Vengeance is Nigh (Inactive)

Game Master Jubal Breakbottle

Half to the old lady and half to the cops, Max asks, "Was the gun found?"

He's a supernatural guy with claws and bulletproof." And every added detail was making this sound more fun by the minute. "And it sounds like we need ta hit the other crime scenes."

"Jeez," Zhi comments, rubbing the back of his head. "Sounds like fun times ahead for us, then."

"Nothing has been proven", admonishes Wesker. "Nevertheless, let's be on our toes."
Turning to the old lady, Joe tips his bowler and says, "Thank you for your cooperation, ma'am."

The officer nods to Livewire that the gun was recovered.

Next scene?

Indeed.
At the next crime scene, Wesker continues his investigation.
Investigation/Gut: 2d6 ⇒ (2, 1) = 3 x 3 = 9
Sense Supernatural: 2d6 ⇒ (4, 3) = 7 x 3 = 21

Having had a nice look at last place, Pete does the same here, trying to find anything that matches.

"Guys, don't fart now. I'm gonna sniff a bit around."

Perception: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 5) = 8x4=32

The second scene is a couple blocks from Mrs. Jenkins’ apartment and is in the alley next to a small grocery store on a corner simply called “Lee’s Grocery”. The crime scene is similar to the first: cordoned off area, three cops in EQUALIZER armor, small crowd, chalk outline, etc. Both Predator X and Joe detect similar lingering aromas.

The owner of the grocery store Mr. Lee was not at the scene of the crime when it occurred, but he was the first person to see the body and report the crime to the police. He tells you his story, “This morning, I get here at 5:30, like everyday, to open the store. I noticed one of my windows was shot out… and then I looked across the street and saw blood. There was a dead man in a big pool of blood. He was very pale, and cut up real bad. He had a gun in his hand. I called the police right away! I knew the dead man. He was one of those punks who makes trouble for me. They used to come here to the store, and hassle me, while their friends were in the back, stealing! I often hoped that they would pay… that Vengeance would find them… but never like this”

Roll another Investigation/Analysis

Investigation/Gut: 2d6 ⇒ (2, 6) = 8 x 3 = 24

Looking up Wesker concludes, "both men were killed around the same time, perhaps 15 minutes apart."

"That...was fast," Kenny comments. It was only a few blocks. By foot or car that would mean this new player knew exactly what he was after or was just indiscriminately taking down hoodlums. It looked like each victim got a shot off though. Giving them a chance? Kenny looks to the witness. "You got any names on the punks this guy used to roll with?" They might have witnessed the scuffle and scattered.

Did the first victim look also like a street thug?

Mr. Lee answers Kenny, "Nah. But maybe T-Biz knows. He works at the Esso a block away. He quit the gangs after Vengeance crippled him."

Yes, all three victims were gang members.

"Oh. It'd be interesting to talk to that guy."

Pete starts to form an idea... three gang members, someone expeditive enough... he can almost see it.

Be careful... you think he's the classical vigilante, but prejudging can get you in trouble. Perhaps he's even worse than this street junk."

"So guys..." he asks to his mates, "shall we go talk to the guy, or do we get to see the third deli first?"

"Which ever's closer man," Kenny says noncommittally.

Standing up over the crime scene, Wesker puts in his two cents.
"Although I imagine we'll get much of the same from the two previous sites, I do wish to see the third crime scene. No need to get sloppy."

Livewire

The third murder scene is much like the first two, except the body, officers and spectators are gone leaving only a bit of yellow police tape that hasn't been broken or taken.

You find T-Biz behind bulletproof glass of the cashier at the local Esso several blocks away. The last customer hustles out leaving you in front of his window. It's late afternoon. "Wha' d'ye wan'?"

Pete doesn't talk, he leaves that for the experts. What he does is he pays close attention to the guy - his reactions, whether he's nervous, his scent.
"be aware, there are many people in this 'hood who love the guy we're looking for, and I can understand why if he's getting rid of those punks. We could even be in front of him... that's if there's not more than one. SO every hint counts."

Lost in his thoughts as he is, he lost the beginning of the conversation. "Uh? What?"

Sorry for my absence.

Zhi sticks with the group through their continuing investigations, but barring much for him to contribute, he mostly keeps an eye out and mulls things over. When they reach the Esso, though, T-Biz's question raises an eyebrow. The South Fist looks from himself to the others, one at a time, and then back to T-Biz. "Uh, look at us. I figured something like that would be obvious. We want justice."

After a moment, he chuckles and leans on the windowsill. "Anyway, specifically, we got pointed your way by a Mister Lee, of Lee's Grocery? He said you might know something about the murders that took place this morning. And that you had a run-in with a little someone called Vengeance." He taps one terracotta finger on the counter and shrugs. "Figured an upstanding citizen like yourself might be interested in helping us get that guy off the streets."

T-Biz looks around and sees that the URGENT agents are not leaving, so he relaxes in resignation. "Yeah, man, I saw Vengeance. But he saw me first. I was a gang-banger with the Black Bones back then. I was gonna lose my place — needed money for rent — so I robbed some dude comin’ out of the Kash Stop."

"I woke up… couple days later. My leg was broken, an’ they pulled a bullet out my arm… ricochet I guess. Since then… I stay away from Black Bones now. Don’t need another beating like that."

"I understand that all of Kirby Row is his turf", Wesker asked, "but is there any area in Kirby Row he appears to frequent the most?"

"Right, so the guy was there, face to face with Vengeance. He must have seen something, right?"

Pete let's Joe do the talking. He's good at that, while Pete is always anxious and that usually scares people. However, he's secretely hoping Joe asks what he has in mind. Deep inside, he knows he will, but he just can't help it.

Not wanting to press on anyone - Joe or T-Biz, Pete breathes deeply twice or thrice. Man, thankfully he doesn't smoke or by the time he would have used a whole packet.

Assuming we know the name of the victim from what the police said.

Kenny has a hard time not agreeing with Vengeance. He knew what he'd done as a thug bodyguard and knew what others had done. And the man before him was proof Vengeance' way worked in a demented kind of way. Dude was working a real job and no longer running with the Black Bones. So Kenny left it to others to decide that kind of stuff. He'd just stand in front of the bullets and crack some skulls if they were stupid enough to get too close. "You know anything about the victim down the road? Friends, buddies, family? No one's actually seen an attack yet and were looking for an actual witness."

If nothing else this man confirmed that Vengeance was bulletproof and used claws. But it sounded like something happened recently. Like something changed him personally and now his vengeance was personal.

"Only what I saw on the box. Vengeance hit both BB and IB last night. There is sure to be war tonight on the Drive. I asked for a double-shift tonight, because this glass is bulletproof. You know what I mean?" T-Biz replies.

"Thanks for the warning." Kenny has no more questions and instead takes some time to call HQ and warn them of a possible gang war on Drive. Hopefully they could get to the other scene and back to Drive before things got too messy.

Players? What now?

Pete thinks about what T-Biz just said.

"Guys, are you thinking what I am thinking? Shall we go to the Drive tonight and see what this war is about? We might found our friend there, right?"

Max hrmphs, frustrated by the lack of a solid lead to pursue. "Yeah, looks like we'll have to prowl around tonight, cast a wide net, and hope to catch a break."

"General patrol? Sounds like the good old days. Count me in."

Wesker looks down at Kaixin and nods.
"As good a plan as any, I suppose."

Perception of Predator X: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 4) = 9 x4 = 36

Late tonight, you patrol Kirby Row and specifically Destitution Drive. After a few hours, Predator X spots Vengeance patrolling the rooftops. He doesn't appear to have spotted you considering the significant distance between you.

What do you do?

What does he/she look like?

The short version is that Vengeance looks like Batman without the symbol or ears AND with four claws sprouting from the back of his hands.

The long version is that he wears dark gray tights. Male, average height and athletic build. A combined black cape and hood with menacing eye holes. Knee high black boots. A black and light gray utility belt. And four claws sprouting from the back of his hands. He moves with superhuman speed and agility.

"Pretty quick on his feet, isn't he?" Zhi looks at the others and winks. "Good thing we can move quick, too. Wanna see if we can sneak up and have a nice chat with our buddy there?"

"How about I go land a bit behind him - openly - and see if I can get him talking. Then you can guys can approach him from the other side."

"Keep in mind all we want is to ask him some questions about the recent attacks. No need to make this into one of those ridiculous 'hero vs. hero' fights the media keeps blasting us about", reminded Wesker.

"As my ma told me, 'You're a lover, not a fighter.' I just wanna chat with the guy. I'm not convinced he's our killer. Joe... would you be able to tell if someone was possessed or something like that?"

"Sadly, I've had some experience with possessions. I will keep an eye out for any telltale signs."

"Right. Let's go all Oprah on him." Max vanishes into a bolt of electricity that jumps into a nearby power line. Beyond the rogue hero, the blue-white sentient bolt exits the line, lashes dramatically between fire escapes on either side of the road until it grounds on a manhole some 30' away from Vengeance. Livewire reforms with a static hiss, his hands up in a gesture of surrender. The light show and sounds purposefully alert Vengeance to his visitor's presence.

"Hiya. You're Vengeance, right? My name's Livewire. Can I talk with you for a second? It's about some gangbangers in the neighborhood that made some very bad decisions last night."

While Livewire goes to face the guy, Pete does whhat he does best - sneak. He looks for a nice spot to hide and have the two men on sight, ready to jump in if things get nasty or to cut Vengeance's retreat if he wants to avoid the convo.

"Now, let's see what is this guy up to..."

Stealth: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 4) = 7x2 = 14

Page 1 - Introduction

Page 2 - Meeting Captain Vitality
Page 3 - Murder scene 1 & Mrs. Jenkins
Page 4 - Murder scene 2 & Mr. Lee
Page 5 - Murder scene 3 & T-Biz
Page 6 - Patrolling at night
* Panel 1 - Predator X spots Vengeance prowling the rooftops a couple blocks away
* Panel 2 - Livewire zaps in front of him
* Panel 3 - Everyone else starts prowling toward him
Page 7
* Panel 1 - Vengeance notices Livewire
* Panel 2 - Livewire starts chatting
* Panel 3 - Everyone else continues to prowl toward him (2 more pages of prowling to go or 1 page of moving quickly to get near the conversation)

Everyone can hear the conversation due to Livewire's URGENT communicator

Vengeance stops and takes a defensive posture when Livewire appears from a small bolt of lightning.

"Yesss." He replies in a gravelly and frightening voice.

Frightening Presence: 2d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (3, 3) + (2) = 8 x4 =32
Livewire's mental defense: 2d6 ⇒ (1, 5) = 6 x2 = 12
Livewire is fortunate that he's wearing the brown pants tonight, because he is scared poop-less.

Max takes an unconscious step backwards, but presses on nervously. "Great... So, like I said, these three gangbangers got into fights last night at..." <insert street locations> "Were you involved in those fights or did you witness them?"

In his frightening gravelly voice, Vengeance replies to Livewire, "It wasn't me... Not a killer... The guilty must be punished. Death is too easy. The Killer will face Vengeance... Tonight!”

Need to know how fast the rest of you are closing on Vengeance's flank.

Pete doesn't need to be very close to hear what they're talking... or feel what Max is feeling. "That guy's real scary."

He keeps the distance, trusting in his supernatural senses to get their words and his supernatural speed to lunge in if there's a problem. "I hope he's not faster than me, though."

Wesker tries to close in on Vengeance before he skulks away. The supernatural investigator tries to get a supernatural bead on Vengeance.
Sense Supernatural: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 5) = 8 x 3 = 24

"No argument here. What did this guy look like? Did he come in after you fought these gangsters? Cuz the cops think you killed them."

In his emotionless gravelly voice, Vengeance replies again to Livewire, "Didn't see the Killer... Looking for him...”

Joe Wesker begins his climb up the building where Vengeance is currently talking with Livewire.