Dresden Files Accelerated: Hollywoodland -- Sessions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 (finale) Write-ups

Hollywood, 1942. World War II is in full swing. In some parts of the world, it's been going on for over three years. Blood....bright red blood is being spilled in Europe, in Africa, in the Atlantic and, yes, even in the Pacific. Not quite a year ago, across the Pacific, nearly four thousand miles from Los Angeles, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. And the blood of the over two thousand American servicemen killed in Pearl Harbor has finally, after months at sea, washed ashore in Los Angeles, staining the beaches red. Up from Venice Beach, magic flows along Mulholland Drive, a natural Ley Line, through Universal City, to a nexus where Ley Lines from Beverly Hills, Santa Clarita and Glendale meet at the Hollywoodland Sign. Those 45 foot tall, stark white letters on the Sign loom above Tinseltown, broadcasting the accumulated magic back down onto the town, creating another sort of magic, a magic of cinema. In a month or so, the film Casablanca will debut. Blood and magic. Magic and blood. As dangerous a combination as a crate of sweating dynamite in the back of an out-of-control pick-up truck, barreling down a wild, mountain road, heading for a hair-pin turn. And the spark that will cause that dangerous mixture of blood and magic to explode, the Santa Ana Winds, are blowing down from the desert across the city. Raymond Chandler was right: "There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge." You received a letter yesterday, brought by a Studio courier, promising you $10,000, for a small favor. You're not fooled. Ten grand isn't a 'small favor'. Santa Anas, blood and magic. Somebody's gonna get hurt...... Welcome to Hollywoodland....... Hollywoodland is a one-shot mini-campaign using the Dresden Files Accelerated RPG rules published by Evil Hat. Dresden Files Accelerated: Hollywoodland Session 1 Write-up Played Friday, March 31st, 2017 Dramatis Personae Father Darren O'Connell , Catholic priest and holy sword bearer (played by Chase) Daniel Ehrlichmann , hot-shot reporter/wereleopard (played by Frank) Sammy Wesson , clued-in mortal/Changeling (played by Robert) Raymond Sanders , monster hunter/Changeling (played by Dennis, not present) Ted Summers aka The Dazzling Dante, White Court wizard (played by Stebils, not present) M. Beaulieu, Darren's fencing instructor Vaughn Cadwalader Owen, Warner Brothers Head of Security Persephone Hamish Somhairle MacIver, Grip Shack "Manager" Ben Crooker, information broker, contact of Sammy Dimitrios "Dimi" Karamitsos, lawyer, friend of Daniel Lawrence, a fence on First Street On a rainy day in Hollywood, California, each of the PCs receives a couriered letter. Daniel is in his newpaper's bullpen, working on a story when a young 15 year old soaking-wet courier brings him a letter. After he signs for the letter, on a carbon pad that has only his info, he examines the letter. Expensive envelope, heavy paper, quality and expensive. Calligraphy writing on the envelope is "Mr. D. Ehrlichmann". Inside, the letter, written on a standard typewriter, asks Daniel to come see Vaughn Owen, Head of Security for Warner Brothers Studios. Vaughn is well known to Daniel, in fact, Vaughn politely threatened to break his legs just a while ago. The letter promises $10,000 cash for his services. Darren is at Salle Beaulieu, one of many fencing schools in Hollywood. It is located above a garment factory and has a huge floorspace. The courier, an older man, nearly 50, also soaking wet, has Darren sign for it on another new carbon pad. Same expensive envelope, calligraphy on the front "Father D. O'Connell" and letter that Daniel got but different content except offering the $10,000 cash for services. Sammy is hanging out at his apartment, watching the rain fall, when he spots a courier stopping at his building. A knock at the door and he greets a wet courier, who has him sign another new carbon pad for the letter. Same expensive envelope, calligraphy on the front to "Mr. S. Wesson", same gist to meet with Vaughn Owen for $10,000. They each show up separately at the Warner Brothers Studios and are on the list at the gate. They find themselves in a large waiting room, waiting. A secretary sits about 20 feet away, answering calls and doing secretary things. They talk about why they're there. They realize that they each one of them know at least two of the others. Daniel mentions the $10,000 as money to be paid to murder someone, it's that over-the-top. After cooling their heels for a while, Daniel barges into the office, which turns out to be much smaller than the waiting room. Inside is Vaughn Owen, who welcomes him in, and then invites the others in as well. Vaughn is very urbane, polite but very much an iron fist in a velvet glove. He offers the party food and drink, including Glenfinnich 1890 Scotch. Vaughn explains that he wants them to find a film canister that contains shots of the movie set for the soon-to-be-released Casablanca. It is very important that it be returned to him, undisturbed, intact and not viewed. He paid them $10,000 each and got their promise (treat as Aspect: Stays Bought on each of them). He shows them a similar canister and tells them the one they are looking for has a Sticker that says: "Casablanca Set Shot, Vol III and Vol IV April 24th, 1942". Other specifics will be handled by his assistant, Persephone. Vaughn gives them passes to the studio to go freely everywhere and talk to everyone, then leaves them to enjoy the scotch and await his assistant. Ray pockets the bottle of Glenfinnich and they leave, just to run into Persephone. Daniel is a "sucker for a pretty face" (Compel) so he ignores noticing anything that may warn him off, but Darren notices that something about her alarms him. He also recalls that Persephone is Old Greek for "Bringer of Death". Persephone takes them into the movie lot, out to the Grip Shack, where the film canister was stolen. Sammy notices that the driver that takes them out there via car is in mortal fear of Persephone. They find the shack still with the broken lock. Inside the shack is grip and camera equipment. In the back, in an area little travelled, are where all the movie set films are stored. The only one currently missing is "Casablanca Set Shot, Vol III and Vol IV". Looking through the film log, Sammy notices that all the movie set films have names and descriptions of the set written down, except for the one they are looking for. Vol I and Vol II have description, as does Vol V and Vol VI, Vol VII and the rest, but written in place of any reference to Vol II and Vol IV is "See Warner". Persephone leaves them to investigate and they meet Hamish, the Grip Shack "manager". Hamish had been with Warner Brothers since the beginning. He explains the system in the shack and says that none of his crew would have stolen the film canister, nor broken in the shack, because they had keys. Ray shares the Glenfinnich, which opens Hamish up a bit. He looks at their studio passes and makes a mark on each of them before handing them back. They asked why he did that and he told them he marked everything so he knew he saw it before and could track it. Sammy asked if he marked the films, too, and he had. He remembered that the missing film canister was marked MCMXXVII-#### and the other Casablanca films were marked MCMXLII-####. He admitted that Vol III and Vol IV weren't originally in the Casablanca set. And that none of the Warner Brothers had been to the shack for years, since at least 1927. Hamish also let them know that the marking dealt with the the year, so MCMXXVII was originally marked in 1927. When he consulted his personal log, he found it: MCMXXVII-0931, originally recorded in 1927 sometime between October 4 and 10th but there was no description for the entry. He remembered that October 6th was when Warner Brothers released The Jazz Singer and that on October 5th, Sam Warner had died suddenly. Hamish was very saddened by that and the memory was still very raw for him. Hamish remembered that there was a film crew working late the night before the break-in was discovered. It was filming an Our Gang/Little Rascals film and there were a lot of kids as extras on the lot. It would have been possible for one of the extras, a kid, to hide on one of the sets, break into the shack after everyone had left and stolen the film canister. When Daniel asked Hamish about how long Persephone had worked for the studio, he was confused, not knowing who he was talking about. As they walked back to the studio gate, they mused that maybe the film showed the death of Sam Warner, possibly a murder, done by the other brothers. That's why they're willing to spend $50,000 for the five PCs to find that film. Sammy mentioned that there was a gang of children who were breaking and entering, robbing places around town and perhaps they were some of the extras on the studio that night. Maybe he knew someone who could give them info on that gang. They were walking past a filming when Darren and Daniel spotted a kid watching them and the kid looked like he was translucent in the direct sunlight he stood in then the kid ducked behind a building. It was a brief view for Darren but Daniel got a better look and it felt like someone had walked on his grave. Could it have been a ghost? There was no trace of the kid. Could the ghost have stolen the film? Darren didn't think so since they have no substance. After leaving the studio, Sammy brought Daniel and Darren to Trond's Deli, where an information broker he knows spends time. They sat down with Ben Crooker. Ben kept on trying to order the best BLT in town for each of them but the waitress kept away. Ben told them that there was a gang, but no one knew who ran it, who was the adult, the "Fagin" who was running the kids. They were mostly non-violent and just broke and entered. Two of the leaders were kids named Eddie and Richard or Dicky. He also said that Sammy knew a few of the fences that they used, Lawrence on First Street was one of them. Daniel described the ghostly kid they saw but Ben never saw any of the gang so he didn't know how they looked. They finally got their BLTs to go and Sammy gave Ben some cash for the info (and enough to keep him silent about it). They split up to put their cash away and they'd meet up later. Daniel brought his $10,000 and the BLT to his friend Dimitrios, to store in his safe. Sammy hid his cash in a glamoured safe in his apartment and Darren handed his money over to his mentor/parish priest, who warned him to be careful. At 8PM, they met up at Mick's Bar on First, for a drink before going to see Lawrence. Three shots rang out on the street and a blood-covered man stumbled into the bar, collapsing at their feet. It was Lawrence and before he died, he gasped "Eddie!" Darren started giving him last rites and Daniel started rooting through his pockets, finding keys, some betting slips, a few bucks in a wallet. Meanwhile, Sammy ran outside to see who did the shooting but no one was there. Next session: Who shot Lawrence? Who's Eddie? Where is the film? What are they going to have to do for that $10,000?

Dresden Files Accelerated: Hollywoodland Session 2 Write-up Played Friday, April 14th, 2017 Dramatis Personae Father Darren O'Connell , Catholic priest and holy sword bearer (played by Chase) Daniel Ehrlichmann , hot-shot reporter/wereleopard (played by Frank) Sammy Wesson , Clued-in Mortal/Changeling (played by Robert) Raymond Sanders , monster hunter/Changeling (played by Dennis, not present) Ted Summers aka The Dazzling Dante, White Court wizard (played by Stebils, not present) Lawrence, a fence on First Street, deceased Five animated corpses Donny Torrez, a street kid contact of Darren's, now on the straight-and-narrow Persephone Some Unseelie goons Laurence the fence is shown locking up his shop and walking towards Mick's with a jaunty air. He lights a smoke and a passerby asks for a light himself. As he lights the stranger's cigarette, three shots ring out and Laurence's cigarette falls from his mouth, he drops the lighter and looks down at blood rapidly spreading across his shirt. The stranger steps back in shock and turns to watch a car speed away, as Laurence stumbles into Mick's and falls dead at Darren, Sammy and Daniel's feet. Darren starts giving him Last Rites as Daniel rifles through his pockets and Sammy runs out the door but doesn't see anything. Police sirens are rapidly approaching, so Sammy goes back inside. Mikhail calmly says that no one saw nothing and asks the bar occupants, none of whom volunteer any info. Mikhail suggests that they move on before the police get there. Daniel takes the keys and the betting slips but leaves the wallet and they pay for their drinks (with a hefty tip) and Mikhail points them to the back door. They reach the back door right as the police come in the front, and make their escape into the back alley. A few blocks down is Laurence's shop, so they hoof it down there to break in before the cops get there. They look onto the street and see that there is a police-and-bar-patron brawl going on at Micks, with more police in paddy-wagons showing up to break it up, so they know they won't get disturbed breaking into Laurence's. The shop is called "Laurence's on First, a boutique". They go around the back and Daniel uses the keys to get in. Daniel leads the way in and Sammy follows. Darren immediately smells blood and lots of it but Daniel and Sammy walk into a pool of it and get blood drips on them. They immediately step back and see that there are five bodies hanging from the ceiling, dripping blood into a pool on the floor. Darren sees that the bodies were cut with precision to let out as much blood as possible and that they died around the same time as Laurence. Sammy figures out that this was part of a ritual called a Bloodmark Tracking Spell (Aspect with 1 free invoke) that requires 5 to 12 people to do. Darren recalls that Laurence had his own Bloodmark ("Laurence's Bloodmark" Aspect with 1 free invoke) which he saw while performing Last Rites. Daniel finds the shops account books and grabs them while Sammy uses his Unseelie Magic to follow up the evil ritual with another to track the 5 to 12 people with the Bloodmark ("Tracking the Trackers" Aspect with 1 free invoke). Then the dead bodies start moving. The corpses animate, which Sammy later reveals was the end result to the ritual normally but may have been brought earlier by his spell. Daniel and Sammy start to leave but Darren feels compelled ("Mission from God" Mantle condition) to end these undead and free their spirits and bring stop this evil. He draws Durandal and uses the holy sword to bless the corpses, causing them to finally rest in peace. The heroes realize that they need to find more clues about the kids involved with fencing goods with Laurence. Darren knows a former street kid named Donny who might be able to help. He's working at a nearby theatre, the Bijou, and sweeps up after the late show. They head over to the Bijou and watch the late movie, with Donny getting them into the projector booth for some privacy. Daniel goes over the books and figures out the simple code for the real account book that covers the criminal side of the business. In addition to a list of customers ("Laurence's List of Customers and Buyers" Aspect with 1 free compel), he discovers that both Vaughn Owen and Persephone are in the book and tells the others about Vaughn but not about Persephone (Trouble "Sucker for a pretty face" compel). Sammy notices some Unseelie goons watching the movie and they are actually watching him. His use of magic attracted unwanted attention (Trouble "Debts to the Unseelie Court" compel). Darren is stressed due to the death, undead and pool of blood so is out of sorts and doesn't enjoy the film (Trouble "Sleepless nights and nightmares" compel). When the movie is over, they get a chance to talk with Donny as he sweeps up. They ask Donny about the kids and he tells them about the Princes, what he knows. He knows that most people call them "The Princes" or "The Princes of Tower Street" but they don't hang out near Tower Street, so he knows that is fake. He knows that Eddie and Dicky are brothers (Eddie is 12 and Dicky is 9), and that the "old man" that they claim run the gang is a fake, he doesn't exist, it's Eddie and Dicky that are in charge. He was there when the Princes met up with a rival gang and recalls that Eddie said specifically that they were "The Princes in the Tower" but everyone thought the tower meant Tower Street. He knows that they have safe-houses all over the city in their gang members' homes but that Eddie and Dicky live in a mansion in the Hollywood Hills and they speak with a posh English accent. He is evasive when Sammy asks if Eddie and Dicky have killed anyone but he does say that both Eddie and Dicky are creepy, that they don't act like 12 and 9 year olds. Darren describes the ghostly kid he and Daniel saw to Donny (without the ghostly details) and Donny confirms that was Eddie. Daniel goes to the lobby and, although it is late, calls Persephone to discuss an in-person meeting. She picks up and is delighted to hear from him but can't meet tonight as she has dinner guests over. Daniel hears someone on the line say "help me" which he takes to be from a radio program or maybe Persephone is watching a Warner Brothers movie. They arrange to meet the next morning. Sammy goes out to the lobby and hears someone calling for help on the phone line as Daniel finishes up his call with Persephone. Sammy is nervous about the Unseelie goons. The theatre manager is cleaning the concession stand bar and tells him that his friends are waiting for him outside. Sammy offers him 5 dollars for the back way and the manager shakes him down for 5 more before pointing him to the exit in the movie theatre. Sammy beats feet and escapes. Darren and Daniel step outside and encounter the Unseelie goons. The goons ask them to remind Sammy that he has debts and She's going to collect. Daniel insults one of the goons and the other pulls his pal away, saying they'll meet again. The session ends with Darren and Daniel standing outside the dark theatre in the early morning with more questions than answers. Who is using Blood magic to track and what are they tracking, the film? How many are there, with Laurence dead, there could be 4 to 11 more out there. What is it about the Princes? How do they figure into this? The body count has risen to 6 in such a short time and it seems more death is on the horizon......

Dresden Files Accelerated: Hollywoodland Session 3 Write-up Played Friday, May 12th, 2017 Dramatis Personae Father Darren O'Connell , Catholic priest and holy sword bearer (played by Chase) Daniel Ehrlichmann , hot-shot reporter/wereleopard (played by Frank) Sammy Wesson , Clued-in Mortal/Changeling (played by Robert) Raymond Sanders , monster hunter/Changeling (played by Nickolas, not present) Ted Summers aka The Dazzling Dante, White Court wizard (played by Stebils, not present) Maeve and entourage Darlene Merrit, Daniel's nemesis Some mobsters, dead and alive George McJiminy, of the East Coast McJiminy's, getaway driver Sammy snuck out of the back of the theatre and hot-footed away from those Unseelie goons. He went to Darren's church, figuring that would be the last place his pursuers would look. As he crossed the threshold, he heard the clatter of hooves on the street behind him and knew he'd been found. Turning slowly, he saw Her astride a beautiful but slightly otherworldly horse, surrounded by an entourage of Fae, mounted on lesser but still beautiful and slightly otherworldly horses. Banter was exchanged. She wanted what he was hunting, not for herself but for the betterment of everyone. It would go a long way to overcoming his debt to her (Compel Trouble: "His Father's Debts to be paid"). He promised either to bring it to her or to tell her where to get it, which was pretty foolish on his part as that put him indebted to her to at least find it. His escape clause of "where to get it" might save his bacon. She and her entourage rode off, but not before she dropped a small cloth bundle onto the street. Sammy retrieved it, knowing that he was safe (for the time being) since he was ostensibly working for Her. Her patience, however, was not infinite. The cloth bundle was small, about the size of a hand holding an orange, tied with a dark ribbon. When he opened it, he saw it contained a severed and bloody ring finger wearing a well-recognized ring -- his father's. His father's finger, too. Freshly cut off. That's when Daniel and Darren walked up and saw him staring at the severed and bloody finger. The threat of "one piece at a time" was present, but She didn't do just the obvious. There was more purpose to Her actions than merely a pound of flesh. No, Sammy figured that the ribbon and the finger would lead him to where they needed to go (Aspect: "My Father's Finger will Point the Way"). Darren and Daniel were disgusted by the grisly trophy Sammy held and Daniel started asking questions. Sammy revealed it was his father's finger and ring and it would help them find what they were looking for. They piled into Daniel's '33 Dodge and Sammy sat in the rumble seat in the back, focusing his energy into the finger to find the ghostly kid they spotted earlier. As Daniel was driving away, a bicyclist ran in front of his car, causing him to screech to a halt. A pretty redhead dropped her bike and walked up to the driver's side door. It was Darlene Merrit, Daniel's nemesis at the Paper. She smiled and asked what they were up to. She propped herself through the window, over Daniel and shook Darren's hand, then jumped into the rumble seat with Sammy. Darlene asked Darren to grab her bike and secure it to the back of the car so they could get going. Daniel argued with her, trying to get her out of the car. She told them that some people say that a bunch of folks, including a big-time reporter, got $10,000 each from Vaughn Owen to find something for the Warner Brothers. She also said that these folks were present at Mick's Bar when a known fence was shot and that a later investigation into the fence's shop turned up a large pool of blood but no bodies. Who could those people be? Darlene asked innocently. Daniel managed to entice her out of the car with a possible lead then escaped, jumping into the car and roaring away into the Hollywood Hills. Sammy used magic to invoke the finger (Aspect: "The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on"), which pointed at him as if to accuse him of failure, then he managed to get the finger to point towards the leader of the Princes (named Eddie) and they followed the finger around the mansions, until they found one that was large and had a large yard, enclosed by a 8-10 foot wall. The mansion was dark, no light was visible there. While driving around it, casing it, Darren noted that the name on the mansion gate was "York" and that at one corner was a dark car, idling, the driver only visible with the bright ember of a cigarette. Sammy noted a ladder against the back wall. Suddenly three gunshots rang out. Then another four, then one, and finally two more. Ten gunshots in the space of a minute or so. Then silence! Daniel was convinced that the story was in the mansion, so he parked in the back. They noticed that the driver of the idling car was gone but the car was still idling, so Daniel stole the keys and monkeywrenched it. They climbed the wall using the ladder and saw that the other side had another ladder (someone was thinking). Once on the grounds, they cautiously approached the house and found their way into a room. They went room to room, looking for the kid Eddie and following the finger. In the great hall, a severed head rolled down the stairs at them. Darren went up to investigate and found a decapitated mobster and a medieval axe stuck in the wall, on the opposite side of the room was an old set of armor, the previous owner of the axe. Darren continued to explore the upstairs. Sammy found himself in a library, where there were two more mobsters, frozen and dead. He recognized them as some of Legend's men. Legend is a new faction in the area, had barrels of cash and well-trained goons. This is a first for Legend being involved in this sort of situation. Daniel went through the gallery and a sitting room but wasn't paying close attention and found himself with a gun in his back! Another mobster was holding it to his kidneys and talking blather about getting the kid in a snatch-and-grab. Half his face was bleached white, including the hair. Darren found a terrace looking down into the house and spotted Daniel being forced through a door by the mobster. The mobster took a shot at him (2 Stress to Darren) as he jumped down and knocked the mobster out (taken out with 4 Stress to mobster). Sirens meant police were on the way. Sammy caught up with the others and, from the three corpses and the knocked-out guy, deduced that the frozen dead, the axe and the white face were the result of ghosts and poltergeists removing the heat from a room (frozen guys), moving objects (flying axe decapitation) and fear (white face and hair). The frozen guys would have caused a ghost to discorporate for a while until it got it's mojo back. The knocked out mobster had the bloodmark on him and they presumed that the rest did, too. The finger started pointing all over, meaning their quarry was either not here or out of range. They quickly escaped, noting an old 1900s painting depicting Eddie and (presumably) Dicky in medieval dress in a dark tower room. They dashed to the wall as the police arrived and climbed the ladders. They dropped the ladders against the wall so that they were hidden for a while by tall grass and bushes then ran back to their car. The mobsters' car was still there and the last mobster was trying to get it to work. Daniel stopped and offered him a lift, which he happily took. He said his name was George McJiminy (of the New England McJiminy's) and they thought it was a fake name. He asked to be dropped at the Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel. Daniel convinced him that they were mobsters, too, (Aspect: "The Boss sent us.....") meant to make sure his group did the job right. He was completely fooled. They got everything out of him, that he was the driver and they were just supposed to go in there and grab the kid and bring him to their boss. Sammy dropped Legend's name and George nodded. They dropped George off, telling him to be scarce for a while since the boss would be sore about his gang's screw-up and headed for the Biltmore. Darren realized that he had seen the painting before, in England and it depicted King Edward V and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York, imprisoned in the Tower of London. The painting was by John Millais, painted in 1878, and titled "The Two Princes Edward and Richard in the Tower, 1483" and that the princes disappeared and were supposedly murdered by their uncle, Richard who became Richard III. Daniel realized that Darlene was tipped off about them by someone with inside info and was probably being followed so that they were followed. He dismissed as rubbish the obvious culprit, Persephone, (Compel: "Pretty Face") and figured it was her boss Vaughn. Sammy figured info about Legend. His name is Arthur Legend, he's probably a mobster from back East but Legend is not his real name. He's in conflict with the Black Court vampires and this is the first time, as far as Sammy knows, that he's involved in black magic, with the bloodmark tracking spell. Legend's company is called "Legend and Son" and he's got a mansion of his own in the Hollywood Hills, so why would he be at the Biltmore Hotel? The session ended with some questions answered but a whole bunch more unanswered: Where's the film? Who all want it? What do the Princes have to do with this? What does Legend want?

Dresden Files Accelerated: Hollywoodland Session 4 Write-up Played Friday, May 26th, 2017 Dramatis Personae Father Darren O'Connell , Catholic priest and holy sword bearer (played by Chase) Daniel Ehrlichmann , hot-shot reporter/wereleopard (played by Frank) Sammy Wesson , Clued-in Mortal/Changeling (played by Robert) Ted Summers aka The Dazzling Dante, White Court wizard (played by Bobby) Raymond Sanders, monster hunter/Changeling (played by Nickolas, not present) Concierge at the Biltmore Hotel Kenneth the waiter "Mr Smith", Legend's associate Arthur Legend, enigmatic businessman Legend's goons Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Black Court Vampire Black Court cultists Darlene Merritt, Daniel's nemesis The session started with Ted Summers still on a bender (Compel that creates Aspect "Three Sheets to the Wind"), realizing that he needs to earn his $10,000. He uses magic to track down Father Darren, knowing him from church. The magic leads him to the Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel, where the others are exiting from Daniel's car. After a brief discussion, they go into the hotel and the concierge, thinking Ted is a homeless person, gives him a dollar and tells him that there is a homeless shelter down the street. Ted pockets the dollar as the concierge turns to Daniel, the best dressed of the lot, and asks what he can help with. Daniel says they are there to meet with the Boss and expects to be shown right up. The concierge acts like he wants a tip, something Daniel refuses to do, but Ted gives him back his dollar as a tip and soulgazes him. Ted learns that the concierge is an active participant in criminal activity (Aspect: In on the Take) and uses that to blackmail the concierge to giving them free access to the bar. The concierge calls up to the penthouse and tells them that they might as well wait in the bar till the Boss is ready to see them. In the bar, Ted gives Kenneth the waiter the pass for free booze from the concierge and orders whiskey. Darren orders Irish Whiskey and Sammy orders a brandy. Daniel has coffee. The waiter returns with their drinks and they enjoy them. Four big burly bodyguards enter the bar and "Mr. Smith" slides between them and introduces himself. He's very pleasant to the group and is satisfied with their answers. He escorts them up to the penthouse where Mr. Legend is. When Sammy is too familiar, by calling him "Arthur" instead of "Mr. Legend," "Mr. Smith" corrects Sammy, as "Mr. Legend does not like familiarity until friendship is established." They pass many guards in the hallway and in an outer room until they get into a room that has a single desk and chair, which Mr. Legend is sitting behind. Both Sammy and Daniel recognize Arthur Legend as Dutch Schultz, a gangster who was killed in New Jersey in 1935, after supposedly hiding $7 million. Legend eschews a handshake with Daniel, claiming to have "a cold" and Darren, drunk, gets abusive. Legend subtly threatens Vaughn Owen, saying he'll get what is coming to him and implies that he'll get the canister, not Owen. Ted wanders over to the window and look out, down 11 floors to the ground while trying not to be sick. Daniel hears noises in the outer room and the hallway as Black Court cultists bust through the doors and smash through the windows! A Black Court Vampire orders his minions to kill everyone. Daniel recognizes the vampire as Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, a Hollywood star who died in 1933. Daniel, thinking fast, tries to rush past the bodyguards to get next to Legend but can't manage to get past the closest bodyguard to Legend (failed Overcome). The cultists attack, killing several bodyguards, attacking Daniel, Sammy and Ted. Daniel is hard pressed against the desk (Boost: Hemmed In). "Mr. Smith" is attacked by the cultists as well and starts freaking out. Legend's men open fire on the cultists, killing several. Legend, observed by Darren, sinks into the floor, escaping and leaving his men to their fate. Perhaps he's a spectre or a ghost! Sammy rises up and uses the full force of the Winter Court on several cultists near him (Stunt: Winter Fear), causing 4 cultists and one of Legend's bodyguards to flee in fear. Ted lights two of the cultists on fire with alcohol and magic, while Darren, still drunk, draws Durindal and cuts through three of them. The remaining cultist escapes through the window as "Mr. Smith" has a freakout in the corner. Daniel rushes up to Arbuckle and roughly interviews him (Aspect: Don't Mess with the Press) and the vampire flees. The room is filled with dead, blood and fire. Daniel takes a bunch of pictures of the carnage, especially of "Mr. Smith". Two of the remaining bodyguards grab "Mr. Smith" and leave while the third grabs some of the papers and tries to burn the rest. Daniel manages to grab one of the ledgers before the desk goes up in flames. They flee into the master bedroom, where they descend a fire escape to the ground. Once there, they push through the crowd and drive off in Daniel's car. They noodle through the info they have so far and determine that Legend also wants the canister, the Princes don't have it and the Black Court attacked simply to try to kill Legend, it doesn't seem they were after the canister. Darren reveals that Legend is some sort of ghost, having escaped through the floor, and Legend didn't know that Eddie from the Princes was also most probably a ghost as well. The other three try to convince Daniel that Persephone is a vampire and bad news but he won't hear anything against her (Compel: Pretty Face). He drops them off at Mick's and goes off to visit Dimi, giving him Legend's criminal ledger. Ted, Sammy and Darren have a few drinks and decide on some action. Ted and Sammy go to Laurence the Fence's shop to see if they can get a ritual spell to track down the remaining Bloodmarked mobsters and the sorcerer who cast the spell. Darren goes to find the remnants of the Berlin Monster Hunters, the "Begleiter von Engeln und Teufeln" (Companions of Angels and Devils). He goes to meet them at a local restaurant and, unexpectedly, Peter Lorre and Fritz Lang walk through the door and sit down at the table with him. Daniel gets home and sees the newspaper headline: Vaughn Owen dead the night before! Legend couldn't have done it since he thought Owen was alive several hours ago. Daniel dismisses Persephone as responsible for Owen's death, recalling and then dismissing the voice he heard in the background when he talked to her calling for help as Owen's. He gets a few hours sleep but is awoken when a naked woman slips into bed with him. He recognizes Persephone's perfume and makes love to the woman, not realizing until later that it is his nemesis, Darlene! Next Session: the thrilling conclusion! The final fight! Will they find the canister and solve the mystery?

Dresden Files Accelerated: Hollywoodland Session 5 Write-up Played Friday, June 9th, 2017 Dramatis Personae Father Darren O'Connell , Catholic priest and holy sword bearer (played by Chase) Daniel Ehrlichmann , hot-shot reporter/wereleopard (played by Frank) Sammy Wesson , Clued-in Mortal/Changeling (played by Robert) Ted Summers aka The Dazzling Dante, White Court wizard (played by Bobby) Raymond Sanders, monster hunter/Changeling (played by Nickolas, not present) Darlene Merritt, Daniel's nemesis Fritz Lang, Hollywood Director and Monster Hunter Peter Lorre, Hollywood Actor and Monster Hunter Persephone, White Court Vampire Assassin Adrian Brandeis, Red Court Vampire Assassin Ted and Sammy went to Laurence the Fence's business to investigate the bloodmark spell. They broke in easily with the keys and Ted performed a ritual to find the blood sorcerer who cast the spell. Ted learned more than he realized. He bound the spell into his wand and knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the blood sorcerer was Ted's father, supposedly dead for 28 years, since Ted was 6 years old! That drove Ted into a alcoholic binge. He dropped the wand and headed straight for Mick's, demanding that Mick leave the bottle. Sammy, puzzled at Ted's behavior, picked up the wand and followed him to Mick's. There, Ted revealed that the blood sorcerer was his dead father, which drove him to drink even more. Sammy said he understood and Ted asked how he could. Sammy showed Ted the finger from his father, given to him by Maeve. Ted looked at the finger and said that was messed up. Darren met up with the survivors of the Berlin Monster Hunter lodge, which turned out to be actor Peter Lorre and film director Fritz Lang. Darren mentioned Persephone and Daniel's interest in her. Peter and Fritz identified Persephone, "Bringer of Death" and Adrian Brandeis, German for "Dark dweller on a burned clearing", as the vampires who killed their comrades. Both Peter and Fritz wanted in on the hunt to kill these two vampires. They left the restaurant and went to find Daniel before it was too late! Daniel was making love to Darlene and started slapping her around, demanding to know who put Darlene on his tail. She fought back, thinking he'd kill her but he overpowered her. While she was fighting back, there was a knock on the door, that became rather insistent as Darlene struggled to escape Daniel. Daniel couldn't tell who was at the door, because there was a muffled reply. Other people in the apartment building were being disturbed, so Daniel knocked Darlene out and, naked, grabbed a pillow and opened the door. On the other side was Persephone, looking quizzical at Daniel naked with a pillow. Daniel asked her to come back in 10 minutes but she insisted on seeing him right now. She asked him to invite her in and he did. Persephone came into the apartment and immediately pressed herself against Daniel, with only a pillow between them. Daniel was overcome with passion and dropped the pillow. Daniel picked up Persephone and threw her on the bed then jumped on her, ready to make love. Persephone inspired Lust in Daniel and started to feed, but Daniel realized that something wasn't right and cooled off the passion, claiming that now wasn't the right time. That's when Darren, Fritz and Peter showed up, busting through Daniel's door ! Darren drew his holy sword Durendal and attacked Persephone. Persephone dodged Darren's attack with inhuman speed and picked up Peter and Fritz with inhuman strength and threw them around the room, which clued Daniel into realizing that Persephone was dangerous. Persephone escaped by jumping out the window, onto the fire escape, then started climbing the ladder to the roof in the driving rain. Darren followed, sword in hand. Ted and Sammy continued their drinking binge and Ted focused on the wand to point to his father, the blood sorcerer. It first pointed to him and to the bottle that he was drinking from, as if to accuse him, then pointed out the door. They finished their drink and hired a cab to follow the wand where it lead them. They traveled all about town, finally ending up in front of an apartment building. Stepping out of the cab, they spotted Darren chasing Persephone up a ladder to the roof. Ted blasted Persephone with a water blast (plenty of water around with the driving rain) and Sammy froze the water blast, both in an effort to knock her from the ladder. She was buffeted but managed to make the roof, with Darren right behind her. Sammy used his Unseelie magic to ride lightning from the ground floor up to the roof in an instant, joining Darren in the fight with Persephone. Ted followed the wand into the apartment building and up to the fifth floor, right at the stairs that led up to the roof, where he found a body, face down. In Daniel's apartment, Fritz and Peter picked themselves up and jumped onto the fire escape, using the ladder to climb to the roof in pursuit of Persephone. Daniel quickly dressed then pulled out his camera and took naked pictures of an unconscious Darlene as blackmail! Darren swung Durendal at Persephone and she dodged. A figure stepped from out of the darkness and rain on the rooftop and attacked Darren, just barely grabbing onto him. It was Adrian, a Red Court Vampire Assassin. Both Fritz and Peter tried to assist the heroes but did nothing but get in the way. Adrian pulled Darren close to feed but Darren used his strong Faith to resist! Sammy attacked Persephone, blasting her with his Unseelie Magic as Fritz and Peter again tried, and failed, to assist, just getting in the way. Daniel came up on the roof and transformed into his jaguar form, jumping on Adrian's back. Ted stared at the body laying face down in front of him, frozen in indecision. The wand pointed straight at the body. Trembling, he turned the corpse over and saw his father's face, drained of blood by a Red Court Vampire. Filled with rage about all the lost years and mourning his father's death a second time, Ted brutalized the body, smashing his fists into his dead father's face. At the height of his drunken rage, his magic merged with his rage and his father's bloodmark fused into him, gaining him knowledge about the others who were also granted bloodmarks by the evil ritual. He felt that two of them were on the roof, dead. Ted headed for the roof. Meanwhile, Persephone, seeing that there were more opponents than allies on the roof, turned tail and ran. Sammy tried to stop her but she managed to get off the roof, with Sammy in pursuit! Next time: the conclusion to the fight with Persephone and Adrian! Will this lead to the film canister? On a personal note: This was a difficult combat. I had never run vampires in this system, so with their strong and varied abilities, they were hard for me to run for the first time. The strength of Darren, a Holy Knight with his Holy Sword Durendal, proved to be his Faith +5 approach, which gained the PCs a strong advantage. It would have been a far different combat without it and I doubt that Darren would have avoided being fed upon by Adrian. On the whole, it was a good first try and hopefully I will improve in the next session.

Dresden Files Accelerated: Hollywoodland Session 6 Write-up Played Saturday, July 22nd, 2017 Dramatis Personae Father Darren O'Connell , Catholic priest and holy sword bearer (played by Chase) Daniel Ehrlichmann , hot-shot reporter/wereleopard (played by Frank) Sammy Wesson , Clued-in Mortal/Changeling (played by Robert) Ted Summers aka The Dazzling Dante, White Court wizard (played by Bobby) Raymond Sanders, monster hunter/Changeling (played by Nickolas, not present) Persephone, White Court Vampire Assassin Adrian Brandeis, Red Court Vampire Assassin Fritz Lang, Hollywood Director and Monster Hunter Peter Lorre, Hollywood Actor and Monster Hunter Darlene Merritt, Daniel's nemesis Donny Torrez, a street kid contact of Darren's, now on the straight-and-narrow Harry, Jack and Albert Warner Maeve and entourage The rain was falling on the city. A hard rain. But it couldn't wash away the grime that Darren, Daniel, Sammy and Ted were mixed up in. Darren and Daniel, along with Fritz Land and Peter Lorre, were on the roof of Daniel's apartment building, fighting Adrian. Darren's sword flashed in the early morning darkness, while Daniel, in leopard form, clung to Adrian's back. Sammy was on a nearby roof, chasing after Persephone, who was trying desperately to escape. Daniel used his cat-like tread to unbalance Adrian (used Boost: "Cat on a Hot-Tin Red Court Vampire? Cat Got Your Tongue?" to help create Aspect: "That cat's trying to trip me!" 2 free invokes). Meanwhile, Persephone dove around a pillbox on the nearby roof and when Sammy went after her, she doubled back and leapt the distance back to Daniel's building, through Daniel's apartment's busted window. Sammy saw her quickly look around and dive behind a couch, holding a film canister up into the light, then dash for the door and nearly out of sight from Sammy. That could be the elusive film canister they were all looking for! Adrian, outnumbered and wounded, held up his hands and called for a truce. "Parley! Parley! I have information that I'm willing to trade for my life!" (Attempt to Create an Advantage against Darren that failed so badly Darren got a Boost: "The Catholic Church doesn't negotiate with Evil!"). Fritz and Peter cried out to Darren to not make any deals with this fiend from hell. With his faith on his side and desiring to destroy the evil that Adrian represented, Darren raised Durendal and struck at Adrian, scoring a nearly life-ending hit (Darren achieved 15 shifts of damage, which nearly took Adrian out). Adrian slumped against the wall, his entrails spilling on the rooftop. Ted made it to the roof in time to see Darren's strike and, filled with the rage of his father's death, a new conviction (newly defined Character Aspect: All Red Court Vampires must die!) and fueled by his drunkenness (using Aspect: Three Sheets to the Wind), he looked at the nearly-destroyed figure of Adrian and blasted him with all his considerable magical power, fusing Spirit and Fire to create a Lightning Evocation Blast that atomized Adrian (achieving 8 shifts of damage, which utterly destroyed Adrian) and caused Daniel to leap upon the pillbox roof and Darren to step back to escape its destructive power. From the opposite rooftop, Sammy, focused on Persephone, saw a flash of lightning out of the corner of his eye as he called upon his Winter Court magic to send a flaming comet of ice and death to smash into Daniel's apartment to stop Persephone's escape. Daniel's apartment building shook as Sammy's spell struck the side of it, smashing giant holes into Daniel's apartment and the hallway, and separating Persephone from the canister. The explosive force bodily pushed Persephone through another apartment's front door, through that apartment, through that apartment's bathroom door, through the wall, through the adjacent apartment's bathroom door and out the adjacent apartment's front door and into the stairwell, where she was out of sight. Sammy spotted the canister in the rubble as the party on the roof steadied themselves from the explosion. Masonry fell onto the street below, as did the fire escape they came up to the roof on, crashing down across the street to strike the building Sammy was standing on. Daniel, realizing that the sound came from his apartment, rushed down the roof stairs, transforming back into a human midstride and walked into an apartment that looked like, nay, that had a bomb go off in it. His front door was gone, vaporized, as well as most of the hallway wall and his couch, refrigerator and end table were all embedded in another wall. Walking within five feet of the canister, he stepped over the rubble and walked to his bedroom to check on Darlene. Shell-shocked, Darlene got dressed and walked out into the remains of his apartment, reached for the front door knob that wasn't there, started a bit in surprise, then reached out again and pretended to turn a knob, open a door and step through, and close the door behind her before she straightened her clothes as best she could and unsteadily walked down the hall to leave the building. Darren, Ted, Fritz and Peter passed her in the corridor with nary a comment. Daniel calmly light a cigarette and surveyed his ruined apartment as Sammy used magic to step through raindrops from the other rooftop into the apartment and calmly picked up the film canister. The film canister had a sticker that said "Casablanca Set Shot, Vol III and Vol IV, April 24th, 1942" In addition, there was Hamish's mark "MCMXXVII-0931" on the canister. He glamoured it into a book to keep it hidden from prying eyes. To his amazement, the book turned out to be Spenser's "The Fairie Queene", with a familiar figure on the cover, who seemed to wink at him in a knowing fashion. As the sounds of fire engines and police cars approached, Daniel asked Fritz if he had access to a film projector. Fritz offered the private theatre in his mansion and they headed for Daniel's car outside. One of Daniel's neighbors opened his door and made a comment about warning Daniel about that gas leak then shut the door before he could respond. As he followed the rest, Ted looked around Daniel's apartment and found a decanter of alcohol embedded in the wall. He pried it loose, broke off the neck and took a swig -- Vermouth, best for martinis or cooking but little else. He handed it off to one of the firefighters he passed on the stairs, realizing that booze held little appeal to him now that he had his father's bloodmark and, besides the knowledge that every other person who had those bloodmarks were dead, had no idea what that meant (changed Trouble: I have my father's bloodmark). They piled into Daniel's car and made the short trip to Fritz's home. Sammy gravely handed over the film canister and watched it's contents like a hawk as Fritz loaded it into his projector. The film started and the Adventures of Superman: Volcano played on the screen. Volcano was released in July, 1942, so it couldn't have been the film they were looking for but Darren, Sammy and Daniel realized that they'd seen Volcano before: At the Bijou Theatre the night they went to talk to Donny. Donny must have been involved in the theft from the beginning, working with the Princes to get the film. Then he stole it from their mansion and took it to the Bijou, where he switched it with the Superman Volcano film. Darren and Daniel remember him going on an errand that evening, so he must have picked Daniel's pocket for his apartment keys, hidden the Superman Volcano film there in the Casablanca canister, then come back to the theatre, slipping Daniel's keys back on him. Racing to the theatre in the early morning, in the hopes of getting the real film, they spotted a posh car out front and the lights in the marquee on. The driver refused to say anything except he let slip that he works for "Mr. Warner" and he got in his car to avoid them. As they walked into the theatre, they heard the projector starting up. Stepping into the theatre proper, they saw a film playing on the screen. In the darkness, they saw a figure of a man watching the film, smoking a cigarette, the ember glowing bright. The screen showed the three Warner brothers, Harry, Jack and Albert, murdering their brother Sam in a ritual sacrifice. After the murder, the three left the view of the camera for a few minutes. In the intervening moments, the dead body of Sam moved, then stood up, then shambled off, out of view. The brothers looked shocked when they came back and there was no body. Daniel took a careful picture of the actual crime on his pocket camera before the film stopped and the lights came one. Harry Warner looked at Darren, Daniel, Sammy and Ted, and then turned to Donny, seated nearby with a briefcase, presumably filled with money, nodded his head and gave a wave of the hand. Donny got up, gave Darren a look that said "Anything to get my mom and me out of here" and left with the money. Harry looked back at the group as Jack and Albert appeared in the theatre with the film in hand. He nodded at them and turned back, saying "We sacrificed Sam for fame and fortune. We had no idea he would become a vampire and the 'Master' of the Black Court here in Hollywood." While he talked, Jack thumbed his lighter and set the film on fire. The film went up, burning to ash. Harry smiled at them, as if to say "go ahead and see if anyone believes you. I'm betting not." He and his brothers left, leaving the group in the theatre. At the same time as the film was burning, in a desecrated church in the valley, the Master of the Black Court, formerly Sam Warner, sat on a throne, surrounded by his court. He stood suddenly, cried out then burst into flames, burning to ash before his followers' eyes. In the shocked silence that followed, the Master's most trusted lieutenants, "Fatty" Arbuckle and Virginia Rappe, looked at each other with unbridled enmity and then at the rest of the court. Sounds of a riot erupted from the church. Epilogue Sammy walked home in the early morning. Suddenly, he was aware of a familiar presence. He heard the ringing of horse bells and saw Her and her entourage riding beside him. She was pleased that the film was destroyed, that it ended the Master and factionalized the Black Court for a long time. "I still have work for you, just remember that. You still owe me," She laughed as she and her entourage rode off. Ted had a lot of thinking to do. His father's recent death, after thinking his father dead all these years, and acquiring his father's bloodmark, had shaken him to the core of his being. He went onto a dark path. Knowing the danger that Persephone posed, Darren tried to track her down. Daniel also sought Persephone, but he dealt with his problem, Darlene, by slipping her an envelope with some of her nude pics and the picture of the Warner brothers murdering Sam. She moved to a different paper and tried to get the Warners' murdering ways published but none of the respectable papers would touch that story with a 10 foot pole. She was reduced to having it published in a "yellow" newspaper, which lead to her losing her job and moving to the East Coast. Daniel heard she married rich and got out of the newspaper business.