Casino - the altar room

Krystoff wrote:For the 33 people I would say it is best if they leave now alone or in small groups. Get back to their families and possibly move out of state. Now that they know vampires are real they need to be extra wary...

You guys are 15 miles into the woods outside the city and all of their cars have been towed a couple hours ago. Plus, they are all heavily injured, mostly from neck wounds. How are you suggesting they proceed from the parking lot?

I think riding leathers are treated, so should be pretty good about coming clean from bloodstains, especially compared to most clothes. Everyone's magic items however, seem particularly resistant to stains & scuffs.

jibuki wrote:Did you read Ember's suggestions? I do suggest we do a couple of sharp turns and see if anyone is tracking us.

Yes, but they were contingent on Selena being able to steal another car. That was Vala, the Halfling Toknosfar, who's the thief. Selena is a vegan Vampiress who you think is a pretty good driver & fighter.

One of you two will have to do it. You also don't think you are being followed/tracked best you can tell.

bradly wrote:

Dwarmaj wrote:I say we call the police/fire department to report the casino fire.

When do you make this call? Right after you get out of the building, or wait a while?

I'd prefer to wait a while, but I don't think the saved captives would want to. I'd like to wait to make sure one of them isn't a turned vampire.

To stall we should have them move away from the building. Angelus will also start asking them questions about what happened to them and what they remember.

I'll tell Blade and Ashe that we should stay with them until we hear or see help coming.

If there is a hose or sprinkler outside, or even a stream I suggest we all clean up.

We can have Selena call Giles/Vala. . Duh,

I want two cell phones also.

Dwarmaj wrote:I'd like to wait to make sure one of them isn't a turned vampire.

Now that you're in your new body, you know you can detect Vampires with a DC20 Insight check even though you're untrained, and vice versa for them to tell you're Undead. (Do you look Undead?) In other words, to 'sense' a Vampire, you need to be either trained in Insight and/or Undead, and also make a DC20 check. Insight check is a minor action.

Between you & Blade, who can also sense Undead, you know that everyone here except you two are living.

jibuki wrote:We can have Selena call Giles/Vala. . Duh,

I want two cell phones also.

We'll say you all have as many phones as you want, but you know they're going to be reported stolen eventually, and that they have GPS in them.

Vala is just getting done dropping off the other walking wounded from the office and is leaving to pick the 3 of you up. Eventually, in about a half hour round trip, you all make it back to the motel. Selena takes the car about a quarter mile down the road in a shady part of the woods and hides/waits for sunset in Vala's tinted windowed stolen car.

Giles drives his minibus to pick up Angel, Ashe, & Blade, and tells you that they already rented all of their vacant units and they're already on the floors etc with injured. What do you 3 do for the 33 others besides give them the email contact? Giles strongly recomends that the 4 of you be gone before any authorities arrive, since they either wouldn't understand Vampires & magic, or they already know about them and are corrupt...

Dwarmaj wrote:
Angelus will also start asking them questions about what happened to them and what they remember...

They'll basically confirm the same story you all already heard, they showed up just before midnight for the car drawing, the Mayor drove the new car out, the doors disappeared, and everyone Vamp'd out and started attacking everyone.

They were taken upstairs and ritualisticly every half hour a few more of them were murdered.

I'm not considered undead. I'm just considered a vampire.

What's next? Do we visit the mayor? Does Giles have a suggestion to be gone where?

bradly wrote:
Now that you're in your new body, you know you can detect Vampires with a DC20 Insight check even though you're untrained, and vice versa for them to tell you're Undead. (Do you look Undead?) In other words, to 'sense' a Vampire, you need to be either trained in Insight and/or Undead, and also make a DC20 check. Insight check is a minor action.

Between you & Blade, who can also sense Undead, you know that everyone here except you two are living.

Revenants have the "Undead" type, but are still considered "living creatures". There is a racial feat "Death's Blessing" that makes Revenants non-living.

Angelus will have black eyes with a red pupil. He'll have to get some shades later so he won't stand out...


Blade is similar. He's an Elf that is considered a vampire, though he's not undead.

A revenant has a body that is slender for his or her height, but this form possesses an uncanny toughness that contradicts the apparent build. Revenants have the same range of complexions as humans, but a revenant’s skin is ashen and the features are sunken. Eyes are most commonly solid black with a single point of red light in place of a pupil, but other eerie eye colors—including yellow, white, silver, and gold—are not uncommon, although they always share the same fiery red pupil. In most cases, the eyes lack an iris and pupil, and some glow with a ghostly light. Revenant hair typically ranges from black to white. They can grow facial hair, and males often have beards or mustaches that accentuate their dreadful countenances.

A revenant’s face and skin clearly set a member of this unique race apart from other humanoids. A revenant’s visage has a masklike quality that can be disturbing to normal mortals. Rough, dark scales appear on the flesh near the ends of a revenant’s limbs, marking the revenant as one of those the Raven Queen allowed back into the world of the living. Revenant digits end in strong, black fingernails or toenails that resemble claws.

jibuki wrote:What's next? Do we visit the mayor? Does Giles have a suggestion to be gone where?

That's coming as soon as the party's all back together again. We're waiting on what the other 3 are going to do about the 33 survivors...

Dwarmaj wrote:
Revenants have the "Undead" type, but are still considered "living creatures".

Blade is similar. He's an Elf that is considered a vampire, though he's not undead.

Yeah, close enough.

bradly wrote:Giles drives his minibus to pick up Angel, Ashe, & Blade, and tells you that they already rented all of their vacant units and they're already on the floors etc with injured.

What do you 3 do for the 33 others besides give them the email contact? Giles strongly recomends that the 4 of you be gone before any authorities arrive, since they either wouldn't understand Vampires & magic, or they already know about them and are corrupt...

Hmm, not sure what else we can do with so many.

Guys, anything you want to tell the survivors before we take off and the police get here?

I would tell them not to descibe us accurately. But there are enough vamps that saw us and still live.

jibuki wrote:I would tell them not to descibe us accurately. But there are enough vamps that saw us and still live.

Hmm, the only one that saw me in my new body is dead...

But it's still a great idea.

Angelus will tell them to be descrete and we'll try to help them any time they need it against the vampires.

We should also drive off a little before help comes and watch them from a distance to make sure they're safe.

Ashe, Blade, & Angelus, waiting on you guys to decide what you're doing with the survivors...

bradly wrote:Ashe, Blade, & Angelus, waiting on you guys to decide what you're doing with the survivors...

We're going to leave them for the police/firefighters to deal with. We're also going to stay close by and take video of the casino fire and the survivors standing outside, then send the video to the media. Hopefully that will assure us that who ever comes to help won't harm the survivors.

We will give them the email address.
Tell them to be very wary about who they tell about vampires and explain that they have insinuated themselves everywhere.
Give them advice to leave this city and try to keep a low profile.
Have them call 911.

Also take individual pictures of each of the survivors so we can identify them if they contact us.

Collect information from them -name, address, phone

That would allow us to check on them later. Possible source of future leads.

Also in the video make sure to take facial shots.

What kind of video are we shooting here!?

Yeah, what do you mean by "Facial Shots"?

Just pan to show the faces of the people. That way the people watching the video will will recognize the people they know and be lookingfor them.

Are all together now?
Are we going to visit the mayor after a extended rest?
Or are going after a year until we get stronger? Ie 6th level.

Mick wrote:Are all together now?
Are we going to visit the mayor after a extended rest?
Or are going after a year until we get stronger? Ie 6th level.

Sorry guys, I was busy all day yesterday and lost my connection Fri when I tried to post the 1st level recap...


The Slayers at the casino take pics of their rescuees, but you only have camera phones. You'll all have to tell me how fancy new cameras are, but I don't think they can record very long vids...

When Giles & Vala bring everyone back to the hotel, Selena does not go in with you, but takes Vala's car, not wanting to be near that much smell of blood...

(Assuming...) when you tell Giles everything that happened, he says a lot of "dear lord!"'s & such. He also clearly expresses how proud he is of all of you, even surpassing his expectations from the Myacyne Propheshies. He tells you that he picked this coven partly because it was primarily this coven that atacked most of your families (and are a fast growing upstart coven), but also because he thought it was too young of a coven to have non-minions, since the coven leader (Sam Mui) just got out of a federal prison (secretly designed for Vamps), and 'couldn't' have sired that many that long ago.

He tells you that La Magra is an ancient Vampire god who's secrets of summoning were said to be lost to the Ages, but if the Blood God's Avatar was about to be summoned and was thwarted, that you Slayers not just saved the lives of around 4 dozen people, but that you quite literally saved the world. (something you're prophesiesed to do more than once...)

That very next afternoon, peppered all over the local news, making global news as well, is news story after news story about the casino massacre... lots of pictures of the fire, as many burnt bodies as possible, no mention of survivors made the coverage... The reports hint that the domestic terrorists that started the fire that killed 60+, could have been psychotic teenage lovers.

Later that very evening the story develops, and you see footage of Ember & Angel with most every news story (several times an hour), and the factoid that both youth's families were brutally murdered earlier that week, and that these two are "wanted for questioning" for these killings as well as the casino massacre. While there weren't many seconds of surveilance footage with it, every clip of Ember just so happens to have Blade in the background, and every few second clip of Angel just so happens to have Ashe in it. They are only shots of the casino floor before everything happened, and there is no mention of Telgarth. The media blames the massacre on a teenage lover killing spree...

The very next morning, "shocking new exclusives" with images of Ashe, asking "could the casino massacre have been some sort of psychotic love triangle?... stay tuned for the shocking facts our reporters discovered about what happened a couple days ago to his family, and why the police are wanting him for questioning too"

In light of all this, plus the fact that the coven thinks the exposure of the existence of the Slayers is the catalyst they've been waiting for as a Sign to start the Great Harvest, Giles recomends everyone does 2 things... lay low for a while until the heat dies down, and also now that your powers are unlocked, each of your family members must be tracked down and quickly, else they'll likely feed on everyone else close to them.

Giles recommends spreading out in small teams of 2 to take care of your families and to help stay off the radar, not contacting the rest of the party for 6 months, laying low and meeting up again at a designated time/place then. Giles tells you that you've just tipped the iceburg on the powers you all possess, and that your growing powers will be too hard to stay off the Vampire nation's radar if you stay together. He strongly emphasises the need for discretion when using your new powers until he can figure out what to do about the impending Great Harvest.

Please let me know what your PC would do to both get by for money (each of you are talented enough to walk into any feild at entry level, especially with forged resumes), what you do to lay low, how you train & hunt Vampire minions, and who you team up with, and which families each of you take care of (you strongly suspect that Sam's coven may be expecting this move).

One of you can team up with Giles (11th level monk type NPC), one of you can team up with Vala (6th level thief/assasin NPC, special abilities to be unlocked), one of you can team up with Selena (5th level minion Vamp, about to evolve to 8th level Vamp, same as the bosses you just faced), or you can team up with each other. Note: All the women in the Buffyverse are hotties (16-18 Cha normally)

Note: Also, what do you all do with your stolen cell phones & stolen car (most of which come with GPS nowadays...)?

After you let me know what your PCs do during the skipped levels, and the tokens are updated, we'll start again at 6th...

Angelus will team up with Selena if that's ok with her. He's not as charismatic as Angel was, but now he's undead and better able to relate to her.

They can also probably go into places the others can't...

Will have to think on what to do to make money.

Since I'm kind of vampiric I should probably go with Selena.

I'll team up with Vala if she's willing. Was there anything good in the religious artifacts?

jibuki wrote:I'll team up with Vala if she's willing. Was there anything good in the religious artifacts?

All the above mentioned NPCs are committed to the Vampire killing cause and are willing to team up with any of you.

Thanks for the reminder RE: religious artifacts Blade grabbed. No, none of them are good... You get the feeling that they are all very evil. You don't know what the use/value of any of the 5 artifacts you have are, but while 4 seem to be of ordinary materials, the 5th, an idol of La Magra, appears to be made of gold with ruby eyes & sharp diamond fangs. Dried now, but recently fresh blood is on the fangs of the idol.

When I get a chance I will wash all of them off with Holy Water.

Ross wrote:When I get a chance I will wash all of them off with Holy Water.

Hey, be careful with that stuff...

Minor Action. Make an attack: Ranged 3/6; +4 vs. Reflex; on a hit, the attack deals 1d10 radiant damage to an undead creature or a demon.

It sounds like we're all in our mid to late teens (16-18) only 6 months is going to elapse...

Angelus will attend college (Society and Justice major). He won't need much money while in college, but will have a job on campus. Hopefully something like campus security.

He'll focus on martial arts training before and after classes.

His first choice of team mate is Selena, if not her then he'll team up with Ember.

Nights he'll help the others with the protection of the families. He'll focus on his family (which won't even recognize him) and either Ember (if teamed with her) or Telgarth's (if teamed with Selena) family.

Maybe we should switch families, and not watch our own. Your more likely to be recognized by your own family and friends.

Dwarmaj wrote:
Nights he'll help the others with the protection of the families.

Clarification: The "off-stage" mission isn't to 'protect' your families, they are already dead in the campaign prequel. The mission is to protect everyone else FROM them, since you strongly suspect they've all been sired as new Vampires. Selena being a very rare exception, anyone reborn as a Vampire has all the memories of their former life, but with a very evil demonic twist to their (new) personalities, and bloodlust.

In other words, the mission is to make sure they're dust before they kill everyone else you knew & love (which is who new Vamps are likely to target first).

Ah. Maybe we should go as a team then. I think it would be helpful for every group if I was their to help detect potential vampires. Maybe I should stick with Giles then, since he will probably keep track of all teams. Then we can visit each one for a few days and hunt down the family members. It's probably not a good idea to hunt down your own family members on your own anyway. Too much emotional disadvantage.

Angelus is also Undead so can detect Vampires too, and Ember is trained in Insight, so is +5 better at detecting Vamps than either of you. Plus, Vala, Giles both have Insight trained and Selena's a Vampiress. I don't think detecting Vampires will be an issue. (I tried to give you guys helpful PCs...)

Giles agrees with you re: switching up targets for your very same reasoning...

bradly wrote:
In other words, the mission is to make sure they're dust before they kill everyone else you knew & love (which is who new Vamps are likely to target first).

Hmm, Angelus has very few memories of his life before he came back. He'll need to do some research on who he was and who is family and friends were.

Angelus is all about killing evil vampires now and any leads that will help him find them (like tracking down old friends/family) is great.

Do Revenant's get a bonus to detecting undead? My Feat gives me that ability specifically (see below). Just because your considered undead doesn't mean you get any bonuses.

Vampiric Heritage [Vampire Bloodline]
Prerequisite: Living humanoid race
Benefit: You gain blood drain as an encounter power. Additionally, you gain a +2 bonus to Perception and Insight checks to sense and recognize dhampyrs and undead.
Special: You are considered a vampire for the purpose of effects that relate to vampires.

Ross wrote:Do Revenant's get a bonus to detecting undead? My Feat gives me that ability specifically (see below). Just because your considered undead doesn't mean you get any bonuses.

Vampiric Heritage [Vampire Bloodline]
Prerequisite: Living humanoid race
Benefit: You gain blood drain as an encounter power. Additionally, you gain a +2 bonus to Perception and Insight checks to sense and recognize dhampyrs and undead.
Special: You are considered a vampire for the purpose of effects that relate to vampires.

No bonus normally...

It's a Buffy-verse thing...

Brad said that any undead can detect a vampire with an Insight check as if they were trained.

Anyone trained in Insight can detect vampires.

Blade can detect vampires as if he were trained and I believe you get your +2 bonus on top of that.

Yes, sensing other Undead is a special Buffyverse thing which I'm carrying over from the tv show. Good thing you brought it up though, since I didn't know to add the extra +2. (Angelus doesn't get the +2, but can still detect with a DC20.) Okay, Ember being trained is only +3 better at detecting Undead than Blade.

Post Script: It reads like the writers of that feat is also a Joss Whedon fan...

Stil waiting on plans for a number of PCs for the "off stage" 2nd-5th level part so we can start the 6th level intro...

Note: I will be guestimating low on cost of living, tuition fees, etc, but this will be expenses for the PCs, so keep that & your starting wealth in mind...


Post Script: (Some weeks after the casino fire) "To vbladedrow.com: I've been trying and trying to get the cops, press to take my statement & tell my story, but they tell me they have everything they need & shut me out. Now the school board wants to meet with me... I don't know what to do. -Science Teacher"

bradly wrote:
Note: I will be guestimating low on cost of living, tuition fees, etc, but this will be expenses for the PCs, so keep that & your starting wealth in mind...

Hmm, are you sure you want to introduce occupations and other sources of income?

4E removed those as part of PC/party balance.

Having occupations for RP is great and fills out each character a bit more.

Tying occupations to how much money a PC has will start to skew things a bit.

Are we going to have wealth limits or some other way to keep things relatively equal between the PCs?

I agree with Ken. Income & wealth got out of control in the Jalalabrad adventures.
Ember has a few ideas to make large sums of money but it's a little higher on the radar the her job as a librarain assistant.

As a note since the video clips were all from before when we were in the casino gambling Ashe looked different then due to his disguise. Hopefully that helps him keep a low profile.

For money Ashe will start contracting doing computer work mainly in the programming, data, and business analyst functions. Ashe is very charismatic and will use Giles and Vala's contacts to get contracts. Because most of that type of work is transitory but pays well (anywhere from $100 to $250 an hour depending on the need) it should give him some extra cash and the flexibility to hunt for family members when he needs to. It also keeps him on a very low profile since most of those types of contracts are recorded as contract work or under company names and not with the person themselves so there is no data trail.

For hunting down family members and dusting them I agree that it should be in a group if possible but if it needs to be done as a duo then I can go with Telgarth. For my family if it is a group and I don't get to go after them I will tell them to start with coaches and teachers since I was very active in the kids sports community. Next would be parents of friends that were always at the games with my parents and long time friends many of whom are the same people.

Dwarmaj wrote:Are we going to have wealth limits or some other way to keep things relatively equal between the PCs?

That's up to you guys as players. I won't be imposing any beyond awarding treasure somewhat closely. (But I am not trying to make that perfectly even there too)

Mick wrote:I agree with Ken. Income & wealth got out of control in the Jalalabrad adventures.
Ember has a few ideas to make large sums of money but it's a little higher on the radar the her job as a librarain assistant.

Ember is on the nation's most wanted list. It would be very bad for her to be high profile right now as police & Vampires are looking for her.

"Out of control" is a little bit of a misnomer, since I clearly did not attempt any sort of control and even skewed the rules to encourage it to get 'wild'. That was kind of an experiment, but I don't think it diminished the fun at all.

But the Buffyverse won't be like Jalalabrad, in that Jalalabrad was a freeforall magic universe, the Buffyverse is not. Most Vamps are 12-24 in level, and until the PCs eventually change things, control the entire world keeping tight tabs on even the mention of magic in any serious sense. The Paragon encounters will be scaled depending on how you roleplay (ie, how much attention you attract). I went out of my way to not hand the party a TPK in the last encounter, I won't be doing that again in future levels.

In Jalalabrad, the PCs were always top dog magic-wise. In the Buffyverse, the PCs are WAY the underdog starting out, gradually overtaking the baddies through the course of the (entire) campaign.

Dwarmaj wrote:Hmm, are you sure you want to introduce occupations and other sources of income?

Modern settings hardly make sense without it imo. Who can live in this world without thinking about money/expenses?

Krystoff wrote:As a note since the video clips were all from before when we were in the casino gambling Ashe looked different then due to his disguise. Hopefully that helps him keep a low profile.

Yes, I remember that. And Ember was all dolled up & Angelus was in a different body.

...but that applies to the cops & public. Sam's coven leaders have both looks to go from (& pics) and are also looking for Blade & Telgarth (even though they couldn't sic the cops on them too).

bradly wrote:
Modern settings hardly make sense without it imo. Who can live in this world without thinking about money/expenses?

I don't think it's much different than a fantasy setting.

I think it was the DMG that said that heroes job is to adventure and covers their living expenses and most mundain items.

Gold is really only tracked in order to keep track of what items a PC can purchase that will directly affect the encounters they go on.


What do the PC in the other campaigns do in between adventures? I'm sure the PCs in War or the Dragonborn adventure have living expenses as well. They could also be making money on the side, but it doesn't affect what they have on hand to buy equipment.


For RP reasons I think the PCs should have jobs, I just don't think it should allow them to accumulate more resources to buy equipment. Sure they can have a fansy house and nice cars, but those things don't usually impact the adventure.

Agree with Ken.

bradly wrote:Post Script: (Some weeks after the casino fire) "To vbladedrow.com: I've been trying and trying to get the cops, press to take my statement & tell my story, but they tell me they have everything they need & shut me out. Now the school board wants to meet with me... I don't know what to do. -Science Teacher"

You might want to stop trying to spread that story. The suckers are probably watching you. Check your email in 5 hours (put the exact time it will be in 5 hours). I will give you a phone number to call. Call it as soon as you get the email. I will wait by that phone for only 5-minutes. Do not call from your personal phones (cell or home) as they could be bugged. We'll talk then.