Brian Campo (briancampo) wrote in birthrightrpg, @ 2020-10-05 12:00:00 |
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Entry tags: | brian campo, gabe santorini, james hutchins, nesryn rowan, shimmer |
Must Be October
Who: Brian, James, Nesryn, Shimmer, Gabe
What: Conversation, Pool, 1/2 Price Beer, Sausage, and Pretzels
When: After Sunset
Where: Lucky’s Saloon, Searchlight
Ratings: Low
About an hour after sunset at Lucky's, a light crowd had started coming in to drink beer, feed a few slots, and shoot pool. There wasn't any live music on the schedule, so the mood was casual, but the half-price Oktoberfest brews, sausages, and soft pretzels were a draw.
Brian and James stood in front of the newest acquisition in the saloon's limited selection of electronic gambling machines. Both men had their arms crossed, their heads cocked in varying degrees of confusion. The game was emblazoned with the words ‘the Sorceress’ and ‘gamble if you dare!’ It was roughly the size of an arcade game and featured a cartoon image of a purple-clothed witch at the top, a coin slot, and a tray for receiving one’s prize. The witch's eyes shone like diamonds. It was sandwiched between the slot machines.
James broke first. “What the hell is this?”
Brian shook his head. “I don’t know, man. It showed up yesterday. We loaded it on an appliance dolly and took it out back, and it was right back here this morning.” He lifted his shoulders in the black Lucky’s tee. A beard had started up on his jaw during the full moon and he hadn't bothered to shave it yet.
“What’s it do?” James asked. He leaned closer and searched the illustrations on the machine for any recognizable occult symbolism. There was an unusual design on the cartoon witch’s necklace which he mentally marked as suspect. Then he squatted and looked into the tray.
Brian fished a token out of his jeans pocket, fed the machine, and pressed a button. The display lit up and the machine's sound effects shifted from an atmospheric wind into a loop that included a cauldron bubbling, the squawk of a bird, and a woman’s voice mumbling incomprehensibly. As it spit a piece of cardstock into the tray, she cackled. Brian looked down at his acquaintance. “I’m sorry. That’s culturally insensitive.”
“Little bit.” James watched Brian reach into the tray and retrieve the white card with two fingers. The magic user stood back up. He thought about taking the card from Brian and reading it to himself, but whatever magic might or might not be engaged in this machine, it was probably designed to hone in on the person who fed a token into it.
Brian held it up and examined the black script. “This one says to read the incantation, then turn around three times and blow on the card. You know Latin, right?” He looked to James for confirmation. "Fac mihi parens. What's that mean?"
James ripped the card out of his fingers and balled it up. “Nope.” He slapped a hand on Brian’s back. “No more gambling for you.”
Newly worried, Brian muttered, “Dude... I’ve got three more of these in my office. Do I need to freak out?”
“You’ll be fine, long as you didn’t do the actions.” James leaned closer to murmur, “You didn’t, did you?”
“No.” Brian shook his head. “No! I’m not a complete idiot. I don’t know what to do, though. Word’s getting out about this thing. Six people have used it already.” He taped a paper ‘out of order’ sign on the coin slot, like that would work when the machine was flashing those 'come hither' eyes at the patrons. “I might pour cement in the tray.”
James got out his cell phone and took a picture of the witch’s necklace. He asked, “Have you tried unplugging it?”
The werewolf started walking backwards towards the bar. “It doesn’t have a plug. Come on, let me get you a beer.”
[OOC Note: Post a new comment to start a sub-thread. Put your character's name + who they'd like to interact with in the subject. Can be both or either.]