Session One: The Pick-Up
Karen Frost isn’t like most 19 year olds her age. While most young ladies are getting ready for university or fawning over their latest boy toy, she’s been honing her skills as a break-and-enter specialist. Her given name is Karina Gagliana; she’s a half-italian tomboy who wants to live life on the edge. Even though her mother’s tried to steer her away from her father’s legacy in the mob, she’s found it far too fascinating to ignore. It may have gotten her Pop killed before she can even remember, but she’s drawn towards it like a moth to the flame.
After moving from Albany to the heart of New York City, she gets in contact with Claudio Vercoletti. On the surface, he owns the ‘Parmesan Street Café’. Underneath the restaurant business, he helps the Italian mob move merchandise and organize “jobs”. When Karen gets a good word from her nephew Tony, Claudio decides he’ll test her out and see if she’s trustworthy enough to work for him. She’s given a simple mission:
"Wait for a bike courier to arrive the alley beside the 10th Street Bakery during lunchtime the next day and pick up a package from him. Make sure you’re not followed, then bring it to the Café."
Excited at the chance to get her foot in the door, Karen heads to her day job. Her schedule is quite flexible and she never worries about whether she’s late or not. Karen works at a used bookstore called ‘Dog-Eared Pages’. The owner is an eccentric fellow named Sedrick VanKlouten. He waxes philosophical while overwhelming her with trivial facts about world history. Absent-minded, yet intelligent, he holds a kind of genius beneath his bizarre exterior. As she helps him reorganize the store stock, he insists that she read a new book that he’s found. The book is a strange hardcover called ‘Properties of Universal Truths’ by M. Coralsmythe. When she flips it open, it seems to be filled with all kinds of disjointed words, arranged seemingly at random throughout the pages. When she asks him how she’s supposed to read it, he just laughs and changes the subject.
Getting home after work, there’s a message from a friend of hers called Buzzard. Buzzard is lanky large-nosed fence who runs a pawnshop called ‘Pawns, Rooks and Drag Queens’ near Hell’s Kitchen. He’s got some new butterfly knives that he thought would interest her and a favor to ask as well. It seems a Haitian gang is trying to force him to take merchandise he considers too hot to touch, and they don’t want to take ‘no’ for an answer. He’s heard that she’s got mafia ties and is hoping he can get some ‘protection’ for his shop. She lets him know that it’s a possibility, but isn’t making any promises.
Buzzard also asks her if Karen has any drug ties. He’s looking for a rare drug called ‘Viperous’ that’s selling for thousands of dollars a hit. He thinks it’s a quick way to some fast cash and is disappointed when she tells him that drugs aren’t part of her criminal repertoire.
Waking up early the next day, she heads to the pick-up location on her motorcycle. She sees the bike courier, parks her bike and walks around the block to casually intercept him. The only problem is, when she gets there, he’s gone. Quickly looking down into the alleyway, she sees a hooded figure in army boots and khakis leaning over the fallen courier. The mysterious figure’s hands are covered with gloves and she can’t make out his face in the shadows. Drawing her gun, she tells him to slowly step away. The figure dashes off with incredible speed and leaps almost ten feet up to climb a fence at the end of the alleyway.
When she checks the courier, he’s more than slightly dead. His lower jaw is ripped from his face and his tongue is missing. Gagging at the sight, she looks away while checking his jacket. Luckily, the package is still there. Running from the scene, she grabs her bike and heads out on a round-about route to ensure she isn’t being followed. When she stops for a coffee on the way, she sees the hooded figure across the street, watching her. Heavily spooked, she runs to her bike and tries to lose him in traffic. The figure leaps an incredible distance and she narrowly swerves out of the way, sending him crashing into a nearby car. The figure reaches out to grab the bike, but only manages to snag her license plate off before she speeds away. Calling the Café, she receives directions to a nearby grocery that has ties to the mob. With the right key word, the owner there will help to hide her from whoever is following.
When she gets there, the mysterious figure is close behind. Dashing into the grocery, the owner draws a pistol and tries to fight off whoever, or whatever is after her. After some chaos, she escapes out the back door to a car sent by the mob to pick her up. She tries to calm down while explaining the weird events to them. She’s told to lay low and keep her face off the street while they look into it.
The next few days are simple: putting in time at the bookstore and watching her back to and from work. As the session ends, she arrives home after another shift only to find her crumpled license plate in the foyer of her apartment building. Whoever tried to get her before now knows where she lives.
It looks like the simple pick-up has gotten her involved in something far beyond anything she could have imagined...
