.
This works out for everyone - so we just need everyone to chime in and say ok.
Also, the last point, is are we clear that the Bloods attack inside the club, causing a scene? I know some of us are waiting to get confirmation on this so we can finish some colabs.
Sounds good overall; my
Sounds good overall; my understandaing was that the attack would likely end up happening outside the club (e.g. spot target, follow out). I'm fine with it happening either way, but it'll determine exactly how angry the soulless vampire gets.
One last thing
When I write this, how do I slot it into the party? I don't want to miss the boat or jump the gun. How do I determine when to put my post up?
So outline: The Bloods
So outline:
The Bloods (three Stooges) head to Graveyard to go after Balthazar. They, being immortal and all, figure that a little bloody mayhem works for them.
They arrive at the club and see that the party is upstairs. While Moe, Larry and Curly stand around trying o figure out how to get upstairs they see Ricky Chiang and his beautiful black and white Bodyguard step out of the club. Ricky Chiang wants to smoke and that's against the law in New York. His dad would kill him if he got pinched for a fire safety violation (max fine $500).
So the three head outside to confront Ricky and test out this invincibility thing. They find out the hard way that it is less than it is cracked up to be. They are not invulnerable, pain-proof, super ninjas or bulletproof.
They get torn up pretty bad by Kristen's character (and Ricky who at least knows Kung-fu and can use a knife pretty well). So they decide to start shooting randomly. Kill a few bar patrons on Saturday night. Which of course draws a lot of attention from folks upstairs.
Balthazar will vaporize at least one of them using some sort of dragon-breath spell or lightning called from the sky or something else really flashy.
Sandoval will place one under arrest.
Somebody else may capture one and keep him in a personal dungeon somewhere.
Sandoval's will probably die at sunrise on Monday (he killed his Sunday mark).
Who knows what will happen to the dungeon captured one?
Either way Sandoval, Logan, Balthazar, Jasmin and who knows who else will be out in the street with Chiedra.
Is that a little clearer?
I'll write the post where
I'll write the post where Carmine kills the three Bloods tomorrow or Thursday and that way you will take them from there, Kristen. You should have enough names and personalities to work with after I finish my post. You should be able to write it right up to the point where they start shooting into the crowd. Kill as many people as you want.
That breakdown sounds good.
That breakdown sounds good. The one thing that only became clear after reading a bit is that the showdown with Ricky happens before the Bloods have headed upstairs, so I guess Ricky is in the downstairs club with Chiedra. Presumably when Ricky heads outside for his smoke he doesn't go out the front door, though. Probably the nightclub has an area out back for smokers or something. That keeps the mayhem off the streets for the most part, at least.
Timing is the other thing. We probably want this confrontation to happen late in the party - there's a lot of other things slated to happen which should cover a good few hours of party time. :)
Cool
I can adjust to that. I'll bring Niall in as well, I think. My thought is that he's following Chiedra out of the club because he's upset at seeing her working for Chiang and the Obsidian Blades (that's my thought for the Tongs name, btw). He'll come out intending to read her the riot act in front of her client and end up jumping into the fray. So...Chiedra and Niall and Chiang can leave the Revenants a bit worse for wear even before the others come riding to the rescue. yes?
I know with her personality,
I know with her personality, given the chance, Jasmin will almost certainly at least try to track down number 3. Kris, this might be a point for us to knock heads on, since Ricky will almost undoubtably want vengance as well?
Suffice it to say: I think Jasmin takes killing her patrons, regardless of source or reason (unless it's done by her, which she tries not to do) rather poorly. It gives her bad press, which translates into less business and far too many jokes about the name of her club becoming suddenly very apt.
How each revenant/stooge is
How each revenant/stooge is dealt with is irrelevant.
My thought is that 1 is killed outright by bodily vaporization, 1 is captured by the "official" authorities (i.e. Sandoval, Cadee, or the New Initiative [if they get wind of it]) and the other is held by the "Grey hats" (Jasmin, Ricky, Niall or Balthazar). The two that are captured should be captured in a state that would for a normal human be fatal adds to the mystery. (decapitated, eviscerated, bullet-ridden or dismembered)
Ultimately, however, even though we have parts of the puzzle, only Balthazar Romano has the most complete picture. That, too, is part of the fun here. We DON'T know what is happening, and he (certainly more than any of us) does. And it should be kept that way. Otherwise this turns into a very short story.
It is precisely because Balthy is playing close to his chest that the problem will get out of hand. If he'd be open with us from the beginning then this would not escalate the way it will.
Captured thugs will turn to ash at Sunrise on Sunday morning unless they are allowed to kill again. And anyone that they killed in the altercation (which is why I say kill many, many) can come back. And the average is about 1 in 3. So if they lay waste to twelve that night then four of them potentially will rise to kill again.
Most of these third generation revenants will be seeking revenge on the Bloods or the Obsidian Blades or the Cops or just someone that they feel deserves a good killin'.
I'm honestly just trying to
I'm honestly just trying to make sure that we end up on the same page of the aftermath. So we don't end up with, say, three of us all trying to write something dealing with it, then going, "oops."
I'd like to have Alison meet
I'd like to have Alison meet Jasmin - she's the owner of the club, after all. Pablo may or may not be with her - that's up to Dave.
I'd also like to have Alison and Meredith meet up. Whether it's a general "I've followed your work" or a "damn it, that Slainte story could have been mine" is something we can work out. I'm easy with whatever.
If she spots Logan she'll recognise him. I don't know if he'll want to talk or keep his distance, but there's a possiblity for something there.
It would be good to meet people she hasn't met yet - Evelyn, Sierra. Jasmin and Meredith I've already covered. Anyone else new who might be there and we can fit in.
As the 'main attraction' of this shindig, it makes sense that she'd be doing a lot of mingling with guests, etc. So I could have a cameo with just about everybody.
I'd definately like to have
I'd definately like to have Jasmin meet "Lucinda" - she'd make a point of doing that since she is the main attraction, so having Lucinda able to say something nice about her when the press inevitably gets their hands on her is going to look like a good thing. Evalyn could easily be along with her for this, or come by separate.
Once she spots Balthazar, she's going to keep an eye on him. Could be an opportunity to meet Pablo, if not now then at least later - undoubtably, he'll notice that Jasmin and Balthazar seem more familiar than strangers should they talk. The two do not move in the same public circles, I imagine, making familiarity between them look weird. Not to mention, she'd probably be hoping that she can get payback and ruin one of his attempts to score.
Aside from that, as the owner, she's wide open to meet with people. Running into Cadee / Anne again may be good.
Her main thing is going to be going around, networking more, and not telling anyone that she's looking for any sign of trouble or troublemakers. Playing the good hostess role. This translates into money and publicity after all. ;)
Official Sequence of events
Hi,
I figured we could keep track of the official sequence of events. I've spoken with both Lou and Ally. So far we have this (in order)
OFFICIAL TIMELINE
I figured once you speak to the other players and decide on things, just recopy the list and insert where need be.
STILL TBD for me:
Regarding the Revenant: 1- Would the killing happen inside the club? It would be more dramatic if it did IMO. Also, Ally and I need to know. 2- Someone mentioned the Revenant killing one of Balthazar's other henchmen. I wouldnt mind that, so let me know if we're doing that, because I'll write him in arriving with Balthazar and Logan.
For clarity, as I understand,
For clarity, as I understand, ont he Revenant bit:
(1) Outside the club (2) Chierda's charge, since that'll be a good way to get Kris' character both introduced and interacting with some of us straight off the bat.
Uhmmm
I thought that the attack was happening in the club at the party.
in or out
Just let us know what is decided since it's going to affect some colabs :). Personally, in the club causes more drama!
I have set the plotlines into
I have set the plotlines into motion to have two or three (I have not yet decided how many) of the Bloods gang to become Revenants on Friday and to come back looking for Balthazar on Saturday at the party. Balthy will have already seen how this works via his man Tony who will come back on Friday morning and kill a demon only to find out on Saturday morning that that didn't count. So he, alone, is likely to know what is going on.
I am sending more than one so you can capture/detain one (or two) of them to see what happens if they don't kill and still have some running free to rampage.
The Grathoki are fanning this flame. They are the ones who defiled Carmine's mama's house and they are going to be pushing the Bloods to take advantage of their new-found invulnerability.
Just tying all the pieces together
So for clarity, I was under the impression that one of the Revenants was going to attack Kristin's NPC, so she could introduce her character. Perhaps, the Bloods are after Balthazar, but also see that NPC, which one of the Revenants have beef with, so it just happens to be good timing and they kill Kristin's NPC in the process.
Would this work for everyone?
Getting post started
Wanted to see how everyone imagined this going since this post will involved 1000 different colabs ;). I'm thinking someone has the opening post with the time, and everyone adds their different parts in as seperate posts.
Probably the best way to
Probably the best way to handle it. Given the nature, if this is the only thing on Saturday, it might go into the page there; otherwise, it gets its own subpage index ("Graves at the Graveyard").
who wants to kick'er off?
Any volunteers? I dont want to nominate anyone, but probably should open from either Jasmin or Alison's POV. Of course, that being said, if no one wants, I dont mind doing it!
Or both, if Heather wants to
Or both, if Heather wants to collab that. :)
Here's my bigger question. When do we want to start, you know, writing / posting this? How are people on posts that need to be made before this event? (I'm basically caught up, I think).
My first post
Well, since this is gonna be Chiedra's intro, I am good to start it whenever. I need to read up on the club. I need to do NPC for my "employer" but that can wait until after, I guess.