Players and Characters: -
EPIC Guardian
flynarrel Semilla
Nareik123 Inferno
FuzzyBoots Buzz
CelticREI Chimera
poodle Technomancer
Interlude
End of Interlude
Mayhem at the Maracena Arc
The last rays of the setting sun tear red-gold shreds across the sky. Offshore the Three Angels islands glitter in the final light of the day. Along the Strip families and young teens finish their shopping and strolling and prepare to head home. The shops and malls lining the four-lane street are making their last sales of the day before the 9pm closing time, while bars and popular restaurants are gearing up for what looks likely to be a good evening.
The air is pleasantly warm, with a gentle sea breeze that assists the last windsurfers into the long North Beach, and sways the tall palm trees along the Strip. Slow-moving traffic moves up the Strip, guys in flash cars cruising, ogling and calling to the pretty girls that stroll the pavements. Groups of friends, many still brushing the golden sands of the beach off their board shorts and casual shirts, stroll along, chatting and enjoying the atmosphere.
Next to the Plaza Grande Mall, the fabulous Maracena Club shines like a diamond next to a string of pearls. Already it’s rooftop bar is nearly full, with well-dressed revellers enjoying themselves. Yet something jars your senses. Down on the street, crazed-looking patrons are noisily spilling out of the club, mingling with passers-by, running into the street holding up traffic, and starting fights. A few police are trying to bring the situation under control, but there are too many people going wild.
Layout
The Plaza Grande Mall is Toledo’s premier mall, large, and filled with shops like Hermes, Hugo Boss, Givenchy, Cartier as well as an upmarket department store. It’s the kind of mall where you can see – and buy - a Ferrari, Porsche or Lamborghini, or spend several thousand dollars on a handbag or a pair of shoes. The Plaza Grande is on the East side of the Strip, not far from ‘The Strip’ TRT SkyRail station. Six stories high, it’s a bit of a landmark in this part of the Strip.
The Maracena
Just north of the mall is the Maracena Club. It too is large, boasting three restaurants, four bars and four individually themed dancefloors. It is licensed for some 800 patrons, and caters to a fairly wealthy clientele. The main entrance is in the middle of the front lining the Strip, with emergency exits at each end. The Club is about 60 meters long and goes back from the Strip about 75 meters. The Maracena is two stories high, with a rooftop restaurant and a bar lining much of the Strip frontage.
To the north of the Maracena is the ‘Beach Food Concourse’, a small mall containing cheap restaurants and fast-food outlets.
The Western (sea) side of the Strip has been zoned as low-rise entertainment and retail. All the buildings along the beachfront are one or two floors, and there are regularly spaced beach accessways with small carparks. These are popular places for people to park their car and go for a swim, sunbathe, or just watch the ocean. Each has spaces for a dozen cars, and some have public toilets and beach showers. This side of the Strip has many classy boutiques, restaurants and bars that have fantastic sea views.
Down the middle of the Strip is a traffic island, about 10 feet width of grass planted with palm trees and flower beds at regular intervals.
What you first notice:-
Outside the Maracena there is a general atmosphere of increasing chaos and wild behaviour. The air is being filled with wild laughter, angry voices, shouts and the sounds of breaking glass mingled with frustrated car horns tooting. At least forty to fifty people are in the vicinity of the club, with more spilling out of its three exits onto the broad pavement edging the Strip. Lots is going on, but a number of things catch your immediate attention.
- A large man in a bright green and pink Hawaiian shirt is somehow managing to tear a sign post out of the ground, out in front of the Maracena.
- At the northern end of the club three young women in party dresses are wrestling with a seven foot tall chicken.
- A young man is climbing one of the tall palm trees on the traffic island. A couple of his friends are egging him on.
- A lone cop halfway up from the main entrance is being confronted by a group of aggressive clubbers, some still clutching drinks.
- One of the glass doors in the main entrance is broken, and there is a pool of blood on the ground near it. Unaware, people coming out of the club are stepping in the blood and tracking it around as they mill about.
- Two women are arguing loudly near the Plaza Grande. A small child is screaming in a stroller.
GM note: You can begin by describing where you are in the immediate area, and what you first do. You might have noticed all or most of the above things going on, some of them, or only one, depending on where you are – up to you. It’s also possible that you might have seen / heard of / have an acquaintance with some of the other PCs. I’ll leave that for you to decide with each other and roleplay as the scene progresses.
