Bianca,
It's been a day or so since your date with Siobhan and one of Madame L'Infer's people reached out to request that you visit. No details about the visit were provided.
What time of day did you arrive? How are you dressed?You're escorted quickly into the same conference room as before. Siobhan isn't in the lounge when you pass by. The employee offers to get you some water, perhaps a pastry if you like.
Madame L'Infer arrives moments later. She enters the room briskly wearing a dark black silk pantsuit with a crimson tie. Under her left arm is an iPad Air, which she sits on the table face down. She sits down and engages in some polite small talk as your waters arrive. After a sip, she begins speaking, "Miss Claremont, thank you for coming. I have a matter I cannot personally attend to that I'd like you to handle for me. I anticipate your skills are well suited for this problem." She flips over her iPad Air and cues up a program, still talking, "Mr. Andrews is one of my newest employees. His cousin Nathan lives in Grosse Pointe, and something unnatural has likely happened to him. According to Mr. Andrews, Nathan had always been sickly, but he's recently packed on a good deal of muscle and become very aggressive. One might dismiss this as a young man getting healthy, but Nathan is in his thirties, and the changes are startling. I anticipate involvement by one of my enemies among the undead, or perhaps right in your wheelhouse. A barter of humanity for power, something like that. Can you look into this for me? If you do, I will consider our Debt settled, and I will pay your expenses, plus a stipend for your expertise."
She shows you the pictures of Nathan, one obviously "before", a man barely pushing one forty, then "after", a behemoth with muscles, popped veins, and a grimace of aggression.
Comments
A young man leads you to a closet-sized office where Mr. Andrews is sitting behind a laptop. Mr. Andrews looks up to give a tight smile, then opens a drawer in his desk to pull out a cash box. He counts out money in twenties, puts it on the desk, "Six hundred dollars in cash. The bills are not sequenced or marked."
"Yes, ma'am," Mr. Andrews answers, his tone worried. "I... are you going to kill my cousin Nathan? I hope you can save him. He's a raging dick right now, but back when we were kids, he stood up for me once. Got his ass kicked for it, but I still feel like I owe him, you know?"
2062 Ridgemont Rd. in Grosse Pointe is a squat little one-story house nestled between larger homes on the block. Trees almost hide it from the street. As you pull up, you can see the weeds in the yard, a half dozen newspapers near the front porch in various spots.
What do you do?
It's late afternoon, probably not wise to break in.
You hear a front door open from the house, Nathan's house. Mandy flinches a little, "Oh. I-I need to go." She moves to close the door, her tone suddenly fearful.
This is the shirtless Nathan:
He gives you a bro-ish head nod, "Hey there little lady. What's up?"
"This is where the magic happens, Mimi."
(Rolled: 2d6+1. Rolls: 3, 6. Total: 10)
Who's pulling Nathan's strings?
What does he worry might happen?
Who are you calling?
After Father Adetokunbo Sabah was kicked out of his parish, he ended up moving every few weeks, living with different thankful parishioners and others he'd helped, always doing his best not to wear out a welcome. Once he committed to setting up a business where he supplied people with things they needed to deal with the supernatural, he was able to settle in his own place.
That's where you bring the squash and peanut butter, to a old Pawn Shop (still has the sign up, he hasn't bothered to remove it) on John R Street, across from a Plasma Center, beside an Employment Training Designs office where they hire out day laborers right in the middle of Highland Park, one of the roughest neighborhoods in Detroit, and if the internet is to be believed, in the US. The windows are papered over or boarded up, very little daylight comes into this place.
So saying, he puts the pill on the cutting board, and takes the knife, then quickly cuts it open. Inside the capsule, you see the dark spot of dirt, and perhaps a dozen wriggling, tiny worms.
A couple hours later, you're leaving Father Sabah's shop. Where do you go next?
When the attendant sees you, he asks you to sit in the lounge while he notifies Madame L'Infer. Siobhan is on the arm of an older guy in a really nice suit.
What do you do?