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Places to Go, People to See is a regular feature containing both Non-Player
Characters and Locations, with an emphasis on background. Submissions
to Places to Go, People to See should be made by following the submission
guidelines at This installment of Places to Go, People to See contains some New Orleans based resources from Brian Downes [bwdownes@bellsouth.net], and several generic NPC archtypes from John Rittershofer [antikrist669@hotmail.com], with additions by Adam Jury [adamj@dumpshock.com]. People Marceau Marceau-pronounced Mar-so-is a Sukuyan (Caribbean Vampire) and a talismonger in New Orleans. He has a suite of rooms overlooking Canal Street in the Central Business District, where he sees clients by appointment. Appointments are always held after dark. Although the rooms are elegantly furnished, more like a home than an office, Marceau does not live there. Marceau is a debonair man with a thin coffee complexion and sharp features. He is urbane and witty, if a little taciturn. In business he is the soul of graciousness. While he makes quite a living exclusively as a talismonger, fearful rumors swirl of other less savory activities: organlegging, peddling of magical influence, and the occasional magical curse are all practices that Marceau is whispered to engage in. Marceau has great negotiation skills, and there are few magicians or magical goings-on in the Big Easy that he is not aware of. Marceau is himself a hermetic mage. Marceau's thrall, Sampson Moon, a thick-necked human with a shaved head, serves as the talismonger's major-domo and bodyguard. He looks like he can twist the head off a cat, and probably has done so before.
Mordred Fisht is an adept who follows the Path of the Magician as an idolator of the Adversary. He was born on Halloween in 2029. Proud, condescending, sharp-witted, independent and self-serving, he still manages to be fairly popular because he's just so honest about who he is. He burned up all his luck in Miami, then New York. Older and a little more cunning, he's become a citizen of the world. A planner and plotter, Fisht makes a dangerous and implacable enemy as well as a staunch and reliable ally, because he can always be relied upon to act in his own best interests. In 2059, Fisht launched his most ambitious project. Under the umbrella of Transnational Logistics, a shell company, he began opening a far-flung series of bars and clubs: The Space, a dance club in Berlin; International Waters, a bar and grill overlooking Kemp's Bay in the Bahamas; The Vortex Chamber, a very small dance club in Seattle; and The Pacific Stop-Over, a bar and grill in Manila. Fisht makes money on the side by smuggling anyone who can afford his price from one of his clubs to another, under cover of being an employee or consultant for Transnational Logistics. So if you need a no-questions-asked route from the German Federation to the Philippines, Fisht is the man to talk to. He's always looking to open another bar in another strategically important place, and he hires runners to expedite his various operations. Places Hyacinth House, New Orleans
The Hyacinth House is a big, four-story colonial-style house built in 1910. When the original owner died of influenza in 1918, the building was sold and converted to its modern purpose. The first floor is given over to dining, the bar, and owner Ferris' office. There are four bedrooms each on the second and third floors, and the attic is divided into two lofts. Dinner before wine costs 25 to one 100 nuyen a plate. The dining room is large and softly lit by electric chandeliers. Rooms run 200 to 350 nuyen a night. The bar and dining room are popular hangouts for New Orleans shadowsceners. Krewe members, shadowrunners, fixers and musicians all eat and drink at the Hyacinth. The gracious club atmosphere prohibits violence inside. Police are generally not welcome, but there are certain NOPS detectives who make a point of raucously occupying a table for a few hours now and then, as a statement. The ghost of a woman has been seen on the second floor. In 1923, Elizabeth Georgia Sherman stayed at the Hyacinth for six months while estranged from her husband Edward. In that time she maintained two lovers, one of whom had a key to her room. One afternoon, coming back from a failed reconciliation attempt with her husband, she found her lover William in the hotel room bed with a woman from the Quarter named Cire. In a confused scene, the woman from the Quarter was shot; she later lost her left leg. Elizabeth ran to the third floor and fell out a window. She broke her back on the pavement below and died two days later. In the two days she lay dying she never spoke a word, but was faithfully attended by her other lover, Giorgio. She had no other visitors. A week after she died, William's body was found floating in the river, stabbed to death. Giorgio joined the priesthood and left New Orleans. For ten years, until her death, Cire was the only prostitute in the Quarter with a wooden leg. The included news story appeared in the New Orleans Time-Picayune on 12/12/60, and mentions the well-known hotel. Although neighbors identified the exotic luxury sedan as one they had seen at the Hyacinth House many times, no employee of the popular gathering place claimed to have seen it before. Hyacinth House was in the news again in November of 2059 when the body of elf Harold Kites, a New Orleans talismonger and occult scholar, was found in a nearby alley, nearly beheaded. Kites had been known to eat at the Hyacinth. There was no evidence of robbery, and the crime was never solved. Archetypes BTL Dealer The BTL Dealer is thought of as a sick and low person, preying on the
weak and easily addicted, and in some respects this is true, but anyone
who has ever worked with him knows that he's got more connections on the
streets than your average Johnson. From fellow BTL dealers to Mafia hitmen,
he's lived on the streets most of his life and has the scars to prove
it. He can get you out of a pinch quick, and he can get you in touch with
other street people who may have different goods to peddle... for a price. |
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Attributes
INIT: 1D6 + 2 |
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Active Skills
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Knowledge Skills
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Cyberware Datajack Gear Browning Max Power Add other Skills, Cyberware, and Gear as you feel appropriate. |
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Plot Hooks 1. This particular BTL Dealer has been one of your contacts and a party pal for a long time now. He's started sampling the merchandise a little more lately, and sales have dropped because he's spending less time peddling and more time slotting. His suppliers are beginning to get antsy and are looking at cutting off his supply. He's done you favours in the past, now he needs your help-keep him clean and help him work his way out of the drug trade. 2. A new dealer has moved into the area that a couple of the runners live in. Now, it's not the nicest of neighborhoods to start with, but it's yours-and this guy isn't sharing the space nicely. Not only has he dragged even more of a criminal element to the area, but that criminal element is forcing Lone Star to take a closer look at the neighborhood. Getting this guy out will let the runners sleep easier at night, and might even get them in good favor at the Star. However, it might anger the Triads that the dealer is selling for... can the runners clean the local streets without bringing the authorities or the Triad down on themselves?
An invaluable contact to riggers and other mechanically inclined characters, the Junkyard Scrounger has the latest scoop on what's available and at which junkyard. Inside the junkyard they know where everything can be found, from a few feet of cable to a used part for your newest drone. They're usually no slouch when it comes to repairing stuff either, from bikes and cars to basic construction tasks. Attributes
INIT: 1D6 + 3 Active Skills
Two other B/R Skills, ratings 2 and 3. Knowledge Skills
Add other Skills, Cyberware, and Gear as you feel appropriate. Note: A Junkyard Scrounger may give up information for very little, such as a free meal or a few nuyen, if they trust you and have dealt with you before. If this is the case, use the normal formula for finding cost of info (p. 254, Shadowrun Third Edition) but multiply your successes in the Etiquette test by two. Plot Hooks 2. Your friendly local scrounger has been coming into some heat lately-twice his doss has been shot up and he's been forced to go into hiding. At his request you go to his place to pick up a bunch of stuff that he left behind, but it's been ransacked. Three days later, he's dead. What did he stumble into, and who killed him over it? |
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Mordred
Fisht
Junkyard
Scrounger