Vampire the Masquerade V5 - Session Fifteen - Becoming Baron (Part Two)

I'm currently running a Vampire the Masquerade chronicle using the 5th Edition rule-set for a small group of fellow role-players. These are the chronicles of their adventures.

Our campaign is set in Los Angeles and features a small group of Camarilla agents sent into the 'Free States' to search for ways to once again bring the Ivory Tower to dominance under the pretence of being disillusioned neonates looking for the freedom of the Anarch way of life. Having made a few allies unsuspecting of their greater goal they have decided that in order to gain influence they need to acquire a barony of their own.

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The now obligatory warning bit - Unlike my other RPG write-ups this one will contain swearing, sexual references and other references that might offend. If you can't tell the difference between real peoples opinions and grown-ups role-playing predators who crave blood then this probably won't be for you. I've also used actual photographs to represent some characters which I'll give acknowledgements to at the end if I've any idea who they are.
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The introduction to this campaign, the first story and all the other parts can be found at the following links and are in chronological order...
'Infiltrate LA' Chronicle
Welcome to L.A. - Introductory Session
Story One - 'Three Murders' - Part One, Two, Three, Four and Five
Interlude Session - One
Story Two - 'The Pasadena Problem' - Part One, Two, Three, Four
Solo Session - 'The Neillson Library'
Story Two Continued- 'The Pasadena Problem' - Part Five, Six, Seven and Eight
Story Three - 'Becoming Baron' - Part One

The PC's

Phil as Michael Tomassio - Toreador
and Hope Romero - Gangrel
Tom as Johnny 'Roach' West - Malkavian
Matt as Dr Daniel Matthews - Banu Haqim

Dave as Vincent 'Vin' Ghast - Brujah

The player characters stats and backgrounds can be found HERE should any-one be interested.

As I have written out introductions and dialogue for certain NPC's and some location descriptions I'll post these more or less as I wrote them so they'll be in a 'reading to the group' style and they'll also be in blue so you can tell them apart from the more traditional write-up sections and occasionally an obscure Malkavian premonition will turn up in purple. If I think something needs a bit of out of character explanation then those will get a storytellers note that will helpfully be in red...

Introduction

Mariel St John - Ventrue
Harpy

Mariel St John, adopted childe of Louis Fortier has been driven to seek out the coterie for aid due to the machinations of the Autarkis Gangrel Marius leaving her with no other options just as he and they intended.

The matter she needs resolving involves a close acquaintance who would be ruined should her naivety and poor judgement be revealed and this loss of status would no doubt spread to the newly elevated Mariel who has no intention of moving back to fourth place in the Fortier hierarchy.

The coterie has therefore offered to investigate and eliminate three suspected Sabbat infiltrators of Los Angeles in order to prevent the apparently innocent involvement of her Toreador friend Sophia Bartholomew coming to light. In return she will lend her political weight as representative of the Baron of Downtown Louis Fortier to legitimise their claim to the barony of Pasadena when they attempt to do so at the upcoming Rant.

Scene Five - Recon

Those of the party with the most experience of stealth were the Banu Haqim Daniel and the Malkavian 'Roach' who both had varying levels of skill in the vampiric discipline of Obfuscate. 'Vin' had some abilities of his own in that area but these were more mundane skills gained while stalking prey. The Toreador Michael was ill equipped for this sort of job so it was decided that he would stay in the vehicle and enable them to make a quick getaway should it become necessary.

The old Farmhouse which was their target location was to the North and West of LA in the Simi Valley which though considered 'The Barony of Simi Valley' actually only had a kindred population of two, or had up until recently. The approach to the moderate sized farm complex had sufficient cover for those such as Vin who required it though the other two members of the recon group who were protected by their abilities also kept as low a profile as possible in case their own powers were countered by those of their enemies.

The suspect kindred have seemingly chosen to base themselves in a farmhouse in one of the more rural areas of the valley in the middle of a large farm mainly dealing in livestock of various kinds.

The house itself is a rough but sturdy brick building surrounded by several wooden out-buildings and a fence that is in some state of disrepair. An old truck is effectively abandoned outside one of the outer buildings and three Harley Davidson motorbikes are parked by the main house and have obviously been taken good care of. The few cattle you can see in a nearby pen look emaciated and unwell.

The group circled the area making a mental map of the target for when they discussed tactics later. The number of functioning vehicles seemed to indicate that the estimate of three enemies was indeed correct. The recently abandoned truck looked to have been placed to block a secondary entrance to the main house leaving only one visible way in and out. There were adequate buildings to provide an approach or set up an ambush as well as a nearby orchard which gave some cover to the approach from that side. They noted a locked set of shutter doors that appeared to lead into a cellar off to one side of the main house beneath one of the side buildings, the lock was slightly rusty but functional.

Not wishing to alert their prey by approaching to closely they began to withdraw just as Roach caught sight of some movement through the window and observed them briefly with his ability to scan auras. The Malkavian had considerable experience with this ability and it was his considered opinion that their enemies were a Gangrel, Brujah and a Nosferatu he also noted that all had committed the act of diablerie within the last few years. With this new information and not wishing to be noticed by three vampires who drank the souls of their enemies he returned to the car.

Scene Six - Planning

The Banu Haqim had a variety of methods in mind for the assault based on previous experience at removing kindred targets, experience which he didn't bother to explain but given his clan of origin were fairly obvious. His main assertion was that they definitely wanted to take out the Gangrel at range if at all possible and the Brujah as well if it could also be done. It was also pointed out that despite their preferences for stealth and using the creatures of the sewers many Nosferatu were quite capable of throwing down when cornered.

The mention of creatures bought the conversation around to the fact that at least two of the kindred they were hunting had powers in that area making all creatures they passed near to, potentially spies for the Sabbat. Looking at the crude map they'd made based on their shared notes they could see various choke-points both for and against attacks that would be ideal if they could lure the enemy into them. Some of the coterie were also aware that it was likely that they had other abilities not associated with their own clan as the coterie had and so they had to expect the unexpected.

After some back and forth it was decided that Daniel would set up with the sniper rifle in the orchard as their was a narrow but serviceable pass between two buildings that gave them line of sight to the doorway from that location. He would then draw attention to the location hoping to draw out the enemies where he could hopefully take out the first through the door.

Vin would take position on a nearby outhouse roof to attack or flank as necessary but that left one avenue of approach needing to be covered and neither of the remaining coterie members would be effective against a kindred inclined to combat. Fortunately a possible solution to that problem was about be revealed...

Scene Seven - Hope Romero

Heather - Ghoul of Marius
'Galerie Sanguine' Employee

An athletic young woman with strawberry blonde hair enters the gallery and is intercepted by Heather who seems to recognise her. "So what you doing here Hope?" The woman informs her that Marius sent her as he was under the impression that there was likely to be a job in Pasadena pretty soon and that she was to speak to a 'Michael Tomassio'. "Cool, I'll show you to the meeting room and then I'll find him for you." Heather gives a brief introduction as she helpfully finds you already gathered together in the meeting room. 

Storytellers Note - Two of the PC's had enquired about secondary characters for situations where their primarily social based ones were to be honest pretty useless against anything other than untrained humans. I agreed on the proviso that the back-up's would stay a set amount of xp behind the primary ones and that they could be written into the background in such a way that their inclusion made sense. The first of these is Hope Romero who was controlled by me for the first part of the introduction as otherwise Michael's player Phil would have basically had to interview himself, lol. 

"Marius says you're going to need some-one to patrol your baronies borders to make sure it's still yours when you eventually decide to tell everyone you're the baron. " "He also said that you'd be able to grant me feeding rights in Pasadena in exchange but that I had to do the introduction thing first, so here I am..so is there a job going?"

Hope Romero - Gangrel

Michael confirmed that there was a possibility that such a thing could be arranged but such feeding rights would be somewhat unofficial until he had officially announced his taking of the position. He also wanted to ensure she was capable of doing the job. Her counter was quite simply that she'd been doing the job for Marius for some time in various areas and that if they didn't think she was capable they were more or less saying that their patron was inept. Seeing a solution to their other problem of needing a third combat capable kindred for the Sabbat assault he asked how she felt about doing a small job for them to prove her worth.

Hope agreed that less Sabbat in the world would be better than more Sabbat but that she wouldn't be willing to help them when the reward was a 'maybe you get feeding rights' especially if what they were asking of her was a Search and Destroy mission. Michael assured her that should she be successful in helping them that her rights to feed in their domain would be guaranteed as long as she didn't kill any-one while feeding. Daniel was however interested in her military experience and she revealed that she'd served in the second Gulf War as a dog handler mainly tasked with locating IED's.

Hope Romero - Gangrel
Mid Range Problem Removal

Daniel also wanted to know if she was capable of following orders to which she responded which she took offence to as a question of her loyalty. Calming a little she assured him that was well versed in planning and tactics but made no apologies for adapting to a plan in order to minimise risk to herself in order to avoid final death. It was also quite obvious that she had neither Camarilla nor Anarch sympathies simply considering herself Autarkis like Marius.

Vin was really only interested in her skill set from a "How do you kill?" point of view. Hope listed her skills in hand to hand combat as well as her skill at range. Having a few questions of her own she wanted to know exactly what the targets were. Informed that they were facing Brujah, Gangrel and Nosferatu she was adamant that she wouldn't "Sit on a hill with a rifle" when there was a chance to get stuck in and that she had no intention of taking out another gangrel at range. It wasn't ending the unlife of a member of her own clan that bothered her but if she had to do it she would prove her superiority toe to toe. Of course if one of the others shot it then that was just fine too. With her involvement now agreed they laid out their plan. "It's your rodeo..." was her only further input.

Equipped with the Barrett sniper rifle, Vin's automatic shotgun, a variety of handguns and shotguns and a flare gun to draw the attention of their targets. It was at this point that they discovered that their C4 explosives had gone mission. A number of suspicions were raised including the possibility that Marius's blood doll Heather who worked at the gallery had removed it on the orders of Marius's PA Victoria who had doubted that they hadn't used some of it to blow up the Vignes mansion. Michael declared that he'd investigate the manner while the rest dealt with the Sabbat problem. Daniel, Vin and the new recruit Hope checked their weapons while Roach accompanied them so they had the benefits of his more esoteric methods of information gathering. Believing that if the former owners of the farm have survived the invaders intrusion they are more than likely being held within the cellar near the farm Roach focused his abilities of premonition on that location in particular..

You see two men and a woman in chains, the woman has been impaled, the older of the men is covered in blood yet seems to be starved of the substance himself, the young man is un-moving and you can feel a tangible aura of despair from both men though the older's aura is filled with hatred of some unknown enemy. As your mind is caught up in the mixture of hate and despair you' drawn to the orchard nearby where a shallow grave contains several mortal bodies...

Scene Eight - Search and Destroy

Using Hope's Jeep and and one of the coteries own vehicles they drove to a rendezvous point some distance from the alleged Sabbat's farmhouse base and then disembarked before making the rest of the journey on foot.

As planned Daniel circled around into the fields and set up the .50 calibre sniper weapon with a clear view of the only usable door in the farmhouse and scattered a quantity of home-made caltrops in front to hopefully catch by surprise any-one attacking him either directly or under the cover of Obfuscate. Hope dropped her shotgun and took on her wolf form as her famulus picked it up in it's teeth and trotted along after her as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

As Vin crossed the orchard towards one of the outbuildings he noticed a patch of disturbed earth. A tarpaulin had been placed over a shallow pit and lightly sprinkled with earth in a vague attempt to conceal it. As the nearby coterie members moved to investigate they discovered four bodies in a shallow grave.

A man, a woman and a teenage boy had been tossed within after being drained dry and they had been viciously assaulted before their deaths. As the bodies were disturbed another tiny figure could be seen underneath. The girl who was also drained couldn't have been more than six years old and if there was any doubt about the brutality of their prey then it vanished from the coteries minds in an instant. Even those whose humanity had slipped couldn't see any reason to commit such a vile act and their desire to destroy the enemy became finely focused.

Presuming that Hope was at the location specified and observing Vin climbing onto the outbuilding roof Daniel fired the flare into the air that was to attract the attention of their targets. When no response was indicated the Banu Haqim instead fired his handgun several times into the air. Then without warning the front door swung open but the doorway was empty but as Daniel was contemplating firing anyway the window next to it exploded outwards in a shower of glass and wood from the frame. From his vantage point on the roof the Brujah could see a blur of movement heading around the outside of the complex presumably to flank the shooter.

Before Vin could act there was a horrendous grinding noise as the lorry protecting the other entrance was hurled aside and a second blur tore through the double doors moving in the opposite direction. Deciding to deal with the problem closest to him he leapt from his rooftop hideaway, emptying the shotguns twenty round drum on full auto at the blur heading towards him but hit nothing and as his bulk hit the ground he found himself in front of a hulking kindred easily as big as himself.

As the pair of Brujah sized each other up, Hope ambushed the unprepared kindred who had emerged from the building effectively eviscerating it with her wolf forms claws after her teeth had removed much of it's throat and lower jaw. As her famulus joined her in the attack she realised from her foes own claws that it was a gangrel like herself and like her it was capable of taking an obscene amount of damage, it was grievously wounded but not yet finished. Daniel had heard the crashes from the main building but despite a nagging feeling that he was being watched could see nothing of the third Sabbat and was now regretting not simply taking a shot as soon as the doorway opened.

Vin and his Sabbat opposite had exchanged blows but each seemed to match the other for strength and skill. Realising this Vin drew the fearsome two-handed machete from it's scabbard across his back to even things out a little. His foe had came to the same conclusion and drew a cleaver that appeared to have been made from a a large piece of steel welded to a pipe and then sharpened. A blow aimed for Vins stomach caused him a glancing wound as the Sabbat ducked a blow that would have decapitated him if it had made contact. Despite the seriousness of the encounter, Vin was beginning to enjoy himself.

The first Daniel knew that the Nosferatu had found his sniper nest undetected was the roar of a shotgun as shells were unloaded into him at point blank range, caught completely by surprise the sniper lashed out with his own blades but hit nothing as with unexpected dexterity the sewer rat stepped swiftly aside. A blow that Daniel was pretty sure had been enhanced by the discipline of Potence forced him to step aside, before he steadied himself and sliced the attacker with a number of precise and well placed blows as he recovered his compose after the ambush. Seeing that it was outmatched without the element of surprise the Nosferatu promptly disappeared.

With the catastrophic damage caused by her initial attack Hope knew she had the advantage as she shifted back into humanoid form and struck him over and over again causing more damage then it could heal until it had no more blood upon which to draw and collapsed into torpor. Still hearing the sounds of battle she headed in the direction of the snipers nest to see what was keeping Daniel. She arrived just in time to hear the doctor yell "Where do you think you're going?" before leaping into what looked like thin air and hit the ground with his arms around the legs of a very shocked Sabbat whose overconfidence in his cloak of invisibility had made him pause before moving away. Daniel hauled himself onto it's back and stabbed it as deep as he could, over and over again. As it attempted to pull away it's last sight was Hope bending down and ripping out it's throat as the two starving kindred drank deeply from the fallen vampire.

Vin and his opponent were both dripping vitae from a number of deep wounds and were currently each attempting to hold the others weapon arm at bay in a tense test of vampiric strength. As doubt entered the eyes of the Sabbat for what may have been the first time in it's undead existence Vin forced it's weapon from it's hand before driving his own machete deep into it's shoulder, through it's chest and into it's heart. Seeing the Sabbat fall, Hope returned to the place her own opponent had fallen to ensure it never rose again.

Each of the warriors found themselves looking down at their respective kindred enemies. Hope sought the power to face her sire as did Daniel. Vin simply wished to be as physically powerful as he could and so each prepared to commit an act reviled by most vampires claiming any form of civility or fearing righteous destruction, that of diablerie. Essentially drinking another vampire dry, ingesting not only their blood but their very essence. Daniel could feel the Nosferatu fighting against him as he drained some of it's strength and felt his generation lower, Vin's generation lowered too but instead of the strength of his clan he drew upon it's speed to enhance his own as his mastery of celerity increased. Hope's anger at the death of the young girl had given her a will of iron as she drained the Sabbat Gangrel's soul taking some of it's skill with the signature Gangrel discipline of Animalism, it's generation and the extra resolve she possessed allowed her to gain an advantage the others had not as her Vitae thickened increasing the potency of her blood.

Though each had gained something from the act they had lost a little of themselves too as their grip on their own humanity slipped and the beast gained a greater hold. As the gunfire and sounds of violence faded Roach approached under his own shield of invisibility, revealing himself once sure that his side had won. His eyes narrowed slightly as the newly acquired black veins in their auras were clearly revealed to him. That however was a problem for later. For now the farmhouse needed to be searched for the evidence needed to identify the reason for the Sabbat being in Los Angeles...

To Be Continued in 'Becoming Baron' - Part Three

In Conclusion

I like to do a round-up of how the session went in these features but if you couldn't give a shit what I think then feel free to skip this bit...

So now there's three diablerists in the coterie. They were warned of the consequences but were somewhat fortunate with their dice rolls so none of them are slathering wights or have other vampires living inside their minds...well...they hope not...

Though it was somewhat of a surprise to me that they all came to that decision at least it was for character reasons and not power-gaming so there's that. From my point of view it opens a lot of new possibilities as even amongst the Anarchs the act isn't exactly looked upon favourably by most so it allows me to complicate their lives somewhat which is always fun.

Acknowledgements
I've used pictures of real people to represent some of the characters and art for others so in no particular order Michael Tomassio is represented by the actor Matt Bomer, Johnny 'Roach' West is quite obviously Kurt Cobain, 'Vin' is the actor Scott Adkins, Dr Matthews is Mads Mikkelsen, Vera Vignes is Helen Mirren, Henry Waters is Henry Caville, Victoria is a model called Lilith May or Lorelei Swan depending on where in her career you find her and Yukio is Devon Aoki. Everything else is from vampire related folders and searches and is as far as I know is all of the 'fair use' variety. If there's something that you feel should be attributed to some-one then feel free to let me know and I'll happily add an acknowledgement...

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.

Vampire the Masquerade V5 - Session Fourteen - Becoming Baron (Part One)

I'm currently running a Vampire the Masquerade chronicle using the 5th Edition rule-set for a small group of fellow role-players. These are the chronicles of their adventures.

Our campaign is set in Los Angeles and features a small group of Camarilla agents sent into the 'Free States' to search for ways to once again bring the Ivory Tower to dominance under the pretence of being disillusioned neonates looking for the freedom of the Anarch way of life. Having made a few allies unsuspecting of their greater goal they have decided that in order to gain influence they need to acquire a barony of their own.

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The now obligatory warning bit - Unlike my other RPG write-ups this one will contain swearing, sexual references and other references that might offend. If you can't tell the difference between real peoples opinions and grown-ups role-playing predators who crave blood then this probably won't be for you. I've also used actual photographs to represent some characters which I'll give acknowledgements to at the end if I've any idea who they are.
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The introduction to this campaign, the first story and all the other parts can be found at the following links and are in chronological order...
'Infiltrate LA' Chronicle
Welcome to L.A. - Introductory Session
Story One - 'Three Murders' - Part One, Two, Three, Four and Five
Interlude Session - One
Story Two - 'The Pasadena Problem' - Part One, Two, Three, Four
Solo Session - 'The Neillson Library'
Story Two Continued- 'The Pasadena Problem' - Part Five, Six, Seven and Eight

The PC's

Phil as Michael Tomassio - Toreador
Matt as Dr Daniel Matthews - Banu Haqim
Tom as Johnny 'Roach' West - Malkavian

Dave as Vincent 'Vin' Ghast - Brujah

The player characters stats and backgrounds can be found HERE should any-one be interested.

As I have written out introductions and dialogue for certain NPC's and some location descriptions I'll post these more or less as I wrote them so they'll be in a 'reading to the group' style and they'll also be in blue so you can tell them apart from the more traditional write-up sections and occasionally an obscure Malkavian premonition will turn up in purple. If I think something needs a bit of out of character explanation then those will get a storytellers note that will helpfully be in red...

Introduction

With the Baron of Pasadena having met his final death it should have been a simple matter for Michael to take his position at the behest of the Baroness Vera Vignes who had promised to quietly abdicate the position and leave Los Angeles with her lover Henry. Unfortunately with Henry's death at Vera's hand and the revelation that something far more deadly than the lovesick woman had been living inside the Baroness's mind with dark plans of it's own, hope of a smooth exchange of power is unlikely.

'Atarah' - Autarkis Kindred, Clan Unknown

To make things worse the creature that was bound to Edwards service is now returned to it's body and in possession of it's own free will. Though this gives them a potential ally against Vera or whatever possessed her it does add another potential powerful kindred player to the already complex Los Angeles network of baronies and independents.

Daniel contacted his ghoul Andrew and instructed him to come to the abandoned air field and retrieve the bodies of the staff and the remains of Henry for disposal. Given the ease with which the request was made and obeyed it was obvious to the others that this wasn't the first time he'd sorted out such a task for his Banu Haqim master.

Then it was time to sort out their other obligations. Daniel and Vin were to take the sword they'd retrieved from the Vignes mansion to the Nagaraja Pisha as agreed and hopefully gain some knowledge from her based on what had occurred. Michael and Roach whose skills lent themselves better to negotiations decided to inform their ally Marius about the events of the evening hoping that he wasn't as pissed off about it as Roach thought he was going to be.

Scene One - Promises Kept

Pisha - Nagaraja Bloodline

Their journey through Pisha's domain was quiet this time as neither of the coterie members capable of seeing the horrors awaiting any kindred or kine foolish enough to wander from the path were with them. Roach was unswerving in his stated intention to never enter the abandoned hospital again and Michael had the unenviable task of explaining recent events to the Gangrel 'Fixer' Marius who was somewhat notorious for over-reacting to bad news.

They found Pisha in her usual place in the hospital depths and as Vin and Daniel were both more pragmatic and used to death than their coterie allies the blood soaked mortuary and dismembered bodies caused them little distraction. Pisha was unusually animated this evening "So, have you bought the item?...". Daniel unwrapped the strange multi-bladed ritual weapon from the blanked he'd wrapped it in and reverently passed it to the necromancer. Her delight was obvious from her reaction. "This will make an excellent addition to my collection..." She paused and ran a long fingernail along one of the spiralling blades "I presume all went well then?". In need of all the knowledge they could obtain, Daniel with the occasional input from Vin explained the majority of what had transpired to her to see if she had any insights.

Pisha confirmed some of what they'd surmised and learned from the freed entity. Firstly that it was entirely possible for a diablerised kindred with a strong enough will to control the body of the one who consumed it's soul and secondly that if this was indeed the necromancer from Boston they'd discussed that she was definitely in possession of that level of personal will.

Of the freed entity she knew little other than that the name 'Atarah' meant crown in Hebrew and that she was obviously a kindred of some power and age given her mastery of the dark discipline that she described as 'Oblivion' as it was a rare power amongst kindred.

All the while they were talking Pisha's attention was only half on the conversation as her interest was far more focused on the sword on the table. Daniel had noticed that the glow surrounding the weapon was visible even without the amulet provided by Pisha to find the fetters and that it seemed to be surrounded by a slight mist that he hadn't noticed till he had handed it to the Necromancer. Attempting to regain her attention once more the Banu Haqim asked if there was anyway to track Vera now that they were aware of what she was a victim of.

She suggested that they might look for reports of items going missing from local museums or private collections as often this was a good place to find occult items whose purposes were unknown to the mortals and that if this possessor needed items to create a new protector she'd need raw materials. It was obvious that she was far too distracted by her new toy to pay much heed to the conversation so they bid her well and left after receiving the map providing their new route through the death trap hospital. As they left Pisha informed them that "They should make sure Marius gets that map after you leave as I doubt you'll need to visit me again..." Both Daniel and Vin took that statement as actually meaning "Don't come back..."

Scene Two - "It's not as bad as you've heard..."

Marius Walker - Gangrel
'Fixer'

Both Michael and Roach were ushered quickly through the security at Hallowbrook Apartments and escorted into the office where they'd first met Marius some months ago which was only the second time they'd been there. Somewhat worryingly it was also the room where the Gangrel kept his extensive selection of melee weaponry.

Marius was sitting at the large meeting table and as well as themselves they were joined by Victoria and Yukio. The Gangrel's large wolf-like famulus was sitting in the corner teeth bared and Yukio had one hand inside her jacket and another slid behind her back where she normally kept a bladed weapon of some description. "Been busy I hear?" the tone was measured but Michael could detect the hint of something more dangerous in there somewhere.

Roach had long ago abandoned any attempt at reading Marius's aura as it always showed as suspiciously neutral regardless of the situation though he had noticed that his creature was a fairly good indicator of his mood as it had no such shield. The aura of the wolf was a swirling mixture of purple aggression and the red of anger both of which led Roach to believe that they needed to spin recent events considerably to get out of the building free of consequences.

Victoria - Ghoul
Marius's PA and Interrogator

Michael explained that their plan to remove Edward had been completely successful and that his wife Vera and her retainer Henry were also no longer any hindrance to the takeover of Pasadena by themselves but skimmed quickly over the fact that an entire compound was now a bullet-ridden inferno and that the Vignes mansion had exploded. In fact he pretty much missed out all the collateral damage and other problems they'd caused until it became obvious to him that his attempt at subterfuge was an utter failure. Deciding that confession was better than been caught in a lie he continued the conversation almost without missing a beat and filled in all the gaps as if he never intended to lie at all. Roach filled in several omissions in the exchange including what they'd learned about the enslaved kindred and the possessor of Vera. At which point Victoria indicated she had some input of her own.

"You bought some C4 explosives from Mercurio?" she enquired with the usual monotone she used in any circumstances other than torturing people to death. It was very much a statement even though phrased as a question. "Is there any connection between that purchase and the detonation that completely destroyed the Vignes mansion and killed the eight servants inside at the time?". Michael assured them that according to Daniel the explosion had coincided with the entities release and that they and he had had no part in it at all. Roach could see the wolf's aura begin to change to the blue that normally indicated suspicion or distrust but at least the fading of the red seemed to indicate that the chance of Marius brutally murdering them all seemed to have lessened.

Yukio - Ghoul
Bodyguard and Enforcer

"So to summarise..." interrupted Marius "...you've cleaned up the bodies at the airfield, cleansed the site of your gun battle with fire and both Vera and Henry are gone but we now have a vengeful kindred of undetermined allegiance who can teleport between shadows wandering around LA?" Roach and Daniel both gave their confirmations. "I'm sure you realise that this means you'll have to gain the support of some powerful allies to support your takeover now you have no-one to smooth the transfer of power?".

Fortunately Michael indicated that they had some ideas in that direction and it was with some relief that they noticed Yukio's hands were no longer in ready positions and that the wolf had stopped baring his teeth. As these were usually good indicators of the Gangrel's mood it seemed that they'd managed to if not placate him at least put him back in a receptive frame of mind.

The Toreador and Malkavian explained that they had already planned to gain additional support via acquaintances they'd made over the last few months including Mariel St John of the Fortier's, Gary of the Nosferatu, Hollywood  Baron Isaac Abrams and possibly Jenna Cross and a few others. Marius indicated that his ghouls should leave, presumably to check on the accuracy of what they'd been told and to investigate the unforeseen issues that had arisen. "I might be able to help you with Mariel..." The kindred immediately paid attention as Marius and Mariel weren't exactly on friendly terms so this was probably going to be interesting.

Mariel St John - Ventrue
Fortier Family Harpy

Marius explained that the adopted childe of Loius Fortier, Mariel St John had been making covert enquiries for kindred 'muscle' for some kind of dangerous job though seemingly not subtle enough to escape his notice. The fact that she hadn't approached Louis or any of his contacts must mean that in Marius's opinion whatever task she wanted performed was to resolve some mistake of hers or some-one she was beholden to.

He put forward the idea that if he revealed he knew of her enquiries and made some of his own it would force her to seek aid sooner rather than later before she was discovered. He was reasonably sure that she would then approach Michael based on the fact that he and his coterie had helped her in the past and would do so quickly if he himself exerted the correct pressures on her. Needing all the support they could, Michael agreed and they were both dismissed with a casual wave of the hand. As they left Roach informed Michael of just how close to losing his temper their host was and suggested they give him some time to cool off before bothering him with anything else.

Interlude one - An Unexpected Gift

Vera Vignes - Former Baroness

On their return to the gallery Lisa handed Michael a letter addressed to himself in perfect script on an expensive envelope. Ready for anything after the night they'd had so far he took the envelope to the meeting room where he opened it in the presence of the rest of the coterie. Inside was a letter from Vera Vignes.

"By the rules of Prestation I owe you a major boon for the service you provided. So I am providing you with all the information you may need to control the mortal politics of Pasadena. I enclose a key to Edwards safety deposit which contains boxes of files and documents and the appropriate identity codes and numbers to gain access to them. Henry and I have already put away the finances to start our new life together and I hope you can use the information provided to create the empire you desire while I leave Los Angeles with mine. Eternally in your gratitude, Vera.

Roach reached for the letter and as he focused upon it he saw a vision of Vera sitting at a writing desk with Henry beside her. The love between them was almost tangible even though this was a look into the past and the Malkavian could only conclude that when it had been written in one of the moments where Vera was in control of her own form. Still suspicious that it may be a trap of some kind they somewhat callously tidied up one of Vin's herd of bums and sent him to fetch the contents during the day rather than use a less expendable ghoul.

The safety deposit box actually turns out to be five boxes. Details on a number of business transactions, contact lists, receipts and account ledgers fill four of the boxes. A fifth is empty except for a few print-outs of bank account contents and you presume that this contained his financial information presumably now in the hands of 'Vera' or whatever is wearing her form at least. 

A brief glance reveals that most of Edwards control was through bribery and influencing decisions via campaign donations and you imagine some dominate as a few of the approved projects are dubious at best. Also, If Edward was planning on helping out Roach with his business plan then he hadn't made a start on it yet. Without Edwards money, maintaining control of his contacts is going to be tricky though you may be able to cobble together enough for some blackmail if you're careful.

Michael soon realised that some-one with the money to throw at the region could take advantage of the information within but they sure as hell didn't. The other unfortunate issue he concluded was that any-one they gave the information to who had such resources would then have significant influence over the mortal powers in their barony. He imagined their best bet would be to trade the info for boons but the recipient would have to be some-one they trusted not to screw them over in Pasadena and that was a list without a single name on it. In short the information was valuable to some-one with money and resources who they don't mind being able to influence the politics where they lived.

Michael saw that there was no choice but to help Roach with his plan to expand his fledgling drug empire in order to bring in the money they needed and then to use their bought political connections to protect it while it expanded further and so on. Suspecting that tomorrow would be another busy day, Daniel once again utilised the galleries basement safe area as a haven as his fate was now irrevocably tied to that of the coterie.

Scene Three - Club Zombie

An impeccably dressed and handsome young man in the expensive tailored suits favoured by Catherine Du Bois for the ghoul bodyguards of Louis Fortier arrives at the gallery and hands you an expensive looking envelope. "Miss St John has asked me to deliver this note to you personally and to await your reply..."

Michael asked the bearer of the note to wait while he took it to their meeting room and requested the presence of the others while he perused the contents.

'I'd like to meet up with you for a discussion on how I can help you with an upcoming problem of yours in return for assisting with an issue of my own. I have arranged a private room at Club Zombie in the Sepulchre at 10.00 PM and I'm sure men of your integrity would be willing to give me the benefit of your company. The vacuous fool who handed this to you will require a simple yes or no response. Signed Mariel St John.'

Roach picked up the letter, retrieved a large coloured pen from his room and wrote 'YES' in large letters on the back before handing it to the messenger and returning upstairs. It appeared that the leverage provided by Marius had indeed driven Mariel to contact them for help. Now they just needed to negotiate her aid in exchange for whatever task she required performing.

As the door to the Malkavian's room was open the others couldn't help but observe that the wall was covered in a gigantic mass of notes, photographs, newspaper cuttings and scraps of paper joined by lines created from string, various thread no doubt purloined from Heather's sewing box and lines drawn in pen, crayon and felt-tip pen. If these were tangible representations of the Malkavian's thought processes then it was probably best not to look at them too closely. With the meeting confirmed they prepared themselves for a trip to Club Zombie.

The club is actually a converted warehouse that the owners claim was once a coffin factory and is cheesily decorated with skeletons and coffins while all it's staff are wearing funeral garb and have their faces painted dead-white. Three gentlemen are acting as doorman, two are wearing the garb of lunatic asylum inmates while a third is dressed as a mortician by the entrance-way which is decorated with very obviously plastic skulls reminding you somewhat of a fairground ghost train. 

It is the the 'mortician' who is directing people to where they may pay their entry fee, turning others away and very occasionally will consult a list hanging just inside the door, stamp the individuals hand and then ushers them directly inside.

Vin used his considerable bulk to intimidate his way to the front of the queue while Roach simply used his grasp of Dominate to command any-one in his way to step aside as Daniel simply followed along in the corridor they created. Michael on the other hand who invariably on rising used the blush of life to give himself the appearance of a healthy human had been slowed considerably by a number of female and male admirers drawn by his stunning looks amplified by his habitual use of the Presence discipline. The doorman greeted Michael though he knew him only as an occasional patron and was somewhat surprised when he checked the clipboard and discovered his name was on the 'special' portion of the guest list. As he attempted to stamp the hands of each member of the group presumably to allow them access to the Sepulchre area of the club, Roach ignored him and strolled straight past.

The club is as cheesy on the inside as it is on the outside though is surprisingly packed for somewhere so tacky looking. The area you have been directed to has a set of stairs going downwards protected by yet another man in morticians uniform.

As Michael and the rest approached the doorman gestured to them to allow him to scan the stamp on their arms and when he noticed that Roach was missing his refused to let them past. The Malkavian who was unused to being prevented from going anywhere used his ability with dominate to force his way ahead. Unfortunately his pronouncement "You'll let me past..." was swiftly countered with "No I fucking won't".

At this point he concluded that he should probably have guessed that the doorman at a vampire bar would be resistant to such basic tricks. Seeing Vin getting edgy the Toreador interjected by informing him that they were due to see Mariel St John and that any blame for keeping her waiting would be firmly placed with him. Apparently fearing her more than his desire to adhere to procedure he stepped aside and let them past.

Scene Four - The Sepulchre
'The Sepulchre' is a different matter altogether and is decorated elegantly in dark marble and brass. There's a dance floor in the centre that is currently unoccupied though there are open tables and booths surrounding it as well as several booths shielded with heavy curtains of expensive cloth. A dozen or so patrons are seated in small groups and many have bottles and glasses in front of them as there is somewhat surprisingly an actual bar within and all the bottles behind it seem to have suspiciously blood-red liquid in them. 

Standing beside one of the curtained booths is Mariel St John in a vintage style black and white dress cut to mid thigh. She holds open the curtain and bids you enter, there are two wine bottles on the table and five glasses. "Please make yourself comfortable and help yourself to a drink. It's quite fine for individuals of our needs to consume though how they manage to preserve it within the wine is I'm afraid a mystery to me..." She then reaches up unscrews the light fitting and pulls down a piece of wire with what looks like a small microphone on the end, pulls a wire out and then pushes the thing back into place and screws the fitting back in..."Now we can have a little privacy...feel free to have a drink before we start"

The coterie were obviously curious about who exactly would be listing in but Mariel simply claimed that this is her preferred booth and that Louis Fortier's childe her 'sister' Catherine Du Bois probably bugged it out of concern for her security. Several of them had doubts about the explanation but this didn't seem like the time for harassing a potential ally. Once drinks were poured Mariel spoke "I presume as you've agreed to meet that your open to discussing a little job for me?"

They confirmed that they would be open to helping her in any way they could but were currently embroiled in the minor issue of wishing to assure the security of the barony of Pasadena which found itself without a leader. Mariel had more than enough experience in kindred politics to know where this was going and assured them that once her current problem was no longer at the forefront of her mind she could turn to other matters such as supporting a replacement for Edward Vignes. Of course Michael would require more information before giving a firm agreement and seeing this as a prompt for her to explain further the current Harpy of the Fortier family elaborated.

Sophia Bartholomew - Toreador
Artist

"A very nice but not particularly smart friend of mine made the acquaintance of several kindred who claimed they had journeyed here from San Diego who seemed keen to learn about the city and it's ways and she was I'm afraid quite eager to please and has relayed probably a bit too much information to kindred she barely knew" 

"However she has made an unfortunate discovery while being somewhat too nosy for her own good and now after some discussion with myself about what she observed we are quite certain that they are Sabbat spies here with some nefarious purpose in mind" She paused briefly to take a sip of 'wine' " Unfortunately those within Los Angeles ideally suited to deal with such situations such as Louis, your humourless friend Marius, Nines Rodriguez and those of similar resources are unlikely to believe that my friend is innocent and even if they do are still likely to require her punishment which I would like to avoid if at all possible." 

"To put it plainly I'd like you to investigate, see if our suspicions are accurate and then if they are, make the problem go away." "I appreciate that violence isn't a speciality of you all but you've proven yourselves resourceful in the past and I'm sure you can do work out some way to do this..." "Should you be able to perform this task for me then when you speak at the upcoming rant about your taking over of the Barony of Pasadena I will put Louis Fortiers weight behind your claim. The friend of mine you'll also be helping is not without influence and can add another voice to your cause. I won't guarantee that will be all the support you'll need but it will certainly put off many of the less powerful potential other claimants."

The less trusting members of the coterie wished to know who this 'friend' was is it may become relevant to their investigations though Michael's interest was more about just how much influence they might have to help his claim. Mariel revealed that it was one of the Bartholomew family and as she'd early said 'she' it was a fair guess she was referring to Sophia Batholomew the artist. Armed with a location in Simi Valley and only the most basic of tactical information it was decided that some reconnaissance would be in order...

To Be Continued in 'Becoming Baron' - Part Two

In Conclusion

I like to do a round-up of how the session went in these features but if you couldn't give a shit what I think then feel free to skip this bit...

With the death of the Baron I decided to start a new story based around the coteries machinations to gain the support needed to put one of their own in the role and more importantly keep him there. This will involve their attempts to gain control of Edwards political contacts, Expand Roach's criminal enterprises to fund their activities and gain enough support from other kindred to put off any rivals for the job.

Admittedly this session was mainly about clearing up loose ends and creating new sub-plots for them to investigate but they all seemed to enjoy it so we'll call it another success.

Acknowledgements
I've used pictures of real people to represent some of the characters and art for others so in no particular order Michael Tomassio is represented by the actor Matt Bomer, Johnny 'Roach' West is quite obviously Kurt Cobain, 'Vin' is the actor Scott Adkins, Dr Matthews is Mads Mikkelsen, Vera Vignes is Helen Mirren, Henry Waters is Henry Caville, Victoria is a model called Lilith May or Lorelei Swan depending on where in her career you find her and Yukio is Devon Aoki. Everything else is from vampire related folders and searches and is as far as I know is all of the 'fair use' variety. If there's something that you feel should be attributed to some-one then feel free to let me know and I'll happily add an acknowledgement...

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.