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Forums » Prelude: Zakmur-Dah » Step Two: First Prey

Your pack is hardly even that. You've got no name, no Totem and hardly know one another for the most part. But you've come together with a singular focus; to curb Federal Hill's recent decent into despair.
Some of you are natives, some have moved here only recently, but all of you can see that this is a neighborhood out of balance. For various reasons you've all bought into the idea that together you can restore Federal Hill to it's former glory.
To that end you've established a community outreach center. You've started the process of shaping your territory's resonance for your own ends. Crime and drug abuse has run rampant in the recent months, and the actions in the physical world have turned the Shadow into an ugly place full of pain spirits, greed spirits, and spirits who feed off those who indulge in illicit drugs.
Some or all of you are in the Hisil, hunting down a Pleasure spirit who'd escaped your vengeance after you caught it riding a local teen.
What's interesting about this escape, is that it shouldn't have been possible. There's no Locus in this area, you checked. But still, rather than running into your packmates' waiting fangs this spirit escaped back into the Shadow.
You inspected the physical area and sure enough, you could reach the other side. A hole in the gauntlet. Some of you are more experienced than others, but all of you know what this means; Shartha. Specifically Belishu, the rat-hosts.
If they've worn the gauntlet so thin in this area, they've been here for a while. It's time to hunt. Your first hunt. Your Zakmur-Dah.

step two instructions
OOC: You can start your posts before, explain exactly how you found out about the girl who was ridden, how you tracked the spirit down and the trap you prepared for it. You can talk about your shock of it's escape and your search for it's exit.
This step also awards each player 10 points to spend on NPC that will join the pack by the time we start our first session.
Character Type/Average Dice Pool/Pack Cost/Antagonist Cost
Small Animals/1/1/0
Low-skilled humans/2/1/0
Skilled humans/3-5/2/1
Highly skilled humans/5+/3/2
Wolf-Blooded/4+/4/3

Players can combine
points to add characters. Storytellers should note when
players band together as it indicates those Uratha should have
a closer association with that secondary character. Characters
purchased by only one player often have a stronger link to
one Uratha, and only cursory relationships with the others.
The Storyteller may also take a liking to some of these
characters. If the players choose to not make a character part of
the pack, the Storyteller can choose to pay points to the group
to establish the character as a recurring obstacle or antagonist.
The nearby table shows the costs for players to add a
character to the pack, or for the Storyteller to add as an antagonist.
The table gives a rough guide to power level based
on dice pool to help Storytellers gauge how much individual
characters should cost.
A group may find it useful to track pack members
attached through the Zakmur-Dah on a large sheet of paper
or brainstorming software, drawing out the relationships
between characters and making notes of names and pertinent
information.
ROLLING DICE
Use dice sparingly during the Zakmur-Dah. As these events
occurred in the pack’s past, the players and Storyteller should
simply decide the outcomes of most challenges. If dice are
required, the Uratha have access to their full pools, while secondary
characters have dice pools of 5, 4, and 3 dice, assigned
to Physical, Social, and Mental challenges according to what
seems appropriate to the character. The Storyteller can give
antagonists full dice pools and run particularly challenging
encounters as she would a normal scene, but remember that
Zakmur-Dah’s goal is to explore the events and people that
defined the pack, not to force the players to have to make
new characters.
Rory was mopping the floor when the Mom came in. She was there to pick up her daughter Jessa from tutoring. Rory was surprised because the place as far as he knew was empty except for some old farts using the gym equipment. He checked the log book, and she hadn’t signed in so Rory apologized and didn’t think much of it. Kids told there parents they were going one place and went somewhere else all the time. It was odd to hear this of Jessa though, wasn’t she one of those that rebelled against her parents by becoming one of those born again types? She was not what he would have ever thought of as a party animal, but it was Friday and well, are kids.
Then she came back the next morning. Her girl never came back last night and she was worried sick.
Rory was out of his element. He gave a stiff “there there” pat on the woman’s shoulder.
“Ma’am, I think you should call the police about this” . Wow the right answer sounded surprisingly lame even in his own ears. Worse he knew that they wouldn’t even take the report until 24 hours had passed.
Dejected, the woman left.
A couple of hours later
Rory was unclogging a toilet from the men’s room a couple of boys came in.
“Man, it is always the quiet ones”
“Still though, I can’t believe she went’ down on him right there in the middle of the party”
“That’s not the half of it, I heard she grabbed like 4 more guys that evening”
“How’d you here that?”
*flush*
“Well, they guy who brought her to the party I was at said that was what happened at the last one. That was just her warmup act though, cuz she wall Hell on wheels there and ended up bouncing to another party when she heard that Reggie had scored some dope”
“We are talking about Jessa right? Jessa Jenkins not Jessa Jameson”

“Man I swear, and you know what? If I wasn’t already hammered I would have followed her, cuz she was putting out to everybody…”
Rory finished fixing the clog, washed his hands, saw the boys walking out to the basketball court to shoot some hoops while he went back to the front office.
Rory picked up the phone and dialed
“Hey Sis. Hate to bother you but wanted to give you a heads up about something…
Luke escorted a group of teenagers out the front door with his guitar still in his hand. Rashid had been right, the beginner’s guitar jam session had been a wildly popular activity and they had to add a second block of it on Saturday afternoons. Not that he would admit it, but Luke was kind of enjoying the class, so what if he snuck a little music history in there too. He saw nothing wrong with introducing the kids to a little Johnny Cash, Stevie Ray Vaughan or Lead Zeppelin even.

Humming a little ‘Pride and Joy’ he walked up to the reception desk to set his guitar down, glancing at Rory who was on the phone. He waited until the other man hung up before nodding his chin up a bit and asking, ”What’s going on Red?”

"I don't know... something I can't quite place my finger on.
One of the regular's - Jessa, well her Mom came in and it turns out Jessa is missing. Then I hear some of the kids that are out on the court shooting hoops talking about what I think is the same girl. Acting very out of character. Apparently she's gone from Angel to Centerfold at a drop of a hat.


Rory looks into Luke's eyes.

The kids talk to you right? You're "cool" Rory did the air quotes with his fingers showing just how uncool Rory was. Anyone say anything to you, or you think you could get them to... if she's still rocking parties it might be something more than just a night of rebellion"
Luke leaned on the counter and shook his head, ”I haven't been here that long and I try not to be too friendly with the kids. I don't need anyone accusing me of any scandals with underaged girls you know, I already have enough to deal with going on in LA.” he scratched his head for a moment, their Ithaeur had a good nose for spirits, pun not intended. ”Why don't you roll those phones to voice mail and let's go talk to Rashid, he knows these kids better than anyone.” Luke pushed off the desk and started leading the way to his friend's office, hoping they could catch him there because it would be nice to talk on private as well.
Rashid yawned wide, stretched out comfortably on the "new" second hand couch he got for his office. A nice quiet place to relax and sleep an hour or two away after the class blocks ended for the day. Luke was downstairs teaching the boys how to woo their female affections with music, Rory was manning the front desk. This place was running fine. No extra programs were expected, so it was going to be an early night for everyone.

Rose had mentioned some other volunteer activities earlier, so Rashid wanted to be rested before he had to worry about organizing all of that. He had just started closing his eyes when he heard feet stomping up the stairs. Sighing, Rashid got as comfortable as he could, resting his head on the couch's arm, and resigned himself to waiting for whatever problem brewed up for Luke's last class of the day.
Rory and Luke walked into Rashid's office. "Oh good, you're already "sitting down" " .

Rory explained the current situation to Rashid.

"We need to find this girl. Either she is a problem for the pack or she is going to be as far as spirits are concerned. My concern is how to find her though. I was thinking of putting out Jenna's name to the other kids that visit here today. Play the whole her Mom, and us are concerned -and we're not authorities so we're not going to her her or them in trouble for letting us know if there is a party and if they see her. I was going to ask Rose to keep an ear out with Vice, and see if TK has any hints for tracking her down. I... he grimaced I can ask the spirits if anything new is stomping around the area just to make sure as well. Thoughts?"
Rashid sat up with a start at the introduction. He bristled at a girl going missing, and knew the group felt the same tension.

Jenna is the quiet one who was always giggling on the sidelines while watching the boys play basketball. There's no way she is doing this on her own. The boxer stood up and slowly started pacing about the room as he wracked his memory, recalling anything he could about her favorite haunts, friends, foods. The more he though about it, the quicker he threw it out.

If what the boys have been saying is true, then yeah, Rory, I think you have the right of it. Luke, noone would bat an eye at you showing up to a hot party. That sounds like your gig. Rashid goes to the file cabinet in the back and starts shuffling through his student registry, paper was always more reliable in the heat of the moment anyway, and he knew how to look through what he organized. He pulled out a picture and roster for Jessica Jenkins, complete with her high school yearbook portrait. The old days of portfolios came in handy again. He passed the slight folder around.

Get your sister involved, but right now, we want to find her, not scare her into hiding, so she needs to be careful of who she lets in on this, we don't want some gung-ho cop shutting down party after party, she would just hide out or move on, we would never find her that way. If you get a hold of TK, tell him to check out our security cameras quick before he does his own thing. If she's hanging out with some new girls, we should know who we're looking for.
Rashid sat on his desk, looking intensely at everything and nothing. You know your spirits. Talk to them, we can't leave options unchecked just because it's uncomfortable for us. If you want help, let me know.
Hmmm.. Luke, originally I was just thinking of you chatting up some of the guys here to find out where parties would be. But Rashid might have a point about you going to a party. Though I think the opposite would be true. You go to a party it would make that the party of the year. Might draw a lot of people - and her with it, Spirits aren't too subtle when it comes to essence; generally the bigger the better, etc etc. People name drop that a star will be rocking the party, everyone will show. You don't have to if you don't want to but... In this case you might just be the "Babe Magnet" we need.
Luke looked back and forth between the two men who were supposed to be his ‘friends’ and sighed dramatically. ”I have no problem showing up to a hot party, I just prefer them not to be filled with underage girls. Nothing says foreplay than demanding to see someone’s driver's license.” He moved over and leaned against the desk, trying to think of a better option and not coming up with one. ”I’ll ask around, I am pretty sure a lot of the more underground scenes aren’t discriminate on the ages of their attendees. Someone might even want to ask Cho, he might have word on what kinds of gigs people have put out there for DJs.”

As he made his way to the door to start asking around, Luke looked over his shoulder, ”Someone is coming as my date just so you know. I don’t care if you get your sister to get all sexied up or squeeze Mr. Muscles here into a dress but I’ll be damned if you’re going to throw me to the wolves.. So to speak… by myself.”


Luke’s rolling for information
roll
Rose was finishing up a self defense for women course in the gym when her phone rang. She made it a habit to admonish the women for taking calls during class, telling them unless they were waiting for an important call, it could wait. She could do no less, she thought, sighing a bit. Some of the people taking her class were teenagers and she was delighted to see it. Rashid had argued over her suggestion to use the park. She had wanted to avoid this place but his logic won out. Rose had set conditions though. Her class couldn't start right after one of his and he needed to clear the men out so the women wouldn't have to see them. Also, the male staff needed to avoid entering the area during her class. She had been convinced it wouldn't work but surprisingly, Rashid had gone all out to accommodate her and the students. In fact, she was sure he was in his office during her classes but she wouldn't know it. True to his word, she saw no male employees during any class. More than one of her attendees enrolled in the class because of an assault and they didn't need to worry about running into men while trying to learn how to defend themselves. Rose was grateful to him for his understanding a pretty sensitive situation. When class finally ended, she grabbed her phone and listened to the message. A teenage girl was missing? Rory's recorded message continued, saying it was not normal for her, apparently she's a good girl. I've heard that before, Rose thought. She snorted, a very unladylike gesture but there was no one to witness it. But he sounded really worried and she couldn't refuse her brother anything. If it was in her power, she'd try her damndest to make it happen. Rose called back and he answered on the first ring. "All right, so what are we doing about this?" No preamble, no small talk.
Rashid looked the other two only for a moment before he pulled out his phone and started texting TK.
"Need you here ASAP. bring your computer for now, and something fun to wear for later tonight. Emergency meeting in my office now."
That takes care of the group invitations I suppose. Now we wait so we can pool resources and wait for the night life to begin.
Rashid settled back onto the couch and stared at the clock expectantly, as if he could make it move by sheer willpower.
Rory was pulling his phone out of his pocket as it rung.

"Meeting at the outreach as soon as you can, don't make any plans for tonight.
Cho was impressed. Riley put the word out Luke Mason, The Luke Mason, was lookin' to party and not three hours later he was setting up his gear in a legit ass crib.
Randy knew the dudes TK had spotted Jessa hanging out with when she left the Center and made sure they knew about it. No way the spirit ridding her didn't make this event. The music, the drugs, the dancing... you didn't have to be full Uratha to see how irresistible that would be. It would be a fairly decent trap, so long as his rowdier packmates managed to keep most of the violence in the "private room" he'd said Luke insisted on.
The place was nice, a pool out back, several large rooms for people to get together, an second floor and four full bathrooms. It may not be L.A. but he figured Luke would be impressed none the less. Some Raven's player had owned the place before heading to another team a few years back.
Guests were starting to arrive and Cho put on some beats before tearing open a grape otter pop. He always ate the grape ones first because they didn't go so well with beer.
He sat back in his chair, making his final adjustments as he waited for the pack to arrive.
Normally Luke would have liked to show up at the party fashionably late and make a scene going in but the fact that this was supposed to be a hunt threw a monkey wrench in his style. Even so, he hardly missed having a red carpet entrance now that the party was in full swing and Cho was playing some pretty nice dance beats.

Luke would have once preferred some nice pearl snaps and jeans but ever since his tour in Hollywood he felt like the had to wear a casual designer suit, sans tie of course with the top buttons let undone. His agent would have been proud as he moved through the crowd, mingling and looking put for their prey. At some point he had lost Rashid and found a few extra drinks even though he had promised to try and stay clear headed. The key word was try and how could he be there pretending to party if he uncharacteristically passed up a few shots with people?
Rory's shirt itched. It wasn't that his sister had picked out what he should wear, it was that he didn't have anything that she deemed even remotely close to "this decade" for party wear. Then again it wasn't just the clothes that itched. It was the anticipation. He fingered the small bottle on a string around his neck, it had been enchanted to capture the spirit, possibly draw it out of Jessa. Hopefully the spirit wasn't entrenched enough where killing Jessa would be necessary to get it out.
Echo moved through the party with grace and ease laughing, dancing, and talking. Rory had told her that her job was to run interference and separate Jessa from any hangers on that she had. That way they could get her out of the crowd to deal with the spirit. Until then though she was having so much fun meeting all these new people and dancing to the sweet beats dropped by DJ Otter Pop.
Becca parked her car down the street and took a long, deep breath before crawling out, trying to keep her courage up best she could as she casually walked towards the house with the blaring music. Doing her best to dress the party goer part while still wearing long sleeps, she was actually pleased with how nice she looked in the black lace top and skinny jeans but she still felt very out of place around so many people.

Just get in, get some photos and get out she thought to herself. There had been a bunch of rumors flying around that Luke Mason was going to be there. The Luke Mason who had recently starred in the boxing movie Another Round, who also had the infamous stories going around about his blow up on set and who apparently was staying here in Baltimore. Where he was staying was unknown, but the gossip so far was that he was bunking up with none other than their local celebrity Rashid Mosley, who he had often seen buddied up to on his set. Becca wanted nothing more than to get a shot with the two supposed friends together and knew of a good magazine that would double for one that made them look cozy.

There were so many people there already that she practically walked in the door, her anxiety about being touched skyrocketing as she navigated the crowd looking for her targets, snapping photos here and there as she went. As far as she knew, only Luke was rumored to be at the party but she had a hunch that Rashid would be there too, and her hunches were almost never wrong.
Rose had had a helluva time dressing for this party. She wanted something she could fight in so a skin tight dress wasn't really an option. She didn't want to stand out though and so she ended up in black leather pants that had enough give for her to move smoothly in them.

When they had explained the situation her heart had ached for that little girl and her mother. It was callous of her to think this way but she rather wished the spirit had chosen someone already on this terrible path, rather than a good girl who wasn't mixed up in any of this. Her morose thoughts couldn't continue now that she was in the party though, she scolded herself. Dance, drink a beer and look for that girl! Rose moved through the crowd, dancing with everyone she passed, guy and girl. Someone passed her a drink from a punch bowl and she smiled in thanks. As soon as they turned away she set it down on a nearby counter. Like hell she'd drink anything that she didn't open herself. Someone passed her a can of beer and she smiled, sincerely this time. The music, albeit decent, was pounding so loudly and she couldn't help thinking she might be getting too old for this shit. Rose saw several of her pack members mingling in the crowd. She slapped on a happy face and got to work. Sooner we catch her, the sooner I can get out of here, she thought, determinedly.
The scantily clad blonde held her friend’s hand as they pushed their way to the center of the dance floor, intent on drawing as much attention as possible just because they could. Trixie was already fairly drunk and a little dizzy from her last hit but having a night way from Lex and the club with Lola was worth the purse full of drugs he had sent her there with to push. She hated selling and usually refused but this time it was a nice excuse to get out, so of course she had pawned them off on one of the other gang members she could trust to sell them and let the guy go about pushing while the girls had their fun. There had been rumors about some big movie star showing up, but she had not the time or money to watch movies so she had no clue who the guy was and didn't care. All she cared about was having a good time and her eyes were searching the crowd for someone to have a good time with.

Moderators: Rashid Mosley (played by cyranax) The Storyteller (played by Gingerkid88) Tanya Barnes (played anonymously)