Jack Spade

From Gothpoodle

Gambler and Private Investigator

A player character.

Description

Looks like a three-dimension version of a Jack of Spades.

Mask

A man in his early to mid thirties, brown hair, hazel eyes, average height.

Storytelling Hints

None.

Stats

• Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 3, Resolve 2
• Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 4 (9-again for 1 Glamour), Stamina 2
• Social Attributes: Presence 1 (no 10-again), Manipulation 3, Composure 2
• Mental Skills: Academics 1, Crafts 1, Investigation (Interviews) 3.
• Physical Skills: Athletics 1, Brawl (Two-Fisted) 2, Drive 1, Firearms 2, Larceny 1, Stealth (Blend In) 2.
• Social Skills: Expression 1, Intimidation 2, Persuasion (Fast Talk) 1, Socialize 1, Streetwise 1, Subterfuge 2.
• Merits: Eidetic Memory 2, Fighting Style (Combat Marksmanship) 3, Resources 1, Quick Draw 1.

Advantages

• Willpower: 4
• Health: 7
• Initiative: 6
• Defense: 3
• Armor: 0
• Speed: 11

Changeling Traits

• Clarity: 7
• Wyrd: 2
• Glamour/per Turn: 11/2
• Contracts: Dream 2, Forge 2, Vainglory 1.
• Pledges: None.

Weaknesses

• Flaws: Anachronism.
• Derangements: None
• Frailties: None

Equipment

None.

Background

Mortal Life

Jack Spade was born Robert Smith in 1925 to a working class family in Southern California. Graduated from High School, got a job at a department store, married his high school sweetheart. in 1943 he was drafted into the US army and served as an infantryman in the pacific theater. He returned home shell-shocked in 1945, took to drink and found his marriage rapidly dissolving. In 1946 he left his wife by mutual consent and moved to Las Vegas to establish residency for a quick divorce.

While in Las Vegas he took the LVPD exam and found that he took well to the work. Jack was no more corrupt than was minimally necessary to serve as a policeman during the Bugsy Siegel/Meyer Lansky period of Las Vegas history. He kept the peace and looked out for what he regarded as the 'little guy' as best he could. During this period, enabled partially by the casino chip "tips" officers were afforded for their discretion, he developed a significant gambling habit and strong sense of envy for the Caligulan lifestyles of the Vegas upper crust.

In 1952 he made detective and worked the Vegas vice unit, a department largely devoted to protecting the Vegas Mob's monopoly on vice, and segregating it from "good neighborhoods and families". In 1955 he was brought in on the investigation of the murder of a pair of Mexican prostitutes. He traced the killings back to a low level Siegel enforcer named Hymen Rabinowitz whom he beat and arrested, foregoing the customary discussion with his superiors regarding protected men. The Siegel Mob pulled strings to have the Clark County DA present an inadequate case to the Grand Jury, leading to a dismissal of the indictment, and Jack quit the force in disgust. His superiors intervened to prevent retaliation from Rabinowitz, though he avoided the Flamingo thereafter.

Jack opened a private detective agency and ecked out a living from a mix of referrals from his friends still on the force and from stalking spouses in Vegas to establish residency on behalf of their out of state partners (providing evidence of adultery was legally advantageous to the out of state spouse.)

Jack's drinking and gambling grew increasingly severe through the rest of the 1950s and he often lived well above his means socializing with crooners, boxers and assorted high rollers. In 1958, on the verge of destitution, Jack was approached by a man who claimed to be the Devil. Half joking, half hopeful he agreed to trade his soul in exchange for 2 years of high living as the luckiest gambler in Nevada. He spent two liquor-fueled, sex-drenched years as a well known man about town, winning big often enough to support his lifestyle, but maintaining enough discretion to avoid arrest or assault.

Durance

The Devil came for Jack on Christmas Day, 1960 and brought him to the Arcadian Palace of Our Lady of the Cards. He spent his time in Arcadia as alternatively flesh and paper, used for enforcement, gambling and occasionally divination, along with his 51 compatriots. Every once in a while one of the deck would displease the Lady of the Realm and she would burn the errant card and purchase a replacement from the Devil. Hymen Rabinowitz was incorporated as the Ace of Clubs sometime during the 1960s, having apparently made a Faustian pact of his own to avoid a second indictment in a less forgiving jurisdiction.

In 2008 the Lady's realm was laid siege to by a rival Fae lord and his collection of living Tarot cards. His captor apparently slain or driven off, Jack tricked the Knight of Swords into playing a game of cards with him, staking Jack's freedom against the location of his mistress' gold, respectively.

Changeling Life

To be determined.