Paying the Price (OOC)

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Oof that was dark. I hope not too dark for folks. I decided to go that route rather than simple violence because it felt more... evil in a certain way, more corrupting, to get him to be complicit in this, rather than just to kill him. Violence is easy, but messy. This felt how a devil would do it.

Let me know, please, if it was a bit too much!

Fine by me. It's your choice what happens to him, just so long as the higher-up get his soul (just like they got yours).

I don't believe this (mechanically) Corrupts you, I don't think this counts as 'convincing someone to meaningfully act in your patron's interests', since you are just nudging how his life ends. Strangely —by the rules— if you convinced him to hand over his soul while still alive —maybe a Dark Bargain to recruit him to come work for your Dark Patron as you do— that probably would Corrupt your soul (but maybe you don't know that, or even that that is an option... which it might not be?).

He came here 'prepared' for it, but has found he does not want to die, so it probably needs some Persuasion from you to get him to act on his own (still, this is about your interests, not your Patrons, since it is the same to them whether you force his face into the powder or get him to do it himself).

If you don't want to risk a Miss on Persuade (which could frighten him into running off so you need to hunt him down?), you could Let It Out to 'impress, dismay, or frighten someone with a display of demonic fury'. Lower Stats, but will, almost definitely, achieve your goal, just with other messy consequences on a Miss.

You could risk using your Demon Form in any of these approaches, to help frighten him. Make his last moments hell.

Sounds good. I was imagining this as a Persuasion move. I'll roll Heart!

Let us know after you have added the roll. Else we check and it is not there and have to come back again to check again. :)

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If you want to propose some other 'price' for the Persuade 8, we can talk about it.

You don't need to honour his plea, and you don't need to honour any promise you make to get him to act. You will have to live with yourself afterwards, though.

@Drgwen: What do you want to do next? We could feed the 'price' you choose for Escape a Situation into that, or we can leave that price as an insignificant side-note.
I don't how you would suffer Harm in this. But any of the others could make sense, and could influence what happens next.

We can talk about the implications of each of the ones you are interested in, or we can gloss over it (it was a low stakes roll).

With my Escape a Sitch roll of 11, I assume I get out without trouble. but I also think Persephone might either take one Harm from nausea or Mark one Corruption for the vileness of her act. I think I'd prefer to mark Corruption. I assume this counts as a demonic job, so I should also mark Wild, and now my patron owes me a debt?

Yes. Unless the option you choose causes trouble, but that is up to you.
Harm is a rather serious thing in US, you only get 5 before you 'die'. I don't see a little vomiting counting, or mattering (if you can be over it 'tomorrow' it does not matter if we skip ahead; but if the next scene happens before then, a second 'bout of vomiting' would put you in hospital, and that does not make sense:).

Faint Harm is something you can get over with some rest, but the next step up is things like getting shot. See the notes on Harm.
The way the book describes this 'Giving in to your base nature and marking corruption means you call upon whatever darkness lurks inside your character to get to safety', but we can fudge that a bit and make it just the vileness you were escaping that Corrupts you? We would need to see a little of that in the fiction.

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You also left in a hurry, so maybe you left your purse and umbrella behind? Depending on what we feel like this could lead to questions later, or to needing to endure the cold and rain now (though you have a car waiting?). But if we don't fancy those we can ignore that (either you grabbed them or they aren't important).

You could end up Owing someone, but that does not fit with the fiction we have, so we would need to add that detail.

Or you could end up in a dangerous situation. A scantily clad women in a back alley is asking for trouble. This would probably amount to a chance for you to vent, more than something that actually threatens you, though.

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Quite right, Mark that.
True.

Record it in the Debt Ledger, and on your sheet if you want. Remember to record the reason for the Debt, they are not fungible numbers, they are actual events that you have to specifically refer back to when you Cash in each Debt.

Add the 3 you Owe your Dark Patron to the ledger as well.

We can deal with the Starting Debts when we get a chance, unless you have ideas?

(Do you have thoughts on what colour we should use for Persephone in the chart? I will try to find something that is distinctive, works for both light and dark themes, but also hearkens back to their portrait image, but that can be hard.)

Hmmm... Choices! Well, I chose my demonic patron to be a master manipulator, so I imagine this was a case of Persephone channeling that particular form of evil. Tapping into her patron like that leaves a mark. No amount of vomiting, or showering can remove it. She'll be taking a loong hot shower afterwards, trying to wash the blood off her hands, Lady MacBeth style, Out, out damned spot!, to no avail. She may begin to bite her nails or some other nervous habit as well, something she never used to do -- something Emma would notice, as well.

I'm totally fine not actually marking Corruption for this though! Instead, this kind of sets the stage for when she allows herself to succumb like this later, maybe? I can describe it in colorful detail then. But sure, let's say she left her purse and umbrella with the coat check boy, because she was so distraught that she just walked out with only her phone.

How does that all sound?

Also, I made a debt ledger post. Speaking of, I just realized that I haven't answered my Debt questions for the tainted:

Just as they planned. :)

Do they also have a 'support group' or 'call me if you need to talk' type arrangement for you?
Maybe stop using the wire-brush to try get the blood-stains off!
Let's save that for later, after getting back together with Emma so she can see the change happen?
Sound like a plan.
Cool. Why does that matter? Does it matter now, leaving you unprotected; or matter later, when questions are asked; or was there something valuable in your purse that you might need back?

You knew (roughly) what you were going there for, so may have avoided taking anything that could easily identify you? Do you expect to get 'carded' at clubs and bars?
It is tricky fitting those in with the existing character. Maybe Malachi can pick up some of them if we want to wait.

We can use the general shape of the 'suggested' Starting Debts and make up our own wordings. Some of them could date back to when you knew Emma before, if you want.

Being new in town it may be hard to fit those exact words to NPCs, but we can make NPCs to fit them, either from your busy few weeks here, or from before, or someone followed you (maybe 'trying to save you')?

We can also have those happen in the near future instead of before the game started, just to better fit them into the story.

Oh yes of course. She’s attended in the past but found it extremely off-putting.
Well it was like a $3k purse. So maybe she’ll be short on cash for a little while. But no, she would not having anything that could identify her. She doesn’t usually get carded, even though she is fairly young looking. But tonight she had a vip pass, so it wasn’t needed.

Concerning debt questions, I am fine with filling them in as we go! But here are some ideas:

Maybe Howard Winters was "someone’s good friend or ally", and when I found out I feel guilty and owe them a Debt. Maybe Persephone has a little sister, Circe, that she is trying to protect from the demonic world, so she owes Pers a Debt. And I could imagine, maybe, Emma wanting to save Pers when she finds out. We shall see!

I am not going to enforce that. You can play it out if you think it is interesting, or you can try to get the purse back, with all the complications that brings.
Not easily, no. They do have cameras and could track what the girl who left the purse looks like, if we think that is fun. More on that below.
Could be. Maybe they find you through your slipper purse while seeking answers?
I am a great fan of family, they can make games much more fun. I dislike orphans... wait, that came out wrong, I mean as a backstory...

Would a sister Owe you a Debt for you trying to protect them? I would have thought that was a given.

I say we bring her in anyway. Did she follow you from the States when you suddenly moved here? Is she asking lots of awkward questions? How old is she and does she need to live with you? Was she here already? Was there some other reason your parents sent her away? Does Persephone have any of these answers?

If she is still fully insulated from the 'demonic world' she would not be Mortalis, she would be merely mortal and not subject the the Debt system. You could always try to find a safe way to introduce her to the supernatural without involving demons if the story take us in that direction.
That seems in character. @Delirium, do you want to take on this Starting Debt now, or leave it for after you meet and see how it goes?

We can introduce these Starting Debts later in the story, when something comes up we can say: "This is probably my ... Debt."

Their main function is as a story seed, but, when the story is already going, sorting them out slows things down. Do the ones that feel natural, we can even out the numbers later. Actually, many of the PbtA Playbook 'starting prompts' can have the opposite effect to what is intended in PbP where they slow down the start, they are meant to take a few minutes at the table to save a few dozen minutes, but in PbP they can take days, and still save the few dozen minutes of thinking about 'how to start'. :(

OK this all sounds good! We'll bring in the little sister, as a mortal, who may or may not get inducted into the world and become a member of Mortalis. I'm guessing the wants to come visit her sister and get shown around town, etc! She asks awkward questions, innocently. Maybe she wants to stay for a few weeks. She is a few years younger, possibly just graduated college, and she is hoping I can help her get a good job. I *am* a big corporate agent now, after all. Supposedly.


And yes, the purse is likely traceable, via video at least. If they decide they want to pursue it.

And finally, yes, let's develop Debt in play.

That's a bit presumptuous! She could be anything she wants to be! :)
OK. Where did she show up? Or do you want to see that happen in the future?

If she is already in town (came in a few days/hours ago or something), then did she also want to party tonight and followed you, but got turned around at the door? Does she find you puking in the gutter and the rain?
Awkward! :)

Is she also in 'tech' or was she more into the arts? (or whatever).
Seemed like a good way to link Howard's ... let's say 'family'?, yeah, family you are indebted to into the story and to you. The Debt could be even more than just 'guilt' if their having the purse means the cops don't?
Cool. What's next? Sister? Report back (boring?)? Let off steam?

We don't have an exact time for what we saw, so there could be a time jump if you want, though I have a slight preference towards seeing the aftermath and how it affects you.

Oops! Ha you're right of course
No she is not in town yet. But maybe she is waiting at my apartment when I get back, with vomit on my dress and soaking wet? A surprise visit! Maybe she is a digital artist who is hoping to get work doing art and design for apps, corps, etc while doing her own art on the side?
Oh yes, I like this angle!

As for what's next, how about the scene with her sister at the door?

Cool. I assume your town-car was waiting for you? Or does that service end as soon as you have 'done your Job'? Are you wet from the trip between the club and the car —via the gutter— or did you (choose to, or have to) walk home?

Go ahead and set the scene. Show us something of where you live and what your apartment is like.

(We can talk about details if you want, we are centered around this [maps] part of London. But you are much more upmarket than the other PCs, so you could live anywhere in that area without worries. We can define as much detail of where you stay as you want, or leave it vague 'upmarket apartments' is fine, 'overlooking the ...' would be nice.)

Introduce us to your sister and show us your reaction to her unexpected arrival.

OK posted! I tried to give some detail on her sister and the condo. I also played ut a bit of their conversation, establishing what Circe is doing in town. Feel free to do with Circe as you see fit, @vagueGM! And yes, Persephone is still trying to trick her family into believing she is a happy successful corporate worker, and not someone spiraling.

@Delirium: Go ahead and set it up. @Drgwen can finish up anything remaining with her sister and join you.