FAE NOIR --- "Vote Early, Vote Coffin"

[TomTancredi]

I GMed an adventure I created for "Fae Noir" titled "Vote Early, Vote Coffin" at DexCon last week. I got a lot of great responses from the three gaming groups that played it, but the most memorable one was the last game played at the Con, which is recapped for you below. 

Setting:
The setting of the game is New York City, 1926, the night of the mayoral election between the incumbent Mayor Hylan and the Jimmy "James" Walker. The players chose from pre-made characters, since this was a conventional one-shot game.

Players:
Grimmock: Ogre "Precinct Captain". His job was to get out the votes for either Hylan or Walker (I let the player choose which in the beginning) in his precinct. He's huge and has a fascination for vaudeville acts. He carries a deck of cards with him at all times and likes to practice his juggling when he's bored.

Celene - Goblin Moll Girl/Prostitute. A real "looker" by Goblin standards....she smokes about 3 packs a day and her flinty voice carries it well. She's a natural at jobbing around, always trying to make a little more money either by rolling over deadbeats or a quickie in the back alley.

Mickey: Human boot-legger. All business and the brains of the outfit. He's constantly looking at the bottom-line.

Mercer: Elf "Getaway" Driver. Sure, elves in this setting are only 10-inches tall, but I gave the character driving stilts, a brody handle, and 1922 roadster with modified seats to make it work. Think of when Shortround drove Indy in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and you get the picture.

Plot:
The characters started in a speakeasy called "The Greek", a small dive located in Tribeca. They all know each other through the Human bootlegger, as the bootlegger has hired the Ogre for muscle a number of times, used the stealth skills of the Goblin Moll, and taken advantage of the supreme driving skills of the Elf. Plus, both the Goblin and the Elf have Glamour skills, which allow them to create 3-dimensional illusions that fool all the senses.

As the Goblin Moll works the crowds for Johns looking for a quick lay, the Ogre and the Elf got drinks at various tables. The Ogre had is own personal couch so that he could rest his spiked maul near it. Usually, spiked mauls are forbidden weapons in civilized establishments but the troll bouncer knew the Ogre well enough that it wasn't a big deal. The Elf was perched on a dame's shoulder, play cards and winning. The human bootlegger was negotiating The Greek about the next delivery of goods.

Several women were attacked outside of the establishment and the PCs went to investigate. The assailant was a heavily-garbed zombie. The Ogre made short work of him with his maul. Standing over the bodies of two slain women, wielding a bloody spiked maul, witnesses assumed the worst; that the Ogre caused the problems. Ahhhh, racial tensions solved/caused many a crime during the Roaring 20s...

Also in the alleyway was a shadowy figure named Mordekai. On his attempt to make a break for it, he was beaten and threatened at knifepoint by the Goblin Moll and the Human bootlegger. Through their "persuasive" actions they got from him that he was trying to collect an enchanted black opal choker that was attached to the zombie. One of the slain women was clutching a ripped off black opal choker.

Mordekai tells the PCs that there are a number of zombies roaming around the city with these black chokers on their necks, and that he was ordered by his uncle Zakheim to collect all the chokers, along with the zombies, by the end of the night or else.

Suspecting the worse, the PCs followed Mordekai back to his uncle's place – a jeweler's shop in the Diamond District.  A fight breaks out between a badly-shaken Zakheim and his golem protectors, whereby the enter shop is trashed by the Ogre's spiked maul and the bootlegger's pistols. The Elf uses his Glamour ability to create 3-dimensional illusions of police officers running into the shop. The glamour completely confuses the golems, as their hands swipe through empty space, giving the Ogre time to handily smash them to bits. The Goblin and the bootlegger subdue Mordekai (who ran for a gun in the confusion) and his uncle Zakheim.   

In the end the PCs gather that Zakheim used his understanding of the Kaballahic teachings and Jewish mysticism, along with his jeweler's trade, to create the opal chokers.  He did not imbue them with necromantic sorcery: that was created by a necromancer called Nicademus.  Zakheim was to deactivate and return the opals to a very special client: Jimmy "James" Walker. It seems that Jimmy "James" Walker made a deal with Nicademus – resurrect several hundred "former constituents", dress them up, and herd them to the voting booths to vote for him. Unfortunately, several dozen somehow got away and created havoc in the city.  Zakheim's suspects that Nicademus intentionally let them get away as a bargaining chip to squeeze more money out of Jimmy. 

Zakheim was no schlub – he knew that either Nicademus or Jimmy could turn on him in order to cover their trail, so he obtained blackmail photographs and documents implicating those two in the stealing of bodies and rigging the election. The only problem is that they're in a safety deposit box located at Manhattan Savings and Trust Bank, so they'll have to wait until tomorrow to get the goods. 

The bootlegger calls up some mob contacts and locates a safehouse for him to take Zakheim and Mordekai. Everyone else went to their respective places to sleep. In the morning, the PCs hatched a plan: the Goblin and the Elf were to use Glamour to make themselves look like Zakheim and Mordekai and go to the bank, the Ogre would stand outside in case of trouble, and the bootlegger would stay behind to watch over Zakheim and Mordekai.

When the disguised Goblin and the Elf went into the bank, they had their hackles raised. Many of the "patrons" were just milling around. When they gave the key and the safety deposit number to the teller, suddenly all these cloaked patrons shed their clothes - Zombies! - and attacked everyone in the bank!

Here's where my favorite part came in. Since the guy who controlled human bootlegger decided to stay back, I had him play one of the security guards in the bank. But not just any security guard....Hero Cop! Who is Hero Cop? Just a veteran from the Great War who's seen horrors beyond your imagination. He's got 6 days until retirement and he'll be damned if he's going to let some zombie invasion comes into HIS bank on HIS shift. Not today!

Bam! BANG! Bam! Three zombies blown away by Hero Cop's rifle before they can get their grisly hands on a civilian.

Sure enough, the Goblin and the Elf do an amazing combination of attack/feint/attack on the zombies. As tends to be the case with whoever plays the Elf, the Player single-handedly decapitates several zombies with his Fae Knife. I don't understand why it happens, but the Players playing the Elf always run at the zombies once they're knocked down and saw their heads off...

Once the Ogre bounded into the room the fear of the civilians climaxed into sheer hysteria as they saw their only exit blocked by a gruesome monster wielding a spiked maul. Even after he whomp four zombies, the civilians still could fathom that he was a force of good.

The fight between the zombies and the PCs went quickly. The zombies, slow and poorly-made (as they were made en masse), just could not stand up to the stopping power of heavy pistols, rifles, and two-spaced Ogre reach.  Hero Cop jumped behind the teller's screen and ran to the vault to make sure that the teller who went in was alive. She wasn't to be seen...instead what greeted him was the empty safety deposit box.

Hero Cop "sensed" that she was somewhere in the room. He emptied a till and through quarters on the ground to see where she was hiding. Her Invisibility spell was penetrated and she made a run for it, safety deposit box in hand. Hero Cop grabbed her and she cried "No! If I don't give this to the necromancer, he'll kill me and my family!"

Here's where it gets good....

Hero Cop: "Trixie...I've had my eyes on you for a while. Come away with me and I'll make sure that no one ever threatens you again."

Trixie: "Re-really?"

Hero Cop: "Sure" ::to random security cop:: "Davey! Lock the doors! We're getting our retirement funds and I don't want anyone disturbing us. "

With that, the Hero Cop, Trixie, and the security guards loot the bank tills! How awesome is that?! Not to be outdone, the other PCs immediately jump in.

Hero Cop: "Leave a little behind...that way they know it was a quick getaway...."

So everyone gets out fine just as the sirens come whirring down the street.  The three PCs meet up with the bootlegger, who the player now controls again (Hero Cop rides into the sunset with Trixie by his side) , and Zakheim and Mordekai. The news goes over badly. Clearly, Nicademus knows about the evidence and Zakheim's blackmail scheme.  Once Nicademus finds out that he didn't get the evidence, he's liable to send zombies to wreak havoc on all the citizens of New York as he flees.

The PCs decide to do three things: 1) meet with Mayor Hylan with the photos and the documents incriminating Jimmy "James" Walker for rigging the election; 2) get the media involved; 3) locate the necromancer and take him out...permanently.

Lucky for them, the Ogre picked to be Mayor Hylan's precinct captain, so getting a 5 minute meeting didn't take too much money.  Mayor Hylan jumped on the photographs and, in his cigar-chew/frantic pacing way, gave his firm support of the PC's ideas of discrediting the election. Unfortunately, he could not get his policemen to arrest Jimmy or the Nicademus in time. The entire police force was up all night fighting "terminally ill" civilians afflicted what appears to be late-stage leprosy/Spanish flu....the most he can muster would be in an hour – much too late to stop Nicademus if he realizes the evidence isn't coming.  So, of course, the PC's offered to stop the Nicademus so long as there's a hefty reward in doing so. Mayor Hylan worked his contacts to leak the "rigged election" news to the press just as the PC's left to find the necromancer.

Using his mob connections, the human bootlegger learned that Jimmy "James" Walker and the necromancer were last seen at an old canning factory out on Pier 14. The PCs checked out the area. Guarding the canning warehouse were two guards. There was a boat docked next to the warehouse, where some crazy ol' coot was pushing a wheel barrel full of sludge.   

The Goblin and the Elf Glamoured themselves as Mordekai and Zakheim and bypassed the guards easily. Once inside, they saw that the entire place was filled with zombies. Dozens of them, milling around. A long line of them were slowing walking onto the canning coveyer belt, getting on it, and waiting until the industrialized chopper diced them up into human sludge. Barrels upon barrels of mulched human were stacked nearby.

Of course, this scared the bejeezus out of the Elf and the Goblin. They were awaken out of their reverie as they heard a large argument in the back office. The two PCs had approached the back office cautiously.

Meanwhile, the human bootlegger had used his Prowl skill to jump on the boat and sneak by the guards undetected. He had also circled back to the back office and was able to peer into a window. There, he saw Jimmy "James" Walker and a dark figure whom must have been Nicademus standing in front of the door. Nicademus patted a suitcase in his hand.

And here's where it got awesome to the max....


Nicademus "This is all very good....for now. I expect more next month"

Jimmy "That's not the DEAL! You're blackmailin' ways are over, Nikkie-poo. I have a few friends coming in any second with a special bag.

Just then the Goblin/Mordekai Glamoured himself to appear to have a bag on him.         

Jimmy "Ah! Mordekai! You have my bag!"

Jimmy grabbed it from the Goblin.

Jimmy "There's nothing in there!"

Goblin/Mordekai "Oh! Here you go!"

Jimmy "What the....where are the opals?!"

Goblin/Mordekai "My mistake..."

Nicademus "Looks like you got a fool. No matter, as soon as my assistant comes in with some very interesting photographs of you...."

At THAT moment, the Elf Glamoured himself into Trixie – the girl who was supposed to steal the safety deposit box, and walks in with a "file"

Elf/Trixie "Here you go boss!"

Nicademus "Ha ha ha! With these photos and my zombie army, I think you'll be paying me for some time Jimmy...or else"

Jimmy "Something ain't right here..."

At that moment, all hell breaks loose! The Elf knifes Nicademous, the Human bootlegger shoots him in the throat, and Jimmy is pinned by the Goblin against the wall.  Oh, and what was the Ogre doing? Lurking up to the guards and then casually brushing them aside and into the water when they tried to stop them.

Nicademus died like a pig. Unfortunately, the magically bonds between him and the zombies allowed him to control the zombies. With that broken, the zombies lurched awake and mobbed the office, trying to kill the PCs.

The ogre whacked half a dozen out of the way as the all the PCs, along with Jimmy crawled through the window and out the side of the warehouse. But not before setting fire to the rickety structure and all its evil....

Just as PCs were leaving the burning pier Mayor Hylan showed up with the police and the media. Everyone say cheese!


Epilogue
Jimmy "James" Walker was convicted on several charges of grave-robbing, election-rigging, and racketeering. He has his own cell on Riker's Island.

An election was held again. Mayor Hylan won an easy victory thanks in part for his "operations" in saving the city from an army of zombies.

Ogre was awarded a special "precinct colonel" title in Mayor Hylan's administration. No extra duties, but he did get his own room at Morton's steak house as "friend of the mayor."

Human bootlegger got free oversight over his "customers" in his neighborhood speakeasies, so long as some of the cops could drop by for a free pint after work.

Elf got Jimmy's white 1922 Roadster, conveniently parked in front of the docks.

Goblin got a special pardon from the circuit court judges, as "special friend of the mayor"

All members of the party split the $10,000 in the suitcase 4 ways, along with their loot from the bank heist.

Finally, Hero-Cop married Trixie and moved to Montana, where he had 11 children and died of a heart attack at the ripe ol' age of 57.

GM Notes
Much more interaction happened in the scenes than were described in this shorten play-by-play. For example, the Elf oftentimes conjured security guards in random areas to distract zombies during combat, scare off mobsters, or bolster their influence in confrontation. Something which I thought was well-played. The Goblin did a great job being sneaky and greedy; oftentimes upping the interesting quirks of the adventure by snatching a gem from the gem case at Zakheims, or picking up quarters from the bank floor. The Human bootlegger was definitely the Moe to this band of Stoogies: holding everyone together and coordinating the plans. He's the one who came up with most of the ideas of double-triple blackmailing. The Ogre did an excellent job of using his weight and finesse for great storytelling.

Much of what happened that made this adventure great was due to two skills: Heroics and Makeshift.

Heroics allows the PC to do something "extraordinary" – a la Indiand Jones style. The human bootlegger used this ability to leap in the area and tackle Zackheim. 

Makeshift allows the PC to take ordinary objects, like a chair or a table, and use them as simple weapons. Highly used by the Ogre, who threw tables and chairs, bashed down doors and swung them as clubs, and basically "Hulked" out in the adventure. I probably went overboard with his powers, but the PC was so inspiring that I just went with his imagination.

The d8 system worked perfectly! Better range of successes.

Almost every session I've run this game, folks torch the damn warehouse at the end.