Moroccan Dawn

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

The fat man strolled through the dawn. He walked with a rolling gait, stopping occasionally to mop at his face with a handkerchief. Around him the streets were awakening with the call to prayer. He smiled benevolently as laughing children ran past him, the first one had early signs of tuberculosis, the second had been molested by his uncle for the last week and the third was happy and healthy. The fat man made a note to himself that this should change. He watched as they ran past the washerwoman who saved money by washing the hospital sheets in cold water and the old man who kept the secrets of everyone else in the street, but not very well. He loved them all, each one a festering blister of pain and self-delusion waiting to burst and spread its infection a bit wider.

The sun's heat started to build as he ducked into the whitewashed building. Two boys with automatic rifles tracked him as he walked up the stairs of the courtyard into the tower. Their third comrade's corpse had rotted and bloated in the sun for a week after failing to remain aware, and so they maintained a state of watchfulness at all times. That was good, the fat man liked to help others improve themselves.

He stepped through the archway into the coolness of the tower. A small bell tinkled in a corner of the room, its rope trailed down to a number of small charms with pretanic runes etched on them. The fat man cocked his head to one side and waited for the message.

"Yes?"

He paused.

"Bonjour, mon ami."

He smiled a wide smile; his teeth were yellowed with tobacco and other stimulants.

"Oui. C'est formidable. Maroc est presque complet."

He nodded.

"A bientot."

He made a small shooing gesture and the bells stopped tinkling. He mopped his face again, it would be good to get out of this heat. In the shadows of the tower room pale faces peered at him; bloodshot eyes blinking. He smiled at them broadly and they pulled back, when the fat man smiled it was never good for them.

"Ladies," he said. "Pack your bags; there is a family problem in London. The services of Cromwell and his fair damsels have been requested by an old comrade, and we never like to disappoint, do we?"

Comments

[castorlion.livejournal.com]

MORE problems! Just what I need!

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

He's not a problem, he's a solution.

[bringeroflight.livejournal.com]

No longer my problem. ;-P

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

You're not making a new Garou?

[bringeroflight.livejournal.com]

Possibly, possibly not. Undecided.

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

Why the hesitation?

[bringeroflight.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed the char but don't have any more ideas. I have _never_ managed to get a PC to survive to Adren - just as I start getting a handle on it, the renown building up, something goes horribly wrong.

(In this case, another PC was stupid, mindnumbingly so, when I wasn't present. I started trying to clear it up against heavy, heavy odds, and one lost test meant it all went REALLY wrong. From that point on, the char was either cliath or dead. We then got a choice that wasn't a choice, so dead it was.)

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

You need to play characters that compromise more and are less shifty. That's the way to live in Garou. And play characters that are allowed to run away. Play a Bone Gnawer Philodox, honourable enough not to be stomped on by everyone, but smart enough to run when discretion is the better part of valour.

[bringeroflight.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I think any Garou when given the choice between "Veil Breach, Caern violation, or getting killed" will choose getting killed.

At least, they should.

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

Well, as long as their death will stop that event. Many garou will recognise when their deaths will not actually stop said major Litany violation and just accept the inevitable.

[bringeroflight.livejournal.com]

Man threatens you with "Either you violate your caern or we'll breach the veil", you kill the mother fucker, even if you go down in the process.

:)

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

That's not a choice, that's a man painting a big "Kill me" sign on his head. Dumbarse technocs. Why would he want to breach the veil anyway?

[bringeroflight.livejournal.com]

Mine is not to reason why, but to try and rip his head off for doing it.

He may have been bluffing. It's a bluff that just cost him three years of HIT Mark budget.

Ben's guide to staying alive to legend in the Garou venue part 2

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

Also play a character who will accept renown loss. It's key to your survival. Sometimes you're going to have to take a safe option, and then you're going to lose renown, but better that than ave to come up with a whole new character, right?

Re: Ben's guide to staying alive to legend in the Garou venue part 2

[unifex.livejournal.com]

And on a cynincal note, there are a lot of people out there who say they'll die for their beliefs, but not a lot who will actually charge... Or, on a charitable view, would say they could do moreby surviving, and living to fight another day than dieing in a pointless fashion.

*Player of a few heroes, and a lot of survivalists*