Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
ShortQuests -- Pocket Sized Adventures! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed for 1-2 game sessions.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Golden Bee" data-source="post: 9867982" data-attributes="member: 7041055">Only a Scheme in RioTá de sacanagem?  Que isso?New readers ask: <a href="https://www.tumblr.com/theultrablog/783354223778742272/pulp-storytime-who-are-you-people" target="_blank">Who are you people?!</a>A dreary February in New Orleans. The place to be is the Astor Home for Sun-Kissed Girls, where all day, the party prepares a party. JP Diamond puts in long hours running background checks on every last caterer. Lawyer  Tácito Uriel Velasco makes sure the police aren't going to shut down the shindig (and is surprised when they send not only a security detail but a donation). Detective Zelda Saeki helps decorate, butler Aldous Bingen handles parking and logistics, and actress Lala Santinella casts herself as the goddess Columbia in the orphans’ play. (She spends plenty of time running lines with her adopted daughter Devika, who plays the evil Mr. Plutarch.)The play goes merely fine (which frustrates theatre impresario Brooks Belasco, who wrote it and did the lights). The ZSSers hobnob warily, but their suspicions are for naught: the night goes off without a hitch. There is an odd donation envelope though: two invitations, one in Japanese, one in Italian, to Carnivale in Rio.Tácito suspects the invites are a ploy by Edwina Sharpe, gorgeous personal lawyer of the Sinister Skull. He's right: she confirms it during a "not a date" at the Café Du Mond. As a stickler for justice, he also refuses a sizable cash donation from her "mysterious employer."JP and Zelda head to the pool at the Young Men’s Christian Association, paying off local stoolpigeon Jinx Jenkins. JP barely avoids falling in (thanks to Zelda's quick rescue), but she's not allowed where Jinx wants to flap gums: the men's locker room. Instead, she's cornered by flirty faux-airhead Lorna Geary; Lorna confirms Zelda’s hunch that the Skull wants them to play spoiler to a potential Fascist collaboration. JP tells puts word out that if the ZSS does it, The Skull will have his full attention, and the gangster’d better pull up stakes and head to another city. Ballsy.Elsewhere, Lala calls her travel agent and, at her daughter Devi’s insistence, splurges for the penthouse at the Copacabana Palace Hotel. (Lala notes that the cost is slightly more than the fundraiser raised!)The adventurous six head to Brazil, roughing it through local flights to avoid being detected by whoever they're supposed to surveil. Butler Aldous is a master of discretion, and is so organized that he's aided by the Copa Palace’s manager, Mr. Nogalez! Nogalez doesn't know much about espionage, but he does run a tight ship, reminding our group that hanky-panky and horseplay are are -strictly- forbidden.The group doesn't have much time to enjoy the sunny city before getting down to business. [ATTACH=full]430692[/ATTACH]Lala and Aldous use their Hollywood expertise to craft top-notch disguises covered in jewels and feathers. JP Diamond is relieved he's finally in a place where having a parrot on his shoulder is considered unremarkable!His efforts to suss out the conspiracy lead nowhere. Seems that every lobby has someone suspiciously reading a newspaper, or a group of people whispering behind their hands, people rushing into telephone booths…Aldous tries to blend into the workings of the hotel, when he runs smack dab into Yoji Sanada, General Saeki’s personal bodyguard!(Loyal readers will remember that the Sinister Skull’s top henchmen, Mr. Black and Mr. Blue, died due to the actions of his rival, General Saeki. The scarred menace, formerly a member of Japanese intelligence, swore revenge!)While Mr. Bingen is an excellent judge of character, he's not a good liar, and lets slip that Zelda, Yoji’s fiancée, is in town as well…The group tries to counter surveillance by splitting up. Lala, Devi and Aldous head to the marina, where they run into Lala's childhood friend, Stefanie Nardozi. Which wouldn't be a problem, except she’s still a spy working for OVRA, the Italian secret police. She's accompanied by a man, at least 7 feet tall, in a fuzzy wolf costume. Strange. Giulia and Stefi try to catch up, but it’s frigid; espionage comes before friendship.JP and Tácito investigate the hotel, finding a familiar handbill: Zita and Dr. Freund, past life regressionists! The lawyer recalls their previous encounter, where the father-daughter charlatans revealed his ancient love affair with the ancient (and undying) queen Nitocris. Unwilling to wait in line, JP&TUV spread the rumor that Rita Hayworth was spotted at the pool. The line dissipates. One quick bribe later, they find out what the fraudsters know: there's an Italian agent going around with a wolf who speaks in a German accent. JP, who's read his case files, has a cold sweat.Yoji Sanada has a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist, and Zelda intends to find out why. She looks up his fake name in the hotel registry, and knocks on the door. He looks at the keyhole and opens it, despite only wearing a towel. Zelda, shy and nerdy, tell him to get dressed, then appeals to his sense of patriotism to let her look in the briefcase. Sanada, having misread the situation, buckles and reveals what's for sale: Information on General Saeki's efforts to transform Chinese prisoners into animal soldiers.The group reconvenes over dinner, with Devi zinging Zelda forHer mother shushes her.  Tácito pores over tourism guides, and proves that the cash-for-docs trade will happen the next morning at the foot of the recently built Christ the Redeemer statue. The group vows to scuttle the exchange.***On the way up, JP catches a pickpocket and wrangles him into the group’s scheme. Using Lala's distractions, the party is able to switch out the materiel for old newspapers.They set a position at the base of the statue, and wait as all the groups arrive: Nardozi and the wolf, the General and his Marines, and a squad of Brazilian nazis.The betrayals come quickly. The wolf is actually mechanical super-nazi Klaus Adler. The General has no plan of releasing his plans; he just wants the money. Everyone wants to kill everyone, except for Klaus, who specifically wants to kill JP. (Diamond’s wife, after blowing up a zeppelin factory and a base in the Hollow Earth, is Nazi enemy number one.) The WW1 vet tries to bumrush Klaus off the mountain, severely underestimating his foe’s mechanical strength.Sanada berates Lala, causing her mental anguish as he points out all the ways that she is responsible for this situation. He takes out his katana, but he’s grabbed and held fast by his own shadow! Stefani might not have brought backup, but she didn't need to; her magic necklace is a lifeline against betrayal.Klaus strangles Diamond, and then hurls him against the statue. Der uberman weighs nearly 1000 pounds, and he throws his weight around, pulverizing the ankles of the soapstone Savior.General Saeki tries to slice up Bingen, and nearly punctures the former pentathlete. Zelda intercedes, and her father, furious at her insubordination, forbids her marrying he feckless Yoji, ever.Klaus, a bully at heart, begins crushing Stefani’s larynx. She nearly dies before Lala tricks the Teuton into seeking cover from nonexistence OVRA reinforcements.Unfortunately, by this time, Klaus’s destabilized the statue. Tácito, prison veteran, gives Stefani emergency care, so she can use her amulet to stop the statue from falling on everyone!Yoji, pushed beyond the breaking point, turns his sword against the General, catching him with a slash across the shoulder! He stays close in melee, so the marines can't get a clean shot off on him. Instead, the Japanese detachment focuses fire and obliterates the local goose-steppers.Aldous, a consummate chauffeur, prepares the railcar to descend the mountain. JP picks up Nardozi and runs her to the train. Zelda grabs Yoji and retreats as well.Our heroes and their allies retreat, the trade scuttled. Once they reach the bottom of the mountain, there will be plenty of crowds to blend into…***At a nearby hospital, Stefi wakes up from surgery, but refuses Lala's suggestion that she betray Italy. She increases her morphine drip to send herself into unconsciousness instead of answering uncomfortable questions.***At the Copa Palace, Zita knocks on Tácito's door. This time, he's happy to fall under her spell…***Downstairs, Aldous addresses the hotel staff, giving them what he thinks is a heartfelt speech on the importance of a life in service. At the end, a bellboy asks why they should listen to him, he's Argentine.***In New Orleans, Josiah P Diamond is summoned into the back room of his favorite bar. Sitting in near darkness, elated, is his longtime nemesis, the Sinister Skull.The Skull is happy to decamp to Baton Rouge. Of course, it will take time to make sure his rackets aren’t just taken over by Two-Tone Brophy, or the O’Rourkes, or “Joey Five Angels” Pentagelo…Diamond realizes he’s gotten himself out of the frying pan and made himself head chef.</blockquote>

Verification