"Vice" - Final (?) Draft
Description:
[ Spoiler ]
As the team sat around their table, relaxing after their latest job, Vice seemed a bit more relaxed than the others. He always has something on hand to take the edge off or help his friends have a good time, but he was probably not on anything at the time. He doesn't usually party by himself, and is usually more into enabling other people's vices than indulging his own. That said, it isn't usually that hard for him to find someone to indulge. More often than not, by the end of the night, Vice ends up leaving with a new "friend". On the odd occasion where he strikes out, or too busy working on a job to bother, there are always a club full of like-minded individuals waiting on his doorstep. Literally. He rents out a loft apartment below a seedy club in a low-end neighborhood of the UCAS sector, where he also makes a few bucks on the side as an "entertainment" wagemage. The team has occasionally picked him up from there, and the street is lined with dealers and streetwalkers, but Vice doesn't seem to mind the atmosphere of the area.
Vice had an attractive mixed-race appearance, that gave him an exotic European look, with Italian and Greek features that stick out most prominently. He was dressed pretty casually, as usual. He wore some simple off-the-shelf clothing, with basic armored layers, underneath. His black shirt had the same silver "plus-sign" logo that his shoulder bag of "party favors" had on it. He has chosen a seat that faced the rest of the bar, where he could enjoy the menagerie of addiction, desperation, and indulgence that plays out in the background while the evening slips away.
Background:
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Jonathan Rizzo was wholly unremarkable until he hit puberty. It was then that his latent magical talent began to manifest itself, and the dreams began. He would be visited in the night by a woman. She showed him things, things he couldn't know, himself - things that probably would have terrified him, if she were not there - oozing charm, and guiding him, seductively, down a path he was far too young to understand. At first, Jon thought it was just a reoccurring dream. He was getting to the age where it was not uncommon for boys to dream of beautiful women. However, she visited him almost every night, and sometimes haunted him even in the day. As he matured, so did their relationship, and she became both his mentor and lover. She taught him things, of the mind, of the flesh, and of magic.
As he grew older, Jon found himself drawn to the vices of others, and, by proximity, to the darker Shadows of Seattle. Thanks to his magic, he found a comfortable niche providing service to a handful of houses-of-sin owned and operated by the mafia. He could look into a man's (or woman's) heart and see their most well-kept desires. His powers of illusion, and control of others, allowed him to bring them to life. Even their emotions were his to command, and those with the money and power to afford such luxuries paid dearly for them. It seemed that no price was too large to ease the burden of some men's souls. Of course, Jon saw only a small percentage of that action but found that the money covered his needs, and that this gave him unique opportunities to explore the vices of others. At the guidance of his mentor spirit, he dabbled it most of those vices he came across, even taking a magical oath to perform one such "ritual" as often as possible - in order to sustain his connection to Seduction, herself.
There was one such woman that he chose to satisfy his geas with, most frequently. A woman who worked at one of the pleasure-dens, named Jessica Robbins, who he felt a strong attraction to, physically and mentally. And, while no normal person would have called their relationship 'love', he began to take her on as his 'apprentice' of sorts. Over the next few years, they became very close, emotionally and spiritually - but that relationship was not meant to last.
One night, Jon had a dream where the Seductress killed Jessica. He thought little of it at first, but the following day, the house-of-sin was attacked. The mafia ran afoul of Yakuza hoping to expand their territory, and when they sent some of their men in to hit the mob while they had their pants down (figuratively and literally), Jon lost more than a comfortable job. The hit on the house-of-sin was no simple assassination. Sure, a number of mafia bosses died, but so did a lot of people who were just making a living. Jon was even caught in the cross-fire, taking a shot to the chest, and landing in a pool of his own blood. When the dust settled, his former life was in ruins, and Jessica's life was snuffed out. Jon thought he could have gone, too. He might have died there, but after he lost consciousness he saw the Seductress again, and it was the warmth of her body that brought warmth to his. When he awoke he was in agony, but managed to get away with his life.
All his magical training would have told him that this was a lesson. He could see the signs, everywhere, as he made his way out of the carnage. The seductress had taken her from him, because he had grown too attached to a single woman. Jon understood this, and yet, still blamed the Yakuza. Even in death, Jessica demanded a level of his attention - but one strong emotion was replaced by another. He wanted revenge, although he knew it was well out of his grasp. He wanted someone to pay for what was taken from him. Mostly, though, he wanted someone else to blame besides himself. He also wanted to know why it had happened. Making some friends in low places, and doing a little legwork, he was able to learn that the slaughter wasn't random. The Yakuza assassins had orders, from higher up, to make sure nobody lived. It wasn't long before his interest in their affairs brought him back to their attention, and it became clear that the Yakuza intended to finish the job they started. It was also clear that if he remained in Seattle, they would succeed.
He ditched his old life, SIN and all, and started a new one - in Denver. His contacts in the Shadows also helped hook him up with a new SIN, and put him in touch with some associates of theirs in the new city, to help him get on his feet. It was through these people that he began Running with a team of criminals for hire. While they were not particularly in need of a party-mage, the fact that he had any magical talent at all made him a valuable asset and he's managed to prove useful more often than not. He took the street-name "Vice" and found his magic could be put to less pleasurable uses.
Now, several months since the Yakuza tore apart what life he had created for himself, Vice has rebuilt some sort of a life for himself in Denver. He currently rents a loft-apartment beneath a private club known as "Lust" (one of seven clubs dotted around the UCAS sector of Denver, each with the theme of one of the Seven Deadly Sins). He has furnished the place with a number of relics, writings, art, and other objects meaningful to one who studies metahumanities vices, and has resumed a life of providing escape or release to paying customers, however, his main job is still Running with his team.
Character Sheet:
[ Spoiler ]
[410/410]
Attributes (190)
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- STR 2 (10)
- AGI 3 (20)
- BOD 3 (20)
- REA 3 (20)
- INT 3 (20)
- LOG 3 (20)
- WIL 5 (40)
- CHA 5 (40)
Special Attributes (40)
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- Edge 2 (0)
- Magic 5 (40)
Derived Attributes
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- Essence 6
- Initiative 6
- Initiative Passes 1
- Physical Damage Track 10
- Stun Damage Track 11
Karma / Advancement
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- Current Karma 0
- Total Karma 0
- Street Cred 0
- Notoriety 0
- Public Awareness 0
Positive Qualities (35)
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- Magician (15) Black Magic Tradition
- Mentor Spirit (5) Seductress +2 Illusion/Con, Will+Cha(3) to avoid vices
- Focused Concentration 1 (10) +1 drain
- First Impression (5) +2 social tests for first encounter
Negative Qualities (-35)
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- Big Regret (-5) Believes mentor spirit arranged to kill girlfriend to teach him a lesson about becoming too attached to one person. Keeps the scar on his chest where he got shot to remind him.
- Dayjob (-5) Party-Mage at Private Club (10 hours a week, $1000/mo)
- Geas (-10) Ritual, Sex
- Pacifist (-5) Avoids needless violence, will only kill in self defense
- Low Pain Tolerance (-10) Wound penalties are per 2 boxes, rather than per 3
Skills (118)
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- Spellcasting 6 (Illusion +2) (26)
- Counterspelling 4 (16)
- Summoning 3 (Spirits of Man +2) (14)
- Binding 3 (Spirits of Man +2) (14)
- Banishing 3 (12)
- Assensing 1 (Metahumans +2) (6)
- Arcana 1 (4)
- Astral Combat 1 (4)
- Artisan 1 (Dream Spell +2) (6)
- Con 1 (Seduction +2) (6)
- Negotiation 1 (Sense Motive +2) (6)
- Etiquette 1 (4)
Knowledge Skills (6x3=18)
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- Interest: Unusual Vices 4 (4)
- Street: Street Drugs 3 (3)
- Street: Prostitution Rings 1 (Seattle 3) (2)
- Street: Nightlife 1 (Seattle 3) (2)
- Street: Drug Dealers 1 (Seattle 3) (2)
- Street: Organized Crime 1 (Mafia 3) (2)
- Language: Italian 3 (3)
Spells (9x3=27)
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- Detection
- - Mind Probe (M, T, S, F/2+2)
- Health
- - Enabler (Negative) (M, T, S, F/2)
- - Intoxication (Negative) (M, T, P, F/2)
- Illusion
- - Agony (M, LOS, S, F/2-2)
- - Orgasm (M, LOS, S, F/2-2)
- - - Orgy (M, LOS(A), S, F/2)
- - Dream (M, LOS, S, F/2-1)
- Manipulation
- - Control Emotions (M, LOS, S, F/2)
- - - Mob Mood (M, LOS(A), S, F/2+2)
Gear (4 = 19,995 / 20,000):
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- Low Lifestyle (2,000)
- - Comforts (Low, 2)
- - Entertainment (Low, 2)
- - Necessities (Low, 2)
- - Neighborhood (Low, 2)
- - Security (Low, 2)
- - Positive Qualities
- - - Workplace (+1) - A large amount of space, mostly occupied by his magical lodge
- - Negative Qualities
- - - Worse Neighbors (-1) - prostitutes and drug dealers work in and around the club above his apartment
- Magical Lodge (Rating 6, 3,000)
- - Summoning Materials for a Force 5 spirit of Man (2,500)
- Fake SIN, Rating 4 (4,000) "Cross Moretti"
- - Fake Spellcasting License, Rating 4 (400)
- Total Armor [8/3] [1,750]
- - Armored Clothing [4/0] (500)
- - Form-Fitting Body-Armor, Half-Suit [4/1] (900)
- - Forearm Guards [+0/+1] (200)
- - Shin Guards [+0/+1] (150)
- Commlink [600]
- Disposable Commlink (300)
- - Hot-Sim-Modified Simmodule (250)
- - Trodes, Headband (50)
- "Party Favors" [5745]
- False-Bottomed Attache Case (300)
- - Medkit, Rating 6 (600) [not-hidden]
- - - Medkit Supplies (50) [not-hidden]
- - 10 Stim Patches, Rating 6 (1500) [not-hidden]
- - 6 Tranq Patches, Rating 6 (720) [not-hidden]
- - BTL Dreamchips x10 (200) [hidden]
- - BTL Moodchips x20 (400) [hidden]
- - BTL Personafix x10 (200) [hidden]
- - BTL Tripchips x10 (200) [hidden]
- - Aisa x20 (300) [hidden]
- - eX x15 (150) [hidden]
- - Eros x 20 (200) [hidden]
- - Galek x10 (250) [hidden]
- - eX + Galek (speedball) x5 (175) [hidden]
- - Red Mescaline x10 (500) [hidden]
Contacts (11+10 free)
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- C3/L2 - "Madame L." (Owner of the Private Club "Lust", runs a prostitution ring out of it - reasonably connected in the Shadows)
- C2/L3 - "Beetle Betty" (BTL and Street-Drug Dealer, frequents the club, Lust - has sold to Vice in the past, but it is pretty much just a business relationship)
- C3/L2 - "Gaston" (Talismonger. Deals mostly in Hermetic tradition stuff, but has been able to get some Black Magic tradition specific materials, when Vice needed them. Has an awakened drug habit.)
- C2/L4 - "(De)Monica" (Gothy aspiring Black Magician - into some darker stuff than Vice is, but kinky stuff too so he stays friends-with-benefits - but tries not to get drawn into most of her magical "research")
Spirits (10 BP)
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- Spirit of Air, Force 5, Optional Power (Elemental Attack: Lightning), Tasks 2 (2)
- Spirit of Man, Force 5, Optional Power (Fear), Tasks 2 (2)
- Spirit of Water, Force 5, Optional Power (Elemental Attack: Cold), Tasks 2 (2)
- Spirit of Man, Force 5, Optional Power (Innate Spell: Orgy), Tasks 2 (2)
- Spirit of Man, Force 5, Optional Power (Innate Spell: Agony), Tasks 2 (2)