Paying the Price (OOC)

Chablis seems safe enough to go outside with, now. So we have options.

Presumably Benji can invite vampires into his home? Or does the protection not apply since it is not the home of a human?

(And, no. I don't think we should try explore the practicalities of how this 'can't enter' stuff works. (Not till it becomes important to the story, at least.) :)

I definitely think Chablis would still count. I was initially thinking the rule would be that anyone currently inside the building could issue the invitation but it would make sense if it had to be someone who lives there… I can edit my post if we prefer that version.
Yeah I was not sure where the line should be there. I decided to have Benji face this dilemma at the door to the building just because I thought it was a fun little problem to be faced with an open door and be unable to step inside (if it was the door of the flat Emma would just invite him in when she opened it presumably).

There are certainly plenty of fuzzy areas in what constitutes a ‘home’ and its boundaries so perhaps a useable definition could be ‘a residential building where someone lives’ and the boundaries of that home are simply the boundaries of the building (otherwise, if someone is renting an individual room in a share house, would that room count as its own ‘home’? It gets very confusing). So an apartment building is a home. A vacant house is not a home, nor is a hotel. Situations like Jacob’s shop are sort of an edge case there, I suppose, in that it’s a flat above a shop (so residential/business?). Benji brought Teddy into the shop without an invitation because I was thinking of it as a shop, maybe that means only the residential part is considered a ‘home’….? Or maybe Benji was able to bring him inside because Jacob left the city and is no longer living there? In any case, it’s sort of a rabbit hole however you define it :P
Great questions! I’m going to say ‘no’ and ‘yes’ respectively.

Good. That makes the most sense.
Maybe we assume Benji assumed it was clear and this is how Emma learns that it has to be a resident, not just someone inside? Emma tries and it does not work, we get Chablis and it does. Easy-peasy.
That would be a mess. Good call.
Interesting... Maybe this changes if someone stays in a hotel room long enough? Some people live in a hotel, so it might be different... or might just not work and they are always vulnerable (cleaners and such traipsing in and out). We can deal with that if it ever comes up.
The shop had its own protections. But you were duly authorised and empowered to work around them (even if you don't know this), so you were allowed to invite Teddy in. This is more than just 'homes vs vampires'.
That makes sense. Hence the extra protections on the shop.
Better be careful when choosing one's neighbours. :)

We can also use this primer (if you can secure it) as justification for rolling Put a Face to a Name (with unlikely Debts), allowing you to engage in that mechanic.

Let's try remember next time that being newly in the city or new to the supernatural is contraindicated by the rules. :(

That is how I understood it.

This is an interesting mechanism. I like it. I do wonder if it is possible to be asymptomatic but still be 'sick', so anyone dying a few days after a vampire bite could turn, making it a stressful time... or is there an uptick in reckless behaviour right after a biting, with people not caring as much because, as you say: "They have a second chance"?

You also say it maybe be more of a curse than an infection. Might Bev and Emma be at risk even when practising safe-feeding through a non-contact mechanism? Bev will definitely be monitoring herself for symptoms in the next few days. :)

• Are these facts, or is this just what Benji believes?

Agreed! And yes, that works.

Apologies for the double post. I realize I forgot the very important reconnect with Emma

Absolutely no need to apologise for that.

Okay great!
Maybe and maybe! I’m not sure Benji would know so I’m happy to leave those questions unanswered for now, if we’d like to leave the possibilities open.
I think Benji has enough personal experience to know the basics of how a person becomes a vampire with a reasonable degree of certainty. I don’t think he knows very much about the underlying mechanism though (is it a virus, curse, toxin, etc) so that’s less certain.

What are we doing next?
Back to Persephone's place (so she can get some clothes)? Then seeking answers?
To Wentworth first? (Though it may be better to seek forgiveness than permission if he is not pleased with your seeking loopholes.:)

Is Benji going with Emma and Persephone? Was he invited? Any of the NPCs (really only Bev) going with you?

I will start a new thread when we have said goodbye here.

If we are (planning to be) going out to look for solutions to Persephone's problem, then who comes with will be mostly up to her? I can see Emma saying that Benji could be useful, presumably he is one of the people Emma was thinking about approaching for answers anyway?

Do you know how to get in contact with her? You have to actually go see her to Hit the Streets.

Sure, its in the data-dump.

You can also continue to study that data and use it to Put a Face to a Name from time to time where it makes sense.

Yes, if we are wrapping up at Chablis' (I haven't looked at the IC thread yet), then Persephone would want to go by her place and shower and change. Then she would love to get some answers, and yes -- the more supernatural insight she can get, the better, so she would welcome Benji as well, and yes, invite him over/in. Though I'll probably RP her feeling weird about knowingly inviting a vampire into her place.

And Pers def wants to corner Wentworth and grill him for the 411 on supernatural folk. As for how to lift Persephone's pact, well, I mean, that's like a campaign goal, not a scene or chapter goal -- I'm not ready to switch playbooks just yet! But sure, we can RP her taking some steps toward that, and certainly getting mixed up in demonic affairs could be fun. She would be walking into political machinations that may have been in progress since the literal dawn of time with various demon factions; what could go wrong?

That is the question. It looks like it, but if you want to do anything more there, we can stick around.
We can go there next and then see how it proceeds.
Cool. The more I think about it the more I am not sure about the 'invite for the whole building' being enough to gain a vampire access to every condo in your block. Maybe it varies from place to place, but it seems like your invite should be at your door?
Yes. We don't know yet if you can uninvite them afterwards. Maybe we will find out eventually.
Do you want company for that or would you be doing that lone? If alone we can arrange that for when we split up later.
Agreed. Wentworth would not be inclined to answer that for you, if he even knows (he might be as trapped as you are).

This is more about Emma trying to help than about actually learning anything that will get you out. It's the journey not the destination that we roleplay.
I don't think this game goes that far back... This is play by post, it surely can't precede the written word? :)

Works for me. let's wrap it.
100% yes.

And I feel like the Wentworth scene would be solo. She wouldn't want him anywhere near her friends.
I recall commenting that there was a lot of past lore and posts to review when joining this game! maybe it just felt like it was that long... lol